The Mallorys Online

We had an absolute blast this Christmas.  It started with day one with Nani and great grandparents coming over for gifts and dinner.  Then we celebrated with Grandpa Shestak by seeing lights, going to Bayside Church Jingle Jam and waking up to gifts from Santa.  Finally, we had gifts and cheer with Grammy and Papi and wrapped up more fun than some people pack into a year.  Check out the photos and the video at the bottom of Jacob preparing for Santa!

Jacob eating whipped cream with the Simpsons	Jennifer's #1 girl, Mackenzie	Kristine and Jennifer, BFF for more years than I can count!
Jacob at daycare waiting for Santa	Jacob getting his gift from Santa	Is it OK, mommy?
Santa was nice enough to stop by daycare to visit the kids!	Jacob celebrating his new tool set with his buddy Mikey	Jacob got a new workshop before daddy!
Mommy stopped by to visit for Santa's stop	Christmas #1 of 3, we're ready!	Jennifer's table; She did an amazing job.
One of her appetizer plates, awesome!	Grandma McCoy opening presents.	Up close and personal
He's getting in the spirit	Nani opening her card from Jacob	Nani reading Jacob one of his new books
Jacob only wanted to eat sour cream… so we let him!	He wanted to make sure he got every little bit out	Jennifer and her dad during our Christmas light walk
It was cooooooooooooold	Too many lights to focus, mommy!	Jacob and Grandpa with Yosemite Sam
This guy had a complete workshop scene in place of his third car garage	Grandpa reading The Night Before Christmas	These Shestaks are out by 8
Giving Grandpa a biiiiiiiig hug	The dudes	Three generations of great people
On our way to Jingle Jam at Bayside Church	We're happy to celebrate Jesus' birth!	Just lounging waiting for the jamming to begin
Jacob's new car from grandpa… awesome!	Are you old enough to drive, sir?	Grandpa making sure the test drive goes smoothly
Christmas #3, still rockin!	All cleaned up and ready for Grammy & Les	What is this huge sock?
Just woke up, still sleepy, but getting presents so it's all good!	Checking carrot, Rudolph ate half of it!	Checking out a new book
Are these mine, too?	That's a proud papa	I'm so excited! do-do-de-do And I just can't hide it!
The boys	Would you like to go large?	One of many presents for Jacob
Jacob checks out his new train	Grandpa loved his gift – a canvas of a photo I took of Jennifer, Jacob and him.	Showing off our new family nutcrackers
Jacob helping mommy vacuum	Elmo tells great stories	Jacob is so funny when Elmo starts talking
I'm a dude	This is my country boy look	Grammy helps Jacob cruise the backyard
Jennifer Betty Crocker Mallory	Hanging out with Les	A Mouse and Cheese cheese set, Jennifer was the Mouse on Cheese as a child in the Nutcracker
Jacob's new trike from Grammy	Now I'm official with my conductor's hat

WHEW!  Where should I start this post?

Jennifer and I have had the greatest time over the last couple months.  The last post was our Halloween photos and so much has happened since that day.  We have spent a good portion of this year planning how we would get out of our house and into a bigger place in an area with better schools for Jacob.  We only planned on being in our house for three years or so and then the bubble burst and trashed any hope we had of selling our house any time soon.  Well, we persevered and worked with an amazing realtor, Mike Bailey, who was able to put us in the house of our dreams.  We moved a few miles east of Sacramento to Roseville.  Our neighborhood is everything we wanted with highly ranked schools and families all around us.  We are at the end of a cul-de-sac with a huge yard for Jacob.  We are blessed that it all worked out in the end.  We are still settling into the house and will get some photos up soon to show our friends and family that are out of town.

Thanksgiving started with our annual tradition to participate in the 5k walk for the Run to Feed the Hungry.  Jacob woke up with a cold, but we faced the elements (foolishly) and Jacob let us know how unhappy he was with our decision the entire walk.  I ended up carrying him over half the walk, adding a quick 25lbs to my body for a couple miles… ouch.  After the walk we headed over to Grammy Barbara’s for a great traditional meal.  Her boyfriend Les greeted us with some of the best egg nog we’ve ever had.  Jacob had a good time relaxing after our tough morning.  The next day we headed out to Nani Karla’s for a second round of Thanksgiving with Jacob’s great grandparents and cousin.

Jacob had a blast on Halloween.  We went to Fairytale Town with some friends and their kids and let the boys run around for a bit.  Then we went back to our neighborhood and visited a couple houses to trick or treat.  It’s amazing how kids know what to do with the candy at such an early age!  Jacob was a fisherman and thanks to mommy’s magic sewing an elastic band he even wore his hat!

Our trip to Santa Cruz while Alicia was out visiting.

Jacob steering the ship	Jacob is a great captain	I can see daddy!
This is too much fun!	I am having a blast in the backyard!	I can't wait to see aunt Alicia
I'm not so sure about these waves, mommy	I'm happy in mommy's arms	I'm happy in mommy's arms
I'm happy in mommy's arms	Spitting image of mommy	The Mallorys in Santa Cruz
They just rescued the shoes after the tide swept them out!		Such a happy little dude

Let’s switch gears a bit from our normal posts and talk about how addicted we are to reality TV.  The first step to recovery is admitting we have a problem.  Here is a list of the reality shows we can’t live without.  A lot of these are Jennifer’s favorites… she has a much bigger reality TV problem than me!  I put who watches the show in paranthesis.

• Project Runway (M&J)
• Rachel Zoe Project (J)
• Real Housewives of Orange County (M&J)
• Real Housewives of NY (J)
• Top Chef (M&J)
• HGTV Design Star (M&J)
• So You Think You Can Dance (M&J)
• American Idol (M&J)
• Tori & Dean (J)
• The Ultimate Fighter (M)
• Dancing With the Stars (J)
• Keeping Up With the Kardashians (J)
• The City (J)
• The Hills (J)
• Big Break (M)

Jacob is an opinionated little boy and at times he can be cranky, but nobody would say he is a violent or ill-tempered boy. However, if they saw him in our house over the last two days they would think he was in the most abusive, violent environment ever. Quite frankly, he has turned into the Incredible Mini-Hulk. He goes from 0 to 10 instantly and kicks, screams and hits at the slightest frustration. The culprit? The antibiotic Omnicef.

Despite having ear tubes he still managed to pick up an ear infection. He had a cold and last Wednesday the doc said his ear looked red and infected. We tried antibiotic drops for a couple days, but his fever was persistent and the drops weren’t staying in his ears. We got him switched to Omnicef and that’s when the gates of hell opened and possessed our beautiful boy. Yesterday was one of the worst days I’ve had with Jacob because he was unmanageable. He would play for a second and laugh and then turn around and throw himself on the ground in a fit of anger. If I tried to console him he would physically hit me. I don’t believe in spankings, but I wanted to swat his butt.

We are going to stop the antibiotic and deal with the consequences. If the ear infection flares up again I will have another antibiotic prescribed, but there is no way I am keeping him on this mind-altering drug. I read a few reports from parents describing the exact same side-effects in their children. When a toddler is already learning how to deal with emotions and then you introduce a drug that plays with their emotions it’s a recipe for disaster. I’ll never allow our pediatrician to prescribe Omnicef again.

Jeff and Kristin’s wedding was beautiful.

It’s been over a month since we posted an update on here and there is a great reason for it. You know that saying, “If you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all”…? The Mallorys had a rough May/June thanks to constant ear infections ending in Jacob getting tubes and then a head cold that lingered for weeks. So we chose to stay away from the negative and not post updates on our frustrations.

Well we are in a new month and Jacob is a new boy! The tubes have cleared up all of his issues and we are thrilled to post a happy update. We spent the Fourth of July in Southern California with our friends Grant and Heather and Grant’s parents Wayne and Elaine. Read the rest of this entry »

Jacob picked up on how to give kisses (toddler open-mouthed kisses) and planted a couple sweet kisses on mommy for the camera.