Sunday, January 10, 2010

Eleven Months!!


Oh my sweet girl just keeps growing and growing! Eleven months have gone by...that means almost 1 year, which means almost 5 years, which means she's almost headed to kindergarten, then she'll be having sleepovers, playing sports, driving, graduating....yikes. Maybe I should just slow down and stop worrying about her growing up and just enjoy her being a sweet baby girl! And let me tell ya, I sure do enjoy it. Even though she won't let you hold her like a baby anymore unless she's sick or really sleepy...anyway, here's what Mollie Michelle is up to at 11 months!

1. CRAWLING!!! Yep, she can do it. I was certain she'd completely skip this developmental milestone, but one day about two weeks ago she just decided to go for it. It's kinda funny; it's half normal crawl and half bear crawl. She's decided she can get a little more oomph out of her motions doing it that way I guess. Let the explorations begin!

2. Almost walking: She's continued to strengthen her abilities in this area and loves to walk with you holding her hands or pushing her new baby doll stroller. I love watching her walk with that thing. We've decided it looks like she's window shopping; she walks around with a very content, pleasant look on her face, (as if she's humming a little tune to herself) and stops to look at things on the shelf, then moves on to the next new item in her view. Her confidence in this area is growing, too, and I'm sure she's VERY close to letting go and taking steps on her own!

Dressed up for a day out on the town!

3. Spitting up: GONE! (Well, almost) I can't even believe I haven't had to put a bib on her in weeks. It was like over the course of a week, she went from soaking several bibs and burp rags a day to only having a little dribble here and there. I have no idea what it was that made it stop, I guess she just grew out of it, but it is SO NICE! I can handle a little dribble here and there as opposed to everyone in her vicinity smelling of vomit. Now you can see what's on the front of all her cute little shirts :o)


4. Talking/babbling: She's quite a talker, especially when she's very interested in what she's playing with. She's still talking in her "sentences" and has added a few new syllables. I hear "Dadadadadada" a lot, and this week she's really started saying "mamamama" a lot, too. I think that's mostly because she's been sick and only says Mama when she's really mad or doesn't feel good. She's recently added "nnnnnga" to her vocabulary. Not sure what this means yet, but we've decided it sounds like she's speaking some kind of German dialect when she repeats this syllable over and over. Other things she continues to say: Hi Daddy!, uh-oh (haven't heard it in a while though), and she'll sometimes mimic what we say, though those words haven't become a permanent part of her vocab yet.

5. Really loves books: This we've known since she was born; she's always been quite content sitting in your lap reading books before bedtime and naps. However, lately she's started to show preference for books as opposed to other things. For example: when we're reading before bed, instead of either squirming to get down or getting distracted by my necklace or something, she's reaching over and grabbing another book to read. Another example: out of all the presents she opened over Christmas, she squealed with delight when she opened a gift and books were there! I have several books at her reach in the living room and she'll crawl over and pull those out to "read"...she'll babble while turning the pages and have a "deep thought" look on her face. I hope this continues!

New book from Santa!

6. First doctors visit for being sick: Unfortunately, this week we had our first (two) visits to the doctor for being sick. The poor kid had a fever all week and was VERY lethargic and fussy, but with no other symptoms. Since the fever lasted for more than 3 days, they had to rule out a urinary track infection, which involved a catheter and a tearful momma :o( It made me sad that they had to do something rather invasive, but we at least had to rule it out. No UTI was present, but then she developed a stuffy nose and cough. So we're going on day 6 of being quarantined. Her fever is down now, so I think we'll be ok to venture back out in public tomorrow.

This baby did NOT feel good!

7. First weekend away from Mom and Dad: As you may have read in the last post, we went away to celebrate Jason's (early) birthday child-free. She stayed home with her Momma Shelly and Poppa Kelly and they took great care of her while we were gone. We even did ok with out her :o) More weekends with grandparents are sure to come!! Y'all just get ready!

8. Almost weaned from nursing: At first, I had no idea how long breastfeeding would last for us, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. Turns out, it's worked out quite well for us and I'm glad we've been able to keep it going this long. For the past 2 months, Mollie's been supplemented with formula, too, and we've gradually increased the formula and decreased the nursings. We're now down to once a day and plan to be weaned by her birthday! Time for big-girl sippy cups only!

9. Fine tuning her fine motor skills: Mollie continues to figure out more things to do with her little hands. Back to her love of books, she is mastering the art of turning pages. She does a great job with the board books. This morning I sat and watched her turn pages in a magazine I had laying on the table: with that look of deep thought back on her face, she very gently and carefully used her thumb and finger to turn one page at a time.

10. Teeth: Mollie now has 3 teeth, all on the bottom. She's very close to having 4 on the bottom, and her top 4 teeth look like they could break through any day. Sounds painful if you ask me! So we've been giving her frozen fruit in her mesh feeder with her meals so that she can gum away those teething pains! She loves it and it works :o)

Two (visible) teeth and counting!

11. Kisses: Mollie still loves to give kisses. I think it is the sweetest thing ever. Even though she gets drool all over you, it's still sweet. She got two baby dolls for Christmas and the first thing she does each time is give them kisses while saying "ooohhhh". Is the nurturer already coming out in her? Is this evidence of gender roles already playing out? Did we teach her this or is it inherent? Hahaha, all those child development classes are coming back to mind and it's fun having a live example to observe!

Ooohhh sweet kisses!

Well, we sure our proud of our little Mollie and feel that she's on the verge of having some major breakthroughs in her development! I'm very excited to see what she'll accomplish next. Bring on the birthday cake, this girl's almost one!!!

Having a great Sunday afternoon watching football with her daddy!!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Happy Birthday Jason!



I know what you're thinking: Happy birthday Jason?? Wait, that can't be right. His birthday isn't until March! Yes, I know that. However, we decided to celebrate his big 3-0 birthday in style! That meant doing it in January.

Jason's always told me that he wishes his birthday was in the fall. I assume that has something to do with football season. I guess he's always wanted a football themed birthday party?? Who knows. But that's what he got this year!! Anyone who knows Jason well knows that he loves those Dallas Cowboys. He's been a fan through the good times and the bad, yet has never been to a game. So we thought, why not send him to a game for his 30th birthday?

I thought this was a great opportunity for a big surprise. I love surprises, and I love it when other people are surprised. So we (all the parents were in on it) kept it a secret for a few months, got the whole weekend planned out (including some last minute snafus due to the NFL changing game times on me!!!) , and Jason found out just in time to get excited and prepare himself for the big game!

We left on the 2nd and drove to Fort Worth to meet up with our friends Jocelyn, Philip, and Levi. They were gracious enough to let us stay at "Chateau de Boyer" and join us for dinner! Thanks guys, you rock :o)

Loving on Levi

Dinner was half of Jason's surprise. Any of you ever heard of Texas de Brazil? I'm sad I didn't take any pictures while we were there, but it was amazing. The most awesome "salad" bar I've ever seen (I could have easily enjoyed several meals from the selections they had), and the most delicious meat (pork, chicken, lamb, beef) I've ever had. They bring it to you on huge skewers and slice off as much as you want, as many times as you want. Needless to say we were miserable in the end, but enjoyed every bit of it. It's definitely Jason's kind of place.

We then waddled home with our full bellies and watched TTU win the Alamo Bowl! It was a great night.

Pre-meal photo shoot!

The next day we made our way over to the new Cowboys Stadium (wow, by the way) and tried to soak it all in.












We were that close!!


Impressive. We made our way down to our awesome seats (row 13, lowest section right behind the visitor sideline) and enjoyed every minute of it. The Cowboys even pulled off a win over the Philadelphia Eagles! It was a great night to be there and I'm glad we had the opportunity.


Great view!!!

The screen was so big sometimes I forgot to watch the game live!

I'm pretty sure this trip was "30th birthday worthy". When Jason got tears in his eyes while we were waiting on the game to start, I knew he was a happy boy :o)

Having a great time at the game!

On another note, this was also our first weekend away from Mollie! She stayed home with her Momma Shelly and Poppa Kelly, and enjoyed an evening with Briana. It felt great knowing she was in good hands because it was hard enough to leave her behind! I think it was good for all of us; we all had a great time. But we sure did miss her!

Happy early birthday sweet boy! I love you and your new Cowboys hat!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


Yes, Christmas and New Years have come and gone. However, we've been quite busy so I'm just now getting around to an update. Here's what the holiday season was like in our house:

- Christmas Eve we battled the ice and snow trying to get around town; it was slick and cold!! Sadly, our Christmas Eve services at church (and at most churches around town) were canceled due to the ice, so we spent the evening with Granny, which is always nice. Snow and ice aside, we did make our way to City Bank where Santa was eagerly awaiting to wish Mollie a merry 1st Christmas! She wasn't very impressed, to say the least.
Dear Santa, you are scary. Love, Mollie.

- Christmas day we woke up to celebrate Jesus' Birthday as a family of 3! Then we ventured back out into the cold and headed to Mary Ann and Paul's (Gigi and Papa) house for a day of fun, gingerbread houses, family, laziness, presents, and good food. It's way more fun to open presents now that Maddox and Mollie are around; they get so excited...even if it is just about paper and boxes! Unfortunately, I left my camera at home so I didn't capture any of the good stuff :o(
Stockings, made by my most talented mother :o)

ohhh, paper I'm ALLOWED to tear!!!

Check out my new big-girl booster chair!

- Sunday we enjoyed some time with Bruce and Kelly (Pop Pop and Nanny) at their lovely new house! It sure was nice and even though the house is new, it already felt so "homey". Santa made a stop there, as well, and we all ate way too much food. We had a fun time watching all the kids (old and young) play with their new toys! Once again, I forgot my camera. Oops.

- New years day my mom and dad (Momma Shelly and Poppa Kelly) drove down to celebrate Christmas/Dad's Birthday/Kyler's Birthday with us. It was a blast spending time with everyone, including Kyler and his girlfriend Samantha. We enjoyed building another gingerbread house (deemed "Trailer Park Gingerbread" because of how "lovely" it looked), making paninis with our new panini grill (yum), watching lots of football, playing with all of our new toys, and watching Mollie play with hers!
Mollie's rockin her new outfits!

More paper!!! This was an ongoing theme over the past couple of weeks...

Trailer Park Gingerbread

Merry Christmas Brother!!

Merry Christmas Momma Shelly!!

Happy Birthday Dad!! He's 52 and Fabulous :o)

On the 2nd, we enjoyed yet another celebration...however, it was awesome enough to deserve it's own post! And I'm sleepy, so you'll have to check back later for the scoop!