Sammy and her Puppy

Sammy seems to think she's a mom too. Charlie's aunt and uncle gave this little 'Sammy' to Abby as a gift and Sammy goes in to Abby's room every morning and licks the little toy like it's her pup. It's too cute.



This is a picture of Abby checking out what I'm doing while I was taking the pic of Sammy's pup. Doesn't she look cute? So curious.

Abby is getting so big and learning so much!

I feel like she has learned so much in the past 2 weeks... Here's an action shot of her with a toy that plays music as long as you keep spinning the ball on it's axis. I've been trying to get her interested in it for about 6 weeks and finally this weekend she got it and now loves it. She's also moving a lot more, not crawling (thankfully!) but pivoting and moving a painful 6 inches this way and that. I say painful because she sort of drags her face along and it looks like it would hurt. Doesn't bother her though!

I hate letting her cry it out

She's upstairs crying right now... how can you let a face like this cry it out? I will try to be strong for a few more minutes.

Happy Thursday

Abby has a new trick. Here she is gathering her focus and strength in preparation for the impressive trick.


And she did it! No hands, no feet, balancing only on her belly! Very nice Abby! I think she's a future Olympian. :)



Sammy with her birthday present. A treat dispensing toy. Hours of entertainment.



Abby with her Grandpa Goose. She is staring at Sammy in this picture. She loves Grandpa Goose and Sammy so, so much.


Here's Abby's reaction to the jack in the box. As you can see she did not see that coming! A monkey?!

Abby Malley's Thursday Morning

What's for breakfast Mom?


Hmm... I don't know if I like Carrots...




Play time! I LOVE play time!

Happy Birthday Sammy Doodle Malley

I very rarely have my act together enough to give shout outs to my loved ones on their birthday, but today is an exception and it's for a very special person in the Malley family. That's right Sammy the dog is a person in our family. She is so full of love and personality that she has been upgraded to person and tomorrow she turns 3. It's hard to believe that 3 years ago today we did not know the true happiness of having Sammy roam our house, bark hello at every person, dog and squirrel that passes by and cuddle up to you whenever you need it whether you know it or not. She is 100% happy, joyful, love and every person should be lucky enough to have a dog that you can love this much in your lifetime. If you have visited our house, you know that Sammy has an exuberance problem, but I assure you, if you spent just one weekend at our house and let Sammy adjust to the thrill of your presence you would find that you just can't have a better companion than Sammy Doodle Malley. We love you Sammy Doodle Malley!

Ahhh... the thrills of a stay at home mom

I'm really excited about my new sleep log. Yesterday me, Sammy and Abby walked down to City People's and bought graph paper and highlighters, then we made THE PERFECT SLEEP LOG and had Dad take it to work and make photo copies. Today I entered my data. I can't wait for the next hours, days and weeks so I can actually SEE Abby's improvement. Oh, if only I had been this into my job at Pemco... I could have tacked the Credit Union world!!

Abby's first solids.

We decided to start her off with the good stuff and now that Trophy sells baby sized cupcakes it was a no brainer. So good!

My little book worm

Abby and I love books. Anyone want to join our book club? This week we're discussing Little Gorilla. So good and what a surprise at the end!

I love Abby and Sammy so much...

and Charlie too!

Rock n' Roll Abby

Abby says, "Let's Rock!"

She woke up with a new hairdo this morning... I think she looks kind of edgy and rock n' roll. I think it's time she joined the Malley rock band 'Doodle Romp'.

Abby in Action...

We have been working on a nap schedule and it's cut into our social life, therefore, we have no real news to report or fun pictures to show off, but here are a few cute ones to show you that we still do have fun around the house even if we have been working on a nap schedule for 10 days with nothing to show for it! Who needs a schedule?!


Don't I have pretty eyes?

Abby and Sammy: A Match Made in Heaven

Oh, she feels so soft!

I like soft...

I wonder how soft tastes?

Mommy and Abby LOVE Sammy... and Sammy loves us!


Abby has only recently discovered Sammy and she is obsessed. I think tonight we got to the bottom of her obsession. As you can see in the pictures, Abby really just wants to know, how does Sammy taste? We were right there just in case, but we are relieved to note that Sammy was completely unfazed when Abby gripped her fur and pulled with all the strength a 5 month old can muster. Hopefully that won't change!

5 Months Old!

Today Abby is 5 months old. She is so cute and fun and we love her so, so much. Right now Abby loves playing on her tummy. If you place her on a blanket with some of her favorite toys (Rosco the race car dog, Belinda the brightly colored butterfly and Lola the hula dancing monkey are her favorites) then she'll just drool and pick up and drop all her toys over and over again. She also loves Sammy. Which is kind of hard to believe if you think about how you might feel if a giant dog kept liking you right in the face, but we're happy they are best friends so I try not to think about it. She loves her binky and exersaucer and spends most of the day smiling and making noise. She is more than I could have ever hoped for! We LOVE you Abby!

Good News, Bad News...

The good news is despite the fact that she has a really clumsy mom, Abby is 100% fine, the bad news is we had our first trip to the ER. This morning I was walking with her in the baby bjorn when I fell on our outside steps and Abby ended up crying hysterically and bleeding a little from a scratch on her head. She did not hit full force and if I was able to be objective (which I was COMPLETELY incapable of when it happened) I would have described her injury as more of a a scratch than a goose egg or gash, but still, you have to be cautious when it comes to precious babies and so we ended up in the ER. While we were there Abby smiled at the nurse, giggled while being weighed, and flirted with the orderly that spent about 20 minutes cleaning up my skinned knee and foot before the doctor came in and checked her out for what seemed to be about half the time that the orderly had spent on my knee. He told us he could order a CT scan but really that would expose our bundle of joy to about 20 chest X-rays when she had passed all his little tests without any issues, so we opted for going home and watching her closely and I'm so relieved to say 12 hours later she has remained her cheerful, sleepless self throughout the day. Here's a few pics of my little bruiser. It's safe to say that I am now terrified of causing anymore harm to poor Abby and only carry her with two arms wrapped tight around her, only drive 20 miles an hour and will never, ever leave her unattended with Sammy again (okay so maybe the last one is an exaggeration).

Uncle Pete!

Sammy was Uncle Pete's first neice and even (or I should probably say especially) Sammy gets excited when Uncle Pete visits...



So tired from all the fun with Uncle Pete....

Abby is lucky to have a very loving Uncle Pete. Peter is my little brother and he is everything you would want a little brother to be, silly, really hilarious, a little bit annoying (he's mostly outgrown that, but he will always be my little brother so there's a residual little bit annoying that just comes with him being a little brother) and the best fun-loving uncle that Abby and Eli could hope for. We love visits from Uncle Pete. Here are some pictures that show just how special a visit from Uncle Pete is...