Thank you Hannah

My mom gets A LOT of catalogs at her house. She had one from Hannah something. It has some cute things in it, but Mallory has gotten much more joy from the catalog itself this week than if we were to order the $30 sleeper for her.

She also loves this bookmark. I put it away, but she keeps pulling it out of Dee's books.

Happy Birthday Constitution!

With all of the Ike craziness you may have forgotten that today marks the 221st birthday of the US constitution. Mallory is so proud to be an American that she has been celebrating this important day for almost a week. My parents got a pocket sized copy of the constitution in the paper since we've been here. Mallory has been having a great time "reading" it.

I just couldn't keep this picture to myself.

In other news...I am now the owner of a fluorescent pink cast! I was supposed to go back to the doc at home today. Obviously, I wasn't going to make that. I was lucky enough to get in with a doc in Tyler yesterday and he gave me a pretty new accessory. I should only have to wear it for 3 weeks. The best thing about my new cast is that the doc said that I can run with this one. That would be even better news if I had packed my shoes. The worst part of the new cast is that it is scratching Mallory. Seeing little scratches all over her arm and leg make me so sad!!!

The Life of Refugees

Mallory and I are still here at my parents after the storm while Matthew is back home working. He said the storm was pretty rough and that a hurricane is not something he wants to experience again. Thankfully, our apartment seems to be ok. Several other buildings in our complex were damaged, so we are very blessed. Watching the coverage of all of the damage is just amazing.

There is very little power in our part of town, so we don't know how long we'll be here. Until then, Mallory will keep enjoying all of the attention she is getting here from me, Dee, PaPaw, and Aunt Ruby while we miss Matthew.

I thought she was too cute in her blue jean skirt!

One of my favorite pictures ever!

Mallory getting some wisdom from PaPaw...or was it the other way around?

Mallory has been very interested in the end table between mom and dad's chairs. Her she is squeezing to check things out.

I gave Mal some banana tonight for the first time. She had to work VERY hard to pick the pieces off of her tray. I never realized bananas were so slippery. i let her pick them off of my hand and things went much better.

Dad was standing behind me getting some big laughs and smiles from Mal.

In Case You Are Wondering...

Mallory and I left town this morning to get away from Ike.

We were not in an evacuation area, but Matthew will be working 12 hr shifts for the next several days. I did not want to sit through a hurricane with Mallory alone with one good hand. So, we left town this morning and made it to my parents house with no problems (except for the majorly poopy diaper in Conroe).

I'm not sure how long we'll be here. We had a steak dinner tonight where Dad even cut my meat for me (remember, one good hand), so we knows how long stay. Hope you're all safe.

Eight Months

Our baby girl is 8 months old now! I read a description of 8 month olds on a web site a few days ago. It said, "Your baby's now exploring objects by shaking them, banging them, dropping them, and throwing them before falling back on the tried-and-true method of gumming them." That perfectly describes how she likes to play with her toys these days. Here are a few other things about her.

• Mallory is a very speedy and sneaky crawler. We call her our little iguana because she kind of looks like one when she crawls.
• She is pulling up on everything these days.
• She does a pretty good job walking along the couch.
• She is always very interested in what Matthew and I are doing. We love to watch her peek her head towards yot to get a good look at you.
• She does NOT like to sit still. She especially does not like to lay still while getting her diaper changed. This is especially challenging for me since I only have one good hand. If anyone has any tips, please share. Yes, we've tried giving her a toy, hanging something over the changing table, and even strapping her down.
• I fed her some chicken baby food tonight. I'm considering her being a vegetarian for a while because the stuff is so stinky.
• She loves her bottle and her "puffs". We were relieved when we looked at the package and saw that it takes 90 to make a full serving since she will eat a ton of them. It is funny to watch her eat them because she grabs them and stuffs them in her mouth like someone is going to steal them from her.
  

Now what you really want...

Matthew decided to give Mallory a lesson on stairs when we were at Anita's.
Me and my princess at Abby's party.
The princess and her daddy.
Unfortunately Mallory got a cold for her birthday. It made for some very snotty days around here. She's doing much better now.
Dessert!

She discovered how to crawl into the bottom of her saucer this week. Yes, that toy in her hand is a syringe (is that what you call the blue booger getter thingy?). She loves the thing. If you look closely you can see a T on the bottom. That helps us keep the toy one apart from the one we use for snot in case you were worried.

Miss Me?

So, August was a slow blogging month for me. We had a lot going on. Even though it seems like ages ago, it was about a month ago that we moved. I think we are about as settled as we are going to get here in our apartment. Its a small little apartment, but its all we need. I guess it will just make us all the more thankful when we get back in a house.

So, for all who are wondering about my hand. I got to see the ortho last week and thankfully don't need surgery.

That's enough for this boring post. I'm moving on to a Mallory post.