so this is what it's like...

i have always said that we were spoiled that madelyn was such a great sleeper. and now i can start to really understand just how spoiled we were. mason did not have a great sleep night last night. and it continued right into today. needless to say, i am exhausted.

since mason has been sleeping 7-8 hours at night for a few weeks, we have started to put he and madelyn down together (at 8) so that we can have some down time ourselves before going to bed. it also makes it that mason wakes up to eat early enough in the morning that i am able to get some more sleep as opposed to when he would wake up at 5 or 6 and i would feel like it was easier to just get to work instead of sleeping for another hour or so.


last night i put him down at 8:15. he was up and screaming at around 9. i went in a burped him for a while and nothing. so i fed him some more and put him back down. he was up again less than an hour later. that time i got a burp that was so big it really woke him up. after another full feed it was back down for him. i don't think he slept more than 2 hours at a time all night. and i think he only slept that long once. after rocking him, patting his back, and feeding him for 2 hours (i think it was from 12 to 2) i woke matt up when mason started crying for the millionth time less than 10 minutes after i had put him down to let him have a try at getting that burp out. i could hear the gas in his belly, but he wasn't bothered by it until we laid him back down. matt got a burp out but he was still up within an hour of matt coming back to bed. that time i patted his back, low, with my fist to see if i could help him get something out the other end. i just felt that it was gas. i had even tried putting him down on his belly at one point because that usually helps him work things out. he finally filled his diaper in a way that made my skin crawl from pure force and duration. he instantly fell asleep and stayed that way until he woke up happy around 7am. so i waited to face the diaper until we were all up for the day. we got our money's worth out of that one.

the sleeping for 45 minutes at a time continued all morning and into the afternoon. the odd thing was that he was totally content all day. at least there was that. when matt woke up i asked him to make me coffee too. i don't drink a lot of coffee because caffeine leads to migraines, but today was worth the risk. and i needed it! i was hoping to take a little nap while madelyn was napping and i actually got them both down by 1:15 and thought that i was going to get some time to rest. nope. not only did mason wake up after 45 minutes, his crying woke madelyn up too! ugh!

the good news is that madelyn was still in a wonderful mood and i had two happy kiddos all day. it could have been so much worse. so much worse. madelyn was so understanding when we had to come in from the sandbox twice because mason started to cry (over the monitor) as soon as we got downstairs. she had asked to play while our lunch was cooking so i told her that we could go down for just a few minutes. there was no crying or whining about wanting to play. she just understood that it was important to go and take care of mason and i was extremely grateful.

after lunch she asked for her keys, got her purse, kissed mason and i good-bye, told us that she would miss us and that she was heading to school. i tried to get her to do it again after she got her shoes, but she wouldn't say the part about seeing us later again.


around 3 i put mason on his belly in front of his mirror to take advantage of his great mood and maybe get some gas out. he fell asleep - and stayed that way! once 5:00 rolled around i was starting to drag. matt was going to have a later night at work so i told madelyn that we could go to the park before dinner. i put mason into the moby wrap and he kept right on sleeping the whole time. he stayed asleep the hour we were at the park and for almost 20 minutes after we got home and i had put him in his swing. it was just shy of a 4 hour nap! i am hoping that it is a positive sign for tonight.

in order to go to the park i had to get madelyn dressed because she had spent the day in her pjs. when i put my hat on madelyn asked for one too and picked her pink "florida" hat from grandma and big pop. then she got her baby strapped into her stroller, got her purse, and was ready to head to the park. (she willingly posed for these pictures. i was so thankful because she looked cute in all her pink - and i am not a fan of pink.) it took us a long time to walk to the park today and i think madelyn was a little surprised at how much harder it was to push the stroller up the hill than around the house.

our fun at the park ended when madelyn declared that she had to "go poopie" (she still calls everything "poopie"). she said good bye to her friends and the other mom explaining that she needed to go home to sit on the little potty and go poopie. i didn't think that we were going to make it home in time because the stroller was really slowing us down and she had mentioned needing to go about a half hour earlier before changing her mind. she got in the house, took off her shoes and hat, and headed straight to the bathroom. i was so glad that we made it home dry.

i mentioned that mason was totally content and happy despite the long night and morning. in fact he laughed for the first time and did so many times through out the day. i also discovered that the sides of his belly are ticklish enough to make him squirm and laugh! i was trying to massage out some gas bubbles with a tickle squeeze and that is how i managed to discover this fun way to make him laugh. lastly i wanted to note that mason has started to drool lightly and blow spit bubbles; he started doing this last week.

after going over every detail of last night again and again trying to come up with what made last night so different than every other night. tonight i went back to the miracle blanket because it works. i just moved it really low on his arms so that there would be enough room for his legs. he has been down for an hour thus far and not a peep. i am hoping to get some sleep - mainly for my brain function on work projects this week.

i survived the day. love.

man, its been a week!

i can't believe that i haven't posted since tuesday! this week just flew by, so here is my long catch up post.

- madelyn is very interested in mason's "tummy time". i explained to her that mason's neck isn't very strong yet and it is really hard work for him to pick his head up so he needs practice. usually she lays down on her tummy too and shows me how she can pick up her head with a, "i'm doing it!" declaration. this week she decided that since it was so much hard work for mason to lift his head, she would help him. she was telling him, "i'll help you mason. i got you," as she tried to help him hold his head up.

- we had a visit from papa and nana's friends john and liz on friday as they were making a road trip around the great lakes. we were glad that they were able to stop by and have lunch with us. unfortunately, i failed to get a picture of them with us! but they did kindly take a picture of our family. this is the first and only picture we have of the four of us so i was really grateful for liz suggesting that we pose for her before they left.

- matt had an allergy-like cold this week. nothing serious, just runny nose and sore throat for a day or two. one night i was running up to walgreens to get him some medicine to help with the congestion. madelyn asked to go with me and even though it was late i told her that she could come. she decided that she needed to find her wallet before she could go though. she was so sweet and concerned that "daddy is sick. we need to buy him medicine." in the store she helped to select and carry it to the register. when it was time to pay madelyn took a dsw rewards card from her wallet and slid it through the little card reader to pay. she was so proud and matter of fact about it. i tried to get a picture with my phone but it came out too blurry to use.

- on the way home from walgreens she told me that it was "getting dark out there". i guess because she is always in bed before it gets dark she was almost surprised about it being dark out. obviously, she already knew that it gets dark at night.

- for some reason madelyn has started using our couch pillows as blankets for her and friend to sleep on the floor.

- madelyn has taken to say "... or something" when she isn't 100% about what something is or what she should say. as in, "are you sick or something?", "can we read a book or something".

- mason outgrew the miracle blanket this week and we moved him into a sleepsac. not only that, but i moved him from sleeping on his tummy for naps to sleeping on his back. the first night was a little rough and it took about two or three hours to get him down (as opposed to 15-20 minutes), but after doing naps in the sleepsac too he went straight to sleep the next night and slept 7 hours. mason is just the noisiest sleeper. he makes so much noise even though he is not really awake. it is not a non-stop kind of noisiness; it is just when he is thinking about waking up.

- madelyn is quite polite and has added "no thank you" to her responses.

- when madelyn is holding your hand but wants to hug you she will rub her cheek on the back of your hand. it is so sweet and tender a gesture.

- when we were leaving church today one of the greeters asked if madelyn would be starting school this week or if she had one more year. he was shocked when i informed him that she was only two! i guess she looked school ready in her khaki pleated skirt and knee high socks. he said it was because she was so tall.

- madelyn asked to go home after someone pushed her away in puppet class on friday. she started crying and when i asked her why she said that one of the girls pushed her away. i explained to her that not everyone was going to want to play with her all the time and she might have to choose to play with something else (they were drawing on a white board in the back of the room).

- we took daddy with us to the zoo on saturday and brought a picnic lunch (madelyn's favorite). madelyn was taking a long time eating her lunch. she wasn't stalling though, she just had more food to eat than matt and i did. matt started to pace around because he can't stand to be still and i told madelyn that daddy was "itching to leave" so he was walking around. a few minutes later madelyn was trying to scratch her back and said that she wanted to walk around. it took a minute, but i realized that she was "itching" like daddy and wanted to be scratched before walking around. i love how literal she can be.

- while at the zoo with daddy we came across a snake talk. i took madelyn over just to see the snake that was being held by the zoo employee, but she said that everyone could come and pet the snake. madelyn was very excited (and a little scared) to pet the snake. she didn't want to pet it without my help, but i practically had to drag her away after she got her first touch because she wouldn't stop petting it.

- stalling at bedtime has been a problem this week. she thinks of anything and everything that she can ask us for to delay actually going to sleep. here is a sampling of the requests: milk, water, stuffed animals, kisses, hugs, music, hair bows, and needing to go potty. she has learned that going potty is the one request that gets her somewhere. she will sit on the potty as long as we let her. she sings and plays until we go in and make her go back to bed. i have found that if i go in and whisper that i love her but do not love this behavior and do not want to see her come out again she stops stalling. it actually makes matt and i laugh as much as it frustrates us. she is pretty creative in her requests.

- madelyn and mason had their first bath together (thanks for the idea, kellie).

sorry for the rambling post. i just needed to cover everything so that i can try to start fresh tomorrow - or the next day... love.

if you would just hold still...

i didn't think that i was going to post tonight, but madelyn changed my mind. after her nap she ran back to her room and came out with a pair of her shoes and several pairs of socks. i wasn't quite sure what she was doing, but she told mason that she was going to "get [him] dressed up to go to the park". about an hour earlier she had said that she didn't want to go back to the park (we had spent all morning there) so this was a surprise for many reasons.

i thought that it was so entertaining to watch her try and get one of her socks on mason. as a new baby, he still has super busy legs and she was really having a difficult time. but she never got frustrated. she also remained gentle with him while trying to get his legs to hold still. of course i had to get some video. its kind of long so don't feel like you have to watch the whole thing.


since she couldn't get shoes on to mason, she went back to her room and got her new snow boots we just got for this winter. if mason wouldn't wear shoes she was going to. she was stomping around the house in her boots. i had told her that she needed to be careful because they were big and she might trip. after the warning she kept fake tripping and telling me that she was falling down.

madelyn had another first today too (at least it is the first time i noticed it), she asked, "why?" it was only used three times in this round of questioning about why she couldn't fill up her bird feeder until daddy came home. during her two year checkup the doctor said that asking "why?" over and over was a three-year old skill and i have been trying to pay attention to if she asked "why?" because i had never noticed before. i didn't know that it was a vocabulary milestone. love.

update: mason's eye is just fine. it was totally cleared up by yesterday - what a huge difference a day makes!

singing sample

here is a sampling of some of madelyn's favorite songs to sing. she was singing the abcs to herself in the playroom so i asked her if i could make a movie and, thankfully, she said, "yes". i had to help her past "e" and she didn't sing the ending like she normally does. in fact, this is the first time i have ever heard her jump right back to the beginning of the alphabet. enjoy:

since she was in a singing mood i tried to get her to sing some other favorites, but the toys just proved to be too distracting.

unfortunately i didn't have my camera with me when we were driving around and she was singing "old mcdonald" non-stop. i hope you enjoyed her sampling of songs.

madelyn has a new 'word' in her vocabulary - "huh?!" i have the exclamation point is because she says it as a question but with expression. love.

the joys of a public bathrooms

and i don't mean that sarcastically either. first madelyn showed more interest at using a public bathroom, then we potty trained and she only wanted to use her 'potty' at home, and now she has decided that public bathrooms are fun. she has gone to the potty everywhere we have been in the past two days - more than once. at least we are over the phobia.

on a third trip to the bathroom this morning at denny's it was obvious that she had nothing more to give. to not waste the trip, i took a turn. and here is why i am sharing - madelyn stood in front of me and held on to my waist to keep me from falling in! she kept saying that she'll hold me up - don't worry. i thought that it was really cute because she was totally serious and focused on the job of keeping me from falling into the toilet.

on a sadder, but still bodily function related, note, we had to take mason to urgent care after our breakfast/lunch out. his left eye was a little crusty this morning when he woke up and by the time we got to the restaurant it was oozing a green goop! i have never seen so much come out of an eye in such a short period of time. i was so concerned about it making him uncomfortable or upset that we went straight to urgent care to get it checked out. it was just a clogged tear duct like i has suspected. all we have to do is massage his tear duct several times a day with a warm washcloth. it should clear up in a few days. the doctor gave us a prescription for the ointment they rub on newborns' eyes because there isn't really much that can be done before 6 months of age medication-wise. he said that the warm compress (washcloth) was more important though. madelyn was telling everyone at the clinic that "mason's eye is sick". she has a little bit of a runny nose too. hopefully, we will all get healthy in time for madelyn to go back to school in two weeks. love.

2 years, 2 months

i just thought that it was neat that she was 2 years, 2 months on the 22nd and had to point it out.

she was cracking us up pretending to talk to both sets of grandparents at the same time on two cell phones in the car this morning. she was even excited to have me take her picture.

we have noticed a significant 'jump' in madelyn's conversational skills in the past week. it is kind of difficult to describe, but she has basically added a lot more detail to everything she says and is much more engaged in everything we are doing. she asks a lot of questions and checks the status of where we are and what we are doing next.

it is almost as if moving to underwear catapulted her into 'big girl-hood". today she even used the full sized toilet at sams (we have been having problems with her holding it until she can have her "potty" at home). and here she is being chauffeured around the mall today. she was sitting with her legs crossed, eating her snack, and just casually commenting on everyone and everything - i had to take a picture.

yesterday we went to the zoo after puppet class. it rained on the way to puppet class but it was dry afterwords so off we went. plus, madelyn was very excited to be going. and once we got there i discovered why she was so excited - snacks! it was even better yesterday because it was the zoo a la carte which is where local restaurants set up all over the zoo like a 'taste of the town' event. she barely noticed the animals because she was so interested in all the food to be eaten. after taking our normal route around to all the animals we got some tickets to 'buy' our lunch as a special treat.

just as we got settled down at a table the rain started again. it wasn't a real rain, just a heavy drizzle. but it just kept coming down and the longer we ate our lunch the wetter we got. i finally decided to call it a day when the water started to drip off the stroller. i have decided that the double stroller is a lot of trouble when it is raining. it took me forever to get both kids and all of our stuff in the car and i still had to fight the stroller into the trunk. needless to say i was a frizzy, damp mess!

i had promised madelyn we would get ice cream at the zoo but with the rain i didn't want to be outside any more. i had to compromise. madelyn wanted to eat her ice cream outside so i told her that she could eat it on our deck. i picked her up a scoop on the way home and set her up with a towel to sit on while out on the deck (remember that it had rained and everything was soaked). she sat out on the deck, by herself (i was feeding mason), and ate her ice cream. as i write about it i realize that i should have taken a picture - oh well.

we still had a lovely day. madelyn has just been a joy to be with recently and we are loving every minute! love.

but what about mason?

i feel like mason hasn't been getting enough coverage in my posts so here is one just about him.

mason has slept 8+ hours for the third night in a row. we are working on napping, but it looks like he is going to take two 2-3 hour naps if i let him nap on his belly. he is still very easy going about the daytime schedule - which is great. as long as he isn't cranky because of it that is. when he is awake he is very alert and quite verbal. here is some happy mason from this afternoon for your viewing pleasure.

despite how it looks in the video, mason is not very fond of the bouncer chair. sometimes he starts crying the second i put him in it! her prefers to be laying in the play yard or being held of course.

the most common comment about mason, besides "he is so big", is that he has huge hands. they aren't freakishly large by any means, but i do think that they are a little larger than madelyn's were and larger than most babies his age. granted he is a lot larger overall than most babies his age.

i am still undecided about what color his eyes are - or rather what color they are going to be. they are defiantly blue, but i think that they might end up being hazel or green. i think that his hair is more of a strawberry blond. i keep saying that it is lighter than madelyn's but matt disagrees. of course i am the one who spends hours a day looking at and studying their heads while they are/were nursing. and matt doesn't really notice those kinds of things anyway.

really we have been blessed with another great, easy-going baby. we have been doubly blessed. love.

its the little things

last night madelyn came in with this beautiful pink gerber daisy on a stem almost as long as she is tall and told me, "this is for you, mommy. i love you very much." i think daddy coached her a little before she came in, but it made my whole week! she was so cute in her pink and while halter dress holding this huge flower out to me - i wish i had a picture of that moment. i think that it is one of those moments that you just remember your whole life.

speaking of things i want to remember, here are some noteworthy expressions and songs madelyn fills my life with:

- she sings a mean "old mcdonald" and will even let me suggest animals for additional verses although she comes up with many on her own

- she notices clothes and accessories on a regular basis and will complement you on them (i.e. "nice earrings. mommy, nice earrings."). i think that she got this from her teacher at pre-school who often complements the kids when they are dropped off.

- madelyn has started to get annoyed when i repeat back what she says. it is just habit from when i was always confirming that i heard her correctly, but madelyn is over it. she will say, "don't talk to me, mommy! stop it!" or she will add to that "talk to mason." it kind of makes me laugh because she means it. she also does it if we are singing along to the music in the car - "stop singing". it goes the other way too. she will ask us to sing along if we aren't.

- when she sings the "abc" song by herself she gets to "e" and starts over at "a". (her friend lorelai got hung up on "e" too so it might be a common thing.) she can sing the whole song straight though "next time won't you sing with me" and does if someone is singing with her or if she is singing along with a cd. the getting hung up on "e" is new and usually happens when she is just singing to herself.

- her window in the car was down yesterday and she was waving saying "hi, everyone out there!" over and over. it was very cute.

- the list of songs she can sing by herself is rapidly growing. i would say that there are at least 20 songs that she can sing in their entirety without help.

madelyn's summer session of pre-school ended today and she had two weeks off before the new school year begins. i haven't really posted very much about her school days or the crafts she brings home. so here she is posing with her noodle art project from today (noodle and company restaurant came to school yesterday). she was actually holding it up to pose so that i could take a picture. i was surprised at her willingness for the photo session, but she was so proud/happy that she kept moving her head when she smiled for me.

both days at school this week were accident free, so last thursday must have been a fluke. we are done, done with diapers. i even gave away all of the pull-ups. i still can't believe how easy it was and that she already makes it through the night ever night. i think i will try sooner with mason as a first intro to the potty. love.

back to busy

things sure are busy now that i am back to work! but happy to say that it is manageable and not too stressful - so far.

madelyn climbs up into mason's crib sometimes while i am pumping. she likes to show him the sports balls hanging on the mobile and make the music play. they were so cute this morning that i had to go and get my camera.

and then once i had everyone dressed i realized that i dressed madelyn and mason in matching navy and white outfits. when i pointed this out to madelyn she jumped up into the glider in mason's room and patted next to her asking for mason to sit with her for pictures. she didn't have to ask me twice. i ran and got my camera, set mason next to her and started snapping. here are the best of the bunch (and there are a bunch because madelyn kept asking me to take more).

don't you just love how mason has huge eyes like he is terrified in every picture? that is it for tonight. i have meetings to prepare for tomorrow. love.

wonderful weekend

doesn't that face say it all? we had cool, sweet treats after dinner out tonight. madelyn had chocolate ice cream (at her request) and then a bite of daddy's vanilla based ice cream cone. her mouth is full in the picture. the sugar from the ice cream kept her up for at least an hour after going to bed tonight.

she kept telling us that she made a big, sticky mess when we were trying to clean her up enough to get back in the car. she said this with a sense of pride too. she told daddy about it on the ride home too, as if he had not been there watching her make a big ice cream mess.

this was just the end of a happy day for madelyn. she got to play with her friend, ava, this morning while i made a presentation and it sounds like they had a really fun time together. i guess they put on princess dresses and then put on a cabaret show singing the abc's with ava playing piano and madelyn sitting on top of it. ava's mom tried to give me a reenactment when i got there, but they weren't interested in singing. they would just get into position. i got the general idea and it was very amusing. unfortunately, i did not have my camera.

we spent a very quiet weekend at home just being a family. matt and i couldn't remember the last time we had just had a weekend to relax at home. it was wonderful! we are hoping to have a repeat this weekend.

madelyn was given some zoo animals for her blocks by papa and nana during their visit. on saturday she built them all "towers" the important part was that the "lion cub is waving 'hi' to everyone".

we also got to be treated to some great conversations with madelyn. matt's favorite was when she raided the winter scarves. she brought one for daddy to put on her. once he tied it around her she walked over to mason's swing and asked if she could "carry mason now, please". she thought that my moby wrap was the same as her scarf, so she was ready to carry him. so cute! i loved it too.

my favorite conversation was when matt was working on his laptop and madelyn came over to me to ask, "mama, buy me a computer, please. a little one." she went on to tell me that she wanted me to buy her a little computer of her own. the cute part was that she was very sincere and asked so sweetly.

we spent several hours measuring everything in the house too - including madelyn. she even measured the growth chart board matt made. it was kind of like she was verifying his work (and mine - i wrote the numbers). i measured her against it and discovered that she has already grown an inch since her birthday!

madelyn helped me make dinner on sunday night. we were having asparagus. when i took it out of the refrigerator i asked madelyn if she knew was it was. her response - "it's archie!" as in, archie the asparagus, from veggietales. that totally surprised me! what surprised me more was that she still ate it at dinner because he is one of her favorite characters.

a new expression that amuses me now but that i am sure will get on my nerves in a few years - "'cause". i ask her why and she answers 'cause.

she has been so delightful for the past several days now that her fever and sore throat is gone. i think that is part of the reason we enjoyed our weekend together so much.

mason has given me three 8 hour nights now. the shortest night over the past week has been 6 hours, so we are still doing pretty well there. he doesn't seem to be a great napper though, more of a cat napper. if i put him in his crib on his belly he will sleep up to three hours, but that seems to be his max for daytime sleeping. he is still in a great mood so i think he is just someone that doesn't need a lot of sleep. at least he sleeps at night. he still doesn't cry except when his diaper is dirty. he is 'talking' a lot more and it makes me so happy. i love how excited he gets when he smiles. maybe i can get some video tomorrow. the camera is still pretty distracting though.

i also think that he is going to get teeth early like madelyn (first tooth at 13 weeks). he has started to work his tongue and drool. he also cries out in pain randomly. but overall he is a very laid back boy who loves to eat! i think we are hitting the 8 week growth spurt right now. he can't seem to eat enough and it is definitely not because i am not producing enough. sorry to be so detailed. hopefully things will ease up once he gets through this growth spurt. i can't wait for his 2 month check up. i think that he is bigger than madelyn was and can't wait to see if i am right. love.

fun in the sun

we had a very fun and busy morning today! first mason got up around 6am (after 8 hours of straight sleep - yea!) and we were off and running. today we had puppet playtime class at 9am before meeting friends at a new pool at 10am and a picnic lunch afterwards.

one of our friends suggested a nearby park pool to meet at today. it has a zero-depth pool with a sand area and playground all separated from the regular pool by a huge hedge of bushes. you can't even see the other pool so there is no temptation for little ones to wander off. i wasn't quite sure how it was going to work with madelyn and mason, but i put him in the moby wrap and was free to follow madelyn around. i don't think the water ever got deeper than my knee. madelyn really enjoyed it.

here is a view of the pool. it was pretty crowded. here is the view of the pool after they had every get out because someone had pooped in it. and no it wasn't madelyn. i was a little worried about letting her go without her swimming diaper but she did great. there is an employee with gloves and a bio hazard bag doing a sweep in the picture. i thought that it was pretty funny, but it cut our fun down by an hour while they took care of it.

the video is madelyn doing these barrel rolls she just started doing next to the slide.

and here she is sliding. the lifeguard had to keep reminding her to wait her turn.

we took the poop evacuation as a cue to head out and have our picnic lunch. after we were done madelyn and her friend jason went to another table and she shared her leftovers. it was so cute that i had to take a picture.

both kids fell asleep on the way home. madelyn didn't take a very long nap (1-1/2 hours), but she was happy and delightful the rest of the day so it must have been enough. she colored nicely while i worked this afternoon. she was very low maintenance today. there was no disagreeing, no multiple requests, little to no crying, and she didn't even announce when she needed to go to the bathroom. she would just get up and go to the bathroom, clean up, and come back. i love it when a day goes like this!

we were all excited when daddy got home and we could have dinner (glazed salmon). after dinner we took a walk around the neighborhood. we only made it as far as the park, but it was a nice night and we enjoyed the company of a few neighbors. mason hung out in the stroller and could not have been happier to kick his legs and take in the fresh air. he was just smiling and 'talking' happily. madelyn had a great time playing and then we had them walk back to check out our garden. she loves showing everyone what is growing in her garden. she even got a carrot that daddy pulled. surprisingly she ate the whole thing while it was still covered in dirt. love.

ups and downs

where yesterday had no accidents at all, today was nothing but accidents! i am not sure what was different about today, but it sure was messy. i felt really bad that she had a poopie accident at school. matt picked her up today and i guess the teacher said that she could tell what madelyn had for dinner last night. opps. hopefully tomorrow will be better.

mason is getting more smiley everyday and i am getting closer and closer to capturing it in a picture. this was the best of the bunch today. most of them were blurry because he often does a laughing smile and that creates motion.

happy birthday, big pop! we hope that you had a great day celebrating you. love.

always prepared

when i sent matt out with mason on saturday so that i could potty train madelyn, he came home with a wetvac. matt was not totally on board with the training at first because he was concerned about the potential mess. he has since admitted that he is impressed with madelyn's quick transition. to be fair we had been talking about getting one because we have been hard on our carpets with spit-up, milk spills, and other life messes. we also had to borrow one from our neighbors after a grape juice accident (mine not madelyn's) and just felt that we would get our money's worth out of one. i gave it a try tonight on a few spots and can't wait to give whole rooms a good cleaning. and now we will be ready for the next big mess.

speaking of potty training madelyn had a dry night and an accident free day! today was her first time at school diaper free and her teacher could not believe how well the day went. she said that she didn't even have to ask madelyn if she needed to go. when they took their normal bathroom break she just went and took care of it with no help. the teacher wants to know my secret so that she can share. i told her that it was the toilet training in less than a day book. great!

madelyn is just little ms. independent now. what am i saying?! madelyn has always been little ms. independent. anyway. last night she told me that she needed to go to the bathroom while i was cleaning up the kitchen and she was playing in the playroom. i told her to hurry to the bathroom then. as she was running by the kitchen she said, "stay in the kitchen, mommy. i'll be right back!" and gave me a little wave to stay put. i could hear her take care of business, call out "ta-da", dump, and flush before calling me to help her. she just can't quite reach the faucet to wash her hands. she doesn't want help unless she asks for it. in fact, when she was struggling with pulling her underwear and shorts down today i helped a little. she screamed, "no, mommy!" and pulled them back up to start over. i have learned my lesson.

madelyn was funny when we went to the park after dinner because she wanted to wear her "winter hat" and snuggle her duck up in two scarves. i think she said "my duck is snugly". i have no idea what gave her the idea to dig the hat and scarves out of the coat closet and wear them on such a warm day, but that is part of what makes me love her so much!

and i love mason because he is just so easy going. he just rolls with it. even when he has to wait to eat and sleep way longer than he should have to. i took this picture of him today because his onesie matched his blanket perfectly and you can see his cute little (big) feet. love.

car picnic

where do i even begin? last night the power went out while i was changing mason's diaper to get him ready for bed. and it was dark. like can't-see-the-hand-in-front-of-your-face kind of dark. thankfully i had already wiped mason down and done one of the closures on the diaper so i could finish off by feel. i knew that there wasn't a flashlight in the house that had working batteries - thanks, madelyn - so i wasn't exactly sure what to do next. as i felt my way out of mason's room i saw a light coming up the basement stairs. matt was using his cell phone to light his way. brilliant! after we found mine i was able to use it to light mason's room as i finished getting him dressed, fed, and down.

since the monitor didn't work and i was worried about both kids getting too hot (mason because he was swaddled and madelyn because of her fever), i started to think about 'plan b'. i decided that matt and i would have to each sleep on the floor of a child's room so that we could open the windows and monitor the temperature in their room. matt called 'dibs' on madelyn's room because it had a bed. that was fine because i wouldn't trust him to hear mason wake up. especially when you consider that the night before madelyn came into our room crying and 'slept' in our bed for about an hour before declaring that she needed some milk and proceeded to cry as we made our way noisily out of the room and matt never knew it happened! it is scary how heavy he sleeps. anyway, the power came back on around 10:30 or 11:00 so it didn't come to that.

madelyn got up a few times last night and woke up around 5:30am this morning before getting into bed with us. her fever had broken over night so that part was better, but she was still complaining about her throat hurting. she just says, "my teeth hurt. take it out, mommy. take it out!" i wish that there was something i could do to help her. she still wasn't really eating anything and started to complain that her tummy hurt this afternoon. i was trying to convince her that it hurt because she was hungry and if she would eat it would feel better. she finally started eating late this afternoon and acting like herself again.

with the rough night for maddie i was left with a short tempered girl. she wasn't bad, just not as patient as normal. after a trip to target and my 6-week check up i took her through mcdonalds in the hope that some chicken nuggets would get her back to eating. as we were pulling out of mcdonalds i wasn't feeling great about how my car was driving and there were several dashboard lights on so when i stopped behind a few cars before pulling out on the main road i decided to turn the car off and start it up again - only it didn't start again. uh-oh. i had two hungry kids (mason was very, very hungry at this point) and it was very warm (for here anyway). after calling matt, the car shop, and a tow truck i told madelyn that we were going to have a car picnic. she had been screaming that she wanted to "go! go! go! i want to go home!" they were both crying while i was trying to get the tow truck number from the car shop. i told madelyn that i want to go home too, but the car was broken and we would have to wait for daddy and a big truck to come and get us. matt had to come get us because the tow truck could only take one car seat and i obviously had two.

not an ideal situation, but the car got a new alternator this afternoon. at least it was fixable. we are trying to hold out on a minivan until we have #3.

on the positive side, madelyn said that she "was pooping" (that's how she lets me know that she has to go) while matt was doing the paperwork inside the car shop. i told her that we were sitting in the car and she would have to wait until we got home. and she did too! she did sit on the back of her dress when she sat on the potty, but that was a mess i could live with instead of having to clean a car seat. but then went i took her to the park this afternoon, after she was feeling better, i was telling one of the mom's about how great potty training has been and madelyn called out "i'm peeing" and proceeded to pee on the ground. oh well. that's what i get for bragging...

here is why i only have pictures of mason to enrich the posts:

and just to end on a happy note, here is more of mason laughing with babe ruth today. love.

day three: accident free

but we have other problems... i mentioned yesterday that madelyn was running a fever, well that carried over to today (you can see how much fun she was having this morning). she kept saying that she felt fine, but the fever was definitely wearing her out and she didn't want to eat anything.

she kept complaining that her "teeth hurt". when she was saying it at dinner and crying when she tried to eat a tortilla, i asked her to show me which teeth hurt. she pointed to her front teeth but i didn't see anything. when she showed daddy which teeth hurt he noticed that her throat looked red. i couldn't believe how swollen it was when i looked! we called the doctor's office and she and daddy headed out a half-hour later.

the doctor thought for sure that she had strep, but the test came back negative. it is definitely something viral though and we need to keep her home until her fever breaks. i am just glad to have the mystery solved.

somehow she managed to stay accident free all day! she even woke up with a dry pull-up. and tonight she didn't want to wear one, so we'll see what happens tonight.

today i noticed that she has three freckles. two on her right thigh and one on her right check near her eye. normally i wouldn't have really noticed them but lorelai (madelyn's blog friend) recently had some show up so i have been watching for them. madelyn's response, "mommy, take it off". love.

big girl: day 2

the first thing out of madelyn's mouth this morning was "i'm pooping!" (she calls everything pooping initially) and then she went and did her business on the potty. when i came in she pointed in her potty and said "ta-da!". her pull-up was a little bit wet, but for her first all-nighter i thought she did really great. she had a great morning with only one poopie accident when she just didn't get to the bathroom and get her underwear off fast enough.

when she woke up from her nap it was a different story. she came out of her room crying and went right into the bathroom. she told us that she had wet her bed too. it seemed like she had just forgotten that she wasn't wearing her diaper when she first woke up and only remembered once she started going. she did stop herself and finished in the potty though. i wasn't too surprised since her nap was almost 4 hours; i was pretty much expecting the bed to be wet. and that was just the beginning. i think that she might have gone to the potty with dry underwear once or twice all afternoon/evening. there were a lot of tears and underwear changes. we don't discipline her for having an accident so that wasn't why she was crying. she was just disappointed in herself and upset that she had to clean up her mess.

we thought that she was crying a lot in the afternoon because she was up until around 10pm last night with our dinner guests and was just tired. this idea was further fueled by her request to "sleep" shortly after waking up from her nap and generally laying on the floor or couch with friend all evening. she also asked to go to bed and read books before dinner. it wasn't until just before bedtime that we discovered why she might have been crying so much - she has a fever! i just took her temperature with a forehead strip (just to see if she had a fever) and it 'lit up' to 102.8. it isn't the most accurate, but she definitely had enough of a fever to get some motrin. she told me that she doesn't feel bad, so hopefully this will be short lived. i am also hoping that this is the root of her problem with accidents this afternoon.

on the plus side, mason slept for 8 hours straight last night! that is the most continuous sleep i have had in almost a year! i am hoping for a repeat tonight. he also took a 3 hour nap in his crib today. granted, i had to let him nap on his belly to get him to settle down in the crib without a swaddle but i was happy that he had a nice nap in his room. it gives me a lot more freedom to get things done if he sleeps in his crib because i know he is safe and i can just carry around the monitor.

he was super chatty after his nap and we spent some quality time laying on the floor and 'talking'. he has even added vowel/consonant combinations to his 'vocabulary' with an "ah-goo". he is a very happy chatter. love.

sometimes you just have to go for it

we took the plunge today and madelyn is now potty trained. i wanted to get her trained before i went back to work and since my first day back is monday, this was my last chance. and i had to do it on a weekend because i needed matt to take mason out for the morning so that madelyn and i wouldn't have any interruptions. i am not sure that i could have picked a worse day to do it, but i was determined.

last night i went out to buy her special drinks and treats for our potty training session. i can only imagine what the cashier thought when the items pictured were all i purchased. since madelyn never eats this stuff, i wasn't really sure what she would like and the variety really did pay off for me.

the day began with madelyn coming into our room at 5am (shortly after i got back in bed from mason's 4:30am feeding) to tell us that it was raining. we were having a really bad storm and there was lots of lightning and thunder. i don't think she was scared though. matt and i were too tired to try and get her back into bed so we just let her get up into our bed. i hope that she doesn't think that will be a regular thing. matt said that she played with his face for most of the time she was in our bed. i went to get up for mason around 7:30am (i don't think that he ever really went back to sleep either) and madelyn was wide awake. at least she laid there quietly the whole time. mason greeted me with a big smile, but madelyn's temperament was not going to be quite as pleasant.

first she was upset that daddy and mason were going in the car without her. next the idea of taking off her diaper and putting on big girl underwear was the most devastating news she had ever heard. it took almost and hour to convince her to give them a try and i had to bribe her with some of the candy treats. she was really too tired to try anything new, but i was really committed to getting it done while matt and mason were out. once i got her into the underwear she was really excited about it and the training went really well. the only accident was when she went poopie. she even made it all the way through her nap (2-1/2 hours) with a dry bed! she woke up crying and it was really rough from there on out. she had several accidents, but did stop mid tantrum to go and use the potty which impressed me.

her temperament did improve greatly when her friends avery and tess came over to swim and have dinner. she did have more accidents but they mainly happened in the bathroom when she didn't get her underwear down fast enough. she would be in there struggling to get her shirt off and would pee on her underwear because she hadn't sat down on the potty yet. once i told her that she didn't need to take off her shirt to go potty that didn't happen anymore. she did have more accidents because her friends were just too much fun to stop for a potty break, but there were also many successes.

she went to bed with pull-ups though because i am not too sure that she could go all night and wake up dry. all in all i am calling the day a success because she went in her potty the majority of the time, even times when her underwear would get a little wet. i am hoping that tomorrow will be a lot dryer. the great thing is that this method of training has her do everything. she cleans up after her accidents, puts on her underwear, empties her potty, etc. all by herself so it is easy for me because i don't have to be available when she needs to go; she just takes care of it.

we had to get her trained because she is now in a size 7 diaper (for her height, not width) and there isn't a bigger size to move up to - this was just the end of the line. and we needed her to have the hang of things before we have to add winter clothes to the mix.

madelyn is very excited about it and i have already moved all diaper supplies out of her room. we are officially down to one diapered kid! love.

daddy's turn

daddy finally got a turn feeding mason tonight with his first bottle! we were lent this bottle for madelyn and it worked so well with breastfeeding that we bought one to use with mason. it is actually a bottle for babies with special needs (like cleft pallet, etc.) and the milk flow is really slow. that is why we liked it so much because it doesn't cause problems with the baby's willingness to nurse. mason took to it immediately and drank about 5 oz. madelyn took a few tries before she was willing to drink from it.

of course madelyn wanted to get in on the act and help daddy with feeding mason. love.

bubbles

this morning it was a mad rush to make it to puppet class by 9am. mason and i slept in until 7:30 and 8:00, respectively. at least madelyn was in a very agreeable and cooperative mood which made it a lot easier to get out the door in time. the puppet today was a lunch bag style pig. the kids were supposed to color the paper printed with the parts, cut them out, and then glue them on. most of the kids moved on to the other activities after coloring, thus leaving the mom's sitting around the craft table cutting out all the pieces and gluing them onto the puppet. you can see that madelyn had much more fun with the real puppets. although she did give her pig puppet a spin in the theater once i finished putting it together.

after a quick snack at home we went to the playground (at madelyn's request), although all she did for an hour was blow bubbles and we could have done that in the front yard.

i have decided that mason may never have a real nap schedule. i just don't see how it will be possible given the schedule of madelyn's activities and my meetings. at least he doesn't seem to mind. today i picked him up from napping in the swing and got him settled into the stroller where he slept until we got back home from the playground and i put him back into his swing. it looks like he is going to be as easy going as madelyn was as an infant (and still is when it comes to sleep). i obviously didn't make enough notes when madelyn was an infant about her sleep schedule and what i did when. there is so much that i can't remember and i have been extremely frustrated by my lack of record keeping. now i have to try and find which book i read about napping schedules. i really hate when i can't remember things!

just for the record - madelyn has been asking to hold my hand a lot. and not just when we are out and about, but in the house too. like after i change her diaper she wants to hold my hand to walk out of her room. i think some of it is her being possessive of me. she also asks to be carried like "maddie baby". she does the request in a baby like voice too. i am sure that it is just another phase so i wanted to note it. love.

take a picture

madelyn asks to have her picture taken any time that she is with mason. if only she were so excited to have her picture taken at other times. here is a selection of her recent requests.


she will lay down next to him any time he is on the floor and she often asks to have him sit next to her. the arm around him is her own pose selection - we never suggested it. at least we have pictures of them together that aren't forced. love.

don't worry, mason. i'm coming.

i was getting madelyn dressed for school this morning and mason started to cry in his swing. madelyn said, "mason's crying." and then called out, "don't worry, mason. i'm coming. i'll be right there!" she gets very concerned when mason is crying and i encourage her to give him "magic kisses" because they always stop him from crying, hence the "magic" part.

this post is just going to be a hodge-podge of the goings on around here.

- the picture is of madelyn's newest facial injury (why is it always the face?!). i guess she fell while trying to hide from daddy after bath time and hit the bridge of her nose on the edge of her bed. she came out crying pretty good, but it doesn't look like it is going to bruise much at all. just a little scrape.

- madelyn knows the days of the week and often tells us when things are going to happen. if you ask when her birthday is she will say "thrusday".

- i have made a little fun about matt's ambitious garden in the backyard, but the veggies have been really delicious and it has been nice to have a variety of fresh veggies for dinner. good job, matt (and madelyn)!

- madelyn gets herself into her car seat. once i unlock the car she opens her door, gets in her seat (sometimes she climbs into other seats first), and does the larger of the two buckles. she even slides the buckle up so that it sits high on her chest. this has made my life easier because she is safely in the car while i tend to mason before finishing up tightening her straps.

- mason gets excited when he touches my face. while his movements are still a little erratic, he definitely knows when he touches what he sees and gets excited.

- madelyn was watching the intro of "so you think you can dance" with me last night before bath time and was trying to do the pivoting kicks the girls on the show were. the funny part was that she told me that she had to "practice first" and would go off to 'practice' before coming back to dance with the show again. i had her reenact some of her dance moves this morning. it wasn't quite as good but she did try with both legs.

- "practice" is not the only new word yesterday that amused me. when i would repeat what she said correctly, proving that i understood, she would say "exactly". i am guessing that is how her teacher responds at school. "alright" has made it into the mix too. these expressions have really stood out to me so i thought that i should note them here.

- madelyn always seems to know where we are. her memory for locations amazes me! when we pass a parking garage she points out that is where we parked for the parade. and she definitely knows the way to school and even tells me to "turn left here, mommy" where appropriate. across the street from her school is some sort of work truck facility and madelyn always tells me that it is where the "trucks live". i am never sure how to respond to this so i usually just ask, "it is?" and she tells me "yes!".

- mason is sleeping about 6 hours at night before needing to eat again. it isn't as great as madelyn slept at this age, but once a night isn't so bad. i haven't quite gotten him on a nap schedule during the day and can't remember when i got madelyn on one. i think i had her on a decent schedule by 2 months, but it is going to be more difficult with mason because madelyn's schedule of events is so different every day. i really want to get him down for at least one crib nap each day pretty soon here. today was my first attempt and it was not the right timing. i am going to try again this afternoon because i don't want mason to get into the habit of catnapping whenever i set him down. he is starting to look a little tired during the day when we are moving around the house a lot and he isn't getting to nap in any one location more than an hour. i think that returning to work next week is going to make a difference because i will be in the office most of the day and he can nap in the pack and play or hopefully his crib. we will see... love.

i love babe ruth

mason has a strong affection for babe ruth, or at least the black frame that is picture is in anyway. one night he was just cooing, smiling, and squealing with joy while looking at the picture of babe ruth hanging above the changing table. i know that he is really just excited about the high contrast frame, but it was cracking matt and i up. it even sounded like he said "hi" right on cue! i tried to get him to do it again the next day and it didn't really work, but you should be able to get the general idea of how excited he gets while laying on his changing table. mainly the video just me talking to him like i was when he was being so vocal the night before and i tried to cut it down as much as possible. this is mainly for the grandparents.

i haven't been able to get a good picture of his big smile (this is the closest i have come) because the camera scares him a little i think. as soon as i bring it into his line of sight he looses the smile and gets very still. maybe matt can help me this weekend by holding the camera behind me instead of me trying to hold it so close to his face.

in other baseball news, we went to matt's softball game last night (i know not really 'baseball news') and as always madelyn was excited to be there. when i told her that we were going that night while i was driving her to school she began to tell me all about the last game where matt had hit a home run and she cheered. she remembered so much about the game and kept telling me that we would cheer, "good job, daddy, good job," after daddy hits the ball with his bat. at the game she kept telling anyone that would make eye contact, "number 6 is my daddy, see him?," while pointing at matt (or a few times which ever man from his team was standing closest to her at the time). she has gotten really good at looking into the field and locating her daddy even though everyone is dressed the same and wearing hats. her other humorous comment from the game came whenever matt would bat. she would start cheering "good job, daddy" and clapping. then she added "home race" for a home run. he didn't hit one but she kept telling me that "daddy ran fast because he hit a home race." how cute is that? love.

mason man

matt and i call mason,"mason man" pretty often. madelyn has given it her own spin and calls him, "mason boy". she uses it most when she is loving on him with hugs and kisses. the nickname is also usually preceded by the word "my". she does that with all of us, "my mommy", "my daddy", etc.

here is madelyn's mason boy in another of his series of onesies from the baby shower. this one says "my name is trouble". he is getting ready to cry in the picture so that is why he has that look on his face. we were getting ready to go back out to the pool after madelyn's nap and i thought that he looked cute in his little hat and was trying to get a picture.

friday matt brought home this baseball/bat table and chair. one of his co-workers had bought it for us (a steal for $15 at a trendy boutique here). madelyn was very excited about it and requested to eat her snack at it in mason's room when she saw it for the first time. she just came out of her room, came in mason's room and sat down. when i told her that she couldn't eat in mason's room she asked me to help her carry it to the kitchen. such a clever girl.

one more food related maddie story. i have mentioned that madelyn is extremely affectionate after meals. she is also extremely considerate about her dirty hands not getting on us. she holds her hands in fists so that she doesn't get us dirty when she hugs us. we never asked her to do this, she came up with it all on her own. love.