Maddie's First Facebook Contest

For all of Maddie's Facebook fans, please visit Lynne McHale (a local photographer's) facebook page.. she has a photo album entitled Sweathearts.. you'll find Maddie's photo on there.. we're asking all of our friends and family to cast a vote to win a photo session. Plus, we just want to kick butt! Hopefully the below link works but if not, search Lynne McHale Creative Portraiture's on facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3530562&id=178998446129


Voting ends March 5th and only one vote per Facebook account.. so many of you are much more active on Facebook, and actually know what you're doing so spread the word and hopefully we'll win some cute photos!

Hot Means Hot!

Can you win the "Bad Mommy Of the Year" award in February? We're a family of routine and tonight was no exception with Friday Night - Pizza Night.. yummy.. Maddie has her usual vegetables and whatever else, then Matt or I give her a crust with a bit of cheese and sauce on it to eat.


She ate some lunchmeat and all her peas and wanted some of the pizza she saw us eating. After checking the temperature, I gave her my crust... A minute or so later she was screaming "HOT" and pushing it away and holding her mouth.. Oh gosh, I thought it was cool enough.. I swore to Matt that I checked and even gave it to him to check it himself in hopes that he would agree that Maddie was being dramatic.. sometimes she hears us say "hot" and copies.. He said it was indeed a bit warm inside and so after waiting a bit, I gave it back to her... again the same thing.. screaming and some tears "HOT!"... then it hit me... I used hot sauce on two of my pieces of pizza.. OOPS!

Sorry my darling Maddie.. so glad we had milk and a few crackers on hand to get rid of that hot. Ouch!

First of all, thanks to everyone who wrote, sent cards and flowers, and called regarding Mya.. as a family, we really appreciate your thoughts. So many of you love your pets like family members and understand how hard the adjustment can be once they're gone or find it hard to imagine what it will be like when your own little ones are gone. It's only been a week but each day gets a tiny bit better. :) Thanks again for thinking of us.

Is this normal? Did your kids do this? Now that Maddie has figured out where her belly button is, she likes to poke her fingers in there while watching tv.. :)


Happy belated birthday to Maddie's Auntie Alyx. We enjoyed a great dinner over at Pam and Alyx's on Friday night.. yummy! fun fact: Maddie was conceived on Alyx's birthday two years ago....


Here's Maddie having a bit of fun getting a push from daddy! Can you tell she loves it?

It's with a heavy heart that I write today's update.

We lost a beloved member of our family today. We made the heartbreaking decision today to help Mya go to sleep one last time. We found out three weeks ago that she was suffering from kidney failure. At that point, we decided to not hospitalize her for treatment.. instead we were going to give her as much love and attention as she deserved and spoil her each evening with treats and our time. This morning she took a turn for the worse and after speaking with our caring vet, we decided it was best to let her go.

She's been a best friend, companion, and source of unconditional love in my life for 11 years and we all know how much Matt has loved her for the past 7 years. We once joked that if we were to separate, I get the friends, Matt gets the cat.

Mya was adopted at the age of one in 1999 from the pound in Norco, CA. I went in looking for a cat and couldn't believe what a beauty I found, a gorgeous Himalayan-Siamese mix with beautiful blue eyes. I knew she was perfect the first time I laid eyes on her. Surely her previous family was crushed to lose her. She had a purple collar but no tags, was already spayed, and obviously well taken care of. She was eternally grateful to be saved and would reward me each evening by waiting at the front door for me to return from work. For the first year or so, she never made a peep and was never underfoot, the perfect cat!

Although Maddie has only known Mya for a short time, she loved her as "her kitty" and would call out her name and hold out her hand in hopes that Mya would come over to her. She knew to be gentle and nice to her kitty. Even though Maddie's memory of Mya will fade, we'll always tell her about her first pet.



She's been though everything with us...

She was there to congratulate us when we got engaged, Christmas 2006.


Was with us in Mexico on our wedding date, in the form of a card to my future husband.


Wishing us well for each vacation we took, and waiting for us to return. We were mutually glad to see each other.


She even appeared on the front page of our local paper, the Acorn. We sure were proud!


She'll be sadly missed by all of us! We love you Youra-pants.