New Year's Resolution #5

Enjoy life more. Stress less.

mg

Christmas 2008

Before the year is over I feel it necessary to post our Christmas photos. Let's just call it a wordless Wednesday post so I don't have to write any more... :)

I love this photo... do you see the paper being flung from her left hand... that it totally what this Christmas was all about for Madeline!

mg

New Year's Resolution #4

Walking is good for me. Cookies are not.

mg

New Year's Resolution #3

De-clutter.

mg

Caution: Poop ahead.

My mom suggested I give a warning. Consider yourself warned.

As a mother of a young child I deal with my fair share of poop. Today has been no exception.

I'm not going to go into the details of it all...(your welcome) but I have heard too much information about two of my extended family member's BM's today. I have reached my limit, even with my sky high tolerance for that kind of stuff. I just find it funny that today of all days I get this icky information. (If you don't get it... go back and read the last post.) I guess today is better than Thursday though... when I have to put my New Year's resolution into action!

mg

New Year's Resolution #2

Talk about poop less. Poop isn't as interesting as I think it is. Or at least that is what I've been told.

mg

New Year's Resolution #1

I must remember not everything that comes to mind should be shared out loud.

mg

Merry Christmas

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

Half of the felt "Merry Christmas" banner that hangs in our dining room.

Life has been crazy with holiday festivities, poop and lots of wardrobe changes. (Did I mention all the poop?) I should be back in a few days with some photos of Christmas, which far exceed my expectations by the way! (despite all the poop.) It was an awesome two days and my heart is brimming with love for my husband, daughter, family, and life. To think I was one of those bah-humbuggers not that long ago!

mg

Merry Christmas Eve

I didn't have to go out onto the porch for this one. :)

mg

The Weather-Blog Hypothesis

The colder the weather gets, the less likely I am to blog.

It is true. I can prove it.

Fact #1: When the weather gets really cold, we shut the sun porch/office door. The windows on the porch are still the old windows (the only windows on the first floor we didn't replace in '04) and that room gets really cold which makes our bedroom really cold, which makes the hallway cold, which makes the heat run a million times a day.

Fact #2: Since Madeline came along our office is out on the porch. Along with the computer that holds all of our photos.

Observation #1: I don't like blogging with out photos. I feel like blogs with photos are so much more interesting then just words. Who really cares what I have to SAY! They want to see my daughter and what our house looks like! (It's true, don't pretend you don't want to know!)

Observation #2: With the porch door shut, I am less likely to open the door to turn on the office computer, especially since I have a perfectly functional laptop in a "warm" room in the house.

Conclusion: When the weather is cold... I am less likely to blog!

Which is a shame, because I have some really cute photos to share from the past few days. Maybe I will put on my long underwear, hat and gloves and head out to the porch this afternoon. I can be extreme!

mg

Toddler lesson #4

Fork too.

I'm at lunch at my parent's house today. We were just sitting down to eat and Madeline asked for a spoon. When I came back without a fork she asked for a "fork too."


Now imagine a nineteen month old saying "fork too" over and over again. Yep, it isn't pretty. She was screaming this almost obscenity and my parents were laughing themselves out of their chairs.


Toddler lesson #4- You must listen very closely to be sure they aren't actually saying F-you!

Alternate post title: My First... obscenity!

mg

The Nativity

This is one of my favorite Christmas decorations. I got it on clearance at a boutique in Clayton (Missouri) five or six years ago. It was hand cut, hammered, and painted in Mexico, and it is wicked cool. Aside from Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the angel, there are three wise men, a donkey, an ox and a sheep. To add to the festivities, our Lego cake topper bride and groom look on with painted smiles!

Merry Christmas!

mg

From the always funny Garfield minus Garfield.

mg

Holiday Spirit

Christmas can be found all over our house.

Madeline's door wreath.

mg

Finally

When I found out I was pregnant in 2006 I bought a needlepoint stocking. I had grand plans for that stocking and I started working on it that December. I got about a third of it done before life got busy with work and Madeline's birth that spring. I thought I could pick it back up and finish it with out any problems before Christmas 2007.

Christmas Day 2007

As you can see I was still only about 1/3 of the way done with it on Christmas Day last year. So Madeline didn't have her stocking last year, not that she noticed.

This year is a different story. Two years after I started this stocking (almost to the day) I finished it. Here it is!

Isn't it wonderful?!? If you don't think so, then don't tell me. I don't want to hear it. I think it was worth the hundred + hours I estimate it took me to make it.

Madeline digs it. She loves that Oli is on her stocking.... b/c the cat totally looks like Olive.

We may not be having another baby just yet, but I really should start working on the next stocking. You never know how long it is going to take to get a second stocking done!

mg

Sweet thing

Kevin is always sweet. But he has done two especially sweet things this week that I have to share.

First
Today was a cold and snowy day in the STL. It was just down right icky. Madeline was at day care and I only taught a half day so I spent most of my day cleaning up and getting laundry done. I was pretty productive, but I digress. I left to pick Madeline up from daycare and Kevin ended up beating us home. When I got home he met us in the garage to help me get Madeline and my bags (from some errands I ran) into the house. Did I mention it was icky and cold and wet outside?

We walked into a winter wonderland! Kevin had turned on the tree and mantel lights and started a fire! I had made beef stew and rolls , which Kev baked, so dinner was ready when we walked in the door. I have sat in front of the fire all night long. I am still sitting there. I don't want to move. He is awesome.

Second
This was a couple of days ago, but it is a much funnier story, so of course I had to save it for the end. I had stayed up later than Kevin, working on school work or something, and he had gone to bed without me. Thirty minutes later when I was getting into bed, I couldn't find my nightgown so I just got another one out of my drawer.

I went about my business, brushing my teeth and the like and then headed to bed. Kevin woke up as I was getting in and said, "Oh, No!" I asked if he was ok, to which he responded, "Oh, No!" I thought he must be dreaming... that is until he said, "I got these warm for you!" as he pulled my night gown out from under the sheets! He was distressed to see that I had a different nightgown on! I promptly changed my pajamas (into the ones prewarmed with LOVE) and curled into bed to cuddle.

I love my husband.

mg

9 & 10

I'm not good at blogging these days. On to days 9 & 10!

Our Christmas tree is up and decorated! Madeline hasn't taken too much interest in it. Every morning she wakes up and turns the corner and says, "hi, pitty, t." (hi, pretty tree.)

She had fun decorating it though!

Our new tree topper on our little girl! Look at that tongue!

Madeline didn't get the topper part.... next year. (See the photo from last year below...so cute!)

I wish I could say her happy face was because of Christmas, but really Kevin was dancing a jig behind me. She thought it was hilarious! And don't you love that shirt. It says Christmas Rocks and has a guitar on it!

And look at how much bigger both Madeline AND the tree have gotten since last year!

December 15, 2007

Look at my chubby cheeked 7 month old! Oh how I want to smooch those chubber cheeks! She's growing up way to fast!!!

mg

The 11 days of Christmas (because I forgot to post yesterday)

I've decided this blog should be a blog of lower expectations. No longer will I appologize for not blogging, no! I am turning a new blogging leaf. I'm not quite sure what that means... but let's find out....

So back to the reason I am posting. There are 11 days until Christmas. So I am going to do my own version of the 12 days of Christmas. I will have a post a day until the 25th!

On the Monday after Thanksgiving, Kevin told me that he needed felt and cotton balls because he had a craft project to do. For any of you who don't know my husband, please know that Kevin is not the crafter in the family... and I think he barely tolerates my love of craft.

But he did a wonderful on this holiday craft project:


Yes, that is a Santa light switch cover! Kevin hung it in Madeline's bedroom and Maddy loves it.

She and Kevin stood there for at least 10 minutes turning the light on and off. It was a wonderful way to kick off our holidays! Now every time Maddy walks in to her room she turns, points and says, "HO, HO!" It's love.

mg

my life this week

Last night, I pushed aside a sink full of dirty dishes to wash the pizza stone so that I could make myself cookies from store bought dough.

The dishes didn't get cleaned up until this morning.

The stone is still dirty.

The cookies were delicious.

mg

things I should have learned by now

I have said, more than few times, in the past few weeks that life would be calmer once my regular semester ended. I should have known that this was a guarantee that it would in fact get harder.

Yes, my regular semester classes are over. I have gone from 4 classes to just 1. My work load is drastically reduced.

Enter, Croup.

Yep, Madeline has croup. It is exhausting. For any mother out there who has had a child with croup, you know what I am talking about. I'll explain.

Sunday Madeline had a runny nose. Nothing strange really. By Monday afternoon Madeline was coughing a bit. But at 4pm she started a fit of coughing that lead to her choking on phlem and panicking. (Her and be both). She didn't turn blue or anything, but she would cough, which would loosen the phlem, which would make her choke, which freaked her out, which made her cry which made it harder to breathe.... you get the picture right.

I took her to the doctor and they said not to worry about it. Her lungs were clear by the time they saw her. Really early Tuesday morning (4am) she woke up with another fit of coughing and choking. This time I just brought her into bed with me because she was so freaked out... and frankly so was I. When I called the doctor they heard her cough over the phone (like a seal's bark) and confirmed that it was probably Croup. Of course there is nothing to treat croup, except rest, humidity and warm liquids. (Darn the AAP for banning decongestants for small children!)

Fast forward to last night. Madeline had been feeling better all day. She hadn't had a choking fit since Tuesday morning, and she hadn't had a fever all day. Things were looking up. I thought to myself, "I guess she'll go to daycare tomorrow and life will be back to normal." WRONG! As we were finishing dinner she was coughing so hard trying to get rid of some of the massive amounts of phlem in her throat, that she threw up. Twice.

It is at this point that I realized our washing machine isn't fast enough (do you know there are machines out there that wash an entire load in 9 minutes!), our water heater isn't big enough (I can't do a load of hot laundry and give Madeline a bath at the same time), and this cold/crupe can't go away soon enough!

She is feeling better today. But you never know. I know better than to say things are going to get easier... because I don't want to see what worse looks like...

So I am days behind in my house work, the cat has decided the tree skirt is her new bathroom, and I have a head-ache. Someday I will get back to my neglected blog and my even more neglected blog friends. I love you all, please come back. Please?

Until then, I leave you with... well nothing because I'm tapped, but maybe I'll have a photo or two this afternoon that I can share. (no promises though...)

mg

learn from my mistakes

Don't feed your toddler Castle's and turkey meat balls with gravy in the same day. It is a silent but deadly combination, if you know what I mean.

And if you can avoid eating it yourself, that would be an even better idea.

I will be back today or tomorrow with an awesome holiday related post! I finished a Christmas project I have been working on for TWO years! (Yep, two whole years!) I have to post about it!

*My regular semester ends this week so I should be better at this blogging thing. No promises though.

mg