Tuesday, March 31, 2009

buttons, buckles, and zippers... oh my!

Molly's first major obsession has been with buttons. Remotes are her favorite, but she's not picky. She'll turn on and off a wall light switch as long as you let her. She also LOVES to turn off any unattended laptop. Molly quickly figured out if you hold down the power button the screen will eventually go dark... aka hard shut down. So yeah, if you are over at our house make sure you save before getting up and always shut your laptop. Sleep mode is better than rebooting.

Another great story is the time she reprogrammed the outgoing message on my parent's answering machine from their cordless. They didn't even realize they could do this from the cordless. They thought it had to be done at the base where the answering machine is located. My dad called home one day and he thought some little kid answered the phone. Nope, that was just Molly making noise as she hacked the system. Hilarious? Yes. Indication we're in for much worse down the road? Oh hell yeah.

My iPhone is another favorite of hers. Molly bug has already figured out how to unlock the phone (for those not familiar, this entails sliding a button across the screen with your finger). No problem, I'll just put a password on it. OK, slight problem. Didn't quite realize there was an "Emergency Call" button on the keypad that pops up for your password. So far she hasn't successfully made any outgoing calls, but it's just a matter of time. She has also entered in enough wrong passwords to lock me out of my phone for 2 minutes. Hey, I'm not giving her my iPhone to play with, but she has a knack for finding it when I'm not looking.

Buckles. This is the latest obsession. If you check the gallery below you'll see she's all about the buckles on her booster seat. Which is usually a good thing because she'll strap herself in and normally doesn't undo them. Not that she's not capable of it as I've turned to wash food from her tray and I hear a quick click, click and she's free. She's more into fastening them than unfastening them. I pulled down her Deuter carrier as it's full of buckles and let her go to town. It's a little ridiculous how long this can occupy her time. You do have to sit there so you can unfasten everything quickly when she's done, but it can go on for the better part of an hour which is nice. The obsession doesn't end there... N has discovered she likes to fasten the buckle between the straps of his backpack which makes throwing it over his shoulder a little difficult. He now has to check before heading out in the mornings. If he does put his backpack on and she's around she wants to fasten this buckle when it's on him. She also loves the chin strap for his bike helmet.

Speaking of backpacks, Molly has discovered the joy of zippers. If we're not careful she'll completely unload the contents of a backpack or really any bag left laying around. She also likes to unzip the side insulated pocket on her diaper bag in the hopes that she'll find a bottle waiting for her. And you can forget keeping a jacket or sweater zipped up. She's way too fast for that.

Molly is also great about climbing into her carseat all by herself. Which is great because I can just open the door and put her down on the seat and she can climb in while I unload everything else I'm carrying. That is if she doesn't get distracted and snap all the buckles into place first. She hasn't quite mastered the seat belt buckle, but she's all about snapping the one across her chest. I was a little worried she was going to pinch herself since it's a pretty hard snap, but so far so good. She's been doing this for the last few weeks and no injuries yet. The smart little cookie has figured out to push the ends together with her palms rather than leaving her fingers in harm's way.

Recent pics

Uploaded recent pics to smug mug. The date rang is the 8th to the 24th of March. They include pics from Tahoe:



Along with some from St. Paddy's Day:



And plenty of random mischievousness:



And general adorableness:





Click on any of the above pics to see more. Newest are on the first page and the latest uploaded go back to page three.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Garage Project

N made a gallery of some of the pics we've taken for our garage project. Our end goal is to have a new garage, no shed, and a nice landscaped backyard. First problem is our power goes through our current garage to the house. We needed to dig a trench so we can move the power underground (oh yeah, we paid someone else to do this). N spray painted the section that would need to be removed for the trench:



Here's the end of day one:



A week later and the trench has been completed:



Click on any of the above pics for more.

ugh

That pretty much sums up how I feel.

Ugh.

Molly bug is doing great. I think they accidentally put crack in her meds because little one has been fired up! She's a total monkey. Has already figured out that moving chairs around gives her access to table tops and counter tops. We're so screwed! Not to mention the fact that she is already playing us against each other. Whenever I make her do something she doesn't want to do (like go to bed) it's "Dah-dee!" Then if N tries she's reaching and begging for me. The little stinker. At least she's feeling better. It doesn't help that all I want to do is put my head down when she can't stay still for two seconds, but I'd rather her feel better than not so I'll deal. She does still look like she went ten rounds in the ring, but that's more from the meds than anything else. They gave us a salve to put in our eyes for the pink eye rather than drops. Which is great news for me since I SUCK at putting eye drops in. When Molly scratched my eye I had the worst time getting those darn drops in. At least with the ointment I can make sure most of it gets in. It's sad when your one and a half year old can take her meds with less fan fare than you.

Molly's not so much a fan of the antibiotics they have her on for her ear ache or the cough syrup for her congestion, but we're getting *most* of them down. Still, she's been a trooper with everything she's had to deal with and it looks like her fever is gone so that's some good news.

As for me, I am feeling a bit better than I did this morning. N was kind enough to be on Molly duty last night when she kept waking up every 45 minutes or so until midnight. I think I was in bed by 9:30. N came to bed just after midnight when he put Molly down... again. Luckily she slept until about 6 when she woke up again very upset. It took me about a half an hour to get her back down. She just wanted to be held. A clear sign she's not feeling well. However, this time she did not want to be rocked in her chair so we did laps around the house. Little one is not so little anymore so my arms were killing me, but she finally did fall back to sleep and slept in until 9:30. Even though I was in bed for the better part of 12 hours I woke up every 45 minutes or so. I've been feeling achy all over and my joints hurt which made finding a comfortable position to sleep in next to impossible. I was pretty much a zombie this morning and for the better part of the day. N was able to get home early so I laid down for about an hour (after some drugs) and felt better this evening. Still, nowhere near 100%, but I'm hoping I'm on the road to recovery.

*fingers crossed* Here's to hoping Molly (and I) get a good night's sleep tonight.

Of course as I type that I can hear her starting to make noise.

*sigh*

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Ear infection to boot.

Headed down to O'Connor this morning since Molly woke up at 5 am with her right eye sealed mostly shut thanks to a lovely case of pink eye (which she also gave to me along with her head cold) and we're also told she has an ear infection. Waiting on the R/X's and then heading home.

Friday, March 27, 2009

*sigh*

Yet another gorgeous day at the park. What to do... What to do indeed.

Molly is enjoying a late lunch while watching some guys shoot hoops at the Campbell Park.

Little Einsteins

In the mornings I tend to turn the tv on as it's usually still dark out when Molly gets up. It's nice to have something on and I put the volume on low in hopes of drowning out some of the noise bug makes while N is still sleeping. Anyway, Little Einsteins just came on and they do this thing where they have the kids (audience) clap their hands to get their rocket to fly. I didn't think Molly was even paying attention, but she stopped what she was doing and started to flap her arms. As soon as rocket was in the air she went back to playing with her toys. She helped... so cute!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Cherry blossom trees

Are in full bloom. Molly and I are taking the dogs for a walk around the Rose Garden (it's Sadie's turn). The trees are in full bloom and the slight breeze is causing some petals to fall to the ground.

This is the white stuff that Molly likes.

It's a Molly size dog!

So cute!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

AroundMe

Gotta love the iPhone app that let's you find the closest park when out running errands. Enjoying another gorgeous day at Sylvan Park in Mt. View.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Mmm... Banana!

Enjoying some banana after some free play time at My Gym.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

teething

Last night was better than the night before, but Molly still woke up twice. It was hard to get her down, which is definitely not the norm. I had given her some tylenol a little bit before bed time in the hopes that it would help her sleep through the night. She stopped making noise a little after 8:00 pm, but woke up around 9:30 screaming up a storm. She was inconsolable. She did not want to be held, but she did not want to be put down. She was crawling out of her skin and started to get that hyperventilated scream because she was going at full force for a good solid 15 minutes. N was out walking the dogs when she first woke up and when he got back I sent him to the store for some Motrin. Bree had mentioned over the weekend that they had better luck with Motrin than Tylenol when it came to teething and I was willing to try anything after watching my daughter hysterically scream for 15 minutes straight. I moved us out to the couch and turned on the tv while N was gone in hopes of distracting Molly a bit. It worked and she calmed down enough to take a dose when N got home. She finally fell asleep on me and N moved her to her own bed around 10:30.

Molly woke up again at 4:30 screaming. It wasn't as bad as the previous screaming match, but she was definitely in some pain. Changed her diaper and got another dose in her, but she definitely was not ready to go back down. We once again headed back to the couch for some tv distraction. I thought she had fallen asleep, but she clung to me the second I shifted to get up so we had to chill out a little longer. Finally got her back to bed around 5:30 am. Luckily, she slept in until 9:00 this morning so we both got some much needed sleep. She is doing better today, but her teeth are definitely bothering her as she's trying to gnaw on anything she can. Well, we got lucky with the first 10 so I'm not too surprised she's having issues, but I sure hope it passes soon. I hate to see her in any pain.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Tooth #11

Last night Molly's top right molar came in. It has been threatening to break through for a while now and it finally did last night... with a vengeance! We drove back from Tahoe yesterday making a detour by N's dad's place. Usually we leave right around Molly's bed time so she can sleep for the drive, but this didn't work out yesterday. She had just fallen asleep when we got to Grant's place around 4:00 pm and was getting cranky by 6 so we decided to get back on the road in the hopes that she would fall asleep again. She didn't. Around 7:00 she was done with being in the car and let us know it. Her annoyed chatter turned into uncomfortable whines so we pulled over around 7:30 and discovered a poopy diaper. She was fine with being changed, but was NOT happy about going back in the car seat (we had pulled over at an exit with a gravel area rest spot and NOTHING else). Molly let us know she was not happy about being in the car for the next 30 minutes. Yup, she pretty much screamed for 30 minutes straight. She finally calmed down and started playing with her laptop toy and then a little after 8:00 she passed out. We got home around 9:00 and hoped she would sleep through the transfer to bed.

Nope.

Not even close.

Molly was up until about 10:00 pm when she finally stopped making noise. This was after a bottle and a few escape attempts. At one point I was trying to rock with her to calm her down and she asked for her buh-bee (bottle). As soon as I handed it to her she scooted off me and the chair with the bottle in one hand and bolted for her door and down the hall. She stopped in front of the office yelling for daddy. She has already figured out that I'm bad cop and runs to daddy for rescue whenever I'm making her do something she doesn't want to do. So N went back with her to her room and hung out with her until she was ready to drink her bottle and go to bed.

Or so we thought.

11:30 - Molly wakes up screaming. N is still up so he stays with her until midnight when she finally passes out again.

12:30 - Molly wakes up screaming. I head back to her room and eventually she asks for another buh-bee. She downs it in record time and falls asleep on me. I put her back down around 1:00 am

2 something,

3 something,

*and* 4 something - Molly wakes up screaming. We rock in her chair. She falls asleep on me and I put her back down. At the 4 something time I change her diaper and sneak some tylenol in her.

7:00 - Molly wakes up screaming. N gets up and takes care of her diaper change and feeds her breakfast so I can sneak in another 30 or so minutes of sleep and then a shower.

Molly was actually in a great mood once she was up for the day and running around. So we headed to My Gym as her first class was at 9:15 this morning. She was a little tired, but all over the place in class. She explored the place a lot more this time and tried pretty much everything they had out. She was not interested in sitting in my lap during the welcome song and kept walking to the middle of the circle so she could watch everyone. She was much more willing to sit in my lap during the goodbye song as she was pretty tired at this point. I gave her a bottle in her car seat before we left and she fell asleep as we ran a few errands. Totally slept through the transition to bed once we got home (I don't even think she opened her eyes when I took her out of the car seat) and I'm hoping she has a nice long nap to help make up for last night.

Sparks, NV

On Sunday N, Molly, and I drove to Sparks, NV to visit our friend Brandy (that lives there) and meet up with our two friends Angela and Chris (that were up for the weekend from San Diego). Brandy had a few friends over for a bbq and kids were running all over the place. She has a great house up in the hills that has an excellent view of the Sierras... so jealous of her 5 bedroom abode. They even have a dedicated kid play room for all the toys to stay in one place! N took plenty of pictures so I'll post a link as soon as they are up. I told him to take plenty of pics of her art so I'm hoping those turn out. Brandy has some great retro style pieces that I just love.

Molly had a great time running around and laughing at Max (Brandy's 4 year old pointer) and then climbing up their stairs... again and again and again. That definitely tuckered her out and once she started rubbing her eyes we knew it was time to take off. We hit some rain on the drive home and my wipers were making a terrible racket (replaced them yesterday). I could tell it was annoying Molly as she kept stirring, but not enough to wake up her (thank goodness!). It was great to catch up with old friends and expose Molly to some older kids.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

lovely weekend in Tahoe

We drove up Thursday night and have been spending a lovely weekend in Tahoe with Bree, Jon, and Logan (and Odin, Lola, and Sanka). So, that's 4 adults, 4 dogs, 2 kids, and 1 cat in the cabin... always a full house. Molly has been entertaining herself quite a bit with her booster seat. She either stands in front of it and snaps the buckles shut or does this while sitting in her chair. We're literally talking for an hour straight. It's been nice! She is also a freakin' monkey these days climbing up on everything. So glad I signed her up for My Gym (thanks Katrine!). Classes start up on Tuesday and they have two Free Play sessions during the week that all enrolled students can attend. When we stopped by on Thursday to sign up we arrived just in time for one and Molly had a blast. As soon as she sat down in the plastic ball bin she let out a low chuckle and started to giggle. Definitely the right time for another class.

Yesterday Bree, Jon, Logan, and I took the dogs (minus Snickers) on a quick hike. Then I came back and gave Snickers a nice long walk around the streets. Ran into a neighbor with their 18 month old daughter (who was very excited to see Snickers) that lives just around the corner. They also have a three year old girl. Nice to know there are some kids in the area. Then last night we headed out to sushi for an early birthday dinner for Bree. Kids started to get a little antsy, but we were all able to get most of our food down before we had to start handing the kids back n' forth while we finished up and paid the bill.

Molly is still not a fan of the snow. She's just fine standing on the side porch looking at the snow or being held in your arms above the snow, but put her in contact with the dreaded white stuff and it's waterworks city! However, she did do something rather cute. She was standing by the side door where we have a mounted boot brush and then started to mimic us by putting her little boot up to brush the bottom. Honey, you only have to do that when you actually stand in snow and get some on your boots!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Molly's slide

Uncle Colin gave us their old slide and Molly mastered the ladder Sunday. She must have gone down the thing about 20 times.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Miss March.



... thats a new gallery format I'm toying with.

Here's the old format:
http://www.stonekitty.net/pix/molly-3-7-8-2009/

Sunday, March 8, 2009

play date with Robert

Miss Molly woke up this morning at 6:00 am (but it sure did feel like the 5:00 am it was before the time change), but somehow managed to stay awake for her play date with Robert and then lunch afterwards. Sure, she sprawled out on the sidewalk at one point and almost nodded off in the swing, but she was a champ. I've been trying to get her nap to start later in the day so there's not a long stretch until bed time. She finally fell asleep in the car on the way home from lunch just before 1:00 pm and did not even blink during the transfer to her bed when we got home. Hopefully this will reset her for the rest of the week. *fingers crossed*

It was a little chilly when we walked over to the park by the Jodoins, but the sun came out shortly after we arrived. Molly is still not a fan of the sand. At one point I looked over and she was standing in it, but Jenn quickly informed me it was not her choice as she fell off the spongy stuff she was walking on. Sure enough she raises her sand covered hands wanting me to brush them off immediately (I am trying to teach her to do it herself) and gets pretty upset when I stop to take a picture. Oh well, she still had fun.



Click on the pic above for more.

daddy's new toy

N got a new camera yesterday (it's fancy, you'll have to ask him for specifics). We headed to the park and took some shots... doesn't Molly look impressed?



My mom then came over to watch Molly while we headed out to dinner for our friend Jeff's b.day.



After dinner N headed home to relieve my mom as she had an early morning and I tagged along with everyone else to see Watchmen (N saw it on Friday when Google took everyone). Great movie!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Molly's new favorite game...

First she likes to hide (note the fingers):



And then she likes to come out with a flourish:



This one just makes me smile:

bocce ball

Last Saturday we got some sitters and headed down to Campo di Bocce to help celebrate Jenn's b.day.

Updated gallery

I just noticed I missed a bunch of Tahoe pics so I updated the last gallery. The links below still work, but there are now more pics once you get to the gallery.

gentle

I've been trying to teach Molly gentle when dealing with the furry kids. Last week (or the week before) she approached Sadie on the futon and before she got too close I told her gentle and then said to give Sadie some love. Well she did. Molly grabbed Sadie by the head and gave her a big ol' hug. It was adorable. The hilarious part came next when she approached Michael. Same hug, but with Michael it was more of a full body hug. There's Molly basically sprawled on top of Michael hugging away. Then there's Michael... slowly, but surely trying to crawl out from the pin down that Molly has him in. I really wish I had a picture.

So gentle has turned into hugs. Great for dogs. Not so much for cats.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Molly's spaceship



aka N's cardio...

N has turned our cooler into a little spaceship for Molly... sound effects and everything.

Tahoe pics and the park...

Some of the remaining pics from our week in Tahoe:



and our trip to the park on Friday:



Click on either pic for more...