Our Wedding, 2005

Pause The Music

BEFORE you press play on the video below: You will want to press "pause" on the music player at the bottom of my blog (the pause button is toward the top left corner of the player), since this video clip has a soundtrack- or they will be battling. Remember to resume the music player (same button) when the video is over if you want.

The video is of my crazy brother Jason, when he was a Professional Freestyle Motocross rider. He Raced Motocross first and we thought that was scary- UNTIL he decided it was more fun to do Back-Flips on his dirtbike! Ooh it was so scary to watch him- I don't think I could breathe during a show!

I was playing with adding video and I figured everyone would like this! And YES, Uncle Jae will be teaching Maletch to ride one day (but Jae- just don't teach him to FLIP- OK)!

My Crazy Brother!!

Say "Cheese" OR "Go-ki-ki-ho"... Whichever!

About 6 weeks ago (when Maletch was 3 1/2 months old) he began showing signs of teething. Everybody told us that even though some babies start teething that early, we shouldn't expect anything to start coming in until around 6 months of age. Then about 2 weeks ago (age 4 1/2 months), what was obvious discomfort- turned into- completely unbearable pain for him. None of the remedies were working anymore and poor Maletch was miserable! So it was time to break open the Baby Ora-Gel and Tylenol. When I went to rub the Ora-Gel on his gums, guess what??- my finger ran over something very sharp! Yep- his first tooth had already broken through his gums! So that explained the increased pain- the tooth was cutting through!

It won't be long now before he will be flashing everybody his pearly whites- OK maybe just one pearly white for now! It is one of his upper front teeth.

Anybody that has a baby timetable chart- just might as well throw it away right now because Maletch clearly has his own!

Who is "Crusty?"

Ok, so most of you know by now that Maletch loves all of his toys but his bunny is his Best Friend. His elephant that he recently broke comes in a close 2nd. (Yes, he BROKE it with his bare hands- that boy is so dang strong- it's crazy- but thats a whole different story all by itself)

Maletch has a TON of toys and John and I want him to be able to distinguish the different ones, so from the beginning we have always referred to each toy by a name. "Where is Maletch's bunny?" as we find it and "Here is Maletch's bunny" as we hand it to him. Well lately it has been hard to keep up with cleaning all of his toys since he plays with so many. Recently after a long day of play (and him slobbering all over it) I grabbed his bunny to hand it to him and said, "Aw, your bunny is all crusty!" Funny because before I had a chance to clean it, John came in and started to hand it to him and said the exact same thing. Later that night John went looking for his bunny and asked Maletch, "Where's Crusty?" I cracked up cuz my ears were waiting to hear "bunny." Well it has caught on now and the poor bunny has a new name- he is now known simply as "Crusty!" Wouldn't it be funny if that is Maletch's first word?

Just when I thought...

Just when I thought that Maletch was in the "Grab Everything in Sight" Phase since (he's passed the pulling on mommy & daddy's lips and noses stage) he is so eager to grab and play with all of his toys and whenever you pick him up he always grabs something (a toy, blanket, etc.) and he is taking something with him! So, just when I thought... Maletch RE-DEFINES "Grab Everything in Sight"...

OK yes, I started letting him be "my little helper" and carry something while we are shopping and yes, he learned how to open and shut his dresser drawers 2 weeks ago- so I guess we knew this was coming- but we didn't expect it so soon. I didn't realize for one thing that he was already paying very close attention to what my hands were doing and wanting whatever I had. So he has grabbed a few things out of my hand when I thought I had him interested in something else- all of a sudden there goes mommy's drink or he's grabbed the bottle out of my hand that I was making for him. Ok, I guess those were some more clues as to what was coming... but we still had no idea... what we did know was that he liked to look around at the world and see everything around but we certainly didn't know he was ready to Go For Things OUT OF REACH!

The first incident: Maletch was lying in the middle of our bed, I see him look over and he's eyeing the nightstand (a few feet away). Ok nothing unusual, UNTIL he rolled and scooted over to it! Then I could tell he was eyeing something on the nightstand. He then reached up and grabbed the phone cord, pulled the corded phone off the nightstand to him on the bed, then picked the whole thing up and threw it on the floor! Huh??? I couldn't believe my eyes, if this is 4 1/2 months, John and I are in BIG trouble!

The second incident: When we are in the office, I let Maletch sit in my lap and I always give him a fresh piece of paper to play with. He loves to crumple it into a ball, then spread it back out, and bite on it- this provides enough fun while I do my emails. So last week I sat down and as I was looking for a piece to give him- so was he! He was eyeing some papers under a stack of very heavy stuff on my desk. So I sat back thinking boy I can't believe you spotted that (they were barely sticking out from the stack) so I couldn't believe that he even knew they were papers. Oh yes he did- in fact he leaned over and reached for them. "OK, this is great" I thought "while I'm doing emails he'll reach for those papers and try to get them, which of course there is no way he could. They are buried and the stuff is heavy!" Right? WRONG! He managed to pull the whole stack of stuff down! By the time I realized what was happening, I heard crashing from everything bouncing to the floor! How the heck??? Yep, we're in trouble!

Maletch SHOCKED His Doctor!

There is so much to say about the last month's adventures with Maletch, its hard to know where to even start...

I guess we can start with his 4 month doctors checkup: So it began with the routine questions to check on his development, he asked, "Is he now beginning to take an interest in his toys?" I was trying to keep from laughing and thinking "Beginning to? Doc that was so 2 months ago!" In my pause to answer without laughing, he got concerned and asked, "Does he bat at them and seem interested?" OK, I was trying so hard not to but it just came out- I laughed so hard.

The reason that was so funny is because when Maletch was between 8-10 weeks old I noticed him take an interest in his toys. I would always demonstrate a new toy (just once) before I would hand it to him. No, I didn't expect him to understand what I did or to be able to repeat it, I just was attempting to capture his interest before I handed it to him. Well the first toy I gave him was a rattle, I simply shook it and gave it to him. The second he got his little hands on it- he shook it. He played with it for a while and got bored, then he decided to make a game out of passing it from one hand to the other (yes- already!), and then he was done with it. So that was way too easy, ok fine. So the next day I thought I would introduce a more difficult toy, again not expecting him to know how to use it- just hoping it could hold his attention longer. Well, same thing. He instantly copied what I did- Ok fine. So the NEXT day I got out a soft book and thought, "OK I know you won't get this", I sat down and demonstrated turning pages (just a few) and handed it to him. What do you think happened?- it looked like he was reading the book! So, everyday for weeks, I was doing a "toy rotation" he played with all his toys and I would introduce a new toy everyday, and I was playing a game, "try to stump my- not quite- 3 month old!" Well, I never could! If it twisted, he twisted it, if it had buttons, he pushed them, wheels, he'd spin them AND if it didn't come apart, he would break it. I'm calling this the "Try To Stump Maletch- Challenge" and you are all welcome to come with a toy and challenge him if you want. I didn't tell the doctor any of this, but that was why the question about "bat at them" was so funny to me.

Ok, back to the story about the Dr. visit: So I lied Maletch down on the exam table so the dr. could check him out- and he immediately sat up, and the nurse let out a little scream. So I assumed that she was just nervous that he might fall. So, as I tried to wrestle him back down, I tried to kindly reassure her that- that was why I was standing right there and that she need not worry about that- I was ready to grab him in a nano-second. That was not why she screamed, because before I could finish reassuring her, she exclaimed, "That boy just sat up!" I can only imagine the look that was on my face because all I was thinking was, "Certainly you didn't expect him to just lie there, did you?" Then she asked, "How old is he?" and before I could answer she grabbed her chart like she must have been mistaken and says, "That's what I thought- he just turned 4 months? He just sat up by himself!" Then she asked if I saw it, I just laughed. Did she think he had never done that before? So as I was laughing and the doctor was getting over his shock, she goes running out of the room and starts telling other doctors and nurses in the hall, "You gotta see this- this boy is barely 4 months old and is sitting up on his own!"

Before we left, I handed Maletch a toy to keep him happy. I wasn't even thinking that the doctor was going to be observing what he did. The Dr. watched in amazement, and had PLENTY to say to me and Maletch. Maletch knows what, "Oh my goodness- look at you!" means because he gets a huge smile on his face and usually laughs and starts jumping. Oh boy did he eat up all the attention he got from everyone at the dr's office! And I couldn't help but just crack up cuz I was thinking if you only knew- that's not the half of it!

Our Sweet Baby Maletch!

Watching my belly grow!

6 months pregnant

I was barely showing at 6 months (well I thought I was showing sooner) but people probably thought I just had a chubby tummy and THEN I just blew up overnight it seemed!
6 1/2 months

7 months

7 1/2 months

7 1/2 months

Watching my belly grow and John's belly too?? Haha!

Getting Ready to Pop!

Here's some pics of me at about 8 1/2 ,months. I was so ready for Maletch to be born but we weren't ready with his room :) We had everything here but our house was exploded, HA! That's a story for another post. Oh yeah- you MUST see the photos!

3 Weeks Old and Already Causing Trouble!

Maletch was 3 weeks old and already giving the photgrapher a run for her money by repeatedly trying to LAUNCH off the table! And he nearly did! We were so glad that Grandma and Grandpa Pollard were there to witness it (and laugh along with us) because people didn't seem to believe us about the things he was already doing. The photographer kept saying "He's making me so nervous!" and said she had never seen such an active baby at that age. John had to restrain him during the photo shoot and I stood on the other side of the table, because that boy was determined to go somewhere! She also said to me, "Mom you must have done something right and have eaten all your vegetables, because that boy is strong!" John and I cracked up because we know that all I ate for almost my entire pregnancy were Tacos and Reese's Pieces. Sprinkle in some Mango-A-Go-Go smoothies from Jamba Juice and Carmel Frappacinos from Starbucks and there is my entire pregnancy diet. Haha.

Our wedding rings on his toes!