Quack.

I know it's a little premature, but HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Tonight Warrensburg shut down the "downtown" area and all the kids went trick-or-treating to all the businesses. Now...if you've actually been to this rink-a-dink town, you know that the downtown area is literally not even a mile long...and it's one street. Needless to say I felt like I should take Kai and join in on some of the festivities! I couldn't believe how busy it was! It was craziness. Pretty much it was one big line that went up one side of the street and then back down the other...ALL FULL OF TRICK-OR-TREATERS! I really just think it was the kids way of getting an extra "shot" of candy before they went real trick-or-treating on Sunday :) Obviously Malachi doesn't really eat candy so I just took him in his ducky attire and we walked around. We were both a little over stimulated, but I'm glad we went. I tried to let him get out of his stroller and walk around (typically he likes pushing the stroller and I assumed that's what he would do) BUT there was a little (little = lot) too much going on for him to even care about the stroller. I really do think he had fun being outside and seeing all the town freaks all dressed up :) Actually it was very family oriented and really nice for them to have something like that. I doubt we'll take Kai trick-or-treating on Sunday, but we'll see how badly Brian is craving chocolate ;) Can't wait to see all my blogging mommy's Halloween pics! Wish we could all go together!

No Words Needed...

Kai has a little lamb...

Around Christmastime last year my Mom gave Malachi this little sheep...or is it a lamb? I can't really tell the difference so we'll just go with lamb. Anyway, so it's called a "jellycat" which is very similar to a "pillow pet", but better (at least I like to think so haha). It's a decent size and has some weight to it so when he was a baby I would lay it on-top of him for warmth and comfort. Well as he got older we started putting it with him when he went to bed and it slowly became his "lovey". Now, up until recently I just assumed as soon as I would leave the room the lamb would be tossed to the side and he wouldn't really pay much attention to it...BUT when we were in Colorado (ps. AMAZING trip) I had to rock him/snuggle him to sleep most nights (stinker!) and realized that he actually takes his lambs little ears with both his hands and rubs them on his mouth and nose until he falls asleep. Seriously, so precious. It melted my heart a little to watch the way he comforts himself and falls asleep. Peaceful perfection. Okay...so fast-forward to a couple days ago. Yes, I know there hasn't been a lot of time since we've been back from CO, but still. So typically Kai only has his lamb when he goes to bed or when we are traveling, otherwise it just stays in his crib. WELL a couple nights ago we were getting ready him ready for bed and the lamb was sitting on the ottoman and he grabbed it and started sucking on his ear and carrying it around. Now I'm not against this or anything (except that sucking on the ear kinda makes me gag), but it got me to thinking I might want to buy one or 2 more in-case he becomes OOBER attached and I have to wash one. I'll probably wait to see how far this "attachment" goes, but I know from watching a couple other kids that having multiples is an extremely good idea!





I should also probably think of a name for this lamb. We already have Peter the giraffe and Pablo the monkey. Hmmm...

Side note: I highly recommend a "jellycat" to everyone who has little kiddos! They are so cute and the perfect size. I know every kid is different in what they become attached to, but seriously they are great. And there are other animals too AND different sizes. Maybe that will become my signature baby gift...starting NOW :)

15 Months of CUTENESS!

Looking back 15 months (and a couple days...) I just can't believe how much this little boy has changed...and how much he's changed our lives!! If you haven't had kids, seriously I could write you a novel on how much he has changed from month to month, week to week, day to day, but since so many other fantastic doctor-type people have done that for me, feel free to read any baby book :) You will be AH-MAZED!

Malachi is really starting to be very VERY expressive. I know, I know - he's been pretty expressive since the day he was born BUT I promise you that every day I see some new expression that means something COMPLETELY different than all his other expressions. Seriously. The kid really does crack me up. He is also recently set the new world record for 100 yard dash in the 12-18 month division. The kid has started sprinting. Sometimes he even starts breathing heavy. I'm not really sure when I should start to worry about that ;-) His latest thing, among millions of others, is that he has realized that if he does not want to eat something that I have shoveled in his mouth, he can simply stick his tongue out, thus making the food magically disappear. Stinker. He is eating pretty much everything though. I accidentally gave him peanut butter, which I was planning on waiting until he was 2, but he didn't have any reaction so TA-DA now he gets it.

Brian and I haven't really done a whole lot of signing with him, but he created his own sign for please (which is similar to the real sign for "more"), he also does "all done" and "eat"...except he doesn't really sign eat...I sign eat when he is smashing food between his fingers and then he'll put the food in his mouth. Once in awhile he'll smash the food on his face while signing it, but mostly it just goes straight to the pie hole. He has really started to say mama, dada and ball and sometimes he'll randomly say bye-bye instead of waving. He also says "HOT", but only after I have said it. He claps and then will say "YAAAAY" and when he's on the slide I say "one-two-three GO" and he'll make similar sounds, but the real words haven't quite made their way out just yet. He also now understands the command "sit" - good doggy...I mean, boy. But seriously, when we say sit he will indeed sit ;-)

Malachi LOVES to walk around talking on the phone (a miniature version of Brian has been BORN!!!) - he has a fake phone from the Verizon store (the guy gave us one because he was afraid Kai would break a real one haha), but he'll also use an ipod or remote. It amazes me how smart he is though and how quickly he picks up on things. When he grabs the remote, even though it is sometimes his "phone", he will start pushing buttons and look at the TV (and we seriously don't have the TV on that much when he's up), he'll take his thermometer and put it to his head just like we do when we're checking for his fever AND tonight he even took the hair dryer out from under the sink and held it up to his head making sounds similar to what it makes. For those of you who know me well, you know that I have probably used that hair dryer a handful of times in my life, let alone since he was born SOOOO I'm thinking that the kid is a genius (clearly taking after me).

I also think he's been picking up on my dance moves. He loves to shake it! Not going to lie, sometimes we really do have dance parties (just him and I) and he is a riot! I think I'm going to try and teach him the Electric Slide so he can be prepared for any and all weddings :) He seriously sometimes twirls...which in guy terms I think it's just deemed "spinning", but either way, it's really funny. Such a charmer.

He has his 15 month check up on Monday so I'm not sure on all his "stats", but if I were to guess, he's probably just barely 20lbs (clothes on...maybe even shoes) and who knows how long. He is in 24 month/2T shirts because his arms are so LONG, but his pants are still 12 months (18 months if he is wearing a cloth diaper). I'm thinking of starting him on a HGH to bulk him up a little bit :)

He Missed His Daddy...

That's all I really have to say :)

Peek.

Malachi will play in the cabinets for HOURS. And yes, I mean HOURS. Typically we'll play peek-a-boo, but recently I've noticed if I don't say "PEEK" or "where's Malachi" he will stay with the door shut until I do. Once in awhile he'll crack it open ever-so-slightly to make sure I'm still there. At this point he usually gives me the dreaded stank eye, then I'll say "my line" so he can slam open the door and come barging out. He's pretty funny. He's also recently discovered that he can open the top drawers from underneath, so he's been loving that game too. My favorite part of playing this with him is that he always looks so surprised and excited to see me when he opens the door :) Love.this.kid.

Alexander.

Have you ever read that book 'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day'? If you haven't, it's a must. It's probably one of my all time favorite children's books -- mainly because I laugh through the whole thing. If you haven't read it, well, here's the "cliff notes" version: Alexander is having a terrible day and lists everything that goes wrong during the day that makes it so terrible. "Alexander knew it was going to be a terrible day when he woke up with gum in this hair...His best friend deserted him. There was no dessert in his lunch bag. And, on top of all that, there were lima beans for dinner and kissing on TV!" This is how I feel this week. I should write my own version...

It all started Thursday when Brian left us for 11 days. Yes, 11 days. Do you know how tiring it is to be a single parent for 11 days!?! Well I don't either because it hasn't quite been 11 days, but let me tell you 8 days is pretty exhausting! I have a new found respect to all those parents who do it. Goodness gracious.

Thursday: Brian leaves us.

Friday: Malachi and I go to the grocery store. We get home, I open the trunk and the jar of salsa shatters, getting all over my feet and jeans. Not to mention all the glass and salsa I had to clean up -- goodness I wish it would rain already -- every time I go to the car I see the cement squished salsa taunting me.

Saturday: Find out I'm not pregnant -- please don't read into this, it was just the best way I could think of saying what I'm trying to say (does that even make sense?!?) But no, Brian and I are not trying for more kids at the moment, so this was definitely a good thing...

Sunday: Kai has a slight fever and later we go to the Emergency Room because he is wheezing and coughing. Yep, he has croup and had to have a nebeulizer treatment and 2 steroid shots (you should see his muscles!!!) We got home from the ER at around 2:30a - ugh.
Monday: I go to bed around 11:30p that night...Malachi wakes up at midnight and we are up about every 30 minutes. Finally I give him some milk and a little snack, pump the kid with a little Motrin (God's gift to mothers of sick children...) and he finally goes back down at 3a -- and wakes up at 7a.

Tuesday: This is probably our best day, though Kai didn't sleep great during his afternoon nap, which makes it a VERY long afternoon for me. Not to mention the pile of laundry that I "attempted" to get done.

Wednesday: It was all going so well -- the boys took awesome naps, Kai finally started to eat a little bit (he's been anorexic since he hasn't felt well), he learned to blow bubbles through the straw in the tub -- then Brian calls to let me know he got a $200 speeding ticket. Yes Brian, I'm still calling $180, $200. Can I pull all my hair out yet?

Thursday: This day just started off horribly and never got better. Malachi woke up at 2a -- thankfully he wasn't up too much. I immediately gave him some Tylenol, sang him a couple songs (surprisingly my singing did not cause him nightmares - EEK!) and he was back out within 30 minutes. But of course, he completely skipped his morning nap, we found out he has an ear infection during a follow up visit to the Dr for the croup AND we get rear-ended. No damage, everyone's fine, but still.

We still have 3 more full days without Brian SOOOOO let's pray it doesn't get worse before it gets better. Of all the things that have gone "wrong", I will say that I have really enjoyed hanging with my little man -- when he's not feeling well is the ONLY time he gets all snuggly and lovey and lets me actually rock him to sleep, though I will say I was not this positive at 2am :)

Photo Shoot and the Stank Eye.

Lately Malachi has just been one big pain in the booty when I've been trying to change his diaper. I've tried everything --- I've sang, danced, screamed, made faces, whistled, tickled and finally I gave up. This is not a battle worth fighting (well...not always). Every time I lay him on the changing table (changing table = any somewhat flat surface where I can change his diaper) he just rolls and rolls and rolls like a rabid T-Rex. It's not a game kid you're going to poop on the floor and when you do I'm going to shove your nose in it <---- what I'd like to say (would this be considered "extreme"?) Seriously. Sooooo today I gave in and let him play on his (actual) changing table before I attempted the impossible of putting a clean diaper on him. In my attempt to distract him, I snapped a few pics. What can I say -- I'm obsessed with his cute little face :)

Another new development is this facial expression. I call it the stank eye. He gives it to people when he's judging them :) I first noticed it when we went to the ER -- he gave it to the nurse who was checking his lungs, then he shot it over in my direction a couple of times when I was was undressing him for shots...then again after the shots. He also busted this out at the park the other day when a bigger kid squeezed by him in the tube because he was taking up the whole thing just laying around (side note: the kid was very polite and careful and he was only 3!) ANNND of course I got this look again tonight when trying to deceive him to eat. He's only wanted to eat cheese lately so I broke off a piece of cheese and pretended to be putting it in his mouth but instead I shoved in some spaghetti. I know, I'm quite the little trickster. The stank eye definitely has various levels of "stank" and this picture is a more mellow stank. Trust me, I've seen worse.

So Far...

...since Brian has been gone...

I bought Malachi his own "baby" bananas along with my "mama" bananas...


















I bought him a new ball, which he refused to put down all night and it was the first thing he ran to in the morning...


















We played dress up...like a thug...


















He ate apples like a big boy (he ate about 1/2 of it!!!)...


















He text some ladies to see if they'd meet him at the park...


















...then he played hard to get by playing on the slide by himself...



















...and it's only been 3 days.