Pillow La La

My sister had a pillow she couldn't do without when she was but a wee child. Since my sister was a particularly creative kid, it was called her "Pillow La La".

My Mom brought it out for Molly to have fun with.

Nicole and Leah

Nicole, Niko, Leah, and Oscar got together with us for their annual Christmas celebration. Oscar was giving Molly a kiss here.

Funny story: I don't know if these types of gifts are the norm for these two, but Leah got Niko (Nicole's son) a block of a chalk-like substance that he was supposed to "excavate" dinosaur bones from. Nicole got Oscar (Niko's son) a monkey that repeats what you say back to you.

The result: Niko was a chalky mess by the end of the night and Oscar had a screaming monkey to deal with. I'm not sure if Molly will avoid the messy and loud toys, but her parents will be happy if she did!

Reading

I had said that she likes to be read to and I swear she follows along. Maybe it's just the colors on the page that catches her attention, but she does like to look at the pages as I flip through them.

We don't get through more than a few books before more pressing needs come up, but it's fun while it lasts!

Great Grandmas

Not much in the way of updates. She's still cute. She's still alert. She's still loved.

She likes to be sung to. Stevie Wonder and They Might Be Giants are hits so far (at least my versions of them).

She likes to be talked to. She will stare into your eyes as you talk.

She likes to be read to. Sam McBratney's Guess How Much I Love You was the first book she had read to her.

She hung out with her Great Grandmothers over the last few days. She met Great Grandma Caird for the first time yesterday, as well as a few new Grand Uncles and Aunts. Her second cousin Julia was there as well.





Great Grandma Schultz (or GG as she likes to be called) had a bunch of us over for dinner tonight.

Molly has an extensive extended family. All happy for us, all happy about Molly. She will have quite an adventure getting to know them all.

More Santa

Guess who made a visit to the Caird household? Santa stopped by for a few photos at Colleen's Parents' house before our Christmas dinner. Strangely enough, he also resembles Marc Smith.

The kids were having fun getting passed around all night long. Everyone took turns holding and feeding Molly. She even stayed awake through a big chunk of the evening.

Calvin likes to check out what you're doing so he can smile and show off his dimples.



Molly and Calvin had a great first Christmas. She has a big year coming up of growing and learning. It seems like she's changed so much in just a few short weeks.

We hope everyone had a great holiday season!

Christmas Morning

It seems that Santa left a few presents for Molly under the tree. It also seems that Colleen wants to kick off some Christmas traditions as soon as possible.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas eve at my Parents' house. Dinner for the adults was a very non-traditional seared sesame tuna on a bed of greens with an Asian vinaigrette. Dinner for Molly was a very traditional milk/formula combination.

I think she had a good time. She spends a lot more time awake and alert in between feedings. It makes it a lot of fun to get her attention and talk to her. My Mom was not shy about doing that.

Lifting My Head

Molly is starting to lift her head for a look around. I am told that this is remarkable for a one-month old, but I'm at the point that I expect her to do amazing things.

Alicia

Our friend Alicia visited last week and is super excited for us. It is nice when people want to be a part of this child's life.

A Bunch of Kids

Colleen's sister wanted to get a few of the kids together, so we went over there along with Liz and her daughter Charlotte and Sara with her daughter Kaitlyn. We hung out with Calvin and had a really good time, despite what this picture indicates.




I'm counting myself lucky right now that Molly is not mobile. Watching the other mothers chase after their girls was exhausting.

Here's Kaitlyn going for a tree ornament.






And Charlotte taking pictures (kind of).







It's nice to know that Molly will have many friends close to her age. Hopefully her parents can keep up!

Housekeeping

Blog housekeeping, that is.

I changed the way comments can be left so now you don't need a blogger user ID to leave one. Just click on "comments" at the bottom of any post and you can leave a message, but click "Name" under it and just leave your name.

I changed the link to most of the photos so now when you click on one, it will open a larger sized version of it. Of course, you can always click on "Molly's Photo Collection" under Links and get to all pictures of her.

Bath Time

Today was Molly's first real bath. We have this contraption that goes in the kitchen sink that monitors the water and warns you if it is getting too hot or too cold.






The bath part went pretty well. She didn't mind getting soapy and rinsed off (I think Colleen enjoyed the process even more than Molly did). Getting out of the water to get dried and dressed, however, was a different story. I guess the transition from warm bath water to cold kitchen was quite unpleasant.


After being put into her warm clothes and fed, Molly was back to her happy and good smelling self.

Becks

Justin and Leah (and her new cute hair) dropped by for their first look at Molly. Justin was gazing adoringly at the baby in this picture.

Lydia

Lydia brought lunch for Colleen and had some quality Molly time. It might have been better quality time if Barney would have left her alone, but he really wanted her attention today.

Santa!

We made the trip out to Oakland Mall so that Molly could meet Santa. He can be intimidating to some kids, but Molly was pretty relaxed.

Melanie and Company

Melanie, Ashley, and Brooke came by for a visit. Melanie made dinner for us, complete with containers of ingredients and instructions. Delicious creamy chicken and pasta. There was enough for two nights of dinners.

This idea of bringing meals to new parents who might not have the time or energy to cook and clean is pretty new to me and is a great little tradition. Thanks Melanie for your time and energy.

The funny thing is that Molly lets us cook, but wants attention when we sit down to eat.

Christmas Outfit

We dressed Molly up in her smart little Christmas outfit for some nice photos. She was awake when we dressed her, partially awake when we set her up in the chair, and asleep when the camera came out. It was a nice try.




She didn't wake up until Colleen's Dad came over and started to play with her. We got a few nice facial expressions then.







Speaking of expressions, she has always been good at a perplexed look, but now she is starting to smile every now and again.

Let Sleeping Dogs (And Babies) Lie

Molly might have taken Barney's place on the couch, but he didn't seem to mind.

Who's Got My Belly Button?

I have heard that after a few weeks, the belly button should fall off, but isn't it the thing covering it is what falls off? She is, after all, left with a belly button.

Whatever it is, it happened today. Colleen was changing a diaper and she's not sure if she bumped it or not, but it went rolling off of Molly and onto the changing table.

I get great tidbits from people like, "It will be so amazing when she learns to roll over." Or, "She's easy to keep track of now, wait until she learns to walk." My sister even asked me what college she will go to!

My friend Brooke gave me some great advice to not look so far down the road that I miss out on what's going on now. The future will be here soon enough. Right now I'm thrilled to see her new belly button.

Aunt Kathy

My sister was in town from California over the weekend to visit her new niece. We, in turn, got to meet her new boyfriend, Tyler. He's a great guy and really seemed to enjoy spending time with the crazy Remeikas.

Besides going to the "Holiday Nights" event at Greenfield Village (why people from sunny California would want to walk around Greenfield Village in 20 degree temperatures I'll never know), we got to spend a lot of time together. We played games, ate many big meals, and Kathy got some quality Molly time.

I also found out that there is definitely a wrong way to put on a diaper. It's a good thing we brought a change of clothes for Molly!

Cozy Molly

Molly likes to sleep. A lot. Usually on her own terms, sometimes when we need a nap, but almost always under this great blanket made by Audrey Pannuto.

Stepping Out

Last night was Colleen's work holiday party and we decided to go for it. It was at Sweet Georgia Brown, a pretty fancy restaurant in downtown Detroit. It was a pretty fun night. They had nice appetizers, a chocolate fountain station, and a cool three-piece jazz band.

The most amazing thing was that we did not call Colleen's parents, who were babysitting, every 15 minutes to check up on Molly. A lot of Colleen's co-workers were amazed that she even made it to the party. We knew Molly was in good hands for a few hours and we just enjoyed ourselves.

It was nice that a lot of people were happy for us and are looking forward to Colleen returning to work.

Thanks to SRR for throwing such a great party!

More Visitors

We feel fortunate to have friends who are genuinely happy for us and want to make sure that we are doing well. We are getting plenty of phone calls and visitors over the last few days.

Nicole's kids, Savannah and Kayla, were almost fighting over who got to hold the baby.







Colleen's Aunt Gail, Uncle Steve, and Cousin Steve were driving home to Ann Arbor from New York and decided to swing by Ferndale to check out Molly.






Leah Duncan brought Colleen lunch while I was at work and Sara brought us dinner (my favorite Red Coat Tavern burgers for me).






Of course there have been many visits from our parents, who are still giddy having a new grandchild around. Even Molly's Aunt Kathy (my sister) is flying in from California tonight to see her over the weekend.

Thanks to everyone who's checked in on us. Taking care of a baby is exhausting, but we are never too tired to see a friendly face.

How's Barney?

I get asked about how Barney is dealing with the new member of the household. Dogs can feel stress, anxiety, or even aggression when relinquishing their "center of attention" status.

Happily, this is not the case with Barney. When we are taking care of Molly, he does not beg for attention. Her cries do not bother him (and she has quite a set of pipes). When he gets close to Molly, he gives her a sniff, then goes on about his business.

This was not surprising, since Barney is a pretty mild-mannered dog. We are pleased, however, that everyone gets along.

Click here to see what kind of special occasion it was for Barney today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Molly had her first Thanksgiving celebration yesterday. I should make it clear up front: She slept the ENTIRE time. Two sets of grandparents' houses and two dinners. Except for a brief wake-up during a diaper change and feeding, she was out cold.




It did not stop us from having a good time, though. We took hundreds of pictures and put Molly through at least one outfit change.

The food was plentiful, traditional, and delicious (especially Nancy's from-scratch turkey gravy).



It's amazing how children make a holiday more festive and joyous. I guess we adults are pretty boring until you throw a five month-old and a five day-old baby into the mix. We truly have much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving and have a great holiday season!

You can look at a few more of our Thanksgiving pictures by clicking here.

Doctors Agree...

Molly had her first check-up today and was given a clean bill of health. Everything looked good, her expected weight loss is in the normal range, she measured 22 inches long, and she has "very nice skin."

Finally Home

Colleen and Molly were discharged from the hospital today. There was a mini-blizzard going on, but everyone was in good spirits. I know I was happy to get out of that hospital.






My mom brought lunch for us and welcomed us home.

Colleen's parents came over later in the afternoon to check in on us. Kathy, Karen, and Marc are bringing our dog, Barney, over tonight after watching him for the last five days.

We are looking forward to settling in and figuring each other out.

Visitors!

Mother and baby are doing fine. Colleen, other than a little discomfort, is healing up nicely. She is now tube-free! The needles and wires have been removed. She is also back on solid food. Molly also has had continuous check-ups. All of the doctors that have come by are really happy about their progress.

Molly was greeted by so many people over the last few days! What a great outpouring of love, excitement, support, and gifts.