10 Things I Love About You, Mallory!

1. You are learning to eat without making such a mess. You even make the cutest little crunching sound now.

2. You have such sweet little feet.

3. I get to watch you and your daddy play and laugh together.

4. You make us laugh every day with your love for getting into tight places.

5. You love to cuddle with your puppy and chew on his tail.

6. You rarely make this face anymore, unless we don't give you your bottle when you want it.

7. You are so fun to watch playing and entertaining yourself with your toys.

8. You wave bye bye with a big smile.

9. You greet us when you wake up standing and facing the door with a smile on your face.

10. You are our sweet baby girl that God made.

Happy 10-month birthday, Mallory!

Happy Halloween!

I decided to participate in the 6-6 picture post going around. You are supposed to post the 6th picture in the 6th folder on your computer. My 6th folder didn't have 6 pictures (i guess it was a slow day), so I went with the 6th picture in the 6th from last folder.

This is Andy and Renee on the last WHCC staff fishing trip I went on. I sure miss all those fun people I got to work with. Not sure who the stranger in the back is. No offense, but I can't say I miss him.

And just to be fair, here is my part in the other one going around. The rules: Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your blog along with these instructions. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

"If I hadn't studied Scripture for a number of years and learned to recognize behavior that was characteristics of Christ, I might have marked the first two statements. I tend to cheer for the underdog, and strictly from appearances, I might have been tempted to think Jesus didn't seem to give them a chance. Since we know His heart was perfect and patient, something more was going on in that encounter than meets the eye. Murky waters like these force us to dive in and see what's stirring on the bottom." From my Jesus the One and Only workbook by Beth Moore.

Another Punkin

Matthew told me I left off his favorite picture. Here it is:

Punkins!

I have been on a mission to find a pumpkin patch so that we could take some pictures of Mallory in the pumpkins. Well, we found one and took about 100 pictures today. I'm not exaggerating. Don't you just love digital cameras?!?

Mallory wasn't to generous with her smiles. But smiles or not, here are a few of our pictures. If you really want to see the other 95 or so, let me know. We'll work something out.

Here she was checking them out.

Jessica, I thought of your comment and made sure I got on the other side of the camera for a change.

I think all the grass and straw were her favorite parts.

We were the only people there, so Mallory had free reign to crawl around as much as possible. Since our apartment is TEENY TINY, we let her crawl and crawl and crawl. Man, is she fast!

The one picture where both of them were looking anywhere near the camera.

What, Two Posts in One Day from Marcia?

Don't get used to this kind of wild and crazy activity from me. My dad just sent me these pictures. Since they went with the last post, I thought I would go ahead and share them.

Mallory and my Grandma.

Grandma Clara is Mal's only great grandparent she's blessed to know.

When we saw Grandma this summer I was mad at myself for not taking any pictures. This time, I didn't make that mistake. Maybe next time I'll wear make up.

During the whole time we spent with my parents after Ike, this was the only picture we took of Mallory with them.

Bloggers Block

If there is such a thing as blogger's block, I think I have it. It feels like I've been slacking at the blogging lately. Since I definitely have not been slacking at the blog reading, here is my contribution to the blog world.

I think I'm finally starting to feel settled here in our apartment. Mallory and I are going to Bible class at a Baptist church in the area on Tuesdays. I'm enjoying the study and she is doing great in the nursery.

I got my cast off about a week and a half ago! It is so great to be rid of that thing.

We visited a different church this morning. I think we will be going back there, even though we miss West Houston. It is a good feeling to be closer to finding a new church home.

When we moved we got U-verse for our Internet and TV. Sadly, I love the DVR because we can record 4 shows at a time. This will come in handy on Thursday nights when Lost comes back on since we already have The Office, Gray's Anatomy, Er, and Life on Mars to watch. Yes, I may be a little of an addict. (Matthew wants me to clarify that WE only watch The Office and Lost, the rest are just me). I did get rid of one show...Private Practice. It just wasn't getting me that excited and I was getting tired of Addison Forbes Montgomery the super doctor. Seriously is she a neonatologist or a obgyn? This is just one of my pet peeves, because in the real world I don't think these medical specialties overlap. While I'm at it, here's another. On Brothers & Sisters Holly went from being a moderately successful actress to a business genius overnight! Do these things bother other people, or am I just a little crazy?

For someone with blogger's block I sure am blabbing on and on about nothing. So, here's what you really want to see.

Mallory wore a sweet dress to church this morning that was Abby's. I can't find the charger for our good camera, so sadly these pictures aren't as good as they could be. So trust me, SHE WAS CUTE!

On of her habits is chewing on the edge of her crib. There are scratches all around the rim from our little woodchuck.

Matthew worked extra jobs last Saturday and Sunday morning. Since he was going to be working from about 6 am to midnight all weekend Mallory and I hit the road. We went to Anita's and then to Muenster for a family reunion. We got to see lots of family. We spent Sunday night with my parents at my Aunt Paulette's. Not that I am pushing Mallory to walk right now, but we thought it would have been special if Mal had taken her first steps at Paulette's since I walked for the first time there. Mallory did great on the car ride. We even made the trip up without making any stops.

Mallory continues to love maneuvering her way through tight spaces. We hadn't been at Anita's an hour last week before she was trying to crawl behind the couch.

This is one of Mallory's favorite toys. Don't recognize it from the toy department? That's because its the strap to attach her paci to her shirt. We have two of these and she will play with either one endlessly.

She prefers feeding herself these days. Maybe because when she feeds herself she can pick out the all the chicken sticks and leave the peas? Last night I watched her discover that she could reach the kitchen table from her chair. After that she sat there and pick up peas one my one and sat them on the table. She did eat some peas too so don't worry about her becoming malnourished. ;)

Well now that I've gotten rid of my bad blogger guilt, I'm giong to try and take a little Sunday afternoon nap before Mallory gets up and we go to the park for some swinging. My blanket is fresh out of the dryer since I spilled dr. pepper on it last night. Oooooo, its going to be cozy!

Nine Months

Since Mallory turned nine months old last week, I guess its time for a 9 mo post. She is just more and more fun every day. We love her to pieces.

She got another good check from the doctor this week. She weighs 21 lb 5 oz so she isn't off the charts anymore. For whatever its worth, she's somewhere in the 75th and 100th percentile
She and I went to have dinner with my friend Monica last night. We met at Monica and Penny's apartment first. Penny is her bulldog. Penny and Mallory were very interested in each other. Mallory would have loved to kiss and hug Penny. She laughed big time when Penny licked her tummy!
Mal sill has just the two bottom teeth, but there are two on the top ready to pop through any day now.
Mallory is an expert at getting into tight spaces. Here she is under the kitchen table yesterday. Last month she and Matthew were in the living room. I thought Matthew was awake. I went to our room for just a second to put something up. When I came back I couldn't see her anywhere. I went into a quick "Baby Jessica in the Well" panic for a few seconds as I woke Matthew up asking where Mallory was since we could hear her but not see her. I think I even looked in the fireplace before realizing that her sounds were coming from behind a chair. She had crawled behind it and was stuck between it and the wall. I look at it now and have no clue how she got back there because an air conditioner filter is filling up the space now.
I'm just a sucker for any picture of these two together. Watching them play and laugh together is the best.
This girl LOVES to eat! If you put her in a high chair you better have some food. She knows what a high chair is for and is not happy if it is not being use for eating. Here she is eating a biter biscuit. They are soooo messy, but sure do keep her happy for a long time.
This girl does NOT like to be still. We have pretty much abandoned the changing table for diapers and dressing. The only way to get her somewhat still is on the floor with a leg across her like Matthew is doing.

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.