What?

This is how Molly feels about having a baby brother. We are due June 1st and are very excited.

Happy Birthday Molly!

Molly is two! We can't believe that our little baby has turned into a big girl. Some things about Molly:
Molly has gotten really good at saying please and thank you. She loves to give kisses. Every night before bed she gives a regular kiss, an eskimo kiss, a butterfly kiss and a doggy kiss. She learned the doggy kiss from her cousin Katie. It is just licking the face. Molly is very particular and things must be a certain way. I guess she gets this from her mom. She is very mechanical and loves to figure things out. She loves playing with the Russian nesting dolls we brought home from Ukraine and is very good at turning off the tv with the remote. She likes to go, go, go. She is not a home body at all. She is good with association. She will see someone's car and start naming all the people in the family. When we say prayers, she will start naming people. It is really cute. She also tries to sing along when we sing to her

Molly getting a big birthday hug from her cousin Ben. I am so glad they get along so well.

Molly helping daddy bake her birthday cake. She holds the cord and "helps" move the mixer. When we say we are going to make something, she moves the chair over so she can get in on the action.
I feel so bad for Molly having a birthday right before Christmas. It is hard to know what to do to make it special. I know that she doesn't care at this point, but I still want to make it special.

Molly LOVES buses. She points out all the buses as we drive, most of which we don't even see. Her favorite movie is a bus movie and we can't go very long without getting to sing 'The wheels on the bus'. In the car, she will make different animal sounds for the animals she wants on the bus. There are always a lot of sheep, pigs, and snakes on the bus. She will sing the animal noises and 'all through the town'. It's pretty cute.
I decided to make a bus cake, because there is nothing Molly appreciates more. It seemed a little daunting at first since Molly woke up sick and was feeling miserable all day. Maybe I should learn not to procrastinate. With the help of my sisters, it was actually really fun to make this cake. And Molly even knew what it was!

Molly's favorite book!

Getting ready for Christmas

This will be our first Christmas at home together as a family. When Molly was born we were lucky enough to spend Christmas in the hospital and last year we were in Washington. We decided to make an advent calendar this year. My mom would always make one growing up and I loved them. She would usually make a tree, but Molly loves snowmen so we decided to try that out. Molly loves it and it is the first thing she wants to do in the morning, after watching elmo of course. It is hard to keep her to one a day, but she's pretty good about it. She is really good at sharing her candies.

Molly helping daddy wrap presents. She was really impressed with his wrapping skills.

Molly loved putting up the ornaments, but especially her elmo ornament. He got put up many times and in different places.

Molly makes me happy!

I love this girl and am so grateful to have her. I haven't been the best mom for the last little while because I have been sick, but Molly is still so quick to give loves and kisses and make me feel loved. She will pat my back or run up to me and hug my legs. She is so patient with me even though I'm not so patient with her. I love that she has a binki in her mouth in this picture. Molly wouldn't even touch a binki as a baby and for some reason I just kept this with her toys. Every once in awhile she finds it and thinks she's so funny when she sucks on it. I almost wish she was attached to it. She looks so cute with it in her mouth.

Molly Moo!

Molly was a 'taow' for halloween. You can't tell by her face, but she actually really loved the costume. She wanted to wear it all the time.

Her bottom was the cutest part of it all. She would waddle around and give everyone a good laugh.

Molly was given an elmo trick or treat bucket from our sweet neighbor. Molly is obsessed with elmo and after admiring it all night at our trunk or treat, she was given her most prized posession. She of course had to sleep with it that night. It was so cute.

Molly LOVES babies!!!

Molly is obsessed with babies. She can hear one crying from a mile away. She notices one everywhere we go. We bought her a cute doll for christmas last year and she likes it ok, but she really likes the naked one my sister Paula gave her. She also likes the one we found at my mom's house that looks like it has a disease. It has weird dots all over the head because it used to be a glow baby. She can never understand why it doesn't have toes. It is really frustrating to her. It's just funny that I spent a lot of time finding the perfect baby doll for Molly and she couldn't care less about it most of the time.

Feeling old!

To start out my day, I heard a radio add for plato's closet. It is a store with gently used designer clothing for 'teens and twenty somethings' the add said. Apparently their clothes are not meant for me because I am no longer in my twenties. It seriously made me mad. I have never been there, but what if I wanted to go? Are they going to check my i.d. or give me funny looks? Why do they have to discriminate? I felt old.
Later that day a kid's car rolled into my car while parked in a parking lot. The kid was totally cool and let me know what had happend. When I first walked out, I was annoyed to say the least at the "punks." After the inital shock everything went fine. His dad showed up and asked if they could just pay for the damage instead of going through the insurance. After finding out how much it was going to be, I felt so bad for the kid. I just wished I had all the money in the world and could tell him not to worry about it, or that I didn't care so much about my car and not get it fixed, but I don't have all the money in the world and I do want my car fixed. I was really impressed with the kid and his friends. I shook his hand and told him thanks for being such a great kid. I felt old.
Anyway, I found these cute pictures of Molly and her daddy when she had just turned one and they made me feel better.

The double gulp monster

I realize that we have a ridiculous amount of double gulp cups, but what would Molly do without them?

Washington/Oregon coast

The "majestic" Columbia River, as brady lovingly refers to it.

Daddy teaching Molly how to skip rocks. She didn't quite catch on. She is really good at throwing rocks though.

Feeding the kabillion geese! I am seriously afraid of geese. They just swarm around you and try to bite you. Luckily we got out unharmed.

Lots of relaxing, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa.

Molly had fun playing with her cousin Katelin. Especially when they got to go see the animals.

Molly loves the trampoline. she actually has pretty good balance.

We stayed in an awesome beach house. Molly and Katie especially liked the new surroundings.

We got to go to an aquarium and see lots of fish. Molly slept through half of it, but still got to see a lot. She wasn't afraid to touch all the slimy things.

The coast was so beautiful. I am a huge ocean fan and I have to say that I was not disappointed. The water was painfully cold, but the view was spectacular. I loved all the rocks and trees. It was so misty you could just feel it.

Molly hated the sand. She didn't want it on her feet. So...

We laid a towel out for our little princess.

Just a cute picture of Molly and her daddy.

The Backpack

Molly has this little backpack and she LOVES to wear it.

Molly and Dad cuddling after a little motorcycle ride.

Summertime!

I heard somewhere that summer is for kids. This statement has really helped me lighten up. Sometimes it just seems easier to not do something because I'm tired and it would be a lot of work. To put on swimsuits and sunscreen for 5 minutes in the pool seems like a waste of energy. Or to let Molly eat a popsicle and get it all over her outfit after I've just gotten her dressed. And as much as I want Molly to eat healthy things, that just doesn't end up happening all the time.

It is pretty impossible to keep any drink with a straw away from Molly. Luckily for the last little while we've been getting free drinks from sonic thanks to their survey receipts. They give them to us even when we get a free one. It's pretty nice.

Bowling with the help of daddy. It was cosmic bowling so it was dark with lights everywhere. She loved it.

Molly has an obsession with pushing around strollers. She found her umbrella stroller in the closet and wouldn't forget about it for a couple of days. Even if I put it back in the closet she would go right to it as soon as she woke up from her nap or when we got home from running errands. She will let us push her around sometimes, but it takes some convincing.

We have been swimming a few times this summer and Molly prefers sitting on the steps and splashing. The last time we went I was able to get her to release me from her death grip and she actually let me pull her around while she kicked her little legs. She has been so fun this summer and I can't believe how fast it is going.

18 months old!!!

Molly is officially 18 months old. She went to the doctor on Tuesday. She is in the 79th percentile in weight, the 88th percentile in height, and the 100th percentile in head size. They really need to make shirts that have bigger openings for the head. It gets to be a pretty tight squeeze sometimes. The pictures of Molly are on a playset that our super nice neighbors gave us.

Happy Father's Day!

This is Brady's first Father's day that he gets to spend with Molly. He was in China last year and he missed her so much. Molly is so lucky to have the dad she has. I know the bottom picture is kinda funny, but we didn't have any other real recent ones with just Molly and Dad. Happy Father's Day Brady! Thanks for all you do for us!

Haircut!

Molly had her second real haircut yesterday. I've done some trimming jobs, but that was hard enough the way Molly holds still. She hates getting her hair cut. This time was better, but still not pleasant. I would like to just let her hair grow out, but the bangs for sure had to be shorter. I do Molly's hair and it is pulled out minutes later. The lady that did her hair went a little shorter than I would have liked. Her bangs look like an older sister went at them with scissors. I'm sure I could have done that. Anyway...at least her hair won't be in her eyes. It is hard for me to get used to my own haircuts, and I'm finding it hard getting used to Molly's too.
She seems to look a little younger with her new do, so that is good at least.

before

before again

And after

Just some pictures

We are still working on patience.

Molly has become quite the girly girl. She definitely doesn't get that from her mom. She loves this little tutu and will make me put it on her any chance she gets.

Molly has been much happier this last month. She has had a rough time with teething. She has eight teeth and four molars. Hopefully the others won't hurt her so much. When she is happy it makes being a mom so much easier.

Bye!!!!

Molly has been saying some words for awhile, but this is our favorite. We're not quite sure why she makes her voice so high when she says 'bye,' but it definitely adds to the cuteness.

Yummy!

Molly takes after her mom's love of steak...

And her dad's love of pizza.