Chef BoyarChase

I have to give a quick shout out to my wonderful hubby who not only brings home the bacon but cooks it to! Chase is the chef in our house and after coming home from a hard days work he actually enjoys cooking dinner for us. We are big fans of the Food Network at our house so Chase likes to recreate recipes seen on TV and I'm happy to report he is quite good at it! Last night we had delicious homemade BBQ chicken pizza and I'm looking forward to Giada's chicken piccata tonight, yummy. Thanks Chase for keeping our tummies full and our taste buds happy!

First Tooth!

Well it only took 10 months but Madison is finally getting her first tooth! I knew it would be coming soon... On Friday I could feel a little sharp edge poking through and by Saturday we could see a tiny fraction of it. It's probably about half way in or so and very hard to see because she sticks her tongue out if we try and open her mouth. Surprisingly she's handled the process very well and knock on wood she hasn't been fussy or acted like it's bothered her at all. I've heard stories of babies waking up screaming in the middle of the night but so far so good, I probably just jinxed myself. No pictures yet but I'll try and get some soon, it will definitely be a two person job-one to hold her mouth open and one to take a picture!

10 Months

Today Madison is 10 months old! This last month has been a little more challenging because she is into EVERYTHING these days and is interested in anything new she comes across. She is extremely brave and thinks she can do just about anything by herself, like climb the stairs, so she keeps me on my toes! The word mischief certainly comes to mind because she is such a little explorer and takes off as soon as you put her down but always looks behind her to make sure you are coming with her. Here's a few things she is doing...
-spends half the day standing because she pulls up on anything in sight
-her bottom tooth has still not popped through but I'm expecting it any day so for now Madison is still toothless
-weighs 19 lbs 5.5 oz
-total chatterbox and talks all day long, in the morning I hear chattering in the monitor instead of fussing, it's pretty cute
-has started this new thing where she opens her mouth and bobs her head up and down with a serious look on her face-she thinks she's talking! I guess she watches us all day and thinks that's what she's supposed to do
-gives slobber kisses and I love them!
-recognizes some words and says dada and sometimes mama but not always in the right context
-it's getting a little bit harder to get pictures of her, not because she won't smile but because she wants the camera so she crawls toward it as fast as she can. She certainly has a mind of her own and she wants what she wants!
-dances to music
-now has some favorite books that we read over and over
-eating more table foods and enjoys feeding herself. Last night we had chicken and Chase grilled a piece especially for her so I broke tiny bites off and put them on her tray. She still makes a mess but now she probably gets about 50% of the food in her mouth instead of all of it in her lap.
Madison is still an incredibly happy baby, she keeps us on our toes and she keeps us laughing!



Here she is making sure we have out every possible toy


Madison is "SO BIG!" She still does this constantly


Loves her bunny chair and gives it kisses every day


Mama's little thumbsucker


My busy little bee

I'm So Sweet

Yes you are! What is it about pajamas that are so darn cute?

Happy Birthday

On Saturday we celebrated birthdays for Chris and Gram. Chase made his mom's fabulous lasagna and Stacey brought the bread, salad, and cake. Love this meal!

Don't you love their cake, what a great use of letters and numbers!




Ih and all his great grands


What once was 5 now is 10!

Time to move the dog food!

Madison has discovered Arnie's food so now whenever we put her down she makes a bee line for the kitchen and heads straight to his bowl. No Madison those are not puffs!







hmmmm, I don't recognize these toys!

First Real Bruise

Well I guess it had to happen sooner or later...today Madison whacked her face on one of our staircase spindles and did a number on her cheek. It was very traumatic and she did her hyperventilation cry but stopped after a few minutes and was back to her happy self again so I guess she's fine. Her whole left cheek was bright red and had a giant whelp on it and after nap time the bruise had formed. It doesn't really look that bad in the picture but it's certainly noticeable. Unfortunately she is extremely brave so I'm sure this will be the first of many boo boo's to come.

I'm in Trouble!

Madison has figured out how to climb the stairs. Today we were in her room picking out an outfit for the day and she took off down the hall. After about 7 seconds or so I went after her only to find her on the second stair of our staircase working on getting to the third. Really Madison? You had to figure that out already. I'm blaming this one on her father, he was trying to show her how to do it last week and I guess it paid off.
Here she is showing daddy her new trick. She actually made it up the whole bottom half of the stairs to the landing all by herself. Guess we will need that bottom gate sooner that we thought. What a little monkey!

Toy Basket

Look what I found in Madison's toy basket! Ok, so I may have staged these pictures but it's still pretty cute, spoken like a true mom of course. We have 4 of these baskets and Madison likes to tip them over and crawl inside to pull everything out.




Ok I'm over it, take me out please!


I'm pretty sure Madison has a tooth about to pop through on the bottom. There is a definite bump and I can see what looks like a white dot on her gums.


She looks so big to me in this picture! Definitely not my little newborn.

Go Kappa!

This post is for all the Kappas out there. Look what Madison found on the shelf today. Do we have a little Kappa in the making? When she goes through rush I'll have to send this one to the Kappa house, she'll be a shoe in for sure.

Does anyone else have a room that looks like this?

Ok this is a little embarrassing but I can't help but laugh. Please tell me I'm not the only one that looks like I'm running a day care! Thank goodness we have this play room or I'm not sure what we would do. I am happy to report that Madison does play with all of her toys but she has an attention span of about 20 seconds so she jumps from one thing to the next, hence our disaster area. I do clean it up but as soon as it's nice and tidy she's ready to explore and it all comes back out again. Here's to messy play rooms!

Welcome Hayden Jeffrey!

Madison got a new cousin today! Hayden Jeffrey Ray was born at 2:59 am and weighed in at 6 lbs 13 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. Jill was scheduled to be induced early this morning but went into labor on her own last night. He is precious and so little! Chase and I went to pick up a couple preemie outfits for him because I think it's going to be a couple weeks before his newborn clothes will fit his cute little body. Big sister Kylie got to see him through the window, they won't let kids in the room due to the swine flu so she will get to hold him when they get home on Wednesday.





Congrats Jill and Jeff!

9 1/2 Month Check Up

Today I took Madison to the doctor for her 9 month check up, we were a couple weeks late due to the holidays. She is doing great and weighed in at 19 lbs 3 oz which is in the 50th percentile and was 29 1/2 inches long which is in the 75th percentile. When I called Chase to give him her stats I laughed and said I guess she is on her way to being tall and skinny, wonder where she got that from? Madison is still our toothless wonder, how we love those gummy smiles, but Dr. Hieber did feel her teeth under the gums so at least we know they are there! She had to get one shot which was traumatic as always but overall it was a great check up.

Happy 90th Birthday!

On New Year's Day my Granddaddy turned 90! He looks amazing and is doing so well, you would never guess he was 90. He doesn't even have any gray hair. Granddaddy has survived World War II, raised two daughters, has 5 grandkids, and now two great granddaughters. He has a beautiful garden that he tends to regularly and loves to make breakfast for my grandmother every day. Hopefully we will all look and feel as good as he does at 90. Clearly he has found the fountain of youth!

Happy New Year!

Last night we went to the Jackson's house for New Years Eve. It was a relaxing night with good food, good friends, and very cute babies! This has become a bit of a tradition as we have done this the last few years and I envision us being there for years to come. Now that little ones are in the picture it's much easier to hang out at someones house where we can all spread out. I'd rather do that anyway instead of battling the crowds and crazies out and about. Madison partied till about 10:30 and then I decided it was way past her bed time so we brought in our pack n play and she went to bed. We managed to stay awake until the ball dropped, had a glass of champagne, and then headed home for bed ourselves. Hope everyone had a happy and safe evening, Happy New Year!