We Miss You!!

We missed seeing all of you for the Thanksgiving holiday, but some of us will see you soon! It was fun to talk to a couple of you this morning during the great Zaxby's debate... Dad, I DO think you like Zaxby's!! :) Here are a couple of pictures of what we've been up to since I last blogged:

Miss Maddy showed that she's got a little work to do on her being lady-like:



Daddy was proud of this, so he took a self portrait:


I think he's really going to miss his little girl. We're all going to miss him!! Christmas won't be the same without him, but we'll all survive, and we'll do Christmas all over again once he's home!! :)

Nash had a little photo shoot with Maddy, too:


Finally, Daddy and Maddy were playing PlayStation this morning and Maddy fell asleep:


We'll see most of you very soon!

Love you guys!! :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Maddy wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Here she is in her Thanksgiving outfit:



We hope that everyone had a great day!! Love you guys!! :)

My Dress

Hi all! We went to church this morning and Maddy got all dressed up in the dress that Bryan's Granny made for her. I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of her. Unfortunately, she is pretty worn out, so we weren't able to steal a smile from her, but she still looks ADORABLE!! (I suppose I could be a little partial!!) Check her out:




And one last one of the whole family. (Thank God for self timers!!):


Hope you have a good Sunday. We're watching the Titans play the Jets... and hoping to keep our undefeated status!! :)

Love you guys!!

LOOK AT ME!!

Maddy wanted to share some pictures with you today:

Here I am watching TV with Daddy:


And here I am flashing my new-found smile:



Now, I am giving my big brother a kiss... Mommy wasn't too thrilled with this, but it happened, and Daddy got a picture:



Mommy gave me a kiss, too:



Here's a short video of me. Mommy caught me sneezing:




We hope everyone has a good weekend! Mommy ordered new glasses today. Once they come in, I'll take some pictures of her to share. I'm slowly taking over her blog!! :)

Love you guys!!

Love,
Maddy :)

I'm No Good At Poker...

...and this week Bryan and I were dealt quite a hand!!

Since I am no good at poker, and my poker face is the WORST you'll ever see... I would like to take this chance to grant everyone their Christmas wish. Maddy and I will be making the rounds of the Southeast and hope to make each and every one of you on our stop this holiday season. I can not go into any details on here, but patience is a virtue, and you'll find everything out as soon as I can tell you. So, now that I'm the "wish granter" and we've been dealt this doozey, Merry Christmas everyone, and we'll see you soon!!

Love you guys... And, please, pray for us as we sort through this new "adventure"!! :)

P.S. Shhh... Maddy and I will see you soon!! :)

Ten Things I've Learned...

...Since I became a Mommy:

(10) There is a 2:00 in the AM
(9) Sometimes you just have to laugh (the other option is to cry)
(8) Naptime is GOLDEN... DON'T mess with it!!
(7) You can NEVER have enough burp cloths
(6) Just as soon as you think she's asleep, you lay her down, then those big eyes are staring right back at you :)
(5) Once a baby is asleep, they can sleep through virtually ANYTHING
(4) Babies are more expressive than some men... and they don't even have words yet
(3) Everyone wants to help... until she starts to cry or has a dirty diaper
(2) Housework won't go ANYWHERE!

And the number one thing I've learned...

(1) Some of the biggest noises can come out of some of the smallest people

Just thought I'd share my findings!! :) Have a great evening!

Love you guys!! :)

Maddy's New Friend

Last night we went to Texas Roadhouse with some friends to celebrate Bryan's birthday. After dinner, everyone came back to our house for drinks and dessert. I made ice cream pie, per Bryan's request. His original request was to have a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins, but since we don't have a Baskin Robbins here, I offered to make a mint chocolate chip ice cream pie instead. He thought that sounded good. I, personally, am not a fan of mint chocolate chip ice cream, so I also made a cookies and cream ice cream pie as another option for our guests (and myself). So, we came home from dinner, Bryan and the boys went outside to play with the new firebowl that Bryan got for his birthday, and myself and the girls stayed inside (where it was warm and not windy). Today's picture is from when the girls were inside. This is Maddy "playing" with her new friend Sophi. Sophi is about 3 weeks older than Maddy. Her dad is a navigator with Bryan in his squadron. Her mom also works on base, though I can not remember at the moment what she does. So, here are the girls "playing" with one another:


Well, we're just taking it easy today. Bryan is feeling a little under the weather, so I think we'll just stay in today. I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Love you guys!! :)

Bryan's Birthday

Hi everyone! Here are a couple of pictures from last night's birthday "festivities"!! I have to make this quick as Maddy is awake and not really wanting to be alone...









And this is what Maddy is doing while I'm blogging (taking a ride in the swing):


Maddy's contact dermatitis is beginning to clear up, and we couldn't be happier. I'm still pretty exhausted, but Maddy is sleeping well. The doctor told us that she's looking good, and, while I'm a bit biased, I have to agree!!

I feel like I had TONS of things I wanted to blog about, but I've since forgotten them all. Maybe I'll remember them and blog at a later time...

We are going to lunch bunch today with some of the wives from Bryan's squadron. I LOVE doing this. It gives me a chance to get out of the house for a real purpose, and to talk with other Moms (with children of varying ages).

Tomorrow, Bryan is going to walk in a Veteran's day parade. He wants Maddy and me to come watch, but the high for tomorrow is only 57... We'll have to see how that goes!

Tonight we're going to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with some of Bryan's friends to celebrate his birthday. After dinner, we've invited everyone over for ice cream pie and drinks. We may also put together Bryan's new fire bowl in the back yard so everyone can sit outside around the fire. I don't know that Maddy and I will join them as I'm afraid it may be too chilly for her, but we'll at least make an appearance.

Well, Maddy seems to "over" the swing, so I better tend to her before she gets too upset!!

Love you guys!

Have a great weekend!! :)

Quick Update

Hi everyone! I just wanted to give a quick little update on Maddy. We had to take her to the doctor yesterday because of a rash on her face. We thought it was baby acne, but when it spread like it did, and got as red as it is, we decided it was better to be safe than sorry. When we saw the doctor, he told us that she has contact dermatitis. Basically, this means that she, somewhere along the way, came into contact with something that irritated her skin. His guess is that someone held her, and their clothes had been washed in a harsh detergent. He was not at all concerned, and sent us to the store to get .5% hydrocortisone cream. I thought, easy enough, and headed to Wal*Mart. This would have been easy, except that Wal*Mart only carries 1% hydrocortisone cream. Upon speaking with the pharmacist, who suggested that he was certain that the 1% would be okay, I finally found out that they could order the .5% for me, and it would be here today around 10:30 AM. I thought that was a MUCH better option, seeing as how my child is only 5 weeks old!!

The best news from the doctor's visit, however, is that Maddy now weighs a whopping 9 1/2 pounds!!! That's a 2 pound gain since she was born... Keeping in mind that she lost a little before we left the hospital (totally normal by the way), so our little Maddy is doing MARVELOUSLY (minus the stinky rash on her face, which Mommy will start taking care of today)!!!

Just thought I'd share this with you.

I'd better get to gettin on my chores. I need to get a little housework done, and get Bryan's birthday presents wrapped. Tomorrow he'll turn 26... old fogie that he is!! :)

Love you guys!!

Weekend Visitor

This weekend was a big one for us. We had another visitor at our house, and we all had a GREAT time!! Wanna see who came?!?!?! Here she is with Miss Maddy:



Yep... My old roommate Leslie came to visit us!! It was so great to see her!! She and I drove around yesterday to "see the sights" of Abilene. We made a couple of stops at a couple of places. One of which was Kohl's. While we were at Kohl's, we tried on some hats. Wanna see what gems we found?!?!






After we got home from our "outing", Miss Maddy decided she wanted to take Nash for a ride. Luckily, Nash was a good sport about it:


Nash and Leslie got along very well, too:



After Leslie left, Maddy had a little playtime on the floor. Check her out in motion:






I also showed Maddy the teething book that Leslie got for her. I think she liked it. What do you think?!?!



Nash and Maddy took a little rest together on the floor:


Bryan just got home from the grocery store since we had nothing for dinner, Nash was out of food and Maddy was almost out of diapers. Look what he brought home for me:


Isn't he a nice guy?!?!

Now, Maddy is napping, and Bryan and I are going to get started on dinner. We're having french toast and sausage for dinner. It just, plain, sounded good tonight!!

Love you guys!! :)

P.S. Leslie, thank you for visiting!! We really enjoyed having you here!! Come back and see us soon!! Love ya!! :)

A Few Things...

:::::::The Election:::::::

As I feared, Senator Obama was elected as our new president last night. This was a difficult thing for me to swallow. I have only voted in one other election, and I got my way with that one. I was no where near as passionate during the last election, however. I am not writing this to spark any political debates. I am simply speaking my mind... and hoping that that is not a right that is taken away from me in the next 4 (or God forbid 8) years. I jokingly told Bryan last night that I thought we should move to Canada. He didn't see the humor... seeing as how he fights for our country with the Air Force. I would like to point out, though, that this morning he left our house around 6:00 AM to go on a TDY (Temporary Duty Yonder) trip out of the country. How convienient?!?! Our household is concerned with what will happen to us, Bryan's career and the overall well-being of our country while Mr. Obama is the president. I hope that I am pleasantly surprised with the way things turn out. As I told Bryan last night, it's done... it's over... now all we can do is hang on for the ride and hope for the best. We have to keep a good attitude, or we'll definitely be miserable. As my dad would say... It is what it is...



:::::::New Recipe:::::::

On to something a little happier... last night we tried a new recipe. It was EXCELLENT!!! For anyone who is interested, here is the recipe:


Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake:

1 1/2 cups multigrain penne pasta, uncooked
1 pkg. (9 oz.) fresh spinach leaves
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 jar (14 1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained
2 oz. (1/4 of 8 oz. pkg.) Philadelphia Neufchatel Cheese, cubed
1 cup Kraft 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
2 Tbsp. Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese

Heat oven to 375. Cook pasta, adding spinach to boiling water for last 1 minute.

Cook and stir chicken and basil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 3 minutes. Add sauce and tomatoes; bring to boil. Simmer 3 minutes or until chicken is done. Stir in Neufchatel cheese.

Drain pasta mixture; return to pan. Stir in chicken mixture and 1/2 cup mozzarella. Spoon into 2 quart baking dish.

Bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Bake 3 minutes.


:::::::Maddy:::::::

Miss Maddy is doing well. She is 4 weeks old today. She will officially be a month old on the 8th (Saturday). She was up for a long time this morning, then we went to lunch with some of my former coworkers. She, for the first time in her short little life, did not sleep through lunch. I got to eat just a little before she wanted to be held. I realized that she was probably hungry, so I just held her trying to keep her pacified for the rest of the "meal", got a to-go box, and we headed home (after dropping our friends back off at the "Y"). Once home, she ate a little lunch, and I finished mine. She was really good, though. She's started forming a little bit of a schedule... at least at nighttime, that is. We do bath around 9, she eats a little, goes to sleep, then sleeps until 2ish, then again until 5ish, then again until 8ish. I will take that!!! Some people actually start their day around 5, so you could count that as us only getting up once during the night!! No matter how frustrated she and I get with one another while we're still learning about each other, we still love each other like CRAZY!! I think Bryan misses her already, too. He sent me a text message this morning asking me to give her a kiss for him. I'm so glad that he loves her as much as I do. Now if he could only grow a motherly bone somewhere in his body, we'd be doin A-OK!! HaHaHa. Just kidding. I just had to put that in there because I always pick on him about that!

Miss Maddy has no idea what's in store for her for this weekend. My old roommate Leslie is flying in on Friday night and will be here until Sunday afternoon. I'm SO STINKIN EXCITED!! Maddy will be excited once she gets to meet her. I'm sure of it!! :)

Oh well... Maddy is napping, and I'm going to have to wake her up in a few so that we can go for a walk with our friend Jessica. I'll blog again soon, and hopefully with some pictures next time!

Love you guys!! :)

Just checking in...

Hi everyone! We're just checking in today...

I put away all my maternity clothes yesterday (WOO-HOO)!!! I will not say that I fit WELL in my old clothes, but getting them buttoned is a HUGE step in the right direction!

Maddy took her first trip to the mall yesterday. Even though she slept through the entire experience, I think she liked it!! :)

Today, we ventured to church for the first time since Maddy's arrival. She, again, slept through everything, but we were pleased with how well it went. She went to communion with me and received her first blessing from the priest. After church, we joined a few of our friends for donuts at a local donut shop. Maddy woke up for this part (that's my girl), but was very well behaved and just took it all in. Now, we're just relaxing a little... Hoping that Maddy will stay asleep for this nap. We put her down once in the last hour only to have her wake up almost immediately. We've put her back down and she's making a little noise, but we're hoping she'll go back to sleep. Wish us luck! :)

Oh well... I'll leave you with a cute picture of Maddy that we took on Friday. ENJOY:



Have a great week!! Love you guys!! :)