COUSINS- Maddie & Jackson

Bath Time

Always a favorite time of the day!

Books

They were so cute when they would go read together!

Toy Time
It was too funny watching them each climb into a truck or wagon to play!

Riding the Zebra

Maddie and Jackson would have yelling wars, screaming "MINE" back and forth at each other! That was the lovely new word Maddie taught Jackson only minutes after we arrived!

Playing outside, going for a walk

Trying to let the puppies out!

Driving Grandma's Car

Visit To The Doctor

I had my 16 week appointment this morning, yes, at 17 weeks! (I was down in La Grande visiting my sister last week). It went great! I love hearing the baby's heartbeat each month!

I love to tease Mike that he is going to have another daughter... so I was so excited to meet him for lunch today after the appointment and let him know the baby's heart rate was 150 today! They say if it's above 140, it's a girl... Maddie's was always right on 140, and although this is a famous old wives tale, I still LOVE to tease him about it!!! We do have our ultrasound scheduled for April 2nd, so we will hopefully find out what this one will be!

Stay tuned... I will post pictures from our La Grande trip, but if you can't wait that long, you can check out Brooklynn's blog, she already has them posted!!

Jumping On The Trampoline

Waiting patiently for the girls to come home from school.

We have had some beautiful weather in Seattle for a couple days, so we have had to take advantage of those days and get outside. Maddie went out on the trampoline with the girls I nanny for today. She had a blast out there, she didn't want to ever come in! She was giggling the whole time, it was way too cute! She was quite bossy with the girls, they were "not allowed" to sit down, even for a second. She would pull their hand and tell them to stand up. She was quite prissy, as usual, she had to brush her hands off, and the girls' hands off, every time they got dirty. Too funny! What a fun afternoon we had!!

My Little Priss

Maddie is such a little priss! She's got the looks (OK, maybe not in the morning with her lovely bedhead), the attitude, and the apparel for it! I was making her toast this morning for breakfast, when I came to bring it to her, she is sitting at her table with her necklaces around her neck, and her boa around her waist (she thinks if she puts it around her waist, then she's Tinkerbell, and she can fly!). Auntie Heather babysat her Saturday night so that Mike and I could go out on a date... childless! She spoiled her rotten, and the boa is just one of the many things she brought home from her evening of shopping with Heather!

One more quick one for you... I was in brushing my teeth this morning and Maddie wanted to once again, brush her teeth too. I was right in the middle of it, so of course I told her "just a minute", as well as I could with a mouth full of toothpaste. She starts her fake crying. She looks up at me and said, "Mom, a crying. A crying, mom" and continues her fake cry! She is so funny sometimes, she makes me laugh! But I'm a little nervous at how fast she is picking up these little "techniques" of getting your way, and how to get it!

My New Toy

I am SO excited for my new toy! I talked Mike into buying me a treadmill. They had this one on sale last weekend, so he went down and bought it for me! I have been walking 2 miles a day on it since it's been up. I can usually get a mile in during Maddie's morning nap, and still have time to shower, and then I get my second mile in at night after she has gone to bed. She likes the treadmill too much that there is no way I could do it with her awake! I'm hoping this will help me somewhat stay in shape during this pregnancy. (I do still have my curves membership, but I'm going to cancel that. It's too hard to go there when you have a child already!) Wish me luck to stick with my goal!!

Maddie Says...

Maddie fell asleep in her bed, all covered up in her blankets. I guess this is how I used to always fall asleep when I was a baby. My mom said she would just throw a blanket over my head, and I would fall asleep. I've tried it with Maddie, I've only had luck with that once or twice! She's a pretty smart girl and can figure things out!


I'm proud to announce that I think we are finally over Maddie's second cold this season... and this one was definitely the worst!

Maddie has been saying the funniest and cutest things lately. I'll give you a few of them I can remember (I really need to be better at writing these things down as they happen)!
Did I mention that Maddie has been EXTREMELY bossy lately? I'm not even kidding, it has gotten bad! Everything we say to her, her answer is usually "No". And not just any "no", it has attitude... with the pointing finger!

*The other morning I was curling my hair, and Maddie kept yelling "teeth, teeth" (meaning she wants to brush her teeth... for the third time already that morning). I told her just a minute, let me finish curling my hair. She started yelling at me, telling me, "No, mom. Teeth NOW!" over and over again. Holy cow... who does this girl think she is? It was actually kind of funny, but I had to hold back from laughing to explain (yes, explain to a 21-month old... ha ha) that it isn't nice to talk to mom like that, and that she needs to wait until I'm finished.

*Yesterday morning I was laying in bed with Maddie watching Nemo (for the 10 millionth time). She is always so focused when she watches Nemo, you can try to talk to her and she acts like you're not even there. Anyway, I sneezed, and she didn't even take her eyes off the TV, but she said "bless you". It was the cutest little voice ever. She had never said that to someone before, that was one thing she said that definitely melted my heart!

*This morning Maddie pushed both of her sleeves up and held her arm in the air, pointing to her armpit and kept saying "arm, mom, arm". I had to think about it for a minute, and then I realized I had just put deodorant on. Maddie wanted some too! It cracks me up sometimes the things kids pick up on, even as young as they are. So I "rubbed" some on her... with the lid on of course!

Maddie went over to grandma's the other day and LOVED playing games with her! She had forgotten that she bought a bunch of these little games for Christian when he was being potty-trained, so Maddie is almost at the age that she can understand them. She actually did a pretty good job with most of them. Grandpa stopped by for lunch, and Maddie was not going to let him leave. She kept saying "hand, papa, hand". He couldn't even get a break from playing games with her. But then again, who can resist that sweet and innocent little princess face wanting you, and only you to play games with her! :)

Bedhead

Maddie wins the contest... best bedhead (or should I say, "worst bedhead"?) It's always a surprise what her hair will look like when she wakes up. Sometimes it's curly all over, sometimes it's straight, and most of the time it looks like she just got electrocuted!

Get Those Votes In

Make sure you take the poll to the right if you haven't already! We have scheduled our next Ultrasound on April 2nd, so you have until then to make your guess! This race is much closer with this baby than with Maddie. With her, most people guessed she would be a boy, there were only just a few votes for girl!! We will soon find out the results!!!

Where Has My Baby Gone?

Some days, I just can't believe how big Maddie is getting. She amazes me daily with the things she says, the things she does, and even how old she is looking. I can hardly keep up with her anymore and the new things she is doing and saying. I can't believe she is actually looking like a toddler!! And I can't believe her second birthday is less than three months away!! Where has my baby gone?

Reception Pics

Here are a few pics from Heidi and Jarom's reception Saturday night.

Congratulations, Heidi & Jarom!

It's been a while since my last post, we spent last week in Utah, just getting home yesterday. We had a great time being a part of Mike's sister, Heidi's wedding. They were married on Saturday, February 16th in the Salt Lake Temple. Maddie loved playing with her cousins, as usual, and was a very good girl for all of her babysitters (during the temple sessions). Thanks to Auntie Karen who watched her Friday, and Auntie Jenny and Annie who watched her Saturday. We are very appreciative of all of you, and Maddie loved spending time with you! I was horrible at taking pictures while we were there, I am usually so much better, but I will attach a few from the wedding.

Shoe Fetish, Nemo, and Baby Update

Maddie has this huge shoe fettish. She loves to wear boots, of any kind. But she also has to take her shoes off anytime we're in the car, sitting in church, at a restaurant, etc. (the socks have to go too.) And she especially loves to put on everybody elses shoes. Today she put on some boots and actually walked around, staying on her feet for a good ten minutes! I was pretty impressed, given the size of the boots!

Maddie also loves Nemo. First thing when she wakes up, and last thing before she goes to bed, she asks to watch Nemo. It's amazing how much I can get done while Nemo is turned on... most of the time. There aren't too many shows that she will sit through and watch the entire thing, but Nemo is one of them! I love it! Mike and I do have that movie memorized now, and we love hearing Maddie repeat lines from the movie, or say them just before they happen. Too cute!

As for me, I went to the doctor today for a check-up, and everything looks great with baby! Always glad to hear that kind of news! I will have another regular appointment in March, then April, another ultrasound!! Yea!!!

Ultrasound

Mike and I went to the doctor today to have an ultrasound done. They checked for all sorts of things on the baby to make sure everything was "normal", and said everything looks great! We were very excited to hear that, and so excited to see our cute little one. They tried to check the gender, but of course, it is still too soon to tell. Mike was disappointed! This baby seems like it will be a kicker. It was bouncing all over the place, and kicking it's legs. Seeing the baby through an ultrasound makes it so much more real!!

My Little Parrot

I'm a total copy-cat (it's true, ask my sister... she'll be the first to tell you!) I just have a hard time coming up with ideas on my own. So I've been reading my friends' blogs, and a lot of them have been listing all the words their kids say. I used to be so good at keeping track of the words Maddie would say, as she said them, marking them on her calendar. I don't know if it's me being lazy now, or Maddie saying so many words I can't keep track anymore, but whatever the reason, I can't make a list. She says EVERYTHING! This girl can talk... and she doesn't ever stop. It's one of the first things people notice about her and always comment on. So, I thought I'd take a video of Maddie saying the words that are my favorite to hear her say right now. I'm sorry for my obnoxious, loud voice you have to hear through the entire video. It's pretty funny watching her, she can't sit still! She may look just like her dad, but I'll have to admit... she acts just like her mom! (And her dad will be the first to tell you that one!!)

Ride 'em Cowgirl

Maddie has to kiss and say good-bye to everything before we leave to go somewhere!

Maddie loves when she can wear her cowgirl outfit. Which means, her cowgirl boots and "neigh-neigh" belt. Sometimes she'll include her hat, but mom didn't enforce that one today, her hair was all done to go out. I think when she climbs on her horse, it completes the outfit! (Sorry for the blurry pictures.) If you ever come to visit us, Maddie will be sure you see her ride her "neigh-neigh" before you leave... if she lets you leave!

Cookie Monster

Maddie is my little cookie monster (surprise, I know!) She LOVES cookies, any kind of cookies! She would eat cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I'd let her! They also work great as a bribery tool... yes, I'm a horrible mom! :) She has recently been watching Sesame Street, and loves it! It will keep her pretty occupied for a good amount of time (along with playing, singing, and dancing while she is watching it). Her favorite parts are when Elmo comes on, and when Cookie Monster eats all the cookies, letters, or whatever else he may eat!

Aqua Doodle

Peek-A-Boo

Travel Aqua Doodle

Time for a nap, wouldn't ya say?

Maddie got this big aqua doodle drawing mat from her cousin, Haley, for Christmas. She loves it! For those who don't know what it is, it's a big mat that you color on using a marker that you fill with water. Which is great for Maddie, because she loves to color on everything but paper, and put the pens in her mouth! Anyway, we were at Target today, and I found a travel Aqua Doodle mat. Yes, my daughter is spoiled... I bought it. I thought it would be great on the plane for our up-coming trip next week!

Ready For Church

Maddie loves going to church. But she only likes the nursery part. The bummer part is, our Sacrament meeting is last, so we get to listen to Maddie throughout the whole thing asking to go play. She tries to escape and go find the nursery, or she'll go find her friends sitting with their families. She doesn't usually last too long in Sacrament meeting before Mike or myself gets the privilage of taking her out in the hall.

Copy-Cat

Maddie is a lot of things, but one of the things she is, is a copy cat! She will copy everything you do, everything you say... she can do it all! This morning she thought she was going to go work out with daddy. She tried doing push-ups with him (did a pretty good job, actually!) and tried to lift weights with him, but she didn't have much luck lifting the weights. We probably ought to go out and get some little pound weights for her so she feels like she's doing it! :)

ABC...123

Maddie thinks she can read, she thinks she knows her letters, and she tries to count. She can count 1,2,3 by herself, and can count up to 5 with help. On Sesame Street, they count up to 10 or 20 sometimes, and she loves to repeat each number after them. She also loves to say letters. It's funny, because I have no idea where she picked up the letters from, but she happens to say all the vowels most of the time. If she sees words, she points to them and says: A, I, E, O, L, O, A, B. I am amazed how many letters she says.

She is quite the little copy cat. She repeats everything. Everyone's favorite is when I slip and say "oh crap" in front of her. I ALWAYS have my little parrot chime in after "oh cap". It makes us laugh, but I really need to be careful! Maddie walks around telling everyone everything in her sight. She points to everything saying what it is: tweet-tweet, car, kids, car, fishy, car, bubbles, ruff-ruff, ball, car. She loves to point out every car, every person, and every animal. She will talk your ear off (we have no idea where she got that from!). She also loves to point out every body part on every person. Hair, nose, eyes, cheeks, ear, mouth, teeth, tongue, eyebrow, chin, shoulders, beep-beep (tummy), arms, piggies, knee-- she has this obsession with knees, it's really weird! She will point out knees on everything!

I'll attach a video later, everytime I get the camera or video camera out, she just says "Cheeeeese!". We'll try again another time!

Enough rambling from me, as you can tell, we are so proud of our little princess. I guess I'll get back to watching Nemo for the hundreth time with Maddie!!