9 months?!?

I was thinking it just couldn't be that nine months have passed since my baby was born, and this morning when I woke up to SNOW I knew we were in some sort of time warp continuum and it was still December. Just like I figured, time isn't really passing as quickly as I think it is. My baby isn't growing and changing so fast and I will definitely be able to remember it all. Oh wait, this just in........We live in Utah and this is called spring! How crazy is that!! Now back to mourning the passing of each day in Molly's life so pretty soon it will be 10 months and I'll be sitting here typing about blah blah can't remember, seems like yesterday, boo hoo your getting big same old story stuff. No really I want to change, I want to be better. These monthly updates are for just that purpose. To remember how she is growing and the fun things she has done or accomplished since the last month. Here we go.

My dear sweet Molly,

I would call this month, the month of you getting better at things. You have gotten better at feeding yourself. You have mastered the pincer grasp and concentrate on the cheerios so hard sometimes I think your having a staring contest. You always win once you get them in your mouth. You have also tried so many new solid foods(peas, cottage cheese, peaches and whatever we are having for dinner) and you never spit them out. You like to eat and get mad when you feel like you aren't getting your share. You might get this from me.

You are also getting better at being with other people, although for right now it is just Dad. This is fantastic, I love to see the bond growing between the two of you. When he gets you out of bed in the morning, you are perfectly happy to be held by him, instead of reaching and crying for me. You are getting to the age when he really likes his kids, the age where you can be thrown into the air. You love this, you laugh and kick your legs and can't wait for more. Whenever Dad comes in the house and your sitting at the table, you turn yourself completely around and peek through the back of the chair to see where he is at.

You are still sleeping through the night and your getting better at not waking up at 5 am and having to cry yourself back to sleep. You are usually put down for your naps awake and fall asleep pretty quickly. Sometimes you roll around in your crib before falling asleep and we find you in funny positions. Usually with your blanket over your face and your legs through bars.

You are also better at what I like to call "independent play". The times when I abandon you on the floor so I can get something done, or play on the computer, I get them mixed up. Your favorite toy this week is the big tub of lego blocks. You bang them together, knock them over, and dump them all out. The best part is when I asked Gavin to help me clean them up his response was "I didn't play with them, Molly did".

You have almost started to crawl, no pressure that babies half your size are almost walking. You wave bye-bye with a little coaxing. You say mama and dada in between all your other babblings. You have the sweetest laugh and gummiest smile with dimples(where did you get those?) that I love to hear and see everyday. You love to be outside and see what is going on, and watch the kids run around and do tricks for you. You laugh and clap your hands for them. Your favorite commercial is for the MacBook Air with the lovely song that we sing and sway to.

You are such a delight and bring so much joy to our family. Everyone is so excited to see you and play with you, even if you do bust a fit if they hold you. Your brothers still smother you with kisses everyday and ask constantly to hold you. We love you so much, and I am going to try not to be sad that you are growing up so fast. I am going to think positive and say you are one month closer to being on whole milk.

Love, Mom

Forward Motion

It may not be classified as a "real crawl", but we're happy with anything.

Fankful Friday

I am always a day late and a dollar short, so here's today's thankful list.1. I am thankful for Molly who took a great nap today, long enough that I showered, did dishes, and got to watch a few minutes of "Britney's Shocking Childhood" on VH1.

2. I am thankful for my main midget Gavin. He has a reputation of being a wild man, and it is well deserved, but he also has a sweet side that often comes out. This morning when I said it was cold he went and got me a blanket. He did his chore of putting away the silverware from the dishwasher with no complaints. He did not run through the halls of Shelley Elementary like a maniac, instead he walked by me and held open all the doors for me so I could push the giant cart through that was holding Molly and the reading books for Owen's class.

3. I am thankful the loaf of banana bread I made Wednesday night is gone, though I am not entirely sure who ate all of it.

4. I am thankful for Josh and that he can fix most anything. Last week I pulled out the drawer under the oven and could not push (or kick) it back in. He came home and fixed it and it works like a dream. Thanks babe!

5. I am thankful for my favorite Aunt Mike and my no cost hair cut yesterday. She said it was because she still owed me for getting her drugs and I have no idea what she could be talking about.

6. I am thankful for Josh (again!) for not murmuring about said hair cut. Smooches!!

7. I am thankful that while my ipod was on shuffle it played "Not Crying" by Flight of the Conchords and made me laugh. My favorite lines: These aren't tears of sadness because your leaving me, I've just been cutting onions, I'm making a lasagna........for one.

and

I'm not upset because you left me this way, my eyes are just a little sweaty today.

Their show and songs are hilarious. Here is the song in it's entirety Not Crying.

8. I am thankful for Heather's link to Pioneer Woman Cooks. She makes good stuff and is funny too.

9. I am thankful for links because one flight of the conchords is not enough, you should watch this one as well.

10. Last but not least I am thankful to Mister Al Gore for inventing the internet on which I have spent the last hour and it was only going to be for 10 minutes.

The Tale of Two Hoodies

It was the best of hoodie towels, it was the worst of hoodie towels. Why didn't someone remind me that I don't get along with my sewing machine? It really would have saved me some grief. I got a call yesterday from a neighbor in Eagle Mountain (we don't live there anymore, but yes they are all still my neighbors) they are putting on a baby shower for a friend who lived across the street from me. She just adopted a 2 week old baby boy, and she's 12 weeks pregnant. Yes you read that right, she's pregnant. Now let us all have a moment of silence for her.........

Okay, so I guess that's the way it happens for some. You try and try and when you give up trying, BAM!! two kids 7 months apart. Since I'm so happy for her and so glad it's not me, I decide to forgo the group gift and maybe make her something. Albeit, that was a silly idea since the shower would be tomorrow. Tomorrow in my story, but today on my blog. My first thought is crocheting baby burpers as my crochet needles do not argue with me, they do as I say, and I can get them done fairly quickly. But the stupid baby burpers store was closed yesterday. So I headed to Target (torture) in hopes of finding something great. They had a little bath set with soap, lotion etc. so I picked that up, found a hot water duckie, some wash cloths and then a small voice told me a brilliant idea. Make a hoodie towel it said. And I listened. I picked up this lime green towel and hand towel. It would be so cute. It would be so cute if it wasn't such a pain in the butt. This is the worst part of the story. I got home, Molly was asleep, so no better time to whip up my hoodie towel then now. Got my sewing machine out and started to sew. Now, Josh will tell you that the only reason I bought this sewing machine was to sew on my scrapbook pages. And he is correct. I have successfully sewn on my pages. It is delightful. Sewing on fabric is somehow a different story for me. I did make these pillowcases for Christmas presents this year and here's the proof, they turned out so cute.

So this hoodie towel should have been a piece of cake. I lost count how many times I re-threaded my machine, even the times before I broke the needle and had to go get a new one from my mom (thanks mom!). I did not properly install the new needle, which was part of the problem, but didn't realize this until today, while sewing a SECOND hoodie towel, and reading the instruction manual. The first towel I finished was enormous, Owen thought I had made it for him. I payed no attention to the size of the towel when I bought it and since I had used a hand towel instead of a wash cloth, it was HUGE. So here it is, lime green hoodie towel that is now Owen's.
This picture does not do justice to the hugeness and the lime greenness of it at all. This towel would smother that poor baby boy. So on to towel #2. I run to wal-mart first thing this morning to select a new towel. I got a smaller one with a washcloth this time, in blue. Come home, Molly is playing happily, start sewing. Then the same small voice tells me another idea. Hey remember that super cute fishy ribbon you bought years ago for some project and never used? well you should sew that along the edge of the towel it said. And I listened. Why did I listen? Because seriously, how hard can sewing on ribbon be. It's probably not that hard, you just have to not be a spazz to do it. So I get my ribbon sewn on the washcloth. The fish are swimming upside down. Not a huge deal, keep on truckin'. Start to sew the ribbon on the sides of the towel. Get excited that things are going so much better than yesterday, cut ribbon on side of towel too short and I have already sewn 2/3 of it on. Well at least my needle hasn't broke. Spoke too soon. Nevertheless, I finish the towel and manage to fix the side with the short ribbon. And it looks pretty cute. See for yourself.

I decided to put everything else inside the towel, roll it up and hang the ducky from the ribbon on the front.

How cute. Now just pray with me that it doesn't fall apart the first time she washes it.

I have had diarrhea since Easters!

This has been heard around our house for at least the last week, maybe more. It slips into regular conversation quite often, so what better time then when we remember all that the Easter Bunny has done for us. I think this holiday is driven by Mars & Company followed closely by those tasty Reece's Peanut Butter Eggs. This was a great Easter, we got to see lots of family that doesn't live within a 5 mile radius. We had a delightful lunch at my Aunt Sharon's house on Saturday. Good food and cash in eggs, can't wait till next year! Quiggle's your goin' down!!! Both of my brothers and their wives and even one wife's brother were in town on Sunday. It is nice to all be in the same house together, even if it is a short visit, we love to see them both. Here's the "egg"cellent pictures!

Too busy with their baskets to look at me.

The Simpsons Game, a blog entry in two parts: funny and not so funny.

Part One: FUNNY

{Gavin} Yea, the Simpson's mom has the power to make everyone do what she says

{Me} I want that power

{Gavin} You can't, you don't have a superhero power magazine

{Me} Where do I get one?

{Gavin} I don't know, they just fall out of the sky.

Part Two: NOT SO FUNNY

So the Simpsons game is rated "T" for teen and I really didn't care until Gavin full on repeated what Bart said, including the swears. Then it was time for the Simpsons to go back to Gamefly. The next morning Gavin took the game out of the xbox and brought it down stairs to me so we could mail it back. The case was upstairs, so as we were going back up, Gavin, while carrying the cd shiny side up, says "I'm not looking at the front of the game so I won't say anymore bad words". I would say, lesson totally learned.

Patty's Party

So yeah, St. Patrick's Day dinner is pretty much Thanksgiving in March. It's great! This year was delicious as always. On the menu was corned beef as well as turkey and ham, shrimp boats (baked potatoes halved, dug out and mashed with shrimp and a bunch of other stuff, stuffed back in the potato and baked), green bean casserole, veggie tray, broccoflower, green oreos, rolls, peanut butter bars, and key lime pie. Are you hungry? Here are some pics!

Our food assignment: Green candies and peanut butter bars! The crazy kids! They would not hold still for this picture and Melissa was sitting by me telling them they were ruining the blog pictures!


The rest of the fam!

Melissa enjoying her broccoflower!

Everybody loves an Irish girl!Our little green family!

I *heart* St. Patrick's Day

When we were dating, Josh invited me to go to his families St. Patrick's Day dinner. He came to pick me up and informed me that I wasn't wearing enough green. I thought he was kidding. Turns out he wasn't, his family took wearing green and St. Patrick's Day very seriously. Since then, it has become one of my favorite holidays and I so look forward to wearing green. We have our big family party tonight, so we started celebrating yesterday. We had green french toast for breakfast thanks to the green chickens I found that layed green eggs (insert soundbyte of Gavin saying "you just used green food coloring, there's no such thing as green chickens" in his most I'm-not-believing-you-for-a-second voice). Then for dinner we had chicken and rice with green sauce, peas, lime jello salad, and green koolaid. For dessert, homemade oreos with green frosting, YUMMY! Today I still need to make peanut butter bars and a tray of green candies (gummy apple O's, airheads and jolly ranchers) for the party tonight. The kids are all in their Old Navy shirts and we are ready to party, hope you have a great day and don't get pinched!

This was the only leprechaun available for a photo, the others were either still at school or asleep.

An Irish Jig

All morning I have been asking Gavin to dance a jig for me so I could get it on camera and he refused. Finally tonight we were in the basement and he busted loose. First it was breakdancing to The Offspring, then I asked again for a jig and was not disappointed. Enjoy!

You can also hear Molly "wheezing" like an old woman, it's her new thing she does.

Now wasn't that fun!! Unleash your inner leprechaun, turn up "all irish all the time", and dance a little jig and try to tell me you didn't have a smile on your face. Come on, no ones watching and I won't tell!!!

It has a green case

Gavin was the lucky instant winner of a 30-day free trial of Gamefly courtesy of Lunchables. God bless crackers and cheese, since this is a service I would never pay for. We played this game for 20 minutes or 2 hours this morning, I can't really remember, but it was fun. Please be aware that "It is not the same as Hunter's game, because on Hunter's game when he shoots the zebra pinata's it lets him shoot and on this game he cannot shoot the zebra pinata's". TRAGEDY, when the feelin's gone and you can't go on its TRAGEDY. That was the Bee Gees for those of you who aren't up on your music (i.e. Heather). He did beat me on all of the racing games, but I showed him how to win in the burping contest. Take that.

Green Today

Here's some green we found around our house today.

Spring has sprung!

Let's play a game.

What will this plant be?

a. tulip

b. daffodil

c. hyacinth

d. your guess is as good as mine since we haven't lived here in the spring

You'll have to stay tuned to find out, what excitement I know!

The blog has some new features you'll want to check out. First is the new playlist entitled "all irish all the time". In honor of St. Patty's which is only a week away! Do you have your $5 shirts from Old Navy? Cause ya should. Okay that's pretty much all for new features.

We want to give a shout out to Grandma Billie, who hooked Owen and Josh up with 12th row Jazz tickets Saturday night! Owen loved every second of it!! And he got a ball from one of the dancers, BONUS!!

While the boys went to the game, Gavin, Molly and I took Grandma out. We went to cobblestone pizza (yummy!) and then to the sticky shoe to see Enchanted. I will be going to see it again (minus kids) or buying it, since I watched the last 30 minutes through a tiny slit between the doors. Guess whose fault that was. Okay, probably mine for thinking Molly would be nice and wide awake and happy through a movie that started at 7:30. Anyway we had a fun time out with grandma and hope to do it again soon!

The Black Eyed Peas stop taking pictures of my eye

So I have been a little obsessed with Owen's shiner. Josh wants him to make up bar fight stories, which he will have no part of. I am still a little surprised when he turns around and here's his huge black eye. I grab his face to look at it, amazed how each day it is a new color. Then I grab the camera and take a picture. So here is the progression of the eye, not so bad the first day and yet such a lovely shade of yellowish green today.

Flashback Friday

I love this idea, and have stolen it from the many blogs I have seen it on. I have been going through lots of photos lately, trying to get organized and throwing away a whole bunch of older pictures that have already been scrapbooked or duplicates. I did come across some doosies as I sat for hours looking at pictures. I love to look at our pictures and remember what was going on at that time. Here is one picture I found, it is one of my favorites.

This was taken the night of my seminary graduation. We look so young, and sometimes I still feel that young, then these three kids start calling me MOM and whoa how did that happen.

So here is a list of music I now listen to because of Josh. Music I love and that reminds me of him and fun things we have done.

Lincoln: Josh heard this band at the Warped Tour or something like it. He bought the CD and we listened to it constantly. We call it our Moab music, it's what being in Moab sounds like and we always played it on the drive down.

Flogging Molly: Never in my life would I have thought that this would be something I would listen to, let alone like, or go to their concert and enjoy myself, or be so excited that I bought tickets to their Green 17 Tour in Las Vegas to surprise my husband with. Last year I gave Josh those tickets on Saturday morning, the concert was that night. We drove to Vegas (I was pregnant) saw the show and drove home the next morning. It was so FUN!

The Refreshments: This is such a great band, our kids sing along we listen to it so much.

Bedouin Soundclash: They were an opening band for Flogging Molly when we saw them at the U of U. I didn't really think to much of them, but Josh came home and found them on iTunes and loved them. They have grown on me and Owen really likes them too. Our favorite song is 12:59 lullaby. Super sweet song.

Dropkick Murphys: While they are not my favorite band, they do sing one of my favorite songs. It's called "forever" and it is beautiful.

Give them a listen, you just might surprise yourself and like them too! Now pretend it's friday night dedication show on the radio, this is for all you lover's out there who are looking forward to "forever" with your special someone, Happy Anniversary goes out to Heather & Colby! And my parents Lewis & Toni! wishing you many happy years ahead!

Dinner, movie and a book!

DINNER:
Okay so I am all about an easy dinner. If everyone could fix their own, even better. We call that "whatever you want" night. Love those. However when I do prepare dinner it needs to be fast, easy and good. That's what she said. The other night I made Speedy Chicken Stir-Fry, which I think is great. I do a few things differently, I use spaghetti, the light done right version of the dressing, and no peanuts. Sometimes I add more veggies, onions, carrots and red peppers are good in it. My kids really only like the chicken in the sauce so that on plain rice would be good too. Don't worry they both survived eating the ONE piece of broccoli required of them.
MOVIE:
Josh peddled his bicycle on down to Hollywood Video and picked up Into the Wild. Wow this was a great movie. It came out last year, but we're a little slow these days. I loved it, but it is rated R for those of you who do not watch those. It made me tear up and flat out cry, and I would have watched it again as soon as it was over. You'll never guess what happens at the end. Well unless you read the book.
BOOK:
Is not Into the Wild. It is The Memory Keeper's Daughter. This made me cry as well. I am not sure where I first heard about this book, but I kept seeing it at Target and never bought it. I found it at Costco for pretty cheap so bought it. It was very interesting and made me think. If you would like to read it I would be more than happy to lend it to you as soon as Melissa is done.

Don't bother mommy while she's shopping

Yesterday Melissa and I took our darling children to IKEA. I love IKEA, even though I haven't bought a lot of things from there, I could, and I just like to say IKEA. Go on say it, it's fun. IKEA. Anyway we did get to leave them in the play place so we could wander for an hour in peace, then we had to pick them back up. They are wild and there were too many things to climb on and too many desks to sit in and pretend type at and too many places to run like animals. We seriously should have put our names back on the playland waiting list. I did get this little item that I am so excited about and Owen got this:

That's what happens when you say "mom, hey mom, mom can we get this, this, this and that, mom, hey mom, MOM" fifteen hundered times. The back of my hand, that's what.

JUST KIDDING, come on do you really think I would backhand my kid? Not in public, anyway. Okay for real this time. As we are LEAVING they were playing at the last kid toy thing and he stood up to leave and turned around BASH into a counter that dropped him to the floor. It was so sad, I missed the whole thing (probably yelling at my other kids) but Melissa saw it and she said it was bad.

So we left IKEA on a bad note, but they have both talked constantly about how fun the play land was so we will be back again.

Oh and if you happen to see either of these men please notify the proper authorities.

8 months

Molly you are now 8 months old and sleeping through the night. yea! Monday was the big day(so much more sad for me than you), you were put down for all your naps awake to prepare you for that night. And you slept until 5am. 5am, who sleeps until 5am and then has to cry themselves back to sleep? You do. I went in twice to try to give you your binky, then just layed there and listened to you cry. It wasn't as terrible as I thought, even though you would stop crying and then start again which is so sad to me. It's like your saying "hey mom aren't you out there, don't you want to come get me?" So you cried one night and that has been it, you have slept through the night ever since. It's only been a week, but it's so much better than up once or twice each night.

Your naps are shorter however, and this makes the day a little longer. We play farm in your room, we play with a basket of toys in the living room, we play in your saucer toy thingy, and yesterday we walked to the park (thank you sunshine). You loved being outside and in your stroller. You watched Gavin ran and play and yelled with delight when he ran up to you.

I am looking forward to warmer days when we can explore outside. Hopefully you will have figured out crawling by then. For now you just push yourself backwards and get so upset because that is not where you want to be. You haven't figured out the get up on your hands and knees part of it. I do think that if you could figure out walking you would just skip to that. Your favorite way to be is standing up. You have been like this since you were just tiny (okay 9lbs isn't really tiny).

I hope this month is one of discoveries for you. If you watch this video you will discover that your love of animals and your dance skillz did not come from me. So far all you got from me is your pleasant disposition and your blue eyes.


Okay apparently the video has too many MB's, I will try again later.