March's Channeling Martha Moment

I am absolutely in love with March's channeling Martha moment. It's from the Good Things section. These Mini Terrarium Place Cards are not only adorable, but easy to create and totally 'in' for weddings using an outdoorsy-theme. Best of all I was able to make one for only $2.60 and I think I could even do it for cheaper if I were to buy the items online in bulk. Thanks for the idea Martha!

Frugal Teether

Mallory loves chewing on wet paper towels and wash cloths so much that I think we'll stop buying her teething toys because she won't even touch them. She's our frugal teether.

Oh Dear

I've been wanting to try a new workout and I had a credit with the City of Folsom, so I signed up for this:

Although I am a little nervous that it's going to kick my ass, I am so looking forward to getting my ass kicked! The class meets for an hour, three days a week starting this Wednesday for the next five weeks; oh dear. I've always wanted to take a boot camp class and this one will have less than 10 people in it, so I've been told to expect it to be harder than something I would find at 24 Hour Fitness. I'll fill you in on how it goes; I'm sure I'll be pretty sore at first.

Weekend with the Girls

This weekend was a really great one for me. My boss' birthday was earlier this month and to celebrate she invited a group of ladies up to her condo in Tahoe; a weekend with the girls. I was totally looking forward to it especially because I had a pretty stressful week at work. It was the first time I would be an entire day and night away from my little girl and although I was going to miss her like crazy, I knew she was in good hands with her dad.

With the weather that we had last week there was some worry that we might not be able to even get up the mountain on Saturday. We all met at Heather's house early yesterday morning to assess the road condition-situation. I think all five of us needed this mini vacation because we were determined to at least see how far we could get. We all piled in to Jen's 4-wheel drive Explorer and hit the road. Chain control was just past Colfax and we were stopped on the freeway for about an hour before we moved again. Once we did start moving again it was slow going all the way to the Truckee scales. It took us five hours but we got to our destination and the scenery was amazing.

After a brief stop to unload our things and refresh ourselves, we went over to the Lone Eagle Grille for some wine and spectacular views of the lake. It was beautiful but extremely windy; the waves coming in were the biggest I've ever seen for Tahoe. If the dock hadn't been closed off I would've loved to have gone out on it to ride the waves! We hit up the grocery store on the way back to pick up the menu items that we chose after brainstorming over our glasses of wine. King salmon, salad, and bread were made for dinner and it was delicious. Now that I know how easy it is to cook salmon I'm not afraid to try it at home one of these days. After stuffing our bellies we broke out the board games. Jen and I teamed up for Pictionary and kicked butt big time. It was like we were twins communicating telepathically because we were able to guess correctly on each others sketches even though our drawings were extremely amateur. Heather's customized Jenga game was also a hit and made for some great laughs.

Girl time is so nice to have once in awhile, and getting away to enjoy it in gorgeous Tahoe made it even nicer. We all had a great time and created memories that I know I'll forever cherish. Luckily the drive back home today was much easier and only took the normal two hours. I was grateful to get home to Mallory and Jody. Mallory was just waking up from a nap when I walked in the door and she greeted me with a big smile. My weekend with the girls was a lot of fun and I look forward to the chance we are able to do it again!

 

 

 

Gonna Miss This Face

I'm leaving for a girl's trip this morning and although I'm totally looking forward to it, I'm definitely gonna miss this face. She's in good hands with dad though. Now, let's hope we can actually make it up to Tahoe in this crazy weather!

Wax Lips

Most people remember when wax lips were popular with kids. Such a weird concept for candy, but even I remember laughing with my friends using them as props.

Lately, Mallory has been doing this thing with her tongue when I'm feeding her and it totally reminds me of the wax lip candy. It's so funny looking!

Only Babies...

...can get away with having food smeared all over their face.  

 

 

 

Now a Teenager

Today is Leo's second birthday. In dog-years he's now a teenager. We gave him some extra love and extra treats today to celebrate. Happy birthday Buds!

In other news, Mallory is definitely starting to feel the effects from teething. She's been crankier than normal, cries while eating sometimes, drools and chews on things like crazy, and I'm pretty sure it's what her random fever last week was about. She still almost always sleeps through the night and if she does wake up, giving her the pacifier usually works. I don't feel anything when I run my finger on her gums but I don't doubt they're coming.

Her favorite thing right now is wet washcloths. Especially cold ones. She chews on them like a dog who gets a new toy. Sometimes she'll even make noises as if though she's growling, which is something else she's been doing a lot of. My nickname for her right now is Monster because she's been growling so much. It's almost as if it's her alarm to warn you that she's not 100% happy. When she does growl it doesn't always mean she's mad though. I think she just likes the noise. The washcloth she got ahold of tonight didn't stand a chance and the teething monster face was captured in action.

Chunky Monkey

We have a chunky monkey on our hands now. She's five and a half months old and 18 lbs. already. It reminds me that she's growing so quickly and isn't the tiny little girl she was just a few months ago. Sniff. Her muffin top has been making an appearance a lot more often lately. And her thighs are so squishy you can't help but squeeze them. So fun!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

From our Irish-blended household to yours, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Getting Better

Thankfully Mallory seems to be getting better with a couple of things today. Her fever is going down and isn't nearly as high as last night. She was able to sleep almost 12 hours, which is what I think helped her to wake up feeling better. Her cough is still around so she'll see Dr. Randall on Friday for that. Still monitoring her temp to make sure it doesn't go up again.

The other thing she's getting better at is eating rice cereal. I was able to get her to swallow at least 15 spoonfuls today. She still isn't a huge fan of the taste - as you'll see in the video - but I'm glad she's at least swallowing more than she used to. I sweeten it a little with applesauce otherwise she won't eat it at all. I think I'll mix in sweet potatoes next time to see how she reacts to vegetables.

Poor Miss Mallory

Poor Mallory. Not only has she been dealing with a nagging, croupy cough for the past week, she now has a fever of 101.4 which is the highest temperature she's ever had. I didn't really think much of her cough because she is completely fine otherwise and it seems to only be bad on the days she is extra congested. I am monitoring it and helping to relieve her congestion as much as possible; humidifier at night, using the bulb at bath time to suck the snot out of her, elevating her mattress a little. It's not getting any better so I ironically called the doctor this morning to make an appointment for him to see her for her cough. Then I come home from work and she has a fever all of the sudden? Poor Miss Mallory. I'll now be monitoring her fever. If it doesn't go down soon that appointment I made this morning will need to be adjusted. I hate when she's sick. It can turn scary so quickly when they're this little and vulnerable.

Cheese!

Date Night

Grandma and Grandpa Shirley were in town this weekend to visit with us, which meant that Jody and I got to have a date night on Saturday. We already knew exactly where we wanted to go for dinner, Joe's Crab Shack. We had tried to go there once before and the wait for a table was so long we gave up and went somewhere else. And even though that somewhere else was McCormick & Schmick's which is a delicious restaurant choice, it still didn't satisfy our craving for crab. So this time we decided that we needed to just get to Joe's earlier.

Well, those plans to get there earlier didn't happen. And while we were only 30 minutes behind our original schedule to leave the house, it made a difference. We pulled into the parking garage with smiles on our face, got out of the car, crossed the street giving us direct view of the front door to the restaurant, and our smiles disappeared. There were not only a ton of people standing haphazardly in front of the door waiting for their name to be called, there was a huge line you had to stand in just to get your name on the waiting list. But we drove all the way down to Sacramento to specifically go there because they are the only ones around this area that serve crab steampots, so in line is where we stood. After putting our name in to be told it would be an hour and a half, off we went to go walk around Old Town to kill some time. We even had time to grab a beer next door at Rio City Cafe, which was totally empty compared to Joe's.

Upon hearing our name called out in a goofy jingle, we rushed to the front with glee and joyfully followed the hostess to our booth. We came prepared already knowing what we wanted to order so there was no more time wasted waiting to eat some delicious crab. When our order came we clinked crab crackers together and dove in. It was delectable and so worth the wait. I had pieces of crab shells in my lap and all over the table; crab juice covering my hands and dripping down my arm. Thank goodness this wasn't our first date because eating crab in that manner is not the classiest method to eating a meal. We savored every last piece of crab and left with full bellies and satisfied hearts.

It was so nice to have some alone time with my husband. Often times we're so busy with work-life and family-life, we forget to take a moment for just the two of us. Going on dates have so much more meaning now because we don't get to take them as regularly as we once did. I make sure to tell Jody that I love him every day and carry that through in my actions as well, but having date nights are just as important and I thoroughly enjoyed ours!

Five Months

I can't believe Mallory is already five months old. I feel like this past month has just flown by. However, I think they all start flying by when children come into your life because every day is such an adventure and you're so busy enjoying it, you don't realize time passing by. Mallory gets more and more fun every day and now I understand why people continue having children even if the beginning of their experience with them wasn't so pleasant. Although I'll never forget how hard it was, it was so worth it. And I know that if we were to have another child the hard times would eventually become well worth it too.

Mallory brings so much joy and love into our lives, and I cherish it. Even if I know I'll be sitting in traffic on my way home from work, I'm still excited because I know it means I'm that much closer to seeing her face light up when I walk through the door. Jody gets the pleasure of picking her up from daycare, which he says always puts a smile on his face because she gets so excited to see him. It amazes me that even at five months old she recognizes us so much that she acts happy to see us. Definitely heart warming for sure. My little girl likes me! She really, really likes me!

She is so playful now and flirts like crazy. She loves snuggling in the morning. She's becoming even more curious and now wants to put anything and everything in her mouth. She's an awesome sleeper at night which I know won't last once teething starts, but I'm soaking it in for now. We even get to sleep in on the weekends now until almost 7am. She still isn't talking much and I have a feeling that her first words won't be for awhile; like the kids who don't say anything and then one day just start talking in sentences. She just recently found her thumb and though I'd rather not have to deal with a thumb sucking habit, it's super adorable. She is becoming harder to change because she moves so much; grabs onto her toes and won't let go as you sit there struggling to get her diaper on, all with a smirk on her face. Sometimes I think she already knows how to be a smart aleck, which is perfect considering our family. She sits on her own now but still has balance issues sometimes so we can't leave her unattended. She almost fell off the couch the other day because I put too much faith in her sitting ability. Luckily I was able to fly over the kitchen counter and grab her just in time, oops. Her eyes are still blue and haven't changed even a little bit so I'm starting to believe they might stay. She still has hardly any hair, which makes her big noggin' look even bigger. She doesn't seem to mind when I put headbands on her but they never stay anyway because she moves around too much.

Our weekday routine is getting easier especially now that she sleeps til around 6:30am. While I'm getting ready for work is her time to watch cartoons. She can sometimes take awhile to completely wake up first thing in the morning so it's my chance to get ready without having to entertain her as well. But I always make sure to leave enough time to give her some undivided attention before I drop her off at daycare. Of course I think about her all day long while at work, it's like I have a crush. While I feel like she's growing up way too quickly, I look forward to the fun developments her fifth month will bring.

Happy Five Months Burbles!

To the Zoo

I was really looking forward to this weekend. Not because we had spectacular plans, but because we really didn't have any plans at all. Sometimes those are the best kinds of weekends. Especially when the week has been long. I'm still trying to get used to juggling work and family life without going crazy. I now know why my mom always used to say, "There never seems to be enough time in a day." Jody and I didn't even discuss weekend plans until Friday morning over a text message conversation. And his idea was a fabulous one; taking Mallory to the zoo.

We've never been to the Folsom Zoo before so it was the first time for the whole family. We thought about going to the Sacramento Zoo - which we've never been to either - but Mallory had developed an awful sounding cough by Friday evening and we didn't want to drive all the way down to Sacramento just in case we needed to come home right away. Besides, Mallory is still pretty young for the zoo so maybe we'll save the better zoo until she's a bit older. As we walked around to all of the different animal cages, I noticed she was more interested in gnawing on her carrier and watching the other people there rather than the animals. To give her credit though, most of the animals were sleeping and hard to see so I don't blame her for being more entertained by the kids who were running around screaming and laughing. The Folsom Zoo is definitely nothing to write home about, but it was nice to get out as a family and enjoy the sunshine before the rain moved in.

My biggest disappointment about the zoo was the fact that they had no monkeys. No monkeys?! In my opinion, monkey's are one of the best parts about the zoo. And yet, there were none. They did have a couple of mountain lions that were pretty intimidating and fascinating to watch. One of them was literally pacing in the cage at an abnormally quick pace; almost like he was planning his escape route outta there. Other than a ton of male peacocks taking over the place and displaying their feathers for all to see, the selection of animals at the Folsom Zoo was limited. After the zoo we headed over to the park right next door. They have a really great area for infants/toddlers to play so we took Mallory through some of it. I can't wait until she's old enough to run around on her own, exploring all of the fun park activities.