Crib Notes

Well since Dustin has resorted to harassing me on facebook, I better get going on another post! Actually I need the tough love seeing as I'm apparently not doing a baby book, sorry Molly Mac, mommy sucks at that kind of stuff. If I keep this up, I can feel less guilty about the whole baby book thing.

I haven't posted lately, because there really hasn't been much to post about. The only big thing is that Molly has been sleeping in her crib more and more, and she now spend every night there. She seemed to want to sleep on her side which really didn't work out so well in the Amby baby, so I thought I would let her give the crib a try. She is really into sleeping on her side and at night she almost always ends up on her stomach. I'm not thrilled about this especially since she frequently has her face crammed onto the mattress despite my efforts to move her. I know that they say once they can do it themselves, there isn't a whole lot you can do about it and that they are probably past any severe risk, but I would appreciate if she would at least leave a visible air passage. She's been doing really well once she's asleep (before is a whole different story) she usually sleeps for at least 8 consecutive hours followed by another 3. As I mentioned above getting her to sleep is a whole other story. Since we don't have the sweet sweet rocking motion of the Amby baby to lull her off to dreamland, I'm left trying to play the part of sandman. Sometimes its great (she nurses herself to sleep :-) sometimes it takes some effort. Sometimes it ends in tears (mine and hers). Actually she doesn't really cry much as long as I'm rocking her and she even falls asleep pretty well...the trick is getting her to stay asleep. Imagine you've just spent 15 minutes dutifully rocking your peaceful baby to sleep, you gently lay her in her crib, she rolls over pops her head up and starts checking things out as if the past 15 minutes never happened. Not to be set back, you start again, this time it only takes 5 minutes, your feeling victorious, you set her down...same thing. Repeat this about 8 times and you have a fussy baby lying in her crib while mom goes to find some sort of blunt object to poke her eyes out with (mine not hers, I'm not sick) Thankfully this isn't every night, unfortunately they're the ones I remember.

While I was relieved that the transition to the crib went so well, I found out the hard way that she is soooo over the Amby baby now. Last Thursday we took a quick overnight trip to Carlsbad, CA to visit some family. I thought she would just nod off in the Amby like she did so many times before...wrong! The Amby baby is soooo two weeks ago so we had a longer night than usual. Regardless, it was still nice to introduce her to some of her family that hasn't met her yet. Unfortunately I'm a bad mother and I really only took a couple pictures. So here's one from the trip along with some other recent shots.

Hanging out with cousin Allison in Carlsbad. My only CA picture :-( at least it's a good one.

Hanging out with cousin Madeline before bedtime.

Hanging out with Granny after a generous helping of gruel.

That winning Molly Mac smile!

Jonny took this video a while back on his cell phone but we just got it on our computer. I think it's pretty cute, but I'm biased.

If you don't eat your meat you can't have any pudding

I decided on a whim that today would be the day that Molly had her first "real food"-rice cereal. I kept wondering if I should or not. When we went to the Dr. last she said that if she seemed interested that it was worth a shot and she's definitely interested. Of course she's interested in everything that we do, not just eating. The other day she went out to eat with my parents and I and at one point during the meal she had her hand in a sweet potato, so I figured that's a sign...right? Well she was definitely in to it, she was grabbing and opening her mouth like crazy. It was as if we had been starving her these past 5 months (not likely since she continues to be in the upper percentiles for weight gain, height and head circumference) and it was just now that we found a way to properly satiate her. I was surprised how well it went since they say that they usually only want a teaspoon or so...she took at least a couple tablespoons and that's taking into account that a ton of it ended up on the floor, on the bumbo, on her, on me. So I guess since it went so well, we'll do this for awhile and then move onto some more exciting foods, I'm thinking butternut squash since Jonny has some that he grew in his garden...hopefully I can find our food mill.

Here's a video we took of her first feeding. In a previous video Jonny was making fun of her gruel (he didn't think it looked that appetizing) and in this one we had progressed to trying (poorly) to quote "Oliver" and "The Wall". Just a warning to all who watch, Jonny (as always) has a rated R mouth, but hey you were already warned once when you signed onto the blog in the first place. Jonny's lack of control over his language is probably going to make for some interesting future blogs.

Trying to do it "by self" Ramsey knows what I'm talking about!

Eagerly awaiting the next delicious bite.

Her captive audience

This is just a bonus pic I took the other day. I thought it was pretty funny.

Working Girl

No, not that kind of working girl. For the past two weeks, Molly and I have been working hard at the beauty school. Since the school was on vacation, I came in to answer the phone with Molly in tow. We've had a pretty good time, she definitely enjoyed the easy access to grandma, grandpa, aunt Meredith, and cousin Jeffrey. They've started calling Molly the "little time sucker" because no matter what important things they needed to be doing, somehow she managed to pry them away from it.

In the past two weeks or so, Molly has been coming up with some new tricks, some good, some annoying. Probably the biggest thing is that she'll now roll over from her back to her belly. She's been reluctant to do it since she pretty much hates being on her belly, but lately the things around her, that she just needs desperately to get to have been more important than her desire to not be on her belly. Unfortunately she's regressed in that she now doesn't want to roll over from her belly to her back. so now once she's on her belly, and has the toy or whatever that she just had to have, she starts to scream for someone to take her off of her belly. It's a pretty fun game. She's also become much more grabby lately and is constantly wanting things that she really shouldn't have and of course if you take these things away from her, its pretty upsetting. I remember reading somewhere that infants at her age have a memory of about 7 seconds...my ass. She remembers and she holds a grudge for at least a minute, or until you do something just so undeniably awesome that she can't help herself from being happy. Well here are some pictures that we took while we were working hard downtown!

playing with Aunt Mere

Playing with my Bee!(her absolute favorite)

Biting off more than she can chew

Taking a break to goof off with Daddy.

Home at last after a long hard day!

Molly Mac will make you, JUMP! JUMP!

Well I apologize if you get that song in your head, and if you don't know what song I'm talking about consider yourself lucky. Of course if you were at any Jr. High Dances in the 90's, you probably know what I'm talking about. Molly has been really interested in standing, and so I got out the Amby baby jump attachment. As you can see, she really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, she's just a tad bit too short, so I got out the ole' Wii Fit board for a little boost, she kicks ass at Wii hula hoop.

A few days ago, I took Molly in for another weigh in. She's definitely starting to chunk up. I didn't think it was possible but she look even more ridiculous on the scale than she did last time.

In other news...Everyone SHUT-UP, nobody effing breathe, she is taking a nap in her crib. This afternoon, she refused to sleep in her swing, so I ended up rocking her to sleep and then, because I apparently have masochistic tendencies, I decided to try her out in the crib. I tried a similar experiment yesterday and I was rewarded with fussiness and a delayed nap, but today it just worked out and she was out for about 45 minutes, which included an episode of Dink and Riley barking and me beating the shit out of them. That's right, I beat my dogs...they deserve it. Can anyone explain to me why I risked taking a picture of her while she was sleeping in such a precarious state?

Molly Mac: "American Girl"?

So I just found out today that there is a Molly McIntire character in the "American Girl" collection. I doubt anyone remembers American Girl books and Dolls since they were just getting started when I was a kid and if you aren't hanging around school aged girls, why would you know? Basically they're historical fiction about little girls in various point in time I did read a few of the "Samantha" (the Victorian era girl) books when I was a kid, but I only vaguely remember that there was a Molly, let alone a Molly McIntire. Molly McIntire (I'm having a really hard time spelling it that way) is their WWII era girl. Part of me thinks it might be fun when she gets older to have a doll and a character that she shares a name with. Part of me is horrified at the idea that my kid, who name is already borderline "too cute" will also have basically a cartoon character with red pigtails, green eyes and glasses that she shares a name with. Granted, its' not like her name is Pipi Longstocking or anything, but still, if her hair comes in red (which is some lights it still kind of looks reddish), and her eyes turn green (a possibility, since her eyes are still pretty blue), I might have to consider changing her name. (Not really) So to end this, Molly Mac: American Girl?

McBurgorris

Well the Burgess clan is making me look bad and already have two installments of their vacation blogs posted. Well I better get to it!
Since Blaine had to work on Wednesday, Ramsey and I drove up with Grayson and Molly earlier in the day. We were lucky to have a fairly uneventful drive. Both babies spent the majority of the drive sleeping which was nice. Grayson was definitely curious about that other car seat and that other baby though. We only had to make one pit stop and it was as much for us as it was for them. Here are Grayson and Molly, planning to run away together. As you can see Grayson is going to drive and Molly is going to ride shotgun.














When we arrived at the cloud nine condo, Michaela and Dustin were already there and the McBurgorris vacation had begun! We pretty much just laid low for the rest of the day and just got take out and wait for Blaine and Jonny to arrive.
The next day was a big first for Molly. She took her first trip to the beach. She seemed to enjoy the sights and sounds, but you know its kind of hard to tell with a four month old. Her only criteria for having a good time are the availability of me (for food) and naps. Although she will admit that singing a few song (particularly the ones about her) do make any situation better. While at the beach I decided that it was time for me to get into the ocean. I hadn't been in, in probably about a decade, so I was due. It showed that I hadn't been in the ocean in quite awhile and I totally biffed it (along with Michaela) in a wave. There were a few seconds where I was pretty sure I might drown. Well maybe not, but I was pretty sure I was going to feel like an ass. Well I survived to swim another day, and in my defense, the wave were pretty large that day. Here are some fun beach pictures.












Here we are getting settled on the beach.



Here are Molly and I after I took my big dip!

















Here are the McBurgorris'











Both Thursday and Friday nights we were lucky enough to be able to play Yahtzee and visit on the deck. Not necessarily an easy task with a 16 month old (Landon) a 10 month old (Grayson) and a 4 month old (Molly). Somehow, all of the kiddies slept peacefully while we loudly played Yahtzee, throwing dice on a glass table. Since Ramsey loves humiliation, she came up with a McBurgorris tradition for losing: The Magic Mullet. The first night Dustin lost so he had to wear the magic mullet. The next night, Jonny lost so he had to wear it. Here are some awesome mullet pictures.



Here's Dustin, Thursday night Yahtzee loser.

Here's Jonny, Friday's loser.



















But I still love him!

Friday night Yahtzee with the girls, getting our Boni.

On Friday, Jonny and I laid low at the condo while the others went to a park to do some fishing. I don't know if Ramsey will post the picture or not, but I heard they caught a fish this time. Maybe you guys should consider finding a new fishing hole. Later that day we headed down to the harbor to walk around and get some drinks and appetizers at Wind and Sea.


Here are Molly & Jonny at Wind & Sea.

Here we all are posing by the boats.

I'd have to say one of the best parts of the trip (aside from actually being able to go outside without dying of heat stroke) was getting together with my brilliant friends, their brilliant husbands and our brilliant children!

Rocky Mountain Molly Part II

Well I had promised more wedding pics and I have them all now so I will post them. I'm not sure if I'll have much to say about them so lets just get started and find out!

Mere took that 1st picture of Stephanie walking down the stairs, it's pretty neat. I also thought the next two were cute, particularly their take on the "American Gothic" painting.

Here we are walking around with Molly after the wedding. Molly was really into the trees. When we held her up by them she would reach for and grab the leaves with her death grip.

Here's Molly in her fancy wedding get up. I know its a lot of hearts, but I think she can pull it off.

Here's Molly doing her new favorite thing, standing. She's getting pretty good at it, which is a little disturbing actually, my take on walking is the later the better.

Here are Molly and daddy lounging around in the morning. They're pretty cute!

Here are Molly Mere and I. I thought it was funny that Molly and I both have similar looks on our faces.

Well that's it for now. We have a big trip coming up, the McBurgorris family vacation. Also Chris and Stephanie will be in Yuma soon on a honeymoon trip. Wouldn't have been my first choice, but Molly is a pretty big draw. Plus, they're going to Nepal in November, so that should be fun. So to the majority of my readers, I will see you all soon!