Thursday, April 28, 2011

Fun in the Sun!

Today was such a BEAUTIFUL day!  It's been really warm here for a while now but it's been a little more humid than I like for being out playing.  Well, today was a perfect weather kind of day.  The day started out cool and dry so I enjoyed a cup of coffee on the back patio.  Maddie was out there with me, but at least we were outside before 8 am :)  I had to stop by the dentist's office this morning then we were off to the zoo.  It was a gorgeous day and you could tell by the full parking lot at the zoo!  Everyone wanted to take advantage of the nice weather.  Even though it was busy, it was still a really nice day.   We invited one of Maddie's classmates along with us (and her mom and baby sister) so we all had a more enjoyable time...Maddie had a little friend to keep her interest and I had some adult conversation along the way.  How nice!  Maddie and her friend (Caley) held hands most of the way around the zoo (until they started getting tired and grumpy with each other).  They were super excited about the animals together but even more excited to find sticks!  They kept finding bigger and bigger sticks for each other to carry around.  It was funny...they lost interest in the animals faster than I expected them to.  Even though they paid less attention to than animals, they had so much fun together.  I think Maddie came home with more dirt on her than I've ever seen in her life.  Oh well, it was still a fun day!  We got to the zoo right around 11am and didn't leave until after 4pm.  Leaving that late was definitely a bad idea...we didn't get home until around 5:30.  Traffic was pretty crazy.  It was ok though because both girls were asleep and I just took my time and was patient getting through the traffic and we made it home in one piece :)

So, I want to revisit Maddie being into sticks...she is so funny!  Every morning when it's time to get dressed, Maddie tells me she wants to wear a "pretty and frilly dress so I can spin and dance".  But then when she gets outside she wants to chase bugs, pick up sticks, dig in the dirt, etc.  She's such a tomboy and girly girl all in one!  I LOVE it!  I can just picture her when she's older going out camping and shooting guns with her dad then coming home and getting all dressed up to go out with her girlfriends (no dates with boys, though!!)  :)

Oh!  One more thing I wanted to mention today (but don't really know how to fit it in, so I'll just make a separate note).  Sadie held her own bottle to have her milk today!!  What an exciting time that was!  I always hated it when I had to stop everything to sit down and feed her a bottle.  Now those days are over.  YAY!!  Ok...it's the little things that make me happy.  It wasn't a big deal with Maddie because she was my only child, but now with Sadie, Maddie doesn't understand when we have to stop everything just because Sadie's hungry.  Now we don't have to stop and everyone can be happy!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Cover Model

I entered Sadie in the Parents Magazine Cover Contest!!  Please, please, please go to this link and vote for her!  Unfortunately the initial round is purely a popularity contest and has nothing to do with how cute the kids are.  That's why I really need your votes!!  Parents have to ask for votes from friends and family.  Please post this link to your facebook page, email it to your friends and family and tell them that this is the cutest baby you've ever seen!!  (sorry if you've also entered your child, then I will excuse you from voting for mine)  :)  If Sadie happens to be one of the top 10 babies from this week, she'll be entered into the semi-finals and then the voting will actually be based on cover model potential!  Maybe it's just because she's my baby, but I think she has the potential to go all the way :)

You can go on and vote every day this week so PLEASE vote for my baby girl!!  We would LOVE a trip to NY City to get her a photo shoot :)

Thanks for your help! 

Here's the link again... http://photos.parents.com/parents-cover-contest-2011/17/2011/6197

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Planting Caterpillars

Today our family got 5 news pets...5 little "cow-a-pidders" (caterpillars).  Maddie was so excited to "plant" them in their little cups so they could "grow into butterflies".  After we put them in their little cups we decided to name them.  The first one Maddie wanted to name Toodee.  The second is Foofa.  The third is Muno (do you see a theme here??).  The fourth is Plex and the fifth is Brobee.  Yes, we have the whole cast of Yo Gabba Gabba growing in our house!  The caterpillars will live in their little cups for 1-2 weeks, eating almost constantly and spinning little bits of silk here and there, then they will form their chrysalises attached to the lid of the cup.  At that point we'll take the lid, tape it into their little butterfly habitat and wait for the beautiful butterflies to emerge!  That stage will take about another week.  What a fun process!  And what a long process for a (almost) three year old.  I hope she stays excited about it.

Tonight Maddie was so into her little caterpillars.  She brought her musical instruments to play music for them.  She laid on the floor talking to them, then singing to them.  She was giving them little pep talks and saying things like "I hope you grow into a beautiful butterfly" and "I hope you like your food, little cowapidder".  She was looking inside their cups to see if there was any poop that needed to be cleaned out.  She even went outside and found a few little sticks to put in their habitat for when they grow into butterflies so the butterflies can rest on sticks.  She's so into it!

I'm hoping to keep a butterfly long enough so it will lay some eggs so we will get to start this process all over again :)  And...I might need Eric to get around to planting a butterfly garden when he's home in May.  It would be cool if some of the butterflies decided to stick around in our yard instead of flying off somewhere else.  Eric should be home just in time to see a butterfly emerge.  Hopefully at least one of them will hold off long enough for him to see!  He's coming home in 3 weeks!!

Here's a picture of one of the little guys. 
Brobee sure is a handsome little guy, isn't he? 

I was sure to label all of the cups with their names so as not to confuse them :)  I also wrote their first inital on the lids so when we transfer them to the habitat we can keep track of which one we see coming out!  It's the science nerd in me...

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Terrible Twos

As Maddie nears the end of her 'terrible twos', I fear what's to come...Over the past week she has begun trying my patience in so many new ways.  I'm tired exhausted.  I can't leave her unattended for 5 minutes without her doing something that's going to get her in trouble.  She's bitten me, hit her sister with toys, colored on the walls with crayons (thanks to the zoo for giving out non-washable crayons!!!), spit on Sadie's highchair, spit on the floor, discovered that sidewalk chalk is more paint-like when dipped in water (or submerged in water), decided Murphy's head is a good place to color with paint-like chalk, finger painted all over the table, a little on the wall, on the bathroom door (although this has been done in the past, I still need to include it so you see how "nice" my week has been).  In addition to those things, she has been very argumentative about E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.  If she asks for juice and I tell her, "No, you already had juice today." She replies with, "NO I DIDN'T".  If I tell her it's time to go upstairs for nap time she tells me, "NO IT'S NOT".  You get the idea...and what a negotiator she's turning into!!  Yesterday I she wanted to watch TV.  I said yes, but she could only watch two shows all day.  So she had the choice of watching one show now and one later or just watching both shows right then.  She wanted to watch both shows right away (which didn't surprise me...toddlers are all about instant gratification, right?)  Well, after she watched two shows then she asked for another.  Of course I told her we already watched two so now it's time to play.  She said, "Ok.  But after I play I want to watch two more shows."  I reminded her that she made the choice to watch both of her shows for the day first thing in the morning.  So she gets a smart smile on her face and says, "Ok. But I really want to watch one show now AND two shows later.".  Uhhh.......no.  Little smarty pants!! 

You see, all this time I've been bragging about how smart Maddie is.  And, yes, she is VERY smart.  Almost too smart for her age.  I've been outsmarted by her a few times.  She's quick to think.  And she thinks outside the box.  She's amazing.  This is one little girl who's going to be keeping me on my toes!  If she can outsmart me before she's even three years old, I'm saying I'm in BIG trouble when she's a teenage!  Oh goodness...

Lessons learned from my first-born that I will be practicing with my second-born:  DON'T ENCOURAGE YOUR BABY TO TALK EARLY!!  I will be keeping Sadie quiet until she's at least 5.  I'm not kidding. 

Goodnight for now...I'm off to have a glass of wine.  I've been needing that since I woke up Friday morning!  :)

Saturday, April 2, 2011

7 Months

Sadie is 7 months old today!  I can't believe it.

We've fallen into a pretty good routine with the girls now.  It's about time, huh?  The bad news is that I can't really be out of the house past 5:30pm or it throws us way off and it turns into a bad night for all of us.  I have to feed Sadie her dinner by 5:30 then nurse her around 6.  If it's bath night for her then she gets her bath after she's fed then I get her dressed for bed, read a book and put her down.  As soon as she's down, it's time to get Maddie ready for bed.  I'm continuing to give the girls baths on opposite nights.  Some nights they both need a bath so I'll get Maddie washed, then let her play in the tub while I give Sadie her bath.  This gives Maddie enough time to play and gives me something productive to do while she's playing :)

Sadie's has tried a pretty wide variety of foods now.  Not as much as Maddie had by this age, but Sadie's different...Sadie has more of a gag reflex so I've been cautious on giving her anything that isn't pureed.  She did have some of those baby puffs (and LOVED them) and last night I have her really small bites of flounder.  She did fine with both without choking so that's good!  So far her favorite foods are pears (pureed with oatmeal or in the mesh bag feeder thing) and pureed sweet potatoes mixed with oatmeal and apple juice.  YUM!  I'm planning on mixing up some different foods for her to try soon. 

Sadie has been quite the active little girl.  She loves to sit up now and plays for long periods of time.  However, if she notices something she wants to get her hands (and mouth) on, she'll topple over and start squirming to try to get to it.  She wiggles her body from side to side, then pulls her knees up (to the side), goes up on her toes and pushes forward.  She's making progress, but moving at a VERY slow pace.  I'm happy with that!  I'm in no hurry for her to get mobile. The girls already keep me busy enough without having two of them to keep track of!

Sadie is absolutely in love with her big sister.  When she hears Maddie's voice she stops whatever she's doing and looks for her.  When Maddie laughs, Sadie giggles right along.  They are so sweet to watch together.  I only hope I can help foster the love between them and keep them from getting into any major fights as they grow up.  Maddie has shown some aggression toward Sadie over the past week.  She pushed her over when we were all in the playroom one day.  Then another day Maddie picked up one of her (super cute) cowboy boots and started hitting Sadie with it!  I was so mad!  Since that she hasn't done anything mean to Sadie so I'm hoping she was just checking to see what she could get away with and when she didn't get away with it she's giving up. 

This week Sadie experienced the kiddie pool for the first time.  I think she would've liked it if the water had been a little warmer.  I'm sure by late summer the two girls will be having a great time "swimming" together!  I can't wait!!  Speaking of swimming...I need to get the girls on a trip to the beach before Sadie starts crawling.  I'd much rather go when I know one of them will be sitting still :)  It'll be fun when Eric's home in May and we can take both girls swimming and to the beach without me being responsible for both of them!

Well, both girls are down for afternoon naps (Yay!!) so I'm going to catch up on a little laundry and cleaning (boo!!).