So as mentioned in my previous blog, I took my own vaca with Maddy to Colorado. She really liked the plane ride and did well. She laughed at take-off and landing, looked out the window, and tried really hard to buckle her seat belt on her own.

The first few days I spent with Melissa. And boy did we pack in the activities. On the first day we went to the Colorado Springs Zoo, which was awesome and now my favorite zoo. When you walk in you can feed giraffes, and they are right there, you can even pet them! It was great. Maddy got a souvenir shirt. I thought it was funny.We then went to a friends house for a BBQ and Maddy played with two little girls, Delanie and Savannah. By then end of the day she was soooo tired. Yes those are bags under her eyes.

The next day we walked to the park where we played and went to this huge fountain. It was so cool. We didn't know that Maddy was going to get so wet, so by the end she went white trash and was playing in just a diaper. We then walked back through downtown where we stopped for lunch and Maddy kept trying to crawl on my lap because she was sleepy. She did perk up at the toy shop where she had a hard time picking a stuffed animal, she eventually went with the cat. She was exhausted by the time we got back to my sister's place. We had to keep giving her flowers (which she is obsessed with) to destroy to keep her happy, thus the aftermath in this pic.

After visiting Melissa, I headed down to Arvada to visit Kendra, Catherine, and Chelsea. It was so fun see how everyone was doing and reminiscing of our crazy college days. Ah, youth. We were so excited and chatty that Kendra's little boy Alex had to tell us several times to quiet down. Yeah, he's 4. Ha ha. Maddy loved playing with Alex and Lydia. It was just great!

Maddy has been growing up fast these last few months. She can say so many words, communicate her needs, she's climbing, having tantrums, and she can even say her own name and identify herself. Crazy, I know! Here she is just cracking up at Ethan spinning her ducky in the tub. Sorry for the nudity, I usually am more careful in my filming!

Saturday was a beautiful day and I convinced Ethan that we should go to the Iowa State Fair. It was tiring, but worth it. Maddy loved seeing and naming all the animals. We were in awe of how huge all the animals were. Here is the worlds largest bull, 3,404 lbs. Other pics include the butter sculptures and the 4th place 998 lbs pumpkin. I am a little bummed at the lack of good pics. It was a really crowded day!

Probably my favorite part of the fair was the butterfly house. There was over 5,ooo butterflies. So cool. You just stand there and they just land on you. Here's one on my head and some other cute pics.

Maddy definitely was exhausted by the end of the fair! She got pretty grumpy and practically passed out on the shuttle on the way back to the car.

It was really crazy, but really fun! Now that we've been once we feel like we have a better handle of what's going on, next year we will go crazy... chocolate covered bacon on a stick... you never know... We love the Iowa State Fair!!!

So last week was really rainy and Maddy definitely had a case of cabin fever, so we went to the mall to the children's discovery museum. She had fun playing with the pulleys, the ginormous blocks, etc. But her favorite thing was the 3 way mirror. She giggled, squealed, and just loved it.

Maddy has become such a big girl here she is with her first pig tails. Can you believe it!? She's not our little baby anymore!

Alright, I apologize, it has definitely been too long since my last post! SORRY!!! We've been having fun and enjoying one of the most mild Iowan summers in a long time. Our days are filled with trips to the park, playing in her pool, or just roaming around the neighborhood. Maddy is a crazy walking fool and hates to hold your hand. Which drives me nuts because she just runs off in stores and into the street. Oh, and apparently saying no to her is hilarious. She has gotten so big, she can go down slides on her own, tries to jump, and is trying to climb on things.

It is amazing how much she does learn... I'm shocked at times. Out of no where today she was tired and kept saying, "Sleep, sleep" so I brought her to her room and put her down for her nap. That was a nice heads up! Her favorite word now is probably star, any time she sees one she has to point it out. She's learning new words every day, I don't even know how many words she can say. Here are some highlights.







Here's another Maddy video. She got her first doll, this is her first reaction to it. No worries, she is nicer to the baby now. She likes pointing to the baby's different parts, especially her eyes, and clapping the baby's hands.



Since the last post Zach we celebrated the 4th of July and the home coming of Ethan's brother Zach from his mission in Colorado. Here we are at a Kernels baseball game and Maddy in her wagon (which she loves) waiting for fireworks. At first she was scared of the fireworks, but when Ethan held her and clapped and ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the fireworks she started really enjoying it.



So I had heard of this little "museum" that had animals and kid appropriate displays, so of course we had to go... It wasn't as fabulous as promoted. It had about 3 rooms that Maddy had no interest in. She did like the stuffed animals, she really liked an owl that we had to fight away from her. However I think her favorite part was sitting on Daddy's shoulders and ripping out his hair!!!



Maddy in the past few months has made a friend, Alexa Carney. She always gets excited when she sees her, and even at times gives her hugs and kisses! They are pretty funny together. They fight over toys, steal sippy cups and pacifiers from each other, and mimic each other. They are just too cute. Lex is really good at splashing, which Maddy finds hilarious, so pool time and bath time is very fun and very wet!



More recently I took Maddy to a play place with bounce houses, obstacle course, etc. She was totally over whelmed. I tried to take her into the inflatables, but she just cried. She did however enjoy running around and playing with her new favorite toys... balls!



I know Maddy is the star, but if you're interested, Ethan and I are doing well!

He has finally received his license and is seeing patients like crazy. Eth's dad is even going out of town and he is going to run the office for a couple days!!! He is doing a great job and enjoying it. He often comes home with funny stories, mostly about people accidentally farting when he adjusts them. Man, all that schooling and officially a doctor, all to have people pass gas in your face!

As for me I'm trying to keep up with the 10 week fitness program I have enrolled in. 6 days a week I diet and get my butt kicked at the gym. I still have 4 weeks left, but so far I've lost about 10 lbs, 12 3/4 inches off my whole body, and shaved almost 2 min off my very slow mile!!! I'm fitting into some of my old clothes, so that's encouraging, but I still have a long way to go. Also, I just fixed up some old hand-me-down furniture and trying to clean up a little plastic desk for Maddy.

On Friday Maddy and I head to Colorado to visit Melissa and some of my college friends. I'm really excited. So hopefully next week you'll see a new posting!

Hope you're having a fabulous summer. Love you guys!

One... Already!!!

Maddy Day 1... 7lbs 5oz 20inches

Maddy 1 year... 24 lbs 4oz 31inches

So on May 7th Maddy turned one, can you believe it?! I can't!

Here are some Maddy facts...
She is 24lbs 3 oz (she lost weight)and 31 inches. She's in the 95th percentile. She loves to walk. Her favorite thing to do is "run" around on the deck and chase bubbles. Here she is doing it on her birthday.

She also has 8 teeth with a molar on the way. Which have caused many sleepless nights. Maddy was having a hard time. Here she is passed out on the couch.

She loves to look at books and several times a day will empty the book shelf looking at her books.

She can say dog, cat, eyes, and hi. She can also recognize quite a few words. She will also clap when you sing, if you're happy and you know it clap your hands. She can also point out your eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Here's some video evidence, I messed up on one video, I was trying to show the camera the flash cards but missed, duh!



She also has some funny habits. First, she is sitting on your lap and reading she pinch your arm and pull your am hair. Also, she inherited my funny habit of rubbing our feet together and against things, and crossing them.

Anyway, like any parent we can't believe how much Maddy has grown and are so proud.

As Maddy's special day approached I got the house ready and in 2 weeks built a brick patio, retaining wall, put in a flower garden, planted 7 trees, and a small strawberry patch. Yes, I'm crazy, but my parents and aunt and grandma were all driving in and I couldn't have a big hole in my back yard. So here's the patio.

It was great to have so many family and friends together for Maddy's birthday.

We had a BBQ, cake, and presents... oh and fun! Maddy got wonderful gifts like much needed clothes, books, a zebra she can bounce on, a big ball, which she is terrified of, a key board, her favorite a xylophone, and much more.

When it came to cake time, Maddy was exhausted! As you can tell from the video, she wasn't too enthusiastic about the cake. But she ate enough to get wired later on and have diarrhea the next day.

Thank you friends and family for everything. I was such a wonderful birthday. I have tons of pics, but I think this blog is definitely long enough. BTW here's some more blog!!!!

Since her birthday Ethan has taken Boards and feels great and I lucked out at Lenscrafters and when they were adjusting my glasses broke them and I got a new pair for free! They are nicer and even more expensive, sweet!!!!

I just had to include this picture, I know it's kinda grainy, but it's hilarious. Maddy has started eating rice cakes and when she has bitten off enough, she shoves the whole thing in her mouth. Man that's quite a set of chompers she's got there!!!

Happy Easter!

We enjoyed a trip to Des Moines to celebrate Easter with Ethan's family at his Aunts house. We stayed over night at a hotel so Maddy got to enjoy some swim time.

Gotta love those rolls!

We can't believe that Maddy is almost 1 year old! It's crazy how quickly time has passed and how big she has gotten. I recently put her is size 5 shoes and a toddler dress. Yeah, I wasn't kidding, she's gi-normous! She is also increasing in skillz! Here are some recent videos...

Maddy shaking it...

Maddy walking on her own...

Slurping noodles... (ps not a cool diaper change after that!)

"Swimming"...

"Jumping" into the pool... (she did much better the first two times, by the time I got my camera, I think she got cold)

She will also play ball with you, babbling a ton (no words), understands no (but doesn't always listen!), and getting into all sorts of trouble now that she's mobile. I went to the bathroom and when I came out there was dirt from the potted plant on the floor, her hands, and unfortunately her mouth. Ah, baby proofing. She's our crazy girl and we love her! Hope you enjoyed the videos, pics, and most importantly I hope you enjoyed your Easter.

Love
Liz

As requested by my mom, here is a quick update.
Since my last update we went bike riding...

And been enjoying the good weather...

Most importantly in the past week Maddy took her first steps, started crawling, and can sit up on her own. CRAZY!!!! She's cruising really well now and is falling a lot because she is becoming a little more daring. Enjoy the videos. Love you all!

So, I've been avoiding doing my blog, but when it was pointed out to me that it's almost spring, and I still have Christmas pics up on my blog, it was time for an update. I know it's another long one... but keep reading, there are some funny gems...

OK, Maddy's 9th month has come and gone and now she is in her 10th month. It's funny how time flies by, she's so big, literally! Still in the 97th percentile, Maddy is a whopping 24 lbs and 31 inches. We've made some baby friends, they're about 18 mons, and all smaller than Maddy. It's pretty funny.

Here she is wishing you a belated, Happy Valentine's Day.

Well, she has increased in more than just size, she still doesn't crawl, but she has scooted backwards, she can go from sitting to all fours and reach things, and she can rotate around in circles while sitting to reach for things. Here she is faking me out like she's going to crawl.

We've also been doing baby signing time. She can't sign at all, she'll get made and pull her hands away if you try to grab them to make the signs. But she LOVES to watch it. She rocks, claps, talks, laughs, etc. Nothing will get in her way of watching it! Here she is watching it intently!!!



Oh, whats funny, is when she rocks, she rocks on beat, we'll play different songs and she'll stop and and adjust how fast she is rocking.

So, Maddy's not crawling, but she loves walking... with help. When she starts going, she barely holds on to your hands, but as soon as you let go, she stops. She has stood on her own for a few seconds only a couple times. We need to get going on baby proofing, while leading us around she stops and trys to go down the stairs to the basement or points at the outlets. She is cruising. She likes to go around and around her little play table.



She loves that toy. She plays on it everyday! It's a life saver. What's weird is recently she started waving but will only do it while playing with this toy. Here's the video...


Bath time is still one of her favorite times. I thought these were funny, so here you go. Even a little video of her laughing at animal noises. She hasn't laughed at them since.




It has come to my attention that Maddy loves to watch other kids. I mean she cracks up watching them run around. So on the few days of nice weather we've had, I've taken her to the park, here she is swinging. She likes to swing most of the time. We got a little swing and hung it in our basement. Here she is trying it out for the first time.... Ethan started swinging her a little too high at first!




Ok, other random Maddy updates... Ethan likes to sit her on the counters or couch and let her fall off into his arms. Needless to say now she just throws herself off of things. Thanks Eth! She's started really babbling and making lots of new noises. I tried taking her on a bike ride, to which she cried and screamed almost the whole time. When I say scream, I mean it. Neighbors came out to see what was happening and you could her the screams echo around the neighborhood. She has 4 more teeth coming in for a total of 6. Oh, and she loves earrings. She grabs your head and twist it to the side so she can look and touch your earrings. Uh, last random fact, we are going to start her on the My Baby Can Read program. Being a paranoid first time mom I've been worried about how I'm going to teach Maddy something so important. So we are going to try it out. Ethan and pretty skeptical, but it's worth a try. Eth's dad joked that we are going to turn her into a freak nerd child, everybody point at the 18 mon old that can read. Anyway!!!

So if your still interest in Ethan and I here's how we are doing...

Things are pretty good. We are still coming to grips with being home owners, man there's a lot to do. We are about to order flowers, put up an invisible fence for Lola (I'm going to make Eth get shocked and video it, so coming soon...), we painted the bathrooms (thanks to the help of Eth's really tall bro Jesse, we didn't even need a ladder! We are looking a tiling a backsplash in the kitchen, doing a brick patio in the back yard, and on and on.... it's pretty overwhelming once you start listing it all out!

Eth is doing well at Zmoos Chiropractic. This weekend he is at a seminar with his dad, that's why I'm blogging (bored and lonely). He feels great when he sees people literally walk in crooked and walk out standing up straight. He is starting to prepare to take his last board exam, which he has been stressing about. He's got a review class starting in a couple weeks which will help him prepare and be a little more at ease. Eth's little bro Jesse just left for the MTC to go to Santiago Chile. It was bittersweet and Eth got a little teary eyed, but everyone was so happy for him. What's random, is that my parents ran into him at the airport, weird I know!

As for me I'm spending my days keeping the big, little one happy. I also am the teacher of the CTR 8 year olds at church. Boy o boy do the wear me out!!!! Ten, eight year olds, that is a recipe for chaos!!! Let's see what else... I've also tried to make my own cheese, I'm still waiting for the gouda to age. Once I taste that one and most likely learn from my mistakes, I'll make another one. I'm also finally reading books. I'm behind with the bestsellers and most people have read them, but if you haven't, some really good books are... Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and the Poisonwood Bible. Both by Barbara Kingsglover. Oh and for all you peeps with kids a great fun book is Kid Concoctions. These are really cool projects you do with your kids. Make your own chalk, slime, "fossils", ball launchers, etc. and most of it is made with stuff around your house! Cool. Maddy is too young, but I'm excited to eventually do them!

OK, so if you've read this far, I congratulate you, even if you skimmed. I'd like to end with a scary and hilarious story one of ladies at the office told us...

So some friends of theirs has a really big boa constrictor, which "normally" sleeps at the foot of their bed. Yeah weird... just wait. So recently its made its way up the bed and sleeps in between them, which they were ok with. They started getting worried because it stopped eating, so they took it to the vet, very concerned for their loving pet snake that would cuddle with them. When they informed the vet of it's behavior and their worries, he told them that that was the least of their worries. The snake had gotten so big that it was starving itself and emptying out its stomach for a larger meal. You know, like when you fast before thanksgiving, you have to make room! However, the large meal as you have probably guessed, was THEM!!!! CREEPY. So they had to get rid of their snake! UH. Moral of the story, don't have a pet that can eat you, they may love you, but I think they love eating more!!!!

Love you all!