Fall Photos Take One

Here are a couple photos I was able to snap this afternoon.  Enjoy!

 Discovering the pumkin...

 trying to pick up the pumpkin...

 running on the porch is so funny!

 One more try at picking up the pumpkin

 playing in the rain puddles

 

picking up pebbles

 

 Cheese!

Been a While, Reflections

So I am reminded (somewhat regularly, thanks Mom!) that my blogging has been less than stellar lately.

I must agree with that assertion.  I could blame it on being busy lately, but who hasn't been.  Could say I haven't had anything to share... but that would be a blatant lie.

The truth is I keep my computer in our "office/guest room" and it is not a very toddler friendly area.  While my sweet little one naps, I am busy doing everything that is... challenging to do with a squiggling child on my hip.

By the time I am done with those projects/chores she is awake and I do my best to stay away from this room lest she play with the files sitting on the floor awaiting a cabinet. Or pull everything out of her Daddy's desk drawers.  Or play with all the fun cords that go into the outlet (they are almost like a puzzle!). You get the point.

So as this sweet, playful, child grows up before my eyes I greedily hoard all her memories, smiles and laughs.  And to be honest, I do not feel that bad about it.

And now, the entire reason you are reading this post... an update on Mallie (she is about 14.5 months old).

She is still a petite munchkin.  At her last doctors visit (2 months ago...) she was in the bottom 7% for weight and bottom 5% for height.  She is growing proportionately, and is both physically and mentally developing fine but she's just a little thing.  She is healthy and that is all we truly care about.  Something we don't care about but is just a reminder how wee she, is the size of clothing she wears - 6-9 months.  Sometimes 3-6 months.  Definitely not 9-12 months unless the sizing is off.  (Secretly I really do not have a problem with this most of the time because she has a lot of cute clothes that she gets to wear more than 1 time.  That may change around Christmas time because I have lots of adorable 12month outfits I would really love her to wear). 

Her personality is developing and we are seeing our some very strong willed behavior come out of our little baby.  Usually this behavior peaks at inopportune times but we try and remember that this fierce steadfastness will be an asset as she develops into a young lady and eventually a strong woman.

At home, we see a little girl that loves to giggle and wants more than anything to make her Momma and Daddy laugh with her.  Once she gets a giggle from one of us (they flow very freely) she will put the behavior on repeat until she distracts herself with another amusement.  She is sweet, and loving and carefree in the way that every little one should be.

Some favorite things for her:
Spinning (herself on the floor or us holding her).  Spinning gets less fun for her when she gets dizzy and falls (I don't think she gets the concept yet).
Us laughing - when we laugh, she laughs.  The cycle repeats.  Pure happiness.

Splashing - she loves splashing at bath time.  She thinks its so funny she can make the water shoot up.

Where's Mallie - we crawl on the floor pretending to look for her.  Then we find her, tickle, love on, etc.  Its good times.
I'm going to get you! - same as above except we chase her around the couch as she giggles.
Dancing and Music - this girls loves music and can't seem to control her head from moving when she hears some.  She has started bouncing her arms to the music as well.  Watch out Ellen!
Being tickled - under her neck and her tummy are very ticklish.

Waving to people - she will wave at everyone until someone wants her to wave then she gives the cold shoulder.
Playing on the couch, her chair, etc.  She loves it.

Some of her favorite things, our not so favorite things:

Dog food - we keep the dog food in another room, door closed as often as possible.  Since we are not into animal cruelty, the door is not always closed.  Mallie tries to get to the room and eat the dogs food whenever she can.  This is getting better.  See the next item.
Pretending to go to the Room to Eat Dog Food - Mallie finds it hilarious to walk towards to room, turn to see if we are watching her, and when we catch her, she giggles.  I shake my head.
Trash - she really likes to open the kitchen trash car and take out whatever she can reach.  Or even more fun is to drop her toys in the trash and hope someone notices.  This could be an issue but so far I have only seen her throw away her magnets.   Getting into everything she is not supposed to - I believe that one is descriptive enough.

Some fun(ny) things for us:
Panting: when we talk about dogs with her she starts to pant.  Like a dog. She will say "g" (dog minus the do portion) and then pant.  Or just start panting when the dog walks towards her.  Or when she see a dog out on a walk.  Once she pants and we say "dog?" she gets really happy.
Clean up - at the end of the day we spend time picking up toys.  I tell her "pick up your blue block" and point to said toy.  She sometimes gets the color wrong, object right (red block) or the color right object wrong (blue ball) but nonetheless she is helping clean up and follows directions. 
and the every best
Sweet Mallie - we say "Sweet Mallie" and she loves on us by putting her head on our shoulder and cuddling.  If we say "sweet baby" she does the same thing with her baby doll.  If we say "sweet dog" she gets down and will hug the dog.  its very cute and loveable.

Kisses - who doesn't love open mouth kisses from their baby????

Some things we are struggling with:
New places, new people - Mallie has a hard time going to new people and gets very shy in new surroundings.  She has been struggles going to the nursery at church (as in she screams loud and a bunch) but seems to be making improvements
Being held - this baby girls likes to be held.  A lot.  And will cry loudly - with tears - if she is not held when she wants to be.  I know this was self inflicted because I hold her a bunch but I am working on it.  It's a struggle for both of us.
Hollering to get what she wants when she wants it.  I know when she hollers she really just needs attention but when I am in the kitchen chopping up onions or jalapenos, its hard to immediately turn my attention to her.
Switching to one nap day - its hard.
Finding outside of the house activities - I am looking for opportunities for M to interact with others but my findings have been a bit lackluster. 

She likes to be read to, eat (berries, boiled eggs and spaghetti are her favorites right now), play with all her toys.  She is learning to blow kisses.  We are working on colors but she knows basic names for toys, her drink, etc.She knows where her nose, hair and "piggies" (toes) are when asked.

So like this long post comes to an end, so too am I reflecting on the end of a stage of my Mallie Bear's life.  At home I am folding up the too small pajamas and dresses, tucking away little baby toys and packing up her bottles.  We are stuffing these things into boxes destined for the attic.  Its been over a year but feels like a mere couple of weeks.  The sweetness of her breath and the neediness of her touch has changed day by day and left me in awe.

The first year with our Malinda Rose was life changing and breath taking.  It has been irreplaceable and unforgettable. As we begin the toddler phase of Mallie's life, I rejoice in our blessings, give thanks for our health, and pray for a bright future for our little Rose. 

10 Months/May update

My baby is growing so fast!  She hit the double digit month mark with a solid 10 months under her belt. May was a month of messes for us.  Between scooting and learing to crawl, Mallie was all over the place, getting into everything!

She added 2 teeth this month and how she has 3 on top and 3 on bottom.

 

We spent a lot of time picking and eating blackberries this month.  Like her momma, Mallie loves berries!  Our daily jogs quickly become daily walks and then just berry picking sessions as they come into season.  Yum!

Baby Jack came to visit for Louisiana!  Hes a sweet baby and you can keep up with him on Megans Merry Go Round blog.

 

At ten months, she loves water - I made a makeshift pool for her to splash in on hot May days (no worries, since then she has gotten a "real" baby pool!).

Bad hair day...

We went to the (in)famous SprangThang outside of Brenham

She also began rice crackers and other baby finger foods and she is a fan.

 

She is an animal lover.  Mallie LOVES our dogs.

This month has been all about moving; she struggled the first half of the month with wanting to crawl...

and then...

She officially started crawling May 12 and nothing is safe in the house.  The dog food, electrical plugs, magazines and my green mason jars are like magnets for her.  If I run to the kitchen she zooms over to the stairs/china/other not baby friendly things. 

Mid May she started pulling her self to stand on her own.  I found this out when I went to get her one morning and was greeted with her happy face looking over the crib... later that day we lowered the mattress!

 Standing in the crib was exciting but also brought on a world of new issues - especially at nap time.  I would put her down, she would fuss and stand up and cry.  Then she wouldn't know how to sit so she was be stuck standing and crying... until she fell asleep standing.  Then her head would jerk and she would wake up, start crying and the cycle would start ALL OVER.  My rule is she has to stay in the crib for at least 1 hour during her nap times.  Unfortunately she would cry throughout her hour "nap" and that made for some hard afternoons (happily we are over that now). 

We honored America's fallen heros on Memorial Day and played with Cousin Jack again.

Play date with Mallies BFF Monroe (Monroe's mommy keeps up the Rowdy Ramsdens blog).

9 Months Old!

My Baby girl is 9 months old.  9 MONTHS OLD!!!!  How time flies...  we went into this month wide eyed and ready for adventure.

This month Mallie has really started moving.  She can roll from one side of a room to the other in no time flat.  She tries, and it really close to, crawling but she can't quite figure it out yet.  She gets up on all fours, then starts to move and then her arms give out and she ends up flat on her belly again.  Which she doesn't seem to mind because it means she can roll to her next destination.  She has figured out how to rotate her body to get shift directions but is not a fan of corners... she gets stuck on them and gets pretty frustrated and usually hollers so we will move her.

 

 

Speaking of hollering, this little girl is becoming quite... loud and used to getting her way.  I foresee this being a problem and want to address the behavior but am a little unsure how to discipline a 9 month old.  I get the most frustrated with this while feeding her.  I will give her a spoonful of food, and go into the kitchen while she is "chewing" to grab something.  The second Mallie sees me walk away, she yells out to get me to come back.  I go back to her with more food... only to find her mouth is still full of food.  She also has started swatting the spoon while a feed her, making a big mess of things. 

In terms of eating, Mallie is doing great.  She eats meat, veggies, fruit, and her gerber cereal mixes and has started on dairy.  Plain yogurt is not her favorite but she loves vanilla flavored yogurt.  

 

We have been out blackberry picking on our daily walks and she is a Texas girl for sure, if by nothing else, her love for wild, fresh blackberries.  Yummy.  We have had lots of mid afternoon snacks along our walking route the past week or two. 

 

 

Sadly Mallie's Aunt Jamie's grandmother passed away in April.   On their trip to Texas, she (Jamie) and my brother Kyle stopped by the house to say hi to Mallie.  They also helped out in a huge way and babysat her for a few hours (THANK YOU!!!).

 

She LOVES Mackie, our dog.  Thankfully, Mackie is a very sweet and gentle dog because Mallie pulls, pokes and prods that dog all day long.  

 

She is able to get into the sitting position but we have not actually seen her make the transition.  I find her sitting in her crib in the morning, in the middle of the kitchen floor when I come inside from a quick trip to the mailbox, etc.  She is obviously very proud of this skill because she is all smiles when we catch her sitting.

Aprilfest time!  

And fun playing with family.

Her second tooth came in. That sweet gummy smile is growing whiter with teeth every day.

Separation anxiety is setting in and there are tears shed when someone new holds holds her.  They usually clear up the second I walk away and she gets distracted... but I am still hoping this is a short lived stage.

Mallie is all giggles and smiles at home (except for the times she is not) but when we go out in public she still stares down new people.  She is not amused by strangers (or un-regular non-strangers) and their grand gestures.  To win her affection, or at the least to get her to crack a smile, a  sides ways glance and slight smile or simple silly face express goes a long way.  Loud, in her face, giant movements seem to either annoy or confuse her.  I am certain that the being annoyed part she gets from her Daddy.  It would make things easier when we are out in public if she would give smiles away freely but I am sure in some way we will be thankful for this trait in the future.

At 9 months old this little girl is keeping me busy.  It seems like I have more to do now then when I was working full time.  The business is a blessing and we are very thankful for all that God has provided for our family.