Happy 6 Month Birthday, Mollie!

It is hard to believe that our little Mollie is 6 months old today! For her celebration, she hosted some of the babies from our birth class and their parents. Emmy and Elena were lots of fun. The three girls played with Mollie's play kitchen and sported matching Valentine's headbands.

They enjoyed cake and party hats. I take that back- they enjoyed watching the cake and wearing party hats. :) I don't think the three of them were awake at the same time for more than 15 minutes!

After our company left, Mollie sat for some photos. She is doing so much better with sitting up! After about 30 seconds, she topples over, but she is getting stronger every single day. We are all convinced that Mollie will have her lower left front tooth any day now. It is almost visible under her gums. Anything is fair game for chewing these days! Her hands are her favorite chew toy!

Yesterday, when I wrote my blog, I wrote a about a lot that had changed. Upon reflecting on what I wrote, I realized that I didn't write very much about what we had GAINED. I wrote about things we had lost! I hope I didn't sound too negative because we have gained so very much with our little girl in the past 6 months.
We now have...
A snuggle bug,
A laugh machine,
An audience for singing, jokes, music, puppetry, and dance theater,
A friend for the pets,
A dinner guest,
A conversationalist,
A member of the Osborne reading club,
and
Someone who can always make us smile.

6 Months Ago...

It is almost impossible for me to believe what happened 6 months ago. 6 months ago, I was sitting on a purple birth ball with my hands on my belly bouncing away by the door to our porch in the moonlight. I had just taken a walk down the street with David in the August humidity, and I was convinced that "this baby" was "never coming out." Hours later at 3:12 AM, I sat up in bed, and my water broke. 10 hours of natural labor, 10 hours of unnatural labor, an attempt at a vacuum birth, and a c-section later, we had our precious Mollie Rose in our arms.

I cannot believe how the time has flown by. It hasn't just flown by- it has zoomed by! It is almost like the time moved as quickly as a space ship in a sci-fi movie when it goes into warp speed. You know- when they hit a button and the stars start shooting by like white streaks.

In 6 months, we have gone from:
Going out to eat way to much and lingering in the restaurant until we felt leaving,
Laying on the couch watching absolutely nothing on t.v. for absolutely no reason,
Sleeping on the same floor of the house,
Never going upstairs,
Driving to Atlanta and other locations on a whim,
Going to church and staying in the pew until mass was over,
Singing/Playing in the choir every week,
Making meals together,
Going on dates a lot,
Going to movies when we felt like it,
Loathing the midi-esque music that accompanies children's toys,
Watching an entire t.v. show uninterrupted without getting up,
Playing with the dog without picking things up from the floor,
Both riding in the front of the car,
Going on shopping excursions,
Taking naps,
and
Going to sleep around 9 or 10 and waking up for work at 6 or sleeping in until 10!

TO...
Going out to eat 3 times in 6 months and picking up A LOT of carryout,
Sitting on the couch to nurse a baby what ANYTHING that is on t.v. and liking it,
Sleeping in different rooms since December (weaning to Daddy),
Going up and down the stairs all the time,
Driving more than 30 minutes away twice since July,
Rarely sitting in the same pew together for more than 15 minutes at a time at church,
Playing at one wedding at church in January,
One of us cooking/eating at a time,
Going out twice since Mollie was born,
Going to a movie once (see above!),
Finding the music on Mollie's toys "endearing",
Watching "Lost" on Hulu in 1.5 hours, in 15 minute intervals,
Playing with the dogs outside/hiding Mollie's squeak toys,
Getting used to riding in the backseat and communicating through the rear-view mirror,
Going shopping at the mall once alone, once as a couple, and once as the three of us,
NAP? What's that?,
AND
Going to sleep at 10 or 3 or 8 or 11 or...
Waking up at 4 or 3 or 10 or 5:45

You know what though? I wouldn't trade the last 6 months for ANYTHING. They have been the most difficult 6 months, the most challenging 6 months, the most amazing 6 months, the most life-changing 6 months, and the most loving 6 months. They have been pure joy. What a gift.
Happy 6 month birthday, Mollie Rose!

Scary Mama Moment

Yesterday morning, David came in and woke me up with Mollie. He said "I've got good news and some kinda scary news. The good news is that Mollie slept all night in her crib." My head was swimming with ideas of what the "scary news" could be. I immediately thought that she had managed to get her swaddle over her face while she was asleep. Then he said, "She slept on her stomach." I felt ill. I had no idea that Mollie was able to roll over in her swaddle, and I was well-aware of the danger that this poses for infants. Babies who can roll onto their stomachs must be able to roll back over in case they are in distress. (can't breath, etc.) David said that Mollie was laying there perfectly swaddled and asleep. He was scared too.

The risk of SIDS has terrified me since Mollie was born. She slept in our room until she was about 4 months old. Then we started alternated sleeping in her room upstairs with her. I have been very cautious about keeping things such as blankets and pj's away from her face. David is the master of a tight swaddle that can't budge. I don't let her sleep in bed next to me- even though she would love that. (So would I!) We tried to get her to sleep with a pacifier for awhile, I breastfeed her, and I don't smoke. There is a humidifier next to her crib, and we keep her room a cool 70 degrees with pj's that keep her warm but not too hot. We always place her on her back to sleep and don't use wedges. All of these precautions help reduce the risk of SIDS. Last night, after my day of freaking out about our sleep slip-up with Mollie, the news had a new SIDS report. New research has shown that babies who die from SIDS have been found to have a seratonin deficiency, causing them to have a hard time rousing themselves in a time of distress. In other words, if a baby is having trouble breathing on his stomach, he won't wake-up to roll over. This is so scary! They have no way to test for this deficiency so far.

Nothing in the world terrifies me more than losing my sweet little baby that we tried so hard to get. I hope we can all pray for these little angles as they lay peacefully resting in their beds.

Last night, our little Mollie went to sleep in a sleep sack. She slept for 15 minutes and woke-up. This went on a few times before being relocated to her bouncy seat. No swaddle equaled less sleep for all involved, but a safer sleep for Mollie. I gave in and fed her around 1:20, finally getting about 3.5 hours of sleep for myself. I wonder how long it will be before she sleeps through the night again- she did it once in her crib!

My little baby is 5.5 months old now. It seems like yesterday when she was just one day old, sleeping in my arms in the hospital.