Starring the Stewarts

2012-01-27T15:32:00.003-05:00

An Afternoon of Fun

Our awesome neighbors so kindly handed down a two wheeled training wheel bike to Madeline. It's princess and everything! Well, Madeline LOVES her new bicycle, and it's become one of her most prized possessions! Eric and I were a little concerned that she wouldn't be able to ride it because our past history with the tricycle was a lot of whining and us pushing her. Well, after a few shaky attempts, Madeline has proven to be able to pedal to keep herself going and steer! We still need a couple of lessons in brake usage, but we've come a long way!
Madeline is very quick to let us know that "it's not raining!" which in her brain that means she can ride her bicycle after lunch or after naptime.
So proud of her riding down the street looking like a pro...
And, this little squirt absolutely loves being chauffeured down the street in her purple chariot! She loves getting outside for a spin around the block too!

This next picture cracks me up --- she was fussing because we hadn't left the driveway yet. She was ready to hit the road!

2012-01-21T09:03:00.006-05:00

Four Weeks

This is my broken foot at four weeks! I know, GROSS! It needs some serious TLC, but no pedicures in my near future. My toes are still black and blue and really wanky looking. Yucky!! I don't have pretty feet anyway, and a broken foot definitely hasn't helped my foot aesthetically.

I went back to my orthopedic doc this week, and he had an X-ray done. As it turns out, I broke two metatarsals --- the middle one and the fourth one. No wonder I saw stars! Apparently, the swelling and such was so terrible that it wasn't clear on the first x-ray. A little bone lesson took place at this appointment: Bone has several stages of healing. I am in the stage of healing where the hard cartilage part (think: kids' bones) is repairing. By 6 weeks, the bones will start pulling calcium into the process to starting forming new bone. Basically, no "real" healing is visible on the x-ray until 6-8 weeks. Awesome.

The good news is that I've been good about wearing my boot and not walking barefoot, so everything looks as it should. The other piece of good news is that I've been given the thumbs up for the stationary bike at the gym. I patiently listened to the Doctor and all his doctor talk, but my first real question was, "OK, Doc, so what can I do cardio wise at the gym?! It's been FOUR weeks?!" Yes, he rolled his eyes, and yes, my husband was there reminding him to choose his words wisely with gym talk. I think Eric's exact words were something along the lines of, "Be careful what you say to her. She tends to take what you say to the utmost extreme." So, yes, cycle class here I come!!

I was also given clearance to wear a shoe, BUT it has to have a stiff sole & not much binding over the broken area. To quote my doctor, "Barefoot is the WORST.SHOE.EVER!" Ladies, this criteria is not conducive to a cute, stylish shoe AT.ALL. So, heels, wedges, boots, flats, a flip flop, and even my running shoes are a BIG NO-NO, but my Chacos (pictured) are a winner. Too bad it's winter time, but I wear these sandals around the house. The boot is hard on my ankle and my lower back because it has my alignment all out of whack (my left foot is higher than my right, and it keeps my ankle super still and stiff). I am really nervous about being out in public and dealing with the girls, so I wear my boot to the gym and while we are out and about. Around the house, I am able to walk on it barefooted on a very limited basis (like in the shower), and most of the time, I wear my Chacos. The more bending in the broken area = longer healing time was the gist of the shoe conversation. Cleaning day requires my boot. :)

I go back in a month, and hopefully, that will be it with this broken foot issue. While it's certainly not ideal, it's much better a month into it. My anxiousness has been relieved as far as taking care of my girls and going about my day-to-day routines. Now, I'm just anxious to get back into the gym like I want. Then all will be right with the world in Anne's world.

2012-01-13T09:06:00.004-05:00

Hibernation Party

Madeline's class has been studying winter and learning about animals and plants with regard to the seasons. Apparently, bears and hibernation has been a big part of their "winter" season. Madeline informed me that they have been making the classroom bear cave --- according to her, it involved "lots of paper, lots of painting with brown paint, and lots of construction!" Today, they were to bring a bear to school to put into the cave to hibernate for the winter. They are now counting the days until spring when the bear can come out of hibernation to come home. They had a hibernation party complete with wearing pajamas, hot chocolate, and party food. Cute in my book.
Madeline chose her American Girl/Stella jammas to wear to school, and she chose this hilarious Boyds Bear complete with a fur stole, a velvet hat, and a brooch! I have no doubt that Madeline's bear is the only one hibernating with accessories! :)

2012-01-11T19:32:00.006-05:00

13 Months

Amelia celebrated her 13 month-day, and she has had the BEST month! It's been a big month as far as milestones are concerned. She has been happy, playful, and fun!
Her disposition has been so sweet this past month. She loves to sit on the floor and dump out her blocks and put them back in the bucket & repeat over and over. She loves to collect the little people and make little piles all over the place. She has really shown in an interest in board books especially the touch and feel ones. Her attention really only allows for one book reading, but she loves to flip the pages, rub the textures, and point out the different pictures. Amelia seems to be showing interest in what things are by pointing and making a silly high pitched noise. Slowly, but surely, she's realizing there's more to this world than acid reflux, snotty noses, not feeling well, and ear infections! :) Amelia loves music, and that's an understatement of the year. I am not a TV person, but I love to keep music playing around the house and in the car, and she loves it. (Thank goodness for Pandora on my phone!) Amelia hears the music and immediately starts dancing. She car dances, and if I wasn't driving, I would video her. I find myself adjusting my rear view mirror so I can see the road and her. Super cuteness! Bath time is also a favorite time of day for her. She loves to splash, play with the foam letters, and make the letters and fish squeak against the tub.

Amelia celebrated her 13 month by saying her very first word, "UH-OH!" So the "dropsy uh-oh" game has been the semi-annoying trait of the month. I don't mind the dropsy uh-oh game when we're playing, but it's super aggravating in the grocery cart, in the car while I'm driving, or while she's eating! However, my favorite "uh-oh" moments are in the bathtub because she drops all the bath toys out of the tub, and she stands up on the edge looking over repeating "uh-oh" in this distressed tone over and over. Amelia is not walking, but she's walking behind baby strollers very well especially on the carpeted areas. She's started to let go of the furniture she's holding onto, and she can stand for a few seconds, maybe a minute or so, on her own. She LOVES to hold our fingers and make walking laps. I have also noticed a few "climbing" moments throwing a leg up in the toy bin or trying to throw a leg up on the tub's edge. I really hope she loses interest in that climbing thing. However, she has lost interest in the steps, so I guess she accepted her gated access fate.

Her appetite is insane these days...she's an eating machine! Her most recent favorites are blueberry bagels, blueberries, egg & cheese omelet, and Nutella sandwiches. Amelia finally mastered the sippy cup, so she's a milk drinking machine too. She loves milk and really doesn't care for juice, so milk it is. Really icy cold water is also very yummy to her. Her mealtime habits are improving as well. I have been diligently working on her "all done sign" which has evolved into pulling at her bib. While she's still throwing her food on the floor, we're consistently scolding her for this, so it's starting to sink in that's it's a big no ma'am!
Amelia continues to be a great sleeper going down for the night between 6:30-7 PM and waking about 6-7 AM. She's napping pretty well in the afternoons going down about 1:30-2 PM until about 3-4 PM. Just like Madeline, she LOVES her bed, so she'll play in her crib after waking in the mornings or waking in the afternoon for about 45 minutes, sometimes an hour. I love to listen over the monitor talking and giggling. Amelia loves to roll around, "talk", and play with her lovey. Big milestone for Amelia (and Mommy since it's my go to trick): I stopped carrying the lovey and paci with me during the day, and she's addicted to both! It's been a tiny bit hairy at times, but I'm holding my ground on this one. No lovey and paci outside the bed. So she has to get all her paci and lovey time in her bed, and it's gone well overall. I have forced her to drop her morning nap, and she's handling it very well. She's not nearly as fussy and crabby in the mornings while we are out and about. I have also cold turkey dropped the morning bottle, so I think she got thirsty enough to figure out the sippy cup as a result. Like I said, lots of little milestones were accomplished this month.

Amelia only takes medicine for acid reflux, and I'm starting to skip the morning dose to see how she does. Her doctor and I would like for her to be all done with the medicine by 18 months, so I'm dropping the morning dose as a trial for now. So far it seems okay especially since she no longer drinks an 8 ounce bottle of milk in the mornings. We're keeping the evening dose, since she still takes a bottle at nap and before bedtime. Hopefully this will also be a smooth transition for her.

Amelia is really beginning to blossom and show her little personality. While she's not as precocious & happy-go-lucky as Madeline, she very much reminds me of Madeline as a baby. She's silly, giggly, squealy, and very sweet. Amelia can be quite clingy, and she definitely is a Mama's girl. We adore our little Amelia Bedelia and continue to look forward to watching her grow and learn as she becomes a full-fledged toddler!

2012-01-09T14:43:00.004-05:00

Ever have one of THOSE days?

You know the kind of day that I'm talking about --- it seems every decision you make backfires on you, nobody in your life seems to be happy about anything, too many, "I want...", very few thank you's, and overall very frustrating kind of day when you plop into bed at night praying that tomorrow will be better because by golly, tomorrow is a new day, and it's got to be better! I think I would sum up our 2011 year as one of THOSE days times 365! That last statement might be a slight exaggeration, but 2011 was a rocky one for us. As for me, it was a humbling year on so many levels.

We started our life as a family of four, and I would not trade our little family for anything in this world! I love my husband and my two girls down to my very core. Madeline has come along so far emotionally, socially, physically, and mentally. She's a very sensitive, empathic child. She can sense when I'm not having a good day and will try to make me smile. It pretty much always works! :) Madeline is a protective older sister, and she doesn't want Amelia to cry, get hurt, or be scolded. Sometimes she's too overprotective not allowing Amelia to fend for herself. Her outrageous temper tantrums come only every so often now, and she's learning to check her emotions. I had some very humbling moments in the afternoons pouring over my John Roesmond articles and books trying to figure out ways to conquer these tantrums in an age appropriate manner. Over the course of the year, she's become more rational, so she can calm herself down before things spiral out of her control. Madeline has blossomed socially making friends at school and in the neighborhood, learning to share without being prompted to do so, learning to not follow others' poor behavior choices, and communicating with adults in a mannerly way. Madeline is certainly not the most athletic child, but she's attempting to ride her tricycle and a bike with training wheels with much more confidence. She can climb the rockwall on our swingset in a flash, and her physical skills like hopping, running, jumping, etc. are much less clumsy. She loves her ballet class, and she's learned a ton! I am so looking forward to her recital to see what she has learned. Every now and again, I'll catch her dancing around obviously doing her ballet motions. Super cuteness. Madeline is a smart little girl. She loves to learn, and her neverending questions can be maddening, but she wants to learn about the world around her. Her little memory is a steel trap. The girl retains information like crazy. Books and coloring are still her most favorite past times.

And, sweet Amelia, she's finally coming into her own after 12 very long months. Her verbal skills are really starting to take off, and while she doesn't seem to have a huge interest in walking on her own, she's on the move keeping up with Madeline as best she can. She's eating up a storm, and she wants whatever we are eating. Amelia has figured out how to snap her fingers, and she will snap in the direction of the food item that she wants. While it's not the most mannerly thing to do, it's giving us some level of communication, so we're going with it for now. Eventually, we'll enforce the use of words once her verbal skills are better. Amelia humbled me as a Mom. I thought I had the whole Mom thing under control --- balancing my gym time, household chores, errands, and playtime. Madeline and I got into our routine just trucking right along, and when Amelia arrived, she slipped right into our lives like she'd always been here with us. Sure, I was exhausted, but that's to be expected with the newborn phase. And, then the fussy, gassy, uncomfortable, something's not quite right Amelia showed up. Just like that. I was taken down a notch. Suddenly, I was with an unhappy baby all the time, and our happy days were few and far between. I allowed this to go on for months making trips to the doctor, trusting his advice against my own gut feelings. Afterall, Madeline was nothing like this as a baby. What did I know? However, I knew something wasn't right in my gut. I finally put my Bullheaded Mom face on, sought out advice from friends, and switched doctors after 9 very long months! Amelia's health improved and so did her disposition, but it didn't last for long. Teething. Again, more unhappy days than happy days. Unfortunately, Amelia is not the "go with the flow" second child I just knew I was going to have. She's far from it, and it's been hard for me to handle every situation with grace and a smile. As I said, it's been a humbling experience thinking I had it all just right, and then one of THOSE days keeps going on day after day after day. There were many days when I felt like throwing my hands up in the air, and shouting, "I'm moving to Australia!" just like Alexander in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst.

Unfortunately for a large portion of 2011, Eric was traveling like crazy for days on end week after week, and it was rough running the show by myself especially during those summer months when Amelia's health & disposition were at their worst, and Madeline's terrible three's flared up. Again, a humbling experience for me...my husband did come home after a few days or even a week, and I could vent or cry or go to the grocery by myself. But, during these rough patches, I often thought about single Moms or wives with deployed husbands and wondered how in the world they did it. At least I got some reprieve. Luckily, Eric's job finally started to slow down and his travel schedule has become less hectic. Having him around in the evenings, has certainly made for happier dynamics around here! This year, he was able to find a better balance between working hard, family, friends, gym time, and hunting.

Together, we were able to go on some trips and have some date nights for some us time. Of course, we did a lot of work to the house making it "us", and we have enjoyed our improvements together. Our entertaining probably reached an all time high this summer and fall when we hosted several parties, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and some cookouts in between. Hence the reason all of our birthday celebrations were kept super low key this year. I could only handle so much entertaining with all the other things going on in our little world.

As for me, my excitement was my Disney marathon that didn't happen, and again, another humbling experience. All that training, time, & effort was for not. First, figuring out my training schedule amidst Eric's & the girls' schedules was tricky, and then I had an ankle tendon issue during the "meat" of my training which required me to cut back my miles for a two week time frame. Finally, my broken foot sealed the deal --- No marathon. Canceled trip to Disney because my foot couldn't handle the parks. Boo hiss.

Surely, all of these trials and tribulations of 2011 happened for a reason. I'm a firm believer in that. I may not ever realize all the reasons we had these experiences, but I know deep in my heart that the Big Man Upstairs puts events in your life for a reason. I've realized a lot about myself. I have a few things to iron out that could make me a kinder wife, a more patient mother, a more attentive friend, and a less perfectionist Anne in 2012. Here's to 2012 with less health issues, less temper tantrums, less travels for Daddy, a less frazzled Mama, and less of THOSE I'm moving to Australia kind of days!

2011-12-29T13:44:00.003-05:00

Treacherous

These steps:

Plus These Shoes:
Equals = A Broken Foot
ONE WEEK before my Disney, 2012 Marathon!

Big Sigh and Gigantic Sad Face for this Mama! Stupid me decided to dash up our stairs in my heels and landed myself a broken fourth metatarsal bone.

Very ouchy! Now I see why cartoons always show stars when the characters fall down. I literally saw stars when I fell, and I immediately knew something serious was wrong with my foot. When the doctor was pressing on the swollen, bruised area, I almost fainted & barfed. For a girl who has never broken a bone in her life, this has been quite an experience.

For a Mommy of two little ones, this is quite inconvenient.

For the stay-at-home Mom who cleans, launders our clothes, & does all the errands, this is stressful.

For the work-out fanatic Anne, this is frustrating that I'll be out of the gym for at least 6 weeks, maybe longer.

For the Anne who can usually handle whatever life throws at her, this causes a great deal of anxiety.

But, the silver lining in all of this is that I don't need foot surgery, and I wasn't carrying one of my children.

Definitely NOT the way I wanted to end my holiday season and begin 2012!

2011-12-25T23:57:00.006-05:00

Santa Came!

We had a lovely Christmas Day! Santa obviously came during the night and dropped some goodies off for us.

Santa seemed to enjoy his brownies and milk. The reindeer goodies also disappeared, so we did our part to keep Santa and his reindeer nourished!

Amelia was ready for breakfast first thing, so we took a few minutes for a blueberry waffle before bringing Madeline down & opening gifts.

Madeline is so funny on Christmas morning. She gets a shy bone with all the attention, so she wants to be carried down the steps and into the spotlight.

Grandma greets her with a Merry Christmas!

Amelia was apparently really hungry, so instead of making Madeline wait for her to finish up, we moved her breakfast seating into the living room.

Madeline started with her stocking, and she received a Barbie doll. She was very excited that Santa must've read her letter!

Patiently waiting for Mommy to undo the Barbie from her wrappings.

Who needs presents when you have wrapping paper?

Gift opening with Madeline is sort of a long process. She enjoys getting out each gift and playing with it immediately. Her face says it all!

Christmas Morning family photo!

Amelia finally got around to opening up one of her gifts, and she loved the blocks.

Amelia received a little Barbie doll as well.

All in all, a wonderful day spent with family. Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T22:06:00.010-05:00

Christmas Eve & Other Pre-Christmas Celebrations

Our family had several pre-Christmas gatherings in order to accommodate everyone's desire to visit with as much family as possible during this busy time of year.

Nana and Papa came to visit us Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve. We enjoyed playing with them and opening a few gifts. We had a nice visit with our Stewart grandparents. We also had a pre-Christmas celebration with my brothers and their families. We had a lovely day of heavy appetizers, gift opening, and visiting.

Amelia showing off her walking skills for Nana and Papa. Notice she is not in the above picture. She wanted nothing to do with a group picture.

Madeline especially loved her matching jammas. Now she and Stella can be twins!
Uncle Pat and Aunt Kim made an appearance.

Amelia just chillin in the middle of the festivities.

Opening gifts with Nana and Papa.

On Christmas Eve night, we set out our reindeer food. Madeline really enjoyed this little activity!

Santa sent us a special request for brownies and milk, so of course, we happily obliged.
All bathed up and ready for night night! Snuggles with Grandma!
Sweet dreams and Merry Christmas!

2011-12-18T22:36:00.004-05:00

Date with Daddy

After Madeline's preschool program, Madeline was able to have a special date with Daddy. This is becoming the tradition, and what fun for both Daddy and Madeline!

A date with Daddy isn't complete without a little Chic-Fil-A lunch in the food court.

A little visit with the Big Guy in Red. Madeline had no apprehension toward him. She cheerfully told him her wish list,

Gave big hugs, and

Listened to a sweet story.

The date ended with an ice cream treat. Awesome Daddy used a napkin to protect Madeline's dress!

Madeline fell asleep on the way home and proceeded to nap for three hours. Perfect ending to a perfect date!

2011-12-17T21:59:00.004-05:00

Preschool Christmas

Madeline's preschool put on a cute little program for Christmas. This year, they combined the three and four year old classes, and it was such fun to watch all the kids perform.
Madeline was a little shy up on the stage, but she never once reached out to come off the stage. We were proud of her.

Madeline got into a few of the songs toward the end of the program.

After the program, the kids ate lunch. We snapped a few silly photos of Madeline and her best friend, Aubrey. These two little girls are thick as thieves, and they are so cute together.

"Daddy, we're making funny faces. Take a picture!"
Madeline is tickling Aubrey here. I love that genuine laughter between girlfriends.

Sweet BFFs!

The little one in red is new to the class, and she stole the show up on that stage. She was belting out all the words and busting some serious dance moves. So funny!

What a fun way to end the first semester of preschool!

2011-12-11T21:39:00.003-05:00

ONE YEAR OLD

Sweet Amelia is 12 months old! What a wild year it's been for all of us. Amelia is such a sweet, silly girl. She loves to laugh, cuddle, wave, clap, eat, and play with Little People & blocks. Unfortunately, Amelia also does a lot of fussing, drooling, snotting, and running fever. Poor thing, she was dealt a rough deck with reflux, ear infections, intense teething pain, and many little ailments along the way. Poor baby is super tight with our sweet Doctor B.
Amelia eats like a champ when she's feeling good. Waffles, carrots, green beans, crackers, yogurt, applesauce, and milk are probably her most favorite things. However, she's learning to point at our food on our plate and will try just about anything we are eating. She has tasted and loved pickles, banana peppers, chips, pretzels, cheeseburger, chicken, french fries, roast beef, and the list goes on! Those four teeth can gnash and tear up some food! :) Just recently, Amelia's discovered the use of her pincers to pick up the little scraps on her tray. Gotta love those newfound skills.

Amelia lights up when she sees Madeline and other little babies. She's a social little thing. She doesn't like to be excluded from the crowd. Her babbling, squealing, pointing, and knowing what she wants is really improving. It's getting easier to understand her wants, and we've got another little independent girl on our hands. Amelia makes it known what she wants!

She's a playful little thing. Amelia can turbo crawl after Madeline, and she gets to her destination quickly! She's pulling up and starting to cruise along furniture, and she loves to walk with us holding her hands.

Look at that belly...so cute.

Amelia got her first haircut a day or so after her birthday. Just like her big sister, she seemed to really enjoy getting pampered.

Madeline was super excited to celebrate Amelia's birthday --- cake, singing, presents are FUN!

Amelia wasn't so sure about her cake.

Hmm, what is this?

Kinda sticky...

Not a huge fan of the cake, but I'm sure that will change!

Amelia, we love you to pieces sweet girl! You are a blessing to our family, and we are looking forward to seeing what this year brings!

2011-12-10T21:05:00.002-05:00

Countdown to Christmas Continues

Madeline really got into picking her "list" from the Advent Calendar and finding Patty each morning.

We had hot chocolate with mini marshmallows and A Charlie Brown Christmas after bathtime. The hot chocolate was a first and a huge HIT!
Patty participated in our "list" that day.

To celebrate Mommy's 36th birthday, we made s'mores on our indoor maker. Again, Madeline felt like such a big girl coming down after bathtime to do something fun!

So carefully roasting...

Possibly the best reaction to food EVER from Madeline after she bit into her delicious treat, "Mmmmm!"

Mommy had fun celebrating her birthday super low key. Seems to be a theme for us this year.

The Gingerbread house...

So proud of her handiwork...

Silliness after the Gingerbread house...Patty brought those headbands for the girls.

Decorating Amelia's birthday cake...again, a simple family party for Amelia's first birthday. Madeline used this spatula for about three swipes of icing, and then...

thinking about it...

the licking began! Mommy had to finish the icing while my chocoholic went to town on that spatula.

A Stewart cake is not complete without sprinkles!

A few more sprinkles...

And, a few more!

Licking all the icing covered sprinkles off her hands

Amelia's first birthday cake! Such a homegrown little party for our sweet girl, but we had fun.

2011-12-04T22:20:00.000-05:00

Meet Patty

As part of Madeline's Advent Calendar, she was able to meet our Elf on the Shelf. I had to accessorize our elf prior to introductions with a necklace, bracelet, and skirt. Madeline loved her, and promptly named her Patty! The name Patty actually has "meaning" to Madeline. Just days before, we were in Publix and our lovely cashier gave Madeline a packet of silly bands. Well, her name was Patty! Hopefully, we'll see Patty again at the Publix, so I can share this with her. :)

Madeline loved reading a new book just as much as she loved meeting Patty.

Patty doesn't create as much mischief as many of her co-worker elves do. Patty hides in pretty simple places this year. Perhaps in the future, she'll become more mischievous, but not this year. Madeline loves to look for Patty each morning after we do our Advent Calendar.

Another fun morning for the Advent Calendar was receiving this Little People Nativity Scene from Nana and Papa. Madeline and Amelia love playing with all the little characters, and it was fun to watch Madeline realize who the different characters are. Here she surrounded the Baby Jesus with all the others because "they were watching over him".

Our Advent Calendar seems to be a hit, and of course, Patty is our new favorite friend around the house!

2011-12-01T21:54:00.003-05:00

We Feel Festive!

This post is mainly for Nana, so that she can see our new living room furniture! It arrived the day before Thanksgiving, and we couldn't be more pleased with our front living room. Now, of course, we are ready for a rug, lamps, wall hangings, etc., but baby steps! We went for sophisticated which is Stewart code for comfy, but fancier than the den.
This nativity scene was always in my house growing up, so I'm happy my mom passed it onto me. It also happens to be sitting on a piece of furniture that belonged to my mother's parents. I love that I can mix antiques with my own style.

This Santa was a huge hit with the girls. He shakes his booty to the tune of "Jingle Bell Rock". When I was a kid, my Dad always took me Christmas shopping for my Mom. This was one of her presents from me, and now I have it in my house for my girls to enjoy. Love it!

A new tradition for our family this year --- Advent Calendar. I spent an afternoon exploring blogs for ideas when I couldn't come up with anymore of my own. We have a mixture of simple to more involved, and not all of them are set in stone, so I have flexibility to change them around before Madeline pulls the tag out depending on our schedule for that day. The activities are mainly for Madeline since Amelia is so young. Really, this will be the only year that she'll have it all to herself, so I don't mind making her feel like a "big girl" this time around. When I had it all fixed up after Madeline's nap the other day, she was stoked up about the concept. Hopefully her excitement will continue with each day's activities. I know I am excited about doing this with her, and it gives us a chance to be together doing something fun in the afternoons.

Every activity is probably not "blog worthy", but for memory's sake, I'll most likely update our progress on the Advent Calendar.

The Stewart household is decorated, listening to Christmas music regularly, and enjoying the season!

2011-11-28T21:39:00.002-05:00

It's Time to Keep the Gate Closed

I barely got the words, "Oh, don't worry about closing the gate. Amelia doesn't climb steps yet." out of my mouth. BAM! Two days later, Miss Amelia was halfway up the staircase when I turned around. Then this evening, the gate was wide open, and this time, I grabbed the camera to document the climbing steps milestone.

She's actually very agile on the steps. I am not super worried about her going up the stairs as much as I am worried about her tumbling down them.

Once I got my pictures, I grabbed her and locked the door shut. Poor girl is in jail now!

Clearly, she's NOT happy about this new arrangement!

Don't worry, Amelia, the gate is just temporary! You'll be running up and down those steps before you know it!

2011-11-26T15:06:00.001-05:00

Let the Decorating Begin

After Thanksgiving Day's festivities were over, Eric and I decided we would get into the attic and pull out our Christmas stuff on Friday night. We had such fun sipping wine, pulling out Christmas decorations, listening to festive music, and deciding where to put our decorations this year. This will be the first year we've really decorated in this house. (Two years ago, we had just moved into the house, and last year, I kept things way low key since Amelia arrived 2 weeks before Christmas.)

This was also the first year that we let Madeline help decorate the tree. We decorated most of the tree on Friday night, but we left her favorite ornaments for her to dangle on the tree herself on Saturday morning. She also happened to be in her Christmas jammas from last year, so it was perfect all the way around! Madeline was very excited to be a "big girl" and help decorate the tree. She has the knack and the attention span to participate full speed ahead next year. To say that she loved it is a major understatement.

Showing off one of her favorite ornaments, Amelia's sparkly baby bottle:
Carefully hanging the princess Barbie ornament in just the right spot:

Madeline's attention to detail and doing everything just so is pretty amazing for a three year old. She carefully held each ornament, fixed the hook just so, found the right branch, and hung it so carefully each time:

Ta DA! The masterpiece is done! Such a proud, sweet girl!

Let the Christmas season begin!

2011-11-25T14:59:00.003-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, 2011

Eric and I hosted our very first Thanksgiving in our 7 years of marriage, and it was a success! I was able to use my china & silver for the first time, and it was fun to pull it all out for our family. I had such fun shopping for table cloths, napkins, and napkin rings since our dining room is new to us as well. We wanted to be a simple, inviting host & hostess yet with a little flair. I feel like we achieved that!

Before I continue about our actual Thanksgiving day, Madeline and I created this feather of thankfulness for her class. I was the slack Mom that didn't attend her Thanksgiving feast because I was super crunched for time, and I had to run my miles. However, she didn't seem to miss me (according to some of my friends), and we had fun putting her feather together. I totally dig all of these little projects especially when they depict my child to a tee!
Moving onto our Thanksgiving Day, Madeline was very excited that her McCarthy family would be joining us for "a great feast"! Yes, those were Madeline's exact words with arms outstretched! She enjoyed the "fancy table" with "beautiful pink flowers" (again, her exact words)! I was looking for more of a fall flower arrangement, but Miss Pinkalicious had other ideas. She insisted that the pink bouquet was "perfect"! Notice my super star in the background!

Madeline is the hostess with the mostess. She loves a good party, and her Daddy & I love to entertain, so it's a win-win!

I know, lots of table shots, but I was so excited to pull out my dishes for the first time!

At my mother's request, we gathered for a family picture, and amazingly, everyone stifled the giggles & cooperated! Lucky Grandma! She already has her Christmas card photo!

My family tends to snack and visit for the day, and our turkey dinner takes place about 7 PM. I wish I could take all the credit for our delicious meal, but I can't. Luckily, my mom lives close to us, and she walked me through the preparations of the meal. My mom and I cook well together, so it's nice for us to spend that time together. I've decided that I'm not going to ever completely relinquish her of her cooking duties. :) We were all quite fat and happy after our meal.

Obviously, I didn't spend much time behind the camera since I was visiting, relaxing, and cooking, and I'm okay with that. Our Thanksgiving was warm, fun, and exactly what everyone needed --- a nice day with those that matter the most! I am most definitely blessed to be surrounded by my husband & children, my parents, and my brothers & their families at the holidays.

2011-11-11T19:20:00.007-05:00

Eleven Months Old on 11-11-11

Amelia is just one month shy of her FIRST BIRTHDAY! Wow, we've come so far this last month! This picture depicts Amelia to a tee --- happy, silly, standing, big toothy grin, and pulling up anytime & anywhere!
It's no secret that Amelia has had a rough first year with her medical problems and adjusting to being the tag-along little sister, but over the course of this last month, she seems to finally be happy and healthy! Her reflux almost seems non-existent these days, and her ears have been clean since her nine month well visit. We are down to one medicine per day for her reflux!Hallelujah!

Amelia's little personality is blossoming more and more. She loves music and has quite a few little dance moves. She will bust out her moves if she hears a catchy tune in the car, at home, while eating, while shopping, or just about anywhere. It's very cute, and she inspires Madeline's inner ballerina to come out too. She's finally starting to "chat" now that she can actually hear since her ears aren't an issue anymore. I believe she's a little delayed in her babbling, but I'm just relieved that she's finally starting to put out sounds & squeals. However, I also believe that her big sister is so animated and chatty ALL.THE.TIME, Amelia will sit back and watch in awe of what's going on around her.

Amelia has her two bottom teeth, one of her top teeth, and her other top tooth is beginning to poke through the gum. Her lack of teeth doesn't stop her from eating like a little chow-hound. She self feeds eating everything from waffles to green beans to carrots to Goldfish to just about anything I put out there for her. Amelia loves yogurt and applesauce, so she lets me feed her with a spoon. Otherwise, she wants to eat all by herself. Just recently, she's grasped the concept of drinking from a sippy cup even though her mad love for her bottle still exists. She adjusted to whole milk with no problems. Woo hooo, no more costly formula! Currently, Amelia still takes a bottle mid-morning, before her nap, and before bedtime, and honestly, I'm fine with that until after the holidays.

Amelia claps and waves regularly, and she's very proud of herself when she gets a reaction from others. She has yet to figure out that her legs will walk and cruise, but she pulls up all the time. She has taken a few little tiny steps when the chair she's holding onto scoots forward a little bit. Once it clicks, she'll be off and running after her big sister!

Amelia continues to be a good sleeper. When we are home, she takes a great morning nap, an afternoon nap, and hits the sack for good between 6-7 PM. Unfortunately, teething issues have interrupted her sleep lately, but for the most part, she's sleeping well these days. She's incredibly attached to her lovey and paci, but I've implemented the "leave it in your bed" rule now that she seems more comfortable with our day-to-day routine. Even though she still needs her morning nap, she's doing much better with not having one. Amelia has also learned to play in her bed when she wakes up. She used to cry and carry on wanting out immediately, but I guess we finally wore her down! Listening to her on the monitor squealing, rolling around, and playing makes our mornings much more pleasant.

Amelia still thinks her big sister, Madeline, is the most fabulous person in our family. Amelia's face literally lights up when Madeline enters the room. In the following picture, Madeline walked into the room, and you can see the pure delight in Amelia's sweet face. Their relationship is definitely going to be a strong one. They play so well together, and they appear to forgive quickly when one wrongs the other.

As Amelia grows, she continues to look more and more like Madeline.

Amelia does this hilarious "wink", and I was able to catch it on camera (below). She will randomly wink at you, and it's super cute. Amelia keeps us laughing with her winks, smiles, giggles, and silliness. She especially loves bathtime, and the girl can create quite a wave pool with her splashing not to mention royal water mess in the bathroom post tidal wave pool.

We are just so thankful that Amelia seems to be happy and healthy now. It's been a long time coming, and I feel like we've arrived! It's been a rough start to her little life, but we made it!

Amelia's favorite place to play in the house is by the front door. She loves looking out the windows, and for some reason, she loves crawling back and forth on the rug. Hours of entertainment!

Amelia showing off her dance moves!

Amelia, we are so excited that you are so happy these days, and we are so blessed to have you in our family! We love you bunches!

2011-10-31T21:16:00.001-04:00

A Ballerina Halloween, 2011

Madeline LOVED Halloween --- dressing up in her favorite ballerina gear, knocking on doors, getting some candy, and being up past her bedtime!

Our little ballerina remembered trick-or-treating from last year, and she was very excited to go again this year. However, Madeline was content to just leisurely walk from house to house on our street. Once she got to the door, she was very polite with a timid, "Trick-or-treat!" and a soft "Thank you!" once she received her goodies. She enjoyed chatting up the person at the door, and at first, at several houses, she tried to go inside to continue the conversation! It was so funny. It took her a few houses to remember that we must keep our conversations short and sweet in order to move out of the way for the larger, pushier kids who were clearly candy hunting experts. A handful of houses remarked how refreshing it was to have a polite child come to their door, and Eric and I appreciated the compliments.
We didn't venture too far from our house, and we mainly stopped at the neighbors' houses that we know well. Madeline didn't care to go up to every door, and Eric and I were certainly okay with not having a large amount of candy hanging around our house. Madeline was content to walk, chat, and admire all the other children's costumes. We've noticed in large crowds, Madeline tends to hang back and take it all in.

Overall, we had a very simple, low-key trick-or-treating experience. We made it home in time to hand out a bunch of our candy, put Madeline in bed at a reasonable hour, and have some Anne-Eric evening time once the front porch light went out.

2011-10-30T15:46:00.003-04:00

Pumpkin Carving, 2011

Today we carved our pumpkin, and Madeline seemed to enjoy it as much as any three old could muster. She declared, "I want a cat!", so her Daddy did his best to fulfill her request. Sweet Daddy.

First Eric showed Madeline the finer points of cleaning out the pumpkin. She was not a fan of the smell and squishy stuff. No surprise there!

Eric going at her with the innards...Madeline is not amused with Daddy's antics!
"Eww, there's some on my hand!" I believe were Madeline's exact words. Such a priss-pot! :)
However, she did her part to empty out the pumpkin.

However, no Stewart project is complete without consulting the Internet! We weren't exactly prepared for Madeline's "I want a cat!" request, so off to find a cat face to consult. Madeline began to draw her own blueprint. So cute.
Daddy worked diligently to create an awesome cat. At this point, Madeline was off playing. The fine details were a bit much for her.
TA-DA!! Daddy exceeded expectations! Madeline was thrilled with the result and extremely fascinated with the candle on the inside!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T15:26:00.002-04:00

Only 66 Days Until...

my Disney marathon in January 2012!

These brand, spankin' new Mizunos have officially been broken in as my training is in full force!

I'm loving my runs during the week, and I'm especially loving my long runs outside in this gorgeous fall weather on Saturday mornings. It's taking my old bones some getting used to the longer distances, but so far with lots of water, stretching, and cross training, everything seems to be going well. I'm on the uphill climb in my training, but I'm looking forward to the challenge, the "me time", and of course, the actual marathon itself. Disney doesn't ever disappoint, so I feel sure that they know how to do a marathon just right!

2011-10-22T14:52:00.004-04:00

Special Getaway

Every year, my parents take my brothers and their wives, Eric, and I to a Clemson football game. It's our "thing" every fall to give us adult time together in a fun, relaxed atmosphere without kids. This year, Madeline spent the weekend with my parents' friends from their church, Ginny & John. (Ginny and John also travel with my parents on all of their fabulous trips every fall. Right now, they are all in France together having a wonderful time.) Ginny and John's personal grandchildren are in Texas, so as a result, Madeline (and Amelia) have become Ginny's next of kin, if you will. She treats Madeline as her own, and Madeline absolutely ADORES Ms. Ginny and Mr. John. Ms. Ginny and Madeline have a very special bond, and I am so thankful to have another "Grandma" in town to take care of our sweet girl for special getaways.

Ms. Ginny was beyond excited to keep Madeline for us while we went away to Clemson for the weekend. Madeline was able to play with another little girl down the street for several hours. I'm sure a nice little break for Ms. Ginny. Apparently, Madeline and this little girl played fabulously together.

Of course the weather was perfect for a Riverbanks Zoo excursion. Madeline loves the zoo, but she's not a fan of the animals so up close and personal.

See the sunglasses in the following picture? Well, Ms. Ginny felt like the sun was "so bright", so she declared that Madeline needed some sunglasses for the remainder of the zoo trip! :)

Again, Madeline made fast friends at the play area giving Ms. Ginny & Mr. John a chance to sit.

Madeline had such a wonderful time with my parents' dear friends, and Eric and I so appreciate their willingness to take our high energy 3 year old for an entire weekend! It was a win-win for us all!

2011-10-15T14:38:00.005-04:00

Meet Holston

Our dear friends, Brian & Jen, have welcomed their first baby, Holston Kreuz St. John, into this world. We were unable to throw a shower for them prior to delivery, so Eric and I decided to throw a sip-n-see post delivery. We were able to visit with many old friends from Brian & Eric's college days. (Brian and Eric were roommates at NC State, and Jen and I went to Clemson together although we didn't know each other at that point in time.) It was a fun day to visit with friends and shower little Holston with lots of love!

Madeline especially enjoyed her snuggles with little Holston!

We adore our newest addition to our circle of friends!

2011-10-11T20:10:00.005-04:00

Nine & Ten Months Old

Amelia is ten months old, and we've had quite a couple of months in the milestone department!
Nine month highlights:

The FIRST time that she's been healthy since she popped out of the womb --- no ear infections, no congestion, & her acid reflux symptoms are controlled! Praise the Lord! We are now seeing the sweet, silly Amelia that we knew was there all along underneath all those uncomfortable health issues. She's quite a silly goose with her raspberry blowing, babbling little self.

Amelia's two bottom teeth poked through, and she loves to use them to crunch on her Mum Mums. My girl loves to eat...she's loving her Mum Mums and puffs. Her little pincers are getting better and better. She manages to shovel puffs into her mouth with very few hitting the floor and her lap even though her steadiness is not quite there. Amelia pretty much eats any and everything I feed to her. Amelia's hates peas and green beans in baby food form, but she loves everything else.

She's super close to actual crawling. Right now, she is an amazing reacher-scooter-bum-bouncer to get to where she wants to go. Once she gets to her destination, she's trying like mad to pull up. Whew, she's a determined little gal. She knows what she wants and goes for it. It's making Madeline's little mama come out more and more. Madeline is very sweet to look out for what Amelia is getting herself into.

Unfortunately, Amelia has had a difficult time adjusting to our school schedule. When we are leaving for school in the morning is normally her morning nap time, and she is just not allowing herself to doze in the car on our commute. (I drive Madeline to our church about 25 minutes across town for preschool, so it's a perfect little catnap.) She refuses to fall asleep, and I am paying for it by late morning. The kind ladies at the gym are working with me to help figure something out, so that she can remain in the nursery without screaming her head off. When it comes to sleep rituals, Amelia is NOT my easy going little baby. She wants her lovey, a bottle, and her bed when she's tired.

Amelia's little personality is coming out more and more these days, and she's a very sweet little girl. She loves to giggle, babble, play, and be tickled. I might add that she's becoming quite the Mama's girl, and I'm loving it. :) She gets all kinds of angry when you take something away from her. It seems that there is going to be another hothead in the Stewart household.

At her 9 month well visit, she was almost 21 pounds which prompted her Grandma (my mom) to call her "Moose" in the most loving way, of course. It was funny, but I'm pretty sure that nickname will NOT stick as you can imagine the self esteem issues that could arise from being called "Moose". Bless her sweet, chubby self. She does wear most of Madeline's 12-18 month clothing now, so the clothing is working out rather well due to Amelia's weight. I'm loving pulling out all the adorable clothes from the attic and reusing them.

Ten Month Highlights:

Amelia is a full-fledged crawler, and she's not far from walking. She pulls up on everything, and she's into everything! She's had to face the "Mama-Stern-No-Touch" lesson one day, and it paid off for the time being. Now I just have to say her name with a stern tone, and one of two things happens: 1. She stops doing it and goes about her merry way. or 2. She cries like I chopped her finger off with a butter knife. So dramatic.

Amelia will be getting another tooth/teeth any day now. She's a drooly, gnawing, cranky mess.

Amelia loves to self feed with finger foods. She really likes green beans, waffle, Ritz crackers, cooked carrots, Goldfish, yogurt, applesauce, finely chopped apples, and Cheerios. Depending on the day, she may eat ham and chicken in very small pieces. I randomly try things at different meals, so her meals consist of some self feeding and finishing up the baby food I have in our pantry.

Amelia is starting to adjust to our school routine. The ladies at the gym can really tell a difference in her disposition! Thank goodness....I was really becoming quite stressed with her fussy mornings.

Amelia continues to babble more and more. She waves hi, and she blows kisses. So stinkin' cute.

Amelia likes it best when she's on my hip or getting into Madeline's stuff. I vacuumed the entire second and third floor in our house with her on my hip last week. Mama's going to get her chores done someway! Talk about a fabulous workout!

Amelia's little personality continues to blossom. She's certainly a little spunky, stubborn thing, and we love her dearly. She delights us more and more each day.

2011-10-10T21:24:00.000-04:00

Clemson Homecoming, 2011

Eric and I decided to take Madeline to a Clemson game this year. We chose Clemson's homecoming, and we convinced our good friends, Libby, Kyle, and their son, Jack, also 3 years old, to come with us. We had a blast! Madeline totally digs the tailgating, the game, and the entire football experience! Not to mention, we picked a great season to introduce our daughter to Clemson football. Go Tigers!

Libby's family has a beautiful home on Lake Keowee, a stone's throw from Clemson, so they so graciously allowed us to stay with them. We arrived on Friday night, and Jack could've spent the entire weekend on this boat. The kids played on the boat while the adults chatted before dinner.

We had a lovely spaghetti dinner on Friday evening. Libby's aunt so kindly let Madeline wear her apron to protect Madeline's white shirt. All that is missing is the candelight, don't you think?
On Saturday, we headed to the tailgate, and we had a blast! Both children were super stars making it through the entire day without much fuss. Eric and I were pleasantly surprised with Madeline's stamina.
She barged in on Jack's football time with his Daddy. Not sure she's an athlete, but she was super cute in her Tiger outfit!
Madeline worked awfully hard to catch the ball! :)

Our girl worked hard to be one of the fellas...she had a ball running around!
Madeline was completely mesmerized with the beginning of the game with all the music, balloons, cheering, and noise. She LOVED it.
Madeline took a little break from Daddy's lap to sit on Ms. Libby's lap. She managed to swindle Ms. Libby's bangle bracelet from her for the 2nd quarter!

Some halftime cooling off...it was very sunny in our seats.

A sign of a good weekend...sleepy girl on the way home Sunday afternoon.

2011-10-04T06:51:00.006-04:00

Football Party

As I have mentioned in previous posts, we have formed some really great friendships with some of our neighbors, so Eric and I decided to throw a little football party this past Saturday. We had a blast.

Eric and I completed our last backyard project of this season when we planted fragrant tea olives along the back of our grass line to make a nice transition to the wooded area. Our back porch and backyard is one of our favorite areas in our house especially in the fall and spring.
We set up a cornhole area and had lots of yard toys for all the kids.
I kept the food simple --- meatball (homemade using my Italian uncle's recipe!) sub sandwiches, chips, and snackies.

The porch was all set up with a screen & projector for the "big games" (the Clemson game, Eric's Wolfpack game, and the Bama game.) We had two other TVs going with other games to accommodate all of our guests and their loyalties.
At the end of the night, all the big kids were cuddled up with their technologies. Of course, the beauty of hosting the party is that our children were able to go to bed at their regular times! :) Madeline and Amelia are by far the youngest in the crowd, and they just can't hang with the big kids yet.
Eric was loving his big screen TV on the porch, the fall coolness, football, and being surrounded by his buddies.
By the end of the night, some of the Dad's were having fun with the projector & the screen:
Of course, the gals were chatting it up.
And, last but not least, my nearest and dearest friend of 25 years was able to join us for the fun. I was extra happy about my Clemson Tigers and their WIN!
Eric and I are pretty sure the Stewart Football Extravaganza will be an annual event!

2011-10-04T06:18:00.007-04:00

Hilton Head, 2011

Eric and I took the girls to Hilton Head for an extended weekend at the end of September. It was a final goodbye to summer, and we had a wonderful time. Madeline loved the hotel room. We had a very nice suite that allowed us to cook, sleep both girls separately, and allow us to stay up past the girls' bedtime. It was a win-win for all.

Madeline loved the pull-out sofa! She thought she was something else sleeping on that BIG bed! Of course, we don't leave home without all her dolls, books, fancy shoes, and jewels! She even confiscated our Hilton Resort bracelets as her own (notice the lime green bracelets).

Amelia enjoyed her jump seat on the porch, and since both girls seemed happy, Daddy tried to get a shot of all his girls.
This one cracks me up:
Amelia's hilarious cheese face and Madeline directing Amelia. Oh dear, the Christmas card photo will be interesting! We gave up after the next couple of shots:
Our chatterbox would NOT stop talking!
In true Amelia fashion, she was over the camera, so we left her to jump while we took other pictures:
Madeline couldn't leave Stella out:
Eric managed to make Amelia laugh for the camera.

I love Madeline's expression in this one:
At the pool, Madeline put on quite the show for us and some surrounding pool goers. She was doing all of her ballet tricks and telling quite the story.

Amelia LOVED the sand and the beach.
Madeline working diligently on her sand castles!

I gave up trying to stop Amelia from eating her weight in sand!
We had such a fun, relaxing time, and we are looking forward to next summer when both girls will be able to run free on the beach!

2011-09-28T15:15:00.004-04:00

Around Here

It's been awhile since my last post, and our blog has just been neglected. Not only has our blog been neglected, but I have not had the time to sit and read all of my blogland friends' blogs. Boo hiss. That is just how it's been around here the past month. I've got many posts in my drafts that need to finished, edited, and pictured in order to be published. Since it's been almost a month since my last post, I figured I would give a little update.

Madeline is in preschool full swing! Madeline loves preschool, and preschool loves her! But, to be honest, going to preschool everyday is kicking my fanny. It's a production to get Madeline to preschool everyday simply because our preschool is about 25 minutes away. That means, we leave here at 8:30 every morning, and from 9-12 everyday, Amelia and I are "living" across town. Most days it works out fine since I go to the gym and run errands until it's time to pick Madeline up at noon. However, Amelia is not exactly the best "on-the-go" napper, so you can only imagine just how p-oed Amelia is by noon. Yea, she's awful. I have a hard time justifying driving back and forth multiple times five days a week to the tune of $3/gallon in my gas guzzling Nissan Armada. It stresses me out, but it'll work out eventually. By the time we arrive back home at 12:30, I'm frazzled & trying to determine which house chores I want to tackle during naps. Usually Amelia is having a nervous breakdown because she's so tired, and Madeline needs some down time after being at school all morning. Not to mention, I'm packing bottles, baby food, baby snacks, diapers, wipes, etc. just to survive the morning. I think I prefer the M-W-F schedule, but like I said, Madeline loves preschool! In the end, it's worth it to have her in a place where she's learning & making friends, and Eric and I love the preschool. As Amelia adjusts to our new routine, gets off the bottles and baby food, and learns to catnap (HA! Wishful thinking!), things will be better. I'm also having to figure out my new routine too. I'm such a "clean house on this day, laundry on that day, grocery shop here, errands there" kind of gal, that being gone all morning everyday has gotten my OCD-Type A self all worked up about getting my duties done. Our routine is a work in progress, and I'll figure it out. Hopefully sooner than later. One thing is for sure, I make it to the gym like clockwork everyday since that is the first stop after preschool drop off. No excuses for that chore!

Madeline is taking ballet/tap, and SHE.LOVES.IT! Every Tuesday, she looks forward to her dance class, and every Tuesday, I have to pry her dance shoes off her feet!

Aside from adjusting to being the second child that must go here there and everywhere with me, Amelia is doing so well. Her 9 month post is unfinished in my drafts, and at this point, I'm thinking I will combine her 9 & 10 month-days into one ginormous post. She's healthy, chubby, going on two whole months of no ear infections, and is becoming more and more mobile by the second it seems. Our little Amelia Bedelia is waving, clapping, eating us out of house and home, and cutting two more teeth. She's a doll baby!

I was in a car accident very recently because some yahoo wasn't paying any attention and slammed into the car behind me which caused her to come into my rear bumper messing up our bumper region & the function of our rear lift door. My left arm went immediately numb, and since I've had two neck surgeries, I was freaking out. Both of the girls were with me, so I was freaking out. I'm pretty sure some very ugly choice words flew out of my mouth in the middle of the intersection, and now I'm dealing with the insurance/getting the car fixed aftermath. I was taken from the scene on a backboard to the ER for x-rays since I have had previous neck issues, and THANK GOD the girls checked out fine. In fact, Madeline said to me with a wide eyed look right after it happened, "Mommy! Who bounced our car like that? Who bounced me and Amelia?"

We spent a long weekend on Hilton Head for a last summer hurrah, and it was fabulous. We have beach babies there is no question about that.

Eric is working hard (what else is new?), loving his less overnight travel job, and enjoying his fall hobbies: football and deer hunting.

My Disney marathon training is about to crank up full speed ahead, and I'm excited about it. I've schedule about 11-12 weeks of training where I slowly work up my miles with my longest run being 20 miles. Those middle weeks are going to be tough since I'll be averaging about 35-40 miles over the course of four runs. I've scheduled two cross train days, and one rest day. I am especially looking forward to my long runs where I can enjoy the fresh air, listen to music, work out my thoughts, and feel the adrenaline rush of completing a long run in my training program.

So, having said all that, I promise more interesting posts are coming with more pictures than words, and I'll leave you with a preschool funny:

This was told to me by Madeline's teacher at pick up recently: During circle time, Madeline apparently wanted to sit on the orange mat next to her friend, but I am sure her teacher wasn't excited about the two chatterboxes sitting next to one another. Her teacher asked her to sit on a red mat away from her friend. Madeline decided to make one last argument, "Mrs. Molnar, can I pleeeaaaase sit on the orange mat because it matches my outfit better?" Her teacher also demonstrated some sort of hand motions rubbing up and down her leg. (For the record, her outfit was hot pink & lime green, so the orange mat would coordinate!) As much as her teacher laughed at the sales pitch, politeness, and cuteness, Madeline had to sit on the other mat. Madeline definitely has her Daddy's sales skills and her Mama's fashionista instincts.

2011-09-01T21:54:00.003-04:00

Little Mama

I went up to the playroom to clean, and I found Stella so carefully snuggled. What a sweet little mama Madeline is...

2011-09-01T21:20:00.005-04:00

First Day of Three Year Old Preschool

Madeline started preschool today, and she couldn't be happier about it! She's been asking to "go to school" for a month now. She was all ready for "my big day!" today. We love that she loves school so much.
Her "cheese" face. And, my goodness, look how her feet have grown. Her toes are poking out of those sandals.
Madeline was so over the picture moments. She really just wanted to get into the car and go!
In the car all set to go with little sister in tow.
Waiting in our carpool line...our school doesn't allow parents to walk children into the building. They operate the carpool line on the first day. It was all I could do to get Madeline to say, "Bye!" No hesitation as her new teacher unbuckled her from her seat. She was stoked about going to see her friends and her new teacher! Warms my heart for my girl to be so independent and confident!
When I picked her up today, she was busting at the seams to tell me about her friends, her circle time, and playing on the playground. Her teacher told me, "She had a great day!" When I asked Madeline about her day, she responded, "It was fabulous!" She then proceeded to take a 3 and a half hour nap, so I'd say it was fabulous!

2011-08-17T19:22:00.004-04:00

Three Years Old

How do I have a three year old? There are times when I feel like time stands still but really time passes by so quickly. I know all Moms say that, but it is so true. I hardly know where to begin when talking about our precious 3 year old, Madeline Grace.
Madeline Grace is 100% girly girl with her jewels, painted toenails, lip gloss, bows, doll babies, purses, opinions about her clothing & shoe options each morning, monthly haircut, and the list of all girl things goes on and on. I LOVE that about Madeline because I am a girly girl, and I understand her need to have everything just so. I also dislike this trait because it brings on the D-R-A-M-A especially in times of "temper tantrum prone" behavior. However, I get it ~ the need to have just the right shoes, the right bow, the right undies, the right outfit, the right jewels, the right everything! I get it 100%, but it still makes me crazy. My mom tells me all the time, "You always said you wanted a girly girl, and you got her 210%." Yes, I did, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Madeline has endured quite a "half year" ~ new baby sister; a new baby sister that has had many health issues taking up lots of Mommy's energy; potty training; new playroom (meaning no more toys in the den & having to spend more time on her own playing in another room); more strict rules regarding snacks, meals, table manners, and desserts; no more paci; and Daddy's crazy busy work/travel schedule. Looking back, it's no wonder we had (and still have) some serious "rough patches" and "growing pains", and I think there were moments that I forgot my sweet girl was only 2 1/2 dealing with a variety of major life changes. However, we manage to muscle through them, and Madeline came out of it all smelling like a rose. She is really turning into a lovely, well spoken, mannerly little girl when she's not touching the boundaries with her toes. We are so proud of her with regard to her social skills & manners.
Madeline loves school, books, coloring, painting, reading, and all things related to school activities. She thrives in a structured atmosphere, and she very much enjoys all things learning. Madeline questions, absorbs, and loves to "know stuff". Eric and I think she just might be our little bookworm, and we love that about her.
Madeline loves her little sister to pieces, and it's such a sweet relationship. Madeline dotes on Amelia while gently "enforcing" the rules. "No, Amelia, you are not allowed to touch the remote control." or "No, Amelia, no pulling hair!" While there have been sharing issues and a few invasions of personal space, for the most part, Madeline adores her little sister, watches out for her, and plays ever so sweetly with her. Heaven forbid, any other child come near Amelia in a group setting ~ Madeline's "mama bear" comes out quickly! She points her little finger at the offender, and usually says something along the lines of, "This is my baby, and you need to leave her alone!" I suppose I won't worry when Amelia is a kindergartner, and Madeline is a third grader on the school bus. However, I have seen some of Madeline's "big-sister-I-get-to-do-this-and-you-don't" behavior come out, and she's had to learn the hard lesson of not taunting the baby.
Speaking of things that Madeline loves, she LOVES the TV. Oh my goodness, it's ridiculous how much TV Madeline would watch if I allowed her to do so. She's really gotten into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins on the Disney channel. I have to admit, it's a nice change. I was pretty much over Dora and Ni-hao, Kailan on Nick Jr. While on the topic of bad habits, Madeline also loves anything in the chip aisle and chocolate. We've had to lay down some pretty serious mealtime rules: "You can have some chips if you eat your sandwich first." & "You can have some chocolate if you eat your entire dinner." For the most part, Madeline accepts these rules and follows them. She knows we don't waiver on them, so she accepts the consequences of not eating her sandwich or dinner.
Madeline is a shopper! I am pretty sure that she's the only 3 year old I know that enthusiastically shouts, "YAY!" when I announce that we are going to Target or the grocery or even better, BOTH!, after the gym. It's really funny how much she enjoys these two places especially considering the fact that this Mama doesn't fall for the "I want that!" plea on just about every aisle. I guess she just enjoys window shopping!

Not only does Madeline never stop talking (NEVER!), her imagination also never stops. She is constantly strumming up all kinds of little scenarios and using random things to portray whatever "prop" she needs for her scenario. Madeline is really good at improvising with whatever she can find to make her imaginary play come alive. Of course, "going to the market", taking care of doll babies, and hosting tea parties are the top three scenarios. Most of the time, she's prancing around in some ridiculous get up while she's doing all this. I love to spy on her to catch a glimpse of her imagination at work. My favorite line I've overheard so far is, "Come on Stella (her bitty baby). We're going to the market to get salad for Mommy and brewskies for Daddy!" If that doesn't represent Eric and I to a tee, I don't know what does! :)
Of course, I'd be leaving out a major part of Madeline's personality if I failed to mention her anger and bullheadedness. When she snaps, it's on. This girl can throw a temper tantrum like nothing I've ever seen, and it's UGLY! She can flail, kick, screech, and holler with some serious stamina. These tantrums definitely infuriate me, and I've had to learn to walk away from her during these heated moments. It takes both of us many minutes and many deep breaths to calm down from these episodes, but the irrational, angry Madeline is not a pretty sight. Her strong will, her stubbornness, and her willingness to stand up for herself will all serve her well in her future, but right now, we are having to work through when to be angry and stubborn and when to obey her Mommy & Daddy. I must say, she comes by these qualities 110% honestly. Both her Mommy and Daddy are pretty bullheaded. Our latest behavior issue with Madeline is talking back. It's making us crazy! When we ask Madeline to do something, she will answer with some sort of, "But I was just..." or "But I want..." Usually repeating ourselves with a much more stern tone does the trick, but we want her to respond the first time.
Madeline makes us so proud, and we love her more than she could ever know. She's silly, girly, sweet natured, smart, and adorable. We are so happy to call her ours, and we look forward to what this third year brings us!

(Beautiful photos courtesy of Jennifer St. John)

2011-08-17T15:44:00.012-04:00

Madeline's Day (Picture Overload!)

August 17, 2011 was Madeline's 3rd birthday, and for those of you who know me, well, you probably aren't surprised that I didn't do anything terribly out of the ordinary to celebrate my 3 year old's big day. But, be rest assured that Madeline had a SPECTACULAR day, and SHE felt really special.

Her day started off with a oh-so-yum breakfast of Honey Combs with a frosted mini-wheat mix in after dressing and sporting the gigantic birthday bow! We practiced our "3 fingers"!

We ran a few errands --- dry cleaners & the drugstore to pick up Amelia's meds. Madeline was allowed to pick out a treat to share with her friends at the gym. Out of all the delicious choices in the snack aisle, she chose CVS brand cheese puffs and frosted animal cookies! YUM!

When we arrived at the gym, she bolted through the door with her goodies in hand and announced as loudly as humanly possible, "HEY EVERYONE! TODAY IS MY BIRFDAY!" (as if people couldn't see the ginormous birthday bow on her head) We got there as a class was letting out, so the check-in area was really crowded, and Madeline's super cute entrance received many chuckles from the other Mamas. Ms. Kathy was especially excited to give Madeline a birthday hug! She ate her way through that 2 hour timeframe, but she still managed to wolf down her "chocolate sammich" (Nutella on wheat bread) at lunch time. Madeline was allowed to watch 3 shows before her nap!

After a nap, Madeline and Mommy iced and sprinkled her birthday cake. She loved picking our the icing, sprinkles, and candles at the grocery store! What fun for both of us! Madeline especially enjoyed dropping the sprinkles on the cake & licking her spatula when she was done.

Once Daddy got home, we bathed and put Amelia to bed, had dinner, sang "Happy Birthday!", did some candle blowing, and of course opened a few presents. Madeline enjoyed reading her cards just as much as she enjoyed her gifts.

A very simple birthday for a very special little girl! We love you, Madeline Grace! Your Daddy and I have no doubt that wonderful things are in store for you this year!

2011-08-14T07:33:00.004-04:00

Out of the Mouths of Babes

This is probably TMI for the blog, but I am going to share anyway because kids say the funniest things, and I want to remember some of Madeline's funnies.

Madeline had to take care of #2 potty business the other day. When I went in to check on her and help with toilet paper duty, the following conversation took place:

Madeline: "Mommy! I stinkied on the potty like a big girl!"
Me: "Yep. That's awesome. Your Daddy and I expect you to do that."
Madeline: "My belly and my bum was crackling when I made my stinky."
Me, laughing: "Thank you for sharing that fine detail."

When it was time to flush, I decided two things:
1) Indeed, her belly was probably crackling.
2) Had this taken place in a diaper, I would've used an entire box of wipes to clean her, & I would've thrown up in my mouth a little.

2011-08-13T08:10:00.009-04:00

Deserving a Blog Post of Its Own

A few posts ago, I shared the frustrations of our summer and how our summer 2011 just wasn't what we had hoped it would be. I also mentioned a few blessings that reminded me just how lucky we are regardless of our frustrating day-to-day circumstances. One of those blessings that deserves its own post is our relationship with our neighbors.

One of the unknowns when moving into a new house is who your neighbors will be. In our old house, we had a fun couple next door, but other than that, everyone did their own thing. One of our hopes when moving into this house and neighborhood was to forge some real friendships with our neighbors. We have been very fortunate to have done that over the course of this summer. Yet another blessing to our rocky summer.

Throughout the summer, we have become good friends with three different families on our street. In two of the families, the husbands are hunting buddies of Eric's, and we've been able to get our families together. It's fun to pack up the kiddos and walk down the street to grill out. Their kids are older than ours, but all of these kids are really sweet to our girls. It's rare that you find a couple in which both husband and wife genuinely enjoy the other husband and wife. We have that with these two families, and Madeline really likes being around these older kids.

And, of course, these two porches have it goin' on with impromptu summer porch parties!!

Above: Our porch

That porch (above) belongs to our immediate next door neighbors, Ty & Sasha. [Yes, we have basically the same house! Great minds think alike! :)] Over the course of the last eight months or so, we have become good friends with this family. Their children, again, are older than ours, but they are very sweet to our girls. We click with them, and again, it goes back to Eric and I both really liking Ty and Sasha as individuals as well as a couple. It's refreshing to hang out with another family without having to worry, "Is my house clean enough?" or "Is my cooking okay?" or "Can I discipline my child in front of them without making anyone uncomfortable?" While we have planned cook-outs with them, we've also had some impromptu get togethers on one of our porches after all the kids are in the bed just to chat, vent, complain, laugh, joke around, and be adults with adult conversation. Eric and I feel very blessed that we ended up having Ty and Sasha as our neighbors because we have become more than the friendly hello while getting the mail or "can I borrow a cup of sugar?" kind of neighbor. Sasha and I have shared some late afternoon "what a day!" cocktails on one of our porches, and I really appreciate that since I am holding down the fort solo many days out of the week. It's comforting to Eric and I to know that when he is out of town I do have people right next door to help me if, God forbid, something major happens. Eric and I look forward to continuing our relationship with Ty & Sasha and their children over the years.

Eric and I don't try to "keep up with the Jones'", and we are fortunate that we've found friendships in neighbors that are just normal people raising kids just like us this summer of 2011. So, as I said before, as I pray for patience, I should also say a prayer of thanks for having the best neighbors ever. Because truly, The Stewart Family is blessed.

2011-08-11T21:40:00.002-04:00

Eight Months
Check out those wrist rolls and thighs! :)
Amelia's seventh month blew by us like a late afternoon summer thunderstorm. First, I have to report that her health is a little better and will hopefully continue to improve. The last antibiotic seemed to knock out her ear infections, and her reflux is somewhat better. The reflux becomes aggravated when she has any type of drainage down the back of her throat. Since she seems to be going through that runny-nose-teething-thing right now, her reflux is bothering her. She has this cough that makes her sound like she has smoked 2 packs a day for her entire life. The doctor has changed her reflux medicine completely, prescribed breathing treatments to help the wheezing cough, and kept her on the Zyrtec to help "dry her up". Hopefully, we are close to clearing up this vicious cycle. Still no teeth.

Amelia's little personality is certainly spunky and despite feeling crummy 85% of her waketime, she's pretty happy. She's extremely aggressive when it comes to reaching out and grabbing for things whether she's being held, sitting on the floor, playing in her bed (time to lower the mattress a notch before she crashes the mobile on her head!), or laying on her playmat. Once she figures out how to get her caboose moving with her front end, she will never look back, I'm afraid. This girl wants to crawl, but just hasn't figured it out yet. She also really wants to sit up on her own, and she's almost there. Her obliques should be super toned under her chub because she lives in this pose:
Amelia loves to eat and it shows! At a recent doctor's appointment, she weighed 20 pounds 3 ounces. My girl has rolls on her rolls! This girl can mow down some food, and she's not super picky. I've been buying many of the combinations now that she's been exposed to any and everything. She seems to really like them all. A few of her favorites recently are: any sweet potato combination; anything with corn or blueberries; banana/brown rice; broccoli/mango/pear; purple carrot/blueberry/pear; and banana/pumpkin. Something I've done differently with Amelia is purchasing some of the organic baby foods because a) I like the convenient pouch packages since we are on the go a lot, and b) they taste like I made them in my blender myself (yes, I sample them before I feed them to her for my own curiosity). I'm not super earthy and organic-like, but I do think the baby food tastes better and has more variety especially since green beans and peas literally make her gag. I just don't have my act together to make my own baby food, so this is a good option for me. I do wonder if it will make Amelia's palate different than Madeline's as she starts to eat table food.

Amelia's sleep is still pretty good -- about 11-12 hours at night and a long afternoon nap. She will take a pretty decent nap in the morning depending on our schedule. Usually she catnaps in the car to and from our errands and gym. She's beginning to recognize the ladies at the gym, and when they say her name, she is all smiles for them. I'm so lucky that my girls love the gym nursery as much as I love the gym. Ms. Kathy fondly calls Amelia "Millie Claire!" Amelia and Ms. Kathy are pretty tight already. It's very sweet. I'm thankful that the ladies understand Amelia's health issues that make her cranky, and they do their best to give me my gym time!

Amelia's first year is whizzing by, and we love her more and more each day.

2011-08-08T21:24:00.004-04:00

Whoops!

Amelia and I were doing our thing in the kitchen one morning, and I turned around for literally 5 seconds to get something out of the pantry. She went from an upright, seated position on the blankets with toys around her to this flat on her back, bouncy chair on top of her, scattered blankets (so much for the cushiony fall in case she fell over), and foot looped in the afghan:
How she managed to pull the bouncy chair down with her is beyond me. I laughed so hard when I turned around and saw her like this. She didn't even whimper. I think when she becomes mobile, she's going to be into everything. She's a busy little thing and into everything already, and she doesn't even go anywhere yet!
Silly girl!

2011-08-08T21:14:00.003-04:00

Bathtime Fun

Over the weekend, we put the girls in the big bathtub for the first time. Amelia sits up very stable now, so we decided that bathing them at the same time is the way to go! Madeline likes having a playmate!

Big Sister is super funny!

Kisses for Little Sister.

Amelia is all about gnawing on the foam letters!

2011-08-08T21:02:00.002-04:00

Look Who is Enjoying "Solids"!

Recently, Amelia dabbled in her first "pick it up, get it to my mouth, and chew" food ~ a Mum Mum. She loves them! After the first couple of gags, she figured out not to cram the entire thing into her mouth. Once she mastered that concept, she really enjoyed her little snack.

2011-08-02T15:00:00.007-04:00

Just Some Mama Thoughts & Keepin' it Real

Wow, it's hard to believe that August is here. Many of my teacher friends start back on the 11th, & their students start on the 18th. Madeline's preschool starts September 1. If I am keepin' it real on this blog, I have to say, "Thank you, God, for getting me through this summer!" I think I've prayed to God for patience no less than 5 times per day everyday of the week. It's been a doozy of a summer, and I for one am glad to turn the page on my good 'ol fashioned paper calendar to August. August brings intense heat & humidity here, but it also brings me to thoughts of cooler weather to come, preschool starting, fixed schedules & routines Monday through Friday, college football on the weekends, and some serious Mama-Disney-marathon-training-time which in turn equals relaxed, happy Mama!

Summer around here is usually relaxed --- hanging out on the back porch in the evenings, a few beach trips here and there, trips to the neighborhood pool, some lake time, evening bike rides on the pink tricycle, evenings on the swingset, later naptimes & bedtimes, sleeping in a little bit, lots of gym time for both Eric and I, and some playdates scattered between all that.

Not so much. Instead, this summer was far from relaxing! It was full of doctor's appointments for Amelia's ongoing battle with reflux & ear infections, many afternoons stuck inside because it's way too hot to go to the pool with a sick wee one, many afternoons watching too much TV because Mommy needs to get housework done in between a fussy baby & a whiny almost three year old, many sharp words coming out of my mouth, many testing the boundaries from my almost three year old, many hours of the wee one fussing/crying out of discomfort, many deep breaths during naptime, many evenings spent praying tomorrow would be a better day, many evenings on the phone with Daddy because Daddy's travel schedule is nutso, and too many middle of the night wake-ups for this Mama and Amelia.

This summer has certainly been quite a learning time for me, and my perfectionist, type A personality certainly does not go well with a feeling of not doing a good job at my job. I know there were times I handled tense situations with grace and kindness, and unfortunately, I had many moments when there was too much yelling that accomplished very little except hurt feelings. I made too many little stops at the grocery store with both kids in tow instead of thinking through the grocery shopping and my couponing. I'm sure I turned down playdates, dates with friends, and other fun activities because I didn't want to drag Amelia with us knowing that she is not feeling well, and that's just not fair. Talk about feeling torn --- choose Amelia's misery to allow Madeline a little fun or having Madeline miss something fun because Amelia would be miserable strapped in the bucket seat or stroller! Then there were times when hiring a babysitter was simply too exhausting to think about because it's just easier to deal with Amelia's temperament, ailments, and meds myself. Many days I was in survival mode, and I wasn't always present enjoying the moment with my girls when they were happy & healthy. One thing is for sure: I complained too much to my hard working husband. Love his heart for listening ever so patiently to my "woe-is-me"!

But, again, if I am keepin' it real, then I would be unappreciative & ungrateful if I didn't mention my long weekend away with only my husband to Hilton Head leaving a sick wee one & testy almost three year old with Grandma and Grandpa. I cannot forget to mention my wonderful girls' weekend with my near and dear friend, Steph, to Costa Rica while my husband kept the sick wee one and testy tot while he worked from home. Bless his heart. Those two long weekends alone gave me the rejuvenation I needed to get through all those other stressful moments, I am sure. Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention our wonderful family filled weekend when we celebrated Amelia's baptism on our 7th wedding anniversary & Father's Day. Again, a little ray of sunshine in our rough summer.

So, I, for one, am ready for a new season with a healthy wee one (fingers crossed), a happy three year old who gets to go to school five days per week (for a week now, she's been asking, "I get to go to school today!?"), a Daddy's work schedule that allows for less overnight travels, and a Mommy who starts her marathon training releasing those feel good endorphins!

And, if I am really keepin' it real, then I should remind myself that this stay-at-home-Mama-gig is what I signed up for no matter how frustrating and stressful the days are. Truth be told, I am really a blessed woman with two beautiful little girls and an amazing husband! Perhaps, in addition to my prayers for patience, I should also thank God for my sweet little family!

2011-07-18T19:33:00.006-04:00

A Whole Lotta NO FUN!

Poor Amelia! She still has an ear infection, so we are now on our third 10-day round of antibiotics since June 2nd. Her reflux is acting up in a big way. She sounds like she just might cough up a lung at any given moment, and her nose is running like a faucet. It's a vicious cycle: the congestion makes the reflux worse, the reflux is part of the congestion, cough, & ear infection problem, and her lack of sleep isn't making anything better. The bottom line: Cranky Amelia = Stressed Out, Cranky Mama

I went to the doctor again today, and that patient, kind man just sat and listened to my tirade. At least my tone was very polite. However, I let him know in no uncertain terms that he may have the MD behind his name, but I was the Mama, and my baby is not right. Nor has she been right since this whole reflux thing began around 4 months of age. I told him that he was going to do something to break the cycle, and get my sweet girl healthy because this "wait and see" remedy was NOT working for any of us.

I left a little optimistic as I had a new reflux medicine dosage, another antibiotic, and a script to "maybe help" with the congestion. It may or may not work, but at least I left with something besides the normal Rx: "waiting it out."

2011-07-11T06:17:00.008-04:00

Seven Months

Amelia is seven months old, and whew, it's been a month. I think Madeline summed it up best one day, "Amelia is a big grumpy bum!" Unlike these pictures portray, she has been a huge cranky pants this month! Poor baby has been hit with yet another ear infection & chest cold ~ most likely she never got over her last infection, & this infection got both ears all sorts of nasty. So needless to say, Miss Amelia has not been much for her playmat and exersaucer...she has become a hip baby. Not a baby that wants to held and cuddled all the time, but a hip baby that is up and about doing what I am doing. It was cute at first, but I'm over it. I can do a lot of things one handed now, and my biceps have gotten quite the workout over the last month. Eighteen pounds isn't exactly light.

Now that I have called her out, I will say that there have moments throughout the month that Amelia has been her smiley, silly self, and most of the time, Madeline has been the reason. Amelia still lights up with huge smiles and squeals when Madeline comes into the room. No one can make Amelia belly laugh like Madeline. It really is so sweet to watch these sisters love each other. Can't you just see the love oozing?! :)

Amelia wants to sit up on her own so badly, and she gets herself in all sorts of funky positions trying to do so. She's doing this half roll over & flex her tummy muscles, but it's just not getting her there quite yet. All the while, she is drooling and grunting. I let her be until she just gets royally perturbed. One of these days, it'll click, and she'll be "sittin up like a big girl" as Madeline would say. Speaking of drooling, she's like Niagara Falls. It's insane the amount of drool that this child produces. Surely with this amount of drool, a tooth will pop up soon, but so far no teeth.

Amelia really digs her food, and she's much more adventurous than Madeline ever was, so it's fun for me to try all sorts of combination stage 2 foods. Amelia hates peas (like gagging then clamping her mouth shut hates) and green beans are not terribly high on her favorites either. I have had to explore other green vegetable options since I don't want her skin to look as though she uses bad self tanner from eating too many orange veggies. I've discovered a spinach/pea/pear combo that she seems to enjoy, and she also likes a broccoli/pea/apple combo. Her favorites are carrot/tomato, any type of corn or corn combination, sweet potato, and squash. Surprisingly, the fruits are not her favorites either. Just plain pears seem to be her favorite, but other than that, she's not so much into the fruits. Unfortunately, her reflux was also acting up something awful this month due to all the congestion, so she was also really cranky from that. Like I said, it's been quite a month around here.

Despite being sick, Amelia is still sleeping really well. She continues to power nap through the mornings, take a long afternoon nap, and hits the sack for good between 5:30-6:30 in the evening. For the most part, she wakes up about 12-13 hours later, so I am very happy with that.

Amelia, even with your cranky disposition, yucky reflux discomfort, & high maintenance need to be carried around all the time, of course we adore you because you are our sweet girl! We can't wait to get our healthy, happy girl back! Here's to a better seventh month, kiddo!

2011-07-04T15:28:00.005-04:00

Little Sister is Proud to Announce...

Amelia

is all smiles these days!

She is happy to announce that her big sister, Madeline, has been accident free for SEVEN whole days! Not only has Madeline not had one accident over the last 7 days, she has used the potty in the back of our Armada in numerous parking lots, used a public restroom several times, stopped her play to tell Mommy, "I better sit on the potty!", asked mid-dinner with guests to use the potty, allowed a total stranger in the church nursery to take her to the potty, and consistently asks the ladies in the gym nursery to sit on the potty (again stopping her play)!

Eric and I are very proud of Madeline for breaking us into the potty training thing nicely. We know there will be accidents, but we KNOW that Madeline can "feel the urge", and we are so happy not only that she can tell us but also has shown us that she will stop what she is doing to go to the bathroom.

Oh, and we still need to work on our undies etiquette...let's see the entire hair salon where Madeline gets her haircut saw her new big girl undies, our dinner guests on Saturday night were privileged to see her big girl undies, and of course, both the gym & church nurseries were all privy to Madeline's proud exclamation, "Want to see my big girl undies?" as she lifts her dress for all to see! haha! :)

2011-06-29T16:26:00.004-04:00

Potty Training, part II

Well, after being couped up all weekend and being very potty centered, I felt like Madeline grasped the concept, but needed a little boost. So, the incentive chart came to be:
Checks for using the potty and a Ring Pop as a reward! While we are not big into candy treats as a reward, Madeline really digs lollipops and jewels, so the Ring Pop is a perfect prize for her. We hung around on Monday earning checks left and right, but not quite enough for the ultimate treat! I also ditched the potty bell in order to promote some independence on her part. It seemed to work well for us. She'd ask me to sit on the potty, or I would have her sit if it had been awhile. On Tuesday, we ventured out for the first time in four days, and this Mama was a nervous wreck on the inside. However, I portrayed ultimate confidence in my trainee! But, I was prepared with our travel potty, numerous new undies, and an extra outfit for our morning out. Oh, and I even lined her car seat with an ultimate crib sheet. (I loathe taking apart a car seat to clean it of bodily fluids!) She spent a portion of the day with her babysitter, and this little turkey used the potty all day long! She even took care of BOTH items of business for Ms. Shannon, if you catch my drift.

Needless to say, today we headed out to the gym as normal, and Madeline did really well. NO accidents. She was very proud of herself for getting her final check mark!

I am by no means under the impression that we are accident free, but I am certainly hopeful that things are pretty well under control to go about our normal daily activities. I am loving it, and Madeline loves to pull her dress up and show everyone her undies. Now we must work on the finer points of wearing undies, like not showing them to everyone we encounter! :)

2011-06-26T15:36:00.006-04:00

Potty Training 101, Part I

In true Anne fashion, I picked a date on the calendar and declared, "This will be the day the diapers for Madeline go away!" So, Friday, June 24, 2011, arrived, and we were prepared to start potty training. I read John Rosemond's "Naked & $75" plan carefully as if I were studying for my AP Calculus exam, purchased entirely too many undies, bought a potty, set said potty up in the den, picked a perfect ring tone for the timer on my new fancy phone to pose as the "potty bell", mentally prepared to be on house arrest for a few days, and mustered up as much as enthusiasm as I possibly could, and went for it!

Madeline's new stash of undies. Her only request was pink and purple ones.
Our new best friend, the red potty. It goes where we go for now!

Mama's attempt at finding "around the house" activities to do other than the normal books, dolls, puzzles, etc. to cure cabin fever. Yep, my toes are now that lovely shade of purple per Madeline's request for us to matching toes.

A few "official potty training" shots.

Even while potty training, a girl has got to wear her jewels --- notice she is wearing her necklace & bracelet! :)

Proud Madeline --- such a big girl!

Amelia is a supportive little sis.

We've watched more TV than normal, and Madeline discovered this "My Little Pony" show. She enjoyed dancing to the music.

Potty training does make for some pretty cute "from behind" shots, and this Mama has occupied her down time by playing Solitaire as evidenced above.

I chose to start off this entire process with the suggested potty bell two reasons: I know myself, & I would have a tendency to micromanage the situation, and I wanted Madeline to have ownership in this process. So, I set the timer for 20 minutes and each time it rang, she learned to go to the potty, pull her undies down, and (attempt to) pee. Madeline caught onto the procedure quickly. She loves to dump her product into the big potty & flush. She does everything and is very proud of herself. Our first day was a little rough as I was figuring out her timing, and she had no clue what she was doing, so right off the bat, Madeline had a couple of accidents. (Deep breaths even though I expected them!) Then she was too busy playing to drink and eat enough (as usual), so she was dry for the longest time and seemed to become annoyed that she wasn't making anything in her potty. After an extra salty popcorn snack requiring Madeline to drink LOTS of water, she finally had "Lellow pee in my red potty!!!" She took it to the bathroom, dumped it, and returned the bowl to red the potty. The whole process seemed to click at that point.

The following day, Saturday, was a success in my book having only one accident all day. The potty bell set at 20 or 25 minutes worked for us. Madeline was very proud of herself, and we plunged into Sunday pretty optimistic. Sunday gave a new twist in the game when Madeline decided to test the limits of the potty bell and my patience. She wouldn't immediately go to the potty, and a few accidents occurred which caused me to be more stern with her in explaining not to lolly-gag to the potty. A slight power struggle came into play on Sunday. At this point, I stepped away from the situation by putting Madeline in for a nap in her 'sleeping undies' (Pull- ups). Post nap, we started with fresh undies, a fresh attitude, and an incentive chart with a Ring Pop being the reward (a jewel AND a lollipop all in one!). We've been couped up for three days now which is not good for any of us even though I am sure Amelia is loving her morning nap in her crib! On Monday, we will venture out the gym which will be interesting...stayed tuned for Part II and hopefully PROGRESS!

2011-06-26T15:20:00.005-04:00

Amelia's Baptism
Happy Father's Day, Happy Seven Year Anniversary, and Happy Baptism was the theme for Sunday, June 19, 2011! Eric and I had Amelia baptized in our church. I couldn't think of a better way to honor our marriage and Eric's fatherhood than by having our sweet Amelia baptized.
As always our pastor did a wonderful job during the ceremony.

Amelia was a gem, and Madeline did pretty well too.

We were presented with a book and a wooden cross from the Session.

After church, we all headed back to our house for a lunch of grilled chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, and lots of yummy sides. It was a wonderfully hot day filled with love and family.

(Eric and I spent the day visiting with our friends and family instead of chasing down the perfect pictures, so unfortunately, we have none from our post church party!)

2011-06-16T13:41:00.003-04:00

No More MOM-phone!

Up until recently, I still had a Motorola Razr phone, or as I liked to call it, "A Stay-at-Home-Mom-Phone". You know, the kind that just makes & receives calls and the texting is tap, tap, tap until your finger cramps up. Eric had been hounding me that I needed a new phone, a data plan, blah, blah, blah. What did I need a fancy phone for? OH yea, all those pressing emails that I get on a daily basis? Ha ha. Well, Eric finally just took the step and went and got me a new phone with a data plan, and I love it! He said I would, and I do, but I am not sure I need so much fanciness. Madeline loves a kid puzzle app that Eric downloaded on his phone. (Mama's phone is a no touch item since we spend all day together, so no kid apps for me.)

The other night Madeline and I had a lovely fancy phone Mother-Daughter moment on the back porch:

Looking at this picture makes me realize that we are two peas in a pod --- no wonder we "butt heads" so much...

2011-06-16T08:18:00.003-04:00

Six Months

Sweet Amelia is 6 months old, and this last month has brought about many firsts for her. Amelia had her first virus, first ear infection, first fever, first veggies, and first oatmeal. She handled her first illness pretty well considering she was pretty sick, and she has since bounced back like a champ!
Amelia LOVES her veggies. I think she is particularly fond of peas, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and corn. Green beans is really the only veggie she has clamped her mouth shut in refusal. She refuses anything remotely related to rice cereal now, so I moved onto oatmeal with bananas for breakfast, and that seems to make her happy. She sits in her little Bumbo seat like a little birdie --- mouth wide open ready for her food.

Amelia is a happy little baby most of the time. She really loves her exersaucer and playmat. She has absolutely no intention of sitting up on her own, but she does really well propped in a chair. She also could care less about rolling around. She can roll from her back to belly, but that is about as far as she moves. Her interest in being mobile doesn't seem to be there. However, her interest in her big sister is undeniable. Amelia loves Madeline to pieces. Anytime Madeline is within earshot or reach, Amelia's legs just start kicking and the biggest squeals and laughs burst from within her! It seems to be the beginnings of a very sweet relationship.

Amelia received another clean bill of health at her 6 month well visit. Her ears and chest all looked clear, so the doctor was happy with her recovery from her virus. Dr. Kapp was pleased with her developmental milestones and her stats. She weighed in at 17 lbs. 4 oz. (77%). She seems to be very long at 27.5 inches (97%), and her little peanut head at 42 cm (40%).

One of my most favorite things about Amelia is her ability to just go to sleep with zero fussing. If she is fed, clean, burped, and has her lovey, she just curls up and falls asleep! If she's fussing or crying, there is something wrong, and once it's fixed, she's all set to just go to sleep. (We were not this lucky with Madeline.) Unfortunately, I don't think Amelia gets enough sleep during the day. She usually misses her morning nap, and instead she cat naps. She takes a nice long afternoon nap, and she goes down for the night about 6:30 PM. Usually she sleeps until 6 AM.

Amelia is such a sweet blessing to our family, and I am especially excited to watch the bond between Madeline and Amelia grow!

2011-06-16T07:24:00.003-04:00

Hilton Head

Happy 7 Year Anniversary, Happy Birthday Eric, and Happy Post Baby Getaway was the theme for our most recent beach rendezvous to Hilton Head. With all of Eric's travel, he has racked up a bajillion Hilton points, so we decided that it was time for us to get away ALONE to the Hilton Resort on Hilton Head. (Side note: It really did feel like we were on a tropical island getaway! That hotel was amazing, and our stay was at no cost thanks to Hilton Honors points.) It was fabulous. Our room was perfect, our extra special treatment was divine, and the alone time with my honey was wonderful. We only had a couple of goals on this trip: relax, talk adult talk, eat slowly, sleep in, and play bocci on the beach. All of our goals were met!

We certainly enjoyed walking out to the beach with only a small cooler, chairs, towels, and bocci. Ahhhh, just beach, sun, and water.
Just us...we enjoyed lazy days by the beach playing bocci. We also enjoyed getting cleaned up to go out to dinner during what would normally be the dinner/bath/bed routine with the girls. (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for giving us a long weekend away!) We had several dinners out, some fancy, some casual, to celebrate our anniversary and Eric's birthday.

This next series of pictures cracks me up because as Eric and I were posing to do our famous self portrait at dinner one evening, the lady at the next table kindly offered to snap a photo of us. Not only are they blurry, but she was not happy that we were content to sit across the table from each other. She wanted us to be all lovey, dovey on each other. She obliged and took our table picture.

Then she pointed to me, and said, "Sit on his lap." So I threw caution to the wind & did as she asked since she was rather insistent. :)

Then she wanted us to kiss. Really lady?! We agreed upon the cheek kiss.

Luckily, the lady and her man's cab arrived, so she gave us our camera back. Later back at the resort while wandering around, Eric and I documented the night with our self portrait!

Lunch at the pool bar was so relaxing --- no wiggly kiddos, no cutting up food, no worries!

A much needed mini vacation with my true love!

2011-06-16T06:12:00.002-04:00

Costa Rica

I had the most wonderful opportunity for a little getaway with my friend of 25 years! Yes, we have been friends since we were 10! How crazy is that?! My friend, Steph, was invited to go on a trip with her company to Costa Rica as a headquarters guest. Apparently, she is some sort of rockstar within her company, and it was really interesting for me to see the "Business Steph". She was allowed to bring a guest on this trip, and since she is not married, she thought of me! Although we only live 30 minutes away from each other, we are not able to get together very often, so she thought it would be the perfect way for us to get in some good girl time.

I must give my husband huge props for making this all come together for us -- the trip was from Monday, May 20-Thursday, June 2. My sweet husband took Monday and Tuesday off to hold down the fort, and on Wednesday and Thursday, he worked from home, managed the girls, and used my parents' help to give him some peace and quiet to work in his office.

Not only is Steph a rockstar within her company, but her crazy busy travel schedule put her into the "fancy" status in Delta airlines. We were upgraded to first class on the way to AND from Costa Rica. It was awesome, and we were giddy about our first class seats. Well, I was giddy about our first class seats. Steph gets upgraded quite a bit, so I think she was highly amused at my antics!

The flight was fun. We chatted, had a couple of celebratory beverages, ate snacks, and laughed at the fact that we brought all kinds of reading material that never got read! The obligatory snapshot of our destination from the air!

Our resort was really nice, and like most resorts, the staff was super accommodating to make sure our stay was relaxing and pleasurable. Our room always had nice touches after the cleaning service visited.

Steph and I did not have an ambitious agenda for our trip. She works hard and wanted to relax, and I most certainly wanted to enjoy some girl time and adult conversation. We went to the gym in the mornings, had leisurely days by the pool and the beach, and had lovely dinners with her work people.

Costa Rica was beautiful, and it was a wonderful opportunity for two old friends to catch up!

2011-05-24T20:07:00.005-04:00

Preschool Carnival

Madeline's preschool has an end of the year carnival for all the students & their siblings each year, and we had such a good time. Madeline and her little buddy, Aubrey, posed with their teachers for me.
Madeline and Aubrey were inseparable for most of the carnival.

Lots of little games were enjoyed by all.

A pink ladybug stamp! Woo hoo!
Chasing bubbles was an impromptu game thanks to some of the parents.

Simple, fun toys...

All in all, we had a wonderful last hoo-rah visiting with friends before we part ways for summer vacation!

2011-05-22T20:31:00.004-04:00

Love

2011-05-18T15:52:00.003-04:00

A Week Later

One week of rice cereal for three meals a day & a week on the prescription medicine =

Less reflux = Less pain = Happy-go-lucky Amelia = Overjoyed Mama

2011-05-18T15:28:00.003-04:00

Ta-Da!

Guess who has successfully completed her first year of preschool! Madeline was so proud this morning, but she was also very sad that she would not see Ms. Lisa nor Ms. Kellie anymore. I can't even begin to say enough fabulous things about Madeline's first year of preschool, her wonderful teachers, and the oh-so-dedicated director. Luckily for me, Amelia will have the privilege to have Ms. Lisa and Ms. Kellie in a couple of years. I am going to miss preschool for various reasons, but I really loved how much Madeline enjoyed going to see her teachers and friends.
Madeline wanted to pose with Stella (Madeline's bitty baby). Stella rode with us every morning, and "Mommy has to take care of Stella while I'm in school." We had quite a routine on school mornings ~ Madeline wore all of her beads/bracelets/jewels and brought Stella in the car. Upon turning into the carpool line, Madeline would promptly remove her various jewels and hand over Stella. Very rarely did Madeline break her routine, and I was glad that she understood none of those things were needed at school. We listened to music on the way to school...

And, on the way home from school, Madeline could watch a show on her DVD while eating her snack & drink. Let lightening strike if that routine was broken! Occasionally, I would pick up something yummy for lunch with spicy drink (Sprite), and Madeline would eat that on the way home while watching her shows. Only once Madeline wasn't allowed to watch her DVD, and that was because she went to timeout during school.

I love summer and the flexibility that summer brings, and I am looking forward to what's in store for us this summer!

2011-05-17T12:22:00.005-04:00

Mommy & Madeline Movie Night

Eric has been traveling a lot lately, so I have been holding down the fort which means I am constantly juggling Amelia's needs & Madeline's needs. For the most part, I do a pretty good job of it, but with Amelia's recent reflux issues, I have had to give Amelia a lot of extra TLC. Unfortunately, that leaves Madeline to play on her own more frequently, fend for herself a tiny bit, and not to mention, this Mama's nerves are more frazzled than normal. It makes me feel terrible that I am snappier with Madeline or not giving her the attention I feel like she needs. I like to be able to split my time as equally as possible.

So having said all that, I decided last Monday to have a special evening with my sweet girl. Madeline took her bath right after dinner, got into her jammas, and came back downstairs for popcorn and movie with Mommy! I had a Blues Clues hour long episode on the DVR, and since Madeline has never watched a full movie before, this seemed like a movie to her. Not to mention, I didn't want her up until 10 PM on a random Monday night. Madeline thought she was something else, and I was glad to be able to spend some one-on-one time with her. She really loved her popcorn snack in the red bowl she picked out from the Tupperware cabinet!

Eating the popcorn while waiting for more to pop in the microwave ~ she ate her weight in popcorn that night!

Eyes glued to the screen and intense popcorn eating!
A self portrait post popcorn & movie before we went upstairs to read bedtime stories (please excuse how awful I look)! It was a really fun night, and I look forward to carving out little snippets of special time with each of my girls.

2011-05-12T15:46:00.006-04:00

Even Sidewalk Chalk People Need Jewels!

Madeline asked me to draw her a "gurwl" while playing with patio chalk, so I obliged. But, Madeline wasn't satisfied with her until she was wearing a necklace and a bracelet. Naturally, I thought she would just draw the jewels on our stick lady, but as you can see, she thought the chalk pieces made the best jewels!

2011-05-11T15:00:00.010-04:00

Amelia --- 5 Months

OH, sweet Amelia is five months old already! Amelia is growing like a weed, and in fact I introduced cereal to her earlier than planned. She has been so hungry that she will guzzle 8+ ounces at multiple feedings throughout the day, and when that happens, her tummy gets all sorts of gassy, reflux-y, and upset from too much milk (& air from all that guzzling). We've had a few rough weeks due to upset tummy issues, and I suspect that some of her belly issues are a result of all that milk rumbling around. I am just giving her a little cereal at dinnertime to help fill her hungry belly. It's not ideal since she's yet to master the spoon feeding, but I hope to help ease her reflux. We're frequenting the doctor due to all of these tummy issues because I just can't take the crying and screaming ~ there is obviously something wrong. I'm sure Amelia's episodes are nothing compared to colic, but oh my, it's awful, and I'd be lying if there weren't days that I ended up in tears too. It's so pitiful because there's not a whole lot I can do when she's having 'an episode'. I can tell she's in pain, and I try every position in the book to calm her. We've done the Mylicon drops, Gripe Water, & Colic Calm remedies, so now we've moved onto a prescription reflux medication. Poor thing...I pray that this does the trick.

We're working out Amelia's daytime sleep. Her afternoon naps have improved over the last month, and she's going down much better to get some much needed rest in the afternoon. I've settled into a nice routine with her that doesn't interrupt Madeline's nap routine, so I am sure that helps also. Her mornings are still "cat-nappy" since we are at the gym, running errands, and on the go with Madeline, so I am glad that she's able to get a nice, quiet rest in the afternoon. She's much happier in the late afternoons as a result. However, she is like clockwork come five o'clock -- she's ready for "dinner" /cereal & bottle, a bath, and bed by 6:30 PM. She sleeps all night now with very few cry outs. Somedays I have to wake her, but normally she wakes up around 6 AM. If she wakes before 6 AM, she can normally settle herself back down to give us all a little extra sleep.

Amelia has been rolling over to her belly, and she doesn't seem to mind being in that position especially if she has something to entertain her. She's also been spending some time in her exersaucer, and she's loving it! She's "discovered" her feet, and I love how she grabs at them just as if they are newfound toys. So cute! The bouncer seat has been a lifesaver since we spend a great deal of time outside at the swingset. Amelia seems to enjoy her outdoor bouncer seat time just as much as Madeline enjoys her swingset time. Amelia's little smiles, laughs, and noises are just too sweet, and we are so blessed to have this happy little girl in our family!

2011-05-07T18:33:00.004-04:00

I Finally Did It

I registered for the 2012 Disney Marathon, and I AM EXCITED! I've been talking about the Disney marathon since I ran my last marathon in Atlanta with my awesome runner-sister-in-law, Angela. Then neck surgery & babies came, so my running goals were put on the back burner. BUT, I am officially registered now, and there's no turning back. Eric and I will make a fun weekend of it, and although my "official" training won't start until the fall, I am excited to get my running legs back!

Photo borrowed from:

http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/events/rundisney/wdw-marathon/index?page=walt-disney-world-marathon

2011-05-07T08:48:00.002-04:00

Now that's Progress!

Madeline's teacher is really good about sending artwork home regularly, and I, of course, being the corny mom that I am, I frequently "update" the fridge with the latest preschool masterpieces. However, this snowman from December just has to stay on display because it cracks me up everytime I look at it. It's one of my absolute favorites.

Clearly, Madeline created this snowman all by herself with the placement of the body, hat, eyes, etc. I love it even more because many of the features are placed in very interesting spots! :)

So, when Ms. Lisa sent home the April masterpieces, I took notice of exactly how far along Madeline has come in just a few short months. Check out her chick:

Most of the features are in the general area of where they "should" be. Sigh, my girl is growing up!

2011-05-07T08:17:00.003-04:00

Muffins for Mom

I had the pleasure of going to my first Muffins for Mom on Friday, and I loved it. I'm so thankful that I can stay home so that I am able to attend these types of events with Madeline without juggling other responsibilities.

We had a lovely feast of muffins, fruit, juice, and water. Madeline was proud to show me her favorite centers, and she was sure to point out the little potholder in the kitchen center that she wears as a bracelet almost everyday. (Snicker, snicker...)

Madeline was proud to show "her baby" to her friends. A few of them were getting a little too close for her liking, so she exclaimed with her arms spread out as if she were preaching from the pulpit, "Friends! Not so close! Touch her feet not her face!" (More snickers...)

Madeline worked very hard to create a little flower for me to wear, and her class created stationary with their fingerprints. So cute. Madeline was sure to point out that she chose pink as my folder and fingerprint ink especially for me.

We will save our stationary for later when Madeline writes thank you notes, and of course, one set will go in the memory book.

Such a sweet little event with my sweet girl!

2011-05-03T14:32:00.003-04:00

Cereal

Guess who enjoyed her first taste of rice cereal at lunch today? Amelia seemed to enjoy it, and Madeline was fascinated that she wasn't keeping it all in her mouth.
I left her in the carseat for today's first dabble into the world of solids, but hopefully she'll get the hang of it soon. Then she can sit up in the bumbo like a big girl!

2011-05-03T14:16:00.003-04:00

Backyard Makeover Part II

Our backyard project continues! The playset has been set up, and needless to say, Madeline LOVES it! It's perfect for her now, and there are certainly features on it that she will enjoy as she gets older. The wooded area is coming along nicely. We still have lots of work to do, but in the end, it will be exactly what we've envisioned!
Two men put this up for us in a matter of a few hours! We are so glad we had someone assemble it for us!

Madeline's favorite part --- the swings!

Daddy is creating a sandbox for the area too. Madeline probably enjoys playing in the sand just as much as she does swinging!

2011-04-28T22:07:00.007-04:00

Guess What?!

This banana-phone-talking-bead-loving-toenail-polish-addicted-&-silly-band-wearing-little-girl, who is NOT so little anymore, has given up her PACI!!! WHOOP! WHOOP!

Eric and I banned the paci to the bed since she was 12 months old, but we've been putting the paci-going-away-thing off since then. We always had an excuse --- the rental house, the move, the arrival of Amelia, the big girl bed, and the list goes on and on. Of course, the longer we waited, the more attached she became, and the more we fretted about the paci going away. We talked about numerous "tactics" as to how to banish the paci for good, but they all seemed "hokey" for our parenting style. So, in true Stewart fashion, the paci just went away one night at story time. Madeline kept asking about it, and we kept telling her what a BIG GIRL she was, and that was that. No crying, no big deal, no discussion, nobody "taking" it, no one exchanging it for a prized gift, no nothing, and best of all, no paci. We've gone almost one week sans paci at nap time and bedtime, and as the days go on, the less questions we are getting about the beloved paci. Eric did have to experience the most pitiful statement ever one night when he was putting Madeline to bed, "Daddy, I miss my paci." in probably the saddest voice EVER like she lost her best friend. Daddy didn't dwell & just told her that it would be okay. The End.

Our big girl really is becoming a big girl, and we are so proud of her!

(We mean no offense to anyone who chooses the ideas out there for getting rid of the paci, but it's not us.)

2011-04-26T19:23:00.003-04:00

Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter! We've had a lot going on lately, so it was a very low key family of four celebration. Sometimes it is just nice to relax and enjoy each other.

We hunted our eggs --- Madeline caught on very quickly and loved it!

Madeline enjoyed her Fancy Nancy Elegant Easter book that the Easter bunny brought her.

Amelia was impressed with her diapers, wipes, bum cream, and new clothes that the Easter bunny brought for her!

Madeline's basket was filled with goodies --- sidewalk chalk, bubbles, two new books, a new dress, and Raisinets.

Amelia's goodies --- Madeline thought it was hilarious that the Easter bunny brought Amelia bum cream!

Of course it wouldn't be Easter if we didn't dye eggs. We only dyed one dozen, but I am pretty sure that Madeline would've dyed 10 dozen eggs. She LOVED it!

Amelia watched us dye eggs from her swing.

Daddy was impressing Madeline with his mad egg dying skills as well.

Such concentration...

What a beautiful day!

2011-04-25T16:46:00.003-04:00

TIMMMBBBEEEERRRRR!

When I was looking back at our camera for Easter pictures, I noticed this series of outakes from our four month photo shoot. Too cute not to share.
Happily Sitting Upright

Whoops!

On the belly with lots of grunting...

Happy Girl

2011-04-25T13:14:00.000-04:00

Madeline's Preschool Conference

I had Madeline's two year old spring conference with her teacher this morning. Her teacher told me all sorts of wonderful things about Madeline --- she loves to learn, listen to stories, and participate in music class; she is very compassionate toward her friends; she has expanded socially meaning she will play with others besides a few BFFs; she is a good listener; and she is easily redirected if she's doing something wrong. Her teacher also shared some things to work on --- using words instead of taps, tugs, and grabs to get someone's attention; learning to be more of a leader instead of a follower especially when she knows rules are being broken; & learning to complete a chore at home. We couldn't be more proud of Madeline's growth this year in preschool, and I am so thankful for the teachers that have worked with Madeline to help her develop socially, emotionally, and academically.

2011-04-22T07:20:00.004-04:00

Amelia -- 4 Months & 11 Days

Amelia Bedelia, as Mommy & Madeline have nicknamed her, is growing like a little weed. So plump and so smiley! Daddy calls her "Smiley Pants." Amelia is starting to really get some belly laughs out, and "It's so cute!" according to Madeline. Speaking of Madeline, she ADORES her little sister and has become very protective of her in public settings. I've actually seen Madeline "scolding" other tots at the gym nursery because they are too close. "This is MY baby. Don't poke her head!" Madeline proclaims.

This last month has been a little bit of a rough one in the sleep department. I think she's just trying to figure it all out --- some nights she would sleep a straight 11-12 hours & some nights she would fuss at 2:30 AM, then again at 4 AM, and then again at 6 AM! And, napping has been a little bit wanky as well since we are on the go all morning long, so she's cat napping 15-20 minutes at a time. The afternoons have proven to be a little rocky as well in the napping department --- sweet baby can't decide if she needs a 3 PM feeding or not --- some days yes, and some days snoozing through it. I know in due time we'll get there, and summer will help when I'm not rushing us out the door to preschool and other activities in the morning. And, perhaps this Mama is pushing too hard for that nice long afternoon nap a little too early, but I selfishly am so looking forward to two children snoozing away in the afternoons to give me some down time to regroup. There are days at 5 PM when all three of us have a tendency to be a little ill tempered with one another.

Amelia's disposition is so sweet natured and laid back much like her Daddy. She just smiles and coos and kicks her legs even if her belly is growling or her diaper needs changing. Amelia even smiles while she's getting her little nose all sucked out with the bulb! Also like her Daddy, when she's had enough, she snaps, and let the full out screaming commence. It's not pretty because this child has a set of lungs on her. Luckily, she rarely gets to that point! The ladies at the gym adore her, and she gives them the best giggles and smiles. They've even said to me, "Does she ever cry?" Nope, not really.

Amelia had her 4 month well visit today, and Dr. Kapp gave us the thumbs up. All measurements & developmental milestones are looking on target. Although she looks to be short and plump, her measurements speak otherwise.

Weight --- 14 lbs. 7 oz. (77%)

Height --- 25.5 in. (96%)

Head --- 40.5 cm (62%)

She's loving her playmat now that she's figured out the whole grabbing and squealing thing. The mirror is her favorite part of the playmat, and I have seen her trying to almost roll over to grab at herself in the mirror. Quite the motivated one to get places unlike her big sister who just enjoyed being immobile. She's also loving her Bumbo seat. I'm sure it's refreshing to be sitting up a little bit, and the ladies at the gym stick her in the crib (in the mix of what's happening, but also out of probing fingers reach) all propped up in boppy pillows, and she's happy as a clam to take in the world around her.

Amelia Bedelia is just the perfect little addition to our family, and we couldn't love her more!

2011-04-20T08:22:00.007-04:00

Backyard Makeover

When we moved into our home almost a year and a half ago, we loved the fact that our backyard was large and backed up to the woods. We had visions of a manicured backyard and clearing out the woods area for a play area for our kids. This summer, we are making that happen. Well, we are working on the manicured part, but that will come in due time, we hope. After much researching, talking about money, thinking about our kids' young ages, & considering how much we entertain at our house, we decided on a simple Rainbow system for our playset. It's a tad pricey, but we really wanted our backyard and woods area to be inviting, nice, and fun. So the work has begun to get the playset area ready for the installation of the playset.

Before:

I was a big help in the initial clearing out. As it turns out, I am a mean one with the big rake, & I even swung the ax a time or two to chop out some underbrush. I was pumped about the bonus cardio and ab workout I received that day! :) Anyway after the intial clearing out, it was all up to Eric to saw down some larger trees, and luckily we have a wonderful neighbor with a chainsaw, a four wheeler, and a wench who helped us cut the trees down so they landed in just the right spot (ie not on our house nor our neighbors' houses) and pull out a ridiculously large cedar tree stump. The backyard slopes down into the wooded area, so Eric has the the master plan of creating a step down complete with a retaining wall and a "Daddy-made sandbox" with landscape timbers.

Once it's all set up and done, my job is then to watch the sun all summer long, so my mom and I can figure out what types of bushes and such to plant in the surrounding beds NEXT summer based on the sun's intensity over the course of the day. Yes, we really did mean "manicured", but it's fun stuff to plan, work hard, and see the end result.

We want a fun, safe playspace for our kids and their friends while still maintaining a yard that looks like adults live here too. I think we're off to a great start, and I'll be posting progress pictures as they come!

2011-04-20T08:18:00.006-04:00

Bite Your Cheeks

Scene: Madeline was talking on her phone which happened to be a bunch of bananas from her play kitchen while eating a little piece of chocolate.

Conversation: "Hey gurwl! I got my chocolates!" with sassy tone and rubber-necky-head motions!

Eric and I couldn't stop laughing...

2011-04-19T08:40:00.004-04:00

Preschool Easter Parade

Madeline's little class had an Easter parade the day before spring break. Each child was to decorate their riding toy, and be prepared to ride it through the courtyard in a parade fashion. One word, "Hilarious!" It was more like bumper cars!

Madeline and I had fun decorating her new pink tricycle. I held the glue steady while she helped me trace the letters out with the glue all the while talking about the letters. So fun to listen to her talk about the letters having sticks and holes and curvy parts. Then my inexperience with preschoolers showed since I foolishly gave her the tube of glitter and said, "Ok, sprinkle the letter I." Whoops, the entire tube of glitter went on the letter I. Lesson learned. So, we traced the words out with glue, Madeline chose the glitter color, and WE gently shook the glitter on the words! She asked for Mommy to make glitter flowers, so I did my best. Finally we wrapped the fuzzy stuff and attached the purple flower to the front. Madeline was all ready to ride in the parade the next day.

Yea, not so much. Madeline does NOT pedal. She sat there blocking traffic all the while yelling, "I need help!" So hilarious. I passed the camera & Amelia off to Daddy and rescued my little non-pedaling-tricked out-pink-tricycle Diva. We knew that was going to happen since she doesn't really "get" pedaling yet, and the facts are Miss Madeline would much rather play with her babies, jewels, and coloring books than pedal her tricycle. We're okay with that, but we do want her to learn how to pedal. She will in her own time and with practice. However, she was super cute in her paper plate bonnet in the parade. The boys were decked out in paper plate bow ties. So cute.

Mommy and Madeline made several trips around the courtyard before it was time to head home. When Madeline realized that she was not going to ride on anyone else's riding toy, then she was DONE with the whole bonnet, parade, and sunshine thing.

2011-04-10T13:42:00.005-04:00

Sunday Cuties

A photo opportunity presented itself this morning before church, so we snapped a quick picture of our girls! Sometimes I just sit in awe that these two little darlings are mine!

2011-04-05T21:45:00.005-04:00

We Actually Saw Horses
Eric and I were able to go to the Camden Cup horse races this year, and we had a wonderful day with our closest friends, Brian, Jen, Shay, and John. We also had no children with us which made the day even more refreshing! Eric and I had a wonderful day with our friends and being together. As you can see from the pictures it was a beautiful day although the wind was whipping making it quite chilly. Of course my age showed when I showed up in weather appropriate clothing instead of some strapless dress and high heels, while super cute, not comfortable or warm!

On the other hand, this little girl had a WONDERFUL time with her Nana and Papa. They indulged her by climbing to the third floor numerous times to play in the newly established playroom, reading lots of stories, talking, looking for squirrels, eating "chocolate sammiches" (Nutella sandwiches), cooking omelets, and baking cookies! Of course it wouldn't be a complete weekend if Madeline didn't try to slip a fast one past Nana every now and then! Unfortunately for Madeline, Nana knows the house rules! :)

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend for everyone!

2011-03-31T15:49:00.009-04:00

Amelia's First Playdate

One of my nearest and dearest friends from way back in high school, Dana, had a baby about 2 weeks after I had Amelia. He's a little cutie! It was a fun day of visiting, chatting, and catching up!

2011-03-31T15:47:00.013-04:00

Weeble Wobble

Amelia is loving her new view! And, I am loving a new spot to put her when I am doing things around the house. Isn't she silly?!

2011-03-18T20:54:00.002-04:00

Could It Be?

Sassy Britches has left the premises for the moment, and our sweet Madeline is BACK! This Mama couldn't be more overjoyed. In fact, I received several, "You are my most favorite Mommy ever!" comments this week! I'm sure it's because I have not had "Game Face Mommy" on, and life has seemed to returned to normal. Ahhhh, the terrible twos have gone into hiding for the time being.

2011-03-17T21:21:00.002-04:00

My Little Leprechauns

2011-03-11T14:39:00.000-05:00

Amelia is Three Months Old

Amelia, "the wee one", is growing so fast. She's smiling, cooing, starting to let out little laughs, and eating like it's her job! She's adjusted very well to our on-the-go lifestyle, and she's proven to be quite a laid back little lady. Her schedule is pretty predictable right now, and my only complaint is that we can't seem to get her past that 4:30-5 AM wake up call. She is satisfied with not eating until 6 or 6:30 AM, but she still wakes us up at that early hour & goes back to sleep with a little paci action. However, I shouldn't complain because this little bundle of sweetness goes down without so much as a peep! Poor Madeline had to cry it out for what seemed like forever, and Amelia just lays in her crib (with or without paci depending on what strikes her fancy that night), listens to her mobile, and dozes off. It's a beautiful thing, so I really can't complain about her early morning rousing. She's settled into a nice routine --- very much the poster child for the whole "Babywise eat, wake, sleep rule" because that's what she does.

She's eating like crazy these days, and I worry about my supply keeping up with her growth. So far we are doing okay, but I'm certainly not making much extra for the freezer unfortunately. Amelia eats pretty much every three hours during the day with the exception of the middle of the afternoon feeding. Many days, she will nap right through that 3 PM feeding, and I don't have the heart to wake her up to eat. If she's hungry, she wakes up promptly at 2:30 or 3 eager to eat. Her best nap is her afternoon nap since she's out and about with us all morning, so I hate to disrupt that sleep time. She goes down for the night between 6:30 and 7 PM, and like I said wakes sometime between 4-5 AM, but she doesn't eat until 6 or 6:30 AM. Her gassy issues seem to be getting better, and now that she's bigger, she burps really well which helps a lot.

Mid-Coo

Amelia's little smile and coo just get me everytime! I was enamoured with Madeline's smiles and coos, but I think I was too worried about "the schedule" & doing everything just right to actually enjoy some of those moments. With Amelia, I know she's settling into a solid routine, and she'll continue to slide into a good groove, so I am able to relax and enjoy our moments together when she's all smiles and coos. I do enjoy our morning feeding together because it is just us, and I can really focus on her without other interruptions & distractions. It's a sweet time that we share, and I'm doing my best to soak it up.

Amelia is just our little laid back, happy, chubby, and sweet little girl. She loves Madeline, her bouncy seat, her playmat, her mobile, and the swing. She loves to interact, and she just goes with the flow with all of Madeline's antics.

2011-03-09T20:34:00.003-05:00

Bathtime

In our house bathtime consists of letter play, suds, and fishy play. Sounds pretty normal, BUT, then there is the Tinkerbell scrubbie thing our neighbor, Miss Jenny gave to her in one of those "You have been Boo-ed!" Halloween buckets. Most people lather up with these little mesh things, but in our house, it's a TUB BRACELET! Yes, it's a bracelet in our house only for the tub, AND she gets immediately put on the arm at the start of the bath, AND hung on the nozzle after each bath, "So she doesn't mold!" Those are Madeline's words after her neurotic Mama spotted pink mold on her wing and insisted that she run thru the dishwasher much to Madeline's dismay! Now Madeline understands that if Tinkerbell doesn't dry out, she doesn't get to play during bathtime --- hence being hung on the nozzle religiously. Really, this kid makes me crazy AND cracks me up all in the same day. I guess that's why I love my job so much! :)

"Cheese!" Notice Tinkerbell to your right...
Then, Mama said, "Hold up Tinkerbell bracelet!"

This is "CHEESE!" & Tinkerbell bracelet.

Love my sweet Sassafrass otherwise known as Madeline!

2011-03-06T21:37:00.009-05:00

More Madeline Cuteness

Over dinner on Sunday evening, Eric and I were discussing some finances & his upcoming bonus check*. We were discussing various goals for our home and summer travel & expenses that come with those goals. He mentioned that perhaps Mama should have a little extra in the budget for some spring/summer clothes shopping. :) Meanwhile, Madeline is obviously listening and interjecting random commentary.

Then our conversation moved onto when the bonus check would actually get dropped into the bank. He was going back and forth on some days when he finally mentioned a specific date. At that point, Madeline exclaimed, "And THEN Daddy can have a brewsky!" Perfect timing.

Obviously in a recent conversation that phrase was used because it was not used in this particular conversation, but YES, Daddy deserves a celebratory brewsky for his hard work to earn a bonus check! Haha!

*Disclaimer --- I only mention finances and bonus checks to set up the funniness of Madeline's perfectly timed commentary.

2011-03-04T14:31:00.003-05:00

Madeline Cuteness

We were arriving home from our morning out, and I was scurrying into the house with all of our stuff from the car probably taking longer than necessary. Amelia was still in her bucket seat on the kitchen floor. It was lunch time, and Amelia was screaming, I mean full out, "Feed ME NOW!" screaming. Mama Madeline kicked in, and she first tried to console her by rubbing her kicking legs & practically choking her with the paci. When that didn't work, Madeline says, in possibly the most hilarious, sweetest, "baby talk" voice, "Amelia, baby, we didn't forget about you! We know it's your lunchtime." I love how she used the collective pronoun, "we."

2011-03-03T14:56:00.005-05:00

Thankful...

Last week was a rough one, and this one is shaping up to be a tad challenging as well. However, while both of my little ladies are napping, I need to set my mind straight and remember my blessings.

So, in this moment, I am extremely thankful for:

my hard working husband who is home from his business trip for this week & has no current plans for business trips next week
my two girls even if schedules and attitudes are wanky
my workout at the gym this morning
having the opportunity to be a stay at home mom
a few minutes to myself to do this post and gather myself
upcoming weekends of "Anne & Eric" time
a "big sister" package in the mail for Madeline from my Aunt Maureen --- more books! yay!

2011-03-02T07:00:00.002-05:00

AHHHH!

This cutie
slept from her dinner feeding until 4:45 this morning! So, that's a bunch of hours of sleeping and NO eating! Could we be turning the corner?

I mean, I love feeding this bundle of cuteness one more time after her dinner feeding at nine or ten or midnight, but I'd much rather get a good night's rest and see her sweet self at 5 AM when I am feeling refreshed from an EIGHT hour sleep.

I guess we shall see over the next few nights if this was just a fluke or if my sweet Amelia is looking to sleep for a solid 12 hours!

2011-02-24T06:16:00.006-05:00

Attitude with a CAPITAL A

Meet Sassy Britches:

Perhaps I jinxed myself when I wrote about Madeline's manners & behavior because the switch just flipped, and Sassy Britches is out in full force! Seemingly overnight Madeline as we know her disappeared, & Sassy Britches entered our home in her place.

This one

is venturing into uncharted territory with her talking back and sass, and I must say it's bringing me back to my 5th grade teacher school days. I knew I taught 5th grade for ten years for a reason! I've decided I handle these situations MUCH better than the irrational temper tantrums ~ maybe it's my school teacher comfort zone or maybe it's just a change of pace in the discipline department to keep me on my Mommy toes. Whatever it is, I don't like the fact that my two and a half year old has decided that pouting, talking back, laughing when she is disciplined, trying to boss me around, & sticking her tongue out at me is an appropriate response to Mommy! And, of course, to keep it interesting, she'll throw in one of those awesome temper tantrums at the drop of a hat just to make sure my blood pressure completely skyrockets. Seriously, if there is a boundary, she's testing it. If there is a line, she's crossing it all the while keeping her eye on me and how I react. I'm taking LOTS of deep breaths. I keep reminding myself that Madeline is learning about the world around her and our expectations of her, so it's my job as her Mama (Daddy too when he's home) to teach her that these are not appropriate tools to navigate the world. I'm sure she sees & hears these things in addition to being two and a half and feels the need to test drive this territory for herself. As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that working out for you?"

This timeout chair is occupied more often than not these days, and that doesn't include the times I have had to issue a few spanks for larger infractions.

I know it's the age & only temporary (I hope ~ her teacher keeps telling me so!), but I'm ready for my fun loving, sweet, well mannered girl to come back. Until then, I may have to adjust the grocery list to include more wine or invite John Rosemond to come live with us. :) Just kidding...

2011-02-23T23:10:00.005-05:00

Works For Me Wednesday

I cannot take credit for this catchy title. I read a lovely blog everyday called A Work in Progress. I discovered her through my longtime friend & blogger extraordinaire, Nancy. I love blog land! Anyways, Courtney does a Works for Me Wednesday post each week in A Work in Progress. I had lots of things swirling around in my brain this evening, so I decided to "borrow" her idea for today.

What is working for me at this very quiet hour on Wednesday?

Amelia successfully sleeping in her crib for a post dinner cat nap & bedtime with little to no crying to boot!
Our cushiony glider in Amelia's nursery.
The fact that Target now carries dry fit work out clothes ~ much cheaper than Nike and similar quality.
The prospect of getting together with one of my supper club girlfriends, but we plan to include hubbies & kids for a simple grill out. Madeline is two months older than her little boy, & Amelia is two months younger than her little girl.
Me being a fuddy duddy and nixing the annual Columbia St. Patrick's Day 5 Points thingie. An all day drinking affair (whether you are drinking or not) just doesn't sound like that much fun to me anymore. Then add in the whole B-feeding thing. Pumping (and probably dumping because let's face it, I'd have a few bevs throughout the day.) the entire day every 3 hours really doesn't sound fun at all. Some people take their kids, but it's not an event for kids, at least my kids.
My house finally being spackle and dust free after the MASSIVE cleaning that has taken me three full days to accomplish. Each of our 3 floors got a day of intense blind cleaning (talk about tedious), window sill wiping, baseboard swiffering & vacuuming, and the regular cleaning stuff like dusting, vacuuming, and bathrooms.
This gorgeous spring-like weather.
Our new across the street neighbors being our age AND having two girls the same ages as our two girls AND they are super nice AND they accepted our invite over for dinner on Friday night AND Rachel is a stay at home mom who is a Gold's Gym rat like me! What are the chances?!
Blog friends (those that I really know & those that I have yet to meet in person) and their awesome blogs!

However, Madeline's recent behavior issues are NOT working for me, and that post will be up in the very near future!

2011-02-23T16:16:00.008-05:00

Just Because

A few recent pictures of Amelia that I took on her two-month-day that I didn't include in her updates post.

What a cutie, and I love that she's really starting to smile & coo at us when we talk to her.

2011-02-20T13:56:00.003-05:00

Weekend Fun

We had a lovely weekend with the beautiful weather and some family time. Eric's travel will be quite busy over the next few weeks, so it was nice to be around the house and spend time together.

Madeline enjoyed her morning treat to the Krispy Kreme.
She also enjoyed playing with Daddy's new customized cornhole boards and beanbags.

Beautiful weather, happy children, quality time for Mommy and Daddy = Great Weekend

2011-02-13T23:34:00.012-05:00

Two Months Old

Miss Amelia is eight weeks old. What a doll baby she is, and we absolutely adore her. She is smiling a lot these days and trying to coo at us. I love that she's becoming more interactive and alert. Amelia loves her mobile, and she seems to like her activity mat. She LOVES Madeline, and Madeline continues to dote on her like crazy. She's a strong little thing. Amelia holds her head up really well when we hold her up, & she "props up" in the corner of a chair pretty well too. Of course, she's also a squirmy little thing, so she wiggles down into the nooks of a sofa pretty quickly. Amelia is the gassiest little lady! Madeline calls her tooty-tooterton because she passes quite a bit of gas & burps a lot. I know she'll just love the fact that I put that in writing, but it really is kind of funny. She sounds like a 90 year old man after her feedings.

Amelia continues to eat about every three hours during the day, and she's definitely going longer stretches at night. I feed her around 6 PM or 6:30 PM, and I let her sleep until she wakes up anytime from 10 PM-midnight when I feed her again. Amelia will then usually make it until about 6 AM. Right now that is working for us, so I'm happy with that schedule. However, I am looking forward to those 12 hour nights. Hopefully we will be seeing those within the next month. Amelia still sleeps in her car seat at night, and she sleeps her afternoon nap in the swing. Poor thing is having to spend time in the car, the gym, and her carseat in the mornings while we run errands, go to the gym, and cart Madeline to her activities. Over the course of the next month, she will start her naps and nighttime sleep in her crib. Unlike Madeline, Amelia doesn't seem to care for a paci nor have we had to let her cry it out very much when it's time for sleeping. We'll see if that changes when we start putting her into the crib.

Amelia had her two month well visit with shots. Of course, she was a happy, delightful baby until that nurse stabbed her with those needles. Dr. Kapp was happy with her "developmental milestones", and other than her raging case of dry scalp and skin, she received a clean bill of health. However, I took a soft brush to her scalp with a little Selsum Blue, and her head is clearing up nicely! :)

For the baby book, her stats are:

10 lbs. 15 oz. (65 %)

21.5 inches (46%)

38 inches (63%)