Maddy Says

 Maddy is almost 27 months old and is just cracking us up these days with the things that she says! She has such a fun and outgoing personality!

* Me: Maddy, don't pick your nose, let's get a tissue.
   Maddy: no
   Me: Do you just want to pick your nose?
   Maddy: yes!

* Maddy: Maddy's Happy day?!  (Birthday)
   Me: No, it's not now
   Maddy: yea, Maybe after nap Happy Day.

* A sample Maddy prayer: Thank you mommy, rose, dad, juice, nana, kel, Ry... AMEN!

* Maddy: Mama Dance? Rose Dance too? (we love to dance in a circle around her pop up princess tent in her room) It's so much fun. Maddy dances behind me (with Rose over my shoulder). Rose squeals and giggles at Maddy and Maddy does it right back - so much fun!

* When I tell Maddy that we are going to go see dad at work she will often say, " Hug him, and love him and kiss him! Tickle him, make him laugh!" It's so sweet ;) She LOVES here Daddy!

* "Oh No! What happened?!"This one can come after just about any accident. (potty accident, dropping food or any other type of item on the floor). Generally I do not love hearing this statement ;()

* Her recent saying as been, "Oh - my - gosh!" She said it the other day when she was in the cart at Aldi. She dropped a grape on the floor and said, "Oh-my gosh mom! Dropped grape! I have to admit it is kind of funny at first and Tim and I have both said this in front of her and not thought anything of it. But when we actually hear it coming out of her mouth, we don't really love it. I think we'll have to be a bit more careful.

* "Oh SO cute!" She will say this after I put on a scarf, she puts on a hat, or I put on make up. I LOVE having girls ;) After church one day, she saw our pastor's wife and said, "Nice hair!", "Pretty Eyes!"


And a new little section I like to call:

Things I never thought I would have to say:

* Madison, we don't put cheese in the dishwasher!
* We do NOT poop  on the carpet!
* It is not your job to roll Rose over!
* We can't run down the hallway with no clothes on(after she has snuck past Tim into the hallway on his way to work). It's socially unacceptable ;)
* Maddy, you cannot change your sister's diaper by yourslef!
...and the list goes on!

We love you Maddy girl! You are certainly full of LIFE!

Happy Half Birthday Rose!

I must always say this every month with each of my girls, but I can hardly belive that Rose is 6 months old already! Where did the time go?!  I feel like it was just yesterday that it was Augutst and I was 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant with her, waiting for her impending arrival ;) 

Boy, was I ever ready for her to come! 

She is doing so many new things these days and is looking so much older! She has been such a sweet addition to our family! If anyone even talks to her or looks in her direction, she smiles and babbles like there is no tomorrow! She has such a mild and sweet nature! We love you so very much Rose!

I enjoyed the little stroll down memory lane as I wrote this ;)

Newborn

1 month old

Halloween- 2 months old!

Pumpkin pie for thanksgiving- 3 months old

Christmas in PA- 4 months old

Christmas Dress - 4 months old

Valentine's Day -5 months old

Playing dress up with Madison. She is our little sunshine - 6 months old!

Things our sweetie can do now:
* Sits up briefly by herself, then topples over.
* Reaches for anything in front of her (including coffee -yikes! Gotta get used to this one!)
* Officially started eating baby food this month and has done so well with it! She opens her mouth very wide and  So far she has had rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, peas, apple sauce, and mashed bananas (WHY oh WHY do I think of "The Wiggles" song when I write "mashed bananas"!? I must have a 2 year old - haha!)
* Has found her voice - that is for sure! She has started screeching and screaming like her sister! She also makes some great babbles, coos, and raspberry sounds too! I love hearing she and Maddy "chatting" to one another ;)
* Rolls over from back to front almost as soon as I lay her on her back, but not so quickly or  as often as from front to back (probably she is a back sleeper unlike her sister).
* She loves her sister most of all! She cranes her neck to find Madison and smiles, giggles, and babbles at her! It's so sweet seeing them to start to interact! The other day I put an inch of warm water in the bath tub and laid Rose on her back and threw Maddy in there with her and they both kicked in the water happily while giggling, screeching and smiling. It was such a fun moment for me! They absolutely adore one another and I am unbelievable thankful for that!

Her schedule: 
*She is on a 4 hour schedule: Wake, Eat, 2 hours awake, 2 hours asleep - repeat ;)
* She has been having her last feeding at 8pm, stays awake til 9 or 9:30 and then wakes up at 9am! It's been wonderful! Sometimes she wakes at 5am, but if I put her pacifier in, she falls right back to sleep. the only bummer is that Madison often wakes up and in my sleepy stupor, I have to sing to her to get her back to sleep - but she always falls back to sleep within 5 min!

Here are a few of her 6 month stats from her pediatrician visit today:
Height: 26 1/4 in - I can already tell she may be taller than her sister when it's all said and done! We will have to wait and see ;)
Weight: 12.8 pounds
Head: 42cm

As I did for Madison on her half birthday, I would like to write a little letter to my sweet Rose.

Dear Rose Lillian, 

I didn't know how much I would come to love you. You have become part of the fabric of our family!

Your Dad, sister and I love you more than we could have ever imagined! You are a sweet blessing from the Lord! Your nature is sweet and easy going. You are almost always happy and content. I could learn a lesson or two from your spirit :) Your joyous squeaks and squeals make us all so happy when we hear them! What would we do without you?! The Lord gave you to us and we hope and pray that you will come to know the Lord as your personal Savior and grow to love him and live for Him with all of your heart and life. 

We pray for you every day and we will do all we can to help you to grow physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. We LOVE you and can't wait to see the impact your little life has on our world!

Love always, 

Mom

Kale Chips

Ok, so even though yesterday's post about Chipotle may not seem like it, I have been making some serious changes to my diet and exercise regimen since January 1, 2011 and I have been feeling SO much better! Oh and BTW when I do Chipotle, I do half of the burrito bowl and save the other half for another meal ;)

My goal is to lose the baby weight and get healthy again. So far I have lost 10 lbs! Some weeks have been better than others, but I am on the slow and steady progression DOWNWARD ;) Perhaps I will blog about that journey another day, but today's post is about KALE CHIPS! I found this recipe on one of my new favorite blogs called "Snack Girl" that my friend Abbey turned me onto. It's a blog all about healthy snacks. She has some really great and practical ideas.

Kale chips are one of my new favorites. I have to admit, I didn't think that I would like them, but for a whole bowl of these crispy salty chips it is only 100 calores and you are getting some major nutrients too! You definitely should try them. They're super easy and oh so yum!

Kale Chips
(Makes 2 servings)
1 bunch kale (or 1/2 pound)
2 teaspoons good quality olive oil
salt to taste
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line rimmed cookie sheets (also called hotel pans) with parchment paper (see note below). Tear the leaves off the thick stems into chip sized pieces. An easy way to do this is to fold the leaf in half and just rip toward the stem. Spread pieces out on cookie sheets. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt to taste. Bake 8 minutes or until edges are brown and kale is crispy when moved in pan.
If you don't have parchment paper, you can use aluminum foil or neither. The idea here is to make clean up easy (just toss the paper and then you have less work to do).

If you LOVE Chipotle...

...then go to this website and watch a 90 second video promo for "America's Next Great Restaurant" and you will get a coupon for a FREE burrito, bowl, taco, or salad with the purchase of one. The only catch is that you have to use it by 3/12/11, so you'll have to hurry! 

Tim and I LOVE Chipotle and will definitley be cashing in on this deal!

Thanks to my friend Lisa for the heads up via e-mail :)

Happy eating!

GIRLS :)

I LOVE having girls! This morning before church, Maddy watched me as I tried on shirt after shirt only to throw one after another into a pile on the bed with a grunt. Then she pointed to one and said, "Try this one mom!" 

And low and behold it was one that worked :)