Reflection of the year

I just want to reflect on the year 2009. So much has happened. Probably one of my best years yet...
January - Matt was still working in Burley. I was living with Janae in Idaho Falls until my temp job at United ended. Mid January I was able to reunite with Matt. Patiently waiting for baby "Melvin" to come.
February - I celebrated my 28th birthday. Feb 13th & 14th I worked really hard at getting my baby to come out. Lots of walking and trying out myths that would induce labor (eating pineapple, foot massages, etc.) Madison Gail was born Feb 15th. Fast and easy labor. Went in to labor around 8pm Feb 14th (didn't know I was in labor yet). Arrived at hospital at 3 am and then Madison was born at 3:26, all natural. I am so proud!!!
March - Madison and I were given a wonderful baby shower, with lots of loved ones in attendance. Even Aunt Ang and Ashley were able to attend. Matt went to work in Washington. Madison and I drove to visit him for a little over a week.
April - Matt went to work in Nampa and we got to go with him. Madison was blessed by gramps at their house (the day before Easter). Had Easter in Kuna.
May - Traveled to Utah. (Madison has been more places in her 3 months of life than most people do in a lifetime) :) I got to experience my first Mother's day. Matt and Madison were wonderful. I received beautiful roses and a beautiful heart necklace.
June - Matt experienced his first Father's day. Madison gave him a fist mold. So sweet and tiny. We also had some of my side of the family come camping down in Burley for Father's day weekend. We had lots of fun...but got rained out. 10 year high school reunion. Can't believe how fast time went.
July - Fourth of July was fun. Spent time in Swan Valley. Went camping at Bear Lake. Had a blast on our floating island. Started looking for houses. Long process. No luck yet.
August - Still looking at houses. Took Madison swimming in the rv park pool. Lots of fun.
September - Went camping at Willow Flat. My favorite place to camp. So many memories growing up. Found 3 houses we liked. Left Burley (laid off) to come to Idaho Falls for spud harvest. We also are trying to make our home up here.
October - Celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary. Made an offer on a house & offer accepted. Just waiting for our 5th wheel to sell and trying to find employment.
November - Matt took Madison sledding around nana and papa's yard. She's not a fan. Was not happy when she tipped over. Thanksgiving at the Mathews. Did some black Friday shopping. Pulled an all-nighter. Probably won't happen again anytime soon.
December - Used a sewing machine for the first time. Made holiday aprons for Janae's family. Turned out really cute. Once I have a house I will make some for me :) Had to put our house back on the market. Trailer never sold. Oh well, guess it wasn't meant to be. Had a great Christmas. Family has treated us VERY well. We have wonderful parents and siblings. On Christmas Eve, we received a new nephew. He is a handsome little boy!! We look forward to getting to know him and giving him lots of love.

I really look forward to 2010 and more quality time with Madi. I have been blessed this year to be able to stay at home with her. It's something that is very important to me so I am so greatful that Matt is a hard worker and has been supportive of me not working. I hope that blessing continues. We hope to be able to find a home of our own in '10. Madison will turn 1. We have a lot to look forward too.

Baby's first Christmas

Today has been so wonderful. Christmas is a lot slower with a 10 month old. Around 8am, Madison was still sleeping and everyone else was awake and ready to go so we woke her up. We have a picture with her giving a "leave me alone, I want to sleep" look. **All pictures taken with our new Nikon Coolpix camera** We started opening presents and she wasn't really interested. She just wanted to eat and probably go back to sleep. She helped take off some wrapping paper. We hardly got started and then papa gave her a present. He gave her a pink rocking horse. SO cute!! We put her on that thing and had a huge smile on her face. She was mad when we tried to take her off to open more presents. I guess we should have saved that one for last cause she wasn't interested in anything else. Oh well. She was so cute to watch with her pony. If you press the ears it sings, neighs, etc. She would bounce to the music and just have a good ole time. After an hour or so, everyone else was done and we still had stuff to open so Matt and I just opened our gifts and then opened the rest of Madi's. Maybe she'll be more into unwrapping presents in a couple months for her birthday. She got lots of great things...pink boots, clothes, movies, toys, cabbage patch doll. She was treated very well. So was her mother!!! Matt was amazing and got me my very own bowling ball. Anyone who knows me well, knows that is a good gift :) I'm excited to hit the lanes. Thanks honey!!!

First visit to Santa

Matt and I took Madison to see Santa at the mall yesterday. We were impressed that even though we went on a Saturday afternoon and 6 days before Christmas, it only took about 40 min. from the time we stood in line to the time we were done. I was very curious to see how she would react to Santa. She was happy, but sometimes if mom isn't holding her she gets mad (we're almost past that phase, but you never can tell). I wasn't completely surprised, but she LOVED him. She stared at him and then started touching his gloves, beard, glasses, etc. He was great and let her play with his beard. She would look at us and smile, then go right back to checking out Santa. He asked Madison what she wanted for Christmas, then said "I bet you'll get some diapers and maybe a warmer to warm up your wipes so you won't have a cold bum." I wish I would have had a video of the whole thing it was so sweet. Our camera was lame so we didn't get a great shot either. If I wasn't so cheap I would have paid the $13 to have the mall take it. Oh well. It was a fun experience. I was already very excited to have Madison's first Christmas, but this made me even more excited.

Angel Tree

Today Madison and I went to Sportsmans and picked up a tag from the angel tree to purchase a gift for a child. It makes me so sad to know that some kids don't get anything. Even though Madison doesn't know any better, starting this year we will do an angel tree gift every year so we can help her understand the importance of giving. As she gets older it will be more fun to teach her and have her do the picking out herself. In the same respect I pray that Matt and I will always be able to provide for her so that she won't have to be on the receiving end of angel tree gifts. It will hopefully help her realize the blessings she has.

Anyone need a Kleenex?

So, the other night Madison did not want to go to bed. I was not just being a mean mom and putting her to bed at 6pm. We started at about 9:30. She fell asleep for an hour, but then would not go back to sleep. It was about 1am when she finally fell asleep again. The current issue is we are living with in-laws and Madison is sleeping in the same room with me and Matt. She pulls herself up in her play pen and can see us and she knows we are in there even if she can't see us. Anyway, so she fell asleep at 1, then woke up at 5 and I fed her. She fell back asleep until 7:30 then stayed awake. That means I only got about 5 hrs of sleep. At 7:30 when she wouldn't go back to bed, I pulled her out and let her play on the floor while I layed in bed (I made sure there were no harmful things around). I only dozed off for a minute or two. When I woke up and decided to just get out of bed I found my daughter next to a large pile of kleenex. Madison had pulled one by one out of the box and had a large pile. Luckily she didn't go get them all out, but more than half. I also found a small piece in her mouth (at least it was unused). I could just picture her having a great time. It does make a great game for kids, I just wish they went back in the box as easy as they come out :)

On the move

Where has my little baby gone?? I am still in denial that babies grow up fast. It has only been 8 1/2 months since Madison was born. In my head, I still see an infant and forget that she wants to and tries to be a BIG girl. She wants to be apart of everything and do everything mom & dad does. She started pulling herself up to a standing position (Nov. 3rd). The next day, it was supposed to be nap time, I peeked in the room to check on her and she had pulled herself up and was hanging on the edge. We of course couldn't risk her falling out so we lowered her mattress to the very bottom. She is such a little stinker :) Then on Nov 7th, started crawling. Argh!! I was so excited, but almost started crying. At least she likes cuddling. If I didn't have that then my baby would really be gone. It just all keeps happening so fast. She's up to 8 teeth now, crawls, sits up by herself, sits in high chairs, goes for rides in grocery carts, gives dirty looks, the list goes on and on. She's 8 1/2 months going on 5.

Happy Halloween

Madison experienced her first Halloween. We dressed her up as a spider. She was so cute. She hated the hat and kept pulling it off her head. The night before Halloween, Matt and I carved pumpkins. Matt was a great dad and carved 'MADI' in a pumpkin. We made sure to take lots of pictures with Madison next to it.
We didn't do a whole lot of trick-or-treating, but some how Madison ended up with a bag full of candy, most of which she can't eat, but we gave her a blue sucker for her to enjoy. I got a cute her to stick out her tongue so I could get a good picture of how blue her tongue was.
She was a good sport letting mom dress her up. It was one of my favorite Halloweens!!

June 2009

Our family is currently residing in Burley, ID. We are in the process of finding a home in Idaho Falls. We do get frustrated with trying to get settled. We know that things will fall in to place when and as they should, but it sure is hard to wait and be patient. Right now we're living in our fifth wheel. It is so nice and we've loved it. But now with Madison we need a little more room. I'm sure she'll appreciate not having to sleep under our tv. It does help us to go to bed earlier though.

Setting up

Well, I finally decided to jump on the blogging band wagon. I heard it's a great journal log especially when you have kids. Now that I have one I figured it wouldn't hurt to start blogging.