Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas Maddie!

Hard to believe it was one year ago on December 25th when Amy and I got the greatest Christmas Present we could have ever hoped for. Yep, Christmas 2009 turned out to be a story that will forever be told in our family. It started off as typically wonderfull and comforting as always. We woke up happy and healthy, opened our presents, enjoyed a relaxing and tasty breakfast and then......the phone rang. And our lives would never be the same. The greatest adventure of our lives was about to begin and we were soon to be blessed with more life and love in our hearts than we ever thought possible. After one frantic phone call, a five hour ride to Bangor Maine full of nervous excitement, one Christmas Dinner consisting of Peanut Butter Sanwiches in the car, and a heart-pounding, life-defining walk to the 7th floor Nicu of Eastern Maine Medical Center we met the most beautiful, special, and amazing Christams Present imaginable. Little Madeline Grace was waiting for us. All 2.2 pounds of her was quietly waiting in her isolette more perfect than we ever dreamed. This Christmas she'll be weighing in a full 15+ pounds heavier and celebrating her first birthday on Christmas Eve. Maddie is crawiling, saying "Mama" and "Dada", has an unusual fixation on the dog's bowls and isists on tipping them over, waves "hi" and "bye", and can clap her cute little hands together. Next up, I'm working on getting her to raise her hands in the air when I say "TOUCHDOWN!" Hopefully, we'll have that down by the time the playoffs start. The way the Pats are playing these days, she should have plenty of practice.

Merry Christmas Everybody! Love Dave, Amy, Maddie, and Bella.