So She Thinks She can Dance!

Maddie loves dancing and just within the past few months she has started busting out this move. We don't know where it came from, but we love it. It is definitely a crowd pleaser. Everyone cheers and claps for her every time she does this(as if she needed the encouragement!) Last night we were watching my favorite show, So You Think You Can Dance, and Maddie kept doing this move. Check out the extension in that second picture!

Notice the pink shoes she insisted I put on. Great outfit don't you think!
This is how the pose starts. Sometimes she'll just stay frozen like that for a really long time.

A Lot Can Happen in an Hour and a Half!

So a couple weeks ago I went to California to spend some time with the fam. We had a blast... going to the beach, the zoo, eating out, etc., but I thought I would share my MOST memorable experience. Which was Flying Home! I booked a 7 a.m. flight out of Long Beach (What was I thinking? I am so not a morning person!) So that meant I was up at 5:30, along with my poor parents, and out the door at 5:45. My plan was that it was so early that Maddie would just sleep through the entire thing.(I was even going to let her travel in her p.j.'s) Ha ha ha! As soon as I put her in the car she was awake all wide eyed and bushy tailed. Ok so that wasn't part of plan A, but hey at least she was happy. We get on the plane and have the row to ourselves. Nice! I wait until the plane takes off to bust out the milk. She starts looking very sleepy,she lays her head on my shoulder, then she looks at me and smiles (I think, "This is going to be a great plane ride!") Right then she pukes ALL over me. I mean from my neck to my lap. And man did it stink. So I try to get the flight attendants attention. No luck there. So I had to stand up to hit the call button, which helped the puke hit any areas it had previously missed. He throws at me a plastic bag and some "deodorizing wipes." F.Y.I. deodorizing wipes and puke, not a good match!!! The puke was bad enough on its on, but when combined with the wipes, Whoa! I couldn't stand to be near myself.
K so I'm dealing with the smell, not sure about the people around me, but I'm thinking well hey at least she's happy. Then I smell another unpleasant aroma. That's right! Now Maddie has done her diaper. There are no changing tables on a plane. So I'm staying positive and I am just grateful that we have the row to ourselves, because I'm sure a stranger would not have enjoyed M laying across their lap as I changed her.. At this point, I am also grateful for the plastic bag the flight attendant so graciously threw at me.
So I deal with that and I'm starting to think "Are we there yet?" Oh no we are only about 30 mins into the flight. Only an hour left. Not bad. And to be honest I kept thinking this is going to be a great story to tell.... And that's when it happened.... My sweet little angel grew two heads and scrame her head off for 40 minutes straight. NOTHING I did would calm her. I had more milk, treats, new toys I had bought just for the plane ride, and my beautiful singing voice that I am sure my fellow passengers really enjoyed combined with the ear piercing screams of my child. 40 minutes of straight screaming. All the lame flight attendants would do was pass by and look like they felt sorry for me. Finally, as the plane was starting to descend, a flight attendant came by and asked if they could get her something. I was finally at my breaking point and started bawling my eyes out and said "how bout some apple juice."Right then, Maddie spotted a lady across the aisle from us, who had a sweet little four year old who had slept through the whole thing! And Maddie started playing peek a boo with her. Tantrum over! My sweet friendly baby was done with the tantrum just like that. Now I was the one who couldn't stop crying. People cheered when the plane landed(j/k) but I am POSITIVE they wanted to.
As I was getting off the plane all I could think about was taking a shower and getting out of my black shirt that was now stained down the front with puke (oh yeah I am not only smelling divine. I am looking good too!) . My ride was delayed an hour because of bad weather. I finally get my suit case and find a wrinkly shirt to change into, all though it didn't mask the smell, as it had seeped into my skin by this point. Don't' worry there is a happy ending to this story. My ride showed and I took the longest shower of my life! 2 weeks later the smell is finally dissipating. Ha ha!

Moab!

We decided to take a trip to Moab for the weekend, and we had a blast! I had never been there before, but I think it's my new favorite place. We camped, Ster did some amazing dutch oven cooking, and we biked and hiked til we could barely move! Maddie kept trying to clean up our camp with the broom. Those green p.j.'s became her designated dirt pajamas. She would just sit on the ground every morning and just scoop the dirt on top of her. Ster had to keep reminding me that we are camping and she's going to get dirty. That second picture is of us inside Arches National Park. It was so beautiful. That arch is called Delicate Arch and it was a 3 mile hike(round trip). It was so windy and pretty chilly, but when we made it to the top and saw the view it was so worth it!

Little Miss Smarty Pants!

Our lil' M has become a little smarty pants! I have been renting these dvd's from our library called Signing Time. They are awesome! They teach sign language to children and Maddie just loves them. She has started signing 2 new signs each day. She's starting to sign so much, I'm even getting confused! A couple weeks ago she started signing to me when she had a dirty diaper. Ster was super excited and thought we could stop buying diapers. I laughed!

So tonight she started signing something that was either cheese or cookie. I started with the healthier of the two, but that wasn't it. She wanted a cookie. It was so cute how excited she got when we figured out what she really wanted. This was the first time she signed cookie.


I thought I would throw this picture in. This is Maddie's blessing dress. I can not believe it still fits her!

All Smiles!

I could not stop taking pictures of Maddie today. She was just all smiles, and so giggly. She kept going under her high chair to "hide," and would crack up when I found her. Man I love that kid! It's hard to have a bad day with her around.

Our Silly Little Valentine!

What an awesome Valentine's day.... Ster let me sleep in, when I woke up he had a dozen red roses and a cute card for me, then he took me out to Olive Garden, then we came home and I thought we were done, but informed me I needed to head out so I could make it my massage on time! My massage rocked and now he's taking me to my favorite lil Mexican restaurant. Sorry ladies he's taken! Boy did I luck out!

Sleep!!!

I really hope I don't jinx this, but the past 2 nights have been amazing. Maddie has truly slept thru the night. She has been a horrible sleeper from the beginning, and I had all but given up on either of us ever sleeping thru the night again, and then a miracle occured. We had decided to do a variation on the cry it out method. I say variation, because the thought of her crying for an extended period of time was hard for me. So we decided that we would give her 20 minutes and if she didn't stop crying by then Ster would go in and love her for a couple minutes and put her back down. We knew if I went in to her it would only make things worse and she would want to nurse.

So the first couple nights Ster had to go into her once around 2 am and then she would wake around 530 and I would feed her and put her back to bed. This was actually a big improvement for us, as she was still waking twice and sometimes 3 times during the night. I noticed as I really let her try and get herself back to sleep, each night the time in which she would cry would get shorter. 2 nights ago she slept from 10pm til 815am. OH MY GOSH.... I forgot what a good nights rest really felt like. I felt human again, I had energy without any help from caffeine, and I could complete sentences without stuttering. She slept pretty well last night and I'm praying for this to continue.

Maddie has learned to fold her arms and enjoys when we say prayer. It's so cute now, Ster or I will just casually say "Let's say prayer" and she will immediately fold her arms. Every morning I make her cereal and before I feed it to her we say prayer. Well this morning I forgot about that, but my little angel reminded me by folding her arms as I was getting ready to feed her. I was shocked! Not quite 1 years old, and she is already keeping me in line. I can't believe how attentive she is, and all the things she picks up on. It's so fun to see her personality emerge a little more every day. I can tell she is going to keep Ster and I on our best behavior!

I thought these pictures were awesome of her praying while riding her pony in nothing but her diaper. We've told her she can pray at any time no matter what. Looks like she's truly taken that to heart!! ;)