Is it REALLY almost that time?

Lately, I have been working on planning Malachi's 1st b-day party and thinking how much I can't BELIEVE it's already time to do this. Almost a full year ago our lives changed forever. Almost a full year ago, God blessed Thomas and I with an incredible baby boy. Almost a full year ago, a sweet angel left Heaven to come to this Earth and live with me. Almost a full year ago, my heart expanded into a realm completely beyond my understanding until then. Almost a full year ago, Thomas Malachi Allen was born. Wow, it's almost been a full year!

We went to the Dr. this morning to get a check-up for his ears since he had ear infections a couple of weeks ago! Thank goodness both ears looked completely healthy! She (Liz, the Nurse Practitioner) also went over some other things with me regarding his development at this stage! Turns out, we're doing great! Lolli tells me that Malachi finally crawled FORWARD yesterday at daycare! Of course, it was to get at a graham cracker, but HEY, he did it!! He's been crawling backwards now for about a week and I can't WAIT to see him crawl with my own eyes! When I dropped him off at daycare this morning, all 3 nursery teachers were in the floor clapping and encouraging and, yes, bribing him with graham crackers and a small piece of a chocolate bar!! (What can I say...I've always said he's momma's boy!) It's so good to know that he is SO loved!

He is also, as stated in a previous post, completely off of baby food! In turn, he has been able to switch to REGULAR Enfamil from the ever expensive, but SO worth it Nutramigen!! ($27.00 twice a week for formula gets pretty expensive!!) He's ALSO...Drumroll Please...COMPLETELY OFF OF HIS LAXATIVE!!! Last week he was on Augmentin for 10 days for his ears and, during that time, as any mommy can attest, he was pooping like a champ!! Now, he's pooping COMPLETELY on his own! Therefore, my baby is no longer on ANY medicines full-time! No more Lactulose, no more C-Phen, no more special formula!!! Today for lunch he's having mashed up ravioli and we're probably going to wean him from formula altogether within the next month or so! He's SO good about eating his greens (green beans, peas, even spinach...okay, so he's not EXACTLY like his momma) that I'm not the LEAST bit concerned about him getting the nutrients he needs! Right now a typical meal includes mashed up carrots and green beans and then applesauce for dessert...all in moderation of course! He eats a package of oatmeal in the morning and ESPECIALLY loves the maple and brown sugar variety! He's even moved up to be the 2nd oldest in the nursery...how crazy is that? He has learned how to drink out of a sippy so we will be weaning him from the bottle and formula at about the same time, hopefully and starting at 1 year, the paci is SO bye-bye! He only takes it now to go to sleep anyway! I can't believe time has gone by so quickly, but I'm working SO SO hard to enjoy EVERY SINGLE moment because I know I won't ever have it again!

For now, I'll leave you with a couple of random pictures from the last couple of days! The first is possibly one of my favorites of my two best men!

This was at a surprise baby "sprinkle" last night! He was SO sleepy and Dad thought the shades might help! They didn't, but he sure looked cute!

Mali and Cousin Karter!

Here's a close-up! See his 2 teeth???