Listen to mommy and daddy or get eaten by a whale

Bedtime is my favorite part of the day. Most nights it is just me and Madison while Zach is at work, and we crawl into her bed and snuggle up together. While we snuggle we talk about our day and what fun things we are going to do the next day and whatever else her little mind comes up with. She gets to pick out a couple of books to read and then we read a story from her children's Bible. We finish up with prayers and lots of hugs and kisses.

Last night we read the story of Jonah and the Whale and while we were talking about it afterwards she came up with what might have to be our new family motto. We were talking about how Jonah was swallowed by the whale because he didn't listen to God and disobeyed when God told him to go to Ninevah. Then we talked about how mommy and daddy have to punish her when she is naughty, but we don't like having to do that and we would much rather that she listen to us. Then she looked at me at told me that she needs to listen to mommy and daddy or she would get swallowed by a whale too.

Clearly we need to work on the moral of the story some more...

Summer 2011 Bucket List

I thought it would be fun to write down all of the fun things that we are looking forward to doing this summer and keep track of what we have actually done. Here goes...

• Go to the zoo (both Como and Minnesota)
• Roast marshmellows around a bonfire
• Go to a water park
• Go play on rides at Camp Snoopy (or whatever it's called these days)
• Go check out the Maple Grove Farmers Market (done!)
• Spend a lazy rainy day watching movies together
• Go rollerskating
• Go to the MN Arboretum
• Make homemade ice cream
• Go to an outdoor concert
• Let Madison decide what we do for an entire day (within reason)
• Go back to the huge playground at Highland Park and go on another paddleboat ride
• Go the the drive in movies
• Go walk around and take pictures at Minnehaha Falls
• Have a BBQ with friends
• Get Madison started in swimming lessons
• Take Madison to the beach for the first time
• Get ice cream from the ice cream man
• Learn how to work my camera
• Take a day trip somewhere fun (Stillwater, Duluth/Two Harbors, Taylors Falls)
• Go back to the deer farm
• Go back to Color Me Mine and paint more ceramics
• Get another pedicure with Madison

Where I've Been

The past couple months have been really hectic for us. After my gramma passed away a few months ago, my mom and uncle had to make a decision about what to do with her townhome. They didn't really want to sell it because of the market, but the homeowners association doesn't allow owners to rent out the houses. However, immediate family can move in if needed. Sharing a house with my parents had started to put a strain on our relationship and just didn't seem to be the right fit anymore. We started talking about the possibility of Zach, Madison and I moving into her place, and at first it was almost said in a joking way. After a while we started to talk about it a little bit more seriously to see if we could make it work for the 3 of us because my parents didn't think that it was big enough for the 2 of them (they have a LOT of stuff!) and would need alot of modifications if my uncle were to move in because he is in a wheelchair. Ultimately it is a little bit smaller than what we would like, but we can make it work and were excited to have a place of our own again after 4 years of sharing our rental house with my parents.

Because our lease was up at the end of May we needed to make a decision pretty quickly so that we could give our 2 month notice that we wouldn't be renewing our lease. Once we had pretty much decided that we were for sure going to move to Maple Grove (about an hour north of our old house), my parents decided to focus on finding a place in the north metro that was close to where we were moving. After they looked at maybe 5-6 places they found out that there was a townhome for sale that was right next to where we were going to be living. Each section has 4 units (2 upstairs and 2 downstairs) that share a main entrance area and my parents are buying a unit in the next set of 4 down from us. So when we go to our main entrance door and they go the theirs we are maybe 30 feet apart and can see each other. So far this setup has been amazing. We each have our own space and don't see each other every day, but are still super close which was important to us. Madison has lived with them her whole life and was used to going back and forth pretty much whenever she wanted. Part of why we moved in together in the first place was so that they could help out when I was in the hospital or not feeling well, but because we are so close we still have that if/when it is needed.

So over the past 3 months we have had to get through all of my gramma's things, figure out who was taking what, donate what no one wanted (and there is still a ton of stuff in our garage that hasn't been figured out yet), sort/pack all of our stuff up, and all of the cleaning/moving/organizing that comes along with a move. We, mostly Zach, also helped my parents move a lot of their stuff too. We didn't get a moving truck because we figured we would just gradually move stuff out there since we planned to be staying there at least a few weeks before we needed to be out of our old place. About half way through we realized that we had made a dumb choice and overall spent WAY more in gas for all of those trips than what we would have to just rent a truck. I guess we will know better for next time!

At this point we are almost completely settled in, we just have a few more boxes and need to get stuff up on the walls but we are waiting until after they get painted. The garage is still a disaster with some of my grammas stuff, some of my parents stuff, a bunch of things from when Madison was younger that at first we planned on keeping but have decided to sell, and some of our random stuff that we will organize on the shelves out there once we get the other stuff figured out.

So far we are really enjoying our new place. We are closer to Zach's parents, and my cousins and their families, and my uncle will be moving to the Maple Grove area in the next few months now that we are up here as well as his kids. We are looking forward to seeing everyone more often now that it is not such a long drive both ways to see each other. We are very excited that Madison will be able to be around her (2nd, 3rd, twice removed?) cousins, especially Isobel who is about a year older than her. We are going the get Madison in swim lessons and after she does level 1 then we are going to try and let the girls do it together.

So there you go, that's what we've been up to and why I have been slacking on bloging even more than usual. I have a bunch of ideas for different posts, and lots of cute pictures that I want to get up in the next few days and weeks, so I am going to try and get better about posting on a more consistant basis. Just so that this isn't just a long boring post that doesn't even have any pictures, I will leave you with one of my favorite recent pictures.

Ceramics, Pedicures, and the Circus (oh my!)

***Note-I started this a few weeks ago and am just finishing it up now***

Last week Madison and I were able to get out on many adventures together. First up was Color Me Mine, a studio where you go and paint ceramics and then they take care of everything else for you. Madison chose a cupcake where the top "frosting" comes off and she can put her treasures, and I painted a big mug. She had so much fun picking out her colors and painting it all. We were just able to go pick them up and I love how they turned out.

Working hard at painting her cupcake

Pretending to taste it!

The finished product!

After that we went to go get her first manicure and pedicure. I have been painting her toes since she was a baby, but this was the first time that she got to go have them done. She was so excited and loved putting her feet in the warm bubbly water and especially the flowers that they added. Unfortunately, she is like her mommy and nail polish comes off of her finger nails almost immediately after they are painted. The polish just peels off still intact, so I guess we will just have to stick to pedicures.

A few days later we were able to go to the circus while it was in town. She went last year with my husband and father-in-law and had a blast. This year she got to go with mommy and daddy and had a blast. We get there early so that she had plenty of time to do the fun stuff before the circus started. There were elephant rides, pony rides, face painting, a bouncy house, a big ride on train, and a place to take a picture with the clowns. She got to ride on the elephant once with each of us, go on a pony ride, and go in the bouncy house. The elephants were a huge hit, she would have rode on it all day long if we let her. She liked the animal acts the most, especially the tigers and elephants. She likes clowns from a distance, but when we walked up to one after the show she wanted nothing to do with him.

I love the chances that we have to get out of the house and do fun things that make lots of memories. Pretending to play circus or pedicure have become part of the norm around here, and she asks daily when we can go paint "ramics" again.

Five Question Friday-April Fools Edition

 

Rules for Five Question Friday: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog, answer them, then watch for the linky post to appear Friday morning and LINK UP! Remember, the most important rule of all is to HAVE FUN!
***Note-If you want to join in, head on over to Mama M's blog at www.fivecrookedhalos.blogspot.com

 

 

1. Have you ever had surgery?

• Hahaha...this one makes me laugh! I have had surgery more times than I can count. I have had my tonsills/adenoids/appendix/right ovary and tube/gall bladder all removed, have had surgery on my right wrist twice, needed to have ovarian cysts removed 4-5 times, I've had 3 surgeries on my pancreatic and common bile ducts to try and treat Sphincter of Oddi, and had a C-section when Madison was born. Those are the major ones that I can think of.

2. Ever ride in an ambulance?

• I have had a couple ambulance rides. The first time was when I was 7/8 I fell backwards down our stairs so I went to the hospital in an ambulance to make sure I hadn't broken anything in my back. At another point I was having issues passing out and my mom decided that I had passed out too many times in a row so she called an ambulance. The last time that I can think of was right after I had my ovary and tube removed once I was released from the hospital. Zach and I were watching TV and I told him I wasn't feeling right so I decided to call my mom, all I got out to her was "Mom, something's wrong" before I pretty much passed out. I was white as a ghost, and unresponsive. Once I got to the hospital they figured out that I had severe internal bleeding from the surgery. I had to spend about a week more in the hospital and have a few transfusions, but was finally able to get out of the hospital about a week before our wedding. 
   

3. How are you in a medical emergency? Panicked? Calm?

• I am very very calm. I don't freak out and just think about who needs to be called, or what needs to be done, etc. One possible exception to this could be if something major happened to Madison. She has been sick, even hospitalized as an infant, and had her share of boo-boos, but we've never been in a situation where she is extremely sick or severely injured.

 

4. Do you have a garden? Flowers or veggies?

• This past summer we had vegetables that we grew in lots of pots because we have lots and lots of wild bunnies that are known to eat everything in a traditional garden. Last year we grew green/red peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, and strawberries, but would like to do even more this year.

5. When did you move out of your parents house?

• Well technically I still live with my parents right now. We had been living in our own place, but when we found out I was pregnant we made the choice to have my parents and Zach and I move out of our apartments into a rental house. We have the top level and they have the lower level; we each have 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room area, and share the kitchen, dining room, laundry room. In the next month or two we will be moving into our own places again, but still very close. Zach, Madison, and I are moving into my gramma's townhouse/condo and my parents bought one that is in the next building over from ours. When Madison wants to go over to visit, we can walk to the front door and one of my parents can be waiting at their door to meet her. It gives us the convenience of being close, but still gives us our own space.

 

 

 

 

Confession...

I have a confession to make...I have become obsessed with couponing. Seriously, I started getting the Sunday paper 4-5 weeks ago so that I could start using some of the coupons in it, and it has just snowballed from there. I even have a binder all set up to organize my coupons. I use baseball card holders and then have them divided into categories so that I can easily find what I am looking for. It is like a game to me to see how much I can save each trip now. I especially love that when I go to Rainbow on Wednesday or Saturday, they double my coupons! Zach thought I had lost my mind and was making fun of me everytime I would start to cut or organize my coupons, but after how much I saved last week he has promised not to make fun of my new obsession. My last trip to the grocery store I got $135 worth of stuff but saved $63, I was way too excited over it and can't wait to see what I can save next time.

Whew, I feel much better now that I got that off of my chest.

A Tough Post To Write

The past month has been a tough one for us. My gramma found out in early January that her cancer had come back. She had throat cancer about 10 years ago, had radiation to treat it, and had been fine ever since. For the last few months she had been getting severe stomach pain and some pain that was higher up by her ribs. One night it got so bad that she called my mom to take her in to the Emergency Room and after an MRI they told her that she had a tumor that they were pretty sure was cancerous.
The next 2 weeks were agonizingly slow as she would see a doctor, wait a week, have a test, wait a week, see another doctor, etc. While we were still in the waiting process to find out a definitive diagnoses, she ended up in the ER again because even with strong pain meds at home, she was still in lots of pain. She was admitted to the hospital so that they could give her I.V. pain meds until the final test could be done a few days later. Unfortunately, she never ended up leaving the hospital. While she was there they told her that she had cancer in multiple organs, including her colon, lungs, and bones, and it was not treatable. Within a few days, the lung cancer spread like crazy and she started having trouble breathing and needed to be on large amounts of oxygen, so she decided to just stay in the hospital and move to the hospice area once a room opened up.

In the beginning of her hospitalization she was still pretty alert and able to talk to us, she just got tired faster and slept more from all of the pain medicine. The first week or so, while they were still running tests and deciding how to proceed, my mom was with her to help her remember what the doctors had said and help her decide what she wanted to do. The second week, after we knew that things were progressing quickly, she was put on a continuous drip of pain meds to make sure that her pain was controlled. Either my mom or I were with her from then on, with other people staying and helping sometimes too. Two nights, about a week before she passed away, I was able to convince my mom to go home and get some rest, so I was alone with her. Those times were so special to me because we were able to talk a little bit, and I was able to tell her many times how much I loved her and how much she meant to me. I also spent much of my time just holding her hand while she slept, just enjoying what I knew were my last days with her. The last 5 days or so, I was at the hospital all the time because it was important to me that I be there at the very end.

On ‎February 5th at 1:15am, with my mom, uncle, and I by her side, she took her final breath and went to meet her husband in heaven. My gramma has always been one of my favorite people in the whole world. Growing up we would go over there and have dinner with her and my grampa at least once a week and a lot of times I would end up spending the night over there. I was there so much that I had a bus stop at her house as well as my normal one at our house. We would play cards together, do puzzles, go shopping, and just hang out. She had a great relationship with Madison, and I am so glad that she got to know her great gramma. It was so hard trying to explain that great gramma was going to go away and she wouldn't see her anymore, but she is handling it well and seems to understand what is going on with a maturity well beyond her 3 years. She got to come to the hospital a couple of times to say goodbye, She is lucky to have lots of memories with her, and we have pictures and video to help her remember. I miss her almost daily calls to ask if I was watching Dr. Phil, or Oprah, or some Lifetime movie. I miss her inviting herself over and just showing up at our house unannounced. Most of all I miss just being able to talk to her and hug her.

 I could not have survived all of this without so many people, especially Zach who had Madison almost all on his own for almost a week, and his parents who helped watch her when he couldn't. Knowing that she was taken care of so that I could be at the hospital was the most helpful thing they could have done for me. I also couldn't have gotten through it without my parents, my uncle, my cousins, and my faith. Knowing that she is in a better place where she can finally be with my grampa again (after 18 years apart), along with the support of my family and friends, gives me the peace and strength I need when the grief starts to feel like it is just to much.

Sesame Street Live Round 2

Tonight, for the second year in a row, we had the chance to take Madison to see Sesame Street Live. Her grandparents got us the tickets as a Christmas gift. She had so much fun (except for when we had to walk from the parking ramp to the Target Center) and had been looking forward to it ever since we told her that we were going to go again. We had great seats that were 3 rows up from being on the floor. After intermission we decided, since no one was sitting in any of the seats in front of us, to sneak up a few rows so that we were in the first row of seats that weren't on the floor. Madison loved being able to shake her groove thing on the floor with a few other kids, it was sooo cute! Close to the end we even went up the aisle really close to the stage to see if she could hug or high-5 one of the characters, but by the time we did that none of them came into the aisle again.

She got to bring her Abby Cadabby doll, her Elmo light up spinner thing that she got last year when we went, and wore her Abby shirt. We got a bucket of mini doughnuts and a blue raspberry snow cone that turned her lips, mouth, and teeth blue pretty much the second she took her first bite! During intermission they bring out tons of big balloons in the shape of Elmo's head which, despite telling her before hand that we weren't going to get one, she told us she NEEDED! Last year we told her that she could have one, and when Zach came back with it I could not believe that it cost $10 for it. Fortunately she was pretty easily distracted during the remainder of intermission until they took the balloons away. She was able to get a bunch of streamers that were shot out at the end of the show.

It was such a fun night and we are definitely planning to go again next year. It is so fun her see her reactions to seeing her friends that she sees on TV.

Her blue mouth from the snow cone!

Abby and Elmo are her favorite.

Dancing to the music. 

After the show, getting ready to face the freezing temps.

Christmas Card Pictures

Over the past couple of days we have been trying to get some fun pictures of Madison for our Christmas card. Since the year that we got married we have sent out a picture card, first one from our wedding and then a family picture of the 3 of us for the following years. This year Zach and I were not real excited to be in the picture and just were not feeling it. The couple of family shots that we have from the past few months have at least one of us (mostly Madison) looking away or doing something weird. We don't have a whole lot of all 3 of us because either Zach or I take the picture so we are not in it. It doesn't help that Madison pretty much hates getting her picture taken and our nice SLR camera broke about a month after we got it. I am so sad that it broke because when we had it I was taking pictures all the time and having fun learning all the things that I could do with it. We are trying to decide if we should fix the one we have, that we got used off of craigslist, or spend just a little bit more and get a new one. Either way it's just not in the budget to fix it right now.

 So we pretty much had to start from scratch for good pictures. We tried to make it fun for her and saying that we are playing dress up, which we are, but we just try to down play the part about taking her picture. We have gotten a few cute ones, a few funny ones, and a whole lot of the moving/looking away/jumping/etc. Here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

Playing dress-up in her Snow White outfit

"Mom, this is what I think of all these pictures. No More!"

This one is my absolute favorite, it shows off her personality so well!

Sleeping Beauty

A few days ago, right before nap time, Madison was running around the house being crazy and literally as I was telling her to slow down so that she didn't get hurt, she tripped and hit her head on the corner of the table. After lots of tears, an ice pack, some juice, and some snuggle time she was doing much better except for a few sniffles or little cries here and there. I put her on the couch with her blankies and a few books while I ran downstairs to start some laundry and when I got back upstairs, this is what I saw...

So I scooped her up, and we headed into my bedroom to take a nice afternoon nap together. So sweet!

JC Penny & Salvation Army Angel Giving Tree

This year for Christmas Zach and I made the decision to "adopt" a child for Christmas. JC Penny and the Salvation Army make it so easy to find the child that is right for you, just visit www.jcp.com/angel and from there you enter in your personal preferences for the child you want to adopt. You can choose whether you want a boy or a girl, where they are from, and what age group they fall into. Then you get a list of the kids that match what you entered and you choose the child for you. Each child has a list of things that they need and things that they want. You have until the 14th (I think) of December to drop off items for your adopted child, so there is still plenty of time to jump in and help out if you feel moved to do so! There is also a bunch more information on the website if you have any questions.

It really put things in perspective to see what these children were putting that they wanted/needed. Virtually every need was an article of clothing and the wants were one or two small things, like books or a baby doll or a cd. Compare that to how many things end up on alot of kids Christmas list, always wanting the newest and best toys/electronics/etc. It was a great opportunity to take Madison with when we went shopping and explain to her that not all boys and girls have a toy box full of toys, a bookcase full of books, and a closet overflowing with clothes. I know that she doesn't completely "get" it yet, but she understands the basic idea of why we are doing this and we can build on that.

Our adopted child is a 6 month old little girl and all that her mommy put on the list is that she needs shirts and wants some childrens cds. It is possible that I went a little bit overboard and got all sorts of fun clothes and toys, but I'm not willing to admit to anything! It is just so fun to shop for a baby and think about all of the things that Madison loved at that age that this little girl might love too. I honestly think that I have gotten more out of this experience than the adopted family ever could. It truly is better to give than to receive.

Fun Fall Five Question Friday

One of my blogging "friends", Mama M, hosts a weekly blog hop called Five Question Friday over on her blog at http://fivecrookedhalos.blogspot.com It is super easy to join in if you would like to, and a fun way to find out more about each other. For me it's also a great gentle nudge that reminds me that maybe I should go do a post of my own. Often I start posts and then have to go do something else and then when I come back a few days later, it just doesn't seem to be all that interesting. If you want to join in, all you have to do is copy and paste the questions on your blog, answer the questions, and head over to Mama M's blog to link up.

1. If you could be a fly on any wall, which would you choose?I have been trying to think of a good answer to this question and just can't think of anything really. The one thing that keeps coming up in my mind is that I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall backstage and a performance of Rent. Kinda cheesy I know, but I am a huge renthead so it is kind of fitting I guess.

2. Do you budget your Christmas shopping or just get it done without budgeting?I have ballpark budget. We have a ballpark budget, meaning I know about how much we can/will spend but if we go over by a little bit it's no big deal. I usually have a list of the things that we have decided the get for each person on our list so that helps too.

3. What is the craziest fad diet you have ever done?I've never really done any fad diets, because I know that even if you see results in the beginning from a fad diet, in most cases it won't last. My best friend and I tried some diet pills that we had seen at Walgreens earlier that day, but both stopped after one dose when my dad told us that the ingredients were basically the same thing as speed. I'm honestly not sure if that's true or not, but it sure scared us away from using them.

I am thinking about joining weight watchers, but don't really think of that as a fad diet.

4. Is there a TV show that you have seen every episode/season of?There are actually quite a few; Friends, Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls, Boy Meets World, Law and Order SVU, and 24. There's probably even more but seeing how many I have already listed, I feel like it seems like all I do every day is sit and watch TV.

I watched all of them when they were on the air(and still watch most of them in re-runs sometimes), but I also have each of those shows on DVD and have watched some or all of the episodes of a show when I have been in the hospital. They all made a hospital stay at least a little bit more tolerable.

5. What one song always pulls at your heart?The Christmas Shoes always makes me tear up a little. And recently any of the Veggie Tales praise and worship songs that Madison can now song all the words too. It is so cute hearing her sweet little voice start singing Thy Word, In the Secret, and I Could Sing of Your Love Forever. It totally melts my heart and brings a little tear to my eyes.

The weather here the past few days has been out of this world. It has been sunny and in the low 80's while showing off the beauty of Minnesota fall. We have taken advantage of this nice weather and squeezed every last drop of outdoor fun that we can get. We have been to the park, played in our sandbox, ran around in the back yard chasing each other, and played on the swings. We sat out on the deck tonight and watched the sunset while the wonderful smell of a bonfire at a neighbors house topped off an amazing weekend. I love fall and everything that comes along with it. I love the cooler weather (but not the frigid temperatures that will be here all too soon), finding the perfect pumpkins and carving them, jumping in a pile of leaves with Madison, drinking a cup of hot apple cider or hot chocolate, and going for walks picking up pretty leaves.

We had planned on heading to the apple orchard/pumpkin farm today, but ended up staying home. We are all dealing with a nasty cold bug and decided a day of taking it easy was just what the doctor ordered. We are trying to decide if this is just a simple cold that is hanging around a little longer than normal or if it is something that we should get checked out by a doctor. I think that how we feel tomorrow will decide what we do.

I just got Madison back to sleep after a coughing fit woke her up, so I am finally going to head to bed myself.

Madison's Birthday Recap

Once again I have failed in my attempts to be a better blogger. Shortly after our new (to us) camera stopped working, our computer decided that it was going on strike too and needed a new hard drive before it would work again. But it is now back in working order and better than ever. If only our camera was under warranty like the computer, I would be so happy. 

At the end of August, my baby turned three years old. I remember the night she was born like it was yesterday,what I remember most is looking at her just in awe of the fact that I had something to do with her being here. Driving home from the hospital I kept waiting for someone to tell me that there had been some mistake and I couldn't take her home with me. These past few years have been the best years of my life. I love my new role as a wife and mommy, and feel so blessed to have the family that I do.

The night of her birthday, Zach and I took her to Chuck E Cheese and she had a blast! She loved throwing the balls for ski-ball, the only problem was that they were never thrown hard enough to make in up the whole ramp and the ball occasionally wound up on the next persons ramp. They also had a little merry go round that she rode on about 100 times. We had a small cake for her and she loved blowing out the candles after we sang Happy Birthday to her.

She also had 2 birthday parties this year. The weekend after her birthday we had one with my side of the family at our house. Nothing really special; we just grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, let the kids go out back to jump in the bouncy house while the adults chatted, ate some cake, and opened her gifts. I think she was most excited about having everyone sing to her, and seeing baby Gavin. She really in completely in love with him. The next weekend Zach's parents planned a birthday get together with some of his family at an awesome park that I have fallen in love with (highland park). Zach's sister, aunt, uncle, and a few cousins were in town from Colorado and that made it even better. Zach's cousin Corie and her husband had her baby, who we have never met, with her so it was really fun. Zach, Annie and I took Madison on her first paddle boat ride and she thought that was the coolest thing. It is always so fun to see her experience things for the first time.

Even though Madison could have started preschool this fall, we made the decision to hold off on that until next year. We have been working on numbers and letters for a while now, but I am going to start having some scheduled "school time" with her a few days a week to work on them. We are also going to give Your Baby Can Read a try. My gramma has called every time she sees the infomercial for it and is convinced that we should give it a try so I finally caved and said I would give it a try, I think it will be fun to have that school time together and it will help her be more prepared for when she does start school.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Madison loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse each morning while she wakes up. She is not always the happiest when she first wakes up, so we snuggle with her blanket and let her wake up at her own pace. Every time the show ends she asks if she can watch "one more and that's it" A few weeks ago my dad saw a pop up on the computer that could have your childs favorite Mickey character give them a call, so he checked it out. Not only will they call at whatever time you set up with them, but they will also call your child by name. So we have set up a phone call for Madison twice in the past few weeks and have a call set up for her birthday so that Mickey can wish her a happy birthday. She loves getting the calls and gets so excited that they know her name. If you want more info on this, check out  http://disney.go.com/charactercalls/piccolinismiles/

Can't A Girl Get Some Sleep?!?

For some unknown reason, I have been having the hardest time falling asleep lately. Each night I take enough medicine to knock out a horse, and normally it turns me into a walking zombie around 11ish like clockwork. But lately, I find myself wide awake at 4:00am and unable to sleep if my life depended on it. I have had time to do some reading, watch lots of mindless TV, catch up on some cleaning, and steal a few minutes to just watch my baby girl sleep.

At first it was kind of fun to have some "me" time to do all of the things I just don't seem to have enough hours to accomplish, but that novelty is wearing off. I feel like I have a newborn in the house again, and I just need a normal night of sleep. Before I get to busy complaining, I should say that I am so lucky that Zach has a flexible schedule and has been able to let me sleep in some once I finally am able to fall asleep (around 6am or so). Because of his schedule we keep a pretty relaxed schedule at home. There are lots of nights where Madison stays up until daddy gets home from work at 10ish so that she can say good night to him because she is able to sleep in the next day. It works well for us because we get a few minutes of family time before she goes to sleep and because when she sleeps in the next morning, it means that we can too! So even though things could be much worse on the sleep front, I am getting tired of the late night infomercials. Eventually things have to get back to normal right?

Man that looks so nice right now!

Long Overdue Post and Some Cute Pictures

Over the past 2 months I have started to write a new post quite a few times, but haven't finished them for one reason or another. A couple I wanted to add a few pictures to and our camera isn't working right now, a couple more I just had to stop to do something else and never finished them, and the last couple I decided were not interesting enough to post. But a few people  have mentioned that they miss the updates, so here I am again. Hopefully I will finally be able to keep up with some regular posts, if there is anything anyone would like me to blog about feel free to ask. I have trouble coming up with ideas that I think anyone wants to hear me talk about. At the end of this post I will put in some pictures that we had taken today since it has been well over a year since we have had professional pictures taken.

So here is a recap of some of the things that we have been up to in the past 2 months (in no particular order)

• We have spent countless hours out in the backyard playing on the play set or in the pool.
• We have worked on ABC's and 123's and she can count to 15 and recognize those numbers if she sees them, sing her ABC's and recognize some letters.
• We have sang at church and Madison "helps"  and sings with her own microphone
• We have watched lots of Twins games and Zach got to go to a game with a friend (I'm only slightly jealous).
• We have had lots of time to just relax with my family and Zach's parents. Zach's sister Annie came in to town over Memorial day weekend and we had lots of fun together. We went to the horse races at Canterbury Downs, ate at Lions Tap, and had a picnic/birthday party for Zach at an awesome park.
• We have tackled potty training and, with the exception of nights, seem to have mastered that.
• Saw some friends from out of town who have their own Mady who is only a few months older than Madison, and had a fun night watching them play together.
• Madison's speech has improved so much. She is officially out of speech therapy and is able to tell us what she wants/needs and I only have to translate to other people once in a while.
• Me, my mom, my gramma, and Madison went up to Grand Casino Hinckley and stayed at the Inn (a much smaller hotel) for a couple days and had lots of fun in the pool.
• Have watched hundreds of episodes of Mickey Mouse (she usually wants the same episode EVERY. SINGLE. DAY)
• Between Madison and I, we have spent way to many hours at doctor appointments, urgent care clinics, and ER's (with some short stays as an inpatient as well).
• Have enjoyed lots and lots of hugs, kisses, smiles, giggles, and snuggles with Madison. It's possible that a couple of those hugs or kisses may have been shared with my husband, but I can't be sure :)

Lovin on my Little Ladybug

Tonight was one of those moments that just melt a mothers heart and make all of the bad things disappear from your mind. After a very long day that included Madison refusing to nap, a super cranky 2 year old, and a trip to the ER (for me), Madison made me forget about all of it in about 2 seconds flat. We got home and she just wrapped her legs around me like a monkey and wouldn't let go. We snuggled up on the couch and she was out cold in a matter of minutes. I just sat there savoring each minute of having her asleep on me, knowing that all to soon she won't want to cuddle with her mom anymore. It was the perfect end to a not so perfect day.

It Isn't Easy Being Green

More and more I find myself wanting to move towards a "green" lifestyle. I know that we will never be the family that has a big compost pile, only eats organic food, and sells our cars so we can ride our bikes anywhere that we need to go, but I have been able to slowly get my husband on board with some small changes.

We have started to eat some organic foods. Our finances won't allow us to dive in completely so we have decided that our main focus will be on fruits and vegetables that don't have a peel that gets thrown away like berries, apples, and grapes. We will not worry as much about melons or oranges. My next goal is to start incorporating some organic meats, and dairy products. We have gotten organic milk for Madison from the time that she could drink milk so now that she drinks skim milk like us I have no real reason or explanation for why we don't drink it ourselves. I guess I figured that if someone was going to have the expensive milk it should be her. But we have committed to make some other changes or sacrifices so that we can afford to add in more organic foods into our daily meals.

I also decided that it would be fun to plant some vegetables of our own. However I failed to remember that my only gardening experience was a small barrel of flowers when I was maybe six or seven. I may have planted our vegetables a tad to early and did nothing to protect them from the cold at night...oops! So now that it has warmed up some more I am going to pull out the dead plants and try again with some new ones. We are planting tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red and orange peppers, snap peas, and maybe a few more if I get inspired when I go get them tomorrow.

I have started to buy natural cleaning products and using some household products as some of our cleaners as well. I have been toying with the idea of trying to make my own laundry soap, but I'm not sure if I will like it or not. I love when my clothes come out smelling like our fabric softener. I have also heard of using vinegar instead of fabric softener but I don't really think I would like that because again I love the way fabric softener makes my clothes smell and I HATE the smell of vinegar.

Finally, as crazy as my family thinks it is, I have been thinking that I want to give cloth diapering a try if we are blessed enough to have another baby. I have had the idea on my mind since before Madison was born but never felt like I had enough support to give it a try. Zach wasn't crazy about the idea and my parents were/are dead set against it. But Zach and I have been talking about it more and more so he has decided that we can at least give it a try and see how it goes. He also said that we should wait to worry about it until we actually are pregnant again :)

So I guess we will just see how things go in the coming weeks and months. We are committed to make an effort to do these things and if nothing else it will help us to grow closer to each while we figure out what works and what doesn't. Each little baby step is a step in the right direction so we will just keep trying to make choices that work for us and make us feel like we are doing the right thing for us.

Wedding Pictures Volume 2

I have finally finished sorting through all of our wedding pictures and have been enjoying playing around with them using photoshop elements. Our trial of it is about to expire and I'm already coming up with reasons to convince my hubby that we need to buy it!  Here are a few more of my favorite wedding pictures.

Our first dance together as husband and wife!

My dad is awesome! I love the smile he has and the bubbles make it fun too.

We could not have asked for a better group of friends and family to be a part of our special day.

These girls have been there in the good times and the bad.

There is something so mischievous about this picture.