Guess How Many Teeth?

That's right folks! Malachi now has 6 teeth. I hope that we are done teething for at least a few weeks. Anyways, he got all 4 teeth on top within a month. His bottom teeth were the first to emerge but are the slowest growers. He now has 2 on bottom and 4 on top! Congrats kid! I love you!

Also, Congrats to Avery on getting her first tooth at 5 and 1/2 months! That's shocking for me to hear!

Also, I would like to say welcome to the world Andrew! We are praying for you. You can also see the pictures and arrival information on Callie and Avery's blog.

How do you know when your baby has become a toddler?

• You count over 7 bruises on his two legs.
• You watch your son get two bruises on his head/face in two days (one being on the coffee table, one on the concrete around a pool).
• You can no longer cook or do anything else while he is awake without getting tugging and whining at your legs.

At first I thought that Malachi was pretty careful. He had very few bruises when he started crawling and toddling. The past week has changed my mind. He was doing his routine rounds around the coffee table and slipped. He fell hard and slammed his chin into the table. He still has a little bruise. He only cried for about 5 minutes, but it was hard to watch. The next day, we were at the YMCA getting ready to witness one of our members be baptized. Malachi was crawling around and somehow fell on his head. He had a nice concrete imprint and swollen bruise for a few days. Just this morning, I was showering, and Malachi was playing with his toys on the other side of the curtain. All of a sudden, I hear a "thud." He just fell backwards while sitting and playing with toys! He never does that! Go figure!

I don't know which one is harder: accidently bumping my son on items while holding him or watching him fall and get hurt, knowing that there was nothing I could do to protect him. I am realizing that I am no longer totally in control of my son's life. Scary! He is not totally dependent on Mommy anymore.

I Forgot...

how hard pregnancy is. I also know that the first trimester is the hardest. I am soooooooooooo tired. Some days are better than others, but it has been rough the past 2 weeks. Grammy has tried to be a help, but I've tried to do a lot on my own, knowing that not everyone has the luxury of a built-in grandmother. Daniel has been working over 50 hours for the past 2 weeks. When I need a break in the late afternoon there is usually no one to help. Grammy is usually trying to get dinner together or something. Malachi has decided that the past few days he will only take a nap for 20-30 minutes in his crib for his afternoon nap. He's still tired, but he won't sleep in his crib.

I have to eat something like every 3 hours (except at night, of course). I am moodier. I get upset (usually frustrated) and its hard to calm down. I haven't really had the crying episodes yet, which has been nice, but I know that those will come soon enough. 8-10 hours of sleep at night is just not enough to get me through. I'm trying not to take naps, but I have given in a few times. I just want an hour or two to spend in the bed or resting each day. Is that too much to ask??? I know it is, and it will only get worse whenever we have child #3. Many, I repeat, many years down the road (like at least 4). I am just praying that the second trimester arrives soon. Then, I will feel better. I am starting back to work at the beginning of my second trimester, too. I hope things will go smoothly there. Sorry, I just had to vent. Thanks for listening and, I know, many of you are reminiscing and sympathizing.

Malachi Has Something to Share...

"I am going to be a big brother!"

I discovered through taking a test at home that I "passed." I am about 8 weeks pregnant. My due date is around February 24th. I haven't been to the doctor yet. I have about 4 weeks until I need to get all the stuff done. I was looking for a midwife group, but the only one in Concord is not taking new patients. Now I have to find an OB/Gyn in Concord or look for a midwife group in Charlotte that's not too far away.

Malachi "told" all the family by wearing this shirt. He enjoyed the attention that it got him. Even though he had no clue, he was excited to see all the excitement.

My brother told me that he didn't know that we were ready to have another child. (Snicker, snicker) We weren't ready to have another child, but God has blessed us. I was in utter shock for a few days and almost in denial. Now I am excited! Malachi will be about 20 months and be a little more self-sufficient (snicker, snicker). I don't know how it will all happen, but it will be just fine. God doesn't give us more than we can handle. I just know that the next time I get in the process of complete weaning, I need to be more careful by taking a pill or other measures.

We are surprised but extremely happy. I look forward to meeting this little girl or boy and finding out in about 12 weeks whether we are having a girl or a boy. Until then, we will have to see. I hope you all will start praying for us now. We can use it. We have to find a place to move to in about 7 months and get a lot of things ready. All while I am working on my second year of teaching! Who's idea was this again?!? Oh, yeah. I forgot.

Happy Birthday Aunt Tabby!

Tabitha,

Thanks for opening your presents with Malachi. It made his day. Happy belated birthday!

Dear Malachi,

You, sir, have grown by leaps and bounds in the past month. About 3 weeks ago, you mastered crawling. A week and a half ago, you took your first steps at your birthday party for all the family to see. You understand so much more information than you used to. I know that you understand what "no" means. You also understand different phrases like "all done," "good job," and "no mas," just to name a few. You are able to get just about anywhere you want in a blink of an eye, which is sometimes not a good thing with your Mommy having to pee a lot. You love to play with your Daddy most of all. You love it too when you see your Grammy and Grandpa for the first time each day. You have started playing games with all of us. You will hold out your hands and lean to a different person every 15 seconds or, while playing on the floor, will decide its time to "run" away from the person trying to pick you up or hug you. You even figured out how to climb up steps about 2 weeks ago. Thankfully, you are not too interested in doing this action a lot.

I just can't imagine a day without seeing your smiling face with 4 big teeth staring at me and two more little ones coming in. You bit your family a couple of times, but you haven't bit anyone in over a week. I am praying that that was a quick phase. I feel sad to know that when I go back to work in August that you will not be with me all the time. You will spend a couple of days with Daddy and a couple with your great-grandma. I'm OK with that. This summer has been so much fun! I finally figured out your schedule (and so did you). You take your two naps in your crib as well as sleeping between 11-12 hours in your crib. Just this morning, you woke up and decided to be quiet and let Mommy sleep late. Thank you. I needed that.

You are the joy and light of my life (besides Jesus and your father, of course). Each day is a new adventure. You crawl around in dog fur, break out in little pink bumbs, and never complain. You take the most fabulous pictures and make our photographer's job so incredibly easy (especially since she's 7 months pregnant). Your naps have made my summer so much more enjoyable. I get to eat lunch in peace. I get to have over 2 hours all to myself each day. I usually clean and eat, but I look forward to feeding you when you wake up.

Malachi, I am so thankful that you are a cuddler, too! Just this morning, you gave me a big ole hug and the biggest smile a momma could ask for. Don't ever get too old to hug and love on your parents. We love and cherish that time too much!

I love you Malachi James! I look forward to so many more days with you. I'm glad your temper tantrums have seem to have subsided, and you are back to your happy, smiley self. I wouldn't trade you in or give you away for anything else in the world. You are my son, Malachi, and I will love you forever! I thank God everyday for blessing us with you.Love,
Mommy

There's Somebody in My Saucer

Avery enjoyed playing in Malachi's ExerSaucer. At first, I think Malachi was a little upset that someone else was sitting in his toy, but he shared well. It's not like he plays in it anymore. He doesn't like to be confined. Anyways, Malachi is showing little Cousin Avery how to play with the little man and get him to play music.Wait...somebody is in my pj's, too! That's OK. Someone forgot Avery's pj's. Imagine that. Someone with two children forgetting something as crucial as pj's. Just kidding. I'm impressed that is all that was forgotten. Malachi didn't notice that Avery was wearing a pair of his old pj's, but he wouldn't have cared either. I'm just glad that I had some here at the house and not at the storage unit. That would have made for an interesting trip. Sorry they were kind of "masculine." It's not like we buy "feminine" pj's for Malachi. OK, enough of me sounding sexist. I'm just glad that that was an easy fix. It pays off to have the grandchildren close together, huh?

Birthday Cake

I baked and decorated(!) a cake for Malachi's birthday along with making cupcakes. Malachi didn't eat the cake, but he ate some of his cupcake. He also had his Daddy and Aunt Tabby help him blow out the candle on his cake. Don't ask me why I did it that way. I just wanted to make the cake special. I also thought it would be easier for him to get into a cupcake, and then I could put as little or as much icing on that one as I pleased. It was a joyous occassion with a lot of laughter. That cupcaked was washed down by 2 ounces of soy milk. Yum!

Fun in the Ball Gym

Malachi's Paw-Paw gave him a blow-up ball gym with lots of colorful balls to go along with it. He had fun in it. He had even more fun when Callie got in with him.

Somebody has to blow it up!

Will Walk for Toys

To the joy and amazement of all the family members at Malachi's first birthday party, Malachi took his first steps. As we were opening all the toys, Malachi noticed one making noise. I had stood him up to work on opening another toy. He took about 5 steps to get to the noisy toy. All the family cheered and clapped. Malachi had a look like "yeah, I know I'm the greatest!" He was so excited that everyone was cheering for him. Pictured below is the toy that he walked to get.

Click

If you want to see any picture enlarged, you should be able to click on it once to see it bigger and better.

Malachi's First Birthday

Malachi's birthday party was on the 8th instead of the 9th due to how busy our Sundays are. He had so much fun! I could not have asked for a better behaved child. He enjoyed all the attention and even showed off a little.

One of his favorite things to do is to turn pages in books. He liked "reading" the cards.
Mommy is really excited about diapers!
Malachi wasn't too excited about clothes, but, once again, Mommy was.
Tissue paper is fun to play with.

There are toys inside those boxes? That's ok. I'll just play with them the way that they are.

Fun with Cousins

Malachi enjoyed having his cousins in town to celebrate his birthday. He followed Callie around for about 2 full days. He wanted to do whatever she was doing. Their favorite activity was riding around on this little "car." Callie was such a great sport. She was almost always willing to let him use her as a means to stand or simply watch. It was great to see them playing together!

Avery simply amazed me. She is rolling over, "talking," and pushing up on her arms and legs. Many times Malachi would want to play with her toys or give her a big "Malachi-type" hug. She would just look at him and smile. We were able to get a few pictures of all three together. I don't know if all three were ever looking at the same camera and smiling at the same time, but this picture is pretty darn close. Thanks girls for a great time of play!

Why do we buy toys???

Just like most children, the most fascinating toys at times are boxes.

5 Teeth

Yes, Malachi had a third tooth emerge within a week's time. He now has a total of 5 teeth. Number six is on the way, too. The teeth on the top seem to be coming out at lightning speed, but the teeth on the bottom are taking their time. The two on the bottom were the first to emerge but have been the slowest to grow, and the bottom hasn't produced anymore teeth, either. I guess his body is just working in its own way. Go figure!

4 Teeth!

I checked Malachi's mouth this morning and his fourth tooth finally emerged. Yay! He is feeling even better than yesterday. Congrats Malachi you are on your way to being a little boy!

Three Blessed Teeth

I never thought that I would be so excited about teeth! Yesterday (July 4), Malachi broke out his third tooth. It was the first one to emerge on top. The one right next to it is on its way out as well. I am speculating that it will be here by tomorrow (July 6).

Malachi was in much better spirits today. He slept through the night last night! Woo Hoo! He woke up in a better mood. He played pretty well. He still wasn't his normal self, but he was not the boy from yesterday. It was almost like my child had left his body. He was in so much pain. Those upper teeth were really bothering him. I honestly have never seen my child in so much pain before. All during the 4th of July, he would not smile (at all). I never heard a laugh. It was just crying and clinging to Mommy. It's a good thing that we didn't have anything planned besides Daniel smoking some ribs (mmmmmm). Nothing compared to yesterday's teething nightmare. I hope that we won't experience anything like this again. I missed my little boy smiles. It was so good to see them again today. I was reminded of how happy he is and how vital those smiles and giggles are to my existence as a mom.

Happy Independence Day!

I hope that you all will enjoy today immensely. I have two sick boys. I guess Malachi has a cold, and Daniel seemed to have come down with one, too, on Sunday evening. I ended up spending a few hours in the rec room last night trying to give Daniel a chance to sleep. Malachi has been extremely fussy for the past two days. He'll just cry. He won't eat. He won't take his pacifier. He just cries. Now he doesn't cry all the time, but he goes through spurts.

I hope you all enjoy the fireworks. While you are enjoying God's creation (and this very hot day), say a prayer for us that we'll make it through today and feel better tomorrow.

If I Just Let Him Cry...

He will fall asleep in his crib. Because I'm usually a working mom, I don't like to let my son cry. I like to spend as much quality time and cuddling with him as I can. This fact has proved that he was sleeping through the night later than most children. He is having problems now napping in his crib. He still sleeps very well in his crib at night, though.

I'm trying to establish some sort of routine now. We sit in the rocking chair and read a book or two. I may sing or cuddle with him for a few minutes then put him in his crib. I did that at about 11:25am today. I went downstairs to warm-up some pizza and heard Malachi standing and making playful noises in his crib. I go back upstairs and lay him down and tell him its time for a nap. He cried, of course. I went back downstairs and finished warming up my pizza. He cried through my whole meal. I walked back upstairs about 11:40. I heard him calming down and the sounds of heavy breathing (I think he has a mild cold). I let him cry for about 10 minutes. It was rough, but he went to sleep in his crib. I could just imagine him sitting up in his crib, looking at the door with huge tears streaming down his face the whole time, BUT he is asleep! And I didn't have to lay in the bed with him and quietly get up and move the monitor into my bedroom! Success!!!