Marelize's Blog

Malone's first day of Preschool

2011-10-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

Malone is one smart cookie. She's been looking forward to going to school since she was in utero. I mean, what 2 year old do you know that begs with puppy eyes to learn how to read?

So this Fall after much searching, much research and much discussion, we decided that it was time to enroll her in preschool. She was sooo excited but also quite nervous.

On the morning of the first day, she was NOT as excited. We dropped her off, along with many other first time schooling parents, all a bit nervous. It did not go like we had hoped. As the teacher peeled a hysterical Malone off of Cameron's body, I had to turn away not to get a little hysterical myself. Judah, on the other hand, was all ready stay and go to school himself.

As the days and weeks went by, she got better and better and the day we could drop her off without her crying was a celebration day. Now she has even been asking to go to school everyday (she only goes two days a week.) She LOVES the art station and will always choose to do crafts over playing with anything else. We are quickly becoming dealers of great preschool art in massive quantities. I think she's making friends although sometimes its hard to tell who are friends of the "real" category and who are friends of the "make believe" category. But either way, she is enjoying it and we are loving it for her.

Here's some pictures of the first day of Preschool.

She has been waiting for months to be able to use her DORA lunchbox.

Malone and Daddy. She looks very excited.

Malone and her Mommy. She looks a bit less excited and maybe slightly embarrassed to have to take so many pictures.

After school we took her to her favorite restaurant, Chili's, for a special mac & cheese lunch.

I think Judah was still a little upset that he didn't get to go to school.

Mommy and Judah. Again, Judah not very impressed with having to take a picture with mom.

Thinking...

2011-08-26T08:08:00.001-07:00

Dangerous words, I know.

Today, I'm thinking about these words:

THOUGHTFUL,

INTENTIONAL,

HEARTFELT,

MOTHERING (or parenting.)

What does it mean? What does it mean practically? How do I implement it in our everyday lives?

Ok, readers, mothers, fathers, non-parents,

what does this mean to you?

Leave me a comment or send me an email if you have any thoughts on the subject.

* And a couple of pictures for your entertainment.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you!

2011-08-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

It is true, folks! I am updating you on our crazy little family...emphasis on CRAAAAYYYZY. So here's what's happened in the last 6 months.

- We left Washington. In a snowstorm. In an ice-storm. One of the marking moments in our marriage. We still love each other though (Ya

y! for loving each other.) We were so sad to leave.

- Along the way, both kiddos got ear & sinus infections. Hoooray for driving long distances with sick kids. Clearly, this was also very memorable or else I would not mention it.

- We finally saw Portland (on a historically cold day), spent a couple of days recuperating in Boise, on to see our coolest friends, the Cronks in Salt Lake City, and recuperated some more with Grandma & Grandpa in Laramie, WY. Yes, the Cronks were sooo cool that we needed to recuperate after their coolness. Then we headed to Colorado for a couple of days which was magical. Then for a lovely visit to Albuquerque with Cameron's aunt Evelyn and uncle Don (and cousins) and FINALLY we arrived in Alamogordo, New Mexico where Cameron trained in his new aircraft from March until June.

Isn't New Mexico pretty?

- In April, I loaded up my friend Leigh Anna and the kids and we made our trek to Las Vegas sans Cameron. Boo. We arrived at our new home, got a look around and welcomed the movers. It was the first time that I saw our new house and must say Cameron has good taste. It is the second house he has picked out without me seeing it. While Cameron was still in New Mexico, we got moved in and mostly unpacked. Of course, we left a couple of projects for him. Wouldn't want to leave him out, would we?

Here's Malone and Leigh Anna at the Hoover Dam.

This is what we do when there is no toys and an empty house.

- FINALLY, at the beginning of June, we were reunited as a family of four! Hip Hip HOoray!

- Shortly after Cameron arrived, we celebrated our 5 year anniversary by going on a mini vacation on the Strip for 3 days...WITHOUT the kids. First time ever. And thanks to my awesome big sister, Lydia, the kids didn't even know we were gone. Cameron and I literally laid by the pool, ate lots of awesome food and slept. It was pretty great.

Cameron and I at Comme Ca, a French restaurant at the Cosmopolitan. Amazing!

- Then in July my little sister, Christelle came for a visit. We sooo enjoyed having her here. And I was terribly sad when she left. Come back, Christelle, come back!!!!!!

- My dad also came partly while Christelle was here. Oooh how Malone and Judah loved having their Oupa here. Malone just wanted to show Oupa her new swimming skills and Judah just wanted Oupa to wrestle and throw him around.

- Then a couple days later Cameron's dad and stepmom came for a visit as well. We had such a wonderful time with them going to the pool, visiting and seeing the Elvis Cirque du Soleil. Malone only had her eye on grandma as her new playmate and Judah had a special understanding and communication with grandpa. Judah is, of course, the little Jay Schaefer.

And here we are. Phew!

Now you know what we've been up to. We love it here in Las Vegas and we are fine tuning our friends and family tour. So come on out for a visit!!!

So now I leave you with a little something to brighten your day.

Our new home

2011-04-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

Can't write much. Too much to do. Boxes EVERYWHERE. But we made it. And its sunny. And its beautiful. "Really?", you ask. Really. Come visit and you'll see.

White Sands

2011-04-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

The kids and I (and the wonderful Leigh Anna) are leaving for Las Vegas this week. So, we thought we should have at least one last "family" activity before we left New Mexico. We decided to go to White Sands National Park...a must see apparently for this area.

It was nice. It was sandy. It was white. BUT we picked the WINDIEST day of the year of our sandy adventure. I don't think the consequences of that needs more of an explanation. We saw, we came and we got pelted by tiny, white sand...and Malone enjoyed it, so that's good.

Introducing....

2011-03-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

Friends and loved ones,

I've been working on something the last couple of days that has me so excited I don't even know how to introduce it to you. It is no mystery that I love to cook (and eat, maybe? Maybe.) I love finding new recipes to make for my family and share with my friends. If any of you know me (bible study, girls?) you know that this is true.

So I've decided to start a food blog called, "Not Without My Mom." This new venture is deeply personal for me. You see, my mom taught me how to cook and despite how much I miss her every day, I somehow feel her in my cooking adventures.

I'll be sharing recipes from my own collection, some from my mom's, some that I find from other food bloggers and giving helpful tips for people still growing in their own cooking adventures (hi Dad!) How fun, right?

So head over to www.notwithoutmymom.com and visit me for a little bit. :)

PS: Don't worry, I'll still blog over here about our crazy family adventures.

All my love,

Marelize

Something new

2011-03-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

I'm working on something exciting.

Something new.

Something fun.

For me, anyways.

You're dying of suspense,

Aren't you?

Real food: Homemade Tortillas

2011-03-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

When my children started eating real food (as in when the world became alive to them :), it became pretty important to me that they eat "REAL" food. Not food that could sit out on the counter for 20 years and still be ok to eat. (Is that ever ok to eat?)

Yes, my children still eat boxed crackers sometimes, in fact, Judah eats his weight in Graham Crackers every day. And yes, Malone could eat Easy Mac for every meal of her life, if only I would relent and let her. But as much as I can, I try to make sure the food they (and we) consume is made of REAL ingredients. I know this probably comes easier to me than most, since I particularly enjoy making things from scratch, have the time to do so and more resources than many. I wish (fist of fury in the air) that as a community we would make it easier and cheaper to eat REAL food. I could go on long enough to make Michael Pollan proud, but I won't.

I will, however, share with you my latest conquest in this journey to real, homemade food, HOMEMADE TORTILLAS. UH- mazing! That's all. This is how tortillas were meant to be eaten. I got this recipe from Petit Elefant. Thank you, Allison. Thank you. She has more step by step pictures to help you along if you are a rule follower, like me, and need to make sure your dough looks like hers. Its so easy, and fairly quick. Do it. Make them. Now!

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Courtesy of Petit Elefant

Makes 9-10 tortillas, depending on size

2 C. All-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vegetable oil

3/4 C. hot water

1. Mix together the dry ingredients. Mix well.

2. Add oil to the water. Mix together well...ha ha

3. Add water mixture to dry ingredients one teaspoon at a time. Mix, mix, mix. Until a dough forms.

4. On a very well floured surface, knead the dough until smooth

5. Cut and roll into 9-10 small balls

6. Cover with a damp/wet kitchen towel for 20 minutes. Knead little balls and cover again for 10 minutes.

7. Roll out as thin as you can (I like them not too

thin because then they got a bit crispy. I like

them a little thicker and soft)

8. Cook in a greased (BUTTER!) pan until tortilla bubbles, turn over and cook until golden brown.

9. EAT!

I made some for Buffalo Chicken Tacos. Divine. But then I also made a couple extra for dessert, which meant I sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar. Ahhhh.

Recipe: Mexican Lasagna

2011-03-24T06:48:00.000-07:00

Neither Cameron nor I care a ton for traditional lasagna, so this Mexican version is right up our alley. And since we're in New Mexico, I thought I'd share with you with wonderful readers (Hi dad! Hi Laura!) Hope you enjoy!

Mexican Lasagna- thought up in the recesses of my mind...

3 cooked Chicken breast, shredded
Corn chips
1 c. Sour Cream
1 can Green Enchilada Sauce
Half an onion, sliced

1 Yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 c. Cilantro
2 small cans of Green Chilies, chopped
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
2 c. Cheddar cheese (or whatever kind)
salt
pepper
cumin

1. Preheat the oven to 375, & grease a 9x13” baking dish

2. Cook onion and peppers until just softened. Take off heat and throw in Cilantro

3. In a bowl, mix sour cream and Enchilada sauce until combined

4. Start building the lasagna: chips, veggies, chicken (then sprinkle with salt, pepper and cumin), sour cream sauce, chilies, beans, cheese, and repeat.

5. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until its bubbling and the cheese has slightly browned.

** A couple thoughts:

- This is such a forgiving, easy recipe. You can add whatever vegetables you like. Some that I have added in the past includes corn, zucchini, tomatoes, leeks, asparagus.

- Also, you can make your own corn chips if you like by baking some cut up tortillas (with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, red pepper if you like a little heat) 375, until golden.

- If you're from New Mexico you do not have to used canned anything, but rather fresh, amazing chilies and green enchilada sauce. Anyone from New Mexico: Where can I find this? I've heard rumors.

Now, go sit on the porch with a nice cold, Mexican coke (in the glass bottle) or Negro Modelo in hand. Enjoy.

Where in the World are the Schaefers?

2011-03-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

Here's some clues:

1. Its warm

2. Its dry and desert-y (we're bathing in lotion....ok, not really, but maybe we should)

3. Close to another country

4. Cameron is in training. Again.

5. We've travelled through 7 states.

6. We've survived 3 kids ear infections (out of 4 ears) and I'm pretty sure 2 sinus infections too. So this is not a clue to anything, but I just wanted to let you know an overarching theme to our road trip.

7. This state has THE BEST green chili burgers EVER.

Where are we?

Why, yes. We are in New Mexico!

In. a. hurry.

2011-02-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

We leave this week.

If you were at my house, it would not look as if we are moving this week.

Thank the Lord for governmental moves.
They literally come and take stuff off of the walls and drawers and pack them up.

BUT, we are going to be in New Mexico/on the road/without our stuff for the next 3 months so I have to pack up that stuff before the packers and movers come....MONDAY!

How does one pack for 3 months on the road, for a family of 4? I'll let you know in a couple of days.

Did I mention we are going on a 2 week road trip? With a very chatty 3 year old and a pathetically sick 1 year old? Any advice for car activities?

We're swimming in paperwork.

Closing on our Vegas home, finding renters for our WA home, moving docs, its nuts and not very environmentally friendly. How very Pacific Northwest of me.
I love Seattle.

I'm so sad to leave here.

Cameron and I went on one last Seattle date last night. This was our view as we were walking back to our car.

Beautiful.

I want to come back and live here again-- with all their tech-savvy people that makes me feel like I still live in the cave-era, granola parents, environmentalists, even the liberals (that one is for you, Dad)...I'll miss them all.

Lets not even talk about my Bible Study girls.

Tear.

Tear.

But Las Vegas is sunny, right?

OK, gotta go wipe a runny nose and figure out what I want to wear for the next 3 months.

One last funny story before I go?

Ok.

We were driving the other day, and Malone said, "Dad, what do Panda Bears eat?"

Cameron replied, "They eat Bamboo."

She quickly replied with a disgusted look on her face, "EWWWW!"

We couldn't figure out why she was so grossed out by bamboo.

Later her and I were talking about panda bears and I said, "Well, daddy told you what they eat, right?"

She said, "Yes, they eat Panda Poo!"

Ahahahaha! She thought Cameron said, "Panda Poo" instead of "Bamboo!" We laughed sooo hard.

Had to be there?

Ok, I'm out. Wish me luck.

Dear Broncos

2011-02-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

Dear Broncos,

I'm not a huge football fan, but others in my house are. And apparently, you didn't do so well this last season. You think you could try a little harder next season, for this kid?

Thanks.

All our love and support,

The Schaefer family

Favorite things

2011-01-29T08:35:00.000-08:00

Here in the Schaefer household, we are preparing to move, be in transition for a couple of months and finally, set up home in Las Vegas, sometime this Spring. (PS: Our offer got accepted on a house there! Woo-hoo! We are on our way to owning a home in Las Vegas!) All that to let you know that we are in the midst of CHANGE, oh glorious change. But I'll try to keep you up to date on everything.

Since I've been back home now for a little while, I've been finding all kinds of inspiring and lovely things. So here is a couple of them in no particular order:

1. Pumpkin Nutella Snack Cake from Twopeasandtheirpod. Make it. You won't regret it. I can literally eat an entire pan. But I won't. Because I can't make them anymore or else I will. Its a vicious cycle.

2. I've become a little obsessed with Etsy lately. I also have been searching for some unique things to put in our new house. Practical or just beautiful. This falls under the practical category and I just love this dry erase daily wall decal.

3. My particular obsession with Etsy has been artwork. Check out some of these for our reading/music room.

Reading is Cool

Our House

Keep Calm

4. And while I'm searching on Etsy, I take a break to eat this. Key Lime Pie, also from Twopeasandtheirpod. So refreshing, so easy, so delicious. This is going in my recipe favorites folder.

5. And then I go back to finding these treasures. But this time I look for things for the kids' rooms.

Here's some for Judah:

Take Flight

I love cars

Here's some for Malone:

Believe it

Adventures Awaits

6. Speaking of kids, check out these kids learning kits, called Time for Tots. People are so inventive. They are themed learning kits for kids. For instance, I just saw a February kit, or a shapes kit, and then it includes all the tools you need for the kit and a list of activities to utilize the kits with. Uh-mazing! I definitely plan on getting some of these for the kids in the HOT summer days in Las Vegas when we can't go outside. Hmmm....that will be an entire year of us not being able to go outside...Winter here, Summer there. Yikes.

7. My friend, Melanie introduced me to these. Its a website called File Folder Fun and they have free, download-able games for kids of all ages. You print off the pictures and glue the various parts to a file folder. Super easy, cute and free. I know my description of it stinks, but you HAVE TO check it out.

8. Gray. The color. I want to paint every room in my new house a variation of gray. Who am I? What happened to my obsession with bright colors? I guess its bright colors with gray walls.

Alright friends, I'm off for a little weekend fun with some girls. Cameron is graciously playing Mr. Mom, so I can go to Seattle for a couple of days, reboot, and hopefully come back a better mommy and wife. But more on that later.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

2011-01-19T07:51:00.000-08:00

I have news: I no longer have a baby girl. All of a sudden, I blinked my eyes and she is a full-fledged little girl, complete with LOTS of emotions (that we're learning to control), and opinions about what to wear AND eat (WHAT? This is new for me) and a love for all things grown-up. The best part is that she can conversations with me about her day. She can randomly come up to me and say, "Mom, I like you" or "Wow, I like your socks." Yep, folks, she's three. Where did the time go?

In our house, we celebrate birthdays for days, weeks, months at a time. Since its hard to understand why we have our birthday parties on one day, but our actual birthday isn't until the next, we just keep celebrating. And that's what we did this past weekend. It started a couple of months ago, when someone...ahemm.....ahemm.....Leigh Anna...planted the idea in Malone's head of a princess birthday party. We had been talking about it literally for months and by "we" I mean, Malone and Leigh Anna. So, of course, I could not just give her a crown and call it a day.

So we made it a Princess Fest.

But first, the Birthday Girl had to open her presents from family. Oh how she loves her baby dolls and needed furniture for her dolls. We take our babies' needs very seriously around here.

Then it was busy, busy, busy getting ready for her party. We had a crown decorating station.

and lots of food. We also had a cake. Oh the cake. It took me 2 whole days to make. But it came out UH.MA.ZING (if I have to say so myself.)

I don't think she quite knew what to do when she saw it. She knew what I was doing, but hadn't seen it completed yet. I think she was more concerned that her new Barbie was stuck in the cake. Ha Ha Ha.

We opened presents. And by "we", I mean, me, Malone, Judah and some of her friends who wanted to help. It was a group activity. I'm always blown away by people's generosity.

One of her gifts, from our dear friends, Leigh Anna and Sara was a box full of princess dress-up outfits. Here's Snow White in all her glory.

What a great party! It was my favorite Malone party to date and I'm pretty sure Malone LOVED it. So, here's to you, three year old, Malula! We love you so much and can't wait to see what lays ahead in this journey of guiding and teaching your little heart.

As a PS: Look what a handsome boy this fella is. Can you believe that he will be one on Sunday? I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Seasons

2010-12-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about seasons. As long, warm summer evenings faded into shorter, cooler days with the beautiful colors of autumn everywhere, then as autumn froze into a very wet, cold, Washington winter, I couldn't help but feel a much deeper connection to the season's change. In some ways, this year's physical seasons has mirrored the emotional and spiritual seasons in the life of my family and myself.

The year started off with making preparations for the leap from being a family of 3 to a family of 4, celebrating the 2nd birthday of Malone, and not even a week later, celebrating the new life of Judah. We were so excited for this new phase in our family's life and so grateful that the Lord gave us two healthy, wonderfully unique and beautiful children. Bliss. Summer.

As the months continued on, Cameron started travelling again (he went on his first trip when Judah was 3 weeks old. Sink or swim?) and we realized that this is not the life we wanted for our family. Adjusting to having 2 children and being a single mom most of the time, proved to be pretty difficult. But we were still trucking along, doing our every day activities, just with a newborn now in tow, but looking forward to an opportunity for our little family to make some changes. And an opportunity did, indeed, come our way. We also visited my family in June, where we really realized the gravity of my mom's health, cancer. It was one of the sweetest family times I can remember, despite starting to see glimpses of what lays ahead for us. Beautiful leaves changing colors and starting to fall to the ground. Autumn.

Then as the temperatures started to drop a little in the fall months, the kids and I headed to Alabama to stay with my family for a while to spend some time with my mom, and help in whatever way we could. By then, her disease was progressing fairly quickly. We spent our time enjoying my mom, each other and tried to hold onto the faithfulness of God, even if at times only by a finger or two. An aweful (both terrible and full of awe) winter blizzard. September turned to October, October turned to November and soon we were at the time we were all dreading, but at the same time looking SO forward to for my mom's sake. She passed away on November 20. One of my favorite lines from her obituary reads as follows: "Despite fantastic accomplishments in her life, her greatest ambition was to be with her Heavenly Father, a passion now realized." There is a quiet beauty amidst a cold and terrible snowstorm. Winter.

I am reminded of the purpose of winter in nature. In order for a tree to grow, "the seeds of each plant have certain conditions that need to happen before the seed will break open so the young embryo can begin a new life cycle. These conditions often include a long period of freezing." A time of cold rest, maybe? Perhaps winter's wrath is time for the seeds of new life to be protected from a warm summer's insect infestation? Maybe winter's purpose is not for winter itself. Rather, the culmination of winter is for Spring.

So as I sit here on this cold, wet, winter morning, in every sense of the word, I long for Spring. Luckily its right around the corner.

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced

Teaching us to breathe

What was frozen through is newly purposed

Turning all things green

So it is with You

And how You make me new

With every season’s change

And so it will be

As You are re-creating me

Summer, autumn, winter, spring

From one of my all time favorite songs, Seasons by Nichole Nordeman, the video you see above.

Malone's many faces

2010-09-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Happy

Sad

Excited

Mad

A little confused

2010-08-31T10:30:00.000-07:00

Family

2010-08-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

I recently came across this little quote about family:

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck

I love my family. I even like them. They are truth tellers. They are beautiful, each person in their own way. The are always additions to my life and never subtractors. And I like spending time with them.

At the beginning of June, Cameron took some leave and we headed to Alabama to see my family for a little visit. Ahhh, it was glorious! We took a C-17 to Charleston, SC and then drove to Tuscaloosa the next day. It was a bit of a long trip, gotta love the speediness and reliability of a military flight, but hey, at least its free. We arrived and immediately I knew it was going to be a good trip. It had been a couple of years since my whole immediate family had been together, and we were all pretty excited to be there.

It was such a sweet time. I think that when I think about what family means, this trip will always stand out in my mind. As some of you might know, my mom has been diagnosed with gastro-intestinal tumorous cancer. Although she is weak and sick in her body, her mind, sense of humor and spirit is as strong as ever (and she's as beautiful as ever.) To be with one another, talking each other through uncharted territory has shown me how lucky we are...especially because we got to have those conversations by the pool. :) Our whole vacation was filled with swimming, laying by the pool, eating great food and just visiting with one another.

Malone was spoiled by the whole family. Who gave her that ice cream?

I'm such a good wife, I cook, clean, and even carry my husband when he's on vacation and tired.

Lydia, Joel, Cameron, Christelly and my dad went to the lake for a little kayak trip.

Lydia bought Malone a little tea set. Oh she loved playing with her aunties.

My mom even made it into the pool a couple of times. Apparently, Cameron is REALLY excited about this. Oh, and lets talk about how the pool water was 90 degrees. Magical!

Yeah, boooiii! Christelle and my little ghetto thug

All the pretty ladies of the family. My mom is ready for her margharita...and the pool boys feeding her grapes and fanning her with big leaves. Oh the life.

We also had some other members of our "family" come visit with us. We have known the Engelbrecht family since...I don't even know. They are also from South Africa and now the sons and their families live in Atlanta. Oh how we love them. They are truly a part of our family.

I heart family.

A change of scenery

2010-08-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

We love the Pacific Northwest. We love the friends we've made here. We even (GASP) like the weather. But we do not love Cameron's schedule. Last year, he was gone over 2oo days. That means he was gone more than he was home. With the arrival of Judah, both Cameron and I started praying for something different for our family. Alas, an opportunity became available and I'm excited to say that we will be moving to Las Vegas sometime this fall/winter/spring (yeah, you like that Air Force timeline?) Cameron will have a new job that will allow him to sleep in our bed, at our house, even if its at strange hours. We are sooooo relieved and excited.

So we took a week at the beginning of August to go to Vegas, survey the area and maybe even find a house. Here's the discoveries of our trip in order of how they happened:

1) Flying with 2 kids and a mom AND A DAD, is great.

2) In-n-Out- Ahhhh, delicious animal-style cheeseburger and the best milkshake I've ever

tasted.

Here's Malone before:

Here's Malone after.

3. Judah was not impressed by the Strip or the beautiful houses we saw

4. It is hot! A pool is a must. Luckily for us, we found a neighborhood that we

love with a community pool nearby. Here we are at the pool at the hotel.

And glamorous Malone is ready for her new life by the pool. "Mom, where's my virgin margarita?!"

5. Vegas' housing market has crashed in an unbelievable way. But, we found a house. Its a long story, and for now we're just waiting.

6. Vegas has some of the best restaurants. To celebrate a successful trip, we went to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. Lovely. Delicious. Amazing. Favorite. Delectable. Wonderful.

7. Although being separated this much is difficult, it has also allowed for some beautiful growth in our family, in every way. But I can't lie, this trip highlighted for me how much I love spending time together. My family is so beautiful and they bring life to my soul.

So for now, we just wait. Wanna come visit Las Vegas?

OY! Its been a while...

2010-08-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

Its been a while.

Lots has happened.

Cameron gone for the whole month of May.

A family trip to see my family in Alabama for most of June.

Cameron gone in July.

A little trip to Las Vegas the first couple of weeks in August.

A broken computer.

FINALLY, a new computer.

Little boy sitting up and now crawling!!!!

Little girl so big and so funny and SOOOO independent.

One lucky/happy/tired/reading/loving mama.

Ok, so here goes....are you ready for all the updates?

Mother's day

2010-06-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

a girl

+

a boy
=

a most adorable little #1

&
a ridiculously scrumptious little #2

But sadly said boy was gone on Mother's day. But it was ok, because girl and her kiddos has great friends. Friends who love her kids.

Friends who make incredible Mother's day lunches.
Not to mention dessert...the best pound cake I've ever had.

And then they play batche ball with us.
Don't we look athletic?

And they look pretty strong

And beautiful
No words.

LOVE. Can't you tell?

Then the girl tried to take a nice Mother's day picture with her children.

They are

clearly having

a hard

time.

She's still one lucky girl.

Spring is back with a vengeance!

2010-05-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

I love the Pacific Northwest. I love it most in late Spring/early Summer. Not too hot, not too cold, a slight breeze, sunlight until after 9pm...ahhh, I love it all. When Spring hits it takes me a couple of good "Spring" days for the Northwest to win my heart back. And this weekend was exactly what I needed to resume my love affair.

Friday was Malone's special day. A day we celebrated her and all that she is and all (kinda) that she wants. We started off the day with a little trip to the Tacoma Children's Museum. It was pretty packed because it was Free Friday, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. She played her little heart out. Her favorite was the art room as usual. She drew on an easel, was very sad that there was no paint, learned how to use scissors, drew on the windows, colored and much, much more. Judah was fast asleep in my Sakura Bloom sling/carrier the entire 2 hours!

Then we met Becca and Brittany for lunch at the cutest cafe, where they had the doors and windows wide open. Fresh air, people! Malone got a special treat of apple juice with her lunch. Sadly, she spilled it, but I think I cared more than she did. She also got a new little toy, a kaleidoscope. Oh how she loves it. She even tries to get Judah to look at the beautiful colors. He doesn't seem as thrilled.

Saturday morning, we went to the Farmer's Market, one of my most favorite things of Spring and Summer. The fresh veggies, flowers, homemade pasta, bread and cheese. I even like all the crafts, ok "like" might not be the appropriate term, but I can appreciate them. Sara joined us for this wonderful morning outing. Then we came home, because the weather was so INCREDIBLE and had our first picnic outside. It was pure bliss. If I could have taken a nap out there I would have. Unfortunately, my children did not have the same plan as me.Here's Malone and Sara. Malone looks thrilled.

Malone and Judah getting ready for the festivities. Yes, Judah is wearing Malone's hat. Yes, its for a girl. And yes, it is way to big for him. I will be buying him a boy's hat soon, so that his dad doesn't have to worry about him wearing girl's clothes.

Me and Judah. Malone actually took this pictures. Judah's giving you all a hat tip.

The picnic feast: veggies, sheep's milk cheese, sour cream dip, watermelon, artichoke basil bread.

Malone taking a rest in between playing.

My sweet, sweet, summer boy!

Summer Dreams realized

2010-05-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

FINALLY....we got our patio finished. Yes, we now have a patio to fulfill all of our summer entertaining dreams.

We had a little patio christening a couple of weeks ago which included a fire pit, perfect spring evening, wine, s'mores and friends. Ahhh! So good, that we had another the next weekend. Only the beginning, friends. Only the beginning. This is when the night was still young. And before we busted out everything for s'mores. That's when things got crazy....oh the crazy life we lead in the suburbs :)Now, we only need patio furniture so we don't have to make our parties "Bring Your Own Chair."

10 things you should know about 3 month-old Judah

2010-05-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

10. He's ridiculously cute

9. He is pretty smiley

8. He laughs now, usually with his tongue hanging out.

7. He smells like a man because he uses Head & Shoulders shampoo and Old Spice aftershave...just kidding about the aftershave...maybe..

6. He secretly loves his sister's tickles, kisses and hugs. But to keep up appearances of being a little brother, he kicks her.

5. I think he's the strong quiet type.
4. He told me that he is never going to throw a temper tantrum- true story!

3. He also told me that chocolate chip cookies and braised beef tacos (weird combo, but who am I to argue with a talking 3 month old?) smell really good. He's kinda worried that he's being skimped out on when everyone eats yummy things and he has to drink weird milk. But for now, he's enjoying his hands.
2. He's a bit of a puker. I think I've gotten used to it. The other night, my dear friend, Leigh Anna (Whoop! Shout out to you, friend!) was graciously watching our kids while we went on a fabulous date. She texted me half-way through the night and asked where she could find some more baby clothes. Uh-oh, I thought, one of 2 things happened, both which are fairly common in our house, big spit-up or big diaper blow out. Well, when we got home, I found Judah and Leigh Anna like this:

Leigh explained that she was expecting the spit up, but wasn't expecting round 2 and the consequential rounds after that. So after she changed him numerous times she thought it was just better to leave him in his pudgy, natural state. Sooooo cute. I'm so grateful for a wonderful friend who we can leave our spitter- up with and she still loves us and him.

1. He's just plain delightful.

I have a new body

2010-04-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Can we just be real for a minute? There's something I need to get off my chest. Ok, maybe not in a confession sort of way, but more like a complaining kind of way.

PS: Dad, Dad-in-law, and anyone else who probably doesn't really want to read about post-baby body issues, here's your out to read no more today. It is G-rated, but don't say I didn't warn you!

So here's the good news: I only have 4 more pounds to lose before I'm back at my pre-Judah weight. Hooray! I've been trying really hard (with the exception of bible- study-People Make Too Good of Food -Thursday nights and special occasions) to make wise and healthy food choices. I've even been working out pretty faithfully at home (my gym's childcare won't take babies under 3 months) with my good friend, Jillian Michaels, trainer of the Biggest Loser. Ok, so I don't really know her, but I feel like I do, because we've shared some pretty embarrassing workout moments in my living room (Jiggling Jump-squats...ahem....I mean...Jump squats, anyone?) Coincidentally, every time she yells,"Don't you quit on me!", I feel like she's yelling right at me because usually that is at the exact moment when I desperately want to quit, and I don't want to let her down because I'm afraid she's gonna come into my home and beat me up. But maybe since I've been doing a BAZILLION traveling push-ups, I could take her? I don't know, I'm just saying. Anyways, I'm pretty proud of myself because I feel like I've been working pretty hard AND it took me 9 months to a year to get where I am now with Malone's pregnancy. So yay! for me!

But here's the bad news: I have a new body. I made the discovery as I was cleaning out my closet (Cameron would be proud) the other day, and tried on some of my old and favorite Lucky jeans. I was pretty excited considering my weight and thought that although they should be a little snug, they should at least fit. Oh no, no, no, my friends. While I could at least get them over my hips (barely!) that's all I could do. Did my hips move? Are all 4 lbs in each thigh or maybe just right where you would button your jeans? I'll spare you the details of how my body continued to betray me that day.

Someone please tell me that with continued diligence, which I am willing to do, I will one day be able to fit into my favorite pair of straight leg, Lucky jeans. Someone please tell me that my body just went through something major, growing a human being inside of it for 9 months and then birthing it into the world, and that its tired and just needs a little time to get back to normal.

Ok, my complaining & confession is over.

Mom vs. Mommy

2010-04-24T13:37:00.001-07:00

So Malone has started calling me, "Mom." I cringe every time I hear her say it. Why? I'm not a "mom" yet, I'm still a "mommy".

See, there's a difference. I can hear her with that teenage twinge in her voice, saying, "Maaaa-umm", which really means, "You're so uncool, you female parental figure of mine. Please don't embarrass me in front of my friends!" Whereas, "mommy" is said either in a moment of sadness, "I want Mommy to kiss my ouchie better" (super sweet, right?) or my current favorite Malone-phrase, "Mommy, I love you!"

How do I tell her that she's not allowed to call me "mom" but rather I want her to call me "mommy" forever, and ever? Oh and also, that she's not allowed to grow up any more and needs to stay my sweet, little 2 year old, Malulu forever?

When Cameron is gone...

2010-04-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

This is a snap shot of what our life is like when Cameron is gone.

We cling to one another.

I'm going out of my mind

I get hungry and try to eat my young.
After the "eating the young" incident, Malone needed some love.
Judah needs some man time. He's tired of all these girls. So he's trying to hold onto his manhood by trying to fit both fists in his mouth.
We're sad.
And so is Judah.

And then we wait....and wait...and wait...
But then a glorious day comes when daddy says he's coming home. And we get REALLY excited!!!

Easter Outfit a week late

2010-04-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

Clearly, because of last weekend's nastiness, we did not make it to church on Easter. However, Malone had the most beutiful Easter dress courtesy of her aunt Sharon. So she wore it a week late. And was the cutest girl in her church class...because that's why we go to church, right? :)
And this is what Judah was doing while we had fun.

Don't read while eating

2010-04-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

I don't have pictures.

You don't want pictures. Believe me.

Saturday night I did not sleep well. BEECCAAAAAAUUUUSE, I was puking my guts out all. night. long. You think I'm over exaggerating? The burst capillaries all over my face says otherwise.

Anyways, it was one of my worst fears was realized. What would I do if I became ill and still had to or couldn't take care of my two little children. Luckily for me, I have an incredible group of friends who support me and help me when Cameron is gone. But, ironically enough, its Spring Break and just about everyone was out of town. Yikes. I awoke Sunday morning feeling like death itself. Ironic, because Sunday was Easter, a day to celebrate LIFE. Luckily, my friend Sara (who we think I got the little nasty bug from via text message the day before), came to the rescue even though she was only on day 1 in the "life after the bug." Let it just be known that we both looked more beautiful than anyone can imagine, small children might have been scared away by our "beauty". I can't thank Jesus enough for Sara and her incredible friendship to take care of me and my children. And Ms. Lois who brought us sickies applesauce and crackers. And Mr. Dick who mowed my lawn. And Laura Glover, who in her incredible kindness was totally willing to bring me Gatorade and Sprite and watch my children, even though she didn't end up having to.

I prayed so hard that Malone and Judah wouldn't get the bug. It looked like we were in the clear, Sunday morning...Sunday night...Monday morning...Monday afternoon...not so fast Marelize, that nasty little bug is not done with the Schaefer household yet. I was just about to make Malone dinner, when she coughed a little too hard, gagged and threw up. Yuck. Her first throw up, ever. I was clinging to the hope that it was an isolated incident, but deep down inside knew different. How do you do throw-up with a two year old? Lets talk practical here. Toilet, trash bag, bucket, bowl? Can she tell me before it happens? Where should she sleep? And what about Judah? Oy.

After a couple of "incidents", numerous clothing changes (for both of us), I gathered my thoughts, courage, nauseous feelings, grabbed towels, washcloths, pillows, a bowl and a quilt and decided to camp out in the living room. And so we camped on the floor. Sara came over and helped me with Judah, Beth and Marc went to the store and got her some Pedialyte.

Tuesday morning we woke up, still a little weak from the weekend's events. But...we survived. WE SURVIVED!!!

* Again, I cannot express how thankful I am for everyone who helped us in this crazy process. I am beyond blessed to have people who care for my family and I the way that you all do.

Daddy's girl, Mama's boy

2010-03-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

Cameron has a new little twin. She eats what he eats for breakfast (only when I'm not looking), waffles with chocolate chips.
She read what he reads, the latest on counterinsurgency and fourth generation warfare.
And just plain delights in her daddy.
But then when he leaves and she is stuck with me again, she gives me this look. The look that says, "Really? You again? How boooooring!"
Luckily this little boy still loves his mama.

Yes, I got my hair cut and yes, it looks weird in these pictures.

Happy 2 Month Birthday to Judah!

2010-03-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

We can't say it any better...

Last week our wonderful little boy reached his 2 month mark. I am more grateful everyday for him and can't wait to see what the rest of his life is like. After Cameron's last trip, he came home and said, "he just looks so much better, like a real baby now." Yes, indeed, I think he's lost that newborn squishiness and traded it in for a much cuter, fatter, squishiness. I love it!!

Here are his latest stats:

Height: 21.65 inches. Only in the 10th percentile. A little shorty so far, but he has enormously long hands and feet, so I think he'll get his growth spurt soon. Jr. High, maybe?

Weight: 12 lbs. It felt like that was huge to me, but apparently he is exactly average at the 50th percentile. Look at that chub...the arms...the little double chin. AHHH! Don't you just want to eat him in all his cuteness?
Head size: Once again, all indications point to brilliant. Just check out how he reads already. BRILLIANT!
Sleep: Awake in the morning, hibernates over lunch and into the afternoon, some more naps in the later afternoon/evening, great sleeper at night. I think after Malone, I deserve a good night time sleeper. :) This is what he looks like when he's really sleepy.
Sociability: He is a bit serious. I keep trying to tell him that its only polite to smile when first meeting someone and especially when they smile at you. So he's slowly working on that first impression smile.

Eat: Not a very adventurous eater yet. He just loves milk. Doesn't he know there is a whole other world full of variety and wonderful, delicious, amazing food?

Pooper: Good, perhaps too good for his own good. One day last week I had to change his clothes 3 times due to his "power."

All in all, this boy has secured his place in my heart.

ModCloth

2010-03-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

I just discovered a website called ModCloth. They sell vintage inspired/ indie designer clothes at super reasonable prices. Cameron has already been notified to the importance this website will have in the coming months as I revamp my wardrobe. Check out this SUPER CUTE tank.

By the way, I found out about this site through a fabulous blog called Petit Elefant. Go visit, show her some love.

Judah 1 month pictures

2010-03-29T15:28:00.001-07:00

A while back, one month to be exact, Judah celebrated his one month anniversary of gracing us with his presence. He still looks like a cute little newborn boy....not...for...long.

Hear ye! Hear ye!

2010-03-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye!

I, the new momma of 2 adorable little ones, made it to church today.

I was dressed, hair and makeup done.

My children were dressed (cutely, I think too).

More importantly, my children were clean and none of us smelled like baby spit-up.

My children were fed.

We made it to church, despite Daylight Savings Time (Fist of Fury to you, Daylight Savings!)

We made it ALONE!!!! For the first time since Judah was born.

***Please pat me on the back, because I feel like this is a major accomplishment for me. :)***

I would like to thank the following for helping me win this award....err...I mean... with this major accomplishment:

Sara, who so graciously came over last night and watched my babies so I could take a bath and wash & blow dry my hair.

My children for being so good and cooperating fully this morning without any tears or tantrums.

Paul & Rachael for holding Judah so Malone and I could do communion together.

Lastly, the lady who left right before I arrived so that I could have a close parking spot in an otherwise packed parking lot.

Thank you all!

Another first

2010-03-08T21:12:00.000-08:00

Friday, we had another first. Let me tell you how our day went.

After a great morning where I bathed myself, Malone and Judah, blow-dried Malone's hair and got all of us dressed (we looked so darn cute), I was feeling pretty good. We ate lunch, attempted a nap time for Malone, and I decided to schlep the kids Target in hopes of Malone napping on the way home.

We had a great time at Target. I bought some new workout dvd's, weights, baby stuff and even checked out their patio furniture all while Judah was sleeping in his car seat, serenely, and Malone was quietly enjoying her dried cranberries (which we can't go anywhere without...we're keeping Craisins in business). I should've known that everything was too good.

All of a sudden Malone says, "Mama, ouch, berry in nose", while trying to pick her nose. "Ummmm...what?????" I respond in disbelief. "Did you just stick a cranberry up your nose?", I ask, desperately hoping she says no. "Yes."

So I freaked out a little and scared her and she started crying and I realized that I had to remain calm to get her to calm down. I could see it...I think. How hard could it be to get it out? I just need tweezers. So I ran over to the beauty department and found tweezers, tried to open them, but the plastic was impossibly stuck on the one side. Ughhhh, serious? Frantically, I grabbed another pair and attempted the cranberry rescue to no avail. I only attempted the rescue once, because I was so scared of hurting Malone and pushing it in further. We left Target in a hurry.

I called my mom like any good daughter would do. She gave me some sage advice. I headed home and called Cameron on the way to let him know and to have him call the pediatrics clinic. Should I bring her in? Apparently, no. I had to take her straight to the ER!!! I did not realize that it was THAT big of a deal. But we headed to the hospital, ready for a LONG afternoon/evening/night at the ER.

When we arrived at the hospital, I had Judah in his carseat in one arm, Malone in the other arm, and the heavy diaper bag schlepped around my shoulder. What a sight! I think they felt sorry for me, because the staff rushed us ahead of a bunch of people, and soon the little red culprit was out of Malone's left nostril. She didn't even cry. An hour and a half after having arrived at the ER, we left. So I thank you, staff of Madigan Army Hospital, for being so kindhearted and seeing a military mom with a newborn and a two year old and having pity on her/cutting her some slack. I will never forget you.

PS: Where was Cameron? At work, solving the problems in Afghanistan singlehandedly... and he couldn't get away.

So now we know...no foreign objects in the nose.

Cutie Patootie 1 month old

2010-03-06T14:29:00.000-08:00

Here's my handsome little boy at 1 month.

*please note the hair. and the smile. and the little lips. and the little pudgy nose. oh and those cheeks. Am I allowed to eat him up with a spoon?

Sunday morning redo

2010-02-28T21:43:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning:

8:15am- Wake up late because Judah was a little sleep-less last night. Panic a little because church starts in 45 minutes. Yikes!

8:17am Thank the Lord for such a wonderful husband who recognizes when I don't get a lot of sleep and lets me sleep in. Will go to 11:15am service

9:00am Take a shower...a few moments completely ALONE. Ahhhh.

9:45am Give Malone a bath while I'm blow drying my hair. Not looking forward to the "we have to wash your hair" struggle that is about to ensue.

10:00am The hair-washing struggle occurs. After screaming bloody murder while I'm rinsing her hair, I ask her, in an effort to distract her, if she's laughing and she says yes and smiles. Apparently the screaming was all drama.

10:45am Go through the Starbucks drive-thru. Many thanks to Linda Kotby for our Starbucks gift cards.

***This is where it gets interesting****

11:05am Malone falls asleep in the car on the way to church. Oh no!

11:15am Arrive at church. What to do with sleeping Malone?? Decide to try to transport her inside while still sleeping. Hopefully she'll sleep on our laps?

11:16am Plan foiled when she wakes up and looks semi-awake and happy. Happy enough for nursery?

11:20am Not happy/awake enough for nursery. Cameron stays with her for a minute to reduce the screaming/crying.

11:35am Cameron returns looking worried. She was crying so hard. Promise to check on her in 10 minutes. People behind us annoyed with us whispering to each other back and forth.

11:45am "Operation spy mom" in place. Mission: check on Malone in nursery without her seeing me. FAIL.

11:48am Play with Malone in her nursery room . Meet a uber cute couple working in her class.

12:00pm Mention the idea of her staying in there while Mom goes to give Judah some lunch. The mere mention caused floodgate of tears and anxiety. Brilliant idea REJECTED.

12:01pm Panicked Cameron walks in with a crying Judah. Why? 1) Judah's first poo blow out 2) Poo went all over his back and clothes. 3) Cameron tried to change Judah's diaper in the men's restroom. Judah peed all over himself. 4) Judah is wet and has poo every where.

12:03pm Maybe we should just go home. Can we have a Sunday morning redo?

Little Mama

2010-02-23T20:58:00.000-08:00

I am learning...

2010-02-22T21:03:00.000-08:00

Love is patient. When I'm in a desperate hurry and Malone is taking FOR- EV-ER to put on her shoes. Love is patient.

Love is kind. It anticipates the delight of my 2 year old when I say that I want to color with her.

It does not envy. It does not want in my kids or husband that which they will never possess. They are who they are.

It does not boast. Love does not magnify its sacrifices or hardships in an effort to "win" some sort of "life is harder for me than you" game.

It is not proud. It realizes that it is not because of how inherently great I am that my kids are so wonderful.

It is not rude. It is considerate.

It is not self- seeking. Love realizes that some phases of life is more about the needs of the babies than about the desires of the mom. A time will come when a Barnes & Noble reading afternoon is easily achieved.

It is not easily angered. When Judah is FINALLY asleep and Malone runs around being silly and jovial and inevitably wakes him up, love keeps its cool and does not fly off the handle.

It keeps no record of wrongs. It doesn't remember how many times I've been spit up on. It doesn't remember the words said to me in a moment of frustration. It doesn't remember how many times I've changed a poopy diaper today.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. Love delights in the flowering of truth in my family.

It always protects. Love moves toys I know a little one will trip on and then teaches the little one to put away toys.

Always trusts. It trusts that a husband will always see his wife.

Always hopes. It believes that my family will demonstrate love to others.

Always perseveres. Love carries on. It persists. It keeps going. And going. And going. And when it wants to stop, when it's tired, dirty, sore and hungry, it keeps going.

Love never fails.

My husband, the chef

2010-02-21T20:39:00.000-08:00

Cameron has started cooking. Just in time for me to have a baby and have no interest/time for things like cooking.

A few things you should know about Cameron's cooking:

1. He doesn't start with beginner dishes like scrambled eggs or spaghetti. He starts with Braised Chicken with Sausage and Peppers where he cuts up a whole chicken...I've never even done that. Or this....Yes, my friends that is Prime Rib

2. He uses tools like a blow torch.
3. He is KILLING my grocery budget. If his recipe asks for Fleur de Sal, a fairly gourmet, hard to find, French sea salt, that is what we have to use. Table salt will not do. My full belly tells me not to question him, my wallet says otherwise.

4. He cleans as he goes and leaves the kitchen nice and clean. I'm not sure what else to say about this. He's a dream.

5. He looks really good in the kitchen.

When my in-laws (hi Jay & Claire!!) were here recently, Claire's birthday was a cause worthy of a celebration. Cameron and his faithful assistant (or was it the other way around?), his dad, made us all a feast. Blow torch Prime Rib, Horseradish cream, Creamed Spinach, and even dessert, a banana bread pudding that would make you blush. Yummm! My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
What will be on the menu this week?

Malone's 2nd birthday!

2010-02-20T21:50:00.000-08:00

We made it one more year! Malone is now officially two! Can you believe it? It seems just like yesterday that we were waiting for HER to be born.

We did, indeed, celebrate her birthday, way back when I was still pregnant. It was only 6 days before Judah was born, but we celebrated our little hearts out in anyways. She STILL talks about her birthday party . She says, "something, something, something, HAPPY, something, something, MESS" (you'll see why in a little bit).

Without further adieu (or is it ado, as in "Much ado about nothing"...10 points for someone who knows that reference)...Malone's 2nd birthday!

*We decided to decorate cookies with the kids. Here's her friends, Carter, Bubba (Leighton), Eva and Malone all getting their decorating gear on...or lack there of.
Apparently, I'm quite bossy. Yeah, you like that belly shot too, eh?
And the mess begins.
Like mother like daughter?
This is seriously only the beginning...by the end, I think the kids ate more icing than cookies, and used the icing to paint their pretty little faces. It was AWESOME!
My pride and joy of the party, besides my little 2 year old princess. I worked really hard on this little puppy...errr...monkey. Malone still talks about the monkey cake. I'm so glad that she loved it as much as I did.
She was a little nervous about the fire.
But loved opening the presents.
It was a rockin' party.

The songstress

2010-02-13T13:03:00.000-08:00

All of a sudden, Malone has become incredibly interested in music. She wants to sing with me CONSTANTLY and she surprises me every day by what songs she knows and how quickly she learns new ones. Ahhh, she's the greatest!

And here's a little shout-out to the Oumas.

Judah - Week 2

2010-02-13T12:52:00.000-08:00

I have just a few moments while both kids are asleep and I am not. Sorry my updates have been a bit sporadic, I'm trying to adjust to our new "normal" and free time, means, "sleep time".

Mr. Schaefer's 2 week check up was this week. Here's his new stats.

Weight: 8lbs

Height: 20 inches

Head size: I can't remember, but all indications point to brilliancy.

Sleep: I couldn't ask for a better sleeper
Eat: A great eater...although he takes after his mama and he likes to snack

Sociability: He loves his big sister. But gets a bit fussy around other people, especially around the hours of 7:30-9:30pm. I totally understand, sometimes, I get a bit fussy around other people too.

Pooper: GREAT! Although he is a bit of a trickster. He takes the opportunity to wait to "finish" his business until right after I change him. Oy!Isn't he amazing?!

1 Week

2010-02-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

In the past week we have ...

- Gone through 3 containers of baby wipes

- Been peed on 6 times (turns out little boys are MUCH different than little girls)

- Cleaned the couch 4 times. The first three was because of the above mentioned incidents. The 4th was because a certain little munchkin girl drew a masterpiece of art on it.

- Realized that a king size bed is perfect for midnight when all 4 of our family members end up in our bed.

- Washed 7 loads of laundry

- Enjoyed endless baby kisses

- Introduced Judah to my in-laws

- Took Judah to church for the first time, he apparently was bored.

- Took Malone and Judah to the park.

- Felt so incredibly thankful for my husband. My heart is overwhelmed with gratitude.

- Got to take a nap twice while the babies were both asleep. Ahhhh, quiet.

- Gone through 4 packs of diapers between Malone and Judah

- Watched as my husband and father-in-law made banana bread pudding. It was a sight to see.

- Relished every minute with my new little family of 4.

Ps: For the safety and comfort of my dad, father-in-law and any other unsuspecting males (or females for that matter) who read this blog, I will not be posting the details publicly. :) If you want to hear Judah's amazing birth story, please email me at marelize.schaefer@gmail.com.

He's here!

2010-01-26T12:04:00.000-08:00

Judah James Schaefer
Saturday, January 23, 2010
2:34am
7lbs 1 oz
19.25 inches
*perfect in every way*

Here's the story in pictures.

38 weeks

2010-01-19T22:24:00.000-08:00

I'm

*

still

*

pregnant

37 Weeks

2010-01-14T07:18:00.001-08:00

Here I am in all my glory.
Cameron and I went on a date on Tuesday night. It was glorious (beside the part where I had to unbutton my pants under my napkin because my belly is too big, but that's neither here nor there). We went to the Lobster Shop, a fancy seafood restaurant sitting right on the water. Our wonderful friend Sara entertained a sick Malone while we were gone. It was our last "hoorah" for a while at least, before baby boy comes.
I have a hot husband.

And even though it is so good to have some alone time, I always miss Malone.Reunited and it feels so good. I love my little family.

Weekly Goals #2

2010-01-12T08:20:00.000-08:00

Life is good.

I'm sitting here, watching the Today Show, eating the most wonderful banana & Nutella breakfast toast, desperately trying to figure out what Malone means by saying "Zuna".

I'm still pregnant, 37 weeks today, in fact. Cameron is convinced I'm not going to have a baby until February. I don't appreciate his pessimism.

On Friday, we had a baby appointment, pre-admitted me to the hospital and took a tour of the Labor/Delivery ward at the hospital. Everything went well.

Saturday, I had a pre-natal massage, part of my birthday gift this year. The best birthday gift a pregnant girl could wish for. What would life be like if I had a personal masseuse? Heaven.

Cameron has become a chef. Sunday night he created a masterpiece. He cut up a whole chicken (I've never even done that), made a chicken brine, made some soffritto, a pepper sauce, cooked it all together with some sausage and created magic. I could get used to this.

Want an update on my goals from last week?

1) Pack my hospital bag- Somehow I feel weird about packing it already. So, I failed.

2) Clean every room in my house, from top to bottom- Cleaned most rooms. My most amazing accomplishment...cleaning my oven, including the racks. It took a long time. It was beyond necessary. Now, its nice and shiny.

3) Spend some good, quality, play time with Malone- Lets just say that we have had plenty of tea parties and made a million fake cakes.

4) Grocery shop- Accomplished.

5) Research some organic/grass fed/real free range, meat options- Did the research but haven't quite decided what to get and how much.

6) Plan Malone's birthday party- Sent out invitations, found the cake I'm going to make (only the cutest monkey cake EVER!) and working on everything else this week.

7) Spend some good time doing this week's bible study- FAIL. I finished, but not well. Luckily, the other girls was in the same boat as me, and we just spent the whole time chatting it up. Love it!

8) Get last minute items for baby- Done!

9) If Cameron is here, have a baby. If Cameron is not here, do not have a baby. Ok, scratch that. Actively work on being patient in waiting for the most healthy time to have the baby - Cameron was here and I did not have a baby. For many reasons, I have to have the baby today or after Sunday. Trust me, it will be better for all if it happens within these parameters.

New goals for this week:

1) Read as much of Anna Karenina as I can- I enjoy reading, but this is a total practical goal. The version I'm reading is a beautiful hardback-should be in a beautiful library, version. It will be hard to hold such a large book when I have a new baby. Practicality, people. Plus, I have a billion of other books sitting on my nightstand....The Reader, The Read-Aloud Handbook, The Women Who Raised Me....etc.

2) Pack my bag- lets revisit this one.

3) Clean my bathroom. I mean scrub it. Scrub every little kernel of grossness out of it, hopefully never for it to return again- I clean my bathroom on a weekly basis, but sometimes, it just needs an extra good scrub.

4) Go on a date with my husband- Pretty excited about this one. No need to explain.

5) Malone's birthday party- make the cake, plan other food, activities, etc.

I think I can get all this accomplished this week.

The new Malone

2010-01-09T08:27:00.000-08:00

With the impending arrival of baby boy, I have not updated you very much on Malone lately. Rest assured, we are spending lots of time with her, enjoying her new maturity every day. Isn't she beautiful?Here's a couple new things that Malone does lately:

- She started calling us "Mommy" and "Daddy" and uses them constantly.
- She retells stories, using words, sounds and faces. For example, while we were in Wyoming we went to someone's house who had a big dog. The dog barked at Malone, made her a little nervous and she cried. The story according to Malone goes like this: "Doggy (showing how big he was), Woof-Woof, (sad, crying face) Waaahh, waah, Mamma, Mamma (stretching out her arms to me)." Umm...it is the funniest thing EVER!
- She is especially attached to mommy lately. I think she knows her life is about to change drastically.
- When I ask her questions she'll respond, "Yes, please". It makes me want to give her anything her little heart desires.
- She can play for hours with her babies, monkey, and cat. She feeds them, takes them on walks, puts them to sleep, I've even heard her disciplining them. She's a real mama.
- She is a random hugger.
- She loves to jump and dance.
- She can sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" with us.

Here's a couple of pictures I took of her a few weeks ago. The pictures are in order of how they happened. She wanted to play with the camera and take her own pictures

She was upset that I wouldn't give it to her.

This is "Monkey". He came to our rescue this day.

All of a sudden, she was a little model.

Ugghhh, sometimes she's so darn cute that I can't even stand it.

WHAT?!

2010-01-06T09:55:00.001-08:00

I just saw a commercial for a bath tub with a door to it. WHAT???!!!!

Who taps the water in while they're IN the bath? Then you get in the bath all naked and cold. You never get that amazing, "ahhhh, its nice and warm" feeling. You're like the frog who slowly gets boiled and never realizes it.

Maybe I'm silly and everyone but me does that.

Just saying.

This week's goals

2010-01-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!! Cameron, Malone and I brought in the New Year like the part-ay animals we all know we are...asleep by 10pm. We just like to think that we are saving up all our party energy for years to come.

I know it is traditional to reflect on the past year, evaluate personal goals and set new ones for the year to come. Actually, this is a family tradition of mine that stretches back to what I'm sure was the beginning of my life. But since I'm not sure what the next month will hold, never mind the year, I will start with weekly goals. Some might call them "to-do" lists, but I want to jump on the New Year's bandwagon too and call them goals. So here we go, in no particular order:

1) Pack my hospital bag- Unpreparedness makes me nervous. Plus, who wants to try to remember socks and extra toothpaste when you're in labor? Not me, that's who.

2) Clean every room in my house, from top to bottom- All of a sudden last night, it was like a veil was lifted from my eyes. The scales of cleanliness fell off of them, and I realized there were greasy fingerprints all over the oven, little splatters of something in the microwave, some sort of weird dirt collection on the inside of the dishwasher door and little bits of food in the cracks between the counter and the stove. And that was only in the kitchen. Nesting much?

3) Spend some good, quality, play time with Malone- She's kinda fun like that, so it doesn't take much extra effort.

4) Grocery shop- Not really that exciting of a goal, but a necessary one nonetheless.

5) Research some organic/grass fed/real free range, meat options- More to come on this later, but one of our big family goals this year is to ensure that we are being responsible with what we put in our bodies, not only for the effects it has on us but also system wide. I'm not really a natural hippie kind of person, but some things are hard to ignore. But like I said, more to come on this subject at a later time.

6) Plan Malone's birthday party- Her birthday is in 2 weeks and since baby will be coming shortly after her birthday (can I hope for before her birthday?) I want to make sure to really make her birthday special for her. So this week, I need to think through all that....invites, presents, decorations, theme (?). I'll keep you updated.

7) Spend some good time doing this week's bible study- Have I told you about the fabulous bible study I'm a part of? Its a bunch of girls from Cameron's squadron (and a few not), and we're doing a Beth Moore study on the Tabernacle. Its been soooo good. And I always find that when I really spend the time doing the homework, meditating on it, that I get so much out of it.

8) Get last minute items for baby- I'm kind of excited to go to Target (which I love and have a gift card for) and buy some of the little last minute things we still need. On my list: some blankets, hats, Boppy cover, and pacifiers. Easy, eh?

9) If Cameron is here, have a baby. If Cameron is not here, do not have a baby. Ok, scratch that. Actively work on being patient in waiting for the most healthy time to have the baby - Blah, blah, blah. This might be the hardest of them all.

Well there you go. I know you all are just brimming with excitement over my weekly to-do...ahem....goals. I'll give you an update next week on what I actually accomplished.

1+1+1= 3

2010-01-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

Eating at P.F. Chang's

+

Running from one end of Denver International Airport to the other (and back again) because Frontier isn't particularly organized at checking people in and DIA closes the security line closest to us and our plane home is about to board in...like....NOW!!!

+

Being 36 weeks pregnant

=

Gross/puffy/weird looking/kinda hurting/wish it would have never happened/I'm done being pregnant/I'll spare you the pictures, swollen feet

the end.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T16:33:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas full of family, love, food, laughter, relaxation and celebrating the birth of Jesus. Around here, we had a great Christmas and luckily for us, our "Christmas" will be extended just a little longer, as we're leaving tomorrow to see Cameron's family in Wyoming. Yay!I was preparing all last week for the upcoming celebration feasts I had planned. Here's what our menu turned out to be:

Christmas Eve: French Onion Soup, Pear & Avocado Salad, and for dessert, Croquembouche.
Christmas Morning: Homemade Cinnamon rolls, fruit, and breakfast casserole
Christmas Dinner: Prime Rib, Au Jus, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, pumpkin fritters and a hypothetical almond cake which I never made.

It all turned out great....except for the Croquembouche. After all my hard work, one batch of my little cream puffs didn't exactly "puff". In all actuality, they were as flat as pancakes. See, they should have been on the cover of Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat.But I made some more, still not quite like they should be, but it worked. I made the cream custard, filled them, made the caramel "glue" and put it all together. The end result looked great and tasted even better.
Here's the prime rib. Ummm...why have I not made this before?!! It was sooooo easy and soooo good! BEFORE:
AFTER:
Our Christmas dinner:

Now, onto more important things....PEOPLE. We were lucky enough to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas day with Cameron's good friend, Beau Suder. We were so glad that he could be a part of our family (which he already is) for this special occasion.

This is Beau enjoying his Christmas presents from us.After dinner, we read the story of Jesus' birth and then opened our stockings. Apparently, Santa comes early to our house.
Christmas morning of course was a bit earlier than it used to be. But exciting nonetheless. We handed out our gifts and took turns opening them one by one. Malone didn't quite understand this situation and just wanted to open all of them at once. We all were so blessed by all the gifts we received. My personal favorite was some pretty little earrings from Cameron.I gave Cameron some new wine glasses and a decanter.

My favorite gift to give was definitely Malone's box! Christmas eve, after she was in a deep slumber, we had to put it together. With lots of help from Cameron and Beau, we finally finished it. It was awesome!! It has a door, windows, curtains and even a roof. Granted, it does look a little ghetto with it only being partly painted...spray painted, that is...apparently there's not as much paint in a can of spray paint as you'd think. But still, its AWESOME!After gifts, we had breakfast, relaxed all day and I finished cooking dinner. Here's Cameron and I about to eat breakfast....still in our pjs. Once we were sufficiently stuffed from dinner, we headed over to our friends, the Scheuermans', where we solved world hunger problems, wars, government and then played Settlers of Catan until the wee hours.

It was a perfect ending!

Our own Christmas Traditions

2009-12-19T14:31:00.001-08:00

This year we will be alone for Christmas. Our own little family. We will miss our families dearly and wish we could all be together for this time of year. But, there is something about starting our own traditions, building those memories with our own children that I'm excited about.

As we've been preparing for this holiday season Cameron and I have often talked about what traditions we would like to incorporate into our little family. You've already read about how we decorated the house, put up the tree and made cookies. Well, now we're really onto the nitty gritty of Christmas Eve, Christmas morning, the presents, Santa and of course the food. So here's a couple of things we're gonna try this year:

- Presents: I read somewhere & heard about it from Stephanie, about doing 4 presents for the kids. One they want, one they wear, one they read, one they need. Cute, economical, just right for us, I think. However, since Malone is so little she's getting a book, a box and some fun little stocking stuffers. Sh.... don't tell her. I'll explain the book and box when they're finished. You'll want to see this for sure.

- Food: I'm working on the menus right now. I think we're doing something light for Christmas eve dinner (maybe soup & salad) and this beauty called Croquembouche (they're little cream puffs made into a tower) for dessert. Christmas morning, I'm thinking fruit and homemade cinnamon rolls. And for Christmas lunch/dinner, ribeye roast. Still working on the details. Plus, I kind of want it to be a surprise for Cameron.

- Christmas morning: I love reading the story of Jesus' birth. Then, opening presents. Then, thanking the Lord for what our gifts represent, His gift to us, Jesus.

I want to hear from you! What Christmas traditions do you love from your family? Any food ideas? PS: I have to warn you, I might steal your ideas.

Baby Update

2009-12-16T21:38:00.000-08:00

Yes folks, I am 33 weeks pregnant with little baby boy Schaefer. My belly feels huge, although I am told its not really that big. My back is sore, maybe due to the nerve in my lower back that he's using as a pillow and my ribs are bruised due to our little athlete's early training program. But otherwise I'm feeling pretty darn good. Here's a good look at the belly.

Its weird to think that in 7 weeks, the playing field will be a bit more even on the Team Kids vs. Team Parents game. We're ready for the most part, just missing a couple of little things like pacifiers and washcloths. Really, I just need to get my butt in gear and go to the store and buy it. Worse comes to worse, who needs pacifiers and washcloths to survive?

We've decided on what kind of double stroller we want, but we'll probably wait until the baby gets here to see if we really need it. For you gear heads, after much research we've decided on the Baby Jogger City Mini Double stroller. Beautiful, I know...but that's not why we're getting it. What kind of researcher would I be if the reason ended there?And I still need to order my baby wrap/sling/thing.

See, having a baby is easy. :) hahaha.

Oh speaking of easy, I had my first appointment with the mid-wife this week. Yes, I took the plunge and switched to the mid-wifery program. I switched for many reasons but mostly for continuity of care within our crazy military medical system. Still not 100% sold on the natural birth, because I just loved the dickens out of my epidural when I had Malone. But we'll see.

Ummm...I was a little concerned however, when we were talking about Malone's birth and I informed the mid-wife that Malone's birth was only 5 hours long (pretty short for a first baby) and I was induced (which I guess usually means labor is longer). She just looked at me and laughed and said, "Well, girl, I wouldn't wait until your contractions get too regular before you come to the hospital! But don't worry, I guess you can always call 911. You wouldn't be the first." What?!!! Plus, we live a good 30-45 minutes from the hospital! Needless to say, my fears about having this baby in the Jeep, in traffic, on the way to the hospital, with Cameron having to cut the umbilical chord with rope or butter knife, was NOT relieved.

On the plus side of things, I get a special maternity parking permit at my next appointment. They have special...aka..super close parking spots reserved for preggos all over the base. I don't usually shop at the Commissary (grocery store) very often, but I will start, just so I can use my handy dandy parking permit.

Anyways, there's the long awaited baby update. I better run. Time to test Cameron on his "delivering a baby in a cinch" procedures. Luckily for him, no flash cards will be used today. Ha Ha. One can never be too prepared.

Cameron's Birthday Feast- Part 2

2009-12-16T20:55:00.000-08:00

And the feasting continues!

After I got the beef short ribs in the oven, and they roasted nice and slow for a couple hours, I took it out. Since the ribs rendered so much fat, I transferred the mixture to another bowl and put it in the fridge for a little bit, so that the fat could harden, making it a million times easier to remove. A little bit of fat adds flavor, but no one wants to feel like they are drinking oil.

While the beef was de-fatting (you like that? I just made it up...on the spot...I'm smart like that), it was time to start on desserts. I know, people, I really love my husband. I was in the kitchen, literally, THE WHOLE DAY. No resting for this little pregnant lady.

Chocolate cake is one of Cameron's absolute favorites. So much so, that I had already made another one 2 days earlier for our missional community at church. Aren't they beauties? I wish I liked chocolate cake more.
Selfishly, I made a dessert for me too. I'm a little bit of a fruit fanatic, so when my friend Brittany made this cobbler of the blueberry variety, I knew I was in love. So I made it with blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, all on sale at Safeway for $1.98 a pack. It was meant to be.
Consider this cobbler my rest. Who needs to sit down or take a nap when they can have this?
(This isn't even cooked yet)
Oh yes, and somewhere in here I roasted some vegetables. Zucchini, parsnips (my new fave), potatoes, onions...all until they are nice and golden.

Then it was time to enjoy the fruits of my labor along with our good friend, Beau Suder. Boy, it was good. Its going in my "favorite" recipes file.
Luckily the night didn't end there... dessert was still left and some of our favorite friends showed up to help.
Here's the girls. The boys were WAY too deep in solving the world's problems to be bothered for a picture.

Ahhh, good food + good friends = one great night!

Cameron's Birthday Feast- Part 1

2009-12-14T15:33:00.000-08:00

I love my husband. Words can't even begin to describe how grateful I am for him. So this year for his birthday I decided to cook him a whole birthday feast as an expression of my love for him! And let me tell you, he did not complain.

Since his birthday was on Thursday, the same day as the Christmas party, we celebrated his birthday on Friday. We celebrated with a quiet, family dinner at home and then later in the evening had friends over for dessert and wine.

Herein lies the chronicles (in 2 parts) of my full day in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant .

Menu:

Braised beef short rib served on bed of creamy polenta
Roasted vegetables
Mixed Berry Cobbler
Chocolate Birthday Cake

Here's my excited face as I'm about to start cooking. Please note the cute Christmas apron I'm wearing, courtesy of Stephanie's mom.
Malone wanted a beginning picture too. Except she insisted on it being by the Christmas tree.

It all began with the recipe that I got from Pioneer Woman Cooks, one of my favorite food blogs. And indeed it was heaven on a plate.

I started by browning some Pancetta (Italian bacon) in my new LeCreuset dutch oven. After it was nice and crispy, I took it out and left the fat it rendered in the pot.

Here's the beauties themselves

I salt & peppered them then drenched them in some flour.
Then I browned them real good on all sides.
Don't they look pretty!
Then I chopped up a bunch of onions, carrots and a little bit of celery, the last of which was not called for in the recipe but I thought it would taste good and I had some.
Meanwhile, this is what Malone was doing. Isn't she sweet? And yes, I am the worst photographer in the world.
I added a little more Olive oil to the pot and cooked the veggies for a couple of minutes.
Oh and I added a couple of cloves of garlic. It wasn't in the recipe either, but everything is better with some garlic, right?
Once the veggies was cooked, I threw in some nice red wine. Please note the special 10th AS (Cameron's squadron) C-17 edition of this wine. Nice, eh? Oh yes, and there was scraping of the nice little brown bits off the bottom of the pot. Ooooh, double nice.
Then the beef broth, rosemary and thyme was added to the other kids in the pool
Once it cooked together for a couple of minutes, it was time for the stars of the show to join everyone else in the pot. Beautiful!
Into the oven it went for 2 hours at 350 degrees and then another 45 minutes at 325. Please excuse the dirty oven. Its leftover from Thanksgiving and possibly last Christmas....just kidding...maybe.
Then it was cleanup time. Yikes.
Ahhh...and that's where I leave you for now. I know, the suspense is just killing you. Come back tomorrow for the end result, dessert and friends.

Christmas Party

2009-12-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

Thursday night was the long awaited Christmas party of Cameron's squadron. Long awaited, not because we were super excited about it, but rather because this year, Cameron had quite a heavy hand in planning it. So it was more of a labor of love, than an event to enjoy and look forward to. But, we did enjoy it nonetheless. It looked beautiful, the food (prime rib) was good and the company was fun!

Of course, the biggest stress for me was finding a cocktail dress that a) went over my 8 month preggo belly, b) didn't make me look like a blah tent, and c) didn't cost a million dollars. Target came to the rescue with a cute little, not even maternity, cocktail dress for only.... $20!!

The Mr. & Mrs.

Our fantastic and hot bible study girls, sans Sara (who kindly was watching Malone) and Leigh (who was soaking up the rays in Mexico)

Laura Glover and I. She just had twins 6 months ago. Can you believe it?

We clean up pretty nice, eh? This probably isn't a good representation of where my belly really is at...or feels at. :)

My excited face to take my high heels off at home

Malone playing in my high heels the next morning :) How does SHE walk in them when I barely can?

Christmas Traditions

2009-12-12T11:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas Countdown: Less than 2 weeks away!

Oh, how I love Christmas. I love what it stands for, I love the decorations, the treats, the family feel of it all. And since Malone is getting a tiny bit older now, it is time for us to establish our own family Christmas traditions.

I started off this year by decorating our house just a little. A little garland on the mantle and hanging our stockings was first.

Putting up the wreath on the front door was next. My plans to make one was foiled when I realized it would be cheaper and easier just to buy one from Target.

Then one day, to my surprise Cameron said we needed lights on the house. Done. Sorry, no pictures yet. Its day time and the lights would look uncharacteristically lame. But rest assured, they are tactful and nice...no Christmas Vacation lights on our house. Wish I could say the same for some other people in our neighborhood.

The tree was set up, lit and decorated. It was a little bigger than we had remembered. It kinda takes up half our living room. But that's ok, because we're just trying to show our Christmas spirit, right? So what if you can't walk across our living room?

Lastly, we decorated Christmas cookies. We only gave a couple of cookies away, because it has become clear that here in the Schaefer household, art is not necessarily our gifting :) At least not yet. Plus, I think Malone was more interested in eating them than decorating them.

Expecting a big mess, we put Malone in an old t-shirt of mine. She apparently didn't like the mess as much as we thought she would and came out cleaner than we did. Oh, and here's her new "CHEEEEESE!" face. Where does she learn these things?
Malone and I feverishly working
Cameron feverishly working. Malone feverishly enjoying the cookie.

The end result

Can't wait until next year's new addition of family and family traditions.

Hello Cupcake

2009-12-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

While my family was here, Malone had some good 'ole girl time with Mama, Ouma (my mom) and Auntie Telly (my sister, Christelle). We went to the Tacoma's Children's Museum, where we "made" sandwiches which we then had to buy from Malone, crawled in holes (yeah, yeah, have a good laugh at the thought of a 7 month pregnant me crawling...ha...ha), but mostly spent our time in the art room. We painted, drew on the windows, made stencil colorings, and washed our hands, a new favorite activity of Malone. Hey, she doesn't want to get H1N1, and neither do we. She loved it all! And to be honest, I think so did we.

After exhausting our creative juices, we needed a little pick-me-up. And what's better than cupcakes and milk? We went to the cutest little cupcake shoppe this side of Willy Wonka's, called Hello Cupcake.

Here's the progression of what happened:

We were all happy and excited to be at Hello Cupcake

See, look how happy Christelle and I are together. Ps: She just turned 16. Isn't it illegal to be so hot and stylish at 16?
Then Malone pushed aside the cupcake I was sharing with her. She was after one thing. FROSTING.
Take it easy, little Malone. You're looking a little fierce in your hunt for frosting from each of our plates.
Malone, annoyed that we're trying to take pictures in the midst of serious frosting eating business.
Satisfied but in an almost coma-like state.
Beware, if you eat too much cupcakes, you might end up with a belly like this. Obviously, Christelle didn't eat her whole cupcake.
The end.

Malone's Photography

2009-12-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

Malone has inherited Cameron's entrepreneurial spirit and at the tender age of almost two, she is starting her own photography business. It seems like lately so many of my friends (Rachael Hope, Sara Joy, Audrey Hannah, Jacob, Melanie) are starting up photography businesses. And the funny thing is that they are all very talented photographers. What's the odds of that?

Well, Malone has jumped on the bandwagon and will be launching her own website soon. However, she specializes in a bit more artistic photography, so be forewarned that its not your average "family portraits" kind of photography. When I asked this new budding artiiiiste what her inspiration is, she replied, "Mama!" So there you go folks, I inspire young and old.

Here's a little taste of what's going to make us millions...ahem...I mean, my daughter's inner artistic expressions:

"View From Below"

"Crazy Woman Who Changes My Diapers"
"Dadda Dadda"

"Why is She Everywhere?"

"Windows to the Soul"
And last but not least, a little project called "Baby?" (said in a really sad little voice. Maybe an expression about her feelings towards the new baby coming?)

Our House

2009-12-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

What Cameron and I hope for our house to be:

His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking, best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Thankgiving week

2009-12-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

Oh friends, happy Thanksgiving. Here in the Schaefer household, we (yes, Cameron made it home!) celebrated with my parents and little sister. They came out for a week of food, football (a relatively new thing for my South African family...Roll Tide!) and good 'ole family fun. Its always so refreshing to visit with my family. Not to mention, the HOURS AND HOURS of fun Malone had with my parents, but especially her Auntie "Telly", as she says. First thing in the morning and last thing at night, she wanted to know where Telly, Ouma and Oupa was. Ahhhh, it warmed my heart. Here's a few other highlights of the week:

- My turkey turned out great. I brined it again this year with the William & Sonoma's Buttermilk Brine recipe. It took a bit longer than I anticipated, but came out so moist and wonderful. So good. Of course, I wanted to commemorate the wonderful occasion by roasting my hand along with the turkey. Ouch! I'm brilliant, I know. Not to worry, I just charred the top of my hand on the heating element, but can still type wonderfully. :)

- Saturday, we were official cheerleaders, complete with signs, noise-makers, cheers and refreshments (pictures and video to come). Cameron has been training for the Seattle Marathon for months now, however, since starting his hectic travel schedule again, he wasn't sure whether he'd be home for it (it was this past Sunday.) So he decided to run his own marathon. At 7:30am Saturday morning the Schaefer Marathon began. We all loaded in the car at 8:30am, wiping the sleepiness from our eyes, and set off to begin our cheerleading duties. We found him trodding along his 26.2 mile path, doing remarkably well. As the morning progressed, we met up with him a few more times, honking, blowing our noise-makers, holding our signs high, nourishing his tired soul with Wendy's chicken nuggets and Gatorade and attempting to encourage him as much as possible. The culmination was when he crossed the finish line (yes, we had an official finish line ribbon), surrounded by our family and friends. Oh, and he received the 1st Place medal. It was epic! Many thanks to Marc, Beth, Marc's parents, Sara, Karl, Leigh Anna, my mom, dad, and sister for your true friendship and dedication to Cameron on this cold Saturday morning. Cameron, you are my hero!

Alright friends, I better run my own type of marathon and make dinner. On tonight's menu, Turkey pot pie. Yummmm!

Weekly Update

2009-11-16T20:35:00.000-08:00

So I don't really do a weekly update, but thought I would today. Pretend that I'm a creature of habit and I have a neat little weekly update waiting for you, Monday morning in your _____ (blog reader, email, or just here). Here's your faithful little update:

- This last week Cameron ended up coming home earlier from a trip than expected. I love it when that happens. It doesn't happen too often, but its like a little present when it does.

- Wednesday we went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle with our friends, the Marminos. Because it was Veteran's day, we got in for free. Yay! It was interesting, with lots of info on space travel, Amelia Earhart, WW2 flying, and even the old Air Force One used by presidents like Kennedy and Nixon. I think the Air Force One was my favorite. Smaller than I would have imagined, but I have heard that the current one is much larger and I'm sure much nicer. There was also an old Concorde. Again, much smaller than I would imagine, but I guess when you're only in it for a 3 hour trans- Atlantic flight, space is not a necessity.

- After the Museum of Flight we went to Applebees who was offering a free meal to all military members. Under normal circumstances, I am not a huge Applebees fan, but since it was free, and they were super busy (ensured our food would be semi-fresh and hot, at least), I went along for the ride. Because of a wonderful experience between me and some boneless buffalo wings and a salad, Applebees might just have redeemed themselves in my eyes. Maybe..."then you go and TOTALLY redeem yourself" (10 points to name that movie)

- My family is coming this weekend and staying through Thanksgiving. Yay! I love holidays with my family.

- I'm starting to think through my Thanksgiving menu. In our household, Thanksgiving is always a mix between traditional American food (a turkey, of course, sweet potatoes, stuffing) and traditional South African favorites (roasted potatoes, potato & green bean mash.) I generally don't make cranberry jelly (ugh! or should I say, "open the can of cranberry jelly"...yuck) or pumpkin pie (if you want it, you'll have to bring it).

- Malone cracks me up. She is soo funny right now. Today, she ran up to me while I was cleaning the kitchen and said that it was time to dance. I thought I was just hearing her wrong. She kept on saying it and then she would do a little jig. I thought I was going to die, it was so darn cute!

- Oh, and she has an aversion to changing her diaper right now. Unless of course, she has on her cool, handy dandy, Diaper Changing Hat. Oh yes, my friends, parental creativity at its best.

- My wonderful husband got me some massages for my birthday. I can't wait to use them. Hot stone massage, here I come!

- I'm ordering my 3 1/2 qt. Le Creuset dutch oven tomorrow. It is my birthday gift from Cameron's and my families. Should I go with the red or the kiwi?

- It has been raining here for at least the last 2 years. Will it ever end? I'm not even exaggerating...ok...maybe a little, but seriously, will I ever be reacquainted with my friend, the sun?

That's it for now. I am dying to finish the last 20 pages of Jane Eyre, so I better run.

It's Friday and I'm in love....

2009-11-06T01:41:00.000-08:00

10 points to whoever can name the band who sings that song....Anyways, its Friday (or will be in a couple of hours) and I have a couple of things on my mind.

- I'm feeling kinda craftsy these days. I'm "working" on a couple of projects for the upcoming holidays. And by "working", I mean, I will start working on a couple of projects any day now. First, ABC flashcards for Malone. Because I have been given such an incredible gift for art, I will hand make the flash cards. S is for Stick Figures. Second, I will be attempting to make a version of this wreath for our front door and two little ones to hang on the lights on either side of our garage. How hard can it be right?
From Restoration Hardware

- I found this awesome bucket Advent Calendar yesterday. How cute is it? The buckets are only about 3 or 4 inches big, so all in all, it can hang across our mantle. If only it wasn't $70.
From Garnet Hill

- I've been reflecting a lot on what our life will look like the next couple of years. Based on Cameron's career, we do not have much stability in terms of any sort of normal schedule. We can never plan anything ahead of time with certainty that he'll be here. How can I make our home a place of stability for our children? How do I remain steady and stable in my own way? How do my expectations of Cameron when he is home line up with what is realistic? How do we have a normal life? The truth is that I am so thankful for Cameron. His presence just adds so much to our lives. There are moments when its unbearable without him home. Thoughts all running through my mind on a regular basis.

- I'm almost 28 weeks pregnant and have been having way more contractions with this little one than I did with Malone. I don't think I even knew I was having contractions with her. Someone tell me this is normal.

- Its my birthday next week. I'll be 26. Officially in my late twenties. With a husband. And a mortgage. And almost 2 kids. So this is what adulthood feels like?

- We have a neighbor who drives a truck with a dual exhaust and it is really loud. It drives me batty. Seriously, why do you need to let the whole neighborhood know that you are coming and going? People have sleeping babies. And a dual exhaust was cool in 1995.

- Malone was so funny yesterday. She took off all her clothes (how?) and ran around naked for a good while. It was soo funny. She was just a crazy, little, naked baby running around. I guess you had to be there. :)

- I'm loving Jane Eyre right now. Almost done. *Spoiler Alert* I'm at the part where Jane just left Mr. Rochester's, heartbroken, and was begging for food in some random town, and was nursed back to health by the Rivers. What is gonna happen? How is she gonna make a living? What about Mr. Rochester? Will Jane ever find love?

- I'm thinking about requesting a mid-wife at baby's delivery. In our military medical system, I get all my prenatal care on our base clinic, but then will deliver at the Army hospital close by. I will not know who my doctor is until I get there. But I can request a mid-wife. Any thoughts on an OB vs. mid-wife?

- I am craving carob chips. They're fake chocolate chips, but better tasting. Where can I find them? Mid-wives...carob chips...the northwest is getting to me.

Desperate Question

2009-11-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know how to get rid of the silly double title on my page? See, there's the main title, but then the silly little one underneath. HELP!

Dream house

2009-11-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

Check out this house, featured at Two Ellie.

Its pretty spectacular. I love that there are TONS of windows and natural light. And that bathtub!!! If it were my home, I would probably want it a bit more colorful (what girl from Africa wouldn't?), but maybe the serene lack of color would be nice.

Ahhh....Cameron, do you see this?

These aint your mama's hospital gowns

2009-11-03T21:41:00.000-08:00

Look what I found over at Lily & Lou's on Etsy:

They are fully functioning and oh-so-cute hospital gowns. No more lame-o hospital gowns that forces you to walk backwards as to avoid the embarrassing bum view, which doesn't matter in anyway, because they are always so darn light in color (a.k.a. see-through). Oh and normal hospital gowns are scratchy. I'm assuming these aren't scratchy. And even if they are, you look so darn cute that it doesn't matter.

I'm seriously considering getting one.

My favorite things...

2009-11-02T21:32:00.000-08:00

One of the very first posts I did was a series on my favorite things...(cue the screaming women from an Oprah audience). It was a short lived series, because soon after one of my absolute favorite things on this earth came along, MALONE! I was thinking yesterday about some of my new favorite things and thought I'd share.

1. Almond Butter- I can't get enough of it. I want to eat it with my Multi-Grain waffles. I want to eat it with a Granny Smith apple. I want to eat it all by itself with a big fat spoon. I can't help myself. I've heard that its really good for you. Is it still good for you if you eat it in copious amounts?

2. Black Skinny Jeans- I don't actually own these yet (although these are from Gap Maternity), but will (not maternity ones). Probably once I have my bebe boy (who is definitely growing and growing and making me feel like my belly button is about to burst out) and lose a little of the baby weight caused by the above mentioned almond butter. I love how versatile they are and will be able to go from casual to dressed up with just the change of a shirt and some shoes. Cute!

3. My new hair- I've been letting my hair and nerves recover for 2 years now after the traumatic "I'm- 7- months- pregnant- and- you- cut- my- hair- WAY- shorter- than- you- were- supposed- to" haircut in Enid. Needless to say, I liked my long hair, but with a toddler and another baby soon to join us, making it look nice took too much work for my liking. So I cut it. And its perfect. For now. Once I do it all nice for you tomorrow, I'll take a picture and post it.

4. Oranges- I think its just a thing I go through while being pregnant. Remember when I wrote this? This time my addiction hasn't quite reached those proportions but I suppose the big bag of oranges sitting on my kitchen floor says otherwise. Oh sweet orange with nodules I can pick apart, I love thee!

5. Baby Signing Time- The signing language DVD series is amazing. It teaches American Sign Language through songs appropriate for babies under 3. As of August, Malone had a signing vocabulary of at least 75 words, most of which she can say now. I love it for the communication opportunities it has given us, but also for the slivers of entertainment it has given Malone so I can get a task completed.

6. Crisp, Cool Washington weather- There's not much to say about why I enjoy this weather so much. Its not soo cold that you have to wear your whole winter's closet to go get the mail, but its not Florida either. Its perfect sweater weather. Ahhhhh....

7. Sleep- Maybe its because I'm preggo. Maybe its because around here it stays dark FOREVER. Maybe its because I'm looking ahead at a time, very soon, when I will have to get up every 2 hours to feed a baby and not be able to sleep during the day when the baby does, because I have a 2 year old to take care of as well. How does all of this work? Can I store up sleep and rest now like a bank account?

8. Baby Sling- I've been researching tons of baby slings/carriers in an effort not to lug a toddler and infant car seat around when little boy arrives. Really, its been one of the only baby items I have been researching this time around. And this Sakura Bloom Sling is the one I think I've settled on. Any of you mom's have experience with slings/carriers?

9. PBS Frontline Documentaries- I think Cameron and I are going to cancel our cable because we are addicted to watching documentaries from Netflix. Mostly, we are watching PBS Frontline documentaries. Balanced, most of the time, informative, clear, and just plain interesting. Some of our favorites include, "I.O.U.S.A" about America's ongoing national debt, "Sick Around the World" about health care systems around the world, and "Inside the Meltdown" about the recent financial meltdown. Fascinating. We are such nerds.

10. Obedient toddlers- Not that I always have one of these, but life sure seems easier when I do.

I'm in love with this song

2009-10-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

Can't stop listening to this song.

The music will start about a minute into the video. Sorry. It was the least cheesy of all the videos available on YouTube.

Family Pictures from Long Ago

2009-10-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

I think its time for some picture candy. Our good friend, Jacob Goodlin and his wonderful wife, Noelle came to visit us in April or March...I don't even remember when. They are about to head out to Cambodia to live...for a while...indefinitely....check out their website for more info on what they'll be doing. Believe me, you want to know them. They are super fun people, living with purpose. * Jacob was our team leader on the missions trip to Morocco, where Cameron and I met and fell in love :)* Jacob is also an amazing photographer (and Noelle, the master design director). Check out his work here. Needless to say, we coerced them into taking some pictures of our little family as we traipsed all over Seattle with them. My little heart couldn't be happier to share them with you.

And hello 6 months later!

2009-10-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hi friends. My name is Marelize. You might not remember me. I haven't written in a while. Why? My husband was in a very sandy, warm place and for safety reasons, I didn't want to have it all over the Internet that he was gone. But alas, he is back now.

Let me remind you of who I am. I have blond hair (as of right now). I like Damien Rice, Lady Antebellum and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. I bake to relax. I have a really cute and amazingly brilliant husband. We had a super funny, smart, beautiful little girl together. Her name is Malone. She is almost 2! I like to read. Currently, I'm smack dab in the middle of Jane Eyre (don't spoil the end for me, please!) I like to do laundry. My husband and I are nerds. We like to watch documentaries. I hate refried beans. Oh, and I love Jesus.

Remember me now? Maybe you could remind me who you are.

So here's an accounting of what we've been up to for the last almost 6 months:

- Malone and I have travelled almost 10,000 miles

- I have made 16 trips to the airport

- I was husband-less for 96 days

- I got pregnant with a little boy due Feb. 2, 2010

- Went to the beach

- Got a throw-up bug so bad I had to go to the ER

- Malone is talking like crazy. Her new favorite term is "Oh, NO!" and "I poo!"

- During Cameron's first week gone, Malone had a sinus and ear infection. The best week ever!

- Saw my bff, Sarabeth twice (she lives in Denver)

- Squeezed into a cute black non-maternity dress for a wedding when I was 5 months pregnant.

- Saw my belly grow much quicker than before

- Drawn a billion pictures with Malone

- Felt the kicks and somersaults of a little boy inside my belly.

- Fell more in love with my husband

- Fell more in love with my baby girl, Malone

- Started a bible study with some girls from Cameron's squadron

- Got my first flu shot EVER!

And I think that catches you up to date pretty well. You?

Girls Night

2009-05-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes mamas need a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Sometimes mamas need some good quality girl time. Sometimes mamas need some shopping time. And I got all that and more with my friends, Stephanie and Melanie not too long ago. It was the first time that all three of us left our kids with our husbands for a whole night. Yes, my friends, we left the kiddos with their awesome and gracious daddies and we were on I-5 headed to Seattle faster than you can say, "Freedom".
Oh, it was bliss. We drove up to Seattle, ate at PF Chang's (in peace), enjoyed wonderful conversation, got some cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory to go, checked into our hotel, attempted to go swimming (who would have thought there would be so many people in the pool at 10pm?) and talked until the late, late hours of the night. Eight hours of uninterrupted sleep later, we got ready to go shopping in downtown Seattle.

Although we all love our kids dearly, it was so good just to get a little break, getting recharged. The day ended with lunch in heaven...ummm....I mean, Chipotle and a sad drive home.

To Melanie & Stephanie, thank you for an awesome weekend/night. It was truly amazing! You are the greatest mama friends a girl could ask for!! And ps: thanks for letting me steal you pics.

I returned home to a little Malolo and her daddy, anxiously awaiting my arrival. Everything went fine. Malone even slept through the night for Cameron. This isn't a huge deal, except for the fact that I was hoping that she would show him a little of what a "hard" day without him is like. BUT apparently, she had mercy on her wonderful daddy and I am so grateful that he gave me this tiny night of freedom.

Back to reality and what a wonderful reality it is.

Pretend this is April

2009-05-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

Lets pretend I just wrote a whole paragraph about why I haven't blogged in almost and two months. Lets also pretend that you have forgiven me and we are friends again. :) OK?

We are currently back in Altus, Oklahoma for some training Cameron is doing. Yes, we are here again. But just for a little bit longer then back to green, cool, wonderful Washington. I heart Washington.

I'll spend the next couple of posts recapping what we've been up to this forever.

Easter- OH how I love Easter. Its a day filled with remembrance of what Jesus did for us and the promise and hope that lies in it. We went to church, came home in a hurry, went to our neighbor's house for lunch and rested the rest of the day. It was a great day except for 2 things: 1) Cameron had to work. Yes, on EASTER!!!! I could not even believe it when he told me. So he came to church with us, grabbed lunch real quick and left. Aghhh! 2) Somewhere between church and lunch, Malone picked up a REAL nasty cold. The worst yet. Runny nose. Runny eyes. Fever. Oh, it was sad. It got so bad that her little cheeks got chapped from wiping her nose so often. I know, feel sad for her.

Here she is before her Easter makeover (in more ways than one)
Here she is in her beautiful Easter dress (thanks to Auntie Lyddie)Later in the week, please note her little chapped, red cheeks and her ponytails (a first). So cute!

Then when Malone got all better, we finally saw the sun again and decided to go explore at the park. She loved the grass. And doesn't she look cute in her little flip-flops?
Alright friends, I better get back to hanging out with the coolest kid in town. She's beckoning me to read with her. But, here's a little preview of things to come:

Spring has Sprung

2009-04-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

By golly, it was a nice day in these neck of the woods! After months of clouds, rain and grayness, we thought the sun got lost and couldn't find its way to us anymore. But today it found us! Yay!

Not only did we have a great weather day, but Malone looked cuter than a button. And she did so great at the nursery in church. She didn't cry at all. Yay!

This is Malone before church. She was a little tired. But soooooo cute.

Loving the new car seat.
My favorite of the day
Apparently we like to smoke green beans now...just kidding...we don't smoke.
Oh and then we eat them.
She's such a big girl now. She even has gotten a new big girl car seat.

cute new pics

2009-03-31T21:00:00.000-07:00

She's a real Air Force baby
One day while I was at the gym, Cameron called and said Malone fell asleep...while eating her lunch.
How cute is this?! I caught this picture in the 5 minutes she was watching Baby Einstein. *RIP: Moo-moo. We hope you're enjoying your new home somewhere in Victoria, BC.

Party Tricks

2009-03-31T10:16:00.000-07:00

Malone has learned some new tricks. She's officially a cool kid. Not only is she cool but has good manners too. She can high five, pound and shake your hand. We're working on reading next week :0)

The "hi" at the end was for Grandpa Jay and Grandma Claire.

New times

2009-03-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

are

the

toddler

phase

Oh Canada!

2009-03-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

We went on vacation! Yes, it was only 4 days. And yes, it was not to a place where the sun shone and we could feel the sand between our toes. But we'll take anything we can get. This time we got Victoria, British Columbia. We had such a good time hanging out with some good friends, eating lots of good food, and seeing the sites of BC. Canada, you were good to us.

Cameron and Malone on the ferry
Us at the Parliament Building
Malone loved our fluffy bed. We love you Marriott!
At High Tea with our friends, Glenn and Holly It was a little cold
Our little fam at the Buchard Gardens Daddy and his girl

Reading List 2009

2009-03-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

2009 can effectively be called the Year of Reading for me, or lets hope so in anyways. I have always enjoyed reading but over the past few months my appetite for it has increased as hopefully my appetite for brownies has decreased....maybe...

So without adieu, in no particular order, here is my 2009 reading list...so far:

*Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer- My friend, Glenn recommends this book on his Top 10 reading list and says the following about this book: "It's a little book jammed with insight into life with God. It will make you uncomfortable with your walk with God as it currently is. And that's a good thing."

*Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster W. Cline and Jim Fay- My friend, Melanie highly recommended this book series. As we enter a new phase of parenting with Malone, I want to be informed, creative and resourceful. This book is part of that quest.

*Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte- I know it is shameful how few of the classics I have read. I can hear my friend, Laura Caldwell gasping now that I have never read this romantic classic.

*How Then Shall We Live: the Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture by Francis Schaeffer- This one made my husband's Top Ten list and said the following about it: "A book for anyone that wants to know how our present culture got to where it is today and the people, ideas, and moments that acted as the catalysts. Schaeffer makes history incredibly relevant and interesting." Sounds good to me.

*Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp- I have heard so many good things about this book. Amazon said this about the book, "Written for parents with children of any age, this insightful book provides perspectives and procedures for shepherding your child's heart into the paths of life. Shepherding a Child's Heart gives fresh biblical approaches to child rearing."

*Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer- A Christian must-read, or so I've been told, about the attributes of God.

*The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fford- Recommended by my mom. My mom reads cool stuff.

* Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias- Written by apologetics scholar, and recently, CNN tv host, Ravi Zacharias "contrasts the truth of Jesus with founders of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, strengthening believers and compelling them to share their faith with our post-modern world." One of my favorite classes in college was Comparative Religions. I think this book will be in the same vein.

* Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell- I'm actually currently reading this one. I have loved all of Gladwell's books (Tipping Point, Blink) for his interesting sociological insights. My favorite tidbit of this book so far is the correlation Gladwell makes between the most successful Canadian Ice Hockey players and their birth dates. Super interesting.

I also want to read a Russian author (maybe finish Anna Karenina), an autobiography/biography and some more on current events.

Any suggestions on what else I should read? I'm up for anything, fiction, non-fiction, classic, non-classic, etc. Share the wealth of wisdom!

Thankful for today, NOT yesterday

2009-03-05T13:42:00.000-08:00

You should be thankful that I am writing you today and NOT yesterday. Let's just say, it was a little bit of a rough day. Luckily, today is a much better day so I have enough clarity of mind to not break down and cry describing my day. Yay!

Malone had been having a super high fever since Monday night (when she woke up every hour). She was ok Tuesday so we thought it was just her incoming molars (super ouch!) because she had no other symptoms. No runny nose, no cough, thank heavens no throwing up...nothing. She was fine, until about 11:30pm, right around the time I had just been asleep deep enough to enjoy it. She woke up, and consequently woke up again every 20 minutes the entire night. So finally, I just got my pillows and some blankets and slept in her room with my arm through the slats of her crib. My arm fell asleep, my hips fell asleep, but Malone...she did not fall asleep. Poor Malulu, she was miserable. Finally, I took her out of her crib and she slept for about 2 hours in my arms on the floor.

Where was Cameron during all of this? That's what I thought too. Well, he just got back from being overseas and was a tad jet-lagged. They give the pilots some sleeping pills to regulate their sleep a bit since they are all over the time zone map. Since she was fine on Tuesday he thought it would be fine to take one Tues night because he was at 4, 356 on the sheep count. Hence, he was so deeply asleep that an incident including a sippy cup, Motrin, stairs and being awake/walking cannot be recollected. Yikes.

So after the night of no sleep, Malone was uber cranky, and so was I. Then the doctor said to bring her in but they had no appointments available. I was wanting to eat yummy food at playgroup that I shouldn't (more on that later). And then Cameron called and said he was leaving again MUCH sooner than we had anticipated. I just wanted to throw my arms in the air, slouch to the ground and throw a mini 2 year old tantrum. That's allowed sometimes, right?

But today is much better. Malone and I went to the doctor and she's at the tail end of a virus. YAY! She slept through the night last night. YAY! She made me laugh really hard during lunch. YAY! And I get to go on a date with Cameron. Double YAY!

So, in return for listening to my whining, I will share some videos/funny pictures.

Funny thing #1: Here's what I was laughing at so hard today during lunch. I turned around and saw Malone. Notice anything strange. Hint: She's got a new 'do.

I was laughing... then she was laughing...
then she wasn't laughing anymore

Funny thing #2: Malone discovered Cameron's hat. I won't divulge into what importance that hat has to Cameron, but let's just say that Malone sees it a lot. And this day, it looked pretty cool to her from inside of it.

I'm surprised she could even figure out what she was playing with. She can't see.

Ummm...just walking around with a hat over my face

Clearly she is not impressed that I stole the hat from her.

Through pictures

2009-02-23T21:04:00.000-08:00

Ummm...so I think Malone is the cutest baby in the world. I think this is by far my favorite phase so far. She is so animated, smart and caring. I just love her.

Here's a few pictures to show you why:

See how she's holding "Ollie" her elephant? Nothing but love.

She's easily entertained and surprised.

She scrunches her nose when she giggles

She lets me take silly pictures with her
And she loves her mama!

High/Low

2009-02-16T21:21:00.000-08:00

I'm back with a vengeance. You will never be able to get rid of me now!

Remember when I told you about that game "High/Low"? So here are the high/lows of today:

High: Malone being in an awesome mood today (with the exception of the time period between 2:30pm-3:30pm). Lots of hugs, laughs, and playing with her toys. What a joy!

Low: The period between 2:30pm-3:30pm when Malone refused to nap and cried for an hour straight. I hate those days, not just for me, but for her too.

High: Receiving my mother-in-law, Claire's fudge in the mail. Seriously, I love this stuff and have been looking forward to it all year. Last year, we received it right as we were moving. There were a few days in the process when we didn't have any snacks/food around and Cameron and I lived off of the fudge and graham crackers...mostly by choice. I have to hide it or I'll eat it all by myself!

Low: Malone screaming for an hour straight.

High: Malone did so good at Little Gym today! She even walked up to the instructor, Ms. Kat and hugged her, then crawled into her lap. Soooo proud of her!

Low: Trying to decide if I should take her out of her crib sans a nap or establish a routine by keeping her in her crib....Ahhh, I hate those decisions. I went for consistency..... Oh, and another low was watching the Bachelor tonight. Waste of time!

She can....

2009-02-15T22:13:00.000-08:00

She can say "Thatttttt" (emphasis on last consonant).

She is fluent in the language of walking and even dabbling in some running.

She has discovered her stuffed animals.

She talks to her favorite animals, Moo-Moo (I think you've met him), Dolly and the yet unnamed, Bunny.

She hugs them and pats them on the back and even talks to them.

She loves to give mommy and daddy kisses.

Whenever I really need it, she gives me a hug out of the blue.

She can say, "Tickle, tickle" and pretend to tickle you.

She is an official morning and afternoon crib napper. And the crowds rejoice!

She can say Mama.

She has a little pot-belly.

She LOVES strawberries & blueberries.

She can have me do anything for her...if I'm not careful. :)

Malone's First Birthday!

2009-02-15T20:39:00.000-08:00

I'm back! So, Malone had her first birthday about a month ago. The party was so rockin' that we needed about a month to recover. Hence, you're only seeing the pictures now. Man, that girl is one party animal!

I spent all week preparing for the party that included a food spread, decorations, cupcakes, presents and of course, friends (mostly Cameron and I's friends with the exception of 3 of Malone's favorite buddies, Eva, Leighton and Matty). Malone was the best little birthday girl, entertaining everyone, opening presents and digging into her first ever cupcake like a champ! And here are the pictures to prove it.

Enjoy!

First, please note the cutest birthday girl outfit in the history of birthday outfits. It was a pink shirt, green little skirt and bright tights. She rocked it...if only the bow would have stayed.
Here's my lovely food table
Look at these super cute chocolate lollipops my friend, Yami made.
Marc and Beth helping us with decorations.
Time to open presents!

I include the next picture because vainly, I think my arms look skinny. All that running has been paying off...in my arms....I'm excited to share my moment of vanity with you. Now, don't go staring at my arms in all the rest of the pictures. Its Malone's day!
Look at this super cute rain coat my Ouma sent Malone. It has ladybugs all over! I can't wait for her to wear it!
Phew, opening soooo many presents can wear a girl out!
The party guests

Malone's friend, Matty

The evening ended with Malone eating her cupcake. She devoured it. Note the fists full of frosting. And promptly needed a bath afterwards.

NEWSFLASH*****

2009-01-30T19:54:00.001-08:00

**Hear, "I'm a survivor" by Destiny Child playing in the background**

Malone and I survived our first EARTHQUAKE!!!

That's all. Just thought you should know. If you want to know the details, read on:

It was 5:25am and I had just put Malone back to sleep (yes, she woke up that early!). I crawled back in my bed and laid there. All of a sudden I felt slight shaking for about 10 seconds. It felt like when we have the washer and dryer on and the floor shakes. I thought, "Oh, the washer & dryer isn't on. This can't be an earthquake. Maybe it is....should I go get Malone...I'll wait & see if it gets worse...wait, what are you suppose to do in an earthquake, stand in the door jams...upstairs or downstairs...go in the street?" Yes, I literally thought all of that in the 10 seconds. And then went back to sleep. It was so quick that I kinda thought it was a dream this morning. Then, I turned on the news and sure enough, an earthquake. It was a 4.5 on the seismic scale and happened 14 miles northwest of Seattle.

We survived our first earthquake. Lets hope its the last.