Crunch

So Zach got in a car accident on Saturday. It pretty much crunched the front passenger side of the Saturn. I was not a happy camper to say the least! The lady was willing to admit that it was all her fault and has been pretty cooperative so far. He was turning left onto Country Club getting off of the 60 and a lady ran a red light (trying not to be late for work...don't you love the irony?) and smashed into Zach. Luckily he is ok...sadly the car is not so much. The picture doesn't really do it justice. Then we found out yesterday while working with the lady's insurance company that she no longer had coverage with them. She is an illegal and drives her ex-husband's truck and he apparently cancelled the policy...go figure. Hopefully we can get this whole mess worked out pretty soon here. 

On a different note...Madie has her appt with the orthopedic dr tomorrow. I'm really hoping that will go well and that there are some excercises I can do with her to loosen up her arms and that there isn't anything serious that is wrong. 

And as usual, here are some pics that I just thought were cute, for your viewing pleasure :)

Mommy's little helper

Madison decided yesterday that she wanted to help me do the laundry.

How did I know that she wanted to play in the laundry basket and that it wasn't just a crazy idea of my own, you ask? Well when Madie decides she wants something she stares at it until I give it to her. I thought she wanted her pacie that was on the arm of the chair but when I gave it to her she just spit it out and kept staring down toward the floor. The only thing over there was the laundry basket. When I put her in it she just smiled, which was nice to see since smiles were hard to come by yesterday with her not feeling well. It is amazing to me how she already has such a mind of her own...heaven help me when she is a teenager! :)

Bring on the real food!

Madie is officially eating real food now (to the extent that you can call rice cereal real food). She does a really good job of actually eating it and not just spitting it all back out. I think she forgets that she likes it because it takes some coaxing to get her to actually eat it but after a few bites it is like she remembers all of a sudden that she enjoys the cereal and scarfs the rest of it down.

Here she is pretending she wants nothing to do with it.

She trys to help feed herself...

Here is her messy face :)

Madie also figured out on Friday how to roll onto her tummy from her back. One time she even rolled completly over from back to tummy to back in one quick motion. I won't be surprised if she starts to roll around as her mode of transportation. I will try to get it on video as she gets better at it.

Updates

Zach has been very busy between working and going to school. He finished his first project a week or so ago and he found out that he got one of the best grades in his class. He was very excited about that. He had to take four different maps of the valley and combine them all into one hand drawing. I would post a picture of it but it was done in pencil so it doesn't photograph well. He also made a 3D model of part of his map. It turned out kind of neat. The part on the top right represents the papago buttes, the chunk missing out of the middle is the salt river, the bottom most layer is the earth untouched, the middle layer is the Hohokam indian canal system and the top part is the grid system that exists today with a couple of buildings. 

Madie is now four months old. She had her checkup on Tuesday and it wasn't a pleasant experience, she wasn't a fan of the shots (I don't blame her, I hate them also). She is about 14 pounds and 25 inches. The dr said that she is growing really well and that she is a smart little girl (She is ahead on most of her developmental milestones). She also recently started trying to roll from her back onto her tummy. She gets about 3/4 of the way over and then gets stuck on her arm.  We are going to start her on solids this weekend...we'll see how that goes. Although it won't actually be her first time eating real food (she has had mashed potatoes and ice cream) it will be her first time with rice cereal. The dr said that we could wait to start this if we want to but Madie is just so interested in food that we will probably give it a shot this weekend some time (I want Zach to be able to be there for it). 

She also discovered her feet recently. It is cute to watch her play with them.

This picture is just cute! :)

So you might be thinking to yourself...what about Ashley? Not much is new with my life, aside from what all is going on with Madie. I am working on a few crafty projects for Christmas gifts but I can't really give any more information than that since some of the people who will be recipients of the gifts read my blog. I will try to remember to take pictures of them and post about it after Christmas. I am also trying to find time to work on Madie's scrapbook and make bows for her head. Every once in a while I find some time but it is usually a rare occasion since I am usually too tired to do anything after she goes to bed and she doesn't like to nap for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time (and I'll be honest, I can't get much done in that amount of time). 

On a random side note - our computer that has been broken for the last few months fixed itself. We don't know what was wrong with it before, it wouldn't even turn on and Zach noticed last night that it was on, so he turned the monitor on and sure enough it works! We are kind of confused by this but greatful that it is working. 

Fun at Auntie Kristi's

We like to go over to my sister's house on Friday nights for dinner, and games if we are no too tired after the kids have all gone to bed. Madie enjoyed being in the swing a few weeks ago when we were there, even if she is a little small for it! I'm greatful to have my sister so close especially now that Zach is at ASU. That way I've always got someone to play with or talk to while Zach is busy with his school work.

Also, I weighed Madie on Monday and she is 13 pounds! So if she keeps this up she will be 14 pounds by her 4 month appointment!

Adventures in the middle of nowhere

We took our first "family vacation" yesterday...and boy how it turned out to be an adventure. We went to visit Zach's family up in Snowflake. We got up early and were out of the house shortly after seven since we wanted Madie to sleep for as much of the drive as possible (she usually wakes up some time in the six o'clock hour and then goes back to sleep after being awake for an hour or so). We made it to Heber around 9:30 and pulled into a church parking lot so I could feed Madie. There were some members there cleaning the building so we went in to use the potty (one of the perks of being a part of our faith I felt, plus way cleaner bathrooms than any fast food joint I've ever seen, which is good since public restrooms kind of creep me out). We finally made it up to his parent's place around noon and enjoyed spending time with his family. It was much more relaxed than when they were living down here in an apartment since there was actually room for everyone to move around and the kids could all do their own thing (Zach is the oldest in his family with siblings as young as 9). After Madie ate and went to sleep for the night we loaded up in the car and started the journey home. It was about 8:00 at this point and pouring rain. We made it almost to Payson (just over an hour and a half from Snowflake) and wouldn't you know it...the tire blew out! So here we are in the dark of night in the pouring rain with a flat tire. Needless to say I was freaked out (and in tears) as Zach got out to put the spare on. The silver lining to this story, though, is, just as He always does, the Lord answered our prayers and a nice man stopped to help Zach. Wouldn't you know, it was the first car that came up behind us after we pulled over. Some might call this coincidence, but the biggest kicker for me is that the man that pulled over to help is also a member of the church.
It's nice knowing the Lord is always watching over us and will send us aid when needed. :)

Angel Baby

Zach blessed Madison in church on Sunday. It was a really sweet blessing that he gave her. She looked like a little angel baby in her beautiful white dress that her Grandma 'Roney made for her. She also had a pretty bracelet made by her aunt Kristi and I made her headband. We had tons of family that joined us, I think there were about 13 men in the circle for her blessing and we had about 50 people over for lunch after church was over. (We went to my mom's house for that since that many people just would not fit in our apartment)

Here we are, the proud parents!
Madie has also recently discovered the fun of making spit bubbles...I finally caught it on "film"
This picture is just because I think it is cute :)
We also weighed Madie on Saturday and she is almost 12.5 pounds (so she gained almost a pound and a half in 3 weeks...a record for her)!