I guess I should catch you up on the last couple of weeks. The ear infections continued, so we finally went to the ENT on the 21st. One ear was clear, but the other one was half full of fluid. He gave us options: 1) wait until she got another infection 2) put her on antibiotics (preventatively. . . of which I am not a fan) 3) tubes. He recommended tubes. We went to the pediatrician the next day for a “well” baby visit. He also recommended tubes. So the following Monday (2/25) I made the appointment.
They were able to get us in a lot faster than I ever thought they would. Only a week later. . . which was good because we were back in the pediatrician’s office on Tuesday (2/26). Yep, another ear infection. So basically, we hit all three of the ENT’s options. Very, very frustrating.
Her surgery appointment was at 6 am on 3/3. Of course, they say no food after midnight. Ever tried withholding food from an infant? They don’t like it. . . and they aren’t big on your excuses. So the night before, I put her down for a nap around 6:00. By 9:00, I had to wake her up. I fed and bathed her and put her down around 10:00. We were pretty comfortable with that timetable because she usually eats around 7:30 and sleeps until 6:00 or 7:00 am. We got up around 4:00. . . okay, okay, 4:15. . . and were out the door by 5:15. Johnathan simply changed her diaper and loaded her up in her pajamas and bunny slippers.
She slept all the way there and for a little while in the waiting room. Once she woke up, she wanted to play. Johnathan had her standing his lap looking at him, but she found someone else to play with. There was a couple, probably close to our age, sitting across the room. Apparently, they and Mallory were playing. They would make faces and she would get “shy” and duck down in Daddy’s lap. Then, she would peak around his arm, smile really big and get “shy” again. It was hilarious. At one point, he laid her down and she struggled up with her “abs of steel” because she couldn’t see the couple anymore. The guy said she was “simply beautiful” and had a “million-dollar smile”. . . but we already knew that. ;)
They called back and we met with the first nurse. Then, the anesthesiologist came to talk to us. Very nice. Then, we saw the ENT. Finally, the last nurses that actually came to take her away (haha, heehee, hoho). By this time, hunger and grumpiness had set in. But she went willingly, with only a hint of a scowl.
We went back to the waiting room and sat down at 7:00 am. They called us back at 7:15 am. Wow, that was fast! Everything went well. The ENT said that she had a good bit of fluid on her ears so she should feel a lot better now. Then, we were called back to recovery. . . where the grumpiness had turned to full fledge anger. She was not a happy camper. We fed her half of a bottle. Then, she fell asleep. We stayed about 30 minutes for them to check her vitals a couple of times and to make sure she didn’t puke. Once everything checked out, Johnathan went to work, and I went home (after a stop to Walgreen’s for prescription ear drops).
When we got home, she took a nap, but that child did not stop “talking” from the time we walked in the door to the time I put her in her crib. She was smiling and everything. It’s funny. I wonder if she was amazed to really be hearing things, as they should be, for the first time, or at least the first time in a long time. We go back to the ENT in 3 weeks (post-op). We’ll keep you posted on her progress.

Okay, I was notified yesterday that there actually were not any new pictures in the 7 month album. My bad. I uploaded a couple last night. Also, I added more videos to the 8 month album.
One thing I failed to talk about in my last blog was Mardi Gras. Johnathan, Kylie and Mallory all experienced their first Mardi Gras this year. I think they all had fun. We definitely racked up in beads. Kylie was disappointed that she didn’t see any “weird” people. I explained that you have to go to New Orleans for that. ;)
It’s really an educational experience for those that have never been. If you have never been, something you should know is that we tailgate for parades. Everyone shows up early. And, true to Louisiana culture, there’s lots of food. The parade in Dad’s town started around 2:00 pm. He got there around 9:00 am to start cooking. We went around 11:00 and had to weave around barricades…the party had begun. Some take it a little more seriously. Along the parade route in Slidell, there were RVs that had been there for about a week (gotta get a good spot). In Dad’s town, there were tents in grassy areas. Your first Mardi Gras is a true rite of passage. However, every Mardi Gras has a category called “The Most Interesting Thing I Saw”. This year, it was a port-a-john in the back of a pickup truck…with spinners. Now that’s class. If only the camera had been with us (sigh).

So why has it been so long since I’ve blogged? Well, let’s see. Mallory has had essentially the same ear infection since Christmas. We get to see her pediatrician every other Monday. Same routine. We get an antibiotic. We take it for 10 days. Three days after we complete the antibiotic, she spikes a fever, gets really grumpy and doesn’t sleep. Oh, and there was a bout of bronchialitis in there too. That was fun. At least she didn’t end up in the hospital like our neighbor’s baby (very sad. . . but she’s okay now).
What else? Oh, yeah. Johnathan went on a youth retreat. A couple of days after coming back, he had a sore throat and really high fever. You’ve heard the story. Turns out he had strep throat. . . which apparently is very common when you have mono. He has to be the only 30 year old with mono. Question is, where did he get it? Hmmm. . . . ;) Anyway, most women that have ever been married or lived with a man know how they can be when they get sick. I got the semi-hourly report of temperature and a complete rundown of symptoms. I finally had to say, “I get it. You’re sick.” Of course, that was on day 4, I think. (I believe I earned the right to pick on him. For all intents and purposes, I was a single mom that week. Longest week of my life. . . promise.)
Then, Kylie complained of a sore throat. By the time we got home that night, she had a fever – 100.3. We had small group coming over that night so I sent her upstairs and took her chicken soup. The next morning, it was up to 103.3. We had an early appointment with the pediatrician to talk about next steps with the ears, so Kylie drove herself to the doctor. . . growing up stinks. ;) After we were done with Mallory, Johnathan took her home, and I went to meet Kylie at the doctor. They said she had some kind of bacterial infection so they gave her antibiotics. Then, the doctor was feeling around on her neck and said her nodes were swollen. “Have you ever had mono?” Oh, brother. So I explained the situation. Her spleen checked out okay, but they are running the test just to be sure. We should hear back by the end of this week.
In case anyone is wondering. . . or even cares. . . I tested negative – which actually prompted my darling husband to tell me that meant I had no reason to be tired. Yes, he’s still alive, but only because I have decided that I don’t want to be a single parent.
All that to say, I’m worn out. I am the only one in this house that has not been sick. . . so far. God forbid that I do because then I would just be sick on top of taking care of all of the whiney people in my house. ;) Just kidding. I love them all…even if they are pitiful when they’re sick.
I did upload pictures and videos. I added a couple to the 7 months. I uploaded all of our Mardi Gras stuff and started the 8 months album. There is a video of her first crawling moment, but at the moment, I’m confused as to where it copied from the camera. It’s late, and we’re going to bed. I’ll try to find it tomorrow night and get it loaded. Sorry.

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.

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.

First I would like to thank my husband for posting…now, he can stop sleeping on the couch. ;)

I uploaded pictures and videos of Christmas and Mallory at 7 months. She’s learning so much everyday. It’s crazy. But right now, I am just so tired of her being sick.

Hope you all enjoy the pictures!

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.

I’m trying to talk Johnathan into blogging for you guys. It’s been a while since you have heard his perspective. So hopefully, there is a family update coming.
In the meantime, I have loaded pictures and videos. (sorry it took so long) Some have asked if there is a way to tell if it is a picture or a video before you open it. The answer is yes. When you open an album and see all of the thumbnails, videos have a little gray box in the bottom left-hand corner. Also, I had trouble watching the videos as part of a slide show. It only showed 19 seconds of a 46 second video. I just wanted to let you know so that no one misses a second of our precious baby. :) She’s quite a character…she gets that from her dad.

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. ;)