Day 81

What started out as a good day quickly took a turn to bad.  To sum it up shortly...dad has been admitted to the hospital today and had another surgery on his toe where they had to cut more off.  He is going to be in there probably until the weekend receiving an IV of antibiotics.  On top of that, mom is still having stomach issues and Shane's mom is in the hospital as well.  Amy will be flying in town on Wednesday, hopefully.  It is supposed to be snowing in Dallas then so we are hoping she will be able to leave. 

Please keep our family in your prayers.  I stayed home with Madison all day and it killed me not to be able to be with mom and dad.  I know they understand but that doesn't make it any easier.  I didn't take a picture or video of Madison today for me to share so I had to pull an old one.  It is of her giving me the "serious look" again but still very funny.  I hope you enjoy.    Hopefully this will pass soon and everyone will be on the road to recovery. 

Day 80

Poor Madison.  She was having so much fun with her Mimi and Papa last Saturday night when mom got sick and they had to leave in a hurry.  Madison didn't understand why they left so fast.  When she realized they were gone she had a major meltdown with huge tears!   I felt so bad for her.  Ever since then she has been walking around the house randomly calling for Mimi and Papa.  Tonight I got her on video and I was telling her that they were sick.  Madison then got concerned about Paul.  I thought the video was cute and wanted to post it.  

Day 79

Today was another day of very little excitement.  Madison is feeling so good though and for that I am very thankful.  We are excited because one week from today Amy will be here for an entire week!!  We can't wait for her to get here.  I am already dreading telling her bye because this is going to be the last time I get to see her pregnant.  This is also going to be the first time she comes and there won't be another trip already scheduled.  We are going to cherish the week she is here with us and look forward to the visits with baby Cristina! 

Also, dad did have the tip of his big toe removed today.  Mom also received another IV to help get her hydrated.  She already is sounding better but still weak.  Dad is also feeling pretty good.  He is glad to have the surgery behind him and hopefully he won't have to go through that again.  We are very thankful for wonderful friends who have cooked dinner for mom and dad and helped get them to and from appointments. 

I took this video of Madison tonight as I was cooking dinner.  She is really starting to stand for longer periods of time in her walker.  It may not seem like a long time when you see the video but for Madison this is huge!  Her leg strength is so weak.  It amazes me how she can get around in the walker and then for her to stand for a little bit is just awesome!  Towards the end of the video Madison started giving me the "serious look" and it was cracking me up, but that is nothing new.  She cracks me up all day long!!

Day 78

Madison and I haven't had a very exciting day.  I thought she would sleep in longer than normal with the rain we had this morning but I was wrong.  She was up and ready for the day at 8:00!  Since we didn't have a very exciting day I don't have much to post tonight.  I did take this picture of Madison tonight as I was cooking dinner.  I tried multitasking while cooking dinner and it was a disaster.  I snapped this picture of Madison as she was watching me run back and forth in the kitchen making a horrible mess.  I was laughing because she would look at me and just shake her head. 

On another note,  please keep my mom and dad in your prayers.  Mom has been sick with either food poisoning or the stomach bug since Saturday.  They are leaning towards the stomach bug because we both had the same thing to eat on Saturday.  She went to the doctor today and got an IV of fluids because she was getting dehydrated.  Dad is having surgery tomorrow related to his diabetes.  They are going to cut the tip of his big toe off.  When it rains it pours, right?  Thank goodness we have wonderful friends who are helping us out.  Mom and dad don't want me to come to the house to help them because we can't risk me bringing it home to Madison.  I hate being so helpless and not able to help them the way that they are always helping us. 

Day 77

I couldn't believe it but Madison woke up at 7:00 this morning!  She was back asleep by 11:00 and slept for a hour and a half.  This afternoon you can tell it is catching up with her because she has been so fussy.  I think it might be an early night for her. 

I have been trying to get this on video for a while now.  Before I show you the video let me tell you something first.  When Madison bumps her head or gets hurt somehow I always pick her up and hug and kiss her, and I always say, "Aw Baby."  Well for a few weeks now, every time I ask her for a hug, she gives me the hug and says, "Aw Baby."  Last Thursday was the cutest when I had gone to play Bunko with some girls from church.  When I got home she had a lot of hugs waiting for me.  She would hug me some, then play some and then all of sudden she would just stare at me and say, "Aw Baby" followed by the sweetest hug you could imagine. 

Tonight I got her on video doing that.  She isn't hugging me but she is hugging a little photo book that she carries around.  I had to tell her to say "Aw baby" but normally she says it without being told to.  I think I told you, but she is becoming camera shy and it is driving me CRAZY!!  As soon as she sees the camera she stops.  Hopefully it is just a phase and she will soon grow out of it. 

I sure do wish I knew what all she was saying in this video. 

Day 76

We woke up this morning and it was freezing in the house.  Madison rolled over this morning at 7:00 and her hand hit my face and woke me up because her little hand was so cold.  We stayed in the bed and cuddled to keep warm.  I finally decided to get up and turn up the heat only to realize that we didn't have any.  I flipped the breaker and it came back up and it was 64 degrees in the house!  It doesn't sound that cold but when it is 30 degrees outside it is.  I went and woke Madison up and changed her into some warmer clothes and put a hat on her to keep her warm.  We got in the recliner and wrapped up in a blanket while she drank her bottle and I drank my coffee.  The house finally got warm but it seemed like it took forever!  I took this picture of Madison today with her little hat on.  She looked so cute!

Day 75

I just love Saturdays!  I know that it is a day that I am going to get to spend with family.  Just about every Saturday, Mom and Dad will come up to the house for dinner.  Well today they couldn't wait until dinner to see Madison.  They surprised us and brought some Chick-Fil-A and came and ate lunch with us.  Madison enjoyed their company.  They went home while Madison took her afternoon nap and came back up for dinner.  They didn't get to stay long though.  After they got here, Mom started feeling bad.  We have to be so careful with Madison so I made them a plate and they went home.  Hopefully, it is not the stomach bug that is going around.  We sure do hope that she gets to feeling better.

Well I have a lot of videos that I have taken while our computer was down.  This video was too cute not to post.  I am still trying to figure out how to edit these videos.  The end of the video is a little boring but I had to get a video of Madison doing her big smile for me.  She does this so many times during the day and it just melts my heart!  I just love her so much!  I hope you enjoy it. 

Day 74

Dad came up to the house again today.  I was going to take Madison to mom and dad's house but when we woke up and realized it was cold and raining, we knew we didn't need to get Madison out.  I am helping throw a baby shower for Amy with some of her friends and we needed to run out and get some stuff for the shower.  I also did my grocery shopping and was able to have lunch with a friend.

Back to dad watching Madison.  Dad does very good when he watches Madison and I never worry when he is with her.  He isn't afraid at all.  He does her breathing treatments and is able to hook her up to her oxygen with no problem.  However, getting Madison changed into different clothes when she has an accident is a different story.  I had moved Madison's clothes to her changing table and put the summer clothes and clothes that are a little too small for her in the chester drawers.  Apparently, I forgot to tell dad that I did that....about a year and a half ago!  Her changing table always has the current clothes in them.  I called to check on Madison and he was telling me about the dilemma he had trying to get Madison in some clothes that would fit her.  He said he tried to put a turtle neck on her but she didn't like and he finally found a shirt he could get over her head.  Needless to say he got her dressed just fine.

When I got home, I noticed right away that the outfit didn't match AT ALL.  No big deal though.  After dad left, I went to change Madison's diaper and outfit.  Okay...I couldn't take it that she didn't match!  I started noticing the clothes that were out that he had tried on Madison and I couldn't help but laugh.  The turtle neck that he tried on Madison was a long sleeve swimsuit that protects her from the sun!  The shirt and pants were both 6-9 months.  Madison is in 18 months.  Luckily, the sizes ran big and Madison wasn't uncomfortable.  I love him to death and this just makes me smile.  It is totally Dad!! 

I told you I had several videos that I wanted to post.  This is one that I took one day while Madison and I were eating lunch.  This is me saying the blessing and Madison bowing her head and saying Amen.  I hope you enjoy it. 

Day 73

Madison was up and ready to go this morning at 6:15!  Dad was going to come over this morning and watch her while I went to the doctor.  I made the mistake of telling Madison last night that when she wakes up in the morning Papa was going to be here.  As soon as she woke up this morning she was calling for her Papa.  I knew there was no point in trying to get her back to sleep because it just simply wasn't going to happen.  I went ahead and got her up and gave her a bottle and a bath.  She was ready to play when dad got here. 

Dad always plays oldies music for her on the computer and Madison has the best time dancing with him.  As soon as he got here she took off to the computer room waiting for him to get in there to play some music.  Dad said they danced to music for about a hour before she fell back asleep.  I know they both had a wonderful time!

I took this video Sunday night.  One of Madison's favorite games is hide-and-seek.  I always hide and she always comes and finds me.  She doesn't like to hide.  I had tried to record her when she was screaming and laughing but Madison is becoming camera shy.  I did get this on camera when I jumped out and scared her.  Normally she would do a scream followed by a laugh and then take off running, but as soon as she saw the camera she wouldn't do anything.  It is still a cute video that I wanted to share with you. 

Day 72- finally back up and running

We finally have the laptop running somewhat smoothly again.  The desktop computer is whole different story!  I am so happy to be able to blog again!  I feel like I have so much to tell everyone!  I am sorry that it has taken us so long to get this all fixed.  I really didn't realize how many people were following the blog regularly until I wasn't posting. 

Madison has been doing wonderful!  She still hasn't gotten sick this winter and to that, I am praising the Lord!  She has been so happy even though she has been stuck in the house for so long.  I was able to take her to mom and dad's on Tuesday since the weather was a bit warmer.  I know she is ready to get out and go.  In just a few short months she will be able to do that. 

I have taken a lot of pictures and videos even though I haven't been blogging.  I will start posting those as well.  I have a few Madison stories that I have been dying to share on here.  One of my favorites is from a few weeks ago.  We had a really bad thunderstorm one morning and it got really dark and windy.  I took Madison out of her walker and held her because sometimes she doesn't like the thunder and lightning.  Well this day she LOVED it!  As I was holding her we would see a big flash of lightning and then hear this loud rumble of thunder.  She would look at me and start laughing so hard and would say "Again!"  It was so sweet and cute. 

Here are a few pictures of Madison for you all to see. 

Madison hated this bow and told me "No"
the entire time I was putting it on. 

It didn't stay on very long. 
Too big for her little head.

Finally able to put her
hair in a little pony tail!

All ready to go to
MiMi and Papa's house!

Day 71--Blog Hacked by Aunt Amy

April's computer has a virus on it and she's been unable to do her daily updates on sweet Madison.  Well I've been missing seeing pictures of the most adorable niece in the world, so I decided to take matters into my own hands tonight.  The most recent pictures I have of Madison are from when Paul and I were home just before Christmas.  I'm not exactly sure what we were doing when these picture were taken, but I'm pretty sure it was at lunchtime and involved bean burritos from Taco Casa, a treat April and I always look forward to sharing together for at least one meal while I'm home.  So I'm sure Madison's silly faces are from watching her mama and me devour our lunch as if we hadn't eaten in days!  I"m so excited that three weeks from today, I'll be home for a visit and holding this precious baby girl! 

 Smiling big for the camera!

 Closing her eyes tight...

and then cracking herself up!

Our computer has a virus on it.  We are hoping to get it fixed next week.  I haven't been able to post much and probably won't be able to until the computer is fixed.  Madison is doing great and is enjoying everyday.  I will have a lot of stories to post soon. 

Day 70

Well I took some very cute pictures of Madison this afternoon that I couldn't wait to put on the blog.  When I put the memory card in the computer it told me the card was corrupt! I guess I am going to have to go and buy a new memory card.  Sorry there isn't any pictures of Madison today.  Luckily, I have a great story to make up for it!

Today we had to run and drop off the power bill and then I went through the Chick-Fil-A drive thru and got a chicken sandwich to bring home to eat.  As Madison and I were eating lunch, she was studying me dipping my sandwich into the Polynesian sauce.  She let me know that she wasn't eating anymore of her food until she tried the sauce.  I took a little piece of bread and dipped it in to the sauce and gave it to her.  She smiled so big and immediately wanted more.  She wouldn't eat her vegetables, fruit or yogurt without it being dipped in the sauce!  YUCK!!  She loved it though.  Whatever makes her happy!!

Day 69

 Miss Madison didn't wake up until 11:15 today!  She also didn't go to sleep until 11:00 last night.  She has had a great day and been in to everything she could get her hands on.  Her favorite toy of the day is cupcake holders.  She likes to pull each one apart and throw them on the floor.  You don't realize how many are in those containers until you are picking them all up!  Madison has been in such a good mood and has been babbling all afternoon.  I just wish I could make out what she is saying. 

I took this picture of her today after she realized daddy was home.  I love that smile and the way she claps when he walks in the door. 

Day 68

2011?  Really?!?!  I can't believe how fast time is flying by.  It makes me happy and sad all at the same time.  The year 2010 was some what pretty good for us.  We didn't start it off very well.  Madison was in the hospital one year ago today with a horrible cold.  They admitted her but luckily we only had to stay one night.  Two weeks later I was taken to the hospital via ambulance with a nasty bacterial infection called C-Diff.  After those first few weeks I was beginning to wonder what kind of year we were going to have.  Madison was only admitted to the hospital one more time and that was in UAB with an upper respiratory infection. 

I am really hoping that we can avoid the hospital this year.  Madison is doing wonderful.  I pray we are able to celebrate many many New Year's with her.  I already know 2011 is going to be an awesome year.  I am going to get to meet my new niece or nephew this year!!  What can be more exciting than that?!?  April 17th can't get her fast enough! 

We have had a great week spending time with Shane, Mom and Dad.  I think we have had dinner with them all but 3 nights since last Friday!  We love it though.  I took these pictures tonight of Mom and Dad with Madison.  She was putting on a show for them. 

I am so glad that we are able to share our Madison with all of you.  I hope you all have a wonderful New Year and are blessed with good health and prosperity through out the new year.  Love to you all!

~ The Rileys