Lately

Its been a while so here comes a quick update.
I was feeling drab with decor in our house and wanted to spruce things up a bit. i put some posts out in the blog world and got a bite. Stephanie with cre8tivedesigns is helping me out and have already done so much! I promise pictures to come :)
I rearranged some furniture i already had for the foyer a nd love it!
bought a painting "on clearance" for the living room and couldnt be happier. And got a sofa table off craigslist and its perfect!!

Couponing - my new addiction. I have only been into the store and used coupons twice since i started researching and collecting about a month ago. I plan stuff/trips to the stores every week but something might come up or i am too tired. I will get the hang of it eventually!
It is very addicting and kinda peaceful finding deals and even thought i might not follow through....i feel very good about my attemps (LOL).

Madden update: wow, my little boy is 110% BOY! He is pretending with good guys and bad guys, starting to play more independently, being very silly, pretends he is buzz lightyear or a puppy dog (too cute). He is doing great at potty training, with the exceptions of going in the car on the way home from daycare.
He is at a stage where he is testing me and seeing far he can go. for example, whining to see if i will give in. I am doing my best to be strong and firm and so far (with a little advice) it is working...i want to raise a respectful child, not one that thinks he can walk all over me or anyone else. He is an awesome kid and little person and I so lucky to be his momma.

ok, thats all for now.

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!

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!

A mother's tribute

Madden,
I just wanted to let you know how much we love you and cherish every moment we spend together.
This has been one of the best years of my life. We have had some tough times but we pulled through - nothing we cant handle. I have never met happier baby. you have been such a joy and even when I thought I might be doing the "parenting thing" wrong, you would give me a big ole smile and it would just make everything so much better.
And dont get me started on your giggle - it is the best thing to wake up to and the best medicine God has ever prescribed. You are truly our gift from heaven.
You are growing up to be such an enthusiastic, fun filled, life-loving little boy.

Your first year has been exceptional and I would not trade one minute for anything!
And guess what, we got through this together; you, me, daddy and patch - we did it! We all survived our first year-as baby and as parents. Thank you so much for being our precious little boy - we love you so much!
mom and dad

Madden 's first year!

Ok, so the time has come, our baby has made it through his first year - Yeah!
I am sad and happy at the same time. I remember this time last year - my plan was to clean house and rest all weekend - he had other plans. When he decided to greet us on October 31st, 2008 at 11:07 PM we had no idea what was in store.
Between the bed rest due to toxemia and his little stomach troubles - who knew it would be the start of an interesting year.
After myself and he got over that first hump (settled with formula and discovered he had acid reflux) we started daycare and the rest of our bouts with sickness. Oh, and the first week of daycare was when Adam and my dad went out of town for the snow storm - remember - we stayed with momma for two and half weeks. Oh, and there was a wedding and my sister (his godmother) and uncle moved to California.
So, our first one was Croup - scary. Then eczema (which I thought was poison ivy). Then the plague (stomach virus). Scary day, he took a 3 hr nap (i knew something was not right, he never slept that much) and then vomited all over me - I did what any normal parent would do - I call my mommy and husband and said whoever can get here faster will come with us to the doc - mom made it, we went and were admitted to the hospital (first trip). Oh, and this was the week after Madden's first trip to New Orleans for his cousins wedding.
So Madden only spent one night and when we got home it hit the rest of us...I wont go into details but this thing knocked out about 7 adults!
Then we run into sinus problems and are at the doc office at least 2-4 times a month for that; along with ear infections. But, almost exactly a month later he started wheezing and was put on breathing treatments - after a visit at Adam's grandmothers and a trip to the mall (in which I got vomited all over - oh, the joys of motherhood - he started sounding worse and we ended up at the emergency room. This was the second trip and we were there a week for wheezing. Oh, he knocked out my mom so she was no help and Adam was not there because it decided to rain all week and he was on call - what a way to test a mom. But with the help of family we got through it!
so some more sinus and ear infections - which lasted into the summer and led to getting tubes.
I am sure there is more but just cant remember. We also took our first family vacation - a 16hr drive to DISNEY and had a blast. until, we came home and adam and I got a parasite infection (knocked my mom again-sorry.) thank goodness nat and kyle were home by then and could help!
Then came another stomach virus for Madden (lasted about 7days)Into fall we have more sinus, allergies and wheezing - of course. Thank goodness the sounds of the breathing machine is soothing, ahh.
Well guys, we made it. Madden turned one and was not sick for his birthday party (i was fearing knowing our background) He had so much fun it was ridiculous!
Thanks to everyone who got to share this year with us - it was truly wonderful!

October...

Not looking much better. Started out with Stomatitis, then a horrible stomach virus and not a really bad cough (going to doc today). Oh, this is all Madden - one right after the other - poor thing. I think we will get him a medal for surviving his first year!
There are so many fun activities this month - I hope we get to make them all - and the best/saddest activity is our little one's first birthday...Yeah and boo at the same time. He is doing so much. Walking all over the place, clapping, catching and bouncing balls, making faces at you when you make them at him, and so much more. Can I just video his entire life?
Ok, enough of me whining about him growing up. It has been a blessing, each and every day and we look forward to more and more!