what a difference a year makes...

In honor of our baby not being a baby anymore (sniff sniff) I've changed up the look of the blog and made it a little more Maddie-ish. Hope you like it!

she's feeling much better

As you can tell from the smile on her face in the pictures below... she's feeling much better. From what the doctor said, I thought she'd be under the weather for at least 3 or 4 days, but she really seems almost back to her old self today. Thanks to everyone for the calls, emails, texts, instant messages, etc wishing Baby Maddie well! She thanks you all!

So we've been having fun playing with our new toys and fun things we've gotten this week. She's been very busy with them - so thank you all again! Its really amazing to see her playing with these new, "grown-up" toys and how quickly she understands how they work. She was barely walking without holding onto furniture (holding onto our hands) but since she's gotten a few push toys, she is Miss Independent. I know she'll be walking before we know it.

Standing with her new babydoll stroller (sans babydoll)

And I told you all in a previous post that our Cousin Billie hand painted a beautiful stool for her. Here it is! Told you it was blogworthy...

And Maddie loves sitting in it. Like the toys, I had never thought she was big enough to sit by herself in a chair (sounds weird... I guess I just never tried) but she knew exactly what to do with it! She climbed right on up, turned around and had a big smile on her face. She really likes kicking her legs up and down when she sits in it.

And although she didnt get to have one of her birthday cupcakes that I made her on her actual birthday, she had one... I take that back... TWO last night. She seemed to know exactly what to do with them. And notice in the second picture how she has one in each hand? She decided she wanted mine when I started eating one. It was her birthday... and she was sick... I couldnt say no.

And here are just a few pics from today. Did you know cherries stain? I didnt.

More birthday present pictures to come!

poor birthday girl...

my poor baby birthday girl.

she's up crying... again. this is the second time in two hours. nothing is worse then hearing your baby cry that sick-baby cry. i hate it. for my sake, let's hope she's a relatively healthy child. i dont know -maybe i'll get used to it.

either way... this is going to be a loooong night.

happy birthday baby girl!

Today is Maddie's 1st Birthday!

Unfortunately... Maddie had a 102.7 degree temp when I picked her up from school around 2pm so we went right to the doctor and she was diagnosed with Hand Foot Mouth Disease. Our plans to go do something fun for her birthday got a little hijacked. She's extremely lethargic and has barely lifted her head from my chest all afternoon.

Im not sure how much celebrating we'll be able to do tonight... but we'll do our best!

a birthday visit from grandmom and grandaddy

Maddie had a great visit on Saturday and Sunday with her Grandmom and Grandaddy Herndon. They came to help us celebrate her turning one (which isnt til tomorrow technically but Maddie doesn't mind multiple celebrations)! And look what Grandaddy got her... Snoopy Golf Clubs!!!! So here she is getting her very first lesson. She looks like a natural. Look at that grip...

They also gave her some great new clothes for fall and her very own phone with lots of buttons and lights. And to top it all off... they brought homemade apple sauce that Maddie has been devouring since Sunday night. I didnt think I would be covering her peas applesauce quite this early but hey... it works!

We're glad they made the drive down to visit. We had lots of fun!

So Miss Maddie turns 1 tomorrow! I can't believe that this time last year we were checking into the hospital getting ready to meet our little girl! This year has just flown by and I can't believe my baby will officially be a toddler tomorrow! She's growing so much and doing so many new things every day! We're not sure what we're going to do with her yet on her actual birthday... maybe the Childrens Museum, maybe the aquarium, maybe the zoo... or maybe just a walk and picnic at a local park. I think we'll definitely watch her "year one" video which I know will be emotional. We actually havent watched it yet and the tape just happened to run out at her birthday party after she had gotten into her cake which was so appropriate! Im sure I will have a sappy post for tomorrow so get ready... but now Ive gotta run... she's stuck under a chair...

maddie's second 1st birthday party

We braved the elements on Saturday and had Maddie's "beach" party outside. All of our friends came and we had a great time. It was the perfect number of people and kids and although it was super windy all day (thank you Fay) - it never actually rained during the party. It never really got too warm either... it stayed in the 70s all day (I thought the one thing I could count on at the end of August in Atlanta was that it would be HOT... I guess not!).

I want to thank everyone for coming and for all of Maddie's wonderful gifts! She's been playing with her baby doll, stroller and shopping cart non-stop since Saturday!

the howard girls have arrived!

I just couldn't wait another minute to post about the newest little angels to join us here on Earth. Introducing... Grace Alexis and Rebecca Emily! (Id like to say Rebecca's middle name was after me... but its not. Its a family name. Oh well... I can pretend!) Mom and Dad are home and doing well. They seem to have things under control and don't look too worn down and frazzled quite yet. :)

Rebecca Emily

Grace Alexis

The proud and very happy parents

Mommy and Grace

the french ban tv programming for babies

I find this article below so interesting.

I personally have battled interally with the whole tv issue in our house and with Maddie. I've always hated having the tv as background noise, we turn off the tv if there's "nothing on" (although Jim can usually find a game he could watch) and we almost never turn it on on the weekends, but... we certainly watch it and have it on when Maddie is in the room. I always thought I would be one of those mothers who didn't let their baby watch TV and when they were older they could watch it in limited amounts... but I am guilty of turning on Sesame Street at 6am when Maddie is wide awake and needs some enterainment and I can barely keep my eyes open. I have also been known to "let" Maddie watch episodes of Little Einsteins and Curious George because I just think they are SO CUTE!!! And Elmo? Dont get me started with Elmo... I think he is the cutest little furry thing thats ever been created.

The fact that France has literally banned TV shows aimed at babies says a lot. That is such a strong statement. I don't think any parent needs a study to tell them that TV watching is harmful to their childs development. If a child is watching TV, they're not interacting with the people and things around them. They're not using their imaginations. Their brains are somewhat turned off and they're turning into little zombies! I can see it in Maddie when Sesame Street comes on. She just completely zones out and stares at the TV! Scary, but true.

So this article has put me back on the straight and narrow for now. No more TV for Maddie until further notice. The guilt factor is just too much for me to live with. I know when I have the TV on and she is watching it that I should be reading to her and down on the floor playing with her - not letting her zone out into Sesame or whatever.

Read it and see what you think...





France bans broadcast of TV shows for babies

By CHRISTINE OLLIVIER, Associated Press Writer
France's broadcast authority has banned French channels from airing TV shows aimed at children under 3 years old, to shield them from developmental risks it says television viewing poses at that age.

The High Audiovisual Council, in a ruling published Wednesday, said it wanted to "protect children under 3 from the effects of television."

France's minister for culture and communication, Christine Albanel, issued a "cry of alarm" to parents in June about channels dedicated 24 hours a day to baby-targeted programming. In a newspaper interview, she called them "a danger" and urged parents not to use them to help their children get to sleep.

She was referring to two foreign channels that can be seen in France on cable television, BabyFirstTV and Baby TV.

The council's ruling aims to prevent the development of such programming on French channels. It also orders French cable operators that air foreign channels with programs for babies to broadcast warning messages to parents. The messages will read: "Watching television can slow the development of children under 3, even when it involves channels aimed specifically at them."
The ruling cites health experts as saying that interaction with other people is crucial to early child development.

"Television viewing hurts the development of children under 3 years old and poses a certain number of risks, encouraging passivity, slow language acquisition, over-excitedness, troubles with sleep and concentration as well as dependence on screens," the ruling said.

When BabyFirstTV first aired in the United States in 2006, it escalated an already heated national debate. The American Academy of Pediatrics has said babies should be kept away from television altogether.

BabyFirstTV and other companies say their products are designed to be watched by babies and parents together in an interactive manner. Critics say such channels are used as a baby sitter.

Baby TV is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The three companies behind BabyFirstTV are Regency Enterprises, a film and TV production company that is a partner of News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment; Kardan N.V, an investment group based in the Netherlands and Israel; and Bellco Capital, a private Los Angeles-based investment fund.

first 1st birthday party

While at my parents house, my parents and sister threw together a quick birthday party for Maddie. It was a little early since her birthday was still almost two weeks away... but my family wanted to celebrate this special time with us and we were so happy we were able to pull it together quickly.

The weather was perfect and it was so nice to see everyone. Aunt Jen made her really yummuy (organic!!) cupcakes to dig into. She loved it. And she made out great! She got a beautiful bench painted especially for her (I'll take a pic and post it... its blogworthy) from Cousin Billie, great new clothes, a Raggedy Ann doll and books from Nana and Pop Pops, a cookie monster book and doll, elmo and cookie monster finger puppets and even a new lunchbox! Thank you everyone for your generosity and as always - we were so happy we were able to see you all.

Maddie hanging with Aunt Jen

Camden wasn't too interested in being photographed

Here come the cupcakes!! Woo hoo!

A little help from Daddy

Hmmm...why havent I had cupcakes sooner?

As you can see, she didnt really get too messy. She kept things pretty under control and although she did shove most of the top of the cupcake in her mouth - she didnt even need a bib! (To be honest... I just forgot.) She's such a little lady. This was her first time with a cupcake and I think she enjoyed it.

All cleaned up hanging out with Cousin Taylor

The beautiful sunset from my parents deck that night

The beautiful day ended with a beautiful sunset and this picture doesn't do it justice. I can't believe my baby is turning 1!!!! I'm happy we were able to have an early party with my family at home but it made the reality that Maddie is about to have her first birthday a shocking reality to me!

Maddie is having her second 1st birthday party here at our house with her Atlanta friends tomorrow. We're excited but are really bummed about the wind and rain forcast since our theme is "beach party" complete with beach balls and a baby pool! We'll just make the best of it and hope everyone has fun.

And I MUST announce (because Im so excited) that some of our very best friends here in Atlanta just had TWIN GIRLS! Yay for girls! Girls are the best. They didnt know the sex of the babies until delivery (yes, we think they are crazy too) so it was a very big surprise. Jim and I went to the hospital to visit this morning and have some great pictures of the babies. I'll make sure to post when I get the chance. Congrats Howards! We love you all!

maddie loves babydolls... a girl after her nana's heart

During our Cape vacation Maddie actually showed some interest and affection for a babydoll... and boy was it cute. While Kate was gone getting ice cream with her family, Maddie found her babydoll on the floor in the kitchen and crawled right to it, picked it up and gave her a kiss!!!!!! She held her in her lap (or is it a he? Im not sure he/she was naked) for awhile. Im glad I had my camera so close to capture it.

Pucker up!

Smooch!

cape vacation... the beach

The weather wasn't quite as warm as we would have liked for the beach part of the our beach vacation... but we did try to get to some body of water every day. We really enjoyed eating dinner on the beach at night and visiting a few of the local beaches during the day. I weeded thru our beach pictures and tried to narrow them down to only my absolute favorites!

I changed up the format a bit to a slide show because I just couldnt bear uploading pics in blogger one more minute! Enjoy!

cape vacation... the house

We're back to reality and home from vacation. Im actually in Pittsburgh, PA for work for a few days so I didnt exactly get a nice easy transition back into the real world... but Im dealing. At least I have some free time before my next meeting to post to the blog.

The Herndons rented a beach house (well... we were pretty far from the beach so its a stretch to call it a "beach" house) with our great friends the McKenneys for a week on Cape Cod. I have never really been to the Cape except for a few quick trips with my parents so I was excited to explore that part of New England. We did all of the typical vacation activities... went to the beach, the town pond, the spa, shopping, eating, mini-golfing, real golfing and even visited the go-cart track. Maddie had a great time and proved once again what a flexible and easy-going little girl she is. She took her 4th roundtrip plane ride like a pro, slept and ate great (fish and lobster while on the Cape) and met lots of new people during our week. I have a LOT of pictures so get ready.

The first set of pictures here is our house and some playtime in the front yard. Jim and Will set up a mini golf course for Will to practice his swing. We also had lots of fun with some bubbles my mom brought for the McKenney kids.

some quick catching up... tomatoes and smoothies

We've got a little catching up to do so you all will have to bare with me! Most of you know that we've been on vacation for 10 days up north... but Ive got some cute pics to post that we took a few days before we left.

Jim planted some tomato plants again this year and we're finally getting some beautiful tomatoes... yay! I wish we had the time and the room to grow more! Here are a few pictures of Maddie showing them off.

And every afternoon Jim makes himself a smoothie and Maddie had her first taste of one. She seemed to like it! It was a complete accident that she matches her smoothie... I promise! I like to coordinate, but not THAT much.

Vacation pictures up next... stay tuned!

puppy lullaby

too cute not to post...

my running partner

Maddie and I have been doing pretty well lately on our morning run regimen. Im proud of us. Because its been so hot these past few weeks, my partner and I are forced to run first thing in the morning right after breakfast. We don't run far... and we certainly don't run fast... but we get our miles in. Its nice to have it done and out of the way by 9am and before or (like in the picture above) during Maddie's nap. My secret New Years resolution was to run more in a month than I did the month before. I fell off the wagon in May but am back on. Ive run more in July than any other month in 2008. Can I keep it up??

Im not sure how long this morning run craze will continue but we're going to try to keep it up as long as we can!

caught ya!

Look... no hands!