Currently

Reading... Scary Mommy Motherhood Comes Naturally

Loving.. that when Madison asks for "Barney" in the car that when I say "Barney night night", it works! She will say "Shhh Barney sleeping" and won't ask again. Mommy-1, Madison -0.

Not loving.. Madison's anti-nap phase going on right now. Also, her seperation anxiety phase. She cried the whole hour she was in nursery at church yesterday. They had to take her riding in their buggy to calm her down. Frustrating to say the least.


Watching.. Catfish. I love this show and how stupid people are! I'm glad the new season is starting tomorrow!

Feeling.. tired

Random goodness

I know I haven't been blogging much. Here's a mish mash of what's going on!

-We have decided to join the church we've been attending. I think it's a great mix of what Alan and I are both looking for. They have a contemporary and traditional service which suits us both. The contemporary service serves coffee, juice and donuts during the service and has a praise band. They meet in the gym and the sermon gets piped in through video. We have enjoyed going and they have so many activities during the Summer. They have something every Sunday after church. It's also Madison's future preschool. We will be joining in the Fall and Madison will then get baptized.

-I think reading isn't for me. I just tried reading Confessions of a Shopaholic. A series that every girl has loved. Well not me. Maybe it's the non-reader in me. Maybe it's the frugal side of me. I just couldn't read more than 30 pages. I got stressed reading about a girl who had maxed out all of her cards, yet kept spending money. I know there was probably a great ending to the story but I couldn't do it. So I picked up Scary Mommy's Motherhood Comes Naturally. I love her blogs. If you are the faint of heart or want to read nothing but sappy kids' stories, this blog isn't for you! She gives you the true side of parenting. It's not all butterflies and lollipops(though she does add a few of those stories here and there) I'm hoping I can get through this one. It's only a 14 day rental so I sure hope so! :)


-Are you on Instagram? I have now made a seperate account to sell Madison's clothes. I have also bought some clothes for me and shoes for her on there. Super cheap. Email me to get my shop name if you need girl clothes newborn-18 months size!

-Speaking of clothes, I racked up at NY&Co yesterday. I went to the mall to buy a gift and wanted to walk around. Glad I did! They had 80% off racks! I got a pair of pj pants and 4 or 5 shirts for the price of what 1 of their shirts normally cost! Score!

-I have bought all of Madison's birthday party supplies. Plates, napkins, cups, forks, decorations, favors, etc. I also bought her a shirt to wear that day. All I need to get now is a "2" candle(2 Walmarts didn't have them!), the food, invitations, some ribbon(a quick Hobby Lobby trip) and order her cupcakes and cookies, if I can settle on a design I won't change 5 times like I did last year. Oopsie.. Her party photographer was booked back in April. I've also made her invite list and menu. I'm on a roll, ya'll!

 I have a lot more ramblings but I will post another one in a few days :) What have you been up to? Comment with your ramblings!

Random facts about us

I posted on Facebook for suggestions on some posts since I've hit a bad writers block! My friend Lauren over at XOGingersnapps gave me a list of questions and I thought it'd be fun to do. Thanks Lauren! :)

I guess since most of our readers are family or close friends, I never thought about answering these.
Here's her list :

Why did you start blogging?
Our family is spread all over the place. I thought it'd give those that we don't see or talk to everyday a peek into our world. I started this blog in April of 2010. When we had Madison in 2011, I started blogging more and more about her. Who cares about the parents when there's a sweet baby girl in the family now?! :) It also gives her grandparents a way to see what all she is doing and learning. See my very first blog post here.

How did you and your husband meet?
We used to work together.

What are you passionate about?
Sadly nothing other than Madison and Alan. I would love to have some sort of a hobby but I can't find the time. When Madison goes to bed, I'm ready to rest(or workout on workout nights) This blog is about the only non-human/pet thing I do on a regular basis.

Favorite movie?
I laugh my butt off at Bridesmaids anytime it's on. I swear it gets funnier and funnier! I also love While You Were Sleeping, The Notebook, and Wizard of Oz.

Favorite book?
I am a huge Nicholas Sparks fan but I'm not much of a reader, so I've watched more of his books turned into movies than read the actual book. My all time favorite is The Wedding. I actually did read that one.

What do you love about your husband?
He is the most caring, sweet, hard working, religious, funny person I know. He has such a tender heart and he's the best father! He's so hands on and never complains about me doing things and leaving him and M together. Madison loves when her daddy is around. She wants him to hold her constantly. He loves taking her on adventures. He has always supported me emotionally being a stay at home mom. I struggle from time to time with not helping financially for us but he always insists that I am a huge help and he would have it no other way as long as we can do it. He is a huge support and while I don't always act like it, I never take him for granted. He is the best and I know all of my roads led me straight to him and I have no doubt that everything happens for a reason!

What is one of your biggest dreams? 
Now that I've found the perfect man and we have the child we prayed for, I would love to have a vacation house in the mountains! While it seems impossible to have at this point in our life, maybe one day! A girl can dream, right?

What holds you back from telling more people about God?
I am surrounded by Christian people who could recite the Bible word for word, so I have never been asked nor had the opportunity to tell people what I know because they know more than I do.

Linking up with:

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving

There's a challenge on Instagram and Facebook during November where everyday you say what you are thankful for. I will do 2 weeks at a time so it's no so overwhelming. Here are mine so far in very random order(except the first two)!

Day 1-Madison

 Today and everyday I'm thankful God blessed us with an amazing daughter! After years of trying and questioning why, now I know His timing is perfect. She's healthy, smart, happy, hilarious and beautiful! We are so blessed!

Day 2-Alan

 Thankful for my handsome husband, best friend and perfect father to M. We have the perfect marriage and I don't know how I made it so long without him.

Day 3-Coffee

On a day like this, thankful for coffee

Day 4-Family and friends

 The people we lean on and trust, outside of each other.

Day 5-

 Thankful my daughter LOVES to read! Ever since she was born, we read a book at every nap and bedtime. Now she loves flipping through books and talking.
"If you want your child to be intelligent, read them fairy tales" ~ Einstein 

Day 6-

Thankful for the freedom to vote, these tiny stickers that shows I voted and the lady that gave M one :)

Day 7-Blessed to be a stay at home mom

 It does get very repetitive and I get stir crazy about every other day but I wouldn't want to have it any other way! I love spending my day with this girl and our crazy animals!

Day 8-Sunglasses

After making an out of town trip this cloudless day and leaving my sunglasses at home, I appreciate them a lot more now!

Day 9 - DVR

If not for this great invention, I'd never catch any good tv and Madison would never watch Play with me Sesame since it comes on at times she's either asleep or not eating.(she only watches tv when she's eating)

Day 10-massages
I've been getting massages at least once a month for the past 13 years! I can't imagine not getting them on a normal basis.

Day 11-Veterans

 thankful for all the veterans and their families who fought and are currently fighting for our freedom. They sacrifice so much! 

 Day 12-Pinterest

 As weird as it may be to be thankful, I've gotten lots of recipes, fitness tips, decorating tips and I planned Madison's first birthday entirely from it. I also have a lot of ideas just waiting to be done too.

Day 13-A daughter that plays well on her own.

Day 14-My car

Even with the rattles, dings and scratches, she's very loyal and gets me where I need to go and I feel very safe in it.

Happy 4 months Madison!

December 10 - the night she stopped getting up to eat every 3 hours! She actually slept through the entire night this night and the next 2 nights! I thought it was the beginning of a very beautiful thing but I was sadly mistaken. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago and she started getting back up not every 3 hours, but every hour! Oh boy! She actually slept in her bassinet in our room 2 nights this week and will sleep through the night that way. Last night she went to bed around 8pm, up at 11:30 and slept until 4:30 when she became unswaddled and fell back asleep until 6:30 when I moved her to our room, where she slept until 9:30! Research has shown there is a 4 month growth spurt and tons of babies seem to do this according to 2 chat boards I have seen. I hope this phase passes very quickly! At least she's not getting up to eat. Getting up for a 5 minute pat-back-to-sleep is much better than an hour feeding!

December 24- First Christmas Eves at her Grandma and PawPaw's (my mom's). We got there around 1, ate and then sat around talking. She was passed around between her 2 aunts, 2 cousins, us and her Grandma. We then took her by the place we got married - Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden to see the lights. I thought maybe she would fall asleep since it was close to her bedtime by the time we got there and walking around good. She was wide awake and loved it all!

December 25 - Her First Christmas. She got up a littler earlier(around 8:30) so we got her up, played with her in our bed for a bit, fed her, then showed her what Santa brought. She LOVES reading time so we got a ton of books! Also, there aren't many toys for babies under 6 months so I think we bought every one we found. And I'm not sure if the Spongebob pillow pet is for Madi or Alan...

  Here she is surrounded by her toys!  She was so worn out, she was asleep within an hour of getting up and slept for about an hour!

After that we went to her Nimmie and Papa's around 12:30. We ate and then opened presents. She took a small nap after eating in the middle of opening presents and then fell asleep as we were leaving around 5. She had 2 busy days back to back! She is so good and never really gets fussy when she's out and about. She just sits there and looks around and loves being held.

December 28 - Her 4 month checkup was today. She did really good and her checkup was perfect! Read more about it here.

December 30 - Her aunt Steph and cousin John came to visit from High Point, NC today.  They brought her 2 cute dresses, a book and puzzle and this cute headband:

 And here she is with them in front of the tree

  January 3 - I recorded this on the day I thought she was sick to show Alan how she was acting. She was acting funny that whole day and I thought she had picked up my cold:

It seems like lately she's been wanting to lay down and rest and/or nap just after eating and will make this cute whining noise to put herself to sleep. She was doing it again this morning and when I turned on the lights, her eyes were shut.

She seems to be eating a little more - around 9-10 oz - every 3-4 hours during the day. She is grabbing stuff really good and putting everything in her mouth it seems! She also enjoys 'standing' when we hold her arms. We are really working on her sitting up and rolling over from back to front right now. She has graduated to Size 3 diapers and is wearing 3 months and 3-6 month clothing. She still loves reading time.

We can't believe she is already 4 months! Time is flying by!