Super Quick update on 2009

Since I apparently had no time for blogging since Easter I thought I would quickly review the rest of 2009 mostly in pictures. Who knows how long this will take me, but my goal is to finish sharing our last year by the end of the month!

In May we moved to Iowa for the summer for Brandon to do a rotation in Ames. We took Maddie to see Sesame Street Live...

Visited the Grandparents to celebrate too many birthdays in one week!...

Grandpa turned old, I turned a year older, and Maddie turned 2!!

We went to see Coldplay...

In July we went to Worlds Of Fun where Maddie fell in love with Snoopy even though she had no idea who he was :) ...

Later in July my cousin got attacked by a shark (I'll spare the gory pictures)...

I am pretty sure this was well after the drugs have been in her system! :)

Then in August we went to Adventureland (woohoo ..not) and the Iowa State Fair (a real woohoo!)

Then we headed back to Memphis for the fall....which you'll have to wait in suspense to hear about until next time!

Family Picture Time

It's been a long time, I know. I just got lazy with technology this summer! We had a fun and busy summer, and this last week it came to a close. Brandon had his week off before starting his rotation in Memphis, so we headed to Holden Beach. My sister-in-law Rebecca took some awesome pictures of the three of us on the beach. Maddie especially liked Joel and Rebecca's idea of giving her a big red lollipop! Since she was not super excited about getting messy sand all over her hands, it helped distract her and made for some cute pics! We had to show her what to do with it though! Here are a few of my favorites...I will try to post more about all the other fun stuff we did this summer...including turning 2!

Happy Easter!

Maddie enjoyed her first easter egg hunt on Saturday at our house.  Grammie and Grampie sent an Elmo easter basket which she loved!  She is a bit prissy and a little dramatic, and hates walking on the grass!  What a girl!  So I was interested to see how she would react.  To my surprise she actually didn't whine too much, and was all about finding all those eggs!  

This is my first iMovie masterpiece, so I hope you all enjoy!  It might seem a little long, but I edited it as much as I could.  She was a little slow and unsure of walking on the grass, so it took her a little while to find them all!

Happy Easter everyone!

Tribute to Bogart...

I've been avoiding this for a long time, but I have to find a new home for my dog.  :(  He's a black lab and border collie mix, but just looks like a small black lab.   He's about 45 lbs. 

There's a bunch of reasons why we need to find him a new home, but mainly because we're going to be moving all over the place for the next year, or pretty much indefinitely.   Because we don't know where we will be living, it would be easiest to find a new home for Bogey.  Here's my story about my first dog.  

I never got to have a dog growing up, so as soon as I had a house of my own that's the first thing I wanted!  Brandon wasn't crazy about dogs but he let me get one the first summer we moved to Memphis.  We went to the pound and I noticed one puppy sitting quietly in the corner while all the other dogs were jumping up and barking.  The second day we had him he chewed up my new Rainbow flip-flop.  I yelled at him and disciplined him and have never had a problem with him chewing stuff up since (unless he really loves you and then he'll get your socks and run around the house so you chase him!)  He's a smart dog!  We had a great summer together, taking walks every day and frolicking in the sun.  And then Brandon turned really germaphobic and OCD.  I've had to open the dishwasher for him because he's afraid the dog may have touched the handle and he would get "dog cooties".  One time a box of cereal bars fell on the floor and he wouldn't eat the rest of them (even though they were wrapped...and in a box!)   Now he won't touch the dog or anything the dog has touched.  If you know me, you know the stories!  So I also am willing to find Bogey a new home for everyone's sanity!  

Bogey loves to run and loves attention.  He loves his tennis ball and he is great around Maddie. When we brought Maddie home from the Hospital he just laid by her cradle!  But when he was constrained to the kitchen, and he just doesn't get as much attention.  The worst thing he does is sometimes puts his paws up on the counter when we leave the house and helps himself to any leftovers.  But I'm sure this is just getting us back for being demoted to number 2!  

So if you or anyone you know would like an awesome family pet, please let me know.  It's very important to me that he finds a good home where he can get more exercise and more attention!

  

Hittin' the slopes

Brandon and I are enjoying our toddler-free week in Breckenridge! Despite getting a cold and the not so great weather we've had a good time skiing. Brandon still had his lift ticket on his coat from the last time we went skiing- Jan. 2004 in PA at Seven Springs! Before we were married, and before Maddie- back when we had a life and did fun and exciting things! :)
Brandon's never been skiing in CO, and thats where I learned (about 16 years ago!) It's been fun to be back, and to see Brandon experience it for the first time. I tried telling him we should take it easy the first day and not try to be too ambitious. By the end of the day my legs were killing me. He thought I was wimping out until the next day when he was complaining about how much his legs hurt!
It's so great to spend some time doing things we want to do without the little munchkin! She's having a great time at Nani and Papi's house this week. That's her new name for them now!
Here's a few pics of the Rockies from the top of Peak 8, and the view of some slopes that we definitely stayed away from! And then a pic of the mountain from Main Street Breckenridge.

CMOM

This week I took Maddie to the Children's Museum of Memphis. I've been wanting to take her, but wasn't sure if there would be much for her to do at her age. Some of the things she wasn't quite big enough for , but there was plenty of stuff for her to do! Her favorite thing was the little Kroger grocery store. It was probably my favorite too! I knew she would love it because lately when we go to the store she won't even sit in the cart, she wants to push it, and "help" us shop! Here are a few pics from her shopping. The first thing she grabbed was the cart, and then she went right for the laundry detergent. I have no idea why, but she was enthralled with that!

She also loved the produce section, and pretending to take bites of the apples!

But by far, her favorite part of the museum was a little "dance room" with disco lights, mirrors and funky music!

Long Past Due!

Apologies for this update being about a month late! I wanted to post some Christmas/New Years pics, but I have to do it on Brandon's PC b/c I'm still not smart enough to figure out what is wrong with our Mac!

We started our three week Christmas break here in Memphis, and went to the zoo to see some lights. It was complete with "snow" falling down as we walked in. Maddie even got up close to some animals!

Then we headed to PA to see Brandon's family. Maddie tore into the presents as soon as she saw them!

Then we were off to Iowa for Christmas with my family, and then the whole Hein clan (24 in all this year I think!) Maddie was a great helper with all the presents. I also took a picture of the lovely wrapping paper that Brandon and I had to wrap our presents in because somebody (Rebecca!) took all the other wrapping paper in the house! Guess what decade the paper is from!

And we can't forget the Turducken! Brandon has been talking about them for years, so this year my parents actually got one! It was pretty good, although it probably would have been better if it had been completely cooked through!

Next stop North Carolina for an awesome New Year!

Back in Memphis

Well our travels have ended for now.  It was a whirlwind of a vacation, but it was much needed. It was so good to be around all our family and friends.  It's always tough coming back for me, because that means it's back to being home all by myself with Maddie.  It's especially tough now, after the burglary because I hate being in this house.  It was so nice to be away and be able to sleep and not be constantly anxious and paranoid.  

But, hopefully a few trips will be able to break up the boredom.  In February I plan on going to Haiti for a short trip with Hopegivers.  We will be hanging out with the orphans and painting some buildings.  If you want to know more about the trip, or would like to help financially support the trip, please let me know!  

March will bring a spring break girl trip to the Bahamas which I have been looking forward to since last March!  And I guess in April I'll have to try to make it back to Raleigh.  Then in just a few short months we'll be in Iowa for the summer.  I'm hoping 2009 goes very fast, because I am anxious to move back to NC and for Brandon to be done with school so we can finally settle down! 

I hope you all  had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Round One of Presents

A couple weeks ago Brandon and I got Maddie's Christmas presents. This was the first year she really opened anything. Last year she was too little, and we were on a cruise! I couldn't wait for Maddie to open them and play with her new toys, so we wrapped them up, and she ripped them open in no time! I wanted to add some music, but I can only learn so much techy stuff at a time!

Becca's Shoes

Maddie is a typical girl and already into shoes at 18 months old! Sometimes it amazes me how innate the girlyness is. While Rebecca was here Maddie kept putting on her shoes and walking in them! She's tried to put our shoes on before, but never attempted to walk! What cracks me up is that one of them is on backwards!

A few pics

Tonight Maddie had her first taste of PB & J. I think she liked it, it was all over her face! She's been a bit of a picky eater, so hopefully this will be a winner.

Maddie also likes to dump things out of baskets and sit in them....reminds me of a certain uncle :) My next chore for tonight is to see if I can get a video uploaded on Brandon's computer! So stay tuned!

This one's a doozy!

*Disclaimer for this post*  I have had no more than 5 hours of sleep each night this past week, and it is currently 1 am.  I apologize for rambling, or incoherent thoughts, but I must vent! 

This past week has been quite a shock to my system.  I have never experienced something that has caused this much fear, anger, anxiety, and sadness.  The first night after we returned from Thanksgiving vacation to find out house burglarized we stayed at our friends house nearby.  We were very thankful that they were home, and willing to open their house to us!  

Honestly I wouldn't have cared if we ever went back to our house.  This was our first house, and we've done a lot to it since we've moved in to make it ours.  It's been a blessing to make this our house while Brandon's in school.  Having a home, a sanctuary, a peaceful place to rest and live is very important to me.  I don't function well if I don't have that place that I can go to to feel safe and grounded.  Now I feel like that has been taken from me, and I don't know if I'll ever feel that way about this house again.  Next year we will be moving to Raleigh, and that time can't come soon enough!  It will be hard to get past this and still live here for another year.  Every time I walk in the door I remember the feeling when we saw our tv gone and the living room a mess.  The panic, the shock, the confusion, the anger...and so many emotions I can't even put words to.   The feeling of having one of your deepest fears come true.  

Last year for Christmas my mom had given us a year of monthly cleaning service.  If you know me, you know I'm not the cleanest most organized person in the world.  And after having a baby, it really became a struggle for me to get everything done.  So this maid service (who are very "merry" but shall remain nameless) has been coming since January.  I'm usually home when they are here b/c the idea of someone being in my house when I was not did not settle well with me.  There were a few times when I was out of town, so they kept a key at the office.  The last couple months the same lady has been coming and a few times she was by herself, and took an unusually long time to finish.  This has been a lesson learned in trusting my own instincts.  I didn't say anything, and though it seemed a little odd, I as usual talked myself out of it....fast foward to last week and our house is broken into.  Well, not exactly broken into, walked right into.  The police and us determined the only way they entered the house was with a key, and they locked up after themselves.  When you think about, even though the keys are "locked and safe" at the office, what is stopping them from making a copy of the key on their way.  It is frustrating to know that I could tell the police 99% for certain who did it or who was involved, but they can't do squat.  And they probably won't do squat.  All I can pray for is that this lady is questioned by them and gets caught!  

Since we know it wasn't "random"  and we know who and how the got in, I'm not quite as scared, but it makes me so angry.  Angry is not even a strong enough word to describe how I feel.  Perhaps I will create a new word.

There are however many things to praise God for in this situation.  For one, obviously we were not harmed physically.  The people who did this knew we wouldn't be home, and just wanted our stuff.  Also, they could have taken much more stuff, including things to steal our identity, but it didn't seem like they were after that.  All the things they took were replaceable for the most part.  They took our video camera, which for the past year I had been trying to transfer to our computer (which also thankfully, they did not take).  The first 17 months of Maddie's life was there.  Bringing her home, all the fun milestones, sitting up, crawling, walking, talking.  Most of them are gone.  Thankfully, last night, I realized that this summer I had attempted to transfer some videos to Brandon's laptop.  I thought that it hadn't been successful, but I was able to recover videos of Maddie coming home from the hospital, and her first birthday!  

I am also thankful to my husband for hiding my purse so well before we left that even we couldn't find it!  I thought that I had put it up in my closet, and the thieves had made a mess in there, so I figured they found it.  It had my wallet, and some other stuff (no major credit cards, so that was good).  Yesterday I went to get my shoes out of the coat closet, and sitting right underneath my shoes was my purse!  I couldn't believe it was there, and that Brandon had set my shoes right on top and didn't see it!  Also, I praise God that Maddie is not old enough to remember this, or to even know what's going on.  I don't know what I would do if I had to try to explain all of this to her!

The last few nights I have stayed up as long as I can, and have read through most of Psalms.  As soon as I lay down to try to sleep my mind starts going, and I can't stop thinking about all that has happened.  For the two of you who read this, I would really appreciate your prayers for peace of mind.  Since I've started reading Psalms I can feel God calming me and taking away many fears.  I would covet all of your prayers!

Some long lost pics

I guess I forgot to post these pics! This is of Maddie and Hazel at Halloween! Elmo and Piglet weren't too keen on posing for the camera!

It can happen to you

Here are some things that I learned over our Thanksgiving holiday after our house was broken into and burglarized:

-Write down and store in a safe place all the serial numbers to your major electronic items. (They can track down anything sold to a pawn shop and find who sold it and who bought it)

-Don't trust anyone who is not a friend or family member in your house.

-Don't give anyone a key to your house (i.e. maid services)

-Pay the extra money for a better security system.  What is the point of paying monthly if people still know how to get around it. 

-Know your neighbors.

-Make a recording of a loud dog barking and have it play randomly while gone for long periods of time.

-If people call your house and hang up repeatedly over a period of time get a caller id or dial star 69 and write down the number.

-Don't leave out suitcases for burglars to put all your things in and steal even easier.

-If you think something is suspicious or out of the ordinary trust your instincts and let someone know.  Who cares if the cops think  you're annoying for reporting suspicious activity.  

-Take pictures of every room in your house, and your important belongings and keep in a safe place for insurance purposes.

-Keep EVERY receipt of your purchases.

Since moving here I've been scared to death of someone breaking in.  Luckily we weren't home, they waited until we were gone, but it's still terrifying.  I've never really thought it couldn't happen to me, yet I didn't do all the things my instincts were telling me to do to protect us. Most of the things that were taken were just things.  I really don't care about the things that can be replaced.  I will probably never get the videos back of my daughter being born and growing up. I tried for weeks to transfer the videos to my computer and onto a disk, but it wasn't compatible with my computer, and I just never had the time.  I will probably never really feel safe and happy in this home again.  Who knows how long it will be until I can forget what it was like to walk into my house and see what happened. Who knows how long it will be until I am not angry at these people for taking away my peace of mind and my sense of security.    I suggest you think about what you should do to protect yourself and things that are most important to you.  I hope that my experience  may help someone else in the future.

Random thoughts

I have finished my first leg of travels for the rest of this year.  I am home for two whole weeks before traveling again!  It's good for me to have a change of pace, especially when I'm home with a toddler most of the time, and  Brandon is so busy with school.  But, I like to just stay put sometimes too and get into a routine.   I have learned that flying with a toddler is never a good experience.  It is worth the extra money to buy them their own seat!  

I'm starting to get into the holiday spirit.  I feel like I have to decorate weeks before the holidays to enjoy it b/c we are never actually here to celebrate!  This will be the last Christmas that we have a whole 2 weeks off to visit family.  Next year we'll be moving to Raleigh (woot woot!) over the break, which with a 2 1/2 year old will probably take forever! 

I am in the mood to make creative things for gifts this year.  Sometimes I can be sort of crafty.  If someone shows me exactly what to do, which I guess isn't super creativeness on my own, but I like doing stuff like that.  I have a couple ideas, but if anyone reads this and has any ideas let me know!  I would rather make something for people b/c it's more meaningful  (and cheaper!) than spend X amount of money on a gift card.  

In a couple weeks Maddie goes for her 18 month checkup!  I can't believe she's getting so big!  I love listening to her babbling with random coherent words thrown in.  One of these days I'm going to go into the Apple store so they can teach me how to put my videos on the computer!  We have an issue with compatibility between our camera and computer. 

I am thinking about going to Haiti in February with Hopegivers.  Shaun and Melissa just got back from a busy 4 day trip, and hopefully I can convince them to go back with me!   I'm not really excited about visiting Haiti, never really been on my top 50 places to go, but the idea of being able to be a part of the Hopegivers ministry and loving some orphans without flying halfway around the world to India is amazing.  Sam (the Pres of Emmanuel in India)  really challenged us this summer to not only fall in love with the kids, but to fall in love with the ministry.  If anyone is interested in going on a trip click on the website, or talk to me!  It's only 4 days and it will change your life!

Only about 8 more months in Memphis! Woohoo!  Anyone know where we can live in Raleigh next Christmas?

A semi-political post

This will be my one and only sort of political opinion post.  Mostly because I am so fed up that I just need to vent somehow.  I admit I do not have a whole lot of knowledge about either candidate and I'm not the most eloquent writer.  

 I watched 12 whole seconds of anything election oriented last night because I pretty much knew how it would end.  I don't watch a whole lot of commercials thanks to Tivo, but I don't recall seeing many negative adds about Obama.  I remember in years past that's all adds were.  I've heard plenty of negative things about him in every day conversations with people who know more about him than I do, but why were there not any on tv?  I saw one on Monday that was about the church that he went to and that was the first one.  Is this because the media was so enthralled and captivated by Obama and him being black?  I know there's dirt on him, but I guess I'm just surprised that it wasn't  brought up much.  And again, there may have been more out there, but I didn't go looking for it.  

So anyway, the thing that I am most angry about is from the whole 12 minutes of coverage I've watched today.  Any interview or any scene on the news showing Obama fan's reactions obviously conveyed happiness and in my opinion way to much emotion over him getting elected.  I understand it's historic because he's the first half-black president, but is he going to do any good for this country?  What makes me so angry is that it seems that these people only voted for him because he's black.  Everyone is going on and on about that, and it seems as if they have no idea if he's actually a good candidate, or if he has a good plan for this country.  He is a very good speaker, but you need more than that in a President. 

It seems that so many people were blinded by the color of his skin, and regardless of what he said or did people would vote for him just because they want to see a black president.  How is that not racist?  I really don't care what color of skin our President has, but I'm not going to vote for the first black schmuck that runs just because he's black.  I would be really curious to see what percentage of people who voted for Obama would say they voted for him mainly because of that reason.  

That's the end of my ranting. I don't care if anyone agrees or disagrees.  I didn't blog about this to start an argument, it's my place to write my opinion, so there. 

Hello again!

It's been a long time since I've posted last.  That's mostly because I've been at home for the last few weeks where nothing much exciting goes on!  With Brandon busy studying, Maddie and I like to travel to see friends and family.  I will try to post some more pics from our adventures this summer, but I'm having issues with downloading them for some reason.  So since life has been pretty boring here, this post will be some random boring thoughts! Enjoy!

It's hard for me to believe that it is fall already.   Mostly because we live in Memphis and it still feels like summer.  It's been 80's here lately, but I still wear jeans as I deny the summer temps.

For the past few years that I haven't been teaching, I feel so out of the loop.  I miss all the activities for pointless holidays and teaching about fall weeks before it's actually fall.  

  I'm looking forward to going to Iowa next week and breaking out the hoodies and socks and sitting around the fire-pit!  I'm also excited about going to 5 college football games in the next 4 weeks.  Next Saturday Iowa State plays Nebraska where me and some awesome CU friends will enjoy the sweet box seats, and then hopefully head down to Drake to see Campbell play some football!  We'll be the only CU fans there!  Then I'll be in NC for CU homecoming, and then back in Iowa for an Iowa v. Penn State game.  Brandon will actually get to go that one! 

Maddie is growing every day.  She's such a little girl now, it's so much fun.  She is picking up words like crazy...Brandon and I have to be more careful of things we say because she often repeats the last word she hears us say.  We've had to start spelling things too!  She's still very obsessed with shoes, and her new favorite word is shirt.  It actually sounds like shirt, and not another similar word :)  She is getting more defiant and likes to say no no.  But it's so stinkin' cute the way she says it, it's hard not to laugh!  Overall though she is very sweet, and knows what she can and can't get into.  

This week we are going to a pumpkin patch with our MOPS group!  Last year she was too small to go, so we'll see what she does this year.  We also got her Halloween costume the other day!  We tried it on and it's a little big, but ADORABLE!  Stay tuned for some Halloween pics!  I would also try to post some videos if someone wants to tutor me on how to do that!  

Well that's just a glimpse into our boring life...hope I didn't bore you too much!

Homesick

I guess it's been a long time since I posted last....the last time I was home! It's been an eventful few weeks as we've been in North Carolina, but I am so ready to be back home! I realized that since May I have only been home for 7 weeks, and not consecutively. I like to travel, and have a change of pace every so often, but I've been all over the world this summer! I've been to St. Louis to NC to New York to Iowa to India and back! I'm just so ready to be home and not leave for a while! (Even though I'm already making plans to go home to Iowa for some Iowa State football , and then to Campbell for a real homecoming complete with a football game! )
So over the last few weeks Maddie has learned how to walk! Finally! I think spending a couple weeks with her BFF Hazel helped motivate her! She also learned some other things from Hazel, such as how to get what you want. You just give someone something you have that you think they might want and then they will give you what you want! Every day she just amazes me with all the things she is taking in. Here at the beach she loves to take walks and point at the birds and ask "what dat" a thousand and one times! She says "hi" a thousand times to anyone that walks by. Her little brown curls just make her look so grown up. Hopefully when I get home I can figure out how to post a video so you can see her walking! I've realized the only "baby" thing left is her attachment to her binky! All this growing up almost makes me want another baby! ALMOST! :)
It has been so great to visit our dear friends from NC whom I've missed very much! And it makes me excited to finally be moving back next Christmas!

Goin' to Carolina

Tomorrow morning Maddie and I are headed off to the wonderful state of North Carolina for the next five weeks!  Yeah, that's a long time!  We are going to the beach for a few days for a family girls trip (always memorable and exciting! ; )  )  then we'll be back in Raleigh for about two weeks.  If you are my friend and you live in Raleigh and you read this then we should hang out while I'm there!  Then we are headed back to the beach to hang out with some college buddies, and then Brandon will come meet us there later that week.  I'm not really looking forward to being away from home for so long, especially since I just got back from India a week and a half ago.  But Brandon will be busy studying for finals, and that's usually stressful for everyone!  So I'm sure I'll have more fun hanging out w/ friends and family!  

While I'm gone I have to make sure I am working out, because in September I'm running a 5k and at the rate I'm going  I'll be coming in dead last...like everyone would have already packed up and left dead last.  So make sure to ask me if I've kept up with the training!  

My baby's not a baby anymore:(

I haven't posted much about Maddie lately, and since she's been so busy growing up, I thought people might like an update!  We have officially entered into toddlerhood!  She is taking about 6 steps, so she's not walking around all the time, but she's getting close!  She has now been crawling for half of her life, so it's about time that she get motivated to stand up and run around.  She loves to walk around holding your hand, and it's so cute to watch her and her daddy doing that, she seems so big!  She loves to watch Sesame Street and especially Elmo.  In the mornings she watches that sometimes while she's eating breakfast.  

We have also officially graduated from the bottle to the sippy cups!  She's been drinking juice from the cup for a while, but for whatever reason would not drink milk from it.  Oh, that's another wonderful thing, she is no longer on formula (praise the Lord!  $25 a can was killing us!)  She's on soy milk b/c of her sensitivity to dairy when she was little, but we're mixing it with whole milk now, so we'll see how she does on that.  I am so excited to not be washing any more bottles, or mixing any more formula, it's so wonderful!  She eats all table food, and loves chicken and peas.  We have to save the fruit for last b/c she goes crazy over it and that's all she'd eat if she could.  

We have put away the baby car seat, and she's now in the foward facing toddler seat which everyone loves!  She is much happier being able to see us, and see the world.  

Currently she is very attached to her binky and her dolly.  She carries her doll around with her everywhere, and when I try to take it away when she eats she gets quite upset.  We'll be working on taking the binky away in the next...hmmm...year or so?  I'm dreading that.  I definitely don't want her to be 3 or 4 still asking for a binky.  But I also don't want to deal with sleepless nights again!  She really only has it for sleeping, and even now wakes up sometimes crying b/c she can't find it!  I don't know what the ideal age to start taking it away is, but as the last 14 months have taught me, when the time is right, she'll be ready.    

She is also currently OBSESSED with books!  Not so much really reading or looking at them, but just taking them out of her book basket and bringing them to me.  We do this for a large portion of the day.  Sometimes she wants to look at the pictures or listen to me read one, but mostly just piling them on top of me!  She doesn't really play with many toys.  For whatever reason she is just stuck on this!  

I also think she's starting to become a little like her BFF Hazel, and obsessing about shoes.  Any time she sees them she says some version of the word shoe, and insists on putting them on.  

She's got quite a few words.  Juice and fish being some of the latest.  She points to your eyes, nose, mouth, toes, belly button, and sometimes ears.  When you say "p-eww"  she hold her nose...it's so cute!    

Well I could write tons more, but that's enough for now.  Maybe I'll try to find the latest pics of her to post later!