This past week....

Last weekend Stan and Linda came and visited with us. It is so wonderful having family close by, bot only because it is what is best for Madelyn to get to know them, but also because Josh and I get to go on the odd date! Saturday night Stan and Linda and Josh's Uncle Dave and Aunt Wendy stayed at the house with Madelyn and Josh and I went for supper at the Phoenix Grill (really good) and a movie (Benjamin Button - REALLY good). Even though I admit to missing Maddy the entire time, it was nice to get out and just be adults for a little while. And being able to eat out without having to entertain and take care of Maddy every second was nice too!!

Josh has been busy studying for his First Class ticket. He set himself up a little space int he basement with a desk and his guitars adn such, so that is nice. I definitely find myself watching a lot more TV now that he is studying because after Maddy goes to bed I am so bored!

Yesterday Madelyn and I had a playdate with my old friend Jamie and her identical twin daughters, Cricket and Tuula, whom are INCREDIBLY cute. They are 7 months old but were born 10 weeks early, so are anout the size of 5 month olds. Jamie and I used to work at McDonald's together and I hadn't seen her in probably 8 or so years until we found eachother on facebook! I love that darn facebook I tell ya.

Speaking of old friends, Julie is in town for some sort of conference and is coming here for a visit and will be staying the night. For those of you who may not know who Julie is, she was a very good friend of mine who also was my maid of honor. We eventually grew apart and I have not seen her in 4 or 5 years. So we both have probably changed a lot in that time and I am interested to see how things go!

Here are some cute pics of Maddy helping me clean the house before our guest arrives!

We had a really nice visit with Nick and Laura while they were in Calgary. They were here just for the night, but we went shopping and met Mike and Josie for supper at the Keg. Just lovely!

Madelyn is a great walker now. I put up a couple of new videos of her!

11 months old!!

Our baby is 11 months old!! I can't believe that in just one month she will be a year old.... it is so true what they say - time goes by SO fast when you have kids!

Madelyn is doing so well. She walks everywhere now and gets into EVERYTHING. She loves to talk too, and I am pretty sure she likes to tell us stories. She says lots of words now - mommy, daddy, Bay-ee, hi, bye, wenny (her bear Wendy), woof, tenee (teddy), BA (bottle). She also loves to dance and clap, which is SO cute to watch.

She feels she is much too old for baby food apparently because she won't touch the stuff - she must have things that she can pick up herself. She still only has her two little front teeth, but I am pretty sure I see a third coming in (and judging by the fact she has been up every two hours the past couple of days, I am sure more are coming in!)

Everyday with her is just glorious and we love her so so much!!!

Someone was in a BAD mood last night!!

For the last week I have been dropping Madelyn off at the daycare at the YMCA while I work out. It has been so great!! At first it was really hard to leave her and I only left her for half an hour and kept peeking in on her. Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of working out going on that day, but it has gotten a lot better now. She is such a good girl and likes to sit and play, either on her own or with another baby, she doesn't seem to care. Now I leave her for an hour, three days a week and I think it will be really good for her. In February we start story and rhyme time at the library once a week, March we start gym time, then in April we start swimming. Busy busy!

She is walking so well now and I can't believe it. I put up a new video of her, but even just since the video she is walking more!

This weekend we had a chinook blow through Calgary and we tried to make the best of it. We took Maddy to the park in her sled and let her play on the swings for a little while.

Go Maddy Go!!!

Our little girl is walking!!

When we were at Elkwater over Christmas, Miss Madelyn took 5 steps in a row. It was wonderful that the whole family was there to see her first steps! Well, she hadn't done it again since then except for a couple here and there, and today she took 6 steps, fell, and then took 6 more!! Now she is trying to walk everywhere!!!! I didn't have the camera ready when she took her 6 steps, but later I was taping her clapping and dancing and got a few then - I put it up on the Madelyn video link.

Go Sharks Go?! No Sharks No.......

Last night we went to the Flames Vs. Sharks game and we had so much fun! Our seats were right next to the Sharks' bench and only 4 rows from the glass. It was so GREAT!! I haven't had that much fun at a hockey game in a long time. Every time they hit the glass it scared the heck out of Madelyn, but it was so neat. And she loved it everytime the Flames would score because flames would shoot out of the scoreboard. Luckily for her, and unfortunately for our Sharks, it happened lots! She also loved watching for the "WOOF". She made it the entire game too - we couldn't believe it. We got a couple of phone calls from people saying they saw us on tv and we really wish we would have thought to tape it.We put up a cute little video on the Madelyn link as well...

Happy New Year!

Well I think this may be the longest I have gone without updating the blog. Yikes! Between vacationing, being sick and just plain being lazy I seem to have let it go.... Sorry folks!

Christmas was great. Sadly we were unable to make it to Saskatchewan to visit family and friends due to sickness and weather, but we still had a really nice time.


Christmas Eve we went to Grandma and Grandpa Doll's and Madelyn looked oh so sweet in her beautiful Christmas dress.

Christmas Day we had brunch at home and then supper at Mike and Josie's. Madelyn got so many toys I am not even sure where to put them all! And I basically opened all of her presents for her, as she lost interest after about 3. haha. It was a wonderful first Christmas with our baby.

Boxing Day Josh had to fly to Cincinatti for work, which really sucked. We had long planned a trip to Elkwater the 27th and 28th with the whole Gale family and he had to miss it. We stayed in two condos with fireplaces and kitchens. It was nice, but it would have been a lot more fun if Josh would have been there and if Maddy wouldn't have been so sick the whole time! We may try again next year though.

Josh came home from Cincinatti with a horrible flu so we couldn't go to Prince Albert. We spent the next couple of days basically doing nothing but relaxing, which was kind of nice too I guess. New Years Eve was spent with Mike and Josie and was a lot of fun. It is definitely a different kind of New Years party when you have a baby! We played Rock Band, which was so much fun.

On the weekend Josh, Nathan, Hailey and Mike went skiing (I HATE skiing) and I spent the day with Laura having lunch and going to a matinee (Four Christmases - quite bad). Then that night we all went to a movie together (Marley and Me - fantastic!!).

Sunday morning we made our way home and although we had a wonderful holiday, it is always great to get back to your own things. Man, now I have a TON of stuff to catch up on!