Daddy is home!!!

These last two days have been by far the happiest of my life. My best friend and the father of my beautiful little girl is back where he belongs: in my arms! The few days leading up to the homecoming were stressful to say the least... And yet when I saw him walking toward us I knew that every second of the six months that he was away no longer mattered. The only feeling I felt was joy; pure, uninhibited joy!


Watching my amazing man bond with our daughter has brought me more happiness than I could imagine. I swear I could sit and watch them stare at each other for days!


I feel so incredibly blessed to finally have my family together.





These two like to hang out quite a bit together. It's a perfect situation since Momma loves to watch them play :)


I'll be posting more soon! But right now I need to get to my little girl and that handsome daddy of hers :)
With all our love,
The Marshall family
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Single Digits!!

The days are truly flying by! This time next week Madelyn and I will be waking up for the last time without Daddy and we cannot wait. Six months seems like such torturous concept at the beginning and yet I feel as though Joe got on that bus yesterday.
The best part of this return is knowing that we have at least one whole year with our man before having to be separated again. The best case scenario will have Joe getting accepted to flight school and being a non-deployable for two entire years. That could give us almost three years without extensive separation!! Oh, dreams.
These last few days miss Maddy Grace and I have been spending some much needed time with the girls. Today most of all showed me how lucky I am to have such amazing friends in my life. I don't do it nearly enough, but today I made a point to thank God for all the incredible people he has placed in our lives. My husband, our friends, our family and our beautiful baby remind me daily how beautiful God's grace truly is. I need to make a point of thanking Him more often than I do.
Mass this evening was a good reminder to me of where our priorities should lie as Christians. As the priest asked the congregation a seemingly simple question it got the wheels in my head turning. "Who is He to you?". The answer of course must vary from person to person, but these words do have the potential to be quite perplexing. I'll be going to bed this evening this this question on my mind. It's always a good day when you get to do a little soul searching and pondering :). One thing I do know for sure: God is oh so good!
Enjoy just a few photos of our beautiful little blessing.












Sending our love and some little baby smiles!
~The Marshall's

Lists

Ok, so since having a baby... Well realistically since becoming pregnant, my memory has been horrendous! I'll be sitting and thinking about something that needs to be done and by the time I get up to do it I have completely forgotten what it was. Due to this little predicament I have resorted to making lists.
The problem with lists is that if you're like me (barely remembering anything), you have to be pretty specific. So this morning as I'm looking at all my lists I chuckled to myself. I believe I have become my mother...
Right now in the Marshall house hold we have our "big list", the one with everything that needs to be done before and after Joe returns home. On that list I have items such as wash the truck and give the dogs a bath (yes, I do have to remind myself of this). The funny thing is though, on my big list I keep finding that I have instructed myself to make more lists! There is the cleaning list; naming all the things that must be cleaned before homecoming. Then we have the grocery list; keep in mind that I have been feeding only myself for six months so this could pose a problem. Finally we have the meal list; something new I'm going to try for a bit.
Staring at all of this is quite intimidating. So much to do in so little time!!! Having all of these lists I am also finding can be a little exhilarating. Yes I know, it is sad that I get excited about chores, but honestly having these lists means there there is very little time until my handsome husband comes home. :) And it just doesn't get any more exciting than that.
Well I better go get started on all these to-do's! Until next time.
With all out love, always.
~The Marshall's

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

3 Months!!

Time has gone by SO fast! I cannot believe that Madelyn is already 3 months old... how did this happen?
Our little girl has been growing so incredibly well, sometimes it's hard for me to believe how little she was when I brought her home from the hospital. At just 4 pounds 2 ounces the day we checked out Madelyn barely fit in her carseat. Now she is chunking up so well... 9 pounds! That's over double her birth weight!
Here is our monthly teddy bear picture to show you how big our girl is getting!

We'll be posting more soon!
With all our love,
Joey, Amanda and Madelyn Marshall

Our big girl!

This last week sure has made me a very proud Momma. I cannot believe how quickly little Maddy is growing up! Here are just a few photos to show off how far Madelyn is coming in her tummy time ventures :)

Getting so strong!!

Time is ticking!

We are down to mere weeks until our handsome man is back with his girls! Madelyn will be meeting her Daddy for the first time and I will finally be getting my best friend back after a long six months. I feel like the time has just flown by and is coming at us full speed... Then I remember all of the remarkable things that have happened in the last 180 days and it makes me realize how long it has really been since my family has been whole.
When joe left I was just short of being seven months pregnant and was barely showing. Luckily little miss Maddy was moving a ton and Daddy got to feel her a little. :) Sadly though, Joe did miss her birth... We have so much time to make up for. Everything else seems so minuscule compared to the birth of such a little angel but I swear there was much more that had happened in the last six months.


The pups sure are getting used to the new addition!


Grandma came and spent a whole month with us! Shortly following that we got to spend time with Grandpa and Diana, and now we are spending time with Na-Na (great-grandma Sandy). So many beautiful family members have come to shower this little girl with love and I could not feel more blessed as a momma to have such a great support system behind me.


Na-Na loves hanging with Madelyn :)

Next week out little princess will be 3 months old! I have no idea where the time has gone. I feel like I brought her home from the hospital just yesterday... But alas she must grow up at some point. My "little" girl is becoming a big girl quite fast. At just about eight and a half pounds Madelyn is finally beginning to outgrow some of her newborn clothes. (Some of Momma's favorite sleepers were the first victims...) And to top it off, it won't be too long before we are out of newborn diapers as well. Bring on the cloth diapers!! This will be an adventure but I am determined to try.


Nothing is better than quality time with my girl!

Bedtime has rolled around for the Marshall girls. Keep a lookout for some precious photos of Madelyn and Daddy in the coming weeks!
With all our love,
~The Marshall family