Picture time! (Video below)

Okay, here's what's going on in our lives... Princess dresses, scottish highland games, and lots of fun hanging outdoors in this beautiful weather! Maddy is getting chubby... just look at those cheeks! :)

The tail of Madeline...

You know how it's funny to watch a dog chase its tail? Well this is kind of like that... but with my kid. And please excuse the laughter in the background... I was dying laughing and my goofy baby running in circles.

Enjoy!

Winds of change...

Ah, so its been more than a little crazy around here lately. Maddy is up to 16 lbs and is trying to crawl! She gets up on all fours but then she just rocks back and forth and eventually face plants herself into the carpet before pulling herself back up and trying again. She's sleeping very well, most nights are at least 10 hours. Our only problem at the moment (and I mean that quite litterally as she's screaming in the other room as I type this) is that she HATES nap time. Hates it! It is so annoying! Once asleep she'll be out for 3-4 hours in the afternoon, but getting her to slow down long enough to actually fall asleep is darn near impossible! And frustrating to boot as she keeps Lizzy up when she starts screaming meaning I have two miserable nap needing kids every afternoon, which really, really sucks!

In between that last sentance and this one I finally gave in and rocked her to sleep, so now my house is blissfully quiet. For now anyways...

So what's new around here? I can't remember if I've mentioned Princess Charming but that's what Lizzy calls prince charming, which cracks me up. In school this month they're teaching the kids their parents names in case the kids would ever get lost they can tell someone who they're with. So lizzy likes to call us "Dessica Cwemmons" and "damie cwemmons" but they funny one is when you ask her Maddys full name... "Maddy Goose!" she'll reply. I guess I need to start calling Madeline Maddy Jane instead of Maddy Goose.

I ordered Jays birthday cake from Publix today, its the same flavor as Lizzy's cake but the theme is all green with a tree stump in the middle and a chain saw laying on the stump... I cracked up when I saw the picture of it in the Publix cake book. I just knew I had to order it for him! His birthday is on Friday so we'll be celebrating at small group. I'm making lasagna and we'll have garlic bread, salad and then ice cream and cake for dessert, should be fun! He told me he wants tools for his birthday which translates to a card from me and whatever he wants from the catalog of tools he always has laying around. Lol

Oh yeah, another lizzy moment: Liz got a camera for her birthday from her uncle, it came with a camera case. Yesterday Liz walks up to me and asks where her suitcase for her camera is... It took me a minute to realize she was asking about her camera case. Too cute.

Anyway! I need a nap, its been a looong morning. More updates to come!

New Stuff

Yes I realize that's not the most creative title but the title "birthday parties, well check visits and other things going on in our lives" seemed a bit long. So it is what it is. Moving on!

Let's go in order, last Friday lizzy turned 3 which was lots of fun. We didn't do too much on her actual birthday as she got an upset tummy after her lunch (she wanted Chinese... Ew, I blame the chicken) so she had an accident (a very messy one) while we were at small group, in front of 15 kids. Was she embarassed? Not my kid. Nope, she merely said "I feel better mommy" when she was through ruining the carpet. Fun times.

Saturday morning however brought lots of stress for mommy and great times for Lizzy. The reason I was stressing was that we had 50 people RSVP for her party... Which I wasn't expecting, and most of which RSVP'd the night before. Oh and it was from 11-1 which meant we needed to feed everyone so I was stressing about that big time. Linda took care of the fruit which was wonderful (huge platters of watermelon, grapes, canteloupe, strawberries and honeydew. I made a big platter of cheese cubes and picked up 6 lbs of popcorn chicken. We added some goldfish and things like that and then topped it all off with palmtree coolers of capri suns, apple juice and bottled water.

The cake was vanilla with raspberry filling and whipped buttercream frosting which was the best cake I'd ever tasted. Seriously, better than our overpriced wedding cake... Lol we also had an ice cream bar with peaches, rasberries, chocolate chips, gummy bears, bitterscotch chips and sprinkles for toppings. That was a huge hit with the parents and kids both. I had some games planned but we had 25 kids there so we didn't end up playing any games as it was too chaotic. I did however have a rub on tattoo station for the kids which was a HUGE hit. The kids loved getting those and the parents sll thought it was fun as well. Due to the ginormous guest count the gift table was out of control. She got more than any 3 year old should ever have so I'm putting the things we got her, back for Christmas. And we'll be donating an old toy for each of the new ones she opens.

All in all it was a blast although both lizzy and I were overwhelmed with everything. Jay hung out with my brothers and Maddy had a great time with all the attention while lizzy and I tackled the mountain of presents. It took us 2 days to recover from all that fun.

Then today was Maddy's 6 month well check visit. Her head is in the 10th percentile, her height and weight around the 40th percentile. She's up to 16 lbs 3 oz now! She got 3 shots and only cried while she was getting them. As soon as I picked her up afterwards she started smiling at the nurse. It was sad and cute, big ol tears streaming down her cheeks and a grin on her face... That's my baby.

I have to say I am SO thankful that she is a good baby. Lizzy is proving to be a handful these days and I don't know what I'd do if Maddy was a difficult baby on top of that. Fortunately I don't have to worry about that. Maddy is angelic and so sweet to be around.

Lizzy's an awesome kid and I love her more than life, but I swear she'll be the death of me. She is so sassy these days and independant! (which is the nice way of saying she doesn't listen worth a darn most days and its driving me ape wall!) I'm working with her though, Jay says I'm too soft on her. I just say I choose my battles. If I were to correct her every single time she didn't listen or talked back I'd spend all day putting her in time out and taking away privledges. Instead I try to pick the things I most want her to learn (good manners, kindness, and listening skills) and I overlook the bossy boots comments or rolling of the eyes. (which I realize both of those fall under good manners, but seriously, she's 3. I'll take please and thank you even if its sometimes said more like "please I want that this very instant" or "please but I'm really just saying please because I know that's the only way to get what I want even if I don't have a thankful attitude at all right now" yeah, its a lot to put into one little "please" but trust me, they can do it)

I guess she's just really trying her boundries right now and is looking to me to set the guidelines for all future communication between us. Its hard, but no one ever said parenting would be easy. And its definetly not.

But to end on a happy note. Lizzys preschool is working on safety right now so they're teaching the kids their full names and their parents full names in case they ever get lost the kids will know what to tell a police officer. So tonight I asked Liz, what's your name? And she replies "Wizabeth Doy Kwemmons" then I asked her "what's mommy's name?" she replied "Jessica" I said "what's mommy's last name?" she replies... "mommy... Jessica mommy" so I tried two for two of that cuteness and asked what daddy's last name is... She said "daddy. Daddy's name is Jamie Daddy" lol gotta love it.

That's all for this update but I'll upload some pics soon. :)

Not so long ago...

Not so long ago I knew this was almost it. The moment I'd been waiting for since I was a little girl who loved swaddling her cabbage patch doll. It was within reach, my contractions had started and in my mind I could picture this amazing little person. My first born, my Elizabeth Joy. There was no way of preparing myself for the mass of emotions that comes along with seeing a new life that God, my husband and I had by some miracle created but it was the most amazing feeling I'd ever had.

Not too long ago I was waking Jamie up with a panicked "this is it."

Not too long ago I got my first glimpse of the rest of my life. As she lay there in my arms flashes of first steps, backpacks, proms and weddings were dancing through my imagination.

Not too long ago those first steps became a reality as I watched the world come alive for my little girl. As she toddled over with an expression of one who recently won an Olympic gold medal, full of spirit and excitement as she mastered this new life tool, I knew this would change everything. And it did. We've moved on to backpacks and no more diapers. She has manners and attitudes, preferances and a voice. A beautiful voice which often grates my last nerve but can melt me in a heartbeat with a whispered "I love you mommy." or "want to play with me mommy?"

Today my lizzy will be turning 3. I'm so proud of her. Not only for her accomplishments, which are growing in number every day, but for her heart. She is a passioniate little girl who loves life and is full of laughter and sweetness. Not so long ago she was 7 lbs 11oz and relied on me for everything. Now she is growing more independent by the day, both breaking my heart and giving me hope that someday she'll be an amazing woman.

For now however she's my sweet angel, the voice I look forward to in the mornings with my favorite words in the whole world. "I love you mommy."

Its that time again!

Back to school! Oh how I despise getting up at the butt crack of dawn to wake up my toddler who is 3 going on 13 with her little morning attitudes of "5 more minutes!" and "I don't wanna go to school." and all the drama that goes along with getting her up before she's ready. However, she needs to go to preschool, she learns SO much and she has a really fabulous teacher this year. First day back was a huge success, no tears when I left and she got a great report after school. Today they had a sub who was very sarcastic, and Liz doesn't do well with sarcasm so she got in trouble for pushing the subs hand away. When I asked her about it on the way home she said "well she pointed in my face mommy" which, I know Liz is the kid and should never push her teachers hand away but I'm not really cool with a teacher pointing in my kids face either so we had a light talk about it and hopefully her regular teacher will be back next week.

In the mean time, Lizzy started ballet and tap dance! She LOVES dancing. I worked with her all week on her positioning and pointing her toes, heel toe and all that fun dance stuff and last night her teacher said she came alive in class and did an excellant job. Yay! I love those reports!

Now for a Maddy update. We're fast approaching 6 months old and I still have to say I have never met such a pleasant baby. I know kids that are more advanced, ones that sleep longer and some that eat better but anyone who's ever met Madeline always comments on how happy, smiley and just generally pleasant she is. Its so great waking up to her smiles every day and watching her suck her bottom lip and grin at the same time. She's ticklish all over and completely adores her big sister, laughing and coo'ing whenever Lizzy looks at her. The girls are becoming fast friends sharing blankets while watching movies (yes Maddy watches movies with Liz) and talking to each other in the car. Lizzy's a huge help when it comes to entertaining the baby so I can make dinner or whatever.

Both the girls go in for their well check visits the first week of September. I can't wait to see how much they've grown!

I'll post some new pictures soon and update some more on our recent trip to Ohio. For now I need to go finish Lizzy's invites for her birthday party next Saturday!

Stranded.

I feel stranded! We finally sold my car on Saturday and here I am with a bazillion things to do and no way to get around! What I *need* to be doing is cleaning my house instead... Which I plan to do... Eventually. Lol in the mean time I thought I'd update a bit. This was a crazy busy weekend complete with allergies for the whole family.

We're looking for a new van tonight when Jay gets off work, so I'm going to start packing for our Ohio trip. I sure hope we can go, we already decided on what we're willing to spend on what kind of van so I hope its out there! The market stinks down here for vehicle sales so I'm hoping to play that to our advantage and get a good deal on something.

Anyway! Not too much going on aside from that, we bought lizzys new car seat last week which goes up to 65 lbs with the 5 point safety harness. That makes me feel better about her safety. If the van we buy doesn't have a built in DVD player I'm going to invest in one of those dual screen ones so I can face one towards Maddy too as she is all about the movies right now. So cute! Lizzy and Maddy are sitting here watching Chronicles of Narnia as I type and both of them are glued to the TV.

Speaking of Maddy, she is a little fatty these days! She eats about a 1/4th cup of cereal every night and I swear it goes straight to her chubby little legs! My used to be tiny peanut is now a little marshmellow! I need to upload some pictures of her soon.

I've been searching for clothes for the girls on craigslist as all of lizzys old nine month items are summertime so I have no winter clothes for maddy, and lizzys legs are so long that she's in 4T jeans now. I found a gal last week selling 6 pairs of pants and 11 shirts for $20. They were all gymboree, childrens place and old navy so I was super excited about that find! I picked up another box of 3's and 4's fall/winter items for $15, there were several play outfits and preschool items in that lot. So Liz has a great head start on fall now. Thank goodness, the older she gets the more expensive her clothes get as well! I refuse to pay $20 for kids jeans, especially when she'll outgrow them in a couple months. Crazy!

I haven't had any luck with 9 - 12 month winter clothes for Maddy yet. But maybe I'll find some good deals while we're in Ohio.

This was a completely boring update but there you have it. I'll try to get some new pictures of the girls up soon! Maddy will be 5 months tomorrow!