And then there were two...

Two Piggies are even better than one!

Nana and Papa Paul's House

Last Friday, we spent the night at Andrew's parent's house. We were down in the area for a late dinner and thought it would be nice to have a slumber party at their house. Madeline had a great time.

She LOVED the grass. She liked to crawl through it, play in it and lay on it. It was wonderful!






The back of their house is wooded and it leads down to a little creek. Madeline always loves to go down there. She points and points to the trees. She loves being outside.

She even did a little rock climbing while we were there.

We had a wonderful day with Nana and Papa Paul!

At The Park Again...

...this time Nana, Papa Paul and Daddy came too!

Nana took Madeline all over the park. It was so much fun!

Madeline loves the mulch. I think we just need a box of mulch on the balcony and she would probably be happy.

This time, Madeline got to do the seesaw. It was a little hard to do it last time with just me.

Thanks for hanging out with us on Saturday! Madeline sure does love her grandparents!

Our Brave Little Girl

At Madeline's last doctor's appointment we were given paperwork to go get some routine bloodwork done for her. (At 9 months, their blood is tested for lead and something else, I can't remember what.) I put the paperwork on the fridge and then forgot about it until last Friday. So, I took Madeline to our local LabCorp to get her blood drawn.

She had a great time in the waiting room. She walked around to all the people and showed them her lion. And then she spent the rest of the time running away from me, down the ramp and out the door. :)

They finally called us back. I asked them if this was going to be a heal prick, like all the other bloodwork they had done since she was born. The nurse said, no, they were going to draw it from her arm. Yikes! She just seems so little. So, I had to hold her on my lap with her left arm pinned down and her right arm held out. They put the rubber thingy around her arm to make the vein pop out. Then I watched as they inserted the needle into Madeline's arm... It was silent. I was waiting for that heart wrenching cry that comes after a long silence since I couldn't see her face. But, it never came. Madeline just simply watched them as they took 2 viles of blood. She didn't fuss, wimper or cry. What a brave girl.

Here she is with the bandage around her arm. It was basically falling off by the time we got home. So, what I was expecting to be a very traumatic experience, ended up being nothing at all. Maybe she will be a nurse or a doctor one day since she doesn't seem to mind needles. I told the nurse we will have to get her again next time since she must have done it so nicely.

Simmons Family Reunion

Last weekend, Andrew and I headed to Roanoke for my family's annual reunion on my dad's side. We had a ton of food and a great time hanging out with family that we don't see very often. (My grandmother, MeeMaw, is in the lime green shirt.)

Madeline had a great time playing with her cousins Abby and Will.


and also James.


James has a new little sister, Caiden.


Some more of my cousins, Olivia and Jonathan.


My grandfather, C.O. with Jonathan and James.


We walked down to a little pond.


And Madeline got to watch the ducks and geese with her daddy.

She got to play with Granny B...

and Pawpaw too!

Madeline had a great time playing outside and with all her cousins. We were a little worried that it was going to get rained out or at least be very muddy. But, it was a great day!

Jackson Robert Sink

We want to welcome little Jackson Robert to the world. He was born on Tuesday, September 23rd at 4:31am. He was 9lb 4 oz and 22 inches long.

We got to meet little Jackson this past weekend. He is so adorable. I can't even remember Madeline being that little. And he isn't even a little guy!


Cristen looked great and Kathryn seemed to be doing well with her new little brother. She is giving him lot of hugs and kisses. Congratulations to the beautiful family!

10 Months Old

Helllloooooo... where is the pause button people! 10 months! That is only 2 months away from 1 year! Well, she is definitely growing and changing.

I love how she is interacting with other kids now. She likes to follow the big kids around and try to do what they are doing. At the playground the other day, she followed all the kids up the steps, up the platforms to the slide at the top. Then I would meet her at the top and go down the slide with her. Then she would follow all the kids again. She has a lot to learn about sharing though. For now, she likes to "show" other kids her toys. She will hold them out like she is going to give them a toy and then she jerks it back away. She can pass a ball though. I will roll it to her and she will hand it back to me.



She loves the outdoors. What are we going to do when it gets too cold? I guess that is what coats, hats and gloves are for.



I have had to clean her shoes with Comet twice already because she gets them so dirty while she is playing.


Yep... she found her nose. And so it begins...

I really like how she squats. It reminds me of a little Asian baby :)

She is getting pretty good at entertaining herself. While I am working in the kitchen she will pull out my nesting collanders and carry them around or put them on her head. Sometimes she will play on the stairs. She likes to carry things up the steps or play with them on the bottom few steps. She is very good at going up and down the steps. So, I don't worry too much about her falling. She will also walk from room to room looking for things to play with and explore.

She has really started liking stuffed animals. Her favorites are this monkey, a blue fish from Dr. Suess' "One Fish, Two Fish,..." and a small lion that her aunt Katherine got her. She carries them around the house all the time. She will bring them to me to hug, then she hugs them and then I hug them both.

She still loves books. She pulls them out of her bucket all the time and then flips through the pages. She also carries them to me and sits between my legs while I read it to her.

Madeline is pretty good at walking now. It is definitely her prefered method of transportation. We don't see too much crawling these days. If she falls down, she gets right back up and keeps on walking. She loves to carry things around the house, especially things that look entirely too big for her to carry.


Madeline's eating has been changing a bit lately. She seems to prefer big people food instead of the pureed stuff. But, it seems difficult to get as much food in her when she is feeding herself. I guess that will change in time. She isn't completely done with baby food. She still loves her green beans and peas. And she also eats a lot of bananas mixed with other things like berries, pears or apples. We have tried the pureed meals and she won't eat them. So, now she is eating things like pancakes, scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, pasta, bread and mixed vegetables. Last night she ate Salmon cakes and zuchini with us. Tonight she ate a slice of red pepper while I was making dinner. She also likes to take bites out of foods like apples or tangerines and anything we hold up to her mouth, like tacos. Simeon gave her a baby pumpkin and there are teeth marks all in it. One of her favorite snacks is Cheerios. She carries a SnackTrap around with her hand stuck in it a lot. She also likes graham crackers, saltine crackers and pretzels. She still needs her sign language videos to eat during a meal. But, I think she is learning a lot. She moves her hands around like she is signing stuff all the time. So far, I have seem glimses of, "airplane", "more", "all done", "fish" and "milk".

Other things:

~Whenever we take her upstairs to see the fish, she says, "fffff", "fffff". She doesn't usually make that sound at other things. So, it seems, to us at least, she is trying to say, "fish".

~She had a tooth break though the other day. So, she is up to 5 teeth.

~She likes to nod her head, "yes" now. And if she hears me say, "no no", she will nod her head, "no".

~She is still taking 2 naps on most days. One around 10am and one around 3pm. But, sometimes she only takes one when she wakes up around 8am. Then she will take a nap around 12pm. I am trying to hold on to that morning nap. I still need a time to get a shower! She has had a day with no naps and she did pretty well. As long as she can get outside, she is a happy girl. It's nice that she can be a little more flexible now.

Madeline is such a joy to us. We love just watching her do her thing. She is so cute and entertaining. We are having a blast with our little girl!