The Del Angel Family

Did Christmas come?

2012-01-17T17:45:00.000-05:00

Funny thing about having a baby 6 days before Christmas...Christmas turns into a bit of a blur. We are so incredibly thankful that we were home by Christmas with baby Kendall...but of course it was still hectic. Here are a few pics :)

Some Christmas morning Yoga

Sporting MY scarves...the one Madison is wearing has turned into her favorite toy...as you'll see in the video below. She will walk around with that scarf singing and pretending it's different things...it's too cute!

She's finally here!!!!

2012-01-17T17:12:00.000-05:00

Kendall Harper Del Angel has arrived!!!

21 inches, 7lbs 9oz

12/19/2011 6:06am

So I know a lot of you have been asking about the birth story...it was fast and furious...not at all what I expected it to be...it never is, I guess. Here is some back story to keep in mind:

1. I had been measuring 2 weeks bigger than normal for the last half of my pregnancy...leading every doctor in my doctor group to think that Kendall was most definitely going to be bigger than Madison (Madison was 8lbs 10 1/2oz). Every doctor I saw was confident of it...so the last few weeks of doctors visits, each doctor had asked that I be open to a c-section...they had a fear of Kendall getting stuck for a couple of reasons: one, because she was measuring so big, and two because I pushed for 5 hrs with Madison.

2. I was induced with Madison, so I have had a fear of going into labor at home in the middle of the night and the stress of getting someone over to stay with Madison, etc...so of course that's what happened!

3. I have never had even one braxton hicks contraction...so because I was induced with Madison I had never really felt any type of contraction without being under epidural.

So here goes...At almost 3am on the 19th, I woke up with a contraction...a strong one. Again, I wasn't quite sure how a contraction felt off of epidural so I second guessed it and went back to sleep...for about 5 minutes...then I woke up with another one...yep, that's right...5 minutes later. I quickly downloaded the contraction app on my ipad that the Griffies recommended...it allows you to just push a start and stop button and it keeps up with the timing and trends of the contractions for you. I HIGHLY recommend this app to any of our pregnant friends!

I quickly realized that they were coming every 5 minutes and coming hard...hard enough that I couldn't do other things...I had to stop what I was doing everytime I had one. So I made the call to the hospital...my dr said to come on in. I woke Jorge up and called my aunt's sister, Donna,(who lives down the street) to come sit at home with Madison until my parents could get there. Then I called my folks and they started heading up from LaGrange.

By that time it was probably 4 something in the morning. The hospital was about 20 minutes away...so as soon as Donna got there, we left. The pain was EXCRUCIATING...like really really bad. By the time we got to the hospital they were coming about every 2-3 minutes and I was barely functioning. They put is in sort of a curtain divided room where you wait before you go to Labor and Delivery. They checked me and I was about 7 cm...I remember a nurse saying to Jorge "why did y'all wait so late to come in?"...We told her we didn't! That my contractions just started a little over an hour ago! When my doctor came in, between the size suspicions, the 5 hours I pushed with Madison and the fact that this labor came on WAY quickly...we mutually decided to go for the c-section.

By the time they got me back to the OR it was 5:30 or so...I cannot even describe the relief when they put that epidural in. Jorge came in, I felt a lot of tugging on my tummy, then I heard that precious cry :) It was so beautiful. Then I heard someone say...she's 7lbs 9oz...what??? That was more than a pound less than Madison!!! Oh well...at that point I really didn't care. I was thankful for the way everything had happened. I couldn't have done another labor like Madison's.

So, she was born at 6:06am, 21 inches...lots of dark hair (not as much as Madison, but more brown and wavy). She's so precious.

The hospital stay was actually really relaxing...we didn't have many visitors since my family was taking care of Madison and the Del Angel's are coming in a couple of weeks. So it was 4 days of soaking in our new bundle of joy!

Kendall is an ANGEL. She is sleeping well. She is fussier and spits up a lot more than Madison did at this age, but I know that will pass. She's eating well. She got a great report at the dr as well. Jaundice is all gone, she had gained weight, etc. She was about 50th percentile in weight and height and 88th in head (big head like her sister) :)

Now let's talk a little bit about Madison...she has been AMAZING!!! I am fully aware this may be a honeymoon period with she and the baby, but she has been a dream. I was a little concerned that when we came home from the hospital we'd all be cooped up at home together for about a week because of the holidays...but it was a dream! She is nothing but loving, sweet, helpful and obedient as always. She gives Kendall a million kisses a day, she's very gentle...she has (as usual) seriously exceeded my expectations. If Kendall starts crying she drops whatever she's doing and runs to her and says "don't worry, Kendall, I'm coming...it's ok baby, don't worry"

Most of you know another concern of ours was Madison's sleeping habits...she has always been a horrible sleeper and we weren't sure how this was going to play out with a newborn in the house (I should say that "I" wasn't sure...Jorge always reassured me God would work it out)...and he was right...God is good and she has been going to bed and sleeping better than she ever has before!

You gotta love that hair-do

Jorge, as usual, has been the most wonderful and loving father and husband anyone could ask for! I seriously don't know how this family would function without him. Having two is HARD!!!!! With the ages of our girls, it's like each parent is full time on a child all the time...it is trying and exhausting...but we feel so blessed and we know that every day will get better and better...

It's still hard to believe that little bundle was in my tummy and now she's out...that never ceases to amaze me. God is so good...more pics and updates to come!

The last days...

2012-01-10T11:09:00.000-05:00

So a lot has happened since I last blogged...but before we get to the baby news, I had to post these cutie pie pics...one of our last activities as a family of 3...

2011-12-07T12:48:00.000-05:00

A few other pics from the day we saw Santa...
First...the ever fashionable Madison...PJs, dance tutu and armbands and her snow hat...typical 'around the house' attire.

She serenaded us on the way to see Santa...

And of course we had to capture putting her letter in the mailbox to Santa for the very first time. She, of course, dictated what to put in it...she did write an "M" at the bottom for Madison and put an "S" on the outside for Santa :)

Santa!!!!!

2011-12-05T10:52:00.000-05:00

We didn't smile, but we didn't cry either! Big improvement from last year! :)

Telling Santa she wants a puzzle for Christmas...

Christmas tree!

2011-12-05T10:47:00.000-05:00

Part of our VERY low key Thanksgiving weekend involved decorating for Christmas...of course we wanted to make sure it got done before baby girl #2 arrived! We ventured into the deep forest of Ashley Park, chose the perfect tree, went to the Christmas Tree lighting and saw Santa ride in on his...uhh...horse drawn carriage. It was fun :)

A few cute Christmas quotes from Madison to start the season:

"Dingle bells, dingle bells, dingle all da way...oh what fun it is to wide in the LION ESTATES OF DA MERICA!!"

"Look at those Christmas tree circles!" (wreaths)

What Madison wants for Christmas (per her letter to santa): A purple donut, some chocolate cereal and a puzzle.

And my favorite moment...after bringing in the Christmas tree, she did not look upon it with awe and wonder like we hoped...she looked at the needles all over the carpet and said "I don't like this mess in my house, can daddy vaccuum?"

Thanksgiving...a little late...

2011-12-05T10:37:00.000-05:00

Sooo...I'm a little slow these days. I have begun to waddle...I am uncomfortable...ready for this baby girl to come out! We are almost 38 weeks. She is fully cooked, so I'm saying bring it on!
Blogging, much like everything else has been slow...so here are a couple of pics from Thanksgiving.
We took it VERY easy this Thanksgiving. One short trip to Atlanta was about all we did. We, sadly, opted out of the longer Thanksgiving hikes to see family because I didn't feel like I was up for the car ride...or for being that far from the hospital in my last few weeks. But I think it was good for us to take it easy. We relaxed, got the house decorated (minimal decorations this year) and spent some quality time with our baby girl (can't call her that for much longer).

Happy Bday, Boss!

2011-12-05T10:24:00.000-05:00

Happy 60th Bday, Boss!!!!

And here is our girl just being silly :)

Love...

2011-12-05T10:20:00.000-05:00

We stopped near our house after church one Sunday to show baby girl the ducks...
Oh how I love these two human beings...

"Beegee" and "Ashee"'s wedding

2011-11-07T14:32:00.000-05:00

This weekend my cousin BJ and his fiance, Ashlee, got married! We made the trip down to Dublin for the festivities. Besides my sister's wedding (when she was 8 months old), this was Madison's first wedding...and, man, did she love it!

So this is the only pic that I got of the bride and groom together...good job, Tiff...this is them leaving the church for their car!

Enjoying wedding cake with B

Madison thought Ashlee was a real life princess. She kept saying "she so bootiful", "where dat prince go?" It was so precious...

We love you "Beegee" and "Ashee"! The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time...especially Madison :)

Like mother like daughter???

2011-11-07T14:09:00.001-05:00

Most of the time I think Madison is 100% Jorge...In looks, in personality, facial expressions, etc. In fact, sometimes I wonder if I'm in there at all...except maybe her OCD organizing skills. But then I see a pic like this...Ok, so maybe we do have something in common!

"Trick or Treats"

2011-11-07T13:56:00.000-05:00

Finally getting around to a Halloween post! I think we went to a total of 3 Halloween/Fall Festival type events. For the most part she was a butterfly :) She's still a little young to grasp the whole concept, but she loved getting her "Trick or treats" in her pumpkin bucket...she definitely watched the Little Einsteins Halloween episode about 5 times and thought she had it down pat :)
Here are some shots of us trick or treating at Ashley Park. She was very polite and always said "kank you" when someone dropped something in her bucket!

The Rock Ranch!

2011-10-20T10:08:00.000-04:00

This weekend we did something we've been wanting to do for a long time...go to The Rock Ranch! The Rock Ranch is a 1,250 acre cattle ranch owned by Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy. He has turned it into a beautiful, activity FILLED place for families to enjoy the day together. Check out the website if you've never been...we will definitely be going back! (I am going to post some tips at the bottom of this post in case you want to go too...)
http://www.therockranch.com/index.html

It took about an hour to get there from Newnan...and since we had not had a nap yet, we had a bit of a melt down on the way...about 20 minutes before we got there, the GPS said "right turn ahead" and Madison started boohooing and just repeating over and over "you gotta turn right, you gotta turn right"...she probably said it for 10 minutes straight with tears streaming down her face. At that point we knew she was on the brink of falling asleep...of course she did 5 minutes before we got there. There were a couple of small melt downs when we got there and then she was fine the rest of the day.

And now, she will demonstrate some of the fun to be had:

Tiny Town - a little town filled with little houses, bank, jail, soda shoppe, etc...just her size...

Face painting...we weren't sure she was going to go for this one, but she couldn't wait! She chose "banoons"...

Petting Zoo...

Corn Box...considering the sandbox is her favorite thing, this was a dream for her...She just wasn't thrilled about the kernels between her toes...

Cow Train - she bravely rode by herself around the park...

Sno Dream?? Snow Cone + Ice Dream = yes please...

We chose this day to go because it was 'hot air balloon' day. Unfortunately it was too windy all day for the balloons to land ;( They didn't come until after we left at night. Baby girl patiently waited for a long time before we decided to call it a day...

Pumpkin Patch...

We were so pumped our friends, The Fifields, went with us. Madison sure does love some baby Charlie time :)

Maybe a little too much...woah there...

There are tons of other things there that I haven't shown here or we didn't do...a real train that goes around the acreage, hay rides, pumpkin cannon, produce market, pony rides, corn maze...I could go on and on.

So here are some tips/advice:

It is a FULL DAY of fun...I believe it opens at 10am...we got there shortly after 11. After hearing from a friend that it was a full day we decided to voluntarily forgo a nap...something we have never done before. But it was a full day...we were there from about 11 to 5 and we still didn't do everything! Next time I would probably choose to stay home for an early nap and then go from 1-8 or something.
$2 off - admission is $14 for adults, kids under 3 are free. You can get $2 off coupons at Chick-fil-a (that you can use for up to 6 people)...just ask!
If you have a stroller, take it! (good advice from a friend). Madison rarely got in it, but we used it to carry our stuff! You are on hilly, farmland terrain walking around all day.
No coolers are allowed, but you can take in whatever you want otherwise. We took a bookbag with clothes, wipes, camera, $, snacks and water bottles (there are water fountains to refill). Next time we will take more drinks in the book bag...maybe some Gatorades...and maybe even PBJs for lunch. Food is reasonably priced inside, but lines are long.
Bathroom lines are long...my one complaint. This is hard with a 2 year old that needs to go, but she was able to hold it every time, I was so proud of her.
Take Sunscreen!!! There is not much shade.
Take a blanket (if you can push it in the stroller)...there are lots of open green areas that you could sit with the family to eat if pavilions are taken or if you want to just look over the water. We were wishing we had one when we decided to rest a bit at the end of the day (waiting for the nonexistent hot air balloons)
The only thing that costs extra inside is the Zip Line (and food of course). The entrance fee is an incredibly reasonable price for everything there is to do in there!

So that is my public service announcement for the Rock Ranch! Go and have fun! We'll definitely be back!

Mama knows best...

2011-09-28T09:06:00.000-04:00

I loved this blog post by "The Gypsy Mama" so much that I had to repost it...especially for my friends who are now becoming first time moms.
I feel like I read so much and got so much advice when our first baby girl was born...so much so, that if I encountered a problem that I couldn't find in a book, I freaked out...I needed the parenting to be by the book. And it just isn't....
I love what gypsy mama says here about mama knowing best. My sweet friend Carin probably gave me the best advice of all...and that was just to go with my instincts...that I was my baby girl's only mother and only I knew instinctively the right thing to do with her...regardless of what anyone or any books told me. I will never forget that advice and I repeat it OFTEN!

I love when gypsy mama talks about getting ice cream at inappropriate times and letting the kids crawl in bed with her...I just love everything about this article. So go with your guts, ladies! Be the best mama you can be and that will be exactly what they need :)

http://thegypsymama.com/2011/09/when-you-finally-figure-out-that-mama-does-know-best/

Silly girl...

2011-09-28T08:56:00.000-04:00

A few other random pics/video of sweet baby girl. She is so imaginative and expressive lately. For a few hours this weekend she sang everything instead of speaking...she makes up songs, loves to dance around the house, loves her butterfly wings...her best phrase lately:
"Come on guys, I got a 'gate' idea"!!

Also not sure who snuck her M&Ms recently, but for 2 days she was begging me for some "anemones".

I would say she is fully potty trained now, except for night time. She is still sleeping in a pull up, but otherwise no accidents in a long long time.

Now for the great action...please watch this video til the end and try not to wet your pants...I can't stop watching it. She was fine, so don't be alarmed that we are bad parents. She loves to spin around make herself "bizzy"....this time it got a little out of control :) (also, I have no idea what she is singing about...it's mostly jibberish...but at one point she mentions her lovie and her microphone...her two prized possessions)

Day at the fair!

2011-09-26T16:53:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we decided to head on over to the Coweta County Fair. We had never been before, so didn't quite know what to expect...but we were beyond pleasantly surprised! It was a beautiful fairground...very clean, very safe, very FUN!!! :) We weren't really sure Madison would be brave enough to ride anything, but we knew she would enjoy people watching!

Baby girl all ready to take it all in!

It took some convincing, but the first thing she agreed to ride was a train...if daddy rode with her...

But then, she loved it so much, she decided to ride again!!! With mommy this time...

Then she was on a roll!!! Next up was the bumper boats...BY HERSELF!!! Check out that cuteness trying to give the man her ticket (before it was actually her turn of course)

She did so great!!! She was out there like bumping around like a champ!

Of course we had to enjoy with day with some BFFs...She and Susanna had so much fun together!

Next...the swings...we had to go back and buy more tickets after this one! We were not expecting her to ride so much!

Check out the face on rounds 2 and 3...

Broke for dinner to eat some yummy fair food...pizza and funnel cake (that one was for mommy)

I'd say the day was a success...Those girls look POOPED!

This will definitely become an annual event! :)

Big Sister Room!!!

2011-09-12T17:23:00.000-04:00

We are FINALLY finished getting Madison's "big sister" room ready! For a room that 'didn't need much work'..it took a lot longer than I had planned. But it is finally finished and she LOVES IT!!!

Here are the highlights.

Super cute shelf we got a SUPER great deal on for more toy storage...

More toys and all of her books moved to another shelf...

Great dresser find that we dressed up with some new knobs...

She loves having her shoes in her hanging shoe holder!

Hanging closet bar giving her double closet space! I highly recommend this for anyone who needs more closet space (mostly for kids since the bar hangs pretty low.

Some of her beautiful artwork hung on the wall...

I THINK she likes it :)

Beautiful monogrammed letters above the bed :)

Pics of the baby girl growing up...we hope to hang more...

And the MOST beautiful part of the room :)

I have commented a couple of times that it's almost like a MAGIC bed! She has been sleeping SO well in it...Not sure if it's the bigger bed, the blackout curtains, or just growing up. But we love this girl and love that she is transitioned and excited to give her old room to baby Kendall :)

Sweetness...

2011-08-31T14:29:00.000-04:00

Ahhh...the sweetness of our baby girl overwhelms me sometimes. She is so sweet lately NEVER to forget "baby Kendall" when we talk about going somewhere or doing something as a family. And last night...one of the sweetest moments of my life...

Getting ready for bed, time to say prayers together. We all sat together and Jorge said "Who do you want to pray tonight, Madison?" She ALWAYS says either Mommy or Daddy...but last night she said "Madison". Jorge and I looked at each other in shock and said "ok" and bowed our heads...

"Dear God, thank you for mommy, daddy, baby Kendall, shoes, and hairbows...and what's the next words mommy?"

I said, "Amen?"

She said, "Yes, amen"

Needless to say, for this hormonal pregnant chick it was a teary moment. Our baby girl said her first of what I pray are many prayers in her life. I'm so thankful to God that we are able to experience precious moments like that with her...

Here are some fun facts about our precious, now 2 1/2 year old:

- She is potty trained!!! yippeeee! Only wearing pull ups at night. I couldn't be prouder of her

- She thinks she can do everything, not because she's a 'big girl' but because she's a 'big sister'.

- When she spins around she says "I'm getting bizzy"

- When she sees someone smoking she thinks it's a sucker because they pooped in the potty

- Chickfila excites her more than anything in the world

- She is VERY concerned with what makes us happy. If we are stern or disappointed about something she does she'll say "that made you sad, mama?". But the majority of the time it's "That made you happy, mama?"

- When I laugh and my ever growing belly shakes she says 'that made my baby kendall laugh?"

- She can drink out of a big girl cup when I'm brave enough to let her

- She dresses herself and brushes her teeth

- She rides a tricycle

- She LOVES to sing and especially loves (like her daddy) to make up her own words to songs

- She will be moving to her 'big sister' room soon...full sized bed, etc. She is very excited as we have been getting it ready

She still loves "banoons"

She doesn't play with many things besides puzzles and us! But she does LOVE baby dolls...Thanks to our sweet friend Mrs. Dale for her 'big sister' gift of a baby doll :)

She is VERY expressive, like her daddy

One day recently I showed her the 'cup game' that I learned at good old Camp Maranook...She doesn't quite get it...but she thinks she does :) Please excuse the disarray of her room...we're in the process of moving furniture to the new room.

One of her favorite new songs to sing (that she learned at school) is "If I were a butterfly"...to hear her sweet little mouth say "cause You gave me a heart and You gave me a smile, You gave me Jesus and You made me your child" melts my heart everytime...

Also please note after almost every video she says "I wanna see"...hehe she wants to see what I just filmed...

If you can't understand the end of this one, she's letting me know that she's ALREADY sung two songs...and that was enough...

The name game...

2011-08-17T14:56:00.000-04:00

So I recently blogged that we are thrilled beyond belief to be having another precious baby girl like the one below :) As we fall more in love with Madison each day it's hard to even imagine that God is going to double the size of our hearts and we'll have double the joy and love with our second baby girl.

I am feeling well...just tired ALL THE TIME. Maybe it's because we have a 2 year old to run after this time...but I am WAY more tired this time than I was with Madison. Slowly but surely we are working on creating a 'big girl room' for Madison to move into...thankfully we won't have to touch the nursery...it'll be perfect as/is.

Now for the big name reveal...we still had our list of names from when we were deciding with Madison and of course we added and deleted a few here and there. But we finally settled on:

Kendall Harper Del Angel

Before you even think it, no, we did not name her Kendall because I'm so obsessed with my Kindle. We just liked the name and don't know ANYONE named Kendall, so that was a big plus :) We also have loved the name Harper for awhile so we decided to use it as a middle name.

The cutest part of this all is that ever since we have named Kendall, Madison has REALLY started 'getting it' and bonding with her. She talks about her 'baby sister Kendall' all the time, kisses my belly, talks to my belly, pretends to take Kendall out of my belly to play with her..it's just a crazy transformation all because of a little name.

So, Madison and Kendall...Sisters and BFFs forever :)

It's a Girllllll!!!!!!

2011-08-06T16:49:00.000-04:00

That's right! We have another beautiful baby girl in our future! I was 20 weeks on Friday and at my ultrasound they determined it was a girl :)
We are thrilled beyond belief and are so happy Madison will group up with a sister who will hopefully also be her best friend! They will be about 2 years and 11 months apart...

I'm half way there!! December 23rd is still our due date!

The Donut House

2011-08-04T20:10:00.000-04:00

We have discovered that our girl LOVES a donut...well at least the frosting of a donut. The Waffle House is right beside Dunkin Donuts (yes, we have to settle for DD since we don't have a Krispy Kreme). So she always points out the Waffle House and then says "and look, there's the Donut House!"

Familia!

2011-08-04T17:42:00.000-04:00

During the month of July we were able to see Jorge's family! They came for a visit! We did so much while they were here, that I can't believe I don't have more pictures...but with 3 toddlers running around, I guess you don't have much time to pick up a camera! We had so much fun and we're so thankful they came.

Pico!!

2011-08-04T17:37:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure there's anything we love as much as daddy's Pico de Gallo!!!

I'm back...

2011-08-04T17:34:00.000-04:00

Ok...so I'm back...at least temporarily on this same blog. I have too many pics backing up to post...here are some cuties of our 'not so' baby girl.

Accessories, a skirt and a Microphone are all she needs...oh and maybe some "Little Einsteins"

I'm back...sort of,,,

2011-07-26T16:45:00.000-04:00

Sooo....you may have been wondering why our blog is now so void of preciousness on every post...it has taken me awhile to even write about this because I have been so mad and been trying to decide how to move forward.
We lost EVERY SINGLE photo on our blog and there is no way to recover them. We have them (of course) at home, on CDs, etc. But it would take far too long to go back and reload every single one to the blog.

I'm about to go into a semi-technical explanation of what happened to prevent other friends from having the same disaster happen...so if you are not interested, skip to the bottom...

So here is the ***warning*** for those of you who:
a. use blogger
b. use picasa for photo storage
c. use Google+ because it's hot and new

Once becoming a member of Google+, all of your Picasa Web Albums are automatically loaded into Google+. These are NOT copies of your albums...they are the ACTUAL ALBUMS. You may notice that (possibly without your knowledge) Picasa has been storing the photos from your blog all along in a Web Album (titled the same as your blog probably). I did not notice this...I also did not assume that Google+, Picasa, and my blog would be so tightly intertwined.
I went into Google+ and deleted all of my albums because I didn't want any photos in Google+ at the time. One of those albums was the Web Album for the blog.
Once that album was deleted, ALL PHOTOS disappeared from the blog and after much research I have learned it is unrecoverable.

So...that being said. I have been so mad and in denial about the whole thing, I haven't done anything with the blog in several weeks. It seems for now that the easiest thing will be to just pick up where I left off and start posting again and NEVER DELETE A WEB ALBUM.

Once I get up the desire to 'start over' I will post something. I am angry enough and tempted enough to possibly change to a new blog platform as well as a new photo storage program...but I haven't had the time to research and make the move....any suggestions from fellow bloggers/photographers are welcome.

Thanks for listening to my rant/complaint. It seems that Google is getting hit hard by complaints like mine and all they have said is that they will try to make it clearer to people what will happen if they delete. We'll see.

Happy 8th Anniversary!

2011-06-22T10:21:00.000-04:00

We celebrated 8 beautiful years of marriage together yesterday...unbelievable how time flies. I came home to some gorgeous flowers :) Maybe once I feel better we can go on an actual date! I love you so much, honey!

Father's Day Weekend

2011-06-20T14:53:00.000-04:00

We had a very busy weekend for Father's Day :) First a little trip to our friend Mary Beth's house to celebrate her second birthday. Too bad I didn't get a pic of the birthday girl :) But a sweet friend did snap a pic of us!

Then it was off to LaGrange to see my daddy and celebrate with him...Madison played in the baby pool most of the while we sweated on the deck :) It was wonderful to see everyone.

I am so blessed to have the most amazing father, father-in-law, and husband in the whole wide world. They are such amazing, Godly men and I am so proud of each and every one of them.

Growing up...

2011-06-20T14:28:00.000-04:00

So I had this nice plan that as soon as I started feeling well again (praying that's in second trimester) we would transition Madison to the big girl bed...do hard core potty training...all of the 'big girl' transitions that we need to do before baby #2 arrives...

But Madison has had other plans...

About 2 weeks ago we put her to bed and about 30 minutes later heard her calling "mommy....mommy". Very calmly...but strange that she wasn't asleep yet. Jorge went to check on her and said "uhh Tiff, you need to see this". So I walked back and she was riding the crib rail like a horse...yep...she had learned to crawl out of the crib.

We immediately ordered the "toddler" rail to convert her crib to a toddler bed (since her big girl bed isn't ready for her yet).

This whole transition terrified me! But she has done great! (at the risk of jinxing it). She still wakes up and calls me to come get her. She hasn't been getting out on her own. I'm sure it won't last, but for now, it has been a fairly stress free transition.

So I had been wanting to take a pic of her new bed...when I walked in this morning I found her like this :) Love that sweet bottom in the air...she slept like that as a baby and I'm glad to see she still does sometimes.

Ever since she has been in her 'big girl bed' she has wanted a pillow...so you will notice the pillow...as well as Minnie Mouse, Elmo, and 2 lovies. Her favorite (hippo lovie) is no doubt balled up under her tummy in this pic. She always wants 2 blankets and she always kicks them out of the bed...

So here is our angel in her sleepytime setting...

Granpa

2011-06-20T14:09:00.001-04:00

My sweet Granpa passed away a couple of weeks ago (my dad's dad). He is only my second grandparent to pass away...we are very blessed. He started to go downhill a few weeks ago and ended up in the hospital. But we are so glad he is no longer suffering.

He was an amazing, Christian man...a fixer, an entrepreneur, a hard worker that held many different jobs and careers.

He was charismatic, charming...the sweetest man on earth.

He will be missed.

Tuckie...

2011-06-20T14:08:00.000-04:00

Birthday playdate with Tucker!

Super cute Cookie Monster cupcakes!

The Mix!

2011-06-20T14:07:00.001-04:00

We have a new favorite place in Newnan! It's called "The Mix" and it is a self serve frozen yogurt place. The bar of toppings is AMAZING...basically you serve yourself and then they weigh it. Madison LOVES The Mix. It is loud and colorful and of course there is ICECREAM! So she is in heaven. These were taken with a cell phone, so they aren't great...but here you go...

Loving Daddy

2011-05-29T21:00:00.000-04:00

Two of her favorite things...her daddy...and La Parilla :)

Behind on blogging...

2011-05-29T20:45:00.000-04:00

Sorry I've been slow to blog lately...I've been slow to do everything...this nausea is CRAZY. I'm on stronger nausea drugs now and they are starting to help so I'm SLIGHTLY more motivated :) So here are some pics from last month :)

Playing with Susanna in her sand box!! Big 2 year old girls!

Sweet Charlie, keeping up with the girls!

Good times at Monkey Joes!

Improve on perfection???

2011-05-18T11:00:00.000-04:00

Are we crazy? Do we actually think we can improve on the perfection that is our baby girl? Are we ready for another one? Can we love it as much? Can we handle 2 kids?

I guess none of those questions have really deterred us....because WE ARE PREGNANT!

Baby Del Angel #2 is due on December 23rd. I am 9 weeks this week. We are telling a little earlier than normal because I have been INCREDIBLY sick AND am already busting out of my pants!!

Not sure if the nausea is worse this time, or if it's just harder running after a toddler too! Jorge has been amazing, as usual, and has really been doing EVERYTHING for Madison and for me during these last few weeks.

We found out the week after Easter...I was a little suspicious because I had been having CRAZY vivid dreams...that was really my first clue even before Easter. But then we got home from the beach after Easter and I started feeling puny. You never forget that feeling. So we took a test and sure enough...nothing like scoring on the first try!

We had avoided saying anything to Madison yet, for many reasons, but I'm really glad we didn't because apparently she has been telling all her teachers at school that mommy is 'very sick'. So if she HAD known she probably would have told the whole school!!!

We are, needless to say, very happy and excited. I will be even more excited when I don't feel like vomiting every 5 minutes.

Now check out this cuteness...

Beach Bum!

2011-05-05T11:10:00.001-04:00

So I'm finally getting around to loading some pics from our Easter beach trip! We loved getting to go down and spend some time with Bunnie and Boss for Easter. We were a little wary, as the trip to the beach didn't go so well last year. She made progress this year...she would at least walk on the beach, but still didn't like it. But she made MAJOR progress at the pool :) So it was fun. I do now realize that most of these pics are of her stuffing her face...why not...we were on vacation right?

(these may be out of order...sorry)

Stuffing her face at Bayou Bills...

Playing at the Easter festivities held at Carillon

Nothing better than stuffing your face while overlooking the ocean

Our little ham...at Shades

Pensive...

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Notice that Elmo had to come into dinner...

Hamming it up with Boss...

Sad face

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"Das MY poon"

Could she have anymore facial expessions?

Hanging out with our native Floridian friend, Josh :)

She loved watching the Alligators at Bayou Bills

She thought the shovel was meant to be her spoon

So proud of her for trying Alligator Tail...we might have called it 'chicken'

Notice in this photo she is singing "Old MacDonald had a daddy" or "had a mommy"...she has begun to make up her own words hehe

Fun with "B" and "Pensur"

2011-05-02T13:57:00.000-04:00

A couple of weekends ago we got to spend a great time at the Dogwood Festival with my sweet sis and bro-in-law. Madison had a blast...we spent most of the time watching the frisbee dogs but then had nice dinner at "Las Palmeras" (great cuban food if you've never been).

Here are some pics...

She is very busy...

2011-05-02T11:14:00.000-04:00

Please forgive that I haven't posted in awhile. These next few may be out of order, but just trying to get caught up. I think our baby girl is getting busier by the minute. She is non-stop, 90 to nothing fun all day. She is pretending (enough to scare even herself), talking, singing, jumping, drawing, playing ALL DAY long!

Making her babies "ride a twain"

Toot-toot

When daddy is in charge...dry erase marker all over the face...

Wearing her "crown" she made at Sunday School with her teachers, Mrs. Melanie and Mrs. Dwana....who she lovingly combines to call "Melewana". We have turned the crown into a sticker hat for when she uses the potty. She wears it ALOT.

Finding socks in the pantry is not a rare occurrence...right beside her favorite "cookies", wheat thins.

Snoozing in the bathroom during our horrible tornadoes last week. Our thoughts and prayers go up to all the families that were so tragically touched by them. Madison actually did really well with the 'waiting it out'...but when it was time to get back in bed she realized she was in the bathroom and groggily said "No, I already tee tee potty!"

Some of our favorite phrases now are:

"Guess what? I love you...you so cuuttteeeeee" or "You so bootiful" or "You so pritty"....she's very complimentary haha

"What you talkin' bout Mommy?"

"You memba, mama?" She "membas" a lot more stuff than I do!

"I wanna put on my bathing soup"...a classic from the beach trip (pics to come)

"Das MY Mommy" "Das MY Daddy!" A little possessive of us sometimes.

"Wus dat No-weeze" - Very southern way to say "noise"

And her 2 newest obsessions are:

Eating dry roasted Edemame...weird, I know

And Micky Mouse Clubhouse...finally something other than Elmo!

Random pics...

2011-04-18T14:25:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics I pulled off of Jorge's phone from this month...

Ashley Park (as usual)...looking cute in her rain gear...

Hamming it up...

Hubby spotted a firetruck at Ashley Park a couple of weekends ago so we went over...they were letting kids on. Madison is OBSESSED with firetrucks and school buses. We thought she would love it, but she was VERY intimidated...

Loving the Gypsy Mama...

2011-04-14T09:13:00.000-04:00

So, I am somewhat of a blog stalker...I LOVE following people's blogs. Mostly people I know, but some that I don't. Can you believe that some people blog for a living? Sponsor's actually pay to be on their blogs?? And some of those famous bloggers are mommies...mommies just like me who are just blogging about their daily lives. The difference is that they can actually write...beautifully!!
I have a new favorite...her blog name is "The Gypsy Mama" and I can't get enough...click here to read this latest post called "Of Potatoes, parents and lion tamers"
She writes so perfectly about motherhood, her faith, her life...and I can somehow relate to every post. I loved this 'potatoes' post because our precious 2 year old does the same thing...there are so many times when she cries wanting you, but then rejects you when you come and cries even harder...
I love when she says, "And I wonder at how desperate we all are to be held tightly while at the same time demanding we want to be left alone. But the loneliness just makes us cry all the harder."
Love love love her....

Allow me to brag for a moment...

2011-04-13T18:25:00.001-04:00

Sooo...this is a completely shameful about how smart Madison is :) I think that she might spend more time on our iPads than we do! (well more than I do anyway)...

She is a total pro...she knows (depending on who's iPad it is) where her games are, how to start them, play them, close them, and go to another game...it's just crazy, honestly. Here are some videos of her playing some of her faves...

I originally got out the camera for this first video because she was trying to teach her baby how to use the iPad.

Check out the awesome letter recognition :)

I love this girl. I can't help but think about how crazy it is that we didn't even have a computer at home when I was this age...and now something like this is her favorite 'toy'. Crazy times...

Picnic

2011-04-13T18:17:00.000-04:00

Madison was really enjoying listening to music in her tent one night, so daddy let her eat dinner in there. I think her favorite meal is my crockpot Lasagna...so she was in heaven...

Please don't forget to watch the video...it's classic.

Strange days...

2011-04-13T15:48:00.005-04:00

The weather has been so strange lately...there have been days like this....

And then days like this...

Shake it up baby...

2011-04-01T16:27:00.005-04:00

We took a few "phone" photos of our girl at Steak n' Shake the other night...I couldn't resist putting them up. Please, pay close attention to the LION'S MANE that is her hair...there is no calming it...at school last week they even asked if I could bring in some 'hair tools' because she is a hot mess when she wakes up from her nap. We typically use a squirt bottle with water, a wet hair comb, and a hairbow...it may be time for some product people...

Lovey Dovey

2011-04-01T16:23:00.020-04:00

Madison has always been a LOVEY girl!!! She loves to snuggle and hug and kiss you...which, of course we LOVE. I know there will come a day when she isn't giving out those hugs so freely and so we definitely soak up every lovey moment she has right now.

But we're starting to wonder if it's going to come back to bite us later...we think she has a little crush, if that's possible at this age. All she talks about is this one little boy in her class "cocoman" is what she calls him...we'll not reveal his real name to protect the innocent...
"cocoman so funny" "i yike cocoman" is all we hear these days. yikes...

Here she is with her "mall" boyfriend...

Big Girl...tear

2011-04-01T16:19:00.009-04:00

Our girl is growing up so fast!!!! Next week she gets to move up to the "Toddler 2" room at school...where they start to potty and drink out of real cups :( I just can't believe it. I know she's ready but it's so hard. Here are some pics of our cutie pie...

Baby girl in her new room...

Playing with our friend "Tuckie"

Woaahhh

Loving her new room :)

"Put me in the Zoo!"

2011-03-15T13:02:00.002-04:00

After some failed weekends plans recently, we decided to do something fun with Madison...The Zoo!! We had been wanting to go for awhile and this was the perfect opportunity. One of Madison's favorite books right now is "Put me in the Zoo" which she calls "booka zoo". So all day she kept saying "we going to 'booka zoo'?" hahah...

I also want to give two thumbs up to the Atlanta zoo. It far exceeded my expectations...I had not been since I was a little girl. If you have not been, you should go! We will definitely be going back...

Here are some photos/video from our trip.

There was some interesting aircraft flying over the flamingos that was more interesting that the flamingos apparently...

We got to see Panda and new baby panda!

The "elmacents" were one of her faves

This monkey (and most of the animals we saw) were very happy to "TeeTee potty" in front of us. Madison was very proud of them...

Hugging her "monkey and raffe" after the trip...

We went to Lenox for a quick bite (and ipad covers of course) after the event...couldn't help but get one more pic of her cuteness...

When Daddy plays...

2011-03-13T13:48:00.000-04:00

I think Madison has more fun playing with her daddy than anyone! She giggles and laughs and runs...
And then I find funny things like this...

A few of her hits...

2011-03-06T12:41:00.000-05:00

A little music for your enjoyment...

And then there is the flip :)

There was a little girl...

2011-03-06T12:30:00.000-05:00

There was a little girl...

Who had a little curl...

Right in the middle of her forehead...

Madison's Musings :)

2011-03-03T16:12:00.000-05:00

I'll try from time to time to put up funny things Madison says...we are, of course, recording them in her journal...but I'll try to remember to put them here as well. I put these on facebook, but some of my blog readers aren't facebookers. This just shows you how crazy her conversational skills have increased lately!

Pulling into Chickfila this week:

Madison : Chick-fi-YAY!!!!

My sentiments exactly, honey..

Rocking Madison one night:

Madison: "mama sing 'joey' song"

Me: "I don't know what song that is, baby"

Madison: "es ew do...joey in my ha-wert"

Me: "ohhh...i've got that joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart"

Making "joy" and "heart" 2 syllable words...love my little southern girl...

And just for the record...my heart melts into a thousand pieces when she sings along with me to any song...but most especially Jesus loves me.

Sweetness:

Madison cocks her little head to the side and smiles real big and says in singsong voice:

"I love you so much" or

"You look so cute" or

"Das so pretty"

Toot toot:

She was crying a terrified cry in the crib so I went to get her..she cried "Mama...dat toot-toot scare me".

Funny:

Jorge will say something funny and I will laugh and she will say "hahah, daddy funny". She also seems to say the same thing if we are watching TV or listening to the radio and a bunch of people start laughing, she'll say "hahaha, das funny"...but she doesn't even know what they're saying :) she just knows something was funny.

A lesson on healing...

2011-02-25T11:01:00.000-05:00

Let me start off by saying I have a love/hate relationship with social media. Facebook, blogging, twitter...there is so much good and so much bad about it. But, a friend recently said it's like money...it's not inherently good or evil, it's just something that you use and it's up to you whether you use it for good or evil. So I won't talk about the evil part, because I try my best to steer clear of anyone who WOULD use it for bad reasons...and I will focus on the good part.
The main reason I love Facebook is because it has allowed me to reconnect with old friends that I probably never would have reconnected with otherwise...people I haven't talked to in almost 15 years, but that I communicate with weekly through Facebook...I'm so thankful that this medium has allowed me to regain friendships, be a part of these people's lives, see their kids grow up, pray for them in times of need...I could go on and on. I have thought about 'giving up' facebook now and then, but honestly I think that would be like saying you're giving up email...it IS the avenue of communication these days. I don't disagree, however, with setting limits for yourself.

Then there is blogging. I am not a writer, I am not creative...the one and only reason that I started a blog (2 blogs actually... Spanish and English) is that I want our far away friends and family to see our baby girl grow up and hear of her progress. But I have found something else through blogging.
Our Sunday school class had a discussion on blogging this week and someone equated some blog writers to psalmists...writing psalms to God...getting out all of their emotions on paper. When you read the Psalms it seems like that's a lot of what it's about. Putting things down on paper seems to help you heal, to move past things, to forgive. When I heard that discussion I immediately could think of some things in my life that I probably should write a 'Psalm' about (not on here!) but things that I can't seem to move past or forget or forgive that I should probably put down on paper. I recently heard someone say "Anger is like drinking poison and then expecting the other person to die". It's so true. So I think regurgitating some of those things onto paper in a 'crying out to God' 'psalm type' way would be healing. But that is all beside the point...

My main point is that I have found some blogs to be incredibly inspiring, healing, encouraging...
One of these blogs is from a friend named Abby. Abby and I are not good friends...in fact she lives in Texas and we've probably only had a couple of face to face conversations in life, but through her blog I feel like we have become closer. I learn so much from her...her compassion for others, her faith and her family...they are all inspiring.
Abby wrote an incredibly inspiring post on healing yesterday...a post about healing and understanding why bad things happen...I asked her if I could share it with my readers because I think there are so many people in the world right now that could be encouraged by her words...
So...please take the time to read this beautiful friend's post...Healer

A game of hope...

2011-02-23T13:21:00.003-05:00

A sweet friend posted this story on her blog this week and I just had to post it as well...

Inmate Football

In the fall of 2008, there was an unusual high school football game played in Grapevine, Texas. The game was between Grapevine Faith Academy and the Gainesville State School. Faith is a Christian school and Gainesville State School is located within a maximum security correction facility.

Gainesville State School has 14 players. They play every game on the road. Their record was 0-8. They've only scored twice. Their 14 players are teenagers who have been convicted of crimes ranging from drugs to assault to robbery. Most had families who had disowned them. They wore outdated, used shoulder pads and helmets. Faith Academy was 7-2. They had 70 players, 11 coaches, and the latest equipment.

Chris Hogan, the head coach at Faith Academy, knew the Gainesville team would have no fans and it would be no contest, so he thought, “What if half of our fans and half of our cheerleaders, for one night only, cheered for the other team?” He sent out an email to the faithful asking them to do just that. “Here’s the message I want you to send,” Hogan wrote. “You’re just as valuable as any other person on the planet.”

Some folks were confused and thought he was nuts. One player said, “Coach, why are we doing this?” Hogan said, “Imagine you don’t have a home life, no one to love you, no one pulling for you. Imagine that everyone pretty much had given up on you. Now, imagine what it would feel like and mean to you for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you.”

The idea took root. On the night of the game, imagine the surprise of those 14 players when they took the field and there was a banner the cheerleaders had made for them to crash through. The visitors’ stands were full. The cheerleaders were leading cheers for them. The fans were calling them by their names. Isaiah, the quarterback-middle linebacker said, “I never in my life thought I would hear parents cheering to tackle and hit their kid. Most of the time, when we come out, people are afraid of us. You can see it in their eyes, but these people are yelling for us. They knew our names.”

Faith won the game, and after the game the teams gathered at the 50-yard line to pray. That’s when Isaiah, the teenage convict-quarterback surprised everybody and asked if he could pray and he prayed, “Lord, I don’t know what just happened so I don’t know how or who to say thank you to, but I never knew there were so many people in the world who cared about us.” On the way back to the bus, under guard, each one of the players was handed a burger, fries, a coke, candy, a Bible, and an encouraging letter from the players from Faith Academy.

What an incredible act of Christian witness and kindness and goodness that was. Proverbs 11:17 says, “Your own soul is nourished when you are kind.” Proverbs 3:27 says, “Do not withhold good when it is in your power to act.”

Be kind to someone this week. Be kind to every person you meet. You might be amazed at what God will do with a simple act of kindness.

-Dr. Tim Thompson

Quick Trip to Callaway...

2011-02-16T13:27:00.000-05:00

If you didn't know, every year (usually January and February) Callaway Gardens has free admission. So we have tried to take advantage and make a little half day trip down once a year to walk around outside...get out of the house!
This year we went with two of our BFF couples and their sweet babies. I just feel so blessed that our kids are growing up together.

My home away from home...

2011-02-16T12:53:00.005-05:00

Ahhhhh my workspace :) I have been meaning for awhile to take some pics of it. I have moved so many times in my 7 yrs at Interface but I like to have a pic of my desk so in a few years I can go back and look at what I was 'into' then!
So this will be boring to most, but to good friends that have tried to 'picture' where I work, here it is....

Not much in this first pic...just an overall shot...I'll go into each detail as the pics go on...

Interface is a "strenghts based" company, so I have my top 5 Gallup Strengths in a frame on my desk...and of course a pic of my baby girl :) In case you can't read it, my top 5 are: Connectedness, Harmony, Responsibility, Developer and Postivity. This strengths assessment is amazing if you havent taken it...just buy the book "Now Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham. He's awesome! And it's a great assessment!

Then more pics of the fam and of course BUZZ!

You can always use a couple of good Dilbert cartoons when they apply to your line of work...

I have a magazine pic that looks exactly like our boys. Seeing it helps me not to miss them so much. I'm happy knowing Diego is at peace and Cooper is living the high life with a good friend :) I'm so thankful he's with a friend that we keep in touch with. He is well loved (and spoiled).

A sweet "Congrats" card from my co-workers when I passed my PMP this year!

Another great project management cartoon...

I note from my love...quoting one of our favorite DMB songs...

Can't work the year without my chickfila calendar!

A sweet note from my mom after our horrendous year last year...(the circular thing is just a "Mission Zero" tag from our company)...

A cartoon a man at church gave us...I don't really get the cartoon, but the fact that is says "Actually it's pronounced 'An-hel'" is HILARIOUS to us!

My family calls me bubba, so I have my nametag up...

GTCCF taught me to dream big...so I like to keep up a reminder of that...

And now probably the most important thing on my desk...a reminder to pray for a friend. A sweet friend from college has been diagnosed with cancer...this is my reminder to pray without ceasing for her and her hubby and little boys. Pray with me please for complete healing!

So that's my desk!!! You can gain a lot of junk in 7 yrs time, but each of these things means something to me. :) I'd love to see some of my fellow bloggers blog about their workspaces!

Randoms...

2011-02-10T21:22:00.001-05:00

Here are some random photos and videos from the last couple of weeks...

Madison sitting at the table without her 'tray' for the first time...can you tell she's proud?

Baby girl and daddy being silly...

Baby girl and daddy being geeky...

Finally got her to sing happy birthday on camera :)

In this first part of this last video you'll hear her saying "I no sing" b/c she didn't want to sing the birthday song.

Sweet girls...

2011-02-10T21:12:00.002-05:00

Sweet girl showing off her fashionable 'jeggins' before we head to see her BFF...

How cute are these girls??? Pretending to feed their babies...

They like to pretend to put each other down for a nap...

They had a little too much fun...Madison fell running and bit her lip...her first bleeding injury :( I guess we're lucky to have made it this far!

Bday Party - Bonus pics

2011-02-10T15:21:00.002-05:00

I hijacked my mom's camera today to get more pics from Madison's festivities and found some cute ones, so I thought I'd post! :)

Our VERY 'huggy' baby girl doesn't always get a warm respose from her fellow toddlers...

The Party!!!!

2011-02-07T09:13:00.005-05:00

Finally...Sorry it has taken so long to blog the party!! Madison's birthday fell on the most beautiful winter day possible! She will never have a another bday with such amazing weather! We had a pretty low key party at home with a couple of friends from school and other BFFs...and of course family.

First...check out this cake that my AMAZINGLY talented cake making sister made!! She is awesome! Thank you, B!

I think she liked it :)

I might have been a little crazy for trying to pull this one off, but we also let the kids decorate cookies...thank GOODNESS we were able to do it outside!

And the biggest hit of all!!! The sand and water table! Boss and Bunnie (my parents) gave this to Madison for Bday/Christmas and it was so beautiful we decided to put it together for the party...we could barely drag the kids away! If you have a toddler and they like to play outside, this is an AWESOME investment!

Madison came and led her friends by the hand when they got to the party to make sure they came straight to the sand/water table.

Madison also had a fascination with pulling up her socks for some reason that day...I'm SO HAPPY my sister got pics of it because it was hilarious...

Check out those knee-socks...

So thanks to our sweet family, we had an awesome party with some awesome pictures! I just can't believe our sweet baby girl is 2...

Birthday Surprises!

2011-02-07T09:07:00.001-05:00

Madison's sweet daddy brought her "Banoons" and Flowers on her actual birthday. She was really suffering from a shot she had gotten that morning, so she doesn't look as thrilled here as she was. Everytime she saw the balloons and the flowers that week she said "kank-you, daddy".

On her throne...

2011-02-02T14:15:00.001-05:00

Potty Training...it terrifies me. It is something I dread starting. I know we're close to needing to though. In the meantime...it makes a GREAT reading chair!

Girlz in the Hood

2011-02-02T14:13:00.000-05:00

I know you are anxiously awaiting birthday party photos...but I'm way behind and still waiting on some pics from some people to post about the party...so here's some stuff to tide you over :)

How can it be????

2011-01-27T14:30:00.002-05:00

How can it possibly be? Our baby girl turns 2 today. Where did these last 2 years go? I haven't even told you lately some of her current skills:

- Counts to 16 in English, Counts to 6 in Spanish

- Knows all her colors and sings her ABCs

- Puts on socks and shoes by herself and can almost put on pants and shirt by herself

- Sings along to the songs she knows

- Says "I two" when you ask how old she is

- Eats pretty much anything as long as she has some ketchup (you can get Hunt's with No High Fructose Corn Syrup for those of you who's children eat it by the spoonful like mine!)

- She sleeps about 12 hours at night and a 2 hour nap during the day

- She is so sweet tempered and helpful...we have not had to implement time out yet (knock on wood)

-She LOVES school (Daycare) and is finally starting to love nursery at church

- She has ALL her teeth finally!

- She is 40th percentil in height, 46th in weight and 99th in head (as usual)

- She is starting to play really well by herself...pretending a lot.

- She LOVES to 'wyte'...she only wants to use pens but she wants to write so badly she can't stand it.

- Much like another friend's post I read recently, we have almost all but given up on eating out right now. She isn't disobedient but she just can't stay in one place for that long...she gets frustrated and we don't enjoy our meals...so...time to pocket some of that eating out money and stay home for awhile!

- And last but not least, she talks ALOT...we can hold full conversations...like we one we had this morning: "Dat car dirty, mama" "Oh really? It's dirty?" "Yeshh...we need wash it". (my sweet little OCD angel)

I guess that's about it for now...she is an angel...a real angel. I'm not sure how we got so blessed. So, "2"...here we come! Full speed ahead and not slowing down for a second.

Thank you, Lord, for another amazing year with our baby girl. Please keep her safe and healthy and in Your arms this year...and give us the strength to handle a 2 year old!

If you're happy and you know it...

2011-01-21T16:15:00.005-05:00

Our wonderful daycare sends us videos of our baby often...I love seeing what she does during the day. This has to be one of my all time faves! Our overly helpful baby girl...

Also please excuse our progress as we try to make some enhancements to the blog!

Madison's Art

2011-01-19T20:19:00.004-05:00

We are sentimental enough to want to keep the art that Madison makes at school, but 'minimalist' enough not to want to keep it. So at least for now we have a solution. We make Madison a shutterfly scrapbook every year with the best photos of the year...we have also included in those scrapbooks photos of all of her art from the year. We have kept some of the best ones to frame for her room...but I'm so happy we're keeping photos of our baby girl's masterpieces :) For those of you who don't get to see her art very often, I have included it in this post :) Enjoy!

Reflecting on Simplicity...

2011-01-13T09:49:00.002-05:00

Seems like God is trying to tell us something...we have been hit from a lot of different angles over the last week about simplicity and contentment in life.

A friend posted this great "Simplicity" post on her blog yesterday...check it out here.

At church our pastor talked about contentment with life. It stemmed more around finances, but the message was the same. He talked about a Christian writer who wrote that after get a bigger house, yard etc, he realized his things were starting to own him...his things owned the weekends with fixes and maintenance and repairs and cleaning...it was taking time way from his family.

We are blessed beyond belief and instead of always striving for and wanting for more, we should look at what we have already. We have enough space for our family to live in. We have enough cars to be comfortable. We have enough money to go out to eat (more than we should). We have enough means to travel and visit far away family. God has provided for everything we NEED and MORE!

We want Madison to know that we are happy and content and blessed. A verse we discussed in church was 1 Timothy 6:6: But Godliness with contentment is great gain...

It's so true.

And another verse that seems to be following me lately...haunting me maybe...is

Romans 12:2 - Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...

I was in a store the other day and saw that verse painted on a canvas...There were 4 or 5 little flower vases all in a row...all exactly alike...except one...it was painted differently...wilder. I want this for our baby girl...for our family...not just this canvas, but this frame of mind. I want her to know that she is not of this world...she is a child of God and that we, our family, are going to be different and live differently than this world chooses to live. We want her to see that...not just to hear it from our lips, but to see it with our actions.

I got a book in the mail yesterday that I ordered from Amazon...they didn't have a Kindle version :( So it's a real live hardback book. It's called "Nice girls don't change the world". I haven't read it yet, so it's not an endorsement. But the book is about NOT being what the world expects and wants you to be...it's about embracing the strengths, gifts and passions God gave you and living your life THAT way...for Him.

SO...there is my soapbox for the day. This year we want to change the direction our family is going. We want a mission statement for our family...goals...we want baby girl to learn from our example.

I'll try to let you know how it goes :)

The Easel

2011-01-10T16:02:00.001-05:00

Part of Madison's Christmas gift from Tita and Abuelo was an Easel...she didn't get it until we got back home...but she LOVES it!

Ice Day!

2011-01-10T14:18:00.004-05:00

Well the 'biggest winter storm in years' didn't turn out to be much for Newnan...just a lot of ice :(

But we decided to venture out in it anyway...look at this cutie pie!

Warming up by the fire...

It took her a long time to coax her out of her 'snow wear'...she loved wearing it...but little by little we got it off...

We decided to break a rule and have a lunch picnic by the fire :)

Off to Mexico!

2011-01-10T12:40:00.011-05:00

Our trip to Mexico started off a little rocky. The intent was to leave at 5pm on the 25th...but our first flight was cancelled...due to the fact it was SNOWING ON CHRISTMAS!! First time in over a hundred years that had happened...sadly we were too stressed to enjoy it really. But we did finally get out on an 8:30pm flight. Unfortunately once we got on the plane we didn't take off for at least another hour due to de-icing the wings...boo. Madison was too tired to really enjoy the flight...she was pretty fussy. But we finally made it.

A few shots from the airport before takeoff.

It only took about a day after we got to Mexico to realize that Madison was sick :( She spiked a fever and was coughing and fussy. We decided (on my birthday) that we needed to find a pediatrician and take her. A sweet missionary friend of my in-laws took us to her pediatrician. He confirmed that her throat was infected again and perscribed several medications for her. Unfortunately Madison's sickness made the trip more difficult than usual...she was so high maintenance and fussy. I ended up having to sleep with her for every nap and nightime because we couldn't let her CIO because of her throat. It was tough...

But we all survived and got some cute photos/videos from the trip. We went to VeraCruz for 3 days for New Years...

Here's Madison goofing it up in the hotel room... Learning to use the iPad

Mommy left Madison's bathing suit in Pachuca...so when it came time to get in the pool in VC, we had to imrpovise!

The twins enjoyed the pool a little more than Madison did...

Madison enjoying a lime...

Not sure if Madison thought we were going to lose her...she liked to keep the delta baggage tag on her arm...

A quick trip to the petting zoo!

Madison didn't enjoy the carousel as much this year as last year...but she rode a little with daddy...

Madison was an angel on the flight home...

She even helped the Delta staff by cleaning the windows...The video below is from a restaurant we ate at...it had a huge fish tank and one of the fish had sadly passed away...daddy told her it was 'sleeping'...so you'll hear madison say the fish was 'tired' and that it was 'asleep' and had gone 'night-nap'

In this video you can see our little dancing queen...living it up on New Years...this video was probably taken around 1am...go figure!

One of Madison's gifts from the Del Angel's was a little tricycle. Her FAVORITE segment of one of her Elmo videos is where he rides his tricycle in the park and sings "Elmooo riding...riding in the park, riding in the park". So she rode around the house all week singing "Elmo widing...motorcycle, Elmo riding...motorcycle". It was so cute!

I tried to film her several times singing the song...but lately everytime she sees me filming she just wants to see herself on the screen and she says "My see! My see!"

Christmas at Boss and Bunnie's

2011-01-10T12:29:00.001-05:00

On Christmas Eve we drove down to LaGrange to have Christmas with my family. We had a nice dinner and then woke up Christmas morning to open presents. (These pics turned out horrible for some reason, but the videos are great :)

I want to take a second right now to promote our new favorite brand of toy!! "B. Toys". Madison received several of them for Christmas and we love them! She has the RC Car, the School Bus, the key chain and the Doctor's kit. They are all well made, simple, durable...and the company itself is really inspirational. Check out the webpage. They promote the environment and self esteem in children. It's beautiful!

Santa came!!!!

2011-01-07T15:54:00.004-05:00

So we had a lot of discussions this year about Santa and how we wanted to start that tradition since Madison is starting to understand more about him. We consulted with lots of friends who have decided to take the "3 gift" route. The idea being that Jesus got 3 gifts for his bday from the Wisemen...

We like this idea for several reasons...keeping perspective on what's important at Christmas, not overwhelming her with stuff, and keeping things in budget!

So we decided on 3 gifts from Santa (b/c he's helping us celebrate Jesus' bday), a couple of gifts from us (as the parents) and a stocking.

This year we kind of just put it all together since she still didn't totally grasp the concept...but she definitely 'got it' a lot more than we expected her to! All morning she kept saying "kank-you, Santa". It was so cute.

We also decided (at least for this year) as far as the blog goes not to post pics or video of everything she actually got. Just a personal preference I guess...for some reason I feel like Christmas photos can be a contest of who got what and we don't want to get into that online. Maybe we'll change our minds about that at some point, but this year I think one video of her face when she saw what Santa brought is enough.

But she was very excited. At some point she was sitting down playing and she just put her head in her heads and started shaking her head...like she was just so happy she didn't know what to do.

Just the beginning...

2011-01-04T15:33:00.003-05:00

It may literally take me forever to finish blogging Christmas/Mexico photos, etc. But I'm going to try to get it done over the next week or so. In the meantime, here are a few more PRE-Christmas shots.

Madison patiently waiting while mommy shops at Charming Charlie's :)

Our little fashion forward princess...this was an especially beautiful ensemble she wore on the 23rd all day....hat, santa PJ top (and sometimes bottoms), "toot-toot", striped "jack-ick".

We bought some brightly colored carpet tiles from a sale at work and brought them home for her to play with...she LOVED them!

Already learning to lay tile...that's our girl...

In this little glamour shot I was trying to get her to lay down on her side propped up on her elbow...as you can see she didn't quite get the concept...

Hugging her favorite Christmas decoration...I was saddest to put this one away this year...

Beautiful Blessing for 2011....

2011-01-04T13:28:00.003-05:00

My sister works at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and her Chaplain sent them this wonderful blessing for the new year...just thought I'd share!

We ask you, Holy One, to bless our New Year!

Together, we, as a community of caring and compassionate human beings, have shared experiences of joy, healing, grief and loss…we have felt sad together, and have laughed together…

And we know that this year ahead will continue to present us with opportunities to feel a full range of emotion, individually and as a community, again and again.

Knowing this, we humbly pray:

Not to be shielded from all sorrow and pain, but to be strengthened as it comes,

Not to make our path easy, but to guide us through what will be difficult,

Not to expect unclouded sunshine, but to brighten our thoughts, even in the shadows,

Not to have false pleasantness, but to be shown when people need us most and to have the Grace to serve and comfort them,

Not to be burdened by the experiences of our work, but to be inspired to fulfill our individual purposes, together.

Amen

We have the power to change the world in small and meaningful ways. Each day is an opportunity to see the world with new eyes, to speak with a new voice, to touch the lives of others in kindness, and a chance to dare to grow and change ourselves…let us commit as a community:

1. To continue learning; to be open to growing

2. To contribute what we’ve learned; to serve humanity

3. To live in balance

4. To be honest , and appreciate reality

5. To be reverent , and respect all life

6. To choose our attitude, which is not subject to circumstances

7. To live from our highest purpose, beyond our egos

8. To have endurance; to stay present in our work

9. To build relationships in healthy ways, for the good of all involved

10. To be creative and inspired and courageous…

I think those are wise words for us all...no matter what your profession :)

Happy New Year everyone!

Well, we didn't cry....

2010-12-23T14:06:00.000-05:00

Not a scream, but not a smile either :)

The Varsity!!!

2010-12-21T21:03:00.002-05:00

On the way home from "Christmas in Blue Ridge", Jorge surprised us by stopping at the Varsity for lunch! We were so excited for Madison's "first" Varsity experience. (We can't really remember if it was her first time, but if it wasn't, she was too little for any of us to remember and we have no photos to document it, so we pretended it was.) I grew up eating at the Varsity with my grandparents so it is one of my favorite spots in Atlanta. Why do you think I went to Georgia Tech?

We got her a Chiliburger, Fries and a PC. My personal favorite meal...Her favorite thing was the PC (chocolate milk). Madison has never had chocolate milk...so you'll see when you watch the video below that she took her first sip and said "icecream?" haha...the whole time she thought it was a milkshake...awesome.

Her horrible "cheese face" continues...

And isn't this how we all feel after eating at the Varsity?

Let the fun begin...

2010-12-21T20:17:00.003-05:00

Madison is finally feeling better...and although our little carrier monkey passed us her illness, we were all finally able to join in some Christmas festivities (after missing the "hobbs" Christmas last weekend) :(

So this weekend we went to the mountains for Christmas with the keys! (all 19 of us!) It was great family time. I wish I had gotten photos of all the fam...but here are a few highlights.

Hanging out with sweet Aunt Christi, stuffing pool balls down her dress...a little early for that I think.

A sweet photo with Aunt Mary :)
Good times with Bossman...hopefully the owners of this cabin aren't following the blog...

Love my sweet cuz, Emma :)

Uncle Spencer ("Spen-su") sharing LRC chips with Madison

Cousin Michael being the best babysitter ever. War Eagle!

Wearing Bunnie's glasses...one of her favorite things to do.

Aunt Christi finally caught the infamous "stink eye" look on camera...

Opening her gift from Nana...a beautiful baby doll...

We had such a fun time and were thankful to be able to visit with family we don't get to see very often.

Love this little girl...

2010-12-21T19:56:00.001-05:00

Wearing Bunnie's glasses...

Rough weekend...

2010-12-13T16:10:00.002-05:00

We have had a bit of a rough weekend. Baby girl hadn't acted herself most of last week, but we thought it was due to the 2 year molars she's cutting. But then on Friday night we went out to eat with my parents and grandparents and she actually fell asleep in my mom's arms at dinner...she NEVER falls asleep in anyone's arms anymore...at that point I knew she was coming down with something. When we got her home I took her temp and it was over 104 :( We haven't seen a temp like that since she had pneumonia last February.
A dose of motrin brought her fever back down, but when it wore off it spiked again. Needless to say it was a rough night on Friday night.
We decided to go in and see our favorite pediatrician in the whole world on Saturday morning. After a quick exam she said baby girl's tonsils looked horrible. She did a 'rapid' strep test and a flu test. Both came back negative, but she was still fairly certain it's strep. We got antibiotics and she said to do the 4 hour rotation on tylenol/motrin to keep the fever down. So...the weekend was pretty miserable for our baby girl and we are very sleep deprived.
We missed Christmas with my dad's side of the family on Saturday and we were really bummed about that but everyone was very understanding.
I must say, despite not feeling well, we have the most angelic baby on the planet. Besides being clingy to mommy, she was an angel all weekend. No one could have handled it with such grace. Here are some pics from the weekend.

One little ray of sunshine in the weekend was when we gave Madison her gift from her "honorary" great-grandparents, The Lees. She LOVED it...she couldn't stop her sick little body from dancing :)

Praying for friends...

2010-12-09T15:26:00.003-05:00

Please be in prayer for some of our college friends. They are having many health problems with their prematurely born twins. They are already parents to a beautiful little girl and being in and out of the hospital with the twins is taking it's toll...

I would love for you to read their blog (click here) to get a better idea of the sweet family you are praying for.

Christmas Cards...

2010-12-08T16:00:00.006-05:00

So I have been wanting to write this post, but didn't want to do it at the expense of offending anyone else! But here goes. I don't do Christmas cards, or letters...there, I said it. I know it's blasphemous once you have children not to send out Christmas cards, but it's just one more thing to add to November/December that I haven't felt like adding to my to do list. When I think of doing it, it brings me stress...and I don't think anyone says it better than this mommy in her blog...click here.

I want to spend our precious few 'home' moments together with the family, watching Christmas specials on TV and sitting by our tree playing with dolls...not stamping and addressing. I do a million things everyday that I don't really want to do, so I am choosing my battles and deciding that I am not going to do this. Might I change my mind next year? Yes. Will I, most likely? No. But we'll see how it goes.

Now, all that being said, selfishly I LOVE getting all of YOUR Christmas cards and letters...love it...they are displayed in our home and I keep some of them for years!

I had someone tell me once "oh, I'm glad you told me you don't do Christmas cards because I thought we were just left off your list." I don't want ANYONE thinking that. So in fairness to everyone, we just don't do them...haha. So we love getting yours, but would totally understand if you stop sending us one as payback :)

So, like the other blogger said...we're still here...we look the same as always (except Madison gets cuter by the day) and you can always come here for the latest and greatest on our family.

Santa's little helper...

2010-12-07T09:46:00.004-05:00

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! I always have...but somehow, someway, it's even more magical with our precious baby girl. We decorated my parent's tree last weekened as well as our own...When we walked into my parent's house and Madison saw the tree and the fire in the fireplace, she put both hands on her head and said "woooowwwww"...it was the cutest thing and I wish we had it on video. Then I put a little tree in her room and when she walked in and so it she said "wooowwww...sooo pretty". She is the sweetest thing. She is talking up a storm, as you will see from some of these videos.

Here she is with our tree :) As you can see she was really trying to help daddy put up the lights.

And this is Santa...she's obsessed with him...carries him all over the house talking to him and prentending to feed him or put him to sleep...

Please excuse the PJs and bedhead :) But in the following videos you'll see her adoring santa, counting in English, counting in Spanish and doing one of her favorite things (going into the dark bathroom to hang out...weird).

Slacker...

2010-11-29T09:29:00.002-05:00

I have been slack on blogging every thankfulness post...I have been doing most of them on facebook :) But today I am thankful for the free movie channels we have been getting lately!

I LOVE to go to the movies, but once we had Madison we just don't go that much anymore! We'd rather watch her, I think :) So it's really cool that we've had free movie channels for the last 10 days with U-verse. We have been recording ALOT so we should be set for movies to watch for the next few months!

The Del Angel Family

Did Christmas come?

She's finally here!!!!

The last days...

Santa!!!!!

Christmas tree!

Thanksgiving...a little late...

Happy Bday, Boss!

Love...

"Beegee" and "Ashee"'s wedding

Like mother like daughter???

"Trick or Treats"

The Rock Ranch!

Mama knows best...

Silly girl...

Day at the fair!

Big Sister Room!!!

Sweetness...

The name game...

It's a Girllllll!!!!!!

The Donut House

Familia!

Pico!!

I'm back...

I'm back...sort of,,,

Happy 8th Anniversary!

Father's Day Weekend

Growing up...

Granpa

Tuckie...

The Mix!

Loving Daddy

Behind on blogging...

Improve on perfection???

Beach Bum!

Fun with "B" and "Pensur"

She is very busy...

Random pics...

Loving the Gypsy Mama...

Allow me to brag for a moment...

Picnic

Strange days...

Shake it up baby...

Lovey Dovey

Big Girl...*tear*

"Put me in the Zoo!"

When Daddy plays...

A few of her hits...

There was a little girl...

Madison's Musings :)

A lesson on healing...

A game of hope...

Quick Trip to Callaway...

My home away from home...

Randoms...

Sweet girls...

Bday Party - Bonus pics

The Party!!!!

Birthday Surprises!

On her throne...

Girlz in the Hood

How can it be????

If you're happy and you know it...

Madison's Art

Reflecting on Simplicity...

The Easel

Ice Day!

Off to Mexico!

Christmas at Boss and Bunnie's

Santa came!!!!

Just the beginning...

Beautiful Blessing for 2011....

Well, we didn't cry....

The Varsity!!!

Let the fun begin...

Love this little girl...

Rough weekend...

Praying for friends...

Christmas Cards...

Santa's little helper...

Big Girl...tear