happy birthday, uncle derek!

today is uncle derek's birthday. while madelyn wanted to talk to him on the phone, all she would say is "bye" at the end. we were just surprised that she wanted to talk to him because she has been refusing to talk on the phone lately - even to daddy. anyway, matt and derek's parents are here with us so we all went out to dinner and had a toast to derek's birthday. i hope that you had a great one!

this morning madelyn and i (and mason) went to the first of a new class - puppet playtime. i should have brought my camera in with me and will try to remember it next week. it is a pretty loose class but there is a puppet making craft - this week it was a paper plate sheep puppet, some books about the theme - sheep, a puppet theater - with fabric sheep puppets, and singing at the end - today, you guessed it, sheep songs. madelyn was really excited about the puppet theater and was really cute with her huge smile peaking through the 'stage' window.

this blurry picture shows madelyn holding her sheep puppet. she lost interest in gluing on the cotton balls after attaching only four - they were supposed to go all the way around the face in the middle of the plate. like i said, she really liked the puppet theater and had to check it out as soon as the other kids started to make their way over.

after we got back to the house we had a quick snack and then took nana to the park while papa worked and napped. nana was a good sport about pushing madelyn on the swing and going down the twisty slide - more than once. madelyn had a lot of fun playing with nana and another little boy who came to play. we headed home after madelyn decided that she was ready for lunch. after lunch, madelyn had a lot of fun playing with papa in the playroom. i am not sure what all they were playing, but there was a lot of noise and laughter coming out of the playroom.



we were lucky that daddy could come home a little early today. he got home a little before madelyn woke up from her nap and got to spend some time with the kids before we headed out to dinner.

on wednesday night we went to matt's softball game and madelyn was trying to talk with a little girl that was eating some snacks and drinking juice. here was madelyn's ice breaker - "its a nice day, huh?" it was all i could do not to laugh out loud. she has been commenting on the weather a lot lately. mainly to say that it was "hot out today." she just says these things sometimes that make her sound so mature beyond her years.

happy birthday again to uncle derek! love.

the mlg story

so i have gotten lots of questions about "mlg". yes, we all have the same initials - matthew lynn, michelle lee, madelyn lane, and mason lynn (its a family middle name).

when matt and i got married we realized that we had the same initials. matt really wanted for us to continue this with our kids names. i was pretty hesitant at first because i think that there is a lot to be said for using initials to label things. obviously i gave in to matt's preference and we began on journey of naming our children with "m" names.

the girl names were pretty easy to come up with but the list of boy names was much, much shorter. and with our last name being such a mouthful it was difficult to pick middle names starting with "l" when most of our first name choices also had multiple syllables.

of course narrowing down the letters only encouraged people to try and guess, but we keep it a secret. i wouldn't even tell a grocery cashier what madelyn's name was going to be while we were on vacation in south carolina. and this time around the grandparents kept trying to trick madelyn into telling them. like we would tell her... we even told them that she didn't know. oh well.

so there you have it - the mlg story.

there just haven't been many pictures to post because i haven't been taking pictures. matt's parents are visiting and we haven't really done anything, just hanging out. plus madelyn has been in school for the past two days and daddy has been at work. i am going to try and take some pictures tomorrow though for your viewing enjoyment, but don't hold me to it. love.

messy monday

not only did i not get much in the way of sleep last night, but today was an adventure in bodily fluids. i will try not to be too graphic.

i don't know what i was thinking, but i had left way too much to do for nana's arrival this afternoon. between the dogs and the kids there was a lot of up and down the stairs trying to prepare the guestroom and basement for house guests.

after feeding mason i thought that it would be a good idea to put him into my moby wrap so that there would be one less person/animal to keep track of as i went about my chores. mason does spit up a lot so i was just reaching for the burp cloth when i saw the first of the spit up coming up. as i was wiping that off his face i had to quickly turn my head to keep from getting projectile milk from hitting me in the face. instead i got it all over my neck, shirt, wrap, leg, and foot. not to mention that mason was choking and it was coming out of his nose. yuck!

the experience did give me another reason to love my wrap - it took me about half a second to lift him up and out so that i could turn him over to help him breathe and stop choking. the good news is that mason was fine. now what should i do next?

i haven't mentioned that madelyn had finished her snack and was crying for more as i was putting mason in the wrap and while i was standing their covered in a belly's worth of spit up she started whining about needing more water. thankfully she accepted my explanation about having to wait just a minute and settled herself down to wait.

i striped mason down to his diaper and laid him on the floor on his belly - in case he had anything else in him. then i went to strip myself down in the shower for a quick rinse off before getting back to work cleaning up the rest of the mess. but wait, there is more!

madelyn came to get me saying that mason was pooping. i didn't rush right over because he most likely just had some gas (his belly was pretty empty at this point). when i got to wear madelyn was sitting with him i found her holding his diaper and mason laying naked on the ground. and, yes, it was poopie. madelyn had managed to get poop on mason's belly and foot in the process of taking off his diaper too.

so here was more to clean up. remember, i am trying to get the house cleaned before matt's mom got here. i got mason cleaned up and dressed, got myself dressed again, and got madelyn cleaned up. i was really glad when madelyn's nap time came around!

thankfully, i was able to get everything, including me, cleaned up before nana arrived this afternoon.

we have been running a daily gentle cycle around here. between diaper's leaking in the swing, nursing bras, and stuffed animals there have been a lot of gentle cycle items to get clean. i did three gentle cycle loads today alone! i also did four or five other loads today in preparation for our guests. i am worn out today and very ready for bed. hopefully i will have a much more restful night tonight.

now just to mix things up a little, and include a picture, here is a madelyn story. yesterday madelyn decided that watching dinner preparation and occasionally pouring or stirring something for me wasn't enough. now she wants to "cut something too." it was her idea to use her little toddler knife to do the cutting, but i got her the cutting board and something to 'cut'. granted her knife isn't nearly sharp enough to cut any produce, but she is more than happy to help 'cut' green onions for me and it keeps her away from where i am using a real knife. and she is so proud of it! she kept telling daddy that she was cutting and tonight she happily told nana that she was "cutting onions". whatever it takes to keep dinner preparation happy and tantrum free. love.

the blog effect

sometimes i hesitate to post when something is going well because it always seems to go poorly as soon as i post to the blog about it and last night was no exception.

i posted about mason sleeping so well and getting close to sleeping through the night - then the blog effect... last night mason got up every 2-1/2 to 3 hours. to make it worse, i had gone to bed early because i had a migraine coming on and needed to work double time to get the house ready for nana's arrival today.

i just love how kids keep life interesting! love.

i heart target carts

after church we went to check out a new target and grocery store that were having grand openings in a brand new shopping center near our house.

right away i noticed the new cart style - all plastic - walking through the parking lot. they are definitely more attractive than the traditional metal carts you see everywhere. and then when we got inside the store i saw the most exciting cart ever! it has a bench for two kids and then there is still a regular cart. granted it is really long and feels like driving a bus around the store, but it is worth it to have two happy children.

besides the abundance of seating, the normal cart seating option (where i have mason's carrier) reclines further from the weight of the carrier instead of the metal ones that barely fit it and cause it to 'clip' on. i hate when the carrier 'clips' on to a traditional metal cart because it never seems to come off easily and just annoys me.

i never expected that i would become such a fanatic about shopping carts, but these are the kinds of things that make my life easier. and i didn't mention how thrilled madelyn was to have the option ride versus walking. she told us several times that she was very happy to be riding in the cart and that she really "likes this cart".

on the way home she started to blow her spit bubbles - a recent favorite past time - and just looked cute with her sunglasses and polka dot dress (that she picked out for church this morning because it had polka dots). love.

big helper

madelyn is such a good helper! sometime she 'helps' a little too much, but overall she really is a help to me. and not just getting me things either. she can get him to take a pacifier better than i can! she usually offers to put it back in his mouth before i can even ask. i do have to ask her not to give it to him when he is already sleeping though.

she helps set the table for dinner by putting out napkins for all of us and then picking out three forks from the drawer to put on the table for us to use. she has been picking out her own spoon and fork for several months now, but letting her pick out forks for matt and i is new. she does a really good job of it too.

this week for dinner she shucked all five ears of corn for me out on the deck. and she often gets her stool out of the bathroom (before i can get her kitchen stool down off the refrigerator) to help with the rest of the cooking. i try to let her do as much pouring and stirring as i can but mainly she just watches and talks to me about what i am doing. or she gives mason "magic kisses" and his pacifier to help him stop crying for me.

madelyn's manners also continue to improve. she will now say, "may i please have [blank], mommy?" i love the "may i". and she rarely has to be reminded to say please or thank you any more. she is getting very consistent about saying "thank you" for complements too.

this week we have eaten cantaloupe. madelyn has eaten most of it. she eats half a decent sized cantaloupe with dinner and/or lunch before i cut her off and switch her to another fruit. matt can't believe how she puts it away! she really likes to put the halves back together to make a circle - she pointed this out to me while i was preparing her lunch one day.

everyday when we pick her up from school she tells her teacher (and anyone else who will listen that i am her mommy and he is her brother mason. then she tells us how much she missed each of us.

since the other two pictures on the page didn't show her face, i added this one from last night when she was showing me how she fit in the "closet" (aka the kitchen pantry cabinet). her hair had been in two front pig-tails, but she had one fall out after nap time.

the one thing madelyn doesn't really do to 'help' is ask to hold mason. she tells me that she is going to pick him up sometimes, but she doesn't really ask to hold him. this morning though she asked to "carry mason" (this is how she asks to hold him). and this video shows the last part of their time together. madelyn asked me to take her picture with mason (and i did) so i knew that she wouldn't mind the camera and used the opportunity to get some video since she has been so temperamental about the camera in general lately.

my last comments about my "big helper" would be that she daily points out that mason is "cute" and the past few days she has been commenting that he is getting bigger. she also tattles on herself if she "bonks" him with her body or toys in any way. mason isn't crying, she just tells me, sadly, that she bonked him. overall she is very careful and loving around him. she has not shown anything purposefully hurtful at all which is really nice. we feel very blessed to have such a great big sister around! love.

mason sleeping

mason makes so many crazy noises when he is sleeping. he is way noisier that madelyn ever was! here is some video of a common sleeping sound.

he is sleeping until almost 4am now and i think that he will be making it all the way through the night (8 hours or more) very soon. he doesn't nurse longer than 10 or 15 minutes and doesn't really wake up all the way. i don't change his diaper or anything, just a quick feed and back down. so he is giving me about 5 hours, then a quick feed, and another 3-4 hours. madelyn definitely helps with his morning wake-up so he might sleep longer if he was uninterrupted.

i have been letting him nap on his belly during the day because he seems to have more gas than madelyn ever did and being on his belly obviously works it out of him. not to mention that his head is getting closer to the top of the swing already! i think after papa and nana's visit i am going to work on getting him to nap in his crib before i go back to work. it's not a huge deal at this point, but i want to make the move to a schedule as soon as possible. love.

yea, daddy!

after three weeks of 9:30pm games, matt's softball team will now have three weeks of 6:30pm games. the great part about that is that madelyn, mason, and i can go to cheer him on at the earlier games. madelyn loves to cheer for her daddy! she is particularly proud of him when he bats and tells everyone around her that her daddy is batting and is going to hit the ball.

because it was an early game everyone else on the team had their families come too. madelyn was delighted to see so many kids around her age at the game. she was particularly interested in a one year old boy (seen to her right in the picture of the kids watching matt warm up for the game - madelyn is towards the middle in the blue shirt). i think that it was sort of like, "i wish my brother could walk around and play". she tried to run around with the older girls (ages 3 and 4) but they didn't always acknowledge her - not that it stopped madelyn from trying or running around with them. one of the girls did grab her by the arm and lead her over to where she had a bag of popcorn to share. madelyn, never one to turn down food, stood there stuffing her face until i called her away because the other little girl had left a few minutes ago without madelyn even noticing.


this is a picture madelyn requested i take so that she could "show daddy" how she wears her mr.potatohead pieces. i love it when she thinks about him and misses him when he is at work.


yesterday matt was pretty tired when he got home from work and he was so lucky that the game madelyn wanted to play with him was 'put daddy to bed'. she had him get into her bed, tucked him in, got him a drink of her milk from the refrigerator, gave him a kiss, and then laid down in bed with him to read him books. i went in to check on them after a while (it was pretty quiet in there) and sure enough matt was asleep and madelyn was still reading him books. she just looked up at me and said, "come, mommy. join us." "join us" must be something she learned at school. it just sounded so formal and mature to me that i had her repeat it a few times for my amusement.

i was surprised that she was being so still and quiet because she had taken a 4 hour nap and only woke up shortly before matt got home from work. we left the room and let daddy sleep until it was bath time; at which point madelyn went storming in excitedly declaring, "wake up, daddy, its bath time!," over and over.

now this one just amazes me. matt is almost always able to get madelyn to wear shoes she normally refuses to wear. i think it might be because he is getting ready to take her out to do something she really wants to do and just wants to get her shoes on as fast as possible. like today for example. she and daddy were going on a "trip" to take pictures downtown (it is something matt is doing for work and madelyn took her camera - our old one - to help). i have been trying to get her to wear these new shoes for over a week now by pointing out the heart and bow on them with no luck - in fact the suggestion is greeted with screams of "no". today daddy suggested them and madelyn not only put them on willingly, but then she told me to look at the pretty heart on them! at least one of us can get her to try new shoes... love.

"he touched my..."

i know that the title of this post sounds perverted, but this is one of madelyn's most common phrases these days. she loves it when mason touches her things and points it out when he does. she also asks him to touch her toys or other objects. we are very fortunate that she loves to share with her little brother. although, i am sure that the "don't touch my..." days are in our not too distant future.

here is a video of her playing doctor with mason. you can hear her say, "he touched my doctor", "he touched my shirt", etc. she is also trying to get mason to hold the stethoscope (aka "doctor") again after he lets it go. don't worry mason was not forced to wear the stethoscope at the end of the video and madelyn didn't cry about it (i think she looks like she is going to cry when i tell her "no").

here is another example of her telling me that he touched something she gave him. she was 'reading' him the book and that is what i was trying to get with the camera originally. she does a really great job of 'reading' him books. she tells him as much of the actual story as she can remember and then starts just telling him about the pictures. the cute part is that she turns the book so that he can see the page and asks him, "mason, can you see this page?" she does this most when he is laying on a blanket on the floor. madelyn lays down next to him and brings over book after book to read. she even includes a "the end" when she finishes one before going to get another. the book in this video is franklin wants a pet.

another note from this video is at the end when i ask her if she wants to go to bed. this is how i have been addressing thumb sucking only being for bed time. she usually just removes her thumb from her mouth, but if she does indeed want to suck her thumb she will tell me that she is going to bed and will do just that. i will go in and she is under the covers sucking her thumb with friend. she only sucks her thumb when holding friend, so if i can further limit it just to her bed room i will be happy. so far so good. love.

thursday's onesie

i wanted to post at least something tonight. here is mason's onesie of the day from thursday. it reads - "will work for boob". love.

madelyn's 2-year plus check-up

and back to the doctor we go... madelyn was looking forward to laying down to be measured like mason had been on friday. i think that she was a little disappointed to have to stand on the scale and then be measured against the wall. she even asked to be weighed on the baby scale in the room. as was expected, her vocabulary got rave reviews and so did her coordination. i guess balancing on one leg for a second is a three-year-old skill and madelyn could do it on each leg - who knew?

here are her stats:

height - 37-1/2 inches (99th percentile)
weight - 32.2 lbs. (93rd percentile)
bmi (they start tracking body mass index at 2) - 44th percentile

basically, she is really tall and the perfect weight for her height. the whole appointment consisted of the doctor having a conversation with madelyn about her favorite things. apparently her favorite food is peanut butter and jelly - again, who knew? and when the doctor asked about her favorite vegetables she told her about the squash she and daddy were growing in their garden.

madelyn did a wonderful job with the shots too. they were never referred to as "shots" during the appointment, but on the way to the car she told me that she had gotten "pinched on the leg" and then told me that she got "two shots". after telling this to matt he mentioned that they have been reading a book about elmo going to the doctor that talks about shots so that is probably where she got the correct word from. she was not phased by the shots at all. i mean, she cried because it hurt, but she got over it as soon as the band aids were on. i was impressed.

as i was getting everyone ready to go before the appointment, mason gave me his first real smile! he looked me straight in the eye when i said, "hi, mason," and smiled his big smile. i guess the doctor was right about him smiling early.

we often call madelyn "maddie-mad" so tonight she was calling daddy "daddy-dad". i thought that it was funny enough to share with you all. love.

batter up!

we had a pretty quiet day around here today. we went to church and then down to the "riverwalk" for a leisurely stroll with a stop at the playground for madelyn since it was once again on the cool side out.

after a long nap (without eating lunch first) madelyn went to help daddy in the yard. with their work done, and popsicles eaten, they decided to take out the bat and tee big pop and grandma gave her during their visit (we didn't have the time to use it while they were here). being as independent and stubborn as her parents, madelyn refused to let daddy show her how to properly hold a bat so here is her interpretation of playing baseball. (it might make you a little seasick because i was up on our deck with the camera and had it zoomed in to them.)

she was never as exciting when i had the camera on as when i was just watching - of course. she would say "ready, daddy, ready?" and then hit the ball while matt pretended to 'field' it for her. i guess she announced that she needed a hat (you need to wear a baseball hat to play baseball after all) and matt offered her his (you can see it in the first part of the video) and then when i came out to watch again she asked me to go and get "maddie's hat" so that it would fit better. she is the one that put it on her head backwards after first wearing it correctly. when she was telling her grandparents about playing baseball she brought up that mommy had to go and get her hat for her - it was that big of a deal.

daddy sent her in to get ready for dinner so after getting washed up she got her milk out of the refrigerator for a drink. she took a big gulp from her cup and then said, "it sure is hot today!" this made me laugh for two reasons - one - where did she come up with that, and - two - it wasn't hot today.

side note - madelyn gives mason and hug and kiss good-night without us having ever asked her. she just hugs and kisses me and then runs over to hug and kiss mason in the swing. such a loving big sister!

the oldest county fair

yesterday we took our double stroller for its first outing - the county fair! apparently, this is the oldest county fair in the state at 167 years. we had never been before and thought that it might be more manageable than the state fair next month. as an extra incentive to check it out, one of our neighbors called in the morning to say that they had tickets and a parking pass that they weren't going to be able to use and offered them up to us. how can you say no to a free trip to the fair?!

we decided to wait and go after nap time so that we wouldn't have to rush. madelyn was pretty excited to be going to fair. not that she knew what a fair was, but the idea of somewhere new was exciting enough. once she saw the tents she thought that it was the circus and got even more excited.

i would say that we had a nice time. it wasn't hot (in fact the high for the day was only 70 and i don't think that the sun ever got to shine through all the clouds) and madelyn really enjoyed it. mason slept through the entire trip.

madelyn got to see lots of farm animals - cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, roosters, ducks, goats - and sharks. sharks were sort of a random addition to the fair, but madelyn liked seeing all four of them in their trailer tank. we went through all of the animal areas twice at madelyn's request. i think that she liked hearing them all make their noises.

we did take in a juggling show taking place in the children's tent. madelyn has been pretty interested in juggling and even tells me that she is juggling sometimes so we thought that she might enjoy it. she paid attention to the whole show - about one hour. she was really excited when one of the volunteers from the audience offered her their balloon animal (a koala) on the way back to their seat. amazingly she still hasn't popped it. not that she hasn't tested it by twisting, squeezing, and hugging.

(and, yes, we started in short sleeves - it is summer after all - but it was just too cold with the wind and we put on our jackets and fleece. in july!) love.

so much to share

as i am sure you can imagine, we have a lot of entertainment here. i just haven't had the time (or energy) at the end of the day to post it all. here are some updates from the past few days:

- madelyn likes to snuggle up and read books more often lately. usually reading only happens at bedtimes, but she wants just as many stories read throughout the day now. this picture is not from a bed time. madelyn requested to read and instead of sitting on the couch she wanted to read in her bed so mason and i joined her. i called matt to take a picture because mason was looking at the book too, but he moved his head once daddy got there with the camera.

- madelyn has a renewed interest in her mr. potatohead set and play dr. kit. she plays with both of them at least once a day. one thing that she likes to do with the mr. potatohead set is to put the pieces in her mouth so that she can wear the smiles, noses, etc. i was trying to get a picture of madelyn and me because we both had in the toothy smile, but she wouldn't look up at the camera when i leaned in to be in the picture with her - sorry for the disappointment.

- speaking of the play dr. kit, madelyn decided to give mason a physical exam on thursday morning. she used the stethoscope to listen to his entire body. i liked this picture of her listening to his feet. every body part got the "thump, thump" sound effect.

after the stethoscope came the otoscope, but this one makes me a little nervous near mason (or when she does my exam for that matter). madelyn's pediatrician says that there is a "birdie in there" when she does a exam of madelyn's ears and makes a bird-like whistle sound. madelyn had declared that "there are no birdies in there" while examining daddy's ears on monday evening. then she looked in the play otoscope and pointed that there were no birdies in there either. we were surprised that she still remembered that about her doctor's visits because we had not been in about 7 months.

- i was changing mason's diaper on friday and madelyn came in to help. before her nap she had requested that he wear an elmo diaper. she had been trying to find one in the diaper hanger but i was already done changing him by the time she found one with elmo on it. while she was napping i set aside an elmo diaper to put on mason after she woke up to make up for not doing so before naptime. when i told her that we were going to put an elmo diaper on mason she started screaming, "no! i don't want it!" and then she started to take out all of the elmo diapers from the diaper hanger and took them to her room. later in the day i went into her room and found them all lined up in a row on her bookshelf. she loves to line things up...

- mason has sucked his thumb a few times that i have seen, but during his bath on thursday night he was really going to town so i had to get some video to share.

- we got our replacement stroller on friday and madelyn could not wait to try out her new seat. she is almost too tall for it! her head hits the sunshade, but it almost does that in all of the strollers now. i am sure people see her and think, "i can't believe that they are pushing around that 5 year old!" just like i think when i have seen a child clearly too big for a stroller. she still doesn't ride the whole time, but it is easier for us to have it as an option.

- madelyn bit her tongue while eating her dinner and came over to get a kiss (to make it all better) and i thought that she just wanted a kiss on her mouth, but just as i was about to kiss her she stuck out her tongue! at least matt had a good laugh.

- madelyn can say her last name now - and it is obviously a mouth full for her to say. i have yet been able to get her to say it for the camera. while trying to get her to say her full name and birthday, she has combined the two. she now says that her name is "maddie june". full name video to come...

- these are just some sweet pictures of maddie and mason having some tummy time together and then mason asleep afterwards (it was the first time he had fallen asleep on his belly).

- big pop made his famous ribs for us while he was visiting. we all went to madelyn's swimming class before dinner and matt was telling madelyn that we were going to have ribs and potatoes - his favorite - when we got home. madelyn kept saying that ribs and potatoes was her favorite too. and she must have convinced herself that they were too because she ate quite a bit of her ribs! madelyn eats almost no meat and she couldn't get enough ribs. i guess there is a reason big pop is famous for them!

- when madelyn counts to twenty she skips the numbers 5 and 15. it is not that she can't say the numbers or that we don't correct her every time. she just counts "4, 6, 7". it is just funny to me that she also skips 15. i wonder what the number 5 did to get left out...

- and last we have madelyn singing "ring around the rosie" while dancing with friend. finally, she will do it without mommy or daddy spinning in circles with her! love.

3 week check-up

mason had his 3 week check-up today. madelyn was excited to take her brother to the doctor. she had given him a full physical herself earlier in the week (a post to come).

mason is doing great! our doctor even said that she thinks that he will smile early (he was giving her super big smiles while we were there) which validated my thought that he had given me intentional smiles three times yesterday. he was awake all three times and gave me a pretty good grin when i said, "hi, mason". it wasn't his full smile, so i thought that maybe i was reading more into it than was really there - i knew that it was pretty early for a real smile.

here are his stats from today:

height - 23-1/2 inches (97th percentile)
weight - 10 lbs. 8 oz. (73rd percentile)
head - 37.8 cm

obviously weight gain is not a problem here! i thought that his face has filled out a little, but i did not think that he had put on that much weight! even the doctor was pretty impressed and told me to keep doing what i am doing.

thankfully, there were no shots today because madelyn has her appointment (with shots) on monday. love.

big pop and grandma go to the zoo

what trip to milwaukee would be complete without joining madelyn at the zoo? and big pop and grandma wouldn't have it any other way! madelyn is always finding new things to explore and she got to do two very special things with big pop and grandma.

(she is finally tall enough to get her eye up to the eye piece and i thought that it was cute to see her on such extreme tippy-toes.)

we had to return the double stroller we ordered (it arrived damaged) so madelyn was expected to walk the entire time. she asked for the stroller when we first pulled in to the parking lot, but then she never mentioned it again. she did get a few rides from big pop and grandma though.

first on our new zoo activities was a trip to the seal and sea lion show. we just happen to be walking by three minutes before the next show started so we got our tickets and headed in to find seats. i think that madelyn was more interested in her snack than in the show, but she did seem to enjoy the parts she watched. the show was nice and short but still entertaining. i think that was the first time i had ever seen a seal jump up in the air like a dolphin.

next we went to a temporary exhibit that i knew would be right up grandma's alley. it is called "wings down under" and it is where you get some seeds glued to a stick and then go into a big cage with parakeets, cockatiels, and small parrots (i think that is what they were - they were red, blue, and green). madelyn was a little taken back when she tried to pet a parakeet and got bit, but before long she wanted to get the birds herself, without big pop's help. we were lucky to have big pop with us because the birds were up so high almost no one could reach them. big pop was getting them down for other kids too because he was the tallest in the room. i felt bad for the shorter parents who couldn't reach the birds to touch their sticks to the bird's chest (making it step onto the stick). they were just walking around with their sticks in the air hoping that a bird would show mercy and come land on it.

grandma and madelyn looking for more birds while grandma holds the small parrot on her popsicle stick.

big pop giving madelyn a parakeet to hold.

madelyn showing me the bird she is holding all by herself. you can tell that she isn't 100% about this. i wasn't really sure how this exhibit was going to go. it was a little overwhelming to be in a cage with so many birds - even for me. and, yes, mason came in too.

after a nap at home it was time for madelyn to head to swimming class with daddy so we all piled in the cars to watch. madelyn is very comfortable in the water and likes going under and jumping to daddy from the side of the pool. she often comes home from class to tell me that she jumped to daddy and its okay because he caught her. tonight is their last class for the summer and i think that madelyn will be a little sad. although daddy will appreciate not having to rush home from work everyday to make it to the 5:30pm classes. i think he will miss swimming with madelyn though. love.

the great circus parade

after church we piled in the cars and went to downtown milwaukee to stake out a spot to watch the great circus parade. madelyn had learned about the circus this past week in pre-school so she was super excited to see a circus and a parade in one. we were very early for the parade and it was going to be a two hour parade. i think that we were there a little over 5 hours in all and madelyn missed her nap so that we could be there. none of us had ever been to a circus parade and i think that i was as excited as madelyn was to see it (well maybe she was a little more excited).

this post is going to be mainly pictures and comments in an effort to make posting it as quick as possible - i am worn out.

daddy and big pop took madelyn to go and look for lunch while grandma, mason, and i stayed to watch our chairs and spot on the sidewalk. they found a hot dog place that was open and we were all just happy for something to eat. madelyn wasn't crazy about her corndog though.

madelyn got a bubble gun from big pop and grandma to help pass the time we had to wait for the parade to start. madelyn loved it. i am not so sure about everyone sitting around us having bubbles pop on them...

and mason was sleeping.

once the parade got going (it started a block over from where we were) madelyn kept saying "i heard something. listen." she could cup her hand over her cheek/mouth instead of her ear to 'listen'. it was pretty cute. i wanted to get video, but it was just too loud and you can't hear her in it.

once they closed off the street to traffic all sorts of people, not just kids, went out into the street and started drawing circles with sidewalk chalk. after grandma talked to some people sitting next to us we learned that it is a circus parade tradition. you are trying to draw a circle where you think that a horse will drop some poo. whatever makes it interesting for you.

there were all kinds of animal wagons. i really liked this one with the giraffe because of the little sun shade.

there were some amazing wagons in the parade. some of them are a century old and have been refurbished just for the parade. there were organ wagons too.

and mason kept sleeping.

and towards the end were the elephants walking in groups of three with their tails held by the elephant behind it. i thought that it was neat to be that close to them. i think madelyn liked them too.

we were all exhausted by the time the parade ended and madelyn fell asleep shortly after getting into the car. she even stayed asleep while i held her in the restaurant we stopped at on the way home for an early dinner. i think that we will all sleep well tonight! love.

a few notes...

here are a few things that i wanted to note for later...

- madelyn is very interested in the callouses on my feet. gross - i know. she will even take off my shoes and lift up my feet so that she can feel them and tell me that my feet are scratchy. or she will tell me that they hurt her. i am so glad that i have her here to point out my flaws.

- i had to wrestle madelyn down to brush her teeth last night. not fun. but on the plus side, i did get to see that madelyn's top to molars have come in. i am not sure when exactly they came in, but at least i know that we are done with teething! woo-hoo! at least i think that i am done until wisdom teeth, right?

- big pop and daddy saw mason flip himself over today. again it was his belly to his back. they said that he picks up his head and pushes up with his right arm like a push up. there might be a little leg kicking that helps him too, but either way he rolls himself over. i know that he is too young for it to be intentional. i am just glad that i have witnesses so that you all don't think that i am exaggerating his strength.

love.

watercolors

as her prize for walking around target without crying about not riding in the cart, madelyn got a little set of watercolors. (she was so good. after a few tears at the beginning of our trip she chose to pull it together instead of leaving.) she asks to paint at least once a week and since she had the easel already, i decided that some washable watercolors would be manageable.

she was speaking so softly in the video that i was able to get that i tried to repeat everything she said. she isn't really interested in talking while trying something new and was asking me not to use the camera on her so i am lucky to have gotten the responses that i did. i think that she liked the dipping more than the actual painting.

she is so good about managing her crying. we will often give her the choice to stop crying (really its just a form of whining, not pain or real crying) or to go to her bed because we don't want to hear her cry. she will tell us that "maddie/i stopped crying" when she does turn it off or she will be whining/crying and tell us that she is going to her bed/room or that she is tired and going to sleep. i have to suppress laughter sometimes because she really makes a choice about how she wants to handle each situation. love.

muscle man

here is a picture of mason 'flexing' in his onesie of the day. this was the one matt selected as the winner during the baby shower - because i wouldn't pick one. love.

first tub bath and rolling over?

it was nice to be able to give mason his first tub bath on tuesday night. i think that he missed being wrapped in a towel like for his sponge baths, but he didn't hate it. he was really happy once i got to his shampoo - almost like he is just relaxing in a spa. i have also noticed that he seems to fall asleep more quickly when he has a bath, so we might start to do that every day instead of the every other day that the pediatrician recommended.

sleep is still going okay. he doesn't sleep like madelyn did, but he does give me 3-5 hours at a time. the main difference is that he stays awake at night. he goes down around 10:30pm and sleeps until 2:30am before needing to be fed. its the after 2:30 part that we are working on. sometimes he doesn't really go back to sleep until 4:30am or so - instead he wakes every half hour to eat or be changed. i finally figured out last night that he needs to be rocked and burped more than madelyn - which was none. once he is down again he sleeps until 8 or 9am. this morning it was 7:30am because madelyn went in and turned on all his lights because she wanted him to wake up. at least i don't feel tired. well, not all that tired anyway...

madelyn is very interested in my pumping after the morning feed. yesterday she said that she was going to "pump too first". the funny thing was that she was trying to pump her belly button! mainly she reads books in mason's room and talks to/pets him in his crib until she can cheer that i am done pumping.

mason rolled over yesterday! from his stomach to his back (over his left side) and the picture is where he ended up. i didn't actually see him roll, but i left him on his belly so he obviously did. and it wasn't a momentum roll from when i flipped him over either. he has been able to roll up on his side since the day he was born and has an extremely strong neck (with surprising head control) so i think that he was just turning his head over to look up and must have just gone with the weight to his left side. i tried to get him to do it again, but just got some video of him getting up on his knees and moving his head around. it is not the most interesting video, but i thought that the grandparents might like it since they haven't gotten to see him in person yet. he is also sucking his hand at the end. we have seen him suck his left thumb many times now, so maybe he will be a thumb sucker like madelyn. he will take a pacifier, but not very often.

now, i know this was not a 'real' roll over, but he still rolled over so i am documenting it. love.

the first day of school

yesterday was madelyn's first day of school and i am happy to report that we made it there on time. in fact, we were ready to go an hour earlier than we needed to be. everyone was just cooperating and we were able to get up, fed, pumped, showered, dressed, packed, and loaded in the car on time.

as you can see, madelyn was not interested in having her picture taken on her first day of school. i was able to sneak this shot while she was distracted by putting on her shoes all of the other pictures i took were of her screaming "no want pictures, mommy!" and showing me the back of her head. it was less about having her picture taken and more about it delaying her getting to school. you can see that she is holding her lunch box. she would not put it down - even after we got to the school - i think she was most excited about her lunchbox.

what i couldn't believe is that when we pulled up to the building (which is like an industrial type building - generic) she remembered it from when we went to visit around easter. she told me that she was going to "play with eggs" which is just what she did when we visited - she played with plastic easter eggs.

madelyn had no problem with going to school, not that i am surprised by that, but she did ask for "mommy/daddy/mason go to school too" on the way so i wondered how it would go. her teacher said that she did really great and had no problem with the schedule or playing with the other kids. there is a white board outside of her classroom that has all the things they did during the day posted and it looks like she was really busy! they were learning about circus shapes yesterday and today they are learning about circus clowns (there is a circus parade here this weekend - more on that in a future post). they cover math, reading, art, and science as well as playing outside and inside.

she was very excited to see me and immediately showed me where she had slept for her nap. i heard about her day the whole way home. apparently she met a boy named ethan and she didn't share a train with him ("didn't" was a new word she was trying out). other than that, she said that she read books, ate popcorn (their circus snack), and had fun.

we were early this morning because madelyn could not wait to go back for more fun. and she just lit up when her teacher came out into the lobby which made me feel good.

now for some non-school notes - i was singing "jesus loves me" while getting ready to change her diaper and madelyn said "maddie get book first" and quickly found her "jesus loves me" book that plays the music for the song just by looking at the spines! i would say that it has been at least a month since we have read/looked at that book (i asked matt about it last night to make sure that he hadn't read it to her more recently). i had read that a toddler's memory was much better than an adult's, but she really amazes me!

when madelyn and daddy got home from swimming last night, madelyn came in whining for me to kiss her head. after matt came in he explained what had happened. apparently she was hugging her friend dylan at swimming and they both fell down with madelyn on the bottom. she fell like a tree and landed with the back of her head on the pool's concrete! she has a little mark, but not too much of a bump so she is fine. i guess it just really scared everyone because it was on concrete and made a very loud noise before madelyn broke into a scream of pain. she was a little fussy last night, but other than that she was playing and speaking normally. this morning she told me that her head didn't hurt any more when i asked her about it. (when i would ask last night she would start crying/whining again.) that girl and hitting her head... it is a good thing that i am so relaxed about that kind of stuff or she would give me a nervous breakdown. love.