party favors are cool 

aww what a goofy picture 

Jayden 

Our weekend.

This weekend was Jayden's 4th Birthday Party-it was nice. Moriah and Matt decorated the whole house, and do you know I didn't even take a picture of what they did? I could seriously kick myself. Jayden has been with us for the week and has visited with all her grandparents while here.

Madison's Nanny came by on Friday to spend some time with us. Jayden was following her around everywhere. Matt and I got ready to run to wal-mart and leave the kids with Ms. Pam. I overheard Jayden talking to her, "if I get thirsty, I will TELL you what I want..." It was so funny. She was matter of factly telling her the proper way to change Madison's diaper and how to feed her a bottle. I had to say something to her about being bossy. 3/4 year olds are hilarious. The stuff this child comes up with, it makes us laugh all the time.

I have to go back to work this Wednesday. I am so looking forward to it, but also...so NOT looking forward to leaving. These 8 weeks have totally flown by. I have never experienced time flying by so quickly before in my life. I wish I could have 8 more with Maddy, I really do. I never get tired of being home. But I guess that was also with knowing I was going back to work the whole time. I have enjoyed being home, more than I ever imagined. Of course, being with Madison was the BEST. But having time to get all the laundry done, stuff picked up and dinner made before Matt came home was nice. The simple things. By the time Matt came home, it didn't ever look like I did very much, but I swear I did. I stayed busy most of the day, except when I would play on here a bit and maybe read a little. I felt like I was constantly cleaning up and doing SOMETHING. But, Matt never believed me. So, I am glad to go to work and to start our REAL schedule.

On another note, Drew won on dancing with the stars last night. Although he really was fantastic, I have to admit I was devastated when Stacy got the least amount of votes. I thought she was wonderful even though she has barbie doll legs.

I am so thankful for my parents...

I just wanted to share some thoughts about my mom and dad. Yesterday, Matt, Maddy and I drove to VA to pick up Jayden. My mom was kind enough to meet her mom and drive her to F'burg so we didn't have to come up so far. Then they took us out to a wonderful lunch, where they said they thought of me when they found this place. Carabbas, nice place. Yummy food, best steak I ever ate. We had some issues with service, but the food was fantastic. Anyway, My poor dad had not been able to see Maddy since she was born, my mom on the other hand had seen her twice since then. To see the look in their eyes when they saw her...melted my heart. They are so, totally in love when they gaze at her and she gazes back...it was just so touching I wanted to comment on a grandparent's love. They love my kids so, so much and I appreciate that more than they will ever know. I know their love for them is unfailing and unconditional, that is beautiful. Nothing makes me happier than to see someone loving my children. (I think this is the first time I realized and wrote that I have child(ren) as in more than one, plus Jady of course...OMG!) To continue, I want to thank everyone who has ever loved Moriah and now Madison...my friends and family.

Where does a grandparent's love come from? I see such love in Matt's parents' eyes for their grandkids too. I know for me, it is a natural love that is totally automatic...I don't have to try, I just love them. But a grandparent does not have that, " I birthed this child, I automatically love them" thing, right? So how does that work? I don't know, but it is a very COOL thing to be able to watch. My parents adore my kids and always will. Even if I have 50, they will love them all. That makes me so, very happy. Thank you mom and dad for your undying support and love.

On another note, and relating to HOLYMAMA's recent post ( I don't know how to link yet, sorry)...
The other day this lady came to my front door. I was startled as I was nursing the baby on the couch. I could see this strange person whom I never met, walking up to my door...carrying a duster and a scrubbing wand type thing. I opened the door and she had this big smile on her face..."Hi, is this the *** residence??" I told her no and I was sorry, I did not know which house to direct her to...and I let her turn around and walk away. Then I thought about it, I had just sent a cleaning person away, that was DUMB. I wish I had said, "yeah! Come on IN!" and let her clean the house...ha That would have been a much smarter thing to do..hehe

I will post more pictures soon...

Madison smiled yesterday morning at Matt, and she babbled a little too. I was so happy, she was beautiful. She had actually smiled at Moriah first, but I did not see. We had been anxiously awaiting that milestone!

Did you know...?

Did you know that you can post a comment on any post or group of pictures? At the bottom of the post you will see "0 comments", just click on that and type away. I would love it if you would stop to say hello, let me know what you think of the site (otherwise known as "de-lurking")...You can also scroll down and click on one with numbers and see what comments were left by others.

Thanks to those to regularly say hello...

Hope to hear from you. :)

Peek-a-boo

I know, I am cute, I can't help it.

I just want to eat her cheeks!

This beauty is wearing a pink blanket by sara baughman...it has her name and birthdate embroidered on the corner. Maddy said "thank you aunt sally"...
She smiles in her sleep, but not when she is awake. I am trying NOT to take that personally.
WHAT a cute complainer, eh?


And looking ever so much like her father here...

Memories lost...and retrieved!

Have you ever had your precious memories accidentally erased from a computer or memory card? Well I did, this evening! All of Madison's pictures were obliterated in a mere instant. I was absolutely mortified! I thought I would die. Instead, I searched online for data recovery software and found some that would allow you to download a version that would show you all the pictures you lost but would not allow you to recover them unless you paid a large sum. Then I thought to check shareware sites to see if there were any free programs that could save our precious photos. I found one and it worked, it retrieved more than 350 pictures that had been deleted from our memory card and saved them safely onto my hard drive. Yayyy shareware! Thank you Phil for ever telling me about shareware! That tidbit has been hiding in the back of my brain for years.

Moral of this story: If you accidentally delete files, there is hope for retrieval and it is FREEEE!!!

So, it is Valentine's Day...Matt thoughtfully took me to dinner last night. Matt's mom was sweet enough to keep Madison for my first "real" time apart from her (over 30 minutes, and that was only once). We went to a Japanese steak house and enjoyed it very much, the food was awesome. It was so hard for me to walk out the door and away from Maddy. If you really think about it, we have been together for nearly a year. I definitely felt a terrible void when I left her. The whole time I was gone, I really just wanted to hold her in my arms and kiss her cheeks again. That feeling outweighs the desire to do some of the things Matt and I used to do together. I really wanted to go out and have a night where we could just do something fun together, but quite honestly having left her for a few hours got me over that quickly. I am sure in time, I will feel more comfortable without her for short periods.

I will say this for sure, having read other new mothers' blogs recently that depicted their first experiences going back to work and having to leave their babies in a day care...I knew it was NOT something I really could stomach to think about. I have been avoiding that very thought for the last 6 weeks. I sadly count down the days that I have left to spend precious time with Madison. I hated, hated, hated...the thought of leaving her in day care and crying on my way to work. I feel SO much peace knowing that we have a wonderful lady to come to our home every day as Maddy's Nanny. I have to advise any mom going through the day care woes to try to find someone to come to their home for the same weekly fee. I think you would be surprised by the number of people seeking such positions. I am thrilled!

Happy Valentine's Day,
The pictures of the rose were taken by Moriah with her sweet photography skills. :)

Close enough...

Do you see where I am going with this?

Matt?

Compare and see for yourself...Madison = Matt Jr. !

I guess the bulb color is a dead give away, huh.

The Good news...

We found a nanny. Yayyy! She happened to be the first person we saw, we knew right away that she was the ONE. I talked to a dozen more and fielded calls from about a gazillion others. I had no idea how many women were in this town. We did get one call from a man, which I was immediately suspicious of...but he just dialed the number to the wrong ad. Whew. How do you say, "no, I don't think so because you are a man and I don't know why you want to be a nanny anyway..." Thankfully I did not have to go there. RELIEF, that is what I feel right now. I love knowing I never have to step foot in that grody day care center again!

The other good news, Madison only woke up twice last night. That is very good news.

The bad news is, she has been super fussy all day long and despite my sweet mom-of-a-new-baby skills, I can't figure out why. She seems more content swinging away in the AWESOME swing (thanks Betty and Clint) than she was just lounging around. She lets out these half-hearted little cries every once in a while, even while she swings. But, I have burped her, fed her, changed her, bathed her, burped her again, burped her again and again...so I think all of the bases are covered.

Other bad news, I only have 2 1/2 weeks of maternity leave left. Then I have to leave Maddy with her nanny. Then I will die. Seriously, I think I might die. I don't know if I can live knowing she is in someone else's care, not mine, where she belongs, forever. And so, I will continue to cuddle and caress and kiss, our perfect little baby and try to savor every sweet moment I have with her until then.

I told Matt last night, I think I am ready to have another one. Understandably, he's not so sure he can handle me pregnant again so soon. Am I crazy? Baby obsessed? What is wrong with me? Matt's grandmother's words are echoing in my mind which were something along the lines of...you should have your kids close together, not too spaced out, so you don't spend forever in the "someone needs you every second" stage. This makes sense.

As a mother, I worry...

Kids say the darndest things, do they not? But what should the age limit be on said "kids"? Let me start by stating, I love Moriah to death (my 14 year old) LOVE HER, but as a mother...I am worried.

Matt was given a gift of a jar of honey by one of his customers at work. He got into it after dinner and offered Moriah a taste. She looked confused. He asked her "Haven't you had it before? Do you even know where honey comes from?". Do you know what her response was??? Do you really want me to tell you? You'll surely get a chuckle, Matt and I sure did.

"bears??" seeing as pooh always has a jar of honey around...and there are always bears on the jars of honey...that was her reasoning. We laughed, oh we laughed. I wonder how she thought "bears" produced this honey. I had to remind her that pooh got in trouble every time he stuck his paw in a bee hive for a taste of honey.

See? Do I not have reason to worry? But I love her.

look at those pinchable cheeks! 

cutie baby 

Made with love by Matt's momma. Thank you Grandma Alston! 

Look at her sweet little fingers, don't you just want to eat 'em? 

This one was for Moriah :) 

This one too! Matt got SUCH a kick out of this... 

Grandpa Pierce cross-stitched this for Madison... 

Matt's Grandpa Pierce cross-stitched this for us! Thank you Grandpa Pierce!!