Home For The Holiday

We are excited! We get to come home to Utah for a week during the Fourth of July holiday.

Growing up, the Fourth of July was one of my FAVORITE times of year. Every year when when we were kids we would have a big barbeque/party with the J's, the other family next door to them (why I can't remember their name is driving me crazy), and sometimes the J's cousins from California, the Simmons.

This is a time in my life where just thinking about it I can still remember how things looked, smelled, sounded and felt.

I can feel and smell the fresh green grass, laying on warm sidewalks in my swimsuit after running through the sprinklers, biting into some juicy, cold watermelon, feeling the surge of excitement when the water balloon fight started, fetching Lynn a beer out of the fridge, sitting in the shade, running and playing tag, laughing, smelling and eating the hamburgers & hot dogs, watching my brothers making bombs out of flower fireworks and electrical tape and making the neighbor kid stand on a bucket they had placed over a lit one, watching in awe as those never ending snakes (the firework) kept growing out of the ground or when those chinese panda houses (the firework) popped up, spelling my name in the air with a sparkler and hearing the fizz fizzle sound it made when it was done and I threw it in the bucket of water, doing cartwheels and hand stands on the grass and feeling the blood rush to my head while I was up-side-down, walking to Joel P. Jensen as a huge group to sit on the grass and watch the city fireworks, cuddling with my mom in my PJ's as we all ooe'd and awe'd at the beautiful sparkling colors in the sky, and then walking home tired and pooped from the best, day, EVER.

Yeah - times have changed, people have grown and moved on. They now have their own families and traditions... but I'll never forget this time in my life. I am so excited to see my family again.

Look At This Mug

Look at that Mug.




You DO realize that my baby is the cutest baby in the universe, right?




I just wanted to make sure you were clear on that.

My Mother's Day

This was my FIRST Mother's Day and it was very special. We actually celebrated Mother's day this year on Saturday the 9th because, UNFORTUNATELY, I was on call at the hospital on Sunday - and I DID end up getting called in TWICE.

So Saturday Paul made me waffles (Mmm!) for breakfast. Him and Madeline got me a beautiful necklace with matching earrings, and some very pretty roses. He also made me his special salmon dinner (one of my favorites) with baked asparagus and rice with homemade apple crisp! I also got lots and lots of hugs and kisses (all I asked for but the flowers and jewelry were certainly a welcome plus). It was a very nice day. It makes me happy that my husband thinks I'm doing a good job at this mothering thing.

Happy May 14th

This week Paul's Mom and Dad are in town visiting so I am not blogging much. We love when family and friends come to visit us *hint *hint.

Madeline's Monthly Message: Month 8

Dear Madeline,
I love you. I don't know what I did to deserve such a blessed life. Every day I wake up, I look in the mirror, and I say,

"Edith," yes I talk to myself, "Edith, do you realize how friggin' awesome your life is? How lucky you are to have such an amazing husband and a beautiful and amazing daughter?!!!"

And then I look at you and I say,

"Do you realize how awesome you are Madeline?" And you give me this mega cheezer. It's the best.

You are eight months old and life is so much fun. You have changed and grown so much this past month. It's getting hard to keep track of it all, but I am trying because I know how cool it's going to be for you to look back on all of this when you are older. I imagine you sharing these with your children some day and laughing at how silly your mom was and how awesome you were as a baby.
You're growing and growing. You weigh about 20 pounds now and you measure anywhere from 27.5 to 28.5 inches long. I measured you while you were napping the other day but you woke up and it was hard to get an accurate measurement. Your legs and now (new this month) your arms are constantly moving.

Your legs are so strong. Some think you might just walk before you crawl because they're so strong. Whenever you aren't sleeping they are moving and kicking. I love just holding you up in the air so I can watch you kick your legs. You now also put both your hands up in the air and shake your arms as if you are conducting an orchestra or a choir. You do this when you are happy and excited mostly. You also shake your head back and forth as if you are saying no all the time. You do it when we are eating and you dislike something, when you are playing sometimes, and at random times for no reason at all just because you want to.

You're not quite crawling yet, but you like to move. You've been in the crawl position several times and are starting to hold yourself up a little, but you usually end up on your belly. At this point if you want something that is out of your reach you'll stare at it a little and moan for it, but after a few seconds you will give up and move on to something you can reach. Whatever you can reach, you WILL grab it and destroy it if possible. You scratch, you pull hair, you pinch, you smack - all with an innocent curiosity and an adorable smile.

You are definitely noticing everything and everyone around you more and more. You love other little kids and babies. We went over to your friend Brooke's house and as soon as you and her got in front of each other you started laughing and squeaking at each other. It was so much fun for me and Misty to watch. It's like you feed off of each other. I'd never seen you behave that way before. No one told me that kind of behavior started this young... where you act different with your friends than how you do with us, your parents. You are very social. If you see another baby or kid in the store you immediately smile at them and start laughing and wanting to touch them.

You also notice Kitty more now. You love to pet her and pull her tail, and since she likes to sit by you wherever you are you get the opportunity a lot. Kitty just sits there and lets you do it too. What a weird cat. We've started a nightly routine. We'll read you a story or two and then we all sit together as a family and play with Kitty. She loves it, and I know you love it. You like to hold Kitty's toys yourself and go after Kitty while she is in her tent. You're getting pretty good at it! Sometimes when you are just hanging out on the floor playing with your toys and kitty comes up and sits by you, you stop everything and just smile and squeak at her for several minutes like you are discussing something funny that happened.

You love colorful characters with big eyes. Elmo is a favorite as well as the little cartoon characters on that show on PBS called "Super Why". Everytime you see any of them you just laugh and laugh. You laugh a lot. And you squeak a lot. It's this perfectly tuned high-pitched squeak.

You also love to watch videos of yourself. I was letting you watch a bunch of them the other day when I was loading them on the computer and you got such a kick out of yourself. You also love to look in the mirror. Every day after your bath I let you look at yourself while we comb and style your beautiful hair. I say, "Ohh Madeline, look how beautiful you are. You are such a pretty baby." And you just sit and smile and look at your hair and your outfit.

You love to play peek-a-boo and "where's the baby?" You and I also like to make a tent out of the sheets on the bed and tell stories. Sometimes Kitty and Daddy will join us if they're around.

You're very affectionate and love to cuddle, hug, and kiss. You often just lay your head on me for no reason at all as if you are giving me a hug. The big sloppy kiss is a regular thing now and me and your dad LOVE getting them from you. You usually make contact and then thrust your head back and forth crazily while you moan as your giving kisses. You also rub your nose on my nose and give me eskimo kisses sometimes.

Your still eating well. I plan your menu each week and try to stay up to date on the new foods you can try. You're now eating a regular diet of fruits, veggies, tofu, yogurt, and an assortment of different grains. I'm excited for 8 months because there is a whole bunch of new foods you can now try. I attempted to give you chicken the other day and you absolutely hated it. For now I'm giving you protein supplements like tofu, tahini, nuts & seeds, and it seems to be working. We'll keep trying the chicken/beef/turkey and if you don't like it still, I'm not gonna force it. Your favorite foods are carrots, pears, peaches, rice cereal, applesauce, and prunes. You absolutely despise anything green, meats, and avocado. You take both hands and push the spoon away, shake your head back and forth, and cringe when you don't like a food.

You're still breastfeeding about 5 times a day. Sometimes you will snack a little. I have stopped feeding you in the middle of the night. It was a hard adjustment at first, but you are used to it now and actually sleeping a lot better. I'm sorry that I allowed you to develop that habit. I didn't realize what I was doing. You still wake up once or twice a night but it's not too bad. I actually feel like I am getting sleep this past week or so.

This past month you've started sucking your thumb a lot more. You do it every time we breastfeed and sometimes if you are bored or tired. I am hoping it doesn't become a regular habit. It's really cute, but still, hope it doesn't become a habit.

You have a tooth!! It's so exciting. We were all sittin' around on April 30th, 2009, and I reached in your mouth as I randomly do at times to see if any buds had appeared and lo and behold one had popped through the gums on the bottom in the middle. It's so exciting, yet scary at the same time (boobs). You are going to be so cute with teeth. Ha! You bite me every once in a while. We've really only had one feeding session where you bit me in the beginning. Usually you don't start the nibbling until you are finished. It's sort of my clue that you are finished. Hopefully we can come to some agreement.

We bought you your own little tooth brush. It's pink and girly and very cute. You actually chose it from a selection of three different ones. Every night we brush our teeth as a family. Actually, you watch me and your dad brush our teeth and you hold your toothbrush and suck on it. Then, I help you brush your tooth and gums. You are so cute and curious about this new ritual. I think if we keep doing this every night and morning you will develop the habit of brushing your teeth regularly.

Your dad went on a little business trip this past week and you missed him so much. I could tell you noticed he wasn't around. He and you have this routine of being deleriously happy together on a regular basis. He's a big part of your life. When he got home you were so much happier.

Today is Mother's Day... my first Mother's Day. I've always known that the call to be a mother is a special one. I knew it would be a wonderful experience. I never realized it would be THIS wonderful. You are an angel Madeline. A shining light in my life, and I'm so glad to be your mother.

Love,

Momma

Not Private

So it's May... already over a week into May - PATHETIC - and obviously the blog isn't private, as I said it may be. Unfortunately, for someone to read a private blog using blogger they do have to have a GMAIL account. I know many of my readers, family, and friends do NOT have a GMAIL account, SO until I can get my own server and webpage set up, we will still be public and I will just try to be careful. I'm working on getting that going as soon as I can. I will post information about it when it happens.

She's A Tough Little Cookie

Mads has been a little sad lately, and she's really tired all the time. So I tried to cheer her up by letting her go crazy in a huge pile of shredded paper today.

Her expression is about as excited as she got. It was strange cause she was doing the motions of having fun - throwing paper and lifting it up - but the face... not that into it.

She was asleep about 10 minutes after this picture. Poor little love muffin. I wish I could do more for her.


I think it's because she's growing and because Madeline Olivia, darling baby of mine, has a TOOTH! We discovered it on April 30th, 2009. I was so excited and surprised when I felt it. She is such a tough little gal. It is located in the center of the bottom gums. Wanna see??

Look closer...
Up until today she hasn't really bitten me. I mean, she would nibble a little, but only when she was FINISHED eating. I was happy about it cause it was sort of a sign she was done. But tonight she bit me over and over when I started to feed her. Not sure how I'm gonna handle this one. I'm going to give it my best shot cause I would REALLY love to keep breast feeding her, but I gotta protect the teet.

I don't know, but the realization that we are closer to not breast feeding anymore and that my baby is growing at a rate that appears to be immeasurable is really getting me down tonight.

Playing With Kitty

Madeline has watched her Daddy play with Kitty so many times she knows exactly what to do!

Where's The Baby?

There she is!

Pics Of The Prez

Did you know they have an official white house photo stream on flickr? For some reason I just think that is so weird.

Nothing To Wear

Remember all those times you thought you had nothing to wear?? You were looking in the wrong place! Try the drawer by the phone next time...

The Phonebook Dress

Creator Jolis Paons pleated, sewed and glued this entire dress by hand.

Reason It's Nice To Have Paul Around

I don't have to use the remote control to scratch an itch in the middle of my back.

Shower Contemplations

My thoughts this morning while washing my hair:

We, and all living and non-living things, all matter in the universe, are made up of tiny subatomic particles called protons, electrons, and neutrons. Aren't electrons constantly moving? Therefore - is there really such a thing as an "inanimate object"?


In the song "Meet Virginia" by Train, there is a line that goes: Wears high heels when she exercises, ain't it beautiful...

That's not beautiful, it's stupid. She's gonna break her neck jumpin' around in high heels.

Sew, What's New?

Well, since you asked...
I finally took some time and figured out how to thread my sewing machine - the one I got for my birthday over a year ago - and I sewed the crotch of Paul's shorts back together (they had a hole in them). It's the first thing I've sewn with a sewing machine since I used my mom's sewing machine over 20 years ago so I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm feelin' PRETTY thrifty and nifty. There's an entire pile of clothing with holes in it I get to practice on. I'm pretty pumped about it.

I've been wanting to use it ever since I got it but never made the time for it. I'm really excited to try out some patterns for Mads and myself.

Today the seam of a crotch... tomorrow - the world, maybe on a shirt or something.

The Squeak

Paul doesn't have to do much anymore to make Madeline squeak with joy.