36 Months with Molly Pop!

Photo Credit: Sweet Peeks Photography

Dear Molly,

Today you are THREE YEARS OLD! It's so exciting and you have changed so much since my last letter to you. In the past six months, you've started talking better, learned how to use the potty, visited Hawaii, lost your Poppa (Grandpa), become the best Big Sister ever, started gymnastics and have continued to be the most Amazing Molly Pop

In the past few weeks, you've conquered potty training and are quite the champ. Maybe you'll potty train Maggie when the time comes? Your many play dates now include some dual potty sitting time with your friends. It is hilarious to see you and your friends sitting on the potty, talking to each other. 

We had your birthday party at the Zoo this past weekend and you had a blast! You requested a Unicorn theme so I went with a Rainbow Unicorn theme. I even made you a Rainbow Unicorn cake! I may have reached my birthday cake pinnacle. 

We made rainbow play dough together and gave them to your friends as party favors. I've heard reports that your guests have been busy playing with the party favor all day. 

You've been going to Co-Op preschool two days a week. I drop you off one day and stay with you on the other. You LOVE it! Next year we plan to have you go to a drop off preschool, four days a week. I suspect that you'll have a grand time. 

You started speech therapy in June and you are doing gang-busters. We can finally understand you and that has helped so much with everyone's frustration levels. You love seeing Miss Deanna every Monday and I think she enjoys spending time with you. 

Earlier this month, we went to Hawaii which you loved! You had so much fun and it was a pretty great trip. We spent a lot of time in the pool, on the beach and explored a lot of Maui. 

The day before we left for Maui, was Halloween! You went as a Mermaid and Maggie as your sidekick, a Crab. You loved your costume and wore it most of the time we were in Hawaii. 

We also did our annual Pumpkin Patch visit with Ruby. You guys have grown so much in the past few years. I'm glad that you two are friends and that we have this little tradition going on. 

My friends visited from England in October and you were smitten with them. I can't say I blame you as I'm quite smitten with them too. We took them to Mt. Rainier, showed them around town and had a blast. 

Photo Credit: Sweet Peeks Photography

You also started Gymnastics with your BFF, Norah and you LOVE it! I wasn't sure about the cost but I'm so glad that we signed you up. You are having so much fun and gaining so much skill. 

Photo Credit: Sweet Peeks Photography

You are quite the little TV addict and your Dad and I are working to reduce your screen time. You love watching Sofia the First, Umizoomi, Super Why, Dora the Explorer and anything with Mermaids. Due to the chaotic nature of these past few months, I've been letting you watch more tv than you should but we're getting back on track. Some is ok, A lot is not. 

Oh Molly Pop, you are a joy to Mother. We love you so much even when you don't sleep and try to keep the entire household up all night. We have seen a glimpse of three and it scares us. We love you so, so, so very much and are so lucky to have you in our family. 

Photo Credit: Sweet Peeks Photography

Thanksgiving Prep

I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year. It's something I've done in the past but this year, I thought it would be fun to blog about my process, schedule and recipes. I've blogged about Thanksgiving in the past but it has been a few years and a few things have changed along the way.

Last week, I finalized my menu, recipes and schedule. I keep my schedule on Google Drive because once you have a good schedule, you can keep using the same one with a few tweaks every year. I also keep my menu and recipes on Google Drive for quick reference. 

Tomorrow I start in on my Thanksgiving Day preparation. I'm excited to cook with Molly and a little nervous about doing this with two small children. I know if I stick to my schedule then everything will be ok or else it will make for a hilarious blog entry.

Forty Eight Weeks with Chicken Nugget

Maggie's new activity is to roam the house with a play bowl and play felt food grasped in her hand. She likes to put the food into the bowl and take it back out again, over and over. Sometimes the felt food is replaced by a lego block. The joy on her face as she does this is so wonderful. 

This week has been a terrible week for sleep around this house. Maggie is still waking up once a night and migrating to my bed. She did sleep through the night in her pack and play one time this week and it was so nice! 

We celebrated Molly's 3rd Birthday on Saturday and Maggie had the best time following the older kids around. As the kids were running in circles around the room, she was toddling along behind them, full of giggles. Both kids were totally worn out by the end of the party. It was a great party. 

Eleven Months with Mag-Pie

Dear Maggie,

Today you are 11-months old and you are so very awesome! This month you stopped crawling and started walking full-time. You love walking everywhere. You spend most of the day walking from the kitchen to the living room to the bathroom to the den to my bedroom, over and over again. 

This month you went on your first plane flight for your first visit to Hawaii after celebrating your first Halloween. It was a month of firsts! You loved Hawaii and you loved Halloween. The plane, eh, not so much love for that. 

You are still sleeping in our room but not 100% because we want you there but instead because your sister is a hellion and keeps waking you up whenever we try to have you sleep in your crib in the room you share with your sister. 

You were the cutest little crab at Halloween! The perfect sidekick to your sister who was a Mermaid. I'm already plotting your costume for next year. Maybe your sister will be the sidekick! 

You are eating so many more foods. You pack away more food than your sister and it is impressive! You are not into straw, sippy or any other kind of cups. You like bottles and that is that. The problem is I'm cutting you off in about a month so this month we'll be focusing hard on getting you to drink out of straw cups (or something else). 

Your first birthday is coming up QUICK and I've already started plotting the celebration. I can't believe that a year ago, you literally burst into our lives with great drama. We are so blessed to have your smiling little face in our lives. 

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Forty Seven Weeks with Chicken Nugget

I realized that Maggie is almost a year old! I remember being so sick of being pregnant at this time last year but also not quite ready to have a newborn in my house. It's been a roller coaster of a year! Maggie burst into our lives and nothing has been the same since. 

A switch has gone off in Maggie. She used to be the easy child but is now bursting with energy. She walks everywhere. There is no crawling. She wakes up with a bright smile and keeps us laughing with her giggles. 

She loves to be involved in everything and plays with Molly's play kitchen way more than Molly does. We have been potty training Molly which means Maggie has spent a ton of time in her favorite room of the house, the bathroom! She thinks eating toilet paper is awesome (ewwww!) and loves sitting on the potty next to her sister. Seriously these two crack me up. 

Forty Six Weeks with Chicken Nugget

Somehow I completely neglected to take a chair photo for Maggie this week. I think we got lost in enjoying our last full day in Maui. Maggie sure had a grand time on our trip to Hawaii! 

Maggie thrived this past week and I feel like we saw a huge change in her. She went from this sorta walking, mostly crawling baby to this full-fledged toddler who walks everywhere. She's also amped up the food intake and lowered the bottles. 

Maggie tried all sorts of new foods and found most of them to her liking. We were surprised at her love for Asian noodles. We had quite a few meals with different kinds of noodles and she dug them all. The Singapore Curried Noodles at Red Star Noodle were a HUGE hit. 

We also discovered the Maggie finds water to be awesome! She would get so excited when we would go down to the pool or beach. And just like her older sister, Maggie is also a huge sand eater! Those diapers were not pleasant. 

We took Maggie on quite a few adventures, from an underwater boat ride to a tropical plantation. I feel like Maggie really got to experience Maui. I hope this is the first of many visits for her. 

One thing that Maggie did exceptionally well this past week is sleep! Of course it was in bed with Scott and I but she slept so well. It allowed us to rest up some. 

The Wednesday Links from Around The Web 11.12.2014

All Dressed Up For Mars and Nowhere to Go This is fascinating. I was enthralled reading about people who are willing to give up everything to go on what is most probably a deadly mission to Mars.

J.K. Rowling wrote another Harry Potter story - The story of Dolores Jane Umbridge

Self Care, in Theory and Practice I used to be so good at this but lately I'm struggling hard.

Finding Joy in the Process I can learn a lot from this post. Sometimes the process, the journey provides the most joy.

Maintaining a Long-Term Blog This was an eye-opening post and really made me think. What keeps you going on a long-term project?

Forty Five Weeks with Chicken Nugget

This week's update comes from Hawaii! We had a busy, busy, busy week with Halloween, Co-op Pumpkin Night all while I was attempting to pack for our vacation to Hawaii. Honestly, we all need this week of relaxation.

You did ok on your very first plane ride! You didn't sleep nearly as much as you needed to especially since you were up half the night before and I had to wake you early for the plane ride. You wanted to walk up and down the aisles while staring at people. You weren't happy being confined to a lap but did way better than your sister who threw such a fit that she puked. Let's try not to repeat that plane ride on the way home.

For Halloween, I dressed you up as a Crab to complement your sister's Mermaid costume. It was adorable! We hit up Daddy's work for some Trick or Treating fun. Then we came home and had pizza while I ran around packing up the final bits for our trip. 

You had a blast at Pumpkin Night at your sister's co-op! I think you are already getting excited about going to school there next Fall. You especially loved riding on the rocking horses. 

We also had family portraits done by my friend, Kelsey of Sweet Peeks Photography. You were so good and we got some really cute shots! I'm so excited to show them off!

Photo credit: Sweet Peeks Photography 

www.sweetpeeksphotography.com

Photo credit: Sweet Peeks Photography 

www.sweetpeeksphotography.com

Forty Four Weeks with Chicken Nugget

You are walking and it is adorable! I love watching you toddle around the house. You have become even more of a squirtly kid which I honestly did not know was possible. You are in perpetual motion!

We celebrated your Aunt's birthday this week and you had a great time at their house as long as the dogs didn't come near you. For some reason, the dogs scared you. Your poor little lip went out as far as possible when they came near you. 

As Winter approaches, we've been spending more time indoors. I expect we'll be hitting up the Tot Gyms a lot so you and your sister can wiggle out some of that excess energy. 

Pumpkin Delights!

After visiting the pumpkin patch, we came home with a ton of pumpkins! I can't resist gourd season. I however dislike carving pumpkins because of the mess. I have enough mess in my life with two little ones running around the house. BUT I still wanted to decorate pumpkins with Molly. This is her first year really getting into Halloween and I love celebrating it. Maggie still has a few years before she'll understand all the fun.

While Maggie napped one afternoon, Molly the Mermaid and I got to work on decorating our pumpkins. I found some awesome Martha Stewart Transfers at the local craft store and pulled out my Kitty Pumpkin Kit that I bought a few years ago at Pottery Barn Kids.

We decorated the pumpkins for about 15 minutes before Molly decided she was all done. I finished them up and had a blast sticking on the bugs and spiders. One of the perks of decorating pumpkins this way is that they last longer and I don't have to worry about rotten pumpkins.

Nine and Ten Months with Mag-Pie

Maggie,

I'm combining your 9 month letter with your 10 month letter because well these past two months just flew past us. The biggest news is that you are walking! You took your first official steps just two days before your 10 month birthday. You've been tentatively taking a few careful steps and then a few fast ones when you forget that you are walking. It's adorable.

You've also moved into your new convertible carseat and while you weren't sure at first, you've started to love it. I love the cute pink giraffe pattern! I had a laugh with your dad after I installed your seat. You see with your sister, I called the Car Seat Lady out and had her install the seat. I learned a lot from her but I now have the confidence and know-how to install your car seat (a Britax Marathon like your sister's!). She is a great resource and I did learn a lot of tricks from her. 

You had your first trip to the Pumpkin Patch and it was a blast! We had corn dogs, apple cider donuts and picked some great pumpkins. You wore the pumpkin suit that has visited the pumpkin patch and were the cutest little pumpkin. 

You also visited Mt. Rainier when my friends visited from England. You were a travel champ and it was a fun trip. I'm looking forward to going back and doing some hikes next year. I'm hoping you'll be up for them by then or at least riding in the hiking backpack. You had a great time with my friends from England and we were all so sad when they headed back across the pond. Next time we see them, hopefully it will be on their turf. 

You love food and have decided that you want to eat all the same food that I do, teeth be damned! I mean you only have two little bottom teeth (though I've spotted your two front teeth trying to come in!) but you eat whole apples and pears like it is nothing. You must have jaws of steel! 

You were a great companion when we moved Grandma from her house to her new apartment. You've enjoyed visiting her in her new home and especially love the attention you get from the other residents. 

You started going to daycare on Thursdays when I work in your sister's co-op classroom and you are doing so well there. Your daycare teacher always has such wonderful things to say about you and I think she secretly wishes that you were there more than three hours a week. I like that you have three hours of your own time a week. You didn't nap there on our first day and then took an epic four hour nap but you've now adjusted and usually take a short nap at daycare. 

You've also started pointing and I must say that the pointing stage is one of my FAVORITE stages. This next month is going to be full of so much fun! We have a trip coming up, you'll start walking more and pointing! I really hope the pointing ramps up. I love you little Mag-Pie. You are still the happiest little baby I've every met and bring joy everywhere you go.