Mommy's Birthday!!

Let me just say Maddie is getting so big so fast. She is going to be 7 months old in a few days and it has completely flown by. She is doing so many more fun things now. She is eating all kinds of food--mostly baby food, but she has had puffs, bread, and big girl bananas!! She is sitting up all by herself now and tries to catch herself when she starts to tip over. She is starting to have a mind of her own and wants to be down on the floor playing with her toys whenever she can. She is able to get up on her hands and knees now, and lunges occasionally--so we know she is on the verge of crawling!! Oh no!! Maddie was a little fussy last night, I thought it might be her teeth and sure enough when we woke up this morning her bottom right tooth had broken through her gums! I can't believe my baby girl is getting her first tooth!! It really doesn't seem possible.

The last week has been wonderful. I turned 28 on August 20th! Maddie sent flowers to work for me! They were beautiful! I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the flowers had a pink and white polka dotted ribbon around the vase and Maddie has a matching ribbon in her hair.




Sandra and Neal Salerno came to visit our little family. You can't tell at all from the picture, but Sandy is 6 1/2 months pregnant. She is due Nov. 6th! She looks so good. Her tummy is so little and cute!!

Neal practiced his baby holding skills with Maddie. Josh and I kept trying to talk him into changing some diapers, but he didn't want to have any part of that yet!

Maddie loves to eat puffs!! Saturday, while Josh and I were eating we filled her tray up with some puffs and they kept disappearing, so we thought she was eating them. When I went to get her out of her high chair I noticed the whole seat was full of puffs! If you look on Maddie's left side you can see a big pile of puffs!

Ok...please excuse my stars and stripes bathrobe! This is Maddie after she came out of the high chair she had half-eaten puffs stuck everywhere!

Maddie's sleepy pose. We know she is tired whenever she "finds her fingers". She always sucks on the two middle ones, she could care less about pacifiers or her thumb.

Long weekend!!

We enjoyed a long weekend at the lake this weekend. We spent a lot of time with my family. My dad was just diagnosed with with prostate cancer, so we all just wanted to spend some time together. He is still trying to decide which option he is going to pursue. We love him so much and just keep praying that God will heal his body. He is such a wonderful man, we are all so blessed that he is part of our lives.

All smiles for daddy.

Cousin time can go from very happy and lots of fun...

to sad....

to a complete mess very quickly!!

What a pair...Mary May (AKA Janelle) and my dad...they are 100% trouble whenever they are together!! Talk about ornery!!

Brayden is such a flirt these days. Here he is with Aunt Julie.

My attempt at being artistic with the camera!

Maddie went trick-or-treating for the first time on Saturday!! She was a ballerina. The lake community celebrates Halloween in the summer, since no one is around in the fall. Everyone sits at the end of their driveways and hands out candy to all the kids that pass by.

Brayden and Aunt Jess went trick-or-treating with us too. Brayden was dressed up as Michael Phelps. Can you see his 9 gold medals around his neck?!?

Yes people even decorate their drive ways with Halloween paraphernalia. Maddie looks so confused!! She didn't know what to think about the skeletons and crazy people dressed up!!!!

Great Uncle Doug had fun playing with all of the kiddos (from left Quinn, Owen, Riley, and Brayden).

Maddie got a new toy farm house and tractor. I think it is her favorite toy. She chews on the animals all the time! Teething is great!! Can you see how drool-soaked her shirt is??

Twins?? Maddie wanted to dress up like her daddy for the day! I need to get an extra orange hair bow for Josh!

There is always a little extra time to play with mom!!

The view is great from up here mom! You should try it sometime!

I'm 6 months old!!!!!

Maddie turned 6 months old on July 29th. We went in for her 6 month check up on July 27th. The doctor thought that Maddie was doing great. She is growing like crazy. She weighed 16 pounds and 9 ounces (60th percentile), measured 26 1/4 inches long (70th percentile), and had a head circumference of 10 3/4 inches (50th percentile). We started Maddie on baby food the next day (she had only had cereal and breast milk up till then). She loves to eat her baby food! She can't get enough of it. Josh and I are really being cautious introducing foods since we have so many allergies between the two of us. We have said for many years our kids were doomed to have allergies, but we are hoping two negatives will make a positive. So far Maddie has had green beans, squash, peas, sweet potatoes, bananas, and applesauce. Applesauce is by far her favorite. Lately she has been having 2 containers of food for lunch and dinner, and sometimes she starts crying because she still wants more. Since we started with baby food, she has been having a few tummy aches, which cause her to be cranky. To top it off, I think she is starting to teeth as well. It is so hard to know if she is being fussy because her teeth, her tummy, or if she is just tired. Maddie has learned to sit up well in the last 2 weeks. I think she loves having a new perspective on the world.


Maddie, Josh, and I went to Indianapolis to visit one of my best friends and her new baby girl! Lauren gave birth to her beautiful daughter Emily on August 6th!! So Emily is just shy of a week old in these pictures. It was so much fun holding and cuddling Emily. I totally forgot how little Maddie was when she was born. It goes soooo fast!!


Maddie meeting her new friend Emily Margaret Hendrickson. Emily is so teeny tiny!!! Maddie looks like a tankette in this picture.


Josh was eating cookies one afternoon while he was holding Maddie. Every time he took the cookie up to his mouth, Maddie would try to steal a bite. She is one smart cookie!! :)

Ok…So don’t think I am a terrible mom, but this was just too darn cute not to take a picture of. Maddie fell asleep in the back of the car and never said a word. When I went to get her out she was blindfolded and sleeping peacefully.

Madelyn loves to eat her big girl food! She opens her mouth wide whenever she is ready for more!! She is so smart!!

Grandma Patty and I took Madelyn and Brayden to the zoo together one afternoon! They had lots of fun looking at the animals especially the vultures. The vultures kept flapping their wings around, so they were the most interesting.

Madelyn likes to go swimming with her daddy. She splashes her hands and kicks her feet whenever she is in the water.

Palin Palooza!!

On July 11th our friends Sherry, Frank, Graham, and Mitchell came up to the lake to visit Josh, Madelyn, and I. We had a wonderful weekend together. We spent lots of time on the water enjoying the sunshine.



Captain Josh!!


Graham checking out the scenery.

Maddie cracks me up sooo much! She loves to suck on her fingers and eat at the same time, which makes for a horrible mess. After she gets her fingers all messy, she runs them through her hair and I find chunks of food all day long!

She is a BIG eater!!! You put it on a spoon and she gobbles it right up!

Maddie enjoyed riding around with Graham.

We went swimming together!

Mitch was a MASTER TUBER! He did a great job staying on the tube!

Josh and Graham went jet skiing too! Josh and Graham took the blue jet ski (2 seater) and Frank and Mitch took the green jet ski (3 seater). The blue jet ski is not as sturdy as the green jet ski and Josh and Graham ended up flipping the jet ski a few times. Everytime Josh got back on the jet ski and would try to get Graham back up, they would flip again, so Frank and Mitch picked Graham up and Josh ended up riding solo. I took Graham for a ride later and he told me I was a much better driver than Josh!! (I am very proud of that!)

Frank and Mitch starting out on the green jet ski!

Frank and Sherry riding the waves!

Who could forget about Peanut??