You gotta go get married?!?

Dierks Bently = great concert!  We saw him last night at Universal and he really does put on a good show.  Anyway, on the way home, my nephew, Asher, had asked if we could go back to Universal today.  I told him no, that Jeremy, Madelyn, and I had to go to church.  I guess someone has gotten married recently because he said "you gotta go get married tomorrow?"  It was cute.  I explained to him that although yes, some people get married in churches, that we also go to church to learn about Jesus. 
Asher said that when when he got bigger, like 25 10 (his words, not mine), then he could get married.  I told him yes, when he was much older.  Jeremy then asked him who he was going to marry and his answer was too cute! 
Usually you hear about a little boy saying that when he gets older he's going to marry his mommy.  Not this little boy.  He said "Maybe when I'm older and Madelyn's older I will marry Madelyn."  Really?!?  That just shows how much he loves her. 
Now, lets not get all nasty thinking here.  We all know little kids don't understand that it's not okay to marry their cousins, but that when they talk about marrying someone it is usually just because that is someone they care about.  My heart just melted. 
Madelyn truly LOVES Asher and thinks he hung the moon.  She looks up to him for everything.  When he isn't here, she asks to see him via video camera.  She cries when it's over.  He is the closest thing to a big brother she has and he is the greatest to her.  Hearing Asher say that made me feel so good knowing that he really does love her and doesn't just play with her because he has to. So sweet!

BFF's forever :)

~Yummy~

Madelyn's papaw found some popsicle molds while we were visiting Jessica.  He got so excited and said he used to make popsicles when he was a child and wanted to know if  Madelyn would want some.  Well who am I to deny a gift?! (I also made these when I was younger and LOVED them.)  Unfortunately, we didn't get to make any while they were here, so Madelyn and I made them yesterday.  She had such a great time helping me and eating the finished product too!  Here she is being such a great little helper (excuse the messy hair)..........

We made fruit and yogurt pops!

Mmmm. Too good to wait!

Finished product!

These are super easy to make.  I actually got the recipe out of Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicous book.  It calls for 2 cups frozen berries, 2 cups plain lowfat yogurt, and 1/4 or a little more confectioner's sugar.  We halved the recipe because we wanted to do strawberry and then mixed berry.

Try them!  Your little one, or big one, will really like them!

Today's Cuteness

Just thought I'd share a couple pics of Madelyn and Bruce.  Everytime she sees my phone sitting around and she is loving on him, she says "cheese momma."  So here they are!

Sharing a little wisdom

The preacher at church yesterday said something that just kinda stuck.  I think it's a great piece of "advice" and I wanted to share.  He said something like this, " You don't always do something because you WANT to.  You do it because it's right." 


 (He also made the similar comment about why you don't do things... because you know they're wrong.)   I really liked that quote and I was going to share how it applies to my life, but I don't want your take on the quote to be steered in the same direction as mine. Maybe you will get something out of this, maybe not.   

Ahh vitamin D

Finally!! I am LOVING this beautiful weather we've had the past few days.  It's been so sunny and even a little warm ~ Madelyn got to wear one of her cute new outfits yesterday :)  We spent the entire weekend outside and it was wonderful.  Saturday, we took Madelyn to Universal with my brother and nephew, Asher.  They had a great time- as they always do with each other- and we had some fun too! 
Yesterday was the real fun, for me atleast.  As we walked out of church, I begged Jeremy to take me to the beach!  I knew it'd be cooler there, and I'd have to wear normal clothes, but I NEEDED the beach.  It is my own personal drug I guess you could say.  It's been way too long since we've seen each other (the weekend at Jessica's doesn't count...It was just a little too cold).  We swung by to pick up my brother and nephew again, and off we went.
The kids had a great time playing and laughing and running.   I, on the other hand, sat my hiney on a towel and took in all the fun around me (which was my very own playtime).  I watched my beautiful little girl concentrating so hard in order to fill her huge bucket up with sand.  Asher and the guys ran around in front of me playing a little football.  There were people who would occasionally walk past us at the oceans fingertips and EVERYONE seemed so pleased to have this time.  I found myself drawn in by the ocean and the seagulls quite a few times.  There couldn't possibly be anything more relaxing that this God given oasis.  As the evening brought cooler weather, and we began to pack up, we were blessed with the presence of a special guest or two-- or MORE.  We saw anywhere from ten to fifteen dolphins swimming near the beach line.  I tried so hard to get a good picture of them, but what can I say, my camera is TERRIBLE and SLOW.   We couldn't have asked for a better end to our visit although the kids really could have cared less about the dolphins.  We finished up our day with a little Bubba Gump and waved good bye to another great weekend.

Love these little shoes.  So cute.

Here she is...Working so hard :)

Cute little fishy.

Looking out into the ocean. So beatiful.

So peaceful and relaxing.

 

Best pic of the day. Those are Jeremy's hands Madelyn is running to.

  

Not so good news

  My mom has been having some health issues the past few years but the doctors haven't been able to pin point the cause.  She's been in and out of doctor's offices in search of an answer that is actually correct.  She recently went to an ear, nose and throat doctor because she felt she had fluid in her ear.  (She's a nurse and is usually pretty good at knowing what things are when they happen--with the exception of the big picture.)  Sure enough, fluid on the ear.  The doctor set up some other tests to try to determine the cause of the entire problem and she has completed each without any outcome.  All the possibilities had been ruled out.  Ugh.

As I stated a few posts back, they moved across the bay a couple weeks back.  Because of this, we just haven't seen them lately.  Mom and Dad came over last night to see Madelyn after they had eaten.  I just assumed they missed her and wanted to spend some time hanging out.  As we're sitting here, Mom just casually brings up that she had her follow up appointment this past Monday.  I didn't think anything would be wrong because she didn't seem distraught, didn't mention anything until now, and was going on about how everything came back negative. 

This is the point in my post, and in my mind, where things go downhill.  They just spiral out of control.....
  
She went on about how the doctor wanted to scope behind her ear to check things out and that was fine.  Then she wanted to run it down her throat just for further observation and she got sick and thank goodness there was a pan and yadayadayada.  Next thing you know BAM!

The doctor said she found a mass at the bottom of her tongue and that it's soft so she doesn't THINK it's cancer but that she wants to check her again in two months to see if it's grown.  (As a side note, we do have cancer in our family and throat cancer is one of them.)  She said that if it's gotten any larger by then that she'd want to biopsy it.  WELL EXCUSE ME FOR FREAKING OUT.  If it were me, I would have asked to have it byopsied now just to keep me from worrying.  By this time in the conversation, I'm tearing up and they're starting to fall down my face.  My mom keeps on talking like it's no big deal and she's just here to chit chat.  I stop her to ask why is it that I'm the only one in the room upset by this news and they shake it off and say that if the doctor wasn't worried about it then things were fine.  I also commented on the whole biopsy thing and she replies that she didn't want to have to be in the hospital..WHAT?!  I just don't get it.  Now I'm crying big time, and the kids are looking at me like I'd fallen off my bike and scraped my knee.
  
Okay, so if things are okay, then why are you now asking my husband, who works in insurance, to find some kind of policy for you just in case?  I am NOT prepared for any negative outcome here.  I've known my mom's having health issues, but never in a million years would I expect something  like this to be the cause.  NO WAY is this really going to come back as cancer.  It just can't. 

I know I'm not looking at anything as the glass is half full and eventually, hopefully, I'll get back to that.  But right now, every selfish thing is running around in my head.  What if this is true?  I watched one of my grandfather's go through a long miserable road with this.  She can't have something like this.  And what if it can't be controlled?  She is supposed to be around when Madelyn is older to help us pick out prom dresses.  We haven't even finished having kids.  She needs to be here to meet them when the time comes.  I can't have Madelyn and my other children growing up not knowing or remembering her.  I don't want them to feel robbed.  I don't want them to hear crazy stories and have everyone else laughing around but them because they didn't get to know her.  Who would I call when I wanted to just get out of the house, or whine about something, or needed advice about what to wear for an event? 

I have really tried lately to put ALL of my trust in God.  To know that He has a plan and that things will work out however they may.  Well way to throw a curveball in there.  I have learned that although things will not be perfect for those who put all their faith in God, that we will get through things no matter how difficult.  This has got to be my most difficult challenge and now that I've gotten all my fears that come to mind about this situation down, I plan to do exactly what I've been asked.  To put all my trust in Him.  I know me.  And I know that I will still have these spurts of anxeity and I pray that I'll have the courage to just let go and deal with things in the best way possible.  I do ask, however, that if you stumble upon this and you believe in God, to please keep us in your prayers tonight.

I'll be sure to keep updates and hopefully this will turn into just another time where I freaked out for no reason.  If you made it all the way down here, thanks for sticking with my HUGE debbie downer soapbox speech.

Down the boardwalk..

My brother and I took Madelyn and her cousin Asher to a park the other day that is located right on the bay.  It's so cute and even has a pier out onto the bay.  I took some really cute pics and wanted to post them.  Enjoy! 

   I took this one by holding my camera over the railing.  She and Asher were looking at the water.

Daddy and son looking out into the water.  So cute.

Really.  How much cuter does this get.  Madelyn LOVES her cousin so much.

This is from the photography loving side of me.

I couldn't resist atleast one pose.  I wish the lighting had been better.

Ahh! Gotta love those eyes :)

What a cutie!

Beautiful downtown across the bay.

Finally the time has come

We started potty training at 14 months. No, I'm not one of those parents to rush a child who isn't ready. I've had a lot of experience potty training kids from working in childcare for quite a few years. I went ahead and purchased a potty for when the time came. When we got it home and sat it down, Madelyn just sat down and peed. I SWEAR. So, I took that as my que to begin. She did so well, and was pretty much trained after a few months (she also decided to only use the big potty)but then we took a vacation to Universal. There went all our hard work... down the drain. So, these past few months I've kinda laid off and figured that when she was ready, she'd just do it. Lately, she's been doing great during the day when she's in panties. However, as soon as I put her in a pull up to go somewhere (for fear of having accidents at places) she pee pees. Luckily, she will not go number two in her pants at ALL. Anyway, I decided to just take the plunge since even at night she won't wet herself. Got a travel potty to keep in the car, kept a couple changes of clothes with us, and kept reminding her to tell us if she needs to go. She's been in big girl panties since Thursday and NO accidents. I hope like crazy I'm not jinxing this. She's such a big girl and loves her Dora panties that she chose. We even went accident free on the ride to and from Jessica's (three hour drive). We did bring a potty with us and she would let us know when she needed to use it. We were even successful after a bug juice in the car! I'm so proud of her and she's such a big girl without a pull up bulging out. I can't believe my baby girl is potty trained before she's two! Yay for her :) And I'm sure there'll be times we have accidents, I'm not blind to that. But I am proud of her and even myself. I believe that having the opportunity to stay at home with her and have that one on one time has been a BIG help. Just wanted to share our awesome news. Getting to share this with Madelyn--and being a part of it--is probably more rewarding than winning first place in some tournament (And I'm pretty competitive!)

Paradise for the Weekend

Yay! We finally made it back down to visit my sister in law. We've been so busy lately, or things have come up, that it's been a while. My in laws flew in and we met them down there. We had a great weekend even though it was cold down there too (Crazy Florida weather this year).

Madelyn is a very blessed little girl in the fact that EVERYONE loves her. I don't mean your every day typical "I love you," I mean, can't go more than a few weeks without seeing her loves her. And, she returns the favor. She really does genuinely love and enjoy being with everyone in our family.

As soon as we told her we were going to visit Jessa, she was geared up to go! It's about a three hour trip down and so we told her that after she woke up, she'd get to see Jessa, Papaw, and Grammie. So, she was a good little napper but woke up just a tad too early. I had a tough time explaining to her why they weren't there yet. So, we finally pulled up to Jessica's, and as we unloaded, they pulled up too. So, while Jeremy was taking the luggage out (poor baby) Madelyn and I practically bounced up and down waving and shouting hey!

We meant we were visiting the beach. Can you believe you can still have fun at the beach when it's cold? Madelyn had a great time with everyone. She walked the beach with Jessa, watched surfers with Grammie, and enjoyed a nature walk with Papaw.

I swear she didn't nap all weekend. She went to bed LATE and woke up no later than 8 ready to go. I guess she didn't want to miss out on any time with some of her favorite people. And during this entire time, she may have gotten whiny once. Such a good little girl if I may say so myself :)

We didn't have a big eventful weekend. Just hung out with everyone and had fun being with each other. And now everyone is back at home and we're waiting until the next time we get to visit. Until then, here are a few more pics to enjoy of our weekend in paradise!

Just a cute moment

I wanted to share something cute that Madelyn did today. She cuddled all her babies up to one of her bubbas (Harley). I guess she thought he was ready to go night night or something since she asks for all her babies at night for bedtime. The way she imitates us is so remarkable....

Birthday Ballons

Yesterday was Jeremy's 25th birthday! Happy birthday to the best husband I could ever ask for!!! Oh how I wanted it to be so special and unforgettable, but,things happen. So, instead of the huge birthday surprise-- having friends come in and go on a fishing trip (which thank goodness this didn't happen because it is unusually cold here), we had a small family "party" instead.

Since he was turning 25, I got the bright idea to get him 25 gifts-- things he needed or that I knew he liked. This was not an easy task. We got him several silly things like a pack of gum that he likes and some chips he likes. We also got him a nice shirt to wear to church and swim trunks and flip flops. I also typed up 25 things I love about him (get it--25 things?!) and put it into a pretty frame. A little serious mixed with some goofy. Just like Jeremy himself.

All the gifts were in a cute basket from Target and sitting on the table with his cake full of lit candles and balloons above. Decorations were lacking. This being due to little surprise he gave us...he came home early for his birthday! All I was able to do was blow up some balloons, and since Madelyn happens to LOVE balloons, I was unable to pry them away from her to hang them. So, we compromised. I got a few for the lights, and she got a lot for the ground :)

AHH I was so rushed to get things halfway completed. Because he was coming home early, I placed the chocolate covered strawberries in the fridge on top of stuff. When I went in to get something else out, they came tumbling down... saved, but not pretty anymore. The cake had to come straight out of the oven and get topped with icing which I knew would melt. Sure enough, the cake looked pretty pitiful with melted icing. It certainly was one of the saddest looking cakes I've ever made. Madelyn and I had yet to have baths and neither of us were dressed for the occasion. Wrapping presents was a challenge. We ran out of the birthday paper I had gotten and Madelyn was not feeling well, so I had to think a little. Since this is my husband, and I knew he wouldn't mind and that no one else would see, I just took some other wrapping paper and used the white side. Uh oh, another bump in the road. Ran out of tape! Glue stick to the rescue! haha!!! By the time I was finished, my wrapping job looked like Madelyn did it. AGAIN, I would NOT do this for anyone other than Jeremy. But hey, it's what's inside that counts right?! Anyway, Jeremy got home, blew out candles, and opened the 25 rather challenged gifts!

Afterwards, we took Madelyn to the park and kicked the football (Jeremy was a punter in high school and college). I got some great pics of Madelyn and we had a wonderful time just the three of us :) Finally, we went to eat Japanese-Jeremy's absolute FAVORITE meal. All in all, I think it turned out nice. I hope he enjoyed his day as much as Madelyn and I did. We absolutely LOVE it when he surprises us by coming home early...even when it "ruins" plans. Again, Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband and the best daddy in the world!!

Big Girl Bed

Today is the day! We are picking Madelyn's mattress up today after work. I'm so excited and hope she adjusts well. I can't wait to be able to cuddle with her in the mornings in her own bed :) I'm sure she will love being able to share her bed with her cousin when he's here as well. We've had her bedding since before Christmas but have had to wait to purchase the rest... Money's tight these days for everyone it seems. I've been working on her room here and there ever since. Who knows what the final outcome will be for it?! Or, if there will ever be a "finished product." Maybe one specific theme or maybe just a hodgepodge of things we think we like. It seems like greens and pinks are the colors we stick with. Either way, I'm sure Madelyn will love it and give it her own personal word "woo woo". (She adjusted the whistle that we'd do when we thought she looked pretty. You know the hot mama whistle haha.) I'll try to get some pictures posted of her in her new big girl bed by tomorrow.

Here's a pic of her new bed :) As I said before, the room's still a work in progress and it's a lot of pink, but we're pleased so far.