Marissa is 11 (1/2...oops!) months...

Marissa is 11 months (Actually 11.5 months as I type this)!  She is really turning into a curious little baby.  She is into everything.  Toilet paper, tissues, and toilet bowls seem to be the favorites (gross!).  Kay is a pretty big help at keeping a constant watch on her.  I often hear "MOMMY, Marissa is playing in the potty".  Socks are impossible to keep on.  I have tried tucking them into her pants which makes it last about 5 more minutes.  She is in for a cold winter!  Her two front teeth poked through this morning.  It was tough work getting two at once.  We have taken her off her reflux meds to see what happens before her specialist appointment next week.

I tried to capture a picture of how snuggly Marissa is.  She loves to lay her head down on your leg, shoulder, or anything soft.  She is really good at giving hugs.  When I hold her she nestles her head in the crook of my neck and play with the hair on the back of my neck.  She also loves giving big wet kisses.  Her favorite is to kiss my chin or neck.  I have been sick a lot more with Marissa than I was with Kay as a baby.  My guess, all the wet kisses from her.  It is so worth it!

Does she have an ear infection?  We have taken her so many times to the doctor because she is always doing this... even daycare tells us we need to take her.  She pokes her fingers down in her ears all the time.  The dr. thinks it is from her getting two teeth at once.  We will see!

Look who can stand all on her own!  Marissa is really good at standing.  I think she is strong enough to take a few steps if she were brave enough.  She gets SO excited when she is standing up.  

Multitasking.  Sorry, I had to.  She does it so often I wanted to document for memory's sake ;)

Hanging Out...

Brushing sister's hair...

Fall!  We had a craft afternoon and made Halloween decorations.  Decorating our pumpkins...

We are STILL trying to close our HK bank account.  9 months later and we still haven't figured out how to (this is after going to the bank before moving and getting forms and directions on how).  It always made me laugh when people asked me "what did you do all day"?  People stay very busy here taking care of kids, cooking dinner, running errands, etc. and then multiply that by some amount of difficulty and THAT is what I did all day.  I usually handled the "how to live in HK" part of our lives so Craig really did not know what it involved.  He tried for about 10 minutes and then got frustrated and passed the job onto me.  Closing the account reminds me of opening the account.  I finally got it opened once I told the employee I was not leaving the bank with my jet-lagged screaming 2 year old until I had a bank account.  They had sent me home at least 5 different times telling me each time I needed different documents.  I finally hit my max and protested telling them my husband would email whatever else we needed and I was not leaving!  Sure enough, within 10 minutes we had an account.  Now, to figure out how to close it when I can't protest and stand there with my two children...

Footed PJ fun.... Kay really wanted to match her sister.  Thankfully, they make them in 5T (who knew?)

Kay has figured out the self-portrait mode on my phone.  It provides a lot of fun and she loves to hit the button!

So big!

Marissa has mastered "so big" and it is so cute!

Friends!

I feel incredibly fortunate to still keep up with my college roommates.  We always have a blast when we get together and we just keep multiplying!  Everyone is slowly moving back closer to us and it makes me so happy!

We spent the morning doing this...

We let the big kids play upstairs alone.  We discovered this....

We all looked at each other, decided we were exhausted moms and we decided to do this...

It was a hour of quietness and bliss...

Within minutes of returning home, the big girls noticed our toes and we did this...

I don't have a picture of the meltdowns that came from no naps and a full day of fun.  One thing is for sure, the kids were tired!

Family Fun...

Kay's first face painting experience.  In the past she has been too nervous to try it.  As soon as we left the birthday party with all of her friends she wanted it off immediately.

Wide open spaces of the USA.  Now, we are able to practice bike riding.  Kay is really timid and takes a lot of encouragement to even get on the bike.  She is getting braver, but we have a ways to go.

Daddy's helper...

Kay made a tea party for Craig.  So sweet...

Fixing daddy's hair...

I...want...it...so...bad...We can't take our eyes off Marissa for a second now.  She will get into anything and everything.  I had to hold onto her leg to take this picture because she was so determined she about fell into the tub.

The weather is changing and with it comes the fall/winter sicknesses.  We have already had fevers and colds.  This is Marissa asleep and miserable at the doctors office.