Sweet dreams...

At about six this morning I heard Madi so I went to check on her. She was still asleep but this is how she was sleeping! She is scooting and squirming all over and she has started using the spindles on her crib to pull herself to the top of her crib and turn herself over. She had done this a couple days ago too but she also had her nose poking through that time. Wish I'd have had my camera then! :)

Better than ever...

I have dreamed of being a mom pretty much my whole life. Now that I am, it is so much better than I could have ever imagined! I don't mind getting up during the night, in fact some nights I make her a bottle and go wake her up because I miss holding her. I love to cuddle with her and I love the sweet smile she has! I love that she knows that I am her mommy and that Derrick is her daddy. I love her face when she looks at the picture of us in the hallway. I love the sounds she makes when she wakes up and lays there playing until I come get her. I love her little cry and the way she sticks her lip out. I love how excited she gets to see me and how she loves when I talk to her and play with her. I love dressing her in cute little outfits. I love her smell. I love her chubby rolls. I love everything about her and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be her mom. She makes every day wonderful! I am so glad I have such an amazing husband to share the journey with. What a great life!

Aaaaahhhhh!!!!!

I am so frustrated with Derrick's job! Every week they give us a new date to know one way or the other about the sale. We hear new rumors every day going every way. Their down payment was due yesterday and the VP said he would let Derrick know today. Derrick was just told that they won't know today and it could be as long as March 1st before they know. This is ridiculous!!! It's either yes or no. JUST TELL US!!!!

Finally Final...

After many stressful days of getting everything ready we were able to keep our Feb. 4th court date and yesterday Judge Morris finalized our adoption and named us Madi's legal parents! What an exciting and emotional day! (It was during Madi's nap time so Madi was exhausted!) We will get a DVD with the proceedings and when we do I will try to post that.

Although yesterday was a special day, we are most excited for March 20th when we can bring her to the temple and have her sealed to us for all eternity! We will be blessing her later that day.

Six Month Pictures...

We have played around some with the camera this week. Madi does not love having her pictures taken. There are a few that I thought were pretty cute but I still love her five month pictures better! Maybe we will have to try some more next week. :)

This is my favorite one. Madi has her finger(s) in her mouth at least 85% of the day. She loves chewing on them.

Madi has started sucking her lips in the last few weeks. I thought it might be fun to break out an old jacket from high school. It of course drowned her! Maybe we will try again when she is two and can actually put her arms in the sleeves! :)

"Please mom! No more pictures!!!!"

Play time...

Since Madi is sitting now we have brought out a few toys that we thought she may like. Taylor LOVES the ball popper and Madi is content to just watch them pop. She doesn't even bat an eye when one pops her in the head. :) I love this one!We got Madi the V-Tech Crawl Ball for Christmas. She LOVES it! She gets so frusterated when it rolls out of reach. She is starting to get up on her knees and is rocking back and forth a little. I am sure she will be crawling in no time!

Sounds of the night...

Madi is a GREAT sleeper and usually goes to bed at eight or nine and then wakes up at five or six. Sunday's are the exception. Since we moved to eleven o'clock church she goes down for her afternoon nap late. Last Sunday I woke her up at eight because I was worried she would be up and ready for the day by three if I didn't. Well, I should have woke her up at seven or maybe even six.

At 3:11 she was up and she was ready to play! I fed her and changed her and rocked her and sang to her and she still wanted to play. I put her in her bed with one of her favorite little friends, her seahorse that plays music and lights up. Once she started talking to her I had to get out the camera. I hope you enjoy her sweet sounds as much as I do! What an angel!!!

Six months...

Last Saturday was Madi's half birthday. She is six months old! It is amazing how fast the time has gone. We went to Sparetime for a little celebration. We let her ride on a merry-go-round and in the batmobile. She really didn't seem amused. :) Derrick and I bowled and she enjoyed watching us. We got her an outfit for the spring/summer. We had a great day as a family!

Madi has started scooting herself all over. On Saturday after we got her ready, we went to get ready and it got a little quiet in her room so we went to check on her. She was playing with her FAVORITE thing that mom always moves her away from... her drapes!

It is so funny to watch her when she gets so excited. She kind of forgets to breath and sometimes we have to put our hand on her chest and remind her. She loves to play in her drapes. I think it is because they are textured and somewhat sheer so she is able to learn and see things differently. I love her sounds and her smiles!

Exploring...

Madi has been moving around for awhile now. She lays on her back and scoots herself with her legs. Earlier this week I was checking my email and Taylor said "Madi's under the bed and she won't come out!" She had got under the chair and then under the bed. It is AMAZING that she hasn't bonked her head a million times!

Daddy time...

Winter...

Derrick got me WINTER for Christmas. I finally got them finished and will get to enjoy them for a month or two before I bust out my SPRING and EASTER letters.

Another first...

My poor Madi has her first ear infection. She has been really great except when she gets tired and then Tylonol is the only thing that will calm her down. Hopefully the antibiotics will work quick! All the nurses at the doctors office just love when we come. They gather round and talk and play with Madi. They can't believe how big she is getting and how much she has changed since she was born. Madi LOVES the attention and totally eats it up!

Frustrated, irratated, mad and other stuff like that...

We found out today that we are not going to be able to finalize on the 4th of Feb. which means that we can't be sealed or bless Madi. We have to wait until we are finalized before we can do that. There is a hold up in some of the legal work that has to be worked out first. We thought it had already been taken care of but apparently not. It is so frustrating because there is nothing we can do about it and we just want to take Madi to the temple and KNOW that she is ours forever!!! As soon as we have a finalization date we will let you know.

Chompers...

My mom gave Madi a gift card to Wal-Mart for Christmas. We took her down the toy aisle and let her pick a couple toys. She picked a sea horse that has a glowing tummy and plays music and a baby doll. She LOVES them both! She will stare at her baby's face and gets so excited when we bring it out.

Giving baby kisses Madi has been wanting to sit up or stand. She does not enjoy laying on her back like she used to. I try to have her sit every day and she is getting pretty good. She will sit a few minutes before she gradually goes closer and closer to the floor, folding herself in half. :) I tried to get Madi to show me her teeth for the camera but her tongue was in the way in most of them. You can kind of see them in this one.
Madi's teeth... with a little help from mom. :)Madi is doing new things every day. It is fun to start feeding her new things. She HATES peas. She LOVES sweet potatoes. She thinks pears, apples and peaches are SOUR and makes the cutest faces when we feed her these. She isn't so sure about the chicken and vegitable dinner and doesn't seem to mind carrots. She likes to chew on frozen fruit. She has tried mangoes and peaches and I think she likes the mango best.

Since she has got her teeth she has started to chew her fingers on the side of her mouth. On occasion she bites them or her tongue and I have to remind her that it hurts when we bite. The poor kid. All these new things to learn and remember. :)

Always changing...

I wanted to let everyone know that we have decided to change Madi's blessing to Saturday night after the sealing. We thought a lot about it and didn't want everyone to have to drive up twice so we feel like this is the best solution. We are waiting for the final okay but as of right now we have scheduled our old church building in Bountiful. As soon as we know for sure we will get the invites out!

Looking...

Derrick and I have felt pretty safe since the recession started as far as his job goes. Turns out that when people are having a hard time, beer sales go up. We did not expect however, for Miller and Coors to merge. Because of the merger, the Miller distributor in Salt Lake is buying M&M Distributing. From the sounds of it they intend to move everything over to M&M Distributing and sell their warehouse. Since they already have a staff, they don't need the employees that are currently working for M&M. That means if the sale goes through (VERY likely at this point) then Derrick won't have a job come the end of February/beginning of March. So, we are officially looking for jobs.

Number two...

Madi's second tooth broke through today. She has had a miserable couple of days. The poor thing. One thing that I have to say though is that I LOVE how cuddly she has been. She has just wanted me to hold her and lay on my shoulder. She usually wants to be playing and moving all around, not cuddling. She is such a good little one. Even though she is not feeling great, she still gets the sweetest smile when we talk to her. She is our little angel!

mmm...chocolate...

My sister brought our Christmas presents back from Texas from my mom and I got them on Tuesday. She put Dove Chocolates in our stockings. I decided that since grandma had sent it to Madi that I would let her have a taste. I was originally going to just let her lick it a few times but she wanted the WHOLE thing! Since she is just so cute I let her. She was elated! All done!!! Needless to say, bathtime followed... :)

bUsy, BusY, buSy....

We had a BUSY day yesterday! It started at the doctors for Madi's 6 month/adoption finalization appointment. She weighs 16 lbs putting her in the 75% and is 25 inches long putting her in the 60% for her height. While we were there she was chewing on my fingers and she bit me with her first tooth!!! One finally broke through and the other one is so close you can see it. I will post a picture as soon as she will move her tongue without the help of my fingers. :)

Since Derrick is sick we brought him along with is. He has bronchitis. He just finished his medicine for pneumonia a week and a half ago! The poor guy. I dropped him off at his parents so he could rest and so I didn't have to take him back home and headed down to Lehi for a much needed hair cut.

Bekka, my sister, is going to cosmetology school so I went to be her model for the day. She did an AWESOME job and I would recommend her to anyone! I will post pics of the cut soon. Since Taylor was there with me and she was so good and has been wonderful at keeping her panties dry (yep, she's potty training) she got her nails painted and even got little flowers on them.

After we were done there and grabbing a quick bite to eat we went to my brothers to play. My niece Caitlin is only a month younger than Taylor. While they played I thought I would play with my cute little nephew Brenton. He is ten days younger than Madi. I picked him up only to have him totally FREAK OUT on me. I seem to remember Whitney and Caitlin both doing this as well and I would just have to hold them until they liked me, sometimes it took a while. :D Brenton was completely inconsolable in my arms and his crying started Madi crying. After a few minutes, his daddy, Nicholas, rescued him from me and was able to calm him back down. I really wish I lived closer or they lived closer or something so that they would know me and not get so upset when I pick them up. Seriously, the girls both love me now that they remember me. :D

We headed to Target to fill Derrick's prescription and by that time it was time to head back to Bountiful to drop Taylor off to her mom. I went and picked up Derrick and then stopped at Costco to pick up Madi's announcement which I have to say turned out so good. She FINALLY gave me her beautiful smile while I had my camera out. What a sweetheart!

We stopped at the distribution center for a few things before going to LDS Family Services for our FINAL supervisory visit with Lisa, our caseworker. We were there until 7:30 and then were finally able to go home from our LONG day and curl up on the couch with Simon, Randy, Kara and Victoria. It was a great day and we got lots done but I am looking forward to a slower day, with less driving, at home. :D

Seriously... so cute...

I have to start by saying that I have the CUTEST daughter ever!!! She is such an angel and I am so lucky to have her. Even though she is really somber in this picture I LOVE it!!! It is one of Derrick's faves too!Last night while we were reading scriptures Madi started to pull her blanket over her head and then would pull it down and giggle before repeating it. She can play peek-a-boo!!! :DWhat a cute smile!!! She did the funniest thing on Saturday. I wiped her nose and set her on the floor to go get her bottle. She was SCREAMIN' MAD because she hates to get her nose wiped. So, Derrick went and picked her up while I finished the bottle. When I went to get her she turned her head the other way. Derrick turned her toward me and again, she turned her head. I took her and she got upset again and wouldn't eat. I told Derrick to come see if it was just because she was too mad at me. IT WAS! Since Derrick is sick I told him to go to bed and I would take care of it. I put my arms out to Madi and she went off, jabber at me and telling me how it was between sobs. I said I was sorry and she came right to me. It was so funny and so cute. What a sweetheart!

Splish Splash...

We took Madi swimming yesterday for the first time. It was so much fun! I think she really enjoyed it. I am so Excited to take her to the splash park this summer and see her be more active. She really liked floating with us in the lazy river! What a cutie!!!

Growing so fast...

Madi is growing up so fast! She is five months and a week. She is eating solids, has figured out that if she sucks then her sippy works, she has rolled from her tummy to her back and her back to her tummy, she had her first high fever (102 degrees) and her first antibiotic. We are hoping, for her sake, that she will be getting her first tooth any day. In less than a month she will be legal ours and in a little over a month she will be eternally ours!!! (side note: If you are coming to the sealing, we had to change it 5:00 pm). I am loving every minute of being her mom. I love the kisses she gives and how excited she gets to see me. She is such an angel and I am so blessed to be her mom.

This is Madi's Christmas dress. We are trying to get the perfect picture to send as her announcement (we decided to send them for our sealing instead of her birth) and while she looks stinkin' cute, I am just not feelin' it. I think it's the bow.

Merry Christmas...

We had an almost PERFECT Christmas! Derrick and Madi were both sick but other than that it was perfect!After Madi had eaten and we had read from Luke 2 daddy brought out Madi for her first Christmas. She was a little out of it since she usually goes back to bed after her first feeding of the day and a lor overwhelmed by mom and dad and all the excitement. :DI made BIG pillows for each of us to go down in the theater. Madi and Derrick both got matching flannel rag blankets. Madi's pillow is bigger than her!Santa brought Madi a jumparoo. She LOVES it! She kept trying to pull the flowers to her mouth and got a little frusterated when they didn't come. It was so cute to watch!Madi got her jumparoo, a pillow and blanket, three books, a crawl toy and a shirt.Derrick got a pillow and blanket, stuff for his planner, a couple shirts, socks and a shoe polish kit.I got a pillow, a book, Up, "WINTER" letters, frames and a couple shirts.After the presents were opened and we set Madi by hers for some pictures this is what we got...The poor girl was COMPLETELY worn out! We straightened her out and gave her her binki and within seconds she was out cold.

It was a wonderful first Christmas for our little family and we can't wait until next year when Madi will be a little older!!!

Christmas Eve...

After a yummy turkey dinner we all opened our new jammies. Madi was still not feeling great but here are a few pictures of our cutie.