Gold Fish

Okay, so I'm actually getting this post done on a Monday :) I knew you'd all be proud!



Jody's Turn:
I have to start off today with a rant because I really can't believe how much kids have changed... Since I've been back at school, all the kids seem to talk about is video games. Is there an industry for board games anymore? I know we support it each time we get together with our dear friends Neil and Rachel. Some of our best memories are over a game of "Pictionary," "Taboo," "Scategories" or many others. This brings me to the title of my blog... We were working on Analogies to help the kids learn attributes and comparisons (e.g., Scissors are to hair as Lawnmower is to ________ ) We decided to turn it into a game and guess how many of them don't know how to play "Go Fish"?? Not kidding! Then, I noticed several of them thought it was called "GOLD Fish"!! Time to bring back some old classics :) I promise Madelyn will learn all the great games... even counting how many states you can find on license plates during car trips :)


Back to the star of the show...


It is AMAZING watching the development of a little one... I love watching her gain control of her motor skills and wonder what is honestly churning in that little brain. I was looking back on the last 3 months and all the different things Maddy has learned to do and changes in her looks. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE being a Mommy? :)




Madelyn's Turn:

HELLO EVERYONE!! We had a pretty slow week. Daddy spent 3 days in Germany and then when he got home Mommy wouldn't let us play! Daddy had a tummy bug and was too sick! He even had a fever. Mommy said she's never seen Daddy that sick... I just missed my cuddles for a whole week! She let us share bath time tonight though! We also had Jen, Jon, and Isabelle over tonight. They fly out on Monday for good... back to TX for them. We are going to miss our play dates.




While Daddy was sick, Mommy and I had lots of fun reading, singing, and playing. I am getting so good with my hands (not to brag). I love tasting everything I can get ahold of. She also let me go for a walk with her and Daisy. It was fun to get some fresh air and this is the very first time she let me see where we were going!





Mommy also made me go get my picture taken. It was okay, but those bright lights really wear me out. We get to go see the pictures on Wednesday and hopefully we got some good ones cause I'm not doing it again (until 6 months)!



Well, that's it for this week. Let's face it, we can't be exciting all the time! Hope you all are well and see you next time.



xoxo,
Mads et. al.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

Grandpa Mike! We hope you are not working and get to enjoy your day. Hopefully I'll be awake when Daddy calls and get to talk to you!


Happy Birthday (belated) to Great-Grandma Mc too!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Love and Miss you,

Madelyn

Videos...FINALLY!

2. Talking with Mommy (see post below)

3. Rolling

14 Weeks and Today is Tuesday?

I knew it was a 3-day weekend, but went through the whole day thinking it was Monday and this is why Maddy's post comes to you today...

In the 4 days since the last post, we managed to have a few things occur! I think I will make this a video post since the camera was around a lot! Daddy was the new culprit behind the lens. He got some good Tummy Time footage, talking to Mommy, and my pre-cursor to rolling... yep, that's right, I'm working on mastering the roll over!! (Watch as many as you choose :)






Saturday we celebrated Valentine's with some friends. Mark was celebrating his 30th birthday. Mommy said the food was really good and they played a little Rock Band and Daddy was the singer!

Even Sophia was rockin' out! (She helps her Mommy take care of me 2 days a week)

Sunday, Mommy and Daddy took me to take some 3-month photos, but I was too sleepy and wanted to eat and nap when we got there. My plan didn't work too well though. Instead of getting out of it, we have to go back this weekend! Don't they take enough pictures of me?

Monday was our day off, but Mommy went to a teacher's house to work on a scrapbook and left me with some Daddy time. Besides loads of playtime, we had a little outing to the bookstore. Daddy said I was really good, Of course!

What...Who am I laying on??

1. Tummy Time - this really depicts life in our house with Daisy trying to be part of the action. Also a good clip of how aware Madelyn is as she follows Daisy around the room... imagine these two when she's mobile!

2. Talking with Mommy - sorry for Madelyn's head being cut off, but I really don't think I would have gotten this much conversation or that incredible laugh out of her had she seen the camera!

3. Rolling Rolling Rolling - two videos for this one. Lots of good rolls to her side and not sure what to do from there. You can only see her face in one and I love listening and watchin how much fun and effort she seems to be having in this process. No wonder she is in a new position every time I get her out of her crib!

Love to you all until next time!

OKAY, the videos have turned my Tues post into a Wed post... keep checking and I'll put a couple more videos up in other posts as they finally load!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Here's Maddy "talking" to me this morning. I keep trying to get some really good footage of her laughing, but the darn camera always brings things to a halt! Oh well, watch if you want a Maddy fix this week :)

(You may hear a rattling going on... she is wearing rattle socks. My effort to help her find her feet since she thinks they are SO interesting when she comes across them!)

PS. Another "one-of-a-kind" onsie is on display here!

SNOW

Okay, so I feel like I've been talking about snow in my posts a lot lately, but they finally got it right :) Just wanted to share a few pics from our drive home last night. We went to the play "Annie", put on by a good friend that is a Music teacher here in the UK (Neil). It started to snow on our way there and by the time we got home at 11, this is what it looked like!

Of course it was all melting by this morning!! :)

Have a great weekend!

xoxo, S, J, M, & D

3 Months... and yucky Computers!

The most exciting part... Madelyn is 3 months old as of Tuesday!!! The reason the post is made today... Mommy's computer got a virus and Daddy's was confiscated by customs! We have decided we are not so lucky with laptops and will go back to a desktop just as soon as we move and have the space!

The stories behind the computer chaos? Shaye's was fixed in MN and sent back to us, but because it was declared at a higher value, customs decided they needed it and tried to tax it. They have had is since the 22 of January! After many calls and verifying that we are part of the visiting forces... we should have it by the end of the week. On my computer, after a week of consult and assistance from a friend we discovered we had to start the whole thing over. Back to factory settings for us. Luckily, we learned from last year and have been saving everything of importance on an external hard drive!! Seriously, we have 2 computers and on several occasions they BOTH have been out of commission - how does this happen??

We had an interesting week of SNOW! Out of the 5 days last week, 3 were late starts/ delays on base. My week was very slow going since the kids missed half a day, most of the teachers wouldn't relinquish them for services so they could get some classwork completed. It is CRAZY how a little snow sends everyone running! Granted, this is the first time since we've been here that there has been weather like this.

The snow that caused delays...

Back to the important one of the family...

I cannot believe Madelyn has been here for 3 whole months! She is definitely starting to let her personality shine through. Okay, okay, DAD- here is Madelyn's view on the week...

I am excited to say that I have conquered my New Year's resolution! I am a thumb sucker, especially when I'm sleepy. To no avail, Mommy continues to shove that silicone dummy in my mouth, but I graciously take and spit is right back out at her :) If it is not my thumb/ fist in my mouth, it is my blankie or whatever I can get a hold of!

My feet and hands continue to fascinate me. Who needs toys? Not that I'm bragging, but I am also becoming quite the champ at this head control deal. Mommy will even put me in my Bumbo for a while - she won't go far, she says she's still a little worried about whip lash, but one day soon!

I have one more picture of a great onsie you haven't seen, but Mommy keeps forgetting which ones she has pictured and which ones she hasn't so... She has stopped shoving that crazy camera in my face quite so much, maybe only every other day now :) It still fascinates me (as you'll see in my video).

We kinda think we need another one asking to borrow the teeth :)

Things are going really well at Maureen's (the babysitter). She told Mommy that I make the other baby cry. I guess she gets worried if I start to cry and then we both are hollerin a bit! I've also got her played as well as my Grandma was... I wake up when she puts me down so I get LOTS of cuddles :) Mommy is trying to convince her I sleep on my own at home, but I'm gonna see how long I can keep this going!

Until next week,

Madelyn et. al.

PS. Mommy is teaching me to stick out my tongue... this is the best I've gotten so far!

Boo... the video wouldn't upload. We'll try again, but really wanted to get something up for our fans!

Monday - Part 2 ;0)

My "first day of the babysitter" photo ;) See the snow?

Whew, a good night rest does a lot for a little person! Daddy even took part and got up for the 1:30 feed, it was kinda fun to see him instead of Mommy.

We woke up to SNOW. Mommy says this is only the second "real" snow storm since they have lived here. The news said it was the "worst storm in 18 years." I guess they haven't been to SD! Oh well. This storm led to late reporting on Monday (didn't matter cause Mommy didn't go to work until after that anyway) and late reporting today, although today the snow was melted and was replaced with ice. Yucky. Good note? This means we got to spend a little extra time with Daddy!

My "one-of-a-kind" onsies:

This one was made especially for me by cousin Rachil!

The expression is due to Mommy saying we can't go until June :(

Okay, the week in review...

We spent our last week together hangin out. A trip to the Bob Hope (community center on base) and met with Shea and Sara (Sara shares my birthday). Mommy was sharing all my stories... how embarrassing! Sara and I slept and ate during the meeting. The Mommies decided we would get together again at one of our houses so we could "play" soon. We also met with Jen and Isabelle again and were introduced to a new friend. Mommy is really excited to be meeting all these other Mommies to hang out with. Kinda weird how that all changes. The "single" friends are still lots of fun, but don't always pick "kid friendly" activities.

Jen and Isabelle

Mommy got her hair done on Friday. I got to go cause the lady in the salon really likes me... can you blame her? I chose this to be the perfect opportunity for the WORST diaper in the history of Madelyn :) Did pretty good if I do say so myself... out the front AND back and got a new outfit! Mommy says I made the appt. a little longer than it should of been, but the hair lady was so funny and entertaining!

We also had Neil and Rachel over for supper. They love me! I was a little crabby, but Rachel gave me my bath and helped me get ready for bed. I keep saying, if we are going to have people over it should be for brunch... my happiest time of day!

Just hangin' out.

This weekend we hung out and went shopping. I'm not really a big fan of shopping, but I don't think Daddy really wanted to be there either! Mommy said we HAD to go cause there were good sales and she insisted she needed some shirts that fit for work. I guess all my milk is keeping her 'old' clothes in the closet for now! Daddy stayed up for some of the Super Bowl, but it didn't start here until 11:30 at night!! He says he must have missed the most exciting part - at the end!

Daddy read my new book, "10 Rubber Duckies" (kinda like the song, "Bottles of Beer on the Wall" but with Ducks on a tub! :)


Work is good, but she hasn't had any kids yet... Monday was a work day. I enjoyed the babysitter, but there was so much new stuff going on I couldn't nap. (she had 2 older boys there due to the teacher work day and no school) Didn't want to miss out on anything!!

This is all I did when we got home from the sitter!


Oh, I also saw my feet this week! Have you seen these - FASCINATING! When decorated with footed outfits or even wiggly toes in the tub... I LOVE checkin these things out! Mommy will try to get a picture of this and post it soon!


The video is me checkin out my mobile. My swing is my "chill" place. Whenever I'm crabby, I only need to be put here for a few minutes, have some time to myself, and the world becomes a brighter place!

Love to you all,

Madelyn et al

Monday

Where did it go? It was a snowy day but turned out pretty good. Love to tell you all about it, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.... I am SO tired that I am crabby and hogging Mommy all to myself tonight!

I'll leave you with a short video of me "scooting". I was doing it a lot until Mommy distracted me with the camera again. I'm not real sure how I do this, all I know is my bare feet and changing mat make life a little more exciting. Mommy says when I get this cause/effect thing figured out I'll be all over the house (or at least making diaper changes a bit more complicated)!

Love ya all -Maddy