Growing Up

As I write this blog post I am listening to the sound of the shower running in the next room. My baby Caroline (5 years old but always my baby) can now start the shower for herself and get clean with no help from her mother at all. This growing up thing sure is bittersweet. While I am glad she can do things on her own, I am also sad because she really doesn't need me for everything anymore. I realize that one day she won't need me to start her bath, to help her out, to put on her jammies, to take her to school, to make her lunch...Hopefully she will always need me as much as I need my mother now...which is A LOT! Just in different ways. I'm giggling right now reading this because it seems like just yesterday that she was a fussy baby never wanting to be put down. I honestly dreamed of the day when she would become more independent. My, how things change. In just one week, Tony and I will go to tour and register her for KINDERGARTEN at Wesleyan. I am excited and anxious about this big step for our little girl. I'm anxious as any parent of a Kindergartener would be and probably overly concerned from the good and bad things that I have seen/experienced as a former elementary school teacher. However, after much prayer, I know that everything will fall into place just as God has planned. He will guide, protect, and nurture her while she is at school and also while she is at home with us. This is one of those seasons in life where I just want everything to freeze. Life as a mother and a wife brings me a joyful sense of peace that I have never felt before. I have always had a pressing forward kind of feeling in life and have always wanted to rush on to the next exciting phase. But right now I just want to put it all on hold. I thank God for this time in life and I know that He will be right there with me for all of the transitions that are to come. Even if they are coming a little sooner than I would like:)

New Pictures to end 2011...What a BLESSED YEAR!

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Our good friend Alisha Schwanke was kind enough to share her time and talents with us. These are some of the beautiful photographs that she took of our family that we will treasure for a lifetime. God has certainly blessed her with an artistic gift and we are so thankful that she has shared that gift with us. www.alishaschwanke.com

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

And Duke goes on to play Stanford tomorrow at 1pm for the NCAA National Championship! I'm so incredibly proud of my Uncle, Robbie Church!!! He deserves this and has worked so hard to recruit and built this championship team! He is such a wonderful person in every way! GO DUKE!!!

GO DUKE!!!

My wonderful Uncle Robbie is the head women's soccer coach at Duke University and they just made it to the NCAA Final 4!!!! I'm so proud of him and the awesome team that he has built at Duke!!! GO DUKE!!!

A DREAM COME TRUE

My older brother Jason has always dreamed of owning his own business and today that dream opened it's doors and came true! For months and months both of my brothers and my Dad have been pouring their hearts into this new business. Today Once Upon A Child - Raleigh opened it's doors! The store is beautiful and in a great location (with a super target, Old Navy, and others)and did I mention it is run by a solid crew:) I'm so proud of Jason for chasing a dream and putting in the hard work to make this all happen! Today was their grand opening and they broke company records for grand opening numbers!!! If you are ever in the North Raleigh area (Poyner Place shopping center) please visit them! The store is FULL of anything (new and gently used) that you would ever need for a child! I'm so proud of my guys and thankful for a hard working, wonderful, patient, beautiful young lady named Cindy:)...behind every great man is an even better woman, right?!!! YES!

Here are a few pics of the store from a few months ago when they first got in.

Happy Fall Yall

Our FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR!!!

Does anyone else notice how big my babies are getting???

Of all places, we have the best time...

AT THE GROCERY STORE! ha... Mommy goes to the grocery store several times a week and we always enjoy our time there! Today we went to another store (other than our usual Harris Teeter) and they had little customer shopping carts! Too FUN! Mommy didn't even have to push a "real" cart b/c the cute little helpers filled their carts with groceries!

Fun pushing the cart OR

We even have fun UNDER the cart!

thirty-one

No, it's not the in-home sales totebag line that I'm referring to...it's my AGE! Yesterday I celebrated my 31st birthday. My wonderful husband, my precious children, my sweet family, and dearest friends made the day extraordinary for me. Thank you to everyone who had any part in making me feel so special. It's amazing how meaningful a phone call, card, flowers, gift, or visit can be when you feel the love from someone close to you who celebrates the day you were born!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I joined the sportscenter for my birthday (Thank you Tony for that wonderful present). Well, to enjoy my gift yesterday I went and swam 50 laps in the pool. To pass the time and to keep up with which lap I was on, I thought about each year of my life. I started on about lap 16 and thought about where I lived, important events that happened in my life, how I celebrated my birthday that year, holidays, friends, good times, and so on from each year of my life. My time swimming passed so quickly that by the time I got to my 31st lap (and current age) I just couldn't stop. So I swam on thinking about my life, where I have been, what I have done, and what I want out of the coming years in my life. I know I must have been smiling up and down the lane. What a beautiful exercise of mind and body to think back on wonderful memories of high school, college, getting married, having children, friends past and present, friends who I will see again in Heaven, trials I've overcome, wonderful experiences I have had, and thinking about the exciting future ahead. Birthdays are a day to be thankful for the life you have and to think about where life has taken you since God brought you into this world. So on day one of my thirty first year, I thank God for a full life and I look forward to many, many more years of being and feeling ALIVE. I have learned to appreciate growing older because the other option is a little less lively:) God Bless You! XOXO, Mollie

Apples to Apples

Caroline, 2 years old, 2008

Maggie, 2 years old -2011
I'm comparing Caroline's first day of school in the apple dress to Maggie's first day of school in the apple dress! How time flies.

Preschool 2011

Before I write anything, I must give praise to God for answering my prayers. I have prayed for months and asked Him to ease Maggie's anxiety about being away from Mommy and that she is able to enjoy all of the joy that preschool brings. I have also prayed for my worries to be replaced with faith and trust because I know that Maggie is in God's loving care in all situations. This morning could not have gone better and I have my wonderful Lord and Savior to thank for it! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! God is soooo good!

Caroline is now a "senior" at her preschool! She has been looking forward to Mrs. Cash's Pre-K since the day school let out for the summer! She is ready to learn and is eager to meet all of her new friends and see her old friends again. She loves every single thing about school and is a social butterfly for sure! Every teachers dream!

As for Maggie, she was excited to go to school and was as cute as a button! She was thrilled to go in with the big kids and by the time the teacher took her hand in the classroom, I was gone. The teacher sent me a text and said that she was doing wonderful! I pray that she enjoys school as much as Caroline does! I'm on my way out the door to pick them up now:)

Here are a few pics of the first day of school! Oh and as for me, there were no tears. It all happened so fast that it took me a few minutes to realize that I was alone. No worries though, I went straight to join the sportscenter and I look forward to working out and hopefully meeting some friends for coffee every now and then!

Another Bittersweet Moment in Parenthood

Tomorrow is a little milestone that I, as a stay at home mother, have looked forward to for some time now. Yet in the same breath, I am a little sad and anxious about the time actually arriving. My little Maggie Moo will go to preschool for the first time. She has never gone to the church nursery, gym childcare, or any care for that matter outside of our home or my parents. To say the least she is attached...and well, so am I.
Maggie had a very scary entrance into this world so Tony and I have always been very protective and cautious with our little miracle. After her near death arrival we battled breathing issues, nebulizer treatments, and countless ear infections on top of all of the "normal" baby/toddler viruses. Needless to say, it was never worth the risk of picking up a virus from the nursery just to go to the gym or sit in church for an hour. SOOO... many Joel Osteens and walks in the neighborhood have kept me moving up until now. Tomorrow I hand over my sweet, precious, tender little girl's every need to her teachers. I pray they can interpret her jibber jabber and enjoy her funny little personality as much as I do every single day.
As I re-read this, I DO realize how silly this seems given that she is only going for a couple of hours a week. It's not really the time spent at the preschool that makes this tough, it's the TIME OF MY LIFE and the fact that she is no longer a baby but a big girl getting her first little taste of independence that really makes this bittersweet.
So tomorrow at about five minutes after nine, I wonder who will be crying, me or Maggie?

O.I.B. 2011

"Ive been pickled" T-shirts. You have your family reunion t-shirts and I've got mine...ha! Everyone's name is listed on the back...Thanks for making these Sara!

Lauren and her sweet dad David. This is such a great pic I just had to post it!

Me and Mags on the Beach

Love me some Lomax! Katie, Lance, and Reid. Great family pic I must say!:)

Kathleen and Caroline at the beach music concert. This picture looks familiar...but it used to be me holding Kathleen and now she's holding my little girl:)

Emma Kate and Caroline playing barbies...what a special friendship. I know Sara and Jed were just as happy as Tony and I about them playing together sooo well. Inseperable all week!

You play hard, you sleep hard! Another bonus!

We celebrated my wonderful Dad's 65th birthday! I can't think of a better place to be on your b-day!

The chicken wing crew...these boys fry up some mean chicken wings every year! I think they have more fun making them than we do eating them. And that says a lot b/c they are delicious! Jason, Lance, Jason N. and Kyle who came straight from Africa!

The Perez Family Beach Picture. Thank you Katie for the wonderful photographs!

Lastly, the GORGEOUS sunset from the front porch. What a blessing.

I HEART OCEAN ISLE BEACH but even more than that I love the family that comes together once every year at this beach. I have the fondest memories of summer family vacations at O.I.B. It really is my favorite week of the whole year and this year was no different. Just perfect. 25 + people all staying together in a beautiful home. The house booms with laughter for seven straight days and nights and everywhere you look people are relaxing and happy. As I was upstairs getting ready one evening, I just sat there and listened to the laughter that was coming from several different areas of the house. Five families come together for a week and become one big family. When we are there it would be hard for someone to come in and know who went with who. I'm smiling right now just thinking about the bond that has been nutured over the last 30 years. This year a group got together and made everyone t-shirts to celebrate. We have an on-going joke going that every new person that comes has to eat a pickled egg (if you have never had the pleasure, all you need to know is pink, boiled eggs floating in pink horrific vinegar). Great memories were made again this summer and I HAVE A T-SHIRT TO PROVE IT! Until next year...

I'm the proud mother of 2 little FISH!

I have always loved being in a pool whether it is swimming, water aerobics, or just relaxing. These days I like to call it my "water therapy"...not physical therapy, just therapy. It clears my mind and relaxes me. I was on the Sedgefield Country Club swim team at the age of 4 and swam competitively until I was a junior in High School. I thought I loved the water and started young but my little mermaids have blown me out of the water. Caroline and Little Maggie are so comfortable in the pool and NOTHING could make me happier. Caroline can swim to the bottom of the deep end, do flips under water, and is a pretty dang good backstroker! And today (can you tell I'm a proud Momma) Maggie started swimming! Thankfully my dearest friend Rebecca was there with her phone to catch it on video! It's just a tiny clip but we captured her first little swim. Caroline started swimming when she was 3 years old but Mags just turned two in May. I'm impressed and just as proud of them as I can be!

MAGGIE MOO IS TURNING TWO!

I can not believe that two years ago today our precious Maggie was born! She is so full of life and such a joy to be around. Mags loves anything her "sissy" does as well as swimming, dancing, and watching Elmo. She is such a beautiful child on the inside and the outside. We thank God everyday for her life! Happy birthday sweet Maggie! She was on "who's turning 2" on News 2 this a.m. It was really neat!

We Are Loving Spring!

My baby girl

is really growing up. Cherishing these sweet moments. Thank you Alan Palmer for this beautiful picture.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY 2011

These beautiful little girls are loving this gorgeous and very GREEN St. Patrick's Day! We aren't lucky, we are sooo blessed!

so here's what we did...

...we fullfilled a childhood dream of OURS! Tony and I were like kids buying this...it looked sooo cool! Every kid wants bunkbeds! Now Maggie is in Caroline's bed and Caroline got a sweet new set up. WE hope one day they will bunk up together when Mag gets a little older!!! Caroline is thrilled to go to bed now...bonus!!!

Crib Climber UPDATE

Well, Maggie the little crib escapee has done it again. Every night now she climbs out. I came in at 6:45 this morning just to check on her and this is how I found her. She's not sleeping IN the crib but now she is sleeping UNDER THE CRIB! FYI: She was asleep in this picture, she managed to get her PJ pants off sometime in the night, and I had to pull her out from under the crib....as my grandmother would say...OH MY WORD! Let the crib drama continue....ha. :)

Monkey Maggie

I'm afraid we have a "climber." Maggie climbs on everything and touches anything she can get her hands on. We told Caroline one time to "not touch" something and she wouldn't give it another thought. Heck at 12 months old we have video of her walking around and pointing at things (like a candle, the stairs, etc.) and saying "no, no!" She knew not to mess with things. However, Maggie is VERY different. First of all she is very tender and gets her feelings hurt easily, very easily. She doesn't like to disappoint. But man, she likes to tinker and mess with things....Curious George! Recently, she has been waking up a lot in the middle of the night. We try to let her cry and put herself back to sleep but her room is right beside of Caroline's so unless we want two kids awake at 2am, we have to go in. Two night ago Tony rocked her for a while and she didn't go to sleep so I went in and gave it a whirl. After about 30 minutes I got a wild idea (due to lack of sleep and desperation...and honestly I think most parents would do just about anything to get their kids to sleep at 3am)and I crawled in the crib WITH HER! The thought that I could break the crib did cross my mind, again my desperation kicked in, and I hopped right in. You should have seen the way Maggie was looking at me...funny! She did go to sleep but was still making noises every 15 minutes or so. So Tony comes down to relieve me and can't find me. After circling the house twice and looking in the garage he came back in Maggie's room when he saw me throw my hand up and wave at him from the crib. Again, you should have seen the look on HIS face! Even better than Maggies! Ha! He thought I had disappeared into the night but no I was all nestled up in THE CRIB with Maggie. Long story short...she was hungry. Must be in a growth spurt. She went to sleep BY HERSELF after eating a snack and slept great until 8:30am. Well, the crib saga continued last night. She started crying again at 2 am and I convinced Tony to let her cry. I know the mother is usually the one who doesn't want to let them cry but Tony hates to let his precious Maggie Moo cry down there. It's actually very sweet. They have an incredibly close bond b/c he so often goes and "rescues" her at night:) Anyway, we were both exhausted last night and so we let her cry for some time...I have no idea how long b/c it's all a blur at that timeof night. She stopped and we all slept nicely. Tony and I got up bright and early and went down to MAggie's room to find her ON THE FLOOR! At some point she climbed/jumped/fell out of her crib for the first time. We had the monitor on good and loud and we didn't hear a thump or a cry of pain...so i'm assuming she gracefully climbed over and out. She had thrown all of he blankets out and was asleep on the floor. It is humerous now but at the time we felt TERRIBLE! She's totally fine, no bumps or bruises. So I guess this is the beginning of a trend or she now knows not to do that again. Either way, she probably won't be "crying it out" anytime soon. Ha.

MMM, MMM, MMM

Somebody give me a spoon because

I COULD JUST EAT HER UP!!!

Maggie is really coming into her own. She has such a cute personality. She gets into everything and has a sweet, yet mischievious side. She loves her big sissy and loves to do everything she does! She does not talk as much as Caroline did but that probably has something to do with the paci that she LOVES so much! She is a very late teether like Caroline was so I let her have the paci to help with that. She CAN talk and it sure is cute when she does. Anytime I hand her ANYTHING she says "THANK YOU Momma"! Maggie Moo starts to dance when she hears anything that resembles music and she has some good little moves too. Her most favorite thing in the whole world is Buzz Lightyear. She is obsessed with Toy Story...I can't tell you how many times we've watched all three movies. She is an angel and is such a blessing to our family. Her little laugh brings so much joy into our home! Here are a few pics of our precious Maggie at 20 months old! Not a baby anymore:(