Happy Anniversary!

To us! Today is our 5 year anniversary. The past 5 years have been the best of our lives. We absolutely love being married and feel so blessed to have each other.

Here are some of my favorite things about Mark:
1. He is an excellent father to Barrett.
2. His sense of humor. He always makes me laugh.
3. His unfailing and unwavering support and love for me.
4. How he is so disoriented if he wakes up in the middle of the night. It's hysterical. He is so lucky to be able to sleep so soundly!
5. That he cooks and actually likes it!!!

Here are some of my favorite things about Stephanie:
1. She is the best mommy in the world!
2. She loves me for who I am.
3. She organizes everything including all of my stuff.
4. She pays the bills and runs our finances very well.
5. How she calls everything rules - directions, instructions, recipes, etc. are all called rules.
6. She loves A&M football and puts up with my obsession.

The first 5 years have been great and we are looking forward to the next 5 and many more!!!

Three birthdays!

Happy Birthday to Uncle Gary, Cousin Evan and Cousin Alex!!! They all have birthdays today!

Big Blue Ball

Cupcake (photographer) had this huge orange ball that Barrett was obsessed with when we had his pictures taken. Apparently we should stop buying expensive toys for him and should stick with the cheap ones since his favorite toys are his $.99 football and the $1.99 ball that Daddy bought him on Saturday after his pictures.

Picture Day!

Saturday was picture day! Barrett had his 6 month pictures taken. Yes, he is almost 7 months old but we were waiting to make sure he was sitting solidly so that he wouldn't fall over and bonk his head during pictures. We are anxiously waiting for Cupcake (aka Karen - our wonderful photographer) to post the proofs! Barrett did great as usual. He was really tired by the end. He didn't fuss but he wouldn't smile either. It was our first time to visit her new studio too! It is so cute and has a huge shaded yard that was perfect for outdoor pictures. Can't wait to see them. Check out her site at www.photographybycupcake.com.

Little swimmer

Memorial Day was a fun day at our house. We took Barrett to the pool for the first time. At first he was not a happy camper (since the first two pictures below). The water was a little cold for him since he is used to his cozy bath. Once he got used to the water he was much better and had fun splashing around and playing in his float. Our awesome neighbors were there too. We love hanging out with them so that made it even more fun!!

B's Buzz 05.20.08

Let's see...what has the little guy been up to lately? For the past week, he's been waking up between 3 and 4 am. We have been so spoiled since he's been sleeping all night since he was 8 weeks old. He rolls all over the place now so he ends up rolling onto his stomach in his sleep and then won't roll back for whatever reason so he wakes up crying. Luckily, I just feed him and he goes right back to sleep until 7 or 7:30. Last night he actually didn't wake up and this morning I checked on him at 5 and he was sleeping on his tummy! Maybe he is getting used to it? I don't know but I hope he is done with the waking up in the wee hours of the morning.

He's eating solids 2-3 times a day now. He's doing really well with it. I'm making his fruits and veggies but buying the foods that have meat. I just don't have the capability of pureeing (is that a word?) meats into a thin enough consistency for him to eat. He is a big fan of Earth's Best Vegetable Turkey dinner.

Barrett's sitting skills are pretty solid now. He hardly tips over and can lean over and pick up toys and then sit upright again. When he is tired, he tips over more but we all do that right? :) He has started trying to pull his knees up when he's on his tummy and he definitely can turn in circles and push himself backwards. He isn't crawling quite yet though. I think we have a few more weeks and then he'll be all over the place.

Below are some current pictures of him. This is why we set up the blog...so we don't have to whip you all with huge emails of pictures of him. Ha!

I'm not sure what to do with my sippy cup so I'll just chew on it.

I'm supposed to sit in this little seat but I prefer laying in it!

I'm so messy when I eat! I do it to drive Mommy crazy because she is a neat freak!

Oh how I love my football! Thank you for buying this for me Granny!

I sure do love this new toy that Daddy bought me!

I'm wearing a baseball cap for the first time! I've got to protect my skin from the sun!

This face gets me whatever I want.

When it rains, it pours...

We are having serious electrical issues in the Malhiot household. Our oven went out a few weeks ago as you may recall. Today we had to get the sprinklers fixed. The cellanoids (sp?) were drawing too much power and it was causing them to blow the fuse. We had to get 5 of them fixed. One of our TV's downstairs is also out. The power flickered last week when some weather came through and the TV was on and now it won't come on at all. It is plugged into a power surge but it is not working. Boo. The authorized Samsung people are coming tomorrow to take a look at it. Knowing my recent luck with electronics, we will have to end up replacing the TV. We are going to have an electrician come out and take a look at our wiring and see if we have an overall issue or are just having a run of bad luck. Keep your fingers crossed!

Sick...:(

Last night around 9 pm I started having a bit of a tummy ache. I felt like I was going to puke. Fast forward to 2 am when I begin throwing up. Thankfully, my thoughtful husband put an empty trash can next to my side of the bed. I HATE throwing up. I can't even remember the last time I threw up. It's been at least 2 years and probably only once in the past 5 years. For future reference, white bean chicken chili on the way back up is not so good. I stayed in bed all day and was pretty much to weak to do anything other than that. I'm up and about a little bit tonight and currently eating chicken soup but I'm sure I'll be in bed right after Barrett goes to bed.

So whatever is going around I hope none of you get it because it is horrible.

B's Buzz 05.07.08

Barrett had his 6 month check up today. He had to get 3 shots so he is not feeling too well this afternoon. He weighs 16.1 lbs and is 27 inches long. He is in the 80th percentile for head size and height and the 30th percentile for weight. He jumped quite a bit for height from last time and he dropped in his weight percentile. Dr. Blair said he looks great and is a healthy, happy, handsome boy!

Congrats!

Congratulations Rhonda and Jim! Our friends in our neighborhood had their baby girl while we were in Kentucky. Her name is Delaney Grace and she is TINY. She's just under 6 lbs. I saw her today and she is super cute and super tiny. I held her and it felt like I was holding nothing. I can't believe how fast they grow. It seems like just yesterday that Barrett was that tiny. Well, maybe not that tiny, but you get the idea. We are super excited for Rhonda and Jim!

Splish Splash

Barrett has outgrown his infant tub and now has this bath pillow type thing that he absolutely loves. I'm not sure if we could have a happier baby.

My Old Kentucky Home...

As we do every year, we took a family trip to Kentucky for Derby weekend. Almost all of Steph's family lives there so it's always a great trip. This was the first time for everyone to meet Barrett, making it even more special this year. As luck would have it, Mark was traveling for work which left Steph to make a 13 hour car trip by herself with Barrett, Preston and Zachary. Yay Steph! We made it safely. Of course we took a billion pictures and we can't post all of them but here are some.

Barrett with Ma (Steph's Dad's Mom)

Cousin Paiton

Barrett with Uncle Pat and Cousins Preston, Jackson, Evan and Zachary

Barrett with Cousin Josh

Cousin Corbin

Cousin Evan with Cousin Corbin (Evan is Corbin's uncle-figure that one out)

Cousin Cory and Uncle Pat

Cousin Laramie

Cutie Barrett!

Cousin Addison and Cousin Hannah (Hannah is Addy's Aunt)

Cousin Jackson

Cousin Evan with Barrett

Cousin Hannah with Barrett

Mommy took me to the park to swing for the very first time! I loved it so much!

Cousin Alex at the Derby Parade

Cousins Preston and Zachary at the parade

Barrett and Daddy chillin in the hammock

Barrett with Granny (Steph's Mom's Mom)

Note: Barrett's only true cousins on Steph's side are Preston, Zachary and Alex. The rest are Steph's cousins and their kids but it is easier to just call them all cousins. Steph does have ALOT of cousins though.