Sitting?

Being a math person, I like to have rules or definitions to abide by as I make a conclusion. So, I wonder... how do you know when a baby has reached the milestone of sitting? Is there a certain length of time that she stays upright for before toppling? Or, should the baby pull herself into a sitting position?

Molly can sit for short times unassisted. If she is focusing at something at eye level or higher, she is pretty stable. However, she usually looks at a toy on the floor and leans over to grab it.

Enjoy these pictures:

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! I awoke with a pink rose by my pillow. Great job, Ryan!

Molly has been busy "crawling" backwards. She spends a lot of time on her belly and ends up pushing herself backwards. I don't think she realizes that she's doing it. My dad just screwed her shelf to the wall, so it is safe for her to play near it. I turned her toy box on its side so she could pull the toys out. She started on the far right by the doll. Look where she ended up!

"Uh oh! What did I do?!?"

"Yeah! Look what I did!"

Have a happy Valentine's Day! I love the poetic beginning of 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter in the Bible... Love is patient, love is kind, etc.). The first three verses are:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
What a beautiful reminder that what we accomplish is never as important as how well we love. You can read the whole chapter online by clicking here.

Bathtub and High Chair

Molly has been beginning to eat some solid foods. We started out with a little rice cereal about two weeks ago. She does a really good job of opening her mouth when the spoon approaches. She also swallows the food really well. Of course, some of it is pushed out by her tongue, but usually it is a very small amount. After we began giving her the cereal, she began spitting up quite a bit. So, we stopped the cereal. I read online that the grains can be more difficult to digest than fruit which has special enzymes to aid digestion. So, I tried giving her a little mashed avocado. She seems to like the creamy texture.

Molly had a little earache last week and has been on antibiotics. Giving her the medicine is much more difficult than feeding her solids! The dose is one teaspoon which sounds like a small amount, but it is actually equivalent to six times the amount of Tylenol recommended for babies at her age. So, when I give her Tylenol it is one dropperful, and this antibiotic is like six of those droppersful! Well, the antibiotic has made her go from a "two bowel movement a week baby" to a "four BM a DAY baby"! As a result, we've been giving her some banana. Surprisingly, she seems to prefer the unsweet cereal and avocado.

Molly also has had a couple "baby popsicles". My mom made a bunch of cubes of frozen peach puree. Last Thursday when Molly wasn't feeling well, we were at my parents. She was crying, and we couldn't find anything to soothe her. I suggested putting an ice cube in a washcloth. Sometimes she just likes to suck on something cold. Well, mom asked if she could give her a peach cube. We tried it, and immediately she stopped fussing. She sucked and sucked until it was all gone. We were at my parents' again on Sunday, and she got another popsicle. However, I tried to give her one at home, and she wasn't interested! For now we are going to stick to the banana, avocado and peach cubes before we introduce a new food. In a few weeks I'll probably try some type of vegetable.

Molly loves taking a bath. I put a towel under her so that she doesn't slip around. She likes for me to support her in a sitting position so she can grab at a toy in the water or to play with the water coming from the faucet. However, she also likes to try to put the wet towel into her mouth. She does the same thing when she lies on her belly in the tub. We end her bathtime by laying her on her back. She gets really mellow and lies still in the tub. Sometimes she'll splash a little with her legs or arms, but she usually just looks at me and remains still. It is quite amazing because she is usually such an active baby.

This is Molly with my parents on my dad's birthday.

One of the great things about Fort Worth is that while it is a large modern city, it is still surrounded by ranchland. A week ago there was actually a wildfire in the city because there are grassy fields in various parts of Fort Worth. We live in a busy part of the city that is an entertainment and business hub. However, running the Trinity Trail from our home toward downtown, we pass fields of cattle. The picture shows the wide open spaces just 5 miles down the freeway from our exit. So, we have country in the city.

Pangea

Once in awhile I will be in a discussion where someone will ask how I reconcile my spiritual beliefs with what I know about science. Good question. Really I'm just a learner in both areas. I definitely think that God's word is infallible, but it does leave some room for science to explain some of the details.

I've been going to a Bible study during which we watch a video of Kay Arthur. Well, on one of the videos she was talking about the tower of Babel. If you don't know, the towel of Babel is the story in which humans were building a tower to try to reach heaven. Because of their intent to obtain a godlike status, the Lord confused their language. As a result, the people were scattered according to their language. This is where we get the expression "to babble" meaning to speak senselessly.

What you probably learned in science class was that the continents were once together as one giant land mass called Pangea. Some Biblical scholars think that Pangea is mentioned in Gen. 1:9,10. When God was creating the Earth, He said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into ONE PLACE (emphasis mine), and let the dry land appear," and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters he called seas, and God saw that it was good. These scholars argue that if the waters were gathered into one place, then the land also must be located in one place, hence the passage is referring to Pangea.

So then, the tower of Babel happened and people separated according to their language. After this, in Gen. 10:25 it says, "Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg (means division) for in his days the earth was divided." The word for earth in Gen 1:10 and 10:25 is the same, erets. The word for divided is palag which merely means divided or split. So after the people were scattered according to their language, the continents split apart. As a result, people of many languages were spread to various parts of the Earth. Only God knows how the continents were split, or how the timing of this all occured, but there is a possible reconciliation of a scientific belief and God's word.

Mawly

Often when Ryan or I are introducing Molly to someone we meet around town, they will misunderstand her name and ask, "Miley? Like Miley Cyrus?" or they will simply say, "Miley, that's such a cute name!" As a result, I've been trying to really accentuate the short "o" sound as I say her name. Yesterday, in Ace Hardware, a familiar scenario unfolded. The cashiers peered closer to the baby in order to get a good look. They asked her name. I responded, "Molly". Like usual, one of the girls told me how much she liked the name Miley. I explained to them my dilemma. One of the girls suggested that Texans would say her name with an "aw" sound instead of an "ah" sound. She told me, "Mawly, like the mall." So, it would be M"aw"lly instead of M"ah"lly. It was an epiphany to me as I left the store and pondered this. Of course, a fine girl from Texas wouldn't walk a mile, instead she'd walk a "moll". Additionally, a child here would play with a "dawl" not a "doll". So, as I drive, I'm repeatedly saying "Mahlly" and "Mawlly" in order to discern the difference. When we midwesterners say her name, we make the vowel sound in the top of our mouth and toward the front. When I say "Mawlly" I can feel the air resonating much lower in my throat. Ah ha! Finally, it is clear to me why they call it a southern dr"aw"l!