A sneak peek!

On Monday we had a photoshoot at our house with Karen Pillow of PictureLily. What a great idea to shoot at our house... that way we'll always have the memories of this house captured on film! Thats our wedding pictures behind us in the picture above... how sweet!

Maddie had taken only about 15 minute of her normally hour long morning nap and skipped her mid-morning nap altogether (yes- she's already had two naps by noon) so she wasn't the normal happy, easy-going baby she usually is. Karen did such a great job with her and was so patient. She was only awake for the first half of the shoot and asleep for the last hour or so.

I'm so excited to see the rest of the gallery but she posted a few of our pics on her blog just to put my mind at ease that she got some good ones. She was really great - if you're in the market for a photographer I definitely recommend her but make sure you schedule with her soon- it sounds like she's pretty booked!

I'm just going to post this one but Im so anxious to see the rest!

Lovin' the Bumbo and Baby Babble

Well... "lovin"might be a strong word to describe Maddie's feelings towards the Bumbo* but she at least stays in it without getting upset for awhile now. Here she is this morning staring at her awesome new shoes (you can't see them but they have big red strawberries on them).

* for those of you without a baby ... a "Bumbo" is this soft plastic nerf-like material made into a mold of a sort of chair thing that you can wedge your baby into so that it seems like he/she is sitting up on their own. Its a crazy phenomenon... everyone i know has one. Whoever invented this is making out like a bandit.

And here is a video of Maddie just talking away. She's really found her voice this week and has been babbling non-stop today!

A post for Diego...

Holiday Traditions

With just a few days left to go until December (two days to be exact!) I've been thinking a lot about holiday traditions and which ones we should adopt as a family. Both of our families have a few family traditions that we really enjoy- but I want to start new traditions that will be just ours.

Here are a few that I've thought of:

• Opening up new PJs on Christmas Eve to wear that night
• Going to Christmas Eve church service (I guess it depends on where we are)
• Maddie will get a new ornament each year that will be hers when she is an adult (I want to try to get an ornament that has a special meaning and write down what that is so she'll have it to cherish)
• Doing at least one community service event each December
• Picture with Santa every year
• Hosting a holiday gathering for friends
• Giving homemade gifts to the neighbors
• Making a gingerbread house (we did this a few years ago with my mom and it was SO much fun!)
• Watching all of the classics - Charlie Brown, the Grinch, etc.

What traditions do you and your family have? Id LOVE to hear them!

Happy 3 Month Birthday Baby!

Walk with Rudolph

On Saturday afternoon (I know, Im still catching up on the weekend!) Jim and I decided to take a walk downtown and check out the Christmas decorations that have been put up, get some exercise and get my FIRST EGG NOG Latte from Starshmucks of the season! WOO HOO!!! I love those things.

Well, it was pretty darn cold here on Saturday (don't laugh yankees... it was) and Maddie didnt really have a warm winter coat/bunting that fit her - so we got to break out the holiday reindeer suit that we bought for our trip home. She looked so darn cute I had to grab the camera.

Gives new meaning to "deer in headlights"

and Im thankful for finding my camera cord

ok- i found the cord and realized there were a bunch of pictures on there that were post worthy so here goes.

Maddie and Tuck and I went for a walk last week to get a good look at the leaves before they dropped. I wanted to show all those New Englanders that we have pretty colored trees down here too (I wouldnt have thought so either). Here are a few pics I took with our new camera.

Okay-and here's our bird. He came out really well. Jim made a orange-herb rub and it was absolutely delicious. We'll have to save the recipe and make it again next year.

Maddie wants to dig in

Maddie with her Aunt Susan

All in all it was a good turkey day. This was the second year hosting thanksgiving at our house and it really wasn't so bad. We have it down pretty well and I think everything came out okay. Nothing was burned... and nothing was undercooked (although my 7-Up Salad was a little watery). I think when we do go to some one elses house it'll seem easy!

And here are Maddie and Jim just minutes after our company left.

more to come

Our camera bag which contains the camera cord is MIA... so we only have a few pics of Thanksgiving to post. We've asked Tucker numerous times to go get the camera bag - but he always comes back with his treat bone. I'll post more when we find it. Here's what we have from the crappy point-and-shoot.

The table pre-bird

a time to give thanks...

Im thankful for having the cutest baby in the world (I might be a LITTLE biased)

Im thankful for a husband that makes me coffee every morning

Im thankful my husband is a man who encouraged me to breastfeed our daughter when I wasn't sure if I could

Im thankful for a family that still sings Happy Birthday to eachother on the phone even though we're all adults

Im thankful for a mom that was thoughtful enough to make my baby a beautiful babyquilt and knit hats and sweaters and still sends boxes of wonderful things for her

Im thankful for a dad who is willing to drive 18 hours in a car with me, a dog and a 3 month old just so I wouldnt have to do it alone

Im thankful I have a sister who makes me laugh so hard my stomach hurts and one I know I can count on no matter what

Im thankful for a dog that makes me smile every morning when he brings in the paper

Im thankful for the 3rd cousins I have that sent Maddie both Halloween and Thanksgiving cards ( I didnt even know they made "Babys First Thanksgiving" cards)

Im thankful I had a hard time deciding which of our amazing friends to put as Maddie's emergency contact

Im thankful for neighbors who miss us when we're gone

Im thankful I have a job that will allow me to go back part time so I can spend more time with Maddie

Im thankful that my life is so full of riches and blessings that I feel like I could go on like this for days

Elf Yourself

This is so funny... thanks Jamie! We'll be playing with this for hours!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9561218448