Museum

The last time Madison went to a museum she was only three months old. It was fun to take her to the Toledo Museum to see all the many beautiful paintings.

Funny Faces

Jake was really excited for me to put pigtails in Madison's hair. I thought it would bother her and that she would try to pull them out but she didn't even know they were there all day. It makes her look so grown up. She had fun pulling different faces for me while I was taking pictures. So much expression! Madison has a really cute voice and gets very excited about everything. Lately she loves to say wow-wee! She loves to do her surprised face when she hears daddy coming home up the stairs. Oh, I almost forgot, last week Madison chipped the corner of her front tooth. It was so sad, we were at the zoo's aquarium and she went running around the corner and when I got there she was crying and her lip was bleeding. I was so focused on looking to see if she needed stitches that I didn't even notice her tooth until later when we were home. I was more traumatized than she was and called the dentist immediately. They got her in for an appointment the next morning and said at this point there is nothing that can be done. She is still as cute as ever and it's not that noticeable but it made me so sad:( At least she didn't knock out the whole tooth!

Mommy's Little Helper!

Madison is growing up so fast and learning new things ever day. One of her favorite activities is to vacuum. She screams with glee whenever I get it out and is eager to "help". Lucky for me she has a vacuum of her own to help distract her from the big one.
Lately, we have discovered that Madison likes to be somewhat neat. She of course makes plenty of messes, but promptly wants it cleaned up. When we are eating, she will scoot everything on her tray to one corner and then push it off to the floor, unless we get there in time. When she sees a mess she will say, "messy, messy, messy". When she sees things on the floor that don't belong she picks them up and brings them to me. The other day at church she found a push pin and I was relieved that she brought it to me rather than trying to eat it.
She has also learned to help put things away. The other day I asked her to put her shoes in the closet. She looked at me for a bit then picked up her shoe, walked to the closet and put it on the shelf. The funny thing was when I asked her to put away the other shoe she tossed out the one she had just put in to make a spot for the second! Silly little girl.

Seven Years in Ohio

Well, the suspense is over, no more trying to divine the purposes of the magical NRMP Match computer. We now know that we have matched into on of the top pediatrics training programs in the country, Nationwide Children's Hospital, in Columbus, Ohio! It is an exciting opportunity to train at such a renowned place. US News ranks the program #15 in the nation, Child and Parent magazines rank it #4 and #6, respectively. For the next three years I will be learning from the best! Four years of medical school in Toledo followed by an additional three years of residency in Columbus leads to Seven Years in Ohio. Who'd of ever thought!

Jen and I were actually quite surprised with the match. We had ranked Primary Children's in Utah as our first choice and we thought that we had a really good chance at getting the job. Oh well!

For those unfamiliar, Columbus is the Capitol of our great state of Ohio. It is home to the Ohio State Buckeyes, the NHL's Bluejackets and MLS Crew. It is about 3 hours south from Toledo so moving won't be too difficult for us. Thanks to the dismal economy housing prices are very reasonable in Columbus. We may look to buy a house if the situation looks good. Columbus has a great airport, so we hope that many of you will come out for a visit. If you come during football season we'll join 106,000 other fans and watch OSU play in the Horseshoe!

More Painting Fun!

I finally took some time to do some more painting! The three pictures of the animals were for Madison's room. She loves them and makes the animal noises that match when she sees them. I am going to do three more to go underneath. The idea is not mine, they are from an artist named Yuko Lau. My friend Lindsay told me about her work, I think the animals are so fun! The painting underneath is for my sister. She wanted one similar to the flower painting I did a few months ago but with a different color scheme.

Cutie Baby!

Madison is obsessed with babies! Every time we see a baby she yells, baby, baby, and she wants to go over and say hi. In church, after sacrament meeting, Madison runs out the doors, down the hall, and into the nursery. Once there she finds one of the dolls and runs out of the room. She may not be old enough yet to attend nursery so I guess she makes up for it by taking out her favorite toys. It's a good thing she is getting a little sister soon! We'll see how much she still loves babies after having one at her house all the time:) It's so much fun to watch her rock her baby doll in her blanket and feed it her bottle. She is quite the little mother.
Madison has also been exploding with all sorts of words. She will try and say anything that she hears. Some of my favorite words that she says are: eyebrow, hospital, Madison, snow, happy, please and thank you. I love it when she wakes up in the morning or from naps and just talks to herself and the animals in her room. She is such a fun personality. She is also very determined. Often she will say hi, hi, hi, to someone until she gets a response. She also loves containers and works very hard at getting lids on and off of jars, Tupperware etc. We are having so much fun watching her learn and grow. What a cutie!

Happy Valentines Day!

Madison hasn't quite figured out how to hold up a sign and smile. Thanks mom for the cute valentine outfit, she loved the sparkly hearts on her belly. We had a great Valentines day with some fun surprises. Around noon we headed to Jake's favorite place, Bass Pro Shops, so he could use his gift cards to buy some fishing flys. He is very excited for the water to drop so he can go out and catch some steelhead. We watched the fish feed at noon which was actually pretty fun to watch. It was sad to see the live fish they threw in eaten up so fast by the big fish. I don't think Madison was too traumatized by the disappearing fish. Later that evening Jake gave me flowers and made a wonderful gourmet dinner. What a fun day.

Chocolate Pudding!

Madison absolutely loved her first experience with chocolate pudding! She kept saying mmm, mmm, yum yum! What a cute little angel!

SLC Childrens Museum

We had a about a week left in SLC before we headed for Toledo. My sister Becky and her family invited us to go to the Children's Museum with them. Once again, Madison's favorite thing was the water exhibit! She was so sad when we took her away to explore other areas of the museum. I think however that Jake had the most fun of anyone. He spent a lot of time being fascinated by the ball mover and animation station. He looked like one of the kids! My family also threw me an early surprise birthday party before we left complete with my favorite carmel brownies and Gandolfo Sub Sandwiches. Gandolfos is a sandwich place in Utah that I have been craving many times while being pregnant. On our way back to SLC from Cali. I was so excited to stop and eat at one located in St. George. I had found it on the GPS and my mouth had been watering the past few hours of driving. It was the one thought that was helping me get through the past half hour of Madison being fussy and ready to get out of her car seat. We pulled up to the cafe and I pulled on the door only to find that it was locked. Confused I looked at a sign that read, due to economic hardships this location had to close. That was the first time these economic troubles have hit me so hard. What a disappointment, what luck. So.. it was quite the fun surprise to have the sandwiches at my birthday party. If you ever go to Gandolfo's Deli, I recommend the New Yorker:)

Our visit to Sea World!

While in California we decided to take Madison to Sea World! One of her favorite things to do was touch the sting rays in the petting pool. She would splash, laugh and giggle as they swam by and splashed water at us. She was pretty wet by the time we finished and probably could have stayed there all day. She loves water! She also had a lot of fun at the seal and whale show. She screamed with laughter every time the whales jumped up out of the water. It was fun to watch her clap and cheer with each new trick the animals did. What a fun place to visit. Jake really liked his interview out in California however the cost of living is outrageous. We may have to pass up the fun and warm weather on the west coast:)

Madison's first time at the beach!

While in California we made sure to take Madison to the beach. The water was a little bit chilly but she didn't mind one bit. She loved walking in the sand and letting the waves splash up on her feet. She even helped pick some great seashells, we just had to teach her they are to look at and not for eating. What a nice change from the freezing cold snowy weather! It was a beautiful day. Lets hope no one was blinded by our very white feet and legs. It's been awhile since they have seen the sun:)

Christmas Break Roadtrips

While in SLC we started out the new year on a road trip two Arizona and California where Jake had two interviews. We were able to stay with Jake's sister in Phoenix and Jake's brother in Temecula (Orange County CA). It was lots of fun to escape the cold weather and visit some of Jake's family that we don't get to see very often. On the way out to Arizona we made a stop at Hoover dam. They are building a pretty amazing bridge that will cross over the canyon and make the trip a lot faster. Madison loved playing with Jesse and had lots of fun with the Pena's dog. Thanks for letting us come visit. Jake was also able to make a stop at his birthplace (the picture of Jake standing in front of the house). A few of the old neighbors came out to say hello and take a look at the little curly haired blonde boy who was now very very big. It was amazing they recognized him! They were even prepared with cookies for Jake since going over to get one was one of his favorite things to do.

A few more Christmas memories

I need to record my memorable experience flying out to SLC. Jake had left for some interviews on the way to SLC a few days before my flight. I left on a Sunday afternoon after playing my violin in our first church meeting. It was a crazy day. Thanks Julie for the ride to the airport:) I have flown by myself with Madison two or three times and it's been just fine. Being pregnant and flying with Madison was something new. The first bump in the road was when American airlines told me they do not provide bags for car seats. I had talked to lots of friends that said not to worry about covering the car sear because the airlines have bags. I was pretty concerned because I knew the car seat would come back very dirty or maybe even torn after taking a ride on those luggage carriers. It was a very snowy and rainy day so I am sure we would have had a very wet and cold car seat in SLC if it wasn't covered. I asked if they had any garbage bags or could find a janitor that might have something, anything, I was determined. Most of the workers were kind of rude in their responses to my crazy mom inquires. Luckily one lady took pity on my and grabbed a giant roll of plastic wrap from the luggage department. She helped me wrap up the car seat and then we were off to our gate. Madison was great and stayed pretty entertained on the plane by ripping up the sky mall magazines and saying hi to everyone around her. I however got really sick on both landings of our flight. Luckily we had the whole row to ourselves because both incidents of puking were long, hard, loud and gross. It was a challenge I had never before experienced, throwing up and holding a busy one year old at the same time. The first few times I reached for the bag Madison grabbed it from me and threw it on the floor. One of the worst parts is that after we landed, I had to hold the bag until a flight attendant could assist me and throw it away. Poor Madison must have been so confused at what I was doing. On the second flight I was smart and warned the flight attendant before we landed that I would be filling up the bag and would need him to take it from me after we landed. Lets just say that I was a mess after landing in SLC after midnight. I couldn't even make it up the ramp into the baggage claim before having to find a garbage can to throw up again. Luckily there weren't a lot of people around because I am sure I was quite the site. Jake in the meantime was relaxing in his spa retreat hotel that the Memphis residency program had put him up in. Luckily he was able to fly with me back to Toledo and everything went great on the flight home.
Back in Toledo Madison was able to enjoy the present that Santa got her for Chirtmas. A cute little rocking horse that swishes his tail and makes horsie sounds. We miss our family so much but it is always nice to be at home after a long vacation.

Christmas with the Tanners

Here are some pictures from Christmas time with the Tanners and Grandma and Grandpa Cummings. Madison had tons of fun playing with all the pets, especially the kitty's. Luckily her cousin Kensie has baby proofed the cats by squeezing them, loving them, and chasing them around the house so they were very baby friendly. Madison thought her cousin Tanner made a great horse and tried to sit on him as he crawled while making horse sounds. My sisters and I had our yearly sister breakfast get together and we had a tutu party with the cousins. We had so much fun playing and hanging out. Thanks for all the fun times!