My Little Architect

One of Madison's most favorite things to do is build blocks and she can make the most amazing towers. I really don't know how she manages to get some of them so tall without falling over but it's pretty impressive! Maybe we have an architect in the making...


This is by far one of her most creative yet! My parents were over the other weekend helping hang things in her big girl room and Madison started creating this tower of books, and blocks, and all her little people/figurines she could find. There was no space unoccupied and she kept going until she couldn't reach anymore.




We went to visit my grandparents today and of course Madison found the legos so away she built with granddaddy!




She is also a huge fan of puzzles and we work them all the time.


She loves this matching puzzle and can work it all by herself matching up the pieces that go together. There's a bunch of pieces so she's a smart cookie!


So, if you need to occupy Madison for a while just give her some blocks and puzzles and let her go. She gets so proud of herself once she's either built a tower or completed a puzzle and tells daddy all about it as soon as he gets home.

35 Weeks

Today I hit the 35 week mark and headed to the doctor for my appointment. This appointment kicked off my weekly visits. I was anxious to see if Dr. Fogwell could tell if Emma had flipped around and the good news is she has! She is currently head down but the bad news is that since she flipped so easily on her own she still has plenty of wiggle room so she can just as easily flip back around to being breech. She gives me plenty of powerful kicks and punches each day so I have no doubt she's doing acrobatics in there. It really doesn't matter what position she's in until 38 weeks so we'll see what she decides to do. We still plan on trying to turn her if her head ends up back in my rib cage but I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed she stays put and gets comfortable! I've been a little more tired lately and my fingers are slightly swollen so I've stopped wearing my usual rings but I think this has to do with both the heat and the point I am in pregnancy. I asked about any signs of pre eclampsia since I had that with Madison and he assured me all my levels looked great but they would keep a close watch on it. Apparently if you've had it once it's unlikely you will have it again as long as you keep the same daddy, ha, but it makes you more likely to have it over someone who's never experienced it. So for now, everything is looking good and I'm hoping Emma bakes for as long as possible. I've started going to the bathroom more, probably because she's head down now, my back hurts by the end of the day, and it's getting harder to get comfortable at night but all in all I still feel pretty good so I can't complain. Here's a pic of my 35 week belly.



On another note, my precious little angel decided to lock me out of the house when we got home so that was fun. Normally she goes with me to get the mail, which literally takes under a minute, but today she said there might be a "buzzy bee" so she wanted to stay inside. She was sitting on the couch, eating a snack, and watching Olivia so I thought it would be fine to run out to the curb and back, wrong! When I got back to the porch I heard her knocking on the door from the inside so she had decided in the 10 seconds after I left that she wanted to come too and tried to fiddle with the door to come outside! Unfortunately she can reach both the lock and the door handle so she can open the door on her own. In her defense I don't really think she was trying to lock me out, she just knows that in order to open the front door you first have to unlock it but it was already unlocked so the only way to turn the knob was to the locked position. Luckily she didn't run away after she did it and I could hear her messing with the lock so I kept telling her to turn it the other way so mommy could get back inside. It took her a couple minutes and she kept telling me she couldn't do it but she finally turned the lock in the right direction so I could get back in. I scolded her and of course she cried because she got her feelings hurt but it's hard to be mad at this sweet face for too long. That was the first and last time I go to get the mail without her!

Tiny Dancer

Today we started our first day of ballet class! Madison was so excited when she woke up this morning and I told her she was going to get to wear her new leotard and ballet shoes. We zoomed through breakfast and got all ready to go. It's a mommy and me class so I get to go too and help her learn all the moves. She looked ADORABLE in her outfit and loved the class so it's going to be a fun activity to look forward to each week.



Showing off some of her moves before we leave








Hanging on the "monkey bars" before class




Stretching




Twinkle Toes




Our good friends Alyssa and Elizabeth are in class with us too so that makes it extra fun.


Me and my prima ballerina

Madison goes to the Dentist

Today was Madison's first trip to the dentist and she was such a trooper! We've been talking about it for over a week so she was actually excited to go and have her teeth cleaned. They took us back to a consultation room so we could meet Dr. Carr and as soon as she opened the door to say hello Madison almost fell off the chair and it scared her so she started balling, bad timing! She immediately jumped in my lap and held on for dear life but after a few minutes baby Emma kicked her so she started laughing, thanks Emma! I told the dentist that it wasn't her and she wasn't really scared it was just the chair. Once she calmed down we walked back to the exam room, I put her up on the table, and the cleaning began. The whole process only took about 10 minutes and Madison did really well, no more tears, whew. She got an excellent report and Dr. Carr said her teeth looked awesome. Madison was so proud of herself and as we were walking out the door she kept saying, "I did it Mommy, I did it!" Good job Madison!

Here she is looking a little nervous in her star sunglasses to block the light.


Taking an initial look and counting her teeth


She got a super cool light up ballerina toothbrush to bring home


All clean! See you back in 6 months


She got a new puzzle, from the dollar spot at Target, for being such a good girl.

33 Week Belly

I got my hair chopped last week. It's a little shorter than I anticipated but it will grow. It's been too hot to deal with so it's been easier and less time consuming to do in the mornings.

Moving right along! So, I've been a week off the whole time and am really a week ahead of where I thought I was. At the very beginning I went to the doctor at what we thought should be the 8 week mark to verify my pregnancy and the sonogram showed that I was actually measuring 7 weeks instead of 8. I've been pretty consistent with my sono measurements and have always been a week behind of my original due date the doctor gave me of Sept. 29th. So I guess it depends on who you ask on when I am actually due, so we'll see what happens. Either way miss Emma is well on her way.

I had to post these cute pictures of Madison and Cole. We went over to Megan's house so she could sew liners in the curtains that are going in Madison's big girl room so of course we had so snap a few pics of the kids. Parker was in school so that's why he's not here.
These two look like siblings with their pretty blue eyes and similar color hair.




Sweet kisses!

Sideways Sleeper

Why sleep with just your head on the pillow when you can sleep sideways with your entire body on the pillow? Sounds pretty comfy to me! I'm happy to report that Madison has been sleeping solely in her big girl bed since last Sunday. She took naps upstairs last week and then Sunday evening we were going through our nighttime routine and she told us that she didn't want to sleep in her "cradle," she wanted to sleep in her big girl room. Chase and I looked at each other and said, "OK, let's go," and she's been sleeping up there ever since. It takes her about an hour or so to fall asleep but she stays in bed and seems to like her new spot.
We had her bathroom and cabinets painted yesterday so I hated to mess up her mojo but I had to put her back in the crib for nap and bed time and we'll probably keep her there through the weekend to give the fumes time to air out.

Wedding Fun

Last Friday we loaded up and headed to Mount Pleasant for my cousin's son's wedding. The ceremony was outside in a botanical garden and then it was inside for refreshments before the dance party started. Madison definitely enjoyed the music and made her rounds on the dance floor with the groom, my uncle, Pa, Uncle Michael, and daddy. She had no problem being in the center of the action and had a great time. My camera was dead, boo, so I had to copy these pictures from Facebook and the photographer.

The groom and his mama, Kris and Duanna


The beautiful bride and groom, congrats Kris and Cortney!


The Bryson Brood


Granny's grandkids and spouses and great grandkids


The Boys...


And the Girls


Madison going for a spin on the dance floor with the groom. Sure wish her eyes were open in this picture, oh well!


Dancing with Uncle Duane


And with Uncle Michael


Cortney, AKA, the pretty princess, picked Madison up and held her during the bouquet toss so she thought that was pretty cool!

Nap Time

Today is our second attempt at napping in Madison's big girl bed and I'm happy to report that after about an hour she is sound asleep! Her new room and bathroom upstairs are still a work in progress so we're not quite ready to move her up full time but I at least want her to get used to napping in her big bed before we try it all night long. Hopefully in the next couple weeks it will be complete and she can make the move upstairs. We tried our first nap a couple weeks ago and I told her to yell for me when she woke up so of course as soon as I left the room she was yelling "mommy, I'm done" and was trying to get out of her room. We got some plastic door covers that prevent her from actually opening the door so she can't turn the knob. And we got the Summer Best View monitor that zooms and pans the room so you can follow and find your toddler if they get up and roam around. She got up once today and saw the monitor following her to the door so she went back and crawled in bed, talked to her animals for a while, and finally fell asleep. My big girl is growing up!