Kids' Milestones

Quick update:

It's officially Spring Break in our house!!  I'm off all week and George is off through Wednesday - woo hoo!

On Friday, George had the big 'V' procedure, our best chance at keeping our family at 2 kiddos.  I'm so proud of him for agreeing to do the procedure and handling it so well.  He's definitely uncomfortable right now, but is a trooper (AND doesn't want me to keep reminding him how I birthed two of his children through my special place, lol).

Madison will be TWO years old on Wednesday the 31st!  She is now saying 5-6 word sentences.  The other day I was sharing my toast with her at dinner and she kept saying, "Maddie eat toast more, please."  So cute.  She is constantly saying new words and is still very loving to her brother.  She does enjoy the word 'no' at times, but I feel that George and I have some really good routines with her, so we haven't felt the burden to terrible twos just yet.

Jayden will be 8 months on Tuesday.  He is such a big eater and is just so adorable!  He blabs a lot more lately and can hold himself up at a table.  He is not, however, crawling or really even rolling over yet.  He's our little lazy baby.  He will hold his own bottle, but won't feed himself even finger foods.  He is thoroughly entertained by Madison and loves being outdoors.

I, like always, over-planned this vacation.  We were supposed to start potty training Madison today, but my parents graciously offered to take her for the weekend while George recuperates.  I have a paper for one of my Master's classes due Monday that is not done, play dates on Tuesday and Friday, a rehearsal for Easter on Thursday night, Madison's 2nd birthday party next Saturday, and then Easter next Sunday, WHEW!!!  not to mention, I have papers to grade and wanted to catch up on some school lesson planning.

Madison loves pushing Jayden around in the Pooh car.

Happy Spring!

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted.  Let's see. .  . Madison is about to turn TWO on March 31, amazing!  Jayden is 7.5 months and changing SO much!  He is babbling a lot more these days, and has even said "Dada" twice (accidentally, of course).  Madison just loves being an older sister.  She melts our hearts when she goes over and kisses Jayden with being prompted, so cute!  Madison is SUCH a talker, like 5-6 word sentences all of the time!!!  We had sickness run through our house for like two weeks, so that was not fun.  Other than that, the kiddos are GREAT and we still feel so blessed everyday.

I started a Masters program in February that meets once a month for 22 months, so that's one more thing on my plate, but I chose a great program (Integrated Teaching Through the Arts), and am looking forward to saying I'm a Master (lol) and receiving my Masters RAISE.

George just wrapped up the play, "The Interviews" at Magic Circle Theater in Roseville.  He had a big part and really enjoyed the experience.  Our good friend, Brian Scott Jagger, wrote and directed the hilarious play!

Hope everyone is well!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010!  The year 2009 brought us so much joy, especially because of the birth of Jayden.  We are such a blessed family, and count those belssings every day.  We rang in the new year at Kara & Julio's home with many different types of fondue (yummy!) and then at our neighbor's house.  Unbelievably, Madison stayed up until 1am with ease!  She's SO my daughter. 
She is doing very well in her big girl bed, and Jayden transitioned extremely easily to his crib.

3rd Night's a Charm!!

As I blogged a couple of days ago, Madison's first night in her "big girl bed/room" didn't go so well.  We counted, and ended up putting her back to bed FIFTY TIMES!!  Well, the next night, Sunday, she stayed at her Oma & Opa's house, but Monday night we were back to the transition of changing rooms, and it only took 7 times of putting her back to bed.  Tonight is night 3 and. . .she went down easily!!! Ironically, she was a terror today for me (I'm on Christmas break) and I just about lost my mind having her all day, but when I went to blow off some steam at the gym, she went to bed without struggle for George.  I'm just happy she's asleep in her new room!!  Jayden is sleeping in the crib for the 3rd night in a row, so we officially have our room back!

BTW, Madison is now saying 4 word sentences!!!  She communicates so well, it amazes us everyday.  She loves to say, "turn the lights on?" when we pull in the garage because she wants to turn the Christmas lights on and, "Mommy/Daddy where are you?" when she's looking for one of us!!  Sadly, she started calling me "Mom" today, instead of her usual "Mommy".  I like being Mommy!

Maddie moves to "Big Girl Room". . . long night

George and I decided tonight was the night to move Madison into her "pink room" to sleep in her twin bed so that we can move Jayden into the nursery with the crib because he's quickly out growing his bassinet.  Well, I thought everything was going well at first: drank milk, took a bath, brushed teeth, read books, and then layed her down for night night.  Two hours later. . . she was finally asleep.  BUT, one hour after that, she was up crying and coughing.  George is up with her now (it's 12:30am), and she's still crying and coughing.  We have a humidifier in her room,  and she hasn't coughed all day (although she was coughing this morning), so I'm not sure what's going on with her.  I wish this didn't have to be so hard.  Transitioning is so tough on little ones.  Why can't she just go to sleep in her new bed???  This was why we decided to try it on a Saturday, so that neither one of us has to work tomorrow. 
Wish us luck!

Madison's 1st Haircut

On Tuesday, December 22nd, we took Madison for her first haircut.  Part of me had a hard time having her haircut because she has so little hair to begin with, but the mullet look HAD to go, so off it went.  She started out seeming all excited, but quickly switched to her nervous face when she got into the chair.  The, the tears started falling and didn't stop the WHOLE time!!!  The poor hairdresser tried many things to calm her and finally got her to giggle and relax by allowing her to spray a mirror with water over and over.  Now Maddie's hair doesn't look very different from the front, but the back is cut like a bob and looks good!

Before haircut

After haircut - NO mullet!

Looking nervous right after she sat down.

Then the tears started flowing.

December Update

Jayden was 4 months on November 30th, but we didn't get in to his doctor's appointment until midway through December, so his stats may be a bit off.  He is 17lbs 11oz (almost 90th percentile!) and 25.5 inches (50th percentile).  He is holding is head up very well, and although he doesn't really enjoy tummy time, he is getting better at staying on his tummy for longer increments.  He also rolled over for the first time the other day, so he is definitely getting interested in moving around on his own!

Madison hasn't had a doctor's visit in awhile, but I did let her step on the scale at one of my Weight Watchers meetings a couple of weeks ago and she's 27 pounds!  She talks constantly (can't imagine who she gets that from :-p ) and is an interesting mixture of being a daredevil, yet cautious.  She is such a big helper around the house and with Jayden and absolutely LOVES Elmo!

We have had some trying times this month:  George's car broke down, we had a toilet overflow upstairs and leak through the downstairs ceiling, and then my car window was bashed in at work (luckily nothing was taken and no one was hurt).  Through all of these hurdles, we are reminded how lucky we are in life and how family is more important than stuff.

Here's a picture of their visit to Santa Claus.  Their Oma, Nana, Grammie, Great Aunt Annette, and cousin Peter took them while George and I worked because it was the best time to do it without much of a crowd.  We were bummed not to be there, but appreciate our family taking them and getting such a great picture!