My Days in Pictures

I've seen a few of you do this, and I thought it was so fun!  So, here's a few pictures captured from my camera phone! 

Molly fell asleep in the car holding onto her Freida Frog. . . .

Lookin' so cute in her Hooked On You hat!!

Aunt B & Ellie Cheesin' it

Molly's first walk in her stroller facing forward!

Does this hat make my head look big?

Ellie watching Choo-Choo (also known as Thomas the Train)

Gma with two of her great-grands

Lovin' her teething toy! 

Waiting on her play date!

The Slocum Girls 

Baby it's cold outside! 

Sophie getting brave (this could really be a blog post in itself. . . this cat....) 

Tummy time 

Sophie wishing for outside. . .  

YuMmY! 

The Good Stuff

I keep my niece, Ellie, on the days my sister works.  That typically means two days a week I have her. 

It's so much fun!  Ellie's no stranger to HappyascanB, and she will be two on Thanksgiving Day.  Full of personality, spunk, and love, Ellie has a zest for life that her aunt envies. 

She's also a wee bit mischevious.  Recently she got into my jewelry and came bounding down the hall with bracelets stacked all the way up her arm!  She was holding the necklace in her hand and couldn't wait for me to put it around her neck! 

Once I stopped giggling, I captured a few pictures for memory's sake. 

Oh how I love that precious little girl!  And I'm certainly not the only one who loves our days together.  Molly absolutely lights up when she sees Ellie!  Watching the two of them look at each other and giggle just makes my heart want to explode with love! 

Molly is really digging her exercauser these days.  She looks so big in it to me! 

It's these days, full of hugs, slobbery kisses, dirty diapers, spit ups and snacks that I find myself overwhelmed with pure gratitude that this is the life God's given me.  I often send Tim texts as simple as "thank you for working so hard so I can be home with MM every day!"  It's just better than I ever imagined!  Bless him for working so very hard to provide for our family of three!  I thank God for him always!

This afternoon held one of those precious moments that came out of nowhere but held feelings so special I never want to forget it.  Ellie was napping, and Molly had just woken up from a nap.  While changing Molly's diaper, I accidentally tickled the bottom of her foot.  She giggled a belly giggle that was one of the most precious sounds I've ever heard!  Wondering if it was an accident, I tickled her foot again and got the same precious reaction! 

And then, while on a high from my baby girl's precious little giggles, she proceeded to pass gas in a way that would make anyone in the room blush.  It was unreal! 

As I was laughing about that, she began laughing at me.  My heart absolutely melted, and as I picked her up, I was absolutely overcome with pure joy.  Unreserved gratitude.  Unbelievable love. 

There we stood, my 5-month-old blessing and me, in the middle of her nursery.  For just a moment the world stopped as I held her closely, swayed back and forth and praised my Heavenly Father for giving me the incredible honor of being her mother.  Tears streamed down my face during that amazing moment.  I never want to forget it.  Ever.

And all of this, every single bit of it, is the good stuff.





'Tis the Season. . . . to begin planning for Christmas!

It's safe to say I've never thought about Christmas cards in October.  Granted, it's the end of October, but still. . . .

And then came Molly!!!

So, this year, with Molly, I've been thinking about Christmas cards for weeks already!  I carefully planned the types of invites we are sending out for her dedication at church (which is occurring in December) based on the fact that I knew I'd want to do photo Christmas cards. 

Shutterfly has some great Christmas card designs!  I've had so much fun looking through all of the different types and designs, playing with pictures of Molly, trying to decide which card to choose!

I mean, I love the whimsical, fun look of this one.  But I really dig the brown in this one. This one is just so classic!  Ahhh. . . . too many precious choices!  Maybe we'll do a little of each?

Obviously, I have had a hay day looking at all of these designs, checking out the different options with their gift tags, and browsing their address labels!  Oh, and check out their precious Christmas birth announcements!  Too stinkin' cute!

Head on over and create your family's cards now!  Shutterfly is currently offering 20% off all holiday cards!  Click on the link now for details!

PuMpKiN PaTcH

We went to the Pumpkin Patch the other day!  What fun!  Molly was tired, so we didn't capture many smiles, but we still got some cute pictures of her and Ellie! 

There were pumpkins galore!

I'm slightly obsessed with the funky green and bumpy ones!  We bought a green one, and I love it!

We had so much fun looking at all of the pumpkins!  We ran into some friends, too.  Here are Tim and Molly with one of Tim's fraternity brothers and his girls.  All of Tim's fraternity brothers have daughters.  Seriously!  We found out from this friend that there is finally a brother whose wife is expecting a boy!  It'll be the first boy after about 12 girls.  No joke!

Ellie came for the fun, too!  She was all over the place, checking out the pumpkins, big and small!

Ellie loves giving Molly kisses!

And this picture of Ellie cracks me up!  She sat right up there beside the scarecrow, but she sure is checking him out!

Molly and her Daddy enjoyed the beautiful afternoon and pumpkins!

Molly chilled with some pumpkins for a few pictures!

We had a great time in the pumpkin patch!  Love these sweet traditions with our family!

4 Months Stats

We went to the doctor today for Molly's 4 month check up.  Here are her stats:

25 1/4 inches long, 95th percentile

12 pounds 3 ounces, 25th percentile

I may or may not have been teased (jokingly, of course) for having my questions saved in my phone.  We absolutely love our pediatrician, and he goes to church with us.  We feel really comfortable with him and take anything he says to the bank.

At four months, Molly's typically sleeping through the night (she's been doing that since around 8 weeks old).  She goes down between 6 and 7 and sleeps until around 6am.  Lately she's been waking up around 2 or 3 a few nights a week, and I've been feeding her and putting her right back down.  He sweetly told me to stop doing that and let her fall back asleep on her own.  Tim told him he wished he'd recorded Dr. Smith saying that.  Because when it's 2am and my baby's crying?  I'll be really wanting to go feed her and make her happy!

I totally expected him to tell us to start feeding her rice cereal, but he recommended we continue with the nursing since it's worked so well for us.  As far as Molly's development, Molly has rolled over once, from her belly to her back.  It really didn't scare her as much as I expected it to.  She definitely knows her own hands and she's spotted her feet. 

And she babbles, coos, and squeals a lot!  This afternoon, she was so much fun with all of her chatting and squealing!  I could just eat her up! 

I love to think that Molly and I are best buddies, but she really is crazy about her cousin Ellie and her Daddy.  When Tim walks into the room, Molly just stops and gazes at him!  It's precious!  She is definitely a Daddy's Girl!  And Molly loves watching Ellie.  She just seems mesmerized by her!

I'm really digging the hair bands and bows lately.  I think she's super precious in them.  But someone in our house isn't as crazy about them as Molly and I are.  I'm just sayin'....

Molly likes to be rocked to sleep.  Sometimes we have to hum to her while rocking her to calm her down because she fights sleep so much.  I know I've hummed no less than 100 verses of Only Trust Him in the last few weeks!  I love every minute of that!  Just last night I found myself rocking her and just praying for her.  I pray she grows up to know Jesus as her Savior, that she is always healthy and feels love and secure.  I pray her world is never rocked in such a way that will absolutely crush her spirit and her heart.  And I beg God to always watch and keep her.  All while thanking Him over and over and over again for entrusting Molly Miller to Tim and me.  She is such a joy!

Oh, that Molly will always know, "Out of all the people on the face of the earth, God has chosen you to be His treasured possession."  ~ Deuteronomy 7:6

And I do drown her in kisses!  All the time!  I mean, really. . . . how could I not?

Molly's 4 Months Old

Happy 4 Month Birthday, Sweet Molly Miller!

You are such a joy to your Daddy and me.  We love watching you grow every day, and your personality seems to bloom with every passing minute!

One thing we know for sure is that you are already a Daddy's girl!  You absolutely light up every single time he walks in the room, whether he comes in from a long day at work or he walks into the room after being gone for a matter of seconds!

And, even though our Dawgs aren't having the best season this year, YOU, Molly, are the cutest Georgia cheerleader around! 

We love you, Molly Miller!  To the Moon and Back!

We go to the doctor tomorrow, so I'll be back then with her 4 month picture and stats!

Roomie Reunion

If I've heard it once, I've heard it twenty times. . .  "You haven't blogged lately." 

This I know, folks.  And I really don't like it, but I just find myself busy day in and day out.  Busy in such a way that pulling out the computer just sometimes seems too much.

I know.  Pitiful.

I'm so not complaining. . . .  I'm just saying.

So, again, I'm vowing to do better.  I already feel like Molly's growing way too fast, and I've not done a very good job of keeping up with her growing!

But this post?  It's about my three favorite roomies. 

These girls and I lived together in college and I loved every single minute of it.  They were seriously the best roommates ever.

Seriously.

Ever.

Today we got together with our husbands and kids to catch up and enjoy each other's company again.  And we had a blast!

Which isn't surprising.  I see these three girls and see many, many great memories from our days at UGA!  And besides, you know it's gonna be a good time when you have 4 girls, 4 husbands, 7 kiddos all under the age of 6, and one baby on the way all together! 

Throw in a perfect fall day with burgers and dogs on the porch while some football's on the tube, and you got yourself a FANTASTIC DAY.

And that's why, on our way home, I felt like my heart just might burst with thanksgiving.  Cause these are some precious girls who are dear friends to me. And I love them dearly.  And seeing how good life's been to all of us, each in our own way. . .  Well, it just about makes me pop!

What's a blog post without a picture of this precious little girl?