Mallory is so much fun these days. Gone are the days when I had no answer to, “What has Mallory learned lately?”
The first new trick was learning to “blow bubbles” and make sounds with her lips. If her lips are dry and won’t make enough sound, she can take care of that by working up more spit. Never mind the drool running down her chin. Anyway, you can get into a “raspberry” contest with her. That’s the closest thing to a conversation we can have right now so I’ll take it. ;)
We have started solid foods. There is a good side and a bad side to that. On the good side, she sleeps very soundly (she can now go from 8:30 or so until 6:00 or 6:30), and it’s a lot of fun to try new foods. On the bad side, her diapers need to be stored in one of those “biohazard” disposal containers. Good night! I had no idea that something that small could contain so much stink. We’re thinking of installing an exhaust fan over her bed. Now when I smell something, I have no idea if it’s coming from her, Major or Johnathan. ;)
The first food we tried was peas. Her eyes got big, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it (we have video to load so stay tuned). It didn’t take her long to figure it out. It also didn’t take her long to figure out how much fun it is to “blow bubbles” with peas in your mouth. Not only does it feel neat, but it gets a great reaction from your audience. They make a huge noise so they must be enjoying it, right? ;) And it didn’t take her long to figure out that there are things that are much better than peas (she accused us of holding out on her). The carrots and sweet potatoes have gone over well. So now the peas will just get mixed with one of those. It has the same effect as wrapping a dog’s pill in bacon.
The only fruit we have done so far is bananas. They were an absolute hit! (we also have video of that) She was smacking. It was hilarious! I thought she was going to suck her lips off. We’re not going to add anymore fruits until we have enough vegetables in her diet. We’re afraid that adding veggies will be harder if she prefers the sweetness of fruit. Typically, for dinner, she gets a jar of vegetables and then some oatmeal with bananas mixed in. . . like a dessert, but not too sweet. The other night, Johnathan decided to feed her. He started with peas and carrots. At one point, I noticed that he had given her a bite of the oatmeal. I said, “She finished her peas and carrots already?” He said he just thought he would mix it up a little. I believe I even wished him luck as he tried to give her the vegetables again. She looked at him like, “Ummm. . . no.” as the peas and carrot slowly oozed out of her mouth. I told him, “You know, if she was able to talk, this would be one of those instances where she would say, ‘Mommy always does this. . . ‘”. I think that he was finally able to get her to finish the vegetables, but it was a struggle.
The newest feat was displayed just this weekend. She learned that she could roll over multiple times in one direction and get places. . . like under the desk, under a chair, etc. She takes great pleasure in rolling right off of the blanket we spread out for her. Unfortunately, in most cases, that puts her on the hardwood floor. This morning, I was getting ready for work, and I heard her start crying like she was in pain. I went running (of course) and found that she had rolled over onto a toy. I guess that’s a hard lesson for a 6-month-old. But she’s having fun.
Last but not least, we just went to her 6-month check up last week. Her doctor said she is doing great. Developmentally, she is right on track. You can’t even tell she’s a preemie anymore. He said she is very accurate with her grasp (as she was trying to grab his stethoscope) and was really pleased with her progress. She’s still in the 25th percentile for weight. But she has jumped to the 50th percentile for length and about the 63rd percentile for head circumference. So she’s a long, skinny baby with a big head. It may take forever for her to learn how to walk because she’s so top heavy. Time will tell.

Okay, folks. The web album has been updated. There are a few new ones in the 4 Months folder. And I have added 5 Months, Fall Festival and Mallory’s First Trip to Louisiana. The trip was great. It was so fun watching my grandmother with Mallory for the first time. And my dad is just silly over her. Shoot! Now that I think of it, we should have gotten all three generations in one picture. Dang it! I guess we’ll just have to go back. ;)
Have you ever traveled with a 5-month old? It is not for the faint of hearts. They are only happy for the first 4 hours or so in a car seat…that includes there and back. After that, they start plotting against you. Case in point – on the way home from Louisiana, Mallory was having a fit. We finally got her settled down, but a couple of hours later, we ran into issues (I think she has a voodoo doll shaped like the bus). We stopped in Good Hope, Alabama (the name is just full of irony). Kylie and I went into Hardee’s to utilize the facilities and grab some food. Johnathan stayed in the bus because Mallory was asleep (quick side note: the bus rocks for road trips…despite what you are about to read). While we were inside, a guy taps on Johnathan’s window and says, “Hey, d’you know you got gas pourin’ out the bottom of yer car?” Shoot yeah…we figured it was getting such good gas mileage that we could just waste about 9 bucks on the ground (I pick but I’m very grateful that he told us). Hint: it is not a good sign when you come out of Hardee’s in Smallville, Alabama, and your husband and a stranger are laying on the ground looking underneath your car…and there’s a big puddle of something running across the parking lot.
So we called AAA. The good news is that it stopped leaking when he turned it off. The bad news is that you can’t start and run a vehicle that is literally pouring gas. The worse news is that you can’t find a garage on a Sunday night at 8:00 pm. The worst news is that you’re in Smallville, Albama so you can’t get a rental car on Sunday night at 8:00 pm, and the only hotel in sight is an Econolodge across the parking lot of a truck stop. It soon became very apparent that we were spending the night in Good Hope (starting the get the irony?).
Bear with me while I take you through this thought process. If they towed the bus to a dealership, we would have no way to get to it the next day. If we left it at Hardee’s we would have to carry all of the luggage plus the baby stuff through the truck stop (and trust me, we used every bit of space in that vehicle…we were loaded down). So we decided we would walk over to the hotel and have them tow it there. Then, Monday morning we would call them again to come tow us to get it fixed. Once we settled on the plan, the next step was helping AAA find us. Not as easy as you would think. The Hardee’s chick told us where we were…in local terms. Apparently, that doesn’t jive with Mapquest or whatever it is that AAA uses. It only took about 20 minutes to work out the minor details of where the heck we were. After everything was lined up, we walked over to the hotel and got a room. The guy at the front desk was really nice…even offered to call some of his buddies to see if any of them were interested in working on our car (something that the tow truck guy later told us to be vary wary of…warned us that “bubba” might show up with duct tape). The room was decent. But to add insult to injury, we had very little cell phone coverage. The only way my phone would work was if I was standing at the front of the room, leaned up against the window. On the bright side, they did have free wifi (woo hoo).
The next morning, we had to make a decision. Either we could all go to the dealership, or Kylie, Mallory and I could stay at the hotel and risk paying for late check out. My vote was to not sit at a dealership for an undetermined amount of time with an infant. I won. ;) That turned out to be a very good thing seeing as how Mallory decided to give me back her breakfast after renting it for a couple of hours (meaning – she puked…lots). Johnathan went with the tow truck to get the bus fixed. He was back in about 2 hours. We packed up, checked out (only 10 minutes late) and headed home. Frustrated and tired…but at least I had something to blog about. ;)

I have been successful at parking the bus so far. . . that is if you consider “successful” to be that I haven’t hit anything. If you consider it to be parking within the lines without my tail end hanging out. . . then, never mind. I have to admit it has served its purpose so far. A couple of days after we bought it, I had Mallory, the dogs and boxes for FedEx all at the same time. We went tailgating for Kylie’s band competition this weekend and even had enough room to carry Mallory’s exercise saucer. Tonight, I picked up a ton of stuff at UPS, and it all fit in the back end. I can’t wait to load it down and take it to visit dad. Kylie gets to have the whole backseat to herself.
Mallory had a stomach virus a couple of weeks ago. That was fun. There’s nothing like wondering if your 4 ½ month old is going to have to go the hospital for IV fluids. My friend Terri said her daughter had it twice. She ended up giving her Pedialyte with a syringe. We didn’t have to resort to that. Mallory would drink it mixed in with her formula (took a couple of days and a couple of conversations with the “advice nurse” to figure that one out). But I have to say that Johnathan and I are very blessed that we work for people that are so understanding. We were able to trade off working from home (along with some help from Lindsey). She never acted like she felt bad. She just had it coming out of both ends. She would puke her guts up and then give you the biggest cheesiest smile. . . with milk still running out of her nose. Crack me up. On a positive note, her face cleared up because of the lack of slobber. ;)
Now to the fun stuff. Mallory has learned how to laugh! Well, “learned” may be a bit strong. We were sitting in the office, and Johnathan started making faces at her. She started making this noise until it suddenly came out as a laugh. I think it startled her as much as it startled us. I looked at Johnathan and said, “Where’s the camera?” He said, “I don’t know” and went back to making faces with her steadily laughing. So I asked again, “Johnathan, where is the camera?” He said, “I don’t know” and went back to making faces. I finally looked him in the eyes and said, “Dude. Go get the camera!” I was actually blinded by the light that came on over his head before he darted out of the room. You have to understand that this man has been waiting for months to hear her laugh (I’ll refer you to the video on his blog from 11/3/06). Tearing himself away from that moment was hard. . . but I was holding her so he didn’t have a choice. We do have video. . . but he took the camera to Seattle with him so you’ll have to wait a few days. (sorry, don’t complain to me. . . I looked all over the house for it before I realized) But it’s the cutest thing. She’s not real great at duplicating it yet. She gets it every once in a while and just keeps going, but for the most part, she chokes herself and ends up with the hiccups.
On another note, last Wednesday night, I decided to put her on her tummy in the kitchen to see how she was doing with tummy time. I had no sooner laid her down than she rolled right over! I squealed. . . she cried. I’m not sure if I scared her or if rolling over scared her. To me, she seemed like “an old pro” at it. I was able to get her to do it about 4 times, and then 2 more times when Johnathan and Kylie got home. It was so exciting! My problem is that she did it so quickly I’m convinced that she has been doing it at day care, and they haven’t told me. Of course, I asked. Her teacher said she hadn’t, but she also said that they can’t tell us when a “first” happens (too depressing I guess). She just smiled this big smile and said, “I’m so glad she did it at home for you before doing it here.” What a crock. I just know she’s been doing it since she was 3 months old and nobody told us. I wrote October 23rd in her baby book. . . but it will forever have an asterisk beside it.

I’m doing this with a baby on my lap so if it’s not as entertaining as you like…get over it.
So I knew from the beginning that loving and caring for our child was going to be amazing. What I was not prepared for was how awesome it was going to be to watch her learn. She is learning how to use her hands. It all started last Wednesday night. She was in her exercise saucer just staring at these things that she can spin (check out the video and you’ll see what I’m talking about). I played with them to encourage her, but her hands never quite got there. On Thursday night, I was on the phone and noticed that she had picked up a rattle. Then, she stared very intently at the spinners…and slowly got her hands to them! She did it over, and over, again. (I have a lot more footage, but I can’t upload it.) Now, a week later, she starts playing with them as soon as you put her down. She’s not interested in anything else but those spinners. However, the child has a short attention span so I expect her to move on any day now.
A couple of days after that, I had her in her purple Bumbo seat and noticed that she had her hand on her sock. She was looking at her foot! So I pulled the sock off and let her play with her foot. She watched it in amazement…trying really, really hard to get it into her mouth. Oh, that reminds me. It’s the most fun thing to watch her try to put toys in her mouth. Lots of times, she gets the back of her hand, but she’s getting better.
There’s something new almost every day. I seriously had no idea. I can’t wait to watch her learn to walk and talk. (no she’s not rolling over yet but she’s getting close…still hates tummy time)
On another note, we are going to pick up our “new” car tomorrow. It’s a 2002 Suburban. That’s right. I’m going to be driving a land yacht. They are so huge, but they have so much cargo space, it’s ridiculous. I can’t wait until I have to try to park this thing.

What a week! I added some pictures to the 3 month album. I also uploaded videos of Mallory eating cereal. It’s quite a hoot. It involves a lot of shoveling, scraping and wiping. Now, after a few days, she has gotten a little better (it still take 200 forevers to feed her a tablespoon), but she has learned that it’s fun to try to talk with your mouth full. She gurgles and spits…and thinks it’s hilarious. Actually, so do we. That’s all I have time for tonight. Sorry. It’s 9:30, and if I want to get into bed before midnight, I need to get started.

(Update: The pictures and videos are still loading as of 7:30 this morning. Check back later today.)

It was a sad day. Mallory received her 4-month shots today. When the doctor walked in, I said, “I told her she was getting shots, right in her leg.” He looked at me mockingly and said, “We call them vaccines in front of the children.” I said, “Okay, then. . . you’re getting vaccines. . . right in the leg.” He laughed and said, “I guess anything ‘right in your leg’ is bad.” I love a doctor with a sense of humor. This time was worse than last time. Last time, she cried a little and got over it. This time, she screamed. . . and screamed. . . and screamed. I eventually just had to suck it up, put her clothes back on her and put her in the carrier. We couldn’t hang out in the exam room all day. Plus it was really hot in there…I suppose they do that for all the little naked babies.
So we have some good news and some bad news. You don’t get a choice; I’ll start with the bad. She has had a runny nose for about 3 weeks now. That’s a long time for a cold. We need to be more diligent about washing our hands, I guess (someone tell that to the little baby boy that held her hand the other day during a stroller ride at daycare. . . not even 4 months old and she has a boyfriend!). Apparently, she has some fluid behind her right ear. The doctor said that it could be the start of an ear infection or the end of one (that may explain the really bad night she had last week. . . on Johnathan’s shift, I might add). We have to watch her for the next couple of days to see if she’s a little more irritable than normal (how can you tell??).
The good news is that she’s growing like a weed. She is now 12 lbs. 5.44 oz. That keeps her around the 25th percentile. And she is 24 inches long. She is officially around the 25th percentile (probably about 35th). But in head circumference (which shows brain growth), she jumped from the 25th percentile to the 50th percentile! Sing it with me now. . . “Mallory got a big ole head, oh yeah!”. Goodness! You would think the child looked like a one-ended Q-tip. But she looks perfectly normal (you’ve seen pictures, right?). Anyway, I thought it was funny.
She has found her hands. I noticed this yesterday morning when I was feeding her (I was so excited that I almost called my mom but it was 6:30 am. . . way too early for her on a weekend). She was trying so hard to focus on them that her eyes were crossed. Too funny. And she’s trying to hold her bottle. (It’s the little things.) I’m really enjoying watching her learn new stuff. She will follow us around the room with her eyes and head now. Today, when I left her with the nurse to go blow my nose, she was straining trying to watch me (yeah, that was cool). Johnathan put her exercise saucer together. She was in it the other day and Cole walked by. She looked him like, “Hey! When did we get a dog??” Pretty cute.
We get to try spoon feeding tonight! Yay! I’m so excited! I’m sure that it’s going to be very messy and very unproductive, but I’m dying to try it. We’ll take pictures and video so be on the lookout.
The doctor was surprised by one thing today. Usually, babies get stranger anxiety around 6 months. Well, Mallory is already exhibiting signs of that. I was holding her, and he started using a stethoscope to listen to her chest. She was looking at him and got fussy, so he put his hand in front of his face. She calmed down. She did the same thing when he laid her down to examine her (I wasn’t where she could see me like I was with the nurse). When he was done, he picked her up and kind of swirled her around the room until she saw me. Then, she got his huge smile on her face. He told me it was because I was a face she recognized. He said, “She’s smart”. . . like there was any doubt.
So hand/eye coordination is good. . . she’s already showing signs of intelligence. . . now, if she would just roll over. . . but her motto is “Tummy time sucks!”

I don’t really have time to blog right now…sorry. I spent my spare time uploading new pictures (time well spent). I’ll write something next week after her 4 month doctor visit. Until then, enjoy the pics and videos!

I just have to brag on my sweet baby. ;) She went down at the normal time last night and slept until almost 5 am. I had to wake her to feed her. And it was MY night! Can you believe?! We’ll cross our fingers and pray that it continues. It’s probably because she only took 3 little capnaps yesterday. I spoke to the director at her daycare. She said that it usually take 7-10 days for babies to adjust. That made me feel so much better. My baby is normal…how did that happen?
Johnathan is going to pick her up today for the first time. I told the girl that she would actually get to meet the parent that Mallory looks like. She said, “I was wondering where all that came from.” Great. People are going to think I adopted her…not that it’s a bad thing. ;)

I’m not quite sure why everyone thought I would have an emotional meltdown over leaving my baby in daycare. I knew that it was going to happen even before I got pregnant. It’s a fact of life (well, my life anyway). Am I sad? A little. Would I rather be looking at her than at a computer screen? Sure. But the reality is that I like to work, and I can’t bring her with me. So for all of you concerned individuals (a.k.a. mom and dad), I’m fine. Sorry to disappoint you. ;) Actually, it was easier to drop her off than it was to come into the office. Does that make me a bad mom. . . or just a bad employee? ;)
How was her first day? Well, for starters, she slept until 4:00 am. Because it was my first day back, Johnathan took the night shift (figures that she would sleep so long on his watch, right?). Quick tangent: After feeding her, he just decided to stay up. He worked on his computer, made muffins and brought me coffee. It was great! All this from the man who usually says, “So how was Mallory’s night?” Yes, even on the nights that I eventually take her into the closet to muffle her screams so he can sleep. I have offered to let him take the night shift for good. . . he has yet to take me up on that. Okay, tangent over. When we left the house, she was smiling and happy. When I dropped her off, she was still okay. She didn’t even acknowledge that I was leaving (she’s 3 months and premature. . . what did I expect?). But I picked up a very different baby. She seemed happy to hear my voice, but she was lethargic. They said she had slept all day. Ms. Johnson said that she tried many times to wake her up, but Mallory was just not having it. Unfortunately, she has a cold. So now, I’m not sure if it’s the cold or the over-stimulation factor (there are a lot of babies within earshot of her room). She was still groggy at home. . . that is until I tried to help her breathe by cleaning out her nose. She lost her mind. Don’t get me wrong. She doesn’t like it when I clean out her nose, but she usually gets over it when I stop. Not this time. She yelled and cried for a good 30 minutes. We ate dinner and then she fell asleep on Johnathan’s chest until it was time to feed her and put her to bed. Long night.
After sleeping all day, of course she did not sleep well (yes, I had the night shift. . . just figures). We didn’t go to bed until almost midnight. Then, she had me up at 1:45, 2:30, 3:30 and finally 4:00 (now who’s lethargic?). I fed her and put her back down. Everything was fine. She slept until it was almost time to go (just like yesterday). We went upstairs to say bye to Kylie (who got up late. . . but that’s another story), and we left. We were headed up the interstate, about to get off on our exit, when I heard her start gagging. . . snot, I suppose. . . or “sinus drainage” if you want to be nice about it. I had no clue of what to do. Then, it happened. She puked. I was still okay at that point. She was upright enough that I knew she wouldn’t choke. Then, she took a deep breath through a very stopped-up nose and immediately “passed out”. I’m doing 60 on the interstate, and I now have an unresponsive infant in my backseat. I called her name a few times. . . nothing. So I reached back (still driving), grabbed her forehead and tried to wake her up. She cracked her eyes slightly so I at least knew she was alive. She didn’t open her eyes until Ms. Johnson laid her down on the cold changing table to change her clothes. Yes, it freaked me out a little. But she’s okay, and day 2 at school was better. She still came home tired and cranky. She’ll get use to those screaming kids eventually.
I have to share a story real quick. Dad and Kat were in town, and I was in the kitchen making blueberry dumplings with Kat. Johnathan came in and said, “Mallory wants you.” Translation: “Mallory has a dirty diaper, and I don’t want to change it.” It didn’t work, so he went to take care of business. A minute later, I heard, “Honey. . . I think I’m going to need help with this one.” Our daughter had exploded again, this time out of the back of her diaper. When I walked in, he said, “I don’t even know where to start.” (I do. . . get a grocery bag) It was one of those where you have to decide if you like the outfit enough to salvage it or just cut it off. It was given to us by a family friend; so thankfully, he was successful in removing it without getting it on the back of her head. Then I held her feet up in the air while he wiped. Teamwork at it’s best.

I’ll start by saying that I knew I was in trouble when I picked her up and her back was wet. . .
I had a “mommy moment” today. By that, I mean I had a situation that really ingrained in my brain that I am a mommy. . . and I need to get use to it. I have had a couple of these. For instance, last Friday I went to lunch with some friends. They were passing the baby around (after all, that’s what “the girls” do at lunch with a baby). When she got fussy, they handed her to me. All my life, I have handed off fussy babies. Now, the fussy baby was coming towards me. Of course, I instinctively sprang into action and went down the list of things that will make her stop crying (which she eventually did). But later, as I reflected on that moment, it made me smile. Today did not arouse the same nostalgic feeling.
I was on the phone with Johnathan as I walked past Mallory in her swing. I sniffed the air and said, “Ooff, you’re a stinking girl.” I had seen her straining and grunting a few minutes earlier so I figured there was a dirty diaper waiting for me. I planned to change her real quick before heading off to Lindsey’s. No biggie. I washed bottles and went to pick her up. At this point, I’ll refer you to my opening remark. I thought it was odd that her back was wet, and then it hit me. This is going to be bad. . . really bad. Oh, I had no idea how bad it could be. I have seen my husband open her diaper and actually jump up and down yelling “ewww” before. He has stood over her and yelled, “How did you get it there?? Poop is not supposed to be there!!” I think that diaper pales in comparison to the carnage I saw today.
I laid her down on the changing table and started talking to her. She smiled a big ole toothless grin. I actually think she was mocking me (can a 3-month-old do that??). I unsnapped the onesie and went to lift it up. That’s when I saw that it had oozed. . . really more like “exploded”. . . out of the top of her diaper. It was all over the inside of the onesie. It was also coming out the sides of the diaper around her legs. My first thought was how in the world I was going to get the onesie off without smearing it all over her face (it was hard, but I managed it). Normally, I use the diaper to wipe off most of it. Then, I use a couple of wipes, put them in the dirty diaper, wrap it up in a neat little ball and throw it in the diaper pail. This time, there was no way the diaper was going to be of any help. I got a grocery bag and just started throwing dirty wipes in it. But the problem is that a 3-month-old is kind of wiggly. She got it on her thumb once. . . on her foot once. I pretty much had to clean her from head to toe and then the changing table. I actually had to get a Q-tip to clean out the child’s belly button. It was so nasty.
You know, at some point, she is going to be a teenager, and I am going to look back on this moment. . . and use it to blackmail her. ;)