Santa lost his sleigh and borrowed a Civic

A few weeks before Christmas we went to the Tempe Town Lake Boat Parade with our friends Steven, Sandi and their nephew Josh. It was so much fun to see how creative people got in decking their boats out with lights, and they also bring in snow machines, and piles of snow for the kids to play in as well as a small fireworks show to finish off the parade. I was afraid Malia might be frightened by the noise of the fireworks but to my surprise she was fascinated with all of the lights. One of the most hilarious parts of the evening were the Santa's in the Civic cruising down Mill who stopped for me to snap a quick picture. Good times!

A new tradition

A few weeks ago we had dinner and made gingerbread houses with most of our small group, we missed you Steven and Sandi. Stephen did most of the work while I entertained Malia. As you can see Stephen has a creative side and I look forward to making the gingerbread house an annual tradition.

Saga of the petite baby

Thank you Lord, I was able to get Malia into a pediatric allergy specialist this past week. The wait at the other practice for a consult was 2 months. The dr. decided to do a skin test which is not as scary as I had imagined, it doesn't even break the skin. The test revealed that Malia is not allergic to dairy, eggs, oats, wheat, soybeans, or peanuts. Thank you Lord! The specialist said that it sounded like she had a severe case of milk protein allergy and that she has outgrown it like most babies do, and to go ahead and introduce dairy slowly. So far, Malia has had cheese, yogurt and a mixture of 1/2 formula, 1/2 milk and she is doing great. Another comfort to me was that the chances of another baby having such a severe allergy to dairy through breastmilk is rare, so that gives me hope that I will have a better experience nursing if we are blessed with another baby. So it looks like we have a petite baby on our hands who is digesting all of her food wonderfully. Stephen is so excited that she will be able to have pizza with him sometime in the future.

T.P. Queen

Often when I post pictures we are doing an activity and Malia is dressed and her hair is combed, this is a picture of what life at home looks like. I found this hidden gem in my October pictures so I don't remember the circumstances, but something similar to this (the t.p. now sits on the countertop) happens if she is out of my sight for more than a minute. It is like she has radar and knows when my attention is not completely on her because she will leave her toy hat she was happily playing with and either she is at my feet attempting to say "up" or finding something fun to explore. Stephen pointed out that the cats used to do this to the t.p. as well, what do you say to that. Side note: I think someday the rooster hairdo will fetch a pretty penny when future husband comes around and we pull out the baby pictures.

Malia's Birthday Celebration Pictures

Make a Smilebox slideshow

One year stats

This morning Malia went for her 1 year well baby visit and did fantastic. She had 3 shots, which of course she was not happy about, but she rebounded quickly and is currently recovering by taking a nap. :( The Dr. was satisfied with her weight because she hasn't fallen off the growth curve, but does think it is time for allergy testing. I was sure she had put more weight on because she is such a great eater, but she is also extremely active. It seems like when I am with babies her same age she is always the most active, sometimes I wish she would sit on my lap and cuddle, but she is an explorer and I am thankful she is healthy. Speaking of exploring last night I snapped these pics of her dragging the boxes from her birthday presemts around the family room to climb on top of whatever she could find, yes of course the boxes are gone now that I know what she can do.

Malia's Stats: Weight 18lbs 2 oz (10th percentile) Height 27.5 in (10th percentile)

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!

12.9.07 at 12:35 a.m. 8lbs 13oz 20 1/2 in
1 year later

I can't believe that Malia is a year, it is crazy how fast this year went by. It is amazing how many cliches that your hear and think you understand and then they come to life when you have a child. One you hear quite a bit that resonates with me is "it is the hardest thing I have ever done, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It is hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it that yes your life will completely change, it is hard to get used to not being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want. I will be completely honest and admit that those first few months when I wasn't sleeping more than 3 hours at a stretch I had doubts and wondered if I shouldn't have had a child. But once those first few months had passed and I had bonded and fallen in love with Malia, I would not give her up for anything. It is an amazing love that is so strong and it grows. I had these false expectations from things you see in movies and hear from people that I would instantly love her the minute they laid her on my chest and I felt guilty because all I wanted to do after pushing 3 hours was take a glance at her and lay my head down and shut my eyes for a few moments. The infamous "mom guilt" crept in those first few days because I felt more awkward and overwhelmed than in love, but within a month or so I was infatuated. I could happily spend hours just watching her, and I thought it was adorable when she would do the smallest thing, "oh how cute, she sneezed." I know this is the story of thousands of mothers all over the world, but it is my story and it is unlike anything else I have ever experienced. I can't imagine what life would be like without Malia. I may not have my Saturday mornings to sleep in, but I never would have experienced the incredible love and joy of scooping my sweet little girl out of her crib as she smiles and "talks" to me. It is pure joy to watch her personality blossom. She is such a happy, physically active baby who has a bit of her Dad's dramatic and silly nature and some of her Mom's easygoing and independent(some might say stubborn) ways. Thank you Lord for entrusting such a wonderful blessing to an imperfect me.

Thanksgiving Pictures

It has been a busy few weeks with Thanksgiving, Chad's Birthday, My Birthday, Malia's Birthday celebration and preparing for Christmas so needless to say I have not been able to post as often as I would like. Just wanted to share a few pictures from Thanksgiving which we celebrated at the dunes. I was pleasantly surprised at how well Malia did, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving with much to be thankful for. Some of you may think this is strange, but believe it or not we had a full Thanksgiving meal complete with 3 turkeys and 2 hams and all of fixings all in the biggest sandbox you have ever seen. So much fun!

Grandpa and Malia, Malia didn't know what to do with all the buttons

Tanner is helping Malia explore the sandbox

My little speedracer