and baby makes three

oh my goodness! i couldn't decide which one i liked best, so you get to these few. i could just eat them all up, especially miller's giggle face in the second one. they just love her as you can tell. they want to hold her hand and sit with her in their lap and show her their toys and sing to her and kiss her and hug her and teach her where her hands are and on and on and on. it is just too sweet! and the best part is, there is no sibling rivalry with her yet!

with her, no one makes ugly faces or screams or takes her favorite toy or hits or stomps or says mean things or colors on her paper or on and on and on. that's right, we have begun the battle here. don't get me wrong, it is not all day, and they love on one another way more than they fight. and the way they love each other, almost makes you forget that a few minutes ago they were playing tug-of-war with the stroller and carter was making an ugly face with her teeth bared together while miller screamed his shrill scream at the top of his lungs and i nursed spencer while screaming over it all to stop fighting. oh, the joys of motherhood! it makes you realize your parents were right, even more than you already thought. and if you are reading this, thinking my children won't act that way-ha! just wait a few years, or months!-because we all fight with our siblings, just think about your own!

word world

carter has always had her own vocabulary. she mispronounces words or creates her own. i know we should correct them, but i know one day they will all be pronounced correctly and i will miss each one. now, don't fret, we don't perpetuate the situation by pronouncing them the way she does. we just allow her to make the correlation on her own. but, some are so cute, i just have to share. 

hamptry (n): a room designated for storing non perishable food products and the washing machine, clothes dryer and any such materials.

created from a combination of the words hamper and pantry.

for those of you with a large house, you are thinking how can this be one. in our tiny house, we are just thankful to have our washer and dryer indoors and next to one another. in our first house, the washer was in the kitchen next to the stove and the dryer was in the pantry. so, if you have a hamptry in your house, consider yourself lucky!

pictographer (n): a person who takes pictures

created from a combination of the words picture and photographer.

carter's preschool class is currently discussing community helpers. she came home saying her friend's dad is a dentist. he is actually a lawyer, but i am not sure how the confusion began. she talked about dentists several times before i asked her if she knew what josh and i did. she said, "yes, daddy is a pictographer."

babing suit (n): a item of clothing typically worn in the warmer summer months when at the beach, pool or sprinkler park. 

mispronunciation of the words bathing suit,

or created from a combination of the words babe and bathing suit.

this is one of her first word creations. it started two summers ago. we relished in it thinking it would be corrected the next summer, but it wasn't. and, deep down, it made us happy. 

everyone loves a little boy in uniform

seriously, how cute is this?

but, wait, i think this may be even cuter! i can't decide. what do you think?

too bad the firemen & emts that visited our house early new year's day weren't this adorable. 

yes, you read right, we had a short visit, followed by an ambulance ride, early last thursday morning. spencer was born last monday and we came home from the hospital on wednesday around noon. early thursday morning, after i finished feeding spencer, she turned her head and spit up blood. what appeared to be pure, red blood. i calmly woke up josh and asked him to turn the light on and get a burp cloth. then i told him spencer had spit up blood. as i sat and looked at it in the light, i was suddenly struck with "now what?" i got up to see if our pediatrician had an emergency number and josh started looking it up in the biggest waste of paper ever printed. as i was about to call the office on my cell phone to see if they listed an emergency line, spencer projectile vomited blood and brown yuck all over me and her. i freaked and dialed 911. this is the bottom line-my baby was 2 1/2 days old. it was a holiday. and it was 5:50 a.m. no one else was available and i wanted to know for sure why there was so much blood. although the emts were not concerned about her condition (she was calm, she was pink, she was breathing) they did think we should be assured that the blood was mine and not hers. they speculated the blood was mine, but it just seemed like a lot to me to be all mine. so, i held spencer in a blood stained gown, blanket and burp cloth wearing mismatched clothes also covered in blood all the way to baptist in the back of an ambulance. surreal is all i can say. surreal. once there, spencer endured various tests including a tube down her throat to pump stomach contents, 2 vials of blood drawn, blood pressure cuff, rectal thermometer readings, etc. they collected blood from the burp cloth and sent everything off for 2 different tests to be run. after 2 hours, they both said that the blood was all mine. apparently there is a nursing condition called "rusty pipes" in which blood in drawn through the milk ducts during nursing. the condition is more likely to occur with subsequent children and occurs in the beginning when oxitocin is released in the body during nursing. thank goodness the emergency room pediatrician knew a lot about breastfeeding. he called a lactation consultant at baptist women's for any recommendations (just more nursing). and, we were released and home before 10 a.m. so, spencer and i took our first ambulance rides together-me at 30 and her at 2 1/2 days. let's pray it will also be the last for all of us!

oh, but now that you have read that crazy story that i had to document before all the details are blurry, look back up to the top at those adorably cute pictures. now, that's better!

* my mom corrected me. the condition is called rusty pipes, not leaky pipes. crazy baby brain! i told you i needed it documented before i couldn't remember the details. you're lucky i used the correct child's name! 

baby love

spencer abigail malahy arrived monday, december 29th at 1:51 p.m. weighing 7 pounds 5 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. 

we are all smitten. she is just precious! 

thank you for all your thoughts and prayers!

fyi

i promise to post pictures by tomorrow of the baby. i had to catch up first and now i just have to go through the ones josh has taken. 

welcome christmas, christmas day

due to carter's ear infection, we decided to not go to christmas eve service and dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's with the rest of the family in hopes that she would feel better and be well rested for the next day. so, we preceded with our regular christmas eve traditions. after putting on christmas pjs, we loaded up and looked at lights for a long time. then, we fed santa's reindeer. i have no idea why everyone is so excited to feed the reindeer. 

next, we got santa's milk and cookies ready. watch out, santa, i think miller is thirsty!

and, lastly, josh read the night before christmas to everyone.

we decided last year that we needed to determine what christmas would look like at the malahy house. we decided that santa would be downplayed as it seems a little off to us to spend all of december focusing on the birth of jesus and then have christmas day be all about what great gifts santa brought you. so, santa brings stockings and several small things including a stack of books to share. then, each child receives three gifts from mommy and daddy that represent the three gifts the wise men brought to baby jesus. of course, this year they each opened two gifts on christmas day due to "inclement weather and shipping companies." 

carter was so ecstatic that santa remembered her request for make-up 

very simple wrapping and tags this year

carter opening her most wanted request. remember how i had to hunt it down? well, when i got online to order it before thanksgiving, the blond haired, blue eyed bitty baby was on backorder until the 18th. seriously?? when i called to see about the backorder date and other options, they offered me the brown haired, brown eyed version. i responded, "that would be great if the baby i am expecting might have brown eyes, but i don't think she will." it's like the year i went to the post office to purchase christmas stamps and the disgruntled postal worker offered me stamps for hanukkah or kwanza, because they are the same. really? so, i purchased happy birthday stamps and wrote "jesus" under each one. yes, seriously.

back to the bitty baby, even though they couldn't promise the backorder date, they did tell me how to contact the store in chicago to see if they could send me one. so, the day before thanksgiving, i spent an hour and a half on the phone trying to get through to the store. ag is still such a small company that they only allow the flagship stores to mail items and they have no idea what a store has in stock. the chicago store was low in inventory as well, but they arranged for the new york store to mail me one. thank you, thank you, ag!! carter was so excited and climbed in my lap later that morning and said, "thank you, mommy for my bitty baby!" totally worth it!

look at her excitement!

miller opening his stocking

one of miller's gifts was a custom made cape. i found it at this etsy store.

when he put it on, he announced, "i need super hero eyes." guess mommy needs to bust out the sewing machine! he runs all around yelling, "super hero to the rescue!"

miller's other gift was animals. he loves animals and thought it was so great that he immediately did this: 

later that morning, we exchanged presents with my parents. 

i love the look on her face!

guess who came through for miller?? meme & papaw! they found the "choo-choo train you can ride on and say 'all aboard!'" when they brought in all the presents, carter said, "well, my present is a little big, but miller's present is giant!" 

miller taking a ride on his new train! it takes up half the playroom, but it is totally worth it!

someone else likes it, too!

these are the adorable chairs uncle chris and aunt margaret gave carter and miller. they have their names embroidered on them which they thought was so fun! note carter's socks that santa brought her. she also had on white l'amours at one point-nice ensemble, huh? we also had christmas with josh's parents, but he didn't take a single picture of the kids opening gifts. you are all probably very thankful about that right now after reading this ridiculously long post!

a visit with santa 12.23

each year we go visit santa on the first day that josh is off work for the holiday season. this year, even though it was closer to christmas day than usual, the line was shorter than usual. while we waited, miller spent his time watching santa.

then, miller waited with me while he watched santa.

and, finally . . .

we got our turn with santa. miller ran and gave him a hug before telling him the same thing, "i wanna choo-choo twain you can wide on an say 'all-are-born!'" and, carter just shrugged her shoulders and said, "i don't know." pitiful! you can tell from the picture she doesn't feel good. approximately an hour later she began to complain about her ear. bless her heart!

gift exchange 12.20

because we know our children are even worse than us about waiting to give someone a gift, we decided the saturday before christmas we would split up and take them shopping for their sibling. then, we met back at our favorite pizza place for dinner before returning home to exchange gifts. when i asked carter what she wanted to get miller, she said she wanted to get him new paint, markers, crayons and paper because she knew he loved to make things. how thoughtful! i was very impressed. josh helped steer miller in a few directions, and then he chose what he wanted to get her. carter got miller new crayons, markers, paint, paper, a toy story color wonder set and a diego metal lunchbox. his gift was quite large because i started to feel bad that he was getting stuff that needed to be replaced anyway. miller got carter fancy nancy shoes and a crown. we tried hard all through dinner to explain not to share your surprise yet. carter suggested we wrap it while they had dessert. so, josh and i are in the bedroom wrapping their gifts and carter yells, "miller said he bought me shoes and a clown!" and miller immediately yells back, "NOT a clown!" it was too funny! they loved what the other picked out and it was so sweet to see them really put thought into giving each other a gift.

zoo lights 12.19

when we heard the weather was going to be so fantastic on the friday night before christmas, we decided it was definitely the right night for zoo lights! 

for some odd reason, miller decided to bring a friend. cookie (or duudie, as miller calls him) loved playing in the "snow". i love the way miller holds him by the eyes.

the little mommy pushing her baby brother and cookie

carter as a peacock

miller eying "dasher and dancer" 

what do you do when you need to spread the icing on your cookie and there are no knives or spreaders to be found?? use your hands and lick them clean. then, add more icing.

merry christmas!

bah humbug

i feel like faith hill asking "where are you christmas?" see, i am enormously pregnant and feel like somehow in the hustle and bustle of trying to live life, christmas has gotten shuffled aside. i would like to say it is because we are prepared for the baby, but that would be a blatant lie. it is christmas eve and as i sit typing this, i have not a single gift wrapped. not one. that is one of my favorite things to do at christmas. but, i will say that after wrapping 23 books i learned that wrapping presents with a baby bump is not so easy and can cause quite a bit of pain. i am also unmotivated as i have still not received one of their gifts. that's right, you heard me, one of their gifts has not arrived at 4:15 pm on christmas eve. the store blames it on the shipping company (who, i don't know) and inclement weather-really?? so, see what happens when you try to be prepared and buy all your gifts online so you don't have to go shopping at the mall and have inappropriate comments made about your condition. ugh! 

then, we head to the mall yesterday for our annual trip to visit santa with daddy and, while the mall was hassle free and our experience was pleasant, carter starts complaining about her ear on the way to eat lunch. first, she said she couldn't hear and that it was "paused like the tv." she kept saying it didn't hurt until we finished ordering our food and she was literally wallowing on the booth in severe pain. she was pulling on it, pushing it, squeezing my arm against it, etc. i knew immediately. i picked up my phone and called the pediatrician. they said we could come in an hour. so, we finished up and headed over. carter was miserable. josh thought i was being proactive (or over reactive) due to the holiday, but i already knew what they would say. we get to the doctor and she sits in my lap complaining while we wait. they call us back and the nurse preceded with her questions:

how long has she had the symptoms? approximately 1.5-2 hours

has she had a fever? no

vomiting? no

nausea? no

trouble sleeping? no

okay, the doctor will see you soon. 

what she really meant was, you overreacted, she is fine or she would have some of these other symptoms. ironically, we have never seen our doctor during one of these times. last year, the exact same thing happened the day before thanksgiving. the only other two episodes were with our previous pediatrician. yet, no matter who we see, the response is always the same- "impressive." i don't even know what that means, but that is what each one has said. i will back up. the doctor comes in, reviews my questions, does all the basics-listens to her chest, looks in her mouth and nose, looks in the "good" ear, and then, barely glances at the bad ear before they proclaim the same thing, "impressive!" so, here we are on christmas eve, fighting a severe ear infection, fighting the crazy stores trying to find an emergency replacement gift, and fighting an attempt to steal our christmas spirit and forget the true meaning of the season. but, that will not happen, because we all know, it's the most wonderful time of the year!

the alpine village 12.13

i have always heard wonderful things about the alpine village at trinity baptist church. this year, we thought we would try it out. they set up a little village of shops in their gym and it is quite magical for the kids. right after entering the doors, we went into the living nativity. carter was so amazed. they let the children walk right up to the baby jesus who was a "breathing" doll. once inside the village, we visited all the little shops and made reindeer food, angel ornaments, gingerbread cookies, etc. there were three men dressed up as wise men and carrying gifts to baby jesus. miller was in awe of these enormously tall "kings" who let him look and touch and smell baby jesus' gifts. then, we played in the "snow".

a little girl just walked up an attacked miller with a ton of snow. he was not impressed at all. bless his heart, this is only the beginning!

look at their sweet faces (and my chubby one!)

then, to finish the night, we visited santa, again! this time, they spoke to him and told him what they wanted. carter said she wanted makeup. this is what she asked santa for last year. i really don't know why, but she is constantly saying she doesn't know what she wants santa to bring her. she made a christmas list in october from the american girl catalog, but she said it was only for grammie and papa joe-ha! miller, on the other hand, has but one request- "a choo-choo train you can ride on and say, 'all are-born!'" seriously! you would think the kids had watched too many silver spoon reruns because we have no idea where he conjured up this gift. stay tuned to see if miller will be the next ricky!