Gataaaaaaa

So I'm the worlds worst blogger.

yes I know this

So lets go through what you've missed

Madison had a great christmas. She got a ton of toys and had a blast. Yes I did bomb her with bows. Yes she did get a rocking Simba which I found super cute. We skyped with my sister the while time. She also cut her first tooth on Christmas so she can say she got her bottem two teeth for Christmas! She is a holiday tooth baby, she got her first top tooth on Valintines day.

For her first birthday my sister came into town! We had so much fun having her here for a few days was the best present possible! She really can hold her cake! She had a ton of fun with my family that came. She got to play with her cousins Abby, Ethan and Dylan

She has become more attached to her Thumper. She has always liked him but lately shes been attached at the hip to him whenever it comes it bed and such

We had to get Ryan a new computer chair and Madison thought that she was the coolest thing sitting in it. She is so funny in it! She is always so proud whenever she sits in it.

We got Madison a toy pony from micheals and she takes him everywhere. He eats dinner with her, he goes to the park with her, she takes her into bed for nap time, and yes he takes baths with her.

These are her current favorite toys. Yes they are all ponys

Madison started walking on her own just after her first birthday. She had been taking steps here and there for a little while but then one day she just up and walked around the house. It was a shock but I loved it! She gets into everything times ten but its such a fun age! This is her running around in the park by the apartment. We go there an awful lot so she doesnt get stir crazy in here.

This is her super excited "o" face that she makes! It makes me laugh so hard!

We went to louisanna for my sisters wedding! We just got home yesterday! Madison had such fun playing with his family! This is where his dad was letting her play the keyboard! She loved it!

They got to have a free sample of what happens when she get hungry and she doesnt eat food right away! She was such a grumpy princess before breakfast!

We went sight seeing around the hotel. We were looking at a world war two battle ship at the time. This was the first time I have ever seen the Mississippi River! It was soooooooo green there! That and everyone is so friendly!

She was playing with the camera case waiting to go watch Aunt Jenni get married!

Here is my beautiful sister after she get her hair done! How could you not love her or think she is beyond beautiful?

Family picture after the wedding

Thia is at the dinner after the wedding and Madison was having a blast with her Aunt Jenni and her cousin

This is a neutra rat. Yes, this is a rat! (cringes) we saw him while we were at the capital buildings parks pond

This is also a snake that was playing with the neutrat at the pond

Ryan found this and I love him! He got him at the airport while we were waiting to fly! So cute! I actually ate Alligator while we were there. I decided that while we were there I would try anything, I also ate oysters and frog leg... I like the oysters not the frog leg. I loved the trip! Madison actually wasnt a bad flyer I was happily surprised!

November- December

I had a great thanksgiving. It was fun and relaxing and much needed.
Ryan and I both took the entire week off.

What wild adventures did we have? Seriously Madison and I hung around the house and did a whole lot of nothing except for hanging out with Ryan's family.

Ryan did go one a few bunny hunts which was evidently a blast. They didn't get too many, but he evidently got a field mouse with the 22...

One night while we were there we went to Emily's basketball game and I have never seen a basketball game like it. They literally were ripping the ball out of each others hands, it freaked

me out a bit, Madison liked watching them run back and worth. She only freaked out when people yelled too loud.

On thanksgiving we drove down to lund and had dinner with the majority of Ryan's family. We had fifty people there and that's with one of Ryan's uncles family missing and a cousin from the Fuges. I found it crazy because I didn't even realize I hadn't met some of them before and I thought I had. It blew my mind with all of us in the same room.

One of Ryan's cousins was a photographer and she took some group pictures.

Madison realized one of the doors was open and she booked it. His cousin Annie took a few really cute pictures of Madison on the loose... I can't wait til I can get my hands on them!

On the way home we had two deer decide they were going to cross the road. It freaked me out a

bit... they were going in front semis.

(yes I did jump out of the car to get a picture of it)

It was an interesting night since the stuffing made a few of the family sick... so it was a smelly smelly night.

The cousins spent the night for two nights which was fun.

They played cops and robbers one night which ended in Emily ripping her pants, having to go back out to find her Dads cell phone, and the van Ryan was driving died.

Now why would a group of teenagers be playing cops and robbers you might ask? Well Ely is probably the only city you can play this game properly. You have a few groups of teenagers go and run around the city trying to get to meet up points. They are trying to avoid getting into the headlights of the "cops" which is a group of adults driving around trying to find the "robbers"

evidently the games get huge and are a ton of fun.

I discovered that Madison loves trampolines. I don't know how she even knew how they worked! I put her on the tramp and she looked at me and started to bounce herself. It was seriously the cutest thing possible.

We all got weirdly sick while we were up there. Madison's nose ran for the first time in her life, and Ryan and I got weirdly congested. I believe it was from the higher elevation and the extreme cold shock that we experienced.

All in all our trip was a blast...

I made some poor souls life horrible though. We stayed at motel 6 for the week and the manager tried to lie to me... a few times, and it would really make you sick if I said what he was lying about. So needless to say after a horrible email to the company after we left we now have a free

nights stay at any motel six to use.

We got home and tried to relax and I went about my mountain of laundry. It took me about six or seven loads but I was finally able to catch up.

After I had the laundry all done I set up our Christmas tree with ornaments missing from the bottom.

I'm thankful that Madison hasn't been too attracted to the tree. She will crawl up to it touch one light bulb and then loose interest and crawl away.

Monday November 28th I then went over to my moms house and set up her tree with Madisons help. She was a lot more interested in this than my house. She touched my moms dog for the first time which made me cringe. She can touch the cat... just not the dog. I'm glad she only "touched" her (she kind of pat/smacked her on the head) once.

I'm in charge of decorating my moms tree because if my mom did her own tree *cringes* It would turn out a hot mess (with all the love in my heart) It would have like 20 year old ornaments that don't match at all and its just random, so in the best interest of the tree my moms not allowed to decorate her own tree lol!

Sunday December 4th Madison was... wrestling me while she was eating. She was rolling and twisting while she was eating. She hasn't gotten the fear of heights yet so she rolled right off the bed. The way she landed she must have hurt her arm because she wouldn't crawl, for two days. I called her pediatrician and made an appointment for Tuesday to get her checked out. The way she wouldn't lift her arm past a certian spot and wouldn't put any weight on it. She thought she might have broken her collar bone or her shoulder. So off to be xrayed we went. It took us about three hours all in all to be xrayed. They took one round then sent us back to get more done at different angles. I found out that she didn't break anything which was a huge weight off my shoulders.

Madison can be a little stinker somedays. When she was eating the other night she would look at me grab a handful of food, laugh, then drop it on the ground, then repeat. She also has taken to sometimes just refusing to take a nap. There are days though when you just love her sweet self so much you look past it all and just hug her.

I'm looking oh so forward to Madison's first Christmas. I know shes going to have a blast with all of the wrapping paper. Ryan wants me to make our stockings this year. I have never sewn anything with a sewing machine in my life. I'll wing it...

I'm proudly able to say right now I'm feeding two babies at once. Would you like me to back up because I promise I'm not pregnant right now. Have you ever hit a point in your friendship with a person that you would do anything for them? Well I hit that point with one of my friends. She called me and asked me if I wasn't using my pumped milk. I had a freezer full and I was doing nothing with it. Once she started in I knew I had been saving my milk for her. So Off I shipped my milk and started pumping again... That day was November 16th. From that day since I have 172.5 oz of milk in my freezer just waiting until she asks for more. Yes I am a milk cow, but I'm proud of it. I'm also proud that I am so close with this person that I will alter my life to make theirs easier.

Now hopefully I'll have time to post again soon and not have to wait a month and a half.

20 posts in one

I'm currently basking in the glow of a nap... her nap will probably end in like five minutes because shes been asleep for an hour and a half. We have been waging the sleep war for almost two weeks now and I think the war is coming to a close. (lol as soon as I wrote that she woke up!) The first night was bad, she cried for an hour straight as we slept in the living room... well I can't really say sleep. She did better the next night and the next. We got back into our bed and have only been kicked out once since we went back in.

Madison is super fun right now. She likes to carry around things in her mouth.

In her bath she likes to put a wash cloth in her mouth and like to migrate around the bath tub. I have her on a semi routine when I put her to bed at night dinner at 7 she eats for an hour (yes an hour she eats a heck of a lot some nights) so bath at 8 then she tends to be asleep by 8:30. It seems to help and I'm not sure how Ryan does it I know she doesnt get a bath with him but he can also get her to sleep a heck of a lot easier than I can. There are actually nights I cant get her to sleep but he can.

I'm super excited to go up to Ely for thanksgiving! I have the week off (after fighting with my job and have to prove it to her by giving her my hotel reservation.... yes I'm serious) It will be sooo nice to be around his family. There will be a new baby and I will get to meet my nephiew which I'm super excited about!

*enter the new post lol !

Madison is 9 months old today! Its kind of crazy to see her changing so much! She is such a cutie pie! I love her! She started to crawl on Saturday while we were in the hospital waiting for her cousin to be born (I'll get into it more later) Shes been trying to crawl or been on the verge of crawling for almost two months now. She got decently good at going backwards and butt scooting but never really got the whole going forward thing. When her cousin was born I told her to say hi to her cousin and she waved at him! It was the first time she has done it and shes been doing it more today. She thinks her mommy and daddy are so funny and she gets shy and hides... but then again she will wave back too. Shes likes to wave to the baby in the mirror too. She has a few favorite toys. She has a spider and octopus's from her bath. She likes to carry them around. I've figured out how to fit her into the wrap again. It really helps to have a free hand and she likes it too.

I got a text Saturday morning from Ryans sister letting me know her water broke. As soon as I could I called into work and we high tailed it up to Ely. We took a pit stop at Alamo and Maddie saw a spider that she loved! So we got him for her and made it up to Ely. I went and checked on Sara and she was at a 5 but her blood pressure was low and her heart rate was high so they were worried about her. I went back to the house because Madison wasn't having me be away from her. We went back to the hospital at 7:30 and we found out that that she was going to have to have a c-section. While we were waiting to hear to news Tommy figured out how to get Madison to crawl. Lure her with paper. Gunner Dean Griffin was born at 8:21 pm and was 6 13 and was

20 inches long. I told her to say hi to him through the glass and she waved to him for the first time ever. We stayed on Sunday and went to stake conference. We had family dinner played some games and visited Gunner again. We left at 8:30pm and Madison died the whole way

home.

Madion is pretty much trained to know that 8 - 8:30 is bedtime. Littereally you can put her into her bed she'll cry for like a second then she's gone til 6. its nice. Its odd tho I don't nurse her even a fraction as much as I used to. I think I maybe feed her twice a day, breakfast and lunch... sometimes she get cranky and she then gets a snack. Its weird I'm not sure yet if she will wean herself or else I'll have to break her of it. I mean I love nursing her, but it would be nice to have my body back to myself and wear a normal bra again... This is also a weird thing because I can tell nursing has taken a tole on my body and I'm still nursing.

People have been asking us when we are going to have another baby. We know when we will want to start trying again, I just hope when this time comes we wont have too many issues. Having to fight again would be hard.

I love my life, seriously. I might have hard days but overall I completely love my life!

another update that took me three weeks to write lol

(started 9/16)

I'm currently sitting in my living room with a baby who has been up since two am. Now its normal for her to periodically wake up in the night and I just nurse her back to sleep so why should tonight be any different?

Well I finally left the bed at 3am because she had nursed for an hour straight and I was sore.

2. I am not a pacifier...

so after rocking her, pleading with her and using every tool in my box I gave up and we are currently watching lost while I start her on cheerios... my squirrley 7 month old. Im starting her on cheerios because her ped said it was fine to start her on big people food and she goes crazy over puffs. cheerios are a heck of a lot cheaper and smaller so she seems to be doing fine. Ryan and I are planning on getting her a high chair tomorrow so we can let her go crazy in it. Shes already eating bananas. I cut then up and feed her... She loves to grab them and squish them sooo I need to feed her in something other than her bumbo so she wont try to mash them into the carpet.

Madison is trying super hard to crawl. She gets into position and rocks back and forth. She doesnt crawl persay she kind of scoots but you dont realizing she is until you turn around and she somewhere completely different. Her favorite thing to do now is lick the fridge and play with the knobs to the entertainment center. You have to be careful or else the volume will turn up dramatically out of nowhere and you look and there she is

(9/25)

bad blogger

So my baby turned 8 months old yesterday and it freaks me out a little bit. I seriously hate how old she is getting. I love it because she is turning into her own little person but then again I always want her to stay little and be my little baby forever. She most definitely has her own little personality. She wants what she wants and she lets you know. She is starting to babble which is super cute. She does surprises you sometimes. One night when Ryan was watching her, he was changing her diaper and she was crying and looked up to him and said "mama" Tonight while I was cleaning up and Ryan had her she wasn't too happy with it and then again out came "Mama" Its like woooaaa is she really asking for me or just babbling? She tends to only do it when she is under duress. The high chair is seriously the best thing we could have ever bought. I wish that we had bought it months ago! She seemed a little bit unsure of it when I first put her into it but then I put cheerios in it and she loved it. So far Madison eats :Bananas, strawberries, peaches, bread, bacon, ground beef, chicken, sour cream, eggs, cheese... I'm giving her a little bit of everything I eat so she can try it too (hint the bacon) So far she seems to like the enchilada beef I share with her a lot (we seriously eat a lot of those in our family. I make them once a day... We get into food kicks and right now thats what we are on. A few weeks ago it was scrambled eggs and bacon. I bought two 18 packs of eggs on Monday and they were gone a few days later)

She is NOT a good sleeper... not at all , what so ever, I miss sleep... She changed her bedtime from 7:30 to close to 10-10:30 which means she sleeps til about 8am... So Last night she slept from 10:30 til 1, she didn't stop nursing til 1:30ish back into her bed woke up at 4 nursed forever again then back into bed and she slept til 8... now why would I be tired so often? I cant really sleep while shes nursing... dose off a little bit sure but not sleep. Not to mention the fact that on Sunday she wouldn't go back to sleep after nursing so She woke up at 4am and after an hour of nursing she was still giggling in the bed so we left the bed at 5 and watched an episode of Lost. She fell back asleep and went back to her bed at 6:30 and since it was Sunday and I had to be up soon anyways for church I stayed awake... yeah Sunday was a tired tired day for me since I didn't get off work the night before til 11pm... Am I asking for sympathy? Not really I'm just stating a fact that I don't think shes completely in love with sleeping yet.

Madison is entering the phase of only wanting to go to me. I feel bad for my mom because she thinks shes getting abandoned whenever she sees her and she freaks out. She doesn't go to Ryan half the time and I try to tell her that. Ryan trys to grab her sometimes and she arches her back away from him. She really loves me and its super cute. I just wish she would be willing to go to someone else once and a while... My brother evidently did the same thing, my mom just doesn't remember when he stopped doing it so I'm not sure when it will end...

I'm looking forward to a year from now. We will be moving (our lease will be up and theres no way I'm going to spend another year in a one room with Madison in the same room as us) Ryan will almost be done with his degree (he will graduate December 2012) and *hopefully* the market will be better so he will have a better job in his field. It just seems like there will be an exciting time in our lives.

I'm soooo looking forward to thanksgiving week. Ryan and I are going to take the week and go to Ely. We need time away from Vegas. My work and his work are kind of driving us crazy. Plus Madison will get to meet her cousin who is due the end the October. She needs to be around Ryan's family more often. We already have her little sweater so she'll be warm while we are there.

We still haven't picked out what Madisons costume is going to be. Ryan told me that I'm not allowed to have her be the entire cast of wizard of oz... I figured I'd start looking when its October...

7 months

(I have been in the process of writing this for a few weeks now. This is the second time I've actually started this entry)

my baby is seven months old today (three days ago)

its really rather weird how fast it is all going

i really wish it would slow down so im trying to cherrish every second i have with her

she has quite the spunky happy personality

she most definetly tells you when she wants something or she doesnt like what you are doing

she is starting to let you know she wanta you to pick her up by spreading her arms and crying so you are more easily able to pick her up. Shes been doing this for a few days now and she did it for Ryan while we were shopping and he laughed

she is extremely attached to me

she will watch me

she tracks me when ever i walk around the room and she crys when i leave the room

ive had to sneak out some days to go to work so she doesnt see me

she loves her daddy but she still wants to be with me

we got her a tag blanket at target today and she was a little sleepy when we showed it to her but then she woke up a little bit more and stuck her tongue out towards it.

she thinks with her tongue

anything that comes near her goes into her mouth

she likes to suck on her bottem lip and then everynow and then she switches to her top lip

Ryan and I think that she's teething

She gets cranky and chews on you and actually enjoys ice

Shes currently wearing size four diapers

I've starting to get size 9-12 month clothes because her six to nine month stuff is starting to get a bit snug

I cant believe my baby is so big

How on earth did the time go so flipping fast?

We got her a new carseat finally because she outgrew her old one and now this one will last until she is 60 pounds so hopefully it will be the last carseat we will buy her... how long are they in catseats by the way?

she has started to refuse to eat baby food which I find rather odd because she used to LOVE that stuff to the point of where she would eat three packs... now she makes quite the face and spits it out. I wonder if I can start giving her "real" food now?

Madison has her daddys "serious" face when shes thinking. If you didnt know her (or her daddy) any better you would think that she was seriously mad at you, but shes just thinking

she stood up from Ryans lap when he was watching her the other night... he promptly freaked out and called me at work

im so sad that I missed it

I'm convinced that shes going to skip crawling and just walk since she hates going on her tummy so much

no she still fights with me about tummy time which she give herself by going from sitting up to on her belly

she sits on her own and has for a few weeks

shes a hopping fiend

its the funniest thing to watch her do

I couldnt imagine my life with out her pudgy little self

sometimes i catch myself just looking at her and loving her more and more every day

i have no idea how my heart could grow to love her as much as I do

I don't understand how anyone could not love their child and not protect them with everything in them, they must have no heart

I had mastitus for 24 hours two weeks ago. I caught it fast enough for it not to last for too long but still it sucks feeling like you got hit by a truck

we went up to ely to go see his dad get put in as a bishop a few weeks ago with my mom and loved it. its nice to get out of town even if it is only for 24 hours

i still hate work and all of the drama that comes with it

and madisons sleep has been severly screwed up since her teething so i must go love on my baby

the month of July

I will be the first person to admit that I'm the worlds worst blogger. I've said it before and I will say it again... The sad part is that I actually had an eventful month. I currently have my baby sleeping on my lap because we just got home from a weekend at Ely and she didn't have a proper nap so shes getting hers on my lap, I dont mind I'm watching special features of Gone with the wind while Ryan naps in the room and I'm currently craving a blt something fierce.

July has been a blast. The fourth of July was a relaxing day. I went to my moms wards breakfast. Madison played around with plastic spoons and was super cute. The rest of the day

our little family just hung out. Ryan made some burgers and we got a blue ray player and watched Lord of the Rings extended edition. We kept Madison inside and she didn't see

fireworks because I was afraid she would be scared of the fireworks.

My brother and sister came into town! I loooooove spending time with them even tho it went too fast. I hadn't seen John since thanksgiving and he hadn't met Madison yet. Kha and Sonny came too and later in the week Khas cousin Ben came into town. We didn't do anything fantastic we pretty much hung out. We had a bbq the first day then later in the week we walked around and went shopping at the outdoor outlit mall. My place turned into the nap shack. Everyone would just pass out when they came over. We got an updated family picture of sorts. We were all kind of a hot mess but it was funny, even the cat and dog made it in. I always loose it when my sister leaves. I dont normally do it til I'm back home and by myself then I just cry.

Ryan and I decided to go up to Lund for the 24th of July celebration. We realized we needed a hotel this time and we are glad we did. We took Madison swimming for the first time in their indoor pool. Shes a little fish in the water! She kicked and splashed around! She even tried to drink the pool water a few times. When I took her out and gave her a bath to get all the pool water off of her she kept acting like she was still in the pool. We set off at 8am for Lund but before we left we had to go help his brother out and fix a flat on Mathews van. We got to Lund just in time to watch the parade. It was so funny there were mini horses and someone pulling a monty python being followed around with coconuts. Madison got to hang out with her Great Grandparents again and got passed around. We then had a program at the old elementary

school, they also had a little market place where I was able to get Madison some more hair bows. We went over to Ryans grandparents house so I could get Madison to take a little nap which she did but pretty much every member of Ryans family also fell asleep. We went to my first rodeo which was fun! There were some people who got hurt but over all it was interesting to watch... wild cow milking... mutton busting... Madison actually fell asleep for a little while when we were there. We then headed back over to the old elementary school because we were going to watch the fireworks in the field behind it. It was a huge field and they were lighting the fireworks off in the field right in front of it. They were huge and right in front of you. I was so afraid Madison would freak out but she didn't. She actually fell asleep through them. It surprised me to the core because they were L-O-U-D! We got home in one piece with only two pit stops...

Last night was horrible... Madison got sick for the first time last night. After I got home from work I was relaxing and I heard Madison wake up and cry. I went in to check on her and she was wet. I turned on the light and looked at her and there was throw up in her hair. She threw up so much it soaked the comforter, the fitted sheet and it was on the mattress. I freaked out. I mean shes spit up from time to time but nothing like this. I stripped her down and went to go give her a bath and while I was in the bathroom with her she started to heave again... She ended up throwing up six times in an hour. I called her pediatrician thinking i would be leaving a message but they actually have someone to answer the phone and I had a doctor call me back. So I went off to walmart and got pedialite like she said and got back home. I was awake with her til til 4am when i finally dozed off. I was afraid she would puke again and choke or something. She was so pale and was so sad. I hated it more than anything else. Shes completely fine today. a wee bit more tired than normal so a bit more cranky. I think something she ate didnt sit right with her because shes fine now.

I had to stop feeding her baby food for a little while. She got so constipated that she would scream whenever she tried to poop. It was solid, no water and bigger than a gold ball. So shes back to being on straight breast milk unless she seem extremely hungry and eats the food with a spoon...

judgment

I was just cooking dinner and I was thinking about my family. The thought ran into my head

"what if people judge my family?" Then it very quickly turned into

"People really can't judge my family"

My sister Jenni

She seriously is one of the only people I sat there and thought and thought about for judgments they might say. I was able to come up with some for John and I but I can't come up with any for her. She has been in retail management with two different major clothing brands that most people would die to wear! (And fork out $700 just to wear their jeans...) She has had a steady job since she was 16. She is one of the most dependable people I know. I can't think of a time she has ever lied to me. She will hide something from you but if you come right out and ask her she will tell you. She is starting a whole new adventure in Louisiana with the most polite great guy the world could ever ask for! They are perfect together!

My brother John

Now you might say "but he parties!" but I respond "BUT he's had straight A's since the second grade!" He's probably a heck of a lot smarter than you! He's 21 year old hot single college student, he is allowed to let off some steam! If he can work three jobs (yes he has had three jobs at once while in college, not just a class but a full load) and pull off straight A's he can do what ever the heck he wants! Plus when he graduates he's going to have duel majors! How many people can even pretend to say they have come anywhere close to that?

Ryan and I

"But you went back to work after having a baby!"

And? My husband is going to school full time, and is the main tec at the blind center full time! If there was any job openings in his field that offered insurance I wouldn't be working but there isn't unless we move to texas or something but his credits don't transfer! He graduated with freakin HONORS and is making a life for our family so much easier! I am good at my job even if I hate it. I have had a job continuously since I was 16 years old and have been in management for seven years! Ryan is a worthy priesthood holder who was able to bless our daughter!

My parents

So what they got divorced?

So?

Who doesn't? Who can say they made a marriage LAST for 26 years? They have been through such crap that most people have never seen in their lives! They have had hard lives! But they both would do anything in their power for their kids. Both of them are current on their mortgages and pay all of their bills. If you say anything bad about either of my parents I will hunt you down and make you eat your words...

Those thoughts were running through my head while I was cooking dinner... It left me with a smile on my face. I love my family and am so grateful that I am in the one I am!