We Miss You, Boogie!

Smiles....that is what I get most of the day!

Oh, how we miss our Molly Piper! She is with Aunt A and Uncle T and cousins Spencer and Kole and GG and Papaw this weekend, but we have sung our "made up" songs about Molly and have talked about her to no end. Is this NORMAL? It's like, even when she is not with us, we are still thinking about her. But, we know she is safe and well cared for this weekend, so we are rested and trying to get things done around the house that otherwise would go incompleted if Molly were here.

I just learned that Molly can drink from a 20-ounce bottle of water! How EXCITING!! I let her drink from my water here at home but she has not yet mastered the "cup" thing yet. Sippy cup? Yeah, that's too much work for her...but I guess Amy and Tony got her to drink from a bottle of water and she did really well! WOW! We are SO proud of you, Sugar Boogie!

Todd is at Wal-Mart, getting stuff for the week and buying a pool for Molly. We USED to have a HUGE pool before the building of the monstrous houses began across the pasture....and because of all the dirt and debrit from that, our HUGE POOL was ruined...so we had to take it down. But now that we have a baby, Todd's getting Molly's first pool and it ought to be a blast for all of us. She LOVES bath time, so hopefully she will love pool time as well.

I have been working the majority of the day, with intermittent cleaning here and there. Todd got some of his personal stuff shredded that he needed to toss and I've worked. We have shared in the laundry. The dishes are all now clean, as is the laundry and hte carpet and the freezer and fridge. The bedding is being washes as I type this. I have yet to clean Miss Molly's room, though, and go through her clothes. She is 7 months old TODAY!!! YAY!!!! She is wearing 9-12 month clothes, depending on the brand, so I have to go through the next size up and wash/dry/put on hangers before she can actually wear them, as they've been in totes for hte last 1-1/2 years, at least! LOL. Seriously, I was planning for Molly even before she was ever conceived...just KNEW we would have our girl first...and we DID!

Still on my TO DO list are:

wash rugs (throw rugs)

clean out cat boxes

sweep/mop kitchen

clean Molly's room and dung out her closet

dung out MY closet!!!!

clean the bathroom (UGH!)

wash the curtains

I worked the better part of the day and Todd sifted through his paperwork and shredded what he felt he no longer needed. He is a total bill packrat. When he pays a bill, he keeps the receipt fo proof. NOT ME!!!! As soon as I pay it, that sucker goes to the trash! But my work area is a mess, which is VERY distracting. So...gotta get THAT clean before Molly comes back home! LOL.

We miss you, Molly Piper! We can't wait to see you, although mommy and daddy want to do their taxes again tonight! LOL.

PULLING UP ALREADY!

Yeah, Uncle Tony, it's a big PURPLE bow!!! DEAL WITH IT!!!!!

Blurry and beautiful!!! Molly Piper in true "Andy Warhol form", mommy style! LOL

See my bow, Uncle T????? Dontcha just luv it?

Smile!

Toothy Lucy! LOL

WOW, Molly LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba!! She tunes in for 30 minutes, 3 times a day, to see DJ Lance Rock with his orange hair, Foofa, Toodee and Muno and Plex. She is quiet the entire time and is glued to the TV. Is this good or bad? I don't know. BUT, I know it is a GOOD thing when I'm trying to get some work done and she has been fussing all day! WOW! What is the appeal, my husband and I ask? We think it's pretty lame and it's a show that puts songs in both our heads that we can't get out of our minds! LOL. Within reason, ANYTHING for our beautiful little blessing, Molly Piper! She is our world...

DJ Lance Rock "breaks it down" with the rest of the Yo Gabba Gabba! crew!!!!!! :)

"Not now, mommy....I'm watching my favorite TV show on Noggin!"

PINKeye!!! AGAIN!!

Yes, we are fighting pinkeye AGAIN! It's dispicable, but Todd came home wih it again on Saturday night. YUCK! So it officially hit the Watts' household on Sunday morning/early afternoon...YUCK!!! Another round of sufacetamide, anyone??????

Graduation

My dad bought Molly 5 canisters of the Gerber Graduates Puffs...At first, she didn't know what to do with them! Of course she put them to her mouth, but then did not have a clue, so she sort of "tongued" them until they dissolved! Hahaha! This was sooo funny to watch. I put a few out on her Bumbo tray and she went to town on them. She got mad, though, when I went to wipe her hands of the ones that had stuck to her skin! LOL. I even tried these! We are beginning with the Sweet Potato Puffs. The other 4 he bought are fruits, and since we are not doing fruits yet (except prunes here and there as needed), I chose to open the Sweet Potato Puffs first. They are the bomb diggedy! LOL. I taste EVERYTHING before I put it into Molly's mouth. All this week she's been eating Earth's Best Organic veggies twice a day, and I taste those, too. We love veggies at our house, so I am not ABOUT to make Sweet Molly eat anything we wouldn't put into our mouths! LOL.

Molly is now getting wayyyyy off her blanket with her crawling. Yes, folksies, she has discovered there is more to life than staying on the blanket! hahaha. I have to stop working to go and pluck her off the carpet and put her back onto the blanket. Five minutes later, she's halfway across the room nearest to me, and I have to repeat my actions! It's funny and exhausting at the same time. I am trying to instill INDEPENDENCE within her, so I am hoping that as she learns to cruise, then walk, that she is able to make her own decisions and becomes more entertainable with her toys and Baby Einstein videos, as I am BROKE and need some time to play CATCH UP!!! SEriously, it is bad for me right now, but I am loving Molly being here. I could not ask for more, and it's not her fault that I am where I am. Nobody's fault but my own, I suppose, but hey, that's a DIFFERENT blog! LOL.

I had an AWESOME Mother's Day. Todd's mom and my dad came over and we ate Beef Sliders, tabouli, deviled eggs, baked beans and my special brownies. We all had a good time, too, and I was relieved/surprised at the same time! Molly got TONS of attention, as my dad and Todd's mom were BOTH on the floor, engaging her and catering to her every need. What IS it with grandparents, anyway? I doubt my dad ever acted THAT way with me!!!! What gives? Are grandchildren just more special than our parents' OWN children????? When Todd's mom comes over, she just latches onto Molly and plays and holds her and talks to her and you can tell it really does her heart a lot of good. My dad, too, which I am pleased to see that he has a heart. LOL. Really, he has expressed a LOT of concern over hte past 6 months about my kid, and sometimes I am offended by his second-guessing me and Todd, but the last few months he has really taken a shine to her and gets down and plays iwth her and kisses her and really gets into telling hr allllll about her toys and about how pretty she is. I love to see it, although I ask: Was he this way with me? I am not so sure I wanna know the answer, though! But, he was a LOT younger when he and my mom had me, so I hafta remembr that people try and change and sometimes grandchildren are what it takes for a person to really and finally change for the better. What do you all think? When you're born into total dysfunction, is there anyhope to have an actual, loving home life and positive familial experience to give your own kids? Todd and I are certainly trying our best. We never let Molly out of our site aymore. She is like, attached to us. It's weird, but comforting in a way, because at least she will know stability that WE never knew growing up. Both Todd's and my childhoods were CRAZY and honestly I would not wish my worst enemy to have to endure either of our times growing up. But, alas, that is the way it was, and we have DEFINTELY learned from it what to do and what not to do with our own daughter. We just second-guess ourselves too much, is all. But that is because we have such a low opinion of ourselves. When you've been beaten down your whole life (at least during the developmental years) what else are you expected to believe? But we want DIFFERENTLY for our children. Molly is the absolute light of our lives. We are BOTH striving to forgive our parents for their misgivings, but it is a daily struggle, honestly.

I hope that Todd and I can graduate from feeling our parents' shortcomings to actually rejoicing in the fact that at least we are still alive, we have found each other and are trying to get past it all and make sure that our family isn't dysfunctional....Please, God bless us for trying.........

Go Ainsley! It's Your Birthday! Shake it Your Way!

Today we had the pleasure of attending the 1st birthday party of Miss Ainsley Cleo Trezbetowski. The three of us had so much fun! Molly loved playing in Ainsley’s Baby Einstein Jumperoo. She was very content, just experiencing something different and being out among a crowd. As always, she LOVED all the people attending Ainsley’s party! Our friends, Traci and Michael, bought bubbles and big, bouncy balls for all the kids/babies who were there. That was a nice treat for Molly, as she didn’t have a ball before today. Our other friend, Lise, held onto Molly while Todd and I wolfed down our food, which was DELISH! Todd had a grilled burger after I ate a grilled ground chicken burger. Traci has a meat grinder, so she made good use of it this weekend and ground some chicken breasts to make us a GREAT source of protein, flavored with Eskimo Joes’ Fowl Thang sauce. DELISH!!! TOTALLY! Black bean salsa, homemade potato salad and loaded baked beans followed by birthday cake…YUM!

Ainsley is just adorable. She looks like BOTH her parents, depending on the ‘look’ she throws you. Usually, I say she favors Michael, but today I saw more of Traci in her than ever! This little girl is just adorable and she has the personality to prove it! We loved being at her party! Thanks for inviting us, Trezb family!

Xoxoxo
The Watts Family

Molly is 6 Months Old!

I just canNOT believe it! Our Molly Piper is 6 months old already. Wow, time sure flies when you're having fun. Here are some pictures of her that I took 1 day late...

DO NOT THINK PINK

Pinkeye is in the house!!!!! We are just praying that Molly Piper doesn't get it. We're taking EXTRA precautions to make sure she does not contract it. We do not know where it came from; neither of us have been around anyone who has it. UGH!!!!!!! How very embarassing!!!!!!! I'm not leavin the house until I look better! Molly rared back while I was holding her face-forward, and my lip is bruised. She grabbed my glasses and jammed them down, so the nape of my nose is skinned up. Totally, The Watts House looks like a rough lot right about now....but we are REALLY NOT!!! I promise! LOL. Pinkeye, PLEASE be gone soon!

OUR SECOND TOOTH

Well, at lunch I was giving Molly her squash and guess what??? We have a SECOND tooth, folks! My dad was here and I called him in to look at her tooth, excitedly! Of course, he was happy that she had pretty much "sprouted" a new tooth overnight! LOL. I was so VERY surprised, because she has not fussed very much at all the past few days. YAY FOR MOLLY! yet another milestone we can check off the chart. LOL.

Molly is CRAWLING!!

OMGoodness, Molly is gettin' around! She is practically STARVED for the remote here in ths video...check it out! She did soooooo well!


My Montage 5/1/09

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Gig!

We are HOME and we are LOVING THAT! I love being at home. I also love to travel, so how crazy is that? I guess that means that no matter WHERE I am, I am at least happy and can make the MOST of it! LOL.

Molly did SOOOOOOOooooooooo well during our car rides to/from St. Louis. Seriously! She was a STAAAAAAAARRRR! She didn't fuss much, didn't cry a lot, and made Mommy and Daddy very happy with her manners in public! Yes, she smiled at almost EVERYONE! We always get so many complimnets on how happy Molly is. I'm like, "ooooh, she's happy NOW but if you could see her at home.....YIKES" but I don't say that of course.

I think she is bored of her Mommy and Daddy and the pussycats and puppy dogs! I think she is branching out. When we go to the court house she just coooooos and gurgles and blows raspberries at EVERYONE, followed by SMILES, of course!!!!! Yes, she likes to be among the crowds. I wonder, what does this mean? Do we have a socialite daughter?????? Because here at home I cannot calm her for love or money but out in a crowd she is fine and dandy. It's really frustrating for me, because working from home for myself, I get out maybe once or twice a week. It seems evident that Miss Molly needs to abget "out and out" at least once a day, and that is AT LEAST. UGH! She loves people. So do I; I just don't see the fasinination in them any longer, that's all! LOL.

We had a WONDERFUL time in St. Louis. Molly was the BEST baby! LOL. Our hostess, Patricia, even said so!

OH YEAH...

Oh yes, I almost forgot to report...we're getting a TOOTH! Yes, folks, it is there. You can feel it. It is on the bottom right side of Molly's mouth and it has been giving her lots of grief the past few days. She just screeeamed in pain the other night, but we gave her some nighttime Orajel and that seemed to calm her down, along with her Infant Tylenol. But yes, it's there, it's broken through the skin and we can feel it! How exciting is that?! I'm really nervous. I hope EVERY tooth isn't as treacherous to bring in as this first one has been!

xooxox
liz

Meet Me in St. Louis...

Well, we're pulling outta here in about 2 hours. What has ALWAYS been about an 8 hour trip is about to turn into an 11 or 12 hour trip with Miss Molly Piper in tow! That's okay, though! We're prepared! I'm equipped so I should NOT have another frantic meltdown like when we went to see the Yankees play. Todd's equipped; he is sleeping right now. Molly, hopefully, will be equipped. It's 2:00 AM and she woke up about 30 minutes ago (which she NEVER does) so hopefully she will tire herself out and then sleep for a looooooong time so we can make some good road time!

Look out Mets, because our Cardinals are gonnna KICK YOUR REARS!!!

See ya'll in about a week!

Exciting Developments!

Well...Miss Molly showed us her very first "belly laugh" the other afternoon! She laughed 3 times in a row and it was a hearty laugh! It was soooo adorable and she looked adorable doing it! Of course I had to mark it on her special calendar, "Molly's First Laugh", as we'd never heard her laugh before now! She has been smiling socially for several months now, but the laughing? I didn't know if it would EVER happen, but sure enough it did! YAY!

Also, Molly can sit up unassisted for 5 to 10 minutes. She eventually tumbles over, but we don't make a big deal about it because we know that is how she will learn to take things in stride (something Todd and I BOTH need to work on! HA!) so we just never make a big deal about it, and therefore, neither does she. Anyway, she sits up so well and I'm just amazed at how far my baby girl has come! WOW! 5 months old already! :)

Also?? She's starting to crawl. She gets up on her hands and knees and backs herself up really, REALLY well, almost falling off the bed SEVERAL times and also crawling off of her pallate onto the carpet! I give it a few more weeks and I think the little booger will be going forward, full speed ahead. WOW! Guess it's time to break out the babyproofing kit, eh??

Molly's first Baseball Game!!

Sayonara!

We are on our way out of state to see the Yankees play ball! YAY! Finally, mommy gets to lay eyes upon Derek Jeter's butt! This is the mile of smile that I get from Molly when I say that...shhhhhh...don't tell Todd....LOL..

xoxox

liz

Whatever Happened To....

What the heck ever happened to Hamburger Haven??? My mother used to take me there about once or twice a month, and it was in Tulsa, and I absolutely thought it was devine!




Have these kinds of places been replaced with the likes of Chili's or Panera? UGH!!!





Whatever happened to the kinds of dining establishmnets where you could go and have FUN rather than the boring ol' being seated, being broght your drinks, food, dessert? Again, UGH!!! I soooooooooooo long for the "homestyle" and the "fun" to be brought back into the restaraunt scene.





I want to experience with Molly the good times I had with my own mom while dining out...which we did a LOT in Tulsa...and NO, my daughter was NOT named for Molly Murphy's restaurant! LOL....

xoxoxo

Liz

Whatever Happened To....

Yeah, so, whatever happened to Molly Murphy's? Yeah, I LOVED that place! I was probably 5 or 6 or 7 and got a HUGE kick out of the YMCA coming to our table and taking our order and pulling us out onto the dance floor....


It was probably 1983 or early 1984. My mom took my cousins and I there a lot, or so I remember! It was Tulsa's "hot spot" for families and I absolutely loved it! I remember several times being there with my cousins, my mommy ordering potato skins as an appetizer! On one occasion, my Aunt Betsy came with us and she was shocked at the bathroom "protocol"! LOL. They made her do the CAR WASH and it was a blast!!!!!! I will never forget these times. I also remember me, going out onto the dance floor alone. It was a rather small dance floor, considering the crowd that always came to Molly Murphy's, but still....I went alone...which is something I have done, and would totally still do today!

So THANKS to my mother for showing me the more "burlesque" side of life and letting me have the experience of havng fun! I will never forget it, nor will I ever forget how we ALWAYS asked where the bathroom was, just to be goofy!!!!! LOL. Wow, what a trip down memory lane....

We're Waiting for Spring....

SLEEP is a precious commodity aroud our house...

But PLAYTIME is precious, also!!

This ornery stinker!! She is smiling ever-so-slyly for me, but at least she is smiling. LOVE THAT BEAUTIFUL, GUMMY SMILE!

Oh boy, I can't wait for warmer weather. Yes, I know it has been warm outside recently, but it just isn't dependable enough, you know? Like, one day it's beauuuuutiful and the next day it's 40 degrees! I am SO over winter...never liked it in the first place, but anyway...All the back-and-forth temperatures have made Todd sick. He's been sick for about a month and it's sad!! I'm really worried about him, but so far Molly and I have escaped the worst of it.

On a different note, this little turkey is almost 5 months old (she'll be 5 months exactly on April 6th) and her sleeping habits have gone out the window. Routine? Around here, lately, we are asking WHAT'S THAT?? She has no specific routine lately. The little turkey sleeps about 2 hours a day, AGAIN, and it's bringin' me down, fast and hard!!! I read in Baby 411 that around 4 months of age a baby's sleeping habits change tremendously, so I hope that is all this is. Molly wakes up around 6:30 each morning and I try EVERYTHING to get her to sleep until at least 7:30 or 8:00...I put the passy back in her mouth. I re-swaddle her from where she's worked those little arms of hers out of the swaddle during the night...I un-swaddle her....stuff passy back in her mouth. She flips. She rolls. She tosses and turns, OBVIOUSLY ready to get up. UGH!!! Last night she did not go to sleep until almost 10:30 and it was CRAZY when Todd tried to get her to sleep. Finally, he just had to lay her down and let her work it out herself. LOL...and she did!! She RARELY naps any more, although she is asleep right now...I had to sneak in this blog because I don't know how long she will actually STAY asleep. Lately, it's as if I am on pins and needles between allll the stuff to do around the house plus look after animals plus work, etc. Oh well. I know I should cherish this time while she is little, and I truly DO cherish it. It's just hard. Many evenings I can't even work until Todd gets home and takes his shower and gets ready to "take over" for his shift! LOL....

Molly the Pretty Flower

Molly, sportin' some baby bling. Is she happy about it? I can't be sure...I had just put her into her car seat and she HATES her car seat, so I can't be sure if she wanted to smile at me or not....

Here is a HALF SMILE for you...in typical Molly fashion! A look on her face as if to say, "Is THIS all there is?!" LOL. She makes the funniest faces!

Molly and I hadn't been out of the house since Saturday, and today I had to go to Bartlesville to have some blood work done. We ended up going to the lab, the bread store, Wal-Mart, the meat market, and out for lunch. We must have worn her out because she slept from 6:00 to 8:45 this evening!

Before Todd got her to sleep, I had her on the floor on her blanket. She managed to roll from her back to her tummy for the second time EVER! I was so proud! She is *SUCH* a strong little girl! It cracks me up the way she almost WANTS very badly to stand on her own 2 legs already, even at just 4 months old. Put your thumbs in her fists and she pulls herself up, no head lag whatsoever. She pulls herself to standing position and tries to "scoot" and crawl when she is on her tum-tum.

Molly Piper, my pretty little flower and SUCH a delight to know that I am this glorious baby's mommy. I feel so blessed, so rich, even! God is so good!

Until tomorrow,

Liz and Molly and, well, when he's not watching baseball, Todd Watts...LOL