Oh, man. I’m so far behind, but Molly needs some updates. She is now 7 months old. In the last week she has finally figured out how to roll stomach to back, which means she can roll all over. She is scooting herself around and rolling to get things she wants. At her last check, she was 19 lbs 13 oz. She is huge. Most of her clothes are 12 month size. She is such a happy girl. Always, smiling and watching everyone. She pays attention to anyone that is talking. She got her first tooth in December in the midst of being sick. That was fun. The next tooth came in a few weeks later in January. So now she smiles with her two bottom teeth, and will bite you with them as well.

Molly has such a good nature. She deals with her siblings and loves to play with them. She is starting to sleep longer at night. Or maybe I’m just sleeping through her crying. Either way, we’re getting there with sleeping. She is starting to eat foods. We finally figured out how to eat off a spoon. That took a while. In the beginning, she would close her mouth as soon as the spoon got close. Now, she knows there might possibly be something tasty on it. She much rather prefers to eat crackers and pretzels over the soft foods, though.

Molly is strong. She will grab hold of you while changing her, which makes that task very difficult. She loves to jump and is starting to sit by herself. She can sit for a little while before falling, which usually results from her trying to reach for something.

Still bald, but more hair is starting to cover her round little head. She works hard to manipulate her hands to hold things. Still hasn’t quite got the pincer grasp, but her hand-eye coordination is getting lots better. Everything makes it to her mouth. Doesn’t matter what it is. We love her. Her sibling may love her a little too much. Ella is always the first to let you know she is crying. I think Ella’s first question every morning is, “Where’s Molly?” Jameson has started picking her up and carrying her. I hope she can survive these two.

P.S. Molly has started giving kisses, and I love them. My cheek is covered in slobber, but they are the best!

There are many things important in Jameson’s life. He has started to record them.
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Kevin was gone for part of Labor Day weekend, so Monday was our only day to do something as a family. We headed up to Lake Tahoe to meet friends. Despite it being the last holiday weekend of summer, the beach was pretty empty. Could have been in part to the wind, or the fact that the air is still filled with smoke from the massive Rim Fire. Either way, we had fun. We made some rootbeer once we got to the beach. Molly tried her best to get it out herself.

The dads and boys headed out to the rocks to dive for crawdads. They dove till their bodies were numb and ended up with about 50. Jameson was a little nervous to pick one up, but Molly had no fear. We had to keep her away so she wouldn’t get pinched.

We had BBQ and the boiled up the crawdads. They were a lot of work for the amount of meat you get from them, but not bad tasting. Ella enjoyed watching everyone eat them, but she was not about to touch them.

While we were eating, Molly was having deep conversations with her friends.

We had so much fun, and loved spending time with friends. We were also as to spend time with family that happened to come to the same beach. Till next summer, Tahoe!

I gave Molly some ranch to dip her nuggets in. She doesn’t quite get the concept.

Good heavens what do I do with her?
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As I was trying to get Everyone ready to take Jameson to school, Molly decided to take it upon herself to get herself breakfast… After I already fed her. Meanwhile, Ella decided to pee her pants and was yelling for me at the same time. Luckily, non of those marshmallows got snatched in the carpet while tending to Ella.

In preparing to take family pictures, I was in charge of making sure Weston would be present. Since he is serving a mission in Australia right now, a cardboard cut out seemed logical. We picked him up Thursday, and took pictures to send to him. Cardboard Kevin was so excited to get a new companion!

Kevin was out of town all week, and I wanted to go to the rib cook-off that came to town for the weekend. I check with Steph to see if they would be going, because I did not want to tackle it alone with my kids. They just so happen to be going that day, so we hurried and left to join them. Molly loved the ribs, but did not want to sit in her stroller.

Aunt Steph took Ella and Jameson to get balloon animals. Then the balloon dogs needed her drink.

We had fun, and I have missed those ribs!

These are the many faces of Molly, who is now 10 months old. She was not about to hold still for me to take some pictures, so we did our best. You can see how big this girl is getting by her doll sitting by her feet. She is into everything, and never holds still. You might be able to tell by the stairs in the back ground, but yes, we moved. Our backyard has a much different view now. No more trees and moss, but more on that later.

Molly decided to teeth the week we moved. She got all 4 top teeth in. The front two came faster than the 2 side teeth, but all four are showing their sharpness. She has discovered the stairs, and has mastered how to go up them. We are still working on the down part. As long as she is on the stairs, she can go down. But, once she gets to the top, she stands triumphantly and yells. Then, can’t figure out how to turn around, so, she tries head first. We’re working on it. She has also found the toilet paper and door stops. She crawls like a mad woman, and is starting to bear crawl every where. I don’t think she likes the carpet on her bare legs, or the tile. She can walk when pushing something, and surfs along everything. Usually, she sleeps from about 7:30 pm till 7:30ish am, which is nice. She loves the phone, as you can see in the last few pictures, but just starting putting it up to her ear and “talking” in the last few days. She will also mimic what you do. She smacks her lips, shakes her head “no, no, no” and will wave on command… usually. When everyone starts laughing, she will laugh, and she tries to sing the hymns at church. She is off the charts for height and about 24 pounds. She’s a tank, that’s for sure. But she is beautiful and happy, and I always have random people commenting about her. She is usually so happy, or mean. She has super baby strength, and can really hurt you. But we love her.

After taking these pictures, she found her way to the bathroom.

How do I get mad at that face? She is so proud of herself. Molly has a great older sister, though, who rolled the toilet paper back up for her.

After, the toilet paper was cleaned up, we went outside to play with the neighbors. They decided to have some popsicle races. The boys lost interest after one race, but Ella loved watching the sticks go.

So you see those shadows? Because I’ve been enjoying them. That means the sun is shining!

Today, Molly hit her 9 month milestone, and also happened to have her check-up. She started off by waking up at 7 am. Can’t blame her. She went to bed at like 7:30 and sleeps continuous now. We got up and got ready for her doctor appointment. I had made Ella’s 3 year appointment at the same time. First things first, we took a few pictures of Molly with her doll.

As you can see, she is standing now. She pulls herself up to everything. She is not quite surfing yet, but has conquered using your pant legs to stand herself up next to you. Molly also loves to growl. Yesterday, she even clenched her fists and then yelled at us. She babbles “ma ma ma” all the time, but it is not associated yet. She is a Mama’s girl, though, and will find me throughout the house. Attachment stage has set in as well. She can use pincer grasp to eat her food, and will chow down a whole banana. She is out of her infant seat and into her rear facing car seat. It took Ella few days to acknowledge that the car seat was no longer hers. Molly loves to turn the xbox off while the other two are watching shows. I hear the “ding” and then the other two start yelling. Pretty funny.

Well we went to the doctor and found that Molly is 22 pounds 1 oz. She was 27.5 inches long. This puts her off the charts for height and in the 90th percentile for weight. Like, way off the chart. Here are the girls waiting for their check-ups.

Molly loves to be entertained by her siblings. One thing that threw us off today… As the doctor was examining Molly, her crease of her bum doesn’t quite line up. Kind of weird, but she said that could be a sign of hip dysplasia. She doesn’t have the clicking and popping like most children who have this. When she started to explain what it was in her gentle tone, I informed her one of my really good friends just went through the process, and I’m well aware of what it is. We were able to go take x-rays right after our appointment, so now we have to wait for the results. I’m not too concerned, because she doesn’t show any other symptom of it, but I definitely don’t want to deal with a positive result. A half body cast for 3 months does not sound fun. So we’ll see. For now, she is happy, healthy, and all over the place. The girl does not hold still!

(I’ll blog Ella’s update next. Promise! And maybe one day, I’ll catch up with everything else.)

We’ve done it! We made it another month… now at month 8. Miss Molly is the love of all our lives. She is the center right now. Jameson put his big brother skills to work, helping her sit back up when she has fallen over, carrying her all over, giving me a slight heart attack sometimes. He lets me know every time she’s poopy, and keeps an eye on her so I can shower once in a while.

Ella. Oh what to do with this girl. She loves Molly. Like, too much. She is the first to let you know Molly is crying in her crib. The first question of the morning is, “Where’s Molly?” Even when Molly is on the floor in front of her. She is constantly kissing or petting Molly to the point, she will knock her over. Ella will wake her up… just to check on her. But she loves her sister dearly, and I hope that continues on through their lives.

Molly is now 8 months old. She still just has the two teeth. She rolls everywhere, and gets up on all 4s. In the last 2 days, she has started the crawling motion. Give her a couple more days, and she will have it mastered. She gets frustrated and will get in more of a bear crawl position, and then face plant. Pretty funny. She can sit back up from crawling positions, sometimes. Molly imitates and talks back to us. She also leans forward to receive her kisses. Every once in a while, she will give you a nice wet kiss back… if you’re lucky. Dad is yet to be so lucky to receive one of these. She is constantly in motion. Holding her is a pain sometimes, because she has to be able to see everything that is going on. So she will try to flip in your arms, back and forth. Sleeping is starting to get better. She goes to bed around 7:30, I feed her before going to bed around 11:00, and then she will sleep till 6 or 7. Those 6 am mornings are rough, though. I always try to get her to go back to sleep, but it doesn’t always work. She is starting to eat more solids, and loves salty things. Molly has such a good temperament, and loves her siblings. And she is pretty dang cute!