The kitchen sink

Playing with the water


Madison in her Dreft bath




Bathtime

Working on her audition for Kiss!!!

Sleeping

I think she was reaching out for Aspen. (Madison was sleeping, the lights were off the light is just from the camera flash)

Madison has had an irritated bum for the last couple of months. Whenever she had her bottom exposed she would start itching it. Her bum was dry and red and irritated looking, but it didn't look like diaper rash. I finally took her to the doctor and she told me that it was an irritation rash and that we should give her a bath with Dreft laundry detergent. Whatever draws out the urine in clothes will also draw out the irritant from her skin and it seems to be working. Her bottom looks a lot better!!!! We have no idea what is causing the irritation. We only use dry and scent free laundry detergent and none of her lotion or body wash was new from the time she was born, so that part is still a mystery. I am just glad she is doing better. Even Aspen seems to be coming out of his scared phase. He's eatting again and in the mornings he plays some.

Evening

Aspen in the bathtub (he slept in there for 4 hrs)


Madison



JR and Madison




JR and Madison at the graduation of Bugs class




The graduating Bugs class



She used to cry on the bar :)



Madison in her bikini


Madison and Grandma McGee


Well, another weekend has flown by and I am actually sitting outside typing my blog as my wonderful husband is inside rocking my beautiful baby to sleep. Demon is laying beside me and Aspen is holed up in the laundry room because to him World War three has started. My poor first baby is TERRIFIED of fireworks. You might be thinking that's it's only the middle of June, but for the last couple of weeks Aspen has been shaking like a leaf in a tornado and spending the evenings in one of three places....1. The office/guest room, 2. the bathtub, 3. the laundry room. He loves all of these places because they are dark and noisy to drown out the fireworks (I have only heard a couple). Aspen is so terrified of fireworks that he has to be medicated and if he's not here are a couple of things that have happend to him in the past.... 1. he lacerated his butt hole trying to claw his way threw the window, 2. he jumped threw Mom and Dad's slanted basement window in Mic's bathroom from about 6 feet up, 3. He has slept on top of me during the 4th of July. It's really sad and I wish I could do something for him, but unfortunatly he has to tough it out for the next couple of months; yes, to him the 4th of July spans about 3 months until September.
Other news.... Madison has some new teeth coming in on the top. It has been a couple months since she popped her bottom teeth and on Thursday she was fussy and had a fever, but ever since then she's been fine except for a little bit of a runny/stuffy nose. Today we were at the park and JR noticed a new tooth coming in!!!! Madison has graduated from her Bugs class at the Little Gym and in the fall she will be starting in the Birds class. To some people this might not be a big deal, but to me it means my baby is growing up way too fast!!!

Dani's wedding

Danika and Aaron


JR trying to put the corsage on his mom



Tammi, Rick, JR, and me



JR, Tammi, and Rick



Aaron and Dani


Dani, Jr's sister, just got married the end of May, so JR and I went to Arizona for a couple days to attend her wedding. My mom watched Madison and the boys; they all had a great time together. Dani's wedding was very beautiful. It was at the Los Abrigados Resort and Spa in Sadona, Arizona. JR and I were both very surprised when when we flew into Flagstaff and there were trees!!!! Dad said it'd be a lot like Coeur d'Alene, and he was right. The wedding was along a river in a grassy area and it really was beautiful!!!! As nice as it was to see a new place, we were really happy to come home and hold our baby again. Hopefully the next time we go somewhere we will go as a family.

Grandma and Grandpa

I made Madison keep her hat on


Madison was afraid of the balls at first so I climbed in the pool with her


She's working on her super model lips


Madison and Grandpa



This weekend Grandma and Grandpa Golden are here. JR's sister Dani is getting married on Wednesday and so mom will stay this week and watch Madison and the boys. Dad and Kelty will drive home on Monday. We have had a really nice weekend so far. Dad and JR went for a mountain bike ride this morning while Mom, Madison, and I went shopping. Madison was such a good baby, she didn't get her morning nap, but she never got fussy. When we got home from shopping she slept for about an hour while Mom and I went shopping some more. Then we went to Old Chicago where Madison hung out with us for a couple hours. Tomorrow we plan on going for a walk on the Greenbelt with Aspen, Demon, and Kelty or going to the zoo. Madison does many funny things, one of them is that when you turn the camera on she totally posses for you. She hears the camera come and on and no matter what she's doing she will turn and smile. It's so cute, but impossible to get a candid moment.

The first video is Madison in the pool with the balls. At the very end she screams. It's her happy scream, but she does it all the time.
The second video is Madison laughing hysterically. Mom was bouncing the balls in the pool and Madison thought it was the funniest thing ever. Then the dogs decided to attack mom and Aspen tried to Mount her :)

HOT!!!!

Holy crap, has the weather warmed up. Today was in the upper 90's and let me tell you that in my old age I do not like it this hot unless I am on the lake or by a pool. I got so dehydrated this weekend that JR had to start an IV to run some fluid in me. I thought I was drinking enough water, but I felt like crap!!!!

On Saturday we tried to take Madison for her first bike ride, but that didn't go well. She was terrified of JR and me when we wore are helmets (being the responsible parents that we are, we made sure we kept them on) and she wouldn't leave her helmet on either. I had made it half way around the block when I heard her helmet hit the ground and that was that. We will keep trying.

On another note, I love making homemade babyfood. If anybody wants homemade baby food, I will totally make it for you. Just supply me with the produce and I can whip some up. It's so much fun and Madison loves it.

School has me thinking about so many different things that we can do as esthiticians. One thing I am thinking about is starting a website company and selling professional products on line. If you have any feed back please let me know!!!!

Mother's Day

Aspen on the way to the Greenbelt


She won't leave her adorable hat on!!!



I love this hat


I love her backside


9 months old!!!

My first Mother's Day was wonderful. I was able to sleep in until 11am (I woke up around 10:30 and read). JR and Madison then came in to get me and we had a nice breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and eggs. We then spent the afternoon at the zoo. Madison really enjoyed all of the animals except for the crane. The crane makes a noise like an elephant and it really seemed to disturb Madison, she ended up crying and we had to leave the area. Madison seemed to enjoy the Giraffes the most. She was so cute, she would clap and make her excited baby noises. Unfortuantly, the zoo was super busy and people are incredibly rude. I am not a tall person and I would be holding Madison showing her the animals and people would come walk right in front of us and stop. What ever happend to manners? After the zoo, Madison passed out in the car, (she's fighting a cold that I had), we then spent rest of the day doing laundry and grocery shopping.

I am so greatful that I have Madison as a daugher and I just hope I can do right by her as her Mom. If I can be half the mom that my mom is, than Madison will be pretty lucky. Mom has always been there for Mic and I no matter what. I used to call her daily in elementary school when I would have my panic attacks and she would always talk to me (she'd never come and get me, but if she had I would still be in 5th grade :). Our good friend Greg always said that any guy was lucky to be in our family not because of Mic and me, but because of Mom and Dad. I love you mom!!!!

Garbage

Madison eatting a bannana

OK, so people who know me really well should know that I am a nut about recycling. I am so bad that when I was little I used to make Mic dig cans out of the garbage that she would throw away because she didn't want to rinse them out. I have carried this into my adult life. At my old job I would collect all of my recyclables from the day and everybody elses and I would bring them home to recycle. I think it should be a law that all business's should have to recycle. Anyways, I am super excited because we are getting a 95 gallon recycling bin this summer!!!! We always have so much recycling that it is over flowing and now I will have this gigantic cart!!!!! I am so excited.

I am a neat/tidy freak. I organize and clean constantly. I wash the dogs beds and their toys all the time. I clean the fridge and reorganize it about once a month, I vacuum the couch's, I wipe down my washer and dryer, and once a year I wash out my inside garbage cans. One of my biggest pet peeves about JR is how NASTY our outside garbage cans are. I mean they are nasty. He doesn't mulch our grass (another pet peeve) and he throws our dog poop straight into the garbage can (at least he picks it up, I guess). The thing is that when it rains (we've lost our lids) and it's 105 degrees in the summer it turns into a runy can of grass/poop soup. IT SMELLS!!!! When I was 8 months pregnant I had put the garbage cans up, but they leak and the garbage men spill. Anyways, there was a small pile of grass/poop left on the side walk and I wasn't going to pick it up. JR got home and the first thing he said to me was why is there a mess on the side walk? THE FIRST THING HE SAID!!! I was so mad I went out there to pick it up and there were maggots!!! I refuse to have anything to do with those garbage cans. This brings me to the second part of this rant. We are also getting a 95 gallon garbage cart!!!!! Yeah, I have been wanting to buy one forever, but JR won't shell out the money for it. Now he has no choice. It's like Christmas in the summer!!!!