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.

Pop - We love and miss you

On October 12, 2008 my Pop passed away at the age of 90. Pop was my last living grandparent and Maddox's only living great-grandparent. I am so glad that I got a picture of Maddox with him last year when we went to visit him. My Pop had a rough life as so many did that came of age during the Great Depression. He never complained though. He worked hard his whole life and with Nana (who passed away 14 years ago) raised 4 wonderful kids. There are 6 of us grandkids and 5 great-grandkids.

I always remember him wrestling with us on the ground when we were little. He always called my brothers and cousins "Tiger" and we thought that was hilarious. He used to make and drink Whiskey Sours all the time. One time I demanded that he give me the "orange juice" I thought he was making so he gave me a sip...it was horrible. He was a Deacon in the Catholic Church and officiated at all of our Baptisms and First Communions before he retired to care for my Nana who had Alzheimer's Disease. He felt it was his duty to care for her at home until the end, and I cannot imagine how that must have been for him.

Over the years, he developed symptoms of Alzheimer's as well and ended up in a wonderful Assisted Living Facility. As he declined we kept visiting him and trying to keep his mind from forgetting us, but as I'm sure anyone who has been exposed to this illness knows, it's a losing battle.

I'm so thankful that my Mom and her sister Kathy were able to be with him when he died. While it's sad that he is no longer here, I'm so happy that he's finally reunited with Nana after 14 long years. They loved eachother so much, it's a blessing that they are finally together. The funeral home posted a bio of him with a slide show of pictures through his life, which is amazing.

Obituary - http://www.webfh.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=205300&fh_id=10498

Goodbye, Pop! We love and miss you!

September and Beginning October 2008

Since I'm so far behind on my posts, I've decided to hit the high points of September and October 2008. Here we go :)...

Sesame Street Live In early September we heard that the Sesame Street Live show was coming to Phillips Arena. Since Maddox LOVES Sesame Street so much (and the tickets were pretty cheap), we decided to try it out. The show was really adorable, however I think Maddox got totally overwhelmed by it. Being that he's only 15mths we weren't totally shocked. It was pretty loud and he didn't cry and freak out, but he was sort of awed and then passed out, so we left at Intermission. Maybe next year :). Here are a couple of pictures:

First GT football game
Also in September we decided to take Maddox to his first Georgia Tech football game. We were able to get some great tickets for GT vs. Miss State and figured that since the game was in the afternoon we may be able to get him to sit through a bit without passing out. It wasn't too hot out either, so we thought it would be pretty good. We headed down to campus early and hung out at the ZBT house for pregame. Then we made the walk to the stadium. We got into our seats and realized that it was going to be a lot hotter than we thought. Although the temp was ok, we were sitting in direct sunlight and I had forgotten the baby sunblock for the first time since Maddox was born. We kept him in the shade with a sweatshirt and he was interested at first. Then came the first GT touchdown. All the noise totally freaked him out and he started crying because he was clearly scared. Then a funny thing happened. GT started scoring a LOT (funny that never seemed to happen all that often in the other games we went to) and Maddox was pretty much done. Stefan took him into the inner part of the stadium where they sell the merchandise and food to let him run around a bit and after a while we decided to leave. I'm proud that we made it to halftime and GT ended up winning the game 38-7. Go Jackets!!!

GT Homecoming

As is customary since we moved back to the Atlanta area, we headed down to campus to the ZBT house for GT Homecoming in October. Maddox really enjoyed running around the house and it was wonderful to see a lot of our friends and their children. It always amazes me how different we all are since our days at GT. It's definitely a bit surreal to see people you partied with 10yrs ago (my has it been that long) chasing around babies and toddlers and talking about the which car seat is the best model. My how times have changed.

Tybee Island Vacation 2008

The first week of September 2008 we rented a mini-van and headed down to Tybee Island, GA for a vaction. We even brought Nelson and Mama Les, Grandpa, Nana, Granddad, and Uncle Luke met us there. We rented an amazing house with a pool in the backyard for the week, which was only 2 blocks from the beach. None of us had been to Tybee Island before, although we've been to Savannah which is a 30 min drive. We're so used to going to Ocean City, MD which is loaded with condo buildings and hotels, amusement parks, boardwalk, etc. Tybee Island is almost the exact opposite...a very small and quaint beach town. We had a great time and Maddox loved it. Having the pool in the backyard was awesome...even Nelson got to swim (although I didn't get a good picture of it). Maddox loved the pool and absolutely adored the ocean...I think he could've done without the sand though. It was great to have time with our parents and Luke as well. It was a very low stress vacation and Stefan and I even got some time alone togther. I've included some pictures, but all of them are in the Summer 2008 album (link under albums). I highly recommend it, especially for young kids that are not ready for amusement parks yet :).


Mommy, Daddy, and Maddox at the beach













Nana and Granddad


















Uncle Luke, Maddox, and Daddy

Daddy and Uncle Luke playing catch with Maddox in the pool

Family Pictures

We had a photographer come out to our house in late July and take some family pictures. I had been debating what to do for Maddox's 1yr pictures and finally decided that it would be nice to get some of our whole little family. They turned out really great and it was a fabulous experience. Our photographer was so amazing. She has a young baby (8 or 9mths old at the time) and a couple of dogs, so she knows how to deal with both, which was awesome. All of the photos are in the Family Pictures link on the right of the blog, but here are a few that I really liked. Enjoy!

Boys II Men or Bell Biv Devoe?

Stefan and I went with Ed and Gail to see Morris Day and the Time at Chastain at the end of July. Morris Day was opening for Boys II Men and if you're like me, you've never heard of Morris Day (Jungle Love is the only song I knew...o-e-o-e-o). Stefan and I have had this funny inside joke about Morris Day and the Time since he had to actually pull up old concert footage of theirs on YouTube before I believed him that they actually exist. Suffice to say Stefan was totally psyched to see Morris Day and the (mother-f**king) Time. Ed was also all about Morris Day, but Gail and I were there for Boys II Men.

Apparently Stefan confused Boys II Men with Bell Biv Devoe (BBD of New Edition fame). We were pulling into Chastain and Stefan swore we were at the wrong concert since everyone walking in looked so old. Finally he asked me what one of their songs were and when I said "End of the Road" and "Motown Philly" he flipped out and had the line of the night. "You mean we're not going to hear Do Me tonight?".

Now you can bring any food/beverage you want into Chastain and as Gail was intent to clean out her liquor cabinet, she made some Sangria using 2 bottles of wine and a bottle of Vodka (Absolute Orange). It's amazing how funny we thought our lines were after finishing off the entire cooler of Sangria.

Regardless, the concert was awesome. Morris Day and the Time rocked it and surprisingly so did Boys II Men. I was worried they would only sing ballads all night (since that's mostly what was on their albums), but apparently they came out with a Motown cover album a while back so they did a whole set of Motown which was awesome. We (of course) finished up the evening with a run to the WaHo where we ordered most of the menu and ate ourselves sick. Gotta love the Waffle House!

Late Summer Catch Up

Oh goodness! I have been absolutely terrible about updates this summer. I've been so busy with work and we've had illnesses all over the place and we went on vacation...

Bad excuses I know. I guess in a nutshell it's been a very hectic past couple of months. Maddox has gotten bigger and bigger and now has a ton of teeth (3 of which cut through while we were on vacation last week!). We have graduated into real "big boy" shoes and everything too!

We've spent most of the summer swimming in Mama Les' pool by ourselves and with friends (what's up B!). I'll post some adorable pictures of Maddox and Brendan swimming together...it is adorable. We also attended Mitchell's 1st Birthday Party which was a blast. We had Mitchell (and Lorann and Brad of course) over for dinner and playtime during the opening ceremony of the Olympics and the kids had a great time. I've also decided I must MUST visit China sometime in this lifetime.

We have also officially reached the end of another Purple Cobra Kickball season, so our Saturdays are finally free again. It'll be nice to not have to work around 2pm game times for a while.

We reached a bittersweet milestone a couple of weeks ago. We had our 1yr anniversary at Gymboree. I remember the first day I brought Maddox to Gymboree when he was 2mths old. I cannot believe how far we've come in a years time. Absolutely amazing! I cannot speak highly enough of Gymboree and the great classes they offer. I truly believe Maddox would not have reached his milestones as soon as he has without it.

We are still continuing with our Pilates classes and playgroups and looking forward to a great Fall. More posts to come with pictures from a shoot at our house and vacation pictures :).

Catch up to July 4th and Wheel of Fortune

Goodness it's been a while since my last post. Things got pretty busy last month. We had family in from out of town and lot to do :). I've been very busy with work as well...I'm hoping it calms a bit in the next few weeks, but we'll see.
Maddox is walking so much now it's really crazy. He has no fear and goes all out all the time. He doesn't quite have the greatest balance in the world, so when he tries to really take off he ends up face planting. He's gone head first into just about everything we own. I think the bumps, bruises, and scratches are going to be a permanent fixture all over him for the coming months. He really seems to enjoy walking around though. I don't trust it enough to let him walk outside and stuff, but he's getting pretty good. I guess it's time to go and buy him some real shoes.
We had a great month of June. We spent a lot of time with family and family friends, swimming at Mama Les and Grandpa's house, and playing with our buds. We also attended a wedding for a good friend. It was very fun to go out and cut loose without Maddox. The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time.
One of Maddox's new favorite things to do is watch Wheel of Fortune, so now that's on our Tivo rotation. We've even joined the Wheel Watchers club since he demands to watch it every day :). I think he's drawn to the puzzls and bright colors. Thank goodness for Pat and Vanna, since I have time to clean up while he's entranced from 7-730pm every night :).

Maddox and Daddy watching the Wheel

















We also had a great 4th of July. We watched the Roswell fireworks rehearsal from our back deck on the 3rd, which was great. We took Maddox to the Dunwoody 4th of July Parade that morning to hang out with Mama Les, Grandpa, Uncle Jason, and Aunt Staci while we sold hotdogs for charity. It was very hot, but we had fun and Maddox enjoyed all the firetrucks. We even ran into the Ohnstad's. We spent the rest of the weekend attending multiple other BBQ's with friends and family, so it was a great weekend.


Maddox and Daddy at the 4th of July Parade

My Baby is a Toddler...Happy Birthday Maddox

Last Wednesday, June 11th was Maddox's 1st Birthday. I was excited and relieved to have officially made it through the first year, yet sad at the same time that my baby is no longer an infant. I don't really like the word "toddler", but I guess I'll have to live with it. I cannot believe how much different our lives are this year than last year. Having our son has so completely changed our lives and in such a wonderful way. He just amazes me every day at what he does and the fact that I had a hand in making this (I think) perfect little thing. He has truly been a blessing to Stefan and I, and although it hasn't been easy...it's been totally worth it. We are so thrilled with him and love him more and more every day (if that's even possible). I did happen to get a picture of Maddox at precisely 8:09pm on June 11th, which is the exact time he was born last year. What a difference a year makes. Thank you, Nutter Butter (Angel Baby) for coming into our lives. We love you!

Maddox's 1st Birthday Party

The invitations went out a while ago (I made them myself and was pretty proud of it). Maddox's 1st Birthday Party was held at Mama Les and Grandpa's house on June 7th, since they have the pool (thank goodness since it ended up being 100 degrees out) and a great backyard setup and a big eating area inside. Even though Mama Les was ill, with the help of Aunt Staci and Linda J, we got everything set up and the party was a great success. Nana, Granddad, and Uncles Zach, Luke, and Nathaniel all flew in for a visit too (not to mention some other out of town friends). I finally found a use for all of the monthly "sign" pictures I take of Maddox as they became the decorations on the buffet tables. Take a look.


















I also made the image on the cake and had Publix make it as a photo cake and it turned out great too.
We had a total of about 45 people come to the party and it was a great mix of kids and adults and close family friends. We decided to try to keep the guest list manageable and just invite friends with kids around Maddox's age and close family friends. Maddox had a blast and clearly had no idea what was going on other than the fact that he had tons of time to play in the pool (quickly becoming his favorite pass time). Thanks so much to everyone who came (especially to Staci, Linda J, and Jeanette for all their HARD work). We missed those that couldn't make it as well. Here are some additional pictures. The full lot of pictures is in the Maddox Pictures Month 12 album link under Picture Albums, so enjoy!