More Crystal Beach and a Camping Trip

We decided to post some more pictures we took from our Crystal Beach vacation. Maddox has been talking about the beach ever since we got back. Good thing we are taking a beach trip this summer!




Last weekend we took Maddox camping! He of course loved it and loved being outside with boys. We went with another couple and 2 other guys. It was pretty chilly outside especially at night but Maddox was a trooper. He really liked just sitting by the fire at night and roasting marshmallows. It was a great experience and we plan on going again this summer.







The little monster has been very active and talkative lately. He entertains anyone who will look at him wherever we go. He is very much a people person. His vocabulary has been growing everyday. We are surprised and amused by the things that come out of this boys mouth. He also talks non stop during the day and has a habit of narrating his whole day, even if no one is listening. He has also taken to singing. He makes up songs throughout the day, some are very interesting. He definitely keeps us entertained.


The weather has been nice so we have spent a lot of time outside playing with sticks and dirt. We have also been spending some time working on potty training. We introduced the potty a long time ago and have experienced a lot of success in the past few weeks. Of course Maddox chooses which days he will use his potty and which days he wants nothing to do with it....but that's a start right?? Hopefully as the weeks go on this will improve and one day in the near future we will only have one baby in diapers.




The countdown for new baby has begun! We have about 7 weeks until we get to meet this little one. We have a date for the c-section scheduled and will plan on having a baby that day unless Jamie goes into labor earlier. Everything is going great with the baby. We had hoped to put some ultrasound pictures up but our scanner is broken so that wont be happening. Baby is growing fine and everything looks normal. Jamie is enjoying buying some new pink and blue things for this baby and getting new baby and Maddox's room together. We'll post pictures of their room as soon as it is all finished.

That's all for now!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We would like to wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day!

"But God demonstrates His own LOVE for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

The Adventures of Ma-keek

Maddox has started calling himself Ma-keek. If you ask him what his name is this is what he says. It sounds really cute. He has also started saying things like Ma-keek walk, Ma-keek down, Ma-keek coming. Everything he wants to do himself he uses his name with. We have been really impressed with his verbal development lately, especially when he strings words together like "daddy home" or "love you daddy" or "daddy come." Maddox definitely has a thing for his daddy. He likes to talk about him all day and cries when he leaves for work in the morning. One other really cute thing he has started doing is calling out "hey baaabe" when he wants Brian for something. Jamie does this and apparently Maddox has picked up on it. It makes us all laugh!



Jamie and Maddox made a King Cake the other day for Mardi Gras. Maddox got to help decorate and eat it. These pictures were taken after the mess was cleaned up. Icing and sugar were everywhere including on the dogs. The only breathing thing in the house that was not covered in icing was Lizard. Maddox had a great time with the cake, he loves to help "make" things.



Maddox got to go to the beach for the first time this last weekend!! We celebrated Jamie's PawPaw's 80th birthday with the whole family at Crystal Beach. We all had a great time. We'll post more pictures of the event in another post but for now here are some of the pictures of Maddox's beach experience.


Checking out a hermit crab with Uncle E




We have been taking lots of pictures lately and we have lots to blog about so we promise more blog posts are on the way. We know there are a few people who have been anxiously awaiting a new post so we figured we would go ahead and get this one up.
But stay tuned for more Crystal Beach weekend pictures, Valentines pictures, and new baby ultrasound pictures!

Love you all!!

A New Bed and Lots of Sickness

Right after Christmas we decided to move Maddox into a twin size bed. We were a little hesitant at first and did not know what to expect. Maddox took to it great, we were a little suprised by the ease of it. He loves his new bed and we have had no trouble with it at all. It is actually kind of cute when he comes and wakes us up in the morning!
As the title of the post says we have been dealing with lots of sickness in the Volentine household, which has prevented us from posting a new blog. The first to get sick was Maddox. It was a nasty virus turned ear infection, then the ear infection wouldn't go away so we had to do some serious antibiotics. Thankfully the last round of antibiotics seemed to clear it up and we narrowly escaped tubes. The virus and ear infections really got him down and he just wasn't himself for about 2 weeks. We can definitely say that he is feeling a lot better now and has all of his energy back!
Jamie was the next (and last hopefully)to get sick. She got the flu. She is still recovering but is feeling much better. All the time taking care of Maddox while he was sick definitely took a toll on her body. Because she is pregnant they wouldn't let her take the magic flu drug so the prescription was lots of fluids and rest.

Everything else is going great. Maddox is of course as cute as ever! He loves to talk all the time and has recently started "talking" with his hands. He'll tell a complete story, of which we only understand a few words, and use his hands and body to get his story told. It is very cute. He has really started to enjoy coloring, especially with markers! He likes to draw lots of pictures of nakes (snakes) and Mimi. Maddox has a new pet lizard named "lizard." Maddox is fascinated with our common house geko and loves to give him water and crickets to eat. Lizard has a lovely home in a 10 gallon aquarium that sits on a table in our living room. ;) We have all become quite attached to lizard.

New baby is doing great too. Everything seems to be going great. We only have 3 more months until we get to meet this new little person. The wait is going by a lot faster this time around!
This picture is of a special Staturday morning donut run (they don't happen very often but Maddox knows what a treat they are!)
Not much else has gone on over the last month. It feels like the month has flown by with fevers and doctors appointments!
We hope you all enjoy the pictures!

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!!