Boogies

Silly Girl.

I hate not breathing out my nose, but even more I HATE Mommy and Daddy wiping my nose and sucking my Boogies... I'd much rather eat them (*GROSS). I came down with the sniffles on Thursday and Mommy was really hoping it was teeth related, but no, I think I have a bit of a cold. It really only affects me when they try to "clean it up" or at night. It is hard to sleep when you are a nose breather!

Other events this week...

Mommy and Madelyn in front of Cromer Pier.

Coastline.

Mommy and I went to a new coastal area with Ms. Traci (her husband works with Daddy). We had a great day out walking around the town of Cromer and having lunch. I, however, was not in the mood to be in the car and let Traci see just how unhappy I can be. (** Anyone have any great ideas on this matter?? I do not understand how my child hates the car soooooo much! Every time we get in the car... the minute she sees the car seat... fuss, fuss, fuss - UGH!) I do better when someone stays in the back to entertain me, but most the time it is just Mommy and me and she swears she can't drive and play at the same time.

** So cute was my little Madelyn getting so excited at children passing by. She was walking between Traci and I to drop Traci's hand and wave excitedly at a girl rolling by in her pushchair! The mother got quite a chuckle from her. (She waves at all people and cars every time we go out :)

Loved watching the water and yelling/ talking to it.

Cromer Church

Woke from a nap and watching/ waiting for Ms. Traci.

I can rock the phrase "mamamamamama" and for some reason my Mommy gets soooooo excited when she hears it. I suppose I'll figure out soon why it is so cool... maybe it is like that fun word "Dada" that gets my Daddy's attention all the time?!

Saturday I got to spend the whole day with just my Dada and Daisy. We spent most of it at home since I wasn't feeling great but I had his attention ALL day and it was fabulous. My Mommy went to London for the day for Ms. Traci's birthday. She wanted a girl day out so Mommy participated. I'll let her tell you all about it.

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** I enjoyed a sunny day out in London. Traci has only been a short time so she is still getting familiar with everything. We took a tour of Buckingham Palace which is only offered Aug and Sept each year. It was beautiful inside (pictures were not allowed), but when you've seen one Queen residence, you've pretty much seen them all. The decor starts to look the same from one house to the next. And to be honest, I can't keep all the history of who is who in the royal family straight. I mean, they mostly have the same names passed on and on and on...

Front of Buckingham (from June w/ Sarah Jane when she visited)
You enter the side of the palace to tour and come out the back - we didn't go around front again because we've all seen it many times!

Back of Buckingham

Palace Gardens...so beautiful. All the leaves are changing for fall!

After Buckingham, we walked around Hyde Park and then down Knightsbridge street and did a lot of lovely shopping (mostly window, but nice). Of course we popped into Harrods... mmm, the chocolate and pastries in that place! We also found a lovely little Italian restaurant for lunch... YUM-O! Wine and pasta and great company = perfect afternoon!

Outside of Harrods

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On Sunday night we went to dinner with a group of families for Traci's actual birthday. Again, good food + good friends = great night out! I was getting tired, but Daddy kept me entertained. He even bought me a ball from a kids vending machine (**there only to tempt children and make them say "MOMMY PLEASE"). Mommy says that he is definitely wrapped around my finger if I can't even ask yet and I'm already getting him to fork over the money! :)

Oh, this is Ms. Traci.
**Her nephew sent Flat Stanley (if you know about it) and they took lots of pictures of him touring London on Saturday. Traci even asked a Bobby (cop) to pose with him... highly entertaining!

Wishing you all well for another week!

Until next time,
Shaye, Jody, Madelyn, and Daisy

This and That

Let's see... I spent a lot of time this week hanging out with Elmo. He is really helping me become a great dancer! Mommy and Daddy worked on house stuff a lot and still are. They also dropped me off to hang out with my England Auntie and Uncle (Clint and Alicia) on Friday so they could go on a date. Not sure what that was about, but apparently they had just as good of a time as I did. Mommy says they went to dinner and that it was the first time they have been out [on a date] since I was born.

Dancing with Elmo (again)... may be a break dancer one day??

Mommy let me help her make cookies this week... sort of. She gave me some flour to play with while she mixed stuff together.

** Mommy note: I figured this would be a great activity and one taste of flour, it would definitely be nothing more than a game... YEAH RIGHT! Have you met my daughter? She will eat anything! I finally had to clean it up. Not sure how much flour one can digest before it is bad for you!? :)


I found some money recently and boy is that stuff cool! I was waving it in Daisy's face and very excited with my find. I helped Mommy put away all my 12 month clothes this week too. She boxed up more stuff that is too small and says I'm ready for fall.

I'm also working on my climbing skills...

And finally, I'm teething again. These ones really hurt. I think I said that last time, but really, these molars are the worst by far! I was in so much pain the other night, Mommy and I played until 5 a.m. (when the Tylenol and lack of sleep finally won out). Those icy teethers are the best!


Other than that stuff, we are enjoying some nice 70 degree weather. We all walk Daisy together at night and I am practicing my walking on some pretty uneven ground. I leave you with some footage of a Great Laugh! Mommy makes me do this daily and I always come back for more ;-)

Until next week,
Madelyn et. al.

Healthy Times Ahead

** Finally we are over the flu bug (knock on wood). And luckily, it doesn't appear Madelyn came down with it, or if she did, it was very mild - only in the cranky tired form. Wishful thinking I'm sure, but maybe our early bought with this means it won't hit us this winter!?!

Excitedly walking to Mommy!

We had a very short (because we posted on Wed last) and uneventful week with the "bug" in the house. If Mommy wasn't in bed, then Daddy was and I just went with whoever looked the least contagious! Is this what vacation brings? I will say, Daddy got it WAY worse though and I felt bad for him. It was great having him back and ready to play with me yesterday and tonight when he got home from work!

Here are some photos from the week of me making fun when I couldn't get out much:

Park in my village

Hampers are a lot more fun without clothes!

Mommy wanted to play with my hair all morning today... I let that carry-on for all of about 5 minutes!

And my favorite game of all:

13...

14...

15...

"You wanna play?"

New things about me this week? Um... I can easily walk across the room... a good 10 steps I think, but crawling is sooo much faster, I still often resort to that. I am definitely determined to do all that I am not allowed. My calves are getting stronger each week as I gracefully use my tip-toes to reach all things. I have also learned that anything near works well as a step ladder... dog included. Unfortunately, I thought my ball would be a great stool and well, it wasn't. I'm now working out this gate thing. I'm good at getting my toes in the holes and think one day I may just learn how to climb it. The opportunities are ENDLESS!

Daisy likes to keep her distance these days.
(Unless of course she is giving me kisses!)

Mommy bought me a bowl/ plate that suctions to my tray and is teaching me to eat like a big girl... sorta. Most the food stays on the plate and I always get to have a fork or spoon. I feel really special even though I can't quite use all these gadgets yet. Oh, and Mommy's favorite development?? I refuse to leave my bib on. Rumor is she's on the prowl for some "baby proof" bibs....

Oh, I forgot to tell you - My Mommy and Daddy bought a house. The offer was accepted and we are getting our closing date set up. Can you believe that they are going to leave me a swing set? I am so excited to see this place! We'll try to share more pictures of it soon (Daddy took a bunch, Mommy just hasn't loaded them on the computer yet!)

And finally this week, I want to share some old pictures from July with you because I just got them from my Auntie.

Uncle Chad bought me a dress!
Struttin' my stuff.
No Mommy, I don't want to show my butt!

Love to you all,
Madelyn, Shaye, Jody, and Daisy

Cornwall

** Mommy note: Aside from us being on Holiday to make this post late, I got the flu and was in NO shape yesterday to get this post going. So, here we are, better late than never! SOOOOO many pictures this week... I made some small, but hopefully you can get an idea. I could have posted WAY more :-)

Beautiful waterfall on the beach near the castle.
Walking around town.

We had a very busy week, well mostly weekend. Aside from the extended time in the car and sleeping in a new environment, we enjoyed a lot of sea air! Our trip down to Newquay (the town we stayed in) took 8 hours instead of 6 and we sat, not moving, for some time in traffic. Welcome to England people! I handled all this pretty well for the first 5 hours, but when I was over it, I made sure Mommy and Daddy knew! My first night was a bit rough too. I fell asleep with Mommy and when I woke up in my Pack n' Play, I had no idea where I was and didn't really want to sleep after that.... I think we got about 4 hours the first night :) Got the hang of it by the second though!Cornwall Countryside.

We had lunch in the car.
I showed Mommy I can eat a wrap just like her.
(Maybe she'll stop cutting everything up!)

Our Hotel, we were on the third floor (second in England)View from our hotel room!

There is a house on the island on the left.
The only way to it is the walking bridge between the two.

We has an amazing day of sightseeing before returning home. We spent so much time outdoors on different coastlines around Cornwall (Southwest England). We went to an amazing castle ruin site. Mommy bought a hiking backpack carrier for me and I was a trooper on Daddy's back for our hike. It involved 300 + stairs, but I thought it was all pretty easy :) As Mommy was commenting on how hard some of the stairs got to be, we met a lady with a cane slowly but surely treking to the top... Even Daddy turned around and said, "She's going up there?"

Narrow roads to get to the castle.
More than once cars had to back up or pull over to get through!

Castle Ruins
Me and my Dada in Mommy's BEST purchase EVER! :)

It was Soooo windy...Beach (above) and just a few of the steps we climbed (above and below)In a cave on the beach.

After the castle, we drove out to Land's End. It is the most southern point in England. We walked around, enjoyed some different coastal views before heading back toward our hotel. I took advantage of the car trips in-between for some much needed napping.

"Grandmas and Grandpas are that way!"

(If you can't read the sign, it says New York - 3,147 miles)

Getting as close to Grandma as possible!

I got to play in the sand for my very first time on the famous Fistral Beach, known for its surfing. A contest was just ending as we arrived actually. Although I had my hesitations about the sand, I quickly dug around and tried to find rocks to put in my mouth! I LOVED watching the waves and surfers too. I tried some yummy Cornish ice cream, fudge, a freshmade smoothie, and enjoyed every minute of this holiday!

Look Mommy, my hands are dirty :)

In other news, Daddy was a super trooper all weekend. He spent all last week in the states, two days of it house hunting and then came home to drive us around Cornwall for 3 days... Man, we love him! He found me a fabulous bedroom in TX but says we have to wait to see if we get to buy it or not. Stay tuned...


While Daddy was away, Mommy and I enjoyed time with friends and hanging out at home. Oh, Mommy also started to babysit once a month for 2 hours in the morning while these ladies have a meeting. It is great because we get to have a playdate with all of their children and I get to chase around all these kids from age 1 to 8. Hopefully she does it every month till we leave!


Stuff about me: I have gotten better at walking, although crawling is WAY faster :) I have definitely figured out that Daisy likes it when I feed her and gain joy out of this. She faithfully waits under my chair during each meal for droppings. I suppose since I enjoy her food, it's only fair... (Sometimes she walks away from a meal with turkey stuck to her back:) I love talking and screaming (can get really high pitched), and can make a horsey sound. Mommy will try to get this on video for next week. Oh yeah, I know how to find noses... I can occasionally find mine, but that is not nearly as interesting as everyone else whether in a book or in person!

I leave you with videos this week of 1) Dancing with Elmo, 2)Why I'm not allowed in the kitchen, 3) Lovin' my first time in the sand (this is the best one by far!)

Love,
Madelyn et. al.

P.S. TOMORROW I AM 10 MONTHS OLD!

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