First Halloween!

Today is Molly's first Halloween!  Halloween is a funny holiday though because there is not much for a 7 month old to really enjoy.  Regardless, it is exciting and we do what we can!  There are so many cute halloween outfits out there but I am proud of myself for avoiding them!  They are so cute and technically can be worn even after the holiday is over, but the truth is I wouldn't put her in it after the holiday passed and I didn't want to spend money on something she would only wear a few times.  

Of course, I have a complete double standard and bought an adorable costume for her to wear!  Once. Maybe twice.  But she is the cutest tiger ever.  When I bought the costume, she was making growling sounds and I just so happened to see this at a resale shop and thought it was perfect!  Naturally, she stopped making the growling sounds soon after I bought it but she was adorable nonetheless.  

We celebrated Halloween by going to the Fall Festival at our church yesterday.  It was a lot of fun.  Molly enjoyed being outdoors and looking at all of the people and the ponies.  She even got to do one of her favorite things...bouncing!  They had a baby sized bouncy house and I held her and bounced her on the side.  I was too paranoid to let her in the ball portion of it.  She would have loved it...but the balls were dirty and she eats EVERYTHING. 

She hung out in her costume for most of the rest of the day.  She looked so cute in it I couldn't bear to take it off.  Plus it looked super comfy, kind of like her sleepers, or a snuggie.  I kind of wanted one myself.

I do after all have to get some use out of this costume since she is not trick-or-treating this year.  I wonder how long I can get away with the "It's past your bedtime" excuse?  Hopefully we will get some trick-or-treaters coming by before she is in bed for the night.  

Then it will be a usual evening for me.  Red wine and homework.  Only tonight I will be getting up every five seconds to give candy to adorable kids in costumes.  Not a bad night if you ask me! 

In my last post, I mentioned that Austin and I carved a pumpkin when he was here.  This is our Molly Pumpkin.  It's pretty accurate, complete with a headband and bow and two front teeth!

I hope everyone has a fun, safe, and responsible Halloween!

7 Months

WARNING:  This post has a ton of super cute baby pictures :)

Well, another month has come and gone.  Molly is now 7 months old and what a month it has been!  I am always amazed at the changes a month brings.  Sometimes I just look at her and wonder where my little newborn went and how I ended up with this super adorable, happy, wiggly, independent, amazing BABY.    Before I know it, she will be a toddler, then a full fledged child, and then....well, we'll just stop there before I freak myself out.  Though I look back at her newborn stage with cloudy fondness and I look towards her future with both excitement and fright, I always cherish the new stage a short little month brings us.

Let me just start by admitting I may be a typical mom in saying this, but seriously, Molly is the most amazing, smart, and beautiful baby I have ever laid eyes on.  She is absolutely perfect.  She never fails to amaze me each and every day.

So, what exactly has this month brought us?  The biggest milestone she reached this past month was pulling up!  We were visiting her daddy in Austin.  I was sitting on the couch eating an apple and she wanted it really badly.  So, what does she do?  She reaches her little chubby hands to the top of the couch and pulls herself up on the first try like she had been doing it for weeks.

October 12, 2011

When She saw me with the camera she tried to walk to me.  This resulted in her first fall while I tried to get the exposure correct.  Oops!

But she wasn't bothered by it at all.  She immediately crawled too me all smiles and giggles!

Also, I finally got a picture of her teeth while we were there.  She was very excited about eating breakfast on the patio!

 When we got home from Austin, she discovered that she could pull up on the dishwasher.  Now, it is impossible to load the dishwasher in peace.  I can put her in front of her toys and she is very happy.  As soon as I walk away, I hear her crawling into the kitchen and before I know it.  This is what I see...

October 19, 2011

 It was that very same day that she discovered there was more to the house than just the kitchen and front part of the living room.

She discovered cabinets.  

And that there was one just for her.

She discovered Mimi and Poppa's room.

Yes Molly, I see you.

And then, she discovered the stairs...

Yikes!

As you can see, she is all over the place now! Sometimes the crazy must be contained so that I can actually get something done.  Most the time she is quite content...other times not so much.  That's life.

But most of the time, I'm not doing anything but playing her her and joining in on her spit bubble making.  My definition of fun has changed.  Fun is now making silly animal noises, tickling a tiny tummy, singing crazy songs, and staring at my daughter while she figures out a new toy or finds something new to chew on.  She is perfect :)

Often times, while I have my camera out and a million pictures of her on my memory card, I attempt to take a picture of us together so I can prove to her one day that I did stay home with her and our days were fun.  While they can be humorous, I am usually unsuccessful and she is very uncooperative.  Here are some of the attempts.  The white balance is completely off, but I was working extremely fast to keep her attention.  Again, that's life.

Oops.. Cut my face off, but she's the cute one anyway! 

No don't touch the lens!

Yup, nailed that focus...

So I eventually give up and go back to taking pictures of her playing.

Her Daddy was here this week and we had lots of fall fun which included going to the farm to pick up milk, yogurt, honey, and a pumpkin.  Molly is now eating the yogurt and pumpkin and loves both!  We also carved a pumpkin, well Austin and I did, Molly is not exactly old enough, but we carved it to look like her!  I will post more about that in the Halloween post!  (I will start posting more in the near future as the holidays are coming up and I want to document all of those firsts separately!)  Also while Austin was here, he bought her a push toy!  We don't think that she has quite figured out that she is walking while she is using it yet.  She is very unstable behind it so you have to follow right behind her at all times.  She is also mostly distracted by the all of the toys and gadgets on it that what its actual purpose is.  But seriously, just giver her a week or so and she'll have it down perfectly.  In this picture she was distracted by her puppy.

They adore each other.

She has been showing signs of wanting to walk for quite a while now.  She practices her balance by letting go of furniture.  She has a little pattern going...slowly let go, fall on bottom, climb back up, and do it again.  It is all very methodical and purposeful.  She also loves walking while holding onto your hands.  She will go and go and go like that.  She also loves to dance!  And it is quite possibly the cutest thing in the entire world...amongst everything else she does, of course.  

In addition to all of her new mobility and exploration she has an abundance of new sounds and ways of communicating.  She has the sweetest giggle and is babbling more and more everyday.  I am constantly wondering what is going on in her little head.

Since I am a sucker for tradition...we went to the pumpkin patch for her photo shoot.  The whole time we were there I thought that she was tired and ready for a nap since we got a late start and just generally unenthusiastic about the whole experience.  When I got home and reviewed the pictures I now think that she was just more perplexed by it than anything else.  She is in a stage where she needs time to adjust to new environments and new people and the pumpkin patch was definitely a new environment.  There was hay...that looked delicious.  There was dirt...on her feet.  There were big, orange pumpkins...everywhere.  And there were farmers...who were not paying her any attention.  All very new to her.

She was wondering why the farmers were not paying her any attention here.

Looks like she's having fun...doesn't she?

Feet in the dirt.  First time that grass has not been involved. 

I don't think she gets the point of all this...

But these are interesting.

And they probably taste good.

Love. These. Feet.

By the way, have I mentioned how much I am in love with her?  Have I mentioned that she is perfect?   She is.  She is my world.  She is the light of my life.  She is my pride and joy.  She is my purpose.  She is everything.