Quack, quack!

Maddie's first encounter with real ducks and geese. They were bigger that she is!!!

Minnesota

We travelled to Minnesota this weekend for Bryan's grandparent's 65th wedding anniversary this weekend. 65 years! Amazing! I hope I still like Bryan in 60 more years.... :)

We were blessed to have Bryan's sister and his brother-in-law visiting as well. Maddie got in some quality time with them, as well as with the rest of the family. We can't wait to see everyone again soon!

Play group

These are all of Madeleine's friends from my mom's group. Anastacia, Patrick, Isabella, Finnegan, and Patrick. How cute are they!?!

All growed up!

This was last Halloween, when Madeleine was 7 days old.

This was last week.  Hehe! :)

Just Chillaxing in Chicago

We are so excited that our little bug has enough hair for a mohawk!

Uncle Christian has been living with us for a month or so and, although Madeleine (oh, yeah, and us too) will be sad to see him go, he has found a job and his own place. Good thing we are getting in some quality R&R in the meantime. Mizzou game, anyone?

September already?!?

I can't believe that the summer is already over! I have been meaning to blog but I have not had time...until now, when John McCain started putting me to sleep. Gosh, I'm nervous for Nov. 4th!

We have had a busy summer - traveling to California for a family reunion and St. Louis for the birth of my best friend's baby (and then again for the Missouri vs. Illinois game), Bryan's 30th birthday and, of course, the triathlon. We are pretty tired going into the Fall but we are energized by Madeleine's enthusiasm stemming from her newfound ability to move, move, move! She is now ten months old and is cracking us up with a modified one-legged army crawl. She loves to say "uh-oh" and "mama" and is meowing on command. She is enjoying my brother, Uncle Christian, and his dog, Carter, who are living with us for a few months. I enjoy her company every minute of every day.

Bryan and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary today. I can't believe how fast the time has gone! Unfortunately, we have not been in a very celebratory mood this week because I was in a traumatic car accident on Tuesday. Luckily, Maddie wasn't in the car and I was not physically harmed, just shaken up.

We are looking forward to the next few months - Nana Carol and Grandpa Bob are coming to visit, we are traveling to Minnesota for the 65th wedding anniversary of Bryan's grandparents, Bryan has his law school reunion, and Maddie's first birthday is in the end of October. Wasn't she just born yesterday?!?

Baby William Kane Hill. Welcome to the world!!!

California

Here are a few shots from our trip to california. More later....

Dancing Queen

Just a little taste of Maddie's new dance moves. 

August...already?!?

Where does the summer go?!? I had delusions that not working full-time would mean that the summer would mosey on by...but, alas, no such luck! We have been busy traveling - first to southern California for a week at the beach and now Madeleine and I are in St. Louis because my best friend, Susan, just had her baby on Thursday. We squeezed a visit with my mom in there and we are getting ready to celebrate Bryan's 30th next weekend.

We have a ton of pictures (most on my sister's new camera - send some our way, Alli!) but no time to post. Even if we wanted to, we could because our computer just crashed. The good news is that Bryan finally realized it's a piece of crap and agreed that we "needed" this.

Even better news, today was "sales tax holiday" in Missouri so I only paid 1.5% sales tax instead of the 10 or 11% we would have paid in Chicago...leaving just enough left over for an i-phone. Happy birthday to me! I mean to Bryan.... :)

PS. Susan's baby boy, William Kane, is beautiful and I will post a pic soon!

As for the grandparents' Maddie update - she now has two teeth coming in, has become a pro at feeding herself Cheerios, says uh-oh and mama with intention, is still working on crawling but prefers to lay on her tummy and pivot 360 degrees over and over again, and she continues to be the best baby ever (she and I even slept at the hospital with Susan and Kane last night)!