tales from a far-land

This past Wednesday was Madi's 9 month pediatrician visit.  Per her doctor, she is developing very well and seems to be a very happy baby.  Madi received her normal vaccinations and also her flu shot.  Like usual, she only cried for a short period of time before she was smiling and ready to play again. Madilyn's stats as of this visit were: Head circumference - 17" (27th percentile) Height - 27.12" (49th percentile) Weight - 19 pounds, 7 ounces (62rd percentile)   Here are some of the things that Madi is demonstrating at this age ... Crawling all over the house, on furniture, through furniture, on people ... more or less where ever her little body can travel. She is pulling herself up using the furniture and has now figured out how to sit down afterward.  She is also beginning to take a couple of steps to cruise around the furniture. She is becoming pretty innovative.  Recently, she used one of her toy box lids to stand on so she could become a little taller

At the beginning of the November, one of my friends on Facebook challenged each of her friends to post one thing each day that we are thankful for up until Thanksgiving Day. I thought it was a great challenge, but am really terrible at providing status checks on Facebook. So, instead, I decided to make it one of my blog posts. I know some of the items below may seem pretty cliché, but I wanted to still include them because we often take so many things for granted.  I am thankful for … Ice cream. Yes, that’s right. Ice cream, especially chocolate. Thank you Dad and Uncle Ted for introducing me to this incredible treat. My health. Most of my healthiness is due in large part to the fact that I am very lucky to be able to exercise regularly at Boot Camp with some fun and like-minded women.  I firmly believe that exercise is the key to keeping me healthy physically and mentally.  Being an American. I have had the privilege to travel to several foreign countries and every time I return

Wishing your family a very Happy Turkey Day!  Love, Madi

This is too cute, so I had to post this right away. Yolanda just sent me this photo. Madi is mobile and can now pull herself up using any object she can reach. The unfortunate part is that she can pull herself up, but she has not quite figured out how to sit down from there. To quote Yolanda, "I have to rescue her at least 20 times a day. She knows how to stand up, but doesn't know how to go down. LOL!"  Look at the frustration on that face ... Also, while Madi was attempting to walk using one of her wheeled stride walkers, she mishappenly lost her footing sending her head first in to the tile.  Thus, experiencing her first "shiner".  Poor girl!  Her eye and forehead quickly bruised turning lovely shades of green, black and blue.  It is the first of many to come.  Josh and I found it absolutely adorable and, of course, had to take a picture.  Just the result of learning one of life's basic lessons -- walking.

Josh has been bugging me to add his *favorite* photo from our Laguna shoot to the blog.  He cannot believe how high he actually tossed her.  Her face is just priceless.  She doesn't even show any fear.  I, on the otherhand, am trying to smile for the camera without showing my true hysteria.  Anyway, here it is ...   As you can tell from the above photo, I have been dabbling and learning more about how to touch up photos with effects and special features.  I am really enjoying it.  Wait to see more of my creations!  

As you can tell from previous posts on our blog, this past October was crazy busy.  For three weekends in a row, we traveled out of town.  It was insane, but we enjoyed all of our adventures immensely.  For one of those crazy weekends, we drove over to California to visit with GP and GG in Laguna Woods.  However, that was the secondary reason for the visit.  The primary reason was to get family photographs taken by Noa Green.  Long story short ... Noa is a friend of one of my sorority sisters, Andrea Barber.  Andrea had arranged to have Noa take her family's photos while Noa was in town (she lives in New York).  In the midst of talking with Andrea, she had mentioned the upcoming photo shoot and had remarked how it was too bad that we lived in Arizona because Noa is an amazing photographer and if we lived in there we should have her take our photos as well.  Well, with that invitation, Josh and I quickly arranged our schedules so we could make the trip out to Laguna and crash in on

A couple of weeks back, we decided crazily to take Madi on her first camping trip with Josh's friends. In actuality, camping was just an afterthought. The main reason for the trip down south was to visit some of the Arizona wineries in Sonoita. After reading some pretty good reviews, we decided to check them out. So, we embarked upon our adventure. We spent most of Saturday wine tasting, enjoying good friends and great weather. After visiting our fifth Arizona winery, we ascended up the steep, narrow switchback road of Carr Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains outside of Sierra Vista. We quickly set up camp and settled in for an interesting evening. Unfortunately, Madi's first camping trip did not go as smoothly as we had hoped. Our poor little baby ended up being constipated all evening despite the numerous bottles of apple juice she drank. The night air also was a bit more chilly than expected. Madilyn was bundled up ready to weather the cold air, but I, on the otherhand, did n