Black Clouds Can Have Silver Linings

Even though we felt like there was a black cloud over our house this weekend, we managed to have some fun in the midst of the bad backs, little girls with fevers, truck break in and other not so exciting events. Here are some of the highlights.

PaPaw having a good Saturday morning with his sweeties.
Dad and Nathan proud of their Marble Works creation.
A tubfull!
Finally a picture of the three of us.
Mallory wearing her Astros outfit. They actually won, so she might have to wear it more often.

I Want a Do Over

This was going to be a really fun weekend. Unfortunately, this has not been a red letter week in my family.
The fun started last Sunday when Matthew worked until about 5 am on a missing children case. (yes, the one in the news around here this week. HORRIBLE).
Wednesday was one of his days off that he stays at home with Mallory. That morning he got a call that they needed him to come in to work. So, he and Mallory quickly loaded up and headed across town for him to go to work while she went to see Nana. That afternoon I got a text from him that his back went out. Thankfully, he was able to make it home with Mallory.
Thursday, he was basically S shaped when he tried to stand and unable to take care of Mallory. So, I took her to work for a little while. My parents were planning on coming into town Thursday afternoon, but they were nice enough to come earlier and take care of Mallory while I went back to work.
I had been looking forward to Thursday night for couple of months. Sunday is our 6th anniversary and we had been planning on my parents watching Mallory while we went out for a date. It would have been our first time out just the two of us since Mallory was born. Instead, Mom and I went to HEB. Fun, but not exactly what I had planned.
Meanwhile, Anita, Clay, Nathan, and Abby were supposed to be coming to our house Thursday too. Unfortunately, some sweet person in Dallas thought that he really needed Clay's computer out of Clay's locked truck. So, Clay was stuck at home working to get caught up after his computer was stolen and Anita and the kids came without him.
Today when I was on my way home from work I got a call from Matthew. I could tell something was wrong because he said I needed to get some vaseline before I came home. Since Abby is usually the sick one when we are together, I asked if she had a fever. Nope, our sweet little Mallory was the sick one this time. When I got here and took her temperature it was 104.3! I did not like watching the thermometer go up and up and up. So, we got to take Mallory to the after hours dr this evening. She really loved her time there, especially having her blood drawn. Everything came up clear and it looks like she just has a virus. I knew she would be sick some day, but I don't like it one bit!
Everyone was coming to our house this weekend so we could go to Laura's wedding tomorrow. Right now, I'm not sure if I'll get to go or not. So, can we have a do over for this week????

Ahhhh!!!!!

To the people bidding on the car seats on ebay when there are hours and hours left, STOP!!!! You are only driving the prices up for all of us!

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I can go to sleep now.

Splish Splash

I bought a new bath seat for Mallory on ebay last week and we have used it the last few nights. Now that she is sitting up in the water, bath time is a whole new experience. I had been telling Matthew since then that I couldn't wait for him to be home and see her in the tub.

Sunday night, she discovered the water and was making little splashes with her hands. Tonight we added the bath toys that Nathan picked out and gave her for Christmas. She really liked them. I really liked them too, especially the cup with holes in it that I could use to shower her.

Mommy having fun with the bath toys

Mallory having fun with the bath toys.

Its A Small World

We have been talking about selling our treadmill for a while. This morning Matthew put an ad up on Craigslist for it. Shortly after lunch he had already gotten several emails about it. To be fair, he responded to the first one he received and sent her directions to our house. The lady called later and said she knew just where that was since she lives on the other end of our street! Out of the whole greater Houston area, what are the odds of that?!?

If blogger will ever cooperate with me, I'll share some funny pictures of Mallory from the bathtub.

What Year Is It?

On the radio this morning they were talking about how to win New Kids on the Block tickets. 104 will be at SplashTown doing some kind of contest to give away tickets sometime soon. Seriously, I felt like I was back in 5th or 6th grade! Gotta go find me some Hammer Pants...





For those of you not from around here, SplashTown was just a few minutes away from our house growing up and was very popular back then. I'm sure it still is, but I'm pretty sure I haven't been since the 8th grade.

Gimme Five

Mallory turned 5 months old last week. Sometime around then she really "found her voice"! She loves to squeal and shriek. Tonight while I was fixing dinner Matthew asked me if I brought home a stray cat today. Nope, just sweet little Mallory. Some nights she takes after her cousin Abby and will lay in her bed "talking" for a while before going to sleep.

Another thing she is into is sucking on her index finger and sometimes the middle one too. We think its pretty cute. She also likes to make raspberries with her lips. She was getting so loud with it this evening and the spit was flying. It reminded me of what one of my roommates in college always said when people (Matthew) sneezed really loudly, "do you serve beach towels with those ocean waves?"

I also learned this week that she is a very heavy sleeper. On Sunday night Matthew called me on my cell phone after Mallory had gone to bed. I ran into the living room because that was where I heard the ring coming from. I looked and looked, but did not see my phone anywhere. What I did see was the monitor all lit up. Yep, I had left my cell phone on the edge of Mallory's crib. I immediately dashed in her room and grabbed my phone. I think I saw her big eyes looking up at me, but I never heard a peep out of her. Maybe she thought it was just a dream, or she is just used to her mommy doing silly things.

Fun Fun Fun

We have just had two super fun weekends back to back. Last weekend my parents came in town for the holiday weekend and we got to have good times with them and lots of special friends. Unfortunately, I didn't get the camera out much that weekend.

This weekend, Anita, Nathan, and Abby came to visit. We had a blast!

Friday, they got to stay home with Mallory while I was at work. I couldn't wait to get home and get in on all the fun they were having with out me.


Friday afternoon Mallory came over and took pictures of the kids. She got some great ones and has a few on her blog. Man, is it hard to get three kids to all look in the same direction at the same time.

One of the big reasons they came to visit was so that Anita and I could do a run together. We had been wanting to run a race together for a long time. We were registered for a 10k last spring, but I found out I was pregnant a few days before and wasn't able to run it. This was my first race since having Mallory so it was special for two reasons. Here we are after finishing the Astros annual Race for the Pennant 5k. Thanks to Matthew for staying home with all three kids so Anita and I could do this together.
Saturday, the kids had lots of fun playing before having a gourmet lunch of hot dogs. I was proud because this was the first time I had used the grill myself, and nothing caught fire.
Saturday afternoon we went over to our friends the Erwins to go swimming. It took us almost 2 hours to get there. All I'll say about that is there were several stops and a Sonic that is definitely on my black list now. If you local friends want to know which one, its the one in front of a Target.

After we finally got there, it was great fun with great friends. Nathan and Abby loved the swimming of course. Mallory was pretty indifferent to the pool. I think we'll wait a little while before swimming again since it sure is a lot of work getting her in the pool for something she didn't care much about.
I got a few other pictures of Mallory by the pool, but I don't think the grown up holding her would appreciate her swim suit picture for all the world to see. There is also a lovely picture of Mallory and I asleep by the pool that may never see the light of day again.
Thankfully our drive home didn't take near as long, but it was long enough for all of our passengers to fall asleep. Don't you spend your Sunday mornings in the kitchen on your Barbie scooter wearing your Disney princess night gown while carrying your shiny silver purse?

Thanks for making the trip down to see us. We love you and sure had a great time. Now I'm off to clean up all the evidence of our weekend.

How Does Your Garden Grow

Neither Matthew nor I have ever claimed to have a green thumb. I have an ivy that he gave me when we moved into our house 4 years ago that I say I am caring for just enough to sustain life. It hasn't grown any, but it hasn't died either.

Sometime in the last 6 months Matthew trimmed our hedges a little too much and they did not survive the winter. Our yard had been looking pretty sad ever since then. Not any more! We thought about doing this ourselves (I mean Matthew), but decided outsourcing would be much better. We are very excited with the results.

I Could Loose My Mind...

They're not exactly "identical cousins" but I like to think they're at least "2 of a kind" in the same jammies.

Abby 5 months

Mallory 4 months

(man, she looks like a little chipmunk!)

Bonus points to whoever know what TV theme song I'm referencing with this blog.

MOTHERS DAY

Last year I was just barely pregnant by Mother's Day. Actually, I don't think we had even finishing telling all of our family yet. So, it sure was fun getting to be on the mommy side of things this year. I got lots of happy mother's day wishes from friends. I got to stand up in church with all the other moms. I got a sweet card from Matthew. But best of all, I got to spend the day with my little girl. We miss Matthew when he is off working, but I sure do love all of the time I get to spend with Mallory. She seems to have really discovered her voice this week. She is making so many new and different sounds. We love hearing each new one. Yesterday was a big day for her too...she rolled over! She's going from her back to her tummy. She hasn't quite figured out how to get her arm out from under herself, but I'm counting this as rolling.

But since who knows where I would be without my mom, here is a picture of her with Mallory. This was at Easter. I'm so glad I thought to have Matthew take some pictures of Mallory and me this morning after church. None turned out wonderful, but if she is in them who cares!

I hadn't realized what a roly-poly little thing Mallory was becoming until I saw this picture. Can you say Michelin Man?

This was my first attempt at taking and posting any video, so this is mainly an experiment. Enjoy.

What Are The Odds?

I was talking to my mom this evening and she told me that her kitchen sink faucet broke yesterday. Not long after that I was talking to Matthew and told him it was broken. He said that's funny, because he had just taken a call for a stolen sink. Someone took it and a few other fixtures out of a house being built. No more than thirty minutes later I was cleaning up my kitchen and went to flip on the garbage disposal and you guessed it, nothing happened! I have a feeling this is going to end up being my fault some how since Matthew has told me on several occasions that we don't have a wood chipper in there because I like to put everything imaginable down the disposal.

Now a pic of Mallory, since Aunt Anita wanted to see what she looked like today. I wish I had taken her picture ten minutes later when she was happy as could be "talking" away in her bouncy seat.

Just to recap

So, minus a few downs this has a been a really good week.

• Sunday, Matthew took the day off. Family time all day long!
• Monday, was a down. I was having a pretty bad day. The bright part was that Matthew got home when I needed him and reassure me everything that had me down would get better.
• Tuesday, I got to meet Matthew and Mallory for a fun lunch at Chick-Fil-A. This a was an up except for the 5 year old celebrating her birthday at the table next to us with her mommy and little brother. She tried to give Mallory some stickers, but I had to tell her she was too little. She and her mother just kept talking and talking to us. The best was when the little girl asked me if I was pregnant with another one.
• Tuesday night, I actually cooked dinner before feeding Mallory her cereal. Even better was when I went for a good run after Mal went to bed.
• Wednesday, I took the day off and got to spend the whole day with Mallory! It was wonderful. Matthew really appreciated it because it gave him a chance to do some much needed yard work.
• Wednesday night, I cooked dinner again and then fed Mal some more cereal with her in her high chair this time. Something about feeding my little girl while she sat in her high chair felt very strange, but good.
• Wednesday night, Matthew and I finished off the Chocolate Brownie Overload. It is so the perfect ice cream!
• Thursday, I made it through the whole day at work with out having to turn on my space heater. It is always soooo cold in my cube. It drives me crazy. I usually have to turn my heater on, which heats the lower half of my body while totally drying out my contacts. I even had to use the heater during most of my pregnancy. Something about that just isn't right.
• Thursday evening, another down...I got brave and tried to trim Mallory's finger nails instead of filing them. You can see where this is going. I snipped her little thumb with the clippers. She screamed like I had given her a shot. I felt so bad, it broke my heart.
• Thursday evening, cooked dinner. Again!
• Thursday evening, Mallory ate her cereal and I think she's actually catching on now.
• Thursday night, another good run!
• Thursday night, watched The Office with Matthew. So funny!

Mmm Mmm Good

Mallory had her 4 month check up Friday. Her doctor said she is doing just great. Tell me something I didn't know! She is up to 14 lb 11 ounces. At her first visit she was at about the 10th percentile for weight. For her 2 month check up, the 50th percentile. This time, she was closing in on the 75th percentile. Such a growing girl.

Now that she's 4 months old, we had an adventure into rice cereal tonight. I'm not really sure what she thought of it. Mostly, it was just a mess!

Sunday was Senior Baby Bible Day at WHCC. It was special time with our church family as Mallory got her very own Bible. Here we are at home before it was time to go to church.

One of her favorite tricks these days is to hold on to both of her feet while laying on her back. She even likes to do this in her sleep. Sunday afternoon when she was taking a nap, Matthew came out of her room cracking up laughing. He told me that he had been watching her hold her feet while she slept. The funny part was that as she fell deeper asleep her grip on her feet would loosen and eventually they would slip out. As soon as this happened, she would quickly scramble to regain her grip on her feet. It was like her feet were going to be lost forever if they actually hit the mattress. Matthew got all this on video. Maybe I'll figure out how to post it someday. I'm sure you will all be dying to see this precious footage. Until then, here's a still shot.

So, what's going on with Matthew and I these days? Not too much. I went to the eye dr last week because I had some freaky allergic reaction making my lower eye lid swell. The doctor kept asking me what I did the day it started. She looked to be all of 24 yrs old, so I guess she didn't under stand the idea of just going to work and coming home to play with my little girl. I'm taking tomorrow off and I'm so excited to have the whole day to spend with Mallory and Matthew without anywhere to go. Maybe we'll do something crazy like eat rice cereal.

Happy Birthday!

Today was Mallory's 4 month birthday! She and I celebrated after work with a trip to Target of course. She was so excited by it that this is how she looked when we got home. Check out all that sweetness under her chin.

We went to Ft. Worth over the weekend. Clay and Nathan were gone most of the time, so we got to have some fun girls only time with Anita and Abby. We had so much fun that we hardly took any pictures. It was so fun seeing our girls together. Abby was very sweet with Mallory. She was always wanting to help take care of her, even when it was time to change her diaper.
I just can't resist a picture of these two. I'm a little jealous of Matthew because he can get Mallory to laugh. Its the sweetest little sound and she only does it for her daddy! I can't wait for him to be off tomorrow so I can her her.

CANDY

The elf in me couldn't not play along with Holly and her Five Favorite Candies blog. So, here are 5 of my favorites in no particular order (I didn't have the patience to put them in order).

Ducks, Chicks, and Bunnies! These sweet tart treats are one of my favorite things about Easter. This picture I found must be a few years old because this year I realized that they got rid of the green and yellow candies. Its just pink, purple, and blue. Purple is my favorite. I learned to like blue this year. Gobstoppers! These take me back to swim meets when I was a little girl. I remember getting them at the concession stand. I think they were sold in packages of just two back then. Am I making that up, or does anyone else remember that?
Skittles!!!!! These are definitely my favorites. I was so sad when my orthodontist told me I couldn't eat them when I got my braces. After about a year of no skittles, I got brave and learned how to eat them carefully. I never broke anything on them. Take that, Dr. M!
Hot Tamales! These come in second place after skittles. I remember when you could buy a box of them at the movie theater for only $2. Ahh...the good old days. I'm going to have to get some before my road trip this weekend.
Twizzlers! What can I say, they make mouths happy.

Honorable mention: Nerds, Mike & Ikes, and Jelly Beans,

Help Mommy, An Octopus is Getting Me!

My little girl is just changing and getting bigger and bigger by the day. In the last week, she has really started showing interest in her toys. Here she is on the floor playing with her favorite octopus. I think it might be attacking her. I guess we had a good reason at the time to take a picture of the empty bottle after Mallory finished it off. Now, I don't really know what we were thinking. By the expression on her face, I guess she knew it was pretty silly. Anita picked up an exersaucer for Mallory at her consignment sale a few weeks ago. Mallory got to play in it for the first time tonight. I think she enjoyed it!
I couldn't resist taking a picture of her chubby legs from below. I was surprised to see that her legs were already long enough to stand flat footed on the bottom. Good thing I figured out how to raise it.
Mallory and I have had lots of fun this weekend with my mom, Dee. She came in town Friday. We had fun shopping on Friday and again on Saturday. Today we got to go to a wedding shower for our special friend, Laura. Laura and her family moved in across the street from us when she was 4 (I think), now she's about to graduate from ACU. So, we've gotten to see her grow up. I asked her today "What happened, I have a baby and you're getting married! We must be grown ups!" It was a fun time with lots of visiting with special friends.

It was great having Mom here with me and Mallory. They got to have lots of good fun together, and I even got to go get a pedicure while mom stayed with Mallory. Thanks Dee.
Yesterday, when we were at our new outlet mall a funny thing happened. We were sitting on a bench in the shade giving Mallory a bottle. A lady sat down next to Mom. Out of no where, the lady says, "Since I have a captive audience..." and whipped out pictures of her daughter and twin grandsons. When I saw the picture, I immediately recognized her daughter as a girl I had gone to school with. Small world!

As the day went on I thought more and more about this and had lots of questions. How did she get the pictures out of her purse so quickly? Did she do this all the time with strangers? Does my mom do this with pictures of her grand babies? Hmmm...

Today is my parents' 35th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! She told Anita and I that we better start planning their party for 15 years from now, I guess she wants a bigger celebration than the cookies and ice cream we just enjoyed. :)

Just So You Know We're Still Alive

Not too much has been going on around here lately, but here are some pictures just in case you were getting worried.

Matthew likes to dress Mallory in onsies on their days together while I'm working. I'm always asking him to at lease put some pants on her when they go out in public. So I was pretty impressed when I came home last Thursday and found that he had put her in her cute ice cream cone dress to go over to his mom's. No bow, but that's who's complaining? I think Mallory has gotten to where she actually likes her baths. I love bath night because after she is gone to bed I can smell her lotion on my hands. What is better than a clean baby smell?
I'm not sure what had her looking so serious in this picture.
I mentioned last week that we had been on a bow hunt. Here she is sporting her new blue bow after church yesterday. I have to remind my self sometimes that church isn't about getting my baby doll dressed up and taking her out. But when she's this cute, how can you keep her to yourself?
I can't resist a picture of the two of them together!

I got a recorded call this evening saying happy 4 month birthday to my child from her doctor and it was time for shots. Surely this must have been a wrong number because my little girl can't be anywhere close to 4 months old!

One of the highlights of last week for me was watching the American Idol contestants sing Shout to the Lord. It was pretty amazing to see a song performed on TV that was so boldly praising our God and Savior. In case you didn't see it, here it is.