Happy anniversary to my fantastic husband.  I love him and am extremely blessed to have him.  He loves me, his baby girl, baby b and the doggies (even though he might say he gets annoyed with the dogs....I know deep down he really does love them...because right now they are sitting right next to him on the couch =).

Last night we were able to go out and celebrate.  Thanks to our friend, Tina P, for watching Madelyn and the pups!  We went to Olive Garden (complete with free dessert...thanks John!) and then to see Mission Impossible 4.  I've never seen any of the Mission Impossible's so I wasn't so sure what to think, but I loved it!  Growing up with 2 brothers I kind of had to like action movies because that's all they ever wanted to watch.  Now I'm hooked on them.  Love Saving Private Ryan, all the Die Hard's, the Bourne trilogy, Gladiator, etc. etc.  On mine and Tim's first date we went to see Vertical Limit..an action movie.  And yes, I picked it.  Today and tomorrow we're going to have a Mission Impossible marathon.

Here's a picture we took last night at Olive Garden..

-Megan

18 Weeks

On Christmas Day I was 18 weeks along.  My sickness and fatigue have definitely gotten better.  I've been sleeping about 9 hours a night....but that's really not too different for me.  I love my sleep! =)
Craving fruits, veggies and dark chocolate almonds (which I am currently eating!).  I haven't had my pickle/orange juice at night combo yet like I did last time around.  I'm sure it'll come soon though.  I'm able to drink coffee again without it making me want to vomit...so that's nice....especially for those of you who know how much I LOVE coffee!!
We find out in a couple weeks what baby b is.  Cannot wait!

18 Weeks

-Megan

MJ's First Christmas

Our Christmas this year was wonderful!  Since we had a Christmas Eve service on Saturday night and a Sunday morning service on Sunday morning, we had Madelyn open her gifts on Saturday morning.  She loved the paper...and of course the gifts inside.  But the wrapping and tissue paper was a big hit. 

Checkin out the gifts

Loving her new music toy (we call it her baby ipod)

A new music walker from Aunt Tina and Uncle John

Her new dolly from Aunt Val and Aunt Amy

Cool blocks from Gigi and Pops!

The doggies also enjoyed our Saturday morning with some new bones (we call them bone-bones...everything is said twice with them for some reason, ha!)

We went to Shari's Restaraunt for our Christmas Eve dinner before we headed to setup at the church for the service. 

The Christmas Eve service went really well and was a great time to celebrate Christ's birth.  I was able to sing on the praise team and we were blessed to have our Missional Pastor's wife and daughter to watch Madelyn so both Tim and I could be involved. 

After the service we drove around to look at lights and then ate some pie (that we got at Shari's) for dessert.  Love marionberry pie! Yum!

Sunday morning we got up and headed to setup for the service that morning.  I was able to sing on praise team again and started out the service singing a solo-the song "All is Well".  I absolutely love that song.
We relaxed for a little when we got home, then headed to Izzy and Tom's house for dinner.  They are so nice to invite us to holiday gatherings with their family.  We absolutely love spending time with them.  We had a fantastic dinner and the kids do a birthday cake for Jesus every year.  Madelyn was able to take part it in this year.  She was mesmorized by the candles.  I don't have a picture of this yet, but will hopefully get one soon.

I'll have some more pictures of Christmas evening to post once I get them from Izzy's daughter in law.  Hopefully next week.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

-Megan

Madelyn: 9 Months

Madelyn,

Happy 9 month birthday!

Cannot believe how big and long you are getting.  You've had many changes this month.

-Weighing 19lbs and 27.5" tall

-You are in size 3 diapers, 6-9 month and some 9 month clothes.

-You still scoot around a lot and can crawl backwards, but not forward yet.  You're getting there though.  I know you're ready to chase the doggies around.

-You're still a chatter box!  Love to talk to anyone and anything. 

-You had your first cold last week-a stuffy nose and cough.  The cough is still lingering a bit, but we can tell you're feeling better.

-You are eating 6 oz. four times a day.  We're guessing the doctor will want to lower that even more after your checkup.  You love to eat and try everything we put in front of you.  Your new favorite this month is turkey.  You'll try some more yummy favorites at the end of this week (on Christmas)-definitely some cheesy potatoes and ham!

-You sleep between 11-12 hours at night.  Going to bed at about 8pm and waking up between 7am-8am in the morning.

-You make noises when you eat (like your Uncle G used to!).

-Your naps haven't been as good as usual since there are houses going up all around us.  It's been pretty loud around here.  We're trying to drop your third (evening) nap, but recently you've needed it since your afternoon nap has been pretty short.  The workers have normally gone home by the time your third nap rolls around.

-You celebrated your first Thanksgiving!  This is when you had turkey for the first time.  Along with some green bean casserole and dressing.  You cleaned your plate!

-Big happening this month....your first tooth has come through!  It's on the bottom.  You look so cute.  The tooth next to it should pop up any day now.

-You've tried drinking out of a sippy cup.  Just water though.  We won't do juice for a couple years.  You'll drink a little bit out of the cup, but then try to chew it.  You'll get it eventually...especially when your bottle goes away!

On Thanksgiving with mom, dad and the puppies

With mom and dad

Playing

More playing

Eating some puffs

In front of the Christmas Tree at church

First sip out of your sippy cup

In front of the trees again

Love you sweet girl!

-Mommy and Daddy

Happy December!

Happy first day of December!  Here's a CUTE picture of our baby girl's first picture with Santa.  She did such a great job.  I love our happy baby.

-Megan

14 Weeks

Things are starting to look up with my pregnancy with baby b.  I felt pretty sick during the first trimester, but I think things are turning since the second trimester rolled in.  I'm still feeling nauseous at night, but during the day I'm fine.  My cravings change with each day...well each hour really.  I eat a lot of fruit, but have random cravings from Thai food to Italian.  So you just never know!

14 Weeks

That's it for now!

-Megan

Thankful

We are so very thankful for the many blessings God has brought into our life this year!  At the top of our list, our baby girl.  We are so in love with her.  Also for our new blessing to come next year.  And yes, we're still grateful for our puppy dogs.  They get along great with Madelyn, but do enjoy it when we put her down for a nap so they can cuddle with mom and dad.  I'm also extremely thankful for my husband.  He does more for our little family than I could ever ask for.  And he's a fantastic dad.  Will do ANYTHING for our baby girl and for me.  Love him.  We are also thankful and grateful for all our family and friends.  Near and far.

This Thanksgiving our friends, John and Tina, came over.  We had a wonderful time spending the day with them eating and playing games.  Here are a couple pictures Tim snapped...

Madelyn's first bite of turkey.  She really liked it.

Mom and MJ

Our dear friends, Tina and John

The doggies and Madelyn

Sadie and Daisy

Tina teaching Madelyn how to play Rummikub

-Megan

Madelyn: 8 Months

Madelyn,

You are eight months old!!  Can't believe you'll be 1 in 4 months!

You are a busy, busy girl.  Here is what's been happening in your life over the past month:

-I weighed you the other day and you were about 17.5 lbs.  Getting to be such a big girl.

-You are in size 3 diapers.  They're a little bit, but they work for ya. You're wearing size 6-9 month clothes.

-You scoot around a lot, but no crawling.  You like to lay on your stomach and put your arms behind you like you're flying.  You'd probably be more interested in walking, but we want you to learn to crawl first so you can learn to use those muscles.

-You LOVE to "talk" to people. 

-You're still doing really well in the nursery on Sundays and Wednesday nights so mommy can participate in choir while daddy leads it.

-You are eating 6 oz. twice and a day and 8 oz. twice a day.  You were sick for the first time this month and had to drink pedialyte instead of your formula.  It didn't really seem to phase you.  We're still feeding you bland food.  We'll start your regular food again in a couple days.

-You sleep between 11-12 hours at night.  Going to bed at about 8pm and waking up between 7am-8am in the morning.

-You'll celebrate your first Thanksgiving tomorrow!  We'll try giving you turkey for the first time =)  I bet you'll like it.

hanging out at church on Wednesday night

having fun in your piano

Sadie under your chair waiting for you to drop food.  Smart doggie.

 hanging out on the table while mom and dad eat dinner

watching mom and dad put up the tree (I straightened her picture after I took this)

hanging out with dad in the big chair

celebrating my 8 month birthday at Shari's

Love you Madelyn.

-Mommy and Daddy

Pumpkins and Macaroni

With me not feeling so hot and us being crazy busy, we didn't get out and take Madelyn to the pumpkin patch this year.  So....we decided to do an impromptu session at home.  I bought a couple baby pumpkins from good ole Fred Meyer and we snapped some pictures of our cutie. 

She had quite the time with the pumpkins.  Loved touching them.  The dogs sniffed them out too.  Maybe we'll make it to the pumpkin patch next year....along with our new addition =).

Madelyn also started finger foods.  She does her best to get it from her tray to her mouth.  Normally misses, but it's fun to watch her try.  So far she's eating macaroni, cheerios, cheese, bread and puffs.

I love her face in this picture.  Trying so hard.

-Megan

Big Sister!

We found out this past Thursday, that Madelyn is going to be a big sister!

I haven't been feeling so great the past couple weeks.  I thought it was food poisoning or that I caught something, but low and behold....I'm pregnant again!  The baby is due on May 26th.  We're surprised, but very excited about the new life we get to bring into this world.

I'll keep the updates coming like last time around.

-Megan

Madelyn: 7 Months

Baby girl,

Happy seven months!  You had a busy month!

Here is some of what's going on:

-We're guessing you weigh about 16-17 lbs.

-You are now in size 2 diapers but about to move up to size 3.  We have a box waiting for you.  You're wearing size 6-9 month clothes.

-Still no crawling, but lots of rolling!

-You are such a chatter box.  Anytime we look at you, you start talking about something.

-You flew on a plane (well 4 planes) a couple weeks ago to see your Uncle G and Aunt Crystal get married.  You were such a trooper and did a great job!

-You are still eating about 8 oz. every 4 hours. You're also eating rice cereal, carrots, squash, prunes, green beans, peas, bananas, pears, peaches, blueberries, and sweet potatoes  You'll start broccoli later this week.

-You sleep between 11-12 hours at night.  Going to bed at about 8pm and waking up between 7am-8am in the morning.

With dad at your doc appt. (before the shots!)

Playing in the airport

Love you Madelyn!

-Mommy and Daddy

Arkansas Trip

My older brother, Greg, got married last Saturday to the beautiful Crystal!  We spent about a week down in Arkansas visiting family and friends.  We had a fun time seeing everyone and I know MJ loved being spoiled! 

Madelyn did really well on her first airplane ride.  We went from Seattle to Dallas and then Dallas to Ft. Smith. 

 Tim and Madelyn in SeaTac

 On the plane!

 Layover in Dallas

We spent a lot of the week eating at places we don't have here....SONIC, (good)mexican, CiCi's Pizza, Sweet Bay, Chik-fil-a, and Western Sizzlin.

We were able to get down to Conway and see Tim's grandparents along with our friends Katy and Mitch.

Madelyn with Grandma and Pops Miller

Katy and MJ

Me and Katy

 Tim, Mitch and MJ

We also spent a lot of time with my parents!

 At Western Sizzlin!

 Starbucks

Madelyn was introduced to my parents boxer, Cinnamon!

 Holding hands =)

MJ was also introduced to my friend and old SBU roommate, Angela!

Greg's wedding was beautiful!  It was outdoors and the weather was perfect.  Congratulations Greg and Crystal!!

Crystal and Greg

 Mom, Greg and my little brother, Wade, at the rehearsal dinner

 Me and Tim at the rehearsal dinner

 During the Ceremony

My second mom, Cheryl, and her boyfriend, Bobby.  She was gracious enough to let us stay at her house during the wedding weekend.

Our friends Brandy and Matt came down from Springfield to visit us!!

All of us after eating lunch

 Brandy and Madelyn

 Matt and Madelyn

The day before we left, Tim's brother, Steve, his wife, Angela, and son, Ian, came over to visit

I think MJ had a lot of fun hanging out and visiting everyone!!

And Madelyn slept WELL on our flight home =)

A HUGE thank you to our friends Dave and Tricia Anderson and John and Tina Palmer for keeping our puppies.  We love you guys!

-Megan