Temper Tantrums Already?!?

We went in to see the dentist today. We didn't learn all that much, but he seems to be knowlegdable. It's another one of those "wait and see" situations. It is hard living in the world of the unknown, but I guess we all live in that place to some extent. Molly has gotten some good naps in today and is HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY as a result :). Hopefully this good mood will come with us to the hospital tomorrow.

She has started to have an opinion of what should be happening (or not happening). If I put her in her high chair and she doesn't want to be there, she lets me know! We have entered a new phase. She has started arching her back and throwing herself backwards or rocking side to side when she is unhappy with something. It is terrifying and exhausting. I hope that this is a short-lived phase. She learned the sign for fan while we were in MA and seems to be working on more now that we're home. I think she showed the sign for drink during lunch today and is eager to communicate every time she sees the dog. I think there is a lot more going on "upstairs" than she is able to communicate at this time. I can't wait until we either get more signs into the mix, or she starts talking!

If all goes well, we will be at the hospital tomorrow for her infusion (I think this is #7). We will be spreading out the infusions to 8 weeks after this, which should be a nice break for all of us.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I can't believe it's going to be December tomorrow. Molly is almost 1 - YIKES!

Home Sweet Home!!

Whew! We have been gone for 10 days and it feels great to be home. Molly was so tired and got a bit cranky on the trip home, but who can blame her! She's upstairs sleeping and hopefully enjoying being back in her crib.

Jim is on his way home with Howie, our pug, and I can't wait to see him!

We had such a great trip. Molly became even more social, if that is possible, on this trip. It has made me realize that I need to create more opportunities for her to be in a social environment with other kids.

I am so glad we made the trip up to New England. We had some nice down time, family time, time with friends and Jim and I went out for dinner one night as well.

We had scheduled Molly's infusion for Wednesday, but after talking with her doctor decided to put it off until Friday. I am so glad we don't have to ship off tomorrow for another night away from home. We have an appointment with a Metabolic Dentist on Thursday to look at Molly's teeth and give us some advice for how to care for brittle teeth. Hopefully we will get more good news than bad. I always dread looking into something new like this, sometimes I find out more than I want. Hopefully we will like the dentist and feel confident with his advice.

I am looking forward to a good night's sleep back in our own bed!

Thanks to everyone who hosted us on our trip. It was nice to see everyone and to spend some time in New England.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

We are having a nice visit here in MA with the family. There were 16 of us for dinner tonight and everything was delicious!! Molly had some butternut squash to celebrate the big day - next year she be able to enjoy it all!

It has been hard to be out of our comfort zone with her. There are so many things to think about when we are in a new place with her. She has loved visiting so many new places and has been very responsive to all of the new stimulus.

It's 10:30 here and it is time to head up to bed. I hope you all had a great holiday. I know Molly had a good first Thanksgiving :).

The Grand Tour

We're here in New England and trying to make the most of our trip - maybe a bit too much!

We flew in on Saturday to Boston and my Mom came and picked us up. Molly was a perfect traveler and we arrived in Maine with very little fussing :). She is quite the little champ! We tried out my parents hot tub with Molly (they dropped it to 96 degrees) and she loved it. She put some pressure on her feet in there for the first time anywhere. A big, but very scary, step!

We drove down to my old co-workers on Sunday and met up with Jim's old co-workers for dinner. Molly was a trooper until her bedtime (6 pm) rolled around and we had to pack up and put her down for the night. I had the chance to get together with teachers from my old school for lunch on Monday. It was so nice to be back in Chelmsford. Jim and I drove by our old house - it hasn't changed much. It was half the size of our house now, but we miss it in many ways :).

In some ways it feels like we haven't been away at all and in others we have forgotten a lot. We do love New England. There is a lot that we miss about the area, but there is also a lot that we would miss about North Carolina if we moved as well.

We are now at our cousins and settled in for a couple of days. Molly has done extremely well with all of our location changes and has stayed on her sleep schedule more or less. She is waving at everyone we meet and charming them with her happy and fun personality.

We are really looking forward to the rest of the family arriving and for the big feast. Hooray for pumpkin pie!!

I am glad to have such good stuff to report. We had a busy week last week and are enjoying our vacation thus far.

Videos Galore....

We have had a wonderful weekend with our little cutie. Jim was "Super Dad" and gave me a lot of time out of the house. I love our baby, but it is VERY nice to have a break. I love being able to go to the bathroom when I need to and eat when I'm hungry etc. These are the times when you know you have a great husband!

She is starting to copy our actions more. Yesterday's trick was the tongue. She would stick hers out and move it side to side and wanted us to do the same. She then would stick it out on command - adorable. But, today is a new day and she is no longer doing her tongue tricks - that is SO yesterday Mom...

One of her new favorite activities is to "dance". We hold her facing out and move side to side and she kicks like CRAZY. She has the biggest grin on her face every time - it's adorable!

We had our first water therapy appointment on Friday and had a wonderful time. The pool was 94 degrees and she loved it. We were in there for a full hour and she was happy as can be. It was so nice to get suggestions and to have someone in the pool to do activities with. I am already looking forward to our next visit :)

Guess that's all for now. We will be busy all this week getting ready for our big trip North.

Video #1 - Dee Dee Dee CLICK HERE

Video #2 - Molly Playing with her tray CLICK HERE

Video #3 - Molly Learns to Nod CLICK HERE

Ah-choo!

Sorry I haven't been as active with my posts, but my brother gives me a hard time when I post without new pictures. It is often hard to find time to take pictures and even harder to find time to get them off the camera.

I was feeding Molly dinner tonight, she opened her mouth for the next bite (or so I thought) and just as I brought the spoon of food to her mouth she sneezed and sent food all over me. A nice "dusting" of zucchini, pears, and rice cereal covered most of my front. Too funny.

We went in to see the orthopedist today for a check up and had a great visit. We took X-Rays of her spine and legs and he was happy with what he saw. There is still quite a bit of bowing in her legs, especially her right femur and both tibias, but he thought that some of that might get better as she grows. I always like to hear good news! We also got the go-ahead to start putting her in a more upright position. Yahoo!! The first step towards sitting :).

Lately, my days have been filled with an overwhelmingly long list of "To Do" items, so the visit today was a nice surprise. I had been fretting about today's appointment and what it might reveal, so I'm glad it's over and that the news was good.

We are heading to New England for Thanksgiving this year. I'm getting really excited - we leave on Saturday.

Molly Through The "Years" Photo Collection

Molly is upstairs "sleeping" right now and all I can hear is the sound of her kicking so hard the springs are making noise. She is a character! Molly is a great sleeper at night, but naps have been virtually non-existant these days (30 minutes tops). Oh well, at least she isn't up at night.

Jim's Mom was in town this weekend and got a lot of quality Molly time. Molly has been babbling away and is now making a two sylable sound that sounds like "I do", but I'm not sure what she thinks she is saying.

Jim has created a website with folders for 3 month periods. Enjoy!

She has mastered feeding herself Cheerios and we are going to try giving her a spoon soon - we will of course take pictures...

Splish Splash

Molly and I went to the pool again today and she had a ball. She learned how to splash with her arms and couldn't get enough. There was water all over her face, but she was happy, happy, happy.

I'm so glad it has been working out so well there.

She is continuing to babble up a storm, but so far none of it has meant anything to us yet. Hopefully that breakthrough will happen soon.

She is getting more and more consistent with her waving. She waved to the mother and daughter who were swimming at the pool today. I'm sure in another week or so I won't be able to stop her from waving to everyone!!

I took some pictures and video yesterday, but haven't had the chance to get them on to my computer yet - we'll get them up soon!