Merry Christmas to all!

As a child, you look up to your parents, grandparents, aunt, uncles and others of the like for guidance, inspiration and acceptance. These people are put up on a pedestal and are often the ones you look up to and try to be like. As children, we're constantly looking to please our idols, gain acceptance and find the role we were meant to play in this great big world. Growing up is tough because sometimes you learn that your idols aren't exactly who or what you thought they were. We learn that parents, grandparents and other family members make mistakes. Sometimes we're left hurt and disappointed but ultimately we've learned from the experience.

Over the years, I've put several people up on a pedestal. People that I look to for guidance and people that I seek inspiration from. Sometimes these people fall off but that's to be expected and what I've ultimately learned is that I need to bring that pedestal down, clear it off and put myself up on it. I need to look within myself for guidance, inspiration and happiness. I'm the only one that is in control of my life and what I make of it.

After a hurried Christmas last year, bouncing from house to house, I determined that I need to take control and do what is best for my family. I looked at what would make the three of us the happiest and what would make our celebration of Christmas memorable and enjoyable. Therefore, I decided we were staying home. And it might have been one of the best decisions I've ever made.



I just may leave our manger out all year long because I enjoy walking by and seeing each new arrangement that Madison has come up with.



On Christmas Eve, I gave Madison an early Christmas gift in hopes that she could help me with a little Christmas baking.



She helped for a bit, sort of. Many M&M's made it into her mouth and after making some white chocolate trail mix she was done. Had no desire to ice our cookies for Santa and she wanted her table back in her kitchen. The girl knows exactly what she wants.





The evening was spent with my sister and her family exchanging gifts and eating a delicious dinner prepared by my sister.





That night we set out milk and uniced, cookies for Santa.



Madison said I eat Santa's cookie? Ok. I drink the milk? Ok. She has recently started to answer her own questions. Which always leaves us cracking up and speechless.



Christmas morning was not at all what I expected from Madison. I pictured her waking up early, yelling for us to come and get her so she could rush into the living room to see if Santa came. When Madison woke up at 8:00 am, I rushed into her room and said Madison, did Santa come? She replied with a simple shrug of her shoulders. I think she knew her name was teetering between the nice and naughty list after eating Santa's cookies only hours before.



I got her out of her crib and quickly rushed her into the living room and said Look Madison, Santa came! She said Yep. And was on with playing with her toys and not giving one ounce of care to the gifts left for her under the tree. Around 9:00 I decided it was time to get this party started and open some gifts. So, we did and she was delighted and appreciative.







We even got in a little Skype session to share our Christmas with my parents.



Many people know that Madison is a fan of sleeping in the nude. Every night we have to go back into Madison's room after she has fallen asleep and put her diaper and pajamas back on her. Yes, every night she strips down, folds her diaper up exactly as we would do, places it in the corner of her crib with her jammies, covers herself back up and falls asleep. Well, she got an easel for Christmas and was eager to paint. I told her to take her shirt off and for some reason she finds it necessary to get completely naked. We had to force her to put her panties on because between brush strokes she was doing somersaults. And while she is cute a girl needs to have some sort of modesty.



Over the weekend, Madison discovered a love for glasses. We're still working on finding the perfect pair with the proper fit and alignment.

 



Madison has also managed to wrap her Uncle Brent around her little finger. Which, to be honest, probably wasn't that hard to do.



These are the moments with our Maddie O. that we love. She is grateful. She is kind. She is smart. She is so loving. She is our girl and she has made us a family. This is our time to do what is best for us and to create our own traditions. And I can tell you that we are enjoying every moment of it.

Santa Claus

Well, hello there. Potty training, Christmas and our daily lives have consumed us this week. A little update to our potty training efforts. She's doing well, very well, as long as we stay at home with our potty chair. She does great with her potty chair but completely fears the real potty. I'm hoping with time she'll transition on her own. If not, eventually she'll outgrow her potty chair. I mean I've never seen a five year old on a potty chair and I'm crossing my fingers that she won't be the first.

To keep us occupied between trips to the potty, Madison had her cousins to play with.....all weekend. These three had a ball together.





I discovered how much Logan and Madison are alike while snapping pictures. The two of them were playing on the floor and I decided I wanted to get an aerial shot of this cute moment so I climbed on a chair. At the exact same moment they looked at me with the exact same expression that states what the heck are you doing.



I then asked the two to say cheese and again exact same expression.



Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, we were able to get a Christmas tree. The kids helped me put lights on it. After a fiasco with the lights, I've declared that we will be buying new lights this year, after Christmas, when they are on sale.





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Yesterday, we went to see Santa Claus. One of the local golf courses, Ryan's home away from home, put together a nice event for the kids. They had cookies, juice and coloring pages. The parents could bring a gift for the kiddos, which was secretly slipped under the tree and Santa passed them out. All was going well, Madison was enjoying her juice, looking all cute in her holiday dress.



Then in walked Santa.....

 

Total freak out. Of course, as her parents, we still wanted her at least try to sit on his lap even though she was completely terrified of this gentleman wearing a fake beard and red suit. We're going for parents of the year here. With a little coaxing she got sort of close.



Then quickly changed her mind.



Daddy stepped in and this is as close as she got.



Just give me my present man-in-red.



I've got the goods Dad, let's go.



She was happy once we backed completely away from "Tanta". She excitedly opened her gift and was pleased.

 



Madison was not traumatized at all. She held on tightly to her gift and said I see Tanta, as we walked out the door. When asked if she sat on Santa's lap she proudly says Yeah. Once again, her memory of an event is completely different from the reality but at least all of her memories are good.

It's potty time.

I love to read. Always have and always will. I'll read just about anything written in a magazine. I enjoy reading fiction books filled with passionate relationships, love and dreams that take me somewhere else. I also love reading blogs written by other mamas. I look for inspiration, guidance and joys shared within other families just like ours.

Today I stumbled upon a blog written by a mama who lives right here in Indianapolis. In my mind, I was thinking: Awesome! A local Mama! I might get some ideas on local places for us to visit. Whew! My mind was in one place and was completely thrown into another once I started reading. This mama is brave enough to share her struggles with a chemical imbalance that drops her down to the lowest of the lows one minute and then throws her up for the highest of the highs the next. She battles depression and tries to live a "normal" life while raising her two daughters.

I read entry after entry of her blog for about twenty minutes. With each click of the down arrow on the keyboard and with each word I read, I became sadder and sadder. I felt myself falling into a mild depression, in just that short amount of time. I quickly closed the laptop and knew I had to stop, thank the lucky stars for what I have and be grateful. Just when I think things are tough around here in our house I stumble upon the life of someone else. It kind of throws things back into perspective.

So, yes, in my typically all smiles and laughter world, the last day and a half have been tough. Ryan left Wednesday evening to fly down to Florida to visit his brother and play lots of golf. I thought I would take this opportunity for Madison and I to completely focus on her potty training. As I've stated before, not all of my ideas are good ideas. Regardless of when we do it, it has to be done. Our child cannot go around in diapers forever. She's been showing signs that she's ready for weeks so I'm biting the bullet and taking one for the team. I'm focused on getting our gal potty trained.



Day one wasn't so hot. She cried in one room and I cried in another. I couldn't take seeing her so upset and I certainly didn't want her to see me upset. It was a rough day but we made to today, Day Two.



This day is going much better. We've had two successes and she is showing improvement. She has wrapped her head around the whole idea of this potty thing. She says: "Tandy. Sticker on chart. Potty." Yes, bribery never hurt anyone so when she uses the potty I'm giving her some M&Ms and she gets to put a sticker on her potty chart.



I'm maintaining my focus, being careful of the words I read and counting my blessings.

Life is good. It's real good.

Go find something to smile about.....


FYI...This is the face she makes now while saying "Cheese!"  I have many, many pictures with this face and I love each one of them.

Craftastic

The art of a family Christmas card is definitely just that....art. Especially when there is a toddler involved.

This year I enlisted my sister to take our family portrait. With a quick tutorial on how to use my camera and a change of clothes for the three of us, we loaded up the car and drove to my newly discovered alley. This alley provides a perfect backdrop for portraits featuring the old buildings of downtown Greenwood. Of course, our child who typically sleeps twelve hours a night and takes a one and a half to two hour nap a day decided that this was the day, of all days, that she didn't need her full twelve hours nor her daily nap.

Oh joy. Where is the peace?

Bottom line: Our smiles were forced, our frustrations ran high and there was much pressure. Pressure because apparently the alley I discovered has also been discovered by every other photographer in Greenwood. Yep there were 3 other photographers waiting for any given opportunity to capture their subjects in the alley.

I don't want to spoil the recipients of our Christmas card by sharing the pictures here just yet. But I do have to share one. In case you were wondering where Jim Boggs' Ass was......it just to the right of my head, down the alley.



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Madison is very independent. We often find her off somewhere in the house playing by herself, talking away to her babies, or monkey or no one in particular. She'll play like this for twenty or thirty minutes before she comes to find one of us. After of few minutes of not hearing her I do tip toe around to find her so I can secretly watch her playing.

On Saturday, I knew she was in her room so I grabbed my camera so I could snap a picture of whatever it was she was doing. I tip toed down the hallway and peeked into her room. Apparently I am not so light on my feet nor my toes because right when I went to snap a picture of Madison she looked over and said "Cheese!"

 

I asked her to read to her monkey and she did. So, now I can at least pretend like I sneaked up on her and caught her in a moment.



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I've been obsessed with adding color into our home for the past month. We have a lot of beige and deep red but hardly any of the other gorgeous colors featured on the color wheel. So, my mission has been to add a splash of color to our home. And how am I doing that you ask? I'm making some crafts.

Here, sitting on our fireplace mantel are some glass jars that I painted along with a straw wreath that I covered in yarn and adorned with some colorful felt flowers.



I also decided to recover our dining room chairs with a colorful fabric. For a mere $13 it's like a whole new table.

BEFORE:

 

AFTER:

 

I've also left a few party decorations around. Why? Well, because I spent a lot of time on them and I just like them. They make me happy!





I'm now branching into holiday decorations. Here is a little decoration I whipped up to put our Maddie Cakes in the winter spirit. A little snowman shirt.



Since she was wearing her snowman shirt, I thought that it was only appropriate that we constructed some actual snowman from some foam pieces.





Yeah, some of my ideas aren't so good. This is about as far as we got. Our glue wouldn't stick nor would Madison stop trying to eat the snowman's fuzzy balls that were supposed to be his ear muffs. She kept saying "Tandy!" and would pop one in her mouth. Since Halloween this child has been obsessed with candy. Needless to say I packed up our pieces and we'll just try this craft again some other time.

Well, bye for now.
Love, -K

Happy 2nd Birthday Madison!

11-11-11 was the day our little gal turned 2.

Two years ago, on this same day, we were at the hospital waiting to meet our little gal. Anxious to see the little face that we had made and eager to embark on the journey of parenthood. This year, on this day, the birth of our little gal, we were anxious again. Anxious to see how she would react to the traditions of celebrating her birthday.



Well, as quickly as she caught on to trick-or-treating and the whole get candy thing, she caught on to the it's-your-birthday-you-get-gifts thing. She didn't even allow my sister to make it past the entry way before she tore into the gifts she brought.



I have no idea where she gets this excitement over one's birthday from. (wink,wink)





My sister and I took Madison to the kingdom of birthday celebrations.....Chuck E. Cheese! This was Madison's first trip and I'm thinking she's going to want to go back.





Nothing like dropping a boat load of money for a boat load of junk. But hey, it's a right of passage as a parent and also as a child. And I can guarantee that we'll go back just to see our little girl oh so happy.



Ryan and I enjoyed the evening with our little girl and watched as again she quickly tore open her gifts. We've got a glimpse of what Christmas is going to be like and I can't wait.





The following day, Saturday, Madison celebrated her birthday with her tiny friends and lots of balloons.



I spent hours and hours planning and crafting this special day for her.







Each minute that I spent was worth it. It was so worth it to see and feel the love that filled our home.



The little ones and the not so little one's enjoyed crafting.





And everyone enjoyed the snacks and cupcakes.



Most of all our little Madison enjoyed it all. She was giddy with excitement and was such a trooper even as she became more tired with each passing moment. I'm thankful for the two wonderful years that we've had with our Maddie O. And as I've said before we couldn't do it without the help, guidance and support of our friends and family. So to you, all of you, we thank you. Thank you for being there for us and celebrating with us. We are looking forward to the many, many more celebrations that lie ahead.