Pictures

I realized I hadn't posted pictures in awhile. Some of these are from Molly's birthday a few weeks ago.

Xander helping Molly with her present.

Pretty girl in green.

Messy face from her birthday oreos. This particular one had white chocolate coating it. She recently ate one with milk chocolate. It looked like she had a brown mustache and goatee! I'll post one of those soon!

Getting political with daddy. I'm not really caring a lot right now about the presidential race. I'm angry with both of them (McCain & Obama) for supporting the bailout proposal. But, back to the baby pictures...

With her second cousins!

That's What Brothers Are For

Molly received several new books for her birthday. I'll give you one guess... which one is from my brother, Molly's Uncle Tim?




Yep, that's right... Walter, the Farting Dog. Somehow I missed it when this book hit the bestseller list. I especially enjoy the nicely illustrated clouds of flatulence on nearly every page. Do I want Molly using the word "fart"? Guess that's what Uncle Tim had in mind!

In Molly's World

Since Molly turned one last week, she's really taken off with her sign language skills. I have been doing some signs rather inconsistently for a few months. The last couple of days she has mastered the most important ones, "Eat", "More", and "All Done". For "All Done" she waves good-bye. The sign is somewhat similar to that, and I guess that "All Done" and "good-bye" are somewhat alike in their meanings. It is really helpful for me to know when Molly's hungry. When she's getting fidgety in her high chair, I ask her if she wants more or if she's all done. She usually answers with a sign. Often I'll only ask a question verbally, and she'll reply with a sign.

After her meals, I'm trying to clean her up in her high chair and give her her toothbrush while she sits there. It is too dangerous for her to walk around with it in her mouth, but she likes to chew on the bristles. I just put a little toothpaste on it for her to "brush" her teeth. It gives me a chance to clean up a little while she's still strapped in.

Our church just started an 8:30 am service that we've been attending. The nursery has about 5-8 kids of all different ages. There aren't enough kids yet to have a class that is uniquely babies. Molly has been the only one less than two or so. When we were dropping her off this morning we heard some excited little voices, "Molly's here!" It is so fun to know that the older kids like having her there and that she's got a little place to belong!

Fisher Price House Party

I was selected to host a Fisher Price Play Date from houseparty.com. This website organizes parties sponsored by brand name products. They send you a FREE party package, and all you have to do is invite your friends and make some snacks. It is not about selling anything, just creating a buzz about new products. The party package I received was over the top. They sent four big new toys for kids to check out. Each child that came got to take home a goody bag that had a small toy in it. I gave away one of the big toys as a door prize. I'm going to keep two for Molly, maybe I'll put one away until Christmas. I might ebay the fourth! It is incredulous to me that we get such nice toys for free without having to sell anything. I guess the marketing strategy works for them. Thank you Fisher-Price! Here are some pictures of the fun:

Happy Birthday Girl

Molly turned one yesterday. I've heard that a lot of moms feel sad about this milestone. She is definitely a toddler now, but she is more of a baby than ever. I'm not sad, just loving every minute of being a mom.

She really, really likes attention from Ryan and me. She loves it when I rock her for a few minutes before bed. Previously, she would squirm and not want to merely be held. As she's getting older and more aware of her surroundings, she is showing more love to others. She'll kiss my arms quite often. Today she just started sucking gently on my finger after she pulled my hand to her mouth. We were relaxing on the floor after dinner, and Ryan was lying on his back. I laid down next to him on my side and started patting his chest. Pat, pat, pat, pat. Pat, pat, pat, pat. Molly looked at us for a second, came over on the other side of him and started doing the same thing! We cracked up; it was so cute!

I enjoy my time with Molly every day. Occasionally, people will ask me if I can stand being at home every day. I love it. Molly is so happy, and she keeps me entertained. I don't feel like she's growing up too fast because I get to be here for all of it. Time doesn't fly like it would if I were really busy. Time doesn't drag either, because I genuinely enjoy it. I used to think that my favorite stage of childrearing were the newborn months. I asked my assistant principal a few years ago what her favorite age was when she was raising her children. When she told me that she enjoyed all of them, I was reluctant to believe her. Now, I'm realizing that as a parent there is a healthy fascination for your children at every stage. I have also heard that once they start talking, many parents wish they could go back. I might update my thoughts then.

Babies are always changing their eating, sleeping, and playing habits. At her age, Molly is doing several different things every day. My nature is that of an analyzer, and so I enjoy studying and wondering about her habits. Is she down to one long nap a day or are two better? She used to swallow the tiny pieces of diced food whole, now she's mashing them up in her mouth better. Is that why her mouth gets so full of food? Does that sound mean she wants a drink of water or she's done eating?

Happy Birthday Molly! Mommy loves you! I'm so thankful for a wonderful year, and I pray that the next one is just as much fun.

Go State!

Molly is an MSU fan already! She got a package with Michigan State things from her Grandpa KK this week.

She also got this fun tin of white chocolate covered oreos. We'll let her try one on Monday. It's going to take Molly a long time to finish all of these!
Molly loves to check out new things. She just entertained herself for several minutes with an empty Cheez-it box. When she knows she has something she isn't supposed to have, she takes off with it and walks really fast to her room and hides behind her pink chair! She loves to try to lift and carry really heavy things like pillows that are bigger than her. One of her favorite games is being chased by mommy or daddy around the dining room table or pink chair in her room. I've already gotten a few laps of crawling around the chair on four different occasions this morning!
Molly is an expert sleeper. She's down to one nap a day, I think. She woke up yesterday at 8:45, slept from 12:30-3:15 in the afternoon and slept last night from 6:30 until I went in to check on her at 9:35 this morning! For her nap yesterday, she even fell asleep willingly in her crib while there were still about 6 guests still here from her playdate! So, she's been very happy this morning after all of that sleep.