Minor Parenting Victory, grass and noggins

I love Malone. I love how silly she is. I love her little smile. I love when she gets the hiccups like she has right now. I love hearing her trying to tell me a story. I love it when she holds my face with both her hands and smiles. Agghhh, it warms my little heart just to think about it. And now I love that she is sleeping in her own crib and through the night. With this new and recent adjustment I feel like so much more has changed in her than just her sleeping location. I feel like she's more grown up. Like she's one step closer to going to leaving the house and going to college (I don't even want to think about Kindergarten at this point).

Is every step of her growth and development going to be this bittersweet?

In other news, I have to tell you what a rock star husband I have. He spent all last weekend (with the help of some friends and one really nice neighbor) preparing our backyard for topsoil, laying the topsoil, fertilizing, and laying sod in our backyard. He worked so hard. I was impressively impressed with his yard work skills. I, on the other hand, felt like a total loser who just sat on the steps and watched. Granted, I was put in charge of Malone (much harder according to Cameron although I think he was trying to be nice). Still I felt like this was totally something I should've been helping with, out there sweating, getting sand under my nails and mud on my face. Anyways, the grass is laid. Now we just have to put up a fence and finish our patio. Here's some pictures of the "sod party", our nice green grass and our sad little patio.

In even more other news, Malone has adopted a Yoga Crawl as her means of transportation. Let it be known that I think she's the inventor of the Yoga Crawl. As you can see in the following video, she does not crawl on her hands and knees like most babies. Instead she gets on her hands and her feet with her bum in the air, very similar to a yoga pose whose name I cannot remember and then she goes into the yoga pose, "downward dog" although Malone is less graceful and instead just jumps forward onto her face. Nonetheless, she is on the move.

And for our last story of the evening, I took Malolo to the doctor on Tuesday for her six month check-up. And did we have a heck of a time. The doctor came in and started checking her out and at first she was a bit cranky (darn appointments right in the middle of nap time) but then all of a sudden she started laughing hysterically at the doctor. I think it was a bit of a nervous laugh but funny nonetheless. In fact, so funny that I was laughing hysterically as well all the while the doctor looked at us like we were coo- koo. Despite the jokes, Malone is healthy and strong with a bit of a big noggin (65th percentile for her head circumference). Apparently, she's smart too! Isn't that what a big head means?

Sorry, one more addition. We went to something called Seafair on Saturday. Long story made short, ever watch "The Deadliest Catch" on Discovery Channel? For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, its a tv show that chronicles the adventures of crab boats fishing in the REALLY cold, crazy waters near Alaska. Anyways, we got to go aboard "The Northwestern" (one of the boats) and meet the Captain and the crew. It was pretty awesome. We got to go aboard because one of Cameron's pilot training classmates did a fly over for the fair and got us VIP passes. Fun, huh?

Well, I better go before Malone has my hair for dinner...ouch!!

I bet you never knew

I've been thinking a lot about marriage the last couple of days. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was because Cameron and I got to go on our first date since Malone's birth this week (many hugs and kisses to Christelly who babysat Malone). Perhaps I am discovering some new joys and challenges of marriage. Perhaps this has just been a week full of learning moments, good ones, but learning nonetheless. So I came up with a plan that would give you a bit of insight into our lives.

We would interview one another. It could be disasterous, completely boring or explosive. But it will be enlightening either way.

First I would interview Cameron....Its my blog so I get to go first, plus, its my idea. Hmmm...what secrets have I always wanted to know?????

M: Describe your childhood.
C: Happy, all- American, lots of sports, good friends and great family trips.

M: When did you first realize that you loved me?
C: Uhhh.... I can't tell you a certain point, not like a lightbulb turning on or anything. It just grew over time.
M: But when did you realize that you loved me enough to marry me? You're not giving me what I'm looking for.
C: Probably when I introduced you to my family and friends for the first time. I forget when that was.
M: Thanksgiving in Laramie 2004.

M: What memory or instance describes our relationship to you?
C: Playing rock, paper, scissors in the Frankfurt airport.
M: Really??!! Why?
C: Fun, relaxed and well-traveled.

M: Describe me, your wonderful, beautiful, loving, incredible wife.
C: Kind, funny, thoughtful, wise, natural mom, beautiful, wonderful cook, good conservationist.

M: What is your greatest hope for our family?
C: I don't know about my greatest hope but whenever I think of the end result I always have a mental picture of all my children and their children sitting around a giant dining room table at Thanksgiving, eating wonderful food, drinking good wine, loving the fact that we love the Lord and each other.

M: What is the top 3 fun things you want to do in life?
C: Go to the Kentucky Derby, Super Bowl, African hunting safari.

M: If you could redo one instance or moment in your life, what would it be?
C: Not being so cynical my first two years at the Academy (Air Force Academy). Just cause I feel like I missed out on some good experiences by chalking them up as "Academy Stuff".

M: What is the hardest part of being married to me? Careful, remember I am responsible for the food you intake.
C: Just learning to not be selfish and think about someone else before you think about yourself.

M: Would you rather have a huge hairy mole on your lip (where everyone could see it and stare at it) or a very painful sore on your back (where noone could see it, but it is very painful)?
C: On the back. Physical pain is way easier to deal with than social pain.

M: What is something that the readers of this blog would be shocked to discover about me?
C: Your goofiness. You're just a lot more silly in private than you are in public.

M: What has been your favorite part of becoming a father?
C: Having her smile at me.

M: What has been the most challenging aspect of becoming a father?
C: The constancy of it.

M: What is something that you wish people knew about you (obviously that most don't)?
C: I'm a terrible dancer.
M: You are not. You're a better dancer than me. Perhaps that says more about my dancing abilities than yours.
C: I think people know everything about me.

M: Well, alright.


I know Cameron hates these kinds of questions, but I always think its really interesting and by officially interviewing him for my blog, he has to answer. I'm a sneaky little thing aren't I? You're surprised I didn't ask him all questions about me, aren't you? Don't worry I didn't want to bore you too much. I keep my readership in mind. Next--- Cameron interviewing me. Put on your seatbelts, folks, this is going to be a crazy ride!

C: What was the hardest of moving to America?
M: Umm....just being far away from my family.

C: What was your favorite memory from theMill?
M: The first fall retreat, just everything about it. I just remember feeling so lucky that I got to do what I got to do.

C: Did you feel like you were a bit young to be getting married?
M: No, I was just worried that we were being naive and that reality would catch up with us one day. And so I tried to stir up fights with you in order to make sure that you knew what you were getting into.

C: What's the hardest part of living with me?
M: Sometimes you're really clean about stuff I'm not clean about and other times you're not clean about stuff I'm clean about.

C: What do you foresee as our biggest potential marital problem and how do you plan on helping prevent it?
M: You being gone all the time and me feeling like I'm not a part of your life. I think I'll try to prevent this by first, voicing those feelings when they are happening. Second, me having a good attitude about things and keeping them in perspective. And third, trying to have some of my own social activities so that you're not my only social outlet.

C: Where would you like to go on our 20th wedding anniversary?
M: Back to the same places we went on our honeymoon - Paris, Greece and Italy. But, this time fly first-class.

C: What's your favorite part of the day with Malone? Why?
M: I like it right when she wakes up from a nap and she's super happy and googly and I can play with her.

C: How many more kids do you want?
M: Maybe two or three more.

C: What is your idea of the perfect family vacation?
M: To the beach where we can relax, but also play with the kids in the water and build sand castles...and I can teach them how to boogie board and just play in general.

C: What skill do you think is most critical to being a good wife and mother?
M: Wisdom and being wise enough to follow the wisdom you know

C: If I run for President what issue would you take ownership of and seek to change?
M: (Lot's of laughs and a sarcastic answer about milk production) I don't know, health care seems like to big of an issue, education is too cliche...maybe working on getting America more physically healthy.

There you have it folks. Hope you have learned something, had a little laugh and maybe even shed a tear. Thanks for help with this, Babe. You're great!

Happy 6 month Birthday Malolo!

Today is Malone's 6 month birthday. She seems to be growing and developing exponentially fast, especially these last few weeks. She's rolling over, starting to crawl, babbling (Did we really hear, "dada" today?), eating real food, sitting up all like a real grown up little person. We are enjoying seeing how the Lord has created her little body and personality to develop like this. She is such a joy!

With that being said, here is a few birthday pics of Malone.

On a side note, I found these little baby leg warmers (as seen below). They are called Baby Leggings and they are fabulous. They are genuinely like leg warmers, but meant to be used as leggings. Malone is sporting her cute little striped ones below, but they have a million different kinds. They are especially helpful for Malone so she doesn't scrape up her knees on the carpet. Love them!

Videos Galore

As promised here are some videos of our little munchkin.

We were sitting in the livingroom while Christelly played with my hair. Suddenly she got Malone laughing so hard!! It was really funny.



Malone with blankets/rags over her head. And then she laughs like its really funny that she can't see anything. Here she was playing with a rag and trying her best to crawl.



There you go. Enjoy!

Christelly is here for a visit!

Sorry for the long overdue update. With Cameron home and my little sister visiting not only have we been keeping busy but there is also serious competition for the computer...mostly Cameron and his 500 subscribers blog. So let me fill you in on a few weeks worth of events.

First, Cameron was gone two weeks ago for some military training involving things he can't tell me. Somehow I think this secrecy thing will only increase as he gets into his new job. I'm not one for secrets and therefore am not too excited about this :) While he was gone, Malone and I tried to stay busy and nearly melted in the heat like M&M's (haha, get it M-alone & M-arelize, oh my wittiness is amazing!)

He got back on the fourth of July in the evening just as our whole neighborhood was starting the unofficial neighborhood block party/fireworks show. It was pretty incredible considering I have never lived anywhere where fireworks was legal inside city limits. We didn't know about it, but were fortunate to have some very nice neighbors who let Cameron help them shoot their fireworks. Next year we will definitely be ready! Oh and Malone slept through most of it. Amazing!

Then the next day my little sister, Christelle came from Alabama for a visit. It has been so great having her here. She is a joy to have around and has discovered the key to making Malone giggle. We've been hanging out with her, showing her around town. We went to the Point Defiance "Zoo & Aquarium" although both seemed a bit lacking in the animal department. Nevertheless, we had a good time. We also went to Seattle and Ikea, the norm for out of town visitors. Us girls went shopping and out for an afternoon at Borders, some good quality sissy time. Oh yes, and on Saturday we went to the Puyallup (pronounced PEW-WALLUP) farmer's market. It was awesome and definitely a highlight for me. I think we're going to make it a weekly activity.

Picture 1: Here's Christelly, Malone and I at the zoo.
Picture 2: Here's the little fam of 3 at the zoo.
Picture 3: Look at her all decked out in her stroller and hat. The hat is a bit too big and kept on falling over her eyes. Then we'd have strangers say, " Ummm...your baby's hat is over her eyes" and look at us like we're terrible parents :)
Picture 4: Christelle and I at Pikes Place Market

Malone has also had a busy week of loving on her auntie Christelly and her daddy (well, and me of course, but she never gets a break from me).
Picture 5: Malone and her Auntie playing and learning how to crawl.
Picture 6: Malone and her daddy after a bath.
PIcture 7: Ummm...how cute is she??!!!
Picture 8: Malone in her daddy's beloved hat.
Picture 9: She looks a little like a granola baby, like her parents should be living on a commune (the one you always talked about, Jill) smoking something crazy and never washing our hair. But alas, she and we are quite the opposite sub-urbanites.
Picture 10: This one is just for fun...she started eating peas for the first time this week. It was just too cute to resist taking a picture of the big mess.
In other news, I know many of you are interested in my marathon training. OK, so I don't exactly "know" that you are interested but I'm just going to update you in anyways :) After nearly two months of not running (bad runner girl!!!) I am back on the path of righteousness. I found a gym near my house and joined. Now I know that typically runners don't enjoy running on a treadmill but rather loves to feel the cool, crisp air in their faces while running outside. Well, I am not one of those people. I have a safety issue with running alone, down the street where there are cars and random people. Good news though: With my new membership comes some free sessions with a trainer. So far I've had 2 sessions and let me tell you I was definitely feeling it this weekend. My trainer is helping me develop a plan to help with the training of the "13 miles of hell" (aka the half marathon) as the trainer likes to call it. I'm really excited about this opportunity although not quite sure what to think of my last session tomorrow. My trainer said and I quote, "Next session we'll do legs. You should prepare yourself mentally for it, because just to warn you, doing legs with James (my trainer) is hell!". Ummm...ok scary trainer man. How do I prepare myself for that?! So as you are reading this, drinking your warm, smooth, creamy, comforting morning latte, say a little prayer for me as I am surely dying a slow death and doing so many lunges and squats that my legs want to fall off and run away without me.

Love you all and hope you are doing well. We are working on doing a MTV Cribs of our house. Will be up soon, I pinky-swear. But in the meanwhile, enjoy some videos we've been taking of Malone and Christelly. I'll post them in the morning.