Molly and Ian Update

It's been a while since I updated my blogger audience on the Frueh family happenings. We've spent the last month adjusting to our new life as a family of four. Adding a new baby has definitely had its challenging moments, but we've also doubled the "precious factor" in our house (an Eric-ism, can you tell?). The nice thing up to this point has been that we've always had at least 2 adults on duty all the time. Between family coming to stay with us and Eric being on paternity leave, there's always been someone to take care of Molly while I take care of Ian. That will all change next week when Eric returns to work (Yikes!). I'm a little nervous about tackling the afternoon playtime-dinnertime-bathtime-bedtime routine on my own. However, Molly's always been good at routine and Ian's day has become more scheduled and predictable. We've also done a few trial runs of sibling bathtime that have worked out beautifully.

Ian continues to be an angel baby, just as he has been from birth. He literally did not cry for the first week after he was born. He would sleep for hours on end, whimper a little bit as he woke up to let me know he was hungry, and then go back to sleep for a few more hours. He is the perfect second-baby because he sleeps SO easily. Within moments of being in the carseat, Moby wrap, or sling, he's asleep, which has made outings to church, the grocery store, or the playground very simple. He continues to be extremely mellow and easy-to-please, but he's starting to have longer periods of wakeful alertness where he charms us with his adorable face, dark eyes, and gentle coos. He has learned to cry forcefully if he's really upset about something, but it's still decibels quieter than Molly's screams at this age.

He hasn't had a weigh-in at the doctor's since his 2-week appointment, where he was back up to his birthweight of 9lbs. 3 oz., but he has an appointment next week and I can't wait to see how much he's grown. He feels so much bigger and heavier than Molly was at this age, so I'm curious to see what his one-month weight will be. Interestingly, Molly's one-month weight was exactly 9lbs. 3oz.---Ian's birth weight. Crazy!

Miss Molly Joy is now 19 months old. At her 18-month appointment, she was measured to be 21 lbs. 9 oz. and 30.25 inches long, a full 2 lbs. heavier and 2 inches longer than she was at 15 months!!! That puts her between the 10th and 25th percentile. She FINALLY hit that growth spurt we've been anticipating since she was born. I wish we had a baby scale at home because I'm sure she's grown even more in the last month. She's outgrowing clothes like nobody's business. She's even wearing all size 18-month clothes! This may not sound like big news, but this is the first time since she was a newborn that she's actually wearing the appropriate size clothes for her age. Up until a month ago, she was still wearing 9-month onesies! She's definitely starting to look (and act) like a toddler. Molly has very strong opinions and can be quite stubborn at times. Once she gets in her head that she wants a certain thing, it's very hard to distract her from that desire. For example, one night she really wanted her sleeves pushed up. I guess they were getting in the way of her play, but they kept falling back down. Well, as you can see, she solved that problem. No more sleeves bothering her.

I think she has started to share her skills with her baby brother, as he has become an expert at getting hands and feet out of swaddlers and pajamas without popping a single button!

Another toddler-struggle we continually battle with Molly is staying in the stroller. If we're going for a walk, she does NOT want to ride in the stroller and she will put up a wicked fight over it. As a result, our afternoon "walks" now resemble ambling strolls through leaf piles, around mailboxes, and through puddles with multiple stops to pick up sticks, leaves, and bits of litter. However, when we got the mail yesterday, what did Molly want to do? Lay in the stroller and read the Lowes Hardware circular, of course!

Molly is also becoming quite the "girly girl" lately, and not just because GG bought her pink tutu pants :) She loves purses, clothes, and jewelry. Some of her favorite activities include feeding and caring for her baby dolls; carrying around Mommy's purse, emptying it of it's contents, and putting them all back in; carrying around new clothes on hangers while holding them up to herself to see how they look; and putting on and taking off her bead necklaces (over and over and over again).Despite her new-found love of all things feminine, she still loves a good ol' romp in the leaf pile :-)

Like any typical toddler, Molly has also become a picky eater, but we're getting pretty savvy at hiding vegetables and protein in her favorite foods. She's also very stubborn about self-feeding. Sometimes she will only eat if she can feed herself. If it's coming from a spoon in Mom's hand, it's unworthy of her consumption. This, of course, can lead to some messy moments, but it's worth it.

Most of all, Molly really loves being a big sister. She absolutely adores Ian and loves to shower him with kisses and gentle pats on the head. (We've worked very hard on the concept of "gentle" and she's mastered it when it comes to handling Ian). If Ian's in the swing, she wants to be pushing him. If Ian's in the bouncy seat, she wants to be bouncing it. She's known her body parts by name for a while now, but her new favorite thing to do is to point out Ian's parts. She can show us Ian's head, ears, nose, mouth, belly, knees, and toes. Her favorite is his head because it's so silky smooth. She will just walk up to him and rub her cheek on his head to feel how soft it is. So adorable!