Buckeye Barrys Blog

Fun in the Sun!

2011-07-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Since our pirate party, Madelyn and I have been laying low and trying to beat the oven-like temperatures outside. Just because we have been playing low key (no week long pirate party decorating and cooking marathons) does not mean we have not been having fun!

We went to a wonderful shady playground in Mooresville early one day with our friends and climbed like a monkey with Henry...

We played in a "spooky tree fort" (so named by Maddy) with Nick. I am sure Nick is saying "Madelyn, don't be afraid, I will protect you from that spooky spider web because I have these awesome super hero workman goggles"...

We have also been thoroughly enjoying that Grammy had hand surgery and is out of work for a few weeks! We went to our very first theater movie, Cars 2 (and loved it!!). We were too busy watching the previews (I believe she thought these were the main feature) to smile for any pictures. Notice the massive bucket of popcorn??? What you cannot see is the giant cherry Icee and bag of candy next to her, Piggy and Lighting McQueen...they were hungry apparently....

We went on several mall shopping excursions to get clothes for Grammy to put on more easily with only one hand- too bad Captain Hook doesn't have a line of clothing for the uni-handed... Madelyn, however thought these mall trips were for ice cream, the Disney Store, riding elevators and escalators, and lunch with Grammy. We somehow even found a wonderfully air conditioned and padded play land...I have to say, better than riding the outdoor escalators up and down repeatedly in the hot sun at Carolina Place...

We even found out that water from the fountain at South Park is very cooling on hot days and it has benches in the shade for Mommy and Grammy!

After hot morning activities, we southerners like to stay indoors in the heat of the afternoon! We love play-doh time with Grammy...

(she is showing you her pizza that she made for Daddy...you can see it can't you??)

We also cooled off with an at home movie afternoon and some dancing with Daddy...like the Cinderella Castle playset on the coffee table from Grammy??...we like to recreate our movies as we watch them...

We also have been doing a lot of potty training practice while we have no where to go and the hot weather means running around in a bare bottom is not so offensive. We have to be fully weaned from diapers before we can start school again in the fall...and we WILL be starting school again in the fall!

While the photos of me, nearly 30 years ago, learning to potty train have taught me one valuable lesson - NEVER PHOTOGRAPH YOUR CHILDREN ON THE TOILET (it is never cute nor funny when you grow into a teenager or have these photos shown to your future husband and in-laws....no names mentioned...MOM)- I could not resist photographing our partner in crime in his wonderful waiting location at Mr. Nick's house...

Thank you, again, for reading! Stay cool and have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend!

Kristin and Madelyn

A Pirate's Party For Me!

2011-06-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

Our story begins with a rising 3 year old with a penchant for Peter Pan and pirates. No princesses, flowers or Dora for this little girl...we needed a pirate party (with a sprinkling of fairies and pixie dust because...after all...Peter Pan does need his right hand girl and pixie dust is "sparkly like Mickey's castle).

To begin our journey to Neverland we invited our pixies and pirates with a treasure map, showing them the precise directions to Neverland. For those Peter Pan novices among us, the directions are those given to Hook by Tinkerbell in the movie and the footprints are those of Tink as she hopped across the map showing Hook the way. We burned the edges of the pages to make them look old and worn.

We mailed a few invites but most were tied and hand delivered like this:

After lots of planning, it was PARTY DAY! Our pixies and pirates were directed to the house by a few key markers:

Pirate Balloons...

A few key scenes of London as they "flew over"...

A small shadow of a boy who wouldn't grow up coming to collect the children from their room for an amazing journey of imagination...

A gateway to Neverland sign and, of course, by following the second star to the right!

Upon entering Neverland, our guests were captured by the scurviest of the scurvy, Captain Hook!! They were taken to skull rock aboard the Jolly Roger and forced to sign up to be on Hook's crew! Hook himself was awaiting them to sign his pirate enlistment book...

Here is the demand from the Captain...

Here is his table of goodies awaiting his new pirates: the enlistment book to sign, hooks for all, tattoos (afterall, "those who sign without delay...get a free tattoo"), treasure maps of Neverland to find Pan and swords to fight him!

Here is a close up of the Neverland maps (really maps of our house and where all the games and goodies were located)...excuse my feet in the picture...photography is not my strong suit!

Here are the swords awaiting their new pirate owners!

Once you had signed in, gotten hooks, swords and tattoos, you were ready to enter (sadly enough the skull on the door and above the door are permanent fixtures in our garage from the Halloween party and were not added for just the birthday)!

The first land you encounter is the Neverland Jungle complete with jungle vines and flowers.

Next our pirates headed to the Indian Camp where they were greeted by the Big Chief and could make headresses (on the table in the center) and tribal artwork (pirate and pixie coloring pages on the easel).

Even the Indian Camp held a reminder that danger lurked around every corner (no pun intended...not really at least)!

Deeper into the Neverland Jungle you could review your treasure map and try to pinpoint where Hook's treasure was!

At the edge of the jungle lurks Crocodile Creek where Tic Toc Croc lives! It is also here that our pirates could try to keep that sneaky croc's mouth shut by tossing rings around his snout...the sign behind the crocodiles reminded them of what happened to Hook when he didn't succeed!

Here is our little Tic Toc Croc ring toss...

After you successfully defeated the Croc a quick stop by Birthday Cake Cape showed you what to look forward to later, a replica of the Jolly Roger complete with Hook and Pan in battle and a Tic Toc Croc awaiting his lunch! The top boat is made of Rice Krispies while the ocean was white cake.

Once you made your way past the Cape, you ended up in Mermaid Lagoon where the Jolly Roger was docked awaiting the new sailors to play on it! Made out of Madelyn's slide, a few refrigerator boxes, a scene setter of a pirate ship deck, a board, an old sheet and nets it included a ships wheel, a hold below decks and a plank to slide down!

Our littlest pirates who couldn't play on the Jolly Roger got to cool off with Madelyn's pirate water table (a birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa Barry).

Once you were initiated in the art of sailing, our pirates decided to stage a mutiny against Hook and his scurvy ways! In "Hit-a-Hook", water cannonballs were thrown at the Captain to defeat the one-handed villain!

Here are the awaiting cannonballs (and some blue ones since Madelyn HAD to have blue water balloons). It was so hot that they were exploding so they got cooled down in a nice cool water bath in their holding tank!

Here is Captain Madelyn, herself, fighting that evil pirate who is trying to capture Peter Pan. A direct hit and a victory for the pirates!

Once Hook had been defeated by our band of courageous cannonballers, they all made their way to the Lost Boys hideout at the Hangin' Tree (thanks to Daddy, Grandpa and Uncle Davey for the awesome swingset, clubhouse, tree fort!).

Here is Captain Madelyn and her right hand Piggy playing at the hideout in victory!

Since Hook was no longer a threat, the pirates could also successfully hunt for all of the treasure that Hook had hidden around Neverland. Here is our Dig for Doubloons game...a big hit!

A treasure chest with some sand, shovels and 144 doubloons hidden in the sand were all it took for the kids to pick their favorite game...maybe because it was also in the shade???

Even though Hook had been defeated, our pirates had to watch out for other scurvy bandits hiding in the forest behind the clubhouse hideout...

Here is a view from the hideout...

And just a little reminder to guard your treasure well!

Our victorious band of pirates then headed to Cannibal Cove for some refreshments! Rum punch and beer for the adults...

A small treasure chest cooler held juice boxes and mini water bottles for the small handed.

Here is a view of the food tables before food was set out.

The main entree was Tic Toc Croc ribs from that nasty lizard!

More food and, sadly enough, the only shot we got of the pirate ship carved watermelon....it even had sails and licorice cannons sticking out of its sides courtesy of my mom!

Here is the Pieces of Eight (chicken nuggets), Seaweed Slaw (cole slaw), Peg Leg Potato Salad (hot german potato salad) and Ships Wheel Salad (pasta salad made with wagon wheel noodles)

Patrick and Grandpa getting 9 racks of ribs off the grill...yum!

After food, fun and lots of cake and rice krispie treats our guests could take home Pirate Pops (red velvet cake pops shaped like pirates) or Pixie Pops (vanilla cake pops shaped like star or circle wands that glittered in gold sanding sugar)

You could also fill a bag from our candy bar featuring sour cherry cannon balls (sour cherry balls), cod fish (swedish fish), pixie dust (pixie stix) or chocolate doubloon coins...I think the candy is always my favorite!

Finally, our biggest buccaneers took home chocolate doubloons, pixie dust, compasses, bouncy cannon balls and pirate paddle ball for the boys and glittery pirate key chains for the girls. Our toddler pirates had the candies, compasses, balls and spy glasses and our baby buccaneers took home Peter Pan books. Everyone got Jake and the Neverland Pirates guides to being a pirate with activities, games and crafts in it!

Cast of Characters who Made the Party AWESOME!

"Punkin Face" Grammy (cake baker, crafter, decorator) and Captain Madelyn (Birthday Pirate)

(Note: Here is a close up of her party t-shirt design that I made in Photoshop since I couldn't get her to stand still long enough to photograph it!)

Grammy Barry (chief crafter, artwork painter, decorator, water balloon filler, assistant baker and sous chef)

1st Mate Daddy "Peg Leg Patrick the Plunderer" (decorator, BBQ master, woodworker) - like the Photoshop-made Pirate Crew t-shirts for the guys (the girls did NOT want to be deck hands so we went sans-pirate shirts)??

Great Grandma Geig (head sous chef and chief Madelyn movie watcher)

Quarter Master Great Grandpa Geig "Scruvy Frank the Fearless"(electrician, assistant BBQ master, sous chef, decorator and chief rum master)

Boatswain Grandpa "Scurvy Steve the Scalawag" (decorator, errand runner, carpenter)

Firemaster Uncle Jeffrey (supervising fireman..only a few incidents while burning invitations and the pirate enlistment book... errand runner and heavy stuff hauler)

Me - (supervisor, chief planner, decorating supervisor, head baker, head chef, craft supervisor and one tired mom!)

Thank you for reading, we hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures as much as we enjoyed the party!

Aye Aye Mateys!
Kristin, Captain Madelyn and Peg Leg Patrick

Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

2011-02-28T12:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, here in Charlotte, was an abnormally warm...err hot...day. We went to the playground, hiked around the woods and collected monkey balls, washed both cars (I was beginning to think the paint was only being held on by the dirt accumulation...much to my great relief, it is still on there sans dirt) and cleaned the whole garage out (I was getting tired of scaling a washing machine, 3 strollers, an uninstalled new microwave, the manger from Christmas and various Halloween projects in differing stages of completion in order to take the garbage out). We were so spoiled by this magnificently hot weather (82 degrees on February 27th...crazy huh?) that the hurricane force winds of today did not even phase us as we tried to play on the playground. After being nearly blown down, hit by a falling tree limb and getting our hair stuck in our matching Cherry Coke lip gloss, Maddy and I called it a day and headed in the house.

What do you do when you had such wonderful weather yesterday and are now trapped in the house? We played blocks, read and cooked in our fake kitchen. Madelyn was in the middle of pouring me a delightful glass of milk when she pulled out a stick of butter and declared "Mommy, this is peanut butter". I tried to explain the difference between butter and peanut butter but she was not quite understanding so I pulled out the real deals to demonstrate. She took one whiff of the peanut butter (something we have been TOTALLY uninterested in for all of our 2 years and 8 months) and marched to the drawer, obtained a spoon, grabbed the jar and....
A new found favorite snack! She declared that she was going to feed this to Cole, Raegan and Nick tomorrow at playgroup...I tried to explain Nick's horrific peanut allergy to her but to no avail...we will just hide the jar instead!

Happy Monday Everyone!
Kristin and Madelyn

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-20T08:06:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a VERY long time since we posted but just a quick happy holidays post...I swear I am getting my Christmas cards out...they just might be New Years cards the way I am moving!

So here is just a sample to tide you over!

Happy Holidays to all!!!
The Barrys

Madelyn - Christmas 2008

Madelyn - Christmas 2010

Holidays Year Round

2010-07-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

It has been quite warm here recently...I define quite warm as upper 90's to low 100's warm. It has been so hot and we have become so acclimated to the heat that on July 4th, when the nighttime air was a cool 75, Maddy and I wore jeans and fleeces!

You would think this kind of summer oppression would dissuade a 2 year old from having haunted fantasies and dreaming of white Christmases...nope! Madelyn spends a good part of each day dedicating her play to one of these holidays. We watch Christmas movies, we wear our Halloween costume, we play "dark and spooky forest" (her imaginary game involving haunted places, ghosts and witches), we watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and we sing Christmas carols.

Her new favorite possessions are a pumpkin from Michaels (yes, Halloween is out at Michaels), a box from Hallmark that screams and plays haunted house noises when you open it (she stores her beloved piggy in this joyful box) and what we affectionately call "Spooky Snoopy". Spooky Snoopy is a stuffed Snoopy from Hallmark that is dressed as a mummy and mummy walks across the floor to "In the Hall of the Mountain King". Madelyn not only tells us that the song is by "Edvard Grieg" but she feels it is her duty to conduct Snoopy as walks across the floor as if she was standing in front of the Cleveland Orchestra. Here is a picture of Madelyn and her favorite Halloween things:

Here is a video clip of Conductor Madelyn and the Spooky Snoopy Orchestra:

Madelyn and Spooky Snoopy.

Besides Halloween, Madelyn also has an unseasonal obsession with Christmas. Her current interests are in a Christmas card from last year that plays "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and last year's Disney Christmas Special "Prep and Landing". We play with the card all day and watch Prep and Landing as our cool down routine before bath and bed. It's very festive around here.

Here is Madelyn and her Christmas "story", as she calls it:

Christmas in July.

I suppose we also have been doing some actual summer activities around here. We go to the pool all the time (Madelyn is sporting a better tan than me!), we try to play at the playground when the slides are not as hot as the surface of the sun, we saw fireworks on the 4th of July, we went to the beach and we have gone to Carowinds (our local amusement park) to practice riding rides for Disney.

Here is Madelyn's first fireworks...after the initial shock (and shut eyes), she really enjoyed them! She looked so festive in her Firework Finery!

Here is Madelyn's first ride on the cars, her first spinny ride (not her favorite as you can see) and Maddy meeting her idols, Snoopy and Woodstock (whom she tried to pry off the bench), at Carowinds:

We have also been doing a lot of playing with Grammy since Daddy has been out of town (I apparently get very boring). They like to get all dressed up and then watch movies and eat popcorn - it ranks pretty high on the Madelyn fun meter!

It has been an eventful summer so far and hopefully all of this holiday preparation will come in handy when the actual holidays roll around.

So for now Happy Halloween and Merry Christmas from the Barry's!

Some Good Old Fashioned Summer Time Fun!

2010-05-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

Even though it is not quite summer yet, here in the south we have been feeling "summeresque" temperatures for quite some time. Recently, however, Madelyn has taken up some quintessentially summer activities for the first time and we thought we would share.

Swimming:
Here is Maddy at her second swimming lesson...she loves them! Our neighborhood pool opens this weekend so I am sure we will have more to post then!

Here is Maddy swimming in Grammy's hot tub...she loves her "swimmies" and her froggy inter tube!

Slip and Slide:
Our wonderful neighbors, Daniel and Monique, are just big children...as such they own a slip and slide...no they have no children...yes I did say slip and slide. On Mothers Day it was so blazing hot that we thought it was only appropriate to christen it. Madelyn understood the concept straight away and dove right in...literally and figuratively. For the sake of everyone involved I will only be showing Madelyn slipping and sliding!

Blowing Bubbles:
One of our favorite hot day past times is blowing bubbles. Mainly because Mommy can stand in the shade and blow bubbles and Maddy can run like crazy to catch them...and then take a really good nap!

Strawberry Picking:
Yesterday Madelyn, Mommy, Daddy and Grammy went to Springs Farms to pick strawberries. It must be in Maddy's blood because Aunt Amanda and I went strawberry picking in the same place when I was about 36 weeks pregnant...Madelyn has loved it since she was in utero and yesterday was no different!

Hunt for berries...

Selecting the perfect berry...

Giving it a little try...

Maybe one more, got to make sure they are good...

Mommy...you have to try these...

Look at all the "Barry's" in that car! Ok...I couldn't resist...I tried...

To close, here is Madelyn, Brutus (her Ohio State yard gnome) and Grammy surveying the back yard for the next fun thing to do.

Have a great week...we will be here just having fun!
Kristin and Madelyn

Garden Therapy

2010-05-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

In recent years (and especially after I have stayed home with Madelyn), I have taken to gardening as a way to release stress and focus my once overworked brain into something productive and useful (Facebook is not usually considered useful!) I have not taken any pictures of the gardens in previous years because they were starter gardens and not very photogenic. This year, though, I think I have mastered the basics enough to share a few pictures!

Here is an early shot of the garden (taken 4/21/10). The first two triangular trellises house snow peas and sugar snap peas. These will be the first producers of the garden and will be the first to fade with summer's heat so these were planted at the very beginning of April.

Here are the peas today, quite a bit bigger and flowers which tell me delicious peas are coming soon!

The next section in this raised bed is the cucumbers. We have 6 cucumbers: 4 slicing (like English cucumbers- Burpless Hybrids to be exact) and 2 pickling. The supports are tomato cages turned upside down with a bamboo stake in the center for extra climbing support.

The next section houses our lettuce collection...OK, it is not really a collection, it is all Butter (or Boston Bibb) lettuce. These are really expensive at the store so they are much cheaper to grow at home...almost picking time for a few of these. When the lettuce comes out in a week or so the green beans will get planted here.

The last section of this raised bed is herbs and peppers.

Starting on the far left and back of the bed and moving forward, there is Thyme (which I use all the time...no pun intended...not really at least), Chives, Texas Tarragon (Mexican Mint Marigold) which is a great substitute for French Tarragon, and the little one at the front is French Tarragon (it is finicky in my garden so the Texas Tarragon does much better for my purposes).

The next row to the right (with bamboo stakes) is peppers. At the back is hot banana, middle is jalapeno, the front is sweet banana.

The next row to the right is herbs again. The back is basil and the front (bush-like herb) is flat-leaf parsley.

Along the back of the bed, against the wall, are leeks. These are a new one for me so we will see how this goes!

In this picture you can see the bed I just described along with the second bed (way at the back of the picture near the deck):

The second raised bed in my little garden plot houses all of the tomatoes (except one renegade tomato but I will get to that later). Here they are today. Some have fruit already, all have flowers and they are growing fast like the delicious weeds that they are!

From left to right there are:
Early Girl (normal red globe tomatoes)
Sweet 100 (red cherry tomatoes)
Yellow Pear (small yellow pear-shaped fruit)
German Johnson (large dark crimson tomatoes)
Juliet Roma (red grape tomatoes)
Purple Cherokee (dark purple/black globes)
Mexican Midget(orange cherry tomatoes)
Pineapple Hawaiian (yellow globes with red striped skin and flesh...so cool!)
and two Amish Paste (roma tomatoes that produce fruit all season instead of the usual romas that produce all of their fruit at once).

Here is the renegade tomato I mentioned earlier...it had to be planted in bed #1 by the peas because I saw it and wanted it and had no room in the tomato bed for it (I swore I would only buy 10 tomatoes this year...now we have 11)! This is a Green Zebra- it is way cool. He has green globe fruit with dark green stripes on him...totally cool, right?

So I figure my salsa and tomato salads will have red, yellow, orange, purple, crimson, yellow/red striped and green in them...a fiesta for the eyes I tell you! Maybe this will entice Madelyn to eat them all!

I also have a raspberry bed but they are not very showy right now as they are just getting their flowers and little fruits that you can't really see- these are new this year too and I am very excited about eating fresh picked berries- if the deer and birds and wild turkeys don't get them first!

Thanks for letting me ramble on about my current obsession. Madelyn and I love to check on everything every morning- she knows what each plant will make, she waters things to the point of drowning, she picks off caterpillars and puts them back in the "jungle" and she lovingly scoops dirt onto everything...it's a start right? Maybe she will have more talent out of the gates than I, at least I can hope. The only trouble I see with my plan to garden rather than drink to relieve stress and frustration is it keeps making me want to eat food that pairs so nicely with wine and margaritas...drat!

To close here are the beautiful azaleas in bloom...not so much a kitchen garden but it is food for my eyes and soul!

Kristin

A New Favorite Past Time

2010-04-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

Here is Madelyn and her new favorite past time. She loves to go to the putting green at Patrick's office to "do golfing" as she likes to say (like her plaid golfing shorts?). Madelyn spends her weekdays practicing her new skills with a golf club set that Grandma bought her- it has 3 clubs, and 3 balls and two holes to putt into. She uses these honed skills to beat Daddy at the office putting green on the weekends. That is where Daddy and Madelyn are this morning...golfing...and giving me a morning off...I like this new past time.

Have a great weekend!
Kristin

A Weekend of Easter Festivities

2010-04-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

Madelyn had a very busy holiday weekend...we are still recovering from the excitement!

First, we went to Aunt Andrea's to make Easter cookies with Aunt Andrea, Aunt Courtney, "Cole Bear" (as Madelyn has taken to calling him...just like Aunt Andrea) and Raegan. Andrea decided that we need more Easter traditions so we made cookies, lots of cookies. Cole Bear was not thrilled with Madelyn's presence since she is quite loud and he is loud-noise averse right now (vacuums, mixers, packing tape...Madelyn) but Madelyn and Raegan had a great time running around while the mommies decorated the cookies....so much for an Easter tradition for the children...maybe next year! Here are some of the fruits of our labor...I don't think we are starting a cookie business anytime soon but they sure tasted good!

Here is Maddy in Aunt Courtney's shoes watching Little Einsteins...still not decorating cookies...

Then, Madelyn the baker moved on to baking cakes with Grandma. Grandma was trying out a new cake recipe...Pink Lemonade Cake with Lemonade Buttercream. We give the buttercream an A+++++ but we liked Grandma's old lemon cake recipe better. Here is Madelyn sampling some...err a lot...of the icing, I guess she agrees that it is really good too!

Madelyn, being the Easter artist that she has been this week, then moved on to egg decorating. Mommy and Grandma would dip the eggs in the color/water/vinegar mixture and then Maddy would help paint on the glue and glitter. I think she liked the paintbrush more than the painting...

Here are our finished glittered eggs in their basket:

On Easter Sunday, Madelyn got all prettified in her Easter dress and we went out hunting eggs. Now if you remember from our last post, Maddy was not a fan of egg hunting. Apparently that only applies to when other kids are vying for her eggs because she seemed to really enjoy collecting the eggs in the backyard. Before the egg hunt, she stopped for a photo or two for Daddy:

Then she took the high ground on her slide to assess her strategy for egg collection:

Then she began collecting:

With a stop to define all of these eggs as Maddy's eggs:

All the egg hunting really tired her out...like the Piggy pillow?

Then, our Easter Diva stopped to take a quick photo or two with Mom and Dad:

Easter Dinner (after waking up Uncle Jeffrey...he had been on a lot of fire calls the night before so he was really tired...but nobody sleeps when Maddy is around) was ham, baked beans, cauliflower gratin, marinated asparagus salad, jello mold (a Rasmussen/Barry family holiday staple), rolls and pineapple-coconut cream pie. Madelyn had a full plate of all of the goodies and she ate....rolls...I just gave up...rolls it was...Happy Easter to Maddy!

And finally some Easter basket treasure hunting before bed:

Wow- that really was a wonderful, busy weekend! Maybe this weekend will not be so eventful!

Have a great week!
Kristin and Madelyn

Why Hello There Mr. Easter Bunny...

2010-03-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Madelyn, Patrick and I took a trip to the community clubhouse for the annual Easter egg hunt. This was our first official egg hunt since Madelyn was not walking last year to actually hunt for eggs. I was very excited to see how Madelyn would react to such excitement, the thrill of the chase, collecting "treasures" and seeing one large rabbit!

The day started out a bit rough since Madelyn did not sleep well the night before but this all changed when she saw him...the bunny...

She was so happy that the Easter Bunny drove by (several times) and waved to her on her bike that she forgot all about being crabby...until we had to wait to hunt eggs. Madelyn is not very patient...she may get this from me...but she just could not understand why there would be an entire lawn of eggs that she couldn't run out and get.

After waiting, we got the go ahead and they were off!

Madelyn made a quick run for the eggs but never wanted to put them in her basket, just hoard them all to herself (note- the picture below is NOT of Madelyn placing eggs into her basket but her taking them back out so she could possess them all)- this led to more frustration with the whole egg hunting process.

Luckily, at the end of egg hunting there was a Bunny to love, candy to collect, a playground to explore and juice to drink on the bike ride home...and all was right with the world once again.

Have a great week, Madelyn and I are on to a week of more holiday festivities with egg dying, Easter dinner shopping, Easter cookie making with some friends and eating all of the aforementioned goodies!

Have a Happy Easter!!!
Kristin and Madelyn

Happy Birthday and Happy 5 Month Anniversary Best Good!!!

2010-03-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

Albeit slightly late, this post is for my best friend in the whole wide world on her birthday (which was yesterday).

Jenny and I have been friends for something ridiculous like 27 years...we shouldn't even say best friends, we should just call each other what we are...sisters (actually we call each other Best Goods...but that is another story). She was my maid of honor, she is Madelyn's Godmother and I had the distinct honor and privilege to be her matron of honor exactly 5 months ago today. (although I protest being called "matronly").

Patrick was lucky enough to be asked to capture their special day on video and it was very important to him to give them an AWESOME wedding video in the style, grace, and magnitude of our FABULOUS (did I mention FABULOUS?) wedding cinematographers, Paul and Holley Jackson of Four Seasons Films. We continue to watch and cherish our video and love it so much that Patrick spent hours upon hours trying to give Jenny and Graham something even a fraction as good as what Paul and Holley gave to us.

Here is the finished product...I think he succeeded! I do preface this with the site design being shamelessly borrowed from our own site that was designed by Paul and Holley (thank you, thank you, thank you again) but it was so perfect that we just could not improve upon it. Also note that two of the reception videos (if anyone is really watching all of these)...do not have sound. Youtube took it off because of a contract negotiation problem with Warner Music and us using one of their songs...sadly, my speech is muted...darn...but rest assured the sound will be up and running soon!

Without further delay here it is....Jenny and Graham...The Wedding.

To see our wedding trailer masterpiece that Paul and Holley created almost 6 years ago (wow that is a long time!) Click Here. To have your own event captured by Four Seasons Films please see their impressive website Here.

All in all, I think the video turned out pretty great...but when you are videotaping two people as gorgeous as Jenny and Graham then I think it is pretty hard to mess up!! Congratulations to Patrick on a job well done anyhow!

Here are just a few of the 27 years worth of photos of Jenny and I:

Anyways, Happy Belated Birthday and Happy Anniversary Best Good- I love you!

Favorite Thing Friday

2010-03-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

Ok- we have never really done a favorite thing Friday but Madelyn had such varied and unusual tastes this week that we thought we should post them...

Our snow hat...she wears it all day, everyday. It doesn't matter whether we are inside or out, in clothes or pajamas, eating dinner, watching TV or sampling some delicious plastic ice cream...she even learned how to put it (and her shoes) on this week all by herself.

Our multi-tasking sippy cup drinking abilities. Miss Alissa took this photo at playgroup this week to demonstrate what a well rounded multi-tasker she is...she can play with trucks, trains and Rubick's cubes all while drinking her juice.

The Pampers Box....we went to BJ's to buy diapers (with another one of our favorite things...Baby Cole...on Tuesday) but I have not been able to use them all week because Madelyn uses the box for EVERYTHING.

She uses it as a stage to sing, dance and perform culinary demonstrations on:

She uses it as a lemonade stand and piggy holder:

She uses it as a seat, to push around the kitchen, a step stool to access things on the counter and a table to drive her "Mater" cars on. All in all, it was almost our favorite toy of the week.

Of course, as usual, the only toy that could surpass the Pampers box for the favorite thing of the week is Messy Piggy. Another photo taken by Miss Alissa, here is "Piggy Love":

Have a great weekend!
Kristin and Madelyn

Musician Yesterday, Architect Today

2010-02-26T11:59:00.000-08:00

Apparently our musical phase was fleeting because today we are on to building...lots of building. In fact, so much building that we may become an Architect like Aunt Jenny. Madelyn constructed towers of blocks for almost 45 minutes today. She would not let Mommy play so I just photo-documented the construction process of one of the towers and it's resulting demolition...

4 Blocks

5 Blocks

Adjust the 5th Block Because We Didn't Like How It Looked

6 Blocks

7 Blocks

CRASH!!!!

Happy Weekend Everyone!
Kristin and Frank Lloyd Wright...I mean Madelyn

Madelyn's First Concert

2010-02-24T19:47:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa got Madelyn a bright green recorder. I thought she would have loved this toy since it made noise and was sure to drive Mom and Dad crazy. Apparently I was incorrect in my assessment of the toy because she yanked it out of her stocking and tossed it aside to see what other treasures were to be had in the bottom.

Today, for some unknown reason, Madelyn picked up her recorder and handed it to me and said "music Mama" (side note- Madelyn has every episode of Little Einsteins that she has every watched memorized and can probably tell more people what Fur Elise sounds like than Beethoven himself plus Maddy and I play music together on my flute, piccolo, her drum and keyboard all the time. Given these factors I was pretty proud that between me and Little Einsteins she at least understood that this crazy green thing was meant for music because it must resemble something else she had seen being played).

So I played her a few songs- silly songs like Hot Cross Buns, Jingle Bells and Mary Had a Little Lamb. Obviously my virtuosity inspired some deep musical urge in her because she said "me play" and when I gave the recorder to her that is just what she did. Her musical savant alternate persona then gave her orders to locate her microphone...which she did, and then to dance and sing whilst playing her recorder...which she also did. Here are the results of Madelyn's first musical concert...Juilliard here we come!

(Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible for any broken glassware or ear drums that may occur as a result of the following video clip)

Enjoy and have a great night!
Kristin, Patrick and Madelyn

Short Version

Madelyn's First Concert from Patrick Barry on Vimeo.

Long Version

Madelyn's First Concert - Long Version from Patrick Barry on Vimeo.

How Much Do I Love You?

2010-02-12T13:00:00.000-08:00

Since I get quite delinquent on posting, especially on our busy weekends, I will post our HAPPY VALENTINES DAY post right now while I have time and am thinking about it!

It really is funny how celebrating v-day changes after kids. Patrick and I NEVER celebrated the holiday, we would make dinner or go to dinner sometimes but there were no gifts or flowers or cards (except one year when I was having a mental breakdown during busy season on Duke and I got flowers as a "please don't kill yourself" gift).

This year, however, Madelyn and I have:
1. Picked out the perfect valentines (sparkly princess ones...these only won out over Mickey because they sparkled and came with stamp pads and stamps)
2. Colored these valentines for all of her friends and family

Here is just a sampling

3. Made a big deal about going to mail the valentines for our out-of-towners (she checked the mail box 5 times to make sure they were still in there)
4. Baked cupcakes for Daddy's work (white with chocolate frosting and white with pink buttercream and sprinkles)- Madelyn loved adding things to the mixer and watching it spin...then she loved eating the batter (2 cupcakes worth) and the results (1 whole cupcake with extra frosting)
5. Today we baked cupcakes for Daddy (strawberry with cream cheese frosting)

Got our stuff all ready! Like the valentines day cupcake liners and spatula?

Just a little taste, Daddy won't notice...

Are they done yet?

All done, strawberry with cream cheese frosting- yum!
Maybe we will make some strawberry cream cheese frosting now...

6. Finally we went to the store to buy food for a special valentines dinner for Daddy and a dinner for Daddy, Grandma and Uncle Jeffrey this weekend- we are making a fondue party for Daddy and a tenderloin roast with sides and apple crisp for Grandma/Uncle Jeffrey- yum!

This holiday just got so much more fun with Madelyn. To commemorate this new found enthusiasm I thought I would quote one of Madelyn's favorite books right now...it just says it all...

How Do I Love You?
P.K. Hallinan

How do I love you? Let me count the ways.
I love you on your very best and very worst of days.
I love to see you laughing and dancing in the rain.
And even when you lose your shoes, I love you just the same.
I love to hear you singing, I love to see you smile.
I love the way you take each day in your own unhurried style.
I'm happy when you're happy, I'm sorry when you're sad.
And even though it may not show, I love you when you're bad.
How do I love you? Well now let me see...
I love the way you act so brave when you fall and hurt your knee.
I love to watch you sleeping, tucked away in pleasant dreams.
I love to hear you whisper all your giant plans and schemes.
I love the way you wear your pants, with the front part in the back,
And the way you walk around sometimes with your head inside a sack.
I love to see you deep in thought, I love to watch you play.
And though I'm sure you'll never know, I love you more each day.
How do I love you? It's impossible to say.
For if I had a million days and time enough for all the praise, I couldn't tell you all the ways...
I love you.

Here is Madelyn last year on Valentines Day
Here is Madelyn mixing her Valentines Day cupcakes for Daddy this year...so big!

Happy Valentines Day to everyone and all your Valentines....big and small!

~Kristin, Patrick and Madelyn

Preschool Here We Come!

2010-02-08T12:49:00.001-08:00

Today Madelyn and I went to finish the registration process for preschool!!!!

After many weeks of research, looking at schools, getting on wait lists, NOT waiting in line overnight to get on some wait lists and just plain waiting we found out that we have a Monday-Wednesday spot at Sharon Baptist (Hear cheering in the background?? No? Well I do!!!)

In order to confirm this space at the school we had to go fill out paperwork and pay our registration fee, Madelyn was very excited to go to "skooooool" (as she says) and even tried to join the TK class (4 and 5 year olds almost ready for Kindergarten) for their trip to music class by stepping right in line, single file and all, without a backwards glance at me.

We are thrilled to find such a nice school for Maddy and that she really, really loves it there- I don't know if she can wait until September!

Here is a quick picture from our adventure today. The front lobby at the school has tiles with all of the kids hand prints on them (each color is a different "grade"). Madelyn thinks this wall was meant to high five and will not let us leave without doing so to each and every hand!

Have a great week to all!
Kristin and one school-bound Madelyn

How they have changed....

2010-01-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

I was just downloading pictures from my camera and was looking at pictures from a fabulous birthday party that we went to this past weekend. Mr. Nick, Madelyn's friend of nearly 18 months, turned 2!!! He had a party at Rolly Pollies (a children's gym) and what a party it was! Looking at the pictures of Nick, Mia and Madelyn I began to wax poetic over how much they have changed in such a short time...here is a small recap:

First Playgroup- 3 Deloitte friends starting stay at home parenthood together!
Maddy 6 weeks

Maddy 8 weeks
There was some propping required here

Mia and Madelyn - First Halloween
So Spooky!
Madelyn - 7 Months
Mia's First Birthday Party (Madelyn 9 Months)
Mia did NOT want to swing!
Madelyn- 10 Months
Give me that chair Mr. Nick!
Madelyn-10 Months
Madelyn is using Nick to stand up...poor Nick!

Madelyn and Mia - Madelyn's 1st Birthday Party
Balloons!!!

Corbin, Mia, Henry Nick and Madelyn at Lazy 5 Ranch
(Madelyn 13 Months)

Henry, Madelyn and Nick - Pumpkin Picking
(Madelyn - 16 Months)

Madelyn, Nick and Mia - Nick's 2nd Birthday Party
(Madelyn - 18 Months)

Lifelong Friends!

Have a great day- this just made mine!!!

Daddy's New Camera

2009-08-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Due to our slew of impending vacations we decided we needed a new camera- so after months of ad nauseum research, Patrick picked a camera...we now own the Panasonic DMC-ZS1. We have been borrowing my mom's really spiffy Canon Rebel but it is now time that we have our own camera. True it is not as spiffy as the big Digital SLR with lenses and flashes and the like but this will suit us just fine for playdates and vacations where we don't want to haul all of that camera paraphenalia. It does have really cool features like baby mode that you set the name of the baby in the picture and in any picture that you associate with that baby it will tell you how old he/she was based on the birthdate you input in setup. So it will say Madelyn is 13 months and 26 days when I took her picture today...pretty cool! You also can tell it the date of your trips and what time zone those are in so it knows when we leave for Maui to not tell us a picture was taken at 9pm when it is full sun outside and actually only 3pm local time...such small things amuse me! I guess it has other cool features too like good picture quality and good warranty but these are mundane details really...

In true Patrick format we had to immediately test our new camera so here are the Maddy action shots in the yard this morning playing with her bubble mower and garden tools-she is such a boy...we need more girls in playgroup, Mia and Madelyn are being turned into tomboys!!!

OK Dad, seriously....this is about enough...

Have a great week everyone!

At Home Fun

2009-08-14T06:53:00.000-07:00

For the past week, Madelyn and I have been holed up in the house due to various reasons like Madelyn not sleeping, possible poison ivy, taking 23 lbs. of peaches (thanks Mom) and making every imaginable cannable peach recipe (tart filling, pie filling, preserves, cake filling for Jen's wedding cake, etc.) and getting ready for our numerous traveling expeditions. I leave for San Diego next week for Jen's shower/girls weekend festivities, we leave the day after I return for Mohican, we then leave for Maui 2 weeks after that and then back to San Diego for Jen's wedding 2 weeks after that! That is a lot of packing to do...my one guest room looks like a closet exploded in it due to the myriad of various piles of clothes and accessories dedicated to each of these trips!

Even though we have missed our friends the past few weeks, we have kept very busy in the house...

Playing in an awesome octopus sprinkler- thanks Uncle Travis and Aunt Sarah!

Relaxing with some juice and Disney Channel in our new Mohican Camping Chair-

Doing some light reading with Piggy in our new Maddy-sized chair from Grandma and Grandpa-

We even tried on last year's Halloween costume and would not take it off for a whole day...despite the 99 degree heat and the costume being velvet...peek a boo baby!

Hope everyone else is having a great summer too (but we are obvisouly looking forward to fall!)

~Kristin and Not-So-Spook Witch Madelyn

Happy Birthday to Maddy!

2009-06-23T09:59:00.001-07:00

So this weekend our little Madelyn turned one (said with a smile and a sigh of sadness). We threw a big party to celebrate and all of our friends and Madelyn's friends were there (except Mr. Henry who had to go out of town). Here are a few of the highlights!

Great Grandma Geig surveying what was left of the food table (there were ribs, hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, pasta salad, macaroni salad and all the condiments you could imagine!) I assumed after buying 70 hot dogs, 22 lbs. of baby back ribs, 5 lbs. of pasta, 5.5 lbs. of potatoes and 6 cans of beans that we would have had many left overs....apparently we have very hungry family and friends because it was all nearly consumed (we only made 50 hot dogs but they were gone and I would say 20 of the 22 lbs. of ribs were eaten and ALL of the pasta and potato salads).

Here is Daddy eating one of the hot dogs before they were scarfed down. He is also standing next to the water/tea/punch table and the bourbon slush and cooler station. Like the cute pink and green decorations?? The balloons did not do so well in the 96 degree heat- they all popped (strangely all the green popped before the pink).

Here are the favors that my mom and I made. They are cupcake pops. It is cake (we had chocolate ones, white ones and lemon ones) that is crumbled up and mixed with cream cheese frosting and then formed into cupcake shapes and dipped into chocolate (milk for the bottom and colored white chocolate for the tops) and decorated with sprinkles and an M&M. For the inspiration see my new favorite blog- http://bakerella.blogspot.com/

These are the kids favors. The babies (even though they are all 1 now so they really aren't babies anymore) had the pails and purses- pink purses for Mia and Maddy and green buckets for Nick, Corbin and Henry. Each contained bubbles and sidewalk chalk and the boys got shovels for boy dirt digging and the girls got sticks that make noise and have pretty beads that roll around in them...much more lady like than dirt (although I am sure they would love the dirt too)!

This is Maddy's cake (before assembly and after)...it is really a cupcake tower with a base layer of homemade coconut cupcakes covered in coconut flavored cream cheese frosting and coconut flakes (my favorite ones), the second tier are white cupcakes frosted in lime green buttercream (mom's secret recipe), the third tier are chocolate cupcakes with a Reese's peanut butter cup hidden inside (yum!) and are frosted in hot pink buttercream, the crowning layer is a 6 inch white cake covered in hot pink, white and lime green fondant (made by mom since I can only make things out of fondant and not cover cakes in it yet). The links to the recipes for the coconut cake and chocolate peanut butter cupcakes are below:

Coconut Cupcakes

Hidden Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Cupcakes (I just used the cake part)

Here is Maddy enjoying the above described confections...she had one of each...piggy baby!!! I guess you only turn one once!

Here are Maddy and "her" friends (as opposed to ours) who came to party- Nick, Mia, Corbin, Uncle Shaffey and soon to be playmates Cole Venus (born yesterday), Baby Kuehl and Lilly Gass (note that Uncle Shaffey is included here as he has the mentality of a newly minted one year old) :-)

Finally, Madelyn got the best gifts in the whole entire world. I truly have never seen so many presents in my life- we have the most generous friends and family! She got tons of books, clothes, a tea set, bath toys, stuffed animals, Handy Manny tools, Mickey Mouse toys, a car, a wagon, a baby stroller, a shopping cart, a penguin punching bag, a nifty octopus sprinkler, shovels, buckets, rakes, a wheel barrow, a bubble mower, a magnetic farm set, a purring kitten, and so much more that I can't even process right now! Here is Maddy in her sea of gifts and playing with the largest gift I have ever seen- the 5 foot waterslide from Grandma and Grandpa Barry.

Thanks again to everyone for making this a very special day for a very special one year old! Happy Birthday Madelyn!

Kristin

We Can Walk!

2009-05-11T05:57:00.001-07:00

It has been quite a while since we posted last (as I am told by Holly and Kathy) but we thought we had to post that we took our first steps yesterday- on Mothers Day no less. It was the best Mothers day present! Maddy and Dad also made me a delicious mothers day brunch complete with french toast, breakfast casserole, corn beef hash (with homemade corn beef), smoked salmon bagels and mimosas- yum!

Here is a link to the video of Maddy's first steps (it is the video near the bottom):
http://www.buckeyebarrys.com/madelyn_videos.htm

Maddy also got a new tub toy this weekend- an inflatable duck to bathe in. We have graduated Maddy from bathing with me to taking a bath by herself. This is much more helpful to me since Patrick left for Belgium yesterday and I have to give the slippery monkey a bath by myself now. Anyways, Madelyn thinks that her duck is great. She doesnt have to be held and she can peruse all of her favorite tub books in a nice and squishy tub (much more comfy than the big tub). Here are a few photos:
Here are a few other recent pictures of what we have been up to:

Easter-

We went to the fire department to see Uncle Jeffrey-

Our new favorite toy, the diaper wipes box-

Watching Saturday morning cartoons with Daddy-
Grandma and Grandpa and Patrick's aunt Jean came to visit-

We got a new stuffed kitty (Boots) who is our favorite (next to Messy Piggy of course)-

And we did lots of playing with Maddy's best friends, Mia and Nick (we like to poke Nick's ears and steal his chair)-

That's the highlights of what we have been up to!

Talk to you soon- enjoy the warm weather!
Kristin and Madelyn

A Sad Day

2009-02-19T14:33:00.000-08:00

It has been a sad day in the Barry house. This morning, Patrick's 93 year old Grandmother passed away. She lived a long and wonderful life. She was married to what I know was a wonderful man (although I never met Grandpa I can only assume he was great because he raised a wonderful family who have all gone on to raise wonderful families of their own) and they had 7 children, 15 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren to show for their long and happy marriage.

I feel so fortunate that Madelyn got to meet her Great Grandma and has pictures and videos of her holding her, kissing her, singing to her and loving her because I never had the chance to meet any of my Great Grandparents and I think these will be so special to her later in life (even though Madelyn will never remember those days).

Grandma Dulzer and Madelyn - 3 Weeks Old

Lots of Kisses

Four Generations of Dulzers

Grandma even made the trek all the way down to South Carolina to be at Patrick and my wedding.

Mark, David, Kristin, Patrick, Grandma, Mrs and Mr. Barry

July 17, 2004 ~ Daufuskie Island, SC

Grandma and her children

Grandma touched a lot of lives, even mine and Madelyn's, and although she didn't quite ever remember who we were in recent years, there will be many who will remember and miss her.

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-14T14:12:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy Valentine's day. I opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa...see my new drum?

I ate some blocks on my Incrediblock...

I played with Kaiya (I tricked her into my clutches skillfully using my tissue paper)...

I also got a Mickey and Minnie doll, some clothes, some books, an inflatable boat and HALLOWEEN LEGGINGS...HAPPY DAY!!!! Christmas must come twice a year...I like this Cupid guy.

Have a great Valentine's Day!!!

Bye for now...

XOXOXO-
Maddy

January Was a Month of Firsts!

2009-02-08T18:00:00.001-08:00

So I was sitting and filling in Miss Madelyn's calendar this evening and I realized how many "first" stickers I was putting on and how much we learned to do this month. She was a busy little girl...here is a recap of our milestones:

~First big people food- we love everything we have tried...grapefruit, lunch meat, spaghetti, pickles, all kinds of cheese (brie, roquefort, Gouda, cheddar, goat, Parmesan...you name it, we love it) and especially pancakes! Madelyn has them every Sunday (it is now called pancake Sunday in our house)...this morning we went to Cracker Barrel to meet a family friend and we loved restaurant pancakes too! Here we are at the restaurant trying out the rocking chairs :-)

~First swimming pool (we posted this pic last post)

~First teeth (our bottom middle two teeth)..notice there is no picture of this because everytime you try to catch the wiley little suckers on camera, Madelyn puts her tongue over them...oh well...maybe next post!

~First diaper rash :-( It was ugly too...it took sitting in the oatmeal bath twice and a lot of hydrocortisone and diaper cream!

~First waving...sadly this is not usually practiced on her adoring parents but Grandma's, Uncles, friends and strangers at the grocery store. We are non-discriminatory...we wave to everyone...just not usually mom and dad!

~ First pulling up - Aunt Amanda was here to witness our first pulling up on the Incrediblock...now we want to do it all the time. We have tried furniture but it is too high and we tried our big wood block but it falls over on our head when we try that....we will just stick with the Incrediblock (weighted down with a free weight to prevent the falling over part).

~Standing on everything from the blocks to chairs to ottomans- we hate sitting, love to stand! Here we are standing on the nasty wood block that fell on us- notice Uncle Jeffrey acting as the counterbalance?

Here we are showing off our standing skills with our favorite accomplished standers- Mia and Nick (notice the love of the Incrediblock...it is like baby crack)

~Claps at her self when she is excited or proud of herself

~Puts little food bites in her mouth (aka Cheerios and Gerber Puffs)- we usually miss but once in a while it gets in there. We are an excellent graham cracker putter inner though and have mastered the sippy cup!

~Our last big first which came yesterday- which was February so I guess it really belongs in it's own post...not a post about the busy month of January firsts...but it is my blog so it goes here now- is our first puppy kiss. Our wonderful next door neighbors (Dan and Monique) have a little puppy named Oscar and we saw Oscar...like a Victorian romance...across the backyard and it was love at first sight...for Maddy anyway. Daddy took Madelyn down to see Oscar and he was so excited that he kissed her all up- most children would be quite panicked at this but not Madelyn. She is our own Dr. Doolittle- she loved it! Laughing so hard I could hear her in our yard. I am sad I did not get this on picture or video but to illustrate our future veterinarian's love of animals here is a picture of her favorite toy in all of Target...
Yes...you are seeing this right. It is the giant cardboard cat picture in the catfood aisle. We stand there for 15 minutes each time so we can kiss the kitty, pet the kitty, love the kitty, talk to the kitty and don't forget yelling at and smacking the kitty because it just sits there. That is our Madelyn- OSU Vet school here we come!

So that was my excitement for the evening- putting all those first in her first year calendar. She is just too big!

To end we will leave with a quote from one of Madelyn's favorite shows- Mickey's Clubhouse..."see ya real soon!"

Kristin & Madelyn

A Month Goes By So Fast

2009-01-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

So in the chaos of the holiday season, Madelyn and I have not posted our adventures for the past month so here is a little recap.

Grandma Barry came to visit for a whole week, we started eating big people food and we went to Ohio for almost two weeks!

We also had many firsts this month:

We sat up for the first time (with Mia at playdate)-

We had our first graham cracker and juice from a cup-

We had our first Christmas and we had a lot of fun.

All the presents
Maddy very excited to get opening

We got tons of presents but out of the many rise a few favorites (in attempted top 5 order):

1. Messy Piggy- this lovable character is from Sandra Boynton's books and is Madelyn's favorite in all books that she appears in (Bath Time, Moo Baa La La La, Barnyard Dance, Pajama Time...just to name a few)- well Grandma Mary found a stuffed messy piggy and now they are inseparable (literally he comes to the store and rides in the cart, sleeps with us, eats with us, rides in the car with us, came to Ohio with us and went everywhere there with us...you get the point).

This is Maddy and Piggy driving home from Ohio- note Maddy and Piggy are driving

2. Incrediblock (you will see a picture later)- we love this toy that Mia had so Grandpa and Grandpa got us one and it is now the favorite floor toy to play with a pull up on

3. Fisher price gear toy- seen on the left of the picture- we love to hit the button and watch the lights and gears spin- only drawback...gears fall off...super glue anyone??

4. "Jesus" Lamb- we affectionately refer to this lamb as Jesus Lamb because it plays the "Jesus Loves Me" song and Madelyn adores it- she laughs when it sings and then must give it many kisses...see below:

5. Car....see below

Daddy let me read these directions for you...

My first car!!! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

We went to Ohio after Christmas and had a lot more firsts. First fever :-(, first overnight stay in a hotel (we went to Oglebay, WV to see the Christmas lights and petting zoo), first snow and sled riding and first yogurt and Gerber puffs to chew on- yum! We also got to see Uncle Mark and Uncle davey (and listen to Uncle Davey play his guitar).

Family Christmas with my "cousins" (Patrick's cousins' children- a few of his Grandma's great grandchildren)
Madelyn and "Santa" at Oglebay
One Pink Fuzzy Bear at the Oglebay Petting Zoo

Faster Grandpa!
Ok enough- it's cold...why is it this cold here anyway?

Uncle Davey playing Oasis "Wonderwall" (her favorite)

After our 2 week adventure, we returned home and had our first time alone in the bath tub (in a nifty boat intertube), we began trying to pull up on our block (another Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa) and we had our first time in swimming pool!!

This is Incrediblock and we love it!

Michael Phelps here I come...

We went to see Dr. Satterfield for our 6 month checkup and we got the all clear for more big people food (so we are trying it all now from spaghetti to grapefruit to pancakes and we have not found a food we don't like yet). We also weighed in at 18 lbs. and 10.6 oz. and 29" tall- no wonder we are in 12 month clothes already! Here is Madelyn and Messy Piggy (notice Piggy is at the Doctor's too...it's like Where's Waldo) at the Doctor's BEFORE the vaccines- after was not quite the same picture...

Finally, to round out our month, it snowed in Charlotte today and Madelyn got to see snow at home for the first time.

Our Backyard this Morning

Phew! We were busy girls this month- we promise to post more now that the crazy holidays are over. We would now like to leave you all with our favorite picture of Madelyn and her most favorite thing under the tree this year...Kaiya

Happy New Year!
Kristin and Madelyn (and Messy Piggy)

Baby's First Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T09:01:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T08:36:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-10T17:54:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

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 :-(

2008-09-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

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

Madelyn's First Play Date

2008-08-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

So this week Miss Madelyn had her first group play date with Nick Pritchard (Holly Barr's adorable little man) and Mia Hanna (Sam and Kathy Hanna's little girl- and Madelyn's co-conspirator for sock removal....see below). I think the moms had a better time than the kids but Madelyn really did enjoy her new (and only) friends...case in point is the picture above- she was very excited! It is just amazing to see what a few months can do to a baby. Mia is almost 5 months old and holds her head up, plays with toys, sits up, rolls over and grasps for things. Nick is 7 months old and he sits up, rolls over, crawls, eats solid food, plays with toys (his favorite being a baby hanger), is VERY vocal and says mamamamama. Oooooh I can't wait.

Help me get this off Mia!!

Madelyn's First Play Date!

Madelyn also had more visitors this week- Aunts Dana, Sarah and Courtney came to play (see below). She slept on Dana for the entire visit but she was wide awake and bushy tailed and demonstrated her new sitting up and standing (with assistance), speaking (coos, oohs, laughs, etc.) and smiling talents for Courtney and Sarah...they were most impressed. We also got to show the girls Madelyn's new dance moves which consist of dancing with Mommy. She has her own playlist on our Itunes and has a DISTINCT preference for the music that she dances to. #1 favorite would be "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" which is closely followed by "Ghostbusters" (it's Halloween music...did you have any doubt), "Hot, Hot, Hot" and most other "oldies".

Madelyn and Aunt Dana

Outfit from Aunt Dana

Hi Aunt Sarah and Aunt Courtney- I can sit up!

In addition to her many visitors, Madelyn continues to LOVE bath time. At about 8:30 she becomes quite agitated knowing bath time is coming but she is too impatient to wait. Once we get her upstairs and start to undress her the big smile comes out since she believes she has conned us (once again) with her charms and wit. See below for one of her favorite bath time games- dunking her head in the bubble water which leaves a rather humorous bubble do (and ears full of soap). The nice thing about her knowing that bath time is coming is that she knows that bedtime is right after that so she either falls asleep in the jacuzzi or right after getting lotion, jammies and bottle. This is very nice for her parents!

Like my new do?

In a somewhat sad turn of events, Grandma Barry was not able to come visit us this week like we had planned since she is taking care of her mom (Great Grandma Dulzer). We missed her visit very much and we are sure her and Grandpa are very sad they couldn't be here with her so we took some pictures just for her to let her know we wish she was here with us!!

I miss you Grandma and Grandpa!!

Well- thanks for reading our blog again. Next week Patrick is off work so we get to spend good quality Daddy time and should get much better pictures since I am an accountant and NOT an artist- don't laugh, I am truly thankful Madelyn's head is not cut off in any of these pictures...seriously.

Until next week!

Kristin (and Madelyn)

Its been a busy week- I need a rest!

A Week of Visitors and Outings

2008-07-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

Its Been a Busy Week- I'm Tired...

But I Think My Kitty Might Be Plotting To Kill Me

Week 5 was a busy week for Madelyn. She started the week with visits from her honorary Aunts Sarah and Carolyn and followed it up by visits from her honorary Aunt Courtney and Uncle Matt. We are pretty sure that visiting us has convinced all of them not to have kids for a while (after seeing the way we look, how tired we are, hearing our stories and hearing unhappy baby crying). At the end of the week, Madelyn had her first "play date" with Mia Hanna. They didn't do too much playing because they both were quite cranky. They "talked" for a while and then their mommies took them for a walk...Madelyn fell asleep but Miss Mia was determined to fight the sleepiness. As a result, she had to go home to take a nap but will be back next week for playdate number 2 with Nick Pritchard (Holly Barr-Pritchards little man). See pictures of Mia's beautiful new dress on the website and Snapfish.

Look At All My Visitors!

In addition to these wonderful visits, Madelyn and Mommy made many excursions out of the house. Mommy needs a nap after taking the baby out because it takes so long to get ready, so long to get her in an out of the car, takes so much work to push her and a cart around the store and it is just HOT outside. Braving all of these factors and in order to keep ourselves entertained, we decided to undertake making magazine boxes for the built-ins in the family room. We went to Space Savers to get boxes, Lowes, Staples and Michaels to get the label holders and Walmart to get material. We went to Costco's (per Kathy Hanna's advice) to get diapers and we also took a trip to Babies-R-Us and Concord Mills to procure Maddie's Halloween costume (NO....it is not too early, the party is October 17th and that is only 81 days away!!)- what she will be will have to be a surprise though.

To top off the week, Madelyn took a trip to see Dr. Satterfield for her 1 month check-up. She tips the scales at 10 lbs. 14 oz. and comes in at 23 and 3/4 inches long...greater than 97th percentile for both! She is a big, healthy, hungry baby. We can't wait for the 2 month appointment when she gets her slew of vaccinations....oh boy!

My 1 Month Check-Up...OH MY...I Am Naked Baby!!

Thanks again for reading...until next week!
Kristin

Mommy and Madelyn's Adventure Alone!

2008-07-20T20:42:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

So this week was a huge milestone for Maddie and Mommy- we were all alone!!!! Patrick went back to work this week- but not only did he go back to work but he went out of town....oh the horror! Madelyn and I survived only with the help of Grandma Mary, Amanda and my wonderful friends who bring food and come keep us company. It was a bit challenging doing all the nighttime feedings on my own (with the exception of putting her to bed which my mom so wonderfully handled after helping me with bath time)- I am quite tired to say the least.

Madelyn has also progressed to holding her head up for longer periods of time, following your face with her eyes and mimicking faces that you make. Her favorite face to mimic would be sticking her tongue out- she finds this awfully amusing. For a while she looked at me like, "Mommy what are you doing...can someone please get me new parents?" After staring intently for weeks she finally decided to give it a try and now the tongue is out of her mouth more than it is in.

Madelyn also has a new love affair with ceiling fans...her old obsession with windows is so last week...ceiling fans are apparently the new fad, they do move after all. She stares at them, follows them with her eyes, talks to them and shows them her aforementioned tongue face (although this may not impress the fan as much as it does her parents). I would be tempted to think that Kaiya (our half demon/half lovable feline) taught Maddie to love the ceiling fan demigod (since Kaiya spends much of her day talking to the fan as well) but then I remember that Kaiya hates the insolent, crying, mini-human and she would be more inclined to push Madelyn and her stroller out onto the front porch in hopes of a rogue kidnapper coming by than teaching her something interesting.

Other than fan watching, Madelyn sat in her Bumbo seat this week (it is a positioner that Corinne and John got for her that helps her learn to sit up) and took her first bubble bath this week. This was mostly due to my error in adding too much Johnson's bedtime bath and then turning the jets on (laying in the jet stream is Madelyn's favorite part of bath time) but she loved it none the less- see the Snapfish photos for documentation of this grand event. Madelyn also got many visitors who came to save me from my monotony. She got to meet many of her honorary aunts; Sarah, Carolyn, Jamie, Kristin and Kelly. All of these wonderful women came and kept me company and cuddled and bounced Madelyn- much to her delight.

In a rather humorous and somewhat scary vein- there is a new album on the Snapfish group album entitled Patrick's Baby Pictures. If you have some free time take a look at these pictures that Mrs. Barry so kindly scanned in for me. Play a little game called "is this picture Madelyn or Patrick". If it were not for the somewhat aged photos and baby gear it would be REALLY hard to tell the difference. I am dismayed that I threw up for nearly 40 straight weeks and dealt with all other discomforts of pregnancy and delivery and if I had not witnessed the child exit my body I would not know that I had any part in her creation. On the upside Patrick is cute and was a really cute baby so it worked out just fine...maybe she will get my hands or eye color (or my curly hair which would make Grandma Barry REALLY happy).

If you are truly bored and look through all of the new Snapfish photos that are posted you will notice an awful lot of pictures of Madelyn just sitting. I was quite lonely- as I mentioned- and found her irresistibly adorable. She looks at Patrick and I when we go on these picture taking tangents and stares at us as if to say "why are you ogling over my like you just saw the invention of fire or the first wheel...don't you have anything better to do?" The sad thing is- we don't...

Thanks for reading again! Madelyn goes for her 1 month check up this coming week so I will post her new stats and the results of the check-up. One month....I can't believe it!!

TTYL-

Kristin

Madelyn's First Road Trip!

2008-07-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Week 3 was a big week for Madelyn- she went on her first road trip!! Patrick, Madelyn and I packed the car and headed the 500 or so miles north to Akron, Ohio to visit Patrick's family. Grandma Dulzer (Patrick's mom's mom) is 92 and is not in very great health and there is a good chance she may not be with us much longer so we decided it would be a good idea for her to see her 12th great-grandchild (from her 15 grandchildren by 7 children...that is a lot of family!) and for Madelyn to get pictures with her so we can show them to her later. Besides seeing Great-Grandma Dulzer, Patrick's Aunt Janet (one of his mom's sisters) was visiting from Los Angeles and she was very excited to get to see the baby as well.

Madelyn did great on her first car ride north- it took us about 9 and a half hours to get there (usually about seven and a half) and about eight and a half to get home but she slept the whole time both ways....except to eat.

One of the benefits of being a part of a very large family is there is never a shortage of people to hold a baby, burp a baby, walk a crying baby or change a dirty diaper. Madelyn got to see Grandma and Grandpa Barry again and got to meet her Uncle Davey and Uncle Mark, Aunt Alexis; Great Aunts Janet, Bunny, Arlene, Jeanne, and Mary-Anne; Great Uncle John, Great Grandma Dulzer, Great Grandma Geig, Great Grandpa Geig and cousins Devon and Dylan- phew that was a lot of visiting in 3.5 days! (see Snapfish pictures for Patrick's documentary style photographs of all of these meetings)

Besides being the world traveler that she is, Madelyn is also awake much more during the day, slept 7 hours one night (this has not re-occurred...much to her parents' dismay), smiles in response to seeing faces she knows, she sticks her tongue out when you do, tracks objects and lights and has found a love of looking out windows (cars or houses) and swinging on porch swings...see Snapfish pictures for evidence of these loves.

Thanks for reading about our weekly adventures- talk to you all next week...it will be our first week without Daddy here (he is going to Raleigh) and we get our second installment of the Hep B vaccine at our 1 month appointment.

Love~
Kristin

First Blog Post!

2008-07-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! This is my first foray into the world of blogging. Spurred on by wanting to share the goings on of life with a new baby with our family and friends I have decided to give this a try!! Adjusting to life with Madelyn has been a bit challenging. She is two weeks and 1 day old today and she has not gotten into a good sleeping/eating schedule as of yet. She still tries to sleep more during the day than at night, but we are getting there. She also has a preference for Dad putting her to sleep since she sees Mom as purely a food source- this can be a bit frustrating at 4 am when Mom is trying to put a screaming baby to sleep.

She is a very big and strong girl- weighing in at 9 lbs. 10.5 oz. and 22 in. at her 2 week check-up. That is 95th percentile for length and 90th percentile for weight...it hurts to think about delivering all of that baby (since she was the same length and merely 10.5 oz. lighter when she came into this world)!

In her short two weeks, Madelyn has been a busy girl. She has been visited by a slew of wonderful neighbors, Aunt Amanda and Uncle Wayne, Aunt Nichole, Aunt Andrea and Uncle Shaffey- and of course the Grandmas and Grandpa and Uncle Jeffrey (see the link at the right for the BuckeyeBarrys website where you can see pictures of all of her visitors). She has lots of people to love her and they all must still love Patrick and me because they keep bringing us food and desserts- it has been great! Madelyn had a pretty uneventful first holiday- July 4th- she ate a lot, slept a lot and took a bath in the big bath tub- which is her FAVORITE time of day. She loves doing the backstroke around the big tub so much that we are thinking of having her try out for the Olympic Swim Team...ok maybe it is too early for that but she kicks those legs and paddles her arms with such fury that it is a distinct possibility for the next Olympics (also see BuckeyeBarrys.com link at the right for pictures and videos of her first bath, first doctor's visit and July 4th). Miss Madelyn also made her first trip to Target and Wendy's- which she slept through. Wow that was a lot for a two week old!

I hope you all enjoy the blog, the videos, the pictures and the website. See you all at week 3!