Happy Mother's Day to me!!!

Today is Mother's Day! Yea! It's the first one of many for little Miss Ella. Of course neither of the girls wanted to give me the gift of sleeping in today. They were both up bright and early before 6:30. Nice, huh?! Matt came home from work after 8 and they showered me with gifts. Roses, perfume, a picture frame made by Madi (which she told me about) and a James Avery charm of two girls. Sweet and thoughtful gifts. We had a nice breakfast and then Mommy went back to bed for a few hours. Thanks to Matt for that! I really needed it. Not sure what else is planned for the day, obviously dinner and just hanging out which is nice. As adults, it stinks to be so far away from our Mother's on this day. We miss and love our mommies too!!

Life has been crazy and hectic. Work seems to consume Matt and I. When we're not working, we're consumed by a crawling 10 month old who's into EVERY.THING and a 3 1/2 year old who's favorite words are "Mommy....Mommy....Daddy....Daddy...." If we a had penny for everytime she said those words, we'd have a trip to Disney World paid for!

We had a great Spring Break visit to Atlanta. The car ride was long but it was so nice to spend time with everyone. It was Aunt Laura's first time to meet Ella. We miss hanging out with her and wish that we could see everyone more often. We visited the Georgia Aquarium while we were there. What a beautiful place.

For Easter, I took the girls to Ohio for a long weekend. Again, a great time visiting with everyone and spending the holiday together. Madi went to church with Uncle Kory, Papa and Old Man Papa. She had a blast hunting for Easter eggs and finding all her baskets. The Ohio Easter Bunny sure did spoil her rotten!!

We're looking forward to the next few weeks. My parents are coming for a visit for two weeks, the school year will be over, Ella will be baptized, Matt's parents will be here for a visit, and of course, the dreaded 30th birthday, Madi's dance recital!! We'll have a lot going on!!

As for the kiddos: Madi is doing great. She is thriving with her speech. I'm so astonished by how much easier it is for her to speak. We are so grateful for Mrs. Kandy and Mrs. Shannon. They have worked a small miracle on her!! We still go once a week but eventually will only have to go every two weeks and then after that, once a month. We've signed Madi up for preschool for the fall. She will go three mornings a week. She is excited and the day after we went to visit the school she was ready to go!!

Ella is growing so fast. A little too fast for me! As I mentioned, she's crawling and into everything. Dog food is a favorite! She loves to be near people and hates to be left alone. We cannot just set her down in with her toys and walk away. She will scream bloody murder. She loves to be with us, watching every move we make. She's cruising along the furniture and I have no doubt she'll be walking soon. She loves to eat and is starting to eat various table foods along with her baby food. She was almost 22 pounds at her 9 month check up last month. We did have a rough week or so where she had an ear infection but that seems to have passed. All in all, she's wonderful!!

I know I'm bad at updating...I'm sorry for that! Once the school year is over I will hopefully be better at keeping this blog current. Hope everyone is doing well. All our love from Texas!!

Long time...no update!

So, I've been terrible about updating our blog lately. Life is just so busy and seems to pass by so fast! I'll do my best to update now...

The past few months have been packed full of fun. We celebrated Christmas here in Texas and a few days later Grandpa and Grandma Barker came to spend a week with us. The girls loved the attention and being spoiled! They were here for Madi's 3rd birthday party at Jumpin' Joey's. What a blast that was!! A few weeks later, Grandpa and Grandma Breudigam came to spend some time with us too. What fun we had. The weather was much nicer than cold and snowy Ohio. Madi enjoyed the park, Old MacDonald's farm, and just playing non-stop!

The girls are just amazing and growing so fast. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for blessing me with these two angels.

Madi is growing into such a little lady. She loves to dance, play dress up, play 'mommy' to her babies, and all the other things that little girls love to do! In January she started a ballet/tap class on Monday nights. She looks forward to going to dance each week. We've also started speech therapy once a week for her stuttering. For those of you who don't know, she started having trouble with her speech back around the time Ella was born. Her doctor suggested we wait about 6 months to see if she grew out of it. Unfortunately, she didn't, so we have started working with a therapist. Some days are better than others but she is working hard to have "smooth" talking. Madi also loves to have her nightly computer time. She spends about 20 minutes each night practicing her letters, colors, etc on the internet. It's amazing how smart she is!

Ella is changing right before our eyes. Our sweet little baby has 4 teeth (with more on the way), she's sitting up, crawling backwards (working hard to crawl forward!), eating baby food. It's just amazing to watch her discover new things everyday. She's a little over 20 pounds already and growing fast! She's a big snuggler, more than Madi ever was. She loves to curl up next to us and fall asleep. It's the sweetest thing.

I will try to update more often!!!

December...fun, snow and 3 years old!

So much to update...

Ella spent her first Thanksgiving in Ohio with our wonderful friends and family. It was nice to be home and of course the time went by way too fast. The first day we were there we had some snow, and the rest of the week it was just cold!! We had a fabulous Thanksgiving feast...all 18 of us, we celebrated Madi's birthday a few weeks early at Chuck E Cheese, and just really enjoyed visiting and spending time together.

On the 10th we had some interesting weather...SNOW! Something that very rarely happens here. Ella was already in bed so Madi and I headed out to enjoy it! Madi asked if 'Papa Ohio' could come over and make a snowman with her...so sweet! Of course it didn't last long...a few hours and the next day is was 60 degrees. Gotta love Texas weather!

On the 14th, Madilyn turned 3 years old. It's amazing to me how quickly time flies! We celebrated with just the four of us with presents, cake and ice cream. We'll have a party after Christmas at Jumpin' Joey's, another favorite establishment of her's!!

We are looking forward to Christmas. It'll be the first time that Matt will be home both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I'm looking forward to starting some traditions with Madi and I can't wait to see her face on Christmas morning!

Merry Christmas and lots of love to our friends and family near and far. Hope to see you all soon!

4 Months Already?!

For Aunt Ann and Uncle Russ!!

Early morning snuggle time!

I can hardly believe it...it has been 4 months since we have been blessed with Ella's arrival. She is thriving and doing so well. Matt took both girls to the doctor on Monday. Madi had her flu shot and Ella had her four month check up. Her stats:

16 pounds 8 ounces 95th percentile

24 3/4 inches 75th percentile

Can you believe it?!?! What a little chunker we have on our hands!! She started eating rice cereal a few weeks ago and this week we've been mixing it with applesauce. She LOVES it and is really learning how to eat off the spoon. Before you know it, we'll be feeding her big kid food!!

Trick or Treat!!

Last night we took the girls trick or treating with our friends Retta and Jordan. Madi had an absolute blast running up and down the drive ways saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you" in her doctor costume. She was so proud of her bag of candy!! It was such a difference from last year when she was so shy and timid. This year, Jordan showed her the ropes and she looked like she had been doing it for years! She's growing up so fast!! Ella enjoyed the time kicking back in the stroller dressed as a giraffe. I'm sure that next year Madi will show Ella how it's done!

Madi then had her first sleepover with Jordan. I was sad as we left her at Retta's...but no worries, everything was fine! Madi had a great time and of course wanted to stay!! She just adores Jordan. We are so lucky to have them as our friends!!

Props go to Matt for the great pumpkin carving! Madi wanted nothing to do with them...apparently they are too stinky!!

To see the rest of the pictures, follow this link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=42xrg717.59poz3lf&x=0&y=jw9sd2&localeid=en_US

L'Auberge

A few weeks ago, some friends and I took an overnight trip to Lake Charles, Louisanna for some fun. We stayed at the L'Auberge casino. It was a great time. Some of us were bigger losers than others (Lauren!!) but we all had a blast trying! We're thinking we need to make this a recurring event!!

October

I have not been very good at keeping up with our blog. Life is just so busy!!

We have been enjoying the "fall" weather...well, at least what Texans call fall weather! Last weekend we took the girls to a pumpkin patch. It was a bit warm and momma wasn't feeling so well so we didn't stay long. But Madi did end up picking a couple of pumpkins for us.

Madi got herself a new bike. A friend from work gave it to us. It's a Dora bike and of course Madi loves it! We went out and got her a helmet and some pads to wear. She loves her princess helmet and looks so cute in it! She's still learning the whole concept of pedalling. I'm sure it'll take her a while.

Ella is growing so quickly. She was 16 weeks on Thursday. She's rolling from tummy to back and started cereal the other night. She's still learning how to eat off the spoon but she seems to like it! The bottles just aren't cutting it these days!! Her smiles and talking are the sweetest things. She's just discovering that she has a voice...and she's great at using it!

I will try to update more often...

Here's a link to more October pictures: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=42xrg717.2d1vjjar&x=0&y=-8mekeo&localeid=en_US