The summer is coming to an end…

I have been so bad about writing in the blog lately the past couple of months. We have kept busy this summer. It was nice having mom home almost everyday. We got to spend a lot of time with Carter as well, so of course I loved that! Gabe had the whole month of July off to study for Step 2 board exams which he took the beginning of August. He studied extremely hard and I’m sure that he did great on boards (he is anxiously awaiting the results). For the month of August he had a rotation in Spartanburg, but just last week he moved to Augusta, GA for the next month to do a Cardiology rotation. He is gone all week, but gets to come home on the weekends. We miss Daddy during the week and all of his normal night time tasks of taking care of Maddie falls on me now. I sure do take for granted all that he really does do around here! Maddie sure does miss her Daddy giving her a bath and reading stories to her and I know he misses it too. Unfortunately, he will be gone a lot these next few months. He has two more months planned in Columbia and Jacksonville, FL. Thank goodness I am with Mom, because I don’t know how we would survive all on our own!

The summer is coming to an end, but to tell the truth I am ready for some cooler weather and of course football! This morning instead of heading to the Y to work out, Maddie and I took Brady on a walk around the neighborhood. We haven’t done that in months because it has just been too hot! Brady was so excited and it was such a nice morning that I enjoyed being outside. We played outside for a while swinging and just running around. After about a year of Maddie absolutely refusing to even sit in her swing she all of the sudden loves to swing! When we got back from our trip to Philly and DC (another post will come about that) Omi took Maddie outside and put her in the swing. I said to Omi “you know Maddie hates the swing” and Omi just looked at me and said “no she doesn’t- she loves it!” Umm Ok?! Apparently Omi got her to swing and just got little miss hooked! It is hard to get her out of it now!

We had a great Labor Day weekend. Aunt Teresa came for the weekend to spend time with us Maddie and Carter. It is always nice having her around, especially since my mom always cooks awesome meals when we have company On Saturday we headed to the Simpsonville Labor Day festival. It was a hot day, but we still enjoyed walking around with Maddie. She had many firsts, including her first bounce house, first pony ride, first time being on a fire truck and big tractors, first petting zoo, and first time getting her hand painted (we attempted the face, but she was not having it). She is growing up so fast and can do so many neat things now. It is so much fun! I almost cried a few times throughout the day because I kept looking at her and saying “she looks so much older today”. She is getting so tall and the little bit of baby fat is melting away by the day. I love our little family outings and watching Maddie discover new things. We really had a great day!

That night we put Maddie to bed early and got to watch the first Carolina football game of the season. After a rocky start, we ended up getting our first win. Notice the outfit she wore on Saturday-it is a size 18 months (she is in mostly 2T now) so that is why her belly was hanging out all day! I’ve been trying to get her to say GO GAMECOCKS! She has had the “GO” part down for a while, because every time we are at a stop light and the light turn green she says “gooo!”

After a fun-filled weekend we are back to the daily grind of just the two of us hanging out. We are off to the gym now. It is funny because each time I drop her off at the nursery they say “here comes Maddie”. I don’t know if it a good or bad thing. ha! They tell me that “she knows how to hold her own”. I know they have had to put her in time-out a few times for hitting kids across the head. whoops! I am thankful though for an hour a few times a week to be alone.

18 Months Old

We went to a little engagement party tonight and Maddie was such a little ham the whole time. First of all she was running on little to no nap today…Gabe said it best when he said “is grumpy Maddie or happy drunk Maddie going to show up tonight”. Thankfully we had “happy drunk Maddie” entertain everyone at the party. She was running around laughing and just being a little social butterfly. She made lots of new friends and she was being so good we kept her out until 9:00. I told someone that they needed to call DSS because our poor baby was up way past her bedtime. On most nights she is in bed by 8. Needless to say we got home about 9 and then we sat outside in the bed of the truck and looked at the moon for a few more minutes. Maddie LOVES the moon. The look on her face and the delight in her voice when she saw how big and bright the moon was tonight was priceless. One of our little traditions is to read the book “Goodnight Moon” and Gabe always says “Night night Moon” as he kisses her goodnight. After an exhausting day and no bath (she smelled of sunscreen and sweat) she was in bed by 9:30.

Maddie is now eighteen months old-halfway down with ONE. Time needs to slow d.o.w.n. At her Eighteen Month well-child check:

29.88 lbs (97%tile)

34 in. (97%tile)

20.47 in head circumference (above 97th %tile)

Yes I know she is a big girl, but I do get tired of people saying “she is only 18 months? I thought she was 3!” Oh well, what can you do?

Her next visit isn’t until she turns TWO. I can’t believe it. I thought it was sad when we had to wait three months in between visits, but now to wait six months-it is devastating!!!!

Tonight as I jotted down all the new and wonderful things that our little gal is doing it made me excited, but sad at the same time. She is really a little person now and oh so smart…sometimes too smart! She is saying a lot of new words, but she still mostly points to things and gets frustrated when she is not understood.

{words at 18 months ~40 words} {no two word phrases yet, but we are aimlessly working on “I love you”}

mama	daddy	mimi	pop-pop
nana (natalie)	Brady	Omi	moon
more	milk	snack	didtee (paci)
bye	hi	rock	bottle
baby	monkey	duck	dog
turtle	bubble	bucket	water
knee	eye	tractor	hot
hat	blue	mine	no
balloon	night night	book	go
juice	please

Also at Eighteen months Miss Maddie:

• sleeps 11-12 hours at night
• takes one nap (1.5-2 hours)
• loves pretend play
  • rocking, feeding, burping babies
  • talks on the phone
  • gives animals/babies drink, food, and paci
  • makes smacking sound and pretends to eat and drink out of empty bowls and cups
• loves to “help” do chores
  • vacuums
  • cleans furniture with wipes
  • puts trash in trashcan
  • folds clothes
• feeds self with fork and spoon
  • we just give her a bowl of cereal and let her go to town…she has been successfully feeding herself for a couple of months now)
  • likes a variety of foods, but is picky about certain textures
• walks upstairs and down holding on with one hand (I have actually taught her to come down the stairs on her bottom, but she can do it standing up as well)
• builds towers of blocks and loves to play with her Mega blocks
• scribbles on paper
• shows LOTS of affection-gives lots of kisses and hugs
• identifies most body parts
• identifies and points to common objects
• kicks ball
• can sit for a long time reading books

I haven’t uploaded pictures from August yet, but I have to leave you with this ‘sweet as can be’ picture of Maddie and Carter. Natalie and I went to JCPenney to get a few pictures of the two of them wearing their matching sailor outfits for a surprise for my mom. We wanted a plain background…this was the first time in a portrait studio and Maddie really did great with it. We got some cute ones!

Sweet Cousins…almost!

Since sweet Carter has arrived we have dealt with quite a few jealousy issues from Maddie. I mean I can understand why she feels the way she does. Before he came along she was the center of everyone’s world, especially her Mimi’s. Then all the sudden this new little person is here and she is having to share the spotlight. She is confused and doesn’t understand, but we are working on it. Things have improved significantly, but by no means are over with. Just a couple of months ago, she would just get so mad that she would just lash out and hit Carter or throw something at him. We have tried it all. Give more attention to Maddie, time-out, hand smacking, hand squeezing, and lots of NO’s! We are getting through it and she is getting so much better. She actually is very sweet with him lately. We have really tried to encourage her to play with baby dolls and “take care” of them. She rocks them, feeds them, gives a pacifier, changes their diaper, and her favorite is to burp them. It has seemed to work. If she is rough with her babies she gets a time-out. She seems to be catching on…slowly but surely. I am certain that Maddie and Carter will grow up super close. I know she loves him and boy can she be sweet when she wants to be. It just melts my heart when she leans over and gives him a kiss or her excitement when she gets to see him. I wonder what they will be like when they get a little older and how will they interact with one another? It will be interesting to see what they are both like. Until then, we will continue to help Maddie understand that she has to be nice to Carter and that he is here to stay!

Yearly Beach Picture

I guess we have started a little tradition of writing Maddie’s name and the date in the sand when we go to the beach.  What a difference a year makes—it sure did fly by!

 

Last year we had to hold Maddie up…

 

This year we had to snap the picture before she ran off…

Charleston Trip

We headed to Charleston for a few days to celebrate Grandma McCoy’s retirement.  She had a HUGE party at her house with all her friends.  After teaching for many years (don’t actually know how long) she has finally decided to retire.  We couldn’t be more happy for her!  This was a big trip for Miss Maddie because it was her FIRST time meeting her Aunt Sarah!  Sarah has lived in California and now in New Orleans so we just keep missing her when she is able to come to South Carolina.  Maddie loved spending time with her Aunt Sarah, especially when they played the piano together.  Sarah is a wonderful musician and it looks like Maddie might take after her, which would be great!  While in Charleston we were able to meet up with our friends, Ian and Jessica and their little guy, Houston at the Isle of Palms.  We had a great time playing on the beach, but it sure is exhausting!  Maddie loves the waves and wanted to go out in the water so the waves could hit her.  We have a beach baby on our hands.  After a few short, but fun days in Charleston we headed home so Daddy could get back to his studying.  His step 2 board exams are coming up in two short weeks, so please pray for him.  I know he is going to rock the exam, but he is so stressed out with all of this studying.  The local library has been his home every day for the past month.  Then at the end of August he heads up to Philadelphia for another exam.  We are so ready for these tests to be over with!  But on a good note, he is officially a FOURTH year medical student.  Just ten more months and he will graduate!  YAY!

 

July 4th Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend.  On Saturday I went with my mom to pick out her new kitchen appliances!  After almost twenty years she is getting new stainless steel appliances, although my dad ONLY liked black (I think he would have loved these). She has been on the roll lately-new tires, new roof, and now new appliances (dishwasher, oven, microwave, range, AND refrigerator!)  I’m excited to be able to use them, too! 

On 4th of July, Gabe, Maddie, and I went up to Table Rock for the day.  We tried to think of somewhere that had a swim area that was close enough to Greenville.  We have been up to Table Rock several times since we have been together and it was the perfect little place to go for a few hours.  They have a small swimming area and lots of sand for Maddie to play in.  She loves the sand and water.  While we were there the lifeguards out of nowhere yelled for everyone to get out of the water.  After a few minutes of everyone trying to figure out what was going on, we realized that a little six year old boy was missing and they needed to make sure that he was not in the water.  It was a scary situation and my heart was pounding so fast thinking that a little boy could have drowned.  After about thirty minutes of everyone being confined to the beach (they wouldn’t let anyone leave) the little boy was found safe and sound…he had wandered off up on a trail.  It made me realize how fast things can happen.  It is pretty easy to keep a hold of Maddie at this age, but when she gets older we really have to be careful, especially around water. 

After the lake we walked up the trail a little ways to a small waterfall.  There is a decent little swimming area, so we got into the water and let Maddie get close to the falls. It was freezing, but she seemed to enjoy it!  I was so exhausted on the way home that I fell asleep almost instantly, but our little hyper child decided to be awake the whole way home after only sleeping about thirty minutes in her stroller.  I kept waking up to her randomly pointing to her knee and yelling “knee” and other random things.  Yes, she is out of control.  We got home about 4:00 and quickly changed and got back into the car and went over to Natalie’s in-laws for a cook out.  We enjoyed some awesome food and good company.  By the time we got home, I was completely exhausted.  We got Maddie to bed, I took a shower,  and then collapsed in bed just in time to see fireworks outside of our bedroom window.  We had a great show from our neighbors.  Who needs to go somewhere to see fireworks when your neighbors spends hundreds and hundreds of dollars to entertain you?! 

Happy Independence Day!!     

 

  

Happy Birthday Daddy

Another year has gone by and Dad is not here to celebrate his birthday. He would have been 55. Still young. Way too young to be gone already. There isn’t a single day that I don’t think about him and all the wonderful things he is missing. He would have been an amazing “poppy” to Maddie and Carter. They would have rocked his world and he would have loved every minute of it. Last year we had a beautiful tribute to him with all of our family, but this year it was a whole lot simpler. We grilled ribs, ate cake, got out his tractor, and sent balloons off to heaven. We sure do miss you, Dad.