A year in review

Where has the year gone? It is a hard to believe that over a year ago little Miss Maddie made her arrival into the world. This past year has been filled with ups and down, highs and lows but most of all amazing memories and adventures that I hope we don't soon forget. Our computer is filled with snapshots of the past year....all divided up over each month. Here are just a few of our Maddie Memories from the past year.

Maddie and Daddy at the hospital....only a few hours old. You forget how tiny they are.

Sleeping soundly during our first few weeks home......resting up for all the months to come I guess.

Our little pumpkin in October. Almost 2 months old and such a peanut. It's hard to believe that she barely fits in her car seat anymore.

Thanksgiving time. 3 months old and holding her self up and wanting to crawl.

The best Christmas present of the year. Love them big eyes.

At the end of the month of December at Maddie's baptism at Church of the Master. We were blessed to have our whole family there with us.

Month 4....our first snowfall. Yes Mike actually is the one feeding her the snow.

Mommy's little shopper. 5th months old. Notice we still are sporting the bib due to massive reflux issues.

The weather has changed and Miss Smiley is out to play. Month 6 was lots of fun.

Month 7 is crawling/cruising and getting into everything.

Month 8 we went and got professional pictures taken. Such a little ham for the camera. At this point we was walking. The photographer kept telling us to have her 'sit' here and smile for the camera......yeah sitting wasn't happening.

In June we went to the zoo. Maddie loved petting the animals...much to Daddy's dismay. Can you guess which one of us took her into the zoo and which one was armed with the Purell when she came out?

Playing with our favorite older cousin while getting to visit our new littlest cousin.

Month 11 brought more pictures and our personality really starting to develop. We did solve the 'sitting' issue at the photographers.....just put her in a bag so she can't get out!

A new year brings new friends and new toys. We can't wait to see what year 2 has in store!

Birthday Fun

I can't believe that it has been a year since we first welcomed our little girl into this world. This past year has been an emotional roller coaster full of joys, tears and wonderful memories. Madison is such a blessing to our lives. It's hard to remember what life was like before her. We always felt like our life was complete, but she adds a new joy to it.

I'm not saying there aren't days/nights of frustation. We all 3 have our days when we reach our limit and just need a break. Luckily those days are far and few between and are surrounded by days of new experiences and special memories. We are also blessed to have an AMAZING group of family and friends that love Maddie as much as we do. This past weekend we all got to celebrate Madison's first year. It was a great time and we can't wait to see what the upcoming years have in store for us.

My first birthday dinner. Mommy made some of my favorites...watermelon, corn, and hotdogs.

Opening a BIG doggie from Grandma Mary. I love dogs. 'Doggie" was one of my first words and I say it every time I see a dog when we are out taking walks. Sometimes I get upset because my Mommy doesn't let me run over and pet them right away. She says I have to ask first. So I do and then I get to pet them.....so fun!

Reading a new book. about can you guess........DOGS!

My special butterfly cake and the cupcakes Mommy made formy party.

Ummmmm.....cake is good!

After I ate with my hands for a while, Mommy gave me a fork to use. I am really good at using a fork when I eat and get so excited when I 'jab' something.

Opening presents and eating cake can wear a girl out. Luckily I can take a break here with my cousin Carson.......I love that boy.

OMG!!! Can you believe I am one?

Our little musician

While it's not a tuba or a brass instrument....it's a start. Now to work on our buzzing so we can be ready for any and all future brass band gigs.

Maddie has always enjoyed 'playing' the piano. However it is usually just walking over to the piano and reaching up and banging at the keys.....usually when I am trying to give a voice or piano lesson. Now she likes to sit up at the bench and actually 'play'. If we are lucky we will even get some singing along with our song. I have to admit....I LOVE IT!

As Maddie is becoming more and more independent meal time has become more and more of an adventure. There are day that she seems to eat EVERYTHING in the frig and other days she wants nothing to do with her 'favorite' foods. While it has been a while since we have actually eaten jarred baby food she is become more and more adventurous with her food choices.

We can usually get her to eat 'baby food' if it is some kind of fruit. Veggies that come in the jar are a no go. She loves olives and cheese (can you tell that she might have a little Italian in her?) and can't get enough pasta with sauce. We have recently tried scrambled eggs which seems to enjoy if I leave them in big enough chunks for her to grab. Another morning favorite....besides the no fail cheerios....is yogurt. She loves to have a gogurt and usually eats 1 1/2 to 2 along with her cheerios.

Here Maddie is trying out some of Daddy's pizza at whole foods. She did pretty well biting into it. Having 7 teeth help with tearing off a big hunk of the cheese.

Here is one of our first attempts at eggs. Maddie is getting very good at using her fork. However I made one of I'm sure many Mommy mistakes and gave her the bowl of eggs. It stayed on her tray for about 5 minutes. Then the bowl was flipped over...not to bad...and then thrown onto the floor with the rest of the eggs. Oh well, that's what a broom and mop are for!

Speaking of sweeping. Maddie is a big help sweeping up the kitchen floor after eating. We used to sweep the floor once a week or so...now it seems like we are doing it 3-4 times a day. Luckily we have a good little helper.

As I said before, Maddie is getting very good at using her fork. We are still working on the spoon. She thinks that she can just stab at things like her fork, but that isn't working as well. The other night however she found another utensil....her finger. She was eating olives and realized that a pointer finger was far more effective at getting the olives then her fork.

We have started kissing everything as well. Mommy and Daddy get kisses before bed. Maddie loves to give herself kisses in the mirror. However we usually get a single kiss. At dinner the other night we started getting multiple kisses. Hope you enjoy.

A few good laughs.....

Maddie is constantly cracking us up. From being a little ham (wonder where she gets that from), to testing us to the point that we have to turn away so we don't laugh to her contagious laugh, Miss Maddie is an absolute joy and we are blessed to have her in our lives. I know that we don't see all of our extended family as much as we would like to people don't see how fast she is growing up. I hope that these little snippets of our Miss Maddie bring a smile to your face until you get to see the real thing in person.

The lighting on this one isn't all that good, but the sound is what you really need to hear. Marley and Maddie are playing together so much more in just the past week or two. Marley is a woman on the go...crawling everywhere and chasing Maddie. Maddie loves the attention and tries to show Marley all of her fun toys and gadgets around the house.

This video is just after lunch the other day. I had just finished giving the girls their lunch and was over by the sink getting things cleaned up. The next thing I heard was Marley just giggling away. Maddie would then get excited and giggle and scream and the whole thing would start over again! I sat and just laughed with them for a while then ran to get the camera. This is about 10 minutes into their 'conversation'. I didn't get the really good part, but the part that I did get is priceless. I love how at the end both girls decided that they were 'done.' We have taught 'done' to Maddie and Marley has picked it up to let me know when she is done with lunch. Maddie has picked up Marley's snooty face as you can see from some of the other pictures on the other posts.

This next one is of Maddie before bed tonight. She had already eaten dinner and had her bath for the night. Mike and I were sitting down to eat our dinner before our nightly routine of reading a few books, having a bottle and then rocking to sleep (Maddie that is....not Mike and I). Usually Maddie will find something to do to amuse herself while we eat or will be happy watching Yo Gabba Gabba for 10/15 minutes while we shovel our food in! However tonight was not one of those nights. She wanted to be in the kitchen with us....pulling at our legs and asking to be picked up. So we put her in her high chair next to us armed her with a piece of bread and some banana flavored puffs and we were good. That was until she realized that her arms were long enough to reach the top of her head and she could 'store' her puffs there.

So we decided that she was either being a little ham or that it was getting close to bedtime and she was getting a little loopy. I personally have NO idea where she would get being a ham from so it had to be a bit of loopiness before bed. I hope you enjoy Miss Maddie as much as we do.

Going to the Fair

We had a lot of fun at the Ohio State Fair this year. It was Maddie's first trip and she had such a great time. Over the last few months she has really started to develop a love and interest of animals. (Much to Daddy's shagrin) When we are out for walks she gets so excited to see dogs or the geese across the pond. We have been working on animals sounds as well when we are reading our books. She does a great 'moo', 'baa', 'woof' and 'grr'. Visiting all the animal barns at the fair we knew was going to be a thrill for her.

This is a video of us checking out the horses. Take a look at how big her eyes get!

 

Our first stop was the sheep barn. Talk about sensory overload! Miss Maddie loved the lambs baa-ing at her and would baa right back.

Checking out the momma cows with Daddy. If you ask her she will tell you that a cow says ...'mooooo'.

This one is pretty blurry, I know. Mike was taking in through the glass at the hog barn. This is the momma pig and her little babies. Maddie really enjoyed petting the momma pig with it's bristly hair.

No trip to the Ohio State Fair would be complete without a trip to see Smokey Bear. Smokey talked to Maddie and even gave her an honorary forest ranger certificate.

Practicing our fork skills trying to eat some of Mommy and Daddy's gyro. She loved eating the olives and thought the lamb meat was super tastey too.

Chillin' with our bottle on the way home.....a tired little girl.

But not too tried for ice cream!! This was Maddie's first cone (up untill this point she and Mommy had been sharing). We still fed her the ice cream with a spoon and let her lick a few times. Once all the ice cream was gone, I stuffed a napkin in the cone so it wouldn't drip and she went to town on the cone.

She decided since I was so nice to share all the times before, she would share her cone with me. What a nice little girl.

We made some great memories and can't wait to keep the fair as a family tradition that we have each year!

What a difference a year makes

Last year about this time Mike and I got to watch Carson for the day. We called it our 'training' for when Maddie was here. I was about 8 months pregnant at the time. We spent the day playing outside and baking. Yesterday, I picked Carson up at school and brought him over to our house again for a birthday celebration. Not only was it a way for us to help celebrate his 4 year birthday, but gave Janna, Jeff and new baby Caden a little bit of down time as well.

We made cupcakes for Carson to take to school the next day to share with his classmates. (We attempted bowling ball and bowling pin cupcakes, but ending up with pool balls instead!) Mike and Carson played baseball outside with Maddie chasing them around and we all had Chinese for dinner. I was such a fun evening, but after we dropped Carson back off at home Mike looked at me and said 'I thought I was ready for another one.....but not yet!'. I agree. While we would LOVE to add to our family sooner then later it gave us a really eye opening into what having 2 or more kiddos is like. I know in time that we will be ready for it, but kudos to those of you who do it and do it well!!

Here are a few of the pics that we took last night, as compared to a year ago. A LOT of changes. Carson looks so much bigger. I on the other hand....not quite so big.

Baking bread two years ago.

      Getting ready to ice our cupcakes this year.

Waiting patiently with Grandma Janice's apron on last year.

        Same apron and a new helper this year.....and still waiting patiently.

           Enjoying the fruits of our labor after some yummy Chinese. Carson picked all of the chicken out of his fried rice (definitely his father's son) and loved his potsticker. Janna's influence was there as well. At dinner I asked him if he liked green beans (I make a hoisin green bean dish that we were going to have). He kind of looked at me strangely and said 'huh?' I tried to explain them and his response was ' Do you mean edamame?' Thanks Aunt Janna!