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?

a little bit of this, a little bit of that

Two weekends ago, Will had a lot of work to do. Of course, it was when the weather turned to beautiful. I suggested we at least take a walk to a park and enjoy the outside for just a bit, even if we couldn't escape to the mountains. I would say we enjoyed ourselves, enjoyed our family.

Madison is now able to feed herself all sorts of things, sticks, leaves, fuzz, and cheerios. Will is assisting her with eating the latter. Will says that this is her body building outfit, looks like we might need to stop trying to squeeze her into size 3 month clothes, I am only kidding, sort of.

More swinging. What isn't pictured is Aspen standing at the end of my feet, continually getting hit, she just couldn't figure out how to get out of the way. What also isn't pictured is the huge Mexican Fiesta that was going on behind us. We are definitely the minority where we live.

Fast forward to this past weekend, and we finally purchased a glider for Madison's room off of craigslist. Nursing a 17ish pound baby while standing, was getting a little too tough. The cushions were originally covered in blue denim. So I set out to recover them myself. Two trips to the fabric store, a few moments cursing at my machine, and in desperation getting estimates for hiring someone to recover them, I "successfully" recovered the cushions myself. I use successfully very loosely because they are far from being done well. Several patches of hand stitching and lumps, but it did the job.

Next project will be sewing curtains for our house and redecorating our bedroom.

Yes, it looks like we might be homeowners. I mean, not officially, because we have not closed. But we just signed the last document before the final one at closing. My head is still spinning a bit, that we have taken this huge step. The seller has agreed to the majority of the repairs needed that were found in the inspection, which is wonderful. We are also purchasing the house for less than it was appraised for, so hopefully that means we are making a smart investment.

Unfortunately, the seller did not agree to paint. So if anyone wants to come in for a painting party, we would be more than pleased to host you.

Here are some pictures of the outside I took when the inspection was taking place. The garage is in the back and there is an alley way to access the garage. We will probably be removing the awnings on the windows and repainting the unfinished wood. Keep in mind it was built in 1906, so crazy. It was originally a duplex and has been completely redone.

Eight Months

Our wee little one turned eight months last Tuesday. This week has been a bit chaotic with friends from Bozeman in town, an inspection on our house (I say, "ours" loosely, because if the seller does not agree to the fixes, we will probably walk), and lovely weather to keep us occupied. So I am just now taking her picture, hopefully she has not changed too much since Tuesday.

At eight months:

* Madison is squawking more than ever. Loud, high pitched, shrieks, it is wonderful. She even repeats my shrieks. I can say, "madison, say AHH" and she will repeat that same sound. Its a game I could play all day.

* Sleep was scarce this month. Due to the sickness that plagued us last month, she got fairly use to us coming in and hanging out with her at night. So operation, get madison to sleep, took place again two nights ago. We plopped those ear plugs in, turned on the bathroom vents, and left her alone until the morning. Pretty sure she was up for over two hours crying/talking, at least we slept. She seems to have gotten the hint and is back to sleeping for longer periods of time.

* She is so close to crawling. Rocking on all fours, moving forward inch by inch. She has even attempted to pull up on our couch. Unfortunately, she fell backwards and has not tried again. She also has a talent of making her way to the dog food bowl no matter where I place her on the floor.

* She has discovered how to pull her sheet off the mattress. We had to take her bumper out because she was spending all her nap time attacking it. So she might be sleeping with out a sheet soon.

* We can ask her, "where is Aspen?" and she looks around to find her.

Overall, she keeps getting cuter and cuter. Will says, "Just when we think she can't get any more adorable, she does something that makes her more adorable." I know, we are her parents, and blah, blah, blah, but we are really enjoying her and all her personality quirks. Parenthood, when we are able to sleep, is really growing on us.

The last picture is her waving. I am almost certain she knows how to wave and say "hi" at the same time.

And, photo shoot over. My little escape artist. I totally understand why cribs are designed the way they are, as cages to keep children contained.

Its another beautiful day and my family is pacing, itching to get outside. Looks like we are headed on a hike.

I have more pictures to put up, so hopefully soon, I will be up to date with what we have been up to.

mother, daughter

I have been struggling lately with the feeling I am not adequately meeting Madison's needs. She has been more fussy than usual and it seems none of my "tricks" have been working. She also has been going through a phase where any time I get near her she either punches, pulls, or slaps me. Maybe I am being dramatic, but after enough time of this it feels like she would rather just use me as a punching bag. But, just when I think I am failing totally, she will lean in and I feel an open mouth kiss on my nose or become incredibly still and allow me to press my cheek to hers. Those moments are rare, but I think it might be better that way because it makes me stop and relish in the brief moment of affection she is choosing to share with me.

She is an explorer and wants nothing to stand in her way of that, including me. So it seems as if her independence of me is already beginning, which makes my mothering heart sink a bit. But that pride I felt tonight watching her grow confidence in her body as she rocked back and forth on all fours and the light in her eyes when she saw I was watching and clapping in celebration, is more than I think my heart can take.

I will take fifty hair pulls in exchange for two open mouth kisses and the chance to be her biggest supporter in all her accomplishments.

This mothering thing can be beyond difficult, but luckily, the love is insurmountable.

Estes Park

This past weekend my college roommate came into town to visit. I never know exactly what I should do with visitors because our activities pretty much revolve around trying to convince Madison she should sleep. We drove to the part of Denver we are looking to buy a house on Saturday. It made me even more excited thinking of possibly buying our own real live home (updates on that status will be coming soon...)

Then on Sunday, we made the drive to Estes Park. We were a bit nervous as to how baby would hold up, but the day ended up being really wonderful. We probably spent way too much time reminiscing the summer we got engaged, but it was fun to be able to share those memories with her. We successfully hit all the main highlights of the town, except for any hiking within the National Park. Dogs are not allowed inside the National Park, so we had to explore outside in a place that welcomed Aspen.

[inside our favorite coffee shop, trying on hats at the outdoor store, posing inside the paper shop in downtown Estes]

[a picture Brittany captured, standing in front of the St. Malo Catholic center the place that we ended up after we had to escape down the backside of that mountain behind us when we got engaged, hiking around the trails at the YMCA]



[Our little family: March 2012 and July 2008, it is neat to see how we have grown]

Our past week has mostly consisted of working through the process of buying a home and trying to get baby to sleep. She is sick once again and sleeping an average of an hour at a time. I was so exhausted from the weekend, I went to bed at 7 pm last night.