The Lily Pad

Hi baby girl! A week ago you turned one. One whole year has gone by since you graced us with your presence. It seems like only 2 days ago that I was dressed as pregnant Britney for an early Halloween party. For weeks I have made comments on what is it about the age of one that makes it magical. There's all this stuff I was supposed to wait until you were one to do, and I just didn't get how magical one was. You turned one and all the sudden you look older, your fat rolls are slimming down and you have stinky nasty sticky toddler poop. I think it's time to poop in the potty. This month we moved back to Asheville while Daddy went to CA and it's been a rough adjustment. You have seen so much of our family that it's crazy and they are all so impressed with you and how smart and how much personality you have. You are so happy and loving and just plain sweet. You finally let me squeeze your fat feet into shoes on your birthday. This has been a true challenge because of yo

I know I promised some substance but Madelyn ran off with it.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the past two(?) weeks. I think ya'll should come up with some captions for them. This is how the tree in the front yard looked yesterday morning Birthday cake Yes, I do love capturing her mid meltdown. She is so freaking dramatic and it cracks me up everytime. I will have internet tomorrow and boy do I have some great stuff to share so I will stop copping out with pretend updates and pictures.

1. I am now in Asheville living between my parents house and my grandmothers house. My grandmother is in a nursing home so her house is empty and is a great place for Madelyn and I to have as our own. However, I'm a chicken and there's no internet there yet so we've been sleeping at my parents. Plus they are calling for snow flurries tonight. Blech! 2. Madelyn turned one on Friday and I'm pretty sure she's diving head first into her terrible twos. We have major meltdowns, temper tantrums, and more attitude than I think a one year old is allowed to have. Of course, she's still the cutest, sweetest baby in the whole wide world. 3. Chris left Sunday to drive to CA. It will be 11 days until I see him for the ball in Charleston, SC. I am so bummed that he's not here with us and that we will be apart for a while (after the ball). 4. I am LOVING having cold weather so that I can sleep under my down comforter. Well, if I would ever go to the house where

Todays blog is brought to you by the ever talented, almost 1 year old Madelyn Grace. Madelyns previous works include a few random gmail chats, and email to daddy, and numerous poopy diapers. She takes great pride in her art and as you will see, she hates making mistakes. As a side note...that couch is currently on a moving truck headed towards CA, and tomorrow that baby will be in a car headed towards NC. And I still have the most fabulous husband in the world.

My husband is the best husband ever! Right now I am propped up on pillows in a hotel room with a sleeping baby in her pack n play at my feet and my wonderful Marine is at our house packing and organizing and loading his car because the movers are coming tomorrow! I love him so much. I'm not sure how we would have made it through the past two moves without him. Of course without him I wouldn't have had to move...hmmm...lol. He pushes and gets it all done while I stress because all I see is chaos and I can't figure out where to start or what to do. He sees the big picture and busts tail to get it all done while I put silly slippers on my daughter and take pictures. I don't know what we're going to do without him when he leaves next week, but we're not thinking about that now. I'm in denial. For anyone wondering...a hotel room is totally the way to go! Anyone (you know who you are...)looking at moving, you get TLE...USE IT! This is the second time we h

This morning was the first day in three that we didn't have plans to run around and have family fun time so that meant we needed to get up and hit the ground running since evil moving people will descent upon our house in 2 days. Luckily for Madelyn it was a chilly morning and I am a master at avoiding what needs to be done. Hey Madelyn, you need some shoes! I think your foot is broken, we'll have to operate... Nevermind, it's just Elmo Feet!

Yesterday we had a little playdate for Madelyn's birthday. I wanted an excuse to make her a cupcake caterpillar and it was her birthday in 8 days so there we go. Unfortunately due to previously mentioned health drama and a miscommunication about the day, Denise, Reese, Craig, Chris and I had to eat the cupcakes all by ourselves. Let me tell you, it was really hard..as a matter of fact I am still suffering through and eating cupcakes. It's a caterpillar! Madelyn doing what she does best...cheesing for the camera Denise and Reese We had a great time, the weather was gorgeous and Madelyn had a blast almost eating the leaves. She would crinkle them and take them to her mouth and then drop the old leaf in favor finding a new one. I'm sure if Emmalyn had been there that Madelyn would have chowed down on leaves, but without her partner in crime she just wasn't brave enough. Speaking of Emmalyn....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

OK...so way too many people in my immediate friend family are having / have had health related drama. So...Denise, Paige, Amber, Jessica, Isaak, and Bonnie you are all in my thoughts and prayers. I hate putting you all in a list like that but I'm not all about trying to put your biznes on this here blog. Kim, I'm thining of you too, but Kaylee is not drama...she is a gorgeous, sweet, amazing baby girl. :)

That has kind of become my mantra, just keep rolling along. Rolling with the punches, rolling with the flow, rolling with the packing and moving. I think the only thing worse than doing a full on DITY (Do It Yourself) move is to do half of one where you have to decide what items you will want for the next three months and what things can go into storage. I also never knew how much I would miss the dog. I actually have to sweep up after Madelyn eats...and dadgum that baby is messy! This morning she threw cheerios in the floor and then looked for Domino to come clean them up before throwing more. I hope she learns quickly that he's not there to clean up after her otherwise I'm gonna have to let her eat her own cheerios off the floor. We've been getting regular updates about Domino, he is very happy in his new home. He has settled in nicely and let my father in law know early on who is boss. I know deep down that we made the right decision. With a move in less than a we

This morning Domino hopped in the car with my mother in law and left to begin his new life with my father in law in Asheville. Domino was our "furry baby". We tried so hard to make things with him work, I wanted to believe that even though he didn't like kids that his love and protection of Madelyn would override his grouchiness to her. It didn't. As she has grown into a toddler, his unease around her has grown and after one snap too many it was time for him to move on. Domino joined our family in February of 2005. I wanted an adult male rat terrier and I found him at a rescue 2 hours away from home. I paid $100 for him, got him home and started what turned into rehabbing a skittish, sick dog. We believe he had been abused by previous owners because he was very wary of us and was afraid of newspapers. He had also just been neutered, had kennel cough, and digestive issues. I nursed him back to health and he finally started cuddling with us on the couch where

After warrior day Madelyn and I slept like rocks...cute, smooshy rocks. Don't I fake sleep like a pro? :)

On Thursday Charlie Company had are Warrior day. It was so much fun! It's crazy that after being with Chris for almost 9 years, this is the first opportunity I've had to do most of the things offered to the families. It was a great way to end this 6 months of hectic training and long days home with the baby. Here is our little family checking out the AAVs and stuff...Madelyn was passed out! (Yes, I was all MOTO with my cami pants...but I wasn't the only one!) This is me cheesing it on the AAV, it was so much fun! I can't believe Chris gets to do it all the time! Chris and I in flac jackets and helmets to shoot big guns. Me shooting the big gun, it was cool. This is my favorite picture. Chris is sleeping and Madelyn has in ear plugs. This was at the range The "salty sergeant" raced the "boot leuitenant" on the O course. The LT won! This is very funny because the boot lt is older and more experienced than the salty sgt but we gave them a hard time the

Our children's age and development is marked in milestones. We guage their progress and accomplishments at what stage in their life they are in when they walk, talk, sit up, eat baby food, roll over, and or course we count the number of poopy diapers when there is nothing else to do. I believe that similarly there are Mommy Milestones, those things that only you can do as a mother, the things that you can only understand once you have given birth to a new life, a new bundle of joy. There's the first time your baby has a fever, the first time you don't have a clean diaper ready to catch the poop, the first time you get peed on, the first time your baby sleeps all night, the first time you realize that your baby isn't going to be a baby forever. Nothing can prepare you for those moments, those moments that seize you and take over your entire life as you spiral into a whirlwind of milestones, either yours or your child. Today (written on Monday) I had to have hit at least

Please ignore the ugly red blinds...and the stuffy mommy in this video.

I am trying to post. I had something cute and fun and wonderful to post but blogger is stoopid and won't let me load pictures or a video or anything. So now you get this, a little tyrade typed from the bed after three unsuccessful attempts to blog something meaningful. I guess I will have to actually write something instead of bombarding you with pictures. Chris is watching National Treasure for the bazillionth time. My favorite time of him watching it was after a Kenney Chesney concert in Columbia, SC. We went with friends and were sharing a hotel room. After some wonderful rum punch at the concert we went for a late night gourmet meal at the local waffle hut where the air conditioning was set on butt ass cold. We shivered through our frozen eggs and crispy bacon holding coffee cups to keep our hands warm just like we were in antartica. We got back to the hotel room where Chris ordered National Treasure on video on demand while the rest of us, finally warm, fell asleep. S

1. My daugter is already a smart butt. The other day she was playing with R (a little girl I was babysitting who is 3 months older than Madelyn) and she was stepping on her leg trying to get to other toys. I looked at Madelyn and told her to be a sweet girl. She looked at me, started babbling in a sweet voice and stepped on R. 2. I am moving in 20 days and it's killing me. Today I had an impromptu shopping trip that was fun and didn't result in me spending money with Denise. I am going to miss that and her so much when we move. 3. My head still feels like a pimple that needs popping. I sound like I have a clothespin on my nose and the area under my eyes might just explode. 4. I LOVE this weather. It's beautiful and cool and crisp. Tonight I stepped out, took a deep breath and was immediately reminded of Madelyns first couple of weeks, it was this kind of weather when we brought her home. I love how certain smells can transport you to the happiest times in your

I'm a horrible allergy sufferer as in I don't suffer well. But by the pure nature of the word I don't think anyone suffers well otherwise it wouldn't be suffering, it would be partying and I'm a good partier so maybe I am a good sufferer because I make sure people know I am suffering and I am miserable hence making me good at the suffering. But I digress, I don't have sinus issues often and when I do, I am such a baby about it. I don't know if I actually have bad allergies, or if I'm just a baby about minor ones, but today everything aligned just right and I feel like my head is going to explode. By aligning I mean I was doomed from the very beginning. First I turned on the oven to cook an eggo for Madelyn's breakfast, forgetting that the breakfast casserole / souffle thing I made on Sunday had bubbled over so this smoked up the house and the smoke irritated my throat just like it did on Sunday so I opened the windows to air out the house. As so