Bye Bye Papa...

Garret's Papa, "Softy" Robinson passed away just before Christmas. We flew to Ohio to attend the funeral and to be of some comfort to his Mimi. We landed just in time for the first real snowfall and tried our best to enjoy the time we had in such sad circumstances. Maddie got to go sledding for the first time with her cousin Maghera, who was so sweet and protective of her our whole visit! It was so great to get to see everyone although we wished it were for a happier occasion. Softy was a well-loved man as evidenced by the record number of people in attendance at his funeral, even though the temperatures were below freezing. Maddie and I only got to meet him once, last year, and I am so grateful to have had that time, although too brief to get to know the man Garret so looked up to and admired. Rest in peace Softy...you will be so missed.

Thanksgiving 2010

"For each new morning with its light,

for rest and shelter of the night,

for health and food, for love and friends,

for everything Thy goodness sends."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The perfect tree

liked this one...it was one of the more expensive ones, of course!
Come on guys...THIS is the one!

We left with a beautiful (and really cheap!) tree

I confess...I'm kinda cookoo over Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving it becomes a jolly free- for-all. It looks like Santa lives in our house. To jump start the madness, we go pick out a tree, no, the tree. I usually take an hour to find juuuust the right one. This year however, we have an impatient little one that is on her own schedule, so we grabbed the first one we liked! And luckily, in our haste, we did find a really pretty one!

Halloween 2010!!

Beetlejuice and Lydia!

Kisses for Toto!

Beautiful Cousin Bella!

Ahhhh...FINALLY!!

Maddie's 2nd Halloween was a success! The only hiccup was the fact that she still walks on her toes so her sparkly red shoes kept coming off! She was relegated to the wagon most of the night, but since I had NO intention of letting her consume a bunch of candy, it actually worked out well! She enjoyed riding around with Bella and watching all the trick-or-treaters approach houses, bags in hand!
Her "Dorothy" costume was precious, but I struggled with what to do for the pigtails from the movie. I mean, we can't very well have a Dorothy with no braids! I tapped my inner creative diva and fashioned two yarn braids and glued them onto a headband I had decorated. When we "rehearsed" through the week, she refused to keep it on. 30 seconds. Tops. But low and behold, she actually left it on the entire time we trick-or-treated!! Must have been Aunt Momo's distraction technique with the lollipop...
Unfortunately, mommy was a little sick (thanks for the bug, Mads!), so we didn't stay out too long, but we still had fun! We were also a little tired from a grown-up party the night before, so we all got to bed at a descent time. There truly is no place like home...

Wigging out!

For a child who HATES anything on her head, this was an entertaining evening! I brought home a wig for MY Halloween costume and Maddie was obsessed with it! It's funny to see her with any kind of hair, especially synthetic, black -as- night, curly hair! She knew she was entertaining us, and we, her audience, laughed on cue. My little show-off....

Not so rosy....

Apparently, Maddie has the Roseola virus. A few days ago she had an inexplicable high fever that got to 104 degrees! She was very clingy and cranky but no obvious symptoms. I took her to her Pediatrician and he said he thought she had a virus of some kind an she should be fine in a few days. Three days, no sleep and pierced eardrums later, she still has a fever! She barely eats, is so pale (as though she weren't fair enough) and is sleeping for hours an hours and hours....not like her at all! Today she developed a rash that has gotten progressively worse through the day. I called the Nurse on call and she guessed Roseola based on the info I gave her. Sounds right to me! Poor thing...she is absolutely miserable! Taking her in tomorrow for an official diagnosis. We had to miss Oktoberfest with the family for Monique's Birthday but got to go over for a quick bite to eat and cake! Here's hoping I get some rest and my angel gets all better!

UPDATE: We took Maddie back to the doctor because her fever would not abate and the rash seems worse. He did confirm a viral rash, probably Roseola and a double ear infection! :( At least now we have some antibiotics to hopefully ease her discomfort.

Chatty Cathy!

As previously stated, Miss Maddie is quite independent. She reaches milestones with lightening speed at times and at a snail's pace other times. One place she seems to excel is in her speech. She talks all the time (much to my dismay :), usually in her baby-babble but will most certainly repeat words said to her repetitiously. Her first word was "hi". We would pick her up from her crib and she'd greet us with a big grin and a "Hi!". Since then, she can say (in no particular order):

1. bug (usually referring to ladybugs)

2. dada

3. mamma

4. Tig-Tig (my sister's dog)

5. ball

6. bye-bye

7. baby

8. poopie (hee hee..that one's my fault)

9. D-D-D-D (the beginning of the Dora The Explorer theme song)

10. ba-ball (for Meatball, our silly pug)

11. Night-night

12. baboon (balloon...which she is currently obsessed with!)

13. uh-oh

14. Belle (for her cousin Bella)

15. Oma (German for grandma)

16. Momo (my sis)

17. Shoe

These are the words we can make sense of anyway! She really loves books an being read to so I hope a large vocabulary and a love of reading is in her future! We know jabbering away will be...if she's anything like her mother! Ha!