New Faces

Saturday, after the car show, Mallory and I went over to Howerth park for a big family (multi-person) birthday party! It was so much fun, but one of the most wonderful parts about it was that Carrie (one of my cousins) FINALLY got a chance to meet Mallory! It was the worlds sweetest meeting, Carrie cried, Mallory cooed and smiled then they became best friends! Honestly! Mallory LOVED looking at and snuggling with Carrie! Too cute!



That night My Aunt Alicia and Uncle Randy flew in from Poway to meet Mallory and visit with the family! This too was a really sweet first meeting... Alicia and Randy were going to be stopping by our house once their flight landed which was around 6 pm ... but with traffic and all they didn't actually get to our house until around 9:30 (about an hour past the time when Mallory usually goes to bed). We had been trying to keep her up for their arrival and needless to say she was a little fussy about that and kept drifting in and out of sleep. Once they arrived, Aunt Alicia stepped into our home, I put Mallory into her arms, and she literally took a deep breath snuggled into Aunt Alicia's neck and clonked out!
Mallory really fell in love with my Aunt (who hardly put her down all weekend)! It was so sweet to see the immediate bond between them! Between myself, Aunt Alicia, mom and others, poor Uncle Randy hardly got to hold her... Until Monday that is! And then she spend the majority of the day getting rocked, snuggled and kissed by her great-uncle! I felt so blessed to have had them come and visit for the weekend, I miss my southern Cali family and wish I saw them all more.

One Hot Babe!

We had a really fun weekend! It was full of all sorts of new people, parties and adventures! It's going to take a few posts to get through, so stay tuned...
The fun started on Saturday morning when Matthew and his dad took their Corvette to the Calistoga Car show! Mallory and I showed up about 9 am so that we could try and beat the heat and still enjoy the festivities.



Mallory really got into the spirit of the car show... I mean no show is complete without a hot babe on a sweet car... right? :) (Don't worry the car was not at all hot)



Then we tried to teach Mallory the importance about never driving while you are sleepy... because you just may fall asleep at the wheel!

I know, I know, I know, children are not given to us to use as props for our own amusement/entertainment.... but it is PART of the fun, right?

Flower Girl

I know, I know, I am SLIGHTLY obsessed! Janie taught me how to make these supper cute flower hair pieces and now look what has happened, I have gone completely wacko! I think that I have made about 25 of them!!!!



I get a idea/project/job in my head and I HAVE to get it all done.... NOW! I can't seem to just do one part of it and do more later. I hate putting things away only to bring them back out. Any way, enough of my craziness, lets look at how darn cute little Mallory Rose looks all dolled up! Seriously, I know that I am just ever so slightly biased, but really, she's just about the cutest baby that has ever graced this earth! (Yes I have see pictures of ALL the other baby girls in the world). Maybe it's those Momma-glasses that I heard that every mom gets when their baby enters the world... either way, I love this cute little nugget of mine!!!!

Our Little Mongolian

Let me start out by saying that this is a 'Mongolian spot' before you all freak out and think that Matthew and I are spanking Mallory already! Mongolian spots marks are a congenital, hereditary developmental condition exclusively involving the skin. Its scientific name is Congenital dermal melanocytosis. Mallory was born with this cute little mark despite the fact that it is extremely prevalent among children of color... aka anything Non-white, such as;East Asians (95%), Polynesians (90%), Native Americans (85-90%), East Africans (90-95%) and Latin American (46%). As far as I know neither Matthew or I are any of the above and the incidence among Caucasians from Europe is ONLY between 1-10%... so Matthew and I are wondering where/who this spot came from!? So we have a request to all of our family members that read this blog, do any of you/ your kids have this spot? We would love to know which side the spot comes from and see if we could track the ancestry of it. A few other facts about Mongolian spots, they normally disappears three to five years after birth and almost always by puberty. The most common color is blue, although they can be blue-gray, blue-black or even deep brown and are found almost always in the lumbosacral area (lower back), the buttocks, flanks, and shoulders.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

This morning, as I was getting ready for work I was torn... Should I be sad that I am leaving my baby girl or happy that I am starting back to work. I know, you all probably thinking that I am crazy... "Happy to be be going back to work?" But really, I LOVE it! Work is exciting! Every day I have amazing surgeries lined up, fun puppies/kittens to play with and the possibility of the unknown that could/will walk in the door any minute! I love what I do and have really missed it over these past 2 months! Now granted, I would not have traded my time at home with Mallory for anything, but I am glad to be back in the swing of things (not to mention excited about getting a pay check again)! :) And it's such a blessing to know that Mallory is with her Nawny (that would be my mom) and that she is only 5 minutes away. I'll get to see/feed her during my 2 hours lunch every day and lets not forget that my Thursdays only last until 11am!!!!! So really I hope that even though I am back at work, I wont feel like I am loosing out on too much time with my little girl.

Guilty Me

Ok, I did it. I gave in. I am weak and apparently more body conscious then I like to verbally admit (though I am sure if you asked Matthew he would say ‘Duh’). So despite the fact that I am down to my pre-pregnancy weight, my body is, well, different! My derriere region has changed. While pregnant it apparently plumped up nicely, and I think that now that the ‘extra-filler’ has gone away it has left my bum and thighs looking sadly like a bowl of cottage cheese! Uhhhgggg! I am NOT saying that pre-Mallory you could have bounces a quarter off it… but maybe a dime, or at least a nickel. Now, I think that that if you tried, the coin would land there and slowly be sucked in (like quicksand)!!!! I have been running like a mad-woman, doing weight and resistance training and the musclely/firm roundness is not returning!!!! So the other day I gave in, and got some of that Skin Firming lotion. Not the zillion dollar kind, just the Jergins brand, but I was feeling desperate and weak and I HAD to try something else. Now every morning since then I feel guilty while I desperately try to rub all the hard-earned ‘dimples’ away! What is wrong with me? (No, there is no need to answer that!) 

The Fruit Bowl

Ok, it took some time (considering the picture was taken over 7 weeks ago), but I have FINALLY put together the FINAL instalment of the fruit pictures! Looking at them all its hard to believe that she started out the size of that little teeny, tiny apple seed and now here she is, a 2 month old little happy, smiling, chunky baby girl!!! So incredible! The entire process! Each step of the way, as both that tiny baby and I changed and grew in countless way! I have been, (and continue to be) so blessed to have you all as a support group through out it all! Thank you all!!!!
Oh and on a side note, Mallory is feeling MUCH better and back to her happy, non-fussy self, for which I am SO grateful and I think I appreciate her joyful attitude even more now!

Sick Baby Girl

Poor baby girl came down with her first sickness last night! She had been a little fussy all day (which is very abnormal for her) then I noticed that she felt warm when I kissed her little forehead. So the dreaded thermometer came out!!!! (Bum, bum, bum.... pun intended). She had a 100.3 fever, poor girl. I know that's not a gigantic fever, but it was enough to make her cranky and me worried. The baby Tylenol did its trick, and within about an hour her temp was normal... but her disposition was still... 'Off'. She just needed to be cuddled and loved and held more then normal. Poor girl. Its such a helpless feeling, knowing that she's not feeling well and that I can't take all her pain/discomfort away. So as Mallory battled through her first fever I battled through my first baby having her first fever. I don't know who felt worse, me or her! she's doing better this morning, but is still off, so send BOTH of us prayers!!!!!

New Toy

One of the FEW things that Matthew and I did not have for little Mallory was a tummy/back-time gym thingy. And now that Mallory is actually focusing, engaging, touching, smiling and imitating things we thought that she would enjoy one. So the three of us went over to target and spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out which baby gym was the perfect one (the one with just the right colors, lights, dangley things, music...) There are so many options that it made the decision hard. I'm SURE that Mallory would have loved any of them... but WE wanted to like it too! :) FINALLY we picked one, and boy did we pick right... she LOVES it! She's been playing happily by herself for the past 30 minutes! So cute! I think I had just as much fun watching her enjoy herself as she did playing with the toy!

Date Night

On Saturday Matthew and I went out on a date! It was WONDERFUL! We both got all dolled up, dropped Mallory off with my folks and headed out to paint the town red. We went to the movies and saw Inception... it was really good. Very interesting and action-packed. We walked around Healdsburg for a little while (man, were the tourists out in full force because of Labor day). We finally found a place to eat, this really cute little place called A Divine Affair. The food was great, as well as the company. It was great to be out with Matthew and to feel like a woman again (instead of a walking/talking milk-bag). Hopefully we can try and get out again before another 7 weeks go by.

The Birthday month

August is THE birthday month! Tyler, my mom and Matthews dad, all within 9 days of each other! It was an amazing birthday year... Tyler, mom and Robert ALL turned 24! Amazing! It's always fun because we get to have a party for each one, but bad because we just HAVE to eat cake/pie/ice cream for each one. (Note to self, those sweet treats are not helping me lose those last few pesky baby pounds)! It seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves and once again, Mallory was passed around. It was really fun to watch some of Tyler's friends (those that have had to T-DAP shot) hold her. Some were naturals and others were SOOOOOO awkward. Mallory was great through it all, she is so tolerant.
Oh, I weighed her today... she is now a whooping 11.03 pounds! WOW!

A Star Is Born!

Need I say more?