Happy 1st Birthday Baby Molly!

Dear Baby Molly,

I am not believing it's true! An entire year has already gone by since we first met. I will never ever forget the first time I laid my eyes on you, as you were being born. It was a very long 14+ hr wait for me  after my 1st glimpse of you, before I got to see you again. You had to be in NICU and the Doctors wouldnt let me come see you until the next day, because I had a fever and I had to be on oxygen due to difficulties breathing after you were born.
Those moments without having you near me, were so hard and so scary. As I was dealing with my own complications, I had the fear of what you were also dealing with and I struggled not being able to be by your side. I sent Daddy down to NICU to take pictures of you for me, and I called several times to check on you.

Daddy was so sweet, since he got to go see you before I did, he made sure to not touch you or to not let anyone else touch you because he wanted me to have that special moment first.

I also will never forget walking into NICU the next morning, and seeing you officially for the 1st time.

1st Moment seeing you since birth

You were laying there so swollen and so puffy and you had stuff on your face& I couldn't really see what you looked liked all that well. The first time I touched you, felt like heaven to me. I couldn't believe that this was it. This was the moment I had waited so long for! My First Born.You were the baby that finally made me a mommy. You were the baby that I felt move inside of me all that time, you were the baby that I looked forward to seeing on ultra sounds every week, and most of all, you were the baby that doctors said I may never get to know...and there you were. Right infront of me. So Tiny, yet So Beautiful. And though, I knew in that moment that I had a long wait to go, before I could bring you home...I was so very excited that you were finally here. All my pregnancy struggles were over, and now I had a new set of worries that began. But in my heart of hearts, I knew that God had kept you safe inside of me for 32 weeks, and because of that I was going to soon be bringing you home.

Every single day I came to visit you, without fail. And I looked forward to coming around that corner to see you laying in your little isolette. Every day you grew stronger, It always made me smile, to see how snuggled & peaceful you seemed when I would walk in.

And every day you had another nurse fall in love with you. But no love, was ever stronger than the love I had for you.

When the day came that the doctors called and told me you would be coming home, I can never explain the joy I had in my heart. I had waited so long for the moment that I could hold you without end...no nurses telling me my visitation hours were over...you were finally mine to keep and  that was indescribable to me.

The Day You Came Home

These moments I am sharing with you, still seem like yesterday to me, yet it has been an entire year.
I have loved every moment of being your mommy, and can not believe this time has gone by so fast. Sometimes, when I have time to just sit and think...I often wander back to the times that I had to wake you up every 3 hrs to feed you. I miss that. I miss you being so tiny that I could hold you and your sister both in just one arm.

And though I miss those times of you being so small, I know that I have made the most of those times. I took full advantage of my time with you, and rarely even went anywhere at all without you.

 And the time I have with you now I am also making the most of. You have become such a gorgeous little girl, with big beautiful blue eyes, and you have such a lovey personality! You are my social butterfly, and you smile at everyone! You give me so much to look forward to in this life. I love you with every beat of my heart!

You are taking your time on the crawling thing, but you have started to army crawl using your arms to get around. I LOVE seeing you do this. This is a fairly new thing for you. You used to just scoot or roll but now you do the army crawl and I love it. You have figured out how to follow me around the house doing this. And it melts my heart to see you come lagging behind me.

You are definitley calling for Mommy when you are upset. You always say "mu mu mu mu" and when you are playing it is "da-da-da-di" :)

We have introduced you to table foods and are trying to feed you more table food and less baby foods. I still plan on keeping you on formula until you have reached your "adjusted age" of 12 months. Which will put you to be at 14 months.

We tried the sippy cup with you once and you were not so sure, and daddy has been wanting me to try again and I will...but I know that it will take you a lot of getting used too.

You are weighing 15lbs 11oz and are in size 9 month clothes. Mommy has many nick names for you and Daddy does too. In the past year you have been our "Mollard Pollard", "Molly Anna" " Milkshake Molly" "Noodle Doodle", "Skinny Minnie"  and my favorite....the one I call you every day....is
"Mommy's Special Baby"

Molly Ann Rabon, you are my miracle baby, and I will never ever be able to tell you in enough words how very special you are to me, but I promise to show you every single day of my life, that YOU are the center of my world.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Mommy& Daddy are so proud of the little one you have become!

Love, Mommy

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Emma!

Dear Baby Emma,

Mommy is in so much disbelief that You, my tiny 2lb 13oz little baby girl, are already a healthy 17lb 1oz, 12 Month Old! How did you get to this point so quickly?

I  will never forget the first time I laid my eyes on you. You literally plopped out right after your sister was born, and you looked so tiny and helpless yet so perfect to me. You gave us a good scare when doctors had a hard time getting you to breathe. We never got to hear your 1st cry because they had to wisk you off to NICU where they had a team of doctors working to save your life.

I remember my heart feeling like it fell out of my chest, when the NICU  Dr came to my room after you were born to update me on you. He said that you needed to have a blood transfusion that very hour because you were so anemic at birth.  That was very scary for me, and I wanted nothing more than to be with you through it all but I wasn't allowed.

As soon as they stablilzed you they allowed visitors to go and see you. Daddy was sure to take plenty of pictures to come back and show me, because I wouldnt be able to see you until the next day. I hadn't even been able to touch you, yet my heart....my life....it was yours. I loved you with everything that I had.

The first time I saw you was hard for me.

The First Time I Saw You

 You were extremely little and looked so sick. I always put on my brave face when I was there with you. I wanted you to feel peaceful when mommy came. I had a special song that I sang to you and your sister daily, and to this day, I still sing it to you at times.

The first time I held you, I don't think I could have smiled any bigger.

1st Time I held You

In that Moment, I was the happiest mommy in the world. I looked forward to coming up to the hospital to see you everyday, and as you grew healthier my visits with you were much more enjoyable and less worrysome.

You were always so much tinier than your sister, and now you are so much bigger!! You had just reached the 4lb mark when I got to bring you home.

The Day You Came Home

 Once you were home, you had a harder time keeping your body temp up, and I had to keep you very swaddled and very warm. I remember one night when Daddy was working, your temperature dropped very low, and you were very cold and fussy and I was so scared. I held you and rocked you while you were swaddled tight and I just cried and prayed that God would let your temp come back up. And when you still werent getting any warmer, I turned the heat on in the middle of April and I sat on the floor infront of the heater and just held you for hours until your temperature came back up to normalcy. Daddy was worried about you that night too, and He came home just to check on you and love on you. He was always better at keeping you warmer than me because he is so much bigger than mommy that you had more room to snuggle and more body heat to help keep you warm.

Though, I am glad I do not have to worry about you being so small that you can't stay warm, I do miss you being so tiny. I absolutely loved having you home with me. You were like my real life baby doll. And I always thought that you were going to be the "fragile" one.

But you have prooved me wrong. You are so big and healthy and smart, and into EVERYthing you could possibly think of. You have surpassed your precious " big" sister in many areas, and you have really impressed Daddy and Me!  And boy, do you have an ATTITUDE! :) You are my little stinker! If you do not want something you are not afraid to let someone know. Usually you make it clear by squealing with a wrinkled up face, or by cocking your eyebrows & saying really sassy like "uuuuh!"

You are crawling, and trying so hard to pull up on everything, you pull yourself straight up on your knees but you have not gone all the way to your feet yet. Although, when you are crawling...you often crawl using your hands and feet instead of your knees. I call it the london bridge crawl, because when you do it you literally look like you are making a bridge of yourself.

You are eating more table foods and less baby foods, although you are suprisingly very picky about certain textures. But, if it is something you like to eat...you will eat and eat and eat. You LOVE food!

Daddy and I have many nicknames for you. In the past year you have been our "Gracie"  "Gracie Pooh" "Emma Grace" "Chunkster" "Noodle" "Sassy" and My favorite...the One I call you everyday is "Mommy's Special Baby".

You are a Mommy's Girl. Daddy doesn't like to admit it, but it is very true. :) You are all about tugging on Mommy's pants legs and wanting me to hold you, and you are not always open to the idea of letting someone other than Mommy or Daddy hold you. If it is a crowd of people around, you want one of us, no one else.

You have a little temper on you when things aren't just the way you want them, and while at times this can be a challenge, it is still something I love about you. It makes you who you are, and when I think back to the times that you were so weak nurses could stick you with needles and you wouldnt even flinch or cry....I now very much love that you can express yourself.

Emma Grace, you are my precious little angel. My gift from God. You are the baby girl that I dreamt about for many years before having you. I always knew I one day would have a daughter Named "Emma Grace" and  Daddy & I called you by name for a long time before we ever even concieved. And now, getting to put a face to your name, and getting to live every moment with you has completely changed our lives in such a wonderfully magnificient way. And the fact that there is two of you, makes life all the more exciting! I can never ever put into enough words how very special you are to us, but I promise to show you every day in every way by being the best mom I could possibly be.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Mommy and Daddy Love You So Much!

Love, Mommy

2 Teeth for Molly!!!

My Baby Girl has her 2nd tooth! I felt it tonight right before putting her to bed.

It's  funny to me, that 9 days later she is wearing the exact same outift that she was wearing the night her 1st tooth came in! And yes, I've changed her clothes since then! :)

Molly's 1st Tooth!

Look Who FINALLY got her 1st tooth! :)

My Sweet Molly Bear!

I took this picture right after I felt her tooth for the 1st time. I know today was the day it came in because I just checked last night to see if it had come through yet, and it hadnt.

What's so funny about this, is that she got her 1st tooth exactly one month from when Emma got her 2nd! Emma's 2nd tooth popped in on Feb 7th!

Mommy didn't prepare a big girl dinner for Molly to celebrate her 1st tooth with because she has fallen victim of a nasty tummy bug that has been going around, and she isn't able to hold much down right now. But looking at the picture of her, you would never know my happy little girl was sick!

I can't believe I will never see that Big Toothless Smile Again, that I loved so much!

But I know you will be just as adorable with little teefers poppin in.

I love you Baby Molly!!!

Happy Birthday PawPaw!

Today, My Paw Paw is celebrating his birthday!

Thank you Lord for giving him another year to enjoy this life!

My Paw Paw is such an important person in my life. I have been so blessed to have such amazing grandparents, and to be able to have a close relationship with each of them has brought an unexplainable joy to my life.

Pawpaw and Molly when she was 5 months Old :)

Pawpaw giving Emma kisses when she was 5 Months old

Pawpaw, you are an amazing Great Grandfather, Grandfather, Father, and Friend, and We Love you with all of our Hearts!! Thank you for setting the example for those of us behind you to follow. You have raised the bar high, and I am so proud to call you MY Pawpaw!

Happy Birthday to You! We Hope You Enjoyed Your Day! 

My Baby Girl is Crawling!!

Oh My Goodness Gracious! I am SO excited to say my sweet baby girl is now crawling!! She has been SO close to doing this for a long time. Anytime I would have to leave the house I would tell whomever was watching them to make sure they distracted Emma from trying to crawl if she started to get up on her hands and knees, because I selfishly did not want to miss it!!

I do not stay home with my girls 24/7 to miss these moments! :) I am happy to say that I did NOT miss her crawling! We went to the zoo this afternoon with some friends and when we got home I took her out of her car seat, changed her diaper, and her clothes, and as soon as I put her on the floor to play she took off almost immediately! Without hesitation!! I am so proud of my big girl!!

This is such a HUGE milestone!! Mommy is so proud of you Emma Grace!!! I can't even describe how excited I am! This is yet again, another reminder of how far you have come. You make me so proud!

I have video of her as soon as she started crawling but for some reason blogger is a being a pain and won't let me upload it. Or perhaps, it is just my laptop. Some days I want to throw this thing out the door!

I will try to post a video at somepoint!

Playdate with Colton!

This afternoon the girls had a play date with their friend Colton, and of course we went to the Zoo! We have thoroughly enjoyed our Zoo Membership!!

Heather, Colton, Erika, Emma (L) and Molly ( R)

Colton and His Mommy

We sat the babies infront of this lion to get their picture together and Molly was a total flirt!

First she threw her leg over Colton

Then she put her arm around him and grabbed his collar

Then she leaned all the way in and kept trying to kiss him!

Silly Molly, she really put on a show for us! :)

Then Here is My Little Em, just watching it all with a sweet grin on her face

Precious Little Ones!

Colton with his Mommy and his 2 twin Aunt's :)

We had such a great day! Can't wait to do it again!