because everyone else is doing it...

Rules:Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I hate, hate, HATE Walmart.

2. I was planning to name my daughter Ava, but then I saw the name Madelyn on the back on someone's minivan (you know like one of those cheerleader or sports things with the kids names on them...) and instantly decided that was her name.

3. When I am overwhelmed I make lists. I usually lose them, but it makes me feel better in the moment.

4. I'm afraid of roller coasters. Even watching them on TV makes me a little nervous.

5. I was pretty much a straight A student in high school and almost never studied. Except for math, I suck at math.

6. I've spent more time in the hospital in the past year than I have in my entire life before that combined.

7. I worry about what negative genetics I will pass on to my daughter.

8. I moved out of my parents' house when I was 17 and back in when I was almost 21, back out again at 22.

9. I have a journal that dates back to 2003 and I skim through old entries occasionally to remind myself of how lucky I am to have made it to the life I have now.

10. The song "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan reminds me of my cat Smokey who was had to put to sleep after he had a stroke and went blind....12 years ago. I heard the song the night we had to put him to sleep and its stuck with me ever since.

11. I hate grocery shopping.

12. I love hot and spicy foods and sour candy. I'm talking so hot your nose runs and so sour your face gets all puckered up.

13. I met my (soon to be) hubby on e-harmony after only being on the website for two weeks.

14. My first kiss was when I was 12 years old in the woods behind my house. Then we got in trouble for sneaking off there alone...lol.

15. I danced (ballet, tap, jazz.... mostly ballet) for 10 years and I miss it SO much!

16. I was raised Catholic and now I have very negative views of the Catholic church. So much so that I don't go to any church. I have faith and practice religion in my own way.

17. I hated pretty much every second of pregnancy. But I love love love being a mommy! And I'm lucky enough to be able to stay home with my baby girl!

18. My dream is to live near the ocean with the beach outside my back door.

19. The only scars I have are one on my ankle from shaving my legs, and 4 on my stomach from having my gall bladder removed.

20. I love giraffes.

21. When I was little I would take turns sleeping with different stuffed animals so none of their "feelings" got hurt.

22. I've been on an airplane once. On a field trip. The plane never left the ground, obviously, but I kept asking my mom over and over to make sure we weren't going anywhere. I am deathly afraid of flying and I hate airports.

23. I'm addicted to watching those shows where people search for new homes, and then I get aggravated when they don't pick the one I think they should pick! lol

24. I absolutely love to gamble and for my 21st birthday I spent all night at Harrah's and lost $400. But I had a BLAST!!

25. I am probably the luckiest person alive to have the most patient, understanding, loving, hard-working, caring, funny, loyal, amazing husband that I do. Even though I probably don't tell him that enough. =)


I'm not tagging anyone because everyone has pretty much done it already!

How do I make this stop??

For comparison:

About a week old here having her first bath

Almost 4 months old in the same bath seat!

Where did that time go?? I thought I was going to be pregnant forever and now my baby is almost 4 months old!! How did that happen?!

Things Maddy has been doing lately: She has really learned to grab an object when you hold it in front of her. Everything goes in her mouth and when she is not holding something, her hands are in there. I think she has discovered she can make noise also because she "talks" all the time now! She also can sleep in her crib but because the outlets in her room don't work, I have to keep replacing the batteries in her monitor and I can't do that everyday. So she's been sleeping in her bassinet so I can hear her when she wakes up. We are getting that fixed soon though hopefully and she will be sleeping in her crib for good!! Also, she's got great hand eye coordination for a 3 month old, I think. And she has more of an attention span for books now. I try to read one to her every night before I put her to bed.

Things I am getting a little concerned about: My bible (What to Expect the First Year) says that babies should be laughing out loud by 4 months. She has laughed a few times but it doesn't happen often. I can tell when she is happy or excited because she kicks her feet and flails her arms but she doesn't laugh. Also, she will NOT turn over! She did it a few times a couple weeks ago and now she just won't do it! She spends plenty time on her back and on her tummy, I try to convince her to do it but she just won't. I know all babies develop at their own pace so I will give her a few more weeks. I guess that's pretty much all I can do, right?

just for fun

So you're supossed to post the top 5 things you can not live without. This was definitely easy for me!

1. My cell phone! I am a text maniac and I neeeeeed a full keyboard. I can't imagine having a phone without one now. We don't have a house phone because, really, who needs one anymore? So its pretty much my lifeline.

2. My digital camera. Because I need to capture every single moment of my child's life. Seriously...sometimes I wish I had a camera crew to just film everything. I don't want to miss or forget ANYthing and I love sharing pics of her with everyone!! Because you know...she IS the most beautiful baby in the whole world!!

3. The Bissell PowerSteamer. If you have carpet, you need one of these!! Especially with kids, or pets, or pregnancy (this is gross and probably too much info, but during my pregnancy I definitely didn't make it to the toilet everytime I had to throw up. yuck.). Anyway, you don't have to get down on your hands and knees and scrub the carpet, it takes out all the stains and smells, and its awesome!

4. My DirecTV DVR. So I have an unhealthy obsession with TV. Now that I have a baby and I can't schedule my life around my favorite TV shows anymore, lol, this is a MUST!! I can record shows in case I miss them, or I can pause TV if Maddy needs my attention, or whatever reason.

5. Last but DEFINITELY not least, my FLAT IRON!!!! I don't have a chi yet but I'm getting one for my birthday and I can't wait. Right now I have some off brand one that is, eh, ok. But I couldn't live without a flat iron. I have THICK THICK hair that is naturally curly (wavy now though since I had it chemically straightened yeeears ago.) If I don't flat iron it, its a mess. Seriously I don't know how I went through so many years of my life without one.

So that's my list!

early bird

I am not a morning person by any means. If I have to get up early for something, I have to set my alarm 30 minutes ahead so I can hit snooze a few times before I have to actually get up, and I still have to draaaaag myself out of bed. I am much more of a night owl. So this mommy thing really took some getting used to, but I am VERY lucky to have a daughter who is a pretty good sleeper. In the past week though, she has decided that she wants to start waking up at 6am. Umm...not good for mommy!! Especially since she doesn't normally go down for good at night until about 11:30-12, and then I stay up later than that to check email, finish laundry or dishes, or whatever I need to get done before the next day. So I don't usually hit the bed until 1-2am. This was great when she was sleeping till 11am! Then she gradually starting waking up earlier and earlier...9:30am...then 8:30am....then 6am. No no no!! So this morning she tried to wake up at 6, she starting doing her little grunting/whining thing to let me know she was up, so I decided to try to give her her paci and see if she would go back to sleep. She keep whining but not crying or anything and then I fell back asleep. Next thing I knew she was whining/grunting again and it was 9am! GOOD GIRL!!!! I can handle 9am. I can even handle 8am. I can't do 6am!!!! We will save that for when she has to go to school!!

So I think in a little while Maddy and I are going to the station to eat some boiled shrimp and crabs with Mitch. Yummy! I don't know what I did last night in my sleep but I woke up this morning and 3 of my toes on my right foot hurt really bad! Like I can't walk on them! So I have been hobbling around all day. They are starting to not hurt so bad now so who knows. I also noticed in the bathtub yesterday that I have a huge bruise on the side of my left knee. What is going on!! I have mysterious injuries!

Anyway, here is some pictures from bathtime last night. Maddy was so happy during her bath, but I guess she did not like my plans to watch the Bachelor because she decided to scream the whole time I was trying to watch. But here are some pictures!

Maddy's Room

Ok so I have been searching and searching for shelves for Maddy's room and I can't find the perfect ones. Well...I HAVE FOUND THEM. The only problem is that I don't think we will be able to afford them. They are from Pottery Barn Kids and I want them sooooooo so so bad. I also plan on painting the chair rail and window and door facings in her room white. They will match perfectly!!!

The other problem is that I am looking for a less expensive option but now that I have found the perfect ones...I'm not going to want to settle for anything else. Darn it!!!

busy busy weekend!!

Well, thursday my mom took Maddy to Ponchatoula to spend the night with them. It was good to have a little time to myself but I missed her SO much. It was so hard to watch her drive away with my baby!! Mitch got home the next morning and we slept in till about 11. Then we were on the road to get Maddy! We got there and I just wanted to snuggle her and squeeze her but she thinks I'm putting her to sleep when I do that so she fusses. But I needed baby snuggles so bad!! She was good for Nanna and Nanny but I don't know when I will do that again. It was really hard!

From there we took Maddy on her first trip to Kirin in Hammond, the BEST sushi restaurant in the whole entire world. Here is Maddy wishing she had teeth so she could eat some sushi!

After our yummy lunch, we stopped at a children's shop called Lisa's and got Maddy a cute little set of pearls! They are too big for her right now but I hope they fit soon because I would like her to wear them for her Easter pictures!

Next, we headed to Mandeville to visit my aunt and cousins and exchange Christmas presents.

Then we finally headed home!! We were exhausted. The next day was kind of lazy. Maddy snuggled with daddy....

Then read some magazines with mommy.

Sunday Mitch had to work an overtime day. Yuck. Maddy also decided that she would be the whiniest baby ever that day. She would not let me put her down at all almost the entire day. When Mitch got home I was like PLEASE TAKE HER!!! AHH!! I literally took her everywhere with me...to the bathroom, I held her while I cooked gumbo for dinner...although she did allow me to put her down for about a minute to make her a bottle. Here she is reading her book and waiting patiently for her breakfast.

Needless to say I was very relieved when bedtime came. This morning she woke up in a lovely mood, though. She actually let me take a bath, and blowdry my hair, but she started to get restless before I could get it flat ironed. Big improvement, though!! Then I decided to would suprise Mitch with lunch so I went to Popeye's and got some chicken and headed to the station. We were there for about 5 minutes when he got a call, but thankfully the other guys took it for him! We got to eat and talk for a little bit until he ended up getting another call, so Maddy and I went home. Then she got into a bad mood all of a sudden, I think because her nap was interrupted when I got her out of the car, so I rocked her and she fell back asleep...then I fell asleep...and we ended up taking about an hour long nap! Whew did I need that!!!

Well I am going to go give Maddy her bath and get her in her jammies before The Bachelor comes on tonight!

Maddy first sleepover!

Well I was brave and did it...I let Maddy go home with her Nanna for her first sleepover. Its kind of killing me and yes I cried a little when I got inside but I know I needed to do it. I needed a break although my break will probably consist of me getting laundry done and cleaning house tonight. But I did let myself watch Grey's Anatomy the whole way through and I didn't have to pause it once!

Mitch gets paid tomorrow, yeah!! I love payday. We are going to eat at the best sushi restaurant EVER tomorrow for lunch. I am sososooooooooo excited!!! Not as excited as I am about picking up my baby though! I miss her so much!!

Well since Mitch doesn't get off until tomorrow morning and my baby is not home, I am going take a long shower while my clothes finish drying and I'm going to try and get to bed early tonight!

grrr

I don't know if its just my computer or what but I can't see the video in my previous post. Click here for the link if you want to watch.

So I have a huge headache and I can't wait to go to bed. Maddy should be waking up soon for her last bottle before she goes down for the night. I hope she eats fast because the bed is calling my name...

And yeah I got...like 2 loads of laundry done...my living room halfway cleaned and I haven't even started on dishes. I have no motivation today! Someone come clean my house for me PLEASE!!!

video

You can see Madelyn's new favorite thing to do on the video. She scoots down in the bouncy seat and kicks the toys with her feet. Its amazing how long this can keep her occupied. I borrowed this seat from my neighbor and it has turned out to be the best baby thing I have. I don't think she is EVER getting it back!!! Ha, just kidding...I will give it up...but I can't promise I won't cry...

So this afternoon I went to babysit my neighbor's little girl. Thank goodness because I got to procrastinate cleaning my house for a few more hours! I am so not looking forward to the piles of laundry...and the dishes...and one load of clean laundry somehow got mixed up with a load of dirty laundry so now I get to wash that all over again. Not fun!!

And I am kind of annoyed that Lucky is having their 50% off sale right now. Why couldn't they wait until I had the money to spend??? I love love love their jeans...and the baby clothes are cute. Blah!! I did get a check for $14 in the mail today from Allstate for not having an accident in the last 6 months. Lucky me!!


Well I am going to drag myself out the chair and get back to cleaning now.............

random

We have this cat, Lola, the fluffy white one. We got her from the shelter and she was all nice and cuddly. Then we got her home and she turned into satan cat. She hid all day and only came out to eat, growled and hissed at us...she was horrible. We almost brought her back. Well then she finally started to come out of her shell but she still doesn't like to be touched or held or petted. So...last night I woke up to her ON MY CHEST. PURRING. Umm..I close the door every night since Lily decided to snuggle Maddy in her bassinet one night. So I have no idea how she got in, first of all. Second, she must have gotten into the Prozac or something because she NEVER does that. Well I carefully picked her up and put her outside the room and went back to sleep. This happened TWO MORE TIMES last night. I don't know HOW she kept getting in!!! Freaked me out.

Anyway...Maddy laughed last night. She was starting to fuss and I was telling her no no no and she started smiling, then I just started talking to her making random noises and she was cracking up!! I called Mitch and put him on speakerphone so he could hear but then she quit doing it. She always does that! Drives me nuts that I can't share these things with other people, especially her daddy!!

So Maddy did not want to go down for her lunchtime nap today so I decided to put her in the car and go get myself something for lunch. So we went through the drivethru at BK and she fell asleep. I got my food and I was driving back home when I decided to check the bag. They gave me the wrong order!! UUGH!! So I went back and there were 239048 cars in the drivethru so I had to wake Maddy up, go inside looking like a hot mess, and get my right order. Oh I was so mad. Luckily when we got home she played for a little bit in her bouncy seat and I got to eat, then she went down for a nap and I got a nap in, too.

Yesterday Aunt Savannah came over with the girls. I can't wait until Maddy can play with them. Now she just lays there and lets them do whatever they want to her...lol. It was nice to have an adult over. Someone to actually talk back to me when I talk to them!! lol! Baby talk is fun but you can only talk so long before you realize you're basically talking to yourself...haha.


Woohoo today I caught this cute pic of her smiling! Its so hard to get a pic of her smiling because she always catches the camera and gets completely mesmerized and won't smile.

the past few days...

Maddy waking up in her crib for the first time. She always scoots to the end of the bed and has to have the top of her head touching something. Doesn't matter where you put her down, she will always end up scooted all the way up!

Wednesday we went down to New Orleans for a doctor's appointment in which I was told I am sleep deprived and I need at least eight consecutive hours of sleep at least once a week. HA...we will see if that happens. Then I had to make all the usual stops...my dad's, mom's...and we HAD to eat dinner at Casa Garcia, the best Mexican restaurant ever. Of course McComb doesn't have one. =( We got home around 10:30pm and Madelyn was worn out so she went to bed pretty easily.

Thursday the inlaws came over...I did laundry...and not much else happened.

Today my mom and sister came over and we went to eat lunch at Golden Corrall where Maddy was the center of attention. A lady at the table next to ours thought that my sister, Maddy, and I were all sisters and Maddy was my mom's baby!!!! Umm no I am her mommy!! lol! Then the lady's 94 year old aunt kept asking to see her so we had to bring her over to their table. Never seen these people before in my life. And we were trying to eat! Eventually they left but not before coming over to our table for one last look!

So I am 100000% absolutely positive that Maddy is teething. She is so moody lately, chewing on everything she can get her little hands on (which is usually her hands or her clothes)....she screams and screams in pain and it makes me so sad!! I have been giving her a little tylenol about every 4 hours. I've tried everything else...frozen teething rings, icy cold water, frozen towels, nothing works except for the tylenol. She will chew on the teething rings and towels but only before she starts throwing her fit. Once she starts screaming the only thing that quiets her down is lots of walking around and some tylenol. I gave her a tiny tiny bit of baby orajel last night too but I am trying to stay away from it because it can numb the back of babies' mouths and cause them to choke.

Waiting for the tylenol to kick in...lol. Poor baby.

And this is what happens if I leave her for two seconds. It doesn't bother her either. She'll lay there like that until I realize it and move her and strap her in...mom of the year here, lol.

Maddy snuggled up with her daddy. A rare kind of happy moment. ha

We survived!

Well we survived our first night of Madelyn sleeping in her crib! I am very convinced that she is starting to teethe because she has been in a horrible mood lately and last night it took me SO long to get her to go to sleep. After I wrote last night's blog she woke up and it took me until 1:30am to get her back to sleep for good but she did finally spend the night in her crib! I set my alarm on my cell phone to get up and check on her every two hours, lol! The one down side of her sleeping in her crib is that the sheets are absolutely way too hard to change and Maddy leaks out of her diaper every single night. I don't know what to do. I've tried putting her in a size two (she's in 1-2 now) and those leak even more. I hope I'm not destined to have to change sheets and bathe her every single morning until she is potty trained.

So I found this website: www.simplifysupper.com . I'm going to try and make a meal calendar and try some different recipes. My favorite part about it is it gives you a shopping list that you can print out or send to your cell phone for FREE!

Ahh well Maddy is trying to escape out of her swing and its almost time for her to eat so gotta go.

I tried to upload a video but it wouldn't work! I'll try again later.

sad sad night

Soooooo........... I think Madelyn is going to spend her first night in her crib tonight. I put her down three times in her bassinet and she kept waking up. I put her down once in her crib and she is still out! AHHH this is making me so nervous!! My first night not having my baby right next to me!!!!! =(

Also I have to post a picture of her grumpy face. She sticks that lip out and looks so sad but it makes me laugh everytime! It is just too cute! I was taking pictures of her today and I happened to catch this face!

Also, tomorrow if I have time I am going to post some videos I've taken. Right now I'm going to try to get some laundry folded and hopefully Maddy will stay down for the night!

my big girl!

We had a busy weekend! Friday night nanny came over to babysit and Mitch and I went out to The Caboose with some friends. The food was AWESOME. After that we went out to a bar, then to the Ice House. We ended up coming home at around 2am. I was exhausted!! Apparently Maddy was not a happy baby the whole time we were gone...she must have worn herself out because she slept LATE the next morning. Good news for mommy and daddy since we were pooped!

Saturday we worked on getting the house clean while taking turns entertaining Maddy. I got some new oil for my lamp...one is called sugared almond and smells like wedding cake. It smells sooo yummy!

Sunday we had the neighbors over for dinner. Mitch grilled steaks and I made green bean and artichoke casserole which I think came out pretty good considering I'd never made it before! And we had banana split pie for dessert. My FAVORITE!

Today Maddy took her first nap in her big girl crib!!! I checked on her every 5 minutes even though the baby monitor was on in there. I was so nervous. She slept for about an hour and I was kind of relieved when she woke up. I'm going to let her take her afternoon nap in there too, if she goes down for one. Sometimes she wants to sleep on and off for 15-20 minutes at a time, sometimes she will take a long nap. Here is the obligatory blog picture of the day.

Last night my eye started to hurt and this morning I can feel a bump in the corner. I hope it is just a stye and it goes away. Its not that painful...just annoying that its sore everytime I blink!

Well Maddy is letting me know she has had enough of her swing and is ready to eat.

Its always something...

I woke up yesterday morning to find my computer DEAD! Turns out it was just the monitor. We bought a new one this morning and now its all better. I was really nervous thinking I was going to lose all my pictures and everything. Whew.

So Maddy is becoming more mobile now and I am not ready for it. She rolled over TWICE yesterday. Yes, TWICE. Now she won't do it again so I can catch it on the camera...of course. It scares the crap out of her when she does it. Also in the past week I've put her down only to come back and find that she was changed positions on me. Not so bad when shes on the ground halfway off the playmat and halfway on the floor. Bad when she is hanging halfway out of her swing!! Time to start strapping the kid in I suppose! And I thought I couldn't get things done before!!!

And in the never ending story of my health problems...I have to get my thyroid tested now. Only I have to wait until MARCH when my insurance will kick in. I've had my thyroid tested a million times and it was always "normal" but on the low side. Thyroid problems run in my family and I think its time I got mine tested again. Will it never end??? The doctors in McComb are making a fortune off me I swear....I also need to get my liver tested again to make sure its returning to normal since the surgery.

Tonight Mitch and I are going out with some of Mitch's friends to The Caboose. Nanny is coming over to babysit Madelyn. My goal for the rest of the weekend is to get my house CLEAN. Like...deep clean. Its been a while since we have gotten a chance to get all the floors mopped, the bathrooms scrubbed, the fridge cleaned out. I don't know why I have the urge to do all this all of a sudden...but I guess I should take advantage of it. I need to run out today and get some more oil for my lamp and a new bird of paradise candle. I went to light it yesterday and it finally gave out on me. =( I was wondering how long it would take since I could see the bottom of the jar....lol.

Well Maddy is getting restless on her playmat...and I think she has a present for me. Bleh.

Maddy is 3 months old!!

Pictures as promised!!

Mitch came home this morning and made me breakfast in bed. Best husband EVER!! Then he took Maddy to the mall and Lowe's and I stayed home and got a break. I did get up 3 times to check on my baby only to realize she wasn't home. It was very weird. Then we had a freeeeaking awesome steak dinner. Good day today!! Maddy is already in bed and I think we are going to bed soon too. Even though I got a break I'm still exhausted!

don't read if you're eating.

Today makes 3 months old for Madelyn!! Pictures tomorrow, I am way too tired tonight.

So Maddy has been getting back on schedule. She is such an awesome sleeper once she actually goes down for the night. It takes about an hour-3hours to put her down but once she is down, she will sleep 8-10 hours. YEAH!! She hardly naps at all during the day anymore and I'm totally ok with that as long as she sleeps at night so I can get some rest. I'm crossing my fingers that she continues this. It will make life so much easier.

Today my mom and sister came up to visit and we went to eat lunch at Tortilla Soup. Got my yummy chicken wings! Then we came home and Maddy was going for the grumpiest baby alive award. She screamed and screamed until finally she fell asleep, woke up, and screamed some more. Right after they left, I brought her in the bed with me and held her in the quiet room so she could calm down. Then all of a sudden...I smelled it. The hugest poop ever. It was so gross...and I am not easily grossed out by baby bodily functions, but it was taking all I had not to gag. I'm sure you are loving this story, right?? It got all over her clothes and her feet. Ugh. But then she was happy again so I guess her tummy was just hurting all day. ANYway...that's enough poop talk.

I'm going to go lay down and try and get some rest. Maddy is asleep but I'm not sure if she is down for the night yet. I haven't heard any peeps in about 10 minutes so I'm crossing my fingers. And Mitch comes home in the morning YAY!!!!!!! I hate it when he works weekends.

I'm still alive!

I've been neglecting this blog for the past couple weeks, I know. Its been so busy with the holidays and everything. Maddy's first Christmas wasn't exactly how I planned it because of several things going on, mostly her being sick. She got lots of presents and especially loves her play gym. Mommy loves it too because it keeps her busy while I get stuff done! Usually not for 15 minutes at a time but...long enough for me to eat lunch at least, lol. She has been so smiley and happy lately and is perfectly content for you to just sit and talk to her. I can't believe she will be THREE MONTHS OLD in two days!!! I just cleaned out most of her 0-3 month clothes because they were getting too small. Now she is in 3-6 month clothes which are a tiny bit too big but I'm sure she will grow into them quickly.

Lets see...other things going on. We purchased my wedding band so the big day is coming soon hopefully! I'm still a bit concerned about my health because I'm still very tired, nauseous, and itchy but my mom (she's a nurse) said that it can take months for your liver to heal and for the chemistry of your blood to get back to normal. That's kind of depressing because I'm ready to be back to normal NOW!! But I guess all I can do is rest as much as I can and let myself heal.

Well here are some pictures from the past two weeks that I finally got a chance to upload onto the computer for my adoring readers. lol! Aunt Savannah still needs to send me the pictures from Christmas at the Webb's!!! =)

She fell asleep on her daddy's arm. awwww!

And this is why we have to lock up our bedroom at night from now on. Lily snuck into Maddy's bassinet when we weren't in the room!

Bundled up getting ready to go run an errand with Mommy.Opening her seahorse from Uncle Reed. She LOVES that thing!

Checking out her first pair of diamond earrings. Thank you Nanna!! We are going to get her ears peirced at the pediatrician sometime between 6 and 9 months probably.

Well its 8:30 and Maddy is already sleeping, I kept up her most of the day so I'm hoping she is asleep for the night! Time for me to hit the bed!!