milestones

After being a slow learner and becoming completely happy with just sittin' there like a bump on a log, Molly finally started rolling at about 10 months old...and as of today, we can now add walking to her list of really neat tricks.

I'm watching Molly walk along the blurry edge of baby and toddler.  The milestones of her life are so awesome to see but in a quick second, like sand falling from between my fingers...I feel her growing up.

Oh the ways I love this little girl...

molly turned one.

I'm blogging!  I almost don't believe it myself.  I'd like to apologize to my avid followers [grandma and mom] for the blogging hiatus.  I promise to do better.

Where to start, where to start...Well since I'm recommitting to blogging I won't try to cover it all at once.  We'll take baby steps here...

I'm starting with Molly. My dear sweet Molly.  I've done everything I said I wouldn't do with the second child.  There were minimal pictures taken of you until we bought a working camera.  I've talked about you on this blog, like, 5 times.  Which my blog is supposed to be a modern day, cheap, virtual scrapbook...so in translation to a real scrapbook this would mean that I have 5 completed scrapbook pages of your life and I started 6 more but ran out of those cute stickers.  Let's just say your life has been really great.  That's all you need to know.

She never gets held.

We had a TuTu party with some friends and then had a few family parties too.  I thought this year that instead of doing one gigantic birthday party, I'd do a few smaller parties.  Let me tell you that I didn't save on time/money/party panic by having the smaller parties...so I might hop back on the huge-shin-dig train because there isn't much difference. 

Vivi changed Molly's diaper and the powder was in reach therefore the "CasperMolly" in the top right.

Tutu Party with some pals.

Molly and her G.Grandma Breden celebrated their birthdays together which explains the matching tiaras.

I love this video.  It was taken on her the morning of her big day.  She's such a little rug rat first thing in the morning.  I don't think she expected the paparazzi at such an early hour and Colt turned every light on within seconds giving her poor eyes a jolt.  I shall name this video...'Hey Molly, Mornin'...Hey Molly, Mornin'...Hey Molly, Mornin'...Colt would be a good Walmart greeter.

 It was a special day for my baby girl.  She's growing so fast!

lately...

1. We're gearing up for Molly's 1st birthday.  I cannot believe it's almost that time.  She's beautiful and happy and everything I love.

2. I signed up for a 1/2 marathon.  It's paid for and everything. GULP!  I've been running 4x's a week with my running partner Sarah.  I CANNOT believe that I'm doing this but I'm pretty proud of myself.  Yesterday I ran 5 miles for the first time ever and it didn't even suck that bad.  I just keep moving my feet and eventually it's over with...that's how I get through it. ha!  Andy is registered to run the marathon that same race.  He's never ran a full marathon before. I'm so excited for him.  Yesterday he ran a 1/2 marathon around town and he said it felt great.  Look at us! We're runners!

3. Colt is almost potty trained.  This makes me realllllllllly happy.  After going cold turkey on the diapers and just making him be in underwear he's catching on really well.  We have accidents still here and there but in general he goes in the potty.  I'm so proud of my little man!  He gets 1 jellybean when he goes peepee and 2 jellybeans when he goes #2.  He always reminds me 'Mom, poo potty...2 beans. 2 beans.'  Just making sure I don't jip him of those jellybeans.  I love my little boy.  He's growing up and I'm really proud of him.

4. After 4 years...we've decided, Copper's getting knocked up.  NO MORE DOGGIE PERIODS!  Andy has always wanted to breed her and so we're going for it.  I'll tell ya what though, someones gonna be crying when that last puppy get sold and that somebody is me!

5. We're healthy, happy and blessed.

forced giggles

hey, howdy, hey!

We had a good start to 2011, here's what's been happenin'...in a nut shell:

1. Andy and I did another weight lose competition which we both sucked at. I ended up gaining 1 lb I think. Ha! Not really the goal I had in mind. I need to seriously dig deep here! I wanna loose 20 more by June. We're thinking about trying the Paleo diet together. Not that I WANT to but I've been at a standstill since Thanksgiving. Blah. I would miss cheese. I'm also on the slow track to training for a 1/2 marathon June 6th too. I'm scared! Shizz!
2. We celebrated our 4th Anniversary at home on the 27th. Good times. :)

3. Copper wore one of Molly's skirts.

4. We planned a ski trip for our Anniversary and just before getting to our destination I realized that I forgot my wallet and we had to drive the long road home...skiless and wordless because Andy wasn't talking to me. Ha! He really wanted to go skiing I guess : /
5. Molly got on all fours and with all four limbs trembling from the weight of her chunky torso, she stayed up for a few seconds. We all clapped and cheered like a bunch of idiots.

6. Colt fell in love with Buzz & Woody. One night Colt ran over with his bottom lip out yelling, 'Wood, ARM OFF!!' What he meant to say was...Woodys head fell off. I laughed. We tossed Woodys head in the trash, then Colt wanted to keep the headless Woody to keep playing with. I laughed some more. Eventually he tossed Woody that night and the next day Andy upgraded Woody. Colt was so happy. Colt IS so happy. I've never seen the kid play with a toy like he plays with Woody. Unfortunately, little Buzz got the boot and is typically found at the bottom of the toy box or under the couch :/ Just like in the movie. Someday we'll upgrade little Buzz too. Someday.

she gets prettier everyday.

9er

Today my favorite little girl is 9 months old.  It's so hard to believe that in 3 short months we'll be celebrating her 1st birthday! Until then I'm going to push pause and cherish these baby days before she gets toddlerized.



Molly and Grandma 'Grape' aka. Pat.  One day Grandma said it would be easier if my kids just called her and my Grandpa by their first names since they had to many people to call Grandma already. 
So this is Molly and Pat.  ha! 'Tom' is not featured in this picture.

 

 Here she is taking a 'bubble' in the sink.  Colt is jealous and always asks if he can take a bath in the sink too, then I remind him how large his butt is and he just watches instead.

 Here she is just waking up from a nap.  Upside down and backwards from where I first laid her down at the start of nap time.  She was slow to start rolling but now she's all over the place.

This picture was taken right before church.  She was looking extraordinarily pretty in this dress she got from Vivi and Papa for Christmas.  I sent a pix message to my friend Laurie who has two 5 month old twin boys and it said, "Hey FeLLLLAS!".  She already knows how to work it.

To say that I love being Molly's mom would be an understatement.  I more than love it.  She has my heart and everyday is more wonderful than the next watching her grow. 

so much to say!

Ya know how I was gonna blog during nap time...eh, ya that didn't happen. So here I sit absolutely forcing myself to not do the other 20 things I should probably be doing and blog instead. How does that happen? No matter what, there is always something I should be doing. But for now I'm going to blog and stare at the toys that need picked up, the clean clothes in the basket that need folded and put away, the dishes in the sink and the list goes on. Seriously driving me a little crazy looking at this mess but oh well. Ok, I'm done.

Now I'm going to vomit my thoughts and try to make it to bed in 30 minutes :)

• debt. As of December 1st 2010 we are debt free! We said goodbye to the payments for a Ford, a Honda, a Jeep and a furnace totally to $33,000 dollars which we paid off in 2.5 years.  That included a few road bumps along the way too...1) Colt 2) I quit my full time job & my part time job to stay home and 3) Molly. Not that they are road bumps in our life just things that set us back a tad financially. We are really proud of ourselves. I love that we honored the money that God put into our life and I pray that from it we're able to live a financially easy life and give generously as we go. It feels realllly cool and I must say I think I've fallen more in love with my Andy on this journey. It's been hard, we had to pinch penny's and skip out on fun times and vacations but it's over with now and we're better for it. The one thing I heard Dave Ramsey say that stuck with me was, Adults devise a plan and see it through. Children do what feels good. That really put things in perspective and helped me stay focused. If you want to know how we made it happen go here and do this. You won't regret it!
• rollin' rollin'. Molly finally started to roll. At her 6 month appointment she was still totally content just laying there. She finally started to roll but not without help from Colt. Whenever he saw me lay the blanket on the living room floor he would say MOLLY? Roll??...I'd lay her down and he'd grab her shirt and pull/push her until she flipped over :) Such a helper. I feel like she will be a tad slower in all the physical milestones. She just wants to sit on the floor play with a Dolly or a toy and jibberjabber :)
• the grinch. I've watched this movie a dillion times in the last 3 weeks. I say every time how perfect this character is for Jim Carey to play and I'm in awe of what an amazing actor he is. This also is a hilarious movie. Every time I watch it I find something else in it that is hilarious. I also love the moral of the story. I love Max the dog. I love when Cindy Lou Who sings Where Are You Christmas in her room before bed that one night and hits that high note at the very end...she's just so sweet.  I want to be a Who.
• ibs. I figured we'd close the book on my whole intestinal/stomach ache/poop problems. After all those tests and everything I went through the doctors told me I have IBS. I feel like I could have figured that out. I've cut the majority of wheat out of my diet and it does help. I haven't had a stomach ache in months which is amazing. Now, when I cheat with wheat and eat it I vomit  and have terrible diarrhea instead. haha! Not all the time, just sometimes. Whatever. TMI. Anyways. Let's just say Lord help me when I'm 80 and naturally start to loose control of my bms. AND I just took it another step farter...I mean farther. I mean, POOP!
• 11:10pm I was supposed to go to bed ten minutes ago.
• snow. snow. snow. It's been snowing like crazy here and I for one, flipping love it. The more snow the merrier. It's beautiful. It's quiet. It bring a peace to my soul. You can hit someone in the face with it if you're mad...and you can eat it if you're hungry. It's amazing. Colt, Andy and Copper think so too...
• baby jesus. Christmas morning is almost here and I'm going to make a birthday cake for baby Jesus. Andy thinks I'm crazy. Maybe I won't ALWAYS make baby Jesus a birthday cake but it will help my 2 year old get the reason this day is so special...and WHO doesn't like cake??? [besides my irritable bowl.]

I'm glad I got that off my chest :)

back by popular demand.

Thought it was time to dust off the ol keyboard.

I do plan on blogging a long list during nap time today but until then I thought you should see my cutie pies while you wait.  This video is older but still cute.  I <3 them.

we got bangs

i've got a lot to say

I'm playing catch up on...

• my guts.  I had my colonoscopy a few weeks ago and an ultra sound right after that.  Both came back clear and healthy lookin.  It's good I'm healthy lookin, but it's also pretty frustrating that we still had no answers.  After my colonoscopy I decided to cut wheat out of my diet just to see what would happen, I had already had blood tests showing that I did not have siliac disease but I thought what the heck, I'll give it a try.  Magically all my pain went away and it was amazing.  I did miss my toast and the occasional goldfish cracker I would snatch from Colt's lunch but I survived.  After about 2 weeks of feeling good my stomach aches came back with a vengeance. I am still staying away from wheat until I meet next Thursday with a GI doctor.  I'll probably need an upper GI.  Weee!
• my disappearing fatness.  Andy and I have about 1 week left in our weight loss competition for this month.  I'm pleased to say that I have 1 pound to go!  I'm just going to go ahead and say how much I had to loose this month to win because I honestly don't mind sharing and hopefully someone will get inspired or something...but will have lost 9lbs this month.  That's a lot of weight!  My total will be 28lbs since June.  I can feel that $100 burning a hole in my pocket as we speak.  I saw a really cute jacket at Target that has my name written all over it.  I love that I haven't even won yet I've found a way to mentally spend all my winnings.
• funny disappearing fatness timing.  Two days before our weigh in we're having a big tailgate for the ND game.  Food, Drinks and more FOOD!  The day after that is Halloween.  Candy, Chocolate and more CANDY!  Will power don't fail my now!  I've been thinking about my strategy and I might wear my retainers to stop the likeliness of food entering my mouth...on the other hand the likeliness of something calling me a dork goes up dramatically with this idea.
• andy.
• On Wednesday Andy reports to the ambulance as a paramedic.  Today was his last day on the fire truck.  I'm proud of his hard work and excited for his raise.
• Andy is also getting skinny.  His pants are ridiculously big and he needs a new belt because he no longer has enough notches to keep them up.  It looks like he has old man pleats in his camo shorts they're so big.  I would never have done well this year if it weren't for his support.  He's really awesome.
• money.  We've been patting ourselves on the back lately.  This month, with Andy's over time and our diligence to keep living on a tight budget we were able to put an extra $750 on our car payment for this month.  Again,  I'm sharing this to brag on ourselves but more importantly to encourage people to do the same.  It's possible!  Only $1,000 more and we will owe NO. ONE. ANYTHING.  Totally debt free!  We owed about $12,000 a year ago and it's almost over with.  I see myself jumping on the bed throwing dollar bills in air already.  Who knows, maybe one day we'll even go on a vacation.  Just one step closer to our life goal of being skinny and rich.  :)  I kid.
• one of my favorite times of the day.  I love when my family is all tucked away for the night and I lay my head on the pillow and start to pray.  I so enjoy reflecting on my day with God.  I thank God for pairing me with Andy.  I ask for wisdom on how to be a better mom.  I pray for my friends.  I thank God that Molly hasn't started crying even though I know she spit her paci out a few minutes ago.  The good, bad and ugly...I absolutely love my life.  I could cry just thinking about the thankfulness and love that I have for my maker.  I'm what they call a happy human.
• molly haab.
• She turned 6 months last week.   I swear she tripled in size last month.  We got to her doctor appointment this week.  I'm excited to see how big she's gotten. 
• She still isn't rolling but she's close to sitting by herself. 
• We started giving her food this week too.  She likes bananas. 
• She is still really chatty.  She's always squealing and complaining about how her socks never stay on.  She's my angel baby.  And really, she is just that.
• colt. 
• Little boy has been referred to as a 5 year old on more than a few occasions this week.  When you see my "5 year old" throwing a tantrum it's because he's 2.  He only looks 5. 
• He is starting to talk a lot more.  He finishes the last word of every sentence in his prayers [peyss] at night and says 'pounds' when I ask him how much he weighs after he stands on our bathroom scale.  He's cute.
• Today he helped me clean the house and played with Copper for hours on end.  At one point I looked up and found Copper wrapped up in all his blankies and he was laying next to her on her dog bed. 
• hunting.  I'm going hunting with Andy on Monday morning.  I've never been hunting so I thought it would be fun to join.  I'm gonna shoot the BIG BUCK.  Not really, I'll be reading my book club book that I haven't even started yet but my hope is that I'll be there with him when he shoots the big one.  I really just want to spend some time with him doing what he loves to do.  I'm going to take some noisy snacks.

Now we're all caught up and I can sleep good tonight.

my favorite picture thus far

Molly made this face right after I told her how pretty she was for the 15th time that day.  Oh how I love her! 

jumpity

Molly has new tricks. 
She can jump!
I've been sitting her in her jumper bouncer for a few weeks now and she would just stare at the toys,  spin around or cry...but as of yesterday, she a bona fide acrobat!

She is so cute about it too.  Her little feet are so dainty when she bounces.  She bounced for an hour straight this morning! It was amazing!  I hope her brain is ok...

I took video...
You should watch.

Since she was in her bouncer so long, there was a moment of panic when I forgot where she was...But then I found her...In her bouncer...



Momma loves her girl!

schwing!

We went to the park today.  Although it looks like Colt and Molly were both really enjoying the swing in this picture, Molly was truly the only one having fun.  Colt a few minutes prior had fallen off another swing when Daddy was pushing him.  He has a slight fear of slides & now swings too.  From now on we'll play with the mulch.

molly moo, she's 5 months old.

My bouncing baby girl is 5 months old tomorrow.  She brings so much joy to my life.  I like to go to bed early with her and we have a slumber party.  I tickle her,  kiss her, smell her arm pits, make her smile...kiss her some more.  Sometimes I want to bite her, so I bite her paci and hug her at the same time.  It gives me the biting sensation.  She's that good.

She's still sleeping in her seat next to my bed every night.  She probably should have been transitioned to her own crib a few months ago like her brother was but I feel like breaking all the rules I've created in my head.  She's my buddy and honestly, I would miss her.  I figure when I'm ready to move her to her crib it will make sense. Until then, she's my baby girl and I'm going to let her be my baby, right there next to me.  I can promise you she won't be sleeping next to my bed when she goes to kindergarten.

Here's what she's really good at:
-Smiling
-Being sweet.
-Pushing her legs down on the ground and lifting her butt in the air.
-Rolling to her belly when I lay her on her side.
-Telling me she loves me without saying a word.
-Eating [8oz. 4x's a day].
-Wearing cute clothes [size 9-12mo].
-Laughing.
-Crossword puzzles.
-Drooling.
-Sleeping [12 hours a night].
-Eating her fingers.

If I could love her any more, my heart would explode.

my giggle girl

my monkeys

Inspiration for their Halloween costumes? I think so...

ima diva, ima ima diva.

Molly's Newborn & 3 Month Pictures.  She's so cute.

All photos taken my Julie Schwartz of Classic Image Photography.