Yesterday Trying, Today a Sweet Muffin...

Oh, how I love this child. Yesterday, this sweet little face tried my EVERY LAST NERVE. Yet, somehow, I managed to keep my cool, told my traveling husband all about it over the phone that evening via cell phone in between his meetings, and hit the sack early to start fresh today.

Today, nothing but love, hugs, and kisses from this dear little girl. It's as if she knew how much Mama needed a "love-licious" day. And, it was a superb day! Oh, how I love her dearly, and I wouldn't trade motherhood for the world, but some days certainly are better than others...

(Please excuse the fuzzy pics...I had the setting wrong on my camera!)

Madeline's First Fashion Faux Pas...

In my mind, the pictures speak for themselves.

OH, and she's doing a little jig in the above photo!

For her nap, I removed her tights, shoes, and sweater dress. Since we weren't going anywhere, I left her in the purple onesie post-nap. I thought she would be more comfy to play.

Apparently, Madeline felt as though she needed some accessories---she dug in the dirty clothes basket and sought out her tights from this morning & went to her closet to pick out these shoes. She came to me carrying both with her "UHHHH" noise which means "I want to you to put these things on me RIGHT NOW!" Tights over the onesie since I had already buttoned her up and changed her post nap and SHOES to wear around the house!!! It might have been funnier to see in person, but I found myself laughing out loud with her outfit of choice. When she can really demand her clothes choice, I'm concerned. :)

In MY defense, the outfit looked something like this (except it was more fitted and cute since this picture was when she was 14 months old).

Madeline is 17 Months Old!

Another month has come and gone, and Madeline has changed so much in just a short month. She is definitely all toddler & no more baby. Her little social butterfly personality just continues to make us laugh and make our days brighter.

Madeline has really shown us her laid back, adaptable attitude over the last 6 months. She did really well moving from our Irmo home to the rental house to the new house. She quickly learned her boundaries in each new location and made herself comfy in each new environment. I've been taking her to the Gold's Gym on this side of town, and again, she walked into that kids' care like she owned the joint. Madeline has not missed a beat with all of this change, and for that, we are so thankful.

Madeline still loves her books, and those are her first "toys" of choice when she's playing by herself.

However, she's getting into her shape sorter and figuring out how the shapes fit into their coordinating shape to go in the box, and she's playing more with her dolls. Barbie is a new word for her. (Yay!)

Of course, the tupperware cabinet, my Shark sweeper & broom, my Swiffer, and the mop continue to be a big hit.

Peeking into the diaper pail is a new fascination, and I can only assume it's related to the fact that she is very well aware of her diaper situation now. If she's made a stinky diaper, she will grab at it, and say, "Stinky!" while scrunching her face up. She likes to dispose of her dirty diapers into the diaper pail.

Her vocabulary is ridiculous. It seems everyday she belts out a word that I had no idea that she knew. It's crazy how much she's trying to say. Communicating with her is definitely interesting, and she understands so much more than I realize. She knows all parts of her face including eyelashes. She actually said eyelash before ears which was just funny to us. I can't even begin to list here all the words she says or all the animal noises she does, but it's pretty amazing to watch her absorb the world. "OH NO!" is one of her favorite phrases, and she spends much of her day putting toys, books, etc. under furniture all the while yelling out, "OH NO!" and looking for it as caught on camera below.

Peek-a-boo has reached a whole new level now that she can open closet doors and jump out from behind them screaming "BOO!" Being chased or chasing is also a latest favorite.

On the food front, Madeline is still pretty picky, but I'm continuing with my quest of "Mama is not a short order cook." Madeline is not much of a meat eater, but Madeline LOVES ham. She will eat ham straight out of the container which we caught on camera. This particular night, she ate no side items --- just ham out of the tupperware. I'd say she ate more than half of that container in one dinner sitting. (And, yes, she was moved to her seat to eat. I had her on the counter while I was getting the rest of her meal ready.)

She still loves pasta, yogurt, hot dogs, eggs, cheese, green beans, Cheerios, blueberry Nutri-grain bars, waffles, and oranges. Peas and blueberries are a new favorite side item. Madeline still loves junk food, so I have to be sure to keep the chips out of sight and reach. However, Madeline loves her milk too. She guzzles milk like I've never seen...I'm sure her sodium levels are a little high considering ham and cheese are in her top choices for meals.

Discipline wise Madeline keeps us on our toes --- she can be a little stinker. We call it "Madeline time" --- she wants to do things on her terms and in her own time frame, and unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way. Her stubborn little attitude pokes through & a nasty tantrum will ensue. She is sure to let me know that she is not happy about whatever it is that I'm making her do. Luckily for all of us, she gets over it quickly. I think she's figuring out that I don't give into the tantrum, and I certainly don't try to console her when she acts out. I typically walk away from her, and she realizes that her behavior is getting no attention whatsoever...most of the time that works. Sometimes she does follow me all the while she's screaming and carrying on, but again, I just ignore her as much as possible until she simmers down. Since we've been in the new house, we have not put cabinet locks on any of our cabinets because Madeline is really good about not getting into cabinets, draws, etc., and if she opens a drawer that I don't want her to mess with, she will actually push it shut when I tell her to do so. I love her compliant little attitude. She is still really well behaved regarding not bothering the TV, table tops, outlets, etc. I like that I can take her places, and she will not bother things. Oh, and Miss Madeline has decided that slapping faces is her all out way to let us know she's mad. Let's just say that we are SERIOUSLY working on that one, and it's not pretty especially when Daddy is on the receiving end of the slap.

Madeline makes our little family complete, and we continue to realize how blessed we are to be her Mommy and Daddy.

You Know Your Hubby Is Out of Town When...

• you have 3 medium sized UHAUL boxes worth of stuff to take to Goodwill TOMORROW (since he flies into Columbia at 6:45 PM)
• you shred SEVEN kitchen trash bags worth of old bills, old insurance statements, and old bank statements
• you have TEN overstuffed file folders of STUFF that you'd like to shred but won't JUST IN CASE stacked up waiting to be looked at and okay-ed to shred at a later date

And, you do it all while watching (ie = listening to in the background) the Texas vs. Alabama game.

[NANA, You should appreciate this post...you KNOW how Eric doesn't get rid of ANYTHING! :)]

AHHHH, I feel organized and settled!

New Year's Eve, 2009

We all know from previous posts that Eric and I closed on December 28 and started moving immediately. Miss Madeline graciously spent 3 days with my mom and dad so that we could get the bulk of our move done sans 16 month old in the mix. Needless to say, New Year's Eve was not at the top of our minds this year. We love a good toast, but we were exhausted and excited to get situated. Our friends, John & Shay, felt our excitement & lack of doing anything "fancy" for New Year's, so they ventured out our way to spend New Year's with us in the new digs. I became super motivated to get the house looking "guest ready" since I had a goal of having friends come to spend New Year's with us!

We had a wonderful time --- after all, we do spend a week at Fripp with them each summer, so we knew good times were to be had with this crowd. They have two children, Drew (3) and Emily (1), and after this visit I decided that Drew should live with us a few times a week. (Shay said we were welcome to his "pseudo-older-sibling-fun services anytime!) Madeline could NOT get enough of him. She LOVED him. Madeline and Emily took a bath together, and again, Madeline apparently needs siblings because she LOVED having a bath playmate. (Eric and I need to get on the ball in the sibling department after seeing how much Madeline loves other children in the house.)

Anyway, Happy 2010 from our NEW home to yours! May all of you have a blessed year. I know that I am truly a blessed woman for my dear, sweet, hard-working husband, my spunky child, my family, and my friends. What more could I want or possibly wish for?

(Captions are under the pictures in this post.)

Cheers! Happy New Year! The wine saver that my brother and his wife gave to me. So Anne. :)

Our attempt at getting the four of us in a photo --- obviously, we thought we were hilarious and were racing to get situated before the timer went off, but the picture turned out okay!

While Eric and Shay were having a dance party/rock band KISS moment, John and I were cheering them on from the sidelines. This was getting close to midnight. We were having a good time.

Again, John and I were watching our spouses have a dance party.

So typical of the Stewart-Lansche functions.

More dance party...

Pre-dance party --- making sure all of our kids were taken care of. Miss Madeline was about to snatch that bottle from Emily's little lips.

Our girls having a fun bath together --- Madeline 16 months, Emily 12 months

While we all commented that we wouldn't have dreamed of spending our New Year's like this (hanging out at home with 3 kids running around) five years ago, we certainly wouldn't change a thing now. My, how things have changed, but how wonderful is this change --- Good friends, good kids, good food, good beverages, and just plain old fun! Happy 2010!

New House

Eric and I feel like we live in a real grown-up house. Our sweet little starter home in Irmo was perfect for our first few years of marriage, but as we accumulated "stuff", we quickly ran out of space. Then once we had a child, we REALLY ran out of space for "stuff"!

Now our new home seems so empty, and OH the choices of "Where do I really want to store this? This closet, this floor, this attic space, OH the choices!!!" We are beyond excited, so please excuse my numerous photos. We're proud of our pretty, new house, and it's just the way WE like it. Yikes, we have LOTS of furniture/wall hanging/decorating shopping to do...we haven't put a thing on the walls until we decide on some furniture. You all know, a new home is a work in progress.

Madeline and her future sibling's bathroom (don't get excited --- no sibling on the way)

Third floor full bath
Check out our WALK-IN storage! This is awesome! We have THREE of these! I love me some organized storage space!
Half and half of the same storage in the photos above and below

Third floor misc. TV/random sofa area

Third floor cluttered area for now --- eventually we will put a poker/pool table/playroom area right here. Eric envisions poker/pool table....I envision pretend kitchen and/or Barbie dream mansion, but whatever. :)

Third floor bedroom area --- to the left of that lamp is the full bath. Perfect for family guests with children that don't mind sleeping on the floor....bed for parents, play/floor area for kids, & full bath to boot.

Eric's portion of the master bath

Anne's portion of the master bath

Master bedroom

More master bedroom --- again, please disregard the lack of decor

Madeline's future room --- I envision cute twin beds with a tall chest and a long chest complete with mirror, cute bedding, etc. Totally girly.

Eric's office --- where all the sales magic happens! See all those awards! ;)

More of Eric's office...I think the deer is a nice touch. I mean, what dental implant salesman doesn't have a deer trophy over his desk?

Anne's office --- while no actual money will technically flow through here LOTS of organizing and keeping the household straight will take place here between the hours of 1 PM and 4 PM (that's Mama business hours = naptime)

Oh, and see all those books in the corner of my office? Yea, my million dollar 5th grade tutoring business is going to strike up right here in the loft of our new digs (so Eric says!)

More million dollar tutoring and Stewart household-keeping that we fondly call Anne's office is pictured below. Eventually our current kitchen table and chairs will make its way up here for the kids' homework/project room. Hopefully, then the kids won't have to do their science fair projects on our dining room table like I did.

The first floor guest bedroom --- cozy for a night or two

The den --- yep, strewn with Madeline toys and the decor is lacking....

The den view from our stove...the kitchen, casual dining, and TV are one long room. Perfect for entertaining. You can now see why our current kitchen table and chairs will be moving to Anne's office --- they don't match.

More den...we are thinking some chairs with a table between them in front of these windows. I am also thinking some of those pretty long & high drapes. (Not really "to use" drapes, but just "to be pretty" drapes.)

Kitchen view from the den...LOVE my big kitchen

Did I mention how great my island was?

The kitchen dining area. Again, a new kitchen table that matches is in order...

More kitchen

The dining room that currently has not a drop of furniture in it...however, we have brand new out of the box china for it! It will be like our wedding all over again when I open all the boxes labeled "china".

The living room that we will use for cocktails, "fancy" Christmas tree (breakable ornaments, white lights only --- kid made ornaments & colored lights will go in the TV den area), appetizers, no toys, etc.

The foyer which needs some welcoming love...

Our house is so us, so perfect, and we are blessed to start 2010 in such spacious living. While we have a lot to do to make it homey, it is ours, and we couldn't be more happy about the way it turned out.