Pictures from April

hope you enjoy the slide show!

2 months down

Yep, it's been 2 months since Tony left. I can't believe it's been that long! Deployments with a kid are a different beast~it's like you are lonely but you are never alone! A good Friend and I have laughed over that statement many times. We are getting by, day by day.
Madison is potty training now and that sure is a roller coaster. She like all kids is having good and bad days with it and lots of bad ones..LOL. Life is very interesting lately. She also has been sick for the last 2 weeks (really since December) with allergy issues. She has had a cough ever since our trip home in December and it finally caught up with her and got out of control. I think we are finally on the right track with the proper cocktail of meds for her. She takes 3 allergy medications daily to keep her coughing and runny nose under control. I think we're both stir crazy from being in the house so much lately!
I hear from Tony sporadically. A few days in a row I will get email and then out of the blue nothing. And occasionally I will get a phone call but they are few and far between lately. He transferred to a new Unit (no he didn't get fired from his other job) and now he is doing a Major's billet. He is truly busy every waking minute. The other job was boring but he is not bored anymore. I mailed him a care package and it got to him in 11 days. He has a new mailing address now that he is with 1st BN, 2nd Marines.
Madison and I are trying to stay busy. I have her in mommy and me gymnastics, she goes to a parents morning out each week. And she is in the daycare at the gym while I get to work out. On Thursday's I take her to story hour or we have a playdate with some of our friends. This Friday I have a brunch with the kids planned. Should be fun. I am also planning Madison's birthday party's (yes 2 this year). She will be 3 and since our family is out of state I am having a party for her with them and one here with her friends from NC. It's nice to have things to look forward to.

What a day!

I know many of you are not on FACEBOOK yet. So, some of you don't know that I heard from Tony this week!!! He called us yesterday and I am happy to report he is doing well. Our phone conversations have been very short and sweet. I have been getting a few emails from him. He has told me they are keeping him extremely busy! Thank You for all the prayers and love you are sending his way.

Yesterday, I took Madison to get her pictures made for Easter. And then a stop off at the Mall to get a Easter Bunny picture. I was quite shocked she sat in her lap (yep the Easter Bunny was a girl); because recently she has been very frightened of characters. But, we got through it and I managed to work with her to get a decent smile. At the first photo shoot, there was a little girl around 3 pitching the biggest fit I have ever seen in all my life. I mean it was the whole nine yards....Supernanny please help! The problem is Madison was staring in wide eyed amazement and I could see her taking notes...I mean it was like...okay, kick mom~check, scream in mom's face~check, hit mom~check, everything but biting occurred. I pulled Madi away and tried to divert her attention. . .. but my future flashed before my eyes and I knew it was not going to be good! After we left I talked to Madi about the little girls temper tantrum and we both agreed that she was very naughty to her mom. And then I woke up!

Today we went to gymnastics and I never even saw it coming! I wasn't prepared for Madi to flex her assertiveness today and try the new techniques she took note of. . . .It was terrible, she was terrible and I was terrible! All day long this baby has done nothing but scream, cry and test test test......CALGON Take me away, SERENITY NOW, and GOD GRANT ME THE STRENGTH!!!
Here is hoping that tomorrow really will bring a NEW DAY.

Enjoy the pictures,
Erin D and Madi

I don't believe it??? We got snow in NC!

So, we kept hearing yesterday that we would get snow late last night. The problem was we had been told this same forecast so many times. At 6pm it was only 44 degrees; so even if it did snow, as predicted, it wouldn't stick.....what a bummer this would be!




We put Madi to bed at 9pm and she was super tired, because she didn't take her nap. Then about 9:30pm or so, we got some flurries. We didn't wake her up to see it and I prayed there would be some in the morning for her.






Tony and I decided to go out and get some pictures of it last night just in case. He stayed up playing video games and there were many times I heard the door open and shut last night. Just like a little kid he couldn't stay indoors when the white stuff is falling from the sky!

When Madison woke up it was white everywhere. She wanted to go out in it at 6:45am...NO WAY!!! I had to convince her to wait for "Dad" (that's what she calls him now) to wake up and go with us. She wasn't listening at first, and showed up with her rain boots on. Next, she took Tony a pair of her rain boots to try and motivate him to get up earlier, so funny! Silly girl, nothing gets him up early!!!!



Dad finally got up and we all went out and played for about 20 minutes. I tried to talk Tony into going to Toys'R'Us to buy her a sled but the answer was a big emphatic, "NO".





So, we let her play on his snowboard. Not ideal, but it did do the job!








Treehugger sled...aka redneck sled















She really liked eating the snow.





Bailey enjoys the snow too! Everytime we got dressed up to play in it; she would get up and prepare for her leash ~Haha. Now, I just need to talk Rosie into going out with us next time :D





Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and since he and I celebrated last weekend; we are going to make it all about her. Tony is going to give her a Princess Castle and we will take her some where fun. She is going to flip out when she see's the castle, it's all she's been talking about! Keep us all in your prayers this week. Tony is leaving for his year in Afghanistan. We will miss him dearly. I am doing as well as can be expected in the situation and Madison is fine. We keep telling her Daddy has to go on a big bye bye and we will talk to him on the phone. Tony is torn up about missing a year of her life, but it's what he does to provide for us (in so many ways)!




Keep in touch and as soon as I hear from him I will let you know! If you want to "follow" this blog scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the link.
Take Care everyone!

Happy New Year

I hope everyone got my New Year card's! December came and went so fast; I wasn't able to send out Christmas Cards this year to anyone. We had a very quiet evening for New Year's Eve as we were still getting over our cold's, cough's and congestion's. I am still struggling to get rid of my symptom's. I hope you all are doing well this year!
So far, we have visited the Children's Discovery Museum, and Monkey Joe's (an indoor inflatables playground). Madison was pleased with both of those outings. She didn't want to leave the Museum, as expected, because it was so tactile & kid friendly. We did some experiments with colored water tubes, pretended to be Pirates, and finished up with some water coloring, or as she thinks, "Painting" ☺. We ended the day with a trip to the Mall in Wilmington. It has a two-story carousel and she was able to ride it 4 times! It was fun to see her pick out the animal she wanted to ride, and since it was so close to Christmas she picked out the reindeer. Monkey Joe's was a wonderful time for her to get worn out! In the beginning I had to help her climb up onto the larger inflatables. But by the time we left she was getting the idea on her own. She was so proud of her accomplishments and so was I. It gave me a chance to catch my breath! Lugging a 25 lb kid up an inflatable is hard work on a mama!!!
We are all getting prepared for Tony's departure; well as much as we can be. He is leaving us in about a week for a few weeks of training in Q-Va. After he is done with that he can officially deploy anytime. We still do not know have a hard date for when it will be only that we know it will be before March. I wouldn't be able to put dates on here anyway. When he is gone and gets me an address I will send it out to anyone that would want it. For now, we are playing the waiting game.
Madison is still enjoying her Parents Morning Out program, gymnastics and I started her in a Mommy and Me group last week. It was fun, and she had a great time. It's on base and each week is a different theme. The first week we went was all about Birthday's, they played party games, made party hats, ate a cupcake they decorated and had a story. Next week, is all about Pets. I am trying to get her exposed to something new with more of a crafty/art concept. She has become quite the little artists lately.
Well that's about all I can say for now. I just wanted everyone to know that you were not forgotten at Christmas. I just ran out of time for the cards ☺.
Stay Warm and I will report again soon! I will upload some photo's sometime this week so check back with me ;D