The Princesses And Their Beds

Once upon a time, there were two princesses, who were the best of friends.

They loved to read books together, play with their toys together, watch movies with each other, sing songs together and they enjoyed their tub time together. They were the perfect children, and the King and Queen had very little complaints. Until night time came.

 

Every night, the King and Queen would put the girls to bed by reading books, singing songs, and saying prayers, then the oldest princess would sleep in her big girl bed and the youngest princess would sleep in another room in a pack n play. Night after night, the oldest would wake up and not stay in her bed and the youngest would cry out for at least an hour.

One day, the King and Queen decided to finally put the girls in the same room, so that hopefully they would sleep better. So, the oldest princess slept in her big girl bed, and the youngest in her comfortable crib. Perhaps the oldest just needed to have her sister in the same room to not be scared at night anymore, and perhaps the youngest sister just needed her crib, but whatever the change was, the Kingdom slept peacfully from then on out. (well, 3 nights in a row so far anyway)

The End.

The Seventh Month

Madalyn is officially over the hump. She is 7 months. Before I know it, she will be a year. It breaks my heart a little. But at the same time, I love this stage of her little life. At seven months:

• Maddi can sit up like a champ. She still can't roll or scoot, but she sits up like a pro. Those things will come. Both my girls have been late rollers.
• She still has two little cute teeth, but her grumpies make me think more are trying to make a break through.
• She grabs anything and everything in her reach now and it goes straight to her mouth. Nothing is safe in the hands of this little girl.
• She eats basically all fruits and veggies and cereal. She also loves to snack on little crackers called "baby mum mums" and puffs. We also introduced her to a little bit of peanut butter, and she loves it. She smacks her lips and everything. Thank goodness the age changed for trying peanut butter. Maddi will now never be the same.
• She still nurses. In fact, she suddenly stopped taking a bottle for a while. She took one the other day so hopefully she does it again. Sam and I plan to take a trip for our anniversary. I do love nursing though, so for the most part I am ok with no bottles. 
• She loves putting blankets or burp cloths on her head and then pull it off, and she loves playing peak-a-boo that way too.
• She says mumumum when she babbles. Also, when she cries she will say that and I am pretty sure its because she wants me. She also has a really cute high-pitched squeal. 
• She is growing out of her 6 month clothes, although I am still trying to stuff her in them for as long as possible while it is still a bit on the cool side. Most of the 9 month clothing we have are for warmer weather.
• She is in size 3 diapers
• She loves going on walks and looking around. I think we will have another little girl who loves the outdoors.

I sure am a lucky mama. I love my little Madalyn Marie. Every single thing about her.

Life Lately According To My Phone

Life lately has been Abby always in Maddi's face. It's been taking a ride on big sisters horse, Bella. Life has been a chilly but fun afternoon at the park. "I'll catch you mama!"

 Life lately has been finding Abby fast asleep in the hallway one Saturday morning. It's been Maddi enjoying the cart ride at Target. Life has been my two girls finally big enough to bath together, which makes bath time so much easier, and it's been Abby being the best big sister ever and reading to Maddi while I got ready for the day.

 Life lately has been Madalyn having fun cousin time with Daphne. It's been a little baby who wants to help fold clothes. Life has been Abby running around with a garbage can on her head (and wearing her princess underwear) and it's been beautiful eyelashes as she sleeps. 

 Lastly, life as been a rosy-cheeked little girl just waking up from her nap. It's been a cute baby showing off her cute new Sunday dress. It's been finally buying ourselves a new table and 6 chairs ($200 off KSL) with our tax return money, and life has been grocery shopping, and two little girls enjoying the ride. Life has been hectic, but also awesome.

Abby-isms

It's been a while since I have written a blog solely dedicated to Abbigale Mae. But this girl of mine? She is changing so, so much. She is getting cuter and cuter everyday as her imagination blooms and her vocabulary grows. Here are some things she has said lately that have gotten Sam and I in stitches:

• One night as we were getting ready for bed, I was complaining to Sam how messy the house is. Abby piped up, "The house is a mess?" I told her yes. She then said "Sorry. Sorry bout dat."
  
• Another night we were watching "The Best of Late Night" and Abby looked at Jimmy Fallon and said: "Jimmy Fallon is sooooo cute!!" Couldn't agree more kiddo. Couldn't agree more. 
• One day she told me, "Don't eat the TV like cookie monster. It's dangerous." Thanks for the warning Abby.
  
  
  
• She frequently has conversations with herself in the mirror. "So, how was your Christmas." "I'm going to the store with mommy." She also walks around with a phone up to her ear, pacing around like daddy and talking to whomever she decides. 
• She knows every single word to Jar of Hearts, and belts it with so much feeling!!
  
• She frequently reads books to Maddi, and it's adorable, even though sometimes Maddi hates it.
  "Once upon a time" she'll start out with and then tell whats going on in the pictures. Super smart in my book.
  
• She loves this lego show on Netflix called "New Girl In Town." There is a horse on there named Bella. She always asked where Bella was, so I dug my old Crimp N' Curl pony out at my moms house. She loves it, although now she is asking us where the "bigger" horse is. I guess she is in the "I want a pony" girls stage now.
  
• From that same Lego show, there is a dog names Scarlet. Here she is, talking to her milk like it is Scarlet, and quoting the show almost word for word. "Sit. Roll over. Stay. Come on. You've caused a lot of trouble. You owe me."
  
• Lastly, Saturday she picked up my pump from the drainer. When we asked her what she was doing she said: "Just pumpin' my boobies."

She brings to much joy and happiness to the home. I love this little girl of mine so much. I do wish she would stop growing so fast, but since that isn't going to happen I have to enjoy these days where she is still my little girl. True that these days have been some of the hardest, but I also don't think I've laughed at any one person as much as this little human being makes me laugh. I love you my little Abbigale Mae!!

Random Thoughts

This morning, Abby woke up at 4:30. My sweet husband put her back in bed and shortly thereafter Maddi woke up. My turn. Its ok though, because I was pretty wide awake at that point. Wide awake and thinking about lots of things like:

• How lucky I am that I have a husband that will get up willingly with Abby, even though he has to work
• How I am getting to be a pro at nursing. I don't have to turn on a light or even sit up now. I just put Maddis head in the general direction and boom. Breakfast is served.  With our next child, I probably won't even have to get up to get her. Somehow magically, I bet she will just appear in my arms.
• One of my most favorite feelings in the world is Maddi's fuzzy little head. I just love the feeling of it on my face in the wee hours of the morning as I am snuggling her back to sleep. 
• I think Heavenly Father makes 2 and a half year olds extra cute, because he also knows they are becoming extra hard. Little miss Abby has had a little attitude lately, which scares me because I know at this point it is Sam and I as her parents that make or break her. My worst fear is having my sweet little girl turn into the monster toddler no one can stand. Yesterday she had the worst kind of fit at Smiths. I had a lot of sympathetic "been there, done that looks" from fellow parents. Her fit was so bad, that a man from my ward had to help me put Maddi in the cart, a firefighter walked up to her and gave her a badge, and the produce man tried to give her a banana. Super nice men for trying. Didn't work, but they were sweet. On the other hand though, Abby is more and more cute everyday saying the cutest things. Her imagination is just running wild and I am amazed and what a beautiful, funny, kind, sweet little thing I have. (More on a separate blog about her Abbyisms.)
• I was thinking about how I was going to sacrifice the last half of the avocado for Sam's sandwich today. It was hard, but sometimes love is hard you know what I mean? He deserved that avocado half, after all, he does even more sacrifices for me. 
• And lastly, this weight losing thing sucks sometimes. I just want to stuff my face with pizza and coke and all you can eat chocolates. And top that meal off with some ice cream and chips. And then go
  stuff my face with all the Chinese food I can handle. After that, eat Arbys curly fries and a cherry slurpee. And then not work out. Just sit on my butt and not gain any weight. Don't get me wrong, I love working out, but just to sit after that meal and revel in the fact that the weight won't come would be awesome. Completely awesome. Excuse me while I eat my apple. 
  

St. George Pt. 2

Monday morning of our trip was almost my favorite day I think. It started out earlyish. My sister, her husband, and I got up at 7am and went for a jog up by Skyline drive. It was a beautiful, but super hilly, run. Although my Nike+ said I ran 7.26 miles, it was actually only about a 5k. Best way to start a morning, even if I did ruin a perfectly good run by eating at McDonald's after. (hence part of my weight gain this trip.) After we were all  ready for the day, we went on a hike in Snow Canyon called Johnsons Arch. It is probably almost my favorite hike ever. It was beautiful, and the trail was easy enough for kids to walk on, but not so easy that we didn't get a good work out in. After the hike, me, Sam, and the girls went to get ice cream. I know. We eat so healthy after a good workout. That night we had the best grilled Hamburgers for dinner, and our girls slept like champs.

Jarik was so cute and walked with Abby til she got too tired to walk.

And then we put her in the too small hiking backpack because Maddi was asleep in the other one.

Tuesday morning we said goodbye to the McGees, and then headed to Vegas to visit my bff8 and see new baby Porter. We got there later than we wanted to, thanks to missing the exit, but I still loved visiting her. She made us a delicious lunch, Landon and Abby played and then napped, and Maddi and Porter looked at each other. I sure do miss Mel. After we left her house, we stopped by the Pawn Stars pawn shop. Totally tourists yes. We walked in the shop and we were the only ones pushing a stroller that was super hard to maneuver, but it was totally worth it. We snapped a few pictures outside of it (they were getting ready to film inside so we couldn't take any pictures) and then started heading home, making a nursing/dinner pit-stop. By that point, poor Miss Maddi just wanted out and cried most the way home, until I was able to squish back between the car-seats for a bit to calm her down.

The sun was blaring on Abby on the way down

Maddi and Porter. My child looks huge!

Abby and Landon. The only picture I got. Lame I know.

Wednesday morning we were all ready to go. I didn't want to get back to normal life, but I was so anxious to sleep in my own bed and get my girls back on their schedule. After breakfast, we got ready, packed up, said goodbye to everyone and left. It was a fun and much needed family vacation. The beautiful weather was just what we needed. I'm already ready for another vacation!!