3 Years Young

Dear Madeline Grace,

Someone wise once said, "The days are long but the years are short." Today you turn 3 years old. In some ways, I feel like you were just born yesterday and the past 3 years have flown by but in other ways, it is hard to imagine our life and family without you. I think back on that February 23rd when you were born or really starting on the 22nd. I woke up that morning knowing something was different and called the doctor. They had me come into the office and monitor me and we made phone calls to DeeDee to have her drive up to Charlotte for your big arrival. But after spending some time at the doctor, they felt like they were false contractions and it could be awhile before you came so I went home and DeeDee turned around on 85 and headed back to Atlanta. 

But you little one knew better and I woke up at 1:30am and knew it was time, I stood out of bed and my water immediately broke. More calls and the doctor said come in, DeeDee hopped back in the car and we called our bestie next door neighbor to come and sleep at our house with Ella until DeeDee could arrive. We arrived at the hospital, got a room and thought we would settle in for a long day of labor but you were not ok. Your heart rate was through the roof and every time Mommy had a contraction, you wanted out but it wasn't time yet. We tried everything to calm you but you were trying to tell us, you need to come out so after some tears from mommy, we were rushed into surgery for a c-section. 

Just like your sister, we didn't know if you were a boy or a girl but little one, I knew all along you were a girl. I don't know how I knew, your pregnancy was completely different from your sister's but I just knew. After some scary minutes, you were born and although your heart rate was high and you had a temperature (They think you had a virus), you were completely healthy and the cutest thing ever. Your daddy and I couldn't believe your full head of brown hair. It took your sister 2 years to grow any hair so seeing yours caught us all off guard. But that should have been my first indication that you were nothing like your big sister. You might be the same gender but you were going to be your own child.

Day One in hospital

As a newborn and baby, there was no happier or sweeter baby in the world. You were so easy and so laid back. You barely cried and when you did, it was such a quiet and sweet cry. You had a much tougher time sleeping through the night than your sister did but you were such a happy girl when you were awake that it was ok. You found your thumb at 4 months and began sleeping 12-13 hours a night and still do! Mommy and Daddy hope this never changes! You always went with the flow, letting whoever hold you, never having stranger anxiety and smiling and laughing all the time. Mommy may have said if I could guarantee more babies just like do, I would have 10 more! Boy, were you about to prove me wrong soon!

First birthday party - Hungry caterpillar theme

 Then somewhere around 18-20 months, you discovered your own voice and feistiness and you used every bit of it. The sweet little baby that would just sit on a blanket and play with books and blocks and not make a fuss, started throwing temper tantrums all the time. One minute, you would be so happy and then something would make you mad and bam, full on screaming fest wherever we were. Around 2, we pretty much stopped eating out all together unless it was chick-fila, you are just not so fun to take out.

2 year old birthday - Love and hearts theme

 However, around summertime this year, things started improving and while everyday is not prefect, you started acting a little better and we could resume some normal activities. 

Your verbal skills are off the charts for a 3 year old and you can tell us exactly what you think, which is sometimes great and sometimes not so great. 

But I have to say the thing that we love most about you and the thing that most people comment on is your infectious outgoing personality. You have never met a stranger and love to make people laugh. You are a natural comedian and have us laughing all day long. You have so much energy from the moment you wake up. 

You adore your big sister and want to know where Ella is and what she is doing every minute. She is so patient with you and seeing you all actually playing together really melts my heart. My hope for you and Ella more than anything else is that you both stay healthy and you always stay close as sisters. 

You also love going to preschool! You go three days a week and would go everyday if you could but Mommy knows how quickly that time passes with your big sister heading to kindergarten in a few short months so I am holding onto you, my baby, as long as I can. 

This year, one of Mommy's friends lost her sweet 3 year old daughter to leukemia and that really shifted my mindset with you. Yes, some days I yell and some days you go to timeout (a lot) but overall, I am trying to not sweat the small stuff as much and just really cherish you and your sister more. It is easy to lose my patience with your stubborn and feisty ways but look at the pigtail smile, how could I stay mad at that face for long. I have two healthy girls and I am forever grateful for that. 

Maddie Grace, your Daddy, big sister and I love you so much! Happy 3rd birthday!!

Preschool class picture

3 year old stats:

**School: 3 days with Ms Aly and Ms Anne (They call you mini teacher)

**Favorite Food: Spinach and Mozzarella Ravioli

**Still nap 2-3 hours a day and sleep 12 hours at night (Thank you!)

**Still sleep in your crib and I may keep you in there forever!

**No lovie but you sleep with 5 blankets and your thumb is still your favorite lovie

**You ask for daddy every morning when I wake you up and you can't wait until he gets home from work each day

**You adore your baby dolls and carry them with you everywhere

**Favorite character is Minnie Mouse

**Favorite show: Daniel Tiger

Funny things you say: "Of course" when we ask you a question that would have a yes answer, cracks me up, you call granola bars "nola barre", one of your besties in your classes is Hattie and you know her name and how to pronounce but you call her Patty to be funny.

**Favorite song: Anything Taylor Swift

**You hate candy and only eat candy or desserts if they have chocolate in them, are you my daughter???

**You are still tiny for a 3 year old but don't know exact stats until your well visit in a couple weeks but still wearing all 2T clothes and the one of the shortest in your class despite being the oldest. I think people can't believe how much you speak when they meet you because they think you are much younger than you are.

**You were potty trained in October after a failed attempt in June but now you are doing great with it

School's Out for Summer

Right before Memorial Day, our preschool finished up and the girls are officially on "summer break." I truly can't believe how much they have grown this year. When they started back in September, Ella had just turned four and now she is almost five and such a big girl. And my baby, sweet Maddie Grace started preschool for the very first time and look at her now!

First day and last day collage (where did my babies go?? tear...)

 This was our crew every Tuesday and Thursday. We were so lucky to have good friends that live around the corner from us so we would take Wyatt twice a week and then Catherine would take Ella the other two days when Maddie didn't go. It worked out great and the three of these kiddos cracked me up everyday with their conversation.

 Maddie had the BEST year. Her teachers, Ms Lisa and Ms Julie are truly saints that were amazing with a bunch of 1 and 2 year olds. They had endless patience and each morning, Maddie would literally run into her class and give each of her teachers a huge hug. Then at the end of the day when I would pick her up, she would run and hide from me because she wanted to stay and play more. Not sure what that says about me but at least I know she loved school!

 The final day, they had a pizza party and got "graduation hats". She loved all her little friends in her class, especially the little boy next to her, Loren. He certainly is a cutie and a great first boyfriend!

 MG with her teachers. We love them so much and will miss them next year! (She still asks for them everyday, she doesn't quite understand that school is out yet.)

 Then we quickly ran downstairs to Ella's party for her 4 year old class. I am so glad that we decided to put her in TK (transitional kindergarten) next year so she will have one more year at her preschool before starting real school the following year. 

 Ella had such an amazing year also. She went four days and I am astounded by how much she learned this year. They kept a journal throughout the year and by the end of the year, she was sounding out and spelling words. The spelling wasn't always perfect but very close. Ella loves to learn and is such a good girl in school. I hope she always has this same love of learning that she does now.

 Ella with her best buddy Caroline (above). C and E have been together since they were two and will be together again next year and are as thick as thieves. And below with her sweet boyfriend Lucas. He is the sweetest little boy and they had such a fun little friendship this year. Sadly, he is older and go to kindergarten next year.

 And I said a lot about how wonderful Maddie's teachers were but Ella's were just as amazing. We had the best year for teachers for both of them. Ms Mande and Ms Dempsey were both so loving and kind but also taught the kids so much. Ella adored both of them so much!

It was a fantastic year and one we were all sad to see end but now it is onto summer. We were only off school a week before we went to the beach but now we are back and slowly starting to settle into a routine. I am happy for lazy mornings and no scheduled activities for about a week before I start going crazy so we will continue to stay busy for everyone's sanity. The girls have a couple camps scheduled and a couple more family trips but a lot of the time will be spent at our pool, library story times and probably lots of trips to Target and Harris Teeter. How many more days until school starts again??? Hehehe, happy summer!

Spring Fever

I can't believe it is March 31st and we are finally have warm weather. This winter and early spring have been the pits. I love living in Charlotte because of the mild winters and warm spring temps but this year, Mother Nature has had different ideas. But today is glorious and we are looking forward to permanent warmer weather but not before we remember what we did with this crazy weather!

 We had a small little storm in the end of January that I already blogged about that we thought was big for us but the one that came in mid February was the real deal. It first starting falling in the afternoon and Ella couldn't wait to build a snowman (Frozen, anyone??)

 When we woke up the next morning, the snow was coming down in buckets. Backyard was completely covered.

 So we headed outside in our best hodge podge southern snow gear (aka-had none for MG) and she did not love it at all.

 But big sis had a little better gear and loved the snow and making snow angels.

 My most favorite part of the snow storm was hanging out with our super fun neighbors. We all just went sledding all day and then over to their house for chili and smores. The kids and adults had too much fun, stayed up too late but it was great since we knew there would be no school and work the next day.

 The next morning, there was still tons of snow, so we went sledding again

 And this one was OVER it. Wearing gloves means she can't suck her thumb so she threw off her gloves and preferred to be held instead of getting wet and cold in the snow.

 And finally the last pic from the snow storm, some of our neighbors and their dads made this amazing snowman. I told you we had A LOT of snow!

 In between the cold, snow and rain, we did have a couple days of sun and we took full advantage of them. I should do an entire post on this topic but I haven't been great about blogging lately so when I get a free minute to write, I have to cram it all in.

But I am super impressed and proud of my big girl and how she learned to ride a bike without her training wheels. She was determined to it and she did it. It only took a couple Saturdays and she conquered it.

 A sneak peek inside her weekly ballet class that she loves...

 And soccer season started again, this season she is a green pony!

 St Patty's Day parade (one of our favorite things to do in Charlotte)

 Ella with her soccer buddy, Lambeth waiting for the parade

 Then this happened, she was a little overly excited to go down the slide and almost did a complete flip. She was fine but it was a pretty epic picture.

 Caroline, Lambeth and Ella - best buddies since they 2 and in the same preschool class and so happy they will all be together for another year again next year.

 DeeDee, Papa and Great Grandma came up to visit us last weekend. The girls were so excited to spend time with them and as usual, they spoiled the girls rotten.

 I hope these two are close like this forever, moments like this make me smile.

 Finally, last week Ella had her princess ball at preschool. It was originally scheduled during the huge snow storm and they finally made it up last week. She picked out her own outfit, I would have chosen something else but I just let her go with it and she loved it.

 I took both girls and we met Daddy there and little sis had to go check it out and see what it was all about and get in on the picture action.

 The princesses came out and that was the highlight of her night, dancing with Belle. Thank you preschool for having this and saving us a trip to Disney World.

 And today is 74 degrees so we spent 2 hours at the park, holla! We have some spring fever and are loving it. Cheers to more warm weather and lots more time outside!

Still my angel??? That's debatable

I have posted several times on how this little peanut, my Madeline Grace was the sweetest and easiest baby on the planet. Literally rarely cried as a baby, didn't really have a fussy time. I distinctly remember one night when she was tiny and it was about 8:00pm and she was just up hanging out with Mike and I and she was just smiling away. Mike and I just looked at each other and said, "babies are not supposed to be this happy at this time of night." When we had Ella, we coined the phrase, "happy awake time" because when she was a baby, we had very few moments of "happy awake time." With MG, pretty much all we had was happy awake time and happy sleep time also since she naps and sleeps like a champ (I am talking 3+ hour naps and sleeps 12+ hours at night!) I know, we are lucky.

Well I was hoping that my sweet, happy Maddie Grace would just continue her happy self but oh no, I think she has found her voice, independence and dare I say, her terrible twos! I thought at first maybe it was a communication issue since she was talking too much but now she is talking up a storm and still quite feisty! Her favorite words right now are "mine" and no." 

 She is wild and crazy all over the place. She probably sleeps so well because when she is awake, she literally never stops moving. She climbs on everything, the kitchen bar stools, any chair she can find, the swing set, anywhere dangerous, she is there. But she is also pretty fearless which I kind of like. Ella is the biggest scardy cat ever and so having a child that is fearless is "sometimes" refreshing. I know I will eat those words one day (like in high school when she is sneaking out of the house and jumping off the roof.) 

 But the thing that saves this little girl all the time is she has the best smile and personality ever! She is natural comedian and makes us laugh all day long. She will be having a temper tantrum one minute and then running around and posing and we start laughing and quickly forget. She sings all day long (she loves to sing ABCs and Itsy Bitsy Spider) but her all time favorite right now is Pharrel's new song "Happy." Its hilarious, every time we get in the car (after I have to fight to get her buckled in, she wants to do it herself but she can't yet), she says "Happy on" and keeps repeating it until we hear. Luckily the radio stations in Charlotte play it all the time. I even recorded it from the Oscars so we play it on the tv and dance around the den.

 She is still our tiny peanut and mealtime is a struggle. Shocker, she doesn't like to sit in her highchair and be strapped in so she would just throw her food on the ground. So, we moved her to a permanent booster seat at the table, not as convenient for me and it has helped some with eating. We need to work on the eating more since we went to her 2 year appt last week and she barely tipped the scales at 23 lbs (7%) and 33 inches tall (20-25%). She will never be a top runway model or basketball star but a couple more pounds would be nice. For comparison, Ella was 21lbs and 31in at age 1 and she was only 50% so MG will be the "little sister" in every way possible.

Drawing on the doctor's office paper

I mean look at miss sassy pants in her new glasses!

 There is one thing Maddie loves and that is her big sister, Ella. As soon as she wakes up, she asks about "dada" who is usually at work and Ella. She also has the biggest smile on her face when she sees her after preschool. Ella is the biggest and best big sis ever and so sweet towards Maddie, always helping her. Ella came over from playing with other friends at the park today to help Maddie up on the swing and then push her. I just love seeing there friendship grow and bloom.

So, this is our life right now, a 2 year old that is wild and crazy but also some sugar and sweetness mixed in for fun. This next year should be an exciting roller coaster for all of us! We might want to cry sometimes little one but we sure love you so much and feel blessed to have you in our lives. And if you want to revert back to that angel perfect baby once more, we would not object.