March

Well here it is....March, my favorite month of the entire year!

There are many reasons I love the month of March, not only is it a beautiful time of year here in Arizona, but I have had some amazing things happen in this month. Lets start off with a list...

1. In March of 2004, Nick and I began "officially" dating. I went to Oklahoma with his family to see him graduate boot camp. Keep in mind I had only known him 2 weeks, when I met him that previous December before he went back for his last 3 months of boot camp. His mom must have known this was the real deal to invite a girl on a family trip to go see him! (oh, how I LOVE my MIL)

2. Nick left for Afghanistan in December of 2006, but had to go to North Carolina first for training. He got to come home for a week in MARCH before he was off to Afghanistan.

3. Nick got horribly sick in Afghanistan with Malaria when he only had about 3 months left in Afghanistan. He was sent to Germany to get treated at their hospital. He got sent back to the states, but he still had to got to Fort Huachuca until the rest of his troops got home, and guess which Month that was...MARCH! He was finally home for good!

4. I really wanted to get married in March, but the location we wanted only had February 28th available. So we took it. It was only 1 day away from being in March. I know this technically doesn't count, but still, it was so close!

5. Last, but certainly not least, my sweet, sweet baby boy was born in March. March 17,  2011 was the best day of our lives!!

March will forever be such a great month for me, for so many reasons. I look forward to it every year!!

Speaking of March....my little man will be 1 in 13 days. I can't even believe it!!

Anniversary

Today is Nick and I's 3 year wedding anniversary! I feel like it has been so much longer than that!! Marriage has been such an amazing adventure! I love my husband more and more every day. With him becoming a daddy this year, it makes me love him even more!!

Nick is such a great supporter, lover, comforter, and friend! I am so lucky to have such a great man by my side! Life isn't perfect, but we get through this crazy life together and I couldn't be more grateful!

Thank you Nicholas for being just what I needed to come into my life 8 years ago. I love you so very much!!

We are just staying in tonight, since it's a school/work night!! I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate my marriage than being with my two boys!! We are going to go out this weekend while Luke is at his Granpa Rays house!

Happy Tuesday my friends!

11 months old!

My sweet 11 month old!

Luke,

My sweet boy, you are 11 months old!! I say this every month, but I really can't believe how fast you are growing!

This is your last month before you are going to be a big 1 year old! Gosh, so hard to believe!

You are an amazing little boy and I can't even begin to explain how big of a blessing you are!

Here is what you are up:

~You are around 25 ish lbs and I would say around 31-32 inches long ( I will know exactly at your 1 year appintment, but thankfully we haven't had to go to the doctor since you were in the hospital)

~You wear a size 4 diaper and size 18-24 month clothes.

~ You are fully walking and have been for a while now. It is crazy to see you walking everywhere. You are so independent now....until you want to be held, then you let us know!

~You love to eat!! You are eating mostly big boy foods, and not jarred baby food anymore. You love, grilled cheese, yogurt, bananas,cheerios, avacodo, squash, sweet potatoes, pb & j sandwhiches, eggs, waffles, mac and cheese, cottage cheese, shredded cheese, (anything cheese as you can tell), peas, carrots, potatoes....okay, really anything at this point you love....besides watermelon. You hated it and made the funniest face while trying it!

~You eat everything on your own, which is nice, I can give you dinner and try to cook dinner for us at the same time! That is where your new independence has come in handy!

~You still don't love sippy cups but we are trying!

~You only have about 4 bottles a day...we are trying to taper you down, and get you ready for regular milk next month!

~You are starting to take more consistant naps. 2 naps a day lasting around 1 1/2-2 hours long! You are also sleeping through the night, from about 7:30pm-between 6:30 and 7:00am! I am so thankful that you are starting to sleep better!

~You have a new found love of Winnie the Pooh. Daddy bought you a little stuffy of Pooh bear and you LOVE him! You squeal when you see him and hug and try to bite his face! Love it! You also love Elmo!

~We should have never introduced you to the Ipad, becasuse now every time you see it, you think it is for you to watch videos on. If we don't turn it on for you, you throw a little fit....lovely babe.

~You still have light hair and dark eyes. SO handsome!

~You have 9 teeth, and they all show so well when you laugh. Your laugh is to die for!

~You are so funny at night when you start to get tired. You look like you are drunk and have so much crazy energy. Then you crash!

~You are such a crazy boy....and all boy you are. I think we are going to have our hands full with you!

~You say mama and dadda like crazy, but still not much of anything else. You know what we are asking you now and when we ask you what certain things are or where they are you know where to look....we are working on the vocabulary as much as possible!

~You love Bear, he is your best buddy and takes quit the beating from you!

~You hate to be changed and it is a two man job if ever possible!

~You are starting to get a little cuddly and like to give hugs....I love it so much!

Well baby, this month has been a blast. I love you more than anything and am SO grateful for you my love!

Love,

Mama

He loves his Winnie The Pooh Bear!

He is a wild man!

Watching Elmo, of course!

Luke and Bear...they are best friends!

 

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Didn't happen

Hahah, he makes me laugh!

Obviously I didn't follow through on the February picture a day challenge.....Dang, I can't even commit to taking pictures for a month! I really did have every intention of doing it, but then I got to the day where I needed to take a picture of a stranger.....I am pretty sure I stopped then. I didn't have a picture of a stranger and I didn't feel like being a creeper and taking a random picture of someone.....So I failed again...what's new?!?

One day I will actually do something consistently.

On that note, someone in our house, ahem, Lucas Ryan Mallaire turned 11 months old on Friday! 11 MONTHS OLD!!!!! Holy cow I have an almost 1 year old!! Where has the time gone? It really does make me sad how fast time has gone! He is such a joy, and has been a blast watching him grow, month after month!!

Anways, we are off to have dinner at Grandpa Larry's house!

Happy Saturday my friends, I will be working on Luke's 11 month post later tonight!

February picture a day, day 2 and 3....

February picture a day, day 2 and 3

Day 2: Words

These words couldn't be any more true!

Day 3: Hands

I love his chubby little hands more than anything!

It is Friday!! Yay! Happy weekends friends!

February Photo a Day......Day 1

Today is February 1st. It is one of my most favorite months of the year! To celebrate this month, I am going to challange myself and do a Photo a day challange....Hopefully I actually keep up with it!

Day 1: My view today.....

My drive to work....in traffic...my least favorite part of my day

My classroom....I spend more time here than anywhere



Happy Wednesday my friends,

10 months

 Luke,

You are 10 months old, my sweet boy! Wow has the time flown! You have changed so much lately and are SO much fun!

You started your 10th month of life on a very sad, scary note! Ever since Christmas you had not felt very well. It stated with a runny nose that turned into a cold, that turned into ear infections. We took you to the doctor multiple times because your ears were not getting better. Finally last Friday (Jan. 13th) you woke up in the middle of the night with a really high fever and you were breathing really heavy. We decided early Saturday morning to take you to the hospital. There was no wait, thank goodness and they took all of your stats right away. You had an almost 103 degree temperature and your oxygen levels were on the 80's....not good. They ended up taking an x-ray of your lungs and concluded that you had pnemoniua in your left lung :( at that point they said that they needed to admit you into the hospital, but they did not have a pediatric unit at the hospital we were at, so they had to tansfer us to another hospital...in an ambulance. Talk about scary. The worst parts were trying to get IV's in you. They had to do it twice and each time it ended up coming out. When we got to the other hospital, the doctor there said that you did not have pnemonia (thank God) but because your stats were bad when we first got to the hospital she wanted you to stay over night to monitor you. So we stayed that night, but you kept your fevers up. Almost every 5 hours your fever would spike into the 101's. Later we then found out that some of your blood work came back showing a virus......so with that we had to stay another night so that they could draw more blood and check it again....so we had to stay another night....long story short your blood work all came back normal (again, praise God) but your fever was still there. They then decided to give you inner muscular antiniotics.  those finally worked. After day 2 and 1/2 we went home....Yay!! You were so sick and it was nice to be home in the comfort of our own home.

The doctors concluded that you just got a really bad virus and your body was fighting really hard. I am so thankful you were okay!! You had great doctors and nurses helping you out!!

Anyways....on to the fun stuff...what you are up to:

~You are about 25.5 lbs and 31 inches long!

~You are wearing a size 4 diaper

~Your hair is coming in a lot lighter, although pictures make it look darker than it is.

~You are eating a lot more foods and don't really love baby food any more. You love shredded chesse, yogurt, noodles, waffles and anything really that we are eating :)

~You still drink a bottle every 2-3 hours.
~You love the gummy bear video on Youtube. You would watch it all day, every day if we let you. You always watch it on the Ipad, so every time you see it you think it is for you to watch your video. Sadly, when we don't turn it on you throw a fit.....stinker..the fits are starting. You throw your head back and lay on the floor and cry. DRAMATIC....
~You play on the floor really well and love all of your toys. You are so fun to watch play. For the most part you are good at playing and entrtaining yourself, but once you get bored, you will cry until we pick you up...again, so dramatic. ( not that we don't play with you, but it is good for you to be self entertaining sometimes)

~You like to make growling noises. You do it alot and usually while you are saying "mama". I have no idea where this growling came from, and why my name is what you say while doing it. It's too funny!

~You hum yourself to sleep. ADORABLE!!!

~You love your walker...you walk all around the living room! Even when you run into things you just back up and move around it. It is really cute!
~You are wearing mostly 12-18 month clothing

~ You are WALKING!!! it is so cute! You look like a little zombie, but you are so good at it! You walk all over the living room, from one side to the other. I am so proud of you babe!

~With the above said.....I feel like you are turing into a toddler before my very eyes. My little baby boy is growing up...tear!

 My love, dad and I couldn't be more proud to be your parents. You are such a joy and are SO much fun!! I can't wait to see what the next month will bring :)

Love,

Mama

You have finally figured out the stickers and try to pull it off before I can get a picture :) Stinker!