MEGA Post on Halloween Fun!

Are you ready for a loooong post with lotsa pictures?!

But first...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Ok...where were we...

FRIDAY

Last Friday, we carved pumpkins at G'ma Tracy's house. Before the carving fun, I gave M a fun pumpkin light...and I took a couple shots of M with her Great-Grandparents and G'ma Tracy!

Madison loves picking big objects up. (*side note - she tries picking Winky up all the time...it's hilarious!) She probably had the most fun rolling around her pumpkin trying to pick it up.

Then, we (again when I say 'we' I mean Josh) got to work! *I hate carving pumpkins.* Since I couldn't find a Muno costume for Josh, I made him carve a Muno pumpkin!

Madison tried helping for a bit, but she wasn't a fan of the yucky insides and was quite content sitting on her Daddy's lap letting him do the dirty work! :)

I jumped in for a quick picture with her at the end.

All of the finished pumpkins! M's Muno, Bev's scared kid under covers (she did a fancy stencil one), G'ma Tracy's, and Aunt Stacy's!

We also celebrated G'ma Tracy's birthday early since Josh was home. Madison thoroughly enjoyed singing and clapping for G'ma.

SUNDAY

Josh had to leave Sunday evening, so I knew he'd miss most of the Halloween fun! :( No worries...I still made him take some photos with his little M in the morning! I made our costumes...and they were...ehhhh, ok. I think I could have done better...but for $11 worth of felt...they were pretty cheap and good enough.

Later that evening, we headed to G'ma Tracy's to help pass out candy. She was a bit cautious at first..but soon jumped right in and loved putting candy in the trick-or-treater's bags.

G'pa Dave came over to check out M in her M&M costume...and M showed off her playset to G'pa!

MONDAY

It's officially Halloween!

So for fun...I dressed our doggies up!

Benny the Bee and Winky the Pumpkin

Then, I proceeded to run around like a chicken with my head cut off and try and get a decent picture of two dogs and a one year old...silly I know. I had to bribe them all with treats...and even that didn't help much...

"Mama...are you happy? We're all here and Winky and I are even looking at the camera!"

"Winky...get back here!!!"

Whew...that was long! I'm exhausted. Is anyone even reading this!? LOL! :)

Madison's First Race!

TNT sponsored Calvary Pre-School's Family Fun Day in Walcott, IA that was held this afternoon.

They were holding a 70 yd. Dash Fun Run for 1-2 year olds, so of course Madison signed up! I told her to try her best...but it's always fun to win!!! :) JK. Wait, no I'm not...

Here's her pre-race photo with Daddy. Madison was busy checking out the course and her competition.

Here she is in action...she loved it...she laughed the whole way!

(I forgot my video camera - doh!!!)

At the finish line she enjoyed us all clapping for her and was happily cheering for herself, too!! She loved the attention and loved her participation 'medal.' She would have stayed there letting us all clap for her and have her picture taken all afternoon...but she was kicked off the course so the next race could start. Haha!

This felt like such a 'grown-up' event for her to participate in (in her Mama's eyes anyways)...time is flying by SO fast. We are so proud of our little Madison and I can't describe how much joy she brings to our lives.

P.S. Thanks to G'ma Tracy and Jeff for cheering her on, too!

Foto Friday - Big Pumpkin

She tried and tried and tried to pick up her pumpkin tonight!

She just couldn't get it!

(Full post on pumpkin carving soon!)

Foto Friday - Daddy's Helper

We are SO excited M's TNT shirt finally arrived!

Video Overload

3...that's right 3 videos of our awesome Madison for your viewing pleasure!

1) This one's from FOREVER ago...ok, like probably 6 months ago. It was before she could walk so it seems like FOREVER ago! But, she's just SO cute in it that I had to share!

I love the sound she makes at the 20 sec. mark while contemplating what she should do next.

2) Here she is 'feeding' herself. It works best to keep shoveling it in while she does it herself...otherwise, it'd take FOREVER. :) I was glad Gpa was there so I could catch it on video.

She's acting pretty silly in this video...she actually does ok right now dipping her spoon and getting it into her mouth...just needs to learn how to scoop next....

3) Showin' off her new skills of getting in and out of her car ALL BY HERSELF. She actually enjoys getting in and out over and over more than being pushed around!

Is it wrong that I silently laughed when she fell the first time?!

Pumpkins, S'mores & Chainsaws, Oh My!

PUMPKINS
Last Saturday afternoon we went to the Red Barn Pumpkin Farm. It's just outside of Muscatine, is family owned and operated and is super nice for families with young children. *I highly recommend it!*

Madison was first attracted to the "corn boxes." If we had more time, Madison would have played much longer.

There was also a tiny corn maze that M went through with Daddy, some cute photo ops, and tractors for the kids to ride. We didn't have enough time as I should have planned for. BUMMER! Oh well...next year!

We ended up with one big pumpkin that Josh will carve Muno into (I'm hoping...since I couldn't find a Muno costume for him to wear). Also, we let M pick out any smallish pumpkin she wanted...and this tiny one is the one she chose! (She lost interest when she discovered she couldn't really eat it.)

S'MORES

After the pumpkin patch, we were headed to dinner and then a bonfire and haunted hayrack ride with the family at Schone's Friendship Farm in Milan, IL.

We started out hanging by the fire. M had her first taste of a s'more with Mama. She really liked the marshmallow...until G'ma Tracy gave her a bite of her blackened burned marshmallow...then she wouldn't eat any more s'mores. Oh well! Guess she's like her Mama and only likes her marshmallows lightly roasted...not black and burnt like her Daddy and G'ma like them! Haha!

CHAINSAWS

After s'mores, it was our turn for the haunted hay rack...I was hesitant to take M on it, but had called earlier and asked about it and was told I should be able to "shield her" from seeing anything, that it was "family" oriented, and that other families took young children on it...so...we decided to try it out....

Here we are getting ready to start!

Sorry...no more pictures of us on the ride...she did fine at the beginning, until a scary guy jumped ONTO the hay rack with a loud chainsaw and scared the bejesus out of EVERYONE! From then on...for the next 25 minutes she was glued to her Mama...burying her head in my shoulder, squeezing me tightly, and staring at her Daddy. :( Poor girl...lots of scary people in masks continued to jump on the hay rack...Josh got very defensive and told a couple of them who kept getting in her face to, "Back OFF! Dude...she's 1!"

Besides that, we had a great time, the ride was actually pretty scary, and I imagine quite fun if you didn't have a scared one year old to worry about, and it was REALLY nice at the bonfire. The farm provides the fire pit, wood, a picnic table, and a garbage. Guests can then bring their own chairs, food, drinks, etc. *I would definitely recommend this place for large groups.* People can easily stay at their assigned bonfire site if they wanted to skip the hayrack ride. THANKS, G'ma Tracy for treating us!

After the ride, she was back in to having fun with G'pa Louie and her glow in the dark necklace that G'ma Bev bought her!

That was our fun-filled fall day full of pumpkins, s'mores, and chainsaws, oh my!

Foto Friday - "Nigh-Nigh"

Such a sweetie while she's sleeping...or going, "Nigh-Nigh," as she now says.

14 Months

14 Months. 14!. FOURteen! Ok...moving on.

Today it was kinda cloudy out. And a little damp and windy. I probably should have thought of that when I decided to take her monthly photos outside for this next year of her life...oh well (should be interesting this fall and winter)!!

Here are a few pictures from this afternoon.

Looking for the dogs in the yard.

She was more interested in running around (and ditching poor Winnie) than posing for Mama.

Obviously the leaves were way more interesting than looking at me!

So, what's new with M?!

She can now open doors! Usually she's pretty good about staying out...but she has her moments when she tries to sneak in our room.

She knows where her teeth, ears, hair, feet, and belly are. She can point to them when you ask her. I'm teaching her where her nose is next.

She knows that socks and shoes go on her feet and will try and put them on or point to her feet when she sees her shoes or socks. It's super adorable.

She calls ALL 4 legged animals Dog. Today she found this cow statue in our yard and kept pointing and saying, "Dog," until I let her go and 'pet' it. :)

She still takes 2 naps a day (THANK YOU!) and is sleeping great at night. She still sleeps with her Piggy. Check back TOMORROW for Foto Friday with M and Piggy.

She is officially only nursing once a day...before bed! She has 3 meals and 1-2 snacks a day...the girl LOVES eating. She's starting to practice feeding herself with a spoon...it's messy, SO messy, but I'm trying hard to embrace it and have fun with her! She basically dips her spoon in her food and then licks off whatever she can get. We are so proud of her! When she licks her spoon she says, 'Mmmm,' really exaggerated and loud. I think she's pretty proud of herself, too. I have a video of her feeding herself that I will post soon....

She LOVES eating...you cannot eat anything around her without her "begging" from you...she will loudly say, "NUM NUM," if she sees you eating and is very persistent. I'm hoping her doing this will help me stop snacking so much everyday!

She still doesn't like meat or even meat flavored anything. I'm trying not to worry about it too much...but will be checking in with our doctor next month at her appointment.

She likes to hold my hand and 'drag' me to where she wants to go. I love it. (And, I love this picture.)

She still only has 8 teeth...no sign of any new ones.

She (in her own way) can say the following words:
Dah (for DaDa)

Ball
Nigh-Nigh (for Night Night)
Dog

Num

Ba Ba Ba (for Banana)

Hi

Ha Ha

She will NOT say MaMa or Mom. Ever. We are trying...I know she can say the 'M' sound. Actually, I know she can say Mom since she said it a LONG time ago...remember. When we ask her to say MaMa she says, Bah. So, I guess I am Bah to her. Josh thinks this is hilarious.

She LOVES people! She loves saying, 'Hiiiii-eeeee,' to anyone and everyone over and over and over. Cute to me...probably annoying to random people of the public that she targets.

She LOVES watching Blues Clues and signs with the song for Blues Clues (kinda doing jazz hands), notebook (takes her right pointer and points to the palm of her left hand), and think (points to her head). If you watch Blues Clues this will make even more sense. Note to self: I need to video tape this.

She also has SO much fun playing with Winky and Benny. Benny is surprisingly ok with her. She likes watching them play with each other, and she likes giving them toys...which is hard because they've chewed two of her toys...but because she goes up to them and basically shoves them in their mouths! Oh well. I gave the dogs some socks to play with, and she follows them around and laughs and is SO happy when they take the sock from her.

She finally LOVES her little Tykes car she got for her birthday. She was scared of it for awhile, but for whatever reason she just started playing with it earlier this week and LOVES getting in and out ALL BY HERSELF. Josh and I take turns pushing her up and down the long hallway in our basement. I actually have her on video getting in and out of the car...and will post soon!

Her hoodie is size 12 months...clearly too small...bad Mama.

There's probably more I should be adding...but this is all I got for now. My ol' laptop is slow and I'm tired...SO tired...Night!

Yes...I'm Still Nursing M

So, I'm assuming this is a post geared towards Mamas or Soon-To-Be Mamas...OR people who are just curious about weaning. Or maybe no one is interested in this post, and that's ok, too. :)

Really, I'm writing this for me to reflect on my experiences since the plan is to stop nursing M completely in the next month...or so.

Consider yourself warned if the words, "breast" or "weaning" or "nipple" or "plugged duct," make you uncomfortable. Yeah, you should have probably stopped reading like 2 sentences ago...

My Breast Feeding History - "Will/Do you breast feed your baby?"

Before Getting Pregnant:
"Heck, no! No thank you. Ew. Nope. Never."

While Pregnant:

"Ok, I'm going to try, but if it doesn't work out, I won't worry about it."

Madions' 1st Month:
"OMGOSH! This is horrible! I can't do this! Is it time for her nurse again ALREADY! I can't do this! They never tell you this will happen! I can't do this!"

Madison's 2nd Month:
"Ok, we got the hang of this. I can do this for another month. I wanna save money!"

Madison's 3rd Month:
"Well, now my goal is to keep going until she's 6 months. Free food for baby = :)"

Madison's 6th Month:

"Nursing Madison is a breeze now. I will probably nurse her until about 12 months...then that's it! I will NOT nurse her past a year! Maybe I'll introduce formula around 9 months, we'll see..."

Madison's 10th Month:
"Ok, better start thinking about weaning and how to introduce whole milk. I can't wait for her to start giving up some of her nursing sessions! I'm SOOOO OVER being her sole source of nutrition!"

Madison's 12th Month:

"So, nursing her until 15 months isn't that crazy right?! I kinda can't imagine NOT nursing her...."

Madison's 13th Month - RIGHT NOW:

"Ok, I seriously gotta get my plan in action...I'm dropping her morning session...like next week...for sure...."

Ahhh...the evolution of my experience with breastfeeding has been quite remarkable, and has been an experience that I could have never imagined or predicted.

I do feel very grateful that M and I were able to figure everything out, that my body cooperated, and after the first month, nursing really became pretty natural for us.

During the first month, I experienced lotsa pain, bleeding, cracked nipples, and a couple plugged ducts. I cried. A lot. It was uncomfortable, frustrating, scary, and stressful. (I'm sure it was horrible for Josh, too, for different reasons.) BUT, we survived, thanks to nipple shields. (Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about.) They sell them at Target. My Aunt was a lactation consultant and helped me over the phone SO much.

As a new Mama, I quickly realized I wasn't really prepared for breastfeeding at all...even though I took one info. class and did a fair amount of research on-line on my own, so I thought I was prepared before I had M. HA...no, I was not REALLY prepared...(although reflecting back...not sure what else I really could have done...except to talk to a real woman that breastfed...and that's well...awkward...plus, I wouldn't have even know what to ask really...).

My experience with pumping was fine. I thought I would pump more than I ever did...but, I could never figure out how to pump to have extra but to still feel I had enough for her...and truthfully, what it came down to was that I had the luxury of being with her ALL the time that I didn't really have to worry about it.

I never nursed in public...and don't think I ever could. Josh and I sacrificed a lot with our schedules and planning around Madison's nursing sessions the first few months, but I feel it was worth it.

I was very scared to start weaning Madison. Mostly because I didn't want to experience a lot of pain, fullness, tenderness...leaking, plugged ducts...you know...all that fun stuff that they don't talk to you at all about when they are luring you into committing to breastfeeding. :p

But, anyways, here's what worked for us:

At 11 months, M was nursing 4 times a day...like clockwork - morning, before lunch, before dinner, and before bed. I wanted to cut her dinner session first...so I began by just limiting her time nursing to 10 min. per side for one week, then 5 min. per side the following week (followed by a sippy with milk), then I just stopped the third week. It didn't seem to phase her really, and my body had time to adjust. Success! Ok. I can do this! I really felt a huge sense of relief once that first session was cut out. I didn't experience any discomfort.

We went on just nursing 3 times a day for about 2 weeks...then, I followed the same pattern to cut out her lunch session. Again, no pain...some mild feelings of fullness, but nothing too uncomfortable as my body adjusted.

She gets whole milk in her sippy after her morning and afternoon naps in lieu of nursing. She took to whole milk easily. No big deal. Again...VERY thankful for that transition, too!

I've been nursing her just twice a day now for the last 3 weeks or so. My plan is to cut her morning session starting tomorrow!!! I'm not sure why I'm holding on to it...she's already fairly disinterested in the mornings...and only nurses about 5 min. per side and then wants to get down and play and get on with her day. I'm being selfish. I know this. So, I'm promising myself that by tomorrow, no matter what, I'll give up her morning session.

Not sure what the exact plan is for weaning her from her before bed session just yet...there's a lot of variables there. Plus, I'm not sure why I feel like I HAVE to quit nursing her completely....it's confusing me.

**My memories of nursing her every single night before she goes to sleep for the last 13 months of her life is....indescribable, really. No matter what kind of day we've had...we've ALWAYS ended it together. That is something I truly treasure.**

But, all things, even good things, must end so that we can appreciate those things and continue on to the next chapter of our lives together.

Will I nurse Madison's siblings in the future? (No, I'm not pregnant!)
Undecided. Not sure how I would handle it...since I feel it is a huge time commitment...but if I didn't, I feel like I would be cheating them of what M had...so...yeah...undecided. (P.S. Yes, I know it's still to feel like that....)

Disclaimer: This post is in no way to put down or make formula feeding Mamas feel bad! This is solely a post based on my personal thoughts and experiences. I am certainly not in judgement of anyone else's parenting decisions.

Foto Friday - Football w/ Daddy

Hopefully by the time Madison actually understands football, the Vikings also understand how to win games. Just sayin'....

Karma's A...

B#t*h! Sorry...I know this is should be a G-rated blog. But, after this evening...ok, let me back up and start from the beginning.

Grandma Tracy bought Madison a super cute (and expensive) pair of Uggs for this winter a couple weeks ago.

(Awww...aren't they cute?!)

Tonight after dinner, I started picking up...and found ONE Ugg. Only ONE. I frantically searched with a super whiny Madison (who only took a 30 min. nap this afternoon) following me around.

I searched EVERY room on our upstairs level. I even searched all kitchen cupboards and drawers, the garbage, under the table...everywhere. I crawled around my whole house so I would be at her eye level. I'm pretty sure Josh enjoyed watching Madison follow me around....he was of no help...he didn't think it was a big deal since he knew "it would turn up eventually."

It was GONE. G-O-N-E. Gone.

I've always known that when I was 2 I lost a brand new Nike shoe that my parents bought me. My Dad still tells me the story ALL the time...I think he expects me to remember what I did with it. Yeah, I don't. Anyways, as I was searching all I could think about was having to tell my Dad how Madison lost an Ugg, and seeing the joy in his face that I would now fully understand how he felt about the lost Nike.

Karma. I was being punished for losing my Nike shoe 27 years ago.

After she went to bed, I did one more search. No luck. I was sad. :( I decided it was gone for now, and I was crossing my fingers that it would show up eventually. And, well...at least I'd have a good blog post, so I went to take a picture of her ONE Ugg.

And, I realized I never opened the drawer to this end table.

*sigh*

The End.