Month Numero Dos

Molly Sue at 4 weeks!

At the Gaylord

New Year's Eve

Some of my favorite pj's!

Molly's second month of life was less eventful than the firs...thank goodness! At this point she is still nursing well and taking her supplement, and getting bigger every day! On December 14 Molly weighed 6 lbs 6.5 oz and was 18 3/4 inches long! Once again Dr. Naylor was very happy with this weight gain! December 17 JJ, Molly and I left for Longview to spend a whole week for Christmas! It was great to get to spend Molly's first Christmas with my family, especially since I have worked the last 3 Christmas! We had such a great week spending time with Dylan, Taylor, Jen, and all the rest of our family. Mimi and Grandma and PaPa all had a great time getting to love on their newest great grand baby! December 19 we had Molly's sip and see at LaCee's house and it was wonderful!  So many people came to celebrate Molly and ooh and aah over her!  We did Christmas present opening on Christmas eve with everyone and it was so much fun! I love getting to spend time with all the kids and family, and of course, eating too much food! Christmas morning was wonderful. JJ, Molly, Mawmaw, PaPaw and I got up, drank our coffee, and opened presents in a very slow, organized way, haha! JJ and I have decided that going to Longview is like staying at an all inclusive resort, but BETTER! It was so nice to have sooo much help from everyone! We were NOT ready to come home, but we loaded up the Hyundai to the brim on Sunday and headed to Dallas to do Christmas with the Novaks. It was such a great day opening gifts, eating, and then we headed for dinner and a scavenger hunt at the Gaylord. Jim always tries to come up with new, fun ways to give us our gifts and this was no different! Finally our family of 3 headed home. We were exhausted but so full of love and contentment after spending time with our families. Molly went back to the doctor on December 28 and weighed
7-11...yay! For New Year's eve JJ, Molly, and I hung out with our awesome home group friends! In full mommy and daddy fashion, we were home by 10:00 and brought in the new year, just the 3 of us! January 3 was a hard day for everyone. JJ went back to work and we were sooo sad :( It was so nice having him home for such a long time to help with Molly and keep me laughing when times were tough. We did make it through though and actually enjoyed our "alone" time together. On January 9 Molly got to experience her first snow. It was great to just sit with her in the warm house and see the beautiful gift God had given us in the white powdery "mess"! Molly's second month ended with celebrating her daddy's birthday at where else but CHILI'S! I can't believe our blessing is 2 months old already! She is still enjoying sleeping on mommy at night, eating every 3 hours like clock work, and taking in this amazing world! We love her more and more every day <3

Negative Results

12/9

Once again, God has proven faithful!  Dr. Schuerle called today and said so far, all tests have come back negative!  She checked up on Molly and said since she is eating good and not having any problems, she just wants to see us back when Molly is 3 months.  My good friend Mari helped me see a lesson God was (and continues) trying to teach me.  I thought that as soon as Molly was out that I would have more "control" over her.  I am reminded again that she does not belong to me.  Her little life has been entrusted to me, but ultimately she belongs to her creator.  I'm sure this will be a life long learning experience for this type A momma!  A lot has happened in the last month with Ms. Molly.  On 11/17 Amanda from Creative Photography by Amanda came and took Molly's newborn pics!  This was a BLAST and maybe the best part was when Molly peed all over her daddy :)  It was great!  Molly also had a weigh in on the 17th and she was 5 pounds!  This was great considering she had lost down to 4 pounds 10 ounces.  November 18 (which was Molly's scheduled induction) we went back to Med City to pick up my turkey and say HI to everyone.  Molly met Cardyn and Park on November 23rd and I know they will all be life long friends :)  November 25th was Molly's first Thanksgiving and we spent it with JJ's family.  The highlight was getting to hang out with Braden, Molly's cousin that is only a week older than her!  On the Friday after Thanksgiving we went on our first of many roadtrips to Longview!  Aunt JenJen, Dylan, and Taylor all got to meet Molly for the first time and everyone loved her!  Taylor was very curious about everything from nursing to changing her diaper.  I instructed her to ask her mom those questions, haha!  At Molly's two week appointment she weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces and was 18.5 inches long.  Still in the 3% but definitely growing great!  December 5th was Molly's first Sunday at church and she did great (even with the loud music)!  What a blessing this little chica has been in only one month!

What a little angel

I love this sweet face

Molly's first Dr. appointment

This is totally out of order, but I'm doing the best I can...

Molly had to go in for her first doctor's appointment on Monday morning, 11/15. We got to meet her pediatrician, Dr. Naylor, for the first time and we all loved her! She was great with Molly and was so reassuring when it came to all of Molly's testing. Molly had dropped to 4 lbs 11 oz so Dr. Naylor wanted us to start supplementing with some formula. Although this was not really in my plans, it was ok to try to get some weight on my little chica. Dr. Naylor stressed the importance of feeding Molly every 3 hours which meant little sleep for me considering it takes her an hour to eat. For instance, Molly would eat from 10-11, finally fall asleep around 11:30, and then have to wake her up again at 1. Thank goodness for JJ during this time because without him I think I would've probably given up on breastfeeding and gone slightly crazy. He would crack a joke just when I would think I was about to lose it and make me smile! All of this hard work all paid off because I love this little miracle so much!

Trying to catch up!

Our first family photo!

So saying I'm a little behind on the blogging might be an understatement. Life has been super busy and beautifully wonderful. I will slowly try to catch up on the last four months and stay more up to date!
11/10-11/14

Seeing my beautiful girl for the first time!

This day started out very uneventful. I had finally made it to 37 weeks and 6 days with no pregnancy complications! I had started planning my last week before my 39 week induction. I had a hair appointment, nail appointment, and a spray tan scheduled :). Neely and I went to whole foods for a delicious lunch before my appointment with Dr. Weiss, where I told her jokingly I would call her if I ended up at the hospital. I arrived at my 1:30 doctor's appointment with no bags packed and JJ at my side. While scanning me Dr. Weiss broke into song..."Happy Birthday to you!" and I promptly broke into tears. I had oligo (low amniotic fluid) and needed to go to L&D to be induced. Off we went! Ginnie and Breanna both took great care of me and I had a great labor and delivery. Molly arrived at 1:25 pm on 11/12/10 after only 40 min of pushing and our life was forever changed! Our 5lb 1oz bundle of joy had arrived and she was perfect! Friday evening was not as joyful as we had hoped. The pedi that was just to check Molly out at the hospital came in with some concerning news. Due to some physical features and a heart murmur, Dr. Nale was concerned that Molly might have a syndrome. This was devastating news to us, but as soon as they brought Molly back to me I was flooded with love for my sweet girl. Nothing else mattered except my love for this perfect baby God had given JJ and me! Molly did great the first night with the help of Terri, our amazing nursery nurse, and I got some much needed rest with the help of Julie, my PP nurse. Saturday was a much better day for all of us! Dr. Karam was Molly's pedi for Sat. and Sun. and we just seemed to mesh better with him. He came in Saturday morning and was so encouraging. He informed us there was no heart murmur and that even though there were a couple of concerning features, Molly looked perfect. Duh :) Later in the afternoon Dr. Schuerle (the geneticist) came to see Molly and agreed with both doctors and decided to run some tests. The rest of the day was filled with lots of visitors that of course fell in love with our Molly.  Our last night in the hospital we spent as a family, just me, J, and Molly.  Then came Sunday...a day of mixed emotions to say the least.  We were so excited to be taking Molly home but also scared and nervous.  They were letting us take home this tiny person with no owner's manual or anything!  My mom was planning to stay with us for a little while (thank goodness) while we tried to figure this baby thing out.  Life is good and the blog will continue...

Molly's Hospital Pic

Molly's Room!

Molly's cute rug from MawMaw!

JJ and I painted the room and textured the wall by ourselves!  And made the MOLLY letters!  We are sooo creative, ha!

Another view!  The MOLLY pillow will be going with me to the hospital...I know, I'm a dork!

This is a view of the awesome painting I bought from a lady in Canton!  It says "I praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made..."  I <3 that verse!  Molly already has two American Girl dolls!  Kirsten was mine and JJ's mom (still trying to figure out her grandma name) bought Molly!

37 Weeks!

I'm not very good at this blogging thing, but here's an update...finally.  I am 37.1 weeks today, which means full term baby!  Yay!  It's kind of surreal that we have made it to this point, but we are super excited to know that Molly can come at any time and she is good to go!  God has really blessed us with a great pregnancy!  That seems so odd to say with the ups and downs we've had, but God has continued to prove faithful (NOT a surprise) and has answered our prayers without fail!

The question I get the most now is, "Are you ready?"  And the only answer I know to give is, "As ready as we're ever going to be!"  We have had some amazing showers and gotten SO MANY great things!  I think we are as prepared as any first time parents!  Molly's room is ready, our bags are packed, and now it's just a waiting game!  We have been seeing Dr. Weiss every week now to make sure Molly is still growing like she is supposed to.  She is only around 5 lbs, but hopefully she'll put on a little weight between now and her arrival!  I will be getting induced at 39 weeks, which is November 18!  I am already dilating some (maybe TMI, but I am an L&D nurse so sorry) and Molly will be ready to make her debut by then!  Thanks to everyone for all the thoughts and prayers during the last few months!  JJ and I can't wait for Ms. Molly to arrive...we'll keep ya updated!

Still Growing!

9/15 *30 weeks

We went to see Dr. Weiss and Dr. Heintges today and we got ALL good news!  Molly's stomach is still a little small, but she stayed on her growth curve and grew just like she was supposed to over the last 3 weeks.  So that means no bed rest for mommy...yay!  I also passed my 3 hour GTT which is awesome so I can continue my ice cream, fruit loop binge eating!  Molly is moving around like crazy and I absolutely LOVE it!  I think she is still kickboxing even though I can't anymore.  We got some 4D pics of her precious little face, but with her hand RIGHT in front of her face I'm not going to post them because, I'll be honest, they're kinda creepy looking, haha!   I am still loving being pregnant, but also getting excited about the next few months.  We are headed to Longview this weekend to visit the fam, and have our first baby shower!  I am super excited!  Thanks for keeping up with us and I'll post again soon :)