Baking and the Baby Belly

Two things go hand and hand for me these days: baking sweets and being pregnant. I think the two go together well, but my family might not. The amount of sweets in our house is getting a little out of control. I guess it is a good thing that we will be visiting lots of family and friends so we can share all the goodies.

Madelyn is a big fan of sweets as well. Anytime she sees a new sweet she says, "Mommy, I like that." Even when she has no clue what she is about to eat, if it looks like chocolate she wants/likes it.

I have also included a recent belly picture by request of a friend. It is time to take another picture, but I'll wait until after Christmas when I'm sure I will have gained a few more pounds!!!

Our New Camera

The closest thing to a smile we got that day.

Waiting in line with Daddy

Santa and the Mrs. arrive in Westfield


Our old camera decided that it couldn't handle another Christmas season and basically died. The screen on the back of the camera is all white and you can't see the pictures and sometimes if you can see, they scroll through the pictures with crazy lines through them. We just made a decision to go to Best Buy and purchase a new one rather than fight the old one and end up with no Christmas pictures.

The last photos that the camera took were of Madelyn going to visit Santa. She didn't cry, but she also didn't smile. Maybe next year will be the big year when she will smile or maybe at least tell Santa her name! Enjoy the Santa pictures, it was very cold waiting in line.

PS- New pictures from the new camera will start coming once I figure out how to upload the pictures to my computer.

Madelyn's 1st Date with Daddy

Brendon thought it would be fun to have a little one-on-one time with his favorite little girl by taking her out on a date without Mommy. Last night following dinner they left the house and headed to the mall to go to Build-A-Bear. We had a $5.00 Off coupon, but that doesn't go very far at a place like Build-A-Bear.

Madelyn selected a brown dog and picked out a purple outfit with tights for her new friend. Brendon tried to get her to pick a different one but she seemed pretty set on the purple shirt and tights for her dog, which she named Annie. That happens to be the name of the dog that belongs to Poppy Joe and Grandma's neighbor in Nevada. Annie dog was the only thing that made her happy while she was sick over the Thanksgiving trip, so it was fitting that she named her new best pal- Annie.

The first Daddy-Madelyn date was a success so I hope the tradition continues with other fun outings for them to do together.

We survived.........

Thanksgiving 2008 was one that my whole family won't soon forget. At least certain parts of it......Our travels to Missouri started the Friday night before Thanksgiving week when we drove to Jacksonville, IL. Four hours into our trip, everything seems okay. 2:30 a.m. Madelyn wakes from her less than restful sleep between us in a KING sized bed sweating with fever. One might think that a KING sized bed is plenty big for a Mom, a Dad, and a 25 lb. toddler, but it wasn't.

Luckily, I packed the ear thermometer and we soon found out that she had a temperature of 101.3. The only problem was, the baby Motrin was downstairs and outside the hotel in the freezing cold car. Brendon was the one that got suckered into going out to get the medicine, twice! The first time he didn't get the eye dropper thing to actually dispense the medicine. At this point our trip turned into a not-so-fun-family adventure.

We got back on the road early Saturday morning and drove to Linwood, KS, where my brother and his family live. Since we were outside playing with the goats, cows, and the "very-ride able"donkey Madelyn seemed okay. It was only once we went inside that the crying and fever came back. I made the mistake to assume that an Urgent Care might stay open past 4:00 p.m. on a Saturday. Why would a kid get sick during the day? Everyone knows that happens in the middle of the night, that is when you need Urgent Care! Well, we ended up at the Oak Park Mall at the only Urgent Care that stays open until 9:00 p.m. only to find out that her ears and throat were all fine. Not really what we expected to hear, but at least we could hope that the fever would stay low and go away in a day or two.

The next morning it was off to Poppy Joe and Grandma's house in Nevada. This portion of the trip was going well until we turned on the Little Mermaid movie. Not a favorite just yet. We couldn't figure out why she was crying and yelling in the back seat and she wouldn't say anything. Finally as a last resort Brendon turned the movie off and Madelyn sighed with relief. As we arrived in Nevada her fever was still with us and she wanted nothing to do with her grandparents. To make this week-long story shorter let me say that finally on Wednesday we took her back to the doctor in Nevada and found out that she had an ear infection in the left ear. Being a small town the nurse recognized us from our trip to Nevada in July when Madelyn managed to get a DOUBLE EAR INFECTION! We love to visit family but I pray for our sake and that of our whole extended family that we don't have to visit the doctor over Christmas!!

Please Santa, all I want for Christmas is a healthy family and safe travels!!