FAREWELL, TWENTY FOURTEEN

happy new years eve!!

on my what a year, it's hard to be believe another year is gone and to be honest it's all been kind of a blur. it's been so fun looking back through pictures (thank goodness for instagram), seeing how much madelyn has grown over the past year and dreaming of what the new year will bring.

here are just a few (few may be an understatment) of my favorites pictures from the last twelve months ...

 

 

 

 

 

  

i get so excited to think about what new year will being but i know for sure we'll be welcoming our second love bug and miss madelyn is going to be such a sweet big sister.

wishing you all a beautiful and happy new year filled with love and laughter! xo

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS

i cannot believe that christmas has come and gone, we still have our decorations and christmas tree up which we'll hold onto at least till the weekend. every year since vy and i were engaged we have traveled to orlando to celebrate christmas eve with his side then travel back to atlanta on christmas day to celebrate with my parents. which the additions we have gained over the years it is becoming a little tricky but we absolutely love being able to celebrate with both of our families so for now this is our tradition. 

on christmas eve all the family gathered together to eat dinner, play a few games and open presents.

madelyn had so much fun playing with all her cousins. vy and i talked a lot about how much m has grown since last year, how exciting it was to watch her interact with her cousins and for all the years to come. 

christmas day we celebrate with my parents & brother, it very low key as it was just us. 

vy and i had planned to do our little family christmas on friday morning. santa brought madelyn this vintage white kitchen, it is completely and utterly adorable. vy insisted that he would build it when we returned thursday night versus building it prior to us leaving for orlando. to be fair i did warn him that it would take him a while but boys will be boys and he had it his way...which also meant that on thursday night it took him a little over four hours to build this play kitchen for his baby girl. 

madelyn's little face when she saw this friday morning was pure sweetness and daddy said it was all worth it, of course. she absolutely loves it and has been cooking up some crazy awesome meals since. her imagination is something and i have no idea where they learn this from but it is so fun to play with her. 

she also got this melissa & doug shopping cart & vintage baby high chair. madelyn received a lot of amazing presents from her friends and family and she has loved every single one. 

hope you all had a wonderful christmas and happy new years eve eve! xo

MADELYN LEE | EIGHTEEN MONTHS

before this month gets away from me with all the holiday activities, i wanted to be sure to remember my sweet little miss madelyn at this age.

age: eighteen months
height: 30 inches (6th percentile) 
weight: 18 pounds 10 ounces (6th percentile) 
head: 45 1/2 centimeters (29th percentile)

clothes: since m is definitely on the smaller side, she can still wear 6-12 months tops. she is truly in a 12-18 month size as far as tops and bottoms goes but for now i mostly buy 18-24 months clothing since at this rate she'll be wearing these for years. she wears a size 4-5 infant shoe which has been exciting since i can actually buy her 'real' shoes. i am obsessed with this little minnetonka fringe moccasins i brought her before thanksgiving. i am pretty sure i'll be purchasing me a matching pair!
favorite toys: loving her stella baby doll (this was a birthday gift she received and lastly she has become so interested in taking care of her, it's the cutest and couldn't come at a better time to reassure me she is going to be an amazing big sister and mommy's perfect little helper), fisher price keyboard (m loves to sing and play this piano. it has a demo button where it plays like twenty different songs and she absolutely loves singing and dancing to it),  balls (vy has been teaching her how to throw, kick and catch), fisher price walking dog, crayons + paper to draw, bubbles (obsessed), b. parum pun pun drum and alphabet puzzle.

favorite foods: obsessed anything apples (applesauce, apples, apple slices), grilled chicken, soup (i went home to my parents house for a weekend when it first started to get cool here and my mom made soup. even since then m has been all about soup. if there is a bowl and spoon, she thinks it's suppose to be some kind of soup), pirate booty,
favorite activites: dancing (i don't how they learn to dance but girlfriend has some moves), singing (loving abc, wheels on the bus, if you're happy and you know it, i'm a little teapot and twinkle twinkle little star), going outside, playing ball with daddy and reading books.
favorite words: (she is literally talking so much and can repeat almost everything we say but these are a few that come right to mind...) nope, ball, outside, open/close (always together), dixie and jager (our fur babies), soup, strawberry (sounds like "sorry"), stop, love (for her lovie), shower/bath, i love you, sit and mommy.

movement: madelyn was a little late in the walking game (really they can begin walking anywhere from 12 months to 18 months), she started walking a few weeks after her fifteen month appointment then didn't show interest in walking for another month. at our fifteen month check-up our pediatrician recommended that if she wasn't walking by seventeen months we should call to get a occupational therapist do an evaluation, which to be honest scared me a little. of course as soon as she turned seventeen months little lady took off and hasn't stopped walking since.
signature moves: giving high fives, blowing kisses, waving hi and bye, dances anytime she hears any music and giving the sweetest shy smile to strangers.

this is by far my favorite age, madelyn is learning so much every second of every day. she is so silly and her little personaility is really starting to shine through.

oh how i love my sweet baby girl all the way to the moon and back!

HOLIDAY FAMILY PHOTOS

a few weekends ago, we spent the morning taking some family photos with my amazingly talented friend, brooke behind brooke whitney photography. i cannot thank her enough for snapping these beautiful pictures and even getting our little miss madelyn to smile even though she was being a tough cookie ;) i am so excited to share some of my favorites...

we absolutely love these! thank you auntie brooke, you are truly the best!! xo

THE MAN IN RED

last year we drove to the middle of nowhere for a woodland type santa with a local photographer, those pictures were great for the price but not worth the forty-five minute drive for a not even five minute photo op. this year i registered early (in july, crazy) for the santa at phipps, i started to panic a little when i realized that other families were already getting their confirmation emails in september for him and i had not heard any thing. afraid that we would be miss him like last year, i remembered that baby braithwaite does a santa with the alice park photography team. luckily i looked when i did because the very next week b. braithwaite were taking appointments. 

saturday morning we braved the rain for our very special visit with the big man in red, santa. the entire ride there, vy and i kept asking madelyn if she was ready to see santa...she would say "yes" with such excitement.

oh this santa, he was the sweetest. he sits in his big red sledge with beautiful frosted christmas trees in the background.

'pound it santa'

then as soon as mommy and daddy peaced out...

i mean, it's only appropriate for her to have a "you two are terrible horrible parents for leaving me on the lap of an old man in red.'

maybe next year, santa...maybe next year...

this is our santa, we will be visiting him every single year.