Maddy and Her New Cousin Noah

Tim, Maddy, and I drove to MO last weekend to visit my brother, his wife and their new baby Noah. We had such a wonderful time lazing around, watching the Olympics, playing Mario Wii, and best of all, snuggling the new nephew!

This is Maddy sacked out in her car seat on our way.

It cracked me up that she pulled her blanky over her head ;)

My brother showing the Noah to Maddy.

She was very interested and learned how to say, "baby"

Shannon and the sweet little guy

SMILES - and no wonder - see the Chinese food in the background? YUM!

Maddy playing in Noah's cradle

My brother and his little guy

Tim playing 2 player Wii by himself while holding the baby = talent ;)

Maddy did really love having all of the baby toys to play with!

We forgot how nice it was that newborns sleep wherever they are

We went to their church with them. It was a long drive, but it was worth it.

We had such a nice time seeing them all again!

Message From Maddy

In case the writing is hard to read, the shirt says, "I'm a Big Sister". Yup - I am pregnant: 10 weeks along and due at the end of August. Maddy and this little one will be about 20 months apart. Let's just say, it was a little bit of a surprise, but now that it has sunk in, we are very excited! We had an ultrasound last Friday. It was amazing seeing that heartbeat and our little squirt swimming around. I have been nauseous and tired as is to be expected, but otherwise things seem to be going well.

This is a picture of a picture since our scanner was acting up. Sorry that it's not too clear.

In his heart a man plans his course,

but the LORD determines his steps.

Proverbs 16:9

We are continually thankful for the Lord's wisdom and Sovereignty in our lives.

He is so good and we will forever praise Him.

Back in the classroom again

On January 13th, I started my Clinical Practice for Trinity Graduate School. I am in a local 3rd grade classroom Monday - Friday from 8:30am - 4pm. I will be there until May 7th. I have spent the first few weeks observing and helping the teacher wherever I can. Now I have started teaching Spelling and Reading. I pick up on new subject a week until I have full control of the classroom for 2 weeks. After that, I will begin to give the classroom teacher back one subject a week until she has full control again before I leave. I do have a Spring Break in March, which will be nice.

The transition was a little tough at first. The hardest part was leaving Madison again. Fortunately, she is such a happy go lucky girl and seems to be content no matter who she is with (boy and I glad!). She does cry when Tim and I walk out the door (which breaks my heart -and makes me feel good at the same time that she misses me), but the babysitters always say that she stops crying within 10 seconds and is as happy as ever. Fortunately, Tim is able to move his schedule around (since he works Saturdays and Sundays, so that he can watch her on Tuesday and half of Wednesday. Then we have two university girls from our church who we know well and trust and pay to watch her on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. And our dear friend Kelly watches her Wednesday morning while Tim has a meeting. So there is quite a bit of change. But fortunately, everyone is willing to come to us, so Maddy can be in her own house and sleep in her own crib. We are so blessed by the Lord to have such a good group of people to help us out with our little gal! It sure does make it a lot easier to leave every day when I know she is in good hands.

Here are some pics from January ;)

Before I started teaching, our friend and former student/soccer player Ashton came to visit, so we went into the city and went to the Shedd Aquarium and then walked to the Adler Planetarium. They were both FREE that day!

Maddy LOVED seeing all of the fish!

This was our view on our walk from the Aquarium to the Planetarium -Gorgeous!

It was pretty cold out - so Maddy was all bundled up ;)

These are just some fun pics of play dates Maddy and I had with friends before I started back to work - so much fun!

Sick Days

On Tuesday night of last week (the night before my first day of Clinical Practice in the classroom) Maddy had a fever of 101.7. She was sad, clingy, and cranky. I felt horrible! This was her first fever and I couldn't be with her the next few days to help her ride it out. I was so sad! Fortunately, Tim was gracious enough to cancel his meetings for the next two days to stay home with her. Wednesday morning the fever still hadn't broken, so he took her to the pediatrician and they said she had RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). So that has basically meant about 9-10 days of coughing, runny nose, very little eating or playing, and LOTS of snuggles (which Tim and I really did treasure because this child very rarely sits still!).

Ok, I will heartily admit that this picture is horribly unflattering. But I just had to include it because it encapsulates how we ALL felt at the end of last week - blah!

Then Wednesday night I got the stomach flu (yes throwing up and everything!) I was miserable! I was up most of the night and still sick into Thursday and Friday. Tim was so sweet and stayed home to take care of Maddy and I. Then Thursday night Tim got sick (stomach flu) and unfortunately I was still not feeling well. Then Friday night in the middle of the night Maddy threw up in her crib. We were both up tearing sheets off, changing her clothes and calming her down enough to get her back to bed. It was horrible. Finally, Saturday we started feeling better. Maddy's RSV stretched out through this week and seems to just be wrapping up (thank goodness!). And then ( you wont believe it) but Tim and I both caught a nasty head/chest cold from Maddy (the way adults get RSV). I think we are almost finished with it all now.

This is a pic of Tim and I (once we started feeling better) when Mads was still so snuggly and attached to her thumb. I don't think she took it out of her mouth more than a few times over the past 10 days!

I have to admit, I am not always thankful for health until my own or my family's is jeopardized! But now that we are all starting to feeling better I am thankful for our health!

12 Month Stats

I took Madison to her one year wellness visit today and she measured at 28 inches tall (10-15%) and 16 lbs. 15 oz. (5%). She is still our little peanut! They gave her two more vaccines and had to draw blood for an iron test. She's so tiny, they had a hard time finding a vein and even once they did, they had a hard time getting much blood out. So they ended up pricking her finger as well, to squeeze a little more out - poor kid! But while she was screaming, I noticed that she has her top right 1st molar coming in the back! I couldn't believe it! That's her 8th tooth. She can really chomp up her food now!

One of her new favorite snacks is ANYTHING with peanut butter on it (she gets that from her dad!) Her favorite is probably peanut butter and jelly though.

She is officially using a straw cup; no more bottles! The challenge now is to get her to drink enough in a day. She has such a poor attention span (she gets that from me I'm afraid ;)

I am thankful to the Lord each day for our healthy little girl!

FREE Calendar Poster

I just ordered my free calendar poster from Shutterfly.com. There are 8 different style options to choose from. The size is 16x20 and normally costs $19.99. All you have to pay is $4.99 for shipping! Just use the code: FREECALENDAR. Hope you enjoy!

A New Year and a New Start

I love the New Year because it allows me the opportunity to reflect back on the previous year and make some much needed changes for the upcoming year.

Last year, I am not sure I really took the time to do this, as we had a 10 day old baby at home who kept us pretty busy ;)

I have to say, this year seems to have flown by compared to others in my life. Perhaps the physical manifestation of "One Year" cruising around the house causing a ruckus has made it more tangible than other years!

Here is my basic list of New Year's Resolutions.

1. Eat healthier (includes shopping healthier and cooking healthier)

2. Meal planning (I want to do this on Saturdays, so that I can be set for the next week). I am so proud of myself, because I meal planned this past week from my Weight Watchers and p90x cookbooks and it made life so much easier!)

3. Calorie counting/weight loss (It's been a year now and the baby weight as GOT to go! The above resolution has helped with this one. These cookbooks include a calorie count, so it has been nice to be able to write in my calorie journal what my dinner will be ahead of time and plan my daily eating accordingly)

4. Work out at least 5 days a week. (I have started this one this past week as well and it's amazing how much better I feel when I at least get a 3o minute work out in!)

5. Read at least one book a month ( I may integrate this some with my graduate school program this next semester and my thesis in the summer. But I want to always be reading and learning)

6. Be more consistent in my personal prayer and Bible Study time. (This is something that I just did not keep up with this past year and I really missed it!)

7. Living life with the blessings of God in view. ( I want to focus on enjoying the the little moments I have with my husband and daughter and thanking God for the roof over my head and the food on my plate. I truly am blessed!)

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS?

Here is one of the meals I had in my menu for this week. It was yummy!

Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry (serves 4)

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 red onion

1 Tbsp garlic, minced

1-1/2 pound top sirloin steak, sliced 1 inch thick

1 Tbsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp ginger, minced

4 cups broccoli florets

8 ounces dried soba noodles

1. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.

2. Meanwhile, heat a small amount of soy cause in a large saute pan, add the onions and garlic, and saute until opaque.

3. Add beef and saute, turning often with tongs for 7-10 minutes. Stir together oil, vinegar, and ginger and add to the saute mixture.

4. Blanch the broccoli in the boiling water (or microwave on high, covered and vented for 2 minutes). Add the meat mixture and keep warm.

5. Prepare soba noodles according to package directions. Drain, toss with the beef and broccoli, and serve.

Nutritional information: 466 cals, 11 g Total fat, 46g protein, 49 Carbs, 99 mg Chol, 1,591 Sodium

Happy 1st Birthday Madison Hope Baylor

I can hardly believe it but tomorrow our baby girl turns 1 year old! The year has just flown by. It has been such a wonderful year! I can remember this night last year, trying to get to sleep knowing that tomorrow I would be meeting Madison. She has brought so much joy to our lives - more than we had ever imagined! As Tim wrote in her birthday card, "this has been the best year our family has had yet ;) " I agree. We love one another so much and we have really enjoyed sharing our love and the love of God with our little one. We pray continually that we will be a good example for her and that she will grow up to be a young lady after God's own heart.

Madison has been taking lots of steps here and there by herself while she is playing, although she prefers to crawl still. She giggles and smiles a lot- especially when people are watching her!

She is learning how to drink out of a sippy cup little by little. I am planning on trying to make the big transition to cow's milk and the cup when we get back home to Chicago. She is jabbering up a storm, but only consistently saying mama, dada, and noanana (which is no no -haha- she repeats it after I say it! It's so hard not to laugh ;)

The following are some pics I got of Madison at JCPenny a little over a week ago. They had such a good day going on!

I can't believe she is 1 ?!?!

We had a small party for friends in Chicago. I had a little kiddie station of snacks and party favors set up.

Maddy's friend Michael

Pink, white, and brown m&m's ;)

Her "Birthday Bear" that we got her. She giggles every time I press the paw and it plays the "Happy Birthday" song.

My first time trying my hand at the frosting piping for the cupcakes. It was fun!

People came in shifts so it worked out well since we have a pretty small condo.

Katie and Madison

She was not sure what to think of the cupcakes at first!

Then she dove in!

Happy Birthday Madison Hope! Your Dad and I are so glad that God brought you into our lives!