Life in the Fast Lane

Well, life has been busy, to say the least, these past few weeks. We've survived teething, colds, snow, finals, work, more finals, group projects, new milestones and much, much more. Goodness, we even have a big 8-month-old girl who is eating bananas and puffs all by herself now! There is so much to update, but as usual, there just isn't enough time in the day. We are leaving on a jet plane in 8 hours (WHY am I still awake at 2 am?!) to Ohio, land of the cold, for 6 days to visit Anthony's grandparents. I'm nervous about flying with Madelyn, but I'm sure she'll do just fine.

Hope you all have a wonderful week. We'll be relaxing and enjoying no internet for the week. I'm really looking forward to the break. Take care everyone, and look for more updates in about a week and a half! Hopefully we'll make it back in one piece and not lose any digits to frostbite! ;)

And here's chubby cheekers last month. You know I can't post without pictures!

Gobble Gobble!

We had a great first Thanksgiving with our little Turkey. My Papaw's nickname for me used to be Turkey, and long before Thanksgiving, I started calling Madelyn my little Turkey, just because it fit. Probably not the most beautiful or elegant of the bird family, but I think the name is cute. So she's stuck with it.

We drove down to Meridian on Thursday morning with a sweet sleepy head in the back seat who slept the entire drive. When we arrived, we helped cook the last few dishes (Dad cooked way too much food, as usual!), and we then enjoyed a wonderful lunch with PawPaw, Dede and Papaw! We enjoyed a fried turkey (yum), smoked a ham (double yum), dressing, gravy, black eyed peas, green bean casserole, cream cheese corn, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, fruit salad AND pie! I'm probably forgetting something, too.

We only stayed in town for about 24 hours, but in that time, we got a lot of visiting and fun in. Madelyn got to see her great grandfather, Papaw, again.

Let's go for a ride!

Four generations

We sat on the front porch

We picked up pecans

We looked really hard for any that we missed...

We played in the leaves


And found more pecans, which went straight in the mouth after this picture...

We took pictures...

...in front of the fireplace (aren't you digging the senior pics on the mantle?!)!

And then, we did something that PawPaw has been patiently waiting for since he found out a sweet baby was on the way...Madie helped him feed the deer!

Here we go!!

Project "feed the deer" = fail. Apparently those deer are a little smarter than we thought. They were very much aware that the "sack of feed" was more of a living, breathing polka dotted "thing!" Even Dad's little buddy Mikey wouldn't come near him for his bottle! Madelyn was so good, though. She just watched the entire time she was out there with Dad. I'm sure that will soon change, though. Let's see how those deer like her next year!


On Friday morning, we headed to Clifton to see Mamu, Madelyn's great grandmother. While we were there, Becky & Zane came by! What a great surprise!



We had a great visit with them all before heading back to the big city. We had even more family waiting on us at home, so it was a full holiday weekend! We have so much to be thankful for this year - our families, our health, our jobs, the beautiful and perfect little girl we welcomed into the world this year - seriously, how much better can it get?

Putting Her to Work!

Last Wednesday, Madelyn's day care closed early. Because I took such a long "vacation" earlier this year, I've almost run out of time off, and Ant already had a full schedule when we found out about daycare. So, someone got to go to work with Mommy!

She went in with me at 8 and lasted until we got off early at 3. She was perfect the entire time! My coworkers couldn't believe how laid back and happy she was, but it was just a normal day for her. Breakfast, playtime, bottle, nap (she napped longer at work with me than she does at day care), lunch, visiting coworkers, playing on Mom's computer keyboard, playing with another coworker's daughter who came in to work with her Daddy and then we headed home! My day was AWESOME, as I got to hang out with my favorite girl all day!! And I even got some work done, believe it or not. Although I complain about my job often, I'm lucky to have a boss who is understanding and flexible. Wonder if I could take her in more often?!

Wordless Wednesday