Hot Days of Summer

 Hello family and friends!  I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last updated the blog. July has been a pretty good month in the Van Buren household. We started the month off by going on our annual family vacation to Pismo Beach for 10 days. Needless to say, it was soooo much fun. This year we were blessed to have 2 sets of amazing family friends with us through the 1st half of our trip. The Turner/Lingford family took the hotel room we had previously booked (before we had bought our travel trailer) and the Robertson family got a hotel room for a few days. The first half of our trip was spent walking down Pismo's main street and pier, playing on the beach with Andy, Killian, and Sue, going to Avila beach and watching the seals and even a little wine tasting trip. On 4th of July, everyone gathered at our campsite for a big BBQ. It was mass chaos with so many people, dogs, and babies-but that is what made it so fun and memorable! The second half of the trip was just the family and we had a lot of fun breaking in our new trailer. Madison had so much fun on the beach and playing in the sand. We cannot wait to go back and are planning a tentative trip for Memorial Day weekend. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it'll work out.

We returned to a thriving garden thanks to my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. Our tomatoes are doing way better than last year and the corn is almost as high as our fence! The pumpkins are starting to take over as well. Once more veggies are coming in I'll have to post a picture.

Excluding a few days/nights here and there, Madison has been doing great. She has been in such a great mood and I love seeing her like this. She can get so grumpy when she's teething badly but luckily those days are becoming fewer and farther between. She also has been testing her legs and just trying to run everywhere. Madison is turning into a beautiful, funny little girl and it's insane how fast it's happening. She understands everything we say and follows directions so well (well, when she's not feigning deafness). I have to say the funniest/cutest thing she does is chase around Charlie all day and then cuddles with him on the floor when they're both tired. It is so sweet to see the bond between our beloved dog and child.

When we first got home from vacation we were blessed with amazingly cool weather and now it's just plain hot. So, our days consist of spending some outdoor time in the morning while it's not too hot and staying in the cool of our house the rest of the afternoon. But as Madison's growing up we have more of a variety of indoor activities like coloring. I got Madison some jumbo crayons and she loves it. Obviously right now we're not focusing on staying inside the lines ;). Just holding the crayon correctly which is also helping in teaching her how to hold utensils to feed herself. She has far from mastered feeding herself with utensils, but she's on her way and LOVES doing it.

Next on the Van Buren family to-do list: clean out and organize our basement into a play area (which we've started) and start.....wait for it......potty training Madison. Wish us luck!

Out at the end of Avila Pier with Andy and Killian

Wine tasting with Nikki

I love this picture!  Madison in full tantrum mode!

Simon and Charlie hanging out in the trailer

My 2 best friends, Andy and Nikki, and our beautiful children

The Robertson's watching the fireworks from our seat in the dunes

Our little beach baby at Avila

I LOVE this picture of Kyle and Madison

Madison's first time in a pool

Our little family

Madison with her Uncle Tor on the pier

Madison was all about walking around everywhere

The chaos of our campsite on 4th of July

Me and my beautiful little girl.

Madison enjoying a snack on the beach

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!

Madison and the birthday girl, Johnna!

Madison liked getting some cake from her Grandma

Madison and her Great-Uncle Darell

Madison and her Great-Aunt Pam who was showing her a pond

Me and Madison enjoying the party

The Van Buren Clan: Me, Madison, Pam, Johnna, John, and Corrie

The Teething Blues

First off, let me start with a question:  Why do children just inherently know to not like vegetables?!  When we started Madison on baby food, she had no problem eating her vegetable serving every day.   During the transition form baby food to solid food, she started hating vegetables in both forms.  Today I was feeding her some mac and cheese with vegetables hidden in there (this is the only way she eats veggies-when they're hidden in her favorite foods) and the few times she tasted the green bean or carrot, she would just spit out all the contents of her mouth onto the high chair tray; an annoying habit she has just started this week with foods she doesn't like.  Madison then proceeded to find the vegetable, put it back in the bowl that I was feeding her from and started picking up and eating all the noodles she has previously spit out.  I have to say though, it was kinda funny how she put the piece of vegetable back in the bowl like, "Here mom, I really don't need to eat this one."  So, I'm going to throw out this question to everyone with kids: What are some yummy ways to incorporate vegetables into other food because I'm starting to run out of ideas?

In other Madison news, she is working on cutting her "eye" or "canine" teeth.  What I thought were just wives tales about those being the toughest to break (minus the molars) turned out to be completely true.  My wonderful child that slept through the night since she was about 2 months old now wakes up at least 2 times (on a good night) crying because of teeth pain.  This has been going on for a few weeks now.  The worst part though is that my happy, playful little girl has turned into a whiny, screaming, clingy baby.  I can't say that I blame her.  I can see she's in a ton of pain while she's gnawing on everything she can get her hands on including her own fingers!  We've been keeping some of the pain under control by giving her some baby Motrin, ora-jel, and those teething tablets.  I just got some advice from a friend to use Baby's Bliss Gripe Water.  I've never heard of it, but it's all natural.  So as soon as my little Buffalo is up from her nap we'll be taking a trip to the store to pick some up.  The good thing is, the teething hasn't put a damper on her walking.  Now that she has a little confidence in herself, she's been attempting to walk so much more.  Each day she can go a few steps farther in one go.

For the weekend, I really hope to take Madison downtown to the Wagon Train event.  I haven't gone in years, but I remember it was fun.  They shut down Main St and have all sorts of stuff going on down there.  As of right now though, it doesn't look like the weather is going to cooperate with us.  I think the forecast is for rain ALL weekend!!  So, backup plans are to go down to Lowe's and pick out vegetables to plant in our garden.  Kyle tilled it all up this week (we've waited so long since it's been so cold) and it is ready to go. We even have a lot of strawberries from last year popping up.  This is only our 2nd year tending a vegetable garden, but it was great last year.  We got lots of tomatoes, peppers, etc so this year, we're trying a few new things like garlic, onions, and potatoes.  I'm crossing my fingers and we'll see how it goes.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Is it funny or sad that children songs get stuck in my head all day?!

Funny thing:  As I'm sitting here watching Toy Story 3, I realize that throughout my days, about 90% of the songs that get stuck in my head are from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Veggie Tales.  I guess that shows what music is playing in our house most of the time.  Anyway, I notices that this weekend while humming "Where is my Hairbrush" and thought I would share it.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend.  I just want to say that in this house, we are so thankful for all the sacrifices that our soldiers and their families make to keep us safe.  It's crazy to think that my little cousin (well, not really little-just in my mind) is going to Boot Camp this week.  My prayers go out to him and my Aunt.  I love you guys so much!

We had a fun and busy Memorial Day weekend.  Madison and I went to the mall with Grandma and Uncle Tor.  We didn't stay too long though since our little Buffalo (one of our many nicknames for Madison) was not in a great mood.  Sunday morning, Madison and I went to church with her other uncle, Christopher.  Now this expedition has a bit of a story.  So, we've only brought Madison to church twice with us (Christmas and Easter) and she was young enough to sit in our lap and just fall asleep.  However, she's getting to the age that socially with other kids would definitely be a good thing and I really want her raised in church and Sunday school like my brother and I were.  Anyway, I decided that it was time to put Madison in the child care center at the church while I went to the service.  I knew it would be good for her and it was only for an hour.  However, I was a ball of nerves.  Besides Kyle and I, Madison has only ever stayed with her 2 Grandma's.  I was expecting to take her in there and that she would start screaming once I went to leave.  However, to my pleasant surprise, I took her in there and she automatically started to play with some toys.  I thought, this is good.  So, I kissed her on the head, and told her bye.  As I looked back, still no crying--from her at least.  I don't know what it was, perhaps leaving her with someone I didn't know, but I broke down.  For some reason, it felt like she just grew up a little more right then.  So, shaking and trying to conceal my crying, I found Chris and other family friends (the Turners/Lingfords) and sat down.  I couldn't believe it, but her number never flashed on the screen (they assign numbers to each kid so if they're freaking out, they put the number up on a little screen in the church and the parents know to go get them).  Breathing a huge sigh of relief after church dismissal (to be honest, I didn't get much of the message that was preached this time) I went to pick up my Buffalo.  I went in there and she was being rocked by one of the ladies in the nursery clutching a Mickey Mouse.  Smiling to myself, I thought, of course she found the only Mickey Mouse in the nursery (he is her absolute favorite!).  However, the lady said that Madison was real quite and was good except she stole this Mickey Mouse from another baby!  So, it was a little embarrassing, a little funny, and also a huge relief that everything went well (for the most part).

Madison + Killian = BFF

Loving the swings.

Sunday evening we went over to my mom's house and had an AMAZING Tri-tip dinner.  We rounded up the long weekend by going to the park with Andy, Killian, and Alaura.  It was the 1st time Madison actually had fun at the park.  She was crawling up the little stairs to try to get to the slides and walking around holding my hand.  However,  Madison definitely needs to learn how to share (hence the story above).  Poor Killian was just trying to play with toys that she wasn't playing with when at that moment Madison decided she needed to play with them.  And Killian, being the sweetheart he is, gave them back to her with no fuss!    For those of you who do not know, Andy has been my best friend (and man-of-honor in our wedding) since we were in the 5th grade.  So, it is so fun to see our babies grow up together like we did.

Andy and I at our 8th Grade graduation.

So, I would like to end this post by just saying how thankful I am for wonderful family, amazing friends, an incredible husband that works so hard so I can stay home with Madison, and of course, again, our troops for making my life what it is!!

PS: Our life is not all sunshine and strawberries.  I'll post about our teething pains next post.  I just thought this one was getting a little long :)

Official 1st Steps!

Well, it has happened.....Madison took her 1st steps tonight. Actually, let me re-phrase that. Yesterday, she took a shuffle step. But tonight she decided that crawling is over-rated and went for it. My mom and I were sitting across from each other with Madison in the middle when we decided to try the "walking drill" again between the two of us and she just went for it. At that moment, Kyle whipped out the video camera and started recording it. Of course, as soon as the camera came out, she was over it, but luckily for us, she started right back up in a few minutes and that is what this video clip is of. A little later, while we were in Madison's room, she was going at it again but this time she was even more sure of herself. She was holding onto a walking toy when she apparently decided to go give Charllie a kiss who was halfway across the room. She walked over to him, kissed him, let go of him and was just standing there like a standing pro. Then Charlie licked her square on the face and she still just stood there without getting knocked down. It was so amazing to see! A little bittersweet though because, all of a sudden, I got a flash that she is not going to be my baby much longer! It's exciting to open a new chapter in our lives but I now see why people say to enjoy every moment of that baby-hood because it flies by so amazingly fast!

In other developmental news, Madison also has gotten 2 teeth in 3 days! She is finally catching up with other babies her age with her 6 little teeth. At least I know now why we've been having such long nights lately!

We didn't get to make it to the zoo this week like we had planned (due to this unseasonably cold and rainy weather-we currently have a fire going in our house) but we got some house projects done. After being neglected last Spring (c'mon, we had a brand new baby!) our front yard has received a nice clean-up. Next week, the backyard! We also, FINALLY, finished our bathroom remodel. Here are some before and after pictures.

Before we even moved in.

Our new shower.  Tile done by Hoagland Tile (friends of ours).

The new vanity and part of the new toilet

To wrap up our crazy day today (I swear our life is usually very boring) Kyle and I decided to exchange anniversary gifts. Even though our anniversary isn't until Saturday (and we're not celebrating it until next week when Kyle's off work) Kyle talked me into exchanging gifts. He is so impatient! ;) It was definitely fun though. I pre-ordered a Limited Edition of Gears of War 3 for him (one of his favorite video games) and I got......let's just say 3 little things that came in 3 little blue gift bags labeled: Tiffany & Co.

Love you all and thanks for reading!

Catching Up

Wow! I was re-reading this blog last night (the 1st time since Madison was born) when I was inspired to start updating it again. Needless to say, SO much has happened in this last year, however, since most of you are my facebook friends, you know all this. So, instead of repeating everything you all know has happened, I'll start with what the Van Buren family has been recently up to.

I guess I'll start with Kyle and I. As you all know, we are very blessed and I am able to be a stay-at-home mommy. Just recently I have finally gotten into a nice routine with handling my mommy and wife duties at the same time :). As of now, my days consist of playing and taking care of Madison all day, cleaning, household accounting, and getting dinner on the table by 5pm. It took me a while to feel in the swing with everything, but I am so proud of our smoothly ran house. Also new with me, I finally took the plunge I have been too scared to make for the last 10 years: getting contacts. After getting used to them for a few days, I absolutely love them and I can see all the time now!

Kyle has also gotten into his new routine of being a dad and full time (and on-call) Deputy Sheriff. I know it's rough on him working 12 hours a day and dealing with the type of people he does but you would never be able to tell when he walks through that door. He turns into the amazing father I knew he'd be. Madison and I love when we hear his truck pull into the driveway! Kyle has also been doing very well with moving forward after his dad passed away. Last week was a little rough since it was Larry's Birthday. We spent the morning with Kyle's grandparents and went by the cemetery. We still all have our sad, hard days but, like I said, we, as a family, are moving forward as I know Larry would want us to.

Onto happier things, Kyle and I celebrate our 6 year wedding anniversary next weekend. I think we're planning on a nice dinner and movie (or maybe eve go to the casino) during the week when Kyle's not working. I can't help but think where we were last year at this time with a new baby. I remember my present (a big fat upgrade to my wedding ring) but for the life of me, I can't remember what we did or if we even did anything! I guess that shows the state of our sleepless lives back then!

Now, onto the star of our family, Madison. Just a few weeks ago, she finally got her 4th tooth and we can see 2 others almost here. Her new routine, due to the pain of teething, is waking up at 3am and fussing the rest of the night. She has always been a good sleeper (minus when she's not feeling good) so it's been a long few weeks for us since we're not used to this! I told Kyle that I think we deserve an easier teether for our next baby because Madison is definitely NOT an easy teether.

Madison is also SO amazingly close to walking. It is such a mental thing for her right now. She'll walk around holding one of our hands, or pushing her play grocery cart (which is harder then walking because that thing is really light so she can't put any weight on it without it tipping over) and she'll even have moments of just standing without holding onto anything. So, we think that when she finally realizes that it requires way more energy to crawl than walk she'll do it. She is a very independent baby and does things on her own time. There is no trying to get her to walk from me to Kyle the good ole fashioned way. She'll just suck up her legs and sit when we try that. I guess she'll just do it when she's ready :)

So, for Easter Madison got a gigantic bunny rabbit that she has completely befriended. She kisses it and gives it hugs, but the greatest thing she does is she crawls in it's lap to read. Just this week though, while she has her book and sitting in it's lap she has started reading to herself in her baby gibberish. It is the cutest thing ever! You can just barely hear her talking and she'll be pointing to the words. Kyle and I are each responsible for teaching her different things (for example, Kyle is the one that taught her how to dance!) but I have to take credit for her love of books :) I have been reading to her since she was first born hoping to instill a love for reading as I have and to also boost her language skills. So, I think it worked!

One more thing that is new to Madison (it's hard to think of everything because she is learning so much everyday) is that she makes animal sonds. It is so funny! Right now she'll make dog, bird, and sheep sounds when you ask her what each animal says. I keep trying to get video of it, but of course she refuses to do it on camera. So, hopefully I can post a video of that soon. Oh, and words she is saying is bubba (our nickname for Charlie), daddy, momma, emma (short for Grandma), and nini for bananas. Again, it is crazy how fast she is learning right now.

I will ends this crazy long post with some pictures. Also, we're hopping to make it down to the zoo this week so I'll definitely post some pictures of that. And I will keep trying to get some good video clips to post up here. Like I said though, she pretty much stops everything she's doing once the camera is on! We love you all and I hope you enjoyed the update!

Kyle was showing her how to use his iPad

Madison finally realized how much fun sand can be in Texas

  

         4 generations on a 4-wheeling trip!
  (My mom,  me with Madison in my lap, and my Grandma)

Me and the birthday girl at her party

Madison's 1st Easter

A walk through Morrow Bay


A few short video clips:

33 Weeks-The Countdown Starts

Wow, it has been a while since I've updated this thing. Needless to say, we've been insanely busy getting ready for this baby. But everything is going well and little Madison (this is the name we've decided on) is very healthy. Healthy, but perhaps not the most cooperative when it comes to ultrasound pictures! After 3 visits to the 4-D ultrasound place (they were so patient with us), we finally managed to get pretty good pictures and a good DVD of her moving around during the ultrasound. The pictures still were not fantastic like the ones you see in magazines, but it was by far the best we had gotten and Kyle and I were going to give up after that 3rd visit. So, we were pretty happy with what we got. Here are some of the better pictures at 32 weeks:So, they're kinda fuzzy because she was pressed up against the placenta, but to give you an idea of what you're looking at, the 1st picture is a profile of the right side of her face with her hand under her chin. The second one is a little more face on where you can see both of her eyes, nose, and mouth completely. The third one, she is turned a little to where you see the right side of her face more and that thing next to her mouth is her foot! You can actually see her little toes. During these ultrasounds we found out she definitely likes to suck on her hands and feet, she has very chubby cheeks, and has hardly any hair! Kyle was cracking up at the last 2 because that's basically what I looked like as a baby: chubby cheeks and no hair (well, I still have the chubby cheeks). So, that's our little Madison in there growing like crazy! Actually, I think she's grown a lot just in the last week because all of a sudden, I feel like I can't breathe! And what used to be her sharp movements are slow rolling movements. So, I think it's starting to get a little cramped in there.

In related news, we have almost finished the nursery, moved our spare bedroom into the office, took a tour of the hospital, and started our birthing classes! The nursery (which used to be our spare bedroom) is all painted, new moulding up, and basically just waiting for our furniture to arrive! It's so exciting to see it all coming together. I also have washed and hung up all of the clothes and blankets she's gotten so far, and I have to say, it is definitely surreal to see little baby clothes hanging in the closet!

We also converted our old office (which we moved into our basement) into our spare bedroom. So, we've been doing a lot of painting and moving! We really couldn't have gotten it all done without the help of my mom, so thank you mom! It's kinda funny though because I left my job a few weeks ago and I have to say I've been working way harder at home than at Blue Shield; but at least it's on fun stuff!

The tour of the hospital was fantastic because it relieved a lot of our fears. Mercy Folsom seems like they're pretty up to letting you do what you need to do as long as it's not anything that would put you or the baby in harm's way. This was really important to me because I would like to have a natural birth and if taking a thousand showers or rocking back and forth on my hands an knees is the way I'm going to accomplish it, then so be it. So, it was nice to see that they are up for that. The birth classes also started last week (they last for 6 weeks) and seem like they are going to be very beneficial I have to say, I think Kyle was the best husband in the group! He was answering questions from the instructor, getting into the exercises, and practicing the breathing with me (which helped me focus more) when all the other men looked dumbfounded. It was really sweet!

That pretty much wraps up what we've been up to. We were actually able to slip away to Pismo Beach for a few nights which was nice (pictures below). We are getting very excited and can't wait to welcome little Madison Danielle into the world! One last, quick update, for those of you keeping larry (Kyle's dad) in your prayers, we just found out that he is now at the top of the liver transplant list at the Mayo Clinic!! So thank you for your prayers!