Madi's First Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone! Mads had a bit of a fussy day, but you wouldn't be able to tell from these pictures! She sure is a cutie! And I'm totally not biased at all... ;-)

She had three different outfits that we got photos of her in at different times during the day. She had her cousins old pumpkin shirt and her Chicago grandparents sent her a sweet duck costume and pajamas.

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A Preposterous Pilgrimage

Our trip to Hungary will have additional posts coming soon but in the meantime my flight home deserves its own post!

Jason flew back to Stavanger Monday leaving Mads and I a couple additional days to shop and spend with the Herns, the couple we were visiting.

I wasn't too nervous about flying alone with Madi since she's been so great but I was a bit nervous about making my flight from Oslo to Stavanger...

I found out a couple weeks ago that when you fly international through Oslo you have to pick up your bags, carry them upstairs, re-check them, and proceed through security again. Lame.

And not exactly what I wanted to try and accomplish in 60 min by myself with a baby, a baby bag, a 50+ lb bag, and a stroller.

I made it to the airport in Budapest in plenty of time. I found the nursing room and relaxed with Madi. The nursing room however did no have a toilet. And having a full bladder, two carry-on bags, and a baby to load myself up with and try to get into a stall only to unpack everyone again to pee sounded awful. So I did what any logical person would do. I peed in the sink. That's right peeps- I have no shame or class.

Afterward Mads and I headed to the gate where we boarded first and got settled in our row excited to see that we somehow had to ourselves. That is until a nice gentlemen asked if he could sit there with me. I figured if he was choosing a baby over whatever seat he was in, then he must be desperate. That it Madi wasn't cranky-looking enough.

Madi did great on the flight. She really discovered her voice on this trip and has become incredibly talkative. I love it and I don't care if anyone is irritated by it. She talked and I laughed. :-)

Things, however, went downhill after we landed. We had to wait for the bus to take us to the terminal. Then once we got on the bus I was able to secure a cart and a front row spot at baggage claim. I anxiously waited for my suitcase and grabbed it, aware if the clock ticking by and wondering what the cutoff is for luggage check-in before a flight.

Then I vaguely remembered hearing something about strollers going to a different location. Fail. I ran to the info desk, confirmed that, and was told it would go to either claim 5 or 10. On opposite sides of the baggage claim. And no way of telling which it would go to. Ugh.

I ran between the two and and finally saw it coming up to conveyor belt. I booked it (literally jogging with a baby on me) to the elevator and ran across the entire check-in to Norwegian airlines because, naturally, it's in the opposite side. I hurriedly interrupt the line to ask the worker if I can go ahead to try and make my flight at 5:40. It's currently 4:55.

She looks at my cart and says that I have special baggage (the stroller) and I need to go to counter G. I turn and look. G is located on the other side very near the elevator I just ran from. Sigh.

I begin my game of frogger running around people pushing a cart with a stroller sticking out that almost go knocked off twice and had the elastic get caught on someone else's luggage.

Somehow I make it over to G, run up to the counter, and he looks at his watch and says "yep, you made it". Finally things are going my way. Now to just get through security and to my gate!

Fortunately the airport had a family security line. I wouldn't have made my flight otherwise. I get in the line, get up to the metal detector, and walk through. Dang. I forgot to take my belt off. Now I have to take Madi out of the carrier and get padded down.

I gently remove Madi from the carrier and guess what I'm greeted with- a leaky diaper and poop seeping through the sides of her pants. Awesome.

We grab our stuff and begin running to the short flights gates that are a 10 min walk from the main terminal. Yes, Madi was shoved back in the baby carrier poopy and who knows if it was all over me.

I decide because it's only 5:10 when I'm a couple hundred feet from the gate that I have time to change Madi and pee. Fortunately this nursing room has a toilet so I don't have to pee in the sink.

I change Madi and throw on her spare outfit (just a onesie) thinking it's not a big deal because I can wrap her in more clothes in her car seat before she's ever outside.

Wrong. We have to walk outside to board our plane. I drop my boarding pass trying to et out my nursing cover to wrap her up as best as possible and stumble on board. Oh did I mention that as soon as I picked her up after changing her that she spit up? Yep, sure did.

We get on the plane and the nice lady in my row held Madi while I got the seatbelt on and ready. My kid is a rock star and she hasn't made a peep this entire time. She's probably in shock or something. But no, she starts talking up a storm and smiling at everyone. So freaking blessed.

She did great in the flight and I got up to ask the flight attendants for water (it's only 50 min to Stavanger so there's no beverage service). I am handed the water bottle and at that very moment Madi spits up, I swear, half of what I just fed her.

Fortunately she didn't get anyone but me and the floor and the flight attendants were sweet and helped me clean it up. The rest of the flight went smoothly and Madi's impeccable timing had her fall asleep just as we were landing.

We are home now, I'm exhausted, and now that she's sleeping and I've had dinner I am laughing at how ridiculous today was and grateful to be home safe and sound!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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Current iPhone App Favs

There are quite a few apps that I couldn't live without on my phone, especially since having a little one running around now who occupies 99.9% of the pictures on my phone and social media posts.

1. iBabyLog. This is definitely my #1 used app. Stephanie, my sister-in-law, told me about it when I was pregnant and I downloaded it immediately. It allows you to track everything, and I literally mean, everything that you could ever want to know about your baby - diapers, activities, baths, sleep, solids, moods, sickness, milestone, pumping, nursing, and still more! However, a person would go crazy trying to track all of that so I only use it for diapers, nursing, and medicine and every once in awhile milestones.

And for the nerd in you, there are totals and graphs that allow you to see the daily, weekly, and monthly statistics of whatever you are tracking. And you can post it to facebook. (Because FB really wants/needs to know the number of poopy diapers that Madison had in August, right?!) But I will admit that I love seeing the statistics and charts. :-)

You can also link the app to another user. We've done that for nursing and diapers, but nothing else because every time you go into the app it has to sync. This only takes a couple seconds, but if you have more stuff linked I would imagine it takes longer. This way Jason can record things when he's watching Madison. Oh and the best part about the app? It's free!

2. I mentioned the Timehop app that I've been using daily in a previous blog post. You can link your social media (twitter, facebook, instagram, etc.) and even your home computer to the app. Every day the app prepares "Your Day in History" and shows you what you've done in previous years. I have enjoyed seeing vacation photos and sorority memories and look forward to continuing to see updates of what's happened over the years.

3. Collect. I heard about this app from my Pi Phi friend Chelsea over at The Perfect Catch. It allows you to upload a photo each day and then save the calendar as a photo. Here is September!

4. Diptic. This app allows me to make photo collages of different sizes. Since I have fallen prey to a common first-time mother condition called "obsessive photo-taking", this helps me to put nine pictures into one and pretend like I don't have a problem. ;-) It costs $1.99 for this app (plus $.99 more if you want to be able to change the aspect ratio and add text), but it's definitely worth it!

5. Facebook, Instagram, and Bloglovin' are the last ones that I regularly check when I'm feeding Madi or have a few spare moments throughout the day. They allow me to stay in touch with my friends and family back in Houston and feel more connected despite being so far away! You can follow me on any of those social media outlets by clicking on the "Stay in Touch" buttons on the upper right side of the blog. :-) 

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Madi: Four Months

• You are rolling!!! Basically every time we put you on your back now you've flipped to your stomach immediately. And every morning for the past couple of weeks we've come in and seen your little behind straight up in the air! While it's amazing to watch you master this new skill, part of us is a little sad too! Someone told us that having the rolling milestone early is usually an indicator that you will have your other milestones early as well (crawling, walking, etc.) You are already nudging yourself and sticking that cute little behind in the air so it's a definite possibility!

• We've started having dinner together as a family. At the table. (Mommy and Daddy would previously eat on the sofa, watching TV, and letting you play next to us or take turns entertaining you while one of us ate.) But no more! We're trying to take steps to disconnect to connect and this is one of them. We sit together and eat as best as possible while you join us in the high chair chewing on Sophie. :-)

• Speaking of Sophie you've continued to improve so much at grabbing objects and now realize what you are grabbing. You especially love all three variations of your Sophie the giraffe toys and gnawing on them constantly! We are also hypothesizing that you will be left-handed... Daddy made the observation that you tend to grab things more with your left hand and be dominate on that side. It will be interesting to see!

• We've been busier at home interacting and honing on your new rolling skills so Mommy got a little behind on blogging. We did a lot of fun things though - went corn picking, walked along the beach, hung out with friends, and learned some very important lessons... particularly the key to Daddy's heart: Dr Pepper and chocolate! 

• You still are smitten with bath time and you laughed for the first time this month (Oct 13) when we were playing with you afterwards. You are a chatterbox talking to us, but this was the first time it seemed like a purposeful laugh and not just your usual talking. It was wonderful! We heard those beautiful laughs again today when Daddy was tickling her. A dream come true for him!
• One morning when Mommy came into your room to get your after a nap time, you gently reached your hands up and touched her face. It was such a precious moment and it brought tears to her eyes! You haven't done it again, but she looks forward to the day when you reach out your arms to us.

I have a secret to tell you...

Little Duck,

You are such a joy and a blessing to us! We are amazed and in awe of how much fun you are and how you light up when you smile! You are friendly and love watching other people and smiling at them. You still stare intensely at everything, analyzing it before you decide whether or not to smile. Oh, how we wish we could see that little brain work! 

Love,

Daddy and Mommy

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Headband Holder DIY

Hello. My name is Darcy and I have a headband obsession problem. My daughter has never been out of the house without a hair accessory of some kind to match her outfit...

Madison's collection of headbands is a bit out of control. Jason has forbid I spend any more money on hair accessories. Forever. But I think I'll be able to sway him when Madi's a little older and needs hair ties, clips, etc. ;-)

Until then, however, I needed to find a way to organize her headbands. It was getting to be a hassle trying to dig through a basket every day for a specific one. I searched online for a few ideas of headband displays to get the wheels turning.

It was super easy to make and it works so well! I am the worst at DIY transition pictures so you'll just have to picture everything in your head.

Here are the supplies -

• Picture frame
• Damask ribbon
• Hooks
• Nails, hammer, drill

Remove the glass and backing from the frame. Nail as many strips of ribbon across the back as you want on the grame, making sure to space them enough apart to easily get hair clips on/off. Drill holes in the bottom of the frame and add hooks. We couldn't find black hooks that worked so we ended up getting silver ones and spray painting them. We had 10 in the pack, but decided to use only 8 across the bottom.

We've hung it on the back of the door in Madison's room and it makes selecting the perfect headband each day a breeze!

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Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Three weeks ago Madi and I had appointments with the chiropractor. Charlotte warned me that while most babies start rolling over at 4-5 months, Madison was strong enough and acting like she might do it sooner...

That following week we came into Madi's room in the morning and saw this -

She continued flipping herself in the night and last week started showing off for Daddy and Mommy by rolling both directions! She's not that good at going from her stomach-to-back (which is apparently supposed to be easier according to Baby Center...), but is rolling pretty well from her back-to-stomach! 

And then to make matters worse we saw this last night...

She's already getting on her knees and pushing her bum into the air and is getting close to a crawling position. Not. Cool.

I was excited for the rolling milestone...but I am not ready for an early crawling milestone! Plus I'm also selfishly irked that (1) I can no longer leave her alone anywhere and (2) she's growing up way too fast!!!

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Two Weeks in 25 Pictures

Time flies and I haven't been very good at keeping up with the blogging! We've gotten into a great routine, but between Norwegian lessons, Bible study, and keeping up with Madi blogging has fallen to the back burner. :-)

So here's a photo-update from the last couple of weeks! Mostly it's food and family. :-)

Madi loves Sophie! In fact she has three of them... the one below, a hard teething one, and a squishy teething one.

After waking up Madi a 180 from the direction we originally put her in the crib and then discovering her with her leg stuck in between the bars of her bassinet we decided it was time to switch her into the big bed.

Now she's got more space to do her wiggling around! :-)

I put together a meal plan and Madi was in charge of making dinner! She did a great job too! :-)

Sometimes Madi yawns five times making Mommy think she's ready for a nap... then she talks, giggles, and smiles. She's so darn cute! And manipulative. She knows I'll pick her back up thinking she's not actually tired.

Madi wasn't having it in the gym daycare...however, she had impeccable timing. The nursery worker came to get me during my cool down after a tough hill workout.

The weather has been amazing the past couple of weeks and we took advantage of it one Saturday and drove out to a pick-your-own-corn farm. It's the only place in all of Stavanger to offer it since fresh corn isn't very common here.

After picking corn we stopped at the beach and went for a walk along the water. It was a little windy, but still gorgeous!

Our first roasted chicken! Delicious!!

Rollin'

Sometimes Madi is a messy eater. :-)

Giggling Mads!

Mini cupcakes for dinner with friends!

A beautiful sleeping duck. She loves to hold her hands when she sleeps. :-)

Homemade lasagna and Flat Stanley. He came to visit us for a week from Oklahoma City and enjoyed his visit.

We spent one Sunday morning looking at my baby albums. Apparently Madi looks quite a bit like Mommy...

And don't worry... the furry family is still alive and well! Zoey is still as fat as ever and causing trouble (here with packaging from our crock pot). 

Caught snuggling! On Madi's playmat of course.

Cutest little duck!

Madi LOVES smiling at herself in the mirror! I caught this cute one of her last week. :-)

Madi decided to visit Daddy at work one Friday! After having lunch with him she decided to check his engineering drawings and orders. She had to make a few corrections, but nothing she couldn't handle. 

Playing on Daddy and Mommy's bed with mirrors.

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