2011- The fastest year of our lives!

One year ago today, around this time, Chris and I were staring in awe at our just-born little girl! Madeline Lea Hughes was born 12/27/2010 at 8:36 pm. She weighed 6 lbs, 8 oz. She was PERFECT in every way. Flash forward one year. We have a silly & sweet one year old girl. A walker, a talker, and a very busy little girl. And, she is still perfect! :)

I honestly cannot believe that our baby girl is one. I don't even think we can call her a baby anymore. It has been such a joy for Chris and I to get to know this little baby that we created. She truly is a gift from God. Every milestone, every "first" has been more exciting than I could dream of.

Here are a few pictures from that night, one year ago.

What the heck just happened to me?

All better. My mommy is holding me for the very first time!

Maddie also had her first Christmas this weekend and had so much fun spending time with her grandparents, aunts and uncles and her cousins. I'll post about that later in the week. For now, I just wanted a post devoted solely to our precious ONE year old Madeline.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MADDIE!!

Our little runner!

Tonight Madeline and Chris had some daddy-daughter bonding while I was out to eat with Danielle. When I called Chris, he had been chasing Madeline around the house. (She LOVES to be chased!) Here's a cute video he took when following her. Yes, she's holding her pants in her hand. No, I don't know why.

It is officially one week until our little baby girl turns ONE! Can you believe that?

I have been trying to upload a video of Maddie walking but I cannot seem to get it to work. I think I found a solution. Here's a video from Chris's phone of Madeline walking across the room to me. Look at her go!

And- a couple of pictures from the last few weeks.

Madeline in her UK tutu (her aunt Laura made this!) cheering on the CATS! The tutu was our good luck charm against UNC. Unfortunately, she didn't wear it when we played IU...and you saw what happened. She'll definitely be wearing it against UL!!

We took a trip to the zoo and had a lot of fun. Madeline pointed at the animals and said "ghh." I think "ghh" is her go-to word. She uses it for everything except "mama" "dada" and "Stella." .

Random list of gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving weekend, everyone! We had a wonderful long weekend off from work!

We spent a lot of time with family and getting to know some new friends.

Mercedes invited four of her international friends from Georgetown home with her to experience an American Thanksgiving. We invited them over for dinner one night and we had a great time talking to them about their home countries and experiences in the US.

We had Thanksgiving with Chris's parents--delicious! Snapped a few photos of Madeline and Dane in their matching Christmas tree hats. Do you know how hard it is to get an 11 month old and a 2 year old to sit still for a photo? Here's our best shot.

Madeline is at a really funny stage right now. She will purposefully laugh to get you to laugh at her. She has also learned to clap- she claps all the time!!

A photo of the three of us. Stella is running around somewhere during this one.

A big story in our house is that Madeline is WALKING! She is ALL over the place. I will post a video later in the week for you.

More pics and posts to come on our long weekend but for now I leave you with a little random list of gratitude.

SO THANKFUL FOR...

My grandma's chocolate chip cookies-I will never make them as good as her!

Gorgeous fall weather

Costco

Reality tv shows

Long hot baths

Good books that make me think

Good books that require no thinking

Hot chocolate with lots of whip cream

Silly crazy Stella who loves us unconditionally

A best friend who knows all of my secrets...and likes me anyways!

Madeline getting to know all four of her grandparents (and a great-grandma!)

A husband who makes me laugh even when I don't feel like it

A healthy and happy family

What are you thankful for?

Perfect lazy weekend

Usually, Chris and I have weekends full of activities. As two busy parents, it seems like we are also running somewhere. This weekend we didn't have any major plans...and it was awesome! Friday night, we got pizza with nana and Grandpa Hughes and then watched a Redbox rental. On Saturday, our BFF's Kyle and Danielle came over for dinner. It was nice to just catch up with them for a little while. Danielle is pregnant which is so so so fun!

Here's a pic of Maddie chilling in her "lazy Saturday" clothes. We realize this outfit makes her look a little bit like a rapper. You can just call her Puff Maddie.

On Sunday, we cleaned the house and ran some errands. We took a walk on the Anchorage Trail and Chris snapped a few shots of Madeline playing.

This kind of looks like a senior picture. Maybe we'll take her back in 17 years!

Me and my girls! It was impossible to get them both to look at the camera at the same time!

And the best two!

Sweet ladybug baby!

Here is Madeline on her first Halloween!

What's new with Madeline:

She is so close to walking! She cruises around the coffee table and can walk holding on to one of our fingers. She is starting to eat more and more table food which is pretty fun On the down side, she had her third ear infection last week and got sent home twice from daycare with a fever. Depending on how her winter goes, she might be going to the ENT in the Spring. Let's hope not.

Happy Halloween!

Madeline's trip to the pumpkin patch

This weekend Chris's aunt Judy came in town from Cape Cod. We are so happy to see her!

Here are a few pics from Hubers; Madeline took her first wagon ride and picked her first pumpkin.

Madeline wore her best "farm" outfit- her plaid

Cousin Dane loving the tractor ride

Madeline with her nana and great-aunt

Daddy and Maddie in the patch

Surprise getaway!

This weekend I planned a surprise trip away for Chris and I. The last two months have just been crazy for him so I wanted to get him away from the madness for a few days. I worked with his manager to get his calendar cleared and on Friday we left for Abingdon, Virginia. We stayed at this awesome hotel called the Martha Washington Inn. The Inn was originally the home of a general and then a college for women.

Enjoy a few pics from the weekend!

The hotel has these great photos of its history. Outside of our room was a picture of women who used to attend the college. So neat!

The entry to our room.

Outside of the hotel

We took a 17 miles bike ride on the Creeper trail. Here we are at the beginning of the trek.

It was beautiful!!

A little break along the trail.

Walking along the streets in Abingdon.

The Barter Theater- such a fun place to see a play.

This was our first time leaving Madeline; she stayed with her grandparents and loved it! Thanks to mine and Chris's parents for keeping sweet Maddie girl while we had some adults-only time!

Madeline loves her jumper!

The last couple of months Madeline has really been into her exersaucer. This week she has found a new love for her jumper. She loves it!

A few of Maddie's favorite things...

1. Madeline loves shopping. She especially likes the carts at Kohls because she can look out and observe everyone else's buying habits.

2. Madeline loves walks in her strollers. She really likes to prop her feet up on the front bar.

3. Madeline loves her cousin Dane! We went to Lexington this weekend and spent the night with Laura and Cory. Everytime Dane would laugh, Madeline would crack up. Here's a sweet photo of them riding Dane's wagon.

All dressed up and nowhere to go!

This morning Madeline was supposed to have her nine month photos. Unfortunately, it rained and we needed to reschedule. Chris snapped a few though. Look how sweet she is!

She loves to try to stand up now!

Here she is ready to see the CATS beat the Florida gators! (a girl can dream, right?!)

What's new?

Madeline is at such a fun age right now! She has learned the game peek a boo and likes to play it all the time. She laughs and laughs when you surprise her.

She is still so so so nosy that sometimes I call her "Harriet" like Harriet the Spy. I used to love that book when I was little. I'm told by her daycare teachers that sometimes she doesn't nap because she is too busy checking out what other kids are doing.

In other news, I have taken a new job with Humana. I am looking forward to a change but am sad to leave all of my work besties. One of my favorite things about this new opportunity is that my new team has a more flexible schedule than my current team. I can come in earlier and leave earlier, giving me more time in the day with sweet Madeline.

I have been trying to post a video of Madeline laughing at Stella all weekend and it's not working. So, this blog is text only. Will post some photos of our big girl soon! She is so big!

Pictures with great-aunt and great-grandma!

Last weekend, my aunt and grandma came to see Madeline. Here are a few photos...

The grandkids and the first great-grandkid!

Great-grandma and Madeline

Where can I find a large bubble for my child?

As I said in the last post, Maddie girl is EVERYWHERE. She now likes to pull up on anything she can get her hands on. Which is a problem b/c most items aren't stable...so she takes a lot of spills. I wish I could put her in a bubble suit to keep from getting so many scratches! She moves quickly. One second, she's happily playing with her blocks...and the next she has crawled across the room to do a push up on the wipes case.

In other news, Madeline said her first word! Chris thinks it was da-da...though it might have been Prada. Kidding. She actually says "da-da" quite a bit, but I'm not sure if she knows what it means just yet.

I'm supposed to be napping, but I'm standing in my crib instead!

Taking a Sunday stroll!

Playing with my blocks before breakfast. In the next 5 minutes, I will probably pull Stella's tail, try to play in her water bowl, pull up on the kitchen chair, and try to crawl under the coffee table where I will bump my head!