Family Photo

Here's just a taste of what we got...

Christmas Party

We had our ward Christmas breakfast and one of the activities was to dress up as people of Bethlehem and take a picture in a stable. It was just I and the kids but it was fun :) Good food, great friends, a great morning :) Merry Christmas

November

The month flew by faster then you can say "Football"! The month started with nice fall weather and ended in a cold front that brought snow December 1st. We ended up staying home for Thanksgiving and due to a spectacular win from the high school football team we were joined by the Angelis at the last moment. We didn't take pictures that day but Lisa and I put together a fantastic meal. We had turkey and ham, sweet potatoes, jello and veggies to just name a few favorite's. And of course it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without yummy desserts. I made a creamy pumpkin spice pie, bought a very yummy dense fudge chocolate pie and made soda cracker pie that is my favorite from childhood. Lisa made a very tart lemon pie and a blueberry pie. We had lots of fun and enjoyed each other's company and Mark of course got to watch some football.

15 months

Malaki just had his 15 month check up and I happened to find Olivia's stats from her 15 month.

Malaki: Olivia:
weight 20.2# weight: 21.9#
height: 283/4" height: 291/2"

I'm sure I'm going to miss a few but here a few things that Malaki does:
blows kisses & gives kisses
claps and says "edwin" (the cat)
climbs on everything
puts and pulls things from the garbage (even lifts the lid)
same goes for the toilet (grosses mom out)
runs away and laughs
only sits still and lays his head on mom's shoulder when he's either hurt or super tired.
still sleeps great! (mom's favorite)

The joy of dressing yourself.....

This is how Olivia left for school this morning...The best part was when she said,"I hope I don't look "rediculish" aka ridiculous

Happy Halloween

For a few short hours, we had an extra kitty and puppy at our house. Not "fur" real but just for Halloween. Olivia was a black cat and Malaki was a brown puppy. Malaki started the night out grumpy but once he learned that we were going to go for a walk, he was very happy. That was until he found out that kids were walking all around him and he had to join in. He didn't get the whole asking for candy thing but he liked walking up to the door and people handing him things, which he gladly gave to daddy until someone gave him a box of nerds that made lots of noise for him. He kept that one for himself.

We joined some friends to walk around and Olivia declared that every house was "haunted" and that Halloween was "awesome"! We had so many tricker-treaters that I gave most of her candy away after we got home. It was a great night for the Mendoza home.

Cute Face

I just love this little face

Pumpkin Patch

We had a very cold, wet and very muddy trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday. We learned that Malaki can climb in and out of the wagon and Olivia is getting to the age that she's not such a compliant model for Mom and Dad anymore. Oh, by the way, Malaki is pretty much walking, has been for the last week. He still gets down and crawls but he can stand up from the ground and walk, which added to the messy day!

Unwanted visitor

We live just into the country and we have a greenbelt right behind our house which has given the wonderful opportunity to be one with nature (not) and the nature I'm the least thrilled to be introduced is the snake. Especially since we do in live in an area that has poisonous ones. Since moving in 2 years ago, we have had 2 snakes in the house and 2 in the garage and 3-4 in the yard.

We have had a week of raining and the creek behind us was pretty high, so I'm sure this is why this little guy was up near us and I've never seen this one. By my research, I think it's a Texas Rat snake, if I'm wrong, I don't want to know. But it was on our outside wall climbing (I'm sure from the dogs). Tomas of course grabbed the camera and it actually got away before we could help it out of the yard. We now have snake repellent around the outside of the house.

Monkey boy

Malaki has many nicknames but one that is used often is Monkey Boy. Malaki has been in a hurry to get some where since he was born. It started at him rolling over at 2 1/2 weeks and he hasn't stopped. Almost everyone that sees him crawl comments on how fast he is. He's getting braver with the walking and has almost started running, almost like if he goes faster, he'll stay upright longer. So far, it hasn't worked really well for him Recently we bought a slide for the kids at a garage sale and it's a big hit for both kids. Malaki especially likes the freedom to climb and slide down. He crawls up the slide and then when he gets to the top, slides down on his belly. If he tumbles, well that's just something that makes him laugh even harder. The best $1 I ever spent at a garage sale.

August Recap

Summer of 2009 went by so fast, especially the last month of August. We started the month with Malaki's birthday (see previous post)& we had the Angeli's and some friends join us at Jump Zone, finished the swimming lessons and ended with me being sick.

*cute cake a friend made for Malaki's birthday


*this boy loves cake!

Olivia took 6 weeks of swimming lessons at the local Parks & Recreation and had a blast! The last 2 weeks Logan joined her. They kept trying to graduate her to the next level but she kept demoting herself back to level 1. I think it's because level 1 played lots of fun games and was in 2 feet of water. On the last day of each session (Olivia got to do this 3 times) they turn on the water slides and just have a fun day. For this day, level 1 kids are suppose to wear life jackets but because Olivia knows how to swim, they let her take hers off.





Mid August I was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy. I didn't realize how serious or painful it was until I did my research. I'm doing much better now but it really took me a long time to feel like "myself" and my OB says that it'll be over before I know it. As of right now I have to go into the office for weekly blood draws to check my hormone levels, I can't wait for this part to be over.

And because today is September first, it's the first day of preschool. Along with some moms from church we are doing a co-op preschool. The bad part, 10 kids, good part, my first turn isn't until January. Wish me luck!

Olivia

I haven't talked about Olivia much lately but I just have to say that I love this kid!

Happy Birthday Malaki!

I can't believe this little guy is a 1 year old! In this last month, he has had one more surgery (palate repair), has learned to sign for "more" and has discovered how to play cars while on his knees and my favorite, he's learned to cuddle with mommy (a little bit). He's still a mover and shaker and keeps me on my toes and he does this all by crawling, no walking yet! Malaki is a joy to have in our family and we love him more and more every day. A year ago today, my pregnancy ended with a bang, a c-section and learning to care for a little boy with a cleft. This year has been an incredible journey with Malaki and I'm so grateful that he picked me as his mom. Love you Malaki!

Today we used our home studio and took pictures of Malaki with a smash cake. He loved it! He's a true Cottrell and loves, loves frosting!

At the start


Really getting into this yummy cake


End of the cake

Palate Repair

waiting our turn in a cute purple gown....



photo with Dr Obaid
Malaki had his palate repaired yesterday. This is the 2nd of many operations but we're done for a few more years. This surgery went really well but recovery has been a little more rough on Malaki and myself. I think it's due to him being a little older and more aware and the location of the surgery, the roof of his mouth. He can eat but he's on a liquid diet for 3 weeks and no bottle and he has to keep everything out of his mouth so everything can heal. It's never easy to send off your child to surgery but I'm grateful for our wonderful surgeon, Dr Obaid and the hospital staff. Dr Obaid now has hero status in my eyes, for being a wonderful gifted surgeon but for meaning it when he said, call me at any time and he meant it! At 3 in the morning it became obvious to me that the meds were wearing off for Malaki and per orders he couldn't have any more until 5. I couldn't see him lasting that long, so I asked the nurse to check. Her answer was, that we had to speak with the dr and they didn't have a number on file. So I whipped out my cell and rattled off his office and cell number and said call. She was so surprised that he answered and immediately gave a new dose of meds so that Malaki could be comfortable.

post op getting some love from mom.

11 months

Wow... I can't believe how fast this year has gone by! Some of Malaki's favorite things are to: stand up at the TV, turn around and smile/laugh and then turn it off, he plays with and then pulls off the rubber stop on all the door stops, none are safe from him. He waves "HI" and makes a sound that starts with an H and is the right symbol. Speaking of speaking, he has 4-5 variations of Ma, he does, MA, MAMA, MOM, and something like MOO. He's into everything and we call him our little monkey, he climbs and gets into everything! Malaki also has decided that he's ready for big people food and eats a banana and a bowl of oatmeal everyday. Since eating solids more consistently he's gained 2 pounds, per my scale at home. As of right now, his palate surgery is scheduled for July 14th, stay tuned for more details!

More pictures with the Cottrells

All the boy cousins -JJ is showing his muscles.

cousin group plus Jay

Girl cousins

My curtains that I have had for 2 years waiting for someone to come hang a curtain rod for me. I'm so glad my brother drove all the way from California to hang them for me :)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my two important dads...mine and my kids.


Dad-thanks for being my dad and I know that we will be together again one day.


Tomas- thank you for being such a great dad to our children.