Readoption Paperwork--Check! (Almost!)

The number one thing on my to-do list for this summer has been to complete all of our readoption paperwork. Molly's adoption was finalized in Vietnam. She is legally our daughter and legally a US citizen. However, we decided to go through the readoption process so that Molly will have a North Carolina birth certificate and to change her name. So I've been slowly working on all of the readoption paperwork this summer and thought I had everything ready to be filed today. So this morning I took Molly to the library for toddler story time and then dropped her off at Nana's and headed to the Clerk of Superior Court's office. I was so exited to finally have it ready for submission, but of course, there was a problem. Apparently, I need THREE notarized copies of one of the forms and I only had one. So this means Molly and I will be driving to Brian's work AGAIN today to go have more forms notarized. The good news is this should be the last hurdle and we should be able to successfully submit all of the paperwork tomorrow! YAY!

In other news, I bought the greatest thing ever this week. It's a popsicle mold that allows you to make your own popsicles! This girl LOVES her popsicles, so this is cheaper and more healthy. (We used diluted apple juice.) And you never run out! After she eats one, we refill it and stick it back into the freezer. As you can see, she loves them!
She typically goes straight to the tub after a popscile. Thanks for the new tub stickers, Nana!

Happy 30th Birthday, Brian!

Brian turned 30 years old today! To celebrate, I made Brian's favorite cupcakes--chocolate with chocolate icing. Tonight we went out to dinner with the Donahues to celebrate as Annie Beth's birthday was yesterday. (But she's MUCH younger than Brian!) Hehe.... :-)

Molly is liking this whole "birthday" thing as we had cake at the McArthurs last night, cupcakes at lunch, and cake at Outback tonight. She thinks birthdays are yummy! :-)

Happy birthday to the best husband and daddy ever!

Rayna Faith

Well, Brian and I have FINALLY settled on a name for the baby. We picked the BEAUTIFUL name Rayna out a long time ago, but have gone back and forth a hundred times on a middle name. But it's settled--Rayna Faith!

Rayna is Hebrew and means "song of the Lord." We are naming Rayna after another very special little Rayna--Rayna Frank.

It's been fun to call the baby by her name, rather than "the new baby" or "the little baby"--we can't wait to meet you, Rayna!

I made my first purchase for Rayna today! This morning, I went shopping with my friend Nicole. Old Navy had all of their bathing suits on sell for $5.00 so I got matching swimsuits for Molly and Rayna for next summer. It was a little bit of a gamble with the sizes, but I couldn't resist for $5.00! :-)

More summer fun with our other sweet baby girl:


We've had a super busy, but super FUN week. We had lunch with our friends, the Russells this week. I grew up next door to the Russells so it was fun to visit the old neighborhood. Molly LOVED Grant--and he was very sweet with her. He'll be a good babysitter in a few years! :-)

Popcicles in the swimming pool--life is great! :-)

Last night, we had dinner at the Kamps house. Our friend Amy is going to be leaving for a mission trip to India this Sunday. We are praying for you, Amy! (And Allen--he'll be home all alone!)

20 Months Old!

Wow! Is our baby girl REALLY 20 months old today?! That sounds awfully close to 2! :-)

Our 20 month old has style! Luckily, she let me take the toboggan* off of her head before we went to the grocery store.

*To all of my Yankee buddies, don't worry! She didn't have a sled on her head--toboggan is a word for a winter hat here in the south. :-)

Happy Father's Day!

To the best "Da-da" a little girl could ask for!

And Happy Father's Day, Grandpa!!

Today we went out to lunch after church with my brother, nieces, and my mom. Brian said that perhaps he didn't have to have his picture taken since it was Father's Day and all, but no such luck. He has a picture-happy wife!
And in honor of Father's Day, I thought I'd post this great picture of our friend, Mike. At Life Group tonight, Molly insisted that Mike take care of her baby. He was such a good sport about it! :-)

20 Weeks

15 Weeks

20 Weeks

20 down, 20 to go! We've reached the halfway point! :-)

Busy Baby!

I've had a very busy week this week and thought I'd update everyone on the happenings in Molly's World. :-)

IKEA

Last weekend, we went to the new Ikea in Charlotte and had a great time. It was HUGE, but I was such a good girl and rode in my stroller without c0mplaining. Before we left, I got to eat a cinnamon bun! Yum!
Library with Nana

While Daddy and Mommy were at the doctor's office (finding out that I was going to have a baby sister!), Nana took me to story time at the library. We got to hear stories, play with musical instruments, and I even got a sticker!
Corn on the Cob

Mommy made corn on the cob for dinner one night this week. Once I figured out how to eat it, I LOVED it!

How do you expect me to eat this thing, Mom?

A fork, maybe?

Thanks, Mom! That's better!

First Haircut

Today I got my first haircut! Mommy took me to Dolittle's Child Hair Salon and I got to sit in a car and watch a video while I got my hair cut. They didn't cut a lot--they just evened it out because it was so many different lengths. Since it was my first haircut, they took my picture and gave Mommy and lock of my hair to keep. Mommy says she would DEFINITELY recommend Dolittle's to her friends--especially for baby's first haircut!

Ummm......I'm not so sure about this--

Hey, the cape is kind of fun!

This isn't bad at all!

Don't I look adorable?

Sugar and Spice

It's a GIRL!

Molly is going to have a little sister! We are SO excited! And we're even more excited to report that she looked incredibly healthy. Thank you SO much for all of your prayers this morning. I was very nervous, but everything looked great. Her brain is developing normally. Praise God! Is this ultrasound picture not the cutest thing you've ever seen? It looks like she's laughing! :-)

Nap Time at Hines' Nursery

This afternoon Molly decided to lay all of her babies down in a row. She'd lay one down, say "shhhh....night, night" and go find another one. What a good big sister she's going to be! :-)

Summer Vacation Begins!

I am very excited to say that summer vacation is offically here. We've had a very busy, but fun week this week. The highlight, of course, is finishing up school for the year. I am so excited about having this time at home with Molly.

We went out to dinner with our friends from college Jarod and Jessie and Josh and Brooke. We had dinner out and then went to Concord Mills where Molly had fun playing in the play area.
Tonight we went out to dinner to celebrate our friend James' birthday. We went to his favorite pizza place and had some awesome pizza. Molly also helped him eat his birthday dessert. :-)
Pregnancy Update

I am currently 19 weeks pregnant. This pregnancy has been going by SO fast so far! I can't believe I'm almost half way through! I've been feeling much better and the last couple of weeks I've been feeling the baby move which is SO fun! Our ultrasound is Tuesday so hopefully we'll find out then if the baby is a boy or a girl. And even more importantly, we'll find out if the baby looks healthy so far. We're very excited about this appointment!

Fun weekend!

Tomorrow is the last day of school! Yay! We had the end of the year awards ceremony for kindergarten today and tomorrow we will be saying goodbye for the summer. I will miss the kids, but we are all ready for summer!

Molly is loving the weather and being outside. We've been hanging out at the pool, playing on the swing set, and going for walks. This weekend we spent time with our friends Nicole, Michael, and Cooper. We had dinner at Qdoba and then went to listen to beach music at the park. It was a lot of fun and the babies had a blast! Cooper was crawling all over the place and Molly was trying to go after him to bring him back. It was a lot of fun!