Back to the Arboretum

Today Jill came to pick us up and we headed out to the arboretum. It was pretty funny to see three car seats side by side in the back seat but we all managed to fit just fine. The weather was beautiful so it was pretty crowded but I managed to take a ton of pictures and Madison was actually semi cooperative. The flowers were gorgeous and so much better than they were a couple weeks ago so it was a great day to be there.

Madison loved the petting zoo


Here comes the big sheep


I think this one is my favorite, you can clearly see all five teeth


Seriously mom, more pictures?












Bark is so fun


We finally got a smile out of Kylie and Hayden even smiled too


Madison is SOOO BIG








Passed out on the way home, what a fun day!

Swing Along Castle

We finally got around to setting up Madison's big birthday present in the backyard. She loved crawling up the back and going down the slide and she thought the swing was pretty fun too. I didn't get any pics of her in the swing but here's some of her on the slide. Please look beyond her completely mis-matched outfit. It was pretty windy out so I just grabbed a jacket with out looking at it and we're trying to get her used to wearing sun hats for summer so she looks like a little flower child.




Weee Dad, this is fun!


Tonight we celebrated Jill's birthday so we really had three birthday parties this weekend! Kylie couldn't wait to blow out the candles.


Baby Hayden enjoyed the party too

More Parties

March has been the month of birthday parties. We have had at least one party every single weekend and it's been so much fun. This weekend we had two birthday parties and luckily they were at different times so we were able to make both. Our friend Alise down the street turned one and so did our friend Clayton. Happy 1st Birthday!

Here's Madison getting all dolled up for the parties, don't you love her mohawk?




Mom are you sure I'm not related to Albert Einstein?


Look who's standing all by herself! Madison stood alone for about 45 seconds, she has never stood this long before so this is a start. It's because she had shoes on so they kept her flat footed instead of up on her toes how she usually is. I kept trying to stand her back up but of course she wouldn't do it. Baby steps!
Also, do you recognize the ball pit behind Madison? Alise borrowed it for her party.


Birthday Buddies, these two were born just two days a part at the same hospital.


After Alise's party it was off to Mansfield to celebrate with Clayton.


Look Madison, Clayton stands up all the time!

I Heart Elmo

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail

Today we went to the mall to check out the Easter Bunny. Since Madison was not a fan of Santa Clause I wasn't sure how she would do but apparently a soft furry bunny is much less scary than the man in the big red suit. As soon as we walked up she reached out to "pet" him and didn't mind sitting on his lap. She never gave us one of her huge smiles but this one turned out pretty cute.


Here's the picture we had done at the Arboretum with a real bunny a couple weeks ago. The bunny kept hopping to the other side of the bench so he's in the left hand corner.


Stomach bug update:
Chase is finally feeling almost 100% and went in to work today but I can't say the same for the rest of my family. My mom had a mild case of it on Monday, my poor grandparents had to be transported to the hospital in the middle of the night via ambulance because they had it so bad, my dad got it in the middle of the night and after several hours of misery he too went to the hospital for IV fluids. Now my aunt has it and so does my cousin. Her little girl is getting over it. A good chunk of my family has spent time at Presby Dallas today. A few people on Chase's side of the family had it last week but they are all better now. This bug is terrible and it's a miracle that Madison and I haven't had it. Hopefully this will stay the case. Everybody wash your hands!

12 Month Check Up

Today we went to the pediatrician for Madison's 12 month check up and she screamed the entire time. I guess she remembered the last time we were there she got a shot and she didn't want history to repeat itself. We actually didn't get any shots today so she didn't have anything to scream about but as soon as the nurse walked in to do her measurements the lip puckered and the tears started to fall, it was so pitiful! Dr. Hieber could barely see her pupils because she was crying so hard. Silly girl! Here are her stats:
Height 29 1/4 inches which is in the 60%
Weight 20 lbs 8 oz which is in the 40%
Everything looks great and she is right on track for development. Here's some of the other things she is up to:
-finally holds her bottle all by herself
-figured out how to open the cabinets in the bathroom and kitchen so we have to watch those little fingers!
-has 5 teeth, 3 on top and 2 on bottom
-switched over to whole milk. This has clogged her up and we had to use pedialax to help ease her discomfort but she seems to be better now
-she still has no interest in walking or standing on her own, crawling or using her walker are her preferred methods of transportation
-she has an increased interest in TV and Dora the Explorer is at the top of her list
-found her pointer finger and likes to point at things
-will show us her mouth when asked where it is
-an excellent stair climber and crawls straight to them whenever we put her on the floor downstairs. I think she knows her toys and playroom are on the second story so that's where she wants to be.
-very independent and pushes me away when I try to help her do things or feed her finger foods, wants to do everything all by herself.
-has a discovered light switches and likes to turn the lights on and off with her little pointer finger

Here's my pitiful little princess


Checking out the bandaid on her thumb prick. After the doctor was done with the exam someone came in to draw a little blood from her thumb and of course this did not help the crying situation....


On another note my poor husband has not been so lucky in the well department the last few days. On Sunday, the night after Madison's birthday party, he came down with the most horrible case of the stomach bug which kept him up the entire night. I must say it was TERRIBLE and I wasn't even the one going through it. I'm not sure what was worse, holding a bucket for him to puke in when he was too weak to get to the bathroom, or knowing there was not a darn thing I could do for him! Please God don't let me or Madison get this! I felt like I was scrubbing into surgery and washed my hands up to my elbows every time I left our room. Pretty sure I've used an entire can of Lysol and my hands could not be more dry from all the hand sanitizer I've been through. After 12 straight hours of CONSTANT regurgitation, and you know what else comes with the stomach bug, his mom picked him up around 7:30 AM and took him to the ER. They gave him an IV of fluids and nausea medicine and also did a cat scan on his stomach to be sure he didn't have any sort of infection which he didn't. After being there about 5 hours he came home looking a bit better and today is definitely on the up and up. One thing that is gross but we can laugh about now is that just after he called his boss yesterday morning to let him know he would not be coming to work he started puking again and his phone flew in the bucket with it, so gross! I told him I would not be fishing it out, he was on his own on that one! He has been wanting to get a new one so this was his chance. We went to the Sprint store tonight and both got much needed new phones but of course his old one was completely fried so he lost all his contact numbers. Here's a few more pictures so I don't leave you with a horrible picture in your head....

Easter Egg Hunt...here's Madison the morning after her birthday playing with the giant Easter eggs I bought for the backyard




Looking sassy in her new purple sunglasses


Madison's at the drive in! This picture makes me laugh. She's in her new car watching a Little People princess DVD. Seriously, if she is awake she is in this car. I finally had to hide it today so she couldn't find it.

Party Time!

Well Madison's party came and went and I'd say it was a HUGE success! She had so much fun playing with all her friends and I think all the babies had a blast in the ball pits. It was a bit overwhelming at times because there were 50 people in our living room but all in all it was a great party. Madison got so many cute new outfits and toys and so far her favorites are Elmo Live and her push car that we can take on walks, both from Gram and Grandad. We got her a swing along castle that she can play on in the backyard but haven't put it together yet since there are 7 inches of snow in our backyard! Welcome Spring, ha ha. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family that wanted to be a party of Madison's first birthday, thanks so much to all who were able to come and celebrate our sweet one year old!
This post is going to have a million pictures since I print this out as our family scrapbook so here it goes, I'm starting with all her cute decorations....

Here's the front of our house. I got pinwheels for the front yard and it was the perfect day for them because it was wiiiindy!






My mom found this cute birthday book with a picture slot for the birthday girl


Cake table, in the buckets I had snacks for the kids. Puffs, yogurt melts, and little crunchies for the babies and goldfish and animal crackers for the bigger kids


Madison's first birthday cake. I'm so happy with the way it turned out and it was delicious too. I emailed our cake lady a picture of Madison's bedding and she matched it to the cake.


More snacks


Before the chaos!




The backyard, since it was so windy the eggs did not stay in one place for long


Gift Table


Checking out her cake


Family Pic


I'm so proud of Madison for keeping her bow in the entire party! We had to keep things in her hands to distract her when I first put it in her hair or else it would have never lasted.


Mimi and Grandpa




Sweet Kendall


Alise taking a bite out of a ball


Madison and cute Brinley, she always has the best bows!


Friends!






Jake, don't pull her bow out!


Tyler, Madison and Brinley


I'm One!


Madison wasn't quite sure what to think when we sang Happy Birthday to her.


CAKE!




I think she likes it!






Birthday shoes




After Madison's friends left we had an additional 10 family members come by for dinner and cake so we got to celebrate all over again. She only had one nap so I was a little worried she would get cranky but she did great and partied hard until I put her to bed around 8:15.




Time for presents!


Parker and Kylie were a big help unwrapping the gifts


A Little People house




Opening presents is so fun!


Look at this cute swimsuit! Madison's mouth is wide open in this picture, she likes it!




My little monkey crawling on top of the boxes


Here's Chase and Andy getting Madison's new doll out of the box and dressed. Good job guys!


Madison trying out the dolls toes


ELMO! Again her mouth is wide open in excitement, priceless....




I'll Just Ask Daddy, too cute and so true!


Her push car






Even the big kids liked the ball pit




Giving Elmo a kiss, so cute!


Loom Mom, Elmo! She has just started pointing


Getting ready for bed, Happy Birthday Madison!