2 years old!

I cannot believe how many changes have taken place in my little girl in the recent months. She continues to amaze me daily with all the things she is learning and absorbing. She is constantly talking and typically speaks in 7-8 word sentences. Most likely because she has a mother who likes to talk her ear off :) I am so proud to be her mommy and I pride myself in being the best I can as a mom, a wife and as a person because of her.
We had her appt. with Dr. Williams last Tuesday and she did so well. Last time she was real hesitant when they touched her for anything. This time she had the nurse do all the measurements on her baby and then was great when it was time for her. She thought that was pretty neat to have the baby measured and heart beat checked. She also received the MMR shot, which I had foregone at her 15 month appt. This was her only shot at this visit so that was nice. Other than being a little whiny, irritable that evening, she hasn't had any other unpleasant side effects.
She weighed in at 24.5 lbs (25%tile) , and is 34 inches long (50%tile).

Some of her likes include:
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
BABIES!!!
her kitchen
Singing her fav songs..Twinkle, Twinkle...ABC's, Jesus Loves Me, Jingle Bells, One, Two Buckle my Shoe...
Strollers (for Baby)
Lily (our kitty, or Willy as she refers to her)
Bathtime
gogurt
cheeze-its
blankie (of course)
precious moments babies (has to kiss each one before she goes to bed)
brushing teeth
reading in her tent
wrestling with daddy
jumping on the bed
BFF's Kayleena, Macy (at Penny's)


Accomplishments:
knows all colors (black, brown, blue, red, purple, pink, green, orange, yellow)
knows shapes (triangle, square, circle, star, oval)
orally counts 1-12
one-to-one counts 1,2,3

A Minnie Mouse Party

This year we went with the Minnie Mouse theme for her birthday party. We had the party a week after her birthday on the 15th. Much of her family was here from both sides. She received some nice gifts and enjoyed having everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to her. She also really enjoyed the cupcakes, as last year she would not touch her cake. She knows the taste of sweets now. :) Some of her gifts include: A Graco baby furniture set (stroller, bouncer, playmat, pack-n-play), radio flyer wagon, Big stuffed bear and an animal book, Dora tent, money towards her swingset and her 529 college fund, plus a few very adorable winter and spring outfits. We had pizza, chips and pop to eat along with my homemade cupcakes in a Minnie theme. I really had a lot of fun decorating and getting ready for this party. She talked about it all week as I was planning it. We had a great time!

Madelyn turns 2!

Last Saturday Madelyn turned TWO. For her actual birthday we decided to take her to Splash Universe , which is an indoor waterpark, for the night. we had a great time and enjoyed getting away with just the three of us. She is very into swimming right now and talks about it constantly. Always wanting to go swimming, which we obviously cannot since it is winter and when she is in the bathtub she likes to lay down and say "I'm swimming!" She just so funny. We stayed in a kids bunk house suite because they had a deal going, making it the same price as a king suite. She enjoyed playing on the bunk beds and pretending to go to sleep. Here are some pictures of our adventures!

Nolan comes to visit

Kelli and her little boy came over to our house last weekend so the kids could play and well, so we could have some girl time. I love that Kelli can just come over and hang out for hours on a Saturday afternoon, nothing planned but sitting around and chatting, while the kids play. These pictures are when they were leaving and they are so darn cute. I meant to get some while we were up in Madelyn's room and they were sitting at the table reading together. Of course, my camera was downstairs and I was too lazy to go down and fetch it. haha Oh well.

Thanksgiving Day

This year we had Thanksgiving at the Archer's house. Madelyn had fun wearing her pretty little dress:) Her daddy told her she was "sooooo pretty" and she would get this huge grin on her face. It was so cute. She had fun coloring with Nic and petting and rubbing Sophie's belly. I can't believe my child loves dogs the way she does. I, on the other hand, can't stand dogs and they drool and smell- yuck. I mostly don't like big dogs but we will never have one, big or small. It amazes me how she is so comfortable around big dogs at her age, especially since we don't have one. We had a great day eating, sitting around, talking, watching Hudson's football game (Drew) on the laptop (haha) and just being with family.

Halloween

This year for halloween I was able to score a Nemo costume from ebay for real cheap. She had recently gotten into Nemo because we discovered a Nemo book had come free in her box of diapers. This was VERY exciting ya know?! So after she talked and talked and talked about Nemo for a week, I though Nemo it is!
The week leading up to halloween, Madelyn was sick and I was home with her all week. She had the H1N1 flu and just took it easy all week. Thankfully, it didn't get too serious and she recovered all on her own. She did have the really high fever and with motrin/tylenol every 4 hours I was only managing to keep her temp. around 102-103. One night, it got up to 103.8 and nothing was bringing it back down. I'll admit, I was pretty nervous but I kept her in bed with me to keep and eye on her. I think I checked her temp. every 10 minutes all night long. After about 6 hours of that , it finally broke around 5 am and I was relieved. I didn't rush into the ER because I knew that was only going to be zoo and I'd rather be up all night at home than up all night waiting in an ER waiting room. Other than the temps, she wasn't too fussy, just real tired and layed around a lot. Then there were times she was up playing, usually until her medicine started to wear off.
On a positive note, she does not have to get the H1N1 vaccine now because she is immune to it:) I was planning on getting it for her. I was nervous about it but more nervous about her getting real sick without it. The Lord took care of that decision for me and I praise Him for having his hand on the situation the whole time. I've also been able to stay completely healthy this fall. Thank you Lord!

22 months

I can't believe how much you've changed and grown since fall began. You are learning so many new things and impressing me each day. You absolutely LOVE to color and will ask to color the second you wake up. You've learned how to hold your crayon correctly and work so precisely on your drawings. It's so cute. You know all your colors- brown, black, yellow, red, blue, orange, pink, purple and green. You're also starting to learn shapes and getting pretty good at a square/rectangle (their the same to you) triangle and circle.
You also love to sit at your little table in your bedroom and read books. Babies are still an all time favorite to you and you take your baby everywhere you go:)
You are saying so many phrases now...
"oh dear", Oh goodness", Oh gosh"
"shut da door"
"I take a bath"
"fishy's hungry"
"I hungry"
I all done, please"
"I wanna color"
"i colorin"
"daddy wake up"
"daddy's here"
"this is..."
"it right there/here" (when pointing to things in books etc.)
"it's dark out"
"it's bright" (do not like bright lights in your eyes)
"my turn"
"brush teef"
"all cean" (clean)
"cold outside"

Oh the things you say just make me laugh.