Vacation

We spent last week in sunny Florida for vacation. It was a week of firsts for Madelyn...first flight, first extended time away from home, first experience swimming in the pool, first time at the beach, and first molar coming in! You can imagine how fun that was. She really did well for the most part. The flights didn't seem to bother her. She was cranky at night (which I understood once I felt that she had gotten a new tooth). It was a nice week - sunny and 88 degrees everyday - but it's also nice to be home. I look forward to getting back into our normal habits. It's also my first real Mother's Day. Like I said...lots of firsts this week. Here are a few pictures from vacation. It was hard to choose because there were so many good ones. Love to all!!!

Becky

9 months old!

I just can't believe it...Madelyn is 9 months old today! She is just getting so big. These are some fun pics. One is from Kyle's birthday party at work. I went with a Spiderman theme because I wasn't sure what boys were into these days. :) Madelyn was not crazy about the theme...or maybe she just wasn't crazy about Kyle's boss, Chuck. She seems to be getting some stranger anxiety which I hear is normal for this age. The other picture I took this afternoon. She was just crawling around the family room having a grand old time. Look how long her hair is getting! It is so hard to control anymore...especially after she takes a nap. I hope you all are having a happy "Tax Day"! Love to all!

Guess who can crawl?

Madelyn started crawling yesterday! I was sick with a stomach flu otherwise I would have gotten a video of it. But, she figured it out finally! She's still a little tentative, but she's doing it! So, she had a big day yesterday followed by getting the stomach flu herself in the middle of the night. I swear...one of us gets sick, and the other inevitably gets sick. We're both doing better today. Anyway, here are a few pictures I've taken recently.

Madelyn's First Easter

Happy Easter! We made it! The day included waking up after only 4 hours of sleep, singing in 2 services at church, Madelyn accidentally getting locked in the car (long story involving a copied car key, but everyone is okay), and spending the afternoon with Kyle's family. I'd say it was pretty eventful and also good. The weather was beautiful - a little bit cold, but sunny! And we had some really good services at church. The music was so fun to sing, and the Spirit was really there. I hope that you all had a great Easter. Here are a couple of pictures of Madelyn in her Easter dress - one with Daddy and one with Auntie Kim. Love to all!

New pics!

Here are a couple of new pictures! I just love to take pictures of Kyle and Madelyn napping. She loves to cuddle with her daddy! The other picture was taken on our outing to Polaris. Believe it or not, these two little ones are only 13 days apart in age! Jalon is already wearing 18 month clothes! We met his parents, Eddie & Janelle, in our childbirth class. She was due the day before me, but she ended up having Jalon 2 1/2 weeks early. Anyway, we're glad to have these new friends.

Snowed In!

We were told yesterday that we were going to get the worst snow storm we had seen in Ohio since the mid 1990's. Well, for those of you who have forgotten what 13+ inches of snow looks like, here are a few pictures to remind you!

Update

Well, it's been a long couple of weeks. Madelyn was sick for almost 2 full weeks. She started out with just a stuffy nose and cough, and it turned into some kind of virus. She started getting really high fevers, and we ended up taking her to the ER one night. I also took her to the doctor a few days later only to be told that I was doing everything I could do. She finally is over that, but now I feel tooth number 7 coming through!!! She's crazy! Let's see, she has learned to roll over in her crib. I came in yesterday to check on her while she was napping, and I found that she had rolled onto her tummy and fallen asleep. So, here are a couple of pics I've taken lately. One was taken while she was sick with a fever, and the other was the first time she rolled onto her belly for a nap.

Still alive!

We're still here...we're still alive! I know it's been forever since I've posted. We finally found the software for our digital camera, so here are several pictures to get you all caught up with Madelyn. I can't believe how big she's gotten! I babysat a 7 week old baby the other day, and she made Madelyn look huge! My little baby is not so little anymore! She's now added a few more "words" to her vocabulary. She says da-da, blah-blah, and several other things that sound vaguely like words. It won't be long until she's jabbering away in full sentences. I've ordered her 6 month pictures and will post some of those when I get them scanned in. Love to all!!!

Quick Update`

Hi, all! Just wanted to drop a quick line to let you know that we're still here. Our computer has been broken. Hopefully we'll have it back up and running in the next week or so (we basically have to rebuild it...fun times). We're doing okay here. Madelyn has 6 teeth now...watch out - she bites! Unfortunately, she and I both have head colds right now. Try having a 6 month old with a head cold...not much you can do for them! Anyway, I have some new pics that I'll post as soon as I get a chance. If you want to get a sneak peak at Madelyn's 6 month pictures, you can check them out on Stacey's blog. Go to www.wilesphoto.com and click on the link that says The Blog. Scroll down past the first baby on the page and you'll see 2 pics of Madelyn. Hope you all are well! Lots of love!

6 months old!

Well, I can hardly believe it, but my little munchkin is 6 months old now! It hardly seems possible. She's already reached several milestones: 5 teeth in, sitting up on her own, rolling over, saying "ma ma" (still hasn't quite figured out "da da"), recognizing her name, and eating solid foods. What a big girl! Where has the time gone?

Not much going on

I'd love to say that there was something exciting and wondrous going on...but it's pretty much just life as usual (not that that is a bad thing). Madelyn has 5 teeth now, and we're expecting number 6 any day. Also, I think she recognizes her name...sometimes at least. A lady at the chiropractor's office called her name, and she turned toward her. Anywho, here are a couple of new pictures. (FYI...she's eating prunes in the one pic, and she loved them!)

She did it!

Okay, sometimes it's the "little" things in life that make the biggest difference. Just this week we started putting Madelyn to bed in her crib (yes, I know - she's almost 6 months old and we're just now getting her out of our room. Blah, blah, blah). Anyway, we have not had what you would consider a lot of sleep since then. In fact, she has been waking up or crying in her sleep about every 2 hours. It makes for a long night. Last night...SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! I couldn't believe it! She hasn't done that since before she started teething, and she has never done it in her crib! I woke up about every 2 hours (because my body is used to that schedule) and I never heard a sound from her nursery. So, I would go and check on her to make sure she was still okay. She went to bed at 9pm, and we woke up to the sound of her talking to herself at about 7:15am! HOORAY FOR MADELYN!

Not for the faint of heart

I started several times to post something about the difficult time we had yesterday, last night and today with Madelyn. Parenting is definitely not for the faint of heart. But, I decided that I don't want to say anything negative. So, instead I'm just going to post a picture of Madelyn dressed up in a Christmas outfit. How cute can you get?!?!?

See ya later, Sister!

Tomorrow is the day that my sister, Sabina, leaves for Indonesia. I wish that I could be there to see you off, sister, but I'll be praying for you! I just wanted to post this picture for you as you go...my favorite face that Madelyn makes - the poopy face! Love you!

Getting Started

Well, here I am...just getting started. I decided to start this blog so that my family can keep up with my daughter's life. You see, my sister is moving to Indonesia for the next 6 months, and I want her to be able to keep up with Madelyn while she's gone. Also, my brother-in-law has been living in Costa Rica, and my parents are 6 1/2 hours away. Hopefully I'll have some interesting anecdotes to add from time to time.

Let me start with the tale of Madelyn's first Christmas. She got sick! We were planning on going to Kyle's family's Christmas in Dayton, but instead we went to the emergency room at 4:30am on Christmas day. Fun times! Madelyn's doing alright...she just has a stomach bug which causes her to alternately have diarrhea and vomiting. I can't count the number of times I've changed her clothes in the past few days. Anyway, I know that everyone is just dying to know about all of her "bodily functions".

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Love to all!

(Here are a few recent pics of Madelyn!)