Christmas Day

Christmas morning Mallory woke us up nice and early (at 6:15 am.... I think that she was really excited about her first Christmas). After feeding her and getting ourselves ready,(yes I dressed Mallory in plaid and poke-a-dots, is that a problem?)we opened presents at our house and then headed over to my parents house. Mallory was already having a very rough morning and seemed to be unhappy no matter what we did for her (that darn tooth had her mad and she ran a fever all weekend). Jeff, Lindsay and Ty all showed up at our parents house at about 9 and we spend then next 3 hours opening gift/stocking/eating/taking pictures/napping... it was really fun.
Mallory got everyone fun little gag-type gifts... Jeff get a bunch of cups that have noses of all shapes and sized on them... very funny!





We then headed back home to start/finish cooking (because we were hosting Christmas dinner at our house)! It was really fun (despite Little Miss Grumpy Pants being a scrooge the entire night and mom having to work so she wasn't there) :) I made homemade wild mushroom risotto, Cabernet reduced lamb and molasses glazed slow roasted pork loin. Others brought salad, scalloped potatoes, rolls and more sweets then we could ever eat! It was heavenly! Pretty sure I have gained back all my pregnancy weight over this weekend alone! :)

Christmas Eve

Christmas just seems like such a big topic to cover! Over the coarse of 3 days we saw so many people, got so many gifts and ate so much food! So I think that I'll just take it day by day. That way I don't overwhelm you all or myself with all the stories/pictures.
So Christmas eve we always get together at my parents house and make Cabbage Bread (a German dish), they are sooooooo yummy! But making them together as a family is half the fun.


I swear every year we all debate the amount of each of the ingredients. We actually had a recipe at one point, but it has mysteriously disappeared over the years. This is a picture of Dad and Matthew cutting up all the onions. You can't tell, but they both had tears streaming down their face and their eyes were burning! It was so funny. Don't cry boys.

Jeff and Lindsay came down from Oregon to spend Christmas with us! It was so wonderful to see them.They hadn't seen little miss Mallory since she was a few weeks old, so it was neat to watch them play with her (now that she's such a big girl).

Santa Baby

Just some cute Pre-Christmas shots of our little santa baby (ha ha, now all day long you are going to be singing that sone) Enjoy! :)

Smile

Hey babe, nice tooth! No I am not quoting the most famous pick-up line in all Lake County... though it would work there too. Mallory has erupted her first tooth! We found it on Saturday morning as we were sitting in the airport. And Mallory, true to form, has not made any sort of a stink about it. She is smiley through it all! Actually that is a little exaggeration. We did notice that she has been wanting ME a little more then normal. Most of the time she doesn't care who's arms shes in... but for 2 days she wanted snuggle time with her momma (and let me tell you I took advantage of it)!!! So without further adue, here is her first tooth! (just what you all have been waiting for, I know)

Family Picture

At the wedding there was a little photo area where all the guest got to have their picture taken by one of the photographers.... I thought that was a pretty cute idea. Here is our family picture (Jeff and Lindsay we missed you guys).

L.A. Wedding

On Saturday morning (at 6 am) my family and I all flew down to L.A for my cousin Philips wedding! It was a beautiful wedding, and the newly weds looked gorgeous and in love. It was wonderful to see all of Maudlin side of my family. I don't get to see them nearly enough, and they are such a sweet, loving group!
In the midst of the wedding my dad started having these electric-tazer-like shooting pains in his right leg! They were so intense that there were a few times that he almost fell over!!!! Myself and a handful of others were worried, so Dad and I ended up in the ER! Not to worry though, they check his heart and looked for a deep vein thrombosis in his leg... both were fine!!!! We aren't really sure what the cause of the pain was, but he got the all clear, and back to the party we went!
Sunday night we flew home... so it was just a short little trip, but it was so wonderful to see the family and to get away from sonoma county for a little while (too bad it was raining there too)!
Mallory did great on the plane.... very little fussing and a bunch of playing, eating and sleeping! Why a good baby she is!

The 12 Days of Christmas

If any of you have talked with me recently I'm sure that I have brought up how darn busy I am... but I haven't really wanted to get into who. I guess it's because I have felt so busy that just talking about it all feels like I have to do it/relive it all over again. Now that life is settling down a smidgen I feel like I can talk about it all... if you still care.
It's not really that my entire life is busy, its primarily my work life. Don't get me wrong I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my work... it's just overwhelming right now. Seriously! And what better way to tell you all about it but in song... Tis' the season for (to be sung to the tune of 12 days of Christmas):

12 Dogs a puking
11 Foreign bodies
10 Tumors growing
9 Limbs a breaking
8 Fevers of unknown origins
7 Diarrhea's
6 ACL tearing
5 Siiiiiick techs
4 Blocked cats
3 Exploratory laparotomies
2 Spinal meningitis'
and a boss who likes to Vaca in Hawaii

Ta Daaaaah!
And the sad/amazing part is that I am not exaggerating! It's pretty amazing how busy we are! It seems like all these animals want to die right around the holiday seasons.... right when people seem to need them the most. I can't tell you how many times a day I hear "if you could just help him/her make it through Christmas..." I feel like telling them 'I'll be happy if I can just make it through to Christmas!' :)
Sigh!

The Mal-Mal Diet

I had no idea that little Miss Mallory's food consumption was such a hot topic! But it seems like every time I see anyone, they ask about her latest and greatest food encounter. (I feel like shes a celebrity... you know how the magazines always talk about/analyze each bite of food that the rich and famous put into their mouth). So here's a little run down on the newest fad diet: "The Mal-Mal Diet" (for weight gain)
*5-8 ounces of warm breast milk ever 4-5 hours
*Vomit up about 1 ounce of it (just so you don't gain TOO much weight)
*One meal a day consisting of 3 ounces of home pureed food (Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, avocados, green beans, apple, pear, banana, rice cereal or oatmeal)
*Make sure that you smear about 1/5 of what you are eating onto your face and hands (That's how you keep that baby-soft skin).
*For desert you can have 3-4 ounces of warm breast milk and rice cereal mixed in a bottle.
*To burn calories don't forget to rub your feet back and forth over and over and over again until you create little balls on your socks and eventually push your socks right off.
*For optimum weight gain, be sure to fall asleep while eating at least one meal a day, but get really mad when the food/nipple is removed.

SURPRISE!

(Once again sorry for the lack for pictures... they will come as soon as I can get them off my moms camera!)
Saturday my sweet husband threw me a surprise 30th birthday party! (To be honest I had an inkling that there was going to be a party) but I had NO idea who was coming. I was shocked! There were probably 50-55 people there!!!! Friends and family from all over came. It was so sweet! Once again I felt so loved. Thank you all. I had such a great time. Thank you all for you love (and for the amazing gifts)!!!!
And thank you Matthew, mom, dad and Joyce for all the time, planing, secret keeping and money that you spent on this wonderful party. You all are so amazing. I am one very lucky lady. Thank you!
xoxox

The Big Three-Zero

Ok, it's official... I'm OLD! :) To be honest this was actually one of the best birthdays I have ever had! The entire day made me smile! It was a Thursday, which means that work closes at 11 (I know, my life is tough). So not only was it nice to have the afternoon free, but work was really great! I spent the morning opening caseous abscesses, pulling of thousands of maggots and removing copious amounts of necrotic flesh from 3 sheep that were attacked by a dog 2 weeks prior. I know to most that job doesn't sound like fun... and ok, maybe fun is the wrong word, but it was gratifying to know that these poor sheep needed me, and I am able to help them live. After that I picked up Mallory at my moms who had Uncle Melt pancakes (my favorite) ready for me!!!!! Thank you mom! When Mallory and I got back to our house it was time for her nap so I put her to sleep and after walking out of her room I got to get into a warm candle lit bubble bath that Matthew had drawn up for me (and a glass of wine). I felt so loved and pampered! Once the little girl woke up we took Sonny for a walk (since it finally wasn't raining)! After the walk, my sweet neighbors showed up at our door and sang me happy birthday and gave me wonderful flowers/art and chocolate! So sweet! Then it was off to my parents house for a birthday dinner of Chinese food and homemade cobbler! Yum! Yum! The dinner was wonderful, my parents, in-laws and Ty and Tom were all there. The gifts were wonderful, but honestly after such a perfect day I didn't even feel like they were needed....(but don't get me wrong I'm not giving them back!) :)
Thank you to everyone who made my 30th birthday so very special!
(Sorry I didn't take any pictures, but others did, I'll post them soon-ish)

Christmas Tree Time

On our way back from our Thanksgiving weekend we stopped by a tree farm and actually picked out and cut down our own tree. I had never done this before and it was really fun! It was cold and rainy but somewhat invigorating tromping all around the hillsides looking at each tree, trying to find our perfect one. Mallory was once again a total trooper. After getting all bundled up and tucked inside her moby wrap, she just hung out cooing and singing Christmas carols the entire time.
It was amazing, Santa was at the tree farm! WOW! What are the odds? :) So Mallory got her first encounter with Jolly Saint Nick.

Dream

OK, so Matthew told me that I didn't need to write about this. That it's awful and people don't need to hear it. But I can't be the only one to have a dream like this, so I wanted to share. Sorry if you find it disturbing... So did I.
The night before last I had this dream:
I felt as though I was laying down, surrounded by water. (You know when you take a bath and you put your head under but not your mouth, nose and eyes... but your ears are under so you can hear your breathing and your heart beating really loud. You can also hear voices talking, but they sound sort of muffled and if you try, you can make out what they say or you can just tune them out if you want?) Well that's what it felt and sounded like. Looking down on me were 6 ladies (I know that one was my mom, one was Janie, and one was one of the gals I work with... I'm not sure who the others were, but I'm pretty sure I felt like I knew them). All the ladies were talking to me and trying to get me to do things/hand me things. But I didn't move... I couldn't move. So I said 'I just feel like I'm paralyzed.' Then all the ladies looked at each other and with a look of sorrow and pity they looked back at me and one said 'that's how your supposed to feel when your baby dies.'
BAM!
The dream was over!
I sat right up in bed! With out even trying to understand what was going on I stumbled out of bed and rushed down the hall towards Mallory's bedroom. I was sick to my stomach! WAS my baby dead? Why would I have such a horrible dream? I need to see my little girl! I didn't even have my barrings about me, my head was spinning, it was dark and I know that I fell against the wall a time or two as I fumbled down the hallway. Without even trying to be quite I opened Mallory's bedroom door and leaned over her crib wondering to myself is she ok? Is she breathing? Is she ALIVE????? I held my breath and leaned my ear close to her sweet little chubby face, straining to hear any signs of life. My knees practically gave out if relief when I felt her sweet exhale against my cheek. My baby is alive and all is right with the world.
I tiptoed back to my bed, climbed under the still warm covers and lay there. My heart still racing and my head still reeling. All I could think about was how incredible the power of a dream is and how amazing it is that someone that has only been in my life for 4 1/2 months has such a tight hold on me. On my heart, my breath, my survival!

Snow Bunny

 

A few days before Thanksgiving it snowed up in Foreesthill, so the Friday after thanksgiving Matthew and I took Mallory Rose a few miles past where we were staying for her first snow trip. There was about 4 feet of fresh snow. I was a beautiful bright 'warm' day. Mallory didn't seem to mind the snow, the cold or the wetness, but she didn't like the brightness! The refection off the snow was so darn bright that she could barely open her eyes. Poor thing had nowhere safe to look. Up. There's the sun. Down. There's the reflection of the sun. So she got fussy pretty quickly... but at least we got a few shots in first.

Holidays

There is nothing like a cold winters day, a warm fire and a naked baby to make it feel like the Holidays! :)
(How come it's so darn cute for a little baby to be naked in front of the fire with family all around and just down right creepy for us adults. At what age does that change?)

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful! We ended up going to Forest hill to hang out with Matthews family. The food was delicious, fattening and in overabundance... pretty sure I am going to be caring around a food-baby for this entire holiday season. :)
It was wonderful to see all of this side of the family. They are a joyful, friendly, playful group and you can always count on a good time when you are with them. Between eating, drinking, playing games, learning about past family history and watching football, the weekend flew by! My one worry was Mallory and her ability to get a good nights sleep around them all. Because if you know the Klein's, you know that there in NOTHING quiet about them.... alot of them are even loud when they sleep! :) But it true Mallory fashion she partied with the best of them, and then slept through the night (and all the laughing, yelling, talking...) without a hitch for 2 nights in a row!!! I apparently had nothing to worry about! She IS a little Klein after all.
Thank you Anuty Joyanna for letting us invade your home! We love you guys!