Baby Girl has a name......

We finally decided on a name for the new baby. She will be Aubrey Kaitlyn Buchanan. YAY!!

Also, we think Madelyn may have said a sentence yesterday morning. She was on our bed and either said "I want down" or just "Want down". Either way, we were impressed!

Happy holiday shopping......

Christmas pictures....

We had a really good, festive weekend! We started with Christmas pictures Saturday morning, which turned out pretty good. The problem is no longer getting Madelyn to smile, but getting her to stay still!!

Saturday night we went to the Zoo lights with Nana, which was a lot of fun!! Madelyn wasn't too sure about the animals, but she loved the lights.

Last night we went to the Singing Christmas tree. I would definitely recommedn it to anyone! It was great! Madelyn was in the nursery, but she had a blast there! She didn't go to bed until almost 10:00 last night, so I'm anticipating an early night tonight. Well, here are some of our favorite Christmas pics.....

Everyone have a good week!!

Pictures

Well, not a lot has happened for us in the last week, which is nice! We had a very relaxing weekend. I'm finally posting some pics that we've taken in the last few weeks.

Here is Madelyn wearing her glasses.

And her just being silly.....

Her last hug for Coggy.......

And eating mashed potatotes last night at dinner......

We have our Christmas pictures this weekend, so hopefully we'll get some cute ones!

Everyone have a good week!!

WE LOVE YOU, COGGY!!!

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving holiday. We spent a lot of time with family which was really nice.

As we welcome a new member to our family, unfortunately we had to say goodbye to another. I had Collin put to sleep this morning. He had gotten extremely sick over the last week, and we didn't have the heart to watch him suffer any longer. Hopefully now he's playing and running with his brother, Phoenix. I found Collin when he was only 4 weeks old, and he was such a great dog and friend to me over the last 8 years. I'll miss him more than he could know. I love you Collin-Bear!!!!!!

I'll post pics later.......

IT'S A GIRL!!!

We had our ultrasound this morning, and it looks like Madelyn will have a little sister! Everything with the baby looked good, so that's great news!! She weighed in at about 10 ounces, and I'm still on track for the April 14th due date.

Things with me have gotten better this week, too. I'm not feeling dizzy and light headed nearly as often, which is a relief!

I hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving!!

What a week!!!

Where do I start?? This last week has been absolutely crazy for me!

Last Friday when I got to work I started feeling really dizzy and light headed. At first I wasn't too concerned about it, but it finally got to the point where I couldn't function, so a friend took me to the doctor. He said it's pretty common in pregnant women, and told me to go home and lay on the couch all day and it should go away. Yay, a doctor ordered day off work! I felt better that afternoon. Auntie A was in town that day, and all of CLint's family came over to eat for Poppie's birthday, which was a blast, but I was exhausted by the time everyone left.

Saturday we went to the store and just hung out most of the day. I got pretty dizzy in the afternoon, but we had a baby shower to go to for our friends Claire and Michael, so I wasn't too worried. Clint went to pick something up before the shower, and at one point I was so disoriented, I fell. I was fine, but waited until Clint go thome to get up. The dizziness continued at the shower until I finally made Clint leave so I could get in bed.

Sunday we relaxed and spent time with Clint's family, and I felt pretty good. By Tuesday it was back so I called my doctor, thinking he would want to see me. Instead he referred me to a cardiologist, which seemed totally random to me.

Anyway, I went to the cardiologist yesterday, which was one of the most annoying events in my life! I was there for 4 hours!!! Basically he told me that my EKG looked "great". He said it's common if you have even the slightest heart issue to get these kinds of problems when you're pregnant. he did tell me the progesterone therapy, which I start next week, could make it worse. They drew blood and did an ECHO, but I don't know the results of that. I did see that they wrote down that I have a murmur, so I'm guessing maybe that's the culprit? anywho, now I have this stupid heart monitor that I have to wear for 30 days. Basically anytime I feel really dizzy i press the record button on the monitor, and it records my EKG for a minute. Then I call in to the dr office and transmit the info over the phone so they can see what's going on. Annoying! I've only had to hit record once so far.

CLint's finally going to day to buy a dishwasher, which I'm thrilled about! It hasn't been fun hand washing dishes for 2 weeks!

Well, everyone have a splendid weekend! Until next time.......

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY...

to the love of my life!! I can't believe it's all ready been 4 years. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful man and father, whom I love more with each day.

I hope we have a lifetime of anniversaries to come!!

Pictures finally!!

Well, I finally bought a nifty device so that I can get my pics from my camera to my computer. So I should be able to put pics up a lot more now!

Here's some from Halloween....

Saturday morning we had a playdate with Carter. It was really fun to see him, Mary Ann and Will whome we haven't seen since Madelyn's birthday. It was almost impossible to get a pic of them together, so this is the best I got...

We went to the park this afternoon and Madelyn LOVED the swings....

Should be a pretty slow week except for work. Everyone have a good one :)

I LOVE YOU, LOWELL.....

Today is 14 years since mine and my wonderful hubby's first kiss. I love you baby!!!

I'm going to post some pics from Birthday dinner the other night. Madelyn had so much fun running around outside of Red Lobster!!

She loves pointing out her body parts. She knows nose, eye, mouth, ear, hair, hand, foot and knee.

She also knows she's cute!!

Ok, Check back later today for halloween pics!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY.....

TO MIMI AND UNCLE CLAY!! We love you both :)

On another note, it seems it's always something these days in the Buchanan house! Clint and his dad were able to get the kitchen sink fixed (Thanks Poppie!!). I've never been so happy to do dishes as I was last night!

Since we got home from Arkansas last week, Collin hasn't been wanting to eat. Clint and I didn't think too much about it, as when his hips are really hurting him he usually doesn't have much of an appetite. But it has been getting worse and worse each day. Last night I noticed that Collin wouldn't even drink any water. I got on the floor with him and was trying to look at his teeth to see if we had more dental issues. Everytime I tried to look, it was as if Collin physically couldn't open his mouth. HIs tongue was hanging out, and looked dried and shrivelly, and it looked as if his jaw was locked and he was biting his tongue. It terrified me.

This morning Collin wouldn't even hardly life his head to look at me, so I made an appointment for Clint to take him to the vet this morning. It turns out he has a rare auto immune disease (don't ask me to remember the name of it!!) It's causing his body to form antibodies that attack the muscle tissue in his brain and jaw. The vet said that they can give him a steroid that he takes 4 times a day that will help prevent future damage and help repair the damage that's been done. We're paying that the medicine helps!! We love our Coggy, as Madleyn calls him!

I'll post some Halloween pics by the end of the week!!

Another weekend gone...

The weekends just seem far too short these days!!

Friday night I picked up some chinese food on the way home from work and we stayed in until Clint left for work. It was kind of nice not to start the weekend by rushing to dinner, but we missed seeing the usual crew!

Saturday morning Madelyn and I woke up, ate breakfast then met my friend Marta at the Merry Marketplace. I love going to all the festivals this time of year!! We went home, ate lunch and woke Daddy up. Clint put Madelyn down for a nap while I went thopping - by myself!! That rarely, if ever, happens so I really enjoyed the alone time. But I was at Super Target, and started cramoing and my lower back was hurting so bad that I had to come home pretty quickly. When I got hime, Clint made me lie down for a while and I felt better. The afternoon we went to Erin and Billy's house for a playdate with their son Will, and our friends Peter and Laura's little boy Pierce. Erin took some cute pics of the kids. Will is 9 months and Pierce is 8 months old. The kids had a lot of fun!!

When we got up Saturday mornbing and I noticed that the sink in the kicthed was clogged. Clint didn't get to it that day, so he and his Dad worked on it ALL day Sunday and could never get it fixed. it's such a mess!! I washed dishes in my bathroom tonight because I made a big pot of chili today and had Mom over, so we had nasty dishes that HAD tio be washed. I have a dishwasher full of dishes, but I can't run it. Clint's going to call the plumber tomorrow, so we're praying it's not too major of an expense!! It always seems to be something in the Buchanan house!!

Last week we started finally putting Madelyn to bed while she's wide awake. I realized that when Baby #2 comes, I won't be able to hold them both until they're asleep, so Madelyn is being a big girl and going Night night on her own now. It's getting easier every night. Tonight she only cried about 3-4 minutes. But it's so sad because when I tell her it's time to go Night night, she starts crying while she walks down the hall to her room. Then she sits in her bed and just cries, "mama, mama". Man, she knows how to break my heart! I feel like she's becoming such a big girl it makes me sad!!

Well, this wee should be fun with Mimi and Uncle Clay's birthdays, and Halloween. I'll be sure to post halloween pics later this week!!

Stats

Madelyn had her 15 month check-up yesterday. She's 30 inches tall, which is the 27th percentile and weighs in at 20 pounds, 14 pounces which is the 48th percentile. She's still a little girl :)

She also got 3 shots, including a flu shot, which was no fun! But she did really well.

Not much else is going on.

Have a good week.....

What a Weekend!

Wow, I haven't written in a while!

Madelyn hasn't run any fever since last Tuesday, so we're hopeful that whatever she had is now gone! She seems to be getting back to her normal, happy self!

Last week nothing too exciting happened. Friday night we went to Molino to see everyone, which was fun. Friday morning we woke up to go to Benton, AR for the weekend. My cousin and his wife had their 2nd son on July 6th. His name is Gabriel Matthew and he's adorable! They asked me to be his godmother, which was a huge honor. We got to my Uncle's house on Saturday around noon. he owns about 95 acres of land, with a big lake, 4 wheelers and horses, etc. We learned that Madelyn is TERRIFIED of horses! Anytime they got close to her, she was shaking like a leaf. On the other hand, she LOVED riding on the golf cart with my Uncle's wife, Brenda. I think Nana got some pictures that I'll have to post.

That night we all went to dinner, which was a fiasco. There were 16 of us, and 6 were children, 5 of which are under the age of 2. Needless to say, it was a fun dinner!

Sunday morning we got up and went to Gabe's baptism. After wards we went to Brenda's aunt's house, which is across the street from my Uncle's place. They had a beautiful log cabin, with all the modern conviences of course! The back yard had a huge deck with a massive lake that had a dock, water slide and rope swing for it. There were a ton of trees and the whole place was just beautiful. We had a huge brabecue, with turkey, bbq, roast beef, every kind of side and dessert you can imagine. Madelyn had a ball walking around and looking at the lake.

We got home last night a couple of hours before bedtime, which was nice! Madelyn slept all night without a sound, which I expected. It was a fun weekend, and we loved the family time!

Clint is off work until Thursday night this week, so I'm looking forward to that! I'll try to post some pics of the weekend soon.

Have a good week....

AHHHHHHHHHHH!

Well, we had fever of 102 again last night. I'm officially ready to scream!

Boo Monday

Well, we had a pretty good weekend around our house. Friday night I got home and from work and Mimi and Poppie were over. We all went to huey's for dinner, then Madelyn and I went home and went to bed. She ran some fever that night, but it wasn't over 101.

Saturday morning Madelyn and I went to Nana's house to play with Isabel and Colton. We got there about 8:00 in the morning. The girls had a fun time playing, and Madelyn was worn out!! We left there about 11:30 and she fell asleep in the car. But by the time we got home, she decided she no longer wanted to nap and was wide awake until 3:00. She did run fever of about 101, but we took a nap together, and when I woke up I was super sweaty from her because she finally broke her fever. Since then she's been running normal temps :) YAY!!

We didn't leave the house at all Saturday evening or all day Sunday, which was really nice. I did some much needed cleaning. I'm getting "the crud" from Clint, so I haven't felt like doing much. Madelyn decided that since she's getting over the fever, she would not sleep again. So we were up about 3 hours Saturday night. But she did make up for it by taking a 3 hour nap yesterday, and Mommy slept too. Last night I went to bed about 11:00, then she woke up screaming at 2:00. I didn't go in there until after 3:30, but we were up until about 5:00. She was NOT happy when 5:00 came and I got her up. Oh well! I've decided that tonight she can just cry.

Well, hope everyone has a good week! Here's a pic Nana took.

Prayers

Ok, well Clint and I are officially FRUSTRATED!!! We've been fighting some sort of cold or sinus infection with Madelyn for over a month now. It started with a bad cough at night, so after we got back from the wedding we took her to the doctor and they told us she had a sinus infection and gave us an antibiotic. After about 10 days, Madelyn didn't seem much better, so I called the doctor and asked for another medicine. We've been on the new one for over a week now.
Monday night I came home from work and found a happy girl, playing with Daddy and hanging out while I cooked dinner. All of a sudden, like we flipped a switch, she started crying and was inconsolable. She wouldn't eat anything, and when I let her out of her high chair, she walked into the den, found her blankie, and laid down on the floor and cried. I finally took the hint and gave her a bath. She was asleep that night by 6:40.
I thought for sure she would be up early Tuesday morning, but I had to wake her up at 7:00. I guess that should have been my first clue that something wasn't right. That night I stayed at work late, and when I got home Clint casually mentioned that Madelyn was running about 103.5 fever. Of course, I freaked out and took her temperature, which was still 101.7 2 hours after Tylenol. I called and made her ANOTHER doctor appointment for Wednesday.
Madelyn seemed fine Wednesday morning, so I decided to take her to the sitter. I concluded that after being on antibiotics for 3 weeks, she couldn't be contagious. By 1:00 the sitter called and said I needed to pick her up because she's running high fever and crying.
We went to the doctor and basically still don't know anything. It's so frustrating to have people tell me that there's basically nothing wrong with Madelyn when we know she's not acting normal. The doctor said she still had a sinus infection (which seems nuts after all the medicine!!) and her throat was sore, but both of thoose looked minor. Her ears and evertyhign else looked good. But he said the only reason you usually have someone so young run such high fever is because of a virus. Luckily he did some blood work, because that revealed there is no virus. She has some sort of bacterial infection, but no one seems concerned to find out WHAT it is. Instead he gave us ANOTHER antibiotic. By the time we got home yesterday, Madleyn was again running almost 104 fever. When i put her down she would fall every time she walked, and she was shaking uncontrollably for a while. We gave her motrin, but had all ready decided if the fever got much higher we were going to the ER. Both Clint and I were worried about her having a seizure from the fever. Luckily the fever went down, and we were able to keep it under 103 for the rest of the night.
I stayed home today to be with her, but I'm so busy at work right now that I have to go back tomorrow. She didn't run much fever today, I think the high was only about 101. So we're praying that this antibiotic will work!
Please just pray that whatever it is will go away, and that the doctors will help us figure it out otherwise. Like the doctor told me, it will either get better or worse, so we're praying for better!
Clint has been feeling kind of rotten, saying his chest hurts. Anyone who knows Clint knows that he NEVER takes any medicine, but he's been taking medicine constantly this week. Being true to his character though, he never complained about feeling bad, so I didn't realize how bad it was until today he coughed up blood. I"m trying to convince him to go to the doctor, but he's a stubborn man! He's agreed to go Monday if he's not feeling better. I'm worried he's got bronchitis or something.
Anyway, it should be a pretty laid back weekend, so hopefully our house can heal.
Keep us in your prayers.....

Too cute.....

Ok, i got some pictures of my niece from her birthday, and they are far too cute not to share with the whole world. I just lover her to pieces!!!

These are her new dress up shoes, which she adores.

And her birthday cake....

Oh, and on another happy, Madelyn has been sleeping fine since we started playing the cd on repeat. In fact, last night was fell asleep at 6:40 and I had to wake her up at 7:00 this morning!!

Until next time.....

TGIF!!!

I'm so glad it's the weekend (or at least it will be in about 3 minutes). Last night Madelyn slept pretty well again. She whined a bit, but since we're still battling the sinus infection, that didn't surprise me. But her doctor called in a different antibiotic, so hopefully that will knock it out.

We have Isabel's birthday party tomorrow, which I'm really looking forward to. Besides that, it should be a pretty low key weekend. I'm hoping to clean and sleep :)

Mimi sent us more cute pics of Madelyn from this week, so i have to share them

Have a good weekend......

Fingers crossed......

Well, while researching night terrors and and nightmares, I read that a few people suggested playing a cd on repeat for your child. Since I all ready play a cd for Madelyn while she's going to sleep, I thought I would give it a try. And, yes, we got 11 hours of silent sleep last night :) Keep your fingers crossed that it wasn't a fluke!!

Oh, and here's a picture that Mimi took on Tuesday. It makes me sad because she looks like such a big girl.........

I......NEED......SLEEP

Well, let's see what's happened since I last wrote. I can tell you what HASN'T happened much at our house, and that's sleep!!! Last Thursday night Madelyn woke up about midnight screaming hysterically. It was an awful sound! I jumped out of bed and immediately went in her room expecting to find her arm or leg stuck in the crib. She was fine, just laying in bed with her eyes closed screaming. I picked her up and held her, but she cried until about 6:00 am. It was AWFUL!!!

I took Madelyn to the doctor and they couldn't find antyhing wrong with her except for the sinus infection she's all ready on medication for. it's so frustrating when they tell you there's nothing wrong with your child, but you know they aren't being themselves. The doctor told me she must just be hurting (well, DUH!!! But why???) and I should giver her some Tylenol.

Since then we've only had one night of normal sleep. Clint and I have tried everything, from just letting her cry all night to putting her in bed with us, all with no solutions. Some friends have said it could be nightmares or night terrors, but I just don't understand what a 14 month old could be so scared of. if anyone has any suggestions, please offer them up!! She seems to be her normal, happy self when she wakes up, but at night she can't seem to be comforted.

In other news, I went to the doctor last Thursday. We heard the new baby's heartbeat, and everything sounded good. I talked to the doctor about my chances of preterm labor since Madelyn was born early. He suggested that I try progesterone theapy, which basically involves getting a shot of progesterone every week starting at 20 weeks. It has shown to reduce the risk of perterm labor, but this baby could still come early. Of course, I'm just as likely to carry this baby full term too. Clint and I decided that I should go ahead and do the shots. I know me, and if I don't and the baby comes early, all I'll think about it how I should have done it.

Clint has inservice this week so it's our one week a year to pretend we're a "normal" married couple. I LOVE having him home in the evenings! What a difference it is to have someone there to help out with the baby. It's nice to be able to do dishes and not have to turn around every second to see what's she's doing. He's trying really hard to get a day shift, but since he's only been on the force 5 years, it's not likely. I am dreading Saturday when all goes back to normal and I'm alone at night again!!

Oh yeah, and here's my latest favorite pic of M. I can't believe how much she looks like Daddy!!

Until next time.......

Happy Birthday, Isabel!!

Today is my niece Isabel's 2nd birthday!! We hope she has a great one :) Madelyn and I will be going to Nana's house tonight to celebrate with dinner, cake and presents!! To celebrate, I'm posting some of my favorite pics of Isabel, who (in my unbiased opinion) is the cutest 2 year old girl there is!!

Slacker.....

I know, I know! I'm slacking on the posts. Let's see, what has gone on since I last wrote???

Well, Clint had his 150 mile bike ride last weekend. On the first day his leg started cramping after about 55 miles. So after that he stopped every 10 miles or so and stretched. He got to Tunica at about 1:00, so they made pretty good time. I think he and Mike just watched the UT / Florida game (which I'm glad I missed!!) then went to the dinner banquet. Sunday he said they were a little slower coming back. Madelyn and I picked him up at Graceland about 3:00 that afternoon, and he was worn out but feeling good! We're so proud of him!!

Madelyn and I took the weekend to have a girls shopping spree. We bought several things for the fall. She's really hard to shop for her at the moment, because although she's about 14 months old she has short little legs and no belly. So pants aren't fun to try to fit. This morning, for example, I dressed her in some jeans that fit perfectly - they were a size 6-12 months. Hopefully her legs will grow some or Mommy will be hemming pants regularly!!

Madelyn is so much fun at this stage! She has now learned to "dance". Anytime we tell her to "Shake her booty", she obliges. We captured it on video the other day, and hopefully soon I can post it on here (if I can figure out how to do so).

We leave tomorrow for the Edwards/Chander wedding in Eureka Springs. I'm hoping Madelyn does wll in the car, or it will make for a long trip!! But we're looking forward to going to some parks and playing around Eureka Springs.

Until next time........

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANA!!!

Ok, first things first - Happy Birthday Nana!! We love you very much, and hope you have a wonderful day!!

We had another crazy weekend around the Buchanan household. Friday night was our big "Date night"!!! It was my first time being away from Madelyn overnight (well, except the night I was at Mom's house with food poisoning and was so sick I couldn't drive home - that doesn't count). Nana came over and stayed with Madelyn. Much thanks to her for that!! Clint and I went to J Alexander's for dinner, and then went to see I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry. It was a cheesy, funny, feel-good movie. Auntie A was kind enough to get us a hotel room, so we were able to go back to the hotel and relax for a while. It was nice to remember what it's like to have some good quality adult time! I was really hoping to sleep in on Saturday morning, but I woke up at 6:30, as usual. I lay in the bed until about 8:30 though, so it was still relaxing. Once we were showered and ready, we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel before going home. By the time we got home Madelyn had just lay down for a nap, so we even had another hour or so to ourselves!!

We went to Germantown Festival that afternoon, which I look forward to every year!!! It was really hot and sticky though, so I wimped out by about 4:00 and had to go home. Saturday night Clint had to go to work, so Madelyn and I just hung out around the house.

Sunday was Grandparents Day, so Nana, great-Grandad, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Clay, Ben, Isabel and Colton came over. We had a lot of fun and the kids love to play with each other. Madelyn just follows Isabel everywhere she goes!

Oh, and Madelyn has started talking like crazy. She's trying to repeat just about anything we say. Some of her favorite words are Dada, Mama, Poppie, Thank you (which sounds more like Th Ya), and our personal favorite Sock (which sounds more like Zuck). We were driving home the other day and Clint said cracker, and Madelyn just said "CRACKER" as loud as she could from the back seat. Guess we need to watch what we say around her!!! And we finally got some locks on the kitchen cabinets. Now that she can open them, she's into EVERYTHING!!

Well, we're off to dinner with Nana. hope you have a good week!

PUKE.....

Yup, that's what I seem to be doing a lot of these days. I remember feeling sick with Madelyn, but I don't remember actually having it all come up as often as it is this time. UGH!! Last Saturday was the worst thus far, with my head in a toilet 4 times. Hopefully it will pass soon :)

We had a good weekend around the Buchanan house. We went Friday and bought Clint a new truck. It's a 2007 Eddie Bauer Expedition EL. he loves it, so I told him I don't want to hear any complaints out of him for a year!! We'll see how long he makes it.

Saturday was Madelyn's 1st hair cut. She did pretty well. At first she didn't know what the heck was going on. Finally she was trying to gt out of the seat. Dumb mommy didn't call ahead to see how much it costs. I mean, they cut about 4 hairs, so I thought it would be pretty cheap! They charged me $17, which I thought was nuts. From now on I"ll have Nana cut it!!

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was a lot of down timw with family, which was nice.

I promise to post some pics soon :)

Big Sister Madelyn.....

That's right, Madelyn's going to be a big sister!!! We're super excited :) We found out a few weeks ago, and couldn't be happier about it. I went to the doctor this morning and had an ultrasound, and saw the heartbeat! That's so amazing! Anyway, the baby is expected to come April 14th.

So we're hoping that Madelyn adjusts well to a baby in the house. They'll be about 21 months apart, which I think is a good distance. Clint and I both feel that we're going to have another girl, but perhaps that's just because we all ready have a girl so neither of us can imagine having a boy. But we'll be happy either way!!

Well, I need to go now. I've been very pukey and nauseous, so I need to go get some of my "preggie pops" (they actually do help)

YAYAYAYAY!!

Shoes.....

Well, we went to Stride Rite last night. I tell you what, their shoes are NOT cheap, but as soon as I put them on Madelyn she was happy as could be and walked around in them no probelm, which shocked me!! Luckily we found a pair on sale so I only had to spend about $25. And since it was her first pair of shoes, they took a picture. I'll work on trying to figure out how to post it. Sorry, I'm still new at this. It made me so sad to put Madelyn's shoes on this morning. I realized the days of having my baby crawl around barefoot are gone. She seems so much like a toddler now!!

Weekend Wrapup

Well, another weekend flew by too quickly!!

Clint went to a bachelor party out of town this weekend, so it was just the girls!! Friday night we had dinner with my friend Emily and my brother, his wife, and my niece Isabel. I attached a pic of Isabel, who is the cutest almost 2 year old girl ever :) At dinner she kept saying "Hi Maddy", while Madelyn looked at her with a blank expression.

Saturday nothing went according to plan. I was going to get Madelyn's hair cut, but they couldn't fit her in that day. We went to get her 1 year pictures done, but she was freaked out by the photographer, so we left with not a single picture, and a frustrated mommy. I also needed to get her shoes, but I couldn't find any I liked. So we're going to night to Stride Rite and hoping they have something that she will tolerate!! Only 1 week until she doesn't have a choice but to wear them all day.

Saturday night my mom (Nana) came over to watch Madelyn while I went to a bachelorette party for my dear friend Allsion (love you, girl!!). It was fun to see everyone and we talked about when we used to actually all go out. those days seem so long ago!!

Clint got back about 3:30 yesterday, so I made him take me to dinner last night. Besides that, Madelyn and I didn't do much yesterday.

Well, hopefully everyone has a good week. Until next time........

Weekday preschool

Well, I went this morning for the parent/teacher meetings for Madelyn's upcoming weekday preschool at Germantown Baptist Church. I know, it seems crazy that we're all ready having parent/teacher meetings!!

I'm super excited about her class. We went over the schedule for the year. It was so fun to read about her "curriculum"! It made me feel like Madelyn has grown up WAY too fast!! She'll have 3 teachers in her class, and there are 8 kids including her. She has class pictures in September, parties for Christmas and all the holidays, and all those fun things that school involves. the thing that worries me though, is that Madelyn is required to wear shoes to school every day!! OH NO!!! She FREAKS out if I put shoes on her even for 5 minutes. She screams and cries, and won't stand up, let alone walk. I guess we'll be working on that for the next 3 weeks!! keep your fingers crossed.

I'm definitely NOT the typical GBC kid's Mom! I haven't felt so put of place in I don't know how long. I'm sure I'm the only one there who works. All the other moms had their perfect hair and makeup, and their Louis Vuitton bags. It made me super self conscious, until I thought, "I bet my daughter is cuter than any of the other kids in here :) HA!!"

Well, enough of that. I need to get back to work. I hope you all have a good week!!

Pictures

Ok, I just figured out how to add some pics to this (thanks Claire!!).

This is Madelyn and the boys from Sunday. Looks like she's fighting the boys off - hopefully she'll continue to do that as she gets older!!

I also have one of her walking at Erin's house. She walks everywhere now, it's hilarious!! She'll literally walk in circles just because she wants to walk!!

Boo Monday....

We had the best weekend I've had in a long time. Mainly because we really didn't do much at all. Friday night we went to eat Mexican with our friends - it's a weekly ritual. After dinner they all came over and hung out which was nice. We usually don't get to spend that much time with our friends because we try to be home by Madelyn's bath time, which is at 7:30.

Saturday was a day of nothing. Madelyn and I went to the 2nd of her Kindermusik classes. She seems to like it a lot. Surprisingly she gets really shy whenever we get there and doesn't really want to play with the other kids. I thought that since she's used to going to school, it wouldn't be an issue with her, but I was wrong. She usually just crawls in my lap and doesn't want to leave in until class is almost over. Anyway, after class we came home and made lunch then sat over at Mimi and Poppie's house all afternoon. It was nice and relaxing. We usually cram so much into every weekend that I'm more exhausted when I go to work Monday than I was when I left Friday.

Sunday I slept almost all day. I went to bed at 9:30 Saturday night and slept until M got up at 7:30. We watched some cartoons and ate breakfast, then both went back to sleep from 9:30 until about 11:00. Erin and Billy had invited us and some others over for lunch yesterday. It was fun to get the kids together. Will is almost 8 months old, Pierce is about 6 months and of course Madelyn is the oldest. it's amazing to me how different they all are now, but really they're all less than a year apart. So in a few years, you won't be able to tell any development differences between them. We teried to get a picture of all 3 of them, but that was a fiasco. We put Madelyn in the middle of the 2 boys. She was wiggling around and crying while they looked at her like she was nuts. Hopefully she won't always be such a drama queen!!

After lunch we went home and slept some more. Told you it was a relaxing weekend!! I'm glad I got some rest this week because Clint will be out of town all next weekend for a bachelor party, so I'm on my own with the baby!

Well, I'm off to start out weekday ritual. Breakfast, get dressed, take M to school, then off to work!! Have a good Monday!!

First Timer.....

Well, I'm going to give this blogging thing a try. I don't know how well I"ll do, but I've gotten really bad at keeping people current on what's going on with us, so I'll give it a try. Where shall we begin???

Madelyn Grace just turned 1 less than a month ago. Everyone tells you how fast the time goes by, but until you have a child of your own, I don't think you can realize how true it is. She's just firgured out the whole walking thing over the last week or so. She looks so cute with her wobby little legs walking across the floor. I think it's so funny that her knees hardly ever bend while she's moving. Hey, whatever works!!

We've been having some health scares the last 2 or 3 weeks, but everything seems to be fine for the moment. I went to the ER 2 weeks ago because I had pains while I was breathing. I was sure that I had pneumonia, but they diagnosed me with pleurisy. They did a CT scan to check out everything, and saw a mass on my trachea. I don't think it's possible to understand how your life can totally stop in a matter of 2 seconds unless you ever get a phone call like that one!! CLint and I prayed for days that it just wasn't cancer, while preoaring for the worst. We discussed all kinds of things I never want to talk about again that weekend - from life insurance, to who would take care of Madelyn while LCint was at work if I were undergoing chemo. Thanks the Lord, when they did the bronchoscopy they determined that the mass was only an infection. The pulmonologist suggested that I have surgery to get it removed, but CLint and I have agreed to put that pn hold temporarily. They still aren't sure what caused the whole thing, but they think it relates to the rare infection I had in Knoxvillw 9 years ago. As my sis-in-law told me, I'm the "Queen of Weird Illnesses!!"

That's about all that's going on in our household at the moment. let's see how often I can remember to update this thing!!

Until next time......