2 Months

Angel Baby is 2 months old today!

Two days ago she was just barely starting to coo and talk to me... and today she really discovered her voice. We had long conversations and talked all about life today.

Last night she slept 11 lovely hours from 9:00pm-4:00am, and 4:30am-8:45am. Did I mention that it was lovely? When I woke up this morning I was shocked she wasn't awake. About 15 minutes later I started to hear sweet cooing and talking noises from her room and when I went in to check on her she gave me the biggest smiles to greet the day. :) She has always been a wonderful sleeper, and I usually only get up with her once during the night, but she doesn't normally sleep in until 8:45. That was just a special bonus for her tired mama last night. :) Who knows... maybe it will be a new 'normal.' (Don't worry, I'm not holding my breath!)

I put her in a 3-6 month sleeper today! Boo hoo! :( She is growing so fast.

She is just about busting out the toes in her 0-3 month sleepers.

I put her down for the night awake most every night and she sometimes has a little tired cry for a few minutes but generally settles herself and crashes. Occasionally I give her the pacifier when she doesn't settle herself after a minute or two. Her mama can't stand to hear her cry too long. :) The pacifier usually solves the problem... as long as she doesn't spit it out!

I love celebrating her life. She is a pretty wonderful addition to our family.

Weekend at the Lake

Dear Life,

On Friday morning we woke up and were about to run some errands, do some cleaning, get some groceries, and other responsible parenty things when we decided on a whim to go to the lake for the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson instead. It was about 9:00am and we set a goal to be on the road by noon. Just in case you don't have kids and don't know... it is not easy to go anywhere quickly... and we only have one bambino that is quite portable. Even still, this was an ambitious goal for us. We had a lot to do. BUT... by 12:30, we were driving away from our house (to Target to get a few last minute things) and were on the road officially by about 1:30. Emberly broke her usual 'cry all the way to anywhere in the car' mold and slept the whole way to the lake. Three cheers for Emberly!

We had all kinds of fun at the lake. Emberly loved getting snuggled by grandma and grandpa a lot. She even got to take a nap or two with dad in the recliner. Jordan and I each took a turn kayakiing on a perfectly peaceful lake, we got to go four-wheeling several times, Jordan got to fish, and I went on some lovely walks with my mom. All around, it was a lovely weekend. Want to know the best part? I thought I would be all type-A-ish about needing to get back home so we could do those errands, do the cleaning, and get the groceries I was telling you about earlier... but I wasn't! Want to know why? Because the Lord has been teaching me that I need to live my life a little more than I allow myself to sometimes. I want to be in control of all the little stuff so it appears I have more control than I really do, but that isn't the way it is supposed to be. I am pretty sure that I won't look back at my life and wonder why I let my house get so dusty or forgot to vacuum under my dining room table or make our bed. I want to teach Emberly how to enjoy life and play too, along with responsibility and the satifaction of hard work. Balance. Yes, that is the word of the season.

Yours Truly,
Molly

What we've been up to...

Dear Life,

We've had lots of "tummy time" the past few days.

Emberly has found her fist and sucks on it all.the.time.

We had some fun visitors this past weekend. In fact, I counted 31 different visitors or people we saw from Wednesday of this past week until Sunday. That is a LOT of people. Here are a few of the visitors (my cousins!) meeting Emberly for the first time.

Jordan and I have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather by going on lots of walks. This particular time we walked to the grocery store to get our groceries for the week. We had a list... and it didn't look that long... but it was pretty interesting getting all of the groceries in the bottom of the stroller! We had a blast. Funny how your entertainment changes! Jordan is posing for the camera here. He *loves* having his picture taken. :)

My big exciting news of the week was that my WEDDING RING finally fit back on my finger! Between the swelling and the prego weight I gained, I could not get it back on my finger to save my life. Trust me... I tried... almost.every.day. A few days ago I got it back on and it was pretty much exciting news in our house. I thought it would be weird to take a picture of my hand with my ring on it... so I took one of my sleeping babe and my hand and the sweet homemade crocheted ball my dear friend Ranelle made Emberly.

Emberly still does a lot of random napping. Love it.

And... here is another beautiful day for a stroller ride! Grandma Margo was pushing the stroller this day and Emberly got to lay in the "real" part of the stroller and look forward! Big girl!

Emberly is a BIG 8 weeks tomorrow. Boo hoo, stop growing sweet girl!

We see the doctor this next week for shots and are attending a Halloween party at our kind neighbor's house on Saturday. That is about all for big excitement around here.

Yours Truly,

Molly

The many faces of Emberly

This is the face we see most often. Sleepy, peaceful, sweet girl.

But every once in awhile we'll get a sweet little smile. This was at Grandpa & Grandma's house. Apparently she liked Grandma's bouncy seat. :)

Not sure what to think of the Bumbo seat...

Changed her mind - LOVES the Bumbo seat. Just like a big girl.

All smiles after her bath and a fresh new outfit!

6 weeks

Dear World,

I am 6 weeks old today! I still sleep a lot, which my parents love. At night I even sleep for two 5-hour stretches, and sometimes another 3-hour stretch in the morning. I don't really have a schedule yet, but I am starting to take a morning nap, an early afternoon nap, and an evening nap before I officially crash for the night. My favorite thing to do is lay on my play-mat and try to hit the hanging toys. Mom and Dad want me to have some tummy-time, so I do that to appease them every once in awhile too, although I'd really rather not. I am especially smiley in the mornings when I wake up (after I get some food in my tummy) and when Dad is playing with me. I do not like riding in the car, so I usually put up a fuss when mom is driving and can't do anything about it, but other than that, I hardly ever cry. Dad usually gives me my bath, and I stare at him the whole time to make sure it's ok, and he always assures me it is. I don't cry though. I like the warm water. Mom tells me all the time that I'm getting big really fast and that I should stop growing, but I keep growing anyway. I can't wait to sit up and crawl and do big kid things.

Love,
Emberly

Model Baby

Dear Life,

When I was still pregnant with Emberly, we discovered that Heidi Smith Photography was looking for some newborn baby girls to model a few hats for A Hook and some Yarn. We couldn't resist some free snapshots of our sweet baby girl on the way, so we checked into it. These pictures were taken about a week after Emberly arrived. Aren't they sweet?

Yours Truly,
Molly

Just a little update...

Dear Life,

Angel Baby has her first cold. Boo hoo. This hurts her mama... quite possibly more than it bothers her. Her little cry is pathetic sounding, her eyes are watering, and she sneezes lots. If only she could blow her nose! Poor thing.

We went to the lake yesterday for the day and spent the night! This was our first adventure away from home over night. I'm not sure Emberly even noticed she wasn't in her room. She was a trooper.

Jordan and I started a big project today. Jordan built me shelves in our closet in the hallway by the kitchen that is now a PANTRY. Love it. I am up way too late because I just couldn't stop organizing. Tomorrow we tackle the rest of the kitchen... rearranging and reorganizing every cupboard and drawer. (I read a quote the other day that said, "I have CDO. It's like OCD, but the letters are in alphabetical order. As they should be!" Hahaha... I can so relate.)

That's all for tonight.

Yours Truly,
Molly

Dreaming

Dear Life,

I *L.O.V.E.* days at home. I am recharged by this glorious, quiet, lovely alone time. Don’t get me wrong… I still like people (duh)…I just need those days every once in a while where I can clean my kitchen, read a good book, explore pinterest, (my new obsession – oops!) cuddle Angel Baby, and just sit in silence. J Sigh.

Today has been one of those days and it feels SO good. Emberly is napping next to me in her vibrating bouncy chair (which she just *loves*) and I have been reading teacher blogs. Yes, this is a new obsession of mine. I suddenly have tons of time to read (while nursing… what else should I be doing?) and have found some fantastic blogs. (Overshare?) Now, I’m not gonna lie… this makes me miss teaching. A lot. So I’ve been praying and dreaming and planning and praying and planning and dreaming about what next year will hold. I know Angel Baby is only 5 weeks old, and I have approximately 7 months until I would need to actually apply for a job… but hey, no time like the present to start praying about it, right?

So here’s what I’ve discovered so far. It might change. I’m open to that. J

I love teaching reading. More than any other content area. Love. It. I just see their little eyes light up when they discover something new, or point out a sight word from an old spelling test in text, or actually remember that “ar” says “arrrr” like a pirate instead of two separate sounds. Love.

But, even more than that, I love having time at home to be with my family, cuddle sweet Emberly, talk to my husband, make dinners, exercise, and sleep (kind of) at night.

So, what if I could combine those two loves into the perfect teaching job of all time? Well… there may not be such a thing, but it would be pretty cool if there was. I am not giving up on the dream. SO – I have been looking into Title Reading positions. These teachers in my mind have the best job. They teach reading all day long to small groups of kids (low low low kids) who need help, patient teachers, love, and encouragement. They have a small group of students for one block of the day, and then they send them back to their classroom teacher and start over with another group of kids. The job isn’t all sunshine and daisies though…working with kiddos that need extra help, explaining lack of progress to parents, motivating unmotivated readers, doing LOTS of paperwork… but hey, that’s just part of the job, right?

So back to my loves: Jesus. Family. Teaching. Reading. (um… not exclusively, obviously…)

Wouldn’t it be awesome to find a Title Reading position that was part time? (Ok, you’re thinking “Molly, DREAM ON.”) I know. But I believe that if I am meant to return to the classroom, there will be a job like this available. I also believe that if there is a job like this that is meant for me, it will line up with Jordan’s schedule and my mom’s schedule so that Emberly wouldn’t have to go to daycare. But even though I have this preconceived notion of what would be PERFECT, I know that the Lord is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or imagine, according to the work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20). So that is what we’re praying. You can pray too, if you’d like. And if you hear of a job like this, well… LET ME KNOW! J

Yours Truly,

Molly

And... just because no blog post is complete without a photo... here is Angel Baby, who WAS asleep when I took the picture, and is now awake and as happy as can be. :)

Laundry Helper

Emberly helped me with the laundry today.

I don't like laundry so much... but she definitely makes it more fun!

Blessings

Dear Life,

We had a busy, busy day today! Our dear sister/sister-in-law, Kendra, planned and baked and cleaned for and hosted a beautiful baby shower in Emberly's honor at their house in Glyndon today. We were up and out of the house by 9:30, which just doesn't really happen often. Here is sweet Emberly in her carseat ready to go, wearing her skinny jeans, new shirt, and cute boots from my wonderful friend, Bekah...

We spent most of the day at Kendra's with family, even after the shower was over. Emberly was a trooper and slept most of the day as we passed her around. It's pretty hard to put Angel Baby down these days... she's just so cute, cuddly, and loveable!

After hanging out with family we took a Wobbema Trio family trip to Maplewood State Park, a tradition of ours since Jordan and I have been dating. We just LOVE to see the beautiful fall colors as the leaves start to change. Here are a few pictures of our outing...

We got lots of "oohs" and "aahs" and "congratulations" as we were walking around and Emberly's raspberry hat (Thanks to the wonderful knitting skills of my dear friend, Ranelle!) was sticking out of the Ergo carrier.

We came home to some chicken in the crock pot and ate dinner with a fussy and sleepy baby we were trying to keep awake until at least 7:30. Apparently she was beat from the day's festivities too. We tucked her in and she even fell asleep without the pacifier.

Now, it is my turn to crawl into bed! We have had 3 nights of 5ish hour stretches of sleep... I hope tonight we will continue with the same trend!

Yours Truly,
Molly