I'm BAAAAACK!!!

Please forgive me for my long absence.  I have many excuses but none of them matter...I'm a terrible blogger.

Lots have been going on but first, the most important blog subject - MADISON!!!

Trey and I just came back from a week long vacation (will explain another day on another post) and Madison went to New Orleans to stay with my parents.  The day she left to go down was so hard!  As I was starting to walk to the car to put her in the car seat, tears just started falling.  Then when my parents started to backup, I just lost it.  It was so hard.  I feel like she changed so much in a week.  Ok, not really but her hair seemed much thicker to my eyes, for some reason.

Anyway, on to the new stuff that Madison is doing.

Well, before she left for New Orleans, if you asked her anything, Madison would always say yes.  When she came back from New Orleans, all she says is NO!!!  "Madison, did you miss mommy and daddy?" "No."  "Madison were you a good girl at school?" "No."  Madison, do.." "No." She doesn't even let me finish the question at times before she just goes ahead and says no!  I'm trying not to laugh because hearing no incessantly gets old.

She's talking like crazy.  It's just unbelievable how quick she can pick up on things.  Just tonight, Trey had the Saints/Titans game on and she pointed and asked "What's that?" and I said football and she repeated it so clearly!  Well, clearly for her mommy's ears.  :)

She's obsessed with brushing her teeth with an actual toothbrush.  I've been brushing her teeth with the little finger thing but I think I may get her to start brushing her teeth with a mini toothbrush...any thoughts from those with children?  When did you start using a toothbrush?

Other things that she's saying:
-No
-Football
-What's that?
-Milk
-She moos like a cow
-Working on knowing where her ear is
-Night Night
-Bye Bye

I think that's all the new words.

Madison trying out her cool seat!!

Watching daddy cut the grass Saturday morning.

Madison LOVES sitting in her bumbo seat.  Not sure why though.  It's funny!

My little diva wearing mommy's sunglasses while sipping on juice.  

She's obsessed with putting on and taking off sunglasses.

This is what I have to deal with on a daily basis!

My dancing girl and clumsy girl - however, she ALWAYS gets up when she falls down!

Weekend Update

We had a great weekend.  We had great friends come and visit.

Friday night, our friend, David, from Jackson, MS, came up and stayed with us.  Trey's parents came over and the 5 of us had steaks grilled on the Green Egg and baked potatoes.  I had bought all these yummy toppings for our salad but when I was about to get everything together, I realized that I forgot to buy lettuce!!!  Ugh!  So, we were sans salad but it was still good.  David also introduced us to Budweiser's Lime-a-ritas.  So yummy and dangerous.  They come in these tiny cute cans and taste like a margarita on the rocks.  However, they are 8% alcohol!  So I only made it through 2 the whole weekend.  :)

Not from Friday but Trey with his beloved Green Egg

Saturday, my best friend Lauren and her husband Will came up from Tupelo.  Lauren went to go visit a childhood friend of hers and the rest of us, including Madison, went to eat pizza, wings and mozzarella sticks for dinner.  Madison highly enjoyed her pieces of pizza and mozzarella sticks!  Everyone came back and fell asleep and took naps.  I went and started making my BLT stuffed tomatoes for the fantasy football draft party.  Lauren made a delicious guacamole dip.  We headed to the fantasy football draft party.  I was the commissioner...no one booed me though.  :)

My BLT stuffed cherry tomatoes

After the party, we went to trivia night at Swanky's.  We were winning the whole thing until the bonus round where we bet too much and lost big.  Oh well...all I know, I was ready to leave after trivia.  This mommy likes to be in bed by 10 (however, I didn't get to bed until 11...I survived).

Everyone intense about some football

 The most intense one of all 

Lauren, being the supportive wife

Trivia night at Swanky's

Sunday, everyone left after lunch and we went to Trey's parent's house to pick Madison up - she spent Saturday night with them.  After we picked her up, we all went to Best Buy to "look" around.  Well, I ended up getting a MacBook Air and I absolutely LOVE IT!!!

My precious! (please read with Smeagol/Gollum voice)

Anyway, signing off...I need to watch Big Brother.  'Til we meet again!

Madison Monday

I've decided that I will be dedicating Mondays to everything Madison.  :)

This past Friday, Gigi (Trey's mom) dropped off some balloons for Madison.  Unfortunately, Madison was already asleep when they were delivered.  However, Saturday morning, after some oatmeal and yogurt, Madison spotted them and had a blast playing with them.  Here's a video:

Madison has a lot of funny eating habits.  Like this morning, she had a small bag of grapes (cut in halves) in the car on the way to school.  Well, she decided she didn't like the skin and would hand me the skin of the grape once she scraped the gooey stuff off.  Well, she stopped doing it and I just assumed she started eating the skin...WRONG!  When we arrived to school, I look in my backseat and there are grape skins all over the seat and floor.  That child.  Then tonight, after dinner and bath, I decided to give her some puffs.  Well, here's how she decided to eat them (it's the coffee table and not the floor, which is what my husband thought at first):

Here's another video of my sweet dancing girl...she's got moves!

Some other tidbits about Madison:

-  she's obsessed with her Kangaroo Climber (thank you Aunt Erika and Uncle Eric)

-  she likes to tell you "mine" in a not so nice voice

-  today, for the first time ever, she didn't want to leave with me to go home.  She wanted to stay at daycare and keep playing!

-  She knows where her belly and nose are.  She also likes to show mommy where her belly is.

-  she waves at EVERYONE and says hey

-  she's getting much better at using a fork on her own.

-  she loves cheese

-  loves to wear sunglasses (and loves to take them off and put them on herself)

-  she can go the whole day without her pacifier!

-  she's knows cat, dog, peek a boo, roomba, ball, more, no

Here are some pictures for you viewing pleasure:

Sleepless in Southaven

This week hasn't been the best week at the McClain household.  My sweet girl is going through teething...teething of the incisors.  After some research, many parents claim that these tend to be the worse for their child.  Well, I confirm it!  Madison isn't really fussy during the day and not much trouble but when night falls....

Sunday night through Tuesday night, Madison woke up in the middle of the night...not for too long but long enough to wake me up and disturb my sleep. She would go back to sleep and then wake up between 4:30 and 5am!!!  At this point, she was awake (and so was I).  However, I just kept her in the crib until 6.  She seemed fine with it.  Would cry occasionally but either dozed back to sleep or proceeded to throw her pacifiers across her room and her blanket and stuffed animals would be victims lying at the foot of the crib.

Her top left incisor already cut and is growing.  It's the pesky right incisor that doesn't seem to want to cut.  It's right there though.  So, Wednesday night, I'm exhausted and orajel just wasn't cutting it, I ended up realizing that she may be in pain, so we gave her some Motrin before bed and she has been sleeping all night and waking up at 6!  HALLELUJAH! Or so I thought.

Aren't sleeping babies the sweetest?

I woke up Thursday so refreshed.  That night I went to bed at 9:45 excited about a nice long deep sleep.  I was even having wonderful dreams about Trey, Madison and me shopping and playing around when I was so rudely awakened at 3am.  I listen and realize that it's not Madison but Buster!!!  That dumb dog was on my side of the bed, rubbing his back all on the carpet, sneezing and whimpering.  I dared not make a move for if he realized I was awake, he would attack aka come to me and stick his face on my pillow to get me up.  I played dead and he finally went back to his bed.  I try to go back to sleep and then Bennett starts hacking up a lung.  Finally sleep becomes me until 5 when I hear Bennett start licking incessantly.  By this time sleep is done.  5:30, Madison wakes up and my day begins, groggily.

The culprits

Bennett and Buster

Last night, once again, I was hoping for a great night.  This time our monitor was static all night, so I had to wake up, shut it off and open our door so I could hear Madison is she were to wake up.  Trey decides to snore most of the night and then he wakes up to shut the door and turn the monitor back on.  Anyway, it wasn't anything that a good cup of coffee can't fix.

My sweet husband can sleep anywhere!!

Have a great weekend!!

Madison

I've decided to start a blog to help remember all the things Madison is doing.  She's growing up so fast.  It literally feels like I just had her yesterday that it's hard to believe she's already 16 months! 

Having a baby is definitely an adventure.  I never knew everything that it entails.  I didn't know if I would ever stop crying once we brought her home.  However, slowly but surely, we adjusted and life became wonderful.  I don't really remember life before her and I can't wait to see what life brings in the future.

16 months has definitely been a fun age for us.  It has felt like we turned a corner.  Walking is much easier, she runs and climbs on top of everything or at least tries to.  Communication has been much easier.  She understands a lot.  She'll be playing with her toys in the living room and I'll tell her it's time to change her diaper and she just gets up, walks to her room and lies down on the floor.  When she decides to throw a tantrum because no one knows what she wants, I just tell her to get it or show me and she'll walk, usually to the pantry, and I'll get her what she wants.

We had a major breakthrough with water play.  She used to hate the water.  Whimpered in the pool, wouldn't walk around a spray park and just avoided water, except for bath.  Well, last weekend we went to a pool/soccer party and at first Madison was nervous but once she got in with daddy and everyone else in the pool, she just loved it.  Loved it so much that it got dangerous.  Trey was swimming in the deep end and Madison was on the concrete with me and saw her daddy and walked right to him and into the pool.  No worries, Trey was there and caught her.  Daycare also has Water Day every Wednesday and I would pick her up and ask how it went and they said she would be upset and just wanted to sit by the window and just watch the kids play in it.  Well, this Wednesday she had a great Water Day and she even went down the slide!  I was a proud mama.

Anyway, just wanted to start a blog to help me remember the small things and to update family and friends. Please bear with my blogging skills.  Hopefully I'll get the hang of this.

Stay tuned...