new words, growth, etc.

Holy cow! It's been August since I posted. Needless to say, Molly has been keeping me extremely busy. We just got back from Louisville on Saturday. Molly was there since the Monday before Thanksgiving. Bill and I went at that time, too, but I came back to CA for three days, to teach my last class of the semester, and Bill needed to come back to work. We left her in Louisville with all the grandparents and Aunt Kelly for three days. It was hard, but we figured overall it would be easier than having her fly back across the country twice and adjust to the time change so much. It went pretty smoothly, but Molly was a bit confused about the whole thing. She was extremely clingy to me when I returned.That lasted about three weeks before she got back to her old self. It coincided with the time Bill returned to Louisville, three weeks after I returned.

It was a great, long visit, and we got to see lots of family and friends. Molly got completely spoiled, of course. While she was there, her vocabulary increased tremendously. Here are a sampling of her new words. If I left any out, please feel free to remind me.
"booda," which evolved to "maNANa" and eventually to "baNANa" = banana
"I luh luh" = I love you (just about the sweetest thing I've ever heard, by the way)
"ma-MA" = momma, of course
"pa-PA" = poppa, of course
"orsch" = orange
"muh" = milk or more
"appa" = apple
"puh" = pear
"uh" = up, as in pick me up
"duh" = down, as in get me down
"cat" = cat
"potato" = potato
"ebbo" = elbow

She also learned some new dance moves and how to play the harmonica, a gift from Bill for Christmas.

Molly's growth is fantastic. We went to the pediatrician when we got back from Louisville, and she is now a whopping 2'9" (or 33") and weighs 27 pounds, 10 ounces. She is in about the 75th percentile for height and weight, but her head, measuring in at 50 cm, is in about the 98th percentile. The pediatrician said she's not worried because maybe big heads run in our family???? I don't know. Bill CLAIMS his head is normal size. Maybe I have a big head. I don't know. Regardless, she is not concerned about the bulge atop Molly's shoulders.

In other big news, come June (fingers crossed on that one) Molly is going to be a big sister! As of today, I am 19 weeks pregnant. We go for our ultrasound in three weeks, and we will hopefully find out the sex of the baby. Bill thinks he is destined to have only girls. I have been pretty sure this whole pregnancy I am carrying a boy this time, but in the last few weeks I am not sure. Hopefully the mystery will be solved in a few weeks. Only one heartbeat has been detected so all the "joking" we have been hearing from our moms can be put to rest. Whew--that would be REALLY hard. I'm a little anxious about how I will juggle two of them, but I'm sure it will be fine. Also, Molly and I have been essentially attached at the hip for the last year and a half so it will be hard for both of us to create more space for another little person. I know that parents always say that your heart somehow creates room for more love. I feel already as though my heart is about to burst with love. I'm getting a little too sentimental now.

We have a bunch of pictures on Bill's flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/billstron/) so you can see how big Molly is getting (2'9", remember).