the salay family

our virginia "blizzard".. yeah i said it!

2009-12-19T15:30:00.000-08:00

if that's what they want to call it.. far from the blizzards we are familiar with.. but we will let these virginians panic while they can. HEY at least we got snow!!! we got to play and decorate for christmas while the snow fell.. it was amazing. since we've moved to virginia, it has NEVER been inspiring to put up the tree or christmas shop without trudging through snow.. in fact we are usually in a state of depresession from november 1st to march-ish.. so the snowy weather did give us a little incentive to blast some christmas jams and finish decorating, gift wrapping, and start baking. it is insane how much we miss shoveling snow or slipping on ice in our driveway.. our northern friends call our love affair pathetic lol.. oh well.. agree to disagree.

Anyways this is Maddox's second winter of at least seeing snow in VA though.. so he's gotten his money's worth out of his snow boots (maybe about 5 wears in them now). Here are a few videos from today.. so much fun.. and we will back out there tomorrow to enjoy this fluffy stuff while its here!

finally we pulled out the sled from the 30's.. and it didn't work out so well lol

decorating with the orioles.. brace yourselves

ever since our first winter down here, we've decided that we want to move back north.. its not christmas without snow. we love the city of richmond, but we miss the snow. hopefully sometime soon we will end up back that way. since both mike and i grew up spending winters enjoying skiing, and sledding, and skating, we realize that it's not fair for maddox to grow up without it. its amazing how depressing these winter months are without snow!

the many talents of hoss

2009-12-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

there are 2 things maddox has completely mastered.. and we are lucky enough to witness both of them in this video.. see if you can guess.. don't cheat!

talent #1: dancing.. no lie, porkchop has rhythm! gets it from his mama.. oh and also talent #2: picking his nose.. not only does maddox THOROUGHLY enjoy shoving his finger up his nose.. he does it to be spiteful as well! for example.. Mike went to take Maddox to get his haircut while I had to work on Thursday. Usually this is mommy's job because Maddox goes to the same salon that I go to, so I bring all the gear: DVD player, biscoff cookies, and clunky toys and haul it all in in my pretty vera dipe bag. Well you can imagine how it all goes down when its dads turn to take him. Lets say that Maddox fell asleep on the way to the salon, so Mike picks him up.. LEAVING THE GEAR IN THE CAR.. figuring that hoss will just sleep through the entire thing. Well that plan works while he is getting one half of his head cut.. when its time to make the other side match.. guess who wakes up. Mr. morning sunshine wanted nothing more than to just go back to sleep.. so what does he do? scream at the top of his lungs and shove his finger as far up his nose as it will fit. Mike learned his lesson that he should haul the pretty vera around everywhere!

chesterfield berry farm

2009-10-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

hoss + hayrides + spinning tractor wheels + fields of pumpkins = a great time in maddox's book! here are pictures and video for proof.

watching the wheels spin on the barrel/tractor ride or whatever you want to call them..
maddox has decided that if wheels are in his vicinity, he has the right to spin them, let them be car wheels, the wheel chairs of random elderly, giant tractor wheels, or his favorite, stroller wheels...
not only does he have to spin them, but he has to also direct and navigate where these wheels can go..

i didn't think we'd EVER get out of this corn maze moving at his rate!

picking out a pumpkin with daddy..

maddox' has been making this face so much recently, i'm not sure why, but its so cute.. sometimes he will do this, and try and walk in his play pen, but he goes really slow, and its almost like he's purposely trying to walk into his toys lol. anyways, its so cute, i'm so happy i caught it! notice us on the hayride.. we had to sit as close to the tractor as possible so that way hoss could have full visibility of the spinning wheels!!!!!

a lot on our minds right now

2009-10-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

well.. we have alot to catch up on. we had to take a little blogger sebatical. well, i guess it was more or less ME than anything else. the last update i had posted was after we got our passports which we used to go to st. anne de beaupre in quebec, canada. my family has been going to visit this basilica since my mother was born. my mother was born premature, on July 26th, which is St. Anne's feast day (birthday) and back then, in catholic, upstate ny hospitals, if there was any questions of the risk to the mother or baby during labor, a nun would sit in the delivery room to ensure that the baby's life would be saved, meanwhile the mother's life was considered not as equal importance during that traumatic time, so very often in these cases, the mother would die in order to save the baby's life. so anyways, my great grandmother made a promise that if both my mother and my grandmother survived, then they would make a yearly pilgrimage to st. anne de beaupre in quebec as a thank you.

so needless to say, every year since then we have made a pilgrimage. since we have moved to virginia, we have not been back as frequently as we would have hoped for, but time and distance and cost have unfortunately been factors for that. when mike was in iraq we made a special trip up there to ask for his safe return home. when mike did get home from iraq, the following summer i ended up pregnant and we couldn't make it up there, and now that we had maddox, we had so much more to be thankful for now. so we spent our 4th of july in quebec, canada. here are a few pics of the shrine..

during mass everynight they perform a procession in honor of st. anne.. it is one of the most amazing things to be apart of if you ever get the chance.

we usually stay in this great ski chalet (lodge) on mount st. anne, but for some reason my dad thought it would be a GREAT idea to haul the rv up to quebec and enjoy the wilderness that quebec has to offer.. which is NONE. their sense of camping is totally not like ours. lets just say this was the only way maddox could get clean! i have NEVER bathed maddox in the sink before.. in fact, i think its the most disgusting thing to bathe a baby in a sink. so this goes without saying just how desperately maddox needed a bath!

whenever we go to the shrine, we always drive past these amazing natural falls on the drive in. this year we decided to take maddox to them and to check them out ourselves.

sandy loved every minute of our trip, as she always does. soon after getting home from this trip, sandy began having a lot of trouble walking. it came on pretty fast and in a matter of hours she was unable to move her back legs or hips. sadly, we had to put her down nearly 10 days after getting home. we felt that something or someone made it possible for her to accompany us on this trip with us. she was 14 years old and this is one of the last photos i took of sandy. after putting her down, i still hadn't edited these pictures of our trip, mostly because i couldn't bring myself to pull them up on the computer after all that had happened. we were really devastated at how fast everything happened and how quickly everything took a turn for the worst. our hearts were really hurting having to part with such a close member of our family.

it was only after that, in which we learned of a close friend's passing during his service in afghanistan, leaving behind a son just months older than maddox, that made us really put sandy's death into perspective. we are still saddened by our loss, but even more grief stricken by the loss of our friend and well respected soldier, lance corporal jeremy lasher. his wife andrea and son cadence remain in our thoughts everyday. so much so, that i felt guilty for even coming close to posting anything on here. but seeing her photojournalist way in which she continues telling her family's story, is a constant reminder of what a remarkable woman and mother she is. be thankful for all that you have and thank our soldiers for their unspeakable sacrifices that they bare. i guess i just had to get all of this off of our chests before we continue to blog anypoint further. thanks for listening and following and thank you to all of our family and friends that are in our lives. this blog was started as a platform to be able to share all of our family news with people in our lives that genuinely care and love us, and we thank you all, you know who you are.

baby's first mugshot!

2009-06-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

about a month ago, mike, maddox, and i applied for passports for our vacation coming up here in a few weeks. and since then, i've had this picture on my fridge. passport photos have to be very serious.. NO SMILING.. even for a 16 month old! i'm not sure why i've posted it on my fridge, but I can't get over how sad maddox looks in this "mugshot"! maybe its the fact its andy warhol style and looks so commercial, but i consider this the worst picture of maddox ever, just because he looks so sad and alone!! thus for those reasons alone, i had to share on here and vent!

happy father's day!!

2009-06-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

love, your favorite large mouth bass

dodging raindrops

2009-06-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we got a chance to go camping at Virginia Beach. Usually, we make this trip Memorial Day weekend, but we figured it would be a lot less crowded now and we were right. Plus the weather cleared up just in time! You can tell its so much harder to get a decent picture of Maddox at the beach nowadays, but here are a sample. Such a drastic difference from the beach portraits I took last August aren't they? lol

what a ham

2009-06-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

With all this rain, its been hard to get outside at all, and with little hoss being so mobile nowadays its even harder to get a photo of him sitting still.. consider it a miracle he parked his hiney on a chair for these few pictures alone.

poppy franks birthday!

2009-06-10T16:12:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Maddox and I went to New Jersey with my family to visit Poppy Frank for his birthday. Sadly we had to leave Mike behind for the weekend. Here are a few pictures of our weekend with little hoss and his new monkey leash.. which is GRRREAT! I'm not sure if he's such a fan of it as I am!

Uncle Kenny and little hoss

the oriole men

Frank in the cougar den

baby leyden is here!!

2009-05-07T23:00:00.000-07:00

congrats to stevie & marissa on the birth of their son, anthony gerard leyden!! and to steve & ro on being grandparents! maddox has a new cousin.. well third cousin, but since my side of the family is small its still exciting either way!
baby anthony & maddox are exactly 15 months apart! we're so happy for you guys!

happy birthday aunt melissa!!

2009-05-07T17:56:00.001-07:00

happy birthday aunt melissa!!!
the sign is a little hard to read but it says "happy birthday to a godmother thats faaaaaabulous!" and believe or not this is the best pic i could get of hoss holding this sign.. i love how enthusiastic his expression is. lol its my own fault for forcing him into such ridiculous situations for the sake of art (i.e.: garden gnome!). anyways, i had to post the outtakes on here so aunt melissa can understand the task it is to get these "sign pics". they are too funny and are in much need of some written in captions...

do you see all you have to look forward to miss?? happy bday!

from the video vault..

2009-05-03T22:20:00.000-07:00

well now that weather has turned all dreary, i figured i'd post some videos up here from a few months ago that i never had a chance to post, yes at one point virginia got snow.. and maddox FINALLY got to play in it! he had actually seen snow about 2 different times before this. His first time was when we went to Pennsylvania and then New York, and both times we were soo busy visiting family and friends and doing a little skiing of our own, that maddox never got a chance to even play in the white fluff. So finally, god answered these displaced-northerners' prayers and sent us snow in va! I don't know if you can tell who is having more fun in it, maddox or the grown ups.

can ya tell he was thrilled, but at least we finally got use of that ny sled!

anyways feel free to surf our youtube channel anytime, as i update that with video than i do here :) http://www.youtube.com/user/justklutzy

baby blues

2009-04-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

after looking at these pics, mike and i completely have the baby blues.. where did our baby go? i'm looking at a little boy in these pictures. its amazing to me how much maddox's face has matured, even his facial expressions seem so grown up! where did our baby goooo?

happy birthday daddy!

2009-04-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

dear daddy, i wish there were as many daddies like you in the world, as there are rat tails in your elementary school pictures! :) happy birthday to the best daddy a soon-to-be-quarterback could ask for!!

all our love, mommy & maddox

yay fun with the new lens!

2009-04-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

no your eyes are not deceiving you.. TWO updates in ONE week! just enjoy it while it lasts! the weather was so beautiful yesterday that i we had to do a quicky photoshoot with maddox to test out the new lens. you'll have to excuse some of these, i'm still figuring out all the capabilities of my new toy! i've also discovered that in the few weeks its been since the last time i've had a 'session' with maddox.. his attention span is getting alot shorter and his willingness to look in the direction of the camera is not like it used to be.. and also this little popeye face is appearing in more photographs than ever before! lol

you better bee-lieve it

2009-04-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

we have been busy as little bees! and we can't bee-lieve its been 2 months since we posted on here! we have been keeping busy bayBEE proofing our home, little hoss is on the go, but not yet walking! anyways, we hope you enjoy our bee-log face lift :) i think i've run out of bee-sayings for now, but either way here is the most recent pic of maddox and it was my first shot with my new lens.. sooo un-BEE-lievably excited!what has been keeping us so busy? its okay you can BEE nosey.. check out oriolephotography.com!

vlog us!

2009-02-10T20:43:00.000-08:00

so for christmas, mike and i received a flip mino digital recorder to capture all of pork chop's little moments, and let me just tell you.. we LOVE it. we wish we had gotten this thing sooner! this thing can fit in my purse, my diaper bag, and apparently pretty discretely under the seat of the car! so as much as we LOVE to vlog on here, salay stalkers can be one step ahead of us by checking up on our youtube site and seeing videos of little hoss and the whole fam on here:
http://www.youtube.com/justklutzy
here's a preview, just for the heck of it..

a pork chop party!

2009-02-09T05:43:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Maddox officially turned 1 and we had a 'beach' party to celebrate the birth of little hoss! Here are just a few pictures and videos of the day..

maddox and william, mommy and taresa

charissa and jayden
shannon and nelson, mommy and maddox

maddox's beach cake!

after swimming this exhausted little guy, could barely keep his eyes open to blow out the candle

pork chop completely missed out on his own cake and ice cream

nelson

maddox's buddy jonah

taresa and shannon, william and nelson
the birthday boy!
naptime

amy and madison

the birthday boy.. what a party pooper..

a super late 11th bday pic!

2009-02-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

check out our little karate kid!!

well i'm managing to post maddox's 11 month picture just 2 days before his 1st birthday! i'm pretty sure that is a record! hoss's outfit for this pic was given to him by his buddy nelson and is no joke.. authentic japanese garb! unfortunately the picture is out of focus, great photography on my part.. on a brighter side, our FLIP has been FOUND.. and we are FLIPPIN excited!! you should be too.. why, you ask? because you'll be seeing ALOT more updates on this blog! not only did we find the videos of new york, but we are out of our "flip depression" and will be trying to play catch up! speaking of, i'm posting some of the "out takes" from this session because they are so darn cute, and are a photo essay on the attention span of an 11 month old!

to check out maddox's growth chart click here!

oh the fun.. look whose turning one!

2009-01-31T18:23:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share the invitation I made up for Maddox's birthday party. We are in complete shock that our little guy is already one.. where did time go? We would like to extend this invite to any of our friends and family that would like to share in our celebration as well (and are going to be in town)! Feel free to crash.. the more the merrier!

poopin and pukin!

2009-01-25T18:36:00.001-08:00

ohhh how exciting! but that is what has been keeping us so busy around here for the past week! december 13th-18th we went to ny to visit family and the next morning, after we arrived home.. i got sick. oh what fun, i thought it was food poisoning from a turkey sandwich, but little did i know! by monday night, I ended up in the er, then tuesday, maddox got sick, and the poor little man ended up in the doctors office twice in 3 days and here we are almost 3 days later, and this bug has run through: mommy, maddox, daddy, grandpa, and most recently.. uncle kenny. so, yes are still alive, and we have MUCH to post and blog about, but for right now, we are just trying to catch up on the laundry as we go through it! check back soon all you salay stalkers!! ;)

happy birthday nelson!!

2009-01-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

omg has it been a year already? unbelievable, but it has and we celebrated nelson's one year mark today with some of maddox's friends (well mommy's friends who all happened to have baby boys within weeks of each other). i wish i could have gotten more pics and videos but i was a little busy from chasing around little hoss.

can you guess which self proclaimed "photographer" brought a point and shoot camera with dying batteries to the party??

william does not approve of the antics going on here..

these are the only pics i took, but thank god for taresa and her WORKING batteries.. those pics should be posted soon! I took more pics of the birthday boy than my own son, but it was so much fun either way, any excuse to get the boys together so the mama's can catch up and laugh at how pedafile-ish yo gabba gabba is, is a fun time!

ambitious me

2008-12-29T19:28:00.000-08:00

Since graduation, the job search hasn't been so great, especially in this economy. I don't think any photographers are hiring assistants, and applying to galleries is always fun, but has been taking so freakin long. After deciding that I really don't want to be using my BFA to wait tables, I woke up overly ambitious this morning and headed over to the courthouse. Needless to say, Oriole Photography is now an official business, licensed and soon-to-be insured! I would have taken a picture of me with my official license, but I wasn't ambitious enough for makeup.. maybe another time... lol

hoss's first christmas!!

2008-12-25T23:28:00.000-08:00

we hope that everyone had a wonderful christmas! we ended up being so busy right before the holidays that we didn't even make it to even see santa!! he must have gotten our wishlist anyways and thought we were nice this year because we sure were spoiled!

a little bit of christmas eve:
i shouldn't even claim to be a photographer with these pictures, but you get the idea!

and a little bit of christmas day:

merry christmas!!
love mike, jessica, & maddox

happy 10 months birthday maddox!

2008-12-20T22:25:00.000-08:00

oh, do you enjoy the bedhead? hoss is showing off his super cute pj's that santa (aka aunt jess p) mailed him and mommy just loves them! we are so excited to see her in just a few more weeks, when we go skiing in PA at the blue knob resort! ohhh we really can't wait! it will be maddox's first time seeing snow AND meeting jess! yayyy!

yes, this post is late, SURPRISED? prob not! hah we've been pretty busy "porkchop-proofing" the house because little man is on the move! he is crawling and cruising everywhere, pulling up and standing and always into something nowadays. seems like he's into everything but cheerios or any other solids other than stage 2s. don't let his size fool ya, he is still breastfeeding, and still refusing to take a bottle! originally the plan was to bfeed up to a year then wean, and we are hoping that hoss will be ready to wean at that time too, but i don't think thats gonna be as easy as we had hoped. which to us, isn't a bad thing, the longer the better is what i've been told, but i'd like to set our goal at weaning definitely by 7th grade. hah kidding!

to see maddox's growth chart click here!!

edumacated!!

2008-12-17T18:37:00.000-08:00

yayy mommy graduated!! we almost thought it would never happen, but after moving to texas, moving back to virginia, 2 deployments, 2 weddings, and then the arrival of porkchop, i FINALLY graduated! so now what? its sad to say but i was missing vcu before i had even left the campus, i've been in the 'real world' now for almost 24 hours and i'm already scared!

little hoss was a complete angel throughout the entire day! plus he looked super adorable in his little shirt and tie.. that is no clip on!

what a great way to end the semester..
can ya tell my internship was at richmond mag?
this drink was well earned after an entirely stressful semester

does this little man look like a 10 month old? or a 3 year old? haha where'd our baby go??

happy turkey day!

2008-11-27T21:26:00.000-08:00

well mommy decided that the best way to celebrate thanksgiving would be to dress up porkchop as a turkey. At 24 lbs, he could definitely pass off as a turkey, so it was more than appropriate.

its a tradition in my family, that those celebrating their first thanksgiving, gets a picture with the drumstick. we have about 3 generations of drumstick photos so far..

we hope everyone had a
happy thanksgiving!!!
love, mike, jess & maddox

oOops! forgot one.. my two stuffed turkeys..

happy 9 months birthday maddox!!

2008-11-27T07:47:00.000-08:00

well the picture is fuzzy and definitely a little late, but our little monster is getting so big we can't believe it. oh fyi, we are really not redskins fans of any kind, but we haven't seen any buffalo or miami(ukkk!!) jerseys and this was just soo cute that it was hard to pass up.. so while he fits into it, he's a fan.
hoss is weighing in at 24lbs 1oz and is 30 and 1/4 inches long. he has 8 teeth now but no use for them, considering he's still fighting the idea of cheerios or anything else requiring chewing. Maddox has decided he's not a sippy cup kind of guy and only takes his juice from a straw. crawling is just about there, but he's better at moving every direction other than forward, and can spin in circles better than Brian Boitano. his walker is his main source of transportation, because he is beginning to bottom out the jumperoo. Other than that, he is eating, eating, eating, and growing, growing, growing!!!

to see maddox's growth chart, click here!!

oh we are BEEhind!

2008-11-26T08:04:00.000-08:00

no pun intended, but i'm sure this is nothing new to our avid readers! school has been keeping us soo busy! only 2 more weeks to go for me! i can't believe it, but that means that SOON you will be seeing pictures of halloween, our trip to nj, maddox's 9 month pics, videos of maddox in his walker, and other such exciting things! but for right now, its homework, studying, and researching.. FUN FUN FUN! we hope everyone has a great thanksgiving, and maybe we will find a minute to update this thing over break, but we haven't forgotten about it!

thanks so much!!

2008-11-21T01:07:00.000-08:00

Yes we won!!!!!! ...because of all of YOU.. maddox's friends and family are the true reason we won the halloween contest! we are so blessed to have such supportive people in our life, you all are so truly amazing, we are sincerely thankful to you all for our new camera. teeheehee I'm sure my poor son cannot wait to see what his mother gets him to do for the sake of "art" with the new canon.

vote vote vote!!!

2008-11-17T11:39:00.000-08:00

first mike and i are so flattered by the overwelming response and messages of love we have received regarding our little garden gnome! just to be nominated for the parents magazine contest was an honor in itself. we'd sincerely like to thank everyone for all of your help and support, and would just like to add that there are..

only 2 days left to vote!!!

you can vote once everyday for every email address!
yayyy!
maddox is leading but only by 5 votes!!
and he needs your help!!!
step 1: register your email address here
step 2: vote vote vote here!!!

if your confused, your screen should look like this:

did we mention this was for parents magazine???
hurry pass this on!!! our little porkchop needs your help to win this!!!

vote for... change?? NO MADDOX!!!

2008-11-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

YEP! it's TRUE! aparently Maddox's picture that I entered into some halloween contest is now a finalist!

GO HERE TO VOTE!!

oh we are so proud of our 'lil garden gnome!!' yayyy for us!

What a great surprise on this crappy veteran's day we had today! Mommy's car was out of commission, so she took 'daddy's car' and ended up stranded downtown today between classes. What a long day its been, so just as I was about to head to bed, Maggie Mars' mama texts me to tell me of this news! What an exciting way to end a crappy day! yay to us and to our veteran!

i have a million things i SHOULD be doing

2008-11-06T18:30:00.001-08:00

but for some reason i spent 20 minutes putting this together :)

Glitter Graphics

we love our HONEYbee

2008-10-25T21:18:00.001-07:00

surprise!!!! we decided to answer the quiz question early, not because we didn't have other things to do (like homework) but because his portraits came out so darn cute, we got ants in our pants and had to share them.. (umm the pics, not the ants) i can't imagine how these would have turned out if he was actually a porkchop! hahha thankfully, i'm not that crafty..

hope you didn't get lost in all of these pictures, i shot over 400 of him, haha so you can just imagine how fun it was narrowing it down to THESE..

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!
love, mike, jessica, & maddox

maddox's first mullet!!

2008-10-22T21:10:00.001-07:00

i know i know.. we are up to our ears in homework and have a laundry list of things to do.. INCLUDING the laundry! BUT maddox had his first haircut today and I couldn't resist blogging about it! his hair was getting to be a little too long on top, to the point that when he was wearing nothing but a smile and a diaper at the doctors, he would constantly be mistaken for a "she". don't ask me how, because I think he looks like a definite boy, but for his man-sake we decided it was time for a little trim!

I can't get over how our little baby now looks like a little boy! He sort of sat still for the haircut, but at least he wasn't in tears, and same goes for mommy! In fact, he sat pretty still for the top to be trimmed, but after that started squirming, so the sides are longer than we wanted, looking like a glamourized mullet. ahahha well what can ya do? maddox's first official mullet... maybe not the last?

here is a comparison from the 'before'..

and here are a few of the 'afters'..

we also got to meet baby jonah and check up on his new mommy kristyn! congrats on the beautiful baby boy, can't wait to photograph him soon!!!

snowsuit envy?

2008-10-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

yesterday we spent the chilly afternoon with the knights of columbus, really it was just an excuse for maddox to wear his skyhawks snowsuit that grandma and grandpa made for him. its super cute, we love it, plus it was perfect for the windchill we didn't expect there! maddox was missing bella and milo and we wanted to share all the 'fun' they missed out on!

what a little ham.. has mommy trained him or what??

look at all those chompers!

maddox with future knights

horrible pic of mommy, but cute of maddox.. as always :)

one of these days i'll be prepared for a pic

maddox and grandpa staring contest
grandpa and daddy discussing football scores.. maddox looks sooo interested

on the way home.. look at all those teeth!

behind the scenes

2008-10-19T06:52:00.001-07:00

nowadays its not too easy getting a pic of maddox on that chair, he snakes and squirms his way out, almost making the picture taking opportunity a few seconds...

happy 8 months birthday maddox!!

2008-10-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

Maddox has developed so much personality in this past month it has amazed us! we've tried introducing cheerios, sippy cup, and even juice.. and mr. leg rolls is not about any of them! instead he enjoys drinking water from it being dropped into his mouth with a straw! i'm not sure where we went wrong but it seems like we're raising a baby pelican! and if you've seen the movie 'meet the faulkers' you know that the nephew used hand signals to say when he was hungry, maddox uses those same signals (completely by chance) when we are feeding him. and its sooo funny to watch, because all we can think of is the milking sign language from that movie! maddox has offically sprouted his 6th tooth.. and letting mom feel the wrath of everyone of them! we took him to the doctors this past friday for his flu shot and he is 23.5 lbs! just about outgrowing his carseat and jumperoo! we wanted to get a walker for him, but he would bottom it right out with their 25lb max!!

to see maddox's growth chart, click here!!

too busy to blog!!

2008-10-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

sorry to say it, but its true! we've just been too busy to blog.. or even take pictures, or even upload the videos! its horrible! thankfully just a little over a month left to this craziness and we will be back to normal! btw what do you think of our new blog facelift? we wanted to get a lil festive, but the layout was decided when gramma anna said that the pumpkin or whatever it is on here, looks like testicles. so that was enough to make it or break it hahha so enjoy the 'scenery' on the salay family page! we miss you all... and our normal lives!

our quiz answer...

2008-10-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

TEXAS!!!!!

congrats to all 13 of you that got it right.. you get no prize, just the satisfaction that we now know you stalk our blog.. haha jk!!

Aside from all the craziness of school, work, and maddox between both Mike and I, there is not much time left for blogging! Just a few months left til everything calms down! To report on whats new around here, Maddox turns 8 months in just a few days!!! He is weighing 22lbs 11oz and is dealing with the pain of his 5TH TOOTH!!! yes.. number 5! that means ANOTHER tooth, mom has to steer clear of during feedings!! He is still a 100% booby boy, and so much so, that now he refuses to take a bottle when I'm at school.. so I think we have our work cut out for ourselves after the first year is over. We may even get brave this week and take a try at cheerios! Not crawling forward yet.. but backwards a little bit and sometimes sideways! We are super excited about halloween around the corner!! maddox has yet to pick out his first pumpkin... hopefully this weekend coming up! well thats all for now! sorry for no pics or videos, we have taken them seldomly around here, and when I find some time to post them, they will be up! check out our new quiz!!!

office party!

2008-09-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

yay for the office being back! we missed it! uncle kenny likes to joke on maddox's long bangs and he thinks that maddox would be a good dwight schrute for halloween.. you be the judge? i think maddox says no! and fyi uncle kenny.. if a rattle is found in a bowl of jello tomorrow.. your gonna be in trouble!

senioritis!

2008-09-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

both mike and i are experiencing a major case of senioritis! so much so that now that maddox is asleep i should be working on my "fascinating" french impressionist art history paper, but i've decided that i'd rather create a few countdowns to motivate us towards graduation.. check them out, our blog is blinnnnnged out now!

just catching up

2008-09-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

since i have a few minutes i may as well embrace them!!

maddox is a HUGE fan of backyardigans, we are amazed at how intently he watches the show, this little quiet moments in between teething terrors are just priceless to us nowadays!!

maddox's first bubble bath! with mommy in the BIZ he has pretty much gotten the jist of what happens when a camera is placed in his face! when maddox sees the orange light, he immediately starts grinning ear to ear, and i SWEAR i've heard him actually say cheese its so cute! in one of his baby einstein movies, an octopus has a camera facing right at him, and i tell him say cheese.. and I'VE HEARD him say it!! my poor child, i've worked him like a slave in front of my shutter! heres a video we caught of him thinking that saying 'cheese' was the most hysterical thing ever.. and if you really think about it, he's prob right..

sorry about the crappy lighting, mommy didn't really have alot of time to evaluate it before snapping these real quick

just a few pics of him recently, and as you can see he's grinning from ear to ear in them all!

do you see daddy's new BADGE?? lol mommy finally has 'authority' to photograph it, he has a whole new TSA uniform as of september 11th. watch out terrorists, this is the face of 'DANGER' (so we've been told)!

and finally here's pics from maddox's FIRST skyhawks football game, its crazy to think that 8 years ago i was cheering on that field, and mike as in the stands and now we have a family.. who might we add, also enjoys cheering on for bird (even in 90 degree weather.. UGH)!

happy 7 month birthday maddox!!

2008-09-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

it seems like yesterday that we were eating a "jello-cake" for maddox's half birthday and now he's already 7 months old! where does time go?? mommy couldn't wait to put maddox in his half-bday gift from aunt melissa! and we think he looks super cute it in too!! thank you aunt melissa! love, maddox
to see maddox's growth chart click here!

baby noses to baby toesies

2008-09-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

ehhh mom has a camera in her hand always (and usually maddox in the other) now that school is back in session.. so this is usually the outcome:

BIG newsss of the weekend!

2008-09-07T22:23:00.000-07:00

so i've finally gotten myself an internship for the semester!! i had been racking my brain out this week between two great offers that i was extremely fortunate to receive, and i've decided to go with richmond mag AND i couldn't be more excited! now, graduation is just a few months away!!

and good news for mike too!!! he got his offical BADGE from tsa!! if you don't know what tsa is, its the people that work hard at the airport to secure our airways. mike says TSA stands for Take S*** Away.. lol but he's officially an 'officer of the law' or something along those lines. he's more excited about getting his 25 cent coffee from wawa now more than anything...

and last but DEFINITELY not least!! maddox said his first word today!! noo i wasn't smooth enough to be able to get a video of him to post on here, but i was laying with him this morning, and he starts his little 'storytelling' aka rambling AND then he looks at me and says DADA.. i know i'm not his dada, but he was prob asking me when dada was getting home from work, lol that is my assumption at least! either way, he said his first word on his offical 7 month bday, our little porkchop is growing up so fast!!!

grandpa's birthday shenanigans

2008-09-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

well grandpa's birthday was really on Tuesday but since he was out of town, we celebrated it today. and since the weather wasn't working out too well, we decided to work with what we had..

and if you thought that photoshoot was crazy, then you should have been at dinner with us, lol lets just say usual oriole shenanigans.. poor grandpa! here is uncle kenny after a 27oz texas margarita from dpg's..

here is ice road trucker kenny
(yes we know its a hack photoshop job
i am in much need of sleep !!!!!)

my poor dad has to actually pay money for this type of public embarrassment

anddddd he's stuck!

enjoy some of uncle kenny tv..
which goes without saying viewer discretion is ADVISED!

and here is uncle kenny trying to
embarrass grandpa at the pump shortly after
what you DON'T see on camera is the 'friendly, dainty' woman next to us that i was actually scared to video.. she could have kicked DAD'S butt lol and no my dad is not 56 he's 53 lol and no he didn't shart either.. oh and for the record.. the audio of the 'friendly, dainty' woman next to us, told my dad that kenny should never drink again!!

aunt melissa.. do you REALLY miss this????? LOL

we know we are slackers.. we've established it in previous posts!!

2008-09-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

well if you think we were 'blog-slackers' before, then you have no clue what you are in stored for for the next few months!! we've been a little m.i.a. because daddy has been busy working two jobs, mommy is working weekends at applebees, PLUS both of us are now going to school full time! mommy is also busy busy trying to get an internship for this semester, she has a few good prospects so we will keep you posted on which way she decides to go! right now she is knee deep, in "operation: FREAKIN' GRADUATE ALREADY!!!" and is scheduled for a december commencement! so besides juggling all that, we definitely spend every other minute spared with our little porkchop! but other than that, there isn't too much time left for our blog, but when we have a break, we'll be sure to catch you up on what's going on with us! so hang in there!

oh p.s. here are a few pics to see how maddox is being used for school projects this semester..

oh p.p.s. to see what else mommy has been working on, you can visit her school blog here!

we are sorry bella and milo!!

2008-09-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

we know we have some little fans out there who get a little upset when 'miss jessica' doesn't get around to updating the blog! rest assured bella, we have ALOT of pics to post to catch up, but here are a few from bella, milo, and maddox's playdate from like 3 weekends ago!

they say these swings are meant for a 9 month old..
our hoss has been in it since he was 4 months! lol
maddox's checkin out milo's dump truck..
we know he's taking mental notes
the cutest penguin i've ever seen! lol

bell and maddox
looks like she's a good "swing-pusher"

milo pushing maddox

mr. mike showing bella some tricks of the trade
future olympic swimmer bella in the pool with maddox and 'miss jessica'
maddox is enjoying the story time
what a good teacher

does maddox look like he's having fun or what?
mr. ken teaching milo a few moves too!

maddox had so much fun with milo and bella, we hope to hang out again soon! we are also hoping bella had a great first day at school! we miss you guys!!!

maddox's first word? we say YEAH!

2008-08-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

a week ago, maddox mastered the art of shaking his head no to any question he was asked.. now it looks like our little hoss is all in agreeance.

we've got our fingers crossssed

2008-08-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

with both mike and i going to school full time this fall, we are getting in all the vacation days we can handle, so we went to baltimore to see the body worlds exhibit (amazinggg) and catch another orioles game. we were doing the math and maddox has been to 2 orioles games and we've lost track of how many ric braves games and he still has YET to catch a foul ball! the season is coming to a close here soon, so we are hoping for a little luck, and maybe a NICE ball boy!

thank you jungle book

'yes we all knew sooner or later, mom would pop my collar'

inner harbor.. just missed aunt jess meeting maddox by 2 days!!

i guess you can call him the herlihy boy of foul balls
'GRANDMA STOP! THIS HAT IS VINTAGE!!'
'NOW YOUR GONNA PAY FOR THAT!'
we were there for the 50 millionth oriole fan.. but we were not them.
i think if your last name is oriole you should automatically qualify, don't ya think?

'man i can't look'
throwin in the hat
good oriole genes
can u guess by the attire, who is anti-oriole? lol MMMMIKE!

uncle kenny and maddox

monkey face see, monkey face do

2008-08-23T21:00:00.001-07:00

i believe this is how porkchop earned his nickname 'monkey face' from aunt karen...

the rest of our myrtle beach fun..

2008-08-23T20:48:00.001-07:00

i know i know there are soo many!

the gators of huntington beach state park, myrtle beach
one guy decided it would be a great idea to bring his little puppy over to see the gators too, well this gator thought that puppy would be a nice snack, so he came over to get a better view

this is as close as i'd like to be, thank you

see what happens when you drink margaritas in the hot sun..
you're at the oriole fam's mercy!

daddy and maddox 'crocodile hunting'

borrowin' grandma's shoulder for a nap

can you guess who took this pic (hint: check out that shadow lol)
nice try daddy, but lets leave the picture takin' up to mommy

"that octopus, he's a real character, hah, let's read on.."

showing off our tan lines.. part II

2008-08-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

after much anticipation.. and editing, and color correcting and juxtaposing..

showing off our tan lines.. and daddy's burns.. part I

2008-08-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

well we have literally a thousand photos to sort thru from the past five days, but here a few just to let you know we are home and tired from our annual fam vacation to myrtle beach, check back with us soon to see the rest!!

cat nappin'

2008-08-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

nothing like waking up to find yourself naked, in a basket, with a camera lens in your face!
when you look as cute as maddox does sleeping, your sleeping at your own risk in this house!!

the cutest monkey everrr!

2008-08-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

happy 6 month birthday maddox!!

2008-08-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

our lil prince turned 6 months yesterday!!
to see maddox's 'growth chart' click here!
and you better believe we celebrated maddox's 1/2 birthday with a 1/2 birthday party! pics to be posted soon!!

6 month portraits

2008-08-07T23:08:00.000-07:00

well since mommy decided maddox needed a funny hat to celebrate his 1/2 bday,

we couldn't resist the opportunity to photograph him in it!

meeting poppy frank

2008-08-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

well i think its about time that i upload the pics of our trip to new jersey from last weekend! we took maddox to meet his great poppy frank and great aunt karen and uncle kurt and here are just a few pics from the trip!

our "bare necessities" include this dvd player and the jungle book dvd.. thank god for those!
maddox and poppy frank
the oriole men and maddox
maddox and aunt karen

practically feeding himself the pudding
"ohhh ya caught me ma"
dillion taught maddox that boys don't high five..
they 'pound it' so i think thats whats going on here

this is the "blue elephant" that we never leave home without!!

maddox giving aunt karen "kisses" before we left

maddox's first sign language

2008-08-07T21:28:00.001-07:00

well i'm not sure where he got this from, but on our trip to visit fam in new jersey last weekend, maddox began 'signing' to poppy frank! well, we can call it that.. you decide for yourself:

i think we are going to be in trouble.. hahha

maddox's first taste of pudding

2008-08-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

other uses for laundry baskets besides laundry!

2008-08-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

meeting aunt stephanie

2008-08-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

mommy's LONGG time friend from home swung thru richmond and stop by to meet baby maddox.. and she brought her 'baby' too!
i'm not sure that maddox was as excited to see aunt stephanie
as she was to meet him

dillion and uncle mike
her mother got her wish, a child just like stephanie hahah

awww we miss dillon and stephanie alreadyyy!

happy birthday grandma!

2008-07-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

for once we give grandpa a little creative freedom with our 'birthday pics' for maddox's blog and this is what we get...
it is supposed to say "happy b-day nonnie"
first off.. we didn't consider the amount of space we were working with on the subject of choice
secondly.. nonnie is spelled "nony" because we ran out of "cheek"
and can you guess whose idea it was to strategically place the "O" in nony?
we still had a lot of fun celebrating grandma's birthday this past saturday

fishy face!!!

"if you don't get this camera out of my face,
i'm gonna show you what you can do with it!"

happy birthday grandma!!

oh i forgot!

2008-07-28T22:13:00.001-07:00

mommy took lil hamhocks to the doctor today and he's weighing it at 20 lbs 1 oz! his length was 27.5 inches. he's at the 95th percentile for height and weight, and they measured his head.. 17.5 inches.. 75th percentile.. still has a ways to go to catch up with daddy! lol :) its amazing how fast he's grown.. i can't believe he will be 6 months soon! it seems like it was literally days ago that my water broke!

lil hamhocks

2008-07-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

so grandma, grandpa, mommy, and daddy took maddox to his first oriole's game on this past thursday, and he did so great, he just loves baseball! in fact, some woman the row behind us was just in love with maddox.. she just grabbed him from me and talked to him for like a half hour. and do you think he would be scared to be away from mommy? NOOOOO lol he just loved it. she grabbed his chunky little thighs and said "LOOK AT THESE HAMHOCKS" lol so of course now porkchop has another nickname to add to the pile! all in the name of cuteness!

"my hat was mommy's when she was my age.. i can still rock it out"
"ya plan on buying me some nachos or what?"

daddy and maddox trying to enjoy the game..
that is, without the photographer distracting them!
"what the heck are hamhocks??"

"c'mon markakis... oh this one's a nailbiterrrr"
"i dunno poppy.. what did ya think about that call?.. pass me some peanuts"

"i'm gonna show ya where you can shove that camera mommy!"
the REAL oriole landscaping

the cutest oriole yet!
mommy and grandma have a secret crush on nick markakis...
so thats why we pose the family here
maddox's outfit is way cuter than grampas lol

grandpa is going to steal this sign.. it would look great on their front porch.. what do ya think?
oh grandpa flagged down the oriole bird at the game.. and grandma took a picture of it.. so as soon as we get that i will post it on here too!

yes we are still alive

2008-07-28T21:43:00.001-07:00

well we've come out of hiding lol mommy went back to work 3 weeks ago.. just a few days a work, don't worry! grandma and grandpa make great babysitters.. but on my first days back, maddox wouldn't take a bottle AT ALL! which was surprising, because he did great on a bottle just a couple weeks before and anytime before that! well he was not havin it all weekend, and so monday morning mommy and daddy were looking in maddox's mouth.. and what do ya know.. TEETH!! so right now we have two "teetheys" on the bottom and one coming thru on the top. its not been much fun to say the least, but maddox is being a little champ about it! here he is soothing his chompers with some watermelon... for the FIRST time might i add!

mommys crazy photoshoots

2008-07-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

a 5 month update

2008-07-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

it seems like just last week i was posting maddox's 4 month picture.. and here we go again! maddox started eating rice cereal 2 weeks ago and he is doing so well with that, that now he is on to peaches! he is very aware of what mommy and daddy are eating too, because he will immediately put his hand out towards what we have, even to the point where he grabs shrimp off of our plates!

on july 5th, maddox had his first ice cream.. 'banana cream pie' was the flavor. mommy gave him a taste and he liked it so much, that he started screaming for more! lol i think we created a monster because everytime we put the cone near his mouth, he would smash his face into the ice cream! mommy ate alot of it when she was preggers, it probably tasted familiar!

on july 6th, maddox rolled over for the first time from his back to his tummy! we were thinking that he probably would go from his tummy to his back first, but once again he threw us for a loop! when mommy went to go grab a camera to capture the moment, maddox decided right then would be the ideal time to break a record in vomitting on mommy, so needless to say we have no footage of this accomplishment but your just gonna have to trust us that it really happened... the rolling over AND the guiness record of throwing up!

happy 5 month birthday maddox!

2008-07-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

to compare maddox's growth, click the 'monthly pics' link on the right hand side of the blog

maddox's first 4th!!!

2008-07-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

happy 4th of july!!!
from mike, jessica, & maddox
"mommy.. why must you always put me in these ridiculous get-ups?"
the hooter hider hard at work

"whewww what a day"