Comfort Objects

Maddi makes me laugh because she has suddenly become really attached to two "toys" and its funny because I never saw Mia show much of a preference for any particular toy or any comfort object for that matter but all this week I've noticed that Maddi will find these two toys over and over again and when she does she will hold on to them at all costs. She will have one in each hand and try to crawl and as frustrating as it gets she will NOT let go. Funny girl. Oh the funniest part: the comfort objects are a bean bag Mia got from Joy School, and a Bath Puff (un-used I might add) I don't know why she loves them so much but they're like her little buddies.

Mia's 2nd Haircut

I decided to give Mia her 2nd haircut that she's ever had! I'm sure my hairdresser friends would not be all that impressed but I was so excited that didn't cut any major chunks out of it. And as I'm writing this I realized that I should have taken a before picture! Too bad.

My Favorite Moments

I love these moments! Mia has been really into playing pretend these days and maybe its the child development background, but I get SO excited when I see her doing this because I know what a good developmental milestone it is and how great it is for creativity and independence etc. etc. (Not to mention the fact that having her entertain herself for 2 hour blocks at a time is great for my personal productivity!) These particular pictures stemmed from a conversation we had early that morning that went something like this. Mia: "Mom is it my Birthday today?" Me: "No your Birthday is in March" Mia: "I want it to be my Birthday todayyyyy and I'm gonna be five" Me: Well I'm sorry its not your Birthday today but maybe you could pretend its your Birthday today and you could get your dolls and have a pretend Birthday party with cake and everything." Mia: Runs off to her room to get "Party Supplies" apparently deciding that Mom actually has a good ideas and proceeds to entertain herself for the next two hours (and really the rest of the day stopping only a few times for potty breaks, lunch, a nap, and to pose for a couple pictures...its rough being famous. :))

Guests at the party included: Daddy's (yes I meant Daddy's) Cabbage Patch Doll pulled out from an old box recently, The Grinch (Fully clad in one of Maddi's diapers) and the Easter Bunny complete with a tutu. Life's Great.

Princess Party

Mia had a great excuse to get all decked out in her "Princess Attire" that Grandma and Grandpa got her for Christmas when she went to her friends' Princess Party last week. She had so much fun and it was just hillarious taking my 2 year old out in high heels and more hillarious watching her try to walk in them!

We've Got Forward Motion!!!

So Maddi offically started crawling today....let the fun begin! :)

PS You'll have to click the play button twice to see the video and sorry its crooked and dark!

Fun Times

Getting Big

Maddi is just on the verge of becoming completely mobile so I am enjoying what's left of the "I can put you in one spot and you won't move anywhere else or touch something I don't want you to" stage. :) But it is so cute because she just wants so badly to be independent and tonight was so excited when could stand up by her table and play. It just made me realize how fast this time with her has gone by.

Quilt Making

While my Mom was in town I really wanted to make a quilt for Mia's bed. I was amazed at how fast it all came together thanks to generous friends who actually own quilting/sewing supplies (I own nothing! So thank you Karen, Hiedi, and Risa) and my wonderful and patient Mom who honestly did almost all the sewing (I deemed myself "quilt designer/fabric cutter :)) Anyway...it was such a fun experience for me and Mia was nice enough to Humor me by getting excited throughout the process (I tried to tell myself I was doing this for her...but who am I kidding she'd be excited if she got to sleep in her sleeping bag every night!) I think she was most excited because we managed to save one square so her baby could have a matching blanket. :)

Sledding

We took Mia "Real" Sledding for the first time this week. We've pulled her around our yard and down the street but haven't actually taken her down a real hill. Up to this point we didn't think she really enjoyed the snow all that much, but after this experience we realized that pulling her around our yard just wasn't "extreme" enough! She had no fear and just LOVED sledding down a big hill and begged us to let her go down by herself. We compromised by putting her on her OWN sled next to us.

Funny Things Your Kids Say

So the other night we had put Mia to bed and she came out of her room saying "Mommy there's a sound in my ear and I don't like it...it hurts" Because she now has tubes in her ears due to ear infections I'm a little paranoid when it comes to ear issues so Lance and I were in her room with a flash light looking in her ear (well Lance was looking in her ear and I was there for moral support pretending that I knew what I was looking at) but anyway... after a few minutes of moving her ear around and trying to see if something could possibly be wrong we heard this wierd squeaking sound coming from the Smoke Dectector on her ceiling! We looked at each other and just started laughing. Then we asked Mia if that was the sound in her ear. And she said yes with a confused look on her face (I think she was still convinced that the sound was actually IN her ear). It makes perfect sense when you actually think about it. :)Needless to say after switching a few Smoke Detector batteries around and convincing Mia that the sound in her ear was out she drifted happily off to sleep! So Funny... I love those moments.

Enjoying our Break

Between having Grandma Tresa visiting and Lance being on break from school the Girls and I are being completely spoiled and we are all totally enjoying the break. It will be a definate adjustment going back to real life! Mia's been able to go on a couple Daddy/Daughter dates with Lance. One afternoon he had a baptism he had to be at and asked Mia to go with him. She was so excited to get all dressed up and go with Daddy all by herself... it was the cutest thing and the picture just says it all! Over the weekend he also took her to a Purdue Basketball game which she was so excited about. She got to dress up in her Yellow shirt and she kept saying "Boiler Up Boiler Up....First Down" (Wrong sport but at least she was in the right spirit) As it turned out she had a great time the first half, Loved watching the little girls dance at the half time show and then curled up in Lance's lap and slept for the ENTIRE second half!

Every morning Mia watches Grandma put her makeup on and asks lots of questions about why she puts on this or that and the other day she decided to experiment with Mommy's makeup...its one of those moments where you have to decide do I put you in time out for this or take a picture and laugh. We opted for a picture!

And little Maddi our sweet little baby wants to crawl and get moving SO bad! Somehow she's able to change her location but just can't seem to get any forward motion going. She gets on her little tummy and trys shaking her head forward as if that will somehow propell her forward...its hillarious. The other day though my Mom and I were across the room from her and she managed to get herself turned around stuck completely under the chair at our computer desk. So funny.

Merry Christmas!!!

The girls thoroughly enjoyed opening and playing with their gifts. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Nelson for the fun princess outfit and for the music CD. Mia had fun listening to Grandma's voice all Christmas morning!

Christmas

We had such a fun Christmas. Mia really "got it" this year. She had lots of fun leaving cookies and Milk for Santa and LOVED opening presents and that would include ANY present whether it was for her or not. She also had fun giving a few gifts. She gave Maddi one of her "old" dolls for Christmas and every day leading up to Christmas would ask me if she could give Maddi her present yet. Maddi was very excited about all the fun new things to grab and chew on and going after wrapping paper was great motivation to practice crawling (she's officially mastered scooting backwards and in a circle much to her frustration). She really liked her new doll from Grandma Tresa but we were laughing at how much she and the doll resembled each other. :)

Grandma Tresa's Visit

We have all been so excited for Grandma Tresa to come and have had such a blast! Before Christmas we were able to take a trip to the Children's Museum (Have you noticed a theme? We take EVERYONE who comes to visit to the Children's Museum) and make Gingerbread houses. Mia was so proud of hers although she decided that it was much more fun to eat the candy rather than use it for home decor!