The Zoo!

Last Saturday Josh was scheduled to work, BUT didn't you know that:
Rain in Clinton, Iowa = Family Fun Day for the Smyser's!

I had been wanting to take M to the Zoo all summer, but knew it might be hard to find time so that Daddy could join us, so when he called me Saturday morning letting me know he was on his way home...I knew we had to do something fun, just the 3 of us! So, after her nap, we headed to Niabi Zoo!

We started with the train ride. And, on this day Madison was still under one (because then she was free...I know right...our first family lie...all to save like 2 bucks or something!).

She was unsure at first (as you can see in her face in this picture), but ended up liking it. Later as we walked around the zoo, she enjoyed waving at the other people and kids riding the train.

Then, we headed to the Petting Zoo area. I am still paranoid so I wouldn't let her touch or feed the animals. Josh was bummed. Oh well...he got over it. She LOVED watching Daddy feed the goats. This was definitely her favorite part of the zoo.

(Also, we learned how to get free animal food pellets from those gumball machines that take quarters (from some other Dad there with like 4 kids)...again, as if we couldn't afford the quarters to get the silly food, we were such rebels this day. Geesh!)

We walked around a bit, but as expected, most of the animals were in their houses as it got pretty warm that afternoon. We didn't even get to see the real elephants, but this will have to do.

And, of course we had to stop at the Petting Zoo one more time before leaving.

And, I again crushed Josh's hope of letting M pet that goat. Oh well...next year...

(I had more pictures on my camera, but it's currently missing so these pictures from my phone will have to do!)

Foto Friday - Remember When...

She Was Just One Day Old?!

Daddy and Madison's First Year Together

A late Father's Day gift for Josh.

Just click here.

Enjoy!

:)

Our Week in Camera Phone Pics (1)

My first LINK out on the internet with other random bloggers! :) I'm kinda nervous actually. Anyways, I hope I'm posting this right!

MONDAY (the 15th) - Good Morning! Shopping at Target. Playing on new organizer bought at Target. (See post about that here.) Waiting patiently as cookies bake!

TUESDAY - Helping with Thank You cards from her birthday. Picture with Mama! Mac-n-cheese also makes for a great hair gel. Some time outside before bed.

WEDNESDAY - Really, she did this in like 30 seconds...ughhh...but she's SO cute! First time in the swings! Lunch with Grandpa at work. Snack at the park...she LOVES puffs!

THURSDAY - I put together her new water/sand table from her birthday. Watching Daddy nap over his lunch break. Yay! Book with Dad before he has to go back to work. Stop taking my photo and let me eat!

FRIDAY - Doctors visit...that's all I took for the day...boo on me!

SATURDAY - Time to watch some Fresh Beats on TV before nap time. First trip to the ZOO! A full post here!

SUNDAY - Not a lot of pics...after the zoo on Saturday, she spiked a fever (probably from vaccinations) and was pretty cranky most of Sunday. But, she must have felt better for a bit because she had a BLAST with her water table outside while Daddy did yard work. Don't let this fool ya though, she still hates baths...having her feet in water, etc. Oh well...baby steps, right!?

This was lotsa fun, but I don't think I'm disciplined enough to do it every week! Haha! I'm gonna try and do it once a month or so though...I loved re-living last week while working on this post!

Linking up with Amy!

Foto Friday - Happy Girl

Laughing because she's trying to grab my camera!

Madison's Toy Box

Ok, so I didn't go the toy box route. I should have titled this post "Madison's Toy Storage Unit" (but that's not as cute I don't think). I'm sure she'll get a toy box eventually...but I liked this idea from my friend, Lindsey, since it is in our family room and over time I'll be able to use it for other things as well.

Anyways, ready for WAY too many photos and TMI about my neurotic love for organization???

Of course M wanted to "help" put it together. And of course there was no way I could do this with her running around. It was wishful thinking when I began...

Screamin' at Daddy, "Put away the camera and help out Mama!!!"

Anyways, AFTER she and Josh went to bed, I got back to work in peace and quiet. :) Here it is in place, and as you can see two small baskets were NOT enough. I'm one of those Moms that picks up and puts all her toys away at night. I cannot sleep if I know it's messy out there....

Before: AHHHHHH!!!! CLUTTER!!!!

After: Ahhhh....so much space! I slept like a baby that night.

The top three bins are empty. I went back and forth on how many bins to buy and if I wanted her toys completely out of sight or not...still not sure...but I can always buy more later on if I want. I decided I wanted her to be able to see most of her toys and books for now.

Another close up. Why? Because I'm like that. The books were organized by height. The bottom left bin has balls, blocks, and stackables. The bottom right has all her rattle and baby toys. I realized I could probably put her baby toys away in storage, but that made me sad so they are staying for now. Oh, and all her stuffed animals are in the pastel basket under the end table (where her books used to be). BTW, I hate stuffed animals. Josh keeps buying them for her. *sigh* LOL!

The next morning: "Whoa...what is this???"

"Yay! There's the rest of my toys!"

Madison approves. :)

Madison's First Birthday

I know all these pictures on on FB, but I wanted to go into detail on our blog - and also give credit where credit is due since nothing was really my original idea. :) Also, there are some new pics, towards the end of the post, too!

WARNING: This is a loooooonnnnnngggg one!

After MUCH consideration, I finally chose the ice cream theme for M's party. I spent a lot of time on-line looking at party blogs and googling "ice-cream themed party ideas." Josh would say that I probably spent TOO much time on-line. Once I saw the idea for her smash cake here...that sealed the deal for me. I loved that cake idea!

Madison's turned out much smaller...and much less pink. :) It was a funfetti cake, and Madison definitely enjoyed it!

So, after her 11 month pictures were taken, I mentioned to our photographer that I wanted to use one of the pics for her invitation. He graciously volunteered to create the invite for us! Yay! Thank you, Doug!!!

(Much better than my quarter sheet design that I was going to print on cardstock at Kinko's.)

Of course she wouldn't stand still for a picture to show off her birthday outfit. I got her personalized onsie from Etsy. Her skirt is from Grandma Tracy, and her cupcake bow is from "Aunt" Tara.

I found the idea for her party ice cream cone hat here. It was actually fairly easy to make...except for that darn tissue paper rosette. That thing takes a lot of patience, and it was only after ripping two that I realized I was supposed to be making it from crepe paper...Oh well...I got it figured out (thanks to help from a how-to YouTube tutorial!). I got her headband at the dollar store, so pretty cheap, too! Of course she didn't want to wear it.

She is in her -after cake outfit- in this picture with Mama.

The cake pop/cake ball ice cream cones came next. I combined ideas found here and here. Originally, I was going to make cupcakes in cake cones, but after more on-line searching, I found this idea and I liked that it was something a bit different. (I am now addicted to cake balls/cake pops and am looking forward to another party for a reason to make these!)

I did a trial batch a few weeks ago with my friend, Lindsay. (She also helped me a couple days before the party!! Thank you!) I got 12 out of one boxed cake mix. At the party I had funfetti, strawberry, and chocolate cake (all mixed with cream cheese frosting). I had them available at the party, and also bagged them individually as favors for guests to take home. I found the fun personalized stickers on Etsy. LOVE that site. The stickers say, "Thanks for making my 1st birthday so sweet! Love, Madison."

There were three 3-year olds that attended her party (they were wonderfully adorable and behaved...shout out to Maya, Eva, and Luke!)...their favor bags had a wrapped cake ball ice cream cone, crayons with ice-cream coloring sheets, ice cream stickers, and bubbles in an ice cream container. Sorry...forgot to have Uncle Brandon take pictures.

Also no pictures of tissue paper poms...but I made 6 of those and hung them from the ceilings. These are super easy to make, and if anyone wants some for future parties, I'd be happy to help!

Oh, and centerpieces for the tables were 3 carnation tops (pink and white) stuck in a waffle bowl with scattered Brach's Neapolitan candies. The carnations were the one thing that was my very own idea, too!!! No pictures, but I'm sure you can visualize what I did. :)

Oh, and I made her birthday sign and monthly picture display pretty easily too. All it took was some scissors, double sided tape, colored paper, and ribbon! I had to make two picture displays because it was too difficult to just pick one picture from each of her monthly sessions!

I made most of her stuff between the hours of 9pm and 11pm. Josh probably wanted to strangle me a few times since this was ALL I talked about the few weeks leading up to it. *Actually, the night before our party I wasn't allowed to talk about it after 9pm until the next day! Haha!*

However, it was all totally worth it! We all had a FANTASTIC time at her party. I couldn't have done it without the help of family to set up and clean up, so THANK YOU to Grandma Tracy and Jeff, Grandpa Dave, Uncle Brandon, Autie Debbie and the Rice Family Cousins, and "Uncle" Ryan, too!!!

Oh (to make this post even longer!), a couple days before her birthday, Madison received her FIRST PACKAGES in the mail! One was a present from "Aunt" Tara. THANK YOU!

She enjoyed ripping the paper off of course.

She really loved her birthday cake toy. Whenever it plays the birthday song she dances!

Her second gift in the mail was from our good friends who live in MN, Allison and Mark. Her little LeapFrog Picnic basket was a total hit as well! THANK YOU!

Great Grandma and Grandpa couldn't come to her party, but they came for a visit that morning!

And to end this marathon long post - one of my favorite pictures of M lovin' her cake!

I can't believe my BABY is ONE. This last year has been the most wonderfully indescribable year of our lives, and we can't wait to see what happens as our BABY M continues to grow.

12 Months

The pictures were taken on her birthday, but I'm just getting time to complete her 12 month post now.

My last sticker. :( All my email updates are now about my ONE year old TODDLER. :( Josh is happy to call her a toddler...I'm still calling her my BABY...so there.

Kissing Winnie! Such a sweet girl!

She's around 29 inches and 24 pounds. I'll get official numbers at her one-year appointment this Friday. She wears 12 month and 18 month clothes...size 3 diapers (but size 4 at night).

So, where to begin...

MOTOR SKILLS

By now she is walking great...and can run (I guess it's more like walking fast when I am chasing her). I noticed she can back up and walk backwards, too.

She just started to point last week! It's not a regular motion, but it's pretty darn cute.

She has also started having mini-tantrums, and she regularly runs from me when she knows I'm coming to take something from her or to change her diaper. FUN! :) NOT!

She can wave, slap her knee (to call for the dog), and sign for "more" and "all done." Although her signing is mostly when I ask her to, not on her own.

Gives hugs and kisses (when she wants to of course).

Dances and bounces to music and Josh's singing.

Runs to me and hugs my legs. Which in turn makes my heart fill with SO much adoration for her.

Opens drawers and cupboards, can dump her buckets of toys and blocks...basically, she's an expert at driving her Mama crazy with all the clutter from toys making a mess .

She is ALWAYS on the move!

TEETH

She now has 5 teeth showing (three on the bottom and her top two middle ones), and three more just starting to pop through. Again, teething has been no biggie for us. *KNOCK ON WOOD*

SLEEP

Goes to bed around 8:30ish and wakes around 7am-ish. Takes two naps a day. She's doing great!

FOOD

She LOVES cheese...mac 'n' cheese, grilled cheese, slices of cheese, cottage cheese...

Nursing 3 times a day...She has taken to drinking whole milk like a champ. Just last week, I dropped her dinner time nursing and just gave her milk. It went well, and I'm SO glad. Starting this week I will limit her lunch nursing session, and then by the end of this weekend, we'll hopefully drop that one, too. I'll probably do another post on weaning (I hate that word) later on so I don't have to get into here...

Just this week I let her start holding a spoon while I'm feeding her. She can get the spoon to her mouth if I dip it/fill it first. Such a big girl!

DIAPER RASH

Ugh...never had to deal with this until this last month! Poor girl. Actually, it was never that bad, I just felt bad for her when her little bottom started getting a bit red. I'm not sure if it is related to the teething or what?! But it's nothing a bit of diaper cream and naked time after baths at night can't fix in a day or so...

BATHS

OMG. She HATES them. I hate them. Let's hope she grows out of this...like SOON!

TV/BOOKS
She loves Yo Gabba Gabba, the Fresh Beat Band, Blues Clues (which I can't stand), and Moose and Zee on Nick Jr. Also loves WWHL with Andy Cohen (from me) and Conan (from Josh)! It's pretty funny...she laughs regularly throughout both shows!

She also likes "reading" books. She picks a book and brings it to me and then turns to sit in my lap. LOVE it. But, once you start reading, be prepared to read for a while...usually the same book over and over.

*Note: I don't just park her in front of the TV all day...just some days. :)

TALKING/SOUNDS

Not much to report. She doesn't say Mom, or Mama much anymore...she still hasn't said DaDa...we don't think. Oh well. She regularly says, "Ba" for her ball and banana.

She does scream and jabber. It's a bit embarrassing when she screams at random customers who are ignoring her at HyVee to get their attention. People, if you just wave and smile at her, she'd leave ya alone!

She also fake coughs and can click her tongue. She has a fake laugh that's pretty funny!

Sorry I didn't post a lot of pictures...it's hard to take pictures of her now because she is ALWAYS moving, and I am ALWAYS chasing her. Also, she doesn't really like it...see below.

I am trying to get back to taking more pictures and posting more regularly again. I have a lot of ideas for posts...just need to get them done!

Madison is such a fun-loving, easy-going, happy baby! We are SO lucky and would love her just the same if she wasn't....I think...HAHA KIDDING! I'm pretty sure she's just ensuring she'll get a baby brother or sister someday in the DISTANT future. :) I really should do a whole post on what our first year as parents was like....

**Her birthday party last Saturday was SO much fun! I will be doing a party post later this week.**

Foto Friday - Mama's Helper

(Only one day late...better than forgetting completely, right?!)

Foto Friday - Oh, Madison!

Yeah, I know I missed last week...

Anyways, her face in this picture cracks me up!