Happy Birthday Molly Girl!

Molly was born about 6 years and 5 minutes ago and she is sleeping peacefully in her room next to her sister right now! She had a wonderful day filled with phone calls, spoiling by aunties and grandparents and lots of love and attention from her siblings and parents. KK and I brought Annie in to school (along with Burger King) and had lunch with our birthday girl and then went and had indoor recess in the classroom. Annie was a bigger hit than KK or I but we got a few hugs too. Tonight we had Friendlies for dinner - Molly's favorite - and than Grammy and Papa came over to hang with the birthday girl. Molly was all smiles all day beginning with her 7 a.m. phone call from Auntie Beth in CA.

Our Love Bug - ice cream is still her favorite food 6 years later!

Mary Catherine Harding

9/26/02

8 pounds 6 ounces

21 1/2 inches

9:42 p.m.

Because this blog is not private I won't go into too much detail about the day Molly was born - everyone who was there knows how special it was and that after a long hard struggle Molly was born into a room filled with love and joy. I always like to tell her that she was born with her eyes wide open literally and figuratively. She is one of the most intuitive little girls I know and in all things Molly chooses a path of happiness and love. She chooses to embrace the fun and positive side of things most of the time and I love that about her!

KK, Auntie Meg and Uncle Colin getting to know Molly Doll when she was just a few days old.
First Easter - loving her brother and her girlie dress!
Peter and Molly have a unique and special relationship filled with laughter and conflict. When it comes right down to it no one had better mess with the other of them - they are always right there for each other and one of my greatest joys in life has been watching their relationship unfold. At Grammy's beach house while it was under construction! Our girl loves the beach almost as much as she loves being with her grandparents.
One of her favorite past times - talking on the phone.
Molly and her Daddy!
Out little beauty!
Abby, Tyler, Molly and Peter in Disney World - I would have to say that if you ask Molly what her best memories are of the last 6 years many of them would be of our trips to Disney World with Grammy, Papa, Uncle Pat, Auntie Karla and all of the kids.
Loving on Annie. I have never met a kiddo who was so enthralled with her baby sister. Molly never had one moment of jealousy with Annie only pure and simple love for her sister. She is attentive, loving and helpful with Annie and the two of them are incredibly loving with each other. They are a joy to watch together.

There are no words to describe the way I feel when I think of my oldest daughter - she is everything I dreamed of when I thought about having a daughter (no pressure or anything). I love spending time with Molly - there is a special fun in being with her alone and hearing her thoughts on life and she is often a stabalizing force in our very chaotic family. She adds a great deal of laughter and love to our family and, once again, I find myself wondering what I did to deserve such rich blessings. I know that someday Molly will be humiliated by me and our time alone together will be less frequent but for now I thoroughly enjoy my bright, funny, sweet and sunny baby girl any chance I get.

Happy Birthday, Molly Girl!
We are so happy that you were born!

GNM - ILY!

Our Birthday Girl!

There will be another blog later dedicated to the birthday girl but for now I thought I would post some pictures of our morning and the last few days. Molly's day is finally here and she could not be more excited - she has to be patient and endure both Peter and Annie's birthdays before we get to hers so she has really been looking forward to today.....for about 364 days!

We woke everyone up early because we had a special breakfast planned for Mols and wanted her to be able to open some presents before heading off to school at 7:15. A few weeks ago after the kids asked for the 100th time if we could order the "Pancake Puff" I handed the phone to Bob and told him to go for it. The kids jaws dropped and they jumped up and down because they had expected me to say no - again! With perfect timing the Pancake Puff arrive yesterday and Bob and I read through the directions and got ready to embark on the PP adventure this morning - we even got the chocolate frosting to inject into the middle of our delicious pancakes. The kids LOVED it!

Molly wakes up to a card from KK on the kitchen table!
Molly really wanted a baby doll and bed for her birthday - we wondered if she was a bit old for that but she loves to imitate us taking care of Annie.
Papa put the cradle together last night and Molly loved it!
Hugs for the birthday girl - Pete was so excited to celebrate with Molly that he actually jumped out of bed and got ready in 5 minutes (usually a 20 minuts ordeal).
Molly opens her gifts from Peter - the Hannah Montana Wii game and a Barbie Wii game. She could not have been more excited!
The birthday girl with her HM game.

My beautiful kids!

Annie got Molly a barbie doll but was more interested in playing with Molly's baby doll than watching her open presents.
The birthday girl.
Our gorgeous girls - Molly told us this morning that she already had her favorite part of her birthday when we gave her Annie last year for her birthday!
Annie trying to feed the baby!
Molly got footy pajamas like Pete wears.

Daddy, Molly and Peter!
Banana
Pete trying on Molly's HM night shirt!
Camp Rock shirt was a hit!
Hannah Montana and Lola dolls.

Daddy's chocolate stuffed Pancake Puffs - they were a hit!
Molly certainly enjoyed her birthday breakfast!
Peter showing off his pancake puff.
The birthday girl eating the last one!
Annie liked the puffs but didn't have the chocolate ones because the inside was too hot - that made her very annoyed with us!

Annie was being cranky yesterday and i was trying to cook dinner so Molly set her up in the beanbad with a pillow and snack and hung out with her watching Elmo - yes, I stuck my 1 year old in front of the TV for a little reprieve!
The girls hanging out!

My batteries died in my camera so I only got this one picture of Molly at soccer but how cute is she?

Out little teenagers took their MP3 players out onto a blanket on the lawn to hang out together!
Molly always has a pose for Mommy!
My beautiful girl!
Check out Nola's latest headshots! Her cheeks are getting chubby and everyone says that you can already see her looking like Annie. She kept puckering her lips at me - giving kisses already!

A fist and a foot! She is a mover and a shaker this one! My fluid levels were back to normal and Nola was 100% reactive at the NST this moring! Yeah, Nola. So are you ready for this - with 6 weeks to go till c-section day she is already 5 pounds - yikes!

KK had a blast last night playing with Nola - she pushed on one spot and a leg poked out - pushed on another spot and a butt popped out - once I went to bed and was ready for her to stop playing she wouldn't stop moving and hiccupping - what a miracle!

Check in later for more on the birthday girl!

GNM - ILY!

A Few Updates and some weekend pictures!

Peter wasn't feeling well this morning so he and Annie are hanging at home in their pajamas today - Annie loves having a playmate and Peter has been fabulous!

Molly and Annie had their check-ups yesterday for their birthdays and both did great! We saw a new pediatrician in our practice, Dr. Wresenski for the first time and the girls loved her. Molly has always really liked Dr. Luxemburg but since she is getting a bit modest we decided to switch to a female doctor that she could talk to about "girl things". The vital stats are as follows:

Molly 69 pounds, 49 inches 95th percentile for both

90/68 blood pressure 96 heartrate - she was a bit nervous!

She did great and verified with the doctor that I am not lying when I tell her that her teeth will fall out if she does not brush three times a day and drink her milk. I love being able to blame everything on the pediatrician! Molly got her flu shot and we did a treatment plan for her asthma since the season is now upon us. Hopefully we won't need it but if we do the pediatrician will already know what our preferences are for treatment options (No steriods unless necessary!)

Annie 22 pounds 8 ounces, 30 1/2 inches 95th percentile for height and 70th for weight

Both ears have fluid but no infection so we are going back in a few weeks to check in on the fluid accumulation. Annie got 5 shots including a flu shot and screamed her head off! She looks great and was impressive on the gross motor scale - that's our girl! So all three kids are done with their yearly visits and now we just have to get Peter in for his flu shot. I got mine and Bob is already scheduled - we always get them because of Molly but apparently with a one year old, newborn and kid with asthma in the house we are at the top of the priority list this year!

As we left we were making Annie's 15 month and 18 month appointments and for the sake of not being there every week we scheduled Nola for her first three appointments to coincide with Annie's - I can't believe she is almost here - I can't wait to get her in my arms.

My 2 sleeper babies hanging out today!

Sunday at the park with the kids - Peter was upside down most of the time!
Annie and her Daddy!
Molly loves when we do Annie's hair like this because this is how we do Molly's hair almost everyday.
Molly girl climbing the slide.
My beautiful girl ready to come down the slide.
Annie Bananie loves the park.
My girl brought her Barbie to the park with her.
Peter concentrating on his skills.
My handsome boy!
Banana is now walking all over the place and loved the freedom of the park - she never stopped moving!
Our baby girl on the move!

Waiting for Daddy to get her in the ride.
The girls ride the firetruck.
Peter hanging upside down!

Funny faces!
The girls go down the slide together!
Annie waiting to catch Molly coming down the slide.
Annie gets some help from Daddy hanging on to the bar!

Pete is feeling better tonight and ready for school tomorrow! I'm putting out another request for prayers. Annie's babysitter and a dear friend lost her father in a weird accident yesterday at his job. Carrie and her family have been through a great deal of loss and illness over the last year and our hearts are breaking for her tonight.

GNM - ILY!

PS - I almost forgot our Nola update - we had an ultrasound and NST today and Nola looked beautiful - big and healthy - heartrate at 146, moving like crazy and reactive for all 20 minutes! OB's decided that I will deliver by c-section no matter what so the regular delivery is off the table - no big deal as long as Nola is healthy and happy when she emerges - no matter where she emerges from! A friend of mine has an aunt who is pretty accurate about using the stars etc to figure out when babies are coming - her prediction today - October 28th - works for me!