Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween


Here's a quick snap of us going trick-or-treating tonight.

Passengers

Molly has a secret stash site for N's ear plugs. Clearly she thought her toy car needed some passengers. She's awesome!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Hickson Day Care

Yesterday we had Robert and Connor for the day. Their aunt had gone into labor and since their Nana (Auntie's mom) normally watches them on Thursday I took over so she could spend the day at the hospital welcoming her newest grandson to the world.

Connor was the first Jodoin boy to discover the princess shoes.



However, Robert was the first Jodoin boy to try them on. This should come in handy in about 10 years.



For the most part Robert and Molly played with each other while Connor did laps around the house. Robert has always been obsessed with our cats, but finally got the message that cats can fight back. So while he spent a good part of the day keeping tabs on them he knew enough to keep his distance "so Michael doesn't scratch me". Connor would also follow the cats around if they caught his eye. One more than one occasion both boys would be standing at the gate to the office trying to get the cats to come to them, without any luck.



The boys went down for their naps, but Miss Molly did NOT. Robert and Molly both went down a little before 2:00 and I *thought* Molly had gone to sleep. However, when I put Connor down a little after 3:00 I could hear her playing in her room. She never did fall asleep so I let her get up when Robert woke up just after 4:00. However, she did go down super easy last night so that's good.



It was a fun day, but after that and Muay Thai class last night I was pretty darn sleepy.



For the rest of the pics click here.

Shoes? Check! Accessories? Check!

Someone likes her Cinderella shoes.



Unfortunately the necklace didn't make it.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Follow up doc appt.

Molly had her follow up doc appointment from her three year check-up and continuing ear ache issues. The fluid has still not drained from her ears so we are to stop with the Zyrtec and a prescription for antibiotics (Amoxicillin) was written instead. The doc wants to ward off any infection that could be caused by her ears still having fluid in them. We were also given some nasal spray (Veramyst) that we are to spray TWICE in both nostrils while she is standing up. Oh, and we're to aim it out towards her ears for good measure. Yeah, THIS is going to be fun. The doc gave Molly a lollipop (or smelly pop as she likes to call them) and I told her she could have it once I did the nasal spray. Molly wasn't thrilled, but scrunched up her face in a pained expression and held still for me. When I picked up her prescription I also picked up a bag of smelly pops just in case.

ETA - The down side to all this (besides her ears causing her discomfort) is that she has to stop swim class until the antibiotics run out and we have another follow up. Poor bug. EVERY day she asks me if she can put on her Ariel bathing suit and go to swim class.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Three year stats

I realized I forgot to post these after we had her three year checkup.

Height: 38 inches 75%
Weight: 34.5 lbs 75%

Molly still has fluid in both ears from her ear ache. It has been draining, but not gone. They were able to do the hearing test on her right ear which checked out fine, but the left ear had too much fluid to get a good reading. They had us try Zyrtec to help with the drainage, but that doesn't appear to be making any difference. We go in again this Wednesday for another follow up. Hopefully we'll get the all clear. However, getting the all clear means she also gets her shots.

Molly and Daddy playing



Molly and N chasing each other at Uncle Kyle's. Her "har har har" is her dog impression.

Temperence's 1st B.day - the pictures

N is slowly but surely catching up on all his photo edits/tags/uploads. Here are some of the pictures taken at Temperence's 1st birthday party back on August 7th!











For the rest of the pictures click here.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Muay Thai

I was getting ready for Muay Thai the other day and caught Molly doing some foot jabs and one/two (jab/cross) combos. It was super cute! Two more years and then she can sign up for her own Muay Thai class.

Friday, October 22, 2010

See you in a while... Crocodile...



Last weekend we drove down to Santa Barbara to visit Uncle Kyle and Aunt Cathy. When we left the temp gauge in my car read a lovely 89 degrees. When we pulled up to Uncle Kyle's house it was 61 out and I had my wipers on the fog was so thick. So much for the forecasted high of 84 I came across when I checked the weather. Fog can always happen on the coast so I had packed layers, but not quite the sitting out by the pool weather I was expecting.

Friday night we grabbed Mexican take out as Miss Molly had been asking for a quesadilla and black beans all day. I had pre-ordered How to Train Your Dragon and it arrived before we left. Molly insisted we bring it with so we ended up watching that. Molly saw about a half an hour before it was her bed time and then we finished it up before going to bed ourselves.

On Saturday we walked over to the little park area by Kyle's house and a MILLION little kids soccer games were going on. We also stumbled across the Lemon Festival. I got a super delish lemon tart and N got some lemon ice cream from McConnell's. N also picked up some tickets so he could take Molly on all the bouncy houses/obstacle courses/slides. PLUS she also had her very first pony ride which she was super stoked about.

The INSANE bouncy obstacle course:


Bouncy slide:


This little kid had quite the ride, no? It also had it's own stereo and was pumpin' out some tunes!


We grabbed some burgers for lunch and then headed back to Kyle's so Molly could nap. Cathy was at work for the day so we played Hex Hex Next until she got home. Once Molly woke up we hit the hot tub and she even got N to go in the main pool with her. It was still heated, but chilly enough outside that I let that be *all* N. That night we ordered in Italian and played Hex Hex Next again after Molly went down. Oh yeah, livin' the high life!

When we woke up Sunday it was seriously bordering on rain the fog was so insanely thick. We walked over to Blenders and then hit the Farmer's Market where I got some yummy berries. I'm also pretty sure N tasted every single free sample he came across. N was a good daddy and picked Molly up two small pumpkins. We hit the road around 1:00 so Molly would nap most of the drive home... which she did. We were also privy to a lovely lightening storm as we headed back up the coast. You see lightening every now and then in CA, but while I was driving I clearly saw at least 10 bolts and the flash from a few more.

All weekend Molly would hand Uncle Kyle one of her toys and quiz him on their name. He was doing pretty well by the time we left.



Molly LOVES to boss Uncle Kyle around. Whether it's quizzing him on Disney Princess names or making him follow her up (and then down, and then up again) the stairs she loves to bark orders. She was also starting to say Uncle Kyle fast and it came out Crocodile a few times. Go ahead, take a minute and say them both out loud. They do sound the same, don't they? Anyway, it was super cute and I think Uncle Kyle liked his new nick name.

For the rest of the photos click here. There's not a lot as I thought N was bringing his camera and left mine at home. N didn't bring his camera as he's a couple months behind on sorting/editing/tagging/uploading.

Spider pops

Getting in the Halloween spirit with some arts n' crafts. Molly picked out this one to do. She calls them smelly pops instead of lollipops. I'm not sure where or when she picked that up, but it's cute because she will just repeat it if you try to correct her.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Molly's first pony ride

This was taken on Saturday at the Lemon Festival. Molly has been obsessed with horses for a while now, but this was her first time on an actual pony. She was super stoked!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Batman

Note Molly and Uncle Kyle have their Batman shirts on.

I'm gonna get you!

N taking Molly by surprise in one of the craziest bouncy obstacle courses I have seen.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Another heat wave...

Swim class + bouncy houses and slides at pumpkin patch = one hot and tired little girl

This time she got up the massive Octopus slide *with* her socks on and LOVED it. Although she came down it with such speed I was a little concerned she might not stop before she reached the end. She was close, but always managed to stop in time.

Miss Emily and her lovely mother Katrine also joined us. It was 90 out when we left and everyone was done (including the mommies).

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Happy 3rd Birthday!



Molly turns 3 today.

THREE!

It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in the hospital for HOURS, hooked up to a million different IV bags, and waiting for SOMETHING to work to get the little one OUT of mommy! 24 hours after we checked in a little green body finally showed up. Nope, not an alien... just a meconium covered baby that was in no hurry to get here on her own.

Actually Molly is still pretty chill and never in a hurry to get anywhere. Unless it's swim class. I constantly have to tell her "No running!" when we are walking in to swim class. Molly is quite the little fishie!

Molly still loves music and will shake her booty hard if the right song comes on. It's quite adorable. She also has most of the Disney songs memorized and you will hear her humming or singing them throughout the day.

Her current obsession is horses. This stems back to her watching the Toy Story movies last June before the third one came out in theaters. Bullseye was her favorite character by far. EVERYTHING became a horse to her. Chairs. Park benches. Your legs. When we go to Happy Hollow I have a hard time pulling her away from the wooden horse they have. She also insists on riding the white horse on the carousel. We've been lucky so far as it's always been available, but I know some day some other kid will already be on it.



Molly is also pretty damn smart when it comes to getting her way. Just the other day we were waiting in line to pay and she spies one of those little machines that sells tiny plastic bouncy balls. I see her spot it and stop dead in her tracks. She then runs over to me and gives me a big ol' hug. Proceeds to ask for hugs and kisses and tells me she loves me. The lady working the cash register thought this was the sweetest thing. I simply said, "Wait for it." After a minute of buttering me up Molly asks if she can please have a bouncy ball. *sigh*

Our current battle is potty training. She's just not interested. When I do get her on the potty she will hold it. Just last week she sat on the potty for an hour and twenty minutes and then FINALLY went a little bit. Once she was done and got her M&M and "Yay Mollys" (as she calls them) she demanded a diaper. Five minutes after that the diaper was full (not surprising seeing as she downed at least 16 ounces while sitting on the potty). She is holding it for longer and longer periods of time and I have been able to get her into underwear a few times without accident. However, she won't ask to go on the potty and when she does get on the potty she holds it. The other obstacle I don't know how to get around is 90% of her poopy diapers happen when she's sleeping. I'll keep getting her on the potty as much as I can, but I really think it's going to be a matter of her DECIDING she's ready. I hope that day comes soon because I hate to see her scream in pain when she has bad diaper rash. Not to mention I'm pretty much over the whole diaper thing and would like those to go away.



However, the upside is Molly continues to be a great sleeper (will ASK for naps when tired) and a very healthy eater. I am trying to get her to try more and more of "our" foods, but when the girl insists on eating nothing but veggie and beans it's hard to argue with that. Her one vice is she LOVES Cliff bars. I'm pretty sure she could survive days (if not weeks) on nothing but Cliff bars. I know there are mornings where she'll insist she's not hungry because she's waiting to get in the car so she can ask for the Cliff bar she knows I keep stashed in the diaper bag. Part of me would like to get her off this habit, but another part of me is totally fine with the fact that she'd rather have a Cliff bar when out than the mac n' cheese or grilled cheese we've ordered her. Molly is still not a fan of meat. She'll have a turkey dog every now and then if it's smothered with ketchup or some meat in pasta, but that's about it. Her absolute favorite thing in the world are kidney beans so I'm not too concerned with the fact that she's a little veggie.

Molly LOVES to jump. Bouncy Houses. Trampolines. Down stairs. UP stairs. Simply jumping instead of walking. She doesn't care as long as she can JUMP! We went to Pump It Up, Jr. on Saturday to celebrate her birthday. She LOVED it. Since Molly's b.day is in October I tend to make her parties Halloween themed so we dug into an awesome cupcake cake from Cosentino's that was covered in Halloween decorations. She was super excited to see the purple witch up top and kept calling it Ursula (from The Little Mermaid). I also did Halloween themed goody bags and Molly LOVED them.

Her favorite part of the day is when it gets dark enough so she can turn on the pumpkins and lights out front. She is also in love with the scary talking picture frame I have in the living room (you can see it over her shoulder in the picture below). You press the button and red lights come on in the eyes and the picture screams, "Help me" in a very creepy voice. Molly LOVES this. She will ask you to press the button and then mimics the scary voice. We also went to one of those Halloween superstores and Molly had a blast checking out all the displays. She thought the mummy screaming in box was laughing and giggled right along with it. She also said, "Cute puppy!" to the werewolf with some sort of blood soaked "meat" hanging from its mouth. The entire store made her giggle, laugh, and clap. I suppose it's a good thing she's not scared, but perhaps it *is* a little concerning that she finds the scary stuff so hilarious!



In any case, I cannot wait to take her Trick o' Treating this year. We went to a few houses last year, but this year we're really going to make a go of it as I think she'll "get it" a lot more. Not to mention the fact that she loves to check out all the decorations people have out. Molly is going as Woody from Toy Story as she often refers to herself as Woody. N is called Buzz and I am called Jessie (and we both have the respective costumes). Sometimes Sadie gets Bullseye, but that has petered off since Molly realized Sadie won't let her ride her like a horse.



I was asking Molly to smile in the above picture and this was the result. She is quite the little character and can be very dramatic at times. My favorite is when she flings herself down on the floor and fake sobs like one of the Disney Princesses. However her imagination is amazing and allows her to play for hours on her own. I love to watch her act out stories with her little toys and how she gives them all their own little voice. It is quite endearing.

Happy Birthday Molly bug! We love you more than words can say and are so happy you are a part of our lives.

"It's a big bottle."

"It's a daddy bottle."

Hrm, Molly sees a beer bottle and immediately thinks of N.

Anyway, I asked Molly what she wanted for her b.day lunch and she said quesadilla and black beans. So we headed to Mondo Burrito where Molly scored herself a free b.day lunch. It helps that she's on a first name basis with the owner.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Molly's horsie

This is by far Molly's favorite spot at Happy Hollow. She could spend the entire visit with her horsie. She even talks to it like a real horse as you can see here.

Pumpkin Acquired

After swim class we see a huge pumpkin patch with several bouncy houses and some HUGE slides. Molly spots it and says, "Look at that. Isn't it nice?"

I start laughing because she said it in such a polite manner. I ask Molly if she'd like to go jumping to which she replied, "That would be awesome."

Molly picked out the little pumpkin all by herself. She was quite proud of it too.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Daddy's Girl

First, let me just say that N is out of town on a work trip.

Yesterday Molly and I were getting ready to leave the house when she walks up to the front door with all 6 of her Disney Princess bath toys in her hands. We proceed to have the following conversation:

Mommy: You can bring two.
Molly: Four?
Mommy: Two.
Molly: Three?
Mommy: Two!


Molly puts down all but two... takes two steps towards the door... stops... scrunches up her face into her fake cry look... then lets out the most pathetic little whine.

*Mommy sighs*

Molly: Molly's upset. Molly wants daddy.

Yup, she's daddy's girl all right.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Garage Project Update

The shed is gone. The piles n' piles of crap are gone. The backyard is OPEN and HUGE!

Before:



After:



The driveway is also gone:



They have already put a fence up where the shed had been serving as one. There is also a trench running the length of the garage and down the driveway to the front of the house for the water and sewage hook up. That is waiting on inspection and we're hoping to have the driveway done in the next week. Once all that has been accomplished we can get someone in here to take care of landscaping the back yard.

For the most recent pictures click here.

Grandpa Hickson visit

Last weekend we drove up to Pioneer, CA to visit Grant (aka Grandpa Hickson). It was a record high weekend and my car hit 98 on the drive up and 100 on the drive back. Grant is up in the hills and surrounded by trees, but it was still quite warm out when we arrived. As you can see Molly's cheeks are quite red from the heat.



Molly made herself right at home and found all sorts of hiding spots.



Even though Grant broke his back, he has still managed to do a lot of work to his new home. The crowning achievement is the roof over the front porch.



The backyard boasts home to a lovely vegetable garden. The tomatoes were like candy!



Also, just to remind you that you're in the woods there is often a furry visitor lurking about.



In fact there were a couple just off the driveway when we arrived. Luckily Sadie didn't seem to care so we didn't have to worry about her chasing them down. Chances are that would have ended bad for Sadie as they tended to travel in packs.

Since it was such a hot day Molly gravitated towards the two fountains Grant had going. I'm pretty sure she would have tried to crawl in if I wasn't standing right there.



Unfortunately we had a rough night as Molly was coming down with an ear ache. Still, it was good to visit with Grant and see all of the work he has been able to do.

For the rest of the pictures click here.

Friday, October 1, 2010

My Little Mermaid with The Little Mermaid.



Molly was not feeling well...and was having great difficulty deciding if she wanted The Little Mermaid or to take a bath. I pulled out the projector and gave her both. She was illuminated with happiness as she played out parts of the movie in the tub... pretending to be in Ariels watery world. I try not to spoil her... But bringing an hour of bliss to her otherwise crappy day was a huge pleasure for me.

Love you Molly!
,Daddy

Swim Class

These are from last week's swim class. There are two other kids in Molly's class, Sydney and Aiden. Molly actually knows Aiden as she went to the Children's Discovery Museum with him last December. His mother works with Robert and Connor's B-Ma, Bev. Small world, huh?

This was Molly's second class and she was ITCHING to get in the water.



The little fishie is happy.



The point is to take a toy from the bucket and bring it over to the stairs, but Molly gets distracted with her own little fantasy world. I think the teacher was snapping her back to reality here. Also, note that she has Ariel in her hand. She goes straight for the Disney Princesses.



As you can see she has no problem putting her head under water. In fact one of her favorite things to do is grab the rings off the floor.



Molly IS a little lazy when it comes to big arms and big kicks. She will let you take her for a ride each and every time. I basically have to be out of reach and wait until she's finished "gliding" before she will start kicking and moving her arms. Luckily she can hold her breath for quite some time and doesn't panic. Molly just doesn't see the point in doing the work until she HAS to. Lazy butt!



Here she is making the most of her glide. Reaching out to touch the stairs before putting forth any effort in the actual swim department.



Molly's one naughty habit is she likes to jump down the stairs when no one is looking. I'm pretty sure she just got busted here.



Molly loves to float on her back. She calls this "Lax" as I always tell her to relax. She does enjoy her chill time.



It's Sydney's turn to float on her back? Hey, that sounds like a great idea...



I'm pretty sure Molly could spend her entire day playing on the steps of ANY pool.



Although she also LOVES the fact that she can touch the bottom of the AVAC pool and loves to bounce along.



For the rest of the pictures click here.