Jess and Baby Carson visit from CO!

We had the most wonderful long weekend with Jess and Carson. Chris, Jess's husband, is in Iraq and so they took an extended trip to the East Coast which included a stop here in Northern Virginia. Carson is just too cute for words and his pictures don't do him justice. I loved every minute with them and miss them so much now that they're back home! Maddie loved both Carson and Jackson and it was fun seeing her be the "big girl" in the bunch. Jackson just smiles all the time. We spent a couple nights at Jennie's, went downtown for a picnic lunch, and they spent one night here. It was so much fun, and a little chaotic at times coordinating the schedules of a 2 year-old, a 9 month-old, and a 2 month-old. Thanks Jess for making the long trip out here!

Smiley Jackson with his Mama

Carson and Jackson meet

Jess with her hands full!

Maddie helping feed the peanut!

Downtown, in front of the Capitol

Maddie's new cheesy smile for pictures!

So sweet

Again, the cheesy smile. Let's hope she figures out how to smile naturally before school pictures!

I have to include this story. The day that Jess and Carson left, Maddie and I stood on our front steps and waved goodbye. She waved to them and said, "Bye Baby Carson, I love you." Well that made me start to cry and Maddie got a concerned look on her face and then the conversation went like this:

Maddie: "Mommy's sad."

Me: "Yes honey, Mommy is sad because I'm going to miss Jess and Carson."

Maddie: "Here Mommy, you eat a grape, feel better, make you happy."

She had started eating her lunch again while we had this conversation and hence the grapes. If only grapes made everything all better! But that day, Maddie giving me the grape did make me smile.

Big girl bed!

Well, the dreaded finally happened. Maddie climbed out of her crib during her nap time. I heard a big thump on the floor and found her lying down on the floor holding her head. She cried for a while, then fell asleep in my arms. I was a bit freaked out, worried that she had a concussion and didn't know whether I should let her sleep. So after 10 minutes, I woke her up and made her walk down the hallway to make sure she had her motor skills intact. Then she fell asleep on my bed (with pillows surrounding her to avoid yet another fall) and I proceeded to remove her rails from her crib. Her crib turns into a toddler day bed, the perfect little size for a little toddler. Well that night, I made a big deal about her new big girl bed to get her all excited to sleep in it. Chris was out of town and I was bummed he was missing out on all this fun! I placed a body pillow on the floor next to her in case she rolled out. Well before I went to sleep, I watched her on the video monitor roll out twice, but she never woke up! I picked her up off the pillow (twice) and put her back in and went to sleep myself. At about 2:45 a.m. I glanced at the monitor and didn't see her. So I went into her room and found her in the middle of the floor sound asleep! This continued for a few more nights until we borrowed a rail from our neighbors. So now she stays put and can still climb out safely if she's so inclined. I had to sneak in one night to get a picture of her sleeping on the floor. Although it looks bright, it was 1:30 a.m. when I took this! Sound asleep........

Pumpkin Patch

We had a fun-filled afternoon at one of the local pumpkin patches where they have all sorts of activities during the fall. We still didn't make it to the corn maize which is supposed to be awesome.....maybe next year. We went with the Baums and Michelle's good friend Melissa and her family. Good times! Notice Maddie's dress - she keeps growing and it's very short on her, but she loves it and asks to wear it whenever I ask her what she wants to wear!