Mad Gracie Photo Blog

So Jake is officially one month old now. I had debated for a while starting another web site for him as well but decided that I would just incorporate both kids together on this site. Jake has been great, he has been trying to roll over, or at least rolling up on his side and holding his head up a lot better. Maddie has been awesome with him too, some minor tantrums here and there but nothing to severe. She’s actually been very helpful and talks to him trying to make him smile which he has been doing a lot more lately also. I hope to put up the month by month up like I did Maddie as well as his adventures so be sure to check back.

(more pics on the Dow ne Oshin page) A few weeks back Kathleen’s best friend Beth and her husband Josh invited us to join them for a few days at the beach. We asked them if they had forgotten that we had a new born and a two year old ? They said they hadn’t forgot and were willing to deal with whatever came during our visit !! So we packed up the kids and headed Dow ne Oshin Hon !! We arrived on Sunday late afternoon to their place near Rehobeth Beach and went to the beach for a quick visit before dinner. Maddie was fine with walking down to the water but didn’t want to get in, which was good. She did take a little spill as a wave washed back into the ocean so we had to make a quick stop in a nearby shop to get her some new shorts…no big deal ! So Monday we went to Cape Henlopen State park, pulled the trucks out onto the beach and set up camp for the afternoon, at least until the park ranger asked us to move the vehicles because we weren’t fishing…again no big deal. Maddie had a good time scanning the beach looking for seashells and watching the waves.We even saw a pod of dolphins swim by.  She was a little scared when I walked with her into the waves and when one of them crashed over her back while I was holding her I believe the quote was “I don’t like this, This isn’t fun daddy !!” So we went back on the beach and took a stroll down the shoreline to a jetty where some folks were surfing and watched them for a bit, which she really seemed to enjoy and talked about for a little while. We hope to take her back soon, I told her we could take my surf board next time and play in the waves…we’ll see how that goes !!!

For several months now Madeleine has been eagerly awaiting the arrival of her new brother-sister. She would talk to the baby, kiss Kathleen’s belly before going to bed and in the morning. She couldn’t wait ! So on Monday she stayed with Grams & Gramps while we went to the hospital and later that day her wish came true, her new baby jacob arrived. Since Jake was born a little later Maddie had to wait until Tuesday to visit. I took her to the hospital in the afternoon and she was beside herself ! Maddie wanted to hold him right away and did a fantastic job. She has been a big help since we brought him home on Wednesday. I’m sure there will be some jealously at some point but so far so good !

Jacob Matthew Button

Born July 26 2010 7:25pm

9lb 15oz 20 inch long

So one thing I’m noticing is that as Madeleine has hit two years old, there are a lot of repeats. It’s the same events with just a little better understanding on Maddie’s part. One new thing came up recently though. They Might Be Giants, a band I used to, okay still listen to, also does kids’ music. They do the theme and a few other songs for one of Madeleine’s favorite morning shows, Mickey Mouse Club House. They were bringing their kids show to Rams Head Live in Bmore ! I immediately snatched up a few tickets for what would be Madeleine’s first club show !!  The day finally rolled around and we were off. It was so crazy seeing a place where  I have seen several great shows filled with munchkins waving “They Might Be Giants” banners. The show started and Maddie wasn’t to thrilled, but we didn’t panic and after their little intro, the house lights came up a bit  and everyone started jammin !! Madeleine warmed up after a couple of songs and had a BLAST !! We grabbed her first concert shirt, which she will have as a night gown for a while.

Our new house is moving right along, the first floor is framed out and the second floor is underway. We took a family trip to the house this evening as we often do to see the progress. Madeleine loves it, the first few times she grabbed some scraps of wood and started “building”. Basically hiding the scraps where ever she could find a good spot. Tonight she was more about having fun jumping around and figuring out the best path for those future laps through the living room and kitchen. It really didn’t hit me until I was editing down the photos from today.  I was really seeing the progress of not just the house but my family.

We finally got started building our house in April, it really has been an exciting journey so far. I will usually take Madeleine to the lot with me when I go down to check things out. She is very comfortable walking around all the equipment and has had a blast walking around on the piles of dirt, throwing rocks in the basement and just wandering around through the yard. As the house goes up I will continue to post pics of the munchkin supervising the build so be sure to stop back for an update soon.

Our neighbor Roy enjoys gardening, he has made some very nice flower beds around the yards at the house. The best part is most of the time he has no idea what the name of the plants are but he knows they are pretty. A few weeks ago Maddie and I were outside just kicking around. We spotted Roy getting some flats of flowers out of his truck so of course Madeleine had to investigate. Before long she was helping Roy plant and water some flowers having a great time.

As I’ve said before one nice part of my job is that for some assignments I can take the munchkin, soon to be munchkins, with me. A few weeks ago I had to go to the Bel Air Kite Festival, tough assignment !! Of course Kathleen and Madeleine came along. It was literally a perfect day to fly a kite, nice breeze, blue skies with just the right amount of clouds and just a bit chilly. We took a kite with us but shortly after we arrived we found out that the sponsors were giving away kites. We made our way to the sponsors tent and luckily there were about a dozen kites left. They were really nice nylon kites too not just a plastic thing with a spool of thread that would be trashed in minutes in a good breeze. We grabbed  green kite, got it strung up and sent it skyward !  Madeleine loved it she had a great time running around and watching then kite dance on the breeze overhead. I got a few shots I needed while Kathleen helped Madeleine fly her kite and after some convincing and maybe a hint of bribery we talked Maddie into leaving. There are a few more pics on the Go Fly a Kite page.

So Madeleine has already been on the cover of one magazine last year. Okay so it wasn’t Vogue or Cosmo but ya gotta start somewhere right. She was on the cover of Harford Magazine in her cute strawberry hat, I will post the pic later once I find it !! A few weeks ago I had to shoot another assignment for the magazine at a local bakery called the Woodlea Bakery for a feature story and maybe the cover shot of the upcoming summer issue. Of course I had Maddie lined up already for the model, she works cheap !! We showed up in the morning as scheduled and Maddie was suprisingly cooperative. She actually ate a few bites of the donut and spent the rest of the time looking at everything, asking a million questions and helping one of the girls who worked there with folding the boxes. She didn’t end up making the cover again but she is in the inside with the story. She may even end up on the bakery’s web-site who knows. One thing I am sure of though is that I really don’t want to have her go into modeling as a profession !!!