Merry Christmas!

We were able to celebrate Christmas Eve at home after Eric got off work. We had dinner and opened some gifts and then went to church. Eric worked Christmas day but we had lunch with his parents and when we got off work we headed to my parents. We had a great time watching Madelyn open presents and spending time with family!

The Many Faces of Madelyn

Madelyn's becoming quite the ham recently. She makes this funny face, like the first one below, where she raises her eyebrows and shakes her head back and forth and growls. This started a couple months ago when she was angry with us about something. Then she did it at Thanksgiving at my parents' house, and everyone of course laughed at her! She realized it was funny, so she went around the dinner table, looking at each person and making that face. Now she does it to make us laugh!

Playing in the cupboard with the tupperware!

Thanksgiving

Okay, Okay, I am really behind on this! I know! It seems like the holiday season just gets so crazy! We have been gone so much and I've been working extra hours. Anyway, here's some pictures to catch up!

Here's Madelyn with her second-cousin Brayden. Brayden and Madelyn are 4.5 months apart.

Here's Madelyn covered with flour in the walker at my parents' house. We were baking Christmas cookies and she was loving being in the middle of it!

Madelyn and Great-Grandma Best

Our little cutie!

We were fortunate to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with both sides of our family and Eric actually had the day off, which was a nice blessing! We've definitely had a lot to be thankful for this year!

Madelyn's Dedication

This past Sunday we had an awesome day as we dedicated Madelyn to the Lord. Our families, as well as Madelyn's godparents, were able to join us at church for the dedication and lunch afterwards. It was a beautiful day and a great chance for us as Madelyn's parents to stop and really think about the awesome blessing and responsibility we have been given. It also gave us a chance to ask our families, friends, and church family to help us as we raise Madelyn in a way that would be glorifying to God.

Family photo in the park

Madelyn and Mommy

Harms family photo (Grandma Harms wanted Christmas card pictures!)

Grandma Harms and Mady

Steve and Terryn Lindemann (and three of their four kiddos) with Eric, Mady, and me. We feel very honored that Steve and Terryn could join us and are thankful to have them as Madelyn's godparents.

The whole family. Mady's a blessed little girl!

Eric, Madelyn, and me with Mady's great-grandparents

Terryn and Elias with me and Madelyn

My sleepy little girl

Our verse for Madelyn is Ephesians 3:17-19 "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

We just really pray that she would know how much God loves her! We know that His love is perfect for her, even when ours is imperfect.

Halloween

We had a little lady bug at our house for Halloween! She was so cute and we had a good time with family. My parents were here visiting for Mady's dedication (which I'll tell you about soon) and Eric's parents were able to join us to go trick-or-treating at the hospital here in Newton. They decorate the hospital and have tons of kids go through. We thought that'd be a good start for our trick-or-treating experience!

Get-a-way

A couple weeks ago, Eric and I went out of town for the weekend for my birthday and left Mady with Grandpa and Grandma Harms. Here's a couple pictures of Mady at Grandpa and Grandma's.

We spent the weekend in southeast Minnesota. We had beautiful weather so we did some hiking and drove through this beautiful part of the country. We had a great time spending the weekend together and it was a nice break to have a little time away. It was kind of a strange thing to be away from Mady because it's definitely nice to have the time away, but we both missed her a lot too!

Pumpkin Patch

Okay, so I may have gone a bit crazy with the pictures here, but they were just so darn cute! Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch nearby with our friends from Newton. They have a little girl who is just 10 days older than Mady, so it's fun to watch the two of them interact. We had a BEAUTIFUL day to go and had a lot of fun!

Loren and Mady

Driving with Daddy

Bumper tractors

Here's a quick stat update:

We had to take Madelyn to the doctor for a 7-month check since her weight was trending down at her 6-month check. At 7 months, Mady was 15 lbs. 9 oz. and 27 inches. She's still pretty little, but her weight is trending back up and the doctor is not concerned. It helps that she's eating so much better! Baby food was quite a struggle for a while, but she's doing great now!