Day 157

Friday January 21, 2011

Molly arrived today!!! Nina spent the majority of Thursday night asking, "Is Molly here yet?" Finally, around 10pm Mario sent us a text of Molly. He had picked her up at the airport. Around midnight Nina woke up and asked again if Molly had arrived. This time, I showed her the photo and she said, "Awww she's so cute!" and then went back to sleep.

When Mario and Molly arrived, Nina was asleep. However, as soon as Molly started sniffing around her ear, Nina woke up and the biggest, happiest, sweetest smile bloomed on her darling face! "Awww!" is what Nina kept repeating, over and over. Molly could not have been a sweeter puppy! Mario helped Nina scoop up Molly and Nina giggled in delight as she petted her. I'm not sure who was happier....Nina at getting to spend the day babysitting Molly or Mario for permanently getting himself out of the dog house with Nina by getting the world's cutest dog! Either way, they were both delighted :)

Soon after Mario left for work, Larisa arrived. Oohs and awws were plentiful. Teddy came downstairs and couldn't believe his eyes, "She's so cute and tiny!" As I drove Teddy to school, he turned to me and said, "Molly sure is cute but I'm worried Mel is going to become the third wheel. First there was Max and now Molly. Poor Mel!" It was so hard not to burst into laughter. My darling boy! I suggested he think of a way he could make Mel feel special. I thought me taking her on runs was pretty cool. He wasn't impressed :)

We spent the day loving on Molly. Somehow, Mario got the perfect dog. She is hypo-allergenic, does not shed, does not bark, already responds to her name, and is potty trained!!! She is 15 weeks old and a ball of white fluff!!! Nina could not get enough of her. We must have changed her outfit a dozen times before noon and Molly never once complained. Angel puppy!!

Around 11:30, Larisa sent me the funniest text in response to this photo, "So precious! Ok, now I understand why Mario gets the BFF award :)"

Everyone loved the photos I flooded their phones with all day. Nina's eyes twinkled!! We all adored seeing that and we all understand what a gift that is!

Nina even declared it was her responsibility to walk Molly and pick up her pooh :) I was so thankful for this new found motivation. Nina's ataxia was getting worse and it was practically impossible to motivate her to walk. Now with Molly, she was determined to walk her (with my help...Nina is unable to stand without leaning on something or someone!). I texted Mario and thanked him a million times!

After lunch, we went to the Pet House and bought a fluffy blue outfit that Nina had spotted a day earlier and had not forgotten about. Molly looked precious in it of course. It was a gorgeous day so we decided to go shopping. Our friends the Dawsons were coming into town later in the evening so we could celebrate their son Sander's 6th birthday. Nina had spent all week planning each party detail, from the cake to the decorations. As we shopped, Nina sat in her stroller covered by her cozy blanket and Molly sat on top of Nina and did not move! At one point, while we were waiting in line at Michael's, Molly licked Nina's hand and the woman beside us gasped, "Oh my, I didn't realize that was a real dog...I thought it was a stuffed animal." Nina burst into laughter!! I did too!!

We strolled around outside for almost two hours. About every 10 feet someone would ask us what kind of dog we had and Nina would proudly say, "Molly!" She was right....we had a Molly dog!

After school, Teddy went to his buddy Will's house for a play date and we spent the afternoon playing with Molly. Katie and Cami joined us and we all took Molly to the grassy area so she could run and go potty. Finally, Molly did go pooh and I kid you not, Nina got out of her stroller and had me help her walk over to the tiny poo-poo as she called it and picked it up. Nina got such a kick out of this and laughed hysterically, "Molly is a tiny puppy with tiny poo-poo!" I could not believe that Nina was willing to walk across the grassy area to collect Molly's droppings; then again, Nina took her job very seriously! Mario had promised to pay her a $1 a day and Nina was going to complete her tasks so she could earn her cash :)

Our day with Molly was a dream. Nina hadn't been this happy in a while. I was so thankful. Around 5:30, we got Molly dressed in her hot-pink number and went to pick up Teddy and Crystal. Around 6pm we joined Erik at Mario's championship basketball game. The 7th graders he coaches made it to the finals and we had a blast cheering them on. Who knew that 7th grade basketball could be so exciting; in fact, the game was so close that Teddy was coming unglued with a toxic combination of excitement and nerves! I say toxic because as he sat on my lap, he literally tooted not once but three times!! I was so disgusted I plopped him on the bench next to me. He was shocked I'd be upset, "Mom, it just happens!" Whatever!!! Boys are such monkeys and aside from being disgusted on occasion, I simply live for my monkey-boy!!!

Unfortunately, Mario's team didn't win but it was super close....and went into over time. Nina thoroughly enjoyed the game and beamed as she gave Mario Molly all dolled up in hot pink! Nina is slightly sadistic and knew Mario wasn't crazy about us dressing Molly in pink :) I love my honey-girl!!! She's the best!!!

Even though we returned from the game pretty late, Nina and Teddy were too excited about the Dawsons coming. We went over the plan for Sander's birthday party and Nina and I started to make the batter for his cake and cupcakes. Teddy went upstairs to clean his room. He wanted it to look great for his best pal Niels :) Two hours later, the Dawsons arrived. Sander was already passed out but that didn't stop Nina from chatting it up with Yvonne about all of the details for Sander's party. Yvonne loved Nina's enthusiasm but I could tell she was sad to see how more symptomatic Nina was :(

While Nina chatted with Yvonne, Teddy and Niels squeezed in some Xbox before bedtime. We had a perfectly wonderful and magical day and now it had ended perfectly, with the arrival of our dearest friends!!