The Birthday Girl

Molly on her birthday. We love this girl so much! She has such a big heart and is always telling us how much she loves us. Molly is extremely shy, but has recently started coming out of her shell. She loves to be around others, especially me. She is pretty much my little shadow.

Molly was spoiled with lots of fun new toys to play with. Here she is with her playdough meal making thing. I was hoping that with all her new toys, that maybe, just maybe, she would want to play by herself. No such luck.

Molly loves everything Dora, so...We bought Dora and Boots cupcakes. I wasn't even going to try making something that I'm sure wouldn't have even resembled Dora. Molly was thrilled and I didn't have to do any work. You gotta love that.

I can't believe she's 3!

Happy Birthday Molly! We love you!

Thanksgiving in Washington

We were able to spend thanksgiving with Grandpa and Grandma Larson this year. We were extremely nervous about the long drive, but the kids were actually great. Here is Molly with her own little suitcase anxious to get on the road.

Molly and Katie "helping" Grandma make rolls

chocolate covered pretzels with extra sprinkles

Reed had his first taste of cereal while we were there. He loves it!

Molly and Reed cuddling with daddy. I sure love these three.

Grandpa and Reed sucking on their fingers. Reed has taken a liking to his two fingers on his left hand.

Awww. Getting some Julie time.

This was actually towards the end of our drive home. I'm surprised to see she was still smiling. It took us 16 hours to drive home due to the snowy/icy roads and road closures. We stayed in Idaho for a night and to our surprise actually got some good sleep. I wish we had a king size bed!
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for such a great time!
When we finally got home, Molly ran to her room and spent some much needed time with her babies. She really missed them.
Thanks Mom for shoveling our driveway. We were so tired and it was so nice to be able to pull right into the driveway.
We are so blessed to have our families. We love you all so much and appreciate your love and support.

Trip to Philadelphia

Reed and I took a trip to Philadelphia to see Adam and Brooke. It was Reed's first plane ride and it was LONG. He really did fine, but you know how it is with a baby in confined spaces.
It was so fun spending time with Adam and Brooke and kids. We all miss them so much. I had told Brooke that Reed was a fussy baby, but he made a liar out of me. He was so happy while we were there. He loved all the kids running around. I got to meet baby Emerson and be there for his blessing. I didn't get many pictures so these will have to do.

Emerson, Reed and Sarah Jane

Reed and Emerson in their matching outfits

Reed and Emerson spooning.
Reed also rolled over for everyone. This is a skill he does not like to show off, so it was a nice surprise.

Halloween

Officer Reed and his prisoner

Molly as a cute little dinosaur

Reed's blessing

Reed was blessed by his daddy on August 29th. It was a special day and we're so grateful to have Reeders, Molly's name for him, as part of our family. He has such a spirit of love about him. He tends to cry a lot if he isn't being held, but when I go to pick him up, he forgives me with a sweet smile. It makes me want to just eat him up.

Grandma Larson made Reed's little blessing outfit and the quilt he is on. It was so neat to have him in something made by his sweet grandma. He also had cute shoes that I forgot to put on him. I didn't get the greatest pictures and I'm pretty sure no one would be happy if I posted them, so these of just us will have to do.

What do you think?

Molly at about 3 months

Reed at about 3 months

The many sides of Reed

I made the first year of my blog into a book and realized that I have more pictures and posts in that first year than the next two years combined. I guess that's how it goes. Unfortunately, with a second child, you don't get to just sit and stare at them for hours on end. Oh how I would love to. I am seriously in love with this little boy of mine.


Reed the unimpressed

Reed the chiller

Reed the sucker

Reed the thinker

Reed the pouter

Reed the crier

Reed the smiler

Loving baby Reed

(Try not to pay attention to the sheets. We bought these years ago and well, at least they are soft.)

Molly wasn't sure what to think of her little brother at first, but quickly warmed up to him. She wants to hold him all the time. She hasn't tried to pick him up...yet. I was really worried about that. She really is quite the little helper and gets things for me and Reed. She loves to give him his binki and play with him in his bouncy chair. I think we have finally gotten the diaper changing down. We have never been peed on so much. I have changed thousands of little boy's diapers and thought I was pretty good at it, I guess I was wrong.

We are so grateful to have little Reed in our lives. We wish he could stay small forever. He is quite the little cuddler and likes to be held...all the time. He has nothing on Molly's baby cry. His is much easier on the ears. He likes to eat a lot and has started sleeping through the night, which makes everything else that much easier. We love him so much!

More pics!

Bella Baby Photography takes pictures of babies at the hospital. Since Marsha is an employee of the hospital we got them for free! Gotta love free stuff. Especially free cute stuff.

The new addition

Our baby boy is finally here. Reed Smith Larson was born at 8:03 AM on May 26th. He was 7 pounds 13 ounces and 21.5 inches long. He's been a great eater so far and a great sleeper. Marsha was a little nauseous after the C-section but she's feeling much better now. Here is Marsha before the delivery:

And here she is with Reed after:

And here is Molly with her new baby brother:

Our little family before baby!

Big sister to be

I hope Molly will always feel this way about her baby brother.

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha

I have never really loved my name. I don't know why. I was named after my grandpa whom I loved, but it was just something I had a hard time accepting. Maybe it was the whole idea of being named after a man. I don't know. Together with my last name it just didn't roll off the tongue nicely. I never wanted to change my name, I just often times wondered how nice a different name would sound. Molly has decided that she is going to make me love it. She calls me Marsha or Marsh all the time. It's pretty cute and how could you not love your name coming from a sweet two year old...most of the time.

Molly got a new haircut. You'd think by looking at the pictures that she loved it. But you'd be wrong. She cried for about a whole week before whenever we brought it up. She didn't cry while getting her hair cut, she just sat in terror and had to hold my hand the whole time. Not even Dora could help the experience. And she was sitting in a fire truck. You'd think that sitting in a fire truck would make everything better. But again, you'd be wrong. We love our Molly and her shy personality.

babies, tutus, and nail polish

Have I mentioned before that Molly loves babies? She is obsessed. They always have to be wrapped in blankets in a very particular way. In the mornings they have to be rocked and for naps and bed time they have to be in her bed with her.

Rocking and cuddling with her babies.

Molly and only a few of her babies under the blanket. I'm not really sure why this was ok on this particular day. She usually has to have them all wrapped up in blankets.

Just a cute picture of Molly busy at the computer

Molly really likes to have her fingernails and toes painted. I never paint my fingernails and rarely paint my toenails and as far as I know, it's been awhile for Brady too. Molly has also become very shy of the camera. If you ask her to smile she won't . The second I pull it out she tells me "don't" and turns away. That explains this picture of just her cute little feet.

Dancing Molly

I believe Molly is going to get a ticket on the hot tamale train if she keeps dancing like this. I think she gets her sweet dance moves from her daddy. He has recently perfected the art form known as "Churning the Butter."