HAPPY HALLOWEEN (and Happy Birthday Daddy!)

Happy Halloween everyone! Christmas and Halloween are my two favorite holidays so as you can imagine, I couldn't wait for it to roll around this year! Maddie is celebrating her first Halloween and the poor kid has put up with Mommy dressing her in all kinds of hats and onesies. Here are some pictures at the pumpkin patch. She's not quite ready to sit on her own yet so we propped her up between two pumpkins. Enjoy! :)


Also, Happy Birthday to Chad who is 29 today! :) We love you!

And one other little note to my own dad. He is on a flight to Lubbock at the moment...going to cheer his Red Raiders on to what he hopes is a big victory against UT. Well dad, the last picture I posted especially for you! :) Maddie has been waiting all season to wear her little Longhorn booties. Hook 'em!

A VISIT WITH THE GRANDPARENTS

Last weekend we attended Chad's 10 year class reunion. Grumpy and Grandma were kind enough to babysit all weekend. They were able to get in some much awaited one-on-one time with Maddie. Everyone had a great time!

FIRST WEEK OF DAYCARE

And so we come to the end of Maddie's first week at daycare. I must admit, I have been pretty emotional all week. We checked out several daycare settings and we finally settled on in-home care for Maddie. Although Ms. Terri is very friendly with tons of experince(not to mention having had 4 children herself) it is just so hard to let your baby go when she is not quite 3 months old yet! But I know many parents have been in my position and it will get easier day by day. I am glad to have her around other children for a good part of the day and I know she will learn so much being around them.

On a lighter note, Maddie is growing by leaps and bounds lately. She is now batting at toys, can almost complete a back to tummy roll and she is holding her head up so steady and strong now. Here is a clip of video we grabbed last weekend.

BACK TO WORK

Well I made the transition of returning to work last Monday...this was 2 months to the day that Maddie was born. I must say it was hard to leave her. Those two months at home with here were truly some of the most memorable moments in my life. I miss her during the day but I knew life would have to return to normal at some point. My Aunt Mandy stayed with her last week, my mom is in this week and then Mallary & Vicki will split next week. After that she will begin daycare. We found a wonderful in-home daycare that is very close to our home. We feel confident she will have lots of happy days with Ms. Terri.

Here are some recent pics. She is really getting strong...she holds her head up very steady and she can even do a mini pushup. We think she might be an early crawler. She is also sleeping well and Chad and I couldn't be more thankful. For the last couple of weeks, we can put her down around 10:00pm and she will wake up like clockwork the next morning anywhere between 5:55am-6:15am. We are crossing our fingers she keeps in this pattern!!!

MORE PICTURES!!

My friend Johanna came over earlier this week and took some pictures of Maddie. She is an artist and graphic design major. As you can see, she definitely knows what she is doing with the camera. I only wish I had half of her artistic ability! If I did, I bet Maddie would be sick of seeing a camera in her face all day! Anyway, here are a few pictures from the "photo shoot". We had a great time dressing Maddie in different outfits and using little stuffed animals as props. Enjoy!!

IT'S OFFICIAL...SHE SMILES NOW!!

GOING ON 6 WEEKS OLD!

Our little Maddie will be 6 weeks on Tuesday and she is really growing. I will be so excited to get back to the pediatrician on Sept 29th to get an offical length and weight for her. Something I'm not looking forward to...this visit will also include her first round of vaccinations. She had to have her heel pricked last time for a blood test and it killed me to see her cry like that. I just wish she was old enough so I could take her for ice cream afterwards and make it all better! But I guess there will be plenty of time for that later on.

All is well here. I'm enjoying every moment of my maternity leave and have 3 full weeks left. It feels like it has gone by so fast but I guess life must go back to normal at some point. Here are a few new pics snapped recently.

This photo is a little dark but Chad caught me snoozing on the job



Mommy playing photographer



A new mode of transportation. She looks bundled up as if it were freezing outside but I was more concerned about the sun!



Daddy tucking her in for an afternoon nap