What have we been up to?

Well from the last post you can see that Madelyn is sitting like a champ now. Its like a whole new world now that she can sit! We can play different ways and she can see more of what is going on. Love it!

Saturday we decided to go to the Aquarium in New Orleans. It was also French Quarter Fest. So...we got there and there were a BILLION people in the aquarium. I felt like I was running people over with her stroller. We barely got to see anything because all the exhibits were so crowded. Madelyn did like to watch the fish that she did get to see though. Anyway...we went through pretty quickly and then got out of there. Also, the minute we got to the got there my stupid camera died, so I have ONE picture of her first trip to the aquarium. Here ya go...

I don't know if I mentioned this before but we joined the gym here. We chose this particular gym because it has a swimming pool outside. Well this week we took Maddy for her first swim! The water was still pretty chilly but it was so hot outside. She LOVED it. She splashed all around, kicked her little feet, tried to drink the water (ew). We will definitely be taking her back when the water warms up a little more. Also, at the gym there is an inside pool for swimming laps. We went to check it out and realized there is also a jacuzzi in there! YEAH! Well here are a few pictures from her swimming adventure:

Last night we went out to eat at a restaurant here in Summit called Justin's on the Lake. And well....it is on a lake! haha. They have a deck outside and they sell fish food so you can go out there and feed the fish, ducks, and turtles. After we had dinner we went outside and fed the creatures. There were SO many turtles! It was nuts! You could see them swimming from all the way across the lake when we started to throw the food out there! Maddy watched them swimming around and had a good time. Pictures, of course:

Feeding the turtles

This is just some of them...there were a billion turtles

So today is sunday and I'm finally finishing this blog because it seems like its working a little better. Yesterday Maddy and I drove out to Covington, LA to hang out with my mom, sister, and aunt and go to a craft fair. My Aunt Linda bought Maddy some bows. She now has more to match her outfits! And I got a CUTE one that has an M on it...I can't wait to put her in a matching outfit and get some pics taken! Here are some pictures from yesterday and this morning. I ended up sleeping at my mom's in Ponchatoula last night because I was too pooped to drive home.

On the way there. Hehe

At the craft fair with Nanna. It was past her naptime so she was not very happy.

"Don't you people know I'm on a schedule??"

Crashed on the way home. Precious!

And then we woke up Nanny early this morning!

Well its almost 11pm now and I need to get to bed. Classes start tomorrow!

iPhone picture dump

I never remember to put my pictures from my iPhone on the computer, so I end up waiting till there are like 100 pictures and then I just do them all at one time. Here's some cute ones that I just had to post. =)

This was her first time sitting in her stroller without the car seat.

Baby Fauxhawk

Such a happy girl!

This was actually from today. Love it! Just excuse the toilet paper and diaper in the background...haha

And who doesn't think a baby booty is the cutest thing EVER? Also from today!

Going somewhere in the car

Ready for my BMW daddy!

This was after our wedding celebration party. She was POOPED! Poor baby! =)


I have a loooong entry written out from the past week or so but Blogger is making me so mad not letting me move pictures around. So I'll be posting that when I get unaggravated. It will have LOTS of pics! Check back!!

All kinds of videos!

#1 is one of Maddy's new favorite games. I love to hear her squeal and laugh!


Maddy laughing



#2 is my first attempt at getting her sitting up on camera. She was still not so great at it...


Maddy sitting up 1



#3 getting a little better...

Maddy sitting up 2



#4 we got it down! She is sitting like a PRO now!!!

Maddy sitting up 3



#5 this is a game Maddy and her daddy were playing last night. It was so funny watching her look for him and then get suprised everytime he popped his head up! She is finally getting to where she understands how to play and interact and she is so much fun!

Maddy looking for daddy



OK well that should keep you entertained for a little bit! I am waiting on baby girl to wake up from her nap so we can go run some errands. I need a few things from CVS (TOTALLY out of shampoo...bleh) and I really want to try to get a work out in today.

accomplishments

So I feel like I have been neglecting my blog but I have good reason. I am almost officially enrolled in school!!! My financial aid is completely taken care of with some money left over. I think I am going to purchase a laptop with the extra cash, so I can watch Maddy and do school without being stuck in a corner of the living room. All my placement tests are done but I am still waiting on the results of those. I don't think I get the results until April 26th. That sucks. And I am reminded of how much I HATE and SUCK at math. I don't think I will be placed in remedial math or anything...but it certainly won't be calculus either. Hopefully I can skip some English courses, though.

So on to the stuff I'm sure you are all here to read about- Maddy! Well, exciting things are happening in little miss Madelyn's life! First of all, she is completely aware of her feet now. She's always got them in her little hands, and she even tries to balance her toys and stuff with them if she is laying on her back. My little monkey. =) Second, she has been getting on all fours ALL the time lately. Its like once she realized she could do it, she just wants to do it again and again! Third...and most exciting I think...she is FINALLY SITTING UP BY HERSELF!!!!!!!! I am so proud of her! She can only stay in one position and she can't get herself up but...if I put her there she can actually sit and not fall over for an extended amount of time! I AM SO EXCITED! Also today I was feeding her and she actually held her bottle, took it out of her mouth, and put it back in all by herself. I know you're thinking....who cares....but I was so amazed. And sad. My baby is growing up! And she is so much more expressive lately. She cracks up laughing at things and is always talking. OK OK I'll stop now and post some pictures. I know that's what you really came here for!

Maddy and her BFF Carsyn. I thought I posted this already but apparently not. Carsyn was trying to give her kisses and Maddy was trying to pull her hair.

This is what I was talking about with her using her feet. She did have that book balanced on her toes but I didn't catch it in this pic.

Sitting up!!!!!! Those pillows aren't supporting her, they were just there for this:

Help mommy! I don't how to get back up! Now that she can sit that is the ONLY thing she wants to do. She gets pissed if she falls over or is laying down.

My next blog will include some videos! I am uploading them as we speak but I will probably have to let it go all night because it takes forever.

6 month stats!

Madelyn had her 6 month checkup today! She weighs 17lbs 9oz and is 27 in long. (75-90 percentile for weight, just under 90 for height.) She had to get THREE shots today. Thank God Mitch showed up because I do not do shots. It kills me to watch her in pain. The first one was ok, the second one she got a little more pissed, and by the third she was screaming bloody murder. Plus with the third one, the nurse apparently hit a vein so my poor baby kept bleeding! Our ped also suggested we start giving her table food. Um...what? She's got two teeth. I'm putting that off for a while. But anyway, she went down for her evening nap at 3, and by 5 she was STILL asleep. She never sleeps that long in the evening! So I woke her up, gave her a bath, we played a little bit, she had a bottle, and then she was crying to go to sleep again! I hate it when she gets shots. She's so not herself. So anyway an hour after she woke up from her nap she was in bed. I hope she's down for the night. OH! Something else she did today! We were at the doctor's waiting on the nurse to come give her shots, and Maddy was playing on her tummy on the exam table making all kinds of noise with the paper...and all of a sudden she was on all fours in the crawl position!!!!!!! She's never done that before!! I'm so excited!!!!!!!

So anyway, things are still going great as far as getting started with school. I swear, the people at DeVry are THE most helpful people. At UNO you couldn't pay a financial aid person to spend 2 seconds on the phone with you. With DeVry they send you a step by step process and its so easy to follow, they follow up with you on everything, but the best part is that THEY do most of the work!! As far as getting transcripts from HS and college and everything...they do all that! That's the worst part I think! So I'm very happy with my decision so far.

Today I had to go over and let my neighbor's dog out to potty since she went on a weekend trip to Mobile. (and I'm not jealous AT ALL....blah.) I went over and opened the door and he had the saddest look on his face, so I took him home with me! He was much happier after that, he and Queso played and then Maddy went down for a nap so we all took a nap on the couch. hahaha. When we woke up, I took him back to his house so he could eat and he cuddled up on a blanket on his couch so I left him there. But, I borrowed a book while I was over there....Baby Laughs by Jenny McCarthy. HILARIOUS. I read it in like 3 hours. Go read it mommies! You will really get a kick out of it!

Well since my baby abandoned me so early tonight, me and the doggy are gonna go lay in bed and catch up on the DVR. Here's a few pics before I go sink into bed.

This is what my husband does when he is supossed to be pressure washing the house. He "pressure washed" Mitch <3's Lyndsay onto the dirty wall...LOL. I'm still considering divorce since he took the entire one gallon container of chocolate ice cream to work though...

Playing with mommy! She's the most beautiful baby I swear!

Then apparently mommy got boring because she wanted to watch TV upside down.

This was taken by Aunt Savannah at a rose garden in Natchez. Although I'm pretty sure those were genetically enhanced mutant roses because they were HUGE! Someone worked really hard to grow those things and here I am letting my kid paw all over them. =)

What's for dinner?

Crawfish bisque stuffed baked potatoes!

(This is a Frank Davis recipe)

4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, parsley mix
1 cup diced Portabella mushrooms (I used plain old white mushrooms)
1 can Campbell’s Cream of Shrimp Soup
1 lb. Louisiana crawfish tails
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. salt and pepper mix
2 tsp. Frank Davis Seafood Seasoning ( didn't use- crawfish was seasoned enough!)
6-8 pats unsalted butter
1 bunch green onions, sliced for garnish
2 cups Italian Shredded Six-Cheese Blend

Start off by taking a heavy, non-stick, high-sided frypan or Dutch oven and heating the olive oil
until it just begins to smoke. Then drop in the onion-celery -bell pepper-garlic-parsley mixture and sauté it—stirring constantly—until it wilts and begins to soften.

Next, toss in the Portabella mushrooms and quickly stir them around in the seasoning mixture.
Then stir in the can of soup, taking care to thoroughly mix all the pan ingredients into it until uniformly blended. (Note—all the while the fire is still on high).

At this point, drop in the crawfish tails , along with the heavy cream. Then harmoniously combine everything in the pan until all the ingredients are completely blended. Immediately, though, reduce the fire to medium-low, stir the “bisque” continuously to fully blend the cream and soup mix, and sprinkle in the salt and pepper mix and the seafood seasoning. After about 8-10 minutes of simmering, the dish should be tasted and the seasonings readjusted if necessary.

When you’re ready to eat, whisk in the pats of butter to create a creamy consistency in the bisque, ladle out generous portions of it into warm soup bowls, and garnish each serving with a sprinkling of green onions and a handful of shredded cheese. Toasted bread sticks make a nice accompaniment.

Variations: If you would like to serve the bisque as a more essential entrée, it can be heaped over a bowl of rice, ladled over a plate of your favorite pasta, or liberally poured over a supersize baked potato.

VERY VERY yummy!! The salad just came from a bag...haha.

catching up

I have been so busy lately getting ready for our wedding party. It went so well, I'm so glad so many people came!! We got lots of awesome gifts, including stuff that we REALLY needed. Yay! I'm still not done cleaning up though. Ah well.

Today was so busy. My sister's car got a flat last night, so after Maddy woke up and ate this morning we went to Wal-Mart so she could get new tires. We dropped her car off and then headed to the Social Security office so I could change my name. Then we ate lunch, and then picked up Brooke's car. She went home so she could go to work and I went and met Mitch at the gym so we could sign up. I'm SO excited!! Pretty much about the pool....LOL....I will work out too though. I guess. Anyway, then I went to the consignment store and got Maddy a CUTE gymboree skirt that goes perfectly with about 6 onesies that she got yesterday. I also got her some jammies and a little onesie/dress thing. AND I got two brand new pairs of shorts to work out in, and a cami and a shirt. Now I need a bathing suit.

Also....everything is almost set up and ready for me to get back in school!!!!! I'm so excited!!! I'm doing an online program at DeVry so I can stay home with Maddy and hopefully get done quicker by taking as many hours as I can at one time. All my admissions stuff is done, financial aid is almost done. Now they are just waiting on transcripts and another FAFSA. I seriously can't wait. I love being in school.

And to end this...for those of you who are keeping up with the baby mole count, we are up to #3! Which is actually #4 because I forgot about the one that the neighbor's dog was rolling in a few weeks ago by our swing in the yard. The latest victim was in the driveway though, so I didn't have to jump over anything to get out my front door at least. I would keep the cat inside so she would stop bringing me rodents but she whines and cries if I don't let her out. I guess she just REALLY loves us...................

I really don't feel like adding any pics right now. Sorry. I have crawfish to peel. Bleh.

SIX MONTHS!

Happy Easter!!

And here's her six month pictures! Can you believe it!!

then



and NOW!