Thursday, July 28, 2011

4 Months Old

Can you believe it? Molly is 4 months old today and I wrote this post on time! This is a pretty major accomplishment this week because it is my last week of summer classes, we're visiting Austin, and I had to somehow get her pictures in!

She won't be going to the pediatrician for her four month check up until Monday, so I don't have all of her "stats."  I know she is growing, she is still so tiny!  When strangers ask me how old she is they are always surprised for one reason or another when I say four months.  They are either shocked at how petite she is or how strong she is for her age.  And let me tell you, she is definitely an attention getter!  People are constantly smiling at her, talking to her, or asking questions about her.  I find it most adorable when little kids try to get her attention.  I hope she likes all of this attention as she gets older.  I know I used to embarrass my mom because my crazy curly hair would elicit all kinds of comments but I was painfully shy and would give strangers the evil eye!  Right now, Molly just stares at them and studies them and that seems to make everyone happy.

She is still wearing the same clothes she was a month ago!  I am glad about this because I don't feel like she grows out of clothes after wearing them only once or twice and she still has lots of adorable clothes ahead of her to grow into! But I promise she is growing and eating well.

Speaking of eating, I have a feeling the pediatrician is going to tell me that she can start solids pretty soon.  She is just so interested in food and drinks!  She now tries to grab stuff from me while I eat.  I never thought that I would be so excited to start her on solids but I really am.  I just love to see her experience new things and this is an exciting new thing to experience!  I plan on making my own purees for the most part and I have some stuff already in the freezer waiting that I made about a month ago.

Some other new additions to her expanding list of talents are scooting and kind of laughing.  Now, she doesn't scoot around all over the place yet.  She mostly just scoots when she is in her crib, because, lets face it, what else does she have to do until she falls asleep besides suck on her fingers.  She will also scoot while she is chewing on a toy...but I don't think she has figured out that she can scoot towards a toy that is out of her reach.  And I say 'kind of laughing' because she has started to let out this noise/cough that is associated with a huge smile.  I love it and it cracks me up!  She is also starting to understand anticipation.  She will start smiling and laughing when I make it look like I'm about to tickle her! So cute!  

She is becoming more and more social everyday.  She wants people to pay attention to her and talk to her and she wants to talk back.  I have to be honest though and say that my favorite new aspect of her becoming more social is wanting to see me.  I love that when she is in someone else's arms she will keep her eyes on me or follow me with her eyes as I walk out of the room!  I know that this will probably soon turn into crying whenever I leave the room, which will break my heart, but at this point I can't get enough of her little eyes on me!

That being said, my goal this month is to start leaving her with other people besides my mom.  This is, honestly, more for my sake than for Molly's.  I'm sure she will do just fine staying with someone else.  It's me, of course, that is a bit more hesitant.  I really need to get used to her being with other people now, while she doesn't have stranger or separation anxiety, so that when she does develop those fears, I will have already had the experience of leaving her for the first time.  Tomorrow I am planning on leaving her with Austin for a little while while I run an errand.  Then, next week some time I want her to stay with my grandma for a little while I get my nails done or something.  Then in a couple weeks, the movie The Help comes out and I want to go see it with my mom and grandma because we all read the book, so Molly will stay with my dad while we are out.  I am easing myself into it....but I'm sure we, okay...I, will be fine!

Now for her pictures! These were honestly taken somewhat impromptu, but I do like how they came out.  I have to thank Meagen McCrory for taking some awesome pictures of me with Molly.  That would be very difficult to accomplish at this stage otherwise!















She is just so cute, I can't stand it!  I thought it would be fun to show some of the "behind the scenes" pictures and let her personality show through!



For the next pictures I put a headband on her after her bath and before I put her pajamas on.  She was so squirmy and was being very silly.  I only got one "good" picture from this bunch because she soon let me know that she was done with pictures and wanted to go to bed!



However, as hard as I tried to get that one "good" picture, when I gave in and let her Daddy put her pajamas on...I got these "great" ones!




And, as if I hadn't posted enough pictures yet, I was finally able to get my computer up and running again, so I have lots of pictures that I couldn't post last time!

These were taken somewhere around 2 months.  I went in right about the time she would start waking up from her nap.  It was so sweet!







These were taken on my phone this past month.  So many silly faces!







On a side note, I am very happy because Sunday is the end of my summer classes!  I will have a full three weeks before classes start again.  However, instead of taking those three weeks to finish all the little projects I would like to finish at home, I signed up for a photography class!  I have actually been waiting for this class to launch for quite a while now.  It is taught by one of my favorite photographers/bloggers.  She hosts photography classes called Snap Shots in her home, in Oklahoma.  I knew that it would be impossible for me to attend but she is starting to do an online version and it happens to run for the exact three weeks I am off, I felt like it was a sign!  She is very talented and I love her style of photography.  You can find her website here.  

The course begins on Monday.  Hopefully the next pictures I post will have improved!

Thanks again, Meagen, for taking the amazing pictures of the two of us!  It was nice to be in some pictures with Molly for a change!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

3 Months Old Already!

I planned on writing this post ON her 3 month birthday, but my computer had other plans for me, so here it is a week later.  Better late than never though, right?  I wish that I had been better about updating my blog on a monthly basis but I will start now.  Not to get to ambitious knowing my track record and all but I really do hope to write at least one post every month. That is definitely doable.  It will be so nice to one day look back and see her monthly progress.
 
I still can't believe my baby girl is 3 months old!  She has changed so much and is growing so fast!  She is such a good baby!  It is so much fun to see her becoming aware of her little world.  She always has a very inquisitive look on her face as she studies her surroundings, trying to figure everything out.


So what has changed in her 3 months of life?
  • She now weighs 11.4 lbs
  • She still wears certain newborn dresses, all 0-3 month clothes, and a few 3-6 month clothes
  • She is very long and slender so she grows out of clothes in length even if they're still baggy elsewhere (hence the newborn dresses)
  • She is wearing size 2 diapers and ruined an outfit or two with blowouts while we were transitioning from size ones because I was too cheap to let an open pack of size ones go to waste
  • She loves "talking" and having "conversations" with Momma
  • She is sleeping through the night which is only briefly interrupted by a 4am feeding
  • She is putting herself to sleep like a pro for naps and bedtime
  • She has learned to roll over.  First from back to stomach.  Then stomach to back.
  • She has graduated from the swaddle
  • She is very interested in the food we eat--she almost reached out for my banana the other day
  • She will give you the biggest smile if you talk to her sweetly, especially to her Poppa (my dad)
  • She isn't laughing out loud yet but she laughs with her eyes.
  • She loves to sing with her Mimi (my mom)
  • She has started to cuddle with her Lovie (a soft and silky bunny)
  • She loves to suck on her hands and arms, she's even given herself a hickey!
  • Actually, she loves to suck/chew on anything that gets near her mouth.  Someones hand, finger, chin, nose, cheek...anything.
  • She loves being outdoors
  • She loves when Daddy dances with her while making silly noises
  • She hates to be held like a baby (because she thinks she's a big girl).  She would much rather, sit, stand, or face the world, even though she still needs a great deal of assistance. And she is very proud of herself!
  • She is a very assertive little girl who knows what she wants.  This will take her far in life.
And I love every ounce of who she is becoming!
2 1/2 Months

2 1/2 Months

2 1/2 Months

 2 1/2 Months

 2 1/2 Months

 3 Months

 3 Months

3 Months

She is no longer this little newborn who just lies there looking cute and helpless.  I can't believe how much she has changed in this little amount of time.  She is already a quarter of a year old.  Time flies way too quickly.  I find myself at times saying "I can't wait until she can____"  but then I immediately take back my words.  I know she will eventually reach every milestone and all of her "firsts" but when she does I will look back and say "Aww, I remember when _____, I wish I could go back to that."  I am trying to live in the moment and enjoy where she is in her little life right now.  I can't go back or speed forward.  I only have now.  And now is perfect.

Monday, July 4, 2011

All American Baby

I am quickly realizing how fast time really does fly.  I am also realizing how quickly things you intend to get done, easily get pushed aside, no matter how good your intentions.  Molly is 3 months old already and I haven't updated a post since she was two weeks old!  I fully intended on writing a blog post on her 3 month birthday, however, I am having technical difficulties.  My computer has died and I am still trying to figure out if it is a problem with my charger, battery, or something else.  So my computer is dead, with all my pictures on it, and I feel lost.  Yes, I could still write a 3 month post, but what is a blog post without pictures of the baby?! 

I will write one though.  I actually discovered today while I was taking 4th of July pictures that all of her 3 month pictures are still on my camera! Yay!  So, hopefully I will do that tomorrow, somewhere between naps, feedings, playtime, and homework.  Seriously ;)

Anyway, today was Molly's First 4th of July!  And since I am trying to do the good Mommy thing be dilegant and write blog posts on/about specific milestones (which I have failed at miserably so far...), I wanted to write one for today. 

We had a fun filled day spent with lots of family, sun, and good food.  My Aunt Donna and Uncle Eric are moving into their new house soon but the pool was ready so we all took advantage of it.  Molly loves being in the water!  She was such a trooper and does so well even when she is out of her ellement and her routine is thrown off.  She is a very flexible baby!

Of course, with the wildfire dangers this year, fireworks have been banned.  So she wasn't able to experience fireworks yet, though she probably wouldn't have enjoyed them, or she might have surprised me.  Who knows.  Next year will be another story entirely!

So here are Molly's First 4th of July pictures!

Yes, that is a mosquito bite on her face :(  She got it inside of all places.


These are basically the same picture....but I couldn't decide which one I like better.


 When I first recieved this swimsuit as a shower gift, I never dreamed it would fit her by July.  I thought surely she would have outgrown it.  But she's so itsy bitsy still that it fits perfectly!


On a side note, I am practicing my photography skills.  It's been a while since the couple classes I took and honestly, I didn't take much away from them.  They were film classes and the only thing I cared to learn at the time was how to develop film.  Little good that's doing me now.  It seems such a waste having such a nice, expensive DSLR camera and using it on fully automatic.  So I have made the scary venture from automatic and switched to manual.  I am actually pretty pleased with my progress so far.  I still have a lot to learn though! 

I have also been practicing food photography. Since I absolutely love baking and cooking, I would love to blog about it...but I feel as if I need to be able to take appetizing pictures of my concoctions. So, for starters, here is what I did today.  Let's just say that I'm not absolutely thrilled with the results, but I like them enough to post.

This was a Red (and blue) Velvet Cake.

This was a mini Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle that my mom made.  It was delicious!


I feel like I still have a long ways to go when it comes to true food photography but at least they look appetizing!  Learning digital photo editing will be next, so I can learn how to color fix and whatnot.  Good thing I'm taking a digital media class this semester!


So, hopefully this is the start to better blogging. It's going to take a huge leap up on my priority list. Way above laundry. I've been told that no matter how much I think I will remember these sweet and precious days, I will one day realize how much I forgot. That makes me so sad to think about. So for now, the laundry can wait. Memories need to be made, shared, and remembered.