We're back!

After a long but wonderful trip to Arizona, Madilyn and I have arrived back to Altus safe and sound. We planned to head out on Saturday morning and stop for the night in Albuquerque, but Mother Nature had a different plan for us. There were some pretty bad wonter storms going through the area we would be traveling, so we had to change our route. This added about 5 hours to our journey! Matt drove the entire trip. Every time we'd reach a large town or city, I'd ask him if we should stop for the night, and he'd always reply "nope, I'm doing just fine, let's keep going". Well, 19 hours after leaving Phoenix, we arrived back home around 5am.. He drove all day and night! Needless to say we're all still catching up on sleep around here. It's nice to be home again.

Madilyn seems to be growing by leaps and bounds these days. She's extremely interesed in her surroundings. Within the last week "dada" and "doggie" have become a regular part of her vocabulary, and she's even using them appropritely! On top of new words, she seems to have learned how to wave. As Matt was leaving for work today he waived "bye bye" to her and she waved back!

Well I think that about sums it up for now, Madilyn is up from her nap!

Baptism

Today we had Madilyn baptized at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Tempe, AZ. It was a wonderful celebration and we were so blessed to be able to share it with our families. Here are some pictures of the event :)

With Mommy and Daddy in her gown

Anointed with oil

Baptism

Megan (Godmother), Mommy, Madilyn, Daddy, and Bret (Godfather)

Here we are with the Deacon who baptized Madilyn!

Eight Months!

Happy eight-month birthday, Madilyn!

Our little girl just keeps getting bigger and bigger by the day it seems. At this point she has mastered "da-da", "ba'ba" and "hi", although she does not use them appropriately yet.

She continues getting herself on her belly and trying to crawl. So far we're still rocking, but I'm sure she'll be zooming around in no time at all.

Meal times are finally getting enjoyable! She often gets excited when she sees the baby food coming and loves to try different things we're having at meal times too....especially bread :)

It seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital in labor, and now here we are, eight months later! This year has just flown by, and I'm sure all subsequent years will continue to go by quicker than the one before.

Madilyn Loves Bath Time

Just had to share some new bath time pictures :)

Playing in the bubbles

Playing with Aunt Bianna

Rocking her new hairdo (compliments of Brianna)

(look at all SIX teeth!)

And my favorite!
She's anxiously waiting for the tub to fill so she can splash away!

Playing catch-up

I haven't written in a while, so this is kind of a catch all as to what's been happening in our lives recently!

Madilyn is still happy as ever, and almost never sleeps. Well, at least she's a happy baby, right? Most nights we average around 5 or 6 wake-ups, but last night only twice...HOORAY!!!! Maybe it's because she's trying to learn how to crawl. She's a little ways off yet probably, but she can get on all fours and sort of rocks back and forth. I'm sure once she actually gets it, she'll be too quick for her own good!

Matt's grandparents are coming out from Florida tomorrow for a nice visit. It will be great to see them! Madilyn sure has changed since the last time they saw her in August.

With Christmas just around the corner, we've been quite busy. Matt will be joining us again around the 19th or so. We'll all be heading back to Altus near the end of December (probably around the 28th or 29th, but we're yet to finalize it).

We've had a wonderful time here in Phoenix, and while we're always sad to leave family behind, it will also be nice to be back with our friends and "family" back home and get back in the groove. (I can't wait to see how big all those babies are getting!)

Well, I think that's all I have for now....

Tubby Time!

Madi is such a big girl! She especially loves tubby time each night before bed. Here she is playing in the tub last night. She even took a bath in the big tub and sat up all on her own! In the second video, you'll she she has found her tongue. It's really quite funny to watch.

Pancakes :)

Yummy!

Madi really enjoyed Grandpa Don's pancakes. I just wanted to share!