Elmo LIVE!

This was soooo much fun! Madison had a blast! She loved all the dancing, singing, lights and characters. Matt and I had so much fun watching her clap and giggle. During intermission they brought out the Elmo balloons. Luckily for us Madison, didn't show a lot of interest. Let's just say there are a LOT of parents with these balloons floating around their house. After the intermission, they requested the parents put the balloons UNDER THEIR SEATS! HA! I about died laughing! How exactly do you tell a kid to put a balloon away? Anywhooo.. I was impressed that Madison made it 1/2 way though the second act. She's been teething for a while and is not sleeping well. We left a little early but all in all, she was behaved. 

Mommy look! It's Elmo!

I'm so excited! When does the show start?

 

What kid can resist a balloon?

Easter Egg Hunt!

This was sooo cute! One of the fabulous Mom's in my Mom's group had the kiddos over for an egg hunt. Everyone brought over 10 eggs filled with whatever we wanted. They was candy, play-doh, stickers.. etc. I have to say that I was a little surprised Madison knew what to do. I only had to tell her once to 'find eggs and put them in your basket'. Here are a few pics .. notice Madison stealing eggs from Luca's basket. She thinks she's so sneaky! It was sooooo much fun. I love being able to do stuff like this with her!

Poopie in the tub.. yes, I have pictures!

Oh boy.. where to begin. I guess it's a right of passage for any Mom. The infamous pooping in the tub. I guess it's expected to happen when they are little babies. At that point it's not a big deal. You just clean out the infant tub and be on your merry way. BUT, when it's in the tub YOU use and there are toys and a curious toddler in it, things start to go downhill fast. Let us start at the beginning.....

It started off like any other bath. Madison was playing and I was cleaning up the bathroom a little. She started trying to make herself fart (which is her newest thing and it cracks her up). When I looked in the tub I didn't hear a 'fart' sound and I saw a HUGE smile on Madison's face.  This is all I could say,

"Oh nooooooooooooooooo! MADISON ANN!!!! Crap! Matt? I might need your help here!" (he couldn't hear me because he was doing the dishes.. and no that is not a typo)

So I grab her(before she could get to anything), take her upstairs and put her jammies on. Ok so what next? What the heck do I do with the toys and tub? I grab a bottle of clorox, a cup and a plastic bag. I bag up the toys and throw them in a sink of water/clorox. Then, I douse the tub in clorox and scrub it down. Oh, the cup you ask? Yeah, that was to um.. scoop out the culprit. So really it wasn't a big deal. I just kind of panicked because of the germs.. etc. 

The best part of it all was I thought to grab the camera before the clean up started. Trust me when I say these pictures will haunt her in years to come. I am picturing a slide show with said pictures at a graduation party or some sort of big event. 

Sometimes it's fun being a parent!

And now... he pictures.. you have been warned...

Madison at 18 months

Madison is doing sooo many fun and cute things nowadays that I wanted to write them all down. I also thought it would be fun for my family to read this as well. 

*The bedtime routine*

This is the best part of the day for me. Not because she is about to go to bed and I can finally relax (even though that IS nice), but because she does the CUTEST things! 

This is the routine:

*put water in humidifier and turn it on

*turn off the big light and turn on her lamp (it's not as bright this way)

*change diaper

*brush teeth

*turn on music mobile

*read books

*once music mobile stops, say "ut oh, time for bed"

*put her in bed and tell her to give kisses to her monkeys (she has curious George in her crib)

*tell her to give Mommy a kiss, say "i love you, see you in the morning", and turn off her light

The cute things:

*If I do anything out of order she lets me know. She will point to the humidifier or mobile.. etc.

*If she is tired and wants to go to sleep, she will look at the mobile and say "ut oooooh"

*We read the same 6-8 books every night, even though she has 30+ books in the book bin. She will dig through the bin to find the one she wants

*When reading "touch and feel pets", she gives eskimo kisses to all of the animals. When reading "touch and feel bathtime" she makes me take her finger and counts the things on the page (i did this with her ONCE). She counts like this.. Deeeea.. deeeeea.. deeeeea. That is the best way I can describe it. 

*Her favorite things*

*SpongeBob SquarePants- (it's a cartoon). I have no idea why but this is the only thing that holds her attention. It comes in handy at 2am when she is teething

*Lotion- She LOVES to rub it all over herself. It's the only way I can change her diaper. I dap a little on her hand and she rubs it on her tummy.

*Being outside- 100% obsessed with being outside

*Baths- as soon as I turn on the water she RUNS into the bathroom

*Good Night Moon and 5 Little Monkey's- These are her favorite books

*Going down the BIG slide by herself- She goes down on her tummy and does NOT want you to catch her

*Avacado, peanut butter/jelly sandwiches, string cheese, goldfish crackers and oatmeal. She could seriously live on these

*Stuff she can do/say*

*Cacker = Cracker

*Hi

*baBA (always emphasis on the last BA) = bubbas (Damon)

*ba = ball

*QUA QUA= sound a duck makes (she always says it loudly)

*RRRRrrrrrraaaa= the sound every other animal makes

*ha ha= sound a monkey makes

*bebe= baby doll

*knows where her eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hair are

I will probably add to this as I think of things but there ya go.. 18 months in a nutshell

I am caving to pressure from my peers...

Before.. a sloppy mess!

Ok ok ok ok.. I get it.. I need to update this thing. I am going to try my hardest to post at least twice a month. If my life were super duper exciting, I would post more.

Madison got her hair cut for the first time a few weeks ago. It's the moment every parent waits for. They fully expect their kid to scream bloody murder, put up a fight or at least give SOME sort of sign that they are not happy... right? Well.. not my kid. I am beginning to think she is a robot. She just sat there the ENTIRE time. Looked around, looked up at the stylist.. drank her milk.. it was like we were just hanging out. Of course I did not want her to freak out.. BUT... one... just ONE crying picture would have been great. Ya know, to use later at Graduation or some important social event. There was a kid screaming his head off and she kept giving him the "wtf is your problem" look. If you have spent ANY time with Madison then you know the look. It's amazing how different she looks now. She looks like a big kid, not a baby. Her hair is so fine I wasn't sure if I should cut it, but I am glad I did. Check out the before and after pics. 

During (Too cool for school)   After (Awwwww)

It's been too long!

Really nothing spectacular is happening in the McGraw home. Maddie is being Maddie. Getting into everything and slowly giving me gray hair. She is not walking yet but she can walk with a walker (or laundry basket.. whatever is handy). She is climbing up AND down the stairs (oh joy) and loves to slide down the slides at the park. She is going to be my little roller coaster rider. The girl has NO fear! 

Right now we are getting ready for the holidays. The lights are hung, tree is up and presents are wrapped (yes, I am done with my shopping.. don't hate!). This Saturday my family is getting together for an early Christmas celebration. It's always a good time. My uncle Jerry's kids are HILARIOUS! Last year they put on the cutest Christmas pageant. It will be funny to see if they try to incorporate Madison this year. 

We are leaving for Rhode Island on the 21st. I am SO SO SO excited! I love being there for the holidays. It's cold, there's family and friends.. what more could you ask for!? I am a little worried about how Madison will be on the plane. It's so hard to entertain her for 5 1/2 hours! Oh well, it will be worth it. 

That's all I got for now! Here are a few recent pictures. Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our morning in the ER..

Blah.. I will start by saying she is fine BUT.. what a night!

On Saturday maddie stayed at my Mom's. About 11:30 she called and said Maddie threw up, felt hot and had been crying for about an hour. We go get her.. I take her temp and it's 101.3. I assume it's due to teething and all is well. We get her home and she sleeps on and off until 8:30am. She seemed fine all morning. She was a little crabby but again.. I assumed teething. 

After her nap she felt burning hot. Her temp was 102.7 and I started to get worried. I gave her a cool bath. She is also refusing to eat and drink anything. She went to bed at 6:30.. about 2:15am she wakes up screaming. She is REALLY hot and throws up on me when I take her out of the crib. Her temp is 103.9. I decide it's time to take her to the ER. (look at me using my Mommy instincts)

The ER is the worst experience of my entire life. They had to give her a catheter, IV, chest X-ray and draw blood. Just thinking about it gives me chillbumps. She was sooo tired and just over it at this point BUT.. she's a trooper. All the tests came back negative. The Dr. said it was most likely a viral infection. She had red rashes all over her legs, cheeks and ears.

Right before the hospital discharged us the nurse brought in a little teddy bear. She had a bottle of pedialyte that she was trying to feed the bear. It was the CUTEST thing EVER! She also kept giving the bear hugs. 

She seems to be better now. No fever, just SUPER needy and tired. We have been watching cartoons all morning and rocking in her room. It's kinda sad but having her lay on me is so sweet. I know she feels icky but it's so cute to know her Momma can make it all better. 

She's sleeping now. I hope she takes a LONG nap. She really needs it.

The Kool-Aid Mom does it again!

Today was cuteness overload! We had the girls and the kiddos over for a Halloween party. We had a potluck and had everything from chili served in a pumpkin to pumpkin cheesecake. It's one thing my Mom's group knows how to do and that's cook! Here are a few pictures from the festivities...

From left to right.. Elle (you can see her feet), Luca (cheerleader), Katelyn (cheerleader), Mady (ballerina... she did NOT want to wear that tu-tu), Caleb (bear), Maddie (Alien), Lily (bee), Kristen (monkey), Timothy (he was a chili pepper but he was not happy), Noah (lion), David (lion)

 We still do not know how she slept through all the noise!
 Luca!
 Noah!

 gotta show at least one meltdown!

Lily and Caleb playing

The best part of the day was trying to get the group photo. The ages range from 1 month to almost 2 years so you can imagine the multiple meltdowns, paci stealing and sippy cup swapping. We all have AMAZING kids.. really we do! They are all well behaved and get along great. I just LOVE seeing them interact together and it's nice to gossip with the Mom's! 

 

Lots to catch up on!

Where has this year gone? The last two months have just flown by! We have been really really busy but that's no excuse not to update the blog. Sorry everyone! I know you sit on pins and needles waiting for an entry. hehehe.

At the end of August we flew back to RI for our friends wedding. It was BEAUTIFUL! We are so so so so happy for Mike and Robin. Everything was perfect! Right down to the rock candy on the tables. Unfortunately, we do not have one single picture from that trip. I guess we don't really view going to RI as a vacation so it's easy to forget to take pictures. Oops! 

Of course the big event was Madison's first birthday. Now that...I have a TON of pictures from! Here are a few of my favorites.

Playing with her school bus. Thanks Aunt B!
Opening gifts.. this took forever!

She loves riding on Rocket!

Dinner on her actual birthday. Yep, she's one! Smart girl!

Birthday cake! She's so dainty.. no smashing for her!

It was a really great day. Filled with love, laughs and cake. You can't beat that! Matt's parents and brother came out from RI. I was so happy they could make it! It really made the day special. All of my friends and Maddie's "cousins" came too! I just love having a house full of kiddos. 

The weekend after that I threw a birthday part for Matt. He knew people were coming over to celebrate but he had no idea what kind of party I was planning. A few weeks before I found a company that rents out poker tables. Complete with dealer, cards.. the whole nine yards. I was so stoked! I knew this would be a great party for him. I think Matt was pretty surprised when I told him what was going on. The bigger surprise came when Matt saw the dec of cards we were playing with. It had this picture on the back...

Matt's friend Pat took this in Vegas. When he showed it to me, I knew I had to use it for something! I mean, come on, you don't get handed a gold nugget and just throw it away! It was a huge hit at the party. I would like to thank shutterfly.com for making that possible. ; )

The past month...

My little girl has been VERY busy lately! I swear she has learned 10 new things in the last few weeks. It's fun, scary and sad all at the same time!! In the past 2 weeks she has done the following things...

1. Feed herself (this is HUGE)

2. Eat cherrios (Matt is SOOO happy about this!)

3. Crawl forward

4. Pull herself up on everything and anything.. including the stairs (crap!)

5. Dance

6. Actual babble .. it's like baby sentences, not just baba, dada.. it's babada, dadt!, daaabababa, aaadadt, eeeeeeeeeeee! If someone could translate that for me I would appreciate it ;)

7. Sit up from laying down

8. Stands up in her crib

9. Holds her own bottle (sorta.. it's getting better)

10. Eats SOLID food! Peas, pasta, fruit and chicken

It just reminds me how fast she is growing up. When I think about her birthday in less than a month it makes me want to cry. Where did this year go? I feel like I was JUST calling Matt and telling him I was going to "drive myself to the hospital". ::::sigh:::: 

Here are a few pics of her in action the last few weeks.

Yuuuuummm BREAD!

Maddie fed herself for the first time this week. It was the cutest thing EVER! The best part was my Mother-in-law was in town to see it. We were all out to dinner and Maddie was being restless. We usually give her sugar packets, my lip gloss or a cell phone to let her play with (aka distract her). Those things were not working. She just threw them to the ground. I decided to try to give her small pieces of bread. Of course, she was curious at first. She picked a piece up, studied it, squished it with her fingers and then threw it on the ground. I put a small piece in her mouth. At first she gave me the usual "icky" face but then she decided it was ok. She chewed it and swallowed! I could not believe it. This is the kid that ONLY eats gerber food (see previous blog entry). I put a few more in front of her and she picked them up and ate them! 

This may not seem like a big deal to some people but it's a HUGE thing for Maddie and to us. She does not eat ANY real food or even snacks. No puffs, cookies.. etc. She wants nothing to do with what we are eating or real food. I have given her real carrots, avacado and butternut squash. It's hit and miss. She will eat a whole jar of Gerber food but only a few bites of real food. Baby steps.. baby steps

Matt got a really cute picture of her on his camera phone. 

I want to be the Kool-Aid mom!

I have a confession to make... I want to be the Kool-Aid Mom! I want all the kiddos to hang out at my house. I promise to always have popsicles, juice boxes, fruit snacks,pizza rolls and episodes of SpongeBob Squarepants on DVR. With cute kiddos like these.. who wouldn't want to hang out with them? Today we had a baby get-2-gether. It was a blast! We had kids in the big pool, little pool and some just hanging on Mom. 

We had: 

Addie, Maddie x3, Noah x2, AJ, Elias, Ryan and Lily.. confused? Check out these pics!

 the oldest Maddie.. look at those cute little  legs!

 AJ and "momma to be" danielle
 Addie "aka" addie-tude. I think her expression explains it all

 the middle Maddie.. aka.. Mady. She just turned 1!!!! 
 Little miss hostess with the mostess.. the youngest Maddie
too cool for school, Ryan. Aka.. My Maddie's boyfriend.. even though he kissed another girl!

 The younger Noah and Lily.. I think I see a love connection!
 AJ.. talking to all his "lady friends"

 I promise she had a good time

 The older Noah!

 Noah, Ryan and Addie. Addie like the younger boys ;)

 Noah

Elias... the new kid in town ;)

As you can see, it was cuteness overload! You really can't go wrong with good food, good friends and cute kids! I am lucky enough to have made some really great friends in the past year. We have kids around 6 months apart. (some are even a few weeks apart) We also have some new Moms and Moms to be. I am so happy to be apart of this group and hope our kids continue to be friends. Ok ok.. I just want to host more parties!