Madisen's New Milestone

Madisen has been taking a few steps here and there over the past few days. This is the most steps she has ever taken. She thinks long and hard about how she's going to transition from standing to walking. I especially love the part when she is walking towards me, stops and crosses her arms. Madisen is one cute kid. We're so proud of her.

Surprise !!!!

Yes it's true.....
We will soon be a family of 4.
I went to the doctor on Monday thinking I was 4-5 weeks along and I was very wrong. I'm 8 weeks along. We were able to see and listen to the heartbeat. I'm due May 19th so that makes 2 under 2, yahoo can't wait. This time around it will be a scheduled C-Section so no guessing when the new little one will enter the world. I've been very very sick (it must be a boy) and can't wait for this part to be over with. According to the Chinese birth chart it's going to be a boy and I'm up for the challenge. Dusty is very excited and keeping his fingers crossed. I'm sure Madisen is excited, she just doesn't know it yet :)

My Little, Big Birthday Girl

On Saturday, August 30th we celebrated Madisens 1st birthday. We invited mostly family and a few close friends, which ended up being around 50 people. Madisen was so cute with all of her guests. She was letting everyone hold her and loved being around all the other little kids. My mom made her a special monkey cake that she wasn't too sure about at first. Once she new that it was going to be fun to get messy with cake and it tasted good she had a blast. Madisen was so excited to finally be able to eat sugar since the closest thing to it that she has ever had would be her all natural organic apple juice. :) Her party colors were pink and orange (as you can see by her other birthday cake) We had a super cute turtle pinata that was filled with way to much candy. All the little kids were given their own pink and orange buckets filled with party goodies. Daddy made hamburgers for everyone and mommy made a yummy lemon piccata pasta. We had lots of yummy side dishes and TONS of food left over. We decided to open gifts after most of the people went home and Madisen had a blast going through everything. She was given lots of great learning toys and big girl size clothes that she will fit into soon. We sent a note with the invitation asking people to bring an item for her time capsule that she will open on her 16th birthday. I love that people made it so personal. Some wrote her letters, or gave information about this year and it's events. It will be fun to show her everything only 15 years to go. I just hope it goes by slowly.

On Madisen's actual birthday, August 31st we spent the day with Grandpa D and Grandma C. We ate leftovers and put a few of her toys together. This lion was given to her by Grandma C (pictured) and she absolutely loves it. It's a walker and a ride on toy. Madisen has learned to pull herself up on it and take a few steps. It was a great birthday weekend and I can't believe my little girl is a big 1 year old. This first year has flown by and Madisen has been the best blessing. I love you miss buns.

Old Friends

A few weeks back I was reconnected with an old friend from high school through Classmates.com. We were inseparable from the time we met in 9Th grade until a few years into college. Our lives took different paths and we lost touch. Through the years I wondered what my old friend Kristi was doing and if she was happy. While searching classmates one day for another friend I came across Kristi's sister Genie. I sent her a note asking how everyone was doing and she answered the next day. I was so excited. She left me Kristi's phone number and I of course called her immediately. We talked for hours, catching up on our lives. We discovered that we had our babies 6 days apart, she having a boy and me of course having a girl. She was planning a trip out to California (she now lives in Kentucky with her husband) on August 20Th and was going to be having a 1st Birthday party for her son Tyler on the 23rd. We were so excited to see each other on that day. Madisen and Tyler had a great time playing with each other and it was like old times for us with the laughing and joking. Kristi ended up staying an extra week with her mom down south and was able to come and celebrate Madisen's 1st birthday with us. We had a great visit and this time we will definitely keep in touch.

M.I.A

Yes I've been MIA for quite sometime, so today I'm gluing myself to the computer and getting myself caught up on my BLOGS.

Vacation? Nope, just like home with a different view

Well, we're back from our Idaho trip and had a great time with the family. My new camera decided that it didn't want to work on this vacation, which is why I bought a new camera in the first place. Let me rewind back to April of this year. We were in Jamaica on vacation with beautiful scenery and my camera decided that on day 2 it was tired of taking pictures and just wanted to be left alone for the rest of the trip. So now 2 vacations in a row with 2 different cameras and both didn't want to work. It pretty much stinks because I love to take pictures and share them (especially of my little 'happy time' Madisen) I was able to take pictures on the 2ND day and that was it. Madisen liked wearing the life jacket and feel asleep in it every time. Dusty took Madisen in the lake once because it was way to cold for her and she pretty much cried the second her toe touched the water (as you can see in the picture she was trying to do everything not to go in by bending her legs back). Most of the time we just played on the grass with all the other kids.

A new milestone, small but important

So this morning Madisen woke up at 6:45 and that is very unlike her. I made her a bottle in hopes that she would fall back asleep and let mom sleep longer too. Well she had other things in mind and sleeping in was not one of them. She was cranky and fussy and just wanted out of bed so daddy went in and got her out of bed and brought her into bed with us for our usual morning family play time. I guess it's kinda of our tradition now (or routine) come to think of it. We usually bounce her up and down, play clapping games (she gets an A+ for clapping by the way) or just make her laugh. But today she didn't want to play with mom and dad, she wanted to chew on everything in sight. I had been thinking she was teething for sometime now but gave up on the fact that she would actually get one anytime soon. Well at 10 1/2 months old Madisen finally has her first tooth, it her bottom right one and it's sooooooooo cute. She's drooling like crazy and constantly has her hands in her mouth. She's handling it all very well. I'm so excited for more of her teeth to come in so I can start making her more exciting meals.

Tuesday morning

I haven't blogged in such a long time. I've been so busy with Madisen and all of her doctor appointments. We're now on the home stretch of it all. This past Tuesday we dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am (on a normal day Mommy and Madisen get out of bed at 8am) and drove to Santa Monica for an MRI of Madisen's brain. But let me rewind to the night before so you understand why it was so torturous to get out of bed at 5. I started going back to my boxing conditioning class last Saturday. We've been doing lower body, upper body, abs and cardio, I can barely move the limbs on my body and it hurts to go up and down stairs and get out of bed. Madisen wasn't able to eat after 12 midnight and I think she knew. She woke up at 3am wanting a bottle and the only thing I could do was ignore her. I knew that if I went into her room she would think I was bringing one to her. She ended up falling back asleep without crying and was fine when I woke her up at 5. My mom was able to go with us since Dusty had to sleep longer and go to work that day. We made it to the appointment at 7:45am. Madisen did great, the anesthesiologist wished all his patients were like her. She was given some medicine that made her very sleepy and very floppy then she was given the IV to make her fall asleep. She did great and the MRI was successful and hopefully that is the last major procedure. Madisen has been making great progress over the past weeks. She is now crawling and putting herself into the sitting position on her own. She has also been feeding herself little snacks and playing pattycake on command. She is also a big 18lb'er and very tall. After going through all of these tests and doctors appointments with no real answers as of yet, I'm still happy we stuck with it. Madisen has the best doctors we could find, that are so proactive about getting to the bottom of why she was so delayed.

Let the madness begin, with Disney that is !

Ever since I can remember I have loved going to Disneyland. There's something about walking through the big gates and under the bridge and onto Main Street USA. Everything is so beautiful, the flowers are perfect, the streets are clean, the buildings are painted beautifully and the music is playing at the perfect volume. I completely forget the outside world and jump into Disney mode. I never go with a plan and never really look at the time, it just doesn't matter. On this trip to Disneyland it was very different. My dad brought my brother and sister out for a few days and I knew I had to go with them to Disneyland. It had been awhile since my last visit and I decided it would be Madisens' 1st. With a jam packed diaper bag (I love you Petunia Pickle Bottom), 1 stroller and a happy baby we left the house at 8:30 am. Little buns slept the entire ride down and was ready to go the minute I strapped her into the stroller. We are lucky enough to have a good friend of the family who has been working at Disney for 20 years get us into the park (Thank you Bobby). We meet up with my dad and the kids for a fun filled day of Mickey Mouse, a few rides and lots of good people watching. As the morning went on it just started getting warmer and warmer, the park started get more and more crowded and my skin was getting more and more red. At this point Madisen was sweaty and drinking every ones water but still happy. She loved watching all the people and listening to all the different noises. She fell asleep for about an hour and woke up ready to go again. We found lots of fun things to do in the air conditioned attractions. All in all we had a great day at Disneyland. Madisen met Mickey Mouse and had her picture taken with him, she also rode on the train around the park and loved it. We left around 7:30 and before we even made it to the freeway Madisen was fast asleep with her Mickey ears in hand. Thank you Walt Disney for having the imagination to come up with a place that families can go and make such wonderful memories.

Happy Father's Day

Today was our first Father's Day as a family. We opted to have a low key, relaxing day at home. My Grandma came over with my parents for a BBQ. Madisen and I woke daddy up early this morning to give him his gifts in bed. We gave him a new pair of shorts and some new undies. Madisen picked out a singing card from the Hallmark store that plays the Shrek song (daddy was playing it all morning) We played for awhile and Madisen started clapping for the first time and playing the paddy-cake song.

Daddy we hope you had a wonderful relaxing day at home. We love you very much.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo's

To both of my dad's, thank you for always being there for me and teaching me so much over the years. I love you.

Tutu Girls

Yesterday we had cousin Alexis over while her mom was at work and we had such a fun day. The girls were playing in Madisens' room while I was going through her closet. I had picked up the tutu that Alexis is wearing last year before I even knew that I was having a girl. I put it on Alexis and she started dancing around the room, it was too cute. Madisen was given her tutu outfit by her Aunt Emily and she finally fits into it. I thought the girls looked so cute, I had to take some pictures of them.

Daddy Time

Yes I'm going to post twice in one night.... I hope that isn't against blogging rules. I had to share this funny story. So the other night I asked Dust (LH) if he could watch Madisen for me while I made dinner. I never like asking him to do that if we're home because lets just say if the TV is on he gets in "the zone" and the world around him goes silent. Which I totally understand that you have to pay attention to that all important Laker vs. Celtic finals game. After being in the kitchen for 20 minuets or so I didn't hear Madisens' little voice. Hmmmm I wonder what's going on in the other room. I peeked around the corner and this is what I saw....

Yes my child had done this to herself and daddy let her. This is a large blanket that fits a twin size bed not a little baby throw blanket. It was wrapped around her so many time that I lost count and her arm was stuck in an awkward position behind layer 3. From what dad said she rolled across the rug like that and she liked it. Whatever works....

Madisen is Moving Along

This being my first offical blog entry I decided to talk about my little Madisen. This little kid is amazing to me. She just keeps over coming little obsticals each week. Today was physical therapy and once again she did a new "trick" for her therapist. Are you ready for this one.....

MADISEN CRAWLED Yes you did read it right. My little girl that has been behind with all of her milestones moved her arms while being held in the crawling position. It actually brought tears to my eyes. She was so proud of herself. Madisen was also kneeling on a soft step and pushing off with her legs to reach a toy that was on the second step. She is getting stronger every day.

Let the blogging begin

Welcome to our family blog. I'm so excited to get started with the blogging and to show pictures of our "days" at the Downen house.