Collecting the Dots

First half of February

2012-02-16T00:16:00.000-06:00

Already February 15th?! We've had a lot of fun this month - we always do with Cason's birthday and Valentine's Day being so close together. We started the month blowing our eating out budget. ;) Between a trip to Benjy's with Julianne and Ben before my uncle's art show in the Heights, a trip to El Ranchero with the Rabes and our mariachi-loving babies and an impromptu triple date to Raven Grill and Chocolate Bar with the Cabiros and Saxes, we hit the restaurants hard the first weekend of February!

I am also working on a little remodeling project, mostly finished that first weekend, but we are still waiting on a couple of pieces. Can't wait to show you!

We had a Super Bowl party with our Sunday School class - tons of fun with great kiddos - we were all in the Saxes' home and 14 families were represented! I consider myself a football-loving gal, but I couldn't have cared less about this Super Bowl. As you can see by my husband's and daughter's attire, our little family was in denial that our beloved Cowboys weren't playing.

In between various festivities, Madeleine has continued to play outside, insisted that Mama put her shoes on, even over her jammies, and she has worn a Valentine's bag on her head, yes siree.

We had a rare weekend when both Cason's parents as well as Cason's sister and brother-in-law (Heather and Larry) were both in town. We loved having them here, and of course we missed our four nephews! Madeleine's Nana and Pop have a tradition - well he loves to get those funny animals that sing and dance, and she always obliges. Madeleine loved this Valentine's gift - monkeys that sing "I Got You Babe."

Thanks to all the family in town on Cason's birthday, we were able to have a super-fun, Mexican-themed (of course) party for Cason. It is always such a treat to get our families together, and it doesn't happen nearly enough. I especially love it when the dads do dishes. ;)

Madeleine visited not one but two DSWs one afternoon after her 3-hour nap (really starting to embrace the one nap/day!) She has great taste in bags and shoes.

Then Valentine's came. I got to do the 14 days of Valentine's for Cason (via pinterest of course) and he loved it! Every day he would say "What's my treat today?" so I tried to vary when/how I would give them to him. Madeleine and I spent the morning at the Children's Museum. Our membership this year is such a treat! She loved it - her favorites this time were: the life-sized cow right in front of the Tot Spot (we got off the elevator, and she immediately said "MOOOOO!"), the toddler-sized sink, the fire truck and the outside exhibits. I went ahead and took her into lots of the "big kid" exhibits. She loved them, and no one told her she wasn't a big kid. ;)

Madeleine also got to see her Granna on Valentine's day. Granna played with her outside and taught her about giraffes. Her Nana had given her a cute outfit and chocolate-scented teddy bear to commemorate the holiday as well, and she got some sweet Valentines from her great-grandparents. Granddad joined Granna after work so that Mommy and Daddy could go see a movie. Madeleine's Valentine to them was poop on the floor after her bath.

I think, after all the wooing of the family, that Madeleine's Valentine would have to be Elmo. I know she can join the ranks of American toddlers - he's really got a hold on her! She wakes up in the morning - saying "Mama" when she's ready to get out of bed, but when I go into her room, it's "El-mow? El-mow?"

15 Months

2012-01-27T23:11:00.001-06:00

Dear Madeleine,

Somehow, you are 15 months old. Time passes, and you grow. Some things you do, we can take credit for, they are things we taught you. Some things...I don't know where they come from, but you just do them. They are who you are, who the Lord has created you to be.

I'll be honest. My flesh doesn't always love being a Mama. Somehow, being a Mama and loving on you gets in the way of my own plans and silly to-do lists, and my flesh hates that. My spirit loves being a Mama. The experience humbles me and brings me much closer to Jesus. There is nothing like you loving on me, smiling at me and the ability to watch you learn and grow. What a gift.

We continue to get to know more of your personality - little details get filled in. Here are a few things about you at 15 months old.

Physically, you continue to get bigger (can't fool me) - that tummy is a force to be reckoned with. You are 25lbs. 4oz. (83%) you are 31 1/2in tall (81%)
You are a great eater - you love....pretty much anything we put in front of you, even veggies. Although, sometimes you get a little fickle - we have to sneak your lentils into applesauce or quesadillas or we have to sneak your spinach into your scrambled eggs, but generally, anything is fair game when it comes to your appetite.
You are very much into being outside. Enough said on that other blog entry. Oh, you love it.
We are trying to do some decoding as far as your sleep goes. Basically, it's time to drop a nap, and we are figuring out that magic formula of sleep that allows you to operate at your best. It's going well so far, but not without a lot of questioning and doubting from your Mama along the way. Where did you hide your Madeleine manual, huh?
We are also encountering some of our first issues with your willpower. We aren't into "discipline" yet but you are learning the phrase, "Madeleine, you need to obey Mommy" and you love to say "no" when you don't like where Daddy or Mommy are headed with their instruction. Your "nos" or your "differing opinion" about what's going to happen still errs on the side of playful (and not so blatantly defiant) but I see it coming. (wink)
You are very much into reading. I'll read a book to you 100 times if it means you'll grab it off the shelf and back your lil bottom up into my lap. I feel like I've been forever waiting for your interest in books to arrive! Your current favorites: "Where is Baby's Bellybutton?" (while we read it, you point to all the same parts on you - where are baby's eyes? "baby!" "eyes!" you turn around and put your little pointer finger on my eye, where are baby's feet? you grab your feet, you get the idea...hands, bellybutton, mouth...you've got it!) You love "Pat the Bunny," you even smell the flowers on that page, you love "Curious George Goes to the Zoo," especially the flamingo page, and of course you love "Where is Spot?" We go through all the rooms in the house, as we read the book and lift each potential hiding place for Spot, you say "NO!" because you know he isn't there.
You've got the cow saying "moo" and the kitty cat says "meow" but that's about it as far as animal sounds go.
Sometimes, you will actually keep a bow in your hair. Pigs are flying.
At your 15 month appointment, they asked us, "so she can say about three words, right?" I said "Actually she knows about 20!" I didn't know what was "normal" but apparently you are very talkative. They don't all sound exactly how they should, but you can say: Mama, Dada, uh-oh, baby, cheese, hi, bye, milk, me! (for lambie, sometimes you say "ah-me!") night-night, bus, bubbles, Nana, Pop, Elmo, Bible, Jesus, bow, eyes, tree, bath, please, hat, no.
You love music. It takes but a few notes or a beat to get your dancing (bouncing, then the hip sway/shake, then a twist move) clapping or singing (you say "la la la la la")
I think the most amazing thing about you right now is watching you make connections right before our eyes. Here are four things I don't want to forget about this month...actually this very week!

In the past couple weeks, you have started to enjoy Sesame Street - we'll have it on sometimes when we are home in the morning. Well, before you even watched it, we had read an Elmo book to you that talked about you and Elmo being "So Big!" (hand gestures included, but you didn't do them much.) We had Sesame Street on TV, and when Elmo came on, you did the "So big!" hands-above-your-head and ran into your playroom to grab the Elmo book and bring it into the den. I was amazed. I thought you were so brilliant.
We enjoy the "Children's Folk Songs" Pandora station - such sweet songs. Well, "I know an Old Lady..." came on. The second you heard the word "spider" as in: "I know an old lady who swallowed a spider..." you did the hand motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Shocked again, I said "Yes, Madeleine! Same spider, different song! You are so smart!" You listen quite carefully.
You saw a pair of sunglasses in a book. You pointed and said "eyes" then you turned around, looked at Mommy and her glasses and said "eyes." Yes, baby. Glasses are for eyes.
The last little "out-of-context" connection you made was when I said "Madeleine, where are your hands?" You showed them to me, but then you shouted "bubbles!" Because in your "Where is Baby's Bellybutton?" book, Baby's hands are behind the bubbles. Naturally.

You doubled your teeth quota in just three months. I hadn't realized it until just recently, but at one year you had eight teeth, and now you have sixteen. Impressive.
"Hi" and waving are definitely still your thing. You will say hi and wave to...well...anyone and anything. Book characters, Sesame Street characters, people out in public...you bring such sweetness and joy. Last week you randomly woke up and were very, very hungry at about 11:30 at night. I took some milk in there and got some cuddles with you. You sucked that milk down, took the straw out of your mouth, and as you were falling asleep on my chest, you said "hiiiiiiii...." So sweet.

Madeleine, remember when you were just a little chunk? Your crib mattress was high and you couldn't roll over? Here is a picture from that time, as well as a picture of you now.

Also, I hung up your garland from your birthday party in your playroom. You love to look up and say "Baby! Hi!"

Now here are two videos that really capture you right now, including moos, mowers, dancing, climbing on tables and your mom trying to sing your favorite song from Sesame Street. Love it.

Love you, sweet baby.

Mama

Outside

2012-01-24T00:07:00.000-06:00

While "winter" in Houston doesn't always provide us with romantic snowscapes worthy of a postcard or calendar photo, it does afford some beautifully warm and mild weather. Usually it gets cold and nasty in February, right when we are ready for "true spring." (sigh)

We have seen snow, during recent winter seasons in this house, but not yet this season. Madeleine started walking around 11 months (still hot September) but now that she is 15 months she navigates the outdoors quite well, and it is a easier time to let her roam free. I realized that the other day we spent a total of four hours outside together!

She loves her wagon she got from her Granna and Grandad for her first birthday. We enjoyed it during our warm December days and continue to now. I love this picture of her and her daddy - they'd taken a Saturday morning walk to the HEB by our house to return a redbox movie. I love the look they are giving each other.

She also loves her swing in the front yard, so much so that when we are on wagon walks or a jog in the stroller through the neighborhood, she motions and whines to each swing we pass in many other yards around us. "Ehhhhhh! Ehhhhh!" "Madeleine, that's another family's swing. We'll play on Madeleine's swing when we get home." Here's a picture of Madeleine and her Aunt Liz playing on the swing just before Christmas:

The rest of these pictures were taken over two different days - one this week and one last week. Our backyard isn't anything special, oh I'd love a vegetable garden and a fountain...someday... but even now it is magical to me, maybe because of my overactive imagination. I feel like it's a little forest back there. Lots of big trees, plenty of wildlife, and the sound of our windchime from Madeleine's Nana and Pop makes it all the more pleasant. Madeleine certainly enjoys such simple activities as digging in the dirt (and I certainly don't mind,) as well as carrying sticks and putting them in an old bucket. We are so fancy.

How can you not love this little smirk and muffin top? She looks so tough, the presumed queen and defender of the backyard.

Nothing is really off limits, I mean, I keep an eye on her of course, but I typically let her roam, even if it means getting between the boxwoods and the exterior wall of our master bedroom or venturing into no man's land behind our garage...

The backyard is a simple place where we say "hi" and "bye" to the squirrels who come and go. We point out airplanes, we lay on our backs and look up at the tree branches blowing in the breeze, we pick up leaves and play with our sticks in the dirt. There aren't a lot of to-do list items crossed off or "major" things accomplished, but they are some of my most precious times with this amazing little girl the Lord has given us. It's not all sunshine and roses...sometimes she eats dirt, sometimes she throws a tantrum because I won't let her stand on the patio table (what?!) but for the most part, it is a peaceful place for us. After all, she spent some time back here her first day home.

One Week

2012-01-18T00:22:00.000-06:00

Nope, still haven't blogged about Christmas...getting there...hopefully. As I reflect on my blog and the memories I want to capture and preserve, I think about the home movies we had growing up in the Deily family. While I enjoy the recitals, birthday parties and Christmas mornings, my favorite videos are the everyday ones. The times when my sisters and I were sitting around the breakfast table on a Saturday morning, and Dad just decided to pull out the video camera - capturing an impromptu moment. I want to capture the day-to-day with Madeleine and our little lives because I know I will soon forget it if I don't. Especially as a stay-at-home mom, every day and every week is different. So, for this entry I decided to just freestyle write a few things about one week - Monday to Monday, January 9-16. More details about some days than others, some with pictures, some without, but just wanted to capture.

Spent some time with the Lord through our church-wide devotional book, Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament
Madeleine slept in until 9:15 two or three days
We had a lot of rain on the first Monday - I mean a lot. The water crept about 2/3 up our lawn - even higher than it was during Hurricane Ike in 2008. I sent in a picture to the news on a whim and they mentioned it! After the rain, we took a walk to the bayou, and it was chaos over there - lots of abandoned cars up on the Braeswood medians.

Madeleine ate a lot - one dinner she had avocado, green beans, tomatoes, bananas, mandarin oranges, pinto beans, turkey, string cheese and wheat bread.
I lowered the crib mattress to the lowest setting, I finished cleaning out two majorly packed out, messy closets, I rescued some beads from Madeleine's mouth, she threw her towel and play remote in the bathtub, we identified Granna, Grandad, Nana and Pop several times in their pictures in the bathroom, and at the end of a busy Tuesday, red wine in my cat tervis tumbler (no need to be fancy!) from Cindy.

Madeleine had some bad bedtimes, stubborn, night owl like her mama.
Granna and Aunt Liz came to play with Madeleine - taught her that the kitty cat says "Meow"
Took about five bags of stuff to the Faith Center; feels so good to clean out and give away.
Met with my accountability group at Olive Garden - unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks, please.
Wednesday zoo day with 3 moms and their kiddos - gorgeous weather, active animals, Madeleine did a sic 'em bears when we saw the bears

Laundry happened
I'm reading Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Of course fluctuating weather from monsoon, to cold, to mild, to warm and humid again...oh Texas.Should've taught ESL on Thursday, but Madeleine woke up with major yellow snot. Quiet day at home with Mads, cleaning, cooking and I built a fire (feeling so domestic! ha) and the sweet Carpenters came over for dinner, thought Madeleine had pink eye thanks to all her goop in her right eye...
Cuddles with Madeleine at 5 am after a very whimpery night
Make doctor appointment, leave for Inside Out Women's Retreat, Cason insisted on doing the pediatrician visit solo and letting me stick with my original plans, Madeleine says "hi" to everyone in the waiting room, gets diagnosed with an ear infection
"Delight" Women's Retreat in College Station at Ally's parents' house for our Sunday School class, Inside Out - perfect two nights away...Blue Baker, icebreakers, sessions, s'mores, more sessions, lots of prayer, 4 mile run, La Bodega, got to see Jamie

Solid Word from Pastor Gregg on Sunday morning as we continue our studies of John and the Holy Spirit - conviction is specific and points us to Christ, guilt is general and heavy, pushing us away from Christ. Cason taught Sunday School and we had a class vision meeting. Made homemade margaritas and watched Moneyball Sunday night.
Lots of time with cubby bear, many reads and repairs of Where is Baby's Bellybutton? (Madeleine's current favorite) eyedrops 3x/day - with her savvy daddy's strategy.

MLK holiday with Cason home - his fourth day home with us, mainly Madeleine. Major to-do list conquering, family errands and a trip to see Miss Kirby Fuller and have a pizza dinner with her family. We watched BU lose to Kansas during the men's basketball game, but all was not lost, I was surprised to be the "tweet of the game" on baylorbears.com.

So that's just a slice-of-life Monday to a Monday as we begin 2012. :)

2012

2012-01-02T23:16:00.000-06:00

As I continue to wade through the hundreds of pictures and our wonderful memories from the month of December, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed when it comes to blogging and documenting things for our little family. We had so much fun! I am feeling quite optimistic about 2012. I always love a fresh start, and the calm of January is always refreshing after the busyness of December.I think Madeleine is excited about this year as well.

A few of my favorite things...

2011-12-14T22:57:00.000-06:00

This Christmas season has been filled with such joy! At 10 days 'til Christmas I can't believe how it has flown. Last Christmas I enjoyed being at home but I was in the newborn fog. This Christmas I feel that our little family has been an active participant in the Advent season.So, a few of my favorite things about Christmas at our house, and some specific to this Christmas in particular...

Having some help with the outside lights:

The way our vintage house looks with vintage lights:

No really...all our lights are hand-me-downs from family and many Christmases past. Each year I think I am going to have to go buy new ones since we inevitably lose a strand or two each Christmas season, but I feel like they did a loaves and fishes number this year.

Handprint Christmas crafts - so treasured by this Mama!

My kitchen at Christmas time - a festive place to bake while all of the Christmas cards watch me from the fridge door. Ha.

Help with inside lights...

Our tree - I added some embellishments to our Walmart star from our first Christmas together as well as some swanky gold ribbon, but I always want to have colored lights. Aside from just being pretty and festive, I feel like colored lights give a tree a certain whimsy and humility - both welcoming qualities to handmade ornaments. :) I have so many memories as a little girl lying on my back under our tree reading books. I hope Madeleine creates similar memories on our window seat (in need of some Christmas throw pillows, no?)

This is my favorite ornament from my childhood. It is from 1979 (my mom's before my parents even were married?) and it always hung on the Deily family tree. It is made out of styrofoam and it is "two turtle doves." One of the doves is missing its head (a cat casualty I'm sure) and I think that dove was entirely missing for awhile. I remember finding the body and being so excited to stick it back on the ornament. Slightly macabre? Anyway, when I was a little, little girl I loved the ornament because the doves' nest is made of some fluffy yellow material and I would very gently touch it to feel how soft it was. I can't imagine why my parents were so willing let it find a new home on our tree. :)

Matterhorn is the Winter version of Fiji. It smells like the Swiss alps, and I can imagine I am well...in the Swiss Alps at Christmas, a la 2004.

Madeleine's growing nativity knowledge - I was thrilled the other day when I just happened to ask her, "Where's baby Jesus?" and she brought him to me. I hadn't drilled her on it at all (like we've been drilling her on "sic 'em bears!" recently - she's almost got it!) but I had talked about the manger scene with her a few times, all the characters and the star...I was shocked she knew which one baby Jesus was. That's all I need for Christmas - really. Now, as excited as she is about baby Jesus, she was not as excited to take a picture with our friend David who was one of the three kings in our Christmas show at church. Between her being up past her bedtime, the crowded atrium at church and David's scary make-up, she was not amused.

Classical Christmas Pandora Station - Bah humbug to Pandora taking away the "folk Christmas" station I so enjoyed last year. This year we have both Indie Christmas and Classical Christmas (among others) but Folk is nowhere to be found. Ah well. Classical has been lovely. You can keep your Mariah Carey (Ally) or other pop hits. (I messed up typing "hits" and the letters were in a different order...oops...kinda true though. :oP) Around Christmas time, my music snobbery goes up a notch. Being in choir most of my life, and a madrigal (medievel/renaissance) choir all through high school exposed me to some beautiful, deep and OLD Christmas music. I also really enjoy Celtic arrangements. So, while I enjoy the occasional "Frosty" or "Let it Snow" I prefer songs like "Lo, how a Rose e'er Blooming," "Still, Still, Still," "In the Bleak Midwinter," "I Saw Three Ships," "The Holly and the Ivy," "Il Est Ne, Le Divin Enfant (He is Born, the Divine Christ Child,)" "Ding Dong Merrily on High" et. al. and some preferably in Latin or French. :) Proof of my madrigal days - we had a "feast" each Christmas where we set up the school cafeteria like a king's banquet hall lit with candles, etc. People would also pay us to come sing at parties. :) True story.

And, last, but certainly not least - babies in footies and babies who get over their king fright at the Christmas show to play peek-a-boo on the car ride home. :)

Tune in next time for Christmas festivities...another favorite but a separate post entirely.

The Advent Jesse Tree

2011-12-07T15:13:00.001-06:00

I love adding a new tradition to our family's Christmas celebration. A couple other ladies and I decided to plan an Advent Jesse Tree ornament swap in order to bring this book into all of our homes. I am so thrilled with how it turned out.

A little background: The Advent Jesse Tree is a devotional book that traces God's plan for redemption and the lineage of Christ from creation all the way to the birth of Christ. It has parallel lessons each day - a kid version and an adult version. I think it is such a logical, historical and interesting way to celebrate Advent. The book has a symbol to correspond with each day's Bible story, and they encourage you to have ornaments to hang on a small tree as a part of each day's lesson.

Rather than make all 25 days myself, I started recruiting women in our Sunday School class to do this together. It was way more cost-effective (and way more fun to see what everyone came up with!) to build these collections together. We began sign-ups in September and I hosted our swap the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

I had Day 1 (the earth) and Day 19 (a silhouette of Bethlehem) and these are the ornaments I came up with:

I think I spent a total of $10 on all of my ornaments. The day of the swap was so much fun. We had the list of which day each person had, and then everyone put their ornaments on my dining room table.

I was blown away by how creative these girls got with their ornaments! I got such a wonderful assortment, and they all did such a great job. Caroline and her husband CARVED their slingshots out of plywood. Susan took on the "stump with a fresh shoot or leaf coming out of it" by using a cinnamon stick, a fake leaf and floral tape to make a perfect symbol for day 13. Bethany's interpretation of a "lion and a lamb" for day 14 was great - a double-sided ornament. Jen's day 25 baby Jesus made of king cake babies and home-made mangers...priceless. I could go on and on, they were all so wonderful, and I know this set will be a treasure in our home for years to come!

I love having our little tree at the kitchen table. It goes perfectly on the placemat Erin made for our table at the HFBC Women's Christmas Banquet.

Madeleine has enjoyed it too!

Little moments

2011-12-04T22:37:00.001-06:00

What a sweet season it has been with Madeleine. Now that I am not doing month-to-month updates (loved 'em but goodness, that was a lot of work!) I want to write down a few things before I forget the magic of this time.

I have been truly blessed with this little girl, no longer a baby, she is growing so much every day! Her personality continues to develop into all the unique and beautiful attributes that God has given her. I know this is just the beginning of getting to know her, and I can't believe it! We were at Lowes the other day (yes, again, buying some fuses for our Christmas lights - I felt so...electrical) and I just looked at this smiling little girl waving to everyone she could see. It was all I could do to keep from tearing up right there in front of the ceiling fans. In that moment I told God, "Lord, if you take her tomorrow we will have already been blessed too much." I meant it. If we are never blessed with another child, we will have been blessed too much.

Sure, I have the days where she pulls the ornaments off the tree or poops in the bathtub. I have the days when cutting teeth make her fussy, and she pulls her shoes and socks off several times. She is still a toddler, but, oh what a special toddler! I love seeing God's fingerprints all over her little life and what a blessing she already is to so many.

One thing I am elated about: she is starting to cuddle. Not a lot, and she has to be really tired, but I'll take it. Anyone that knows Madeleine knows she is much too busy to cuddle, ever since she was a newborn. Just...not a cuddler, despite being very affectionate, if that makes any sense. Tonight I went into her room, as I do a lot of nights, to put a blanket over her. She must've been sleeping lightly because she woke up. I tried to scurry out, but it was too late. She was up and fussing, so I went in, got her and lambie and sat in the glider with her. Not only did she cuddle, she fell asleep! I could've sat there for hours. Cason came to check on us, and I said "Go get the camera!!"

I love that last one. That's when she changed positions, and I thought we'd woken her up - Cason caught my expression!Here are a few things about our Madeleine that I never, ever want to forget.

She is fearless. We were setting up Christmas lights when our neighbors' German shepherd puppy came bounding across the street. He ran straight to Madeleine and started licking all over her face. She stood there and giggled the whole time. He ran away and she chased him until he came back for more kisses.
She is friendly. I alluded to this earlier. She loves running errands and charming everyone she comes in contact with. I had a woman in the stamp aisle of Hobby Lobby talking to her and telling me how she is waiting for grandchildren. I had a checker at HEB tell me how big she is, and how she has been watching her grow up. She waves and smiles at everyone, and I love that I have a little icebreaker that helps me talk to more people when I am out and about.
She is flexible. She continues to adapt to whatever her crazy parents want to do. Two nights in a hotel room with her parents and grandparents in Waco? Sure. Two nights in Plano and two nights in Denton for Thanksgiving? No problem. Miss a morning nap because we are seeing family? Oh well, no major meltdown.
She is funny. She loves to laugh and make us laugh. She has a favorite game with an owl pillow that Ms. Emily made her for her birthday. She will hold it up in front of our faces while we say "whoooo - whoooo" behind it. When she is ready, she will pull it down (modified peek-a-boo?) and just giggle that it is her parents behind the mask making those sounds. When she is feelin especially silly or excited, she will walk around waving both hands, saying "whoa whoa whoa whao!" with a big smile.
She will do lots of performing - growling, smacking her lips, pointing to her tongue, ear, hand, bellybutton, various objects in the room, types of food etc. on command. "Madeleine, where's your tongue?" She's great at following verbal directions and responding to things we say, even though she can't verbalize a ton yet. "Madeleine, go get lambie!" "Madeleine, there are cheerios on your table if you want them." "Madeleine, where's Nana? Where's Pop?" (points)
She typically takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap, each about an hour and a half long. She sleeps from about 8:30p-7:30a. She does something I call a "fake wake" around 6:30 or 6:45 where she wakes up fussy for about five minutes but goes back to sleep for about one more cycle.
Patience is not a virtue she has yet - especially when it comes to us getting her milk out and pouring it into a cup. I wonder when it will click with her that we are, in fact, preparing it for her. Oooo that girl can whine about her food. When she sees food she wants or is especially excited about, she says "MMMMMMMMMM!!!" emphatically and enthusiastically.
For the past 6 weeks she has loved green beans. Loves them. You'd think they were french fries. This works out great because we had bags and bags in our freezer from my grandparents' garden we just hadn't gotten around to eating yet. We've made our way through all the bags. I know this is a phase as well (I'm already sensing some tastes changing) but I have been giving her as many as she will eat. She also loves bananas. She knows where the pictures of bananas are in all of her books, and I have to hide the bananas on our counter under a towel, or she will want one whenever she goes in the kitchen: "Ah-na-na! Ah-na-na!"

Thank you, Lord, for blessing our family with this sweet girl. We are so, so grateful for her.

2011 Thankfulness

2011-11-24T20:19:00.001-06:00

I've seen lots of Facebook posts and blogs of all these people disciplined enough to post 30 days of thankfulness - way to go, guys, but I just don't have the time or discipline to keep up with all that. I have so much to be thankful for - it's overwhelming, and I could go way back in time and share specific things I have been blessed with throughout my life, but I decided to focus on five things I am thankful for specifically in 2011.

ESL - It is a sweet, sweet thing to feel like you are serving exactly where the Lord has called you in a season. I had been praying about this for awhile, and I wanted to use some of my time at home to serve in a ministry somewhere outside our Sunday School class. Houston's First Baptist has an amazing ministry through their Faith Center in Spring Branch. Benevolence, a clothes closet and food pantry, ESL classes and more - it is quite an operation. There are hundreds of ESL students that benefit from this ministry. My class is comprised of anywhere from 6-15 adults depending on the week, and I am so proud of them and their willingness to learn. I love spending time with them, and while it isn't always easy to get us there on Thursdays, it is always worth it.

Inside Out - In March we left our previous Sunday School class Veritas and began a new class called Inside Out. Cason and I had been deeply ingrained in that community as he'd served as a teacher for a couple years, and I had various roles as well. The Lord blessed our class and we were growing and growing. It was time to multiply. Our friends the Saxes were going to be the directors, and we signed on as the teacher couple. A few other couples from Veritas signed on and off we went. It was really hard, but looking back at the last eight months, we have seen God's faithfulness over and over, and I couldn't be happier with where we are. It's so neat to see another "flavor" of young marrieds as the Lord has already galvanized this group and given it a unique identity.

My new role - Being a stay-at-home mom has had its ups and downs, but I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to be with Madeleine day in and day out as she changes so quickly. After three and a half years of a relatively easy marriage, Cason and I have had to work harder in our new roles as parents and really understanding where each person is coming from as well as taking time to really connect with one another.

Family in town - Many of our family is not in town, but I am so grateful for those who are - six different family households. This allows us to see many family members much more frequently. Madeleine and Granna days are every Tuesday - this is great for them because they get time to play, and it is great for me because I get to run errands or hide in the study and get some work done. Also, I am thrilled that Julianne moved back to Houston after graduating from Baylor. She has a wonderful marketing job downtown and swanky townhome in Montrose. It's so great to have a sister close by! We are working on Liz as she has a Chevron internship in Houston this coming summer, so...hooray for Deilys, Barnhills and Gajdicas all being in Houston!

Accountability - My sweet accountability group has been so dear to me this year - Jodie, Ally and Brandi are lights in my life that bring me joy, challenge me and encourage me in my walk with the Lord. I need to get a picture of just the four of us, but until I do, an Olive Garden logo will have to suffice - that's where we spend a few hours every other Tuesday night. :)

Baylor Homecoming

2011-11-22T00:41:00.001-06:00

November is sneaking away from me! I can't let the month end without giving an account of our sweet time in Waco. I won't go on a soapbox about how special Baylor is to our family and why, but just know that it is. I have only missed Baylor Homecoming weekend twice in my life. Once was my junior year of high school - it was a Region Choir clinic and concert. My second time to miss it was last fall. You see, I was having a baby. :) Madeleine came on the Sunday of Homecoming last year, so this was her first time to go. She has already been to Waco/Baylor many times for being only one, but Homecoming is a special weekend.

"Will you not, as a loyal student of dear old Baylor, lay aside for a few days the usual cares of life, come back to your alma mater, renew former associations and friendships, and catch the Baylor spirit again?" - Samuel Palmer Brooks, 1909

So we arrived on Friday afternoon to a lunch with our life-long friend Anna who is currently a senior at Baylor. She also wrote this article for one of her classes. We had no idea it would end up on the front page of the Homecoming edition of the Lariat. We told Madeleine she must be a very special little bear to have her first Homecoming memorialized that way. :) That's a picture of my dad and I at my second Homecoming.

After lunch, Cason took Mads to the hotel (we shared a room with my parents and lived to tell about it!) and I hurried to campus for some meetings. I am on the Alumni Advisory Board for my beloved BRH Choir, and we spent some time meeting for that, then practicing for Singspiration, which is basically like a campus-wide worship service celebrating many different styles of music and worship. It's a wonderful event (of many!) with which to kick off the weekend. I was so honored to sing in the alumni choir and be on the worship team.

After Singspiration, Mads grabbed a quick nap in the stroller on our way to the pep rally/bonfire. I was shocked she slept through the music from the band, all the pep rally music blasting from the speakers as well as the fireworks show. After the bonfire was lit, she decided to wake up so we could take a few pictures.

We made it back to the hotel before my parents (role reversal!) and got her down fairly easily. She had a wonderful night in the hotel, waking up happy and ready to head back to campus for the parade! I decided to not attempt the Tridelt breakfast this year - something's gotta give when kids come into play!

She napped from the hotel to campus, so Cason stayed in the car with her for a little while. The weather was crisp and beautiful - perfect, perfect Homecoming weather. When Madeleine did come to the parade, she got to play with her due date twin, Kade, and her sweet friend Miss Emma Grace. It is quite difficult to get two this age to sit still for a photo!

After the parade, we went to admire all the floats up close. They are truly amazing - so much work goes into them! Oddly enough, I spent the most time out at float when I was a senior. We had a fun lunch at Fuddrucker's with friends to celebrate Kade and Madeleine's birthdays - I love in this pic how the babies are looking anywhere but the camera.

After lunch we headed to the FBC Waco gym to hang out with our BSB group (our 9 families that my parents went to school with all the other parents etc., basically our other extended family.) I especially love this picture of Madeleine with my parents. Precious!

Annnnnd then we went to the stadium to check out the tailgating scene. So festive and fun. Madeleine was happy in her stroller with her pouch. We loved getting more time to visit with friends!

But alas, to the game we did not go. We didn't cheer our Bears on to victory in person, but from our hotel room (again, the whole baby compromise thing.) Madeleine was such a trooper all day long - catnapping in the car here and there and letting lots of different people hold her, so we decided to make a few stops in Waco as well as pick up to-go from Food for Thought, head back to the hotel and let her chill out and run around and play. She especially loved her bath.

Thankfully, she went down again easily and slept wonderfully that night. No one told her about Daylight Savings Time though, so we didn't really get to take advantage of that. ;) She "helped" us pack up the cars, and we met up with friends at Lolita's for breakfast burritos. Dad and Cason went back to Houston, and mom, Mads and I went north to Dallas, but that's another story. We were so thrilled to share Homecoming with Madeleine this year!

Family Policy

2011-11-15T22:35:00.001-06:00

I think Nordstrom management and I would be fast friends. I've seen this circulating online, and I believe this is from a previous year, but I love this:

Not trying to hate on Christmas, I'm just a little legalistic with my holidays. I can't put up fall until the autumnal solstice or the first day of October. I can't put up Christmas until after the last bite of pumpkin pie. I just know for me, I'll enjoy it more if I wait. I won't even buy peppermint mocha coffee creamer until after Thanksgiving. If I put up Christmas on Nov. 1, I'll be sick of all the decor by the time Christmas really comes, and I DO want to celebrate poor Thanksgiving. Maybe I just feel like someone needs to stick up for Thanksgiving and buck retail industry that puts up Christmas as soon as Halloween is over, or earlier, ahem, Highland Village, ahem.Anyway, I do anticipate Christmas. I hum along with the tunes in the stores (as a choir girl I was always used to the music beginning in October) and begin planning, but decorate we do not until after the fourth Thursday in November. Just as I was excited about Madeleine's first de facto Halloween, I can't wait to share Christmas with her. Here's our family on Christmas day last year - she was just about 8 weeks old:

Now I know she's still too young to "get" mostly everything, but our trip to Lowes today made me so excited. She was in awe of the trees, the inflatables suspended from the ceiling and the big man himself. This one happened to be singing and dancing.

Please note the tragedy of Madeleine's attire. She is in a sundress without shoes on (didn't want to fight that battle for this quick trip) and it is mid-November. Sigh. Oh Houston. And poor Thanksgiving again, this post was supposed to be defending it and rallying behind it, yet all the photos have to do with Christmas. Hmmm...well here is a peanuts greeting and my dad carving a turkey in 2009. :)

Rearrange and Repurpose

2011-11-11T22:44:00.001-06:00

I've been meaning to post about this since...oh....September. Just didn't happen. Anyway, I've been so pleased with this change I thought it was worth mentioning. So before we had Madeleine, I was the naive/ignorant almost-mom that said "Oh we are not going to change our house that much for her. She will have her room and her toys will stay in there. We may have a small basket in the den, but that's it. IF she ever has a playroom it will be when she is older and has big girl toys like a table or a play kitchen etc." Well newsflash, toys don't stay in their room, and I really didn't like the den being a wreck all the time and feeling compelled to tidy it during every nap. Obvious conclusion: let's make a playroom! Our house was built in 1963 so we have the traditional formal living and dining in the front of the house. Prior to making the playroom, those rooms weren't used as often as the rest of the house, but I was always still so thankful for some extra space and the opportunity for flexibility. So, here's our "formal area" before:

We certainly aren't the first people to think of this idea - we have several friends in older homes who have logically done the same thing. I am thankful for such a deep living room - we were able to fit our whole dining room set toward the back while maintaining a sitting area in the front.Here's our "formal area" after - now with three very purposeful spaces:

I love it. I feel it is such a luxury to have a playroom. We added no square feet to our home but I feel like it is so much bigger! We also opted to not extend any walls or put in French doors between the new dining room and the playroom because Madeleine can really use so much of that area during the day, and I just like the open feeling of it all. It's a perfect place for her to play while I take care of kitchen chores, and it just puts her right next to me. I didn't have to buy any furniture. I think I'll eventually buy some baskets that fit in the bottom of those Ikea shelves, but for now we just repurposed furniture. I did add things on the wall - the melted crayons from pinterest, some framed scrapbook paper (wanted bright but not too juvenile since people still see this room right when they walk in), a framed poster from Hobby Lobby, magnetic panel from Ikea and the embroidered ABCs my mom did for me when I was a baby. I think we "added a room" for less than $100. Cason also swapped out the flushmount light with the chandelier.

I love it when Cason cleans up her room for many reasons, but my favorite is when he whimsically arranges some of her toys. (Like Dwight did to the knick knacks on Michael's desk on the Office. Ha.) Case in (or Cason?) point: see the two little birds on her glass table? The yellow one was mine when I was a baby. It tweets when you shake it. The little white one was his when he was a baby. It squeaks when you squeeze it. For weeks those two birds were always together, usually on that table, but he always put them side by side.

And, during the day, I have no problem if it looks like this all day long - I won't touch it.

We only pick it up once during the day - right before bed. :)

The first de facto Halloween

2011-11-09T23:25:00.000-06:00

Madeleine's first de jure Halloween was last year, but she was only one week old. I was in the newborn fog, and since her due date was November 3, we didn't have any sort of Halloween outfit for her. We definitely stayed home, and all I wanted to do was show her off to the trick-or-treaters that rang our doorbell. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, "We have the most beautiful baby in here! Wanna see?" So, this year we really celebrated. Growing up, my family didn't celebrate Halloween traditionally, and jury's still out on how we acknowledge the holiday in our own home. My current thought is if it is fun and whimsical and not spooky, it's okay with me. :) So, when we were home we listened to Pandora's "Halloween Party" station which played classics like "Monster Mash," "Purple People-Eater," and "Love Potion No. 9." We began the day with a trip to HEB in our pajamas. Well, not entirely but kind of. See, we were supposed to bring the punch to our first Halloween gathering of the day, and we needed to go get the ingredients. I certainly didn't want to put Madeleine in an outfit between her pajamas and her costume, so I just put her little puma track jacket over her monkey jammies. I wore the sweatpants and shirt I slept in, but I put a jean jacket over my shirt. It was a silly and fun way to start the morning. :) I tried to time leaving the house for our party with Madeleine's morning nap, and it worked out great. Here's my little bumblebee snoozing in the car in front of Ms. Tiffany's house. (Cute bee costume courtesy of Madeleine's Nana!)

It took her a little while to "get" her costume, but surprisingly, the antennae and wings didn't bother her much. I decided to not fight the shoe battle that day (at least at the Fullers' house) because I figured she was wearing enough extra for one day. It cracks me up that she will wear wings and antennae but she hates her bows. Look at little ladybug Avery! Can y'all believe how big she is?

It was quite a zoo in there. We had 11 kids running around. Madeleine enjoyed patting Graham McCord's wolf costume. I think she thought he was a life-sized lovey. Preggo Tiff looked so cute with her little Captain Americas, and Annalee had her adorable Wolf and Red Riding Hood!

We tried to get a group shot of the kids. I think I took about 20 pictures. These were the most comprehensive two I could manage:

After that craziness, we changed them out of their costumes and let them enjoy the Halloween-themed lunch goodies. Each mama brought a different treat!

We had such a great time. We went home and she napped, then she played ghostbusters for a little while with her favorite sherbet container hat and a flashlight. Well, maybe she didn't play ghostbusters, but I like to think she did.

Then, she got dressed up again for First Fest. HFBC has a really fun carnival they put on for kiddos, and we met Cason there since he went straight from work. That's a big shadow for a little bee!

I love how she doesn't miss a step with her wings being wider than she's used to as she navigates the porch. I also kinda love that she manages to put rotten pumpkin in her mouth while her mom is distracted while swatting mosquitos away.Madeleine really enjoyed the toddler room - walking on bubble wrap with Ethan, sitting in the bouncy area while Aubrey, Jemma and Everett ran all around, playing with (ahem eating) sidewalk chalk...haha. She got to see Violet the ladybug and Mr. David through the window! For some reason she LOVED watching the big kids play that high striker game where you slam the hammer down and the little piece goes up to hit the bell. I think that was the only time she sat still the whole night.

Madeleine's First Birthday Party - part two - the fun!

2011-11-09T11:30:00.001-06:00

Alright, so now that we set the stage for the birthday party, here's where the real fun starts! Below are several pictures from the party - I wish I could post all the cute ones, but these will have to do. :)She was excited to greet her guests:

She was thrilled to have her Nana and Pop, her Granna and Grandad, her AJ and Aunt Liz as well as Linnet all in attendance:

My cousin Katie took a break from the craziness of law school - she and her husband Jeff came to celebrate with us - as well as her Aunt Liz's boyfriend Matt - all the way from Austin!

Our little family:

It's my party, I'll eat a stick if I want to:

More fun friends - Micah held Aubrey's hand during the prayer...then kept holding it, and Micah and Archer went through no-man's-land behind our garage to play "zoo animals" behind our gate - Archer was a tiger and Micah was a bear. Sidewalk chalk was a hit!

She did great hanging with the big kids:

She got loved on by everyone, including one of her favorite babysitters and our sweet life-long friend Sara Beth:

And she did great with singing happy birthday and enjoying her cupcake. She liked it, but she was pretty indifferent toward the cupcake. Her daddy helped her a bit with the icing application on her face.

Rett did a great job with the scavenger hunt ;)

And our little chunk was tuckered out after a day of celebrating.

Happy first birthday, Madeleine! We love you so!

Madeleine's First Birthday Party - part one - Woodland Animals

2011-11-08T00:25:00.000-06:00

I am so super behind on blogging, but too many important family things have happened that I do not want to forget. About two weeks ago we had Madeleine's first birthday party. It was exactly as I'd hoped! Our backyard was filled with friends and family, and it was a simple (in appearance!) celebration of our sweet little girl! My sweet friend Ally at Little Bears Designs did her birthday party invite. It was just perfect.

When I was brainstorming themes for her party, I knew I wanted something cute (but not too girly) but also something revolved around a theme that I didn't "waste" a year on, activities-wise. Let me explain. First I was thinking circus, but that would be way more fun when she is older; she and her guests can do more with that theme later on. We all know owls are in, so correspondingly I'd seen some cute ideas including a variety of forest animals. Our backyard is fairly wooded/shaded, so I thought it would be a nice backdrop. With an October birthday, we really lucked out with nice weather in Houston.This is how we set the stage for her celebration:First an owl to greet the guests and usher them to the backyard.

We had two tables for serving. The one on the left had our cupcakes and drinks (punchbowl and ice bucket with little water bottles and juice boxes.) The garland behind it was inspired by a pinterest find - it's a take on the progressing month-by-month baby pictures that are often showcased at first birthday parties. I found 24 of my favorite pictures where Madeleine's expression was particularly cute or funny (sometimes just realistic as I had a dramatic crying face on there as well!) and hung them all up with party hats. The cupcakes were a mix of regular iced ones with a topper and some owl ones. (Special thanks to Julianne for helping me assemble the garland to Liz and my mom for the cupcakes. I have a great family!)

The other table was for all the food. We had chips, pretzel rods, carrots and dip, fruit kebabs (not pictured), little acorn snacks (thank you pinterest and Cason for assembling 88 of them the night before! What a good daddy!) and a chicken nugget tray from Chick-fil-A. (Thanks Bill and Trish for the nugget tray and all the other help you gave us!) We hung a banner behind it as well as some little animals and toadstools I freehanded and cut out of cardstock based on the invitation. The "floral arrangements" are just branches from a ligustrum in my yard. (Special thanks to Ally for getting the letters and the backings of the cupcake toppers cut from her silhouette, as well as providing some personalized "Happy Birthday Madeleine" files for the toppers!)

Madeleine has a lot of "older friends" meaning they are 2 and 3. Ha. When I first started planning her party, I worried about them having enough to do activity-wise. I certainly didn't want them to be bored. :) I quickly abandoned that pressure though, thinking that this was still a one-year-old's birthday party and I needed to treat it as such. I did have some supplemental activities though for the older kids to enjoy with their parents in case they got bored - sidewalk chalk, bubbles and little nature scavenger hunts on which they could put stickers as they found pretty simple items in our yard (i.e. grass.) :)

I did a few more cardstock animals and toadstools:

And homemade trail mix for party favors (yes, some stickers say "no nuts" just in case!)

I got the printables for the stickers for free on pinterest - there was a free download I saw after I had already bought the clip art package for the invite. (It was only $5 on etsy.) This website had some really cute options to use, and we definitely made the most of them.It was a lot of work, but I am very much into the hand-made parties. I had a great model growing up - my mom went all out for our parties, not necessarily in an extravagant, materialistic way, but in a creative and thoughtful way. She would take us to the library and we would check out "birthday party books" (no blogs back then!) and decide together which theme might be the most fun that year. She would make beautiful invitations, treasure hunts with rhyming clues and put together lots of fun crafts and games for our guests, all revolving around the theme we'd chosen. I have always been inspired by the way she made us feel special on our birthdays, and it was so much fun to do the same for Madeleine. It also made me appreciate Mom even more (as the rest of my parenting experience has!) Birthday parties are a lot of work, but they are also a lot of fun. Here's me in my Dorothy dress (handmade by mom) for my 6th birthday.

Now, on to the fun of the actual party!!

"I, I always believed in futures, I hoped for better in November."

2011-11-01T21:11:00.000-05:00

That's a line from one of my favorite albums of all time - Jimmy Eat World's Futures. I do love November, and I am quite excited to see it again this year. October certainly wasn't bad at all, but we can always hope for better months right?October was good, but BUSY.
I was looking at my calendar the other day and just couldn't believe it. Here it was quantitatively:
5 baby showers (helped host 3)
4 ESL classes taught
3 birthday parties (hosted 1)
2 trips to the zoo
4 small groups (hosted 1 world series watch party)
1 family photo shoot
2 weekends hosting out-of-town guests
3 meals hosting friends and family
6 meals out with friends and family
1 dinner/play at the Alley Theatre
7 world series games
1 trip to the pumpkin patch
1 men's retreat attended by Cason
1 service project
4 Baylor games watched
4 Pinterest projects completed
2 Halloween events
Other activities...
EQUALS OCTOBER

Mercy.Goals for November? Slow down, be productive and purposeful with time, finish Christmas shopping? Overambitious?And above all, be thankful.

Happy ONE YEAR birthday, Madeleine!

2011-10-24T23:36:00.000-05:00

Tutu courtesy of Miss Tiffany!

Dear Madeleine,
Well here we are! One year old! I cannot believe that one year ago today, this was happening! I feel like the fun is just beginning. Don't get me wrong, your early baby months were precious, but I am loving your personality and how much you are growing and learning. I know the best is yet to come!Where to begin...we have been loving October. Generally it's been cooler, and we've been outside a lot. You started really walking shortly after turning 11 months. That means you had to start wearing shoes! You didn't take too kindly to them at first, but your Granna really helped civilize you since she's over here every Tuesday, and Daddy and I have been getting you to wear them out in public too. You were moved to a walker Sunday School class this Sunday. Lots of changes! You also look so cute in a little clip bow, but most days we can't get you to keep one in. Even when you can't feel something on your head, you do regular "bow sweeps" to see if someone sneaked one in. Ah well. :)

We have been to the zoo just about every week this month. You continue to love it, and you are definitely a different baby than when we went in the spring. Here are some pictures of you at the zoo lately.

Here's a picture of you and your Daddy in the backyard - you also love your swing in the front!

Food-wise, you are a champ. We abandoned bottles about two weeks ago, and last week we got you on straight whole milk. What a big girl! You are great at using your straw, but it is still surreal for us to see you casually walking around our house, holding a cup and drinking from a straw. We do a double-take - where's our baby?! You are over baby food - too independent to have anyone else feed you with a spoon. You like pouches still, and feeding yourself. Granna found a way to get you to eat your baby food - she mixed it really thick with your baby cereal and put a spoon of the mixture on your high chair tray. You picked it up and put it right in your mouth! This is how we are trying to get through our remaining baby food without it going to waste. You love lasagna and scrambled eggs with add-ins like squash, little smokies and zucchini.

You still love to explore, preferring household items (and sometimes trash) to your playroom full of toys. You also love to put your hands in Mommy's mouth and explore that too. Here are some pictures of you playing in the bathroom trash (Mommy checked to make sure there wasn't anything too yucky in there) and you love our Frankenstein from Nana. You frequently say "hi " to him and love to pet his hair. You also love to find the steamer basket in the cabinet - it fascinates you!

You have added "ball" and "cheese" to your vocabulary as well as "uh-oh." Sometimes "uh-oh" sounds like "uh-uh" or "oh-oh." You continue to respond to things your Daddy and I say, such as "Madeleine, where's your milk?" (you'll look for your cup) or "Madeleine your cheerios are on the table," (you'll go to your table in the playroom and grab some) etc. Granna also taught you "Gimme five!" Very cute sweet girl. You pooped in the tub about five times this month. You had never done that before, so...bravo, and thanks for that surprise. ;) We continue to love your personality and falling in love with who God made you to be. You still have that tummy!

We had such a celebratory weekend with your party (party post coming soon!) that we didn't do much for your birthday today - I took you to Starbucks for your first Starbucks drink. ;) Mommy had a pumpkin spice latte while you had chocolate milk. The rest of the day was spent simply playing while I thanked God for you over and over in my heart. Your molars must've also written your birthday on their calendars because they are definitely pushing through.

Last, but certainly not least, here is a poem your Granna wrote for you to celebrate your birthday. I love how it captures exactly where you are right now.

Clap those hands
And "give me 5"
A one-year-old Madeleine
Has arrived!
Eight teeth sparkle
With her heart-warming grin,
She's a real cutie
Even with food on her chin!
Laughing in her tree swing,
Walking in her shoes,
Keeps herself going with a
Twice-a-day snooze.
Opens up everything,
Takes it all out,
Finds strange things
And puts them in her mouth.
Looking at books
And playing with toys,
She is her parents'
Pride and joy.
A miracle from God,
Special from the start,
Sweet Madeleine
You warm our heart!
Love, Granna
We love you, sweet girl!
Love,Mommy

For a look back at Madeleine's growth, here are her previous month's posts:
1 month
2 months
3 months
4 months
5 months
6 months
7 months
8 months
9 months
10 months
11 months

Madeleine and the Magical Onesie

2011-10-23T22:24:00.000-05:00

In honor of the Rangers playing in the World Series as well as Madeleine turning one tomorrow, I thought I would share with you a little baby phenomenon. She has a magical onesie that she has literally been wearing since her first week of life. She got it from our friends the Scotts - Kade Scott is her due date twin, but Madeleine was 10 days early, and Kade was one week late. Anyway...see, when Madeleine arrived, the Rangers went to the World Series a few days after. These first pictures were taken LAST October.

Madeleine looked so cute it in, even when she was a little too small for it (the size is 3-6 months, by the way) and she wore it more when she was older. Here she is at almost five months:

Then again at almost eight months:

Almost nine months:

Almost eleven months - doing her thing and raking the A/C intake grate - loves it.

And tonight, game 4 of the World Series, loving on her Daddy and cheering the Rangers on again on the eve of her first birthday.

She has grown out of many onesies, but we just can't seem to box this one up - always fits!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-12T15:39:00.000-05:00

I have been in a bit of a bloggy slump lately. I literally have five posts waiting to be written, and for some reason I have no motivation. Well, I had no motivation until we went to the pumpkin patch today with about ten other families from our Sunday School class, and I am just giddy with the pictures we got. I'm sure the ones Natalie got of everyone's kids are even better, but for now I'll post my amateur ones!!I love seeing the progression. The first picture was taken right after we arrived and she had woken up from a morning nap in the car. Not so sure about this.

Oh here's my little buddy. I love spending my days with her.

What are all these orange things?!

I've totally got this figured out. Here's one just my size!

What else can I explore?

We tried to get all the kids on the wagon, but that didn't happen. This is the best I got with four - Violet, Madeleine, Hannah and Laurel. There are 10-15 kids that were there that are NOT in this picture. So much for that idea.

This is so exciting!

She looks like such a big girl with her bow, jeans and tennis shoes (on loan from Hannah!)

Happy 11-month birthday, Madeleine!

2011-09-27T20:46:00.000-05:00

Dear Madeleine,

Mommy is a little late on this post because we were very busy on your 11-month birthday! What a month - per usual I feel like it has flown by. You are such a busy girl - here's a little bit about your 11th month.

Pretty soon after you celebrated 10 months, you took your first steps! We were in Denton at Nana and Pop's for Labor Day weekend, and we were watching our Baylor Bears play TCU. You took about three steps across the rug in their living room. We were so proud of you (and the Bears for winning that game!) You have recently started taking about ten steps in a row, but you still crawl as your primary form of transportation. That weekend you also explored Nana and Pop's house, visited the Palamaras and Rachel and spent some time in the pool with your cousins and Aunt Heather. Yes, the center of attention once more.

You continue to remain active and squirmy! You used to just roll back and forth when we tried to change your diaper, but now you do a straight sit-up. Ninety degrees, up you go. It's funny, you don't really have the abs to show for it. :) Sometimes you don't even have the patience to finish your bottle sitting in our laps; we let you stand up in front of us and hold it for you for those last few ounces.

You are an active explorer in our home. You love to crawl around and lead Mommy on adventures - exploring the contents of cabinets, looking at all of our shoes in the closet, finding remnants of meals past underneath your high chair and continuing to look for the cats. You are so good at finding something new in a room, quickly picking up on what wasn't there before.

One of the biggest battles of the month was some sleep regression/redistribution. You started having such a hard time going down for your afternoon nap - I couldn't figure it out. Many days (for about two weeks) I had to push you in your stroller around the house to get you to calm down and fall asleep for your afternoon nap. Miss Sara even had to do it at nighttime once when she was babysitting. When you finally would fall asleep in your stroller, I would push the stroller into your bedroom, close the door and let you sleep for a couple hours. I couldn't figure it out, but it was horrible. One day it took us 3.5 hours to get you to sleep - I'd let you talk then cry then I'd comfort you, then push you in the stroller but it didn't work, then take you out and let you play but you were rubbing your eyes and crying, then I'd give you a bottle, put you in bed, scream, then back in the stroller until FINALLY you went to sleep. The best part of this season is that it is over now. The key (per a suggestion from Miss Laura) was waking you up from your morning nap after about 45 minutes. This ensured that you would be tired and ready to go down in the afternoon, then in the afternoon you sleep two or two and a half hours. While I hate to go in there and wake you up, the longer afternoon nap is worth it! Here's a picture of you right after you woke up in your stroller. Rough.

Madeleine, you are so communicative. You say "mama," "dada," "hi" (all the time), "bye," "Nana" and "banana" ("uh-nuh-nuh.) You are also starting to experiment with other words and sounds. We were blowing bubbles the other day, and Mommy kept saying "bubbles, bubbles" and you would repeat "buh-buh-buh-buh." You say hi and wave your sweet hand (more like a fingers pinching together) all the time. When we see people at church, from your grocery cart seat, when you see friends and family; you just love to greet people. Your toys and the cats are the recipients of your frequent greetings as well. So sweet of you. You like to do all of your tricks all in a row too - you will wave and say "hi," then you will do your motorboat sound with your finger to your lips, then you will clap. It's so cute. You are great with verbal understanding too. We can say "Madeleine, clap your hands," without demonstrating, and you will do it. You are learning so many commands about looking out the window, come to Mommy/Daddy, no, etc. etc. Granna taught you how to find a person's nose and how to respond to "sit down" in the bathtub.You love to dance, mostly to the tunes of your teapot or puppy. We just saw you one day, bouncing along to the music, completely unprompted. Of course we now encourage you to keep on dancing because it is so much fun. You also love that toy that has little animals that pop up. Maybe you've got a smidge of your dad's OCD tendencies - if those animals are up, you MUST put them down.

This month has allowed you time with all of your great grandparents, and you've gotten to see some of them twice! With your parent commitment ceremony, a Denton visit, a dinner at Linnet's and a trip up to Plano, you have been blessed with some sweet time with these family members who love you so much! Great Grandma Carole even babysat you while we all went to Shay's wedding. You love that sweet and special time, and I love that you are building relationships with them.

Thanks for another wonderful month, Miss Madeleine. I can't believe you are almost one!!

Love,
Mommy

How very pinteresting

2011-09-23T15:28:00.001-05:00

Following the masses, I have really been enjoying pinterest. I've only been on the website a few weeks, but what a resource! I promised myself that I had to justify the time I spend browsing and re-pinning by actually doing some of the things I saw, so without further ado, here is my first Pinterest review. The first thing I did was some melted crayon art for Madeleine's playroom. I really loved it, and it was so easy, especially since I made it in the peak of the August temps of 110+. The sun did its thing and the crayons just melted - no heat gun required. The darker crayons melted very quickly, and the orange/yellow crayons took much longer. I guess my science teachers were right about darker colors absorbing heat faster. (I do have another set I did with a heat gun - I'll sell em to you if you want them - way cheaper than the etsy price! Let me know.)

After the crayon art, I tried the oh-so-easy DIY dry erase board. I did all of this in-house - took a frame I already had and put scrapbook paper I already had in it. Hung it in the laundry room, and voila! We are both enjoying this, however, I like how I can cross things off the list by simply using my index finger and wiping it off the glass. My sweet husband still likes crossing the item off for the simple satisfaction of it. I go back and erase his crossed-out items. Ha.

I tried the make-your-own coffee creamer in the pumpkin spice flavor. I've really enjoyed it. It is certainly not as sweet as your favorite coffeemate flavor (mine are cinnamon vanilla cream and hazlenut) but I liked knowing that the ingredients were simple and natural, and I wasn't just drinking a bunch of preservatives. I am looking forward to trying other flavors as well.

The next thing I tried was this shrimp recipe. I was excited because I had never cooked with shrimp. I know, I know, such an amateur. It was really good, but it wasn't really worth it. I wasn't a huge fan of shelling and "de-veining" the shrimp (aka pulling out their digestive system.) The shrimp also made out house stinky. So for me, cooking with shrimp, not worth it; I'll just stick to ordering it elsewhere. If you enjoy cooking with shrimp, you should try the recipe. :)

Another recipe that was a bigger hit was the autumn chopped salad. Super easy and quite good. The only thing you really have to chop up is the pears. Everything else you pretty much dump in the bowl. My kinda salad. This one was a big hit with Cason too.

Last but not least, I attached a magazine holder to the back of my bathroom cabinet door. I just used those adhesive strips that come with command hooks. It holds my hair dryer, my curling iron and my straightener. The magazine holders were 4/$2.99 at IKEA, so very marvelous and inexpensive.

One more thing - I almost forgot since I forgot to take a picture. I made these stuffed mushrooms, and they were delicious. Long live Pinterest!

Quite a Weekend

2011-09-21T18:59:00.000-05:00

I don't typically do "calendaristic" posts. We did this, then we did this, etc., but this weekend just merits one because we had two big events. Well maybe three if you count the tea party, but I'll get to that in a minute. Friday night we didn't do much of anything except clean/rest a bit before we hit the ground running on Saturday. I missed sewing with all my little seamstress friends at Erin's, which I hated, but I just had too much to do. Saturday morning started with a tea party for Madeleine and her Daddy. These pictures make me so happy. I just love these two, and they love each other so much!

Cason headed to our class' service project - assembling parachute packs we all bought to send to Colombia. The packs have all kinds of biblical tools and literature - what a good idea - to just drop them from the sky into remote areas! I didn't get to go since Madeleine really needed an am nap, and I had a few more chores, but it went really well.We packed up and went to Waco!! One of Cason's co-workers gave us his season tickets, so we were going to meet up with the Scotts and let the babies enjoy some good football! Season tickets are the way to go since they come with a personal parking space right by the stadium and free dinner beforehand. We got to see lots of our friends, and Madeleine was really good. She clapped when all the fans clapped and seemed quite interested in everything going on. She got so excited she started spitting (another one of her "tricks" - see picture below!) We didn't stay the whole time since we were with her and were driving back that night, but she did so well, just getting squirmy at the end.

Sunday we went to church and then came home for an afternoon of some more prep before Madeleine's parent commitment service. In our church, we don't have infant baptism, and this service places more responsibility on the parents as far as raising the child in a godly home and committing ourselves to fostering her spiritual growth. The Bible verse we picked for her was one we'd prayed over her since before she was born:

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have know the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 3:14-15

Our family, who we were so excited to have in attendance, was thrilled to see Madeleine's photo as "the" parent commitment slide photo. Haha. She's so cute, why not? :) Madeleine got a bit squirmy, but she did great. Early on we knew she wouldn't wear her bow. Check out the video below for some spidey mom reflexes. :) We had lots of sweet family in town for the event (Bill couldn't come because of a wildfire issue near his school and subsequent evacuations, so we missed him very much!) and we all celebrated with a barbecue dinner back at the house.

Sleeping Like a Baby

2011-09-12T16:09:00.003-05:00

We seem to be in the midst of some sleep regression (Madeleine had to be pushed in the stroller to fall asleep for three afternoon naps last week) as she is in an intense developmental stage. It is hard for her to turn her little brain off, as she is ramping up the walking and talking progress, and the fact that she is uninterested in a paci or her thumb continues to make falling asleep more of a process. Thankfully it hasn't interfered with nighttime sleep, and I think (fingers crossed!) she is working her way back to normal this week (wishful thinking?)

I love pictures of her sleeping. These are when she was a tiny baby. I can't even believe it.

These days she is looking like such a big girl in her crib, and she gets herself into the funniest positions. Sometimes curled up, sometimes sprawled out, and, if she's wearing her monkey pjs, she always gets her left arm out of the sleeve. I think sleeping pictures are so much fun, that they are somehow worth the risk of a flash going off in her room before I go to bed. We've been pretty lucky so far - sometimes, though, she will stir a bit, and I will hit the floor of her room in case her sweet little eyes flutter open.

She definitely loves her lambie love and her kitty. I love how she's so cuddly with her kitty in the last picture. I wish she were that cuddly with me, but she is much too busy when she's awake!

Happy 10-month birthday, Madeleine!

2011-08-24T11:48:00.006-05:00

Dear Madeleine,

You are such a big girl! This has been such a fun month as our summer is winding down. We've had lots of time inside as the Houston temps are usually triple digits lately. Yuck! Here are some fun things about your 10th month that we want to remember.

We started the tenth month with our annual BSB trip. This is a group of nine very special families - Granna and Grandad went to Baylor with the parents, and all the kids have grown up together. You had a blast with everyone. You were so social with all 40+ people there and didn't mind being passed around. You also got to play with Emma! She is about 8 months older than you, and she just kept saying "Maaa-a-lin!" Her mommy told me she still talks about you all the time!
It takes you forever to fall asleep. You talk and talk and talk sometimes for an hour, even when you seem exhausted before I put you in your bed. You are very peaceful, you just take your time. Sometimes you whisper, sometimes you shout, sometimes you have a melodic, sing-song voice, but you just babble and babble. Yesterday Granna was over while Mommy was feeding you a banana. Granna kept saying "Ba-na-na" and you would repeat the syllables with "uh-nuh-nuh." So amazing!
You continue to eat us out of house and home. We recently had some changes in your feeding - we stopped breastfeeding last week. If Mommy had known that was our last time, she might've gotten emotional! However, you and I are both ready for this stage to pass - you were losing interest and not getting enough milk, so now it is all bottles for you. Mommy still pumps and you get about half of your milk from me and half of your milk is formula. What a healthy little cocktail! You also have now taken your 4pm feeding in a cup and it is more of a snack amount (4 oz.) You love the cup and you continue to love feeding yourself table food. You now have 8 very established teeth! I might be leaving some things out, but I think so far you've had:

string cheese (your favorite!), strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, tortillas, pinto beans, garbanzo beans, green beans, mandarin oranges, yogurt, crackers, cheerios, pulled pork, watermelon, bananas, rice, refried beans, sweet potato fries (Cafe Express!)

You've gotten to see a lot of your family lately - from the Deilys loving on you during BSB weekend and Granna Tuesdays to a visit with Nana in College Station. You've gotten to see Linnet a couple of times and even had your first art gallery visit to see some of your Great Uncle Tucker's work. Aunt Peggy, Kristen and Karoline played with you one day when we were in Cypress.

You are so curious. You love to observe the world around you, and I think that is why you are so happy in the shopping cart (if only you could face away from Mommy, right?) You love seeing cars go by and today was a special treat when it was large trash pick up day. We sat on the bench on the porch and watched as two big trucks picked up large trash items with a huge claw! You loved it. You love chasing the cats. I think they enjoy you too because they spend a lot of time with us, and they are around for you to chase! You enjoy "non-toy" toys, like in this picture below - a pashmina that goes on the top of a trunk at the end of Mommy and Daddy's bed, Daddy's shoe horns and suit hanger! It is also fun for you to find new noises to make - banging on the stainless steel outside of the dishwasher, raking your fingers on the A/C intake grate, flicking doorstops around the house, etc. I have also put bird food and a bowl of water on the patio right outside our breakfast nook. You enjoy watching the birds and the squirrels while you eat your meals. We even saw a hummingbird the other day!
You are doing a lot of standing on your own. Your cruising gets better and better. This was the first picture I got of you standing - it happened by accident, but look how cute you are! I think you will be walking any day now.

Unfortunately this heat has given us a battle with yeast infections in your diaper. We have given you lots of baking soda baths and diaper-free time, crawling around in the bathroom or on the tile at Granna's. You've even had some diaper-free naps (whatever it takes!) The on-and-off infection doesn't seem to bother you much, but they give Mommy quite a lot to do.

You know some more commands - "shake, shake, shake" you will shake your head back and forth or you will shake whatever is in your hand, clapping, and your cute little trick where you use your fingers to make a little motorboat sound with your lips. You are starting to give us smooches on command, but only when you want to. Today you and I were coming into the house, and while Mommy was unlocking the back door, you gave me a kiss on the cheek, totally unprompted, and then smiled so sweetly for me. I never want to forget it. You were so pleased that you did it two more times. Thank you, sweet baby, I love you too.
Holding your own with big kids is not a problem. You follow them everywhere and don't seem to mind the occasional roughhousing or toy being taken away. You are not afraid of anything - again, just more curiosity. You climbed all the way up in the play gym at church, and the vacuum cleaner and hair dryer don't bother you a bit. The other day Mommy was pounding a nail into a picture frame very loudly, and you just watched.
You are still very much in the "put everything in my mouth" phase. Sometimes you put a paper towel or napkin in there and you look like a little billy goat. You come by it honestly - here's a picture of your Mommy.

We rearranged some rooms and furniture to make a playroom for you out of our old dining room! You love it and we love it too - what fun. You have bigger toys now, and Miss Tiffany let you borrow some toys that Archer and Ashton have outgrown. You love pushing them around.

Sometimes Daddy puts your ABC block on your head, and you look like the Chiquita Banana lady.
Other times, you decide to lay down while playing and just look like a chunk with your play remote. The times you are still are rare. Most of the time you are moving - you are not very cuddly, and changing your diaper wears us out! So so squirmy!

Madeleine, we love you so dearly!!

Love,
Mommy

August Randoms

2011-08-22T15:16:00.008-05:00

Y'all we only have about a week of August left!! Now I know that our thermometers won't miraculously drop to highs in the 70s once September hits, but at least we are closer to fall. Here are a few random things going on that didn't merit their own posts but I thought they were worth mentioning as little things going on with me/us.

I have a book recommendation! It is a Christian fiction book, but it has so challenged my prayer life. It is called The Veritas Conflict by Shaunti Feldhan. It takes place at Harvard and combines spiritual warfare, apologetics and a compelling plot, all three of which are responsible for me staying up way too late reading this book. I highly, highly recommend it.

Cason moved back in...to our bathroom. Before Madeleine came, we would get ready for work at the same time so we could carpool. It made the most sense to just use both bathrooms in the house, especially since our master is pretty small. Well, he missed me, and we don't really have that problem anymore. I am glad to have him back. :)

Is there anything grosser (in an almost 50-year-old house) than the underside of a kitchen sink? I was spending way too much time under there as we had a leak and our disposal broke. We got a new disposal (called BADGER 1!!) and Dad came over to help us put it in. Madeleine was a great help. I decided to paint underneath the sink with the same paint that is on the kitchen walls. I think it is a great improvement.

Speaking of other little improvements...for awhile I felt like something was missing in our master bedroom. I think it was curtains! My parents got these for us for my birthday - nothing fancy, just from Bed Bath and Beyond. I love how much cozier it feels in our room.

Before (this is from when we first moved in!):
After:

Of our home improvement investments we made this spring, we are so thankful for one - new insulation! Seems like we picked the perfect summer to protect our house from this horrible, lingering heat. One horrible decision we made was to re-landscape everything. We are managing to keep most of it alive, but one bed quickly bit the dust - the one on the west side of the house. Sprinklers don't reach and it gets the direct afternoon sun. Look at those poor little boxwoods! Fried to a crisp. You win some, you lose some.
We went to College Station a couple Saturdays ago, and Madeleine got to play with Kohen Houser! They were so cute together - I can't wait to watch their friendship grow.

God continues to teach me more about our relationship through being a mom. Madeleine was holding her own bottle the other day, and she looked at me, so proudly. I couldn't help but think "Sure, I'm so proud of you, but Madeleine, I made the milk for you, put it in the bottle or cup and handed it to you. There is no way you could be doing that right now without me!" I think God does the same thing. We try so hard to say "Look Lord! Look at what I can do for you!" and, like a proud parent He does smile, but He knows there is no way we could've done it without Him.

Our Slow & Simple Days

2011-08-05T15:05:00.005-05:00

Madeleine and I live a very simple life these days. Many might consider it slow or boring, and I have to admit, I've had to adjust my expectations. Before Madeleine was mobile, I could get a lot more done during the day. Now that she is all over the house, it's much easier if I just surrender my days to her and try to be productive during naptime. My dad always told me "happiness = reality/expectation" If your expectations are too high, your happiness quotient will be low. The more appropriate and realistic your expectations are, the happier you will be.

Madeleine is expecting me to catch her, that's why she's laughing, naturally. Ha.

Well, now I expect to get nothing done while Madeleine is awake. Laundry can wait, emails can wait, dirty dishes can wait...sometimes I can sneak a chore in, but if I expect to not get anything done, then that task is a bonus! Our days are simple but rich, I believe. We don't leave the house much, mostly because it's so dang hot, and I like to respect her naptimes. I also know that I won't have this luxury with future children, while I want to maintain a simplicity, I don't know how many opportunities we will have to just "be," so while it can be lots of one-on-one fun, might as well enjoy it! I relish every giggle, every smirk, every lightbulb I watch go on in her brain - it's amazing and it's flying by.

We run errands every now and then, or enjoy activities at church or playgroups, but not most days. I don't want to run her ragged. How do we spend our days? We explore our house together. We play in the pillows in my bed, we look for and chase the kitties, she cruises on the furniture, we build towers and knock them down, I walk her around the house in the Moby and just talk to her or sing to her. I vacuum or sweep with her in the Moby. We turn light switches on and off. We play chase and peek-a-boo. We look out the front window seat window at the squirrels or we look out the back picture window at the blue jays, cardinals and doves eating the birdseed we put out for them. We bang on metal bowls in the kitchen, we ring the bells in my bell collection, we look in the mirror and make faces, we turn on the sprinklers and walk around the backyard. Pandora is usually playing - sometimes her stations, sometimes mine. The TV isn't on. Even eating is exploratory!

Many days (especially the ones with short naps) go by very slow, I'm not going to pretend like they don't, but the weeks go by fast! Are these days intellectually stimulating for me? No, but I hope they are for her! I want the same things for her that my parents encouraged in me. Curiosity about the world, the affirmation of thoughts and feelings, an excitement about learning, creativity. Sometimes I long for the days when we can go to the library together, or go to the Children's Museum or Zoo and have her really get something out of it, but until those days come (and they will come so fast!) we enjoy our home days.

Happy 9-month birthday, Madeleine!

2011-07-24T21:53:00.012-05:00

Dear Madeleine,

We can't believe you are 9 months old! I think we are going to blink and your first year will have passed us.

The word of the month is "GROWING." While that might seem obvious, it just seems like everything you are doing has just grown exponentially in a month. Your mobility - there's not a surface you don't pull up on, and your crawling is so fast; you are standing up and cruising right along as you hold onto things, and much of the time you are on your tip toes; your fearlessness - you will try anything, even standing for a second or two; your independence - you love to try to do things for yourself, like feeding, and you don't even use your baby bathtub anymore; your messes - you are making a mess with all this new food you are trying to eat by yourself; your understanding - you are starting to know what we are saying; your sense of humor - there are so many things you think are just hilarious; your teeth - you have six now; and your experiences - this past month you've done so much - you spent over 1/3 of the nights away from your crib!

Here are a few facts about your 9th month:

You really respond to your name - when we say "Madeleine!" you will turn around and crawl back toward us. You also respond well to "No!" Thankfully, for now, you will turn away from that electrical cord or other forbidden object and focus on something else! You also respond to "Madeleine, come get Mommy!" (you crawl to me) or "Madeleine, go get Daddy!" (you crawl to him.)
You had a cold from VBS for a long time before you got your first ear infection! That made our first night of vacation a nightmare as you woke up burning up and wouldn't go back to sleep for about 4 hours. We felt so bad for you, and we were concerned and exhausted as well. This is you the morning after - you slept until 10am!
You were so adaptable on our road trip to DFW, but by the time we went to the beach you had developed quite the case of separation anxiety. I think your ear infection made it worse, but you were a homing beacon on MOMMY all week. That was hard because your Mommy needed a bit of a vacation, and there were so many other people that wanted to hold you and play with you! You're better now that we are home, for the most part, and you still don't cry when we drop you off at the church nursery, so we are hoping this phase passes soon. We also hope this phase of putting everything in your mouth passes soon, but we know you are just exploring.
You were fearless at the beach! You just crawled right into the waves every chance you got. You were also fearless when you met the Gormans' boxer Laney. You were not afraid of that big dog one bit, you just giggled and giggled when she licked your face. You continue to love our kitties too. You showed Winston you could almost reach him even when he is on the window seat!
Madeleine, our days at home are a bit like a dating relationship. If Mommy is too busy or trying to get things done while you are awake, you pout and cry and get very clingy. As long as Mommy is paying lots of attention to you, you are as independent as can be; I just can't be doing much of anything else. :)
I don't want to rush to claim your first word, BUT yesterday you were looking for me, and your Daddy and I both heard "ma-ma-ma-ma" very clearly...just sayin'.
I am still breastfeeding you in the morning and pumping for the rest of your feedings, but this week we started adding a couple of ounces of formula to a bottle or two/day. I noticed my supply changing just a little bit, and rather than try to stimulate more milk production, I thought I'd rather just let it start declining a bit and not stress about it. Breastfeeding and pumping have gone so well for us, I didn't want it to get dramatic now. You've done really well with the added formula, so we will continue to use that as a supplement.
You are still sleeping basically 8p-8a. You typically take 2 naps - one around 10 and one around 2. The length of the naps vary. If we happen to be out and about between 5:30-6:30, you'll take a little snooze in the car, but you don't usually do that at home.
You are so happy, Madeleine. When we say "Yay, Madeleine!" and clap our hands, you smile so big and you put your hands high over your head and bring them down repeatedly on your thighs.

Oh I just love that picture of you with your monkey pj pants on your head - too cute. I had to post it again.

We love you, Madeleine. God has blessed our family so much through your spunky little life!

Love,
Mommy

Our Family Vacation 2011 - Jamaica Beach

2011-07-21T14:00:00.015-05:00

We had a great time at the beach with the Whites and Bristers from July 8-15! I will admit, I packed way too many books anticipating more relaxation than we actually achieved. Silly new mom. Traveling with a baby is fun but not so relaxing. :) We also had some real-world issues - her ear infection, her teething, her clingyness in being in a new environment with unfamiliar people...so here goes my stream-of-consciousness recap. If I were to truly write about everything in detail...well it would be a post longer than I would want to write or you would want to read!

Friday:
Family arriving at our house, nephews looking for the cats, decorating koozies, Heather and Trish shopping, me making enchiladas, rice and beans, Madeleine waking up from her nap with 102.4 fever, moving backyard family picture up (thanks, Natalie!) taking Madeleine to the pediatrician, ear infection, picking up amoxicillin, packing the car, Jamaica Beach at 10pm

Saturday:
1-5am worst night of parenting, Madeleine burning up with fever, Cason driving her around, our exhausted litte family sleeping in till 10, Madeleine playing with golf balls, nephews boogie boarding, eating sand, Madeleine adjusting, fun family beach time all day, margaritas, kebabs for dinner, dining al fresco

Sunday:
Watching church on Houston's First's website, banana pancakes and mimosas, more beach time, crab-finding, nephews skim boarding, women's soccer, Madeleine feeling better, more fun at the beach, tons of seaweed this day, Bristers leaving

Monday:
Madeleine teething and being clingy, low-key day, lots of playing, good napping for Madeleine, dinner on the seawall at Fish Tales

Tuesday:
Driving to NASA, taking the tram, mission control, rockets, Madeleine in the Moby, Panera for lunch, Cason and Bill golfing, Trish and Madeleine and I exploring the south side of the island, make-your-own pizzas

Wednesday:
More nice beach time and slow-paced day, Madeleine being pulled around on the deflated float, I started to feel crummy but thought chills were from the sun and aches were from carrying Madeleine around NASA, napping lots for me today, women's soccer, burgers for dinner

Thursday:
Last day, Madeleine fearless in the water, guys golfing again, girls' trip into town to Murdoch's, pina coladas on the dock, grilling steaks,last time in the water, beautiful sunset, playing cards, me still feeling a bit "off" but enjoying the last day

Friday:
Pack up the car, head back to Houston, la Madeleine for lunch, goodbye to Bill and Trish, nap and fever for me, Cason checks out throat, off to walgreens take care clinic, strep throat, Madeleine and mommy now both on antibiotics! Lots of weekend playtime for Daddy and Mads, including monkey pajama pants on head

Surely Summer

2011-07-10T15:05:00.014-05:00

What a fun summer we've had so far! Unfortunately, as a Houstonian, about the time I get sick of summer (ah the heat!) we still have a couple more months of it. I'm not there yet, but I anticipate I will be in a couple weeks. In the meantime, these are some of our summer highlights and sure signs we are enjoying the season!

Unlike other holidays, I like my summer decor to be more subtle. I made this little candle arrangement out of a jar candle, a bowl vase, sand from our last trip to Florida and some shells that my mother-in-law brought us once.

I finally got to ride behind the boat at the lake. Last summer I couldn't play on various toys we pull behind the boat because Madeleine was growing in my tummy. This year I was back - jumping back and forth. See how graceful I look in mid-jump? We also celebrated summer birthdays at the lake. Julianne and I enjoyed a little sister time on the dock with a couple of Ruby Redbirds. It's Shiner's summer flavor with ginger and grapefruit - yum!

I enjoyed a little getaway with some sweet girlfriends - gotta love your first sunburn of the year and frozen drinks by the pool. No kiddos allowed! :)

Summer brought us vacation Bible school at our church. I was so excited - I hadn't worked vacation Bible school since I was in youth group. Madeleine was a trooper - 5 mornings in one week left her pretty wonky, but it was totally worth it. She enjoyed being Godzilla baby among the activity I made. I also loved serving the 2-year-olds with Jodie, Tiffany, Katie and Bethany.

I completely lose track of the days. Now let me say I already have trouble with what day of the week it is now that I'm a stay at home mom. Before you think this is a commentary on never going to work, I submit to you that it is more about never leaving work. :) Summer has allowed us to take little trips and vacations - Madeleine, Mom and I took a 3-generation roadtrip to Plano in the middle of the week and we had so much fun!

One thing that has cracked me up this summer is my baby bangs. My hair has been falling out (such a fun postpartum deal) so much so I thought a small animal had died after each shower. Thankfully my hair is starten to thicken again, but if I'm not careful to hide them it looks like it did when I tried to trim my own bangs in 5th grade. The baby bangs really stick to my head when I "glisten" in the Houston heat!

Gotta love 4th of July, complete with a family Monopoly game and our Sunday School class, InsideOut, coming to Mom and Dad's for a pool party! Madeleine was too busy swimming to eat, so she took her bottle in the water, and she had so much fun with her friends, including Jake and Hannah, who tried to ride crawling Mads like a dog. Madeleine didn't seem to mind!

Mads also looks stinkin' adorable in her sunglasses, but she won't leave them on for long. It is also surely summer if your diet includes sand. :)

Happy 8-month birthday, Madeleine!

2011-06-24T20:12:00.015-05:00

Dear Madeleine,

We were blessed with another wonderful month with you! Per usual, you are developing so quickly, and we are just trying to soak in every moment with you.

Whoever said summer was for taking it easy must not be in our family. We began your 8th month with a trip to see Nana and Pop for Memorial Day. You also got to see Kade, your due date twin! You slept so well at Nana and Pop's - way to go! You also loved playing in the hot tub of their pool. You got to see your Aunt Heather and cousin Collin - you literally were the center of attention!

You just love the water in general. Between your Nana's pool, your Granna's pool, the splash pad, Noah's Ark pool, our neighborhood pool, Lake Palestine, the city pool by our house and the baby pool in the backyard, you certainly get your time in the water! We live in Houston, so it's a part of life!

You were even sweet enough to take Mommy to the splash pad on her birthday! What fun to celebrate with friends.

You also still love the tub!

Speaking of Lake Palestine, you had a great time at the Gajdica reunion with us. Everyone loved on you, and you loved being the center of attention and spending time in the lake! You looked like such a tiny baby in that water. At first you were just...taking it in, but later you got comfortable and started splashing around.

Your new favorite snack is Baby Mum Mums. You are also starting to eat food off your high chair tray - watermelon and puffs just to start! You are definitely eating us out of house and home. The free breastmilk continues to be a blessing, but boy are we buying a lot of baby food! I was right about your top teeth, but they weren't the ones I was expecting. Your middle bottom teeth are all the way in, but the top teeth aren't the middle ones. They are outer incisors or canines! They have barely surfaced, but if they make it all the way in quickly, you might look like a baby vampire or baby bat!

Looking back at your calendar, your mobility has developed at lightning speed! At the beginning of the month you were scooting and rolling around. Then, you were able to move from horizontal to sitting and back again, then you crawled, then you pulled yourself up in your crib, and now you are pulling yourself up on the coffee table (not without a few slips - ouch!) and the couch. It has been wonderful to watch, and you go to electrical cords like a moth to a flame! It cracks me up how you find exactly what you aren't supposed to mess with and go straight to it. Your crawling also increased your appetite. You traded in your 12 hours of sleep/night for an extra feeding a few nights - I had to make sure to cram all your calories into the daytime. We got back on track and you are sleeping like a champ again.

Your speech continues to develop as you are now stringing syllables together into ba-ba-ba-ba or ta-ta-ta-ta, da-da-da-da or ay-ay-ay-ay. When you do that last one you sound like a little mariachi singer. Most times you have two volumes: loud or nothing, but sometimes when you are exploring our house, crawling around, you whisper your repeating syllables, seeming to concentrate so hard, and it is cute! You also started giving mommy kisses. You lean into my face and open your mouth, planting it on my face. So sweet.

You also had your first Vacation Bible School this week! You were moved to the crawling room, and you even made your first craft! I loved catching glimpses of you throughout the week and getting a little smile from you as you rode around in the bye bye buggy. You missed a morning nap or two, but you seem to be okay. :) No separation anxiety yet. If you miss me in the house, you just come find me, and you seem to be a-ok in the church nursery or staying with Granna and Grandad.

We had a great 8th month, Madeleine! We can't wait to see what #9 brings!

Love,
Mommy

Madeleine's Father's Day Surprise

2011-06-20T21:16:00.006-05:00

We had a great first Father's Day on which Cason was honored, thanks to Madeleine. We spent Father's Day Eve (ha) in Cypress with the Deilys. Mexican food and margaritas, decadent dessert, made by yours truly ;) and some swimming was a perfect recipe for a lovely Saturday evening. To honor my dad I made him a bowl with lots of things that he says written all around it. Spanish nuggets of wisdom, family inside jokes...just little things here and there.

Our actual Father's Day was pretty low-key. We had a great Sunday at church. Madeleine even let some poop somehow get on her sweet church dress. Thankfully we were on the shuttle back to offsite parking when we wiped the little nugget off her back. Thankfully, that was not the only Father's Day surprise. We went home for some naps, and Madeleine and I ran some errands to let her Dad have some time with Rory while he won the U.S. Open. We had a family trip to the city pool right by our house. Look at how Madeleine just loves her daddy!

It was nearly bedtime when we got home and we realized we forgot to lower Madeleine's crib mattress. As I was nursing her, we agreed it could wait one more night. I put her down and she did her usual talking/fussing to sleep, and then it got quiet. I peeked in on her and the child was STANDING UP. She was surveying her room with a look on her face of absolute pride but utter confusion as well. "Wow! Look at me! But...now what?" I got Cason to come look, and we quickly went in her room to celebrate, and move the mattress down. That little chunk had her own gift to give her daddy, and he was so proud.

I love this video - at the end she shows us just how she did it!

I love you, Cason White. Thanks for being such a wonderful daddy to our baby girl.

Within one hour...

2011-06-01T09:18:00.002-05:00

We have this:

And we have this:

And we are on our way to the Noah's Ark pool when she wakes up. To say this girl keeps me (and herself, apparently) on our toes is an understatement!

Happy 7-month birthday, Madeleine!

2011-05-24T13:58:00.012-05:00

Dear Madeleine,

This month was just the BEST yet. Our lives aren't perfect, but we are content in our roles as parents and are enjoying every moment of this journey. I feel like we are really getting ourselves on the same wavelength (you and us, as your parents)as far as how everything goes with us day-to-day. I feel like you are less of a little baby and more my little buddy or sidekick! Month seven brought a lot of changes for us.

This picture was at the beginning of one of our best days together, the first week of your seventh month, and I just knew this month was going to be a good one. We'd cuddled and had (your) breakfast in bed, and then we went out to the backyard to watch the sprinkler. You are still in your PJs. We've only done it once or twice, but this particular morning it was so cool and lovely outside. The day went on to include fun playtimes and solid naps, so I tried to just savor every minute.
We've already established that your seventh month was a big one, going to Cleburne to say goodbye to Pop, a visit to the splash pad, your first overnight away from Mom and Dad, celebrating Mother's Day and AJ's graduation...the list goes on.

As far as our day-to-day though, you continue to grow so fast! Here are some "M" adjectives to describe your life right now.

Maturing - We went down to four feedings/day the weekend you turned six months. I should say four milk feedings and three baby food feedings. I still breastfeed you in the morning, that is such a special, relaxing time for us, but the other three feedings are pumped bottles. I started doing this just to make sure you were getting enough milk when we dropped a feeding, but now it is just easier! This has really allowed us to maximize our days and get your down to two naps as well (sometimes you still take a little catnap in the evening, but you really just have a solid morning nap and solid afternoon nap.) Your naps are now drama-free! Praise God! No more screaming all the way through. I don't know if it was your reflux, teeth, just fighting sleep or what, but once you began your seventh month, you got it! Your naps aren't really consistent in length; your AM nap is anywhere from 45 min-2 hours, and your PM nap is anywhere from 1 hour to over 3 hours! One thing about feeding you do not like is your bib, and this has birthed yet another song in our house. "The Bib Stays On" to the tune of the 1985 Glenn Frey classic "The Heat is On."

"The bib stays on. The bib stays o-on. The bib stays on. When we eat."

I think God blesses parents with the sudden ability to be songwriters.
This is what happens when you take your bib off. You also looooove that sippy cup.

Multiloquent - You are such a talker. Sometimes you will talk for up to an hour as you are falling asleep, so sweetly in your bed. You also talk when you wake up. That allows Daddy and I some time to get up (on the weekends, if we haven't already) or finish up whatever we were doing during your nap. I wish we knew what you were saying! Soon enough.

Mobile - Almost! You are so close to crawling! I am not in any hurry for you to be crawling, but I think our days of having a stationary baby are numbered. You definitely can move around - you scoot on your tummy or roll to get wherever you want to go. You are currently getting on your hands and knees to rock back and forth.

We also have to give you a toy to distract you and keep you on your back during diaper changes or else you will flip right to your tummy.
You are starting to prefer your tummy, period, and you sleep on your tummy or your side like your Mommy.

Side note - no you still aren't taking pacis, I just put these in your crib for you to play with/suck on if you were interested. No such luck.

Merry - I think my favorite part of this month (besides you not screaming through your naps) has been watching your sense of humor develop. You are starting to notice the little incongruities of life and they make you laugh, like:

- when we chew on your toes
- when we sneak up on you
- when you knock over your tower-stacked cups
- when we blow in your face
- when you see mommy through your crib slats
- when I sing and dance for you
- when one of the cats runs through the room
- when you get tickled

In general, you are a really happy baby and we are blessed by that. Here's a video of me getting you out of bed in the morning.

Mimicking - For the first time last week, you did what another baby did. Ashton stayed here while Miss Tiffany ran an errand. He was sad to see her go, so he started bawling. You watched him for a minute, figured there must be something terribly wrong, so you bawled too. Y'all just sat there, crying, for about ten minutes. I tried to capture it, but the second the camera came out, you both just looked at me like "why on earth would she be taking a picture?" You also wanted your cup when Ashton had his cup. Hilarious.

Meticulous - You are really starting to explore and pay close attention to the world around you. You will play with hair, mouths, jewelry and noses while we hold you, and you will finger every ribbon on your taggy book as you are falling asleep.
You also have a consistent sleeptime ritual in your crib. You love to cover your face with your lambie love and kick those legs.

Massive - You are growing, girl. You were 17 lbs. 11 oz. at your six-month check up, but I think you are at 20 lbs. now, based on weighing you at home. You are no longer content to lay in your baby car seat while it's in the stroller. Many times you prop yourself up, like you did here, at the zoo. This picture of you and your dad from the back just makes me laugh. You were so anxious to see what he was looking at...and here are just a couple other fun pictures from our visit.

You may notice you are wearing your onesies your Aunt Liz made for you for Christmas in a lot of the pics. She made you one with a sun, one with a panda, one with some hedgehogs (or porcupines?) and one with some dinosaurs. You wear these out (cause they are comfy and I know you will grow out of them soon!) Oftentimes I don't really put you in an outfit when we are out and about. Sorry, love. You are comfy in a onesie, and I am fine with that!

Here's what I predict for month eight: crawling, your top teeth (you were quite fussy today - the teething fussy kind!) and unfortunately, separation anxiety. You are still such a good independent player, but you have started noticing more and more when Mommy and Daddy are around or not around (especially at naptime!)

Time will tell - we love you sweet girl.

Love,
Mommy

A smattering of random, recent things

2011-05-16T22:08:00.010-05:00

We've had a few other things going on in the past couple of weeks that I wanted to document - some very random and disconnected, but they go along with day-to-day vignettes of and celebrations in our lives at this time!

We had our first ladies' night out at Tasti-D-Lite for our new Sunday Bible Study class, Inside Out. It was bittersweet because of course we missed our old Veritas friends, but it was fun to have everyone around one table and really have a small enough group to talk to everyone. I look forward to many more in the future!

We had Madeleine's six-month appointment and six-month pictures. My how time flies! She was 82% in weight at 17lbs. 11 oz., 96% in height at 27 1/2 inches and 52% for head circumference. Dr. Koush was thrilled with her development - that sweet girl "talked" to her the entire time!

We went to the MD Anderson Benefit at Minute Maid Park. It was so much fun, and it was such a treat to enjoy a gourmet dinner in centerfield! The funniest thing happened though, our sweet and conscientious babysitter locked herself (and Madeleine!) out of the house! Our front door can be very tricky, and we are the crazies who didn't have a spare anywhere! Poor Cason had to come home and let them in. They were at our next door neighbor's house and sweet Madeleine was just ready for her bedtime bottle, a diaper change and her bedtime! We all had a good laugh about it, and Cason didn't miss out on one course of the yummy food! Linnet's friends Eduardo and Cecilia were at the dinner having just flown in from Mexico. They brought Madeleine a pair of maracas, so at least she got some toys out of the deal. :)

Madeleine had her first trip to a splash pad! She loved playing in the water with the big kids, and she wasn't scared at all. I am so excited for us to enjoy the water together during this hot, Houston summer.

Have you ever dealt with fruit flies? Ugh they are relentless. At least they aren't harmful like mosquitos, but they are just there...hovering around. I don't know how we got them, but thankfully they are gone. I had to look online for how to make traps. I made two with this basic design - a little apple cider vinegar for bait then a tricky top so they can't figure out how to escape. Blech.

On another homeowner note, we got new insulation blown in our attic. We just had the original stuff from oh...1963 and it was down to about three inches - regulation is ten! Anyway, we'd been putting it off because during other Houston summers, we both worked all day so we just let the thermostat get up to 82 or so. The trees have also done a decent job for us. Now that I'm home and we figured we'd probably have to do it before we ever sell our house, we thought now was as good of a time as any. Along the way, we discovered a roll of crazy 60s carpet in the attic - maybe the original to our house? Also, I thought I lost Winston while the guys were blowing in the insulation and the front door was open for an hour. The cats usually hide when new people come, so I don't worry about putting them away somewhere. Well, I found Theodore in his hiding spot, but I could not find Winston. All our bedrooms were closed, as well as closets. Y'all, our house is not big. I was convinced he'd run off. After the guys left, I just knew that if he was in the house, he would come out, especially if I shook his treat bag. No Winston. Madeleine and I went up and down the street, I called for him, she cooed and we shook his treat bag - looking so silly. Well eventually I called my dad (who was in Mexico) to ask him what to do. As we were talking, Winston just walked in the kitchen. I am still baffled as to where that crazy cat was. Sheesh.
It rained!! Madeleine has not seen much rain in her little lifetime. Who would've thought that Houston would be in a drought? (Um, not us since we picked this spring to re-sod the front yard. Worst rainfall since 1915. Perfect.)

This past weekend Julianne graduated from Baylor!! We were so proud to go and celebrate this milestone with her. She majored in marketing and minored in graphic design. She's come back to Houston to work for Waste Management again (she had an internship last summer) and we are thrilled she is back! Madeleine provided the pre-ceremony entertainment, but her dad pushed her in the hallway of the Ferrell Center during most of the ceremony. That's what they get for scheduling graduation during naptime. Also her Nana came to the house for a quick visit on the way back from Beaumont - her Aunt Heather graduated with her master's from Lamar University on the same day!

And...what a difference 5 years makes!

Metrodash and Giving the Baby Away for Mothers' Day

2011-05-16T21:06:00.007-05:00

Okay, well I had Madeleine on technical Mother's Day, but during the beginning part of the weekend, she had her first overnight away from her parents!

Friday night we dropped her off at the Galleria/my dad's office - put her in the back of his car and said "have fun in Cypress!" We just knew she would! We went to see Water for Elephants (I had just finished the book - my favorite time to see a movie!) and then we had wine and cheese and crackers on our patio under the Christmas lights.

Saturday we woke up for METRODASH! My friend Erin got us all organized - there was one girls' team, a team of our husbands and one more team of guys. Oh boy, was this hard! It was such an amazing accomplishment to finish this as a team, and the girls did all the same obstacles as the guys! The only difference was that we had to flip tractor tires a shorter distance, but only about the diameter of one tire. All the heights were the same and all the weights were the same. We had lots of friends and kiddos cheering us on, and we sure needed it! I think it was 1.2 miles of obstacles, and we finished in about 19 minutes. Our whole goal was to complete each obstacle - if you try it twice and cannot do it your whole team has to do burpees! No burpees for our team - hooray!

It was so much fun! We then drove out to Cypress to get our sweet baby girl - she seemed to have had such a terrible time, as you can see in this picture - it's a rough life napping in the hammock. We missed her like crazy.

I was so blessed to be celebrated on Mother's Day - it sure was surreal. I mean, I very much identify myself with the role of being Madeleine's mommy and the all-encompassing job that it is, but it was still weird to get Mother's Day cards, flowers from Cason, etc. It truly is the best job in the world, and I love my little girl so much!

Jamie's Owl Baby Shower

2011-05-16T15:48:00.004-05:00

I almost titled this post with text from the cute invitation that Ally designed "Guess whooooooooo's having a baby?" But then I thought you guys would all flip out and think we were pregnant again, so I opted for a safer title. :)

Some of our dearest friends Jamie and Kuy are having a baby in June! They were in our Veritas Sunday School Class until they moved to College Station - Jamie's an eye doctor and Kuy is in residency for family medicine. We miss them so much, but thankfully we still get to see them every now and then.

Anyway, Baby Boy Houser (still deciding on a name!) has a really cute owl/woodland-themed nursery, so we just bummed off that for the shower. I think it turned out really cute - special thanks to Ally and Cindy for hosting with me! I love seeing ideas for showers, so hopefully some of these ideas will help someone else with planning. (Does anyone else feel like they find out someone else is pregnant at least once a week these days? Goodness!) Here are some fun pics!
Hostesses and Jamie - doesn't she look great? We made the letters with Ally's silhouette and put feathers along the mantle.
The table of food - I didn't want it to be too girly with flowers, so I just cut some ligustrum from my yard and put it in vases with river rocks. I put a yellow ribbon around each vase and glued a feather on them for a little color.
Ally's awesome cupcakes!
I love things, like this wreath, that serve as a shower decoration and can go home with the mom-to-be for the nursery or the hospital door.

I saw this idea on a blog - instead of doing a sign-in sheet, you paint a little tree. Each guest makes leaves with her fingerprint and signs the perimeter of one of the leaves - again, something sweet for the nursery.

Sweet friends!

Pop

2011-05-16T15:09:00.004-05:00

The Thursday after Easter, Cason's Grandaddy Pop passed away and went home to be with the Lord. What a life he lived - the complications that led to his eventual death began when he broke his hip a few weeks ago. Now, that is a common injury, but Pop broke his hip at a country western dance club. Maybe not so common at age 92, but GOLLY MOSES (one of his favorite phrases) that's our Pop. He loved his church and he loved smoking cigars, and he loved the Aggies and studying history - his house was full of books! Pop was still living alone and driving - meeting his buddies in town for coffee every morning. He lost his wife and daughter (Cason's grandmother and aunt) several years ago, so he and Cason's dad were the only ones left of that nuclear family.

We were obviously very sad to see him go, but we were grateful for his full life, the independence he enjoyed up until his last days and that he wouldn't have to spend his last few years in a home (because he would've hated it!) We are also so glad that he got to spend time with Madeleine at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was so touching to go to his house (which I had never been to) after his funeral and see pictures of our little family around his living room.

This is Pop's obituary - I wanted to put the text on the blog so that we wouldn't ever lose it, and as I chronicle our family's history, this is an important piece of it.

"Service for Ray White, 92, of Crowley, will be conducted at 10:00 A.M. Monday. May 2, 2011 in The Church of the Holy Comforter in Cleburne. Father Jonathan Duncan and Father Richard McHinery will officiate. Visitation will be from 6-8 P.M. Sunday, at the funeral home.

Mr. White went to be with his Lord and his beloved wife of 55 years, Hester Ruth and their beautiful daughter, D'Maris on Thursday, April 28, 2011 in Cleburne. He was born December 21, 1918 in Paris, Texas to William Preston and Ollie Pearl Floyd White. He married Hester Ruth Cason on July 3, 1942 in Paris.

Ray worked in the nuclear industry as a welding inspector until retirement. He loved to laugh and had a great sense of humor. He was an active member of The Church of the Holy Comforter in Cleburne. Ray was a delight to all who knew him and will be missed greatly.

Survivors include his son, Lt. Col. (Ret.) William A. "Bill" White and wife Trish of Denton; granddaughter, Heather Brister and husband Larry and great grandsons, Collin, Brennan, Camden and Caiden Brister, all of Cleburne; grandson, Cason White and wife Allison and great granddaughter, Madeleine White, all of Houston; nieces, Pat Beaty and husband Joe of Coppell, and Michele Loes and husband George and their three sons, of Houston; numerous cousins in Paris, TX and Hot Springs, AR."

Easter 2011

2011-05-13T21:22:00.007-05:00

Well, I know this is pretty darn late, but we have had just a few things going on. Many posts are coming - so many stories to tell. :) Anyway, as I referenced in Madeleine's six-month post, we enjoyed that milestone on Easter, as well as wonderful time with other family members, celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. All the Deilys joined us at First, and I just love having us all on the same row in church - doesn't happen every Sunday like it did when we were younger. :) We then had a great lunch out in Cypress; Gran, Granpa and Linnet joined us. Wait till you see the amazing duck and sheep cupcakes Jul and Liz made - so incredible! We will have to wait for 2012 to have Madeleine's first egg hunt. :)

Happy 6-month birthday, Madeleine!

2011-04-23T22:14:00.021-05:00

Dear Sweet Madeleine,

Six months? How can it be!? You are growing into such a precious little girl, and I cannot believe we are to the six-month mark! I think it is so special that you celebrated your two-month birthday on Christmas Eve and now you are celebrating six months on Easter! You give us another reason to celebrate these special holidays that are such an important part of our faith.

After a busy start to your sixth month, we didn't really slow down much...well at least you didn't! You continue to amaze us with your developments. You are learning how to use your mouth for many things - spitting, blowing raspberries, "talking," laughing, squealing, chewing, exploring toys and whatever else you can put in there, and you are finally learning to swallow well. You have two little teeth that have cut through your gums, and boy did we hear about it. This is a picture of when they first broke through.

And here you are eating a yummy combo of sweet potatoes, pumpkins, apples and blueberries. This month has been challenging with your daytime sleeping, or lack thereof, as well. You have continued to sleep well from 8ish-8ish, more or less, so most everyone would say we have no reason to complain. Complain we don't, we just want to help you with your NAPS - we know you need them! A four-letter word in our house this month, they were a cause of constant consternation for you and for your parents. We did get some reflux medicine about halfway through the month that has really helped you sleep longer than 45 minutes at a time. Unfortunately you still fight your naps, and you've given up your thumb, so you've been crying yourself to sleep - sometimes for 45 min-1 hr! I have tried to reintroduce the paci to no avail, but I have about six different kinds in your crib in case the Spirit moves. :) I am happy to report that this is getting better, but oh how this tried my patience! You are a great on-the-go napper, falling asleep easily in your carseat and oftentimes sleeping through several stops, getting in and out of the stroller. Last Monday you didn't take a nap until 4pm. Yes. 4. pm. and that was only because I put you in the jogging stroller. You cried through your morning and afternoon nap that day. Gracious! This pic was a Sunday afternoon after church - just a little catnap after one of your feedings. See? Naps are awesome. On these days when we were just trying to make it through, this was our theme song.

I saw it on a Chase commercial and it got stuck in my head. So many times I'd walk you around the house singing the chorus and adapting it to us. "Keep on, keepin' on, Madeleine and mom are keepin' on..." It was just a good reminder that we are in this together, on the same team, and we are both figuring things out! Aside from naptime, you have been a champ - typically in a good mood (despite not sleeping well some days) and now you seem to have figured out how to take a morning nap of about an hour and an afternoon nap of about two hours.

Your increased coordination has been a game-changer too. You physically could roll back to front and front to back for awhile now, but now you are using it to your advantage. Just in the past few days you have started rolling back to tummy alllll the time. To reach a toy, as in this video:

Rolling with a purpose from Allison White on Vimeo.

You also roll in your crib without realizing it...this picture cracks me up. We put you to sleep on your back with your head at the other end of the crib. We went in there to check on you before we went to sleep and this is how we found you - flipped over and turned around! You have even been trying to roll on your tummy in the tub! It's amazing to watch you learn. You've developed such an awareness of cause and effect.
If I pull on the plastic chain, I can get it down from the arch over my play mat.
If I put my lambie love over my eyes, it blocks out the light.
If I bat away the snot sucker, Mommy has a hard time getting it to my nose.
If I kick my legs in the tub, I have fun splashing.
If I bang this cup on another cup, it makes a noise.
If Mommy throws a shirt of a burp cloth on my head, I can pull it off and play peek-a-boo!

Peek-a-Boo from Allison White on Vimeo.
The Moby continues to be a life-saver for quick errands. You can sit up but not very well, so I still can't put you in a shopping cart. You always look so cute, just bouncing on the front of me. We get lots of smiles when we are out and about. You continue to love being outside. The weather is slowly getting warmer, so we have really taken advantage of these gorgeous spring days. You love the trees and birds, and the breeze really soothes you.

You continue to be more and more fun to interact with, and we have loved watching yout personality develop. We are so thankful for you on this Easter, Madeleine, and God's sacrifice of His son takes on a deeper meaning for us as well.

Here are a few more sweet pictures from your sixth month! Some time in Waco, playing with Kellen and a weekend with Granna and Grandad!

We are so in love with you, sweetheart! Thanks for bringing more joy to our lives than we could ever imagine.

A very special bridge

2011-04-21T14:17:00.010-05:00

(source: city-data.com)
(source: texgenweb3.com)

To anyone who went to Baylor, the Waco Suspension Bridge is old news, but indulge me for a minute while I put on my Texas History teacher hat. A brief history on the bridge: it was built in 1870 by the same company who would later build the Brooklyn Bridge. For a time, it was the only bridge crossing the Brazos River. Before the tornado, this helped Waco's economy immensely as so much traffic (including the cattle drives!) would cross at that point.

My Granpa (the one holding Madeleine by his garden in a previous post) has early memories of the bridge. His parents came from Czechoslovakia, lived on a farm outside of Mt. Calm (east of Waco) and had eight children, my granpa was the youngest. When he was nine months old, his mother died in a car accident. They lived a life of hard work on that farm, but he has fond memories of coming in to Waco to sell eggs and butter on the weekend. Here are his memories of the bridge:

"In order to sell the eggs and butter, Dad would make a trip to Waco, where he could get a good price. My first memory of going into Waco was when I was about 5 or 6 years old and my sister Martha was about 7 or 8. We thought traveling about 20 miles was a big trip and going to Waco was, well you could call it like going to Europe these days. When we were coming close to Waco, which did not have many businesses or housing at that time, the suspension bridge was very visible from a long distance. Oh what a beautiful site. The Golden Gate Bridge in California could not have been more awesome. The only bridges that we ever saw, were tiny wood bridges that crossed a creek. This suspension bridge crossed the Brazos River, WOW! And little did I know that my oldest granddaughter, Allison, would someday become engaged on this bridge. Waco, was so beautiful for Martha and me. This city had everything, all kinds of stores, a theater, hamburger joints, a great big square that had a giant Court House. This square also had a big parking lot that was for people like us coming into town for groceries and other essentials. Dad would park the car and gave Martha and me each a quarter and turned us loose to do whatever we wanted for a couple of hours. This is what we could do for 25 cents, go to a movie for 10 cents, buy a hamburger for 10 cents or 2 hotdogs for 10 cents. Soda pop 5 cents. So, a typical two hours included a hotdog 5 cents, soda pop 5 cents, a movie 10 cents, and had 5 cents for a nice candy bar at the movie. Boy! we where in high cotton! Being in "High Cotton" was just a saying when things were great because when we were picking cotton that was tall, we didn't have to bend over very far and the cotton was usually much better in these areas and we could gather more in a shorter time. Dad was always more proud of us when we could gather a lot of cotton. Buy the way, no pay for working on the farm, but we sure did enjoy the 25 cents when we went to Waco! I also remember the first pair of blue jeans I ever owned that I bought all by myself in Waco. Before I ever had a pair of blue jeans, we young boys wore unionalls or overalls. Ha, unionalls were one piece suits that had a big flap on your bottom area that buttoned up. This flap was so you could unbutton the flap and squat and do your business. You never knew where or when you had to go, so this worked real well. There were no bath rooms. By the way, when I went to buy the blue jeans, the lady asked me what I was looking for, and I told her I was looking for brad pants. I thought that was what blue jeans were called because they had the little copper brads that all blue jeans had at that time. She didn't know what I was talking about, but we finally found what I was looking for. Ha, again I was in high cotton."

Such sweet memories - and can you imagine "turning loose" a 5 and 7 year old? Needless to say, times have changed!

As a Baylor student, it was a popular place to go take a walk or take pictures before formals and such. Some daring friends of mine even jumped off the bridge (!!!) but not me. Too much of a play-it-safe girl, but I did enjoy its lovely lights and a beautiful view of the river, the sky and downtown.

As Granpa mentioned, it was also where I said "yes" to Cason after he proposed. It was a beautiful proposal - complete with the sunset, a scrapbook and a surprise dinner with our parents downtown at Diamondbacks afterward.

We were in Waco last week, and I decided it would be fun to take Madeleine to such a special place in Texas history and in our family's history. This big bridge makes her seem so tiny. (Disclaimer: she didn't get any splinters and we cleaned her hands off after this little photo shoot!)

I think she liked it.

Clueless

2011-04-12T10:53:00.007-05:00

Any other moms out there feel clueless? Having a baby will do that to you. I feel a little bit duped. I mean, kind of like I did in my journalism classes in college.

Let me explain.

All my life, growing up writing in school, I was told by my teachers to "be descriptive!" and "elaborate more!" And those writing exercises in elementary school where the teacher would put a detailed picture on the overhead projector, and we were supposed to write pages and pages describing the picture - remember those? Anyway, I got to college. I double majored in history and public relations, so in my history classes, I was still writing those flowery papers. My journalism teachers rocked my world. They told me to make things as short and to the point as possible. PR and journalism is all about saying as much as you can with very few words. Wait a second! For my whole life, had I been trained: "Don't use 'said,' use 'replied' or 'explained' or 'retorted' or ANYTHING but the boring word, 'said.'" In press releases, we could use no other synonym - just "said" when referring to someone who spoke. I felt like my whole life I had been trained to write the wrong way. No one in the real world, except for creative writers, writes in the way we were taught in grade school.

Parenting is a little like that. I use the term loosely because I don't feel that Cason and I are truly parenting as far as influencing little Madeleine and the person she will turn out to be. We aren't into discipline yet, we aren't into biblical and moral instruction yet, but we are building a foundation of love and care as well as security and meeting her needs.

I feel duped and clueless about parenting because for most of my life in situations and relationships, A+B=C. Simple cause and effect. If this, then that. If you want to make good grades, do this. If you want to succeed in your job, do that. If you are needy and insecure, your boyfriend will find you unattractive and annoying. If you are confident and independent, your boyfriend will enjoy being in a relationship with you. If you leave your dishes out, your roommates will be unhappy. If you take out the trash and replace the toilet paper, your roommates will be happy. If you focus on yourself, you will always fall short. If you focus on the Lord and others, you will be much more content. These sort of lessons you just pick up along the way. Babies don't really know too much about this sort of logic. :)

In any scientific experiment, for the experiment to truly work, you can only have one variable. Babies have many. When Madeleine cries, I have to run through the checklist. Hungry? Tired? Wet? Gassy? Teething? Bored? Just plain bad mood? Some of the above? It's hard to know - nay, I say impossible! She's showing signs of being tired (fussy and rubbing eyes) so I put her in her crib for a nap. She's screaming. Would she rather be playing? Is she trying to manipulate me? Was she really tired? Should I go in there? This book/website/friend says THIS. Should I leave her in there to cry? This book/website/friend says THAT. I don't want her to think she can always get her way if she just fusses enough. I'm the parent. It is naptime - she should stay in there. I want her to be able to trust that when she is upset, she can count on me. I'm the parent - I should go comfort her.

Can I get an amen?!

My desire for her to be on a good schedule doesn't come from a selfish place (it really doesn't!) so that I can get things done, it comes from wanting the best for her - good rest and a comfortable routine during which she can operate and feel safe.

So, I take it a day at a time. I try not to put too much pressure on myself or her. She doesn't know she's supposed to run on a schedule. :) In the meantime, I enjoy the heck out of her. I love that baby girl so much and can't imagine my life without her. Right now she is teaching me far more than I am teaching her.

Don't make my mistakes. Know that parenting will come with good days and bad. Days when they "get it" and days when they dominate your schedule. I am learning to use the resources I have, but ultimately get wisdom from the Lord on exactly how to raise Madeleine and respond to her needs. He knows her better than anyone.

A lot can happen in 10 days...

2011-04-03T20:44:00.021-05:00

Goodness gracious. Somehow we packed the following things into the ten days of March 24-April 2. Looking back, I'm not sure how it all happened, but it did, and it has been good! Brace yourself for some cute baby pics. :)

- Madeleine's 5-month birthday
- Our house was treated for the termites we have...or had, blech. My mama bear instinct kicked in big time when we found out we had them. Don't quite know why God made those, but our wonderful pest control man took care of them and gave us a great deal! He's treated my parents' house for the past couple decades. Let me know if you need his number.
- We hosted our last Veritas small group, so bittersweet, oh how we've LOVED these families - more on this later.

- I got a haircut - way shorter than I intended, but I like it now!
- We got all new grass in our front yard!
- We went to the Symphony Ball. So beautiful - it was Arabian-themed, so there were peacocks, jewels and bright, draped fabric everywhere. Yummy meal and drinks, fantastic live band and the BEST people watching.

- I went to a baby shower for Katie Holt and baby Kayla, coming soon!
- We hosted our last Veritas social - a Mexican-themed dinner.
- We launched a new Sunday Bible Study Class. For those that know us, you know we have been super involved in our Sunday Bible Study Veritas for the past 3 years. Well, the class was and is fantastic, the Lord blessed us and we grew, so big that we needed to start another class. We have an amazing group of couples walking alongside us, and for now, Cason is teaching. Our class is called Inside Out, and while it has been hard, we are so happy that God has led us on this path.

- I had my "well woman exam." Whoopee. Let me tell you, it is super fun when they get backed up and you wait for an hour with a 5-month old who has to be held or be in the stroller the whole time. Needless to say, she wasn't so happy, and I just told the nurse to not pay attention to my blood pressure reading or my heart rate. :)
- We embarked on a cross-Texas road trip - two days, five towns.
- We made our first quick stop in Waco. Madeleine had a bottle in the lobby of the Baylor Bookstore from her AJ, and she got to see the Bear Pit for the first time.

- We went to Cleburne and visited the Bristers! Oh how her Aunt Heather, Uncle Larry and cousins loved on her. These boys are going to give anyone that messes with Madeleine a terrible time. :) Her dad showed off her increasing thighs. Poor thing. :)

- Cason and his dad visited Grandaddy Pop in the rehab facility - he broke his hip a couple weeks ago.
- Heather's best friend Amber did my toes. They are leopard with a flower on the big toes...I mean why not?

- We traveled to Denton. I found some pictures of my sweet husband when he had long hair, (can y'all believe him?!) and I got to run my favorite route - through Denton's historical district, to the town square/courthouse and back!

- Madeleine's Nana manages the Dialysis Cottage in Gainesville. We took her there and all the nurses just loved on her! Cason put her bow on her Pop. :) We took Madeleine to Cracker Barrel too. I think she liked it. She fell asleep there and went on to sleep for two more hours while we ran errands.

- We took Madeleine to see her Great Grandmother at her nursing home. It's amazing how a baby can bring happiness to those who are tired or suffering.

- Madeleine loved on her Pop and Miss Nancy. (Yes I open my mouth and swallow when I want my baby to do well eating rice cereal. It's subconscious. When I was little, and sometimes now, my mouth opens and closes to mimic scissors as I cut. So what?)

- We played nertz and Bill and I beat Cason and Trish in spades. :)
- Madeleine got to see family in Plano too! She loved her Great-Granpa and Great-Gran's garden.

- She cuddled with her Great Grandma Carole.
- She saw her Great Uncle John, Great Aunt Suzanne and second cousin Brooke. At the table, she entertained with spoons and ate her toes. Someone needs to teach that baby some manners!

- We came home with blackberry plants from Gran and Granpa's garden, homemade pickles, salsa and jelly. Grandma Carole made us homemade cookies, but they didn't make it till this picture. :)
- We took Madeleine to Parents' Night Out at church and had a date night.
- We ran in our church's Aid Sudan 5K while Madeleine stayed and played with Miss Erin and Everett.
- We had game night in College Station. The Housers grilled some delicious chicken, ribs, steak, kebabs and vegetables (!), and we bid farewell to our sweet friends the Marlatts. They are moving to Oklahoma. :(
And that, my friends, was the last 10 days.

Now this happened tonight, but it was worth mentioning. Poor Madeleine screamed her head off going to bed - teething we think, or she is traumatized from the last 10 days of activity. (wink!) BUT, when she finally went to sleep, she was turned 90 degrees to her left, and that is a big deal in our house!

Curb Appeal

2011-03-28T23:44:00.007-05:00

Do y'all ever watch that show on HGTV? I am such a sucker for before and afters. I feel like the Curb Appeal crew came to our house. Y'all our yard was in sorry shape. As I mentioned in the tree killers post, we just have so many trees and so many leaves, and the summer drought in 2009 especially did our yard in. We've tried some things over the almost-three years we've lived here, but we decided this spring it's time to call the professionals! We got that big oak tree removed as well as the other tree on the side of the house, got new landscaping and also got them to put in sod. They took out about 15 bags of leaves just from the front!! They did a GREAT job, and we hope we can keep it up. Here are some pics - click on them to enlarge them, if you'd like.

Here's the bed in front of our living room/dining room. We brought it out a bit from the house and added a flagstone path. I think I am going to add some knockout roses or more pittosporums between the path and the oak tree.

The driveway bed was in bad shape with the haphazard ground cover and random elm tree that grew like Jack's beanstalk. I think the indian hawthornes and boxwoods look much better!

Yes, much better! Welcome Spring!

Happy 5-month birthday, Madeleine!

2011-03-24T23:20:00.018-05:00

Oh Madeleine, where do I begin? You are 5 months old today, and you are on the go! You are getting very good at some things, and some things you are still learning. I love your little personality, and this has been quite the month of ups and downs!

In your fifth month, the weather finally started to warm enough for us to go to the zoo! We are using our membership as many times as we can before this Houston summer approaches, and you love to be outside with the big kids. You even showed off and held your own bottle right before we got to the giraffes. Trying to fit in, I see. :) You like picnics, and it was neat to get to show you the garden named for your Great Grandad Mike. He would've loved to take you to the zoo!

We also went to Waco to see your AJ in Sing. Did you know that's how your Mommy and Daddy met? You got to play with Emma - you're still too little to sit through that show. I think you will LOVE Sing someday!

You've been getting some good use out of your Texas onesie from Miss Allison - you wore it to a Micah and Archer's cowboy birthday party, you wore it on Go Texan day (to the zoo) and you wore it on Texas Independence Day. Here are you with some of Mommy's Texas books from when she used to teach Texas History. I think you will love reading them someday. We didn't take you to the rodeo, baby girl. I'm sorry, it just passed us by this year!

Some of the harder things about this month included your torticollis (if only I had a dollar for every time your Daddy and I said "Look left, Madeleine!") And also, Mommy had a cold and struggled to feed you for about four days. You are in the throes of teething, so that isn't very fun for anyone at our house right now. You are doing much better with your torticollis, we think. There are many times when you will crane your neck to the left, but you are very particular about when that is. I think you just prefer looking to the right. When I had a cold, my milk supply issue was no fun. NO FUN! One day during that week I had to feed you 11 times! I felt like you were a tiny newborn again, and I really worried that you weren't getting the nourishment you needed. The Lord always provided, through my frozen supply or frequent feedings. That week was full of praying, Mothers' Milk tea-drinking, fenugreek-taking and advice-asking...and not a lot of nap-taking! Thankfully it all passed once Mommy's cold went away. The teething has been so much drama, Madeleine. Thankfully it hasn't affected your nighttime sleeping, just your naps. Oh baby, you can wail! Thankfully taking you on walks can help you go to sleep, and Mommy's leg muscles get quite the workout when I need to bounce you to sleep. Some days you are your normal, happy self, and other days you are just a mess. I really feel bad for you.

Madeleine Talks About Teething from Allison White on Vimeo.

We tried rice cereal. Dr. Koush said we could introduce it, just to get you used to the idea. It's pretty much been a bust. Here's a video of one of your meals - not the first one - your rookie Mommy didn't even put a bib on you the first time. See? You're just wearing your Baylor onesie.

This time in the video is funny cause the cereal is really liquidy and it drips everywhere. You also startled Mommy by tipping the bowl! You seem to like it when we feed it to you, you just don't know what to do with it. Mommy was so encouraged one morning when it seemed to really be getting in your mouth. What I didn't know was that you were just holding it all in there, not swallowing it. Finally you spit it all out. Oh well, Madeleine. We will keep trying, but we are certainly not in any hurry.

Rice Cereal from Allison White on Vimeo.

Your AJ and Aunt Liz came home for Spring Break. Oh how they dote on you! Your onesie says "My Aunt is my BFF."

On a "normal" day (how many of those are there, really?) you take three 45-minute naps. This month has been rougher with my milk supply issue and teething. Some days you only get two, and usually you function okay because you are sleeping 7:30p-8a. You are starting to fight your 2nd and 3rd naps a lot more than you used to, but you really need them! You are the cutest, most peaceful sleeper, sometimes with your thumb and sometimes without, but always with your lambie love.

One fun thing you do during tummy time is make full rotations on your play quilt, reminding us of a little hour hand on a clock. You go clockwise (to the right, of course) and you will do several surveys of the room and just go round and round. It reminds me that you will be crawling before we know it. Please slow down. :) Speaking of slowing down, remember when you used to sleep in your Moby? Now look at you!
You are so generous with your smiles and giggles, but you get very serious for the cameras. It is so hard to capture them! You remind us of Michigan J. Frog on Looney Tunes. He is a frog that sings and dances when he's with his owner, but then anytime the man tries to show him off, Michigan J. turns into a normal frog and just sits there and says "ribbit" instead of singing ragtime favorites. You used to do the same thing in my tummy. You'd kick a lot, then I'd ask your dad to feel. You'd stop, and he would look at me like I was crazy. We got some smiles on camera, but not without a lot of work!

This is a video of you and your dad, just for fun!

Fun with Dad from Allison White on Vimeo.

We love you, Madeleine!