Madeline is 13 months old (a little late)!

For now, I've given up on placing the sign near Madeline. She just can't resist playing with it, and I can't get a cute picture when it's near her. So, for now, this is the new "monthly sign picture."


Madeline has treated us to another month of fun! She's definitely an official biped now...walking is her main mode of transportation, and she wants to walk everywhere by herself. So, you can only imagine how long it takes us to get places when I actually let her walk. Not to mention, she is still very fascinated with everything that pops into her vision --- "oohing" at everything --- shrubs, leaves, yard lights, you name it, she ogles and studies over it until I give her a little tug to move along. It's very sweet to watch her ooh and ah over the world around her when I'm not in a rush.
Her little personality is still so happy, curious, sweet, and easy going (95% of the time), but she's definitely showing more and more a mind of her own. Madeline is a stubborn little thing which right now can lead to a nasty tantrum, but this trait will serve her well down the road once she learns how to put it into a positive direction. Full blown flailing the head back, kicking the legs, swatting the arms temper tantrums have entered our world in full force! WOW, it's not happened very much, but it definitely caught me off guard! When she's not allowed to go somewhere or touch something, she lets us and everyone else know that she's not happy about it. The few times she's had one, she's been tired and/or hungry which makes them that much worse. I don't make excuses for them because it is unacceptable, but I am sure to be much more proactive these days when it comes to eating her meals and getting that afternoon nap in. Since she's an only child, I can keep her on a pretty strict schedule which help any nasty attitudes that can surface.

My girl loves other people greeting them with an enthusiastic "HI!" as they walk by. Luckily others indulge Madeline's over-friendliness with a response which just makes her day. She's especially fond of other children greeting them with an even more excited "HI" over and over, but they're also are the recipients of gigantic toothy smiles and arm flailing which I'm guessing is supposed to be an overly excited wave. I've actually heard other children comment to their parents, "Why is that baby doing that?" to which the nice parents usually respond with something like, "She really likes you and just wants to say hi." Madeline has never met a stranger. Luckily for us, this makes dropping her off at nurseries and babysitters a piece of cake. Music and dancing have captured Madeline's heart. She head bobs and dances to music all day long --- in the car, at the house, at the gym kids' care, and even the elevator music at the grocery store. Right now, her rhythm is questionable, but there is no doubt that music and dance will be in her future activities.
Madeline's a mover and a shaker. Running errands, going to the gym, cruising the grocery store, taking a walk, walking through the mall, going somewhere, anywhere...all of these fit into "it's been a great day" category for Madeline. That makes us happy since we like to be out and about instead of cooped up in the house all day.
Madeline is a hot dog, Cheerio, mandarin orange, cheese, and green bean eating machine. These are by far her favorites at meal time, but she's getting much better about eating what she is served. I do give her credit with regard to her tasting...she will taste and eat anything we stick in her mouth for the first time. Now, if she's not a fan, she won't have another bite, but she's not been spitting out food or throwing it to the floor if she doesn't like it. We are, however, working on table manners with regard to dropping food to the floor on purpose. Madeline seems to think this activity makes for a perfect excuse to use the word, "UH-OH!" Unfortunately, for her, we are working on nipping this bad habit in the bud.

Madeline's vocabulary is pretty minimal...mama, Dada, hi. "Uh-oh" and "woa" are new additions over the last month. She intently studies our lips when we are talking to her, and you can see her little brain trying to make her lips do what ours do. Sometimes, she makes a sound similar to ours and sometimes not. I love watching her trying to learn vocabulary. Madeline wants to verbally communicate badly, and I'm sure it just will happen "overnight"...just like when she popped out with "uh-oh" after she dropped her toy. Madeline loves her stories, and she's by no means what I would call an attentive audience, but she'll sit still for a few pages of actual reading/talking about the pictures. And, when she's playing by herself, she'll pick up a book, turn the pages one by one, and study the pictures. All the while, she's jibber-jabbering as if she's telling herself a story. I love to see her do this. She will do this over and over with some of her favorite books. Madeline has 7 teeth, and we think her molars are working their way up to the surface. She's pretty much a regular gal with her schedule sleeping from 7 PM to 7 AM, napping in the afternoon, eating breakfast/lunch/dinner with a snack thrown in here and there if needed. The two things this mama must break out of are the two bottles Madeline receives right before her nap and bed and the paci. We limit paci and lovey to bed only, and the bottle I just need to brace myself and go cold turkey.
Madeline brings something new to each day that makes her daddy and I just smile and makes our hearts just swell with love. I try to treasure each day, even the hard ones, because it's all going by so quickly. As someone said to me this morning, "Madeline is becoming such a big girl. It's happened almost overnight." So true, so true baby girl! Madeline Grace, we love you so much.

Where does the time go?

Good gracious, is it really September 28? Have I really not blogged about anything terribly earth-shattering in the last month? Did September 17, Madeline's 13 month-day, come and go without a post? Shame on me.

September turned into a crazy month with packing, moving, closing, and getting adjusted to our new temporary living quarters. So, yes, that was a time consuming and daunting task. However, we are settled, but for some reason we cannot get our rhythm back.

Part of our issue is that everything seemed to happen at once...the move, some extra curricular activities with our church, hunting season (my sweet hubby is bound and determined to bring home a Bambi this hunting season), Eric's boss's boss spending 3 days with him, working out some kinks with the rental house, Eric making some rather large presentations that have required much of his home time to be working, and my couple of regularly scheduled evening "Mama escapes" seemed to all fall within the last few weeks. I suppose it's no wonder that the blog has taken a hit. When the three of us are home together and not completely exhausted, we are enjoying each other's company. With all this craziness, Eric and I have made it a point to have our own dinner after Madeline goes to bed in order to stay connected. Ultimately, we've let the computer remain "asleep" in the evenings.

My goal this week is to get our day-to-day rhythm back...regular grocery trips (my grocery gaming has taken a hit as well), daily gym workouts that involve more than just a run, Eric making it to the gym after work, home cooked healthy dinners, truly relaxing over the weekend, and resuming normal close to home activities (blogging, laundry, scheduling some much needed appointments, & cleaning) on a regular schedule. I hope our funk is behind us, and we can resume some normalcy instead of operating on "survival mode".

Bittersweet


Eric and I closed on our little starter home this past Friday, and we made it through the first leg of our move without too many dings or scratches. We admit that we are so very excited to have sold our house for a good price in this buyer's market, but we are a little sad to leave our sweet house behind. After all, it was our first house as newlyweds. All of "our traditions" started in that house, and of course, we expanded our little family in that house. As I took the last of our things out of that house on Friday morning, I looked over my shoulder and got a little teary. It's bittersweet. Of course, when one chapter ends, a new one begins. And, for sure, a new exciting chapter has begun for us...our "forever" house being built in a larger neighborhood that seems to be busting at the seams with families like us. Our thoughts of backyard BBQs with lots of kids running around playing with one another while all the adults enjoy each other's company certainly dries up any tears we may have about leaving our sweet little house behind. Not to mention, the couple that bought our home seems just like us when we first built that house --- young newlyweds learning how to care for a yard, excited about all their new kitchen dishes and appliances they received as wedding presents, and just thrilled to have a space larger than a one bedroom apartment. I was very excited for them at the closing as I've been in those shoes not long ago.

We are getting adjusted to the rental house, and things slowly but surely seem to be getting back to a normal routine. Madeline seems to be adjusting to the new house rather well. She has more space to explore, and the stairs are her new favorite addition to her daily routine. This child loves to climb the steps --- up and down all day long --- if I'd let her. Unfortunately, a few times a day is all she gets.

All in all, we're happy the move is behind us for now, and we're really happy to have all of our stuff out of storage and under one roof again. Now, we look forward to driving by the new house to see what's happening. A new chapter in the Stewart family is certainly being scripted with each new day, and it's exciting.

What's happening with the Stewart family?!

Eric is on his annual boys' weekend...much needed and well deserved! I'm home packing and organizing sans husband input. :)

Moving into our rental house (which we have secured one not far from here) is first and foremost happening. My friend, Nancy, offered her house up for rent, but unfortunately for us (ie ERIC) the commute would be too much. I'd love to do it --- Madeline would love all the playdates! Nancy's friends/neighbors look like so much fun!!!! :) I'm not terribly excited about the rental house simply because it's temporary, so we're only unpacking (not really packing just moving (in our car) the dishes, clothes, etc. in laundry baskets and unsealed boxes) the things we really NEED for 6 months. Other than that, we'll be living amongst sealed boxes, random misplaced furniture, and clutter. Well, in my OCD world it's clutter. It's all good because we are building "the house", and we are so excited about that. It's VERY much worth the wait. It's interesting trying to pack with a one year old underfoot by the way. Our current house is set to close on September 18, and so far, inspections, etc. have gone well. We're pretty sure things will go as planned. We have our movers, rental house, etc. all set up for next weekend, so that I can do any last minute things around here if needed.

And, as I've mentioned before, Eric and I have become more involved in our church. I've said this before and will say again, we will never be "Mr. and Mrs. Church", but we want a solid, Christian foundation in which we can raise our children. We love our church although it's a bit traditional, and the majority of the congregation is significantly older than us. Our minister is youthful and inspiring! The church is making great strides to bring young families into the congregation. However, there are 3 couples (us being one of the three) that are working towards building a "young family" group/Sunday School class. The six of us clicked as if we'd been friends from way back. I say all of this to explain the following pictures. The six of us (and hopefully some of the other youngin's in the congregation because there are a few!!!) are planning to study the Love Dare bible study in Sunday School this fall. We plan to watch the Fireproof movie and follow up with the Love Dare curriculum. Our church is holding a rally on September 12 to showcase the different Sunday school classes, and our fellas created a fire truck to demonstrate our group. The boys got together (and had a BLAST) doing the "construction" while the girls will do the decor. Decor pictures to follow....the boys assured us that once we "staple" our decor to the outside of this frame that it will look like a fire truck. (As a side note, I've decided that my husband "borrowed" this four wheeler from a friend in order to test it out because it's for sale, & my honey just happens to want a four wheeler. Small coincidence...) Boys just like to build stuff.....

On a Madeline note, she IS walking 100% although if she's looking to get somewhere ASAP, she does her crazy crab crawl. However, her preferred mode of movement seems to be walking because she does walk more than crawl these days. She's cutting two molars and another bottom tooth just popped through, so her attitude has been a bit snarky lately....so much so that I baked fresh-that-morning-with-steam-in-the-Tupperware-container chocolate chip banana bread and pecan pie muffins for the ladies at the gym that keep Madeline because her attitude has been MUCH less than sweet as of late. But, they assure me that she's still their favorite! :)

And, WOW! Does this child have a mind of her own?! Madeline can't crawl INTO the dishwasher and play with dirty dishes or pull out clean knives for that matter, or Madeline can't play with the remote controls or touch the TV screen, or Madeline can't dig out the dirt in Mommy's houseplants and eat it!? Seriously, she has all these GREAT toys and touchy-feely books that she loves, and these are the things she wants to do lately?! So, needless to say, this Mama is doing A LOT of "No, Ma'am" and swat the hand...I guess that's why so many children are allowed to do whatever they want b/c this is time consuming and draining when you have a toddler living in your house. (I've gained a new appreciation for well behaved children and their parents. I hope to join those ranks!) Oh, and she KNOWS what not to play with because she looks at me and puts her pudgy finger NEXT to it...sneaky little devil. Unfortunately, the temptation is too great, and she touches, and Mommy has to scold. Crying ensues. It's all good...she'll figure out that this Mama is VERY consistent and isn't mean but means what she says! I do pick my battles...how many times have I refolded the laundry into the basket or put the clothes back into the drawer?!

My parents are enjoying Australia right now, and I'm happy for them. My dad just recently "retired" (I use that term loosely as he still keeps his hand in the working world.), and my mom has always traveled with her lady friends. Well, since my dad has claimed retirement, he's decided that traveling and seeing the world is not so bad. So he's jumped on my mom's bandwagon to see the world. My mom has been everywhere from Thailand eating crunchy bugs to Greece's feta cheese to New Zealand's alpacas. Needless to say with three grown children, now is their time to enjoy life for themselves and their grandchildren. They're "young", in good health, in good financial status, and willing to see the world. Unfortunately, in true McCarthy fashion, they didn't share much of their travel itinerary with us because no news is good news, right?! Well, my mom's dad passed away this morning very unexpectedly (he was 94 years old and in good shape considering), so I've had to spend much of my day tracking down my parents in Australia! Luckily, I know enough of their friends and neighbors that I could piece together enough information to figure out the travel agency they used to call the customer service line that let me know how to get in touch with them in Australia. So my brother and his wife were able to get in touch with my mom and dad to deliver the not-so-good news.

In a nutshell, we're busier than normal, but we're good.

Fun Around the House

Madeline spends the majority of her day exercising her ability to walk. She loves her stroller to cruise around the house. She's becoming more and more daring to take steps all by herself, and lately, she's been going farther and farther without assistance. The ladies at the gym daycare have really gotten her to be more adventurous. Madeline will be a proficient walker before we know it. Until then, she's enjoying her stroller assisted walks around the house.

And, as you can see from the very first picture, she has quite the set of teeth. Unfortunately for her, she probably inherited those "famous McCarthy teeth" that she'll have to grow into. But, she's still pretty darn cute.

Madeline's First Birthday Party

We had a wonderful celebration for Madeline's first birthday on Sunday, August 16, 2009. It was filled with family, close friends, yummy food, and delicious ice cream cake.

Madeline made many trips around the house greeting her guests. Grandpa and Aunt Kim were good sports about it!

Posing with Aunt Kim--Aunt Kim never let Madeline's tutu become un-fluffy!
Yummy cake! Madeline was not sure about the cake at first, but once she got a taste, she really enjoyed it! Since it was so hot, I decided to make an oreo ice cream cake. It was pretty tasty and refreshing.

Playing in the yard with Aunt Brittany

Daddy throwing Madeline around...Cousin Drew looking on waiting his turn.

Madeline spent a lot of the party like this checking everything out.

Grandpa McCarthy spent a lot of time with Madeline on her big day.

Pretty birthday girl

Taking some steps to go cozy up with Grandpa.

Resting in Mommy's lap

Getting some snuggles from my very best friend's mom who we refer to as Grandma Connie. Connie was like a second mom to me, so it's only natural that she be an honorary Grandmother to Madeline.

Birthday Girl was tuckered out...one of many yawns!

Heading to Grandma McCarthy's lap for some love.

Madeline had a wonderful day filled with lots of hugs, kisses, presents, laughs, yard games, and most importantly, LOVE! She is one lucky little lady!

***Our friend, Jen, took lots of great photos as our "official photographer" for Madeline's party, but I have not been able to get together with her to retrieve the CD she made for us. At some future date, I will be posting a sampling of her photos. She does AWESOME work!

WOOO HOOOO!

We sold our house, and we are beyond happy with the way things turned out with our buyers. Now, we are on the hunt to find a house to rent. We have two really great prospects, so things are looking good. However, the thought of packing all of our stuff makes me crazy, but that's just part of it. Our new house won't be ready for 4-6 months, so at least we can get settled into a rental place for a bit before we have to re-pack and move again. Did I mention our closing date is September 18? The next few weeks will be crazy, but I'll take it over being the proud homeowners of TWO houses!

***On a side note, I have not forgotten to do a post on Madeline's first birthday party, but I'm waiting on some pictures from a friend to share with the post.

ONE YEAR OLD!!!

Good gracious, where did a year go? Our sweet Madeline is one year old as of Monday, August 17, 2009. She entered this world on her exact due date, and her father and I couldn't help but immediately explode with love for this little girl. Madeline has made our little family so happy, and we just feel so blessed that we were chosen to be her parents. We love being Mama and Dada, and her sweet little "HI!" with a wave every morning just makes our day start out so perfectly. As you can tell from the 12 month pictures, I decided to let her birthday outfit speak for itself on this month's update -- no sign & posed pictures this month. I think the 1 on her shirt and the pink tutu say it all!
Madeline is certainly a mover and a shaker these days. Being held is not high on her list unless she's in an unfamiliar place or is tired. Otherwise, she's busy. Proficient walking all by herself is on the horizon. Each day she becomes more and more daring taking those tiny, wobbly, unassisted steps. Sometimes, I think she's standing and sees something of interest and just walks without even thinking about it. Madeline has really started to navigate around the house well with her push stroller. She's even able to get herself out of jams by making her 100 point turns. Climbing is becoming more of a "situation" these days. It's as though she views everything as a large stair. Nevertheless, loading & unloading the dishwasher becomes interesting when she's climbing in it. Madeline has the dancing bug for sure! She LOVES to dance and shake her bootie to music!
Madeline has quite a large personality for such a little person...she's bubbly, squealy, happy, dramatic, stubborn, determined, and extremely affectionate. Kisses and hugs are given out frequently, and we sometimes are surprised at who is on the receiving end of these kisses & hugs. Although she is a loud busy body at times, she continues to retreat to her room to play by herself or look at her books all on her own. This little lady craves her alone time, and I'm happy to give it to her. Her vocabulary is still pretty slim --- mama, dada, & hi are her words right now, BUT she is trying so hard to repeat other simple words like uh-oh & bye-bye. Madeline studies our lips intently whenever we talk, and I can just see her little lips quivering and moving trying to figure it all out.

With Madeline's new found walking/fast crawling, she's wiped out at naptime & bedtime. It's great because she seems to have grown out of that flailing around in the bed before she goes to sleep. Her morning nap seems to be going away, and the afternoon nap seems to be stretching out. Her bedtime is between 6:30 and 7:30 PM based upon her disposition. Some days, I just put her out of her misery, and we call it a day when she's just grumpy and exhausted. This adjusted schedule makes me a happy Mama.

As of right now, Madeline has 6 teeth with a couple more coming. Her finger gnawing has started back up again, and her little gums are a bit swollen. However, this lack of teeth hasn't slowed down her eating...she will TRY just about anything...key word here --- TRY. Getting her to eat it is another story, so I've realized that she has become a bit picky, unfortunately. Upon the advice of our doctor, I've been serving her the meal, she eats it or not, and we move on from the meal. Unfortunately, this Mama is not a short order cook, so I'm implementing the "here's your meal" rule early. Our doctor said not to feed into the pickiness by creating lots of things for her to eat at one meal, and he assured me that I'm not starving my sweet girl. Madeline does have some favorites --- juice, whole milk (believe it or not?!), yogurt, mac-n-cheese, pork, spaghetti/ravioli, mandarin oranges, cheese anything, waffles, Cheerios, bananas, and any junk food (of course). Madeline is still on the bottle at her naptime and bedtime (with formula only), so I guess my next big milestone is to get her off the bottle routine at her naps and bed. There's a good chance that I might be more concerned about it than she is, but I suppose it could be a complete nightmare too. Once I commit to no more bottles, then I'm in 100% with no turning back. I still have some formula to use up, so in efforts not to waste it, we'll keep those routines the same for now until the formula is gone.
Madeline Grace, you never cease to amaze us with your antics and personality. Your Daddy and I couldn't love you more if we tried, and we look forward to this next phase of your life.
( We had our 12 month well visit this morning, and Madeline received a glowing report from Dr. Kapp. Everything is moving along just fine --- height, weight, head circumference, developmental skills. Madeline is 22 lbs. 2 oz. (69%), and she's 31 inches tall (96%). Her iron was still a little bit low, so we'll keep working on those iron rich foods! She received 4 vaccines, and to say that Miss Madeline was angry about those shots is an understatement! Her flair for the dramatics was evident! Poor thing.)

Remember...



...the Ultimate Grocery Game Challenge a few posts back?



Well, I think I did well for my first major grocery shopping savings challenge. I spent $378 for two families (3 meals a day, kid/beach friendly food we don't normally buy, & beach junk food snacks!!) for a whole week at Fripp Island. And, I must note that we ate "nice-adults-only-like-we-were-out-to-a-restaurant" kind of dinners not just quickie meals.

Fripp Island -- August, 2009

We had a wonderful trip to Fripp with our good friends, John and Shay!! We already cannot wait until next year!

We had lots of good times playing golf & riding on the golf cart.

We all ate much more than we should have, but the food was delicious! I must say, Shay and I can whip up some goodness in the kitchen!

John and Shay brought their boat down to the island, so we were able to have an adults night out on the boat. What a great time we had, and the views were just breathtaking.

Of course, we spent lots of time at the pool and on the beach just having fun and being silly!

We enjoyed all the nature that Fripp has to offer -- feeding deer, watching sunsets

We relaxed and snuggled!

Shay's baby, Emily, was especially snuggly after a long, busy day at the beach. She just asked me to hold Emily for a second...

Our friend, Brian, came to visit us one night. The babies loved tugging on their "big furry bear"!

Fripp was filled with big belly laughs, 4 sun-kissed adults, 3 very sunscreened children, lots of great food, too many yummy beverages, hilarious antics of a 3 year old matched with an almost one year old, relaxing naps on the beach (for the kids because of course they all napped at different times!), wonderful friendships made even more wonderful, and two re-energized families that actually tried to rent the house for the next week. Too bad for us that it was already rented because we were ready for another week! Oh well...we are eagerly awaiting our trip next year!