Saturdays...

Saturdays have to be my least favorite day. It means 3 nights of missing night time with Madison and 3 nights of missing Aaron. I know I miss less of Madison's life by working at night, but it is still hard. I love our night time routine. If anyone knows any secrets about the next big lottery numbers, please share... I would love to stay home with her... but I would also love a new house. I doubt I'll ever be a stay at home mom, but Eventually we'll get a new house.

Ever notice how hard it is to get a toddler to look at the camera. Madison, my once camera happy child, is so busy now it is hard to catch her looking at me. We also have to keep her in clothes she can't get off. Otherwise, I end up chasing baby buns around the house. She's like a puppy... cute, but unpredictable and when she's gotta go she's gotta go. We told her to put her diaper back on today and she tried... It was really cute! Can't wait for our next adventure...


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A Story is always better upside down, OR... Look out Elmo, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

My little girl is growing up!! She continues to amaze me. Her newest word is Toodaloo!! And she has also picked up "cuckoo" She helped me with the laundry today. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the hangrs until she showed me...

Future artist??

What a busy day and it's only 1:30pm. We started off the morning with sticky cinnamon rolls and they landed on the floor. And in Madison's hair. We had some snuggle time and them art time. I think I may have a few masterpeices on my hands. They are wonderful. At least I think so...

About 11:00am she came to me with her arms full of an elmo or two, big bird, cookie monster and a stuffed giraffe and climbed in my lap and said "Night Night" After a little rocking and some of my version of "You Are My Sunshine," I carefully tucked her and all her buddies in. She fussed a little. I think it is because she was so tired, and then got really quiet. This is never a good sign with kids... As I wathced her on the monitor I could see that she was playing with something small in her hands. Her back was turned to me and I couldn't see what it was. My mind started to race about all the things that could have snuck in with her furry brood. Being the paranoid, worrier I am known to be I peeked in her room to find her standing in her bed with... guess what it was???

A BOOGER!! She had it between her fingers, squished it back and forth and then tried to put it back in her nose!! But she was happy. Someone should market those things!! She didn't see me so I chuckled to myself and went back to the laundry. Who knows where that booger will be afer her nap. i'm not sure what will be worse, peeling it off the side of the crib or out of her hair... or not finding it at all. I hope she is still hungry for lunch!!

I will add pics

New adventures...

Look out Bailey. Madison has figured out how to pick up the cat!! She is also doing front roll now. She learned this at our one class to the little gym and is very proud of hersleff!.. We are proud too. She is also chiming in when we count to ten. She knows 2,5,9 and says them at the appropriate tmes!! I am convinced she is a little genius, We are still Sesame Street crazy and excited about our trip to Sesame Place in August!! Madison sends her love!!

Busy, Busy Me

It's been hard to find time to blog. Work was busy, so there went that and I fell in the bed shortly after Madison last night. We had a playdate today with our little buddy Ian. I think the kids had fun. Went out to lunch too... you guessed it, Cracker Barrel! Love that place. Madison made a huge mess, but she had a great time doing it. That's what's important right? We have fun and tip well!!

She is still teething and we just survived her first diaper rash. THat sucked. I think we were more upset about it that she was, I am debating on whether or not she is ready to potty train, ot at least get aquainted to the potty. We tried to keep her out of a diaper all day Monday. She played outside at her grandma's nakee and wen she got home we undressed her again so she could heal her bum. She would start to play and then all of a sudden stop and say... "uh-uh" or "Oh-no" and then you guessed it, she peed, or pooped. It was comical. She knew she was going to go and her diaper wasn't there. So, what do you think? I don't want to rush her, but don't want to hold her back either. Ohh the stress! LOL...

Happy 50th Papaw!!

Yesterday was my dad's 50th birthday. I used to think 50 was old, but now that I am sitting at 25 and quickly approaching 26 it doesn't seem so bad. Besides, my mom will be there shortly and then not too long until Aaron's parents hit the big 50. They all seem so young. I hope I am able to age gracefully too. Anyways, Dad bought crabs and cooked them... Mmmmm.... I have probly eaten a total of 5 crabs since before I was pregnant. Something about a baby/toddler doesn't allow for messy hands.

We made Papaw a cake. i think it actually turned out to be edible. If not he was a good liar. Thank you dad =oP Aging doesn't seem all that bad... It does eventually mean grandkids, and madison's grandparents seem pretty thrilled with her. Pointed at a tree today and said, you guessed it... TREE. Really she said "TEE" but we knew what she meant. She also opened our childproof cabinet. Little genius. It's hard to stay once step ahead of her. At this rate she will be smarter than me by the time she is 4. Oh well, I'm loving every minute of it.

How quickly we fall behind...

Well, it seems like just yesterday we were at the water park. Madison had a blast with her buddies Riley, Nicholas and Keagan and of course her boyfriend Andrew!! Signal Hill Park gets a thumbs up from me. Madison and I played in the water all day and of course went down the slides. She even smelled some little boys water shoe. Ewww. Leave it up to my daughter. I was once a germaphobe... Now if I can keep her from eating other people's trash and bugs it's a good day. Something about kids and swim diapers... if you put one on, they will poop. Yes, she did that too. I don't think swin diapers are very good at hold poop though. Their didn't seem to be too much left inthe diaper when I changed it. We cant wait to go back.

When we got home from the park Shannon and Kendall came over. Kendall is now 4 1/2 months old. We tried to get pictures of the girls togetherbut my tired child didn't want to share her chair for pictures. She did however sit in Kendall's carrier for 20 min and watch Elmo. Go figure right?!

Madison must love me. I took her to the Dr with me this week and she did really well. She was Miss Personality. That is until they took my BP. Once the cuff was off she was fine, then when I layed back for my pap she was hysterical. Guess she thought I was going to get a SHOT!! So, I got the world's fastest pap. =oP Mayber I'll take her to all my appts!!

Water park

We went to the water park today with some of my friends from work. It was a lot of fun. I think we will go back really soon. I will write about it soon, but for now I'll post some pictures. It's been a log day and I will soon go off to bed. Good night!!

ohhh... the frustration

Today was crunch day. I'm supposed to go to signal bay water park tomorrow with madison and herbuddies. This meant I needed a swim suit. I was hit with a huge realty check. Swim suit shopping sucks after a baby. I had visions of a cute tankini (which didn't exist), and then thought about a failsafe speedo (horrible). After waiting in line behind a spoiled preteen who was trying on half he store in the only dressing room that accomodated a stroller, I settled for a solid black nike tankini. Let's just say I am hoping that everyone will be distracted by the beautiful little girl on my hip!!

Never trust a naked toddler

Another exciting day... I slept a while because I worked last night. When I woke up Aaron had a funny sotry about, you guessed it... Madison. Apparently she was in the kitchen and playing with the food in the lazy susan when she all of a sudden got quiet. Never a good sign right?? When Aaron found her she was sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor eating Olvaltine by the spoonfull!! She wsa very proud of herself too and gave him a "chocolate mud" smile.

After her bath tonight I was letting her run a little with no clothes on and next thing I knew, there was a big wet spot on the carpet!! Aaron then told me she had done almost the same thing to him on Monday night, only she peed on his lap. So, I havelearned it doesn't matter how wet the diaper was you just changed, little kids are like puppies with a never empty bladder. Take you eyes off of then for a second and they will mark their territory!!

The day ended nice. Cracker barrel for a late lunch and then we played otside. Jay and Kristina came over for dinner, It was a nice nght!!!

A Pa-Paw's love

Sweet Rewards

This afternoon i was greeted by Madison with a gift in tow. It was her first finger painting. She was so proud and handed it to me with a big smile and a "ta-ta" which is her please and thank you. I was so touched, and so happy that my family has time and enough love for her to let her experience all the joys of childhood. I plan to go out this week and find the perfect frame and hang it in her room. I think it is beautiful. We could have a masterpiece on our hands!!

Our house, as well as Madison's "NaNa and PaPaw" (her words for my parents for now) and her Grandma and Grandpa's look like daycare centers. She has got her own custom chairs at each house, swimming pools, slides and swingsets at various places, play houses, ride on toys, tents, a huge beachball sprinkler andtons more. if the child ever looks at me and tells me she is bored I'll have a heart attack. She is truely the light of our worlds.

We are very fortunate, Aaron and I, because our parents get along well. I love his parents, I'm pretty sure he likes mine and I think they all like us... Although even if they didin't I think they would lie-- Madison is quite a purk! We are kinda like on big extended family. Aaron and I would be lost if even one of them was missing.

Tomorrow Aaron and I are planning to try to go to the park for the concert with Madison. It should be fun. i'll tell you about it later.

Father's Day

Today was a good day. I was up for 27 hours before going to bed, but it was still a good day. I saw my Dad all day Saturday and spent this am with my in-laws. We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Madison loves that place. I think she knows she gets something cool everytime we go. Today she got two really cute visors. She loves them. She has started a new routine to get outside. She brings us her shoes, and once they are on brings us ours. She hleps us put them on and then goes to the door and says "yeah-Yeah!!" It's so cute you just HAVE to take her out. She has also decided it is fun to be naked. If she can get it off, it's coming off.

So-- I gt scolded from my husband tonight... nicely. Ready for a heart attack mom?? Brace yourself and don't tell dad (lesson learned.) I forgot to close the gate when I came down before leaving for work b/c Madie-poo was in her high chair. I got her out, said my goodbyes to my now naked child and left. My husband then went about cleaning her highchair and pushed it into the kitchen. About that time he her a door upstairs close. He had a mild heart attack, ran up the steps and found her locked in the bathroom!! Breath!! She was ok and is ok. God was with her and us. Apparently she does very well up the steps. Thanks God she did try to come down. From now on we close the gate even if she isn't home. We akways keep the gate closed to the basement, but if she can climb them so quickly to the upstairs, she could fly down too... So thank you God for keeping her safe. Retard parent lesson learned. I am so thankful it was learned with a scare and not an accident. i think they call this a wake up call!

Typos

So my mom has pointed out to me that I can't spell... At least on here I can't seem to. You can make out most of what I wanted to say, but I'll admit my typing has been rough. But you'll have to try to picture how I go about blogging. You see, my computer upstairs that has a desk and a chair has a virus... out of comission. My husband had a wonderful idea to spend an obsene amount of money on a MAC which is sitting on my living room floor, as is the monitor. In order to type I have to sit on the floor and type while string at a monitor on the floor while diverting little feet from the keyboard and little fingers from the mouse and toys from my head, and... well I think you get the picture. It's actually kinda funny to see, and Madison thinks it is hilarious.

Storms and Snuggles

Anyone who knows me is well aware that I am a freak when it comes to storms. If I could head underground at the first clap of thunder or dark cloud, i would. This all stems from fourth grade when we had to read Night of the Twisters. It was obviously tramatic for me. Would my teacher love to know she has scarred me for life?? It is so bad that it has rubbed off on my dogs... my dogs who live with my parents and have now leagally taken my parent's (their grandparents) name. If there is a single clap of thunder the dogs get valium... and they need it too. I am trying not to have this effect on my little girl. On tuesday as soon as the storm started I was running like a dog from window to window in search of a cloufd that might be lost and headed out of the sky for my house. When the hail hit forget it. Madison and I made record time to the basement. Apparently I hadn't had enough fun for the week and there was a repeat preformance on Wednesday. The only difference... Madison (who never wakes up at night) awoke a little after 9pm and decided she needed me. I went up and pulled her into bed with me (which I never do)It took her about 30 minutes of playing with her hair and snuggling with me and her little ELMO and Ernie to fall asleep. That was about the time the storm started. I was freaking out, but still as could be because of my angel and her two little friends curled up next to me. After a while I forgot about the storm and soaked up all the love from my special time with Madison. In the end I'm not sure who needed the snuggle more... me or her.

Just do it already.!

I tend to be a procrastinator. Partly frpm laziness, the other part from fear... we are all guilty of this at sometime or another. I mean, who goes to the dentist to socialize?? Most of us wait until we cant enjoy our favorite gooey treat. Relaed to parneting, I tend to fall on the side of fear. I would have happily waited to give her peanut butter until he was 5 and could tell me if it made her thrat feel funny. Infact, I thought this was a great idea. I don't like peanut butter anyways, nless it is in a candybar. Then someone asked me if I would rather give it to her myself and find out if she was allergic or have someone give it to her at a party not knowing she had never had it. I chose to give it to her myself. I even fought the urge to drive to the hospital and sit in the ER parking lot while she ate it. In the end she didn't even like it.

The there was the shower. Carrie puts her kids in the shower all the time. Her kids do fine. It wasn't until the other day out of desparation that I put her in the shower with me. Guess what? She loved it. She squealed and clapped her hands and then pushed me out of the way to be under the water. And with that life just became easier.

Now if she could just learn to stick up for herself. i mean I'm glad she isn't a hitter, but I wish she would hold her own a bit. Maybe she'll learn something from Lexi yet!! And hopefully not the tantrums Ada picked up. Aiden was throwing a fit today and Madison layed down on the ground and made fun of her. Such a comic!!

A plate... what's that for again??

Have you ever stopped to wonder what a plae is good for? It seems that I could save myself a lot of time and energy if I just prepared Madison's food on the floor... under the table. As parents we feel like we are doing the right thing by preparing food for our munckins, placing it on a plate and setting it in front of them. Why do we do this?? Apparently to a toddler food taste better after it has been dumped off of the plate onto the table. Eventually it gets tossed on the floor with a little smirk This is usually the cue that they have no interest in the food that has just been thrown to it's death. Splat!! The plate then becomes a nifty hat complete with hair gel in whatever scent the dinner came in. After that wears off, the plate too hits the floor signaling the end to meal time. So, being the good mom that you are you clean up the baby and get them out of the chair to play while you clean the floor. But wait... Apparently their appetitie is revived by seeing the food lying on the floor, or by the site of mommy frantically trying to clean up the mess before little one can get into something else. Next thing you know they are shoving food, and dirt from the floor in their mouth with a satisfying "Mmmmm..." Couldn't we just save ourselves some time by throwing the food on the floor in the first place??? Just wandering if anyone else noticed.

Shut out...

I don't know what is worse as a mother... Having your child screaming for you as you walk out the door, or having them close the door in your face after a quick smooch. I guess I would rather have the door closed on my face. That is just because it means she is happy with who she is with and trusts I will come back. It also means she doesn't need me all the time though... and that is a big adjustment for a breastfeeding mom. I used to be her staple. And as exhausting as it was, it was a good feeling. I was doing right by her and giving her the best start I could. On the other hand, having them scream for you as you walk out of the door completly wrecks your night. Although it shows they need you, or at least they think they do, you feel horrible for walking out the door. What kind of parent leaves when their child is distraught?? Perfectly good parents have to do it every day. Someone has to make sure there is food and a place to stay...and ofcourse gymboree closthes =oP I am just glad I work nights and only miss about an hour each night before work and just 2 days of the week. So... tonight I packed my bag, got a quick hug and a "MUUWHAA" (smooch), and had the door closed in my face. I then smiled, blew a kiss at the closed door and walked to the truck thankful that my little girl was happy, healthy and knew her family was there for her. That she comes first.

When kisses are like bandaids

I have come to realize that children are put here to make life better. I would rather be a mom running like crazy to keep up, feeling exhausted at the end of the day than not be a mother at all. It is hard to work full time and feel like I have enough to give to my family. I strive to give my daughter the attention I think she needs. Unfortunatly my husband can fall short on his attention because I am usually in bed not far behind Madison. He is pretty forgiving, but I know it must be hard.

I feel like I miss out on things. It is getting easier though because I know she is having a blast without me. She loves to be at her gransma's (both sets) and has plenty to do. She is a happy little girl. She loves to be outside. Sometimes I wake up a little early and sneak outside to watch my husband play with her on the playground. They are so cute, and I can tell his heart is full of love for his little girl.

What makes working all worth it is to see her develop a relationship with her grandparents. I still don't understand how I can spend all day with her 4 days a week and still feel like I missed something. She is doing forward rolls by herself now, and parrots everything we say. Her newest one is Alright!! Which in Madisonese is "AWWRIGH" I love it. Her smile is sweet, her laughter contagious and when she wraps her arms around my neck and says "mommy, mommy" all the world seems right. Little girls are heaven's gift. I'm so glad to be the recipient.

To a mommy a childs kisses are like bandaids... there is nothing better in the world.