Happy Birthday to me!

Well just as an update from my last blog, Molly has slept better the past two days. Sunday night (as a birthday treat for her mother I guess) she slept the whole night with no interruptions. Last night she slept decent, but with some interruptions, but nothing I couldn't deal with. I appreciate the sympathy, but I should probably be clear that during the 4 hours that she was awake on Saturday night, she wasn't inconsolable for me...only for Jonny. My problem that night was that she would not stay asleep alone in her crib. If I was rocking her in the chair, she was fine...If I was rubbing her back while she laid in the crib, she was fine. The second I tried to stop doing those things and leave or God forbid, have her father try to help her out...she would wake up and scream. Shitty sleep habits aside, we've been having a lot of fun lately.
I'll start with some father's day pictures. We went to Jonny's mom's house for brunch and Molly had a grand time hanging out with her Aunt and Uncle, Grannies and Papas and her favorite cousins.

Madeline and Molly

Jonathan, Molly and Daddy

Also worth mentioning, is that we've started swim classes. We've made it through a week and have one more to go. She's a little reluctant to enjoy the classes, but she's mostly a good sport. Luckily she has her buddies Grayson and Kate to help her out. One day my mom was able to come and take some pictures.

Getting ready to take the plunge with Grayson and his Gram:

Watching Kate "blow bubbles" or maybe she's taking a sip.

Her good humor ends at the mouth of the frog. She really wasn't interested in doing this again.

"All done" as she frequently tells me during class...she's always ready for her lunch and nap after class.

Our whole house (except for the bonus room upstairs) is open for business. We haven't furnished it yet, but it is done and the house has passed it's final inspection with COY...phew! There is nothing a kid likes more than an open area to run in, so we just let her go. I think she's going to be sad when we start putting furniture and such in her "baby run".

Checking out her new room with the cool new rug that grandpa gave us for my birthday.

"Troll on the bridge"= Gran denying access to the stairs.

Since I wrote before about Molly's orneriness, I thought I would tell you what I'm trying to do about it. Since I really got a lot out of the book "Happiest Baby on the Block", I thought I would check out the sequel "Happiest Toddler on the Block". So far I really like it and think it's making a difference. I won't get into all of the details here, but it basically gives you a technique for talking to a screaming child. I think the thing that helps me the most is just having something else to do besides being pissed off. It's nice to feel like you have a plan of action other than being mad. Especially since communicating with a toddler isn't without it's complications.

I'll end on a positive note (I think anyhow). I turned 30 yesterday! Don't feel any different, so I don't think I'll worry about it too much. I'm too busy chasing Molly around to care about how old I am.

iPod

Well it's 3in the morning and Molly is having her second crappy night in a row. Jonny is with her right now so I'm just listening to her scream. I took the first 2 hours, but I'm now at the end of my patience so It's jonny's turn. I don't why she screams so horribly for jonny. Her screaming is actually quieter when left alone...go figure. I think the problem is teething,but nothing seems to help, so I don't know. So for now I'm just sitting on the couch playing with my new toy, an iPod touch. I know that my birthday isn't until tomorrow, but when the package came I thought it was something that I had ordered, not my birthday present from jonny, so I opened it. It's pretty nifty, but I don't think I'll be blogging from it since touch screen keyboards suck. But when you're delirious and exausted at 3:20, I suppose it's worth the distraction. I suppose I should go and take care of my kid now since she'll at least sleep in my arms... I've lost all hope of sleeping tonight anyhow.

Videos

I had thought that the video upload wasn't working because every time I uploaded the video in the last post, when I tried to watch it, it said that there was an error or some BS. Anyhow, I gave up and just posted it anyhow, and it turns out it's fine. Apparently I deleted and re-loaded dozens of time over the course of a few days for nothing...screw you blogger!

Here are a couple of other videos from the past couple days. The first one is at the paint store and there really isn't any point to it, but hey, Molly's in it, what more do you want from me?

This one is of Molly running around in my shoes. She's always doing this, but this time she was actually able to get her toes in the right place and walk. The child is obsessed with shoes. I think this could get expensive.

We have a big couple weeks coming up. Swim lessons start on Monday, my birthday is the following Monday (30 if anyone is keeping track) and sometime soon after that, Uncle Chris and Aunt Stephanie will be in town for a visit. Also we're going to be moving into the 2nd half of our house REALLY soon! All we have left now is the crazy room upstairs, very exciting. What I'm most excited for is to have my laundry in the same house as me. I'm useless at doing it if I have to remember to actually go to another building to complete the task...ask Jonny about it, he's done pretty much every load since we moved in here.

Criminal

I've been cleaning out Molly's drawers and filling up bags for storage. Molly has been working hard emptying those bags and strewing things about the house. She brought her daddy some tights, and Daddy decided they should rob a bank.

Our little criminal.

Jonny's melons are doing pretty good and Molly has been enjoying the literal fruits of his labor. She loves melons! Any kind, any time any place. Who doesn't like sugar water? Jonny grew a really good yellow variety that Molly is seen enjoying here.

Double fisting melons:

Last weekend we went to Cassie and Ben's house for a graduation party. Congratulations to Jonathan for graduating 8th grade. I started dating Jonny when Jonathan was two, and it blows my mind that he's going to be in high school next year. I can imagine that Cassie and Ben feel this even more intensely than me. Jonny has informed that it isn't surprising to him at all...it has been a little over a decade after all. I guess he's uneffected by time.

Molly and Aunt Cassie...oh THAT'S where the eyes came from!

Swim lessons start soon, gotta get ready!

While we were swimming Molly reminded me of what a little daredevil she can be. She was convinced that she could go it alone, and was struggling to break free from me. Have to watch that one!

Speaking of daredevil, Molly has mastered the step ladder. I don't usually leave it where she can get it, but I was reorganizing the other day since I now have most of my cabinet doors in (yeah!) and when I wasn't paying 100% attention to her she starting going up and down and up and down. In this video, she's doing it in order to get some of her stuff on the counter. Very exciting stuff. I know it kind of looks bad letting her do this...but she really is surprisingly agile.

She never once seemed precarious, although I don't think I would be too keen on her doing it without me near by. My mom has been surprised at Molly's ability to climb and doesn't think that any of us were this capable at her age. I did however go back through the Burgess Baby Blog and found that in May of 09, there was a post call "time to climb", so I don't think that Molly is alone in her abilities :-)

Ornery Ones?

Molly shows us everyday just how smart she is, most of the time that just means she finds new ways to get into trouble. Like this picture, it seems harmless, but what happens when she tries to put her shirt on by herself, is that she basically walks around blindfolded. eventually she runs into a wall, and it end in tears. Maybe her mother should help her out?

Here I go again taking pictures of her instead of helping her out. I didn't see the process that got her into this mess, only the results.


If the twos, threes and fours suck...then I'm totally screwed. Molly is an extremely strong willed child and I have to say that it's not always easy for me to match it. We of course have boundaries in place (mostly physical ones) but sometimes you just have to pick your battles. I know I'm a 1st timer so I have no point of reference, but even my mom says she thinks Molly is a handful. She's a grandma however so she uses words like "precocious" , "clever", and "busy" where as I use words like "pain in the ass" and "NOOOOOOO!!!!!! don't touch that!!!!!". I've joked that I should change her name from Molly Jo to Molly No since I say that more often.

Hey it's not all bad time though, there are good things happening too. Like our new chair. Molly and I have a new chair, and I love it. My old one served us, but I'm glad we've upgraded. Now when we're rocking I don't have to feel as though it's going to burst into flames at any minute. The noises from that thing were terrifying and even though we made efforts to save it: stealing bearings from the ottoman or even trying to get the company to let us order new ones, it was no use. A few weeks ago I ordered this beauty from Barenholtz furniture, and I couldn't be happier. The best part (aside from not busting into flames) was that I was able to pick out my own fancy fabric from their vast selection.
Good looking kid, Good looking chair:

My secret for getting her to stay in the chair and keep the bow on her head? Bribing her with my cellphone. I usually don't let her touch it because she's capable of some pretty complicated procedures (switching the network from which the phone is operating from...true story) or simply just calling someone but I REALLY wanted her to stay :-)

"hello"

It didn't last

"Where did I put that thing?"

"Oh yea, the floor"

"Good luck with your photography mom, I'm done here."