Crawling

Yep, she is finally mobile. Lots of little grunts and rocking but she wanted to touch the surround sound receiver so badly that she crawled two steps to get there. It was the cutest thing! We all cheered and she got a big grin. Even Maddy was clapping and saying good girl sissy. I still have a hard time with my little Mellie growing up. As much as I want her to be mobile and not so frustrated, I still want her to be my little baby. At least she still snuggles me sometimes...for the briefest of seconds :) We had a really great weekend. I took the girls shopping with me to Bed Bath and Beyond of Saturday. It was crazy! Sooo many people everywhere. While we were shopping, anytime I stopped the cart and was looking at something Maddy would alert me of others by saying "People are coming! People are coming!" They both loved being out and shopping with Mommy. Saturday night we didn't do anything exciting but we were all together (Daddy too) so that made it nice. Sunday we grocery shopped and went to Sam's club. Lots of things packed into a small amount of time. They were both angels. I did get them slightly off schedule and my punishment was Mellie not napping. When I finally gave in and went to get her to have quiet time with me, she was sitting up in her crib with her blanket over her head, looking like a little ghost. It was so cute. Since she didn't nap, she went to bed early and Maddy and I made cookies. Maddy was so excited and happy. She kept saying "Maddy help Mommy. Mommy and Maddy make chookies!" I let her measure some things, use the mixer and roll the dough balls in cinnamon and sugar. At one point I was plopping dough balls in the sugar for her to roll and not paying super close attention and I heard her say "hhhmmmm". I looked up and all of the dough balls were missing small pinches from them. She was helping herself! Adorable.

I have really been having some of the best times with my girls lately. I am so amazed by them and find myself getting caught up in their excitement and all of us laughing together.

Oh, and Maddy wouldn't use the potty all weekend. Told me when she was peepeeing but almost cried when I suggested the potty. Yeah...two steps forward....three steps back.

Missing my silly girls

They are spending the night with YaYa. I miss them.

Two Successes!

We have had two potty successes in as many days!!! Yesterday Maddy went pee pee on the potty for the first time. I may have made too big of a deal about it and she started crying (oops). But she also seemed scared that she had gone on the potty...is that a normal reaction? Today she went poop on the potty...I still can't believe it. She wasn't even sitting on the potty when I looked away to Mellie and next thing I knew the potty was singing and Maddy was scared but very quickly was proud...I also didn't make as big of a deal out of it. She got to enjoy her lollipop and soda (ok, sue me. I was tempting her with anything to get her to go on the potty) and was very happy. Maybe, finally, could she be ready for potty training??? :)

Here are a few pics that our budding photographer took.

Who loves Santa??

Apparently not my girls.

Poor little Mel

Even Santa looked depressed.

This is the one we went with.

Tis the season

Saturday we decided to put up the tree. Between Gary and me, I am the one with never ending Christmas spirit. I think he wouldn't even bother with a tree. I am very glad to see that Madison has inherited my love of Christmas. I have a feeling that this Christmas will be the one that she remembers for next year. 

Here we are unpacking the tree.

She had to touch it.

Melanie was a big helper :)

Helping Daddy put the angel on top.

Showing Doggie the ornaments.

Madison helped me put ornaments on the tree and we talked about each one while she hung them up. On Sunday she spent the entire day going over to the tree and naming all of the ornaments....mommy, daddy, Santa, glass Santa, two Maddys (two ornaments that she hung together that have her picture in them), book, nutcracker, ball Santa, Sam's bone and Allie's bone. We also practiced whose stocking was what color. Poor Mellie will be using Maddy's baby's first Christmas stocking. It wasn't until we hung it up that I noticed it said 2008 on it...is it wrong if I write over that in marker??

Thankful

Ok I should have written this post on Thanksgiving but...I forgot. Well I think it's pretty obvious from this blog what I am most thankful for...my two gorgeous and smart and funny little girls. They are healthy and happy and they make me happy and I look forward to every second I have with them. I feel very lucky to have them. I am also thankful for Gary and my family...all that support my little family and help us to survive (you know who you are). I am thankful that, other than Gary's cracked tooth, everyone that I love is healthy and really doing well. After seeing a family member on Thanksgiving whose mother and now father are not in good health and have been struggling for some time now, I am even more grateful that my parents are healthy. I am also thankful that I am taking the time to write this because I am realizing that as hard as things may get and as stressed as I may feel, I don't want to miss one second of my life. I can't change the past but I can change my outlook on the future.
Some thing rather strange happened on Thanksgiving. I was reminded, as if I need reminding at family functions, of my late Grandfather. He left us almost three years ago. Looking around that night I thought of the new family he never got to meet. He knew that I was pregnant with Madison but he actually fell ill the day we had our first doctor's appointment and never really came back to us. I will always feel sad that he never saw me as a mother or got to see my babies. He sure did love women so I suspect he would have been thrilled at all of the little girls in the family :) Melanie was born on his birthday...something we planned on and were very happy that we could remember him in that way. I will miss him always and am thankful for the memories that I have of him.

Above, is how my two beautiful girls take a bath. What is missing is the audio of Maddy saying "MelMel too close" and then trying to push her away over and over again. I can understand her fear. Usually when they are this close Melanie will grab a huge hunk of Maddy's hair and pull. It's not pretty. Out of all the bath toys, Maddy only wants Mellie to have a crab but Maddy doesn't want the toys either. All she wants to do is waste all of the soap by pouring it onto her wash cloth and making herself "soapy".

Today was a sad day for me. But I guess in a way it was a triumph for me as a mommy. Maddy was having some trouble sharing a toy with Melanie and was just sitting there crying. I had to be tough with her even though her being so sad was making me feel just awful. Then I had to give her a 2 minute time out. It was horrible. I know that I am lucky because this is one of maybe five timeouts that I have ever had to give her but it sucks. I hate for my babies to be sad!!

On another note, both of them had flu shots today. Maddy did great! No crying or tears or anything. I was prepared...I bribed her with a lollipop. Mellie on the other hand started crying and reaching for me as soon as they started giving Maddy her shot. She was hysterical by the time they got to her. She did not want her bribe of the pacifier. They were both fine by the time we got home.

I am so looking forward to four whole days with my girls!!!

Where to sleep?

I found Madison sleeping in the hallway this morning. I was woken up by laughing and realized that it wasn't coming over the monitor. Looked on the bedroom floor for Maddy (I found her sleeping there twice a few weeks ago) and when I didn't see her I looked down the hall. I don't know why she decided to sleep there but I had to get a pic. You can see doggie by her legs. Isn't she the cutest little thing?? :)

So I left the camera unattended...

Here are some of Maddy's interpretative photos. I found them while uploading some I had taken. Imagine my surprise when there were about 15 extra photos :)

All were taken in her room, in her bed.

Tuesday

Here is Mellie after she got her hands on Maddy's black crayon...I guess she had to try it! Oh and almost all of my pics of her are of her eyes closed...the red eye reduction makes her blink every time!

Maddy is still lovin' her kitty cat ears.

My little Mel

I know this one is blurry but she's so happy!

I can't believe how badly I've been ignoring the blog lately. I will do my best to get better. I will now leave you with the lyrics to one of Maddy's favorite songs (her version of course):

Blind Mice Mice

Blind Mice Mice

See how rnn

See how rnn

(bunch of mumbling)

Blind Mice Mice

Spaghetti Dinner

Lazy Saturday

Today we did what Maddy loves best...stayed in our jammie jams all day! Except for Mellie. After she fell and bumped her head and started crying so hard that she threw up all over me and her jammies, she changed into some real clothes. Despite all of the bumps and bruises and no naps and whining, this was the type of day I long for. Me and my girls. Together. I can't remember anything really exciting happening and that's ok.
Here's Maddy in her animal jammie jams:

 Here's little Mellie eating a 1/4 grilled cheese sandwich

 This one is of Maddy when she wouldn't nap so she had to sit still with Mommy. She's looking at pictures on my cell phone.

YaYa's Birthday

Today was a special day because it was YaYa's birthday. YaYa is my mom. She is my girls' grandmother and caregiver. If I think about it, she actually probably spends more time with them then I do. Her generosity allows Gary and I the freedom to work so that we can provide food, clothing and shelter for our family. I know that she loves my girls almost as much as I do ;) and I honestly never have to worry about them when they are with her...I worry more about her! She is also my friend.
We had dinner last night with YaYa, Uncle Andy and Christine for YaYa's birthday. It was a lot of fun. We haven't all been together in a while and I've missed it. Maddy was sooo excited to see Uncle Andy. She wanted his attention the entire time. Melanie had fun watching Maddy and Uncle Andy play. She also had a small taste of bread pudding and loved it! Tonight just us girls had dinner for YaYa's birthday here at home. I attempted to make YaYa's favorite cake. Not my worst attempt but it didn't look anything like a cake...more like a pile of squished mess and the icing had a strong alcohol flavor to it. I guess I'll try again next year. Maddy actually sang "Happy Birthday to YaYa". It was so sweet! Well off to bed. Hopefully Maddy stays in bed tonight and I can get a solid night's sleep. Happy Birthday YaYa...We love you!!!

Rest

I have been taking a bit of time away from the computer at night in order to force myself to get more than five hours of sleep a night. Lately I have been staying up late looking for clothes for the girls on ebay and fretting about Christmas and trying to get some sort of organization worked out in my ridiculously cluttered house. Oh and I have been obsessing over a new book series that I have started reading and can't seem to put down. So all of these factors (and the dishwasher being broken so spending 45 minutes a night hand washing dishes and bottles and work being very busy) have made for little sleep and a tired, sometimes cranky mommy. So this week I said forget the dishes every night and get into bed by 10 or 10:30. Read for no more than a half hour and go to sleep. It worked well for two nights. Then Wednesday night Maddy got up at 10:30pm and again at 1:30am. She went right to bed both times. Last night was a doozie. She was up almost every two hours. I would walk her back to bed, tuck her in and turn off her light (yep she can reach the light now) and it felt like she was instantly back at my bed saying "mommy" in that sweet little voice she has. God I love that child but again, sleepy mommy today. I know that there is a phase of not sleeping during the twos that a lot of moms struggle with for awhile. I'm hoping this phase goes away quickly. Mommy needs some sleep!
PS I forgot to mention that on Halloween I noticed that Mellie's top right 2nd from the middle tooth (got that?) has finally broken through! She is growing up too fast.

Halloween

Here is Mellie as an adorable panda bear.

Here is Maddy before makeup..but with her kitty cat ears on.

Mid way through trick or treating. By this point my usually shy child was saying trick or treat before people even opened their doors. She also said Happy Halloween and thank you. I was so proud of her. She was running between houses she was so excited.

Granddad came too!

Here we are post trick or treating. Mellie was so done being in her costume.

Ahhhh...time to enjoy some candy! First thing she picks...a lollipop :)

Pumpkin Patch

So we took the girls to the Pumpkin Patch on Sunday. I dressed them a little to warmly for the 80 degree weather (whoops, still not winning any parenting awards here people) but they had fun anyway...and rosy red cheeks!

Here they are super excited to be there. I had spoken to Maddy about it so much on Saturday that she was sitting in the car grinning and shaking with excitement over going to the pumpkin patch.

It was hard to get a good pic of Maddy here. All she wanted to do was stare and point and say "people" over and over.

Awww. Sisters and best friends. If you notice, Maddy is definitely over the 3 ft mark. She's going to be taller than me by next summer!

This is the cutest pic of Mellie...I love her squishy face!

Here are a few family pictures

My gorgeous girls

Me and my beauties

Daddy...why so serious??

Overall we had a good time. Maddy waited patiently in line for the hay ride but when it was our turn she was too scared to get on it. She wanted only Melanie to ride it! Well, we'll try again next year. The girls both got pumpkins and Maddy got a special little pumpkin that she picked out. Maddy was very interested in all of the people and would continually point them out. Melanie just wanted to get out of the stroller and play!
I am prepared with both girls Halloween costumes and can't wait for trick or treating. I have a feeling once Maddy sees the candy she is going to really love Halloween :)