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! 

8 month Olive

In a perfect world, I'd be caught up on our life and I wouldn't be dealing with anxiety. But I live in a world of reality where I'm lucky if I shower and have to work.

Our girls bring us so much joy. There are moments in the day where I think my heart might physically burst from happiness or pure pain. Today Olive is 8 months old and she is still as sweet as ever but not afraid to let you know when she's unhappy. For the last week we've been fighting off high fevers and not until we took her into the ER (after a 105.1 fever!!) did we learn she has a UTI. Doctor wants to run some test to make sure her track is working properly although UTI's are very common in girls. I'm just thankful she's feeling better on the antibiotic and showing signs of herself again. 

OCM at 8 months:

* 3 teeth
*blabbing 
*crawling fast as lightning 
*standing up in crib
*grabbing faces with a fierce movement 
*loves to snuggle
*ticklish under her chin and neck
* feeding herself
*has no problem "standing" up to sister 
*scrunches her face up when super happy
*loves giving me raspberries on my neck 

7 month OCM

It's heartbreaking to realize our baby is closer to being a one year old. How does this happen?? She is gentle and sweet but mostly an observer and we can't get enough of her. 

7 month highlights:

*first tooth broke through (second one is on the way)

*cheeks are red from teething 

*gets up on all fours and throws herself forward- it's not really a crawl but she gets where she wants

*loves rubbing noses

*goes stiff when tickled 

*loves solid foods-she screams/grunts when she sees her cup of food

*doesn't seem to mind getting trampled on by big sister

*grabbing things from sister (including hair)

*yep, still spits up 

*loves bath time

*most happy when being cuddled or held (although independent on the floor)

Snow, snow, ice and traffic...

Cony is stranded in the middle of the city after the most crazy snow day known to man and it seemed appropriate to document some happy moments. We knew it was going to snow, but that usually just means a flurry here and there. Instead we got two inches which has forced the Governor to issue a state of emergency. Everyone in the city of Atlanta was released from work and school at the same time. Traffic here is already a hot mess. It's been black/grid locked since noon. Parents still can't reach school children that are stuck on buses. Make fun of us Southerners all you want- but our state has 3 plow machines (maybe less) and we are not equipped to handle this sort of weather. I've never truly appreciated Facebook until this evening. After posting something about our situation (still in the mindset Cony would be home tonight) so many friends reached out to us, offering help. Our church community is amazing and Cony is now enjoying a warm, happy home with friends we knew years ago from church. 

Before we knew the seriousness of the situation at hand, Madelyn had a blast throwing snow and making snow angels with Jordan. I'm personally hoping to enjoy the weather more fully tomorrow when Cony is home with us. 

OCM at 6 months

Our Olive just melts me. Whether she's just staring at me with her big blue eyes and giggling, letting me rub her soft cheeks, snuggling my shoulder while we dance or waking up with the biggest grin possible... I can't get enough. One of the many reasons I don't care she still wakes up in the middle of the night for a feeding. She's only this small for a moment. 

6 month highlights

* rolling from one side of the room to the other
*sitting up like a champ
*grabbing, grabbing and more grabbing
*trying so hard to crawl- she's almost figured out how to pull her knees in under her
*eating more solids
*spitting up has decreased some- at this point I feel I'll be sending her off to college with a burp rag

Christmas 2013

Another Christmas has come and gone and I'm anxious to start a new year. It was a low key Christmas and that's how I like it best. Maddie learned how to say "ho, ho, ho" every time she saw a Santa and Olive enjoyed sitting under the tree mesmerized by the lights. As I get older and especially now that we're parents, I realize each year how I want to center the holiday more on Christ and not the presents.