Backing it up to October

So I guess the best way to handle this whole back log of post and pictures, is to just start where I stopped, which is October. That was the month Derek left and the world wind of packing, cleaning, and planning began. Oh man, was it an interesting bittersweet month. I'm just going to add in some pictures of stuff we did so they aren't lost for posterities sake, but at this point it is hard to remember too much. I have to say I was so thankful to be somewhere so close to family. We wouldn't have made it through that month/move without their help! I cringe when I think of being in a similar situation out here alone. 

Carrying Alice on her shoulders for a walk. It is funny to think back on how into Alice she was then and how she has totally moved on and is into only Anna and Elsa now. 

Last time feeding the ducks. They bite her hand theygot so close. I kind of miss them. 

Dead cicadas. Ew. I had to document since it was one of those crazy cicada years, but these are the only bugs we actually saw. Thank goodness. 

Last trip to the aquarium and one of her first times with pigtails. She looks so little and her hair looks so short. She has grown so much in just a few months! 

Camping out on my bedroom floor because she didn't want to sleep in her own room. She didn't sleep here either. 

Last winter hat for a while

Surprise from daddy...He is so sweet! This was a trip to Newnan. 

Her inner Bronx coming out 

Lolly and Pops took us to the Cabbage Patch Hospital and we got Larissa Lynn (which was the name of an actual doll there). She loved all the baby dolls, but she loved all the accessories more. 

Hiding under the blanket in the car so she could watch DVD's

Sleeping with Ari (and everything else she owns). I was getting pretty desperate to keep her in the crib by the end of the month 

Aunt Corrine and cousin Jillian came to visit…madeline loved having them and the extra attention!

Lolly and Pops came to help me do some last minute fixes (thank goodness!) and Madeline had fun tucking Teddy in.

Last minute trip to the geneticist where she picked up some kind of cold from the yucky sneezing kid in the waiting room. But she also got eat a candy necklace for what must have been one of the first times. And by eat, I mean smear it everywhere. 

Just a funny picture of her in the bathtub in her baby's tub

Then Lolly came back and kept Madeline on the first packing day. She had her first official sleep over in Lolly's hotel and loved it. 

Then Granny Lynn came on move out day and helped pressure wash and organize and clean. Couldn't have done it without her. 

Waving goodbye to the first house she remembers, the place she learned to walk and talk, feed the ducks, kick a ball, draw with chalk. It was a great house and we were sad to leave. It will always hold the memories of a year full of changes and growth, for her and for us. 

Loving visiting Aunt Jessie and her kitties. 

I'll give Halloween its own post, but it is the end of our October wrap up. Now that I look back on it, it is no wonder it was a whirl wind month. Look how much we did! It makes me sad to see pictures from our road trips back and forth and knowing we can't do that anymore.