Santa visit!

Madi wasn't a fan of Santa, to say the least. But I love the pictures we got!

Blessings

Being a mom is tough work, there is no doubt about that. But there are moments when you sit and look at your child and wonder, "what did I do so right that made me deserve this angel?" I've been having those moments a lot lately. I don't think I'll ever know. But I'm so thankful to have this little munchkin in my life.

About ten minutes ago she was playing in bed next to me. She was talking and tossing her baby around. Suddenly she laid down beside me and gave me a big kiss. Then she rolled over and kept playing. Little moments like that make it all worth while.

Snapshots of the past few days:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Madi and I have so many things to be thankful for. First off, family. Without the support of our family, we would be no where. Everywhere we turn there is a loving face and that means so much. We always joke about how it's so sad that Madi has no one to love her because everywhere we go, there's someone who thinks the world of her. I wish I could show my family how much they mean to me or repay them in some way.

Second, I'm thankful for Madi. I'm always staring at her in utter amazement, asking myself what on earth I did to deserve her. She's the best thing that has ever happened to me. She teaches me everyday what unconditional love is. I see my entire world in her twinkly little eyes. It's true that you don't know what love is until you have a child. I'm a firm believer in that cliche now. She is my heart and soul. I'm so blessed.

I hope this thanksgiving was full of love, laughter, family and lots of food. Ours definitely was. I didn't get to take many pictures (at all) but I did snap this one in the car on the way to my grandma's. :)

10 things that make Madi smile

(in no order, of course) :)
1) Her "babies." She has many many stuffed animals that she likes to carry around the house. "Winston," which is a Terry Fator puppet and also a baby doll that her Mimi got her, are the most popular ones. Not to mention "doll."

2) The outdoors. She would be happy if she could spend all day every day outside exploring.

3) Madi loves puppies! She giggles and squeals at the sight of them. Nothing makes her happier!

4) Family. She lights up when she sees her Nonna and Papaw, can't wait to talk to Bubba when he walks in, gives kisses to "Uncle PupPup" as soon as she sees him, reaches for Mimi immediately, and the list goes on and on. 





5) Her beloved pacifier, which we call her "sucker." So she now says "shuh-sha" when she wants it.

6) Her cousin Kylie. Even at the mention of her name, she gets excited. When Kylie is around, you will almost always find Madi right behind her, following in everything she does.

7) Music. She dances in the car to everything from Lady Gaga to Lloyd (haha!) The picture is of her singing in the bathtub.

8) Her snacks. When papaw comes home, she points to the snack bowl and they have crackers together. When she goes to Granny and Pawpaw's house, she points to the bag of cookies sitting on the counter.

9) When Papaw rocks her to sleep. In the afternoon, Papaw asks Madi if she wants him to rock, she goes and gets her baby and her blanket and then heads to his lap.

10) Exploring! Madi never sits still unless she's sleeping. She's always got to be busy exploring the environment she's in, which I would take over a chill baby any day!













I'd settle for a slowdown

I know that I say this all the time, but I really am having a hard time with the whole growing up thing. Madi does things that I didn't think would come for awhile. For example, in the car, she'll say "mama mama mama mama...." over and over and over and over until I look back and acknowledge her. I remember doing that to my mom when I was what, like 8? She's almost 15 months old and she does it for her own amusement. I can't stop laughing when she does it. Her sweet little face and her twinkly eyes, looking up at me saying, "Mama" with this huge grin on her face. I can't get enough. I wouldn't mind pausing for a little while though. This is all happening so fast.

Here are some blurbs from her journal this month :) and of course a few pictures. (we'll never have a shortage of those!)

15 Month

• You and Bubba are best buds now. You wrestle, sweet talk to each other (which I have to admit, seeing a 6'4" 240lb guy talk baby talk to a 15 month old is something to see, but so sweet). You get so excited when he comes in the door. The first thing he does is look for you and talk to you before he even talks to the rest of us. You touch foreheads together too. That's yours and his greeting to each other.
• Papaw taught you that his tractor says "boom boom" so now when you see anything that moves, you point to it and say "boooom booooom!" and get excited.
• You used to not eat hardly at all (unless it was some type of cookie or contained cheese), but those days, I'm happy to say, seem to be over. You eat constantly. I bought you a grilled cheese and tator tots at Sonic the other day and you ate the ENTIRE thing. You even wanted to eat the crust. I was so happy! At school, your daily reports used to say that you would only eat your snacks. Now, it says you eat everything. So relieved!
• When you want something, you point to it and say "this!" but your version of that word sounds more like "dis!" :) and when you find something that you want to show me, you bring it to me and put it in front of my face, point to it with the other hand and yell "dis!" in this big girly voice like you're so proud. :)
• You're becoming pretty dependent on blankets and stuffed animals now. Which is strange because months ago, you hated both. But in the car, you have to be covered up and have a baby in your hand, just like when you get sleepy. It sweet, you carry Nonna's old babydoll around the house (by the leg, most of the time), and you love your PupPup and give him big hugs when I give him to you. :)

Happy Halloween!

We visited a pumpkin patch earlier this week to pick out a few pumpkins and take some pictures. Madi found a pumpkin that probably weighed 10x her weight and that was the only pumpkin she really cared about. So I was left with picking out our pumpkin. The patch only had one other kid there so Madi had free reign over the whole place mostly. She walked all over the place looking at all the pumpkins. We got really good pictures and she even got to pet a baby kangaroo. She called it a "puppup," which is her version of puppy. But after taking a good look at it, she realized it was no puppy and didn't want to touch it much. But overall we had a great time. Next, we carve the pumpkin and go trick or treating! Stay tuned :)

A day in October

The three of us went shopping today and had so much fun. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy :)

Deception on the grocery store shelf

I think all moms should be aware of what their children are eating. What food makers portray as "healthy" usually doesn't even come close.

Pretty much, this article is taking a shot at the biggest cereal company, General Mills. They are huge marketers for having whole grain. They plastered a giant advertisement that takes up half the box that claims to have whole grain health in every box of their cereal. That's great and all but the amount of whole grain in your kids bowl of Trix isn't even enough to make an impact. Is this right? Should they be able to advertise minuscule amounts of whole grain and portray it as large amounts?

From Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donald-cohen/marketing-junk-food-to-kids_b_999376.html

Making strides

I can't believe how my little baby is growing. I know that's cliche and every mom says it but it's so true. Madi walks everywhere, learns new words every day it seems like and I swear, is becoming more and more of her own little person.

She can now say Mama, Nonna, papaw, uh oh, pup pup, and thank you. (I'm sure I'm forgetting some.)

She just learned how to stand up in the middle of the floor by herself. For so long she would walk on her knees over to a chair to help her stand up. Silly girl.

If you drop something on "accident" you'll get someone's attention by saying uh oh and then when they hand it back to you, you say thank you (tann-tuu) I almost died the first time you said it. Cutest. Thing. Ever.

I'm so excited for the upcoming holidays. It'll be a lot more fun now that you can enjoy things more. Last year all you cared about was sleeping, pooping and eating. (which you kind of fit in during thanksgiving, lol)

More to come. Here's a picture of her highness :)

A Few Updates

There has been so many things going on lately that I haven't been able to update.
Madi's birthday was wonderful, we had a lot of fun with all of the family and Madi loved all of her gifts. The week after, both Madi and I started back to school. That took some adjustment but now we're pro's :) Madi is walking up a storm and growing so much everyday. I can't believe how big my baby is getting. Here are a few pictures, enjoy!

-Miss Taylor

Madi is 1!

The birthday planning is in full swing. My mind has been consumed for the last couple of weeks of balloons, guests and cupcakes galore. I thought I would share some of the 'ingredients' of the bash that helped pull it all together.

madi's birthday outfit made by a family member

monogrammed aprons for the other two hostesses (my niece kylie and I)

also made by the same family member

today we had her one year pictures made. these are just a few, taken at The Picture People. they are awesome!

There will be more to come!


-Miss Taylor

Quick Update

I haven't posted anything in a few weeks because it's been so hectic lately. Madi got sick and it was a ripple effect from there. Madi, Papaw, Me, Kylie, Aunt Margie, Kali, Mimi, Uncle Colin and Mimma ALL got sick within a week time span. Madi's pediatrician thought originally that she had a stomach bug, but after a week of vomiting, she decided it was bacterial. So, now that the entire family has had the sickness and virtually every square inch of the house has been covered in puke and cloroxed, this crud that has taken over my child is finally on its way out :)


So now that we are passed that, the party planning can begin! Madi's birthday is fast approaching and I'm SO excited to get started!

-Miss Taylor

Destin Daze

Day One


Saturday was a very long day. We got up at 1:30am and packed up the truck. Whitey (my dad's truck) was loaded down. We all got in and were on our way by 2am. 5 minutes down the road, Kylie began telling knock knock jokes. I could see how wonderful the 10 hour car ride was going to be... ;)
We drove until 7 when we stopped to have breakfast. Madi and Kylie played in the play area to work off some energy before we jumped back in the car.

Madi and Kylie played for awhile in the car before going back to sleep. This was pretty much how the entire car ride went. Sleep, play, eat, and repeat. They were so good!

We stopped and had lunch at Cracker Barrel, did some shopping in the Destin Commons where we had ice cream and did some shopping. Then, headed to the condo. We unpacked our stuff and got settled. I couldn't wait for Madi to see the beach so I took her out to see the ocean. She didn't like the sand one bit. She'll have to get used to it, I guess :)

Kylie was so excited too. She was chomping at the bit to get in the water!

Day Two


We went out to the beach hoping for two things, 1) Madi would get used to the ocean/sand and 2) that the seaweed would be a little lighter. Niether happened but we still had a good time, we just spent quite a bit of time at the pool. Here are some pictures from today :)

Day Three

I didn't take very many pictures today because we were rather lazy all day. Also, it rained the last half of the day so we all hung out inside.

Madi and I took a nap together this morning and when she woke up, I was pretending like I was still asleep. I opened one eye to see her sit up and sleepily open her eyes and grin at me. She spit out her sucker and leaned down to give me a kiss, replaced her sucker and laid back down. She fell back asleep within seconds. I wanted to just eat her up, but I figured she might wake up ;) I love when she does that. She's been loving all day. I can't get enough!

I will post some more adorable pictures tomorrow, hopefully the weather will improve :) until then, we're enjoying the relaxing weather.

Day Four

This morning, my dad went out for glazed donuts and kolaches, when he came back he said that "The Donut Hole" didn't have either. WHO DOES THAT?!

Anyway, we went to the Gulfarium today since it was cloudy outside (or so we thought) and hung out with the local marine life. Kylie and I fed stingrays, we watched the dolphin shows, saw a rather scary sleeping alligator and talked to a bird named charlie. Madi was scared of the shows but enjoyed seeing the animals on her own.

We came home and went to the beach for about an hour. Madi fell asleep on a towel. Every one walking by pointed, oohed and ahhed, which makes sense. She looked so cute sunning on her tiger towel. Afterwards, we came to the pool and she flirted with 3 year old blonde country boys before we headed inside for the night. :)

Day Five

Today, I got a chance to sit on the beach and get some sun. Madi went to the store with my mom and then came back to the condo and took a nap. So, I have a bad sunburn now, lol. But I was happy to have the time to just sit and enjoy the beach.

We went to the elephant walk to shop and look around. We found that there was a lot more games and things than really shopping. I went inside a plastic hamster ball and made a fool of myself ontop of a shallow kiddy pool, later kylie did too. Then we had dinner at a pizzeria before kylie bungy jumped (kid style) above trampolines. We all had a really good time :)

Day Six

Today was a pretty sad day as it was the last full day for us in Destin. We have dreaded this day since we got here and it came up entirely too fast. Madi and I didn't get out into the water until around 2pm because we napped pretty much all morning. She's been so lazy this week (not that I'm complaining!) but everyone else hit the pool pretty early. We went to dinner at Cheeseburger In Paradise before coming home and packing. We plan on heading out around 2am so let the packing begin! :(

-Miss Taylor