Week 15 - New tricks and hanging out with friends

Mollie's been working on a number of new tricks. Here she is trying to put her own paci back in her mouth. She has about a 3% success rate when the paci is on the rope attached to her shirt. She has about a 0% success rate if the paci is unattached.
She's also been trying to escape from her carseat/stroller. Here she is trying to use her Freddie the Firefly toy as an escape device. It was not a success, but I appreciated the effort and the creative approach, so I took her out. So maybe it counts as a success after all?
Today we went to Mr. Yogato with Taylor. Mollie loves to snuggle with Taylor and we loved getting caught up on what Silas is up to these days.
We also went to the National Geographic museum. Obviously Mollie was having the time of her life.
Well, hello gorgeous!
I know this is lame, but I saw this chipmunk eating the blackberries that fell on our path in the back and I was telling Mollie all about it, so I thought I should document it.
Mollie also met our friends, Gabe and Mike Berlin, and their girlfriends. We went out for a wonderful lunch and drinks, it was really great to catch up with them.
Last weekend Megan and Josh flew in from the Bay Area to visit Mollie (and Louie and me). We went to the Air and Space Annex by Dulles airport. Here we are in the watch tower.
Mollie was ok for about 10 minutes facing out in the Baby Bjorn.
Probably because Megan was making her laugh.

We also did a nighttime monument tour with Megan and Josh. The monuments were beautiful at night and there were actually a lot of people out and about even for the late hour. Mollie slept and we wandered.

Finally, just a sweet photo of her and Louie goofing around in the morning.

Mother's Day

This is the last of my catch up posts, I think now we're up to date - phew!

I had a really nice first mother's day. Louie made breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes, and brought it to me in bed. Mollie gave me the gift of sleeping through the night and then going back to sleep after her breakfast until around 10 am. Then we spent the day walking through Georgetown and went to my parents' house for dinner. At dinner I got lots of lovely gifts and a wonderful meal. It was really lovely to celebrate my first mother's day with my mom, also her first mother's day as a Nana. We had a wonderful time.

The girls (minus mom, who was our photographer)
The boys, who did a great job cooking. Especially Jake, haha.

Mollie whooping it up with Auntie Elana.

Bed time? I don't think so.

Week 14 - Auntie Sissy's graduation and art show opening

This week we attempted our first fancy dinner outing with Mollie at Art and Soul to celebrate Elana's graduation from the Corcoran school of art. Things started out great. And then it started to get a little rough.

And then, Mollie decided she had enough, so Louie and I had to leave before dessert. Fortunately, Pop pop was there to keep things cool in her absence.

Don't Jake and Elana look excited? Anyway, we are very proud of Auntie Sissy and we were able to make a swift exit with our crying Mollie. Mollie hopes Sissy and Barty will still let her come to their celebrations in the future.

We also attended the opening of Elana's solo show in Bethesda. It was really fun and I encourage those of you in the DC area to check it out! Our friends Megan and Josh were visiting from California and joined us for the opening celebration. (Many more pics from their visit to come in next week's post).

Here is the lovely artist with one of her paintings.

As you can see, the gallery was packed with supporters!

Hey - focus on the art, people!

Welcome Party/Play Date at Nana and Pop pop's

Last weekend, Nana and Pop pop had a welcome party for Mollie. It was a lot of fun!

Here's the spread - very important. Lots of delicious treats for snacking.

Louie's friend Gloria was kind enough to make these little shirts to put the silverware in. Aren't they just adorable?

And in the play date spirit, there were lots of games for little people - bubbles, light up ducks, play dough, and coloring materialsWe had lots of friends stop by - here's Mara and Auntie Sissy.

Jordan and Quinn.

Mollie was obviously the life of the party. Notice Daniel in the background with a big bunch of balloons...

One got away. But not to worry, Uncle Barty to the rescue!

Phew - happy again.

Deb and Rina were there. How does Liam always manage to escape the camera?

Lots of good friends having fun!

And Mollie got tons of amazing gifts. Here she is with her new big bear from her great-grand poppy.

As you can see, she was quite happy with both the bear and her great grand poppy.

I'd like to title this picture "every party needs a pooper that's why we invited you..."

Mollie's First Friday Night Dinner

On our California trip (weeks 9 and 10) Mollie also attended her first Friday Night Dinner at Great Grands Naomi and Bob's house. Louie and I were so excited to have the extra hands to hold her that we didn't take a single decent photo. So, at long last, here are a few of the photos from the evening.

Mollie posing for the camera with great grandma Naomi.
Mollie hanging out with Great Aunt Sarah and cousin Aliza.

Getting some smooches from Great Aunt Sarah after viewing the new "Mollie" sweater Sarah made. It is gorgeous! We can't wait for her website to launch so we can buy one!

Hanging on the couch with cousin Jacob. If I recall correctly he spent most of the time hoping she wasn't going to poop on him.

Photo lag

I've been really bad about taking my own pictures so I'm waiting to get some from some others for this week's update. This is how Mollie feels about it.

Mollie 5.23

Changing time with daddy, wearing her dress as a hat