She's got her Daddy wrapped......

Molly and I had quite the busy day!  We started our day at the grocery store.  We were there at 7:30am, yes you read that right!  And let me tell you, that's my new favorite time to grocery shop!  Hardly anyone there, great parking, no lines, and Molly didn't have to fight to get a car cart!  Woo Hoo!  We went back home to drop off our groceries (passed Daddy on his way to work), unloaded them, Molls had a snack, then we ventured over to Gymboree (Molly's favorite clothing store!)  After we did some damage there, which I'll get back to in a minute, we headed to Sams Club to pick up some things, got back home around 12:15, lunched, and now she's napping (or supposed to be, I don't think she's asleep yet!) 
Anyway, so I will admit I have zero self control when it comes to shopping!  Ever since Molly came along though, I hardly buy myself anything anymore, and I buy everything for her!  So when I mention to Gunnar that I'm heading to Gymboree, he cringes!  He always tell me to "be easy" aka "Don't spend an arm and a leg!"  But come on, not only do they have absolutely adorable clothing, but they have hair things, and shoes, and sunglasses etc. to match!  It's easy to get carried away!  So I told myself I was going in there for 1 specific outfit today, (an adorable strawberry summer dress with all the matchy stuff to go with it!) but once I walked in, I kinda forgot, and before I knew it I had that outfit (and all accessories) in hand, along with 2 other outfits, and accessories!  Being the brat that I (sometimes) am, I really decided Molly NEEDED these outfits, so I did what any mom would do.....I (aka Molly) sent Daddy a text message saying something like: Daddy, I got the strawberry dress, but there are 2 other outfits that I really reeeaallllllly want! PLEASE!


Daddy's  response:  "Whatever" 


SWEET!    Thanks Dad!  - But man she's got him wrapped!!  :)

To potty or not to potty....

We have introduced Molly to the potty!  I got a potty from Griffin that his parents bought for him when he was beginning the potty training process, but never needed to use.  I put the little potty in our downstairs bathroom and Molly was pretty interested in it!  (Which I was so happy about because she is afraid of the big toilet)  She sat right down on it (with a book ofcoarse) and was pretty pleased with herself!  Ofcoarse she didn't actually go, but we want her to get comfortable with the whole "potty concept" so this is step one!  Go Molly!

A little yoga move...

For some of you that don't know, my sister Meghan is getting her certification to teach yoga.  So, Aunt Meghan - I think Molly is ready for her private yoga sessions, looks like she has mastered downward facing dog!

Fun Around the House

The last few days, Molly has been having so much fun around the house!  Here are some of the things she's been doing!
1) She has found some new hiding places - She literally wedged herself underneath the kitchen table between a chair and the table.
2) Decided she wanted to eat pizza like a big girl!  Lately she boycotts eating anything I cut up for her, she wants to hold it and take bites out of it!  So we gave her a small slice of pizza, and she turned it around and started eating it from the crust!
3) She learned how to play golf - Daddy ran to Walmart for a few things, and he saw a little pink golf set and decided Molly had to have it!  So, he showed her how to hold the club and hit the ball, she thought it was soo fun!
4) Molly went grocery shopping!  While she was napping, I set up her kitchen food around the family room like a grocery store, and when  she came downstairs, she pushed her shopping cart around to each area and put her groceries in her cart!  (After this, we put some "play food" in a bowl and I showed her how to feed her baby, then she started doing it!  It was the sweetest thing, and unfortunately I didn't get a picture of this!)
5) She got a corn popper!  Her friends Griffin and Ansley have a couple corn poppers at their house, and Molly always seems to find them and "pop pop" all around their house with Griffin!  So we got her one of her very own poppers!
6) She made her own peanut butter sandwich for lunch!  I had her stand on a chair at the kitchen counter, and showed her how to scoop out peanut butter with a plastic knife and spread it on a piece of bread, and then she did it all by herself!
She's at the age where she copies everything we do, if you show her how to do something just once, she's got it down, and does it all on her own, and is very please with herself for being such a big girl!

Like I said, it was a fun weekend at the house, therefore she's hanging out in her lounge-wear, and her hair is not done in some of the photos, but I did get her permission to post these pics anyway! :)

Random stuff/Valentine's Day

Happy Tuesday family & friends! Time to add some pictures to the blog!  We had a busy weekend this past weekend.  Gunnar worked Friday & Saturday night, and we had a family day on Sunday!  Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and Molly had a Valentine's party for Moms Club organized by yours truly and my friend Brandi.  Molly picked one of her books for me to read to her friends (She picked Minnies Valentine, surprise surprise) We colored pictures, made bags to put our valentines in, and had some yummy snacks!  Molly looked adorable in black pants with a red ruffle shirt, her patent leather shoes and a matching red & black hair bow!  She's such a fashionista! 
Last night her babysitter Marina came over to hang out while Gunnar and I went to dinner!  It was such a nice night!  We went to a place called Joe's Pasta House (our favorite place to eat here)  We had to make reservations well in advance, which I am glad we did because they ended up being completely booked for the night!  They had a live musician playing some italian love songs on guitar, it was very romantic!  And as much as we love having dinner with our Molly, it was sorta nice to eat a meal, just the two of us without our little high chair companion! 
Gunnar surprised me with flowers delivered to the house, a necklace that says Molly with her birthstone, and.....a coach bag! I'm such a lucky girl!  Speaking of lucky girls....Miss Molly got a car for Valentine's Day from Mommy & Daddy, which she loves and sat in for the majority of the day yesterday!  The weather should be pretty nice today, so after her nap we're going to go for a walk around the neighborhood in her car!  She'll be so excited!
I also posted some other random, but hilarious pictures of Molly, this girl does some really funny things these days!

Molly in her Valentine's Day outfit!

She did such a great job coloring! - This picture kinda makes me sad, because she looks like such a big girl sitting at the big kid table coloring.

I really had a tough time getting a good picture of her, she doesn't sit still very much these days!

This was Molly in the morning when she came down and saw her car!

This was a different evening (ironically she has the same jammies on)  These days if you leave clothing or shoes in her reach, she will put them on!  Gunnar likes to come home from work and get changed downstairs, leaving his belt, shoes and as you can see in this picture his under shirt on the floor.....well it didn't take Molly long to find it, put it on, and wear it for the rest of the evening! 

Laying down playing with blocks!

This was so sweet, Kalin was playing bouncy ball with Molly, she was laughing soo hard!!

Going through the basket of clean clothes that I had folded.  This happened when I went out back to chase Arnold to come back inside.  Literally I was gone for 30 seconds!

This girl always has her blanky close when she's sleeping....notice Minnie underneath of her? 

Wordless Wednesday

Binky Update

So the binky removal has been a complete success!  Molly has really adjusted well to not having it anymore!  Her afternoon naps were usually 4-4.5 hours when she had her binky, and although she's not quite sleeping that long yet without it, her naps now, are anywhere from 1- 3 hours.  There have been a few days this past week where she didn't nap at all, but she's still adjusting!)  Although I miss the really long naps, I'm so proud of her for this major accomplishment in her little life!  ~ She was also at Griffin and Ansley's house today, and Ansley's binky was on the floor *the ultimate test*....when Molly would notice it, she'd pick it up and look at it for a few seconds, then she would go give it to Ansley!  Yay Molly!!!
 I think the combination of her being a freakishly good baby, (she's sooo easy going) and our cold turkey method has been very effective!  (We also did cold turkey for taking away the bottle, and although by the time she was 1 she was down to 1 bottle a day, we literally just stopped it and replaced that last one with a sippy cup and she did just fine!)  Good job Miss Molly!

Aquarium Trip

Molls and I went to the Aquarium today with some friends of ours.  She had been there once before when Nana and Pop were in town, Molly was 10 months then.  She enjoyed herself, but obviously was a little young to really get into it.  Well, this time was waaay different!  She had a blast!  It was also the first time we were out in public that she was allowed to walk by herself without being in a shopping cart or stroller.  She thought she was something else!!!  (Really bad move on my part because she was a little terrorist at times!) 

Such a big shot, walking around by herself!

A little too short to see!

Loved steering the wheel!

Still steering!

Really loved the stingrays!

Showing her buddy Aidric the rays!

Touching a shark!

She seriously was sooo pleased with herself being so free to walk around!

Grif standing on the starfish, and Molly wanting to be up there too!

Discussing the shark tank with Miss Ansley!

Checking out the rays with her buddy Nick

The Superbowl

We had the Beals family over to watch the superbowl last night!  We were cheering for the Packers to win!  But, Molly and I were sporting our Eagles attire, to show our true loyalty!  (Also because Molly's Eagles cheerleading dress is a size 18 months, so if she didn't wear it last night, she'd never wear it because it won't fit by the time football season is here again!)  So here are a few pics from last night, and a video of Molly dancing to the halftime entertainment, The Black Eyed Peas!

Our little cheerleader!  :)
(thanks for the outfit Grammy and Poppop!)

Love of my life!! 

Yes I know I'm wearing a McNabb jersey....I really need to get my new jersey!

Bustin a move!  Please don't mind my annoying voice!!

Say Goodbye to Binky.....

Today was a day I have been dreading for some time. Day #1 of "No More Binky" (aka pacifier)  Molly has been using a binky since she was born.  But for a very long time now, (probably 4-5 months) Molly has only had a binky in her crib, for nap, and for bedtime.  When we go in to get her from a nap, or up in the morning, she throws her blanky & binky back in the crib herself, waves to them and says "Bye."  At her 15 month check-up, her doctor suggested we start to get rid of the binky.  *She was thrilled that Molly wasn't using one all day, or walking around constantly with one.  But along with this dr. checkup, Molly had a few vaccinations (MMR & Varicella), two shots that she could have experienced side effects with up to 2 weeks after receiving them.  So, right then, I decided I'd give her some time "post shots" incase she had any side effects, then we were knocking the binky, cold turkey.  Which brings us to today.  So at 12:45,  I put our little princess up for her nap.  I gave her her blanky and Minnie Mouse to hold as I usually do, but when I did not give her the binky, I could already hear what she was thinking......."WHERE'S MY BINK!"  So I turned on her music, closed her door.....and the crying began!  She cried for about 10 minutes, then stopped and played a little bit, cried some more, and played some more.  1 hour had passed, Molly was not asleep!  She continued to cry, and play, take off her socks, throw all of her "friends" out of her crib, and rip her crib bumper out!  She screamed some more!  By this time 3:00 had rolled around, and after firmly sticking to my guns, I finally went upstairs and got her from her crib.  I knew she would not nap today.  Since then, she played the rest of the afternoon with her toys (and Arnold), had a big dinner, played some more and was put to bed at 7:30 (an hour earlier than usual, but she was very cranky & tired.....gee I wonder why??)  After getting her in her jammies, and doing the usual bedtime routine (brush teeth, read story) I put her in her crib, and once again, gave her Minnie and blanky, turned on her music and started to close the door and she began SCREAMING!  She screamed for a good 15-20 minutes.  Then, she just stopped, layed down, and I'm pretty sure she's asleep!  I can see her through our video monitor (best invention ever!)  but I can't tell for sure she's asleep, and I'm definitely not going into her room until I'm sure she's asleep!  Small victory for mommy!  Hopefully Day #2 of No more binky goes off without a hitch!  As for the rest of my night, Gunnar's working late, so I'm going to enjoy a well deserved glass of wine, and begin Season 3 of my new favorite show, Man Men!  Goodnight!

45 minutes later....

She woke up, had a nuclear meltdown lasting 30 minutes, I went up to rock her to sleep, and my poor baby was laying with me making sucking sounds, I think pretending she had her binky.  She was soo sad, which is breaking my heart!  This is soo hard!  I feel so cruel, but it's for the best!  The longer we wait the harder it will be!  I really don't want a 2 or 3 year old walking around with a binky!  Poor Molls!