Rest

Last night I put Mollie in bed at 10 p.m. She slept until 3 a.m., took a bottle, went back to bed, and then slept until 7 a.m. That's the most unbroken sleep I've had in five weeks. It was wonderful. I really can't complain, though. The only time she's been awake at night the entire five weeks is to eat and then she goes back to sleep.

Sticky Fingers

This morning we finger painted with corn syrup and food coloring. Ben had lots of fun and really the mess wasn't too big. It was pretty much contained on the easily cleaned Toy Story table.

He started out just painting with a finger, but eventually got both hands in the mix.

One of the completed projects. He did four.

I did find a little green syrup in his hair. It matches his shirt.

Thanks for the idea, Ashley!

In Bloom

All four pots of our egg garden impatiens now have blooms.

Sunday

Ben likes to hold Mollie, but only for about 10 seconds at a time. Everytime he holds her he says, "This looks good."

Sometimes Mollie joins us in Ben's bed for naptime reading.

Enjoying an icecream sandwich on the back porch.

Notice that Ben finally got a haircut. He was looking VERY shaggy.

Our egg garden impatiens are just about to bloom.

Kitchen Art

Today Ben had fun playing with glue. I cut out a bunch of letters and pictures (mainly cars since I cut up an old Car and Driver) and he glued them to a piece of paper.

Wal-Mart has their school supplies on sale right now. I think I should have bought more than two bottles of 30 cent glue. Ben likes big puddles of glue. He doesn't quite get the concept of glueing. After he would glue a letter or picture to the paper, he would put a big blob of glue on top of it. Then we would stick the next letter or picture right on top.

The finished product, which Ben wanted to hang on the refrigerator. It took heavy magnets to keep it up since there are many layers of paper and lots and lots of glue.

Firsts

Yesterday Ben, Mollie, and I made our first road trip together. I had my six-week doctor's visit. Ben and Mollie stayed with Nana and Grandaddy while I went to the doctor. This was Mollie's first visit to their house. Both Mollie and Ben slept in the car on the way there and on the way home. I didn't realize Ben was asleep for a long time because he was wearing his sunshades. I thought he was just quietly looking out the window. I don't know what I was thinking since Ben is seldom quiet. I intended to take pictures of them in the car and at Nana and Grandaddy's house. I had my camera in my purse, but I forgot to use it. Mollie is pictured above doing another first -- swinging. Ben REALLY wanted to push her in the swing. I can only imagine how high he could have made the swing go.

Play Dough Lunch

Ben loves Play Dough. I made this Play Dough birthday cake. We sang Happy Birthday to various people including Mary Varner and Big Bird then he blew out the candles.

Ben thinks candles are the best part of a birthday cake. A church friend brought us supper last week and included an Elmo cupcake for Ben. When I put it in front of him, he asked, "Where is the fire?"

Play dough French fries and pizza (with gourmet blue cheese). I think Ben did get a little carried away pretending to eat the fries and got a small bite of yellow play dough.

Ben and Mollie

Friday July 16 was Mollie's due date. She is now about the same size or maybe a little bigger than Ben when he was born. She's way more alert than a newborn, though. She generally stays awake about an hour after each bottle during the day and goes about four hours between bottles at night.

Quacking Quackeroos

John was doing yardwork Saturday afternoon when he came inside and asked Ben if he wanted to look at some ducks. I assumed they were across the road at the lake. Nope, they were in our front yard. They wouldn't come close to Ben, but I was like the duck piper. They wanted to follow me around.

Elder Visit

Nana, Grandaddy, Fran, and the girls had lunch with us Wednesday on their way to Florida.



I raised the basketball goal for MV. Ben used his handy step stool to dunk.

MV was very interested in Mollie.

Fran wasn't sure about letting MV hold Mollie, but I said she could.

Janey enjoyed touching and looking at Mollie, too.

Holding Mollie

Ben asked to hold Mollie for the first time Monday. John was home for lunch so he took a picture of us. John puts a pillow under Mollie when he holds her, so Ben is holding her like Daddy on a pillow.

Uncle Jim

Jim stopped by and had lunch with us Sunday on his way home. This was his first time to see Mollie.

Water Fun

John and Ben played in the pool this afternoon.

They are playing with Splash Balls.

After Ben got out of the pool, he watered his plants. These are the "egg garden" impatiens that we started as seeds. We transplanted them to pots the week before Mollie was born. I was amazed that they survived the three weeks that we were gone. Now we are waiting for them to bloom.

Wednesday

Ben shared his favorite toys with Mollie this morning.

Ben is making a macaroni stop sign, just like Abby Cadabby.

It was near lunch time and I guess Ben was hungry when I took this picture. He's pretending to eat a block. I just wanted a picture of his clothes. Since we left Nana and Grandaddy's house, Nana has been doing a lot of sewing. When she came yesterday, she brought Ben this "B" outfit, Mollie two burp cloths and a bib, and me a cute apron (yes, I wear an apron every day while I'm working in the kitchen).

I just thought Mollie looked cute with her arm under her head.

One Month

Mollie is one month old today. Since she's only been home a little over a week, it's hard to believe that she is already a month old. July 6 is actually the day I expected her to be born. Ben was 10 days early, so I was going to be disappointed if Mollie went all the way to her due date.

This is how Mollie usually looks. We never see her hair since she constantly wears a hat.


Nana came to visit today.

Nana kept Mollie while Ben and I went to Story Hour at the library. Ben has missed going to Story Hour. He has been mentioning Story Hour in his prayers.

Grocery Shopping

Ben is writing his grocery list: "milk, bread, shredded cheese, and parsley." Then he walked around the house marking things off his list.

4th of July

Ben and John had a great time playing in the pool together this afternoon. I bought Ben (and John) this bigger pool a month ago. This is the first time we've been able to use it, though.

John enjoyed stretching his legs out.

And Ben finally sat down in it.

Daddy Time

John and Ben have had a lot of fun playing together today. They built a highway out of wooden blocks.

Then they built a very tall building with MegaBlocks.

They added flags.

And then CRASH! Ben knocked it over.