11 Months

Madeline Claire you are ALMOST one year old! Where has the time gone? I feel like I remember exactly how it felt to be *patiently* awaiting your arrival this time last year. And oh how you made us wait. You have become such a wonderful little person. Every day with you is a new adventure and we are loving every moment!

At 11 months you...

• Wear a size 3 diaper
• Wear 9-12 months clothes
• Eat a breakfast of cereal, a snack of a banana shortly after, for lunch you will have a fruit and cereal plus whatever else we are eating, and for dinner you have a vegetable, cereal, and yogurt 
• Are known to eat off of our plates. You like spaghetti and quesadillas. 
• Walk behind all of your toys, you even push those that don't roll across the room, you will cruise down the furniture, but you have no interest in walking on your own. 
• Have 4 teeth now, your top 2 FINALLY came through
• Say Mama, Dada, and the beginning of Dog, you sign for more, and are starting to sign for milk and water
• Really like to point at everything, it is this cute point where your thumb sticks out... you look kind of ghetto!
• Dance along to music, you bounce up and down and shake your head left to right
• Sleep 12 hours still, with an afternoon nap thrown in as well
• Love to watch and laugh at bigger dogs, I think you think they are a super sized version of Turner
• Chase Turner and grab him now, luckily he just lets you
• Are now home with Daddy more, yay for new schedules!
• Do NOT like it if someone leaves the room, you just cry and cry
• Also don't like for us to get out of the car, even though we are coming around to get you out of your seat, it is not like you have ever been left in there so I don't really understand that one...
• Are SUCH a big girl now, but I love it when you will still snuggle in close to me and hold on tight... melts my heart every time

Maddie says, "I am super cool."

Meeting Friends, Old and New

When I went to Indiana University I made some wonderful friends! Unfortunately they all live a little too far away to see all the time. My friend Katie, also a teacher, lives in Columbus, OH, and had a daughter in February. My friend Holly, a nurse, lives in Indianapolis and is about to leave to become a travel nurse. Her first location looks to be Wyoming.

In December Madeline and I headed up to Columbus to go to Katie's baby shower and for them to be able to meet little miss. Now that Holly is leaving we all wanted to get together so she could meet the girls and I really wanted to meet Paige. We decided to meet in Cincinnati last Friday because it was about a 2 hour drive for everyone.

We originally planned to go to the Newport Aquarium, but they have a stupid stroller schedule and we weren't allowed to bring strollers in that day until after 4pm. So we decided to visit the Cincinnati Children's Museum first, and then head over to Newport for lunch. The museum was ok, it would definitely be better for big kids. Madeline had a place to crawl around and push things so she was happy. But we were inside in the air conditioning on a hot day so that was good.

A Surprise for Daddy!

On Saturday, July 30th I decided to have a surprise party for Brad honoring his accomplishment of making the Jeffersonville Fire Department. Luckily it was a success! He was surprised. I arranged with the guys he usually goes golfing with for an afternoon of golf and an arrival time back at our house sometime around 6:15. I alerted out family and friends and had everyone here around 6. Around 6:30 the boys arrived back and his words to me were "You did something." Yes, he was right, I sure did! We had about 50+ people stuffed into our house and backyard, it was packed! My Dad cooked out on the grill and we enjoyed cake and corn hole to round out the evening.

 Maddie has a special outfit just for the day!

 Cake table (the cake had an edible picture of a true Jeffersonville Fire Truck on it)!

 Surprise!

Good luck Daddy!

10 Months Old

 Madeline Clarie you reached DOUBLE digits!
You are just growing and changing everyday, here is what you are up to at 10 months old:

• Eat three "meals" a day and have a cup of milk after nap... no more bottles :-(
• Wear a size 3 diaper
• Say Mama  for everything and just recently added Dada into the mix
• Point at everything, we tell you what it is and then you move your mouth like you are trying to repeat what we said
• Sleep around 12 hours each night, with a 2 hour afternoon nap thrown in
• Cruise around furniture and are starting to really travel long distances walking behind a push toy
• Visited the beach for the first time and loved every minute of it
• Dance with your music table, you bounce up and down and shake your head side to side, ADORABLE
• Screech at things when you are trying to talk to them
• Follow us through the house
• Have a different crawl for different types of surfaces, if it is carpet then you are on your knees... if there is a bump, rug, tile, hardwood, cement, or sand your do a bear walk on all fours
• Love on Turner, you like to pet him which means you smack him... we frequently remind you to be nice

This picture is just so random I couldn't resist adding it, love the face!

Daddy's New Job

Yup, you read that right!

Brad is FINALLY starting his new job Monday morning. He will officially me a member of the...

After about a year and a half it is official. He has taken a written test, done an interview, been placed on a waiting list (#6 out of 30), finally been called up (in April), done more tests (eye, physical, and psych), and finally been approved by the merit board. He begins work at 8am on Monday morning. It feels so unreal because it seems like it has taken forever for this to actually happen. This is also the reason he had to leave vacation early. He needed to train someone at Humana and finish up some things there while doing orientations for the fire department. We were glad that he did get to spend a few days with us at the beach, but sad he had to come home early. He is glad to begin this new phase of his life.

He will be starting out on 40 hour normal work weeks. Once he reads a lot, studies, and passes some tests he will be placed into a crew and start the normal schedule. It goes something like this: 24 hours on, 24 hours off, 24 hours on, 24 hours off, 24 hours on, 4 days off. So that will be QUITE the adjustment.

There have been many changes going on around here lately. I HOPE that I will be able to share more of them soon!

Back from Vacation!

We are back!

We spent a FABULOUS week on the beach. We had a great house, perfect weather, and best of all... Madeline LOVED every aspect of the beach. She tore through the sand, splashed in the waves, and destroyed every sand structure we built for her. I am working on getting all of the pictures organized, we took a ton. But I wanted to share a few of the collages I have made of the trip so far.

Last Saturday we hit the road at 6am in a caravan with my Mom, Dad, and Grandpa. Madeline did wonderful in the car. She slept, we stopped for breakfast, she played and slept some more, we stopped for lunch, she played and slept again, and then we arrived on the Isle of Palms. We hit the beach FIRST thing to get her reaction.

The next morning, we hit the beach again until lunch/nap time. Loved, Loved, Loved it!

That night we had a great dinner and then took a walk along the beach.

 

Monday morning we got up and headed into Charleston to go exploring for the day. Madeline stayed with us for most of it, but did take her nap along the way. The heat and the walking was a lot for my Grandpa so he and my mom sat some of it out. So Madeline, Mom, Dad, and Grandpa Jeff toured the city and saw many sights!

That night Brad and I headed over into Mt. Pleasant to have a date with a putt-putt course. We BOTH got hole-in-one's.

Tuesday morning was Brad's last morning with us (more details on that later). So we got up early to go see the beach when the dogs could roam without being on a leash. Maddie just laughed at all of the silly puppies.

After breakfast we came back for more beach time. Madeline was tired from waking up early and took a nap on the beach while Grandma and Grandpa built her a sand castle entitle "Fort Maddie." When she was finally all rested, she got up and played in her fort and became a sand monster once again.

Wednesday morning was another day at the beach. She had fun in the water and building sand castles with Grandpa, or should I say destroying them... Maddie played and played until she was just worn out. She took a TWO hour nap on the sand and skipped right over lunch. I was shocked but she was having so much fun I can't blame her. We missed Daddy though!

Wednesday night we headed out to eat and stopped at a park on Sullivan's Island to let Madeline play some more. She loved the swings and the slide.

I didn't take any pictures on my camera on Thursday, so I will have to grab them from my Mom's camera.

We decided to leave on Friday, my Grandpa was done, and we missed Brad. So, we got up early Friday morning and headed home. Maddie was once again a rock star in the car. I think she liked having me and Grandma as an audience in the backseat.

When we got home she did this...

I think she is ready to go back!

The Great Steamboat Race

Little known fact: When Brad was younger he LOVED steamboats, he was apparently obsessed.

Knowing this I have wanted to picnic along the river during the steamboat race for a few years, but one thing or another got in the way. 

History: The Great Steamboat Race is a Derby event that is usually held the Wednesday of Derby week. This year the Ohio River was too high for the Cincinnati Belle to make it under the bridges to get down to Louisville for the race so it was postponed, until tonight! Why 8 weeks later I have no clue, but they got a perfect night!

We decided at the last moment to grab KFC and head to the river for a picnic. We made it down just in time to see the Belle of Louisville take the victory. We were able to sit down to eat and watch the Cincinnati Belle finally make her way down the river. She was lagging greatly behind. The Belle of Louisville has been known to cheat, especially back when she raced the Delta Queen. So I am suspecting something of that nature. Madeline enjoyed sitting on the blanket in the shade banging things around.

SCRUNCH!

Brad was trying so hard to get a picture of us as the Cincinnati Belle passed but someone wouldn't look at the camera.

So he settled for the back of her head.