Uhhh...does anyone know how to help me get the picture in the previous post turned upright? Please email or leave me a comment if you know how to help!!

Us at Aunt GiGi and Uncle Martin's Wedding!

(aren't we so good-looking?!!)

The wedding was absolutely wonderful!!! Aunt Gigi was stunningly beautiful and pretty-much the PERFECT bride, and Uncle Martin was a very handsome groom! The day was amazing and the ceremony was so meaningful and lovely!

Ben was a delightful, little ring-bearer. He was a little nervous at first, but he and I talked about the fact that we were all a little nervous to walk down the long aisle, but that he didn't have to go if he didn't want to. However, if he did feel brave, he could just walk down next to the sweet flower girl, and he could watch for our good friend Jen the whole time, and just walk right to Jen.

He walked up to the doors to head down to the aisle, looked at me and said, "I will be brave, Mom. I will carry the pillow and be brave." And he walked down perfectly holding the pillow up, right to Jen who scooped him up, and he sat down and looked so proud of himself!!

He did have one little hesitation...the first time that the flower girl dropped a handful of flower petals on the ground. He was walking right beside her, and he stopped in his tracks for a second to look at her and to check out the petals. You could see the wheels turning in his head. Something like, "Well, that was unexpected...but she seems to know what she is doing, and no one else seems upset by the fact that she just threw stuff all over the floor, so I guess we are all OK here and I can just keep going."

It was so sweet!

And Molly also did wonderfully well. She looked beautiful and sweet in her little dress...a perfect match for Ben being so handsome in his tiny suit.

She was with Granny and Grandpa for a lot of the day (who were the real superheros of the day, taking care of both kids for the vast majority of the day), but during the middle of the ceremony, she decided that she just had to have Daddy hold her. So Aaron, even though he was at the front of the chapel by the piano because he was singing, just picked her up, and she sat happily in his arm for the rest of the ceremony...through songs and all! It was so sweet!

It was really such a wonderful day!

Congrats to Aunt GiGi and Uncle Martin!

These boot were made for walking...

So, just a quick update to report that: Molly CAN walk, she just chooses not to let go of my hand most of the time:)

She is so sweet, and I know that this time is passing so quickly, that I really don't mind at all that she isn't ready to let go most of the time.

But it is so funny to me the times that she will just randomly let go and take a good 25 steps without a second thought. She does it all the time in the backyard, which is even funnier to me because it is so uneven and treacherous out there. But when we are in nice, open spaces, she still waits for me to come up to her and hold her hand. And I gladly do! Once or twice a day I wish she would just go for it, but the vast majority of the time, I am embracing and enjoying these last few days when her experience of the world is directly tied to me being right with her still.

In no time at all, she will be off! My big, little girl!!

Cuties!

Here is a cute pic of Molly and Ben from her 1st birthday!

"Lights, Camera, Action!"

Ben has been practicing for a future career lately...I think he wants to be a director! Or maybe a screen-play writer. Here's why:

When we are playing, he has become much more sophisticated in his communication and discussion. But one by-product of his new development is that he now wants to be in charge of BOTH sides of the conversation. He will bring up an interesting point, and then tell you exactly how to respond.

It goes something like this:

Ben: "Here is the fire truck. The good guys just washed it and it is ready to go to work! You say, 'Ooo, it DOES look clean and shiny!'"

Mommy: "Oooo, it DOES look clean and shiny!"

Ben: The fire fighters are on board and they are ready to go. You say, 'Hold on tight, fire fighters!'"

Mommy: "Hold on tight, fire fighters!"

Ben: "Okay, there they go! Great job fire fighters!"



I can vary from the script a little bit...add some emotion here...a little emphasis there...but generally I am expected to respond pretty quickly and accurately. It was charming at first, but I will admit that it's starting to wear on me a little bit. Sometimes, he just does it to help me play along with how he is imagining things, but other times, it seems like a ploy to keep me fully focused on him, and not talking to anyone else. He is generally very patient with me when I am on the phone, or talking to Aaron or Molly, so really I should be thankful that he has such a constructive way to ask for some of my focused attention. But I tell you, I really just want to direct my own play every once in a while! :)

Maybe he will also be a cameraman...here are a few pics that he took recently!

"Sweet Pie"

Ben has been calling Molly his "little sweet pie" lately! It is so loving and cute! We sometimes call her a sweetie pie, or a sweet pea, but he has created his own combination with "sweet pie" and he calls her that all the time. If she is crying after a nap, he will come up and hold her hand and ask, "What is the matter, little sweet pie? Did you wake up sad? It's ok, little sweet pie, brother is here!" It is the sweetest thing I have ever heard!!

As for Little Miss Sweet Pie, here are some new developments:

-She can sign these words: milk, all done, more, bye bye, pick me up.

-She can say these words: night night, woof woof, Ben (sounds like "Den!"). And she tries words all the time. She has tried probably 15 new words in the last 2 days alone, but she can't say them consistently yet, so, speech-therapist that I am, I don't give her credit for any of those. Interestingly though, you might notice that "mama" is not on the list...that's right...this little mama-addict who STILL fusses for me to hold her if just about anyone else is holding her and I walk into the room, and who sleeps curled up to me every night, won't even TRY to say "mama". She will sometimes try "dada", though she isn't consistent yet. But she won't even try "mama". Sometimes I think it is just that she feels she and I are really just extensions of each other, so she shouldn't have to name me, I know what she wants. But, as any mom knows, it is so sweet to hear your little one calling for you, (without whining) that I will admit that I am really starting to get antsy for this word to come into use!

-She can point to "nose" and "belly". It is SO cute!! She will always point to your nose when you ask her nose, and she will always point to her belly if you ask her belly.

-She pretends to talk on the phone now!! If she finds any small toy or tv remote, or anything remotely similar to a cell phone in size, she will pick it up and "talk". SO cute.

-She can blow toy whistles. This seems like a difficult thing to me for this age, but she sure can do it well.

-She likes to scribble when I give her the chance. *Mental note...give her more chances* She also likes to try to feed herself with a spoon...I also need to let her practice this more too.

-She is SO close to walking. At Granny and Grandpa's house last night, she took probably 8-10 steps in between Granny and Grandpa. But I will say that there is something about Granny and Grandpa's house in particular. She tends to be much more physically adventurous there. They have a really nice, big open space in their living room, and I wonder if she feels the feeling of free space and is more encouraged to try things. She actually finally "got" crawling there, too. So I wouldn't be surprised if it takes her a while to get up to that many steps here at home, even though she did it at Granny's pretty easily yesterday. We'll see.

-Oh, and one last thing...she's TEENY! Not really truly teeny, but teeny compared to her brother and cousin Anna. We went in for her 1 yr check-up, and the doctor thought she looked great and was developing well in every way. But we did check her height and weight, and she weighs only 19 pounds, and is just over 28 inches long. That puts her in the 25% for weight, and the 35% for height. Those numbers aren't concerning at all, but she used to be at the 50% for both, so it is a drop.
It is true, however, that growth charts are standardized to all babies; there aren't separate charts for breast-fed babies vs formula-fed babies, and our doctor said that it is typical for breast-fed babies to be lower on the scale at this age than formula-fed babies because they are still regulating their own calories more independently. Ben actually went through a similar drop, but it was more like dropping from the 90% range to the 60% range, so he was still big at this age.
Secretly though, I kind of like it. Here's why: Ben was a beautiful baby, but also always on the very top of the scale...usually in the 75% to 90% range. And for the first year of his life, I got TONS of comments about what a huge baby I had. He was out of his baby carrier car seat by 9 months, and we were really pushing in to have kept him in that long! He was also always 1 to 2 clothes sizes above his age. It wasn't a problem at all, but it was just hard to have him out of the baby carrier before he was walking, and any cute outfit he had stopped fitting him in the blink of an eye.
So I kind of longed for a baby who would be in the carrier until they were walking, so I wouldn't have to let them crawl on so many dirty floors. And I wanted a baby who generally wore a cute outfit for more than 4 weeks.
Well, I have my wish. Molly is still 2 full pounds under the weight limit for the carrier, and she will surely be walking before she puts on those pounds. And she is just now getting into her 12-mo clothes, so I have gotten to enjoy some cute outfits for a very long time now!
But, just as I type this, I am reflecting that she has (finally) really started eating well lately, and Ben also hit a huge growth spurt right after his 1st birthday, so I should probably enjoy my little 19-pounder while I still can!