it's such a joy to hold a newborn baby and watch them grow but the next best thing, since i can't see the little one inside me, is to feel it growing. of course, i'll be able to tell by my ever-increasing belly size but that doesn't having anything on feeling the little bundle moving around inside. i love the feeling of the little pushes and kicks that i get when i lay just the right way. this baby skipped the flutter stage and went straight to pushing and kicking (does this mean it's a boy??? time will tell!) i was putting the finishing touches on dinner tonight and kept feeling little pushes, like the baby was saying, "hey, i better like what you're feeding me tonight!". the baby knows my voice already, i'm sure! i was reading to molly (several times today) and the baby would move around while i was reading. hopefully it enjoys curious george as much as molly does right now!

i am thankful the baby exited the stubborn stage for now and is cooperating with me by moving and letting me know that all is well in utero and allowing me to hear its heart thumping away at 148 bpm! let's hope it keeps up like this. six weeks and we'll know the sex (assuming the baby cooperates during that sonogram!).

church

"church". i wish you could hear molly say it. i'll have to record it sometime - it's so cute! molly loves going to church for several reasons: first, anna, alex, grandpa, and grandma are there and it's always fun to see them. second, she loves to play in the nursery and cook and play with all the toys. her friend, kaylee is there. she has a name for kaylee that is consistent but i can't remember what she calls her. and finally, she enjoys sunday school and getting to color a picture and learn about "G". "G" is Jesus. she's on a nickname basis with him! :)

recently she's been learning about the apostle paul and it's so cute to listen to her talk about her lesson throughout the week. she's such a good listener and really picks up on the stories. she's very proud of her papers colored and stickered up too! paul's been through many trials (some of which molly has connected with personally such as the thunderstorm in the boat). last week she learned about when paul was bitten by a snake and God protected him. we checked out a book at the library that had a picture of a snake in it. upon seeing the snake, she instantly went back to her sunday school lesson and talked about paul. molly has an excellent sunday school teacher and explains the story so molly can understand. thank you mrs. fish!

today, molly got the best of both worlds. she was the lone duck in the nursery (usually there are two other kids) but grandma had duty this morning. so she had fun cooking with grandma, playing with the babies, and reading books. funny story- tonight i discovered that molly only thinks the nursery is church. we arrived a little late and i noticed no one was in the nursery so i took molly into the sanctuary with me. she was not happy and kept pointing back to the nursery saying church. i told her that this is where mommy and daddy go to church but it didn't help. she wanted to go to her church. grandpa got and took her out and played with her tonight. once in the nursery she was very glad to be at church. she fed grandpa well with all the delicious food she cooked and was still talking about pa at church when we got home!

the joy of creative play

creative play is something that all kids possess, just some more than others. depending on surroundings and things such as t.v. and video games can limit the amount of creative play a child engages in. don't get me wrong - i'm not against t.v. (we have one and watch it regularly) and video games (we own 3 systems!) however, when kids are taught and encouraged to engage in creative play it brings about such a joyous atmosphere.

molly is one who loves creative play. she's been this way for some time now. it all began with her baby - mothering it (feeding, rocking, diapers, naps, etc). since the baby she's added much more to her creative play list such as cooking. it's so much fun to watch her pretend to cook. she doesn't have a kitchen (hopefully that will be a christmas present) but loves to get any sort of bowl and spoon and pretend to pour things, eat them, and serve them to matt and me or her babies. she also cooks grass in her house in the back yard. it's quite amusing to watch her pick up a handful, place it in the bowl, turn on the stove, stir and then exclaim, "done!". molly is also very animated with her fisher price farm, making the animals do all sorts of things. last night, she was driving (to see her anna of course). she took her purse and keys, pretended to start a car and then moved her arms like she was steering a steering wheel. all the while, she was telling me bye. so cute and fun to watch!

a nutty obsession

molly has a huge obsession with acorns. we have them all over our yard and driveway and she loves to collect "nuts". whenever we go outside she has to find one. molly takes them in her stroller on walks, in the car (matt's certain we'll have a squirrel living in our car before long), in her playhouse, and in our house. she thinks it's funny that she takes the squirrels' food. this also fosters her love to watch and look for squirrels. molly always thinks they are looking for nuts.

we had a bit of a meltdown over a nut just about 10 minutes or so. molly brought a nut in after coming back from our picnic at the park and wanted to take it to bed with her for her nap. i told her it wasn't safe for the nut to sleep in her bed but the nut could sleep on her dresser and she could have it back when she woke up. whew...that was not what she wanted. poor thing cried herself to sleep because all she wanted was her nut! when she wakes up, i bet you money the first thing she asks for is her nut - the girl doesn't forget anything! :)

6 months and counting - a recap of the first 3

until now, everything has been about my precious molly. however, i feel i should start blogging about my newest edition growing in my belly. i've made it through 12 weeks and it hasn't been a picnic, but it hasn't been unbearable. this baby started out much like molly - scaring me. i think all my kids will probably scare me in the beginning while they implant into the uterus. i can just imagine the little thing digging it's way in - no hands or feet at this point so how does it happen? does the little egg rock back and forth until it gets into position? amazing! any hoot, the baby is there and at 9 weeks we were able to see a great sonogram picture. the baby really cooperated for the picture and allowed us to see an eye, ear, nose, hand, knees, and a foot. it was very active as well. i can't wait to feel it moving around! well, yesterday i went in for a routine heartbeat check and had another scare - the doc couldn't find the heartbeat. i panicked for about 2 minutes, which seemed like eternity, until she found the baby with a sonogram moving around having a good-old-time in the womb with the heartbeat ticking away! little stinker! :) i guess the baby just was not in a good position. i'm hoping for just a heartbeat check next time. somehow i need to get this baby to move into the right position. molly is very excited about the baby and constantly pats my stomach and says her version of baby as well as coming up and hugging and kissing the baby. she also likes to pretend to give the baby a drink, put stickers on the baby and all sorts of fun things like that!

a hair accomplishment

we've reached a milestone with molly's hair - it's long enough to put a ponytail holder in and not look weird! for most of molly's life she's been unable to wear anything in her hair. first, her head was too big for the little bows and so she only wore them for pictures. after removing them, she always had a big red indentation where the bow was at. then she lost most of her hair. slowly it has grown back and finally long enough to have a little side sprout! take a look!