Miss Molly

This girl likes to remove her socks. She will take her shoes off to get to them, if necessary. I think she's gonna love summer! I am also looking forward to barefoot weather, so I can stop spending my day looking for and replacing socks. At least those little feet are chubby and cute!

Over the weekend, Molly finally crawled (up on her knees like she's supposed to) and pulled up to stand all by herself! She was so excited and proud! And so was I! She is still doing the army crawl most of the time though, mostly because it's still faster right now. But I will try to get a video of her new skill soon!

The count

It is 5:00 pm and I have changed eight poopy diapers today.

Yep. Eight.

P is for ...

BIG P, little p, what begins with P?

Pineapple and

pasta,

peas,

and Peek-a-boo.

P ... p ... P

Some napping thoughts ...

An excerpt from a post I started writing over a year ago, but never finished ...

Today Elijah woke up screaming less than an hour into his nap, and it was quickly obvious that he was not going to be able to calm down and get back to sleep on his own. (This is not normal.) I went in and picked him up and we sat in his rocker for a while so that he could calm down. (Also not normal - going in is usually pointless.) This time it seemed that he really did just need a hug, but by the time the post-crying gasping and hiccuping stopped he just fell asleep on my shoulder. Now, Elijah is usually quite a good sleeper, but he has always been an "I sleep in my bed" kind of kid, so I could probably count the number of times that he has fallen asleep in my arms on one hand (well, at least since he was about three weeks old and we stopped waking him every two hours to feed him). On the one hand, the rare privilege of holding a sleeping baby is wonderful, especially when that baby is quickly becoming a little boy and you know you aren't going to get many more opportunities to just sit there and rock him. On the other hand, he is getting awfully heavy. After a few minutes my hands were falling asleep and strange muscles started to ache. (Apparently those muscles were already a little over worked by the littler baby I'm always carrying around now.) I knew I couldn't sit in that little rocking chair for another hour or more and hold him, but I also knew I couldn't get up without waking him ... of course, I had to get up, and he did wake up when I put him back in bed, and started crying again, but this time he did get back to sleep on his own, and reasonably quickly. Whew.

Anyway, the whole nap experience (besides just making me tired) for some reason made me think about how much our lives revolve around Elijah's bedtimes.

I remember sitting in that rocking chair holding a much littler Elijah, and while things around here have changed a lot in some ways, some things haven't changed a bit - that last statement still rings very true. Elijah, Molly, and I still exist in a very regimented world that is dictated by nap times and meal times and bed time. Elijah has always been very dependent on a consistent schedule, and Molly has not been much more flexible. Mostly, I am content with it for two reasons: 1) it makes my kids happy, and 2) this stage of their lives won't last forever. I do try to be as consistent as possible with their schedule, and it does mean that we miss out on some things. But it also means that they generally sleep really well, and that they go to sleep on their own, and that they are pretty happy when they're awake. Yes, we still have a hard time getting to the grocery store and back in the space between nap time and dinner, and doing anything fun with friends means missing a nap and major disruption to their day. And yes, we don't get to do much of anything in the evenings (they go to bed around 7 pm, so we're pretty much home for the evening!) including church or bible studies or anything we would do together. But that's for now. In the big picture this will be a short time. There will be time for other things, and I'm sure that very soon we will be running around, busy with this and that, and we will sometimes miss the quiet steadiness of having two naps and early bedtimes. When I wish for other things, like the freedom to run a quick errand, I just have to remember to enjoy this season for what it is. Babies don't last forever.

Bobbi's visit

So, I'm a little behind posting this, but ... Patrick's mom was here two weeks ago for a weekend visit. We didn't have any exciting events planned, but we all had a great weekend just spending time with her. The kids had so much fun with their Bobbi! Elijah is still constantly telling me all of the inside jokes he and Bobbi have, and cracking up all over again. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but we got a web cam a few months ago, so now we have been able to talk to both sets of grandparents pretty regularly. I know Elijah remembers all of them anyway, but it's so much better to be able to see them when we talk to them, and it really has been such a blessing. He gets a huge kick out of calling them "on the computer," and it's been great for building good, close relationships even though we don't get to see them all too often. Anyway, I think it's really helped Molly, too. She has been pretty wary of adults besides Patrick and me lately, but I think she did really well while Barb was here - Molly warmed up after a few minutes each morning and was happy to be with her Bobbi the rest of the day. Elijah was thrilled to have Bobbi here, and they had a great time playing and reading and taking walks with his new wagon. Patrick and I were also excited to get to go out on a date - thanks, Barb, for babysitting! I didn't take any pictures of the kids with Barb on our camera this time (duh - I guess we'll have to get copies of the ones from Barb's camera), but here are a couple of random pictures from the weekend.

Bobbi brought Elijah some new trucks and and cool new hat.

Both kids loved playing with this box - I loved that it came full of fresh Lancaster County produce!

Molly got into the box, but then couldn't get back out of the box ...

Some minor milestones

Well, I knew that we had two milestones lately, but apparently wasn't paying enough attention to catch them as they actually happened. I guess I've been busy with other things. =)

First, it's been a year (as of March 27th) since we moved here to Rhode Island. As I think about that, it seems to have gone by so quickly in some ways, but also like an eternity in others - a very odd feeling. Anyway, I think we are getting a little more acclimated to both place and culture. (I may never acclimate to the humidity. I don't think my body was designed to live outside the Mountain time zone.) We still get lost sometimes, and we still are occasionally baffled by the rather stark unfriendliness you often find when you have a question about something, but I notice those things a lot less often now. Maybe it's just that I have fewer questions, and that I usually know where I'm going now. I am looking forward to spring and summer, warmer weather, and getting to go to the beach more often this year (hopefully).

Second, our blog is now two years old! Looking back at the posts from the first few months is a lot of fun for me, especially because Elijah was the same age then as Molly is now. He has grown up so much! Check out some of those old posts - this one and this one are some of my favorites - do you think Molly and Elijah still look a lot alike? I don't think it's nearly as dramatic now (each of them at 9 months) as it was when they were new babies.

Oh, and speaking of classic Shmuffin Babies posts, a funny thing happened this evening. Remember this one? Patrick did a little reenactment tonight, letting Elijah smell the "adult beverage" he had just opened. I didn't have the camera at the ready this time (I was in the middle of making dinner - sorry!), but here's how it went.

Daddy: Here Elijah, do you want to smell this?

Elijah sniffs and tries to put it in his mouth to taste it.

Daddy: Just smell it. What does it smell like?"

Elijah: Trains.

Daddy: Hm. I think it tastes like trains, too!

Playing outside

Just a few pictures of the kids playing this morning. I was glad that we had time to get out and enjoy the sunny weather for a while after Molly's nap. We didn't do a whole lot, but Elijah and Molly enjoyed being out and playing in the grass, picking up sticks and things, and coloring with chalk. (Well, Molly didn't color with chalk. She did try to eat some, along with the grass and everything else she found.) Yes, I did forget to put Molly's hat on - I guess I just have to get back into warmer days habits again - but hopefully she got a little vitamin D while we were out. =)

Bubba says ...

Just some funny things the boy's been saying lately:


"Mama, will you draw me a rainbow connection?" (A little shout-out to Jess and Max, who gave Elijah the CD with that song!)


When I got him up yesterday morning, I was wearing a t-shirt with the logo from Patrick's university. Elijah said, "Good morning Mama! Did you come home from work?"
Patrick occasionally wears a logo t-shirt or polo for a specific work function, but mostly he just wears dress shirts - it's not like Elijah sees that logo every day. He remembers the craziest things.


"It's raining and raining today. I will have to wear my fire truck rain boots and go outside to splash in the puddles. That will be nice."


Mama: Elijah, it's too early to get up. Go back to bed.
Elijah: It's too early to get up in Colorado.


"Would I like some more milk, please? That would be great."


Mama: What does Daddy's shirt say?
Elijah: Old Navy, beat Army!

Bath toys and towels

In my little red wagon

Over the weekend, Patrick's mom came up from Pennsylvania to see us. We had a great visit. The kids loved spending time with Bobbi! I'll have to write more about her visit in another post. One of the things she brought with her was a wagon for Elijah - so cool! Yesterday we took advantage of some sunny spring weather to get out and play. Elijah loves his wagon. He did a great job pulling it carefully so that Molly could ride safely, and she had a great time, too! We went to the playground and had lots of fun.

Pulling the wagon

Playing together at the playground

On the way home, they both rode in the wagon. How fun!