We have been on the go over the past few weeks. Two weekends ago we spent back to back weekends in VA. We had a wedding one weekend and headed up for a tech game the next. Though two weekends on the go can be tiring it was really nice to spend time with the White side of the family. Madelyn had a great time with her cousin, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents!

This past weekend we were very excited to have Nana and Papa here for a long weekend. It was such a fun weekend of shopping, baking, delicious meals and of course Madelyn loving time with them. The boys got to enjoy a night out to the race and mom was such a big help getting stuff done to the house. As always it was very hard when they left. We wish we could have these weekends more often!

Madelyn has started the lovely tantrums and beginning of what we think is the fun terrible two stage. Everybody knows how high strung she is so it was no surprise we would be starting this soon, lol! She is definitely getting very upset when she doesn't get her way or something she wants. She has even started biting us to show how angry she is! She continues to repeat EVERYTHING! A funny example is; while mom was here she was trying to get the attention of a worker at Walmart and said "Sir" next thing we know Madelyn is screaming SIR over and over at the man! I guess she was just trying to help, she sure did get his attention, haha!

Some of her latest words are: please, thank-you, help, rocks (all she wants to do it play in them), apple, stay and spoon. She is able to say and identify a dog, cat, cow and duck. She also can say the sounds that go with them except for duck. However, sometimes her moo and meow and gets mixed up:)

Madelyn has battled a bad diaper rash on and off since she was about 6 months. She also has always had very sensitive skin. However, lately it seems to have gotten worse. Getting the rash very often and red marks on her skin all the time. Her pediatrician has finally decided that we need to take her to a pediatric dermatoligst. We are actually relieved as hoping to find a solution to the poor girls constant rash! We go on November 7th.

                      Poppy and cousin Tate
                                                                              

                                                                

                                                                                                                                                                   Just sending some e-mail with Uncle Carter

                                              

                                                    Hauling rocks with Papa, our new obsession!

Waiting on our cookies to bake with Nana 

Cutie out to dinner with the girls! 

Checking out our Halloween goodies from Nana and Papa

Looking at her new clothes, saying "cute" as picking up each one! Yes we have one future DIVA on our hands! We also learned to twirl when showing daddy our outfit.

Better late than never :)

 I know once again we have fallen behind on posting. I am very sorry. We are currently in the process of putting our house on the market and have been working away any free moment to get it ready. As of next week it will finally be up, please keep your fingers crossed we sell! I am very nervous about going through this process with a one year old. Keeping our house picked up for showings is hard enough let alone with the tornado of toys Mads leaves us with every night!

Madelyn has a lot of new words she is saying. Some of our favorites are; good girl(we always said this to her, she now says it about herself when she picks something up, lol), down, eat, boo, uh-oh, purple, yellow and please. She repeats most things we say these days. We are working with her putting two words together.

We received a text from our sitter this week that Madelyn has learned to tattle on AJ (the other little boy) however, he has never does anything wrong, it's her new trick. She also tries doing this to Bo at home. She teases him with her snack or feeds him, once he eats it she comes running, screaming and tattling on him. We all know she is a little diva and this new trick is right up her alley.

Becoming a little artist

Helping Daddy with some yard work

Mama and Mads in their Beckett Tee's

Loves to swing at the park

Can't stop reading "melmo" even white eating snack

Morning tea party

End of Summer...

It is so hard to believe that next week it is back to school and summer vacation is over :( I feel like I am going back from maternity leave again and very sad to leave Madelyn. However, we are very thankful for the wonderful summer we had and all the fun things we got to do.

Last week Madelyn and I took our last summer trip and headed to Florida. We met Dad and Dorice at their condo on Indian Rocks beach. To make it even better my best friend Kara got to come down for most of the week. The joys of being teachers :) The week was absolutely perfect (other than missing Derek)! We got a lot of beach/pool time, relaxation and delicious seafood. Madelyn again was perfect on the trip down. Just like last time, many passengers on the plane couldn't believe how well behaved she was.

Madelyn is talking like crazy. I think everyday she has a new word she can say. Her most recent words are "wa-wa" (water, she got a lot of use of this one is Florida as she was obsessed with the pool and beach), on, off, up, dog, duck, cheese, ba-oon (balloon), book, no, and melmo or mo (elmo). Last month we gradually stopped her bottles and now she is drinking her whole milk only out of a sippy cup. I actually think this was harder on me than her. She also got her first training toothbrush and we have started teaching her to brush her teeth before bed. I think she just likes chewing on the toothbrush and eating the toothpaste most:) She has also associated reading a book to bedtime and insists on pointing to the "book" before we turn her music on.  She can now point and show you her nose, ears, teeth and toes are. We are working on eyes and belly.

This week I am busy getting my classroom ready, all Madelyn's things together to take to her sitter and trying to enjoy our last week off.

Lunch date with dada
before we left for FL

Loves the wa-wa/pool!

Out for dinner in FL

Cutest little beach girl

Playing in the sand with Kara

Loves the beach!

Clearwater Aquarium, watching the stingrays with Grandpa

Mesmerized by the fish!

Waiting for the dolphin show!

Watching Nicholas the Dolphin do so many tricks!

Someone wasn't going to let us have happy hour without her!

Morning walk on the beach

Out for lunch and checking out the shops at St. John's Pass boardwalk :)

Our view each night

With Grandma and Grandpa at dinner our last night in FL

Someone was SO excited to see dada when we got home, even napped with him :)

Summer Trips

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:

Shopping and Lunch with Kara

Fun day at the zoo with Aunt Natalia, Beckett, Nana, Aunt Sue and Aunt Elly

Feeding the Giraffe's, someone isn't so sure of them:)

Yummy cupcakes in the park with Aunt Sue, Aunt Katty and Nana after feeding the duck's

With Nana and Papa at Aunt Sue's 4th of July party

4th of July

B and Mads in their 4th of July swim suits!

This girl loves the pool like her Mama!

Dad and Dorice's wedding :)

At the reception for Dad and Dorice

Beach Pictures:

Loved going to the water with Daddy!

 =

Family picture on the beach!

Loved wearing Nanny's beach hat :) 

With Aunt Gracie, two beach beauties!

Tate and Madelyn, such cuties!

Great picture with Uncle Bimi and Tate :)