Football & Fairy Tales The McSwains: 2010

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Bath Time

I love these cute pictures I took when Madison Claire got out of the bath the other day - so stinking precious!

We celebrated the holidays with my Nashville work crew at Mambu restaraunt. Kate was in town for some work she was doing with the VA team in Murfreesboro, TN so she got to come with us which was such fun! I'm very thankful for the friendships I've made at work over the years...I am certainly blessed!

The Oldies - Andrew, Steve, Amy, me & Ben (even though Steve & Ben both left in 2010!)

Christmas Tree

Annie and I put the Christmas Tree up one day when Madison Claire was taking a nap. When she woke up, we captured this video to get her reaction. If you watch closely, when she finally looks over, she lets out the most precious gasp!

Counting

While I was in San Francisco & Portland, Madison Claire was learning to count. We have 16 steps going from our main level to the second story. Annie always counts them when she walks up them with Madison Claire and MC decided that it was time for her to start counting them too. Here she is semi-counting. Too cute...

Sunday, December 26, 2010

San Francisco

Ryan and I helped give Kate a little nudge to move to San Francisco this past summer. She was in town visiting and talking about how she wished she lived there and I finally got tired of hearing it because she has been saying that for the past 8 years!! So, I asked her why she wasn't just making it happen and we proceeded to talk through all of her reasons and remove the barriers. By the time she left Nashville, we had researched real estate in SF and by the next week, she was having a realtor come look at her place in DC to put it on the market. I must say, at that point I had a minor moment of freaking out where I thought to myself, "oh no! What have i done...what if she regrets it, etc.". Well - fast forward 3 months and Kate was moving across the country from DC to SF. Luckily, she has LOVED every minute of living there and so you can imagine my excitement to get to go visit her earlier this month on my way to Portland.

It was so much fun to get to see her place and experience the things that she loves about SF. She lives in Pacific Heights (I think!) and it was such a fun little area! We had dinner when I arrived with her good friends Joany & Gaye who I have heard about for the last 8 years. It was great to get to put faces with names! We walked about 7 miles on Saturday morning and then went shopping in Union Square and to a great dinner at Boulevard. Sunday we met up with an old Stockamp friend for lunch, hit the Lululemon store, and then went to the movies. Thanks, Kate for a wonderful weekend! I can't wait to come visit again!

After I left SF, I had to go to Portland for the week for work. It was a fun visit - complete with dinner with Mitzi & Amy, a birthday celebration with Tom & Carol, and year end evaluation discussions for Tom & Carol - both of whom had great years! I was able to share the good news with Tom that his promotion to Manager had been approved, so it was a great trip!

I certainly missed my Ryan & Madison Claire bear. I sent Madison Claire videos like the one below so she could see me when I was gone (I know I talk slow & funny - not sure why!!!). You'll see the one I sent her, then she sent me, then I sent her back.

When I got home, Ryan had some beautiful pink roses and a sweet card for me - I think he really missed me. Madison Claire was precious too - this was her cute little self when I walked in the door.

Christmas Pictures - Take 2

Here we are 2 weeks later, trying again:

Christmas Pictures

So trying to get a family Christmas picture this year was a little more challenging than last year. Here is our first attempt - with a special thanks to Annie for playing photographer!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Much to be Thankful for

This year my 31st birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day. I really ended up with a Thanksgiving week celebration. Anne took me out to Baja & shopping on Tuesday night, the McSwains kept Madison Claire so Ryan and I could go out on Wednesday night, and then we celebrated with the McSwains on Thursday day! Ryan and I went back and forth on where to go for our date and ended up deciding on the Capitol Grille at the Hermitage Hotel. I must say, it was dissapointing overall. Some things were really good but others were not at all, so kind of hit or miss. Afterwards we went to Melting Pot for dessert - my favorite! We were thinking about going to a movie, but the night ended so uneventfully because of me. There have been a few days during this pregnancy where I have felt so unbelievably tired that I honestly feel like if I do not go to sleep at that precise minute I may die. Wouldn't you know I got hit with a wave of exhaustion as we were finishing up dinner and I'm not kidding when I say that I was in bed asleep by 8:30pm.

The next day we headed over to the McSwains to celebrate Thanksgiving. Cheryl cooked a great meal and we celebrated with their good friends Joan & Glen. Madison Claire wasn't really a fan of eating (shocking, I know) so Ryan finally started threatening her with bed time. He would say, you can eat this bite or go to bed and she would just open that little mouth and stuff a bite in. I felt so sorry for her! But I know she needs to eat! That night ended on a down note as well - as we were leaving it was raining and I slipped on some leaves and totally busted to the ground. I was holding Madison Claire and luckily I fell in such a way that she didn't even touch the group but all I have to say for me is - OUCH!

The next morning we headed up to Cincinnati to visit with Ryan's extended family. I had been really nervous about Madison Clarie's behavior because she hasn't been doing too well while traveling or at restaurants. Wouldn't you know she was a perfect angel. She was great in the car, slept like an angel in the pack-n-play at the hotel in the same room as us, was on her best behavior at restaurants, and was just a joy around Ryan's grandparents. THANK YOU LORD!

We had a great visit. We ate at Skyline Chili (Ryan's favorite) 3 times. Ryan consumed 18 chili cheese dogs over the 3 day period (NOT an exaggeration!), we had dinner with the Terry's and Bev at Montgomery Inn, breakfast with Grandpa McSwain, Mike & Sue, Daniel & Kristin and their girls at Golden Corral, and finished off with a dinner at the Grand Finale. In between there, we spent time visitng with family, resting, watching football, shopping, and having fun with Madison Claire. All in all, a great trip!

America's Next Top Model

Madison Claire looked so cute the other morning I decided to take some pictures of her and she actually posed for me! I love the progression of the pictures - so cute!!

Zoo Day!

November was such a warm month in Nashville - the week of Thanksgiving it was in the 70s all week - it was wonderful! One day, we met up with some friends at the Nashville zoo. Here was the only picture I was able to get - we're missing Sara & Amelia in the pic, but at least we see the little ones.

I love my Daddy!

I love this series of pictures of Madison Claire with Ryan. Every day when she hears the garage door open, she runs to the door and says "Da Da". He is very special to her...and I'm so grateful for what a wonderful father he is (he's playing with her upstairs in the playroom right now as I write this...kind of appropriate :))