More Summer Fun!!

We're still hanging in there this summer... Here is a short video of Maddy helping me make dinner last night. Actually, I decided that we'd had enough Lean Cuisines and Lil Entrees that we needed something "homecooked" last night. I made steamed carrots (which Maddy didn't really seem to like), Macaroni and Cheese (I think she liked that) and Maddy had some meat sticks (sort of like vienna sausages), which is an old standby in our house, so I knew she'd like those. While I was cooking, Maddy was sitting on the floor playing with her cooking supplies!!





This morning, we went to the mall playground again. After the kids played, we took them to ride on the little mechanical things. Maddy even took a spin on the trolley with the boys:




The boys rode on the firetruck, too. There were only 2 seats, so Maddy let the boys have their fun...


We hope you guys are having a great day!! Talk to you later!! :)

Play time!!

I took Maddy to the mall today to meet some friends to play with. Here's Maddy "playing". The little boy is our friend Kelby. His mom is a friend of mine and his dad is in Bryan's squadron. Enjoy!!

Oh yeah, and the playground has a "health" theme, so that's a giant toothbrush and a giant stethoscope she's playing on...

Maddy and her Daddy

Here's a quick picture of Maddy talking to her daddy on the webcam. Isn't that fun?!?! Love you guys!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

As promised, here is a little look into what Maddy and I got for Bryan today!! I have been taking portraits of Maddy this week and editing them for him. I ordered my 4 favorites from Wal*Mart's one hour photo. I ordered them from the Wal*Mart in Little Rock so he could go pick them up on his own. Here are some of the pictures I took of Miss Maddy...

By the way, we had a BLAST!! :)















I hope you enjoyed these as much as Maddy and I enjoyed taking them!! Love you guys!!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads!!

What do you want?

This has become a BIG question in our house as Maddy is mastering a little more of the sign language. Our latest sign is "more". Maddy is to use this sign whenever she wants more of something, obviously, but we usually use it during mealtime. While I may still have to guess what it is that she wants more of, at least I know that the grunting means that she wants more of something! LoL. So, now she knows how to tell me when she's "all done" eating, when she wants milk and when she wants more to eat. I tell you what... This whole baby sign language thing is GREAT!!! Check out this short video of Maddy telling me that she wants more at lunch today:






Now, another short video to show you how grown up Maddy is becoming. She can drink out of her sippy cup all by herself now!! Sometimes she really wants help (not sure where she gets her laziness from... hahaha). Sometimes I'll help her (especially if she seems really tired or something), but most of the time she drinks all by herself!! Can you believe it?!?! Here's the video:







Maddy's friend Sophi... We all remember Sophi, right? She's 3 weeks older than Maddy... Started crawling last night. Unfortunately, her mom and dad are both deployed right now, so while they missed the monumental moment, her aunt (who is taking care of her) was kind enough to video tape the moment and send her to her mom and dad for her. The race is on now... Maddy has 3 weeks. HaHaHa. Just kidding. Maddy gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. Occasionally, she'll take a tiny little "step". Life as we know it is about to COMPLETELY change!!!

I have a surprise up my sleeve for Bryan for Father's Day since he couldn't be home with us this year, so check out my blog on Sunday (or Monday if it's too crazy on Sunday -- for me or you) and see what I've cooked up for his first Father's Day... :)

Have a great weekend everyone!! TGIF!! Love you guys!! :)

Home Improvements

Good afternoon all! As promised, here is a blog about our little home improvement projects we've been working on. (Chris and April, we're still waiting for pictures of your kitchen renovation!!)

First, I have been wanting to replace our fence gate for quite some time now. It was sagging and rotting and just, plain falling apart. It took an act of Congress to get it to latch... Not to mention that the previous owners had attached a piece of chain with a padlock to the latch to keep the gate closed (and failed to leave the key with us). A few weeks ago, Bryan removed the old gate, which now looks like this:



Keep in mind, we had to remove a couple of the boards for something else, so it was a full gate while it was still hanging.

Now, the gate looks like this:



And look... NO MORE CHAIN!!! :) Bryan removed the padlock with a grinding tool that he put on his saw that my parents gave him for his birthday this past year. (He said thanks, guys!!)


I've also planted a tomato plant. Here is a picture of it... I'd like to point out that I've had it for several weeks now, and it's still alive!!



Here is an upclose shot of a yellow flower on the tomato plant, which I've been told is where a tomato will begin growing soon!! I sure hope you're right, Mom!! :)


Finally, we babyproofed the house this past weekend. Our biggest challenge was our entertainment center. It is completely open on the bottom where all the "stuff" is... DVD player, etc. We came up with this idea:



It's a sheet of plexiglass that Bryan cut in half and put a hinge in the middle. Then, on each end, we drilled a hole and put a cabinet lock around the post of the entertainment center. I think it turned out pretty good if I say so myself. We also put the cabinet and drawer locks in the kitchen and our bathroom. We've started referring to Maddy as Evil Kineval... She's become quite the daredevil... Let's hope that we always keep a close enough eye on her!! :)



So, that's what we've been up to. Bryan left for his 6 week training in Little Rock today. I think it'll go by pretty quickly. He's already planned a trip home for the 4th of July, and Maddy and I are considering going to visit for a week-ish while he's out there. After he is finished with his training, we're planning a 2 week road trip... Maybe we'll even come to a city near you!! As it gets closer, I'll be sure to give some more definite information. Grandpop, Maddy loved the aquarium in Corpus Christi, TX so much that we're hoping to make a stop in Atlanta where our favorite aquarium tour guide lives... I hope you aren't already booked!! Love ya!

Love you guys!! Hope you are having a good start to your week! :)

Just a Quick One...

...To share some new pictures and videos!

Here's a video of Maddy sitting on her hippo that I got at that consignment sale a couple of months ago. Bryan was delayed coming home yesterday from a trip, and we were struggling to stay entertained, so I decided to get it out and give it a shot. I think she liked it!!





Here's a still photo of her on the hippo:



This is a video of Maddy playing in her piano exersaucer. Notice the skilled use of the microphone... :)





Tonight we took a family photo of Bryan in his flight suit and Maddy and me in our squadron shirts. Maddy's onesie is a little snug, but she managed to squeeze into it one last time. LoL. Here we are:



I took a couple of just Maddy and Bryan. Here's one of those:



Finally, Bryan gave Maddy a mohawk during her bath tonight. I'm so glad she's enjoying bathtime again!! :)



I believe that this is the "what the heck did you do to me??" look. LoL! :)


I hope everyone's week is coming to a nice close. We plan to babyproof the living room and kitchen this weekend. How fun, right?!?! I'll try to take pictures of our babyproofing of the entertainment center. It should be interesting. I also need to take a picture to show you the new fence gate that Bryan made. The old one was in desperate need of replacement.

Talk to everyone soon! Love you guys! :)

As Promised...

... Here's the video of Maddy doing her sign language. When she's "all done" she raises her hands in the air to tell us. (Secretly this is so that she won't rub her hands all over herself and make a bigger mess!!) Check her out:




Isn't she AMAZING?!?! It's ok, you can admit it... I think she is, too!! :)

Love you guys! Have a great day!!

Splish Splash...

...Maddy was takin a bath!!

We bought Maddy her first bottle of bubble bath this weekend, and she LOVED it!! Until very recently, pediatricians did not recommend giving babies bubble baths for a myriad of reasons, but Johnson and Johnson's has come out with a new baby bubble bath that is approved for babies. I was a little worried because I've heard of some kids being afraid of bubble baths, but Maddy didn't have the first problem with it!! Check out some pictures of Maddy in her first ever bubble bath:





In other news, we are sad to say that Bryan's commander is moving to another base and another job. The McIntyre's have been WONDERFUL!! We will miss them more than you can imagine. Col. and Mrs. Howard will be taking over command of the squadron. I plan to go to a "meet and greet" for Mrs. Howard tonight. She's got some big shoes to fill. I hope she's up for the challenge!! Before the McIntyre's left, though, there was a HUGE farewell party this past weekend. Maddy went with us. Check her out in her ADORABLE halter dress:





After the farewell party, the newly promoted Captains hosted the "after party". This is the part of the blog where I'd like to congratulate Bryan on his promotion!! Yes, he is no longer Lt. Williams. He is now CAPTAIN Williams!! Congrats!! :)

Maddy has been working on a bit of baby sign language with us too. She has already learned "all done" to tell us when she's had enough to eat. Now, we're working on "more" when she wants more to eat and "milk" when she's thirsty. I'll try to get a couple of videos to show you. I'm so amazed at how quickly she's picked up on this. I had my doubts, so I decided to learn the signs myself and teach them to her rather than sign up for a class. We may think about the class now that she's picking up on it so quickly!! Way to go girly!!

Does everyone remember my friend Heather who was having complications with her pregnancy?? Well, I have good news. She delivered a beautiful, healthy baby girl this past Friday. Isabella was born 5 weeks early at 5 pounds, 2 ounces and 11 3/4 inches. She's a tiny little girl, but overall is doing very well.

My final note is to let everyone know that today Maddy turned 8 months old!! Can you believe it?!?! Only 4 more months until the BIG CELEBRATION!!!

Sink or Swim

I was approached yesterday by one of my former coworkers at the YMCA about enrolling Maddy in a new swim program. Pam, the aquatics director, wants to start a new program is that designed to teach babies 6 - 12 months old how to survive if they fall into the water. I call it the "sink or swim" program. She told me that it's a 4-6 week class that is 5 days a week for about 10 minutes each session. She is not yet certified to teach the class and would need a "guinea pig" to become certified, so she asked if I would consider letting Maddy help her out. The class is normally pretty pricey for a few reasons (1) it's time consuming for the instructor, (2) it's pricey to train the instructor and (3) it's one-on-one. She would teach Maddy at no cost if she were the "guinea pig". Here's a short video about the program. I have to talk to Bryan to see how he feels about it. I have very mixed emotions. I know that it could truly save her life if she were to ever fall in the pool, but the training just seems so scary. Do any of you have any experience with this program or one like it? I'm just so torn! Thank goodness babies have 2 parents... Some decisions just need more opinions than Mommy's. :)

I think it might be time...

...to start baby-proofing...

Check out this video of Maddy trying to pull herself up on her exersaucer:





And this video of Maddy rolling around reaching for the surround sound system:




What do you think?? Time to start baby proofing?!?!

Hope your week is going well... Talk to you soon!

Love you guys!! :)

Cheeeese

Here are a few pictures and videos of Maddy from dinner tonight. She's really developing a personality and becoming SO MUCH FUN!! I can't wait for everyone to see her again. She's changed so much these last few months. I can't believe it, but I have to call this week to schedule her 9 month check up!! She'll be 8 months old NEXT WEEK!! It's crazy how quickly the time has gone by!!

Miss Maddy has become very independent when it comes to mealtime, too. She started turning her nose up at the jars of baby food while we were at the beach. I finally realized that she just really wanted to feed herself, so tonight she had a Gerber Graduates meal. They make little TV dinner type meals (like a Lean Cuisine). The box says that they are for toddlers, but with her 8 teeth and determination, she's ready!! Tonight she had carrots with mashed potatoes, chicken pieces and gravy. She ate every bit of it. Then, she ate some peas. She finished up with a half a graham cracker. You think we might be getting ready to hit a growth spurt?!?! She's also started drinking out of a sippy cup. She's getting pretty good, and with a little guidance, she holds it all by herself!! :)

So, long story short, here are some pictures and videos of tonight's dinner...

Her new nickname is cheeseball... She cheeses for the camera:





Now, cheese on command Maddy:





I hope everyone's week got off to a great start. Maddy and I are flying solo this week. We hope to have our family back together by the weekend...

Love you guys!!