Time is surely flying by! I cannot believe it is almost the end of April. We are still trying to sell our house....ahhhh. It is becoming more & more frustrating! Have you ever tried to keep a house clean with 2 little ones & a wild dog?! But, we are managing!
Madelyn is getting smarter every day & a little sassy! :) She doesn't hold back telling you what she thinks!! But, she can be the sweetest girl, too! She is learning her ABC's & knows most of them. She has been taking to rhyming words and loves making her own! It's fun to watch her learn and get excited!
I love, love, love when she tells me how much she loves me! It makes me smile. The other thing she tells me is that I am her best friend. I hope she still tells me that in 10 years!
Caroline is almost 5 months old. Wow! She loves to coo at Madelyn and she makes her giggle all the time. Madelyn wakes up and the first thing she wants to do is go see Caroline. It is wonderful! Caroline has to go back to the eye doctor soon in June for her hemangioma. We think it is growing some more, but it's really hard to tell. Poor baby :(. Caroline has been waking up more at night....oh well. What can you do?! She also started rice cereal this week & is doing well with it! She'll be crawling before we know it!
We've been busy going to playdates and Madelyn going to preschool. We try to do something everyday, but we also love our down time! We usually eat at Chick Fil A once a week...can you imagine? Madelyn loves playing with her friend, Claire, from preschool. She told me yesterday that she was her best friend and loves her.
Next weekend we will have Caroline baptized, so that will be exciting. Their Grandma & Papa Frank are coming from Florida. It will be their first time meeting little Caroline. I'm so excited!

I think that's it for now! Take care!

Twice in one week?

I can't believe I am actually writing again today--twice in one week. I have realized I need to be much better about writing things down that happen, especially the funny sayings Madelyn says to me. Her newest saying to me is, "Don't be so serious, Mommy." Or she'll say, "seriously", without missing a beat. The other day she told me she was so frustrated. What a big word for a 3 year old to be using & in the right context! She also has a thing about smelling your breath in the morning. She cannot stand it! She will flat out tell you your breath stinks & you need to brush your teeth. Ahhh....the joys of 3! I'm trying to teach her how to say things a little more nicely!!
She is completely potty trained now! Yay! She is even night trained, which she did from the get-go! She loves to use the big potty....so bye-bye little potty :).
Madelyn got some new crocs to wear this summer & boy, does she love them! She also loves the jibbitz that you can buy to go with them. Right now she has butterflies & Mickey/Minnie Mouse. Maybe the Easter Bunny will be kind & bring her a couple more!
Caroline is just a little ham! She loves to coo & smile. She is also fascinated by watching herself in our bathroom mirror when taking a bath. She goes to the doctor for her 4 month check up soon. Where has the time gone???
Well...I'm off to go clean the kitchen. Does it ever end? I didn't think so...

I can't believe it's March!

Wow! Has it really been 2 months since I last posted? We have been very busy! Our house is still for sale. (sigh...) We have had 36 showings! It is exhausting and overwhelming at the same time keeping it so clean with 2 kids!

Madelyn just had her 3rd birthday last month. She loved having her party at The Little Gym. She celebrated with some of her friends! I cannot believe she is 3, though. Although, she turned 3 and a new attitude came right along with it!! She is so honest and tells it like it is. :) She adores Caroline and calls her "sweetie" all the time. She loves to climb in her crib with her and play. She really enjoys going to pre-school 2 days a week. She has made some new friends and it is sweet hearing her talk about them. She also has started wearing dresses DAILY. She really insists on dresses and does not like it when Mommy makes her wear pants to pre-school!! It's quite funny! She loves playing on the computer. She uses the mouse with both hands. :)

Caroline is now 3.5 months old and is more precious than ever! She is starting to "coo" often & smiles at us all the time. It really makes your heart melt! She is also starting to get on a schedule, which Mommy loves! She goes to bed at 7 & sometimes will sleep through the night. If she does wake up it's around 3:30-4. She will then go back to sleep until 7 or so. She doesn't really like the carseat, though! She loves her big sister & laughs at her often. Who knew your heart could grow so much for 2 children!

I love being home with them & wouldn't trade it for anything. It's a rewarding experience and something I'll never forget.

Has it really been that long?

Wow! I cannot believe it is the middle of January and I haven't written since the beginning of November. (Shame on me...) So much has happened in the past 2 months. The most important & exciting event is the birth of Caroline Reese, born on December 1. She is absolutely precious and everything we could want in a sweet daughter. Madelyn loves being a big sister! She cuddles with her all of the time and calls her "sweetie pie", "honey bunny", "little sister", & "baby". It's really, really sweet to hear her. She loves to help me change her diaper, feed her a bottle, & lately give her a bath. Life couldn't be better! It is really busy and can be quite hectic at times. Caroline is starting to sleep more on a routine at night. She goes down around 7 and wakes up around 3 or 4 and goes back to sleep until 7:30-8:00. Not bad!

Christmas was wonderful, especially with Madelyn & Caroline. Santa was soooo good to all of us. Madelyn got her "Pat Pat Rocket" that she had been asking for since October. Madelyn was off from school for a couple of weeks. She headed back the second week of January. I think she was happy to go back and see her friends.

This weekend brought us a new challenge...POTTY TRAINING! Yikes :) She did great the first day...no accidents! It is still a work in progress and I think she will get the hang of it soon. I have potty prizes to help her these first few days.

We also put our house on the market this weekend. That was a huge undertaking!! I never realized how much "stuff" we owned! We signed a contract on a new house just a couple of miles up the road. Let's just hope this house sells!! I cannot wait :).

Well, hopefully I won't wait for 2 more months to write again!

4 weeks and counting

It is hard to believe we only have 4 weeks left to meet this little one! We are getting more excited each day. I think I'm most excited about Madelyn meeting her sister. She talks about her all the time. Tonight while she was in the bath tub she told me she was going to love her and make her so happy. That brought a tear to my eye! Madelyn is very sweet about it all and I can't wait to see the two of them together!! We are finishing up doing things around the house before the baby. Danny put together the carseat tonight. Madelyn was happy to see that!

We are doing some household renovations in our kitchen starting next week. We are putting in new countertops and flooring. I cannot wait to see it! It's going to be a busy month!

Halloween went very well and Madelyn had a blast, of course! She was Minnie Mouse and loved every minute of it. She trick or treated at some of the nearby houses but decided to come home to eat candy! She still made it to bed by 8, so it all worked out!

That is about it for now....more to write soon!

The past month...

It has been a while since I posted...it has been a busy month! We headed to Wrightsville Beach the middle of September. Madelyn loved every minute of it! You could not keep her out of the water. Thank goodness for Daddy chasing her! Mommy couldn't keep up! Our friends, Kim & Jason came down with their daughter, Katelyn. They had fun playing together. We visited the Wilmington Children's Museum and also the aquarium at Fort Fisher.



Madelyn has adjusted to preschool now! She loves her teacher and she talks about her friends all the time. This has made it much easier on Mommy!



This past weekend we took Madelyn to Gaynard Hill Farm in Durham. She got to go on a hayride, go through a maze, and pick a pumpkin. It was a great day!!



This week we took her to the NC State Fair and she loved it! She loved the rides...again, thanks to Daddy for going on those with her. She loved one ride similar to the tilt-a-whirl, but it made Daddy feel sick. She insisted on riding it again! She also enjoyed visiting the animals. Next year we will be busy with 2 kids in tow!



Not much longer until the new baby comes. Madelyn has been helping Mommy get ready by putting out her clothes and blankets. She tells me she is going to love on her, play with her, tickle her, and give her a bath. I cannot wait to see Madelyn with her!!

It has been a while since I have written. A couple of things happened over the past month that are exciting in our house! First of all, Madelyn moved into her new big girl room!! (Thanks to Nonna who painted the room for us!) We had anticipated on getting it ready and letting her play in there for a week or so to adjust before sleeping in the room. However, Madelyn had a different plan!! She decided she was going to sleep in it that night....and she did! She loves her new big girl room, as she calls it. She has figured out how to get down and has done that once during nap time. She knows that her old room, the nursery, is now for Baby Sister Caroline.

Another big event that has happened is Madelyn starting preschool! She goes two days a week from 9:30-1:00. She has her Dora lunchbox and loves that! She is adjusting and so is mom!! It's hard leaving her, but she ends up doing well. She talks about her friends she has made and what they do while she is there.

We are off to the beach next week! We are looking forward to a much needed break and spending time as a family of 3 (won't be long until we are a family of 4..)!! I'll post pictures of our beach trip after we return.