Sticks and sickness, but still smiling!

Just before Christmas, I came down with I'm not even sure what...It was the flu, it was bronchitis, it was AWFUL!! Thank goodness my mom (Mimi) and Paepee came to visit and help us take care of Maddux for a few days. I'm not sure we would have made it without them.

A couple of weeks and trips to the doctor's office later...Maddux had the flu. He didn't feel well, but was still smiling.

Still smiling! Look at those rosy (feverish) cheeks! Poor baby!

Still loving to stand up and play!

Maddux was soon back to his usual self (an sleep pattern - thank goodness! - it was ROUGH for a few weeks there).

He has been growing, growing, growing!! Thank goodness Aunt Hannah and Uncle Jonathan were gracious enough to let us borrow their son's gently used baby clothes. It was such a blessing for us not to have to buy clothing during these months. Plus the clothes were SUPER CUTE!!

Trying on his 12 month sandals...
What?? Already fit!!
Look at those toes!!!

Check out Maddux pulling up 

on his "Jump-A-Roo" below!

Trying to be mobile!
Thank you Mimi and Peepaw!

Headed to church! Looking dapper in a vest,
but I'm pretty sure I have a biased opinion;)

Chatting it up!

Maddux at his first Razorback baseball 
game with his Daddy.
Daddy was pretty excited about this day. 
Thank you to Mimi and Paepee for all Maddux's Razorback gear!

This past week, we had our 6 month check-up at the doctor's office. He weighed in at 20 pounds (80th percentile), 29" (95th percentile), and 18.5" head (95th percentile). He has been having 4-5, 6 oz. bottles and 2-3, 4oz. containers of baby food daily. However, since our weight isn't in the 95th percentile like our height and head, what are the doctor's orders?

FEED HIM MORE!!!

What??!! We were told we can officially feed him anything that he won't get choked on (with the exception of dairy products of course). What was Maddux's reaction?

"More food sounds good to me!"

So, we are trying to follow the doctor's orders. We moved up to stage 3 baby foods and are now mashing up fruit and veggies for meals. 

Do you have any recipes or suggestions for foods for this stage? I would love to hear any suggestions you might have. This is definitely a new stage for us, so any advice is always appreciated! 

Months 3 through 6...fun times!

October 2012 was when I had to go back to work full time and Maddux started daycare full time. It was definitely tough going back to work. It was also hard to make the decision about whether or not I wanted to pay someone to take care of Maddux when that is time I would LOVE to have with him. After praying and crunching "the numbers", we decided that it would be best for Maddux to attend daycare and me to go back to work full time. Have any of you faced this same question about childcare or choosing to be a stay-at-home mom? If so, what was you decision and how did you come to that decision?

All I know is, I have no idea how moms with more than one baby ever make it to work on time or manage to stay awake throughout their entire work day. So far I am managing, but it is definitely tough with just one little one, I can't imagine more than one. Any suggestions or advice is much appreciated.

OK....enough about the tough stuff....let's get back to the cute stuff! 

At 3 to 4 months, we:

Were really starting to crack up..A LOT!
Big thanks to T'Sah and Peepaw for my cute
Red Sox shirt. It was definitely a daddy favorite

Had our first shots....Handled it pretty well,
but were NOT happy about it

Said "see you later" to Aunt Jennifer before she went to
Ethiopia, Africa for a mission trip...
We miss you!! (Yes, this picture is from when
he was a bit younger than 3 months, but it still works.

Hung out with "Pops"

Started having much more fun at bath time....

Started story time...Maddux is wearing his Woombie
The Woombie was a LIFESAVER for our sanity
and sleep during these months.

Weren't super sure about rice cereal in the beginning,
but can't get enough food now!

Started holding our bottle...
Another blessing for mommy and daddy.
Thank you Lord!

Cheered on Daddy at his first Tri-Athalon!

Got to snuggle with Granny Great!

Feeling like (Great) Papa today!

Hung out with Granny Great and PeePaw over Thanksgiving!

Peepaw playing with Maddux an "George". Thanks again Granny Great!

And hung out with Pops over Christmas!

We had lots of fun times, laughs, and not too many tears. Time is certainly flying! Do you have any favorite stories of your little one(s) when they were this age?

Months 1 through 3, help is key!

The first few weeks we had lots of help. My mom came and helped with cooking, cleaning, and giving us a break....I think Maddux may have gotten the better of her a few times..lol

YUMMY!!

Ok...maybe he got the best of everyone at times..lol!

My husband is a big baseball fan and loves to play when he can. He loves the Boston Red Sox and couldn't wait to start teaching Maddux the ropes...

Maddux was NOT a huge fan of bath time at first, but Daddy always made it interesting

I am so thankful that Andrew is a daddy who wants to be involved. He helped with taking turns feeding Maddux, diapers, bath time, you name it...He was there.

Our little guy has been a character from the beginning...

On our way to Aunt Susie's Baptism

Uncle Tim and Daddy trying to measure how much Maddux had grown..lol!

First Day of Daycare, October 2012

Not happy about the flash on mommy's camera!

Thanks to Aunt Amy Hunter for getting Maddux his first Arkansas Razorback T-shirt! WPS!

Ready to praise the Lord...headed to church!

This one pretty much sums it up. We are IN.....FOR....TROUBLE!!!!

In the beginning...

I suppose the best place to begin is the beginning...

In late July, our little guy decided to make his debut a few weeks early..

Looking back now, I can barely remember him being this little and I am perfectly content with blaming that on lack of sleep!

He spent most of his first few weeks snuggled in family members' arms or sleeping in the swing pictured above. He L-O-V-E-D the swing, so I suppose we lucked out on that one. A BIG thank you goes out to Mimi for getting us the swing. It was certainly a blessing!

I love pictures, so I thought it might be easiest to simply share a few pics and attempt to narrate as necessary...

Mimi was a little upset that we couldn't get a good heart picture because Maddux's feet were too long..lol!

He was grinnin' from the beginnin'

Just Getting Started...a little about us

Soooo, I started this same blog about a year or so ago and decided there was no way I could keep it up. Now, I've decided that perhaps I should give it another try and not be so hard on myself. I can't promise lots of consistent updates, but I am going to try my best.

A little about our life......I have been married for almost 5 years to a wonderful man, Andrew. We had our first child, a boy, last July. I work as a speech-language pathologist and work exclusively with patients who have hearing loss. I LOVE my job, but often put a little too much on my plate.

June 28th, 2008

We live just outside of Fayetteville, AR and LOVE our community. We were amazed at the support we received from our local church (New Heights - www.newheightschurch.com) and our community when our son was born. Random people, some of whom we had never met brought us meals and prayed over our family. It was such a blessing!

Last July, God blessed us with Maddux.

Maddux with Mommy and Daddy...only a few hours old.

He was born at 7:21pm, weighed 8.6 lbs and was 2" long!

We couldn't imagine life without him...More updates soon to come!

I'd love to hear about you and your family. If you have children, what was the day like when you had your first child? If you don't have children, do you hope to have children? If so, what are you looking forward to the most?