A Year Full Of Buttercup

Our daughter turned 1 this month.  She's now been on this earth, outside of the womb, one whole entire year (plus some days).  Wow.

Last year when it was time to switch the calendar to February I was anxiously awaiting my body to GO INTO LABOR.  After all my due date was February 2nd and I was ready to have my body back as my own and to meet the baby that was growing inside of me.  My baby had other plans, she was content being all snugly in the womb.  Hence being induced and going through 36 hours of labor that resulted in a c-section.  That was what my daughter had in store for me.  My daughter's name is Madden, we had several possible names picked out and I told Mustang that in order for her to be "Madden" she would have to come out with some spunk.  She did. 

I remember...

• holding her and letting her sleep in my arms because I couldn't bear to put her down
• taking more pictures in her first year of life than we probably will for the next five
• hearing her laugh for the first time
• how excited we were when she slept through the night the first time...and then when it happened again
• looking at little kids shortly after Mustang and I began dating and wondering if we did get married what our kids would look like, be like...and being blown away the first time I was able to see Buttercup
• how Buttercup's smile has always been big and beautiful
• how this year offered us our first glimpses into her personality
• saying multiple times how Buttercup is her Daddy's daughter...a little social butterfly
• Mustang telling people that she's a Momma's girl
• thinking I would only call her Maddie...and realizing that I actually prefer Madden or Madds
• her first steps (at least the ones that I got to see)
• falling in love with and appreciating her more every day

This past year has been wonderful, great, hard, sleep-depriving, anxiety-ridden, fantastic and full of love.  Seeing my husband as a father...I fall in love with him time and time again.  We are so thankful for our Buttercup, she has brought so much joy into our family and we are looking forward to living life with a 1 year old!

Much love!
~The Woman With 4 First Names 

Santa's Eyebrows

Through a random happenstance of me wanting to get Buttercup a headband with an over-sized flower for Easter we ended up in the store at the mall that was right next to where the Easter Bunny was set-up.  The store owner informed us that the mall has an Easter Bunny (and a Santa at Christmas-time) to provide parents with the opportunity to get a snap-shot of their kid(s) with their own camera.  Meaning there is no 'professional' photographer therefore you don't have to deal with that side of things if you would just prefer to get a snap-shot yourself.  As you can see Easter went great...and don't you love Buttercup's headband?

With things going so well with the Easter Bunny, Mustang and I decided to head on over to get a picture of Buttercup with Santa.  Now I was very interested to see how Buttercup would do.  She is her Daddy's daughter and is not afraid of anyone so I knew that I had to be prepared for a melt-down moment but I didn't really know if it would happen with Buttercup (aka Miss Social Butterfly).  We approached Santa...her arm tightened around mine.  I passed her over to Santa's waiting ams...and...

She did great!  She wasn't loving Santa but no melt-down, we snapped a few shots and then headed over to Gingerbread land for a family photo opportunity.

After looking through the pictures, Mustang wanted to see if we could get one more "really good one of Buttercup and Santa".  So, we went in for round 2...

...and this time the eyebrows were just too much for the poor girl to take.  I know Buttercup they would've scared me too! 

As we were leaving I turned and saw this sign...

...not the greatest picture of either of us, but how could I pass that up?  Because I do in fact love my little Buttercup!

Sorry for the long absence and Merry almost Christmas!
~The Woman With 4 First Names

Monthly Mugging

Buttercup had her "8 Month Birthday" on October 6th!  As close to each months birthday as we can (thank to Amy S's great baby gift) we stick a number sticker to Buttercup's onesie or shirt and try to capture a cute shot.

As I stated in my previous Monthly Muggings recap post...these photo shoots are getting harder and harder each month.  Buttercup has the dexterity now to take the stickers off and then she tries to eat them.  Also, she's little miss mobile these days so I have approximately .2 seconds to capture the perfect shot...being an amateur photographer and having a camera that processes so S-L-O-W are another two of my photo shoot hardships.

However, no matter what the pictures look like we've got that moment in time captured.  So, without further ado, Buttercup's 8 Month Birthday photo shoot...

~ The standard shot with Pooh Bear
to give a size reference to how Buttercup is growing ~

~ I call this shot "So Ladylike" ~

~ To try to keep her from picking at the sticker I

gave Buttercup a different paper to play with...

however she wasn't fooled ~

~ I call this shot "Yum pape...Momma are you taking a picture of me?" ~

~ I call this shot "Wave that Sock!" ~

~ And...we're done... ~



No matter how good/bad my photography skills may be we have fun!  Thanks for joining us for Buttercup's 8 Month Monthly Mugging!

~ The Woman With 4 First Names

Milestone

A few weekends ago Mustang and I installed the next 'stage' car seat in our cars.  Buttercup is in the 99th and 100th percentiles for height and weight and she is cruising through clothes sizes and now car seat stages.

We are all set on the car seat side.  However, I want to know who gave my daughter permission to sprout from this...

to this...

in 8 SHORT months!!!  Oh, how I know that I'm going to be that mom...the one that says "If you don't stop growing I'm going to put a book on your head."  I feel like I barely blinked and already this little lady is sprouting up before my eyes.

Happy Sunday!
~The Woman With 4 First Names

Blue Angel

Buttercup's godmother is a wonderful, sweet and funny woman and I am so excited to see their relationship grow throughout the years.

Buttercup's godmother also has a rockin' style and I am very excited to have another person that will help eye out adorable outfits!

Thanks Deeds for our little Blue Angel outfit for Buttercup!!

Much love folks!
~The Woman With 4 First Names

Which of these is different than the rest?

Ellie the Elephant, Hilda the Hippo, Mack the Monkey (yes I know green would seem to say 'frog' not 'monkey' to me too), Leo the Lion and Buttercup the Baby.

~ The Woman With 4 First Names

She must be 11 months old...

My little Buttercup rocks the chub.  Chubby little legs, chubby little cheeks, chubby little arms...she definitely rocks the chub.

Buttercup was also in the 97th percentile for height at her 4 month check-up.  (Her 6 month check-up is on Wednesday, new stats to come!)


Buttercup is on the right - just in case you couldn't figure it out :)

I had a dentist appointment last week.  While I was getting my teeth x-rayed they put Buttercup (in her carseat) in the hallway outside my room so that no stray radiation could hurt her.  While in the hallway 2 hygienists kept her company. 

As I'm listening to them baby talk to Buttercup I hear the one say "You must be right around 11 months old."

Right away (well as soon as my mouth is clear of the thing that they make you bite down on while getting x-rayed) I state "She's only 6 months old, her daddy is 6'7"."

Basketball scholarship anyone?

I just hope she doesn't get my coordination...or her daddy's...
The Woman With 4 First Names

Buttercup's Book Adventure

So, I know I've been slow to get started on posting...but I hope you enjoy today's adventure recap...

I'm a 3/4 worker these days, hubby and I have discarded referring to me as part-time because at 30 hours in the office and often a few more on the side 'part-time' really is not the best descriptor for how often I work.  That said, I have every Wednesday and every other Friday as my days out of the office.  Those are my days to delight in my Buttercup!!!

Today Buttercup and I have been doing our usual hanging around routine.  Yet nothing remains 'usual' about our routine these days as Buttercup seems to be growing by the minute and determined to not wait too long to experience things like rolling over, crawling and sitting up.  She's already a roll-over champ and getting closer and closer to crawling and sitting up on her own (which is good thing as her chubby little thighs make the bumbo seat not our best option any more).

Just how close is she to crawling you ask?  Well, we are big on picture books these days so let me tell you a fun and short picture story...

I spy a book, maybe if I fling my body to the side I can get to it.

Well, flinging didn't work...but now I somehow seem to be getting farther from that darn ole book.

Is that Barney on TV...wait who is Barney?

I can DO this!

Pretty fishy...pretty fishy...

Can I eat this fishy?

Wait, there's a book...yeah that's what I wanted...the book!

Look Momma, I got a book!

Definitely not crawling, but if I was a bettin' woman (which I'm not) I don't think it will be much longer at all until we have a crawler in the family!!

~The Woman with 4 First Names