BrownTown: April 2013

Friday, April 19, 2013

A much needed family vacation.....

They say a family vacation is successful based on the memories made. Here's the memories this trip left us:

1.the fact that we nearly had to cancel it. Sam was sick for the 5 days leading up to when we were going to leave and I got sick the day before we left. It was a miracle when we all woke up healthy on Tuesday morning.

2. a long car ride and lots of fruit eating, listening to music, and talking

3. When Samantha fell really hard into the metal bleachers 10 minutes after we got into Sea World. Right as we were about to enjoy the dolphins, bam! She then wanted nothing to do with the dolphin show.

4. Meeting Elmo, Abby, and Zoe. We had no idea that Sea World had a Sesame land. Had it not been for that, it would have been a major bust. I just don't understand how she is afraid to be left in nursery with perfectly normal, nice people, but had no hesitation to talk, hug, and sit on large, scary looking furry monsters. She was in heaven. It actually brought me to tears she was so happy. There we hardly any other kids in line so she got lots and lots of time with them over and over again.

5. When I let my husband talk me into "getting our money's worth" and not making Samantha take a nap on our Sea World day. Wanna know how well that went over?

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

We were so excited to show her the Pets Rule show but when the time came for the show she wanted nothing to do with it and Chris had to take her out and she cried on the ground for the entire show. (I got to sit and nurse Madi and watch it. I got the better end of that deal!)

6. Our awesome hotel. We booked it through Hotwire and we were so happy with it. It was right downtown and had a pool and a great breakfast and a snack/happy hour. It was only a short walk to the pier. Samantha decided that she is ready for swim season.

7. the fact that Samantha experienced pure joy just chasing pigeons along the boardwalk

8. When Samantha was sniffing these beautiful roses at Balboa Park and fell into them- scratching her entire face making her bleed.

9. Eating at Pizza Nova

10. Visiting Point Loma Lighthouse. Samantha caught up on the phone with some friends and Madilynn took a nice nap

11. Touching a real StarFish in the Ocean

12. When we stepped onto the beach in Oceanside and Samantha immediately wanted the sand off of her. It took her a good hour to actually want anything to do with the water and sand.

13. Catching up with the Hillier's. They were so kind and let us crash at their place for a night. They entertained us at the beach and took us to this awesome ocean side park and to a great little place for fish and chips.

We would trade our cactus, rattlesnake, brown parks for this any day.

I guess we can consider it a success. Samantha has the wounds to prove it.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Looks who's 2.............

Weight: 27 pounds

Height 34 1/2 inches

We had a tough week leading up to Samantha's 2nd birthday. On the day of her well check she woke up with a fever and rash. I was certain it would go away within 3 days, but 5 days later it was still sticking. We had to cancel her birthday party. Instead, to celebrate, Chris took her to Sonic to get an ice cream cone (turns out I was not strong enough to evade the sickness and I was too sick to join them)

Even with a fever this girl knows how to enjoy ice cream! (proof that even though she doesn't look a thing like me, she's mine!)

We rescheduled her birthday party for the next week and it was so much fun.

I put Chris to work making these:

Her favorite candy continues to be m&ms so we had them in the counting jars and ate her favorite food- hot dogs. She's classy like that. Ketchup is her condiment of choice. She often hands it to me first thing in the morning with breakfast.

Madilynn is a party animal like her mom

She has learned the joy of present opening. One of our friends said, "Samantha, I think it's time for you to open your presents." You should have seen how excited she got. It was hilarious

Everyone knows her so well, she got spoiled with all things sesame.

If you were observant you might have noticed that she had an outfit change. This girl HATES to be wet, but refuses to wear a bib. She also knows anyone with any amount of class wears more than one outfit at a big party.

We love this girl. She continues to push every button I have, but she is one of the joys of my life.

She wakes up bright and early every morning ready to play and does whatever she can to talk me into letting her watch a show or play with the ipad.

She loves playing at the park, mostly swinging and climbing.

She loves to to be chased.

She loves to read books and as I am reading them to her I can stop and she can fill in the blanks.

When I tell her "not right now" she looks up at me with those amazing blue eyes and says "now".

She still gets nervous when I leave her places (you know, like nursery or at friends houses, I don't just leave her on the side of the road....).

She has a recent fondness of playdough and stickers and bubbles.

She loves to help me "clean" by getting a wipe and making streaks on everything I own.

She also has a new fascination with pennies and in doing everything by herself.

Happy 2 years Samantha, let's hope you outgrown the tantrums this next year and hope that I can encourage this whole independence thing.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Madilynn's 2 Month Stats....

Weight: 11 lbs 4 oz (50th percentile)

Length 23 1/2 inches (90th percentile)

We've only known her for a few months now, but Madi is such a sweet baby. We are almost on a schedule of eat, awake for an hour, and then nap. She likes to be in her swing unless Samantha is giving her under-doggies and has started to smile and coo. She hates it if her arms are swaddled and loves her binky. She is a very finicky eater and occasionally goes on nursing strikes.

She did awesome with her first set of shots and earned herself a day of sleeping.

Sadly, my exciting outing for the day was leaving at 11:00 pm when Chris got home to run to Walgreen's to get her some Tylenol.

Isn't she a cutie?