Phillies Game

Well, well finally managed to see the Phillies! We saw a great game, which they won and we had a wonderful time, despite the crazy wind. Here are some pictures of us with the great Harry Kalas.

Not much else to say...can't wait for next year! Go Phillies!!!

Hands-On House

Well Mallory and I had plans of getting to Hersheypark one more time this summer, but all the rain the last few day derailed that plan, as Hersheypark was closed for the whole weekend. So I took to my favorite site, Google, and searched for what we could do instead. Hands-On House in Lancaster was on the top of the list.

A family friend had recently posted pictures of her little one there and it looked like a lot of fun, so last Sunday Mallory and I met Matt for lunch and then went to Hands-On House. Mallory had a blast! She played in the coal yard for quite sometime, picked ears of corn, played with a giant "Lite-Brite" (mommy's favorite) went grocery shopping (she kept picking up the pinapple for some reason) played with farm animals, played in the machine workshop, she even let me paint a heart on her cheek (that is about the limit of my artistic abilities), though I do believe her favorite part was the tractor. She kept running back to the tractor any change she got.

They had an outside section as well with a garden, house, boat, sandbox and sliding board. And that was the steeping sliding board I have ever seen. Matt tried to hold her and get her as far down the slide as he could before he let her go, but she stil zoomed down the slide so fast. She wasn't scared at all and would just laugh and laugh after she was down.

I would say the only downside to the day was that Matt brainwashed Mallory and now she is only cheering "Go Eagles!"

Phillies Game - FAIL

Mal had been perfecting her "Go Phillies" cheer and parading around in the Phillies "slips" and even learned the name of her favorite player (as coach by Mommy) "Chase Utley" in preparation for attending the Phillies game on the last Sunday of August. But hurricane Irene had different ideas.

First, the game was moved from Sunday to Saturday so it could be played before the rain started. But, the storm moved faster than expected and as we were driving to the game it started raining. The rain wasn't too bad to we made our way into Citizen's Bank Park and to our seats, which conveniently were underneath the overhang.


But around 1:20 they came over the loudspeaker to announce the game was cancelled. BOO! But it is rescheduled, so we are going to try again on September 15th! The 10day forecast is showing sun for that day, so hopefully that holds out.





Go Phillies!

18 month checkup

Here's some quick stats from Mal's 18 month check up:



Weight: 22 pounds 6 ounces 43rd percentile


Height: 31.25 inches 23rd percentile



And she's right on track verbally, motor skills, etc.



Next up - slowing starting potty training (oh boy!)

Mallory's first sick visit

Just 3 days after M started daycare, she came down with her first respiratory infection. I had picked her up on Wednesday and they told me she had been coughing a lot during the day. She coughed some Wednesday night and on Thursday morning her breathing was bothering me a bit. It wasn't that she was struggling to breathe, but she was just breathing kinda quickly; when it was still quick throughout her nap, I decided it was time to call the doctor. He said he would like to see her, so we trekked to Shady Grove late in the afternoon.



I'm glad I called and took her in because he immediately put her on a nebulizer (so cute, it's a doggie neb) and steriods to help with the inflammation. It was amazing to see how quickly she perked up in the middle of her neb treatment. I had to give her treatments the next few days, but she's been fine since. By the end of the few days, she was actually holding the mask up to her face for me, not bothered by it at all (watching Mickey Mouse helps her sit still too). I have a couple of extra packets of the neb medicine in case she gets like this again. Here's hoping we don't have any more recurrances.

Mal Starts Daycare

On August 1st, my little darling started daycare. Here's a great shot of her in her little Bee outfit on the first day.
The first two weeks of drop-offs were pretty rough. She cried (though I was told that she was fine 5 minutes after I left) and needed Abby Dabby and Big Bird to keep her company at school, but she kept telling me she had fun at school and before I knew it, she was excited to go.


Just this morning, she helped me get her bookbag and said "Mommy, I school. Have fun." She ran right into her room to play with the baby dolls and I barely got a kiss goodbye. She loves the other kids in her class and her teachers too. (She's even comfortable enough to tell them when she's pooping).

Her vocabulary is expanding, speaking short sentences and she speaking clearer. I can definitely see a big change in the month since she started school.


Friday is Grandparent's Day at school and she is excited because all of her grandparents are coming. Hope I get some good pictures.

Sesame Place and Please Touch Museum

The last weekend in July was such a blast! Mal and I traveled with Gummy, Pop Pop, Uncle Ryra, Aunt Tata, Coop and Ky to Philadelphia and went to Sesame Place and the Please Touch Museum. It was quite sometime since I had been so Sesame Place, but I do have wonderful memories of being there when I was young so I was super excited to take Mal (especially since she is really into Sesame Street right now).


We spent the morning letting the munchkins run around Big Bird's Court, the Monster Maze and Ernie's Big Bed. It was so funny to watch them run around playing with each other and having so much fun. Then it was off to lunch with the characters. Mal didn't do so well with the characters this time around (Disney she was fine, but then again she was only 9 months and probably didnt know what was going on as much). Count von Count came towards her and it was all over.
Our afternoon was spent in the waterpark of Sesame Place; Mal and Ky are definitely waterbabies. We got inside just in time to see Elmo's World before the big storm. It was so funny to watch Mal get so excited to see Elmo, Dorothy and Mr. Noodle. Of course there was a stop in the gift shop to pick up an "Abby Dabby" stuffed animal before we headed to the hotel for a snooze.

Saturday we went to the Please Touch Museum. I was absolutely blown away by everything they had there. I cannot even list everything the kids played with (building cars, playing doctor, grocery shopping, fairytale section, space, transportion, alice in wonderland), but I think the water section was definitely Mal's favorite and watching Coop be an astronaut was hysterical.


I would defninitely recommend this museum to anyone with little ones. I wish we could have spent another day there to take more time with each section. Perhaps we will make trip back next summer.

Mal's First Trip to the PA State Museum

Oh, the good old PA State Museum. The site of many a school field trips. I probablyhaven't been there since middle school, but they haven't changed too much. They did however add a new area specifically for little ones. And boy did Mal have fun! Here are some pics of her from that day.

So looking forward to our next outing...Sesame Place this weekend!

Fingerpainting

Mal loooooves to draw and color, so what better way to encourage her artistic talents then to fingerpaint. I was prepared! I decided the kitchen would be the safest place since the floor in linoleum, got a stack of old newspapers from Gummy and Pop Pop to cover the floor and control the mess, dressed Mal in an old shirt that was already stained, and got some tiny plates to squeeze limited amounts of the paint onto.

She had the best time! Though after she painted a few pages of paper, she decided that the paint was lotion and decided to run the paint all over her legs and Mommy's arms.

Next idea - to make some homemade play dough, so in case she eats it, it won't hurt her. Ok Gummy, waiting on the recipe from you!

First Movie...Winnie the Pooh

So last Friday I took Mallory on her first trip to the movie theater and we went to see Winnie the Pooh. I knew she would like the movie (I had shown her the trailer on the computer and she just got so excited!). She took her Pooh and Piglet to the theater with us and sat them in the cup holders so they could enjoy the movie with us.


I tried to get a good pic of her sitting in the movie theather, but it was dark and I couldn't get a good shot on my phone.


She was a perfect angel and sat still in my lap the whole time. Though Little Miss Talkative felt the need to say the characters name, quite loudly, each time they appeared on screen.

Looking forward to more movie trips with her! It's always a good excuse when you want to see the kids movies too!!!

R.I.P. "Where is Baby's..."

Miss Mallory looooves to read, but she has been getting a little carried away with her lift the flap books and she has ripped out most of the pages at least once (I have tried to keep up with repairs, but it's just gone too far)...needless to say, these books have "magically disappeared" while she is on vacation with Daddy.

Stone Harbor 2011

We had another wonderful week in Stone Harbor this year, as always. Mallory absolutely loved the ocean, the sand, and the pool! She enjoyed jumping the waves with mommy, building sandcastles with Pop Pop and taking her afternoon naps with Gummy. It looks like she is growing to love Stone Harbor just as much as mommy!

On a side note, my little Acey also enjoyed his week at Dog Camp and got a good report card as well (too funny!).

Daycare

Well, it's official. Miss Mallory will be starting daycare August 1st at the Goddard School just around the corner from home. It's a little sad since she has been taken care of by family since she's been born, but at the same time I am super excited for her to interact on a daily basis with other kids and make some friends and learn a lot of new things. She picks things up so fast that it will be fascinating to see what she will learn. She's gotten lots of new things to take with her, including a Tinkerbell sleeping bag for naptime. I think the only item I still need to track down in a smock for art project time.


Here's hoping she enjoys daycare as much as I think she will; and hopefully it's not a tearful dropoff the first day (for Mal and for mommy!).

Coloring

Well M has started to create her own art...she just loves scribbing on paper. Here is a picture of her first work of art.
Though she did get a little carried away and colored on Mommy's wall.





Thank Goodness for Mr. Clean Magic Eraser!

Circus

Mal attended her first circus just a few weeks ago and she loved it, well she loved the first half anyways since she slept through the second half. You cannot make this child skip a nap, lol.

We got there early so we could walk around the parking lot and look at the animals, which of course she just loved. We saw zebras, lions, tigers, elephants and horses. I think the horses were her favorite. And she even held a real elephant tooth, which was about as big as her head!



Inside she picked which toy she wanted; a cute little elephant with a pink Barnum and Bailey's coat. The circus was amazing and I am looking forward to taking her again next year!

Disney on Ice

We took Mallory, Kyla and Cooper to see Disney on Ice in early April and boy did we have fun! We sat in the very front row at the one corner of the ice. The show was all Disney Princesses and hosted by Tinkerbell (my favorite!).

And of course the girls looked super cute in their princess dresses!

Mother's Day

My second Mother's Day was very relaxing and enjoyable. We started out with church, then it was on to get pedicures. Of course Miss Mallory was a little young to have someone paint her nails, she came along and sat on my lap and was able to put her feet in the water a bit.

I did paint her toenails a few nights later, which looked absolutely adorable! I will make sure to get a picture of this next time...

Looking forward to many more wonderful days with my M.

Easter

Easter was super fun with M this year. We did three Easter Egg hunts at various churches and also colored Easter Eggs and made a big mess, but oh soooo much fun! I'll let the pictures say it all...

15 Month Appointment

Mallory had her 15 month appointment at the end of April. She is now 22.2 pounds and still 30 inches. Dr. Hirsch said she must have had a generous length measurement at her 12 month appointment since it's unlikely she didn't grow at all (and I can tell she has grown because some of her pants are too short!).


She mad more vaccinations, which of course made me super upset seeing her cry; but overall Dr. Hirsch is very happy with her growth and her progress with motor skills and says she is very advanced verbally, probably because we don't talk "baby talk" to her and religiously read to her.

18 month appointment is in July. I can't believe that; time needs to seriously slow down!

Walking.....finally

On February 15th (just four days shy of being 14 months old), Mallory took her first set of unassisted steps for Daddy (mommy was super jealous!). After that, she barely took any steps for the next few weeks; then it was off to the races. Here's a cute video of her at the mall, just walking around the play area one afternoon.

Great Wolf Lodge

Our second family vacation to Great Wolf Lodge was just as much fun as the first!

We had tons of funs playing in the waterpark; Mal had so much fun playing in with the little geysers; I even got Gummy to go on 2 waterslides (check that off your bucket list); Cooper played some MagicQuest (that was a trip!) and we just had a wonderful time relaxing and spending time together.

Here's one of my favorite videos from the weekend...

12 Month Appointment

Well, it's been almost a month since her 12 month appointment, but here's the update. Miss Mallory is 29.75 inches long (75th percentile) and 21 pounds, 6 ounces (50th percentile). She's growing really well and meeting all her milestones, with the exception of walking by herself. But Dr. Hirsch isn't worried, she's just taking her time. And that is fine by me because I know once she starts walking, she's gonna start running and I'm gonna have to chase her around 24/7.

She's eating about 90% table food, but by her next appointment our goal is to be 100%. The switch from formula to milk went off without a hitch; though she is getting a bit consitpated from the whole milk, so I gotta do a little research about that. And we are also supposed to get away from the bottle. She's fine during the day with her sippy cup, but the bottle before bedtime is going to be a struggle.

I can't believe her next appointment is her 15-month checkup!

Snow Day

Well it has snowed a few times so far this winter, but I have managed to get lucky and have those be the days that I am working from home. My luck held again last week and since I had gotten a good bit of work done by midday, I bundled Mal up and out in to the snow we went. She loved it!



And on Saturday after I got home from the office (boo to tax season!) Pop Pop and I took her for a quick sled ride around the building. I don't think she was too sure about it at first, but towards the end she kept dragging her hand in the snow so that it would fly up on me.



She doesn't seem to mind the cold and loves playing in the snow; guess I might have a future skiier or snowboarder on my hands!

Happy 1st Birthday Mallory!!!

I can hardly believe it, but my little Peanut is already one! On her birthday, Mike and I took her to Red Robin (figured it was kid friendly and they have a fun happy birthday song). Well, she ended up sleeping through about 90% of the meal, but did wake up with enough time to have the staff sing Happy Birthday...and she just bopped along in her high chair (too cute!).



We had her birthday party the following Sunday. It was a lovely afternoon. We got time to catch up with lots of friends and family that we don't get to see enough, watched Mal squirm as I mashed her hand into her cake (she does not like being messy!!!) and had fun watching her open her presents (she's getting a bit faster at it). Though I tried my best to keep the cards with the gifts, she just was picking up things left and right (So, sincere apologies if you get a thank you for something you didn't get her).



Here's hoping that her 2nd Birthday doesn't creep up as quickly as #1 did!

Farm Show and Sesame Street Live

Mallory and I had a big weekend in PA last weekend. We spent Saturday attending the PA Farm Show and Sunday we saw Sesame Street Live.



It has been a few years since I attended the Farm Show; it not exactly the most exciting thing, but I thought Mallory would really enjoy seeing all the animals. Of course, no Farm Show week is complete without some snow. When we awoke on Saturday there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. At first I thought we weren't going to be able to go, but after an hour or so, the snow was pretty much gone from the roadways.



Our first stop was food. No place can beat the Farm Show when it comes to food. We enjoyed some pork barbeque sandwiches, a milkshake and some potato doughnuts. Surprisingly, I think Mal enjoyed the barbeque the most. We then made our way through the horrible crowds (ugh) and to the other side of the building where all the animals were. We saw cows, alpacas, sheep, horses, goats, pigs, chickens, roosters, rabbits, guinea pigs and little ducklings (though I am sure I missed some of the animals).



We had been there for about 2.5 hours and Mal was getting tired, but Pop Pop was determined to get her a cowgirl hat. Thankfully, they were right on our way back to the car. She got a cute white and purple hat, though I am pretty sure she liked seeing Gummy and Pop Pop wear the hat more than actually keeping it on her head.



We slept in on Sunday (bad mommy for skipping church) and made our way to Hershey for Sesame Street Live. We haven't watched too much Sesame Street (since I have yet to hook up my cable) but she loves music and characters, so I thought she would love this show. And well, I was right. Gummy, Mal and I met Tara, Coop and Ky there and our seats were 5 rows from the front. Mal and Ky were just sooooo attentive during the show. It was wonderful to see them get so excited to see the characters and bopping to the music. I can't wait to do more things like this in the years to come.

New Years!

Mallory and I didn't celebrate in a very grand fashion, in fact, neither one of us made it to midnight (she was out at 8, like clockwork and I might have made it to 9:30, and that's pushing it).


The office was closed on the 31st, so we headed up to PA early to help Gummy prepare for our big party on the 1st. Our plans changed drastically as we heard of the passing of my Godfather, Bob Swift, a few days earlier. He was a wonderful christian man and it was very difficult to learn of his passing, but we gain comfort in knowing that he is no longer suffering and is in heaven with our Lord. We spent time on the 31st with his family and celebrated his life the following day.

Mom and I spent much of that evening chopping and cooking away while Pop Pop entertained Miss Mallory. I think we had 23 appetizers in all and they were all pretty much gone by the end of the day. It was a wonderful time to share with the neighbors, friends and family. It's amazing how we don't get to see everyone very often, but the conversation never seem to miss a beat. Mallory loved seeing everyone and thankfully, she was perfectly fine with everyone holding her (even Beth!).


Happy New Year! I hope 2011 brings you all happiness and love!

Mallory's First Christmas

It is so hard to believe that Mallory is 1 (well almost one year old) and that we have already celebrated her first Christmas.

We tried visiting Santa about a week after we came back from Disney World. I was so overconfident because she had done so well with all the characters there. The minute I put her down on Santa's lap, she just screamed. We tried for about 15 seconds to see if she would warm up to him or we could distract her enough to get a good picture, but nope. Here's hoping next year will go a little bit better!

Our Christmas celebrations began a week before the actual holiday. We had Christmas with Lauren (Aunt Lala), Mark and Madison and also with Uncle Tom and Aunt Marilyn and the rest of the Miller side of the family. Mallory got a beautful dress (stay tuned as it will appear in her 1 year pictures!) and some other adobrable clothes from Aunt Lala, Mark and Madison and some fun, noisemaking toys from Cindy, Beth and Aunt Marilyn. I am wondering if this is payback from Cindy and Beth for all of the loud, obnoxious toys I bought their kids just a few years ago (lol).

I had my Christmas with Mallory on Christmas Eve. We lugged (too many presents) her presents to Gummy and Pop Pop's, so they could take pictures of all the fun. She got cute clothes, books, stuffed animals, toys and movies from Mommy, though I am pretty sure she like playing with the paper and boxes, just as much (ok, probably more) than her actual presents.

We went to Harris Street for Christmas Eve service and Mallory was asked to be a sheep in the Nativity scene. She was just perfect; though I wonder how many sheep back then had green pacifiers?

We got up bright and early and drove back to Maryland in the morning so she could have Christmas with Mike and his family. I spent the day putting away her presents, cleaning, laundry, etc. Not exactly how I invisioned my first Christmas Day with Mallory, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I picked her up in the afternoon and we trekked back to Gummy and Pop Pop's, so we could have Christmas with them, Uncle Ry, Aunt T, Coop, Ky and Aunt Val. Mallory got so many wonderful presents (again, though she was much more interested in the paper and boxes) and we shared a lot of joy spending time with one another. I feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful, loving and caring family. I know Mallory will grow up surrounded by so much love and support. Merry Christmas!

Mallory's First Trip to Disney World

Disney World is one of my favorite places, so I could hardly wait to share the Disney experience with Mal. We decided to couple our Disney trip with a day trip to Sarasota to visit Uncle Harold and Aunt Jean.

We began our excursion the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I know, I know...why would I ever fly on the worst travel day of the year with a 10 month old. So of course, I left for BWI about 4 hours before our flight. Well, let me just say that there was zero traffic driving to the airport and about a 10 second wait to get through security.

We had about a 2.5 hour wait before our flight, but Mal was a total angel. We played and read and have some dinner and she fell asleep about 10 minutes before we boarded. She slept the whole way, including our trip on the Magical Express.

We got up bright and early on Thursday and made the 2 hour drive to Sarasota and had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with Uncle Harold, Aunt Jean and some of their friends. Mallory had some real sweet potatoes (not baby food!) and turkey and some pumpkin pie (yuck!). She really enjoyed crawling around on their terrace outside and getting dirty.

We began our Disney trip at Epcot, my favorite park. We met Mal's Godmother, Amie there. We spent the morning going through the Finding Nemo attraction; she really enjoyed looking at all the fish. We had lunch at the Coral Reef restaurant, which of course she loved. She was just amazed by all the fish. We went to see my favorite little guy Figment. We walked around the countries in the afternoon and she got to meet Mulan. Then, we encountered a bit of rain, so we ducked into the Character Photo Spot, where we got our picture taken with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy.

We spent Saturday at Magic Kingdom. First, we got to have breakfast with Pooh and Friends. Mallory was soooo funny. She got so excited when the characters came around! We got to meet the Fairy Godmother and went through Snow White's Ride, Peter Pan's Flight, Pirates of the Caribbean and Dumbo. We also got to see the Country Bear Jamboree and the Celebration parade. Mal had such a busy morning that she just conked out in line for It's a Small World. We tried to keep her awake, but she just snuggled up on her Godmomma. We have some dinner at Casey Jones' and then headed back. We all had a big day and were tired (though I somehow managed to watch a 5 eposide marathon of Criminal Minds).

We spent our last day at Disney in Hollywood Studios. We saw the Beauty and the Beast show, Little Mermaid Show and the Disney Playhouse show...We also had lunch with Little Einsteins and Handy Manny. She was in heaven! What was really funny was that she was super excited seeing the character and the 3 year old at the table next to us was absolutely petrified of them. Mommy did get a few free minutes with Amie to go in the Tower and Terror and the Rockin' Roller Coaster.

Our trip came to a close way to quickly and Monday morning we had our last breakfast at Old Key West and took a little walk around the grounds. We rode the Magical Express to the airport and boarded our plane. Mal was awake the whole trip home, which was more exhausting for me since I had to try to keep her in our little personal space.

The only downside to the trip was Air Tran lost her carseat on the way home. Thankfully the did have extra ones for me to use and within an hour of getting home, they had already called and said they were brining the car seat back that night. (Props to AirTran for that).

Well, the computer battery is dying, so I had better post this before I lose it. Can't wait to take Mal back to Disney sometime soon!

Catching Up

Ok, so I have been sooooo lazy when it comes to my blog for the last 6 weeks or so. I have a few hours here (well, while I am watching Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice) so I am going to do my best to catch everyone up on what's been going on with me and Miss M.

Please bear with me as I attempt a major brain dump....