Sad Day

This has been a sad couple of days. Something has happened to my baby.
Monday was her last bottle.
No hiccups moving to the sippy cup. Or going off formula.
Tuesday she started WALKING!
Hello! Please, someone, tell her she's growing too fast! This is ridiculous.
She has the rest of her life to walk and be a big girl.

So, ignoring ME and my sadness, what a big milestone.

When I picked her up out of the Y nursery today, they said, "She's walking! She's walking everywhere!". I told them I was not nearly as excited about it as they obviously were. Then my sweet girl did something that warmed my heart.
She saw me, her face lit up with excitement, and then . . . she crawled to the door.

I just don't understand why this is going so fast.

Maddie, "Yesterday"

Maddie, "Today"

I was laying next to William this afternoon as he was sleeping soundly, and I thought back to what seems like yesterday when I was rocking him and looking into that same face. But now he's so big. His feet and his hands look gigantic next to Madelyn's.

William, "Yesterday"

William, "Today"

Ughh, I'm going to cry.

Each stage is so wonderful, but each stage means they are a little closer to being . . . dare I say, a teenager.

A new job, 2 milestones and 2 birthdays

Nearly 2 months since my last post and some major changes have occurred.

*Brad started a new job. Big change. 8 weeks later and he really likes it. Dare I say . . . he is excited!
I don't think I realized how much a bad job effects a family. At least ours. Not that Brad's previous position was bad - it just wasn't a good situation. The interim was stressful. And the start of the new job was hectic. However, we're on the other side now and it is good. It is especially good for Brad and therefor all of us.

Milestone #1
*William started PK3. Sad. I say that because I hate letting him go. He is such a sweet boy with such a sweet heart (except with his sister). I know it is good for him. The 'being in school' part, not the 'mean to his sister' part. And for me. It took him a good month to find some friends among his classmates. But he has settled on 4 or 5 that he calls 'friends'.
Below is a picture of his first day at school.He is now strongly opposed to spiky hair. Go figure. "Flat! I want it flat!" I think it is because a friend of his got a major hair cut and it was spiky and his buddy hated it. Are 3 and a half year olds supposed to have opinions on their hair???? It seems about 15 years early.

Milestone #2
*On the hair subject, Maddie went to the salon for her first official haircut. I dare call my butchering of her hair back in May a 'haircut'.
And she started the fun 'separation anxiety' stage. FUN. Don't you love when you go to talk to a kid and the kid melts at merely listening to you talk to them. It's even better when it's your kid crying at someone else.
This will soon come to an end. I'm certain of it.
This is a picture of Maddie after her salon debut with my hairstylist.


I love this developmental stage. When they get on one knee. You know that walking is right around the corner but they're still your crawling baby.

Here she is on her 11 month birthday.

*Monday nights tend to be the only night during the week that we are all together. One night we took the kids to Picnic Island and watched the sunset. William and Brad played softball. He hits pretty good. Exceptionally well considering his athletic genes. This is a picture of a huge cargo ship, maybe, I can't remember, that passed by while we were there.
*Grandparents Day was August 31st. So I was told. This is the picture of Maddie, Sofia, and William that Steph took for my parents. We put it in a black mat with the kids handprints in white paint.


* Our last overnight trip to Orlando for the year, I fear. Since rates hike up in the fall and in to the holidays.

William in the kids robe and slippers having coffee on the balcony. Ignore my fabulous bed head please.

Yes, dad, we let him pet the snake and alligator. It seemed relatively safe.

William and Brad went to the putting range. Maddie and I watched. She talked on the phone a bit :)

Birthday#1
* William turned 4. SIGH. We had a Kung Fu Panda party for him at the Y.
One of our good friends agreed to dress up in a panda costume and pose for an hour as Po. He's obviously a good friend to do it.

There were kids everywhere. 17 or 19 mostly 3 year olds. It was pandamonium. HaHa.



Another guy came and did a karate demonstration for the kids. The boys, and a couple girls, were really into it. William is still doing the "Haaa YA".


Cake time.
I had cupcakes made for the kids with Master Po's face on them. I got the idea off the internet and entertained the idea of decorating them myself. Boy am I glad I opted not to!

Lighting of the candles . . .

William is not given the opportunity to eat sugar often. So one of our friends found it hilarious that after the song was sung and he blew out the candles and the cake was put in front of him - he asked, "Am I allowed to eat this?".
Yes, we let him.

Birthday #2
*Maddie, our little girl, my baby, turned one. Cry. Cry. Sigh.
She's taken steps here and there by herself - but honestly - I'm not encouraging it. Why? She's got the rest of her life to walk. No point in pushing her to grow up too quickly.
We had a dinner party for her this past Saturday. Family and friends came to help celebrate her big day. And - thanks to my good friend, Clarita, who is teaching me to sew - I made Maddie's birthday outfit. It was a cupcake shirt with bloomies.
We ate cupcakes. I used this cupcake mold that makes a cake in the shape of a cupcake. The kids had individual cupcakes.

Cupcake time for the birthday girl . . .

Opening presents was fun. William wanted to be in the middle of the action. Actually all the kids wanted to be in the action. Towards the end, Maddie grabbed a hold of one of the gifts and clinched on tight! As if she were saying, "mine!".
All sugared up and hipper!