Spicy Baby!

As I was nursing and rocking Molly at bedtime tonight, I kept getting this whiff of some familiar scent. I thought, "What is that smell???" I knew I had smelled it before, but just couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was. Finally, it hit me: CILANTRO! Why, you ask, did my baby smell like cilantro? Well, since the weather here has been so amazing lately, we've been drying the laundry on a rack on the back deck. It always smells so nice and the sun is amazing at getting stains out of baby clothes and diapers. Well, apparently the wind had blown Molly's pajamas off the rack and onto our planter of cilantro and dill. I was amazed at how strong the scent was and how long it had lasted. This was hours later! Well, perhaps it will help Molly appreciate tex-mex as much as her parents. Although that's probably already ingrained: I was just reading on one of my favorite food blogs that some people are genetically predisposed to like the stuff while others are predisposed to associate the taste of cilantro with soap. But, if Molly's anything like her mama, she'll put the stuff on anything she can. However, sleeping in it couldn't hurt either ;-)

Here's Molly helping out with our "garden".

Don't you just want to squeeze those marshmallowy legs?!?!

9 Months Old!

Molly Joy is now 9 months old. It's kind of crazy to realize that, up until this point, Molly has spent more of her life inside my womb than she has outside. In some ways, it feels like Molly's been part of our lives forever; it's hard to remember what life was like without her. But it also feels like the last nine months have flown by in the blink of an eye. I was just flipping through some newborn pictures and videos the other day and couldn't believe how much our little MoJo has grown over the last 9 months.

So, what's new with 9-month-old Molly?

• She has learned many new skills in the last month. She can now crawl on her knees (rather than just slither like a snake, although this is still her favorite method of movement), get from her tummy into a sitting position, pull herself to standing, stand supported to play for a good long time, take steps while holding onto someone's fingers, clap in delight, wave "hi" (sort-of...looks a bit like a one-armed bird flapping), repeat "dada" back to you, and pick up tiny objects with a precise pincer grasp (finger foods, that is. Don't worry. We're not letting her practice this skill on coins or buttons or other choking hazards). It's absolutely amazing how quickly she's picked up on these things. One day she can't do something and the next day she can. Within hours, she's mastered the skill. Child development never ceases to amaze me! I was just reading the other day that infants are born with over 100 billion neurons. However, relatively few of these neurons are connected to each other in networks. Over the first year of life, the number of neurons remains fairly stable, but what grows are the connections, or synapses, between neurons, sometimes at a rate of thousands per day. THOUSANDS PER DAY!!! If used and stimulated enough, one neuron can develop connections to up to 15,000 other nueurons. If left un-used, these connections will die. As a lover of science, this is just another reminder to me of what an awesome and creative God we serve. As a mother, this motivates me on a daily basis to talk with, sing to, read to, and play with my amazing, growing, changing, maturing baby. Keep growing those synapses, baby girl!


• Molly LOVES paper. The church bulletin, junk mail, napkins, magazines - she can destroy all of them in short-order. I made the mistake of letting her hold onto the grocery list for a moment the other day while I was comparing prices in the store. I had a hard time deciphering the remaining items on my list through all the rips, crinkles, and slobber. Her doctor gets a kick out of it because she'll destroy every inch of paper on his examining table in the few minutes she's on there during a check-up. When we went to a Durham Bulls game the other night, she watched very little baseball, but she did really enjoy destroying the program! Here's Molly "reading" the fine print on getting an IRA. It's never to early to save for retirement, you know :)


• Molly does NOT love grass. We took a little family picnic to the park the other day and she was very uneasy in the grass. The texture just didn't seem to sit right with her and she kept looking around worriedly as if we'd plopped her in the middle of this ocean of green and she didn't know how to get to shore. Surprisingly, she looks really happy in all the pictures we took in the grass. But the pictures are definitely not reflective of her general mood at the time.


• She knows where her parents are, even if she can't see us. Just recently, Molly has started sleeping in the corner of the crib closest to her bedroom door. For months, we've been laying her down to sleep at the far end of the crib, but she's now chosen the end closest to the door to sleep. For the past week, when we go to get her up in the morning or from a nap, we'll find her standing in that corner, staring at the door waiting for us (or, in this case, crying for us to come rescue her from her "prison"). She also knows where her parents are when we're pushing the stroller or in the car. When she's "talking" to us in the car, she'll crane her neck up to look for us so we can have a conversation.


• Molly loves to "study" the world. She has what I call her "junior scientist" face where she furrows her brow and stares intently at an object, turning it over and over in her hands until she's studied it from all possible angles, at which point she'll probably stick it in her mouth. She's so deliberate in her observations; it cracks me up. She'll stare at an item for a very long time before she ever-so-carefully lines her hands up and, with such purpose and intention, picks it up between her finger and thumb. Every night before bed she "studies" her toddler toothbrush for a good 2-3 minutes as if she's making sure all the little rubber bristles are in the exact same place they were yesterday. Funny girl!
• In addition to her toddler toothbrush, Molly is still very much attached to her bottle of Eucerin lotion. It's an automatic response for her; the instant her body touches the changing table, she's craning her neck around until she can grab that bottle. If she's fussy on the changing table, all the tears stop instantly when that bottle's in her hands. It's very strange. If, for some reason, the bottle of Eucerin is not enough to appease her, the toothbrush certainly will.


• We've finally settled into a pretty predictable schedule, which has been great. I love knowing exactly what to expect from day to day and I think Molly does too. The first feeding of the day is usually between 4 and 5am, after which I get ready, pump a bottle, and leave for work. Molly wakes Eric up between 8 and 9am, followed by breakfast, playtime, a bottle, and a nap from about 11am to 1pm. Eric does household chores and "pumps iron" while Molly naps. The afternoon usually includes lunch, a walk through the neighborhood and some time in her favorite swing. When I arrive home at 3:30, Molly's ready to be "nursed and napped", as Eric says, which gives me a chance to detox from my work day and get some things done for about an hour while Eric goes to work. Then comes the most precious 2 hours of my day when I get to feed Molly dinner and play with her. We stack blocks, practice standing and walking, read stories, crawl around the livingroom, play a game I call "Super Molly" (think: "airplane"), and sometimes go for another stroll through the neighborhood. Bedtime is usually around 7pm. It stinks to have so little time together during the week, but we take full advantage of every second we have together as a family on the weekends. And summer is a mere 3 weeks away!!!

Here are a few other shots captured in the last few weeks:

She went through a "backward crawling" period for a few days. One problem with crawling backward is you can't see where you're going, which is how you get yourself stuck under the couch :)

She has insisted on standing in the tub recently, which scares me to death, because she likes to let go with both hands to play with her duck. I just don't want her to fall and crack her head open!

Mother's Day

My first official Mother's Day was just wonderful. I requested a family dinner at Cracker Barrel, which we did on Saturday to avoid the Mother's Day mobs. Even though it was supposed to be my special day, Molly definitely stole the show (but I didn't mind sharing the spotlight one bit). Every waitress was just enthralled with every little thing she did and they kept exclaiming how adorable she was (of course, we already know she's the most adorable baby in the world, but it's nice to hear that other people actually agree with us ;-). On more than one occasion our server would call out to another nearby waitress, "Oh my word, come watch her eat these Cheerios. Isn't that just adorable?! Isn't she just the sweetest thing you've ever seen?!". I was busting with pride!

When we got home, I took Molly in the nursery to nurse her and put her to bed. When I came out into the kitchen, this is what I saw:

(Please disregard the clutter on my counters in this picture!)

My sweet husband had created this fabulous banner. He had traced Molly's handprint, cut it out, and then re-traced it onto every letter in the banner. Isn't he cute? I did have to laugh, though, when I saw that all the letters were cut out of lined legal-pad paper. When I asked Eric, "Just curious, but why didn't you use copy paper?", he replied, "I got all these legal pads free from SunTrust." That's my husband! But I wouldn't have him any other way :-)

We celebrated Mother's Day at church with Molly's baby dedication. All the babies born during the year are dedicated on Mother's Day. Eric and I made a vow before the church to raise Molly in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4), to live as examples of Christ before her, and to pray with her and for her daily. The church congregation also took a vow to embrace and support us in this all-important effort. I actually felt more unsure of myself making this vow than I did taking my wedding vows. Our wedding vows were promises made between two adults and God where we were responsible for ourselves in the keeping of the vows. But now, we're responsible for a whole other human being. This little person is watching us and learning from us on a daily basis. We are shaping her mind and her heart with what we say and do. It's a HUGE responsibility and we covet your prayers in this most-important endeavor.

I pray that we can fulfill God's expectations as laid out for the Israelites in Deuteronomy: "Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them...Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathes, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth." (Deut. 4:9 and 11:18-21) It is such a monumental responsibility and I know we're going to stumble along the way. I just pray for God's grace and guidance as we work towards fulfilling this commandment in the life of this amazing little girl he's blessed us with.

"When a child is born..."

"...so are grandparents."

I have so enjoyed watching the transformation of Eric's parents into a fantastic pair of loving, gushing, cuddling, kissing, tickling and little bit of spoiling grandparents. Molly is their first grandchild and you can just tell that she's captured their hearts, fully and completely.

They came down from Pittsburgh a few weekends ago and we had a wonderful visit. It took Molly a little while to remember who her GG and Pop were and to warm up to them again (since she hadn't seen them since February), but it wasn't long before she was enjoying meal-time and stories with GG and tickles and giggles with Pop.

We planned on going to a Durham Bulls game, but the weather had other plans. Instead, we enjoyed a leisurely dinner at Tyler's Taproom. The fun thing about having a baby is that, no matter where you are or how plans change, you have built-in entertainment. All four of us enjoyed just watching Molly (I call it "parent-TV"). We must have looked a bit silly, four adults, completely smitten with this little person, just staring at her, laughing and gushing over every little thing she did, every sound she produced, every face she made. This is my absolute favorite "grandparent picture" because it completely captures the enamored state of these two newbie grandparents. They're both so taken with this adorable little girl that they want a picture of her on their phones so anytime they make/receive a call they can look at this sweet face. They look like the papparazzi, don't they? Love it! I'm very thankful that Molly has so many people in her life that love her so much. She's been blessed with 4 amazing grandparents, 3 wonderful great-grandmothers, and loads of aunts, uncles and cousins. What a lucky girl! Many people can't say that they have one family that they can count on. I feel so blessed to be part of TWO families that love, guide, and support us on a daily basis, even if it's from far away.

On a side note, GG Frueh doesn't have the corner-market on spoiling little girls. Here's Molly wearing her cute-as-can-be new denim skirt that arrived in the mail from Grandma Schillinger in NY. We're looking forward to our trip to NY in June when Grandma and Poppy get their turn for kisses and cuddles and papparazzi photo sessions :-)