let it snow!

And it did just that on Saturday. I think we got about 4 inches, maybe 5. Our gracious neighbor came over to tackle our driveway with his snow-blower. It rocks to have neighbors like that. As soon as I finish baking some holiday cookies (which is what I will be doing in just a sec) I need to take some over to say thanks.

I am a bit late in getting our Christmas cards out this year, but tomorrow they will be in the mail. Started doing photo cards last year and we're continuing the tradition this season. Here's the one we're using for our cards:

It turned out ok. Madison didn't want to hold still so she's a little blurry, but I don't know if you can tell on a computer screen. We also had our annual family photo taken last week, and as soon as I have time to scan the pic I'll post that, too.

There's a ton of stuff to do over the next few days so I may not get a chance to update again until after Christmas. So...happy holidays to all!

22 more shopping days

Does it bother you when you hear this sentence that I used as the title for this post? It kind of gets on my nerves as it's just a reminder of how commercialized the holiday season has become. Don't get me wrong...I enjoy shopping for gifts for family and friends as much as the next person...but I also wish the season was more about togetherness and less about dollars.

One part of the holidays I really love is decorating! Nothing cheers up a room more than lights, and our living room is looking pretty good right now. We put up the tree last night, and had lots of help from Miss M. Here she is, thinking how nice her blanket would look as an ornament:

potty mouth

Looking for a unique Christmas gift for your toddler-in-training?


http://www.uncommongoods.com/item/item.jsp?source=rss&utm_medium=rss&itemId=16430

Isn't that hilarious??

reality check

Afternoon at Starved Rock State Park


I discovered something about myself the other day: at this point in time, I have very limited interests. I am thinking now that I am a very boring person.

A week ago Kevin and I were both supposed to play a gig together, so we dropped Maddi off at my parents' house a little early so we could have an hour or so of "free" time beforehand. We had dinner (gourmet McDonalds, I'm ashamed to say) and then headed to Barnes & Noble for coffee and leisure reading. Except I couldn't come up with a topic that interested me. In that huge store, the only thing that appealed to me were parenting books and mothering magazines. And I refused to look at any of them, because I felt like since this was my one night out in, like, forever, I needed to focus on something other than being a mom.

Don't get me wrong. I love being a mom, and I love being the nurturing figure in our little family. But I'm more than that, too...or at least I used to be. So now I'm on the lookout for a new hobby or interest, or something. I don't want to be that person who has nothing to say, the conversation killer. I guess it's time to take a look at life and find something to kick my @$$ into gear, eh?

going...going...green!

Adventures with Play-Doh


I guess I've jumped on the green bandwagon. I don't mean to make it sound like a fad as I sincerely hope it's not. But I was just thinking about some of the changes we've made in the last few months and I'm pretty happy with what we're doing. We may not be able to afford a new hybrid car or a solar-paneled house but why not do what we can with what we've got? Here are a few of our green achievements:

- Kevin made a rain barrel this fall. Although it's a little late to use it this season, we're both excited about next spring, and how we'll use it to use rainwater to feed our veggies and flowers. We also intend to put up a clothesline in the spring so I can put out some of the laundry instead of using the dryer for everything.

- If you've read my previous posts, you'll know that we've begun cloth diapering. I have built up a pretty nice stash of dipes for Miss M and I am feeling good about not putting as many disposables in the garbage. We still use them for bedtime, naptime, and some longer outings, but at home we're cloth almost all the way.

- I've started saving plastic bags from the store to send to the recycling center. I would like to start using some of the reusable bags in the future. I've also stopped throwing away cardboard boxes from cereal and cracker packages and started putting them in with our recycling pile for newspapers.

- Compact flourescent light bulbs are slowly taking over our house.

I know there's probably a lot more we could be doing (like fixing the leaky faucet in the tub) but one day at a time, right?

boo! to you

I am a sucky mommy. Halloween is in two days and I still haven't gotten a costume for M yet.

I saw a really cute monkey outfit (how very fitting!) at Target 2 months ago, but I just wasn't prepared to think about Halloween in September, ya know? So I didn't buy it. Of course that's the one costume that sold out immediately and they haven't gotten any more in so...I guess our little monkey won't look the part. I also refuse to pay more than $15 for a costume she'll wear for a few hours, max, one night. I mean, we are only taking her to a couple of the neighbors houses, and maybe have her dressed up while kids come to our house.

I may go the home-made route and use this cute bunny hat my mom made for her...I can dress her in pink sweats and put together a cotton tail and she'll be a huggable, squeezable (cheap) little hopper for Halloween.

i should be working right now...

...but it's Sunday and I don't feel like it. Even though the house is quiet (naptime) and I should be productive, I'm wasting time online as usual. Happens to the best of us, doesn't it?

So, we're trying cloth! Got my trail package and it's been interesting. I for one LOVE the idea of cloth. I don't mind the laundry and I am looking forward to a less stinky diaper pail and not having to haul heavy diapers to the trash every other night. Madison...well, I'm not sure she loves it as much as me. It's a change, that's for sure. She tolerates two of the brands ok...BumGenius and FuzziBunz are winners, but she seems to hate Happy Heineys. I think they are too wide between the legs for her. I haven't tried the prefolds and don't plan to...I like the ease of pockets and all-in-ones (AIOs) and I don't want to have to worry about trying to fold them so they aren't bulky. M doesn't stay still for diaper changes very well, so she'd never stand for it.

So, I think I'll be keeping my BG and FB, and I'm in the process of ordering some more. Man, they make some cute diapers. I can totally see how this becomes an addiction for some mamas. I'm thinking for baby #2 (when we're at that point) I will do cloth all the way. We could save a ton of money!

Here are a couple pics of Maddi and her new diapers:

Not feelin' the love with her HH:



That's better! A snug BG on her little bum:

catchin' up

Well let's see, what's been going on? We've had kind of a rough week, I guess. First Madison had her 18 month appointment on the 21st, which went ok except she would NOT hold still for the weight/measurement checks. So I'm pretty sure those are inaccurate, considering they weighed her in at a full pound less than her 15 month appointment. Then she had to get one booster shot plus HepA (no MMR yet, we're delaying that one) and she wasn't too happy about that. Then she had to have her hemoglobin checked which came back low, so I had to take her back the next week to have it re-checked. The second time they did it though the vein in her arm, not the little finger prick like the first time, and it was horrible. She was so miserable, and I felt horrible for her. Fortunately her levels were fine this time, so I don't have to worry about adjusting her diet too much.

Speaking of diet, we did have to adjust a bit this weekend, to mainly bland foods. Last week she began vomiting. Occurrences were intermittent (every other day in fact) and she acted just fine otherwise. After she threw up again on Friday I called the doctor and recieved a little bit of reassurance...the nurse said she had 3 calls exactly like mine that day. So some sort of viral thing is going around...which I'm pretty sure she picked up at the doctor's office. At her WELL BABY visit. Harumph.

We were going to take our yearly trip to WI this weekend but because I wasn't sure how M would be feeling we decided not to go. Turned out she was just fine...no more vomiting...so I'm hoping the bug is out of her system.

On a fun note, I was finally able to meet up with my friend Delaney and her son, who is just a month older than M. We've been trying to find time to meet for months and this time the stars aligned. We met at Brookfield Zoo and had a super time. The toddlers had their own sort of conversation ("no no no" "NO NO!" "Ablagoobly?" "Doo doo hiiii!"), it was really cute. And we mommies chatted about life in general and parenthood. We used to do shots, now we do diapers. Boy have times changed!

I will add pictures tomorrow, running out of time tonight!

to cloth or not to cloth?

I am considering--again--trying cloth diapers with Madison. I say "again" because I got gung-ho about cloth diapering (CD) before she was born, buying roughly $100 of supplies (2 dozen prefolds and 3 covers) and using them about, oh, two or three times. Looking back, there are a couple of reasons I gave it up without a fair trial. First, I didn't realize that every time a newborn relieves itself poop is in the picture. I just couldn't see doing laundry every other day when I was sooo tired from the rigors of new motherhood. Also, when I tried putting the diapers on her they always seemed way too big. She was a small baby, and I think what happened is the diapers/covers were meant for bigger babies, even though they were a size small.

So after all this, why the renewed interest in CD? Well, I'm tired of lugging smelly, heavy loads of disposables out to the trash. If one child is producing that much waste (the dirty diapers I mean, not necessarily the pees/poops) just think of how many tons of soiled diapers are disposed of daily around the world! This summer we've started thinking a little greener and this is one area where I think we can improve.

Also, I've heard that once potty training begins, it's a little easier for toddlers to know when they've gone because cloth doesn't wick moisture away from the body like disposables do. Food for thought for the future.

So...I'm researching CD. This time I'm reading tons of articles and asking people I know about their experiences. I'm considering a trial package from Jillian's Drawers that offers an assortment of CD types for a $100 deposit, with the option to return what you don't like. If you return them all you get your money back minus $10. If you decide to keep some, the price is adjusted accordingly. Since there are so many types and I'm not sure what will be right for us, this sounds like the best way to go. Plus, I can always sell the ones I bought (they really are practically brand-new!) and use that to pay for some of the new stash.

Here's Madison with her latest obsession: her alphabet mat. She LOVES letters and is always pointing out the ones she can identify...which is a pretty lot impressive for an 18 month old I think!

inside, outside, upside down

I've had a lot of thoughts in the last few days about what to post here next, but it's been hard to find time to get online to do much. Now that school has started again and Kevin is back in teaching mode he's not home much during the day, so it's just Maddi and me. She's a good kiddo but a handful sometimes, so I have to watch to make sure she's not turning the TV on and off repeatedly or dancing on the coffee table.

Today we went to the Children's Museum. Cool place...lots of hands on stuff for little ones and they even offer toddler time programs...I think we'll go to some of the upcoming planned events. I didn't bring the camera today, but here are a few other recent pictures you might enjoy of our little acrobat. She's doing somersaults now!

little cutie patootie

I was thinking tonight about how sad I'm going to be when M becomes a teenager (or pre-teen) and doesn't want to have anything to do with us. :-(

Of course I don't remember going through that I-hate-my-parents phase at all so maybe there's hope.

Anyway, here are some new pics of Miss M!

introducing: jazzgirl

I really, really should be working now but I just had to take a minute to post this video. See how proud daddy is of his little drummer girl...who can actually keep the beat at 16 months!

http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i67/cahart/?action=view&current=madisondrums768filmcontent.flv

of poop and product recalls

Today I came across a list of topics intended for this blog. I made the list quite some time ago and now I'm glad I did, because some of the items listed might have been forgotten. There's a lot of good material there, especially memories from Madison's early weeks/months. Like her very first poop...and I know you want to hear about this!

So the story goes...she was in her mini-crib at the foot of our bed, and it was the middle of the night. We're all sleeping and suddenly the girl lets out a supremely loud yelp. Kevin and I both jumped up and looked at each other. "What's the matter with her? What happened? Is she ok?" We both panicked. She was only a couple of days old and something terrible had happened but we didn't know what.

But we soon found out. The little girl had her first massive b.m. Filled up the diaper and the some. Scared the crap (literally) out of her. Of course being new parents it took the two of us to change her diaper, and if I remember correctly it took about 20 minutes. (Hey...we were inexperienced, what can I say?)

Ok, on to cleaner things, sort of. Heard about some serious product recalls today, a bunch of Fischer Price stuff. Parents: check to see if you've got any of these items here: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07257.html

And now for our picture of the day...Little Drummer Girl!

we're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

Actually, we already went. Last Friday. To Brookfield Zoo. We saw lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! And a near fight at the ceramic kangaroo display between two mothers who wanted to take their kids' pictures without having other kids crowd their own out. (Claws in, ladies!)

Anyway, here are a few pics from our adventure.

trips n' tales

We made our annual trek to the Iowa City Jazz Festival last weekend. It's turned into quite an event, with both sets of our parents coming along plus a few friends here and there. This was Madison's second appearance at Iowa City...and I daresay she liked it more this year than last. Of course, last year she was only 3 months old and cried most of the time. This year there was so much to explore...grass, steps leading up to campus buildings, Whitey's Ice Cream...there's lots to do in this neat-o little downtown.

Campus area, on, of course, Madison St. As you can see, the wee one is thrilled about this. Zzzz...

After the festival we headed over to the Field of Dreams movie site:

With Grampa Ronnie, checking out the kids playing ball on the field. Remember the house from the movie? Still there. And the bleachers where the little girl fell? You can see them to the right of Grampa and Maddi.

Let's see, what else is new? Ah, today was the first day of swim class! M did very well. She did cling to me for the first 10 mintues or so, refusing to turn around and look at her fellow swimmers, but after a while she relaxed and participated in a game of chase the (rubber) duck. Today was a great day for being in the water as it's terribly hot! Yippee for Midwestern summers, ha ha.

these times they are a-changin'

This weekend my friend Erin came to visit. She landed a teaching job at a college in Ohio this past year, and when her summer sessions are done she's returning home to Denver. She had some time to spare over the weekend so she came back to town to visit a couple of friends. Home base for her was at our place.

For the first time in, oh, 15 months I went "out." I mean "out" like nightlife "out"...drinks and stuff, at a real live bar. Two of them--bars and drinks--actually. It was fun but kind of weird. I am in a very different place these days, being a maternal-type character. I was tired at 9:30 pm (the time we actually left the house) and by 1:45 am when we got back I was practically a zombie. But I didn't want to be the weenie who called it a night so I stuck it out. I even had a couple of drinks, and lo and behold I did not get buzzed. I guess it was because they were spread out over a course of 4 hours.

Anyway, it really was fun to hang out with a girlfriend. And Madison made a new friend...she loved Erin (well, except on day #1 when E was looking at one of M's books and M was upset b/c she couldn't look at it, too...she was trapped in her chair eating breakfast and cried for the next 15 minutes). And I have to be grateful to E for putting up with all three of us...me, M, and Kevin, whose lives are completely centered around parenthood and child rearing. I feel kind of bad that I'm a lousy friend to hang out with at night and that half of what I talk about revolves around my daughter, but that's just where my life is right now. I don't regret it, though. There isn't any place I'd rather be these days.

summertime....

At the playground


Modeling swimsuit #1...I took it back because it *just* fit her and I'm not sure it still will by the time her swim lessons roll around come July!


The new swimsuit and wading pool.


Little artist!



With Daddy on Father's Day.


I haven't been updating our site here as much as I'd like to. Things have been busy...lots of deadlines hit me at once and squelched any sort of creative commentary I might have had for recent developments in parenthood/toddlerhood. Not sure I'll be all that creative now as it's late and I'm tired, but I do have some new pictures to share.





Summer is in full force and we're making the most of it! Lots of outdoor type-things are in our daily schedule: park trips, walks, bike rides, swimming (in the little wading pool for now...swim lessons for Maddi at the local pool later in the summer).





Madison is adding new words to her vocabulary pretty routinely. Of course, many words are still attempts at the full word..."ba" is universal for ball, swing, sheep sounds, and any multi-syllable words that begin with "b." Her new favorite words include "tractor" and "dirt." The two go hand-in-hand as we've been watching the new Uptown Normal plans take shape. Everything is torn up and under construction, and there are always lots of tractors digging in the dirt. M loves it!




Hope everyone is having a great summer so far!

summer fun

My future's so bright...I gotta wear shades.


Yummy, that swing tastes good!


You cruise, you snooze.


Well, I got to celebrate my second Mother's Day this year. The weird part is I tend to forget that I get to celebrate, too. Seems like I spend the few days before the holiday shopping for mine and Kevin's moms. Last year we had both families over to our place (with a 2 month old I didn't want to do a lot of traveling at the time) so I was busy making preparations for company, and this year Kevin and I had a gig in Peoria in the afternoon. Mom & Dad Hart came over to our place and we all drove over together, then we went to my folks' afterwards and grilled out. It was a very busy day! But we had a nice time. Kudos to ALL mothers...it's hard work but definitely worth it.

We've got a new form of recreation! Finally got the bike trailer put together so we're able to really utilize the bike trail. Good timing too, because if we keep walking like we have been we're gonna need to replace the wheels on the stroller. Madison seems to like it, and she's even conked out in it a couple of times (see last pic above). What a good deal...she gets to be hauled around, enjoying a cool breeze on her rosy cheeks and taking in the scenery without lifting a finger. I know she likes it because every now and then I hear a "Yay yay yay!" from her little compartment. Anyway, thought I'd post a few recent pics for all to enjoy.

had a good read lately?

I've been lax about updating but with the nice weather (finally!) we've been doing a lot of outside stuff. Then at night I've had work to do. Gotta keep the diapers on the bum, ya know.

Madison is 13 months now and she's doing great! I continue to be amazed at the progress she's making physically and mentally. Her latest accomplishments include matching shapes with her shape-sorter, eating just about everything we eat (including ice cream), and adding a number of words to her vocabulary. Most notably:

Flower (owa)

Yo-yo

Magazine (ma)

Backyard (ba)

Swing (ba)

Puff (puh)

Ok, so most of these would be indeciperable to anyone but us. And it's true, "ba" seems to be universal for a number of nouns. But I'm darned proud of my girl for trying. She knows what she wants to say and we can understand her most of the time, so there's real communication happening. It's so cool.

She's not a baby anymore, really. She's a walking, talking toddler. I still can't believe it. And she's a whole lot of fun. One of our latest discoveries is the park...she LOVES the park. I'm also thinking of signing us up for infant/toddler swim lessons with the park district...not because I think she'll actually learn to swim, but because it sounds like a fun opportunity to get involved in some sort of organized activity. She likes other kids and I'd like to be around some other moms!

I could post a ton more updates but I have a newsletter to finish, so that's all for now. Hope everyone is enjoying their spring!

somebunny loves you

It hit me this weekend that this year was NOT Madison's first Easter! She's becoming a holiday veteran now with two Easters under her belt.

We had a little egg hunt Sunday morning. Hid 6 plastic eggs and she found them all. Kevin suggested we put goldfish crackers in them as incentive to keep looking, and it worked. But now I think she thinks eggs are called "crackers" (or "ca-ca"). I hope we didn't confuse the poor girl!

happy birthday Madison!

Well, my baby turned 1 last week. I can't believe it...she's getting big so fast. On her birthday we took her to the park where she happily played in the dirt. The big party was last Saturday, and the little party was this past Tuesday (my folks ended up with water in their basement due to the rain, so we took some cake, decorations, and their granddaughter to them).

She's picking up on things so quickly now. She understands so much--it's amazing how she's learned it. We can ask her to go get a specific book and almost every time she comes back with the correct one. She can also follow simple instructions...put the __ in the __, look at the ___, etc. She knows what a lot of objects are around the house.

She's walking like a pro. In fact, we bought her her first pair of sneakers the other day. Also, she's trucking along pretty well and she's almost running when she gets excited.

She is also adding more words to her vocabulary. In addition to mom, dad, banana she says ball, cracker, and water. Probably nobody but Kevin and I can decipher these last two words, though.

I guess this is my brag post! Hope you enjoy the pics from her birthday celebration!

almost 1 year...

I swear this has been the fastest year of my life. That sounds funny, the way I worded it, but I think you know what I mean. Madison's birthday--her FIRST birthday--is next Wednesday. We now have a toddler on our hands, not a baby! Although she'll always be our baby....

We're having her party the weekend after her birthday and I'm hoping it's nice out, because I think there'll be a lot of family coming. She loves Winnie-the-Pooh so we'll be doing a Pooh theme. I already picked up some themed napkins, plates, and noisemakers but I only bought enough for a small crowd, so I guess another trip to WalMart is in order. And I've got to order the cake (Pooh, of course). And balloons! This little store downtown has helium balloons with Pooh characters on them. Gotta have those, they're so cute.

Huh. I never thought I'd be going crazy over a birthday she probably won't even remember, but there will be pics and videos that she'll be able to see later.

I'll be sure to post pictures from the party, of course. Until then, enjoy this shot my Dad took of her recently. Too bad she's not wearing her White Sox outfit!

"y" not?

You know what's cool? I now have an excuse to watch Sesame Street. I used to watch it as a kid. And now that I have a kid of my own I feel comfortable wasting an hour in front of the TV singing along to silly songs and giggling at Cookie Monster. Not that I'm encouraging Madison to veg out in front of the boob tube, but Sesame Street *is* classic viewing.

Today's episode had a really clever segment with Nora Jones. She's sitting at the piano, all depressed, because a friend of hers was supposed to meet her and didn't show. Turns out her friend is the letter Y. Guess what song she sang in her bluesy state...yep, "Don't Know Y." I thought it was really clever, but that' s probably just mommy brain kicking in.

Well, Madison is officially walking. She hasn't crawled in about 3 days. She treks through the house, up and down the hallway, carrying toys or socks or whatever she gets her little hands on. It's so funny, she still seems so little to be cruising around like that. The girl is so proud of herself, as are her parents.

I've been wanting to post this video for a while...Kevin put together a segment of her doing a little shopping at the mall. Be sure to turn the volume up on your computer. Enjoy!

http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i67/cahart/?action=view&current=materialgirl364.flv

itty bitty steps

Let's see, what's new in the Hart household?

Well, we were snowed in yesterday. Got 13" of snow, so of course we weren't going anywhere. To celebrate, we all stayed in our pajamas all day.

Now on to more exciting news...Madison is officially walking! She'll teeter between Kevin and me, and there have been a few occasions where she was standing up, holding on to something, and she'd let go and take a few steps on her own. It really does look funny because she's so little.

She's been practicing with her stroller at the mall. We'll go to one of those sitting areas and she'll hang on to the basket and do laps around the benches. We've got a great video of this...if I ever figure out how to upload videos I'll post it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

two steps for babykind

She finally did it...and it's exciting and terrifying at the same time. Last night Madison took two steps on her own! She started by standing and squatting a few times without holding onto anything. Kevin put a sticker on her hand and she wanted to grab at it, but she had to let go to do so. When she let go she was standing on her own, which she's done on occasion before, for very short periods of time. But then I took the sticker and told her to come get it, and she took a couple of steps towards me before plopping down on her butt. I don't know if she'll remember today that she was brave enough to let go yesterday, but one thing's for sure...she'll be walking before her first birthday, I'll bet. Yikes! I'd better get myself a new pair of running shoews because I understand that's when things REALLY get interesting. Yay Madison!!

wordplay

Madison, where's 'Mommy?'

Ma-ma.

Madison, can you say 'Daddy?'

Da-da.

Madison, what are these?

Nananas! (bananas)

This is an example of the conversations we've been having with our daughter these days--usually the same conversation multiple times each day. It's a game and none of us are tired of it yet! And since she's responding with words, I consider them real conversations. She understands a lot more than she can vocalize. She can identify a bunch of objects, including her stuffed animals (Pooh, Puppy, Bunny, and Dolly Madison), balls, piano, blocks, rings (the stackable kind), the window, Puffs (her beloved Gerber Puffs), and a lot of other things. It's really cool being able to communicate with the munchkin.

I also would like to say congrats to my friend Kim and her husband who just gave birth (well, Kim's the one who actually gave birth :) to her son Sean Michael. Kim is an old friend...we go waaaay back to our kindergarten years! You can read about their exciting news and see some pics on her blog. Welcome to mommyhood!!

Oh, and thanks to my friend Delaney and her son Logan (see previous post) for letting Maddi pose in the coolest of all vehicles..the Weinermobile!

schedules, playdates, and misc. stuff

Well it took 8 months, but M is finally on a fairly predictable schedule. I haven't wanted to mention this for fear of jinxing it, but for the past month she has pretty much been getting up, napping, and going to bed (well, this was slightly altered due to holiday madness but we're working on getting her to bed a little earlier).

It's SO nice to be able to plan the day around naptimes. Before everything was haphazard...she'd be fine, we'd go out, she'd get tired and cranky. Bad situation. You never knew where or when sleepy Madison would strike. The only problem now is that she still refuses to nap in her crib. Actually, the real problem is that she won't go to sleep without someone laying down with her. It can be Kevin or me, it doesn't matter (although I've started calling him the Madison Whisperer because he can get her to conk out really fast). So our new tactic is to spread a blanket on the living room floor, lay with her until she crashes, then get up and go about our business. It's only slightly inconvenient...we have to be quiet, but there are a number of things we can get done that don't require noise. This is another time I'm thankful to work at home, and that Kevin has a flexible teaching schedule so he's home during the day a lot also.

I had to include a pic or two from our most recent playday. We FINALLY managed to visit my friend Delaney and her little boy, Logan, who is just a month older than M. It was nice to spend some time with an old friend, and as an added bonus she's a mommy friend too. I don't have too many of those.

Well, predictable naptime #2 is over for the day. Gotta attend to the little one!