PEAS, please!!

Melanie had her best night yet of eating veggies; the key is the chair!! Jeff's coworker Sarah (a frequent subject in the blogs for all the things she gives us!!) provided this booster seat that screws onto the table, and Mel really enjoyed her peas tonight!
PS - Yes, that's Lucas next to her. As soon as she got situated and wanted her peas, he was right up with her, staring at us wanting to know where HIS peas were! He apparently got shy for the camera.

Melanie in Frankfort

Melanie spent the night last night with Grandma & Grandpa Doan. She slept through the night for the first time ever!! She had cereal for breakfast and dinner yesterday, which I think was the trick. She has only done that one other time, Wednesday. We planned to do it Thursday night, but she was asleep by 7pm. While spending time with Grandma, she got to spend some more time with her cousin Molly, wish Great-Grandma Huck a happy 83rd birthday, and go to the Hotdog Festival!! Big time fun. My boss's 40th birthday was yesterday, so Jeff and I helped him celebrate, and then had houseguests.

Giggles, dinner, and cousins

I got Melanie to giggle once on Monday night! Yes, just once. She still makes noises when she gets excited (and smiles nonstop), but Monday was the first giggle. I've been trying nonstop to replicate it!

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We decided to add a cereal feeding to Mel's daily routine, and I started that tonight. She didn't eat as much as she does in the morning, but she did pretty well. Let's hope that helps the little belly get full for bedtime!

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She is getting to be such a big girl, holding onto things, reaching for things, pooping in the bathtub.... Good times. The photo above shows just how hard she can play. Check out the sock above her head, the positioning of her hands....she sucks her left thumb and holds it in with her right hand when she's particularly tired or hungry; the pose above shows she was sucking, and then just crashed! Becky, that is the outfit you got her - "I pulled an all-nighter" :) Except she didn't, she passed out during it!
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Cousin Update: Molly and Julie are still doing great; I don't know where Julie's energy level comes from! And Melanie's new cousin Worzala is set to arrive the week of August 11. Charlie's 2nd birthday is August 11th, so what a birthday gift he's about to get!

Melanie and Molly part two

Mel & Mol did a better job today! We spent the day at my parents' house (and by spending the day, I mean that Jeff was on the golf course and Mel & I slept)... but the girls got some time together without either of them crying! Julie & Molly are doing great; who knew that the secret to a happy baby is making sure she's eating!? Guess I could've used that tip about four months ago!!

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Mel is staying the night tonight at Grandma & Grandpa's, and having a great time! I am posting here to make myself accountable.... I am doing the Biggest Loser Competition to lose weight! My way to lose weight is not to crazy-diet, but to do everything in moderation. So, stay tuned. We'll see if I can really stay motivated!

CEREAL

Feeding Mel the cereal that she eats every day at daycare wasn't exactly a nice clean event. Oh, what we have to look forward to in the years to come as she learns to eat much more! We only hope she's not as picky as either her mommy or her daddy! Today she weighed 11lbs, 6oz

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Mel was soo cuddly with her daddy when he got back from playing golf today, and she decided to wear his hat to get even more daddy time.

Update on Melanie (with picture of Molly...)

How cute is my niece?!?!!!

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As for Melanie... she is now eating CEREAL FROM A SPOON. Yes, I know. Big time stuff. She is doing great with it. I should know, as we've never seen her do it. :) She's done it the last three days at daycare. We'll see how it goes tomorrow when we have to do it ourselves! It honestly seems to make her sleep better, but, just like any other thing with a baby, you think "this is how it will be...." and then it changes!

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Melanie loves loves loves to nap. According to her daily report, she doesn't nap. So I asked Jeff to talk to the morning shift at daycare and figure that out. My message was, "so what if she's not falling asleep, put the baby in the crib and walk away and let her fall asleep." What he communicated to them was "good morning. here is melanie." But they said she does in fact sleep more than anyone else in the room. They had no idea why we thought she didn't sleep. So Jeff's response, "well, I don't know. for some reason my wife thinks she doesn't sleep." Um, maybe because of the REPORT that we both see every day? Anyway, that's a boy for you. She's been napping upon getting home from daycare, and still going to bed around 8pm.

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Melanie and I are looking forward to visiting more with Baby Molly tomorrow!! On Wednesday night on the way home from Frankfort, when Mel was still pretty fussy, I talked her through all of the things she could teach Molly. Such as saying "Baby Molly, this is how you blow raspberries!" "Baby Molly, this is how you fly like Superman!" "Baby Molly, this is how you eat five ounces at a time!" I also explained that Baby Molly had some things to teach her.... such as "Big Melanie, this is how you have huge feet!" "Big Melanie, this is how you grow hair!" And so on. This actually soothed Big Melanie and she fell asleep! Yay for Baby Molly!!

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Please keep Cory & Baby Worzala in your prayers; BabyW is breech and not seeming to want to move, and may need to arrive in a different way than originally planned. We can't wait to meet her, and want her to make her mommy's life as easy as possible, knowing she'll make up for it in her teenage years!!

M&M

Molly & Melanie met for the first time tonight! Neither were in too great of a mood when the meeting happened - they took turns crying, and I'm not even sure if Grandma saw them in the same room at the same time. Mel has a bit of a rash, which is making her cranky; but when we placed Molly next to her, she immediately stopped crying. Then Molly started up. Then Molly stopped, and Melanie started. Okay, you get the picture. This will not be the last time they soothe each other when they're crying - or the last time they make each other cry!

Molly is precious; she has such a muted little cry, and snorts just like Mel did when she was a newborn. Tonight was a little stressful, but our family is so blessed by the two little Ms in our lives!