gift from God

daddy went outside to water some grass seed he put down on the side yard after we had gotten the kids into bed. he quickly came back in to say that we needed to bring them outside to see the amazing sunset. maddux was already asleep, but i told the other three that God had a good-night gift for them. they were in total amazement. God sure does give us a lot of beauty to enjoy. love.

bed time? what bed time?

maddux doesn't nap because if he does, this is what he is doing at 10pm.  he doesn't usually cry or cling to us (not that we don't have those nights too).  he just quietly comes out and lays in the doorway of his room or the hallway or on the couch looking at books or on the floor in the doorway of our room.  the funny thing is that if he catches us looking at him he will run back to his room or lay down right where he is with his eyes closed (usually he is crawling around instead of walking so that he can't be spotted).  it is actually endearing.  he just isn't tired. 

tonight matt was working in the kitchen and heard something in the living room.  maddux was just watching american pickers that matt had on while he finished up.  when matt noticed he told me to come and take a look before sending maddux back to bed. silly boy.  love.

first snow of the year... sort of

it was snowing pretty steady when i came out of the grocery store tonight! i was so excited! but there wasn't any accumulation, so it won't count at the first "official snowfall of the year".

so far, madelyn has not been a huge fan of the cold. the wind gets her gasping for air (that is the only way that i can describe it - she just takes air in over and over until we get her out of the wind). she does really like to watch the wind blow though. she will look at the windows and laugh at the leaves, trees, and grass blowing outside. i also can't imagine that it is fun for her to be changed with my ice cube fingers. i try to warm them up first, but there is only so much i can do when it is so cold outside.

she is about to outgrow her 9 month sleepers, so tomorrow i have to go and buy some 12 month ones. this is the first size where she hasn't had any and it sort of snuck up on us. it is just crazy how fast she is growing!

we have introduced a new bedtime routine tonight so that she doesn't eat to go to sleep. there are three reasons for the change:

1. bedtime is the only time of day that we have left where we were feeding her to sleep.
2. we really need to start brushing her teeth after her last meal.
3. its just time - she is almost 5 months after all.

so now first we eat, then we bathe and get dressed for bed, then we read two books (one fun and one about praying or going to bed), say our prayers and turn off the lights. we will see how long it takes her to adjust. i am guessing that it won't be long since this is how all of her other sleep routines are for naps. tonight she was just too happy and was crying because she was lonely. when you went in to check on her she was all smiles but would start crying again as soon as i left the room. matt was having a harder time with it than i was so he went in to hold her in the dark until she got more sleepy.

that's all for now. love!