Friday, December 31, 2010

A Crazy Year!

Wow...I knew the older I got, the faster time seemed to go.  But I never imagined just how fast time would go by once I became a mom.  Every day is filled with some kind of craziness or chaos or silliness or chaos (oh, sorry, did I already say that?).  This past year was a good one for major changes and incredible memories. 
At the very beginning of the year we found out we were expecting a second baby.  What a way to start off a new year!  As soon as I found out I was pregnant I wanted to start doing more with Maddie knowing that those would be the last 9 months that it would be just me and her.  We had a lot of trips to the zoo in the early part of the year, a lot of trips to the park during spring and summer, had lots of outings to the library and just generally spent time together.  It's time I cherish and I'm so glad I always took time to do special things with her even if it meant some chores were left undone. 

February brought a trip to San Antonio for our family.  Maddie went to Sea World for the second time in her life, swam in a hotel pool (the highlight of the trip for her, I think) and really started showing attitude and defiance!  Maddie still remembers that trip (well, not her bad behavior) and tells me "that man splashed water in my face".  At one of the shows, there's a funny guy who plays with the water fountains before the show starts and Maddie remembers getting hit right in the face with the water.  What a memory to have!  She also remembers swimming in the pool with Daddy and eating ice cream in the hotel bed.  Also, to this day when we turn on the Disney channel, she tells us "this the tv I watched at the hotel".

March was the last month we went to the zoo (until this fall) and we got in at least 3 visits.  Maddie enjoys the zoo so much when we go and especially loves the carousel.  I can't wait to take her again soon to the new African Forest they just opened up!!

April was filled with playdates and trips to the park.  Maddie celebrated her second Easter by coloring Easter eggs all by herself!  She also got to pet/play with a real bunny on Easter Sunday at her friend's house.  She was so sweet and gentle with it and loved having it sit on her lap.

In May Eric was home for another visit.  We found out on May 5th that we were having another girl :)  The fighting over names began immediately...I'm SO glad that's over with!!  Maddie made me french toast (with Daddy's help, of course) for Mother's Day!  At the end of the month I took Maddie to the beach.  It was her one and only trip to the beach for the summer :(  Poor baby!  She LOVES the beach and I hope to be able to go more this summer.  I can't wait to watch my two girls playing in the sand together!

June was a BIG month for us!  Maddie turned 2.  It was an uneventful day but we spent it together and had a nice time.  I took Maddie to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and they were having a special night so she got to climb up into a firetruck.  She thought that was pretty cool!  She didn't, however, like the cow...Also in June Maddie started Mother's Day Out.  Oh my goodness!  If you've been reading my blog, you know what an ordeal that was!  She's now been in "school" for 7 months and it's going VERY well.  She loves her teachers and her teachers love her right back.  They tell me all the time what a sweet girl she is.  YAY!  :)

In July Maddie and I made a trip back to Baltimore for the 4th of July.  It was really nice to be back home and to see a lot of my family members that I hadn't seen in YEARS.  It's always fun to see Maddie interact with her cousins.  Maddie enjoyed her first parade, although she wasn't too sure about the clowns.  She also enjoyed her first fireworks show.  The trip was just under 2 weeks long but we got a lot in during those 2 weeks and were exhausted when we got back home.  I was pretty much down for the count for the rest of my pregnancy.  At the end of July Eric came home for just 6 days.  It was a fun 6 days that included a couple trips to the pool and a trip to the circus.  Maddie wasn't too sure about those clowns either...Also in July our cat, Audrey, found a new home.  What a relief it was to get rid of one animal, it cut down on the dust bunnies in the house immensely!

August was a draining month.  Maddie didn't have school for most of the month, I was trying to sqeeze in as many playdates at possible (but cancelling a lot too because I ended up being too tired to get out of the house).  I was also trying to get ready for the new baby (who we had officially named by this time, just hadn't told anyone) while Maddie was home, that was VERY trying.  The nursery wasn't complete...oops.  We were seeing the ob/gyn every week and Maddie started to really look forward to our doctor visits :).  This was the month that Murphy became a tailless dog.  Poor thing :(

September was the month that had the biggest impact on our year.  Sadie Mae was born on September 2nd.  Eric's mom had been with us for a week before her birth and we had help with us for the entire month!  It was a crazy month but one we won't soon forget!  We were also blessed with my aunt and her family moving to Humble in September!  You can't even imagine how awesome it is to have close family living within 15 minutes :)  I guess I should tell you that my aunt is more like a cousin, or even a sister...we're only 4 years apart in age and we grew up REALLY close!  It's been so nice having her here to take my girls (or even just Sadie) every once in a while to get a break!!  Ahhhh...  :)

The rest of the year is a blur...having a newborn and a toddler is a pretty busy life.  I enjoy it a lot, but I also dread it a lot.  Some days when I hear one of the girls starting to wake up I just want to cry and pull the covers back up over my head!  (wow, did I just say "covers"?)  Other days I can't wait to pick them both up and get a big hug and breathe in all their sweetness!  October was trying as I was attempting to get into a good routine.  That's hard to do with a breastfeeding newborn!  November was better but we still had our moments where I had little "mommy meltdowns".  That brings us to December...but I'll save that post for tomorrow.  This one is already long enough :)

Happy New Year!!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Early Christmas Present

I got the BEST Christmas present today!!!  My hubby gets to extend his vacation to stay home for Christmas this year!  Instead of leaving here on December 22nd, he gets to stay until December 26th :)  YAY!!!!

We're decorating for Christmas on Sunday :)

Thursday, December 2, 2010

3 Months Old

Sadie is three months (13 weeks) old today.  It's hard to believe that three whole months have gone by.  I'm amazed at how much personality she has already and how much she's grown and changed in these short 13 weeks.  Last week Sadie found her hands!  She had been holding onto her own hands when she was in her swing or "playing" in her activity mat but she started looking at her hands and smiling now.  It's so cute to watch.  Just today she found her feet!  She's also trying really hard to giggle.  She's gotten a few breathy "gasps" out and only one sweet little giggle.  I love it!  She has also started to grasp at toys.  She enjoys looking at different toys and reaching out to them.  For now she doesn't have a lot of control over her movements (and has even hit herself in the face pretty hard!) but she's getting better and better every day.  I've started reading Goodnight Moon to Sadie at bedtime now.  She really looks at the pages and even smiles every once in a while at the book.  I know she doesn't understand what reading is just yet, but I'm glad I started adding a book to our nighttime routine so she'll be used to it as she grows.  I started reading to Maddie at a really young age too and she STILL loves to sit and read books.  I hope both girls grow up to love reading!

Sadie has started sleeping through the night already :)  The night before Thanksgiving was the first night she slept for 12 hours.  She had gone 9 hours here and there before, but 12 hours was such a blessing to this tired momma.  Thanksgiving night she didn't sleep all night but the next night (Friday night) she woke up around 2:45 and I decided to let her cry for 15 minutes to see if she would go back to sleep.  Sure enough, she did!  I didn't hear from her again until 6:45am.  Nice :)  Since then she's been sleeping all night every night.  YAY!!

Sadie's naps are also getting better.  She's turning into a good sleeper like Maddie was.  She has gotten into a pretty good routine...sleep (1 to 2 1/2 hours), eat, play/activity (1 to 1 1/2 hours).  It goes like that all day until it's time for bed then she sleeps all night.  It makes me want to stay home all day, every day just to keep her sleeping well!  The bad thing about her sleep habits are that she has to have the "perfect" conditions.  I never tried to be quiet or make the room dark for Maddie because I wanted her to be able to sleep anywhere.  But with Sadie I had to accomodate her if I wanted her to get any sleep.  It's worth it to me :)

We're so blessed to have our little Sadie Mae!  She has been such a little joy to have, trying at times, tiring at times, but amazing all the time.  There's nothing better than having a little one hear your voice, look into your eyes and give you the biggest, brightest smile you've ever seen.  This is unconditional love!  Being a mommy is the best job in the world :)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Maddie, My Maddie

Wow.  This girl continues to amaze me every day!  Today at school they had pictures with Santa.  Over the past week or so Maddie has randomly told me that Santa is a little bit scary.  We haven't seen Santa yet, have only talked about him bringing presents and leaving cookies out for him but for some reason she still thinks he's scary.  So last night I warned her teacher that she's afraid of him and I apologized in advance if she gave them a hard time.  Well, they had her go last so she got to watch all of her classmates have a picture taken with Santa.  NONE of them cried!!  Then it was Maddie's turn...they said she walked right up to Santa, the teacher put her on Santa's lap, then Maddie cried.  They took a picture.  I'm anxious to see it!  :)

Eric comes home on Friday.  Yes, as in 36 hours from now.  My house is a disaster so pray I can get some of it cleaned up (and stop thinking "Get off the computer, Sarah"...don't you know what a procrastinator I am?  The more I have to do the less I want to do).  Anyway, back to Eric coming home.  Maddie will be in school when he comes home and she has NO IDEA he's coming home this soon.  She's definitely ready to see Daddy again.  Over the past couple of weeks she's asked me, "Mommy, is Daddy getting close to us yet?"  I'm pretty sure she thinks when he leaves on the big airplane that he just circles the world in the plane for a few weeks then comes home :)  Today her teacher told me that she started crying (before the Santa photo) and said she missed her daddy so much.  :(  Poor baby girl.  So, when it's time to go pick Maddie up from school on Friday Eric's going to go with me to surprise her.  I can't wait to see the look on her face!!  I plan on taking the camera and hope to capture the moment...

And now I'll leave you with some conversations with Maddie:

I was explaining to Maddie that all parts of you make up your body, your arms, legs, chest, head, everything.  She smiled and said, "And you nipples?"  Nice.

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Maddie (smelling the airfreshner):  "Mommy, this one smells like caffeine.  I LOVE caffeine, Mommy!"

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Me:  "Maddie, have I told you lately how cute you are?"
Maddie:  "Yes, Mommy.  I am super cute."

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Maddie was chewing on her sippy cup at dinner...

Me:  "Maddie, don't chew on your cup.  Drinks are not for chewing, food is for chewing."
Maddie:  "Mommy, are chairs for chewing?"
Me:  "No, chairs are not for chewing, food is for chewing."
Maddie:  "Are tables for chewing?"
Me:  "No, tables are not for chewing, food is for chewing."
Maddie (giggling and looking WAY up at the ceiling fan):  "Are fans for chewing?"
Me:  "I'll tell you what...if you can get your mouth on that fan, you go right ahead and chew it."
Maddie (looking  perplexed):  "But I just not have a ladder..."

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Goodnight!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Calming Down

It seems that my house is calming down a bit.  Sadie is feeling better and not needing her breathing treatments anymore so she's getting into a routine.  She has slept through the night twice now so I'm thrilled about that!  She's even getting better with her daytime naps.  She used to not want to relax enough to let herself fall asleep until this week.  I've started a nap time routine that includes closing her blinds, closing the drapes, turning on a cd of lullaby music (to drown out the other noises in the house), rocking her for about a minute then putting her down and giving her a little kiss.  Sometimes she fusses for a few minutes, but most of the naps (4 per day at least) she just puts her thumb in her mouth and goes right to sleep.  Her naps are lasting about an hour to an hour and a half but this afternoon she slept over 2 hours.  YAY!!  I'm pretty sure she's hitting that 3-month growth spurt because she's also eating a lot more frequently during the day.  But, hey, I can't complain about that when she's sleeping through the night!  The good thing is that at least one of Sadie's naps overlaps with Maddie's nap so I have a little time to myself.  I've napped twice and the other times I've either showered or gotten some cleaning done.  It's so nice knowing both girls are sleeping so I can let my brain relax a little :)

I'm so glad I'm feeling like my life is getting more predictable now.  I can actually plan out when I'm going to shower or do chores or cook.  It's nice since I can be a bit of a control freak...I feel like I'm back in control and not my girls.  The inmates are no longer running the asylum :)  (that's for you, Guy!)

Well, it's 7:20pm and both girls have been in bed for 20 minutes so I'm going to get the kitchen cleaned up and catch up on my DVR'd shows.  I always have to get that cleaned out before Eric comes home.  When he's home I end up recording so many shows that it fills up before I have a chance to watch what I want :)

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! 

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Next Week?!?!

That last post just has me all flustered...next week is a HUGE week for us!  Sadie will be 3 months old next Thursday, Eric will be home (after nearly 11 weeks) on Friday and Saturday we'll be in Knoxville, TN to celebrate the holidays with Eric's family!  Oh my goodness...where has the time gone?!?!

The Elf on the Shelf

Tonight I started a new Christmas tradition with Maddie.  The Elf on the Shelf is a story about a little elf that comes to see if you've been naughty or nice.  Every night he flies to the North Pole to report your behavior to Santa.  Then every morning he comes back to your house and you have to find him :)  He can be in the livingroom, the kitchen, the bathroom, or even in the car (which will come in handy when we drive to Tennessee next week!!)  Holy cow, did I just say NEXT WEEK??  :)  Sorry, back to the Elf...in the book it says you are to give your elf a name of his very own.  I asked Maddie what she wants to name our Elf when we see him tomorrow.  She said "Pyga" (pronounced PIE-ga).  I said that was an interesting name and asked what it means.  She said, "It means to jump and roll".  A few seconds later she said it means to chew apples (she was eating an apple slice).  I think it's a cute name and I'm glad she came up with it on her own.  Alright, I have to be honest...Pyga wasn't the first name she suggested.  The first name she said was San Diego.  However, she recently named a giraffe and TWO stuffed dogs San Diego so I suggested she give him a name of his very own.  Then she wanted to name him Maddie.  Nope, try again :)  That's when she said Pyga. 

(please excuse the quality of the pictures, it was easier to snap a few with my phone rather than the camera...)
The book

Here's where Maddie will find Pyga in the morning:

a close up of Pyga :)

Stay tuned for updates on where we find Pyga!!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Christmas Before Thanksgiving

The retailers finally sucked me in...we started decorating for Christmas today.  Let me just start off by apologizing to my husband for getting a little sidetracked at Walmart today and splurging on some unexpected Christmas decorations :)  Sorry sweetie!  But when you see what I bought and how overjoyed Maddie is, you'll get over it...  ha!

When Maddie goes shopping with me at Walmart we always go see the fishies (by the way, don't EVER buy a fish from Walmart.  They all look diseased and there are ALWAYS dead fish floating at the top, so gross!).  Back to the story...the fish tanks are located back by the seasonal area and I thought I'd go look for a stocking for Sadie since she doesn't have one yet.  Maddie wanted to look at the Christmas trees and went right over to the little 3 1/2 foot tall trees and started touching them.  She told me the trees were wonderful and she loved them.  I HAD to buy one for her :)  I asked her if she wanted the pink one or the purple one and my heart did a little happy dance when she chose the purple!  The tree was only $20 so I was super happy about that.  Then we moved on to the decorations.  I had beaded garland at home already then I bought a few sets of ornaments and one set of super cute Tinkerbell Fairy ornaments.  I was definitely enjoying it more than Maddie was :)

After Maddie's nap today we started decorating the tree.  Maddie was so into it!  We had to take a break so I could feed Sadie, have dinner, give Sadie a bath and put her to bed, then get Maddie a bath and ready for bed.  Then it was back to decorating!  I recently downloaded the Veggie Tales Christmas album for free so I turned that on to get us in the Christmas spirit.  I let Maddie do as many ornaments as she could do on her own (after I did the garland).  I only put an ornament on if she told me she couldn't do it.  The ornaments started out all clumped together in one spot so I told her to try spreading them out a little.  She started putting an ornament on every branch around the top of the tree :)  What a little perfectionist she is...I call her my little Eric.  hee hee

Here are some pictures of the festivities:

So happy with her new Christmas tree!  (we had the windows open today, it was 80 degrees!!)

Putting the first ornament on :)

Trying to put the star on top.

Tinkerbell!!

Looking so pretty!

My favorite ornament, one of my favorite pictures!

Focusing on putting one ornament on each branch (I hate to break it to her...I didn't buy that many ornaments!)

She stood beside the tree, counted to 15, then leaned in and said "cheese" for me to take her picture :)

Giving the tree a kiss.  Then she said, "I love you, Christmas tree."

THIS is my favorite picture!

See, Eric, you forgot all about me spending extra money today, didn't you?  Love you and can't wait to see you in 12 days!!!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

A 2-Year Old and a Paintbrush

Today was a SUPER fun day!  I took Maddie to a local paint-your-own pottery place to make a "cookies for Santa" plate.  While I was busy working on the plate, I had Maddie work on a bowl...something to keep her busy :)  It went really well, although she kept asking if we could share.  Sweet, but we were using different colors and I didn't want her blue mixed with my green and brown.  We had a few little mishaps, she put her blue paintbrush on my plate when I wasn't looking, a pink handprint on my plate and a pink handprint on the bowl.  I was able to wash it off of my plate since there wasn't anything else painted under it.  The bowl just has a pink handprint on top of the blue paint...no big deal, afterall, it was her project!  The thing that impressed me the most about Maddie today was her patience/attention span.  We arrived at Mudpie just after 10am and didn't leave until after 2pm!  (Thank God it's strategically placed next to a McDonald's)  Beth, Dan and Eli (my aunt, uncle and cousin for those who don't know them) were there to paint projects too so it was nice having extra eyes/hands to help me with my two girls!  Dan walked to McDonald's to get the kids lunch, which helped out A LOT!  You know how fussy hungry toddlers are...Then Dan took Eli home for some daddy/son time while Beth finished up their projects.  When Beth was finished she took Sadie to the grocery store with her!  Ahhhh...what a relief :)  Sadie had been getting fussy and I was working as fast as I could, I just needed a little more time to finish up.  By the time Beth was done at the store, I was done at Mudpie so she brought Sadie back to me in time to head home!

Overall, we had a really nice time.  It was much less stressful than I thought it was going to be so we'll be heading back next week for one more project!!

Here's a picture of Maddie painting :)  I'll take pictures of our final products when they're ready!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Maddie always says cute things. Today she had a lot so I started writing them down to share with you :)

This morning Maddie wanted to play with a purse. When I handed one to her, she looked at me and asked, "Where we can meet?  I will meet you at the top of the coconut tree."  (Reference to her Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book)  She said it in such a serious way, like we were actually going to meet there. 

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The last time we went to Target (a few weeks ago) Maddie coughed so hard that she choked and threw up in the store.  Nice, huh?  Well, today we went to Target again and as we were walking in the doors, Maddie told me, "I not gonna throw up this time". 

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While playing this afternoon:
Maddie:  "I tooted"
Me:  "Well, what do you say when you toot?"
Maddie:  (after a brief pause) "I tooted"
Me:  "No, how about 'excuse me'"
Maddie:  (big smile) "Excuse me"

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During dinner, she pointed to her rice and said, "Mommy, this has lots of caffeine".  She raised her eyebrows and tilted her head down a little and said it so matter-of-fact like.  It was so funny!

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Then after dinner Murphy licked a piece of chicken off the chair that Maddie had dropped.  Maddie said, "Mommy, it's ok.  Murphy can lick my protein."  Yes, I tell my daughter the nutritional benefits of food.  Chicken has lots of protein to build big, strong muscles...just like Daddy's.  :) 

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Sadie was sitting in her bouncy seat this evening, Maddie knelt down beside her to talk to her then ran into the kitchen to me and said, "Mommy!  Baby Sadie just opened her eyes and said hi Mister Maddie!"

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And finally...I was getting Sadie ready for bed in her room and Maddie was pretending to put Snuggly to bed.  She put it down on the floor and said goodnight.  Then she walked to the door of Sadie's room and held up one finger while looking very stern in the face.  She said, "Snuggly, you have to stay in you bed.  You come out of you bed and I will SPANK YOU BUTT."  It surprised me to hear her say that because I threaten to close her door all the way if she gets out of bed, not spank her :)  Of course after the baby oil incident the other day she always sleeps with her door shut now AND I put a child proof door knob thing on too...just to be sure she doesn't come out!

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Well, that's it for quotes by Maddie for tonight.  Goodnight :)

Friday, November 12, 2010

Is it Spring Yet?

I'm so ready for this vicious cold "cycle" to end!  It seems that just as the girls are starting to feel better they get stuffy/snotty/congested all over again.  I bought some children's Claritin for Maddie today to see if maybe she's affected by allergies.  But, in true mommy brain fashion, I forgot to give it to her tonight.  I think I'll move it upstairs to her bathroom so I can remember to give it to her before we brush her teeth at bedtime.  I'll probably still forget it, but we'll see :)

Now I promise to make the rest of this blog post more positive...

Sadie has gotten so much more enjoyable by the day!  As I typed that it sounded kind of mean, like she wasn't enjoyable until now...but you parents know what I mean.  She's been so responsive to my voice and Maddie's voice.  She smiles and smiles and smiles when I talk to her.  You know how the Grinch has that smile that just keeps growing and growing?  Well, Sadie's smile grows and grows too!  She smiles so big that her whole face smiles, then she even tilts her head back as if she's trying to smile even bigger.  It's so sweet to see.  There's nothing in the world like a smiling baby!  Yesterday she started trying to play with toys.  I had her on her activity mat and she swung at one of the toys.  I'm not sure if the initial swing was intentional but after she did it she kept swinging at the toy.  It was really sweet to see!  Now I'm trying to give her more time on her activity mat to encourage her to play. 

Some new things Sadie has experienced in the last week:  riding facing out in the Sleepy Wrap, sitting in the Bumbo, playing with Sofie the Giraffe and "helping" mommy in the kitchen.  She also went 8 hours between feedings last night!!

Maddie continues to crack me up and frustrate me every day :)  She's a toddler, it's her job to push my buttons.  I keep telling myself that!  She's continuing to get into things way more than I like.  Last week she managed to dump about 3 ounces of baby oil all over herself and my rocking chair...Mommy was a VERY grumpy mommy that morning.  Anyway...I said this was going to be a positive post :)

Maddie and I have danced to "Single Ladies" three times in the past two weeks.  Last night she was in the bathtub singing "Ima shave my legs, Ima shave my legs" to the tune of "all the single ladies, all the single ladies".  I took a video with my iPhone but since she's in the tub I'm not going to share it...sorry.  I will hold on to it for when she's older to show her what a goof ball she was!  Today Maddie was singing "Mary had a Little Lamb" and at the end she started saying, "Go Mary, Go Mary.  Go Mary, Go Mary".  I really shouldn't be surprised by anything anymore!

Well, my eyes are closing as I type this so I'm going to go to bed for now.  I'll try to keep up with the blog a little more...I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting into a good routine so I'm going to try to post on the blog at least once a week.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Sadie's 2 Month Check-up

Sadie did great at her check-up today.  She weighs 12 lbs 8 oz and is 22 1/2 inches long.  She's just above the 50th percentile for height and at the 90th for weight!  That's our little chubba wubba :)  However, I looked at Maddie's baby book when we got home and at her 2 month appt she weighed 13 lbs 9 oz and was 23 1/2 inches long.  Looks like I just have big babies (and good, whole milk!)

Sadie also received her first round of vaccines today.  Two in her left leg and one in her right.  She's kind of tender now and has been pretty cranky all afternoon.  Hopefully she'll sleep well.  Poor baby just can't get one day of feeling 100%!

I'll leave you with a picture of Sadie with her band aids...

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

A Little More

I didn't want to make that last post too long, so I thought I'd start a new one :)  It's time for an update on Maddie and me.

Maddie is now 2 years and 5 months old.  In just one month she'll be half way to 3 years old! WHAT?!?!  How is that possible?  Anyway, let me focus on the present.  Maddie continues to grow and blossom.  She's turning into such an incredible little girl.  She's so polite and uses her manners most of the time.  She's considerate and always asks me how I'm feeling or if I like something or if I'm happy.  She's just so sweet. 

On the other hand, she's also starting to get a little sneaky.  She knows mommy's occupied with Sadie so she takes that opportunity to get into things she's not supposed to be getting into.  She's been climbing up into our bathroom sink lately and helping herself to our toothbrushes, the Q-tips, my eyeliner.  Basically anything on the counter is fair game.  And I should take a picture of my mirror...it's never had so many hand/finger prints and smears on it!  The other day she came out of the bathroom with the cap off of her toddler toothpaste and was squeezing in to her mouth and eating it!  There's no limit to what she'll get in to.  What a handful. 

Maddie has started opening doors now.  One day when I went outside to take out the trash she LOCKED ME OUT OF THE HOUSE.  Thank God she can follow directions so I was able to talk her through unlocking it.  Now anytime I go out the door I make sure to take the key with me :)  She has unlocked and opened the front door when she was playing her cousins were coming to visit.  I'm glad I was nearby so she didn't wander too far. 

Maddie's really into the Christmas spirit already.  She didn't care much about Halloween but has already started asking me about Christmas.  One night I was up feeding Sadie and as I walked by Maddie's room I opened her door to turn off her ceiling fan and she said to me, "Mommy, you just 'heared' Santa?".  I guess she thought the noise I was making was Santa coming.  Then one day she randomly said to me, "Mommy, please tell Santa I want some more kitchen stuff".  She has told Sadie that they're going to Santa's house.  I don't know why she got into such a Christmas mood!  This Christmas should be really fun :)

I can't even think of all the cute stuff she's been doing...it's getting too late and I'm too tired!

A quick update on me and the household.  I'm still managing to survive as a mom of two!  Most days I feel in control (of everything except Maddie) but I'm definitely tired every day.  My biggest personal struggle right now is letting go of control.  I KNOW I can't be in control of everything all the time but it's so hard for me.  I'm a planner.  I like to know what I'm doing, when I'm doing it, who I'm doing it with and where I'll be.  I like to be early for things.  I shoot to be 10 minutes early at a minimum to appointments and HATE to be late.  I like to have my meals planned out and have dinner on the table no later than 5:30.  These days I'm lucky to be on time to anything, even with serious planning.  I can pack the diaper bag the night before, pack Maddie's lunch, have the coffee pot prepared, etc. but somehow there's still some kind of melt down (by either Maddie or me) in the morning that causes a delay.  I'm still making my menu for the week and doing my grocery shopping according to the menu.  The problem is that I sometimes don't get to my grocery shopping at the beginning of the week so then I don't have all of the ingredients I need for the first few days so I end up feeding Maddie whatever I have around the house.  She's had a lot of mac and cheese lately.  The other meal problem I have is that when I plan to cook dinner it never fails that Sadie is having a "bad" day and wants to be held all afternoon.  Then I don't get around to cooking and I have the ingredients on hand that I had planned to use...BLAH.  So far I've had very few days where I felt like I couldn't handle things.  I've also had days where I turn into the kind of mom I don't want to be.  I've lost my patience a lot with Maddie and I've yelled at her out of anger.  It kills me when I can't control my emotions with her.  I'm trying to teach her how to control her emotions but here I am losing control over mine.  I'm not setting a good example.  I try to wake up each morning and start fresh.  I'm trying to put yesterdays stress behind me and deal with what the new day is going to throw at me.  Yesterday Maddie and I made sugar cookies.  It wasn't planned, but I felt like I hadn't been giving her enough attention with Sadie being so sick and needing me all the time so I took advantage of a little spare time and we made cookies.  It was the first time she used cookie cutters and she had a blast!  Then she had even more fun decorating them (although she says, "I decorationed these cookies") and eating the icing. 

Here are a couple pictures of the cookie festivities:





Another Month Down

Sadie hit the 2 months old yesterday.  It's absolutely amazing how fast time is going, and just how much she has grown and changed in a short 8 weeks.  She has become so social in the past 2 weeks.  She likes to smile a lot (showing off her cute little dimple) and coo now.  It's sweet to see her react to seeing or hearing Maddie!  She already looks up to her big sister :)  Sadie likes to lay on her activity mat now and look at the lights.  I've even caught her looking at the tv a few times.  She's like a typical baby and LOVES to look at ceiling fans.  Other than that, there's not much else going on.  I mean, she's only 8 1/2 weeks old!

In other Sadie news...she's been sick for over half of her life now.  The poor baby just can't catch a break.  I had her to see the pediatrician on October 7th for a bad diaper rash that just wouldn't go away.  It turned out that she was allergic to Pampers with Dry Max.  I changed the diaper brand (to much cheaper diapers!), started using a $40 prescription diaper cream (which didn't work) and her diaper rash eventually started to get better.  On October 18th I took her back to the pediatrician.  This time it was for congestion.  She had been congested for over 2 weeks and I didn't know how long I should go without having her checked.  I was letting her sleep in her carseat so she'd be elevated and using the vaporizer so she'd have some warm moist air to breathe.  I was also suctioning her nose and using saline drops.  The doctor checked her oxygen level (it was perfect) and checked her for ear infections (her ears were perfect).  She told me I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing so just let it run it's course.  While I was there, I had her check out her diaper rash, which had gotten worse, I think from her sitting in her carseat all the time, never getting a break from sitting...the diaper rash had become yeasty so I ended up with a prescription for that.  She started to feel better and was getting less congested when her big sister brought home another nasty bug from MDO.  Sadie ended up with more chest congestion (it was more nasal the first time) and was coughing a lot but not producing anything.  I took her back to the pediatrican this past Monday (November 1st) to have her checked AGAIN.  They checked her ears first and it turns out that she now has double ear infections.  They checked her oxygen level and it was still perfect.  The doctor didn't like the sounds coming from her lungs so she decided to give her a breathing treatment in the office and see how she responded to that.  After the breathing treatment, there was a lot more rattling/wheezing after the treatment but the doctor said that's a good thing.  Her airway was opened up more from the treatment so she should be able to get some of that gunk out of her lungs now.  The diaper rash is still there and could possibly get worse now that she's on an antibiotic.  My poor baby!!!

Sadie is well on her way to recovery and will be rechecked this Friday to see how she's progressing.  In the meantime she's getting her antibiotic twice a day and a breathing treatment 4-6 times a day.  She's responding well to the breathing treatments and even fell asleep during it last night.  She's such a precious little angel!

Here is a picture of her getting her breathing treatment:

She looks a little freaked out, but she was ok, I promise :)

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Still Trying...

I feel like I've been a mom of two kids for forever but it's taking me forever to get into a routine.  And then I remind myself it's only been 6 weeks!  I feel like I should be in a good routine by now.  Some days I feel like I have it together, other days I feel like a train wreck.  Sadie is definitely my #1 priority, just because she HAS to be fed and changed and held when she needs it.  She doesn't understand needs from wants yet so when she cries, she needs something.  Maddie is my #2 priority.  I make sure to put Sadie in her pack 'n play and read books with Maddie, or sit outside with her while she plays, or play with her in her playroom.  I do a lot more games with her in the car (our most recent favorite is saying rhyming words).  I make sure Maddie knows she's still loved and that I WANT to pay attention to her.  I also make it a point to "remind" Sadie to be patient.  If she's crying and needing to eat but I'm getting Maddie something to eat or drink, I'll say, "Sadie, I understand that you're hungry but I need you to try to be patient.  Right now I'm helping Maddie.  Maddie tries to be patient when you need attention so I want you to try to do the same."  Of course this is all for Maddie's benefit at this point...she just beams knowing that it's her turn to have my attention :)  My #3 priority is me...most of the time.  I have been staying up later than I should to work on my #4 priority-housework.  I try to do one load of laundry every day just to keep on top of it so it doesn't pile up on me.  Sometimes the laundry gets washed and dried, then it sits in the dryer until I need to use the dryer for the load the next day.  Then I fold it and put it in a basket.  Yep, that's about as far as it gets.  I currently have no empty baskets.  But that's on my to do list for tomorrow!  The house is pretty much a disaster right now and I'd be pretty embarrassed if anyone came in my front door.  The dishes are done (well, not tonight's yet) and there's no food laying around :)  I have to be happy with that at this point.  Maddie's playroom hasn't been cleaned in several days.  I get her to clean up one thing at a time.  Yesterday she cleaned up her ABC books and her kitchen stuff at different times.  (if she wants to play outside I tell her one thing she needs to get cleaned up before she can go out...it's working pretty well!) 

The girls are both clean, fed and happy so I feel like I'm being successful at being a mom of two for now.  Oh, and Murphy?  HA!  This poor dog is so neglected it's not even funny.  She used to get fed around 7am, now she's lucky to be let out of her crate to go outside and be fed by 9am.  I've let her water bowl go dry a few times and she hasn't had any exercise other than going crazy jumping at the back fence to get at the dogs behind us.  And our house plants?  Let's just go ahead and consider them dead.  :)  Ok, not yet...there's still hope.  It's just that when I get a spare 2 minutes that it would take to water the plants, I'd rather sit down on the couch and rest!  Oh well, life would be more simple without the plants anyway (and the dog, but she was more of an investment than the plants were!)

I know I said I'd post pictures, so here's one for you.  I already loaded the pictures onto a website to order prints and I don't want to go through loading them all on here too...it just takes too long.  Sorry for my impatience, but the dishes are calling and a hot bath and a cold glass of wine are calling me!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

A Month Later

Can you believe Sadie is a month old already?  It's amazing how I feel like she was just born, but at the same time like she's been a part of my life forever.  I can't imagine my life without my two girls.

Over the past month Sadie has changed and grown so much.  When we left the hospital, she weighed 7lbs 10oz, at two weeks she weighed 8lbs 9oz.  I don't know how much she weighs now, but she's probably pushing 10 lbs already.  She's growing longer too.  Her feet are growing (socks finally stay on!), her cheeks are growing, her second chin is coming in nicely :)  Obviously she's a good eater...she's also a very good sleeper.  She eats every 3 hours like clockwork.  There have been a couple of nights that she woke up to eat every 2 to 2 1/2 hours during growth spurts and a couple of nights that she went 4 or 4 1/2 hours without eating.  But mostly she's up every 3.  It's tiring, but I know the day will come when she sleeps longer.  I'm looking forward to that day!  During the day Sadie has a couple of awake periods.  Usually in the morning after her first daylight feeding she'll stay awake for an hour or so.  Then in the afternoon or early evening she has another awake/alert period for another hour.  She makes really good eye contact with me and settles right down when our eyes lock and I start talking to her.  She doesn't move and scrooch, she just watches me.  I love it!  I've been trying to get her to smile but haven't been successful with consistent smiles.  I got one good one on Thursday and my mom got one on Friday but we aren't sure if they were "true" smiles or not since it was only one smile per day.  One day soon she'll start smiling and won't stop :)  Oh...and this baby girl has DIMPLES!!  The one on the right cheek is a little deeper than the one on the left cheek.  She's going to be so beautiful with her big, dimply smile.

In a few days Maddie will be 2 years and 4 months old.  I'm amazed at how much she continues to grow and change.  She obviously looks a lot bigger now that I have an infant in the house, but she is seriously getting big.  She's getting to the point where some of her 2T clothes are getting to small (mostly too short...both shirts and pants), but her 3T clothes are still too big.  I can put 3T shirts on her but the pants are really long.  Maddie's imagination continues to grow just as much!  She does so much role playing.  She plays by herself most of the day, taking Snuggly to school or taking care of her puppies.  She's really good at pretending things, like she pretends she's holding a leash and walking an invisible puppy.  She bends down to pet the invisible puppy, feeds it, pets it, hugs it.  Today she was walking a black puppy named "Fluffy".  :)  I took her to a park and was pushing her on the swing and she kept asking the puppy if he was watching.  She's just so cute!

Maddie loves school now.  She looks forward to going every day, she tells me she loves her teacher and that she has so much fun at school.  She can't wait to go back every time we leave!  It's amazing how much she's learning at school too.  She's learning some letters and numbers (B, D, M, F, 1, 2) and is also learning some days of the week.  She's been coming home with more crafts and papers and enjoys showing them all off.  I love seeing all these pictures she's coloring.  I'm just so proud of her!

Well, it's getting late and Sadie will be up in about an hour and a half so I better get some sleep.  I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow...no promises, though :)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Maddie's a Big Sister!

I remember taking my pregnancy test WAY back at the beginning of January.  When it was positive, I started doing the math to calculate my due date.  September 9th seemed ages away!  I didn't think it would ever get here, I guess that's the down side to anticipating pregnancy...I didn't wait until I missed a period to take the test since I thought I was pregnant.  That made for a long 9 months.  Well, those 9 months went by so fast, it's hard to believe the year is almost over. 

We went in last Thursday for a scheduled c-section and I was scared to death.  The alarm went off at 4am and the tears started coming.  I cried off an on for the next hour, sobbed some and sometimes I was quiet but the tears continued to roll.  It was a very emotional morning.  I was afraid of the surgery, the risks involved and more than that I was afraid of facing the recovery.  On top of all that I was worried about Maddie.  Thursday was the first time she ever woke up and didn't have Mommy or Daddy there to get her up.  She had Grandma.  I was worried for them, hoping there wouldn't be any issues (there weren't!!). 

We made it to the hospital by 5:30am, started answering questions, started the iv and the iv drugs :)  I walked into the operating room (how weird was that!!) at 7:30, they started my epidural and whatever other drugs I required.  I got nauseous and quickly learned why I wasn't able to eat anything since midnight.  I'm certain I would've thrown up all over myself if I had anything in my stomach.  They had to give me two rounds of anti-nausea medication before Eric even came into the room.  Eric came in at 7:50 and Sadie Mae came into the world promptly at 8:00 am.  The surgery was pretty rough, I felt a lot of tugging and pulling, felt like the doctor was sitting on me at one point and felt certain they were going to break a few ribs!  None of that happened :)  We were so happy to have a healthy, chubby baby girl to join our family!  She weighed in at 8lbs 6 oz and measured at 19 inches.  A perfectly healthy, chubby cheeked, dark haired little bundle of joy.

I'll end the blog for now and leave you with some pictures of our precious girl.  She looks a lot like Maddie did as a newborn, but with more hair.  The hair that she has is really dark too.  I wonder if she'll be a brunette, or if this will all fall out and blond hair will come in.  Time will tell :)




The day before the c-section

One of Sadie's first pictures.  She looks so much like Maddie!

Maddie meeting her sister for the first time.  She was so anxious to hold her :)

Sweet sister kisses

Maddie looking at me and being super proud of her baby sister.

Maddie brought Sadie her very own snuggly.  She wants Sadie to suck her thumb too...

Snoozing on Mommy, waiting to be discharged from the hospital.

We're ready to go home!!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

It's Getting Close!

Eric's mom is coming in today...in 1 hour, 45 minutes to be exact :)  Wow, I should really get off the computer and get a shower and get dressed, huh?  We'll be leaving the house in about 45 minutes to head to the airport.  Now that help is coming, I know it's getting close!  Baby girl will be here in just 5 days.  HOLY COW!  Eric will be home Tuesday morning, although I wish he would come home earlier.  He was told if anything happened that he needed to come home early, they could get him a flight out.  Family comes first.  This conversation came up because I had a little fall yesterday.  I had to take Murphy to the vet (AGAIN) and she was so excited to be back at her second home that she pulled me so hard, I tripped and fell over.  I landed on my knees and kind of on my left leg a little but didn't impact my belly at all.  I had a little cramping but no contractions or bleeding or anything else so I figured I was ok.  About an hour and a half later I wondered if I should call my doctor, just for some reassurance that there was nothing to worry about.  I didn't talk to the doctor until almost 3pm (the fall was at 9am) but she said I should be fine, just do kick counts (10 kicks in a 2 hour period) and if I start contracting or bleeding to go to the hospital.  Thank God everything's been fine.  Our little angel is still kicking me like crazy so I have my reassurance that she's ok.  In fact, she's been kicking so much that I don't even have to time or count her kicks, they're so frequent.  Not to mention the jabs to my bladder and her pushing her butt up into my lungs...  :)  I'm glad everything was ok and that I worried for nothing, but I kind of wish Eric was coming home early anyway.  Today's his birthday afterall, wouldn't it be nice for him to fly out tonight??  :)

Well, I really should get in the shower now and get ready to go to the airport.  I don't know when I'll be checking in again...probably Wednesday night/Thursday morning since I'm sure I won't be sleeping at all that night!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Murphy's Plastic Surgery

Our poor pup has had quite an ordeal over the past 6 weeks.  When Maddie and I returned from our trip to Baltimore in July we went to pick Murphy up as soon as we had dropped our suitcases off at the house.  We were so excited to see her and quite surprised when we left covered in blood!  Something happened to the very tip of Murphy's tail while we were gone and it was spurting blood out of it when she got excited to see us (and she probably hit it on something again since her tail never stops moving!).  I tried to keep it bandaged during the week but it was still bleeding the following Monday so I took her in to the vet to have a look at it to make sure everything was ok.  We spent close to $25 for a big bandage that was supposed to stay on for a few days.  We took her back a few days later for them to assess it and they rewrapped it.  This cycle went on for 4 weeks...I told the vet they were going to have to put me on the payroll if we kept this up!  Well, after 4 weeks the word "amputation" started coming up.  I was worried about dealing with her tail as I was getting closer and closer to my delivery date with the baby.  It wasn't easy for me to bandage Murphy's tail myself and it wasn't easy to clean the blood off of the walls every time she walked by wagging her tail.  Eric and I went ahead and made the decision for them to take Murphy's tail on Tuesday, August 10th.  I was supposed to drop her off in the morning for the surgery and the vet said she should be able to come home that afternoon.  Well...the afternoon rolled around, the vet tech called me and said the vet wanted to keep Murphy through the weekend.  I immediately saw $$ flash in my eyes thinking of the added expense of overnight stays.  I asked how much it was going to cost me per night and the tech said they weren't going to charge!  Thank God for that!  The vet wanted to keep Murphy because she needed to be heavily sedated, she needed her bandages changed frequently and her case of "happy tail" kept making it bleed...the problem in the first place!  We JUST picked Murphy up yesterday, Monday, August 23rd.  She was supposed to be gone for a few hours and it turned into 2 weeks.  And I'll be honest with you...I was starting to get used to not having any pets in the house!  Well, after that big long story, here are a few pictures of Murphy's newly remodelled tail.  Poor thing has to wear that big ol' cone too :(  She keeps running into things with it, can't drink water with it on, can barely pick up her toys with it on, but at least she can sleep with it on!  When I take it off of her, she wants to chew at her stitches and we can't have that!  During her stay at the animal hospital she managed to get the cone off one night and chewed a few stitches out, which they had to replace.  She's scheduled to get her stitches out Friday morning so I don't want to let her get at them to delay this process anymore!

Oh, I was supposed to be posting pictures now :)  Enjoy!  The world's most beautiful tailless Silver Lab.







Sunday, August 22, 2010

My Madeline

Maddie has been so incredible lately!  Some days I feel like I'm being too hard on her, or expecting too much of her for being only 2.  I hold her to a higher standard than most parents hold their children, but I don't use her age as an excuse...I expect her to use her manners and be on her best behavior.  I see it paying off in how well behaved she is.  She is just absolutely amazing.  Don't get me wrong, she has her typical "toddler" moments but overall she is one of the best behaved 2 year olds I know.  She says "please" and "thank you".  She says, "yes please" or "no thank you".  She says "excuse me" when she burps (sometimes she needs reminding).  She also tells me "God bless you" when I sneeze.  These are all things I would never expect a two year old to be capable of doing, but she proves that if you start them out young, they can be expected to have these habits already formed at a young age! 

So, today Maddie played by herself and entertained herself ALL DAY!  This is HUGE.  She only sat on my lap for about 5 minutes today, ate 3 good meals and is only sitting down to watch tv now (at 7:00pm).  Her imagination has REALLY taken off lately and she continues to impress me with her knowledge every day.  Yesterday she said to me, "Mommy, I like to eat flowers."  I said, "Oh, are you an animal?"  "Yes, I'm a jaguar".  "Really?  That's nice.  What other kind of animal eats flowers?" (I thought she would say a rabbit because of watching Bambi where Thumper eats the clover flowers).  She replied, "a puma".  I didn't even know she knew what a puma was!! 

Maddie likes to pretend to be different animals or people.  Today she was a hummingbird, a babysitter (miss Stephanie...who watched her about two weeks ago), a baby lion, a puppy and a vet.  Whatever she is, I'm the mommy version of it.  So, when she was being Miss Stephanie, I was Mommy Miss Stephanie.  It's so cute to hear her come up with these things!

Maddie's really into dressing up now.  She doesn't have any dress up clothes, but she has a princess crown, some bracelets and necklaces, her sunglasses, my shoes and my purses.  She puts on her sunglasses (puts the case to my sunglasses in the purse), a couple necklaces and bracelets, the crown and a pair of my shoes (or slippers), puts the purse on her shoulder and then tells me she has to go somewhere.  She goes to the vet, she goes to the store with her "poucons" (coupons), takes Snuggly to school and sometimes she goes to Lowe's or the car wash (thanks Daddy!)  :)

Most of the time Maddie calls me Mommy.  Not too long ago she started calling me Mom.  I'm not sure if I like that!  When I would give her something, she'd say, "thanks, Mom".  She's not consistent with it, so it's ok :).  Yesterday she was calling for me when she was awake saying, "Mommy, where are you?  Mommy?  Mommy!"....long pause..."Mother!  Mother!".  I couldn't help but laugh.  (thank you "Are you my Mother" and other books).  Today when she climbed up on my lap she called me Mister Mommy.  I asked, "did you just call me Mr. Mommy?"  She said, "yes". I just laughed.  Then I called her Mister Maddie and she laughed histerically like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard in her life. 

I have so much fun with Maddie.  I complain a lot, but I think it's just because I'm tired.  She really is a good girl and I'm so thankful for her.  I hope by already having her established with good manners (mostly) that she won't give us too hard of a time when the new baby comes next week.  I can't believe she's going to be an only child for just a few more days.  Please pray the transition goes smoothly and that she adjusts well to Grandma B staying with her while I'm in the hospital!

Full Term

As of this past Thursday I am full term!  37 weeks, with only 2 weeks remaining until our scheduled c-section.  (11 days from today!!)  Everything continues to look good at my weekly appointments.  At each appointment they weigh me (yuck!), check my blood pressure, check for protein in my urine (sign of preeclampsia), measure my big ol' belly, listen to baby's heartbeat and answer any questions I have.  Maddie enjoys going to my appointments and laughs at the sound of the baby's heart.  She's such a good girl at each appointment.  She doesn't even ride in her stroller anymore, she just walks right in, I pick a lollipop for her, she climbs up in the chair to sit and wait patiently while she eats her lollipop.  When she's done with her lollipop she gets down and throws the stick in the trash and gets right back in the chair.  She's so friendly with the doctor and nurse, she even kissed the doctor the last two appointments. Isn't that crazy??  I guess she likes doctors as long as they aren't checking HER! 

As of Thursday I think the baby dropped.  I'm not 100% sure because I don't remember experiencing this with Maddie, but this baby has all of a sudden gotten so heavy and hard to carry around.  I feel more pressure in my lower abdomen and have a much harder time bending over (not that I could easily bend over before that anyway!).  I have to pee more frequently (yay...) and I'm definitely doing the pregnancy waddle now.  Two symptoms that are supposed to improve after the baby drops are not happening for me, though.  I still can barely eat anything at one sitting, which just causes me to be hungry pretty much all day...  Also my heartburn was actually worse for a couple of days.  So, who knows, maybe she didn't drop afterall and I'm just imagining things :)

I still have a lot that needs to be done for the nursery but I'm not energetic enough to get it done.  I've entered "maintenance mode" for now and I'm just trying to keep the house picked up and keep on top of laundry.  I'm not doing a lot other than that, and that's enough!  I'm going to try to get to bed earlier this week, I've been doing a bad job of getting in bed much before 10 or 10:30.  I know I need more sleep than that, especially since I'm interupting my sleep to get up three times a night to use the bathroom.  :)

Well, I guess that's all the updates for now.  I'll post about Maddie's goofy self later, or maybe tomorrow!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The Mind of a Preggo...

My mind is running around in circles.  From the moment I open my eyes in the morning until I close them at night (and sometimes beyond that even) my mind is in overdrive.  I can't seem to keep my calendar straight in my head like I used to.  At least my phone has a great calendar to keep track of everything and give me reminders!  I'm trying to keep active with Maddie and I have dr. appointments and Murphy's had a lot of vet appointments lately too.  So keeping up with all of it is overwhelming.  Here are some things going through my mind right now...

1.  3 weeks and 2 days until our c-section!  While I'm relieved to know the date our baby will arrive, I'm nervous that she could potentially come early on her own.  I'm also relieved to know that I've already been through a c-section once so there shouldn't be any big surprises in my recovery.  However, BECAUSE I've been through it before I know what to expect and it terrifies me.  My recovery with Maddie was pretty easy, I was doing step aerobics at 4 weeks postpartum!  This time I have a toddler thrown in the mix :)  Also, when I was pregnant with Maddie I didn't really read up on all the information about c-sections.  I was very unprepared and didn't really know any of the risks involved.  Now that I've been through it, I'm fully aware of all the risks and that terrifies me. 

2.  I've been trying to keep Maddie active and out of the house now that she's out of Mother's Day Out for the rest of the summer (she goes back Aug 30th).  On one hand I want to keep her busy and get in our last few weeks of one-on-one time since she'll be missing out on that soon, on the other hand I don't want her to get so used to getting out of the house that she gets bored and restless being at home after the baby comes!  I wish I knew the "right" thing to do with her at this point.

3.  It's getting harder and harder to stay active with Maddie!  A couple of weeks ago at one of my appointments my doctor told me I have a small hernia, which is why I've been having a lot of belly pain since mid-late June.  It seems to get progressively more painful for me, especially when I've been on my feet a lot or when I "over do it".  This makes me want to stay home in the mornings and conserve my energy for the evenings when it seems there is so much to do.  Tonight I wrapped my baby wrap around my belly to apply pressure and that seems to be helping a little.  At least I know I'll be able to get the kitchen cleaned up before bed tonight!

4.  My poor Murphy (the dog) had to have her tail amputated today...it had been bleeding from an unknown injury for the past 4 weeks.  There was nothing more they could do so we made the decision to take it off.  I haven't seen her yet so I don't know how much tail they left.  They said she started trying to lick at her tail as soon as she woke up from the surgery so they had her pretty heavily sedated and wanted to keep her overnight with heavy sedation.  We'll pick her up tomorrow shortly after noon and she'll have to stay sedated at home for several days.  Poor puppy!

5.  Maddie has turned into a hitter.  I don't know if it's something she picked up at school or if it just comes with the curiosity of a 2 year old.  All I know is that I'm the target :(  It doesn't seem to start out with the intention of hurting me but once I address it, then the evil streak comes into her eyes and she hits me on purpose.  I'm being consistent with time outs when she hits but I guess she forgets the "lesson" after a couple of hours...so the hitting/time out cycle continues through out the day.  Hopefully we can get this under control in the next 3 weeks!!

6.  I've come to the realization that the nursery will NOT be ready before baby comes.  I still have too much to do, have sewing I wanted to do and when I look at it I can't get my mind to slow down long enough to remember how to use a pattern :)  I have some crafty ideas going on in my head that I want to do for the nursery as well but they might not get done either.  Poor second child...  :)

7.  I have gotten a lot of other baby stuff ready.  I sterilized bottles and all other feeding accessories.  Even though I'm planning to breastfeed again, I learned my lesson with Maddie...we didn't have any bottles or anything sterilized because I was determined I was going to nurse her.  Well, my milk didn't come in soon enough for her and she was STARVING so then we had quite the fiasco trying to get everything sterilized (it took more than one attempt, believe it or not!) while we had a screaming baby :)  It was a pretty stressful event for being home from the hospital for less than 24 hours!  This time we're prepared!  I also washed all baby clothes from newborn through 3 months, organized a few drawers and cabinets to make space for baby stuff and started staging baby stuff near the bassinet in our room...now we just need baby to come :)  (oh, and for Eric to install the car seat bases when he gets home!)

I guess that's it for now.  Although, since my mind never stops, I'm sure I'll think of more that I wanted to share as soon as I publish this post.  :)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Mom's Night Out

Ahhhh...I had a relaxing two hours with a whole nail salon full of moms tonight!  There were chips, cookies, cupcakes, more cookies, mojitos, wine and bottled water for me :)  I had a pedicure for the first time since early spring and a manicure for the first time sinc 2007!  Woah, I was WAY overdue!  It was so nice to get out and be able to relax with my cold bottle of water and a chocolate chocolate chip cookie without having to share with Maddie or watch to make sure Maddie wasn't getting in any trouble and to not have her trying to touch my wet nail polish.  Oh, and it was nice to have my toenails painted since I haven't been able to touch my toes comfortably for the past couple of weeks!  :)

I hired a babysitter for Maddie tonight.  I've struggled with using babysitters before and have never really wanted to leave Maddie at home with someone I don't know.  I got the name and phone number of a really nice girl and she was available on short notice (I just called her yesterday!).  It made it easier for me to leave Maddie since I wasn't going to be out late.  I knew I would by home around 8:00pm so it was no big deal for Maddie to be awake until I got home (her usual bedtime is 8).  I just don't know how she would handle having a stranger put her to bed...

Maddie did well with the babysitter for a while but for the last hour I was gone she said she just wanted to watch tv and didn't do anything else.  She was sad and wanted Mommy and wouldn't respond nicely to any questions the babysitter asked.  When the babysitter asked what Mommy always does (wanting the response "comes back") Maddie responded with, "nuffing".  She was grumpy and just wanted to be left alone.  :(  Oh well...at least she didn't have to call me to come home right away.  I just hope I can use the babysitter again and Maddie can be happier.  Maybe she'll do better next time. 

I'm so glad I went out for my mani/pedi tonight that I'm seriously not worried about Maddie having a little anxiety about the babysitter...it's something she'll get used to and I could easily get used to having regular Mom's Nights Out!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Picture Catch Up

Maddie on our flight to Baltimore.  What a big girl in a seat all by herself!!

Maddie's favorite (of 3) ride at the fair.

Maddie and Mommy watching the parade.  We were probably waving at the firetrucks.  They were LOUD but Maddie loved them!

Maddie at her first fireworks display.

This is what a 25 month old looks like next to a 2 week old.  Oh boy am I in for it!! 

Maddie watching the circus with Daddy.

Playing after the circus was over...just waiting for the crowd to clear a little.

Apparently we have another rat problem...

Or this is the last time Eric lets Maddie help him with the cheese :) (This was one of 3 or 4 that she bit into!)

Maddie posing for a picture.  Notice the forced smile.  She was NOT happy with me but I promised her if I could take 5 pictures of her smiling then we would go to the airport.  She LOVES the airport.

This is the "cheese" face.  It doesn't look like she's smiling at all...

So then I told her to laugh and smile pretty and I got a much nicer shot!

First time fingerpainting today!  She really enjoyed making a mess :)

Focusing on her masterpiece.

Catch Up

My goodness...I always feel like I'm trying to play catch up with the blog!  I have good intentions on keeping current but then I run out of energy and would honestly rather veg and watch tv or relax in the tub than to type anything.  It doesn't help that my pregnancy induced carpal tunnel syndrome is getting worse and worse by the day.  I had it with Maddie too so I know it'll be better after the baby's born.

I'm going to catch up in a few quick paragraphs:

First of all, Eric came home last Thursday and left this past Thursday (yesterday).  He normally gets a 2-3 week vacation but due to him coming home again at the end of August for the birth of the baby he had to make this one a short one.  It was nice to have him home since he got a lot done for me, especially in preparing for the baby.  I told him I wanted to have things ready to go in case she decides to make her appearance before he comes home on Aug 31st (our c-section is Sept 2nd so that's not a big window...).  He finished painting the nursery, put together the crib, brought down the pack 'n play and set it up in our bedroom, brought the infant car seat down and bases for me to clean (those nice rats that visited us a while back left us special treats!), and just generally got me motivated to get moving.  I still have a lot to do for the nursery but we'll see how much I can really do before September!  I need to sew the crib skirt but it's been over 2 years since I sewed using a pattern that I look at it and get all confused.  I might just need to look at it again on Tuesday when Maddie's not around distracting me.  I also have to wash baby clothes, empty out two drawers in my dresser to put baby stuff in while she sleeps in our room, sterilize bottles and such, buy newborn diapers and I don't even know what else...I made a list for myself but as I sit here right now I can't remember everything :)

We had a prenatal check up on Wednesday and everything's looking good.  I was scolded on my weight gain :(  That was the first time my doctor sounded disappointed with my weight gain so I was a little ashamed.  And then I got over it and had a piece of German Apple Cake that Eric made while he was home :)  My blood pressure is still looking good (116/70) and baby's heartbeat is strong and healthy.  We have the name decided on now.  Well, that's about 95% true.  Eric said he's still waiting for something else to strike him but he's not looking.  So unless he hears another name within the next 5 weeks, we have the name picked.  We still aren't sharing until she's born so don't ask!

Maddie gets cuter and sweeter and more spoiled by the day...Mother's Day Out is going GREAT!  She had three times in a row that she didn't cry when I dropped her off.  She started eating her lunches now and is napping better, all signs that she's comfortable there.  I'm so glad we decided to put her in it!  She'll go three days a week in the fall, M, W, F 9:30-2:30 so I'm really looking forward to getting adjusted to having a newborn again while Maddie's out of the house for 15 hours a week.  Maddie started using the word "actually" while Eric was home.  One time she told him, "Daddy, I really hungry.  I really hungry actually".  It's so cute to hear her use new words that surprise us to hear a 2 year old use!  Today I told her to go get her cup of milk so I could put it back in the fridge and she said, "Actually I want to watch you cook". 

Some things that happened while Eric was home (with Maddie)...Maddie went to the circus (she had a lot of fun once Daddy bought her popcorn!), Maddie spun around until she was dizzy and realized what it feels like to be dizzy!  She fell to the floor and said, "oh no, it's spinning."  We asked her what was spinning and she said, "the playroom!".  I laughed so hard...it was the cutest thing to hear.  Maddie went shopping with Daddy a couple of times while I stayed home and she seemed to enjoy that one-on-one time.  In general, Maddie just wanted to be Daddy's girl the whole week he was home and didn't want me to do a lot.  Eric had to buckle her into her carseat and take her out, he had to wipe her hands and face after meals, he had to hold her hand when we were walking.  Daddy had to get her up in the mornings and after naps and Daddy even got to give her baths!!

What else?...I guess that's it for now.  After Maddie goes to bed I'll try to put a few pictures up.  It's been a while since I posted any pictures!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I Lied

Looks like I lied about getting some pictures ready to post.  I hit the ground running (well, as fast as my 33 week pregnant self can "run") when we got home from Baltimore and started trying to prepare for Eric to come home and blah, blah, blah...nothing anyone cares to hear about!!  Anyway, I did manage to get some pictures printed to mail out to Maddie's great grandmas (all three of them!  Lucky girl!) but I have yet to get them put on the blog.  Maybe this week, but I'm not making promises...

Eric comes home tomorrow morning for a quick 6 day visit.  I'm bummed that it's such a short trip but I'm trying to stay positive and be thankful that we have at least those 6 days to spend together.  Initially Eric was trying to give up his vacation because it's no fun to travel from Nigeria to Houston and back within a week, but they forced him to take it (thank you!!).  This will be our last visit before Eric comes home for the birth of baby girl #2.  We're hoping to have a lot of quality family time during these 6 days and not a lot of chores, although I do need some cleaning help while he's here.  I guess we can call that quality time as long as we're working together :)

In pregnancy news...I'm 33 weeks pregnant now and feeling every bit of it!  I'm easily worn out after a short amount of activity.  My feet an ankles have begun the dreaded third trimester swell.  YUCK!  And my wrists are joining in :(  I can no longer wear my watch comfortably and the carpal tunnel is acting up.  Sleep is becoming quite a chore these days!  I should set up a video camera to show everyone what an ordeal it is to roll over in a tempurpedic mattress when you're so middle-heavy.  It takes way more effort than I like to put into it at 2 am.  But since I'm up I usually just go ahead and make use of being out of bed to use the bathroom since at some point I'll be up to pee anyway...  :)  The worst symptom I have to deal with is a pain in my belly, well I guess it's more ON my belly.  It feels like a bruise just above my belly button and it gets so sore the more the day goes on.  I've read up on it and apparently it's normal but it sure does hurt!  It doesn't help when Maddie digs her boney elbows in to sit up or when the dog jumps on me.  The good in still barely outweighing the bad with pregnancy, though.  I still get to feel baby girl move all the time.  She hasn't settled into her head down position yet as I'm getting kicked all over the place!  It's fun to be able to feel her in there!  I'm starting to be able to feel little feet and what I'm assuming is her butt pressing against me.  I'll get confirmation at my appointment next week.  I love knowing that my body is able to grow this little human and that my body is nurturing her and nourishing her to make her strong and healthy to live with us in just 6 more weeks!  When I think about the miracle of it all, the aches and pains seem like less of an issue (until I stand up to walk back to bed, then I'll start complaining again!).  I'm ready to meet my baby girl and I think Maddie's ready to meet her baby sister (who she calls baby Turtle...although we do have a "real" name picked out now, we don't want Maddie sharing that name so we convinced her to call her sister "Turtle" for now!).  Maddie's in for a shock when she realizes all the changes in store for her...

As for Maddie, she's doing so well with Mother's Day Out now.  When I took her this morning she didn't even cry!  She went right into her classroom, hugged her teacher, and started playing with Mr. Potatohead.  I kissed her goodbye and she said "bye momma" and that was it!  I almost cried because I was so proud...but I made it a no tears day for both of us :)  I was waiting for this day to come and now that it did, I'm so relieved and I KNOW I'm doing the right thing by putting her in there.  She will continue to go through the summer until Aug 4th (so, 2 more weeks) then we'll have a break until Aug 30th.  In the fall she'll go 3 days a week so I'm looking forward to that. I know she'll love it and I'm going to love having a little time to myself with the new baby! 

What a blessed life I have!!  :)