First Birthday Party

Tonight we had Madison's birthday party at my mom's house. Thank you to all my family for scrambling around and helping me get it together so fast. I can tell you now it is going to be hard having a birthday in December.

Alan and I got Madison some babies and a doll set for her birthday. She loved them! She's still not very soft with them though.

The hit of the night though was the pretend cell phone that Beth got Madison. She loves my cell phone (sorry to anyone who has been called by her :) and I hate her playing with it. So this is the best of both worlds!

We had an enjoyable time with her chocolate chocolate cake. She was a little bit timid at first, but in the end she wasn't scared to dig in!

We are so excited to have a one year old!

And a bath in the sink to clean up. Oh it was a fun day. I bought Madison a pin that said Birthday Princess with all the disney princesses on it. She wore it all day. It was so cute! Thanks again everyone for making it a great day!

My Baby is One!

I am going on a trip down memory lane tonight. Feel free to join me, but mostly this post is for me to remember one of the most amazing days I ever experienced a year ago. It was a Monday morning and I had been leaking fluids the previous weekend and decided to go into the doctor just to get checked. I was positive that my doctor would laugh at me, tell me I'm paranoid and send me home. I wasn't even dialated to a 1 for crying out loud. Much to my surprise, after a test my doctor came in and said "Well it looks like we are going to have a baby today!" My jaw dropped. Today? Holy cow. I still have over 2 weeks to go! Wasn't expecting that. And about 7 hours later at 7:48 PM my beautiful baby graced us with her presence. It was a picture perfect pregnancy and deliver. We were so blessed!

Our new little family right after Madison was born!

Her daddy was so excited to see her too. I think he's been wrapped around those long little fingers from the very start.

She was so teeny tiny. I was scared to change her clothes or diapers because I thought she was going to break. She was really such a good baby. I couldn't ask for anything more. We were truly so blessed. I look back at pictures now and it's hard for me to remember. Alan and I were looking at some of her pictures tonight and it's so crazy...once upon a time she was a baby! Where did that go?

But she's grown. She's not a baby anymore, she can walk and say words, and understand things that I say. She's my little pal. It went by so fast! She's ONE year old! Some interesting things about Madison at a year:

-She walks and is starting to run...she's everywhere.

-She really understands what we say. When we ask her where something in particular is, she goes and picks it up. She's so smart.

-She LOVES other little kids. It doesn't matter the age or the size she will just follow them around and watch them.

-When someone laughs or claps, for whatever reason, Madison thinks they are laughing or clapping for her. She gets a huge grin on her face like she's saying "Oh thanks guys, I'm super cool." It's so funny!

-She loves stuffed animals and baby dolls. She carries them around with her everywhere when she's at home.

-Sometimes when I give her crackers to eat and she's not in her highchair she will put them on the ground and walk back and forth over them because she likes the sound they make. haha.

-She LOVES being outside. I think she would be out there all the time if she could.

-She hates getting her hair done.

-She likes to play with McKinley, even though she doesn't get much of a response yet.

-She's not very good at chuch. I think it's too confining for her.

-She loves books.

-She's a huge imitator. She will make any sound that you make first.

-Other than some random sniffles she hasn't been sick at all.

-She still loves being naked.

-All in all she is a super happy little girl.

Madison,

You are truly my best little buddy and I can't even tell you how much I love you. It's hard to remember how life was without you in it. I want you to know how much your dad and I enjoy having you in our lives. We wouldn't have it any other way. We are very very blessed. Love you Sissy!

Mommy

Naughty Girl

Do you see those hands?

So Alan and I were watching the new episode of House tonight. It was a really good one and Madison was playing so nicely by herself. So quiet, you almost didn't realize she was there. Then I realized...hmm...quiet isn't always good. I looked over and there she was playing with one of my stamp pads. Brown. I've known plenty of adults who cannot open a stampin up stamp pad, but somehow my 11 1/2 month old was able to figure it out. It was all over her hands, and fortunately I was able to catch her before it was on her clothes too badly. I think it will come out, but this is the first major naughty thing Madison has really done. So I had to document it :) And somehow she still looks so innocent...

My Super Cool Husband!

Alan and his branch had a company wide competition, a DDA-a-thon (or new account competition), and they did really well! They were top in the division and Alan (branch manager), Ryan (assistant manager), Danny (personal banker), and Greg (teller) got recognized individually for being the top performer for their positions regionally with Ryan being top performer in the division. They were recognized in a division newsletter with their picture and a blurb about the branch and employees. Their original goal was to open 17 new accounts for the whole branch in two weeks. They ended up opening 46 new accounts altogether which is 271% of their goal!

Good job babe I'm so proud of you guys!

Getting so big...almost 1 year old!

Madison is growing up way too fast and it makes me sad. I've gotten some cute pictures of her over the past little while and need to put them on here. It's not often that she pauses to look at the camera these days so when she does I have to take advantage of it.

My mom got this little baby doll for Madison and ever since she gave it to her she just carries it around saying "bubby, bubby". It's so cute and it's the perfect size for her. I'll ask her "Madison where's your baby at?" She'll look around and go get it and give it loves and look at me like "here she is mom!" It's seriously so cute!

I put her hair in pigtails the other day. It's starting to get long! It looked so cute, but I think it hurt her head so I had to take them out. Not long and she will look like this all the time. And yes that is cracker all over her face, I had to make her sit still and food is generally a good way of doing that :)

Today Madison looked so cute and I had to take some pictures because she was being way smiley. I had my Super Saturday this morning so Alan spent the morning with her and got her ready and everything. She looked so cute! I was impressed. I don't normally put hats on her (Alan did because he doesn't do hair), but I totally will from now on because I loved this on her!

I put two on here because I think she looks JUST LIKE Beth when she was little in this one! It's so funny that somehow, Garrett looks like me when I was little, and Madison looks a lot like Beth! What are the odds?

Proud Daddy!

Madison is totally a daddy's girl these days! It's very cute. When he comes home after work she is so excited to see him and walks over and says "da da". I love it!

Time Out For Women

So I'm a little behind, I meant to post this last week, but just never got around to it. Last Saturday, my mom, sister, sweet baby McKinley, and I went to a Time Out For Women put on by Deseret Book. It was seriously SO amazing! They should have things like this way more often. It was a full day of inspirational speakers and singers and it was much needed. It was so nice to get out and enjoy a day of spiritual upliftment. The speakers were so awesome and the singers had so much talent. We are planning on going next year again. The closest one is in Las Vegas, so we are super excited! Thanks Mom and Beth for a very fun weekend!

She's Walking!