Labor Day Fun.

Hanging out with her Paddy

This is the bassinet that she napped in. She loved it.

All of the adults of the group.

Look at all the kids!!!

Sydney and Taylor loved playing with Mallory.

Smiles for her Mia

Outside napping with Paddy.

Rex (AKA Pa)

Miss Paula holding Mallory

Meeting Rex for the first time.

Lyndsey and Grayson - yes we swapped babies

Settling into a nap on the boppy on the couch.

Out at the lake

This weekend we made a trip to Longview for Labor Day Weekend. It was our first trip with Mallory and was a long drive to and from but a wonderful weekend. We started our journey on Friday afternoon. Mallory is on such a great little schedule we didn't want to mess it up too badly with all the sleeping in the car (she passes out about 5 minutes into a moving vehicle) so we stopped about every 2.5 to 3 hours which meant that we stopped 2 times in between. We would feed her and then hang out wherever we were for about 15 minutes afterwards so that she would get good and awake. It seemed to work. Let me preface this by saying that she started sleeping through the night 2 days before we left so we thought for sure all the sleeping in the car would mess that up. But since last Wednesday morning she has not gotten up before 5 AM! My sweet 9 week old is sleeping through the night. What a big girl. So we arrived to Longview and were greeted by Ric and Cheryl (AKA Paddy & Mia) On Saturday we hung out at the house. There was lots of playing with Mallory by her Mia & Paddy, her Aunt DeeDee (Mere, this comes from Mark he couldn't say Meredith and called her DeeDee all the way up to high school) Uncle Matt (Mere's fiance), and Sydney and Taylor. Nobody could get enough of her running in place and sweet smiles. Some friends Kevin, Lyndsey and their kiddos (Maddi, Allie, Grayson) came over to visit. It is always good to see them. Then Mallory got to meet her great grandfather Rex (AKA Pa) He thought she was precious and perfect. Later that evening we went out to the Lake to visit with more friends. When we got back Cheryl and Meredith helped with bath time and Aunt DeeDee (Mere) got to feed her the last bottle of the night and got to snuggle with her.
On Sunday there was a lot more playing with Mallory. Then on Sunday evening several friends and their kiddos came over to see Mallory and visit. These are friends of Mark from growing up and their family. It was amazing to see all the kiddos now that are part of this little "group". It was so wonderful to see everyone and hang out with their little ones who are all adorable. All in all there was lots of love for Mallory and everyone else for the whole weekend.

Things going on with Mallory over this past week....
*She is sleeping through the night. She goes down between 9 & 9:30 and sleeps until 5 or 6 AM.
*She is smiling all the time. It doesn't take much to coax a smile these days
*She likes "running" in place. She moves her little arms and legs and gets so excited.
*She eats, is awake and playing for about an hour and half and then takes a nap, then repeats the whole thing over and over until bath time and bedtime.
*She is holding her head up very well.
* She had her 2 months shots (she only cried for about 5 min and was not fussy and did not run any fever all day, she did very good!) and is 10.8 lbs and in the 38th percentile for weight and is 22 1/4 inches long and in the 41st percentile.

Lots of playing

She fell asleep like this during tummy time.

She just got real quiet and I looked down and she was sleeping.

Kisses for mommy

Playing on her play mat

She will stay in the bumbo seat for about 10 min now.

Playing in the sun.

Mark was playing with his camera, but I got snuggles.

I see Mark all in her face in this picture. Had to share.

This was a great week. Mallory seems to be settling into a "sort of" routine and has developed a pretty predictable personality for the time being. There is a LOT less crying these days which is great news for Mark and I and has done wonders for our sanity. We finally feel like maybe we can do this. Ha! She is best in the morning and is full of smiles and energy. She usually plays on her play mat for about 10 minutes while I get my coffee and breakfast in. Then there is tummy time, sometimes outside time, and lots of smiles (which make our whole day). We have even heard what Mark calls her "first baby sound" when she is playing and really gets excited. We have smiles off and on through out the day but we get the most in the morning. She is still only getting up 1 time in the middle of the night to eat and that has moved somewhere between 3:30 and 4 pretty consistently. If we get another hour it will be all through the night. Go Mallory! At night she eats around 6 or 6:30 and usually takes a little cat nap of about 30 -45 min before bath time. Then Mark gives her a bottle around 9 and she goes right to sleep. We are even pretty much done with rocking at night and during naps. Not completely, but if we are at home pretty much. She is becoming such a good little sleeper. During the evening 1 of us gets to make dinner while the other plays with her and she is content. So we are back to eating real food again. We went through a phase where it was take out, sandwiches or whatever was available that we could shove in our face quickly. Not any more! We aren't eating together all the time but 1 of us eats while the other plays and then we swap. Sometimes she naps at the perfect time and we get dinner together.
Last week we ran lots of errands, we had lunch with Tiff, Hailey, and Nana at a "Tea Room." She was awake the whole time until the end when we had to hold her with the paci. Mallory and I went to visit my office and all the ladies loved on her. She even handed out a couple of smiles. We had lunch with a friend of mine from work and her little man, Cash, who was born 2 weeks after Mallory. They both took naps while we had lunch. Saturday we had a great family day. We hung out around the house and then we went to Bracken, a little town down the road, so that Mark could play with his camera. They have lots of old buildings and stuff he could take pictures of. Then we all went to dinner. The munchkin was great she sat in her car seat and then eventually just fell asleep for a little nap. Sunday I got to have some adult time with my best friend Amber. She has a 5 month old and we have had very little time, if any, to chat and hang out since babies were born. So Mark watched Mallory and I got to have lunch and shopping with her. No babies or hubbies. I came home to find Mark had done better than I do at that time of day. I usually have a hard time getting her to really go down for a nap and she played with him and then went right down for a good nap. Daddy had the magic touch! We are truly enjoying every minute with her. This week should be another good week as we get ready to go see Mallory's Mia and Paddy. We cant wait for them to see all that is her cute little personality.