We’re officially all settled in the new place, another month has flown by and I’m sad to say our little baby is now officially a Toddler.

She runs through the house, tells us what she wants, feeds herself, entertains herself and even throws a tantrum in from time to time when she doesn’t get what she wants.

We’ve had so much fun watching her figure out how things work. She loves her BuckleyBoo and is getting good at hooking the buckles. She’s also learned to use a fork and now insists on feeding herself. We try to help her, but it usually leads to one of the tantrums mentioned above.

Stats:

• Wearing size 4 diapers
• Wearing size 18 month clothes
• Wearing size 4 shoes
• Has added cow, moo and up to her vocabulary
• Loves yogurt, French toast, cereal bars, spaghetti and ALL fruit

Madison’s typical schedule:

• Wakes up between 6 – 7am
• Sippy cup of milk when she wakes up
• Get ready for school (during the week) and leave the house by 7am
• At school:
• Breakfast at 8am
• Playtime/storytime
• Lunch at 11:30am
• Naptime from 11:30-1:30
• Outdoor playtime
• Afternoon snack 3:30pm
• Pickup at 5:30pm

• Dinner at 6:00pm
• Bathtime at 6:30pm
• Quiet playtime in her room
• Read Goodnight Moon
• Bedtime at 7:00pm

The photos above were taken by the extremely talented Molly Feit

New Daycare

When we first moved, we had every intention of keeping Madison in her current daycare in Petaluma. She has friends there, she’s close to Mommy’s work, she’s been there since she was 12 weeks old, so she’s familiar with the teachers. Madison however had a different idea. She has decided she HATES the car. Since her daycare was in Northern Petaluma, our day consisted of a one-hour drive filled with Madison’s screaming, an upset baby at daycare, a one-hour drive filled with Madison’s screaming on the way home, and an upset baby who didn’t want to sleep or eat at home - Definitely not going to work.

So, I started my search for a daycare closer to the new place. Luckily, we drive by a daycare center everyday on our way to the freeway. We decided to call and schedule a tour and test day. Madison did great on her test day, so we decided to make the switch.

It was hard to leave her old daycare – We loved them so much, but seeing how much happier Madison (and Mommy) is without her two hours in the car everyday has let us know we made the right decision.

As an added bonus, Mommy now saves an hour a day in the car and the new center provides food and drinks for Mads, so Mommy doesn’t have to pack her lunch each night.

She’s still getting used to the new place, but I know she’s going to be very happy there.

13 months

Another month has flown by, even quicker than normal with all the chaos of the move.

Here are some quick stats:

• Wearing size 4 diapers
• Wearing mostly 18 month clothes
• Has added dog and kitty to her vocabulary
• Uses a spoon by herself
• Loves mac and cheese, cereal bars (Bah aka bar as she says)
• Loves playing musical instruments – Especially the drums
• Can throw a ball overhand
• Likes to paint/draw

The Big Move...

We made the big move to our new house gradually, but we’re finally settled. Matt and I started taking small loads of stuff to the new place after work every day, until only the essentials and big stuff was left.

We had lots of friends and family come to help us on moving day and were able to get everything moved in just a couple trips.

The house already feels like home. Jess’s dad painted for us (Thank you !!!), so we feel like we’ve already started to make it our own.

Madison has done well in the new place and has already mastered the stairs. Plus, she loves her new purple room. Matt and I were worried that she’d have trouble adjusting, but after a couple of days, she was back to her normal cheery self. And she’s completely in love with her new backyard – Especially since it now houses her super fun water table.

Here are a few updated pictures - I promise to update with the "final" pictures soon

Dining Room

Madison's Purple Room

Our Blue/Green Master Bedroom

The living room

The kitchen

Birthday Party!!!!

We had Madison’s first birthday party at the Community Center in Petaluma. We were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunny day (the few days before were pouring rain, so I was worried.)

The room was decorated with a mix of purple and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Two of Madison’s favorite things. Well, the purple is Mommy’s favorite, so I’m enjoying it until she can tell me otherwise.

Madison was surrounded by tons of family and friends – Thank you so much for all those who made the trip.

She wasn’t sure what to think of her cake, but she managed to eat a little bit of the frosting before smearing it all over herself.

We opened presents and Madison enjoyed playing with the boxes almost as much as the toys themselves.

The day flew by, but it was so much fun.

Madison's Future husband Landon aka Mel & Nick's adorable little boy

Giving Kisses to Ella

12 months!!

First, I'd like to apologize for slacking on the blog. Apparently moving takes much more time and effort than I'd anticipated. That being said...

Madison is ONE! I know I’ve said it every month, but I truly cannot believe how quickly time has flown. It’s hard to believe that one year ago I was (not so) patiently waiting for our little Bean to make her appearance and now here I am chasing her around the house.

We’re so blessed to get to be parents to this amazing, spunky, sometimes feisty, but always loving little girl. She’s learned and changed so much in the last year, and I can only imagine what the next year has in store.

Here are some of her stats:

• Getting increasingly steady while walking
• Saying hi, bye, ball, piggy, adduh (aka dada), muh (more)
• Wearing size 3 diapers
• Wearing 12 or 18 month clothes
• In the Toddler Room at daycare
• Down to one nap a day (Usually in the morning around 11)
• Her favorite foods are peas, cheese & pears

Moving!!!

Matt and I couldn't decide what to get Mads for her birthday, so we decided a new house would just have to do ;)

We started looking in January and were lucky enough to work with an amazing agent and mortgage broker who both made the process incredibly easy.

We put an offer on a house in Fairfield about three weeks ago and we're set to get the keys March 1st!

We're excited to get started painting and decorating and to get settled in our new town.

Here are a ton of pictures - I apologize that they're formatted weird - I'm having trouble with blogger - If you click them you can see the whole picture:

The front

The porch

The office

Master bathroom

Master bedroom

Madison's room

Guest room

Top of the stairs

Bottom of the stairs

Downstairs bathroom

Living room

Fireplace

Kitchen

11 months

I can't believe Madison will be ONE in less than a month! Time has flown by, but we're having so much fun watching her turn into a toddler. She's full of personality and makes sure to less us know when she's not happy about something.

At 11 months Mads:

- Says hi, bye, piggy & ball
- Wears size 3 diapers
- Wears 12 & 18 month clothes
- Walks!!!! She's cruising all over the place now.
- Is transitioning to the toddler room at daycare. She loves playing with the "big kids"
- Loves eating Cuties (oranges), cheese & yogurt.
- Love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - She claps when she sees Mickey
- Takes her Piggy everywhere.

Sitting in the diaper container downstairs - Doesn't look comfy to me, but she was happy

Mads and Mommy getting ready for school - Do you see her RED hair?

Talking with Mommy before school - She was sweet until she tried to beat me up with her piggy

11m 6d

More Walking

I managed to get a somewhat decent video of Mads walking this afternoon. Please ignore the close-ups of me ;)

10m 2w 1d

Walking and Laughing

Everyone has been asking for video of Mads walking, so here it is. It's hard to get a good video because once she gets close to us she dives at us, but you get the idea.





Here's a video of Mads laughing because it's too cute not to post.

10m 1w 6d

Happy New Year!

I'm horrible about keeping my New Year's resolutions, so this year I'm setting goals for the year instead.

1 - Train for and complete the 3 day breast cancer walk in October.

2 - Start meal planning every week.

3 - Create and stick to a budget

4 - Buy a house!

10 months!

At 10 months (Yikes Double Digits!!!) Madison:

- Says ball, tree, piggy & puff
- Walks! Three or four steps at a time
- Walks holding onto Mommy and Daddy with one hand
- Yells when she sees a kitty
- Has eight teeth - Four on top and four on bottom
- Wears 12 month clothes
- Wears size 3 diapers
- Loves french toast and peas (just not together)
- Loves drinking water from her sippy cup, but isn't a big fan of juice

Here she is showing off her teeth

10m 6d

Madison's First Christmas

Christmas this year was amazing! I usually really enjoy the holidays, but having Madison made everything so much more fun. I also managed to be more organized this year and had my Christmas shopping finished embarrassingly early, so I was able to relax and enjoy the holiday season.

We (well I - Matt really isn't as "spirited" as I am) started getting into the holiday spirit shortly after Thanksgiving this year. We put up our tree (which is a horrible fake tree that we've had for ages and I'm hoping we'll replace next year) when we got back from Grandma and Grandpa's house. Madison was great with the tree. I had visions of her pulling the ornaments off and trying to eat them, but she didn't tough it once. She did however like to sit in front of it and stare at the lights. We also took Mads to visit a house that has thousands of Christmas lights. She liked the lights, but she was holding onto Mommy as tight as she could.

Grandpa Robert came over from Sacramento the week after Thanksgiving, and we took Mads to visit Santa at the mall. My poor mother never managed to get a decent picture of me with Santa because I had an unhealthy fear of the jolly, old guy. I figured it was only fair that Madison would do the same thing to me, so I didn't have high hopes. Nevertheless we waited in line and when it was our turn we plopped Mads down on Santa's lap. She LOVED him! She smiled and pointed out all of the ornaments, trees and angels. I think she was actually upset that she couldn't hang out with him all afternoon.



My family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve, so Matt, Mads and I headed to my Aunt Lori's house for dinner. Madison loved seeing all of her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents & great-grandparents. After dinner we all gathered around so Madison could open her presents. She sat on the floor with her great-uncle David and her cousin Abby. She had lots of fun opening all of her presents and was sharing everything she opened with Abby. After presents we packed up and headed back to my Grandpa Robert & Grandma Sarah's house to spend the night.








When we woke up on Christmas morning, Santa had found us! Madison opened a bunch more presents from Santa, Mommy and Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa, and her Aunties. She got books, puzzles, a ride-on toy, stuffed animals, but of course she loved the tissue paper the best. We stayed for Christmas breakfast and then headed out to Matt's parents house for Christmas dinner.





Once we arrived in Upper Lake we opened more presents and snuggled in front of the fire before dinner. Madison had a fabulous time playing with all of her toys and her grandparents. After dinner we tried to put Madison to bed, but she had other ideas. After all there were a ton of toys that needed to be played with. She usually goes to bed by 8:00, but she didn't go to sleep until close to 1:00 and she'd only sleep snuggled up with Mommy! It made for a rough night, but seeing her have so much fun made it worth it.





The next morning we packed up the car, which was a huge undertaking since we had accumulated the contents of several toy stores, and headed back home.

We had a wonderful Christmas and can't wait to do it again next year!