Week 20 - 4th of July Weekend and Annapolis

We have been spending a lot of time at the pool since it's been over 100 degrees almost every day this week. We started off the week on Monday with Pop-pop and Auntie Sissy at Mohican Pool, the pool my family grew up going to. They have a really nice baby pool and lounge area, we had a great time. Mollie also started swim class this week. She loved it, it was so adorable. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of it because I took her on my own and wasn't talented enough to photograph us in the pool without destroying my camera. Next week I will try to get one of the other mommies to take our photo.


We also had our first sleep over at Nana and Pop-pop's while Louie was at a bachelor party in NY. Mollie wouldn't sleep in the pack-n-play, but she loved sleeping in my old room in the bed.
Last weekend, before Louie went away, we took a trip to Annapolis with Auntie Deedee. It was really fun - we ate crabs and walked around on the waterfront. We even visited the state capitol where we saw this very amusing sign. I will post more pics of Mollie and Deedee when I get them from Dee.

Fourth of July

For the Fourth we went to a little parade in our neighborhood at Volta Park. When I say little, I mean that we walked basically from one side of the Volta Park pool to the other. But it was really fun. The parade organizers had lots of fun decorations for babies and their strollers and for parents and grandparents too.

Week 19 - Happy birthday Nana C and Grandpa David, Mr. Yogato turns 2, Bonjour Auntie Deedee

This week we celebrated two birthdays in our family - Nana Cathi and Grandpa David, who just happen to share the same day. Mollie was pretty excited.

We had dinner at Nana and Pop-pop's house where Nana treated us all by playing the piano, which put Mollie right to sleep - it was so amazing. When she woke up, Mollie played the piano with Nana's assistance, it was really fun.

And there was another very important birthday celebration - Mr. Yogato turned two! Mollie wore her Mr. Yogato Little onesie to the party. It was fun, but we really missed Sabrina.
Mollie's been doing some exercises to prepare for her future career as an olympic gymnast, swimmer, sumo wrestler, rower, soccer player, etc. She's going to be a woman of many talents, obviously. Here she is demonstrating crunches.

"Phew, that was quite a work out, I need a nap"

And finally, this week brought the arrival of Auntie Deedee all the way from Paris! Mollie and Deedee have quite the crush on one another. Deedee's boyfriend JB sent this puppet for Mollie - she loves it, but she loves Deedee's rendition of itsy bitsy spider more.
Deedee was kind enough to watch Mollie while I went to a work meeting this week. They had a great time playing outside in the gorgeous weather and singing songs and reading books.

Week 18 - Hanging out

At long last Uncle Sammy has returned from Wisconsin to visit us! We've been having lots of fun the last couple of days getting caught up on his studies and hanging out with him and Margaret. Here are a couple pictures from lunch today.
And one from dinner on Wednesday.
This week we tried out Mollie's big girl stroller for the first time. I figured she was getting really hot in the snap n go and that she would prefer to see where we are going anyway. So far it's been a big hit.
We also introduced her to her first Disney tunes, with video, on the computer. So far her favorite is Bippity Boppity Boo from Cinderella, but she also liked Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid.
And we put her in the swing for the first time. She was a little unsure of what was going on - I wouldn't say she liked it, but I think she will warm up to it.
"Uncle Reuben, could you do me a favor and fix my hat?"
Swinging with Daniel and his momma.

Father's Day

We had a really nice first Father's Day celebration. First, we went to brunch at Georgia Brown's where there was a really good buffet and live jazz. Plus you get to take an entree to go, which we had for dinner the next day, yum. Mollie loved dancing to the live music. She was particularly into the drums - so much so that we couldn't get her to hold still for a photo. Here she is dancing.

For the rest of the day we rested and let Louie have a little down time. Mollie and I went to a concert at Volta Park, which I really liked, but she slept through the whole thing. Then we went to Nana and Pop-pop's to continue the celebration.

Mollie's been sucking her thumb more lately, I think it's really cute.

Uncle Barty is warming up for his first diaper change. Here he is holding Mollie - getting a little more comfortable to prepare for the big event. It was a big success because for the first time she didn't poop on him or cry.
And here are Mollie and Pop-pop, celebrating Pop-pop's first father's day as a grandpa. Pop-pop made some mean concharitas to celebrate.
When we came home, we skyped with our west coast family, including Grandpa David and Great Grandpa Earl. Mollie is starting to get the hang of skyping and was showing off her jumping for her grands and great grands. All in all it was a great day!

Week 17 - 4 month doctor appointment, more from KW

Before we left for Key West, we were ladies who lunched with our friend Deb. Deb took us to Cafe Atlantico, it was very fancy and delicious.

Here's the bubble baby in her rain gear on the way to lunch. You can't see it that well here, but the plastic bubble has breathing vents and a flap on top. I think it looks funny, so I wanted to post a picture of it.

Here we are enjoying a passion fruit martini.
"Martinis at lunch make me sleepy, I think I'll blow off work the rest of the day and take a nap."

Here are a few more favorites from Key West (I also have some videos, but I can't get them to post for some reason, so hopefully I can get that worked out soon):

Arriving at the airport (so happy to get off that tiny plane)

Drying off after a swimRelaxing with my seahorse rattle

Showing off my new crocs
Sitting in my throne.
In other news, Mollie had her four month doctors appointment this week. She is 16 lbs 7 oz and 26.5 inches long and healthy! She got two shots and was very brave, not nearly as rough as the two month shots. Updates from our last appointment include success on the bottle front. She can now take a bottle with almost no problem. We've had some success on the sleep front too, much less crying and fighting. We highly recommend the Sleep Lady's Good Night Sleep Tight for anyone else who is working on sleep issues. Lots of helpful hints and tips, even for babies under 4 months. Otherwise on the development front, we think she's seriously working on some teeth, which has made for some rough moments and a lot of drool. She's also really into trying to sit. Every time we put her on her back she does this crunching motion - it made nurse Shannon laugh at our appointment because Mollie wouldn't even stay flat to be measured.

Here she is trying to sit. Shortly after the photo was snapped she fell on her face.

And here's Mollie with her multi-tasking daddy. Look how happy she is!

Yoga baby

"Check out my flexibility. Hill's Gymnastics, here I come!"