Saturday, August 29, 2009

New Music!

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Okay...so I had WAY too much fun adding new music to the playlist on the side! So many great songs were blocked though! Grr! Would love any new recommendations!

Updates

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This past Monday I took the crew in to the doctor for their well visits. Because they are almost exactly 18 months apart their well visits fall at the same time (well, this was the last time it will). We just knock it out in one day and move on. It is extra funny to see two almost naked kiddos playing while Dr. Sue gets to work. They couldn't be more different in body structure so it is really funny to see them together.

Here is the update!
Gabriel Joseph May
18 Months

weight: 28.0 lbs - 80%
length: 33.25" - 75%
cabeza: 19.5" - 90%

Gabriel has quickly transformed into our resident love chunk. He continues to be so calm in nature (although we are seeing a slight preview of two these days). It seems that this month he has just exploded with new words. He can repeat almost ANYTHING which is really fun. Molly especially likes the way he says Pocahontas. It sounds something like Pocotasssss. Gabriel has finally mastered the correct way to use no and yes and LOVES to drag out the ssss in words. All of his ssss sounds have a 'th' in there too though. He continues to be a super eater these days but has definitely lengthened so he appears thinner. Do not be deceived, he is HEAVY because he makes you do all the work when you hold him.

Gabriel is finally getting some one:one with Molly in school two days a week and he doesn't know what to do with all this attention! When Molly is at school we have been practicing some important skills like walking next to me and holding my hand on the sidewalk. This will come in handy now that he officially dislikes his stroller. Gabriel's current favs include: PUPPIES (his spirit animal :), attempting to eat bugs (yuck!), playing with matchbox cars (LOVES LOVES this), anything with balls, Diego, Mickey Mouse and Daddy. He dislikes: swinging (all the sudden), having to wait at the top of the slide and being told to climb out of the fridge.

Molly Grace May
3 years old
weight: 27.6 lbs - 20% (whooohoo!) Gabe has outweighed her for some time now.
Length: 36.5"- 65%
BMI: less than 5%


I never realized how much noise Molly added to the house until she started school. Life is so oddly quiet without her crazy stories! Our Molly is a TALKER. It is quite shocking that Gabriel talks at all with as much as she talks for him. Our Molly lives completely and totally in princess world. She calls Kelly "prince eric", Mommy "Snow White" and Gabriel "Aladdin". She is trying all sorts of new things recently like learning to ride her big girl bike at the lake, starting pre-school and beginning Ballet on Monday! Molly now raises her hand at home when she has a question. We really don't think Molly's life could exist without the local library. Her favorites include: Jasmine and all the gang, dancing "ballet" to the Amelie soundtrack, her tutu, wearing earrings, riding her bike, BARBIES, books and her best friend, Avery. Molly has little tolerance for sharing her toys with Gabriel, being woken up, being told what to wear or eating string cheese.

They are just getting SO big!!!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Off to school!

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There is soooo much to blog about but I think I will start with the most recent events. We now have a schooler!!! This morning Molly started her first day of Pre-K. She was SO excited!


the whole transition of going to school was easy breezy... no tears at all. Well, maybe a few stifled by one daddy but he handled it like a champ too.

Molly loved everything about school this morning! She found her cubbie... (notice the princess theme)

located the potty and then was SUPER ready to start playing and meeting friends. You bet we overheard her introducing herself as Princess Jasmine to people. We made a point to warn her teacher.
By the time we were about to leave she was READY to play and be done with pictures! Such a big girl!!!
Gabriel had a bit of a rude awakening when he found out that he didn't get to stay at school and play. Kelly is off all morning so we are having a nice little playtime with Gabe. This is the first time since birth that he had us to himself so I probably ought to get off blogger and go play! He is currently playing with all of Molly's forbidden toys and loving every minute of it!
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More updates and hopefully a video post to come soon!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

On Call

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You may have noticed a little absence from the blog. This past week has been busy. Gabriel is probably the busiest of all these days. He has little time for blog appearances with all his day time hours monopolized with bug eating and nights over-run with hospital rounding.

He has all the nurses swooning... our very own Dr. McDreamy. His specialty is flirting...perhaps a future cardiologist dealing with matters of the heart?

Sunday, August 16, 2009

A preview

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Three is definitely bigger than two.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Molly's Three

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We can officially say it. We have been parents for three years. I know that this is a tiny milestone for all you ‘experienced’ parents out there but for us newbies…this is HUGE. Three years ago at this moment I was sitting in bed in our ‘lovely’ duplex trying to decide if the contractions were in fact the real thing or not. I might have had one unnecessary visit to the hospital already… Kelly was dead to the world and if you know him…good luck waking him up. There was absolutely no way I was going to sleep…

To help pass the time from midnight to four when I decided it was time to go to the hospital, I talked my monkey-toed-kicker-of-a-baby. All night I had some nice little conversations with my “belly”. Although I don’t remember everything I talked to her about I do remember several things. I remember telling her how much I wanted to meet her and how excited I was to finally prove to everyone that I was having a boy. I just knew belly was a boy. Not.A.Doctor.

I told her all about her room, her cat's grey tuxedo and how to sleep with daddy’s snoring self. I reminisced on all the great concerts she had tagged along to and decided that Ben Folds was probably her favorite one as well…it was an awfully good concert and the Fray did happen to be the opener. Can’t get much better than that. I told her about the neighbors, the hospital and our great doctor. I definitely encouraged her not to take her time coming out. There was a whole world her waiting for her… I couldn’t wait for her to see.

For someone who hasn’t been here long…she sure has taught me an awful lot about love. This world is a much more exciting place because of our Molly Grace May. We are so excited for all the adventures to come in year three!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

*Remember to pause my music on the side to hear the music on the video!


Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Books with Belle!

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I really don't think there was any way to truly prepare for our library adventures today. Looking back, I wish I could have seen a little preview because everyone could use a little laugh in the morning...especially one without coffee!


When I informed Molly that Princess Belle was making an appearance at story time, a squeal rang out and a bolt of curly frizz tore down the hall. When I rounded the corner to her room I found her elbow deep in her dress-up box. Apparently, there is a standard wardrobe for meetings with royalty and jewelry is a MUST.

When we arrived at the library, Molly informed me that she saw "Princess Belle's car". Who knew that Princess Belle drove a black Lexus SUV? Princess Belle, I like your style. Getting out of the car I had a little panic moment when I realized that Gabe's stroller was left at home. He was going to be EVERYWHERE...or so I thought.

There is really is no way to capture the next series of events. This is my meek attempt to convey the experience so bare with me. I need you to visualize about 45 girls under the age of 5 all decked out in tiaras, jewelry, make-up, costumes and boas. Apparently, they had received the memo about appropriate-princess-meeting-attire as well. It was madness. Gabriel took one look at this girl driven chaos and quickly became an accessory to my wardrobe... like a nice clingy sweater? At least I didn't have to chase him too.

But Molly... well, she was in her own little heaven.


You know, Belle really did a great job at story time. I have to admit that typically it is a pretty restless crowd and she handled it like...well, like royalty.

My favorite part of the experience was all the sidebar converations. The girl next to Molly was talking about her princess party featuring Belle, of course. Molly had a lot to add to that conversation. Another girl spent the entire time petting Belle's dress and cooing, "Belle, your dress is so beautiful". My personal favorite comment was towards the end of story time when a little girl yells out, "Belle! I have a boyfriend too!!!" I couldn't contain my laughter by this point.

As soon as story time ended, Molly quickly rushed Belle for a picture. Incredibly, Molly was the first to have a picture with Belle. The minute Belle said Molly's name it left her shell-shocked...I mean, tongue out and all and she just couldn't regain coolness... perhaps she was a bit overwhelmed?

After this picture is taken, Belle turns to Molly and says, "Have a good day Princess". Molly's response, "Okay! Because I am a princess too...named Jasmine." Apparently, Belle and Molly are besties in the royal world.
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Oh, I just don't think the library will ever be quite as much fun as today.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Birthday Ball

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Oh! Today was the day that every Princess named Jasmine dreams of!!!
A truly divatastic day!
Birthdays are just the best! As I sit here at the computer reflecting on the past 24 hours I can't help but smile. I have never known a more princess crazed, barbie loving child that truly believes that she is a princess named jasmine (she even told her new pre-k teacher that was her name---there is no way this school is ready for Molly). Little girls may be made of sugar and spice but I think that a few key ingredients were left out like tulle and flair. At least in the case of our Miss Molly.
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Technically, Molly doesn't turn three until Friday but with August so jammed with birthdays and the start of school this was the best date for the majority of the guests. So despite a little vertigo that I have been battling this weekend we celebrated our little hearts out...princess style.
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What better way to prepare for a princess party than with castle cake? I really took this next picture because I thought that there was NO way that the cake would make it to the party in one piece as I am a bit clumsy and had to climb a BIG hill. So here was the pre-party documentation.
To my dismay it survived the commute! The flag (at half mast in the shot) says Happy Birthday Molly! My mom is the best cake making partner ever!
Molly had so many incredible gifts. I am still a little shocked that there was not one barbie princess duplication. She was so into the present part this year!

We quickly put the engineers to work!

Last year's splash park adventures seemed a little less wild. It is amazing the added craziness that a walking, water splashing 'love chunk' can add! I think on two separate occasions I looked at Kelly and we both asked each other "Where's Gabe?" This boy was in SPLASH PARK HEAVEN. I would like to give a special shout out to one Brian Baker for stepping up as a parent to our little runaway. Whew. Mommy and Daddy might have been a little distracted with the diva.
The kids kept the grown-ups in line
pausing only to take a snack break.
such a fantastic party! Watch out world----Molly's turning three!


* If you happened to take any pictures of the party that you care to share that would be INCREDIBLE as the only pictures I took are posted. How can I function without my usual 100+ pictures? Feel free to email!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Sister Molly

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Our Little Molly girl sure is one little firecracker. She is busy, loud and has a tendency to growl when she is mad... but goodness, does she love to pray.

Molly loves to say prayers at night. She has one mean memory. (hmm... i wonder where that comes from?)

Her current favorites are:

Hail Mary (she calls it Hello Mary)
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Angel of God
Now I lay me down to sleep

and we have just started the Lord's Prayer (she calls it the daddy prayer)

So special to be a part of her nightly prayers. Unfortunately, the video footage doesn't do it justice because she gets shy with a camera on but it gives you an idea.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Monday, August 3, 2009

Lights, Camera, Action!

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In efforts to change things up this week on the good ole' blog I am going to attempt a video post a day through Saturday. Whew.

So say tuned...let the camera action commence! Well, I guess it can wait until morning...I mean who really likes to be filmed sleeping anyway.

Lights. Camera. Action.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Finally! It didn't rain.

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Something new and amazing happened this weekend.

Did I manage to quick-clean (code for: make-it-look-clean-without-really-cleaning) in 30 minutes? Well, yes I did but my house is a bit small so that really doesn't account for supreme greatness... just a nice way to start the weekend and a tiny taste of that natural high you get cleaning. Anyone else know what I mean here?

Did Kelly fold all the laundry while I was at the hospital today? Why yes he did...but this is often the norm because he folds laundry like he has worked at Gap his whole life and apparently my folding is too messy? So wonderful and amazing, yes ---just not new.

Get ready for it.

Kelly and I actually went to a Ranger's game that didn't rain-out. Don't get me wrong, it was close. We definitely drove to the game along a dark and ominous wall of black clouds but it all managed to dissipate upon our arrival to the stadium. This NEVER happens.

Kelly and I are good people to have around in a drought. We often tempt rain when we wash our cars but if you want to see some true Texas thunderstorms just hand us a pair of tickets to the ballpark and it's your lucky day. At least that used to be the case but not anymore.

Look... We're dry!

There may have been no rain but the game was a bit of a wash. C'est la vie, we'll take what we can get! Yummy hot dogs and beer sure did comfort our bruised little ranger egos.

I had every intention of meeting up with friends in uptown to celebrate birthdays/moving away post-game but I just didn't have it in me. Has this night owl lost its luster? Perhaps. I personally chalk it up to another round of potential eye disease that Kelly and I are currently plaguing. Check above... my left eye is a nice and swollen and Kelly's right eye is a healthy shade of pink. So together we make one perfect set of eyes... ahhh, a perfect match. (Well, truth be told we make up one perfect set of prescription wearing eyes but really who's keeping track.)

Amazingly, the game is so much more enjoyable when you don't have soggy underwear caressing your body. Such a nice change, a bit less clingy and made life a little easier when participating in 6 rounds of the wave.

So rain rain go away... but feel free to come back when it is not game day because our yard is always a little thirsty.

Our fun weekend was definitely a hit.