BIG GIRL!!!!

Maddie peed on the potty today for the first time!!!!! WOOO WHOOO!! However, it really set off my emotions! I cannot beleive my little girl is going to be 2 on the 22nd! I was kind of feeling sad about her being 2 this month, but when she went on the potty today, it really made me emotional! I was so super excited at first, but then it made me truly realized that she is growing up! :-( What a fun day though! She got to eat M&M's and she put a sticker on the calander!

I want a Re-Do!!

I want a Re-Do! Easter just didnt seem like Easter this year! Maybe it had to do with it coming so early this year, but I'd like to try again in a couple weeks :-) Maddie had (has) an ear infection, which then of course she had the cough and runny nose. So needless to say, we didnt do much and didnt even go to church. This was the first year (as far as I can even think back) that we havent gone to church on Easter. It made me really sad, but I just couldnt see taking Maddie when she wasnt feeling so well. Maddie still had a great time coloring Easter eggs on Saturday and then doing her Egg hunt on Sunday. She loves M&M's although she calls them M-E's. She had been asking for M-E's for quite a few days. I kept telling her that we didnt have any but that if she was a good girl the Easter bunny might bring her some. Sunday morning, the first words we hear coming out of her room were: EASTER BUNNY M-E's!! I swear, her mind is a sponge! She anyway, she ran around the house searching for eggs and it was great to see the excitment on her face when she found them, and then even more excited when she found her easter basket. Uncle Sean and Aunt Jen came over later and had another easter basket for her. I had to at least put her in her Easter dress for a couple of hours......which she actually seemed to love!

ABC's and 123's

Maddie has been working so hard on her ABC's and 123's lately! She is now counting 1-10 without missing any numbers. As we read her counting books she will point to the objects and count along. Yesterday, Dave was working on 11, 12 & 13 with her and she actually counted once all the way from 1 to 13. She pretty much has her ABC's down, but she always skips M, N and O. She gets so excited and goes from L to PEEEEEEEEEE. She just recently started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars and sings it over and over and over and over and over again! :-)

Mommy and Maddie had a lot of play dates this week. Paappa was sick, so I took an extra day and a half off of work. On Monday we went up to the mall to play with Miss Jamie and Aidan. On Tuesday we met Miss Jamie, Mr Kevin, Aidan and Colin up at Chuck E Cheese and Maddie had a blast!! SHe loved it so much we are planning to do her 2nd bday party there! Then on Wednesday we went out to Strongsville mall and met up with a lot of moms and kids from our Mom's group. We played and had lunch and then went to one of the consignment shops down the road. We've had a busy week! Today, Dave and I are going to take Maddie up to the mall for their kids weekend thing they have going on. We're meeting up with Kevin, Jamie, Aidan and Colin. We're also going to try to get her to sit with the Easter bunny.............THAT should be fun!!

Lots to report....

We had Alissa's baby shower this weekend and we all enjoyed ourselves. Alissa looks so cute and is going to be such a wonderful mom! It was fun to see Bryan sitting next to her, opening up gifts and really enjoying himself. He's going to be a great Dad and it appears that his little girl already has him wrapped around her finger! He gets this huge grin on his face everytime you talk about the baby.

The house is moving along. The siders came on Sunday and finished all the siding. It looks great! Sean and dad are out there as we speak doing some more of the electrical work. They ran into some problems, but are still estimating the beginning of April to move in.

Maddie had swim class this morning, and is such the little swimmer! During last session she would kick her legs all the time, but wouldnt really move her arms much. Today we started a new session and she just started moving her arms, sort of like a doggy paddle. She has a new friend at Swim class too. Her name is Ella. Maddie and Ella love to do everything together and they are so cute!! (I hope to get pics soon!)

Our good friends, Jamie and Kevin had their second child, Colin Robert at the beginning of February. We went over to visit and Maddie and Aidan got to play together.....as they always love to do. Maddie loved Aidan's big boy bed and they spent most of their time playing in it. We'll be getting Maddie ready to transfer to a big girl bed in the next few months (around May or June) so it was good to see that she wanted to get up in the big bed and loved jumping around on it!

Its that time of year....

Thursday night, Maddie woke up gasping for air and as if she were choking. This was my sign that she would end up with croup! As scary as it sounds, that is exactly what she did the last 2 times she started with croup. Sure enough, she continued to cough and woke up with croup on Friday morning. She's a fighter though! This cold has not effected her eating habbits or her energy level at all! Other than the fact that she sounds aweful and has a constant runny nose, she's completely herself.

Maddie is now talking in small sentances!! I dont know if I shared this already or not, but it was the sweetest moment ever!!!! Madilyn looked up at me the other day and said..."mama, kiss me!" My heart completely melted! As mothers, those are the moments that mean so much!!! Its not whether or not they know their ABC's, or can count or walk or any of those things. Its when they can completly express their love for you with hugs and kisses and those sweet words.....MAMA KISS ME!!!

Last night I couldnt hold in my laughter when we were talking and I was trying to get her to put her pajamas on. I had told her it was time to put pj's on. Maddie said no. (maddie hates to change clothes!!) SO then I said, "Madilyn, its time to get ready for bed and put on the jammies." Madilyn responds with "I said no!" Now we all know thats not necessarily something you want to laugh at, as they tend to repeat things that people respond to. HOWEVER.....when she's just staring to talk in sentences and THAT comes out of her mouth.....how do you not laugh!!! Gee, I wonder where she heard those words from????? :-)

Valentines Day

On Valentine's Day Maddie and I went over to see our friends Miss Susie and Owen, in order to keep the tradition going! Last year (maddie and owens first valentines day) we went over to play with all the McKoon's....Isabelle, Grace and Owen. But the girls have grown up and they were in Preschool on Thursday, which only meant that Maddie and Owen had some "alone" time. :-) It was so fun to see them playing together and thinking back to last year at this time when they were just crawling around. Maddie loves Owen's little 4 wheeler and Owen shared so nicely!!! Its so great to have friends who have kids around the same age as your kids. Its fun to watch they grow up together!

The day after Valentine's day was sort of a sad day. The title transfered on Friday for Grandma and Grandpa's house, and the people started moving in immediatly. Today there is actually a UHAUL out there. I'm sure we will all get use to it in time, but for most of my life, I looked out my back window and saw Grandma and Grandpa pulling in or Grandpa out in the Garden. It will be weird to see someone other than Grandma and Grandpa over at that house. However, on the bright side of things, its a younger couple, about our age and they have 2 kids. One is about 6 yrs old and the other just coming up on his/her first birthday. So it will be nice to have more kids in the neighborhood, so hopefully we all won't be strangers for long. It will take some getting use to (watching them come and go), but I'm sure in time it will be very natural. Its just another phase of life.

Completely Blessed!

Well, I just have to say that I've been feeling very blessed lately! As we're coming up on Madilyn's Second bithday.....yes, thats right...I said SECOND!!!! (YIKES) I've just been noticing so many little things that she's been doing and how much she has changed over the last 22 months. Children are a miracle and a blessing! Its amazing to see how they grow and learn and adapt to this crazy world. I just feel so blessed to have a happy, healthy little girl who loves people and loves to be out and about and going places. I feel blessed that I have a wonderful husband who has security in his job and even though he has to work a lot of hours, he loves to spend the rest of his time with his beautiful daughter. And now God is blessing us with a home that we can grow in as a family and as we add to our family in the near future. I just look back to when Maddie was born and we worried so much about Dave getting a job back here in Cleveland and felt like that time was never going to come! Then the thought immediatly went to "well, where should we live." God has just mapped out our life for us and just pointed us in the right direction. Maybe I'm just feeling overly blessed lately because of the clients I work with and the troubles I see on a daily basis. All of my clients struggle with mental illness but most of them also struggle with alcohol/drug addiction, homlessness & not having medical coverage....just to name a few. Every day I leave work feeling even more blessed than the day before. God has put me in this position for a reason. It totally puts my life into perspective! It makes me realize that my problems (though at the time I feel are aweful) really just arent that bad. Which makes me think of another reason I feel totally blessed.....I only work 20 hours a week and I'm able to spend the rest of my time with Madilyn.
I hope each and every one of you feels the love and blessings that I do!!