morning fun

As it turns out we were not MIA for long. This morning Madelyn has been busy cuddling with her MeeMaw Fee and playing with her second cousins, Sophia and Blake.As for this afternoon...we are heading to the OKC Zoo!

I know that Madelyn might not care at all, or even be interested in the animals for that matter, but I am super excited about her first trip to the zoo! My cousin Martha would take us to the zoo just about every time we came up when I was little (and before she moved to Montana) so it seems sort of fitting (and special) that we get to go with her and her two little ones for Madelyn's first trip!

I bought Madelyn the cutest little sun hat to wear in case we were able to make it there. Pictures to come this evening...or when I get around to it :)

We made it!

Monday I did not blog...I told myself that I could not blog until we were packed for our little getaway to OKC. In my typical fashion, I did not finish until a little after midnight. It's not that I had a lot to pack, it's just that I did not start until really late.

The day was too pretty not to enjoy. While I finished up some mini scrapbooks that I was bringing as gifts, I opened up the back doors and Madelyn enjoyed a little sunshine.
At one point there were about 10 deer within 10 yards of the back porch. We watched them play until "Madelyn the Motorboat" scared them away.Once I finally started to pack...I got a case of "oh, while I am here". You know...on the way to change the laundry out I will wipe down the laundry room sink but first I need to go get a towel and while I am there I will fold the towels and put them away and while I am there take out the trash and while I am in the garage I will clean out the car and...well...you get the point. When it comes to cleaning or really most things domestic I am a bit ADD.

It all got finished and we hit the road this morning.

Our plan was to leave at 8am. You know how that goes...we needed an oil change...then we needed to stop by the bank...then the church...so we hit the interstate around 11am. We realized that our Tom Tom needs a little updating when we stopped along the way to see some friends in Rockwall and due to all the new development, it had no idea where we were.

We met the Hollands for lunch at Snuffers. It was such a pretty day so we ate outside and enjoyed a beautiful view of the lake. They have the cutest little girl, Hadley with the biggest brown eyes you have ever seen and a baby boy on the way! It's always so refreshing to sit down with friends.

After lunch we were back on the road.

I had my second experience at changing a diaper in the car. This time went much better than the first!

I was telling Luke how sweet I think Madelyn's birth mark is on her foot. It's unique. He replied, "She is going to hate that when she is older." I sure hope not. Madelyn, if you are reading this and are 13 years old and hating your birthmark...I want you to know that everyone who sees it thinks it is absolutely precious!!

She was so excited when we made it to Grandma's house. She was tired of being cooped up all day. She just stretched out and rolled around on the carpet.

I had her on a blanket but she moves all over the place these days. It's pretty pointless!

She is looking forward to playing with her second cousins the next couple of days so we may be MIA. We shall return soon enough though...with lots of pictures...you can count on that!

Monsters Inc.

No I am not talking about the movie.

I am talking about the one we have created.

The one that only sleeps if someone is holding her.
Bless her little monster heart.

Dear Aunt Kenda,
Mommy told me that before I was born you bought me this Baylor Bear dress. Ever since she showed it to me I have been asking her to put it on me (it's not like I can dress myself, ya know?) and she never does. Apparently Mommy and Daddy are not Baylor Bear fans. But this morning (after we stayed home from church because I screamed most of the night and stayed up until 2:45am) Mommy was telling me that you are on the road to Houston to watch Baylor take on Duke in hopes to make it to the Final Four (whatever that means?). I told her that today was the day! Today I wanted to wear my super cute Baylor outfit that you bought me...and you know what she did...she finally put it on me!
Notice in the picture above I am already working on my "Sic 'Em Bears" bear claw. I am pretty good if I don't say so myself.
So have fun today! Even though Mommy and Daddy won't let me watch the game because they have a complex about me becoming addicted to TV (crazy adults), I will be rooting for your team!
I love you, Aunt Kenda! Thanks for the dress!!

Love,
Madelyn Kate

Easter Pictures

Yesterday we took Madelyn to get pictures made. It was super last minute. After we made the appointment I even had to run home really quick to make Madelyn a bow and onesie to wear! They turned out AMAZING. See for yourself...

Seriously...I have the cutest baby ever (and I mean that in the most humble way possible).

Happy 1/2 Birthday Baby Girl

Dear Madelyn,
I was scouring my emails from the last year for one that had some information in it that I needed when I came across this one and it brought a smile to my face...

From: Marlo Bitter
Subject: Emily's nighttime prayer
To: "Kathryn Bilberry"
Date: Thursday, June 18, 2009, 9:58 PM

Tonight Emmy was so cute...she said "God please help baby Madelyn come out of Kathryn's tummy safely and wrap her up in blankets". She has no clue how much longer! Haha. She's so sweet! Just thought I'd share :)

It made me think back to all those months of excitement and anticipation as we waited for you to arrive. Everyone was excited for you to come in to this world...especially your cousin, Emily.

It is hard to believe that you turned six months old on Wednesday! All day long I sang "Happy Half Birthday to you..." and you would smile and giggle every time. I really wanted to throw you a little party, but Wednesdays are just long and busy around our house.

Each night since then I have tried to write you this letter, but somehow kept deleting it. I think it's because I have been so sleepy when I finally get the chance to sit down and write it. Wednesday night we did not make it home until 11pm. As I tried to write you your letter, I kept replacing a certain word with a potty word. Ooops. Then...I deleted it the next day on accident. I tried to start writing it again...only to realize I must have deleted it yet again. I tell you all this in part to let you know that you, my precious little six month old, keep me busy and tired these days and I love every minute of it.

You are constantly exploring your surroundings.

If it is within your reach...your hands are on it. If it is not within your reach, you try to get to it.

You have started to scoot yourself backwards in your attempts to go forward. You pull your legs up as if you are going to crawl but your arms fall out from under you when you do!

You are sitting pretty well for a minute or so at a time (except when you are mad). Tonight you sat up for a couple of minutes until you started to fuss and threw yourself backwards.

You turn your head towards every new noise you hear! You love music...just like your daddy.

Yesterday, I let you try some Applesauce. You pretty much hated it and kept spitting it out. I tried to be persistent because I thought eventually you would like it. No such luck.

After about 10 minutes of that face, I mashed up some bananas for you. You really did not like that. I don't know what I was thinking trying to give you two different new foods in one day? There would have been no way to know which one you were allergic to if you had a reaction. Sometimes I do silly things like that even when I know better.

The faces that you made are priceless. I captured a lot of it on video so I am sure that they will provide laughs for our family for years to come.

Once I started to clean you off you flashed me the biggest smiles!

After we were done I decided it was bath time so I stripped you down to get you ready.

You really loved that because you love to be naked.

Just recently I have started bathing you in the big tub and you think it is the greatest thing ever. You chew on your rubber ducks and kick your feet from the time I put you in until the time I pull you out.

This morning we took you to the doctor for your 6 month check up and shots. I did something else that I could not believe I did...I forgot your paci!! How could I have done that...especially on a "shot" day?? I worried about it during the whole appointment!

You weighed in at 15 lbs. 12 oz. and are 26 inches long!

The doctor felt great about your progress and said that you were right on track developmentally!

You were so good the entire visit (minus a little fussing when the doctor was checking you out).

While we were waiting for the nurse to come in you decided that you were hungry and tried to eat the paper on the exam table.

It did not really surprise us since you try to eat everything.

I started to freak out when we were waiting on your shots so your dad went across the street to get you a paci just in case. You did not even need it. You cried for all of 20 seconds and then were your happy little self again.

Some other 6 month "stats" about you are:

• you wear a size 3 diaper (you actually fit better in a 2 but the 3's that we have seem to do a little better over night...they will fit a little better in no time though)
• you require 12 hours of sleep at night
• you nap 3-4 hours a day and just about any time we are in the car
• you wear 6-9 months pajamas and 3-6 month outfits still but as soon as it warms up consistently you will be in 6-9 months only (you have a closet full of spring/summer 6-9 month clothes)
• you are teething but have no teeth yet
• you roll and roll and roll the minute we put you down
• you love your jumperoo and exersaucer
• you love to stand (with our help of course)
• you are just about the happiest little thing ever
• you make new sounds every day and have recently discovered how to squeal
• motorboating is your favorite sound

This afternoon we had a "spur of the moment" photo session with an awesome photographer and I cannot wait to get the pictures in!! Three professional photographers taking your pics in 6 months?? Awesome. Pictures after shots?? You were perfect and smiled SO big.

We spent most of the day together as a family, which is exactly how we like to spend our Fridays. Tonight you got to Skype with Gigi and Papa and Great Granny. You were a little fussy but that that's because it was bed time and you were hungry.

Six months old? Time goes by so quickly. If there is one thing that I could tell you that I want you to know and hold on to as truth in your life, Madelyn, it would be that you are loved. You are loved by me. Loved by Daddy. Loved by so many here on earth. More than that...you are loved by God. I pray that as you grow your identity will be found in Him.

I love you, princess. The past six months have been such a blessing to my life.

Love,
Mommy

6 months

Today Madelyn turned 6 months old and there is only one word that comes to mind: thankful.Thankful for:
the miracle of new life
health
your smile
experiencing motherhood
each day with you.
I am thankful.

I wrote just about the longest blog in the history of blog posts (seriously it took me nearly two hours) and somehow managed to delete it. I have started it again, but when I was proof reading and read that I had typed, "You are starting to s*it for longer periods of time", I realized it could wait until morning :)

lazy

Yesterday our family of 3 was a tad bit on the lazy side...and truthfully, that is putting it mildly. We pretty much hung out around the house in our pajamas until late afternoon. It was a perfect "recovery" day from constantly being on the go. We watched a movie, played with the baby girl and lounged around.

Madelyn had some sort of rash that popped up on her face. We are not really sure what caused it (maybe all that drool??) but it went away rather quickly so we weren't too worried about it.

By about 2pm Luke was saying, "We need to do something. Let's go for a walk." It was a beautiful day...hard to believe it was snowing and dreary all day the day before. Madelyn seemed to love being outside. She did not love the sun in her eyes, but thankfully she has a daddy that worked really hard to block it from coming in under the canopy.

It was so refreshing to just be outside.

Tyler has some wonderful trails and I definitely think this will have to be something that we do more often!

After our walk we stopped to get sandwiches from Subway (instead of going to the grocery store) because our refrigerator and pantry are bare. We are finally getting Madelyn settled in to an earlier bedtime routine. She was not falling asleep until 11pm and then not waking up, except to eat, until 11am. Despite the late bedtime, she was still getting her 12 hours in but 9pm to 9am is working out so much better!

This morning we are off to the run some errands. Target (don't really need anything from there, but I am sure I will find something!), Wal-Mart and maybe another walk on the trails. Tonight we have soccer practice and then I am looking forward to cooking our first home cooked dinner in almost a week!!

Before we go, here are a few pictures from our morning photo shoot.

She is so stinkin' cute! What do you think?

Epic Weekend

Dear Madelyn Kate,
This weekend has been so busy and you have been quite the trooper through it all. Thursday night your Grandma volunteered to make 100 cupcakes (that were absolutely delicious) for dessert on Friday night! She whipped them out and made the meat sauce for the spaghetti dinner so that I would just have to heat it up! She is pretty much my hero and one of the hardest worker I know. Since it was such a late night, we just spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's so that you could get some rest.

We kicked off the day Friday morning with your first bath in the big tub!
You have been ready to take a bath in the big bath tub for quite some time now. Even though you would splash and make a huge mess, I continued to bathe you in your pink baby tub on the bar in the kitchen. Friday, I decided it was time to move on from that. As excited as I get when you reach a new milestone, I am always sad when it is time to pack something away because you have outgrown it. You are growing so fast. Too fast.
You loved the big bath tub! You were able to sit up really well and enjoyed kicking your feet in the water. When you made the water splash, your eyes would get so big!
I only planned on giving you one bath on Friday morning, but I think you enjoyed it so much that you plotted a way to get back in there. On our way to meet Judy and Katie and Nathan for lunch at Chick-fil-a you had a major accident that required us to go back home. After another quick dip in the tub and a wardrobe change, we were back on the road.

You were sleeping by the time we made it to lunch! After we were almost finished with our meals, I did something that I have never intentionally done before. I woke you up! I really wanted them to see your sweet smile and hear your baby talk. You did not seem to mind that I woke you up and loved being passed back and forth! It was pretty sweet because it has been quite some time since they have seen you in person.

From there we headed straight out to the church to help Daddy get a few last minute things done before the student's started to arrive for Disciple Now. He has worked so hard to prepare for this weekend so it was very exciting waiting for it all to get kicked off!
While Ashleigh and I were busy making massive amounts of spaghetti, you just hung out in your stroller. For the record, Madelyn, if you ever want to serve a large group of people a meal, call Ashleigh. She was a champ. She cooked, washed dishes as we went, served the students and then cleaned everything up!You did not see all of that because Grandma came to pick you up and take you home before dinner was served. It was the first time that you have ridden in a car without me! It was a little strange for me considering I was even able to ride with you in the ambulance. I knew you were in good hands though, so I didn't think twice about it. That was just the beginning of a lot of quality time that you spent with Grandma this weekend! She pretty much made it possible for me to help Daddy as much as I was able to!

After dinner the students started piling in to the new student building. It was pretty awesome to see it completely full! The theme for the weekend was EPIC:

ep·ic /ˈɛpɪk/ Show Spelled[ep-ik]

1. heroic; majestic; impressively great
2. of unusually great size or extent

It was centered around the fact that God's love for us is epic. It's heroic in that he sent his only son to die for our sins.

"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him."
1 John 4:9

It is impressively great.

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

Because of his epic love for us...we are called to live an epic life.

The Josh Morgan Band from San Marcos led worship on Friday and Saturday nights...
and Ryan Fontenot (who your Daddy has used for DNOWs in the past and gone to his camps) spoke both nights as well. God definitely has his hand on Ryan's life and has continued to use him to impact the lives of students across the country. This weekend was no exception.
He and his wife Heather have a precious 5 week old baby girl named Elyn. Maybe some day you two can have a play date!

Saturday afternoon, despite the snow/rain mix that was coming down, the students competed in a homemade derby car race outside. Their cars turned out to be pretty awesome and for the first time ever a girl's group beat the guys! Aunt Rachel was their leader...so of course they were pretty awesome!
They lined up at the starting line...
and raced around to six different stations...
where they had to complete gross challenges...
before racing on to the next station.
Thankfully, Grandma kept you at home for me because of the weather. She said you took a long afternoon nap. By the time I made it back home after the race, you were waking up and ready to head back out to the church with me to prepare dinner! After dinner we went over to the worship service. The band was a little too loud for your tiny ears so we protected them with some purple ear plugs! You did not seem to mind at all! You only pulled one out once, but other than that you left them alone!
Ryan and Amanda came to the worship service and had fun holding you and playing with you while I was helping pass out the awards from the derby car race!
You were so good during the service. You made faces at everyone that was hanging out in the back and played with your duck for at least 30 minutes. You are such a good, laid back, little girl!
While the students were hanging out playing games... all the girls would take their turn holding you. I hope that you continue to be a people person and don't mind being passed around!

Sunday morning it was snowing so Grandma once again watched you at the house while I went out to the church. All of the students were pretty worn out, as were all the host homes and the amazing small group leaders for that matter. I could not help but think about how one day you will be attending student events like this one.

Although my heart was full, it was also pretty heavy on Sunday morning. There are so many struggles that these students face that I pray you never have to encounter. Some of their stories of abuse, drugs and abandonment weighed heavy on my mind as we wrapped the weekend up.

I know that God brought together just the right small group leaders, students, host homes, speaker and band for DNOW. It was evident as we watched his spirit move throughout the weekend. My prayer as we move forward is that these students (who will be the leaders for your generation) continue to seek the Lord. That they grow in the knowledge of him and continue to find freedom from sin and the heartache of their pasts.

One scripture continued to come to mind as I was driving home on Sunday afternoon...

"but I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more" Psalm 71: 14

I could not wait to get home and squeeze you and give you kisses.

Your Aunt Kenda and her boyfriend, Michael stopped by yesterday afternoon to love on you for a little bit. You loved getting to see her and flashed your sweet smile the whole time she was here. You have grown so much since the last time that she saw you.

It was a quick visit but she will be back in a couple of weeks for Easter!

Last night we just hung out around the house! You love playing in your exersaucer but have not quite figured out how to turn around in it...
so you just lean back and stretch to get to the all the toys!
This weekend has made me really realize how big of an impact your daddy is making in the lives of the students at West Lake. I am thankful for his heart to serve. You are blessed to have him, sweet girl.

Hopefully this week we can take it easy and spend some time together relaxing at the house!

I love you,
Mommy