pride and joy

here's maddie watching the celtics play after her bottle...happy girl

for some reason felix likes to lay in front of his blanket but not on it...especially now that he can get closer to maddie (and lay on her blanket)

steve finally ripped out the dead evergreens...so our barren wasteland of a flower garden now welcomes these azaleas which will hopefully grow to fill it

these next two pictures are seemingly the same pic...but look at that adorable face and the clearly different expression (C:  from a proud mom

moving mirror

black and white

we took a roll of black and whites only to realize later that the camera lens was dirty.  i don't know if the marks in the picture are from the dirty lens though or the film being old and/ or processed poorly.  but here are some of the pics anyways for your enjoyment.  we printed several of these and have them in nice black frames on our fireplace.  we also printed the one of steve and i kissing maddie on the cheek in black and white and have it hanging in our room.  love those christmas tree shop frames...

smiling at daddy
talking with mommy
this wasn't quite as cool as we thought it would be...but it's a good measure for how long she is (C:

..and some more pics
gardening hat from christmas tree shops made to look like a sombrero

emerson students got her a cake - future egnf-er - maddie was a lot more pleased with the group than she looks in this picture

another video

my texas family

well we have seen the last texas visitor off for awhile...i'm sure it won't last long.  and the next time maddie sees her texas family will be in texas.  we are going down in a few weeks for kara's graduation from the university of oklahoma.  so cross your fingers that maddie will take well to flying and driving.  so far she likes our little trips into boston so i think the driving part should be fine.  over the past few months maddie has spent some quality time with her gransy and granddaddy propes, aunt katy and uncle colin, aunt kara, great grandmother donald, aunt robyn and cousin jessica.  here are some pics from their visits.

my cousin, jessica, had the magic touch.

aunt robyn obviously could not get enough of our little girl (C:
maddie was just about done with picture time
nap time with granddaddy
aunt kara changes maddie's diaper...she's a pro
nap time with uncle colin...she had an aggie outfit on in another pic with colin's camo...priceless
i love my aunt katy...
sleepy girl
sporting the boston red sox blanket that aunt katy made
four generations (kitchens, donald, propes, josti)
...can't wait to meet my mimi and papa propes when i go to texas in may!

new pics, new projects

in addition to my garden project that has yet to commence, we are starting (i should say...steve is starting) work on our patio. as you may remember, we (again...steve and friends) took down the above ground pool in our backyard, shoveled a ton of dirt into the hole, planted grass and left a portion of it with sand so that we could have room to lay a patio. here are pics of the beginnings stages of that project.
one of my very dear (and amazing as i have told her many times) friends from college painted these letters for maddie's room. it was not an easy process either as hobby lobby (equivalent to michaels and/or christmas tree shops) kept running out of E's before she could purchase them. we considered changing the spelling of madElEinE's name but she came through for us (C: thanks again em! look how well they coordinate with her bedding set and the mobile.

i am working to upload all of our pics to kodak gallery but here are some shots for the interim to get you by.

something we can all get excited about (especially those who have endured a long winter)...the first blooms in our backyard


...and the promise of what's to come.  this oak tree was started from an acorn by one of our friends.  we can't wait to plant it in the front yard.
cute pic of the family taken by kara

maddie in her car seatfirst trip on the "T" (that's the subway for those who haven't been here)
trying very hard to enjoy bathtime (look at the lip)
meeting friends for lunch downtown
maddie and mom (i love this picture)

maddie and aunt kara

another bloom in the front yard!
maddie and mr. teddy (we'll let her name it when she gets older)
maddie and felix

that's all for now.  check back for a link to a lot of pics.

maddie's baby dedication

this is a long one...it's maddie's baby dedication. since our church meets in tj and dena's apartment, this was a special time for us and our community. we were also glad to be able to share it with both sides of the family since my parents were here. we are so blessed to have maddie and we pray that God would continue to guide us in the way that we nurture and direct her.

visiting and visitors

maddie loves it when her aunt stacey, aunt karin and cousin eric come to visit.  little eric gets so excited every time he sees her.  it's adorable.

easter was special for us this year because my parents, grandmother, aunt robyn, and cousin jessica were here to share the holiday.  here's maddie with her easter basket and bunny and another photo with her great grandmother.

emerson alum students lydia and melanie love to visit maddie.

this is from my birthday lunch celebration last weekend.
this is dr mccrary (delivered maddie) and heather (nurse at the office who has seen us through the pregnancy and postpartum...we missed her shift at labor and delivery though)

madeleine met her friend, audrey douglas (who was also delivered by dr mccrary), on sunday. she was a little upset with me for not feeding her before we left the house, thus her reason for screaming in these photos.

her friend, eric hernandez, came over this week and enjoyed his time in the laundry basket and sleeping.  there was some interaction between the two but we didn't get photos...maybe next time.