I'm so cute....

its SCARY!!

BOO!!

What's really scary is that you're 11 Months old Madelyn Joan!
We love you and all your scary cuteness!

Happy 11 Months Big Girl!

Autumn Welcome!

When walking up to our home you might find.....

One sleepy puppy, sunning himself in the crisp autumn rays....

His bark is worse than his bite,
that is if he sees you....through his eyelids.
Sleeping while sitting up,
Calvin has perfected this.

You may also find,
Three pumpkins for my three favorites.
Bryan, Mady and Calv.

Welcome Autumn! We're glad your back.

Looking forward to this season:
Bryan's Birthday.
Chili Cook-off.
Pop's Birthday.
Mady's 1st Birthday.
Thanksgiving in MD!!

and....
sweatshirts and sweat pants.
Fleeces and pullovers.
Jeans and jackets.
Candy and crispy leaves.

Mady's 2nd Trip to MD

Mady's second trip to Maryland was in honor of her Uncle Christopher's 30th Birthday!
We had a great time celebrating him and enjoyed visiting with family.
(Even if Mady's face says otherwise in this picture :) )

Uncle Christopher, 30 years old acting like he's 20!

The food was great. My grandmother and mom made Stuffed Shells and Lasagna. We also ordered in Fried Chicken, for those who wanted another option. (i.e.: those who aren't Italian).
It was Italian Redneck Feast!

My grandmother did a lovely job at creating such a warm and fun party for my brother. He greatly appreciated it and had a blast!

Four Generations.
Grandma, Mom, Me and Mady-Girl. Looking good girls!!

Mady and my grandmom, her Gi-Gi.
What a beautiful grandmother I have.
We had so much fun spending time together.

Mady enjoyed crawling all over my grandmother's house. She like pulling books off bookshelves and playing with big bowls and spoons. She made herself right at home.
She slept wonderfully the whole week and enjoyed all the extra attention.

While in Maryland she learned some things:
1. How to give "High Five", Gi Gi taught her.
2. How to imitate a cough back to you, also taught by Gi Gi.
3. How to say "Hi"
4. How to say "Duck".
5. How to say "Balloon".
6. Learned the concept of "In & Out", taught by Grandma with a ball and bowl.
7. She also had her first bite of chicken.
8. How to crawl up steps.

My cousin Nick (even though I will always call him Nicky).
He has lost 100 pounds in a little over 3 months! Isn't that insane.
He looks amazing and feels great too. So proud of him.

Grandma and Mady.

We had an amazing trip. It was great to see our family.
We also spent some time with my Dad, his wife Susan and their family in Frederick, where I grew up. I have some great pictures from that I'll post in a later post. Mady LOVES her Grandpa.
She is seriously obsessed with him. Lights up for him and laughs. He is a funny guy!

This is the most I've gone home since I was in high school. Three times in one year is great!
It was hard to leave the comforts of my grandma's house; which always feels like home to me, but bitter sweet to return to a man who missed his girls very much :).

Look at how much Mady has grown since our last visit!
WOW!

First visit at 6 months.

2nd visit at 10 1/2 months.

Until Thanksgiving,
Good bye Maryland.
Thank you for a great trip!

Mady's Milestones, 10 Months

Well, its no secret. Mady is 10 months. I have waited to blog about her milestones until the middle of this monumental month for good reason. Everyday there is something new. Everyday my baby turns more and more into a toddler. Her personality is really starting to come out. She is beginning to be more social and interactive than past months. For a long time she was very serious. Watched everything and everyone. Studied the scene and waited to crack her adorable smile. She wasn't going to let you have all of her laughs, just a few. She was saving them for something really funny, in which you really had to work to get! She played hard to get!!

But now. She's easy. Hah. No, not really. She is easier to interpret and get a reaction from. She is full of personality and thrives on large groups of people. She waves at everyone, like she knows them. She even waves with two hands in really large groups. I think she does this to not leave anyone out. She's so thoughtful.

Speaking of thoughtful. When she eats her food, she likes to share. When its really good she'll say "ummm" or "mummm", repeatedly and then offer you some of what is in her hand. Yes, we have even witnessed her sharing veggie straws with Calvin....and yep, you guessed it...putting it right back in her mouth! Yuck. She's ok though.

She is catching on to things and really likes to do them over and over once she's mastered a new skill. Like reading her books. She will sit and flip the pages and talk baby gibberish (sounds like "deedle - deedle") to the touch and feel objects. She likes to scale the walls, book shelves and furniture of our house. Pull things down like books, pillows, cords and remote controls. She likes to sit by our front door and open and close it a million times, as well as play with the door stop. She loves to sit at her book shelve and pull every book off and then watch me put them back and of course pull them down again. She hides behind furniture just to peek out at you. She expects you to make some big noise, as if you were completely taken by surprise. Its amazing to me that she can sit and destroy a puzzle in 10 seconds or watch the same Praise Baby DVD 8 thousand times just to repeat it again like its a totally new experience. Everything is new when you look into her eyes.

She's verbal and with meaning....watch out!

Here are the words Mady can say (everything but the first three she started saying at 10 months)

• Momma, Mommy
• Dadda, Daddy
• Ball
• Hi
• Book
• Balloon (even though she sometimes forgets and calls Balloon a ball)
• Duck
• Dog
• No (which sounds more like" Nooeey", in a loud and very expressive whine)

Here are some of the fun things she can do (in addition to the things mentioned above):

• Repeats things you say in repetition. Like: "Boom, Boom, Boom", with your hand over your mouth. She can imitate this in word and action.
• She gives kisses...open mouth of course :). We are still working on blowing kisses.
• She will pat her naked belly when I say "Pat your belly"....or she'll just do it when she's naked. She will also give Calvin "Pats" when asked.
• She can do "Patty Cake" on command.
• She can also do "So big" on command and has learned from past months how much we like her to do this...so when we ask her to wave hi to people when out and about she will immediately wave, then do patty cake and then "So Big", just to watch you smile and react to her!
• She can give a high five. (My grandmother taught her this)
• She can also imitate you coughing. (My grandmother taught her this too)

My favorite thing is when she lays her head on our shoulder when she's tired. Melts my heart to pat her back and rock her to sleep. I also love that when we pass a mirror she likes to look at herself and smile a huge smile and say "Hiii!" As cute as those things are, my absolute favorite might just be opening the door to her room when she has just woke up. She is standing, smiling and waiting for me to come in and say "Good Morning!". Big smiles with one arm up in the air! So sweet.

As far as physical growth. Bryan and I both think she's gotten longer, but of course everyone comments how small she is. So who knows. She is in size 3 diapers and wearing anything from 9 month to 18 month clothing. Just depends on the brand. She's mainly in 6 to 12's. Shoe size is a 3.

We're still breastfeeding 5 times a day. I introduced meats today, at 10 1/2 months. I boiled a chicken breast and made very small pieces for her to gum. She loved it! She also loves cheese! Still no teeth! However, she has two HUGE bumps in her upper gums where her front teeth should be and their white. They are her teeth and they are coming. Nothing happening on the bottom though. One day she will wake with a mouth full of teeth and braces! Haha. The longer she doesn't have them, the healthier they will be, says my doc. Still napping twice a day and sleeping through the night, 12 hrs. Waking once for a snack at about 4 am.

It is hard to capture Mady in a blog post these days. She is my joy. I love her so. I am so happy to be her mom and take in each of these milestones. I am blessed to be able to stay at home with her. I am thankful to see her growth and excited to see what next months milestones will bring.

Urgent, Please Pray.

Will you join me in prayer?

"The prayers of the righteous man are powerful and effective." James 5:16

My friends from college, Brooke and Brandon are expecting their first son to be born any moment now. He will be born, but only dwell among his earthly parents for a short time and go to be with his heavenly Father for eternity. His name is Briar Allen.

Please prayer for little Briar, who was created in the womb with a fatal defect that prevents him to have sustaining life outside of his mothers womb. God knit him together, joyfully and perfectly (Psalm 139) in Brookes womb with this and for His glory. Although it is hard to understand, "the secret things belong to the Lord" (Deut. 29:29), we wait and hope in the Lord.

To read more about my friends story please click here, or even here, on Brooke's blog. Prepare to be inspired, her love for the Lord in the midst of this grave pain is very admirable.

Even now, as my dear friends are clinging to Christ, their Savior in the hospital for the coming of their precious son...please be praying for them as they prepare to say hello and goodbye. Please pray for peace and comfort, which is only found in Christ. Pray for Brooke during delievery and baby Briar. Pray for a sweet time to for Brooke and Brandon with their son.

These verses has been my comfort as the Lord has continued to burden my heart for Brooke, Brandon and little Briar. Please be in prayer for this family.

"3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

1 Peter 1:3-9

100th Post!

My 100th post is a tribute to my journey in love. Like my title, its only through grace that I can even journey and that includes through love.

Love has its ups and downs and twists and turns....but the best part is, your never alone. Though it may be difficult at times and complete elation too great for words in other moments....it is what it is, a journey.

So here's to my 100th post. I am dedicating it to the love of my life, Bryan. He's been there and shared in everyone of these moments I've posted about. He's a silent, but profound author of this blog, because he's been by my side in this journey.

Yes, he's grown up quite a bit since our early days....

Actually, we've both grown up....the important thing is we've grown together.

Its only been 6 years since we started our journey, I cannot imagine what we'll have become in 36, 56 and Lord Willin' 66 years together!

And the product of our love's journey...

the first of many, we pray.

It's been a fun ride so far. Hold on because we've got more posts where these came from!

"[We] I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 3:14