Baby's First Thanksgiving

It was a big week for us here at the Buckeye Barry Household. Grandma and Grandpa Barry came to visit, we had not one, but two, Thanksgivings and we turned 5 months old! Here is a little bit more details about our week!

So on Saturday (the 22nd) we had what we now affectionately refer to as "faux-giving". Since Grandma Barry has to work most Thanksgiving days (or the day before or after) as a NICU nurse- we have begun "faux-giving" as a way to still celebrate the Holiday. So mommy, Madelyn and the Grandmas cooked up a yummy dinner of turkey, gravy, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, berry jello mold, pomegranate-cranberry sauce, apple tart and pumpkin pie with butterscotch whipped cream. Mommy got a bit over zealous in her turkey proportions and bought a 17 lb. bird. Since Madelyn is about the same weight, we thought it would only be fitting to show both 17 lb. turkeys next to one another.

We spent the rest of the day watching Ohio State clobber Michigan for the fifth straight year (a school record I might add)....GO BUCKS! Oh yeah, and we played with Grandma and Grandpa too.

Then, before bathtime, Madelyn got all dressed up in her pretty party dress and got to eat her dinner in the dining room- ooooooo. Madelyn had two of her favorites- sweet potatoes (which Mommy and Grandma Mary made while making the big people their sweet potato casserole) and pear/blueberry/oat- yum! You can see below that Madelyn enjoyed her bowl much more than the food to come...

Then all the adults sat down to eat on Madelyn's first faux-giving. Mom, Dad, Grandma, Uncle Jeffrey, Grandma and Grandpa Barry, and Aunt Amanda and Uncle Wayne (we needed to bring in Uncle Wayne as reinforcements to assist with the eating of the 17 lb. turkey because NO ONE can eat turkey like Uncle Wayne).
All of these festivities wore out Miss Madelyn so she took a little break on Grandpa!

Not that this part of the story has much relevance but I think Grandpa looked just fabulous in his pink apron :-)

The next day Grandma and Grandpa, Daddy, Madelyn and I went shopping for Christmas presents that are too big for us to take back from Ohio so Maddy will open them here. Here is Madelyn in her "snow" fighting gear (ok we had no snow here but it was in the 40's and that is REALLY cold for us).
On real Turkey Day Madelyn spent the morning bouncing in her jumper while Grandma and Mommy made another tart (Uncle Jeffrey eats them like they are going out of style). This one was apple, pear, plum and was quite tasty. Madelyn mostly like the bouncing, she didnt much care about the tart.

Since Uncle Jeffrey had to work on Thanksgiving, we ate later and Miss Madelyn did not make it until dinner time but here is her little Thanksgiving dinner. She had peas and pear-plum which we made her using the fruit we bought for the tart- she liked this fresh fruit stuff!

One last hug before going up for bathtime...

A little less crowded but here was Thanksgiving dinner #2- crown roast of pork, stuffing, potato gratin, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, homemade applesauce, and berry jello mold (a staple).

To close here are some of Madelyn's favorite things this week (we shamelessly stole this idea from Holly and Nick's blog)- Grandma's flavored water bottle, the diaper on her head game and Kaiya- her favorite kitty (who does not like her nearly as much).

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Kristin and Madelyn

Sick Day Blog Post

So as is our usual tradition- Madelyn and I go to Deloitte mommy playgroup on Wednesdays. This week however, an ugly bug has struck Mia and Maddy and they are both sick (Mia markedly more so than Maddy). Maddy has just lost her voice (sounding like an old man with emphysema) and is very tired. Poor Miss Mia is in the throws of a full blown cold- and just before her trip to Boston. Feel better Mia!!!

So, to commemorate our first sick (and to finally get to blog this week since Madelyn is sleeping so well with this little bug) I thought I would post some pictures.

Madelyn has been enjoying her solid foods very much. She has now tried applesauce (does not love it but likes sucking on apple slices in our mesh bag), pears (likes them much more than applesauce), cantaloupe (this is MUCH fun in our little mesh bag thingy), sweet potatoes (so very yummy and season appropriate) and carrots (by far our favorite as is evidenced by consuming the whole container for the first time ever!).

Last week we had our usual play date (before the sicknesses set in). My best friend's mom - Mrs. Brenda (Grandma Brenda to Madelyn) was here visiting for the week and she brought Rocky, her Yorkie, to play. Nick thought Rocky was the best toy ever and Rocky just loved Miss Mia- see below for evidence.



Madelyn and Daddy also had quite a good time watching the Ohio State/Illinois game last Saturday. O-H-I-O...GO BUCKS!




This is Daddy playing with the camera. Madelyn was quite happy watching Rocky run around the kitchen and watching Mommy, Grandma and Grandma Brenda cook Mexican- yum!



This weekend Grandma and Grandpa Barry are coming to visit for "faux-giving" so we should have lots to post about next week. We are cooking up quite a bit of food- turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potato casserole with homemade sugar and spice pecans on top, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry/pomegranate terrine (a new recipe I am trying out), strawberry-raspberry Jello mold (a perennial favorite in our family), pumpkin pie with butterscoth whipped cream and apple tart with butterscoth carmel sauce (thank you to Holly, Kathy, Mom and Mrs. Brenda for being my taste testers on this new recipe). I will put up pictures- hopefully it all turns out and is not too aggressive of a menu!

Saturday is also the best Saturday of the year- besides being "faux-giving" it is the 105th Ohio State/Michigan football game! Only 2 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes to go!! Go Bucks!!!! Beat Blue!!

Madelyn also turns 5 months old on Friday- how time flies! Here is a picture that I like very much because it reminds me of Madelyn and her Daddy- same face, same look, same drawers sinking a bit too low....hehehehehe I am so bad but it was too cute to pass up!

Have a great weekend!
Kristin and Madelyn

4 Month Checkup

Albeit a little late- Miss Madelyn had her 4 month checkup last week on Thursday (at the 18 week mark). Maddy tips the scales at nearly 17 pounds (16 lbs. and 13 oz.) and 27 inches long. She is in the 97th percentile for weight and the 100th percentile for height- no wonder we cannot keep her in clothes and she is now growing out of the 6-9 month sizes!

Dr. Satterfield was pleased with her growth and she was given the all clear to start fruits and veggies- yeah!!! No more bland oatmeal and rice cereal for us!

In order to take the Dr.'s orders to heart, we went home and tried applesauce with our oatmeal for the first time. Much to my dismay, the vaccinations that Madelyn received may have made her tired and cranky and she was not into food of any kind let alone something new. The video documentary of the first food moment is not one for the record books (note that the video will NOT be posted on the website less an unsuspecting viewer think we are killing her by the way she carried on). So we gave applesauce another go this weekend and she ate it but with much less lust than she eats her oatmeal (reference the oatmeal video on the website). Just as I was beginning to think that she was not into solid foods as much as I thought she would be... we tried sweet potatoes. Oh my do we love sweet potatoes. Evidence of the love: it took her 3 days to eat one container of applesauce (2.5 oz.)...it took her 1 day to eat the sweet potato container of the same size. The sight of her eating the sweet potatoes was quite comical though- picture the cartoons where cats and dogs get in a scuffle and you just see a giant dustball with appendages flailing out of it at random intervals and when it settles all animals are disheveled messes. This sight is much like Madelyn eating sweet potatoes- there is a giant dust ball of eating fury and then when the dust settles everything is covered in orange slime- her, me, high chair, clothes, floor, you get the picture. I am sorry I dont have a picture of this but it takes both hands to feed her!

Madelyn also got this nifty object that looks like a pacifier with a ring on one end and a mesh bag on the other (thank you Holly and Nick for the suggestion). The purpose of this nifty gadget is so that babies can eat more solid foods without the fear of choking because they just gum the mesh bag until the contents becomes mooshed up so much that it seeps through the bag and down their throat with no choking hazard. Madelyn got a slice of apple in hers this weekend and she loved it! Have no clue why baby applesauce is so so but apple slices are to die for- oh well...whatever floats her boat.

Our only other new advent this week is the love of the doorway jumper. She loved it before because she could she what was going on from a standing position- like a big girl- but after weeks of watching Nick bounce like a mad-man (thank you Nick for your wonderful lessons last week), Madelyn finally figured out how to bend her knees and jump up and down in her jumper. This was a favorite past-time this weekend at grandma's while mommy and grandma organized the office. Thank you to the person who invented such a glorious entertainer!

I leave you with Miss Madelyn and her "war wounds" from the doctors (note the blue army camo band-aids...they were out of pink this time so now she REALLY looks like a boy). Grandma Brenda (my best-friend's mom) is coming to visit tomorrow so we should have many good pictures to post next week.

BYE!!

Kristin and Madelyn

I Love Fall!

Sorry once again for Madelyn and my deliquent posting. We have been busy girls since our last post....

To kick off our fall season- Miss Madelyn was baptised at St. Matthew's Catholic church on October 5th. We had a wonderful fall dinner (which consisted of 14 people who love Miss Maddy very much...note the hugely long table below that took both our kitchen and dining room tables to construct) and a great time watching OSU football around the fire pit on the deck (thank you Uncle Shaffey for bringing your tailgating TV and satellite for this outdoor coverage).

Madelyn then decided she was far too busy these days to lay in one place so she rolled over for the first time on October 6th and was able to roll and pull her arm out and push up to 45 degrees (plus) on October 7th.

As if this week was not busy enough, Maddy then had her first taste of autumnal food- OATMEAL!!! Oh we love oatmeal....I cannot truly describe it- it needs to be witnessed. Then, as if this love was not enough our avaricious little girl saw mommy putting cinnamon in her apple-plum tart and wanted to try it in her beloved oatmeal...so we did...and now there is no going back. She eats 3 tablespoons of oatmeal in under two minutes- the mouth opens, swallows immediately and opens right away for more....and if more is not received fast enough then she chews on her fists and begins to cry. Mommy tried to play the airplane game with her or sing songs, but no, not for Miss Madelyn, she just wants to hork it down in silence so that she may enjoy each tablespoon to the fullest. She is her father's daughter.

Madelyn got to wear her Halloween witches costume early this year at our 3rd annual Halloween party. She didnt get to see many people but she did get to see Miss Mia in her pumpkin costume (maybe Mr. Nick will be able to come next year!). Mia smiled and hammed it up for the camera...Madelyn spent the time playing with her sparkly new dress. Ok maybe she is her mother's daughter too...

Madelyn also rode in her first swing solo at Mr. Nick's...by ride I mean sleep in the cool fall breezes. We would love to thank Nick's daddy (sorry Jason that is now what you shall be referred to once you entered this parenting journey) for going out specifically to put up the infant swing for us. Like our pumpkin socks BTW?

Finally- to round out the month of October, Madelyn went trick-or-treating. Madelyn, Mommy and Grandma Mary went out dressed up as three witches while Daddy manned the Barry haunted yard extravaganza. Funny thing is seeing all of the children that were too scared to come into our yard (causing me to bring the candy to the sidewalk) while Maddy sees the "spooky" things and laughs at them. I don't just mean the infinite number of Halloween props in our yard...no no...we are talking about in anyone's yard or in any retail store. We are talking about hearing a Halloween cackling noise and craning our neck to see where it came from...we are back to being her daddy's daughter again...looks like he won the genetic lottery but we may need to seek counseling for this unnnatural love of the supernatural someday.

Maddy has her 4 month (albeit slightly late) checkup on Thursday (after our "hump day" playdate that falls on Thursday this week). We will update the stats then for our weed-inspired growing girl (hopefully we wont need to raise the exersaucer another notch or move to the 9-12 month clothes since the 3-6 months DO NOT fit and the 6-9 months fit perfectly now!) See pics below from our last playdate at our house and Madelyn in her newly raised exersaucer!

Have a great week! Go Bucks!

Kristin & Madelyn

I have been a delinquent poster :-(

So sorry for the delay in posting- it has been a busy month! Since we have spoken last, I have left Deloitte (due to some unfortunate down sizing....especially of those with flexible work arrangements) and am attempting the stay at home mom thing. It has been an adjustment, I will let you know when I get used to it though!

Ok, back to Madelyn. Since I last posted Madelyn has watched her first Ohio State Game (like the bow?):

Seen her first live ducks. This is at "The Barn" in Amish Country, Central Ohio...they have my favorite broccoli cheese soup, cornbread and mac and cheese...we go every year when we go up to Ohio for the annual Barry family camping trip to Mohican (also in central Ohio where cell phone services DOES NOT EXIST). I digress, Madelyn LOVED the ducks, mostly chasing them, as you can see.

She went to her first farm (Malabar Farms in Central Ohio) - scenes from Shawshank Redemption were filmed here and they have AWESOME Amish fudge and a petting zoo. She personally liked the tractor the best.

She went to her first petting zoo. She liked the pony because it was more her size than the horses and cows (see her adoration below). I think the turkeys and goat just freaked her out. I really hope her sense of smell is not as developed as ours because it was hot and stinky and there was not enough hand sanitizer in the western hemisphere for mom's comfort level.

Although the season appears to be somewhat off, we decided to take the Barry family Christmas photo while at Mohican (that is the river behind our cabins in the background...note this is NOT how Christmas is Ohio looks). Madelyn was more interested in Grandma's finger than the camera but all of the pictures of her looking and smiling have someone else looking like a total goober so this one will have to do. From the left is Patrick's brother Mark, Mr. Barry, Mrs. Barry (not me, the original one), Patrick, me and Madelyn and Patrick's youngest brother David.

Madelyn also got to see her first mountains on the trip to Ohio. Last time she went it was dark when we went through the mountains and she was asleep. This time she really got to get out, stretch from being in her carseat and enjoy the view (see the smile?) This is in the middle of West Virginia somewhere.

Madelyn has also been a busy socialite. She has gone on numerous playdates with her best friends Mia and Nick (the kids may be starting to enjoy these almost as much as Kathy, Holly and I are....ok maybe not). Here are some of the kids' candids:



As far as development goes (now that we have covered all of her social events), Maddy has found her toes (though she doesnt grab and hold them yet), she can sit propped up (case in point above), she screams to hear her own voice, sleeps through the night (except during this 3 month growth spurt thing), eats rice cereal...oh she loves it...she lunges at the spoon and growls at you when you arent quick on the draw with the library paste looking stuff, she picks up soft things like her burp cloth and bibs and blankets, she drools uncontrollably...Dr. Satterfield said she has tooth buds in there and that is why the waterworks have started, she laughs out loud, turns to sounds, smiles uncontrollably, attempts to sing, talks ALL the time and can hold her self up on her arms on her tummy at 45 degrees.

Phew that is a lot of development in one month. She really wants to roll over but the tucking of the arm seems to allude her- she will roll to her side but cant make the tummy just yet.

Madelyn also had her first fall the other day. Mommy was working on the computer (since her work laptop is gone and we have not gotten another one yet, I only can do computer work when my mom brings her laptop over or Patrick is home) and Madelyn was sleeping in her swing. All of the sudden I hear her laughing uncontrollably. I turn to see her and she is standing on the floor, leaning back with her head in the seat of the swing. She is then pushing herself back and forth in her new head hammock. I get up from the table, run to get her and in the nanosecond that it took to get there, she sits on her butt, the swing's motor moves the swing backward, she falls back and cracks her head on the carpet as the swing wooshes back over her head. She was a bit confused as to how she ended up on the floor but no crying or injury resulted. After mommy panicked and called Dad and both grandmas, she learned her lesson to ALWAYS buckle the child in even when she is reclined and seems to be not mobile. Just when I least expected it she learned to scoot forward and backward and out of swings...sheesh!

OK that is more than enough for right now- I will post some new pictures soon (since tomorrow is her 3 month birthday). I will leave you with a picture that really fits my mom's nickname for her...pumpkin face....grand similarities don't you think?

~Kristin