Surviving

We've been in survival mode for a long time. I'm kinda over it. I'm attempting to get all my photos organized and while sorting through some today, I could see how much our life has taken a toll on both myself and Cony physically. Sorting through these photos also made me ache for Connecticut fiercely but reminded myself to just be thankful we had such a wonderful experience there... To survive the time of day after nap and before dinner, we spend a lot of time in the girls rooms if we aren't outside. In another attempt to keep a commitment to myself that I would pick up my "real" camera more instead of the trusty iPhone... I decided to start documenting the everyday happy and not so happy moments. These are the days I know I'll ache for when my babies have left me. The moments when Maddie steals my phone and runs to hide, or find her reading a book to her babies or watching Olive crawl and climb on sister- what seems like to purposely annoy her. 

10 Month Olive

There is so much to catch up on but before I let another day go by, I needed to document Miss Olive's 10 month mark. She is so scrumptious and now that she is becoming more mobile, sister has taken a liking to playing with her more. 

*starting walking with a "walker"
*has 8 teeth (cut 4 in one week!)
*very animated with her facial expressions
*moves her whole body the second music comes on
*clapping! 
*eats mostly solid foods (seems like it happened over night)
*still waking me up at least twice during the night- feel like she may never stop nursing
*loves Gracie and tries to use her as a chewing toy- no worries, I stop her
*sticks her tongue out all the time
*still loves a good snuggle
*loves to head-butt me or Cony if we are holding her and thinks it's hilarious
*her giggle consist of loud, short noises--hoping she doesn't have my loud laugh
*wearing Madelyn's 12-18 month clothes (I swear I just took out of her drawer)
*loves bath time! 

If my girls, time and my body would allow me, I would just hold them all day long and never let them grow up. 

9 month Olive

This little girl brings so much happiness into our home. She still doesn't sleep through the night and I could care less. We were on such a great schedule with Madelyn, I thought for sure we'd do the same with Olive. However, I've learned for me, time goes by to quickly to worry about any sort of schedule. Maybe she'll sleep through the night when she weans, which may be never. Oy vay. 

At nine months, she is blabbing, crawling and climbing up on everything, including the stairs. I never want to forget the huge grin she has on her face when we walk into her room after a nap. A few of her favorite new things to do includes grabbing sisters pacifier out of her mouth or stealing her water bottle. When she's in her highchair, she rocks back and forth out of excitement at the possibility of being fed. I can't get the food in her mouth fast enough. In the last month she has but 3 new teeth.  She's 19.2 pounds and her height is still off the charts. I believe Cony is most proud that her head circumference is still in the 70 percentile (joking that she has my big head). Big head or not, we love her so. 

Maddie Moo

Another month has come and gone and Spring is in the air. I'm so thankful Spring is in the air. It's doing a lot of good to my soul. We are in our new home and although our to-do list is a mile long, it's comforting to know it's ours. We haven't painted one wall and I've still got the ugly curtains up the previous owner left. I surprise myself. But to avoid an anxiety attack, I just take one day at a time and consider it a successful day if I have dinner on the table. 

Last week Cony had an emergency surgery to remove his appendix and we experienced a lot of tender mercies. Tuesday morning I had a newborn photography shoot that just happened to be 3 minutes away from his work. Not only that, the newborn was a dream. These type of shoots normally take three or so hours, but I was in and out in an hour and a half. The baby slept the entire time and didn't pee on anything or anyone. These two little miracles are what prompted me that we did indeed need to head to the ER. He had surgery later that night and the healing process is slow but he's back at work and back to pestering me in his loving way. 

Madelyn has changed so much. I forget how quickly these babies do change. Week to week is different. One thing that is consistent... her fearlessness. After dragging a chair over to the kitchen counter, she'll climb up and jump down while flying through the air. Everyday there is something funny, frustrating and intelligent she does that makes me question if we'll be able to keep up with her. 

Maddie highlights: 

-"Me try!!" just turned into "Let me try!" this week
-"Catch" while throwing most anything 
-"Hug Mama, I want a hug!" -- although my favorite, she seems to say it mostly when she knows she's in trouble
-puts on her hat and shoes, gathers her purse and walks to the door with no pants on, blows me kisses and says "bye bye mama"
-after going to the potty she yells "treeeeat!" 
-unfortunately she's found a lot of comfort in her pacifiers lately (an issue I don't have the energy to fight, I mean I did suck my thumb for a very long time myself)  In order to get a snack she hid her pacifier in between her bum and thighs to free up her hands
-loves, loves to hide- mostly in the washing machine
-loves to help me stir anything I'm cooking 
-her adoration for animals keeps growing
-after using the potty she puts her head on the floor and her bum in the air for me to wipe her hinny 
-yells "got you!" even if you were the one to grab her
-"it's ME!" "it's NANA!" "it's DADA!" "it's MAMA!" 
- calls my sister Emily "her pretty"
-love hearing her say Olive's name and calling her sister

We are so fortunate to have these girls in our lives!