Molly Dancing to Peter and the Wolf

In addition to the video, here are Molly's latest thoughts...

Yesterday, Molly colored a picture that included a star and a Christmas tree.  As she narrated the story behind the picture she told us, "I think Jesus is happy because I wrote a Christmas story."

The day before that, Molly was thinking about sharks.  Possibly they have been learning about sharks in preschool?  I'm not sure.  She turned to me and said, "Good thing there are nurse sharks so that if any shark gets hurt, they have someone to make them better."  She paused for awhile to think about this, and then added, "Mom, are nurse sharks evil?"

Emily is a Month Old

 

Emily was a month old on Monday.  She already looks so different from when she was born, and is clearly growing very quickly.  She still fits into most of her 0-3 month clothes, but we’ve gotten out all the 6 month clothes and she fits into those too. I’m not sure that we have real smiles from her yet, but the edges of her mouth are starting to turn up, and her eyes will track the Itsy Bitsy Spider if you do the motions while you sing.

She also is eroding Austin’s hopes of early potty training because she has stopped going to the bathroom every time her diaper is off.  At first it was like clockwork—she waited to go potty till her diaper was off—and gave her daddy the idea that he would be able to train her as soon as she could hold up her head.  Riiight.

She is already so much better than either of her older siblings at taking a bottle, which is very nice for me.  Unfortunately, nursing has been challenging lately because she has reflux and arches her backs and screams in pain during feedings.  Pumping bottles makes feeding her out of the house possible.  Of course given our allergic track record as a family we are looking into whether the reflux is made worse by an allergy.  I personally am guessing it’s cow’s milk so I’m now dairy free, at least for awhile.  I think it’s helping but it’s only been a couple days and babies are so erratic from day to day, so am withholding judgment.

She is a great sleeper; her record so far is going 7 hours without feeding.  What a star.  The only time she is not a great sleeper is when she gets overtired.  Beware, lest she not sleep between feedings: she becomes a very good screamer.  Poor kid, when she’s too tired, she is inconsolable. 

Emily is treasured by her big sister.  Molly feels very proprietary over what Emily wears every day.  Molly will also stop whatever she’s doing to watch Emily take a bath.  Molly threw a fit yesterday that I didn’t let her look at Emily’s eyes to check if they were open or closed (note, I had asked her three times to get dressed for preschool and we were late….)  She also has a fascination with me pumping bottles.  (I haven’t figured that one out and hope that fascination will end soon.) 

Molly regularly tells me things like, “Mom, don’t you LOVE having a baby?”  And I do.  Being with Emily is absolutely delightful. 

   

Quotes of the Day

*Yesterday Molly dressed up in her white tutu.  When she wears that tutu I tell her she looks like a snowflake ballerina.  She said, “Mommy, I don’t want to be a snowflake princess ballerina.  Today I am the sparkle on a moon beam.”

*Molly told me last week: “I love you as much as God does.”

*And then the other day she came up to me with a furrowed brow and worried expression, very concerned about her latest career dilemma.  “Mom, when I grow up I want to be a princess.  But being a nurse would be super fun too.”  She sighed as she said this, as if facing an impossible choice.

More Emily Pictures

Emily is two weeks old!  What a sweet baby she is.  She’s had one very fussy day, but apart from that, enjoys her sleep.  She has yet to wake up in the night more than two times, which is pretty awesome from this mama’s standpoint.  At the doctor yesterday she weighed in at 9 lbs 8 oz, up from 7 lbs 12 oz when she left the hospital.  Her heart murmur was also already almost gone—much faster than expected.

So far she likes tummy time more than either of my big kids… in fact, yesterday she almost fell asleep on her tummy and cried when Austin told her that tummy time was over.  She also likes watching her siblings, especially Molly, who continues to be enamored of her.  Even though she’s growing so fast, she continues to be very scrunchy and make lots of little baby grunting sounds.  We heartily approve and tell her not to grow up too fast.

Here are some of her latest pics:

        

Welcome, Emily!

 

Here are some pictures to satisfy the newly formed Emily fan club.  She is helping me pick her best shots right now as I type (totally conked out on my chest).  I could put her down—she sleeps fine without being held, but it’s hard to put such a snuggly little one down.  Especially when you have a seven year-old running around and you realize how amazingly short this time is.

Emily is an easy baby so far.  She is good at nursing, but also not as voracious as our other two—which is nice for me at nights.  This may change as she wakes up more, but I remember calling Molly my little barracuda even in the hospital.  Emily is typically more interested in sleeping and often makes me work to get her to eat a full feeding.

She is delightfully scrunchy, with the most exquisitely soft hair and skin.  It’s funny that she was 8 lbs 8 oz—that’s our biggest baby so far—but she seems absolutely tiny to me. 

Here are her greatest hits so far: