What to say?

Y'all crack me up! I go for a week without posting and my email gets flooded with requests for more updates. Lol I love you guys too. ;)

The big news for the week?! I'm an aunt! Jack Bradford Singleton Joined the world late Saturday night making me the proud aunt to the most handsome nephew ever!!! Weighing in at 9 lbs 2 oz he's nearly the same size as Madeline! He is sooo handsome! Beautiful blue eyes and lots of blond hair! What a sweetie pie! Jack is most happy on his mommy's chest sleeping but he seemed to like his aunt Jessie too. Lol anyways that was by far the highlight of my week!

In other news Madeline is smiling and talking a lot now. She has a Minnie mouse rattle on her carseat that makes her giggle and laugh. I love her sweet laugh. It's so soft and just precious to hear. She's still sleeping well and nursing like a champ. I still suppliment too though as I'm lazy and like the feedom of whipping out a bottle in public instead of trying to find somewhere to feed her in private. But on the whole I stick with nursing. She's getting so big! I can't wait to see what she weighs next week at her two month visit! 2 months! Ahh! So crazy!

Well that's all for now. I need to take some more pictures of the girls together! And I'll get some good ones of baby jack to post too!

Baby Dedication

Our girls were dedicated on Sunday... The girls were given their first bibles and then prayed over. The verse we chose to dedicate over our girls was Numbers 6:24-26 :

24 " ' "The LORD bless you and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." '

It was really special... there were also 16 other families dedicating children that sunday! (We've been a busy congregation.) :P LOL Anyways... after church we all went to Moe's with my family, my inlaws, and low and behold our whole small group shows up! So fun! We all had a great time, came home, napped ,then Jay, Linda, Bryan, the girls and I all walked the Aurthur Ravenel Bridge... for those of you non Charlestonians who read this - that's our new mega bridge... it's quite a hike, and excellant excercise with a great view.

This week was crazy busy and the weekend is only going to be busier... Tomorrow morning I'm going to Charli's garage sale... that'll be like shopping at a discounted Toys R Us - she has SO many toys! Then I have Danielle's baby shower tomorrow. Linda and I are getting her a swing. Then church Sunday, Shaun's going away party Sunday afternoon and a cookout on Sunday night with my family. AH! I'm tired already and it hasn't even started. LOL

Okay, on to the pictures from the weekend. :)

6 week..

Not too much going on right now. We had Mya's birthday party today! So cute... it was princess themed at the park. Lots of fun. We spent the week moving in Abbie and Shaun into their new house. Holy cow is that thing big. 5 huge bedrooms with an office that could be a 6th! Crazy!

I found a couple good deals on Craigslist for outdoor play things for Lizzy. So daddy got up early today and drove to Mt. P to pick them up in the truck. We got a picnic table with a bright colored umbrella for kids, and a Little Tykes slide and swing set. Lizzy had a ball with it this afternoon. I put the picnic table in the living room this afternoon while Liz was napping, I set up her tea set and a coloring book with her markers and crayons... she was ear to ear grins when she woke up. So we had a tea party with gold fish crackers when she woke up. Then we colored pictures for daddy. I may leave the picnic table in the house for a couple weeks until it really warms up more. It was 82 today but is supposed to drop to 65 tomorrow.

So tomorrow is the girls dedication. I'll post pictures...

Here's a few from this week and today...

Mommy & Maddy

Daddy & Maddy
Mommy & Maddy again...
Angela and Sammy... or Calvin... or Sammy...

I can't keep the twins straight. LOL
Mya Grace! The birthday girl!
My swingin girl...
Lizzy's new playset out back... ignore the messy back yard...
My long legged beauty headin down the slide...

That's all for now... more to come soon! :)

Picture Time!

Okay... y'all didn't have to wait too long. I took some pictures last night and this morning so here you go! Oh and I'll sneak one in from her first bath... it's quite obvious how much she just Loooooved her bath. Ha. Enjoy girls!!!

Life...

AH! She's a month old!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!! Okay, crazy yell over. But WOW has this month flew! I have been SO bad about taking pictures the last couple weeks... I PROMISE I'll get some of my one month old (*sniff* I'll just keep saying 4 weeks... it sounds younger.) :P some time this week!



Life is just simply insane right now - but I have to say I'm loving every moment. Well... most moments, the middle of the night moments when Both... yes BOTH of my girls are up isn't so fun. Lizzy's still getting up in the middle of the night about 2-3 times a week, but we're making progress. Maddy however has been sleeping great - we're up to 7 1/2 hours some nights! And she's only up for 15 minutes or so before giving me another 4-5 hour stretch! WOOT! Love this kid.



The training for the 1/2 marathon is going well. I'm not a great runner by any means, but I'm working my way into it. My lungs still feel like they're on fire after every run but I guess that's normal. Last night was the first time the 4 of us ran together... I so love my small group girls! They're so awesome! Abby and Dani ran circles around Angela and I, but then again, they've been doing this for awhile so I figure eventually Ang and I will work up to their speed. For now, I'm just proud that I didn't pass out. :P The running part is miserable, I admit, but the feeling of getting my butt back in shape - along with spending time with some of my favorite people makes it totally worth it. I also joined the gym this week so on our 3 days off from running each week I can do some core training. (Hopefully I can make it to the Body Pump classes, that will REALLY help this weight to come off!) I weighed myself yesterday. *barf* LOL I'm down 25 lbs since I had Maddy, my goal is to lose another 25 - hopefully 15 or 20 of that before WDW. That's a lot I know but I'm really watching what I eat, and with all this exercise it shouldn't be too unreachable.



Anyways. I'm officially hired at Seacoast! LOL Even though I've been working there for a few weeks now, the paperwork came back and made it official this week. I love my room too. One of these days I'm going to remember to take pictures of Hidden Cove (it's Birth through 12 months) Granted I'm partial, but my room is my personal favorite amoung all the kids rooms. It's just beautiful. :) Tomorrow is First Wednesday, we have service once a month on the first wednesday night of the month - it's mostly all worship and includes a message by our campus pastor. (the weekly messages get tuned in from the main campus in Mt. P - so it'll be special hearing Pastor Phil speak.) Well... I may not get to hear much of it, as I'll be working, but just a glimpse of our church pulled together on a Wednesday night has me pumped. It's such a great place to be! I love these people!



On another note... I've noticed a shift in my personal style as of late. It sounds frumpy, but I'm really enjoying my tshirts, jeans and tennis shoes right now. LOL Jay loves it, I dressed like this back when we were dating and he says it makes me look sporty - but it's funny to see that style naturally coming back for me. The last few years it's been lots of heels, black pants, dressy shirts on casual days etc. And now it's all coming full circle. LOL Anyway, just something funny to note.



Oooooh! I think I'm getting my hair cut this week... remember when I was pregnant and wanted to chop it all off but didn't b/c I thought i'd get chipmunk cheeks while pregs and didn't want to look like Violet? Well... my cheeks (though always a bit chunky) have lost their swolleness. haha that sounds funny. Anyway, they have so I think I'm going to go get it chopped off. I'm excited about something different, though I'm sure I'll miss being able to put it in a pony tail while I'm running.



So what else is new? Lizzy got chosen as the start student of the month! They choose one kid each month who has good listening skills, played well with others and had respect for the rules... and amazingly my child was chosen! (*whew* at least she behaves well in public!) ;) So today in her little chapel she was given a certificate, a gold medal to wear all day and a special pencil with a bit star earaser on top. LOL So precious. I filmed the whole thing... it was really special. Although it has to be said the poor child saw me as she was filing into the chapel with her class and burst into tears when she couldn't come sit by mommy. *sigh* poor kid. Broke my heart... "Mommy pleeeease, come get me mommy! I wanna sit by you me mommy!" (Yes that's exactly how she said it.) But eventually she calmed down and was able to stand up on stage to receive her medal and certificate. Such a grown up girl I have...

The girls are being dedicated at church on the 13th! Should be a very special day... full of pictures! :D So that's it for now... watch for pictures to come soon!

Maddy's 1 Month Wellcheck.

Well, my little peanut had her one month well check visit today... and she's growing!!! Not that I doubted that... but she's grown an inch now placing her in the 25% for height, 25% for head, but 50% for weight! She's up to 9 lbs 2 oz already... I can't believe she's already 9 lbs! So crazy. My growing lady bug is getting all kinds of cute little rolls all over her arms and legs, and she's even got a bit of a double chin now! LOL I need to take some pictures of her tomorrow.

I'm headed to a BF class tomorrow, should be interesting, they weigh the baby, then we nurse, then they weigh them again to see how much they ate during that feeding. I'm curious to see how much Maddy's gained... BUT I still suppliment during the day after each feeding and I admit I'll be embarassed to pull out a bottle at a BF class. LOL So I hope Maddy can hold off until we leave. I'll let her nurse as long as she wants but I won't pull out that bottle until we get home. LOL

Anyway, just wanted to update! Little Miss is doing well! I'll post more pictures soon! :)

Mail & More

Well to answer the Disney question y'all have been asking... we're going to Disney over Mother's Day this year, with my MIL. Then the day before we leave my family is coming in for a week, so we'll be spending some time with them as well... it's going to be slammed pack with family, fun and craziness! YAY! I can't wait to take Maddy into the parks - and my MIL hasn't been in years! We'll probaby be at the hotel alot, since Madeline is so little still. But I'm looking forward to getting to spend some good time with Lizzy and Jay. I swear we all kind of high five each other hello and goodbye these days. Jay is staying VERY busy - which is great, but also means we can't plan an extended trip because he can't be gone too long since we're already backed up with work. So I'm really looking forward to seeing my hubby for a few days with no work interuptions (though I'm sure he'll be on the phone a lot booking appointments... but I'll take what I can get. LOL)



SO! I've been stocking up on fun outfits for the girls (I think I mentioned that yesterday, but I can't remember.) Anyway, I went to BRU this morning and found some great deals! I had a couple gift cards that I was planning on saving for diapers - but seeing as how I still have several hundred diapers waiting in the closet, I decided to splurge a little and do some shopping for the girls. Now, Madeline really truly doesn't *need* any new clothes - but that doesn't mean she didn't get any. ;) I got the girls two matching outfits from the Disney Pooh line at BRU. One of them is bright orange and yellow, Maddy's is a one piece sunsuit and Lizzy's has a shirt that matches Maddy's and then jean capri's with Pooh on the bottom cuff. SO CUTE! The other outfit matches exactly, I got them both lavender tank tops with white shorts - the tank has a big sparkly Pooh on it. Then I picked up a couple more outfits for Liz - they had a ton of them on sale for $7.99 - Love that deal! Lizzy needed new summer clothes as she really only had a couple of dresses so far.



Okay, onto the Mail part of the update! I've received 4 really fantastically fun gifts in the mail the last few days (weeks)!!! 6 if you count the two cards filled with giftcards and money from my Uncle Jay and Grandpa Fagan! But the gifts came from Chrissy, Nibbs, Aunt Jill and Aunt Sharon. (The Aunts being *my* aunts, the girls great aunts.) Chrissy got Madeline this wonderful Mustela gift set full of bath goodies for Maddy. Mustela is my *favorite* baby splurge. It all smells SO good and works SO very well! I love it! And she put in an adorable little lamb as well. Nibbs sent us a box filled with fun goodies as well, an adorable bunny hat and bunny slippers to match, some duckie bibs (which I found out match the one's she got Anya! So fun!) and Maddy's very first bunny rabit! (It even says that right on the bunny.) ;) And my favorite part of the gift, a note from Nibbs herself. :) Love you Nibbs! Aunt Sharon sent a box full of baby clothes she's been collecting, including some really cute sunsuits and a little red sailor outfit which I can't wait to put Maddy in! And a check for Madeline as well! :) Aunt Jill sent a huge box of goodies for both the girls, including a giant Minnie Mouse for Liz which *must* sit on her pillow every night right beside her head. Aunt Jill, Ally and Abbie put in a really cute Gymboree outfit with strawberries that I think I'll get Madeline's 3 month pictures taken in - it's SO cute, some carter's sunsuits, a ton of coupons and some socks for Liz. All in all our mail lady has been visiting our door a lot and Lizzy and I have had SO much fun going through all the wonderful things y'all have sent us! So again, a BIG THANK YOU! I love you all so much and your gifts were so thoughtful and sweet!



One little update about our lives as well... I've been having a hard time balancing my time between Elizabeth and Madeline. Lizzy needs sooooo much attention right now, more for her to mentally grasp the whole sharing mommy thing than anything. While Madeline actually *needs* me, but doesn't complain when I leave her in her seat to play with Liz. It's been a struggle for me as Lizzy has been acting out a lot in hopes of gaining any attention at all from me, be it negative or positive. She doesn't care - and now it's carrying over into her sleep habits as well... the last couple nights in a row she's woken up in the middle of the night coming into our room, slamming the door, waking up Maddy, Jay and I with yells of "I pee'd!" or "I can't find B!" (her blankie) it's been very frustrating and is causing her to behave even worse in the mornings because she's so tired all the time. She wakes up telling me she's tired and sleepy and wants to take a nap - but she won't go back to sleep. I spend SO much time with her, but it just never seems to be enough. I hate this. Any attention I give Madeline when Elizabeth is around turns into Lizzy doing something very naughty to get my attention... eg: emptying an entire bottle of lotion all over herself and then begging for a bath, making huge messes and then pretending to be hurt so I'll put Madeline down and go comfort Liz instead... and on and on. It's a constant battle. Liz will look at me while I'm feeding Madeline and say "Stop feeding her mommy. Put her down. Talk to me." It's heart breaking to hear and I feel like I'm doing something wrong. There's got to be a better way of communicating to Elizabeth that while mommy loves her SO very much, I *have* to feed, change, rock, etc. Madeline too! I fall in bed exhausted at night and most days just work my way through it. Elizabeth doesn't act out towards Maddy though. She always directs things at me. I'll pick up Madeline and Lizzy will rush over and yell "MY MADDY!" Another thing is that she's been having trouble when I drop her off at school. Remember those days at the begining of the school year when I would tear up because she would run off to play with her friends without so much as a backwards glance or goodbye mommy? Well those days are long gone... now I have to pry her off my leg every morning that I drop her off with major tears when I leave. They say she calms down within a minute or two and then is fine - but I hate seeing her so upset like that. Another thing is that when she get's up in the middle of the night, usually Jay's the one to put her back to sleep - we made a deal that I'd get up as much as needed with Madeline at night but that if Liz get's up, he'd get up with her so that I wasn't up ALL night long. Well Lizzy will lay in bed and cry for me until I get up and go tuck her back in bed. It's frustrating Jay, wearing me out and making for a generally miserable family.



Now... this isn't all the time, not at all. Just now and then. Most days we pull through just fine, and the time I spend with Lizzy seems to be adequate in that her acting out is mainly just when I'm feeding or changing the baby. But it's still the constant battle of "when will she go off next?" and "am I doing a good enough job?" or "what's wrong with my parenting skills that my toddler is doubting my love for her?" Those are the things I think about constantly...