Flu Shot Drive-Thru

If you're not from Arkansas, you may not understand this post, but today I took Madison to a flu shot drive-thru! Our town sets up a drive-thru at the fair grounds where you stay in your car, drive through a building, roll down your window, and stick our your arm!

I went to the drive-thru last year to get my flu shot and only had to wait about 30 minutes. This year, the H1N1 shot was offered for the first time in Russellville to young children and pregnant women. I think everyone is pretty scared of getting the swine flu, therefore everyone and their dog decided to show up today.

Madison and I were in the car for 3 hours and 45 minutes. She was mad as a hornet. We waited in the never ending line for what seemed like forever! I finally decided to get her out of her car seat and nurse her while I was "rolling." The EMT's and sheriff's didn't seem to mind. I think everyone was a little frazzled at the long wait. I will say that next year I will try to do everything in my power to get her flu shot taken care of somewhere else! No more drive-thrus for us unless absolutely possible!

Nothing too exciting...

Madison and I have not really done anything too exciting this week. We've just stayed at home. Tonight we did get out of the house to go to a baby shower.

Madison is quite mouthy these days and likes to scream. She did a lot of screaming tonight and then got a little ugly, so we quickly left. That's always fun for mom. :(

I made Gabe take some pics of us before we left. We both dressed up for the shower. It's like pulling teeth to get Madison to smile for the camera. The girl just doesn't smile a whole lot unless she's laughing. She's always got the "serious" look on her face. People used to say the same thing about me! I used to get so tired of people telling me to smile! We're just serious people, what can we say? Ha!

Today is one of my best friends birthday! She turned the big 2-8 today. Happy Birthday Megon! Hope today was a special day!

Well, it's past my bedtime, so I better hop off. Enjoy your weekend!

A Good Day for Chili

In just about every picture that we take of Madison, her mouth is wide open. Today she was busy as a bee in her play pen.

Today was a dreary, rainy day. Madison and I ran a few errands this afternoon and then headed back to the house for her afternoon nap. I tried to iron a few pieces of clothing while she played in the living room, but I was only able to iron "a few" before she got restless.
This evening, we gave Madison a pretzel rod to gnawl on while we ate dinner and she gnawled on it with her two little teeth until it was too short to hold.

Tonight we cooked Daddy's favorite chili recipe. This recipe actually won the chili cook off contest at Russellville's Fall Fest one year. Speaking of Fall Fest, it's this Saturday...on Halloween. They have a costume contest for kids and I am going to enter Madison in it. She is going to be the cutest little lady bug that ever did exist. Gabe told me the other night that he used to be a judge for the costume contest. Weird, huh?!

I also thought about taking Madison to First United Methodist Church to take some pics in their "pumpkin patch." They have about a million pumpkins in front of their church and it looks so pretty.

Chili Recipe

3-4 T. chili powder

2 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1 30 oz. can mexican style chili beans

2 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes (crush w/hands)

2 cans rotel

4-5 bay leaves

2-3 T. garlic powder

3-4 slices jalapeno

1 c. tomato paste

2 sm. yellow onions

Simmer all ingredients except for beef, onions, and chili powder. In a separate pan, fry beef, onions, and chili powder. Drain and mix in with simmering ingredients. Simmer together 20 more minutes. *Note: I cut this recipe in half for my family. I cut back a little more on the jalapeno slices and garlic powder. It can get too spicy!

Enjoy!

Big Mistake, Big Suprise, Big Girl

1. Big Mistake
I don't think anyone caught my big mistake, but in Madison's 8 month pictures, I wrote the wrong birth date on her sign. I wrote her birth date as 10.17.09 and it is 10.19.09. Oops. I do have to say though, that it is all Gabe's fault. He's the one who told me that she turned 8 months on the 17th. We were married on November 17th and I think we get that date confused with her birthday.

2. Big Surprise
Madison's Aunt Holley (Gabe's sister, my sister-in-law) is currently living outside of Boston doing travel therapy. She surprised everyone by flying in this weekend. We took Gabe's parents out to eat and gave them an early 40th anniversary present... a family vacation to Branson for a week. Yes, we will all be tagging along as well. I have some great pics of all of us, but they are on my sister-in-law's camera so I will be posting them soon.

3. Big Girl
I dressed Madison up the night we went out to eat for Gabe's parents' 40th anniversary. Ch-Ch-Ch-Cheetah! Doesn't she look cute in animal print? I just love dressing up my baby girl.

I bought her white flower bow at War Eagle. I thought it looked cute with this outfit.

We are all dealing with a cold of some sort at the Freyaldenhoven household. No fun! Hopefully we will all get well soon!

A Calmer Week

This week has been a much calmer week, and I am so thankful for it! Madison turned 8 months old on Saturday. Our monthly photo shoots are getting more challenging the older she gets. She is fascinated with paper and grabs at it any chance she gets. She especially loves my grocery list!

You may be wondering what Madison can or cannot do at this stage in her life, so...let me just tell you.

1. As of today, I can say that Madison is officially crawling. She's had it figured out for a while now, but has never taken more than a couple of steps. Tonight though, she crawled all the way into the kitchen from the living room and would have kept on going if I wouldn't have picked her up for her bath! She is a pretty cute little crawler.
2. She loves to pull herself up. I don't like this very much, because she is now constantly getting hurt. She bumps her head on whatever object she is pulling up on, or she falls back and hits her head on the ground. Falling=Crying...no fun for Mom.
3. She loves baby yogurt. She loves any kind of fruit baby food.
4. She still likes her exersaucer. She sometimes plays in her playpen. She likes her jumperoo for very short periods of time. She still sits in her bumbo some, but is about too big for it. She can about pull herself out of it. She sits in her high chair now to eat.
5. We have introduced the following foods to her: pickles, bread/crackers, macaroni, lemons, mandarin oranges. Random, I know. She also likes apple juice, diluted, of course.
6. She likes stroller rides, but not long stroller rides.
7. Still likes to be held, but about wiggles out of your arms now.
8. Wakes up two times a night.
9. Just recently, I have started laying her on her back in her crib and turning her mobile on at bedtime. It is working well! She goes right to sleep.
10. Still loves bathtime and still takes a bath in her baby tub. Still blow her dry.
11. Loves to watch cartoons.
12. Loves her grandparents!
13. Squeals with delight when Mommy holds her and runs through the house with Daddy chasing behind.

These are just a few of Madison's highlights during this phase of her little life. She has been sick with a bad, congested cough this week. I think I'm going to take her to the doctor tomorrow. It just sounds so bad. Hope you have a great weekend!

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Around the world and back...

Whew! It really does feel like Madison and I have been around the world and back during the last week. This past week was definitely my busiest week yet as a mom and I hope to NEVER have a week this busy again. Here is a recap of "the world" we traveled this past week. (Click on pics to enlarge.)

Thursday- War Eagle in Bentonville, AR

We had a great time at War Eagle. I hadn't been since I was a little girl. My grandparents have had a booth there several years, but were not able to make it this year. My Aunt and Uncle both had their own booth at the craft fair this year...salsa/pepper jellies & jewelry. I was a little disappointed in the craft selection. A little too "crafty" for me. I have never been too fond of crafts of this sort. It was pretty chilly...we about froze.

Friday- Johnston's Pumpkin Patch

For the MOMs October Playdate, we carpooled down to Greenbriar, AR to visit Johnston's Pumpkin Patch. We all rode on a hayride, visited with the farm animals, took pics of the kids in the pumpkin patch, and picked out a pumpkin. The fields were pretty muddy since it had rained several days in a row before we went. We had a good time, but those of us with babies decided it was a little too much work on us moms! The things we do for our kids...:)

Saturday- Race for the Cure

Mom, Melissa, Madison, and I all ran in the Race for the Cure. We drove to Conway Friday evening with several other girls from Gabe's clinic and ate dinner at Fuji's Hibachi Grill. We spent the night in a hotel in LR and woke up early Saturday morning for the race. My grandmother, Meme, is a breast cancer survivor so we ran this race in celebration of her! You would have loved to be there, Meme. We finished the race with 45,000 other women! It was Mom and Melissa's first time to run the race. People dress crazy there! They get decked out in pink....from pink wigs, to holding up flamingos on a stick, to men dressing up like women. It's quite the experience. If you've never walked/ran the race you should!

Well, if you've ever traveled around the world and back you know that it makes you quite tired! So... I'm off to bed. Good night!

War Eagle

Madison figured out how to smash her face against the mesh walls in her playpen today. I thought the pictures turned out pretty cute! Funny baby girl.

Madison and I are headed to the War Eagle Craft Fair tomorrow morning with my mom. It will be an early morning, so this post will be short! Hopefully we will find some great deals, or at least some cute things for Madison.

Friday, Madison and I will be going to the pumpkin patch with some other mothers and their preschoolers from church. The ground will probably be very muddy because we've had days of rain, but the pictures with the kids and their pumpkins will be priceless. I hope Madison enjoys it and I hope I get some cute pictures.

Saturday, we will be running in the Race for the Cure with several others girls from River Valley Therapy, Gabe's clinic. My mom and sister are going to run this year. It should be fun.

Oh, and tomorrow is my big day. I'll be the big 2-7! Gabe has a surprise date planned for me in Fayetteville. I wonder what it could be...