Snuggle up with a good "guk" (Madison speak for book)

From the time that Madison was little she has always LOVED her books. Being a big reader for as long as I can remember, I have really enjoyed seeing how much she loves to read and hope that it becomes a lifelong passion. She has a bookcase in the living room that is packed to capacity, another in her bedroom, and a shelf full downstairs. We read them so frequently that I can recite many of them for you word for word. Her favorite books change from week to week: this week she loves Goodnight Moon, Guess How Much I Love You, and her cloth Christmas Story book. She loves to go get her bedtime care bear, her blankie, her sippy, and stack of books and crawl up and make herself comfortable. You can pretty much guarantee that at any given time there are books strewn all over our living room floor. If it means that she will continue to love reading as much as her mommy than I will happily read, pick up, and read again all of her beloved guks!

Madison seems to especially enjoy reading with her Grandpa's, and I think that both of them enjoy that special time together just as much as she does. What do you think?

Trick or Treat

I suppose I should start by giving a brief history of our past Halloween experiences. Two years ago Madison was in the hospital being evaluated for some cardiac problems and extreme crying fits that after lots of tests and such was determined to be from some bad reflux. Then last year I was in the hospital because I had just had surgery. Madison still came up to visit me and show me her cow costume and even ended up doing a small bit of trick or treating. The nurses scrounged up some candy and even a few family members of other patients that saw us walking the hall asked if she could have a treat. I remember one older woman who asked if we would bring her in to see her husband because he was really missing thier grandkids and said that seeing her made his day.

So assuming we have no unexpected surprises in the next few hours we will actually be able to celebrate a Halloween outside of a hospital. We spent a few hours carving pumpkins on Friday night, but of course my camera decided to act up so I don't have any pictures of us! I do have some pictures of her carving her other pumpkin with grandma and grandpa this morning. Later tonight we are going to get her all dressed up in her witch costume and go trick or treating at a few houses nearby. She has been working so hard at learning to say trick or treat. We even had a "practice" run when great gramma came over and had a bag of her favorite treat (M&M's). So she got to put on her costume for her and practice saying trick or treat while holding out her pumpkin bag. I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween!

P.S. I apologize that the pictures are added on top of each other instead of side by side. I think I figured out how to do what I wanted for next time but didn't want to go back and change everything! Happy Halloween!

Ear Drops and Antibiotics

So I was right. Another ear infection but it seems like the tubes are doing their jobs and draining out all of the fluid. Because it has been going on for a few days and seems to be hurting her a bit the doctor gave us her normal numbing drops for her ears to help with the pain and an antibiotic to get rid of the infection. Thankfully with the ear drops and some good old Tylenol she seems to be feeling much better and went to sleep without any problems, so we are clearly on the road to recovery. With all of the sickness going around right now I feel very lucky to only be dealing with an ear infection right now.

Welcome

So I guess I should start out by saying welcome to our blog! I have no idea if anyone will actually read any of this, but I wanted a way for our family and friends to know what is going on with us and especially Madison.

We are headed in to see the doctor because it seems like Madison might have an ear infection. Ever since she had tubes put in her ears we have been free of the awful ear infections but now it seems like her normal symptoms of one have returned. Because it has been almost 6 months since the surgery it is possible that the tube has fallen out of the ear that seems infected. So I guess we will see in about an hour when we see her pediatrician.