Thursday, September 3, 2009
My latest Published Project
For those of you who do not know...I am a Personal Publishing Consultant for a company called Heritage Makers. I teach people how to preserve their stories and photos into a hardbound, library stitched, heirloom quality books. Everything is done digitally so it is earth-friendly, it is also time friendly because it is done in your own home with your own computer and Internet connection. Where ever you have the Internet you can Storybook! No hassles of buying all the "stuff" that comes with traditional scrapbooking, then trying to store it all, then trying to find it....then laying it all out...then only getting 1-2 pages done! Welcome to the Digital Revolution! Every minute I spend storybooking, is spent doing just that! I have finished some books in 1-2 days (21 + pages) and others have taken me 4 months! Our products are amazing. We offer many different Storybook sizes, cards, canvas prints, cookbooks, posters, and more. I love what I do now because it allows me to stay at home with our daughter and I get to help people get their stories told AND I get paid to di it! Here is a link to my latest project. Give it a minute to load and enjoy!
Airfreshner anyone?
How funny to have a little 18 month old "walkie talkie" in our home...her name is Madilyn! She is our little observant girl...and by little.....I am just referring to her size because her attention span, focus, and interest in detail is ENORMOUS and has always amazed me.......but now she can TELL me what she is thinking! This started about May when she would say, "What's dat?" to anything she wondered about! So, at only 15 months, she was on her way to getting her questions answered..finally! All these sounds, lights, and things that she has been observing her whole life...and now she can ask what they are!
This must be an exciting moment in a child's life. To finally feel as though they are being understood and able to communicate! (We did use some sign language, but her verbal skills kicked in-in high, so she dropped most of it!)
I have been talking to her as if she is an adult who understands me since she was born! It is fun to see that all my chit chat went to some good work! She is so chatty..some garble and some real language.
In July she started to pay close attention to the sound that kept coming from downstairs. One day we were in the kitchen, she was in her high chair...and there it was. The sound..."What's dat?" I explained to Maddie that it is an airfreshner and we have it to keep our home smelling pretty. (We have a little box in that bathroom, too...so it is a must!) I took her in to see it and pressed the manual button for her to SEE what was making the noise. She was sooo excited! She immediately repeated the sound...just in case you don't know what it sounds like, here is what is looks like spelled phonetically. Ka-chee-whoo! If you ask Madilyn what an airfreshner says, she will say, "Ka-chee-who!" It is totally programmed in her now and she has been re-producing the sound effects daily ever since! Now we have an automatic airfreshner SOUND anytime anyone says the word "air"...airplane, airport, airline...they all get a "Ka-chee-who" Funny funny! I have her in a little film clip so you can enjoy it, too!
This must be an exciting moment in a child's life. To finally feel as though they are being understood and able to communicate! (We did use some sign language, but her verbal skills kicked in-in high, so she dropped most of it!)
I have been talking to her as if she is an adult who understands me since she was born! It is fun to see that all my chit chat went to some good work! She is so chatty..some garble and some real language.
In July she started to pay close attention to the sound that kept coming from downstairs. One day we were in the kitchen, she was in her high chair...and there it was. The sound..."What's dat?" I explained to Maddie that it is an airfreshner and we have it to keep our home smelling pretty. (We have a little box in that bathroom, too...so it is a must!) I took her in to see it and pressed the manual button for her to SEE what was making the noise. She was sooo excited! She immediately repeated the sound...just in case you don't know what it sounds like, here is what is looks like spelled phonetically. Ka-chee-whoo! If you ask Madilyn what an airfreshner says, she will say, "Ka-chee-who!" It is totally programmed in her now and she has been re-producing the sound effects daily ever since! Now we have an automatic airfreshner SOUND anytime anyone says the word "air"...airplane, airport, airline...they all get a "Ka-chee-who" Funny funny! I have her in a little film clip so you can enjoy it, too!
Family Photos
I am excited that we were able to get some new family photos taken this past July. A dear friend of our family, Jenna, came into town and took some great shots of us in our very own backyard. It was a double duty session. We are most likely going to be moving in the very near future, and we wanted to be able to remember our first home! Mike put a lot of time and sweat into our beautiful backyard, and I wanted some great photos to remember everything. We are going through some bitter-sweet times are we are searching for a home that is larger. I am excited to give our family some more room to grow, but sad to leave the home that we brought Madilyn "Home" to! We have so many fun memories here, it is sad! The move will mean packing, adjusting to a new part of town, and making the new house feel like a home. I know that this will all just be minor details in a year from now, but for now. This is where we are at!
Monday, June 15, 2009
A-May-zing May
Well, our little Madilyn turned 15 months in May and she began talking up a storm. It was right around the 15 1/2 mark that I noticed that her vocabulary had just exploded. She started talking as if she had been saying these words her whole life...just that now other people could understand her, too!
She now loves to wander around the house looking for our kitty saying, "Dusty...go?" "Dusty...go?" She holds her right arm up and turns her palm to the ceiling as if gesturing to me, where did he go? It is the cutest thing! She has started to say Thank you more consistently and often.
I have been working with her at least 20 times a day on not whining for things she needs or for help. We have been working on saying, "help and stuck" I wanted her to be able to tell me when she needed my help with something or if she could do it herself but the item was stuck. I just wanted her to be able to communicate with me what she needed from me to END THE WHINING. Some of the hand signs were just not working for us, so as a last resort...I have been constantly talking to her and asking what she needs. You will be glad to know that my diligence has paid off. I no longer have a whiny, toddler...I have a little girl who can ask for help and tell me when things are stuck. It was the most exciting day when she brought me her toy house and said, "up" It was her version of "Help!" She now brings me everything she needs help with-without whining- and if she can't bring it to me she will tell me, 'Stuck" Language is a beautiful thing!
Some of the words that are now in her vocabulary are:
apple, nana (banana), ball, kids, girl, turtle, binky, binky for blankie, baby, awhh, shoe, orsie (horsie), duck, kitty (then she will add the sound effect "meow") , puppy ( then she will add a "woof woof" and a short pant with her mouth open and tongue out!) of course the regular mama and dad, daddy, papa, pop. She can also now say Gr-ma and Gr-pa. She loves to say, Hi-ee, and Bye-ee (hi and Bye). Her favorite expressions are, "Oh wow!" ,"Uh oh" "what's dat" "shhh dad-ee seep" (with her finger in front of her mouth)
I am sure that I am missing some of the others, but as she repeats them I will add them to the list.
Her other special thing is that she loves to watch the Backyardigans. It is the ONLY show that I allow her to watch...sometimes we catch Sesame Street, but I really didn't want her watching TV until she was 2. Well, when she got RSV in April and we had to do a 20-30 minute breathing treatment on her....we found that the only thing that would calm her down to finish the treatment was this show. After 2 weeks of treatments 4 times a day...she was hooked. Now we DVR all the shows (watching only 1 episode a day) and she will dance in a circle with her hand above her head-just like the characters-when the opening/closing song is on. The cute part is that all you have to do is sing that song and she will dance anywhere we are! These are the little things that make you realize that your child is smart, funny, and growing up too fast!
She now loves to wander around the house looking for our kitty saying, "Dusty...go?" "Dusty...go?" She holds her right arm up and turns her palm to the ceiling as if gesturing to me, where did he go? It is the cutest thing! She has started to say Thank you more consistently and often.
I have been working with her at least 20 times a day on not whining for things she needs or for help. We have been working on saying, "help and stuck" I wanted her to be able to tell me when she needed my help with something or if she could do it herself but the item was stuck. I just wanted her to be able to communicate with me what she needed from me to END THE WHINING. Some of the hand signs were just not working for us, so as a last resort...I have been constantly talking to her and asking what she needs. You will be glad to know that my diligence has paid off. I no longer have a whiny, toddler...I have a little girl who can ask for help and tell me when things are stuck. It was the most exciting day when she brought me her toy house and said, "up" It was her version of "Help!" She now brings me everything she needs help with-without whining- and if she can't bring it to me she will tell me, 'Stuck" Language is a beautiful thing!
Some of the words that are now in her vocabulary are:
apple, nana (banana), ball, kids, girl, turtle, binky, binky for blankie, baby, awhh, shoe, orsie (horsie), duck, kitty (then she will add the sound effect "meow") , puppy ( then she will add a "woof woof" and a short pant with her mouth open and tongue out!) of course the regular mama and dad, daddy, papa, pop. She can also now say Gr-ma and Gr-pa. She loves to say, Hi-ee, and Bye-ee (hi and Bye). Her favorite expressions are, "Oh wow!" ,"Uh oh" "what's dat" "shhh dad-ee seep" (with her finger in front of her mouth)
I am sure that I am missing some of the others, but as she repeats them I will add them to the list.
Her other special thing is that she loves to watch the Backyardigans. It is the ONLY show that I allow her to watch...sometimes we catch Sesame Street, but I really didn't want her watching TV until she was 2. Well, when she got RSV in April and we had to do a 20-30 minute breathing treatment on her....we found that the only thing that would calm her down to finish the treatment was this show. After 2 weeks of treatments 4 times a day...she was hooked. Now we DVR all the shows (watching only 1 episode a day) and she will dance in a circle with her hand above her head-just like the characters-when the opening/closing song is on. The cute part is that all you have to do is sing that song and she will dance anywhere we are! These are the little things that make you realize that your child is smart, funny, and growing up too fast!
Hooray for Blogger Draft!
So, after much frustration with the last technology issue, I didn't think that I would return to blogging. I am happy to say that my blog was not lost from a month ago...so here we go again! I am trying to get caught up and give this thing a second chance!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Technolgy frustrations
Ok...so I am VERRRRRRY upset. I just spent an entire hour updating my blog....only for the D#$% thing to tell me that that link isn't working right now. Well, then why did you put it there! So now for the shortened version!!!
Madilyn's 1st Birthday!
It has been a long time since I have updated. I really need to use this blog as our family journal because it isn't fair that I keep all these funny stories to myself! I am not sure how we have other items on here before we added her b-day, but who knows....I am still figuring this stuff out! It seems like I finally get it figured out and then something changes...am I just getting old? Don't answer that we will get to that next!
So, for our little Miss Madilyn's 1st birthday we had an amazing CUPCAKE party. I mean every detail I could think of was a cupcake. I am not sure where I get this obsession for things to be perfect...I asked my mom if she was ever this way and she said, "Nope!" And we all know that my dad is not like this at all, except for maybe with his guns and sometimes his checkbook. Well, I do have a pretty great idea where this could have come from...my Grandma Betty Jean loves to make things just right for everyone. When she has an idea about something, she really tries to make it come out just right.
Well, back to the party details. I started planning her party in January. I know...we had just put away the Christmas decorations and we get this magazine in the mail telling me that our daughter is turning 1 on a month! Aaahh! I totally got busy and starting planning every detail that night. Madilyn has a lot of outfits that have cupcakes on them, so it was only fitting that when I found the decorations all in cupcakes...it had to be her birthday theme! The rest is history from there. I researched every detail that I could to include cupcakes in every part of her party. We had a cupcake pull-pinata, cupcake plates, napkins, purple eating utensils, cupcake bags with cupcake ribbon to hold down the cupcake balloons, cupcake bib, cupcake dress, cupcake headband, a 3D homemade cupcake CAKE! A cupcake decorating station with cupcake boxes for the kiddos to take their very own cupcakes home in. I am sure that I am missing something, but you get the picture! It was the most perfect day, too. It was beautiful enough to have everyone outside. We were surrounded by great friends and supporting family! What more could a 1 year old ask for? Other than a nap when it was all over! She was such a trooper, taking in all the details and people. She even tolerated making it through opening the presents. She crashed not long after that! It was so nice because we had my in-laws in from Pennsylvania. They had not seen Madilyn (other than on the web-cam) since April 2008! She was a whole different baby back then! She is more like a little girl now! Everyone had a great time...and the pics don't even capture everything! Thanks to Krishelle for helping me get all the great shots. I was a little busy playing Mommy! It was a great and sad day! One whole year gone and a whole new one just beginning. "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end!"
Thursday, February 26, 2009
So tired
All the excitement of facing forward wore her out on the way to Grandma's 80th B-day party in St.George, UT!
G'ma Betty Jean's 80th Party
Here are the original 5 Dex Cowley Kids!
Happy Birthday Grandma!
We love you!
Happy Birthday Grandma!
We love you!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Breaking the in-laws
So, for Madiyn's 1st birthday, Mike's parents really wanted to make the trip from Pennsylvania to come see her again. They hadnt seen her since she was 6 weeks old, and everyone was excited to get to re-connect! We have tried to keep up over Skype, and phone calls, but it is never enough. So, after a little planning, they arrived on Feb.11th to get to spend some time with her before she officially turned one! We were so excited to have them here with us. We went out to eat at PF Changs that very first night they were here. His parents come from a small town and had never had the opportunity to eat there before. We were so excited to introduce them to our favorite Lettuce Wraps! They were both pretty impressed and we had a great evening. We returned home to let our tired guests retire for the night after a long day of travel and excitement! Well our first day was wonderful until about 5 am! I was nearly thrown out of bed by the mosst horrible noise you can hear...especially when you are a mommy, too! It was a horrible bang, then another huge thud, then several thuds, a moan and then a cry for help. When I heard the first thud, I automatically assumed that Madilyn had somehow fallen out of her crib. After I realized that it isn't possibly yet, I immediately thought that it must be Mike's mom. My husband and his dad both flew out of bed and down the stairs to find my poor mother-in-law at the bottom of our stairs! She was complaining that she couldn't feel her legs, her shoulder was hurting, and that she thought her ankle was hurt. I was too afraid to even look down after seeing 2 huge holes in the walls of our stairway! She was claiming that she thought she turned right to go to the bathroom, but she went left and then walked right off the stairs and tumbled head first all the way down 2 landings, putting a hole in the wall with her head at each landing, and then continued down the remaining flight of stairs, where she then hit her head on our tile floor. I still couldn't look, but I finally was able to see that there was NO blood, so I headed down to help her. She really just wanted to go to the bathroom, so she was begging my husband and my father-in-law to help her up to go to the bathroom. I told them that I wanted to call an ambulance to have them check her out before we moved her, but she persisted for the help. They no more got her to a sitting position and she was in agaonizing pain and asked to be put back down. I immediately got on the phone with 911 and had them dispatch someone to come check her out. The ambulance arrived probably sooner than it seemed and evaluated her. Just by observation and touch they were able to assess that she had not broken anything, but they were transporting her to St.Rose Hospital for x-rays and further observation. She spent the day at the hospital and was released at 2pm with NO broken bones, NO concussion, No hip fractures, and NO real injury other than a lot of bruises and a couple black eyes! It was a serious miracle! It put a damper on their trip as she was completely on 3 different pain pills that made her sleep all the time. She was actually able to get dressed and visit during Madilyn's party on Saturday. We were very grateful for that! She is still recovering at home, but she claims that her trip was still good even though she took a nasty fall! This whole experience is probably trying to prepare us for future accidents with our kids, but it really just makes me want to get a 1-story home instead! Now Mike's brother is coming out to visit in March and he jokes that he is going to stay in a hotel because he doesn't want to stay somewhere with holes in the walls! Ha Ha! We will sure have a lot to talk about when he gets here!
Still trying to find a balance
So, I keep trying to stay up to date with the blogging, but I find myself being divided in too many ways! I am loving being able to see what everyone is up to, but I need to schedule a time each week to just get my page caught up, too!
So....here is what has been happening in our den...
January was a month of letting go!!! Mommy had to learn to let her little 11 month girl go where she wanted (crawling) and let her have fun letting go in the tub! Then Mommy had to learn to let her little Madilyn let go when standing by the coffee table. I know that it is only going to get worse when she gets older and really doesn't need me anymore, but January was a tough month on the heart. Madilyn is so independent that I can see the road ahead and it almost hurts my heart! :( She started holding her own bottle during her night time rocking with mommy-getting ready for bed routine! :( She wants to do more and more all by herself! Maybe it's just me, but I didn't expect to feel so bad about it all. I know that the underlying pain is facing the fact that our little baby is almost one and she is growing up too fast!
Also in January I spent quite a bit of time planning Madilyn's 1st birthday party. I know now that I went way overboard for a 1 year old birthday, but I don't think I would change it! I have this weird quality about me that events, occasions, get-togethers, etc. have to be perfect...and I mean down to the last detail perfect! I asked my mom where I get it from and she says that she doesn't even have a clue. We know it is not from my dad, and she claims it isn't from her, so I must have some random gene for perfection! I feel sorry for my poor husband, Mike, because he knows this about me...and he helps me to make my party PERFECT! And the best news is that he loves me for it anyway! This perfection leads to stress the week before, sleeplessness, erratic behavior, and last minute shopping for the little details that I HAVE TO HAVE!!!
So, I was able to get all of her decorations ordered on-line from a wonderful company called First wishes.com. They are amazing, by the way! We had an entire party with a cupcake theme! I had tons of fun putting it all together! We had a Cupcake pull pinata, cupcake bags to hold down the matching balloons, cupcake ribbon tied to the bags, all the kids got to decorate their own cupcakes to take home, I made Maddie a 3-D 7" cupcake cake for her to dive into, plus my mom and I baked and frosted about 4 dozen cupcakes! We had an inflatable cupcake out in our yard to match the huge personalized banner that said, "Happy 1st Birthday Madilyn" It was just the way I pictured it and everyone had fun.
So....here is what has been happening in our den...
January was a month of letting go!!! Mommy had to learn to let her little 11 month girl go where she wanted (crawling) and let her have fun letting go in the tub! Then Mommy had to learn to let her little Madilyn let go when standing by the coffee table. I know that it is only going to get worse when she gets older and really doesn't need me anymore, but January was a tough month on the heart. Madilyn is so independent that I can see the road ahead and it almost hurts my heart! :( She started holding her own bottle during her night time rocking with mommy-getting ready for bed routine! :( She wants to do more and more all by herself! Maybe it's just me, but I didn't expect to feel so bad about it all. I know that the underlying pain is facing the fact that our little baby is almost one and she is growing up too fast!
Also in January I spent quite a bit of time planning Madilyn's 1st birthday party. I know now that I went way overboard for a 1 year old birthday, but I don't think I would change it! I have this weird quality about me that events, occasions, get-togethers, etc. have to be perfect...and I mean down to the last detail perfect! I asked my mom where I get it from and she says that she doesn't even have a clue. We know it is not from my dad, and she claims it isn't from her, so I must have some random gene for perfection! I feel sorry for my poor husband, Mike, because he knows this about me...and he helps me to make my party PERFECT! And the best news is that he loves me for it anyway! This perfection leads to stress the week before, sleeplessness, erratic behavior, and last minute shopping for the little details that I HAVE TO HAVE!!!
So, I was able to get all of her decorations ordered on-line from a wonderful company called First wishes.com. They are amazing, by the way! We had an entire party with a cupcake theme! I had tons of fun putting it all together! We had a Cupcake pull pinata, cupcake bags to hold down the matching balloons, cupcake ribbon tied to the bags, all the kids got to decorate their own cupcakes to take home, I made Maddie a 3-D 7" cupcake cake for her to dive into, plus my mom and I baked and frosted about 4 dozen cupcakes! We had an inflatable cupcake out in our yard to match the huge personalized banner that said, "Happy 1st Birthday Madilyn" It was just the way I pictured it and everyone had fun.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Happy New Year
Happy New year to all! As you can tell, I am still trying to figure this stuff out. I did want to update everyone on what is going on in the Diebel house! We had a wonderful Christmas here at our home with our 10 month old little Madilyn. It was so much fun to see her eyes light up every time she saw the Christmas tree. It was very magical to her and for us to watch her, too! If you have never watched the magic and wonder in a child's eyes during the Christmas season, you are truly missing one of God's greatest gifts! Needless to say, our home is now full of noisy toys and lots of books that entertain Madilyn. She is a huge fan of books! She will actually spend more time with books that her toys, if given a choice! I hope that this love continues throughout her life. We read together a lot around here.
Well, the latest news is that Madilyn finally started to crawl on January 16, 2009. Just 2 days after turning 11 months. She has had her own funny way of getting around until this day. She has this funny way of turning and spinning around to get where she needs to go. It just so happened that on Friday the 16th, she was in between a doorway and she realized that she would not be able to spin through this one, so she stayed on all fours and took (4) crawling movements and out the door she went, like she had been crawling all along! My jaw just about fell out of my head! She didn't get why I was so excited! Then she decided that crawling was a little faster, so she took off crawling from then on. It was the funniest thing. Now our house is being quickly taken over by little 11 month fingers.
I have to admit that this last few weeks have been pretty hard as a first time mommy. Not only is she totally crawling everywhere, but in the same month she decided to become a little fishy in the tub, NO FEAR! AND, she decided that mommy doesn't need to help her with her bottle at night! I am noticing that this is just the next step of heartache as a mommy...the letting go! She is already such an independent girl! She wants to get the toys all by herself, she doesn't want me to hold on to her in the tub anymore, and now I am not needed for the night time bottle! It has been a mix of emotions around our home. I am truly excited to see her change & grow, but it has been very hard to let go! She is slowly becoming a little girl...in her looks, her actions, and her little gestures! She is such a sweet, snuggly, lovey, happy, problem-solving, social, babbling little bundle of pure JOY!
We love her more and more everyday!
Well, the latest news is that Madilyn finally started to crawl on January 16, 2009. Just 2 days after turning 11 months. She has had her own funny way of getting around until this day. She has this funny way of turning and spinning around to get where she needs to go. It just so happened that on Friday the 16th, she was in between a doorway and she realized that she would not be able to spin through this one, so she stayed on all fours and took (4) crawling movements and out the door she went, like she had been crawling all along! My jaw just about fell out of my head! She didn't get why I was so excited! Then she decided that crawling was a little faster, so she took off crawling from then on. It was the funniest thing. Now our house is being quickly taken over by little 11 month fingers.
I have to admit that this last few weeks have been pretty hard as a first time mommy. Not only is she totally crawling everywhere, but in the same month she decided to become a little fishy in the tub, NO FEAR! AND, she decided that mommy doesn't need to help her with her bottle at night! I am noticing that this is just the next step of heartache as a mommy...the letting go! She is already such an independent girl! She wants to get the toys all by herself, she doesn't want me to hold on to her in the tub anymore, and now I am not needed for the night time bottle! It has been a mix of emotions around our home. I am truly excited to see her change & grow, but it has been very hard to let go! She is slowly becoming a little girl...in her looks, her actions, and her little gestures! She is such a sweet, snuggly, lovey, happy, problem-solving, social, babbling little bundle of pure JOY!
We love her more and more everyday!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
