2nd Birthday, Cali Trip, grad parties, and big girl beds!

Wow as I'm sitting down to write this I think that a lot has happened in the last month. :)

Starting with Maddies 2nd birthday bash! We had 10 kids come to a local gymnastic center with cupcakes and balloons. Maddie really was bell of the ball... she had a blast being the center of attention... not sure where she gets that from. :) Thank you to everyone of our friends and family that came to celebrate with us. (thank you cards will eventually make it in the mail)

Then we headed down to Southern California to visit family and go to graduation parties for my brother Brent (my new roommate/manny) who graduated from Providence College with his masters degree and my little sister Cortney who graduated from High School. I'm very proud of both of you and I know that you will be very successful in all of your future endeavors!

All in all it was a blast... It was a very busy trip...with little to no down time and the 16 hour drive was really not fun with a 2 year old.

Now we are home and have headed into a new phase... for the last 3 days Maddie has refused to sleep in her own bed. Joe has been in Portland so I have given in and allowed her to sleep with me... But come Friday night it's going to be a fight that I'm sure will last all night long with the strong willed Madelyn Sue. I have even changed her bed from the crib to a toddler bed- thought that would make her excited... Not quite. She is in my bed watching toons as I type. Yes I know it's 10:30 for all you moms judging me!

Maddie in her Mrs. Potato head glasses and pretty jewelry

Maddie and Hunter (Jeremy friend from High Schools son)

Me and Kim... Brents girlfriend... Some day sister-in-law

Maddie and My Dad sharing Cake. Do you see my dads 70's porn star hair!

Maddie holding Joe's bud... Pretty sure I have the same photo from my childhood

Brent and Maddie playing. She loves her "B"

Fascinated with the fountain... So cute

The princess at her birthday party

Bell of the Ball

New pics coming soon!

Things have been very hectic lately... between Maddie's 2nd birthday to vacation/graduation parties and work... I haven't had a chance to do much of anything....

But I will be updating with photos really soon.... I promise.

Mother's Day weekend

Terrwilleger falls

Hike to the hot springs... Gorgeous!

Family Picture

I Pout...

Cammo and Mads

This weekend we went out to a cabin on the McKenzie river... It was a blast.
Well, except for Friday night when Maddie was throwing up every half hour from 11:30 pm to 7am. That meant no sleep for either of us. :) Happy Mom's day... I earned a badge i'm sure of it!

Anyhow, she was totally fine the rest of the weekend. Angela and her son Cameron joined us for some fun in the sun too! :) Maddie loves CAMMO!

On Saturday afternoon we decided to check out Cougar Hot Springs.... clothing optional. And most everyone opted not to. It was very interesting. I saw lots of naked hippies. But overall, had a nice hike up to the springs and can now say that I have been to hot springs. :)

On Sunday we had a nice relaxing day... Joe cooked breakfast, then we went on a nice little walk and took our time getting home. It was the best mother's day so far! (it was only my second though)

I am very lucky to have such a wonderful husband and a healthy spirited almost 2 year old. Not to mention the best doggie in the entire world- Love you all!!!
Thanks for a great weekend. :)

Time to get ready for Uncle Brent to move to Bend and be my "manny"!!! So excited. :)

Almost 2!

Saying "Cheese" for the camera

Maddie and her Baby in her new panties!

Spending some time with our pal Geno!

Rockin our new Cinderella shades!

The countdown begins... exactly one month from today my baby turns 2! who would have thought it would go this darn fast. I still call her my baby... but she's really my bratty toddler! The other day at a friends house. I wasn't paying attention and she smacked me across the face and said, "Shut-up MOMMY!" I was totally mortified. She is soooo mean to me! Her new favirote word is shut-up. We have tried everything... time-out, spankings, flicks in the mouth and now we are just ignoring it. She must say it atleast 50 times a day. She totally uses it in the right context too! I know this is just the beginning too. She is so smart, manipulative, tough, strong, stubborn, and loving all at the same time. Sounds kind of like someone I know. :)

Anyhow, besides the new favirote word we are also trying to start potty training. She has been using the potty (and I say that loosely) for the past 6 months. But I have some training underpants and we are trying to keep them on. Wish us luck.. I have a feeling their is LOTS of loads of laundry in my future!

Such a big girl now...

All Done!

Patiently sucking

The Park... She insisted on the hat

Morning Mullet

Well, the last 2 weeks have been full of firsts... We took the binkie away and got our first hair-cut!
The Binkie... We (the parents) were getting way too dependent on the binkie... everytime she whined or cried I would pop it in her mouth to chill her out... But we noticed that she would try to talk through the binkie... and not very well at that. We were going to wait till 2 to take it away.... But Joe decided one night- we are going to throw it away. So he took her to the outside trash and tossed it... Maddie said "bye-bye" and then for the next hour or so... she would drag Joe and I to the door and say "daddy did it!" After all of the fuss for the first hour she seemed to forget about it. She went to bed just fine and hasn't missed it since. Such a big girl!
Hair-cut. For those of you who know how little hair maddie has always had... the first hair cut was a hard this decision was... It got to the point where it was an official WT mullet. After several friends encouraged us to cut it... Aunt Sandy almost doing it herself... Joe finally caved. Once he was on board we took her out for a nice family day... Lunch, Park, then to Kaleena. I had to bribe her with a sucker but she did good. No tears... But she has lost some of her baby look. She if officially a little girl. Sad!

MY MIMI

My mimi, my mimi, where's mimi? MI-MI!!! That is all I have been hearing for the last week. And I love it. :)
My mom was just up visiting for almost a week. Madelyn calls her mimi. It's the cutest darn thing! It was much needed mom and grandma time. There is just something about having your mom near when you aren't feeling great.

We had lots of late night chats... Maddie had lots of time with mimi since I worked a few days- she got her all to herself and LOVED it. Whenever my mom comes to visit... it's bitter-sweet. I love having her in town to talk to, drink a glass of wine with, vent to... but most importantly I love when her and Maddie get to spend time together. But I always get a little sad and homesick when she leaves. It's hard not having her here... and I'm really sorry for Madelyn not to have her "mimi" close by. It melts my heart to see how much she loves her- but it breaks it when she leaves and maddie wants more "mimi".
To all my friends that have lost their moms... I am very sorry that you have to endure life without them in it. And to all my friends that have their moms close by- CHERISH them... Life is so darn short!

I will get off my soap box now. On another note... my blood levels are staying steady... So I get to go a whole 2 weeks between appointments now!