a boy & his dog

lucky dog is very patient with malcolm. what a good doggy!

twenty nine & feelin' fine

today is my 29th birthday. i've had a great day so far, just hangin' at home with malcolm, while danny is at work, and alanna is at school. i am very lucky to be able to spend so much time with him. the weather outside is lovely, so i thought i'd let malcolm wear a summer time romper.

my lil' pirate!

aaarrr me matey!!

OUCH!!

late last wednesday night, while i was trying to get things in order (getting ready and packing up for our trip to salt lake city thursday morning), malcolm had a little mishap. i was finishing up mail order emails, and he was cruising around the living room like he normally does, but then he tripped on his way past the recliner, and landed face first on the edge of the coffee table. he is new to this whole walking thing, and is just getting the hang of it, so he's still a bit clumsy.

a few tears, a little blood, 4 hours at the children's ER, and 4 stitches later, he was all fixed up. we arrived at wake med at 11:30 pm and checked out at about 3:15 am. we had to leave the house at 5:30 am to head to the airport, and i had barely packed a thing! needless to say, it was a very long night.

malcolm was really good the entire time. since we had to wait so long to actually be seen and treated, he fell asleep before the dr. came in to stitch him up. they put him in a papoose while he was asleep, gave him shots for the pain, and got two out of the four stitches put in before he woke up! what a little champ!

day one: the little cut, before being stitched up

day two: asleep at the airport, after getting four little stitches

day three: at my parents house in utah

day four: in grandma's tub (see the yellow bruise?)

today (one week later): still a bit red, but healing up fine!

peanut butter, okay!

malcolm is 14 months old now, and i figured it was time to introduce him to this little thing i love, called peanut butter! i've been a bit worried and cautious about giving him anything containing peanuts, because i was afraid he'd have an allergic reaction. so far, he has shown no food allergies (or any other allergic reactions), but danny's mother is severely allergic to peanuts, and i guess it can be hereditary. i ate peanuts all throughout my pregnancy and while i nursed him, so i figured it would be fine. but better safe than sorry, right?

last night he had his first english muffin with peanut butter (a favorite around here, alanna eats them a lot), and he seemed to really enjoy it! as of today, he is fine. no rash or hives, or weird reaction. yay! bring on the pb & j's!


he also loves drinking out of a straw. this photo made me laugh.

planning & saving

for the past three years, alanna and i have made a new tradition of vacationing in california and spending a few days (or more) at disneyland. during october, the parks are decorated for the halloween season, and it is so much fun. if you have not been during their "halloween time", i suggest you go! i love all things halloween. the colors, the decorations, the costumes, and the pumpkins! and as you might already know, i love the nightmare before christmas. disneyland completely changes the haunted mansion ride between october and january, and makes it the "haunted mansion holiday" featuring all of the NBC characters. it is great!

my goal for the next six months is to save as much money as i can, to go towards our 2009 trip. danny and i have been really good about not using any credit cards this year (the only c/c purchase we've made since november was for our airline tickets to utah in april). so i am going to do my best to fund the trip this year with cash. i am selling lots of random things on ebay, old clothes, baby items, and nightmare items that i don't love. my birthday is coming right up, and i would love a donation to our disney fund in lieu of gifts (pssst mom!). i think we will be going on september 30th (alanna's 13th birthday) or october 1st, for a week. so kate and mom, start making your plans too! we want you to join us again! here are a few photos from our past four trips:

alanna and i, on our very first trip to disneyland.

april 2004.

our first october trip in 2006.

october 2007. with malcolm in my tummy.

october 2008...

...malcolm's first trip (outside of the womb)

(the 2008 collectors edition dvd of the nightmare before christmas has a bonus feature that shows just what goes on behind the scenes in making the "haunted mansion holiday". if you are a fan, it's pretty interesting and fun to watch)

that's MY baby

after malcolm was finished with his bath, all dried off and dressed, i went into the bathroom to clean up the tub toys and towels, etc. and when i came back out to our bedroom, i found him looking at the gashlycrumb tinies! haha, he is definitely my baby!

http://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org/

home again, home again

our trip to salt lake city was lots of fun. we left on the 10th, and returned to nc on the 19th. it was nice to get away for a while. alanna and i had not been out to utah in over a year and a half, and malcolm had never been, so this trip was very much overdue. it was great to see our family, some old friends, and the city (it has changed a lot! r.i.p. sugarhouse). malcolm met his aunt natalie and his unlce brad. we met a few new friends too (lake and lola. cash. and django), and two new soon-to-be family members (hugo and emo). we did miss danny a lot, and wished he were with us.

we ate some good food, and finally got to go to the vertical diner. yum! the weather was perfect! but i was hoping for some snow... which i hear came a few days after we left. darn. i wish we could have stayed a bit longer, i missed seeing a few people, and places. but we will be back out on april 2nd for four days for my sister natalies wedding. i'm excited to go back... but not so much about the airplane trips. trying to keep a one year old entertained, on your lap, for 4 hours straight, is challenging. at least i will have danny there to help me the next time. here are some photos of our adventures:

of course we went to ikea

malcolm meeting his uncle brad

enjoying the sunshine in the grandparents backyard

the last little bit of snow left in the yard

malcolm loved peeking through the openings in between the stairs!

taking a nap on grandma's lap

at the "toadally frogs" exhibit in the utah museum of natural history

i guess malcolm wanted to get in the witches brew?

checking out the sea monkeys

watching alanna's puppet show

alanna, natalie, hugo, malcolm and rocket

malcolm and his grandma hart

malcolm and cash

big house, little guy

caught playing in the shredded paper

he mastered those stairs!

alanna cruising around grandpa's junk yard

playing at liberty park

malcolm and django

natalie and alanna

me and malcolm

malcolm at the coffee shop

not happy to be at the airport

i definitely missed my husband a lot, and being in my own home. but the thing i missed the most, just may have been... my dyson! i love that thing! ha ha.

my moms kirby just didn't cut it. sorry mom.

hey dada/dan dan/husbandito...

...WE MISS YOU!