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.

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.