Ok all, I have a confession of my own to make. Kim and I have had a tough weekend. We're dealing with the fact that our 7month old daughter is a bit of a klepto. Yes, she stole for the first time this weekend and it was from our own friends.
You see, it all started when our good friends Took, Jeff and Max needed help moving. Kim, Maddie and I rallied to the cause and got them into their new place. The downside? Well, when we got home, we found that Maddie came home with something that wasn't hers or ours:
What we are happy about is how strong she is; above, she's seen trying to hide it under her jumperoo. She must have tucked this little box into her pocket or her onesie or something... I KNOW!!! Isn't that amazing?!?! We were so surprised because it's not such a small box, you know? We were also surprised when she pulled herself up to a standing position!! We were so excited! See the continued progression below
She's so fun and she's so strong. However, I'm sure you can see a fatal flaw in this story. Don't worry, she actually did pull herself up. She just didn't take this box. It's just a little too big for her to carry.
That's where my actual confession comes in. So we helped Took and Jeff move and this box made it home with us. No, this isn't just any box. It doesn't have expensive electronics, luxurious jewelry, or irreplaceable keepsake items from someone's childhood. No, no, that's just not special enough. This box was marked with "TOOK'S MOST PRIZED POSSESSIONS" and contained quite a few delicious bags that you saw in the previous post.
So, to all of you who showed interest in this beautiful arm candy, they are not for sale... by us anyway. You can try hitting Took up for the same prices, but she may have a bit of a markup :)
Sorry to you all for the joke affecting you as well. It's funny because I think Took was even ready to put some money down on a couple of these before she noticed that they were hers... too funny!
Oh, and Kim wants me to make it abundantly clear that she had nothing to do with this.
Spring is upon us and the cleaning has begun. I started by mopping the floors throughout the house so Maddie has a good place to crawl. Now that she's on the move, it's become abundantly clear to me that some of my most prized possessions (next to Maddie and Kurt, of course) aren't so practical with a 7month old. So, I'm liquidating some of my assets. I have the description and price listed with each photo. Let me know if you're interested in any of them. Thanks!
1. Michael Kors
This bag goes with everything. I love it, but a girl can only have so many black bags. $25
2. Lotus
Too cute, but I'll never use it now that Maddie's around. It, unfortunately doesn't hold enough :( $25
3. Dolce & Gabbana
Ok, same deal. I LOVE this bag, but I've already got a brown bag and I worry about this one too much with Maddie... I know, I know. I can't help it. $25
4. Kate Spade
A simplified, classy number. It's been a great friend but it's off to a new home for this one! $25
5. Louis Vuitton
This is a true classic. I won't tell you the story of how I got it. Just know that the price is still quite the catch. $20
6. Petunia Pickle Bottom
Ok, this has to be one of the most beautiful diaper bags of all times. The silk is still in great condition and the colors are a coppery brown with a bright turquoise. So fun! $25
So the Bible encourages us to confess our sins not just to God but to fellow humans in an effort to be free from guilt and shame. Counterintuitive, perhaps, but it's really true. While I was pregnant, everyone warned me that becoming a mother is like treading water in a big guilt river; the minute that baby is breathing its own air, you start feeling guilty about something you are not doing or are doing or did once in 1993, and it never stops. I found this to be completely true. Madelyn ended up having to be born via C-section. I pushed for 4 hours and 15 minutes, but I still felt (feel) guilty that I didn't work harder to deliver her naturally without a sad little bruise on the top of her head (for days after her birth, I cried every time I saw that little bruise!). And that is just the beginning! In an effort to alleviate some of my neurotic parental guilt, therefore, consider this post my public confessional. The following admissions are not "sins," per se, but they certainly cause me to blush slightly when I think of them.
1. I allow my 6 month old to chew on bottles of medicine. She knows they're not toys, so they automatically hold more allure for her. And she likes the way the squeezy-top feels on her gums. A toy can occupy her attention for about 6 minutes when we're out and about. But a bottle of medicine will get me a good 15-20 minutes, sometimes longer. I at least make sure the top is screwed on very tightly, and I never leave her alone with them, so if any of my co-workers are reading this page, don't call the hotline!
2. I sometimes change her clothes in the middle of the day under the pretense that she's spit up on them or leaked out of her diaper when really I just want to put her in a different outfit. This doesn't make me feel guilty, necessarily, but it's kind of embarrassing. I do know that my daughter is not a doll...sort of...
3. I really really really want her to be an athlete. I never was (and that's putting it mildly), and I think it would be so fun to go to games and cheer her on in whatever sport she chooses. I will totally support her in whichever extracurricular activity she chooses, and I vow---PUBLICLY--to not become one of those psycho "live through your kids" parents who is constantly pushing and marketing and criticizing their 6 year old from the sidelines only to get kicked out of the little league game by the 17 year old ref. It's her life and her childhood and she can choose whatever she wants. As long as it's a sport :)
4. I worry that I love Madelyn too much. Or rather, that I am too emotionally caught up in her. I can barely make it through an 8 hour work day away from her let alone a night away or a weekend away (neither of which we've done yet). I can't even imagine sending her off to Kindergarten or being ok with the fact that one day, she's going to prefer her friends to her mommy (gulp). College? Marriage? Forget it. She's never leaving home. (Quick aside: My dad assures me that adolescence will take care of this issue completely. I try not to take that assessment personally :)
Well, that's all that comes to mind right now. I'm quite sure there will be others as time passes.
Oh boy. Kurt and I are totally in for it. The activity level in our house in the last 24 hours has dramatically increased, and it is most certainly not divided equally among the three of us. I finally got disgusted enough with the state of my floors to do a deep clean after Madelyn went to bed last night. Weird, I know, but when the cleaning bug bites, you just better go with it because there's no telling when it's going to bite again. I at least managed to get the loud vacuuming done before she fell asleep, but I was on my knees hand scrubbing my floors until about 8:30 p.m. Let me just say: sparkling. You can eat off of these floors, which is why when Maddie woke up on Saturday morning, we put her down on the floor to crawl and explore to her heart's content (I had previously kept her more or less confined to a quilt on the floor because she has a tendency to lick the floors as she's crawling along). Now that she's tasted (literally, it seems) freedom, there's no going back. She doesn't want to be held or confined in any way...she just wants to crawl! And she can really scoot along! Favorite destinations thus far: my breastpump, the fireplace, the colander on the bottom shelf of the island in the kitchen, and the dirty shoe mat by the front door. Her basket full of colorful toys? Nope. Never :)
Madelyn's first Easter Sunday was also fun. Look at her in her sweet little dress! We went to church in the morning and then shared yummy meals with Papa, Nana, Auntie Kelsie, Uncle Kris, Grandpa, and Grandma throughout the day. Maddie always has a blast visiting with her extended family. She has a unique relationship with each person, and it's such a joy for Kurt and me to watch those relationships grow.
One other photo for good measure. This is her first experience with a teething biscuit. They are most certainly as messy as everyone says they are, but she absolutely loved it...until she gummed it so hard that a huge chunk broke off in her mouth causing her paranoid first-time mom to frantically fish it out with her finger and then take the rest of it away while Maddie broke down in huge crocodile tears. So sad!
At six months, Madelyn is on the verge of crawling any day. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth, and she definitely has the strength to crawl. She moves her knees, but she just hasn't figured out that she has to move her hands as well. Mostly, she does this inchworm thing where she's on her hands and knees and then flops on her tummy only to get back up on her hands and knees a little bit further forward than she was before. It seems to be working just fine for her, though, because she sure can get where she wants to go.
Every now and then, while on her hands and knees, Maddie will kick one leg up in the air and just let it hang out there for a bit. We're not sure if she's doing a little morning yoga or if perhaps she's channeling a bird dog's pointing skills. Regardless, it's stinkin' cute (of course, we think she's cute when she BREATHES so perhaps we're not the most objective judges!)
Per Nana's request, here's a recent photo of Madelyn :) (Thanks to Auntie Kari for the ADORABLE hat! We have gotten tons of compliments!)
