Out like a birthday lion

It snowed all day today. It always seems to rain or snow on Justin's birthday (today). He's not too big on celebrating his birthday so there's no need to feel bad that you missed it; however, he's starting to reconsider his need for enthusiasm as he was surprised by the watch I got him this year. He's always wanted a nice Swiss Army watch and now he has one. I went to pretty crazy lengths to get him one but that's a story for a different day. A funny shorter story is how Madeleine "told" Justin what he was getting for his gift. I took Madeleine with me to run errands yesterday and reminded her that we were going to give Justin a watch for his birthday. After getting home, Madeleine found the wrapped gift, took it into the bathroom when Justin was getting out of the shower, and said "Da-da" and pointed at her wrist. Justin guessed it immediately but didn't want me to feel bad so asked Madeleine if he was getting a bracelet for his birthday. She said "no" and pointed at her wrist again. What a turkey! Nevertheless, he was still really pleased. The kids gave Justin a pre-paid punch card to the coffee shop down the street from his office. That seemed pretty appropriate considering they tend to be the ones to make us as exhausted as we are.

Speaking of exhausted, Parker continues to only sleep in 2.5-3 hour chunks at night. He was doing 4 hour stretches for about a week and a half as soon as I stopped eating dairy but then he learned to roll from his back to his tummy and now gets stuck too far away from or on top of his pacifiers in the middle of the night. I'm still diary-free (making him gas-free) and caffeine-free and he's still bottle-free. He's refused to take the soy formula but we'll keep working on it. We're still hoping for a miracle here soon.

The other small development in our lives is the addition of a babysitter. We have a girl who comes over for an hour and a half on Tuesdays and Thursdays usually while the kids are sleeping but it gives me a chance to run errands and/or do things around the house with both hand available. Once Madeleine gets more used to her (Parker cares less who holds him as long as he can pull hair and poke at eyes) we'll probably try and even go out for a date one night! Can you believe it?

I must have written enough because I was able to consume 4 enormous dairy-free cookies I made last night while posting this. Time for something to wash the crumbs down. I'll hopefully have some pictures to post soon.

gimme

My name is Parker. Whatever it is you have, I want it.

Birthday follow-up

True to her age, Madeleine had two temperamental birthday celebrations. We celebrated with our friend Jen (who was there when Madeleine was born) on Wednesday night with

chocolate cake and ice cream. We have a video of her opening presents but it isn't worth sharing because anyone who sent gifts might be offended; she was far more excited about tearing the paper off than investigating the gifts themselves. She was extremely exhausted because she only took a 40 minute nap, of course, so the evening ended early.




On Saturday we invited some friends over to celebrate with us. Unfortunately, only a few were able to show up so we had another small celebration with subs and ice cream cake this time. Madeleine had/has decided she doesn't enjoy Parker when he makes noise so we were pretty worn out from her protests and tears by the time the party started. But our neighbor's 9-year-old son kept Madeleine really entertained and after Parker went to bed she seemed to enjoy herself.

Sorry I don't have more traditional messy pictures but she isn't too interested in getting very dirty (unless she's eating yogurt); plus, the super-bibs Carol gave to us help keep the mess contained :)

Coming into our life as a little bitty baby, Madeleine has brought us lots of joy and opportunities to learn and grow over the last two years. Now she is an expressive little lady full of her own ideas and prerogatives. I'm guessing I may learn more than she does over the next 12 months.

March 18th, 2007

March 18th, 2008

March 18th, 2009

Labor and love

Exactly 2 years ago right now I began going through active labor. 4 hours later Madeleine was in our arms. Although I have the photos, videos, and gray hairs to show for it, I can still hardly believe she's been making us laugh and smile for 2 years. Happy 2nd birthday, Madeleine!

One of those forever memories

I shouldn't have laughed and I didn't do it for too long before helping her get her head out but...yes, that's Madeleine with her head stuck in Oreo's cat carrier. I guess she figured Elmo fit so why shouldn't she, right? I laughed until I cried and then had to apologize to Madeleine for laughing (she didn't think the situation was particularly funny and scowled at me afterward for having laughed). Thankfully no toddlers or Elmo dolls were hurt in the taking of this picture :)

Outside fun

Today it's 38 degrees and snowing/raining but this past Saturday was BEAUTIFUL! It was close to 55 and sunny; just the perfect weather to be outside and dream of spring. Justin took the opportunity to bag up those piles of leaves we raked back in November (but didn't bag) before the snow came. The tops of the piles were easy enough to bag but the bottoms were still frozen so we still have more work. I let Justin and Madeleine take charge while Parker and I walked the perimeter of the yard imagining what we want the garden to look like. Madeleine was given an early birthday present of a yard-work set (a shovel, a rake, and a hoe) because she otherwise tries to steal ours while we're working. It worked out really well, even if she did end up using her hands more than the rake to put leaves in the trash bag :)

Crazy girl

My parents finally harassed me enough to get me to post new pictures on Picasa and some new videos here.

As you can see in this first video, we finally got some new furniture to complete our living room thanks to our tax refund! The song, "Tantrum," is from a Sandra Boynton book called Dog Train and is performed by the Spin Doctors. This is the first song on the album and I'm often requested to play it 8 times in a row. The rest of the CD is full of other songs complete with hysterical lyrics and great musicians. I recommend it for anyone looking for a genuine rock 'n' roll CD for kids (that adults won't pull their hair out listening to).

As for the other video, it just shows how limited Madeleine is in being adventuresome. We're doubting that she'll ever try to crawl out of her crib; instead she'll probably break the entire thing bouncing so hard.