Mollie arrived to us on July 6, 2010 at 10:42 AM. She weighed in at 6 lbs, 6 oz and 19 inches long!
We could not be more in love and can already see the start of our little family blooming!
Thanks for your continued love and support ~Leigh Ann, Matt & Mollie

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Movin' on up! (to the big girl seat)

We're trying Mollie out in her new big girl car seat!!  I'm well aware that sure some of you are thinking, 'wait don't you do that at 1 year?' and others of you who know about every recall and baby alert out there, are saying 'nooooo AAP now said to wait to change car seats at year TWO!' Please don't put me in the 'bad mother's club.' On the other hand, many of my friends have been encouraging that they did this even earlier than 11.5 months!

Either way, Molls was NOT going to last much longer in her infant type car seat, for a few reasons. One, since she's rear facing her feet are pretty much hitting the seat--I can only imagine how uncomfortable that is! Two, she was on her last leg of that reclined baby seat and not being able to see anything. Even the rides to/from Jojo's house started to become a headache. We'd already purchased our seats & figured she's over the suggested 20 lbs and just dying to sit upright and face forward, so let's give it a shot! Our pediatrician was giving us the go-ahead in a couple weeks anyways;) Low & behold, we have a NEW child in the car with us!!! I swear she smiled the whole ride & continues to do so--doesn't want to miss a beat. Guess she is a BIT like me after all;)

(In dad's car) Forgive the paci..she only gets it at night, but I was covering my bases with this new arrangement:)
(In mom's car) My sweetie!!



Saturday, June 11, 2011

Beach babe!

Today was our first day this year, to step foot onto our Charleston beach!! (We've been to Myrtle Beach, but not our own backyard!) How can that be?! For the long wait, it was welllllll worth it and SUCH a blast!!!

We started the beach excursion by stopping off at Jack's Cosmic Dogs for a quick bite and to see the new James Island location--just as awesome, if not better, than the Mt. P one. We're gunna have to go back for an ice cream or shake next time!!

Our last beach visit to Myrtle had us a little timid to go back on the beach with her. Granted this was a couple months ago as she was a bit younger. She was fussy out there, her nose got stuffy and she was just not really a happy camper. I couldn't believe MY child was not obsessed with the beach--how is that possible?? Well, I'm delighted to say after today, she is a beach babe!! I knew she had it in her. My sweetie.

Any of you moms know that anytime you leave your house, you have to take everything including the kitchen sink for baby. Even with Mollie being 11+ months, I still am scared to not have something she might need. We of course had the beach plan pretty thought out ahead of time; knowing what we wanted to bring, thinking about her fave toys & adding in a few new surprises for her, but we also thought a little out of the box. We have these great party tubs that we use for chilling drinks at home gatherings and figured, hey, let's make this a little pool on the beach!! Mollie LOVES the water, so we knew this would buy us some time if/when she got tired of the beach, but we weren't--haha.
Happy as a clam!
Kicked back, feet propped--just as the beach should be!
I think Matt & I just hit upon something brilliant--who's with me?! You carry your things down to the beach in this tub, THEN your baby plays in it. Yeah, like I said, brilliant;) Highly recommend this for you with kids age 6mths-1 year!

As we play in the sand a bit, I was so excited to see what M would do with the rush of waves--the girl loves a little adrenaline rush (to be rough housed, to be flipped upside down, etc). The waves came up to us way faster than expected, as you see here Matt & I both reached in to hold her from tipping over & she just has this look like BRING IT! Great..a little daredevil girl.

I was a bit afraid that she'd hate the sand and freak out if it was on her-totally not the case. Little did I know she'd want to eat the wet sand AND even make a gigantic mess. I mean, I should have known because she loves being messy with her food--what the heck kinda shape is her 1st birthday smash cake gunna be in?! I already feel sorry for that poor cake.

Prissy little girl?? I think not...just another example to support the many others! LOVE HER.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Fun in the Sun!

What a lovely, long Memorial Day weekend we had and hope y'all did as well:) We went to Hilton Head for a few days, which was great in many ways and 'interesting' in others. Haha.

We chose our hotel because it was beachfront, had a great pool and yeah...a tiki bar at the pool! Baby or no baby, Matt & I are still suckers for a pool-side bar:) Needless to say, on Memorial Day weekend...at a hotel with a tiki bar..and a baby, we didn't quite fit in. There were a couple others kids at the pool, but 95% of hotel guests and boozers were college kids. There I was in my bikini, holding a 10 month old with one arm and a cold beer with my other. My, how things change in just a short year or so! In the most AMAZING way I never knew possible!!! Swimming around with her in our floatie, listening to live music and sharing in a wonderful holiday weekend with my two favorite people made me enjoy the time for sure!

Lunch at Salty Dog
Chillin' at the hotel pool
Later at night was a different story...do you remember how late you stayed up when you were in college?? Now, do you remember how you acted on holiday weekends...in a beachfront hotel?! That's what I thought. Us and baby Mollie were no match for the drunken banter in the hallways ALLLLLL night long. Ha, I couldn't even call the front desk because I was afraid if I moved too much and rummaged around the room, Mollie would wake up and that could be a disaster. I'm still not sure how she slept in her pack n' play through all that ruckus, but she did. Alas Matt and I, not even a wink, well ok, maybe a few blinks. So much for 'vacation' huh? We did have fun..but these 'Motherhood Whoa's' sure do teach me a lot..and sometimes make me feel old. Here's to 30 years young!!! 

Takin' a swim break..girl could live in water!!
Wheeeeeeee!!