Love, Life, and Coffee

Nature Part 2

2011-11-21T12:47:00.001-08:00

I guess it's been several months since I've blogged on here.. but I am continuing with the nature theme I ended with back in um, August... :) Between then and now, we've managed to get hit with oh, an earthquake, hurricanes, tropical storms, and flooding, not necessarily in that order. The earthquake was a surprise and the hurricanes were not unexpected, but it was the tropical storms and rain that finally did us in in the end. It pourrrred for approximately 7 days straight without ceasing, day and night. I have honestly in all my life never experienced anything like it. It was hard to drive anywhere, do anything, be outside at all. And at some point, the ground had had too much I guess, and the water began to pour in through our basement. Everything we had moved out here from Colorado but had yet to unpack was stored in the crawlspace of our basement. In cardboard boxes. And as you can imagine, it All. Got. Wet. Sooo, skip to a month later and we finally had sorted through everything and thrown out the bad, re-stored the good, and gotten new carpet downstairs and up. Life got back to normal eventually, but that was a rough lesson in the power of nature. Since then we've kept a close eye on the back drain and been more aware of weather in general! It's just such a difference from Colorado... I was telling our neighbors, we could leave our bikes outside year-round out there and then one day bring them in and they'd pretty much look about the same. When we first moved here, I left our bikes outside for a couple of months. When I went to bring them in, they were covered in cobwebs, leaves, nests of sorts, gunk in general, had started to rust, and the seats were peeling.. they honestly looked as if they'd been sitting out there for years. I am not kidding! My dad has always complained about this kind of stuff but I always sort of thought he was kidding! Seriously?! So this is the kind of thing we are adjusting to.

And then, one day after all the weather madness, I walked out into the backyard to find this little guy:

And so - life goes on......

~ Our house in the fall ~

Tadpole update - exciting!

2011-08-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Had to post on the excitement happening in our tadpole pond!

I am pretty sure these are tree frogs, based on the other frogs we've seen around the yard, but I am not totally sure. They have the spots and coloring of frogs now. and even seem to respond to my voice! They've kind of become pets, but I guess we're going to let them go in a stream near here.

Nature in our yard

2011-08-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

"Tubby" the turtle
Our resident deer

The tadpole pond

Think they'll notice me ?

Summertime Update

2011-07-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've rapped at ya (prob only Todd will get that joke) :) but I thought I'd try to catch up on here a bit. I never know who still reads the blog (or remembers it from the "kfunk.org" days), but it is fun to write on here nonetheless!

We've gotten settled into our new house, settled into a groove, and been enjoying the summer. We have already managed to make 3 big trips to the beach, which have been awesome. One was to Pawley's Island, SC (near Myrtle Beach), and the other two were to Cape Charles, VA (Chesapeake Bay). The Pawley's Island trip was to visit my BFF Meredith and her parents, hubby, and kids, and to celebrate her son Anderson's 5th birthday at the beach. Her parents did an "Under the Sea" birthday theme for him and all the kids had a blast. My mom & dad came for the week too, which was nice to hang out with them outside of Nova, and to see them be able to enjoy themselves at the beach and relax. Actually, my dad doesn't even really like the beach (I know-- I ask myself if I am truly related to this guy), but he liked being on vacation and seeing my mom have fun. Also, I think we were all glad to get away from everything that reminds us of the cancer, doctors' visits, hospitals, etc. It was nice to be away from all that and have something else to focus on. My mom has had quite a bit of "time off" this summer from actual chemo or radiation, but the doctors' visits are relentless. There is always some test to undergo or results to review. For someone who hates hospitals and has never even been sick, it has not been fun. But she is doing what she has to do and putting up with it all. So anyway, it's been so great to see her at the beach just hanging out and relaxing.

Our other beach vacations in Cape Charles were to join my brother Brian and his family (along with my mom & dad). They rented a house down there and we ended up driving down there two consecutive weekends! The drive can vary anywhere from 3-9 hours (ha - not kidding) so on average it took us about 4 1/2 each way. Somehow it took my brother 9 hours to drive there from McLean, but you also have to factor in that they have 4 kids. Glad I wasn't in that car- ! Cape Charles is in VA and is really on Chesapeake Bay (not the ocean), but it is a pretty mellow scene and the water is calm and shallow, so in a way it is a parents' dream. I could actually hang out on the beach and read magazines while the kids had a ball. Although even on the "real" beach (SC), the kids mainly just dug a giant hole and played in that the whole time. ha. Hours of entertainment!

In the rest of our Nova existence, Todd is still liking his job doing climate science and has been very busy working on a report most of the summer about climate change and health impact. They presented it to various Congress people on Capital Hill and he's been mingling with the politically aware, of which I am not. He has been enjoying doing the political thing and working for a good cause. When we moved, I also went back to work as a contractor for my old company in Boulder, and work from home in Springfield. It really isn't much different than it was working in Boulder, although I do miss going into the office and seeing all my friends at work. That was always something to look forward to about working. Madison is doing great and going to preschool "camp" a couple days a week. They call it camp because I guess they just mostly hold hands and sing songs, rather than learning their ABCs or things they would normally do during the school year. I get the impression it's more "fun" than regular preschool and they also go to the pool once a week (!) and ride on a van and everything. Madison loves it. Although in the fall she'll go back to her old preschool again. It's in a church and has smaller classes (10-ish), which I like. Right now there are about 20 kids in her class and it's a little OOC. I just feel like the teachers know her better at the other school. And it's a little more real learning, altho it's hard to compare to "camp."

One other thing that's been keeping us afloat during all these big changes in our lives, is the support of all our family and friends during this. I've stayed in touch with all my buds out in Colorado, and reconnected with old friends from HS and college here in Nova. It's made for an easier transition to this whole thing, and I cherish my friends and family to no end. We've had quite a few visitors already -- thanks Heather & Dave for coming, thanks Jen Chen for meeting up (twice!), and thanks Nana & Pawpaw for visiting too -- we love you guys and am happy we've been able to see you. It is nice that DC is a little more central than Colorado for that reason! And to anyone else who might want to visit or will be in the area - please look us up! We love visitors! I promise we are getting a couch or a futon soon, and you won't have to sleep on the floor like Heather & Dave did! ;) Enjoy the summer and feel free to leave a comment if you read this~~!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all those moms out there! This Mother's Day was an exciting one for me. I feel like we had a weekend-long of festivities. On Friday, Madison's preschool had a Mother's Day "program" and my mom came too! The little preschoolers sang in the church auditorium, then had a little party afterwards in the classroom when they gave us gifts they had made for us. Madison's was a painted picture frame she made with buttons glued on & a picture of her in it. She was so excited to be in on the surprise, it was great! Here is a picture her teacher took of her giving me my gift:

And here is a short video I took on my mom's camera!

It was great that my mom was included -- 3 generations. It was very special to me this year for a lot of reasons -- everything that's been going on with my mom's health mainly, but also that Madison seemed to "get it" and know it was a special day just for honoring the moms.

We went to church this morning and they had carnations for all the moms, plus a little breakfast afterwards w/ donuts! Anytime there are donuts involved I get excited. :)

Then we spent today over at my brother Brian's having a cookout and watching the kids play in the yard.

Oh yeah and we also spent the weekend ***moving*** into our new house! Yes, we finally found a place and moved our stuff out of storage & into the house! Now the fun part.. unpacking... We have to deal with that next. So at the moment we are still staying at my parents. But hopefully this week we'll get to the point where we can sleep there! I think my parents are ready to have their house back! The cats have made themselves right at home tho and my parents have really gotten used to them, so that will be one of the hardest adjustments for any of us, I think! We told my mom we were going to leave Madison & the cats with them, and we'll just live in our new house circa 2004-style. She wasn't buying it.

Three Year Stats

2011-03-16T19:35:00.001-07:00

In some ways it's hard to believe Madison is a walking, talking, crazy, fearless, full-of-herself three-year-old -- especially when I think back to her baby days and the early days of this blog. But, in other ways, it seems like she's been going-on three for so long that it's finally here. She has really become her own person over the past year or so and it's fun to see her personality blossoming. We signed up for a new pediatrician when we moved here and had her three-year checkup. It was funny to hear the doctor ask things like: Does she look where you're pointing? Can she throw a ball? Does she group words? As she was sitting there giving a dissertation on the little mermaid and why she has to sleep underwater. I guess the questions are standard but they seemed a little more like for a two-year-old. Regardless, I was happy with the doctor and she passed with flying colors. She's now 37" tall and weighs 30 lbs, which is apparently 50th percentile for both, so that was reassuring. For a while she was low on the weight charts and is still a little peanut but is definitely getting up there.

I hope to keep posting about Madison's evolutions and our time in Virginia, including my mom & everyone here, so feel free to add comments if you feel the urge! That way I'll know if anyone still reads.

Grandma

2011-03-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

Hi to everyone who still reads my blog. I forgot about writing on here for a while, but I'd like to catch those of you up who may not know what's been going on in my life.

Right before Christmas, we found out the devastating news that my mom has cancer. The doctors were not sure what kind, but they had found it in a biopsy done on a lump near her shoulder. Further tests revealed that it is a very rare form of small cell carcinoma cancer, that usually occurs in the lungs with smokers, but my mom is not a smoker and also it is throughout her body. When we found out, I had just gone back to Colorado after Christmas break. We understood that my mom quite possibly had only a few months left to live, and so we packed up our things and hopped back on a plane heading back east: me, 2 cats, and a 2-year-old! My friend Aimee took us to the airport and my wonderful neighbors have been keeping an eye on our townhouse for us. All in all, things went amazingly smoothly. You'd be surprised how quickly you can define what's important in your life when you need to, and just sort of drop the rest and go from there.

The short part of a long story is that we were planning to move here this spring anyway. Todd had just moved out here (living with my parents!) and had started a job as a climate scientist in DC. We just put things into overdrive a bit.

So, over the past couple of months, we have all gotten to know each other a little better... me, my parents, hubby, kid, and cats all under one roof. We try to help out when we can and try to stay out of the way when we should. My mom tries to stay upbeat while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation for the cancer. It is still hard to grasp that she has this disease sometimes, because you can't see it from the outside. She would look perfectly fine if it weren't for the side effects taking her hair away. And I think she would act perfectly fine too, if it weren't for the side effects making her tired, nauseus, etc, as well. She never had any actual cancer symptoms, other than the lump and her hand pain, which has been ongoing and may or may not actually be related. So we are all doing the best we can, taking things day by day, as we try to process this strange diagnosis and hope for the best possible outcome.

In the meantime, Madison has started Preschool nearby and is doing just great. She is the youngest in her class but of course any child of mine is gifted and talented and therefore in the advanced program. She turned *3* on Feb 18th and we had a party last Sunday with her and her little buddies. She is getting quite grown-up and chatty these days. We have been browsing a bit for places to live nearby that will hopefully be close enough to my parents and brother's house, but also a shorter commute for Todd into DC. There are definitely a lot of places to choose from so I feel pretty good that we will find something when the time is right.

Thanks to everyone for your love and support during all of this. We couldn't do it without you. We've had so many visits from family and friends lately, it's unbelievable. Also, I think you probably all have seen the Caring Bridge site, but if not, let me know.

Here is a picture of the incredible sledding Grandma with Madison in December when we were here for Christmas. :)

Ready for Christmas

2010-12-15T22:42:00.000-08:00

Our little Christmas Elf has been asking every day lately, "Is it Christmas yet?"

Last week when I told her we still had another week before our trip, the next morning she woke up & said, "Is it a week yet?" Sigh. It's so hard -- I know how she feels because when I am ready for something to happen, I want it to happen RIGHT NOW and it's hard to factor in the concept of time when you, well, don't understand time yet. (And I pretend not to understand time.) But now it is right around the corner and we are leaving on Friday for our trip. I am looking forward to the break and seeing Daddy. :) I wanted to wish everyone happy holidays, happy birthdays (you know who I am talking to), merry Christmas, happy New Year, and I'll talk to you next year!!!!!!

This One's for Slackdaddy

2010-11-30T13:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Turkey Day!

2010-11-28T17:25:00.001-08:00

~ Hope everyone had a good turkey day ~

Here we are after cooking our all-organic grass-fed free-range locally-grown 18-lb turkey after 5+ hours in the oven! :) It was tasty!

Also~ we put up our Christmas decorations & Christmas tree already!

And yes, I am one of those people who has a Santa hat for their cat...........

Rocktober

2010-11-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

Hi, faithful blog readers! I think I still have a few peeps out there who still read this! :)

Sorry about the lapse in blogging. I love writing on here but just forget sometimes. Anyway, it's been a busy month. Todd's parents came out to visit for a week when I went on my girls' trip to California, and Madison got in some quality Nana & Pawpaw time.

Madison is really into Tinkerbell and princess things right now, and when I got back, she had a new Tinkerbell movie and book from the Nana & Pawpaw fairy! One of her favorite parts in the movie is in the "special features" - a Selena Gomez video for the theme song. Complete with interpretive dancing, twirly dress, flower picking, and of course singing, it is a princess/fairy's dream come true. She'll sing and dance along to the video, picking imaginary flowers, etc. She is so into it w/ her facial expressions, etc, it is pretty funny to watch.

Another recent discovery is read-along books. We bought a book/CD combo at some point and forgot about it, but Madison rediscovered it and *loves* to "read along" and turn the pages at appropriate times. She'll do the same book over & over & over! I'm just happy she's found someone other than Mommy & Daddy who will read her the same book 10 times in a row.......

For Halloween, she alternated between Cinderella and Snow White (thanks Maria!) but ultimately chose Cinderella for the real deal on Halloween. Let's just say I was more than happy to send the Snow White costume back to Sadie, and hope we can focus on wearing "real clothes" once again now that Halloween has passed.....

Here are some pictures from Halloween and my trip. I had SO much fun in Scott's Valley and San Francisco, and am SO glad we are continuing the CLUB tradition!!!! We rock!!!!

Elf in the Pumpkin Patch!

2010-10-18T21:55:00.001-07:00

And I just wanted to say a big "thanks!" to Nana & Pawpaw for coming out to visit while I go on my California trip! Thank you!!! Can't wait for my girls' trip! =)

Nature and a train ride!

2010-09-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

Some recent videos-

Owl in our backyard

Bighorn sheep on Guenella Pass

Riding in the caboose in Georgetown

Thanks, Cuz

2010-09-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

We had a great visit with Madison's cousins in Virginia, despite us both getting bronchitis and Madison getting an ear infection. Sigh. I'm pretty sure she got sick on the plane, because she seemed like she was coming down with something within a couple days of getting there. Nothing like being on vacation with a crabby/cranky/clingy sick two-year-old! And at the beach, no less. Oh well, as fate would have it, I got it too, only mine was much worse I'm sure!!
I was happy, though, that we got to meet the latest Kennedy cousin, Joseph, and that Todd & I could be there for his baptism and become Godparents. Little Joseph was on his best behavior in the church and didn't make a peep! The same can't exactly be said for the other kids........
Here are some pictures from the trip!

Another one bites the dust

2010-08-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

Another of our kitties has sadly been attacked by the bully cat in our neighborhood (a.k.a. Gimley). Both times it happened on our front porch and this is starting to get ridiculous with vet bills. I told the owners about it the first time (with Solly's tail) but they didn't seem too concerned, and I haven't said anything about Isa yet. Needless to say, we've been keeping them in more, and they seem perfectly happy staying inside. Madison was a good little veterinarian's helper and below is Isa with her bandaged paw (which has since been licked off). She seems fine now and got the all-clear from the vet. Hopefully we are done with cat drama for a while!

Toddler 911

2010-07-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

So, think back to allll the things that people warned you about when you were having a baby, regarding child safety. Stuff you would need: cabinet latches, outlet covers, baby gates, that kind of thing. And if you were like me, you were surprised when those things actually came in handy (wow, they really do work)! Of course, they can't prevent every childhood mishap along the way. Madison has had her fair share of bumps & bruises so far, but she is in general a pretty "grown up" two-year-old and sometimes I forget that she is just that, two years old. So you can imagine my surprise the other morning when she managed to lock herself in the bathroom. "Just turn the lock, honey," I said, expecting her to be out of there in no time. Nothing. "Do you see the lock that you turned in the first place?" "Yes." "Well, turn it the other way." "Um, I can't." "Why not?" "It's too hard." And this proceeded to go on for the next few minutes before I realized I better act a little more quickly. Todd was out and I called a locksmith, and they dispatched someone right away. In the meantime, I got out the bobby pins and tried to pick the lock, while getting regular updates from Madison like, "I'm washing my hands now!" Luckily Todd came home and managed to get it open with some sort of little tool. Phew!!! Big sigh of relief. Madison was unscathed, I called the locksmith back and told them we got it open, and they said no biggie. They said if there is ever a situation with a child locked in a car or a room, etc, there is no charge. Good to know for the future!!! But hoping it doesn't happen again!

Never gets old....

2010-07-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

Our water baby, having fun in the pool.....

Newest babes in tha house

2010-07-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with everyone the latest and greatest babes in my life -- my sister-in-law and one of my best friends both recently had babies!
Below meet baby Joseph and baby Emma ~ born June 29 & July 7, respectively.
Congrats, proud mamas & papas!

Also, I don't know how much everyone likes videos (I personally am not a big fan...) but sometimes I take them on my phone & text them to my mom. Usually just Madison being her silly self. Here are a few recent ones... unedited & uncut! (i.e. kinda choppy!) but hopefully quick to load since they are small.

Patriotic People

2010-07-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July!

Quotes o' th' Week

2010-07-06T22:25:00.000-07:00

Upon seeing a biker-looking dude crossing the street w/ some sort of logo on his jacket:

"Mommy, that man has Mrs. Potts on his shirt!!!"

While watching Pocohontas:

"Mommy, I don't like the white man."

She is learning young. And yes, we watch a lot of Disney.

Summer Fun

2010-06-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of our water baby having some fun in the sun.....
Along with some other recent action shots!

And one of the healing tail!

For those of you who were wondering, Solly get her tail bitten in a catfight with one of our new neighbors' cats... :( And unfortunately the bone was broken. We took her to the vet, where they suggested amputating her tail halfway down, but we ultimately decided not to. And it has turned into the miracle tail - she is holding it up again just like normal. Now fingers crossed she has learned her lesson to keep out of catfights!

A Morning in the Life

2010-05-29T15:21:00.001-07:00

I had my cell phone when I went in to get Madison up the other morning, so I took some fun morning pictures.
This is typically how we start our day: it was almost 9am and I went in to get her up... She was sprawled across her big-girl bed, arms up, poppy in, wrapped up in her blankie.Approx 15 minutes later, still in "morning mode," laying around wanting to read books and not wanting to get dressed! She would wear her nightgown all day if we let her....

Ok, finally downstairs, dressed and fed, and saying bye to Solly before leaving for the day...

But first we stopped to get coffee on the way to daycare, which means whipped cream for Madison!

I deal with this slowpoke every morning, but I can't say I am any better.... I guess if she gets it from someone, it's not from her daddy....

In other news, Solly's tail seems to be healing nicely and she is back to her old antics as the alpha cat. If you look closely you can see where the vet shaved her tail in one spot (in the middle). But she seems to have full use of it still and we are sure glad we didn't get it amputated!

KC wedding

2010-05-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

There were lots of fun pictures taken at Jen & Erik's wedding in Kansas City a few weeks ago, but here were a few of my favorites :)
Luckily daddy & daughter were safe at home, away from all this mayhem.....

Todd's birthday

2010-05-03T21:16:00.001-07:00

For Todd's 35th birthday, I left town & went to Kansas City for the weekend! His gift was 72-hrs+ of daddy-daughter bonding. We went out to dinner the night before I left, and Madison drove home....

Painting

2010-04-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

This one is purely for the grandparents, cause no one else will have the patience to watch it!

Storytelling

2010-04-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Story by MJ last nite in the tub:

"Once upon a time, there were three little piggies. They had a mother and they had some fun. The End."

Then she proceeded to line all her ducks up along the edge of the tub and declared:

"And they lived happily ever after!"

Think we are reading her too many fairy tales?

Easter

2010-04-08T22:11:00.001-07:00

Part of the reason you haven't seen any updates from me on here for a while is that my camera was MIA! It was recently unearthed with a couple videos on it, one of which I'll post here. The other reason is just the normal being-busy stuff that comes with having a 2-year-old! Being back at work doesn't help either. Sometimes when you're in front of a computer all day, the last thing you want to do is sit back down in front of a computer. But, time passes and before you know it your kids are grown up! My neice, who was born while I was in college, is graduating from high school this year. She was just a "little kid" in our wedding, and I remember it like it was yesterday!

So, Easter happened during the MIA time of my camera, so this first pic and video are from my cell phone, and not the greatest quality, but you still can see Madison's cute Easter dress (thanks again, Ashleigh!) and her exceptional Easter-egg-finding skills as displayed at the church egg hunt.

p.s. she insisted on collecting the "egg" in her hat, and yes, I am one of THOSE moms who makes her wear a hat!!! (it was windy out!)

This next video is from a few weeks ago. Just sort of a random day after we got home from daycare and Madison was playing on our free slide. :) I remember when we first got it and I was telling my friend Heather how I had to constantly help her up & down the ladder, and she was like, I bet by the end of the summer she'll be doing it herself! And I was like, yeah, whatever, you haven't seen this thing. It's huge! She'll be at least 5 before she's climbing it (ha)! And sure enough, Heather, Voice of Reason, was right.

In other news, if you haven't heard about the Mary Poppins obsession, there is one. We listen to the CD in the car, read the book at night, and watch the DVD on weekends. When we're not watching/reading it, we're singing the songs or calling Jane and Michael on the phone. The obsession came to full-on stalker status when we went and saw 'Mary Poppins: The Broadway Musical" in Denver. Seeing all the Mary Poppins characters right in front of us (we were 11th row) singing at the top of their lungs was a little intense at first, but Madison eventually got into it and was so enthralled she could just stare. Not talk, not drink, not clap, just stare. And at the end she got a Mary Poppins Barbie doll. When we got home that night (somehow she was still awake!), she ran around the house naked singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" with her half-naked Mary Poppins in her hand. Classic~!

The Elf Goes Skiing

2010-03-02T21:32:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the winter Olympics, the Elf had no fear and tackled skiing while we were in Breckenridge. Condo = pricey, Skis = borrowed, Snowsuit = hand-me-down, the look on her face = priceless!

Lil Teeth

2010-02-27T13:50:00.000-08:00

Lil Miss is finally getting all her lil teeth. She's the last in her playgroup of kiddos her age to be getting the rest in! The latest are her little top canines, which you can see the points coming thru. This pic is one of those giggle moments, in which she thought it was hilarious to try to squirm around while I was taking her pic, but I thought it ended up being a good one of her teeth. Mom 1, Madison 0! Ha!

She doesn't have her 2-year molars in yet and pretty much just finished getting her 1-year molars, so I have a feeling it will be a while before we see the likes of those.
And as long as I am on the stats, we had Madison's 2-year checkup a couple weeks ago. She is still a tiny peanut, but seems to be ahead of the curve on everything else. She was almost 23 lbs and about 2' 10", which put her in the 8th% for weight and 55th% for height. She is talking up a storm these days and was asking the doctor things like, "Are you going to check my tummy, Dr. Halperin?" which was kind of funny. We started potty training after we got back from Christmas and she's finally wearing "big girl" underpants and using the potty, well most of the time. She was using it 100% of the time last week, but now I think she was just showing off cause my mom was here. She weaned from breastfeeding at 23 months (yay, before she turned two!) and now the next thing to tackle will be her "poppy" (pacifier). She managed to have it in at her doctor's appointment so of course the doctor brought it up. She gave us a goal of age 2 1/2 to say bye-bye. We'll see how that goes!
Everything else with Madison is going supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! She has been on a Mary Poppins kick the past couple of months or so, and so everything in our lives centers around Jane, Michael, Bert, Mary Poppins, and going in a tunnel and getting a dirty nose. I have a feeling you parents out there can understand what I'm talking about. I won't go into any more detail than that.

Birthday Girl

2010-02-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

Madison turned two last Thursday, and we had a party with all her best buddies on Saturday to celebrate. She was a little shy when the kids first started arriving, but after a while she warmed up and got her groove on. I think her favorite part was the pink Frosty cake. I think she would've been happy sitting and eating frosting for the rest of the day!

Christmas Catch-up

2010-02-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I never posted any Christmas pictures on here! Here are a few for your viewing pleasure. We also just watched our video from Christmas and my birthday, and I was reminded of a special little birthday serenade I received on Christmas Eve of "Rock-a-bye Baby" morphed into "Happy Birthday," sung by a little Christmas elf sitting on my lap. It was the best birthday present ever!!!

MJ-isms

2010-02-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

Some funny things about Madison that make me laugh ~ ~

Whenever she sees a football game or basketball game on TV, she says: "marching baaaaand!" and dances around the room

Likes my singing. Nuff said.

Sleeps late (definitely my child!)

Tells me I have a little nose

I smell like strawberry shortcake

I’m like a mary poppins mommy

She’ll find something little and seemingly insignificant and become fascinated with it. For instance, the Mary Poppins dvd cover from the library has a picture from “the making of” with Julie Andrews and her nose covered in soot, talking to the director or someone. So for the past 2 weeks, we’ve had to sing about the “dirty nose” and Mary Poppins talking to “the man...” The dvd cover now even comes with us to breakfast, in the car, and to daycare!

Favorite expressions:

"Look!"
"What’s that?"
"Why???"
"I don’t like … "
"I do it myself!!!"

MJ's Top Movies of the Decade

2010-01-24T22:26:00.000-08:00

Todd & I were discussing my 'Top 10 Movies' post the other day, when MJ kept saying, "I have some! I have some!" when we realized she meant that SHE had some favorite movies TOO! C'mon, what were we thinking, not posting her movie list on here too? So with a little brainstorm of the movies she's seen in her short life thus far, we came up with this list. And if any of you know toddlers, they feel pretty strongly about their faves....
Without further adieu:

1. Frosty the Snowman
2. Rudulph
3. Dora's Christmas
4. Barney at the Zoo
5. Baby Van Gogh
6. Baby Beethoven
7. Baby Bach
8. The Wizard of Oz
9. Elmo's Birthday Party
10. Angelina Ballerina

My friend gave us VHS (!) tapes of the Baby Einstein movies before Madison was born, and I thought, ok, maybe we'll pop these in one night when she's not going to sleep... Not really thinking she'd pay attention. But around 12 or 15 mos or so, these became the SHIZZ for her. It was all she ever wanted to do. I think "Baby Van Gogh" was among her first words in fact. It was a little weird. She was mezmerized. She's now seen them all enough to memorize the commentary... and luckily has branched out to other movies too, saving us from investing further in Baby Einstein and also saving our sanity!

Welcome 2010 & Reader Feedback

2010-01-07T21:02:00.000-08:00

So, one of the big questions that came up while we were in Indiana, was:
Will you say: "Twenty-Ten" or "Two-Thousand Ten?"

Well, I guess it wasn't a "big" question for everybody, but it was for me!I personally am saying "Two-Thousand Ten," mainly because I was already in the habit of saying "Two-Thousand Nine." Todd insists that most people will say "Twenty-Ten" but I disagree...

So, now that it is actually 2010, how are you saying it? Reader feedback requested!

Another common discussion on our trip was: "Best ofs the Decade." As in, best movies of the decade, best albums of the decade, etc. I've decided to start out posting my Ten Favorite Movies of the Decade here. Notice I am not saying "Ten Best" but "Ten Favorites" and that way you can't argue with me since they're my own personal favorites! If you feel like expanding on your reader feedback here even more, I'd love to see other people's Fave Movies of the Decade as well.

I admit, I looked these up on imdb to find out the dates, just cause I was curious. But otherwise these were off the top of my head!

1. Almost Famous (2000)
2. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
3. Sex and the City, the Movie (2008)
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
5. Oceans 11 (2001)
6. Mamma Mia (2008)
7. Children of Men (2006)
8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
9. Into the Wild (2007)
10. Memento (2000)

Quotes-o-the-week!

2010-01-04T23:36:00.000-08:00

Upon seeing a semi-strange man in the park:

"Man walking. Has gloves on. Jacket on. Hat on. Kinda weird."

To Todd:

"Mommy feel like Strawberry Shortcake."

Kids say the darndest things.....

2009-12-18T21:47:00.000-08:00

I know it's totally cliche, but I honestly didn't think kids really said anything all that funny, or darndest, until now that we actually have one... who is saying things that are funny and darndest! but it's true! It's fun knowing some of the thoughts that are floating around in this little person's head finally....

Here are some examples of recent conversations:
We drove through McDonald's and I handed Madison her happy meal as we were driving.
MJ: "What's this, Mommy?" (at the prize)
Me: "I don't know, Madison, what is it?"
MJ: "A robot, maybe" (it was an "avatar")
Me: "Yeah, maybe it's a robot"
MJ: "No want this, Mommy"
Me: "You don't want the robot?"
MJ: "No like this, Mommy"
Me: "You don't like the robot?"
MJ: "Kind of scary"
Me: "Kind of scary?"
MJ: "Yeah Mommy kind of scary"
Me: "Oh, ok, maybe we'll give it to Daddy when we get home."
MJ: "Yes give to Daddy"
And later, after Todd got home, sure enough, the first thing she said was: "Daddy! Robot!"
I thought it was funny that she remembered that. And I didn't even know she knew the word "scary" before that!

At dinner one night:
Me: "You are drinking out of a cup like a grown-up!"
MJ: "Grown up"
Me: "Yes, like a grown-up"
MJ, thinking: "Mommy is a grown-up"
MJ: "Madison is a baby"
MJ: "Madison is a girl."
MJ: "Mommy is a girl."
MJ: "Daddy is a daddy"

Looking at a coke can with Santa drinking from a bottle:
"Santa drinking beer!"

At bedtime:
"Madison sleeping in a big-girl bed"
"Mommy sleeps in a big-boy bed."
"Daddy sleeps in a big-boy bed."
"Solly sleeps in a big-boy bed."
"Isa sleeps in the basement."
"Big Bird sleeps in a nest."
"Red Robin sleeps in a nest."

Madison also likes to embellish stories as they're being told. For instance, we went to see Santa Claus at the mall the other day, and she cried and cried and clung to me and would not sit on his lap. Sigh. No Santa picture this year! Anyway, later when I was telling Todd about it, Madison decided to chime in at specific parts of the story.
Me: "Madison wouldn't sit on Santa'a lap."
MJ: "Cried!"
Me: "Yes, she cried."
MJ: "waaahhhhh" (trying to make crying sound, scrunching her face up)
MJ: "Baby cried."
Me: "Yes, and another baby cried."
MJ: "Madison no like Santa anymore"
It kind of reminds me of those Geico commercials where they have someone telling a story about their car breaking down, and someone else in the background doing the sound effects.

And another recent talent is "singing" -- it's hard to even describe!
Here are some of the songs so will randomly break into:
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Ring Around the Rosie
Rockabye Baby
Frosty the Snowman

Although the verses are usually her own trademark versions...
For instance,
"Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder ah-ah-ah"

"Rock a bye baby
On the treetop
When the wind blows
The cradle will fall down"

"Ring around the Rosie"
then becomes
"Ring around the monkey, pocketful of funky"
"Ring around the baby, pocketful of maybe"
etc...

It's just fun to hear her little voice attempting to actually sing. For a while she was just sort of speaking the words but now it's a drawn out little tune.
Fun stuff!

Hope everyone has safe travels with the upcoming holidays! We are leaving for Indiana on Monday. Madison is excited about spending Christmas with Nana and Pawpaw this year!

Silly videos from the trip

2009-11-30T19:38:00.000-08:00

For those of you so inclined to watch silly baby videos! I think maybe these are in the same realm as silly cat videos...... :)

We got spirit yes we do

2009-11-25T09:04:00.000-08:00

We got spirit how bout you??

We had a blast at JMU going to the football game and all the reunion stuff. Madison did great with the travel and loved watching the marching band and seeing her mommy march!!

Thanks to Grandma for helping out!

And here we are looking straight out of the alumni magazine.....

Welcome, Twins!

2009-11-07T22:18:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post a quick pic of the newest little cuties to enter this world,

Ashley Renee & Brianna Reese!
Born 6.1 & 5.1 lbs on Oct 29th

Double the love!!!!

<3>

Oh wait, I forget this isn't facebook.....

And a post-trick-or-treating video to share

Miss Personality

2009-10-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

They say you blink and your kids grow up before you know it. That is such a "old person" thing to say I can't believe I am even writing it! Ha. But one thing I didn't expect to wax nostalgiac on was the leaving-the-crib phase. One night MJ was in the crib, the next day she was in the bed, and that was that. I didn't even have a moment to pause and say, "this is our baby's last time in the crib." Todd brought home a toddler bed from our friend Melissa, and as soon as Madison saw the frame, she said "big girl bed" and that was it! She slept in it that night and never looked back. We left the crib in her room, just in case, but it looks like we'll be taking it down. It's moments like this that make you realize how fleeting life is!

Here are some more pictures of our crazy little miss personality. Being a drama queen, a band geek, a snow bunny, and hiding behind a tree! She is excited about Halloween and thanks to her buddy Hannah, will be going as a cat. As soon as she saw her cat costume, she proceeded to name it "Kit Kat," wore it around all night, and tucked it in on her changing table, a.k.a. Kit Kat's bed. I'm sure we will be posting pictures of trick-or-treating!

And in other news, we've had a ton of snow here, work is continuing to go well, and I have joined a book club! The book club is with my neighbor and her friends who are young and have *no kids*! So maybe these girls will keep me feeling young. They can at least hopefully get me to refrain from using phrases like "back in my day" and "blink and your kids grow up!" Right now we are reading 'The Likeness' which I am completely wrapped up in. Much to Todd's delight I have been up past midnight every night reading it by lamplight. That's when you know it's a good book!

Babies Babies Everywhere

2009-10-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

I swear I am getting Baby Fever with all these cute babies being born left & right!

I've been meaning to wish congratulations to all the recent babies & mamas & daddies in our lives!!!

Baby Julian

Baby Leah
Baby Juno

Baby Sadie

Baby Ethan

And also to the babies-to-be (and yes that is plural)!

Then and Now

2009-10-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall to everyone! We are enjoying the chillier weather and T is enjoying football season, and we've been hanging out with friends and hitting up the pumpkin patches.

In some ways I can't believe Madison is already coming up on her *2nd* Halloween and *2nd* Winter, so I thought I'd reflect here- In some ways she has changed a lot, and in some ways not at all! In fact she still looks pretty much the same to me in that snow pic!

2008

2009

2008

2009

MJ's World

2009-09-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

La la la la, la la la la, MJ's worllllllld....... [sung to the tune of Elmo's world, for those who have experienced it... ;) ]

Our little MJ has quite a busy world these days. After I got back from Vegas, which already threw Madison for a loop, I threw her for an even bigger loop by going back to work full time - ! (for the time being). Her Grandma Kennedy was here, followed by her Nana and Pawpaw from Indiana, so she's been spoiled by visitors, but even so, that's a lot of changes for one little elf. She has started going to day care three days a week and seems to really like it (except for the actual drop-off -- Mommy needs to work on that), and is in many ways acting like a Big Girl. She is making her mind known with an amazing vocabulary and even gives commands these days: "Daddy, sit down!" She loves climbing on things and did her first amateur rock climbing up in Rocky Mountain National Park. She hasn't yet started any type of tantrum-throwing or needing time-out (knock on wood for us right now!!), but I've seen many of her little friends going through these stages in our playgroups, and I'm sure it is probably right around the corner.... But in the meantime we are enjoying our sweet one-and-a-half year old and holding on to the last bit of summer/fall before the snow sets in!

Some pics from MJ's world:

18 Months and Vegas

2009-09-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

Madison's 18-month birthday came and went, without so much as a peep on my blog about it!

But - we couldn't let this milestone slip by in real life, so we had a party. I think there must have been about 15 babies & kids (oh yeah and grown-ups) bouncing around our house. MJ had a blast!

A few of the kiddos at the party, post-cupcakes

And here are just a few other pictures of our big girl, growing up and getting LOTS bigger in personality!

Big girl Shy

Not shy!

Uh-oh, what happened?

And - in other news - I just got back from "Club" in Las Vegas! Here is a shot on the rooftop club at the Rio, overlooking the strip. We had a fabulous time and I loved the hotel Paris. It was funny tho, tonite the 'Atlantic City' episode of Sex & the City was on, and it totally reminded me of us! I guess we're not the most saavy gamblers. Or partyers. We were mostly happy just lounging at the pool all day. But- I did manage to play craps this time! And MJ did great with Grandma and Daddy for the long weekend. Yay for girls' trips!!!

"I Like Corn" and more videos

2009-08-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

As we were eating dinner the other night, Todd asked Madison: "Do you like corn?" and she said "I like corn" very non-chalantly as if it were the obvious answer (she was eating corn on the cob). We looked at each other like, did she just say that?! It was her first sentence! Thus, going in the baby book! While her vocab has been growing for a while now, she has really only recently started combining words into phrases, like "big truck," "all wet," "dirty hands," etc. So this was a pretty exciting moment. We'll see if there is more to come! In the meantime, here are some more random short videos I had of recent summer fun. We had a playgroup over here the other day and I wish I had taken a video of that-- just imagine Madison + 8 or so more kiddos swarming our living room and then all crammed in the baby pool at once! It was mayhem!

Counting!

2009-08-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

Attempting to capture MJ counting on film! Do all parents do this?? She can count to 9... sort of... as you can see.... :)

Yo, Cuz

2009-07-27T15:42:00.000-07:00

As I was going through our pictures from VA and Buckroe Beach, I realized that I really wanted to write a blog about the special bond that evolved between Madison and her cousin, Katie. Katie is 2 1/2 years old and the middle child of my brother, Brian. Katie and Madison met once before, when Madison was about 9 months old, but for some reason on this recent trip they really just clicked. Actually, she loved playing with all of her cousins, but the two of them were like joined at the hip. Wherever Madison was, Katie was, and vice versa.
Katie had to have a lot of patience to put up with a 1 1/2-year old! And Madison thinks she is one of the "big kids" so it was a good fit!
Even now, weeks after the trip, when Madison sees a playground or a pool she says "Kaaaaaatie" and looks for her like she might show up and play. She misses her cuz!!!

Video Happy

2009-07-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hugging milk:

In the pool:

Playing harmonica:

Summer fun

2009-07-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Here are a few random short videos from this summer. These are just little clips that I came across after the big photo dump! We just got back from Virginia on Monday night and had a fabulous time. Madison loooOOOooooved playing with her cousin Katie (did I say LOVED??) and also Tommy and Chrissy too. :) Oh yeah and Jamie and Justin. It was great to have the whole gang together and the wedding itself was a lot of fun. I'll post some pictures from the trip but here the quick vids for now! I wish I had taken more at the beach, but I was too busy chasing after my water baby....!

Seriously??

2009-07-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.momlogic.com/2009/06/toddler_smokes_a_pack_a_day.php?adid=063009_smoking_toddler

Yikes! These bad habits can start young I guess..... The 'endangering their children' photos on here is especially freaky!

Fluffhead

2009-06-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

So, as many of you may know, the band Phish has reunited and is touring around the country. Tickets to shows are highly coveted items, and especially tickets to Red Rocks! When the special online ones went on sale a while back, I heard about it but didn't really think I'd order any. I have a kid now, things have changed, I thought, Phish isn't high on my agenda. But some of my friends encouraged me to try it just in case I got extra tickets and could share the love! So I did, and I lucked out, and now here we are in the middle of summer and the concert is almost here!

I have mixed feelings about it because Phish is such a nostalgiac thing for me. I spent a good decade of my life seeing them all over the country, ranging from Virginia to Colorado to Vegas, wherever I happened to be. Thinking back, my first concert was in 1994 at Univ Hall at UVA. I had just gotten back from my Semester in London (and anyone who knows me knows I was about All Things London after that) and hadn't been listening to Phish over there. Yet all my friends "stateside" were! So I decided to check them out and I still remember walking into the arena with our tickets in hand, seeing all the hippie kids with their hemp necklaces and dogs and rosy cheeks, full of excitement about the night ahead. Wow, I thought, this is my generation! I am finally here! It just somehow had a huge effect on me, much more than going to the Grateful Dead the year before with all the "old" hippies. :) Anyway, so that was the beginning of it all. The tape trading and traveling that went along with shows after that just became a part of me.

And then in about 2003, we saw Phish at the Pepsi Center right before their big "hiatus" (breakup) and it just wasn't the same. It seemed so corporate, and so much the end of an era. Everyone kind of went their separate ways, and we all grew up. Now that Phish has reunited and is touring again, I think it will be a blast but I know it won't be the same as it once was. I'll never forget those days of camping out and driving across country and dressing up on halloween and making friends wherever we went.

I have lots of faves, but here is one of my favorite travel songs and takes me back to those moments of just living, just being, just going with the flow!

All the way home we felt we had a chance
To review the coulds before we were born
And to invite a new game of can'ts

Absorbed in the clouds a voice from afar said
"With the right device you can make a pattern grow
Or you can tune up your car"

So we stayed on the train admiring the time
As the lights of the city drew near
We drank a little wine

They were blurry and green outer space in between
With a depth and a form unclear
Then we saw it up ahead

A flickering lantern lit up on the tracks
In the rugs that had covered up the bridge
From the banks of a river to the bed

Of the valley upstream to the place we live
The glass on the lantern cast back the sight
Of a drive-in movie we drove by below

We saw where we'd been in the pictures within
Projecting all the places we would go
So we follow the scene and flowed up your steps

To a smooth wooden floor in a trance
The train whistle melody woved through the trees
And in through the door to signal the turns of a dance

Happy birthday Grandma!

2009-06-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

Big Girl

2009-06-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

Madison is getting over her pukey/bigD spell that hit us last weekend. Hopefully she's on the up & up! She seems to feel better anyway. Here is a pic from my cell at the playground today.

Big girl on the slide!

Talking part 2

2009-06-04T20:51:00.001-07:00

My mom apparently left some invisible comment in cyberspace asking me to add one of MJ's first words: "Ma-maw," meaning "Grandma"... True, true. There are a few words I did forget about.. things like "tut-tut" for "turtle" and "day-day" for dancing. You have to use your imagination a bit! Also, when we were at that petting zoo in Indiana (AGAIN with the PETTING ZOO!) and Madison first saw her first duck, she right away said "quack quack." Too cute!

These days she is an avid reader and will get her own books and sit in a little spot and "read" to us, which is a little mumbling sound that sort of sounds like words. Ha! I guess that must be what we sound like when we read to her! Kind of like the Charlie Brown grown-up voice.

And you may notice the format of this blog has changed -- but it's the same old blog at heart. I have to say I am a big fan of the blog these days. I feel like it's so much more substantial than reading someone's profile or update on facebook. It gives you a little insight into your friends' lives, their worlds, and by the end you feel like you've had a mini-conversation with them. I like being able to sit back w/ a cup of coffee and read my "news." :)
And yes this is for the people who've slacked off on blogging! I miss you!!!

By the way, we are heading down to Manitou Springs tomorrow for the weekend for our 5-YEAR-ANNIV! Hard to believe 5 years has gone by...........

Talking

2009-06-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

MJ's latest words! 6/3/2009
In no particular order...............
Sol (as in Solly)
oreo
play
swing
slide
balloon
bubble
butterfly
bacon
bike
alligator (tries)
straw
juice
nooni (noodle)
cheese
spoon
baba (bottle)
spoon
milk
more
stars
diaper
shoes
socks
hat
dog
car
kitty
cat
potty
pee pee
poo poo
pool (sounds a lot like poo!)
no
tree
park
chair
up
pappy (passy)
suck (as in suction)
medicine (tries)
thermometer (tries)
eye
nose
mouth
teeth
toes
hand
owie
uh-oh
cookie
elmo
dora
key
quack
moo
baa
mowie (meow)
cuckoo (kookabura)
dada, daddy
mama, mommy
hot
cold
pants
twirl
book
birdie
blocks
ball
bye bye
bunny
baby
hi
'kay (as in OK)

Phew! There are a lot of them when I really sit down and think about it! There is also a lot of repeating happening these days, so it's hard to keep track. But I think this girl's gonna be a talker, like her mama!

Horse Bite

2009-05-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

A couple of people have asked me to elaborate on the "horse bite" comment. We were at a petting zoo in Indiana and basically one of the mini horses decided to chomp on MJ's little hand! He must have decided baby fingers were delicious. We pulled her hand out of his mouth stat but it was quite dramatic. As most of you who know me know I had my sleeve pulled on by a monkey when I was seven years old, and these things don't leave you. Part of me still feels like there are monkeys somewhere out to get me.
Petting Zoo Innocence:

And the baby goats were so gentle!

Kentuckiana Trip

2009-05-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to write a quick post about our trip to Kentucky/Indiana. We had a great time, and Madison partied like a champ the whole trip. She never swayed from her happy, sunny self despite being: bitten on the hand by a horse(!), suffering some sort of midwestern-air type of allergy, and staying up waaaay past her bedtime a few nights in a row. :) She loved seeing her Nana and PawPaw and would randomly walk up and hug Nana at unexpected times, making it extra cute. Madison loves making her stuffed animals and toys hug and kiss, but the real thing is the best kind! She also loved meeting Great Gran, Great Aunt Lisa, Great Aunt Anita, and all the other relatives east of the Rockies!

Three generations

Fashion show

Purdue peeps

Wedding day

Gotta run!

Places to go, people to meet................!

The Elf at Play

2009-05-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

So I guess I didn't have any takers for my "Easter moments" blog..... That was my attempt at user participation on here. Don't be shy people!
And to make up for the no-pics entry last time, I will now happily post some pics! These are just random pictures from clearing out my memory card in preparation for our big trip to Kentuckiana! We leave tomorrow! Hope the plane ride is smooooooth sailing :)

First 5k - out at the Res w/ Mommy. It was coooooooold! The Elf has a red nose! Eating ice cream at the end

First Rockies game - Club seats!
We got to meet Dinger at halftime, but the Elf was not into it

Daddy's birthday present - a figurine from the hospital gift shop where I was born - amazing!

The little gardener

Kitties and Crocs!

Pushing her way onto the slide at a playgroup

Uh-oh spaghettio!

And last but not least, here is Madison modeling a dress I just finished making for her (plus blocks & pillow). I was so proud! Yay for sewing machines!

The Little Things

2009-04-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write something besides my usual gratuitous posts of the cuteness, so here is a post with some other schtuff..... I named this post "The Little Things" because I based this on my observations of all the little things lately- which, when you add them all up, they actually seem kind of big!

One day Madison starting piling up blocks. She has always been the Little Organizer, so now with the blocks integrated into her Plan to Reorganize Our House, she'll pile them up, look at them thoughtfully, then try to carry the stack somewhere else in the room, set them down, and survey the result.

Another new discovery is dumping things from one cup into another. She's been doing this for a while now with toys (mostly dumping them OUT), but I noticed that now in the tub, she'll dump water from one cup into another over & over again. She's fascinated by the water.

I guess one of the little girls in day care taught Madison "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and much to our surprise, I started singing it one day and she started doing the hand motions. It's more like an interpretive dance, with swaying and waving and even feet! I tried to capture it on video but so far I only have it on my cell!

Hmm what else... Running! She is not quite running yet (thank GOD!) but she loves to *try* to run, and will do a little squeal and put her arms up in the air like she's taking off, but it's kind of like in Scooby Doo, where her arms & legs are going but she pretty much stay in the same place. But when it's near naptime or bedtime, the pretend-running increases exponentially- and we've really got to keep an eye on her or she'll run right into a wall!

Talking, words, letters, and books are getting a lot more interesting. I think Madison notices that letters and pictures are associated now. And then this morning at breakfast, she looked at her "Dora the Explorer" yogurt cup and said "Boots!" (as in, Boots the Monkey for you non-Dora people :) I laughed and she said it a few more times, and I noticed that really it sounded like "Boobs" Hehee- But I knew what she meant!

Good times.......

Other than having fun making these little observations, I have been enjoying dividing my time between playgroups and part-time working. It's a pretty cool setup, and despite the hurdles of figuring out my schedule week-to-week, I feel like I really get the best of both worlds. I wrote a little "guest" post for one of my friends on this topic, under http://www.christyallbee.com/ - it's under "K-funk guest blogger" if you're interested.

And - I already broke with my idea of writing about holiday memories in here! So, for Easter, I thought about, but didn't write about, my fave Easter experience ever. It was the Easter when I was about 10. We lived in Colorado Springs and my grandparents came to visit. The "Easter Bunny" came by (altho by then I knew he wasn't real, based on finding chewed-up carrot in our bathroom garbage can a few yrs before) and he had hidden our Easter baskets throughout the house. I remember finding my brothers' Easter baskets before mine, and thinking I was in on a huge secret by not showing them and letting them find them on their own. (Of course, thinking back, they were 14 & 15 at the time, and probably could have cared less about their Easter baskets!) But in any case, I thought I was pretty cool for finding them first. And once I found mine, it had a little stuffed bunny in it that I carried around for the rest of the day in my "baby carrier" (a tummy-carrier built for my Cabbage Patch kid). I guess that was the beginning of my baby carrier days. Who knew??!

If you have a fave Easter moment, please take a sec to write about it in my Comments!

Until next time.......
Kfunk

Easter with Daddy and "Grand Rabbit"

2009-04-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

Ha - couldn't resist posting this! Madison liked meeting "Grand Rabbit" but was happy that Daddy was close by....

And some egg hunt pix.. It was an "age 1-3" type thing. Total chaos! And something only a parent could love :)

Balloons & Bubbles

2009-04-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

These are for the grandparents!
And by the way, happy Easter! I am uploading a few Easter pictures right now. Hope everyone had a "hoppy" one. :) Hugs from Madison!

I love her impatient little expressions. Like, C'mon Mom, hurry up! But it's hard to try to blow bubbles & navigate the camera at the same time! I just realized these were on the same day.. I must've been video-happy!

Video Killed the Radio Star

2009-04-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

A couple people have mentioned that they like videos on here, and this is one I liked from a couple weeks ago. For some reason it seems hard to grab the camera, turn it on, switch it to video, & press the button during those opportune moments where Madison is giggling & happy & doing something cute all while, of course, THINKING to videotape it in the first place!

Anyhoo, this one was taken while Madison was "dancing." That is, right up until I got the camera out. And so the video consists of me trying to get her to dance again. Which basically means flexing her knees up and down, with an occasional kick thrown in for effect. And the bonus is that you get to hear me singing "Kookaburra." But anyway, I also like this video is because you can see Madison's E.T.-style walk.

In other news, Madison had an allergic reaction to something a couple weeks ago and broke out all over in hives. The doctor thought it might have been due to the antibiotics she was on for an ear infection (amoxicillin), and quickly gave her benedryl and took her off the antibiotics. The hives cleared up within a day but I was pretty freaked out by the experience. It was like, one minute she was fine, the next minute bright red and spotty. I'd never seen anything like it. You should have heard me on the phone to the doctors, I was a nervous wreck. But the good news is that she's fine and we're going to an allergist this week to determine if she has an food allergies or anything else that could have caused it.

And, last but not least, Madison got baptised on Sunday, which happened to be Palm Sunday. My mom came in town for it and Madison wore my grandfather's 100+ year old gown! It was a nice ceremony and she seemed to really know it was about her! Can't wait for Easter!

My aunt, cousin, and friends from Virginia/Colorado were there too. It was great to see everyone!

Thoughts

2009-03-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

A complete stranger took these pictures the other night, and I really liked them

On another note, that St. Patrick's Day post got me thinking.... Wouldn't it be fun to write about previous St. Patrick's Days and which ones were really fun? I could even have users write in with their most memorable ones. I have particularly fond memories of the one I spent during Spring Break in Ireland, circa 1994. Crossing O'Connell Street in the middle of the parade. Loitering around Trinity College. Sitting in pubs watching 10-yr-olds fight in the street. Ahh, Dublin. I had big plans to write about it in detail in the blog, then of course ran out of time and wrote only about Madison. But as the next holidays roll around, that is my grand idea. I am planning to write about my favorite past holidays. And I want user participation too! Now let's see if it actually happens...........!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day & 13-Month Birthday

2009-03-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

A wee Irish elf......

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone!

Have I mentioned how hard it is to get a picture of this child when she's not moving these days?? This was my attempt to get a picture in her Irish top, which was originally a little dress, straight from Ireland! Thanx again, Euro-dinner clubbers! And upon further examination of the photo, I noticed she's got one hand on the cord and the other on the remote. Nice.

So today mark's Madison's 13-month birthday. I decided to post a few pictures from a "big girl" birthday party we went to the other day at "Monkey Bizzness" (think Gymboree for big kids with some sugar thrown in). I think after she got over the initial stimulation overload, she really liked it and had a lot of fun!

It took a little while to warm up to all the excitement

Switched into play clothesThe 4-year-old birthday girlChillin with the big kids, eatin Cheetos

Birthday parties are fun!!

And I can still fit in Mama's belly wrap! Sort of!

MJ update

2009-03-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

Just to sort of continue my blog from yesterday, I wanted to jot down some of the new & interesting things Madison is doing these days - & the things that make us laugh!

Madison likes to kiss her dolls, kiss her toys, kiss pictures on magazines. She'll make the "mmmmwah" sound and everything!

And while she likes to say the word "baby," I think she also thinks everyone is a baby. She'll point and a picture of a person and say "baby" even if the person is like 50 years old :)

Speaking of pointing, I've noticed, is that Madison will now point to various pictures of things in books and then look at me. So I'll say whatever it is, then she'll try to say it back. Example: "Elephant!" ... "Phant." ... "Moon!" ... "Moo." ... "Balloon!" ... "Balloooooo" ... "Sheep!" ... "Baaah" :)

Nodding is also on her list of fave things to do these days. Nodding "no" is lots of fun when she knows she's not supposed to be doing something. But she's also very honest. We'll ask: "Do you have a poopy diaper?" and she'll nod "yes..." Then we'll ask "Can we go change your diaper?" which is followed by "no"....

We are also brushing our teeth these days! I got some Thomas the Tank Engine toddler training toothpaste, which is exciting because now she can use toothpaste like Mom & Dad. She pretty much just sucks it off the toothbrush, but the idea is there!

And speaking of teeth, there is one new bottom tooth poking through on the right side. It will be the 3rd bottom tooth and the 7th total tooth! If you ask her to show you her teeth, she'll point to this new tiny corner of a tooth and stick her tongue there & smile.

She also likes to point to eyes, nose, ears, and mouth (but especially eyes). She'll suddenly stick her thumb in your eye when you least expect it, followed by the other eye, then Madison's eye, then your nose, then Madison's nose... you get the idea... She'd love to touch the kitty's eye too but that doesn't exactly work. Instead she ends up following them around the room, arms up, Frankenstein style!

Testing

2009-03-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

...

Toddlerhood, here I come!

2009-03-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

I feel like Madison's 1st birthday was the turning point. I know there are lots of little milestones people use to measure a "toddler" -- walking, talking, eating on their own... For us, it was her birthday! When I think back to that day, I remember her as a baby! And yet, when I look at her now, I can't help but see a toddler. It's like she woke up that next morning and was just a walking, talking human being!
Another surprise is that I suddenly feel like a seasoned mom! I find myself giving advice to moms with new babies, mothers-to-be, anyone who asks really. Some friends and I are planning a baby shower for one of my old roommates, and we were out at Babies R Us the other day getting gifts. I found myself saying: "Oh, you want this kind of tube of diaper cream because they can bite on the tube and it's not sharp;" -or - "Oh, you need at least two of these, because one will fall in the toilet or get lost;" - and - "Oh, you don't want to get the washcloths with edges, those just get in the way..." Things like that.. Things I have learned- and that other people may or may not care about! Ha! It's just funny because when I look back at my own baby registry, I registered for things like pacifiers and baby bottles, which take some experimenting to figure out the right kind!
But hey, we are all learning. And I also need to know when to shut up! And thank goodness my friends are patient people! :)

The toddler climbs a turtle ("tut-tut")

MJ's B-day

2009-02-22T23:30:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of our little ONE-YEAR-OLD on her big day at Gymboree! I don't know if things like this are more fun for the parents or the kids... We get to laugh at all the bumbling, stumbling one-year-olds bouncing around. And they'll never remember it! But it was a very sweet moment and of course I'll cherish it forever!

Our baby is growing up.....! Sniff sniff.

With cousin Alayna

Happy with Grandma

BUBBLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How in the world did I end up here???

Before pinching the candle out

Yummy frosting.......

Yay for birthdays!

A couple days later, eating ice cream...... We created a monster!!!!

But there's nothing like a good old-fashioned carrot!

MJ

2009-02-22T22:57:00.000-08:00

The birthday girl

2009-02-17T20:42:00.000-08:00

Madison on the day of her party. Just thought this was cute :)

Due Date

2009-02-10T11:40:00.000-08:00

This morning when I woke up, the first thing I thought of was: Hmmm, Feb 10th, why does that sound familiar? For one thing it's Sadie Simonton's birthday (Happy Birthday, Sadie!), but also -last year at this time was Madison's due date - ! So the date of February 10th was etched in our minds for several months. I remember that waiting period (before we knew our bundle of love would be 8 days late!) and went back to check out my blog from last year at this time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, February 11, 2008
The waiting game
Yesterday our due date came & went. I guess that's what people are talking about when they say don't get too hung up on your due date! So we spent the last three weeks stressing that the baby might actually come *early*, when all along the little stinker was already planning on being *late*!I can't say I'm surprised, knowing my track record and all....In the meantime, I honestly feel fine except for the whole getting huge part. I actually bump into corners and doorways because I forget that I've got another passenger up front! Ha! OK that sounded weird but you get the idea!So don't worry, I am keeping myself busy by talking on the phone, taking walks to the park, watching lots of "Baby Story" and "Oprah" (of course!), and playing with the cats. Oh, and online scrabble & Battlestar Galactica episodes on DVD have been occupying a good portion of our time lately too :)So keep sending positive baby vibes our way and maybe soon this little bundle will make an appearance! It's kind of weird not knowing when it's gonna happen! The doctors were talking about inducing but let's hope it happens naturally in the meantime!~Cheers!~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My how life has changed since then ;) I miss those days of watching Battlestar Galactica..... It was exciting just waiting & wondering what was going to happen. But I have to say I am happier watching my baby grow on the outside of my belly rather than in it!

The elf rides a car

Hair, Hair, Everywhere!

2009-02-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

My hair has been driving me crazy the past month (or two, or three), and one day one of my friends suggested I donate it to "Locks of Love." I thought wow, what a great idea! Then looked on their web site and realized you have to donate 10 inches of hair. I wasn't sure I was willing to part with 10 inches, altho I knew I was ready chop most of it off! So when I went to see my hairdresser, I mentioned the Locks of Love thing, and she said Pantene Beautiful Hair does the same thing but you only need 8 inches! That sounded a lot more doable. I felt selfish not wanting to part with a whole 10 inches but this way I'm glad my hair can still go to a good cause!
Of course we had to take "before" and "after" pictures w/ my cell:)
"Before" --

From the back too so you can get the full effect of my crazy hair!

My hairdresser wanted to take the pic with measuring tape! She chopped it off in ponytails!

And here is the "After" -- A little shorter than I was originally thinking, but hey, it's just hair, right? It will grow back someday!
And we had to see what Madison will look like with all this hair someday :)

Maria- I think she looks like Sadie with those ponytails!!

Walking!

2009-01-24T15:13:00.000-08:00

Madison took her very first steps on January 15th (to Daddy!) and since then has been practicing little steps here & there. Of course we never have the camera around but this morning managed to capture a little bit! She is getting the hang of it!

Chatterbox

2009-01-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

The past month has been a monumental one for our Little Elf. Not only has she become a regular little crawler/almost walker these days, but she's also quite the chatterbox!
In addition to her favorite word, "kitty" ("diddy"), her latest thing is animal sounds. She hasn't yet said "meow" but it started with "baa" for the sheep and has broadened to "moo" and "neigh" when she sees the animals in her books! I don't know if she would actually make the same relation if she saw a *real* horse in real life (maybe we should take her horseback riding and find out!:) but it's pretty cool!
And somewhere along the line she developed her own sort of babble language which she'll happily tell you all about. It sounds a bit like Swedish.
You can also ask Madison to retrieve something (ball, toy, book) and she will usually (depending on her mood) crawl over, pick it up, and bring it back to you! Next we are working on having her bring us the remote!
Books are definitely her toy du jour. She will gladly pull a book off the shelf, sit on your lap, and have you read it to her 72 times.
One day she also started pointing to her head, tummy, and feet when asked!
And I guess what just really seems so monumental to me lately is this new level of understanding. She seems like she actually knows what we're talking about more & more and looks at whatever we're discussing, etc. She's more aware of the world around her and not so much a baby anymore, but a toddler who wants to get out there and do things. It's pretty crazy, it seems like you blink and they're doing all these new things!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone, and now it is New Year's! We had so much anticipation about Baby's First Christmas this year, and then it just kind of snuck up on us and actually turned out to be pretty mellow! We just stayed in town and laid low. It was fun to watch the excitement of Christmas through Madison's eyes: the lights, the tree, the presents, etc... The kitties even seemed to understand what was going on and were right in the middle of everything, playing in the wrapping paper and chasing the bows, it was funny!

Well I was really affected by the Christmas shooting that happened in California, and was semi- thinking about writing about it, but I decided that was too depressing and I'm sure everyone who read my last article about the Va Tech shootings knows how I feel about gun control. That was so sad though. All of it.

The latest news with me is that I've come down with a case of mastisis, ugh. If you don't know what that is, you don't wanna know! I think it's a result of Madison sleeping all night long for the past few weeks and therefore not nursing as much. So I'm on antibiotics and trying to be healthy and just waiting for it to go away! Made for a fun New Year's!!!!

Look what Santa brought!

A couple videos:

Bein silly:

Favorite games:

"chasing" the kitties

crawling up the stairs

"hiding" while we look around

Peekaboo

Pattycake

Picking out books to read

Dropping things on the floor (a classic!)

Favorite words:
Mama, Mommy (of course!)
Dada, Daddy

Baby

Kitty (which ends up sounding more like "diddy" or other words that rhyme with "kitty" :)

Bye

Ya-ya!

almost walking

2008-12-23T21:01:00.000-08:00

It seems our little peanut, just born yesterday (it feels like!) is almost walking these days. Are we scared? Hell, yes! We've been baby-proofing like crazy needless to say.......

Holidays

2008-12-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

As a parent of a kid experiencing her very first EVERYTHING, I can't tell you how excited we are this year. It was Madison's first Easter, her first Halloween, her first Thanksgiving, and now coming up is her first Christmas!! Christmas was always my fave holiday growing up (being a Christmas Eve baby), and I thought Santa and the reindeer and the Christmas songs etc were all just for ME! So I have a special childlike fondness for it all in my heart. When we visited Santa for Madison's First Santa Visit the other day at the mall, I told Santa this and he said: "It IS all just for you.... Santa is just for you." OK, so this could have been construed as creepy from any other old guy with a white beard, but I think he meant it sincerely and he was a good Santa. Madison seemed to like him and just stared and stared with fascination.

So anyway, I can't wait to see what Christmas brings for her. I think she will like it -- maybe not be obsessed with it like I was as a kid :) -- but I can't wait to see what she thinks of the presents and traditions as the years go by.

And speaking of firsts, her First Plane Ride for her First Thanksgiving went fabulously! I was in awe because for some reason we were expecting the worst. We had brought all kinds of supplies and toys to keep her distracted for the long ride, but we maybe pulled like one thing out of the diaper bag. She was perfectly content to just watch people, smile and wave, and ultimately fall asleep on my lap. It was like from a movie. And I even got to *watch* the movie on the way back (!) with a sleeping baby on my chest the whole time. With headphones! Eating a Mounds bar! Bliss!

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving when Madison got to hang with the Kennedy Cousins. I think they hit it off!

And back at home in Colorado:

Watchful kitty:

Thankful

2008-11-21T20:37:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to write an "I Am Thankful For..." post for a while now. And yes, this smacks of a 5th-grade essay assignment, but it's just something I've been thinking about. And what better time than Thanksgiving week? It's true.

As most of you know, this has been a Year of Change for us. With a capital Y and a capital C! It all started with an innocent little roll in the hay, and look at us now! ;) Having a baby was just the tip of the iceberg. Being a parent, and now a stay-at-home-mom, has made me feel as if I've aged about 20 years in the last 9 months. I've learned, laughed, and loved on completely different levels than I ever thought possible. It's hard to imagine that just under a year ago I was still pregnant and couldn't even picture truly having a kid!!!

Then, in addition to having a baby, I lost my job, our (only) car broke down, and other day-to-day dramas were thrown into the mix of life.... Sigh. When it rains, it pours. Amidst all of this, it would be easy to focus on the negatives but overall these are truly happy times. I am so glad I have this extra time with our baby and that we have a happy, healthy child. What more could you ask for? These days I feel truly blessed.

And - (here's the thankful part :) - I am SO thankful for those who have helped us out in these trying times. Chances are if you are reading this, you are one of them!! We've had friends take us to lunch, buy us dinner, and give us clothes, books, & toys from their kids. And both of our families have helped us out financially which has truly been a lifesaver. It's times like this that you really appreciate your friends and family, and I/we cannot thank you enough. Thank You!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Smiley Morning Baby. Check out the little teeth showing!

Cruisin'

2008-11-18T18:28:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm really only expecting the grandparents to watch this one (um it's kind of long)... but you can see that MJ is starting to "cruise!"

And - Happy 9-Month Birthday, Baby!!

Catchin a ride

2008-11-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

Solly always loves to trot right behind us when we go on walks, so I thought, hmm... what if - ?And I just happened to have my camera. Good thing cause you have to see it to believe it! :)

Congratulations, President Obama

2008-11-05T17:03:00.000-08:00

And thanks to everyone who voted yesterday!!!! Wow, what an exciting night last night!!!! Of course, Madison slept through the whole thing and missed all the speeches.

Here is our tired little voter...

Here's to a new beginning for America!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

Almost let Halloween pass without posting a pic of our happy little cowgirl!

I remember getting some red baby cowboy boots as a hand-me-down from a friend when Madison was first born and I thought, now what in the world am I ever going to do with these?!?!

And yes, I was the cheesy mom who matched her baby...

I figure there is only a limited time I'll be able to do this, so I've gotta milk it for all it's worth.....!

jean jacket baby - (thanx Bailey!)

2008-10-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite pics lately. Meant to post it a couple weeks ago!

Hope everyone is having a good Halloween week!

Videos

2008-10-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

I think I took these videos around the beginning of last week.... Just a little peek into our daily lives.... The crawling has progressed a bit into more of a "backwards slide," but no real forward movement yet!

Thank You

2008-10-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say a big *thanks!* to everyone who voted for me on American Idol. Oh wait, I mean- to everyone who left a comment on here the other day! It's nice to know I have some readers out there..... And that they're not totally bored by all the baby stuff.... hahaha. Of course, there are those who *used to* read my blog in the past, but then gave up once it became All Things Madison.... I won't mention any names... Um, I guess they are too busy hanging out with people named "Felony!"

Here is my latest "Mom Wisdom" which could be filed under Things I Have Learned, Part 3:

- When in doubt, sing!
I've found it works for most everything. It is a great distraction for Madison when I'm trying to clip her nails, change her diaper, get her to sleep, just about anything she doesn't want to do anymore. And it's also a great calming technique for me. Pretty crazy how that works! It's kind of like taking a deep breath. It also works as a non-distraction during things like feeding when you want her to pay attention but everything else is a distraction at the time! ha.

Pensive Pumpkin

We are excited about fall and everything that comes with it!

2008-10-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

Here is another 'attempt to crawl' vid - taken on my cell at a playgroup yesterday - at least you can see it! I didn't realize the lighting was so bad in that last vid!!!

By the way, one 'secret reader' feedback I got was: videos are fun! So I am gonna try to post more videos. You'll have to put up with my choreography skillz.

Personally I never really look at videos on the web because of the whole buffering, loading, yadda yadda yadda... so I'll try to make em short. And feel free to skip these if you want!

We are headed out to the CU / Texas game today. Go Buffs!

Asteroids

2008-10-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hello, secret readers! I was gonna write about how the one person I had specific instructions for never responded (!) but okay, yesterday I finally saw a little note letting me know she truly is following Madison in cyber-world. She's a gramma... I guess I'll cut her some slack.... I should be impressed that she even knows what a computer is! ;) I mean, the email machine.

So I guess I am glad to see that everyone enjoys the Madison posts, but no asteroids anyone?

I did like the Halloween suggestion and I will definitely write about that. I have a few ideas in mind that involve felt, if I can get my butt over to the fabric shop before the end of the month.

Here is our latest feat ("standing!") along with a video attempt at crawling from the other nite (didn't realize it was so dark when I made it) and attempt to capture "mama" this morning at breakfast. She is saying it, I swear! After hearing "dada" for the past 2 weeks I am so ready!!!!

little elf

2008-09-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

Todd and I are always calling Madison our "little elf." When we're driving along, we look in the backseat and she's sitting there smiling like a little elf. When we put her in the high chair, she stares up like a little elf. And when she's sleeping, you guessed it- an elf! Took this picture this morning too- ha!

She especially seems elf-like in the hood.

So, I know a lot of people read this blog but never leave comments, because they tell me they read it! You know who you are.... So I am asking you to leave a comment! it's really easy to do (these instructions are for my mom..), just click the comment button below. You can do it anonymously- you don't have to have a login or anything. Trust me it's super easy! And-- I have a request- let me know what you want me to write about! All these entries are always about Madison these days, but let's say you want me to write about asteroids or something.. put it in the comment! And I'll write a blog about it! Could be fun. :)

Tooth~!

2008-09-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

Rainy day girl

2008-09-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

Sittin on the porch watching the rain this morning......

I was trying to get Madison to talk on camera. It's funny, she babbles and talks what seems like constantly now, and yet I feel like we never have the camera around or the battery is dead, the memory is full, etc! It's the story of my life! Batteries and me do not agree. And then when the camera is actually around she clams up. Ha. But this was a pretty cute impromtu moment this morning.

A few things I left off of the 6-month update the other day are:

Sleeping:
Amazingly, this girl is a sleeping champ! For those who remember my last blog about sleep, we spent months of being sleep-deprived and I like how my friend Jenny put it, it was like "Chinese Water Torture"- ha. But around 5 1/2 months she turned a corner, and much to my persuasion (golf clap here for Mommy!) we were able to get her eating only once a night. Which ultimately resulted in her waking up only once a night! So now our nighttime schedule is:
8:30pm last nursing and bed
5am wake up and nurse
8:30/9:30am wakeup for real
Naps approx 11-1, 3-5
Of course, it's not always an exact schedule *every* day, but so far so good!!! Eventually we'll probably have to move the bedtime up so morning can start earlier. Daycare and all. Ugh. Not Mommy's choice!!

Talking:
Within a few days, "words" like "ba" have become "blabla," "baba," etc. I know it doesn't seem very monumental to those without kids, but it's cool to see how quickly she picks things up and develops it into the next new thing.

Walking:
OK we are nowhere close to walking yet (thank goodness!!!), but when we were at the Minsons' last weekend, she tried out her first time in a walker. It was cute- you could see the wheels churning in her head as she realized her little steps equalled movement. She mastered the backwards step/push pretty quick!

That's all the mommy brain can remember for right now!

6-Month Update

2008-09-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true. Madison is 6 months old already! Actually, she has been for a few weeks and now is pushing 7 mos! Sheesh, where does the time go??
So I guess I'm a little behind in my update.
Where do I begin?! Madison is definitely developing more of a personality now that she's getting older. She loves the water, loves baths, loves the pool, likes being outside and seeing people and dogs. She loves grabbing faces (bonus points for beards!), is sitting up, rolling over, and completely cracks up whenever anyone does a fake sneeze (altho a "real" sneeze is still a little bit scary). We discovered the fake sneeze effect while up in Keystone -- a guaranteed laugh! She has also discovered her "voice" and can babble and "talk" for what seems like hours! Of course, she can cry louder than ever before too -- and she knows how to work it!

Favorite activities:

Watching the kitties

Banging together any two objects that make a noise

Playing her toy "piano"

Riding around in her Moby carrier

Watching trees (yes, she "watches" trees- blowing in the wind, etc)

Watching kids on the playground

Saying "oooh" every once in a while when something is REALLY cool

Favorite words:

"boo"

"ba"

"ka"

"goo"

"la"

Along with several variations, and the occasional squeak!

We had her 6-month doctor's appointment last week and got her 3rd round of shots. :(

Weight: 16 lbs, 3 oz, around the 50th percentile

Height: 26 1/4" which is around the 60th percentile

Head: 17 1/4" which was I think the 70th percentile. Maybe she inherited her daddy's big head!

She's eating solid foods twice a day now as "breakfast" and "dinner." Usually a fruit + cereal for breakfast and a vegetable for dinner. I've actually even bought a blender so I can make some of her own baby foods. You can just set it on "puree" and it makes a good soft blend. I have a feeling soon she'll be moving on to cheerios and whatnot and leaving my pureed food in the dust, but for now it's fun.

We have a playgroup we go to on Wednesdays with some of my other mommy friends, many of whom I met thru the Boulder breastfeeding group. It's a great way for the babies to socialize and the mommies to swap stories. And drink lattes!

I'm slated to go back to work on October 1st, and have a "practice" session with the Daycare person, Jan, next week. I'm not looking forward to it but she seems so loving with babies and excited about Madison that it makes me feel a little better.

Here are a couple pics from last weekend!

Swingin

2008-09-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

First time in a real-people swing! I think she liked it!

A couple videos from today

2008-08-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

Now whenever we say "Solly" or "Isa" (our cats), Madison looks around to find them. She gets so excited to see them but of course they keep their distance! :)

And this is just a clip from some pool time in the backyard!

The Birthday Girl

2008-08-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of all the August visitors, and of course the half-birthday bash!

With Aunt Dana & Uncle Bill:

Meeting Daddy's sister Auntie Krista:
Both Grandmas together!

Hangin with Grandpa:
Swimming with Grandma:
With Heather, Dave, Jack, & H-T Baby #2:

With Nana & Paw-Paw:

A surprise visit from Alberto!

And of course......

A whole birthday cake?? For me?! :D
What do you mean, I can't eat it???!

Happy Half-Birthday, Baby!

2008-08-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

Guess who's sitting up, giggling, laughing, and rolling over (well, when she wants to..) these days?

And who just turned 6 months old yesterday??

You guessed it!

Of course, we had the requisite birthday cake and all, courtesy of her Nana and Paw-Paw.

Photos to come, including all the August visitors......... MJ had the pleasure of meeting her Auntie Krista & Uncle Joe, her Grandpa Kennedy, the Tobey-Hutchison Crew, and got to hang out with BOTH grandmas at once!

Can't remember if I posted this one........

2008-08-14T17:27:00.001-07:00

1st trip away from home

2008-08-09T12:05:00.001-07:00

Well, MJ and I finally ventured away from the safe haven of the house, crib, and all the other marvelous baby ameneties to take a road trip (!) (not a very big one) up to Keystone & Vail! It was so much fun and she did just great. It really empowered me as a mom about taking her out of her "bubble" of our house and seeing what happens! I'm not a super schedule person (as we all know) but once I got Madison on a schedule I was afraid to take her away from it. But she proved she can still be her happy, sunny, usual self even without the perfect routine! So great!!!!! :)

Of course, I know that all trips won't be this easy, and many babies her age have already gone cross-continental and back by now. But hey, baby steps! Here are some pics from the trip:

Dinner Club International Babe

2008-08-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

Dinner Club France (3 mos):

Dinner Club Malaysia (4 mos):

Dinner Club Ireland (4 1/2 mos):

Dinner Club NY (5 mos)!

Thanx to all her Dinner Club aunties, this girl knows how to REPRESENT!

Funny

2008-07-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

Back in the days I can hardly remember now, Todd and I took a class at the hospital: Intro to Childbirth 101. Pretty eye-opening to those who had never had kids (!) but did it really need to be four weeks long?

Anyway, one of the things I took away from that class was that I should make a birth CD. As in, a music CD to accompany the birth. The instructor gave us all kids of tips on what to bring to the hospital, but for some reason the one thing I really focused on was the birth CD!

I spent hours coming up with the perfect songs. Death Cab for Cutie: "Where Soul Meets Body"; Papas Fritas: "I Believe in Fate"; Radiohead: "Exit Music" (Today is the day we escape); The Beatles: "Blackbird" (All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arrive); etc......

I pictured us going through contractions, holding hands, in slow-motion like, while I explained the meaning of each song to Todd (it was a surprise) and he commented on my uber cool musical abilities.

Yep! That's how it was gonna happen!

:)

Needless to say, the birth CDs (I had so many great songs I had to make two!) were forgotten the minute we got to the hospital. I found them approximately three months later when I finally unpacked my hospital bag, along with the cute pjs and things I planned to wear around the hospital halls.

They are now the musical backdrop for me & Madison when we wake in the morning or are winding down at night, and for nursing and gazing into each others' eyes. Each song is a reminder to me of how I wanted to bring my baby into this world. And someday maybe I'll even tell Madison the meaning of each song!

The babes, they are a-growin'

2008-07-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

Then (Maya- 3 mos, Madison - 1 1/2 mos):

And now! (Madison - 4 1/2 mos, Maya - 6 mos):

Gotta love MJ's chubby little legs!