TIME TO CHANGE

I’ve been trying to write this post for a while, but haven’t been able to make myself do it. So…here goes. We’re moving! We put our house on the market back in the first half of June. We got an offer this weekend and after going back and forth a bit, we have a contract and are scheduled to close on August 15th. That is sounding really soon to me and there is so much to be done to move, so if you don’t hear from me for a while now you will know why.

We love where we live now. We have great friends and a great church. We love our house. Unfortunately we are 40+ miles from where Matthew works. So, we’ll be moving to an apartment in the “stinky” city where he fights crime. The good thing about this move is that I will get to stay at home with Mallory! Matthew will get to have more time at home with us too since his commute will be so much shorter.

So, like Peter and the rest of the Bradys sang, “When its time to change, you’ve got to rearrange”.

Do-Nuts in Heaven

This morning Harriett brought some do-nuts to the office. As several of us were gathered in the kitchen eating the sweet warm circles of perfection, someone asked "are there do-nuts in heaven?" We quickly decided that YES, there must be Shipley's Do-Nuts in heaven because they are just that good. So what do YOU think is so yummy that we will be enjoying it with God in heaven someday?

Just so you aren't concerned about your church staff, we also decided that if there are no do-nuts in heaven we won't miss them one bit. Who could miss do-nuts when you are spending eternity with God?

What A Catch!

My dad went fishing a couple of months ago and was very proud of his catch.

I went fishing last week and caught me a cutie too!

Now just a few pictures of Mallory looking cute this week.

The Fourth

Mallory and I spent the holiday weekend at my parents house. It was a great weekend full of Fourth of July decorating, watermelon, ice cream, fireworks, and more. The only sad part of it was that Matthew had to stay home and work. We all missed him (and I think he missed us a little too)!

Its getting late, so here's a slide show of some of the highlights from the weekend.

A Whole Half a Year

Mallory turned 6 months old on Saturday. She checked out great at the doctor. She weighed in at 18 lb 10 oz. That is somewhere past the 100th percentile in case you are wondering. She sure has grown a lot since she entered this world at 6 lb 13 oz! I think that was around the 10th percentile.

Since she's 6 months old, here are 6 pictures from the last week or so.

Just chillin' in my saucer.
I have been setting my alarm to get up and run before work for several weeks and for several weeks I've been ignoring it the next morning. So, I found a new running partner tonight. She must have liked it since this is what she looked like when we got home. I don't think we will be running any marathons together, but she'll be a good partner for shorter runs. Pushing the jogger added a whole new aspect to running. Maybe running with her will make up for track workouts.
Mallory started eating baby food this weekend. I think she liked the sweet peas. You can't tell by the picture, but a lot of it actually went in her mouth. She REALLY likes the spoon. We play our own game of tug-o-war with it at each feeding.
This girl would love to crawl! She can get up on her knees and move them a little, but hasn't figured out moving her hands yet.
When you're this roly-poly, the bumbo tends to hang on to your bum!
Feet and toys, what else could a girl ask for?
(yes, the laundry in the chair is clean. i think i was in the process of folding it, but had to take a few pictures of this sweet girl before finishing.)

My New Favorite Show

I have a new favorite TV show. Matthew and I just watched Wipeout. I seriously don't know when I have laughed so hard. I was a little worried that we might wake Mallory up with our belly laughs.

Here's a little sneak peek for you until next week. You don't want to miss it.

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.