Madelynisms....

Just had to share one of Madelyn's many funny things she comes up with. We were just playing "Walmart", me being Walmart, course. She had been shopping and I was checking her out. We were having some small talk and I asked her if she had any children. She said, "Yes, I have two." I asked her what their names were and she said, "Zack and Alice, and they're both boys!" I had to laugh at Studly Alice's name, him being a boy and all. She then proceeded to tell me, "their last names are Jack" I said, "So their names and Zack Jack and Alice Jack?" She said,"Yes" and chuckled. Then I asked her how old they were. I said, "Are they twins?" She said, "No, but they are 4 months and 3 months!" I said, "WoW, you must have been busy!!" She said, "Yeah, that's why I need you to check out my groceries...so I can get home!"

To top it off, she didn't have her check book with her to pay for her groceries and I made her put it all back. I'm a mean Walmart. Gotta get her ready for the real world!! Lol!!

Then and Now

Just a fun thing to show how Miss 4 year Old Madelyn has changed in her short life.

Then....

Now....

My, My, My....My sweet, little baby. I asked her on the day of her birthday and if she would just quit growing and if she would just turn 3 years next year instead of 5 and start going backwards. She said, "No, Mommy (as she's patting my arm)...I have to grow up so I can be a mommy!" What a cutie!!

It's been a while....

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've blogged. I even got reprimanded by Tracey on her blog. Lol!! Life has been crazy busy around here. We celebrated Madelyn's birthday this past weekend and I've been meaning to get pictures of it on here, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Might not even do it tonight. I'm bad!! Well, my computer has been being wacky the last week and a half. One day, the keyboard goes stupid and part of the letters don't work and then the next second they do. Then one day, the mouse will go retarded and drag all across the screen. I've tried rebooting, turning it off and then turning it back on, kissing and hugging it, but it just won't budge. It's so stubborn. And because of all this trouble, I haven't even attempted to blog because I do all my blogging while my hooters are being sucked of all their milk and that happens at the computer desk. So if any of you loyal blog readers know the reason why my computer is going psycho, please let me know what to do to make it work correctly.

What the crap has happened to my fingers? I had to quit wearing my wedding ring about half way through my pregnancy with Meredith. And I still haven't been able to get it on!!!! I've lost about 10 lbs. since I had her and am losing well now and the darn thing still won't go on. Granted...this week Aunt Flo made her dreadful visit and that's probably not the best time to check, but oh well! I'm celebrating my 5th anniversary this weekend and I can't even wear my wedding ring.

We celebrated Madelyn's 4th birthday at a park in Yukon on Saturday, September 20th. There was a Big Toy and swings for the kids to play on and the adults just played with the kids and visited. It was pretty low key and I was glad I didn't have to clean up my house before and after the party. I do think next year we will do something like Chuck E Cheese. That whole day wore Miss Madelyn out. We had T-ball at 10:30 that morning, then her friend Matilyn Ray's birthday party at 11:30 and then Madelyn's party started at 2:00. We got back home about 3:45 and I told her she needed to lay down and take a nap. She was excited about all her toys and wanted to play with them, so it was a fight. I finally just told her she could "rest her eyes" instead of sleep. This usually quells the fight and mommy knows she really is tired and it will be a matter of minutes and she'll be asleep. Sure enough, I went to check on her 2.2 minutes later and she was sound asleep. Meredith fell asleep as well, so I was able to kind of pick up the house from the haphazardly thrown Barbie boxes and Princess toys. I would have like to sleep as well, but as they say, "There's no rest for the weary!" All in all, it was a blessed day. I can't believe I have a 4 year old child. Every day of her 4 years has made me so proud to be picked to be her mom. I am so blessed! Here's some pics to enjoy!!

Our Saturday

Well, we played T-ball again today and it seemed the kids actually learned something last week. It wasn't quite so chaotic this week. Madelyn's team shirts came in. They are lime green and say Yukon T-Ball on the front. I'm putting a picture on here of her in her shirt and also a short video of her hitting the ball. I wish I had caught the time she was up prior to this one. She hit it so hard, it went to the fence!! Check it out!!

So Blessed...

I've always known I was blessed, but sometimes I'm overwhelmed with how much God blesses me. One certain department in my life where my cup runneth over is childcare. First of all, I have the best job in the whole world. I mean the WHOLE WORLD!! Even when I started working for Jerry with one six month old baby (Madelyn), he was very understanding when I needed to be home with her if she was sick. Now, while I have two kids, he is even more understanding. He lets me work from home on Thursdays to save on childcare for Madelyn and just spend time with my girls. When I had Meredith, he let me borrow time to stay six weeks at home with her and THEN let me bring her to work with me everyday after I came back. He knows I work hard and his main interest is that I get my work done. I DO get my work done and I am so blessed that I get to do it knowing my baby girl is with me and that I can bring Madelyn anytime I need to also. For a woman to be able to have a career and know her babies are well taken care of at the same time is a blessing in itself.



Second of all, I have a wonderful Mother and Stepmother who switch off keeping my girls on Fridays. Besides the girls receiving an eternal gift by spending time with their grandparents every week, these two angel ladies provide me with financial savings from childcare and most importantly peace of mind knowing my girls are learning from their grandparents and are safe.



Third of all, I have two co-workers who watch Meredith for me on Mondays and Wednesday for two hours when I go to class. Again, I know she is safe and properly cared for. These are women who I have know practically my whole life and trust completely.



Fourth of all, I have other people in my life who help me out with the girls whenever I need it. My precious friend Melissa is a stay-at-home mom who has let me bring Meredith over several times when I have had to go out of town for work. She is so gracious and loving and teaches my girls about Jesus and loving like him. I also have my sister's ex-boss Mike Rhodes who watched Meredith for me for about an hour this week while I presented an audit for work. How amazing for a middle-aged man with no grandchildren of his own to want to watch my child?? He was actually excited to do it and I was so appreciative. Then in the same day, my childhood Sunday School teacher, Frances Stamper, kept Meredith for me that day while I went to class. She of course fussed over her the whole time and Meredith just ate it up.



Fifth of all, also this week, David's sister helped me out by watching both girls for me two days while Madelyn was out sick with strep throat. She couldn't go to daycare and it would have been difficult for me to take her to work. Michelle just stepped up and used that time to play with the girls and blessed me at the same time.



So, my point is that God strategically placed all these people in my life at this strategic time. He truly is omniscient and loves me so much. I am SO thankful for all these people mentioned and I know there are several that I haven't mentioned. Thank you God for putting them in my life and making my life a little easier. You all are true blessings to me!!

April

Kissy Baby

Well, we have a new kisser in the family. Meredith has finally learned to kiss. Madelyn was always very generous with the tongue when she first learned to kiss, which was nice but a little messy. Meredith, as true to form, is a little more modest. She basically just leans in and puts her mouth to yours. There's hardly any tongue involved. Good Girl....maybe her dating years won't be so hard on us! Lol!

She also can consistently wave Bye-Bye. This morning as I was leaving to take the girls to my mom's, I picked up Meredith and said, "Are you ready to go Bye-Bye?" She smiled really big and started waving at me. She waved all the way to the car and then some. She's rather emphatic with her waves!

So today, as my sweet baby turns 9 months old, she officially joins the ranks of waving kissers. That sounds like a club or something. I'll try to catch a picture of her doing one or both for my sis!

Lazy Kids

Tracey's video of her 5 month old son crawling (boys are supposed to be slower, they say) got me to thinking that I have lazy kids when it comes to mobility. I really thought Meredith would be my mover and shaker. She certainly was in the womb. After having a daughter (Madelyn) who didn't sit up until 7 months, didn't crawl until 9 months (even then, it was more like an army crawl), didn't walk until 15 (Wow!) months---I really thought Meredith would be faster. Aren't the second children supposed to want to keep up with their older siblings and do all the things they are doing? Well, not my baby! She did sit up a little earlier than Madelyn, maybe two weeks earlier. But she turns 9 months old this week and she's not even rocking on her fat little legs. Granted, her legs are as big as tree trunks and maybe the darn things are hard to move. Both of my girls were/have been slow to get their teeth too. Madelyn was 3 days shy of 8 months before she got her first one and Meredith was 9 days shy of 8 months when she got hers. Now, I'm not worried at all about them. If you know Madelyn, she's extremely intelligent and is fine physically, so I don't expect anything different from Meredith. I guess heredity may play a part. I don't know David's stats, but I know mine. I didn't get my first tooth until 11 months...Mom wasn't sure I had any. I think I sat up and crawled in the normal ranges, but I didn't walk either until I was 14 months old. That's pretty late. My sister was under a year, I think. Again, she was the younger sibling and maybe watching me got her to going sooner. I don't know. It will interesting to compare when Holly has children. Part of Meredith's problem may be that I don't encourage her at all to crawl or walk. There's a big part of me that is scared to death that she might be my last baby and I don't want to hurry her growing up. Is that bad??

Just a little rambling for a Tuesday! Hope everyone is having a good day!!

Precious Sleeping Baby!

I took this of Meredith the other day because I wanted to remember how she slept as a baby when she's older. She's my little snuggle baby. Madelyn never needed a lovey or a pacifier, but Meredith is totally different. She actually doesn't NEED a pacifier, but she loves it when she's sleeping and she really loves her tiny blanket. It's silky on one side and so soft on the other side. She reminds me of the way my sister used to sleep when she was a baby. I don't actually remember, but I've seen pictures. Holly was a classic "butt-in-the-air" sleeper. Meredith isn't doing that in this picture, butt it is her position of choice. Did you catch the pun???? Enjoy!!

Madelyn's first day of T-ball

So Madelyn started her first organized sport today....Well, I say organized, but what I really mean is controlled chaos. You see, it was 2 teams of 10, so 20 3-5 year olds running around like crazy. Most have barely heard of T-ball and after hitting the ball off the tee, run off chasing the ball instead of running to the base. It was awful cute and we got lots of pictures. Madelyn played left field and the ball never came to her, so she didn't get much action on defense, but she was quite the little hitter. She wanted to wear her "fast-running" shoes and she was the fastest kid out there. She said she had fun and I have to admit that I loved it too, but it made me a tinge sad to see my baby growing up. So, here's some pictures....

10 Things I wish I could do right now....

1. Go to NYC and see my sister.

2. Win $500 on a scratch-off to aide in the prior endeavor.

3. Sleep 10 hours straight one night without waking up.

4. Lose all the weight I want in one day.

5. Understand my Cost Accounting.

6. Afford to hire a house cleaner (preferably my mom since she's the best!)

7. See or talk to someone from my past.

8. Find 4 more hours in a day.

9. Figure out a way to make babies stop growing and changing.

10. Send some people to a far-off island with no contact!!!

Madelyn in 1970

Here is Madelyn in 1970

Dad and Cindy

Here are my parents Dad and Cindy in 1970 and 1978. I tried getting as close to their graduation years as possible. The second two are just funny ones.

This is Dad in 1982 and Cindy in 1962.

Mom and Merritt

Here are my parents Merritt in 1966 and Mom in 1972(as close to the years they graduated) to the right and a couple funny ones of the two below.

Try to guess what the years are

and I'll tell you if you are correct.

Yearbook Photos

Well I found this website that you can upload a picture of yourself or whoever you want and put it with a yearbook photo from a certain year. I've laughed so hard, I've just about peed myself. So for your enjoyment and some more of my own, I've decided to put some up here. Enjoy!! To the left is me in some year that I can't remember. I guess I will have to put them up in different posts.