Week 42 - Chanukah Celebrations

Happy Chanukah! Mollie celebrated with some bagel sticks - probably the best invention ever. Wide enough that she cannot ram them down her throat, soft enough that she can kind of eat them. Good find, Pop-pop.

We've had some indications that little Mols is something of a bully at daycare. Look at that bully face. Jake is obviously terrified of her and her celery stick.

"Dad, pass those potato latkes"

We opened presents at Nana and Pop-pop's. Mollie loved her packages as much as her gifts.
Finally, Mollie engaged in a McDermott family ritual - jumping on Barty when he's tired, resting, comfortable, basically anything. He loved it. Especially because Mollie has lots of germs to share.
Here's another night of Chanukah. I think we have our nights out of order here. But, this is from night 2. Mollie with her Mollie-friendly, fire-free menorah.
Last weekend we had Mollie's newest best friend, Yael, over for a Chanukah party. Isn't she so little and sweet looking?
I tried to capture a Mollie-Daniel kiss, but I missed it. So here they are playing blocks instead. Probably better that Louie not witness Mollie's first kiss anyway, no telling how he'd react (not well).
Mollie also decided that if the rocker was out, and another baby was using it, she'd better test it out to see if she still likes it. Look how much she's grown!

Week 41 - Happy Holiday Season

We kicked off the holiday season with a visit to the Gaylord Resort's Christmas Ice Show. We decided going into the 10 degree ice show with Mollie was probably not the best idea, so we settled for looking at the holiday decor and got a photo with Santa. Mollie practiced strutting her stuff on the red carpet.
And we saw this tree made out of Peeps. Abby Cadabby was really impressed with all those Peeps.
In new developments - Miss Mollie is standing hands free. Check it!
This week marked the beginning of Mollie's first Chanukah. Here she is on night one with her new bib and her first candle lighting.

Week 40 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Mollie surprised us this week by starting to walk with the walker. Mollie's friend Maggie brought her this dump truck walker about a month ago but Mollie would fall on her face every time she tried to use it. All of a sudden this week, she's a champion dump truck driver!

Great grandpoppy is in town this week for Thanksgiving. We had a great visit on Wednesday. Mollie showed him all her toys and new tricks.
AND, Auntie Sissy is back from Boston for the weekend too! Mollie's so excited to see her.
We had a celebratory dinner to welcome Poppy and Sissy and to have some quality family time.
Mollie is loving spaghetti with red sauce. Mostly she seems to love wearing it, but I think some was going in her mouth and an even smaller proportion was even getting all the way to her belly.

For a holiday treat she's been having a lot of whipped cream. And boy oh boy does she love it.
Thursday we headed over to nana and pop-pop's for Thanksgiving. Mollie made herself right at home.
And then had some post-nap plate-hat/peek-a-boo time with Nana.

Week 39 - Auntie Margie's birthday!

Our household was a bit under the weather this week. Well, Louie and I were. Mollie was just fine, which led us to believe that she must have given us this stomach bug, because how else could she not have had it? Saturday afternoon we finally made it out of the house to walk around Old Town Alexandria.We watched this guy play the cups. He's pretty good.
And went and looked out at the water. Note - you can see Mollie's tiny curl in this picture, which is the main reason I am posting it.
And, we took Margie and Andrew out to celebrate their birthdays! We went to Posto which was pretty delicious and then to Pitango where Mollie got all hopped up on gelato.

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

Week 38

This week was rather uneventful, which was nice after all of the crazy travel and events of the past few weeks. We are still loving Mollie's new daycare! I've got to get a picture of her there, but in the hustle of the day I keep forgetting. The big development of the week was that Louie took the GRE and Mollie and I spent the night and most of last weekend at Nana and Pop-pop's. The test went well and we had some great grandparent time.

Here are some recent pics of Mollie girl:

Hanging out in her shades with Abby Cadabby

Having brunch with Daddy
Snoozing before our big outing to Buy Buy Baby
For some reason she's been crawling around with this ball dangling from her mouth lately. It's pretty funny.

Week 37 - Happy Halloween! and First Week at a New Day Care

Last weekend we celebrated Halloween by going to a little party at our neighborhood Tot Lot.

Here's Mollie's friend Louisa dressed up as Nemo.

Auntie Margie was a great sport and came along for the party. There was a firetruck and an ambulance to entertain the older kids. Mollie was interested in the buttons.
Nana and Pop-pop also came to help our little Hot Ta-Mollie celebrate her first Halloween (well, outside the belly, last year she was a basketball, but that now seems like a distant memory).

After Halloween, our week got a bit rough. Mollie was very grumpy, we think because she was teething. She had a low grade fever for a few days and was not sleeping for more than 30 minutes at a time. She also started a new day care this week. The combination of teething, separation anxiety and a new routine proved a bit disastrous for our household Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night we thought had an ear infection. Rather than go to the pediatrician, we brought her to House Calls on the Hill - this AMAZING nurse service on capitol hill. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who lives in the DC area. We brought Mollie there at 7:15 pm and left at 7:40 with confirmation that she did not have an ear infection (and maybe was a bit spoiled by her grandparent daycare) and with some motrin. All for a very reasonable price! As of Thursday, she is loving daycare and her caregiver, Miss Esther. She seems to be settling into the new routine really well.

Here are a few more random pictures. Mollie watching Dora the Explorer and eating her shoe.
Mollie's best sticker from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear - it says "Birth Control Matters" in case you can't read it here.
And here's the crazy outfit Louie selected for Mollie to wear under her costume. She knew it was no good.