School Picture

Abby and I are already practicing poses for school pictures. You can never start working on the really important skills too early.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Thanks Mom for making a GREAT birthday dinner and an even better pineapple upside down cake for my birthday. I loved it and I love you! And thanks to Kate and Greg for babysitting Saturday night so Charlie and I could celebrate our birthdays at the Corson Building... such a fun evening and great food too! I hear that Fall weather is supposed to finally show up this week, part of me is ready, but I think I'll miss sunshine and my flip flops a lot... we sure enjoyed it while it lasted!

My Mom used to say she was funny too...

For the record, I do think my Mom is funny, but when I was growing up I thought her jokes were lame and she was never funny and I'm beginning to think that I may have passed this tendency on to Abby. She isn't that much of a giggler, but she laughs at Sammy and Charlie all the time, but the only way I can get her to laugh is by tickling her and that doesn't count as funny, that's just luck... but today, I made her laugh! I don't know why me saying boo over and over was suddenly funny today, but I don't care, I'll take it! I love hearing that cute little laugh!

Me and Abby at 6 Months Old

I guess we do look alike!

Crawling and Pure Joy

Crawling: Abby is making progress. See, she's getting closer and closer to "real crawling"




Pure Joy: just look at how happy Abby is when she gets to touch Sammy. I'm telling you, if I could make just one person this completely, spastically happy, by just walking in a room, how great would I feel?




The top picture shows Abby smiling and doing her new yelling thing, it sort of sounds like a joyful pterodactyl and it typically happens over and over again in crowded areas or social settings. I'm hoping it's going to magically turn into a cute baby girl Ma Ma sound, but I think we have a long, long way to go. But we'll keep trying!

Abby and Daddy's Wardrobe Disaster

From time to time I ask Charlie to get Abby dressed. I find that he doesn't always choose Abby's cutest outfits, so I try to dress her myself most days, but this morning was a hectic one and so I delegated my favorite job to Charlie and asked him to get her dressed. I think we have some pretty cute options upstairs in Abby's closet, dresser and there's even a laundry basket full of folded Abby clothes upstairs waiting to be put in the drawers. Anyway, somehow amongst all the choices this is what Charlie came up with. I'm not sure if it's a disaster or if I just don't have the vision to see its true genius. Abby seems to like it so I think it must be genius and I just can't see it...
(Thanks Charlie for helping out this morning while you also got ready! I appreciate it!)



Baby Legs, hand-me-down "My Mommy Rocks" t-shirt and booties. So crazy it just might work.

So much drool...

Will she ever stop drooling?


I guess it doesn't matter... she's so cute, she can get away with it.

Thanks you friends and loved ones!

I just had a really great birthday and I know it's because I am surrounded by friends and loved ones! So thank you everyone who wished me a happy birthday and everyone else too because you are part of my happy life.

I had a great day. First I took my favorite 2 hour walk in the sunshine (special thanks to Abby for sleeping for all but the last 15 minutes), then Peter came over and entertained Abby while I showered and then took me to coffee at the village where we ran into Joanne and Meagan (haven't seen either of them in ages, so it was an extra special treat), then I had lunch with my delightful Mom (Yum, cheeseburger Wednesday is great!), then I had a facial, next my mother-in-law gave me a super generous gift, then my father-in-law brought over cupcakes (including the flavor of the month, huckleberry! that I've been eyeing at Met Market for weeks), and finally we went to sushi at Kisaku in Green Lake and ate tons and tons of DELICIOUS sushi. So, there you have it. The perfect day.

I love you friends and family! And I love the new Kindle that Charlie got me for my birthday... more on that once I've figured out why I love it so much... so far I really love it, but I want to tell you specifically why I love it, and I need more time for that!

Happy Birthday Kelsey Graves!

Whenever I think about Abby and her future siblings I can't help but secretly think (don't tell Charlie) that I hope we have a girl next so that Abby can have a sister. I am so lucky to have had a sister like Kelsey growing up and I know that she has made me a better person (or at least tried, and never in a bossy way like me, but usually gently and by example) countless times. Kelsey is the most disciplined person I know and she has such an amazing capacity to try new things and make plans and see them through, no matter what anyone else thinks of the plan. I admire her strength, independence, kindness and humor so much and I know that I am truly lucky to have her as a friend and a sister. Happy Birthday Kelse! Here's to another 32 awesome years!

Six Glorious Months!

Abby turned 6 months old on Sunday and today she had her 6 month check up. She is happy, healthy and one of the most beautiful babies ever (I know, I know, I may be a tiny bit biased). Here are just a few things that I think you should know about my little Abigail Lillian:

1) She's not that little. She's in the 61st percentile for height and the 86th for weight. She also has a big head... 90th percentile!


Did somebody say big head?

2) She can move pretty far, fairly quickly, but it's not pretty. There's not a lot of leg involved in her crawl, it's pretty much all arms. She has started to experiment with getting up on her hands and knees so I think we are close. She is almost sitting up. I tried to get a picture today, but she'll be sitting fine and then topple over so I'll have to be quicker next time...


OMG! (Isn't that what the kids say?) Mom left her cell phone within arms reach!

3) She loves her exersaucer, books, Cece the binky kitty, Dotty the giraffe that's also a blankey, and anything she's not supposed to have like cell phones, beverages that are hot, and my glasses.



4) Abby LOVES Sammy - she only really laughs at Sammy.



5) So far she doesn't seem like a picky eater. She eats sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, bananas, prunes, apples and pears.


Give me more!

Abby and the Nanny

Today someone asked me if Abby was my baby. I know we don't look exactly alike, but come on?! Is it so bad that I might be the nanny? Since it is the Monday before my 32nd birthday, I am choosing to believe that this observant woman was really saying, there's no way a girl that young and in such great shape could have a baby! Right? The lighting at the Met Market checkout stand must perfectly hide gray hair and fine lines. Who knew?

Huskies Win!!

Although Abby hasn't been around for the losing streak, she was just as excited as the rest of us that the Huskies finally won!

Happy Friday

Don't you just love a baby in a bow?

Abby's Expressions

Really happy


So tired


Hmmm... let's think


Is yelling a facial expression? Well it happens a lot anyway : )


So determined!

She's making a lot more noise and I've also noticed some facial expressions starting to pop up over and over again. Here are a few that I've been able to catch with the camera.

Crawling update: She can only move VERY slowly and with a lot of effort, but she's getting better and it's starting to look more like a real crawl. She also gets up on her hands and knees fairly often, but so far no movement from that position.

Could these two be any cuter?

These two really light up my days. They love each other and we love them. I just hope Abby doesn't teach Sammy that sleeping is optional and Sammy doesn't teach Abby to bark/yell at everyone that passes by, maybe instead Abby will learn to sleep as much as Sammy and Sammy will learn to smile/wag her tail at everyone just like Abby! I hope that happens!

Go Huskies!

Abby wore her cheer leading outfit for the first time today. We will not be attending the game (thank goodness because Abby does not own a cute rainy weather cheer leading outfit and it's raining cats and dogs) but Dad will be there to cheer them on and make sure that there's at least one Malley fan there to say Go Huskies!

messy little monkey

Today Abby tried bananas and as Rachel Zoe would say, she is BAnanas for them. She was wearing a fancy new white shirt today that we received as a gift and would like to wear over and over again, so that's why she is nearly nude while eating bananas. It suited her just fine because she seemed to like smearing the bananas almost as much as eating them.

one more thing...

Today I was at Costco and took a chance on some frozen miso glazed black cod fillets, because I love, love, LOVE black cod. It was more than I usually spend on frozen fish, but like I said, I love black cod. Well let me tell you, we just ate some for dinner and it was AMAZING. I am going to buy them again and again.

I should also say that they do not require thawing, the directions explicit state, cook from frozen for 28-35 minutes. How much easier could they possibly make it?

PS - If I have you over for dinner and serve black cod, pretend you don't know that it was frozen just 30 minutes ago, okay?

We're a good team

Now that I'm home all day, I kind of think of Abby and Sammy as my co-workers. I don't know if I'm the boss, I kind of think that I'm the lowest 'man' on the totem pole, but with a team like this, does it even matter?


The boss, giving me a little constructive criticism...


Here's her standard, good job, everyone's happy face.


Sammy telling me, "Hey lady, don't tell me what to do, I'm on a break!"


Now she's ready for anything! Or really just ready for a walk...

Abby the Inch Worm

Guess who is now on the move? Abby. It's not pretty, but the girl can cover some ground. Fortunately for me she can't get anywhere quickly, but still, I think it might be time to babyproof.

So far she has sort of an army crawl where she drags her legs behind her and alternately a weird sort of worm crawl where she puts her butt in the air and pushes off with her feet while dragging her face along the floor. It's hard to watch, but she's determined, so if you move her she just tries it again.