Summer Days

Here is our park visit from a mom's perspective: We met Xander and his mom at the park this morning. It feels good to have a social arrangement, but we are so busy taking care of our little ones that there is little time for conversation. Our babies are also too little to interact much with each other, so there is very little social aspect to this play date. Before I unstrap Molly from the stroller, I subject her to a slathering of baby sunscreen and the affixing of her shoes. Finally it would seem like she'd get some freedom to explore. We sit in the pebbles that fill the playground area. She is very content for a minute or two to merely let the stones fall between her fingers. You, astute reader, are likely correctly predicting that she quickly grew curious about the taste of the stones. The next several minutes are a wrestling match as I try to pry a pebble from her mouth, empty her tightly clenched fists of stones, and prevent her from grabbing any others. Remarkably, I succeed.
Making feeble conversation with my friend, we climb, babies in tow, a top the multifunction play center. We strategically place our bodies to block any places where the babes could fall. They spend several minutes deciding that they each desire the toy that the other is holding. Amazingly, their inability to share does not result in any anger or tears. A discussion about whether Molly and Xander are able use the slide unaccompanied, but not unassisted, comprised the next few minutes. We come to the conclusion that they probably are able, but the friction of the slide on their bare legs might hurt them. Xander and his mom climb down while Molly and I slide together.
We amble to the baby swings, examine them to make sure the hornet that had been sitting on the swing had not made a nest inside. Molly begins her crinkly-nosed, squinty-eyed breathy laugh as she begins riding the pendulum motion. I enjoy the moment with her briefly, but then run to the diaper bag to obtain my camera and her hat. Amazingly, she doesn't protest about the hat. My second attempt at affixing it works. As expertly as I try to photograph the swing in motion, I fail. I decide that it is more fun to watch her swing and laugh with her than try to capture an adequate photo. So, I spend a few minutes pushing her swing and watching her smile. We quickly get hot as the temperatures soar into the 90s. So, we return to the play structure to enjoy its shade. Molly is looking cute in her hat, so I snap some pictures as she stands and plays. Since we are getting dusty and sweaty, we decide to head home. Next week we'll try something cleaner, like toddler story-time.

Farmer's Market

This diaper goes on my bottom? But it is so fun to play with!

See me wobble as I walk!

Good Golly

Molly loves the water. She loves taking a bath in her ducky tub. She also loves to go to the pool. When we get back, she gets a sink bath. We can't get her undressed fast enough when the water is running. She is frantic to get into the water!

We do style Molly's hair, although you wouldn't know it by these last two pictures. Sometimes I even put a bow or barrette in her hair. Today, she was wearing a turquoise and periwinkle jumpsuit with flowers on it as well as a purple flowered barrette. A man at Borders asked, "How old is he?" This happens to every baby, but it is just so funny when it does! As you can see, Molly has discovered climbing. She likes to climb on this chair to reach for the blinds.
Molly loves to eat. She eats Cheerios throughout the day. She eats little pieces of food off of her high chair, mostly cheese and Cheerios. She likes all kinds of cheese, like her mama. We cut melon into tiny cubes and feed them to her by spoon. She eats hummus by sucking it off of a cracker, or I break a cracker into tiny bits and feed them to her with a little hummus on it.
She is walking a lot. She started walking when she was 9 1/2 months old. I'm not sure if I mentioned that in a previous post. She is pretty unsteady, but she LOVES walking. She sometimes laughs and grins as she toddles. Crawling is still her main source of transportation, but she's walking more and more.
She is very interested in books. She plays with her books more than anything else. Pulling the books and toys off of her shelf is a favorite activity. She pages through them and looks at the pictures. Her favorite one is a lift the flap book about God watching over the animals and people as we sleep. She always reaches for it, even when it is on the bottom of a stack. She looks at it probably 10 or 20 times a day.
We are so thankful for our baby and love spending every day with her. We pray often that God would give us wisdom as parents and that He'd continue to give her a spirit of peace and joy.
Please pray for my Uncle Ron. He is suffering from cancer and is in need of a miracle. Thanks!

Ryan's Birthday

Just a quick post because it's bedtime. These are some pictures from the park last week. Ryan got a new cell phone recently, and it has a slot for a memory card. So, these are pix from his phone that we then saved to our computer. Fun!
Ryan babysat this morning when I worked at the GAP. Then we went to a running store and got him some shorts and ordered some shoes. We ate out at La Playa Maya, a Mexican restaurant specializing in seafood. I had ceviche. It is like a fish salad. Very yummy. I had it on our honeymoon in Los Cabos, too. We then watched a video after Molly was in bed. I had fun on Ryan's birthday. I hope he did, too. I did make him a pretty good breakfast- egg casserole with hash browns topped with an egg mixture containing bacon, mushrooms, tomato, and cheese. I served it with a side dish of fresh raspberries. Yum!

No More House

Sadly we withdrew the offer on our house yesterday. It just had too many repairs that needed to be done. Our insurance company wouldn't insure it with the roof in its current condition. It also had some original clay pipes in the plumbing. Clay pipes don't usually last this long, so surely they would have failed while we owned the home. To put it very nicely, our realtor wasn't the most helpful during this process. At one point, I told him I felt like he was representing the seller as he continued to tell us it was a great house. We are not too upset; we're just feeling gun shy about looking for another house. However, we're relieved to be out of this position and eager to be saying adios to our realtor. I'll write soon about some of Molly's new milestones!