13 Months Old

Molly is thirteen months old today, and I just wanted to jot some things down about what she is doing these days.  Sorry to bore you, this is more for me than you.  Months seem to be flying by now.  School will be starting tomorrow for Grant, so it will just be Molly and I in the mornings Monday through Friday.  At this point, she is still taking a morning nap and an afternoon nap, but I think that will be hit and miss.  When she sleeps in the morning, it's pretty difficult to get her to go down for afternoon nap before 3 o'clock.  So we'll see how that goes.  She has been taking steps pretty frequently for the past week.  Hopefully she will get it down pretty well in the next few weeks.  As she is now in her second year of life, she is definitely showing her "other" side.  She will throw herself down and arch her back from time to time, but her "fits" are usually pretty short lived.  She doesn't care to much for drinking milk anymore and usually screams when I give it to her.  She does not like to be changed, and she can be sneaky from time to time...with the stairs, with throwing lovey out of the crib to get mommy to come in, and "hiding" her food so she can get more.  She reminds me a lot of me actually.  She doesn't cuddle very much, even when she is sick, which is probably my fault.  I was so concerned about getting her on a good sleep routine, since Grant wasn't, that I was very strict about never rocking her to sleep.  I will say I miss that, but I think I'll take the good sleeper instead.  She has had two bouts of sickness in the last month, which I believe is all she has ever been sick.  She and Grant don't get along all that well.  And she has figured out that if she screams when he gets near her, I'll say "GRANT", and assume he is bugging her.  I need to be more careful with that, but he usually is antagonizing her.  She will bite him from time to time when he really is driving her crazy, and I know this is not a good thing...but I don't blame her.  We're working on it.  She is doing better with babysitters and strangers, and loves her daddy.  She'll sometimes stand at the back door and say, dada over and over waiting for him to come home.  And every time the phone rings...Dada!!  I believe she is going to be a daddy's girl.  She loves balls and cars and most of Grant's toys.  I think she may be a bit of tomboy, as she doesn't much care for dolls or girly things...at least not yet.  At her one year appointment, which I had just a couple of weeks ago actually, she was 30 inches long, and 20 pounds, 6 ounces.  I can't believe she is growing up so fast!

Taking Steps!

In the last few days Molly has really started to take more steps. She must have gotten some good advice from her friend Zach Leonard who is walking quite well now. Because after spending some time with him this past weekend, she really started to take off. She lets go of things quite often now, and still falls quite a bit, but sometimes she'll make it all the way across the room. It's crazy how proud we get when she does it. And her smiles of accomplishment light up my day!

Labor Day Continued

We have been so blessed to be able to go my parents place this summer on Lake Michigan.  It is always relaxing and always beautiful.  On Sunday, we closed out the summer with just our little family.  It was gorgeous and the water was so calm.  The kids had a great time playing the water.  I can't believe another summer is coming to an end.  Time is going by so fast!

Labor Day Weekend at the Lake

Saturday of Labor Day weekend, our good friends the Leonards joined us up at my parents lake place in Muskegon.  We had a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine and blue sky.  It was great hanging out, getting sunburned, watching the kids fill every crevice of their body with sand, and later sitting by the campfire roasting marshmallows.  The kids are growing up so fast and playing really well together.  It's always fun to see them and we always have a great time!

Grant took this pic...way to go buddy!

Matt and Ben lounging between a game of pickle

Lesley and Carrie...the mommas

Taylor, Zach, and Grant at the sand castle

Burying Grant

Silly Taylor

Getting ready for marshmallows and the sunset

Big man Zach walking around

Zach and Molly

Grant and Molly

Sunburned and loving it!

Funny Guy

My little Grant, who actually isn't that little anymore, is a funny guy.  He is always saying things that crack me up.  He picks up on a lot of little things I say, and when it comes out of his mouth, it's hilarious.  I get a lot of "you've got to be kidding me" or "now hold on just one minute mom".  He mixes words up from time to time and when we correct him, we get..."well, that's what I meant..." with a shy smile.  But my favorite is when he tells me a joke.  This was the one from yesterday that I thought I should share with you.

"Why did the chicken cross the playground?"  Why I say. "To get to the other SLIDE!".  Boy did I laugh.  It was super cute.  What a comedian!

Happy 1st Birthday Molly!

Molly - 1 Day Old

Her mini-cake for her to dive into...didn't quite happen. She didn't care for getting messy.

"And what do you want me to do with this?"

She did like it after cutting it up...the bright pink frosting was a bit intimidating.

She loves her new learning chair.

I can't believe it, but yes, Molly is 1!!! Her birthday was on August 7th, and I really don't know where this past year went. Time is definitely moving faster. It really does seem like yesterday when she was born, and I was still getting over the shock of having a girl. Here's a little update from last month:

She can stand alone for a short while now, and has started to take a few steps, but usually only one or two. It will still be a while until she is walking I think.

She loves sneaking over to the steps and seeing how far she can get before mommy notices.

She loves to eat!

She has six teeth with the seventh coming in. Three on the bottom and four on top.

She likes to say Uh-Oh.

She has decided she can crawl on her hands and knees now, but still prefers the army crawl if she has somewhere to get fast.

She cruises along the walls now.

She can walk next to us if you are just holding one hand.

She likes to play peek-a-boo, but sometimes puts her hands over her ears instead of her eyes.

We have loved to watch you grow over the past year, and your personality is really starting to show now. I can't wait to hear your sweet voice learn new words and watch you learn how to walk, and run, and skip. And I know that you are going to be a great big sister!! Happy Birthday Molly Girl. We love you!

Like Father, Like Son

I had to get a picture of this...

Grant has been "helping" daddy mow the grass every since he was eighteen months old. He follows right behind Matt pretty much the whole way. Then he gets out his "weed wacker" and his "blower" (other toys) and mimics everything Matt does. It is very cute and I love it, especially because it gives me a bit of a break!

Beach Day

Last week Grant, Molly and I headed out to Holland to the beach with my friends Carrie and Jen and their kids. It was a crazy day with all of the kids, but we actually did have a moment or two to catch up while the babies napped. So fun to hang with my college girls again. Thanks so much to Jen's grandparents for letting us bombard your beach house. We had a nice time!

Taylor and Grant

Jen and Gavin

Carrie and Zach

Zach, Gavin and Molly (Gavin telling Molly to quit yer crying already...)

Buddies Taylor and Grant

Michigan's Adventure

A few weeks ago, we headed to Michigan's Adventure. It's only about 10 minutes from my parents cottage, so it works out nice for us to make the trip. It was supposed to be mostly sunny but turned into mostly cloudy and a bit chilly. The kids still had a fun time, and I was a bit bummed that I couldn't get on any of the rides.



Getting ready for the first ride of the day...The Frog Hopper

Hilarious watching Grant and Ryan's faces


Best Buds Grant and Ryan


The only ride I went on...the Ferris Wheel


Papa, Ryan, Matt and Grant




Daddy and Grant (we did leave Molly back with Nona)





Bumper Cars...didn't do so much bumping as the car would only go in reverse...HAHAHA



Go Karts...somehow picked the slowest car...everyone tried to pass them and Matt kept trying to block them...again HAHAHA


Grant's Fav


The Waterpark...a bit chilly

Little Fish

Molly has really taken to the water. At the MVP pool, she loves "swimming" in the very shallow end. She'll crawl and her back legs float up and she kicks. It's very cute. She has come a long way from Mommy and Me swim class where she dug her nails into my neck and screamed the entire time. :)

Concert in the Park

This past Tuesday, we went to the Concert in the Park in East Grand Rapids on Reeds Lake with Peter, Rachel, Sofia, and Stella. The kids had a great time dancing to music, playing in the park and eating popcorn. It was a chilly night, but fun. Can't wait for movies in the park coming in August!

Just keep swimming...

Grant has been taking swimming lessons every Monday and Thursday at the pool for four weeks now. He took them last year as well, and definitely has improved. He loves to swim to me and back to the wall...over and over and over again. He can swim only as far as he can hold his breath though. We are working on coming up for air! I think he swims pretty well for a four and half year old. We're so proud of him!