Friday, January 30, 2009

One more new trick!

I can't believe how fast things are beginning to move with Malachi. He has taken off so quickly since he's feeling better! EVERYONE compliments him on how straight he sits and that he's got GREAT posture. He's talking up a storm (even though the video below doesn't show it) and he's starting to scoot everywhere! I know he's still a little behind, but I'm trying REALLY hard not to compare him to other kids his age. I have to remember, he was a month early and he was sick for 2 months which set him back a little. Oh well...he's catching up really fast!

Last night he had a bubble bath for the first time! We've started just sitting him up in the tub and he loves splashing. So, last night, we put bubbles in. (Lavender scented...he slept ALL night and we had to wake him up this morning!) Here's a couple of cute pictures from that!

Everyone needs a cute bubble hairdo right?



Still Chewing on that Right Side - No teeth Yet!

He has also learned how to wave bye-bye! It's so fun teaching him all these new things! I have yet to catch him saying "dada" but I'll keep trying this weekend!

Sorry about the bouncy camera in the beginning and the poor lighting - we were in the car!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

He Speaks!

That's right kids, it's January 29th, 2009 and Malachi Allen has just spoken his first word!! Any guesses?

Yeah...it was Dada. That could be because that's all he's heard over the last 3 weeks. We've been working hard and it finally paid off! He's been saying Dadadadadadadada all morning long!! He has also learned how to wave. Even though, he still looks a little shocked when his hand moves and he figures out that he's the one doing it!

I'll get a video of it posted as soon as I get a good video tonight!!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Chocolate Pudding and Panties

What? What is that supposed to mean?

Okay, let me set the scene. I'm at work at 2:45 yesterday afternoon. I'm working HARD on Lake Tanglewood's budget getting ready to make their final presentation to them on Monday. My cell phone rings - all I hear from Aunt Kelly is hysterical laughter and her saying she had "NOTHING TO DO" with this. I then hear Lolli say "YES SHE DID, SHE WENT AND GOT IT FOR ME." So, my first question is, "What is my son eating?" They laugh, hysterically, AGAIN, and tell me Chocolate Pudding and Graham Crackers. For the life of me I can't figure out why this is so funny, unless he's just COVERED in it or is feeding himself. I laugh, nervously, and say, "Okay..." I then get told they'll send me pictures. Okay, Lolli and Kelly are NOT the most technologically inclined people I know so if they're sending me pictures it MUST be good. Kelly calls a few minutes later and asks me if I got the pictures...ON MY PHONE. Okay, Kelly, I don't get pictures on my phone. Send them in an e-mail. They balk - NO, we don't know how to do that, but they quickly say they want me to walk them through how to do this. NORMALLY, Lolli would NOT waste her time with this...this must be GOOD!

Then, it happens...the pictures come through and THIS is what I see.
Not TOO BAD RIGHT?

Lolli then explains that she accidentally only sent ONE of the pictures instead of all 8. Then, THIS is what I see !!!







Then THIS!

Yeah, my son had his first panty raid!

SEE...you were thinking something bad with that title weren't you???

On another note, we just got back from a check-up with Dr. Young's office. Malachi now weighs 16lbs 14oz!!! YEA Mali! He's gained almost a pound in 2 weeks! I love his little chunky legs!

Finally, please be praying for Chuck and Leslie Martin. They're some friends of ours that we grew up with in Canyon. Leslie had their baby boy, Jude, last night at 7:39. She was only 33 weeks along so little Jude is in the NICU, BUT he's NOT on a ventilator, he's breathing on his own and he's doing QUITE well considering his early entrance into this world!! Thank you Lord for your mercies - they endure forever!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Where has all the time gone?

WOW! I can't believe my last post was two whole weeks ago!! How time flies...Here's an update as to what the Allen clan has been up to over the last couple of weeks!
On January 7th, Mommy, Daddy and Mali headed for Lubbock again to visit Dr. Feist! He's our special doctor that helped Monkey get better from being SO darn sick earlier this year (okay...actually I guess it was LATE last year...hmmm, it is January already isn't it?) Anyway, we headed out a little bit early so we could go eat lunch at our favorite spot in Lubbock, EL CHICO! It's the BEST Mexican food and Mommy and Daddy used to eat there almost EVERY Friday when they went to Tech! AHHHH...Memories! Anyway, Malachi sat down with mommy and ate his lunch while mommy and daddy were waiting on theirs. Then, he laid down in the booth next to daddy while we got to eat! It was fun! We got to the Dr.'s office a little before our appointment and we actually got in a little early! When was the last time you went to a doctor's office a little early and actually GOT IN a little early? I told you, they're GREAT! Dr. Feist came in and Malachi was ALL GIGGLES! He laughed and was talking and playing! Those are definitely things we're glad to see again! They weighed him and he only weighed 16 lbs, so we were a little disappointed, but, the Dr. was thrilled that he was gaining as quickly as he was! We left the office about 10 minutes later and were told we don't even have to come back anymore!! YEA - that's SUPER exciting!
We had a fun weekend hanging out with Lolli and Pops (as usual) and then started our week last week. Everything was going really well until last Wednesday when we noticed a rash on Malachi's belly while we were getting him dressed for daycare. We thought it was just a contact rash - he wasn't running fever, had been playing all morning and didn't act like he felt badly. So, we took him to daycare, told them we noticed a small rash and asked them to call us if it got any worse. Less than an hour later, Lolli called and said that his rash had spread up his tummy, onto his chest and down onto his legs. Back to Dr. Young's office we go. They couldn't get him in until 4:30 that afternoon and Thomas and I have NO leave left at work since he's been so sick so Lolli took him home with her and watched him all day. He still acted okay, but he did start running a fever. I had a meeting that afternoon at 4:00 so I couldn't take him to the Dr. so it was Lolli to the rescue again. She took him and after a 2 HOUR VISIT, they told her they thought he had Strep, even though the rapid Strep test came back negative. They also mentioned that his Oxygen level was 93 so we went BACK on breathing treatments.

Thursday, I went into work for a little while and Thomas stayed home so I could get some things rounded up. I came home around 10 and Thomas went into work. We had a pretty good day at home just chilling out. Malachi acted OK, not perfect, but not horrible. I didn't notice a fever all day, but we kept him on a Tylenol/Motrin rotation every 4-6 hours just in case. Then, Thursday night, Thomas and I had a dinner to go to for my job so we got ready to take Malachi to Lolli and Pops' house for a couple of hours. Needless to say, when we picked him up to change his clothes he was BURNING UP. So, I took his temperature and it was 102.6. Yeah...that's a fever. I immediately stripped him down, gave him a lukewarm lavender bath and kept his head wet for about an hour after that to bring his temp down. It came down pretty quickly and he slept okay that night. I, on the other hand, spent about 3-4 hours scrubbing EVERY surface of his room. I scrubbed walls, baseboards, dusted every inch, I even cleaned his bumper pads and took them off of his bed. I got rid of anything that could be harboring germs (even though he didn't really have a lot to begin with) and we scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. I'm tired of this sickness crap. I even went to my parents' house to get more Lysol to spray! I felt better about putting him in his room after that! Thomas stayed home Friday with him and then we spent the ENTIRE weekend indoors except for Sunday morning when we went to church. He stopped running fever on Friday afternoon and is overall acting like he feels pretty well! Maybe we've kicked it! (BTW - it WASN'T Strep the test results came back negative on the 2nd test too..I guess it was just some kind of virus!)

On a more happy note, Malachi is SO chunking up and is SO finding his voice. He's rolling ALL OVER the place and pushing up and kicking his legs to get around. It won't be anytime at all before he's crawling. I can't believe how quickly he's taken off now that he feels better! He's sitting up on his own for a long time (even though he still topples sometimes)! He gets his pictures made Saturday and we are SO excited. He was supposed to have these made 2 months ago, but as sick as he's been we haven't been able to! Oh well...I don't guess life will EVER go as planned and I might as well let go of that now!

In the meantime...here's some of the newest pictures we have of our little sweetheart! We're so happy God gave him to us!!

These first pictures are of Malachi in his new high chair! We figured it was time we put it together since he pretty much tries to sit up in his bouncy! (I guess that's off to storage now!!)


First Time in My New High Chair!
Enjoying a Teething Biscuit!

There's a story behind these next 2 pictures. If you'll notice, Malachi has something yellow all over his hands, all over his face, and, sadly, all over the carpet. What is this yellow substance? It's cake icing off a cookie cake daddy got mommy yesterday! I got up this morning and fed Malachi a bottle. Then, he was playing in the floor while I went to get his clothes. I had put a piece of cookie cake about 3 feet away on the floor and was going to eat it while I got him dressed for the day! (I know...really healthy right?) Anyway, while I was in his bedroom I noticed that things were quiet when 5 seconds before he had been talking and yelling and playing. This will be the first of MANY times when I KNOW something is wrong because I don't HEAR my child making noise! haha Anyway, I walked back in to find that he had rolled to my cookie, stuck his hands in it and started eating away! What are you gonna do but laugh? It's my own fault! I've now learned my lesson that he can get to ANYTHING he wants to! On another note, he was actually scooting on his tummy and pulling himself to get to the cookie AFTER I took it away from him! It won't be long AT ALL before he's crawling!



BUSTED!


Oh what FUN we're about to get into!! Guess we better get that baby gate bought huh???

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

This update is dedicated to Cousin Angela and Aunt Kelly!!

Christmas 2008 in Pictures (OKAY - just a FEW of the 100s we took)

Kadi, Karter, Malachi and I started a new tradition - Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Okay - Our cake wasn't that pretty in the end, but it sure was FUN and it sure was good!! This will be a tradition every year from now on - Hopefully it will help the kids to remember what Christmas REALLY is all about! Thank you God for sending your son. (If you look closely, you probably noticed that the 1st "s" in Je"s"us is an upside down 5. Note to self - make sure you get TWO packages just so you can be sure to have TWO "S"s for Jesus!!)

Daddy and I have also decided that Malachi isn't going to leave cookies for Santa - he'll just leave Santa a piece of Jesus' cake so he'll remember the reason for Christmas too!!

What do all 3 of these next pictures have in common??? (Besides the cutest little boy in the world being the star - DUH)


Did you get it? HaHa - I think we're teething!!



Malachi LOVED the paper this year - but that's about ALL he cared about!!

Here he is opening his first Christmas present EVER! (PJs from Lolli - a new tradition since we'll spend the night with her on Christmas Eve from now on - or for a while at least!!)
Here's Aunt Kelly opening her favorite present from this year!! We love you Aunt Kelly!!
Mali and an outfit with a...MONKEY...on it - Imagine!!

Here's Malachi enjoying a HUGE peppermint stick - He loved it and didn't even sneeze like Daddy always does!!


I have LOTS more pictures of Christmas day - but they're on Lolli's camera and I haven't uploaded them onto my computer yet. Overall it was a WONDERFUL holiday. Malachi was happy, healthy and we had a GREAT GREAT time! Thank you God for blessing us so much!!
On the health front - He's doing SO much better. We go back to the specialist in Lubbock tomorrow for what I think will be our last visit there. Malachi is doing so great. He's eating anything and everything (okay, almost everything...he's learning that he doesn't like peas and carrots...hmmm, wonder where he gets that??) and keeping everything down!! We're so happy and it's SO great to have our little boy back.

Once I have a little more time I'll update with a few more Christmas pictures and new videos of him talking to us!!