Dustin is 30!

We went to a surprise birthday party for Dustin last night at the Boundry. Tasha did a great job pulling it off! We are thankful for their friendship. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DUSTIN!!!

Punkie is 11 months old!

So for those of you who don't know, Madison Claire's main nickname these days is "punkie". It started with me calling her punkin, which Ryan turned into punkie brewster, which got shortened to just punkie. So cute.

Our punkie is 11 months old tomorrow - so hard to believe!! She still isn't walking yet - though she is very fast when she walks around holding things and has been standing up without assistance. She's working on some words - will finally say mamamama and has occasionally said bye-bye and "ook" which we think means "look" but nothing that is clear & really consistent.

She has been signing to communicate with us. She learned the sign for "all done" a few months ago and has been doing that one consistently for a while but she just recently started saying "more" and "milk". Next up is to teach her "eat", "please" & "thank you". We'll probably stop at those.

She's also learned to kiss and it is PRECIOUS!!! Talk about melting your heart...it is so sweet. I'm going to try to get a video of her doing it now because she is much better at it now, but here is one that Annie took a week ago. You can also see her showing off some of her signs.

I was out of town this last week for the whole week and just got back to Nashville late last night. By the time I got home it was a little after 10pm and I had missed Madison Claire so much that I went upstairs to snuggle her. When I opened the door, she had heard me coming and was on all fours peering through the crib. She was pretty much out of it but I still loved holding her and kissing her and thank goodness when I put her back down to sleep 10 minutes later she went back down. We are blessed!

SARAH'S PREGNANT!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! We are so excited for Sarah & Ryan and can't wait for Madison Claire to meet her new little cousin! They told us a few weeks ago when mom & dad were in town. I totally called it because they wanted to Skype with us but dad said they wanted to wait until Ryan was awake. Now, no offense to my sweet hubby, but why on earth would they want to wait until Ryan was awake? Usually when we Skype it is just so they can see Madison Claire so I immediately said "they are going to tell us they are pregnant" and went to wake up Ryan. I told Ryan my theory so he got Madison Claire's bitty baby and put my glasses on the baby and held it up in front of the computer screen. He loves teasing Sarah...he always has and probably always will. Sarah - it's just because he loves you!

Anyway - they told us and we were so excited!!! They are going to be such great parents! We only wished we lived closer so we could see them and their new little one more often. They think she is due in early October but she hasn't been to the doctor yet so the due date hasn't been confirmed. Please join us in praying for a healthy pregnancy for both Sarah & the baby!!

Step Sing

Ryan and I went to Birmingham to meet up with my family to watch Meredith & Ben in Step Sing. We had such a great time seeing everyone and the Dudes A Plenty show that Ben directed won the whole thing! Congrats, Ben!!

Madison Claire meets Olivia!

Our friends Ibby & Erin Nasmyth came into town for a quick visit and we were so excited to get to introduce our little ones! They arrived on Friday night and Olivia was BEAUTIFUL! Like Madison Claire, Olivia is very petite. She actually made Madison Claire look big!!

We went to the Vanderbilt basketball game and took the girls with us. It was quite the experience. Sweet Olivia sat nicely through most of the game...not so much with Madison Claire. Of course she wanted to be everywhere and wasn't content playing with us in the seat. We spent the last half of the game with one of us out in the concession area with her. What are we going to do when we are pinned on a plane to Maui in 2 months???

We also got to spend some time with Ibby's sisters Ayesha & Faith. Special thanks to Ayesha for some of the cute pics above! It was so encouraging for Ryan and I to talk with and learn from Ibby & Erin as we both go through many of the same parenting choices & challenges together. We wish they lived closer so we could see them more often!

We should have bought that 4-wheel drive!

So....when we bought the Pilot, we didn't want to pay the extra few thousand dollars for 4-wheel drive because we kept thinking - when will we ever need to use 4-wheel drive in Nashville, TN? You might remember our story from a few weeks ago when it snowed & we got stuck going up our hill and slammed into another car? Well....this is Phase II of that story.

It started snowing out of nowhere this evening on my way to bible study in Cool Springs. By the time I got there it was snowing buckets so we cancelled the study and I started making my way back across town. I decided to take the interstate to West End Avenue and then get off and come across Hwy 70 to get home. Mistake!!! Hwy 70 was pretty bad and when I was less than 5 miles from home, cars started spinning all around me. Several cars were slammed into the guardrail and others were sliding from right to left. It was so scary...I actually started crying and called Ryan because I didn't know what to do. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to make it up our hill so Ryan told me to park at Papa Johns and walk. I ended up pulling into the church right by Papa Johns and I then proceeded to WALK probably a mile and half, in the POURING snow, UP the BIG HILL in nothing but my Juicy Suit. I didn't even have good shoes!! It was so sad. Ryan and Madison Claire were anxiously waiting for me at the front door. If you look closely in the first picture, you'll see my lone footprints on the sidewalk...

Should have bought that 4-wheel drive!

Still sick

I had to go out of town this past Thursday, Friday & Saturday for work so Ryan stayed here with Madison Claire. He's still sick - mostly with a head cold now but he sounds horrible. To make matters worse, our heat went out on Wednesday. Wednesday night we slept upstairs because it's on a different heating system, so we didn't freeze. Gary came over early on Thursday morning with some space heaters which helped a lot! It turns out it was a problem with the thermostat, not the heat itself. At any rate, it's fixed now - praise the Lord!!

My parents came in town for the weekend to visit & brought my Mama Howard with them. They had such a great time playing with Madison Claire and she sure loved spending time with them! Unfortunately, we got them all sick. Mom & Dad both came down with our stomach bug from last week :(.

Don't leave me, Annie!

Madison Claire LOVES her Nanny Annie (and so do we)! Last week when it was time for Annie to leave, Madison Claire went over to her & held onto her legs and wouldn't let go. SO sweet!

Baby Weight - Be Gone!

Madison Claire turned 10 months old on January 31st and that 10 month mark also marked the time when I can officially say that my baby weight is gone. I had gotten down to the last 3 pounds or so but had such a hard time getting it off. Well, when we got sick last week, that was all it took and for some reason it keeps coming off even though I'm back to eating normally (not that I'm complaining about this!).

If I'm honest, I was really surprised at how long it took me to lose the weight. I gained 40 pounds while I was pregnant with Madison Claire. Perhaps I was hoping I would be like Ash and get back to within 3 pounds of my starting weight less than a week after having the baby. Other friends had told me the old quote "9 months on, 9 months off". I had lost weight before with Weight Watchers and knew what it would take to get it off but I had a constant internal battle of wanting to diet and lose the weight but not wanting to risk lowering my milk supply through dieting. So - really for her first 9 months I only relied on exercise to lose weight and didn't really diet. I started watching my calories through WW in early January and it's made a big difference.

I had gained about 7 pounds right before I got pregnant, so I technically still need to lose 3 pounds to be at my "goal weight" but my first step was getting to the number that I was when I got pregnant so I could say "Baby Weight - Be Gone!"

I'm not writing this post to brag (though I am proud of myself) but as a reminder to myself in years to come with future kids (good Lord willing) that for me, it takes time but if I stick with it and exercise, I can get my body back and feel great in a bathing suit! Maui here I come!