The Chandler Family

Quick Update...

2010-05-21T14:43:00.000-05:00

Things have been really hectic around the Chandler household! Not only did I go back to work, but Miss Madison has been sick. I think we are finally over it, but I don't know. She seems to feel much, much better.

Work is going great for me. I'm not fond of the commute, but I will live with it. The commute in Tulsa was a piece of cake to compared with what I have to deal with now! It is not fun. I enjoy working again, but I also miss spending time with Madison. I know she misses me too. She was soooo happy last week when I stayed home with her when she was sick. However, she is learning soooo much. She can count to 20, knows her colors, and knows her shapes. She is talking up a storm, and she repeats everything you say. She turned into a little girl over night!! She's a lot of fun right now, and we are enjoying this stage.

My parents are coming this weekend, and Jeff is out of town next week. I hope to try and keep this better updated, but I just don't know if I have the time to do it anymore. Facebook is much easier to keep up! :)

Have a fantastic weekend!

Remember the Ten Run

2010-04-19T15:55:00.004-05:00

This weekend was the Remember the Ten run. We did the 5k. It was really good to be back in Stillwater, and it was also good to be able to FINALLY do this run! I'm definitely making this a yearly thing to do. I finished at 33:45 and Jeff finished about 30 seconds after me. I was surprised at how well we both finished. Doug Gottlieb finished right ahead of me, so that was cool! It did rain the ENTIRE weekend. We had thought it was going to hold off during the run, but it didn't. It didn't rain hard, but enough that you were wet! Needless to say, we didn't get very many pics! :(

Here is Mommy and Madison before the race...

And, here is Mommy and Madison after the race. You can see the water all over the stroller...

Here is Mommy, Daddy, and Madison after the race...

Wendy and me after the race...

This is the memorial inside Gallagher Iba Arena...

For those of you that don't know, I was extremely close to Jared Weiberg. I ran in honor of him. I still miss him every single day!

America's Run 2010

2010-04-11T13:15:00.003-05:00

Today was the first of my 2 5k's. It was America's Run 2010, and it was at Cowboys Stadium. It was a really cool event, and you got to finish on the 50 yard line! However, there were at least 5,000 people in the 5k! It was just packed the whole entire way. It was really hard to try and set a pace. The website says I finished in 34:07, which is 3 seconds faster than I thought!! :)

They also had a half marathon. Troy Aikman ran it. He did it in 1:49! Not bad Troy!

Here's Troy before the start...

So, here is the start of the 5k...crazy!

Here I am starting...I'm in the very middle with a pony tail! :)

Daddy and Madison got to wait for me to finish, so they wondered around. Here is Miss Madison outside of the stadium.

And, here are Mommy and Madison after the race. Madison is playing with my finishers medal.

So, next weekend is the Remember the Ten run. It's going to be a lot harder than this one, because it's more hilly AND I will have the jogging stroller. I'm sure it will be just as fun though!

Happy Easter!!!

2010-04-04T20:09:00.004-05:00

Life Update...

2010-04-02T20:10:00.004-05:00

So, this week has been kinda wild and crazy. I got back from my girls weekend in Atlanta, and I had no voice. It was awful. I really didn't feel bad, but sounded horrible. In the end, the doctor said that my vocal cords were irritated and gave me prednisone for a few days. I'm a lot better, but by no means 100%. If I'm not close to 100% by Monday, I am supposed to go back to the doctor.

Also, Madison has been sick again. I really just thought it was allergies. Jeff ended up taking her to the doctor on Wednesday since I was under strict orders not to talk. In the end, the doctor said that she was just starting to get an ear infection and had allergies. So, she's on amoxicillin and zyrtec. This is her FIRST ear infection. I have no idea how we made it this far without one, but we did! She's feeling better and went back to school on Thursday.

I got a speeding ticket this week too! I have no doubt I was speeding, but I really don't think I was going that fast. He said I was going 75 in a 60! UGH! Then today I got summoned for jury duty! JURY DUTY!! UGH!!! I'm not looking forward to it.

But, the BEST news of all is that I got a job! Yep, I'm going to be a geological technician again for a very small oil and gas company. I saw the job, and I applied last Tuesday. I interviewed on this Tuesday, and they offered me the job on the spot! I accepted on Thursday. So, I start the 26th. Miss Madison is going to start going full time at school. She's been doing awesome there, so I hope this is an okay change for her. The only thing that I think will be hard for her is the napping on a mat thing. She's soooo not going to go for that, but I know she will adjust. It's also just going to be a huge adjustment for the entire family, but I know in the end that this is a good move. I feel really good about it, and I'm excited to get back in the game! Wish me luck!

School, Sick, and New Shoes!

2010-03-14T18:40:00.005-05:00

Madison survived her first week of preschool, and so did her Mommy!! The first day they basically had to rip her out of my arms. She wouldn't let go of me, and the teacher (Ms. Townsend) told me that she was going to cry no matter how long I stayed. It was awful. So, the second and third days were the same thing, except when we pulled in the parking lot, she started crying! However, the teachers said that she had really good second and third days. She made a friend the second day, and on the third day they went outside, and she LOVED it. So, I'm hoping that over time she will stop the crying. It's just going to take awhile. We have noticed that she is definitely talking a lot more. She tells us at dinner when we ask about her day, "I did...." Of course, we can't understand anything after I did!

Also, this week I was sick. I couldn't hear anything, and just felt terrible. I finally started feeling better on Friday. However on Thursday, Madison started coughing, and she has just gotten worse. She doesn't have a fever or anything, just congestion. And, now Jeff has it! UGH! I'm hoping that we will all be better next week.

AND, Madison got some new thongs a few weeks ago. She had a pair last year, and she wouldn't wear them at all! However, these she really, really liked! I put them on her today, and she pranced around showing us. It was cute. So, the pic up top is her in her new shoes!

Japanese Botanical Gardens

2010-03-06T13:31:00.006-06:00

We went to the Japanese Botanical Gardens in Ft. Worth this morning. I've been wanting to go for a long time. I knew the weather was supposed to be nice. The temperature was perfect at around 60, but it was cloudy. There weren't many people there when we got there, but by the time we left, it was starting to get more crowded.

These gardens are part of the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens. It's very peaceful there. They have a huge koi pond in the middle, and you can buy food to feed them. So, we walked around and fed the fish. Actually, Madison RAN around, and she fell many times. It's very hilly and uneven, so she kept stumbling and falling. But, she always got right back up and kept going!

So, here we are feeding the fish and a couple of ducks!

This was a very fun and cheap activity to do as a family. We will definitely go back! I want to explore the other gardens. Maybe next time we can take a picnic.

I'm trying to do things around Ft. Worth that I've been wanting to do since we moved here. I decided that we've been here a year and a half, and there is a ton of stuff to do that we've never done. So, up next is the Ft. Worth Stockyards! Maybe we can go next weekend, weather permitting!

The Goddard School

2010-03-06T13:21:00.003-06:00

We've been trying to figure out what we wanted to do with Madison in regards to a preschool for awhile now. We had wanted her to go 2 or 3 days a week starting this fall. All the preschool's/mother's day out programs are enrolling now. I honestly didn't go and look at any. Several of my friends went, and I knew which ones to stay away from and which ones were okay. Most of the ones that were okay were religious based, and we really didn't want that. So, I started doing other research and looking elsewhere. I came upon a place called The Goddard School. It's a chain that has been around for 22 years, and this particular location opened in June. It's more of a preschool than just daycare. Jeff and I felt very comfortable with it. It reminded us a lot of Riverfield, which is where we wanted Madison to go in Tulsa. All the lead teachers are certified. The owner is on site, and there is also a director. The director actually has her masters in early childhood education, and she approves all the lesson plans.

So, Madison is starting on Tuesday. She will go 3 days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) from 9am to 1pm. They really encourage the parents to stop by whenever, and they said I could definitely stay with Madison until she started getting used to it. So, I was really relieved by that. Also, if the need arises, we can enroll her in full time care. So, that's good too!

So, this weekend we are on the hunt for some more shoes (closed toe, rubber soled), a lunchbox, and an over sized shirt for messy play! I've got the shoes taken care of, but we still need to get a lunchbox and the over sized shirt. Hopefully, we can find a lunchbox in March!

We are all excited for Madison, and we hope she loves her new school!

Bear Creek Park

2010-03-06T13:12:00.006-06:00

Last weekend we went to Bear Creek Park in Keller to feed the ducks. It was really busy, but we had fun anyway. Madison LOVED to see everyone's dog, and we had to really watch her. We walked around the park, and then fed the ducks at the end. She didn't want to leave!

So after running around, we finally fed the ducks! She loved doing that, and told the ducks bye when we didn't have anymore bread!

We hope to go back more often since the weather is getting better. It's good for Madison to run and run and get all that energy out!!

Running

2010-02-19T13:34:00.003-06:00

I've been trying to get back into running for a very long time. It always seemed like something came up that I couldn't do it. Well, I glad to say that running is back in my life!! It makes me feel good again, and it relieves some stress. I would say 99% of the time, Madison is with me, but it's good "alone" time for me. I can think about things. So, I signed up for two races in April! The first one is America's Run. It sounds neat, but I'm a little overwhelmed with the 20,000 people they are capping the race to!! You get to end on the 50 yard line inside Cowboys Stadium...very cool! The second run is the Remember the Ten run. I tried to run it the very first year it was held. However, I was pregnant and having some difficulties, so the doctor wouldn't let me race. I'm looking forward to the races very much!

In other news, Madison was sick at the beginning of the week. She's fine now. I think it was just some sinus drainage from all the weather change. They are already talking about possible flurries on Tuesday! UGH!! I'm ready for Spring!!

SNOW!

2010-02-11T14:36:00.003-06:00

It's snowing here today, and when I say snowing, I mean SNOWING!! We were supposed to get like 1-3 inches, but they are predicting around 10-12 inches. That's a HUGE amount of snow for the DFW area. Jeff's flight tomorrow to the Daytona 500 has already been cancelled, but he has been rebooked. I hope he gets to go tomorrow! My parents were going to come tomorrow, but it's looking like they will probably just come on Saturday.

I took Madison out twice today, and she hasn't been impressed either time! She doesn't know what to think about this snow. She tries to eat it, which is cute!

Here's the street in front of our house...pure slush at this point, but once it freezes over night it's going to be a problem!

UGH! Is it Spring yet?

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-10T13:49:00.001-06:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-03T15:54:00.001-06:00

Bad Blogger

2010-01-29T13:08:00.005-06:00

I know I've been a bad blogger. Not too many exciting things have been happening around here, so there hasn't been too much to blog about. Everyone is doing fine!

My parents got us fireplace doors and gas logs for Christmas. They didn't get installed until just a few weeks ago. We haven't got to use them too much because it has been so warm, but I'm using them today since it's 35 right now!

I forgot to take a pic of the doors shut before I lit it, so I tried to close them part way and take it. I really, really like the look of the doors.

And here the doors are open with the fire going!

In other news, Jeff finally got his master's diploma! He put it into the frame this weekend. He actually has an office at work now, so he's going to take all his diploma's and certifications to work now! I'm so proud of him for finally getting his masters!

Also, Jeff has been having problems with his foot. He finally went to the doctor yesterday, and they told him that he has a bone bruise from pounding the treadmill! He's supposed to keep to the elliptical. I hope this doesn't cause problems with the runs we are going to do the spring. We are planning on doing America's Run 2010 at Cowboys Stadium, and doing the Bristow Wildflower Run! I've been doing my Couch to 5k plan, and I'm on week 3. It's coming along, and Madison likes to go, so that's good!

Jeff and Jeremy are supposed to be going to the Daytona 500 this year. Of course, the race is on Valentine's Day! So, I guess I don't get to go to San Francisco or anything!! They will have fun, and I'm hoping that my parents or at least my mom will make it down here for a few days.

Hope everyone is doing well! And, for all you people in Oklahoma, I hope you still have power and are staying safe!!

Christmas Eve Snow and Christmas Morning Fun!

2009-12-25T17:46:00.007-06:00

We had snow on Christmas Eve. It started as rain, but turned to snow. We probably had 3 to 4 inches when it was over. The wind was blowing around 30 to 40 mph, so we had horrible conditions. However, if you went to downtown Ft. Worth (which is about 10 or 15 minutes away) they didn't nearly have anything we did. It was weird. Plus, the day before it was 75! Crazy weather indeed! Madison really wanted to go out. She got her boots and brought them to her Daddy. So, Daddy took her out. I swear they were out all of 5 minutes!

So, here is Miss Madison in her first snow!

Madison got up about 6:30 to find that Santa had brought her a kitchen! She LOVED the kitchen. I actually think "loved" is an understatement! She didn't really want to open any other gifts. She seriously played with the kitchen for about 2 hours straight!

Here's the tree after Santa brought his presents!

And here she is with the beloved kitchen!

Here she is looking in her stocking...

And, opening presents!

Overall, we had a very good Christmas morning. Santa was good to us this year. My parents were not able to make it in due to the blizzard they had. Jeff's mom was finally able to get here around 2pm. Hopefully, my parents are able to get here tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

2 Year Checkup

2009-12-21T19:38:00.004-06:00

Madison had her 2 year well child checkup today. Everything was fine, and he didn't see anything wrong with her. She seems to be right on track now! She had to get 2 shots. Her booster for H1N1, and her last Hib shot. I guess she was supposed to have that at 15 months, but there has been a national shortage. She was screaming the entire time we were there. I know she knows where she is. As we were walking in, she froze and almost starting crying! She's this way every time we go there! Hopefully, we won't be back any time soon, and she can forget about all the bad things that happen there (i.e. shots).

Her stats were:

Weight: 28 lbs 1 oz (50-75th percentile)
Length: 37 inches (95th plus percentile)
Head: 50.5 centimeters (95th plus percentile)

She's tall and skinny!! Overall, she's very healthy and happy!

Aunt Joby and Birthday

2009-12-21T12:24:00.012-06:00

Last week Aunt Joby came to visit. Madison LOVED to get into anything of Aunt Joby's. It was all new, and fun to play with. Madison especially liked playing with her laptop. She even got to sit in Aunt Joby's lap and play pinball!

Here she is trying to see what Aunt Joby is doing...

And, here she is in her lap playing the game...

And here everyone is trying to put the "enter" key back on the laptop after someone ripped it off!

Aunt Joby left on Friday, and my parents got here on Saturday. We went ahead and had her "party" that day. She was excited to get to open presents. She's actually been trying to open the Christmas presents!

Here she is with all her presents!

Opening presents...

Being silly!

And opening her favorite gift...her teapot!

Her big gift from Mommy and Daddy was a car! However, she's not too sure of it just yet.

She likes to push it, but just not ride in it!

I did cupcakes again this year. They are just soooo much easier, and I think they are just way cuter! Our theme was Elmo. Madison went to the party supply store, and that's what she wanted.

Grampy wearing her party hat and dancing!

Her smile!

Grammy and Grampy partying!

It was a very good birthday. I think she had a lot of fun. She's had fun playing with her new toys. I'm sure Christmas will be just as fun.

Speaking of Christmas, while Joby was here we decided to get out Madison's kitchen that she's getting for Christmas. Jeff HATES putting this kind of crap together. And, this kitchen had a million different parts.

So, here we are trying to figure out what to do!

Jeff is trying to get it to fit together and not tooo happy that Joby is taking pics!

Here is the last step of putting on the stickers! Whew! It only took a little over an hour. I didn't think that was bad considering her car took like 2 hours!

Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to get all caught up before Christmas! I hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday!

2009-12-20T18:08:00.002-06:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Madison!

Mommy and Daddy are very proud of you. We love you very much!

Thanksgiving, Potty Training, and Everything in Between!

2009-12-08T13:06:00.005-06:00

We had a very good Thanksgiving weekend. My parents arrived on Wednesday. I had already done some prepping of food for the feast the next day. Thanksgiving was pretty low key. The only excitement was that somehow we cooked our turkey upside down!! So as Jeff was trying to carve it, all that he was finding was dark meat. I was really upset by this, because for once I actually bought an actual Butterball brand turkey. We were getting ready to get out the camera to take pictures of it so that we could complain to Butterball when we decided to flip it over. We ended up having to cut off the breast and cook it a little longer, but it was still good. Friday morning Jeff and I went to go see New Moon. Loved it! Can't wait for Eclipse! Then we came home to decorate the house for Christmas. In the end, we didn't get up our tree because we spent to long trying to figure out how we were going to do the outside. In the end, we are very happy with it. I need to take pics. We basically outlined our flowerbed, and we have two lighted wreaths hanging in the front windows. It looks nice. This was the first year we actually decorated outside. We felt we had too. Our neighbors really get into it around here. Saturday we put up the tree to discover that somehow it was stored wrong and the bottom branches are broken. So, we have a deformed tree this year. I think my mom is going to give me hers. I'm still going to try and see if I can find one after Christmas. I really want to get a small one for Madison's room, and I want one for the gameroom. My parents left late on Saturday afternoon. We spent Sunday getting ready for Jeff to go out of town for work. All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving.

I only took one picture all weekend. Here it is...

It's a very rare pic of all three of us together. That normally never happens!

So, we decided that last week was a good week to start potty training. She's been ready since August, but she wasn't walking then. She had started to become a little more interested lately, and all my friends told me not to miss the opportunity if she was interested. They said if you missed it then it would be really hard. And, they all swore by this 3 day potty training method. So, that's what we did. Basically, you have to give up your life for 3 days and follow you child around to begin to pick up signs that they are going to potty. And when they do start to potty, you rush them off to the bathroom so they can finish in the potty...all the while telling them that we don't want wet undies, etc. And, you are supposed to be telling them the entire time to let you know when they have to go potty. But, once they use the potty (no matter how much), then you shower them with praise and possibly a reward. I would say we are like 80% to 90% trained. She really doesn't like to use it, but will...especially if she knows there will be a treat. We are down to one accident a day, and usually one at night. It's getting better...a LOT better. I've even taken her out, and we've had no accidents. She is just wearing panties and no pull ups. So, we are very proud of her.

So, on Friday when her Daddy got home, she was a little stir crazy and wanted to go outside. It was cold, and she had been running around in a long sleeved shirt, panties, and baby legs most of the week. Well, she went into her closet and got her boots (they are fake Uggs) and took them to her Daddy. She wanted them on, and she wanted to go outside. Well, he put them on her, but of course, they didn't go out. It was hilarious! We asked her if she liked her boots, and she said, "I like my boots!!" Again, hilarious!

I'm taking her to get her picture taken on Thursday. I can't believe she's going to be 2!! She's such a little girl now. We love her soooo much!

Weekend of November 13th thru the 15th...

2009-11-23T12:37:00.010-06:00

Well, things have been busy, and I never had time last week to post pics of our weekend in Oklahoma. We had such a good time. I think we all miss Tulsa very much. I hope one day we make it back there!

We got to Bristow around 1pm on Friday, and unloaded and messed around. Madison was getting antsy, so we decided to take her out to the park. She had a really good time, but she was worn out by the time we left. So, much so that she was in bed by about 6pm!

Here are Grammy and Grampy helping her up the playground equipment.

Here's Grammy following her thru a tunnel!

And here she is on the slide...

And finally, here she is walking down the sidewalk picking up sticks!

On Saturday, we got up and got around early so that we could be at the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks by 10am when it opened. I was a little unsure if she would really like it or not. But, she LOVED the aquarium. She ran and ran and ran to all the exhibits and would point out the fish! I can't wait to take her back the next time we are up there.

So, here are Daddy and Madison getting ready to go into the aquarium.

This is the exhibit where they have the beavers, the otter, and the racoons.

She really liked the racoons. I think she thought they were cats!

After the aquarium, we went to lunch and ran a few errands. Mom and Dad took our car home with Madison, and we did a few more errands. Then it was time for the pub run!

We had such a good time. I think we had even more fun than when we did it before. I think this is going to become an annual tradition now! We got to see a lot of our friends, and we miss them! And, somehow we befriended the guy handing out the Guinness, so we got a ton of free Guinness! Well, everyone else did. I don't drink Guinness!

Here's the start/finish line...

Here's Jeff running past me at the beginning of the race!

Here's Julie waving as she ran past us at the end...

Here's Jeff running past us at the end...

Rachel and me!

Tim and Julie!

Jeff after the race with his beer!

Julie, Carisa, and me!

My wonderful husband and me!

And somehow we befriended the bagpipe players and got pics with them!

After the race, Jeff and I went back to Julie's parents house so Jeff could shower. Then we went out to dinner, and met up with another friend, Ryan and his wife, Linda. It was really good to catch up with everyone. We finally made it back to Bristow between 9:30 and 10pm. We went to bed shortly after, but Madison decided she wanted to get up at 3am!! So, Sunday was not a great day, but I think we would all agree it was worth it.

I hope to be posting Thanksgiving pics later this week, and of course we always decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. So, I hope to have those pics up too! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Someone LOVES pillows!

2009-11-05T21:02:00.000-06:00

Whenever there is a pillow or pile of clothes or blankets on the floor, Nacho lays on them. Well, tonight we cleaned out a closet full of old pillows. Madison helped and carried these pillows into the living room. Nacho immediately got on them, and he really hasn't moved all night. Good thing we were going to throw them away!!
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Halloween Weekend 2009

2009-11-02T14:12:00.005-06:00

Whew! We had a jammed packed weekend. I'm glad that Monday is here, so I can rest! Friday Jeff took off a tad bit early, and we made jack-o-lantern pizza. Papa Murphy's makes them, and I decided that I could do it for cheaper and healthier. So after Jeff got home, we all headed to the kitchen to make them. We made two, but we probably only needed one. I wasn't for sure how big they would be. Madison had a blast making them, and she ate a WHOLE piece herself. We will definitely be making more in the future.

Here's the final product!

After dinner we went for a short walk, and then we came back and watched The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! I LOVE that cartoon. Madison wasn't too sure about it at first, but then she got into it.

Saturday we went to the Yee-Haw Festival at Kay Granger Elementary, which is the school in our subdivision. She basically ran around, but had fun doing that! Then we were invited to a Halloween party at a neighbor's house. We went up there from about 4:30 until close to 6:00. Madison had fun. She kept getting a little overwhelmed by all the people. She would run inside and just see all these legs and turn around for someone to pick her up. But, they had a dog, so she was in Heaven! After the party, we came home and got ready to go trick-or-treating. We went with our neighbors and the rest of the neighborhood.

Here's our little pumpkin!

Here's a better picture of her whole body...

Here we are with our lit up wagon (which was the hit of the night, everyone LOVED it!!) waiting on the McAdams (our neighbors).

And here our the McAdams and Jeff and Madison trick-or-treating at the first house!

Madison seemed to have a good time. We just went down a few streets and came home. The rest of the neighborhood went on. Madison didn't want to walk or be put in the wagon though, so Jeff ended up carrying her everywhere. I can't wait until next year. She will have a BLAST then. I'm already trying to figure out what she is going to be!

And, yesterday was just a total blur. Long story short, we had all these plans to go to the park, etc., but they went out the window when Jeff broke my phone! In the end, we went to the Sprint store, and they fixed it, but I wasn't too happy yesterday! So, we ended up not getting to go to the park. It's absolutely gorgeous here, and it's supposed to be like this all week. Our play group is headed to the Ft. Worth Zoo on Wednesday, so I'm looking forward to that.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!!

Ft. Worth Alliance Air Show Weekend

2009-10-26T12:59:00.006-05:00

We had a fairly busy weekend, but it seems not much got done! We both felt we were on the go the entire time, but have very little to show for it.

We started off Saturday at 4:45 to Madison talking and laughing. She did this for 45 minutes to an hour, and then finally went back to sleep! So, then she didn't want to get up in the morning. After she did get up, we took her for a much needed haircut. She can finally see without having a clippy!

Here she is on Friday posing for the camera. I don't have any good pics of her after her haircut.

We ran some errands after we got her haircut, and then we came back to watch the Ft. Worth Alliance Air Show from our yard. The Alliance Airport is only a few miles away, and you could see some things from our yard. We knew the Blue Angels were performing around 3pm, so we headed down to this area where a main road dead ends to watch it. There were tons of people there already. It was really cool, and I think a bunch of us are going to go to it next year.

Here are some pics of the Blue Angels going overhead. They were so close at times that I swear you could see the pilots!! They are so precise and in tune with each other that it was just amazing. I had never seen anything like it. If you ever get a chance to see them, do it! Amazing!

Jeff left yesterday afternoon for Orlando. After taking a $250 travel voucher and thinking he would get in just an hour later, he FINALLY got to the hotel at 1:50am!!! He now doesn't know if the voucher was worth it, but I say it was. Now we don't have to pay for a ticket when he goes to the Daytona 500!!

It's cold and rainy here today. I'm hoping it warms up a little, and Madison and I can get out some. I've probably got a ton more workers coming this week too! UGH! I don't think it will ever end!

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

U2 & Muse Concert

2009-10-15T14:23:00.009-05:00

As most of you know, Jeff got free tickets to the U2 concert in Dallas. Blackberry is the sponsor for the tour, and it is their 25th anniversary, so they gave every employee plus a guest a ticket!! I've been soooo excited about this for months now. U2 is the one band that I have always wanted to see in concert, and it certainly didn't disappoint. They played a really good mixture of old and new. I got to hear all my favorites from the Joshua Tree album and Achtung Baby to the latest one, No Line on the Horizon. I just don't know what else to say except it was awesome. We both had a really, really good time. However, the tickets were general admission/field tickets. So, this meant we stood for about 6 hours!! Yep, I didn't know if I could walk all the way back to the car, but somehow we did. I told Jeff that I am too old to be standing that long.

We got to Cowboy Stadium about 4:45, and there was this HUGE line. Jeff said it was the line to get in. Well, it was the line to get in, but just for general admission! If you had a real seat, then you could go in different doors, and it was fine. This line wrapped about halfway around the stadium, and maybe even more.

This is a pic of the stadium as we walked to get in line.

This is taken about 30 minutes after we had been in line. This is behind us. Notice, you can't see the end of the line!

And, this is the line in front of us! It took about another 30 minutes to get in!

Once we got in, we had to get a wristband. I still don't know why we got them, except that there was an "inner circle" by the stage that I think it allowed you access too. However, we didn't know that, and I really think it was already full by the time we got in there.

This is the actual stage. This is taken as we first walked in the doors before we had to get the wristband and walk down this long windy hallway. It seriously took forever to get down to the field.

And this is our actual view of the stage. You can kinda see the "inner circle".

Muse opened for U2, and they were really good too. They were a lot better than I had expected. These 2 girls in line behind us to get in were only coming to see Muse. There were a lot of hardcore fans there that new every single word to all the songs. They played for about and hour, and I knew about 3 or 4 songs.

Then we had about a 30 minute intermission before U2 came on.

I made a quick slideshow of all the pictures I took of U2. Some aren't that good, and you can definitely see that everyone had either an iphone or a blackberry!! Enjoy!

If you want to see any of those pictures in the slideshow blown up, let me know, and I will post them. Some are really cool and awesome at how close we were!

One Year Ago Today...

2009-10-15T14:20:00.002-05:00

We signed the papers on our house! I can't believe that it has been one year. A lot has changed in a year. I'm still trying to get used to living down here, and I wonder if I ever will. All the things that I didn't like when we moved in (lack of storage, the ugly tile, etc.), I still have issues with. Plus, just dealing with the traffic and all the people. I think Jeff and I still both really miss Tulsa, and we especially miss our house in Jenks. Hopefully, one day we will make it back!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-05T12:34:00.006-05:00

We went to Hall's Pumpkin Farm this weekend. We decided to go Saturday morning because it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. We had such a good time. Madison had a blast. She just ran and ran and ran around. She even tried to get in someone else's wagon! I don't think she wanted to leave, but it was lunch time, and we still had to drive home.

So, here are a bunch or pics from the day...

She kept wanting to go behind these tents, where no one was. Jeff kept having to steer her the other way. She thought it was funny.

They had these wooden cutouts where you could stick you head through and get your picture taken. Well, Madison wasn't sooo sure of them. She didn't know what they were for.

But, she got in the spirit!!

They had these little tractors for the little ones, but she wasn't having any of it. We decided to leave after that.

They had a petting zoo that we didn't know about until we were leaving. So, I'm hoping to take her back sometime. I think she would love the animals!!

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

How the West Was Run 5k

2009-09-26T13:43:00.004-05:00

Jeff ran his 5k this morning. He did excellent!! He ran it in 32:42!! Madison and I are so very, very proud of him. The race had a fun run, a 10k, and a 5k. They started in 15 minute increments. We arrived at the race waaaay too early. We thought they were starting a little earlier.

Here's the 5k runners getting ready to take off. You can see Jeff standing off to the right.

Here's Jeff running past us at the beginning.

And, here he is passing us at the end.

As you can see, here he is just about to finish. The clock says 47:40 because of the 10k race.

He is very excited about his finish, and now he's ready to do the McNellie's Pub Run and the Guinness Challenge! We ran it a couple of years ago. I did the 4 mile run, and he did the challenge....where you drink 3 pints of Guinness during the 4 mile run! It's the Saturday before my birthday, so it will be good to go home for it!

Dallas Arboretum

2009-09-26T13:25:00.007-05:00

We went to the Dallas Arboretum last weekend since Jeff's Mother was in town. We had never been before, and I knew last weekend was the start of their autumn festival. It was gorgeous. So pretty and peaceful. It sits right on White Rock Lake. I think we will be going more often, especially when Madison is walking all the time (she's walking about 90% of the time now, but still a little unsure about walking on grass, bark, etc.). It took about 45 minutes to an hour to get there from our house though, which was the only drawback. But, I think the beauty of the place outweighed that negative!

They had pumpkins everywhere!! They lined most of the beds along the main walkway. They had a specific area that had a pumpkin patch, a pumpkin house, and a maze!

Here are Jeff and Miss Madison doing the maze!

This was the pumpkin house. It was so cool looking.

Here's the pumpkin patch. All the pumpkins were for sale, and the kids could climb all over them. They had photographers roaming around too, and you could buy a photo for $15. Madison really, really just wanted to crawl in this area, but it was soooo muddy from all the rain, that we didn't let her. So, she wasn't happy.

Miss Madison really wanted to get out of the stroller and explore. So, this was the main walkway that was paved (i.e. not muddy) where she walked and walked and walked!

We will definitely be going back there. I think our next place to try is the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens. I heard the Japanese Gardens there are really pretty, and you can feed the fish at the koi pond.

Just because she is cute!

2009-09-26T12:23:00.000-05:00

Don't mind the drop of water on her cheek. We were playing in water, so she was getting it all over herself!
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Miscellaneous Stuff

2009-09-14T12:49:00.006-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. We've been busy around here. Plus, Jeff has been working on his thesis, so I don't have the computer at night. Anyway, I was loading pics on the computer, and I found some that I never posted. So, there are a lot of random shots in this post.

Here she is after she ate some berry applesauce. This was right when she was really learning to feed herself with a spoon. So, just imagine the mess!

This is her "international signal" of "ALL DONE!" She usually throws her hands up and says ALL DONE!!

We took her to the park sometime too. This was before she was walking. She had a good time, but she couldn't walk places. So, she spent a lot of time doing her bear crawl!

She did like to stand and bang on the slide though. However, she wanted nothing to do with going down it!

And, we ordered her a wagon from some credit card points. We opened the door yesterday morning to discover two HUGE boxes. I had also ordered a play kitchen for Christmas using the points. They had told me that it would be 10 to 12 weeks before they would be delivered. Yeah, it wasn't even a week!! So, Daddy, Miss Madison, and JJ put together the wagon yesterday morning. It has a canopy, but Madison didn't want anything to do with that. Anyway, we spent the day yesterday hauling her around the house (in case you haven't seen the news, we are getting pounded with rain).

So, here they are putting it together.

And here are JJ and Miss Madison taking a ride!

Here is Daddy pulling Madison through the house.

Here is Mr. JJ in what he thinks is his wagon!

Yesterday, Miss Madison and I baked some muffins. She had been giving me this muffin box for awhile now, so I told her she could help me. She had a lot of fun, and we will be cooking together more often.

Here we are pouring in all the ingredients!

And here we are stirring it all together!

So, those are all my random pics!

In other news, Miss Madison is walking about 75-80% of the time. She hasn't mastered the whole getting up on her own. She still wants to pull up on things and then takes off. She's getting better and better each day at the walking. She's even tried to run a few times. She usually gets to going too fast though and falls. We are going to a playgroup tomorrow. Another mother in our neighborhood, who has a 2.5 year old, is wanting to start a playgroup. So, we are both excited about it. Also, we've been in our house now for 11 months!! Wow!! And, we turned in a list of warranty items. There were 20 of them!!! So, I'm going to be a busy, busy person. I'm hoping that it's not going to be as bad as I think it is, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope! Anyway, I probably won't be on here a lot. I'll try to post something at least every few weeks. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday!

Birthday!

2009-09-08T15:48:00.002-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!!!

Madison and I both love you very much. We hope you have a great day!!

FINALLY!!!

2009-08-28T14:21:00.001-05:00

Sorry about the lighting! It was the best I could get!

Port A Part 2

2009-08-26T12:56:00.005-05:00

Here she is actually getting in the water!

Port A Part 1

2009-08-26T12:46:00.005-05:00

This was her favorite activity on the beach. We did this forever!

Port Aransas 2009!

2009-08-17T12:51:00.008-05:00

We had a really good time in Port A. It started out a little bumpy because Miss Madison was teething. She basically cried for about 3 days and clung to me. I even had to have her sleep with me one night. It was bad, but it was the bottom molars, and I've heard those hurt! However, once they broke through she was much better. She LOVED the beach!! She crawled and crawled all over it. She loved picking up sticks and shells and handing them to everyone, and she LOVED for someone to fill a bucket of water for her to dump. She would then immediately hand it back to you to fill again. She got out in the water, and she was fine until she decided to drink from it! She got the water in her eyes, and she wasn't too happy. I have a ton of pics from our last day there. I never took the camera down there. I also have some video that I hope to get on here too! So, get ready for picture overload...

Here they are when she first started going in the water. You can see my parents in the background enjoying the water!

Here she is drinking the ocean....

And here she is right after...

The poor attempt at a family pic! This was right after the drinking of the ocean incident!

Having fun with Grampy!

Jeff and I out in the water.

Enjoying ice cream at Roberts Point Park!

She really liked it!

The Coast Guard going out!

It was a good trip, and we all look forward to going down more often. It wasn't that bad of a drive. We made it in 9 hours going down, and coming home we made it in 8. And, I think the portable DVD player is the best invention...ever!!!

Hope to get the videos posted in the next few days...

New Trick...

2009-07-30T12:20:00.004-05:00

Miss Madison has a new trick. She can climb to the top of the stairs! I'm not a big fan of this trick, but she LOVES it. Always before she would go up maybe 4 or 5 stairs and come back down, but on Sunday she went to the top. I was in her room changing her sheets, and I heard some laughing. I came out and couldn't find her. I saw Nacho at the top of the stairs, but didn't see her. He moved, and there she was!! I was shocked!!! She is really into climbing things now, so I'm not too surprised. She's really fast at getting up them too! I have a few pics that aren't that good. I would like to get a video, but I don't know if that will happen.

In other news, she still isn't walking! Melissa is at a loss, and so are we. She said she really thought she would be walking a few weeks ago, and she doesn't see that there is a reason why she isn't. She would like a physical therapist to come and evaluate her just to make sure that there isn't anything else wrong. She also would like me to start taking her to Mother's Day Out or get involved in a play group. She was going to do some research for me and see what she could find. I would definitely do a play group, but I don't feel comfortable leaving her at a Mother's Day Out. Melissa thinks it would help to get her around other kids that were more her age. All our friends either have no kids or older kids (like 5ish). So, we will see what she comes up with.

And, I'm still in contractor HELL!!! The roof took 3 days (they told us 1), and our windows leaked again!!! We also discovered a soffit that they never put a vent cover on or painted! The window people came and did a water test on Monday, and we think they have fixed the problem. The other window people came today to replace the window that the solar screen people broke. In the meantime, the gutter people are on their way as we speak. Also, I'm supposed to have someone come today and do the vent and the painter is supposed to be here! WHEW!!! I keep thinking that we will be done with all this stuff. It's like everything we do or touch just breaks or something happens!!

Jeff is in Seattle and gets back tomorrow afternoon. He was without power yesterday at his hotel, and they still didn't have it this morning. In case you missed it, they are having a major heat wave up there. So, he ended up going to the office and sleeping on the floor!!! He said it was too hot to sleep at the hotel. I think I would have found somewhere else!! I'm ready for him to be home, and I know he is ready to be home too!

Art Niche

2009-07-18T18:04:00.006-05:00

We have an art niche as you make your way into the master bedroom. We have never done anything with it. I've been looking for something for it since we moved in. We went to Pier 1 today because we had a gift card from our realtor in Tulsa that we needed to use. So, we found something that we both liked!!

I think it fits there perfectly, and it fits the rest of our decor. We are both very pleased with it.

And, as I was taking the photo of it, Miss Madison wanted to get her picture taken too! She LOVES to pose for the camera now. So, I thought I would post a few.

And, we got one of her pushing her stroller around. She just needs to start letting go!

Solar Screens

2009-07-17T19:47:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned in the last post, we ordered solar screens. They were installed today. So far, we are VERY pleased. We could tell a difference immediately. It does make the inside seem a little darker, but I think that's the point. It does still let sun in for the cats. So, they should be happy. We got a cold front today, so we were a little disappointed that it isn't going to be 105 tomorrow!! It's only supposed to be 92. I still think we will be able to tell a difference. The only negative thing is that they cracked a window. It seems like this house is just doomed. One thing always leads to another. Jeff is going to call tomorrow and let them know. I'm not surprised that one broke. We knew it was a possibility. I'm sure they will fix it, but it's just yet another contractor to deal with!! Oh well. So, here are the pics...

They did the custom grid work where we had grids. We only had grids on the front portion of the house.

They also did a door cover for the back door.

You can't see in during the day, but at night if you have the lights on you will be able to see in. So, it should add a lot of privacy. Like I said, we are very pleased.

Big Girl

2009-07-16T11:40:00.006-05:00

Miss Madison has been looking and acting like a little girl more and more lately. We got her a table and chairs for the playroom. She seems to like to color...even on the walls!! I hadn't realized how big she looked until after I took these pics.

And, yesterday at snack time we had a banana. I always cut it up for her in big chunks. Well, lately she's been wanting to hold the banana herself. So, I gave her half of the banana. She was sooo proud of herself. She laughed and laughed when I gave it to her, but then she started chowing down on it!

She's talking a lot now, and she tells you what she wants and doesn't want. She really wants to walk on her own, but she is really scared to let go. We walk her everywhere. She holds on to our hands and off we go. She's let go a few times here and there, but then the eyes get big and she immediately grabs back on. It won't be long until she's running circles around us!

In other news, we are supposed to be getting solar screens installed in the next several days. Our house faces West, and it gets sooo hot in here. Plus, the whole back of our house that faces East is just full of windows. I would say that there are 10 windows across the back of our house. So, we get it in the morning and evening! We are hoping they help and cut down on our electric bill. We are also finally getting our roof replaced from the hail storm. They are supposed to do that on Wednesday, and they are putting on full gutters. We only have gutters over the doors! So, between all of that and all of the stuff that has been wrong on the inside (it all required an electrician, drywaller, painter, carpenter, and a window person), I've been busy dealing with contractors! And, most of them have been out at least twice!! I'm ready to be done with dealing with stuff to be fixed on the house. Isn't this why we bought a new house??!!! Oh well!! It will all be over shortly...I hope!

Beach Cabana

2009-07-10T13:48:00.002-05:00

We got Madison a tent for when we go down to Port Aransas. We wanted to make sure she had some shade on the beach. It has a zippered front with 3 mesh sides. And the fabric has an SPF rating of 30.

As soon as I put it up, she was in it. Everyone seems to like it, including the cats. They all play in it together. JJ especially likes it!!! So, I hope to get some good use out of the little beach cabana!!

***FYI--It's not a "real" tent. It is just designed to provide a little shelter from the sun and wind. It is not to be used to sleep in, etc. They even said not to leave it outside for any sort of extended time. It is from Pacific Play Tents, and it is called the Under the Sea Beach Cabana.

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Random Things...

2009-07-01T12:30:00.007-05:00

Well, things here are just busy, busy, busy. I swear every time I sit down to do a post, something happens that needs my attention. We've had a lot of things going on with our house, so I've had a ton of repairmen here (or at least a lot of waiting!). Hopefully, in the next few days all our windows, window sills, and the doorbell will all be fixed! But, somehow I know something else will go wrong!

My parents came up last Thursday, and took care of Madison while we went shopping and to a movie. We had fun and then we went downtown to check into the hotel. The hotel was nice, but it was really crowded, and the walls were paper thin. We had never been to downtown Ft. Worth before, but it was really neat. Everything is around Sundance Square. We both thought we would definitely be going back. I think it would be really neat at Christmas. We ate at Del Frisco's. It was okay, but WAY overpriced. I highly doubt we will ever go back. We came home early Saturday morning. My parents left Sunday morning. We all had a nice time, and Miss Madison was great entertainment!

I have several random pics of her. So, here they are...

This is here trying to smile. She loves to "smile" for the camera!

And here she is with her favorite water table!

And here she is with her splash pad. She's not too sure of it, but Mommy likes it to get cooled off!

In other news, we got a sleeper sofa, cocktail ottoman, and 2 end tables for the game room/play room. Now, I'm on the hunt for Madison a play table for up there, and some sort of wall unit/storage unit for the TV and toys.

Here's Madison and her Daddy. By the way, Madison LOVES the couch!

And here's a close up...

I also FINALLY got a rug for the entryway. It ties in great with our living room furniture. JJ and Annie love it. There is white cat hair all over it, AND cat claws. They also love to use it as a scratching post! UGH! Like Jeff said, be glad it's that instead of the regular carpet!

We are hoping to have a lazy weekend, but I'm sure it won't be. They are doing some fireworks around here on Friday and Saturday nights. I really think we will be able to see them from our backyard. I hope everyone has an enjoyable 4th!

18 Month Checkup

2009-06-23T11:44:00.005-05:00

Madison was 18 months on Saturday, and she had her checkup this morning. The doctor thought everything was normal, and he didn't even seem that concerned about her walking. I told him that she cruises and pulls up on anything and everything, and she uses her stroller (a walk behind push toy) all the time. However, she just really needs to let go. He agreed, and he watched her walk while holding my hands. He just said to continue working with ECI. She got one shot today. Her last Hepatitis A shot. She won't get anymore shots now until she's 4. I'm glad. As soon as we started in the door at the doctor's this morning, her whole demeanor changed. She got really cranky and whiney. And as soon as we went back, she just went ballistic and cried and cried and cried. It was awful. I was glad that Jeff was with us. She goes back when she's 2. So, I'm hoping 6 months is enough time to forget about that place!!

Her stats were:

Weight: 24 lbs., 10 oz (50 to 75th percentile)
Length: 34 inches (95th plus percentile)
Head: 19.5 inches (95th plus percentile)

So, she still is really tall and has a really big head!! She's staying right on track for her stats. I would say she can say between 15 and 20 words. The doctor said he was looking for 6 to 10 words. Overall, she's a healthy and happy toddler!

In other news, Jeff left after her appointment for Florida. He gets back late Thursday night. My parents are coming up Thursday night, so that they can babysit Miss Madison on Friday. Friday is our 5th anniversary, so Jeff and I are going to spend the day together. We also got a hotel at the new Omni in downtown Ft. Worth for the night. So, Grammy and Grampy get to spend a lot of quality time with Madison. I'm sure they will be going to the pool. It's supposed to 100 or above the next several days.

I hope everyone is doing well. I hope to try and post some pics soon!

New Water Table!

2009-06-12T10:31:00.000-05:00

Madison got a very cool water table. It has a battery operated pump for the faucet, so there is no need for a hose or anything. We just got it put together last night, so this morning was the first time we were able to use it. I under estimated how wet she would get though! I think this is going to provide a lot of summer fun!

By the way, this is the first post from my phone. I hope it looks okay, because I hope to be doing more like this!
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Whew!! It's been awhile...

2009-06-10T11:54:00.007-05:00

Well, things here have been really busy. Madison and I went back to Oklahoma last week. I hadn't been home since the first of November, so it was really good to come back for a few days. Grammy and Grampy were really glad to see Miss Madison, and I think they liked seeing me too! Grampy had a lot of fun with Madison. They did all kinds of stuff together...swimming, feeding cats, going outside, etc. Madison really, really wanted to play with all the cats, but these cats just kept running from her. It was kinda funny to watch her chase them around. I didn't take that many pics. Here are a few from Grampy and Madison playing the piano....

And here is the little stinker trying to smile! She's so silly!

I took Madison's booster seat with us, and I didn't use the tray that came with it. So, she actually sat at the table with us. She absolutely loved it. She thought she was a really big girl, so I knew when I got home that I was going to need to set her up in it. She's loving sitting at the table now. The only thing I don't like is that she puts her feet up on the table and pushes off now! She thinks it's really funny. I've noticed though that she only does this when she is done eating, which is good. Here is a shot of her this weekend after she ate and put her hands in her hair! UGH!

Madison is really walking a lot by holding our hands now. Melissa was here on Monday, and really wanted her to use some sort of push toy. Madison doesn't like the 2 she has, and so she gave me other ideas of things that she could use...like a weighted box or a computer chair. However, this morning we were upstairs in the gameroom (soon to be playroom...it's going to be my summer project!) and she used one and walked about 6 feet until she hit the exercise ball and lost her balance and fell over. I'm hoping that she isn't discouraged! Also, Melissa wants me to work on her squatting. She gave me some tips, and we are going to try those.

In other news, I got the new EA Sports Active for the Wii. It is soooo cool, and much better than the Wii Fit. I really felt like it was a workout, and not just a game. It's much more intense than the Wii Fit. I'm doing a 30 day challenge right now. I'm on day 3, so wish me luck. I hope it helps me tone up some! I was sore the first 2 days from all the lunges and squats I had to do. I'm hopefully going this weekend to the New Balance store to get some new running shoes. Mine are nearly 3 years old!

Hopefully, I can start posting more again, but June seems to be really hectic. Just bear with me! Hope everyone is having a fantastic week!

First Haircut!

2009-05-30T10:38:00.005-05:00

We took Madison to get her first haircut this morning. Her hair has taken off in the last few months. I've been dreading doing it, because I knew she would just cry and throw a fit. We took her to Pigtails & Crewcuts. We went right at 9am when they opened, and we are really glad we did. It started getting busy right when she was finishing up Miss Madison's hair.

Madison did EXCELLENT!! I just knew that she was going to cry and scream the entire time, but she never cried or whined until right at the end when it started getting busy. The stylist just evened up the back and cut her bangs. She basically has a bob now. It looks really good.

Here are some random shots from the experience. And, don't mind Madison's goofy expression in the one shot. I really think she was trying to smile!

We did the "first haircut package," which included a full haircut, a lock of hair, and a picture. They put it in a little card/folder thing. It was really cute.

Here is the outside of it.

And here is the inside...

We will definitely be going back. We were asking when the busy times were, and she told us on Saturdays and after school. They also have a punch card program where your tenth haircut is half price, and she told us that Wednesdays were double punch days. I have a feeling though that it is a zoo on Wednesdays! Like I said, we were very pleased, and our baby looks like a little girl now!

I see snow!!

2009-05-29T18:34:00.000-05:00

I'm flying back from San Francisco and I see snow out my window so I thought I would share. I have no idea where we are, probably not even out of California.

P.S. Blogging from the BlackBerry is kind of cool; be prepared for more random posts from me! :)
This email should post as soon as I land in Dallas.

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Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-25T20:08:00.011-05:00

We had a good Memorial Day weekend. We didn't do a whole lot. Saturday we went for a walk, ran some errands, and got in Madison's new kiddie pool.

Here she is in the pool. She had to have her "cup" in there with her. However, she kept putting it out and putting it back in. She loves to sort and stack, and I think that is what she was trying to do.

Sunday it rained here most of the afternoon, so after Madison woke up from her nap we went to Cabela's. It is just a couple of miles down the road from our house. We had been saying we should go there sometime, but it's really not a place that Jeff and I would ever go. I mean it is hunting, fishing, and camping stuff. We spent a little over an hour there. They had an aquarium and a lot of stuffed animals. Madison seemed to like looking at the fish and all the animals.

There is a huge display in the middle of the store that is a replica of a mountain with a waterfall in it and a stream at the bottom. All over the "mountain" are the stuffed animals. Here is a pic of one side of it...

Madison really liked the polar bear. She has a few books that have a polar bear in them, so I think she recognized it. She was really excited.

And for those of you that have known us for awhile, you may remember that we had some issues with chipmunks. Well, they had a stuffed one!!! So, I had to take a pic of it!

Of course this being a hunting store, they had a TON of camo. So, here is Jeff trying on camo crocs!

And, they had a whole "home" section with furniture and accessories. They had kid sized camo recliners! We WON'T be getting one any time soon!

And, today we went for a walk in the early morning, and then Jeff decided that he wanted to put up the gate for the stairs. It turned into an all day affair. We were supposed to go to our friends Brad and Traci's for a bbq and to swim, however, the gate took WAY too long. So, we never made it. I won't go into detail about what went wrong with this gate. It's up, and it looks good. We had to use a board to screw the bracket into because it wouldn't fit flush against the wall with out it. So, I still need to slap some paint on it, but otherwise we are both pretty happy with it.

So, here it is. We put it at the top of the stairs.

And, here is a close up of the board we had to use.

We did get back in the kiddie pool for about 45 minutes. Then we had dinner, and Jeff did a quick mow job. He's leaving to go to California for the week, so it had to get done.

Overall, we had a great holiday weekend. It was nice to spend time as a family! I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Madison's New Trick!

2009-05-23T12:03:00.003-05:00

Fort Worth Zoo

2009-05-23T11:27:00.007-05:00

We went to the Fort Worth Zoo yesterday. Jeff took the day off, and we left by 9:30 to be there by 10:00 when they opened. When we got there right at 10, the parking lot was full, and then there were already a ton of school buses there. We knew we wouldn't be there all day or anything, but we still wanted to go. Madison fell asleep right as we were pulling in the parking lot, so she was really kinda out of it for most of it. Plus, there were a TON of people and kids, so she was really overwhelmed. But, we kinda got ahead of some people and got to this exhibit called Texas Wild! It was kinda really neat. It basically was a replica of Texas with all the various animals you can find here.

Here is a Bald Eagle.

Here is a Mountain Lion

And here is a Jaguar! Who knew they were in Texas!?!?!!

And here our Miss Madison and her Daddy at the general store in Texas Wild!

And here are the elephants and a gorilla

And right before we left, I wanted to take a pic with Madison, but she wouldn't get out of her Daddy's arms. Here she is being a stinker!!!

And here are all the school buses! This is a just one parking lot, and only a few rows!! So, you can imagine all the kids.

Overall, we had a really good time. We will definitely go back so that we can see more. I just hope we can go a few more times before it gets too hot!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-13T12:01:00.003-05:00

Random

2009-05-05T12:11:00.009-05:00

I have several days worth of pics to show, and so this post is going to be kinda random.

First, last week while Jeff was in Atlanta Madison discovered that she LOVES to go outside, sit at the edge of the patio, and pick grass/weeds. She also likes to get Nacho's toys and try to play with him. And, it was really windy (like it is most days), so her hair is all over the place!

Next, on Saturday evening while I was trying to make dinner and Jeff went outside with Nacho, Miss Madison got into some Kleenex! I thought she was playing with these towels we have by the door to dry off Nacho. I guess I should have been paying more attention to her. (Jeff took this pic, hence the goofy look on her face. He SUCKS at taking pics.)

And, I guess she was just exhausted from having fun with the box of Kleenex that she zonked out as soon as we put her in her high chair for dinner!

And finally, we went to Babies R Us/Toys R Us (it's one big store in Irving) to get a few things. One of the things we picked up was a new walker/push toy for her. She really doesn't seem to care for the stroller. So, we bought one that was on sale, and it could be converted to a ride on toy when they were old enough and big enough. Well, she seems to like that part a lot better than the walker part! I think her Daddy liked it too!

One last pic, and this is after Madison was eating recently. She likes to throw her food on the floor. I think she does it because we tell her "No", but also because usually some animal comes and eats it! So, here is the result of one of her episodes!

Yep, that's a goldfish cracker on Nacho's back. It stayed there for a LONG, LONG time. We all thought it was funny!

My mom is on her way here to spend the week since Jeff is in Chicago. So, posting will be few and far between. I'm hoping to get to go shopping. I desperately need shorts/capri's. I had enough when I worked, but now that I wear stuff like that all the time, I don't have enough. Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

First day of Therapy

2009-05-01T11:36:00.003-05:00

We had our first day of "therapy" today. Melissa (the developmental specialist) got here about 10, and before we started she asked to wash her hands. I was glad. She said they have been telling them to take extra precautions. Anyway, she basically just asked questions to see where Madison was at, and she watched her and played with her. Melissa played peek-a-boo with her (which is one of Madison's favorite games), and after that Madison was fine with her. She watched how she pulled up and asked more questions. She told me more than once that she definitely doesn't think that there is anything majorly wrong, and she just isn't that concerned about her. She said she just thinks that Madison is on her own time table. Her recommendations this week were to keep practicing walking while holding my hands, but to make sure I hold her hands at her shoulder level or below. She said to keep the furniture and items arranged how we had them and to keep working on "bridging" between them. And, the last piece of advice was to have her crawl to the high chair, changing area, bathtub, etc. and have her pull up so that she knows she needs to stand, and it also helps her learn direction with me encouraging and telling her what to do. We scheduled the next session for May 15th at 10am.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-29T15:57:00.001-05:00

Evaluation

2009-04-22T13:12:00.004-05:00

Madison's evaluation went fine yesterday. It really wasn't what we expected. For one, we thought it was going to be the case manager/developmental specialist and an occupational therapist. However, it was the case manager/developmental specialist (Melissa) and a nurse. I really don't know why the nurse was there. She had to weigh, measure, listen to her heart and lungs, etc. It was really pointless, especially after she found out how healthy Madison was. And, I thought that they were going to be watching Madison and taking notes on her, but no. It was a series of questions and answers that they asked Jeff and me. The questions were really strange, and it was hard to say that "yes, she does that" or "no, she doesn't do that." A lot of what she does was in a gray area...meaning that yes, she might do that but not in the way they were expecting. So, they didn't give her credit for it. However, they both even said that they thought they probably should give her credit. For her motor skills, she scored at 10 months. And, the reason they told me is because she can't go from standing to sitting yet. If she could do that, she would have scored much higher. I'm guessing around 12 to 13 months. But, they said since she just started pulling up that she will learn the sitting thing fairly fast. She also scored at 10 months for her cognitive development. However, they didn't believe that at all. They thought she was fairly close to age appropriate on that, but again, it was all in the whole gray area. They weren't concerned by it at all. Everything else she scored right around her age or above. So, she did qualify for the program, and she is set up for two 60 minute sessions a month. They will be in home with lots of homework for mom and dad to help Madison with. They really think in 3 months that she will be walking. I think in about 2 months, so at 18 months...which is what my Mom and I have both said all along. The therapy will be just with the developmental specialist, Melissa, and the first session is next Friday. It will be more of a informative session, and what is expected, etc. It won't count towards the 2 sessions a month, so she will still have 2 more in the month of May. Melissa did give us some homework to try. She wanted us to minimize open spaces. Basically, create "islands" so that it is easier to walk to things than it is to crawl. So, we moved stuff around last night a little bit in the living room so that she can go from one thing to the other, but of course, she hasn't. Also, she said to get a hula hoop and hold on to one end while Madison holds on to the other. I really didn't see how that would help, but we will do it. And, they also suggested getting a wooden spoon for her to hold on to instead of our hand, but this is only when she can walk holding one hand. It will be a little bit until we get there. The program is of course voluntary, and we tell them when we are done. At that point, they will re-evaluate her just so they can document it. So, hopefully this therapy helps. Jeff and I personally don't know if she needs this since she is progressing on her own, but we will do it and see what happens!

Easter Eggs...a little late!

2009-04-20T14:31:00.001-05:00

Since we didn't get to dye Easter eggs for Easter, we dyed them this weekend. Madison wasn't really into it, which I really didn't think she would be. She's having a lot of issues with napping right now. Since she has learned to pull up, she pulls up in the crib, but then she doesn't know how to sit back down. So, she was rather fussy while Mommy and Daddy dyed eggs. We had fun nonetheless!

Here are Daddy and Miss Madison! She's such a ham!

And here's all the dye and eggs!

And, Miss Madison preformed another new trick for us last night. She had been standing by the coffee table and kinda cruising around. Well, she walked over to the side where the little step stool was (it's the one from our closet that she first pulled up on), and she put her hands down on it and got in front of the stool. The next thing we know she's lifting her leg and putting her knee up on the stool. She proceeded doing this until the other knee was up there. And, finally she did the same thing to the coffee table and ended up on top of the table!! She was sooo proud of herself. She took off crawling for the other side. Of course, she was laughing the entire time.

Here she is after I caught her! Like I said, she was very proud!

Tomorrow is the ECI evaluation. I'm hoping we don't need any sort of therapy, but if we do, then that's fine too! If she does need therapy, I don't think she will need it for long. She's already trying to let go and stand by herself!

Madison's week

2009-04-17T19:42:00.004-05:00

Madison and I didn't do a whole lot this week. I mostly chased her around the house. She loves going in the office now. She can pull open drawers, and get books off the shelf. Of course, Mommy wishes she would just stay out. It's not very kid friendly. I've been shutting the doors, and she gets really, really upset. Last night she banged on the doors so much that she actually got one open!

Here's some of what ensues when she goes in there. I mean who needs a shredder when you have Miss Madison?!?! She LOVES to rip up paper. I had a stack of stuff to be shredded, and she went in there and shredded it for me!

And, another favorite place of hers is the extra bedroom. I really don't want her in there either because the litter box is in there. We tried putting a gate on the door, but it was such a pain that it only lasted a day. She also likes to get into the trash can that is in there. Here she is with me telling her no, that we don't get in the trash.

And here she is going ahead anyway!

Another HUGE thing that has happened this week is that she is FINALLY pulling to a stand by herself. She was very proud of herself too. She doesn't do it all the time though, and she likes to do it when you aren't watching. She likes to pull up on the bathtub and this little step stool that I had in our closet. And, we have gone in her room twice now, and she's been standing in her crib! She also pulled up once on her little laugh and learn table. So, here are random pics of her where she has pulled up all by herself!

She's really starting to "cruise" more when you stand her by the coffee table or the ottoman. And, she is walking if I hold on to her hands. She walked to her Daddy that way tonight. I'm very proud. It will be interesting to see now what her evaluation says.

And, she got this stroller for her birthday. She's supposed to walk with it, but of course, she's never been able to use it. Well, I've been trying to get her to try and use it, but she never wanted to hold on to it before. Well, she did, and she did walk with it a little bit. She wasn't too sure at first, but eventually thought it was fun.

So, that's what Miss Madison and I did most of the week. We all ran errands most of the day, and we are cleaning house tomorrow. We are hoping Jeff can mow too, but it's raining so we don't know. I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!

UGH!

2009-04-13T14:03:00.002-05:00

As a lot of you know, things have been hectic around here. Last week we had insurance look at our car. They really wanted to total it. We told them no. In the end, it wasn't totaled, and it is getting fixed the middle of May. On Wednesday morning, Jeff's Grandma passed away. She has suffered from Alzheimer's for years. She died very peacefully. She went to take a nap, and she never woke up. So, the viewing was on Friday night, and the funeral was Saturday morning. Jeff, Madison, and I flew up to Indiana on Friday. We came home very early Sunday morning. My parents were very nice and actually came to our house to watch all the animals. Otherwise, we wouldn't have gotten to go. We are very lucky to have them in our lives. Not too many people would do that. So, I basically saw my parents for a few hours on Thursday night and a few hours Sunday morning. So, all the Easter plans went out the window. Jeff had to be at the airport bright and early today to go to Ft. Lauderdale for the week. Madison is still waaaay off her schedule, and she is very moody. I really think she is just really tired. The trip was a lot for her. I've already told Jeff that it will be a very long time before we fly with her again. I won't fly with her while she's little. It just was too much. It's easier when they are a true baby or when they are older.

So, that's what has been going on. Madison and I have a few things planned this week. I don't know if we will get them accomplished. I'm hoping to just try and get her back on a schedule and eating right. Hopefully, things will go back to normal now. I keep thinking that the big, black rain cloud that is over us will move on down the road!!

When it rains...

2009-04-01T14:13:00.004-05:00

It pours! I swear it has just been one thing after another this week. I'm soooo glad that it's Wednesday. It's just a few more days until the weekend!

So, Monday morning I went to wash my hands, and we had no water!! So, I looked outside to see if I could see a break or something. Nope! But, I did see a work truck with flashing lights about a block away. I called the water department, and they told me that they were working on it, and it should be back on around 3pm...but they couldn't guarantee that! I was so mad. It would have been nice to have had a little warning. Then the HOA was having their fence stained. Well, it was incredibly windy (like 30mph), and they got stain all over the house, the patio, the patio furniture, etc. Jeff filed a complaint with the HOA, and the fence staining people came out yesterday and cleaned it all up.

And finally, Monday night about 10:30, we had a horrific hail storm. Of course, Jeff's car was in the driveway. We didn't have time to get it in. The hail was between golf ball to baseball size. Yesterday morning Jeff went out to see the damage. Yeah, it destroyed the windshield, broke a window in the office (luckily it was double paned and just broke the outer pane), our gutters are all banged up, half the landscape lighting is broken, and I'm fairly certain we are going to need a new roof! And, that's just what we could tell. I hope that is all. Jeff ended up taking off yesterday since he was only going to be at work for a few hours. The adjuster is coming on the 10th at 1:30. It's just how I want to start out the Easter weekend!

And, the last blow came yesterday afternoon. Jeff had let Nacho out because our construction/warranty manager was coming by. In the meantime, he went outside to clean up glass. Well, the construction/warranty manager showed up. He was talking to him, and Madison and I went out to talk to him too. Well, Jeff has been having this tendency to not shut the back door all the way. Yep, Nacho jumped on it so much that it came open. I came in after being out there for 10 to 15 minutes to find the house full of mud, the back door open, and no cats anywhere! I was panic stricken. My babies don't go outside. They've never been outside. I ran to the door, and I saw JJ sticking his head out of Nacho's dog house. I put Madison in the floor with her toys, and I tried to go get JJ. Yeah, he ran. I finally got him inside, but still couldn't find the other two. I eventually found Abby behind the couch, and Annie finally appeared in the hall. I was sooo relieved. In the end, Jeff cleaned up all the mud. And everyone seemed to be okay!

So today, the windshield repair people were supposed to be here between 8 and 12. But guess what....they didn't show!!! Jeff called and they told him that they knew he was still coming because the glass was on the truck! I sure hope they show. I hate being left here without a car!

I hope everyone is doing better than we are. Please send good vibes our way! We need them!

Weekend Roundup...

2009-03-30T15:53:00.005-05:00

We didn't do too much on Friday. We started out watching basketball, but then I watched Twilight while Jeff played on the computer. I hadn't seen it except on the computer, and I had a ton of distractions. So, it was much better being able to watch it on the TV and all the way through! Saturday we had to run errands in the morning and then we were going to a friend's birthday party. I was trying to figure out how to pack Miss Madison's milk. She was only drinking out of a cup with a lid and straw, and I didn't know how to keep it cold for an extended period of time. So, I was going through our stash of sippy cups to see what I could come up with. Miss Madison had come into the kitchen to help me, and I found this one that has a straw for a spout, and the valve is built into the straw. Well, she loved it!!! She thought she was sooo big. She just laughed and drank and drank and drank!! Here she is drinking out of it for the first time!

Our friends lived about an hour away, and we got into some traffic on the way there that delayed us. Well, Madison got a little fussy and was hungry. So, I gave her yogurt nibbles and goldfish. I would hand her back one at a time. After we had done this for awhile, I figured she was thirsty, so I handed her back her milk. Here she is...

We had a good time at the party. Madison wasn't too sure at first. She just screamed and screamed when we got there. I think she just got a little overwhelmed, but by the end, she was having a blast.

Sunday, I washed our towels and sheets. Well, in the process of taking off the old sheets and putting new on, Nacho decided that he had discovered a new sleeping place...

I wasn't too impressed. He really didn't want to move. I thought he would follow Jeff when he left the room, but no! He was there for the day!! However, I think I know the reason why he had to find a new place to sleep...

Miss Annie found her a new place to sleep too!! I did eventually get everyone back to their regular sleeping spots!!

Other than that, not much else happened this weekend. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and then we are meeting with Madison's case manager. We got assigned a case manager through ECI. I talked with her on the phone last week, and we are doing what she called an "in take visit" tomorrow. I think it's just to fill out forms. She said that Madison would be evaluated within 45 days from the referral...so, mid April to late April. They will do the evaluation in the home, and then if she does need therapy, they will also do that in the home. They said their approach is for the therapist to really guide the parent. So, the therapist would tell me/Jeff what needs to be done, and we would be doing the stuff with Madison. I think that is the best way. I don't know how Miss Madison would respond to someone else. And, I like that it will all be done in our home!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-25T16:27:00.001-05:00

15 Month Checkup...

2009-03-21T19:40:00.004-05:00

Madison had her 15 month checkup on Friday. Dr. Crary thought that everything was fine, but he wants her to get evaluated since she's still not walking. He gave us the number for Early Childhood Intervention (ECI). They have a local office that serves North Central Texas (9 counties). I will be calling the local office to see what the next step is. The nurse told me that I just contact them, and then they will contact the doctor to fill out some paperwork. I know they will come to the house and do the evaluation. Dr. Crary said that they probably will prescribe some sort of physical therapy or tell us some exercises to do with her. Other than that, she's still tall and still has a large head! Her stats were:

Weight: 23 lbs. 2 oz - 50-75%
Length: 31.75 inches - 75-90%
Head: 19 inches - >95%

She was right in the same percentiles that she was last time. So, she's still growing about the same rate. Dr. Crary was pleased that she was off the bottle completely, and that she gets her teeth brushed twice a day!

Overall, the checkup went fine, except when the nurse went to measure her head. Madison immediately started crying, and she basically cried the entire time they were doing anything to her. And when I say cry, she was screaming her head off and sobbing uncontrollably!! It was horrible. When we were checking out, the lady asked if she was all red from having vaccines. I told her that she was just screaming for the past 30 minutes! She felt so sorry for her that she gave her a little plastic rattle!! Of course, Madison didn't want anything to do with it...until we got in the car. Now, it's like her favorite toy!

In other news, my mom got here Tuesday. We tried to go to Barnes and Noble on Wednesday. We decided to go after lunch, which was a mistake. Madison was sleepy because she hadn't had a nap. We got there, and she would not go in the stroller. So, I ended up having to carry her through the store. And, it seemed like any book we picked up she would just throw. We ended up getting some books though. Of course, she fell asleep as soon as we got in the car. We ended up having to drive around for awhile so she would get a nap in. Then on Thursday we went to Old Navy to get her some more shorts. She wasn't too impressed in Old Navy until Mom showed her this book. Well, she really liked the book. She carried it around Old Navy, and then we went next door to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and she carried it around in there. She even had in the car for most of the ride home! She does love her books!

And, I think Madison is trying to drop a nap. She hasn't had 2 naps in a day in a few weeks. If she sleeps in the morning, then she won't take an afternoon nap, no matter how sleepy she is. And if she doesn't take a morning nap, then she will go to sleep in the afternoon. So, I think I'm going to get rid of the morning nap. I'm going to miss that morning nap though. I get all the things done around the house when she naps! Anyway, on Thursday she had her morning nap, but just would not take that afternoon nap. She was sooo sleepy too. After being in her crib for about an hour, I finally just went in and got her. She was just sitting in there "talking". Well, Jeff got home, and he was holding her while Mom and I finished fixing dinner. She had her head on his shoulder and kept closing her eyes. I kept telling him not to let her go to sleep that she needed to eat dinner. So, she had a few nibbles and then this was the final result...

She was sooo cute asleep in her high chair. She stayed like that while we finished eating and did the dishes. She woke up and just started crying. She never really settled down and just cried. We tried to put her down early, but she just cried for a really long time. So, I hope this doesn't become a regular thing. She did this one other time...and it was when my mom was here! I think Grammy just wears her out!

Roundup...

2009-03-15T21:04:00.005-05:00

Well, Madison was sick most of the week, and then Jeff got it. I think Madison is FINALLY over all of hers, and Jeff just has a cough left. I hope that this week everyone is well! I'm so tired of everyone being sick. I swear we've been sick more times down here than we have in the past few years.

Madison really, really likes to get Nacho's nylabone now. She likes to get it and wave it around, so that he wants it. He barks and wags his tail at her. Of course, she thinks this is hilarious. I'm still very cautious when they are around each other. I just don't trust Nacho completely. Here she is with his bone...

We finally put the bone down, but only to pet her buddy JJ!

And, she has figured out that she can get on the shelf on the end tables. She really likes to do this. I just think it looks like she's in jail! She can spend an hour just playing on it though.

And for whatever reason, when Madison gets up from her naps now, her hair is a total mess!! It's usually so bad that a comb/brush does no good. I think that she plays with it and then rolls around a lot in her crib. She likes to mess with her hair now that it's longer. So, here she is just after her afternoon nap yesterday...

We didn't do a lot this weekend. We did a lot of errands. We did finish our taxes. Of course, we owe the feds and the state of Oklahoma. We went to e-file, and we could only e-file our federal return. We had to file a a non-resident form with Oklahoma, and it can't be e-filed. So, we had to get all our stuff and mail it. I wish Oklahoma would get with the times!! However, Texas has no state income tax, so we didn't have to mess with that.

My mom is coming down on Tuesday and going home Friday. It looks like we will have some good weather. I'm hoping to go on some walks and do some shopping for books! Madison has her 15 month checkup on Friday morning. Mom is going to go with us to that, and then leave after lunch. So, I doubt I will be posting much this next week.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Books...

2009-03-12T15:00:00.006-05:00

Madison's favorite past time these days is "reading" her books. She LOVES to flip through her books. She even knows when they are upside down, and will flip them over. She also loves to be read to! I hope this habit continues!

And yes, this pic is kinda blurry/fuzzy. It's from my camera on my phone. I never seem to have the camera with me in her room.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-04T18:09:00.001-06:00

In our backyard....

2009-03-01T14:18:00.010-06:00

Yep, this is located in the property adjacent to our subdivision! It's less than a mile from our house. Friday night Jeff came in from letting Nacho out and said that it sounded like there was a bunch of monster trucks out there. I was in our bathroom, and I could here this noise too. We didn't know what it was, and we didn't know they had moved a rig in. We had seen the metal barrier last weekend, and we wondered what it was. I had never seen a sound barrier like that around a rig. I guess that's because the rigs I've always seen have been out in the middle of nowhere. We haven't really heard much of it since Friday night, so hopefully we don't hear anymore!

And because it's really hard for me to post without a pic of Miss Madison, here she is after we got back from Starbucks yesterday. I put a clip in her hair, and Jeff and I thought she looked so cute. I figured she would have just immediately pulled it off, but she didn't!

JJ and Our Little Beaver

2009-02-24T14:46:00.006-06:00

I discovered a lump on JJ's hind right leg a few weeks ago. Jeff was finally able to take him to the vet this past Saturday. It is just much easier if he takes the animals to the vet than if I have to lug a 20 pound cage in one hand, and a 23 pound kid in the other! Anyway, they did a needle biopsy on it, and said that they really thought it was just a cyst, but that it needed to be removed. Apparently, they were concerned that it might burst. They also suggested that since he was going under that we should get his teeth cleaned, which we knew he needed. So, Jeff took him back yesterday at 7am to get the mass removed, and his teeth cleaned. They called about 11:30 and said that he did great, and we could come get him after 3pm. Jeff just picked him up on his way home. They told us not to let him jump or play excessively, and we should watch him to make sure that he wasn't pulling or licking his stitches. If he started doing that, we would have to bring him back and get an e collar. He started in as soon as Jeff let him out of the cage. He was just licking, but then started pulling at the stitches. Jeff decided that he would go to PetsMart and get a collar. Well, they only had one for a dog, so Jeff got the smallest one. But, by the time he got back with it, JJ wasn't messing with it. So, we didn't put it on him. However, we got up this morning to discover that he had pulled out one stitch! Jeff took him back first thing this morning. He had to leave him, so that the vet could check him out. They called about 1.5 hours later and said that they thought it was fine, and they were just going to put an e collar on him, and I could come and get him. So, after Madison's nap, we went and got him. He was soooo pathetic. He HATES the collar. Actually, I don't think hate is a strong enough word! I took it off of him so he could eat, and I haven't put it back on him. I've been watching him, and he hasn't even messed with it once. Maybe it was just that one stitch that was bothering him. I think we might just put it on him when we go to bed. I don't know.

So, here are his pics...

And the story of our little beaver....Sunday, Madison was being very uncooperative about her afternoon nap. Jeff had gone in once, and tried to calm her down, and she was fine until he put her back in the crib. She started crying immediately. I told Jeff that I would let it go for a little bit, and then I would go in. Well, she would cry and then stop for a long time, but always started back in. Finally, after like 20 to 25 minutes of this, I went in to discover the little beaver in action! Yes, she was chewing on the the front crib rail! She had obviously been doing it the entire 20 to 25 minutes. She had brown finish all over her face and shirt. It was bad. Of course, we have a crib that has extra wide rails, so it is very difficult to find anything that will fit on it. Jeff did some research and found an extra wide crib rail cover. He thought I could get it at target, but you could only get it online. So, I ordered it yesterday and had it overnighted! Anytime she is awake in her crib now, she is gnawing at the crib rail. It's awful. I've even caught her doing it to the coffee table!!! Jeff will be helping me tonight to install the crib rail cover. I hope it works! So this is why I've been calling her our little beaver!

Here is the damage!

And, because I know you can see the mess on the floor, here is a better pic of it. This is what Madison has been doing lately. She goes in her room and turns her basket full of toys over and pulls out ALL of the toys!! UGH!

While Jeff is away....

2009-02-20T19:51:00.005-06:00

Jeff had to go to Boston for the day, so he left extremely early and won't be back until very late. This means that Madison and I had the entire day to ourselves. We didn't do much. We ran a few errands, and got Chick-Fil-A for dinner. She sure loves their nuggets and fries, but who can blame her!! Their nuggets are about the only meat she will eat!

So, here she is this afternoon watching Baby Einstein with JJ. For whatever reason, JJ seems to like her and vice versa!

Tonight she did her new favorite thing...get into Nacho's basket. Nacho has a basket by the back door that has towels to wipe him down, his coat, his harness, his leash, etc. And, Miss Madison just loves to pull it all out and sort it, and then put it back and do it all over. Of course, Nacho HATES it. He just sits there and whines at her. I don't know if this is because he thinks he is going to get to go on a walk, of if this is because he just hates to have her touching his stuff. I think it's a combo!

Here she is chewing on his harness!!

And, here she is making sure everything is out of the basket!

And, finally she is done, but Nacho just looks sooo disgusted!

So, that was our exciting day!!

San Francisco

2009-02-18T13:59:00.014-06:00

San Francisco was a lot of fun despite the weather. The entire time we were there the weather sucked!! It was fairly cold, rainy, and windy the entire time. It did clear up some on Saturday. It was by far the best day. Our hotel was in Union Square, so we decided to start out early and go shopping. It was fun, and we got a few things. Union Square had a ton of stores, and about the time we were figuring out what this HUGE long line was, it started raining fairly hard. The line was for the cable car. We decided not to get on even though this nice couple gave us an all day pass. We were just trying to get into a store or something. We called it an early afternoon and went back to the hotel.

Here's some pics of Union Square...

This is me in front of some building Jeff thought was famous.

A pic of a cable car..

Union Square...

Macy's...

Neiman Marcus...

Williams-Sonoma...

This is Maiden Lane. We never got the chance to go down it, but it looked really neat. There was a guy singing opera when we passed by.

Tiffany's...

Cable car in front of Tiffany's...

Jeff in front of our hotel, JW Marriott...

Jeff had made us reservations at McCormick and Kuleto's. It was at Ghiradelli Square, and we ended up taking the hotel town car down there with another couple who had reservations at another restaurant. When we arrived, there was a line out the door. We thought it was just poor people who didn't have reservations. NOPE!!! We had 7:15 reservations, and we finally got a seat around 8pm, but it was after 9:30 before we were finished eating. It was a really, really bad experience. Then after we left, we thought we would just be able to hail a cab. Wrong again! We walked for awhile, but I was in heels, and I kept telling Jeff that I was not going to be walking all the hills of San Francisco for a cab. I finally spotted a hotel, The Argonaut Hotel. We ended up having the doorman there get us a cab, but we weren't the first people that had this idea. The guy was really nice, and he said that Tom Brokaw and Sinbad had just recently stayed with them. We finally got a cab after about 20 minutes, which wasn't too bad.

I only took like 2 pics down at Ghiradelli Square, because it was night, and I thought we were coming back. Here they are...

Sunday we had all these plans to go to Alcatraz, and then hang around Fisherman's Wharf, but it was waaay too rainy and windy. We had already bought our Alcatraz tickets, but decided that we didn't want to go because of the weather. I don't do well when I'm wet and cold. Plus, I started getting some sort of cold/congestion that day and didn't really want to be by the water. So, we decided that we would just mess around the hotel, and then go out and see what it was like. If it looked like it was clearing, then maybe we would go down there, but it never cleared. We did some more shopping, and we made reservations at Lark Creek Steak at the Westfield San Francisco Centre. We were actually supposed to eat there for Valentine's Day, but Jeff didn't like that it was at a mall. However, it was like 3 blocks from out hotel, and the food was excellent. We had a really nice time for dinner, and then walked back to the hotel in the rain. Anyway, the restaurant was located on the 4th floor of the centre, and it was between Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's. There was this gorgeous rotunda. It made me think of something you would find in Vegas. Here it is...

And, here is our restaurant...

Monday, we were just going to take it easy getting ready and then head to the airport at noon. We had a 3pm flight, and we figured this would give us enough time to get checked in and eat lunch. Well, our flight ended up being about 2 hours delayed because of the weather! So, we ended up spending about 5 hours in the airport. Here is Jeff, being so thrilled to be stuck in an airport!

The airport did had this express spa, and I was really tempted to get a mani and pedi!! But, I didn't. I bought the second book in the Twilight series, and I just read. Jeff read the newspaper, and then he did his favorite pastime and people watched. So, we didn't get home until close to 11:30pm. It was a short night, since Jeff had to get up at 5:30, but we were both glad when Madison got up at 6 so we could see her. I think she was just a tiny bit excited too!!

Overall, we had a good time just being together. We have both said that we want to go back when Madison gets a little older. We think it would be fun for her!

And just because I can't post without a pic of Miss Madison, here she is today after her nearly 3 hour nap!! Yep, she took a 3 hour nap. I think my mom just played with her too much or something!! Her hair still won't lay down!

If it's not one thing, it's another!

2009-02-10T15:54:00.007-06:00

Well, the reason I haven't posted in awhile is that I've been sick...again!! This time with a fairly severe UTI. After 2 trips to Care Now (a hybrid like urgent care) and 2 different antibiotics, I'm finally better. Yesterday was my last pill, and I just feel sooo much better. So, I didn't do a whole lot except lay around when Madison was asleep last week...so, not much to blog about!

Madison has discovered a few new things. First, she LOVES to look out our back door now. I think it's because she wants to go out there. Here she is EARLY Saturday morning looking out! She can stay that way for a very long time just looking out and banging on the glass!

And, all of the cats have discovered Madison's chair. They all want to sleep in it. So, here Madison is trying to get JJ to leave. It doesn't take much to get him to leave!

And, here she is after she made him leave. She's very proud of herself!

Madison has also discovered her laugh and learn purse. She's had it since her birthday/Christmas, but has never really shown any interest in it. Well, that all changed this weekend. She absolutely LOVES it. It's so cute to watch her get all excited when it starts singing, and she just loves to pull everything out!

She has also really started to pull up on her knees to her table. She likes to do that a lot now. I guess it's one more step to pulling all the way up!

Jeff and I are leaving on Friday for our San Francisco getaway. We are both excited and ready for the break. I'm getting a little anxious about leaving Madison. I know it will be alright, and she is in excellent hands. However, it still doesn't calm the nerves!! My Mom is coming on Thursday, and then she will leave Tuesday. We get back late on Monday. I think both my Mom and Madison are very excited to get to spend so much time together!

So, if I don't get a chance to post anything before, Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hodge Podge

2009-01-29T16:09:00.007-06:00

This week has gone by fast. I can't believe tomorrow is Friday!! We had rain off and on Monday, and then Tuesday we got ice! It started during the day, but by Tuesday evening we were getting sleet. By Wednesday morning, most of North Texas was shut down. Jeff stayed here for a 8am conference call and then tried to go to work. He was gone about 30 minutes, and he probably made it about 5 miles or less before he turned around and came home. He said it wasn't worth it! However, by yesterday afternoon the sun came out and most everything had melted. It was around 50 when I was out at lunch today, and it is supposed to be near 70 on Saturday!

I made teething biscuits this past Saturday. I got the recipe out of a magazine, and they seemed simple to make. She loved her first one she had, but after that she will either eat half of it or take one bite and throw it. She throws whatever she doesn't want. I don't know how to stop her from doing this. We tell her no, but I don't think it really sinks in!

Here she is chowing down on the teething biscuit!

And, Madison is really pulling herself up on her chair. She does it a lot now, but doesn't stand up all the way yet, and once she gets up, she doesn't know how to get down! Hopefully, we are one step closer to walking!

Here she is after pulling up...

And, here she is after getting her toy out of the seat...

We usually really try to keep the cat and dog toys up and out of Madison's reach, but sometimes we aren't successful. JJ had been playing with one of the "sticks" as we call them. It's basically a stick with some sort of feather thing at the end. Well, I told Jeff to watch Madison because she was headed towards one, but he was too busy looking at his blackberry (which he is totally addicted too!). The next thing we know we hear this belly laugh. We look, and Madison is flipping the "stick" around and JJ is chasing it. It was really cute, but I worried that JJ would claw her. We got a few pics before we took it away from her.

And, yesterday when Jeff was working from home, he got a delivery! He saw a man coming to the door with flowers! I was a little surprised to say the least. They were for him from RIM for donating the bone marrow! They are really pretty.

So, this is kinda what has been going on! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Bone Marrow Recovery

2009-01-25T20:27:00.002-06:00

I finally have time to post about everything that has happened in regards to the bone marrow donation on Thursday.

We arrived at the Baylor Hospital in downtown Dallas @ 5:45 am. I got checked in and then we had to wait until they called me to check my vital signs and then take me to holding area for surgery. My Coordinator, Jennifer, arrived a few minutes after 6 and stayed with us the whole time until I was rolled in for surgery and then kept Jen company while I was having the procedure done. I donned the fashionable hospital gown and waited to be asked the same questions over and over by doctors and nurses. Finally 7:30 came and I had my IV in and a nice drug cocktail flowing through me and it was time to go into the operating room. I only remember a minute or 2 of the operating room. The next thing I know I was awakened in the Recovery Room (the actual procedure only took a half hour). I was in recovery for a few hours because they didn't have a room ready for me. I really didn't feel a lot of pain (I was expecting a lot worse), but they did give me some drugs through the IV.

I was eventually taken to a regular room where I would be the rest of the day. I wasn't allowed to get out of bed until 2:00. So I just laid there and ate ice chips, drank water and eventually ate some cheese and crackers. I pretty much just talked with Jen, the hospital staff to pass the time. Finally, 2:00 came and I was allowed to get out of bed, but we decided that we better have the hospital staff be there in case I decided to fall. I was able to stand up for a while, but then I started feeling light-headed and had to sit back down. Long story short, my blood pressure was running low partially because of the loss of fluid as well as me taking my blood pressure medication that morning. We ended up being at the hospital longer than the doctor originally had expected because we had to wait until my lightheadedness went away.

I have 2 small incisions near my waist line on my back that are about 1/4" long. The incisions are so small that they didn't require stitches.

I haven't done a whole lot since Thursday, but I haven't been in a lot of pain (again, I prepared myself for the worse). They did provide me with some pain medicine, but I have only taken Tylenol. We did get out and go to Wal-Mart yesterday and I over did it because I was in some pain from walking. So, going to work tomorrow will be rather interesting. It's been difficult to not help with Madison, but I am following the doctors orders of not lifting 10 lbs for a week.

I talked with my coordinator tonight because she wanted to see how I was doing. She told me that my marrow did make it to where it needed to go on Friday night. The doctor told me that the marrow left the hospital about noon Thursday, so it definitely went far far away. They told us that it would be 30 days before the recipient will start to see signs if the marrow donation is working. Jen learned from talking with the coordinator that everything that I am allergic to the recipient will now be allergic to as well as since I have already had chicken pox he will be immune from them as well. We thought that was pretty interesting.

So, that is all and I may or may not ever hear how the little boy does, but at least I have done my part and given him a chance to be able to survive.

Catching Up...

2009-01-19T20:57:00.004-06:00

Things have been pretty crazy around here. Madison started getting sick on Monday. She just started throwing up. Then she acted fine, but the next day she had diarrhea off and on. By Wednesday morning, she had it pretty bad. I called the doctor, and they said it was just a stomach bug that would last 2 to 3 days. And, we needed to modify her diet until she was over it. We had to cut out all the milk and dairy in her diet. She was supposed to go on the BRAT diet, which was bread, rice, apple sauce, and toast. So, basically just give her really bland stuff, and to get as much pedialyte down her as possible. Her food wasn't really an issue, but not having her milk was. She HATED the pedialyte, and would get furious when we tried to give it to her. I tried to give it to her in a bottle and various sippy cups to no avail. I finally told Jeff that we were going to have to get a syringe, which is what we did. We forced it down her. Sometimes she would be fine taking it, but other times it was pure HELL! She was about 90% by Thursday afternoon. However, I got it really bad on Wednesday. I was getting so bad that I BBM'd Jeff, and told him to come home ASAP. Then Thursday morning Jeff got it!! So, we've just been really, really sick here. I still feel really fatigued, and my appetite still isn't normal yet. I lost 6.5 pounds, and Jeff lost 8 pounds!! Like I said, it was bad!

However, in the midst of all this, Miss Madison is FINALLY starting to try and pull up. She wants to climb all over everything, and she can pull herself to a stand on her chair, but she doesn't stand up all the way. She bends at the waist and lays her head in the seat. It's cute. I've been calling her monkey. She LOVES it when I call her that. She just give me this HUGE smile when I call her that. It always reminds me of my uncle calling me that. I remember when I was really little, and he drove by and yelled, "Monkey, Monkey, Monkey!" at me, and I was sooooo upset. I went inside almost in tears with my lip out and told my mom that "Tommy drove by and yelled Monkey, Monkey, Monkey at me!!" It's one of our favorite stories!

So, here is our little monkey climbing all over her Daddy!

In other news, Jeff is still scheduled for her bone marrow donation on Thursday. My mom is coming down tomorrow to help out with everything. Jeff is actually taking off on Wednesday so that we can go and FINALLY get our tags and licenses. I hope we can get it all done in one day, but I'm beginning to wonder. The process so far has been a long one. Anyway, then we have to be at the hospital before 4 for Jeff's pre-op. Then be back again at the hospital at 6am. The procedure will last about an hour and a half, and then he will go to recovery. Then once he can get up and walk by himself and go to the bathroom by himself he should be released. They said probably around dinner time. So, who knows when that will be. It's going to be a long day! So, I probably won't be posting anything for awhile until things settle down again!