Houston visitors

There has been quite a bit happening in the Madison household of late. This past weekend, we spent 2 days at the Great American Barbecue working on the ice team, while Gillian stayed the night with Miss Michele (her regular babysitter), and then Uncle Josh and Aunt Abby came and picked her up. Nana, Pops and Aunt Amy came and hung out with them throughout the day on Saturday. Gillian told both her Mommy and I that she had a GREAT time! We had a great time at the barbecue, but we were definitely ready for some Gillian time!

Sunday afternoon, Uncle Mike and Aunt Angela (from Houston) drove up to see us. They brought their 2 kiddos, Josh and Emma. We had a very busy couple days with them as we barbecued on Sunday night, went to PowerPlay on Monday, and visited the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead on Tuesday. Tuesday night, we visited our favorite barbecue joint in KC, Oklahoma Joe's. All in all, it was a great time and so much fun to see the kids play together. They're all growing up so fast!

Yesterday morning, the Mike, Angela and their 2 kids loaded up in the car and headed to Tulsa for a visit with the rest of the family. Michelle and Gillian hopped a plane to Tulsa for the same visiting reasons and will be coming back to KC on Saturday.

Here are some pictures from their visit to KC....

Happy Mother's Day, Michelle!

I know it's a little too late, but I did not have a chance to post this video that I made for Mother's Day, when it actually WAS Mother's Day. Even still, none of that diminishes the importance of the day.

Bathtime and the washcloth game

The other night when Michelle was bathing Gillian, she called me in so I could see the new game that mother and daughter had discovered together...what resulted was a 15-minute laugh attack every time Gillian had the wet washcloth tossed to her. She of course can't catch it yet, so it typically sticks to her chest and/or upper torso, at which point she cracks up. The best part is that she discovered her giggle. Luckily for everyone...I was able to get it on video tonight. Watch closely and she will show you what else she's been doing lately.

Buh bye!

9-month appointment

Michelle took Gillian to her 9-month appointment today. She is doing very, very well. She weighs 19 lbs. 4 oz. and is 28 1/2" tall. We have noticed that her weight gaining has tapered off considerably since we've been feeding her baby food. All seems well in the world of doctor's appointments so not too much else new there.

Gillian has been running a fever off and on this week, so we think she might be cutting another tooth or 2. With her 2 on the bottom and the new one(s), she's gonna be ready for real food before we know it!

Can we get a round of applause?

Last week as we were watching KC native David Cook on American Idol, Gillian decided that he was her favorite too....Watch the video to check out her newfound skill.

A belated Happy Easter!

Sorry for the late Easter greetings, but the flu has had both Michelle and I very out of sorts this week. I wish it wouldn't have happened this week because it's Michelle's spring break, but I guess it's better that she doesn't have to call her principal for a sub!! Anyway, we hope everyone had a very blessed Easter and you were able to spend meaningful time with family and friends...



We spent the Easter Sunday with Dan and Margie Coon and enjoyed their company and some NCAA basketball....keep rollin' Jayhawks!!

Today is also an extra special day for Sofia Rose Miller, daughter of Kenny and Jennifer Miller. She is having her repair surgery for CDH, that I had posted about a while back. You can read more about how things are going over at their blog....please send all of your prayers and thoughts their way today at 1:00 pm CST.

Gillian's first haircut

What?!?! No...she's only 8 months old. Yup, but have you ever seen an 8 month old with twin rat tails reaching to between her shoulder blades? Well...let's just say it looked pretty silly. So last Thursday we had her hair cut. She was very fascinated with the scissors, but other than reaching for them a couple times, she sat perfectly still and stoic.

Pre-cut....

Mid-cut....

Post-cut...

Being a Mommy and Daddy is awesome!

The incredible thing to Michelle and I is how much Gillian seems to change day over day. From pulling herself up to furniture one day and being frustrated with not being able to figure out how to move her legs to the very next day standing underneath the dining room table and 'cruising' from one chair to the other. Just last week, we still enjoyed the great big toothless grins, and now this week, we can no longer describe the grins as toothless....yup, you read that right, Gillian has a tooth! Michelle noticed it last Friday night as we hung out at the house. Now we're noticing that the tooth right next to it is not far behind.


Gillian loves playing in the laundry basket!!

Still a fan of bathtime!!!

Finally, an update!

The last time anyone heard from us about our little Gillian, not much was new to report. Well, suffice it to say, things have changed just a bit. In the past month, a few things have happened. A little over 3 weeks ago, Michelle and I noticed that Gillian had definitely been pulling herself up to certain pieces of furniture. We noticed this over a weekend, and we thought it would only be a matter of time before she stood up in her crib. Little did we know it would happen the very next day (not once but twice). On a Sunday morning, I went in to wake her and she was standing in her crib, just hangin' out waiting on someone to come and get her. She has grown so, so much. She is also crawling (very quickly, I might add), and can make it everywhere in our upstairs in a matter of a few seconds. In the month that I have not posted, the blog also turned 1 year old. Hard to believe what we were doing a year ago at this time...some of the old posts were definitely fun to read.

In other news, we would like to extend our condolences to the Danz family. Don lost his mother, Mrs. Danz late in January. Please know that even though we didn't post anything, we have definitely been thinking and praying for you Danz Family!

I don't know if I posted anything at the time of Gillian's birth, but Michelle's first labor and delivery nurse, was none other than Jenn Miller, with whom I went to high school (then Jenn Troxel), and so periodically we have kept in touch and we were elated to hear that her and her husband Kenny are expecting their first child in March. In October, Baby Miller was diagnosed with CDH. Jenn has started her own blog to keep up with their experiences and for support and encouragement. Please keep the Miller family in your prayers as they approach their due date. You can read their blog here.

Our new favorite thing

As I told you last week, Gillian went to visit with Dr. Fischer for another round of shots and a wellness check. She is changing every day, so it's not hard to believe that she weighs 18 lbs. 3 oz. (88th percentile) She is 26 3/4" long (70th percentile) and her head (while it did grow 1/2" in circumference) remains in the 25th percentile.

On more of a dour note, Saturday marked 8 years since Mom passed away. That day is always a stark reminder that we must hang on to everything with which we have been blessed. Not a day passes without subtle reminders of my mom. These last 6 months have given me a new perception of what really matters and how quickly things of this world can evaporate. As unbelievable as it is to those who lose a loved one rather unexpectedly, clarity and healing does come with time. We are simply given more hurdles to jump and greater mountains to scale.

Since Saturday marked an important date, Amy, Josh and Abby came over for dinner and games. The night was capped by a congenial Gillian showing off her new-found laughing chops...enjoy, I know we did.