Mad Gracie Photo Blog

I really can’t believe that Jake is six months old already ! even crazier, Madeleine is going to be three in a little over a month. I joke all the time that she is smarter than me already. I can’t believe how much they look alike in their baby photos. there’s no mistaking that they are brother & sister. She is discovering all sorts of great stuff and has learned about the drums. She even has her own drumsticks complete with purple tape ! Madeleine absolutely adores her baby brother, she is a great helper when she wants to be and loves to help with his bottles, sometimes a little to much. Jake has been growing like crazy and has to wear 12 month clothes now ! they are a little loose in the waist line but perfect length. He has started eating baby food and as you may have seen in the previous post he’s got choppers. He is on the verge of crawling and usually gets frustrated and starts kicking and screaming literally when he’s on his tummy. I know it won’t be long till he is chasing Madeleine around the house…and you know what, I can’t wait !! Kathleen and I have really been blessed with beautiful and healthy, happy children !!

So Jake is six months old, and he is getting his first two teeth !! Surprisingly he has been really good with cutting the new choppers. He has been drooling like crazy though. He is sitting up by himself to, though once he leans to far it’s ” TIMBER” and he goes over. We have started feeding some real food too. He wasn’t liking it much at first but has come around and now he is tearing it up. There are a few more pics on the Jake 6 month page.

( few more pics on the Christmas 2010 page) This Christmas was a little extra special for us. On December 23rd we were able, officially, to move into our new house !! We had already put our Christmas tree in there, though we didn’t do a lot of decorating it was still very nice. Madeleine and Jake, more Madeleine, had a great time ripping into their gifts. Jake wasn’t really sure what was going on but he had fun watching everything and playing with the paper. A little later in the morning the grandparents and Uncle Robert came over to help celebrate too. Madeleine showed off a few of her gifts and had fun playing with my mom’s camera acting like daddy taking pictures.

So since Kathleen & I have been together we’ve always gone to my former teacher’s Christmas Tree farm and gotten a dug up tree to replant. Since the kids we have made it into a nice family event, going to the farm wandering through the fields in search of the perfect tree. It has become a nice little tradition that I believe we will keep for many years to come, luckily we have enough property that we can continue !! This year was no different as we bundled up both kids and rolled out to Santa Bob’s farm. Jake had fun bouncing around in his stroller and Madeleine really had a good time helping to push Jake around and helping pick out what would be the first official tree at our new house !! After some debate we finally settled on a Norway Spruce, which is what we usually end up with anyway, tagged it and headed home.  

  Another nice little tradition we’ve started is going to the local Christmas parade with the in-laws. We hang out watch the parade waving to all the characters, both in costume and not, then we all go to dinner afterward. This year was a little chilly but everyone had fun. Madeleine and Aydan had a blast running up and down the sidewalk waiting for the parade to start then enjoyed watching for Santa. Be sure to check the Button Traditions page for a few more photos.

I’ve heard that the second child doesn’t have a bunch of photos of their firsts and all that stuff. I’m trying to keep up with both of them and that can be a full time job. Jake is growing like CRAZY !! he isn’t even 6 months yet and is wearing clothes that are 10 -12 months !!! he is very verbal throwing out all sorts of baby talk, and a solid little guy too. He started rolling over and is practicing sitting up with out the help of his little Bumpo chair not quite there yet but he’s trying. Jake isn’t far out from crawling either, he lays on his stomach and kicks his little legs like crazy and will occasionally grab some traction and scoot himself forward at least enough to grab his toy. His two bottom teeth are starting to come in, one has broken the gums and the other isn’t far behind !! even through all that he’s still a happy little guy. I will put up a few of those pics on the six month post.

Sometime in mid november, I know I’m a little behind on the updates here, Eli and his daddy came by for an afternoon of fun at the Button construction site. My uncle had recently cleared out a big section of a hill for our parking area so he had giant piles of dirt sitting there just waiting for the kids, both big and small, to climb on, slide down and whatever else we could come up with. It really was a fun day with and for the dads ! Madeleine and Eli had a BLAST and after a little while I jokingly commented to Bryan that it was obvious which parent the kids spent the day with seeing the caked on dirt on their butts, knees and everywhere else. After a bit Eli and Maddie found a great spot for a picnic, in the bucket of my uncle’s front end loader. They enjoyed some snacks and relaxed a bit before tackling the dirt once again.

Halloween was really fun this year. Madeleine was more into it and was excited to go trick or treating. We payed a visit to Aydan, Aunt Kris & Uncle Jeff and rolled through a few houses in their neighborhood. Madeleine was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, complete with a little Toto and red sparkly shoes. Aydan was Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Jake was a little skeleton, he even glowed in the dark ! few more pics on the Halloween 2010 page,

I am a little late posting this one but things have been a little crazy later. Jake is two, really three months, old now. He has started smiling a lot now and even gave us a little giggle a few days ago. Jake is holding his head up and very well and Kathleen has been putting him in his little “bumpo” chair and the “exersaucer”. We have to put a blanket in there with him for extra support but he seems to like it.

Madeleine has done all sorts of stuff in her two short years that has made me proud of her. Sometime in late September I had to cover a family fun festival for work and the entourage of course came along. As we walked around she got her face painted and   saw horse rides. Madeleine told Kathleen that she wanted to ride the horse. Figuring she would get ready to climb on the horse and get cold feet, I agreed to ride with her and we got in line. Our turn came around and she eagerly jumped on and was ready to roll. We had a blast, she was okay with getting off after our lap and didn’t want to ride again that day though she has mentioned it once or twice since. I was so proud of her for sticking with it and not getting scared. Just can’t wait to see what she comes up with next !!

Our house has been coming along nicely since we started in April. Madeleine usually joins me for our daily inspections. She has picked out her room and even the color she would like it to be and will usually help when we are giving family or friends a tour, gladly grabbing their hand and leading them upstairs to show off her spot. A few days ago while we were all there dropping off some bathroom tile I couldn’t help but smile as I was upstairs and could hear Maddie running and screaming on the front porch just thinking about all the great memories to come.