Cheri Roses...

Thats what we call them :)...our Cheri roses!!

For Mother's Day, Sadie and Henry gave us three little rose bushes to plant. The card read that they were meant for us to think of Cheri (Andrews mom), especially when they bloom. What they didn't know before giving us the rose bushes is that Andrew cuts a bloom off our rose bush in the front if our house for Maddies room frequently. He usually keeps a fresh bloom in there which is the sweetest thing ever!! Now he can do them from our Cheri roses :)

It was so so sweet and thoughtful. So many days pass when I wish she was here with us as I know she would have taught me so much about motherhood and just life in general. She was such a wise, Godly woman. I know she is watching her sweet granddaughter from up above. 

Not a great pic but these are our sweet roses. We will always think of sweet Cheri when they bloom. I plan on taking one with us whenever we move one day, probably Maddies (the one closest to the driveway). 

All she wanted to do is look at the pretty pink petals and eat them! Oh so typical :)

8 Months

8 Months Nuggles

4.28.13

{where has the time gone?!?}

 Our monthly picture with the bunny

 what are we doing at months??

*eating lots, 3 meals/days and 4 bottles

*favorite foods: carrots, sweet potatoes, mum mums, puffs

(well really lots of foods, shes a pretty good eater most the time but if she could live off mums mums and puffs she would be one happy girl!)

*working on how to take the sippy cup

*started to sleep on stomach

*learning to scoot/crawl/manuver all of the place

(disclaimer: we arent crawling yet but we are finding other ways to get around like scoot on her back and turn all around on the stomach. I dont know when we will actually crawl. We are behind most our friends on the developmental section of crawling, most of our friends are already crawling or really close that are near the same age. She is not a huge fan of tummy time so we sit a lot and play. Ill be interested to see how she actually learns to crawl without much time on her tum.)

*she flaps her arms like they are her wings

(best: one day my mom was in town and i left her with my mom and when i came home, Maddie and mom were across the street with some neighbors playing. I literally put on foot out of the car before she started flapping those wings and going crazy! I love love love her response to seeing me when Ive been away for a few hours. I heart my little birdie.)

*she can stand and lean on things. wont stand on her own.

*loves baby einstein dvds

*loves touch and feel books, very intrigued by the different textures

*started clapping and high fiving

(so fun: claps at everything!!)

 

Happenings:

This last weekend was a big weekend for us! We had our first Mother's Day and Maddie's sweet church dedication on Sunday May 12th. It was so so sweet and special. All of our family was in town (minus a few missing important pieces..Michele and the kids)

before church

 

Waiting to be dedicated, outside the church on such a beautiful Sunday

 We chose Pslam 86:11-12 for her verse. We pray this for her and I pray this as her life verse.

"Teach me your way, O Lord,

that I may rely on your faithfulness;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear Your Name..

I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify Your Name forever."

Andrew and Maddie did such a great job. Andrew read the verse while Maddie flapped her little wings.

Maddie's sweet dedication



Deedee and M on baby dedication day. She was here for a week and such a huge help!

 We had a great big lunch at our home with the Morgan clan, my family, and another close couple that also dedicated their baby the same day.

We had three close friends that dedicated in the same service which was very special to see and be a part of together. With most our family there and lots of sweet friends from our sunday school class standing to witness the special occassion, it will be a day I won't forget.

Maddie's delicious cake for her dedication. I thoroughly enjoyed it, a little too much!



Grapa and M at lunch after the dedication.



We also took a dip in the pool for the first time. She loves loves loves bath time so I figured swimming might be the same. She was so great and loved every minute in the pool. We plan to start swim lessons so soon and we can't wait!

This little chicadee might just take after her mama in the swimming department, we will see!

our first little dip in the pool, loving every minute

We had to go back the next day because we had so much fun

Loves her some Baby Einstein after nap time or before bedtime
Mom secretly loves it too because these cuddles are few and far between these days

 Grandpa Henry is such a huge help. He comes over to watch little M once a weekend so mom and dad can have a date night. We have been so fortunate to have him. He is absolutely wonderful with him and I know he learned it from sweet Cheri too. Seeing him with Maddie makes us miss Cheri more and more. I know she would love to see Maddie grow. This past week has made me think a lot about missing Cherbear with it recently being Mother's Day. There was so much that sweet lady could have taught me about motherhood (and life in general). She was such a wise, Godly woman.

 

Sadie and Henry gave us 3 rose bushes for Mother's day and its to remind us that Cher is watching over us. Pics of that to come!

Maddie and Henry this past weekend while we went on a date.

We have lots of fun play dates every week. Couldnt ask for better friends for both Maddie and I. Love all the preciousness going on!

Charlie and Maddie. Sweet neighbors.

Just doing some girl talk with Bridget.



 

At the Dallas Duck Derby. Our duck didn't win but we had a blast with some fun friends

Morgans, Bryans, Holts

{maddie. max. sam.}



 



Until 9 months...

7 months

 A little late...

(but better late than never!)

Happy 7 months nuggles.

Im getting as big as my bunny!

We are having a blast. Like everyone says, each month keeps getting better and better and sweeter and sweeter. I just cant imagine them getting better but she surprises me each month.

Nuggles, you are my heart and you have all my heart!

 

Whats new with 7 months? We are eating lots, 2 meals a day and trying all new foods. We are eating a variety of vegetables. She loves to try and eat adult foods as well. Some she has tried-cherry tomatoes (she will suck everything out of them), waffles, whole bananas and strawberries, and loves sucking on kinds of fruits-apples, clementines. Im sure we have tried more but those have been some favorites.

Still sleeping amazingly well. We have dropped 1 bottle so we are down to 4 a day.

She is sitting so well, no signs of crawling yet. Im not too optimistic that crawling will happen anytime soon. She hates, with a passion, tummy time now that she can sit so well, so Im not quite sure if crawing is ever going to come along. We shall see!

She has her lovey-her bunny. Everytime I put her in the crib, I make sure her bunny is next to her and I give it to her. She sees it, hugs it, and just smiles. I love it.

We had Easter brunch at our house this year. It was a success with lots of yummy food!
We loved having friends and family come over to celebrate.

Some sweet friends after Easter service Sunday morning.
Leslie (who was beautifully showing off her 9 month belly, Lydia is now here! yeah lyds!), Magen, Amber
Love these girls! They make dallas so sweet for me!

Maddie and daddy after church and before brunch

My sweet Easter family. Love them to the ends of the earth and back.

Just about anything that these two do together make my heart melt.
I love watching them play together.
Love.

My little twinks.

The annual DeJean Crawfish Boil
Madds didn't quite know what to think about the crawfish.
Im sure she will take after her mommy and hate them
:)

We will be back soon for the big 8 months. Can't believe that we are almost 3/4th way through the first year. It has flown by, a little too fast. Sweet nuggles is growing so fast, not sure where the time goes.

Someone recently told me, the days can be long but the years are short. I can see this being very true.

(and yes, some days can be long but they are still sweet) 

We love you nuggs!

6 months!!

Oh are we glad that month 5 is over and done with!! It was a hard last few weeks dealing with rsv and sleep deprivation. We are happy and healthy again, thank the sweet Lord!
We have had a little set back with eating solids through the whole illness but we are trying to work on that. She has learned to grab the bottle when we are eating and bring it towards her mouth. Super cute!
She's sitting on her own and doing great. She loves loves loves being on her back. We are rolling from tummy to back (not a fan of being on her tum) but not back to tummy yet. Hmmm, maybe it will come at some point.

She graduated from the car seat to sitting in the stroller and in the grocery basket (or lets be honest-it's all target these days!!).

We started to cry it out Bc she lost her amazing sleep habits through rsv (thank you rsv). She's getting the hang of it and doing pretty good. We are on night three and she only cried for 3 min when I put her down and like 2 min an hr later when she woke. Yes I time them all!

We are a happy happy nuggle head these days!!

We also celebrated our 4 yr anniversary and I'm going to the spa tomorrow!! Ah! Can't wait! Can't believe it's been 4 yrs with my lovey love. He's been the most supportive husband and dad I could ever imagine.

Holy Moly Sickness

Our sicky sicky bug
So so heart breaking

I have never ever...(.well I cant say never--remember how our labor and delivery was 24 hrs with 40 hrs of no sleep) been so tired. I was quick to say that it was harder than the first weeks at home and my mom quickly reminded me about how tired we were then, but how soon I forgot about that.

 

R-S-V

Thats all I have to say.

 

Whew!

We did lots of this: sleeping on mama
I certainly loved all the snuggles

We are on the up and up! Thank you sweet Lord. This has been one of the hardest few weeks we have been through. What started out as a very small minor cold (even thought it was teething) turned into the worst RSV (ok, no worst bc we werent admitted to the hospital). But I really don't want to go through that again. I learned a lot about myself as a mom and God is pruning me as a mom I would have to say. There were many tears shed. One day I was having a meltdown and I look over, Maddie is just looking at me. This was on a day when I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore.


some days we would get smiles

6 doctor visits
1 ER visit
multiple throw ups
breathing treatments (she was such a trooper)
ear infection
antibiotics
steam baths

steam bath number 2342

one of the many visits to the doctors
I couldnt ask for a better PCP

At first she continued to sleep through the night and I was shocked. Then came one night recently when she only slept from 2am-6am. She would wake up every hr just screaming bloody murder. It was awful. Her cry has become hoarse and its just heart wrenching. Seeing your sweet angel this sick has been so so heart breaking.
I have realized that I need to let go of control! God definiately is trying to teach me 2 major things through this illness. Let go on control and have more patience. I was so happy and so comfortable on our amazing schedule that when she stopped eating, stopped sleeping, and the schedule went down the drain, I thought life was never going to be the same again. I would get frustrated bc she wouldn't eat like she did-i know exhaustion had some to do with my weariness. I would get upset bc I was so discouraged at one thing happening after another (not to mention Andrew getting the stomach bug on top of EVERYTHING else!). I feel like God is saying--patience sweet child, you need to have patience and let go of the things you can't control like her eating and her sleeping-she is sick. I dont want to be the mom that gets frustrated at things I can't control bc with a child there is going to be more than I can imagine with that. I realize that if I continue to get down and out about those things, Im going to not be the mom He intended me to be and its going to make life a lot harder. Being a mom is a tough job but also the most joyful one. Its hard to have a clear mind when you have been stuck inside and not sleeping much day after day. I had a run with post partum depression after delivery and I was scared that it was going to creep back into my life. Thankfully, it never did. I got down but after a "come to jesus" prayer, God had extra mercy and grace for me I think.

At the ER seeing if we can keep down some Pedialyte
After a chest xray and some deep suction
Thank the Lord for deep suction (wish I could bring it home)



sweet thing on saturday 2/16
after many episodes of throwing up, wheezing, coughing
this was one sick girl with 2 worried parents

We have had amazing friends and family check on us, give us dinner, send us hot cookies, and just help out! My sister received multiple 2am phone calls and texts bc I just didnt know what to do! Last night 2/23 was the first night we didnt hear screaming and I was so thankful. Andrew let me rest till 10am and took care of her. So sweet!

Finally! We are seeing our sweet angel come back! I couldn't be happier and more relieved to see her eating, sleeping better, playing, and giggling. Oh how I have missed her! She lights up our hearts!

yeah for a pretty day, a happy Maddie, and lunch outside

Stay away RSV! Never come back!

Or Ill kick your you know what!

xo,

maddie

Month 5

Im totally 100% head over heels smitten in love with this little bug!!

We are having a blast!

Happy 5 months!!

New this month:

SOLIDS!

 

First time eating rice cereal!

hmmmm...wheres the good stuff mom!

big girl!
sitting up all by herself

Getting ready for valentines day!
 





My valentines!

They are gonna be BFF!