Race for the Cure!

We had so much fun doing Race for a Cure this past weekend. I am always amazed at the amount of people who come out to support such a great cause. It really is such an awesome sight! Even Maddox sported his pink gear for the occasion. Maddox was pretty much in awe of all the pink balloons that were everywhere. He is very into balloons these days and doesn't usually understand why he can't just have a balloon if he sees one (which also makes going to Publix a challenge since it seems like there are balloons tied to every cash register). I think just about everyone finished the race except for me and Maddox. During the race, Maddox refused to ride in the stroller, refused to walk, and refused to let anyone hold him but me. And he is complete dead weight. We made it over a mile in before I decided there was no way I was making it the entire race with him on my hip, so we cut out and headed to the finish line to wait on everyone. And of course what's a good race without a good meal afterward, so we all went to Chick-fil-a and Maddox even had himself an ice cream cone courtesy of RaRa and Poppy. All in all a great time!

Can you guess where I'm hiding?

That's right...my newest spot is under Mommy's clothes in the closet. You found me! Time to hide again!!

Maddox loves to hide these days! We tell him to go hide and he usually chooses one of a few places..behind the curtains in the dining room, under the pillows on the couch, or behind our bed, but his newest spot he hid in the other day was under the clothes on our closet--a rather clever spot I might add. Sometime Maddox is a really good hider and he stays very quiet until he is found, while other days he jumps out before you have a chance to find him. Either way he has a lot of fun playing hide and seek (and Mommy and Daddy have a lot of fun playing too)!

Outdoor Fun!

Last weekend we went to the Cahaba River Fry Down at Trussville Springs. Maddox had a great time playing in the water and he especially enjoyed watching the many "choo-choos" that went by. His recent obsession with trains has grown a lot over the past month. He is now very much into Thomas and Friends and loves playing with all of his toy trains. We look for trains every time we go over the tracks and his eyes just light up when he sees or hears one. Now every time he hears the train whistle he throws his arms up because he wants you to pick him up and take him to see it. He got used to this at RaRa and Poppy's house because he can see the train from the upstairs window. At our house he has to settle for opening the dining room window and sticking his head out to listen.

Watching the train coming down the tracks...

Family shot in front of the train. One day we'll get one where Maddox is looking...
Waving to the "choo-choo"!
In the Cahaba, throwing rocks with Daddy...
Whoa, I think I found a big one...

All in all, a day spent outdoors equals a day of fun! And an AU victory over SC helped make the day even better too. We watched the game at RaRa and Poppy's house that night and Maddox had a great time joining in with the crowd and cheering and clapping for the Tigers!

The Great Escape

It was only a matter of time, but Maddox has now figured out how to wedge himself out through the doggie door. I was watching him the other day and he was sticking his head out and he kept getting a little further out of it each time, before he finally just decided to go for it and crawl on through. Now he constantly is heading out to the backyard and he prefers this door to the real door. It is quite entertaining for him to just go in and out the doggie door about a thousand times in a row. You'd think it would hurt his little legs, but he doesn't mind. Needless to say, when Maddox is awake, the doggie door has to stay closed off for the most part since he is quite sneaky and brave too!

Notice how patiently Milo is waiting to come back inside...

I'll have to try to get a shot from the front next time!

Mmmm...pudding!

Maddox usually is much neater than this when he eats, but as you can see, pudding is a little messy (hence the reason he has no shirt on)...

So good, he had to lick the lid...

Curious George!

Over Labor Day weekend we took Maddox to Huntsville to see "Curious George Live". It was a musical and the first time Maddox has ever been to something like that so we weren't sure how he'd do, but he loved it. He loves Curious George so we figured he'd love this, but we were a little skeptical of how well he'd do sitting still with other people around, but he sat and watched the whole thing and only wiggled around a little bit the whole time. The show was good (the facilities not so though) and there was so much going on between the dancing, singing, and flashing lights, that it would have been pretty hard for him to not watch. Before the show we went and ate at Red Robin with our friends Doug and Christi and their two little boys. I think the highlight of the trip was the balloon Maddox got at the restaurant. I guess we could have saved a little time and money had we just driven up to the Pinnacle for lunch..haha!

I didn't get any pictures of the actual show, but here are a few of Maddox enjoying his balloon afterward...

18 months

It is hard to believe that Maddox is already 18 months old! He is just growing up before our very eyes! Maddox's daddy took him for his 18 month check-up last week and he did great! He weighed in at 29 lbs., 4 oz and was 33 1/2 inches tall. At his 15 month check-up they said he was 33 inches tall, but we are pretty sure that was off a bit since we measured him at home around a month after that and he was only around 32.5 inches. He only had to get one shot at his appointment and that was his flu shot. Hopefully we can avoid the flu this year. We've already been at the doctor, just two weeks after school started with bronchitis, so I'm hoping Maddox's immune system will hurry up and get used to being around so many little germs each day!

It is amazing to see all that he is learning and able to do these days. His new favorite word now is "no". He says no a lot of things like sharing his food or brushing his teeth (he still isn't enjoying this chore). It is pretty cute now, but I have a feeling the cuteness will wear off at some point. He also says "hot" and "cold" a lot. He will point to the stove and say "hot" or if he sees a candle burning he says it too. Another big favorite is "football" but he pronounces it more like the Europeans do and says "futbol". Everytime he sees a football, a helmet, or any clip on tv pertaining to football, he screams out "football". We are working on "War Eagle" also, but at this point it is just a "Waaaaaaaar E!"

His little personality is just coming out more and more and I just fall in love with him over and over again each day. How did I get so lucky to be blessed with such an amazing little guy?