Dittos

Last night my friend Angela, Maddy and I went to a HUGE children's consignment sale at the Expo Center called Dittos for Kiddos. We went hoping to find a jogging stroller (stop laughing, I walk briskly) and an exersaucer for Maddy. We didn't find either of these items, but we DID find some pretty great stuff. Check this out:


The following picture shows a hippo that Maddy can ride on or walk behind and push (when she gets a little older). It also shows a little aquarium that will play music that we can attach to her crib. The little frog talks and tells you what shapes and colors you've touched on his belly. In front of the frog is a little plush block that rattles and has clear windows for you to put pictures in. :)

This picture shows some of the same items, but on the far right at the top is a little toy that will hook across the handle of her car seat so she can have something new to play with. Finally, Angela bought Maddy the book "Make Way for Ducklings".



This is a little onesie that has a carousel with flamingos on it:


This is a Ralph Lauren denim jumper dress:

This dress still had the original store tags on it (never been worn). I have decided that it will be her Easter dress... and we're going to a wedding next weekend, so she'll wear it then, too:

This little jumper dress was just too cute to pass up:

Living in Texas, I thought she could use at least ONE pair of shorts. HaHaHa


So, while I didn't get what I went after, I think we got some pretty good deals!! Next time, I might put a few items in the sale myself. If I put items in the sale, then I get to go shopping before anyone else does (well, me and the other consignors). As it was last night, the sale didn't open up to the public until 9 PM. The consignors got to start shopping at 5 PM. I have a feeling that there were probably some GREAT deals that I missed out on by not being able to go until 9 PM. You live and you learn. It's a semi-annual sale, so the next one will be in October, and I'm getting myself prepared already!!! :)

I hope everyone has a good conclusion to their week and a great weekend!! Talk to you soon!

Love you guys!! :)

Thursday's Pictures

Good morning everyone! I just wanted to share a couple of new photos with you today:

First, this is Maddy modeling a hat we found at Wal*Mart yesterday. If she was not in the 25th percentile for her head size, I would have bought this hat. She, however, has a small head, so this thing swallowed her whole... Isn't she adorable, though?!?!



The next picture is of Maddy's front tooth. Can you believe the change from yesterday to today?!?!



The last couple of pictures are just Maddy being cute!!



We hope that everyone has a great day!! It's almost the weekend!! Love you guys!! :)

Wednesday's Tid-Bits

:::Post-Op Knee:::

My appointment with the doctor went well yesterday. He said that things look like they are healing well. His only concern was that he thought I was losing a lot of strength in my quadriceps. His suggestion was getting and using an exercise bike. I didn't really like this suggestion (since I'm a bit of a tight-wad), so I googled exercises for this particular muscle group, and plan to do some of them starting today. Here's a picture of the knee. I still have some swelling, and some bruising, but overall, it's healing well. WARNING: It's pretty ugly and rainbow-ish!!


Ain't she perty?!?!


:::More Chompers:::

What do you think?? I think Maddy looks like she's getting her top two teeth. After surveying a panel of judges, the vote was unanimous. I think it's safe to say that within in the next couple of weeks, we'll be up to four little chompers in that mouth!! :)


Sorry I couldn't get the picture to turn. It was turned the correct way before I posted it. Just turn your head... You'll be alright!! :)


:::Good Sleeper:::

Maddy is becoming quite the sleeper. She went to bed last night at 8. I didn't hear from her again until 4 AM, then she slept until 8 AM!!! YAY!! The night before last, she slept from 8 PM until 1:45 AM, then again until 7 AM. I hope this trend continues!!

Also, when I went to get her this morning, she was laying on her back (I put her to bed on her belly). Apparently she knows how to roll over both ways now (front to back and back to front)!!


:::Lenten Promise:::

I've made my decision. Are you ready for this?!?! I've decided not to say anything negative about anyone. I've already been tested in the first hour I was up this morning, so this will be quite a challenge, but I think I'm up for it!!! Wish me luck, and please, for the love of God (literally), don't tempt me by asking me what I think about someone (especially if you know I don't have anything nice to say). HaHaHa. Just kidding!! This is a habit I've had for a while, and I feel as though it's been getting worse. Maybe this 40 days will help me break the habit once and for all. I really don't want Maddy growing up hearing me be so negative, so now's a good time to kick it for good!! Wish me luck!! :)

Monday...

:::Happy Birthday:::

I'd like to start with a GREAT BIG Happy Birthday to Aunt Sue!!! I hope your day was GRAND!!! :)


:::Lent Update:::

Well everyone, I have a couple of ideas now for my "Lenten Promise". I just have to make my decision. I have one more day to make this decision. I'll try to remember to let everyone know once the decision has been made!! :)


:::High Chair:::

We let Maddy take a spin in her high chair tonight while we ate dinner. She did very well. Unfortunately, her attention span is pretty short, so I only got to eat about 1/3 of my meal before she was ready to be held, but HEY, that's 1/3 more than I normally get to eat with two hands, so that's GREAT news!! :) Here's a picture of Miss Maddy playing with her toy while we ate dinner:


Come to think of it, if I stopped taking so many pictures and started eating my dinner, maybe I could have eaten half of my meal!! LoL!! :)


:::Dinner:::

Tonight for dinner I made a new recipe... Herbed Stuffed Chicken Breasts... and they were MARVELOUS!!! This one is from Paula Dean, so you KNOW it has to be good!! I'd like to share the recipe with you. I made half a recipe because there are only 2 of us, and it was supposed to make 4 servings, and two servings were PLENTY!! Here ya go:

Herbed Stuffed Chicken Breasts

4 whole skinless boneless chicken breasts (approximately 5 to 7 ounces each)
One 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon dried sweet basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon House Seasoning (recipe to follow)
4 slices bacon
1 leek (optional)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted (what recipe of Paula's is complete without a little buuuter??)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Wash and pound each chicken breast flat. Lay chicken breast on cookie sheet or large platter and spread it with cream cheese, followed by a quarter of the feta cheese. Mix together basil, oregano, and House Seasoning and sprinkle over chicken. Roll up each breast and wrap with a slice of bacon. At this time, if desired (I skipped this part), you can tie up each rolled chicken breast with the green top of a leek. Cut the green top off the vegetable, leaving it long enough to tie around the breast and allowing a couple of extra inches for a knot. Place chicken breasts in a casserole dish and pour melted butter over all. Cover casserole dish with foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Uncover dish and increase temperature to 350 degrees. Continue to bake, allowing the bacon to brown, for 15 to 20 minutes. Or you could place dish under broiler for a few minutes to brown. Serve over rice, with pan juices poured on top. ENJOY!!

House Seasoning Recipe: 1 cup salt, 1/4 cup black pepper, and 1/4 cup garlic powder. Mix well. Store in shaker near stove for convenience. (I did 1/4 of this recipe, and it made more than enough for the chicken with plenty left over to use at a later date!)

If you choose to try this recipe out, please let me know what you and yours think of it. Yes, it takes a long time to cook, but the preparation is minimal!! :)

Here's a picture of the finished product:




:::Cereal:::

Maddy ate 4 Tablespoons of rice cereal tonight!!! While this may not seem like a lot, that's 1/4 of a cup. The first time we gave her cereal, it was 1 Tablespoon and she didn't finish it. She was a HUNGRY girl tonight!!! Here are a couple of pictures of her enjoying her rice cereal:













:::Carrots:::

After Maddy's rice cereal, she finished off the jar of carrots that she's been working on for a couple of days. Here's a little video of her devouring them:






:::Laundry:::

My new washer and dryer did NOT let me down today!! I have the last load of clothes in the dryer that needed to be done... and that's load number SIX!!! Yes, you read that right, I did SIX loads of laundry today!!! With my old washer and dryer, these six loads would have easily taken 3 days!! Crazy, huh?!?!


:::Knee:::

I have an appointment tomorrow with the knee doctor. I am hoping that he'll remove the stitches and tell me that I no longer have to wrap my knee everyday. I'm feeling GREAT. I do not have full range-of-motion yet, but I'm getting there. I can straighten my knee all the way, and I can bend it to a little past a 90 degree angle. I've been doing my physical therapy at home, and it's going well. I'll try to remember to update after the appointment!!


I hope that everyone else's week got off to a good start (and that your weeks continue to go well)!! We love you guys!! Talk to you soon!! :)

Lent

So, there I was... Sitting in church this morning... When all of a sudden it hit me!!

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday!! WHAT?!?! This whole Lent thing really snuck up on me this year. This is where you, my faithful readers (and great family and friends), come in. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could give up for Lent?? Or a Lenten promise I could make?? I'm up for any and all suggestions at this point. I hadn't even given it the first thought before today.

April, I saw on my facebook page that you suggested that I give up injuring myself. While that's a good one, I think that I should just make that a way of life... notsomuch a Lenten sacrifice. HaHaHa. Thanks for that suggestion, though!! :)

So, any one got anything good for me?

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of Maddy and her onesie she wore yesterday to pick up her birthday buddy:



I hope that everyone has a great week!! Love you guys!! :)

WELCOME HOME!!!

Can you believe that it's already been 4 months?!?! The deployers from our squadron are home today!!! Bryan has to go to work early this afternoon to help get the bags from the plane to the deployers' cars, and Maddy and I are going in a bit to be part of the welcoming crew!! In all actuality, we are Mike & Breezy's ride home. Per Mike's request, Maddy and I will pick them up in his truck. I realized last night that Maddy has only ever ridden in my car and one time in Breezy's car. This will be something new and different for her!! :) Bryan installed her car seat in Mike's truck last night, so we'd be ready to go today.

Since we've been housesitting for Mike & Breezy, I decided that I wanted to do a little something for them for their homecoming. We bought a couple of little snacky foods for them. I also bought Mike some handsoap for their kitchen. I have this particular handsoap that I get at Bath and Body Works that he really likes, so I bought him his very own bottle. Finally, we made a poster for them for inside their house. This is where my helpers enter the picture. Check out the pictorial review of the making of the poster:
















As you can see, a good time was had by all!! Lucky for us, the clean up was pretty easy, too!! :)

I'm actually writing this on Friday night to post mid-day on Saturday, so I do not have any pictures of the actual homecoming to post. I also don't have a picture of Maddy's onesie that I made which says, "Has Anyone Seen My Birthday Buddy?" With a picture of Breezy on it. I'm not sure if everyone remembers, but Maddy was born on Breezy's birthday this past year. That makes them "Birthday Buddies".

We hope that everyone has a great weekend. I anticipate a good one at our house!!

Love you guys!!

She Beat Me To It...

I was hoping to be the first to wish April a Happy Birthday, but my mom beat me to it!! I guess I'll have to be the second blogger to wish her a happy birthday, so...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY APRIL!!!

I also wanted to share a couple of pictures we took this morning. Maddy and Nash are becoming pretty good buds. Here are a couple of pictures to show it:


This one is Maddy learning how to pet Nash. Bryan has been working with them, and she's really getting the hang of it!!!



This is Nash showing how much he loves Maddy. I wasn't really thrilled with this situation, but I happened to be snapping the picture at the moment he gave her a big, sloppy kiss. Check out how big his tongue is compared to her face!!! HaHaHa. We're working on limiting the number of "kisses" Nash gives Maddy... Especially those on her face!!




This is Maddy trying to make a break for it!!


This is Miss Maddy showing a little "attitude"... Er... Personality!!


And we'll leave you with a little video of Bryan and Maddy playing:




We hope everyone had a great week... We have a big day tomorrow, and I hope to get a chance to blog about it. Now I've got you on the edge of your seat, don't I?!?! Talk to you soon!

Love you guys!! : )

Clean Clothes!!

We are finally able to do laundry efficiently again thanks to these guys:


















Aren't the purty?!?! Once they were installed today, Bryan jumped at the opportunity to do laundry. I am, however, a realist. I'm certain that once the newness wears off, the laundry will be my domain again. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that we got all the laundry done in a matter of a few hours!!! The best part?? The fact that when I close the dryer door, the dryer stays off!!! Crazy how that works!!

In other news, my knee is still hangin in there. It's a little sore today, but I expected that. I've been managing the pain with Tylenol every 4 hours. I started my at-home physical therapy today. It's not easy because my knee is pretty stiff, but I remember from the last time I had surgery it gets easier over time, and it'll be worth it in the end. Having a newborn definitely adds a new element to the knee surgery thing. Bryan has been a big help, though. He tries so hard. Unfortunately, I've created a Momma's Girl, so there is only so much comforting that Bryan can do. When she gets too upset, no one will do other than me. I guess I should take that as a compliment. Bryan cooked a lasagna last night for dinner and tonight we ordered pizza with our friend Angela. I wonder what he'll do tomorrow night?!?! :)

I guess that's about it for now. Oh wait... I almost forgot... There's more!!

While our washer and dryer were being installed, the UPS guy came and delivered my cookbook from The Melting Pot. The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant that Bryan and I enjoy going to when we get the chance. Now, we have the cookbook, so we can have our own Melting Pot experience at home!!! :)

Ok, so I think that's really it for now. If you have some dirty clothes, feel free to bring them our way. We'd love to share our new washer and dryer with you!!

Love you guys!! :)

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I'm home from surgery and feeling great. Let's hope it stays that way!! :) Talk to you soon!

Love you guys!!

Rubber Ducky...

...You're the one...

SING IT!!

You make bath time so much fun!!

Here's Maddy playing with her rubber ducky from Uncle Chris and Aunt April. She seems to really like it!!



In other news, tomorrow is the big day for my surgery. I have to be there at 12:30, and they said I will go in between 1:30 and 2:00. My plan is to use local anesthesia which will mean that once the procedure is complete, I should be able to go home within an hour. The doctor told me that his part of the procedure will only take about 10 minutes, so I think all-in-all we should be home well before dinner. If I'm up to it, I'll blog to let you all know how it goes. My mom should get a phone call once I'm out, so maybe she can post a quick note to let you know that everything is A-OK. (Can you help me out, Mom?? Thanks!!)

We are not sore from the Wii for those of you that were wondering. I'm not sure how we managed to not be sore, but I'm ok with it!! :) We plan to get the Wii Fit, but decided to wait until after I recover from the surgery. No sense in spending the money yet if I can't use it!! I hope that Nintendo comes out with a Mommy and Me version of the Wii Fit. That would be GREAT!!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... "Nobody tells Baby 'no'"!! Bryan and I purchased our new washer and dryer set from Best Buy last Friday. Actually, I was at home with Maddy and Bryan was the one to actually make the purchase. When he was completing the sale, he was told that they were in stock in the warehouse, but that they were showing a delivery date of Mid-March. The manager on duty said that he would look into this, but he felt certain that we would have them by the middle of this week. He told Bryan to call on Monday, and he'd let him know what he found out. Well, Bryan called on Monday and the person he spoke with told him that it would, indeed, be Mid-March before we would have our new purchase. When Bryan got off the phone and told me, I was pretty aggrivated. I told Bryan that I wanted to go to Best Buy, find a manager and an answer. I explained to Bryan (as a practice for what I would say to the manager) that when I purchase a major appliance, it's because I need it NOW... not a month from now. Actually, we needed this last week, but now will have to be good enough. I was fully prepared to give the store an ultimatum. Either I have the washer and dryer in my house by the middle of next week, or I'm cancelling my order and taking my business elsewhere. Well, when we got to Best Buy, I put on my happy customer face and calmly addressed the situation. We found Curt at the customer service desk, and he was oh-so-helpful. He explained that, yes, the appliances were in the warehouse and could be to the store this week, but all the delivery guys were booked up until Mid-March... NOT the story we were given last week OR on the phone. Curt told us that once they arrived in the store, he would talk with all the drivers and find out who has an extra hour. He was sure that someone would, and since Abilene is not a very big city, there should be no reason that one of the drivers can't work us in. So, long story short, NOBODY TELLS BABY NO, and I'll have my washer and dryer before the end of the week... NOT in Mid-March!!! What did I learn from this??? Don't just sit around and wait for people to take care of your problem that doesn't directly affect them. Get off your butt and take charge!! :)

Well, now that I've vented about that, and shared Maddy's latest picture, I should get off here and eat a little snack. I can't have anything to eat or drink after midnight tonight... and my surgery isn't until 2ish, so I need to get my belly as full as possible before I go to bed tonight!! :)

Talk to you soon!

Love you guys!! :)

What Parents Do...

...After the kiddos are in bed.

Bryan and I tried out the boxing game on the Wii tonight. We're probably going to be sore tomorrow. Check us out:







I think the Wii is good for marriage. We had a BLAST tonight!!

Love you guys! I hope you enjoyed watching us act a little silly!! :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! (I know... always a day late and a dollar short!!) Here are a couple of pictures from our "festivities":


This is Maddy modeling her Valentine's Day dress that Grandmom got for her while she was here visiting last month. Since it was a little chilly, she had to wear pants with it, but she was pretty darn cute if I say so myself!! :)

All of her grandparents sent her some fun Valentine's Day gifts. Here are a couple of pictures of her opening them:



Her Gi Gi and Papa Jay sent her this GREAT book!!



She was even polite enough to "read" the cards!!



Grandmom & Grandpop sent some cute clothes. Once I wash them, she'll be ready to wear them!



Bryan and I learned that fondue is a whole different ball game with an infant!! :) We enjoyed our dinner, but it wasn't quite the same as our pre-baby days!! :)

Maddy still likes the exersaucer we're borrowing from the neighbors. Hopefully she'll have one of her own by the end of the month!!

We hope that all of you had a great Valentine's Day. We know that we did!!

Love you guys!! :)

Smorgosbord...

This will be a sampler platter type of blog, so here goes...


:::MERRY CHRISTMAS:::


We celebrated Christmas at our house today. We each gave each other a couple of IOU's. We got a few new movies. I got a couple of cookbooks, a digital picture frame, speakers for my iPod and a Wii (my IOU). Bryan got some tools, clothes, DVD's and a gift certificate for flying (his IOU). I think his favorite gift was the R/C airplane from Uncle Dennis. We went outside to play with it, and the neighbors joined us... Check out the video:






:::EXERSAUCER:::

We borrowed our neighbor's exersaucer to see if Maddy likes it before we buy one for her. SHE LOVES IT!!! Check her out:




:::FIRST RICE CEREAL:::

Maddy got to try rice cereal for the first time today. Here's the "before" picture:


What do you think?? Did she like it??


Mommy gave it a try, too:


Here's a video to give you the full effect:




We hope you enjoyed this glimpse of our day. We love you!!