A Home for Maddy

It's been exactly one year since we found our dream home.  Okay, so maybe it wasn't our dream home at first, but we had a plan to make it one.  This past year has been a whirlwind, to say the least.

Upon moving back to Michigan, Jon and I could not of been more excitied to buy a home for our soon to be family of three!  Jon worked around the clock from October through December to turn "Stacey & Jon's House" into a new home for our baby girl.

Before pictures of the kitchen...

Pictures of the kitchen after...

Family room before (notice the odd dance floor???)...

Family room after...

Madeline's room before...

Her room after...

Jon and I have been blessed to of lived in a  new home where we picked everything out, and were even lucky enough to rent a brand new home in Asheville, so buying a "gently used" home was weird for us.  Let's just say, it was the location that we fell in love with...and you know what they say...location, location, location!!!  The entire house was repainted, master shower rebuilt and tiled, all new closets and doors hung, new hardwoord floors throughout, and the list goes on and on.  Maybe next time (haha) we should just buy a new home.  Actually, next time (haha), I think I would like to buy a real old home with character...and again move in while pregnant so I don't have to do a thing (smart, huh?)!

We love you Maddy, and we know you love the house that Daddy turned into your home!

7 Months, Serioulsy?!

Where has the time gone?  I can't believe my baby can officially crawl and stand...shouldn't she still be practing roling over and sitting up?!

 Yup, her crib has been lowered...she likes to play around and pull herself up in it!

Some more photos taken at 7 months...

A Day With Madeline

I have begun working in my classroom, kids everywhere are preapring for school, windows are once again open, the night air is crisp...it's clear fall is right around the corner.  I wanted to do a quick post on how Maddy and I have spent much of our lazy summer days...

Maddy wakes up between 8am-9am (NEVER before 8am...or she's on her own!).  I feed her breakfast around 9am.  Sometimes she likes breakfast, sometimes she cries hysterically through the entire meal- you just never know!


We play for a little bit and watch Regis and Kelly!


Maddy loves the jogging stroller, thank god!


And we play some more....


Maddy takes two naps (one in the morning and one in the afternoon)...

Maddy tries to find ways to flip, flop, squeeze and squirm out of everything!

Sometimes we go out for a few errands...usually Kroger, Target or 12 Oaks...b/c they're all close and easy to get in and out!  I don't like taking big trips out with her, because it royally goofs up her nap schedule (sad, but true).
 

Our days end with Maddy and Daddy time...(or some hoops and beer time??!!)

Nothing too riveting goes on most days, but I like them and I will sure miss them.  Maddy could not of been at a more perfect age for me to enjoy my summer with.  And now as the fall nears, I am looking forward to Mommy and Maddy half days!!!

Summertime in Northern Michigan

All Summer Long

It was 2011, my thoughts were short my hair was growing
Caught somewhere between a sitter and crawler

She was 6 months and she was far from in-between

It was summertime in Northern Michigan

Splashing in the kiddie pool

Talking by the cousins

It's the simple things in life, like when and where

And we were trying different things

We were chewing funny things

Sipping milk out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow

Singing Sweet home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet home Alabama all summer long...

6 months...halfway there!

I keep thinking everything will be easy if we just get through the first year (haha, I know!)…hence why I’m excited we are halfway there!  I even have my lil’ cupcakes first birthday party theme planned (hint, hint…)  Anyway, 6 months is my favorite age thus far.  While Maddy cried for the first 3 months straight (more or less), she didn’t eat then for the next three months (true story)…and as of lately she is actually laughing, eating and consequently sleeping like an angel once again.  Therefore, 6 months has been a great milestone.  Maddy began sitting up a few weeks before her 6 month b-day, is starting to babble/shout "eh", reaches out to be held, plays with toys, loves her daddy throwing her in the air and my personal favorite…she has mastered putting her paci in all on her very own (alleluia)!  Now that she has mastered the paci, we know longer need to go in the nursery at the wee hours of the night to put one in her mouth for her.  We keep about 10 in her crib at all times, and when she wakes up in the middle of the night she is bound to find one and therefore is able to sooth herself back to sleep.  Yes, Maddy was sleeping through the night for about 6 weeks when she was a newborn, however, she promptly stopped that at 3 months, so the last 3 months were pretty awful at night…but lets just hope/pray those days are O.V.E.R.  Mommy and Daddy have gotten a lot tougher and even put her down for nap and bedtime AWAKE now!  Hip hip hooray for 6 months!!!

Maddy had a great six month appointment.  Jon and I talked with the doctor for nearly an hour.  Dr. Boil was truly interested in helping us get Maddy to eat better and really worked with us to help create a schedule that would work for her finicky eating predicament.  He was also the doctor that called ME when she was about 3 months old to see how the bottle adjustment was going.  At the end of our hour long visit, he made me promise to call him to follow up on how she is doing…love that!

Here are her stats...

6 Months

Height:  26.3 in (73%)

Weight:  14 lb 2 oz (19%)

Head:  40.6 cm (9%)



Maddy's mom is OLD!!!

Yup, I turned the big 3-0 this month!!!  While this blog is intended to be a "scrapebook" of Maddy's first year (and after her first year, maybe I'll branch out and blog about other things, time permitting, of course).  At any rate, I couldn't resist blogging about my big day (which Maddy was a part of, so it's all good, right?)!

Having a July 2nd birthday has always coincided with vacations, due to it falling so close to the 4th. The three of us, most of my family, and my in-laws were all at my parents house in TC this year durning the weekend of my birthday.  The day was lots of fun- beach, sun, boat rides, etc.  Mid-day Jon began asking me where I wanted to eat.  TC has become a big foodie town in recent years, so lots of places game to mind!  Finally I picked the Jolly Pumpkin.  When Jon asked me to make a reservation, I did say "No way, you, it's MY day!"

Well fast forward to later in the day and it was close to our "reservation time" so Jon, Maddy and I left to the guest cabin and went to round up the troops at the main house. Much to my surprise everyone didn't appear  ready and Karen, my older sister, came running out in her bath robe telling me to go pick up a bottle of champagne at Bowers Harbor Vineyard (I love champagne).  Immediately I said sure, and grabbed a local wineries brochure and told everyone we would meet them at the restaurant right after (they were close by each other on Old Mission Peninsula).  On the way to get Champagne, Jon kept making silly turns and I was getting frustrated.  Finally as we pull into Bowers Harbor Vineyard I noticed no cars and looked at the wineries brochure and noticed the wineries closed over an hour ago.  I began getting annoyed that Karen didn't just pick up the Champagne earlier herself.  Why should I have to buy it on my birthday?  And now after driving here it was closed anyway.  Then Jon noticed the door was open, so he said he would run out and see if they would let us quickly buy a bottle.  He came back to the car to let me know they will let us buy some since they are open for a private party arriving later.  Sweet, I thought (but by now I was  really annoyed Karen just didn't pick it up earlier herself). So we grabbed Maddy out of her car seat and went to buy a bottle...

Well, it turns out the private party was for me!  You guessed it, Jon rented the vineyard for the night...one of the  best nights of my life.  We walked around the vineyard, took lots of pictures, snacked on amazing appetizers (smoked whitefish dip being one of my favorites), and drank as much wine as we wanted!!!  If that wasn't enough, we also had dinner out in the vineyard.  We had a delicious dinner of chicken and steak kabobs straight from the grill, the cheesiest, gooiest, yummiest risotto ever, and ceasar salad!  I obviously had no idea this was planned, and it could not of been more special. 

I was absolutely in my element enjoying glass after glass of wine, when Jon whispered there was still one more surprise.  A few minutes later was cake time! Surprise...Jon had my favorite chocolate cake flown in from The Cheesecake Factory!  Apparently they don't usually ship their cakes, but as it turns out, Jon works with someone who has an uncle high up with the company out in California.  So there I was, after sunset, sitting in a vineyard, drinking wine,  and eating Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake from The Cheesecake Factory (view it here).  Now that's decadent!

I never could of even dreamed up such a night.  Luckily I have a few years before I have to worry about Jon's 30th!

What a sweet ending to a perfect night.