Maddox's 2nd Birthday Party

We had Maddox's 2nd Birthday Party at East Cobb Park on June 13th this year. It was a great time and thankfully not too hot out for the kids. The location was perfect with the covered picnic benches and the playground that had the kids occupied for most of the 2hr party. We had a great turnout of friends and family and the birthday boy had a blast. It was a firetruck theme (I was hoping to get an actual firetruck to show up, but Cobb County gave me the run around) and thanks to Heather (www.thewhimsicalwoods.com) Maddox even had hi sown firetruck shirt. The kids had a great time on the swings and slides and with the bubble machine and ate lenty of hot dogs and hamburgers and cupcakes. We had a cake for Uncle Jason too who celebrated his 30th birthday the day before. Unfortunately we had to break down pretty quickly at 12pm since there was another party after us, so we came back home to open presents. Maddox was actually interested in opening his presents this year and everyone was very generous as always. All in all, Maddox had a great time with all of his friends and family. I've posted a few pictures from his party and the rest are in one of the albums in the Photos section.

Maddox Turns 2

Maddox at 8:09pm, June 11, 2009

I have been horrible about posting the past few months and figured that Maddox's 2nd birthday was a good time to get back in the groove. My little boy is 2yrs old! I must say I was a lot less sad than I thought I would be. His birthday was of course bittersweet for me as I love watching him get older, but miss my baby so much. It seems like just yesterday I was willing him to come out (through 14hrs of labor) and we were bringing him home for the first time. I broke out my signs as per usual and took his yearly 8:09pm picture on June 11th (the exact time he was born). He woke up to Mommy and Daddy (and Nelson) singing Happy Birthday and got him dressed in some grubby clothes for tie dye day at daycare. After I dropped him off, I came home to start making the cupcakes to bring in to his class in the afternoon. I brought them in late in the afternoon and his whole class enjoyed them. We came home, had a great dinner with another cupcake, waited up for our 8:09pm picture and then went to bed. Here come the Terrible Twos!

Preschool and The Wiggles

One day a few weeks ago, Maddox was having a morning meltdown and I was furiously looking through the TV guide to find something on TV to keep him occupied while I cleaned up breakfast and got lunch ready. I stumbled upon The Wiggles on Playhouse Disney channel and an obsession was born. Maddox absolutely adores this show and it's rapidly becoming the only thing that he wants to watch ever. He tries to sing and dance along to the songs and actually does his pouty little fake-cry when the ending song comes on. I'm actually very surprised he's taken to it so well. I guess there are worse things he could be into.

Our other little piece of news is that after having Miss Whitney for a year and a half, we decided the time was right to start Maddox in Daycare/Preschool. We definitely miss Miss Whitney a ton and thank her for all her wonderful time taking care of our little rugrat. Maddox started at the Goddard School on April 6th and seems to be doing really well. He gets along wonderfully with all his little classmates (especially his friend Mitchell who we've known for a long time) and his teachers, Miss Sally and Miss Sabrina. He tries to work me a little bit when I drop him off in the mornings and bursts into tears when I pick him up, but he's certainly getting used to it. I think it's a good move for him at this point. He definitely needed the interaction with other children. He had school pictures this week which I'm told turned out awesome, so I'll post them when I get my hands on them. Definitely a big change for us, but I think he's doing very well.

Feb and Mar 2009

I keep swearing that I'm going to get better at posting and I get worse and worse. The past couple of months have been pretty busy. Stefan and I travelled to Whistler, BC in Canada for our friends wedding allowing Maddox to have a week with Nana and Aunt Kathy. I think Maddox had a great week and I know Nana and Aunt Kathy were exhausted by the end of it. He really tuckered them out, but I think they had a good time with him.

Whistler was amazing, the skiing was awesome. They say it's the best in North America and I believe it. It looked like a postcard and was so much fun to get away with some of our friends. Rich and Gillian's wedding was a blast. I have posted a link to the pictures from there in our Photos section.

Maddox has continued to become more and more like a little kid and less like a baby. It's been fun to watch, but a little sad as well. I'm glad that he can do more and more on his own (feeding himself, walking all over, climbing stairs, etc) but he is starting to develop a little too much of an independence streak. Definitely starting to get an attitude of "I want it now and if you don't get it for me, I'll get it myself". We can no longer really "hide" things up on the counters as I found one day when he moved a kitchen chair over to the counter and climbed up onto the counter. He loves to open doors and drawers and pull out anything and everything. It's definitely becoming more and more of a challenge. I'm sure it'll continue to be so...ahhh the joys of parenting a toddler...

He talks (sort of)

Maddox finally started to really talk in the past few weeks. He's not holding actual conversations (at least not in English as I understand it), but he is starting to say a lot more words and use them in the correct context. Curiously, he will not say "yes" or "no" to Stefan or I (he'll say it to anyone else apparently) he will just nod and shake his head. He does love saying "Hi" and "Bye" and "Ooooo" to everything. He's said "Peez" (please) and "Thanka" (thank you) and he does a little "uch" sound in the right context...wonder where he got that one from :). He apparently says "more" all the time, however I have yet to catch that one. He's said "I know" and "ok" and other such things. It really is amazing to me how one day they just start saying things. He's starting to understand a lot more too like when I start counting he better stop whatever it is he's doing. I'm really excited for him to start actually conversing in full sentences although like all other milestones, I'm sure I'll regret it once we get there. Such is life :)

Storage Drive Data Retrieved!

After much heartache, hassle, and money we finally got all the data back from our corrupted storage drive...yay! I finally got back all of my holiday pictures and pictures from our trips to DC for a visit and Thanksgiving and all the other random pictures we had taken over the course of November and December. All of those pictures (in addition to pictures randomly taken in January and February) are in the Winter 2008/2009 link under pictures. Phew :)

Vegas baby!

The last weekend in January had me joining Stefan out in Las Vegas for a little weekend getaway. Stefan had been in Vegas since Monday morning of that week (hence us having to leave Adam and Randi's fabulous wedding a tad early on Sunday night) and I joined him on Friday afternoon. Whitney graciously came over EARLY on Friday morning to watch Maddox until Mama Les was able to get over and pick him up. Maddox had a great weekend with Mama Les and Grandpa Bill...I think he especially enjoyed eating ice cream with Grandpa Bill :). Mama Les took him to the Ge's Chinese New Year's Party that Saturday night and he apparently had a blast. Not surprising since he can't seem to get enough of running around and playing with older kids. Anson Ge is a year and a half to 2yrs older than him, so I'm sure he spent most of the party chasing him around. He loved eating all of the home made Chinese food Lea and Haijun cooked up for everyone and had a great time all around.

Anyway, I arrived in Las Vegas around 12pm and immediately headed to the spa at Caesar's Palace. It was a fab way to relax and start my weekend...nothing like a Swedish massage to start a weekend away. As soon as I got done, Stefan had just arrived back at Caesar's from the International Builder's Show (what he was there for for work). We got cleaned up and headed to check out how much has changed in Vegas since I was there last (here's a hint...everything! Unrecognizable from 4yrs ago). We had a fabulous dinner at Bradley Ogden in Caesars. It was amazing! I highly recommed it to anyone interested. After that we headed out to gamble. We met up with a collegue of Stefan's and his wife and found a cheap blackjack table to park ourselves at. A few hours and $300 later we decided it was time for a Denny's run. We had a great time that night and headed back to Caesar's for some sleep.

Saturday morning, I woke up early and wandered around to get some breakfast. I found a great coffee place in Caesar's and got some coffee and food and planted myself in the Sports Book to watch all the games going on (Duke vs. MD got most of my attention). Stefan and I had lunch at Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay's restaurant) and headed to the strip to take a walk. The weather was amazing (upper 60's and sunny) and we had a great time walking all over. We headed back in time to get ready for dinner at Kraft and the Cirque show at MGM Grand. Dinner was honestly the best steak I've ever had in my life. If you ever get the chance to go to Kraft Steakhouse in the MGM Grand...go...order the Kobe Skirt Steak and be amazed. The Cirque show was great and after winning back $50 at the blackjack tables, we headed back to Caesar's to call it a night. Sunday morning we got breakfast, placed a Superbowl bet at the Sports Book and headed to the airport.

Definitely a necessary break and a great time :).

Another Year Older

On Jan 15th I turned 33yrs old...it really sucked. I'm generally not someone that's too concerned with my age, but this year I just feel old. What made me freak out the most was filling out an online survey for work that day and noting that I'm only 2 short years away from checking the "35 to 40" box. It's really strange since I swear I still feel like I'm 15yrs old.

My friend Meredith invited Stefan and I out for dinner the Saturday night before my birthday since her husband Harry's birthday is right around mine (I think he's the 14th, but I can't swear to it). Whitney graciously agreed to babysit Maddox while Stefan and I headed out for a nice dinner at Parish in the Highlands. Dinner was great (I highly recommend the short ribs...very yummy!) and between the 4 of us we had 2 bottles of wine. So we decided to go out for a bit longer before Stefan and I headed back to suburbia. Harry and I thought we randomly picked a bar in the Highlands and when we walked in a bunch of our friends were there to celebrate with us. Stefan and Meredith had planned it as a suprise for us and it was a great time.

Some of our friends decided that in addition to all the wine that I should have a few shots. Mind you, I can count on one hand the number of shots I have had in the 10yrs since I graduated college. I think I only did 3 total washing them down with a few Miller Lites. Needless to say I was a bit toasty and rather enjoyed running to the car in the torrential downpour that ensued. I didn't throw up, but I was in bed that Sunday until almost 5pm. Small price to pay for a great night. Dorothy, we're not in our 20's anymore!

Beyonce

Maddox has discovered a new woman in his life and it's not Miss Whitney (his nanny). Maddox absolutely adored Beyonce. Stefan TIVO's Saturday Night Live every week and started watching the one with Paul Rudd and Beyonce one afternoon with Maddox while I was out running errands. Apparently as soon as Beyonce came on and started singing, Maddox was absolutely transfixed. Her second song, "Single Ladies", had him up and dancing so of course Stefan replayed it a dozen times that afternoon.

While we were at my parents house for Thanksgiving, I was giving Maddox breakfast one morning and my mom had the Today Show on in the other room. Guess who was the musical guest...Beyonce. As soon as she started singing, Maddox practically jumped out of his booster to go and see her. It was unbelievable. Ever since, we replay Beyonce singing "Single Ladies" on SNL probably 4 times a day...he absolutely loves it. Whenever we're in the car and he hears any of her songs, he smiles and starts dancing in his car seat. It's really funny because he does not react that way to anyone else. There are definitely worse things out there for him to love...it's a good thing I like her music :). One of these days when I get my video camera working I'll post a video of Maddox dancing to "Single Ladies", it's priceless!

Held Hostage by a Bad Storage Drive

I am all set to blog about our holidays and put up some pictures and of course as soon as I empty my memory card onto our storage drive, the thing craps out. Isn't that just my luck. Neither Stefan nor I (both with engineering degrees mind you) can get the thing working so we threw in the towel and called the Geek Squad. Imagine my shock (and anger) when they called us to let us know that after messing with it for 3 days, they can't get it working or the data recovered either. They need to send it out to other specialists! So I'm freaking out that I have lost almost all of my pictures of everything (I haven't used real film in years, so everything for the past like 7yrs is all on that drive...including all of Maddox's pictures). God willing someone somewhere will be able to recover my data. So in the meantime, I have a picture that we had taken of Maddox with Santa. We took him to breakfast with Santa at our church and of course he got his picture taken. He didn't love it as much as the Chick-Fil-A cow, but he didn't freak out either. Unfortunately no huge smiles, but cute picture none-the-less.

We did have a great Thanksgiving traveling to my parents place in MD. It started out interesting as we overslept and got to the airport late, which was worrisome considering we didn't have confirmed seats on our flight...stupid I know since it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Everything ended up working out great (woke up at 7am and we were at the Atlanta airport at 745am...world record for 2 adults and a baby in traffic!) and we got to MD safely with no major issues. We had a great time over Thanksgiving. All of my brothers were home so Maddox got to spend plenty of time with his uncles. We also got to see the Myers, Engels, Susses, Augurusas, McCabes, and Garlands all while we were there. It was great to see all our "DC Friends" again and the McCabes who move up there from Atlanta almost a year ago. Once I get my pictures back I'll post some of the trip. Also, it was great for Maddox to have time with his Nana and Granddad in addition to his great-Aunt and Uncles. The only stressful part was chasing him around my parents non-childproof house :). Not sure how 4 of us made it out of there in one piece ;).

We spent the Christmas holiday here in Atlanta and spent the day at Mama Les and Grandpa's house. Maddox woke up on Christmas and came downstairs to all his presents with the look of wonder I was hoping for (Daddy got some great pics...again I'll post when I get them back). He really enjoyed all of his new stuff (most of which were recycled gifts from last Christmas and his birthday that I rewrapped up...I'm going to keep that up until he knows the difference...hee hee). We got over to Mama Les and Grandpa's house early in the day and spent time playing with the Jezerinac boys, which Maddox loved. We had a great big dinner and then opened all our other presents. Maddox loved pulling off the ribbons and playing with those, so I ended up opening most of his gifts. Everyone was very generous with him as usual...I'm going to have to start reigning them all in...don't want a spoiled child!

We had a great New Year's at the Davises. It was a kid filled party and since they had a pack and play set up, we were able to put the kids down and enjoy the party until after midnight. Maddox had a blast playing with Mitchell, Miller, Mathew, and all the other kids there...we had a blast with the parents too :). Great way to end 2008! Here's hoping for an even better 2009...

End of October and Halloween 2008

Hayden and Mason's Chick-Fil-A Birthday Party
Our friends Hayden and Mason had their joint 2nd Birthday Party at the Chick-Fil-A in Smryna. We were very excited to go as we had not seen them in a while. The birthday party was a load of fun since they have a huge indoor play area for the kids. Maddox and the rest of them loved climbing and sliding and messing with all the stuff on the jungle gym thing. The funniest part of the day for us was when the Chick-Fil-A cow came out to wish the birthday girl and boy a Happy Birthday and get pictures of all the kids. Most of the kids were a little scared and we thought Maddox would be too, we were wrong. Maddox absolutely loved the cow. He would not get off his lap and kept chasing the cow trying to get a hug and more time with it. It was absolutely hilarious. We had a great time and I think Hayden and Mason really enjoyed their party. My how quickly they all grow...

Carlton Farms

We really wanted Maddox to get to pick out a pumpkin for Halloween this year and in doing research, Stefan found a farm in Paulding County called Carlton Farms. They are an organic dairy farm that has a petting zoo, hayrides, corn maze, duck races, and pumpkins to pick out. Since I'd been itching to get Maddox to a zoo of any kind, we decided to head out to the farm one Saturday afternoon with the Davis's. It was a lot smaller than we expected, but the people and animals were so nice. We were a little disappointed that they didn't have a pumpkin patch, but a bunch of pumpkins sitting out in the main area for you to pick out. Oh well, we figured the petting zoo would make up for it. It was really a lot of fun and the boys enjoyed it a ton. They had baby calfs, pigs, chicks, horses, and lambs in the petting area that the boys had a great time with. We then headed to the hayride unsure of what to expect. The hayride took us out to one of the open spaces and probably 20 full size cows came out to see us. They came right up to the ride and we were able to pet them and feed them hay which they ate right out of our hands. It was really cool and Maddox could not stop laughing at the big tongues licking hay out of our hands. Definitely a highlight. They also had an area to feed full grown chickens and pumps set up to race rubber duckies. Plus a big field to run around and around in...Maddox loved it. We really had a great time, but next year I think we'll try to find a pumpkin patch :).

Halloween

We weren't sure whether Maddox would be interested in Trick-or-Treating this year, so when we got invited to the Fuller's Halloween Trick-or-Treating and Party we thought that might be the perfect thing. We got to their place around dusk and all piled into a bunch of flatbeds set up as hayrides. Then we were driven to all of the houses (members of their family) where the residents came out and brough candy to us. It was really a blast. We had a great time as we didn't have to walk and carry a tired toddler around our neighborhood and it was great to share the experience with so many of Maddox's little friends. One of the barns was set up as a haunted house which the kids all loved. Finally we ended up at the starting point where there was a big party with tons of food and candy. We had a great time and are so glad to have been there. The only downside was that Maddox discovered Kit Kat Bars which are now a total addiction for him. I guess there are worse things...hahaha.