First Snow of 2010

We got about 7 inches of snow this time around which is a lot for Winston-salem. The town shut down, no church, hardly any businesses open, and worst of all, no Domino's to eat Saturday night! Conveniently both snows we have gotten have been over Friday night into Saturday so we have nowhere to go anyway and we can play all day. We got lots done around the house being stuck here though! Maddox now doesn't like sledding. She cries when you put her in the sled. We did that yesterday when it was really cold, windy, and still snowing so maybe that had something to do with it. Then last night we made my Mom's recipe of snow ice cream which was really yummy! Tonight we're going to try Paula Deen's recipe and see who wins. Today Maddox and I built a snowman when it was warmer and sunny and she was a lot more interested in helping. She'd try to pick up snow with her mittened hand and pat it on the snowman. She also stuck her own extra limbs in in addition to the arms I put in. I found this on my camera today and just thought it was humorous. She was 13 months old here trying on some water wings before we went to Fl for spring break. Not quite ready . . . and still isn't today!

Our Slumber Party

Last night we had a slumber party on the family room floor with Maddox. The evening started with a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things where Maddox very proudly got a new bed skirt. She has no clue what it is or what it's for but she carried that bed skirt all over the store, walking around saying "bed skirt . . . bed skirt . . . bed skirt" in an excited voice. We then picked up a pizza and movie and headed home. We watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and had popcorn. We all three had our sleeping bags laid out and Maddox's was in her little tent. She was SO excited to see Mom and Dad with sleeping bags next to hers. She rolled around the floor and in the tent giggling and laughing ecstatically for a while. She loved the movie and ate most of the popcorn. By the time it was over it was 10:30 so I told her it was night-night time and we turned out the lights. Jeremy was asleep in about a minute and Maddox laid quietly in her sleeping bag holding my hand and fell asleep shortly after. I, on the other hand, did not follow suit. I laid there for a while, got up to go to the bathroom, then laid around some more. One of the problems was that the baby was having a party in my uterus and it was NOT a slumber party. Another problem was that all that pizza, popcorn, and Pepsi got to me and I had some major heartburn. (Jeremy informed me this morning that he had found Tums in the medicine cabinet. Thanks a lot.) I guess I dozed for a while off and on but spent much of that time flipping from one hip to the other. My hips are not made to sleep on a hard floor, but even more so with pregnant hips. I was shoving pillows under my hips, blankets, trying to lay more on my stomach which obviously doesn't work. By 1am my hips could not take it anymore and I was switching sides at least every 10 minutes. I am too old to sleep on the floor and now understand why the New G sponsors tried to avoid sleeping in churches while we kids loved it. I couldn't come to bed because if Maddox woke up and was worried about where she was or couldn't sleep anymore there I wouldn't be there. Jeremy is not help in this department as he would never wake up short of Maddox crawling on him and beating him silly. So I got ready to move to the couch but about the same time Maddox started flipping, tossing, turning, twisting around, whining, sighing, and couldn't get comfortable either. After about 10 minutes she sat up, saw me watching her and crawled into my arms and fell asleep on my shoulder. I put her in her bed and me in mine. Funny enough, even the cat and dog followed me to the bed and we all left Jeremy alone on the floor having his own slumber party. The slumber party was a fun idea but we'll have to alter it next time and make a squishy pallet for me. And there will be a next time because Maddox needs more practice sleeping on the floor in her sleeping bag. It's going to be hard to go camping this summer if she doesn't master it. Jeremy and I are set for that, we have an air mattress.

First Haircut

On Friday, the 15th, Maddox got her very first haircut. I waited so long because I kind of wanted to start this tradition of not cutting my child's hair until they were two. It stems from when I went to France in 5th grade. The family I stayed with had a toddler son with the same name as the father but with blond, curly, golden locks hanging down his neck. With the language barrier I thought for sure it was a little girl with a gender neutral name. Well, after I left, he turned 2 and got his hair cut for the first time. Apparently in France this was a tradition then. After that I thought it would be kind of neat to see what a baby's hair could do in 2 years and though I'd follow the tradition. As it turned out, with Maddox, her hair didn't do much.

I asked Miss Lorraine to cut ti since she just adores Maddox and is a retired hair stylist. She's the lady who took over caring for Caleb and Leslie Grace when I quit so we spend a lot of time together in the summer letting the kids play together. The day before Maddox got her hair cut I put it up in a pony because I knew I probably wouldn't be able to after. It was so cute! When she got it all cut off, getting rid of all the shaggy layers, it was so short I almost cried! now that I'm getting used to it I've realized it's a pretty cute bob. I don't love the bangs, but those weren't long enough to grow out yet. So, at almost two, here's Maddox's new do.

FL trip 2009/2010

We left on Christmas Eve to drive to Grammy and Papa's house in Florida. One of my sisters, Suzy, and her family were flying in Christmas night. After arriving about 4am and sleeping a bit we spent the day enjoying the warmth and having brunch at the Teeter's house. Little did we know the warmth was to be short-lived. Suzy's family arrived that night and we all opened presents again. Suzy danced with the little girls (the other being her daughter Emily) around the living room. Emily and Maddox had a great time together. Maddox is finally old enough to be fun for her 3 year old cousin. She follows her around everywhere and wants to do everything she does. She kept Maddox busy!

Maddox got some pretty princess earrings, necklace, bracelet, and cell phone.

The next day was warm again so we went to Lakes Park and rented a surry with all the kids. Driving a surry around the park with my family can be quite amusing! Supposedly I was steering, but I think sometimes they wondered. Sometimes though I wondered if they were pedaling. Seven people weigh a lot, even if most of them are little!

Also at this park there are great play grounds and this little train ride. We're all lined up ready to go. Emily, Suzy, Katherine, Matthew, and Maddox.

On a chilly day the moms and kids went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel. Maddox sat in her own seat looking like such a big girl with her cup and popcorn. Gone are the days where she sits in my lap at a movie I guess.

We spent a few days at the condo to enjoy the beach. It was pretty chilly by now. The mornings were chilly and the first couple of days the afternoons did allow swimming suits and some sun time or pool time. After those first couple of days though it just got downright cold for the rest of our trip. Really cold. So Maddox and I may be wading in the water, but our feet are numb.

We spent New Year's Eve at the condo having a mystery dinner. We were all take-offs of nursery rhyme characters and wore "costumes". My family was innocent!! Suzy killed her own boyfriend! We won't talk about how he actually wanted me . . . We played Phase 10 all night trying to last until midnight. We were all in bed by about 12:10. Didn't even go down to the beach at midnight. Didn't care anymore. Maddox had been in bed since about 8 but she didn't miss much.

One of our last nights Mom and Dad took us out to Captiva to eat at The Bubble Room. It's this silly place decorated with tons of old toys all over the walls and in your table top and a train running around the rooms. Everytime the train came into our room Maddox would yell "Train!" It was a great place to take such an inquisitive, study everything type of little girl. She was enthralled. Outside there was a gorilla cage for Daddy and Maddox.

This is another way I frequently find Maddox. She'll ask for a book to read in bed and fall asleep with it. This was a couple nights before we left so Maddox was worn out and lasted about a minute reading this book before she zonked out. Even though it was cold, it was still warmer than NC or the mid-west. We only got about 4 days of swimsuit wearing out of 12 though. Kind of a bummer. Maddox and I are going back for spring break so it better be warm then!

A couple of pictures from home . . . Here I am at 20 weeks, half way through! Don't ask me why I decided to take a picture in my very tight t-shirt Suzy gave me for Christmas before she knew I was pregnant and pajama pants. It was comfy.Maddox loves her tent! Tonight she almost went to sleep in it. I tucked her in her sleeping bag and gave her books to read to herself then took them away and told her it was night night time. She laid there quietly, very tired, but never fell asleep. Jeremy and I were watching tv in the same room though so that could have something to do with it. One of these nights I think we'll have a movie night slumber party and try again.

NC Christmas

Maddox likes to fall asleep with her arms up like this. I think it looks so grown up. Sometimes she even leans back on my chest with her arms up while I read her books or watches tv this way. Maddox wore her Christmas dress to church the Sunday before Christmas because we weren't going to be around for Christmas Eve. She looked so cute all dressed up! I did make her wear it again on Christmas Day in FL just to get some more use out of it.

Santa came for us a day early so we could open presents on the 24th, Daddy could go to work, and then we could drive to FL that night. He brought Maddox a tent and sleeping bag and lots of crafty things plus some more presents under the tree.

Gabbey really liked the cozy tent. So does Jessi. They've both been caught napping in it.

This year Maddox was into opening presents. I thought opening them would take a while thinking she would get bored or want to play with things along the way so we set our alarm for 6 am so Jeremy could be gone by 8:30 and at work by 9. She actually opened one, then went to the tree and got another one pretty much all morning until they were gone. It only took about 45 minutes. We could have slept in a bit longer!

She got a birthday cake and tea set from Aunt Angie that she really loves. We play with it everyday. She serves me cake and water and serves the cat, dog, and baby doll too. She also loves it when I sing Happy Birthday to whomever I choose that day and she blows out the candles.

After Daddy left we got to play with all the new toys. She loves hiding in her tent and sometimes sits in it now and reads or plays music.

She got new bathtub crayons and had to check them out before we left town. They do clean up really easily with just a damp cloth. Unfortunately she also likes to eat them so they have to be used under close supervision. They must taste better than normal crayolas.

Snow Day

I haven't posted anything in a long time so I'm a bit behind. Way back before Christmas, maybe on the 19th?, it was the Friday before Christmas, we got 4 inches of snow at our house. It sleeted first for a couple of hours, then snowed, then sleeted on top of that. We went out Friday night to play in it before it sleeted again and played in the soft snow and went sledding. The next morning it was frozen over, solid as a rock so we couldn't do much in it. All of these pictures are from the next morning. We pulled Maddox around on the ice in the sled and laughed at Jessi sliding all over. Hopefully it will be another year before we see snow!