Ahhh the beach

Our four day beach extravaganza was our first family vacation and the first time in three years that I have been to the beach. I love the beach. I love everything about it. I love the smell of sunscreen and the feel of the ocean spray. I love people watching and swimming/jumping over waves. I feel at peace at the beach. I want my girls to love the beach so we can always make a beach trip. I knew that this trip was going to be different then I am used to and, if I'm being honest, that it would probably suck. We were renting a one bedroom so the girls would share a room for the first time and Gary and I would sleep on the sleep sofa. We had to take a car full of stuff for four days to accommodate the girls. It would also be the first longish car ride that Melanie has ever been on--the beach is 3.5 hours away.
The girls were amazing on the car ride down. Melanie eventually fell asleep and Maddy only really got going when we were 20 or so minutes from the beach place. It took Gary and me forever to pack the car to leave so we left late. We stopped at a KFC for lunch about half way through and let Maddy run around. Silly thing thought us stopping meant we were there. Eventually we made it. Neither girl napped. Gary napped. We all went down to the water. Maddy was so excited to see the sand. We didn't put our feet in that first day because the water was very rough. We did pack up all our stuff and head down to the beach the next day. Both girls were happy to have their feet in the water. Then a bigger wave came, strong current pulled Maddy's feet toward the ocean and she never put her feet in again. Melanie didn't like it either but the next day I put her feet in and she started clapping. So this year I had one beach baby. I took Maddy for walks down to the ocean every night and we had fun. The girls did amazing sleeping together. We never could quite get them to nap together but they slept until 7am every morning. One night after we put them to bed, I could hear Maddy very quietly over the monitor saying "Melmel, Melmel" but Melanie was already asleep. It was so cute.
We had a torturous ride home...6 hours. I was shocked that my little troopers held it together. At one point, Maddy was reaching across the seat to hand puffs to Melanie who was reaching to take them. It was adorable. We also had to pull over and have a random picnic so the girls could get some food in their bellies.
Overall, it was good. The night before we left, Maddy kept saying "home" so I think we went for the perfect amount of time for the girls' first trip. I did get about an hour of alone time on the beach...just me. The weather was gorgeous and perfect.
I will mourn my beach trips before kids but I know that in 15 or so years I will again be able to head down to the beach with my chair and a good book and relax. Until then, I will treasure the extra time with my girls and hubby.

Hmmm

Today someone I have not seen in a very long time and who I don't really know very well said to me "motherhood really suits you" to which I replied "thank you. I really am enjoying it". I've been thinking about that comment a lot since. It's not often, as a mom, that you hear that you're doing a good job. You hear more advice on how you could be doing things better. Not that this person was saying I was doing a good job...I was trying to leave a party with one child squirming and fussing for a nap and the other smiling pretty and said bye bye with dried blood in her nostril from a nose bleed two days ago (she won't let me clean it out!). But it was nice to have someone say that motherhood suited me. I've always known that I wanted to be a mom. I think I always knew that I would be a mom. I'm glad to know that I appear content as a mom. I must admit that I love being a mom to my two beautiful girls. Even when my morning starts like this:

Maddy had decided to take off her shirt and had almost gotten her diaper off. She had peed all in her bed. Luckily I washed her extra sheet and pillowcase last night so it was easy to clean up.
I know I promised a beach recap and I will do it. Tonight is the last night before Gary heads back to work for the week so we need to watch all of our shows on DVR. Time for popcorn... :)

Last Day :(

Day 3

Night of day 2

Day Two of the beach

Beach!

We finally went on a family vacation!! I am exhausted so I will write more later but I wanted to load pics tonight and write tomorrow. This is Maddy when we first arrived at the beach...she was very excited to see sand.

Sorry for the delay

I really can not do the blog justice today. I am just too tired. Melanie got her other front top tooth today..yeah! The big girl bed has been interesting. Sunday we had no nap and I heard the pitter patter of little feet all over the room collecting treasures that had to be in bed...dirty laundry, toys. Tonight at 10:30 I  heard her door open, pitter patter, pitter patter..."mommy daddy?" So adorable! Daddy put her back in bed and I haven't heard from her since...thank goodness! Here are a few pics:

Maddy's sheets and comforter for her big girl bed

Mellie sits up in the bath now!

Daddy's little helper

Daddy had to install the gate at the top of the stairs now that Maddy is in her big girl bed. When he started, I had the girls in the bath. When he was trying to finish he had two helpers...Maddy and Allie. Of course Maddy was helping while holding her pearl headband, pearl necklace and a screw driver :) I can't say that the big girl bed has been a huge success. As far as I know she has stayed in bed but she was up early this morning (before I left for work) and was crying and whining all day for Daddy...signs that she didn't sleep well last night. She was good when I got home so she must have had a good nap. Hopefully this adjustment goes quickly and she learns to sleep peacefully in her new bed.
Mellie was, of course, a perfect angel. No left top tooth yet. Hopefully soon because the drool and chewing is out of control!

Big girl bed

My Madison,
Today you took one more step further from being a baby. You are now sleeping in a big girl bed. We took the front of your crib off and put the rails up. You were so excited! The pic above shows how much fun you were having being in your new bed. We did it right before nap time and when I went to get you up from your nap and you were still asleep I thought you must have had a really good nap. Hahaha. I think you must have played a lot and then finally dozed off. You were a grouch all night. You were very excited to put the new bedding that Yaya got you onto your bed. I'll take a pic of that tomorrow. I am excited for you to be experiencing all of these changes and growing up. I am so glad that I get to be a part of it.
I had one more quick story to share. On Sunday we went to grocery store, just us. We walked up to CVS to get your medicine. You had to watch yourself walk by in all of the store fronts that we passed--maybe six of them. On the way back from CVS you stopped in front of the store fronts, bent down and then popped up saying peek! It was the cutest thing. You were peek a booing yourself.
Having a toddler is really the best. I get to experience and see things that I see everyday in a new and exciting way...through your eyes. When I sense myself feeling down about things in our lives I remind myself that you don't care. You love your life and that's all that matters to me.
Sweet dreams my big girl.

Sit! Sit!

Here is what Maddy wants to do all day long. I hear "sit sit" and she is racing into the kitchen. She wants to sit on the counter and basically mess with everything up there. She picks up the container holding the spenda (which is what she is reaching for in the bottom pic) and says Mommy--Mommy is also the coffee maker, coffee pot and coffee bean grinder ( I may drink too much coffee on the weekends). Daddy is the glass container of olive oil and Aunt Gina is the lavender candle that Aunt Gina made for my bridal shower four years ago. Maddy will sit on the counter the entire time I get dinner ready. It's actually helped at dinner time because I know where she is and can keep an eye on her. Before go into the living room and would be silent and I knew she was doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing but I was making dinner so when I wondered into the room I would see something like this:

Love my Maddy!