State Fair

I am quite a bit behind with blog posts.  We have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to sit down and blog about it.  Things won't be slowing down either with the holidays right around the corner!

A few weeks ago my mother-in-law came in town to see us for the weekend and we had a great time.  We went to the state fair and it just so happened to be the day that Big Tex went up in flames!

Despite that sadness, we had a great time walking around and eating some yummy food!  That fried jumbalaya was delicious!

Poor Big Tex :(

She had a lot of fun at this little farm exhibit for kids

She met Elsie the Borden cow

All in all, I think she had a great day!

M-I-C-K-E-Y

I've never really let Mady watch much TV. Up until a month ago we didn't even have cable. We got rid of it around when Mady was born. We weren't watching much of it and whatever we did watch was on the local channels anyways. We did miss watching our Aggie football games though so this season we gave in and signed up for it again. So now we have the Disney channel and I've started letting Mady watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Lets be honest here. It's really more for me. Mady can get pretty crabby in the morning when she's hungry so this kind of entertains her and buys me time to get breakfast on the table without having a screaming baby at my feet!

She has fallen in love with Mickey Mouse. Anytime she sees him she gets so excited and starts saying "mama" over and over which is her way of saying Mickey Mouse. Now, she knows I'm mommy and every now and then will call me mama but its a whole different story with that mouse. She will call him mama over and over and over with such love. I never thought I'd be jealous of that mouse :(

It is really cute though and I do love that she loves that show. I loved Mickey and all of them when I was young and think it's great that it's something that is still around for her to enjoy too. Because of that, I can even pass on my Pluto stuffed animal for her to love on too!

Where's your belly button?

 

                                                                                                   

Longest three minutes

It's been over a week now since, I think I can safely say, the worst day of our lives.  Mady had woken up from her afternoon nap with a fever of 101.  I gave her some Tylenol and started keeping an eye on her.  She was acting pretty normal, like nothing was bothering her, until dinner.  She didn't eat much and became very lethargic.  She just sat in her highchair staring.  After we cleaned up I grabbed her and took her to sit on the couch for a little while and watch a movie.  That's when I noticed her start convulsing and looked down and saw that our precious little girl was having a seizure.  I called out to Nick who immediately called 911 and rushed to our neighbors house who is a nurse.  The seizure lasted about three minutes and it was the longest three minutes of my life.  She started having trouble breathing and began turning blue.  I was going crazy.  There was a time when Nick and I both thought we might lose her because of her not being able to breathe.  Thanks to the grace of God, he got her through it and the seizure passed.  The ambulance showed up and took us to the hospital.  After five hours and several tests later (unfortunately for Mady) we learned that she had a viral infection called bronchiolitis which caused her fever.  Apparently, a small percentage of  children have seizures when their fevers spike very quickly (nobody told me that!)  Her fever was at 103 when we made it to the hospital.  This doesn't mean that she'll have seizures for the rest of her life and she has no long-term effects, but now that it has happened to her once, she has a 30% chance that it could happen again when she has a fever, up until about the age of 5.  They grow out of it.  Needless to say, we will be very cautious now when she gets anywhere near a fever.

The next day she still felt horrible and after a doctor's visit in the morning, she spent the entire day in my arms or on the couch.  I have never seen her that sick and I was watching her like a hawk.  She is now doing much better.  She still has a bit of a runny nose but no fever and she's in great spirits.

I can't even explain the feeling of helplessness and fear we felt for those three minutes.  It got me to thinking of all the parents out there who have children battling for their lives with various awful diseases.  They feel that same helplessness and fear for much longer than three minutes.  I can't imagine.  I thank God now every night for keeping her safe and healthy.  I keep those parents in my prayers because I can't imagine being in their shoes. 

I really want to thank all of our friends and family who were there for us with support and prayer. You have no idea how much we appreciate it. 

Mady thanks you too!

Austin Trip

So last Friday, Nick was going to Austin to play in a golf tournament with some of his friends.  It didn't occur to us until Thursday afternoon that Mady and I should join him and make a little trip out of it.  So in a matter of an hour we had a hotel reservation and a reservation to board Lucy for a night and we headed out on Friday morning.  When we got there we dropped Nick off and Mady and I headed on an adventure to find the hotel room and check in.  We made it just fine but lugging all our bags onto a luggage cart and getting it up to our second floor room while having a 15 month old in tow sure was interesting.  Luckily, nobody was around to see this ridiculousness!

Mady and I settled in and she LOVED the hotel room.

Where's Mady?

There she is!

Boo!

By the way, she does this at home all the time now!  After she took a nap, we went and explored the Arboretum area, which is where we were staying.  We walked around a little outdoor mall and then ate some ice cream at a nearby park.  She LOVED chocolate ice cream but who doesn't?!  She didn't want any at first but once I got that first bite in, her love affair with chocolate began...  Life will never be the same!

Mommy, give me more ice cream!

SOOO GOOD!!

The next day we started the day at the Capitol.  Nick and I both went when we were younger so it was pretty cool to go see it again.  Afterwards we grabbed some lunch and took it to eat at Zilker park.  What a cool place!  We had lunch, walked around, and took a ride on the train.  Once we had our fill of the heat, we headed to the mall and Mady took a little nap while we walked around.

 For dinner we headed to a restaurant right by Lake Travis.  Such a pretty view!  After we picked up Lucy we headed home from a quick, but fun getaway.  We had a great time and proved to ourselves that we can still be spontaneous, even with a toddler! 

First day of Preschool

Mady is only a year old but her first day of school was today!  We decided to send her to a preschool this year on the days that I teach.  Today was her first day and as I was getting her stuff ready last night I couldn't believe it.  This past year has gone by so fast and everyday I see her as more and more of a kid than a baby.  When we first dropped her off she started crying a little like she knew we were going to leave.  But within a minute she found the toy kitchen and was off playing and forgot we were even there.  She has short days this week because they want them to get use to it the first couple of days so Nick picked her up at eleven.  He said they were all sitting around in a circle reading a book and she was right there listening intently.  So cute!  I wish I could of seen it.  I pray she continues having great days and truly enjoys her school which I think she will. 

15 Months!

It's been a long time since my last blog post, I almost forgot what the site was to get to the blog!  We have been crazy busy this past month and a half!  The second summer session ended a week ago so I've had a chance to breathe again (at least for a little while). I would have written a post before today but I got hit with some kind of stomach bug that delayed me.  Those really are the worst!  Well, after we got back from Port Arthur and New Orleans, I started back teaching for the second summer session.  I taught two classes from Monday thru Thursday until about 12:30.  By the time I would get home Mady would be getting ready for a nap and I wouldn't see her until she woke up around 4.  It was exhausting talking for four hours straight and keeping up with the fast pace that goes along with a summer session.  But with all of that it still was a great experience because I had a great group of students.  They really made it all worth it and looking back at it, it really did fly by!

Mady is fifteen months old now and we went to the doctor Monday and got all her stats:

Height: 28.5 inches
Weight: 20 lbs
Head: 17.75 inches

She is definitely on the small side, especially her height but while it is in the lower fifth percentile, for Mady, that is her normal.  She has short parents, so what else can we expect?!  She is right on track with her development and is as healthy as can be!

She is still a bundle of energy and is not walking all over the place, but running!  She does not stop moving all day besides her nap.  Our house looks like a tornado has gone through it at the end of every day.  Toys are scattered all over the floor, mixing bowls, Lucy's bag of treats, and the broom are all over the kitchen floor and I love it.  While I am more busy keeping up with her than ever she makes it so much fun.  She makes us laugh everyday.

She is also learning new words almost everyday.  Right now she is consistently using about eleven or twelve words in the right manner and she will repeat or at least try to repeat almost every word you ask her to try and say.  She can name most of her body parts.  The cutest is when you ask her where her belly button is and she lifts up her shirt to find it.  She loves showing her belly button.

She's also become quite the helper lately.  She recognizes so much more of what we say now so she will put stuff up when you ask her to, and she loves to help mommy sweep the floor with her new toy broom.  While she does not cuddle much because she just can't stay still she is so sweet and loving.  She loves giving hugs and kisses and I just soak it all in, haha!

Eating has been quite a challenge lately.  She has become quite the picky eater, but her doctor says its perfectly normal.  Normal or not, it can get frustrating sometimes.  She loves bread so she will eat up a pbj or grilled cheese.  Dinner can be the worst meal and sometimes I will just put whatever we are eating in bread just so that she will eat something!  She does still eat her sweet potato, peas, and corn, and loves her fruit so I'm grateful for that!

This coming week Mady and I both start school again.  She will be going to a preschool on the days that I teach.  I couldn't believe that I was buying schools supplies already!  We went to a meet the teacher the other day and she had a fun time playing in her room.  She does have a bit of separation anxiety, for example, she always cries when we leave her with the other kids at church.  But when we pick her up they always say she ended up having a great time, so I think she'll be fine at school (fingers crossed!)

Mady took her first trip to Aggieland and got to take a look at her future school. We went to visit our good friends, Shel and Elizabeth and she LOVED it!!  We went on campus and walked around and took a look at the newly renovated MSC and she had so much fun running around the place.  It's like she already lived there, she was so comfortable! The brainwashing starts already!

Here are some more pictures of our little girl:

Getting better at eating with her fork

Her new favorite thing...laying in Lucy's bed