Molly: 10 Months.

60 days until I have a ONE year old. I don't understand how that is possible. Time seems to fly by in the oddest fashion ever since Molly came along - I've never felt more of the saying "the days are long but the years are short" because DARN it's true. I say it a lot because I feel it a lot!

Things here are much of the same. Sleep, wake, eat, diapers, fun, naps, passing the time, repeat! It seems like all day I can't wait until Tony gets home and all week I can't wait until Tony is off work for a few days. I'm doing better in regards to how many hours he works but I still don't like it.

Mol is a crawling machine. She loves exploring the house and if she knows you are coming to stop her from shoving something from the floor into her mouth she will start crawling even faster! It's hilarious.

She's loving any and all table food that she can feed herself and hell, I am loving that too! I can't say that she has any huge favorites yet because she pretty much likes it all. 

We are currently in the phase where Molly is learning to pull herself up on things. She has no real fear and doesn't yet realize she can topple over very easily. She's definitely getting her first huge dose of cause and effect and watching it as a mom... well, it really stinks sometimes. I can't even count how many times she has completely banged her head against the floor. I hate it. And of course it never happens on the soft carpet - almost always happens on the hard tile in the kitchen or the laminate in the living room.

She's got 4 teeth that have completely worked their way in and 3 more ready to pop through at any moment. We use Hyland's Teething Tablets when she's in pain and they work like magic. It's affected her sleep somewhat this time around but not as much as the first time her teeth were breaking through.

Molly is such a happy baby and she shares that joy with all of us. Her and Presley already have such a great bond and Presley is always looking out for Molly.

Presley is the most helpful, patient big sister - the only way she could be any more helpful is if she learned to change diapers!

We met some new babies in the last month, too! Beeeeautiful baby Lila and brand new Mr. Ryder! My babies are so lucky to have so many little ones around their age in the family. And my cousin Breanne will be having her little girl any day now and I cannot wait to see her beautiful face. It seriously breaks my heart being so far away from them not only for the big moments but for all the small ones as well.

Finally got to meet this beauty queen | Lila Bailey

Presley & Riley... just a couple months apart in age

Ashlyn loving on her little cousins

Ryder James | April 26th

The baby fever is real, y'all.

Mol's in 12 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and drinks breastmilk or water. Breastfeeding is still going great and is so laid back... I feed her when she gets up, before she naps, before she eats, and before bedtime. I nurse her on command if she's fussy or hungry or hurt or sad. It calms her down and comforts her. It's awesome. I'm thankful for the opportunity and don't take it for granted for a moment because I know how difficult - and sometimes impossible -  breastfeeding can be, especially in the beginning.

This month we're heading to Chattanooga for the first time since Molly has been born for Ashley's pinning ceremony. I'm super excited to be there for such a big moment for her and to get to celebrate such an awesome accomplishment. Not to mention we get to spend time with Ashy, Jojo, and Sage the puppy! Can't wait to see how Molly reacts to seeing Sage (a beautiful brown lab)!!!

She seems to be growing like a weed lately but at the same time just seems to be naturally on the small side. I love the similarities between my two girls and their stark differences. Love love love it. It honestly just makes me want to fill my house with children as crazy as that sounds. I guess it's the Catholic in me coming out - children really are such a blessing. But money doesn't grow on trees and neither does patience!!! We are happy with our lot, that is for sure.

Dearest little peanut,

Thank you for making us laugh and smile and for loving us all so much. I'm so lucky to spend all day with you and to have gotten these last 10 months to get to know you. Being a mommy to you and Presley has challenged everything for me and has helped me to become a better, stronger person.

Mommy & Daddy love you to no end.

Happy 10 month birthday, Presley girl!

Showing off her bottom teeth!

 Alright, so, there have been a TON of changes this past month!

• We've got a big, bad CRAWLER on our hands!  And I'm talking, belly OFF the floor kinda crawling.  One day last week she just decided that she was gonna get a move on and the rest was history.

In addition to your 4 beautiful bottom teeth, you will be getting both top teeth in no time, it seems.  One of your top teeth has cut through all the way and the other is not far behind.  Hopefully this won't be too painful of an experience for you - so far you are totally handling it like the champ that you are!

Child of mine, you have some SMELLY feet!!!!!  Looks like we're going to have to up the amount of baths you have a week!

Your favorite words are "baby" and "dada" and you sure do wear them out!  Sometimes you get too excited and put both words together by saying "bay-da" - very cute!  "Mama" isn't on your radar these days... when and if you do say it, you are often shouting it.

You just love your puffs!

Just this week you started clapping.  So darn sweet!

 

• I believe we will be moving to your bigger car seat pretty soon!  You still fit in your baby one, but you sure are pushing its limits.  I think you will be more comfortable but it will be tough for me... just another indication that you are growing up!

So, I would be lying if I didn't mention that I am a bit bummed we won't be starting any Christmas traditions for our little family of 3 this year.  Because when I think about how nice a relaxing Christmas at home would be, it sounds pretty darn wonderful.  Plus, babies are just not made for traveling, if you ask me!  Though, I know if we stayed home for Christmas we would end up being pretty damn sad and just wishing we were with my in-laws and sisters the entire time.

Plus, like my sister and I talked about, our kids are so small now that it won't matter a ton in the big scheme of things... it's not like they will have any true memories about this first Christmas!  So, I am just telling myself that we will have another year to prepare for any and all family Christmas traditions we look forward to sharing together.

With that said, any sacrifice is worth the reward we'll be gaining because we will be spending time with our family whom we only get to see a few times a year.  That includes traveling to Memphis, Nashville, and possibly Chattanooga (gotta iron out those plans).  We'll be having another big "first" along with Presley's FIRST Christmas and that will be first plane ride!  I'm just a wee bit anxious about how it will go, especially since Presley hates to sit still now that she has started crawling... but she really is such an easy-going kid.  Now, any tips/tricks/advice for flying with a baby in tow - send them my way and don't be shy!  I really would like to take our Boppy with because I can't imagine being without it, but I'm just not sure we'll have room since the plan is (for now) to not check any bags.  We are flying with Delta, which I am super pumped about because they still serve in-flight snacks (SWEET!) and have no problem with us bringing our car seat and stroller (not sure if we'll bring that or not) and neither of those things count towards our carry ons! Woo!

In other news, we just had our first big snow of the year.  This resulted in Presley and I being home bound all day.  Which resulted in these silly pictures.

Happy ten months, Presley Rose.  Ten down and only two to go until we're all celebrating your super special first birthday!  Very hard to believe but even more exciting.