what happens when you leave a 1.5 year old alone for 30 seconds....

We had our hardwoods redone in our office and bedroom last week and Maddie managed to find the one and only open bucket of stain that the guys left (I didnt even see it... it was behind a wall in the corner) while I was going to the bathroom... leaving her alone for 30 seconds! I heard her say "uh oh" and hurried in to find her wrist deep in stain. We're lucky she didnt knock over the bucket... can you imagine! I dont think the contractors would have been too happy with us!

The stain washed off of her hands pretty easily and no harm done.

18 month... check

Maddie had her 18 month well-check yesterday and she is a healthy little babe. She weighed in at 22 lbs 5 oz (20th percentile) and 32.5 inches (75th percentile). We're just happy she stayed over that 20 lb mark! It took her so long to get there! So she's still a little peanut, but she's consistent and growing just fine. Hey - we're getting some serious use out of her 12 month clothes! She's been wearing them for 6-8 months now. The good news is that she only had to get one shot at this check-up and doesnt have to go back until she's 2!! She was happy to hear that.

I had to include this picture of Maddie in her super cute new headband which she really doesnt like. We snapped this shot really quick while she was zoned out with her binky and distracted.

I think we might be headed to the Atlanta Zoo today. Jims not feeling 100% so we might not make it... but Maddie and Jim have never been and I know Maddie would love to see all those animals she reads about in real life!

maddie and her board

We are having the hardwoods redone in our office and bedroom this week and had to move all of our furniture from those rooms into the diningroom. In the process of the moving... we took apart a bookshelf and had one of the shelves on the floor. Maddie immediately went to the board and laid down on it!

She then wouldnt get up from it... or let us move it without pitching a little fit. We're not exactly sure what's going on here. I swear she has a nice crib... we don't make her sleep on boards. We also moved it to the livingroom (so we could finish moving furniture) and she laid down on it in the livingroom.

Uncle Jody suggested she was just being imaginative... so maybe she was boogie boarding in her mind? We watched a little of Aladdin the night before so maybe she was on a little carpet ride? She also likes to walk on it and stand on it. Surfing maybe?

Who knows. All I know is that Jim and I had a good laugh and we actually had to hide the board so she'd stop obessessing on it. She also doesnt like taking her jacket off inside. I think that has to do with her wanting to be outside ALL THE TIME so that one makes more sense.

This little one is pretty silly. Something tells me she's just going to get more silly as she gets older.

yay for spring!

Spring is here, although its a very rainy day today. I don't mind the rain... it means I dont have to water my flowers for a few days at least! Maddie has been loving being outside. Like I said before, we have a hard time keeping her inside!

We've been visiting a lot with our next door neighbor Ms Miller. Maddie adores her and her toys. She walks right up Ms. Millers walk, up the stairs and knocks on the door.

Ms. Miller didnt answer on this day (Maddie's knocks are a little soft- and it was almost dinnertime so I didn't want to disturb her).

Maddie is quite the ball-thrower for Tucker. We bring two now so that they both stay entertained. She's got a little arm on her. Maybe she'll play softball like her mommy some day.

Two is always better than one

Chasing Tucker

Always happy with Daddy

yummy

Maddie newest obsession is with rice cakes. Yep, plain old rice cakes. She will open up the cupboard door, open the package and get herself one. Here she is sitting in her stool eating her cake.

Turns out she really likes jelly too! We usually just put butter on her toast, but this week we decided to go a little crazy and put some blueberry jelly on there. She got nice and sticky!

I'm so proud of my little girl! She eats really well and will usually try new things (like rice cakes). Today we had rosemary crackers with spinach and artichoke hummus! In fact, on Sunday she actually ate 5-6 bites of my salad. We were shocked! Let's hope she continues down this path.

happy shamrock day!

We're catching up on the week of pics. Here are a few pictures of Maddie on St Pattys Day with her "Be Cute Don't Pollute" shirt. Her class had a party and we brought in green jello shamrocks. I meant to take a picture of them because they turned out cute but I was finishing them up at 7am on Tuesday morning and just wasnt in the mood to track down the camera. Trust me... they were cute. All of the parents had to bring in something green... so there were green apples, green grapes, green muffins, cupcakes, bread and of course... our green jello. This was Maddie's first time eating jello and like everything else she tries for the first time - she was so-so. Lime jello isn't exactly a delicacy (unless its part of Dad's 7-Up Salad of course). Notice Maddie's new tat on her forearm? All the kids had one. She thinks it makes her look tough.

happy spring!

Hey Friends. Happy Spring! We're so happy spring is officially here. I did my first round of gardening yesterday and can't wait for the weather to stay warm! Maddie is also loving the weather. She always wants to go "ah-side" and loves playing in the dirt. Here are some pictures of a recent outing.

tucker love and how M watches tv

So Maddie still loves Tucker, or "gucka" as she calls him, and he still... well... tolerates her. Now when he walks by her she tries to give him a hug and it usually ends up with him walking by and her falling over (not pretty). In this case we held Tucker still with a treat so Maddie could give him a nice squeeze.

Next, Maddie is getting pretty silly. Lately when she's watching TV, she'll lean up against the couch and then put her legs up on the coffee table and lie there in a plank! Its the funniest thing. I dont know if she's trying to put her feet up on the coffee table like we do or what - but we finally grabbed the camera fast enough to get a shot before she noticed.

disney... the park

Okay, here are our pictures of our time at Magic Kingdom. Maddie sort of liked it. She was in a daze most of the day. I think it was just a LOT to take in.

Maddie and Mommy at the hotel

Maddie holding on tight on the bus to MK

We got to the park at 8:45am, 15 minutes before it opened. I had never been there before the park opened before and got to see the cute little show they do right outside the front gates. Mickey comes in on his train with ALL of the characters to blow pixie dust on the crowd and open the park. Maddie spotted Mickey right away. She said "Mickey, Mickey, Mickey" over and over throughout the day as you can imagine.

Showing Daddy Mickey

All the characters

The money shot

When we got into the park we took a left to go to the Baby Comfort Station to change Maddie's diaper (which by the way is a very nice place to change a babies diaper FYI) and walked thru Frontierland. There were literally NO LINES at the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean... so we thought well, we should take advantage of no lines and at least go on Pirates (since its a classic and you can't NOT go on it). We walked up to the Disney lady and asked if we could do the parent switch off thing and she said... "why? She (meaning Maddie) can go on the ride." So... we said, I guess we can try it! So Maddie's first ride ever was Pirates of the Caribbean. Not Small World, or Dumbo... Pirates of the Caribbean. She did great. I hadnt noticed before but there are lots of animals on that ride (goats, chickens and of course... the infamous dog) so we just pointed those out as we rode along. We decided to keep going and went on the Jungle Cruise and she did great as well. Just rode on my lap and looked at the animals we rode by. After that we did the nice tame rides like the carousel, Small World, etc... but we were impressed our baby started off strong.

Capt Maddie Sparrow... argh

In line at Small World

Being a big girl and walking herself on our second time thru

Lots to look at!

Walking into Mickey's House

I have lots more pictures of Maddie waiting in lines for various lines, but you get the point. They all pretty much look the same. We did well at not buying any Disney junk while we were there. It helps that she's not old enough to actually ask for anything... but I couldnt resist when we came out of the Winnie the Pooh ride and were walking thru the conveniently placed gift shop, Maddie reached out for a little Mickey doll, said "Mickey," and gave him a kiss and a hug.. I had to buy it. She held him for the rest of the night. It was so cute. Turns out he was on sale - so that made him even cuter.

Mickey Love

Maddie slept well that night (she slept great the entire weekend actually). Disney definitely suits her. ;) I cant wait to go back.

back from the happiest place on earth... the races

Hey everyone! We're back from Disney and had an amazing weekend. Its always sad to come home from Disney... I think there should be some term for Post-Disney Depression. Whatever it is- Ive got it. It would have been nice to stay for just ONE more day.

Well, like I said we had a blast. We got there late Thursday and didn't do much but check in and go to bed. On Friday we went to Magic Kingdom, Saturday was the Royal Family 5K then pool time, and then Sunday was the Disney Princess Half Marathon. The pictures in this post are of Saturday and Sunday. I'll post Friday pictures later.

Saturday morning I got up nice and early with Steff and headed to Epcot for the 5K. Jim and Maddie stayed in bed as I would be done by 7:30am... didn't seem quite worth it to get Maddie up and dressed and down there for a whopping 30 minutes. However, the 5K was a lot of fun. It was cold and dark out- but there were Disney princesses walking around a DJ playing music. There were lots of cute families all dressed up in matching outfits running together. A few sets of women all dressed different princess costumes, etc etc. LOTS of tiaras. When we ran thru the Start Line there was confetti and "pixie dust" flying about. We ran thru Epcot which was very cool since Ive never been to Epcot. They had people from each country out in their costumes waving us on. Very cute. The course was super flat and fast and Steff and I did great. Unfortunately they didn't really track times but we know were under 30 minutes which is great for us.

Maddie and I celebrating with my plastic medal

After the yummiest breakfast at Denny's ever... we headed back to our hotel for a day of pool-time. Maddie wasn't very into the pool. This is about as close as she wanted to get. Oh well, maybe she'll like it more next time.

With Daddy

With Mommy

After naptime - we headed out to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping and sightseeing. We then met Jims aunt and uncle for a yummy pasta dinner to get our carb load in before the big race! I think I crashed at 9:30pm and Sunday morning came VERY quickly especially with the time change. I wont even go into the drama that took place trying to figure out what time it was when I woke up Sunday. All I can say is that I was up VERY early.

Needless to say- I got to the race in time and what a great race it was! Lots of fun and anticipation at the beginning and as you might have guessed... 90% women. There were a few men running - one in a great frog costume. The course was flat and although a little boring during the long road stretches - the miles within Magic Kingdom and Epcot made it all worth it. We saw Jim and Maddie around mile 6 in Magic Kingdom. Here are some pictures Jim took.

Stopping for a quick pic in front of the castle

Back to the race looking cute in our matching outfits

Steff and I after we had just run thru the castle

Maddie snacking on the fishies

And here we are at mile 13. The finish line was just down this stretch. Steff is looking cute and waving to Jim and I'm still adjusting my hair. I was having major hair issues.

Almost done!

We finished strong and felt great! For Steff's first half-marathon she did awesome. We finished in 2:21 which was good considering how slow the first few miles were with all the people stopping and walking or just running really slow. There were also a few big hills at miles 11 and 12 which I will forgive Disney for since there were princes and princesses along the route cheering us on.

Maddie checking out my medal

Family shot

Princess Steff and Princess Emily

Im so glad we did the "inaugural" race and hope to do it again next year! All you princesses out there who want to run it with me.... mark your calendars ... March 5-7th, 2010!