Pam! I burned my foot!

Madeline likes to wake up to the smell of fresh bacon every morning...does anyone watch The Office? When we saw Madeline playing with our new pan, we totally thought of Michael calling Pam. Luckily, Madeline did not sustain any injuries.
Madeline enjoying cheese puffs in the car, and not enjoying the 5 return hour trip from Nashville to Cincinnati. I think she got as much on the carseat, face, and hands, as she did in her belly.

Madeline likes to open doors, especially the bathroom door. Our new game is that I hide in the dark bathroom and shriek when she opens the door. If someone did that to me, I'd be mad! As you can see, Madeline loves it!


Madeline annoyed because she can't figure out what the heck Mommy was doing with that darned book for so long. Madeline kept scrunching up her face and looking through the pages, convinced that there was something interesting there.

We had a good weekend. On Friday the three of us went to the Aquarium to see the "Fsssssshhhhh". On Saturday we went to the branch picnic and enjoyed carne asada, games, and good company. Afterwards we left Madeline at the picnic with friends and went to a dinner the interns Raymey works with. We are so lucky we have met nice people that are willing to watch our baby while we do all of these activities that are required with Raymey's job. On Sunday afternoon we drove around different neighborhoods in Cincinnati and picked up flyers at "For Sale" houses. It was fun for us to get a feel for which neighborhoods we like. There are some very pretty houses around here. We think that the German influence shows in the houses-a lot of the houses have this cute European village feel. It was a good time! I guess we should get some pictures of the two of us, but we are usually behind the camera, not in front of it!

MMMMMMMMMMuppy!!

All of my blogs start with exclamation marks!!! So, Madeline has this ABC baby video that is super simple and goes through the alphabet with an object for each letter. It is about half an hour long and has classical music. It is really funny because it is the only TV she'll watch because there is very little going on. Regular TV must seem really complicated. So, I'm trying to get her excited about letters and words so for example as the video plays I'll say "Aaaaaaaaaaaaa Apple, Yea!!!" Madeline's favorite letter is "B", not that she knows what it is, but she loves to say it. She's also recently learned the word "puppy" which sounds like happy. So, for just about all 26 letters I say the new letter like "Zzzzzzzzz, Zebra, Yea!!!" and Madeline responds the same for each letter "Bbbbbbb Uppppy, Yeaaaaaaaaa!!!!" and she jumps around and giggles (which reminds me, I must be a very enthusiastic mother because Madeline has started saying "yea!!!" a million times a day when she does ANYTHING!). I'm glad she's happy about learning! Raymey and I have a favorite response from Madeline. For "M" there is this monkey that pops onto the screen from different directions and Madeline gets really really pumped. I think the monkey is her favorite character on the video. Yesterday we were watching the video and I kept trying to emphasize the "mmmmm" sound in Monkey.
Me: "m, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmonkey"
Madeline: "baby!!!!"
Me: "no, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmonkey"
Madeline: "Uppy!!!"
Me: "no, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMonkey"
Madeline: "mmmmmmmmmmmmm-Uppy, yea!!!!!!!!!!"
So our little Madeline thinks a monkey is a puppy or a baby but you say an "mmm" sound. We love watching her learn.
Also, in other news, we did make a trip to Nashville last weekend. We took a TON of laundry and also returned some things home that we won't need for the rest of the summer. It was so nice to be in our comfortable apartment-we love that place! I think Madeline enjoyed looking around the strangely familiar surroundings. On the 4th we went to our friends' home for a BBQ and had a blast. It was so nice to see friends from our Nashville ward and for Madeline to have so much room to run around in the yard. We're a little torn because we've had a really good experience in the ward (well now Spanish branch) here and everyone has been so friendly and kind here so it is too bad that just as we're getting comfortable that we'll be leaving. On the other hand it will be so nice to return to Nashville where there is always something going on in the ward. I'm excited to attend the play group this fall because now Madeline isn't such a lump-she plays! I'd love to attach some pictures-we have a lot, but our "borrowed" internet connection isn't strong enough to upload pics-darn.
P.S. I was one-upped in my last blog because I was whining about our queen sized bed. I have been sufficiently shamed and will try to accept my bed.

King me!

I think that they should stop making Queen sized beds. I guess at least that 2 people shold not try to sleep in one. Every night I toss and turn and can't spread out-and Raymey is quite a bit taller than me-I'm sure he needs more room. I think I remember that when I was little my aunts didn't want to have to sleep with me when we'd visit because I moved all over and kicked (in my sleep). I think I still do. Raymey's grandpa told us that when he (Papa) and is wife (Granny) were younger that Granny would always say that Papa was on her side of the bed. So Papa built a contraption that held a board right down the middle of the bed. I think they may have tried it for a few nights and Granny finally told Papa to get that thing off the bed because she was bumping into it all night and she couldn't sleep. Papa on the other hand slept just fine and had no trouble with the board-he did take it down though:) I am pretty sure that the same thing would happen with Raymey and me. I am always looking at the headboard to see how far over I can go.
In Japan we slept in a bed that was somewhere between a full and queen sized bed. So, I should be grateful for our "spacious" queen in comparison. But, all I could think of last night as I was tossing and turning from midnight to 2am was that when Raymey graduates one of the first things we will buy is a KING SIZED BED!!!