Maddy's Accident

Fly with two kids alone...pregnant. Yep folks thought I was nuts, BUT we were doing it.  There wasn't really another option.  The day before we were pretty much packed with only those last minute things to throw in our bags.  Josh had gotten home early and we were enjoying some family time and soaking up the time together before we were seperated for the next few weeks.  

Mara wanted to play outside.  We had been letting her lately as she is pretty capable of entertaining herself.  The only problem...what Mara does, Maddy wants to do too.  So here we were with one screaming toddler inside who just wanted to be out.  Mara despite her best intentions just can't be alone outside so she was in and out attempting to shut our heavy front door by herself.  

I had never thought too much about this door until I hear Maddy's screams.  She had gotten her left pointer finger stuck in the door jam resulting in it being about 70% detached.  Talk about a parent's worse nightmare.  I didn't initially register what had happened except that there was a lot of blood.  Josh snapped me into reality and we went into go mode.  

Shoes were grabbed and keys.  Kids thrown into the car and we were off to the ER.  So scary.  So many thoughts race through your mind as a parent.  What could I have done to prevent this? How do I make this better?  

At the ER the doctors moved fast getting her into xray and then seen by a surgeon.  In just over an hour she was headed up to the operating room to reattach it.  As a mama this was the hardest thing for me.  They had me carry her up and I just couldn't consul her when they were trying to get everything started.  Finally they just told me to go....

After about an hour they were finished and we were able to be with her in recovery.  Everything went so well.  The doctor was pretty confident in the attachment and even said that after all of that we could still fly in a few hours.  

The night drug on as we waited in recovery and then finally were able to go home with Maddy.  She was in crazy good spirits (likely due to the pain killers) and blessed us both with a ton of smiles and laughs, just music to our hurt parent hearts.  

We got a quick nap (literally 1.5 hours of sleep) and headed to the airport.  The girls and I began the long trek to Tulsa.  I was so nervous as to how she would do but girl is a trooper.  She never once touched the bandage and handled any pain she may have had with ease.  

Once in the states we had her seen by local doctors and a hand surgeon.  Both came back with amazing news as to the prognosis.  Her finger would be fine.  Likely she wouldn't notice any difference besides maybe a bump on her nail and maybe some sensation lost.  The blessing is she is so young she will never know the difference.  This will just be her normal.

It was an ordeal and one I never want to repeat in the slightest but through it all we had so many blessings in the form of folks dropping their lives to help in instance, friends taking Mara, family who went with me to the doctor appointments and even our insurance who never batted an eye with our needs! 

Madeline-19 Months

Weight: You're 21 pounds and SHORT! We never really realized how short you actually were till we were back in the states this summer.  You are in the 2% for height!

Health: You are doing great this month! No illnesses to report.

pretending to nap

Social: You are still our social butterfly.  You bless everyone with your smiles and are quick to make friends.  You are very chatty and always have a "story" to tell everyone you meet.

Diet: This month we officially weened.  We cut you back pretty durastically to just before nap and bed at the beginning of the month and then cut out the nap nurse.  One night you fell asleep without it at night and we just kept going with it (like your sister).  I have had to tell you no a few times and you get a bit upset, but a few cuddles later you are back to your normal self.  Otherwise you are eating everything we are and love it.  You will try anything and are very demanding that you have a bite if someone is eating something you think looks good.

Love that your sister taught you this

Clothes: You could probably still wear 12 months but I recently switched you over to your 18 month old items.  With you so small your clothes are really getting some wear!

Mama's Favorites: I love this silly surprise face you have been doing lately.  You do it when you hear a noise or anything that surprises you.  It's hilarious and you know it.

Crying: We're a bit into the tantrums that come around two.  If you are frustrated or angry you will storm away, throw something or go cry in a corner.  It's kind of laughable as we can see that you are truly frustrated.  I wonder if you picked up this little habit from your older sister...

trying out sister's potty

Sleep: After a little struggle this month to readjust to your room/crib you are rocking this department.  You go down easily around one for an hour-2 hours daily.  You are also sleeping through the night from 8:30-8ish every day.  Such a blessing!!

This Month: We adjusted to life back here in Georgia after two months in the states.  We've been swimming at the community pool and have reached out to new folks in the neighborhood to meet new friends!

Baby Likes: You love your sister and will follow her anywhere! You love to be outside and most recently prefer to do so with bare feet and no clothes...like your sister.  You love legos and your dollies.  Buddy is your best friend (after your sister) and you love chasing him and keeping him on his toes.

surviving the 100+ heat

Milestones: You are talking up a storm. You say: stuck, mama, dada, mara, no, up, down, here, sit, and will literally repeat anything we prompt you to say.

You are getting more confident in the water and will walk around in the baby pool without much assistance.

You are getting really good with taking apart legos and stacking them up.

Reading with sister

Best of Times: Watching you bloom into a toddler.

Worst of Times: The start of the tantrums.  You are one spirited little girl.

Sister Diaries: Mara still needs her alone play time but she is including you in on her play more and more.  She loves to have you "help" her pick up her toys hahaha. She misses you so much if you guys are apart and I can see you two being a duo to reckon with as time goes on!

Will say cheese now when I pull out my camera

I'm not above bribery to get the shot

The USA-Wisconsin & Minnesota

The later half of our trip to the states was spent traveling first to Wisconsin and then to Minnesota.  It was a wirlwind of weekend.  First we headed to Wisconsin to visit with Carrie and the cousins.  Mara was beside herself with excitement to get to play with them.  She adores hanging out with older kids and this was really the first visit where she was really "playing" with her cousins rather than being moreso around me.  She didn't stop talking about her time there for weeks.

Bast cousins

That evening we headed to our hotel for a fun pizza party and quick swim in the pool.  It was a short visit but so good for my heart.

From there we were off to Minnesota to see Josh's sister, parents and kids.  Here we had a bit of a slower pace as we really just hung around the house most of the time visiting.  I'm so thankful that everyone was in one spot and we could be together if only for a few days.

We watched the Packers win and enjoyed introducing Maddy to the rest of her family.

After a fun night of swimming

USA trip-Illinois

This post is WAY overdue!

In January we headed back to the states to enjoy a little break from Georgia and spend some much needed time with family.  The bulk of our stay was in Illinois with my family.  My parents love having the grandkids there and roll out the red carpet for them.

After a few early mornings the girls were somewhat on the time zone.  The time went fast but we managed to fit in a few things besides lots of family time with my folks.  We scheduled family pictures.  The McConvilles were amazing working with our jet lagged little girls and we got a lot of great shots from them.  We also took this time to have Maddy's one year photo done.

Love that I can take my business on the road!

We celebrated Maddy's birthday with all of our family and friends.  We had folks come in from all around to be with us and it was such a blessed day.  We had amazing cake from Kelsey's cake who did our wedding cake and Mara's first birthday cake.  The girls had my cousins wrapped around their fingers having them push them around and play with them.

Of course we did our traditional Taco Tuesday with my family.  Its always a fun night filled with great food, margaritas and LOTS of laughter.  It's a highlight of my trip home and I'm so glad my family makes it a priority when we're there.

Happy Birthday Maddy!

Josh and I stocked up on supplies.  Whenever we're in the states we take advantage of local grocery stores to grab our favorites that are not available in Georgia.  We purposefully packed extremely light this trip so that we could bring back a lot.  (On the return we had 1.5 bags of our 3 filled with goodies).

Riding the rides in the mall

I think the girls' favorite part was simply being with their grandparents.  Mara warmed up to my dad and of course had grandma and Aunt Mary around her fingers.  She loves playing with them and frequently took them away to play in the toy room or go down the slide.  I can't wait to bring the girls back this summer to spend some extended time with them again!

Family trips are always too fast but this one was especially being as we only had 10 days there.  Despite that I think we made the most of it!

Breakfast with Grandpa

Flying Trans-Atlantic with 2!

I wasn't naive.  I knew flying trans-Atlantic with two under 3 wasn't going to be easy.  I can't say I was pleasantly surprised but I did learn a few lessons that I will be using when I have to do this again (yes I will have to do this again....alone!)

First thing to mention is we didn't purchase a seat for Maddy.  We were trying to save some money and this was the obvious way to cut a few dollars off the trip.  We did take her car seat with us plane side (we almost always baggage check the car seat if we have a lap infant) in the hopes that there would be open seats on the planes.  This turned out to be a great plan as we were able to get a seat for her on 3 out of the 4 flights!!  She's at an age where she doesn't just "sit" on your lap or "sleep" on your lap.  She's also too little to really go without a seat for comforts sake.  It was such a blessing to be able to put her in her seat when she fell asleep without worry.

The second thing we changed up was the way we travel inside the airport.  Up to this point we haven't been a stroller family.  We've found it way easier to strap the kids to us and babywear through layovers and plane changes.  I decided to gate check our stroller for use in the airport mainly for use in Germany over the long layovers.  Mara is getting older and heavier.  It's just not feasiable to carry her, but at the same time she's too little to really walk these long distances on her own.  I'm so glad we did this because not only did the stroller do its baby duty but it also served for toting all of our carry ons.

Other things to note:

1. Let the toddler watch as much tv as she wants.  Airplanes and long haul travels aren't the time to inforce things.  We were in survival mode and if she wanted to watch Elsa for the 4th time I was game.

2. Bring lots of snacks.  We didn't have a ton in the house so weren't able to.  I know the girls would have done better if I would have been able to pull out some of their favorites in clutch moments.

3. Bring sleeping things.  This is different for every child.  We borrowed an inflatable pillow for Mara this time and it was ok.  I wasn't sold on it but it made me think about looking into something like it for the next flight.  Maddy was ok with her seat but still maybe could have used something to keep her head stable.  It flopped around and she kept waking up on the flights.

Lessons learned:

1. When flying with 2 kids and 2 adults get a 4 row seat whenever possible so that parents can do one on one coverage.  This also made for a happy mama.

2. Take turns.  When only 3 seat flying options are possible or if one child has to fly in lap switch up roles.  Its EXAUSTING for one parent to always be on no matter the duration of the flight.  Trust me.  Josh fell asleep on the last leg to Tbilisi while the kids were wide awake.  This mama was exausted and so angry by the end of the flight ;)

3. Ask for help and take your time.  Traveling with kids takes longer than traveling solo.  Make sure you have plenty of time for layovers, customs, exiting and entering the plane, etc.  Just causes less stress overall.

This flight wasn't easy.  Man traveling with kids never is.  I am glad we did it if only for the experience before I attempt it on my own this summer (am I crazy?!)

Madeline-13 Months

Weight: You continue to hover around 20 lbs and 27 inches as far as I can tell.

Health: You were cutting your molars for the majority of this month which was really hard.  You didn't drool but I could tell you were in a lot of pain.

You were so over the sticker 

Social: You really interact with all around you.  You ask to be held and then proceed to take whomever is holding you around on your whims.  "get this" "go there".  You're so sweet you get away with this often.

Diet: You are still so demanding when it comes to food.  It doesn't matter what it is you have to try it if someone else is eating it.  This goes for drink too.  Last night at dinner you had 3 different water bottles around you simply because others were using them too.  You still really love: rice, chicken, pasta, cheese, apples, bananas, etc.

We are still nursing a lot (maybe 5 times daily), more so with the teething.

Clothes: You are still in 12 month clothing.  We are straying away from any onsies as it's hard to snap them underneath your diapers but you still fit comfortably in any regular long sleeve shirts.  Your pants are slightly too short so we may be moving up to 18 months in a month or two.

Mama's Favorites: I love watching you carry around your dolly.  You are obsessed with it and will walk around all day with it by the arm.  You pat its back and give it to us to "love".

Crying: There isn't really much crying unless you wake in the middle of the night or are hurt.  Otherwise it's mainly a whining cry to get whatever you think you need at that moment.

Sleep: You are going to bed at night around 8 pm and sleeping till 8 in the morning.  You've been waking up 2-3 times a night lately and it's killing me.  I'm hoping that it's a combination developmental stage and teeth.

You do your one nap a day around the noon hour.  This nap is usually 1.5-2.5 hours.

This Month: You traveled in the states visiting your cousins, aunts and uncles.  We also came back home to Georgia and spent a few weeks getting back settled into life here. 

Baby Likes: You love to eat.  You love your sister.  You love to do whatever she is doing.  You love your dolly.  You love Buddy.  You love to watch your Daddy leave from the window and greet him when he comes home.  You love to sit down to eat dinner.  You love going on walks in the wagon.

Milestones: You are walking!  You finally got enough confidence to go for it.  It was literally 2 days later and you are walking more than crawling.  It's so cute to see you waddling along.  You have mastered the stairs and can easily get down as well as up.

Best of Times: You're happy attitude always.

Worst of Times: Jet lag....

Sister Diaries: Mara gets frustrated easily with how you want to be where she is always.  I see her needing alone time to play and try to give it to her.  She still loves being near you and asks to play with you alone in her room.

Maddy's First Birthday

Like Mara's first birthday, we ended up in Illinois at my parents to celebrate.  It was really fun to continue this little tradition and my mom was super excited to host again.  Since we would be traveling only a few days prior I knew I would have to forgo my usualy party philospy of making everything and purchase the decorations.

Decor

Thank goodness for my mom and her picture printing!

We went with a confetti/sprinkle theme and kept it super simple! I ordered some balloons, confetti, happy birthday banner, paper flowers and candle.  Josh also was super helpful getting everything assembled and I think its the least amount of party prep I have ever had to do!

So many of our family, including my cousins, their girlfriends, my brother, Mallory & Patrick, family friends, Drew.  It was such a blessing!

Birthday cake and smash cake

Rocking the same skirt and shoes that her sister did!

Give me cake!

Maddy and Mara had a ton of folks to keep them entertained and defintily twisted my male cousins into pushing them around the house in both the car and little semi.  Maddy dug into her cake a lot faster than Mara did.  She even went in for a face plant.  I quickly stepped away from that situation and took to slicing the cake (no baby clean up for mom!)

We opened presents and just visited with family until everyone had to leave.  It was such a great day!

We let Mara in on the fun

I think I'll just eat the box instead

Yes Aunt Mary gave empty bottles.  Perfect gift for a one year old!

So many family and friends!!

Teamwork