Few Pics from our Trip to VA

Madden before he face planted into a huge mud hole - loved his C'ARS hat that kept him warm

After face plant - I guess it wore him out!

All the cousins...love these pics

Waiting on the TRAIN..he had such a good time on the choo choo! "All-Aboard"

DeCeMbEr

(Madden is reading "elf on the shelf" our elf's name is Jingle Bells)

(this snow flake is so easy and cute)

(Madden and Patch decorating the tree)

Sorry its been a while...again.
This month is crazy busy! Poor Adam i couldnt tell you the last time he got to hunt...they have a new space at the campt and I know he is dying to try it out. Madden's little personality has changed so much just within the last month, between melt downs and learning so much...it has kept us busy. He loves singing Christmas songs, his favorite is Frosty (oh, and he loves the old time movie too). Bed time is still going strong..a few bumps here and there, but all in all...GREAT! Santa on the other hand...not so much a fan :( (I'll post a pict of the 3 sec shot)
As far as Chrsitmas gifts, i started really early, thought I was doing good and start getting depressed when I remember how many gifts we actually have to buy. I of course love buying madden stuff (LOL) but there is just so much sometiems between white elephant and every party...phew. Maybe the nieces and nephews could start pulling names - just a thought.
Or, maybe i just need to start a little sooner...who knows!
Well, enough updating. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Trip

We left Monday (before Thanksgiving) and got home Sunday (my bday). 17 hours in a car with 4 adults and a two year old (huge carseat) was quite interesting and actually way better than i imagined!
We arrived early afternoon Tuesday and just relaxed. Other family got there that night and Wednesday...it was so fun having all the cousins and brothers and sisters together. Aunt Stacy and Granny rocked the kitchen and everything was absolutely amazing...there was so much food we ate on everything for three days!!
Friday we all went to Washington DC...what an experience! Madden's favorite was the train ride where he learned "all aboard."
It was freezing but such an amazing feeling to be there. Great family time and amazing sites and museams. We'll have to go back one day (not in the winter) and take a few days to see things. All in all - great trip. Pictures will soon follow.

Thankful...

We are in the Thanksgiving season and alot of people have been posting what they are thankful for. I thought I would knock it all in one post. Thanksgiving faslls on the 25th so I will name 25 things/reasons why I am thanful - no in any particular order.

1. my amazing family

2. God/christianity

3. my awesome little boy who amazes me every day with his kindness, love and sincerity

4. my husband and best friend who helps and supports me and who rocks as a dad

5. my job and boss who is totally understanding, awesome, friendly and just makes work easy and fun.

6. my church family who are always there when I need them to pray for my family and others without question and to help whomever in the community

7. my parents who raised me to be the person i am today, and who help me today with whatever we might need and who are awesome grandparents

8. my inlaws who treat me like i have always been apart of thier family

9. our awesome new house where we can make new memories and spend lots of family time and meals together

10. patch - who is a wonderful part of our family and a great pet for madden where he will learn how to be sweet and soft and take care of a dear friend

11. adam's job in which he loves and learns a great deal

12. steady paychecks and insurance - things we sometimes take for granted

13. my new best friend lia who is there to listen, gripe, and share common motherhood stories with

14. grandparents who are there to share stories with and teach us about values that we cant even imagine

15. health - even though we have had our fair share of colds, ear infections, stomach viruses, we have been strong enought ot get through them and I pray we will be strong enough to fight anything that is thrown our way

16. our doctors who are very gentle and caring

17. our boss's

18. our community - watching them raise money to help one another is gratifying

19. my washer and dryer - so we can have clean clothes in an instant

20. my family far away - makes us not take family for granted and teach madden about different states and how to appreciate one another

21. our veterans, without yall I dont know where we would be - thank you!

22. our neighborhood kiddies - even though we have some odd ball adults - I love the fact that there are kids playing in the streets, shooting bball, and playing with madden - its a great feeling

23. co-workers who are great friends and company - even if they make me spend too much money by eating out - but they are just great people to be around

24. to be able to spend the holidays with loved ones, friends, relatives, etc.

25. just life in general...you only get one shot at ...so make it good!

NOVEMBER...

Wow, i cant believe it is November all ready...where has the year gone?
Adam has been out of town for hunting and work training in Texas - this is his last week for Texas...whoo hoo!
Just thought I would let yall know about our upcoming festivities. Adam and Jordan are cooking in the Festival of Festivals this weekend - how exciting!
Madden is gonna spend the day with CC, daddy will cook and mom and nanna will be working on a house for Habitat. After the Habitat house we will go join daddy at the festival - free passes!!
Next weekend is the St. Jude run/walk - Me and Madden and tons of others will walk for Team Preston - St. Jude continues to amaze me and i just want them to help Preston get better.
As for the rest of the weekend we will be washing clothes and packing b/c we leave on the 22 (night) with Stephen and Kristi (yes it will be tight) to North Carolina and Viginia to visit our families!!
We cant wait to see you guys and finally meet you Genevive!
We will come home on the 28th and start decorating for Christmas!!
Have a wonderful holiday season

To my sweet baby boy....

Madden celebrated his 2nd birthday on October 31, 2010.

I honestly cant belive you are alreay two years old. I remember the day we found out we were pregnant, the doctors appointment when they told us we were having a boy, and the day you were born.





Your first year was rough but nothing we couldnt handle.

And your second year was filled with so many interesting and big events!

We started building and moved into our new house.

Mommy got a new job.

You moved from a crib to a big boy bed

You made a new friend (Payton) and absolutley loves spending time with her. Yall fight and share, hit and hug, laugh and cry...her mom and I are in trouble!

The best part of my day is when I think about picking you up from school or coming into the house and you hop out of daddy's lap and welcome me with a big madden hug!

I love watching you growup, experiencing new things, you learn a new word or see a new toy and all the excitement you share. You amaze and inspire me.

And just between us, since you are the first child I am sure your dad and I will make tons of mistakes, but we will grow from them. I'm sure nothing will seem fair but we will give you all the love you can ever imagine. We will do what we feel is right, at the time, and go from there. Take the "going to bed situation" you did not like us i am sure for a while but we made it and now it is an awesome experience that we all share every evening!

Madden, (what) your second year has been amazing and I am so glad I get to be your mommy (and I am sure you dad feels the same way because I see the way he lights up when you talk to him) and I cant wait for many more years!

Happy Halloween

These might be a little out of order but the one above is us trick-and-treating

this is our new family "happy bday sign" that i made and am very proud of

Enjoying our birthday boy's hayride

Ok, so this one is madden's first STA football game (nothing to do with Halloween) but really cute picture of him and daddy cheering on the Alligators (i mean the Gators) LOL

SLEEPING MADDEN.....YEAH!

We did it! Finally, Madden goes to bed without (or with very little) struggle. I figured i would post what he did and then what finally worked - for others and if we need to do it again (LOL).

What we were doing - he would scream and cry when even mentioned it was time to go to bed - now remember this came out of no where...he had been doing amazing at bed time. We would have to hold him down in his bed and run out, he would follow and we would put him in several times. We tried shutting the door, baby gate, bribing, nothing worked. It would take about an hour to get him to finally go to sleep, then he would wake up in the middle of the night once, twice or three times and it was the same struggle.
What we did wrong - let him sleep in our bed and laid down with him to get him to go to sleep.

What worked - I read tons of comments and did lots of research, wanted a clock or something where i could tell him "when its this color we sleep and this color its morning." Clocks are way pricey and with shipping - out of the question - why doesnt a store carry somethign like that....no clue b/c i called every place thinkable and nothing!
A friend made a comment about a night light on a timer...so I bought a blue night light (more soothing) and a cheap digital timer (lowes) all for about $15.00. I plugged it and set the timer to turn on at 7:300 and repeated "blue light means night night"
he struggled the first night a little...so i read some stories to his teddy bear...which calmed him down and I was able to talk to him. The second night he struggled when i said its time for bed but once i asked him to pick out a book, he was fine. He wined a little when i left the room but was ok. By the third and fourth night..we was repeating "blue light means night night" and was asking me to shut the door. I am so amazed!!
I hope this helps you fellow mothers. Good luck and dont fuss at him/her, its now thier fault.

The Terrible/Not So Terrible Twos...

First off, who decided at age two our little angels turned "terrible" becuase in all actuallity our started around 15 months (LOL).
We have recently came across and new hurdle and are trying so hard to over come it. The dreaded wont sleep in his own bed (don don don). It started as him waking up early (around 5ish) so we would just throw him in bed with us until time to wake up. Then it got more and more often and into the middle of the night. For a while if you put him back in bed he was fine.
We recently started getting serious with it and now every night is a struggle...got some good tips from friends and family, doctors and websites (yes, i did call the doctor) so we shall see!

First off, who decided at age two our little angels turned "terrible" becaue ours started around 15 months. LOL.
what makes this age terrible - kicking and screaming in public, the inability to sit still in a resteraunt or anywhere, the cute but annoying "no" or like madden says, "no mommy" which makes it even more cuter. Lets not forget the "i wanna potty" which really means lets play in the potty or pretend i pottied so i can get an M&M. They get really clingy (which i kinda like so not so terrible unless i am trying to clean house which doesnt really happen either) and wont let you get anything done.

what makes this age amazing - the fact that they can return love and affection "i hug you" or "I ove ewe." that their personality shows more and more each day and start to pretend with cars and trucks. Thier is such enthusiasm for certain things "oohhhh" and "yeah!!" now whether its good or bad its still awesome to watch thier wheels turning and actually have a thought or opinion about something. They can sing songs and participate (pat a cake), when we read books he can pick out things and name them, colors, names, shapes, etc.

So all in all this age is more amazing then terrible (dont ask me in the middle of the night though) and I cant wait for the next months, years and memories we get to share together!

Weekend...

We had an amazing weekend. Saturday was madden's best friend's birthday party (Happy Bday Payton!) Sunday we went to the Pumpkin Patch...it was so much fun but also so very hot!
Madden has been singing the "Happy Birthday Song" and when i try to insert his name, he says "no, payt" LOL this should be an interesting second birthday!!
Well, its our last week of enjoying our ball of energy one year old!

HOUSE

So, i tried to find some pics of the inside...but there are really no good ones...i will work on that but for now, here she is...WE LOVE IT!

October 2010

I apologize for not posting in so long. Let me try and catch you up...we moved into our house in April. We spent the summer enjoying it and getting to know some people down the road who has a daughter Madden's age. We are enjoying hanging out with them and between their girls and Madden they keep us on our toes!

My Job - I absolutely love it. I never thought of myself as a "secretary" type person. I always thought i would want to be out and in the middle of everything...well, surprise!

I love listening to people's problems and giving them a kind word, helping out divorcing couples, hearing about criminal happenings....i just LOVE IT!

On another note, i have been obsessed with crafting blogs and want to try and get better (start) making decor for around the house. I am also trying to "fly" (http://www.flylady.net/), and try to do better with our finances (budgeting).

Adam - Still enjoys his job (as far as i know) he doesn't say much but i think he really enjoys what he does and the people he works with. We were apart of two weddings this summer and even though i am thrilled for them...i am so glad they are over. We are not into hunting season and he is trying to squeeze in (with our busy schedule this month) some hunts. Adam and Jordan have also cooked in two festivals and got second place in this last one...Congratulations!

Madden - has been doing great! He is talking up a storm, getting such a personality, moving like crazy, running, squirming, kicking, biting, hitting, snuggling, kissing....Bring it on Terrible Twos!

So far we have had a few colds and that's about it. We went to the doctor two weeks ago for a little limp...xrays were clear so we are just watching him. He is so loving and sweet it kills me. Lately, "a hug, a kiss" is what he says when you part from him...tells everyone by...waves and tells "hello" to everyone - just the best darn kid ever!

February...

....yet another month I will skip in the futre. Madden has had a "fever virus" the next week he was ok, then pnemonia!
Really!
Well, we survived and yesterday (3-1-10) we went to the doc for chest x-rays to see if its completely gone and.....drumroll please......it is!
whoo hoo
now all he has is a sinus and eye infection. I think we can handle this!

PS. Pnemonia = not fun when every afternoon the fever is so high you contemplate going to the hospital

Em

January

Sorry its been so long. I started a new job! We are building a new house and nothing was ever secure at the agcenter. It was fun for a while; the traveling, conferences (yes I enjoyed them), projects, and co-workers mainly. But it was time to move on. I needed something stable, preferably closer to home (the drive to LSU was killing me) and that would still understand my child gets sick and needs to go to the doctor.
I found it! Working at a law office in Gonzales. Small office so no HR people to deal with and very family oriented (the people and the practice.)
There is actual work for me to do.....unlike LSU where we just waited for projects.
I am always busy (but never overwhelmed) I absolutely love it!
Thanks Joni for this opportunity!

Em

Sorry about the delayed update..

Sorry its been so long. November and December were filled with family, food, laughs, and madden being sick. Yup, you guessed it - colds, which turned into ear infections. I had enough, I told my doctor I would like to meet with an allergist - so we did, the week of Christmas and got tested for allergies. The negative thing was that even if he is allergic to some things, they might not show up because he is so young - which is what happened. I still think he is allergic to dust or something...he acts just like I do after we clean the house and go outside. We will see in a few years when we can do it again. The doctor is also an asthma specialist - he suggested some measure we should take as precaution (he thinks he will have asthma) and I was very satisfied after meeting with him. So far, we are doing good...Yeah!