My Crazy Child Continued/My Teaching Debut/Halloween

Here is Mallory spinning on the bars at Bailey's birthday party! Olivia, Mallory's other cousin took this picture and she just sent it to me! I love it!!! Mallory made Charles spin her on this thing a MILLION times! She had way too much fun. It looks pretty dangerous, but Mallory sort of lives for danger. I think Danger should have been her middle name.


I'm also teaching actual sixth graders this week. It is so much fun! They are really great kids that I'm teaching. I am teaching multiplying and dividing fractions!!! It is tough, but if I can teach this stuff, I think I may make it as a middle school math teacher. I wrote my name on the blackboard the first day of class and it was kind of a surreal moment for me! I felt like a real teacher. The next morning one student walked in and she said "Hi Mrs. Walker!" I was just so touched that she even remembered my name, let alone was happy to see me! The kids are so funny and keep me laughing. They are definitely never short for words.

I gave them homework last night to find a recipe in their house and to multiply it by 2/3 and divide it by 3/4... (only half of them actually did it). They just wanted to bake it and bring it into class! Friday, I'm going to let them bring in their food and we'll have a party after they get done with their test. We'll see how that goes...

Here's a picture of my first day teaching! I look a little frumpy due to my coat but I was COLD! Mom also made fun of my socks, but I don't like my feet getting cold.
(I get a name badge... pretty sweet!)

I also forgot to upload Halloween photos! Mallory was going to be Zoe from Sesame Street, but we decided that she was NOT going to keep a hat on her head so she went as SUPER MALLORY!

Of course Grandma made the costume!
We went Trunk or Treating with Mallory's cousins Bailey and Carly. Mallory carried that candy holder in her mouth and walked around like that. It was adorable!
She looks so precious here!
She carried her own candy the whole time! People were amazed that when they gave her a piece of candy she politely put it in her bucket and asked for another! She's a champion trick or treater!

My Crazy Child

Mallory is nuts! I know I have said this a thousand times, but I have never met a baby like her! She is sassy, spunky, silly, and FAST! She has to run everywhere. It's not even really a jog, it's a sprint! She likes to do things herself and helps out because that's what big girls do. She loves to read and will ONLY sit in your lap if you have a book in your hand.

I went to pick Mallory up at daycare the other day, and as soon as I walked in, she took off to the ladder on the wall and climbed that thing like a little monkey! I think she would have climbed to the ceiling if it went that high.

Oh yeah, she also does a back bend on this thing too.

Mallory's cousins Bailey and Carly are both gymnasts. At the beginning of October, we went to Carly's 5th birthday party at the gym. Mallory played in the baby area, but didn't really know what was going on. Bailey's 8th birthday was just this past weekend so Mallory really had a ball this time! She loved walking across the balance beam... with mommy and daddy's help of course.

She loved crawling through this tunnel!

I wish we would have gotten a picture of Mallory on the bars! She saw a big girl do a flip on the bar... so of course Mal wants to give it a whirl! We told Mal to grab the bar, which she did, and me and Charles grabbed her feet and flipped her over the bar while she held on like a real gymnast! She loved it and made her daddy flip her about 10 times while we were there. She had the best night sleep that night!!! (:

I know Bailey and Carly are little, but they are already hardcore gymnasts! They have a beam and bar at their house with plenty of mats. We went to their house after both parties and they just had to show us all of their routines. Their mom says that they love it so much they will come home after practice and do gymnastics until they go to bed. It's really incredible all the things they can do already. When they were showing us their routines, Mallory cheered for them and even tried doing some of the stuff they did! She laid on the ground and rolled around thinking she was tumbling! It was too cute!

There is a gymnastics place on the way home from the daycare that enrolls babies at 18 months, and I think Mallory would just love to go! I'm thinking it's going to be a great Christmas present since she will be 18 months at the end of December!

Mallory takes on Chuck E. Cheese!

The other day Mallory and I went to Chuck E. Cheese. She was absolutely crazy and was jumping on the couch and running around the house getting into everything! I decided she needed to go somewhere she could run and get all that energy out... so we went to see Chuck! I had a ton of coins that I hadn't used yet and Ryan's fiance is a manager there so we got to eat free pizza! We didn't spend a dime! It was great. We spent about 2 hours there.

She carried her own tickets

Cashing in our tickets for some prizes


Riding the carousel

Mallory and her Uncle Ryan in the sky tubes... he's a great uncle!

This one is for Aunt Bertha!

Giving Cuck a high five

OCTOBER!

A lot has happened since my last post. This semester is really difficult for me to find any time to do anything other than study, take care of Mal, clean, and sometimes relax a little. Today we had tornado warnings so my professor canceled class. I thought this was a great time to fill everyone in and post a few pictures.

Mallory has really become quite the character. She is the smallest in her daycare class, but has the biggest voice! She loves to play with the other kids. She is getting a little sassier, but I guess she just takes after me. She is really good at saying "NO!" She has a special little cubby she sleeps in at daycare during nap time. Her teacher said she gets distracted and won't go to sleep if she is out in the open with the other kids. I had her take a picture of her at nap time for me. It's so precious!


She absolutely loves pretending she can do big girl stuff. She always takes my Dr. Peppers from the fridge and pretends to drink them. It is really funny!

She carries my Dr. Pepper out to the car before school

She also enjoys helping me by putting things away, taking stuff to other people, and carrying things for me. She sits in my computer chair and giggles when she bangs on the computer. She also loves to push her babies around in her baby stroller. She likes to help my dad pick up walnuts in his backyard, and has to see the chickens every time she goes over to their house!

We went to get pumpkins from a pumpkin patch this year. We went to Honeysuckle Hill Farms. Mallory picked out her own pumpkin and got to pet all kinds of farm animals. We didn't stay very long because it was just so hot and she was getting tired, but it was really fun! We're going to wait until she is a little older and can enjoy it better to take her to another pumpkin patch.

Here is Mallory's signature smile!

Mallory is trying to be a big helper!

We carved the pumpkins yesterday and Mallory helped pick out the seeds so my dad could roast them in the oven. She was actually really good at it and didn't seem to mind the pumpkin goo. She carried the bowl of seeds around like it was her job to collect the seeds from us. She was too funny!

We took pretty fall pictures this weekend.

She just had to have that Cheezit!

She pushes her wheel barrow around the yard pretending she's doing yard work. She is always doing something!

Back to School

I bought Mallory a new Austin Peay t-shirt and sweatshirt just like mine yesterday when we took a trip to the APSU bookstore. I had 2 books I still needed to buy, so Mallory took her first trip on the campus with me. It felt weird pushing her stroller on campus, because when I go there I always feel like your everyday average college student. People are always so surprised to learn that I have a baby! Normally, I have classes with non-traditional students who are older women going back to college for their teaching degrees after having families. So I call myself the most non-traditional, traditional college student I know!

Back to Mallory: Mallory wore her new t-shirt to daycare today and she looked super cute in it! What a SHOCK! She packed my backpack for me, read a few of my books, and even practiced running sprints in the house for the track team. I really think she is ready for college already!


My mother has been urging me to cut her bangs lately. I have been trying to let them grow out, but they are always in her face! She pulls her little pony tails out all the time, and is not allowed to have clips at daycare, because they are a choking hazard. My mom, aunt LuLu, aunt Lynne, and Grandma Linda all vote for her bangs to be cut. I may just cut them to appease them. She looks like an orphan child as well.

Here she is pulling her hair tie out for the millionth time.

Some fun things Mallory is doing:

• She's starting to eat with a fork.
• She listens very well and follows instructions.
• She puts her toys away after playing with them.
• She loves dancing!
• She still loves boys!
• She loves loves loves animals! She got so excited because she saw baby sea turtles on the tv.
• She likes looking at herself on the camera or video camera.

End of summer

Mallory ate with a fork yesterday, because she really thinks she is a big girl. First, I took her clothes off of her, because I knew things were about to get messy! I was feeding her with her baby fork, but she pulled it out of my hands and started poking her noodles and chicken. Sometimes she would actually get a noodle on there! She did get a little frustrated, so she cheated and used her fingers.


We went to my dad's school for a family dinner this weekend. They had blow up bouncers for the kids to play in so it was really cool. Mallory got in and had a BLAST! I will definitely rent one for her birthday next year! We have a place called The Jump Zone (kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese) in our area that has a ton of blow up bouncers, so on a rainy cold day this winter we will have to go!


She also climbed up and went down a slide with her grandpa.


School started for me today. I am taking 18 hours this semester so it will be a rough ride! I took 3 five week classes at the same time this summer and made two A's and one B so I think I will do alright. I have two classes a week that don't get out until 7:30 pm so it will be hard not being able to see Mallory all day.

Charles picked Mallory up from daycare today, and he was pretty clueless. He's never picked her up before so I had to explain step by step what to do. He did okay I guess, because Mallory was here when I got home. He texted me in class while it was just him and Mal at the house, and all it said was "SAVE ME"!! It was so funny I literally laughed out loud! I hurried home and as soon as I walked through the door, Mallory's jaw dropped and she ran with open arms to hug me! It is such a blessing to come home to someone like that! Charles was super excited I was home too! (:

Nashville Zoo

Today was Mallory's first visit to the zoo. It was super hot, but super fun! Lynne gave me her zoo membership card so Charles, Mallory, and I got in FREE!! We didn't get to the zoo until 3:00, because Mallory had to nap first, but we saw almost everything. We walked around the jungle loop first, but it was under construction so we had to backtrack about 30 miles... not fun. After we sweated for an hour, we went into the amphibian and reptile building, where it was air conditioned, to regroup. It was actually really fun, because Mallory really liked looking at the fish. This huge cat fish swam right up to her and scared her and made her cry. It was sad, but cute.

After that, we went to the petting zoo where all the fun began! She LOVES animals! She was having the best time of her life petting those goats! There were a couple with huge horns that scared me a little bit, but they were all really nice.

This one goat stood by this bucket full of brushes so that people would brush him. I thought he was the smartest goat.
This other goat followed Charles around, and they became friends.
Mallory really liked the little pygmy goats. I think I would actually get her one if she ever used this face on me again:
After we left the petting zoo, we headed over to the gift shop where Mallory got a t-shirt that says "My first trip to the Zoo". It's really cute. She also got a magnet with Meerkats on it, because she loved the Meerkats!
We went to the huge Jungle Gym and played a little bit after the gift shop. Me and Mallory went on the bridge to take a picture, but she really wanted to go on a slide. It is HUGE by the way! This little boy showed me where the big slide was. I had no idea how long it was going to be or else I would have skipped it. Mallory was pretty terrified the entire way down, because it was pitch black. I had to carry her out when we left, because she would take off running back inside the zoo! She LOVED the zoo so we will definitely be back!

Mallory news

I created Mallory an art portfolio today. I'm collecting all her artwork she does at daycare, and separating them by month so we can see her progression. Maybe she'll be a famous artist someday and her very first artwork will be worth millions... (:

She is becoming more and more independent! She runs off when we go shopping and only sits in the stroller for so long. I need to get her a baby leash so she doesn't run too far from me! We went to Nashville yesterday to buy my bridesmaid dress for Kasey's wedding, and she did really good at the beginning of the shopping trip. We went to the Green Hills mall where they had a Lucky Kids store... (I always said even before I got pregnant that my child would have clothes from there and we would match) well they closed that store so now my dreams have been crushed!! Oh well. Mallory got hungry at the end of our shopping trip so we were feeding her goldfish, but she really wanted the good stuff! We stopped at McDonald's on the way home, and got a grilled chicken sandwich so it wasn't too unhealthy and fed her the baby food I packed for her.

She fell asleep not too long after we left and woke up as we were pulling in the driveway. I have never met anyone so happy to wake up before! I wish I could be that happy about waking up! I put her pj's on and put her to bed. She didn't wake up until 8 this morning so that was nice! I gave her a bath, fed her breakfast, watched Sesame Street, and then went to daycare. She didn't even cry when I left! I was so proud! (:

Mallory really wants to do all the things I do! When I sweep, she will grab my broom and sweep with me. Lynne bought Mallory a baby vacuum cleaner just like mine. It's a Hoover Wind Tunnel! It even has a little bag that catches the dirt! I can't figure out how to get it working, but I did get it to make noise. She thinks she is big stuff with that little vacuum!

Introduction

This is my very first post on this blog! Yay! I'm not sure how all this works yet, but I will get the hang of it. I always keep up to date with my facebook, but not all my family members have a facebook so I thought this would be a nice way to keep everyone up to date with our lives. Mallory is changing so much so blogging is a great way to inform everyone of the exciting things that are happening to us!

Today was Mallory's 12 month well baby check-up. I was a little late when I scheduled the appointment so we just now went! Mom went with me, which was great, because I was chasing Mallory all over the waiting room! She was a crazy child in the exam room too. Not too much of a shocker there! I swear I have never met a child as active as she is! Everything regarding development looked good. She had an ear infection which surprised me, because she didn't show any symptoms of having one. The doctor said that we could wait it out if it was a viral infection or get antibiotics. I was going to let it run its course, but a few hours later, she was super fussy and wouldn't eat anything so I called to get the antibiotics. I hope they make her feel better, because I hate it when she doesn't feel good!

Mallory also has a boyfriend at daycare. His name is Noah. He is a cute little chunker and is a month older than she is. The teachers told me that they have to separate them during snack time, because they kiss the whole time and don't eat! When Mallory was in the infant room, I remember they would always crawl to each other and play. I just hope she isn't this boy crazy her whole life. She will give Charles a heart attack!! (:

Some fun things that Mallory's doing now:

• She waves bye bye to everyone
• She is starting to blow kisses
• She kisses everything and everyone!
• She loves to hug and rock dolls
• She dances when music is played
• She likes brushing her teeth
• She can have her hair french braided!
  
• SHE LOVES BOYS!!!!

This is a picture of Mallory at her birthday party. I just love editing pictures!