I am the mama of one dang cute 8 month old! The past month has been so fun and so different, I am LOVING this age! So much about our funny girl has changed:

• She smiles at everyone and everything. She has the biggest toothless grin and a lil squeak to go with it. 
• In the past couple weeks she has perfected the high five, clapping and waving! Little smarty pants.
•  She had her first tooth come in one week ago- it's a sharp little bugger- we have been waiting for this tooth since it teased us by popping up once when she was 4 months old. 
• This girl much prefers to stand and jump up and down more than anything. I'm convinced she will skip crawling all together and go right to the walking! 
• She now makes an 'o' with her mouth and opens and closes it as fast as she can (this is what i do to make the sound of a fish, so she copies)
• She is now eating the cereal puffs and yogurt melts. Put a handful on her high chair and it's all smiles and squeals. She likes to pick one up, show it to me in her hand, then eat it. funny girl :)
• She has a birthmark on her right side on her ribs! It's more of a strip than a spot, but only 1/2 an inch long.
• She weighs 16 lbs 8 oz (20 percentile) 
• Still throws up, still doesn't sleep but both have improved to a livable amount haha
• She has started to recognize when strangers hold her. She sticks out that bottom lip and lets out a warning whimper. And on some nights she only prefers me, not daddy (which i'm liking for now)

 She loves the baby in the mirror

Looks just like her daddy!

 Stranger danger haha

I just can't help but brag about my Malan girl.  She is the happiest baby i've ever seen, seriously. I love her expressions and that I never have to wonder what she's thinking, because those eyebrows say it all! She is such a funny girl and loves to make a room of people laugh. I can't wait to see what is next but I hope she doesn't change too fast.

a laugh that will melt your heart

It's no secret that Malan loves her doggie. She looks forward to throwing the ball with her everyday and loves when Cali actually pays attention to her. In this little slice of goodness you can hear her cute laugh that can make anyone smile! Enjoy!

This little chick is 5 months old!

I can't even try to explain how much love I have for this girl. She is amazing. She is my everyday. She is one gorgeous girl. She is sassy and will always let you know what she doesn't want.

• very much into her toes now. loves to hold them and talk to them. when I hold her, she will constantly watch them to make sure they don't go anywhere
• weighs 15 lbs {30th percentile}, most of which is in her cheeks
• she can roll to her right side, from back to stomach. then she's stuck there. and she hates it. a lot.  the second we put her down on her back anywhere she instantly rolls over {not as cute during diaper changes} 
• still not a sleeper. her naps are a max of 20 minutes. we're working on that
• she is a champion at eating her rice cereal! loves it. she opens her mouth for more before I even have it on the spoon, then leans into it so the spoon will get to her faster {darling} after every bite, she gently pats the tray in front of her as if she's focused on swallowing, cheering herself on.
• bath time is show time. she yells and splashes, nobody gets out of the bathroom dry. 
• favorite toys are her cell phone and a singing dog that lights up. anything she can get to her mouth. she has an eye for anything shiny.
• has a tooth coming in on the top! teething is a joy. she is a drool face.
• loves to read books. they settle her down every time. she likes 'brown bear, brown bear what do you see?', 'who is hiding on the farm', and 'peek-a-boo animals'. she's a little afraid of the sound a cow makes, shocks her every time I do it.
• blows raspberries all day. she blows harder with the more spit that gets involved
• loves to grab your lip and pull as hard as she can. funny girl
• ticklish like crazy on the back of her neck
• Big fan of her doorway bouncer. she watches cali walk back and forth with the ball.

have a happy monday!

I know, I know... I'm the worst at updating my blog. My usual excuse was that I never had much to post about. Now I have a baby who changes every day and I still can't post!! I just read my last post and had to laugh. I can't believe that almost everything I wrote has changed. I have so many pictures, unorganized as usual but cute to say the least.
Some updates:

• Loves bath time
• Eats every two hours, even through the night.
• Sleeps in and loves her crib. She has a bath at 8 and we get her to sleep around 9-9:30. She has a long stretch of sleep for about 4 hours, then she gets up every two hours to eat. We're working on eliminating one of the feedings. About every other night, she will wake up every 45 mins, meaning I get up, rock her back to sleep, get up rock her back to sleep, get up feed her then rock her back to sleep. Repeat till 7am
• Weighs 12 lbs  90 percentile
• Height 23.5 inches  75 percentile
• SO happy in the morning! She has the biggest smiles and such cute sounds and squils
• Talks to herself and thinks she's pretty funny
• FINALLY started taking a binky at exactly 2 months old. She sucks on it long enough to take the edge off, then spits it out when she's calm.
• Still doesn't take a bottle
• Still prefers to be held, but she can sit on her own for a while at a time throughout the day. I still rock and sing her to sleep for naps, though. She will have none of the 'cry it out' sheesh. She stands her ground and never budges
• She is a champ at holding that head up. such strong neck muscles
• Being naked is top notch in this gals life. loves it

 Sadly, one of the only pictures from Halloween. She liked the pumpkins once we got candles in them

 Happy girl in the morning

 What? Nothing..what do you mean?

 Oh yeah, Cali had a puppy :)

A week after she turned one month, I noticed that her right eye wasn't aligned with the left. I'm lucky enough to have a mom who listens to every concern and can talk to the right doctor for me, so after she talked to an ophthalmologist I quickly made an appt with a pediatric ophthalmologist at children's hospital in knoxville. Sometimes a child as young as Malan may need surgery before two months in order to fix the problem. Malan has Transiet Exotropia... her right eye deviates outward. Luckily she won't need surgery but if the muscle doesn't get stronger by december, she will start glasses and a patch. I feel like her eye is stronger and I can see that it's correcting itself.  We will know for sure at the beginning of the month.

I love having this little girl. I'm lucky she is all mine. I struggle sometimes with how high maintenance she can be, but I feel like I was hand picked to handle it. I want to do these hard things for her. I do it for her.

3 weeks already?!

We have learned a lot in the past 3 weeks. Bringing home a new baby is possibly the scariest thing i've done. I feel like I have no idea what i'm doing! Nobody really tells you how hard the first couple weeks are. She is already so full of personality and my heart just aches at how much I love this lil chick! Our daily goal is getting to know what she likes and what she doesn't.

      Here are some things we have learned and love about our baby girl:

• She eats every hour to hour and a half -which makes for looong nights
• Like her mama, she hates her feet touched
• She adores her daddy
• Not a fan of bath time
• Loves to be held. She will fall asleep ONLY if you hold her, and wakes up within mintues of putting her down
• She thinks the ceiling fan is pretty fantastic, we could look at it all day
• LOVES tummy time. Her little muscles are already so strong
• She gets the hiccups at least twice a day and they make her angry
• She's like her dad... loves to be naked
• Starting to get the hang of the night and day thing {ish}

It has been so fun to watch and learn with her. I feel like she changes every day. She is still the prettiest baby and has the best spirit about her. It actually makes me a little teary eyed {like that is anything new} 

Introducing...

Malan Kelli Rabe

08/21/11

7lbs 10oz 19 inches

 Blake and I are so excited to announce that our little girl is here! She is such a blessing to have around our home and we already love her little spirit.
I was scheduled to be induced on August 19th...but the hospital had other plans. We went in at midnight to be checked in and start the process. But someone dropped the ball while scheduling me AND the rooms were full with girls that were actually in labor. Our doctor was less than thrilled to say the least. So, Blake and I drove the hour and a half home. I was so disappointed. I expected to have a baby that day and instead, went home. I was rescheduled to come in at midnight on the 21st.
I didn't sleep the entire first night in the hospital.. the anticipation was killing me! I've always been so afraid of labor and I was only hours away, or so I thought. I ended up going into labor on my own! My doctor planned to start the pitocin that morning but I had already started pretty intense contractions after my water was broke. They were coming only a minute apart and starting to put stress on the baby. Malan's heart rate would drop and my blood pressure would go too high. So the anisthesiologist insisted I get an epidural to seperate the contractions. I had 1/8 the amount of a regular epidural because I was too afraid to go all the way numb. It spaced them out to only 2 mintues apart.
A few hours later, it was time to push! I pushed for almost 3 hours. A few stretched ligaments and an episiotomy later, Malan was here! She was born at 5:57pm.

She is a very healthy little girl and has the funniest faces! I can't tell who she looks like yet, but I know she is a gorgeous girl! Her eyes are so light, her skin is olive like her daddy's and she has the best sounding cry. That sounds funny, but she is squeaky, and I love it!!

Hmm...

Wow

I should update this...

        Maybe tomorrow

                                                        Love me anyway?