Itsy-Bitsy, Teeny-Weeny...

Once upon a time, long before I had an adorable potbellied toddler to dress on hot summer days, I swore that I would never put a little girl in a bikini. Can you blame me for changing my mind?

We celebrated Lily Miller's 3rd birthday in Yuba City on Sunday, making our first road trip as a family of five, and enjoyed cake, a baby pool, a bouncehouse, and the chaos of our many kids, all under age four!

Fighting Weight

After a tough two weeks battling jaundice, Molly emerged much less yellow, and a little chunkier. She regained her birth weight, plus one ounce, weighing in at 7 pounds even at her two-week check-up. Hard to believe that she still has a pound to go to catch up to Clara's birth weight, and another pound still to match Joey's! The nice thing about petite babies? They can fit into sweet, tiny newborn outfits even longer!

Bathing Beauty

Miss Molly was treated to her first bath this morning, administered largely by Joey, who was Fetcher Extraordinaire, retrieving towels, washcloths, shampoo, and most importantly, a stool. Tim may be back at work this week, but I still have an extra set of hands around the house!

Mellow Yellow

In addition to her crop of thick blonde hair, Molly was born with a little tan that immediately made the doctors suspect jaundice. Since being released from the hospital, we've visited the pediatrician, the lab, or the hospital daily, if not twice-daily, to keep tabs on her bilirubin levels. She's endured too many heel pricks to count, but true to form, she slept through most of the trauma!



Here she is perfectly content on her little tanning bed/ bilirubin blanket. Doesn't laying on a hard plastic strip that hums and glows just look relaxing?? Molly thought so!



We're relieved to report that her bilirubin levels finally started to come down on Friday!

The Love Affair Continues

Joey's obsession with all things baby has translated to him being the most doting, helpful and hands-on big brother of all time. Although he experienced some minor shock upon learning that the baby was a girl, and not a boy, he took only a second to digest the news and wholeheartedly embrace his newest little sister.

He's never happier than when holding her on his lap, and she loves it, too! It shouldn't surprise us that she recognizes his voice and will turn her head to track where it's coming from. After all, it was probably the most consistent sound track she heard in utero! Joey continues to entrall her -- and us -- with nuggets like these (all while snuggling her):

"Hey, you."

"Molly, I thought you were going to be a boy, but you turned out to be a girl. That was a surprise!"

"Molly, I'm your big brother, Joey. Do you remember me?"

"How did you get so CUTE??"

"She can't see the whole world yet, because she's new, so that's why I get close to her."

and our favorite,

"Shawna and Matt are so lucky... they have four little girls!"

Clara's equally fascinated with the baby, if not quite as gentle. She's constantly mixing up her pronouns, calling Molly "him," telling us "he's hungry," or, "he's awake!" Maybe she was secretly rooting for a little brother, too?

(Random side note: Doesn't Clara look like Shawna here??)

Introducing Molly May Cecchin

We're thrilled to announce the arrival of our newest addition, Molly May, born on Friday, May 14, 2010, at 6:22 p.m. Weighing in at 6 pounds, 15 ounces, she's a lightweight around here, but still sports her brother and sister's chubby cheeks and rolls. She arrived with a full head of strawberry blonde hair -- the same color as Clara's -- with a sweet and easygoing temperament to match.

Here she is minutes after birth, unbelievably alert, calm, and content.

She met Joey and Clara shortly thereafter... here she is taking her place in our new three-ring circus.

After all our guests departed, we got to spend a relaxing two-day "babymoon" in the hospital, getting to know our Molly May (and trying hard not to call her Clara Jane!).

She has a touch of jaundice and was also born with a minor cleft lip -- so minor that it wasn't detected on ultrasound, and it definitely hasn't impacted her feeding. We'll consult with a specialist about surgery in her future, probably before she turns a year old, but for now, we're enjoying this precious little smile.

Board Game Addict

Hello, my name is Sara, and I'm addicted to Scrabble. Far from trying to recover from my addiction, I'm attempting to lead my children down my own evil path. Here's what now hangs above their play area.

This is the kind of trouble you can get into when playing eight games of Words with Friends, and simultaneously nesting, unpacking the last box from a move, and discovering four somewhat coordinating frames begging for new art.

In related board game news, how cool is this idea for displaying -- and storing -- favorites like Candyland, Monopoly, and Risk? I think this might be a project for Handy Uncle Kyle when he visits for a week in July! (In return, I would offer powerful alliances in all future board games, as well as dibs on all green and/or black board game pieces.)

Officially Scared

This trove of columns about the joys and challenges of raising three kids has me in denial that we're inducing labor a week from today...

http://www.havingthreekids.com/

These last weeks, amid all the chaos of unpacking, getting settled in our new home, and navigating normal life as a mom to two little ones, there have been many quiet moments when I can't believe that one era is ending and another is beginning. Who will this next little person be, how will he or she fit in, and how much will all our lives be changing? I can't wait to find out, but there will definitely be some nostalgia for life as I know it now... as a mommy of just two little monkeys.

Bliss

A baby pool, a peanut butter and jelly picnic, and the smell of sunscreen...

The Naked Truth

Girls are so much easier to potty-train than boys!

Inspired by cousin Tommy, and undeterred by all the recent and upcoming changes in our life, I decided to put Clara through a modified potty training boot camp. Meaning, if she showed zero interest, we would revisit in a few months. To my total surprise, she mastered almost everything within one day, despite having only used her little potty once before, sometime last month.

We're being fairly low-key, and haven't ventured out of the house without a diaper yet (this waddling lady can only handle so much on outings with two kids!), but with plenty of naked time at home, Clara has been almost accident-free (an electrician at the house threw her off her game twice on Friday ;). Our secret ingredient? Cheerleader Joey. I rewarded both Joey and Clara with a cookie for each and every success on the first day, which, needless to say, was all the prompting Joey needed to make potty-training his sister his single-minded focus. Apparently there's nothing quite as motivating or inspiring as a 4 year-old brother doing cartwheels and giving high-fives every time you pee or poop!