Baby Madden Has Arrived!

My sister Caroline has been on bedrest for the past few weeks of her pregnancy, and Monday we found out that he had a condition called Intra Uterine Growth Deficiency. His growth and weight had plateaued and he had even begun to lose weight. Tuesday they made the decision to take him by C-Section before he lost any more weight. He was delivered at 35 weeks, and weighed 3 lbs and 8.5 oz and was 15 inches long. He is doing well but we were told to expect him in the NICU for 4 to 6 weeks. So far he's doing well, breathing on the CPAP machine and eating through a feeding tube, but that is all very normal for a baby that size. The worst thing I guess was that Caroline didn't get to see him for 24 hours because she was on a magnesium drip and couldn't bring it into the NICU. I did get to go however and took a few pics. Here are the first shots of Baby Madden!

Chair Project

I just wanted to show off my little chair project I just did. This is a chair I bought several years ago at a rummage sale for $5 and have re-covered it several times. I bought new bedding a few months ago and hadn't done anything with the chair yet when I came across this complimentary fabric as a remnant and decided to embroider my monogram with my new embroidery machine! I thought it turned out adorable!

Playing in the dirt

I just had to share this pic I took of little Georgia's feet yesterday. I love how my girls can be so prissy and girly and still have fun playing in the dirt! We have definitely been getting our play time in this summer, I only wish it could last longer.

Locks of Love

Gracie has been growing her hair for Locks of Love for a little over a year now. In case you're not familiar with this organization, it's a charity that accepts donations of human hair to make free wigs for children who have lost their own hair die to illness. Your hair has to be a certain length to do it, and Gracie finally reached her goal! We are so proud of her, both for being so brave and for making a conscious decision to do something to help others. The icing on the cake is that she loves her new hairdo! It hasn't been this short since she was 2. Here are a few pics from that day...

What a girl! She looks so much older to me but I guess that is because she's getting older. I'm so proud of the young lady she's becoming. It's such a nice combination when inner beauty matches outer beauty.

Georgia goes to the Dentist

Yesterday Georgia had her first trip to the Dentist. She learned a little about it at Montessori when a Dentist came to visit, and we've been talking about it a lot to get her pumped up about it. She loves brushing her teeth, and she thinks she is such a big girl to finally get to go to the Dentist herself. Our friend Mylinda is a hygienist there so Georgia felt comfortable right away. They said that the first time she might not make it through the entire visit, but she did great and did the whole thing.

Notice her Tooth shirt we got just for today!

She had a great first visit, no cavities and a great report! It's tough getting used to having two big girls in the house now!

Georgia's First Swim

The other day I took the girls swimming up at my parents house. They love the water and it has been so hot that it's the only way to be outside. Gracie is a great swimmer, and Georgia has been doing well with her floaties. Well she unexpectedly pulled off her floaties, hopped in, struggled a little and swam to me (which was just a matter of feet)! She said she's done with floaties! We started swimming around a little more and by the afternoon she was jumping off the diving board and could swim all the way to the steps by herself! I got a little video of her jumping off the diving board. I'm so proud of her! She's so brave, and I'm so happy she loves swimming like the rest of the family!

Funny Story

So the other day I get a call from my friend Stormy who is a teacher. She was with another friend of hers who teaches at her school named Sandy that she has brought by Gigi's several times before and I've met. Sandy kept telling her she thought she knew me but didn't remember how, and since she is from Rome she couldn't figure it out. The call started with "Hey, did you go on a ski trip in college for a PE class?" I said "yes" and Sandy and Stormy screamed out "that's where!" Apparently, Sandy I not only went on that trip together, but were ROOMMATES for the week and I followed her by car up there! Too funny! I did make me feel old that I could have known someone for over a year and not realize we'd met before...

Here is a picture I found upstairs of our entire group at the ski trip including Sandy and me. This was taken at the hospital as you can see from the multiple pairs of crutches and visible casts. Yes, one of them is mine:)

The Fairy Garden

This Spring Grace and Georgia decided to plant a "Fairy Garden" in our backyard. I still haven't figured out what exactly makes it a Fairy Garden except for the fact that they say it is. Anyway, we tool them to buy some plants and they chose tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cantaloupe, and watermelon. We have had a few cucumbers lately ready to pick, and I think the tomatoes will be next!

There's even a baby watermelon coming up!

American Girl Store

After a few days of just chilling out after the girls came home from the beach, we decided to ride down to the American Girl Store for lunch and shopping. Both girls came home from the beach with a little money left over and it was burning a hole in their pockets. Here are a few shots from our day.

Georgia and Rebecca-notice her doll's hair in this shot before

And after her trip to the hair salon. We also had Rebecca's ears pierced while we were there.

Having fun at lunch

Gracie's helping Ivy with her drink

Those tiny flags were so much fun

All in all it was a pleasant day and the girls were very good. For somewhere that is kid oriented it's not a bad way to spend a day!

Happy Birthday Kenneth!

On Kenneth's birthday (June 14th) we had an unexpected party. We celebrated the day
before since his birthday was on a Monday, but we still went out to Longhorn with the girls that night. Afterward, Kenneth really wanted a Peanut Buster Parfait from the DQ (woo hoo, I know) so off we went. While waiting at the red light, the car in front of us started rolling backward and backed right into us-in Kenneth's new car! Happy Birthday, right?!? She hopped out very apologetic and told us how she was trying to put it in park but ended up putting it in reverse because her hand was in a cast. What? She then showed us her hand completely immobile in her cast. Why were you even driving lady? Well the police came and all was well, no one was hurt, and we went along on our way. It wasn't too bad, just not the best way to spend a birthday!

Chef Georgia!

Lately Georgia has become a big help in the kitchen! Every time I head to the kitchen Georgia is on my heels saying "I wanna help!" Her favorite things are stirring, cracking eggs, and licking the spoon. Sunday afternoons she always asks to make cupcakes. Here is a pic of her in her chef's hat-she thinks it makes her look "professional"!

While the girls are away...

I decided to redecorate the girls' rooms while they were at the beach with my parents. Gracie still had her little girl pink and green circus print toile and Georgia still had her crib in the daybed setup. They both have expressed an interest in redecorating. Gracie wanted a "sophisticated" big girl room and Georgia wanted a mermaid room. I didn't quite finish but here is what I got done before they returned home.

For Gracie I chose a soft blue for the walls (Sherwin Williams Hazy Blue)

and a slightly darker shade for the trim (Benjamin Moore Liquid Blue) with a starfish stencil.

I reused the headboard that Kenneth built for her five years ago and painted it
pink then applied a glaze and finished it with a clear coat of polyeurethane.

I used Sherwin Williams Coming Up Roses for the headboard and then applied Palm

Beach Pink glaze from www.sunnyspaint.com to give it a distressed aged look.

I used some of the leftover blue and pink paint to tie in this container for Gracie's

flowers. I just spray painted the curly willow green in a complimentary shade.

I found these cute pink bubble glass knobs to use on Gracie's vanity.

For the stencils we used two sizes of starfish stencile painted in two shades of pink, SW Gala Pink on the smaller size and SW Coming Up Roses on the Larger. Both stencils are available at www.sunnyspaint.com

Love this combo:)

I painted the aquarium stand and lid in a similar blue as the wall to blend with the wall. I changed out the aquarium decor to match her new room and set it up so we can pick out new fish when they get home!

Fully stenciled walls! Kenneth must really love his girls because he sure hates painting! He evenly spaced them throughout the room, rotating the stencil clockwise for each collum.

I painted Gracie's vanity green which I love against the walls!

So for Gracie's room I still have to make her window treatments and bedding, hang her new chandelier, and apply her wall monogram but this is all I could do before they got home!

Georgia asked for two things-pink and mermaids!

Love this green wall! Gator green glaze from www.sunnyspaint.com

We trimmed the room in SW Coming Up Roses. Love the combo!

I painted her chest of drawers a darker pink and changed the knobs to a ceramic painted pink, green, and aqua.

Kenneth traced a swirl design in pencil for me to use as a guide for painting the wall and ceiling. He also painted cute polka dote on the upper wall and ceiling to give a canopy effect.

We painted an aqua swirl along the pencil outlineto complete the walls. I painted her armoire the same aqua as the swirl.

I upholstered a new headboard for Georgia for her new big girl bed! Kenneth cut out the design and mounted it for me.

Since Georgia can't reach her new bed yet, I painted a little footstool for her and upholstered it to match her bed.

Kenneth's Mom has been trying to teach me how to make the girls' bedding, but she ended up doing most of the work! It looks great so far, and hopefully I can make more of a contribution!

Georgia's bedding is almost done but I still need to have her chandelier installed, window treatments made, and wall monogram applied. They were so excited to see their new rooms and it was so worth all the work! When Georgia walked in she said "FINALLY!"

With the girls off on their beach trip, I decided to surprise them with redecorating their rooms. Gracie's room hasn't been redone since we moved and she's recently expressed an interest in having a more sophisticated look now that she's a big girl. Georgia actually still had her crib in her converted daybed setup and it was time for her to move up to a big girl room as well. Here is the progress of the rooms so far.

Fun with Mimi and Poppie!

The girls had a great time with their Mimi and Poppie in Gulf Shores! Here are a few pics of their adventures.

They visited the National Aviation Museum

Georgia found a shell!

Breakfast of champions

Hitting the beach

Visiting the baby tigers at the zoo

Cheers!

Hanging out at Lulu's

One more of the tigers