23 months

 

 

 

This will be the last time I write only about Madden before he becomes a super awesome big brother! I love documenting of all of his milestones and funny moments so I never forget each stage of his huge, growing personality. But I already feel guilty when I think about if I'll have time to document the same for our next little one. Jeff and I have been talking about how we think this next baby boy's personality will differ from Madden's. We know each of our kids will be so different and perfect in their own way, and I'm so anxious to meet this new baby and especially see how great of friends he and Madden will be.

I'm feeling anxious in these last few weeks of waiting for baby boy to come. Now that Christmas is over, I've realized how unprepared I am for a new baby, and that I feel like I've forgotten how to take care of a newborn. When Madden was born I laid in bed with him sleeping on my tummy all day for about 4 months. It was the best time, and I loved every second of it. This time around though, I'm nervous because worry I won't have the time to bond with this baby like I did with Madden. Madden requires lots and lots of attention, and it will feel like we have two babies in our house for a while- except one will be way more mischievous and fast. I'm hoping that instinct will kick in and I'll be able to handle the chaos of this new stage of having two babies, and that we will all adjust happily. I'm also slightly freaking out about going into labor on my own. I was induced with Madden and it was so easy and comfortable. It is totally my personality to have a schedule and feel completely prepared, and this time around I do not like the anticipation of waiting for my water to break with Jeff at work and no way to get to the hospital on my own. It will all work out, but hopefully the timing will work in our favor!

Meanwhile, Madden and I are spending lots of one on one time together. He still has absolutely no clue what's coming. Sometimes he'll point to my tummy and say "owie!" but that's about as much attention he gives to my enormous tummy. He still loves to be carried everywhere, even around the house. He's gotten really clingy lately and drags on my legs begging for me to hold him. Even though 28 extra pounds of baby is not what I need right now, I can't ever resist babying him a little longer before he officially become a big boy. I can't believe he's almost two! Time is so unfair with how fast it goes, it seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. And now he's jumping off the sofa and doing somersaults around the house all day long.

At 23 months......

- Madden is so observant and we're already realizing that whatever he hears us say or sees us do, will soon be repeated. Just about every day Madden points at something new and says what it is or what sound it makes. He loves to talk and feels so proud of everything he does. We celebrate and applaud a lot in our house, and everything new he learns is followed by him clapping and saying "yay!"
-Another month, and even more words! He talks all day long! Unless we are on face time- he gets really quiet and hardly says anything when we're talking on the phone. But as soon as we hang up, he is so noisy and makes up for the lost talking time.
-He loves cookies, but he calls them "tooties" and I hope that never changes.
-When I ask him what kind of baby we're having, he says, "a boy!" even though he has no idea what that means.
-He loves to read, but recently instead of me reading to him, he likes to read to me. He flips through the pages, and points at the pictures and acts like he's reading. "A dee dee dee, a dee dee dee. Ah done."
-At night when I put him to sleep, I always say, 'You're mama's favorite boy, right?" And every time he says back, "Wight." Then I say, "I'll be here when you wake up ok?" then he says, "Oh tee."
-Also when I'm putting him to bed, as soon as I lay him in his crib he pulls up him shirt and asks for itsy bitsy spider. Afterward, when I'm walking out of the room he calls after me and says, "Thank you mom, thank you!"
-We can't wait to give this boy a yard! He would play outside all day if he could and is constantly asking if we're going "bye bye." Kind of breaks my heart when I tell him no, but it's the best when we really are going outside, and he bolts to the door and has no time or patience for putting clothes or shoes on.
-He loves the moon and points to it at night and says, "mon!! wow!" Even in his books or toys, any circle he sees, he thinks is a moon. He also is starting to say "sun" too and always mentions that the sun is hot. He loves looking at the sky and can point out every bird in the sky or airplane he sees. Whether we're playing outside or driving in the car, he's always staring at the sky yelling, "Airplane!" or "Dup Dup" (for a bird).
-I'm so torn whether I should start potty training him already. He seems so ready and tells me every time he is about to go to the bathroom, or if he's messy, "yuck mom, yucky." And the second his diaper is wet, he takes it off himself and goes and throws it in the trash. I've tried putting him on the toilet a few times when I know he's about to go, but he won't do it. I feel like we're a little too close to our new baby's arrival to full on potty train but if I don't do it now, it probably won't happen for several months.
-Madden is finally starting to eat well thanks to Jeff telling me to stop giving him so much milk. Milk is all he ever wanted and he would never eat anything else throughout the day. So finally I just replaced milk with some apple juice and now he's eating like a champ! He eats raspberries all day long, and English muffins, and multigrain cheerios are his favorite cereal. He especially loves fruit and has been asking for "onge" (oranges) or "bury" (berries) a lot lately.
-He's finally realizing what an owie is now that he's gotten his fair share of scraped knees and stubbed toes. Every time he hurts himself or even if he sees a healing scab on his knee, it reminds him that it needs to be kissed. He comes over to me saying, "Owie, ow mom" and makes me kiss his owie. I love being the one he comes to for that sort of thing. Nothing makes an owie feel better like mom.
-The older he gets, the more stubborn he becomes. He does not like it when I tell him no. When I do, he gets mad at me and points his little finger toward me, furrows his brow and says, "No mom, stop!" or "Don't!"
-Madden loves to practice raising his eyebrows, it's the funniest thing to catch him doing it. He'll be eating or playing, and I'll look over and he's sitting there raising his eyebrows up and down. He'll catch me spying on him and he'll smile and laugh.
-He is also very particular. No drawer can be left open and doors have to be shut at all times. Even when he's excited to be going outside, before he runs out the front door he turns around and goes to shut his bedroom door.
-Madden loves to say prayers, it is the sweetest thing. At dinner on Christmas Eve, it was the first time, he really paid attention during the prayer and at the end he burst out, "Amen!" as loud as he could. Ever since then, praying is one of his favorite things. He'll come kneel down with us and fold his hands on top of each other, and he look down at the ground, not quite closing his eyes. He loves to be the first to say amen and be the one to say it the loudest. After every amen, he claps and says yay!! A few weeks ago, we asked if he wanted to say the prayer at dinner, and he got so excited and folded his arms and started babbling. There were lots of ums, and finally he burst out amen. It was one the cutest things he's ever done. Some mornings when we wakes up I'll hear him in the monitor praying in his crib and yelling "Amen, yay!" when he's done. He's growing up so fast, and it's the best thing to watch him learn good things.

We also had a great Christmas as a little family. We stayed in Florida and did everything we could to make it feel like a snow white winter, but with 80 degree weather, it's kind of impossible. Although we did make fudge and Christmas cookies, and on Christmas Eve we made ham and twice baked potatoes and orange rolls. Jeff and I got Madden dressed in his cutest Christmas jammies and put him to bed. Afterward, we set up all of his toys and hung his stocking filled with gross kid chocolate. This year Santa brought Madden a chalkboard art easel, and Honey and Big Fella gave him an Indian teepee, so he had to big and exciting presents waiting for him Christmas morning. He had several smaller gifts from grandparents that took just about all day to open. We thought he get excited about opening wrapped presents this year, but all he cared about was his Christmas suckers he found in his stocking. We had some green, sticky sucker fingers most of the day. It was fun spending the day together and starting some of our own family traditions that will carry on throughout the years.

We have an exciting month ahead of us! We can't wait to meet our new baby brother and finally become a family of 4!

22 months

 We are so excited for Christmas with our little man this year. He still doesn't really know what Santa is all about and I doubt he'll care about unwrapping presents, but I know he'll love all the excitement of the holidays. We tried to take some Christmas pictures of this cutest boy a couple weeks ago, and out of probably 200 pictures, we got maybe two decent ones. He is so curious and quick and it's just about impossible to get the kid to look at the camera longer than two seconds. But we kind of love that about him. The only problem is that he keeps on getting faster, and my big tummy and I keep getting slower, so it's hard keeping him out of trouble these days.

We are so excited to welcome our new baby boy in less than two months! I can't wait to smell that newborn scent again and cuddle a tiny bundle all day. Most of all I'm so excited to watch Madden become a big brother. We are anticipating him to do okay with the slight loss of attention, but we're working on teaching him to be "soooooooft" before the baby comes. Mad is such a rough and tough little guy- ex. I just recovered from my second black eye given to me by this wild child. Lately his favorite thing to do is stick both his pointer fingers in my ears and head but me in the nose. It's going to take a lot of training, but hopefully we'll make it through the first few months without any injuries.

At the beginning of November we got an exciting phone call from a residency program in Des Moines Iowa offering Jeff a position! We weren't planning to find out where we were going for residency until match day in February, so we were thrilled to pre-match. Now we have some time to relax and not worry or stress anymore. Des Moines was our first choice, so it was an easy answer to give them when they called. I am so proud of my man. Everything we've been working toward for the last 4 years has led up to this, and I'm so grateful for all of his hard work and huge sacrifice he's made for our family. We're planning to move mid-March so it's going to be pretty crazy packing with a new baby and a totally nuts toddler, but we can't wait to get out there and get settled. We're going to freeze our Florida buns off for the next few years, but we're going to love it!

Seriously, how cute is he?!

 

I can't believe I almost have a two year old!! At 22 months, Madden...............

 

- He talks constantly and makes everyone laugh all day long- including himself. The best thing is listening to him talk through the monitor when we wakes up. I think his mouth opens before his eyes do, and he starts talking and laughing and calling for Dadda at the top of his lungs. It's so sweet that he calls for Jeff, but he never acts too disappointed when he sees me come in the door- as long as I have a sippy cup of milk to offer. Also, I always know before I go in to get him if he's messy because I hear, "yuck mom, yuck!" over and over through the monitor. At least there's no surprises!

 

- Some of the words or things he says most often... book, bike, dog, cat, yuck, stuck, this, that, elbow, chin, eyes, head, bye bye, stop, go, up, down, what, why, on, off.

 

-He's getting very stubborn about certain things too, and doesn't like it when I tell him no. Whenever I do tell him no, he furrows his brow and points his finger at me and stays "stop mom!" I've been trying my hardest to put a stop to that madness and I'm trying to teach him to just say, "OK, mom" when I tell him no. And just this week, he's started doing it! Success!! I love how he says it too, "Oh tee, mama."

 

-Whenever he loses something, he comes over to me looking confused and holds out his hands and says, "where go?"

 

- When Madden is really excited, his voice gets really high and squeaky. Anytime he sees something new or exciting, he gets so happy and squeaky and says, "Wow, dat!" or "WHOA, what's dis!!!!" He's just recently started to notice my growing tummy, and he lifts up my shirt and points to my tummy and says, "whoa what's dis??"

 

- Every time I go and get him out of his crib, he likes to walk out of his room on his own and says over and over, "Hi! Hi! Hi!" to all his toys he missed while he was sleeping.

 

-Whenever I ask him if he like something, he says, "YA I DO!!" It's the cutest.

 

- When I'm putting him to bed, we usually sit in the chair and snuggle for a bit, and then I stand and hold him a little longer before putting him in his crib. As soon as I stand up, he perks up and points back at the chair and begs, "sit, sit, sit!"

 

- This is totally my fault because he doesn't exactly where clothes everyday, but whenever I'm putting a shirt on him he thinks we're going outside. He starts jumping up and down and says, "bye bye?" and runs to the door. This kid hates being inside. We can't wait to give him a back yard to run wild and free!

 

- And whenever he's having a really fun time playing or exploring, he turns to me and says, "Fun mom! Fun!" I shouldn't be so excited that he's talking so well because it just means he's growing up and getting big too fast, but every time he does something new I completely melt into a puddle. Being a mom is the best.

 

- Madden's favorite movie of all time is Rescuers Down Under, which is fine by me because that movie is awesome. He will sit and watch almost the whole thing, which is amazing because for the first time in two years I'm able to get something done outside of his nap time.

 

- He is a little jokester too. When he gets really excited he tries to show off, and usually he'll jump up and land on his bottom, or he'll close his eyes and walk into a wall and fall down laughing. Lately he thinks it's hilarious to stick his finger in his nose and wait for me to look at him. I always swat his hand and say, "get your finger out of there!!" And he laughs and puts it right back up there.

 

-He loves to dance, play hide and seek, tackle mom out of nowhere, jump on the bed, jump on the table, loves playing with his hot wheel set,

 

- He loves anything to do with cars. He asks for the car keys all days long and takes them over to his bike, flip it onto it's side and uses the bike wheel as a steering wheel and sticks the keys into one of the screws. He can turn anything into a car and its so fun to watch him use his imagination. But the thing that makes him the happiest is giving him the keys and actually taking him down to the parking lot and letting him sit in the drivers seat and play. He could sit in there for hours, and sometimes Jeff and I will take shifts sitting down there with him.

 

- Even though Madden can open all the doors, he's started knocking on the door first and sticking his face in the crack and yelling before he opens it.

 

- Madden's favorite room to play in is the bathroom. He always finds Jeff's toothbrush no matter where it is hidden and prefers to use that to brush his teeth instead of his own. He has to put the toothpaste on himself without any help. He also loves to suck the minty-ness off of the floss. He loves the bath tub and he's been taking some seriously long baths these days. He stays in so long that his fingers get really pruney and he stares at them and says, "owie." And lately one of his favorite bathroom pastimes is to rip up the toilet paper into teeny tiny pieces, then blows his nose/breathes into each piece one at a time, opens the toilet lid, drops in the TP, then runs around to the other side and flushes. Over and over and over again. He's gone through almost a whole roll this past week. As long as he doesn't stick his hand in the toilet or throw anything other than TP in there, he can do this as long as he wants!

 

- We've been struggling with eating habits this past month. Madden does not like to eat much other than his milk. Every once in a while I'll give him something and feel really happy when I watch him chew his food, but he'll run off and later I'll find little pile of half chewed food on the carpet somewhere in the house. He's like a little hamster and stores his food on the roof of his mouth. So when I offer him a new bite, he'll spit out his hidden food to make room for the new bite. Apparently he hasn't quite grasped the concept of swallowing and it's making me insane. He asks for apples all day long and he gets so excited when I give him a slice. But to this day, I don't think any bit of apple has ever reached his tummy. He chews it up, sucks out the juice and spits the rest onto the floor. He's visited time out a few times for spitting food on the floor, so now he just comes to me and grabs my hand so he can spit it out into my hand. I'm hoping this is a phase, and hoping that it won't last much longer. He loves his milk and knows the difference between his milk jug and mine and Jeff's. His milk jug has a red cap, and even though the other one is pink, he pulls his out of the fridge every time. He also loves carnation instant breakfast. I mixed it into his milk to make it chocolaty one time and now he's hooked. He knows where its hidden in the pantry, and he points up at the shelf and says, "gish, gish, gish!" begging for it. Heaven help me!

 

- Several times a day, Madden and I will be playing and out of nowhere he will drop to the ground and lay on his tummy and pretend to sleep. He shuts his eyes and does a fake little snore. He'll peek his eyes open and look at me, and every time I say, "Oh you must be so tired, lets go take a nap." But then he pops right up and says, No no no no.

 

- When it really is bed time, he all of sudden gets frantic and has to play with every single toy he never even looked at during the day. He's already trying to dodge bed time and he's not even 2! He loves saying prayers and he sits on his bum and folds his arms and closes his eyes for about two seconds. The rest of the prayer he looks at me and Jeff smiling, but he keeps his arms folded the whole time! When prayer is over, he claps his hands and loves when we tell him what a good job he did.