Blankie is a dear member of the family. Maddie and her blankie are inseperable. She has loved this blanket since she was 3 months old. She refuses to go to sleep without it. She likes to "wear" blankie... as a shawl wrapped around her neck and shoulders, as a cape, and as a turban around her head.
We are trying to help her seperate a little from blankie, so we have her leave it in the house if we are going to run an errand. She runs and tucks it away behind a couch cushion or under a table and proclaims, "Blankie is alllll safe. You stay right there, Blankie!"
I've noticed Blankie is present in a lot of her pictures....
On road trips-
At Grandma's House-
Watching TV with Dada - Love her little hand in this picture :)
At Target in the freezer section-
We have to wash it 3 or 4 times a week because it gets so filthy being dragged around the house and outside. As it's going through the cycle in the washing machine, she frequently stands in front of the washer and reassures everyone that blankie is in the washer getting "Allllll clean!" In reality, she's really just reassuring herself. She is in charge of moving the blankie from the washer to the dryer. And it is a glorious time when Maddie and Blankie are finally reunited. They hug and snuggle and celebrate!
This blog is our family journal and I want to remember her love affair with Blankie, so thanks for indulging me in this silly post.
Macey is 5 months and is working hard to catch up to her sister. She loves to watch Maddie play and can't wait until she can run around with her sister.
Macey had her 4 month check up!
Here are her stats...
LENGTH - 25.5 inches (90%)
WEIGHT - 15 lbs, 7.5 oz. (77%)
HEAD - 16.5 inches (86%)
Maddie decided she should eat the "mollipop" for Macey. I love this picture! Look at those rolls and her wild hair. She is such a jolly baby!
Maddie was very upset about Macey getting shots, even though we talked about shots the whole way down to the doctor's office. She does not like it when Macey is sad. Anytime Macey starts crying, Maddie says, "Oh no Mama, Macey's not happy." And then she yells over Macey's crying and says, "Macey Kay-yate" in a sing-songy voice to calm her down. Amazingly, it works!
Anyway, Macey is a happy healthy baby!
Here's what she's been up to:
Sleeps 9pm to 6am (most nights)
Eats 5 ounces every 3 hours during the day
Has had rice and oatmeal cereal, prefers oatmeal
Everything goes in her mouth
No teeth yet, but she is a drool monster
Really, really, really wants to be a thumb sucker
Loves her Cloud B Gentle Giraffe Sound Machine
Does not like sitting in a dirty diaper and will let you know it!
Still will not take a binky :(
She is always smiling, laughing, and talking. Her eyes are a very pretty light blue. We're interested to see if they stay light or if they'll turn dark like Maddie's.
Macey & Adeline are less than 3 months apart, but it looks like a lot more than that! Macey outweighs Adeline by a few pounds :) We were over at Bennett & Gwynne's house for dinner one night and left the 2 babies on the floor to play. We heard Adeline fussing, so we went in to check on them and found Macey's big Pillsbury Doughboy arm laying over Adeline's neck! Poor Adeline was flailing her arms and kicking her legs. Even after I took Macey's arm off Adeline, she put it right back on her. They love looking at each other and making silly baby noises at one another.
Some more Macey smiles... such a happy girl!
I'm pretty good about taking pictures of the girls, but I have been making a real effort to take more video of the things they do. They change so often and so fast, I almost want to follow them around with a camera & document their entire day.
Macey loves her exersaucer and spends a lot of time playing in it during the day. Our family members lovingly refer to it as her command center. It kind of is like a command center. Macey loves sitting upright in it so she can see all the action. One of Maddie's favorite things to do is make Macey laugh. Here's a fun video of Maddie running around like a lunatic & Macey loving every minute of it. Grandma was sleeping so I had to keep shushing Maddie. I love watching these girls with each other.
This is a video from the first few days after Macey started laughing...
And this is more recent. She has a great belly laugh! Maddie always made us work hard to get a laugh out of her and even then, it was a courtesy laugh. Macey is always ready to give a real laugh.
Macey found her tongue while we were on our way out the door one day. So funny.
In exciting Macey news, she has mastered rolling over from back to tummy! I've seen her roll from tummy to back a couple of times, but most often, she just gets stuck on her tummy and yells until someone comes to roll her back over. Then she flips right back onto her tummy and yells some more.
We love our sweet Macey bug and can't imagine our family without her!
Times like these make me so happy to be living back near family. That and the fact that temperatures have been soaring above 115 degrees at our house in Apache Junction, AZ this week. Definitely don't miss that extreme heat.
My baby sister Kristen graduated!!!
My mom was able to get us graduation tickets at the last minute and we were so happy to go! Here are some pictures while we waited for the ceremony to start-
Grandma Eatough & Macey
Me & Maddie
(classic Brandon look on Maddie's face)
Me & my mom - sunglasses picture!
Maddie playing around in the grass
Here she is! It's official!
Kristen with Mom & Dad
Me & Kristen!
We are so proud of Kristen! She is a hard worker and is super smart - we can't wait to watch her go to college and change the world!
We blessed our sweet Macey Bug on May 1st. She looked beautiful in her blessing dress - the same one Maddie wore on her blessing day. Everytime I pull that dress out, I can't believe how amazing it is. Brandon's mom did an amazing job when she sewed it 3 years ago. I love that we have a grandma-crafted, family heirloom dress for each of our daughters to wear on their blessing days. Maybe they'll even have their daughters wear it when my grand daughters are blessed.
Here's my sweet Macey - such a doll baby. She is also wearing the same bracelet Maddie wore on her blessing day. I love traditions :)
We love our huge family. They are so supportive and involved in our lives. Here is a big group picture of everyone who came. We missed you Desatoffs, Hinckleys, Farrs, & everyone else!
Gwynne (who looks amazing for just having given birth 48 hours earlier!!!) came and brought sweet baby Adeline. We were so excited they came so soon after having their baby. Adeline is super sweet and so fresh from heaven. This is the fourth grand daughter in the Milloy family! We've got two more girls coming this year - that's six grandchildren total ... all girls! Hooray for pink!
Our family!
Brandon & Macey
Me & Macey
Great Grandma Milloy & Macey on the porch swing. Grandma is so sweet with the babies in our family - we just love her.
A mingling picture...
Grandma Eatough & Macey
Thanks to everyone who came to Macey's blessing! She is so lucky to have all of you in her family and she already loves you all!
Easter was super fun this year! Maddie totally understood the concept of the Easter Bunny and had a blast hunting for eggs and finding treats in her basket. After hunting for weeks for matching dresses for my girls, I finally found two that I loved. And then Maddie was sick on Easter, so we couldn't go to church anyway. So, no Easter picture of our family this year :(
Maddie and all the eggs she dyed...
Here's what the Easter Bunny left for the Milloys this year...
Maddie hunting for eggs...
This year, Brandon & I held the 1st Annual Milloy Ca$h Easter Egg Hunt on our property behind our new house. We hid 60 eggs with candy and cash inside. It was so hard to find the eggs! There are actually still about ten eggs somewhere out there that have not been located yet.
Everyone took off running as soon as the hunt started!
Maddie didn't care about finding money, she was just thrilled to open the eggs and see candy inside. Green M&M's are her absolute favorite candy!
Here's the whole clan with their loot!
Derrick found the golden egg with the $20 bill inside- lucky! Maddie is snatching it out of his hand in this picture.
I am still way behind in blogging and am just getting through all the March & April photos, so that explains why this post is 2 months late.
On March 14, 2011, my sweet Grandma Sandi passed away. Two months later, as I'm typing this, I can't believe she's really gone. This was no ordinary grandma that we only visited on holidays. She was intricately involved in each of our lives. Grandma Sandi helped raise us when we were babies, played Barbies on the floor with us when we were young girls, went to concerts with us when we were teenagers, and gave great advice as we married and had children of our own. She religiously called us on our birthdays, anniversaries, and weekly to check in and find out what we were up to. She ALWAYS was the first person to leave a comment on my blog posts. I am sad as I type this knowing she isn't going to comment on this blog post.
Her greatest joy was her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She just loved her family. Here is a picture of Grandma Sandi and Maddie when she was 6 weeks old. Maddie was her first girl great grandchild and she just ate up all the girly clothes and bows.
This was from a visit to Grandma Sandi's home when Maddie was less than a year old. She laughed and laughed as she watched Maddie chase her dogs around while she chanted, "Gog, gog!"
The only positive thing about Grandma passing away was the opportunity it gave all of us to come home for her funeral. It is very rare to have all six children together with all of our spouses and children. Grandma would have loved having all the family together.
We took the opportunity to get all of Grandma's great granchildren together in a picture. Here is everyone except for Annie - I think she was sleeping, maybe?
From left - Jamie, Tyler, Macey, Maddie, Adam, & Noah
And one more with all seven of them in their Sunday best!
Some fun twinner pictures - I love my Robinetta so much and I treasure the time we are able to spend together since we live in different states.
Maddie loved playing with her cousins. She ran after Adam & Tyler all week. We wish they all lived closer!
Me & my girls on our way out the door to the funeral. I dressed the girls in matching dresses because I knew Grandma would have loved it.
Macey giving Derrick some love.
All the moms and their babies! What an amazing legacy Grandma Sandi left behind.
We are all so happy that Grandma is with her family and is no longer in the pain she so bravely endured for so many years. See you soon Gramoo! :)
Maddie is so much fun! She has an amazing vocabulary, a photographic memory, a silly sense of humor, and a little bit of attitude all wrapped up in a string bean body!
Here are her stats:
WEIGHT - 26.4 pounds - 14%
HEIGHT - 36 inches - 32%
HEAD - 19 inches - 45%
Maddie is a total sponge and loves to learn new things. She loves floor puzzles and will work on them for hours. She builds them and then tears them apart and assembles them again. She loves the anticiapation of finishing the puzzle, so before she places the last piece in the puzzle, she looks around to make sure everyone is watching. Then she put the piece in upside down just to draw out the moment even longer. When she finally finishes the puzzle, she runs around the room shouting, "Maddie did the whole puzzle!"
Here she is with three of her favorite puzzles - she likes to dump all the pieces in a big pile and do all three puzzles at the same time.
Maddie goes to preschool story time at the library and she loves it. It's such a cute little program. They have songs with actions, story time, and a craft. Maddie loves the toddler section of the library. I'm so happy she loves the library as much as I do! We can be bookworms together.
We spend A LOT of time at the park. Yucaipa has lots of beautiful parks with big open areas of huge trees and lots of green grass to run around in. Maddie is like her mom and hates to wear shoes and socks. She is constantly taking her shoes off and running around barefoot at the park.
Maddie at Seventh Street Park. She calls this park "Turtle Park" because there is a stone turtle sculpture for the kids to climb on.
Maddie is such a sweet girl. She calls the other kids at the park "friends". I love how she looks at any new people as friends - I should be more like my Maddie.
I love this girl :) She still has the most intense eyes and the longest, thickest eyelashes I have ever seen on a little girl.
Maddie sitting on a caterpillar climbing structure at Wildwood Canyon Park. She calls this park "Ladybug Park" because she thinks the caterpillar she's sitting on looks like a ladybug.
Maddie loves music. She loves to learn new songs, especially ones that include actions. Grandpa pulls out his guitars most Sunday nights after family dinner. Maddie loves to play along with Grandpa. He is so sweet and patient with her. He lets her use his "picnics" (guitar picks) and pluck his guitar. He also prints out sheet music for children's songs and plays songs she knows. She thinks Grandpa is so amazing that he can play "Hokey Pokey" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on his guitar. She frequently makes requests for him to play songs from Toy Story or Lion King. She just assumes he knows every song.
Maddie & I were waiting at the pediatrician's office for the doctor to come in and she decided to sing some songs. Here is a medley of "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Popcorn Popping", & "Wheels on the Bus".
Maddie loves to sing to Macey. And Macey just eats it up. They are in love with each other. Here is a Maddie original called "Roxy Tonight". She loves Laura, Bryant, and their dog Roxy. She frequently sings about them, plays pretend and names her toys after them, and asks about them.
And here is a spirited rendition of "If You're Happy & You Know It". She sang this one with her cousin Adam. This is one of her favorites.
Maddie's other fun thing to do is attend tumbling class. She goes to Tumble Tots and learns all kinds of fun things. They are so great with the kids - the instructors teach them stretches, songs, and gymnastics tricks. Maddie just loves it. She asks to go to tumbling every day when she wakes up.
Here she is at circle time, stretching and listening intently to the instructor.
She has so much fun every week - this is a real Maddie smile.
One of the stretches is sung to "Humpty Dumpty" and it's Maddie's favorite one. She re-enacts it at home all the time.
Look for Maddie to be joining the USA gymnastics team in about 15 years. Here are the beginnings of a backflip.
At the end of each class, the instructors pull out the parachute and let them play with it.
They finish up by letting the kids ride on it while we sing "Ring Around the Rosy". Maddie looks forward to it every week and just squeals with delight as she spins in the middle with her friends.
Maddie such a wonderful big sister and such a joy in our family. We love to watch her grow and develop each day. She keeps us laughing all day long.
