Mali!

This one was taken on January 11, 2013 (the day after Olivia was born).  Mali loves playing with the little hammer he has in his hand.  I love how inventive he is with toys.  I love his profile too- His sweet cheeks and his little chin and hands.

January 12, 2013- Mali is 19 months!  My mom said Mali wasn't very cooperative with picture taking, so this was one of the better ones.

His unhappiness with the picture taking!  He really wants the camera.

On his way to visit us in the hospital the Sunday after Olivia was born.

 I love this photo!!  He is so happy!

His messy hair.

"Nap time for Mali cat, nap time for him!"

Our sleepy pooks.  He loves that down comforter.

Mali at 19 months old.  He has very good hand eye coordination- he loves playing with little toys.  He has a Thomas the train set that he loves playing with as well as blocks and tools such as a hammer, screwdriver, wrench, etc.  He likes to copy whatever Jesse is doing!
He also has a long attention span- if there is something he likes playing with he will play with it for up to an hour or more.
He doesn't have many words yet, but he does say:
::  da da and dad (for Jesse)
::  hi (every time somebody walks into a room.  His face lights up and big "hi!" comes out!)
::  dip dip- he loves to dip his food into "dips" such as milk, yogurt, ketchup, french onion dip, etc.
::  nah nah nah (which is his word for more)
::  baby (referring to Olivia)
::  lub (love)
::  Pop pop (our cat, Popeye)
::  Hannah (my parent's dog)
::  He doesn't say mom or ma ma (he used to until I weaned him). :(

I love our sweet Pooks and I'm so grateful to be his mother.

Mali and Olivia

This was taken in March 2014 when my parent's came to Kentucky for Olivia's blessing.  I adore this! He looks so grown up here.

Mali often walks with his hands behind his back and my mom just happened to capture this.  His expression is so cute.

Our little O!  I just kiss those round cheeks all day!

A hint of a smile...  Olivia had blocked tear ducts when she was born and as a result her eyes were constantly watering and goopy.  I tried as best I could to keep her eyes clean, but she developed a rash to the side of her right eye from the tears always sitting there.  The duct in that eye has since opened (thankfully!) and the rash is gone.  I can tell she feels a lot better.  Her left eye is still blocked, but I'm massaging it so hopefully it will open soon.

Back when Mali was 6 months old I started teaching him some sign language.  One of the signs I taught him was the sign for "more"- it has now become his favorite sign.  Here he is giving the more sign.  When he does the sign he makes a sound "nah nah nah", which is his "word" for more.  In this photo he is saying "more" and also signing it.  So cute!

I can't believe how blessed I am to be the mother of these two sweet children and to call them my own.  They are growing up so quickly- Mali is 22 months old today and Olivia turned three months old two days ago (on the 10th).  I love how Mali places both of his hands on each of my cheeks and turns my face to his so he can give me a kiss.  I love the smiles I get from Olivia when she wakes up from her naps.  I love them to the moon and back...times eternity.

Sick babies

My babies have been sick the past few weeks.  They both had colds for a while and then their runny noses seemed to clear up but they still have the cough now.  Night time is especially bad since Mali will wake up coughing, then start crying and Olivia will hear him and she'll start coughing and crying.  I had asked the pediatrician if there is anything to give infants for coughing and they said there wasn't, but suggested I use honey for Mali.  I tried it with him and he would only take maybe a 1/4 tsp- which didn't help at all.  I read online that fresh pineapple juice can help with coughs.  We bought some and on the nights when he drank some before bed, it seemed to help.  I thought the coughing might have something to do with allergies/change in the weather, but the pediatrician said infants/young children don't get allergies....so I guess that's not it!

I am visiting my parents this week and thankfully my mom is willing to rock Olivia if she wakes up during the night so I can get a little rest.  Olivia doesn't sleep very well laying flat on her back in the crib, so I put some quilts under the mattress to try and tilt it up and it seems to be helping a little bit.  She still wakes up struggling to breath though.  Mali has little bags under his eyes he is so tired.

I wish I could do something to help them!  I feel so bad when they get sick.

Olivia!

January 9, 2014- These were taken the night we went into the hospital so I could be induced for Olivia's birth.  The last photo as an actual family of three.  Mali wasn't quite sure what was happening, but he knew something was up as we were finishing up packing, etc.

Look how big I am- a week past my due date!

I love, love this photograph!  My sweet Mali- his first view of new life as he came to the hospital for the first time after Olivia was born.  He looks entranced by what he is seeing.

Olivia Rose the day after her birth!  In all her roundness.

Sleeping girl

I love this photo and the rosiness and roundness of her cheeks!

She seems to be saying- "What is happening here?"

"Oh, the light is so bright in my eyes."

Grocery shopping with Mali

 These were taken in January 2014- Mali and my parents and sister went grocery shopping while Jesse and I were in the hospital with Olivia.  These were taken at Meijer.

 The story goes that my sister wanted to put her sunglasses on Mali and he didn't want to wear them.  She said his grandma (my mom) would take a picture of him with them on so he agreed to keep them on and he smiled.  Then he wanted to see the picture right away and was just thrilled!  Seriously, he's the cutest boy I've ever known, but I know I'm biased.

 Mali often falls asleep in the car on the way to anywhere.  He fell asleep on this particular trip so my parents and sister transferred him to a grocery cart and he just stayed asleep as they wheeled around!

My sleepy little guy!

Mali in the morning

 Our sweet Mali with sleepy eyes, shortly after he woke up.  Kicking his right foot...(doing his morning exercises!)

 A little smile and kicking his left foot.

 Cute little smile!

 Breakfast of Cheerios.  He is doing really well at using a fork and spoon to eat!

I love how hard he is concentrating.  He tries so hard not to spill the milk.

Sliding Malachi!

This was taken at the end of September 2013.  Malachi was 15 months old and had just learned to walk about a month earlier.  Watch right at the beginning of the video and also at around 1:00 for what I was trying to capture.  (Although the rest of the video is fun to watch too just to see him walking).  He did the sliding thing several times while we were visiting my parents.  I guess he just loved the feeling of the floor on his bare legs!  He was so fun to watch!

Photo update!

I'm at my parent's house for a few days now and thought I'd take advantage of the internet and try to get some photos updated.  I'll be going back several months starting around September, October...(My gosh, Mali was 15 months old then...where does the time go?)   

(September 2013- Mali was 15 months old).  We were home visiting my parents and my dad was holding Mali.  I love how relaxed he looks in this photo.

Our sweet Pooks!

Mali with my parent's dog, Hannah, standing at their front door.  They were both interested in something outside.  I love their profiles and especially Mali in his little overalls.

So serious...

Oh, my heart!  Our little baby- he does look little in this photo and so very tired.

November 2013- Mali loved playing with these little toys that my mom had: little dice and game markers- little wooden cars and people.  He mostly liked putting them into and taking them out of different sized prescription bottles.  He spent a good 30 to 45 minutes playing with them while we were visiting.   

I love his concentration mouth and his hands with his little pinkie finger sticking out.  So cute.

November 2013- When we were visiting my parents over Thanksgiving we went to IKEA and for those who have been to IKEA you know it's a big store!  About halfway through, Mali got very tired and since I hadn't brought the stroller we had to lay him in the cart to nap.  Thankfully I had the blanket for him to soften the seat. 

I love his bottom lip sticking out.

My mom and sister put the stuffed bear behind him as a "pillow".

My sweet sleeping baby. :)  We just let him sleep because, in our house, the phrase is:  "Never wake a sleeping baby!"

November 2013- Oh,  my large-ness!  I was pregnant with Olivia....

and I was rounder than round with another five, actually six, weeks to go (since she was a week late)!!

Jesse attempting to have a belly!  It wasn't quite working!

More updates/photos to come...!

Our new arrival!

Introducing....

Olivia Rose 

 born on Friday, January 10th, 2014 at 10:52 pm

9 lbs 2 oz!

21 1/4 inches

Malachi and my parents came to visit us at the hospital the day after she was born.  Malachi was so sweet with her!  He will be such a great big brother!

A kiss!

I love this photo!

She was almost a week past her due date so I was induced.  I was in labor for almost 24 hours and ended up pushing for about three and a half hours.  They had to use forceps to get her out so she has some bruising on her cheeks/head and I ended up tearing pretty badly.  But other than that, it was a successful VBAC! She is a very vocal little girl and definitely not afraid to have her voice be heard!

We are so excited to have little Olivia in our family!!

(I'll try to post more photos soon...)