Another month has quickly gone by! My sweet little first born is now 2 years old! I really have a hard time believing it! I swear she was just a teenie tiny baby sleeping in my arms yesterday, and now she's almost too big to sleep in my arms comfortably. She'll still let me rock her for a little bit, so I'm thankful I haven't had to give that up yet. It's one of my favorite parts of the day.
We decided to have her big birthday party in Utah with family this year since we were going to be there so close to her birthday! It ended up being so much fun, and she really enjoyed herself! I decided to do a theme that she loves this year, and that was Elmo! Brittany R. Griffin taught me how to make fondant and decorate an Elmo Cake, and it turned out incredibly cute! I cut out the circles and letters for the birthday banner before we went, and spent a couple evenings after the girls had gone to bed, putting it together. Tiff taught me how to make chocolate dipped Oreos and put them on sticks with little Elmo faces, and they turned out adorable and delicious. We had her party at Joseph and Brittany's house and we got pizzas from Costco, salad, and fruit for dinner.
It was so much fun to watch her be surrounded by all of her cousins and to have the spotlight on her for a little bit. She loved opening presents, and after she opened one, she would run over to whomever got it for her and give them a great big hug! It was so cute to watch! After presents we sang and had cake and ice cream. We had been practicing singing Happy Birthday and pretending to blow out the candles and she would constantly say "Happy Birthday to You!" When it came time for the real thing she got a little shy at first and reached out for me to hold her when everyone started singing, but as the song went on and it came time to blow the candles, she was excited and did a great job blowing them out all by herself! I loved watching her interact with my family. Everyone loves her so much, and she's crazy about all of them. We have been home for a week now, and she's still talking about not wanting to go to our house, but to go to Korver's House or Grandad's House. She's always talking about Aunt Tiff and Braden and Grandma and Granddad. She really loved spending time with all of her Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Grandparents.
Today was her two year check-up. She weighed in at 29lbs 6oz, 35.25 inches(Dr Kennedy said she's on track to be about 5'10'' depending on when puberty hits) and her head size is 19.75in. They took her into a regular exam room instead of the baby room this time. It about broke my heart! She's growing up too quickly. She had to get 1 shot today and she was so brave and didn't even cry. All she said was "ouch!" and then it was over. She's so grown up!
She's such a little light! I seriously miss her at night when she's asleep! I love walking into her room every morning and saying "Good Morning" and watching her little head pop up in her crib! Lately she wants me to set Madison on her back every morning. She'll turn on her stomach and say "Madison back", and I have to set madison on her back for a few minutes. I don't know where she got that from, but it's pretty funny, and just like everything else, I'm sure it's just a matter of time before she doesn't do it anymore. We've taken away her binki during the day, and today the pediatrician told me we need to take it away at night too because it's affecting her teeth. Hopefully it goes as well as taking it away during the day.
*Update(next day) I talked to Brooklynn about giving her binki up today. I asked her if she would want to go to the store and pick out a new toy, and explained that to get to do this she would need to give all her binkis to the cashier. We talked about her being a big girl now and not needing a binki anymore. She was excited about the idea of getting to "buy" a toy with her binkis. After her nap today, I packed up all her binkis in a ziplock bag and we headed to Walmart to pick out a toy. She wanted to hold the bag of binkis on the drive there, and she asked if she could use one. Since it would be her last moments with her binkis I told her she could. I'm not gonna lie, as I was looking back at her in the rear view mirror, I felt a little bit sad that those would be my last moments seeing her with that cute little purple binki in her mouth. My baby is growing up, and I'm not sure how much I like it. When we got to Walmart she put her binki back in the bag and we headed inside to the toy isles. She found a bottle of bubbles with a Mini Mouse head on it that she wanted, a little Goofy plush doll, and a big pink bouncy ball. When we got up to the register there was a sweet little older lady at one of the registers, with nobody in her line, so I let Brooklynn set her toys on the belt and explained to the cashier that she was buying those toys, and that she was going to pay for them with her binkis. The lady smiled and said "oh, okay!" and was so sweet about it. She put the bubbles and Goofy doll in their own bag and handed them to Brooklynn. Brooklynn was so excited!! I had the woman just stick the bag of binkis in one of the sacks where Bookie wouldn't see them, I paid for the rest of our things, and we were on our way. She held her new toys on the way home, and couldn't wait to go out and blow bubbles and get Goofy out of the package.
I decided to put her to sleep tonight instead of Joe, so I could talk to her and sing to her before she went to sleep. When I sat down in the rocking chair with her and her blanket, she asked for a binki, and I had to remind her that we gave her binkis to the lady at the store. She immediately said "Goofy" and knew that we had gotten Goofy because she gave her binkies to the lady at the store. She asked for it a couple more times and she sat up several times and looked around her crib for one, but eventually fell asleep.
** It's been over a week now, and she's doing just fine without a binki. It takes her longer to fall asleep for naps sometimes, but she's still able to fall asleep. She adjusted just fine! She did find a binki in our recliner the other day when I was feeding Madison. I'm glad it was later in the week and not the first couple of days after we took it away, or she would have wanted it. I just told her "You're a big girl now, you don't use binkies anymore." and she didn't have any problems with me taking it away.
Some things that she's doing or saying now are "My Friends" she calls her cousins or the kids at church her friends. She's started saying "no" to a lot of things I say. Especially when I ask her to do something. She wants to put ice in her own cup, put her own pants and shoes on, brush her own teeth, and wash her own hair and body. She pretty much says "I do it!!" all the time throughout the day. Sometimes it drives me bonkers by the end of the day because a lot of the time I will be helping her and she'll say "I do it!!" and then she tries and two seconds later says "help!" I guess it's a good thing that she's at least trying, but man, it's hard to stay patient with her sometimes! =)
She's completely in love with Mickey's Clubhouse show, and anything to do with any of the characters from the show. We went to a bounce place in Dallas with Addie, Jack, and Millie, and there was a blow up thing with Mini on it and she kept wanting to go in that one because of it. She wasn't drinking her milk when we took her bottles away after her 2 year appointment. She just would not drink it from a big girl cup for some reason. So, we went to Target and got her a new Mini Mouse pop top bottle and she's actually been drinking some milk now! She loves Minnie Mouse so much! She usually watches the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show while I work out, and then one before bed with Daddy. Definitely a highlight in her day!
She still loves church so much! Whenever we even drive past the church she yells out "church, church!" She starts saying "my friends" during the closing hymn at church on Sunday, and then she walks right to class with Joe or me in tow. Joe reads scriptures with her every night while I put Madison down, and we have also been pretty good at having Family Home Evening during the week. She loves it! She loves learning, and loves the games we play after. Her favorites are when we play "Ashes Rosie" (Ring Around the Rosie) and when Joe and I swing her and sing "Wash the Dishes, Dry the Dishes, Turn the Dishes Over." That's something I remember doing with my parents after FHE when I was young. Crazy that I'm doing it with my own kids now!
Brooklynn is such a sweet girl, and I consider myself very lucky and blessed to be her mom.
Madison is a little light to our family. She's such a happy, smiley baby and she pretty much just goes with the flow! She loves spending time outside. I've been taking the girls out for a walk a couple times a week, and she is absolutely in heaven just riding in the stroller, looking around, and soaking in the outdoors. She's still only napping for about 30 minutes 2 to 3 times a day, so sometimes she can be whiny and I know it's because she's not getting enough sleep.
She loves Brooklynn so much! She gets so excited when we walk into Brooklynn's room every morning. She'll smile so big and starts trying to kick her feet and laughs and smiles. I love seeing how much those two girls love each other. She's loving her little bouncer, and sometimes she just goes nuts jumping in it. It's really funny to just sit and watch her sometimes. She's sitting up in the high chair to play with toys, and she's attempting to roll over when I lay her on her little kicky mat to play. She's always got something in her mouth, whether its a toy, or her hands. Her grip is getting stronger, and she's started to pull things. If she's upset she will make sure to let me know. I call her my little Drama Queen, because she'll whine really loud, and then she starts doing this little fake cough like she's going to die if I don't feed her, or pick her up, or change her diaper in the next 2 seconds. She's learning how to get what she wants, and she can't even talk yet! Heaven help me!=)
I sat her up in the grocery cart at Costco with Brooklynn the other day, and she absolutely loved it. She loves watching Baby Einstein "Old McDonald" when I put Brooklynn down for a nap. Since Madison sleeps for a shorter amount of time, I put her down for a nap after Brooklynn, so that I can get about 30 minutes of quiet time to myself. So, after lunch I usually put Madison in her swing and turn on her show, and then head upstairs to put Brooklynn down for a nap. It's so funny how much both of my girls have totally gotten engrossed in that show. I'll come downstairs and she's concentrating so hard, it's funny!
She's still a great eater, and a good sleeper(at night) and she absolutely loves taking a bath. She usually goes down for the night around 6:30 or 7 and then I'll wake her up and feed her right before I go to bed, and then she usually wakes up around 4:30 or 5 for another feeding and she'll go right back down and sleep until 6 or 7.
She loves standing up, and since she's obsessed with her bouncer, a lot of times she'll just start jumping right on my lap when I'm holding her. So funny! I can't imagine my life, or our family without her and we are so grateful for her sweet little spirit! She's growing up so fast! I swear it seems like these first 6 months of her life have flown by WAY faster than the first 6 of Brooklynn's, and it seemed like Brooklynn's went by pretty quickly!
