Happy Birthday Madeleine!

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Maddie's 1st Birthday celebration Sesame Street style was a success! We had a great time. Check out the pics. Our latest addition (Wii) was a big hit too. Katy (ie the profile that everyone used) set alot of records (C: Maddie had a great time and enjoyed her cake. She was a little tentative which is fine with me...eat those vegetables (C:

We've also been busy this week in preparation for Maddie's surgery that was on Thursday. Everything went well and right now we're keeping a close eye on her temp to be sure that she doesn't get an infection. Other than that...she's doing well. A few pics from the hospital are below. She'll have her casts for 2 months. The doctor was able to take two tendons from her second toe on her left foot and put them into the big toe on her left foot. He was also able to take a tendon from the second toe on her right foot and put them into the big toe on her right foot. Obviously, the second toe on each foot was completely removed. We can see the tips of her toes at the end of the cast and are constantly checking to be sure she's getting good circulation. She is limited right now in her mobility but I'm sure it won't take long for her to figure out a new way to get around. Keep praying for her recovery.

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Holidays 2008

so we went to texas for christmas and maddie learned to crawl while we were there. the video of her crawling is on my mom's camera so you'll have to wait to see that video. but here are tons of pics and videos to keep you entertained. steve was a few days delayed getting there because of weather and cancelled flights. we went to katy's in houston for christmas and saw extended family in temple. it was a great break and maddie enjoyed her first christmas. now it's back to cold weather, snow, and fighting off whatever virus they're passing around at the gym.

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fall 2008

we're back...and catching up on blogs.

we've had a whirlwind fall and christmas season. enjoy the pictures below. you can click on the different pictures to see them in the larger window.

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fall pics

here are some apple picking pics from a few weeks ago.  we went apple picking in amesbury, ma with our church to cider hill farms.  we've had several apple crisps, apple pies, apple turnovers, etc since the hernandez' went apple picking two weeks after we went.  it was 80 degrees when we went so it wasn't really a true new england apple picking experience.  but she'll have plenty of future opportunities to have that experience.

the sweater eventually comes off since it was so hot.

the hat didn't last long.




not yet, maddie.


eating daddy's hair...
...not so good.



...long day.  time for a nap.

new videos

in an effort to assist those with google reader who can determine if the blog entry is worth reading from the title, i am going to separate out this major update into several posts.  this way you can pick what you "have time" to read now and come back and read the rest later....or just read it all now.

here are a few videos of recent events.

maddie says dada...

maddie's first swing in the park...sorry for my annoying screaching

maddie's first cheerios...

love this song...tenth avenue north - by your side

listen here

Why are you striving these days

Why are you trying to earn grace

Why are you crying

Let me lift up your face

Just don't turn away 

 

Why are you looking for love

Why are you still searching

as if I'm not enough

To where will you go child

Tell me where will you run

To where will you run 

 

And I'll be by your side

Wherever you fall

In the dead of night

Whenever you call

And please don't fight

These hands that are holding you

My hands are holding you 

 

Look at these hands and my side

They swallowed the grave on that night

When I drank the world's sin

So I could carry you in

And give you life

I want to give you life

 

And I'll be by your side

Wherever you fall

In the dead of night

Whenever you call

And please don't fight

These hands that are holding you

My hands are holding you

 

And I'll be by your side

Wherever you fall

In the dead of night

Whenever you call

And please don't fight

These hands that are holding you

My hands are holding you

 

 Cause I, I love you

I want you to know

That I, I love you

I'll never let you go

 

And I'll be by your side

Wherever you fall

In the dead of night

Whenever you call

And please don't fight

These hands that are holding you

My hands are holding you

 

And I'll be by your side

Wherever you fall

In the dead of night

Whenever you call

And please don't fight

These hands that are holding you

My hands are holding you

veggies and more

well here is a sampling of our first fruits from our garden.  we have lots (and i mean lots) of zucchini.  we have been having it every weekend at the lake.  last week we picked the biggest zucchini i have ever seen (and i forgot to take a picture).  it was a little longer than a foot and about 3 inches in diameter.  all of the zucchini has been very good.  we have some baby yellow squash that hopefully will be ready for picking this weekend.  we also have a lot of little tomatoes growing that we'll hopefully get to pick (or they'll be ready when we return from texas).  no bell peppers yet.  so it has been a successful venture thus far.

...this post is "way old" but i decided to go ahead and post it.  see above for more info about our garden ventures.

two great videos

i need to post alot of other stuff, but here are some great videos to hold you over...

this is maybe the cutest thing ever.  she made a snorting sound every time the burp cloth would go over her face.  and then she would laugh....so great.

so just about every weekend lately, we've had great morning weather for skiing and nothing but glassy water.  here is steve (first two blips) and me (last blip) skiing at pierpont meadow pond (aka the josti lake house).

On the move

Our little girl is growing and moving.  She has hit the rolling over milestone and sitting up unsupported is not far behind.  The days of laying her down in her crib and finding her exactly the way we laid her down when we come back are long gone and the days of keeping up with her as she moves around the house are still ahead. Here are some shots of our little girl...growing up.
These shots don't really capture it and I'm not sure what happened with the color in the pic below but she was sitting up in her chair without leaning back and only using her left arm for balance.
we love watching her sleep.  we especially love her hand positions when she's sleeping.


Here are some shots of her with Courtney after bath time at the lake.  She loves to take short dips into the lake with mom and dad.  She had a couple float sessions with mom this weekend.  It's like Mike said at our wedding reception, "May your children learn to waterski before they learn to walk..."




And finally...the video you've been waiting to see (C:

Here is Maddie rolling over.  She has been toying with us for some time now and Grandma Josti saw her roll over in her pack and play at the lake a couple weekends ago.  But she hasn't done it since...and then, low and behold, she rolled over at church on Sunday night.  And now she can't get enough of it...so enjoy.

i would also like to note for those of you who have been following our garden commentary that we enjoyed our first zucchini this weekend.  it was delicious and completely organic...who knew that i was capable of such things.  of course, we forgot to take a picture so you'll have to wait for the next "harvest" to see our produce and believe me, from the looks of it you'll see plenty.

crosswalk and more

okay so this is a really long post, mostly because of the large quantity of pictures, but everybody likes pictures so here you go.

we went to lunch a few weeks ago with laura (due any day now), karin & little eric, edi (eric's mom), orlando and gabriel at stephanie's on newbury.  it was soooo good.  i absolutely love maddie's smile...i cannot get enough of it.

here's maddie and eric giving each other a hug.  both dad's had appropriate reactions...

eric:  that's my boy!

steve:  what? (said very sternly)

as you can see, they hugged several times.  maddie is smiling almost every time and eric seems to get a little embarrassed each time.  it is so cute.

we have been seeing this little critter in our yard the last few weeks and i finally got some video and pictures of it.  it's either a woodchuck or a groundhog...actually they're the same thing...who knew?  so we have multiple "villains" in our vegetable garden which is why we re-enforced the fence (see pics at the end of this blog).

maddie and i had a little photo shoot thanks to a timer and a pillow used for a prop (C:  she is the most adorable baby ever (C:  at least i think so.

this one is my favorite




post-bottle time with daddy...steve misses the days when she would fall asleep like this.  these times are few and far between now.  usually she's too squirmy.

karin and i (and maddie and eric) took a trip up to crosswalk (youth camp that some friends run) in wenham, ma (north shore).  we were there for lunch, the mega-relay event, free time and dinner.  we had a great time.

here's maddie with her auntie ellie.
here's eric with our friends' (jen and ken) little boy caleb.  he's a few months older than eric.

here's part of the mega-relay finale...staff vs chaperones & youth leaders...this is the staff doing leap frog
here are the "non-participating" chaperones and youth leaders cheering their team on.


this is the chaperones & youth leaders team racing to another event in the relay...go stephanie!


stacey didn't want to hold her twizzler in between bites...ellie and i thought maddie looked like raggedy anne.  nothing much bothers her...
...besides riding in a car after a long day at camp. (C:  here's maddie and eric after a long day.  karin and i couldn't help but laugh in the front seat.  what else can you do in a situation like this?

on saturday, we had a few visitors.  mike and courtney came over because steve needed mike's help to put the blade back on the riding lawn mower and courtney wanted to come and help take care of maddie.  we enjoying hanging out with them in the morning and having lunch.  then mel and lydia came over to help me with the vegetable garden.  after we worked in the hot sun, we came inside and played with maddie. here's lydia with maddie...we'll have to be better about getting pics with mel next time.

and here's the veggie garden.  i have since added stakes to tie down the strings that were crossing over the path.  i need to replant beans and snap peas as i don't think they have survived all the critters and lack of support (ie bean trellis).


and finally...here's the updated hair cut.  much better...off the neck.