Goodbye, 2010

2010 has been such a fantastic year for our family! We received the most precious gift on March 23rd and life has been nonstop ever since. Maddox has added so much joy to our family and we are so thankful for him! As great as this year has been, we are looking forward to what 2011 will bring. Daniel's brother and his wife are expecting their first little girl around the beginning of March, we are putting our house up for sale very soon, Daniel will finish graduate school, and we will be moving. Sounds busy already and I am sure those are only just a few of the things coming up. We finished out the year in Nashville celebrating Christmas with Daniel's family. We had the best time and Maddox really enjoyed getting lots of attention. We are so grateful that Maddox has such wonderful grandparents on both sides! He is one lucky little boy!! I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Some are from Christmas morning at our house, and others are from our trip to Nashville...

Merry Christmas

...from our family to yours!!

We ended up having a white Christmas after all!! :)

9 Months Old

Our sweet little Maddox is 9 months old today! He is becoming more and more of a joy each day and we are so proud to call him our son! Here are some of the things going on with him at this stage of his little life...

-Wearing size 4 diapers and 12 month or 12-18 month clothes.

-Weighs around 22 pounds, but has not had an "official" weight check at the doctor since 6 months old.

-Started crawling at 8 months old.

-Babbling like crazy! He jabbers all the time. We never have to wonder where he is in the house because he can always be heard... even when he sleeps!

-Sleeps from about 8-6:30 most nights, sometimes a little longer.

-Takes 2 naps a day, usually at 9:00 and again at 3:00.

-VERY clingy these days! As soon as we walk through the door of the church nursery the tears flow... we are working on this!

-Into everything!! He loves the entertainment center and power cords... computers, cell phones, remotes, etc...

-Pulling up on his own and standing for longer periods of time while holding onto something.

-Hates table food... much prefers his stage 2 fruits and vegetables.

-Loves his paci

-Hates juice

-When he hears me doing dishes in the kitchen, it seems he can't get there fast enough b/c he knows that most likely the diswasher is open. He wants to help me unload it!

-Gives the sweetest kisses. Sometimes he will plant one on our lips, but if he is feeling a little more shy, he will lean his forehead in for it. This is by far my favorite trick!! :)

-Loves being sung to! His momma makes up some pretty crazy songs, but he loves them.

-Is NOT laid back! Maddox has a lot of laid back friends, but it is not rubbing off on him! I think he may be the next president! He's very driven!

-Would live outside if we let him! We have to be very sneaky if we go out the door without him because he wants to be outside so much... bring on Spring and we can make this happen more often!

-Has not been sick yet, thank goodness! (Except for 1 ear infection at 3 months old)

Well, that about sums it up for what is going on at 9 months. Maddox is such a joy and we are so thankful that he is ours!! :)

Nearsighted??

This morning while Daniel and I were getting ready for church, I turned on PBS to keep Maddox occupied for about 10 minutes. I went into the bathroom to put my makeup on, and when I came back into the living room to check on him, this is what I saw...

Apparently, he didn't think he was close enough to the tv.

Entering the World...

of monogramming!!! I have been wanting a monogramming machine for several months now and I am so excited b/c we ordered one today! It is a combination sewing and embroidery machine. My poor, sweet husband tried his best to surprise me, but being the stubborn gal that I can be, he had to go ahead and tell me about it. Bless his heart! He tried so hard! I decided several days back that instead of getting the Janome one I originally wanted, I thought it would be best to start out with a less expensive, easier machine. That way I can start doing smaller things and get really good at it and maybe several years down the road upgrade to a different one. I am beyond excited b/c I am thinking adding monogramming to my etsy store will open up a whole new world. We shall see. It is guaranteed to be here before Christmas which means I can take it to Nashville and the girls can play on it! :)

Favorite Spot

Now that Maddox is ALL over the place, he has his favorite spots to crawl to. They are usually, by nature, the most dangerous places in the house as well. Such is life with an almost 9 month old! He loves the baker's rack in the kitchen most of all, and when he gets there he loves to destroy everything on the bottom shelf. Don't worry, we took off everything potentially deadly, and left the rest for him to explore...

He also has been doing a little bit of this...

He is such a sweet boy and we are having so much fun!!

Bargain Time!

For several weeks now I have been searching for stockings. I have looked everywhere!! I looked on Etsy and everything was cute, but expensive. I came close to ordering some from a website, but when I got to the checkout and realized that the price of monogramming was not included, I backed out. I thought about making some, but decided I would rather not. I am definitely not into spending a fortune on a stocking, so I decided to venture out to Target. I already knew that I loved Target, but when I found our stockings there, it really sealed the deal for me. $2.00 per stocking, people! $2.00!! I mean, really!! A family friend did the monogramming for me (hopefully I will be doing my own soon!) and decided to do different fonts on each one. She said this would be a good idea so that when we have more kids, we don't have to worry about matching up the fonts. Great idea, huh?? I thought so. Well, here is the finished product...

I went back yesterday and bought a few more so that we will have them when the time comes. We do not have a mantle so for now they are hanging on coat hooks. Oh, the joys of having a tiny house! :)

Mini Makeover

Our bedroom got a mini makeover today... I have been wanting to get a new comforter for our bed for a little while now. We had some anniversary money that we were saving for just the right thing and I think this was it. We went looking for bedding this morning... I thought surely we would find something we liked at Target. And of course we did, but what I really liked would not work because A.)It was pricey and B.) would not match our walls/curtains and Daniel said no thanks to repainting (I can't blame him!) . So, on we went to Bad, Bath and Beyond. After looking for a little while, we came across the perfect bedding for our little bed! It was about half the price of anything else we found that we liked, and it matched our existing things PERFECTLY! So, here is our bed before and after...

Before... a little boring and not quite as colorful as I would have liked...

After... a little more colorful and fun!

Christmas Parade

Today was the annual Opelika Christmas Parade. Every year, my parents' business has a float and we always get to ride on it. This was Maddox's first ride on the float and he did so great! He loves to be outside, and apparently the FREEZING cold didn't bother him too much... he loved it!!

Free as Can Be!

Shutterfly is doing an amazing promotion this year... 50 FREE Christmas cards for blogging about it and I can't wait to get started! I personally LOVE Shutterfly and have used them for several things in the past... Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, etc... They have very unique photo gifts and I just love them!

There are several designs to choose from and they are all so cute I don't know how we will ever be able to decide on one! This one is one of my absolute favorites... very simple yet so cute!!

We don't ever give holiday parties but I thought these invitations were so cute if you were going to throw a Christmas party... especially this one!

And as Maddox's first birthday grows closer, I have already been thinking about invitations for his party and Shutterfly has the cutest birthday invitations! I can't wait to design one to help make his first birthday special! I am considering this one in particular!

Be sure to check out Shutterfly's great products!! :)

Thanksgiving in Brentwood

This year, Daniel, Maddox, Chloe and I traveled to Brentwood to have Thanksgiving with Daniel's family. It had been 3 years since we were there for Thanksgiving so it was great to be there with everyone!

We got there Tuesday night and Maddox did great on the way! He literally slept the whole time except when we stopped to eat dinner and feed him... much better than he has done the last 2 times we have traveled with him. When we got there we visited with everyone before heading to bed. Daniel's brother and sister-in-law had to leave the next morning to go to her family's house, but it was so good to see them while we could!

Wednesday morning some lifelong friends of Daniel's family came over for a visit. Maddox got to play a little bit with Ainsley and it was so fun to watch them interact with each other! They both have grown so much since their last visit! Wednesday night we drove to downtown Nashville to meet up with some friends that used to live in Auburn. They have a son that is 1 month younger than Maddox. Both of the babies kept us very busy and very entertained at dinner. We had the best time catching up and hanging our for a little while.

Thursday was a day full of family and food! Thanksgiving dinner was so yummy and the fellowship was great, too! Maddox got to meet a lot of his extended family and he did great for most of the time! I am so glad that we were able to be there this Thanksgiving and we look forward to seeing everyone again after Christmas! Enjoy the pictures...

The Best Years of My Life

2 years ago today, I married my best friend and the best father I could have ever dreamed of having. I feel so blessed to have Daniel in my life and I look forward to many, many, many more years of happiness! It was the most perfect (unbearably cold) day follwed by the most amazing honeymoon. We have had a blast these last 2 years and it's only the beginning. I love you, babe!!