Mallory: My Precious Newborn Baby Girl...Wait... She's One?!

How does this keep happening to me? Mallory just turned one. I can't understand it. She was just born yesterday.

I though I'd write a little bit about our Mallie girl in honor of her first birthday.

Mallory was born on a Thursday morning after a very short and easy labor. I started having contractions about 3am, and about an hour later, I woke the hubby and called my parents to tell them to get their patooties in the car, STAT!

I really wanted to wait to go to the hospital until my parents arrived to watch Bennett (who was sleeping soundly upstairs... in a crib, wearing diapers, sucking a binky!!! Oh my, how much has changed in just a year... but I digress...)

Anyway, my contractions were pretty close together, but I was literally sitting on the couch with my legs crossed just waiting for my Mom and Dad to arrive. We got to the hospital about 7:30, and I was already nearing the end of labor (I'll spare you the centimetrical details). Within an hour, I got my epidural, which I still insisted on having even when the nurse tried to talk me out of it, and within another hour I was delivering our beautiful, healthy baby girl.

Here are some pics from that special day:

The first few months of Mallory's life were of course a big transition, especially since we were in the process of moving. Here's an email I sent to my Mom and a few friends after my first night alone with both kids:

So tonight was the dreaded first night alone with the kids, nursing and doing the dinner/bedtime routine on my own. My hubby had a meeting. Mallory was a perfect sleepy little angel all day, but of course the minute he left at 5:30, her tummy got gassy, and she basically cried all night long unless I was holding her. So everything you are about to read was basically done one-handed while saying, "Shhhhhhhhhh" and administering mylocon.

We got through dinner without any serious problems. Again, I was helping Bennett eat his spaghetti with one hand while trying to appease poor Mallie girl. But no major issues there.

After dinner is where it all started to fall apart. Bennett has been constipated for like a week, and I could tell it was really bothering him tonight, and I couldn't let it wait until morning. So I decided to give him a glycerin suppository after dinner. Normally this takes both Neil and I holding him down with all our strength. Tonight I basically had to sit on him and put it in while Mallory was screaming bloody murder in the background. Trust me, you haven't lived until you've put a glycerin suppository in your son's booty while your newborn is screaming in the
background!

At this point, Mallory was so upset, I decided to feed her. As luck would have it, the suppository started taking effect just as Mallory started eating. Poor Bennett is crying and asking me to hold him while he is pushing his poopys out. So I am trying to nurse and hold Bennett at the same time. At one point, he looked up at me with his red, sweaty little face and said, "Help me!" He finally got it out, and then proceeded to run around with poop in his pants for 20 minutes while I finished nursing. After getting Mallie settled (finally), Bennett and I went upstairs to put him to bed. To top off my night, I stepped into a puddle of [our dog] Daphne's pee on Bennett's rug! I guess she was feeling neglected and decided to take it out on me...

It was an interesting night, but we got through it. I know you girls have all been there. Now I'm going to go eat some carbs and watch Dancing with the Stars...

High Diddily Dee, A Mama's Life for me...

Even though this past year has gone SO fast, when I read that email, it seems like I wrote it FOREVER ago! How does that work? It's like I'm in some Mommy space-time continuum that makes no sense to the outside world.

Anyway, back to Mallory. What to say about our Mallie girl? She is delightful...there's really no better word for her. She is just delightful, through and through. She is honestly almost always happy and smiling.

Her two favorite things are social interaction, and FOOD! Our Mallie gal can out-eat any baby you send our way, hands down. My friend Lissa teases me because when I bring Mallory a snack for the church nursery, I don't bring a baggie of cheerios... I bring the whole bag of them, directly out of the box, closed with a binder clip... Yep, classy through and through, that's me.

Here's a few pics of the birthday girl, all grown up (sniff).

She LOVES her Daddy!

I've never, ever, ever seen a happier, more fun-loving baby than Mallory. She truly is a blessing, and I'm so thankful for the precious little person she is already becoming.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!