food favorites

Lately Madelyn's food options have expanded quite a bit. So far, she doesn't discriminate much. Saturday afternoon she ate broccoli and chicken with her veggie straws. We knew she loved chicken, but she hasn't eaten a whole lot of broccoli in the past. I think it is definitely one of her new favorites. I have given it to her several times since then and she eats it all up.

After a whiny evening and evidence that Madelyn might have an ear infection, we spent the morning at home on Sunday. She had a fever and was super clingy. I put her in her high chair for a snack in order to have a few minutes where I could wash the dishes and do a few other things. I have known that she loves smashed bananas since she was only five or six months old, but Sunday was the first time that we have given her a whole banana.

She loved it and ate about 3/4's of the banana. It's messy and requires lots of clean up, but it's definitely worth it to watch her devour something so big!

Apparently she thought that she could pick out the next item on the menu for her to try out all by herself. I have no idea how she did it (I'm guessing it didn't shut all the way), but she managed to open the fridge while I was changing out some laundry.

Some other new (in the last month) favorites are cereal bars, gold fish, vanilla wafers, grapes, and lots more!

Friday in pictures...

big girl and ballet

I am so ready for fall. I think that there isn't much cuter than a baby in jeans. Last Thursday the sky was overcast and it was rainy for most of the afternoon. It was a cool 94 degrees outside and Madelyn and I were going to be out for the afternoon so I put some of her jeans on her. I knew we would be inside the entire time so I wasn't worried about her getting too hot. She looked so big.
That afternoon Madelyn and I picked Emily up from day care. It was her second to last day of day care and it was so strange to me to think that it would be the last time that I would ever pick her up from there. I cannot believe what a big girl she is. Although I know she is going to miss the day care and all of her friends, I am confident that she is going to love school.

Maddie Kate and I had the privilege of taking her to her very first Ballet class at Candy Crocker. She was so excited and anxious to get there. On the way to the class she wanted to stop at Chick-fil-A for a snack but when it came time to eating it she said she couldn't because she was so nervous.

There were 19 little darlings in her class and because she had taken ballet at day care she was the only one that knew all of the answers to the instructors questions.

Madelyn and I had fun trying to peek through the window to get a glimpse of the little ballerina!

I can't believe what big girls they both are (in their own ways)!! I am not sure how well I will handle it when the day comes for Madelyn to enroll in dance classes and go to school (sigh).

all over the map

Today I called the cable company (which we also use for home phone and internet) to inform them that the cable that we canceled several weeks ago was still on (I wanted to make sure that we weren't being charged for something that we never watched-it took us two weeks to realize it was still on). At first I guess I wasn't making any sense because the customer service lady said, "Honey...you are all over the map. Could you just back up and start over?". I am sure she is right. I probably didn't make any sense. She really must have thought I was a moron though because she kept saying, "Honey, it shows that the man has come out and disconnected your cable. Are you sure you aren't mistaking it for a DVD in your DVD player?".

Anyways, just like my inability to communicate effectively with the customer service lady today, I have a feeling that this blog is going to be all over the map. Here goes nothing...

The first thing Madelyn wanted to do on Monday was play with her toys. She pulled every single one of them out in the living room and just looked around and smiled. It was a look of complete satisfaction.She was happy to be home to all of her toys!

That didn't hide the fact that she was overly tired though. She took two nearly three hour naps and went down to bed early. She was so worn out!

Tuesday morning she woke up happy but it was pretty obvious she was still tired. She was clingy, napped a lot and kind of fussy. That didn't stop her from pulling all the tupperware out of the cabinets and flashing her silly face every time I picked up the camera.

That night she discovered her tongue (which happens to be SUPER long). She would stick it out on command but it was always sticking out a little to the left?!

Aunt Rachel stuck out her tongue too and Madelyn tried to lick it!

Ever since then she will stick her tongue out (or grab it) on command (I feel like I am talking about a puppy dog doing tricks when I say that).

I have started to make a few things for Madelyn's birthday party (is it really possible that she will be 1 in a month??) and decided in the process that I love this whole party planning thing! I had a couple of crafty things I wanted to get done so I am pacing myself (or else they will all get done in the wee hours of the night before or not at all-because that's how I roll-but I have tried to be more intentional about things lately so I am starting early!) Here is a little sneak peek!

For the last two weeks I have been calling Madelyn, "tri-cer-a-tooth" because her third tooth has popped through! It's on the top and taking it's pretty little time coming in, but will be completely out soon. She has been chewing on everything and drooling like crazy.

Do you think it's time we bought some of those (impossible to install) clips for our cabinets? I do. I have washed all of our tupperware at least six times in the last week because she pulls it down to play with it. Not to mention all the other things she has gotten in to.

I will be making a trip to Babies-R-Us tomorrow for sure.

Wednesday night at church Madelyn went back to the nursery for the first time since she quit breathing a couple of weeks ago. The ladies that are in there are great! Before I took her over, I let her say, "Hi!" to everyone, gave her some super sweet sugars and helped her walk around the student building.

I love my sweet girl and every little detail about her.

I put some of Allison's old squeaker shoes on to see if it encouraged her to walk. It was WAY too loud in there, so she may enjoy it more once she can actually hear the squeaking!

Hopefully I wasn't too "all over the map". If I was...oh well. Get a bigger map :)

first taste of goodness

Tuesday night Madelyn had her first taste of goodness...Chick-fil-A! At first she wasn't too sure about it and she just kept staring at it, but once she got her first bite of her yummy chicken nugget, she kept going back for more.

She ended up eating three whole nuggets!

Chick-fil-A is my fav so if she didn't like it then we probably would have had a problem...or she would have had to learn to like it!

OKC roadtrip 2010 day 3

Sunday morning the girls were SO tired. Madelyn and Alli took a bath together while Emily helped Aunt Sharon make waffles for everyone. It is so funny how both of these girls are so fun and full of personality but so different all at the same time.

Madelyn was ready to play and splash with her cousin but Alli was not having it at all.

She kept giving me the evil eye when I would try to take her picture.

The second I took Madelyn out of the tub, Allison was happy and ready to play. It was hilarious.

After breakfast we said goodbye to Aunt Sharon and Uncle Mike and headed to my Grandma's house to spend a little time there before we got on the road again.

I love this picture of Madelyn, Allison and (my other) Uncle Mike. He is over 6' 6" (not sure how tall exactly) and Madelyn and Allison look so tiny standing up next to him.

Finally Alli came around and wanted to play with Madelyn. That was until Aunt Nancy gave Emily and Alli silly bands. Alli was totally in to them but she did not want Madelyn anywhere near them. "No get my dilly bands Maddie Kate". Her voice is precious and she has her own sweet way of saying her words. It made me so excited to hear how Madelyn will talk!

This is probably my favorite picture from the whole trip. MeeMaw Fee with her three Tyler great granddaughters!

Madelyn adores her MeeMaw!

So does Allison!

They spent time chatting about the Ok-a-homa, "dilly" bands and canes of course.

Madelyn soaked up a little last minute cuddle time with Aunt Nancy before we loaded up the car for the drive home.

Ever since I was a little girl there have been certain things that I could count on when we would make our trips to Oklahoma City. My Aunt Nancy would always make the best chocolate chip cookies you have ever tasted in your life and bring them to my Grandma's house for everyone to devour. My Aunt Sharon would make at least one fabulous meal complete with cute table decorations. And...when the time came for us to head home, my Grandma would always stand on the porch as we drove off...waving, blowing a kiss and fighting back tears. I love all three of those things. The predictable things that make it feel special and like home. I had to get a picture and I will always treasure that.

The road home was as comical as the trip up. The girls were hysterical. Their interactions kept all of us laughing. They really are AWESOME car riders! I have heard horror stories about people's kids screaming when they are on road trips and I am so thankful that these girls are not like that.

For the most part they were all smiles.

Especially when we stopped for dinner they were happy little girls.

I'm not sure whether they were more excited about not being stuffed in a car next to each other or eating in general. Whatever it was, they were silly little girls while we were there.

Our road trip was SO much fun. I am so glad that my mom convinced all of us to go at the last minute. The suburban was amazing. And just because this sight made me laugh...

I had to share.

Until girls road trip 2011...