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.