5 Years

I started working with my wonderful husband 5 years ago today! I can't believe I have been out of college and working for 5 years! Wow, I feel old :)

A few pictures of Patrick for the week:

Going on a walk with Big and Allie. His first time sitting in his stroller without his car seat

Patrick has also started pushing up on his hands and feet and getting ready to crawl! The first video is one of his first attempts at pushing up at the beginning of the week. You can tell how unsure of himself he is and how hard he has to work at staying on his hands and feet.

The second video is at the end of the week. He has started trying to move while on his hands and feet. It's neat to see how much of a difference just a few days make! They learn so fast!

Sick

Last week was a rough week in the Mulloy household! Patrick got sick for the first time and it was just heartbreaking! He had a 101 fever and was throwing up (so much it would come out of his nose too...yuck!). The poor little guy couldn't keep anything down. I was a little nervous that it was a food allergy since we had just started baby food a couple days earlier. Our regular doctor isn't in the office on Wednesday so we had to see the new doctor in the practice who has only been practicing medicine for a month. Patrick is such a happy child that even with a fever and throwing up, he is still smiling and squirming all around. Definitely not as much as usual, but to other people he probably seems just fine. As soon as the doctor started to inspect him she looked at me and said this child is NOT sick! Then she continued to say all baby's throw up and that it is completely normal.

After I left, I found myself a little upset about the doctor's response. I had been trying to convince the doctor that this was not normal for my child. He has never had a fever and hasn't kept anything down for 24 hours. The next day Patrick woke up without a fever and seemed completely normal, so I wasn't really sure what to think!

Little did I know that I would get the stomach bug from Patrick 2 days later...

I went to work Thursday feeling great and was excited about Michael's company party that night. Michael planned the party and had been working on it for a couple months. Everything was fine at the party, but I got home around 10:30 and felt like I had hit a brick wall. I felt so sick I could barely watch Patrick. Luckily, Patrick went to bed shortly after and I was able to go to bed. Michael had worked so hard on the party that he stayed out later with the rest of his coworkers. He came home around 1:30 and I was so sick! Unfortunately, Michael was sick too from staying out so late. So glad Patrick decided he would make that night the one night he slept through the night!

We woke up the next morning and both just stared into space while Patrick happily played on the floor. We debated who would be able to leave the house and take Patrick to daycare. Michael looked at me and just said gosh we are such unfit parents this morning! I couldn't have agreed more!

Luckily it was just a 24 hour bug and we are feeling good now!

Trying out some sweet potatoes

Watching some football

On Sunday, I walked into Patrick's room after his morning nap and found this cute little face (not so great of a picture since it was taken with my phone, but I had to capture this cute little moment)

He cried whenever I took him out of his crib, so he spent most of the morning practicing pulling up on his bumpers. Whatever works, right?

Crazy Weeks

Work is going well although it was really difficult to come back at our busiest time of the year. I've been working on balancing work and family life and it has been hard! I'm definitely ready to be past October 15th! I found out I was promoted to manager and was approved to work 4 days a week starting in a couple of weeks! I am so excited! By the end of the week, I am so exhausted that I am praying for more strength to even get through the rest of the week. I feel like our weeks are so hectic and I just run around like a crazy person! I'm sure working four days a week will help a lot. I can't wait!!!

Turk and Bailey had their first day of "school" on Monday. Last week was such bad weather that they weren't able to go outside much. Michael and I decided that it was too much for us to deal with Patrick not sleeping and the dogs not sleeping at night so we bought play packages for the dogs for when it rains. I think it worked out really well. Normally we just put them in our office when it rains so they can look outside. But that means they get no exercise and are just really rambunctious when we get home. At "school", they get to play for an hour with other dogs and they get to go on a 10 minute walk. They also get to look at the other dogs all day and i'm sure they bark their heads off. They were pretty tired so I think it was a success!

Patrick is doing really well at daycare. Margaret said that she is finally getting him on a schedule and that he loves watching all the other children. I have been surprised at his amount of constant energy and his ability to roll/scoot across the room as fast as he does! When I picked him up on Friday, Margaret commented that he is such a little mover for his age. She has watched so many other children, I was really surprised to hear her say it too!

We tried baby food for this first time this week. He doesn't hate it, but I don't think he really likes it either. He doesn't like for others to feed him and instead likes to do it himself. I love the faces he makes while he is trying it. He is still getting the hang of swallowing, but i'm sure he will get there soon enough.

Trying out some carrots

From this picture, you wouldn't think he got any of it in his mouth! Haha!

Watching the Vols

He is amazed by Turk and Bailey, so whenever they are around he won't look at the camera

I think he could giggle with Michael all day long

Patrick has been working on two new things recently: pushing up while on his tummy and sitting up. He is really good at pushing up, but is still really working on sitting up on his own.

Unfortunately his eyes are closed, but he is actually sitting up by himself in this picture (without being propped up against the chair). It was the first time I have seen him do it! He can only do it for about 15 seconds, but I know it will be longer each day!

Oops! Looking up at the camera caused him to fall over

Trying to push back up

I'm sure it won't be long before he is sitting up all on his own!

Here is a little video of what our days are like. Patrick trying to show me his new trick of pushing up and Turk pawing at my hand to knock the camera out of the way, while Bailey gets in front of it. You can also hear a little bit of Patrick's crazy squeal.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fun but very exhausting Labor Day Weekend. Not because we did very much, but because Patrick barely napped Friday, Saturday and Sunday and did not sleep very much at night at all. Surprisingly he was not cranky but so happy and just wanted to play constantly. I'm surprised at how much energy this child has even when he takes no naps! He does not want to sit still and just wants to bounce all day long. Below is a video of Michael and I really late on Sunday night hoping Patrick will go to bed soon. I was attempting to rock him and pat him to sleep but as you can tell he just wants to play and is showing no signs of slowing down. We gave up and just let him squeal for a couple more hours. Excuse my appearance in this video as it is very late and I am pretty tired :)

As you hear in the video, he has started doing this crazy squeal/scream when he is excited. He tries to get so high pitched that no sound comes out half of the time. I think it sounds like some kind of crazy bird. He has started doing this in restaurants which can be pretty embarrassing. I guess I really have no room to complain... it's loud, but at least it's a happy loud! He could be crying instead, so I consider us pretty lucky!

He also watched his first UT and Auburn games. When I came home from running errands, Patrick was wearing a UT jersey. I didn't even try to put him in anything Auburn for the first football weekend. Maybe I will try and beat Michael to it next weekend :)

Michael's excitement wore him out!

On Sunday night I helped host a baby shower for Neel, one of my good friends from high school. She is having her second girl, baby Hayes. It was so much fun to catch up with everyone.

The beautiful decorations at Jenny Camp's house

The hostesses and the mom-to-be

While I was at the shower, Michael and Patrick had a boys night. I had no idea what they would do, but Michael sent me this picture of Patrick helping him with his fantasy football draft. Haha

Patrick- 5 Months

Patrick is 5 months old!

He is giggling like crazy all the time and is so happy. He is very ticklish now which is really funny. Everything is going in the mouth recently and his new favorite is to stick his foot in his mouth. It's also extremely hard to eat or drink anything around him since he will grab it or knock it out of your hand.

I have discovered my feet!

Laughing

Such a little giggle box

Scooting around

So shy

Below is a little video of Patrick. He is really starting to notice the camera and gets really distracted by it. I wish I could capture his uncontrollable laughter, but since he noticed the camera he stops a little.

We love you Patrick!