Maddy's First Christmas & New Years

Maddy's first Christmas was wonderful. We spent Christmas Eve at Mimi & Grandad's (Karen & James) with Andrea, Chris, Chevy, Kathy, Nolan & Elijah. It is always crazy when all three boys get together and Maddy was dying to jump in and play with them.

After Mimi's we headed to Maw Maw & Paw Paw's (Betty & Richard's) for Christmas with the entire family.

The next morning we got up at 5:30 a.m. to be at Granny & Poppy's (Karla & Chucks) by 7:00 a.m. where we spent Christmas Day with Deb, Drew, Chris, Sheena, Brad and Grandma Lucier.

We had a HUGE Christmas dinner and played the wii that Brandon got from Santa.

We spent the next few days hanging out with Deb, Drew & Chris while they were visiting. It was fabulous to have 5 days off of work!

Brandon & Kelly spent New Years Eve with friends having dinner (and waiting to have dinner) at the Texas Roadhouse. We were home playing the wii again by the time the ball dropped.

New Years Day we had lunch at the Olive Garden, went shopping and had the traditional southern New Years Day dinner of greens and black eyed peas at Betty & Richards. If what they say is true and you will spend the entire year doing what you did on New Years, it should be a great year!

Here is a picture of Maddy at the Olive Garden...

On a separate note, Kelly heard Maddy say "David" so I will be removing the asterisk from his name!

Stay tuned, Maddy is now taking as many as 7-10 steps on her own and it won't be long before she is off and running!

We hope everyone has a happy and prosperous 2009!

Progressive Lunch

Each year, the Sunday before Christmas Brandon's family has their traditional Progressive Lunch. The point is for Maw Maw not to cook and to give everyone a chance to see every one elses Christmas decorations. So, each family is assigned a "course" and we travel from one house to the next. This year, David & Crystal had drinks, Andrea & Chris had appetizers, we had salads (we made Pap's salad dressing), Craig & Allison had the main course and Karen & James had dessert. This is a picture of Maddy somewhere during all this...

Catching up on the Best Year Yet...

I am 100% admitting this is cheesey, but I really feel like life truly began with the birth of our daughter, Maddy on February 10th, 2008. This has absolutely been the Best Year Yet for both Brandon & I.

Maddy was 8 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches long. She has always charted very tall (95th percentile) and is expected to be taller than both Mommy & Daddy. She looks just like her Daddy. The only things we think may come from Mommy are her eye brows, her round face and the shred of hope that her hair will be curly.

From the day we brought her home, she was a treat to be around. She has almost always slept through the night, doesn't mind loud noises, seems to be quite tough and has the most unbelievable sense of humor. We really lucked out as parents. She has made the first year so easy on us. Although, I do have to give some credit to our families. We are lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents very close and have gotten so much help from them. I don't know how we could make it without their support!

These days, she is in daycare while we work. She is learning to stand and walk on her own (not yet, but learning). She can say "Mama", "Dada", "Bye Bye", "Get", "Baby" and just recently a form of "David" & "Grand Dad". She can also wave, give a high five, blow a kiss, frown on cue and act surprised on cue. She has recently learned to throw temper tantrums, or "Spaugh's" as we call them when she is overly tired or another child at daycare takes her toy. We have no worries about her fending for herself, instead we worry about the kids who dare to cross her!

Oh yes, and she does not care for Santa.