Golden Friends

Lately, I seem to have a lot of childhood songs and poems popping into my head. I'm not sure of the exact title, but the one running through my mind right now goes something like this:

"Make new friends,

But keep the old.

One is silver

And the other gold."

A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to spend the weekend with some "golden friends". Jeremy and I went to high school together. We have a long history together: I dated his brother; he dated my sister; working at summer camp together; attending the same church; participating in choir, band, drama club, etc. He even played the role of my father...twice...in 2 different musicals. It's amazing how years can pass, we can attend separate colleges, move to different states, start our careers and families, build new friendships, and yet, when we get together, it's as if nothing has changed.

Jeremy married an amazing girl named Julie and they have a little girl named Katie. Katie and Molly are only TWO DAYS different in age! We've gotten together a few different times...once when Julie and I were both pregnant and again when the girls were only a few months old. It's been fun to watch them grow together and to compare notes on all the crazy aspects of parenting a toddler.

It was while they were here visiting from South Carolina that we got our totally unexpected "snow storm" (if you can call less than 2 inches of snow a storm). The girls had fun playing in the snow...I mean, staring at the snow in confusion and wondering why their parents were forcing them to wear ridiculously puffy snowsuits and acting like crazy people while taking a million pictures ;-)

By the way, isn't Katie just a doll?

I was amazed by how quickly Molly attached herself to Julie. As you may have picked up from previous posts, Molly has taken the "stranger anxiety" stage to epic levels. It normally takes her a good long while before she warms up to new people. Not the case with Katie's mommy. It was like she knew that Julie was another mommy so she had to be alright. There were even a few occasions where I was holding Molly and she leaned over to reach out to Julie! She was so precious on the last night that they were here visiting. We were having a grand time decorating the tree, eating popcorn, and listening to Christmas music. Julie was sitting on the floor playing with Katie when Molly toddled over and sat right down on Julie's lap (on top of Katie!). It was like a little dogpile of friends. So cute!

So, remember that no matter how far you move from home, no matter how many career changes, life changes, or relationship changes you make, there will always be golden friends from your past that will remind you of where you've come from and of the experiences that have shaped you. Thanks for a great weekend, Jeremy, Julie and Katie! Can't wait to do it again sometime soon.

Beautiful Snow!

We were surprised by a lovely snowfall today. The weather yesterday predicted that a "dusting" of snow was a "possibility". Well, it turned out to be a lot more than a dusting and it is absolutely beautiful. It turned out to be about 2 inches, which is a big deal here in North Carolina. Our good friends, Jeremy and Julie, were visiting from South Carolina and Jeremy snapped this family photo for us. Too bad we already ordered our Christmas cards, because this would've been a great one!

The snow was so beautiful and turned our drab, brown yard into a sparkling winter wonderland. It put all of us in the Christmas spirit, so much so that we decided to go out and get our Christmas tree and decorate the house (more of that in a future post). With some hot cocoa and homemade popcorn, I felt like we were living in a Christmas movie :)

Molly wasn't really sure what to think of the snow. She did a pretty good job of walking around in the fluffy white stuff on her own, despite being squeezed into her 3-6 month snowsuit. That's just another benefit of being such a peanut; last year's snowsuit still fits (sort of)! For the most part, she seemed a little confused by the whole situation. She's definitely an outside girl and spends hours playing in the yard each day. I'm sure it was a bit unsettling to see her familiar yard covered in white powder. I'm so in love with the contemplative look she gets on her face when she's studying something new and interesting. Such a cutie!

"There once was a girl who had a little curl..."

At 15 months old, Molly has taken on quite a personality. Since I've never parented a toddler before, I have no idea what "typical" behavior is, if there is such a thing. But Molly has developed quite a repertoire of emotions lately. She can go from giddy to cuddly to sulking to frustrated to downright mad in a matter of moments. I'm sure it has to be frustrating to navigate the world at this age. Her mind is going a million miles a minute, but her body is still catching up with her. She wants to run and climb and communicate, but all of those skills take time to learn and, in the meantime, life can get a bit frustrating. Her behavior reminds me of a poem my mom used to recite to me when I was a kid:

"There once was a girl who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

And when she was good, she was very very good,

But when she was bad, she was horrid."

I'd like to think my mom recited it to me because I had curly hair and not because I was horrid, but it could be both. The first part doesn't really apply to our little Molly who's still working on overcoming her newborn baldness, but the second part is definitely applicable. The majority of the time, she is very very good. She loves to laugh and has the most fantastic belly laugh when she's playing peek-a-boo. She's playful and curious and just so darn cute. She absolutely loves to play outside and has been having a blast tromping through all the leaves in our yard, as you can see.

But lately, we've been running into a few occasions where our "very very good" little girl has turned "horrid". Usually this happens when we're expecting her to do something that she has set her mind against doing or we tell her NOT to do something that she has decided she MUST do. For example, we went to the North Carolina Zoo last weekend and most of our pictures turned out looking something like this:

Why??? Because Molly did NOT want to sit in her stroller and Molly did NOT want to be carried in any way, shape, or form...not in the Beco, not in our arms, not even on Daddy's shoulders. What did Molly want to do? She wanted to walk! Well, the entire walking trail through the zoo is about 5 miles and Molly's legs are about 14 inches long so walking was not an option. This led to lots of kicking, screaming and tantrum-throwing. An interesting day, to say the least.

On the homefront, it's a little easier to give her the freedom to explore and move about. One of her favorite things to do is climb up and down the front steps of our house (and rearrange the pumpkins). The bricks make me so nervous, but we keep our hands close behind her and she has actually gotten quite good at navigating the stairs safely and efficiently by herself.

She also likes to practice her walking skills on the front walkway.

Most of the time, she is confident enough to toddle around independently...
But, occasionally she still likes to grab onto one of our hands for that extra dose of reassurance. (I just love this Daddy-daughter moment! Aren't they so cute together???) One sure-fire way to "calm the savage beast" is by reading. Molly LOVES to read and has a collection of about 20 favorite board books that we read through regularly. And there's nothing I love more than coming home at the end of the day and snuggling up on the couch with my sweet girl for some reading time. Her dolly has also become a regular participant in our story time lately.

Molly also likes to "read" by herself. She empties her bookshelf at least once a day, if not three or four times. It's so cute to watch. She plops herself down, takes off one book at a time, flips through it page by page, and then tosses it down to grab the next one. She'll "read" every book and empty the entire shelf, then walk away. We're still working on the "putting away" part and probably will be for a long time :)

A few other 15-month updates: Molly now weighs 19lb. 9oz. and she's 28.5 inches tall. She is at the low end of the growth curve, but her height and weight are still perfectly proportional and she's strong and healthy. She's just petite. Molly is also very "talkative". She doesn't use any distinct words yet, but she's constantly jabbering on in her own little Molly-language. Her little language is constantly cracking us up because she'll constantly switch back and forth between nonsense syllables, sing-song tones, high-pitched squeals, clicks, and other little mouth noises. I think she just prefers to speak in her language because it's just so much more fun than plain old English. It's incredible how quickly she's developing new skills, from walking and vocalizing to imaginary play. It will be fun to see how much changes over the next few months.

27 Weeks and Counting!

It's incredible how quickly this pregnancy is flying by! At 27 weeks, I'm on the cusp between my 2nd and 3rd trimester, depending on what book you read. I've gained 24 lbs. so far and my belly is measuring at 37.25 inches, which means I'm looking almost exactly like I was at this point in my pregnancy with Molly. Every measurement is almost identical. And just like his/her big sister, Molly, our little "newbie" has been extremely active. I've been watching my belly dance all over the place with little kicks, jabs, and somersaults.

Up until this point, I really haven't had any inkling at all about whether our "newbie" is a boy or a girl. But for some reason, this week, I've had this sneaking suspicion that we're in for another girl. I mentioned my thoughts to Eric and he revealed that he'd been having the same feelings. We both knew Molly was a girl, so we'll have to see if we're right again. I can't wait until February to meet our newest little Frueh!!!

Welcome to "Toddlerhood"

Well, our little Molly is officially a "toddler". She's been crawling and cruising for MONTHS, but never seemed all that interested in, literally, "taking the next step" to walk. Afterall, crawling seemed much more efficient and MUCH safer than all this walking business. But, for the last few weeks, she's gotten braver, taking steps here and there. If the distance was much more than an arm's reach, however, she was content to crawl. If she was going to walk any significant distance, it would only happen with someone holding one hand.

No more! On Sunday night, she just took off. Check out these epic "toddles" across the house!

Livingroom to Kitchen

Livingroom to Laundry Room