My 1st Christmas...was so great.

Reading with daddy. I had so much fun on Christmas morning with all my cousins. They were very noisy and excited; I will have to take notes for next year! I got lots of books and toys. It was great.
If I can just tear off this piece of paper and get it into my mouth I will be perfectly happy. I don't even care what's inside:)

All my cousins, on my mom's side, wrapped up in a blankets our Aunt Pat made us.

This is how I was almost the entire weekend. Just lovin' life! Merry Christmas. I can't wait to do it again.

Family

My family is so wonderful and I am so blessed!

Our little Peppermint Maddy

So, when I was little I had adopted grandparents here in Farmington and they made me a little reindeer like this one. As my parents had more kids they made each of them one also. We have all three of them in front of our Christmas tree and it is a very special decoration. As my parents added grandchildren to their family my dad began making each kido a reindeer for their tree. As soon as dad found out we were having a baby he told my mom, "I guess I have another reindeer to make." He was always like that. Thoughtful and caring and always putting us first, always wanting to make things special. Well, as this Christmas was approaching I didn't really give it a thought. I just figured this was one more thing my kid would miss out on and I had come to terms with that. Little did I know....

that my family had it all taken care of. They didn't want Madelynn to miss out on that tradition and they had it all taken care of. It was one of the first things my brother-in-law thought of for me when my dad passed away. He is so wonderful and always taking care of us. He and my uncle talked about it and Uncle Tim said he would make one for Madelynn. So, when I went down for my family Christmas I had a surprise waiting for me. It warms my heart to know that my family was already taking care of me and I didn't even have to worry about it. That is what our family is all about. They are always looking out for each other and I am so grateful to be part of this family. Now Madelynn has a little gift from Papa via his angels, and that means the world to me.

My 1st Tree

A little cold, but I had a great day. We met the fam and found our 1st Christmas tree. It was great.
What a happy family!

There it is. My first Christmas tree!

My first Thanksgiving

Up early to start the turkey!

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving. It was very strange not having dad there, but the house was full of food, family and love and I know he was there with us. It was strange to think back to last year when we were first telling everyone about Madelynn and here we are, a year later, with a beautiful 5 month old baby and a missing loved one. Life is so short and so quick. In one quick blink of an eye everything is so different. Sometimes I just want to ask God, "What were you thinking taking my dad away? It was too soon, he wasn't done here!" But I know He knows better than me, but it is so hard to see the whole picture. How can he be that he doesn't even know Madelynn? This huge part of my life and he knows nothing about it. It is just so strange and unbelievable at the same time. Through it all, we had a goo time.

The night ended with a slumber party. How sweet!

Rolling over...for real!!!

It is official...Madelynn is mobile!

She rolled over, both directions tonight. It was so exciting. Kathy and Rulon got to be here to see it. I am sure they were very excited.

Look out world here she comes!

(Please ignore the filming at the beginning and the crazy talking :)

Fall pumpkins!

Look now tall she is getting!!! We had such a great time at Sutherland Farms. We had to go back to the Dr. on Monday and she has gained 19oz in 2 weeks!! I guess formula packs on the pounds. So, she weighs 10lbs 4oz. It will be fun to stand her up to the same sign next year and see how much bigger she is.
Aww, cousins. Grady and Cassidy had such a good time together. They so so good with her. Both of them fed her a bottle. It was so cute.

Mommy and baby...I just love her so much!

Chillin' in the pumpkins...what a day!

4 months and going strong

I can't believe she is already 4 months old. Time is going so fast. She only weighs 9lbs. The Doctor wasn't concerned with how small she was just that she hadn't gained any weight in the last 6 weeks. We are having to supplement with a little formula, but she seems to like it. She loves this rattle my friend Katie bought her. I think it is cold on her gums. She smiles all the time (except at 3:00 this morning when she was very angry and didn't feel good). She loves to play on the floor and look at the TV. She really is a happy baby.

We have to take her back in in 2 weeks to see if she gained any weight. The Dr. wasn't really concerned but he wants to see her putting on some weight. She was right on track with everything else (well on her track at the 5%)

It will be Thanksgiving before we know it. I can't believe it was just a year ago we were finding out about her and now she is just a normal part of our life. We are very blessed!