shorts and tank tops!

i am so excited to report that madelyn has worn her first shorts of the year! (me too!) it was decent on thurday afternoon (the short sleeves and skirt), warmer on friday (blue outfit), and saturday was warm enough for a tank top! i was so happy to open up the house and enjoy the warm sunshine outside for a little while. unfortunately, today was back to cold and wet. oh well, at least there are starting to be more and more signs of spring...

one such sign of spring is the weekly testing of the tornado sirens. every friday morning at 9:30am the sirens run for various lengths of time and since it is located at the end of our block, very loud. i was worried that madelyn would be scared by them, but she just tells me that she heard a noise. she does like for me to be near her when it goes off, but at least she doesn't cry.

another sign of spring is the return of the door to door solicitors. our neighborhood gets an obscenely high number of solicitors. it makes me hate, hate, hate that we have a glass panel in our front door. people who come to the door can see us sitting on the couch in the evening. matt has suggested that we start relaxing downstairs to avoid having to answer the door., but i hate having to 'hide' in our own house. hopefully, there won't be as many this year, but i think that there will be more since businesses are slower.

i had put off packing up madelyn's summer wardrobe from last year in the hope that some might be able to fit this year. as you can see both her shirts and shorts are not really long enough, but for around the house they will work for a few weeks anyway. saturday morning i was trying all her shorts on her and she would tell me if it was "too big", "too small", or "it fits". she kept it going as we headed out to a local church's rummage sale. when i would hold something up to her she would tell me whether it would fit or not - the vendors thought that it was pretty funny.

later in the afternoon, matt started working on his much anticipated vegetable garden. he only had time to pull of the sod and build the frame for one of the two 6x12 feet boxes. (i will add pictures when he has them completed.) madelyn woke up from her nap and went looking for daddy. i told her that he was outside. as soon as she saw him shoveling she called out "maddie help shovel!" i managed to slow her down long enough to get socks and shoes on.

we went out through the garage and as soon as we got to the driveway to head around to the side of the house, she called out "my shovel!" and ran back to grab her red snow shovel. and then she got to work with daddy. even looking at this picture tonight she gets so excited that she is using a shovel and daddy is using a shovel. she just loves helping him!

here are a few more recent notes:

- when eating her cracker snacks (bunnies, fish, or others) she identifies which ones are "broken" or "whole". she will also push her bowl across the table to share some with mommy - she is so sweet to share her snacks.

- madelyn now asks to feel "brother in mommy's belly". and she really is patient waiting for him to move. when she feel him she tells me and puts my hand on my belly too.

- wearing fleece on the slides at the park generates a lot of static electricity. not only does her hair stand on end, but the shocks can be really loud (and painful). she now tells us that she "heard it" or calls out "shock" whenever she hears the zap mommy or daddy gets when we touch the equipment again. (yes, you can hear it. it is really loud and it can really hurt! at least it hurts daddy and me, not madelyn as far as i can tell.)

- baby boy has outgrown the room i have to offer him and i don't think he is happy about his cramped quarters. i am 30 weeks plus now and i am not sure that i am going to make it another 10 weeks. i can't believe how much more difficult this pregnancy is on my body. i think that i just need to make more of an effort to take a break and put my feet up for a while during madelyn's naps. i was spoiled while pregnant with madelyn because i was comfortable for the most part and didn't have any swelling (i wore my wedding ring the entire time - and could take it off). i truly believe that my life will be easier once my maternity leave starts - don't think i am crazy (those of you with two or more kids) - the mental break from work makes a really big difference in my days!

- madelyn remembers things without any triggers more and more often. when we are riding in the car she will remember something and start talking about it. i am usually a few steps behind trying to figure out what she is talking about. it is particularly difficult when she is talking about an obscure toy that we haven't seen in a long time.

more later. love.