The Holway Family

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Roscoe's Haircut

For about a month now, Roscoe has been somewhat neglected, and unfortunately I have not been able to be around him because of his stinkiness. Today, I decided to give him a haircut and a bath. I can't justify spending money to take him in to get his haircut because they always call half way through for us to pick him up. This is because he apparently freaks out and bites them. I do not have that problem but it takes hours, and being pregnant trying to sit and contain a dog (while watching a two year old) was not my best idea of the week.

I'm sure Roscoe is thrilled not to have all this hair on him now that it's 90's and humid.

Yeah, it's not perfect, but honestly, it looks better than the groomers do (and I didn't make him bleed anywhere). His nails still need cut, but my back was done and so was he. Eric will have to do that one. The best part is he is short and I don't have to worry about cutting it again for a while (especially since the baby is coming soon).

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Garden Update: The Fungus and the Ground Hog

Well, it has been a few months now and I'm sure you've all been anxiously awaiting for an update on our garden. All our money and hard work finally started to pay off as we got our first strawberry.

After I ate that one slightly bitter strawberry, I woke up a week later to find this:

Apparently due to the unusual weather patterns and the rain, our strawberries were plagued with some type of rot due to fungus...sad day for us, and that one strawberry I ate ended up being the most anyone has probably ever paid for one strawberry.

As for the rest of the garden, here is what it looks like now, and for what reason you might ask...

Yep, that critter that has been living under our deck is a nice big ground hog. I feel like the TV has mislead me into thinking ground hogs were small and cute. This one, not so much. Apparently dogs are a predator, but I'm pretty sure this one could handle Roscoe if need be because he is 2.5 times his size. Apparently we'll be researching traps or calling an exterminator soon. I haven't been able to actually get a picture, but this is the closest one I can find.

On a positive note, the one plant I left because I didn't know what it was has now turned into this.

Hopefully our tomatoes pull through for us, since nothing else is in our favor at the moment.

Memorial Day Parade?

Parade: An organized public procession on a festive or ceremonial occasion.

Apparently there should be a specified length to the definition of parade as I was very mislead into what I was getting Mallory worked up for this weekend.

Since our 3 day weekend was full of trying to get caught up on school work, I thought I would drive Mallory across town while it was my turn to watch her to the one of two parades I could find in the area. It took about 20 minutes to get there, and 10 minutes to unload the car, get her in the stroller, and walk there (yes, I probably am at a waddle pace now). Then we waited about five minutes for the parade to start.

First we saw the troops with the flag.

This.

And this guy randomly who drove by, stopped and made me take a picture...is this someone important I should have been excited to have a picture of? I just thought it was a little creepy.

Then the high school band.

Then there were a bunch of people on bicycles and an ambulance (which I didn't get a picture of because I was in shock that we had now seen the whole parade). I'm pretty sure it lasted maybe 5 minutes.

Mallory was very disappointed because she was expecting lots of candy and horses and all she got was one tootsie roll and well, you saw the rest.

She wasn't actually sleeping in the picture below, but I wouldn't blame her if she was. I was honestly surprised they would actually advertise this as a parade. There were a lot of people there and I can't imagine Mallory was the only disappointed child.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Princess, The Male Betta Fish

Today Mallory and I went to the pet store to get a fish. She picked out the blue and red fish. We went with the male because they are bigger and look nicer. She saw the turtle and just had to have it too. So we gathered everything and went home to create his new living space.

All ready to put everything in.

Testing the temperature of the water.

She did a great job pouring in the rocks.

And the bamboo.

She was sad to put the turtle in there.

Our new fish and his home.

And last I asked her what his name was....and she said "Princess." That's a unisex name, right? Hopefully he makes it through the night because she was crying when we had to say goodnight to him.

Friday, May 28, 2010

33 weeks!

So I missed the 32 weeks blog, but I had an appointment today and things are still going well. I have gained 24 lbs, so I have only gained a pound in the last 3 weeks. Nothing has changed in my diet or activity level so I'm not really sure why the weight gain has slowed, but my feet and back appreciate it.

Five weeks ago I was 37.5 inches around and now I am 39.5 inches around. I don't know the normal rate of growth because I didn't do that measurement with Mallory, but at least I can quantify that I am indeed growing further out.

My fundal height was 34 inches. It was always measuring a week behind and today it was measuring a week ahead. I am hoping that is not indicative of how fast this baby is growing since his ultrasound already had him 2 weeks ahead!

My uterus is as far up as it can go so he said at this point the only way for him to grow is out.

After the doctor took all the measurements he turned around and laughed and said, "Wow, you really don't swell" as if he had never seen a pregnant lady not swollen at this point. Apparently it's abnormal to not swell. I don't know why I dont, but I'm not going to complain!

Sleepwalking and Talking

For the past 8 months or so Mallory has always woken up a little bit out of it and asked for a snack. So we always go downstairs, get a snack, and bring her back to bed. She doesn't eat it, just holds it and goes back to sleep. If we didn't do this, it turned into an all out break down and then we'd be up for hours. I have always wondered if she was really awake during all of this and after talking with her teachers today, I am convinced she isn't.

Yesterday at school, her note said she got up in the middle of her nap, went to her friends cot and said a bunch of jumble, and went back to her cot and went right back to sleep. I talked with them this morning and apparently it happens often. Sometimes she'll get a book and go back and sometimes she'll sit at the table for a minute and go back to her cot to sleep. She has never done this at home so I'm hoping it's a phase and that it doesn't progress further than what it is now. Just something I thought I'd document for her to remember.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Natalies' 1st Birthday

This past weekend we drove up to Columbus to stay with Dan and Lisa for Natalie's first birthday party. Looking back on the weekend, I'm sure we will remember this for years to come. Lisa threw a great party, but the rest of the cards for the weekend were not stacked in our favor. Here is about how it went:

1) Within five minutes, I was reading Mallory a book on the floor and I felt this warm/wet sensation on my leg. I thought it was just my sciatic nerve acting up from the pregnancy, but nope, it was Mallory peeing on my leg. I have no idea how that happened - she had a diaper on. This should have been our first sign that our weekend wasn't going to end up as planned.

2) Friday night we headed to bed around 10 because Mallory had fallen asleep on the drive up there and within 20 minutes of her being asleep she was drenched in sweat and had a fever. I'm pretty sure we only slept maybe a total of 2 hours between all the interruptions of her waking up. She was so out of it from being tired and not feeling well she was crying all night and kicking back and forth not making any sense. We felt awful that now we had brought Natalie more than just a present for her birthday but also a bunch of germs - and we probably kept her up all night from the crying.

3) Saturday Mallory was feeling much better but she had two exhausted parents. You would think after a night of not sleeping she'd have a long nap. Wrong again. A short 15 minute nap led to an afternoon nap at 3pm - which is of course right when the party started. So Mallory and I spent the first hour of the party in the other room.

4) While laying on the couch, I get a call from a number I didn't recognize, only to find out Roscoe had gotten out and was down the street at their neighbors house. I did find humor in the fact they looked up area code 719 (which is Colorado) and were quite confused at how this dog had gotten so far from home.

4) After being reminded for weeks to bring the cake topper and cake icing tool, you'd think I'd remember. Nope. So we had to wing it a bit with the cake (which I thought turned out quite yummy). Unfortunately I also forgot the camera battery charger, so I had to use Lisa's camera to get the few pictures I could.

5) Upon Natalie opening what I thought were toddler crayons/markers, we find out it's paint. What a mess! (pictures below). Luckily I found the crayons today so I will be sending those their way soon.

6)Since Mallory had a great day, I was fooled into thinking it would be a great night. Wrong again. This time she was up all night, but with no fever. I have no idea why and whoever thought that it would be fun to screw with our sleep for a few nights in the middle of the few weeks we need it the most is just plain evil. I couldn't even nurse her because I would start getting contractions and the last thing I needed was to go into labor. The next day, again, she did not settle in for a nap until our drive home at 3:30 so we couldn't even nap when she did, and since it was a late nap, she was up until 10:30 with two exhausted parents.

Despite everything that went wrong, the party turned out great. Here are few pictures to sum it up (and hopefully the germs don't stick around).

Natalie reading her card.

The cake (and yes, I realize I did not get the 1 perfectly centered).

Blowing out the candle.

Not sure what to do with it.

All over the hands (and Lisa shortly after).

Opening gifts.

The best present for a 1 year old (the wrapping).

Mallory loved this (and she got really fast at it).

Sitting under Dad reading all Natalie's new books.

The worst present ever (read above). She had the red paint and looked like she was bleeding from the mouth.

They were so upset when we realized how messy it was and took it away.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

31 Weeks!

Things are going well and we had our mandatory orientation class at the hospital today. This was in the natural birthing center so the class was full of quite the group of people (some of which you could tell were clearly in the wrong place). Some asked if they could wear a swimsuit during their water birth. Seriously??? You think you'll care at that point? And how are you planning to get the baby out? One of the Dad's even asked if it would be too uncomfortable for him being so tall to be in the tub too. Really? He is already concerned with his comfort instead of hers.

We also found out that I only have to be 37 weeks to deliver there instead of 38 weeks, so as long as I deliver after June 20 we are good to go!

Here are a few Maternity/Family photos we had taken by Jenny Haas photography.

Here are the flowers Eric got me for Mother's Day. The first set came dead so they sent us replacements. The next morning all were dead except this one in the middle. Not really sure what happened but they were really pretty for a day.

Achoo!

Every time Mallory laughs too much she gets the hiccups. Here she was laughing because we were making pretend sneezes.

Mallory's Boo-boo

Tonight after dinner, Mallory was running up the driveway with her smoothie from Grater's in her hand and she fell. It was a very dramatic moment and she was very concerned about getting a BandAid.