Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

We hope you all had a blessed Christmas!! Ours was wonderful! Maddox really got into the swing of things this Christmas and had a great time!
Christmas Day was wonderful! Jamie's parents came up to visit and spend Christmas with us. Jamie cooked a wonderful Christmas dinner and we all enjoyed eating, presents, and fellowship. Brian's parents joined the festivities later in the evening. Maddox loved all the attention and company he had, he didn't mind the presents too much either.
Below are some pictures from the last few days:






A picture of our Christmas feast!


The week before Christmas one of our area churches hauled in a lot of real snow for kids to come and play in. We thought it would be a great opportunity for Maddox to experience his first look at snow.
He didn't know what to think at first, then he got excited, then he got cold. We didn't stay too long because it was really cold outside.





We have had a truly blessed 2007 and look forward to what God has in store for our family in 2008, like a new baby!!
Of course we will continue to update our blog, can't promise how often, but we hope that you will continue to check in on us.

Love you all
Brian, Jamie, and Maddox

A special thanks goes out to Crystal G for helping to contribute to the pictures posted on our blog over the last year! ;)

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas!

So the rush of the holiday season has definitely hit us. Since Thanksgiving we have had something going on every weekend and our weeks are filled with Christmas craft projects and decorating! Even though it has been 80 degrees outside it still feels like Christmas is near.
Over Thanksgiving we went to Jamie's parents house and had a great time. We got to take Maddox to the Houston Aquarium. He loved seeing the "shishies." We snapped a few cute pictures to share.



At the end of November the Kansas City Southern Holiday train came through Ruston. Maddox loves "choo choos" so we thought we would take him out to see it. Apparently the whole city of Ruston decided to go see it too, and although we didn't get to go inside the train, we did get some good pictures of the outside.




We also got our Christmas tree up. Maddox is thrilled to have a tree in the house! We also bought special shatter-proof ornaments in preparation for curious little hands. Well, the shatter-proof ornaments are not on the tree, in fact we have no ornaments on the tree. As we put the ornaments up Maddox took them down. Instead of constantly fighting an ornament battle we decided to just go without ornaments. The tree does look lovely with just lights and garland and we can all enjoy it so much more that way! ;)
This past Sunday was our church Christmas party. As a tradition there is always a costume contest for children, youth, and adults. This year we dressed Maddox and 2 pals as "Silver Bells." His friends didn't want to wear their costumes, but Maddox was the cutest most serious silver bell we have ever seen. We didn't win, but Maddox sure did do a great job!

Tuesday we got our first look at "new baby!!" We had an ultrasound and everything looked great. Baby is growing right on target, a little on the small side, but so was Maddox. What a blessing to see the new little life God has created! As soon as we get the pictures scanned we'll post them on the blog. We didn't find out what it is and we don't plan on it. It will be so fun to be surprised!! The pregnancy is going great and Jamie is feeling much better now! The baby moves alot and we have all had a chance to feel it kick. The birthday will probably be sometime towards the middle to end of April.

Maddox is doing great and is so talkative!! He talks all the time and loves to tell stories about everything. The one thing that has amazed us lately is his memory! He remembers everything which can be fun but also annoying, especially when he gets stuck on a certain something and only talks about that. There is a lot of cognitive development going on in that little head!

We hope you are all having a blessed holiday season! Don't forget the "real" reason we celebrate Christmas!

Blessings!

Momma Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be Cowboys....

This was one handsome cowboy.....


Jamie did a great job making Maddox's costume and putting it all together. We knew he would make a great cowboy.

Maddox had a great Halloween! This was his first time trick or treating and it wore Mom and Dad out way more than it did Maddox. We went with a group of friends who all had kids under the age of 2 1/2!!! Oh we were a sight! Maddox got the hang of it ater a few times and then he knew exactly what to do...knocking on people's doors gets you candy! He even said something that sounded like "trick or treat."

We also headed out to the pumpkin patch last weekend and our great friend Crystal took some amazing pictures for us!! Thanks Crystal!!

Maddox was very serious the whole time. He was very intent on the pumpkins and making sure he climbed on every single one. Usually he is a big cheese in front of the camera but that day he apparently had a job to do.




So we are keeping up with the blog again as you can see. Hopefully we will keep it up, so stay tuned......

Cool Weather is Finally Here!

It is finally not 90 degrees outside and we have been able to enjoy some of this nice fall weather!
We also have some new pictures to share!
We have all been doing great.

Maddox is as cute as ever and has the personality to match. He keeps us very busy. He is still fascinated with anything that has wheels and especially likes buses, lawnmowers, and tractors. He tries to say anything we say now and has a lot of words that we are clueless on the meaning. He is very independent and likes to do things all by himself. He also has a slight stubborn streak in him, but we have no idea where he got that from ;) Curious should have been his middle name, he loves to explore everything. Forget toys, he would rather play with things around the house and climb. He does like blocks and will stay occupied for a little while with blocks, but otherwise you would find him running all over the house chasing the dogs, climbing on the toilet, hiding in the dryer, and standing on top of the laundry basket (just to name a few).


We have ben enjoying this brisk fall weather. It is very hard to keep Maddox contained in the house all day so rain or shine we have been heading outside. The past few days it had felt very wintery out. We opened the door Wednesday morning (our first cold weather day) and Maddox stood in the doorway and said "ooooooohh." He was very fascinated by the cold and now refuses to go outside unless he has his hat.
We have very funfilled days with Maddox and enjoy every moment with him, even the stubborn moments. ;)


Jamie is starting to feel some better and is hopefully on the tail end of this thing they call morning sickness. We are 14 weeks along and everything seems to be going fine. We heard the heartbeat last week. It was reassuring to know (hear) that there really is something causing all this illness!

We all went to the Tech Homecoming game the other weekend and had a great time. Maddox ejoyed entertaining everyone around us with his cuteness. We were pleasantly surprised at Maddox's behavior and got to stay until the beginning of the fourth quarter. We decided to leave because it was way past a little ones bedtime


This weekend we are heading to the pumpkin patch to take some fun fall pictures and to pick out a pumpkin to carve. Maddox is fascinated by all the pumpkins around lately and enjoys pointing to all of them and saying something that sounds like pumpkin. Next week he will go trick or treating for the first time. You'll have to wait for pictures to see what he is dressing up as...it's a surprise!!

We hope you are all having a wonderful Fall!!
Keep checking the blog for new pictures!!

Picture Problem!!

So we have been taking lots of pictures of Maddox for you all to see but, we cannot find the camera cable to download them onto the computer!!! It has been missing for several weeks which is why we have not posted in a long time. The search is still on for it!!
We do have one picture on the computer already that we thought we would share with everyone:

This baby is due April 23!! We are very excited! And to answer a few questions:
*Yes, Jamie has been very sick but seems to be getting a little better.
*We are about 11 weeks along.
*We will NOT be finding out what this baby is.
*We will not be sharing names until the birth.
*We will not be moving into a bigger house.
*Maddox and new baby will be almost exactly 2 years apart.
That should cover the ones that are on everyone's minds! If you have any others just ask!

Ok, now we are off to continue searching for the camera cable! Wish us luck!

We're Back!

*After writing this post we realized that we have very few pictures of Maddox over the past month. We'll try to catch up and post some more soon. Sorry for the lack of pictures!*
So obviously we took a break from blogging for a while. We didn't really do it on purpose time just got away from us. We have been doing so much since the last post!
The weekends have been crazy with get togethers, holidays, vacations, and Maddox. And Maddox keeps us very busy during the week.
We thouroughly enjoyed our vacation to New York City! Maddox also really enjoyed his vacation to Mimi and Pawpaw's house. We got some good quality together time in and we also had a blast seeing the city! Here are a few pictures from our trip. We saw lots of things and stayed very busy the whole time. We got to see 2 Broadway shows; Hairspray and 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Both were excellent! What a treat to be able to go to those as evening entertainment! We of course saw all the "tourist" spots. We also got to eat at some really great restraunts! Eating at cool places is a treat for us since the only places to eat out in Ruston are Chinese, Mexican and Chili's.
Grand Central Terminal

Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center)

Ground Zero

Ground Zero was very suprising to us. It looked like a huge construction site. In fact, you wouldn't even know what it was unless you were looking for it. There were a few signs about what happened on 9/11 but overall we were disapointed.
We have some other pictures but they are the standard Times Square, Statue of Liberty etc etc. Plus we know all you want to see are pictures of Maddox. ;)

Maddox also had a blast and did VERY well while we were gone. Apparently he didn't even miss us! Jamie's parents kept him busy with lots of things like swimming, playing, going outside, parties, and lots more. He came home knowing what a motorcycle says and wanting to go outside a lot!

We missed him while we were gone but it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. We all had a hard time getting back into the routine of things, vacations are oh so spoiling! We pretty much have things back in order and have developed our routine again. We do miss the sleeping in ;)
Let's see what has Maddox been up to these days.......
He is a VERY good climber and loves to climb the kitchen chairs, the couch, boxes, the bed,into cabinets, basically anything that is taller than he is.
Making brownies


He has become SO verbal. He talks all.the.time! He has a huge vocabulary now. He says thank you, bike, outside, all done, ice, hot, tickle tickle, daddy, mommy, eyes, belly button, airplane and more we can't think of at the moment.
He is always on the move! He doesn't sit still for very long and enjoys staying very busy. We just bought him a new play tent that he absolutely loves! It has tunnels and hideouts. It takes up our entire living room. Thankfully, it can be seperated into different peices and easily pops open and closed for storage. We think it is pretty cool too!
Maddox understands so many things now. His comprehension amazes us! He has turned into a little boy and acts nothing like a baby anymore. He finally reached the 20lb mark!! It only took 16 months but he now weighs almost 21lbs! He still only has 4 teeth and no more in sight. He'll get new teeth one day!
We are currently trying to wean him off of his paci for nighttime and naps. The night has been going pretty well we are still struggling a little with naps. Thankfully sleeping is the only time he uses the paci so we don't have too much breaking to do.
When we went down to Jamie's parent's house we also bought a new car! We had definitely outgrown Jamie's Hyundai and decided it was time to get something new. Plus, we were a little worried the Hyundai wouldn't make it on the trip down there. Thankfully it made it with only a few minor complications and we traded it in before the thing was completely worthless. We bought a Mazda 5. It has lots of space and is very luxurious comapred to our old car! Jamie has been having a great time driving it around! Maddox seems to enjoy his new ride too!


Well that's our life in a nutshell over the past month. It probably wouldn't take us as long to blog if we blogged more often! This blog took forever to write and post pictures. That happens when you wait a month to post!! We'll try to post more often...promise!

Fire trucks and Such

Over the past month Maddox has developed an increasing fascination with fire trucks, cars, trucks, and tractors. Apparently boys are just fascinated with these things! He loves to point to these things and say what they are. We are quite impressed that he has started to say "tractor." To the untrained ear it may not sound like much but to us he is definitely saying "tractor."
We were honored to be invited to Maddox's friend Grant's 3rd birthday party...it was at the Fire station!! Maddox, of course, was thrilled and talked about the firetrucks all morning before we went. When we got there he was so excited to see a fire truck up close and personal! He was more than willing to volunteer to drive the fire truck, sit on the stretcher, go in the ambulance, etc etc! He had a blast, and it was so neat to watch him get so excited!







Maddox's vocabulary has shot through the roof!! He tries to say everything we say now, it may not be as clear as we say it, but he is definitely making an effort. Some new words, tractor, all done, thank you, fire truck, cat, bubble, and book. He has also decided to start answering our questions with the response "yea." We are trying to redirect this by saying "yes." "Yea" sounds so junior high, preteen, adolescent!

He is learning new things every day and is understanding and comprehending everything we say. He is very inquisitive and wants to know what everything is. He loves to explore, and has become quite the adventurer when it comes to going anywhere. Let's just say he does not enjoy sitting in the buggy or being held if we are shopping somewhere!

His favorite thing right now is books. We could read books all day long! He loves looking at the pictures and pointing out what everything is. He will bring us book after book after book to read to him.

This past weekend we went to his friend McKenzie's birthday party. It was a swimming party and Maddox had a great time. Apparently we gave birth to a fish! ;)



This month we have a big trip planned! We are headed to New York City, without Maddox! It will be our second anniversary trip! We are leaving Maddox with Jamie's parents. It will be a great time for them to hang out since they don't get to see him very often. He loves it there and he especially loves his uncle E and the swimming pool! We drive to Houston the 22nd and our flight leaves on the 23rd. We'll fly back in on the 27th. We are very excited and nervous! This will be our first time leaving Maddox overnight anywhere. We know we will miss him so much! While we are there we plan on seeing all the sights and going to a couple of Broadway shows. We also plan to feast on some yummy food! There will definitely be a blog post when we get back!


We hope everyone is doing well! Keep checking in for new posts!

PSA: Maddox does really like trucks but this does not mean we now need to be inundated with all things trucks, Maddox has plenty. Thanks! ;)