Engaged!!

Ryan popped the question and Julia said "yes!" We are so excited to have her as part of our family! Can't wait for July 24th 2010!!!

Six Months!

It is hard to believe that Miss Madeline has been with us for HALF a year already! She is such a sweet baby and we love every minute with her! She weighed in at 17.9 lbs (80%) today and is 26.5 inches (75%) long! Her head was in the 97 percentile! This is a Councill trait! Highlights this month:

-Sleeping through the night (most nights!)

-Sitting up

-Eating breakfast and dinner (pears, applesauce, greenbeans, sweet potatoes, etc)

-Can hold toys and play with them for an extended period of time

-Makes noises at you when you talk to her

-Laughs all the time- especially at Jack

-Still takes 3 naps (if we are home)

-Starting to get scared of strangers- definitely knows me, Clay and Jack
-Wears 6-12 months clothes

-Loves the pool and bath!

Madeline and Jack at six months

Caroline visits

Mom has been a slacker on the blog lately. She has had 2 ear infections and a sinus infection. I told her I could handle it from here.

So my friend Caroline came to visit last weekend. She and Mom worked together and I have known her all my long life! She brought her dog, Cooper, and I loved playing with him!

Here I am with Caroline and Steve way back when I was a baby (May 2006)! We are going to see Steve next week in NYC!!

Sittin on the Dock of the Bay (or the den floor)

Yep, she is sitting!! Wobbles every now and then but this girl is sitting!

Showing off her teeth

And yes, her head really is big but the angle of these pics makes it look alot bigger.

Band of Brothers

Clay, Jay, Will and Jordan

This picture of Clay and his brothers was taken while Jay was home from Iraq for 2 weeks in June. Four great men!

Sunday

It is a rare day lately that I actually shower AND dry my hair but I do manage to do both on Sundays which is a nice change. I also have Clay to keep the kids occupied so I can!

Jack is in the "I do it" stage and that has include feeding Madeline.
He also loves to hug her. I love her face here- sheer terror! I think she is probably more worried that he going to steel her rice biscuit- she loves them!

Watermelon Day!

We went to the Farmer's Market today to get our weekly load of peaches along with some homemade salsa and other goodies. The Raleigh Farmer's Market is one of the greatest I have ever seen- open 7 days a week and always full of yummy fresh finds. Today we stumbled upon a big event- North Carolina Watermelon Day!!

And we even got to meet the NC Watermelon Queen! Who knew there was one? Clay thought it would be funny to get a pic with her- Jack did not agree. He isn't a fan of watermelon. Now, if there was a blueberry queen, he would ask for her hand in marriage. The kid is serious about blueberries!
And a quick shot of our future fruit queen. We'll let her decide which fruit she would like to represent although today she was sporting apples (pure coincidence). Maybe there will be an upcoming Toddlers and Tiaras on fruit queens. That show is a train wreck but I can't look away!

Backyard Fun

Do you remember this cute gardener from the summer of 07?

Well he is still at it!
Clay plants a garden every summer and he and Jack go out every night and pick the ripe veggies. We have okra, tomatoes, peppers, blueberries and lots of herbs.
While they pick, Madeline swings! She loves the swing!

She also started sitting in the booster seat. We don't use a high chair b/c it takes up too much room and we loved this seat with Jack. It is very portable so you can take it to restaurants and friends' houses! Madeline liked sitting in this seat and playing with her spoon while she ate cereal and squash. Such a big girl!

New tricks and TEETH!

While I was gone, Madeline spent some quality time with her biggest fans, the Smiths, who gave her these fancy glasses!

She has also sprouted THREE teeth!!
And learned to hold her bottle! Now that she has those teeth, she may be getting the bottle more often!

Mom's getaway

"Madeline, can you believe Mom left us for FOUR whole days? We had a good time with Daddy, didn't we?"

Yes, it is true! I got to go away by myself last weekend for a much needed break. First, I stopped at the Wallaces and saw these precious girls. Emslie (4) and Virginia (2) are great big sisters to Sara Tabb (6 weeks). Ginger, my college roomie, definitely has her hands full! She is so not girly and I LOVE that she has three little girls!

Then I headed south to my former home- the ATL!

I did not go here - my place of work for 9 years and where I met most of the fabulous people below:

But you better believe I went here multiples times!

I got to see lots of my friends that I met in those tall buildings above.

Jenna, Ginny, Caroline and I all worked on the same floor (C-17). Jenna is the only one still there although she left and came back recently. Ginny stays home with her son James and Caroline does PR for IHG's Hotel Indigo. We had a fun night at Tin Lizzys!

I headed up north to Kennesaw to meet Jules for breakfast at The Whistle Stop Cafe in downtonw Kennesaw. Then we went back to here house to see Maggie and Sophie who are about to be big sisters to Darcy in just a few weeks! Another friend with three girls! Julie also worked in the buildings above on C-17 and got me my first job there TEN years ago! Then six years ago she introduced me to Clay (also in the buildings above). She is a true friend- Truckin loves ya Jules!Saturday I got to shop at IKEA with Cathy (who also worked on C-17) and go to a yummy dinner at Relish with her and Kyle but apparently I didn't get any pics of them. We were too busy shopping and eating!

Sunday I went over to Betsy's and got to hang out with her, James and Baby Ellis.

That night me and my old roomies - Betsy (who works at the buildings above but I met her WAY before that) and Ashley (due with Wilson in October and whose husband works at the buildings above) went to dinner at South City Kitchen.

But before we went we got to give Ellis a bath!

No these aren't his pjs but if they made smocked ones, Betsy would have them!!

I headed home Monday morning refreshed and just full of good feelings. I miss these friends so much. I love Raleigh and don't need to live in Atlanta again (so big, so crazy) but I wish we were closer than 6 hours. I joke about the SSC (Home Depot hdqtrs) but I was very fortunate to work in a place that gave me such great friends AND my wonderful husband who had a BIG weekend with the kids that included going on the lake with the Starritts and a trip to the farm in Franklin. And for those of you I didn't get to see this trip, we (the whole family) will be coming back in the fall! Look out Atlanta!