Uncle John & Auntie Amy out for a visit!

John & Amy flew in on Thursday to meet Madeleine and to celebrate Grandpa Fowler's 64th birthday! Luckily the weather held out until this evening so John and Amy were able to start their visit off with an early morning run. Then it was whirlwind of everyone getting ready and getting the baby ready to go to Todai for Grandpa's birthday lunch.

Grandpa & Grandma Fowler babysat Madeleine so John, Amy, Jeff and I were able to go out and have some fun! We started the evening off at the Salish Lodge for drinks and then on to a new Irish pub up the street from our house. It was nice to go out and have some adult conversation and be out without the baby! We were only away for about two hours though...duty calls! :-)

Check out the newlyweds...

Here we are trying out the carrier with Madeleine...by the way, she hates it. She only hangs out in the carrier for about 5 minutes and then she lets us know that she's not down with it!

Madeleine and mommy!

Sunny days are over

Our sunny days in Seattle are over for now but here is a pretty picture of the mountains near our house

Grandpa & Grandma Fowler visit from San Antonio

Jeff's dad and Suzette flew in on Tuesday from San Antonio for a visit from San Antonio for a week and we've got more family coming in on Thursday!

Madeleine's Grandpa's!

Rolling Over!

Yesterday I left Madeleine with my mom and aunt while I ran out to an appointment. While I was gone, Madeleine rolled over from her tummy to her back...and of course we missed it! Shoot! That's the latest from Madeleine's world!

Next week Jeff's family is in town and we are looking forward to their visit. I'm sure I will post lots of pictures so stay tuned! Other than that, we are just kind of hanging out. We are really starting to get the hang of this whole baby thing :-) and are feeling much more confident! We're still short on sleep but that just comes with the territory. Madeleine slept for four straight hours the last two nights which has been nice and quite rare. Hopefully this will lead to her sleeping through the night in the coming months!

Another Sunny Day in Seattle!

Another sunny day in Seattle! We've had a small stretch of sun....can you believe it?! It's been absolutely wonderful! Madeleine and I have been taking quite a few walks and even went to the park today. Of course she can't do much at the playground but we got to visit with all the other families who were taking advantage of the nice weather. Jeff had the day off and enjoyed doing some yard work while we were out and about!

Madeleine took a long nap this afternoon after being up all morning so Jeff and I enjoyed some time together in the sun!




Here I am after having the baby with baby monitor and glass of wine in hand :-)

Great Aunt Patricia visits from Illinois!

My aunt is in town visiting from Illinois and met Madeleine for the 1st time! We all got together at my brother's house for dinner and visited. Great Aunt Pat brought tons of adorable presents for Madeleine - thank you to everyone!!! I can't wait to post pics of Madeleine in her new outfits!

Auntie Mel visits with Madeleine

Check out the baby uggs!

Some pics from today

Odin & Amy stopped by today and the two babies got a better look at each other! Madeleine got all ready for Odin, she took a bath and put on her pretty new outfit...a gift from Jody!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you have a day full of love & laughter!

Is swaddling really the answer?

We had a major break through last night with Madeleine! For the very first time, she slept on her back in her crib! Hooray! We have been placing her on her side but after the parent-baby group yesterday, the other mom's urged me to try swaddling again to see if that would work. And sure enough, it did!

From the very moment she was born, Madeleine LOVES her little hands so in the past we have swaddled her with her arms out but last night we swaddled her up, hands and all, like a little burrito and she slept great...and on her back! Lets hope she continues to do so!

Madeleine + Odin

My old roomie from WWU told me about a mom & baby group at Evergreen hospital and Madeleine & I attended today for our first time. It was our very first outing on our own too and we did suprisingly well!! I packed the diaper bag on Monday night so I would be all ready to go on Tuesday morning because I was determined to make it out of the house without any help. My goal was to leave at 10:50 and we did! Madeleine basically slept from the moment we left the house until the end of the class. Everyone commented on what a "good sleeper" she was - ha! I told them to come around our house at around 11 pm and they would see a different little girl. Madeleine is a little night owl like her daddy!

I really enjoyed the group too. It was nice to hear about what other mom's are going through and to get advice as well. The class was two hours and the first hour today was dedicated to a book called the Language of Love in honor of Valentine's Day. The second hour was a chance to ask questions, share concerns and celebrations, ect. My latest concern is Madeleine does not like to sleep in her bed. In fact, last night she spent the entire night in her car seat..I guess whatever works!

Amy's little prince is a few months older than Madeleine so her group meets before mine. Today we met up in between to catch up and to let Odin and Madeleine see each other again. Both were dressed in their Valentine's Day outfits...too cute! I can't believe that fate threw us together at WWU as roomates our freshman year and here we are 10+ years later with our babies! Unbelievable!

Bye-Bye Grandma Jollay

Jeff's mom left today and we were all sad to see her go. We were all spoiled while she was here, especially Madeleine! Madeleine loved snuggling up in her grandma's arms all day and Jeff & I enjoyed the extra sleep we got! We even got to go out on two dates all by ourselves! We were so thankful to have her help this week. We'll see her again soon though :-)

My aunt from Illinois will be visiting next week and Jeff's dad & Suzette and his sister & brother-in-law will be visiting the week after so we have many more visitors to look forward to!

Latest Pictures of Madeleine

Happy Birthday Dad/Superbowl Sunday!

We celebrated my dad's 55th birthday while watching the Superbowl! What a fabulous game! My whole family came over and Jeff's mom is visiting as well. Thanks to my family for once again bringing over all the food...makes life a lot easier with a new baby! We had yummy food, great vino and a delicious ice cream cake from coldstone creamery...can't beat that!

Grandma's who are gaga over baby Madeleine :-)

Unlce Buba & Jeff enjoying the game

The birthday boy

Auntie Sharyn

Uncle Buba

Poor Jeff had to stand outside in the cold and BBQ for us...he ended up watching part of the game through the window

Madeleine meets Grandma Jollay!

Grandma Jollay flew in from Dallas, TX today and Madeleine got to meet her for the 1st time! Jeff's mom is here for the entire week and we are so excited!

Our 1st outing in the stroller!

I've barely made it out the house with Madeleine since she was born. Partly because I was and maybe still am anemic and partly because I am too scared to go out with her without Jeff! We've had a few outings to the doctor with the baby and last weekend I quickly ran (all by myself!) to the North Bend outlet mall, to Safeway and to Blockbuster to rent a few seasons of Sex and the City. It seems most of the day I am planted on the couch feeding Madeleine so what better to do than catch up on shows? But I am starting to get really sick of being inside so with Jeff's help, I put Madeleine in her stroller...and it was really easy! Not sure what I was scared of. It felt good to get some fresh air and Madeleine really enjoyed the ride! She was asleep by the time we made it around the block!

And here is our sleeping child! It didn't last long though...as soon as I took her out of the car seat she woke up and cried. Luckily a few minutes in the rocking chair put her right back to sleep!

Funny Stuff!