MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

1st Christmas

If you can't ready the shirt...it says "good things come in small packages." So true, so true.

A couple of weeks ago, we had the chance to have dinner with Amelia & Jacob. It had been a while since Miss Madelyn had seen them, and we had lots of fun!

So Christmas always begins early for us. This year it began a couple of weeks ago, with Valerie, Alex, Felicity, and Ariana. Madelyn got to open her first Christmas presents!

Madelyn loves her Aunt Valerie!

"Am I going to get in trouble for this?

"Oooo, fun!"

"I'm going to be a super star!!"

After our Christmas party, we went to Calera's Christmas parade! It was very cold (may I remind you that we had snow that morning)! We were going to go to Montevallo's, but it was before Thanksgiving. Weird how they do it so early...

Madelyn was definitely warm! When we took her snow suit off, her little body was like a toaster. At least she wasn't cold!

Can't see it so great, but she had a cute little bunny hat =)

Sadly, she didn't make it very far through the parade...She fell asleep about 10 minutes into it, despite the loudness. Either way, it was fun. That Sunday, we went to visit some friends at their church in Moody. So fun! Last Sunday, Madelyn went to her first Christmas production at CLC. She was fascinated! She took a short nap through it because she didn't get a nap that morning, but otherwise she enjoyed it. Christmases continue this Saturday & Sunday...can't wait!

Madelyn Jewel, 9 months

It is still unbelievable that our sweet girl is 9 months old! Here are some things she's up to now =)

-weighs 15 lbs, 9 oz.

-is 28 1/4" long

-crawls EVERYWHERE!

-can pull up & cruise

-can stand on her own for ~5 seconds

-she can also (as of tonight) stand on her own & bend down to pick something up. straightening back up is another story =)

-her nicknames are still monkey & bijou

-she has definitely lived up to her nickname monkey - she tries to climb on everything!

-she also lives up to the nickname bijou, because she is definitely our jewel

-when she is standing up holding on to something, she is very careful to lower herself sloooooowly as to not hurt her rear.

-she is very talkative! She can say no, bye, hey/hi, mama/mommy/mom, dada/daddy/dad, Ana (for Ariana), Mala (for Madelyn), nana (night night), dayda (Daisy), yayi (Yogi)...I think that's all on the list! Obviously she is not a noun baby, she a name baby!

-her laugh is absolutely heart melting

-she loves older kids!

-the t.v. is of minimal interest to her (which we prefer to stay that way!)

-she still loves outside

-her favorite toy is still Jujubee.

-nap times are more predictable - short morning, longer afternoon, & sometimes a short late-afternoon nap

-if she doesn't get that late afternoon nap, she'll sleep 11+ hours; otherwise, it's still between 10-11, though not as predictable as it once was

-she gets ill if inside for too long - my girlie loves to shop!

-she loves food! the only things she still doesn't care for is spinach & avacado. Her favorite fruit is plums, veggie is a tie between butternut squash & sweet potatoes, loves yogurt, & juice (which she only gets when she has tummy trouble)!

-she has a very special smile that only her daddy gets (see below)

I could go on & on about all that she is doing, but instead, I'll leave you with her 9 month pictures & 1st Christmas pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for this year! I don't even know where to begin! I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving...don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to Black Friday =)

New addition!

Meet Coffy!

Just kidding - we do NOT have a new addition, just a new camera =) I think I reaffirmed my belief that I do not want any more pets for a good long time. We pet-sat Coffy this weekend. Anyway, our camera had been on the verge of death for about a month, which makes me sad because I really liked it. But, we got a really good new one. Unfortunately, our dying camera died again during Disney on Ice! We went Thursday night. Madelyn was fascinated! Here are a few pics we got.

The Incredibles (E)

Mulan (my personal favorite!)

The Lion King

Pinnochio & the Blue Fairy

Donald & Minnie

"It's a Small World"

Toy Story & Toy Story 2

Disney Princesses

Beauty & the Beast

Finding Nemo

Aladin

And first, but last in this order, the Zamboni was actually part of the show!

Pretty set.

Madelyn was very Minnie-esque. That was as close as I could get to Disney. She's still a bit young for all the dress up stuff. And now, I will leave you with a few random pics!

Cute baby, 8 months, and Boo at the Zoo!

Before I post this, let me just mention that I am quite ill with blogger at the moment - I had the post ready, it was saved, & would not publish....then it took away everything I had written! It was supposed to be saved!! Moving on.

So lots has been going on in our little world! First, David got free tickets to Boo at the Zoo. So Saturday, we went to that. We were originally going to go Sunday, but we were glad we changed our minds because we were SO TIRED! Our friend Laura, her husband, and son went with us. It was Madelyn's first chance to dress up in her costume! Yes, I bought her a costume. Primarily because we have a church event, and I found one that is super cute. You know how her favorite toy is her Jujubee? Old Navy had a costume that looked just like it! So she is going to be a Jujubee for Halloween. So let's start with Boo at the Zoo pics!

Ya gotta feed the animals, right?

Sleeping on the hayride...that didn't last long =)

Petting a guinea pig

Taking a ride on the carousel

Madelyn loved the lights! She is sooooo going to love Christmas!

Taking a train ride....

Waiting for a train ride...

Aidan and Madelyn!

My cute Jujubee

David insisted on getting this cute panda outfit for her at the Carter's outlet at the beach. Surprisingly it's long enough.

Playing with glitter ball.

Also on Saturday, Madelyn turned 8 months. She is doing great! She is crawling everywhere and between rooms. Pulling up is no big deal to her now. She is also cruising around the couch & coffee table. Sha has become VERY vocal lately (especially in the car for some reason). Last night, she was too funny. She says "mama" & looks at me, "dada" & looks at David, and went back & forth between the 2 for quite a while. She said a new one in the car today - "Mali" which I can only assume means Madelyn. All the way home I heard "mama, dada, Mali." Too cute. She has been a super mama's girl lately, but last night she really wanted her daddy. I love our sweet girl!

The Pumpkin Patch

Saturday we decided to take Madelyn to the pumpkin patch in Calera. I don't remember them doing this in the past, but it was through the railroad museum. We took a train to the pumpkin patch (about a 15 minute ride) where they had all kinds of activities. My friend Laura & her son Aidan went with us. It was VERY cold first of all. It was also an interesting experience. While on the train there, two of the trains became uncoupled, which resulted in one of them crashing into our car. It threw Madelyn's head into mine, but other than a bump on the head, we were all ok. There were 5 people who were injured on one of the other trains. The paramedics checked them out, and everyone was fine. Madelyn was fascinated by all thing there. Of course some of it, like the bouncey house, she wasn't able to do. She loved the scarecrow & the pumpkins though. We got a pumpkin that we will eventually cook for her to eat (she LOVES pumpkin!).

I had some more pics at the pumpkin patch, but blogger isn't cooperating =(

So now I will finish the rest of the beach pictures.

She still hates the ocean by the way. She did better with her float.

Other than that, work is fine, just busy. Madelyn is doing great! She started crawling a couple of weeks ago, and she is EVERYWHERE! Not to mention, every morning, she is standing in her bed, and will pull up on your leg, the coffee table, or whatever is available at the moment. David is working on a crawling video as we speak. Casper is adjusting to life without Roxy, but he hasn't played much since we've been home. So long for now!

Bad blogger

I have been the worst blogger ever lately. Looooooots of things have been going on, so I will begin with random pictures.

My cutesy baby. The dress above was given to us by the assistant principal at Calera Elementary. It is a Feltman Brothers dress, which I had never heard of before, but know well now!

Sweet pea.

3 weeks ago, we decided to go get Madelyn's ears pierced. We had waited longer than we would have liked, due to unforseen circumstances and time contraints. So we took her up to the Galleria to get them done at Claire's (after the fact, Amelia reminded me that there is now one at Colonial Promenade...oh well).

Believe it or not, nothing had been done yet. We accidentally woke her up from a nap, so she was quite ill. She did pretty well though. After about 10 minutes, she was over it.

And here is my pretty girl, with her pretty earrings!

The next day, we got a call from my aunt, who was having trouble with her computer, so we went down to Pratville so David could help fix it. We got to see my cousin Nadean & her son Hadyn as well.

Just funny cause of the mohawk. She woke up from nap this way.

Playing with her favorite exersaucer toy at Aunt Valerie's.

A cool picture David took the other night of the moon. We may live in a neighborhood, but it is so quiet & dark enough at night that we can still see the stars.

Happy baby!

Casper with a sock on his head. He actually didn't move until David took it off.

Doing an art project for mommy & daddy with Aunt Valerie.

Oh me oh my, how we LOVE Roxy! Sadly, Roxy has now gone home. I had another picture of her laying on me, but not sure what happened & I don't plan on reloading it. Oh well.

Now we are at the beach! We weren't sure we were going to make it afterall. Saturday, I started feeling really bad, went to the doctor Monday, wound up taking David on Tuesday, and then Wednesday Madelyn started running a pretty high fever. David took her to the doctor Thursday morning, but they couldn't find anything wrong with her. I guess it was just teething. This now makes her 2nd doctor's appointment other than her well child visits. We took her last week because the day that she got her ears pierced, she started something very odd & scary, stretching out her arms & legs & tensing up & jerking, which we thought might be seizures. So after getting it on video, we headed to the doctor to make sure it was nothing to be concerned with. She actually did it a couple of times there thankfully. She was diagnosed with Sandifer syndrome, which sounds a lot scarier than it is. All it means is that she was having a reaction to acid reflux & making those movements because of pain. It was not severe enough for medication, and he said she would grow out of it. They have greatly decreased in the past couple of weeks, thankfully. Anyway, on to more beach pictures.

She STILL hates the ocean, but loves the pool & doesn't mind the sand (even wet sand now).

I am going to have to fram this one. She is so beautiful!

Sitting in tutus with her cousins.

Madelyn & Adalynne (a reminder that she's her cousin who is 5 weeks younger).

She was getting really tired of the sand...and tired in general. She rubbed her face with sand on her hand...not a good combo. More later!

The loooong weekend

So, as a (sort of) last minute trip, we flew to Michigan Thursday morning. My uncle had been in the hospital and was not doing well (more on that later). It was the first time for David to meet much of my family & Madelyn's first time to meet everyone.

"NO, you CAN'T get a picture of my tooth Daddy!"

Madelyn meeting her cousin Roxas for the 1st time. He's about a month & a half younger.

The fountain inside the VA hospital. Probably the nicest VA I've ever seen.

Poor passed out baby...she was really so good on the trip. Staying at the hospital ~8 hours/day, getting taken everywhere, going to bed at midnight...and barely fussed (other than when the tooth broke through).

Madelyn Jewel playing on the trampoline.

Saturday, we drove out to Jeddo where my aunt & uncle live.

The cabin - really cool, has a tree in the middle of the house. All built by hand.

We stopped back by Port Huron on the way back.

Pictures of Canada.

The bridge to Canada

This was just plain funny....especially since my cousin (who was with us) is named Scott.

Saturday night, we had a family dinner at Olive Garden. Wow there were a lot of people there!

Madelyn was the focus of everyone's affection! Here she is with my cousin Rob's kids Mckenzie & Haley, and Rick's son Jackson.

Tim, my cousins' dad, was kind enough to invite us over for dinner Sunday evening. We had a great time!

Madelyn LOVED my cousin Scott, especially the beard.

Girl time!

Play with the baby!

Madelyn & my cousin Diane.

Madelyn was soooo good on the plane! I prefer the large ones...this one only held 50.

Daddy playing with our bijou at the airport. We waited for my dad to get in & give him a ride back. He was sherberting her neck & she laughed like crazy!

We have toothage! Now just hoping I won't get bit...