Emily's Confirmation

I love spending time with my family. Ever since I have become a momma, this has been so much more important to me. It is very important that Mollie knows her whole family (Great Aunts and Uncles included). Today my sister was confirmed in the church. My brother was her sponser, but he was unable to be there, so I was asked to be his substitute. As we were sitting at practice on Monday night, we were told that the Archbishop would as the confirmants questions. This made my sister very nervous, and I was nervous too! They prepped us for whatever he might ask. So today when we got to the church I was answering all of the questions in my head. I knew that she would be able to ask me the answer if she didn't know what it was. SCARY!

Anyway she was great! Her saint was Mary and he didn't even ask her a question. He just talked about his love for Mary. It was great! Afterward we took some family pictures. I love to document days like this! Here are just a few:

Recipe of the week: Poppyseed Chicken

The past 3 weeks back at school has been crazy and I really haven't tried any new recipes. I just didn't have the time of energy to cook much, so we went back to the easy staples of the Evanina household. Here is one of my favorites. I love to make this recipe on Sunday nights and then reheat it another day. We will be eating it for lunch throughout the week.

Ingredients:
3 lbs of chicken
16 oz of sour cream
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs
2 tbsp poppy seeds

Directions:
1. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces.
2. Boil the chicken for 15-20 minutes. Grease an oven safe dish and preheat oven to 325 degrees.
3. Mix the chicken, sour cream, and cream of chicken soup in greased dish.
4. In another bowl, melt the stick of butter.
5. Mix butter, bread crumbs, and poppy seeds
6. Pour bread crumb mixture on top of chicken mixture.
7. Put the dish in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
8. ENJOY!!!

First trip to the lake!

Last Tuesday, we had a surprise trip to the lake with the Evanina's. Everyone was off work or was working from home. So we decided to all head to the lake for Mollie's first boat ride. It was very fun! Here are some pictures from the day...

3 months! My big girl!

Three Month Stats

Weight: 12 lbs. 8 oz  (she was weighed today since we went to the doc. for the cold)
Height: not sure, but I know she is longer. A lot of her outfits no longer fit
Head: who knows! she is looking more like an infant than a newborn
Feeding: Mollie is now eating 5oz every 3-4 hours throughout the day. She loves to eat! She has the daycare lady fooled that she needs to eat more often.

Sleep: She sleeps for about 30 minutes at a time usually during the day, but will sleep and wake up and then fall back asleep. She loves to be held when she is sleeping and will sleep for about an hour if she is being held.

Activity: Mollie still loves her activity map right now. When she wakes up in the morning, after eating, I will put her on her mat for about 15-30 mins. She coos and laughs at the different toys hanging down. She will swing her arms and hit the different toys over and over again. She will move her head towards noise and loves to smile.
            She loves to sit on a pillow next to me on the couch as I watch tv or play on the computer. She will talk and laugh, kick and swing her arms, and look around at everything!


Soothing: Mollie now gets swaddled every night before she goes to bed. She will fall asleep within about 5 minutes once she is swaddled.
              She loves her hands, but gets very frustrated when she can't figure out how to put her thumb in her mouth.
                  Her latest thing is her lovie with a pacifier. It is a little lamb that has a pacifier that is attached. She loves to hold onto it and suck on the paci. She also loves her adem + anais blankets from Target.
Milestones: Mollie is working on rolling over. She has made it about halfway. She is growing so fast! She also loves to stand on our legs and look around the room. She has gotten so strong.  

Clothing: Mollie is fitting in size 1 diapers, but she won't be much longer. We are about to move up to size 2. She is wearing size 0-3 and 3 month clothes. I love dressing her every morning! When she gets older, she is going to be spoiled rotten!!

Here are some of our favorites from the past month:

our first cold :(

Ever since Tuesday I just knew that something was up with Mollie. She was very irritable unless she was being held. She didn't sleep much and just wanted someone around her all the time. In the past couple weeks, she has become quite an independant baby. She will now play on her mat of toys or in her crib all by herself. (I attribute this to daycare.) So when she wimpered all day, I knew something was wrong. I thought that it might just be because we were at the lake and off her schedule. She woke up Wenesday morning just like her bubbly self. She played and played until it was time to go to daycare. (I like to call it school.)  She had a great day and was happy as could be when I picked her up that afternoon. Wednesday evening she started to choke. It was so scary. It was like she had some phlem in her throat and couldn't get it out. I called the afterhours nurse and explained all of the symptoms. She had a doctor (nurse practitioner) call me back and I explained all of the symptoms again. The NP said that it could be a lot of things, but that we should be good through the night. As I was talking to her, Mollie was having a coughing fit in the back of the car. I ran my finger through her mouth to get all of the spit out, and she threw up. GROSS! I know!!! The NP said this was a good thing and that she needed to get the mucus out somehow. She told me to get saline to squirt up her nose and that was about all they could do for a baby Mollie's age. When we got home, David and I worked together to do the saline. That was HORRIBLE and she thought we were the devil. Mollie was so mad! But it seemed to work. She had a couple more coughing fits throughout the night. She slept in her bouncy seat (upright just like the NP said) and I slept on the couch right next to her. It was a long night!

My sick baby girl :( She was so pitiful!



Supplies for a cold with a 3 month old!



When I woke up I decided I was going to take Mollie to the doctor just to make sure it was nothing more than the common cold. I have had friends with babies that had RSV and I didn't want to end up in the hospital. So this morning, Mollie and I went to the office. They diagnosed it as a common cold and said that it should last for 2-3 weeks. Then she said she would be fine for a couple days and probably get another one because she is at a daycare and they see everything! This could go through April. Fun Fun!!



She has been laughing and playing all afternoon. Maybe she is feeling a little better!



Trying to get my head above water!

I have been back at work for 2 weeks! Every day feels like forever, and I can't wait to be at home with my baby girl. The first few days were rough for 2 reasons. One because I couldn't stand to leave Mollie with anyone else, and also because I was totally overwhelmed at work. During my maternity leave, I didn't ignore work. I did small things that could be done from home. I answered emails, called parents, and worked on paperwork. I can't imagine how overloaded I would feel if I didn't do all that. I felt so guilty spending my time off working, but I knew that if I didn't get it done, I would have been on OVERLOAD! I feel so much better about going to work everyday. I finally feel like I know what I need to do to be productive, and I feel like I am able to actually teach now.

Every day that I leave my sweet baby, I know that I am leaving her in good hands. David is so amazing with her in the mornings and on his Tuesdays off. He told me this morning that he can't leave her in her crib while he gets ready in the morning. He wants her right with him. His job is to get her ready for daycare and drop her off. I couldn't do that everyday, so he has decided he would do this for me. On Tuesdays, he takes care of her all day long. Usually they go visit people, run errands, and spend time together just daddy and Mollie. I think this is really good for Mollie to get days with each of us. I get to spend Sundays with her all by myself.

On Saturdays we have family days. We have decided that we are going to try to do something every week as a family. We know that things will come up, and we might not get to spend the whole day together, but we are going to ATTEMPT to spend a little time as a family on Saturdays. We think it is really important to show Mollie the importance of family even though she is too young to understand right now. We want her to grow up knowing that this is what we do.  Saturday is our only day that both David and I will be home in the week.

This Weekend

This weekend has been filled with such fun times! I vowed to make it a good one, because I didn't want to think about going back to work once!

Friday started with spending the day with Mollie at home. We hung out all day and she was in such a good mood! She smiled and laughed all day long!! It is so fun to see her develop such a personality all of her own. Then I went to Mexican with an old friend and had a great time! It was great to catch up and not have to worry about anything!

On Saturday, we woke up and headed to Olan Mills to take Mollie's pictures. We have had pictures lined up with a couple different people, and they have gotten cancelled for one reason or another. So, we really wanted to get pictures before she got too big. Olan Mills has a great program where you sign up for a year (only $20) and you can get as many pictures taken as you want. There is no sitting fee, and everything is half off over $50. It was perfect and she was such a good baby! We only had one fussy period and she ate quickly so that we could continue the picture taking. (I have added a couple, but check out the 2 month post with more of the pictures.)

Saturday afternoon, Mollie and I met our friend Kari at the Suwanee Day festival with her daughter, Mattie. The girls rode around in their strollers and slept the whole day while the mommies looked for fun arts and crafts. I meant to get a picture, but I forgot my camera. Mattie and Mollie have gotten so big!

On Sunday, since David had to work, I had another day with my baby girl. So we decided to head over to my grandfather's house to help out around the yard. He needed help with his pool and yard, so Mollie hung out in her pack n play and I helped clean things up. It was a great time with family, and was a great last day of maternity leave.

Tonight as I get ready to head back to school I thank God that I was able to spend the past 10 weeks with my precious angel, Mollie. Her bag is packed, clothes are laid out, and she is starting her nighttime routine. I am very sad to let her go, but I know that she is in good hands and will have a great time. I certainly will miss my baby girl!