Sugar High at the Hardware Store.

We took Maddie to Paciugo this afternoon and introduced her to the awesomeness that is an Affogato (gelato with espresso poured on top (no, not a whole one)). This was the result . . .

Four Generations One Room

I grew up with only one grandparent which is why I'm so thankful that Maddie has not only a full compliment of grandparents, but also two great grandmothers. Last week we were able to visit Great Grandma Annie while we were in Texas. She treated us to lunch at Luby's and then we were able to visit with her for a while at her apartment. Maddie was a little charmer and we enjoyed watching Grandma enjoying Maddie. It was really neat to see four generations in the same room, here are some pics.

Celebrate with us!

Sorry to have been absent for so long but we return with a joyful announcement, we are pregnant again! I am almost 11 weeks along, due on June 12th. Our first appointment was yesterday and I just couldn't make myself tell the world about this pregnancy until hearing that heart beat, what a blessing that the nurse was able to find it this early. Our first appointment was just with the nurse and our second one will be on my birthday with the doctor. It is not standard procedure at our OBGYN's office to do a sonogram unless they believe there is a reason for it until 22 weeks but I may have to ask for a birthday gift and see what they say.

We have been dealing with lots of colds and lots of nausea around here lately so I am not sure you really want to hear about everything that has been going on, I'll just stick to the fun stuff. My former employer has allowed me to come in and do some work on the Christmas retail lately so I have been going in for about 10 hours a week, nothing terribly substantial but Jeff and I are grateful. This has spurred us on to evaluate our schedule and see if I could go back a little more regularly. We are attempting to see if I can work 15 to 20 hours a week but we are headed into Jeff's busiest time of year and hope that we made the decision at the right time. We would really like to get ahead before baby #2 arrives so please pray that this works out.

Jeff was able to go hunting yesterday and brought home a buck! Woohoo!! Venison for the winter :)

Below I am posting a picture that Jeff used to tell his family about baby #2 and picture of Jeff and his buck. Hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving week, we should have a huge post about our TX trip in the next couple of weeks.

 

Pumpkin Patch

I have recently been seeing some pretty wonderful posts from family and friends getting great photos of their children in pumpkin patches and it inspired me to find one we could take Madeline. What I found is that the "patches" in Texas are set up for wonderful pictures and around here they are actual pumpkin patches in the dirt. While it was a different experience than I was looking for I still think we ended up with some fun pictures and we had a great time! It will be even more fun next year when Madeline can participate in the games and a hayride. Here are the pics!

Finally Maddie and Daddy pics

This weekend we were ambitious enough to think we might make it to the mountains for a fall drive and photo safari... did not happen. What did happen is going to the park and taking some fall pictures of Madeline and Jeff together. This photo shoot was suppose to happen on Father's Day but just kept getting postponed due to inclement weather. Really it ended up being worth the wait, the fall leaves and beautiful weather this weekend made for some great photos. I did have a bit of a moment... I had an outfit all picked out for Maddie to wear, it was super cute laying on the bed. I put it on her Saturday and immediately started asking Jeff "Are you sure you like it?", but what I really meant was that I really did not end up liking it. We did the shoot anyway and when we came home, downloaded and started editing I just could not handle my decision. Jeff was kind enough to entertain my neurosis and we did another shoot on Sunday... I was much happier with the result :) We ended up with great pictures both days so here are some of both, hope you enjoy!

Day 1 shoot (not my favorite outfit)






Day 2 shoot:

One less tooth and a fantastic husband

I have not blogged in a while, the following consumed my entire week so I apologize now for using an entire blog for this experience. It was this or nothing... not really sure if I want to know that you would have preferred the nothing.

When I was living in College Station and about to move to Billings I went to the dentist one last time to take advantage of my insurance before I went without for a while. On this last visit x rays were taken and a wisdom tooth was discovered... just one, the other three decided not to show up, which is more of a blessing than I knew at the time. I was advised to have it removed at that time but I was in love and on a tight schedule to get to the same city as the man that I loved. So, this advice was ignored. Fast-forward to being 17 weeks pregnant with Maddie Mae. When you are pregnant your immune system is not as strong, my one wisdom tooth became infected and was throbbing in constant pain but for the sake of my precious girl surgery was not an option at that time either (the things I do for love :). Fast forward to last week, the tooth flared up once again. A reminder that removal is not really an option but more of a necessity. Monday was the fateful day. I was under with iv sedation and upon coming out of it all I really remember is telling Jeff about the free blue tie-dyed t-shirt they gave me for having a wisdom tooth removed, apparently I chose it from about 10 colors offered :) The rest of that day I was pretty sore and my fabulous husband took care of Madeline and made me instant mashed potatoes. The next morning I woke up feeling pretty good so Madeline and I went to MOPS. Wednesday and Thursday hit and so did the torture. I do not believe that I am even using hyperbole when I say torture, it was horrific! Jeff was not flying either day (thank God) and even took Thursday night off work to help me out. I am afraid that I was not at my most gracious but he graciously served me through it all. On Friday morning relief came in the form of a nurse packing my tooth, I had a dry socket. Until this week dry socket was a meaningless phrase that I have seen people cringe at... I now understand and am willing and ready to cringe with you in the future. I am hoping that this is the end of my wisdom tooth saga, that the packing will dissolve and my socket will heal and you will never have to hear me blog about my teeth again.... let's just all hope and pray for that together :)

Hoodies and Dinky Doughnuts

Saturday day morning this time of year means the farmer's market :) In the past I have either been at work or taking care of a new born and have not been able to attend but this year Maddie and I have been 5 times and today was Jeff's second time to go. It is in the middle of downtown which is all of a 2 minute drive (I know, we should probably just walk) and we have enjoyed it so much! Our weekly purchases include green beans, grass fed beef and the most wonderful freshly fried Dinky Doughnuts. These are the lightest, fluffiest doughnuts I have ever eaten! We've decided they are laced with crack and do not know what we will do without our fix after market season is over... I just might have to try my hand at homemade doughnuts. Every week I am trying something new that is sold there as well and this week it is garlic from a stand that sells about 25 different types... we'll see if it is worth the effort of using different kinds...?

There was a chill in the air this morning so we bundled Maddie Mae up a bit. Here she is with Jeff in their hoodies :) Every time we attempt to have a photo shoot for Jeff and Madeline we end up with some pretty rough weather (the first attempt there was a tornado). We hope to have some quality pictures of them to go on the wall next to the Mother's Day pics of Maddie and I soon.

The Party

Over all I would say that Madeline's 1st birthday party was a success! The video montage that Jeff made really tells it all so I will just say that getting her hyped up on birthday cake and then introducing her new playroom was a good order of events, all that sugar made her run around in there for a while trying everything out :) Maddie is thoroughly enjoying all her new gifts so thank you so much for thinking of her!!

Maddie Mae is 1 today!

Today we are celebrating the birth of our precious Madeline Mae Grissom! A whole year has passed... wow... a whole year! As astounding as this is to me I have been looking at pictures over the last year and the amount of change in our sweet girl seems like it should have taken several years and not only one. We were expecting to meet our little girl on 10/16/09 but she wanted a better birthday so she showed up on 9/9/09 at exactly 6 p.m. After some worry and a ton of prayer over her early arrival God blessed us with a healthy (albeit very tiny) little girl. She has been a joy! We are loving getting to know her as her personality comes through more every day. We are having a little birthday party (just the three of us) and will post about her day in a future blog but for now, here is a photo of Maddie the day she came home from the hospital and one from today. Thanks for all the Happy Birthday wishes you have sent out to her!

Bath Time

Most of you saw this on Facebook, but in case you missed it, here it is again. Perhaps the cutest bath time video ever!

Nana's visit

Last weekend (now officially the weekend before last,oops) we had a visit from Madeline's Nana. It was the first time they have met and I think the first impressions were positive on both sides! Yvonne fed Maddie Mae almost every meal, spoiled all of us with Christmas gifts and really spoiled Maddie Mae with her first birthday gifts by helping her out with her winter wardrobe. Jeff and I went on 2 dates while she was here which was such a blessing! Over all ate some good food and spent quality time with our precious baby girl! It was a good weekend.

Goats

Yesterday I went hiking in Jewel Basin near Kalispell MT between flights. These mountain goats were kind enough to hang out with me for about ten minutes before I headed back down the mountain. That was a pretty cool experience!

Feeling far away

Our sweet Maddie Mae recently turned 11 months old. This event has taken me through some unexpected emotions. When I say that she is more fun all the time and I would not wish to return to her former stages I am speaking the truth... and yet there is a little piece of me that is always wondering if I am enjoying these moments enough, will I remember her sweet baby time well enough? While these questions have been a part of my emotional ups and downs the primary trigger comes when I try to figure out what we will do for her first birthday. I know that she will not remember this day but it is just getting harder and harder to think that none of our family will be around to celebrate her first year. Regardless, I will be baking cupcakes and making a special meal, we will have that picture of her tasting cake for the first time and allow her to make as big of a mess as she wants... but I am shedding some tears and feeling the miles between Billings and our families. My solace comes in the fact that we serve a great God with great plans and I have no doubt that we are here for a reason.

On a lighter note, Maddie Mae starting pulling up on everything taller than she is as soon as she started crawling and now has the ability to stand unaided for quite a while. Jeff has been wanting to capture this before she starts walking and here is what he just got :)

Look How She's Changed!

It's hard to believe that Madeline turned 11 months old yesterday. She will be walking and talking and graduating from college soon. Crazy!

 

We're Back

We're back in two regards. First, we are back from our trip to Boise where we got to visit with my family and friends. Second, we're back on the blogosphere as we finally got fed up with our old mac and bought a new one. . . the 27" iMac specifically, it's quite ridiculous but completely awesome too!

First our trip to Boise. It was hot, it was brown, it was smokey, (like most places in the Northwest in August) but it was home and it was nice to be there. My brother Mark and his family were there and they finally got to meet Maddie. She was the center of attention as usual and seemed to enjoy it, but she did get overwhelmed by all the new faces from time to time. We went bowling and ice skating which neither of us have done for years. We also cooked a salmon feast for everyone as Mark and his Family had just come from Alaska with copious amounts of said fish ( there was also halibut which was honestly better but we didn't cook that). Most of our time was spent just hanging out with family and friends it was a nice break from the daily grind. Maddie was a great little traveler and we were able to travel 300 miles between stops!

Now for our new toy / necessity. After sending our macbook out for repair for the third time and determining that it would need yet another costly repair, we decided to stop dumping money into it and just get a new computer. We contemplated many options, having my brother Tim build one for us, buying a new PC ,or just getting the old one repaired. We just couldn't stomach the thought of going back to a PC and we didn't want to spend anymore money on a dying machine, so we bought a new Mac and we love it! It will be super awesome for all the pictures and videos we like to take, plus I'm pretty sure it could launch the space shuttle if we wanted it to. At any rate it'll be nice to be connected to the world again. Unfortunately I have to get back to the daily grind at 5:00 tomorrow morning so here are some pics and I'm off to bed.

Oh yeah, an aside to the mac buying story. We went to Costco to look at computers and buy groceries today and Maddie had a little (actually not little at all) puking incident. We had just passed the fresh fruit section and she was acting like she wanted to be held, so of course I obliged. Soon thereafter she proceeded to projectile vomit all over herself and the front of my shirt. Everything went into slow motion and I remember thinking how is she still puking it's like a vomit fire hose! so that was fun.


Daddy Dressed Me


Cousins!


Michala and Maddie


Michala and MADdie

Can You Give Maddie Her Binki?

OUR LITTLE SHADOW

Look who figured out how to crawl.

Sushi at home

Eating sushi for Jeff's birthday has made me crave sushi all week long. So I decided it was time to try making it myself :) A good friend of ours gave Jeff a sushi making kit that we have never used for his birthday a couple of years ago so we already had all the equipment. I did not want to hunt down the good raw stuff just in case it did not work out so I ended up making California and Philadelphia rolls. Turned out well for my first time, next time I will attempt to use less rice and more filling. I will say that it was not that difficult, I expected it to be much more complicated. I made 5 rolls and we are stuffed! Jeff took some fun pictures so that we could share our first at home sushi experience with you.

Grissom's visit (and a Wynkoop too!)

Last friday Jeff's parents and his sister Debbie arrived for a visit. We played it pretty low key for the most part while they were here, fortunately they seemed to be as entertained by Maddie Mae as we are :) They took us out for dinner Saturday night for Jeff's birthday and he chose Sweet Ginger. It is amazing how often we ate sushi when we had two jobs and tip money to burn, it seemed like it had been so very long and it was delicious! I think I might try to make some vegetable rolls just so that we can get a small taste of that flavor occasionally here at home. Sunday was church in the morning (love Galations, great series!) and dinner off the grill on our back patio that night. Our visiting family was not interested in going to see fireworks so they blessed us by babysitting so that we could. We went up to the hangar where Jeff's offices are and were the only ones there, it was so nice to have the view to ourselves. Next year we plan to bring a bigger lens so that we can get some better pictures, we are not even proud enough of the ones we took to show them to you. We had a wonderful time getting out of the house alone and so appreciate the opportunity! Monday we went to Red Lodge, there were a few more tourists than we wanted to see but we still had fun wondering in and out of little shops and art galleries. There is a furniture shop that we just love to look through and every time we go we see a beautiful wooden musical drum/xylophone that we wish we could get for Jeff's dad, it was fun to see him play it and hopefully we can get him something like it some day. Tuesday we all went out for breakfast before sending them off back to Boise. I really enjoy the opportunity to get to know my in-laws better and this was a wonderful visit, thanks so much for driving all the way here! We look forward to seeing you soon when we go to Boise at the beginning of August.

Here are some of the pics from the weekend, enjoy!

I Could Crawl But I Don't Want To

Grandpa I'm Going to Need Your Glasses

Grandma Tells Great Stories

Aunt Debbie is Fun

Grandpa is Funny

Maddie and the Moose

The Center of Attention