Still Catching Up...Rodeo in January

A Family Tradition

Justin and I have been together for 11 years and we have made it to the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo every year except last year.  Well we had only left Malachi one time since he was born, and that was to go Christmas shopping and we were only gone for a few hours.  When the rodeo came around we thought it would be fun to go out on the town.

Mom and Dad came to the house and stayed with the baby so we could go out. 

We were so excited to go out just the two of us.  We went and had Margarita's and dinner at Mercado's.  It was amazing!!!  We made it an appoint to get to the rodeo early so we could look at the exhibits and walk around.

We love the wagon races and make silly little bets about who is going to win.  For some reason I want to think that I have won more than Justin but can't 100% say that for sure.  We found them in a barn and I had to sneak on one.

Because we need this???

We decided to walk over to the ride area and look around.  In the 11 years of us going I never knew there was a carnival type area.  For some reason, we always missed it.  ;) I think Justin planned that on purpose.  We were looking at all the fun things to do and were talking about how much fun it is going to be to bring Malachi.

On to the rodeo...

Shawn and Crissi came and met us for the actual rodeo.

This announcer has been there for as long as I can remember.  It wouldn't be the same without his voice.

Justin likes this type of cow.

We had a lot of fun and got to enjoy some time with just the two of us.  But nothing is better than coming home to your little bundle of joy.

Later on that month we went back to the rodeo with the in-laws and took Malachi.  I only took one picture because Malachi was not a happy camper.  He wanted nothing more than to be at home in his bed.  But here it is, Malachi's first trip to the rodeo.



Malachi's First Visit To A Park

While we were in Granbury we would meet Justin for lunch at a very lovely park off of the square.  It was very nice with a waterfall, a brook, water fountain, and lots of great trees.  This was Malachi's first trip to the park.  He loves being outside and seeing nature at its greatest.  Here are some pictures from that day.

Look at those B-E-A-UTIFUL blue eyes.  I am amazed that they are still blue.

Mid-sneeze

I think this day started a love in Malachi for the outside.  He loves being outside and observing.  He tries very hard to get down on the ground and move around.  I am going to be a very busy Momma when he learns to walk and run.  I just love the last couple of pictures of Justin and his Itsy-Bitsy!!

Way Behind...Living in the...

I have been trying to decide for a few months now if I wanted to continue this blog.  I am still not sure but thought I would update it.  We have been very busy the last several months. 

I quit my teaching job in early January because of two reasons:

1-I have always wanted to stay at home with my kids

2-Justin's job is in Granbury and we will be moving there permanently in a short period of time from now.

Justin is a CPA and everyone knows how busy tax season is for CPA's.  The last couple of tax seasons, I haven't seen him a lot, often times he wouldn't get home until after I went to bed and was gone again before I got up to get ready for work, and then would be in his office all day Saturday and a lot of the time on Sundays.  We decided this was not going to be OK this year, now that we have added Malachi to our family.  So I quit teaching to move to Granbury so we would see Justin a little more.

We moved in February and lived in what we affectionately referred to as the ghetto.

This is a 700sq ft 2 bedroom 1 bathroom quadroplex.  Yes that is right we moved two adults, a newborn (and all his stuff), and a 20lb beagle here!!

Now we have a three bedroom, 2 bathroom, pretty nice house that we are used to.  This was a big change for us, but we made it work and Malachi and Justin actually got to see each other.  If we had stayed in Keller, that would not have happened.  So all in all in was worth it.  We actually went back and forth between Keller and Granbury.  We would go up on Monday and come home on Friday.

While we were there Malachi and I went and looked for a permanent house for us.  I also discovered HEB!!  I loved that grocery store.  We were driving around looking at different housing additions and such.  Our ultimate dream would be to find some land and build our dream house over time, but with the market the way it is, it might be better to buy a house instead. 

Malachi and I found a great housing addition that we fell in love with.  The lots are at least an acre and it seems very quiet and relaxing.  We have found a house in there that we really love and could see ourselves living there.

Here are some other pictures from OUR ghetto before we moved in.  We could tell that who ever lived in it before us had a huge shedding dog.  So we took our carpet cleaner and cleaned the carpets and scrubbed it down.  I had to bring the carpet cleaner home and clean it.  A little strange I know but it was consumed with dog hair, and it was grossssssssss.

Kitchen

Living room, from the dining area

Malachi's room

Bathroom

Our room

The carpet cleaner

 Here are some pictures of what it looked like while we were there.  I kept myself busy by doing puzzles and scrapbooking.

After all that work I was missing a piece

A slug by the front door.  Justin threw it out the front door and the next morning I saw in by the street.

Malachi's room.  I didn't want to take his new furniture and take a chance of it getting messed up, so Mom and Dad let us borrow a crib from there church for him to sleep in while we were there.  It was a big help.

We slept on an air mattress while we were there.  By the end of our stay, we had to blow it up every night.  Apparently it had a slow leak that turned into a very fast one.

Molly didn't appreciate the other dog smells in the house.

The bathroom with three people using it.  We had to take Malachi's bathtub out every time we needed to shower.

The kitchen while in use.

The living room...we took one of our love seats and the rocking chair from Malachi's room.

After spending 2 1/2 months in the Ghetto, no one was more excited to be home than me...well I guess I should say Molly.  She missed her back yard, her smells, and her fence.

Here is a picture of Justin's truck on the day we moved home.



Malachi and Molly-Friends or Enemies????

Malachi and Molly

Molly is our almost 4 year old Beagle.  She has been the center of our attention since July of 2008.  Since Malachi was born, she isn't quite sure where her place is any more.  She is very used to getting to sleep on the couch with me and always being in my lap.  When I got pregnant, however, things changed drastically in her little world.  She was still sleeping on the couch with me, but was moved to the end of the couch instead of sleeping in front of me.  She wasn't allowed to sit on me anymore, because as you can see, she is pretty big and would end up standing on my belly.

After Malachi was born she did take a backseat and has been feeling left out.  But, when I try to play with her she will only play a few minutes and then doesn't want to continue.  However, when I sit in the floor to play with the baby or change his diaper she insists on getting in my lap as well.  She is extrememly jealous.

When we first brought him home, she really didn't have much to do with him, but would go and smell the area he was in after we had picked him up.  This is Molly getting her first official glimpse at Malachi.  

She was being very good and wasn't jumping up which is very unusual for her. She is constantly jumping up on us and other adults. We have tried to break her of this habit, but haven't yet succeeded. We weren't worried about her jumping on him, because she doesn't jump up on our nieces and nephews unless they are encouraging her. We have always hoped she would be good with kids, that is the main reason we got a Beagle.

Malachi isn't quite sure what to think about her either.  They are often caught starring each other down.  She has started going up to him and smelling his face and he has reached out for her several times.  He will laugh and smile at her when she comes close.  She has even let him pull on her ears and the wrinkles under her chin.  I have caught her several times standing up on her back legs trying to see him in his pack n play or crib.  I think deep down she likes him, but she would never admit it.  I think it is similar to me cleaning her ears.  She really likes it, but doesn't want to admit it!!!!

You can tell by the look on her face, that she isn't quite sure what to think of Malachi just yet.  We constantly tell her, that she will soon love this little guy and they are going to be great friends!!!  She looks at us like really???  It's kind of funny and I hope she continues to do well with him, as he begins to crawl, climb, and walk all over her!!!!