Trish Koch Photo

kaboom town

For us, the Fourth of July was on the 3rd.  I am not a big fan of crowds and I hate when there is an event that I really want to go to, but I just know that there will be a billion people flocking to the same place for the same event.  I tend to avoid that kind of thing.  I can't explain the irritation and almost claustrophopic feeling I get when we try to leave events, and the traffic isn't moving, and we are just STUCK.  It is so frustrating for me.  BUT, Kevin has a very special and extreme love for fireworks shows, so we always go to at least one show every year.  And I always end up loving it too--despite them mess trying to get home.  

We definitely couldn't miss this year because it was Maddie's first Fourth of July!  So we got her all dressed up in her red, white, and blue outfit from MeeMaw, and took her to KaBoom Town in Addison.  We went with our friends Scott and Trisha + their twins.  Scott works in Addison and hooked us up with a great place to park at his office building.  Thanks Scott!  And his office is right next to Snuffer's restaurant, so we had some really greasy food to start the night off right.  OH the Cheese fries!  amazing amazing! 

man, I love a baby in a bucket!  Don't ask me why.

It's safe to say we all had a great time.  After the excitement, Maddie was fast asleep for the ride home.  And thankfully, traffic really wasn't that bad.  It always just takes that one nice person to let you out of the parking lot.  Sending out a cosmic thank you to that guy!  You're the best!

Happy Fourth!

fun in the park

Lately I am in love with yard-saleing.  I'm not real sure how to spell that.  But anyway~ I love some of the great finds we have gotten for Maddie at yard sales this summer.  This tricycle looks new, and it was only $5.  And she loves it!  We could push her around for hours on it and she will just cruise along.  

We like to take her to the park.  It is so hot most days that we don't get out until around 6 or 7 in the evening, but this day it was cloudy.  I think it only got to 90 degrees all day.  It felt great!  This park is big, and has a long winding trail from the parking lot to the playground equipment.  Perfect for a little trike hike.  

We have been taking Maddie to the park about 6 weeks.  As soon as she started walking we decided to see what she thought of the playground.  It is fun to see how each visit she is a little more bold and interested in playing.  It is getting harder to keep up with her, as she has recently learned to climb stairs. 

Kevin is like a big kid on the playground.  He loves to introduce Maddie to new things and watch her learn.  It is so much fun for me to watch them play together.  I feel so blessed to have this family. 

Sometimes we wish the slides were wider!  But he hasn't gotten stuck in one yet.

The first few times we went, she didn't like the swings, they were a source of Eeyore-like terror.  And look at her now!  She is growing so fast!  I hate it and I love it all at once.  

I'm hoping for more cool days so we can enjoy the park more.  Maybe we will get a picture of me sometime, you know, just to show that Kevin isn't a single parent!  

summer vacation

Summer is always really busy in our house.  We have lots of visitors and fun things to do.  Last week, we had Maddie's official summer vacation.  When I was a kid, my mom would take a week off work in the summer and we would go places like the science center (my personal favorite), the zoo, six flags, and just play and enjoy having mom home all to ourselves.  It was always the best week of summer.  And Maddie just had her very first one with my mom and Aunt Kim here.  It was tons of fun.  We relaxed, and played every day for a week.  (Aside from a not-so-much-fun visit to the Dr. for Roseola!), everything else was great.  Here's some shots from their visit:

 

We played in her new porch pool.  By we, I mean she played and we watched.

  

While eating frozen blueberries.  Best place for this so we can just rinse the mess right off!

Grandma totally spoils her!

Most of our vacation was kind of lazy and easy going.  We went to the bookstore, and of course the mall.  Ate out and a few restaurants, and watched a bunch of chick flicks.  But the best trip was to the Dallas World Aquarium.  It is really expensive to get in, but it's really cool.  I hesitate to say that it is worth the money just because I am from St. Louis where all places like this are FREE!  I can't figure out why Dallas can't get on board with that and make their museums and zoos affordable for EVERYONE.  It annoys.  

Anyway~The aquarium IS really really cool.  And it is better than the zoo because it is almost all indoors.  Perfect for those 100 degree days we always have.  I've been there several times before, but it never gets old.  My sisters and I were really pretty nerdy as kids.  We loved to get up on Saturday mornings and watch the discovery channel.  Shark week was the best, and anything about underwater life.  We would be glued to the TV for hours if mom would let us.  I just love seeing all of the animals in real life.  Particularly the manatees.  My sister, Kim, and I just love watching them.  We could stand there all day long.  Maddie and grandma--not so much.  

This was also one of my first play dates with my new camera!  I am still trying to figure everything out.  Switching from Nikon to Canon is not an easy task.  It's like learning to shoot all over again.  But this camera has an amazing range that my Nikon never did, I can shoot in almost no light and still get an acceptable image.  Which I love!  I've been playing with it in very low light situations just to see how far I can really stretch it.  Fun stuff.  If I could just really nail down how to focus the darn thing, I would be in great shape!

Maddie was so intent on watching all of the other kids, she barely noticed all of the giant sharks swimming by her face.

The manatees are so huge, it is hard to tell just how big they are in pictures.  They are amazing!

This is my favorite shot of the day.  Maddie and Aunt Kim.  Discovering the world.

And one last one for this giant post.  Grandma, Kim and The Madness.  She is hollering in this pic.  Not mad, just loud!  That's my girl :)

water baby

I have never been much of a water lover.  I mean, I love the water; I like to look at it ad hear it and be near it--just not so much in it.  I am more of a pool-side lover.  I like to lay out (covered in my SPF 70 sunscreen) and just soak up the rays (or reflect them--whatever!)  I love the heat and just the way the sun feels.  And I rarely actually get in the water.  Maddie, on the other hand is totally a water baby.  Yesterday was her first venture in swimming, and she loved every minute of it.  And I think I took over 100 pictures of about 15 minutes worth of time.  It was just precious watching her swim and play with her daddy.  We had so much fun! 

All in all, a fabulous few minutes at the pool.  She just steals my heart with her excitement and curiosity.

And just for those who care--we have visited the chiropractor for the Madness 2 times now.  She does indeed have a few vertebrae out of alignment in her neck and mid back.  This apparently can contribute to sinus, allergy, and ear issues.  Of course nothing is a guarantee, but we are really hoping that this treatment will help her ears drain and stop holding excess fluid.  We will see!  Even if it doesn't work, I am feeling better about being proactive about this, rather than just believing the Dr. when he says there is nothing we can do.  (that makes me want to cuss and throw things.)  This is much better for my sanity.  : )

stolen photo

You have got to pop over to this blog and read her story about how one of her family photos ended up billboard sized as an ad in Prague.  Are you kidding me?  These people stole her family photo from her blog and made it into a huge ad.  I am always wondering what the repercussions of putting photos and videos online of my family might be.  This is so random. 

Just a friendly reminder to check all of your privacy settings on facebok, myspace, your blog, etc.   Gotta love the internet.   

st. louis trip home

Well, my dear maddie is teething like a madwoman.  I mean, she is REALLY mad about it.  Day 5 or 6 of her top tooth just kind of hanging out.  Thank God we don't remember things like cutting teeth.  She is miserable.  And she is sick too.  Has a cold, another one or the same one, who knows.  I feel like she has been sick since, well, forever.  I am so sick of the snot all of the time and that she can't breathe.  So I am willing to try anything!  Chiropractors and more specialists are on our list of things to try.  There has to be a better way to do this.

Aside from that, we had a fun filled trip home to St. Louis over Memorial Day weekend.  Thank goodness my grandparents, who put us up the whole weekend, have a little bit of experience with babies, and the fact that she was a total crab didn't seem to bother them.  

We don't get to visit enough, and we have to re-introduce Maddie to everyone each time we go.  Anyone who has lived far from home knows what I mean.  It is a hard first couple of days before she warms up to all of the new people.  She LOVES the men in our family.  All of the grandpas and uncles got pretty good snuggles, but the Aunts didn't.  Don't feel bad ladies, she loves Kevin better than me, too.  

She got to try all kinds of new foods with Grandma and Meemaw.  Oddly, she likes pickles.  

And she was a total ham for everyone, playing peek-a-boo with sunglasses.  She is just getting to be such a funny and FUN kid.

We got to go to a Cardinals game for the first time since they built the new stadium.  It was so much fun to be there with all of the people I love!  We played the Royals (Kevin's team) and unfortunately lost.  Boooo.  But it really made Kevin's day to see his team win in our stadium.  The lone blue supporter in an ocean of red.  (Well, I guess he wasn't the lone supporter, but Justin was afraid to wear blue!)

Then that night, I had the highlight of my trip home, I got to go hang out with my good friend, Jodie, while she shot 2 photo sessions.  It was so much fun!  One of them was something I have never done before...she offers a Love Light session, which I think is just a very cool idea.  Go hit her blog and read about it, and see the pics.  They are really different.  We had so much fun hunting down good places to shoot.  And the couple was really great to work with (very patient)!  We just had a blast, and then we stayed up way too late talking about photography, business, life, family, etc.  But time with old friends is worth the sleep deprivation.  

Great trip!  We miss everyone so much already.  Hopefully we will be back in August.

for kim

Well, Miss Kimberly, demand and you shall receive. 

Madeleine was just in an insane mood last evening.  She is 9 months old as of yesterday, so I thought it was appropriate that we get some good footage of her.  Crazy baby.  We think she hears music in her head because she dances and shakes her booty for no reason.  It is just so stinking cute though.

And, I am soooo very glad we took the time to get this video.  Isn't it so cute how she just lumbers back and forth.  Nothing graceful about it.  Before we know it she will be zipping around here with authority. Thank goodness this tiny moment didn't escape.  I am in love with my video camera.

Yesterday was awesome.  I got a lot of work done which always feels good.  And I went to a Consignment sale for babies and bought Maddie a whole new wardrobe.  I LOVE that I got her like 26 outfits for $75.  A lot of them still had tags on them!  Such a good deal.  If you know me, you would know that I HATE rummage sales, places like TJ Maxx, and Marshalls.  I have never been good at filtering out the rude shoppers, crazy clutter, junk everywhere.  Like going through a packrat's closet.  It is just sensory overload for me.  But all of that changed when I stepped in the doors of that consignment sale.  And now I feel super accomplished.  And my baby is going to be every bit as cute as those expensively dressed kids--so take that rich people!  HA!  (I will still, of course, be dressed in my frumpy tshirt and jeans)

I do have more for later--Maddie's first experience with bubbles and a couple of snaps from today. 

As for now, I have a movie night scheduled and Kevin is out getting dinner now.  Hopefully the little diva will let us enjoy at least one of the flicks we rented.  (usually not but we'll see.)

driving miss maddie

I'm sure most of you know that any time spent in the car with a baby can be a disaster.  So, it won't surprise you a bit when I say that last weekend we spent about 20 hours in the car with our dear madness, and she didn't like it one bit.  She was pissed actually.  

We drove home to Kansas.  We were originally supposed to fly, but when the swine flu hit texas, we decided not to take a chance with that.  (now of course they say it isn't such a big deal, but the day before we left almost every school in the metroplex was closed because of it).  It was a long drive, filled with junk food and lots of stops for Maddie to stretch her legs.  She slept a lot and totally screwed her sleeping schedule up.  But it was worth it.  

We got to spend some quality time with grandparents and great-grandparents and aunts and uncles.  And a lot of extra, extended family that I didn't know.  Kevin's grandparents, Leonard and Clara just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.  What a milestone!  We loved seeing our nephew/cousin, Jacob too.  He and Maddie had a lot of fun playing together.  They are both so cute!

On the way home we stopped in Oklahoma City.  We don't usually drive, in fact, we haven't driven to Kansas in almost 3 years, so this was my opportunity to finally see the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.  It is something that I always wanted to stop and see, but we just never made the time before.  

The bombing happened so long ago, and I've seen the memorial several times in pictures, so I was surprised at how really saddening it was to be there.  It was so.........quiet.  And really peaceful.  But it is impossible to ignore how scary it must have been that day.  All of the people that died are symbolized by a chair on the lawn.  It was sobering to see all of the empty chairs.  And it has been a long time ago, but did you remember that there was a day care center in that building?  There were 19 babies and kids that died.  All of the children have chairs too, but they are smaller.  It was really upsetting to see, especially as I was walking through with Maddie in my arms.  My heart just ached.  One of the most striking things to see was actually the fence.  There is still a large portion of the original fence that went around the disaster site.  People left flowers and notes and pictures on it.  It still has fresh flowers and new pictures and notes.  These people are still missed.  I was young when the bombing happened, and I don't think I ever really appreciated the tragedy appropriately until now.  I'm really glad we finally made the time. 

Can you see me and maddie across the reflecting pool?  The big black wall is one of a twin set. The other is at the opposite end of the pool.  They are called the Gates of Time and depict the 2 minute window of time when the city was changed forever.  

This is the only remaining wall from the building.  It's called the Survivor Wall.

The chairs can be seen in this picture.  If you look close, you can pick out some of the little chairs.  The building used to stand on that lawn, and the Survivor wall is off camera to the left. 

Anyway~ It was kind of a sad thing to see, but if you have the chance to stop in Oklahoma City, it is worth the detour.  

baby steps

Yes, that's right, her very first ones!  I am kind of shocked that she has already taken her first steps.  It happened yesterday.  We were skyping with my mom and showing off Maddie's new (awesome) tutu, when she just took a step.  I freaked out, and looked at my mom and said, did you see that?  OMG!  And so Kevin and I sat across from eachother and she was so excited to walk back and forth.  Mostly she leaned and fell, or started bouncing and fell, but several times actual steps were taken.  It was so exciting.  And Maddie could tell we were so proud of her.  She is definitely knows and likes when she pleases us.  She loves the positive reinforcement.  It's like crack for her.  She is so much fun!

Off to watch slumdog millionaire.  What to know what all the hoopla is all about.  Usually academy award winners are pretty sucktastic, so I dont want to get my hopes up.

more later.  hopefully video of her walking.  we'll see... no promises, that might be like chasing a rainbow for a while.

standing

so, she is standing.  on her own.  I can't believe how fast this is all happening.  It is like I am living a terrible cliché.  She can stand for almost a minute on her own.  She likes to try to bounce and dance and clap sometimes and that is not great for her balance.  But it won't be long before she is running all over the place.  crazy.

We practice walking with her.  Which is hard on the back.  She isn't a very tall baby, so it is not as easy as I would have thought to help her walk all the time.  

She walked all over the arboretum with Kevin while I shot family pictures this weekend.  We got her the most adorable (and eco-friendly) baby shoes from Stride Right.  She definitely likes them more than her other shoes.  They stay on--a huge plus--and her feet stay straight when she walks.  Her other shoes made her ankles roll all the time.  I would have never thought that spending so much on baby shoes was worth it.  They are, after all, more expensive than all of the shoes I own (except my running shoes.)  But they have really made a difference.  Anyway~ Thanks mom!