23 Months!

 

Oh EM Gee, baby girl is going to be 2 in just one short month!  I can hardly even believe it.  Well wait, her new little attitude she carts around mixed with that fake cry she likes to do to try to get her way and sudden increase in will power…yeah, sounds about right, she’s about to be TWO!  Terrible terrible two.  Here’s what Maisy is up to at 23 Months old:

• She goes to bed at 8:30 and sleeps until around 7, unless its a week day and I have to wake her up at 6:30 to get out the door.  She takes one nap in the middle of the day that usually lasts around 2 hours.
• She eats whatever meal we are eating, but is sure to tell us if she doesn’t like some part of it.  She will take a bite and then out of her mouth it comes as she says “I no YIKE dat”!  So far she doesn’t like cucumbers or pasta salad!  She insists on having Chocolate in her Milk these days!  She takes a sip to make sure you added the special ingredient, if not the cup is coming right back to you “I want chockey miwwk!”
• She LOVES animals!  Anywhere we go if there is a dog or cat she can be found chasing it around just trying to get her arms around it for a hug and kiss.
• She thinks that everything is HERS right now and if it doesn’t belong to her than it must be HER TURN with whatever it is.  When we kindly remind her that it’s not always her turn, she storms off into her brothers room and slams the door!  We are in for it when this girl becomes a teenager!
• Our names have officially changed from Mama & Dada to Mommy & Daddy, which is a favorite upgrade of mine :)  But now Nana is Nanny and Yaya is Yayeeee, her little voice is adorable.  But there are some words that aren’t so cute, like how when I tell her something she doesn’t want to hear I instantly get a “Whyyyeeeeee?”  Or if I ask her why she did something bad I get a simple “cause” out of her.
• Her favorite show is still Bubble Guppies!  But she does ask for a few different ones sometimes like Sofia the first “Prin Prin” or Backyardigans “I watch Back ARD!”
• She is obsessed with her brothers ipad, she declares that it is hers!  “Dis my ipeeeeed!”  It’s the funniest thing hearing that word come out of a 1 year old.  It’s really neat to watch her swipe through and pick a game or do a puzzle.
• She is still very much a Daddy’s girl!  And she very much has him wrapped around her tiny little finger.  Enough said!
• She is doing so well with Potty Training, I never thought we’d start this early but she has totally led the way.  She gets a potty prize at the end of each day if she has stayed dry all day, we’ve been doing this for about a month and there have only been 3 or 4 days where she hasn’t earned one. Vicki has put her in panties on a couple different occasions but for some reason she always wets those!  So we’re sticking with the pull on diapers and will keep trying underwear to see when she’s ready. 
• She moved out of the nursery in Church this month and is now part of Ryder’s class!!  This was SO exciting for her because she gets to be with all her big kid friends!

So one more month and my baby will be a big two year old!  Goes by way too fast!!

22 Months!

 

So I just realized that I completely skipped Maisy’s 21 Month post!  Oops, guess that just means I’ll have lots to talk about this month!  Here is what our girl is up to…only 2 months away from being TWO YEARS OLD!

• She weighs 25 pounds, wears size 5 pull on diapers, 18-24 month clothes (some 2T), and size 5 shoes.
• She loves to use the potty throughout the day and gets so proud of herself when she goes!  I feel like any day she’s going to start refusing to go, but so far she is doing great.  She says “I go pa-paaa” and off to the potty we run!
• She knows how to go in the freezer now and get her own popsicle out, that’s her favorite snack for sure!  She also loves cereal, juice boxes, mac & cheese, apples, and oranges.
• She loves to put on a show, she will dance or hop around all crazy then look at you with a big cheese grin and fling her arms wide open and say “Ta-Daaaaa!”  Always looking for a reaction!
• She also has a fake cry that she tries hard to get a reaction from.  Unfortunately Daddy gets more wrapped around her finger each day so he totally falls for this cry.  Me, not so much!  Momma’s got your number little miss.
• Her & Brother love to chase each other around, they make each other laugh SO hard.  It’s the cutest thing.  But I’ve learned to just prepare myself for scream because sure enough someone is about to make someone else mad!
• She is talking SO much more now, I feel like she went straight into making sentences!  “It’s May-May’s turn!” (she calls herself May-May!) “Shhh Brova go night-night”, “I take May-May’s shoes off!”, “I watch Bubble, petty peaaasssse” She has such good manners, always saying “Dank You Mama!”.  She can be quite bossy, if we’re in the car she’s always saying “No, Go Dat Way Momma!!”  And she is soooooooo territorial over her Daddy!!!  When we say hi to each other when we get home she will hear us kiss from where she is at and you can hear those feet come running across the hard wood floors to get in between us and push me off as hard as she can saying “No MY Da-da!!!”  One day I gave her the evil eye and said “he was mine first!” So now when she comes running she says “MY DA-DA FIIIIIIRST!!!!”  whatever girlfriend.
• She is very independent and is quick to tell you “No help, May-May do it!!”  Then when she falls because she refused any help, she turns on the fake cry so that Daddy or Brother will come to her rescue.  Her knees are already both scraped up and we’ve only been in shorts for a week!
• She seriously gives the best hugs.  She wraps her arms around you so tight and squeezes as hard as she can.  Such a sweet girl!

I can’t believe that she will be turning 2 in just 2 months…but then again I can believe it because I see all of those terrible two signs fast approaching!  I want to run and hide, but instead I’m just going to embrace these times.  Yes, they can be challenging, but all of the laughs and moments where you sit in awe of this being you created (as stubborn and hard-headed as can be) are SO worth it!  I honestly cannot imagine life without all of this cute spunkiness running around!

20 Months

Here is what our 20 Month old baby BIG GIRL is up to these days:

• Busy, Busy, Busy!  She is so independent and will tell you “no help” if you try to hold her hand walking or climbing steps…or anything really!  She just wants to do everything by herself!
• She is very strong minded and doesn’t like to take no for an answer!  Yet NO seems to be her favorite word to tell others.
• She is starting to pretend like she knows her colors, she will ask for a certain color crayon or popsicle…her favorites to say are Red, Blue, and Purple…not that she’d know if you gave her the wrong one but of course we think it’s cute!
• She has words for so many things now!  Some of her new favorites are Princess, Dragon, Birds, School Bus, Monster Truck, Horse, Jump, and Kick.  She is starting to put words together to form her own little sentences, like telling me what she wants to drink she will say “No Milk! Jewww Momma!” if she wants juice! When we get home if she sees Alan’s truck she’ll say “Daddy’s Home!”  We were walking into Wawa the other morning and she said “Cool Rock Momma!” haha.  Any time we are in a parking lot she can’t get over the painted lines, she says over and over “Dey Drawwwww Momma!!”
• Her & her brother have the craziest love/hate relationship.  They can make eachother laugh so hard one second then yell at eachother the next then be worried about eachother and then not want anything to do with eachother!  It’s very hard to keep up with, but they both always know where they stand!
• She knows how to go in the freezer now and get her own popsicles out…they are her all time favorite food!  Not surprising considering that’s all I wanted the whole time I was pregnant with her!
• She LOVES to draw, of course only with markers…which makes a mess because she likes to draw on the paper, herself, the table, her lips like lipstick…she’s an artist.
• She wears 18 month clothes, size 5 shoe, and size 5 diapers.  She has 4 teeth on top, 3 on the bottom and 4 molars. 

This little gal is full of life!  She will sit back and chill and not require any attention one moment…then jump up and go running through the house causing chaos the next.  No matter what she’s doing she keeps us smiling and we love her more than life! 

19 Months

It seems like every month I’m another day behind on getting Maisy’s monthly posts done, but I’m determined to keep these going until she’s 2!  Here’s what our 19 month old is up to these days:

• She weighs 23 pounds and continues to be in the 25th percentile for her weight.  Her height is between the 75th & 90th percentile.
• She wears size 18 month clothes and size 5 shoes.  If she had it her way she’d wear brothers shirts & pants, Mommy’s shoes, and Daddy’s hats…that’s how we normally find her strolling around the house after she has helped herself to various people’s clean clothes!
• She is such a little snacker.  She walks around the kitchen with her arms in the air saying “Help! Help! Help!” because she wants someone to pick her up so she can pick a snack out of the cabinet.  Her favorite snacks are goldfish, fruit snacks, grapes, blueberries, and popsicles.
• She hasn’t had her paci since the day she threw it out the window (she definitely gave us an easy way to get rid of it!) It seems like she has started talking a lot more now that she doesn’t have it.  Some new words/phrases are: my turn, good job mama, bad girl.  She says “I” and “thats” in front of things now like I draw, I drink, I potty, that’s Momma, that’s Dada, that’s Brother.
• Her & Ryder play a lot together now, it seems like whatever one is doing the other is either doing the same thing or close by playing with something different.  They love to both hold onto a rope and run around the house saying “Choo Choo!” In the bath tub they play “Jack in the Box” where I sing the music and they each take turns popping up.  They crack each other up, it’s pretty funny.
• She experienced her first snow this month and loved it! She loves to be outside in any type of weather!
• Her favorite thing to do at any time of day is to lay in our bed and watch Bubble Guppies! 

I feel like she’s going to turn 2 before I know it!!  I sure do miss her little baby stage, but I love watching her learn and grown into this adorable little toddler she has become. :)

18 Months

Oops, with all of the Christmas fun going on, I didn’t even realize that our baby girl turned a whole YEAR and a HALF on Christmas Eve!!  Here is what she’s up to these days:

• Wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 5 shoes, size 4 diapers.
• She eats all kinds of different foods…she loves apples, bananas, chips, popsicles, and really anything she can dip in ranch dressing or ketchup!
• She has 4 teeth on top, 3 on bottom, and has one molar trying to poke through in the back.
• She is really trying hard to talk these days, some new words she has added to her vocabulary are help, phone, cookies, tea, please, thanks.  She calls herself May-May. She is starting to put 2 words together like “hi brother”, “help mama”, “thanks dada”.  Her all time favorite words right now though are NO and MINE!  I guess that comes with the territory of being a little sister!
• She LOVES Bubble Guppies, it is the only show she wants to watch. She will bring you the remote and say “bubble, bubble, bubble” until you turn it on. She would literally sit in the recliner and watch it over and over if we would let her.  If I try to trick her and put on Team Umi Zoomi, as soon as it starts she starts yelling “No Zoom Zoom!!!”  Even on her way to bed at night she waves at the TV and says “Ni-night Bubble”.
• She can be the sweetest loviest little thing, but man can she flip that switch and get an attitude!  She knows how to pout, yells NO when she’s not getting what she wants, and will fall on the floor with all the dramatics in the world to let you know she’s not happy!
• She gets around so well, it amazes me to watch her use 2 hands to do things!  She picks up stools and carries them around the house to get where she needs to go, always running through the house in her own little world, just busy. 
• She loves to dress herself, just not correctly.  She will go in Ryder’s drawers and get out a pair of his underwear, put both legs in one hole, then come out looking like she’s wearing a batman mini skirt! 
• She still enjoys going potty, she’ll just randomly come tell us “Paaa Paaa” holding her diaper, we’ll run her to the bathroom and sure enough, she goes pee.  She gets really proud of herself which is so cute.  I bought the slip on diapers so they’re easier to get up and down when she wants to go.  I never ask her or try to get her to go, I’m not ready for all that yet, but if she asks I take her!
• She loves her baby dolls, she has quite the collection already.  For Christmas she got a little crib set and high chair for her baby and it’s adorable to watch her take care of them.  She does everything right…lays them down with a blanket, tells us all to shhhhh, then wakes her baby up, feeds it, rocks it and burps it…such a little Mommy!  You can usually find her walking around with FOUR babies in her arms, and she will make us tuck them all in to bed at night and Daddy has to kiss them each goodnight.
• Speaking of Daddy…having a little girl has turned him into quite the softy (I can say that way down on this bullet because I think he usually just skims the blog for pictures, no way has he read this far!).  She melts him with just the way she looks at him.  It’s the sweetest thing to watch them together although I might be in trouble in the future because I seriously think he’s never going to be able to get mad at her.  She already does NO wrong in his eyes, then turns and gives me the evil eye when he’s not looking!

What a little personality this girl has.  For some reason when I was pregnant I thought for sure our second child was going to be so shy and reserved…I guess I was picturing the exact opposite of Ryder.  But I wouldn’t use those words to describe her at all, she is really coming into her own and making her voice heard these days!

17 Months

Maisy is 17 Months old (and 4 days!)…here is what she’s up to these days:

• Busy, busy, busy!  She is very active and loves to be chasing her brother around, playing, rough housing, she’ll take as much action as she can get!
• She weighs 22 pounds, wears 12-18 month clothes, size 4 shoe, size 4 diapers.
• She has 6 teeth! 4 on top and 2 on bottom.
• She has learned the word NO this month!  She says it in the cutest sweetest voice “noooooo” so you can’t get mad at her.  And she says “mm hmm” for yes, so cute.
• She is loving all the Christmas festivities, she says “Wowwww, Cooool!" any time she sees decorations, she knows who Santa is and knows that he says “ho, ho, ho”.  Her little voice is so cute.
• She has been really curious about the potty lately, obviously she wants to do all the big kid things that her brother does.  She says “poop” and points to her diaper all throughout the day and gets so excited if you take her to the potty.  She has even peed 7 different times already!  I’m not getting my hopes up, as soon as she knows this is actually what I WANT her to do, she’ll change her mind!
• She is SUCH a Daddy’s girl.  If he leaves the room for 5 minutes she acts like she hasn’t seen him all day when he comes back in!
• Her favorite things right now are Sponge Bob & Bubble Guppies.  She FREAKS when she sees something with Sponge Bob on it and when she wants to watch Bubble Guppies she starts singing “bubble bubble bubble” and shaking her hips like they do in the theme song.  Again, really cute!

Maisy is definitely a sweet, fun-spirited little girl to be around.  She is also strong willed and will try hard to get what she wants.  Her & Ryder have been enjoying each other more lately and can make each other laugh so hard!  The age Maisy is at right now is so exhausting, she is just non-stop…but we’re enjoying it because all too soon she will seem way too grown up!

16 Months

Maisy Liza is 16 months old today!  Here is what she is up to this month:

• Wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 3 or 4 shoe, size 4 diapers.
• Loves to eat snacks!  Her favorites are Lucky Charms cereal, fruit snacks, and teddy grahams.
• She goes to bed around 8pm and wakes up around 7am.  She takes one afternoon nap every day.
• She has to have her blanket, pacifier, and cup when she goes to bed.
• She loves to dance, especially to the theme songs of all of Ryder’s favorite shows.  And the theme song to Daddy’s favorite show “Sons of Anarchy” – she really gets down to that one!
• She finally got another tooth, she has 5 now!
• She shakes her head yes & no to answer any question you ask her.  She has a really mean face she makes too, Daddy calls it her Mean Muggin’ face! 
• She says more and more “words” every day – her latest have all been Halloween themed: Pumpkin, Spooky, & Trick-or-Treat (obviously missing some syllables, but I know what she’s saying!).
• She loves bath time and is a lot more fearless than her brother has ever been in the water.

Days with Maisy are always fun!  She keeps you laughing and entertained.  We love watching her learn new things, especially the things her brother teaches her.  She’s the best daughter & sister God ever could have picked for us :)

15 Months

Another month has come and gone!  Here is what Maisy is up to at 15 Months:

• She still only has 4 teeth…I can see the next 2 on top trying to poke through, hopefully they will soon!
• Her size hasn’t changed at all, still in 12-18 month clothes, size 3 shoe, and size 4 diapers.
• She eats very well, we have yet to feed her something she doesn’t like.  She has started to “ask” for things when she catches a glimpse of them in the fridge or in a cabinet like watermelon or cereal.  She points and “eh eh eh eh” until you figure out what she’s asking for, then she gets all excited and does a little dance.
• She has started shaking her head yes, cutest thing ever!
• She has a new word this month, the next cutest thing ever.  When you tickle her now she says “tickle, tickle, tickle”!
• She is very animated and makes the funniest faces, you can always tell what’s going through her little mind.
• She loves animals of all kinds, she gets equally as excited about seeing a huge elephant on tv or a little ant on our porch!
• Ryder has been teaching her things this month, he loves that he can show her something and she’s starting to repeat it.  So far he has taught her how to jump and how to give a high 5!  I know she will learn lots from him growing up :)
• She loves to dance! She has quite the moves too, I’ve got to get a video of her to post soon. 
• She’s definitely still a Daddy’s girl, I can’t imagine that ever changing, those 2 can’t get enough of each other!

That’s it for this month!  Happy 15 Months baby girl :)

14 Months!

I’m a few days late on Maisy’s 14 Month Post because I haven’t taken a picture of her yet…but as I sit here typing this, I snapped this picture which completely sums her up these days:

She walks around with one shoe on, one shoe off ALL THE TIME.  I don’t know why, it’s just her thing!  She walks around screaming.  No tears, just screaming, I guess just to hear herself.  She’s so pretty, it’s hard to be mad at her, even when she’s screaming and all we want is some peace and quiet! And the camo dress…well that just shows what a Daddy’s girl she is. Here’s what else she’s up to:

• She wears mostly 12 month & some 18 month clothes, size 4 diapers, size 3 shoes.
• She eats anything and everything.  Her favorite foods are cheese, banana cookies, blueberries, and popsicles.
• She has 4 teeth, I don’t know why her teeth take so long to come in, but I think this contributes to her screaming all the time now.  We got one of those rubber pacifiers out and started giving it to her at bed time for some relief. 
• She has started saying a few more words…the sweetest one being AMEN when we’re done praying!  I’ve heard her say “Brubba” a few times calling out for Ryder, she says “doooown” for when she wants up or down!  Mainly she just walks around saying “dat” and screaming…as I think I’ve mentioned :/
• She knows how to give the best hugs, and will actually squeeze when you tell her to.  She also gives eskimo kisses and butterfly kisses on cue!
• She goes to bed around 8:00 and wakes up around 7:00.  She has had a few nights where she has woke up screaming like she had a bad dream or something in the past month. 
• She can follow directions so well, it amazes me how she can understand so much of what we say.  She will pick something up and throw it in the trash, wipe her face, help clean up, shut the door, then after she follows whatever direction we gave her, she claps for herself.
• She loves to mimic things that I do, like cleaning something up with a rag, sweeping with a broom, carrying a purse, rocking my baby…she’s a nurturing little Mommy/house wife already!  It especially comes out when Ryder is upset, she runs over to him and pats him and lays her head on him, trying to make him feel better.
• Oh those two, they have the funniest relationship.  They are together all day every day, they don’t ever have time apart so they definitely know how to get on each others nerves.  But then when they aren’t together they miss each other and want to be together again. 
• She is very daring, loves to climb, dance, climb THEN dance (yes like on tables), explore, make messes, pick on her brother, get in trouble, as long as there’s action, she’s good to go!

This is definitely the age where your baby fever goes away and you realize how hard toddlers are!!  She constantly has to be watched but she doesn’t want to be told what to do (or NOT to do), she wants to be independent but needs help, wants to be held but then wants to direct you where to go and what to give her.  Exhausting…but fun and exciting and always something new!  Can’t wait to see what the next month brings (but first I want to get some sleep!)

13 Months!

Our baby girl is 1 year and 1 month old today, and she's starting not to feel like our "baby" anymore.  Sniff, Sniff.  Here's what Maisy is up to at 13 Months:

• She weighs 19 pounds 15 ounces and is 29.5 inches long.  That is the 75th percentile for height and the 10th percentile for weight.
  
• She wears size 12 month clothes, size 4 diaper, and size 3 shoes.
  
• Her eating schedule is like a normal person now...breakfast, lunch, dinner, milk from a cup throughout the day and lots of SNACKS!  (she's a Marsh, enough said.)
• She walks, and walks, and walks, and walks.  She never stops moving! 
• Her favorite thing to do is whatever her big brother doesn't want her to!  Duhhh! 
• She loves to read books, she gets so excited when she brings you a book like she can't wait for you to start reading!
• Same thing with food, she will go into their snack cabinet, bring us a snack and sit there and dance and giggle out of excitement as she waits for us to open her snack.
• She is sooooo sweet.  I know I say this every month but she just gets sweeter and sweeter.  She gives hugs and kisses on cue now and they are the best!
• She only has a few words that she says regularly: Mama, Dada, Doggy, Drink, and All Done!  Otherwise she's letting you know what she wants by grunts, squeals, and pointing!
• She's starting to be able to follow directions.  If we say "go give this to Mommy" or "go give this to Daddy" or "go get your drink" she will surprise us and do what we asked.  She even knows that if she finds a coin on the ground she is NOT to put it in her mouth, she walks right over to Daddy's jar and drops it in then claps because she's proud of herself!
• She loves to play peek-a-boo with her hands or behind doors, she'll do anything for a laugh!

Oh I love watching this little girl grow.  I'd like to watch it in slower motion...but hey it's fun either way!  Here's to another month of growing and learning and playing...melting Daddy's heart and irritating the crap out of Big Brother :)

12 Months!

12 Months = 1 Whole Year Old!  I can hardly believe it.

Here’s what our 1 Year Old is up to these days:

• Her sleep schedule seems to be pretty set, goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 7.  We don’t hear much from her throughout the neat besides a few occasions where she woke up screaming!  I think maybe she’s at the age where they start dreaming now.
• She weighs 19 pounds 10 ounces, wears size 4 diapers, size 3 shoes, and 6-9 or 12 month clothes. 
• She has her 2 bottom teeth and there have been no signs of anymore popping through.  She eats any and everything though.  Eating is one of her favorite things to do!  Her favorite foods are corn on the cob, bananas, watermelon, and a bite of whatever Daddy is eating at the moment!
• She walks all over the place now!  She can go so far without falling, it’s the cutest thing ever to watch.  She’s a climber too, the girl really never stops moving.  Even when she wants to be picked up, then she points where she wants you to take her!
• She is learning SO much these days!  She does sign language for “more”, “all done” and “eat”.  She can point to her ears, eyes, nose, and mouth.  She says “uh-oh” when something falls.  She can say the words “drink” and “doggy”.  She actually calls every animal or moving thing “dogggyyyyyyy”.  Ryder thinks this is absolutely HILARIOUS! 
• She loves music so much.  She knows how to turn on anything she can reach that plays music and will dance and clap her hands.
• She is so into reading books right now.  She’ll grab a book, bring it to you and start grunting, which in Maisy language means “read this to me NOW!”
• She is still 100% Daddy’s girl.  He can do no wrong in her eyes and if he’s home she has to be with him.  Recently he went in our room and shut the door, she was on the other side of the house, heard the door shut, got there as fast as she could and just started screaming and banging on the door.  He opened it and said “Really Maisy, is it that serious???”  Yes, it was that serious to her, she needs access to him at all times!
• She got lots of new toys for her birthday which she is thoroughly enjoying!  Along with big brother!  I love to watch them play.

We are so excited to see what this next year has in store for our girl!  It hasn’t started on the best note though.  I took her to the doctor on Monday to get checked before I go out of town for work…turns out she had a double ear infection, double pink eye, and an impetigo infection in her nose!  Needless to say, she’s on a strong antibiotic now!  Funny thing is, all that was going on and it didn’t phase her a bit.  She’s such an easy going baby, love that girl! 

Look, she finally has her own chair!  This was her Birthday present from Mommy & Daddy :)

11 Months!!

I couldn’t get a normal 11 Month picture in her crib because as soon as I set her in there she was thinking I was putting her to bed!  This totally sums up how different she is this month, because she has figured out what is going on around her!  Okay so lets move the little grumpy face and try this again…

The recliner makes her happy because she feels “older”…typical Maisy, she thinks she’s like 5!  But no, she’s only 11 months and here is what she’s up to:

• She is officially on whole milk and sippy cups!  She made this transition way too easy.  She wants to be a big girl and do what her big brother does so she’d much rather have a sippy cup instead of a bottle.  Nana has been giving her milk during the day instead of formula for the past month so I decided to hop on board and switch her to milk in the morning and at night too and she is loving it!
• She eats table food now for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  She has no problem chewing up foods even though she still has NO TEETH!
• She’s in a size 3 diaper and wears a range of 6-9 month, 9 month, and 12 month clothes!
• She’s taking 3-4 steps at a time and will walk like a pro as long as she’s holding your fingers.  I feel like any day now she’s going to just take off, but little miss speed crawler knows she can get there way faster on all fours.
• She is such a climber!!  She climbs on chairs, tables, inside Ryder’s car, on his bed, onto his 4-wheeler, and actually turns around to sit the right way or grab the steering wheel like she knows what she’s doing!  She even knows how to turn her feet around to climb down off of something.
• She is a stair master, going up and down like it’s nothing!  She will even hold onto the railing on the porch with 2 hands and go up and down on standing up!  She amazes us when we watch her moving around.
• She points at everything (with her thumb!) and grunts, everything is called a “uhhhh” to her.  She has her select words that she’s sticking with for now, Mama, Dada, Nana, Pap-Pap, Bubba, and I reeeeallllyyyy think I hear her trying to say “big brother” but that could just be me trying to make sense out of her gibberish!
• She loves to sit in Ryder’s chair and watch Praise Baby!  Brings back so many memories of Ryder doing the exact same thing.
• She has started throwing this lay on the ground temper tantrum when Daddy is around because she knows he’ll come to her rescue.  Their bond is probably the sweetest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life time.  Alan totally takes advantage of it.  For example, I caught him terrorizing her with that big scary dinosaur Ryder has (you know the one i’m talking about, the same one he terrorized Ryder with!).  I walked in the room to see him making the dinosaur bite her foot, she’s crying, and at the same time he’s holding her telling her “It’s okay baby, Daddy won’t let that scary dinosaur get you” as she’s nestling her head in her Daddy’s neck making him feel like the big protector…he’s a mess!

One more month until she’s going to be the Birthday Girl!!!!  I really can’t believe it! 

10 Months!

I know, it’s crazy, Maisy is 10 months old already!  Better get started on planning her FIRST Birthday bash!  Here is what she’s up to these days:

• Her sleep schedule is still the same, sleeping from about 7:30pm to about 6:30am with 2 naps throughout the day.
• She has 6 ounces of formula 4 times a day now.  She doesn’t take a bottle at Vicki’s anymore so she gets her formula from her sippy cup twice there and then a morning and evening bottle with me.  This month we’re going to start mixing milk in with her formula…oh I can’t WAIT to get her off of the formula.
• Still no teeth! But it doesn’t hold her back from eating one bit.  She doesn’t care much for the jar baby food anymore, she’d rather just have pieces of whatever we’re eating.  She loves to feed herself any finger foods or snacks she can.  Her favorite food right now is club crackers and graham crackers!
• She is still wearing 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.  I’m not sure what size shoe…you know I love my barefoot babies!
• She got her first bloody nose this month AND her first black mark under her eye.  The nose was her own fault (climbing OVER big brother’s chair and landing flat on her nose) and the black eye courtesy of her big brother swinging his robot around and slamming into her face.  This girl is going to be tough, I’m telling you! 
• Vicki says all the time that she has never seen a baby pick on their sibling the way she does.   She is definitely an instigator and knows how to get her brother fired up…and that works both ways!  When she is minding her own business Ryder heads straight over there to pick on her.  Through all the picking, you can really see the bond between them…sometimes they will stop wrestling around and just lay on eachother, or they will both start cracking up together.  I’m glad they have each other.
• She’s still all over the place.  She loves to be picked up, but as soon as you put her down she is off, and she is FAST!  She has been standing for longer periods of time without falling but still doesn’t quite have the balance to take her first steps.  I don’t think they’re far off though! 
• She gets told NO a lot now and she can even mimic our “ah ah ah” sound when she’s about to do something she shouldn’t.  She definitely keeps us laughing.
• My last point will speak for itself in the pictures to follow, she is 100% Daddy’s Girl these days!

 

 

We love this beautiful baby so much.  She’s growing up so fast but each phase is just another chance to thank God for what she brings to our lives. 

March Madness

Marsh Madness is having a little bit of March Madness!  This month is always a crazy one for us, so I haven’t had much time to post about all of our happenings this month, so here is what we’ve been up to besides being sick and celebrating birthdays!

March 8th Mommy & Daddy celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!  We went away for the night and stayed in the hotel we had our wedding reception at.  It was nice being out alone but not too far from home.  We enjoyed our time together reminiscing about all of the years we spent together that led up to us getting married and having two beautiful children.  My friend Emily posted old pictures of her & her husband Brad on their anniversary and I thought they were so cute to see, so I’m going to follow suit and dig up some old ones :)  We were 17 & 20 when we started dating.

 

 

Okay fast forward back to March 2012!  Maisy has been trying lots of new foods this month, including Mac & Cheese which she loves!

She has also moved out of her bath seat in the bath tub!  She loves all of her new found freedom, although she gets yelled at about 25 times to “sit on your butt in the bathtub!”  Well make that 50 because every time I correct her Ryder takes it upon himself to be the re-enforcer!  They got these new body paint/soaps so here Ryder is “making my baby sister beautiful!” as Maisy chews the lid.

In the evenings we’ve been taking the kids out in the neighborhood to do fun things like fly kites and go fishing.  Okay well Daddy takes Ryder, Me & Maisy just come along for the ride and the photos!

 

We’ve learned that Maisy doesn’t like crawling in the grass…so she does this interesting move!  (oh that little butt in polka dot booty shorts…can she get any cuter?!)

 

It’s a little crazy that the kids were in shorts and t-shirts on Friday, then by Sunday they were back in sweatshirts and hats!

They finally got the kites flying though, although as soon as Ryder was allowed to hold his by himself “the wind stole it out of my hand” as he explained. The power lines caught it and it stayed up in the sky flying high with Daddy & Uncle G’s.  Of course they didn’t think theirs was high enough, so they had to rig up some concoction to make it better!  Yes, they tied it to a fishing pole and cast it further into the sky…

    

Even Maisy got a turn flying…they never leave their baby girl out.

Ryder got a cowboy hat and cowboy boots from Paw-Paw & Aunt Megan for his Birthday. 

 

He has been starting to yell “No Pictures!” at me now, as if I’m the paparazzi and he’s a celebrity!  So what does Daddy tell him “just show her your monster!” and this would be the next picture I snap!  My goodness these boys, this is the first smile picture I’ve gotten from him in months!

He is quite the cowboy these days “and a real country music singer” as he’d like to add!  Here he is tonight in his pajamas, walking around singing songs on his tablet.

We had a dinner date at CJ & Angela’s one night, which always works out perfect because we each have a friend!  Here are Ryder & Carter Spider Man/Hulk & Wolverine (sorry!).

Maisy & Callie are finally able to be up and playing together!

Okay I think that’s all the pictures I have, but I’m not done with the updates!

As you know, Ryder didn’t get his Botox procedure done as planned, and as I’m sure you see, he doesn’t have a cast on his arm!  All of the things we thought we had planned for March have now been moved to May.  I think both things getting pushed back was probably a blessing.  We had so much going on with his Birthday that I’m glad he got to just have a fun month instead of a frustrating one!  Speaking of, he got SO much awesome stuff for his Birthday.  Before we let him bring anything inside though we told him he had to fill up that huge box his kitchen came in with toys he wanted to give away.  He suddenly had no problem and became very generous!  We’ve been having a blast playing with all the new toys, he’s one lucky little guy that’s for sure.

One HUGE announcement is that ever since his actual birthday on Monday he has been in big boy underwear!  No more pull-ups (except when he’s sleeping) and he’s been doing very well!  He has had a few accidents but nothing terrible, so I’m glad we made the leap, no looking back now. 

Ryder had his 3 yr check-up…he weighs 27 pounds and is 3 feet tall.  He’s in the 10th percentile for weight and height.  He is still behind on all of his motor skills, but that doesn’t phase me.  I know he is working on all of the things he can’t do in therapy and will get there eventually.

Maisy also had her 9 month check up the same day.  She is 17.4 pounds and 28.25 inches.  That’s the 10th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height.  She had to get a shot, luckily big brother was there to hold her hand.  He was probably squeezing hard enough that she barely noticed the pain from the shot.  She’s developing perfectly, nothing to worry about there. 

So that’s that.  As we approach summer I don’t think our months get any slower or less busy.  But hey, it wouldn’t be “madness” if things were ever calm!