a busy life... 10:27 PM

So, my promise of updating the blog on Saturday came and went...I'm almost a week late. Whoops! Things have been busy here lately. Trying to figure out our lives...Business at our restaurant has still been slow, though this week it is slowly picking up. That and the fact that we are cutting back on staff, has helped make us a little more money. We had a benefit last Friday for 3 families whom lost their homes to fire on Thanksgiving day, so I think that helped get us some business afterwards too. A win/win for everyone.
Jason and I are going to (have to!) start working more hours, which means that instead of taking Maddy to a babysitter, which we can't afford anyway, we will be taking her to work with us when we are both there at the same time. We are in the process of setting up a play area for her. We need to get a couple of baby gates and would love to find some of those interlocking foam mats. Obviously toys too, but any other suggestions would be great. We want to make it as fun for her as possible!
Nothing really new going on. Maddy is getting big! She's been giving kisses, and waves, and now points at EVERYTHING. It's cute! She also wiggles her fingers when you ask her where her fingers are! Not bad for an 8 month old!
No walking yet, though, she's been standing with no support for longer periods of time more frequently. Honestly, I'm okay with waiting awhile for that, I already have to keep an eagle eye on her and walking will only make that worse! :)
Off topic here, but please pray for my mom, she had hip replacement surgery on Wednesday and feels like crap! I'm sure it can't be fun to have that done, but we know it's for the best. Her hip was in bad shape!
Well, I am hoping to update again soon, but it might be after Christmas. If I don't write until then, have a very Merry Christmas! I hope that it is filled with laughter, love, and good friends and family.

A week of firsts! 11:57 AM

Well, I haven't posted in awhile, things have been slightly crazy around here and probably will be for the rest of the week. I probably won't post again till Saturday. Thursday we are getting family pictures taken by a wonderful photographer named Julie. You can visit her website at www.afinephotographer.com. She was our NILMDTS photographer when Gabriella died. For those of you that don't know NILMDTS stands for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. It is a nationwide organization made up of volunteer professional photographers that donate their time to taking pictures for families that have lost or are losing a child. They are a remarkable organization and very near and dear to our hearts. We are so excited to be able to see Julie again and to have her meet Madeline. She was there in a very intimate and heartbreaking time in Jason and I's life and gave us the gift of beautiful pictures of our sweet Gabby.
So, this week Madeline cut her first tooth! I have no pictures yet, but you can feel the little thing pretty good! It's sharp! It's not completely pushed up through the gum yet, but hopefully for her sake, it will be soon!
Another first this week, was Maddy's first Christmas tree!

It's pretty small because, well, we have a small house and this tree fits perfectly in this little window cubby. I haven't had a Christmas tree up in the house in almost 6 years, so I was excited to have one this year. I bought a couple of new ornaments.
One for Gabby

And one for Madeline

And, this one, my mom gave me a few years ago, and this is the first time I have ever had a tree to put it on!


Maddy loves the Christmas lights and all the shiny ornaments. Luckily, she can't get to them! Now, if I could only figure out how to keep the cat away from it!


OT:Pray for Jason and I 12:36 PM

As some of you might know, Jason and I own a pizzeria. We (most of the time) love what we do and the freedom that owning our own business brings. The economy has hit everyone hard, some more than others. Things had been going alright for us until about 4 months ago, when we hit the slow season here in our little mountain community. We have fallen behind on alot of bills and taxes and are in danger of losing everything. We have managed to stay up on our house payments and rent for the restaurant, but it's been a HUGE struggle just to do that. We still have a year and a half left on our lease for this building, but I really don't know if we can even survive that long. Please pray that our business picks up and that we can figure out a way to keep from filing bankruptcy. It's disappointing to me that we are in this situation, we have worked really hard to build up our business. Last summer we moved to a larger location because things were going well, and looking back now, I feel like that was a very bad idea. Nothing we can do about it now, but as I said before, things are getting worse every day.
I haven't vocalized this publicly before, but we need all the prayers we can get! Thank you all very much.

p.s. Maddy is doing great, I think she's hitting a growth spurt, because she's been waking up 2 to 3 times in the middle of the night to eat! No teeth yet either, but hopefully soon!