Larissa just scolded me for not posting in awhile, so prepare yourself for a lengthy update to make up for it: ) We blinked, and just that quickly, Malea turned 7 weeks old. The days are flying... I don't know how other women are able to go back to work after just 6 short weeks. I can't imagine having to leave her already, and that is why I'm taking TWELVE weeks instead: ) Malea and I are still enjoying our days together, and are always eager to see daddy when he gets home from work. We have taken many shopping trips (she's always a trooper!), visited a lot of friends and family, and just enjoy hanging out at home together. Ya'll know how much I like to nap, right? Well Malea is the perfect napping companion... I'm gonna miss that when I have to go back to work. Joel and I are both amazed by how quickly she is growing and changing. She is very alert, doesn't seem to be losing any hair (yay!), has a very strong neck and legs, and Joel insists that she is going to be a busy-body. I continue to lie awake and just watch her sleep... she makes the cutest facial expressions and I love when she smiles and giggles in her sleep. It's the cutest thing ever, and I can't wait until she starts smiling and giggling on purpose: ) She still fits into some of her newborn clothes, but I've mostly been putting her in 0-3 month outfits now... just another reminder how fast she is growing! See for yourself... here are a few pictures!
Pretty in purple
Check out that face- or scowl rather: )
She has quite the personality: )
I love this picture... such a cutie!
We've gotten many questions about how we came up with the name "Malea Grace"... so I will quickly enlighten you as to why we chose the name... anybody who knows me well at all knows that I use spreadsheets for everything, so I'm sure it's no surprise that I've had a "baby names spreadsheet" in the works for years: ) Any time Joel or I would hear a name we liked, we would add it to the list. When I was going to the U of I, I met a good friend of mine's niece that was named Malea (she was a cute little thing: ). I'm not sure how they spell her name, but I knew I loved the sound of the name Malea, so I added it to the list. When Joel and I found out we were going to have a girl, our quest for the perfect name began. I think the girls list started at 30 names... YIKES! But Joel and I sat down and each made a list of any and all of our favorites. Joel picked out 6 of his favorites, and I picked out 8 of mine. When we compared lists, we were excited to see that 5 names were the same on both lists! We then narrowed our favorites down to 3, and once again, Malea was on both of our lists. Once we got it narrowed down to 3, we started looking into the meaning of those names... it just so happens that Malea is the Hawaiin form of the name "Mary", which is my Grandmother's name (my mom's mom...) My Grandma, Mary Ann, was the sweetest lady I have ever met. She passed away when I was only 13, and not a day goes by that I don't think about her. I see so many of her traits in MY mother, and I hope to heck that both Malea and I are able to be a lot like her as well. She was an incredible lady; so caring, loving, giving, kind.... and I couldn't be prouder to name our first baby girl after her. Joel's Grandma's middle name is "Marie", which is also a form of the name "Mary", so it sort of works on both sides of the family: ) As far as "Grace" is concerned, Joel was actually the one that said "Malea Grace Hollenbeck... how about that?" It had the perfect ring to it... we both loved it... and obviously very fitting for our beautiful, precious, perfect, gift from God.
Still loving her baths.... she looks relaxed, huh
First the bucket, now posing in a picture frame... daddy just laughs: )
Tummy time is just so exhausting- hah!
We have some great news! We had been stressing about childcare for many many months, but our prayers have been answered! Malea is going to be in the best care possible... MY MOM!!!! : ) My mom and dad have a little engineering/manufacturing business they run out of their home, and mom decided to retire from the bank so that she can be home to answer phones and help out with the business... the best part is, since she will be home, she also offered to watch Malea for us when I have to go back to work! How awesome is that?! We couldn't be more thankful!! Not only is it convenient, but she will be in the best hands possible. She's gonna love going to grammy's every day!
My cousin Nikki, her husband Matt, and little girl Sadie are back from California, so it has been awesome getting to spend time with them. Here are a few pictures from one day Jodi and I both took our kiddos in to Grandma's to visit with them. Check out our 3 precious little girls!
Jodi, Aubrey (9 months), Heidi, Malea (6 weeks), Nikki, Sadie (17 months)
Cousins AND best buddies; )
Sadie is a doll- she loves giving kisses
We successfully snapped a few pictures without any hair being pulled: )
Joel got to spend his first Father's day with his little princess, Malea. He even got formally initiated as a father on Father's day... Malea's first blow-out on daddy! She got him good- all over his shorts and arm. Hope you enjoyed your "gift" daddy! Haha! We also got to see my Dad, and Joel's Dad, so it was a great day!
Daddy & Malea on Father's Day (post blow-out: )
Grandpa Volz and Malea
Grandpa Hollenbeck and Malea
Prepare to laugh out loud about a recent mishap that is definitely going down in the memory books. I will try to give the short-version (although we all know how hard it is for ME to leave out too many details: ) I dropped my mom off to meet dad for dinner in Cedar Rapids, and as they were pulling away, I opened the door to get Malea out to go into a store and saw her carseat was covered in poop! Luckily my folks saw me holding my head in dismay and turned around to come to the rescue. I really don't know what I would have done had they not been there. Talk about a blowout! There was poop everywhere! I had no room to change her in my car because I was transporting some tables, so Dad lent me his back seat (which I'm sure he now regrets: ) I laid down a blanket on his seat... not that it did a bit of good. She was so squirmy, and so covered in poop, that the blanket quickly got covered as well. Dad kept putting shop towels underneath her toosh to help me out, while Mom was busy over at my car trying to scrub the crap off of everything (bless her!) I think I must have used about the whole tub of wet-wipes trying to get her clean. But to top it off, she was starving (I had planned to feed her in the store), but obviously I couldn't do anything about it since my hands were tied up in poo, so Dad went around to the other side of the car and held a bottle in her mouth for me as I continued to change her diaper and outfit. By this point I had gone from wanting to cry in disgust to crying in laughter. We were all laughing so hard that at one point I literally had to stop what I was doing: ) Then to top it off, since her eating situation was less than stellar, she ended up spitting up all over dad's backseat as well. Hah! Long story short (sort of: ), I got her all cleaned up, and mom got her carseat all cleaned up, but then as we went to put her carseat back into the "base", we realized that the poop had even leaked down through the carseat onto the base! Are you kidding me?! What are the odds?! Dad couldn't believe that all that poo came out of this tiny little girl. Now take that story, and multiply it times 50, and that is how funny it was in person. It was definitely a memorable experience, however not one I hope to experience again: )
And finally, I am asking each of you for your prayers for our friends Scott and Rachel Sutton, for they are going through something that no parent should ever have to experience. Something far more painful than any of our worst days. Joel graduated from high school with Hoss (Scott), and actually was living with him in Coralville when I met Joel. He and his wife are wonderful people, and were blessed with a precious baby boy, Royce, on March 11th. Royce passed away suddenly on Monday at only 3 and 1/2 months old. His time here was far, far too short, and my heart is breaking for his parents. There can't be anything worse than what they are going through. So hold your kiddos a little bit closer tonight, and PLEASE say some special prayers for Scott, Rachel, and Royce. God bless you, Royce. God bless you.
No comments:
Post a Comment