Madison Starts to Pull Up!

One day, mid January, Madison wasn't taking her morning nap, so when I looked in the camera to see what was up I found her pulling up (just to her knees) in her crib on repeat. She was both proud of herself for her accomplishment and quite frustrated. Fast forward about five days or so and she is pulling up to standing on some toys and taking on every obstacle like it is Mount Everest. Oh, are you sitting on the floor? Let me climb you! Oh, this toy car? It will make an excellent tool in my endeavors!

Wah! Where did my baby go??

Needless to say, we moved the car away from the shelf. Mostly so she didn't flip herself into it.

Quite proud of her little self!

Here, I was trying to video her pulling up to standing (video one)... of course she chose that time to try to jump out of front of the car so I stopped videoing. Then, upon starting a new video she decided to flip over the door on her head. She didn't seem to mind much. Also, it reminded me of this video of Anna Kate exiting the car, though at 11 months vs 8 months, AK was a little more controlled and graceful to say the least.

Snow Days!

Wayyyy back in the beginning of January, I got a pretty cool birthday present- SNOW! Okay, so it didn't happen on my birthday, but it happened on a Friday night which is even better because it kept Mark home all weekend long for us to play and enjoy! Of course, pretty much all of my "reader base" is from NC and obviously knows that we had snow, but we did end up getting about 6-8 inches by us. We never actually measured, but that's what people living near us measured. It was a lot. It wasn't too great for snowmen since it didn't pack down, but Anna Kate mainly enjoyed eating it and being pulled around on a sled. Madison mostly enjoyed not being anywhere near it and preferred to be warm and inside playing.

Our back porch when we woke up, and one excited little girl ready to play!

We love snow! Also, note the one glove and one mitten. Last year, in a moment of "brilliance" I purchased waterproof snow gloves at TJ Maxx, since the year prior Anna only had thin gloves and it was terrible. Well, last year she pretty much wore them as mittens because her hands were too small. This year, she was very upset by the difficulty of getting her fingers in each spot yet they HAD to be in the proper finger holes. We gave up on hand 2. It got a mitten. Thank you for the mittens that saved our snow day, Gigi.

All she did was eat snow.

Baby's first snow! Let's take an adorable photo shoot!

Or not.

At least someone here loves the snow!!

Literally, a string of photos of Anna Kate grinning ear to ear and Madison giving the death stare.

Madison on a sled, in her bumbo. NOT impressed. She literally never cracked a smile.

Being "brave" in the woods!

This nice log pile made a cute backdrop for a photo!

Christmas #6: Mommy's College Friends!

You thought I was done with Christmas's, didn't you?! Somehow, after all of the fun and chaos of the prior four days, we managed to get up out of bed and into the car again and headed to Greensboro. Every year since college, we have all gotten together for secret Santa, despite the fact that we are spread out from Mexico City to Boston and in between. During the holidays, most everyone is home and with their families anywhere from Wilmington to Asheville/Boone. It has always been hard to find a meeting ground that doesn't mean that someone is driving upwards of 2-3 hours. Somehow, when having the discussion of when and where, I thought, "hey, Mom and Dad live right smack in the middle of all of that". And, lucky for me, I have the greatest parents in the world, who said, "sure, invite 16 adults and 10 kids to our house to eat and run wild. They're the best. It really worked out great for everyone, except Mark who had to work, and we had a wonderful time!

How has it seriously been almost ten years since we graduated college?

All of our babies... Only one crying, all above age two smiling! 

You know Gigi set up her kitchen with little tables so that little people could eat lunch together. And it was absolutely adorable!

Madison Leigh, 8 Months

Well, as it goes with holidays, another month has flown by and now Madison is 8 months old!

This month she experienced her first Christmas and was a complete champ, hardly getting fussy at all even after about five late nights in a row and napping in different places, sometimes the car.

She continued to dislike pureed food unless she could suck it out of a pouch, and has truly started showing intense interest in what we are eating. If you give her something "baby", such as pieces of banana or peas, and everyone else is eating a chicken dinner or spaghetti she will make a scene to get some. Fortunately her pincer grasp is catching up with her desire to feed herself everything we eat and so far nothing has obviously bothered her tummy, so it works out okay.

She finally slept a straight twelve plus hours on December 30 (and hasn't done it since), but usually averages 10-11 hours straight starting around 6:30-7 and then she will sleep another 1-2 until I get her up at 8am.

She hasn't mastered official "crawling" but is a very fast scooter/army crawler. You can see her set her sights on something (usually not a toy, ha!) and she will get there very quickly. Madison loves her sister, Mommy & Daddy, all dogs, and is starting to show recognition of other family members since we have seen everyone so frequently for the holidays. No one will top Anna Kate though!

Both of my girls looking and smiling?! Quick, frame it!

Because, then, things like this happen. It's hard being loved so much, isn't it Madison?

SO. SO. BIG!

"8 months, NO WAY guys!"

"I am just so very excited about being 8 months! Or these blocks! Really about anything!"

"Oh. My. Gosh!"

Christmas #5: Great Grandma Marshall's house!

After Madison woke up from her nap, we all headed over to Great Grandma Marshall's for dinner and some time with Ru's side of the family. Of course we had to stop and see the cows before we could come inside the house, and this time they even cooperated so we could get a family photo! We enjoyed chatting with our Marshall family, and the kids enjoyed playing with some of their cousins. After a few rounds of cake and treats, they were a wild bunch and got sent out to the front porch to play until it was time for us all to take some sleepy kids to their beds after a long day!

When we first arrived we finally got a family photo! Thanks, Kristina! The cows even cooperated in the background- Anna Kate loves those cows!

The cows ran off after they realized we didn't bring their dinner. Madison wasn't impressed.

Cousin Lucas enjoys entertaining the littler kids, Madison was really enamored with him!

How much are those kids in the window?! Great Grandma has an enclosed porch on her house and the kids loved running wild out there. The adults loved the noise being somewhere else besides the living room. Here, they entertained us like fish in a bowl!

The littlest cuties, future best buds, Carter and Madison!

Jammies and snuggles with Great Uncle Brian, time to head home!

Christmas #4: Nanny and Paw's house!

Per our usual Christmas tradition, we headed for lunch at Nanny and Paw's house after we had cleaned up a little. Everyone was there and we enjoyed a yummy lunch and some fun gifts and treats. The girls then proceeded to play with their new Barbie sets while Madison napped. I am so glad that little munchkin takes her naps happily! We really enjoyed getting to spend time with our Tarlton grandparents and Aunt Dee and Uncle Bobby! Thank you for loving on our girls!

Aunt Laura gladly took on baby holding duty!

Could these two girls BE any cuter?

Playing hide and go seek with Avery. Avery was a really good hider (read, she just didn't hide in plain sight) and Anna Kate insisted on holding Carter's hand to keep him safe (read, she is still kind of a scaredy cat and needed someone to go with her). I love seeing a friendship blossom between these two!

Opening their presents from Nanny and Paw!

Quite proud of himself balancing a bird on his finger.

Carter shared his candy with Uncle David. Sweet boy!

Barbie stuff!!!

Girls, you forgot to clean up. Let me help you.

This is how they spent the next hour. Fun!

Madison got to wake up and join the party. Love how she loves her Carter bear!

"You mean you guys already opened presents without me?!"

Christmas #3: Our Little Family

We headed home on Friday evening and spent most of Saturday working on Anna Kate and Madison's special Christmas present from Mommy and Daddy (more on that later). We headed off to Christmas Eve service at Church and then hurried home to leave cookies for Santa and read the Christmas story before heading to bed in matching pajamas (the girls, not us, but don't put it past me). The next morning, two excited little girls woke up to see what Santa had left them... and I think they were more than happy. Well, Madison was happy because everyone else was happy, but she isn't hardly ever unhappy.

Anna Kate specially requested, "the princess barbie's I don't have and a toy rock" from Santa. Madison had no special requests, and Santa thought that meant she would like a large stuffed Elephant.

My beautiful girls ready for Christmas Eve service at church! Madison was ready to go!

Everyone was excited on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought!

Smiles before opening gifts!

The sisters were so good to each other, taking turns opening presents and checking to see what the other got. This only lasted a few minutes... I have no doubt it won't last at all next year!

Checking out Madison's Elephant. She was pretty enamored.

This... This is the face for the "toy rock" (hide-a-key) she received.

Daddy hugs on Christmas morning!

Rain boots!! Anna Kate has been on a serious rain boot kick lately.

Daddy opening his gift from Mommy- we are going to Carowinds whenever we want!

Coming up to the playroom to see her and Madison's special present from Mommy and Daddy...

A doll house, built by Daddy for all of the princess barbies!

Two happy girls!