Recent Celebrations

The Malko home has been full of celebration lately! Last weekend we had a wonderful Mother's day - or i guess I am the one who had a wonderful Mother's Day! My guys were so sweet to me and I was so blessed, as I am every day, to be Anderson's mom! We enjoyed church first thing Sunday morning and I was able to serve in the nursery. Anderson even had a flower waiting for me when I picked him up from his class :) When we got home Jon and Anderson had some gifts waiting for me! Godiva Chocolates from Anderson and new PJ's from Jon. Then we went to my mom's house for a wonderful lunch with the whole family! It was a joy to celebrate my first Mother's Day and a joy to celebrate my mother for the first time as a mother myself!

Monday will be Jon and I's 3 year anniversary. Since it falls on a Monday this year we celebrated last night (Friday). For the first time Anderson stayed the night with his Granna and Pap. We dropped him off around 4 and then came back home to finish cleaning up and exchange gifts before we headed to dinner at Ruth's Chris! I got Jon a Dovo Straight Razor, a strop and a travel case for the razor. He shaved with it before we left and his face was soooo smooth! Jon got me a beautiful ivory throw from Arhaus and a beautiful dress from Loft - which I wore to dinner! He did such a great job picking it out all by himself!!! I am so blessed to be married to such an observant and thoughtful husband! Our dinner was fantastic and Jon declared it officially the best steak he had ever eaten. We then headed to the movies - thanks to the living social deal we got several months ago. We saw Water for Elephants and we really enjoyed it. It had been quite some time since I had been to a movie, and it was nice to stay out late together - even though we missed out little buddy and checked in on him often :) This morning we "slept in" and then headed out for brunch at Toast on Market. After our yummy meal we walked around the cute little shops downtown and then grabbed a cookie from Blue Dog cafe to enjoy as we walked around Frankfort Ave. Mom and Dad had agreed to keep Anderson until 3:30, but we couldn't wait - we headed to their house to love on our little man around 2! We were so excited to see him but thankful for a full nights sleep and some much needed time together.

This afternoon I also got a spare of the moment opportunity to grab a mani pedi with my mom before she heads off to Florida tomorrow! All and all the past week has been fantastic! But honestly - every week feels full of celebration with my family! So bring on the celebrating! Can't wait to see what is in store for us this week :)

7 Months Old

I feel like so much has happened over the last month, and that my little baby is turning into a little boy right before my eyes! The weather has finally gotten nice and going outside is one of Anderson's favorite things to do. We go on walks a lot - to Aunt Lo Lo and Uncle Chad's house, to the park and to Check's - a local dive that we love to go to for lunch. Anderson also had his first trip to the zoo! Everytime we go I feel like he notices the animals more! It is so much fun. Anderson also had his GiGi come to visit from Florida and went to his first birthday party - for his buddy Liam! Here are some new things Anderson does:

• He Army crawls with ease - and we are starting to see more time with the tummy off the floor
• He can pull himself up on just about anything! He loves standing!
• He eats anything and everything! And lots of it (still just baby food though)
• He takes great naps - and apart from a bad spurt last weeks is sleeping much better at night - still not all night though :(
• He rides in his stroller great!
• He plays better on his own but we are still working on this!
• He loves to drink water from mom and dad's glass and is trying really hard with the sippy cup.
• He loves to play in the grass.

All and all we are having a fun spring! And loving are 7 month old boy!

6 months old!

I can't believe my sweet little man is 6 months old already! He is so much fun and full of a outgoing and adventurous personality! He likes to be busy and, though he can sit now, he never sit still - he likes to be on the move and is anxious to be able to get on the move by himself - but no crawling yet! Here are some new things in the life of Anderson James:

• He sits all alone - no problem and no toppling!
• He can move easily from sitting to his belly and can spin all the way around and scoot a little too. He can even get his knees up but can't move on them yet.
• He can sit in a high chair when we are out to eat and TODAY he rode in the cart at the grocery for the first time!
• He EATS!!! I wasn't sure we would ever get there but he eats so good! So far he likes Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Peas, Apples, Bananas, and Pears. Today we bought Mangos, blueberries, Butternut squash, spinach, broccoli, corn and avocado (round 2) for him to try! We want a well rounded eater on our hands!
• He LOVES to look at pictures of our family. I recently hung some on the wall in our hallway and he reaches for it every time we walk past and get so excited when we stop and look at it.
• It takes him a LONG time but he can flip the light switch off.
• He loves to explore and the bathroom is one of his favorite places. He can turn the sink on when I hold him down to it.
• He could soak through 5+ bibs a day - he is a drool bucket.
• He loves to hit things with his hand - like bang on the table or pick up a piece of paper and sling it around.
• He can play with his toys more than ever!
• He is still the most precious little boy we have ever laid eyes on :)
• Stats: He weighs 16lbs (25th percentile) and is 26 inches (just under the 50th percentile). Dr said he is right on track for a breast fed baby (they normally drop off in weight around 6 months because they are preparing to transition to more calories in solid food)!

We are taking Anderson to get 6 month pictures made this weekend! But for now here are a few more recent ones.

Spring has Sprung

Spring has Sprung! At least that is what the past two days have felt like! Yesterday Anderson and I went to the park with my sister Lauren and her puppies! Anderson got to swing for the first time and he LOVED IT! I also took him down the slide in my lap! We love our neighborhood because we can walk to George Rogers Clark Park and it is so nice and never crowded! We had a blast and then waled to Check's restaurant and ate while my little buddy took a nap! It was a long fun day! Here is a picture and video!!







Another really funny thing Anderson has been doing lately is scrunching his nose up when he thinks something is funny! He started yesterday and we have pretty much been laughing about it ever since. He does it ALL THE TIME! I managed to catch it on camera...

Valentine's Day 2011

The Malko's celebrated Valentine's Day last Saturday, February 12th! My parents kept Anderson so Jon and I could celebrate with a day together! We dropped him off around 1pm with them, but before that Mommy gave Anderson her Valentine's gift! Here are the pics:

Here is Anderson Pre opened gifts - this picture is hilarious to me - he is making the funniest face! I love it!

Here he is with opened gifts. He got a new book, a little soft toy mouse the plays music and vibrates so it will move on it's own across the floor, and a red and white striped onesie.

After Jon and I dropped Anderson off at my parent's we went to lunch at PF Chang's. We then went to downtown Louisville and perused the Antique/design shops on Market and Broadway! We had a ton of fun just hanging out with each other! For dinner we enjoyed J Alexanders.... mmm! We were going to go bowling to complete our evening, but the wait was so long we decided to just walk around the mall and enjoy each others company! We were SOOO excited to have some uninterrupted time alone together that we totally forgot to take pictures! We did exchange small gifts. I got Jon some candy and Microsoft Game points. Jon got me an iTunes card for some new music, some candy, and some coffee. He also made me such a special card which was prob my favorite part of my gift! All in all we had a great day!

~Brooke

4 and a half months

We have been parents now for 4 and a half months! 4 and a half CRAZY months! You really can never really be prepared to be a parent. We had so many "plans" and "ideas" that were completely naive! We really are just feeling settled into a new norm where regular every day activities can actually take place as expected! Anderson is loads of fun! He can do so many things now! It is AMAZING how fast babies learn and grow. Here are some things he can do:

• Push himself up on his arms while layone on his stomache without ever tiring - he could hold this pose all day!
• Roll over from belly to back or back to belly
• hold himself supported on his legs while we old him steady - he can do this for a very long time!
• trun himself all the way around in a circle on belly or back
• He tries really hard to push himself up out of his Bumbo seat - of course I don't let him push all the way out but I really think he could!
• Sleep all night long!! (9pm-7am) with only 1 wake up to get his paci back in!
• Eat 5.5 oz in one sitting! Not every sitting but occasionally he drinks this much!
• make any noise imaginable haha! He tries new ones all the time.
• Make noise to "sing along" when we have music on! He LOVES music and kicks his feet like crazy
• Ride in his baby bjorn facing outward and loving it - he moves his feet in a running motion which is HILARIOUS!
• Play with all his toys - he especially loves toys that play music and have lights.
• He reaches for anything and everything
• He tries to copy what you do - we are working on waving bye bye! He tries really hard to move his fingers open and closed like we do!
• He can sit up for brief period. Especially if he has his hands on a toy.
• Stay awake for 3 hours or longer!
• He hits with his hand - like the table or his toys.
• He laughs - he has a funny laugh - it is kind of deep and not high pitched like we expected it to be!

Those are just a few things off the top of my head! We are loving life! Our family is so full! We are developing new routines that work best for us - like taking a bath around 10:30-11:30 (depending on our 7-8am wake up time) we have learned that bathing him after his first feeding results in a poopy bath tub! And we now read a book, sing a song and say our prayers every night before bed! It is fun to decide these things, but it is also kind of a lot of pressure! We really have to think and be intentional about trying to help him learn things! He loves to explore around the house and touch everything so we have been trying to say the names of everything - like sink and door and mirror and cabinet. When we touch the refridgerator we say "BRRR cold" and when he reaches for the stove I grab his hand and say "HOT, hurt the baby". And of course not a day goes by without saying "ma ma ma ma" and "da da da da" hundreds of times! It is amazing how quickly he picks up on things and seeing his smile and excitement when we praise him for doing somehting new is the rgeatest joy!

Needless to say being a mom is unbelieveable! It is so much more than I ever expected! The Lord is so gracious to give us this opportunity!

I will update this week with a Valentines day post! (We celebrated Saturday!)

~Brooke

LONG Overdue

To be completely honest I never could have imagined what our lives would be like. I thought surely I would have time to get everything done that needed to get done around the house, and extra time on the side to do leisurely things, like blogging. I thought I may even get bored being at home all day. If you are a mom I'm sure you are doing one of two things - laughing or rolling your eyes. I have never been more busy in my entire life! I could not have survived our first two weeks home without my mother - bless her heart, and since then we have been in survival mode just now, finally, falling into a new normal. We have never been more exhausted, more busy, or more overwhelmed with love and joy! Truly parenthood is the beginning of having no option of whether or not your life is your own - it is absolutely not! Never more has God's grace been more evident in our home, and the gift of our son has been greater than we ever could have imagined!

Labor was tough for us - nothing really went as planned. In a perfect world we planned to labor naturally and hopefully for not too incredibly long, but that is opposite of what happened. Here is our story:

We went in to be induced September 28th at 8pm. Anderson was too cozy and not planning an appearance without an eviction notice :). We did all the necessary "check-in" procedures and finally received the induction around 9:45pm that evening. The goal was to still attempt natural labor and that is what we did through the night. The nurse assured us that nothing would happen until the morning so my family did not come that evening and Jon went to sleep. The laboring pains - though very early on were fairly painful. My water broke around 4am and we were so excited thinking maybe things would speed along! At 6am the nurse checked and I still hadn't progressed very much at all. She told us it was going to be a LONG day. At that point I decided to go ahead and get an epidural. The pain was pretty intense since I had been in labor now for 8 hours with no end in sight. Once I received the epidural labor was a piece of cake. No pain or discomfort and I was actually still able to move around - by move around I mean roll from side to side. around 3pm I started to feel the baby move again - which I thought was weird so I told the nurse. She assured me that was OK and we went on as normal. Slowly I began to feel more and more and it became painful. I finally insisted that we bring in the anesthesiologist and she suggested that I just roll to my other side since the epidural works with gravity and most of my pain was on the side that I was not laying on. When I rolled over the nurse saw that my epidural had fallen out! At this point it had been out for several hours and the medication was completely gone. by the time the anesthesiologist got there, prepped, gave me the medication, and once the medication actually took effect I had been without any medication for over an hour and a half. It was absolutely the worst most indescribable pain I had ever felt and was so thankful I wasn't doing my entire labor unmediated - that was a crazy idea - haha! Once the 2nd epidural had taken effect labor was going smoothly again. I had managed to remain graceful through the whole ordeal and was actually enjoying this special time with family and friends! The Dr. had been in several times and I was progressing but VERY slowly. Dr. Grider told me that if at any time I went 6 hours without progression we would have to do a c-section. I did not want a c-section and we all prayed together that it would not come to that. Around 9pm I had indeed gone 6 hours with no progression. Surprisingly to me I had a complete peace about it. We had prayed and God had heard, and a c-section, being our only option, was his plan, of that we were sure. Dr. Grider was so wonderful and allowed me time to ask her any question I had and to visit with my family one last time before we went to the O.R. They gave me more medication for the c-section and began to test to see if it had numbed me appropriately. When Dr. Grider tested my legs felt nothing, but when she tested the area for my incision I could still feel pain - not just pressure, but pain. They gave me more medication, still no affect, and more, still nothing. They wanted to put me under, but I did not want that at all. I wanted to see my little boy when the Lord brought him into this world! At this point I had so much medication my whole body was shaking, but I was so excited to meet my little man I was in very good spirits. Jon said I kept telling the Doctors and nurses what a good job they were doing - haha! I could feel every move Dr. Grider made, but was still elated at the fact I was soon to meet our sweet baby boy. He was born at 10:26 pm and Jon got to see them pull him out into the cold bright room. They brought him around to let me get a glance and then whisked him away to be weighed and measured and "cleaned". I don't really remember hearing him cry or actually seeing him - I just know I did. They brought him to lay him on my chest but I was too weak to hold him myself. Jon had to support him on my until I informed him that "You have to take him because I'm falling asleep". I could not longer hold my eyes open. Jon took him up to be examined and bathed, and my whole family got to see him. I remember being sad that I couldn't be there for their very first introduction. When they took me to the recovery room I had a total melt down. I had remained so jovial through the entire day, but the emotions of what I had just been through, the medication, the fact that I missed my families first reaction to our son, and the realization that I could not even, just a few minutes later, remember what he looked like all sank in at once and I was overcome with tears. I cried and cried, I couldn't stop even though I wanted to. Jon quickly joined me in the recovery room - he was so concerned and loving and patient. Because of the severity of the pain my body experienced, and the fact that I was aware of it the entire time my blood pressure had risen to the 190's over 120's so I had to wait in recovery much longer than normal. By the time I was able to go back to the postpartum room it was nearly 1am. My mom, brother, sister and brother-in-law were all still waiting for me! They brought Anderson in and everyone got to hold him. They were all so sweet and it was a blessing to see the love they had for our little guy! Everyone congratulated us and headed home leaving Jon, myself and my mom. At this point I needed to feed Anderson for the very first time. I was still so weak and groggy I could not hold him myself. My mom and Jon had to support him as he ate. By God's incredible mercy Anderson ate like a pro! I said completely ridiculous things to my my and Jon during this time. Among them I stated that "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there", and asked Jon to please check and see if that red coat was still on the rack at TJ Maxx. We all had a good laugh at my being so out of it. The nurses came and took Anderson to the baby room, mom left, and I completely passed out - not remembering much at all. BUT at 4am when the nurses placed my baby in my arms for his feeding, and I was alone with him for the very first time my heart melted. He was perfect and lovely. I undressed him and checked all his fingers and toes. I fed him and talked to him and kissed his sweet face. That moment I will never forget!

And there you have it, the birth story of Anderson James Malko, the most beautiful baby boy that has every graced my presence - though I may be a little partial. His daddy and I love him more and more every day and are completely humbled that the Lord placed him in our care. Here are a few pictures...

My first time holding Anderson...

After his first bath waiting for mommy to get out of recovery...

Loving on the boy in the hospital...

Anderson's newborn pics with his Lion...

One day he will love his toys...

Blessed Family...

Sweet boy...

Tummy time...

He as an owl for Halloween...

Big boy....

This was taken just last night, his first time in his bumbo - he is getting so big :)...

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

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