Harry's Hungry

Molly ate cat food (the dry kind, thank goodness) today. I guess putting her down in the kitchen while I run out and get groceries isn't really an option any more.

Buddies

We took a trip up to visit Sam and Jonah (and Beth and Jake) today. Samuel was a perfect host and was as excited to see Molly as she was to see him. Jake was also excited because we got to talk about his new tree house. I wanted to get more pictures of the little ones but three babies ends up taking up a lot of energy and I didn't get the camera out for other photo ops. I'll try for a picture of Jonah next time.

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite things about Sam:
1. He wears his red slippers all year. Middle of July? No problem, red slippers it is.
2. He has a baby doll named Molly.
3. He was pretending that he was "Steve" and Beth was "Joanna". I guess these are their local farmers and Samuel became Steve when he was riding on his tractor or hiding in the living room after lunch. Beth does make a pretty good looking Joanna as well.

I'm attempting not to get too far ahead of myself and am trying to enjoy each stage that Molly goes through but I absolutely love toddlers and all their funny and cute habits. Right now, I'll settle for renting other people's toddlers and being fully entertained when I'm visiting. Molly's uncle Greg is getting married this weekend so Molly will see her Gerbi cousins. I'm expecting some entertainment out of those two!

Food for Thought

Spoiler Alert: Nasty food pictures below.

Just to keep those who wish to see food on the faces of babes happy, here are some more pictures of Molly enjoying her meals. She's still a happy eater who has come to enjoy every morsel in front of her (she had adamantly rejected cottage cheese until the other day when she gobbled it up, effectively eliminating her do not serve list). It's often a messy experience but usually entertaining. The word enthusiastic likely isn't strong enough to describe her zeal to ingest and I'm waiting for some Ghostbuster or Poltergeist (or John's favorite -- Teen Wolf) moment when she transforms into something scary and demands more food because I'm not providing it fast enough.

This was a hummus day and I'm pretty sure she was hoping I wouldn't notice some stray spots left behind so she could eat them later.

Rice cakes are a staple and someday maybe she can dip the rice cake into the hummus rather than wearing the hummus and then gnawing on the rice cake.

Much to her Dad's chagrin, beets also rank high on Molly's favorite food index. Now, we've made them into a finger food so she accessorizes with them now too.

A girl after her mom's heart (see, there IS some of me in her), Molly happily munches on cheese while only wearing her underwear. The cheese part is me, not the the eating in the underwear part. Although...

Observer of the Storm

Sometimes the best thing to do when it rains is...

just sit and watch the rain.



Other times, it's apparently good to explore what's under the table.

Cape-d Crusader

Finally... My computer has been a little under the weather so I apologize for the lack of updates. While John enjoyed a weekend on Block Island (dubbed Father's Improvement Weekend this year but it managed to involve the same cast of characters who have shown up to Guy's Weekend in years past. Suspicious...), Molly and I went to the Cape and visited with Hannah and her family and my aunt, uncle and cousins. We had a good time at the beach, got in a lot of swimming, had tasty new foods, and were presented with some of the cutest shoes I have ever seen. It was great to see everyone and we both appreciate the hospitality and extra arms. I have to especially thank my cousin Keith -- I have never seen a 20 year old guy as good with babies as he is. He was the one who gave Molly her new Puma sneakers and gave a heroic effort, from what I've been told, to put her down to sleep while I enjoyed a night off. Really, though, thanks to both the Lowes and the Duds for all the good food and company!

Nothing like a good beach cover up and a chat after an afternoon of swimming and eating sand.

Does Playskool make a "my first beach chair"?

So, this one may take some explanation... My uncle and cousin had just seen Batman Returns a couple of times over the weekend and Brian wanted to get into the spirit by playing the Joker for Molly. I think it was well received... I think.

Keith took good care of Molly.

The Cape Atlantic was a lot warmer than the Maine Atlantic. Lots of swimming fun.

Funny Face

Molly and I just spent a couple of days in Maine but unfortunately I forgot my camera. I didn't get to snap a picture of her at the beach or, more importantly, eating her first weed (yes, by accident). She made this wacky sound and I looked over and she a had a huge flower in her mouth. The local garden store helped me ID it and it wasn't poisonous but it made for an adventurous morning. So, instead of fun Maine pictures, these are some from last week when she wanted to talk to and make funny faces at Harry the Very Stable Kitty.

Hike On

Molly, like most little ones I know, loves the water. She's happy in the bath, at the lake, in her backyard pool, in the ocean -- wherever the H2O is makes her happy. She got her first taste of a waterfall today when we hiked up to Bridalveil Falls in Franconia. She also got the first taste of her hiking backpack and was so happy to be up higher than the big people and to get a good look around at everything. Thanks to Uncle Eric and Auntie Mary for the pack. She and John had a lot of fun together. I need to come up with a way to use it that won't involve hair pulling from the rider (and for magic powers that make me less clumsy).

(By the way, despite what it looks like, we did not hike in the dark).

Pretty in Pink

Although nap time wasn't technically over this morning, someone (who shall remain nameless) had too much to say and do to sleep.



At least today is cooler and significantly more comfortable than the past several days. Yesterday was too hot for pants and definitely way too hot to let any obstacles stand in one's way.

We Like to Move It

Molly visited with much of her Doyle clan over the fourth of July and sends sincere thank yous to all that held (i.e. contained) and entertained her over the long weekend. She got to visit with her Aunt Holly for many days and showed her all the joys of being a six month old with an opinion.

Molly is trying to keep Holly in business by making sure a few U-Hauls roll over now and then.

Talking shop (or smack... Molly was trying to explain that the balance of power is shifting).

The -ollys.

The big reveal of the weekend -- commando crawling. Molly is still working on getting the arms and legs all moving at the same time but she can scoot pretty quickly when she wants to. This video is from Saturday and by today she had perfected her stuff even more. Yikes.

We also want to welcome some new friends. Krishan and Sonom welcomed baby girl Umaree and Katie and Davis welcomed Mr. Oliver this past week. Hopefully we'll have some pictures of the new ones soon (hint hint).

Little Miss Trouble Pants

Or in this case, Little Miss No Pants because she's hard to get into a diaper much less pants. Like many babies (apparently not Samuel, though. He is the world's best baby to change), she has decided that she is an acrobat. I hope it works out for her since I was pretty clumsy as a kid but maybe John's pretzel position practice is paying off for her.