hawaii, take two

 Here are a few more photos from our trip. In the previous post, I tried to just pick a few pictures that I thought best summed up our trip, but apparently they were not the best representation. After reading the post, Will felt a bit hurt he did not appear in as many photos as Madison did. So hopefully everyone will know for sure he was indeed on vacation with us and we loved every minute of undivided attention.

hawaii

Landing in Hawaii. Take note of our naked baby. We stuffed her with food the entire seven hour plane ride and twenty minutes before landing she threw it all up on two different outfits. It was also odd to have it still be daylight outside because we had been traveling for the entire day.

Our first day at the beach. This was at a bay on the North Shore. The temperatures were not as warm as I had anticipated. Between the chilly water and constant wind, Madison (and me) did not get in the water much. 

 This was at the Army Ball that I went to with Grant.

Another attempt to get a picture with my daughter. She is much more interested in playing in the waves. She loved the waves and the water, she would giggle every time a new one would come in.

 Grant took over a lot of Madison duties for us. It was nice to have someone else hold her for a little while.

The one day that we got to get away on our own. This was taken on the Lanikai beach. It was more of what I imagined Hawaii to be like. It was a green mountainous drive to get there. The town had beautiful homes with luscious yards. The beach was not super touristy and the islands off the edge of shore were neat. I would say this was my favorite beach we saw. Will really enjoyed the North Shore. If I had to give any advice it would be stay far, far way from Honolulu and Wakiki Beach, you might as well be in Miami.

This is with Will's camera, can you tell?? I think this one might make its way in a frame. 

 This was at Pearl Harbor. If it had been up to me, I probably would have skipped this. However, my mother was pretty adamant about going. The most interesting part was the short film they showed before we made our way out to the monument. It was filled with a lot of information I had either forgotten or never even knew. It was a reminder of the fine line between innovation and devastation.

 While I had visions of laying out on the beach for hours on end, this is actually what I spent my  time at the beach doing. She could not get enough.

Apparently, the only decent pictures we can take of the two of us, is when we are not looking at the camera.

getting those ears pierced

Before she was born, I knew I wanted to get her ears pierced when she was still a baby. However, the thought of altering any part of her prevented me from doing it sooner. 

After seeing all the adorable Hispanic girls around where we live, and having a few too many people refer to her as a boy, I decided to just go for it. 

The plan was to do it at her nine-month appointment, but I just walked right into Claire's yesterday and plopped her down. I did not have a pacifier, bottle, nothing, we just went for it. 

She was really bothered I was holding her down and not letting her chew on all the sparkly jewelry, but once we could walk around again, she was fine. 

I think she looks beautiful, but I thought she looked beautiful before. 

nine months

 I took these pictures as we were walking out the door to the airport. As you can tell Madison was not too keen on having her picture taken. I think her face is hilarious.

Month nine was a huge month for her, she was bottling up all her milestones so we could experience them all at once and uncle Grant could witness them all also.

* She finally got a tooth. It is almost all the way up and has been sharp to the bite for a couple of weeks now. It will be absolutely adorable once it is all the way in. 

* She is crawling. She finally figured it out and there is no stopping her now. She always pushes up to a bear crawl and acts as if she just wants to walk. I really hope walking is still a few months away, no rush baby girl, no rush. 

* She started talking. Saying baba at first and now its mama and just mom. Mama is used to describe anything, so I can not gloat too much, but it is still music to my ears. I could listen to her talk all day, it is just the sweetest sound. 

* She is a maniac about food, but still loves nursing. She is an expert eater and chewer. She can mash almost anything and just throws it up if its too big for her. Throwing up all over herself ain't no thang for her, just means she can eat more. 

* Her expressions change every day. I wish I could capture and remember them all. We continue to be entertained by all the ways she expresses herself. 

* She is really learning cause and effect. I am bias, but I feel she really catches on easily to games we play with her. She knows when she is not supposed to eat or touch something because she whines the entire time she is doing something she shouldn't, ha. 

* She loves tags. She rubs the tag to her baby doll to soothe herself at night. She has rubbed all the print off of it. She has an uncanny ability to find tags on everything, its pretty impressive.

* She can pull up to stand on almost anything. She just developed this skill over the trip to Hawaii. She is just one step closer to escaping her crib. 

* She is still a stranger charmer. It warms my heart to hear how many people tell us she made their day by smiling at them. I love this about her. I love that she will stare at someone until they make eye contact with her and then burst into a huge smile. I pray this tendency to brighten people's day remains. 

* We just discovered her love of eating sand. Pictures to proof this love coming soon. Sand and salt water were a diet staple in Hawaii. 

This month has really been the best yet. I for real want to bottle her up and freeze all these moments. I say that every month, but I think I really mean it this month. We both can not seem to get enough of her and all that she is offering to our family. 

Oh, I just got her ears pierced an hour ago. Can not wait to take pictures once she wakes from her nap. 

We love her so much that there have even been a few, I emphasize few, moments of thinking we might want to do this all again. It was looking pretty iffy there for a while.

My sassy little girl.

... and we are back

Our heads are still spinning a bit from our overnight flight, but we are home. 

The trip was pretty amazing. But, of course there were some, what the heck were we thinking moments, as well. Overall, it was wonderful to spend so much time with Grant and my mom and have them love on Madison. The beach was just an added bonus. 

Now, we have our house to focus on. I am trying to just take it step by step and not get too overwhelmed. 

Oh, here are some pictures

I have not been the best at taking pictures lately. It is hard to always have my camera near by, especially since Madison just focuses on trying everything she can to chew on it. I am still kicking myself we were not able to get pictures of us dressed so beautifully on Easter. I packed Madison's Easter dress for Hawaii so maybe a picture on the beach and pretend it is Easter.



Madison and Will have had some sweet moments lately. He can get her to laugh harder than anyone and she has been fussing when he leaves for work in the morning. It is quite adorable to see their bond forming. She also gives him a thousand more kisses than she gives me.

We are beginning to think that Madison is too heavily influenced by Aspen. Not only does Madison pant every time she crawls anywhere, but now she has started carrying toys/objects in her mouth, much like a dog would do with a bone. This silly girl makes us laugh quite frequently these days.



Me and the pant less girl before we closed on the house. We did end up putting pants on her, don't worry.

we have been a bit busy...

between still fighting Madison with sleeping, keeping her out of the dog food bowl, making sure she doesn't cut through my finger with her new tooth, and trying to convince her to say "mama," I have been a bit too tired to blog.

But, that does not mean we have not had much going on.

This week, has been a big week for us, because...

We bought a house!

Like, seven hours ago.

and

We are leaving for Hawaii in like, twelve hours.

So, my mind has been a bit preoccupied and I have not been feeling very inspired to blog.

We have both been trying not to think about this week because we did not know how it would all turn out. The Hawaii trip is still up in the air. I mean, we still do not know where we will be staying or how I am supposed to restrain a crawling infant for eight hours, but I am sure it will all be great.

The reality of owning home will probably not sink in until we actually move in and even then it will take a while for us to fully realize it is actually ours.

We are gladly accepting prayers for our trip to Hawaii, if anyone feels like praying for us. Because with a baby that doesn't sleep and turns into a beast when she is exhausted, we will need them.

Can not wait to share pictures from our trip and our new house.

some happenings...

1. We went to Texas last weekend and it was amazing. Our little lady actually slept really well at night while we were there (refused naps, though) and so we had energy to hop around visiting everyone. The weather was gorgeous and it reminds me why I still miss Texas sometimes. There is just such a comfort there and hopefully, it will always feel like home for us.

2. We have a CRAWLER. She has such a funny crawl, but I love it. I am also discovering that crawling and the word "no" go hand in hand. Long gone are the days where I can just pick her up and move her away from items she can not have, like, Aspen's water bowl. We have to watch her a bit closer, but it is a lot of fun and I think she is really pleased with herself.

3. She also popped a tooth. Well, its not fully in yet, but it broke through her gum. I guess the days of her chewing on our nose are gone too.

4. It has been extremely warm here. So I put her down jacket and full bodied bear suit away. When Will noticed this, he said, "by the time its cold enough for her to wear those again, she will be too big for them." I think between the teeth and the crawling, we are getting a bit sentimental.

5. Our loan paper work is still being processed, but I am assuming we are still scheduled to close April 12. We (well, mostly me) go from feeling extremely excited, to extremely overwhelmed with all the projects/decorating possibilities and the cost of all those things. We have implemented a policy where we will be writing down everything we spend in order to keep close watch on our budget. I already enjoy buying things second hand, but now I am making it a mission to first look at Goodwill before I fall victim to the lure of Target. I am almost finished redecorating our bedroom with all pillows I have made. Its a lot more satisfying to know I made our decor versus just purchasing it pre-made.

6. We leave for Hawaii the day after we close on the house. I can not believe it is next week, yikes! We will be starting our research on side effects of dosing children with Benadryl.

Some pictures from our visit in Texas. We are riding on the train that Will's dad built.



Madison's new past time, tearing up paper.

1. Oh yay, paper to tear, I love it.

2. Oh dear, she caught me.

3. Am I in trouble, please, say, no.

4. If I smile at the camera, will that make up for the mess I made?