Thanksgiving Weekend

As you all know, we have been sick in the Chandler household.  Jeff had it first, and he gave it to Madison, who in turn gave it to me.  I think we are all almost over it.  Jeff is still a little stopped up, and I have a little bit of a sore throat, and Miss Madison is about 85 to 90% better.  She still has a tiny bit of congestion and drainage, but she's sleeping through the night again and taking her naps.  I think by Monday or Tuesday we should be in the clear, but you never know.

My parents were supposed to come for Thanksgiving, but they had some very sick cats, and they had to stay home and take care of them.  So, it was just Jeff, Madison, and me for Thanksgiving.  It was really quiet.  I cooked most of the day while Jeff and Madison laid around and watched football.  We ate around 4:30 that afternoon.  Here is Miss Madison all ready for Thanksgiving dinner.  She's wearing the bib that her Grandma got her.  And yes, she's still in her pajamas!

And for some reason, Madison has decided to start crawling.....finally!!!  I've been so worried and upset by the fact that we are less than a month away from her first birthday and she has shown no interest in crawling.  She would get up on her knees and rock back and forth, but that was it.  She rolled everywhere she needed to go, so there was no need for her to crawl.  Her crawl is a cross between an army crawl and a regular crawl.  She's not all the coordinated with it yet.  She keeps getting her left arm stuck under herself, but she did the same thing when she was learning to roll.  So, I guess I just need to come to terms that Miss Madison is just a late bloomer!

And in other exciting news, Nacho has decided to start playing with his kong again.  For those of you who don't know what a kong is, it is a rubber type toy that you put some sort of treat in for the dog to try and get out.  Well, when we first got Nacho, everything we read said to get a kong to help with separation anxiety.  He hated it, and never would play with it.  We tried all different types of treats, but to no avail.  It's been in his toy basket in the house for probably a year and a half now.  Well, he got it out this weekend, and started playing with it.  So, Jeff put a biscuit in it, and he loves it!  He plays with it for awhile and stops, but he always goes back to it.  It's really funny!  

Here he is trying to get his biscuit out...

Yesterday we put up the Christmas tree and decorated.  We didn't put up a tree last year since I was giving birth to Madison only 5 days before Christmas.  So, we get out the tree, and we have no idea how it goes together.  We spent all afternoon putting it together and decorating it.  We didn't know where we were going to put it, but we ended up putting it in this archway between the family room and the formal dining room.  It's about the only place we had a place for it in a common living area.  Our other choice was to put it in our sitting room in the master bedroom or in the game room. 

This view is from the entry/hall/dining room.  The other view is partially blocked from the chair and ottoman.  I think Santa is going to have to move them out to be able to put Madison's presents around it!

I think tomorrow we might actually venture out from the house and run some errands.  It will just depend on how everyone feels.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sick

Jeff has been sick for the past week.  We both think it is just a cold/sinus'.  We thought he was getting better, but he crashed yesterday.  So at 4am, Miss Madison woke us up all congested.  We gave her some saline nose drops and some Tylenol.  She went back to sleep fairly fast.  However, today she's got a really runny nose and it sneezing and coughing.  I keep taking her temp, but it's normal.  She acts like she feels fine, just a little sleepy.  I just wanted to let all of you know that I probably won't be posting anything for the next few days.  Hopefully, we are over this by Thanksgiving!  If not, I hope everyone out there has a Happy Thanksgiving!

The Park

Madison and I took a walk this afternoon.  It has been so nice lately that we have gone several times.  It is nice to get out of the house and get a bit of a workout in. There are several hills around here, so I do get a workout!! 

Today we stopped by our subdivision's park.  It's very small, but that's okay.  This was our first time there.  She loved the swing!  At first, she wasn't too sure and neither was I!!  But, then she started laughing and smiling.

Here is a pic of what the park looks like.  Like I said, it's very small.

Right next to the park is the amenity center.  There is a pool, a splash pad, a covered picnic area, and some bathrooms.  It's fairly small too.

And behind the park and amenity center is Kay Granger Elementary school.  This is where Madison will go once she is old enough.  It is rated an Exemplary School, which is the highest rating that the state of Texas gives.   

New Coat

As I had said in the Snow Baby post, Madison got a new hat, mittens, and a coat.  It was really cold here today, and the wind was blowing around 35 mph!  We had some errands to run, so we bundled Madison up.  This is her in her new coat.  As you can see, it's a little big.  You can't even see her hands!  Oh well, the next size down would be almost too small.  Jeff is wanting to find another coat/jacket that isn't as bulky.  I told him to go for it.  I had a hard enough time finding this one.  We will see if he finds anything.  If he does, it will probably look like something for a boy!!  He's always wanting to buy her stuff that makes her look like a boy!

Bathtub Fun

For the past several weeks, Madison has been terrified of taking a bath.  I think several things occurred for her to become so scared.  First, she did a nose dive face first trying to go for a toy.  This not only scared her, but it scared us too!  Of course, she was fine.  Second, her shampoo and bubble bath kept falling in the bathtub while she was taking a bath.  This would scare her to death, and she would just start screaming.  

So, this week, Jeff and I decided that someone should get in the bath with her.  Jeff decided that he would do it.  So, he got out his swimming trunks and got in with her.  At first, he just sat her on his lap, and I would play with her while he held her and washed her.  Tonight, we progressed to her sitting in the tub with Jeff still in there.  She had a blast!  I'm so happy and relieved.  

The video is her having a little fun in the bath with her Daddy!

Home Tour

I finally took pics of the house yesterday.  There are a lot.  I'm just going to show the best ones.  And, yes there is a lot of toys and what not lying around.  We actually live in this house, so I decided to show it that way.  Normally, I wouldn't take a pic or even show it to people that way, but I knew I would never get pics taken if I waited until everything was perfect!  So, here is our new home!

This first pic is of the entryway.  It's the first thing you see when you walk through the front door.  To the left is the office, stairs, and hallway to secondary bedrooms.  To the right is the formal dining room.  And, straight ahead is the family room.

The next two pics are of the office.  It's not all the way finished since we bought the new computer, but you get the idea!  It's literally twice the size of our old office.

This is of the formal dining room.  The first pic is from the entry/hall, and the second pic is from the butler's pantry.  I absolutely hate the light fixture in here, and I've already bought a new one.  Hopefully, my dad and Jeff can put it up over Thanksgiving.

Like I said, this pic is actually taken from the butler's pantry.  You can see the stairs leading up to the game room and the hall to the secondary bedrooms.

The next three pics are of the family room.  Like I said earlier, we live in our house, so you will see a lot of baby stuff lying around!!  Plus, a cat or two, and Miss Madison!

This is from the entry/hall looking in.  To the right is the breakfast nook and kitchen, and to the left is the master bedroom.

This is looking from the back door.

This is looking from the breakfast nook.  You can see the "entry" into the sitting room and on into the master bedroom.  I really, really need to find something for the art niche.  

The next pictures are of the kitchen.  The kitchen is a lot smaller than our previous one, and I thought I was going to hate it, but it has grown on me.  I like the higher end KitchenAid appliances.  They are really nice. The one thing I don't like is that I really don't have a lot of counter space like I had before.  And, I have a love/hate relationship with the "fireplace" surrounding our stove.  I LOVE the look of it, but HATE that it takes up so much space for cabinets and counters.

  



We had to buy a new fridge when we moved.  The buyers of our old house wanted our old fridge.  So, we decided that we wanted a french door style fridge.  We did a little research, and we fell in love with the new 28 cubic foot Samsung.  It is sooo nice.  I can't wait to really put it to use for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  You can get a lot of stuff in there.

This is of the sitting room off the master bedroom.  This is actually taken from the bedroom looking into it.

The next two are of the master bedroom.  This is taken from the sitting room.  I tried to take some pics of the master bathroom, but they were too dark.  There is only one window, and not a lot of natural light in there.  It's not as bright as our last bathroom, which is good and bad.  Good that there isn't always this light coming from there, but bad when you are trying to get ready!

This is the hall leading to the second bath, and the second and third bedrooms.  Don't mind the funky glare!

This is looking into Miss Madison's room.  We aren't totally done in there.  We still need to put up her floating shelves.  Again, this is a Dad and Jeff project!  Actually, it might just be a Dad project.  Jeff and I tried to put up floating shelves in the office, and I swear it looks like a fun house or something.  They are really crooked!

This is what Madison did while I photographed her room.  She sat in her chair and played with a book, and eventually tried to eat it.

The next few pics are of the guest bedroom.  This is taken from Madison's room looking into the guest bedroom.  The door on the left is of the closet that goes under the stairs.  It has become a catch all.  It stores all the Christmas decs, luggage, coats, etc.

The next pictures are of the game room, which we are going to use as the exercise room and a homage to Nascar.  We haven't put up the Nascar stuff yet, but Jeff can't wait to do that!

This picture is of the stairs leading up to it.

This is a picture of the three windows up there.  It didn't turn out very well, but I wanted to include it anyway.

The big door leads to a bathroom, and the little door is to our attic.

The next two pictures are taken from the gameroom.  As you can see, we really don't have any neighbors.  The closest houses to us are vacant, and there are a lot of empty lots too!

The final few pictures are what is around our subdivision.  

This is the entrance to our subdivision.  It is actually kinda behind our house.  It's about 5 or 6 blocks away.

This picture might give some of you some perspective of where our subdivision actually is.  That is actually Texas Motor Speedway off in the distance.  I think it is about 7 or 8 miles away from our house.  It is very close.  All the vacant land is what is going to be developed next for our subdivision.  It's the fourth and final phase that is going to be developed.

And, this is of the Alliance Airport right off of I-35W.  

Hopefully, everyone enjoyed the tour of our new home.  We are finally starting to feel a little more settled here.  It's just taken a lot to get used to.

Mac Atack

We had an appointment with an Apple Genius today.  We wanted to check out the new Mac Book Pro.  We instantly fell in love, and we are now the proud owners of the new Mac Book Pro, the 15".  We also bought a new printer.  We really didn't need a new printer, but you got $100 off if you bought a computer, so it made the printer we wanted next to nothing.  The printer is wireless, so I can't wait to be in the living room and be able to print without having to hook everything up!

So, far I really, really like this laptop.  I never ever thought I would be getting a Mac, but it just seems so easy to use.  The iphoto is really cool, and it does a lot of things that I need it to.  We also got MobileMe, which basically stores your data (email, calendar, contacts, photo, videos, etc) in an online "cloud."  This way we can upload a ton of pictures and videos for the grandparents.  We are always limited to what videos and pictures we can upload.  So, this should be good for them.

Anyway, I plan to do a full blown review once we really use the laptop more.  But like I said, so far I love it!

Snow Baby

I bought Madison a new hat, mittens, and a coat last week.  I don't know if she will really need them down here, but it has been in the 40s in the morning.  This pic is from my phone, so it is not very good quality, but I thought it was a cute pic!

Madison and I had a whirlwind tour in Oklahoma.  We got in Wednesday night, and she had her appointment with Dr. Sood at noon on Thursday.  We were in and out in about 15 minutes.  Then we went to Charleston's and had lunch.  After that, mom ran into Southern Ag to get some cat food, and then we went to Toys R Us.  We had a lot of fun in there.  Mom would hold up toys to Madison, and if she liked it then it went into the basket!!  Surprisingly, she didn't end up with a whole lot.  We went home after that.  Then Friday we decided to go back to Tulsa to go to Lifestyles to see if I could find some bathroom lights.  I did, and the lady waiting on us told us that they had a store in Plano.  So, I think mom and I are heading over there at Thanksgiving.  Then we went to Babies R Us to get a few things, and we had seen a 2 day door buster ad from Toys R Us.  So, everything we didn't end up with on Thursday we ended up with on Friday!!  Then Saturday I had to go back up there to get my hair done at Ihloff's.  I'm really, really going to miss Molly.  She's been doing my hair for 3 years, and I absolutely love her.  I'm seriously thinking about just going back every 8 weeks.  I'm going to try and go to another Aveda salon here and see if I like it.  If not, I'm going back to Molly.  Then Sunday we headed back home.  It was good to be home, but I was glad to be able to sleep in my own bed.  My parents are heading back down the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  I still have a list of things that my dad and Jeff were supposed to do when we moved in!  So, they will be working on that.

Headed back to Oklahoma...

Madison and I are headed back to Oklahoma tomorrow. She has to get her booster for the flu shot, and I have a hair appointment. I have a ton of things that I want to get done while we are up there, so there probably won't be any posts until after I get back.

Have a great week!