Our LITTLE girl is growing up so FAST!

Madalyn will be 14 months in a couple days. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. It feels like just yesterday I was walking around with 40 extra pounds and a baby kicking in my stomach all day long. Now I'm carrying 20 lbs and running around everywhere stopping Madalyn from climbing on the fireplace and eating the dirt from the plants. She amazes me everyday with the things she learns and can do. Madalyn has now learned her mobility is limitless. She tries and climbs on, over, and in EVERYTHING. Her favorite thing is to hide in closets and cabinets. She closes herself in the kitchen pantry, the coat closet and I even found her one day sitting in the lower cabinet of our china cabinet.



It's funny how we spend so much time trying to get babies to talk and walk, and then once they do we spend all our time trying to get them to be quiet and to sit still. :) I love how I can actually communicate with Madalyn now and she understands me, for the most part. She's still using a lot of her babysigns, but she's also talking a lot more now too. Granted some things only Erik and I can understand what she is saying, but nonetheless I'll count them. Her cutest is when she says "please", or more like "pweese". She's pretty good at saying it now, let's just hope it lasts for a long time. And I love now that I can tell her to go get a book and she'll go get one, or tell her it's time to brush her teeth and she'll run to the bathroom and point to her toothbrush, or that the minute she hears the door open in the evening she yells "Daddy" and runs to the stairs. She loves her Daddy and misses him everyday. She's even taken up his goofy smile and quirky laugh. I need to get pictures and videos of them both cause although they can be annoying with a grown adult, they are very cute with her. Overall, Madalyn is the best little girl ever! Biased maybe...and I don't have much expereince with other children, but I would have to say she is a very good kid. If the rest of my kids are half as good as her I'll be a very lucky momma.

Madalyn loves her baby. Notice her giving "loves" to her baby. When she gives me loves she'll pat me on the back just like I do her sometimes. It's adorable.



Madalyn wishing she was one of her own toys.

Workin Mama

We've had a pretty big transition in our family recently. I got a job offer for the Women's and Children's Pool here in Utah County. It includes the UVRMC, AFH, and Orem Community Hospitals and covers pediatrics, the NICU, and the Mother/Baby unit. This offer came at a time when we were seriously looking at houses up in West Jordan. BLAH! Things always seem to come at the same time. After a week of a lot of stress, too much for my liking, and critical decision making we decided that I would take the job here in Utah County and stay in Orem for one more year. I felt this job would be a great experience for me and a way for us to save a little more money before buying a house. So after having a whole year of my only obligation being Madalyn, granted she does take up the majority of my time, I will now be working two or three 12 hour shifts a week. I really am very exciting to start working though, the only thing I'm dreading is the lack of sleep I will acquire. I'm going to work the night shift so we don't have to put Madalyn in daycare all day. It's going to be hard enough leaving her already, but having the majority of the time be while she is asleep makes it easier for me. I start next week with my training, so we'll see in a couple of weeks if I'm still as excited. :) I also have to thank my cousin Jill for helping me out and babysitting Madalyn everynow and then for me while I have to do some of my training hours during the day. Madalyn likes it in that she gets to play with Berkley and Carter more often. This whole going back to work thing has made me realize how lucky some people are to have their parents so close to them. It would be so less stressfull to be able to take Madalyn over to Grandma's house all the time. :( Hopefully someday!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Erik turned 31 on Sunday. Quite the achievment huh?! 31 sure sounds old, but he says he doesn't feel that old at all. And well, besides the lack of hair growth on the head, I'd say I wouldn't think he was that old either. :) We celebrated on Saturday by first going frisbee golfing with some friends. With Madalyn we feel we don't do as much as we used to, and so getting outside and doing stuff we love was a lot of fun. Madalyn came with us also and she loved running around everywhere just as much as we did. However the course wasn't the most baby-friendly course. It was in a bunch of trees and seemed to have been a prior dumping spot. The course was covered with trash...like old metal and whatnot. Very bizarre. If only it was cleaned up a little bit it would be sweet. That night we had a BBQ at Phil's house for Erik's, Mark's, and Larissa's birthdays. That was fun to see everyone. Again, a child kind of limits your late night hang outs, so we don't get to see all our friends very often. At least the single ones, or couples without children yet. Sunday morning I made him a delicious breakfast consisting of french toast and our familie's favorite buttermilk syrup. That night we had dinner at Erik's mom's house with all his family. Ava wished it was her birthday the whole time, she's such a cutie. Somehow we need to get her to realize that she has more Aunts and Uncles than just Craig. It's hilarious, but Craig is her absolute favorite, and noone else comes even close. We didn't do anything extremely exciting, but that's what I love about Erik, he doesn't need huge to have a great birthday.

Happy Easter

Erik had Spring Break over Easter weekend so we went to Fort Collins and spent the weekend with my family. Bryan and Eliza were also able to come up from Denver and spend a few days with us. It was a lot of fun, as time spent with the family always is! Lots of eating, many games, and much needed relaxation. Madalyn and Kambria had a lot of fun together. They're at the learning to share stage which makes things interesting. At first Madalyn would just let Kambria take toys away from her, but after awhile Madalyn started showing some attitude back. They're sure cute together though. We had an easter egg hunt for the both of them and it's a good thing Daddy was helping Madalyn or else I think Kambria would have found the whole bunch of them. She's a pretty fast little girl!


We thought it would be fun to give them both a bath. If you notice the hair...the bath was much needed too.




Erik and I had fun decorating the "Bunny Hutch". We'd never seen gingerbread houses for easter before. I decorated the hutch part and Erik took advantage of his skills and tiled the floor around the hutch. Very impressive we know!



Grandma got Madalyn a beautiful easter dress for Sunday. We could have goten a better picture of her in it, but Madalyn was ready for a nap the minute we got back from church. She's a lot like her Mom. :) I'd say she's adorable in anything though, but I do have some bias.



Overall we had a great time in Fort Collins with Grandma and Grandpa and look forward to the next get together. We also learned some exciting news over Easter, Bryan and Eliza are expecting another baby...and it's a boy! The first grandson. Will Grandma know what to do with a boy? :) They're sure going to have their hands full, well if this new one is anything close to the energy level of Kambria. We're very excited for them!

We Miss Grandma!

Grandma Fairbanks left this past Monday and it's a good thing we're all going to visit them over Easter weekend because we miss her and everyone else already. It was very nice having some company during the days. I think Madalyn enjoyed seing another face other than Mommy and Daddy once in awhile too.

Warm Weather!

We're finally getting some warm weather here and we can't wait until it's actually summer. Usually I don't get sick of the winter, but this one has been different. Not only have we had a real winter, with snow after snow, but a little baby makes it even harder to go outside and do things during the winter. We had a pretty nice day last week here so Grandma and I took Madalyn to the park for the first time since last summer. Crazy, but the little girl doesn't like the swings anymore, maybe she just needs to get used to them again. But the slides she likes; however, she gets more of a kick out of trying to climb up them then go down them. Basically, I'm ready for the days that you sweat just standing outside.

Showing Off the Teeth

Madalyn is so proud of her new additions to her mouth. She's figuring out that they make eating food easier and so she tries and chews things with just her front teeth. Someday she have a whole set.