Christmas time

Wordless Weekend...

Can't Keep up!

Happy 19 months to Maddie! I started this post over a month ago for 18 months, but have gotten behind!
So, hence my title, Can't keep up! But, I also meant it as I can't keep up with Maddie either! She is everywhere and into everything! But, that's ok, she's growing up and figuring a lot of things out on her own!

So, here we go, some updates on my little princess:
Maddie, you are wearing size 2T pants, and a lot of 3T tops.
You are in size 7-8 shoes.
You are wearing size 6 diapers.
You are loving Mickey Mouse, Veggie Tales and Full House.
You LOVE to eat! You ate 3/4 of a muffin this morning AND oatmeal! You love your oatmeal!
Some of your favorite foods right now: any kind of fruit, carrots, peas, cheesesticks, yogurt, cottage cheese (a new favorite), hot dogs and now corn dogs, any kind of pasta, bread and pretty much anything else... my list would be shorter if i put what you DIDN"T like!
She just recently has learned to open the freezer door(side by side) and ask for "ice cream" cause you can see it. I need to move it down to the other freezer...

anyways...there are many new words that you are saying too--I think only me and daddy can understand, but still, you are trying to say more and more! Your new favorite: "ights" (lights) you LOVE Christmas lights-- you asked to turn our tree on at 7am this morning! we love to drive around and show you the lights.

You have showed all the signs for potty training, so we pulled out the chair, and got the pull ups, but... now, you have to learn to sit on the potty without your pants and not scream when we put the pull up on! Guess we're not completely ready for the big potty yet afterall, but it's a start!

You are finally wanting to be part of the "action" when we go to people's houses and go play with the other kids. It takes you a while to warm up, but after about 15 min, you are ready to go play!

You have finally moved up to the toddler room at church and will cry for 10 min after we leave, but then really enjoy it, instead of crying the whole 45 min in the nursery room.

Your hair is getting long and you will let me put a clip in it, only if we are going outside and i put your hat over it, so you forget it's there. You have a little spot of hair on the top of your head that won't stay down that drives mommy nuts!

You love to play with my utensils and pots and pans. Last night, I was making dinner and turned and you had opened the bottom drawer of the stove and were sitting in it! If it was big enough, you would be in my cabinets too!

You are my little explorer and climber!
Most of all, you love to give kisses and hugs and cuddle and say i love you, (which still sounds like "i know"- so cute and sweet)

We look forward to Christmas with you and look forward to the upcoming months as you get closer to turning 2!!(eekkkk...where did the time go?!?!)

Merry Christmas!
Larissa

Maddie…17 Months…

Wow- can’t believe she is 17 months! One month closer to a year and a half! What a fun age! That’s all I can say! I’m not good at journaling or tracking her milestones, but I need to start somewhere!

Here are a few things that Maddie has been up to:

She “talks” all the time now; when we are in the store, she yells “HI” to everyone at the top of her lungs until someone answers her, then she is shy. But will start it right up again.

I was curious the other day about how many words she knew—I lost track after 20. Her favorite words:

HI, Bye bye (ta ta), love you (a na- not sure how she got that from love you, but it sounds like “I know” but her version of I love you-so cute), More, momma, daddy, da-da, mommy, Elmo, cheese, NO, ni, ni (nite-nite), Poo, Teevee (TV), UP. Her other favorite word right now is “yleck!” for “Yuck”- she knows what it means and how to use it too! I know there’s more, but can’t think of them!

She loves the Mickey Mouse clubhouse, Full house, anything that has music- she will always stop what she is doing if some music comes on.

She really gets in the “zone” when she watches Mickey Mouse or Full House—We try to limit how much she watches- she watches it in the mornings, since Mickey is usually on, and she needs some time to wake up. She also watches it in the evening, usually when I am trying to get dinner going. She’s a momma’s girl in the evenings, and wants to be “up”.

She is wearing a size 5 diaper in huggies; about to go to a size 6 in Pampers though. I like huggies, my hubby likes pampers or he actually doesn’t care, but we always get coupons for Pampers, so we buy them…

We are just realizing she is pretty much in a size 7 toddler shoe (yes, you read that right!) She’s going to have big feet like daddy! I’m already having a hard time finding size 7’s!

She is wearing size 2T & 3T and some 4T tops. For sweatshirts, it’s 4T’s so we can layer them. For pants, she is mostly in 24 month, but some 18 month.

She won’t have her 18 month check up til mid November, but she was 27lbs, 33” at her 15 month checkup. She’s not chubby, but she is just taller.

Last I saw, she had 12 teeth—4 front, 4 bottom, and 4 molars.. I think she is working on another one, but it’s hard to tell.

I’m amazed at how much she understands. You ask her to do something or bring something, she will do it. Ask her where the remote is, and she will look and bring it to you. When she sneezes, usually she will bring a Kleenex to you or she will bring you one if you ask.

She really is going thru the anxiety withdrawals when I leave her with someone she doesn’t know, or even if someone just talks to her. I haven’t been able to leave her in nursery at church, cause the helpers haven’t been consistent lately, so once she gets to know someone, it’s time for someone else! Plus, our nursery room is really small at church, so she doesn’t even want to go in the room… I think I will try her in the toddler room this Sunday… we’ll see how that goes…

She loves helping daddy clean, vacuum, do laundry, and now has figured out, that she can bring her little chair or stool next to the sink and “help” with dishes. So cute.

When we brush her teeth, she will go get her Elmo stool and bring it to the bathroom.

She really is the joy of our lives and is so fun to be around. We look forward to seeing what the next few months and years bring to our family…

Larissa

Summer Coming to an End...

Hard to believe that summer is almost over and fall is almost here! Maddie is really going to miss the park once it gets cold, but I think we will be making trips there until the snow comes...maybe even with the snow! She loves the park! Her favorite thing is the rocks and swing... well, she loves it all!
Happy Friday!

16 Months...

My princess is growing up! Hard to believe she is 16 months today!

We are coming more and more into the "terrible pre-twos"! I hate to say that, because she is a great kid. But, she is definitly strong willed and testing limits lately.

I can't wait til she starts saying sentences and we can fully communicate. She is saying so many new words lately; it's neat to hear her talk and understand her!

On a bright side (hopefully), we start new childcare this week. My aunt's schedule finally got too crazy and we have been pushed to our limits with her opinions lately, and plus I won't have to drive the 20 min out of my way on back roads during the winter.
Our pastor's wife has actually agreed to take care of her starting this week. I pray all works out, because I am honored to have her take care of Maddie and have her in a Christian atmosphere. With my husband's work schedule, we only need childcare for 2-3 days out of the week, depending on the week. So, hopefully it will work out.

Well, the holiday weekend is almost over... One more day off...

Wordless Wednesday

More Please…

For the past few months, Maddie has been really good at saying “thank you” and “you’re welcome”. She doesn’t quite have ““you’re welcome” down yet but she’s trying. She’ll bring me something and say “thank you”. Actually they both sound the same, so I am not sure…

Anyways, for about 5 months now, she has been using the sound “H” for everything.
I don’t mind it- I usually say the correct word, she nods her head and says “thank you”. I try to get her to repeat the correct word but that sometimes ends in a meltdown. But, we’re working on it.

Well, recently someone mentioned that that sound “H” is getting annoying, and isn’t cute anymore. (Yes, that is steam coming out of my ears- I was so mad!), (not to mention that this was a non-immediate family member…)
So, I have been trying to teach Maddie some signs since she does NOT want to say “Please” lately.

One night, I signed “More”, but being the polite person I am, I added “please”. Maddie picked that one right up! So, later, when we were playing, I asked her if she wanted more cheerios. I said, “say please”. She nodded her head, and signed “more” and said “mo”.

Now we are trying to teach her “please” (rubbing your hand in a circle on your chest). Hasn’t quite got that one down yet apparently. My hubby told me last night, that when he asked her something, and told her to say “please”, she came up to him and rubbed her hand in a circle on HIS chest! So cute!

So, if you ask Maddie to say “Please”, half of the time, she signs “more”, because I taught her the polite way to sign “More please”. Hey, whatever works to help them communicate better!

Happy Friday!

Thankful Thursday...

Maddie update

Well, it's been a while since I posted something.... I've never been good at journaling or anything... apparently I'm still not good at it!

Maddie is now 14 months... she is climbing and getting into everything! She has learned how to climb onto the couch and recliner chair. She is getting very independent- she puts her shoes away, she brings them to you if you ask, she gets the bag of bagels when she wants one and brings it to you.

At her follow up appt last month for allergies, she weighed 28lbs. She will have her 15 month checkup on Aug 6th.

Right now, she 10 teeth-- 3 on top, 4 on bottom, upper and bottom left molars, right upper molar. The 4th front one is working on coming in. She won't really let me look, so I am not sure if there is more coming.

She just moved into a size six toddler shoe. She is in size 5 diapers. Most of the clothes she wears is 2T/3T.
She is starting to be tall enough to reach onto the counter and grab things... oh boy!

She has all the toys a kid could need or want and she still gets bored with them!
She loves to go outside and play-- either in the pool, or her little house we got her. She loves her little lawn chair and loves to help daddy in the garden.

Her new favorite thing to do is to help daddy vaccuum- and by help, I mean, climb on it and ride it while daddy pushes. Poor vaccuum works hard when it has an extra 28lbs standing on it!

Her favorite words: Da-da(daddy), HI!(she says this to everyone, like 6 times but if someone talks to her, she gets quiet and shy.), na-na-na-na(for no), tank yu, for thank you), uh-oh, and many more...

That's what's going on with Maddie the past few weeks! Til next time....

Happy Friday-

Some recent pictures of Maddie:

Happy 4th Birthday, Nadia

It's hard to believe that 4 years ago tomorrow, we welcomed our first daughter into our lives and that having her would change us and our family forever.
Beyond our thinking, we never would have imagined that she would leave us and go to a place where there is no pain and be with Jesus forever.

4 years later, we remember that day like it was yesterday. We miss Nadia very much and always will. We thank God every day for getting the chance to hold her.

Happy teething!

We discovered yesterday that Maddie has a new tooth coming in on the bottom. That will make 3 on the bottom... Besides those, she has 2 more coming in on top, one on either side of the one she has already. That will also make 3 on top!

It's too bad that these are baby teeth and she is just going to lose them anyways and we get to go through this all over again with the new adult ones!! They say it gets better and the others don't hurt, but let's face it... anything sharp coming through your soft gums is gonna hurt!! =)

Turning Our Sorrow into Joy...

For the past 4 years, May has been an emotional month. Every year it brings up different emotions. This year they are bittersweet...

4 years ago, I was 6 months pregnant with our firstborn, Nadia. On May 21st, I went into preterm labor. After a couple of days of bedrest in the hospital, we had our baby girl. She weighed 14.4 ounces; she was a perfect baby, just came into the world too soon. 14 hours of fighting, she went to be with the Lord.

After almost 3 years of trying to have a baby,on May 5th, the wednesday before Mother's day, we were blessed with Madalyn. Now, May is bittersweet. It's the month we celebrate Nadia's birth and short life with us, and it's the month we celebrate Maddie in our lives.

It brings tears to my eyes when I think about Maddie turning 1 year old... When I think back on how long it took for us to finally get pregnant again and actually have a full term, healthy baby to bring home... To watch her grow into a fun, loving, happy little toddler... I thank God every day for my little princess and what a blessing she is to our lives.

New to Blogging

Ok, I am new to blogging...so bear with me... =) But I want to share/remember Maddie's milestones...

So, hopefully this is will actually go somewhere, and I will actually use it!

Milestone for today-- Maddie has a nice big tooth up top and 1 on each side coming in!

Til next time...

Larissa