Our little, Beautiful Madilyn

We feel so lucky to have such a happy baby! It is so fun to see the world through Madilyn's eyes. It is great to watch her explore and play with her toys...and the make shift "toys" that she has chosen...such as combs, and spatulas and spoons....
What a cute little "buddah" she is when she wakes up. (Also can you see the pink comb?- it really is her favorite toy right now...haha I think it is cute.)
Happiness is....eating- Madilyn is really enjoying trying new foods. So far she really likes veggies, but doesn't like fruits so much. Hmmm wonder where she got that? Her favorite things so far are: sweet potatoes, squash, peas, green beans, oatmeal, rice, avocados, and prunes. She also likes frozen apple slices that she can teeth on- she also loves big pieces of ice. See that thing that she is holding in this picture? It is a net attached to a pacifier handle thing that makes it safe for her to eat whole pieces of foods without choking. I have tried many fruits in this, but she is NOT a fan of peaches or bananas...but who can blame her. I keep trying to give them to her, as they say it can take up to 10 times before a baby will like a food. We'll see. I can't stand the smell of the bananas (I have tried fresh and Gerber ones) and the peaches are just nasty. I am trying not to put my opinion of these foods on to Madilyn though...hmmm maybe she just senses it from me even though I am saying "yum bananas...and yum peaches" when I am really thinking is..nasty! I have had fun making her some homemade baby food as well. So far, I have conquered squash, sweet potatoes, and peas. Tastes so much better than the store bought baby food too.
What a little ham. She loves the camera.
So happy to be playing with dad....she loves when Paul gets home from work. She gets so excited now to see him. It melts my heart everyday!
Madilyn LOVES her new backpack! She loves being taller than me when we go on our walks. She loves to look down at me and have "conversations" with me while we are walking. She seems to really love the view from up there as well. We are gearing up ( and trying to get in shape) for all the hiking that we will be doing as soon as all the snow melts up on the good trails. We are so ready for Summer!
Here Madilyn is...really tired after a long evening walk.
Eating her sour apple. I love the faces that she makes. It looks like she doesn't like it, but she keeps going back for more.

Easter!

Madilyn had fun playing with her Easter gifts at Grandma Joan's and Grandpa Larry's house.
She loved her little sandals and looked so girly in her dress. We had a great Easter dinner all together at G. Joan's and G. Larry's house. The food was delicious and the company was even better. I think Madilyn enjoyed her first Easter.
She like her basket more than what was in it :) We spent the morning with G. Penny and G. Dan. We had a fabulous breakfast of eggs and coffee cake. Yum! Then we went and enjoyed the beautiful weather at the park.
Madilyn is trying to figure out all her new toys.

Paul got a basket too...lucky duck :)

Madilyn and her pink comb

Must be the perfect teether..who knew?


Out of all the toys that Madilyn could be playing with...she has chosen a pink comb as her favorite lately. This is a little ironic, as I had a pink comb that I absolutely LOVED when I was her age...hmmm can we blame this one on genetics?? haha

Our house is ready (almost) to be put on the market.....

Okay, our house is ready (ok...it will be ready by Monday) to be put up for sale...FINALLY!! What a long process this has been: first making the decision to sell, and then starting and finishing looming projects. Man, I am tired just thinking about all the stuff that we have done lately! It will be such a relief to finally be done with it all. Cross your fingers for us, as the market is getting a little soft around here. 3 more houses in our neighborhood just went on the market in the last few days, but we are still confident that we are the best :) We have talked to some of the families that are selling their homes and it is because they have new jobs in other places and need to move. One family is headed to NY and the other back to Kansas City. I think a lot of people are doing that same thing around here- moving for new jobs. We will miss our house, but are definitely excited to be moving on to new things in our life. We can't complain as we are living out our dreams everyday and getting closer to fulfilling even more of our dreams and goals. That makes this all worth it. Whew...now I feel much better about all the work we have put it. I will feel even better when we have a sold sign out front.

What a fun week we had :)

playing.....
Eating!!! Madilyn is continuing to try new foods. Here she is eating sweet peas. We have yet to find something that she absolutely won't eat. Nothing has flown back in our faces yet either...we know that will happen with something. So far she has tried sweet potatoes, sweet peas, green beans, squash, oatmeal, rice, and the latest thing- pears. She didn't like the pears very much, but she still ate most of it. I think they hurt her tummy. We are going to start making her food this weekend. We will see how that goes :) We are having a lot of fun with Madilyn's new food adventures..it is so fun to watch her get so excited about eating.
Being a HAM for the camera! Madilyn LOVES the camera!! As soon as I get it out she starts smiling and laughing. I thought it was because she likes getting her picture taken...but it turned out, she loves to chew on the arm strap! Here she is enjoying chewing on the strap!
Enjoying sitting in her "big girl" high chair.
More playing!!! Madilyn is sitting up very well on her own now!
Reading....Madilyn is starting to really enjoy books and reading. Here she is reading about bugs.
What a cutie!!!
Taking lots and lots of walks....Cute sunglasses Madilyn!
More walks!! We have been enjoying this "nice" weather that we have been having lately. We have taken walks every evening that we possibly can. We all throw on our sunglasses and enjoy the sun!
Playing with friends! Our friend/Auntie Tammy and her babies came up from California this week and are staying with their Grandma Barbara for the week. Madilyn had a lot of fun playing with Shan (11 mons) and Vanessa (3)!! I had a wonderful time visiting with Tammy and learning to make jewelry (which is one of Tammy's great talents). I will have to post some pics of what we made!
Cute Shan! Shan loves the camera too! This is such an adorable pic..Tammy...what are your feet doing in the shot?? :)

Happy Birthday Mom (Grandma!)

We celebrated Grandma Penny's Birthday last Sunday. We had a lot of fun!
Madilyn really enjoyed the evening. She was very excited to be a part of opening the presents. She was giggling and blowing bubbles and slobbering and blowing "raspberries"..really she was just trying to be the entertainment for the night!


Oh wow new earrings for Grandma Penny!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Penny!! We had a really fun time!!!

My Loves

How cute Madilyn looks after her bath in her hooded towel. She looks like she is pondering deep thoughts in this picture. How adorable :)

Madilyn's gorgeous smile and silliness..and her cute tasty feet.

Spending time with my two favorite people in my favorite place so far...San Diego. Just look at that beautiful Ocean back there. I miss it very much and can't wait to go back.
I just really love my life. I am feeling very blessed and thankful for all that I have, even as I am changing really nasty diapers (boy those solid food diapers sure are different :), and getting up in the middle of the night to feed Madilyn. Wouldn"t trade it for anything.

Got to Love that Gummy Smile!

and Madilyn's lovely "frog face" as we call it. She makes this face a lot and we think it looks like a frog...cute. (sorry the pic is a little blurry:)
She is so happy to be going somewhere...anywhere...this baby LOVES to be out and about!
Okay, so this one is not a smile, but I thought it was funny. This is Madilyn's first time in her new high chair that her Grandparent's got for her so that she would have a great place to sit/eat at their house. This is at her Grandma Penny's and Grandpa Dan's house this past weekend. She ended up liking the high chair, but she just didn't know what to think at first...that face says it all :)
Yummy feet.....Madilyn's feet make her smile!
Gummy smile!! Still no teeth at 6 months and 3 weeks old. That is fine by me!!

Madilyn Loves her Grandma's!!

Thanks for being the wonderful Grandmas that you are!!!