Merry Christmas

One of my favorite Christmas songs

LABOR OF LOVE

It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love

Malko Family Update

My poor, long neglected blog readers... haha. I have been terrible at posting. This pregnancy has been much harder than my first, and I simply have let myself take it easy these past couple of months - well as easy as you can with a 2 year old running around! We are getting so excited for the arrival of our sweet baby girl, Camille Elizabeth! We have a C-section scheduled for December 28th, three weeks from today! This pregnancy has FLOWN by, in a way I am so ready to not be pregnant, but I also know there will be new challenges to face having 2 little ones that I do not even foresee coming, not counting all the sleep deprivation, the adjusting to sharing parents for Anderson, and all the other life changes coming our way! I have been loving on my sweet little man so much extra lately - knowing that I won't be able to give him all of me all the time in just a few short weeks! I have also been praying so much for his sweet little heart to adjust well, to love his baby sister, and to still feel just as loved from his mommy and daddy! He is such a joy!

Speaking of Anderson - he is seriously so grown up! It amazes me so often the things he says and does and how much understanding he has! He talks so well and his vocabulary is nearly limitless. Some of my favorite things he has said lately are "I'm sowwy daddy" to which Jon replied "why are you sorry buddy" and Anderson said "betause Anerson yocked daddy in Anerson's yooom" - Anderson had just left the room for a minute and shut the door behind him but I have been telling him lately that it is not polite to close the door on people. So he took it upon himself to apologize. He also LOVES to sing "Wheels on the bus" and sometimes at naptime or bedtime we hear him singing it to himself to help him fall asleep. Anderson also knows all of his ABC's and he sings it ALL the time. The cutest part is at the end he says, "now I know my W, X Y, Z's" instead of now I know my ABC's. haha it is so precious. He can count to 15 without any help and is pretty close to getting all the way to 20. He is so smart. He also loves to draw - we spread out a big piece of paper on the dining room table and he makes works of art! I love to hear him tell me what he is drawing. He can also recognize so many shapes - circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, diamonds, stars and we are now working on octagon since that is the shape of a stop sign. Another favorite past time is arranging items - like dominos or coins in the shape of cars, airplanes, trains, etc. He is such a little builder. He also like to build towers out of stuff and then knock it over. He has the sweetest conversations with me and often will just come up to me and hug me or rub my face in the most gentle way. The other day he rubbed my hair and said "you so seeet mommy" (you're so sweet). He has such a tender heart. I could just go on and on about what a blessing it is to be his mom and how proud I am to have him as my son.

Jon is doing great! He is such a hard worker and great provider for our family - both with our physical needs and our emotional ones as well. His job has freed him up to spend so much quality time with us, and we love having him work from home. We get to have lunch as a family most days, and he has been such a help to me as I am getting so close to the end of this pregnancy and need help with little things - like tying my shoes haha! He is such a wonderful daddy and I cannot wait to see him holding and loving on our baby girl!

We recently had family pictures done...I have been terrible about taking any pregnancy pictures - so these are basically it!  I will leave you with our favorite pictures below!

 

 

 

 



2 years old!

Our Big 2 year old - waking up to his morning Birthday Balloons - he loves this tradition and had fun swimming in a sea of balloons when he woke up!

 On September 29th We were so excited to celebrate Anderson's 2nd Birthday with a day full of Fire Truck celebrations! He is such a sweet, smart, loving little guy. It is such a gift that the Lord has entrusted him to us! He loves cars and trucks, mowing the grass, and playing outside. He can recognize more than half of the letters in the alphabet and tell words that they start with, like "A" Anderson, "O" outside, "M" momma, etc... He can also count to 10 - and he does it really quickly - it is so cute. He talks so well and says things all the time that surprise us. He is so smart at figuring things out and has even tried to work a deal with us a time or two - "Anderson eat peas, Anderson get M&M's" - haha. We have laughed more in these past 2 years than we ever could have imagined. We have also gone through seasons of sleep deprivation, re-learning how to do everything, more prayer, more trusting the Lord, and more hope for our future than ever before! Children are truly a blessing from the Lord!

Started the morning off with Donuts! Anderson's favorite.

Then we took Anderson to the fire station to see REAL fire trucks - here he is with his daddy!

Anderson was shy around the firemen but he loved the engines!

All of us together

Party decorations

For weeks Anderson talked about having a fire truck chocolate cake. He was thrilled.

I love how excited he looks.

We just had a small family party, but we had to invite the Laing family since he and Liam are such sweet buddies. They are excited about something!

Sweet friends

Anderson's Pap playing with his new tool bench

Aunt LoLo pleaying with his new leaf blower.

Anderson got so many great gifts - TOO many!

He also got a Big Boy bed!! He has transitioned so well with sleeping in it. We are so thankful for that blessing!

I also cannot forget to add that after 2 mornings of making up his bed first thing, Anderson decided on Morning 3 to take it upon himself to start making his bed up the moment he woke up! It was so cute! I walked in the room and he started standing up his bed pillows and saying "Aersin do it" (Anderson do it). Gotta love my sweet little OCD boy - I seriously cannot complain because he has to be the cleanest, tidiest 2 year old that ever lived!

Gender Reveal

We had so much fun celebrating Malko Baby #2 last night with our family!

Here are some pictures of the celebration!

Team BOWS

Team MUSTACHE

It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!

We cannot WAIT to meet

CAMILLE ELIZABETH MALKO

Sometime right after Christmas!

Our CRAZY, TOUGH, HIPSTER son

Our CRAZY, TOUGH, HIPSTER son.

Anderson had his 2nd professional haircut this week at Derby City Chop Shop.

This time was much more successful than the first, NO TEARS!

For being so TOUGH, Anderson's barber gave him this awesome temporary tattoo.

He LOVED it!

And I have pictures to prove how TOUGH it made him feel!

HaHa...

Anderson at the Zoo, and Baby #2

Summer has been HOT, but we have been trying to enjoy the sunshine as much as possible! Anderson would never come inside if it was up to him, and even on days when it is too hot for me, the best daddy in the world makes sure to let him have a little time to run off some energy in the neighborhood! Here are a few pictures from a trip the 3 of us took to the zoo this past week.

Anderson hanging with the Gorilla

Anderson and his daddy - this is Anderson's "happy face", which I am crazy about!

He has a little ways to go to be as big as the gorilla - notice the melt your heart happy face!

Right now we are 17 weeks pregnant (18 weeks on Friday) and feeling good. The baby bump is definitely showing more than with Anderson. I will have to get some pictures up soon. We get to go next Friday - August the 10th - to see another ultrasound and to find our the gender of baby Malko #2! I seriously cannot wait. We will be keeping the results a secret for one whole week - which I am nervous about! I hope I can hold out for that long. Jon's mom and grandfather will be visiting us the following weekend so we have decided to do a small "gender reveal" party with all of our family that is here that weekend. So look for the news around the 17th!

 Everything seems to be going great with this pregnancy, but it has honestly been completely opposite from my pregnancy with Anderson. I was never sick, not even one day with Anderson, but with the pregnancy I have experienced quite a bit of sickness. I also craved orange juice and other acidic things with Anderson, but with this pregnancy I have craved spicy and salty foods. I also am a lot more tired this pregnancy, but that could be that I spend my days chasing a toddler and not manning a desk at the Southern Seminary! We are looking so forward to growing our family by 1, but are also nervous about all of the changes coming our way - and more specifically coming Anderson's way! We have been spending our time loving on that little man as much as possible knowing he will be sharing us sooner than he could expect!

Quick update

Just thought I would give a quick blog update! It seems to be awhile between my posts these days. I blame it on the fact that I no longer have a computer, just an ipad and it is not easy to post from an ipad. But anyways...

Anderson is 20 months old now! I simply cannot believe that in 4 short months he will be 2! Crazy! He talks like crazy and I am fairly certain that there is not any word that he is unable to say! He can basically repeat anything that he is in the mood to say, which make a vocabulary count impossible! Among my favorites are "chime" (he repeats this in unison with our home alarm each time we disarm it - and laughs at himself - haha) "choo choo", "Anderson" which sounds more like An-ner-sin, ""night night","milk" which sounds more like Mulk, and "Chock" which means chocolate - and he is obsessed with chocolate. He thinks about it first thing in the morning when he wakes up - and we have rarely even given it to him. It seems like ever since Easter he has LOVED "chock". He also has started using sentences. Last night he wanted Jon to lift him up so he said "up high dad" and he has started to give everything ownership - "dada's shoes", "momma's cup" (which he says pup instead of cup). He also is starting to know the songs we sing to him. I will sing and leave out words and he will fill in the missing word. His favorite is to say "STRONG" in the Jesus loves me song! He also loves to sing Old McDonald and fill in the animals and animal sounds. Sometimes he says animals I didn't even know he knew! Yesterday he said "Chicken" and "bock bock" which i have told him a million times but he had never said it! Crazy how fast they learn! He has also started laughing at things he sees on tv and saying "Oh NO" when say cars crash on tv. He is so fun and such a joy. I feel like every day it is more of a blessing to be his parents!

Jon's business is going great! He is such a hard worker and I am so blessed to be married to such a self motivated, hard working, selfless man. And I appreciate so much that as hard of a worker that he is, he truly does put his family first! We have had so much fun together lately now that Anderson is a little older and it is so sweet to watch Anderson and Jon form sweet traditions together - like mowing the grass, and walking to 7/11 to get a "fresh" (haha) chocolate chip cookie. Jon is also going on a mission trip to Boston with Sojourn at the end of this month. He will be doing some video work along with getting to minister to families in the community where they will be serving. We are so blessed for him to have this opportunity, but boy will we miss him being gone for a whole week - it is the longest we will have ever been apart! Crazy!

I am doing great too! Working 1 day a week at Joseph's and spending the rest of my days with Little Man! I am also starting to teach a class this week at Sojourn. It is a 5 week study called "Methods" that teaches women to study God's word on their own using the method of Observation, Interpretation and Application. I am excited and a little nervous about it! I really look forward to getting to know some ladies better as we study God's word together!

We are loving life and looking forward to what the Lord has in store for our family!

18 Month Stats

We had Anderson's 8 month doctor appointment on Tuesday. I was anxious to see how he has grown since it had been 6 months since his last appointment. Here is the comparison:

12 months:
Weight- 19lbs 10oz (10th percentile)
Height- 29 3/4 inches long (between the 25th and 50th percentile)

18 months:
Weight- 23lbs 4oz (between 10th and 25th percentile)
Height- 33 1/4 inches (75th percentile)

So we have had a big growth spurt, especially in height!

He is now wearing 18-24 month clothes and is in a size 3 diaper!

We love our little slim Jim :)

In other news, we are heading to Fort Myers this coming Monday, the 16th through the 26th. We are so excited to have this vacation coming, to visit family and friends and to have some time together to relax. Anderson has grown so much since Christmas and we are really glad for his Florida family to get to see what a big boy he is becoming. We also are so excited to get to see so many of our sweet friends in Fort Myers and Naples, and to visit with Will, Alyssa, Liam, and baby Penelope (who will be born this summer) in Arcadia for a few days!

I will be sure to post some pictures from our trip when we get home!

18 Months Old

I seriously cannot believe that my son is 18 months old! He has transformed right before my eyes from this tiny, helpless baby into this smart, capable little boy! There is no greater joy than being his momma and watching him grow and learn and kissing on those sweet cheeks! The Lord is so gracious to give us children, not only for our own sanctification, but also for a small taste of his overwhelming love for us!

We have Anderson's 18 month check up on April 10th so I will post his stats then, but for now....

Here are a few of Anderson's favorite things:
- His dog (or doe-ga as he says it)
- Cows - he loves cows and asks daily to watch videos of cows on youtube. He also has a very enthusiastic "Mooooo" in his vocabulary.
- Motorized vehicles - he is obsessed with cars, trucks, airplanes, motorcycles, and anything else that goes "bbbrrrrmmmmmm". The garbage truck is a particular favorite. We watch it every week!
- Mowing the lawn - I guess this sort of goes along with the last one but he has a special love for mowing. When we go on walks we always take the path that passes the nearest mower. Anderson also loves to beautify our neighborhood with his bubble mower, and help daddy when our yard gets mowed!
- Goofiness - nothing makes Anderson laugh more than a silly face or someone falling or dropping something. He loves when we talk in silly voices or sing crazy songs. He has a class clown personality... We are really going to have to learn how to choose wisely when silly is ok and when it is not. But right now it makes life so fun!
- Thomas the Train
- Being outside - so thankful for this early spring!
- Watching other kids - when we go to the zoo Anderson prefers to watch the other kids instead of the animals!

These are just a few of the things we are loving these days! His favorite foods are peanut butter, yogurt, sweet potatoes, and macaroni and cheese! He is also a really big talker! I was writing down all the words he says in his baby book and I thought of 48!!! Some of my personal favorites are "po-bo" which means peanut butter, "zuessss" which is shoes, "bau-bols" (bubbles), and when you ask him what a pirate says he enthusiastically says "Aaarggg" with a deep scratchy voice! I laugh every time!

Another thing that Anderson loves to do is use the word "up" and "down". He does it all the time either by squatting and standing straight over and over saying "up, down, up, down" or with his toys lifting them up and down! I think he is so smart :)

He is such a little bundle of joy! But I will go ahead and admit, I may have a little baby fever now that he seems like such a little boy! But I just love him so much I can't imagine loving another one! Of course I know I could, it is just so hard to imagine!

But for now we are loving life as a family of 3! And I am one blessed lady with a precious son and wonderful husband who is an amazing daddy to that little man!!!!

Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

6 months in pictures

The last time that I blogged was Anderson's first birthday, and at the end of this month he will be 18 months old, so needless to say I am WAYYY behind! So starting with October I have posted some pictures all the way up until today (not a ton just- just the big stuff). We are all well in the Malko family, but 2012 has brought about some BIG changes. Among the biggest, Jon stepped down from his position at Highview to pursue his own business. The whole process brought about a big transition for all of us, but after much prayer and seeking we knew that this was what was best for our family. The Lord has truly blessed us through this process and given us so much confirmation that this was the right choice. Jon's business is going so well, and it has freed our family up from some stress and allowed us to spend so much more time together! Another major change is that we have become members of Sojourn Church here in Louisville. This was another tough decision for our family since we really do love Highview and the church body there have ministered to our family in so many ways. We prayed through this decision for a while. We live quite a way away from Highview and Sojourn is just about 3 minutes from our house. We really felt that distance was hindering our community and involvement so much. After visiting Sojourn, talking with some of their staff and finding a community group that we were excited about we knew that this was the direction that the Lord was leading our family. We officially became members about 2 weeks ago. We feel so blessed to be apart of the Sojourn community and are excited about the opportunities to serve that the Lord has in store for us.

Anderson is getting sooo big, but I think I will wait to post all the new things he is doing until he is officially 18 months old!

And with no further delay, PICTURES!

For Halloween Anderson was a Spider. I made his costume and he LOVED wearing it! He even wore the hat the whole time without trying to take it off!

At the Fall Festival at Highview

Spider Boy and Us :)

So Handsome!

Helping decorate for Christmas

Our sweet little man in his Christmas PJ's

Swimming in December - We had so much fun visiting Jon's Family for Christmas :)

Petting Baby at Grammie and Papa's House

So cool at Granna and Pap's House

Fro-yo at the Summit

Anderson outside today!