Happy Birthday Grandma!

Thanks for always reading to me giving the best hugs...
celebrating with me and making me laugh....
and feeding me my very first chocolate cake!!
I love you Grandma! Love, Madeleine

Things they don't tell you in parenting class

Not that we went to a parenting class - we're winging it over here - but if we did, I'm sure this subject would not be covered.

Yesterday Madeleine was crawling around on my newly vaccuumed carpet, playing with toys, getting into things, you know, the usual. Then I saw her start crawling unusually fast toward something. She grabbed it and stuck it in her mouth before I could get there. I tried to fish it out, but she had her jaws clamped shut as tight as they would go, and a little smile on her face like she had a treasure in there. I finally got it out, and it was a DEAD LADYBUG. Yes, you read that right. I fished a dead ladybug out of my daughter's mouth. EWWWW!!!

Vegan Cupcakes take over the world

That is the name of the book I just ordered off Amazon. I looked at it at Barnes and Nobles yesterday - 75 recipes for cupcakes without milk or eggs! They had ALL different kinds - including key lime and margarita, and they all looked delicious! And they had normal ingredients, nothing weird.

Gotta start those one year old birthday preparations, you know. :)

10 months old!

Double digits! Whew - what a month!! Madeleine went from just rolling, not crawling at all to crawling EVERYWHERE, and fast! She crawls, she pulls up to her knees, and a few times she's even pulled up to her feet for a second. She got her two bottom teeth, she started eating finger foods like Ezekiel bread, cooked carrots, peas and green beans, and little pieces of raw fruit like apples, bananas, and pears. She really enjoys picking up food and eating it.
I think she is really smart, because she can follow some directions, and point to things when I ask her. For example, I'll tell her to go play her little piano, and she'll crawl right over and play it. And I can ask her where is the kitty cat or duck in books, and she points right to them.

She says Mama and Dada, also duck and just yesterday she started saying "cat." She points to our cat and says something like "Kitty Cat." (And she gets really excited when she sees her!)

She loves to play "Peekaboo" and does "So Big" and gives high fives. Ken loves to show off her "tricks." :)

"So Big!"
Two little teeth.

One of her favorite things is feeding us - she tries to put something in our mouth (usually something really soggy!) and then she laughs and laughs! I can't believe how big she is getting. She is so sweet and loving and every day Ken and I just talk about how blessed we are to have such a beautiful, happy, fun girl. We love you Madeleine!

And another thing

We fed Madeleine chicken for the first time a few nights ago. I had been putting that off because Ken is allergic to chicken, but her doctor said that we could try it. I thought she was fine - although I kept a very close eye on her for a while after dinner. But unfortunately, yesterday she had a rash all over her arms, legs and tummy. *Sigh* I called her doctor and he said not to give her any more chicken and we'd talk about it at her one year appointment in March. I'm sure she'll have to see an allergist and get some testing.

Food allergies are something I never thought I'd have to deal with. But it's hard. I'm not doing bible study this year because I just can't leave her in the nursery. I've helped in there before, and I know they have goldfish for a snack every time. Even if they don't give her any, she would find one on the floor and put it in her mouth. And I'm even worried about leaving her with a babysitter (not that I'll be doing that anytime soon!) because I'd be worried about what they would feed her. Dairy is in everything, I've found out since I've had to give it up for about the last nine months. Am I going to have to worry about snacks and lunches at school? Are the kids going to make fun of her because she can't eat certain things? I hope not. And what the heck are we going to eat at our house? No pizza, mac and cheese, no chicken, and who knows what else? She got a rash after she had cinnamon one time and I suspect a possible allergy to corn - so we have not tried that yet. Poor little thing. I just hope she does not have a serious reaction to anything. That really scares me.

Hello!

Sorry I have not posted yet this year! My new job is keeping me busy - that is, the job of digging anything and everything out of my daughter's mouth. You see, now that she can move everywhere, she finds the smallest things you can imagine and sticks them right in her mouth. So far this week I've fished out coins, bolts, raisins, pretzels, and today a tiny shard of very sharp plastic - clear plastic! I don't really want to rush any of her stages - I try to make a conscious effort to enjoy whatever age she is. But I have to say, I'll be very happy when she outgrows this "putting everything in her mouth" stage!

Also, Grace has been home from school this week so the time I'm not spending digging stuff out of Madeleine's mouth, I'm trying to keep her busy so she'll be quiet while the girls take their naps! Thank God today is Friday.

2007

So far, the best

year
of
my
life!
Happy New Year!

Vacation is busier than real life!

We've been so busy relaxing, shopping for babyproofing supplies, etc, that I haven't had much time to post. I did want to share a picture of my new baby nephew's Christmas present which I mentioned previously. It was my first try and I was really pleased with how it came out.

In just a week, Madeleine went from barely moving to crawling everywhere (fast!), pulling up on her knees (and even balancing with no hands!), and yesterday she even pulled up to her feet! Now every time we go to get her in her crib, she's kneeling up and holding onto the bars. She also has a special knack for getting into things she is not supposed to. I'm not sure we'll be able to fully babyproof this house. She is really happy that she can move now - it's a whole new world to explore!

More where that came from...

Grandma with all her Great Grandchildren:

Jordan holding Isaac, Leah holding Madeleine (modest little thing), Grandma holding Hannah, Thomas, and Jacob.

Madeleine liked the bag of dog treats better than any other present. I know. Weird.
The best family picture we could get - Ken didn't know he was in the picture.
Opening presents at our house Christmas morning.
After all the presents, she was a pro at unwrapping!

Madeleine's First Christmas

It's officially the last year I can try out for American Idol...

I better get on that!

Really, my birthday started out with a BANG. Literally. On the way home from Mass this morning we stopped at the grocery store for some last minute ingredients. It was EXTREMELY windy, and when I opened the door, it got away from me and hit the car next to us. It left a big dent in their car. So just as I was leaving a note for her to call my cell phone, she came out. She was SO nice - she had just come from the 8am mass too. We exchanged information. This is really going to cost me. We do have a glimmer of hope though. Our insurance waives the deductible if we're coming to or from church. Hopefully this counts.

The rest of the day was much better. We went to Barnes and Nobles for our date, then to Mom and Dad's house for lunch and the Colts game (they won!) After Madeleine went to bed Ken made me a hot bath and surprised me with a gift card to my very favorite yarn store! The card was folded up in the towel he laid out for me :)

Now we're going to watch a Christmas movie and relax! I had lots of fun being 27. Now I'm ready for 28!

Yes you were, little Angel

Yes you were.

Vacation!!!

We are on our 12 DAY CHRISTMAS VACATION!!! I'm so excited. Ken is off almost the whole time too. I'm SO looking forward to spending all that time as a family.

And our job this vacation is babyproofing! Madeleine is crawling EVERYWHERE!! I can't believe it. 2 days ago she couldn't do it, and now she just figured it out. She's getting into everything too. Today she knocked over two different trash cans and started playing with the paper. She thought that was the coolest thing in the world.

She also opened her very first Christmas present today from the kiddos. She loved it - especially the paper :)

The kid will eat anything.
Grace and Ava liked their presents too!

And they also gave me a beautiful wool winter coat. I didn't have a coat since I stretched my other one out so much last winter from being pregnant, and I had gotten that one for my 20th birthday! So it was way past time to retire it. In fact, my mom said that if I wore it this winter she wasn't going to go anywhere with me! So Ken was going to get me one for my birthday, but then, you know, I ran over the camera, so the new one was my birthday present. They are so generous and the coat is perfect - it's exactly like what I would have picked out for myself!

The camera saga continues

Man do I wish I hadn't run over that stupid camera.

Circuit City said I had to pay a 15% restocking fee if I bought another camera that wasn't equal or greater value. That was going to be $30! I didn't want to give them the satisfaction, but I wanted my old camera back! So, the next upgrade was only $170, not enough. The NEXT upgrade of the same camera was $229! So I decided that if I had to pay $30 anyway, I wanted to put it toward a better camera and not just give it to them! So I ended up with this one. It better be good.

I'm taking the camera back

Yesterday the salesman talked me into upgrading from our old camera, which was only 6 months old. He said this one had face recognition which is good for taking pictures of kids. But I did not like it! The screen was smaller and fuzzy, the menu was much harder to navigate. So I'm taking it back and getting my old one, which is about $50 cheaper!

I love this camera. The screen is huge and clear, it takes great pictures, and the menu is so easy to navigate. I think I'll stick with the old one.

We got a new camera today

Why, you may ask, since we just got the other one in June? A perfectly good one too.

Because someone around here MAY have accidently dropped it on the garage floor and ran over it. :(

Oh well, it can be my birthday/Christmas present. Ken was nice about it too.

*On a side note, look how much she has changed since June! Amazing.

Mobile

Madeleine crawled forward for the first time today!

Go Baby Go!

Ava and I were playing "tea party" on the floor (with pretend chai - she's a girl after my own heart!) And Madeleine was going after the tea set. She REALLY wanted to play too!

Hm... what to do about all the Christmas presents I just wrapped and put under the tree yesterday? Good thing she isn't very fast yet!

We finally got her stocking yesterday. It says "Baby's First Christmas." Mom is making a stocking for her but she said she doesn't think it'll be done before Christmas, so we decided to get this one and then we can use it for all the babies (God willing there will be lots more!)

After reading Kathryn's post yesterday, I have a new goal. What do you think, Ken? :)

Day off!

I took the day off today. Here are my accomplishments:

Shopping 100% done.
Wrapping 90% done
Christmas card writing 25% done
My new nephew's Christmas present 50% done

Laundry, dishes, vaccuuming, cleaning 0%

What did you think I was going to say? I'm not a miracle worker you know :)

Keepin' it real

This morning, Madeleine was in bed with us and Ken got up to take a shower. She was awake, but he had put a pillow on his side of the bed. I was kind of dozing off, and then I heard a big thud - she fell off the bed! I grabbed her immediately and she just started talking and smiling. She didn't even cry at all. But I felt horrible! Poor thing. I had heard lots of stories of this happening, but of course never thought it would happen to us. I told Ava's mom this morning and she said, "Oh I've done that hundreds of times." That made me feel a little better. Am I a horrible mom or what?!

In other, much better news, Ken got a nice bonus and a great compliment from his boss. He said that he was doing a great job and really deserved it. Congratulations Ken! And now we can pay off some credit cards and get a stove that isn't older than me :)

Santa's little helper

My kid's a genius

She had a BIG weekend!

She got her two bottom teeth.

She started crawling (well, backwards!)

AND...

She said her first word! I held up a little rubber duck, and told her what it was. She said, "Duck!" At first I thought it was a coincidence, but she said it several more times when we had different ducks (she loves them - so we have several different colors)

Then, today, after her dinner, I did the sign and said "All done" and she said "Done!"
She's a genius I tell you!

We had her nine month doctor appointment today.

17 lbs 3 oz
27 1/2 inches

I thought she would be closer to twenty pounds. But I am happy because I can keep her in her infant carseat a little while longer!

How to burn 500 calories in one hour

Take a 9 month old to mass.

It's like an hour long wrestling match.

And we did it twice this weekend!!

And a new trick

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

More things she does at nine months. She says Mama and Dada - and knows who we are too! She plays peek-a-boo - we put a blanket on her face and say "where's Madeleine?!" and she pulls it off and giggles! Then if we stop before she's ready, she'll try to pull the blanket back up! The noise I'm trying to get her to make she does ALL the time. Especially during Mass.

And of course she does this new trick....

And the big news of the day..... she got her first tooth!!!! The other bottom one looks like it's going to pop through any minute too. Finally!

9 months old!

Madeleine got much more mobile this month! She is not crawling yet, but she can get anywhere she wants to go - she is an expert roller! She also can scoot herself backwards and around in a circle. She is really good at getting up on her hands and knees, but she hasn't moved yet from this position.

She saw her first snow today! I'm sure she can't wait to get out and play in it.

She still does not have a tooth! She's eating lots of fruits and vegetables, and she loves the Gerber puffs, and she LOVES canned mango. That is her absolute favorite treat.

She is still very grabby. I can hardly do anything if I'm holding her - if I'm writing she grabs the pen, if I'm having a drink she has to have a drink, if I'm eating she grabs off of my plate! She also loves to grab my nose, mouth, and hair.

I left her for 3 hours last Sunday with my Mom. That is the longest I've ever left her and I missed her the whole time! She was perfectly fine though - she loves my mom since she sees her almost every day!

She's doing much better sleeping now too. She takes a one hour nap in the morning, and a one and a half to two hour nap in the afternoon (the same time as Ava's nap - YAY!) She has a few little silky "lovies" that she holds right up to her face when she's sucking her thumb and going to sleep. (Yes, she still sucks her thumb 24/7!) She goes to sleep between 7 and 7:30 every night and she's been sleeping until about 4, sometimes even 5am! We still bring her into our bed when she wakes up, and she goes back to sleep until about 6:30. I love waking up with her. She is always in a great mood when she wakes up.

I know every mom says this, but she really has something special about her. She seems to just radiate love and joy. Everyone always wants to be around her. People actually fight over who gets to check us out at the grocery store. I just love her more and more every day and think she is the best baby in the whole world!

Playdate

Today the Jehovah's Witness was supposed to come back, to explain to me from the bible why God allows suffering in the world. I had a good plan. I invited my friend and her 3 kids over for a playdate. She has a degree in Theology from Steubenville and said she would love to talk to the JW. Well, she did not show up! She usually comes on Tuesdays so I will ask my friend to come back next week.

Here was our plan: (from Envoy Magazine)


1. Be friendly at all times, and never lose your temper. Punching is not an effective strategy for evangelism. Witnesses are used to people treating them very rudely. They’ll be surprised and impressed if you greet them with Christian kindness and charity. And, it’ll improve the chances that they’ll stick around when you bring out the big apologetics guns. (I have done this every time she has come. I think she's pleasantly surprised. I really like talking to them.)

2. Control the conversation. They’ll try to start in with a prepared presentation; don’t let them. It’s best to start the discussion off with a question. Then, make sure you’ve got the momentum to keep them from getting you back in their court. (She's pretty good at controlling the conversation. That's why I invited my friend over. I needed back-up.)

3.Begin the discussion by concentrating on the failed prophecies of the Watchtower Society. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the Society is God’s prophetic voice on earth. For this reason, they’ll automatically discount any scriptural argument you offer, in favor of the Society’s interpretation. In order to get anywhere scripturally, you need to first shake their confidence in the honesty of the Society. Luckily for you, that shouldn’t be hard. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, "God’s prophetic voice," has uttered some serious false prophecies in its 100 years. For example, they declared Armageddon would come in 1914, 1918, 1925 and, to a lesser extent, 1975. Raise this issue with them, and show them Deuteronomy 18:21-22:"And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ — when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him."Going by this test, the Watchtower Society is a false prophet; you need not fear it, much less listen to it. Often, it helps to have photocopies of the actual pages of The Watchtower containing the false prophecies. Otherwise, the Witness may not believe you. A search of the Internet will turn up numerous websites where you can print out these pages.

4. When you discuss a scriptural topic with them, make sure it’s a relevant one (the Deity of Christ, the immortal soul, the reality of the Holy Spirit, etc.). It’s easy to waste time
on minor points (why they don’t vote or celebrate birthdays). When they leave, you want them to be questioning an important tenet of their theology. Also, prepare your position ahead of time. The premiere issue of Envoy has a great Nuts and Bolts on how to prove the deity of Christ. You can pick up that issue by calling 1-800-55-ENVOY. (I need to study up on these things!)

5. Give them your personal testimony about what Christ has done in your life. If you have any stories about miraculous answers to prayer, share them. This will definitely throw them off, since they’ll have a hard time understanding how a non-Christian (which is what you are to them) could have such dramatic results from God. Add to this the fact that many Witnesses don’t feel any real intimacy with the Father, much less Jesus. Often, the personal testimony is the most effective way to evangelize one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. (I have some good stuff. God is good!)

6. Pray before and after the Witnesses come, but don’t pray with them. They’re taught not to pray with non-Witnesses; this could cause a huge faux paus, and possibly cause them to leave. (Weird.)

7. Last but not least, as you’re walking them to the door, bid them farewell, and leave them with the clincher statement: "If there’s ever anything I can do for you, please call, day or night." That will give them something to think about as they’re walking to the car. When a Witness is considering leaving the organization, they often have no-one to turn to. By letting them know they can turn to you, it will give them at least a small sense of security should they decide to leave the Society behind.


I thought numbers 3 and 5 were especially interesting. Good stuff. Too bad we haven't been able to use it yet.

Bye Nick

Sorry I did not say "bye" to you when we left Alabama last week. I didn't think you'd want me to wake you up at 5am, especially after your "beverages" the previous day! :)

We enjoyed seeing you though and you need to make a trip up to Indiana to meet all my single Catholic Hottie friends soon!!

First Thanksgiving

Before (notice the football in the background)

During (that's what happens when she gets up at 4:30 AM!!)
After. Much better now (until Mommy put the bad lotion on me!)

See what I mean about the hair? It just grew in all of a sudden. YAY!

This is new

Yesterday my mom and I were sitting at a coffeeshop which will remain nameless. A woman came in to get her coffee just as I was pulling of Madeleine's hat.

"Wow, she has way more hair that my daughter."

Nope, we have never once heard that comment before. She has gotten quite a big more hair it seems just in the last few weeks.

The day we've been waiting for - finally, my kid has some hair!!!
Now, what to do with it for her Christmas pictures tomorrow.....???

New Sweater

I finally finished it and it fits perfectly!

She keeps doing that with her tongue. Maybe she's finally getting some teeth?

We stayed here

Good to know.

The Three Old Priests

My Aunt Lisa is a home healthcare worker. She goes to people's homes who need help with all kinds of different things and helps them and gives their families a break. As much as I'm not a fan of Matthew Kelly, he says that "finding your genius" should be a goal in life. My Aunt has definitely done this. All the people she helps absolutely love her, and she is amazing at what she does. Not many people could do what she does - I know I couldn't. Anyway, she takes care of three old priests at the monastery where we stayed and my mom, Aunt Pat, and Madeleine and I got to meet them. One was Father Tom. He just turned 100 years old and he's been at St. Bernard's since he was 15. He was a monk first and then a priest. He takes care of all the archives and he knows everything about that place. He's known all but one of the Abbots, and he knew Father Joseph, the priest who built the Ave Maria grotto. He was really happy to meet us, and gave us all a blessing in Latin. Then we went to meet Father Ignatius. He couldn't see, and Madeleine was so quiet that he didn't know she was there. I asked him to pray for her and he touched her leg and gave her a blessing. He said he would pray for me too! The third priest promised to pray for her too. Now she has three holy priests praying for her.

When we left, Lisa promised to bring them all a slice of pumpkin pie in the morning, and that made their day. We got to walk around part of the monastery, including the library. We saw a really old music book that was made of sheepskin and was hand written by the monks about 100 years ago, as well as a beautiful, hand embroidered vestment.

I loved visiting the priests and seeing the monastery. I hope that Madeleine grows up with a love of priests and sisters, and of course our faith as well!

We're Back!

And we had a great time.

Madeleine is quite the little traveller - I'm not exaggerating when I say that she did not cry ONE TIME on either the trip there or back. And it was a good 9 hours of travel time each way. I could not believe it. She was perfect. We left early, she slept, we stopped for breakfast, she played and took her morning nap, we stopped for lunch, she played and took her afternoon nap and then we were there.

We had a great time seeing all of our relatives. Mom is the oldest of 8 and all but one of them were there. We missed you Uncle Ray and Aunt Cindy! We stayed at a monastery, which was really nice after Mom traded rooms with us. She got the suite with two rooms, a refrigerator and a sink, and a TV. At first we got the room with a small bed, no TV, no chairs, and no space in the bathroom. After we spent a little time at Aunt Christy's house on Wednesday, we decided to make a few trips over to St. Bernard's to bring the food to the dining room. After the first trip, I decided to stay while they made their second trip, since Madeleine had been in the car so much already. They said they were just going to get a load and come right back. They were gone for FOUR HOURS!!! They left me there to fend for myself, no food, no drink, and NO TV. Madeleine and I walked around the hall and dining room for about two hours, I fed her dinner, and then we decided to "break into" Aunt Pat's room to watch TV and sit on some comfortable furniture. Madeleine immediately fell asleep and I held her for about another two hours while I waited for Mom to come back and bring me some food. Then Mom graciously traded rooms with us so that I wouldn't have to go to bed at 7:30 when Madeleine went to bed. (We did bring a monitor, but the dining room was too far away for it to work, so we stayed in our room after she went to bed.)

The next day, Madeleine decided to celebrate Thanksgiving by waking up for the day at 4:30AM! So even though she took two naps (I did too!) she was just exhausted by dinnertime. She would not eat her sweet potatoes, her puffs, or her peas. She did enjoy the "cookie" -really a teething biscuit. She enjoyed it so much that we had to stick her in the sink afterwards. Our computer is still down at home so I'll get some pictures up soon. She did pretty well with the family - but she didn't really go to anyone except my Uncle Bobby. He is my favorite Uncle too :) My Uncle Leo took Bobby on a golf trip with some of his policeman friends and one of them said that Bobby is one of the ten nicest guys he's ever met in his life. It's true.

Of course, the Colts were playing on Thursday night. Ken made me call down there last week to inquire if they had the NFL network. They did not. So some of my uncles and cousins decided to take it upon themselves to set up a satellite dish so they could get all the football games on the big screen in the dining room. They worked on it all morning. I don't know how they did it and I'm not sure I want to know. My cousin Jennifer was in the room across from mine and she very nicely stayed in her room with her kids and the monitor so I could watch the game. We won, too! Two of my cousins left around 9pm to go sit outside Best Buy to get some of the Black Friday deals. All night long. In the freezing cold. They are crazy. But not as crazy as some people who got there at 1pm. They were 75th in line.

I enjoyed eating the turkey, ham, bread and cranberry sauce. That's it. I couldn't have the mashed potatoes, the sweet potatoes, the corn pudding, the green bean casserole, the cheesecake or the pumpkin pie because they all had dairy in them. And in another quest for the Mother of the Year award, after her bath I put some lotion on her that had buttermilk in it. On Friday she had the worst rash I have ever seen. It looked like she'd been burned all over. Surprisingly, it did not seem to bother her one bit. I will be more careful next time.

On Friday, we got to go to Our Lady of the Angels. I've been before but I just love it. Their shrine is just incredible. We got to go downstairs to see the little chapel where some of the sisters are buried, including Mother Angelica's mother, Sister David, and her best friend, Sister Raphael. I just finished her biography by Raymond Arroyo not too long ago. We got to go see the Christmas room, which is a creche built into a cave. Madeleine loved looking at the manger scene, the stained glass windows, and the candles. Unfortunately the gift shop was closed! We'll just have to go back soon.

Then we went to a few little shops in downtown Cullman - mostly baby stores because those are the most fun! Madeleine got some new shoes which look adorable on her. She has quite a bit of growing room too. She has recently outgrown all her shoes. Plus they were 30% off. The rest of the stores were way too pricey for me, but I got lots of good ideas of things that I could make. We also found a coffee shop so I got my iced soy chai fix.

We drove home Saturday, then spent Sunday doing laundry, grocery shopping, and getting our newly painted room ready for our Christmas decorations. If you've made it this far, I'm impressed! I hope you all had a great holiday too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I will probably not have access to a computer after today, so I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Last year around this time, I thought of several things I was thankful for. I looked over the list and it's all the same, except now I'm even more grateful for my beautiful, healthy baby, and my wonderful husband and family. And also my great job, which allows me to bring her with me. We are truly blessed.

And this year I'll be enjoying a 5 day weekend!

Have a great week everyone, we'll be back next week with pictures and lots of stories from the Alabama side of the family - they always supply plenty of those :)

Weekend update

I can't wait until we get our computer set back up so I can show some pictures of our newly painted room! It looks SO much better now that the paneling is painted. Much less 70's and so much brighter in there.

Good things that happened this weekend:

-The Colts won!

-I finished a new sweater for Madeleine. It fits her perfectly and looks really cute. Again, I need the computer back up so I can post pictures.

-We got our usual Barnes and Nobles and Borders dates on Saturday and Sunday morning, and M. took good naps so we could read.

-We made it to 8am mass on Saturday AND Sunday. Madeleine has decided that she likes to chatter during mass. On Sunday we sat in front of the Nuns. She kept chattering and making her raspberry sounds and looking at them. They kept giggling the whole time - it was hilarious. At the sign of peace they said, "Well, she's a little charismatic, isn't she?" We also got to go to Confession on Saturday and did not even have to wait in line very long.

-The 3 kids in front of us could not keep from staring at Madeleine the whole time. They kept pointing her out to their mom and saying how cute she was. Of course she was smiling and laughing at them. After mass, the little girl came over and gave her a big hug. It was so cute - it was like she just couldn't help but give her a hug. Then I took her in the bathroom to change her. When we got in, there was a mom waiting by the sinks for her little girl. She came out and saw Madeleine on the changing table. She went over to wash her hands and whispered very loudly, "Mom! That's the cutest baby girl I ever saw!"

-We must have worn the poor kid out yesterday because last night she slept from 6:30pm to 4:30pm - the longest stretch ever. Then she ate and went back to sleep until 6:45 or so.



We're getting ready for our drive down to Alabama on Wednesday. Mom, Madeleine and I are going down on Wednesday, and Ken, my dad, my brother and my sister in law are coming on Thursday b/c they have to work on Wednesday. We're thinking of leaving around 4:30 am. Madeleine usually wakes up around 4 to nurse, so I figured I'd get up and take a shower and get the car packed, then nurse her, change her diaper and put her in the car. Maybe she'll sleep til her usual time of 6:30 or 7:00 that way. What do you think, is that a good idea? Or should we leave when she wakes up around 6:30 or 7:00?

I'm thinking I won't have internet access down there, since we're staying at a monastery. But it should be beautiful - it's supposed to be 70 and sunny the whole time. Here on Thanksgiving it's supposed to be a high of 37 and snowy.

Anyway, you'd think we were going to be gone for a month with all the stuff we're taking. We need a pack and play, a stroller, a booster seat, and we're going to try to fit an exersaucer in too. Plus Mom is bringing all the paper cups, plates, bowls, napkins and silverware. For every meal. Have I mentioned is the oldest of 8 kids, and they all have LOTS of kids. I think almost everyone is coming, too. Should be a great time. Then of course, all of our suitcases, all her baby food, diapers, etc. (I'm not attempting cloth diapers on this trip - who knows if we'll have access to a washing machine.) We're taking the back row of seats out of the van, that's for sure.

I really hope she does ok on this long drive. The longest we've attempted before this was about 5 hours. She did fine, although she was a little fussy on the way home. We came back the next day though so that was a lot of car time in two days. This time it's about an 8 hour trip and we're staying till Saturday. I expect it will take a lot longer than 8 hours this time though.

Any tips for all this would be greatly appreciated! Also, Madeleine is kind of scared around big crowds, especially if "strangers" try to hold her. I hope she does ok! Plus, her two bottom teeth look like they're going to pop through any second.

I think the plan on Friday is to go visit Our Lady Of The Angels. And also maybe do some Christmas shopping.... although isn't that the worst day ever to go shopping? I think so.

Adventures in high fructose corn syrup

So, I've been really careful about not feeding the kid anything unhealthy. We make most of her food ourselves, we steam it and puree it. She only gets water to drink (well, and Mama's milk.) Apparently, she knows this and decided she wanted to try something new. I walked into the pantry at work holding her, to get Ava an afternoon snack. "I've been waiting for this," she thought. Madeleine sees the Lite Aunt Jemima Syrup - you know, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweetners and maple "flavoring." Now this kid who has never had a bottle and can hardly drink out of a sippy cup grabs the bottle, puts it in her mouth, and starts guzzling the stuff like she's a college freshman downing a cold one. I took it away from her and I can't be sure, but I swore I saw a little smirk. God help us.

Hand me downs

I was thinking more about this after the fridge post. I was making a list in my head of all our hand me downs in the house. There are a LOT of them! Here's a list, incomplete I'm sure.

2 high chairs
3 exersaucers
1 booster seat
3 strollers (one with a carseat, a double stroller, and a lightweight stroller)
2 cribs (we use one for Ava)
almost ALL of Madeleine's clothes and toys
1 recliner
A couch and a loveseat
Our kitchen table and chairs
baby swing
bouncy seat
a pack and play that she sleeps in here at work
Ken's desk upstairs
Our bedroom set
our new dishwasher that is not installed yet
Daybed that used to be my bed in the guest room
Piano

Do we have the best friends or what?? The rest of the stuff in our house that we actually bought mostly came from garage sales. I am especially fond of our Anakin Skywalker couches (we bought it from the kid who played him - well his mom actually.)

We did buy these things new:

Washer and dryer
TV and shelf
Mattress and baby mattress
Madeleine's dresser/changing table

We are very blessed! Now if I ever hear any of our kids complaining about hand me downs.... they're in trouble :)

Tagged by Heather - 8 random things about me

1. My ultimate dream in life is to be a stay at home mom. A really good one.

2. I really like that my birthday falls right around Christmas. My mom always went out of her way to make it special, and I just love the whole month of December. And, since it's so close to Christmas, I hardly ever have had to work on my birthday. Of course, for the past several years, I've spent the day cooking and cleaning. But I don't mind. See number 1.

3. I'd rather go on a mission trip to Tijuana than go on a relaxing vacation.

4. I really miss dairy products. When I can have them again, I'm going to have Ritters Frozen Custard, a toasted bagel with cream cheese, Mom's creamy potato soup, and an iced chai from Starbucks. Not to mention parmesean cheese on my pasta.... ooh I better stop thinking about these things!

5. I'd like to adopt several children.

6. When I was little, I really enjoyed playing outside with my friends. We'd go build forts in the woods, play kickball, basketball, baseball, tag, etc with all the neighborhood kids. I really hope Madeleine likes to do that stuff too.

7. I really like cloth diapering and making baby food. I know, I'm weird.

8. I think my baby is the most beautiful, sweetest, most adorable baby that ever lived :) But you knew that.

I tag Heather back for 8 more random things! :)

And anyone else who wants to play.

We have great friends

Last week, the vegetable drawer in the bottom of our refridgerator decided to break in such a way to invoke major frustration and a few obscenities every time someone tried to open it. (We eat a LOT of veggies in our house!) We really wanted to get a new fridge, but that is pretty much on the bottom of our priority list*. And we think our fridge was the original one with the house - built in 1968.

*On a side note, the TOP of our priority list is a new stove, and that is what Ken and I are getting each other for Christmas. I'm sure the stove is the original one. One of the burners blew up, it runs really hot so everything gets burned, and the outside handle gets REALLY hot. I don't want Madeleine burning herself on that.

Anyway, so on Friday, Ava's mom called and said that her parents were getting a new fridge and wanted to GIVE. US. THEIR. OLD. ONE!

So we got it! It's SO nice - much bigger, side by side, filtered water and ice through the door, and a ton more room. It even has a little door that opens so we can get our soy milk, etc out without opening the fridge. It really is the nicest thing we have in our house. Ken and I were so excited. We are very blessed!

AND, we're getting some more home improvement as we speak. We have a room in our house that is really supposed to be a living room. It has a fireplace that doesn't work, it's really long and narrow, and we just have our computer, a couch, and the baby changing station in it. The walls are 60s wood paneling. We have someone who said they will prime and paint it for $50!! So it's getting primed today. She's going to come back and paint in a few weeks so we'll have to choose the color. It's going to brighten that room up so much. I can't wait. We're going to use a much smaller computer desk, so we'll be able to fit a couch and loveseat in there and use that room a lot more than we do right now. I also think that room will be really easy to babyproof, so we can put some toys and make it kind of a play room. It's right off the kitchen so maybe when Madeleine can play, I can get some stuff done. Right?

I was going to post pictures but we had to unplug our computer at home, and I'm at work. I'll get on that later (although I forgot to take a "before" picture of the paneling room). We kind of want to forget what that looked like anyway :)

Happy Birthday Ava!

Yesterday was Ava's 2nd birthday. I started working for her family when she was 7 weeks old, and ever since I have spent 9 hours a day with her! She is one of the funniest kids I've ever met. She definitely has her moods but most of the time she is really happy. She LOVES Madeleine and my mom, who she calls Grandma. I don't think I am as uptight about certain things as a lot of first time parents because I just went through everything with her - she really broke me in!
Celebrating at Don Pablos (Grace had a half day of school.) Mom and I got her that Elmo CD in front of her - Elmo sings her name about 100 times in that CD! She Loved it - when we got in the car for the second time that day she said "Ava ABC!" Which of course meant, Ava CD. :)
Someone partied a little TOO hard!

Happy Birthday, Little Stinker! We love you!

Daylight Savings Time

Is killing me.

Someone around here thinks it's perfectly fine to fall asleep at 6:30pm and wake up at 5:45AM!!! (And in case you're wondering, no, she did not sleep straight through all that time. She was up at 11:30 and 3:30.)

In other news, Greg Ballard won the election for the Mayor of Indianapolis! Yeah, go Republicans!

Mom, Ava, Madeleine and I went to Costco and the mall this morning. Costco has some good stuff. I'm going to have to do some of my Christmas shopping there. I got Madeleine two fall/winter outfits from Von Maur. They have really cute clothes and the sales racks are awesome. (Also, the bathroom or "Women's Lounge" is the best in the mall. They have couches, padded changing tables with wipes, toys for the kids, etc.) And don't worry Ken, I didn't spend too much and I got her an outfit you will LOVE.

10,000 visitors

Welcome to my blog everyone! I did not know my life was that interesting :)

8 months old!

Madeleine got really "grabby" this month! She grabs everything - my food, drinks, cell phone, books, pretty much anything I'm holding or within arms reach. And everything goes straight into her mouth. She doesn't have any teeth yet! Just a few days ago she started to get up on her hands and knees and "rock." We better get out the baby proofing supplies!

This month she is going to have her first Thanksgiving in Alabama. Mom's mom and several brothers and sisters live there, and everyone who doesn't live there is coming. She's been to Alabama once before. We're driving this time though. We're staying at a beautiful monastery. But I'll tell you more about that after it happens :)

I can't believe she's 8 months old already! She gets more beautiful and more fun every day.

DARN!

I guess I'm out 10 bucks.

Good day

Ken's at a wedding, Madeleine is down for her afternoon nap, and I just got this book and an iced soy chai.

I'm going to go read a little and clean a little. Then we're going to Mom's for the Colts game and beef stew!

Ken and I have a little bet on the game, just to make it interesting. I can't believe it, but he's betting AGAINST his beloved Colts. So, if the Patriots win, I am buying him a $10 gift card. If the Colts win, he's buying me a $10 gift card. And we have to use our own allowance. Go Colts!!!

Litany of the Saints

Pray for us!