Happy Birthday Uncle Brian

Maddie would like to wish her Uncle Brian a Happy Birthday today. The picture of the good looking gentleman holding Maddie is Uncle Brian.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

If you don't like football or don't want to hear Dad rant, please skip this next paragraph.

On other news I would like to take a moment to talk about the Bears, ESPN's love of Brett Farve and the thrilling win on Monday Night Football. Dad and Maddie are thrilled that the Bears have finally got a legitimate receiver on their team, and allow him to play. Since the preseason, Devin Aromashadou has been making big plays and Jay Cutler has been lobbying for him to get more playing time. Well he has the last few weeks while they have had their illiterate receiver/kick returner Devin Hester on the bench injured. Mr. Aromashadou didn't disappoint in the big win over the Vikings. Dad and Maddie would also like to say they are big fans of football and Maddie is learning a lot of the nuances already. One thing we noticed was the Head Ref, who lines up behind the quarterback, help Brett Farve up. Officials are supposed to be neutral, it is not their job to help aging superstars like Brett Farve up. If it wasn't bad enough or showing enough bias, the same head ref also helped Brett Farve get his Jersey back on. Sometimes when a player is tackled his jersey comes off his shoulder pads and has to be put on by another player, usually a lineman, never the Head Ref. All in all John Gruden, Ron Jaworski ESPN commentators were stroking Brett Farve on everything he did, it was so annoying I began yelling at the TV, causing Maddie to start crying. Sorry baby girl. The Bears not only beat the Vikings, but they could have knocked them out of a first round bye, but they beat the refs and ESPN. Go Bears, Maddie will continue to cheer you on!!!

Back to Maddie news. If you didn't already know, Team beck are also zoo keepers. In our tiny one bedroom condo, with amazing sunset views and an updated kitchen if you are in the market, we also have a cat Bailey and a Dog Pepper. We have to do a few creative things to allow everyone to coexist without overstepping their boundaries. First the cat has to eat on top of the fridge, yes that's right, the top of the fridge. Normal right? We do this because the dog can otherwise eat all her food. Dog's also, precious and much better then cats, eat cat liter/pooh. Big negative for why dogs are better then cats. So for the most part we have to keep the door to the bathroom closed, because that's where the cat liter has to go. So our cat doesn't always have free reign to use the restroom because we are worried the dog is trying to eat the very same gravel she wants to pooh on. Nothing is better then sitting on the toilet and having a liter box right there, or what's even better is stepping out of a shower right onto cat liter. fun! Sometimes Dad would like to close the zoo down. Other fun stuff is the cat wanting to be allowed to go wherever she wants, this includes hanging out in Maddies Crib. After constantly having to remove her, we decided to get a crib tent. Yes, they really make these and that is the picture above. It also serves another purpose, when Maddie is old enough to start trying to escape her crib, this will allegedly keep her safely locked up. What will they think of next.

Tomorrow night Team Beck will be going to the Fords. It is a big change from many of the past New Years Eve. Instead of seeing if I can really drink the $85 worth of booze I just paid for in three to four hours, we will be with four kids 2.5 years and under. That doesn't even include Tim, aka lil guy's presence. He is a slightly over sized kid who just so happens to be a grown adult too. It should be pretty fun though, we might even try to setup some midnight magic between Maddie and Eathan. Anyways we will be sure to include some New Years pictures next time.

To everyone in Maddie's life Happy New Years. Be thankful for another year and many more wonderful memories. Be safe out there everyone, and use public transportation tomorrow night.

Team Beck Out!

Lastly I had to include a picture of Maddie in her fancy new kicks. These are the new Pumas from Eddie and Sara. Thanks!

Christmas Miracle

Yes that is right, Maddie is our Christmas Miracle. She has also given us the greatest gift of all, the last 5 nights she has slept for about six to seven consecutive hours. Last night she even slept in her bed and not the pack and play right next to mom and dads bed. If Frissi happens to read this or hear about this, Mom and Dad sleep in separate beds with a divider between us. Those of you who don't know who frissi is, she is Madeline's Great Grandmother. This was a wonderful Christmas for our family, and we will get to continue the Christmas spirit in a week and a half when Maddie meets all her family in GA, or as Frissi puts it, God's Country. Please be patient, as there will be pictures of the infamous Frissi as well as Maddie with the rest of her Southern heritage.

Other interesting news about Maddie, she has outgrown her newborn diapers. After the third movement that the newborn diapers couldn't hold, we realized it was time to get some more fabric....she is now in size 1 for the diapers. This also means that she has outgrown much of her newborn clothing, pretty soon I'm going to have to be fighting her not to wear makeup. Time just flies, she is already over six weeks old. Madeline also got some wonderful other Christmas gifts this year, one of which she is already playing with. This toy from Grandparents Yeagers, is a foot musical thing that hangs on the side of her bed. With this toy she is able to kick her feet against this padded mat and it makes noise like a piano as well as animal sounds. She so talented, she is already composing her own music. If she is able to be such a musical talent with her feet, I can't imagine when is a little older and able to control her fingers.

This past Saturday Dad and Maddie had their first day out without her Mom. To say Dad was a little nervous was quite the understatement, but then I quickly realized how much of a natural I am as a father. We had a great day of at Grandma Beck's. There Aunt Amanda barely relinquished her hold on Maddie. I'm told by Aunt Amanda, that they had some wonderful conversations.

Another thing Dad did this weekend was play Risk for the first time. Well we played for about 4 hours total, and really didn't get anywhere. We wound up calling world peace and quiting. To say that this was an absolute waste of time doesn't do justice. The solace I can find in playing a game that long without conclusion was playing with my genius Nephew Danny. He obviously takes after his Uncle Alex, aka Dad, except he might be smarter at 8 then dad is at 30. One day he is going to really change/impact the world. I also spent some great time with my other Nephew Andrew. Andrew age 5, is one of the coolest kids I know. He is every bit as smart as Danny, but just applies himself differently. I'm excited to share a beer with him in about 12 years. The picture above is Maddie in Andrews arms, thanks for being such a great big cousin.

I was also told I couldn't write about the Bears in this post, so tomorrow I will recap our thrilling win. Tomorrow will also include some more great pics. Til then find someone to hug and make sure to tell them you love them even if you have told them 1000 times before.

Team Beck

kool Aid and The Holiday Spirit

For those of you who don't know Dad very well, he used to drink the Kool Aid at work very often. I used to be the rah rah guy, and someone, who's name will remain nameless sucked all the Kool Aid out of my soul. The only thing I've been drinking lately has been biter Aid, doesn't really exist, but I'm sure I could find a glass for you. Well today at work our construction workers were going to have their holiday party, and they typically use our club environment for their gathering. It is quite a scene seeing these guys all bring in there favorite dishes. While many of them brought them in Tupperware and were made by their better haves, some of the more proud guys brought in "their specialties". Well it turns out that the club wasn't available for them to use this year because no one would be around. I got wind of this and volunteered my time, no way should these group of guys who help us out so much have to eat on the concourse. This seemed like such a no-brainer, but to those guys it couldn't have been a nicer gesture. They forced me to eat with them and they even did the vast majority of the cleaning. While being thanked for doing something so simple, I realized, I didn't drink the Kool Aid because work provided it, I drank the Kool Aid because it feels good to drink it. While this sounds kinda of cheesy, and while I write this, I want to delete it, it's true.

"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves"

James Barrie

I will no longer let work or my specific job define the type of person I am, I will define the type of work I perform. The Kool Aid is back, and Madeline is going to get a big helping of it tonight.

I would also like to pass a link on to everyone. I hope if nothing else, you go to the website and read a little about it. It is one of the better causes I have come across in a long time. I challenge each and everyone of you to be another Keith Taylor Giddy. Please check out this story:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/12/22/pennies.from.heaven/index.html

or you can go directly to the home page:

http://www.modestneeds.org/

Each morning when you wake up and kiss the one's you love, think about what you can do to make the world a little better.

I would also like to thank Tommy Kaiser for giving me inspiration and guidance on changing the headlight on our car. I thought this could be quite the daunting task, but alas I'm a dad and I can do anything know. Really though, this was actually very easy to do, but Mom and Maddie were very proud of dad, even if it was just for five minutes.

In Maddie news, she and Mom got out to run a few errands today. Everything went great, except for the fact she didn't wear her new puma's. I know world, I wanted to see her in them, but it was snowing and my baby girl shouldn't be out with gym shoes in the snow. Maddie also had her second diaper blow out today. It's wild diapers can do such a great job most of the time, but other times it appears as though she isn't wearing a diaper at all. Maybe Maddie was just upset she couldn't wear her new pumas, or maybe she just had to blow it up.

Maddie is getting so big so quick, I already feel like I'm losing my baby girl. She has already gained almost three pounds. She is such a squirmer also, I'm positive she will be crawling at an early age. Most research says most babies start crawling by 7 months (thank you google), I'm predicting 5.5 months. After all, dad is a natural athlete. So if she is not crawling by then, we know who she takes after.

I'm not sure if I will have a time to write before Christmas, so if not Merry Christmas to everyone. Give some cheer, love and happiness this holiday season......and drink some Kool Aid! For those of you who don't like Kool Aid, booze will suffice.

Team Beck

Twas a few nights before Christmas

Tonight Madeline got to meet her meal ticket. That is Dad's good friend Eddie and his lovely girlfriend Sara. They bought Madeline some of the cutest gifts. Madeline got a sleeping bag type thing to fits inside her car seat or stroller, a cute little outfit, a fleece zipper swaddle bag (pictures to follow), and the cutest pair of puma gym shoes. Mom has already picked out her outfit for tomorrow to match her fancy shoes. Maddie will also get to see her future new friends tomorrow. Brittany from work, HR Manager, but awesome on the same hand. I know I can't believe there are good people in the HR world. Anyways Brittany who's birthday happens to be today, Happy Birthday, is expecting any day now. She is not finding out what she is having. I applaud her being able to not find out, but Team Beck could not do the same. It's got to be hard to shop for a baby that you don't know the sex of. You can only by so much green stuff. Mom is also planning on seeing another great friend of ours Ana. Ana is also due in just over a week as well. Ana's peanut is going to be a girl, that I hope is in Maddie's life for many years. We hope that they become great girlfriends and let Aiden and Ethan Ford chase after them many, many, many years down the line. Maybe we can do an arranged marriage, I wonder if those exist in this country outside maybe the Mormons. Brittany and Ana, Madeline can't wait to meet your children.

The adorable picture attached has Maddie in a cute little Jumper from Aiden and Ethan. Thank you Fords and drive safely up to Michigan!

Tomorrow Maddie will also meet her Aunt Amanda and family, we can't wait.

That is all for tonight, plenty of holiday pictures and stories to come. Maddie we are so thankful for you!!

Team Beck

Sunday Funday

Another Sunday and another loss for Dad and Maddie and their beloved Bears. Maddie got to wear her Bears chearleading outfit today. She looked absolutely adorable. For those of you that watched the game, she may have been the best thing going for them.

I'm going to go off on a little tangent for a minute. I know this blog is supposed to be about Maddie, and this sort of relates. The Bears are in Shambles. The front office is garbage, Jerry Angelo, the GM, has not put together a good draft in years, and I don't see next years draft being much better with no number 1 or 2 round draft picks. Lovie Smith and his coaching staff is really turning into a very unlikeable coaching staff. Jay Cutler, the savior of Chicago, is having a horrendous year, I believe he is tied for second most int's in a season. Yes there are still two more games to go, let's get after that record. While some of the pics can be blamed on the receivers, the six picks in the red zone are inexcusable. The reason I mention this here, is that I'm torn raising Maddie a Bears and Cubs fan, is it fair that she is raised to support two losing franchises. Maybe she can be raised Steelers fan or Yankees fan, or I can save her any
heartache and not allow her to watch sports.


Maddie also got to visit with Santa a little early this year. Luckily I don't think she will remember that she got to see Santa before Christmas. I would have to say Maddie has been on the good list for the most part this year. Really what has she done bad, nothing. She is actually as close to perfection as Peyton Manning and the Colts or for those people in the South, The Tide. I could stare at Maddie for hours and just continue to smile. Every different face she makes, just makes me melt. Normally if I had to clean up someones, number two at 3 am while being thrown up on, I wouldn't be doing it with a smile, rather I would be quit upset. Not with this angel though.

This weekend Team Beck decided to finish up their holiday shopping and went to Old Orchard Mall at 1 pm on Saturday. Turns out this day has a specific name, "Super Saturday" should be called "Hell Day". The mall was packed, it took nearly 20 minutes just to find parking. The good news was we had our wonderful stroller from Grandma. This thing is great, it keeps Maddie toasty warm, and has plenty of space in the under seat storage for all the Christmas presents. In addition to finishing up the Christmas shopping we looked for Mom a push gift. I guess that's the technical term for a gift for having my baby. I don't think I can ever give mom something good enough to ever match what she gave me. Madeline Ruby is the absolute perfect present! I love this little princes. So back to Mom's push gift, we were looking at rings. Sorry people, they were not engagement rings, that is something that will be a surprise for everyone. We were looking at sapphire rings, but the first one we saw was $5500. While Dad is doing okay financially that was a tough bill to swallow, and luckily mom told the nice clerk, that was a little more then we were thinking. I wonder if it's true that the thought is what really matters, if so maybe I can make mom a card and something else, like a knit scarf or something.

This weekend was great, we had a lot of family time. Even Aunt Lindsay got to come over and spend time with her niece. This week is going to be great as well, we get to see Amanda, Peter, Andrew and Danny. Amanda is Dad's sister and Maddie's Aunt, it will be the first time Amanda will be able to get her hands on my little girl.


Dad and Maddie also have their favorite song to sing when Maddie is a little fussy, "We Bid You Goodnight, by the Grateful Dead" attached is the link to the song;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhqkPWCuyKI

Team Beck would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. For the Jewish Community, I hope that this was the best Hanukkah to date.

On a side note anyone that is religious or has any faith I would like to send out two prayer requests. The first if for my Uncle Brian, one of the funniest and kindest people I know. The second request if for my true friend Tim. Please keep these two people in your prayers. The picture above is Tim with Maddie.

Busy Weekend

This was a quite a busy weekend, and much different then a normal busy weekend. On friday night Team Beck went out with some of our dear friends, Vince, Emily and baby Payton (1 yr old), and Matt, Julia, Aiden (2.5 years old) and baby Ethan (1 mo.) This was much different then many other nights out, getting a little buzz was quickly replaced by making sure we had enough high chairs. Dinner out was long, fun and didn't lack a dull moment.

Today Brookes parents left for GA. We cannot thank them enough for everything they did. Now begins the true test for team Beck.

The test didn't start out great this morning. At quarter to 8 this morning I hear, "Honey get over here right away"! I went into the kitchen to see our sink backed up and nearly about to over-flow. It was about 1/2 an inch from becoming a real nightmare. While I'd like to think I'm somewhat handy, I'm not. I called for maintenance to come up right away, which they actually did. Turns out one of our brain-trust neighbors dumped a ton of dirt/soil down there sink. While I would like to believe that our sink was just muddy water, the smell led me to believe there was quite a bit of grease in there as well. Thank goodness there was no dishes, baby bottles or anything in the sink. This was probably only the third time ever we went to bed with a completely clean sink. I would have to compare our sink to a liquid tar kind of appearance.

After about an hour of shop vac, plunge, air pressure gun, repeat, we went another rout. We decided to rod the sink, if that is even the correct term. Unfortunately whatever we cleared out, much of it came out as well. So to say we have a little cleaning and disinfecting to do is a safe bet. The good news about today, is we had a holiday party at work. If you have ever seen the show the office, that's pretty much like our Christmas party.

Well dad is back to work at the house!

By the way can someone show Frisy the picture of Mom outside with Madeline?

Winter Has Arived

Well we can safely say winter has officially arrived. The first snowfall that has stuck to the ground came overnight, Madeline even went out for her first snowball fight today. And by snowball fight, Madeline was laid out on the snow with a towel underneath her. Mom only did a quick few photos, because she was worried some passerby might walk by and think poorly of her mothering skills because she had laid her newborn baby down in the snow. I would normally attach some pictures of this site, but the Ansel Adams of the family was busy working today.

quick side note, dad set the record today for lines on tetris, so pretty productive day if I don't say so myself.

The plan is to do more photos tomorrow, when the real snow storm is scheduled to arrive. so please check back shortly for some great action, snow storm style photos.

Last night Dad attached the tent crib to the crib. The whole idea sounds as silly as it looks. Our wonderful crib that Aunt Susie, lois and Elizabeth bought for our little angel was being used more as a nice cat bed then anything. So we decided to purchase this mesh tent that goes over the crib. It's got a zipper just like you would find on a tent that you would go camping in. The more I think about it, I would like a bed tent, it would be like my own little fort. Sometimes I wonder how I and Dad can be the same person....

That is all for tonight, next time you hear from Team Beck, there will be some good pictures with Maddie and a whole village of Igloos and Snowmen.

Please remember that today is the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, so thank the next member of the armed services you see.

Team Beck Out!

Sorry for the Delay, Dad has been Slacking

Sorry again for the delay, who would have thought being a parent would be so time consuming? Madeline and Dad finally got to see our first Chicago Bears win today. We have been waiting a couple of weeks to finally get to this moment. Thank goodness for the St. Louis Rams.

So what has happened since the last posting???

Madeline has really started to get some neck strength, she is nearly able to hold her head up on her own. As always she is great at eating, sleeping and spitting up at in opportune times. Oh, did we mention, Madeline goes through diapers like Tiger goes through stories about what happened the other night.

Dad has gone back to work as well. Therefore dad has had some time to improve his tetris game.

Mom is looking wonderful, she is already back in her pre-pregnacy jeans. Mom has been great!

Both Set of Grandparents have been wonderful. Grandma/Ninny and Buddy/Grandpa Yeager, Thank You! Grandma Beck the advent calendar is great!

Team beck has also gone and got the first set of baby pictures taken, so stay tuned for some wonderfully overpriced photos. Dad fancies himself as somewhat a photographer, so that can help explain some of the great photos that are included in this post.

Pepper and Bailey the dog and cat aka big sisters, have gone quite the different directions. Bailey, the cat is only thankful the dog has someone else to pester. While, Pepper the dog, is a parent, big protective sister, and sometimes the jealous sister. Overall the Pets have been as good as we possibly could have imagined.

We will make sure to update much more frequently in the future, part of the problem is dad cannot blog from work. It's like they forcing dad to only work on his tetris game.

Anyways enjoy the pics and Team Beck will see you all soon!

Oh, I can't forget, Roll Tide!

Dueces!