Welcome March

With February now behind us, I was really hoping for some warmer weather. While my fingers are still crossed, I'm not holding my breath since a BIG snow storm is being predicted for tonight.  I'm ok with that if it means enough snow for sledding! But I am looking forward to warmer days that lie ahead (hopefully in the near future)! 

Here's just a few pictures from our ONE warm day this past week. My friend Melissa found the coolest park and so after getting home from California, we loaded up our girls and went to check it out! I had to share a few of these pictures. I just love how Melissa captured Madi's complete excitement of such simple things!

Like the slide.....

And the swings.....

And check out these mac daddy swings......

Who wouldn't love it!?

20 Months

Wow did February seem to fly by! Madi's now 20 months old and I've been struggling to come up with new things that she's doing. Now that she's getting older, the changes each month seem to be more subtle than they use to be. However, being away from Spencer for 2 weeks let me know that she really is still changing- I just don't notice it! When we got back, Spencer commented that Madi was "different". When I questioned "how" he said her hair is longer and her talking is much more clear! So now I have two things that I can note for this month!
1) Her hair is definitely longer (probably because I haven't taken scissors to it this month)! While I've wanted to cut it, I'm afraid that I won't be able to get it all up in a pony tail anymore! Yep, she can now wear her hair in a ponytail and ALL of it stays up! I took a few pictures the other day as proof!



2) As for her talking, her enunciation is improving every day! She's very clear and I usually can always understand what she's saying. She also has the cutest phrases that she thinks are SO funny (probably because she's copied them from Spencer and I and we always laugh when she says them) like:
-"Oh, Man!"
-"Be kiddin me!" (which translates to "You gotta be kidding me!")
-"Pease ta meet you" (she picked this up from a toy at my parents' house that says, "Pleased to meet you!")
-"Oh my goodness"

As I was thinking about Madi this month, I realized that I've never mentioned certain things about her personality before. Instead, I usually just type up the new stuff she's doing. So, here's just a couple of other things I wanted to make sure get documented:

* Madi's the type of kid that doesn't get into stuff she shouldn't (for the most part). When she does, I freak out and then that's usually the last time it happens. I've never really had to "child-proof" our house. It's funny though, because while she knows her boundaries at our house, this isn't always true when going to other peoples houses. Like at my parents house, she was obsessed about going through their bathroom drawers, pulling stuff out, bringing it to me, and telling me what it was (or what she thought it was)! She rarely goes through drawers at home. Instead, she's more like me in that she's obsessed with closing cupboards and drawers. If somethings open, Madi closes it. When I tell her it's garbage, she throws it away. She's pretty obedient and I'm very grateful for it.

*Madi doesn't run off when I set her on the ground. Well, she doesn't run very much at all actually. She's a very cautious/careful child. When we get out of the car I set her on the grass and tell her to go into the house- and she does. She's never tempted to run out into the street or take off in another direction. Makes my job a LOT easier!

*Friends are now a very big part of Madi's life. She'll be super cranky and then as soon as she's with other kids, she just wants to laugh, and follow them around. She also finally talks about other kids without me bringing it up. She'll see pictures of her cousins, know who they are and ask about them by name.

*Being the obedient child that she is, I've also found her to be a little bossy with her friends (which doesn't make me very happy). She'll make sure she tells someone "NO" if they're not doing something she doesn't think they should do. I hope to change this though- when I was teaching, it was the bossy kids that always got on my nerves.

BIG thanks to Melissa for more AMAZING pics of Madi from this past month! 

It's a GIRL!!

And doesn't Madi look happy about it!

Make your Prediction!

Yesterday marked my half-way point for baby #2's arrival! Twenty weeks down, twenty more to go! Our ultrasound is scheduled for TOMORROW morning! I can hardly wait! My first ultrasound was done when I was only 8 weeks along, so there wasn't a whole lot to see yet. I'm super excited to see our baby again, see how it's growing and especially to find out what we're having! While we don't care either way, my thoughts are that it'll be another girl, Spencer's thinking a boy, and Madi- well, here's Madi's thoughts about having a brother or sister:



It seriously took me like 5 other video taping attempts to get that out of her! I think Madi's pretty sick of Spencer and I asking her about baby girls or baby boys. Every video attempt resulted in either Madi ignoring me, becoming totally silly, or her giving me that "you've got to be kidding me" stare. She'll talk about it off the camera though. She always wants to look under my shirt to see baby. Then she'll give my stomach a kiss and say "wrap it up" while she pulls my shirt back down.


SO, what's your guess?? Be sure to make your predictions now! Then check back tomorrow to hear the results!

As for a 20 week update, I feel like I popped these last two weeks. There's no hiding this pregnant belly now! I've already felt the baby move and those feelings of complete excitement have returned! I do love being pregnant and really can't complain.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Now that we're home again, I've had some time to upload the pictures that I took while Madi and I were in California and I'm totally kicking myself now because I did NOT document the second part of our trip as well as I should have. Spencer was asking me if I got a picture of this or of that and I started to get really sad. Sorry mom and dad, I have no pictures of the four of us, or even of you guys both with Madi. I guess this means I need to start planning a trip back! Luckily, I did remember to whip out my video camera alot. So at least I have that as a reminder of all the fun we shared!


Even though I don't have a lot of pictures, I HAD to write about the final weekend spent with my parents. We'd been trying to think of something fun that Madi would enjoy doing and finally decided on heading south to Monterey for the weekend. There on the coast is one of the World's best aquariums! My parents couldn't pass up becoming season members so that we could go.

I don't think I've ever seen Madi so excited about something before. Friday afternoon Madi refused to go down for a nap because she was SO excited! The last couple of days before this we'd been talking about going to see the fish, dolphins, penguins, and sharks. Well, instead of napping, I found Madi standing in her bed, talking about "goin see dolphins.... and fishies!" So, I got her up, we packed up the car and took off for Monterey. After checking into our hotel, we walked down to the beach and tried getting some pretty ocean shots.




While it was a beautiful afternoon, Madi wasn't feeling that great and so we didn't last long. We took off for the aquarium to get a sneak peak and plan out our day for Saturday. Madilyn was in HEAVEN!! While watching the hammerheads, sting rays, and barracudas swim by, she entertained the people sitting around us with her commentary: "WHOA, SO many!" and "Oh my goodness!" I have to admit, it was pretty funny to hear her reaction to all the BIG fishies. Here's a short clip of just a few of the fish we got to see.



After a crazy night with a toddler sleeping in the bathroom, awake at 3:30am, and NOT going to go back to bed, Mom and dad took Madi off my hands at 6:30am and headed out to the beach. I joined them an hour later after some much needed mommy alone time to gather my sanity and get myself ready for the day. I found Madi and Papa relaxing in the lounge, by the fire, watching the surfers attempting to catch a wave or two (couldn't help but miss Spencer).


After a relaxing morning and a short nap, we were ready to head back to the Aquarium. What a fantastic day we had! Madi's favorites (which I'm sure she'll be asking about the rest of the week) were the penguins, jelly fish, touch pools, and all the BIG fishies.




I had to include some video footage that I got of the penguins during feeding time. My sister-in-law and her college roommate (now a good friend of mine) are major penguin lovers (a little on the obsessed side if you ask me :), so these videos are for you Lindsay and Stacie! Enjoy!





Dad had to get Madi a little momento to remember her trip by. Here's Madi sporting her new Monterey Bay Aquarium hoodie!


Thanks Dad and Mom for the AMAZING weekend and the FABULOUS trip to California!! We miss you guys already!

We're BACK!

Madi and I flew out of Oakland this morning at 6am and as much as I really DON'T want to talk about it, I figured I should document my LEAST favorite flight with Madilyn! This flight was an hour shorter than flying to California, but 10 times WORSE!! Let's just say, waking Madi up at 4am and trying to get her to take a nap on a PACKED airplane= BAD NEWS!! That's right, it was one of "those" flights! The one where everyone is looking at YOUR kid and plugging their ears. Ya, the lady sitting across the aisle from me would plug her ears every time Madi would start crying! Luckily, no one was mean or gave me bad looks (good thing cause I would have given it right back to them)! Madi was one of about 15 kids on the plane so I know most people understood. When getting off the plane, one guy commented in passing, "Don't think you're the only one who's ever gone through that!" It made me feel a little better!

I was rejoicing when I saw Spencer waiting for us at the gate leading into the baggage claim. I was glad he'd decided to park and come in, because out of every mom on the plane, I was the ONLY one who didn't have their stroller waiting at the door as we got off the plane. I secretly think it was their way of punishing me for having the loudest child on the flight! After filing a missing stroller claim and gathering my bags, the stroller luckily turned up! PUNISHMENT OVER!! Madi was an angel the whole drive home (must've forgotten about how tired she'd been just an hour earlier); quietly reading her books, allowing Spencer and I time to chat!

Long story short, we're now home, unpacked and already adjusted to East coast time (Madi was in bed just after 6pm tonight)! Spencer definitely gets the award for being the BEST dad/husband ever! The house was immaculate, grocery shopping done, and he even surprised me by framing, and hanging pictures on our BARE dining room wall (something I've been wanting to do for MONTHS)! Madi was thrilled to see all of her toys again! Her daddy left her a cute welcome home note on her easel.

Here Comes the SUN!

The sun here in Northern California has finally arrived! The first few days I was here, my parents kept apologizing for the rainy weather and promising that the sun would be here soon. I kept telling them it was ok and that I didn't really care if I had sunny weather or not (it's warmer than back home and that's all I care about). However, I couldn't have been happier with the weather today! It almost reached 70 degrees!! What a HEAVENLY day it was! I spent most of the afternoon outside, in a lawn chair, with my book, soaking up the rays! Yep, I put my swim suit on and everything. Go ahead, laugh it up- I got my first tan of the year!! OH YEAH!! No more pasty white arms!

California Vacation- Week One

Madi and I have been in Brentwood for a week now and are having a FABULOUS time (aside from missing Spencer like crazy of course)! It's so nice to come home, get spoiled, have two other people who adore Madi, and be able to relax without having a million other things to worry about. Some of the things that have been keeping us busy this week include:

1) NAPS!!! Yep, that's #1! I don't ever feel guilty taking a nap when I come home. Probably because it's something that my mom insist I do EVERYday! Plus, this whole time change has had Madi so turned around that she's been napping 3 to 3 1/2 hours a day! It sure has allowed me a LOT of free time!

2) Reading- this is one of the things I've been able to do during Madi's naptime. Unfortunately, I usually only last a few minutes before falling asleep, but surprisingly I've already been able to finish one of my books since I've been here!

3) Eating lots of YUMMY salads!! My mom makes the BEST salads! For some reason, as much as I love eating them, I rarely make them for myself. There's something about ME making the salad that turns me away from eating it. However, when someone else makes the salad I usually always love it.

4) Walks- my favorite place to go is to visit the animals at Dainty Center. Our first trip there was quite the hit! Madi did a good job of telling the geese that they were way "too loud"! She was in awe of the BIG FAT pig that did NOT resemble her friend Wilbur.


5) Hanging out with Kody! Being a dog lover, I knew Madi was going to LOVE having Kody around. Sure enough, Madi's always asking, "Where'd Kody go?" or "What's Kody doing?" She always wants to have her new friend around.



6) Hot tubbin! Madi sure has enjoyed going swimming with Gram in the hot tub! Madi especially likes playing "Motor boat, motor boat" with Gram.


7) Shopping and Dress-up! On one of our shopping trips, my mom found 2 adorable tutus which of course she couldn't resist getting for Madi and cousin Anneke's birthdays. Madilyn had a great time trying it on, twirling around, and staring at herself in the mirror! I can hardly wait to get the girls together and play dress-up!


8) Having a gym membership! It's been so nice being able to go to the gym every morning. Oh how I've loved having access to all the machines, weights, and classes I could want!

9) Getting caught up on all my shows. Last year Spencer and I canceled our cable and tivo. Sometimes I feel so disconnected from the world without it. Every night mom and I have a favorite show (or two) that we watch.

10) And last, but certainly NOT least- our road trip for the week was to Half Moon Bay to visit G.G. Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob! It was so much fun to see them and be able to spend the day in Half Moon Bay. Unfortunately, Madi didn't warm up to everyone until the end. She's always so shy when first seeing someone and she refused to show off her vocabulary skills for G.G. While Madi and I visited with Grandma, mom was able to sneak away to catch the AMGEN Tour of California cyclists pass by, with hopes of getting a picture of Lance Armstrong for my brother Clark. Look closely and you might be able to see him!


Thanks Aunt Fay, Uncle Bob, and Grandma for the fun visit, the delicious lunch, and the enjoyable afternoon. We love you guys!


And thanks Gram and Papa for a fabulous week here in Brentwood!