maddux laughing

the long trip to ohio

at lunch on thursday, matt and i discussed possibly staying in a hotel to sleep for a while because neither one of us felt comfortable making the whole drive. we checked the weather for our route and decided that we would try to at least get through chicago and then we would stop.

we ended up making it as far as south bend, indiana.  we stopped as soon as it started to get dark because there was no way either of us should be driving after dark. at least the weather had been mostly sunny for our drive. the good thing about snowy weather is that the roads were salted and the wet, salty road spray meant that you had to constantly spray and clear your windshield - keeping us alert and awake.

madelyn was a little confused about the hotel maybe being a new apartment where we were going to unload the truck, which was kind of funny.  the kids had been real troopers.  except for the hour we spent in panera for lunch, they had been in their carseats since about 8am and it was around 5:30pm when we rolled into the hotel parking lot (there might have been a quick potty break in there too, but i can't remember).  matt wanted to go to a restaurant for dinner, but there was no way we were going to get through a sit down dinner in public.  these poor kids needed to run around and play for a bit.  instead, he went to pick up a pizza and some drinks while the kids jumped on the bed and ran around the hotel room.  they were so happy to be free.

i am a little embarrassed to say this, but the kids had not had a bath since sunday night (and it was now thrusday).  we just didn't have the time or means to really give them a bath.  i did let them play in the tub and washed them up a little at the hotel after dinner.  we didn't bring in any clothes or toiletries (because we couldn't get to them easily).  we all just slept in our clothes.  matt fell asleep immediately (understandably) and i was left to try and get two energy filled kids to go to sleep.  they were pretty good about it - at least they were mostly quiet.  madelyn was the one making trouble by talking and getting in and out of bed for a drink.  first she woke up maddux and then she woke up mason.  i don't think i got more than two hours of sleep before i got up at 3:30am to get our stuff together so that we could get on the road by 4am.  we had to hit the road early because the movers were coming to help unload the truck into our storage units (yes, we now have two) at 11am and we still had around 5 hours of driving left.

three sleeping kids for the last stretch.  we had to lift madelyn up and over the wrapped t.v. and assorted blankets to get her in and out of the van.  she was so sweet by trying so hard to keep her snowy shoes off of everything on her way over each time.

i think we stopped at least 4 times for large coffees - the last time 20 minutes from the apartment.  matt and i were in rough shape, but we were doing better than we had been before we stopped to sleep.  that stop was worth the added cost.

the kids spent most of friday in their carseats as well.  i had to go get cash, again, to tip the movers, shuttle things from storage to the apartment, and go to pick up matt from the uhaul return.  the kids fell asleep in the van on our way back to the apartment to wait for matt to come with the last load of apartment items so i sat in a parking space and let them sleep for over an hour instead of trying to unload and hope that they stayed asleep.  i helped matt unload the truck at the apartment and then we went back to the storage units to try and find the trash bag of dirty clothes that had been unloaded into the very back, bottom corner of one of them.  if it didn't have every pair of jeans our family owns and some wet towels in it, i wouldn't have made him try and get it.  at least he knew where it was. 

there are still several items that were intended for the apartment that got unloaded somewhere in the storage units instead - like my blow dryer - but we are just going to wait for the snow to melt before messing with it.  yes, my hair will be worn in a wet ponytail everyday until that time (unless i breakdown and buy a new one) and madelyn so kindly told me on sunday that my hair doesn't look good that way, but it just isn't worth the trouble of digging it out at this point.  plus, we will need to go back for all mason's 12 month + clothes that i had packed away for maddux pretty soon too.

thankfully, i had just enough food in the apartment that we could eat dinner without me having to run to the grocery store.  i think that we were all extremely thankful to be home.  all three kids had baths after dinner and then to bed.  they were so happy to be home that all three, yes, all three, slept until 7am on saturday!  mommy and daddy really, really needed that uninterrupted sleep.  daddy even slept until 10am (we had gone to bed around 10:30pm the night before)!



my good sleepers sharing a seat at breakfast

and now we, and all our stuff, live in ohio (even though matt conceded that my idea of selling it all in wisconsin instead of storing it would have been a better idea.).  now we just need to figure out a new house so that we can move again next winter.  or we are talking about extending our lease and waiting until the snow is gone to move...  love.

final wisconsin move - day 3 - the close

thursday morning was here and matt had not been to sleep at all; i had only slept about 2 hours total.  there was still a lot to load onto the truck, straps to buy at home depot, a few runs to goodwill to make with the truck, and get the kids and our sleeping stuff out of the house.  not to mention that it was snowing and there were a few inches in the driveway already.

matt showered and got to home depot when they opened.  i showered around 6am (i think) and started deflating matt's mattresses.  mason woke up next and i got him dressed, gave him a bagel, and then started packing up all the linens and mattresses from their room (since madelyn was asleep on my mattress in the other room).  the whole time i was trying not to panic about how much was still in the house and in the garage - aka not on the truck!  next came madelyn who ate a bagel before she would get dressed.  and last was maddux who i fed, dressed, and loaded into his carseat carrier. 

matt came back from home depot and started making trips to goodwill with the truck.  goodwill wasn't open yet, but we couldn't wait because we needed to get the stuff up there so that we could finish loading the truck.  goodwill was open by the time he made the last trip so everything didn't sit in the snow too long.  after he got back home with the truck again, we put all the kids into the van and loaded it up.  we then parked it across the street, running, with a movie playing for the kids.

now things were just crazy.  i was in a medium weight turtleneck sweater and jeans without a coat, hat, or gloves.  it was under 20 degrees outside.  my job was to get everything out of the house and into the garage so that we could see what we had left to deal with getting into the truck and van.  the snow was a major bummer because i kept tracking it into the house.  i did have some old t-shirts that we used as rags left in the house and was trying to use them to mop up the puddles.  i wasn't going to have time to wipe everything down or vacuum, but i didn't want to leave the place totally trashed.

since matt and i were both running on little to no sleep we were just piling things on the truck and hauling trash out to the curb.  i would run across the street every so often to check on the kids.  at 9:20am matt was still loading the truck and we needed to leave at 9:30 to have any chance of getting to the closing on time. 

i am not sure what all we left in the garage in the end.  i know that matt left the lawn mower, weed wacker, edger, and some tools.  we left our grill and patio furniture on the deck (they were under at least 6-10 inches of snow and we wouldn't have had room for them on the truck anyway).  i also remembered once we got back to ohio that we left a pair of snow pants and a set of wooden hangers in the front closet.  but we were done and the house was locked up by us for the last time.  i ran up to mcdonalds for large coffees and some food for matt (the kids and i ate cold bagels) before heading over for the closing.

 our house as i was driving away to go to the close.

i had really wanted a picture of the family in front of the house since all three kids had been 'born there', but there just wasn't time.  we were lucky to leave in time for the closing at all.

the plan was for matt to run in and find out how long it was going to take and if we could take turns so that we wouldn't have to haul out the kids.  we could tag-team.  matt went in first while i sat in the van with the kids.  the closing started a little late because the road conditions made it difficult for everyone to get there on time.  i think matt took a half hour or so and then it was my turn.  my signing went quicker because matt had already signed everything so i didn't need much explanation - just where to sign.  it did take a while for the bank to okay them handing over our checks.  the agent suggested that i might try seeing if the buyers had any questions while we waited so that they wouldn't try to catch me on the way out.  great idea!  i really wanted to apologize for the condition of the house so that they knew we didn't do it on purpose to be mean or anything.

they seemed very nice and very excited about the house.  i wished them happiness there and told them that they would love the neighborhood.  they even seemed understanding about how we were leaving the house (and the items we left behind).  i really do wish them the best.  they got a great house - at a great deal!

about an hour and a half later i was free to leave and we could finally get some lunch!  matt had to drive around for most of the time i was inside because maddux was crying to be fed and does better when the car is moving.

the house is officially sold!  hooray!  it wasn't pretty, but we had done it and were on our way to our new life in ohio!  love.

final wisconsin move - day 2 into day 3

the good thing about being back in wisconsin is that i know where to take the kids!  wednesday morning we loaded up after having einstein bagels for breakfast and went to kids in motion.  we had gone once just before moving and i knew that madelyn would be very excited to go back.  plus, i knew that it was somewhere that i could take all three kids on my own and they could run around without it being too stressful for me.

madelyn was a wonderful helper.  she helped to take great care of mason, played with him nicely, went where ever he did without complaint, and was generally a very pleasant and agreeable girl.  it was fun to see them playing together so nicely.


madelyn and mason using a little teamwork to fill the dump truck with soy beans.



madelyn in the music room.

i think the dump truck room is everyone's favorite room.  there are always kids in there.  i know mason loved it.  he cried when i suggested that we try something else (since madelyn was itching to see some more and i really wanted them to burn off a little energy).  i ultimately had to pick him up and carry him out.  he was fine once i walked through the door frame and he saw all the other fun things to do and took off running.

we picked up some lunch from panera on our way home (i had called in our order so that i wouldn't have to unload three hungry kids) and got mason and maddux down for naps after we ate. 

i had convinced matt to hire some movers for a few hours to help him load up the furniture and heavier pieces that i could not help with moving.  madelyn and i tried to stay out of their way.  matt and i realized that we didn't have any cash to tip the movers so madelyn and i ran up to walgreens to get some cash (the bank was too far).  i guess walgreens changed their policy recently from $40 per transaction to $20, so i had to make three separate purchases.  i had originally selected a pack of gum and starburst candies for our transactions but now needed something else - quick.  madelyn seized the moment and spotted a display of lollipops.  it was her lucky day - and she knew it.

madelyn enjoying her strawberry shortcake flavored lollipop. (she didn't know what the flavor would be, she just picked it out because it was 'red'.)

maddux was such a happy boy with little to no attention.  (he was in a more masculine outfit - see his socks - but he had a poopie blow-out and had to be changed into a spare.)

wednesday night was such a blur, i can't even remember what we did for dinner.  we talked about pizza, but that wasn't it... whatever it was, we ate and put the kids to bed so that matt and i could get serious about finishing up.  there was still A LOT to do and we were closing at 10am the next morning.  around 1:30am we could tell that it was going to be an all night affair.  since we were going to have a long drive and i needed to be able to take care of the kids, we decided that i should go to sleep.  most of what was left were the few miscellaneous things for matt to go through and there just wasn't a lot left for me to help him with towards the end. 

i laid down at 1:45am and maddux woke up to be fed at 2am.  i put him back down at 2:30am and madelyn came in some time around 4am to sleep with me - we were sharing a twin air mattress so you can guess at how much sleep i actually got.  i woke up around 6am, i think.  matt had not been to sleep and was still loading.  we were both exhausted, but closing day was here and snow or not (yes, it was unfortunately snowing) we had to get out on time.  more in the next post... love.

final wisconsin move - day 1

i have been delinquent in posting about our trip to wisconsin to close on the house because it was so non-stop that i just needed some time to recover.  i have been doing laundry for 3 days, had to stock the kitchen with food, get some sleep so that i could put together a complete thought, and other back to normal life activities before i could get a chance to sit down and write about it.  so much happened that i am going to break it up into a few posts.

we left monday night after matt got home from work, and it was snowing.  the snow wasn't a huge deal, more of an annoyance.  the main problem was that maggie had diarrhea.  and nothing says "fun" on a long car trip than a dog with diarrhea.  it also wasn't fun to keep having to run her outside while i was trying to get everything ready for the trip.  her stomach was upset because mason keeps feeding her from the table.  i think that it was the monterrey jack cheese that did her in this time.  anyway, back to the trip.  madelyn was really excited to be going and made up this very catchy (and repetitive) song - the original 15 minutes had "i'm so excited" more often than the video shows.  it's dark, but you are just listening to her (over maddux' crying).

i worked during the drive and matt drove.  mason was actually the one of the kids awake for most of the drive.  i was a little surprised, but he slept at the beginning of the trip enough to make it so he wasn't tired enough to fall asleep in the car again.  both kids were awake when we arrived in wisconsin and not very interested in going back to sleep at 2am.  matt and i were beyond tired and were trying to be patient about getting them situated on their air mattresses.  madelyn said that she didn't remember where her room was in that house.  maybe she didn't.  she also didn't refer to it as "home" a single time on the trip, it was always the "wisconsin house" or the "house where we are staying".

the kids did so well considering all the chaos and lack of schedule (i.e. one hour time difference, no toys, boxes everywhere, air mattresses, no food in the house, etc.).  i think that i was really expecting the worst and they gave, mostly, their best.  maddux either sat/slept in his carrier or napped belly down on the floor (we had a pack-n-play, but only used it for night time sleeping).  i don't think he got nearly enough sleep on this trip, but stayed happy.  in retrospect, i really wish that i had brought my moby wrap so that i could have 'held' him more.  it was hard to find a safe place to set him most of the time.

such a happy boy.

can you find the sleeping maddux?

tuesday morning matt ran up to mcdonalds to pick up coffee and breakfast (we did not eat very well on this trip) while i got maddux fed and everyone dressed.  once he was back and we ate, i went up to mcdonalds for internet access.  i ended up working for an hour and felt bad leaving him for so long because i knew that he couldn't get much done with the kids there.  at least i had plans to keep them out of the house for a while.

we wanted to see as many of the neighbors as possible during our visit.  unfortunately, most of them had sick children and we didn't get to see them, but we were really thankful to see the ones we did and were very lucky that amy was willing to host us all for a lunch time playdate on tuesday.  matt packed while we played, but joined us for lunch.

madelyn playing with ava.  ava was one of the people madelyn most wanted to see.  ava's family is also moving soon - to california.

we were able to take the kids back to the house so that mason and maddux could nap while matt and i packed some more.  we had also really wanted to see our friends aeron and kate, and their daughters avery and tess.  we weren't able to see them before the first move and were really glad that they were willing to have us over for dinner on tuesday night.  even when avery woke up from her nap with a high fever.  i only wish that we could have visited longer, but we really had to eat and run because we needed to get some more work done at the house and still needed to stop by to pay the boy who had taken such good care of our house while we have been living in ohio (clearing snow, etc.).

tess, madelyn, and avery

mason joined them and it got a little wilder...

we got home kind of late (after 9pm); we hurried the kids to bed and got back to packing and loading.  i went to get my camera so that i could take pictures of our goodwill donation for the following morning only to discover that i must have dropped it outside of aeron and kate's house!  i called but they couldn't find it.  i couldn't let it go and went to look myself (because i couldn't describe clearly enough where we had parked).  sure enough, it was under the car that was parked in the space where we had been.  i was so thankful to find it, and that it still worked, but i lost an hour of packing time and it was after midnight.  good thing that we still had wednesday.  love.

excuse me

it seems like i don't post about the everyday things that i take for granted, so here is one about maddux.  he burps crazy loud!  i have never been shy about nursing in pubic, but burping maddux in public is embarrassing for sure.  i burped him in church last week and people from four rows away turned around to see who had burped so loudly during the sermon - i just hope that they knew it was maddux and not matt or me.  even as big as he is, i don't think anyone would expect a noise that big to come out of someone so small.  love.

1-2-3 jump

so mason has a new game.  i call it "1-2-3-jump" and he calls it something like "un-ah-da-UMP".  basically he stands on the airplane toy and steps off the side.  the first few times he held on to the wall while stepping off, but on friday he got much braver and did it most towards the middle of the room.  i love how excited/scared he gets right before he steps off the side.  he only plays this game with the airplane toy too.

i didn't get him 'counting' in the video, unfortunately, but i think that they give a sense into how the kids entertain themselves here in the apartment - general silliness.  at the very end of the second video i got mason to 'say' some of his 'words'.  this was the first time that he actually tried to say them on command and i was so excited that i couldn't think of which words he knows best.  it isn't really the best examples of his pronunciation, but it gives you an idea.  at least i can understand him.  i will try to get better video of him 'talking' soon.  love.

block table

madelyn and mason spend a lot of time building houses, gas stations, and zoos at the block table.  today we built a house.  i think we have spent an hour or more at a time every day this week.

woodkins

madelyn only asked santa for one gift - a woodkins doll.  only she didn't know what it was called and i had to do some google searching to figure it out.  when we went to visit matt's uncle dennis and aunt joy over the summer, they had some toys for their grandkids and a woodkins doll was one of them that madelyn really liked.  or as they are known around here - "the dress up doll".

the funny thing has been that mason is the one who plays with it the most...  the make boy 'dolls' too so he might be getting one of those in the future.  yesterday he was playing so nicely for so long that i had to take a picture.  of course madelyn came over to be in the pictures too once she saw what mason was doing.  love.

scared?

maddux pulled his blanket up to his mouth with both fists and i thought that it looked like he was watching a scary movie or something (like his brother and sister) and had to take a picture.  love.

madelyn update

i updated on the boys after their check-ups this week but realized that i haven't really done an update on madelyn in a while and had a few notes about her to share about her at 3-1/2:

- madelyn sings a lot.  about everything.  she makes up lots of songs and remembers them week to week.  there are even a few cute ones about God loving her.  and i know, video would be nice.  she tends to sing them when she is playing on her own and doesn't like the camera right now.  i would rather just enjoy them.

- speaking of playing on her own, her imagination has gone to a whole new level recently.  the plots of her stories have gotten much more complex and so has the cast of characters.  some where she picked up playing that she, toys, etc. are "dead" or "died".  this is not one of my favorite themes, but she seems to play like it is funny and not sad.  she says that it just means that you have to "lay real still with your eyes closed".  she does understand real dying though because she was asking about maggie being an old dog and if she would die.  when i told her, yes, someday maggie will die she got a little upset.

- while she is not afraid of playing "dead", she has developed an extreme fear of fire.  and it seems to have come from seeing it on tv.  and it's not just destructive fire, rocket launches, campfires, etc. are what "scares" her at night.  (she isn't a big fan of the red light that blinks on smoke detectors either.)  she does like to sit by fireplaces when we see them, so there isn't a lot of rhyme or reason to this one either.  being safe from fire is one of the things she prays about most often.

- and madelyn has been praying more frequently (other than bed and meal times).  she likes to pray out loud and it appears that sitting on the toilet is her newest destination of choice for her talks with God.  she will say, "i am going to the bathroom," and then come back to add, "and i am going to talk to God while i am sitting on the toilet".  last night she was asking me - why does hair grow?  when there are questions that i don't have the answer to i will say that "God made it that way" or "you will have to ask God one day".  last night when i suggested she will have to ask God some day (thinking along the lines of when she gets to heaven), but she asked, "can't i just ask him now?"  and she did.  she went into the kitchen for a little privacy and had her conversation with God.  apparently he says that hair grows, "little by little by little".  there is an action too - she squats and lifts her hands higher and higher with each "little" before reaching her full height.  love it.

- her sincerity and sensitivity to others has also increased.recently.  she gives me the sweetest "i'm sorry" after giving a situation some thought; not because it is expected or requested but because she truly is sorry.  it is usually followed by "i didn't know..."; as in "i didn't know biting my nails was a bad habit.  i just didn't know."

- and the nail biting and thumb sucking have not occurred since the introduction of mavala stop.  however, she has now developed a restlessness at bedtime.  it just started three nights ago so i don't think that it is totally thumb related.  it is often from her fear of fire and wanting to sleep with us if she gets too scared.  the problem is that she is taking forever to go to sleep and loosing toys/privileges/activities (last night she even lost "friend" for a while; house rule is that she doesn't have to go to sleep but she can't scream like a banshee and keep the boys up) and she has started waking up between 5/6am.  while this would be exhausting under normal circumstances, it is making it that i am only getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night for the past 3 or 4 nights!  and that is the part that is killing me.  i am hoping that she will get out of this funk in the next few days.  at least it is not really effecting her daytime behavior.  in fact, she seems to be better behaved overall...  i am sure that sleep will continue to be an issue as we will be in wisconsin most of next week to close on the house and move out the furniture.  and then maybe we can settle into a more peaceful nighttime routine for us all.

- madelyn wears 5T/5 clothes and seems to be in the middle of a growth spurt (another possible factor for the sleeping troubles).  she eats almost non-stop!  and not just because she is grazing, these are full on meals.  yesterday she ate two pb&js, a yogurt, pretzels, trail mix, and a glass of milk for lunch - and she was still hungry 15 minutes later!  i am pretty much feeding someone all day long - again, exhausted.  it is a good thing that we will be in this weekend so that i can get in a nap or two while matt is home.

- in addition to teaching her about "magic", i taught her that you can look at a picture on the block package and then build it.  seeing her follow the instructions with the blocks reminded me of myself (i try not to think that way too much).  i used to use my brothers' block sets to build what they were intended to build.  for some reason i just don't have a lot of structural creativity; i find great satisfaction in being able to figure out what they made in the picture.

- "whatever it takes" has become her catch phrase.  not too sure about its origins and she doesn't always use it in a context that makes any sense.

and i think that is everything i wanted to note.  love.

band-aids make it better

madelyn got a band-aid this morning because she had picked at a cuticle that was still in rough shape from her nail biting days.  mason watched the application of the band-aid with a lot of interest.  it wasn't long after that he pointed to his finger and said, "ouch".  monkey see, monkey do.

mason got a band-aid too and he was very proud of it holding his index finger in the air and smiling.  as i expected, the band-aid didn't last very long.  and shortly thereafter, madelyn took hers off too.  monkey see, monkey do.  love.

happy boy

what more can i say?  he's a happy, smiley boy!  love.

hairdresser

i told matt that this day would probably come, but i was surprised that it came after we cut all mason's hair off.  love.

the happy hairdresser

mason tried to help too. (his face is covered in 'chocolate' from his cliff bar.)

out on the town with his hair 'did'.

the front of her "cinderella" hair.  she did not want to have her picture taken.

and from the back as she tried to run away from me.

i love maddux' expression - like "what is on your head?"

say "cheese"

built in friend

one thing about the move is that madelyn and mason have to be each other's playmates because there aren't any other options and we are at home a lot right now.  thankfully, they have alwasy gotten along very well so this wasn't too much of a transition.  here are some pictures of them being buddies.  love.

watching a cartoon after mason's nap.  mason brought his snack down to sit next to madelyn.

they were being robots in their toy baskets.  they would get in one together and put the second basket over their heads to create a 'robot'.



wearing daddy's old jerseys.

watching mommy change maddux' diaper.

silly face time.

mason 18-month check-up

mason had his check-up today too; kind of nice to have both boys with appointments at the same time.  he was so good and barely cried when he got his shot (part two of his flu shot).  they give kids a book to take home when they come in for well checks and mason got one about trucks. here are his stats for the day:

height: 35-3/4 inches
weight: 30.6 pounds
head: 80-85 percentile

mason wears a size 6 diaper and mostly 3t clothes.  he really likes picking out his shirt every morning and taking a bath every night.  he picked out the shirt in the picture which is one of daddy's from little league (he found one for mason and madelyn). 
he is all boy, but still very sweet and mostly obedient.  the love and concern he shows maddux always amazes me.  when maddux cries, mason usually gets to him first with a "shhh".  or he will come running with a pacifier from maddux' room.

he sucks his thumb way too much in my opinion and it shows; his thumb is so chapped and calloused from spending so much time in his mouth.  at least it looks like we found a solution that has worked for madelyn that we can try on him when he turns 3.

while he is a very effective communicator, mason does not have a lot of words.  the doctor said they like to see 5-10 "words" at 18 months so mason falls into the average range.  here is a list of his "words":  ma-ma, da-da, duck, truck, this, that, "grrrr" (for tiger), cracker (kack-kack), no, cheese, dog, maddux ('dix'), and there is something he says for madelyn that i can't quite describe - maybe "add".  it seems like there are a few more (like yogurt) that he isn't totally consistent with or that i just haven't noticed that he is consistent.  he doesn't have nearly as many words as madelyn, but he can follow really detailed instructions and works very hard at being understood.  he is also very interested in letters and points them out for us to tell him their names when he sees them on signs or in books.  when we ride in the car he 'says' them to himself as he points and 'reads'.

glad to report another happy, healthy boy!  love.

first laughs and 2-month check-up

i am so behind on posts!  where we have the computer set up isn't all that child-proofed so i am having a hard time getting my computer time in during the day.  that and madelyn is desperate for companionship while the boys are napping.  work is given priority for my after bedtime time - you know, cause they pay me.  so the next few posts might be picture with caption heavy to try and get caught up.

early last week i realized that mason was laughing.  i had heard him make happy noises that i thought were laughs, but i just thought that it was too early.  and then matt brought my "what to expect" book back from wisconsin and i realized that, no, i wasn't hearing things - he is laughing. 

so maddux had his first laugh about two weeks ago.  sorry that i didn't get the exact date, kiddo...

today i took him in for his two-month check-up with his new pediatrician.  i liked the doctor.  she was on the younger side and patiently listened to all of madelyn's explanations while we tried to talk about maddux (and mason) since the appointment was not for madelyn.  i like it when the doctor doesn't seem rushed - even though i know that she was in a hurry.

the appointment was at 9am and when i googled the office i guess i got an old address and had to reroute to the actual address.  it is a good thing that i always double travel time when i go somewhere for the first time to allow a 'getting lost' cushion.  what i don't understand is why they didn't mail me the 5-pages of information i needed to fill out for each boy ahead of time?  it isn't easy to recall dates and family history (and write it twice) while trying to watch small children who are exploring a new place - with a fish tank.  the kids really were well behaved and madelyn made a quick friend named "anna" that was about her age.  and there were crayons and color sheets to keep them busy too.  it just could have been easier.

i know i keep saying how huge maddux is and now i can prove it.  even by our family's standards, he is a very big boy!  here are his stats from today with madelyn and mason's at the same age for comparison:

height: 26-1/2 inches (madelyn - 25", mason - 25-3/4")
weight: 15-1/2 pounds (madelyn - 12# 5oz., mason - 14# 2 oz.)
head: 80th percentile

the nurse was rattling off the information so quickly i had to have her repeat it twice.  she just said "off the charts" for height and weight, no specific percentile.  given that mason has always been 97th and higher i can only guess that maddux must be in the 99th range.

the picture is from a few days ago.  that outfit is a size 9 months!  it is a little big but not by much.  he is pretty much wearing 6-9 months clothes and needs to move to a size 3 diaper (i am just trying to use up all the size 2 but he is blowing them out so regularly that i need to just cut my losses - maybe we will have a fourth...).  he has almost outgrown his "bundle me" on the carrier and has long since outgrown the miracle blanket for sleeping.  i think his size might have something to do with his still getting up once or twice a night (usually 1/2am and 5/6am on a two-timer).  although he did sleep 9 hours last night.  he just isn't very consistent and i can't figure out any obvious reason for the irregularity.  one thing that is consistent is his spitting up!  mason was such an easy baby because he could wear the same outfit all day.  maddux is like madelyn in that he blows out diapers and spits up so much that he wears about four outfits a day.

i am hoping that he learns to sit up early because this boy is going to need more calories!  the other two started solids around 4-months because they stopped sleeping through the night.  and not just that, but the carrier is already getting super heavy (and his feet are hanging off the end); i am going to be ready to ditch that thing the second he can sit up to ride in a cart.

so there is a little info on maddux.  he is the definition of "happy spitter" and couldn't be a sweeter baby - thank goodness!  love.

kicking the habit

update: the morning after i posted this, madelyn told me that she was sorry.

me: why are you sorry?

madelyn: for biting my nails and sucking my thumb.

me: it's okay, honey.  how are you doing?  let me see your hands. (after an examination of her hands.)  wow! they look better already.  great job.

madelyn: i didn't know that it was a bad habit.  i am not going to bite my nails or suck my thumb any more.

we have a house full of thumb sucking kids.  maddux isn't officially sucking his thumb - yet - but he happily sucks on his fist more and more often.  madelyn only sucks her thumb when she is holding her stuffed bear, "friend".  mason sucks his thumb almost non-stop at times.  we know that we will have to get them to stop eventually and the dentist recommended that madelyn stop by the age of 4.

but then madelyn started biting her nails a few weeks ago.  and two weeks ago i caught her biting her toe nails.  that was the last straw for me.  i got on google and started looking for solutions because it is time to stop. 

i found an article that recommended "mavala stop", read some reviews on amazon, and decided this was worth a try.  we weren't ready to resort to removing "friend" but knew that would be a sure fire tactic for stopping.  instead i ordered mavala stop for $9.50 and added on a recommended book (berenstain bears bad habit).  there were several reviews for success with young children and a description of the taste from an adult nail biter:  "The taste is really horrible. It's like acetone (nail polish remover), bitter, rotten wood, and some sort of fish put together. It has a very chemical taste with a sweet undertone that makes for a horrible experience. The taste is also very durable and lingering. "  previously i have tried vinegar to get her to stop but that taste wasn't bad enough and i doubted that bad taste alone would persuade her to stop - until i read that review.

the book arrived first and i really think that reading it helped her to stop biting her nails, but since my goal was to get rid of the thumb sucking i still planned on using the mavala.  madelyn was excited to have me paint her nails "shiny" and has even let me reapply it.  she hasn't quite put together that the nail polish is the source of the bad taste when she puts her fingers/thumb in her mouth and i want to keep it that way.  when she complains about a bad taste when she puts her fingers in her mouth we just suggest that she not put her fingers in her mouth.  and the stuff must really taste awful!  madelyn sounded like she was trying to work up a hairball the first night she tried to suck her thumb!  it was so pitiful and so funny at the same time.  matt and i were working really, really hard not to laugh at her. 

i thought for sure that we were in for a sleepless night or two but aside from the awful throat noises she was making and a little crying she went right to sleep the first night, didn't make any sounds the second night, and just went down for night number three of no thumb sucking!  i am so excited because she is obviously able to sleep without sucking her thumb and her hands already look SO much better! 

i am really hopeful that this will help to kick her habit.  and when i was reapplying her polish today (because her nails had lost their 'shine') mason wanted me to put some on him too.  while i was tempted the product says that it is only for children over the age of three.  your day will come, mason.  love.

mean girl?

friday i took madelyn (and the boys) to visit another preschool and since we were already out and it was lunch time, i took them to chick-fil-a for some lunch and playtime.  we ate our lunch and madelyn was excited to see that there were lots of other kids to play with this time.

she had brought in three little mermaids that she got for christmas from her uncle derek (they go almost everywhere with her).  i was so proud of her because she was very willingly sharing them with a little girl and a little boy she was playing with inside the play set. 

i was visiting with some other moms about places to go for indoor fun, local preschools, moms' groups, etc. and only stepped out to change mason's diaper.  otherwise i was in the play area the entire time.

as we were getting ready to leave the restaurant i overheard two moms talking - the loud kind of talking that you do hoping to be overheard.  one was saying, "see she's leaving.  it's okay to go back and play.  she's leaving right now, see?"  and the other said something along the lines of, "of course she is scared.  she was traumatized."  (the child was not saying anything.)

i wish that i had turned back to see if they were talking about madelyn.  i assumed that they were since we were the ones leaving and one of them said, "see she's going out the door right now.  she's leaving." as i was trying to usher my three out the door to get into the car.  if mason hadn't been trying to escape in a hundred different directions i might have taken the time to go back.

i was so upset to think that they might have been talking about madelyn and as soon as we were outside i started questioning her about what had happened.  she was genuinely surprised that i asked her if she was mean to anyone.  here is most of our conversation:

me: madelyn, were you mean to anyone?

madelyn: no, mom.  who said i was mean?

me: some mommies were saying that someone was mean and i thought that they were talking about you.

madelyn: which mommies?

me: i don't know, but some of the ladies in there were talking about someone being mean.

madelyn: i wasn't mean mommy.

me: i believe you.  did you see someone else being mean?

madelyn: i don't remember. (pause) i just can't remember things sometimes.

me: that's okay.  i believe you didn't do anything mean.

after 5 minutes or so of loading and driving:

madelyn: mommy, i really wasn't a mean girl.

me: i know, madelyn.  i believe you.  they might have made a mistake about who was mean.

i think that madelyn was genuinely upset about the situation and i really did/do believe that she was not mean to anyone (when madelyn is mean there is usually a lot of crying and yelling on her part - i would have known).  but it did seem like she knew something. 

after dinner matt and i assured her that she would not get into trouble but we needed to know what had happened.  after some gentle questioning we got some more of the story.  she even revealed more details this morning.  here is what she told us.  another girl (besides the one madelyn had been playing with) some how got the mermaid with the black hair and wouldn't give it back.  so the girl madelyn was playing with ("in the blue shirt" - coming down the slide behind madelyn in the picture) pushed the "mean girl" and took the mermaid back and gave it to madelyn.  the "mean girl" pushed the girl "in the blue shirt" too, but nobody cried.  madelyn was very certain that she didn't do any of the pushing and nobody cried.  we assured her that we believed her and were proud of her for not pushing.  then we explained that in the future she should come get mommy and daddy if she is having trouble getting a toy back from someone she doesn't know.  we also discussed bringing toys places was maybe not the best idea because not everyone was as nice of a sharer as she was (most of the time).  she agreed that leaving the toys in the car next time would be a better idea.

i am guessing that the moms knew that mermaids were involved and saw madelyn leaving with the mermaids.  they definitely didn't see what happened because i and the two moms i was talking to were the only adults inside the play area.  i still feel a little sick that someone thinks that madelyn "traumatized" their daughter, but i know and trust madelyn to know that she didn't.  love.

catered dinner

we had our dinner prepared by two master chefs - it was a delicious (and fun) way to end the work week.  love.

just cute

i just thought that he looked cute sleeping - the picture doesn't do him justice though.

magic

madelyn covered up several of her toys with blankets, shouted 'magic words,' and then was disappointed when she looked under the blankets to see that her toys were still there.  we had watched two olivia episodes that just happened to be about magic tricks and madelyn was trying to make her toys 'disappear'.  as her disappointment started to get into the 'fit' range, i explained that magic is pretend and more of a 'trick'. 

to drive home my point i showed her how i could cover a toy with a blanket and make it 'disappear' and then 'reappear'.  not only was she delighted, but once i taught her how to do it she had a new game that we have played every day since. 

while mason and maddux are napping in the afternoon, i build madelyn a fort and we line up all her toys and dolls to watch olivia's magic show.  madelyn and i take turns helping olivia make things 'disappear' (olivia has a magic wand).  when it is madelyn's turn i have to voice the other friends' surprise at the missing item and wonder if it can ever be brought back - per madelyn's script for me to repeat.

to make it even more show-like i showed madelyn how to use her small flashlight like a spotlight for olivia's stage.  (of course i had to explain what a spotlight was first.)  love.

do it yourself

mason has been in desperate need of a haircut.  matt and i have been debating about whether to leave it shaggy or to shave it off which has led to us doing nothing.  last week at church the check-in lady for the toddler room called him a boy and then corrected herself and called him a boy before we let her know that he was a boy.  not that that changed our minds, but it emphasized that we needed to do something.  so, as you can see from the pictures, we took it all off on saturday night.  mason cried at first when he saw his hair falling but then he calmed down and sat on my lap while daddy lightened his load. 

(by the way - never one to like being left out, madelyn asked us to shave her hair off too.  we told her that was not something we were willing to do.)

if you couldn't tell he was a boy before, you sure can now!  i miss his shaggy, floppy hair, but this suits him too.  love.