Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Molly's growing!

Molly started army crawling this past Saturday!  She is just growing up TOO fast and getting around TOO easily!  There is no keeping her out of her sister's toys any longer!


Trying to play with Sadie's toys.


So intent!


She's also sitting up on her own really well now, though I don't have a picture of that, and had her 6 month check-up last Thursday.  She weighed 17 lbs 6 oz (70th percentile), measured 27 inches (90th percentile), with a 43.5 cm head circumference (70th percentile).  Dr. Miller asked if she was pulling herself up yet, which was met with a blank stare and a "huh?".  He said that as active as she is, he wouldn't doubt for her to be pulling herself up before she is crawling.  Oh goodness!  This second  baby is a mover!  He also said that she had quite the big personality for such a young age.  Um yeah.... we don't have calm, quiet children in this home.  She was laughing and talking the whole time we were in his office.  Every time he would touch the stethoscope to her chest or back she would let out a loud giggle.  She is always quite a delight to be around, but last week she also started really teething and has been pretty fussy from that and not wanting to nurse.  She seems to be having alot harder time with teething than Sadie did.  Poor girl.  Hopefully she'll get those first teeth REAL soon. 

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Mother's Day 2011




Mother's Day this year was spent with not just one wonderful daughter, but two! What could be better than that?! We had a nice, quiet weekend. I was treated to breakfast in bed on Sunday morning....a cream cheese muffin, strawberries, and juice. (Of course Sadie proceeded to eat most of the muffin and some strawberries, even though she had already eaten a muffin downstairs.) Along with breakfast was a card from all three, another one Sadie made at Miss Jane's, and a piece of paper where she drew some "S's" (her version at least....those darn S's are hard!), AND a strand of pearls with earrings :). We tried to go to lunch at Mitchell's Fish Market after church, but the girls weren't as interested in having a relaxing lunch out. While it was a somewhat fast paced lunch (as in "Gentlemen start your engines, here's your main course. You have 6.0 seconds to scarf it down before whining or fussiness commences, and you will be forced off the track for maintenance of your children."), we didn't leave before I was able to eat my yummy crabcakes. Delish!


Sadie broke it to me on Tuesday before Mother's Day that she was making (at Miss Jane's) a flower pot for Daddy for Mother's Day. Needless to say, she was quite confused as to what Mother's Day was and what a Mother is. We had some lengthy discussions that week about who the mothers were in our lives, and Daniel tried to explain to her what Mother's Day was. I think it finally sank in, but she is REALLY looking forward to Father's Day now! :)


Sisters!


Sadie really likes to hold Molly, and Molly LOVES her big sister.



Of course this is what generally happens....






Monday, May 16, 2011

We're BAAAAACK!

....maybe!


No one told us how busy and exhausting having two children would be....or maybe they did, and the full breadth of it never sank in! Hopefully I can get myself motivated to start updating this blog again so we have something to look back on and remember where we were in our lives when Molly was a baby and Sadie was 3. Just a few updates, thoughts, and some pictures....


1.) Yes, that's right, Sadie is THREE! We celebrated her birthday in style on March 26 with a tea party. Her little friends Janie, Makenzy and Makaley graced us with their presence and Sadie had a great time. She loves having friends over. So this was a true treat for her! She continues to be a very vocal, outspoken child. She spends alot of time pretending and telling Daniel and I where we fit into her world! She is finishing up with dance this month, took swim lessons last month, and is in soccer right now for 10 weeks. I think I overcompensated for our lack of activity throughout the winter by over-involving her in activities for April....lesson learned! Dance continues to be a major highlight, and her little class is preparing for their dance recital the first week of June. Swim lessons were a bust, though she did learn everything she SHOULD be doing in order to swim! She can't swim herself yet (or jump in or stick her face under water or lie on her back in the pool), but she can now teach swim lessons (verbatim!) to her imaginary students in the bath tub! Soccer has been fun and is another great opportunity for Sadie to work on participating in a group and listening to an adult (something she needs much work in!). Her days involve lots of puzzles, reading, going to pretend "dance class" and "swim lessons" in our home, her babies, helping me, and having an opinion on everything. Her latest obsession in life is what my mom called "initial sound recognition", where she constantly is telling us what sounds words start with. She's mostly into M's, S's, and B's, with some D's, P's, and a few other letters here and there. It really brings a whole new element to our world! :)







2.) Molly is now 6 months old! Can you believe it? I can't! She is a PURE joy to be around. She is such a wonderful baby! She is on the verge of sitting by herself. Of course she can sit for short periods of time while monitored. She rolls all over the place to get to what she needs. She's a laugher! She laughs when I cough or look at her even. She laughs when Sadie whines or says something defiantly. She laughs at herself too. What JOY! She enjoys talking (she comes by that honestly! :)), and can be quite loud. She's not much of a sleeper though, unlike the rest of her family. I've slowly been able to get her on a general schedule, but the girl just doesn't want to take a long nap. She started cereal shortly after 4 months old to try to get some tummy troubles under control. She hated it! Once we started fruits though, we slowly added cereal back in, and she's been fine since. She is a very messy eater though and likes to have her fist in her mouth in between each bite. She has been through all the stage 1 foods and moved on to stage 2 and is eating 3 meals a day now. Like her sister, she doesn't care much for pureed green beans. She also certainly looks alot like Sadie at this point....and we hear that alot. I think that's great. I'm glad my children look like sisters. We of course know the differences...and they are many, as both girls are pure individuals.







3.) And finally a lesson learned....the start of winter in Indiana is NOT the ideal time to have a baby! Whew! While I can't believe Molly has already been with us 6 months, I can 100% believe that our winter lasted a solid 6 months (if you can follow that logic). It was The. Longest. Winter. Of. My. Life. We are so very glad for Spring to have finally arrived in our little world. We fully took advantage of all the nice, warm weather last week and very much lived outside....eating lunches and dinners, playing, walking, riding bikes, working around the yard. It has been quite the breath of fresh air to our stale, closed-in home that we have stared at for far too many days this winter. I say this even as temps are in the 50's now and the forecast shows rain and not much improvement for warmth for a few more days, but it has still breathed new life into my lungs and helped me to finally feel like we're functioning and doing around here! Like I said before, two kids has been quite the challenge for me at least. We are grateful that Miss Jane has allowed Sadie to go play with the other kids 2 days a week for the better part of the last 6 months. Having babies makes me very homesick and wish for the presence of any of our family nearby....even if they were only here to sit and visit and enjoy my children with me....what a gift that would be!


Like our lives, our hearts are very full right now! We can feel and recognize the great blessing the good Lord has bestowed on us in our marriage, our girls, and our faith. Life is wonderful, and I'm looking forward to updating the blog with pics from Sadie's birthday, visits from family, Easter (maybe even Valentines!), and our every day lives real SOON!