Van Buren Family Adventures: June Has Been a Busy Month

Daddy's Girl

Well, it's been a few weeks since the last blog and we've been busy! In the last few weeks, Madison got another tooth on the bottom which gives us a total of 7 teeth. We had about a 2 week reprieve of teething pains where Madison was her happy little self, however, just the last 3 days she is teething hard again. She is uncontrollably drooling, biting on her fingers, etc. Unfortunately, it is even going into a cold. The poor baby just started coughing a lot today. However, in the 2 good weeks between teeth Madison was weaned from her last bottle! We saved her after-bath but before-bed bottle to wean last knowing it would probably be the worst. On the 1st no-bottle night we gave her some milk and a snack before her bath, read her a bed time story after her bath (instead of the bottle), and then I put her in bed waiting for the explosion of crying once I shut the door. I hesitantly turned on my video monitor as soon as I left her room, and to my immense surprise, she was looking around, sort of confused and then laid down. It was AWESOME!

On other food news, we are finding out that Madison is quite the picky eater. She will like one thing one night and hate the same thing the next. And the only way she'll eat ANY veggies is if it hidden in Mac and cheese. It's a little frustrating, but one of those things that comes along with being a parent!

Madison with the buffalo

We have been up to more than just teething and spitting out mouthfuls of dinner though :) Madison, my mom, and I made it down to the Wagon Train and walked around, but by the time we got down there (after Madison's nap) everything was pretty much wrapped up. But we were able to get a picture next to a giant Buffalo which is, as I said before, Madison's nickname.

Kyle and I got our garden planted with our usual stuff (watermelons, pumpkins, strawberries, tomatoes, eggplants, various peppers and bell peppers, cilantro, basil, and rosemary) and some new stuff including: cucumbers, garlic, blueberries, and corn. Our garlic is already sprouting and the corn is taking off. It's fun to watch all of our new stuff because we don't know what to expect. It's a great learning experience. The really annoying part though is that birds and slugs are attacking our strawberries! But a few days ago we spread slug killer out there and hung up some CD's on a fishing line to hopefully keep the birds away. I can't wait to taste our 1st strawberry and now, hopefully, that'll happen soon.

Kyle and Madison at the Fair

Last week, the El Dorado County Fair was going so on Thursday the three of us went. As embarrassing as this is to tell, I will say what I did as soon as we walked in. We went directly to a kiosk inside the gates to enter our ticket numbers for a raffle. I parked Madison's stroller so that she would be facing me and forgot to set the brake. I turn my back for literally 5 seconds and Madison is rolling backwards a few feet away from me! Some nice man caught the stroller and brought it back to me while I was in tears at my mistake feeling like a horrible mother. Kyle was besides himself laughing. Ugh, it was horrible, but Kyle made me feel better abut it. It is kind of funny now looking back on it. Besides our run-away stroller episode, we went around to look at all the vendors, animals, and even a monkey show before we got mine and Kyle's reason for going to the fair, the 20/30 Club tacos. We got ourself a nice spot on the grass and ate our tacos while Madison crawled around on the blanket. We even got to visit with a lot of Kyle's friends from work because they were all meeting for a quick briefing right behind us. It was a great day that was followed by a great Father's Day where Madison and I went to a Robertson family BBQ and then went home to fix Kyle his favorite dinner followed by a chocolate cake. Last weekend was a fun weekend!

Madison dipping her feet in the pool at Andy's house

This week, Kyle and I have been doing some yard work and getting stuff together for our annual Pismo trip which we'll be leaving for soon. My brother also cut and highlighted my hair since he is now a licensed Cosmetologist. So, if you ever need your hair done, you know who to call! Today though was super special because Madison, her Grandma Corrie and I went to Madison's cousin's 1st birthday party. We got to see all of our Van Buren family and even got to meet some for the 1st time. It was such a fun way to spend an afternoon and rather than explaining our time, I'll just leave you with pictures. Much love to you all, and I probably won't be reporting until after we get back from our vacation. So, Happy
4th of July!