Colds and tupperware and swimming and stuff

Dear Life,

I have a cold. And it is so very unfun. Wah-wah-wah. But really I shouldn't complain, because I have managed to have one cold while pregnant, and one cold while nursing. So... overall... not so bad. Just had to get it out there.

Miss Emberly also has a cold, but she seems to still be in pretty good spirits. I just got mine last night. She has been sick almost a whole week. Poor Dolly! Does she look sick to you??

Pre-mama-cold we went swimming yesterday! Grandma has a membership to the Family Wellness Center, and we got to be her guests yesterday and swim in the zero-depth pool. Emberly thought it was pretty fun to splash, splash, splash! Here she is looking a little uncertain... but she perked up as time went on! (How adorable is that swimsuit??)

I have several friends that are having baby boys very soon... so I got to go baby-boy fabric shopping to make baby gifts this week. I made several burp cloths and some cute drool bibs, if I do say so myself! Emberly is sporting the red one because it isn't too boy-ish.

And today... I am brainstorming what I want for my birthday. Very adult-like, right? So far I have come up with this list:

1. tupperware

2. sewing things

My grandma called me old-fashioned this weekend. Um... thanks! :) I couldn't think of a nicer compliment. Even if most people don't want tupperware for their birthday.

Lastly, I woke up yesterday to find out that a guest-blog I had submitted to one of my favorite cloth-diapering blogs was published! If you want to, you can read it here: http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/2012/03/magic-mary-poppins-diaper-bag.html

That is all for today... I hear a sweet little voice calling me from her crib to let me know she is all done napping. A grand total of 27 minutes later. Not an award-winner of a nap, but at least it was a nap!

Sincerely Yours,

Molly

P.S. - Did I mention that my husband shaved off his mustache before Mustache March was over?? Yup. He loves me.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Dear Life,

This weekend was my Grandma's 80th birthday. Five of her seven children were able to come home to surprise her. One of my uncles showed up in this beauty...

Yup. Our family is kinda awesome. I guess my very own mother started the costume fun many years ago when she flew home for Christmas and surprised my grandma in a Santa costume. She wore it on the plane and everything. Crazy lady!

So anywho... we had a fun weekend of surprises and delicious food and good times at the farm. I can't wait until Emberly is old enough to run around at the farm and play with the animals and eat dirt and get dirty... it brings back all kinds of happy feel good memories from my childhood. This weekend we just settled for some stroller rides on the gravel.

She looks like she is in a trance, doesn't she? I guess the bumpy gravel will do that to a girl!

The only other big news from the weekend is that Miss Emberly figured out how to do "So-Big." She's pretty darn cute throwing her arms up in the air. I am a fan.

Sincerely Yours,
Molly

Mustache March

Last year when I was teaching first grade, I'd often have my firsties tell me their highs and lows at the end of the day. There were 23 little personalities to listen to and we had to squeeze it into the last few minutes of the day and so sometimes I maybe was just a teensy tiny bit annoyed (gasp!) when my firsties wanted to tell me their 43 highs and 7 lows. Looking back though, how wonderful that those little precious personalities had such a sunshine-y outlook? :) Anywho... we had a pretty peachy day today, so I have several "highs."

1. Mr. Wonderful hung up a retractable clothesline for me today! I know this is super nerdy, but I am beyond excited to whip my clothes out of the washing machine and head straight outside to hang them up and bring them in smelling all summery fresh. {I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that 99.9% of the reason I wanted the clothesline was to hang my diapers outside! Check out those beauties!}

2. I got to hang out with this cute face all day. How awesome is that expression?? The one that says, "Mom, it is kinda breezy out here, are you sure I can breathe in this wind??"

3. E and I took a walk to the grocery store to get a few staples this morning in attempt to be healthy and get a little exercise. While at the grocery store I bought a bag of mini snickers, starburst jellybeans (because they are the best), and pita chips and hummus which I have been snacking on all day. Um...

4. We had our first picnic on the deck! I used my bread machine to make pizza dough this afternoon and we had a fancy shmansy pepperoni pizza for dinner (again, trying to be healthy and all grown up...).

(Jordan is thrilled I'm taking this picture, can't you tell??)

AND... my only low for the day...

Look very closely at the picture above.

Mustache March. I loathe you.

Cute Face

Who wouldn't want to chill outside in the laundry basket on a beautiful 70 degree day in March? This cute face is loving it. See that smile? It says, "Look mom, I'm going to pull myself up on the side of this laundry basket while you're trying to take this picture and see what you do!" Hmm... that's different. So today we lowered the crib mattress a notch and our lives will never be the same.

And this cute face? This cute face is all kinds of squirmy and almost mobile. I think the wheels are turning and soon something will click and she will be crawling. Um... yikes! Weren't you just a tiny baby... like... yesterday??

And this cute face? This cute face slept from 8pm-8am last night, waking only once for some coaxing back to sleep around 11, but no {I repeat, no} milk last night. First night in her life, I do believe. Too bad I woke up at 6:30. Can we do that again tonight, sweet one??

E also took two naps today, one for an hour, and one for two hours! This mama crawled in bed during the two hour nap with the intention of doing a little reading and woke up to a babbling baby sometime later. Ooops!

Church in the morning! Favorite delicious egg bake is in the fridge ready to be popped in the oven in the morning, steaks are marinating for lunch tomorrow before Daddy-O has to head to work, diapers are hung and drying, laundry is in one big giant pile on the floor completely untouched, windows are wide open giving my house a weird/lovely {is that humidity?} spring like feeling for March, baby is sleeping, house is a minor mess, and I'm off to bed.

Happy Day!

Dear Life,

I'm typing quickly, because I fully expect my sweet dumpling to wake up any minute... but I am just marveling over the fact that she has been napping for an hour and six minutes and counting! As I was laying her down I was debating whether or not I'd take a shower or eat lunch during her *usually no more than 30 minute* nap today. And here I sit, fully showered, with makeup on, hair dryed and fixed, lunch made, eaten, and cleaned up, laundry started... and shocked! (I have checked on her twice to make sure she was still breathing.)

It feels so good to get stuff done! Husband and I have already gone to the bank and gotten groceries today too. SO excited to get my new 31 Bag tonight that I ordered a few weeks ago, and visit with my friend Rachel and her sweet dumpling, Harper this afternoon. Happy Day!

That's all!

Sincerely Yours,
Molly

Bismarck

We spent the weekend in Bismarck with Jordan's parents and had so much fun with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Tracie. We did some shopping, ate some delicious homemade meals, watched a few movies, and played Ticket to Ride every night. It felt a little bit like Spring Break... especially because the weather was absolutely beautiful. We went for stroller rides and even went to the park for our first ever swinging experience on one particular 70+ degree day! Emberly is liking this Springtime weather. And her mama is too.

The Little Things

I feel like I'm always talking about sleep... but it seems to be constantly on our minds around here... so can I just say that Emberly only woke up once last night??? 8pm-4am, 4:15am-7:30am. Wahooo!!

Molly

The Day-to-Day

Dear Life,

I seriously think Emberly grows every time I turn around. Seriously.

We took her 6-month pictures seven-ish days ago and she could not sit up by herself. The past two days, she is deeply insulted if we try to lay her on her back because all she wants to do is sit up like a big girl. And she is good at it. I mean, really really good at it. We put pillows or the boppy around her just in case she gets a little too confident and tries to look behind her or up at us or something too fast. Cuz that's a little bit of trouble. But overall.. she just sits. All.by.herself. Look how proud she is...

She's still not rolling over though. Skipped that step. I'm pretty sure we're onto crawling next.

Grandma bought Emberly a sitting up bathtub for Valentine's day and we tried it out tonight now that she's so good at sitting up. E thought it was awesome. She probably inhaled a little too much water from that spongy ducky tonight... ... oh well.

And don't you just love this?? I cannot get enough of this mushy sleepy cozy baby stuff. Ugh. Her daddy can't either, which is why she is sleeping in his arms here instead of in her crib. Every once in awhile, you just need a good cuddle, right?? (Speaking of sleep... we are down to mostly 3-5 minute crying sessions before naptime and then she puts herself to sleep! Love, love, love. The naps are still rather short at 30ish minutes, but she's taken two or three almost 2-hour afternoon naps, so I think we're heading in the right direction!!)

Ok this picture is a little... um well... gross. But I just think it is beyond funny. We went to my friend Laura's 31 Gifts party, and I stuck Emberly in their bumbo while I was looking at the bags, not realizing that she could reach the things around her. The next time I looked up, she was chewing on this toy rat's tail. She was so content... I couldn't take it away from her!

Yup. So that is our past week-ish recaptured.

Oh - and Miss E cut another tooth through yesterday! Yippee! Good sleep may be coming our way...

Yours Truly,

Molly

Love: 6 Months

Toes: 6 Months

Faces: 6 Months

Our Family: 6 Months

Little Lady: 6 Months

Crying

Somebody please remind me the importance of letting your child learn how to self-soothe, because I am at my whit's end with crying sessions before naps and bedtime.

I wish our garage was attached to our house, because I think I'd rather be standing out there than in the house when she needs to cry it out. My heart breaks, and I sprout gray hairs.

Ugh.