Girls vs. Boys

Ok... so having 2 little nephews, I have been told by my SIL that boys clothes are just not fun... and boy is she right! Oh my goodness, there is just not much to choose from. With girls, you have cutsie stuff.. all sorts of patterns, all sorts of colors... all so adorable! You can really do some damage when purchasing girls clothes thats for sure. So I have been lookin around at little boy clothes and here is what I have concluded: Boys have themes. Sports being the ultimate, fishing, trucks, cars etc, bugs, and dogs... or animals, and not as much as you see of all the others, you see cowboy stuff, police and fireman stuff. Not a whole lot of cute patterns or colors. Blue, green, red. So here are my thoughts. A.) Nat nor I are not into sports... so why would I dress my boy in sports stuff?? (am I totally dumb for thinking this!?!? I cant really help it) ... but Nat's just not a sportsy type guy. B.)Fishin, yes, were fishin kinda people so we can do that. C.) Trucks, check... Nat is a truck kinda guy. D.)Dogs and animals... ok, we can do that. E.) Cowboy (western) stuff, get it!! I know that thats the ultimate choice for both of us, but you can't hardly find it, without paying an arm and a leg for it anyways... so I'm just kinda like saddened by this boy business... not much to choose from if you don't choose sports.

Seriously... you people with boys tell me if were absolutely nuts for thinkin this way???

Ok, so maybe I'm a little to picky. But, like I'm not gonna dress my girls in ballerina stuff unless I was into ballet. If they want to one day, of course, we'll wear ballerina stuff... and if my boy one day is the point guard on his basketball team, you betcha we'll get into sportsy stuff.

Oh what a delima in life. Yesterday, I went to the JBF sale and was rummaging through the little boy clothes stealing up any "theme" Nat and I would want our son to wear.... then I walk over to the girl stuff and my oh my, all the colors, the beautiful pinks and purples, oranges and yellows. The racks were filled with girl stuff! I put everything girly back with the intentions of going back tomorrow to the half price sale, specifically for shopping for my girls. That won't be hard I can tell you that.

Oh Lord... did I really just write a whole long post about this... really, is is that important?? I should just be thankful my boy will have clothes to wear. :P

and don't get me wrong, I am eternally greatful for the hand me downs we have already gotten... and yes, he'll wear them, all of them... even the sports ones.

On a more serious note, we kinda had a little scare this morning with the little guy and I'm not quite sure that I can say were outta the woods yet. So please pray for him and his growth, and well being as he continues to grow for the weeks to come. Pray for me as I gotta slow my life down to a minimum... which is hard when you got 2 kids to take care of... and of course Nat as he's kinda gonna be fillin in moms shoes for a bit. We would greatly appreciate it! We've seen Gods work many a times in our life and we know He is watchin out for us right now.

Its a.........

What would you do if I made you wait?!? Pretty sure the whole world knows BUT... I gotta tell you a story first.

Ok... so we get there, and the lady is doing her thing and this horrible feeling came over me... I just knew by the way the baby was positioned that we weren't gonna find out. So she gets all the measurements she needed and then it came time to find out the gender. The baby's hand was down between the legs... and she said that that was definitely a boy thing... but still couldn't see anything. So she keeps lookin and lookin and time is tickin away and sure enough, the words that I dreaded to hear came outta her mouth. "I dont think were gonna be able to see what it is cuz of the way the baby is positioned. " and my heart sank, as it has 2 other times. So then she says turn on your side and we'll try that.. and sure enough, got a good shot in between the legs and saw plain as day that its a BOY!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it!! I am not sure if I'm more shocked that there is a boy growing inside me... or the fact that we actually found out! She said that more than likely, I have an odd shaped uterus... so my babies sit in there differently than the average baby... and its not my children just being stubborn.

I'm really sorry for the quality of these... I can't get my scanner to work, so these are just pictures of pictures.

Face. He is yawning. We got to see the whole yawn. It was so sweet!!!

ok there it is. The little thing that makes him a HE. I know it is sooo hard to see. Click it and you can see it a little bigger. Its there. I saw it with my own 2 eyes.

Nat is overly ecstatic.. I've ever seen him more excited (other than when his girls were born) in my life. He said he really didn't think he would be super excited for one or the other.. But he is thrilled. I'm glad that he's gonna get his boy that can 1. Carry the Rose name on, and 2. teach and do boy stuff with. Like workin on cars, and fixin stuff. He wanted to carry the picture around in his truck so show everyone he has a boy. He is so proud.

I on the other hand, have no clue what to do with a boy. I said that to someone the other day and they said.. thats just the thing, you dont have to do anything with a boy. No bows, no cute, matchy shoes, no dresses.... you just throw some clothes on them and they don't even have to match. Sounds good to me. I could use one less child to get all fancied up to walk out the front door. I really am excited. I think a change would be good for us right now. I already bought him his first little outfit. Says I'm a monster and has a monster truck on it. I just couldn't pass it up.

It had Nat written all over it!

Anyways... so we shall now prepare for a little man. Sept. 7 will be D-day... and we'll be joined by Mr. Stetson James. Can't wait... (I'm gonna laugh my head off when it comes out a Stetsina....)

she crawls!

Pretty much 2 seconds after I posted about Payton at 8 months... she decided to do her thing and take off! The following few days, she got faster and better at it... and now, she is having a blast being able to follow Madelynn around and play with her. Madelynn on the other hand is not having a blast with it. She gets so mad at Payton for bothering her. It makes me so sad. Never thought stuff like that would start this early. I will seriously take any help, or suggestions as to how to help/deal with this situation.

Madelynn has become very jealous of Payton. When P came along, M was just to young to be jealous and show us... so we are thinking that she is just now at the age where she realizes... Hey, this kid gets alot of MY attention. I have been working with P alot the past few days with crawling and Madelynn has turned into a baby! She gets on the floor and fake cries and then she crawls to me like I'm trying to get P to do... its funny, but I know that deep down inside, she is trying with all her might to get me to praise her for crawling to me and not sister. As you will see in the video, Madelynn steps in and tries to take the pizza crust (yes... a pizza crust is what it took.) Just a part of her jealousy I think. She has even gone as far as to ignore, and be mean to Nat when he shows Payton attention. Even simply just Nat saying hi to P when he walks in the door from work. Its not like he was holding her and giving her tons and tons of attention and ignoring M. Its been a little frustrating, but we are just working with her as we go along and encounter different situations.

On another note, Madelynn LOVES horses. They have always stuck out to her in books, and TV shows and she has just really taken a liking to them. One day, when we were at the Dr. office, they let her pick out a little goodie from the toy chest and she picked up a little horse thing and thought it was the most amazing thing in the world. I love the way she says it so I had to get a little video of her sayin it so I can always remember it. This is her little horse she got from the Dr. office.

So I have really been wanting to get her around some real horses and see how she takes to them... them being huge in real life, and not on a page in a book. The other day, we were at my moms soccer game out at the indoor soccer arena and we saw some horses over in the distance... so I thought why not take her over there and just let her look at them up close.

and she was pretty much fearless! I honestly thought she might be a little freaked out by how big they were. She pet it and reached to touch it. It was really cool. Maybe she will have a future with horses?!?! That would be fun.

she just kept saying "horsh, horsh, horshy" over and over. She loved it... So now the next step is finding someone with a horse that is willing to let her ride it.

Nat has the father/daughter relationship with his girls like, if they ask for the moon... he's gonna get it for 'em... or if some guy comes to try and date one of them, it will be hell on earth for the poor fellow. Which I know alot of daddy's are that way with their little girl(s)... some just a little more severe than others. I told her, "Tell daddy to buy you a horse" Of course, he can't tell his princess no right. ;)

Maybe some day. (Yes, I know our girls are spoiled rotten)

Today marks 20 weeks for me. Half way through this pregnancy!!!!!!! And tomorrow is the big day... We are bound and determined to find out what were having this time!! We have had 5 wonderful surprises (3 surprise pregnancy and 2 surprise little girls on d-day) and I think 1 planed thing would be good for us. Be lookin out tomorrow for a post all about it.... and if we can't find out.. then I guess don't expect anything outta me.

Success!

Ok.. I'm blogging 2 times today... so scroll down and read my other post first.

I did have a Dr. apt on Tuesday. Which in case you are wondering, went well. Weight gain, blood pressure, and baby's heartbeat were all fantastic! Can't ask for a better 5 minute apt. They may be boring and at times seem pointless, but I have come to realize that is a good thing.

So since I didn't have my girls... what better to do than sleep and sew?? I won't blog about how much I slept, rather what I was useful doing. I found this tutorial for a bandana skirt when looking around at some stuff and thought it looked easy enough for a beginner project.. and it is! Mostly because if you mess up, its so not a straight and perfect (does that make sense?? Can't think of the word I'm trying to say) skirt that you can't tell until you just seriously look at it. I tried to make it smaller so I could make one for Payton.. but that didn't work out. Not sure how you would go about making a smaller sized one but its not how I though it would be.

I made this one first and messed up a lot... but its still awesome because I made it myself, and it cost me all of $2.50.

and my personal model refused to wear it and take a picture... so once she wears it, i'll get a picture and you can see it on.

I whipped this one up at nap time... so much easier the second time around. I did this one opposite, put the corresponding fabric up at the top rather than the bottom... and thats cuz I messed up on it. It is cute, and would be cute if it was longer... but it being so short will get covered up by a shirt.

2 skirts for 5 bucks. Can't beat that!

Anyways... I am glad to report that Madelynn is doing fan-tastic without her paci!!! Bed time is getting much much better. I have noticed a drastic change in her speech! Were still not 100% over it so keep prayin for the girl.

8 months

Well.. turns out, I was so caught up in myself that I totally didn't even realize Payton was 8 months yesterday!! It might also have something to do with the fact that she is the poor, neglected 2nd child. (ya right...) Anyways, the girls had a sleepover with Nat's parents on Tues. and we went and picked them up last night. As always.. I sooo enjoyed some time to myself, but missed the 2 little girls that run my life. Here is P at 8 months:

-98% a mommas girl, 2% daddy's girl. (YA!!! GO ME!!)(Hahahaha)

- 19 lbs

-size 4 diapers

-size 12 months clothes

-2nd ear infection in her life (PTL!)

-had her first "real" food meal. Quesadillas, oranges, and puffs.

-Is a pro at the sippy cup and LOVES to drink outta one.

-Still up 2 times in the night.

-So close to crawling its ridiculous.

-tries to pull up on anything and everything, only to be let down by her still wobbly legs.

-Gets all over the floor without technically crawling.

-Has alot more hair than Madelynn did at this age.

-Still won't let you hold her and give her a bottle. She has to do it on her own being left 100% alone in order for her to fall asleep.

-Still has a sweet, sweet spirit about her.

-loves to, and will blow spit bubbles back and forth with you all day long. She also loves to yell... and if you get goin yelling with her, she can get quite loud!

**update**

2 days after Payton turned 8 months, she began to crawl and also got her first tooth on the bottom left side.

More projects!!!!

Well.... I have been sucked in! and I love it. The sewing/craftiness that is. I am not good at it by any means... but it is so much fun.... and I really really hope that I can get better at it.

I (finally) made a bow board. I have wanted to make on ever since... well, forever, but just have never got around to it. I had an old tin sign... (ya know the ones that hobby lobby sells??) that I had taken down outta my kitchen a few months ago and stored on the "decoration" shelf I have. It just so happened to fit perfectly in the spot that I had initially wanted to hang one.

Its different than your typical bow board but I think its kinda neat.

I had initially made 3 strips for bows, not knowing for sure how the bows would look/fit on it. I ended up cutting out the middle strip because it was not needed.

I used the hooks that I took off of these:

--(pardon the crookedness... its high above the closet and I couldn't reach high enough to get a good picture.)

I took them off because I bought this:

and it has 3 hooks on it... so not needing hooks all over their room, I took them off and just used them as decoration in the girls room... and ended up coming up with this genius (I think) idea of putting the hooks on the bow board and hanging a few headbands that we use more often than not, out and easily accessible.

and while we are on the subject of the girls room... I made this a loooooooooong time ago... like back when Madelynn was 6 or so months old and thought I would share... just in case you might possibly be getting ideas.

so easy and cheap to make!

Pink and brown paisley fabric that matches their room.

I am definitely at the point of wanting to paint their room now with this new stuff I'm doing in there. But... I am hesitant for one reason... more likely than not, the girls and this 3rd baby will be sharing a room at least for a little while cuz there is no way in heaven we can afford to move to a 3 bdrm. house right now. Just a part of our crazy life... crammin 3 kids in one room! Anyways... I kinda feel like if its a boy, painting the room pink wouldn't be to manly... the pink and brown decor is enough. But.. if its another girl, of course pink is the way to go (wow, did I just say that?? I don't even know what I've become..) I always said I was NOT a pink girl... and neither would my girls be. Oh well... anyways, so I am thinking that I might just wait till next Monday when we go to find out the sex of the baby to make my decision. If it is a boy, I'm thinkin we'll give him his own little wall we can boy up.

My little Madelynn is a little on the shorter side of life so on her, capris look like pants... matter of fact, on these specific capris, Nat thought they were supposed to be pants!! So I have always wanted to hem them... tonight I got up the courage to give it a try and hope that I don't ruin her good outfit... and I did it! I wouldn't suggest getting up close and personal with them... but they look ok enough to wear! I knew I would be mad at myself for not taking before and after pictures... and sure enough I am wishing that I would have. But... its a start! My biggest desire is to make my girls clothes... and that will be my next attempt.

P.S. I am in no way bragging about what I have done... hope I don't come across that way. I am just having alot of fun "re-furbishing" and fixing stuff that we already have around the house.

One more thing, before you go... I have to share these with you. The most A-dorable shirts I have ever seen.

They say --my sister is my BFF

and you can just get used to this: Madelynn crying and fussing because she just about refuses to have her picture taken... and Payton, ms. smiley, with a prison photo look on her face because she refuses to smile in pictures.... my children.

aren't they precious?!?! (I got them at the childrens place in case your interested)

Payton & Project # 2

Well just as I figured, Payton has an ear infection. We are slowly on the mend over here. Payton took 2 successful, normal naps today (thank you Lord!!!!!!!) It has been awhile since she has had a good 3 hour nap... and lets be honest here, nap time can keep one sane!! Madelynn did sooooo so good at nap time without her paci and I was so excited when she stopped crying after just a few minutes... then she woke up... and cried enough for the both of us, my broken heart, and her aching soul. So I was a tad discouraged. We discovered that Nat seems to really calm her down during bed time so we are makin sure that he is there for her at bed time. She is such a daddys girl.

Today at nap time, I started on my second project that I had wanted to do... and both girls took such long naps... I finished it too! You may or may not have ever seen these, but it is a wipey case (ya know, like the ones you carry in your diaper bag.) I have always thought they were cute... but would never like spend money to buy one. Until I figured out that I could make one myself!

top

bottom

opened up.

This particular case was the one that we got when we were in the hospital with Madelynn and we have used it ever since... so it is rather old and has seen better days so technically I should have just bought a new one and started fresh. But I figured since I was just "practicing" I would go ahead and start out on this old one. I think that I will definitely try again. I may be totally retarded for knowing the difference (sometimes I wonder if other moms are like me in baby brand stuff??) but this is pampers brand and the shape is rather awkward to do something like this on... Where as huggies brand is smaller and more straight to the point. So... my point is.... I think that it would be 10 times easier on the huggies case. (just in case you wanted to know.)

Wouldn't it be great if I would just get to the point and not ramble on and on?!?! =)

Rambles.

*Lets see here... Where to begin. Madelynn is recovering from her ear infection(s) and is getting back to her normal self. Payton on the other hand is pure torture!!!!!!!!!! There is no better way of putting it. She doesn't sleep. I dont sleep. She cries and cries and really quite honestly makes me not like her when she is sick. Wow... what a horrible mother I am!!!! But I'm just being honest here. The likeness comes back, promise. Needless to say.. were on our way back to the Dr. this afternoon and I pray that it is her ears (and not kidney reflux flare up) or even better... just a virus.

**I just read over that and I sound just AWFUL and mean. I do love that girl to death and I have deep sympathy for her... I am just to the point of frustrated, and not knowing what to do anymore. Hope you don't take that wrong and horrible.

Before all this sickness took over our house, I decided to 1.)take the paci, and 2) from my previous post about sleeping through the night, I decided to go ahead and let her cry it out until she figured out that she doesn't need a bottle. The first 2 nights were good until 6 am... then it turned to pure heck... she will cry and cry and cry and cry and cry for hours! It is the absolute most frustrating thing I have dealt with as a parent. I'll just say were not sleeping through the night... and I'm not trying anymore. I have dug myself a hole and am wanting to go on a 2 week vacation and come back and Payton sleep through the night, Madelynn be over her paci, and the sickness to be gone.

There's the little devil. She LOVES to stand... and gets so mad if you put her on her tummy and try to get her to crawl. Grr... I really thought, and hoped that she would done be crawling by now. She pulls up in her crib and tries her dangdest to pull up on toys. Maybe she will be one of those that skips crawling and goes right to walking.

*Madelynn is just sweet 'ol Madelynn. and is doing ok... not great, with this paci thing. Instead of it getting better, it seems to be getting worse... and with P waking her up in the middle of the night crying, it takes alot to get Madelyn back to sleep with no paci. Its been difficult... but at the same time, rewarding seeing her talk so much more. It may be jiberesh at times, but its better than nothing! She is already saying new words and actually trying to say things.

I have been trying desperately to get her to find a little 'lovey'... like a stuffed animal, or a balnkie or something to kinda take the place of the paci and it has pretty much been unsuccessful. She found a teddy bear that my good friend made her for her 1st b-day and I am thinking/hoping this is it! She LOVES it. She puts it in the bouncer, in the highchair and shares her food with it. She climbed up on her little table and got a diaper and tried to put it on the bear. It was so sweet.

after mom successfully diapered the bear (We need to name this thing!)

and don't worry. That is only a BB gun in the background. Still probably not the safest thing to have sitting around your house with small children... but, you can take the boy outta the country, but you can't take the country outta the boy... and country folk have guns layin around all over the place. The bb gun is for.. well I'm not gonna tell you what its there for... but the big guns are put up in our bedroom. Please don't fear for our childrens lives. Were good parents. Honest.

Anyways... now that your calling CPS...

Nat recently brought a VCR (remember those??) to our house and all his old disney tapes and Madelynn has fallen in love with 101 Dalmatians. She watches it 48 times a day. She says "puppies" when she wants to watch it. Its so cute.

*Remember awhile back when I talked about Nat fixing up his blazer??? We got the transmission fixed and got it running, then a few days later, as Nat's luck would have it, the transfer case went out... So it sat some more... it irked me to see that blazer that we just spent $1200 on for the transmission sit. But... when you just don't got the money up front to pay to fix it, there is nothing you can do about that. He sold another blazer of his and used the money to get a new transfer case and he was thrilled to pieces... then once again, as Nat's luck would have it, he gets ready to put it on and discovers that the motor is cracked (because it sat all winter with no antifreeze) (oops) So thankfully, his dad let him have a motor out of one of his old trucks. As of today, new motor is in, and the transfer case in and hooked up... he has to put a few more things in it to get it runnin but he is well on his way to his blazer running. I am happy for him.

I finally bought him a grill!! I think it was fathers day that I had initially planned to get him one... but it just never happened. He was so excited. I have such a hard time surprising him... but I did it this time! I am excited to have grilled food! Steaks are ready and waiting for that grill!!!

*Me... well as you can probably guess from my previous ramblings... I'm pretty dang exhausted and ready for life to be back to normal!! I am 18 weeks along now! I can't believe how fast this one is going by! I am so glad that it is tho. We get to go TRY and find out what were having in 2 weeks. Thinking about it the other day... I'm just not ready to do the whole c-section thing again. I'm kinda nervous about it.

A couple of Christmas' ago, my in-laws gave me a sewing machine. It was an awesome gift.. I have used it a couple of times to hem some curtains and thats about it. As much as my soul longs to make stuff, and make my girls clothes... I just dont have a ton of extra time. But, my SIL recently got into making stuff with a sewing machine... so I have kinda, slowly, jumped in with her and am finding the crafty Mara that I know is deep down inside of me. So with that, I went to hobby lobby. (Danger zone)

I have really been wanting to pull the girls room together. I bought some cute, brown and pink paisley stuff awhile back and it has always been my vision to go along with that theme. So I re-covered the lamp that was in their room, which matched Madelynn's current bedspread. The plan is to, once Payton is big enough be in a big girl bed, pull Madelynns bed out (its turns into a full) and then we will buy a new comforter to match the theme I got going on... and once that is done, I would like to paint and be done with it!

Before:

After:

It turned out way cute if I might say so myself.

you can click on it to see it bigger, but you can kinda see the picture frame... with the brown and pink paisleys.

It took not ounce of sewing machine... but its the craftiness and money saving that counts right? I have a few projects that I have planned to do with my machine. I will share those as they happen.

I am going to confess... I messed up rather big on 2 things.

1.) I flat out stuck my thumb in fresh hot glue. Not a tiny little bead of hot glue... I mean a big 'ol fat glob, push the trigger 4 times to get that much glue out- big fat glob... And it was basically HORRIBLE pain. Excruciating, horrible, horrible pain... maybe you've done it before?? I wouldn't suggest trying it any time soon. I have a rather large, painful blister on my thumb that is stopping me from living... and doing dishes (darn). I seriously considered writingmywholebloglikethis so that I didn't have to push the space bar with my thumb.. but lucky you, I found out a way to push it with the side of my thumb that is not so painful.

the picture really doesn't do the pain justice.

and 2.) I totally went back and forth as to if I should put batting between the old lamp design and the new fabric... once I finally convinced myself, no... it wont serve a purpose. I proceeded to finish up the task at hand.. and when it was all said and done and I put the lamp shade on and turned the lamp on, you could see the nice beautiful OLD lamp shade design right through my new, pretty fabric. I coulda kicked myself for that! I was sooo mad. Oh well. Whats done is done, and if you ever come to my house, don't go in my girls room and turn the lamp on... just admire it when its off. Live and learn. It was only my first project.

Pain.

If you have kids, I am sure that you have experienced this kinda pain. Pain where your baby is hurting, and you can't fix it, all you can do is sit back and watch. Like when my girls get shots, I feel this pain, or when we were in the hospital with Payton and we had to sit and watch them stick her with an IV ten million times, or watch them put a catheter in her teeny, small little body. Personally, when I have to watch these things I wanna punch someone in the face. My blood boils, my heart pounds a little faster... and I'm sure my face gets a little red. Ever felt that way??

No one tells you when you give that sweet, precious, perfect little angel a pacifier when she is 3 days old that you would one day have to rip it from her inner beings and break her ever lovin heart into 14 billion pieces, and that you would hurt more than anything in this world watching your baby cry for her paci... and that it would be harder for you to take it away than it would be for her to adjust to a life with no soothie.

It has really been on my mind and heart that it was about time to take 'em away. Madelynn is EXTREMELY addicted to them, un-healthily I must say. My goal on a day to day basis is paci at nap and bed time... some days we can make it ... and other days are paci days.

I just woke up with this crazy feeling that today was the day to do it. My initial goal to take them away has been 2... but were not to terribly far from that (just trying to justify this). So I did some looking around online... looking for tips, stories, help as to how to go through the process. Probably was a mistake. Some moms think they should have 'em till they're 4, some moms take them away before they have the chance to become addicted to them... and some moms, like me, are worried about teeth, speech and a not to excited at the thought of their 4 year old walking around with a paci in her mouth. So as I read the many (some horror) stories and some (sickening) strategies like dipping the paci in hot sauce... sorry but that is plain 'ol MEAN.. and I am not going that route. I found myself having mixed feelings about doing this, or not doing this... and I found my heart breaking at the thought of it. (yes, I know that I am so absolutely ridiculous.. dont judge.)

I did it.... and I cried. (I know, I know... even more ridiculous) I just picked her up, told her we were gonna be done with paci's and that she was a big girl now and we were going to put the paci's up for her new baby brother or sister and one by one, we filled a baggie full of paci's and put them away... and she cried... and that was the hardest thing I have ever done. Part of me wanted to say.. Here, take them. Take them all and hide them in your bed, you can have them forever... and the other part of me had to stay strong and fight back the tears and not give in. Then nap time came, oh my did nap time come and once again... I had to decide which way to go, give in or not give in. I didn't, and she (eventually) fell asleep. She made it through the whole day wonderfully without even asking for it. Then bed time came... and that feeling of weakness came back.. but I stayed strong and she cried for about 5 minutes and fell asleep. RELIEF!!!

We'll see how the night goes. If you would, seriously, pray for us!! This is hard... and I know that this is only a teeny tiny bump in the road compared to what we'll face raising this girl.

This makes so happy and so thankful that Payton doesn't take a paci! Oh lord... but I can only imagine what it will be like weaning the bottle from that girl... We got a few months till that has to happen.

Communication

Ok.. seriously, is there anything cooler than carrying a baby in your womb, giving birth and then watching her grow up??? It is the absolute most fascinating thing I have ever experienced. My little Madelynn is 20 months old and is catching onto communicating thing. One thing that I never thought of while doing childcare, or babysitting is that these little babies learned to talk at some point in life... and their momma's got to watch them blossom and learn new things.. like talking. I know I'm weird... but its just so awesome to me to watch my girl turn into a human being that talks, walks, runs, plays. She is not just a little bundle anymore, she isn't my little itty bitty baby that needs me every second of her life.

Anyways... so what got me going on this... Madelynn has been getting her molars for some time now and they are slowly but surely coming in... she has actually been rather pleasant just has had some disgusting, ronchy, make you gag, teething poop and she has been messin with her ears. I never thought anything of it.. rather than its just her teeth that are bothering her ears. Then last night, she was up a lot crying and holding her ears saying "ouch, boo boo, ouchie" She was telling me that her ears were hurting! What is more wonderful than when your baby tells you that they are hurting?? You don't have to guess around about what could be wrong with them like you do when they are infants. So first thing this mornin I called the Dr. office, took her in and sure enough, she has an ear infection in both ears!! I would have had no earthly idea had she not told me. She has had no fever, no runny nose, she has just been her normal 'ol self! I am excited that we can now talk to her and she can talk back to us.

Sleeping through the night.

Ever heard of it??? Ever experienced it?? Tell me bout it!!

Madelynn didn't sleep through the night till about 8 1/2 months... before that 8 1/2 months of not sleeping through the night, you have the last 2 or so months of the end of the pregnancy that your up every 2 hours or so to pee, re-adjust, catch your breath, or walk a leg cramp out... all that fantastic stuff that comes with child bearing. After Madelynn... what I considered "slept through the night" she was only up about 3 out of the 7 nights of the week. Not up for a bottle but just up screaming.. I honestly believe that she had(s) nightmares.. that seems to be the only reason as to why she still doesn't sleep through the night every single night of her life.

Payton is now 7 1/2 months and she still isn't sleeping through the night. It is wearing my ever lovin soul out! I CANNOT wake up in the mornings when the girls do. I seriously can't. I sleep through the screaming and "mommy, mom, mom, mama, MOMMY"! (thats Madelynn trying to wake me up.) I am sure that the fact that I'm pregnant again for the 3rd year in a row makes me just a little more tired than the average pregnancy would. I remember working with Madelynn when she was this age, desperate for her to sleep through the night, trying the paci over a bottle until she just get used to the no bottle thing ... but what do ya do when the kid doesn't take a paci?!?!?! Her bottle is her paci... her bottle is what puts her to sleep, her bottle is what soothes her when she is upset.

I guess I am just trying to figure out what to do with this girl. I have tried to go in there and pat her back to try and get her back to sleep... I have tried everything. Payton is the kinda girl that if you don't give her what she wants (bottle) when she wants it (2 O'clock in the morning) then she just gets louder and louder and louder... and then you walk out of the room out of her sight, to make a bottle, she goes insane and most of the time ends up waking up Madelynn. So basically I am in a lose lose situation because I can't just let her cry. I guess if we lived in a humongous house and the girls rooms were at opposite ends of the house I could just let her cry it out. But for now... all I can do is continue to wake up and feed her ever 4-5 hours and hope and pray that she will just start sleeping through the night. A teensie weensie break from night time feedings would be wonderful before it starts all over again!!

Wow!

Ok.. this is seriously long... and has a lot of pictures!! So grab a snack and a drink cuz you'll be here awhile. :)

We had a much needed, wonderful weekend full of fun, friends, family and memories... and of coure a couple of Easter egg hunts.

I have been lookin around at all the furniture stores in town tryin to find some new furniture that was affordable. When Nat and I were engaged, a couple we knew had offered us their furniture for a fantastic price. It was a huge blessing to us!! As you may know, getting married and trying to get a house together can be expensive! We have thoroughly enjoyed, and worn out those couches!! So on Friday, I went out with the girls to look at some furniture and kinda get an idea about what we wanted. When Nat got off, we headed out to a furniture store called Mattress America because we had been told that they were having a going out of business sale.. and boy were they. If you are looking for furniture seriously go check out what they got. We got our couches for $1100, originally $3200. They are nice, quality couches that will last us forever!!

This guy can back a trailer like nobodies business! It amazes me. Anyways.. that is beside the point... Got our new couches loaded. The owner guy was thrilled to pieces when we pulled up with a trailer.

Of course.. had to get a picture of the little ladies.

I am not a huge fan of leather... but the guy sold it when he reminded me of my small children and the messes that they make. I have already had so many --Thank you Lord that we bought leather couches... cuz if that would have happened on new, not leather furniture.. I would be soooooooo mad!!!!!!!!!- moments. So it is definitely growing me... another thing that I am not so much liking is the couch on the red wall!! I have a feeling we will end up re-painting it!! What do yall think??

We dyed eggs with the cousins, which turned out to be quite an event! We had alot of fun... although kinsey and I did most of the dying.... I read in a magazine an idea for small children to use a wire whisk. Just put the egg in there and let 'em go to town. Madelynn had alot of fun. We made lots of great memories that night!

This was after Jedd pulled off the blue... of all colors the darkest, deepest of them all, dye off the table!

and I can't help but to think this is adorable! Daddy's big 'ol t-shirt eatin a corn dog.

Saturday morning the girls and I went up to the nursing home where granny lives for an easter egg hunt for the kids. Madelynn woke up quite the little grouch.. but with the help from some balloons and a cookie, she lightened up and we had a great time hunting eggs! She is a pro!

Granny and Payton waitin for the kiddos to come hunt for eggs.

Granny looked so cute with her flower headband. Very springy!

Go Madelynn go!!

of course, she had to open the egg and see what was in it... and at times try to eat it before it went in the basket.

Pretty little girl. She loved playin with eggs.

Sometimes I look at these girls and I cannot believe that they are MINE! Ultimately, they belong to God... but for our time being... they are totally and completely my (and Nat of course) responsibility... and what an adorable gift they are!

Saturday afternooon, we met up with some good friends and went on a picnic and a canoe ride. It was the absolute perftect day to go on a picnic. We never even hit the park and Madelynn had the time of her life!! She ran and ran all over the place... and went on her first canoe ride which she loved! It was such a nice, fun day. Definitely gonna be doin that alot this summer!!!

Madelynn checkin out the water.

lunch time! Madelynn was in the middle of the blanket and kinda made her rounds and had her own little buffet lunch.

Nat would throw the Frisbee and Madelynn would run after it. She loved it.

Payton chillin on the blanket.

Grant and Madelynn

Canoe ride. Don't worry, she is not burned... just a little white girl who has been in the sun.

And last but not least, on Sunday, we celebrated Easter with our family. Can't beat having an awesome family and the time spent with them. Of course... as always, we wanted to take some pictures Sunday morning... but Madelynn wouldn't have it. Not sure what her deal is lately... every time I get my camera out and want to get a picture of her and Payton she goes ballistic! So this is what we got. I told her we were takin pictures even if she was crying in all of them. More memories I guess.

We can't ever get her to smile in pictures!

Isnt she lovely?? When I asked her to look at me so I could take her picture, this is what I got.

Best I could do.

me and my girls

daddy and his little ladies.

I did eventually get them together at church.

Our lovely growing family!

Egg hunt #2.

takin a break to put her feet in the pool. I have a feeling she is going to be quite the little fish this summer.

Payton and her special egg she found in Pa Pa's pocket.

precious picture. Madelynn and her best bud. (Micaela)

Cash and Madelynn by the pool. These 2 are becoming quite the pair!

Yesterday, after buying me new furniture, a new bedspread, and tons of other little things.... Nat surprised me with an Ipod touch!! I was so excited. He is such a sweet guy. My sisters got them for Christmas and I have wanted one ever since. I, still being stuck in the "dark ages" with my flip phone, no music playing devices, nothing touch screen... didn't think that I would ever need.. or much less get one. I have yet to sit down and play with it because I have been playing catch up all day with laundry, dishes, vacuuming, and going through and putting up the girls' winter clothes... and of course blogging... which as you can tell obviously needed some catching up. Now that I am done... I got a date with my Ipod.