Birthday Party

Only Family photo we got, which was at the end of the party and she was spent

Beginning of party and having a blastThe kids basically went between the jumping castle and roller coaster races without any real organization. Everyone took turns, it was great!


This is what she did for about the last 20 minutes of the party. An hour and a half was the perfect party time limit for a 2 year old in my opinion.
After nap, she opened her presents.
My parents were in town for the party and thought it would be fun to take M out to a Japanese steak house. As you can see from these two pictures, she was not a fan of the fire. After she would uncover her eyes she would put her hand over her heart and say "I scared!" But otherwise, she really she loved watching the food be prepared before her.
Well the birthday party was great. We had it at our church with mostly family and a few friends from church. Madeline had a ball. I did not really see her from the time people arrived until she got whinny about 20 minutes before the end. She just went back and forth between activities. When Madeline got to church she walked in and told me "It my birthday party!" What a difference a year makes. Its so incredible that she can blow out candles, eat cake with a fork, rip into presents, and play easily and unsupervised in just a year's time. We love you so much baby!

My Baby Turns 2

Lance and I went to take cupcakes to her MDO class. I could not get a smile all day long, as you will see from the rest of the pictures
Her teacher Ms. Wafa, and M with a mouth full of cupcake. She really does love Wafa
All her buddies
Celebrating at home with no smiling
Quite a difference from last year. She now loves cake and ice cream. Also quite a difference is the amount of hair she has. When I stretch out her curls they go about 3-4 inches down her back. She barely had a Mohawk on her first birthday.

Well, our baby turned 2 today, and I need to stop calling her "baby." She is really quite a big girl now. We go for her 2 year check up next Monday and I will be interested to see how tall she is. I know she's grown a bunch because last night as I was changing her diaper I noticed that her double rolls by her lady area were pretty much gone. I was kind of sad-no more baby fat. She also talks non-stop. So incredible that this took just under six months to develop. She now speaks in 3-5 word sentences, and her vocabulary continues to amaze me each day. Today she told me, "I get my xy-phone." She is like her mommy and will sometimes speak lowly and even mumbles to herself. But she is quite loud when she wants to be I can attest to that. I have been trying to talk up moving her into a big girl bed and also potty training. I have heard her a few times talking to herself about these things before nap: "I gettin' big girl bed," and "I go tinkle on big girl potty."Also today, we watched a lot of the inauguration. M gets a little confused about the 44th president and her beloved football team. She will say "Obama! Roll tide." Thinking his name is very close to "go Bama."

Madeline had a hard time adjusting to the fact that today was her real birthday. When folks would call to wish her a happy birthday, she kept responding with "birthday comin' up." She was also so ornery today, which is unlike her. She is such a happy and easy girl. Hopefully this will not be repeated at her party on Saturday. More blogging to follow on that. Happy birthday my sweet precious little girl!

Happy Birthday Gigi

After Gigi's birthday lunch celebration at Whole Foods. We introduced everyone to WF as a lunch spot and it was a huge hit! We loved celebrating another wonderful year of life with you Gigi!
Trying on Gigi's beautiful hat
Madeline loves to try to push the cart whenever we are at a store. Unfortunately the only place with small enough carts is Whole Foods (where I do not often have the opportunity to shop). She pushed forever after lunch.
Where I found M hiding one day during a favorite game of "hide seek" as she calls it. Even after I find her she will say "again," only to recover herself in the same place.
Expressing herself artistically with her new paint.
Another artistic expression-on self. She loves to show others her works of art. She will bring them over one by one and exclaim "I made 'dat!"

Another funny thing M says that I don't want to forget. Whenever we are about to go down a hill or around a corner while riding in the car, she will say "hold on everybody" followed by "whee!"

Happy New Year

Well I hope everyone has a happy new year! 2008 did not end so well as we spent from 6 to after 10pm at Children's Hospital after hours clinic. Madeline had been running fever for almost 3 days and had a horrible cough and congestion. Right after I had signed us in, she went into a coughing fit and threw up all over herself and me. Thankfully we were both still wearing our coats and that's all that was soiled. This was actually the first time I have been thrown up on in 2 years so not a bad stretch. She threw up again a few times after this as well. A nurse in the back even came out to check her oxygen level. Lance arrived from work just a few minutes later, which I was thankful for the help. We waited FOREVER (an hour) for the doctor, to confirm that she had double ear infections, and wheezing. So on to x-ray to rule out pneumonia (which was negative), but her breathing was rather labored so she had to have a breathing treatment as well. Then checkout took another 30 minutes, so it was 10:10pm when we got in the car after our 6pm appointment. The staff and doctor were wonderful, it was just a holiday and extra slow!! I went home to get M ready for bed, Lance went to the pharmacy only to find they didn't have mask we needed to give her home breathing treatments, so it was 11:15pm before he got home. Mind you, we had not eaten dinner either thinking we would be home by 8 or 8:30. M had a few snacks but wasnt really eating much anyways. So, she is on the mend, but we are all fighting off the cold/congestion now. Again, I must express my admiration for single parents. I cannot imagine having to do the doctor, then pharmacy, then bedtime all alone, let alone with more than one child.

What is the deal with the networks showing the ball dropping at 11pm in the central time zone? Really my only complaint about living in CST. But still, can't they show it on a delay for just one night of the year? I was trying to keep M up for just a few minutes so she could take the antibiotic, so she saw the ball drop for the first time and I gave her a kiss. When then went to read books and sing (as we do every night before bed), even as sick as she was, when I asked what she wanted me to sing she started singing "Jesus loves me." It melted my heart.

On a side note, Lance and I had not showered "all year", until this morning.

Things she has said lately that I don't want to forget:
1. When she was really congested she would leave the couch to come say "my eye hurt. kiss it better." I'm assuming from all the sinus pressure.
2. She thinks all things can be kissed better. I told her my back was hurting and she said "kiss it better" and gave my back many kisses. When Lance fake cries (usually due to her taking toys from him) she will kiss him (but will not return the toy).
3. She is such a ham. She knows what gets a laugh. When she passes gas she will loudly announce that she is "Miss Poo-nin." I really only have myself to blame for this. I say she is "Miss pootikins, excuse you" when she does this, but I should have said them in reverse. She will say "scuse me" some times.
4. The other day we were driving to Sam's Club and I was going over my list aloud. I would say, "I need chicken, I need diapers, etc." Madeline from the back, unprompted mind you, "I need tampons" and then laughed heartily. She know this is a word I don't like her to use and they were not on my list either (long sigh).
5. M will repeat "I love you Mommy" when I ask her to. Even though it will be better when its unprompted, it still feels great to hear.

My last thought for the night-GEEZZ BAMA!!!!!!!! RIDICULOUS!!!