Haalowww

Well I have not written for quite some time, but I have been meaning to. My Mom reminded me last night that I should write something to finish out the blog for Molly's first year. Since I just had surgery and have to sit at home, I guess I have nothing but time and no excuse!

Molly will be 16 months old on the 11th. It is soooo hard to believe. Time is just flying by... She is so big and beautiful and learing so much these days. She loves to play with my cell phone whenever she can. She picks it up and puts it to her ear and says, "Haalowww", or she opens the phone (it's a flip phone) and starts acting like she is typing. She has called and texted many people over the past few weeks. She will use practically anyting as a phone,but prefers my cell phone.

She is also walking and running around everywhere. She loves to go outside and run in the grass or out to the front of the house to run down the street. She laughs and talks (in her own baby language) the whole time. She is a very busy kid! She tests us often to see what she can get away with, like opening the pantry doors and stuff like that. She goes up to the handle and then stops to look at us with a little grin. She's cute and she knows how to use it! She is a very good baby and usually listens when we tell her "no".

Molly still loves books and loves to give them to us to read to her. She usually does not let us get through 1 before she is handing us another. She also LOVES to dance. Dancing seems to come naturally to Molly and is usually instantaneous when she hears music. She has a variety of moves which are all equally cute! (I believe she gets the dancing skills from me.)

Molly is the best baby anyone could be blessed with. She is beautiful and smart and has the best personality. You make us so proud Molly!

I love you Molly.

Be all that you can be

The title has nothing to do with the Army (well not for the purposes of this blog). I say that because it popped into my head after spending the weekend in El Paso with Wifey and Baby Buvs. I LOVED LOVED LOVED being able to spend the entire weekend with them and being "Dada". Every moment with Molly is great. I cherish the happy times and crabby times all the same. She is such a good baby. She makes me want to be all that I can be for her. A lot of people have commented on what a good Daddy I am and I GREATLY appreciate it. I just think I am being a Dad and doing exactly what I am supposed to do. Molly makes it pretty easy.
I can not believe the love I have for that kid and I can't really describe it. I was holding her at the wedding we went to this weekend while the bride and groom were making their entrance and was over come with emotion when I looked at her. She is so pretty and cute and sweet. I just stood in the corner and danced with her to the music and...cried a bit. Sarah and I took her out to the grass at the country club after the ceremony so we could take some pictures of her. She played in the grass and tried to eat it. It was really cute. I loved watching her crawl and explore and just be the beautiful baby she is. The entire weekend was kinda like that for me. I don't really know what it was. I am just SO PROUD to be "Molly's Dad". It is the best feeling in the world! My emotional moments spilled over to my time with Molly back at home on Father's Day while I was attempting to put her to bed. I was holding her and dancing with her and singing to her (You are my sunshine) in her room. I could not even sing the whole dang song without crying. Pretty funny...makes me want to cry just thinking about it!

So, Molly, I love you and I hope I will ALWAYS be all that I can be for you!

Too fast...

Well it seems like it has been forever since my last blog. I just have not made time to write. I know I should, but I have just been tired and lazy I guess. Anyway, Molly is growing SO fast! She has two teeth now (on the bottom) and has one coming in on top and is eating lots of good baby food prepared by her Mommy. Molly is getting so big and CUTE. She has a great personality and seems to love pretty much everyone. She started crawling and is already trying to get into everything. We really have to watch her. She is still sleeping well, but this teething stuff has been a slight disruption for her. That's alright though, she is still the best baby girl ever. She is also now pulling herself up to her knees in the crib and sometimes up to her feet. I saw that for the first time and was excited, but kind of sad all at the same time. I want her to learn and grow and all that stuff, but I also want her to stay a baby forever.
I love her so much. I love walking into her room in the morning and watching her smile and bounce up and down in her crib when she sees me. Her smile is the best thing in the world. I could be in the worst mood or super tired, but when she smiles at me nothing else matters. When she sleeps at night, she's the cutest. When she is awake, she's the cutest... It does not really matter what she is doing, I guess.

Aaaand, all her new little sounds and faces she makes are very entertaining! I just can't get enough of her! I am so lucky to have such a beautiful baby and an awesome wife to share her with. I love you Molly and Sarah!

Sarah started her own blog so check it out... www.buvsfam.blogspot.com

Here are some random pics (not in any particular order). :)

My kid rocks!

I am soooo behind on the blog. Molly got her first exercauser (or however that is spelled) and LOVES it. She loves it so much she spit up on it during her first use! She also got a high chair and has started eating rice cereal and as of today, carrots! She seems to like eating both items with her fingers as a "chaser". It's pretty cute. She is developing quite a personality and some say she must be my kid because of how crazy she gets. She smiles A LOT and likes to talk and play. She sleeps on her stomach, but often flips on her back to hang out and have conversations with her mobile and crib and who knows what else. When we go in her room to flip her back to her stomach at 3 or 4 AM, she gets very excited and starts smiling, laughing and slapping her belly. She is so much fun and we love her SO much. We have so many pictures and I wish I could post them all, along with the videos. But I can't, so here are a few pictures and a video or two if I can get them to upload! Nope... videos later I guess.. Enjoy!

Our little trooper!

"What a great spirit"

Molly was sick this weekend, well she has been sick for a couple weeks... I took her to the Dr. the Monday before last and was told that it had not moved to her lungs... a couple days later the coughing and wheezing got worse and I wondered if I should take her back to the Dr. She was waking up with boogies under her nose and did not sound great. When I picked her up from her crib on Friday, she sounded horrible. Her breathing was rapid and did not look normal. Her cough made me cringe and her breathing was bad. I called the Dr. and was told they would call in a script for her to help with the flem/boogies/gunk... They also said if her breathing seems too bad, then I should take her to Urgent Care or to the ER. I contacted the pharmacy and they never got a script called in from the Dr. I talked to Sarah and told her I might be taking Molly to Urgent Care... I ended up waiting for Sarah to get home. We got to Urgent Care at about 5:45 and waited for a while... finally the nurse or whatever he was came out and hooked her up to a machine to measure her pulse and her oxygen level. It was 92. I believed that to be low, but later found out anything greater than 90 was OK. They took us back to a room right away, ahead of some other people who had been waiting for a long time with some pretty sick kids/babies. Dr. Patel came in and talked to us. He was GREAT! He told us he was going to give Molly some breathing treatments and that she was not going to like them. He explained she would probably fight us and we would have to be strong and hold the mask on her face. Molly was a trooper. She did cry a bit, but not nearly to the point he said she would. She even smiled at times during her treatment. After the 1st treatment, Dr. Patel was not happy with the result. So another treatment was given... Her breathing did not improve and her oxygen level seemed to get worse. Dr. Patel talked about giving her another treatment, but seemed uncomfortable about it. He talked about having to send Molly to the ER. After some discussion, I told him to just send us. I figured I would drive her myself, but he said he could not allow that because of her condition and their policy at the Urgent Care. He called for and ALS (advanced life support) ambulance and said they would arrive in about 20 minutes. 20 minutes seems like a really long time when your baby is sick! The ambulance got there and hooked her up to their own pulse/ox machine. Sarah got on the gurney and Molly sat on her lap. They loaded them up and were on their way. I followed in my truck. Molly actually fell asleep on the way to the hospital...
Once we got to the ER, we were brought in right away and they began a series of tests. She had a chest xray after they suctioned her nose. The boogies from the suction were taken for testing and came back positive for RSV. Her xrays showed pneumonia... so they told us she was going to be admitted. I watched them give Molly an IV in her hand. That sucked and Molly did not like it very much. She only cried a little though. She is a tough baby! It took a long time to get her a bed because there were so many sick kids there that night... Amy was at the hospital with us, so I left to get some things for us... We got a room later that night/moring. I think it was about 3am. The room was very small and not meant for many people. There was one recliner and one other chair in the room. I slept on the floor for a while the first night. Amy brought her air matress for us to use the rest of the time and that was nice.

So for the next few days, Molly had her nose/lungs suctioned and was monitored the whole time. She was given fluids and antibiotics via IV. She grew to HATE the suctioning and being held down during the suctioning. She fought like crazy! She is such a strong baby! Matt, the nurse with us during the day even said, "She's a fighter!" She was slapping and kicking and scratching every time. She was on oxygen for the majority of her hospital stay. Although I know it did not hurt her, it sucked to see her with the tubes on her little face.

Sarah is an incredible Mother and refused to leave the hospital at all. I left once or twice a day to get supplies and to feed the dogs. I am so PROUD of Sarah and so happy she is the Mother of our beautiful baby girl!

We finally got released on Tuesday morning. We were exhausted, but very happy to be taking out baby home! Molly is doing well. She is still on antibiotics. She is such a happy baby and that is what got us through all of this. Even though she was sick and feeling crappy, she kept on smiling and making everyone smile. She is a fighter and is strong! "What a great spirit", like my friend Shannon said.

I love you, Molly!

Daddy

(Previously recorded)

Just a couple of videos I took the other day when Molly woke up from her morning nap... and me in the background being silly, attempting to get her to laugh. :) This thing takes for ever to upload!