saturday out of the house

on saturday (november 6) my mission was to keep the kids out of the house while matt finished cleaning and staging it for the listing pictures that afternoon at 3pm. this was going to be a feat because first i could barely walk and second it would mean no nap for mason. so off we went...

first stop was home depot for the kids workshop. madelyn was disappointed that daddy wasn't going to be joining us but was willing to make a go of it anyway. we made a spice rack while mason watched from the stroller. thankfully it wasn't very crowded and mason was able to be right next to us. here is some video of madelyn at work.


next i took the kids to lunch at panera. panera is one of my favorite places to take them because they offer organic options and it is nice to get them something other than chicken nuggets. the problem with panera is that i have to leave them alone at the table to go and get the food and fill my drink cup. i can usually get a table where i can keep them in view as i take care of our meal and beverages. lunch went really well and it was a nice way to kill some time.

after lunch i took the kids over to toys-r-us for their chirstmas toy book demo day. madelyn was excited to try the remote control caveman that seems to be everywhere this year. mason was terrified of it and started to cry when it did a somersault. madelyn also tried out several 'block' products. some of them had too many small pieces to be considered for this phase of life but maybe when the youngest gets past putting things in their mouth. we were able to take care of some christmas shopping and madelyn was so distracted by all the toys that i was even able to get one of her presents.

we still needed to stay away for a little over an hour so we headed over to the mall to spend some time with the barnes and noble train table. plus, i was able to rest in a chair for a while. you would think that these kids didn't have their own train table at home. mason really had a lot of fun but the lack of a nap was starting to weigh on him. he had fallen asleep every time i put him in the car but i kept having to wake him up to sit in the stroller or cart because i couldn't carry him like i normally would.

both kids fell asleep the second we headed for home. i guess i wore all of us out but i managed to keep the kids away long enough for matt to take care of everything for our listing. love.

betty brinn with big pop and grandma

big pop and grandma arrived on wednesday afternoon and matt and i left them with the kids so that we could go to dinner for our anniversary (we had a gift certificate for a restaurant here that needed to be used), do a little christmas shopping, and stop by sams to pick up birth announcements - super romantic, right? what can i say? matt and i are both pretty practical and we took maddux with us. it was just nice to be out together.

on thursday matt headed to work and i took the kids and grandparents to betty brinn children's museum. we picked a good day because there weren't any school groups and there was a 'special announcement' from a local bank about a new exhibit (i never heard what it was). as part of the announcement there were free t-shirts, gift bags, cookies, juice boxes, rosita from sesame street, and activities for the kids.

first we spent some time in the little play town. it has been a while since we have gone down to the museum and there were a lot of new things to see.

i was looking forward to checking out the temporary mr. potatohead exhibit. it was very nice and the kids really liked a lot of the activities but it was not at all what i was expecting from the write up i had read. there was a mr. potatohead table where both kids (and grandparents) played for a while. mason went around the table putting a hat on all the potatoes. i think that the coal conveyor belt was his favorite (at least i think that is what it was).

we had a great time and i am hoping that i get to take the kids a few more times before we move. love.

good bye, miss sarah

on november 9 (my due date), i took the kids to their last music class with miss sarah. everyone was surprised to see me still with a belly but i was happy that we got to go to our last class.

madelyn sits right next to miss sarah and acts as her 'helper' the whole class. this was the first session mason did, officially (aka paid), with miss sarah. he really liked the class but did spend most classes sitting on my lap.

every session there is a different puppet. this session the puppets were little finger puppet horses. both kids really liked singing songs with them.

madelyn has always been a hoarder in class; she would make sure that all her friends had some too, but any extra ended up with her. mason on the other hand only takes one of what ever is offered - even if he is offered two.

madelyn is showing me how she can wear all the horse colors at once before dancing back over to reclaim her spot next to miss sarah.

and here is mason taking it all in. he would get up and get his own instruments and puppets without any prompting from me but he didn't really dance, clap, or sing much. he did remember songs from class that madelyn would sing at home though and would get excited when we started any of those.

we have loved going to miss sarah's music class and were so luck to have her offer classes in our neighborhood for about a year. we are really going to miss her! i will definitely be looking for a new music class once we move to akron. love.

acting out

so one of the things that has happened is that madelyn has started acting out - or maybe i should say acting in... she has been super sneaky about it. i think that it is a reaction to either moving or maddux' arrival but it is very much on the down low. she doesn't cry or throw fits (other than the normal stuff but even that has decreased). instead she does thing that she thinks we won't notice.

when we bought a bag of tootsie roll candy at sams for trick-or-treaters i found a corner of it opened. i asked madelyn if she opened it and she told me that mason did it (even though he was asleep when we got home from sams and was still napping). a few days later matt found the scene in the picture in a cabinet under the kitchen sink. it looks like she didn't actually eat any; she just chewed them a few times and spit them out.

she has also started to bite on her finger nails. i can't remember what else she was doing because it seems like she has started to ease up on the sneaky behavior and lying. it seems like this was all fairly short lived. and i really just can't remember now that i can post about it... love.

UPDATED: i thought of another example of her "acting out"... she stopped wiping and/or flushing the toilet regularly. this was never a proplem in the past, totally new.

we're on the move...

...to akron, ohio! and very soon. we are planning on moving december 15. it has been totally crazy trying to pack, finish up to-dos on the house, carpet the basement, get the house listed, have a baby, find somewhere to live, and keep it all a secret before matt told his staff - which he was finally able to do today.

matt told his boss a while (he was super supportive) and we went ahead and told our neighbors before the 'for sale' sign went up in the front yard. we got our first offer after two showings and less than a week on the market. but they had a very unreasonable term that was apparently a deal breaker for them and they walked. we have another option that we are currently pursuing. we are really hoping to have the house sold before we leave the state.

the plan is to move into an apartment while we figure out the area and school districts. once we have a feel for the area, we will begin the house hunt (or build). so the packing has been a little more interesting because we have to pack for the apartment and for keeping in storage for 1-2 years until we get into a new house. we have already packed up most of the kids' toys and moved things over to a storage unit here so that we can get the house ready for showings more quickly (and not have the house filled with moving boxes).

i am sure that i will have many more posts on the details of our transition over the next couple of weeks leading up to the big move but at least i have confirmed what many of you have already guessed. i have a few other posts that have been waiting for matt to get everything squared away at work before i could post them so here they come... love.

maddux after dark

here is a picture of maddux down for the night in his light 'blanket' and miracle blanket. once i lay him down i thread the hose through the crib bars and plug him in. i have been experimenting with the wrapping each night to figure out how to lay it out so that i can still alternate the end of the crib that his head is on so that he doesn't get a flat spot.
and here is a picture of the glow. it has occurred to me that he might not know what to do once the loud fan on the box and the 'blanket' are gone. although i might do a happy dance. love.

maddux pictures

today we unplugged maddux, put a shirt on him and attempted to take a decent picture for birth announcements. what you can't see is mason hanging from my arms and madelyn popping back and forth behind my head trying to make him smile while matt watched and laughed before pulling mason off me. here are some of my favorites. love.