I have to record how much Molly loves her big kids. She giggles and giggles when they come close and can't get enough of their jokes, or the things they do to make her laugh. She will crawl up my shoulder in anticipation and excitement when she thinks they are coming to get her. And her favorite place to get a zerbert is her neck. What a fun, fun friend we have in Molly Joy!

On the growth chart!

When you have several kids who usually aren't on the growth chart, it's pretty exciting when you have one who is and you need to document it! Part of me wonders if I have just learned to be more patient (and tricky) at feeding her baby food. We've also had lots of time to just cuddle and let her eat during the freezing cold winter we've had. Whatever the reason, she's been about the 50th percentile. At birth, she was 7 lbs 12 oz. Now she's probably 16 pounds and has three months until she turns one. (Today is her 9 month birthday!) Here are some more of her stats:
9/25 - she got down to 6 lbs. 15 oz.
10/4 - she got back up to 7 lbs. 10 oz.
11/25 - 10 lbs. 12 oz.
1/13 - 12 lbs. 9 oz.
3/3 - 13 lbs. 15 oz.

Molly grows

Today was Molly's last well-child check in Iowa. We have loved Dr. Christensen! Molly is now 15 pounds and 10 ounces and 2 feet and 2 1/2 inches, or 26.5 inches. She has started babbling, saying Dada really loudly, especially when we're in a quiet church meeting:) She still refuses a paci but loves to chew on anything. She hasn't really rolled over a ton, though she has done it. If you put her on the floor she'll reach and squirm until she gets the toys that are within a radius of a couple of feet from her. She can also do a complete 360 on her little bum. It's funny to watch.

Finally, a blog for our Molly! We love her so! I can't wait to record how she grows and in what ways she blesses our family. There is such a special feeling in the room whenever she is around! I'm officially beginning this blog about her when she is almost six months old, on March 18th. I just realized she'll be six months tomorrow! I think I might cry! It's gone to quickly! Life with four little ones is busy, but I have been tucking many sweet things about Molly aside in my mind to share here and for her when she gets older. What comes to my mind now, as she is laying on the floor beside me as I type and grinning a wide grin, is that she has come to earth with a very calm and patient demeanor. When she was first born and for months afterwards, she would wake up in the night and calmly wait, smacking her lips, for hours it seemed because her swaddling blanket would be absolutely soaked!, until one of us heard her and got up to attend to her. She has been this way with her attentive siblings. She puts up with no end of "love," and love it is indeed, just a little rough sometimes, and always rewards the giver with many smiles. She has just started to eat solids and while other babies will scream for the next bite, she waits while I take a few bites of my own food, and then happily returns to eating when I'm ready. I can often explain what I'm doing to her if she begins to fuss and I can't get her yet, and I swear she understands because she'll stop fussing and wait! Sometimes I look into her eyes and know she and I are old friends, just becoming reacquianted. How grateful for her truly joyful spirit in our home. We all love her wildly! Even now, at six months, boo hoo!, there are many discussions a day regarding who gets to hold her first...when she wakes, after she eats, after her diaper change, in church, when we get home from school. It's a wonderful thing to have a baby sister to fight over.

Tonight I set Molly down on her belly while I changed the laundry. She pushed up high on her arms and tip, tip, tipped right over onto her back! I haven't been great about tummy time with her because, with her easy going nature, before she would just lay there, head down and the expression on her face as if to ask "Really, Mom, really?" But I guess she has been ready to move a little more! She's rolled several times since and the big kids all get a great kick out of her new trick.

MJ started solids! Well, oatmeal and some mushy veggies, anyway. She seems to love eating and being included in mealtimes with the family. She sits in her little black seat at the end of the table and bobs and weaves her little head and torso, eyes wide and interested. She opens wide for each bite, even though her tongue pops out at least half of every spoonful. It's pretty funny to watch. Peter always feigns that he's grossed out. She'll eat a pretty big portion though!

Tonight I want to record that I got to hold Molly all day long and swoon. As she gets older, and being the fourth, she may doubt that ever happened when she was a baby. But today it snowed all day long. And Lucy and I sat by the fire and held her. In fact, we spend lots of days like this. Sometimes the thought that I really should get up from this proverbial "spot by the fire" and do something "productive" comes. But for some reason, with this sweet Molly Girl, I've been able to easily push that notion aside whenever it creeps up on me. This cold winter (the 9th coldest in recorded history here in Iowa) has been such a blessing for me! I am usually a little compulsive about getting out of the house. If it's sunny and lovely, it literally pains me, no really, literally, to just sit inside. Even to be productive, if it's inside, it just feels wrong when it's nice outside. "Isn't there some yard work that needs to be done?" But this cold winter, with many (47? but who's counting?) days below zero degrees, has allowed me to stay bundled up cuddling my two youngest girls for hours on end. Lucy and I usually read books first thing when the big kids head to school and Molly naps. Lots and lots of books. And we play baby dolls. And it's absolutely wonderful.

And then the big kids come home more than an hour earlier than Jillian did last year. That is a treat too, as are the many snow and cold weather days they've been able to stay home with us. (In SOME ways, home schooling would be so great! In other ways, like they'd probably flunk because this mom is disorganized ways, not so much.)

There's also something about just being here a year. I have a few good friends but I don't feel a sense of panic, as I have after other moves, that I'm not making enough friends, that I'm not getting invited to everything, that whatever. It has allowed me to completely relax, and focus on getting to know these sweet kids of ours.

Back to Molly Molly Joy Joy, as we sometimes chant. She really couldn't be any sweeter. Often, if one of the kids takes her in the other room, or even if Kevin does, she'll start to fuss. But then as soon as she can see me again, she calms down and just stares at me with a goofy grin on her face. Or if she's sitting in her Bumbo seat, which Peter calls her Bimbo seat, at my feet while I cook dinner, or if she's lying on the couch next to me, I'll look over and she's just looking at me with the purest smile. It's difficult to describe how that makes my heart leap. I guess it's sort of like realizing an admirer has been staring at you. It's so flattering. Often I find that sentiment "It's no small thing when they, who are so fresh from heaven, love us" coming into my thoughts. No small thing indeed. I am trying my very best to cherish these moments as a mother of little children. They are truly miraculous, pure, quick to forgive, easy to be entreated, all of the things we are told to strive after in the scriptures. And sometimes I'll catch one of their eyes and see so much wisdom there. They are so good. And I know it is my greatest blessing to be a part of their young lives. It won't be this way forever, and I know their small worries will give way to much bigger ones. I'm trying to prepare myself for that as well. To help them gain testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ of their own, so they will be ready for any hardship life might present. Just another reason I'm grateful for this time to be safe together, to learn together, to become good friends with these children who have the souls of giants.