Well hello there!

You ARE still there, right?

I've had conversations with a few of you (my mother and mother-in-law, auntie B, Michelle, Adrienne, etc...) and heard through the grapevine (am looking at you Deb!) that there are still a few of you out there looking in on our little bligity blog.

Life is crazy but I am here to give you what you really want:


I like to think I am witty and clever*, but I know the reason y'all are here is for those little smileys.

With faces like this


and this


I simply can't blame you.

I have the pleasure of seeing these lovely faces each and every day. Why wouldn't I share?

I also know that I should be blogging the ridiculous stories of my life. Like how Madeline is enjoying swimming lessons while I stand on the side of the pool deck with the other mothers feeling like I am back in Jr.High as one of the uncool kids. Or regaling you will all of the hilarious stuff that comes out of Madeline's mouth on a DAILY BASIS! Instead I am going to bed at 10pm and silently kicking myself for leaving my laptop cord out where the cat could chew on it and (yet again) short it out.**

Oh, and just to show how on top of things I am today (yeah me!) today is the summer solstice and the official start to summer. In celebration! I give you, A BRAND SPANKIN' NEW HEADER! (Click here if you are using a reader!)

So until we meet again, which I hope won't be so very long!

__________
*Why is it that I can't type clever without first typing cleaver. I should cut that out. {insert cheesy rim shot here} Cleaver, cut that out, get it? Yeah, I didn't think so.
** I won't use that as an excuse because I wasn't blogging before she got her pointy little teeth on it but I soooo want to!

The night Olive called DFS

Friday night we took Madeline's bopoo away. I want to clarify, the Bopoo Fairy took them. We told Madeline that when a kid grows up the Bopoo Fairy (BF) visits and takes the bops to babies who need them, and leaves a big girl present. We've been talking this up for months. On Thursday, Madeline told us that the BF was coming on Sunday. (Let it be known that she knows the names of the days, but not the difference between them.) So she left a note for the BF asking her to bring her a baby with a doctor kit (one they sell at Target).
Then, Friday morning rolls around and Madeline told us, and anyone that would listen, that the BF fairy was coming to her house that night. We went with it.

As bed time approached she balked a bit saying she didn't want the BF to come. Then the crying started. She through a massive tantrum, the likes of which I have never seen before. She sobbed, she begged, she pleaded, she tried to reason, she threw books and flung her body to the ground. It was grief in its most raw form.

Have you heard about the seven stages of grief? Shock and denial? Check. Pain and guilt? Check. Anger and bargaining? Check. Depression, reflection, loneliness? Check.
It was heart breaking.


Look at that sweet face. You wouldn't want her to cry either. You'd want to give her back her bops and try again before she left for college.

I was heart broken.

So why would Olive* call DFS?

Madeline's emotions were raw and loud. She cried and kicked and screamed for more than an hour.
Olive sat outside her door as she cried looking at me like, "well, why aren't you doing anything about this?" Then Lydia started crying. Two shrill alarms to make Olive totally loose her mind. Eventually she just went down stairs but not without first looking up the hot line number on the internet.

Man it was hard. I have never seen Madeline that emotional. And she is my little drama queen.
Even before bedtime I was concerned with how she would react. I almost felt like we were taking away a friend. Although she only had her bop in bed and I'd say 90% of the time when I'd check on her at night her bop wouldn't be in her mouth, she still used the bop to calm down and relax at night.
That night she cried herself to sleep. I almost wanted to do the same. I was simply sad for her.

The next morning she woke up a 6am (about an hour and a half earlier than normal). She was still sad, but she had slept through the night so I call that a success. Then Saturday night she cried for another hour. This time she just kept asking if I could get her one of her sister's bopoos. Oh, that girl is clever. Eventually she fell asleep.

Yesterday, she didn't ask for it. She didn't cry. She fell asleep without issue.

Tonight, she asked if she could have her bopoo but didn't cry when I told her the Bopoo Fairy took them with her when she left her big girl present.


She is growing up. Although I knew we had to take the bopoo away it is still such a huge deal in her young life. Just one more step to being my very big girl.

__________
*Meet Olive.


mg

I'm tired

and it is raining. That about sums it up.

Olive, cuddling in her favorite hole.

I think my daughter might actually be taking a nap, so I'd better go join her. Just wanted you all to know I was still waddling around. Update tomorrow.

mg

Oh Olive

Today Kevin and I organized the junk we had piled in the basement during our move. This was a task I was not looking forward to. Needless to say it is done and Kevin and I are no worse for the wear. Although I think both of us want to hand our sweet kitty over to someone who doesn't have cardboard, or plastic or carpet in their home. Maybe a home made entirely out of concrete and granite?
A photo to remind me how cute she is, despite the mess we cleaned up this afternoon.

And for all you people who think dogs are the way to go because of this post, read this... Gina I feel your pain and I don't think either one of us are winners in the pet department today!

mg

Madeline is 2 years old!

It is that time again folks! It's time for a big old update post!*

*I've done update posts before. If you are interested you can click on the links to see where Madeline was at six months, one year, and 18 months old.


I waited until today instead of posting on her actual birthday because today we visited the doctor so I have her official stats as well! (See how smart I am?!)

Stats:
height: 35 5/8th inches (80th percentile)
weight: 28 1/2 pounds (70th percentile)
Her doctor didn't have any questions or concerns about her
growth and development and said she can ditch the vitamin D
milk and drink skim like the rest of us! Other than that she
is 100% percent healthy and 110% adorable!
(Medically speaking of course!)


Gross Motor:
Madeline is moving a mile a minute. She is climbing anything she can reach and skips all over the house. Today at the doctor he asked if she could jump, and she looked at him and said, very matter of factly, "like a kangaroo!" She was more than happy to demonstrate for him as well! She is working on balancing on one foot. She likes to stand on one foot while holding on to something and say she is practicing ballet. She is quite the little dancer too.

Uncle Bryan and Aunt Beth got Madeline a t-ball set for her birthday and she L.O.V.E.S. playing baseball. She is really pretty accurate in hitting the ball and has really walloped it a couple of times.


Fine motor:
Madeline loves to color with crayons or anything else she can get her hands on. This is problematic when moving because there are sharpies all over the house... but we did safely avoid damage! She is using a fork and a spoon and loves to stab watermelon and spoon up her "go-gert." (Not that icky flavored kid yogurt... that's just how she says it.)

She is working on lacing with the two lacing cards we have and she strings big beads onto an old shoelace. She spent almost 20 minutes working with puzzles this morning too. She loves her puzzles! (Thank you Scott and Becky, Bruce and Sue and Kathy and Elliot! The purchasers of said puzzles!)

Kevin and I got her this cutting food for her birthday. She loves using the cutter to slice the pieces of food apart. Some of the pieces are difficult to cut because the Velcro is still new, but she works through it.

Next is to work with her on cutting with scissors. For some reason this scares the junk out of me... do I really want to share the key to cutting with a 2 year old? I know you give them safety scissors but do I really want her to know what they are for? I mean that doesn't sound like a good idea to me AT ALL!


Language Development:
The last few times I've done this I've listed all the words Madeline has. If I were to try to do that I would be here for a very, very long time. Let's just say her language development is going along swimmingly! She is speaking in very meaningful and clear sentences. Some of them even have 8 or 9 words in them! The other day she used the word "is" in a sentence. (i.e. 'Where is Daddy?) This is significant because until then she would leave that out and just ask the question 'Where Daddy?' See how smart she is?

She seems to know more words every day and sometimes she surprises us with words she knows. Like shovel and elevator... didn't know she knew those words until she used them!


Social Development:
Madeline loves spending time with other kids. She is always asking how her friends are. ('Where is Madeline today?', 'Leo and Max come to park with me?') She is a social butterfly to say the least and loves being with her friends.

As for adults, she loves them too. She is very friendly with just about everyone friends, family and strangers. Every time she meets someone new she will say hi and then introduce Kevin and I as "This my Mommy and Daddy." Just in case someone didn't know.

She is begining to show compasion or simpathy for others. She will pretend that her baby doll Maggie has a boo boo and will then comfort her until she is better. Today Madeline got a shot at the doctor, so of course Maggie had a shot too... but she is all better after hugs and kisses by mommy Madeline. She is also totally obsessed with Olive the cat. Poor Olive.

__________

Ok, I think that wraps it up. I am not going to address toilet training because since the move happened all efforts at toilet training were officially haulted. We have yet to resume. Soon, however, we will begin again. Once I have my mental energy back!

We can't believe our little baby is 2 years old. She is so much fun and it is so wonderful to see her grow. I miss my little baby sometimes, but it is amazing to see the kid she is becoming. She has the best personality and I love seeing her develop into an incredible little girl. We can always have more babies? Right?

mg

The Tour

Olive here. Ready to give you the tour of our new digs. These photos were taken before our big move in day, so there is very little furniture, but it is about the house this time... decor later...


This is the family room. It is about the size of our former house. Just kidding....

Facing the front of the house.

Facing the rear of the house. (I love those doors and so does Maddy.) there is a full bath to the right there... but no photo sorry.

The view from the family room into the kitchen.

From the kitchen into the dinning room.


From the dining room to the front door.


Our awesome kitchen.

50% of the reason Kev and Mo bought this house.

Make that 60%.

From the kitchen into the master bed room.


This is a horrible photo of the master. You get the idea right?


The hallway to the master bathroom (on left) and closet (on right).


The closet. You see Maureen's clothes hung up... and that is all of them. They filled two closets at the old house. Now she feels like she needs to do some serious shopping.


The master shower with spa tub.


Back to the front of the house the steps are the first thing inside the front door.

The upstairs bathroom.


There are only two rooms in the house that were painted before moving in. Maureen and Kevin's room, before:


And After:
Madeline's room before:


And after:


This is the third and smallest bedroom upstairs. Madeline has declared it "Olive's room" As you see I won't complain.


The hallway upstairs is pretty big. The former owners used it as a tv/computer area for their kids.


Finally, the office. The stripes have stayed for now...


I hope you have enjoyed this tour of our new house. Maybe someday, when it isn't raining, I will convice Maureen to take a photo of the OUTSIDE of the house...

Love, Olive

Resting

Olive took a while to investigate the new house, but as you can see, she's finally settled.

mg

Happy Anniversary!

Five years ago today Kevin and I moved into our house.


I like our house and our neighborhood. Although we aren't ready yet, it will be hard to leave when the time comes. I am going to have so many memories of this home. Don't you just love Olive in the window?!?! Happy Anniversary Home!

mg

Wordless Wednesday

I'm trying something new.
mg

My First...

Gus' pretzel!!!

Gus' pretzels is a family owned and operated business in South St. Louis City that has been open since 1920. They have amazing pretzels and we had 18" initials at our wedding three years ago. (If anyone has a photo of these we would love to see it, b/c they were devoured by the time we got to the reception and we never did see them!)

On Thursday I was downtown with my dad at Soulard and we stopped at Gus' for pretzels. When Kevin got home we had a pre-dinner snack of Gus'.

July3- I love this photo! What a face!

Maddy and Daddy enjoying Gus' together as Olive watches out the door.

As we were sitting down to dinner our neighbor knocked on our door to let us know that there were two baby bunnies in our front yard one on our porch and one in our bushes.

Then our neighbor proceeded to pick them up!
Although adorable I wouldn't have tried to pick them up not to mention put them in a bucket!

The neighbor and his 6 yr old son then released them into our back yard where one of them refused to leave the bucket and the other one jumped as fast as he could back into the front yard. Yesterday as we were leaving for dinner I saw a "mommy" bunny with one of the babies in the front yard. I guess we have some bunnies living in our yard. I just hope our neighbors can restrain their desire to man handle them again!

mg

Toddler Lesson #2

Ear plugs might be a good investment during the toddler stage.

We have a couple of different babies in our house. Sometimes we get the sweet cuddly quite baby. Sometimes we get the laughing rambunctious silly baby. Sometimes we get the sleepy and sweet baby. This is the baby I have this morning.



Madeline is saying "ahla, ahla," because that is what she calls our cat Olive. At least I know she is progressing with language development right?

Off to start my day with three Ibuprofen and a cold compress.

The Power

A letter to AmerenUE:

I am getting a little tired of loosing electricity for no good reason. Even if it is just for an hour and a half. The skys were clear last night, so I can only assume that it was a technical problem, and all your fault. If you won't tell us why we are loosing electricity why don't you give us a credit on our account for the countless hours we have been without power in the last two years?

Thanks,

Maureen, Kevin, Madeline and our very hot and hacked off little kitty, Olive

mg

Back online, for now.

Although my laptop is charged now, I know that at some point my mother is going to need her charger back. So until then I will be back in business.

I could use this to my advantage though... "If you want to see photos and videos of your grandbaby while you are working during the day you are just going to have to let me keep your charger. I promise not to let my cat eat it."




Hope you enjoyed a momentary giggle break. Now back to work you!

mg

Technical difficulties

subtitled: &#@%# CAT!

So I would have loved to blog about the past few days. Show you photos of my darling daughter and talk about how wonderfully in love with her we are. But we have been experiencing some *issues* with our technology.

Kevin's computer is old. It is a great machine generally (he build it mostly himself) and it has some fancy components and features. Unfortunately I haven't been able to upload a photo to blogger with that machine for a month or so. Frustrating, but not the end of the world right?

Enter the cat.

Olive likes to chew on wires. We had the base for one of our old cordless phones run behind the couch a couple of years ago and when the phone wouldn't charge we discovered that it was because the wire had been chewed through. She doesn't like just any wire though. Just really expensive to replace wire.

Earlier this year I ordered a new charger for my laptop because the old one quit working. Olive's bad habit set us back $60. Since then, unless the computer is charging the cord is tucked away so she can't get her teeth on it. Or at least I though she couldn't. Friday I go to charge my laptop, which is the only computer that allows me to upload photos to blogger I might add, and guess what won't work? Yep, you got it. Upon further inspection I find teeth marks on the charger and I promptly want to throttle my darling cat.

So I guess this means that I will spend another $60 for a new charger and put this one under lock and key. Or at least in a drawer I am sure she can't open with those tricky little paws.

Until then, my blog might not have the same draw. I promise to be witty and humorous. But I am kidding myself if I think that is going to be enough. I know you all come for the photos. (Heck, I blog for the photos!)

ARGH!

mg

Get out the safety gates

I got an e-mail from a very dear friend who's son is beginning to be mobile. She wanted to know if I had any quick baby proofing ideas, or tips on what to look out for when your babies start exploring their world.



As you can see, I don't know that I am going to be much help to her. I let my darling daughter wander after the cat, towards the un-gated stairs. If it makes anyone feel better, it looks a lot worse on film. She was still about a foot and a half from the top stair.

And isn't it cute how she whispers a question after the cat has disappeared into the basement. Like, "where did you go and why did you go without me?"

Yet another example of how utterly adorable our little girl is.

mg

My First...

Birthday Party!!!!

Yesterday we celebrated Madeline's 1st birthday with our family and friends. As I said in our previous post, our house is a little cramped for 47 party goers, but we managed to get them all in anyway! Here are the highlights*.

Madeline near the end of the evening. Look at those sleepy eyes!

Madeline's birthday cake... I should have used the flash on the camera.

Olive thinks the party is all for her!

Madeline with her cakes. The big one and her "smash" cake as the woman who made them called it.

Maddy wasn't so sure what to do with this cake so dad had to help her get it started.

Dig in!

That's more like it!
For a while she was eating so daintily!

Get it all in there!

Our little house with her big crowd!

Hanging out with the Great Grandmas!
GG Kirk has Madeline on her lap and GMa McGrath is on the right.

Bryan and Beth take Madeline out to test drive their gift to her!
Beth ended up walking Madeline up and down the street for at least a half an hour. What a sport!

Uncle Elliot and Aunt Kathy cuddle with Madeline at the end of the evening. Even though she is tired, they still managed to get some giggles out of her!

__________________
*Be looking for a very important post in the next few days! (That is a tease so that you will come back to the blog and maybe even post a comment or two!)

mg