Sunday, December 30, 2012

PARTY!!!!!!!!!


We had Madeline's party on her birthday. I kinda liked it and kinda didn't. I don't really know how to do a simple party so I was preoccupied a good part of the day getting ready for the party. I don't think I'll do that again next year. Anyway, I put a bunch of balloons in her room Thursday night ( it was really about 4am Friday) so she would wake up and know something was special that day! It's a tradition I hope to continue. We tried to pump her up about it being her birthday but all she would say is, "It's my birthday. Birthday cake!"


 You can barely see the top of them but Madeline is obsessed with these boots - she has them on every morning when I go get her! 



I just like this face! 
I let her choose her own breakfast - of course she chose cookies!!


I did a lot of the decorating Friday night with the help of Terry's sister! 

The food table - we had pizza, penguin crackers (Like goldfish but great value brand and they're penguins - I  was SO excited when I saw them and they don't taste bad either!) We also had sugar cookies, oreos, and blue jello. I tried to keep the food simple this year because we wasted SO much food last year. It worked out pretty perfect.





I decided to do a backdrop with pictures over the last two years - it was SO hard to choose but it was so fun looking back at how much she has changed! I did this last year too and think I'll continue. It takes a little time, but I figure I can stick them straight into her scrapbook. 


I ordered her cake from a different bakery this year and it was delicious and about half the price of the one I ordered last year - I was really happy with it! 




 The party favors were just hot chocolate and marshmallows in a little penguin cup. They were easy and cheap! 


 The "Madeline" Mantel




 We filled Madeline's trampoline with packing peanuts so the kids could jump and play in the "snow". But it was pretty cold and windy so it was a major bust. I am SO glad I didn't set up tables outside. Everyone hung out inside pretty much the whole party - Madeline did jump before and after the party though. She doesn't really seem to be phased by the weather! 

*confession - Terry and I totally played in the snow after the party. it was awesome. i felt like a kid again!




We also had a ring toss that I didn't get a picture of. Terry made the bean bag toss out of wood and it was the hit of the party for all the boys! It was so cute!!


  She had so much fun this year - she got a little uncomfortable when we sang "Happy Birthday" and started chewing on her dress which I thought was so random but the rest of the time she really had fun.


I had to try really hard to convince her to blow out her candles! 



All of the pics of her opening presents turned out really blurry! :( 




 My mom sent her these sunglasses and she was so funny wearing them. She really loves them! She got so many cute things. She got a tricycle from Terry's parents but I couldn't get her to be still long enough to get a decent picture. I'm sure I'll get one eventually. 

 We had so much fun! Although, Terry is so thankful we only have to do this once a year! :) I have to say I barely even stressed about this party - for some reason I was so uptight about her first birthday party! My only disappointment is that I didn't get a picture of the three of us - I am SO bad about that!
 We are so thankful for our friends and family that love our girl! 



TWO YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!!

My Sweet Madeline, 

YOU ARE TWO!!!! That means Daddy and I have officially survived 731 days of raising you! :) 

You are becoming a little more girly - you love to push your babies in the stroller and put them night night. You count to 10 now and say your ABJ's - yes ABJ's not ABC's. You can recognize letters, shapes, and colors. You speak in sentences most of the time now and have learned to ask for what you want. You love to jump and dance, and hide and seek is your new favorite game! Your favorite food besides cookies is rice or pizza, and you LOVE milk. Your favorite phrase is thank you and you try to play outside whether is morning, noon, night, sunny, rainy, or freezing cold! I can't wait to see how you change and grow this next year - BUT do me a favor and slow it down just a little! 

Some days, I have wanted to pull my hair out, I have shed many tears from exhaustion or frustration, I have gotten far less sleep in the past two years, and I have had more joy than I could ever express. You have brought so much laughter and joy to our home. You have taught me how to love unconditionally - especially the closer you got to 2! ;)  You have made me want to be a better person, and have made me keenly aware of the example I set for others. I always say I could never express to you how much I love you, but I'll never stop trying. You are my heart, sweet girl. I thank God many times each day for your precious little life, and the gift He gave Daddy and me through you. Happy 2nd Birthday! (plus 2 days!) 

xoxo, 

Mommy 

And I pray, that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. 
Ephesians 3:17-18 



I made this slide show for your party but I couldn't get the disc to eject from the laptop so we just went without it. I can't believe how fast the past two years have gone by!

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow



Create your own slideshow - Powered by Smilebox
Make your own slideshow design

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

This Will Be Worth It...

I have repeated that phrase to myself about 167,000 times this semester. It's such a crappy feeling when you feel pulled in so many different directions all the time and never really feel like you're giving 100% in any area because you really can't. I hate that feeling! 

But...I take my last final tomorrow and the worst one is behind me (along with 4 others). I have never had to try as hard as I have this semester with Pharmacology. I literally studied ALL day Sunday until 3am and Monday night from about 7 to 4am Tuesday. It paid off but I am exhausted!

Here's the scene from the library - there is some serious caffeine on that table - there were only 3 of us! 


Thankfully, I have the cutest study buddy ever!!!


Who also does dishes!!! 


She randomly decided to start climbing again - mostly in the kitchen sink! It is frustrating but I have to say I'm a little impressed with her skills! 

Try to ignore the beheaded shepherd boy in the window - he lost his head in her purse when she decided to carry him around one day. We also lost a wiseman. The rest of our nativity has been in the window ever since! 

We can't wait for Christmas break!!! 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Motherhood Kills Braincells

I have never been the most organized person - definitely not type A but not a horrific mess either. I am not sure if its finals, motherhood, or my ADD but I am losing my mind. In the past week I have done the following: 

*Lost my spare set of keys with the remote so now I am using the valet key to my car - I lost the first set about 2 months ago. 

*Realized today that I missed Bunco on Tuesday that I was planning to attend

*Went to Target today for milk, thank you cards, and mousse and came home without milk, thank you cards, or mousse 

*Left my trunk open for so long that my neighbor had to come tell me it was open still 

*Took the garbage out and left Polly in the alley behind our house - I mean kinda her fault, kinda mine 


BUT you'll be happy to know that about 90% of my party planning/decorating stuff for Madeline's birthday is done, her presents for Christmas and birthday are done, and I am rocking all A's on my finals so far. Don't ask what our house looks like! hah Say a little prayer that I don't forget Madeline anywhere! 

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Christmas Party...#1

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!! We went to Terry's work Christmas party Saturday night. It was so nice - they had childcare on site for free so it was the perfect set up for a night out. Terry was randomly selected for a game (he had a sticker under his chair), and it was hilarious. It had four elimination rounds. The first they had to get a gingerbread man from their forehead into their mouth without dropping it. Then they had to fan an ornament across the dance floor with a box lid. The third round there were four guys left and they had to put vaseline on their noses, then put a string with a rudolph nose on the end in their mouth and get it to stay on their nose. It was so funny! 






Terry was the first to get the rudolph nose to stick on his nose. He and one other guy were in the last round. In the last round, they tied a ribbon with a kleenex box onto Terry's back. It was full of jingle bells and he had to empty the box while on all fours with the box on his back. I was screaming and yelling for him and told him to do a handstand to get them all out and HE WON! It was so exciting - we're both a little competitive so it was so fun to see him win! He won an autographed copy of P90X and the book that the guy wrote about it. It's still in the box - I am not a work out in your living room kinda person and Terry is a work out when the Air Force makes him kind of person so I'm not sure what we'll do with it! 





We had SO much fun, and I think that's the second time we've been out together all year without Madeline. I mean she was down the hall but still. It was so great!



Monday, December 3, 2012

One of those Months...

We kinda had one of those months in November as opposed to one of those days or weeks. After the miscarriage, Madeline got really sick and is still battling a nasty cough, although much better. I had to take her to the ER on black Friday because she was wheezing so bad and they kept her for a few hours for observation. 

Needless to say she's been a little more difficult to handle than normal!

Maybe it's been the spirit of Thanksgiving or the fact that God keeps the people in Kenya on my heart, but I haven't been able to help myself from being so grateful for my life. Even holding my sweet girl in the middle of the night or having her hack her little head off all night next to me while I get no sleep still just has me being thankful. Don't get me wrong - I am pretty freaking tired! But I can't help but think how good we have it here. All I had to do was put her in the car, drive 5 minutes to the hospital and she was taken care of.

My heart breaks for my sweet girl when she isn't feeling well and my nerves get a little frazzled because she can be hard to handle. But today I watched this you tube video of the people in Kenya and these moms holding their sick babies with no one to heal them. (I realize they have God but you know what I'm saying) There is no hospital, no antibiotics, no steroids, no humidifiers, no way to wash their little hands clean. My heart just breaks thinking that we share this world with people who deal with these problems every single day.

As May creeps closer, my fears get bigger. My heart skips a beat and my stomach flops when I think about getting on that plane for a 17 hour flight. But it really isn't about me. My prayer is that God will keep reminding me of that. It's about Him first and foremost. Please keep praying - pray for the people of Kenya, pray for our team - there is one getting ready to go in March too- and pray that fears would be removed. Pray that God would prepare the hearts of the people there and ours as we prepare to go. Pray for the moms there - that they would find a Peace that surpasses all understanding, especially when there is no earthly healing in sight.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

23 Months...And a few days!

My Sweet Girl, 

 You are growing way too fast and are so independent! You weigh 25lbs, wear size 4 diaper, size 6-7 shoe, and size 24 months - 2T clothing. Pretty sure this is my last month of counting your age in months!!! Oh the depression is setting in!!!




You celebrated your 2nd Halloween. You had 3 costumes - one from Nana, one we bought you - that you refused to wear - and this genie which was a hand-me-down from Baleigh. You were SO stinking cute in both costumes you wore! You didn't quite understand trick-or-treating and were very suspicious about people just giving you candy! It was awesome to watch! We let you have candy when we got home and then your bucket mysteriously disappeared - you can ask your Dad about that!!! 


Here you are with Mrs. Karen from church. You LOVE her son, Hunter. You talk about him all the time and it cracks me up. You have started calling people by their names and talk about them at home now. You play pretend with them and it cracks me up, especially when they get in trouble with you! 


You are so grown up! You are talking in sentences and have figured out if you say, "Mommy, Look!" while we are in the car that I will look at you. Recently you will say, "Mommy, look! Elephant!" and point out the window. Sometimes you say cow or deer too. It always makes me laugh even though you do it about 10 times a day now. We have started talking to you about being honest! hah


Your personality is pretty much the same. You are goofy and love anything outside! You loved the pumpkin patch and when we go to the park, I have to make you leave. You usually don't get too upset as long as I warn you first that we have to leave soon. Although sometimes, you do the limp body thing and it drives me insane. We have been working hard core on correcting that behavior!!


You love to read still. It's by far your favorite thing to do. Now you will take your books and "read" them to me and say "the end"! I love it! You also love blocks, puzzles, and you really love to color. On anything, with anything. You have gotten so much better about only coloring on paper. You also love baby dolls and will cover them with a blanket and put them night-night. You know most of your colors, shapes, and the alphabet. You struggle with numbers just like your momma but can count to 3! 


Recently started climbing again. Yesterday you climbed into the bathroom sink. Hopefully, it's a phase that won't last long! You are into everything all the time. You will help clean up if I ask you to and help. You are still obsessed with animals. We took you to Petsmart the other night and I am pretty sure you liked it way more than you liked Disney World. 


Your eating habits are about the same. You will eat raw spinach just like you'll eat mac and cheese. Although you have a new found love for rice. You will tear some rice up - white rice, brown rice, spanish rice, fried rice - you love it all! You would drink a gallon of milk a day if I let you but I have to cut you off! You went through a phase where I was having a hard time getting you to drink water but seem to be over that now. Occasionally, you get juice. You are still an awesome sleeper and rarely wake up during the night. If you do, you will almost always go back to sleep on your own. You still take one long nap each day. 


I really need to potty train you. You know when you're wet or poopy and have started taking your pants and diapers off. I am trying to wait a few more weeks until school gets out so I can devote all my time to it during the day. In some ways I am dreading it, but I don't think I'll miss buying diapers! 



Lately, you will give me any kind of kiss. Regular kiss, eskimo kiss, butterfly kiss, or fishy kiss and I LOVE It!! You will come up to me for a kiss and then run to Daddy and ask him to throw you across  the couch! I think its so funny to watch our relationships with you change as you get older! I can already tell Daddy is the fun parent, and I am the paranoid one!



You are changing so much! You are so independent now and are always on the go! We have had to really implement some discipline with you. You are stubborn, and there was a day recently where you and I were both in tears over your behavior. It's true that whole, it hurts your parents to have to discipline you way more than it hurts to get disciplined. You really are so good though and most of the time easily redirected. You are super smart and so stinkin funny! You bring so much joy to Daddy and me! Whether it's chasing you around or laying down watching a movie with you, you are so much fun to be around!  I love you with all my heart! 

xoxo

Mommy