I am such a yuppie mom

It has been a busy week...well, we've been trying to stay busy anyways. Cameron has been gone to some fun, interesting, mysterious places. So Malone and I have been trying to get into a routine without Cameron. Luckily, he will be home VERY SOON! I'll give you the round up of this week.

1. Did I mention that we're working on the whole separation anxiety thing with Malone? A couple of weeks ago, we put her in the nursery at church for the first time. It was not a complete success and I felt like my heart was getting ripped out of my chest. Then the next week she did a bit better (and I did too), but I still had to be called to come and get her. Then last week, I kept on checking the number in my pocket to see if I was looking for the right number on the screen. #205 was NEVER called. I was so surprised that halfway through service I even went to go and check on her. But, she did fine. At the gym she's still a little nervous, but hopefully she'll get used to it.
2. Monday I had to take one of my finals for school (GASP, yes, I'm STILL in school). So I got Malone all packed up, took her to some wonderfully sweet friends of ours who has a little boy, Matty who is just a few months younger than Malone. As soon as we walked in the door, Malone started screaming. Agghhh, I felt so bad leaving a screaming baby with people. But luckily she did great and even taught Matty how to sit up. (Insert witty comment here about Malone's skills with the boys...is that inappropriate?) So I drive back to the base where I'm to take my final and to my horror none of the material on the final looked familiar. After a few moments of sheer panic I realized that they had sent me the wrong final! AHHHHH, fist of fury to you Oral Roberts University!!!! You wasted my whole day!!! So I went back to go get Malone who was happily playing with her little friend.3. Tuesday, Malone and I got up early and went to our first playgroup, ever! It was a playgroup with some moms from Cameron's squad. We had fun and met some new people. I think Malone was nervous thinking I was going to leave her there with someone. She would not let me go more than 4 feet away from her. Awww, how sad is that?!!
4. We got home on Tuesday and Malone had a little incident involving the stairs. She's fine. My mom said so. The pediatrician said so. And all my mommy friends I called said so. I think I was more upset than Malone. Needless to say, we are investing in some good baby gates and baby proofing the whole house.
5. This morning Malone and I went to the Little Gym class. It was a class for ages 4mo-10mo focusing on developmental issues like motor skills, hand/eye coordination and so on, using fun activities, kind of like a tumbler class. It was so cool. Malone was clearly a little nervous and overwhelmed by all the people and stimuli. The words, "She does usually smile" actually came out of my mouth trying to convince people that she is a happy child. But in the end, I think she enjoyed herself. I think Malone's favorite part was watching and popping the bubbles the instructor was blowing. Hopefully, we'll get to go back next week.

All this "mommy and me" activities has really made me feel like a suburban, yuppie mom (which I am, of course). All I need now is my Volvo SUV (which I love) parked in the driveway with my Upside down Caramel Macchiato (which I am craving) in hand. And I love it!

PS: Cameron took the camera, so the pictures are ones we took this afternoon on our computer.
PS2: Anyone else super excited for the premiere of The Office? I can hardly wait for tomorrow night. What's going to happen with Pam and Jim? What about annoying Michael and the love triangle between him, his baby-mama Jan and the new HR lady, whose name I can't remember? I'm dying with anticipation.

A letter to my baby

Dear Malolo,

I'm sitting in the living room with quietness surrounding me. You are asleep and I miss you already. Even though you are only a few rooms away, I miss your smiling face, your little babble and hearing the little shuffle of your crawl around the house. You are one of the biggest joys in my life and I just wanted to write you a quick note sharing some of my thoughts about you, with you.

Your sweet spirit is evident to anyone who meets you. You smile at everyone and even if you don't befriend them right away, you will soon thereafter. You have such a warm smile and your giggle is infectious. I can't help but laugh when you laugh, and then you just laugh more and then I laugh more. Its a laugh cycle. :) The Lord has answered my prayer by giving you a joyful heart. People stop mommy and daddy everywhere we go, telling us how beautiful you are. Although you are definitely incredibly beautiful, I think that it is your sweet spirit and kind, gentle heart that draws people to you.

I admire your courage and fearlessness even though you are only a little baby. Not much scares you and you are willing to take chances (and steps) even when you know that you might fall. I look at how fearless you are and it stirs up courage in my heart to do the things in life that is not easy, but necessary.

I treasure the special moments we share. A laugh here (I swear we have our own inside jokes), a game there (Oupa's African Belly Biter is my favorite) and the sweet moments I get to steal right before you go to sleep. It is these moments that reminds me of the enormity of the love you are versus the smallness of the weariness from the uncertainty about how to parent you best.

I love you enormously.

Love,

Your favorite Mama in the world!

Mother's day...long overdue

So I've been working on this post since last Sunday and only now have come to post it. It kind of feels as though life has been busy, but really hasn't been. Cameron has had these last few days off and that has been nice. Last week, we went to grand metropolis of Lawton to go look at paint colors at Home Depot for the interior of our new little house. We found some great colors and I'm excited to announce for you that we will have a nice and colorful, spicy, interesting, cool house! No more white walls with awful seventies floral wallpaper like in Enid!! And the crowds rejoice!!!

In anyways, as I've been thinking and preparing for Mother's Day, I've been trying to think what I have learned about life being a new mom. I'm still working on it, so watch out for the deep, intellectually stimulating, heart strings pulling post coming up sometime in the future. One thing I have realized it how incredible my own mom is, and I make sure I take full advantage of her with many, many phone calls starting with, "Mom, Malone is doing this....what do I do?" Thinking back to all those years when she balanced being a mom with working very full-time jobs, with helping my dad in the ministry, plus going to school, proves that she is amazing. I don't think I realized her value fully as a mother until I became a mother. So here's a toast to my mom!

Meanwhile Cameron and Malone did their best to show their appreciation of my "mothering" by getting me some beautiful roses, new running shoes (I know, most people would be offended by this gesture, but I really wanted them), brunch at the Officer's Club and a beautiful new Starbucks coffee mug. According to Cameron, I needed a mug that suited my personality better as well as one I could microwave, as I often have to drink my coffee cold and my last cup had the un-microwaveable metal on the bottom of it. It was a great day and I truly felt loved!!

Here's some pictures of the day:

Picture 1: Malone and I on Mother's day. Look at her pretty little dress.
Picture 2: Cameron and Malone at brunch on Mother's Day. Malone was a little sleepy.
Picture 3: Getting ready for a summer outing.
Picture 4: Just hanging out getting ready for bed.
Picture 5: Playing with her favorite hippo. She tries to eat his legs and he doesn't fight back...match made in heaven.

VICTORY!!

I am pleased to announce that Malone and I have reached a temporary truce regarding outings. Our agreement includes compromise on both our parts, however, the conclusion is satisfactory. I have agreed to feeding her for a REALLY long time before we leave, waiting until she's asleep, wrapping her up nice and warm and then taking a SHORT trip to Walmart and then she'll be really sweet and sleep the whole time while I buy some diapers that don't leak gross things all over her clothes, yogurt, oranges and an already made rotissery chicken (sadly, I haven't figured out how to cook as a single parent) and maybe even let me eat some of the chicken. This deal worked out quite well for us. Although, it is at this time only a temporary truce, I consider it a major VICTORY for tired new moms everywhere! So with that, I stand with my fists in the air and cheer "Victory! Victory!"

On another note, I would show you a picture of how beautifully serene she is right now (part of her deal), but can't locate the camera. But as soon as I do, I'll post her weekly Birthday Picture. Can you believe she's on week 3? And more beautiful than ever!

PS: Because I feel really bad not posting a picture today, I thought I would share with you a picture of Cameron giving Maloners a bath earlier this week. Needless to say, she loves her wonderful daddy!

crawling and old navy meltdowns

I'll try to make this quick since I have a baby who just fell asleep and is already making noises of waking up. A few things of interest for this week: crawling...or attempting to, an Old Navy meltdown and being a single parent. First things first, our wonder-child is attempting to crawl at the ripe old age of 2 weeks. Is this normal? Below, you'll see a video of this marvel along with hearing her version of what baby dinosaurs sound like. Perhaps she'll be crawling around in a few weeks (a possibility if she really is the child prodigy we think she is) or she'll just be exercising her legs like this for a while. Either way, she loves her tummy time and looks absolutely adorable attempting to crawl.


Did I mention that I have officially been a single parents for the last few days as Cameron is enjoying some Air Force training at the beach in Florida? The things our tax dollars pay for! I have no idea how single parents do it. It is crazy! If I manage to get out of my pajamas and find a way to eat lunch, I consider it a victorious day. Not to mention that exercise time with Mommy isn't exactly as much fun as exercise time with Daddy. I'm sure Malone is getting sick of just seeing my face all the time. All that to say that we miss Cameron very much.

Lastly, I attempted to take her on our first outing alone the other day. For any new mom, the idea of still wearing maternity pants because nothing else fits AFTER you have already had the baby is not a very exciting thing. Hence, I decided to go buy a pair of cheap pants at Old Navy to feel like a normal human being again. I took Malone, fed, changed and sleeping. I towed along the diaper bag and the stroller, figuring this will be the easiest way of getting some shopping done. By the time I got to Old Navy, took out the stroller, attached the bar to fit the car seat in the stroller, while still nervously keeping an eye on my newborn (I'm trying to be a good mom and not leave her unattended :), attached her in her car seat to the stroller, she awoke and started crying. But gosh darnit, I was determined to make this shopping trip work. It was probably a bit of me trying to hold on to my independence that now is long gone. So I took my crying newborn into Old Navy and even managed to find some jeans I liked. Then the "I'm just waking up in a strange place" little cry turned into full blown hysteria along with the little goat cry (the one where her little chin quivers). People were staring, I was trying my best to calm her, jeans falling over the the side of the stroller. It was a mess. I ended up handing over the clothes I wanted to try on to a sales associate who could see the desperation in my eyes and took pity on me and we left. I must say I felt a little defeated after our Old Navy meltdown. Am I ever going to be able to leave the house again? In any case, not sure if its bravery, stupidity or necessity, but I'm going to try again today, with a trip to the grocery store.

Oh...little Missy is awake and in need of some nutrition, so I need to run. I'll try to keep you all updated on how the grocery store trip went. I leave you with a most beautiful sight that I get to see every day (and for right now, every minute)...

Malone is here!

Miss Malone has finally made her arrival. She was born Thursday, January 19th at 1:45 pm weighing in at 7lbs 3oz. and standing tall at 20.5 inches. She is the most beautiful baby her mommy and daddy has ever seen! For pictures of her birth and shortly thereafter (no gross pictures, I promise) please visit Cameron's blog.




Here's a funny video of Malone singing the Hallelujah Chorus courtesy of Auntie Lydia and Malone's mom. Lydia and I were laughing so hard because Malone added in some percussion (of the diaper variety) of her own.

6 more weeks!

I had a dream about Malone the other night. I was holding her and she was so tiny. She had darker hair. I remember being overwhelmed in the dream by how tiny she was. All her features were so small and petite. Its hard to believe that in only 6 weeks (hopefully less) we will finally get to meet her. We're looking forward to finally seeing what she looks like (will she have her mommy's curly hair or her daddy's straight- as- a- stick hair? Will she have darker or lighter eyes?) and what her personality will be like (Will she be sweet or spicy?). Both Cameron and I are so excited and literally cannot wait. I think I'm probably a little more anxious than Cameron just because I'm ready to not have a baby sitting on my bladder, kicking me in the ribs or moving my intestines around any more. But overall, the pregnancy has by far exceeded my expectations in every way.

I think we're pretty close to being ready (would we even know if we weren't?). Her pack-n-play is set up, I successfully set up her swing by myself the other night (if you've ever done it, you know what a feat it is) and her clothes are washed. I've compiled my list of what to take to the hospital, although I can't get myself to get the bag ready yet. In one of my books, they said to have it ready by 35 weeks, but that's a little too early for me. I even thought about making some freezable foods like soups and lasagna the other day and then decided that a) that's a bit crazy, b) we don't really eat soups and lasagna and c) 6 week frozen lasagna just sounded gross to me.

We also have been trying to prepare in other ways. We often talk about how different a certain situation will be when we have Malone. For example, a quiet evening at home with Cameron working on his blog or reading a book and me cooking dinner or folding laundry will certainly look a bit different once she makes her presence known. Contrary to Cameron, I try to imagine the worst possible situation to make sure that a) if reality is really as bad as I had imagined, I'm ready, or b) I'm surprised by how great it is compared to what I had imagined. Cameron just is as positive as one can be, and when reality isn't that way, still takes it all in stride. How does he do that? One thing that we do know, life will never be like it is now. Not that it will be better or worse, just different.

Every once in a while I get a little overwhelmed by all the big questions. How will we know what to do? What if we're terrible parents? What if she's sick and we are super la la land parents and never know until its too late? Will I be the awful woman that everyone uses as an example of what not to do in labor? Will she be healthy and safe? What if we're terrible teachers and botch her whole view on God? These questions have a way of creeping in at the strangest times. But like they creep in, I just remind myself that millions of people who are way worse off than us have gone through this and had successful, wonderful children. Plus, again, Cameron is Mr. Super Steady Positive Man, which most of the time is really helpful.

6 weeks. Not long. Not long at all.