CARTER'S

I have to share this great clothing with everyone! I've owned and seen a few things from carter's brand, but I'd never been to the real store until today... I'M IN LOVE!!
In an early post i mentioned that it was difficult to find cute boys clothes - well now I HAVE!! I loved everything in their store and just had to share some of the cute little things I've found.
They (of coarse) have LOADS of cute girl stuff too, but I'm trying to stay focused on little boy right now :)
But the first picture, I really do have to show you an adorable little girl set, then I'll do the boys ones, promise. :)

isn't that the cutest strawberry hat you've ever seen?!
Okay, now to cute boy stuff... :)

I'm just happy to find cute boy clothes and now I know there is a store just right up the freeway from us! :) I'm excited about it, but I'm sure John's wallet is already groaning... :)

Birthday Photos!

Snuggling Daddy before her carousal ride

Riding the giraffe with Daddy

Riding the Zebra with Mommy

(Madi's photography)

Taking a look around Build-a-Bear

Snuggling her bear before stuffing it

Helping to stuff her bear

Kissing the heart and making a wish

Getting her Bear dressed

Filling out the birth certificate and picking a name

Taking a peek at her bear

All packed up and ready to take her home with us

Coloring at the restaurant

Daddy playing with her food

laughing with daddy over dessert

It's so fun to sit in a big girl chair!

Opening presents

smiling with her toys

The gifts she got (plus several former toys jumping in the picture)

Happy Birthday Ice Cream!

Cheese!

Digging in before Mama changes her mind

She loves it!

Hope you enjoy the photos! We had a blast on her Birthday and I really think she did too! Sorry the pictures aren't with the original post, but if you need more details, you can go back and read about the day. :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Madi!

(*Disclaimer: I DID take lots of photos of everything i talk about in this post, but I need time to sort through them and pick which ones to put up. I've narrowed my list to 27 pics - so I'm still working on it! THE PHOTOS WILL COME SOON)

We had such a fun time celebrating Madi's Birthday today! John was able to get a half day off work, so he could spend more than just a couple hours with her. We've been trying to explain to Madi's that Birthdays are a special day in anticipation for today.
This morning she got to watch movies of her choice, take an extra long bath (She LOVES baths!), and get whatever snacks she asked for! I didn't explain this so she could take advantage of it, I just said yes - luckily she asked for Cheese, pickles, and crackers. :) The movies she chose were Cinderella and AristoCats :) We didn't actually sit down for them both, because she doesn't have the patience, but she loves when the songs come on. :)
When John got home and we realized she wasn't actually going to take a nap today, we got her up and the fun began.
First, I took her to visit the ladies in our apartment office (they all adore Madi) and they gave her cookies, balloons, stickers, and a coloring book.
Next we went to the mall and let Madi ride the Carousal; twice because she wanted to Ride the Giraffe AND the Zebra. :)
After the ride, we took her to Build-A-Bear, and helped her choose a bear, and go through the process of making and dressing it. It was so fun to watch her!! She even picked a name for her bear - "Chloe Robbin Bear". (Inspired by Grammy Patti's dogs, Chloe and Robbie!)
She picked out a very cute balerina outfit for the bear.
After the bear, we went to Red Robin for dinner and had a great time. This was Madi's first successful time in a booster seat, instead of a highchair (at a restaurant). We had good food and fun times, and it even started SNOWING during dinner! (Explains why the place was so empty.)
At home, she opened presents and had Ice cream for dessert! Then she bounced off the walls for the next hour before bedtime. We had such a good day with her!
I really do Love my sweet Baby girl (not really a baby anymore I guess) and I LOVE that I get to spend everyday with her! Sometimes it is exhausting, but I wouldn't trade our time for anything! She is such a sweet child, and is So smart, and growing up way too fast! But it is pretty fun to watch her learn and grow and turn into this complex little personality.
I LOVE YOU MADISON!

And The Answer IS.....

We're Having a BOY!

I'm so excited to finally know what we're having, but I must admit I'm a little nervous.. this is uncharted territory for me!
We went to the store just after our Dr. appointment, and I realized what all my friends said was true, cute boy clothes are not as easy to find as cute girl clothes!
I'm not totally sure about any "theme" for this baby, so we'll be sticking with the jungle animals we had for Madi. So, blues and greens are the order of the day. :)
And yes, he is MOST definitely a boy! We also saw on the ultrasound that he does not like to be squished and was constantly stretching out his legs -all the way-! I'm sure this will be fun for my ribs as the pregnancy goes along :)

The Addition

I know I have been using our blog as a Madi updater, but it is supposed to be for our whole family.. so I'll try to get better at using it.
For anyone who may have missed our announcement over Thanksgiving, I just wanted to share that we are expecting baby #2! The baby is due May 13th, but because I have to have a c-section, it'll probably be scheduled around the 6th.
I'm about 18 1/2 weeks along now, and I started to feel the baby move about a week ago. :) It is so fun, and helps make this seem more real. :) I've been staying so busy with Madi that some days I honestly don't think about being pregnant at all. (Unless I get wildly hungry - and then sick because of it.)
We have an ultrasound appointment on the 23rd of this month to hopefully find out the gender of the baby! Let's hope we have full cooperation because I'm Dying to know! We are really excited about this and are thankful for the support we've been getting from our friends and family! Thanks guys!

When Grandma Sews...

It's bound to be cute!! Mom found this adorable polka dot fabric that would make a perfect Minnie Mouse dress. Madi is growing like a weed so we agreed the dress should be made large so she'd have room to grow! It was also Made longer cause this girl is tall, and again, growing fast. So this is the dress!! I haven't made the matching bow yet, but I have the fabric to do it.

Daddy had to coach her and show her how to smile, but she did really well! Far better than the "dear in the headlights" look we usually get when flashing a camera in her face. Especially considering she's really sick right now.

I love this! This is Madi's "surprise!" face that she gave us when we first told her to smile pretty for Grandma's picture. :)

Little LadyBug

For Halloween we went to the church activity which was a potluck, with a couple games afterward. We ate some really good food, great desserts and had fun letting Madi run around and play games.
I think she understood that today was different... She ran around like a wild child on a sugar high, but hadn't had any sugar! It was pretty cute, but our camera batteries were dead. Luckily a lady in the ward got a photo and emailed it to me. So here's my ladybug! She really did have spots on her tutu, but they all seem to be hiding in this picture.