Tis the season!

We have been having a wonderful holiday season at the Hughes house!!

We celebrated cashing our Family Feud checks with some jello cocktails topped 

by the $20,000 answer - cool whip!

We went to Old Navy for some jeans and Madeline won a furby! She has no idea what it is but was still excited! 

We did Madeline's first pigtails and they were hilariously cute!

Took Madeline to Chuck E Cheese - she had a blast! It was actually a lot of fun and a great way to spend a cold Saturday morning. She had so much fun she worked up a big appetite- she had 2 slices of pizza!

Maddie spent Christmas Eve morning with daddy while mommy worked. 

You know you want some leopard PJs, admit it.

Then, that night, Santa came!

Madeline loved all of her presents.

 She liked pulling items out of her "boot" as she called it.

Then, we went to grandma and grandpa's house.

Playing with her make-up vanity

Putting her baby to sleep in her bunk bed.  

After a big breakfast at grandma and grandpa's house, lots of skyping with Tia and LOTS of presents, we headed to nana and papa's house for more fun!

Putting Sally in her bassinet. 

Opening Alice, her Baby Alive doll.

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!

After nana and grandpa's house, we went to Aunt Germaine's house. It was great to see all of the cousins and Madeline had so much fun playing with everyone. She was zonked after a long day; she slept til 8:15 on Wednesday!!

Feeding Alice.

She was AMAZED when Alice actually did go to the bathroom. She checks her babies every night and always says "no poop." When she opened Alice's diaper she stared at it for a full 30 seconds before screaming, "SHE POOPED." She ran to the diaper bag and pulled out her wipes case, a new diaper and started screaming, "NASTY DIAPER."

Chris has taken the week off work, but in typical Chris fashion, he is not relaxing. He's building pantry shelves.

Making great progress!

In the meantime, we have booked our 5 year anniversary trip to Bermuda...and I am determined to get back in a bikini! Well, at least get the last of my baby weight off. So I've started working out again. It's a bit crowded though...

This is just me and Maddie - Stella usually tries to weave between my legs as well. I think I burn twice as many calories this way.

AND!! The celebrating continues in our house! Today is Maddie's birthday and tomorrow is Chris's birthday. I'll do another post this weekend with pictures of the two and how we celebrate their special days.  She is at school right now to have her daycare party. We're picking her up early for a night out on the town with mommy and daddy!

One of her birthday presents!

I truly hope everyone got to spend Christmas with their loved ones and that they remember the reason for the season!

Two weeks til 2!!

This past weekend, we got together with Kyle, Danielle and Hudson. We took both kiddos to Old Chicago pizza. They did pretty good. They play pretty nicely together, considering their age gap. Madeline kept following Hudson and then bending down to give him a hug. It was so sweet. Between Hudson and Mason, I think she might be a little boy crazy. Pray for Chris!

Privacy please, mom. 

 We went to Bass Pro this weekend and Madeline LOVED the big fish tank. Look at her happy face here. 

It's December 19th and we are nearing December 27th...Maddie's birthday!! (And then, one day later, daddy's birthday!!) 

Maddie is moving to the 2 year old room right after her birthday so we've been talking about all of the changes coming her way. Tonight in the bathtub, I asked her if she was going to start going bathroom in the potty. She gave me this face.

 Then she picked up her doll and said, "She go poop." I said, "Oh no...in the bathtub?" She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "No mom. She go poop in the potty." So the doll sat in Maddie's potty and did her business. When I asked Madeline if she wanted to try, she said no. She knows what the potty is, and what you do with it, but I don't think she's quite ready to take the leap. We'll see what kind of magic Miss Kelsey works in a few weeks.

Finally, we took a few pictures of our big girl this weekend and I love how they turned out! It's a little sad though because she looks so grown-up here! We truly do have a toddler, not a little baby girl anymore! 

Stomach bug, part two

Well, remember when I said Chris and I felt a little queasy? We had one day where we all felt ok enough to play and Maddie got to go outside and drive her car. 

The next day we got the full on bug. Chris found me lying on the bathroom floor when he woke up. He felt horrible too so my parents came and evacuated Madeline. They watched her for a bit and then transferred her to Chris's parents house where she stayed the night. We are so grateful!! Outside of the time I got some weird Canadian flu and was sick for a solid week, this was by far the sickest I've been. I couldn't MOVE. I won't go into the gory details, but suffice it to say, if this bug happened to miss your house, you are lucky!!

*In other news*

Since, we've moved into the house, Madeline has been afraid of her bath tub. She would cry whenever we'd start to run the water. She always loved her baths before, so I was really confused. Finally one day she told me, "NO BATH, buggie in there." She thought there was a bug in her bath tub. I have no clue where this came from. It did really bother her when she saw her bathtub dirty when we were under construction so I don't know if that's it or not. Anyways, we bought a brand new bath toy and slowly but surely she's been starting to enjoy her baths. 

 Her two dolls which have like 30 outfits (with hats, shows, accessories, etc.) they can wear in the tub. She likes to dress them in some crazy things.

Sitting down in the tub with no tears!

We got some new office furniture which I love! I work from home two days a week and enjoy my new space!

Stella came home!! We got Stella's invisible fence finally and she got to come home. She sniffed around like a crazy woman and then made herself right at home. (Note: she also got evacuated in the bug so she's really been a nomad.)

I got my Family Feud checks! Here's Chris when he realized our money could have been doubled, had he not been too shy/embarrased to go on tv! Then he recovered and said, "Oh well, I wouldn't have wanted to high kick, even for $4,000." So, there you go. I guess he's perfectly happy letting me high kick on national tv, but whatever.

Being sick all weekend put a damper on a lot of plans we had made for ourselves. We've been playing catch-up this week preparing for the holidays. Lots of shopping and wrapping. Maddie loves playing with the wrapping paper rolls!

This weekend we have some holiday parties to go to and are looking forward to just being able to get out of the house and enjoy some time together. Madeline has a dinner date with Hudson tonight so I need to pick her up and get her ready!

Have a great weekend everyone!

The stomach bug hits the Hughes house

Earlier in the week, I wrote that Maddie was a little out of sorts. On Thursday, I got a call from daycare saying that the teachers were worried about her. She wouldn't eat and she was laying around. I decided day four was enough so I left work and took her straight to see her pediatrician. On the way to the doctor, I heard what sounded like 10 whoopee cushions going off. I knew either my car was being shot at or Madeline was going to the bathroom. It was the second option. I had no wipes, no change of clothes, no NOTHING because I had not gone home after leaving work. We get to the doc and it's up her front, down her legs, all over her BRAND NEW forward-facing carseat, EVERYWHERE.  I rush her into the doc yelling "I'm in CRISIS mode here!" The nurses were fantastic. They brought me in wipes, diapers, warm wash clothes, plastic bags, the works. 

So after 10 minutes, this is what she looked like. 

And after I cleaned her off, I cleaned me off, so this is what we looked like.

In our matching "Be wise, Immunize" t-shirts.

She was still in good spirits at the doc, but her ped told me she had a normal stomach bug and that it would get worse before it better. And boy, did it.

This morning, I offered her cereal, yogurt, pancakes, anything I could find in the cabinet. She saw the guacamole we tried to give her last night and started shouting OLEE OLEE OLEE. So....she had guacamole for breakfast. Random, I know. But Dr. Trace had said to let her eat whatever she wants in an effort to get her to eat something. (She was already down a pound from her last visit). She drank some milk and I was feeling pretty good. Then she vomited on me. 

She spent the next 6 hours rotating between sleeping on me and sleeping on the couch.

Now both Chris and I are feeling a little woozy, but we're hoping we're just tired from a long week. We cancelled our weekend plans (Sorry, Kyle and Danielle! Sorry, Brindles!) and are planning on just relaxing the next few days.

In the meantime, say a prayer this little munchkin turns the corner soon. It's so sad to see her sick.

A little out of sorts

Madeline has been a little out of sorts the last two days. She hasn't been eating very much and just doesn't seem like herself.  Of course, fevers are scary things in our house, so we've basically been watching her every second to make sure there are no spikes. I don't think she has anything too serious because she is pretty happy, but with a few random episodes. She will be happy and laughing and then start crying and saying "hurt." I'm thinking it's either teeth or her stomach bothering her, so we're riding it out for another day before we call her ped. 

Tonight, we played in her room where she put her animals down for their bedtime.

 Of course, Violet needed a "change diaper" before she could go to sleep.

Madeline's BFF (or BF...I'm not sure yet!) is a boy in her class named Mason. They do everything together. They play all day, hold hands, dance together, etc. They even got their cots moved next to each other at nap time because they were too busy sitting up looking for the other. They are gym buddies, which means when the class goes to the gym, they always pair up to hold hands and march down the hall. Madeline talks about Mason ALL the time. A typical conversation with her these days goes something like this:

Me: Maddie, did you have a good day at school?
Maddie: Yeah. Mason.
Me: You saw Mason?
Maddie: Yeah. He home now.
Me: He's at his home now?
Maddie: Yeah. Mommy car.
Me: He went home in his mommy's car?
Maddie: Yeah.
Me: Did you hold his hand today?
Maddie: Yes. Kiss him.
Me: YOU KISSED HIM?
Maddie: Yeah.

Or

Me: Oh no, your excema is back, Madeline.
Maddie: Mason. He did it.
Me: Madeline, Mason did not give you excema.
Maddie: Yeah. Mason do it.

It is pretty funny actually. Madeline will move to Ms. Kelsey's 2 year old room at the end of the month (no, I don't want to talk about it!) and Mason will stay behind until his birthday in March. I'm hoping that she makes a new buddy like Mason. Everyone needs a best friend!

On the house front, we are slowly but surely making progress. We ordered new office furniture and have got almost everything unpacked now! Once it's a bit more tidy, I'll do a house tour and post some photos.  Have a great week!

Thankful.

We have had a great Thanksgiving weekend! We've enjoyed the time together with family and had lots of extra time working on organizing the house. 

We've had some nice housewarming gifts brought over, including this basket from my parents loaded with goodies!

On Thursday, we ate dinner with the Hughes family and it was absolutely delicious. Robin and Laura did a great job doing all of the cooking! YUMMY! Madeline always loves seeing her cousin Dane; she is basically a "monkey see, monkey do" girl. If Dane runs a lap around on the kitchen, you can bet there is a pint sized blond chasing after him. If Dane sits and stack blocks, Maddie is right next to him making her own tower. The kids played hard all day and then we had a great meal together.

That night, Laura and I went shopping and had a great time finding all of the deals! I had told Chris I wasn't going to buy much, but I came home with a car and a cottage, both for half off. Whoops.  I actually got caught up in the moment, I think. We ended up taking the car back the next day b/c we decided Maddie wasn't big enough to ride it and/or appreciate it.

On Saturday, my mom kept Madeline for the day while Chris and I did a lot of the loud jobs (towel rods, hand towel circles, door stoppers, etc). She had a wonderful time making a gingerbread man. She was so proud of her cookie!

On Sunday, my cousins Connor and Preston came to visit the new house. The boys are much older than Madeline but were so so sweet with her. They dressed her up like a doll and played in her playroom with her. She was sad when they left and kept peeking around corners saying, "Where's Preston? Where's Connor?"

We had a wonderful weekend surrounded by family - a great way to spend Thanksgiving. We didn't get to see all of my family, but I know we will soon. I'm so thankful for a healthy and supportive family, a loving husband and our brand new house where lots of memories will be made.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're In!

On Saturday, with the help of some great friends and family, we moved into our house! It took us right under 6 months to build, which is pretty great. The house wasn't completely finished (painters were still in action) but we got our official CO "certificate of occupancy" and all inspectors (plumbing, HVAC, general, etc) gave us clearance to move in, so we did! It was a super hectic week with lots of panicked phone calls between our contractors and me and Chris, but Maddie never seemed stressed! Here she is at a Scentsy party with my mom:

 

 

I took some pictures but the lighting was off on my iPhone for some reason - thank you so much to our friends and family who helped! It was a lot of heavy lifting!

 

We had two pods that looked like this:

 

We got everything out in a few hours and then spent the rest of the day Saturday and Sunday just organizing and unpacking.

 

In the new house playroom, there are two little closets that are Maddie-sized. She calls them her tunnels and love to play inside them and run between them. Last night we arranged all of her stuffed animals on the wall. Then she had to put them all to bed.

 

Laying them on the floor and saying "Night, night. Lay down! Go to sleep."  

 

Everyone got to take a nap next to each other, except for these two, who got put in the thinking spot. Madeline said "no bite!" to each of them and then seperated them from the group. Evidently we have some biters amongst us...

 

On Sunday, we had no food in the house so we went to Panera for our celebratory breakfast. Madeline ate her standard favorite- the french toast bagel.

And yes, I realize she has Justin Bieber hair here. I cannot get her to keep her hairbows in all day!

 

This week we've been unpacking and settling in. Madeline woke up the first two nights but is now sleeping great. Once the house looks a bit more together, I'll post pictures.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!