daddy day

there were so many freebies for kids this weekend that i wrote them all out, packed a diaper bag with diapers, snacks, and waters, and sent madelyn and mason out with daddy!  he kept them out for around 5 hours which gave me a mental break and let me get lots done around the house.

first stop was lowe's for building race cars.  i guess they stopped by the door selection to pick a door for our potential new house - of course madelyn picked a red door.  i guess mason only wore the goggles for the picture and didn't bother to build his car.

other stops on their fun day together were target (for a dr.seuss story time - they made it just in time for cake), sams club (some shopping), michaels (for a science kit demo that just didn't work), and by the builder's model home to pick up plans for our house.  they were going to stop by borders for elmo's birthday party, but just ran out of time. 

they had to hurry home so that they could get maddux and me before we headed to matt's boss' house for dinner.  we left an hour and a half before we needed to be there because we needed to stop and pick up some chick-fil-a for the kids' dinner and flowers for his boss.  for some reason the navigation took us to a chick-fil-a in a hospital.  so we tried again.  this time it took us to a location in a mall.  since we were now starting to run late (and matt was going to have a heart attack if we were late), matt ran into the mall's food court to get the kids' food and called his boss to let her know that we were going to be late. 

we ended up being a half hour late (yes, it took us two hours to get there), but the evening was wonderful.  they have a dog that loves to play fetch and we have a boy who loves to throw.  and they had enough toys from their kids (now 26 and 23) that madelyn was entertained.  i enjoyed finally meeting someone from the hospital!  once we are settled into a house, we will return the invitation.  love.

best bedtime

this was one of those nights when our kids were just too good for words.  we met with the architect and the meeting went way longer than we anticipated - during dinner time.  we didn't leave the meeting until around 7:30pm!  so we stopped at chick-fil-a to get dinner on our way home.  madelyn was super excited and we even let them play for a little bit before it was really time to get them home and it bed - it was getting close to 9pm.

and we still needed to go back to the hospital to get matt's car.  we picked him up on our way to the meeting to save time and forgot to stop and get it on our way back through down because we were rushing to get the kids some dinner.  we dropped him off and headed to the apartment and beds.  my goal?  get all three kids down as quickly as possible.

i started my strategy during the car ride by getting madelyn excited about being the fastest at getting into her jammies.  i wondered out loud if she could even be so fast that she could get dressed before daddy got home too.  and she did.  she got herself dressed while i changed diapers and dressed the two boys for bed.  then while i nursed maddux, she took care of getting mason his toothbrush and toothpaste (and her own) for teeth brushing.  and then she 'read' mason the first words picture book in their room while they waited for daddy to get home. 

bedtime has never gone so quickly or so easily.  i got matt's attention when he came in so that he could get some pictures and video of the two of them doing story time together.  a wonderful way to end the day!  love.

tummy-time = buddy-time

mason loves to visit and 'play' with maddux when he is on the floor for tummy-time.  this week he brought maddux all of his favorite toys one at a time.  i just can't get enough of the two of them together! 

(it's just too bad that maddux didn't look happier in the pictures.  he really concentrates when mason is moving around him and talking to him, so not too many smiles.)  love.

snack time

mason woke up from his nap so rosy-cheeked and happy that i was trying to capture it.  i didn't quite get it, but he is still pretty cute in his train sweater.  love.

thisclose

i have been having trouble uploading videos and am working on trying to figure it out, but i still wanted to go ahead and write up this post.  maddux was thisclose to rolling from his back to belly!  he just needed to pick up his head, but his brother and sister proved to be just too distracting (this is where the video is helpful).  this little guy is so strong it is scary. love.

dogs and cats

mason is feeling (and looking) better so we headed out to barnes and noble for story time.  i don't have a 'story' per se, but i did get some pictures worth posting.  love.

maddux snuggled in to sleep through story time.

mason was excited to be going out and was 'posing' for the camera.

enjoying the cookies before the story.  mason wasn't too sure about the girl leading story time.

the favorite part?  crafts!  dog and cat bookmarks with googlie-eyes.

another early teether

maddux got his first tooth today at just shy of 15 weeks old.  it was really, really difficult to get a picture because he kept putting his hands and tongue over the tooth.  it is the straight white (blurry) line just to the right of the arrow point.

i hope that all of his teeth come in this easily!  it had little to no effect on him at all.  i mean he is trying to chew on his hands but some of that is trying to get that thumb free.

now we just have to wait and see how quickly he will get to number two...  love.

reading fun

today the kids were reading to maddux while i made dinner.  madelyn was reading maddux one of his books and mason went to their room to pick out one of his to 'read' to maddux too.

and since daddy was reading the paper at the table, mason took a section to 'read' and laid down on the floor.  he turned around once i started taking pictures.  love.

 

contingent upon

it has been a very busy week around here, but not for the normal reasons.  we were given a unique opportunity last weekend when we met with our builder.  we met with them to discuss some of the areas we liked and some of the lots they had found that might fit our needs.  since we are in a lease until the end of the year we were discussing the possibility of them renting our built house back to use as a model until we were ready to move in (something we would be interested in doing).  and then they mentioned the parade of homes.  the family that was going to build the home for the "parade of homes" backed out (it was their second time to build with this builder, but with two kids in college and the recent market behavior they got a little nervous about a new house right now).  if we would be interested in being the parade house we could be, but we need to decide by the end of the month!  the urgency is so that the house can be complete in time

for the parade in july or august.

so matt and i got online.  we had driven the neighborhood for the parade a few weeks earlier by chance and liked it.  it is the only neighborhood we have found with sidewalks.  and it has a community pool, kiddie pool, playground, and county (i think) walking/biking trail access.  the only reason we had written it off was because the lots were smaller than what we were thinking.  we have been looking at 1-2+ acre lots and the ones in this neighborhood were about 1/3 an acre.  we also hadn't done a lot of research on that particular part of town so we had to look into the school system, commute time, etc.  we also needed to decide on floor plan customizations, finishes, and features as soon as possible.  and they sent us the list of incentives from vendors because it was going to be a parade of homes house (which is one of the reasons this is an appealing opportunity).

friday night we met the builder at the lot to discuss it and our 'wish list' for the house.  they also gave us a quick driving tour of the area.  they aren't trying to rush us but they needed to know if we might be in by monday when the builders association meets to discuss the parade. 

matt and i went back today to try and get another look at the neighborhood and drive around a little bit.  and after much discussion and planning, we called to let them know that we are "in".  everything is contingent upon accepting a quote on the house and, of course, our financing.  so we have an out if everything comes back too expensive in the next week or so.  i am trying not to get too excited because we don't know exactly what it will cost yet, but we think that this could be pretty great for our family.

here is matt and the builder standing in the lot.  it is on a corner and around .44 of an acre.  the walking/biking trail passes behind and up the one side of the lot.  there is a retention pond behind the lot on the other side of the trail.  these pictures sort of show the whole lot if you put them together.

i had to feed maddux, so matt took madelyn and mason to check out the playground.  i took pictures of them and the closed up pool and clubhouse.

it was crazy windy and cold yesterday and today though!  the kids waited in the car last night, but we thought that we would walk around today since it was nice and sunny.  um, no.  it was so, so cold!  we walked around a little but had to pack it in earlier than we planned because the wind was just brutal.

daddy and mason checking out the lot.

here are some more views of the lot from behind it and behind the retention pond.

while this isn't the type of lot we had in mind, we are really excited about the opportunity this is for our family.  the nice thing is that if this falls through, it isn't a huge deal because we aren't committed to this part of town more than any other.  although it is really nice.

we are trying to make the process a family affair and everybody was sitting at the table tonight talking through the floor plan.  madelyn wanted to know where her room was and where everybody else would be in the house and how to get there.  it was cute and fun to dream a little together.

we are going back tomorrow to start trying churches in the area and then going back to the lot to see it with the plans we picked up this afternoon of our floor plan in the space.  we are going to have to make some decisions about how to place it on the lot soon.  we just have a lot to do in the next few weeks to make this happen.  and lots of meetings.  say a prayer for our family as we work to make this important decision.  love.

maddux 3-month pictures

trying not to make maddux a statistic, i am working hard to make sure that he has just as many pictures as madelyn and mason.  today i took him up to the local jcp to get his three-month pictures.  i was a little worried about going on a saturday, thinking that it would be a mad house like the one in wisconsin on the weekends, but going on the weekend meant that i could leave the other two at home with matt (i think we will try a group shot for his 6-month pictures).

this jcp was awesome!  the studio was so nice and the staff was very good at getting great poses out of maddux (as you can see - i have a slide show that won't upload right now but i have posted my favorites).  they couldn't get over how happy he was - and he was too.  i got there a half hour early so that i could nurse him and then get him dressed so that he would be at his most awake and happy.

i can't wait to get group pictures with all the kids in a few months!  love.

legos advanced

madelyn has figured out how to leave openings in her lego buildings for windows and doors and is quite proud of herself.  she built both of these on her own.  i was particularly impressed with the towers that join at the top.  love.

holding maddux

madelyn really, really likes/wants to hold maddux.  the problem is that he is so long.  she has a really difficult time keeping his head up because it reaches up to her own head.  now that he is stronger and can almost sit up with support we have had more luck for a longer period of time.  madelyn could not be happier.  she usually wants me to take him back when he starts to get "too heavy" for her.  love.

madelyn's world

while waiting for dinner to be ready on tuesday night, madelyn decided to snap a few pictures of her family.  love.

mason wanted his turn with the camera right now!

bring the heat

i don't think i have mentioned it but mason loves spicy foods!  matt and i are always surprised at the things he will eat without even making a face.  for the super bowl i opened up some harry and david's pepper relish and poured it over cream cheese.  matt and i thought that it was fairly spicy.  madelyn wouldn't touch it after one taste.  but mason ate almost the whole bowl.  i let him have some today as a snack and he went to get a spoon because the wheat thins weren't getting it in his mouth fast enough!

surprize picnic lunch

after a pretty sleepless night (for me), the stars all aligned this morning.  madelyn was in a good mood, mason was showing major signs of improvement (smiling and not clinging to me like a second skin), and it was going to reach 45 degrees with some sun.  while madelyn was at school i packed up a picnic lunch for a surprise trip to the zoo!

(i worked until 2am, maddux woke himself up coughing at 2:10am, then woke up for the day at 5:30am, and the other two joined him at 6:30am.  this was a major bummer because maddux has been sleeping 12 hours a night for the past four days, not getting up until 8am, while mason has been waking up at 5:30am


those same days.  oh well.  that's why God made coffee.)

madelyn was so excited for the surprise trip that she suggested posing in the penguins.

mason and madelyn crossing the rope bridge under a cloudless sky!

just a pretty ice formation in one of the exhibits.

madelyn took pictures of us after she finished her lunch to pass the time she had to wait for the rest of us to finish eating.  (remember, i only got 3 hours of sleep, did not shower, and am wearing no makeup.)  mason would even pose and smile for her (which he will not do for matt and i).  too bad she wasn't quite fast enough to capture it.

we have been working on madelyn speaking with mason when she wants him to do something instead of just crying or complaining to matt and me right off the bat.  today she wanted him to stop looking at the komodo dragon and head into the jellyfish exhibit.  after calling to him for a while she went back, sat down next to him and, while looking him in the eye, asked in a calm, sweet voice if he was ready to go and see the jelly fish with her.  and, as he usually does when she asks him something in a calm way, nodded "yes" and started walking that way.  so pleased with his reaction, she then asked him if he wanted to hold her hand.  so rewarding for me after the defiant and tear filled day we had yesterday.

madelyn and mason took turns at the news desk at the end of the jellyfish exhibit, but mason figured out what they were doing today.

as a bonus surprise, i let madelyn enjoy a ring pop she got during her class valentine's day party.  she was really excited about her first ever ring pop.  i think that she was more delighted that it was strawberry flavored and something that she could not share with mason (strawberries are not his friend).

we had such a wonderful time.  it would have been perfect if daddy could have joined us.  love.