4 Months

Emma is already 4 months old. Time really flies, doesn't it!!

My Darling Emma,

You are talking up a storm, telling us stories in your own little language, squeeling with delight when you wake up and see our faces or when Daddy comes home from work. You just love to smile and laugh at us when we make silly faces and noises. You don't talk to everyone though. Sometimes if a stranger in a store approaches you and talks to you, you look at them and scream and cry until you look back at me and realize you're not being taken away. You definitely know who your Mommy and Daddy are, and you like being with us the best. 

Here's what we do with you on a "normal' basis:

Wake up. You usually wake us up around 6am. You open your eyes and look around the room for a moment before you start kicking your legs and flapping your arms, and then you begin to tell us what it is you've dreamed about in a very excited, dramatic way. You smile and coo, you just love the mornings. Then we go potty on the toilet, and you smile big and proud at Mommy when you're done. We go downstairs where you sit in your swing playing with toys and talking to Baby Einstein on the TV while Mom eats breakfast. Usually Mom comes to play with you on the floor after this until it's time for a nap. 

After your nap you use the potty again and come back downstairs to play on your activity mat.  You reach for, grab and try to "eat" all of your toys, often times talking to them and kicking all over. Mom never leaves you in the room alone, she does some light cleaning while you play by yourself until you play yourself to sleep on the mat. You nap on the mat or on a blankey on the floor. When you wake up, you guessed it, we go to the potty again.

The afternoon is all Mommy and Emma time. We sit up, play tummy time, practice standing and sitting up, you tell mommy stories and usually "play with mommy's hair" or in other words, you yank on it. We laugh and I tickle your tummy. I read you a story and you try to grab the pictures in the books we read. Sometimes if you are cranky and tired and don't want to play, I will rock you in my arms while watching TV or listening to music. 

Then Daddy comes home. Daddy likes video games, so he'll sit with you on his lap or next to him on the couch while he plays video games. He likes to ask you questions about your day and you like to grab his nose.

Then bath time. Daddy reads to you and mommy washes you with lots of bubbles. We sing a few songs, and then it's time for bed.

This month you've learned how to sit up for a few seconds on your own, roll over, and so many other things I can't keep track of. You grow and learn new things every day and I am such a proud mommy! I love you Emma.

Here are some pictures of you doing some neat and cute things.

love, 

mama

Emma Rose Madison - 1 month old

Emma,
One month old already! Time flies too fast, and I am not ready for you to grow up yet! Slow down honey, mommy waited forever for this newborn and she's growing up too quickly!!
It's amazing to see you change from day to day. So far you've fount your hands and you like to hold them and suck on your knuckles. You love to look mommy and daddy in the eyes when we talk to you, and you've smiled at Daddy already! You have three, yes three teeth coming up already. When you were born you had two slits on the bottom where the teeth would soon come, and now I can see the teeth coming up under the surface of your little gums!
You love to sleep on mommy's chest. It's your favorite place to be. You can lift and hold your head up by your self, you love to stand up (with assistance) and do squats while someone holds you. You have your own sleep pattern at night, so we know when to expect you to wake up already. About once a week you have a sleep day, where you will sleep all day, and all night, waking up only to eat a little bit and then straight back to sleep!
You love, love, love bath time.  You can be crying and crying about who knows what, and as soon as we stick you in the bath tub you are totally content - until it starts getting cold of course. You don't mind being sprayed with the shower either!
You are quite the snuggle bug and you don't like to be left alone, or put down. Sometimes you'll fall asleep and we'll put you down and you'll wake up right away and cry to be held again. We love to hold you, we don't mind!
You like to be rocked back and forth, and you like it when we pat your back. Those are two sure fire ways to get you to sleep when you are cranky!

You are amazing and we love you so much. You have completed our world, and given us a daily reminder of how wonderful life is.

A good day

I really just want to share this in as many ways possible. I feel like it is so important to appreciate all that is given to you. I've been let down by negative statuses posted all over Facebook, and after seeing this I just want to share it with everyone.

You think this is just another day in your life. It’s not just another day; it’s the one day that is given to you today. It’s given to you. It’s a gift. It’s the only gift that you have right now, and the only appropriate response is gratefulness. If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response to the great gift that this unique day is, if you learn to respond as if it were the first day of your life, and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well.
Begin by opening your eyes and be surprised that you have eyes you can open, that incredible array of colors that is constantly offered to us for pure enjoyment. Look at the sky. We so rarely look at the sky. We so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment with clouds coming and going. We just think of the weather, and even of the weather we don’t think of all the many nuances of weather. We just think of good weather and bad weather. This day right now has unique weather, maybe a kind that will never exactly in that form come again. The formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same that it is right now. Open your eyes. Look at that.
Look at the faces of people that you meet. Each one has an incredible story behind their face, a story that you could never fully fathom, not only their own story, but the story of their ancestors. We all go back so far. And in this present moment on this day all the people you meet, all that life from generations and from so many places all over the world, flows together and meets you here like a life-giving water, if you only open your heart and drink.
Open your heart to the incredible gifts that civilization gives to us. You flip a switch and there is electric light. You turn a faucet and there is warm water and cold water — and drinkable water. It’s a gift that millions and millions in the world will never experience.
So these are just a few of an enormous number of gifts to which you can open your heart. And so I wish for you that you would open your heart to all these blessings and let them flow through you, that everyone whom you will meet on this day will be blessed by you; just by your eyes, by your smile, by your touch — just by your presence. Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you, and then it will really be a good day.
– Brother David Steindl-Rast

Happy New Year!!

Year in Review: Since I didn't update my blog... ever...

January: New House!
We moved into our new home here in Radcliff Kentucky. We are proud home owners!

February - We received devastating news from our doctors after a two year struggle, we were informed that it was medically "impossible" for us to conceive. Vanessa got a job working in Retail. We experienced and enjoyed our first snow storm.

March: Danny got a promotion! We Dog sat an awesome Dog (who Atreus loves) named Sasha, and decided to search for a new puppy to adopt. We explored Mammoth Caves. It warmed up, so we went golfing..

 April: Danny went TDY for a while (no pics of that, and I don't even remember where he went.. honestly..) We found and adopted Naia. And there was a rainbow after an intense rainstorm.

May: Danny went TDY somewhere (again). We played more golf. Naia got bigger. I had several photography jobs that month. Danny took me to Saunders Springs. And Atreus tried to eat a Bee.

June- Danny went TDY (surprise!), Art Jr. & Fam came to Kentucky, & we found Amy's G-pa. We all got in the car to drive down and visit Danny while he was TDY, Danny ate a slab of ribs at the SHED and went to New Orleans. We visited some old friends at Keesler in Mississippi, while Danny was still TDY. 

Visiting Melissa

 July: SURPRISE! and then Danny went TDY.

August: Danny was still TDY.. I had morning sickness. A roommate moved in with her son.. no comment. I got poison ivy and could have died from allergic reaction(as the swelling had moved into my lungs), was on steroids for 3 weeks.. and I got to see our baby.

September: Danny came home from his TDY. I entered my 2nd trimester, morning sickness followed. We went to Wisconsin, The Mall Of America, and Chicago. Danny ran a marathon. We put Naia up for adoption.. and gave her away.

October: We celebrated 5 years of marriage and went to see The Phantom Of The Opera. Went to CALIFORNIA for a baby shower and visited with family. We carved pumpkins together gf It's A Girl!!!

November: Danny went TDY. My morning sickness finally faded. I worked a lot. I completed my second trimester. I saw Emma on an Ultrasound.

December: Danny returned mid December. We got our first real Christmas Tree. People started to recognize my pregnant belly. We spent the last two weeks of December at home, in the house, as Danny had a serious viral infection and had invasive testing done, which he had to recover from. He felt better finally the day before New Years Eve. We went to a friend's house for a NYE celebration. Happy New Year!!

Baby

Baby Girl!

http://makingasanoja.blogspot.com

Naia: Up for adoption

It breaks my heart, but Naia is being put up for adoption.

We were told in February that we were never going to have children of our own. Danny and I decided to expand our family by adopting another puppy, Naia, a Giant Schnauzer. She needs lots of exercise and play time, a firm disciplinarian, and lots, and lots of love.

When I found out I was pregnant, and started getting back pain, I could no longer walk Naia on my own. She pulled too hard when she would want something, hurting my back further. Danny started running with her, but soon the TDY's started and he no longer was around to run with her, so I would play with her out back until she started running away. At that point, we decided to get a huge tie out rope, so she could enjoy the back yard without running away. We could play fetch until she got bored and tired. Unfortunately, it still isn't enough.

Not only does she lack exercise when Danny is gone (which now-a-days is a lot!) but we can't let her out in the house very much when she's inside because Atreus hates her. Really, really, cowers when Naia is around. she won't go outside if Naia is out, and hides behind us if Naia is in the house, out of her kennel.

We cannot afford to put in a fence so she can roam freely and run freely on our land, because we now have a baby on the way. We are putting her up for adoption for her own well being, so she can have a better life. One we thought we would be able to give her, and no longer can provide. I love Naia very much but she deserves so much better than we can give.

Wisconsin, Minesota, and Illinois

 What's a road trip without FuN dIp!?

Once Danny got home from his latest TDY, we hit the road. Our first stop was in La Crosse, Wisconsin, to visit our dear friends from Okinawa - the Kruegers. We had fun visiting them, we went to see some of their home town and places they grew up. I didn't have a sim card for my camera at this point, so no photos :( :( :( We have a few on our iPhones but those are NOT real photos! :*(

The next day we headed up to Minesota with the fam, and hit up the MALL OF AMERICA! It was fun, huge, and I got super tired. We picked up Lindsey's husband from the Airport and what a sweet reunion! As we were driving back to La Crosse, we almost ran out of gas and were driving through corn fields, cursing the GPS for telling us there was a gas station out there somewhere... when Danny found one on his iPhone Maps application! SAVED us! We were in the middle of nowhere!

Then we went to the Wisconsin Dells, and because my huge fancy camera is NOT waterproof, and Danny did not bring his camera, we have no photos of that day either. but it was fun, I couldn't ride all of the slides, but i did ride a few and boy was it fun!! I can't wait to go back when we have lots of little ninos running around.

THEN we headed back towards KY and spent the night in Chicago. When we got up in the morning we headed for the Sears Tower!! How amazing that was... the photos really speak for themselves..

And then we ate fun dip all the way home :)