Hmmmm....

Its my goal to share one post a week with all of you adoring readers. Since I know each and everyone of you would be crushed without something new from me, here goes.

I was stalking some blogs tonight and came across some quizzes. I took the "What soda are you?" quiz just for kicks. What is shocking is that it says stay away from Dr. Pepper. Whatever! A good Dr is one of my favorite treats. I wonder what this very scientific study thinks is going to happen to me when I drink Dr. Pepper. I don't think I've ever had Mountain Dew either.

You Are Coke

A true original and classic, you represent the best of everything you can offer. Just the right amount of sweet, just the right amount of energy... you're the life of the party. Your best soda match: Mountain Dew Stay away from:Dr Pepper

What Kind of Soda Are You?

Another of my favorite treats is Chick-Fil-A. While I was out on maternity leave, the local Chick manager came by our office and left free sandwich coupons for everyone. I decided to cash mine in today after Mallory and I went on a successful bow hunt. My sandwich, fries, and dr pepper came up to a whopping $3. What a deal! Even better is that the girl at the drive through didn't ask for my coupon. I guess I'll be getting another free sandwich between now and 4-19 when it expires. :)

Since this post is turning into a tribute to some of my favorite treats, I have to share my recent discovery. CHOCOLATE BROWNIE OVERLOAD ice cream from Blue Bell. It is sooooo gooood! Blue Bell describes it as: "A luscious, dark chocolate ice cream containing chocolate peanut butter brownies, flakes of dark chocolate, roasted almonds, chopped pecans and walnuts surrounded by a caramel sauce and a whipped topping swirl". It is perfect! Blue Bell lists it as one of its flavors of the month. I discovered it at the beginning of March, so run don't walk to your local grocery store to get a gallon or two for yourself. You wont be disappointed.

Now as a reward for sticking with me through my ramblings on food, here are a few pictures of sweet Mallory. She's just a doll! We are more and more in love with her every day.

Matthew snapped this one one day this week when I came home from work for lunch. Being able to come home and see her on my lunch break sure does make leaving her a little less hard.

One of her favorite activities these days is drooling.

I went to breakfast this morning with some friends I hadn't seen in a while. When I got home, I had to catch up on cuddling with my sweet girl.

Well...that's all I can come up with for now. I'm off to have some ice cream (of course) and then do a little ironing while watching Enchanted. I haven't seen it and have been looking forward to it for several months.

3 Months!

Our sweet Mallory turned three months old today! She's growing and changing so much these days. Two of her favorite hobbies are drooling and sucking on her hands. Thankfully she hasn't discovered her thumb yet. She is getting very strong too. She loves to sit up and look around while you hold her up or sit her in her bumbo seat.


She gave us a not so sweet treat last night...the poopiest diaper ever. I never imagined that I would have to clean poop out of my little girls belly button. Thankfully she saved this treat for when Matthew and I were both at home. It was definitely a two person job.


And for another poopy event, I went back to work yesterday. It was so hard to leave my little girl, but we've all three survived. It was definitely a big help for me to know that she was sleeping soundly in her crib with her daddy here when I left. I'm kidding about it being a poopy event. It really wasn't all bad, I am blessed to have the job that I do and work with the people I do.


Matthew took her bassinet apart this week. He had to get a shot of her in it just to see how much she has grown. Here she is at about a week old and again this week.

Easter

Mallory and I went to my parents house this weekend for Easter while Matthew had to stay home and work. My sister and her kids were there too while Clay stayed home to pack up their house. We all had a great time! There was lots of bike riding, shopping, egg hunting, and just fun playing. Here are a few of the highlights. I hope your Easter was just as fun!

How Times Change

We went to visit the Beattys yesterday. Tiffany and Sean are part of our special "Tech Family" of friends from college. We were lucky enough to be part of their wedding two years ago yesterday. Now here we are two years later with our two sweet little girls. Mallory and Caroline are just three months apart, so Tiff and I are already planning for them to be roomies at Tech. Whether or not that happens someday, I know we'll have lots of fun over the years watching these two play and grow together.

We had to take some picture of the girls together last night in their Tech gear. Caroline is a few months ahead of Mallory, so she got to show off her sitting up abilities while Mal tried to master the bumbo seat.

It was so fun to me to see Matthew and Sean go from playing Golden Tee at Chips in Lubbock seven years ago to being great daddies to their little girls.

Thanks Sean and Tiff for letting is celebrate your anneversary with you.

Dreams

I have been having the craziest dreams the last few days. It all started three nights ago. I had so many wild dreams that night. The craziest one involved me going running in Lubbock. I was running along 4th, but there was a race going on so I had to run along side the cones blocking traffic for the real runners. On my run, I discovered a whole new student center on the other side of campus. It even had a TGI Friday in it. I remember thinking, "I've got to tell Matthew about this!" I guess I stopped in at Fridays, because before I knew it I was eating french fries. I thought I had one stuck behind my teeth, but quickly realized it was just my retainer. I also had another dream that night that I was back in High School and got in trouble for going to a hotel with a boy. If you're reading this and thinking you're learning some dirt on me, sorry. This was not something that ever happened or was at all like me back then.

Two nights ago I dreamed that Shannon had someone come by with a truck and drop off three seals! I remember yelling at her, "Shan, we can't have seals. Call the zoo or someone to take care of them!" I guess I was concerned about the seals in our hot climate, because I ran inside to get the ice maker so I could throw ice at them to stay cool.

Last night, I dreamed that Tiffany totally redesigned her blog. I know that doesn't sound too bad, but wait. She had redesigned it as a tribute to Kitchen Aid Mixers! There were red, yellow, and sage green mixers. I was jealous she had gotten all these new mixers in fun colors and mine was just white. The design was very cute with a catchy title that I wish I could remember, but it was still all about mixers instead of sweet little Caroline.

I'm not sure what is going on in my head. I haven't had this many crazy dreams since I was pregnant, and I KNOW that is not the problem here. Who knows what tonight's dreams may bring?!?

ROAD TRIP

Mallory and I survived our first girls only road trip this weekend. Nathan's big 6th birthday party was Saturday, so we made the trip up for the big celebration. It started raining on us about half way there. When we got into town, the rain started freezing. When we got off the interstate, it started to SNOW!!! This was of course Mallory's first snow and the first snow I had seen since back in college so it was very exciting. If only Mallory could have enjoyed it more. The snow was so pretty. The snow flakes were seriously the biggest flakes I had ever seen. When we pulled up, Anita and Nathan were outside in the snow playing and waiting for us.

It didn't take long for Anita to forget about the snow and get her hands on Mallory!

A shot of the snow in the backyard! You can even see some of the ginormous flakes.

The big 6 year old in the snow.

Nathan was so sweet with Mallory the whole time we were there. He loved to make her smile and love on her. It sure made his mommy proud.

Unfortunately, Abby was cuddled up on her Dora couch Friday after throwing up. She spent most of the day like this.

Nathan, on the other hand, was 100% healthy crazy little boy. It is very hard to get a picture of him these days without some kind of crazy face or hands.

After Abby's day in bed, she made a dramatic recovery and was back to her usual self Friday night. Here they are entertaining Mallory. You can tell she is just thrilled. I can't wait to see what fun these three will have together in the future.

Mallory and Dee got to have some good cuddly time together on Saturday before the party.

Nathan's party was a swim party. Yes, at an indoor pool. Before the party Abby was talking nonstop about going swimming at the party plus about a million other things. After the party, she reminded me several times "You watched me swim at the party"!

This is Nathan telling me "No more pictures, Parsh!"

Every day is a little better with a trip to Sonic for Happy Hour!

Anita and Dad enjoying the party.

Mallory had a blast at the party...she slept the entire time.

I had to go back Sunday afternoon to get my camera. As I drove off Dad warned me there were some new pictures on it. This was one of the surprises. I love it. A great happy picture of my mom!

This was such a great weekend. Mallory did so good, but we sure were glad to be back home. She gave me a little encouragement with her not so sweet scream to drive faster and get home quick last night. I guess she was missing her Daddy. He sure missed her.

Two Months Old!

Mallory hit the ripe old age of two months old yesterday! We celebrated by taking her to the doctor and getting her some shots. She did not enjoy the shots (surprise...surprise). She is up to 10 lb 12 oz and is doing great. We are so in love with our little girl.

Mallory was extra sleepy and fussy yesterday after the shots so I was sitting on the couch holding her while she slept. While I was sitting there I was watching an old episode of er (in another blog I might tell you how much er I've watched since Mallory was born). It was an episode where Carter and Luca went to Africa. While there they treated children that had typhoid, whooping cough, and polio among other things. People had walked for miles through dangerous conditions to get the medical treatment. Some would live and some would die. It made me so thankful that I was able to just drive to the doctor's office that morning and with four simple shots my baby was protected from these diseases that could easily kill her. We are so blessed.

Today was a little more fun than yesterday. Mallory and I went to lunch with Tina. Tina and I must have been boring because half way through our lunch Mallory was snoring. We followed this up with a trip to the mall with some shopping for me.

I couldn't let this big day pass without a few more pictures of Mallory. Enjoy! :)

What Do You Think?

We've been trying to figure out who Mallory looks like. We had been thinking she looked more like Matthew, but now that Matthew and I looked at my baby picture we see some of me in her too. We think she may have my nose. Her eyes started out looking blue, but now it looks like they will be darker like Matthew's. So...what do you think?

Sawing Logs

Matthew is to my right on the couch snoring and Mallory is to my left snoring also. I wish I knew how to record this and share it with the world, because it sure is sweet and funny!

FOOD!

I got this from Lisa's Blog. Here are the rules, share 7 things you didn’t realize you needed to know about me and food.

1. I love sweets! After watching Elf, Matthew and I decided that I am definitely an elf. Pancakes are one of my favorites because you can soak them in syrup.

2. I love corn on the cob. I can't stand canned corn. I used to struggle just to open a can and pour it in if a recipe called for it. Now that my braces are off, I'm looking forward to my next ear of corn.

3. I will eat vegetables, but there are none that I really love other than corn on the cob. I hope that Mallory will like vegetables more than her mommy and daddy do.

4. I really like bread and pastas! Maybe I secretly run just so that I have a reason to carb0load.

5. It really bothers me to drink out of a can without a koozie. If I am out somewhere and there are canned drinks, I will wrap a napkin around the drink just to avoid the naked can. One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was a koozie from Matthew. It is lime green with hot pink polk-a-dots and has a M monogrammed on it. I also have a koozie in my desk drawer at work that I cut down to size to fit one of the half Dr. Peppers. Maybe I'm a little crazy on this one.

6. I rediscovered last night how much more enjoyable popcorn is without braces.

7. When I was a little girl I always wanted to get mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese for my two vegetables when we went to Luby's. My mom never let me because she said it was too much starch. I guess she was ahead of her time with the low carb diets. I know this one is random, but I was running out.

I tag any one who wants to share and the person in Panama that is reading my blog. I really want to know who you are amigo!

Now what you really want. ..pictures of sweet Mallory!

This was her tonight when we were hanging out. You can see how much her cheeks and chin are filling out in this one. Her hair is starting to grow back in nicely too. My mom and I were talking about it yesterday. She no longer has a receding hair line. We couldn't figure out what the opposite of a receding hair line is. All we could come up with was preceding, but that didn't sound right. Anyone have an idea?


Last night she screamed the whole way home from Life Group. This is her as soon as I set her down where she could see the ceiling fan.

A few days ago I came out of the bathroom after taking shower and found this little sweety resting on my pillow. Don't worry, Matthew was awake.

Thankfully she doesn't make this face too often.

I just couldn't resist this one. Her expression is too sweet.

My days at home are passing by too quickly. We are still looking for someone to take care of Mallory on Friday afternoons. If you know anyone who might be interested in watching out little sweety for a couple of hours, let me know.

HOCUS FOCUS

Here is a little game for all you bloggers out there. Can you tell what is different between these two pictures of me?



Need a hint? Something is missing in the bottom pic. Give up???

NO MORE BRACES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The day came this morning when my orthodontist finally removed my braces. It was not a moment too soon. When he put them on, he estimated it would be 2 years. That was in August 2005. I'm just thankful my obstetrician wasn't 7 months under with her estimate of how long I would be pregnant!



I have to share that the braces removal process was one of the most painful things I have ever experienced. After one of the assistants snapped the brackets off, my orthodontist came back and with a grinder to get rid of all the left over glue. IT WAS HORRIBLE! There was cold air blasting my teeth nonstop. The polisher was digging into my gums. I usually handle pain ok, but I wanted to scream! I was so not prepared for the pain either. I had asked Matthew what it was like when he got his braces off. He thought he remembered them using some kind of solvent to loosen the glue. He must have blocked out the painful memory from way back then.



At least it wasn't all bad, I left with Pappas and Starbucks gift cards plus a box of Crest white strips and a bottle of champagne. Something tells me that they don't give the bubbly to their teen-aged patients.





Since you've probably come to expect a picture of Mallory in all of my posts, I don't want to let you down. Here's a shot of her in her favorite spot these days. She'll just swing and look around forever. She is also really into looking at the ceiling fan even if its turned off. Go figure!



She and I were getting all geared up for a fun weekend with Anita, Nathan, and Abby but it looks like that is going to fall through. They've all been sick and now Abby is coughing with a virus and ear infection. After the last time Abby was sick and sharing germs at our house, we don't really want her to come share them with Mallory. I guess she and I will just sit around swinging and drinking champagne instead. ;)

Happy Valentines Day...a few days late

We took Mallory on her first road trip this week to see my parents. She did great! She slept for almost the whole ride there and back.

Mom and I took her shopping on Wednesday and again she did great. I realized that she is destined to be a big shopper because after all, her name is MALLory. :)

I bought this Valentines outfit for Mallory back in January. Its 3 month size. I bought a newborn one a few weeks later, because I didn't think she would fit the first one. Wrong! The first one was the one she wore. Of course, I had already washed the small one before I figured out it was too small. I hated to take her valentines outfit off of her at the end of the day. She sure wont be able to wear it again next year.

Changing subjects...Until this week I had a streak going that I was very proud of. I had not been to Wal-Mart since last summer. Yesterday I broke down and went because I needed a storage bin for my maternity clothes and groceries and didn't want to tote Mallory to two places. When I go to wal-mart I quickly realized that I had not been missing anything. The worst thing is that Mallory started screaming towards the end and I didn't get my storage bin and I forgot to use the gift card I had. If only we had a SuperTarget!

This was Mallory before we left for Wal-Mart. I know now that this face is saying, "Please, Please, Please don't take me to Wal-Mart Mommy!"

Changing subjects again...I put a map back on my blog a couple weeks ago. I'm so very curious who the hits from Europe have been. There's even one in Croatia. The only person I know from Croatia is Luka (from er). I've started to think someone I know went on a european vacation and didn't tell me.

ANOTHER WEEK WITH OUR CUTIE!

Mallory is one week older, so I have just a few more pictures of her. She seems to be growing and changing every day. Because of this her aunt thinks I should update my blog every day. If only I could be that on top of things.

You may not know that Mallory's full name is Mallory Hey You're a Duck Quacker Poke Poke Joy. Nathan added a few of those names. I'll let you guess which were his additions.

Just saying "Hey!"

You can really tell how much hair she's lost in this picture.

Mallory started sleeping in her crib in her room last week. It must be super comfy because last night she slept from 9:30 until 6:00 this morning! It was wonderful!!!! This afternoon she took a great nap in her room too. I think I got more done in those hours than I have in the last 6 weeks. It is tempting to post a picture of my kitchen sink without any dishes piled up in it.

We went up to church today so all my friends in the office could see Mallory. It melted my heart when she kept her eyes locked on me as everyone took turns holding and loving on her.

WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT DIGITAL CAMERAS?

I don't know how many times in the last 5 weeks I've thought how thankful I am for digital cameras. Today was another one of those days. I put this super cute onsie on Mallory this morning that Kellee made. It's a good think she's wearing it today, because I don't know if it will fit tomorrow. Since this will probably be the only shot for it I decided to take a few pictures. I ended up with 40-50 pictures of Mallory. Good thing I don't have to pay to develop all of those!

Check out that big belly!

Mommy sure does like to take my picture.

I'm not so sure about this tummy time stuff

Could they look much happier?

We took Mallory to church for the first time last week. We almost forgot to take her picture, but thankfully Anita was here to remind us. We took three pictures; unfortunately this was the best we got.

Now a little warning...If you haven't been to the grocery store in 5 weeks, stick for the store you know for your first trip back. I went to the grocery store Friday for the first time since before Christmas. For some reason I decided this would be a good time for Mallory and I to try out our new fancy HEB. She did fine, but man was it overwhelming for me. I think I better stick to my familiar Kroger for now.