Mallory is 8 months…

Okay, Mallory turned 8 months last Saturday and I still haven’t posted her “8th month update”.  We’ve got big plans for the weekend, so I figured I’d do a quick 8 month post before I forget!  Sorry – no pics to accompany this post, you’ll just have to refer to the ones in the previous post –those are her “8 month” pics.  At 8 months, here is what Miss Mallory is up to:

-Crawling and pulling up on everything – even a blank wall will do!

-Can stand unassisted occasionally but not for very long; we’re still working on balance

-Drinks 4 6oz. bottles a day

-Eats various baby food – fruits and veggies.  Started cereal bars, meats, a small amount of table foods and yogurt this week.

-Isn’t a fan of baby food anymore; she wants to eat like a big girl and feed herself; likes things w/ substance – she’s over purees!

-Gives high fives and claps

-Says Dada, Mama, and Baba – sometimes in context, sometimes just for fun while babbling.  The Mama always comes when she’s sleepy or whiney

-Thinks her Big Brother is the greatest thing ever.  Loves to wake him up and hug on him; also enjoys beating on his head…

-Sleeps through the night and is actually starting to take about two naps a day – yea for Mommy!

-Loves water – baths and pools.  She is a little fish – she thinks splashing is great.

-Her favorite fruit is cantaloupe – she eats it through a little mesh feeder and thinks it’s the greatest tasting thing in the world!

- Still has two bottom teeth but seems to working hard on the top two…

Mallory is growing so fast and she is so much fun to be around.  Seldomly is she fussy and she could spend all day exploring and playing – I wish I could appreciate all of the small things in life as much as Mallory does.  The smallest things excite her and drive her wild.  We love her more every day and don’t think I haven’t begun planning that big first birthday bash.  I’ll give you a clue – think “SWEET” ;)  FYI – mark your calendars for the princess’ party – November 20th.

Until next time – have a great weekend.  Be ready for lots of pictures from our weekend adventure – it’s sure to be a “whale” of a time ;)

911 Emergency!

That’s right, we have an emergency – my camera is not functioning properly.  Makes my heart skip a beat just thinking about it!  I have found that I can atleast use my zoom lens and it will work, so apparently there’s a problem w/ my regular lens.  I have made do but it’s been tough.  I have to stand really far away from the kids to get a picture – pretty funny.  I’m sure they actually enjoy not having Mommy in their face sometimes!  Here’s what I’ve managed to get pics of the last few days:

 

I realized I hadn’t gotten some good ole’ “ottoman” shots of Mallory in a long time – me, Mallory, the doorway, the ottoman and great sun.  This poor little girl has not had ANY professional pics done since her newborns.  I’m terrible, I know.  I remind myself everyday as I nag my husband to let me get her photographed.  He says, “You’ve waited this long, just wait for her one year pics.”  At the rate we’re going, guess that’s what we’ll do.  So, for now, here is another one of my lame attempts at pictures.  I got this cute little white outfit the other day, and decided it would make for a cute little shoot!

 

Okay, I am having the HUGEST dilemma.  Mallory’s hair is growing out – Great. I know. Glad she has hair; however, it’s making the headband situation much more difficult.  Her hair overlaps her headband and it’s starting to look funny.  Don’t you worry – I have not and will not give up the headbands for quite some time, but for the first time this weekend, we wore a ‘real’ bow.  It’s decently cute, I guess.  It’s growing on me.  But, don’t you worry.  I’ve got more tricks up my sleeve.  I bought wider headbands so I can cover up more hair and keep what’s left tucked in.  We’ll start to switch off some, but let the record state I love her in big bows! ;)

 

On Saturday morning, I had dance registration.  It also happened to be the day that Dayton and Brandon played in the Generation Gap.  I was extremely disappointed that I didn’t get to go watch my boys play golf, but Mallory and I had fun at the dance studio and registration went very well.  Brandon and Dayton won 3rd place and Dayton got a cool medal so he thought that was the best thing ever.  He was so proud of it and kept saying how awesome it was!  Here are the kiddos before we parted ways:

My two golfers (nice stomach Date, but a great picture if you can look past the gut!) :

Mommy and her future dancer.  She, of course, was decked out in dance attire ;)

Look at these cute little golfers:

Brandon was nice enough to take the camera w/ him so I could atleast see some pictures of their round.  Thanks, Daddy!  It meant a lot b/c not only was he having to keep up w/ Date and play golf, he also was in charge of lugging around my gigantic camera, complete w/ LONG zoom lens…

This is an attempt at a high five:

Here is my latest and greatest and only project I’ve made lately.  I haven’t had much time but I bought this fabric and ribbon in SA last weekend, and I actually had a little time this morning to put this dress together.  Since I’ve took the pic, I’ve made a matching bow, so I’ll have to get more pictures of her “complete” creation!

Here is proud Date w/ his cute little medal!  Hopefully, this is the first of many more ;)

Quiet on the Home Front…

Or maybe it’s just the calm before the storm – either way, things have been pretty slow since we’ve been home.  Other than last minute “to-do’s” before registration this weekend, we’ve been enjoying lots of family time and making up for our lost time away from the kiddos.  Here are some pictures – nothing too exciting, but it’s all I’ve got!

 

This little girl is dying for table food, and while we still have a few more months, she does get a few tastes here and there!  Here she is caught red handed – that is Oreo w/ blue filling on her face!!!

How could you not give this cute little face some of your Oreo cookie??????????????

Big Bro helped me get this shot – check out Mally’s new ballerina leg warmers Mommy got her in SA.  We have so much tile in the house and it makes me feel a little better about her crawling around when she atleast has her knees covered…

Obviously, Oreo cookies have the same effect on Mallory as they do on her Mommy – they go straight to the thighs!!!

This is what Mallory looks like 90% of the time these days – crawling and she is Speedy, Speedy, Speedy!  Here is another outfit Mommy picked up for Mallory to help out the knee situation and it is super cute on her!!!! ;)

Is he not still the most handsome little man?  I am trying to cherish this last month w/ him before he starts school – wow, so hard to believe.  Time goes by too fast!

He thought this angle would make for a good pic  I was just happy he was allowing some picture taking time!

Okay – this picture will make you all gasp w/ horror for soooo many reasons:  Dayton is sleeping in YOUR bed????  Mallory is sleeping in YOUR bed????  With pillows????  And covers????  And Date’s leg is on top of Mallory????  Don’t worry, no kiddos were harmed in the making of this picture.  It was nap time and I was keeping a really good eye on them and they were just fine.  As comfortable as humanly possible.  And I love to see them in such a peaceful state at the same time, so I don’t care what you say about the picture, I LOVE it ;)

Playing w/ Mommy’s new phone.  They look so in to whatever it is they are doing…

Busted!

Aunt Sandie and Uncle Coby bought them these cool shirts at the Corpus Christi Hooks game.  Date ripped the tag off and put it on immediately, so I changed Mally, too.  I love matching clothes!  Thanks Aunt Sandie!

Here’s what I’ve been up to…

I’m working hard – oh come on now – hardly working.  This is so great and we are having a nice time (well, atleast I am while Brandon is in meetings all day).  I miss my kids dearly and we are so lucky to have Grandpa, MeMe, PaPa and DeDe to take care of them – thanks sooooo much!!!!

 

Where I’ve been spending most of my time…

Nice rooms and Longhorn themed – made for us!

Life is good…

Important Question!!!

I need your help – as Halloween fastly approaches (okay, give me a break – I always buy costumes in August) I need to know what YOU think Mallory should be for her first Halloween – here are our choices!!!!

 

Choice #1 – A flamingo – we’ve got some pink cat-eye shades for her to complete the ensemble and she’d be pulled in a hula grass-covered wagon w/ leis and palm tree and everything else tropical and cute…

 

OR Choice #2 – now the pic is small but it is an ADORABLE lobster (aka crawfish to us) costume.  I would definently add a bow to an antennae so she could be a girl lobster and she’d be pulled around in a huge boiling pot :)

Don’t freak out on me, now.  I know what you’re thinking, that I’ve forgotten about Date and I’m not worried about him – not true!  Since we’ve started discussing the issue, he asks every day – when is Halloween?  Maybe we brought it up a little early.  He already knows what he wants to be – a fisherman – Mommy thinks she can do a good fisherman – just you wait…

Some firsts…

Not for my kiddos, but for me!  My first ride in the Charger and my first attempt at a ‘real’ photo shoot w/ the car.  (Ok, not exciting for most of you, but bear w/ me!)  I even took a step ladder w/ me so I could get some great overview shots from up high.  We went down 1300 and pulled off on to a small gravel road thing w/ lots of tall grass and trees around it – lucky I didn’t get bit by a snake but not lucky enough to not get bitten by the five hundred mosquitoes that were swarming us – yuck!  Came home w/ tons of bites, but I think it was worth it, awesome pics!  It was fun but Brandon was freaking out b/c we got some “mud” (aka a little dirt and sand) under the car and on the tires.  Sometimes he forgets that this thing isn’t THAT fragile – it sat in the middle of a field for like decades and it survived – take it easy, dude!!!!  He freaked b/c I touched the dashboard and left a fingerprint – OCC – oh, yes!  To the extent that Date asked if he could “touch this car” today when referring to the bimmer – yes, Date you can touch the car.  Poor kid is scared to touch any cars these days!  Oh Daddy…

Anyhow, here are my pictures :)  Photoshopped some of them to look cool, I think…

 

 

 

 

Too cute…

Okay, three pictures may not be worthy of their own blog, but here is my happy princess in some cute clothes.  She is Miss Busy Body these days – pulling up on everything and crawling everywhere!  Clapping has now led to attempted high fives which Date is loving and he is determined to teach his little sister to wave bye-bye, so maybe that will come next!

 

Here is her new dress from Marc and Kelly – Kelly gave it to us on Friday afternoon and she wore it out to Sugar Land on Friday night – too cute!!!  Mud Pie is my ABSOLUTE favorite brand of baby girl’s clothes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a couple pics of Mally in her stylish white jeans – they were super cute on her!  She had a hard time getting around in them, but that’s okay.  Here she is w/ her gift from her garage sale money – she got her first walker and it doubles as a baby stroller.  Sure we have hand-me-down walkers from Dayton but doesn’t every sweet little girl deserve a girl-y toy every once in  a while????????

*Don’t worry, Date got garage sale money, too!  His prize was (of course) the Toy Story 3 wii game.  They were sold out at Wal-Mart so we had to make a pit stop at Target after our Benihana’s meal…