Random Pictures

Here are a few random pictures of Mady girl over this last month:

Helping with Bath Time!  Look at her wild hair!

It's a rare occasion that I let Mady play without pants on but this was right before bedtime.

Mady loves to empty out her diaper bag!  

The lens cap on my camera is so fun to play with!

Growing up Fast

Miss Mady is growing up way too fast!  Here are a few things we're up to:
1. Riding in style!  We changed her car seat to forward facing and she loves it!  

2. Teeth, teeth, and more teeth.  Over the last 2 months we've had 6-8 teeth come in.  So needless to say, our favorite thing to put in our mouth is a cold washcloth.  

3. When I say that Mady likes to give hugs, I really mean it.  Even hugging her milk in the morning:-)

A few things...

1. I have a new nephew!!!  William Alexander James was born at 4:00 AM this morning.  We're very excited for Jeremy's sister and brother-in-law!  We're looking forward to meeting him sometime soon!


2. Our unofficial/official move date is July 29th.  It's interesting to note that date was the unofficial due date of our little one we lost in December.  God does work in mysterious ways.  He also knows me so well, more than I know myself.  He knew that I would definitely need a distraction on that day.  And what better way to distract a person then to be crazy busy moving?  Instead of bringing in a new little life to our family on that day, we will be starting a new chapter in our lives by moving to Cheyenne.  God knows what we need and it's amazing to see that little dates are so important to him.  


3.  Mady is such a loving little girl!  She waves to EVERYONE and is now giving hugs to her mom and dad and even friends.

4.  Here's a little glimpse of why we need braces on her little legs.  Notice how her feet roll in.  

5. I am getting little glimpses of Miss Mady's personality lately.  For instance, once we figured out that we could sit up from laying down, we do it all the time.  We've recently decided that we can pull up on the couch and in our bed.  So now we're doing it most of the time!  I think we have a little perfectionist.  We won't try something unless we know we can do it.  

Play time!

Last week the weather was pretty cold and yucky outside.  This week, it's in the 60's.  Go figure.  That's Kansas for you!
Anyway, while the weather was unpleasant and we were stuck inside, we had a little fun with water. 
Mady LOVES water.  Bath time is always a favorite and she loves to go swimming.  Hopefully we'll get to do more of that this summer!

She was soaked at the end of our playtime but it was a lot of fun!

Our new Adventure...

will begin this summer at the end of July as we move to Cheyenne, WY.  Jeremy will stay with his current company, but will be taking on a slightly different position.  Instead of being the Corporate Safety Manager, which requires a lot of travel to the different plants across the United States and Canada, he will be the HR Manager of the Cheyenne plant and the Pueblo, CO plant.  This will require a dramatic difference in the amount he travels which makes us all happy!  Jeremy knew this was a possibility, as the HR Manager currently in Cheyenne is retiring this year.  

2 weeks ago, Jeremy and I took a trip to Cheyenne to look at the community and see if this was a good fit for our family.  We prayed that our trip would provide clarity in the direction God wanted us to go.  We both felt peace about Cheyenne and a feeling of God pushing us out of our comfort zone.  It's much easier and "safer" staying in Newton.  We have a fantastic church that we love and have met some really wonderful friends.  

Over the last month, however, our church has been studying the book of Acts.  The new church in Acts was growing and thriving and getting bigger everyday.  It was a "comfort zone" for those new believers.  But God didn't want them to stay in their mega church and instead a persecution broke out, scattering the gospel.  Much like the church in Acts, we're very content just staying in Newton.  But something that has stuck out to us is that being obedient to God's will for us is much better than just being "comfortable."  

So with faith, we start this new journey with the realization that it will be hard.  Hard being 9 and 12 hours away from our families.  

Hard starting over in a new church and finding new friends.

Hard selling our house and finding a new one.  

But we know that's where God is calling our family and so we rest knowing that if God has called us there, he will most graciously "give us all good things".  

Please pray for us as we begin our new adventure.  

1. Pray that God will provide the right buyer for our house as soon as possible.  (I get concerned over whether our house will sell before we leave and how we will handle that financially.)

2.  Pray that God will provide us with a nice place to live in Cheyenne whether that is renting or buying.  We would also love a place big enough so that we can house guests that come visit us!  (We're planning on Memorial Day weekend next year Marc and Sarah!)

3.  Pray that there will be a wonderful Infant/Toddler program for Mady.  We have a fantastic Physical Therapist that we work with here and would love for Mady to have everything she needs to continue making progress.  Please pray that her transition would be easy as well.

4. Pray that we would find a church that is a good fit for us and that I (Nicole) won't be shy, but will be willing to get out of my comfort zone and meet new people.  It will be especially important since I am a stay-at-home mom to meet other moms.  

5.  Pray for wisdom and clarity because we have a lot of decisions to make in the coming months.  We are already starting to clean, organize, and get our house ready to sell.  

Thank you to those of you who have already been praying for us as we were contemplating this decision.  We definitely felt God's peace and wisdom as we were looking at Cheyenne.  

So our new adventure begins!  We're looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us!

Mady Video

For awhile Miss Mady's favorite word was "yes."  Now it seems as if shaking her head "no" to every question is her favorite.   Here's a video I took a week ago.

New Hardware

Mady got fitted for her new braces last week.  We were going to start with just insoles in her shoes, however when we tried that, it still didn't correct the problem of her left foot rolling in.  So, she now has these braces.

She definitely has a love/hate relationship with them.  She hates when I put them on.  We cry and wiggle, making it hard to get them on.  HOwever, when we do have them on and are walking around, I do think she realizes that it's much easier to do different things.  So I'm hoping our love/hate relationship will turn into a just love relationship after awhile.

She did so good getting on her knees it was hard for me to get onto her for getting into my stuff under the cabinet!

She is improving so much in different gross motor areas.  For instance, she's now going from laying on her stomach to sitting up.  It's a little unconventional the way she does it, but that's been the case for all her gross motor skills.  

This was the first time I discovered her sitting up in bed!  

I'm so proud of her.  It's hard to watch your child struggle but it's amazing to see them conquer something so tough for them.  I appreciate each motor milestone so much more because of the work it's taken for Mady to learn how to do it.  She's getting there!  I've also learned to be patient.  It's in her own time and in her own way. 

14 months!

Miss Mady is 14 months old today!  She is growing so much!  The last month has been an explosion of language development.  I think we're going to have a talker on our hands soon!  Mady says several words like "mama"(occasionally), "dada", "ruff-ruff" (which is Lexi or any dog), "bye-bye", "bath", "ball", "hi", and "yes".  She also is beginning to say other words like "down" and "all done".

  
Mady also knows where her head, belly, and foot is if you ask her.  She shakes her head "no" sometimes and always greets other people with a wave when she knows who you are.  

Mady LOVES to be outside so I'm glad we've had a very warm winter.  We've been able to go on walks and go to the park and play outside in our yard.  
The last week or so has been tough though as Miss Mady has been a little sick one.  She is doing MUCH better now.  

We still are army-crawling and Jeremy and I have decided that it's not very likely Miss Mady will actually crawl until after she walks.  She is doing a fantastic job of cruising around the furniture and she's starting to pull up.  One night we heard her crying in her crib and we went in and she was standing in her bed!  I don't think she knew how to get down!  We still meet with a physical therapist once a week and should be getting insoles in our shoes very soon.  

I tried to get cute 14 month pictures but Mady didn't want to sit still.  This was the best I got.

Miss Mady is such a joy to be around.  She is silly, loving (gives everyone and everything hugs), busy, ornery, and stubborn.  We are truly blessed!