On June 25th Madelyn and I left to fly to Iowa. I had flown with Madelyn before but she was only 5 months old. This round with a walking toddler was a whole new game. To make it more stressful we missed our first flight from Charlotte and then our flight from Chicago to Moline was cancelled. Thanks to my great friend Kara, who lives in Chicago, she picked us up and drove us home. Though we had a rough trip home, Madelyn was so well behaved on the whole trip. Since I am on summer break we were able spend 12 days home and Derek flew in a week later to spend the end of the trip with us. We were very busy while home; going to the zoo, shopping, swimming in Aunt Sue's pool, spending time at the park and lots of good quality time with family and friends. The end of the trip we were able to be a part of Dad and Dorice's wedding. We were very excited to celebrate this day with them. It was very hard to leave and even though it was a longer time home it never seems long enough!
When we left Iowa (a much easier flight with Derek with us this round) we landed in Charlotte at 5:30pm and by 8:00pm that night we were back off to drive to Holden Beach to meet Derek's family. It was wonderful to spend time at the beach and relax with family. It was so fun to see how much Madelyn loved the ocean. We took a blow up pool to put on the beach for her to play in which worked great but her favorite was when we would walk her down to the water. Only Madelyn would put a big gulp of saltwater in her mouth and say "Mmmm"!
Though we are so sad our trips are over it was definitely a little to long for Madelyn to be away from home. By the end she was very clingy, wasn't sleeping through the night and ready to get home. The day we got back home she walked around from room to room and squealed. She was so happy to be back to her house. Derek and I of course were the opposite and miss spending the time with family!
Madelyn has become a talking machine and some of her newer words are; ball, B (for cousin Beckett, which she calls any little blonde hair boy), up, dog (finally saying dog instead of calling all dogs Bo), and woof. Her favorites are still saying hi and hello! She is continuing to be a great eater but we have noticed her taste buds are starting to change and she is getting a little more picky. We also think she is getting her 1 year molars. She constantly has her hands in her mouth and even has had a low fever. Hopefully they cut through soon, nothing worse than knowing your baby is in pain:(
Here are LOTS of pictures from our trips!
Iowa Pictures:
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| Shopping and Lunch with Kara |
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| Fun day at the zoo with Aunt Natalia, Beckett, Nana, Aunt Sue and Aunt Elly |
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| Feeding the Giraffe's, someone isn't so sure of them:) |
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| Yummy cupcakes in the park with Aunt Sue, Aunt Katty and Nana after feeding the duck's |
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| With Nana and Papa at Aunt Sue's 4th of July party |
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| 4th of July |
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| B and Mads in their 4th of July swim suits! |
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| This girl loves the pool like her Mama! |
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| Dad and Dorice's wedding :) |
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| At the reception for Dad and Dorice |
Beach Pictures:
