Mike turns 30

This post is a little late, but Mike turned 30 on January 10th and I just wanted to say that I am so grateful to be his wife. He is the greatest Daddy and I love to watch Molly light up when he enters a room.
He didn't have the most fun birthday ever because both he and Molly were sick and he had hurt his back, but we managed to get a little rock band in with the Gilberts. I have a pretty great video, but I am afraid of Carrie! Anyway, Happy Birthday Mikey, I love you tons!

He got a Wii for his birthday and he has done a good job of not letting it get in the way of quality time with Molly.

Baseball

"I can't look, did we win?"

Happy Half Birthday!

Can you believe this girl is 6 months old already!?! It seems like she is growing up so fast, but at the same time I can't remember what life was like without her. She is a very happy baby and her giggle is the best sound in the world (I realize I may be a little impartial).

Here are some Molly facts at 6 months:

Weight: 17.5 pounds

Eating: 6 oz. bottles every 3-4 hours. Absolutely REFUSES any type of cereal (rice, oatmeal, etc). Likes green beans, peas, and carrots but is very finicky about eating and some days will clamp her little mouth shut for anything but the bottle. We are going to work on introduing fruit during the next few weeks.

Likes: Harvey! She loves watching him and when we go anywhere away from home she will lean down and look around the floor for him. Daddy! Molly loves Daddy a lot and he can always get a smile out of her. When she is tired or cranky she prefers Mommy, but for entertainment purposes it's all Daddy. Baths. We are still using the baby bathtub in the sink, but she will outgrow that soon and I'm sure will love transitioning to the big tub.

Dislikes: Getting strapped into anything, particularly the car seat. She is fine once we get going, but the strapping in is torture. Her high chair. I think this is because of the whole strapping in thing, but we have only had success feeding her if we are holding her. Little turkey! Getting dressed. Our little girl prefers to be naked and wrangling her into clothes can sometimes be an adventure.

Activity: Molly is rolling from back to tummy easily, but hasn't quite figured out how to go from tummy to back. She is sitting up pretty well on her own, but can tip over when she chews on her feet (yes, she's very intelligent). She isn't crawling yet, when she lays on her tummy she looks like she's swimming with her arms and legs moving, but she hasn't learned to lift that little midsection yet.

Health: She still takes Prilosec twice a day for her reflux. We thought about trying to ween her off because our doctor said that they sometimes will outgrow reflux, but after 2 days without the medicine it became apparent she definitely hasn't outgrown it yet. Molly has had several colds this winter and 5 ear infections. If she gets one more we go to see the ENT to see about tubes. She is finally getting over the cold that started the week before Christmas and we are hopeful that she will stay healthy!

Sorry this is kind of lengthy, but I want to be sure I remember all this stuff! All in all, she is the greatest gift we could ask for and we are proud to be her Mommy and Daddy.

Daddy kisses always make me giggle!

I love my exer-saucer!

Go Hawkeyes!

Daddy is really excited to be to watch the Orange Bowl with this little Hawkeye!

New Years' with the Wells

We headed to Wichita for New Year's weekend to spend time with my family. It was fun to celebrate Christmas again, Molly has more presents than we have room for! We had lots of fun with the whole family, ate way too much and watched lots of football. The trip also included a visit to the ER for a very yucky cough and pneumonia like chest congestion, but Molly was a trooper and smiled through most of the visit. She's doing much better now after 3 different prescriptions. I didn't take very many pictures while we were there, but here are a few.

Molly and Cousin Oliver. These two are two months and one day apart. They will have so much fun together as they get older.

That happiest Grandparents around!

Great Grandma Duck and Molly

Molly's First Christmas

We traveled to Grandview for Molly's first Christmas. She got to spend lots of time with the McGill's/Rowe's, play with cousins, open way too many presents and see a VERY white Christmas. Here are some pictures.

Christmas Jammies

Just taking in all the activity and Grandma and Grandpa Rowe's Christmas Eve Extravaganza

Look at my cute Christmas outfit!

I'm pretty good at the present opening business, although I prefer chewing on the paper as opposed to playing with the present!

Daddy used Uncle Denny's Bears' coat as a changing pad. Go Packers!

Looking at the cool toys Santa put in my stocking.

Ooh, I needed a suitcase for all of my travels. Thanks Grandma!

Grandpa Mac and I playing with one of my presents.

Grandma and Grandpa Great

Grandma Nancy reading me one of my new books.

Stephanie let Harvey borrow her new Snuggie and set him up with a pillow by the fireplace. He was loving it and spent lots of time there.

Cousins Lauren and Stephanie. Molly loves watching the big girls and can't wait until she is big enough to chase after them.