I love...

Yesterday Nick and I were reading books with Mady before bed.  Somehow we started going back and forth over what we love about our sweet girl.  I just had to document it...

I love....

• The way you dance and the smile it brings to your face
• That you love giving hugs
• That you love music
• How caring you are to your babies
• When you give Lucy hugs and tell her you love her
• When you call me mommy
• How excited you are when I come home from work
• How concentrated you get when playing with your puzzles
• How you love to go shopping and yell "Yay!! Shopping!!"
• That you love letters and numbers so much
• That you love to go to bed (although I know it's only because that's the only time you get your paci)
• How your hair falls right in front of your face and will not, for anything, part to the side
• How much you love to be outside
• When you do "pretty eyes"
• The cackle you give when you think you're being funny
• When you tell us "I love you" for no reason at all
• Your kindness
• That you like going to school now 
• The huge smile on your face when I pick you up from school
• Your little toes
• How you love putting on our shoes
• That you love taking pictures of yourself with the camera on our phone
• That you tell us when you're stinky in the diaper.  Potty training may be coming soon!
• How strong-willed you are.  Even though it drives me crazy sometimes, I know it will come in handy when you get older
• That God chose us to be your parents and witnesses to what an amazing person you are becoming

One example of her photography skills

We love you so much sweet girl!

Firsts

These past few weeks have been busy and contained a few firsts for us.  A few weeks ago we headed to Oklahoma to see some friends of ours.  First time for Mady and I to go to Oklahoma.  We had a great time visiting and Mady loved playing with their two boys.

Valentine's day Nick and I had to work.  Once I was off and picked up Mady, we waited for Nick to get home.  We spent the beautiful day outside and then went out for dinner.  Mady had a great time charming everybody at the restaurant.  Love the smiles and sweetness she gives to others.

Watching the lawn guy cut grass and waiting for daddy to get home

Last weekend I took off for a women's church retreat at a ranch up north.  I have never been on one so I really had no expectations.  It turned out to be a great getaway for a little while, spending time with some amazing women and focusing on the greatness of God.  The weekend was full of great conversations, music, and an awesome speaker.  We even got to go horseback riding!  When I got back I was physically tired but mentally refreshed.

Next week we close out another month!  Where does the time go?!

Sickness, sickness, go away

What a past couple of weeks we've had.  The sick bug came and visited Mady a couple of weeks ago starting with an ear infection.  When that cleared up, she got sick again with a fever due to a viral infection.  The fever left and while we thought we were getting rid of the runny nose and coughing, the fever came back this last weekend.  We always get extra cautious now when she gets a fever, so when it rose to 104 last night, we took her to urgent care this morning.  Poor thing has a double ear infection.  We have some antibiotics now and saw a huge improvement in her this evening, just in time for some superbowl and pizza time!

Our sick girls

She's not the only sick girl around here.  Lucy somehow messed up her back and a few days ago could not even walk up or down our stairs.  We took her to the vet and after an x-ray and hefty vet bill, found she has a bulging disc in her back.  She can't go upstairs, downstairs, or run for 4 weeks!  If you know Lucy, not being able to run after her ball for four weeks is like torture.  She probably thinks we don't love her anymore since we don't throw her ball, or let her upstairs with us anymore.  She's been getting extra loving from us though, especially from Mady :)

Besides this, we have been doing great this past month.  Mady is 20 months, going on 21 months in nine days.  Her vocabulary continues to grow and she is stringing more words together everyday.  Now that she has her letters down (at least capital letters), we've moved on to numbers.  She knows her numbers from 1-10 and while she can count to seven, she won't always do it.  For some reason she gets mad when you ask her to do it.

She's so sweet and I love the random hugs and "I lu you's" throughout the day.  It's the cutest thing watching her play with her babies and seeing how sweet she is with them.  She kisses them and tells them she loves them.  She pats them, feeds them, and puts them to bed with their paci.

Her love of dancing continues.  Anytime we put music on or she hears it on a tv show, she will just start moving and shaking.  She has loved watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for a while, but now Doc McStuffins is turning into her favorite. She will ask to watch "Stuffins".  I welcome the change :)

She still loves these guys though

Mady is still a good sleeper, and is loving her crib right now.  It might be because it's the only time she gets her paci, but she is always happy to go to bed.  Her love for Lucy also continues and only grows.  If we're out she will say "Home, Lucy".  She wants to go see her puppy dog.  We usually can't leave the house without her going to hug Lucy and tell her bye bye.

We have so much fun watching her grow.  A few more months and we'll be turning 2.  Eeek!

Cheese!

Spent some time with her Litos this month

Wheel!

Just love those pigtails 

New Year in New York

Nick and I spent new year's eve in New York.  We were up there in the madness, and while we were not at all close enough to see the performances, we did get to see the ball drop!  There were people everywhere.  It's fun to say that we did it and we were there, but I wouldn't do it again!  We were there for three days and we never stopped.  There is so much to do and see and we had a great time.  The highlight of the trip was winning front row seats to see the Broadway musical, Wicked.  The musical was amazing and surreal to be so close to it all.  I have always heard wonderful things about that show and now I see why.  It definitely lived up!

Central Park in the morning

New Year's Eve madness

Time to see the show!

Rockefeller Center

Attempting the subway system

9/11 Memorial

Just my good friend Matt and I

Times Square

While we had a great time, I was definitely ready to get back home to my little girl.  Her and her Mimi had a great time though.  Now we are getting back to normal and settling in to this new year.  2012 was a great year for us and I'm excited to see what this new year will hold for us.

Christmas

I cannot believe another Christmas has come and gone.  I'm always sad when Christmas passes and I have to start taking the decorations down.  I've decided to go ahead and keep them up until after we get back from New York.  I'm just not feeling it right now, haha.

We had a great Christmas this year, celebrating at home and with our families.  We started off the Christmas celebration at home the Friday before.  Santa did us a favor and visited us early this year.  Mady was a pro at opening gifts this year.  It didn't take long before she had the hang of it!  We had a great time at home although we didn't get too much time to relax because we had to kick it in gear and start packing and getting ready to head out the next day to Port Arthur.

Santa came!

She loves her kitchen 

We had Christmas with Nick's side of the family the weekend before Christmas.  We had a great time seeing family, eating, and opening gifts.  I just love watching Mady with her little cousins.  They have fun together and they really are going to have a blast as they grow up together.

Christmas Eve and day were spent with my side of the family.  More time with family, food, and presents. You can't ask for more than that!

You're never too old for Legos

She knows who to go to for cake

Worn out

We headed home on Thursday and unpacked, but Nick and I are starting to pack again to head to New York for new year's eve.  We attempted this trip two years ago when I was pregnant but ended up having it cancelled due to a huge blizzard in NY.  We're looking forward to it but I'm going to miss my little girl so much.  It will be harder on me than her though because I know she will be in great hands here with her Mimi.

Mady at 18-19 Months

This past month or so Mady has really been growing into a toddler and leaving her baby stage.  So many times I look at her and cannot believe how big she looks and acts!

She is learning new words everyday and communicating with each other has really grown.  She knows so many words that I've lost count and she can repeat back most words you say to her.  Her favorite thing right now is her LeapFrog Laptop, her alphabet puzzle, family pictures, and books.

She knows all the letters of the alphabet, which amazes me, and loves to show that skill off!  One of the reasons why she loves that laptop and her alphabet puzzle.  Since we don't live that close to our family, we thought showing her their pictures regularly would help her get more familiar with them and feel like they are a regular part of her life.  Well, she loves the pictures!  Every morning she says "pictures, pictures" because she wants to look at them.  She knows who everybody is now.  She is also a huge fan of books right now.  She has always liked books but her interest and attention span with them has really grown.  When it's time to go down for a nap or bedtime she gets so mad because she wants to read more books, even though we've read probably 5-10 already!  One of her favorites right now is "The Christmas Story" which seems rather appropriate for our lives right now and the holiday season.

She is so sweet and loves giving hugs and kisses but she can also be strong willed.  We use time-out now and it really works for her.  It gives her a minute to sit and calm herself.  It melts my heart when I go to get her and she says "I sorry".

She still loves to dance.  She twirls around and around until she almost falls down from being dizzy.  She dances to anything.  I have several of the snowmen from Hallmark that play music.  She loves to turn them all on at the same time and then dance and dance.  So cute!

I constantly thank God for choosing me to be her mommy.  While we definitely have our moments where I think I might pull my hair out, hahaha, and we get busy and lost in our daily lives, I do try and stop and reflect on how blessed we are.  The tragedy on Friday has certainly hit me hard.  I think once you become a parent, you never look at a tragedy like this in the same way.  It takes on a whole other meaning.  I cannot even comprehend or wrap my mind around what these parents and families must be feeling.  It breaks my heart.  They are in my prayers daily.  Despite the awful things that happen in our world, I remain thankful for what God has done in our lives these past few months.  That is what leaves me with Hope.

Gaylord "ICE"

A couple of weekends ago we met our good friends to go to the "ICE" exhibit at the Gaylord.  The exhibit was really neat to see.  Who knew you could do all that with ice?!  Mady was still a bit too little to really appreciate it and with all the waiting in line and the crowds of people, by the time we got inside, she was Ms. Cranky pants.  Overall though we had a good time and it was fun hanging out and seeing friends we don't get to see all the time!

Being such good, patient kiddos