Sunday, September 13, 2009

Maddie's First trip to the Falls


Kudos to the city of Gadsden for what they have done to Nocululla Falls. When I was a kid, all you could do was climb on the rocks and feed the ducks. If you were lucky you would get to take a train ride followed by some Jack's ice cream on the way out. Lindsey decided that today would be a good day for us to take Maddie up to see the new attractions. They have added a new welcome center/gift shop, new animal attractions, and a new petting zoo for the kids. We have decided that Maddie must have been raised by a pack of wolves because she absolutely loves animals. She went nuts at the petting zoo. There were some animals that were pretty sketchy looking (the emu scared the crap out of me), but Maddie insisted of handling all of the animals and having seizure-like fits when they came close enough for her to touch. She got face to face with the sheep, stuck her fingers in the bird cages (despite the warnings), sat down right beside the deer, and tried to touch the emu when it got close enough. To top the afternoon off, we took a train ride around the park. Maddie got her first lesson in the Spanish language, as she was more into the Hispanic family behind us than she was the actual train ride itself.


Maddie's First Day of School

Maddie has been going to school three days a week at Southside Baptist Daycare. For the most part, she has really enjoyed it. She has her days when she whimpers when Lindsey drops her off, but she seems to do just fine playing with the other kids. She does come home with a "fussy" mark on her daily report sheet. Obviously, the daycare workers don't understand that Maddie just wants to be the center of attention like she is here at home. I guess she is paving the way for the future when she comes home with a "frowny face" on her conduct report. I guess she is going to take after Lindsey after all. She has also been sick an aweful lot since the start of school. Who knew that swapping passys with the other kids could be so detrimental to her health. She had her first fever two weeks ago, and she seems to keep a cough.

Monday, August 24, 2009

The Missing Months

Yesterday Lindsey and I decided it was time to start updating the blog again. I know I have totally abandoned this thing over the summer, but we were having way to much fun doing other things. I am going to try to take a few minutes to update everyone on what's going on.

JULY:Maddie started sleeping better once we got back from the beach. On July 3rd, she slept on her stomach for the first time! This was awesome for us because up till this point when she would roll over to her belly she would wake up crying. On the 11th, she got her first tooth! She really wasn't too cranky either considering it was her first. Now she likes to grind her teeth (I can use the plural form because she now has two) on anything she puts in her mouth. July 21 was the first time Maddie slept through the entire night without making a peep! Maddie started making this funny growling noise and developed a fake laugh. She loves dogs and is starting to get the hang of Peek-a-Boo! As July came to a close Maddie started rattling on with her baby talk.
AUGUST:The month of August was full of firsts! On the 4th Maddie said her first word (Momma). She had been making the "ma" sound over and over, but that night she was wanting to go to Lindsey and she just blurted it out. On the 5th we sold our house, and began searching for a new one! On the 7th she started waving to people. Maddie skipped over the awkward side to side wave and went straight to the beauty pageant wave. Both Lindsey and Maddie started school on Monday the 10th. Maddie started day care at Southside Baptist, and Lindsey started her new job at John Jones. Maddie likes day care so far, but she lights up when Lindsey picks her up in the afternoon. Maddie also started crawling on the 10th, and by the end of the week she was crawling over to things and pulling herself up to a standing position. Now she tries to walk a little but quickly finds the floor. On the 14th she started clapping when Sheila was playing patty cake with her. She loves swimming in the pool, being outside, and being read to.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

More Pictures From The Beach










Back From The Beach!





We just got home from Maddie's first trip to the beach! Lindsey and I were dreading the ride to and from Gulf Shores because Maddie doesn't ride to church well, much less six hours to Gulf Shores, but she was awesome! Maddie probably cried for a combined 36 seconds on the way there and back. She loved swimming in the pool and playing in the sand, but she wasn't crazy about getting in the ocean. She was the ultimate trooper considering that it was her first time to drive further than Walmart.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Parental Influence?

They say that kids in the state of Alabama are born rooting for either Alabama or Auburn. With Lindsey being an Auburn fan, there has been some concern that Maddie may be recieving some negative influence at home. Don't worry, Lindsey and I have decided that we would let Maddie decide what colors she will wear in the fall. Until then, we will continue to dress her in non-biased, neutral colors!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Summer Is Almost Here!

The last two weeks of the school year always seem to last for months. Standardized testing is over, the weather is nice outside, and everybody begins to shut down and move into summer mode. If you think that students are the only ones who get "summer-itus" then think again! Between umpiring and taming 12 year olds for the past 10 months, I have left my brain (and any desire to do any type of work) behind. I can already smell the salt water and feel the sunburn that's coming my way in early June. We are taking our first "family" vacation to the beach with Maddie! Lindsey has spent countless hours on the internet shopping for Maddie's first bathing suit, and I must say, she found two awesome ones. I know that nothing screams corny like a set of matching bathing suits, but I guess I had better get used to that with Ali, Claire , and Maddie being so close. Maddie looks like a regular parrothead in the making!