Easter 2014

Our Easter festivities this year were sort of spread out over the week preceding Easter. The Sunday before, we dressed up in our "fancy" Easter clothes, as Easter Sunday fell during conference weekend this year.

A little note about Maddie's Easter dress - I saw it and fell in love at first sight. The brand is Laura Ashley, and my mom used to buy our Easter dresses from that brand, so it's kind of special to me. Plus, James' mom bought it for her, so it is a gift from both her grandmothers, in a way. :)

We dyed Easter eggs the day before Easter. Maddie was kind of fussy and ready for bed, so we figured that we would do a picture or two and then put her to bed. Nope, as soon as she saw what we were doing she was enthralled! She loved watching and "helping" Dad to dye the eggs. She is so funny about what interests her! She stayed up and ended up going to bed late, but that's okay. No harm done. :) We chose a "marbled" egg dye kit, with mixed results. I think they turned out okay but next time I want to try a different one.

Easter morning, we didn't celebrate too much. Maddie got her Easter basket and we hid a few eggs for her to "find" with Dad. She had no clue what was going on, haha, but she immediately became addicted to the Gerber puffs the Easter bunny brought her! She loves those things. She is also a sippy cup pro now! Since she won't take a bottle, this is fabulous news. The Easter bunny also brought her a new swimsuit! He always brought my sisters and me swimsuits, and he is continuing the tradition with Maddie, seeing as how it is almost swimming weather here already.

What IS this thing??

Okay, I like him. We're friends now.

Maddie: 6 Months

My dear Madelynn,

6 whole months! Happy half birthday! There is something about the 6 month mark, like the 3 month mark. In the last week, you have suddenly become a big girl! You are doing so many new things and you are growing and changing so quickly. This 6 month milestone is huge for us - I want to cry thinking about how quickly you are growing, but I am so excited about where you are now! You truly are the light of my life.

-You are officially a sitter! You can only sit unsupported for about a minute, maybe 2. Tonight you sat for 5 for the first time! You love to sit up, but you are scared of falling. Anytime you lean a little to one side or the other, you freak out. You are definitely cautious.

-You wear 6 month clothes, 9 month jammies, and size 2 diapers. You weigh 13 lbs, 8 oz and are 26 inches tall.

-We started some finger foods this month, since you are iffy on the purees. You like jars, but you much prefer "big girl" food, like graham crackers, Mum Mums, puffs, peas, green beans, potatoes, mangos, etc. Actually, you have yet to refuse any kind of finger food. You will eat it ALL. You aren't very good at getting the food in your mouth, and you like me to do it for you because it takes so much work for you to do it yourself, and you are NOT patient when it comes to food. Food must come quickly or you shriek like crazy! Even when nursing, you are not patient enough to wait for letdown. You pop on and off forever until you can finally trigger it - I keep telling you that if you would just stay latched on, you and I would both be happier! - but you don't believe me, apparently.

-You wake up at about 7:30 most mornings, and go to bed about 8-8:30. You take 3 naps, but they aren't always at the same time. One nap is usually 2-3 hours and the other two are more like 45-60 minutes. You nurse every 3 hours and you eat dinner at about 6-6:30. I am just starting to give you breakfast as well, but you usually eat solids just once per day.

-Your eyes STILL haven't decided on a color. I don't know why this bothers me, it just does! They are a beautiful mix of gray, blue, green, and gold. They are gorgeous, I just want to know what color they are going to be! :)

-You don't have any interest in rolling or crawling. In fact, you act like tummy time is the worst thing I could do to you, even though I know you can roll over. Lately you just scream bloody murder until I can't take it anymore and help you out. We need to work on this, but I'm confident that you will crawl when you are ready. I am also not in any rush - I like my immobile baby! You turn and pivot while on your belly and your back though, and you push with your toes as well. Even in your crib, you are moving around a lot in your sleep.

-You are very talkative during the day - you have very long-winded, one-sided conversations where I can't get a word in edgewise! The funny thing though, is that you are only very chatty when Dad and I are around. Around other people, you talk a little, but you clam up. I think you are going to end up being like me - shy at first, then an open book once you get to know someone.

-This month, we left you with a babysitter for the very first time so that we could go see a movie. You did great! You were a dream baby. Good job, girl, cause Mama needs a break sometimes! :)

-Your nicknames are munchkin, peanut, and princess. Also Mad or Mads.

-Sleep. The sleep saga continues with you. You are the perfect, good, dream baby until it comes to nighttime sleep. I am up 4-5+ times per night with you. At least. We have tried sleep training, but it just wasn't working for us. For some reason, sleeping at night is tough for you. I know that sleeping through the night is a developmental milestone, and that you will when you are ready, but some nights I just wish YOU WOULD SLEEP. At most we get 2 hours uninterrupted. Sweetheart, I love you, but we need to figure this out together.

-You have become very opinionated! You know what you want, and nothing else will do. It's become quite entertaining, actually! You have strong opinions about a lot of things, such as food. Accessories. Toys.

-I finally got a good belly laugh from you this month! We were playing a tickle game, late at night right before bed, and you were so slap happy because you were so tired. You laughed and laughed and laughed, and then I laughed and laughed, and we both got the hiccups. I loved every second of it!

-I love you more than life itself. You are so much fun to watch! I love watching you grow, change, and develop. You are a very smart girl and I couldn't have asked for a better baby!

Love,
Mommy

St. George

Waaaaay back, at the end of January, we took a trip to St. George with some of our best friends. I am FINALLY finishing up those pics now...oops! St. George is about half way between our homes, so it was a great place to meet up for a long weekend. I miss Nick & Carly and their kids so much! We haven't lived close in a few years, but I still wish that we did!! James has known them for years, and I have known them as long as I've known him. Emmy and I are best buds, also. :)

We had the best time on this trip! The first day, we visited Brigham Young's winter home that they have turned into a museum. We are so Mormon, haha. Let's go visit a former prophet's house while on vacation! It was really neat though. I love seeing all the historical things. They had a lot of original furniture and stuff there. Also, people used to be really short. I don't think I would have even been able to sleep in that bed. I didn't get any pictures inside the house, but I got a few of all of us hanging out in the yard afterwards! We had to stop and feed the babies, and Em got to pick pecans and crack 'em, which was also really neat.

Two kids looks good on him, amiright?? ;)

We're buds.

Looking back at these, Maddie looks so tiny! Except her cheeks. They were huge.

We also walked around the temple grounds. You almost can't look directly at the temple in the sunlight because it is so brightly white. It's beautiful against the red rock though!

On Sunday, we went to Zion's National Park, on a little hike through one of the canyons. I had never been to Zion's, and it was beautiful! Even in winter, with no leaves on the trees. I kept telling James that I would love to see it in the fall, when all the trees change color, to see all those pretty fall colors with the red mountain backdrop. I bet it's GORGEOUS. Zion's was fun! It was a little chilly, so we tried to bundle the babies up as best we could. My first major mom fail here - I forgot Maddie's jacket and warm blanket at the hotel (facepalm) so we zipped her up in James' hoodie and borrowed P's sun hat to hopefully keep her head warm. It worked though! She stayed toasty and even took a little nap.

On the way home, we drive through Las Vegas, and on the outskirts is a little lookout that overlooks a beautiful valley. I made James stop so we could look and take pictures! It was beautiful and Maddie definitely enjoyed getting out of the car for a bit.

Renaissance Fair 2015

A few weekends ago we headed out to the Renaissance Festival with our good friends the Padgetts. I had never been, and James hadn't been since he was a child. It was a lot of fun! There were so many neat things to see. My favorite (which of course I didn't get ANY picture or video of, as I was nursing Maddie during the show) was the ... dang, I forgot what they were called. The acrobats who balance on each other and juggle. They were VERY talented! I would have been terrified to do any of the tricks they did. We even caught a glimpse of the last show of the day, where they juggle with fire. Yikes!! It was awesome to watch though. :) We saw a jousting tournament, glass blower, torture dungeon, and a falconer as well. It was really neat!

Not amused by my picture taking. And I have no idea why there is a red spot on her head. We never figured that one out.

Maddie had the best seat in the house!

Is it naptime yet?

This bookshop was SO. COOL. They had tons of old books and the decor was really fascinating as well.

Toy shop! They sold all wooden toys. We bought Mads a pink airplane, because airplanes.

The knight we were supporting in the joust. And the wenches cleaning the dust off him? I'm not sure what their job is actually...

Dungeon! We thought it was going to look like a dungeon, maybe a torture chair or something. Nope. Big mistake. They had all the torture devices and dummies showing you how they were used. Gave me the heebie jeebies!

There was AC though. That was nice.

Glass blower. This was a really neat demonstration! Glass blowing is a true art form, that's for sure.

Falconry.

She LOVED the birds and the falconer.

Stop taking my picture, Mom! I'm talking to the birds right now!