Week 47 - The Toddler War Begins

The empire had been ruled peacefully for many years under the reign of Queen Meredith The Merciful and King Marty the Miraculous (it was a miracle he got her to marry him.) Almost a year ago, the Monarchs received a new princess in the kingdom. At the time, the polis celebrated the arrival of Princess Elise The Exuberant. Despite some disruptions and changes in the kingdom, as the months past, peace seemed to be secured as the Princess began to sleep through the night and get cuter with every passing day. But with the advent of self-propulsion by the Princess, everything began to unravel and the her powers grew almost as fast as her confidence in walking. In addition, she was able to expand her powers with that of speech this week. All leading to the breaking point of the Monarch's power. The crisis that was brewing came to head and we are sad to report that there has been a coup d'etat! The young Princess has officially deposed her parents and has vowed to never to let her parents rule again. She has trapped them in a prison of perpetual motion, hoping that the more they chase her, the less time there will be for them to rule over her.

The rebellion took root on Wednesday when the Queen was duped by the Princess' personal attendants at the daycare to pick her up early. The attendants claimed she had pink eye and the Princess played her part perfectly. Despite the Queen's insistence that there was no pink she made a doctor's appointment for her anyway. The doctor was unsure but played it safe (exactly what the Princess was counting on) and ordered a prescription of eye drops for the Princess. Why did Elise The Exuberant want this you ask? Well, she had traveled many times to the mythical land of CVS and she knew that the chaos that could be created would trap the Queen into making many mistakes. Allow me to elaborate.

The Queen went into CVS all alone (First Mistake) with the Princess. Once there, the Princess became VERY cranky. And while the pharmacist behind the counter assured Queen Meredith the Merciful that he would fill the prescription immediately, it turned out that mother and daughter were alone in the store for almost an hour waiting. Unconfirmed reports due suggest that the Pharmacist was on the payroll of the Princess. Needless to say, the Princess was not confined to a stroller as in past trips to the store and wanted, nay, demanded she be put down. At which point she used her powers of self-propulsion to rocket herself through the narrow aisles pulling things off the shelves and tearing the place apart. The Queen, thinking fast, picked her up, took her over the the card aisle thinking the bright colors and cards would keep her occupied. Instead, the Princess was able to reach the cards and throw them on the floor repeated. The Queen frantically tried everything, distractions, Cheerios, keys, cell phone, nothing worked! The Princess was focussed on creating as much destruction and terror as possible. The toddler war had begun!!!!

Unbeknownst to the Princess however, the King and Queen vow that they will one day break free from the Prison of Perpetual Motion and regain control. (As if this post wasn't cheesiest enough...) The Empire will Strike Back!
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In other news of the week -
Elise officially said her first word. While she has been babbling for months and occasionally has been able to put a series of sounds together resembling a word, there was little intention behind it. This is, until this week. Meredith took her to the park and while playing with another older child, Meredith asked Ellie to 'say hi' and well, she did. Clearly and repeatedly. "Hi." In disbelief, Elise repeated the feat for me later int he week and now has added bye to her repertoire. It's not yet consistent or always on demand, but she has definitely crossed a threshold of verbal communication. It's pretty exciting.
Ellie's Oma (Meredith's mom) and Gram (Marty's mom)
Lastly, for those of you that are interested, we started a 529 College Fund for Elise this week. The great thing about a 529 is that Elise can use the money on any college related expense in any state and others can contribute to it at any time. Tuition, books, car, tools and supplies, whatever. In addition, god forbid, if Elise decides college is not for her, we can transfer the money without penalty to another child or relative. So her cousin Kamryn's college fund might get a boost if Ellie decides to travel the world instead of going to college. (Let us remind you that currently the Monarchy is not in control. ;-))

Week 46 - Learning By Touch

Since she was a just few months old, Elise, like all babies, gathered up information about the world by putting objects into her mouth. You could always tell what she was “learning” by noticing what item was covered in a slobbery pool of drool. In recent weeks, she has stopped putting things into her mouth (Unless she thinks its food. She will eat any food that you give her whether or not she likes it. When you feed her something that she doesn’t like, she will cry as she is chewing and swallowing the offending food, and then ask for more. The kid just really likes eating.) she is now exploring the world through touch.

And she wants to touch absolutely everything. When she is being held, pushed in the stroller, or in the grocery cart (as I alarmingly found out this weekend) she sticks her little arm out grasping at everything she passes. We are embracing and encouraging this newfound curiosity, but this of course entails a lot more baby proofing and staying in the center of the aisle at the grocery store (she has a surprisingly long reach!) And though she tends to be generally rough with most things (she is always throwing, slapping and banging things with such force it makes her grunt) she is very gentle and deliberate with her exploratory touch. She gently strokes flower pedals, (has not even attempted to pull one off yet), tree bark, leaves, or any other exciting outdoor sensation.
Elise and her cousin Abby (4 years old)
She has also recently developed a love for putting things IN – a clean freak in the making? – though it doesn’t actually matter what the object is or what she’s putting it into. She puts everything she picks up into measuring cups, boxes, bags…whatever is available. In fact, yesterday Marty noticed one of our cd’s in the trashcan and asked why I was throwing it away. I didn’t throw it away; obviously Ellie was just helping us cut back on clutter. We obviously need to get a lid for our trashcan. And now that I am thinking about it, we should also get one of those snap guards for the toilet seat too, because I can see this “IN” phase turning into an expensive and/or messy disaster very quickly.

One last note from Marty. While neither Meredith nor I are betting people, there is one thing that you can be assured of and that is Elise will end up playing a sport that involves a ball. Basketball, softball, baseball, street hockey, field hockey, water polo, tennis, volleyball, golf, racquetball, dodge ball, kickball, handball, soccer, bowling, wiffle ball, tee-ball, and maybe even tetherball are all potentially in her future. We noticed at the playground that her favorite toy was a big (for her) green ball. So we went out and bought her a little soccer ball that is soft and bounces. She loves it. She can already throw – ON PURPOSE – and on the count of three (sometimes). Some people say that she is walking early, but c’mon, I’ve got the female Steve Carlton here. By the way, I am also secretly hoping she is a lefty.

Week 45 – Five Step, Six Step, Seven Step, More!

Last week, we mentioned that after a weekend of taking multiple steps, Elise inexplicably gave up on walking and went back to crawling. This was a very odd regression, especially considering that she has been trying to walk since she was like two weeks old. This week, however, she seems to have not only regained her walking abilities but she is now suddenly walking around like she’s been doing it for years.

On Tuesday, Ellie was sitting in the living room playing, then suddenly stood up without using anything to pull up on (a feat that I don’t think either of us knew she was capable of) and walked over to me (about 15 steps). And with that, her confidence was back and she hasn’t stopped walking since. In the beginning of the week, she walked a bit like a Halloween character, perhaps a mummy or Frankenstein, with her arms straight out, moaning and hobbling. It was like she was on a tight rope or balance beam, every step required extreme concentration. She would often stop mid-walk to re-center herself, sometimes squatting down, and then raising up again after finding balance.

It’s completely amazing how quickly her skills have improved in just a few days. Now she’s picking things up and walking around while holding them without a thought, and having very little problems with balance. Yesterday she was walking around in a sandbox at the playground! Some adults can barely navigate themselves around in sand!

In addition to becoming a full-fledged walker, Elise has also picked up other skills and a quirky habit this week. First up, on Wednesday, she suddenly developed the ability to wave good-bye. For weeks she has been flailing her arm around in response to our saying good-bye, and we called that waving (which maybe it was, but it was a crazy, spastic kind of wave that made people nearby duck to avoid getting smacked by her little hand). But on Wednesday as we were saying good-bye to someone at daycare, she opened and closed her hand, very deliberately, in a much less wild kind of wave. Again, we were blown away by this abrupt development.

Secondly, Ellie has begun to give high fives. I am not sure if this is a skill that she’s developed or something that we just began doing with her, but at any rate, anything that involves slapping or hitting is wildly fun for our little bully. So naturally “high five” is her new favorite game, and just saying “high five” makes her bust into a smile from ear to ear.

Her latest quirk is that now that her lone little tooth is completely up, she is fully aware of it, and is constantly feeling it with her tongue. This is quite hilarious, because she has been doing a lot of walking around with her tongue hanging out like a panting dog or Michael Jordan. Or maybe the sticking her tongue out phase is not about feeling her tooth, and more a statement to all of her non-walking buddies (“So long suckers! I’m outta here!”) Either way, it’s odd yet totally adorable.

Finally this week, in a disturbing discovery about her personality, Elise is quite clearly establishing her reputation as a bad girl. As we have mentioned before, she likes to climb the stairs, and when we tell her ‘no’ she smiles and shakes her head and keeps going. The other day, Ellie went over to the stairs and began climbing. Marty told her no, but went back to doing what he was doing. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Ellie turned to look at him and subsequently stopped and came back down the stairs when she realized that he was not watching her. When he looked back up at her, she started climbing the stairs again. What’s the fun of being bad if you don’t get caught? Oh boy – we are in some serious trouble.

Week 44 – One Step, Two Step, Three Step, Four…

Well, after weeks and weeks of “almost”, “really close” and “wants to” Elise took her first series of steps last weekend, two days before turning 10 months old! So can we officially classify her as a walker and ditch the stroller? Not exactly. Here’s the full story:

Last Saturday, I dropped Marty and Elise off at Marty’s parents house for the day while I attended a Bridal Shower in Maryland. Of course it was in those six hours I was gone that Ellie took those first solo steps! And of course even though Marty had the video camera with him that day, the battery died so he was unable to capture this monumental moment on video.

I know what you’re thinking, because I was thinking the same thing when Marty shared the baby-walking news: “Yeah, right.” I actually told him (and my mother in law who was insisting that it was true too) that I chose not to believe this crazy lie and that they were probably both hallucinating. Now, I am not prone to calling my husband and mother in law liars, but come on. How does a baby who can’t stand by herself for more than a second or two possibly miraculously develop the ability to walk in six hours? So to demonstrate that he was neither insane nor a liar, Marty stood Ellie up in the middle of the living room and let go of her. She stood there, holding absolutely nothing for at least five seconds before taking four steps over to me and grabbing my arm. Jumping Jesus, Holy Cow! Ellie walked! Guess I have to take back all that lying/hallucinating stuff (sorry Marty and Eileen!)

It wasn’t some kind of crazy fluke either. Our little one continued to take multiple steps, teetering around all evening and into the next day at her Gram and Grandpa’s house. She never got past the mark of 5 steps in a row, but didn’t seem deterred by the constant toppling over. (We now see why diapers are necessary! All that padding comes in handy.)

Just when we were ready to buy some Nikes and sign Ellie up for a 5k, a strange thing happened. We went home and Elise stopped walking. We can’t figure if Gram and Grandpa’s house has some sort of magical powers, or if she suddenly developed a very early onset of Alzheimer’s, but it’s like she completely forgot how to take steps the minute we got home. Suddenly, our confident little walker (who was SO pleased with herself for walking) seemed absolutely terrified of letting go and taking steps. Instead of walking to get something, she was opting to immediately drop to her bottom and crawl to get it. She was even refusing to stand with help, letting her little legs crumble beneath her! (she has been standing with help, no problem since she was like two weeks old!)

Over the course of the week, she did take a few steps again here and there, but it was nothing like it was last weekend where she was confidently strutting around, 4 and 5 steps at a time. At daycare on Wednesday, she took a tumble that resulted in a nasty bruise on her cheek, which has certainly not encouraged her with the walking. But we have no idea why she was walking so well at Gram and Grandpa's. Maybe it’s the soft carpeting there, maybe it’s the excitement of chasing after the dog, maybe all that walking wore her little legs out or maybe she finally figured out that walking = falling = pain. Whatever the reason, we can’t say that our daughter is an official walker quite yet. But that doesn’t make her series of steps any less exciting.

Week 43 –Peek-a-Boo with Dirty Bird

For the first several months, as a first time parent, you are focused – almost obsessed - with the cleanliness of your baby. You bathe her (even though she does nothing but just lie there) everyday, change your baby’s clothes every time there is a drop of anything on it (sometimes like 6 times in one day), you sterilize everything she touches, uses, or goes near and don’t go two steps without wipes, a burp cloth or rag in your hand, at the ready so that your baby will be completely clean at all times. I guess that’s why it’s shocking to realize that we have reached a monumental stage in Elise’s life, and it goes to show that she’s growing up: the dirty stage!

Now that the weather has finally taken a turn for the better, we have been spending a lot more time outside. Last year I spent a LOT of time hanging out on the porch with Elise because she has loved being outdoors from the start. Sometimes we swung on the porch swing, sometimes we watched the cars go by and sometimes we just swayed back and forth on the porch enjoying the fresh air. This year, outside time is distinctly different, and not just because I can’t keep her on my lap for more than three seconds.

With her newfound mobility and endless curiosity comes a new kind of outdoor experience, which consists of grass, dirt, mud, leaves…and a whole lotta fun. Though skeptical at first, Elise loves crawling and walking in the grass, and doesn’t seem to mind dirt squishing between her toes. Another sign that she’s growing up is that she isn’t trying to put every leaf, blade of grass and dirt clump that she picks up (and there are many) directly into her mouth. Instead, she likes to use this time to play the previously mentioned Sharing Game, generously handing all of these treasures to her parents (blade by blade by blade). And now at the end of the day, her bath is not just for show…she seriously needs it! From her dirt covered feet to her grimy hands to her filthy outfit, Elise is a total dirty bird. And it couldn’t be cuter.

Although, she is doing something new that has serious competition for cutest thing ever. Elise has learned how to play peek-a-boo! It started about a week ago, she was lying on the changing table, getting her diaper changed, and I threw her pants over her face. She reached up and grabbed them and pulled them down really quickly, with a very serious look on her face, then bust into a huge grin. Then she pulled them back up over her face, held it there for about five seconds, and pulled them off really quickly again very intensely, then breaking into a grin from ear to ear. The hilarity of it is that she pulls the object off of her face with such force she actually grunts, a la Monica Seles or Maria Sharapova! Maybe she’s a little tennis pro in the making. I am actually surprised that she has not bruised herself with the way she snaps that thing down off of her face.

The cutest thing is when she raises the hiding thing (a pair of pants, a blanket, etc) too high, so it's above her head and isn't actually covering her face (but then pulls it down quickly anyway with a grunt and a smile). She has also learned to play peek a boo by hiding behind something and then poking her head out, then hiding again. The newest trick, which she learned in the past few days, is blowing kisses. She jams her hand in her mouth and then quickly moves it away with a grunt (always grunting! She is so lady like!) in response to us blowing kisses to her.

These are examples of the amazing things that make you realize that she has actually been paying attention to what we’ve been doing all this time! And she might even be learning a thing or two. Guess that means it’s time to really start paying attention and make sure we’re teaching the right things!

Week 42 - Who’d want to be president when you can be dad?

This may not come as a surprise for some of our friends with kids already, but it came as quite a surprise to me. It turns out that I have become THAT guy. Picture if you will, a man half awake holding his child stumbling towards the kitchen, towards the coffee. On the way, he steps on a squeaky toy, stubs his toe on the toy train and almost breaks his neck trying to fumble and stumble to the coffee. How did this once confident and dare I say debonair man become a hardly ever shaven, dare I say, disheveled man? And love it. Once the dream was to become president, now, that same man just dreams to sleep in (past 7 AM that is). Actually, it really is like that, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The reason is quite simple really – Ellie is becoming less like a baby and more like a toddler every day. This basically means that she is more interactive and more fun than ever. Elise is on the verge of walking. She refuses to let you hold both hands while she walks around (only needs one) and she cruises around furniture like it was designed for that purpose. She (finally!) has one tooth – she’s picked up waving bye-bye (mostly) – is totally onto saying mama and dada – she’s climbing the stairs all by herself (and with record speed) - she’s even going to the playground and playing on the swings and slide.

Ellie's first tooth! (Bottom right)

Elise is learning new things and growing older every single day. I think I’m just going to go come home one day and she’s going to be walking, talking, asking her daddy to go to the playground. How idyllic, don’t you think? Oh, but there are more aspects of her personality coming through everyday too. Lately, Ellie has developed the ability to shake her head no. And she has quickly learned what this means. When she no longer wants food, when she’s not ready to get out of the bath…and mostly, when she’s climbing the stairs when she knows she is not supposed to. She’ll start out cautiously, then, when Meredith or myself says, “Elise, you know better, no going up the stairs.” Then, she will turn to us, smile a coy little smile and then shake her head no and proceed up the stairs.

Elise her pal and neighbor Myles (also 9 months old)

Now, at first we found this adoring and cute (still do really) but quickly realized that this is a terrifying glimpse into our future. Elise is going to be 5 years old, about to jump off the top of the jungle gym when one of us will yell, “No, Elise, don’t move!” The next thing we’ll see is the coy smile and a head shaking no and an arm breaking as she hurls from the jungle gym. Rushing to the hospital, Meredith blaming me the whole way, we’ll go back in our minds wondering where we went wrong. Oh, if only we hadn’t thought it was so cute on the stairs when she was little. The humanity!!!

You can see it is causing some great consternation with each new ability comes the greatest excitement and the greatest new worries. With teeth, come biting, with waving bye-bye comes smacking daddy in the face early in the morning (she’s practicing), with saying mama and dada comes NONSTOP talking ("but why, daddy?"), with climbing the stairs comes falling and with playing at the playground comes bullying… most likely from her.

I could’ve been president, but how boring is that?!?

Week 41 – Da Da Day

Another crazy week has come and gone. This one, however, was marked with going back to daycare after a week’s absence, sharing, a day with daddy and perhaps a first step?

Elise went back to daycare on Wednesday and this process is clearly more traumatic for Meredith and I than it is for Elise. I know many of you are tired of hearing about us go on and on about daycare, but the truth of the matter is that there is this ingrained notion that we are doing something wrong by sending our child away with strangers for nine hours a day, three days in a row. Perhaps this ingrained notion gained traction last week when an acquaintance who we referred to our daycare, called Meredith and told her that she had gone to visit and had a bad feeling about the place. Ugh. The guilt cometh and the guilt goeth, but the guilt always returnith. Without getting into specifics (and frankly we don’t know this person all that well) there was nothing that she said that would make us think Elise wasn’t fine. Still, we obviously worry. Couple her concerns with our concerns (Elise doesn’t nap at daycare very well, she always comes home with a new rash or scratch or something and the information we get is sometimes inaccurate about diaper changes, sleep times and activities through the day) and this daycare thing has us stressed out. Plus, did you read the report that kids who spend time in daycare from a young age are destined to become bullies?! Awesome – my daughter will be the one that all the other parent’s kids have to worry about in school. The phone will ring, “Mr. Molloy, I’m sorry to inform you, but Elise beat up her 15th child this month and we have to expel her. Perhaps you should have been a better parent and stayed home with her more often when she was young.”


My fears of her being a menace to society subside somewhat when she discovered a fun and extremely repetitive game this week. It’s called ‘sharing’ and it involves… sharing. The rules are simple. Elise starts by picking something up (usually her rubber duckie in the bath) and holds it up for you to take. Then you’re supposed to say ‘thank you for sharing with Daddy – now Daddy shares with Elise!’ and you hand it back to her. She then smiles broadly, and repeats the process over… and over… and over… it really never ends. I’m glad it’s sharing and not something more bullying like hitting, but after the first 2 to 300 times you play, it gets pretty boring (for us, not her).

The best part of this week came however, when Meredith went to visit friends and left me to care for Elise for the day on Saturday. We had a blast together. I’m fairly certain that as my life someday flashes before my eyes, I will have a very nice collection of memories from this one day alone. The entire day was filled with coming up with new games, exploring the back yard and getting dirty together, and going to the playground to play on the swings, and especially the slide! The slide ruled. I would start her at the top of one of the slides that has a bump in the middle. She’d start her way down with my hands firmly on her back and stomach. As she neared the bottom, I would grasp her even more firmly, and fly her off the bottom of the slide, flipping her upside down in the air over my head. She screamed with delight and her smile reached from ear to ear. Seriously, all I want to do with the rest of my life is send Elise down the slide. If the ‘sharing’ game could be the ‘slide’ game, we’d be all set.

Lastly, both Meredith and I witnessed Elise take her first step on Sunday! She was cruising along the couch, let go for a minute, took a step toward my laptop bag and then grabbed hold of it. Problem was, I don’t think Elise noticed she did it. She is ready to walk - she just doesn’t seem to have the confidence for it yet. It’s an interesting process to watch her develop confidence in this particularly difficult skill. We know she’ll figure it out in time and we’re not pushing. There is no need to rush her through anything – frankly, I am loving the stage she is in.

PS – Elise is firmly saying both dada and mama, which is kind of cool.

Week 40 –Road Trip to Exhaustion: Part Two (aka Wimpin’ Out)

So, we completely wimped out on Road Trip part two. But it was for good reason! As we mentioned last week, we were planning to go to a wedding (Congratulations Jen and Leo!) in North Carolina this weekend. This was going to be the first plane ride and hotel stay for our little one, as well as her first trip to the Tar Heel State (she had her Terps hat all ready to proudly wear in defiance!) Then the week leading up to our road trip went further and further down hill until we realized that there was no possible way this kid was getting on a plane and coming with us.


The projectile vomiting from last weekend that we hypothesized was a nervous reaction or an allergy turned out to be something more substantial. While she wasn’t acting sick or running a fever, she continued to puke every single time she ate any solid food (even one bite) and mid week she starting having the smelliest, most explosive, disgusting diarrhea of all time. Unable to keep anything down (or in), by Wednesday our little girl went from happy-go-lucky puker to weak and sickly sad baby. We are still unsure what the heck it was: bad baby food, allergy, virus, stomach flu…we even discovered the tip of her very first tooth (YAY!) about to poke through and thought that could be the culprit.

But whatever the reason, we went through many, many clothing changes (for her and us), lots of carpet cleaner and a whole lot of air freshener. Marty and I took turns staying home with her all week and while we were of course sad that she wasn’t feeling well, I think we both secretly enjoyed her cuddling with us (she has never been one to sit still).

Ellie and her Gram
Ellie’s Gram and Grandpa generously agreed to watch Ellie while we went to the wedding, so on Saturday morning we jetted off to Raleigh for a whirlwind 24 hour trip. Our loss of Elise was most certainly Gram and Grandpa’s gain. But there was a cost to watching Elise – sure she was feeling better, sure she was ravenous from a week of vomiting and diarrhea and thus a total hoot while eating. The price, however, was two parents desperately worried as this was the first time that they had left her over night. The first call was made shortly after we left, as we sat on the runway. The next call came when we had landed approximately 1.5 hours later. The next call came that afternoon before we left for the wedding. It was after the ceremony, but before the dinner that the next call came from two clearly insane parents. Finally, we called before we went to bed that night. That’s five for those keeping count. We came home the next day and that only entailed two calls – although we debated making a few more, we figured it was getting a bit overbearing at that point.

I must say that there really is nothing worse than being away form your child. You’d kind of think that parents spending a night away from their baby might take a moment to relax and enjoy the silence. And while, we did… Meredith napped in the afternoon and I let my mind veg out, we missed her. My mom used to say that your child is like having your heart walking around outside in the world. Nothing could be more truthful. In this case Elise was safe and sound and having a blast with her grandparents, but our heart was not with us and we felt incomplete. Another thing that I thought of was of our friend’s Bridget and Dan. Dan is in the Coast Guard and spends weeks at a time away from his family. While it sucks for Bridget and their boy, Kyle, that wouldn’t play into our motif here. It really stinks for Dan. There is nothing harder than being away from your heart for a long time.

So, what have we learned from this weekend? We learned that Ellie loves spending time with her grandparents and can sleep and be put down anywhere by anyone. We learned that Ellie doesn’t really seem to miss us like we miss her – and we wouldn’t want it any other way. We also learned that we are slightly crazy, a touch neurotic, and a whole heap of worry when it comes to leaving our baby. And we wouldn't want it any other way.

Week 39 - Road Trip To Exhaustion: Part One

Look who can climb stairs (while holding tupperware!)
Like most babies, Elise thrives on her routine. She likes her room, her toys, her stuff, and knowing that her car trips will be limited and her bedtime ritual will be conducted in the same way and at the same time every night. Therefore, a weekend away from home throws all that is comforting and reliable out of the window and, inevitably, insanity ensues. Back in the old days, we dreaded going anywhere further than twenty minutes away because she just screamed her lungs out the entire time we were in the car. She has slowly gotten better over the past few months, usually tolerating the car more and more. However, we rarely go somewhere in the car more than once a day – one outing, to our destination and back – is what she is used to. Ellie has only spent the night away from home a handful of times, and considering her love of routine, it is stressful and exhausting for all involved.

Elise with her second cousins, Cory and Emma
This past weekend we went down to Maryland for our friends' Kenny and Catherine’s wedding. Because we don’t get down there very often, we ambitiously packed in lots of other stuff, making the whirlwind weekend hectic for all of us (but especially Elise). We drove down on Saturday morning and stopped at my aunt and uncles house for a brunch with my grandparents and other family. My cousins’ daughters were there (ages 2 and 6) too and the three girls spent the morning bouncing around, getting into things and making lots of noise. Elise handled the chaos well (she was gladly a part of it!), but it was an exhausting way to start out a crazy weekend!
Uncle Wolfe feeding Ellie with "Aunt" Christy watching
After brunch, we drove to my parents’ house for a brief visit with Christy before driving to the wedding. Elise did well during the ceremony, but I kept giving her Cheerios to make sure she wouldn't start chattering loudly and interrupt things. When the ceremony was almost over, she coughed a little like a Cheerio got caught in her throat, and then projectile vomited, Exorcist-style, all over the place! She didn't actually get any puke on herself (because of the projectile), but got Marty's knee and the floor pretty good. She didn't make any noise (thankfully) but it was still embarrassing and gross! Only the people directly next to us noticed, luckily, and they all thought it was hilarious.

Ellie and her Oma at the wedding
The wedding was at 6pm (Elise is usually in bed asleep at 7) so it was a late night for her. My parents took Ellie back to their place after the dinner, so it was nearly 9pm when she got to bed. Sunday morning Ellie got up at 5:30am because she needed a diaper change, and I also fed her which led to projectile vomit #2. After cleaning myself up, she went back to sleep just after 6 and didn't get up until nearly 9:30. 9:30 may not seem very late, but it felt like 3 in the afternoon to us. I actually got up before her! That never happens!


Meredith, Ellie, "Aunt" Shoshana, Lauren and Regan
On the way back home, we decided to pop in for a visit with Shoshana and Jon to meet their new baby. On the way over to there, Elise projectile vomited YET AGAIN - this time covering herself because of the angle of the car seat. It was a mess. But once we got there, Ellie played and smiled like nothing ever happened. We finally got home from our crazy weekend around 3pm and Elise ate and then…you guessed it…threw up AGAIN, and then a few hours later one more time for good measure. So we were officially worried that something was wrong. She continued to act normal all evening, and didn't have a fever, so we don’t think that she is actually sick. We consulted with the pediatrician who said that as long as she didn’t have a fever, was acting normally and had wet diapers, everything was probably fine.

Ellie with her Uncle Kevin
We think maybe it was an allergic reaction to something I ate that I don't usually eat or maybe a nervous reaction to her stressful weekend. The only thing that I ate that she could have had a reaction to was cashews. So for the time being, I am not going to eat cashews anymore and hope that that was it! Next weekend, we are going to another wedding, this one in Raleigh, NC. It will be Ellie's first plane ride and hotel stay, so I am very nervous about that. Especially if it turns out that this whole vomit thing is not an allergic reaction, but a way that she deals with stress (much like her Mama). I can only imagine how thrilled the plane passengers will be if Pukey-McPukerson projectile vomits all over the plane!

Week 38 – The Equinox

The Molloy family is very excited that spring (and spring weather) is finally here. Elise loves being outside, so the past seven weeks of being cooped up in the house have felt extremely long. A lot has changed since we began our winter hibernation – Elise is like a whole new baby. She is going to sleep easily, sleeping through the night consistently, she is crawling, pulling up, eating finger foods...none of which she was doing when it first turned cold. The most interesting thing to reflect on this week is that our little baby is turning 39 weeks old, so she will have been out in the world for just as long as she was in the womb! It’s so strange to think of length of time in those terms. It feels like an entire lifetime ago that I was pregnant and another lifetime ago since she was born.

We did, however, get an ever so brief glimpse of what it was like back in those infant days this week. It is time again for Ellie’s monthly cold (it’s like clockwork!) but this month all the congestion and coughing also came with a fever (her first) and a whole lotta poo.

It all started last Sunday when she pooped eight times in 12 hours (just like when she was an infant), even waking up in the middle of the night because of the diarrhea. It made us realize how rare it is these days that she wakes up in the middle of the night (my how things change!) and took us back to the bad ol’ days when that was the norm. It’s funny how all you talk about is her horrible sleep patterns, waking up every single night (sometimes several times) and the next thing you know you can’t even remember the last time she didn’t sleep through the night. You become spoiled so quickly!

Elise and her great-grandmother Wolfe (Nanny)
Everything returned to normal – sleeping normally, but bad congestion. Then she was acting a little funny on Thursday night, but we thought she might just be overly tired. She doesn’t really nap well at daycare and often comes home completely exhausted. Friday morning she was a little grouchier than usual, but she’d woken up earlier than usual (around 5 am) so we figured she was still as tired as we were! I got a call from the daycare at 11am that our little one was acting lethargic and had a temperature of 103.5 degrees!


Rationally, I know that a fever in babies is very different from one in adults and that 103 really isn’t anything to be too alarmed about. However, as a worrier, I panicked and made a doctors appointment, just to be sure. Sure enough, the doctor said that she had a virus and that there was no medicine to give her - it would just have to work through her system. Give her Tylenol every 4 hours and nurse a lot so that she doesn’t get dehydrated and hold off on the solid foods for a few days since they are harder to digest.

Of course, Ellie fell into to the “nurse frequently” order very well, so well that she even woke up a 4am on Friday night for a snack. Not cool Elise. Not Cool.

Luckily, that was just a one-time thing and she’s feeling much better. She’s a healthy 98.6 degrees, and has begun her newest party trick: climbing stairs. Oh boy, Spring just keeps on springing.