Growing Updates - Ellie, Juan and Mommy Molloy

Elise, Mommy and Giraffe playing hide and seek in Daddy's closet


Well, I am officially more than halfway through my pregnancy with Juan (21 weeks! That flew!) and so far so good. I had my Level II Ultrasound last week and it appears that Juan is growing right on schedule and everything looks healthy and normal. Hurray! Unfortunately, Juan is not the Showboat that Ellie was in utero, and it was impossible to snap a good ultrasound picture. As soon as the "camera" came out, Juan buried his/her face into the placenta and refused to move. So, we have three pretty boring pictures of Juan's spine. I wonder if this is a sign of their differing personalities. When Ellie was 20 weeks, she hammed it up for the camera, sticking her face right there prompting the Ultrasound Tech to take a few 3D pictures even though we didn't request it or pay for it. We were excited that we could get some 3D pictures of Juan, but now we'll have to wait to see what Juan looks like until Sept/Oct.

Meredith at 20 weeks


In the meantime, I am growing so much faster than I did with my last pregnancy. I am already almost completely in maternity clothes (something I didn't have to do until I was at least 6 1/2 months with Ellie) and I can barely believe that I am only 21 weeks when I look down and see my enormous baby bump. Hopefully it's a case of growing quickly and then leveling out at some point! I am feeling kicking and movement more and more - something that I absolutely love and makes me feel very connected to our little Juan.




A few weeks ago, Marty said to Ellie that "Mommy's having a baby" to which she replied, "No, Ellie's the baby." I later asked her if she wanted a baby in the house and she said "Um.... no." At least she contemplated it, right? Anyway, we decided to take it up a notch and start reading books about being a big sister and playing up all the excitement about all the wonderful things about big sisters and about babies. We have also begun to remind her that she needs to be gentle around Mommy's tummy because of the baby. So far all of these efforts seem to be working fairly well, and she seems more excited about the idea of being a big sister and having a baby around. She is also more mindful of being gentle around the baby and even goes so far as to kiss my belly and say "Hi Baby".




Lately, Ellie has taken to patting my belly and saying "Mommy growing a baby" which is pretty cute. Then sometimes she'll pat her own tummy or Marty's and talk about the baby and we have to remind her that it's only Mommy that's having the baby. This mix-up could lead to some very unfortunate and potentially embarrassing situations if she starts patting bellies that are not mine, hers or Marty's. Hopefully that won't happen.




Ellie is becoming more and more independent every day - she is getting to be such a big girl. In the past few weeks she's learned how to put on and take off her shoes by herself (she can even thread the velcro strip!), she can take her jacket off by herself and she is getting pretty good at putting her own pants on (though she often struggles with getting the pants over her butt with that bulky diaper) and taking her pants off. She wants to do everything by herself - she always says "Ellie self" when she feels like she doesn't need any help doing something and then when she does something by herself she gets really excited and cheers "Ellie did it!" She is also becoming very communicative about her likes and dislikes, loudly proclaiming "Ellie don't like it" or "Ellie like this!" about pretty much everything. (FYI - dislikes include any food that she does not recognize, all vegetables, dirt and anything on the television that is not Elmo related. Likes include kids music, the playground and fruit).




We will keep you updated as the family continues to grow!