Author Archives: Johnathan

Nashville Heart Walk – 2008

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The company that I work for, Willis, puts together a team to participate in the Heart Associations annual Heart Walk in Nashville. We are consistently second place (though currently third this year) in the team fundraising, which is great considering that the #1 team is from Vanderbilt and get’s a lot of big corporate donations.

Last year, Angie, Mom and I walked with Mallory and had a great time. I hope Kylie is able to come this year, but it’s September 27th, which is during Marching Band season. Our team lead at Willis has a daughter with DiGeorge Syndrome which has caused her even just in the last year to have a heart valve replaced. She was a trooper. If you are interested, you can see more about what she (and the family) went through on their blog at http://courtneyheart.blogspot.com/.

I’d like to ask you to consider sponsoring our walk this year. Donations of $25 or more can be given through the website below. If you would like to give less or mail a check, please feel free to send it to me and made payable to the American Heart Association. Anything you might give would be sincerely appreciated and will go directly to the AHA.

Here’s the link: Click here for my page

Here is a link to our team page:
Click here for the team page

Picture day… not quite as easy the 3rd time around

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So we went to get pictures this morning… of Mallory. Our appointment was at 9:30 over at Portrait Solutions. They did a good job last time and weren’t nearly as expensive as the first pictures we had taken by the professional photographer. Don’t get me wrong… I’m glad we did the first ones… but that’s not something we can keep up and still afford to feed her. I kind of had a feeling as we left the house that it wasn’t going to be as easy as it was before. Some sort of sixth sense I think that kicks in as you mature as a parent. I think subconsciously I realized that Mallory had not had her morning nap that she takes after breakfast on the weekends. She also “matured” a lot and silly stupid stuff seems to get us “silly stupid looks” instead of laughing and smiling. Not to mention that she’s walking… er running now and so it’s not as easy as plopping her down and hoping for a smile.

The girl did the best she could though and I hope they pay them well given how goofy they act in hopes of getting a smile. Not to mention that they were packed and so there were quite possibly 2 or 3 thousand people in the lobby watching her roll around on the floor and try her best to make Mallory smile. I don’t think we got ANY pictures where she is truly smiling, but we did settle on some where she was either pointed in the right direction (a profile shot) or had a smirk on her face.

On the positive side, less pictures and even fewer good pictures mean that picking out a few wasn’t nearly as hard as it was last time. We walked out spending less thatn $100 which my wallet appreciated. That’s with 4 or 5 poses. I can’t remember because I was trying my best to keep Mallory from invading the other children’s photo shoots while Angie decided. Their printer was broken, so we’ll get a call when the prints are done. We’ll happily give you one… you just have to come visit us. How’s that for bribery. We’ll get some on a CD as well, so we’ll try to post those to the site soon. (That’s not an excuse not to come visit by the way.)

Now that we’re home. . . Mallory is napping. Angie and I are going to the Titan’s game tonight for date night. (It was her turn, so she picked the date.) Mom and Barry are coming over to watch Mallory.

Head, shoulders, ears and nose…. ears and nose

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My last post was getting a little long, so I had to save this tidbit for a different day. Not to mention that anyone who checks back regularly, and consequently is disappointed by the lack of posts will be pleasantly surprised. All I ask is that you comment back so that we know you out there. I imagine it’s a list of about 3 people. :)

During most days Angie and I have separated the duties related to Mallory such that I am responsible for getting her up and out the door, and Angie is responsible for getting her bathed and to bed. This began as a result of Angie taking quite a bit longer to get ready in the morning than I do, and it not seeming quite fair. So on most mornings I can get Mallory ready and myself in the time it takes Angie to be ready to get out the door. Now that we are carpooling, this is even more convenient. And before anyone asks, I’m not complaining at all. I can appreciate the delicate and time consuming nature of eyelash curling and color coordinating… I just don’t have that problem.

About a week ago though Angie showed me what she had been working on with Mallory in the tub. In case you haven’t been caught up, Mallory takes a bath in the big girl tub and loves it. It’s amazingly more convenient than the sink as well, and just to put a cherry on top… she loves the water. Anyway… Mallory proceeds to show me where her nose is (at Mom’s request) and then her ears. I know it’s a small thing, but it just never ceases to amaze me how many new things she picks up on and how much learning she is doing right now. She’s a sponge. Now if we could just get her to say milk.

Biting… Rounds One and Two…

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To add to Angie’s earlier post (and somewhat prove her wrong relative to my posting frequency), we tried to mold Mallory’s behavior last week. We talked to different people who all said that if she can get what she wants without talking, then she will. So, we figured that we would be hard-nosed and would just let her cry some until she said “milk” or “eat”. Aren’t we smart?

It was a gruelling two day experiment where we basically played stupid when she screamed for her sippy cup. “What do you want” we would ask. “Do you want milk?” If she could talk I imagine that she would have a few choice words for us. She would scream and when she got to the point that I couldn’t take it anymore, then I’d either give in or pick her up to help her settle down. I did at least try not to give her milk while she was screaming so that the two aren’t associated together. We don’t want to move backwards after all.

An interesting thing occurred though which we later became convinced was related. You see, Tuesday morning was the first morning that we “really” held out. It was also the first morning that she let some boy know how she felt by sending him home with her teeth marks in his arm… all 5 of them. She actually bit her “friend” twice that day, though the second time was lightly we are told. Apparently he tried to bite her back, but she was too fast for him… that’s my girl. Actually I would have no problem with her getting bit back. I hope I’m not a terrible father for saying so, but it might make her think twice about doing it to someone else. While I am happy to know she can take care of herself, I don’t want her to be the class bully.

We chalked that up to a bad day, but the next day she had bitten him again. Now some would argue that he should have learned to stay out of biting reach, but that doesn’t excuse her either. Angie and I were worried that we were at the beginning of a very bad trend. The teachers kept telling us it was normal, and that it’s too early for them to understand things like sharing… but then they sent us home with articles and magazines about how to deal with a “biter”. Just the label we wanted her to have.

I think it was Angie who voiced the thought that maybe we were being too hard on her with the “milk” and “eat” ordeal and ultimately sending her to school ticked off and ready to take it out on someone. So we tested. Thursday morning there were no games. I woke her up, fed her oatmeal, gave her her milk… played a little. No crying… no screaming… all was great. And guess what. No biting.

I guess for the sake of the other children in the classroom, we’ll have to find a better way to encourage her to talk. She is smart though and does understand more than I could imagine at this age. Angie has been teaching her where her nose and ears are which has to be the “cutest” thing… at least until the next cutest thing comes along.

Chasing an Angel

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Mallory’s transition into walking seemed to start slowly. We first heard from daycare that she had taken a few steps. Of course that meant that we went home and tried to get her to walk… and of course that mean that she wouldn’t. It wasn’t until a week or so later that she actually took a few steps for us. Just a couple at first. As she got better, she still seemed to prefer crawling as her primary mode of transportation. I had a trip coming up to London in June though, so I was just happy that I was there when she did walk. I had been on a trip to London in May and worried that I would miss it.

It was while I was in London (the second time) though when she figured out that if she walked, she could carry stuff much easier. So when I came home on the 21st, she was walking everywhere. Prior to that, I had only seen her go 12 steps. Now it was like “watch me dad, I can pick up this book, walk over here put it down, turn around…”. As long as she didn’t have something to get over, she was doing pretty good.

I’d have to say that she’s gotten pretty good at it now. Getting up is a breeze. Picking things up while standing is a breeze. It’s an amazing feeling to pick her up from daycare. Most days I walk in and she’s sitting with her classmates and the teacher. When she sees me, you can almost see her saying “ok… times up here… Dad’s here and I’m out!” She drops what she’s doing and just starts walking over.

We’ve made it to the point where we find ourselves chasing her around the house… If they aren’t up already, I’m sure we’ll load some walking video soon… It’s getting about time to think about number three!

Has it really been that long???

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Has it really been that long since we last posted? I tried to hold out, but I think Angie has me pegged. Actually, my bet is that after I post, she’ll feel guilty… wait scratch that… get defensive, and will have something written before long. It’s not like there isn’t a million things to talk about… (Just for the record, I was on the phone with her when I wrote this… so hopefully that means I won’t be on the couch on Valentines Day… no guarantees.)

Let’s start with this… Happy Valentines Day. Mallory actually got a card this year and it was cute. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but we have pretty much worked all the details for Mallory’s future husband. Our good friends Rich and Leigh have an adorable boy named Brady who is about 10 months older than Mallory and who sent her a Valentines Day Card, asking her to be his valentine. Mallory had a little trouble reading the card, but once I had her sound out the syllables, she smile really big and then got shy. I think she’s happy with our choice. :)

OK… it’s official… Mallory has started crawling… She’s been trying for a while, but just couldn’t get much traction with her legs… she actually spent more time in reverse than drive, though she did get pretty good at getting to what she wanted backwards. Then on Tuesday we noticed that she was actually moving forward a bit and on Wednesday I stayed home with her (long story… I may go into it later) she figured out how to get into 2nd, and now we have a new problem… she’s mobile. I imagine our weekend will be spent buying and installing safety and containment devices throughout the house. There is video of her achievement which will hopefully be posted soon.

On top of that, I’m pretty convinced she’ll be walking in the next few weeks. She has figured out how to pull up on stuff, and is getting pretty good at it. When she decided to start cruising around the living room, I thought I would be smart and surround her mat with cushions from the couch. She proceeded to crawl toward me, pull up on the cushions, and yell at me. At one point I was convinced that she was going to successfully scale the 2-story cushion barrier and continue on over. She really likes standing up… she really hates being contained. I let her complain for a good 45 minutes and then went to her rescue. She had worn herself out so 2 minutes later she was asleep in my arms.

The sickness in the Brandon household continues. Angie’s boss refers to our house as the petri dish. Mallory just wrapped up her 4th (or was it 5th) ear infection. This time she got 3 shots, wait I’m sorry…. injections, over a little less than a week. We are meeting with an ENT to talk about options (including tubes we assume) next week. Kylie was feeling bad Tuesday night, and woke up Wednesday morning with a 103 degree temperature. She went to the doctor and they sent her home with antibiotics… thankfully she started feeling better this morning.

I had strep throat a few weeks back, and then the doctor called a few days later to “check on me” and to let me know “oh… by the way, how’s the mono working out for you?”… yeah, I have mono… best part is that either I’m so used to being tired that mono is nothing, or I don’t have any symptoms. Aside for the week I spent with strep in bed, I haven’t really felt bad… maybe they got it wrong… maybe it just hasn’t hit yet… oh well. Probably got it from one of the kids at church drinking out of my can/bottle. I think to pay them back, I’ll keep letting them. :)

Ok… that’s probably enough for now. I don’t want to steal all of Angie’s thunder. You are going to post, right honey??? I hope everyone is doing well, and check back for the videos… we’ll try to get them up soon.

New Year… New things to enjoy…

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Well, I guess since I spent some time talking about how sick everyone is/was… then it’s probably time to talk about some of the things happening around the house.

Kylie has a new job, and seems to enjoy the new challenges. She’s working over at Maccaroni Grill now. She has started as a hostess, but is looking to move up to server when she turns 18 this month. There’s a lot of memorization and studying that she has to do for the job, which I’m sure she’ll do great at, and which should also mirror how well she’ll do in school this coming semester. She’s a Junior this year, and after 11 years in school, I’m know it starts to wear you down. We’ve had more conversations lately though about what she wants to do when she get’s out. I’m sure whatever it is, she’ll be great at it.

Angie is settling back into work after a long 2 weeks off. It was a slow start back with Mallory still being a little sick but yesterday was probably the most normal day yet. She said that when she went to pick her up, the teacher said Mallory had been fine all day. When Mallory saw Angie though, she started doing a little fussing. I think we have an actor in the family… or a manipulator depending on whether it’s cute or old. It will probably take a week or so for Mallory to get back into her routine. She’s been waking up a little earlier than normal the past few days. Hopefully that will revert back soon. \

Mallory has also been doing some fun new stuff. She’s getting pretty good at feeding herself these little Gerber Graduates. They are kind of like cereal, but dissolve a little quicker. Not only is she getting better at picking them up and putting them in her mouth, but she does a good job chewing them too. That has given us a new tool in keeping her content… especially when we sit down to eat dinner.

She’s also talking a lot more. Usually it’s on politics or the weather… the stuff she hears on TV, but every once in a while we dive into some philosophy or mathmatics. At least that’s what I imagine she’s saying anyway. She certainly means to say something… and when she’s frustrated, that certainly comes across as well. I’ve had to tell her on a couple of occasions to watch her language.

She’s got sitting up pegged, so she doesn’t fall over as much. She is actually pretty good at moving from a sitting position to laying on her stomach without too much fuss. Rolling is no problem either. She keeps pulling her knees up under her, so we are hoping she’ll get traction any day now and start moving forward. For now, she seems to make better progress backwards.

I guess that’s the highlights, except of course that she likes to talk on the phone. I’m pretty sure she get’s that from her big sister. We are in trouble when she gets old enough to start making her own calls. Thoughts of that Internet story where the little kid is talking to the police on the phone from his hiding place in the house, while his parents, police, swat, and everyone else search frantically for them. That will be us… if someone wouldn’t mind hitting the record button when it comes on, that would be great. I’d like to make sure we capture the live news footage for use in a future wedding video or something.

Hope everyone is having a great New Year and staying un-sick.

Christmas, New Years, and Sick

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It’s been a while since I posted, and I get the feeling that Angie is going to hold out until I post, so here I go. Before I start though I’d like to make sure that everyone understands that this doesn’t mean that she won or anything. After all, it’s not a competition or contest of wills or anything. I just decided, on my own, that it would be nice if I posted something based on my own judgement and free will to post. So, now that we all understand each other…

Let’s see…. word of the day… “sick”. Might be better to call it the word of the week or holiday. I could talk about a million things, but lately it’s been all about sickness. We stayed at home through Christmas Day and actually didn’t see anyone. We were planning a trip to see family in North Carolina and South Carolina, and my brother Matt was sick, so we didn’t want to risk catching something and taking it with us. Christmas was good… we had a very traditional meal that evening consisting of ribeye steak and baked potatoes. Kylie got a personal DVD player and a sweatshirt from Hollister. Mallory got boxes with paper on them… at least that’s the part she enjoyed the most. She’s amazingly good at holding the paper and tearing it off of the box… then she likes to taste it for good measure. I didn’t try the taste technique with my presents.

Monday morning I went and dropped the dogs off at the kennel (though I forgot Majors medicine and Kylie had to run back down to take that). Angie went to the dentist, and then took Mallory to the doctor while I packed. They confirmed that she had an ear infection and gave her some antibiotics… the pink stuff. Angie noted yesterday that every time Mallory has been to the doctor the past few months, she has either had some fluid on her ear, or an infection… that might be an indication of something. The good news is that the infection was not contagious, so we continued our trip.

We dropped by Greenville to see Mee-Maw, Pee-Paw and Dad. We had a great time, and enjoyed seeing everyone. We took Dad by the airport on our way out and then headed up to Hickory to see Maw-Maw and the family. By this time, Mallory had developed a little cough. It started dry, but became more “wet” as time went on. Sunday morning we were planning to leave around noon, but Mallory spiked a 102.6 fever so we packed up and left in hopes that we could avoid getting Maw sick (though that didn’t happen unfortunately.)

Monday morning, we were back at the doctors office, and found out that Mallory had picked up a virus. Her ear seemed to be doing better, but there wasn’t much we could do for the rest except treat the symptoms. They tested her for RSV but it came back negative. I guess this is about the time that Angie and I both picked up the bug. The next week was basically taking care of Mallory, taking care of ourselves, and trying to get a few things done around the house. Kylie managed to avoid the bug luckily.

We did get the dining room repainted… it’s now a brown, rather than the construction orange that it ended up before. We also touched up some trim, and finished the wall and one of the trays in our bedroom. Even more exciting, we got Mallory’s room ready. I put up some corner shelves to give us a place to migrate all of the frames and stuff to… making room for a changing pad. We cleaned out the “stuff” that had found it’s way to her room for storage and Angie organized her clothes, and Mallory officially moved upstairs without any problems. She has done fine sleeping through the night and the monitor works well too, which was a worry given that her room is in the opposite floor and side of the house from our room.

Monday though she went back to the doctor with another fever though. Two new ear infections, and a new prescription. Hopefully this one will knock them out. There’s been more talk of tubes, but I’m not sure when we get to a point to need to make that decision. I guess we’ll wait and see what happens after this one clears up. With the new infection, Mallory stayed out of daycare Monday and Tuesday… Aunt Lindsey kept her part of the time which was a huge help. This morning (Wednesday) she went back to school, and Angie said she just stared at her teacher when she got there. She’s gotten very used to being held a lot the last couple weeks, so I’ll have to admit that I’m glad they get the opportunity to break that habit.

This ended up being pretty long, so I’ll stop for now. There are lot’s of new things Mallory is doing these days, so Angie or I will have to post more of that soon. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and great New Year.

Does laughing in her sleep count?

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I don’t write much… but as I was sitting her with Mallory, I figured I’d capture a few thoughts. Maybe it’s the way she’s so innocently laying in her swing next to me sleeping, or maybe it was when she laughed out loud, and I looked over to see her still sleeping. I guess she’s dreaming, and it gives me such a warm feeling to think that those dreams are happy… maybe even funny. She’s probably laughing at us… always running around trying everything we can to take care of her, keep her happy, get her to bed on time, spend as much time as possible with her.

I had a meeting the other night and afterwards I was talking to Angie on the way home and she told me about how Mallory started reaching for things and playing with the rollers on her “exer-saucer”. I couldn’t help but think, I sure hope I’m not in a meeting when she takes her first steps… or says Daddy (since we all know she’ll say Daddy first. :) Luckily though my wonderful wife captured the moment for me in video. I think we are really going to cherish the pictures and video we have. Heck, I think we already do. As much as this blog is for our family and friends to keep up with us, I find myself sometimes browsing the pictures or watching the videos. It’s all the small things that make the experience simply amazing. When she’s crying and stops because you pick her up, or she’s tired so she buries her face in your neck, or you’re feeding her and she reaches up and grabs your fingers, or you’re changing her diaper and she’s just smiling away at you. I still haven’t figured out what she likes so much about the changing table.

I truly cherish the way she is right now, and sometimes I get a little down thinking about how fast she’s changing and growing up. But I had a very good friend tell me about how much better it gets, even when you think it couldn’t be better, and I see that. It’s amazing to have her recognize me and smile. Before long it will be the way that she says Daddy that will make me melt. I’m just hopeful that she doesn’t ask for a car before I have an opportunity to build up some sort of defense to her sweet ways.

I am truly blessed… not just with Mallory. Kylie is such a blessing to our lives and is going to be an amazing God-filled woman. I’m very proud of who she is and the way she loves people. I consider myself so fortunate to call her my daughter. And Angie is an amazing woman and wife and mother, whom I love more every day that we share together and who inspires me. I look forward to looking back years from now and seeing the same videos and pictures and seeing how our family has grown.