4th of July BBQ

Darren and Elly hosted a BBQ this year. It was great fun to be around them, Matthew, my mother and step-father John. Elly is such a good cook, and Darren is an excellent BBQer. It was a lot of fun had by all.

I didn't get any pictures of the adults, but plenty of the children.

How Maddie chills with her feet.

Utah County Caching

We had three hours to kill before Darren's BBQ, and we decided to use them caching.

We started out in South Jordan, looking for a cache hidden in the SJ cemetery. It was a pretty simple find once we figured out true north from the starting coordinates.

Next it was on to the AF one to find a multi-cache, and a traditional cache. The multi-cache was a lot of fun. We had our starting coordinates, and looking around at the old tombstones we had to answer questions to figure out our next set of coordinates. We had to do this for two legs.

On our way to the second site.

The second site took us to the Veteran's Monuments. I neglected to get a photo of this, but it is such a beautiful site, and I felt quiet appropriate spending time there reading all the plaques. (Click here for beautiful photos describing the site.) After getting the information we needed we were finally able to find our ending site. In this case it was a virtual cache, and we had to take a picture to get credit.

The AF Pioneer Memorial

As luck would have it our next cache was very close. This is a traditional cache, in which one signs their name to it.

Madelynn at this point had had enough caching for one day, and we took her to my mom's house.
Jeremy and I then had about 40 minutes left before going to the BBQ and decided to hit the PG cemetery to try and find two more.

We were successful at finding the first one, but ran out of time for the second. We will have to return to the site when we are back in Utah County for some time.

It was a really good day. Got in some much needed exercise, as you all can see, and really enjoyed each others company and puzzle solving skills.

New Family Hobby

We discovered Geo Caching today. After what seemed like hours of finding a compatible application for our blackberries we were off and finding caches. We found five today, and plan to go out and find more this weekend.

It was so much fun. It was warm with a light breeze which made it very enjoyable to be outdoors. We got to get Madelynn some natural Vitamin D, and Jeremy and I got some much needed exercise.

The Geo Caching definitely made exercising more fun, and we seemed to go further than we would have on a normal walk.

Madelynn's Experience with Baby Food

Yesterday we gave her baby food for the first time. We introduced her to peaches with some rice cereal.

I think it may be sour to her, but she ate the whole can over two sittings.

We also had her drink from her sippy cup.

She is such an amazing little girl. She has come so far, and continues to improve everyday.

It's Gone!

The gastronomy tube button was taken out on Wednesday afternoon. After 4 months and 15 days Maddie no longer has anything protruding from her tummy.
The doctor said it will take about two weeks to heal. We need to keep her dressing dry, and watch for infection.
Right now it just leaks about an hour after every feeding, but the hole itself is looking good.

Jenny Jump Up

The Jenny Jump Up box said the child had to be able to hold their head up unassisted, and they need to be four months. Madelynn is almost 6-months adjusted age, and has been able to hold her head up for a while. We decided it was time to purchase the jump-up. Madelynn spent the half hour lifting her feet to twirl around, and to use the jump-up as a teething toy. (The pictures are not the best because they were taken with my phone.)

Independence

Madelynn can hold her own bottle now. A big plus when we are running late in the morning, and she's hungry. She can eat in the car.

Her eyes are shut because of the flash.

The Great Teddy Bear Fight

Madelynn is finally bigger than her teddy bear. To prove it to the stuffed animal she decided to fight him.

At first it looked like she may be losing the battle.

Then she let out her little warrior cry,

and the bear was defeated.

The live action fight.

Anatomy of a Tantrum

A lot of people commented on how cute Maddie's tantrum picture is. I decided to post the photos in their entirety.Tantrums are not cute people!

Okay, maybe a little...

Introducing Solids: Rice Cereal

Our early intervention therapist, Becca, said it was okay to start introducing Madelynn to solid foods since she is 5-months old adjusted age.  She said to put it on a toy Madelynn likes to chew on so she will not get startled as she might by being introduced to a spoon and cereal at the same time.  We dipped her favorite ring in the cereal, and let her have at it.  She seemed to like it. 

 She was covered in it when it was all over. 

 I think it was a success though.  At her 9-Month check-up on July 2nd we will ask the doctor about introducing her to more foods.