Smooshy-Face Gone Wrong

Thursday, December 31, 2009

If there's an unusual way to injure yourself, leave it to me to find it.

Robby has come up with a new "game" of sorts. I like to call it "smooshy-face". He'll wrap his arms tightly around your neck and press his little face as hard as he can into yours. Usually, I have no problem with this. While he and his dad wrestle on the floor and headbutt each other, Robby and I have our smooshy-face time. Last night, however, smooshy-face time turned sour.

Last night, Rob came over and crawled up onto my lap with book in hand, wanting to be read to as usual. No problem. We read the book and then he decided it was smooshy-face time. So, he wraps his arms around my neck and shoves his body into my face, resembling something like a facehugger from the Alien movies, giggling and wiggling wildly the whole time. This went on for awhile until the worst happens. He pulls away, grabs my head, squares himself up with my face, confuses me with his father for a moment, and goes in for the headbutt at full-speed...

*CRACK*

The sickening noise and feeling of my nose cracking against toddler forehead brings me to tears and makes me say some very colorful, un-Christian words. Setting him down on the floor, I go to assess the damage. I'm afraid to, really. Feeling around, I find that my nose, in fact, is still there. Check. No blood. Check. Oh, but the pain! My whole face begins to throb. Poor Robby this whole time is looking at me with a very confused and concerned look on his face. Matt has Rob apologize to me and he gives me a hug, but he's lost his smooshy-face privileges for awhile.

Whether my nose is fractured or not, I really don't know. If anything, he definitely bruised it. I do know, however, that it still hurts pretty bad today and I'm having difficulty breathing out of it. The bridge of my nose and my cheek bones are still throbbing with pain, despite Tylenol's best efforts. He clocked me good. I've never been punched in the face before, but that's the closest I ever want to come.

Aside from my unusual injuries, I have a Baby Drew update. I went in for another prenatal checkup yesterday. My blood pressure was good, Drew's heart rate was easily found and very strong; although the PA did note, "Wow, he's moving around a lot! Is that normal?" For my children, evidently. Robby never stopped moving. Nothing's changed in the department. Also, my weight-gain is steady and normal. Overall, the visit was very quick and painless. The PA informed me that my appointments will be every two weeks now and my next visit will be my glucose test. Please pray for clarity in this test, even though I passed my first one with Robby just fine. Thankfully, I don't have to fast this time for some reason. Definitely a plus. Two weeks after my glucose test, I will have another ultrasound (on Matt's birthday of all days - and he'll have that week off!), which marks my eight-week countdown. We are definitely getting close! I'm shocked just how fast this pregnancy is flying! We still don't know if this will result in a natural birth or a c-section. We're hoping for a scheduled c-section, since Matt does not get leave like he did with Robby. We're having to try and plan one of his weeks of vacation when Drew is born, which makes me slightly uneasy, but if it's scheduled beforehand, we'll more likely be able to get a more definite plan. Trusting in the Lord that everything will come together somehow.

Our First Christmas Home

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

We had never done a Christmas at home before, so at first the thought kind of weirded me out. No packing up the car for a day at my grandparents' place, no "premade" breakfast, and no "premade" dinner. We were on our own this year. As odd as it felt, things went as well as expected, if not better. I am not one to break "tradition" and I'm not great with dealing with change, but I took a deep breath and went for it anyways. Didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

Cher joined us for Christmas Eve Service at our church, which was one of the most beautiful and spiritually satisfying Christmas Eve services I've ever been to. We sang songs, heard a fantastic, Gospel-filled sermon, and then finished up with a few more songs by candlelight. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. A lovely reminder of the true reason for the season. We all went our separate ways, stopped off at McDonald's (nothing says "Merry Christmas" like McD's) for dinner, and then heading home to get Robby to bed. This little elf had some more sneaky business to do (I had one more gift to pull out - not from Santa, of course - just too big to wrap). Matt and I had our nightly cup of tea, watched a little of the 1984 version of "A Christmas Carol", and then toddled off to bed.

After a rough night of uncomfortable sleep for me and 7:00 considered "sleeping in" by Matt, we both decided to get up - both before the child, mind you. We put on some coffee and opened our gifts to each other, enjoying our own private little Christmas before Rob had toys scattered from one end of the living room to the other. This year marked our seventh Christmas together, so it was rather nice to enjoy our quiet time. We then decided to go rouse the Robster, who gave us most unpleasant glares from his bed as we turned on the light. He soon changed his tune as we took him out to see what we had woken him up for. He had gotten used to the wrapped presents under the tree, but one was unwrapped and sitting out in plain sight - a brightly-colored Elmo chair. After watching him drag his booster seat from the kitchen to the living room over and over again, I finally found him a chair of his very own for reading and TV-viewing. He was thrilled. $15 well spent. I then helped him unwrap his other gifts as Matt recorded video (seen here). Lots of books, trucks, and his very first train set. The poor kid was so overwhelmed, he didn't know what to play with first. Here I will admit that I went a tad overboard, but I had to reasonings: A) this will be his last Christmas as an only child and B) last year was such a let-down since he was so little. Reasonable reasonings? Don't know. I had fun shopping for him, though. Breakfast of pancakes and sausage was made and eaten and then we all went back to playing with our Christmas toys, waiting for Cher to join us and for our food to settle.

Cher came over at about 1:00. We opened more gifts with her, let her try her hand at the Wii for the very first time (quite entertaining...our TV barely survived the ordeal), and I started dinner. Yes, I had to make my very first Christmas dinner. Honey-glazed ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, and an apple pie for dessert. Cher was kind enough to buy the ham and make the pie, but the rest was up to me. Slightly nerve-racking? Yes, but I survived and nothing exploded or caught on fire. The ham was my deepest concern, but I found it to be quite fool-proof. Everything turned our great, if I may say so myself. We sat and digested for a bit and then Skyped with Matt's family in Colorado for awhile. Cher was very unsure about being "on display" at first and quickly sprinted out of view, but my father-in-law called her out and made her join in on the conversation. We said our virtual goodbyes and then had to say our goodbyes to Cher, as all of us were growing quite sleepy.

What a long, wonderful day. Nothing like I expected, but better. Still, I don't know if I'd want to do it again anytime soon. I'm looking forward to next Christmas, with lots of family and food, and a two-year-old and an eight-month-old. I guess I kind of took the holidays for granted and this year made me appreciate them more - not that I didn't enjoy our holidays on our own, of course. I'm really glad Cher was willing and able to join us. It was really nice to kind of "reconnect" with her, as we've somewhat fallen away since her and I lived together. This year was a nice break from tradition and I look forward to next year when we'll go back to "tradition as usual". I pray you all had a good Christmas as well!

Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 25, 2009


Today, we reflect and celebrate the day that our Holy and Mighty God humbled Himself by coming to earth as a small and helpless baby, setting aside His divine attributes to live as a lowly man, and suffering for all mankind's sins on the cross so that we may be fully redeemed by His blood through repentance and faith. Nothing wrapped up in ribbons and bows can even come close the perfect gift of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us give thanks for this immeasurable gift of mercy, love, and sacrifice the Father has bestowed upon us!

"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
-Isaiah 6:9

Christmas Chuckle

Wednesday, December 23, 2009



Now THIS is talent! I hope you all get as big of a chuckle out of this as I did. Merry Christmas!

Pineapple Cookies Recipe

Saturday, December 12, 2009

My aunt and grandma used to make these a lot when I was growing up. I just got the chance to make them for myself for our church's Cookie Exchange. They were a hit, as far as I could tell - they were all gone! This recipe is slightly older than I am and before you turn your nose up at the thought of fruit in cookies, don't think "fruitcake". These are definitely NOT fruitcake. To assure you further, Matt loves them...which says a lot.

Pineapple Cookies

3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c shortening
1-1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1-1/4 c crushed pineapple (undrained)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In large bowl, cream together shortening, sugar, and egg. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Slowly combine together wet and dry ingredients. Stir in pineapple. Drop teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Makes about four dozen.

It Will Cost You Everything

Thursday, December 10, 2009



Excellent video. Well worth the watch.

Let's Say Thanks

Tuesday, December 8, 2009



I was directed to this site by a Facebook friend. Basically, you pick a design, fill out your information, choose a message, and when you click "Send", Xerox prints out your card and sends it overseas to a U.S. soldier. It's just a small token of thanks to let them know that you appreciate and pray for them. It takes less than a minute, but you never know who's life you'll impact in the long-run. Click on the banner above to visit Xerox's Let's Say Thanks website.

Whether you agree with the war or not, please continue to pray for the brave men and women serving our country.

First Professional Haircut

Saturday, December 5, 2009





After putting off another chopped "mommy cut" for so long, we finally took Rob in for his very first professional haircut. It's not perfect by any means (it's difficult to trim a moving object), but he did beautifully for the hairstylist, only fussing a little twice during the whole experience. He didn't mind the scissors and comb, but didn't want to have anything to do with the clippers. She didn't even have to turn it on for him to make it very clear that he did not approve. So, the haircut was cut short (ha...punny). I think he still looks quite dapper and oh-so grown up.

Born to Die

Friday, December 4, 2009



This beautiful video about the true story of Christmas was put together by my dear friend and brother in Christ, Mike. Make sure to check out his blog, Wretched Sinner.

It's a...

Thursday, December 3, 2009

...BOY!!!


Another healthy, normal baby boy!

I have to admit I was a little surprised. I was honestly starting to wonder if we were having a girl, but the Littlest Marshall made no secret of his manhood. Please excuse the crappy ultrasound pictures.

My appointment went very smoothly overall. During the ultrasound, Matt kept jokingly asking the nurse where the "other baby" was. After the ultrasound, the doctor came in and said, "Well, everything looks really good, but I'm going to have to check the second baby again." It was so quiet, you could have heard our jaws drop. Before I could get my voice back to protest, he laughed and said, "Just kidding." Relieved, I pointed to the door and said, "You're funny...now you can leave."

Guesses? Anyone?

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Tomorrow we quite possibly find out what we're having, so go guess on baby #2's stats! I haven't decided if I'll be closing the game after that, as it isn't fair if people know what the gender is and guess. If you haven't wagered a guess yet, go do so now! And pray for an immodest baby!


Somersaults



This was the scene just before Rob did his first two somersaults. He did the first one by accident, landing with a loud "thump!" and a very surprised look on his face. Then he laughed and did it again! It's not unusual to see him do his "headstands"; especially when he's tired, but this time he pushed a little too far and ended up on his back. Crazy kid!

PhotoBlog Name Change

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Since we made the change from JSMarshall Photography to just Marshall Photography, I decided to change the name of my photoblog to The Shutterbugette. If you're following me or linked to that blog somehow, please make the following changes:

FROM: http://jsmarshallphotography.blogspot.com/
TO: http://theshutterbugette.blogspot.com/

If you have any questions on how to do this, please feel free to email me.

Venturing Outside

Playtime - Twin Falls, Idaho - 2009

Both feeling cranky and cooped-up, I decided to bundle Robby up and take him outside to play for awhile. One perk of living here is that there's little playgrounds scattered throughout the apartment complex, so "going to the park" is quick and easy. Sadly, I had never taken him to play at one before. I talked myself into taking my camera along - something I've also been neglecting - and was able to catch some sweet moments.

I'm glad I took the opportunity to go outside. Usually, I find a million excuses not to go outside, but something just told me "go". It was good for both of us. Needless to say, Rob wasn't too thrilled at the idea of going back inside, but the cold wind forced both of us back into our warm home.
 
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