Five Months Old!!!

I can't believe it's been five months since our family of two became three. We are so in love with Madison. She brings so much love, excitement, and happiness into our home. I can't imagine life without her. I keep telling Troy that I can't wait to have more kids because she is just so amazing. I just can't believe that we created someone so sweet and so beautiful. Troy says that I have to stop telling her that she is gorgeous, beautiful, cute, etc because she will grow up being full of herself. But I'm sorry to say that it's too late. She LOVES to look at herself in the mirror.

I thought tonight I would take a little look back. I have to say it was a lot harder to pick pictures than I thought it would be.

First Day!!!

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Stats.

I usually don't post Maddie's stats, but after yesterday's doctors appointment I had to share.

Height - 26 7/8 inches (97th percentile)
Weight - 15 lbs 12 oz (77th percentile)
Head - 17 inches (92nd percentile)

Yes! I have a huge baby! I keep telling Troy that really she is 16 lbs 2 oz almost half the time, because she is drinking 6 oz bottles. haha! The doctor told me that if she was 8 months old, she would be in the 50th percentile for her height. She is a TALL girl! Her dad says that its because she is part Yeti.

Oh and btw my sweet dark haired girl is going blonde. It's a little bittersweet. I'm excited for more people to look at her and tell me that she looks like me, but at the same time I love her dark hair with her bright blues eyes. That is the baby I'm used to. I'd post a picture but it really just looks like she is going bald with patches of dark brown hair. The blonde is so light you can barely see it.

THE RACHAEL RAY SHOW!!!!!!!!!!

My candy company is going to be featured on The Rachael Ray show!!! I sent a sample of our rocky road popcorn to them about a month and a half ago and we just heard back today. We still don't know what day the show will air, but we know that they are taping it on Sept. 9th. I'll keep you updated. I AM SO EXCITED!!!! I can't believe that this is happening. I feel so blessed!

Ireland 2009

We just got back this week from Troy and Maddie's first trip to Ireland. We had a great time. The trip was in celebration of my brother Nick's 30th Birthday. We had a great party for him, but of course I forgot my camera that night. I'll do another post about his party once I get some pictures from Eva.

Maddie was an amazing traveller. She seriously did better than Troy and me. She loved take off and landing. She loved watching all the other passengers. She loved meeting all of our Irish family and friends. She especially loved taking tons and tons of naps while we drove all over showing her Daddy around Ireland. By the second night there she was back on her normal schedule. I keep telling Troy that I feel bad for our future children. They have so much to live up to. Poor kids! Ha!

This is Malin Head. It's the most Northern point of Ireland. I love this view. We have so many pictures here from the past 25 years, but it just never gets old.



The three picture above are all at the Grianan of Aileach. It's a stone fort built thousands of years ago. This is another place we always go to. There are tunnels that run through the middle of the fort. They are gated off now, but when we were little we used to play in them.

Martha was great! She hates getting her picture taken but we forced her to pose for us any chance we could. This picture and the next several ones are all taken in a town called Raphoe. It's pronounced Ra Foe, but I liked to call it Rap a Hoe. What? No? At least I think I'm funny...

Anyway there was a castle ruin, an old Protestant church, and a stone circle that we had never seen before.

Derek and Troy wanted to pose with the statue as well. Pervs.

This is how Maddie spent most of her time in Ireland. Moira (my mom's cousin Drew's mother haha!) always tells us that the air is heavier there, so we sleep better and longer.

This was the climb up to the stone circle. As Troy pointed out, "this is not a tour for fat people!" haha! It was a bit of a hike but in the end it was totally worth it...

Now all of a sudden they are camera shy.

I love this bridge. It's in a town called Buncrana. Troy loved all the names of the towns. Like Drumahoe, Muff, and Dungiven. He and Arden had a great time coming up with puns.

This is one of the only pictures I have of Madison awake. And the best part is that she is falling asleep in the picture.

This is Dunluce Castle. This is as close as we got. We were in the middle of a down pour and decided that we would just look from afar.

This picture and the next several ones are taken at Giant's Causeway.


Like Father like daughter. Everyone else knows how to look at the camera except for my family.

That's better.

Favorite picture of the trip!



Maddie first taste of rice cereal. I know normally I would say this is Maddie's first taste of real food, but her Daddy likes to make things interesting and she has licked an apple, sucked on a Popsicle and tried some strawberry yogurt and she has loved every minute of it. Now the rice cereal, not so much. We have some flavored stuff we got in Ireland so we'll try that next. We wanted to start with the plain stuff.

On the plane home. We were lucky enough to not have someone else in the row with us, so Maddie got her own seat. On the flight from Belfast to Newark, there were little screens on each seat to watch movies, TV shows, play games, listen to music, and track the flight. Maddie watched a Harry Potter movie with me and You've Got Mail with Leonie.



Rosie and Noah decided to come to Ireland at the very last minute. I mean VERY last minute. She decided to go at 9pm on Tuesday and left Wednesday morning at 11am. We had a great time with them. Noah is so cute with Maddie. He is always wondering where she is, giving her her binkie, and wanting to hold her.

Allen and Leonie!!! We were so excited to be travelling with them. Maddie LOVED them. She loved to snuggle Allen and play with Leonie.

Sometimes I just love to watch her sleep

Road trip, baby shower, and pedicures

We were down in Portland this weekend for Troy's cousin's baby shower. It ended up being a mini family reunion. Dani, Troy's cousin, is having a baby girl in October. They are naming her Kadin. How cute is that? With everyone that came into town for the shower and everyone that lives in the Portland area, most of the family was together. We had a great time seeing everyone. We found out while we were there, that Troy's cousin Robin is having a baby in December. Another girl! Three girls in one year. Granny Lucy better get sewing. These girls have got to have matching outfits! Of course Maddie was a hit. She was so sweet and let everyone hold her.

We also went to Amy's salon (Uncle Woody's girlfriend) to get pedicures. Maddie begged to get in on the action...

I promise I'll get a shot of the finished product. Its too cute!

I a good uncle.

Nick is my almost 30 year old! brother with cerebral palsy. He is sweet, funny, bratty, handsome, happy, and brave. And Nick is the first one to tell you how great he is. ha! Today he is flying to Ireland to start the celebration for his 30Th Birthday. My aunt Rosie and her baby Noah is flying over with him (as well as a few others). Today when the flight was about to take off, Noah crawled over a few laps and settled into Nick's so he could look out the window as the plane took off. When Mom told me the story over the phone later, I could hear Nick in the background telling anyone that would listen, "I a good uncle." Most babies are a bit scared of Nick because he is different and they can tell. I find it very interesting that the babies in our family aren't scared, they just love him. Even when he starts tattling on them, they still love him.

A few days ago, Mom and Nick were over at my house. Mom had been feeding Madison a bottle and Nick decided that it was his turn to give it a shot. He really is a good uncle.