The Malones: February 2009

Saturday, February 28, 2009

One year ago, at 1:41 pm, she graced us with her appearance. She made a tiny cry for us to cherrish. By 2:30 pm, she was being held by her Maker. Thinking of Caroline Grace today. Wishing she could be here with us. Yet, knowing Crosby would not had it been so. Bittersweet is this day. Sorrow softened by the joy of the little life we have been blessed to have.

You give and take away. My heart will choosed to say, Lord, blessed be your name...

To Crosby

Sometimes I may hug you a little too tight,

I may even check on you ten times a night,
Sometimes I may kiss you a little too much,

Cling to you, sing to you, tickle and such,

As you grow up you may notice me kissing your nose,

Touching your hair,

feeling your toes,
I may cry when you walk,

laugh when you talk,

Scream when you're late,

coming home from your date,

I may very often pull you near

Because I don't want you to see my tears,
I never will want you to have my fears,

Because I need you to know I hold you so dear,
Cause you see, I'm not just your mother,

A long time ago, I lost another.

author unknown

Monday, February 23, 2009

Mondays With Crosby

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 8 weeks old. Today was tough on the little guy. There is a clue in the picture. Can you figure it out???? Here's a clue...

8 weeks = 2 month appointment = 3 injections

Now you see what I mean. Vaccines!!! Luckily, Blake was able to make this appointment. He had the hard job of holding Crosby while the shots were given. I just held on to Blake and looked the other way. As most of you know, I am not a needle person. That is why I had to change my major from nursing to OT!! The sticks took my poor baby's breath away. Fortunately, his cry was short lived. Blake was able to calm him right down. Me, on the other hand, heartbroken. I held back the tears but boy was it hard.

The good news. Our little one continues to move on up the charts. He is now 9 pounds even (8th percentile-up from the 2nd) and 22.5 inches long (45th percentile-up from the 16th). The nurse SAID his head circumference was 37.5 cm...but it reads 36.5 cm on his paperwork... Either way, he is still AT LEAST up from the 2nd percentile to the the 5th...probably a little more!! ; ) Speaking of his head...

This is one of my favorite parts of his body. I could rub his soft, little noggin all day long!

For exciting, baby book worth news...Blake got the first official smile last night. Crosby was lying on the couch and Blake was playing with his mickey rattle (the one he tracked in this post). He would shake it over his head and then tap their noses together. Crosby found that to be lots of fun and let out several coo's and a few great, big smiles. Luckily, I was near by to witness the moment. It melted my heart to say the least. I get lots of great moments with Crosby every day while Blake is at work. I was thrilled he was able to see the little man smile for the first official time!

We haven't been all smiles lately. Crosby has been a little fussy the past week or so. We thought there may be some underlying issue we didn't know about. Fortunately, he got a clean bill of health. Dr. P says it is likely gas...and he definitely has that!! :) But it also may be due to a supply issues on my end. Things really decreased in a matter of 24 hours and I am not sure why ?!!? So, I am hoping a little fenugreek will help me with that dilemma. Can you ask people to pray about milk supply??? A little weird, huh... Let's be honest, I have asked for more awkward things in the past so why not!

On another note... I have been wanting to share this little face with you for a while now...

Miss Margaret Belle Rick. Is she not a doll??? Crosby thought so! :) We had a "play date" on the 13th. It was so great to finally see Melissa's sweet daughter. Keep in mind, we met in a waiting room, have emailed a ton, called a few times, and visited each other once while in the hospital! It might seem like a random friendship but we think it is a Divine friendship! Common loss of a child can bond 2 people in an instant. I have a feeling there will be many more play dates in our future. Just for perspective, Crosby was a few ounces larger than Margaret (in this picture) when he came home. You will have to correct me if I am wrong Melissa, but I am thinking she was right around 5 pounds in this picture. He was around 8 pounds! And he was not cooperating like Maggie Moo!

He was a little bit bigger than Margaret the day he came home! Oh my... Please slow down!!!

I'll end with a picture of the little guy napping at dusk. Wrapping up a long, hard day. Poor baby is starving AND got 3 needles stuck in his thighs. Here's praying for a better Tuesday with Crosby this week!!! Sweet dreams my little one...

Monday, February 16, 2009

Mondays With Crosby

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 7 weeks old. An unofficial weigh-in at the vet clinic on Thursday, revealed an 8 pound 8 ounce baby!! My goodness this little boy is growing so fast!!! Now, he did have on clothes and a diaper. But he is well over 8 pounds at this point.

The first bit of excitement for the week was the purchase of an activity gym. I was so excited to get it for him. He is very alert in the morning. There is only so much excitement in looking at me all the time!! I was thinking he could use a little stimulation. So Blake headed out to Toys R Us and came back with this...

Baby Einstein's Ocean Adventure. I think we found a winner. He really enjoys looking at the lights and dangling toys and listening to the music it plays. We even manage to squeak in a little tummy time without him fussing to much about it! I am sure we will spend a lot of time playing
with this over the next few months!

One of the most exciting events of the week was the Baby Blessing service at Otter Creek. I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to be able to participate this year. I can remember sitting through this service last year. It was bittersweet. All the babies born in 2007 were announced. There was one little girl whose name would not be called. Finley Grace was born April 4th, 2007. Few people knew of her, as we were very new to the church when she was born. Last February, my heart was heavy, wishing to be on the stage with her in my arms. Yet, there was hope for the future as I sat with Caroline kicking within throughout the service. She was to be born in June of 2008. Her name would be called in 2009. But a few short weeks later, my hope was shattered as her little life ended. Our names would not be called once again.

God had a different plan. I would never have dreamed that we would have another child in 2008. What a blessing this baby is to us...

A few of the lines we vowed to follow...

Just before Crosby's name was announced, a precious little girl's name was read. Her tiny feet in her father's hand were shown on the screen...Sweet Caroline. What a special moment...

Crosby's picture on the screen...

The family picture we submitted...

Group shot...

Pretty proud of this baby...

Tulips for Crosby from Lulu and Grandbuddy (aka Perd). The white ones were for his big day. The 2 pink tulips were in memory of his sweet sisters...

His first Bible, given by his Grammy and Pops... (at least we think he is going by Pops???)

We will sound off with a few pictures from a little photo shoot this afternoon.

Working on his smile...

It doesn't take much work to be cute...he just is!!! :-)

Saturday, February 14, 2009

At the cross

Waiting an hour and a half or more to eat on Valentine's Day is not our idea of fun!! We usually go out to eat a few days before or a few days after to avoid the crowds. This year was no different...except the fact that we have a 6 week old baby to think about!!! Mr. Crosby tends to consume most of our time and attention. I can't even tell you what day of the week it is, much less the actual date. I hadn't given Valentine's Day a single thought. So, you can imagine how surprised I was to learn Blake planned a "date night" to celebrate the occasion! I love a good surprise!!

On Monday, Blake had his parents lined up to keep Crosby while we went to dinner. The little guy had been somewhat out of sorts that afternoon, so it was a little harder leaving than I had hoped! But, after a few extra hugs and kisses, we finally made it out the door. The restaurant of choice was Whitfields. Our appetites were in full swing so we ordered quite a bit of food...fried oysters for the appetizer, caesar salad, lump crab meat sweet corn chowder (soup) to start us off. Our entrees were shrimp and grits (mine) and seabass (Blake). We finished the evening off with creme brulee. The food was some of the best we have ever had...really!! And we have eaten a lot of good food in our 30+ years, I might add!! Believe it or not, we were able to go most of the meal without mentioning a certain 8 pound baby's name!! We tried our hardest to talk about more than just him!!!

Inevitably, his name came up. It was part of Blake's plan. He sure knows how to pull at my heart strings. He handed me a gift bag with a small box inside. Once I opened it, I found this...

Crosby is of Scandinavian origin, and its meaning is "at the cross."

We chose his name before knowing its definition, as it is a family name that we both liked. It has been one of our favorite boy names since I was pregnant with Finley. I don't recall when I learned its meaning, but it was at least half way into my pregnancy with him. Once I heard the definition, a more fitting name could not be found. It is where I remained throughout his time in the womb. It was all I could do. I had no strength of my own. I was forced to lay at the foot of the cross, praying for God's protection over me and my unborn son. I have been so blessed by the Lord's granting my request and giving me the desire of my heart.

This has been an amazing Valentine's Day. I have never known love quite like this. My heart overflows with love for my husband and baby boy. Thank you Lord for such a gift...

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Shower at Sonja's

Roslyn, Sonja and Jaclyn were so sweet to host a shower for me and Crosby on Saturday, February 8th. Sonja opened her home to lots of my friends from high school, college and beyond. We had a GREAT time!!! It was so nice to have all my friends in the same room. Of course, I was more than happy to show of my little man! As much as I wanted to pass him around the room, he had to stay in the car seat! Just following doctors orders and trying to keep Crosby from getting sick!

The hostesses:Roslyn, Sonja, Jaclyn