merry christmas!

she's ONE!

this girl has stolen my heart.

to say that this year has flown by is an extreme understatement. one minute i was walking my enormous self into the hospital and the next, i'm watching her 2, 4, & 6 step her way across the living room and into my arms.

for a person who writes for a living, it's hard for me to admit that i'm at a loss for words, but it's true. this adorable, sweet-natured, knows-what-she-wants-and-how-to-get-it, smile-inducing, snuggling, light-up-the-room darling is the perfect addition to our family and we didn't even realize we were missing her until her arrival. God is so good and we are so thankful that He's in control!

from rolling over at 3 months to sitting at 5, crawling at 7, rising to a standing position in the middle of the room without assistance at 11 months, and stepping (not quite continuous walking yet) at 12 months, she's proven time and time again that she does things in her timing and her own way.

i remember being so stressed about milestones with mason and whether he was doing everything right when he was "supposed" to. what a relief it's been with madison to just enjoy the ride. i was actually reluctant for her to walk because i knew it meant she wasn't a baby anymore. and honestly, i'm struggling with the fact that she's not a baby anymore.

why do they have to grow up so fast?!

on her birthday week, madison decided to sleep in (for the first time in her life), which happened to coincide with daddy working nights. so daddy took over drop-off duties so the princess could get some beauty sleep in... she slept in until 9 am three days in a row! (of course, she stopped before the weekend when i actually had a chance to sleep in too). i had a work event wednesday night and since she slept in thursday morning, i wasn't able to kiss and hug her that morning. i was a bit sad about that, so daddy brought the kiddos by my office so i could get some snuggles in and cheer me up.

daddy was working thursday night, so mason and i decided we needed to drive through the cupcake shack on the way home to celebrate little bit's birthday. it was low key, but we all enjoyed the cupcakes!

we had a family party on saturday.

we gathered to celebrate, ate and enjoyed more cupcakes... these of the ladybug variety. 

the signature crossed feet

she clearly hated them. ;)

someone went crazy with the party hats!

a quick bath later, little bit smiled, walked, jabbered, and ripped into presents (well, as much as her brother would let her).

ooh! more little people to chew on! 

it took her a little while to realize that there was more to the gift than the tissue paper!

but once she did, she LOVED it!

 it's safe to say she had a great time! happy birthday madison. we love you so much!

errands with mommy

when mason was just over a year old, we opted not to decorate for christmas. he was in the stage where they are into EVERYTHING and we knew that he wouldn't remember whether we decorated or not that year, so we sort of skipped christmas. not the birth and celebration of christ part; just the pull all the decorations out of the attic and spend days putting it all up, part. honestly, it was lovely. i did miss the twinkling christmas tree in the corner of the room, but i didn't miss the production of putting up and taking down decorations. and i certainly didn't miss telling mason he couldn't touch anything and making sure the tree didn't fall down on top of him.

fast forward four years. we have another little one, this one will be turning ONE in just 4 more days (aghh! that's another post on where the heck did the time go?!) clearly, with a very excited 4 year old, we can't just skip christmas this year. but we also can't put up all the glass ornaments we've had for the last 12 years.

to make our tree a little more child-friendly, i had a few stores i needed to run to today. brad was awake (he's working nights this week), so i thought "yay! i can go by myself and get everything done in record time!" i hurried to the car and was on my way.

i made it about 10 minutes down the road when my phone beeped. and this photo arrived as a text message.

it turns out little bit had been crying by the front door since i left. the whole time. 

needless to say, my heart broke and i turned around to retrieve her. she stopped crying as soon as i picked her up and for the next 2.5 hours of errand-running, she was as happy and cooperative as could be. apparently she just needed her momma. 

love this girl. and while there are very few moments that i have to myself these days, i wouldn't give up this unexpected alone time with her for the world.

foot crosser

from the womb, madison has been a foot crosser. i could feel her in my belly crossing and uncrossing her feet constantly and she has continued to do so ever since. eating, riding, playing, sleeping. she even tried to do it when she was first learning to crawl [and subsequently found out it didn't work so well then]. it's adorable.

1 month old

8 months old

11 months old (even in her sleep!)

jack in the box

viking attack

excuse the poor quality of the photos... little bit is fast and the iphone is slow - particularly with indoor light.

after participating in the warrior dash, one of the parting gifts was a fuzzy viking hat. someone was intrigued...

and there you have it. :)

every once in a while...

mommy's in a picture...