Eleven Months

Madeline is eleven months old! And because it took mommy so long to find a single second to work on this post, she is going to be ONE YEAR OLD in no time at all....simply unbelievable. How does my baby look like such a big girl now!?

It actually took mommy and daddy two separate photo sessions to get a non-blurry photo because she WON'T stop MOVING!! Wish we could have caught a bigger (non blurry) smile, but this will do-- I did catch Baby Bub smiling and waving at her daddy like she did the month before...

Waving is still a fav around here. But the NEW big thing is (...drumroll...) kissing :). Maddie's version of a kiss is similar to a puppy dog's: big, wet and sloppy haha!!  We love it though. She enjoys kissing her daddy...her dolly...and just about anything else that strikes her fancy. Including furniture and electronics!

♥kisses♥

The most exciting news, however, is this:

Madeline started taking independent steps a week before she turned 11 months and I am still in shock and awe of her amazing-ness! Maddie is my second child, but my first to walk independently. And my heart aches for her big sister to also make it to this incredible milestone, but I know that she will some day...and these two girls will walk and run and play together. Some day.

Other 11 month Maddie Brynn facts:

-She's talkin' so much lately! still lots of ma-ma's and da-da's, ba-ba's and na-na's. And we have added a new tooth, so that makes four now. See all my teethies-->
<--Eating lots more solid fruits like mandarin oranges, pieces of plums & strawberries...enjoys a good read after eating :)
-Sleeping very well from 7pm to 7am, we are SO grateful! And always has a huge smile for mommy in the mornings
-Continues to be really social, and likes being held by other people.
<--Obsessed with an Old MacDonald app on the iPAD and giggles at all the animals!!
-Finally found something that scares this brave girl: metal door stoppers...hates the sound they make when tweaked and looks at me with the saddest face :(
-Still doing great with her sippy cup, likes to lounge while drinking-->
-Bounces and shakes her butt to music, it's hilarious.
<--Some of her current household favorites include: unrolling toilet paper, taking clothes out of the dryer for mommy (then throwing back in when I turn around), and grabbing and throwing utensils from the dishwasher. She's a big help, let me tell ya.
-Makes a funny duck face --> 
when she's playing around the house or concentrating hard. Took me a while to get on camera!
-Has started to get into  even more cabinets, all over the house. We have baby proofed the important stuff but there are still some cabinets that I'd rather her not play in. When she opens one of those, I will say her name in a stern manner and she always stops and gives me the most innocent look in the world, like "I wasn't doin anything momma..." and of course I have to smile. I mean, how can you resist this face!?!?!
-Has found a deep affection for full-length mirrors...look, it's TWO Maddies!!!
<--Thinks it's funny when sister takes her bows out
-Loves looking at photos around the house with me if I point out everyone that's in them. I say, "here's daddy and mommy, and here's Avery and Maddie" and she thinks it's the greatest fun in the world :)
- Continues to be an absolute JOY and delight and we can't get enough of you sweet girl!!

20 Things, Part II

Sitting here on the couch with Bub the hub, watching So You Think You Can Dance (and yes, they sure can) and thinking about the very long to-do list I have at the moment, which includes blogging. It's really hard for me to focus on even doing one thing when so much is running through my head...but the hub says to FOCUS, so here goes:

1) I am in full on party planning mode for Madeline's first birthday. There are so many things I want to do/make for the party and not nearly enough time!
2) My own birthday is coming up before hers...it's the big 3-0. I have mixed feelings on this, but mostly just can't believe it's really here. In less than a month.
3) Today was actually my own sweet momma's birthday! Maddie and I went downtown to have lunch with her. As soon as we got up to the office, baby girl took everyones hand and pulled walked them around. She was in heaven! Look at this expression.

wrapped around her fingers. literally.

4) Hope you had a nice birthday, Nana! We appreciate you so, SO, so much. You were the one that really stepped up and helped us with Avery, and there will never be enough words to thank you for that. We are lost without you! xoxoxoxo

5) And talking about Madeline walking, she started tentatively taking steps on her own this week...and I am freaking out excited!! And terrified! And just can't believe how fast this happens .
6) I watch this little pumpkin all day long and this one word keeps repeating in my head: MARVEL. I am just constantly marveling at what she can do-- at how easy it all comes to her. Just makes my head spin. I think I am going to do an entire blog post soon on all this marveling :)


7) I had to take a break to do some card work and now it's super late, of course. Thankfully, the girls have been letting me sleep in until 7:30 or 8 lately. I just stared at that sentence and thought what a horror that would have been to me not that long ago....when 9am seemed early enough. I am SO NOT a morning person, but having munchkins sure does change things!
8) Thank goodness Bub the hub is a morning dude. How do two non-morning people make a marriage work anyway?? I don't see how. Two crankies every morning would be terrible...
9) I wish we could sleep late on vacation, but that's pretty impossible with the girls along. I'm still dreaming of a vacation for just the hub and me. I know people would be pretty shocked to know we have never had one away from Avery. There has always been too much crazy $hit going on with her to be able to leave for more than a date night. And then she got so big, it's an issue now to leave her with someone that can lug her around like we do. Ugh, not sure this will ever happen.
10) I won't even mention the fact that she has started having full on, uncontrollable tantrums lately. Except I just did. Forget I said anything! Just add it to the why-we'll-never-have-our-vacation-break-from-the-kids list.
11) We are currently waiting to hear whether Avery got a scholarship to attend her special needs school again this coming year. It's excruciating to wait! We can't afford to do it without the help. Help us cross fingers and toes!
12) I've thought on and off about putting Maddie in a one day a week preschool this fall, but ultimately I don't think I can let her go. I know I did it with Avery, and of course it turned out fine, but it was all very different, special circumstances. If I was able to stay home with her, and she had not needed all the extra help, I'm not sure I could have let her go either! It's so hard.
13) If Avery had been typical, I would probably still be working at the Ballet right now....that's so weird to think about.
14) If Avery had been typical, I would probably never have started Sugar Bee Designs...hmmm
15) If Avery had been typical, our lives would be floating down very, very different paths right now.  I know, pretty obvious. Still can't help thinking sometimes. Or all the time.
16) I meant to blog last week about my brother coming into town, but things got too busy, as usual. He's pretty good with the girls. Here he is chattin it up with Avery.

17) Wish he didn't live in Dallas and we could see him more often. I just know we could mold him into solid babysitting material.
18) Current countdown to San Diego family vacation is 15 days! BEACH! BEACH! BEACH!
19) Hopefully I come home with an actual tan, just in time for my birthday.
20) My eyes are just barely open but I made it! Sweet dreams, blog readers :)

Giggly Maddie

at grandaddy's request, here I present GIGGLY, 4th of July Maddie Brynn:

Last Month

Boy, am I glad that it's a new month. I am SO over June. June was...what's the word? oh yea, INSANE. It started out with Avery off school for 3 weeks, and we already know how hard that was. As soon as she started back up again, I went into hyper business drive--working on tons of projects and trying to get my Etsy store up finally. I am over the moon to announce that the shop IS open now, but I am starting to wonder if the lack of sleep, stress and craziness was all worth it? I really hope so! You can check it out here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SugarBeeShoppe and I'd love to hear any kind of feedback, of course. If you are an Etsy member you can even become an "admirer" of the shop, which is sort of the same as a Facebook "like" but sounds much more eloquent I think :).

In other news, I am in mourning for the very sudden crash/loss of an external hard drive containing some important SugarBee files that were not properly backed up (note to reader: stop reading this right now and double check that every single one of your files are backed up right this single second). If not, you will have such terrible regret! I know I do. That happened at the very end of June too. I officially hate June, did I mention that?

Maybe one bright spot was that I did finalize our family summer vacation in the-month-we-will-no-longer-name. There was a lot of waffling about where to go and what to do, but I am pleased with our choice. Long time readers will be SHOCKED to find out that our destination does not include a lazy river...I know, crazy. But it does include a beach! (which is just as good if not better) We will be traveling to !San Diego! in August and sharing a beach house with some wonderful friends and I can't wait. We all really need some time away.

You know I always hate to blog without a photo, so here are a couple recent ones that make me smile!

Sometimes I catch Avery lovin on her lil'sis :)

lookin' so chic in her giant sunhat!

Mommy and Maddie out to lunch with friends

-------------------------Hope everyone has a fun July 4th!-------------------------