Christmas Card Pictures

Over the past couple of days we have been trying to get some fun pictures of Madison for our Christmas card. Since the year that we got married we have sent out a picture card, first one from our wedding and then a family picture of the 3 of us for the following years. This year Zach and I were not real excited to be in the picture and just were not feeling it. The couple of family shots that we have from the past few months have at least one of us (mostly Madison) looking away or doing something weird. We don't have a whole lot of all 3 of us because either Zach or I take the picture so we are not in it. It doesn't help that Madison pretty much hates getting her picture taken and our nice SLR camera broke about a month after we got it. I am so sad that it broke because when we had it I was taking pictures all the time and having fun learning all the things that I could do with it. We are trying to decide if we should fix the one we have, that we got used off of craigslist, or spend just a little bit more and get a new one. Either way it's just not in the budget to fix it right now.

 So we pretty much had to start from scratch for good pictures. We tried to make it fun for her and saying that we are playing dress up, which we are, but we just try to down play the part about taking her picture. We have gotten a few cute ones, a few funny ones, and a whole lot of the moving/looking away/jumping/etc. Here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

Playing dress-up in her Snow White outfit

"Mom, this is what I think of all these pictures. No More!"

This one is my absolute favorite, it shows off her personality so well!

Sleeping Beauty

A few days ago, right before nap time, Madison was running around the house being crazy and literally as I was telling her to slow down so that she didn't get hurt, she tripped and hit her head on the corner of the table. After lots of tears, an ice pack, some juice, and some snuggle time she was doing much better except for a few sniffles or little cries here and there. I put her on the couch with her blankies and a few books while I ran downstairs to start some laundry and when I got back upstairs, this is what I saw...

So I scooped her up, and we headed into my bedroom to take a nice afternoon nap together. So sweet!

JC Penny & Salvation Army Angel Giving Tree

This year for Christmas Zach and I made the decision to "adopt" a child for Christmas. JC Penny and the Salvation Army make it so easy to find the child that is right for you, just visit www.jcp.com/angel and from there you enter in your personal preferences for the child you want to adopt. You can choose whether you want a boy or a girl, where they are from, and what age group they fall into. Then you get a list of the kids that match what you entered and you choose the child for you. Each child has a list of things that they need and things that they want. You have until the 14th (I think) of December to drop off items for your adopted child, so there is still plenty of time to jump in and help out if you feel moved to do so! There is also a bunch more information on the website if you have any questions.

It really put things in perspective to see what these children were putting that they wanted/needed. Virtually every need was an article of clothing and the wants were one or two small things, like books or a baby doll or a cd. Compare that to how many things end up on alot of kids Christmas list, always wanting the newest and best toys/electronics/etc. It was a great opportunity to take Madison with when we went shopping and explain to her that not all boys and girls have a toy box full of toys, a bookcase full of books, and a closet overflowing with clothes. I know that she doesn't completely "get" it yet, but she understands the basic idea of why we are doing this and we can build on that.

Our adopted child is a 6 month old little girl and all that her mommy put on the list is that she needs shirts and wants some childrens cds. It is possible that I went a little bit overboard and got all sorts of fun clothes and toys, but I'm not willing to admit to anything! It is just so fun to shop for a baby and think about all of the things that Madison loved at that age that this little girl might love too. I honestly think that I have gotten more out of this experience than the adopted family ever could. It truly is better to give than to receive.

Fun Fall Five Question Friday

One of my blogging "friends", Mama M, hosts a weekly blog hop called Five Question Friday over on her blog at http://fivecrookedhalos.blogspot.com It is super easy to join in if you would like to, and a fun way to find out more about each other. For me it's also a great gentle nudge that reminds me that maybe I should go do a post of my own. Often I start posts and then have to go do something else and then when I come back a few days later, it just doesn't seem to be all that interesting. If you want to join in, all you have to do is copy and paste the questions on your blog, answer the questions, and head over to Mama M's blog to link up.

1. If you could be a fly on any wall, which would you choose?I have been trying to think of a good answer to this question and just can't think of anything really. The one thing that keeps coming up in my mind is that I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall backstage and a performance of Rent. Kinda cheesy I know, but I am a huge renthead so it is kind of fitting I guess.

2. Do you budget your Christmas shopping or just get it done without budgeting?I have ballpark budget. We have a ballpark budget, meaning I know about how much we can/will spend but if we go over by a little bit it's no big deal. I usually have a list of the things that we have decided the get for each person on our list so that helps too.

3. What is the craziest fad diet you have ever done?I've never really done any fad diets, because I know that even if you see results in the beginning from a fad diet, in most cases it won't last. My best friend and I tried some diet pills that we had seen at Walgreens earlier that day, but both stopped after one dose when my dad told us that the ingredients were basically the same thing as speed. I'm honestly not sure if that's true or not, but it sure scared us away from using them.

I am thinking about joining weight watchers, but don't really think of that as a fad diet.

4. Is there a TV show that you have seen every episode/season of?There are actually quite a few; Friends, Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls, Boy Meets World, Law and Order SVU, and 24. There's probably even more but seeing how many I have already listed, I feel like it seems like all I do every day is sit and watch TV.

I watched all of them when they were on the air(and still watch most of them in re-runs sometimes), but I also have each of those shows on DVD and have watched some or all of the episodes of a show when I have been in the hospital. They all made a hospital stay at least a little bit more tolerable.

5. What one song always pulls at your heart?The Christmas Shoes always makes me tear up a little. And recently any of the Veggie Tales praise and worship songs that Madison can now song all the words too. It is so cute hearing her sweet little voice start singing Thy Word, In the Secret, and I Could Sing of Your Love Forever. It totally melts my heart and brings a little tear to my eyes.

The weather here the past few days has been out of this world. It has been sunny and in the low 80's while showing off the beauty of Minnesota fall. We have taken advantage of this nice weather and squeezed every last drop of outdoor fun that we can get. We have been to the park, played in our sandbox, ran around in the back yard chasing each other, and played on the swings. We sat out on the deck tonight and watched the sunset while the wonderful smell of a bonfire at a neighbors house topped off an amazing weekend. I love fall and everything that comes along with it. I love the cooler weather (but not the frigid temperatures that will be here all too soon), finding the perfect pumpkins and carving them, jumping in a pile of leaves with Madison, drinking a cup of hot apple cider or hot chocolate, and going for walks picking up pretty leaves.

We had planned on heading to the apple orchard/pumpkin farm today, but ended up staying home. We are all dealing with a nasty cold bug and decided a day of taking it easy was just what the doctor ordered. We are trying to decide if this is just a simple cold that is hanging around a little longer than normal or if it is something that we should get checked out by a doctor. I think that how we feel tomorrow will decide what we do.

I just got Madison back to sleep after a coughing fit woke her up, so I am finally going to head to bed myself.

Madison's Birthday Recap

Once again I have failed in my attempts to be a better blogger. Shortly after our new (to us) camera stopped working, our computer decided that it was going on strike too and needed a new hard drive before it would work again. But it is now back in working order and better than ever. If only our camera was under warranty like the computer, I would be so happy. 

At the end of August, my baby turned three years old. I remember the night she was born like it was yesterday,what I remember most is looking at her just in awe of the fact that I had something to do with her being here. Driving home from the hospital I kept waiting for someone to tell me that there had been some mistake and I couldn't take her home with me. These past few years have been the best years of my life. I love my new role as a wife and mommy, and feel so blessed to have the family that I do.

The night of her birthday, Zach and I took her to Chuck E Cheese and she had a blast! She loved throwing the balls for ski-ball, the only problem was that they were never thrown hard enough to make in up the whole ramp and the ball occasionally wound up on the next persons ramp. They also had a little merry go round that she rode on about 100 times. We had a small cake for her and she loved blowing out the candles after we sang Happy Birthday to her.

She also had 2 birthday parties this year. The weekend after her birthday we had one with my side of the family at our house. Nothing really special; we just grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, let the kids go out back to jump in the bouncy house while the adults chatted, ate some cake, and opened her gifts. I think she was most excited about having everyone sing to her, and seeing baby Gavin. She really in completely in love with him. The next weekend Zach's parents planned a birthday get together with some of his family at an awesome park that I have fallen in love with (highland park). Zach's sister, aunt, uncle, and a few cousins were in town from Colorado and that made it even better. Zach's cousin Corie and her husband had her baby, who we have never met, with her so it was really fun. Zach, Annie and I took Madison on her first paddle boat ride and she thought that was the coolest thing. It is always so fun to see her experience things for the first time.

Even though Madison could have started preschool this fall, we made the decision to hold off on that until next year. We have been working on numbers and letters for a while now, but I am going to start having some scheduled "school time" with her a few days a week to work on them. We are also going to give Your Baby Can Read a try. My gramma has called every time she sees the infomercial for it and is convinced that we should give it a try so I finally caved and said I would give it a try, I think it will be fun to have that school time together and it will help her be more prepared for when she does start school.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Madison loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse each morning while she wakes up. She is not always the happiest when she first wakes up, so we snuggle with her blanket and let her wake up at her own pace. Every time the show ends she asks if she can watch "one more and that's it" A few weeks ago my dad saw a pop up on the computer that could have your childs favorite Mickey character give them a call, so he checked it out. Not only will they call at whatever time you set up with them, but they will also call your child by name. So we have set up a phone call for Madison twice in the past few weeks and have a call set up for her birthday so that Mickey can wish her a happy birthday. She loves getting the calls and gets so excited that they know her name. If you want more info on this, check out  http://disney.go.com/charactercalls/piccolinismiles/

Can't A Girl Get Some Sleep?!?

For some unknown reason, I have been having the hardest time falling asleep lately. Each night I take enough medicine to knock out a horse, and normally it turns me into a walking zombie around 11ish like clockwork. But lately, I find myself wide awake at 4:00am and unable to sleep if my life depended on it. I have had time to do some reading, watch lots of mindless TV, catch up on some cleaning, and steal a few minutes to just watch my baby girl sleep.

At first it was kind of fun to have some "me" time to do all of the things I just don't seem to have enough hours to accomplish, but that novelty is wearing off. I feel like I have a newborn in the house again, and I just need a normal night of sleep. Before I get to busy complaining, I should say that I am so lucky that Zach has a flexible schedule and has been able to let me sleep in some once I finally am able to fall asleep (around 6am or so). Because of his schedule we keep a pretty relaxed schedule at home. There are lots of nights where Madison stays up until daddy gets home from work at 10ish so that she can say good night to him because she is able to sleep in the next day. It works well for us because we get a few minutes of family time before she goes to sleep and because when she sleeps in the next morning, it means that we can too! So even though things could be much worse on the sleep front, I am getting tired of the late night infomercials. Eventually things have to get back to normal right?

Man that looks so nice right now!

Long Overdue Post and Some Cute Pictures

Over the past 2 months I have started to write a new post quite a few times, but haven't finished them for one reason or another. A couple I wanted to add a few pictures to and our camera isn't working right now, a couple more I just had to stop to do something else and never finished them, and the last couple I decided were not interesting enough to post. But a few people  have mentioned that they miss the updates, so here I am again. Hopefully I will finally be able to keep up with some regular posts, if there is anything anyone would like me to blog about feel free to ask. I have trouble coming up with ideas that I think anyone wants to hear me talk about. At the end of this post I will put in some pictures that we had taken today since it has been well over a year since we have had professional pictures taken.

So here is a recap of some of the things that we have been up to in the past 2 months (in no particular order)

• We have spent countless hours out in the backyard playing on the play set or in the pool.
• We have worked on ABC's and 123's and she can count to 15 and recognize those numbers if she sees them, sing her ABC's and recognize some letters.
• We have sang at church and Madison "helps"  and sings with her own microphone
• We have watched lots of Twins games and Zach got to go to a game with a friend (I'm only slightly jealous).
• We have had lots of time to just relax with my family and Zach's parents. Zach's sister Annie came in to town over Memorial day weekend and we had lots of fun together. We went to the horse races at Canterbury Downs, ate at Lions Tap, and had a picnic/birthday party for Zach at an awesome park.
• We have tackled potty training and, with the exception of nights, seem to have mastered that.
• Saw some friends from out of town who have their own Mady who is only a few months older than Madison, and had a fun night watching them play together.
• Madison's speech has improved so much. She is officially out of speech therapy and is able to tell us what she wants/needs and I only have to translate to other people once in a while.
• Me, my mom, my gramma, and Madison went up to Grand Casino Hinckley and stayed at the Inn (a much smaller hotel) for a couple days and had lots of fun in the pool.
• Have watched hundreds of episodes of Mickey Mouse (she usually wants the same episode EVERY. SINGLE. DAY)
• Between Madison and I, we have spent way to many hours at doctor appointments, urgent care clinics, and ER's (with some short stays as an inpatient as well).
• Have enjoyed lots and lots of hugs, kisses, smiles, giggles, and snuggles with Madison. It's possible that a couple of those hugs or kisses may have been shared with my husband, but I can't be sure :)

Lovin on my Little Ladybug

Tonight was one of those moments that just melt a mothers heart and make all of the bad things disappear from your mind. After a very long day that included Madison refusing to nap, a super cranky 2 year old, and a trip to the ER (for me), Madison made me forget about all of it in about 2 seconds flat. We got home and she just wrapped her legs around me like a monkey and wouldn't let go. We snuggled up on the couch and she was out cold in a matter of minutes. I just sat there savoring each minute of having her asleep on me, knowing that all to soon she won't want to cuddle with her mom anymore. It was the perfect end to a not so perfect day.

It Isn't Easy Being Green

More and more I find myself wanting to move towards a "green" lifestyle. I know that we will never be the family that has a big compost pile, only eats organic food, and sells our cars so we can ride our bikes anywhere that we need to go, but I have been able to slowly get my husband on board with some small changes.

We have started to eat some organic foods. Our finances won't allow us to dive in completely so we have decided that our main focus will be on fruits and vegetables that don't have a peel that gets thrown away like berries, apples, and grapes. We will not worry as much about melons or oranges. My next goal is to start incorporating some organic meats, and dairy products. We have gotten organic milk for Madison from the time that she could drink milk so now that she drinks skim milk like us I have no real reason or explanation for why we don't drink it ourselves. I guess I figured that if someone was going to have the expensive milk it should be her. But we have committed to make some other changes or sacrifices so that we can afford to add in more organic foods into our daily meals.

I also decided that it would be fun to plant some vegetables of our own. However I failed to remember that my only gardening experience was a small barrel of flowers when I was maybe six or seven. I may have planted our vegetables a tad to early and did nothing to protect them from the cold at night...oops! So now that it has warmed up some more I am going to pull out the dead plants and try again with some new ones. We are planting tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red and orange peppers, snap peas, and maybe a few more if I get inspired when I go get them tomorrow.

I have started to buy natural cleaning products and using some household products as some of our cleaners as well. I have been toying with the idea of trying to make my own laundry soap, but I'm not sure if I will like it or not. I love when my clothes come out smelling like our fabric softener. I have also heard of using vinegar instead of fabric softener but I don't really think I would like that because again I love the way fabric softener makes my clothes smell and I HATE the smell of vinegar.

Finally, as crazy as my family thinks it is, I have been thinking that I want to give cloth diapering a try if we are blessed enough to have another baby. I have had the idea on my mind since before Madison was born but never felt like I had enough support to give it a try. Zach wasn't crazy about the idea and my parents were/are dead set against it. But Zach and I have been talking about it more and more so he has decided that we can at least give it a try and see how it goes. He also said that we should wait to worry about it until we actually are pregnant again :)

So I guess we will just see how things go in the coming weeks and months. We are committed to make an effort to do these things and if nothing else it will help us to grow closer to each while we figure out what works and what doesn't. Each little baby step is a step in the right direction so we will just keep trying to make choices that work for us and make us feel like we are doing the right thing for us.

Wedding Pictures Volume 2

I have finally finished sorting through all of our wedding pictures and have been enjoying playing around with them using photoshop elements. Our trial of it is about to expire and I'm already coming up with reasons to convince my hubby that we need to buy it!  Here are a few more of my favorite wedding pictures.

Our first dance together as husband and wife!

My dad is awesome! I love the smile he has and the bubbles make it fun too.

We could not have asked for a better group of friends and family to be a part of our special day.

These girls have been there in the good times and the bad.

There is something so mischievous about this picture.

Wedding Pictures

A few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to have our wedding photographer offer to send us the cd of all of our wedding pictures and give us the rights to use them however we wanted. I was beyond excited. We have an 11x13 picture that hangs in our living room and a wedding album that came along with our package and that has a bunch 8x10's and then the pictures that either my mom or a I took. We had been planning on getting another album from him that was less formal for our 1st anniversary but decided that just wasn't a very good plan since on our anniversary we had a 3 week old baby. So this was really a huge unexpected blessing that I still can't really believe even after a few weeks. Here are a few of my favorite pictures, but I had such a hard time choosing that I may have to do another post just so I can add some more! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

This is one of my favorites. I love the stained glass window behind us.

Here is the whole wedding party. We are so lucky to have such amazing people in our lives.

I love the simple beauty of our rings and my flowers.

I normally hate pictures of just me, but this one is a rare exception.

My gramma and I have always been really close. She normally doesn't take

good pictures, but everyone with her in it turned out just amazing.

Potty Training and Mommy Jealousy

For the past few weeks I have been wanting to get started on potty training with Madison. We had started using a potty chair quite a while back and things were going pretty well but out of nowhere she lost all interest in it, so we let it go for a while. So tomorrow we are going to start actively working on it again, but this time we are going to make some changes to our plan of action. Starting tomorrow the only time that a diaper will touch her cute little butt will be at night (hopefully not even then after a few weeks!).

• I am going to have her in a shirt, big girl undies, and socks so that a) we can get her on the potty faster and b) we will have less laundry to wash as we go thru the accidets that we know will happen in the beginning.
• First thing in the morning we are going to pack up our remaining regular daytime diapers for mommy to give to the other little boys and girls, like baby Gavin, that need them. I am totally going to use him as part of it because she is completely in love with him so I think it will give her some extra motivation to do well!
•  We are going to make fluids available all day long and encourage her to drink as much as she wants. So that we will have even more chances to perfect her potty skills.
• As of right now we aren't planning of bringing her to the bathroom at set intervals because we want her to tell us on her own when she needs to go, but that could change as we actually give things a try. The most important thing I have learned as a mom is that you need to be flexible.

As I have been thinking about this the past few days and weeks I have started feeling some "mommy jealousy". By that I mean those times where I have compared Madison to another child and felt like she was behind in some way because a child her age or younger is doing something that she isn't. I remember feeling it when she was 18 months and still having a few bottles a day or when she was taking a lot longer to start talking. When she stayed in her crib until maybe a month ago and now with potty training. But the longer that I have thought about it all the more I have realized how crazy and pointless it is to think like that. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter at all. When she is getting ready for college someday I doubt they will have added a question about how old she was when she stopped using bottles or started sleeping in a big girl bed to their applications. With the exception of her speech, everything has still happened within a normal time frame. And once we were able to get her hearing back to normal her speech quickly got into the normal range again. So she drank bottles a little longer than recommended, it helped comfort her during a time where I was in the hospital more then I was out of it. Bottom line is that your child will do things when they are ready to and unless they are taking a bottle to school or wearing diapers to prom don't even worry about it. Wish us luck with potty training!

Family Time

We have had a lot of family time over the past week or so. We share a house with my parents so we see them on a daily basis (obviously!) but we have been enjoying some time with other members of our family. Last weekend started off with Madison and Zach going to the circus with Zach's dad thanks to another awesome gift from his parents. Madison had a blast and especially loved the pony ride that she got to go on. But she decided to pass on the chance to ride on the camel or the elephant. Maybe next time she will decide to give them a try too.

Then Zach had a softball tournament on Saturday and Sunday and it was beautiful weather to play some ball. He and I went to the first game without Madison but decided to go get her for the second game. She loved watching the game, cheering on her daddy, climbing up and down the bleechers (and up and down, and up and down...), and riding on the mechanical elephant that they had there. Sunday morning my mother and father in law picked up Madison to hang out with her for a while and then came down to the softball fields in the afternoon to catch Zach's last 2 games with me. By the end of the tournament Zach had played 6 softball games, I was sunburned on the left side of my body, Madison had climbed the bleecers about 1000 times, and we had all enjoyed a beautiful spring weekend outside.

Thursday my father in law came over in the morning for a round of golf with Zach. Then he and I headed to home depot to get supplies to do some gardening. So far we, along with Madison's "help", have planted orange and green peppers, tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes. Next week we plan on doing cucumbers, spinach, parsley, and cilantro. We also may end up doing some flowers in our front lawn along our garage/sidewalk. I've never really done any gardening but am really excited to see how it goes-cross your fingers that I don't end up killing everything.

Finally on Friday night we headed to my cousins house for a family get together with my cousin and his girlfriend who live in Hawaii and haven't been home for over 3 years. This was his first time getting to meet Madison and baby Gavin. Madison in in LOVE with my cousins son Gavin and talks about him all the time. Friday was no exception and she followed him to whoevers arms he was in and wanted to "help". She picked up his pacifier anytime it fell, would hold it in his mouth for him (a little too hard at times), wanted to hold his bottle for him (even when he didn't want it anymore), and would gently rub his head and give it a kiss. I also got a chance to get my baby fix and held him most of the night. Recently I have been getting baby fever but know that right now I am not healthy enough to even think about having another baby. All of this family time has just reminded me over and over how lucky we are to have the family that we do. They are always there to lend a hand or help support us when we need it.

P.S. I am working on a new look for my blog so I apologize if things are a little wierd for a few days.

Ear Piercing

Zach and I have debated since Madison was maybe a few days old about if we wanted to get her ears pierced. We both have wanted to and thought it would be so cute, but couldn't decide if we should wait until she was old enough to decide for herself. A few days ago we decided that after her ENT appointment (which went great) we were going to go get them done. We had talked to her about it and told her that it would hurt for a minute but when it was over she could have a sucker. She did great, I mean she obviously cried but was such a big girl. We let her pick out a couple pairs of earrings to wear once she is allowed to change them out.

Getting the sucker ready for afterwards.

Crying right after they were done.

The final result.

Even when she is sad she is still so beautiful

Things I Never Thought I Would Hear Myself Say...

Recently I have heard myself saying some things that I would never have dreamed I would say. Things like:

• "No Madison you can not stay naked all day...Because other people don't want to see you being a nakey baby."
• "I don't know why God didn't put hands on your feet."
• "No you may not climb the blinds like a monkey. Not even if you make monkey noises."
• "I don't think you would really like it if I put ketchup in your milk."

The more that Madison has started talking, the more entertaining her comments get. Today we are redecorating her room to make it a big girl room while she gets to go see her Grandma and Grandpa Hobbs. She loves going into her room now and looks all around and tells us to look at her big girl room. Once I finish getting everything up on the walls and things I will post some pictures of it.

Inked Up Hobbs Style

Since the day that Madison was born Zach has wanted to get a tattoo for her and has been trying to convince me to get one as well. I have talked about wanting to get one for quite some time but have never gotten up the nerve to get one. I finally decided that if I was going to get one, I couldn't go wrong with getting one in honor of my daughter. We both decided to think about it for a while once we had decided what we wanted and where we wanted it just to make sure that we were sure of what we wanted. We thought this was a great plan, however once we had the chance to actually get them Zach decided to change the location of his at the last minute.

 So we went and I of course was concerned that I was going to be too much of a baby about it. Then they said that Zach couldn't come back and hold my hand and distract me like I was hoping that he could. Zach got his first and it was over and done with in about 10 minutes. He decided to get her name on his wrist after thinking he was going to get it on the back of his leg. He (we) decided his wrist would be better because he could look at it whever he wanted, but it could be covered up by long sleeves or a watch or sweatband at work. Then it was my turn and I was more nervous then I was willing to admit but lucky for me the guy who did mine was amazing. He noticed when I was sitting up on the table that I was not very comfortable at all and suggested that I just lay back and try to relax. Then he told me not to worry because if I could have a baby this would be a piece of cake. When I told him that I had a C-Section he made me laugh when he asked if I thought having my stomach cut open was easier then getting a small tattoo that was going to take 20 minutes. We talked the whole time and before I knew it he was done with only a few times that made me grimace. I decided to get a ladybug on my foot. Madison's nursery has ladybugs everywhere so she loves them, and I have started to call her my little ladybug. For me it was a perfect way to honor my beautiful daughter. When all was said and done we were very happy with the results and I was quite proud of myself for not crying or wimping out!

As soon as we got home we showed them to Madison she declared them to be pretty. Then not wanted to be outdone she told us that she needed a pretty too! So we got out one of her Abby Cadabby tattoos so the whole Hobbs family had tattoos to show off.

The Sun Will Come Out...

These days around our house you will frequently see the Annie on our TV or hear a little voice singing Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow, It's only a day AWAY (this word is bold because her voice gets much louder for the last word of the song!) She knows almost the whole song at this point and picks up a little more each time we watch it. I am constantly amazed by how quickly she picks these things up. In the car she sings part of songs on the radio or songs from our Rent and Glee soundtracks. When I sing at church she always wants to take the microphone from me so that she can sing too! At night before she falls asleep we will hear her singing to herself and it is the cutest thing (but I might be a little biased!). My favorite to hear is when she will make up her own songs by picking a framiliar tune but will replace all of the words with daddy or mommy

We have had way more TV/movie time recently because Madison has bronchitis, Zach has a cold, and I am still getting over mono so we've been taking it easy and enjoying lots of snuggles. We have also read every book in the house about a million times! I am in the process of doing some major spring cleaning, with all of us being sick I feel like there are just germs everywhere in the house. So I have been cleaning like crazy and have used a ton of the clorox wipes on everything I can. With the nice weather we have opened the windows a little bit to let some fresh air in so it feels less like the sick house.

I'm still a little more tired then usual and Madison's cough still sounds horrible, but we are all starting to feel better and should be feeling like ourselves in no time. So for now I will leave you with a picture of Madison watching Annie.

Kids Say the Cutest Things

Today as soon as I got Madison up from her nap she informed me that she wanted to play, which is a daily occurance in our house. However, when we got out to the living room she got distracted by the crackers I was munching on. Once she had eaten her fill of crackers she looked at me and said "Mommy I forgot to play!"

What cute things have your kids said?

Why I Love My Daughter

These past few days I have been filled with a feeling of gratitude. I read a list of blogs frequently and most of them are about children who are facing heart problems, cancer, or some other life altering disease. A friend of mine told me about one of the blogs and from there I have seen other ones mentioned and went to check them out and the cycle repeated. As I read them I am overcome with gratitiude that I have a healthy, wonderful little girl.

Madison is quickly changing from a baby into a little girl and is soooo much like her mommy that it's crazy. If you look at pictures of me at her age next to the ones of her you would think they are both of the same girl. She is such a sweet, smart, beautiful little girl. I love that she loves to read or have books read to her, just like I did/do. I love how much of  princess she is. She loves to wear necklaces and bracelets, whenever she sees me putting on make-up she needs mommy to (pretend) put some on her, and if I put any body spray on she needs a spray on too. She also won't leave the house without her purse filled with a few toys of the day. I love how she loves to cook anytime we let her. I love how adorable she is when she is sleeping or has just woken up. I love when she brings over her favorite yellow blankie to me and says "hold me mommy" and crawls up in my lap to snuggle. I love her giggle as I tickle her tummy or the smile she gives you when she knows she's been caught being naughty. The bottom line is that I love my little girl with all my heart .

Mommy & Madison Shopping

Today I had a wonderful time going shopping with Madison. After a quick eye appointment for her, we were off to the mall. She had so much fun looking at everything and helping mommy decide what we needed to buy. We got a super cute dress for Easter that is white with big light purple polka dots and matching purple lacy socks. We got some T-shirts for this spring and summer, a cute white shirt with pink flowers and pink capri leggings with rhinestones, an aqua and white striped sweater, a few clearance sweaters for next winter, and an outfit for my cousins soon to arrive little boy Gavin. Then as we were checking out Madison ran off for a second and returned with an aqua swim suit with white polka dots and informed me that she NEEDED this. I have to admit I love it and probably would have grabbed it myself had I seen it, so I added it to our pile while telling my daughter that she is very very spoiled. But at least the girl has good taste! All in all we had a wonderful mommy-daughter shopping trip...something tells me we will have many more to come!

Little Miss Madison's Birth Story

I had so much fun linking up to Mama M (http://fivecrookedhalos.blogspot.com/) a few weeks ago I thought I would try it again. And what better story to share then the story of the best gift I ever received.

Ok, so before we get to the good stuff there is some background info that you need to know. In March of 2007 I had been having tons of horrible back pain but kept blowing it off because I have 2 herniated discs that act up sometimes. On March 15th I called my mom because the pain was out of control and I knew I needed to go to the ER to have it checked out to see if things had gotten worse and get some pain medicine. Before they could give one of the medicines they told me they needed to run a pregnancy test and I quickly waived them off and said go ahead, there's no chance there's a baby in there. I had an ovary removed in August (after years of ovarian cysts) and was on some medication to shut down my ovaries for a while to let the remaining one rest for a while and hopefully learn how to function without producing cysts. I was also on birth control since my husband and I had only been married for 6 months and wanted/needed to wait a little longer to start a family. So I was convinced there was NO chance that I was pregnant. When the nurse came back and told me surprise you are pregnant, I think the entire ER heard me yell "What? No I'm not!" and my mom tell them they better check again. We spent the rest of the ER visit repeating "Oh my God" or "Is this some sort of joke?" Later when we met up with my husband and father, I told them and they had similar reactions.

The next day (our 6 month anniversary) we went to an appointment with my OB and after talking figured I was maybe 6 weeks or so but he wanted me to have an ultrasound to confirm our best guess. He warned me that all we would see would be a little blob, if anything at that point, so we weren't expecting much. But once again we were in for a big surprise. The ultrasound tech turned on the equipment and insead of this little blob we saw a full grown baby. Not actually full grown, but big enough that she looked like a full grown baby to us. So based on the ultrasound alone they estimated that I was already 4 months along. So not only am I pregnant but I am also almost half way done with the pregnancy?!? I was just in a huge state of shock and could hardly breathe at this point. Making it even more unbelievable is that had we not went in to the ER that day I wouldn't have noticed anything different for at least another 2 months. I could have ended up on that show I didn't know I was pregnant!

On the the good stuff. I had a rough last few months where I was throwing up tons (I guess it was payback for no morning sickness earlier) and needing to go to the hospital for fluids and anti-nausea meds. I was also having spells where my blood pressure would just drop with little to no notice and I would pass out so I was on modified bed rest. As we approached 36 weeks, my blood pressure started to climb and I had to be admitted to the hospital for it a few times. I was in to see my doctor every 2 days and each time I left his office I had stricter guidelines to my bedrest...stay sitting or laying on the couch or bed most of the day, stay laying down most of the day, until finally stay on your left side at all times. When I went in for my 38 week appointment my blood pressure was again elevated so they had me lay on the left side in the office for 15 minutes since that had always brought it down in the past. This time it didn't work so my doctor came in and asked how we felt about 7:30 that night. This was at about 11:30 so they sent us over to L&D to hang out and be monitered until he could do the C-Section. Because I was passing out at random, they were concerned that I would pass out if I tried pushing so I was a planned c-section.

At 7:00 that night (August 24th 2007) the nurse started prepping me for surgery and brought me back to the OR for my spinal, which apparently worked a little too well because I was so numb I couldn't feel a single thing or even turn my head on my own. I started to feel like I couldn't breathe at all which my wonderful anesthetist assured me was normal. At 7:35 Madison Nicole was born weighing 6lbs 13oz and was 21 and a half inches long and she was screaming her head off. Once they had cleaned her up a bit and let me get a quick peek she and daddy headed to the nursery for her bath and my mom stayed with me. They finished sewing me up and moved me off the operating table and on to a gurney, which turned out to be a bad idea because my bp dropped big time. It went from 160/97 to 53/30 in about 10 minutes. After getting some medicine to raise it back up and hanging out in the OR for a while until they felt comfortable moving me again, Zach brought Madison into the recovery area for us to get to know each other. We spent 4 days in the hospital before we headed home to start our new life as a family of 3 and our life hasn't been the same since!

Just One of Those Days

Today (and yesterday) has just been one of those bad days that make me want to scream Why Me at the top of my lungs. Not that I would wish being in constant pain on anyone else, but why does there have to be so much pain and suffering in the world anyways. I know that it is not in my hands and I just need to trust the One who knows all, but why do kids have to get horrible diseases? Why did so many people lose their homes and families in Haiti? I know that compared to what so many people deal with my life is a piece of cake, but that doesn't make days like today any more bearable. I have had a few people ask me what exactly is wrong with me without knowing what a loaded question that is. I decided to blog about it because a) I thought writing it out might make me feel just a little bit better tonight, b) I started writing this at 4:00 in the morning because I hurt to much to sleep and needed something to fill the time, and c) this way you have to option of if you want to read it or not!

The biggest issue right now is horrible stomach pain on my right side, under my ribcage. How bad it is changes day to day, but on it's worst days I can't keep anything down and end up in the ER needing to get IV fluids and pain/naseau meds since I can't even keep any of them down. Sometimes I have to stay for a night (or 7) before we can get things under control again. There really is no certain diagnosis, but the doctors think it is a condition called Spincter of Oddi dysfunction. I have had 3 surgeries that helped for about a week each but then things went right back to how they were. Best guess as to why the surgeries don't work like they should is due to problem number 2; Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

EDS is a connective tissue disorder that, for me at least, just means that I can sprain something if I even think about moving the wrong way. It also means that my muscles, ligaments, and tendons are too streched out to support my joints like they should. After 3 years of intensive physical therapy that did nothing to help me out I gave up. In addition to problems with my connective tissues I have joint pain from fibromyalgia and arthritis in my hips.

Thankfully a few of the things that have caused me tons of problems in the past have either resolved or are much better. I used to get horrible coughing attacks , brought on by playing sports or any kind of upper respiratory illness, where I would literally cough for 24-48 hours straight. I could not stop long enough to do more than take a quick breath and maybe a sip of water. Not long enough to relax at all, let alone get any sleep. Finally after years of dealing with it, we found a treatment that worked. The last of the major ones (have I bored you to death yet?) is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. When I got the pain from my first cyst at 13, we were sure that it had to be my appendix. After a series of traumatic tests and procedures (I hadn't ever seen a gynecologist before) the childrens hospital told us that they couldn't treat me and had to transfer me to another hospital for surgery. For the next 9 years I got cysts once or twice a year until I convinced a doctor to remove the offending ovary since I had never had a cyst on the left one.

Well it seems like maybe this actually helped a little, that or the pain meds are finally doing their job, and I think I might be able to get a little bit of sleep. In a few short hours my wonderful husband and I are on our way to Madison, WI to see one more performance of Rent the Broadway Tour!

Sesame Street and Surgery

Last Friday the 3 of us went to see Sesame Street Live and had a blast! We had incredible seats thanks to a great Christmas present from my Mother and Father in law. The second the show started Madison screamed abby, ABBY, ABBY! She loved seeing all of her favorite characters dancing around, especially when they actually came off of the stage and danced in the aisles. She was so upset when intermission came that we were willing to do almost anything to calm her down so I asked Zach to go get one of the Elmo balloons that they were selling up by the stage. I almost fell off my chair when he told me it was $10.00. Ten freaking dollars for a balloon are you kidding me?!? But I guess it was worth it to see her beautiful smile. Well I learned from intermission and when I could tell the show was almost over I started to tell her that it was almost time for Abby and Elmo to take their naps. Crisis averted...whew.

Monday Madison had speech therapy and her amazing speech therapist can't believe the progress she has made in the past weeks. She is still going the come out a few times more just to make sure, but says that Madison is completely caught up to where she should be. I knew she was doing so much better but never imagined she would catch up so quickly.

Thursday she had an appointment to get another set of tubes put in her ears and to have her adenoids removed. I was more nervous than I would like to admit. Mommy and Daddy both got to go back to the OR with her while they put her to sleep which made it much easier on all of us. She did great and we were back with her before too long. While we were in the short stay unit I just crawled up in the bed and had her lay on me. After some juice and a popsicle and a dose of the medicine that she would be going home with we were told to pack our stuff and head on home. After a nice family nap we had a quiet night watching movies and eating popsicles. Other than being a little clumsy from the Tylenol with codeine she is back to her normal, sweet self.

Five Question Friday 1/15/10

I thought I would join in on some of the blog hop action so here it is: Five Question Friday created by Mama M (http://fivecrookedhalos.blogspot.com/) The idea is that you copy and paste the questions to your own blog, answer them, and link up to all of the other posts. Sounds easy so I guess I will see how easy it is when I try to link up using MckLinky. I hope you enjoy getting to know me a little bit better.

1. Worst trouble you ever got into as a teenager? I know I am going to come across as a big goody two shoes here, but I honestly didn't get into any major trouble. I guess it would have to be for either coming in a little late for curfew (I had EVERY excuse in the book for why I would be a few minutes late...oops) or for talking back to my parents (my mouth has always gotten me in more trouble then I would like to admit).

2. Are you a morning person or a night person? No question a night person. I do not like to get up early at all. However my idea of sleeping in has drastically changed since having Madison. These days sleeping in until 9:30 is a major indulgence.

3. Are you a one-handed or a two-handed Texter? One handed

4. Democrat, Republican, or Independent..or maybe even Green Party (whatever that is). I can't honestly say that I know for sure what I am. I have my own personal beliefs on the major issues but in some cases am more conservative and in other cases am more liberal.

5. Are you a pet person? Big fat yes! I love pets and have always had them. We have a few at our house and if it was up to me we would have a ton more. We have 2 cats, 2 bunnies, and a tank of fish. I would love to get a dog, but our landlords have had some bad experiences so we are not allowed. But let me tell you, as soon as we are in a place where we can have them we will be getting a dog or 2!

Late Christmas Post

I decided it was probably time for my blogging hiatus to end. I always have such good intentions to blog many nights, but it never seems to happen. I guess I waste so much time trying to think of something interesting to post that I never actually get the post done. So my (late) New Years resolution is to be a better blogger, and by that I mean to post more frequently and to try and post more than just what we have done that day. So if anyone has suggestions or anything you are dying to know about me feel to let me know.

We had a wonderful Christmas together. We spent time this year thinking about what traditions we wanted to start as a family now that Madison is getting older. We spent a night decorating our tree together, made and decorated cookies for Santa, and let her open one present on Christmas Eve. We decided to get her a new pair of Christmas Jammies every year that she will be able to open the night before to wear to bed. Christmas Eve was really relaxed and we just hung around the house with my mom and dad and took it easy. Christmas morning we got up and opened our stockings as soon as little miss woke up and also showed her new playhouse downstairs since that was a little bit too big to take to Uncle Chris' apartment. I even took a short nap before getting ready to leave and it was wonderful! Once we got to his apartment we had dinner, opened gifts, decorated a few cookies that we saved to great gramma and uncle Chris could join in, and played with all of Madison's fun new stuff. The next day we were supposed to go celebrate with my dad's family but had a very unhappy little girl who wasn't feeling good. So I stayed home with her so that we could go get her ears looked at. 2 hours and an antibiotic later we were home. We still can not get these annoying ear infections to go away, but thats a whole nother post. Meanwhile here are a few pictures from Christmas.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Good Night!