Don't you just love that church hymn? I feel like I am always counting my many blessings and never taking them for granted; or at least try not too. There are too many to count but I try. :) This year has been one of the best years of my life. My beautiful daughter has come down from Heaven and has made our family so unbelievably happy and blessed. Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways and has made it possible for me to stay home with my little one. I have always wanted to be a Mommy and just that. I believe it is the most important job in the world. It is so hard now a days to be able to do this. I am so blessed.
Nicholas is the best Father a man could ever be. He always lights up when he sees his baby and takes such good care of her. She was unfortunately sick on Christmas with her first ear infection but she was a trooper and still enjoyed it. Nick jumped right in and helped me take care of her during these tough days for her. I love how hands on, patient and loving he is. I always have the biggest smile on my face when I see them interact and see the strong bond that they are creating. Marlie always lights up when she sees him. I'm a little jealous. Just kidding. She loves her Daddy!
Nicholas is also such a hard worker and an amazing provider. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be able to stay home. We are so unbelievably blessed to now own a bread route and a pretzel route. Hopefully there will be another one some day.
I am also so blessed to have such a wonderful family! They love us so much and do so much for us it is amazing. I don't know what we would do without them. I hope we show them how much we love them and appreciate them. I wish my in-laws, Mama and Papa C and their family lived closer. That would make it even better. We miss them a lot, but we are planning on seeing them in July for Tyler's baptism. And guess what, Oma and Opa? My parents are hoping to go also, yay! We are very excited and are going to have a blast!
Marlie loved ripping the wrapping paper much better than playing with her new toys.
On Christmas Eve we all went to Aunt Helen and Uncle Al's house. We always have so much fun there. Poppy was able to make it this year so that was really nice. I always missed him when he couldn't come with us in the past. There are tons of kids running around and presents and wrapping paper everywhere. It is a blast. This Christmas Eve was a special one for us because Marlie was baby Jesus in the play that we do every year. She was the prefect baby Jesus, even with an ear infection. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and ate tons of delicious food. 
Update on Marlie time- She will be 8 months on Thursday. I can't believe it. Time really does fly. She is 15 1/2 pounds. She is getting up there. Her personality is really starting to come out and I love it. She is definitely a little crazy but she is a girl so what do you expect. I have a feeling we may need to get a time out chair in the near future. :) She is so close to crawling and standing up. I think it will be any day now. She gets frustrated sometimes. I think she gets her impatience from both me and her Daddy. She loves to smile all the time now. You should see her in church, always looking around and smiling at everybody. It is adorable. She loves to smile at her Pop Pop when he makes a silly face or when Poppy says, "I like you," to her. She adores Mimi's singing and dancing and especially her jewelry.
We decided to get some Holiday pictures done at the mall; they came out really cute. Don't worry Mama C, some are on their way to you. :)
Her second home is the mall. She is a natural. She is very nosey so this is the perfect place to people watch and see what everybody is doing. Grunting, screaming, and gurgling is one of her favorite things to do. It is hilarious. Her new thing now is pouting her lips together like she is going to give you a big kiss but instead she likes to make farting noises. It is hilarious. We can thank Mimi for this one.
Best Friends Forever!!
The End
