Graduation Night!

On May 7th, Jacob and I each celebrated the graduation of an immediate family member.

We went downtown to the Tropicana Stadium to watch St. Petersburg College's 115th Graduation Ceremony; to watch my mother and sister-in-law walk!

It was quite the ceremony, the opening  prayer/speech was so honest it made me cry a little.

Madeline was perfectly well behaved, granted, she played with her toys and slept most of the time... But still.

I was also a bit surprised by how many other babies around her age were there.

Jacob's sister, Jessica, graduated majoring in Public Saftey Administration.

And my mother graduated (with honors!) majoring in Nursing.

After the ceremony, we drove to the restaurant his family was having celebratory dinner at. Once his family arrived, we took some pictures of Madeline with her auntie Jess while we waited for my mother to pick Madeline and me up to go to my family's celebratory dinner.

My mom brought us to meet with the rest of our party at a favorite Thai place of ours and we enjoyed a large (15 person!) and widely amusing dinner. Almost 'everyone' was there: Roberta, Dae, Jen, Darren, Bill, Grandma, Alex, Kyle, Joe, Laura, Dad, Juli, Mom, Madeline and -obviously- me! My sister, Laura, wore Madeline in the Moby during dinner, and afterwards Miss Maddle was passed around to visit with 'extended family' members. (I left my big camera in the car, and very few of the P&S photos came out good enough to upload, sorry!)

All in all it was a glorious night, I'm so proud of my mom. Really, I don't think I can accurately convey my level of pride.

Don't forget you can vote once a day, just by clicking twice!

Heritage Village

Today Jacob, Madeline and I went out to Heritage Village, which is a (free) hands-on local historical museum/town. They have a bunch of different houses and buildings from the 1800's and early 1900's. It's so cool to walk though the houses and see how people lived back then. It's especially cool because all of the houses that have been moved to Heritage Village were actually people's houses and some of them were highly influential in this area. The park is also alongside the Florida Botanical Gardens, so when you're done looking at the old houses and such you can go on a beautiful nature walk.

Neither of us had been there since childhood so it was a blast for all of us. Madeline enjoyed hearing the docents talk and looking at all the new things. I can't wait to go again.

[FL Botanical Gardens: Bridge]

[FL Botanical Gardens]

[Heritage Village: Greenwood House]

[Heritage Village: House of Seven Gables + kitchen ]

[Heritage Village: Corner Store + shop]

[Heritage Village: In front of the Walsingham House]

[Heritage Village: Walsingham House + interior (waitingroom/livingroom)]

[Heritage Village: Lowe House]

Madeline's first Easter.

Jacob's family is big on celebrating religious holidays with a family dinner, so this year for Easter, Jacob, Madeline and I went to the Larkin house for Easter dinner. Interestingly enough, last Easter was when we broke the news to Jacob's family about Madeline.

It was nice to get together with the family and eat, we had Turkey, mashed potatoes*, corn, cranberry sauce, and yam chips. It was like a light thanksgiving meal. We all hung out and bonded until it was time for us to go and stop by my family's house.

*Steamed and pureed cauliflower.

don't forget to vote daily!

Madeline's 4 month checkup!

Madeline was wonderful at the doctor's today, while we waited, she was 'talking', smiling, and laughing her little heart out.

We got called back and the nurse took Madeline's temperature, weighed her, then measured her height and head circumference.

Shortly after that, Dr. V came in, and did his thing. He said that he wanted to re-measure her height because the nurse's numbers seemed off (according to her, Madeline was 25.25 inches, in the 85th percentile). Dr. V measured Madeline and corrected her sheet. We discussed our few minor concerns (poop things and such) and the doctor suggested that Madeline begin eating rice cereal in the mornings with a second feed of vegetables in the afternoon. (this is exciting because Maddle has been very interested in our food, and often mimics us when we eat. Jacob and I were going to ask the doctor about possibly starting her on solids as is!)

Madeline then had her 4 month shots, and we were good to go!

Madeline at 4 months:

Height: 24.25 inches (65th percentile)

Weight: 14 lbs, 3 oz (66th percentile)

Head Circumference: 16.25 inches (61st percentile)

Since the doctor's office is so close to our families, we stopped by Jacob's mother's house for a bit, you couldn't even tell that Madeline had just gotten two shots. She's so sweet.

Don't forget to vote!

we appreciate each click