1st Birthday!

Yep, Marin is 1 year--12 months if you speak the "parenting lingo." I decided a few months back that I'd no longer be using months to gauge her age. It seems a bit silly. No one else uses months for ages, why use it for little ones?
So the party was great fun as you can see. Marin's great Aunt Amy and great Aunt Lorinda & Great Uncle Mike were present along with Grandma Mac--A pretty crazy bunch for her first birthday! She ate her first cake that her mom made from scratch. The cake was actually a group of little individual lemon or vanilla flavored cakes in the shapes of various bugs: Dragonflies, and Marin's favorite Ladybugs. We know that Marin loves ladybugs because at least half of the stuff she wears and most of her toys are ladybugs. Despite staying up later than normal and eating twice her normal intake, Marin did well on her first birthday and genuinely seemed happy.

From there we kicked off a 4-day 1000 mile trip to and from Santa Rosa, CA to among other things, celebrate Tracey's second cousin's wedding. Loads of fun, and loads of driving that included a "moderate speed police chase" and a rather slow--20 miles in 2 hours--section of US 101.
We survived and now that I'm back in Mississippi, I have much to miss. I miss Tracey & Marin who are staying in CA until the end of the month. And I miss California.

Quick Update

No, we have not fallen off the face of the earth, but we are just barely hanging on....this indescribable humid heat down here is trying to wipe us out! We've been busy with work, battling a few rounds of an awful cold, and trying to stay cool. We have also had some great visits -- Memorial Day weekend in Memphis was a blast! Then we had Joe and Kelly Cronley and Aunt Sara visit us here in Meridian, which was such a nice time and then last weekend Aunt Sara came to keep Marin and me sane while Tom was gone to the boat. We spent three weekends in a row with Aunt Sara and now we are going through Sara withdrawal :(
Anyhow, these are some pics from the past few weeks --

Vomit Haters Beware

Some people may not know this, but my Dad had a very unique sense of humor. Take for instance the incident that occurred about 3 days before my first day of Kindergarten. Somehow I managed to slip and fall on a wet pool deck and crack my forehead open on the metal steps of the slide. A trip to the ER and a full row of stitches later, I found myself donning a large, white, bulky bandage on my face. I was less than thrilled at the idea of wearing this to my first day of school, so my dear old Dad, always the fashion forward thinker (ha ha), thought that a bright red Air California (the airline he was flying for at the time) sticker would be the perfect accessory to compliment my wound covering. So yes, I attended my first day of school EVER, wearing a massive bandage with an airline sticker smack in the middle of my forehead (shucks, I don't have a picture on hand). Funny now, but not so funny to the horrified Kindergartner of the past. So, when life throws me a day like I had yesterday, I can't help but imagine that my Dad is somewhere out there orchestrating these hideously ridiculous scenarios for his (and let's face it, my) personal entertainment. Here's what happened: At Marin's last check-up, her Pediatrician told us that we could start introducing cow's milk in small amounts around 11 months, despite the fact she has not done well with milk based formula in the past. Well, the kid is almost 11 months and our bank account is really eager for us to switch from formula to real milk, so we bought our first carton of whole milk and at Marin's pre-dinner snack I gave her literally 2 VERY SMALL sips. That's it. Then she had her "puffs" and bananas and a couple of hours later(everything going just fine) she had her night time bottle of formula while I whipped up some carrot soup. Just as the timer was about to sound, signaling that the soup was done, Marin finished her bottle and I picked her up while I stirred the soup one last time. As I'm stirring and commenting to Marin on how "burpy" she was, she unleashed a massive, projectile bolus of vomit. I somehow managed to push the pot of soup out of the way just in the nick of time (phew!), which left open a fiery hot burner for the vomit to cook itself on (sorry to be so graphic, but I just want to paint an accurate picture for you). Now, for those of you who know me well, what's my #1 fear in life? ---- yup, VOMIT! So, there I was covered in it, holding my daughter who was also covered in it and watching (not to mention smelling) it cook on my stove top and I couldn't help but laugh -- thanks Dad! After asking Marin 10,000 times if she was ok (of course she was), giving her bath #2 for the day and cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom, life went on and the carrot soup was DELICIOUS!! Lucky Tom got home from work after Marin was sound asleep and missed the whole darn thing! Needless to say, cow's milk will not be given to my daughter anytime in the near future. Don't get any ideas John and Joe Cronley!!

Don't worry, I didn't take any pictures of the disaster, but here are a few recent shots of the lactose intolerant girl.

Memphis in May

While Tom was livin' it up in Jacksonville and Key West, FL, this past week, Marin and I were invited by Amy, Nic and Peter Morrison to take a last minute road trip up to Memphis! I was a little nervous about doing a longer drive alone with Marin, but my worries were for nothing. She seriously slept the whole way there and back and after filling up with gas I was able to make both legs of the trip without stopping! It was fantastic! We had a great time and Marin was finally able to meet her newest boyfriend, Peter. He is a sweet baby and although he is 6 months younger than Marin, the two weigh the same! They have so much in common, they even wear the same size diaper.
On Sunday evening, Amy and I left the two babies at home with two great babysitters (Nic and Michelle) and we ventured to the Beale St. Music Festival. Despite being quite muddy, it was an absolute blast! We saw Guster and Counting Crows and other bands too. These are a couple of pics from the festival and a funny shot of the two babies.
<---Note the abandoned flip-flops in the mud to the left


Also, a silly video:
Peter Morrison & Marin video

Prepare to be Impressed

Marin has been doing things lately that have been exciting and fun for us to watch. She now crawls, she says "Momma" and "Dadda" somewhat discriminately, she laughs, she holds books and acts like she's reading them (I think she learned that from me)--it's really fascinating to watch a 10 month old develop. Without a doubt, nothing has been more impressive than her latest little trick.

More Video

How 'bout some video of Marin in the jumper, being licked by Kona, Grandma Mac's chocolate lab?
The video debuts Marin's mini-seizure, where she simply goes crazy for about 5 seconds and finishes it with a winning smile. Most the time she will do this when she is sitting in her stroller, kicking both feet and rocking back and forth until everyone around is looking at her and Tracey and I are laughing. We call it, the mini-seizure. Enjoy!
Oh, also Kona gets in trouble at the end because she licks the BBQ spatula.

We Get By With a Little Help.......

We are back from California and this post had been brewing throughout our trip, just waiting to be unleashed when time would permit. We had a blast and as always, the week away from Meridian went by way too fast. Marin's first airplane ride went off without a hitch. She is a stellar little traveler with only one out of the four legs of our trip being less than a 10 out of 10 performance. She definitely prefers having her own seat (who doesn't? - I certainly don't enjoy sharing my seat with the over-sized, smelly business traveler who's extra pounds inevitably spill over in to my seat). Now hopefully Marin doesn't view her parents as over sized, smelly business travelers, but still, it's no fun being cramped. Nevertheless we got through it. We had a wonderful week with my mom, Uncle Kevin (once Marin realized that Uncle Kevin is not the boogie man) and seeing so many of our friends was a real treat! We spent Friday night down in San Diego. It was my 30th B-day and my first night away from Marin. It was not too bad on both counts! 30 is not horrible and I was very much at ease knowing that Marin was in VERY good hands with her Grandma Mac. Of course the approximately 10 beers I consumed helped ease me right out of my 20's and into the 30's whilst baby was 100 miles away:) We saw our good friends Nick and Erin Sinnokrak who surprised us with a FANTASTIC San Diego care package - THANK YOU!! How can we ever repay you?! We also saw Mike and Theresa Blundell and my Uncle Randy. It was great to see them all and we had a very fun time at The Field, as usual. The following evening (still a bit hungover) we had a last minute mini reunion with some of my good friends from high school, Jen and Katie and Katie's husband, Rob. We had a hilarious time catching up while enjoying drinks made by Rob with his very own new French liqueur, St~Germain -- very delicious and it's coming soon to a bar near you (well, as long as you don't live in Mississippi, that is)! Anyhow, our time spent with friends always seems too short, but we are so thankful for even those few short moments.

One thing we are a bit puzzled about is how it is that nearly everyone we ran in to during this trip ended up sending us home with some form of alcohol. Seriously. We had to figure out a way to squeeze 3 bottles of wine, 4 large bottles of local San Diego beer and one bottle of St~Germain in to our suitcase (remember the NO CARRYING ON LIQUIDS rule). Yes, we found a way and we are pleased to announce that none of the bottles broke!! But getting back to the puzzle, we can't decide if our friends and family just think we are total lushes or is it simply that you all are true sympathizers. You must think: my word, how are they ever going to survive living in Mississippi? What can I do to help them.....hhhhhmmmm, let me think...... I know! Alcohol!! Well, whatever the reason, I'll have you know that we are truly grateful for your kind gifts. Truth be told, a couple of weeks before our trip back to California, Tom brought home our first "wine in a box" which currently resides next to the milk on the top shelf in our fridge. I know, I know. First it's a few "y'alls" uttered here and there, then it's the boxed wine and next thing you know we are straight up red necks(not that there's anything wrong with that...?). Well, thanks to y'alls nice gifts, we may be able to slow the progression, at least a bit ;)
Here is a link to some photos from our trip. ENJOY!

Three Videos from Marin!

Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

Most Exciting Basketball Final EVER!!!...........

APRIL FOOLS!! Seriously, I'm kidding, of course. I mean talk about BORING! Who isn't sick of Florida and Ohio State? Is this football or basketball?! What the heck is going on? Somebody please put an end to this.

After The Jayhawks devastating loss last weekend, Tom and Rob had to head to Jacksonville, FL for a week at the boat. In my fog of basketball depression, Leea was kind enough to invite Marin and me to go with her to THE BEACH! Her Aunt has a beautiful beach house right on the sand in Orange Beach, AL. So we took the two little girls (Sally the dog and Marin) down to the beach to spend a few days while the guys were gone. The weather was fantastic and after my first visit to the gulf of Mexico, I have to say that it is quite nice. It is very different from California beaches, but wow, it still felt so much more like home than Meridian, MS ever will!! It was wonderful to be next to the water again and breath the sea salt air. Also, I saw and visited my first Target and Starbucks in over 8 months! Ahhhhhh, civilization. It was a real treat for us. This is what I whispered to Marin while I was waiting for my latte to be made: "Marin, this is Starbucks. You've never been here before and we do not have one of these where we live, but this is a very, very happy place for your Mom and Dad." The people standing around me looked at me like I was on drugs. Shoot, I felt like I was on drugs because I was so excited!!

Anyhow, needless to say, we had a blast at the beach with Aunt Leea and cousin Sally. Next up we are off to CALIFORNIA to visit Grandma Mac and Uncle Kevin for Easter and to give ourselves a quick San Diego fix.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Ya'll

Headline News

The lead story of yesterday's morning news here in Meridian -- New Super Wal-Mart Opens Today -- Yipee!! So, this is Meridian's third Wal-mart store and while it is nice to have a new, cleaner Wal-Mart to shop at, it's a bit ridiculous that this town now has three Wal-Mart stores, ZERO Target stores and ZERO Starbuck's (I know, I keep bringing that up and it's probably getting old to a lot of you). But come on, what town in America doesn't have a Target, let alone a Starbucks!? So as much as I really don't like shopping at Wal-Mart (I dream about Target sometimes...) since moving to Meridian I have learned to just clench my teeth and force myself to feel lucky enough to have a variety of Wal-Marts to choose from. Indeed, Aunt Leea, Marin and I had to make the inaugural run to the new Wal-Mart to check things out. Here is a photo of Marin's and my reaction to the sparkling new store :)



Actually, this picture was taken at Wal-Mart, but it is Marin's reaction to the huge Tiger Wal-Mart mascot they had walking around the store. She LOVED him!! It was pretty hilarious. I guess we don't have to worry about her being the one kid at Disneyland who is horrified by a giant Donald Duck. Ahhh, the little things in life that can bring such joy.

Well, it's tourney time and our brackets have been filled out. It is sure to be an exciting tournament this year, with even a possibility (as slight as it may be -- no offense, Tom) of having Kansas play Notre Dame in the Final Four. For Marin's sake, I really hope that doesn't happen. I think it would be VERY confusing to her.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!

Go Jayhawks!

She's a Cruiser!

Marin got a walker about a month ago and up until now it has been a nice item for me to trip on and nothing more. We had figured that the mostly hard flooring would make it a fun way for her to get around and the one-story home eliminated any risk of stairway injuries. So we splurged at Wal-mart and got the bottom-of-line edition Tot Rider 2. After a few weeks of confused looks and attempts to jump from the seat (she has a similar toy where jumping is encouraged), Marin is cruising now. She explores the house, chases Calvin, and just about loses her mind if she gets hung up on anything. She has declared war on floor rugs (see picture above) and door stops. It's hard not to laugh when she attempts her Austin Powers-like turn around in the hallway pictured below. She loves to go, go, go. I fully expect her next move to be contacting the Mississippi DMV to get tags for her ride; consider yourself warned!

No more whining and I mean it.....................

........Does anybody wanna peanut? Happy Fat Tuesday! Here are some more pics.

70 & Sunny!

Scrap everything I wrote yesterday! Woohoo!

Marin is Tired of the Cold

This is going to be a hard sell. The geographic layout of the immediate family favors most of the northern or mountain (colder) states. I am not in the North and the highest altitude I've seen around here puts me about a mile below Park City. That's not the point. Mississippi should be warmer this time of year and I'm looking for some sympathy from the media, similar to the hourly "Upstate New York Update" or if that fails, from at least the average blog veiwer, in the form of compassionate and concerned comments.
Here's my point, these are the only days of the year that are supposed to be lovely, if not bearable, AND IT'S FREEZING! After doing absolutely no legitimate research, I've come to the conclusion that this year has been colder than usual and it's been this way for longer than usual. We really didn't get started with the cold until after Thanksgiving when some of you were hear to enjoy our comfortable November temps. Here it is mid-February and tonight is supposed to be in the 20s! If November is nice, why isn't January?
Pretty much the rest of the Cronley side is going to be colder than that tonight, yes. However, I'm going to bring this back up in August when the atomic clock runs out of digits to display the temperature and y'all are basking in the glow of a gentle afternoon sun and summer breeze.

New Pictures! (click to view)

Grandma Mac's February 2007 Visit to Mississippi

Blah Blah-blah Blah-blah

With all of the speeches lately (state of the union, state of the state, the Golden Globe acceptance speeches, etc), I hope you don't mind listening to one more.

California Dreaming

Yes, it's true. We have been here in Meridian just short of 6 months and the reality of our location has officially hit me. I miss California. I miss downtown San Diego (minus the bums and traffic, of course). I just miss all of our familiar and bustling surroundings, not to mention the beautiful pacific ocean. Maybe I'm just suffering from a bit of Seasonal Affect Disorder as a result of the gloomy, rainy and downright chilly weather we've had pretty consistently for the past few weeks, but on second thought -- no -- I'm pretty sure it's just Meridian. For the most part life in Meridian is very BORING. However, there are a few little gems that this city has to offer. For example, there is this nice park called Bonita Lakes that has great running trails in a very "scenic" environment where we enjoy running when the weather permits. Also, not too long ago we discovered this great bakery that has the best cookies!
Well, within the past 24 hours we've found out the following:

1. A human skull was found on one of the running trails at Bonita Lakes and the trails are closed pending the investigation.

2. The bakery with the fabulous cookies has gone out of business.

Next they are going to tell us that celebrating St. Patrick's Day is against the law in the state of Mississippi!

Needless to say, we don't leave the house much. It's sad, but true. We're looking forward to a trip to my mom's in April. I've already started counting down the days. The trip also just happens to coincide with my 30th birthday, so I just realized that ironically I am also counting down the remaining days of my 20's. Great, now I'm even more depressed. ha ha.

Thank goodness we have our adorable and hilarious baby girl to keep our spirits up!! Here are a couple of pictures: the first one is a shot of Marin in one of her favorite napping spots, our bathroom, which I just recently re-painted. The second one I took just after silly Marin had finished demolishing a cookie.

Our Best Attempt at Showing Off Marin's Tooth