Fun at the Fair!

It's somewhat of a tradition for businesses to eat lunch at the East Texas State Fair. You can get into the gates for free until 2:00 pm on weekdays. We have done it a couple of years and decided to go again this year. There were five of us this year, Alan, Marty (Alan's legal assistant), Lexi (our new part-time employee), Madeline, and me. They always have REALLY interesting things to eat! We saw chocolate nachos, chocolate bacon, fried brownies, fried pickles, fried BUTTER - actually just about anything fried!

Madeline sporting her first pair of blue jeans! I was trying to keep her little legs from getting sunburned because she can't wear sunscreen yet!

We ate at a new place this year called "Smokin' Like You Like It" because of a reccomendation from Joel Baker, a friend of Alan's who also happens to be a county judge. He has been to the fair to eat SEVEN TIMES this week, and has posted what's good to eat on his Facebook page.

"Smokin' Like You Like It". I had to get a
picture of the black and white pig!

The girls (excluding Madeline) got HUMONGOUS stuffed baked potatoes topped with barbecued brisket. YUMMY! Upon Joel's recommnedation, Alan got a Tamale Slammer and a Cowboy Mignon. I got a picture of the potatoes and our homemade cherry lemonade, but didn't get any other pictures of the food. Alan let us all take a bite of the Tamale Slammer and we all agreed that we should have gotten it. It was delicious! I can't remember everything that was in it, but it was basically a Frito pie made with tamales, honey bbq flavored Fritos (never seen those in stores before!), cheddar cheese, barbecued brisket, and a sweet bbq sauce. Sounds weird, but it was good! The Cowboy Mignon is basically a filet mignon on a hamburger bun with pickles and a sweet Vidalia onion sauce on it. It was good, too, but not as good as the Tamale Slammer!



Stuffed baked potato and homemade cherry lemonade!

Marty and Lexi



We went inside (for the air conditioning!) and walked around visiting the booths and other displays.

There's also a root beer stand that will fill your cup with ice-cold root beer, a root beer float, or a root beer freeze for ONE DOLLAR if you bring your cup back from a previous purchase. We keep our cups at the office and bring them back every year - it's a GREAT deal!

The Three Musketeers and their root beer!
 Lexi, Alan, and Marty



Veggie #3 - Carrots = BIG Thumbs Up

We ventured into the orange/yellow vegetable family today with carrots. Madeline seems to REALLY like carrots. She did well with the green beans and peas, but she was VERY eager for each spoonful of carrots and opened her mouth extra wide! We have a wittle wabbit in our family, which is good, because carrots are one of the few vegetables that Alan will eat!

Lovin' Carrots!

Later this afternoon, I had a "hairbow lesson" at the house of a sweet friend of mine. Check out Mandy's blog, Burkett Blessings, when you get a chance. It's GREAT! Hairbows are ridiculously expensive to buy! Mandy makes beautiful bows for her daughter, Mallory, and she graciously agreed to teach me how! Now I can hopefully make pretty bows to match Madeline's outfits. We'll see! Here is a picture of my first try. What do you think?

I had to take a few pictures of Madeline in her little red outfit today. It's the first time she's really worn red, and I think she looks great in it! She received several compliments from ladies today at BSF saying that red was her color. I will have to keep my eyes open for red clothing for her!

This is her "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S A RECALL ON SIMILAC?!?" face!

Veggie #2 - Peas = Thumbs Up!

Alan's Clone

Okay - this is scary. That GLAZED look that comes across Alan's face when I'm trying to tell him something while he's watching sports on TV? THIS IS THE SAME LOOK! What am I going to do? Alan has a clone.

My parents came over for the afternoon to get a "Madeline Fix". This picture is Madeline sitting in my Mom's lap watching the Cowboys on TV. Wow.

Veggie #1 - Green Beans = Thumbs Up

Alan put Madeline's new highchair together today. We've been waiting for one of those 20% off coupons at Babies R Us, and we got one this past week. Her highchair is another great product that will "grow with her" through different stages. We love it so far. Alan did the research on it and picked it out himself. Wouldn't you know if would have red in the color scheme...his favorite color?


Madeline's new highchair!



Madeline tried her first vegetable today - green beans. She made a strange face at first, but then swallowed them and eagerly opened her little mouth for more! Yahoo!



Green beans! I tried them, Alan was a chicken. :)



Four-Month Checkup

Miss Madeline went to her 4-month checkup this afternoon. She weighed 16 pounds 1 ounce and was 26 inches long! She's in the 91st percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height. Dr. Barret said she's doing great! She had another round of immunizations. She cried more than Mommy and Daddy did this time - she was MAD!!! She got over it pretty quickly though as soon as she got her paci. Dr. Barret's nurse, Ashley, is so wonderful. She is SO FAST with those shots! We LOVE Dr. Barret and he makes her appointments fun. After using the tongue depresser, he gave it to Madeline to hold and told her she could use it as a sword to keep her occupied. Then he held her up for a picture and told her to swing it like a baseball bat. So funny!

Batter up!

Dr. Barret doesn't think we need to switch her to a new formula in light of the recent Similac recall (remote possibility of the presence of a small common beetle in the product produced in one production area in a single manufacturing facility). Our concern wasn't so much in the quality of the product, but how soon Similac would have new product on the shelves. We have enough good powder and liquid concentrate to last her about a month, so he thinks we'll be fine. As a side note, Madeline finished off a container of RECALLED formula Wednesday night before we knew about the recall. She hasn't been ill or sprouted wings, but she's strangely attracted to bright lights for some reason (wink). We are thankful she hasn't had any signs of illness.

He also said we could go buy that girl some groceries! He wants us to start her on 1st foods, which are basically pureed vegetables and fruits. He wants us to start with a few vegetables before she tries any fruits. So I had fun at Brookshire's tonight checking out the baby food aisle! The first vegetables she'll try are peas, green beans, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes. This should be a fun adventure! We can't believe she's already at this stage.

After her appointment, we met Alan's parents and our two nephews, Bret and Gregory, at Jason's Deli for a little dinner. 


Mimi, Madeline, Papa

After dinner we went back to Alan's parents' new home. They haven't moved yet, but they were doing a little bit of work while they were in town watching our two nephews. Alan's sister, husband, and our niece, Elissa, were on a short trip visiting a prospective college. Madeline took a little nap in Papa's lap and then had fun playing with cousin Elissa when she got back to Tyler.

One other quick note, Madeline is NOT teething. Dr. Barret said that the white we were seeing on her gums was actually a little cyst - nothing to be alarmed about - it would go away. He said if she was teething, we'd feel the tooth before we actually saw it. First time Mommy mistake. :) So, we think we can attribute the fussiness and the early wakeup times this week to HUNGER. Bring on the green beans! 

Papa playing with Madeline



She fell asleep like this while rubbing her eyes.
She was SO tired!

Madeline LOVES her cousin Elissa!







It's a TOOTH! Maybe...

Madeline has been pretty "drool-ey" for the past month or so. We thought she SURELY wasn't teething yet even though everything I've read says it can happen as early as 3 months and as late as 12 months. We never saw anything going on in her mouth that would lead us to think she was teething, so we decided she was just going to be "drool-ey" for a while.
After being on a pretty predictable schedule for 2-3 weeks (finally), she threw us a curve ball this past weekend and decided she would mix everything up on us. After sleeping until between 6:30-7:00 am every morning for quite a while, she's been waking up FUSSY at totally random times. Even as early at 3:00 am - YUCK! She usually wakes up happy and plays and talks to herself in her crib for a while, but not these past few days. She's been fussy and hungry. Feeding her at weird times has completely messed up her schedule. We've added rice cereal to another feeding around lunchtime which has helped the past two days, but she's also been cranky off and on - mostly in the afternoons - and very clingy. She just really wants to be held and cuddled. Needless to say, I haven't gotten much done this week!

We decided to really check her mouth out good on Sunday night, and sure enough, there's a little tooth starting to make it's way through her lower gums! She and her paci are suddenly very best friends! It really soothes her, along with some refrigerated teething toys. Hopefully her first tooth will make a full appearance soon, and she will be MUCH more comfortable.

*If any of you have ever tried to take a picture of a 4-month-old's gums, you'll know why I don't have a picture of "the tooth"