2 Years Old

Madeline is now 2 years old. She just gets prettier, smarter and more lovable each day.

She has been wearing big girl underwear all day for over a month now. We put her in a diaper for naps and bedtime. We usually don't have to ask her if she needs to go. She will just tell us. She has no problem going while we are out either. In fact, we usually make 2 or 3 trips to the bathroom when we are in a restaurant. She will not go poopy in the potty though. She will wait until she has a diaper on for that. So, we are still working on that. In the past month or so, she has only had about 2 or 3 accidents. It has been pretty nice now that Oliver is going through about 386,482 diapers a day.


She's a good winker :)


She got a kitchen for her birthday and has been enjoying cooking for everyone. She makes tea and then adds sugar and cream. She fills up water for us over and over from her sink. She makes happy cake and sings happy birthday to whoever's birthday it is.

She is a great pretender. She makes her little people and animals talk now. This morning she was playing with a mommy and baby. She made the baby say, "I want to slow dance." The mommy said, "Ok." And then she took them in her hands and went twirling around the room with them. She will tell us when her baby is crying and then pick her up gently to pat her on her back or give her a bottle. It also makes her laugh when I make Oliver talk to her.

She is still into dancing. She loves to "slow dance". Which is actually really fast spinning, dipping and dancing with either Andrew or I. She is very particular about what kind of music she wants to dance to. She still likes Chicago a lot.

This day she wanted to be a ballerina. So, I got out her tu-tu so she could be one. (I'm not sure how she knows about ballerinas. I guess I need to look into dance classes for her.)

She's a great singer. She sings most of the "abc song", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Jesus Loves Me", and songs from videos that she watches like Dora. I can hear her singing over her monitor almost everyday during nap time.

She is eating much better lately. She stopped getting milk between mealtimes and now she is eating actual food. She went from about 32 oz of milk a day to about 16-24oz. She will eat all kinds of food but her favorites right now are chocolate (Nutella) sandwiches, pop tarts, olives, raisins, fruit, any candy, cold green beans, apple juice, pickles, and string cheese.

~She is communicating so well. She surprises us everyday with what she remembers. She talks about our old white car and how Pawpaw fixed it. She still talks about the fast cars (a ride) at the beach and how we have to get in the car to go to it because it is really far away. She put pretend lemon in Andrew's pretend water last night and told him, "It not too sour." She asks, "What YOU doin'?", all the time. She sounds like Joey from Friends.

~She knows all or most of her capital letters. She can tell us what letter her name starts with and Oliver's. She will ask us, "What you start with?" when she wants to know what letter our names start with. She can count to 10 as well. She will count while pointing to things, but she doesn't necessarily move her finger with each number. She knows her shapes as well. (Square, rectangle, triangle, circle, oval, and octogon).

~She is a very obedient little girl. And she doesn't throw fits very often. If she does, it is usually when she is extremely tired. We have been very blessed by her compliant heart. If she has been crying or upset about something not going her way, she will soon tell us that she is happy and then try to get happy. She will sometimes ask for her "happy paci" to help her get happy.

~She loves her grandparents, all of them. She asks to go see them all the time.

~She has become a very loving child. She was not a very snuggly baby. But, she loves to cuddle and watch cartoons when she wakes up. She gives the tightest hugs before she goes to sleep. And she gives hugs and kisses to Oliver too. She says she loves us so much and shows us with her arms stretch out wide. She thanks Jesus for different people each night (but usually a grandparent). I heard Oliver crying over the monitor this morning while I was getting ready. Madeline ran down to his room to check on him. Then I heard her say, "Mommy's coming to get you." It was pretty sweet.

Madeline continues to amaze us. I'm not sure how she got to be so smart and sweet. But, I am enjoying every minute of it!

Happy Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we traveled down to North Carolina to be with my mom's side of the family. We had a big group with 31 people there. Everyone enjoyed meeting Oliver.


My brother, Nathaniel, got to meet Oliver for the first time. I think they will be good buddies one day.


But for now, Nathaniel and Madeline are the best of buds. They had a great time together.




It was a busy Thanksgiving day. So, we didn't get too many pictures. But, here is mom showing some of her pictures she has been working on.


And here are some of the men resting up after having to eat so much.


There was the annual football game among the boys as well. But, I didn't venture out to capture any shots of it. It is always nice to gather as a family to celebrate what we are thankful for. And it is fun to see family that we only get to see twice a year. I hope you had a great thanksgiving as well.

Life as a Family of Four

Well, we are adjusting well to being a family of four. We have gotten to use our new double jogging stroller. Madeline loves it, especially when Andrew takes her running in it.



We took it to a nearby park so Madeline could swing and run around a little bit outside. Oliver was only a week old when he got to enjoy his first walk.

We made it through Oliver's first doctor's appointment. The first thing Madeline said when we walked into the office was, "I don't like shots". Um... she hasn't had a shot in the last 6 months. How does she remember these things? Unfortunately for her, we did end up getting her the flu shot while we were there. And she was right, she didn't like it. But, she got a dinosaur and a p-pop (lolipop).

Madeline is enjoying giving Oliver baths each night. Mostly she just enjoys pouring more and more water into his tub. But, she will wash his feet. She is very sweet and gentle with him.

Madeline hasn't been too jealous of Oliver, just his things. She wants to get into whatever toy he is in. She will say, "Oliver all done, my turn!" Lucky for her, she still meets the weight requirement for most of his toys.

Oliver is a very content little baby. He usually only fusses when he is hungry or trying to go to sleep in his carseat.


Madeline was kind enough to share her snowglobe with Oliver.

And then, of course, it was her turn with the boppy.

And there is no reason to wait your turn with the play gym. Why not play with it at the same time?

We thought we were going to miss all the snuggle time with Oliver that we had with Madeline. But, we have managed to find time to nap with him. There's nothing like sleeing with a baby on your chest.

Oliver has certainly been a blessing to our family. He fits in perfectly! It's hard to believe Madeline was ever this little. So, we know how soon this sweet newborn time with him will be over. But, we are excited to see who this little boy becomes as time goes on.

Happy Birthday, Madeline!

(photo courtesy of Beth Simmons)
Happy 2nd Birthday to a beautiful, sweet, funny, adorable and precious little girl!

Photoshoot with Gigi

The day that Oliver came home from the hospital, my mom was able to get some fun shots of him while he was sleeping. It's nice to have such a good photographer in the family :) Thanks for the beautiful pictures of our sweet little boy, mom!

Oliver Is Home!

Oliver is home! We picked him up from the NICU this morning after his last round of antibiotics. The doctor said his infection has cleared up and he is good to go. He now weighs 9lb 13oz. So he is leaving the hospital heavier than when he was born.

We put him in his "going home outfit" and put him in the car. He slept all the way home on his first car ride.

Madeline finally got to meet Oliver! I know she is going to be a great big sister.

Oliver has already had his first bath and first photo session.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. We are glad he is home.

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Today we celebrated Nana's (Andrew's mom) birthday at Red Robin. Madeline was very happy to see her Nana again and she even made her a card with stickers, crayons and glue!



(Almost) Everyone was there.


Aren't they cute?

We hope you had a wonderful birthday today, Nana!