Abe Martin Lodge

Adam has almost two weeks for Spring Break this year and we’re pretty excited about it. Instead of doing a big trip, we decided to fill our time with smaller and more local things to do.  But we wanted to start off break doing something really fun so we spent a night at Abe Martin Lodge in Brown County State Park. We had never been, and if you haven’t either I would definitely recommend it! Especially if you have kids. It was only a 40 min drive for us. It’s no Great Wolf Lodge, but our kids are too little to appreciate a huge place like that anyway. Plus it’s half the price.  And you can’t beat the Brown County view. Even in the yucky brown of winter. They have a really nice aquatics center and a yummy restaurant. We stayed on a Sunday night and we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves! Abi had an absolute blast. This year she is big enough to swim by herself with a foam floatation thing you strap around her arms and middle. She thought she was really big stuff blowing bubbles and kicking her feet. I have a feeling we won’t be able to get her out of the pool this summer.

Big Girl Bed!

We always said we would leave Abi in her crib as long as we could. Mostly because we didn’t want to deal with her being able to get out of her bed whenever she wanted. She seemed perfectly happy in her crib and never made any attempts to climb out. But Miss Madelyn is busting out of her cradle and desperately needs to be moved into the crib. Since the girls will be sharing a room, we’ve also been trying to wait until she sleeps through the night consistently. Which she does not do. But we just couldn’t wait any longer. The poor chubby thing needs a bigger bed!

My absolutely fabulous and generous friend Fionna offered us a free toddler bed and we jumped on it! It looks brand new and it’s an extended bed so she has plenty of room to grow. We really talked up The Big Girl Bed and took her to Target to pick out some new sheets. We also kept saying that Madi was going to sleep in her room with her, and she was really excited about that. Until we realized she thought they were going to sleep in the crib together! Ha!

She was so excited to put her new ladybug sheets on her bed and arrange all her stuffed animals. I was a little nervous about how she would sleep in her new bed, but she did great. Until she woke up. She woke up about 6:30 screaming her head off. I think she must have woken up in an unfamiliar bed and been scared. We were really hoping she wouldn’t put it together that she could get out of her bed on her own. No such luck. When she woke up from her nap today, she came walking downstairs proud as a peacock. Naptime in the big girl bed continues to be a struggle. Pretty much every day she comes downstairs after a few minutes announcing, “I’m awake!” And on a few occasions I’ve gone to investigate loud thumps and jovial singing to find her throwing all her stuffed animals and blankets onto the floor in a pile. Which I’m assuming she is jumping into. Sigh.

I have to admit, I almost got a little teary kissing her goodnight in her big girl bed the first night. Where does the time go!? But I’m so excited for her and all the fun the girls will have sharing a room.



so excited!!

 



Happy 6 Months, Madelyn!

I can’t believe Madelyn is 6 months old. It makes me sick how fast time flies. Madi is the sweetest and most content baby. I wish I could just push pause and keep her a baby forever. At her 6 month check-up she weighed 20lbs 1.5oz and was 26.25in long. (Abi was 16lbs 6.5oz and 25in long at 6 months) That’s 95^th percentile for weight and 76^th percentile for length. The doc says she is “slimming down.” Ha! We had to get down the tub of 12-18 months clothes for Miss Butter Thighs. Keep in mind, Abi wore that size only last summer!! And as soon as I finish the box of size 3 diapers in the closet, they will wear the same size diaper. It’s kind of ridiculous. And hilarious.

Madi is really good at sitting up by herself now. And we are now if my favorite stage. I love when they can sit on their own and play without going anywhere! She still doesn’t have any teeth, but I can see her two bottom teeth under the gum. She is starting to get pretty noisy and does a lot of growling, grunting, spitting, cooing, shrieking, etc. She loves to roll and entertains herself by rolling around the room from toy to toy. Abi and Madi have really been playing a lot lately and it’s adorable. Abi loves to play peek-a-boo with her, read her books and smother her in general. And Madi just loves it.                                                      

Madi has been constantly congested for the past month.  She wakes up multiple times a night because she can’t breathe. So the doctor suggested giving her Zyrtec daily to combat the congestion; since it’s probably just the same sinus junk the rest of us are suffering with. I was really hesitant to give Zyrtec to a baby, but he assured me it’s totally fine. And she may not even need it once it gets warm. And so far, it works like a charm! She has been consistently sleeping 8:30-6:30 and I feel renewed!



"Mom, please stop taking pictures of my fat rolls. It's sooo embarassing."



I just can't get enough of that big smile and those baby blue eyes!



mmm...carrots

 

Check out those Thunder Thighs!!



Now that Madi can sit up, the girls love taking a bath together. Although
it doesn't look like it from this awkward picture. And I love it too because it saves me so much time.



happy girl



No, Abi is Not Potty Trained, Thanks So Much for Asking...

Now that Abi is 2 ½ people are constantly asking me how potty training is going. Well, it’s not going. Pun intended. When she was about 18 months old she started telling me when she was pooping and if she pooped during her nap it always woke her up. I took this as a sign that she must, of course, be extremely brilliant and advanced. So of course she would potty train early.  My excitement was fueled by the fact that we had #2 on the way and I didn’t want to do double-diaper-duty.  So we trotted down to Target and bought a potty. We did the usual oooo’s and aaaaa’s when we sat her on it and chatted up being a Big Girl.  The result was a lot of time reading books in the bathroom, 58 unraveled rolls of toilet paper and one very large dinosaur turd in the middle of my kitchen floor.  She wasn’t ready.  We took a nice long break and I didn’t push it. I have so many people tell me, “She’ll do it when she’s ready.” Then I hear stories about people who potty train their 20 month olds over a weekend. Whaaaa???

By now, most of Abi’s friends that are her age are almost or completely potty trained. (jerks) Adam and I always ask her, “Don’t you want to use the Big Girl Potty like *insert friend*??” She always enthusiastically answers, “Yes!” And then sits on the potty and does nothing. My mom got her Minnie Mouse panties for Christmas. When we said, “Don’t you want to pee in the Big Girl Potty so you can wear your Minnie Mouse underwear?” She answered, “No, I want you to change my diaper.” Yes. Don’t I know it. We’ve tried bribery, too. I drive myself crazy trying to decide the best way to approach it. I don’t want to push her too hard and totally turn her off from it. Side story: Once at the store, a total stranger asked me if Abi was potty trained.  Despite it being none of her business, I patiently explained that we were working on it but she’s not very interested. This lady proceeded to tell me that I would do “permanent psychological damage” if I pushed her into it. What is WRONG with people that they think they can say stuff like that to strangers!?

I recently spent some time chatting with other moms to discover I am actually NOT the only parent that struggles with a reluctant potty pooper. So I read a few articles by doctors, other moms, and psychologists.  But none written by random people at Target.  And decided, once again, to take a little break. She doesn’t really show all the readiness signs and according to one article, children’s bladders aren’t really physically capable of “holding it” until almost 3 and that it’s often pointless to start until then unless you want to clean up a lot of accidents.  None of this should really be a surprise to me. Abi has always been extremely stubborn strong-willed and never does anything until she’s ready. No matter if we’re ready or not. Sooo I guess I’ll just keep waiting and take my cues from her. I tell myself it will be a much smoother and relaxed process when she is ready in her own time. Even though I fear she may be in Kindergarten. I do know one thing is for sure – I don’t need any more dinosaur turds on my kitchen floor.



As a desperate attempt to get Abi to sit still on the potty, Adam resorted to reading
soccer plays outloud to her. HA!!



OBSESSION (not by Calvin Klein)

Abigail is now obsessed with two things: Lion King and her turquoise sparkly shoes. I suppose it’s normal for kids to go through phases. I know I had my share of obsessions growing up. Most memorably: Treasure Trolls, Pocahontas and to the utter dismay of my dad…‘NSYNC.

The Lion King obsession has been developing for awhile. About a year ago, my friend Becky gave Abi a stuffed Simba and Nala that were hers when she was a kid. Abi plays with them a lot, so we had mentioned their names here and there. At Adam’s parents house there is a Lion King book that belonged to one or all of the boys at some point over the years. She wants Uncle David reads it to her over and over and over and he doesn’t seem to mind. Then a couple weeks ago, Uncle David bought her the movie – for no reason other than being an awesome uncle. And that was it. She wants to watch it all.the.time. And by all the time, I mean as soon as its over she wants to watch it again! And when I say ‘no,’ she asks every 10 minutes if she can watch it. In our car there is a mix cd with various kid songs that Marci made when we worked at KinderCare about a millennium ago. There are two songs from Lion King on the cd, which she immediately recognized after she had seen the movie. And now the second we get in the car she wants to, “listen to Simba.” At first it was fun; I hadn’t seen it since I was a kid and it is a good movie. But holy cow. And can I just say…Lion King came out in 1993!! That’s 20 years ago!! I felt so old!!



reading Lion King for the umpteenth time with Uncle David

 



Abi's morning routine: toast with peanut butter, Simba & Nala and Lion King movie.
For the record: I obviously don't let her watch it every day



Oh, the sparkly shoes. They are super cute shoes. Traci gave them to Abi since they don’t fit anyone in her house anymore. She demands to wear them every time we leave the house. With total disregard for things like weather or whether or not they match anything she has on. I briefly considered fighting her on it, but quickly realized it just isn’t worth it. I knew she would insist on wearing them to church today, so I got smart and coordinated her outfit to the shoes.