Monday, December 31, 2012

And that's a wrap...

2012 is about to end.  Tonight is the last night of this year and tomorrow begins a new one.  I like wrapping up each year on my blog but of course I will have to do that in words only. 

This was a good year.  A great year.  2008, 2010, and 2012 are by far my three favorite years so far.  2008 I married my guy, 2010 I became a mom to an amazing little man, and this year I became a mom to a beautiful little lady.  I am blessed.  I am thankful. 

Jay turned 28 at the beginning of this year and I turned 29 in May.  This is my last year in the 20's.  Carter turned 2 this year and turned from a toddler to a little boy.  His vocabulary grew immensely.  His personality began truly showing and his independence reared its ugly head.  He continued to bring true joy into our lives. 

Madelynn Grace was born this year and added more joy to our lives then we knew possible.  I learned how to be a mom of two and split my time between two precious kids. 

Jay continued to work at Rural Metro Ambulance full time and Lyons Ambulance part time.  He continued working on his prerequisites for paramedic school.  He grew as a husband and dad and works so hard to provide for us and take care of us. 

I got to become a little more of a stay at home mom this year with just a small, four hour a week learning coach gig.  I got very involved in MOPS this year and have made many new wonderful friends.  I have fallen in love with being a mom and am so thankful for this job God has blessed me with. I have continued working hard on my Master's degree and am down just four terms left (about five classes, including my thesis).

We began the huge project of knocking down the "jungle" in our backyard, thanks to a friend of Jay's mom.  He still have a ton of work to do back there but the jungle is gone!  We also put in a new front window in our living room which was on our priority list since we moved in to our house.  We still love o.ur house and look forward to more projects in 2013.  We are hoping this will be the year we finish fencing in the back yard and maybe finish up our laundry room. 

2012 was a year of growth in our marriage.  We love each other and are committed to making and keeping our marriage great.  We worked hard on date nights frequently and learned how to walk through more difficult phases in our marriage.  Marriage isn't easy but it is great!  I am thankful for my marriage and my husband!

We took the kids to Seattle this year to see Jay's family before they headed off on a cruise.  It was so fun seeing all the sights of Seattle with our kids and Jay's family.  We also flew to Iowa this year for Christmas.  That is actually where I am typing the blog right now.  We have loved every minute here in Iowa and are so thankful for the opportunity to spend some time with them for Christmas. 

I discovered Pinterest this year and feel a little addicted and overwhelmed with all of the fun things I can create!  I have started crafting on a minor scale, thanks to Pinterest.  I even tried around 35 new recipes from Pinterest and grew in my dinner making skills.  Jay appreciated that very much. 

My dreams and hopes for 2013...
I hope to use my Courthouse membership a little more and lose a few more pounds.  I hope to try lots more recipes and continue to grow in my cooking skills.  I hope to craft more and fill my home with homemade decor.  I hope to play with my kids more.  I hope to organize my house better.  I hope to teach Carter about Jesus Christ even more than ever.  I hope to love my husband more and go to Disneyland with him for our fifth wedding anniversary. 

Good-bye 2012, hello 2013!

Friday, December 21, 2012

She's 9 Months Old!

An entire month has gone by without any blogging :(  This is so not like me.  I think knowing that I can't put any pictures on here makes me less motivated to get on here and blog.  As soon as Christmas is over and we are back from Iowa I will figure out how to set up a new blog and get back on track with blogging. 

But for now I will tell you about my sweet baby girl...
There aren't words to tell you how much I love my Mady girl!  She is just precious and amazes me everyday.  I think her love for her brother is probably the sweetest thing I have ever witnessed in my life.  She is in love with Carter.  She jumps up and down in my arms when I bring her out in the living room after sleeping and she sees Carter.  She immediately begins jumping up and down with the biggest smile on her face.  She LOVES playing in his room and follows him to his room if she thinks he might be in there.  Yesterday she was crawling around on the floor and couldn't find Carter.  It was so obvious that she was looking for him.  She crawled really fast over to the small couch, looked around it, then turned around and started crawling really fast toward the hall.  She was looking for him and it made me tear up a little bit.  She loves to go in his room when he is in there and will play in his closet with him forever.  They sit there together and play with all of his toys.  I have pictures of this that I will post when I get my new blog set up.  It melts me!  And Carter is in love with her too!  His voice completely changes when he is talking to her.  "Hi Mady" sounds more like "hiiiiiiiiiiiii Maaaaaaaaaddddddddyyyyyy"  with every sound held out for a while and a higher pitched voice.  It is precious.  And she just lights up when he talks to her.  And he kisses her ALL DAY LONG.  She is the only one in this house who gets kisses without being asked, begged, pleaded with, and bribed.  Yes, we do all of those things to try and get kisses out of him for ourselves.  Not Mady though.  He gives her kisses all the time! I LOVE their relationship and more than anything hope they will always love each other, protect each other, and respect each other.  I will spend the next 18 years and probably more praying that they will always love each other.  I know they will fight some but I pray they will always passionately care about each other. 

Madelynn is silly.  She loves to dance with mama and smiles and giggles while we dance around in circles.  She loves to be thrown up in the air, tickled, and wrestled with.  She loves Carter's toys and crawls right over her toys to get to his.  I almost think she knows it annoys Carter.  Again, she is silly!  She loves her blankie and cries when I lay her down until her blankie is on her.  She then immediately rubs her face all over it.  My mom made her a blanket similiar to Carter's blanket and I have wanted her to love it just as much as Carter loves his.  I am seeing signs that this might happen.  She is starting to get a little too curious about things in the house, like doors.  She has discovered that she can move doors and loves to play with them.  She also loves the baby gate when it is just leaning against the wall behind the hall door.  She likes to pull it down and play with it.  She puts everything in her mouth so we have to make sure our floors stay clean, which isn't easy!  I have pulled many things out of her mouth already.  Thankfully so far I think I have caught everything she has tried to eat that she shouldn't.  She is great in the car and wonderful while out and about.  She loves to shop and loves sitting in the cart like a big girl.  She flirts with everyone around her and almost always flashes a beautiful smile when people acknowledge her.  She loves her daddy and gets just as excited to see him as she does to see Carter.  The boys in her life are pretty special! 

She is still little.  Her nine month appointment isn't until the beginning of January so I don't have any stats on her yet but we are guessing she is right around 15 pounds.  She is in six month clothes and size two diapers.  Everyone that asks how old she is always tells me how tiny she is.  She is a great eater though so I am not worried.  I love how little she is.  I feel like I can carry her around a lot longer than I could with Carter before my arm gets tired.  She is still nursing but is going most nights without eating...finally!  She still wakes up once or twice in the night usually but I can usually ignore her now and she will go back to sleep after a few minutes.  Last night on the other hand was a different story but that is not normal for her.  She was up so many times last night...which probably means a tooth is on the way.  She has five teeth now, three on top and two on bottom.

She still prefers to army crawl and is not pulling herself up on things yet.  I am really okay with that though!  She is capable of standing on her own while holding onto something but just hasn't attempted pulling herself up yet.  I am in no hurry for that because then we have to lower her crib. 

She eats all fruits and veggies, greek yogurt, bananas, cheese, cheerios, and avocado.  She loves to eat! 

Madelynn Grace...
You are sunshine in this world!  You are a happy little girl who brings so much joy to those around you.  We had some friends babysit you and Carter and the first thing she said when we picked you up was that you were a blessing.  I couldn't say it any better!  You are a blessing!  We love you!  Happy nine month birthday...only three more until you are one!  Wow!