Birth Announcements become Christmas cards

I have always wanted to send out Christmas cards! And this year we are going to! Since Anderson is 7 weeks old tomorrow (and forgive my lack of updating but being a mom takes up a lot of time!! - I will get around to it soon I promise!) I figure it is a little late for birth announcements so we are going to use our newborn pictures to send out our very first Christmas card! And Shutterfly has a great deal right now! If you are a blogger you can get 50 FREE Holiday Cards click HERE to find out more. We got our newborn pictures back last week and they are soo good! Which I am shocked by – not because of our photographer Jason Coobs, but because Anderson screamed the whole time!!! But we definitely got some good family photos! We are lovin our little boy. I will post some pictures soon! And I can’t WAIT to get our holiday cards made so make sure you check out all of shutterfly’s adorable designs!

Can't wait to choose one but for now here are a few of my favorites...

You can check out the ones you like best HERE!

Baby Malko

I haven't given an update on the baby lately because well, other than "everything looks good" you really know about as much as we do. We have had such a "normal" pregnancy. Nothing out of the ordinary. I have really enjoyed being pregnant and haven't had too much difficulty at all. I am still even fairly comfortable besides not getting much sleep at all. We are 38 weeks today, so our little man could come anytime - he is basically finished developing and could function perfectly outside of the womb - only he seems to really like it there :) We had a doctor's apt this morning - we have them now every Tuesday morning until he comes, and "everything looks great". We haven't started any of the labor process - he is still quite cozy in there and isn't trying to break out that we can tell at least. This could change any minute according to the doctor and there is no speeding it up or slowing it down - a great reminder that the Lord is in control! The birthing process is, even with all our technology, such a miracle and such a mystery! Jon and I cannot wait for Anderson to arrive - not because I am miserable or sick of being pregnant, but more just because we can't wait to meet him and hold him in our arms. We plan to wait it out as long as the Lord chooses to keep him in the belly... knowing that there is no accident or mistake from our creator! He is still working on our son! BUT the Dr. will not let us go over 41 weeks so sometime in the next 3 weeks our little man will make his grand appearance! We are so excited and praying for him daily. I am so humbled that the Lord would allow us to be the parents to such a precious little child that has the potential to do so much for the Kingdom! Join us in praying for Anderson, for his last little bit of time growing inside of his mom, for a smooth and natural birth, for his sweet little heart that we know will have a natural tendency towards sin - and our graciousness and lack of naivety as we learn to understand this, and for the Lord to use us as his parents to direct him toward Christ! May the Lord one day do a miraculous work in his little heart - even more miraculous than the forming work his has done on it so far! And may our son follow Christ with reckless abandonment!

We can't wait to update you with a picture :)

~Brooke

Great Deal at GAP today!

Today only, you can use the coupon code GPLABORDAY to get 25% off your purchase at Gap. You can also use the code GAPSHIP50 to get free shipping with a $50 purchase, and the price must still be at or over $50 after the first code.

A few of our Favorites

We got the rest of our maternity pictures back and we were thrilled! We love them so much and are so thankful for Jason Coobs and the talent he has and the care he puts into his work! Here are a few of our Faves! Can't wait to get some nice frams and hang them in our home! This makes us look so forward to our newborn pics! Thanks again Jason!

Before Anderson Arrives... I need your help!

Before Anderson arrives I have several SEVERAL things on my to do list. I need to get our bedroom upstairs finished so we can set up the nursery, sew a few more pillows for the nursery, enjoy 1 more baby shower, get rid of TONS of clothes Jon and I do not wear, have a yard sale with our pile in the basement, actually figure out what we still need before our little man arrives, finish our cloth diaper stash so we have enough for him, and the list goes on...

BUT, I could really use your help on one thing. I want to make ahead some meals that I can freeze and pull out after he is born! Do you have any good make ahead and freeze recipes? If so post them as a comment! We love to try new things and I am hardly ever organized enough to make ahead a meal, so my list of make ahead and freeze meals begins and ends with lasagna! Can't wait to try all your recipes!

Maternity Pics

We had so much fun getting our maternity pictures taken! I was kind of nervous about them because what girl wants to have her picture taken with 20+ extra pounds on her?!?! We haven't gotten all of them back yet, but Jason has posted several on his blog if you want to see what we have seen! Can't wait to get them all and post some on our blog! We love what we see so far!


~Brooke

I won another giveaway!!

I'm so excited - I won another giveaway! I signed up for a giveaway hosted by The Minimal Mom Blog and I won!! I will be receiving this adorable nursing cover which I am so excited about! I don't have one yet. Thanks Cambria - the author of Minimal Mom :)

Baby Shower Fun

I had such a wonderful Baby shower hosted by my sweet friends Alyssa Laing and Lindsey Poenie! All of our friends were so sweet to celebrate with us and to provide so many wonderful and adorable and necessities for baby Anderson! Here are a few pictures from the shower - these are actually from Alyssa, I still need to upload the ones from my camera!
Mom sis and I:

The hostesses and I:

Friends!

And more friends!

We have another shower coming up on August 22nd hosted by my sis and my mom's sweet friend Lynn Ringo! It is so fun to celebrate this new chapter in our families life.

Another exciting thing is that we ordered our infant car seat last night! It is a "babies r us exclusive" and keeps going in and out of stock which was making me so nervous that it could go out of stock and we couldn't get it to bring Anderson home! So we used some gift certificates and a coupon and ordered it last night. Can't wait for it to arrive.

Jon and I have also been excited about the new life stage and have spent hours talking and planning ways that we can really make Christ the center of our family, especially for our son. We are really excited to pray through this and seek wisdom from the Lord and others he has placed in our lives as we implement changes in our home to better honor and demonstrate Christ to one another and our friends, family and neighbors. We have really enjoyed some of the baby classes Baptist East has to offer, and are excited for the up and coming conference hosted by Southern "Connecting Church and Home". We really want to take advantage of every opportunity to parent and lead our family the way God has created us to do. You can join us in praying this for our family and especially for Jon as he leads us in this direction.

I know I haven't posted any belly pictures in a while, BUT on Saturday we are having maternity pictures taken by the wonderful Mr. Jason Coobs! Jason also did our wedding pictures and we were just thrilled with them. SO keep your eyes on his blog next week and maybe you will get a sneak peak, but once we recieve them I will definately be posting some belly pictures :)

Online Bargains!

I have several websites that I check everyday for bargains! Right now one that I love is offering a special that if you sign up you get a free $10 shopping credit! It is a bargain site that updates with new deals daily and has clothes, accessories, household items, vacation deals, etc that change daily! It is called RueLaLa, but you have to have an invitation to get the $10 so follow the link below, sign up, and you get $10 FREE! Here's the Link:
http://www.ruelala.com/invite/bmalko

And while I am at it here are some others I love to check... follow the links to sign up for great daily deals...

http://www.zulily.com/referafriend/?15664 (Carries items for moms and children)

https://www.theminisocial.com/myaccount.php?invitation=49499 (Carries items for moms and children)

http://totsy.com/join/brookemalko (Carries items for moms and children)

http://www.gilt.com/invite/brookemalko (Carries Items for men, women, children, home, vacations, etc!)

Happy Bargain Shopping!

Delinquent Blogger

I know that I am totally a delinquent blogger. I have neglected our blog for quite sometime now for no particular reason other than I have wanted to post pictures but have been so busy that I haven't loaded any onto our computer in a while. In fact, we have been so busy we have not taken nearly as many as we should. My friends (particularly Jenna Hellekson) have been reminding me of my delinquent tendencies, so I gave into the peer pressure and decide3d to update the long overdue blog!

We have had so much going on lately! Conferences for me at work, Jon being so busy at work, and attending a conference himself! Baby stuff is also so consuming, not to mention trying to get our house ready for Anderson's arrival!!

Here are some things that have happened in the past few months...

• 2 Years! Well since the last time I updated was May 7th, I guess since then Jon and I have celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary. We went to dinner at Vincenzo's - a wonderful fancy Italian restaurant here in town. We had a fantastic time talking about the wonderful, and not so wonderful things we went through over the past year, and looking forward to this year in ways we can better serve one another!
• Jon and I started to feel Anderson kicking around 19-20 weeks (very shortly after my last post). Now he is HUGE and kicks constantly all the way up to my ribs now, not only can we feel him but we can see him which i enjoy the most! I love the feeling and wouldn't mind if he moved around all day every day! It is so neat how he recognizes us - particularly Jon, and he moves differently when Jon talks to him than anyone else! I reallyt think Anderson can even recognize the feel of Jon's hand when he touches my belly!
• My little brother turned 18 and graduated High School - this is unreal to me!
• Jon and I took a trip to Orlando with Highview to serve at the Pastor's Conference for the 2010 Southern Baptist Convention. It was such a wonderful and exciting time as our pastor served as the President of the Conference. We (particularly Jon) were able to meet some incredible godly men who have impacted God's Kingdom in a lasting way! It was an honor to be a part of something so much "Greater Than" us! If you want to check out the "Backstage Videos" that Jon filed check them out here.
• Jon sold his car - this seems to be a small hobby of ours - I guess we have joined int he family business - haha. We have been trying to cut our budget back so that I can stay home as much as possible with Anderson. Once it was sold he purchased a "new" to us cheaper car that he loves and is having a ton of fun driving and doing small fun inexpensive things to make it nicer! He got a 1991 Mazda Miata. It is red and gets unbelievably low gas mileage and is one of the most reliable cars ever made! We are having fun zipping around town with the top down and were blessed to find one for so cheap and in such good shape!
• Jon installed a new bathroom sink into our little bathroom that was in desperate need of a makeover! We put in a pedestal sink that looks incredible, have 1 coat of paint on the wall, and are in love with it already (pictures to come)
• We went to Fort Myers to visit, take our family vacation, have a baby shower and participate in a wedding! We just got back last week. We were in Fort Myers from July 10th-17th and had a wonderful time with our family and friends! Jon and I were even able to get away just the 2 of us for 2 nights and 3 days at the Jupiter Beach Resort just north of Palm Beach for a babymoon! The Scroggins' Family recommended the place to us and we LOVED IT! We also enjoyed getting to visit First Baptist West Palm Beach and to have lunch with the Scroggins and Brandon Shields! Also while we were there Jon was in his great friend Ray Flowers' wedding. It was a great ceremony and reception and a fun time for Jon to spend with his oldest friends! Another wonderful part of our trip was the sweet baby shower that my friend Meg threw for us! I had such a wonderful time catching up with so many sweet ladies that I miss seeing so often! Jon and I are so blessed to have so much love and support from our family and friends that live 1000 miles away!

Some things we are looking forward to:

• Baby Shower #2 this Sunday! My wonderful friends Lindsey Poenie and Alyssa Laing are hosting a shower for some of the girls our age and I am so excited to celebrate our little man! We have another shower coming up in August hosted by my sis and sweet family friend Lynn Ringo as well!
• More home renovations - Jon and I have a plan to finish the upstairs in about a month so that we can move upstairs and finally set up the nursery! I'm getting kind of nervous about it since....
• We only have 10 weeks left in our pregnancy!!!! I cannot believe how quickly it has FLOWN by. We cannot wait to meet our little man!
• We have our 1st baby class at baptist east this Thursday night, and several more to follow in the weeks to come! I am excited to learn all that we can to prepare us for Anderson's arrival!

Whew - that was a lot of updating! If you have stuck with me this long I am impressed! I will try to be more consistent updating! You can join us in praying for the rest of our pregnancy, that Anderson develops completely, and that our delivery goes smoothly. We plan on doing natural childbirth, and I am equal parts excited and nervous, so lots of prayer for that would be appreciated! We have been so blessed throughout this pregnancy and have been praying prayers of thanksgiving for the Lord's provision and the way he has used our family and friends to show us so much love and support! The Lord is so faithful!