I love this! This was made by another mother who lost her child. I think it is just beautiful!
www.namesbycandlelight.blogspot.com

Bye bye bottle...

Afternoon at a local parl, Castaway Island Preserve. We had a great time walking the nature trails with Maddy and her cousin Emma and then walking down to the dock to throw rocks in the water.

So I am kinda sad to say that we got Maddy off of the bottle this week. : ( She was still taking bottles before nap and bedtime with milk and we had been putting it off mainly because I was afraid that if we took it away she wouldn't drink milk anymore but..... we switched to the sippy cup and at first she still said, "baba...baba.." a few times but I just told her, "No, here is your baba now it has your milk in it." And she took it! Yay!!!

AND...... DUN-DUN-DUN....... Maddy went pee-pee in the potty for the first time this week!!!!!!!!!!! We were so proud of her! Since we got her new princess potty we have been encouraging her to sit on it and try to go pee-pee in the potty usually each night before bedtime when she goes in the bathroom she will say, "pee-pee" and point to her potty then sit on it for a minute before getting in the bath but she would never actually go she would get up and we would tell her good try! But the other night she walked in like normal said, "Pee-pee" walked over to her potty sat down and peed!!!! I yelled, "Matt, come here Maddy's going pee-pee in the potty!!!!" He ran in and we were like yay Maddy!!!!!! She was kinda looking down like oh, there is something coming out of there! It was so funny and cute! Afterwards we gave her some M&M's since she went on the potty! So far she hasn't gone again but is still sitting on it each day at least once and trying so that's all I expect for now!

She has also been talking quite a bit more. It seems everyday she is saying a new word but it's usually after we say a word she will repeat it but still it's progress! Now as soon as we get out of the car she says, "I walk!" She is becoming so independant about things and wants to walk. She will also say, "I no want to" when she is being stubborn! Only about a week and a half until her appointment for speech evaluation with Wolfson's.

Post It Note Tuesday!

Thought this was the cutest idea!

A day to remember...

So Tyler's 3rd "Heavenly Birthday" is coming up in a little while and I have already begun to do a little planning for it! We are going to have it at a nearby state park called Castaway Island and it's going to be a "Fishing" theme! Castaway Island is right on the water and has a dock that you can fish off of, nature trails, picnic tables, and courtyard. So I thought this would be perfect, I just hope it doesn't rain! We are going to have a cookout there and fishing poles so they guys can fish and the kids can just run around and play or throw rocks in the river, go on the nature trails etc. Plus I will have a little craft where they can paint their own little fishies. (Can you tell I love the paint your own stuff???). We will also have cake or cupcakes and everyone will get a balloon to write a message for Tyler and then we will do a balloon release at the end of the dock.

Some of you may wonder why would I plan a celebration/party like this when Tyler isn't here with us and the thing is, it just feels right to me. It feels right to have a day where our friends and family get together to remember Tyler. A day that is all about him!!! Tyler is a part of our family and he will ALWAYS be a part of our family.

No matter what I do or dont do the anniversary of Tyler's birth will ALWAYS be really hard. I will ALWAYS wish that he was here with me in my arms to spend his birthday with him. I will always long to hold him on his birthday and cuddle him and watch him blow out his candles, I will always wonder, "What would he be into right now? Would he love Yo Gabba Gabba like Maddy does? Or would he be more into cars? What would he look like now at 3 years old? Would he have red hair and blue eyes like his Daddy? What would his personality be like? " It kills me that I will never know these things this side of Heaven but one thing I know for sure. I WILL be with him again one day. And I will never let him go when that time comes! But for now, while I try to make it through each birthday I want to continue having a day just for him our precious, precous little boy. To remember him, to love him..... and I hope that each year he is smiling down from Heaven watching us celebrate his birthday and knowing that we will never forget him and that he is in my heart and on my mind every single day.

Disney, therapy, and Maddy's first hair cut!

We just got back from Disney last weekend! This time just the girls and the kids went for the day and we had a blast! Maddy's favorite things were the tea cups and the Jungle Cruise!

So we took Maddy for her evaluation at Early Steps and she didn't qualify. : ( I was disappointed. I know you may be thinking what?? Why??? It's good that your child didn't qualify to need speech therapy BUT the thing is she is a little behind on her expressive language but she isn't anywhere near what they consider "severe" so she didn't qualify. Which means we will have to find a different private speech therapist to take her to and insurance doesn't usually cover speech therapy unless it's a issue resulting from a problem at birth, etc. Soooooo.... I have been really looking into it and found that at Wolfson's they have a grant that they give you if your insurance wont cover it!!!! Yay!!!! It's not something you have to qualify for, it's not based on income or anything you just get it! So I am VERY excited about that. Maddy's evlaution with them is the week after Spring Break. On the other hand Maddy has been improving alot with her talking in just the last month or so, I am so proud of my baby! I just think that this will be the little "boost" she needs to just take off! : )

And Maddy got her very first hair cut! Her Grams cut it and I think it looks so cute!

Weekends, oh how I love you!

Now that I am working full time I look forward to the weekend sooooooo much! I hate being away from Maddy during the week so when the weekends get here and I have 2 full days with Maddy it is just pure BLISS!!! But the weekends always seem to come to an end so quickly! : (

This weekend was pretty busy. Saturday morning I went to garage sales with my Mom and found lots of good stuff, I love garage sales! Then Maddy and I picked up McDonald's and went to the baseball park for Will's first game of the season. It was pretty cold but Maddy and Josh didn't seem to mind! They just ran around playing together. Then we went home, I put Maddy down for a nap, did some laundry and when she woke up my sister, Mom, and I went shopping for art supplies. We are participating in Disney's "Give A Day, Get A Day". It's a promotion they are doing where if you donate or volunteer at certain organizations they give you a FREE ticket to Disney!!!!! So we choose a local school, all you had to do was bring in 15 new art supplies to the school so Matt and I both did this! Cant wait to plan our next trip to one of the Disney parks! Afterwards we went to dinner at Sticky Fingers and home for bed!

Today we slept in and it was so nice! Mad's didn't wake up until about 8:45, she was a little sleepyhead this morning! So we got up had breakfast and then went to the Arboretum. It's a place close to our house that has nature trails. It is so beautiful there, they have bridges, little streams, a huge lake and about 5 different trails that you can walk. Maddy and I went with Jeanna and Charlie. The weather was just perfect and the kids loved being outside. Here are some pics from our day today! Afterwards it was lunch then home for nap and then cookout at friends house! Aaaaa...... what a fun weekend, just sad it has come to an end... onto another wonderful week of working! : (

Where has the time gone?

Monday was Maddy's actual birthday. To celebrate Matt and I took off work and took Maddy to the Alligator Farm. I thought this would be the perfect place to go since she has been very excited whenever she sees alligators in books and stuff because she knows how to put her arms together and CHOMP! like an alligator! Anyways, so we got up early and had a great time! Maddy and I got to actually hold and pet a baby alligator and got our picture taken with it. Matt didn't want to get anywhere near him though, he isn't a fan of any type of reptiles!

It amazes me just how much she had changed in a year! I was watching her run around and talk and I thought, "Wow, this time last year she wasn't even walking yet! And now look at her!" I love the age that she is right now, I love seeing her personality develop and seeing her get excited about things but I also love the age she was when she was first born, 6 months, 1 year, 1 and a half. . I think every stage has it's great moments and I am just enjoying where she is as we go! My friend Kelli made this little collage and I think it's so precious!
Yesterday I took Maddy to her 2 year well visit at the pediatrician. She is doing so great! She's in the 50th percentile for her weight she weighs 25 almost 26 pounds and in the 95th percentile for her height! She's a tall little girl! She didn't have to get shots which I was very happy about and is right on schedule for everything developmentally! I did talk to the doctor about my concerns with her speech/language being a little behind and she agreed that I should continue with Early Steps for their full evaluation on Tuesday. Her receptive language-actually understanding things is really good but it's still the expressive language I'm concerned about although she has been talking ALOT more lately!!! : )

What can I say except I adore my little 2 year old!!!

Happy Birthday Maddy!!!!

Our Little Girl is 2!!!!!

Saturday we went to the feed store to pick out Maddy's birthday ducklings! Will and Josh came with us too and they thought it was so neat when they saw them. Maddy got so excited and was saying, "Duck-duck!!!" Which is what she calls them, it's never just duck it's always, "Duck-duck!" We let each of the kids pick out which duckling they wanted. Will picked out black one and named it Quackers. Josh picked out a yellow one and named it Pip. And Maddy picked out the duckling that was black and yellow and named it Ming-Ming! They were all so adorable!

Sunday was Maddy's birthday. I woke her up early so that she would go down for her nap early and up in time for the party. We spent the morning getting everything ready and at 3:00 everyone started arriving. Everything went so perfectly

Playing the duck-floating game. They picked up a ducky and got a prize for the number on the bottom!

Decorate your own duck. These little ducks are from oriental trading. They were solid white and the kids decorated them.

Party favors and decorations!