WHY didn't I do this sooner?!

So I've learned a few things as a first-time mom. Alot. One of the many lessons is listen to my gut...from something as serious as knowing something is just wrong although no obvious symptoms presented themselves (when she had pneumonia) to little things like deciding which of the well-intentioned pieces of advice to take about Maddie's hair. My sister vehemently discouraged me having it cut. Her theory was it'll all just eventually even out (the current "mullet" had about four different lengths). Other schools of thought suggested cut it in hopes it would somehow thicken up. My feeling was, it looked ratty all the time, it's baby-fine, so why not shorten it to make it look fuller and healthier?? Well....I had enough. I picked her up from school the other day and my beautiful child looked like a mess. That's it, I decided, we are going (the $5 off coupon I snipped certainly helped the cause).


                  What an improvement! So precious!!

Heading into a local kids' salon...she was excited. Probably moreso about the ice cream I promised if she sat still!

These people are genius! They give them a cool "ride" to sit in
AND park them in front of the TV!
Brilliant!

She was such a good girl and was quite proud of her certificate (note the sweet blond lock of hair in the left upper corner :)

It never gets easier.

It never gets better, you just get better at it. 4 years ago today, Caleb passed away. I can't believe he's been gone as long as he was here. It still all seems so unfair. Sure, life has continued for us all, but not without a constant nagging feeling that something, someone is always missing. I wanted to see Monique and Rob, give them a hug, so Maddie and I brought some dinner and an orange rose (Leukemia awareness color) to their house.

The girls had fun in the hot tub...it wasn't turned on but the smaller body of water was warmer than the still-cool pool!

Monique found these beautiful lanterns online. They are biodegradable and supposedly float for a long time. Ours sank fairly quickly and we were mortified that we started a brush fire...
We usually do balloons, I'm thinking we'll stick to that in the future!

Hopefully Caleb noticed and knew they were intended for him in Heaven.

We miss you every day. XO

FINALLY!

We have pee-pee!! In the potty. I was sure I'd be changing diapers till high school.....

In all seriousness, I have tried everything. Reward system, sticker charts, nude waist down, fun panties....blackmail. Miss Independent has her own agenda. In her time, she rises to all occasions. Mamma just needs to know when to stop reading "statistics" and just relax. She's doing it all just perfectly and I couldn't be more proud of my little (almost big, *sniff*) girl!

School rules!

Making her first "smiley face". She likes to have me do shapes, letters and numbers for her to identify. Smart girl...

School is getting much better! Maddie is actually looking forward to it...um, most days. I am impressed with her ability to identify and sound out almost every letter of the alphabet. Apparently her school is reading accelerated and they attempt to have them stringing together words before kindergarten! She just got moved to the next class up (full of 3 year olds) because she's doing so well...proud Mommy and Daddy :) I worry a little that she'll just have to start all over with the adjustment to a new classroom and teacher but a few days in, she seems to be just fine!

They had "Indian day" recently...Daddy said she was a Seminole, of course.

On a fun related note, Maddie has found a little "posse". It's hilarious to me how they develop these little cliques and social skills so early. There is a group of about 3 kids she constantly talks about and greet her every morning. It's funny....although one of the girls did bite her a while back. Hmmm...friend or foe? We shall see....

For the love of St. Patrick!

We always struggle in my family to enjoy St. Patrick's Day. It was Caleb's Birthday. It holds such sweet memories and such bittersweet emotions. I always try to do something to honor his special day. This year, Maddie and I were celebrating alone (Garret was in Atlanta Bachelor-partying :), so we invited Ya ya over for dinner and cupcakes.

Torturing Meatball. As usual.

Earlier in the day, Maddie developed yet another high fever and was very cranky. I figured I better call the pediatrician since their Saturday hours are limited.

A little "potty time" before we headed off to the Doctor's office...pretty sure they're gonna start charging me rent.

At least she's in decent spirits for someone with a high fever. So stoic, my girl is. A diagnosis of yet another ear infection later, we went home to rest for a bit.

I did get to end the day with a fun night out with girlfriends...

Time with my baby girl and mom-in-law, friends and reminiscing about my favorite little hero...wasn't so bad after all.

A whole buncha stuff in one weekend!

What a weekend!! We did, um, alot! Garret's mom had offered to take Maddie for an ENTIRE day and overnight (what?!), and we gladly took her up on the offer! We decided to have "date day", complete with adult beverages, a visit to the wedding venue and good times with friends!
We were like little kids on Christmas morning...

First stop, the boat house where the wedding will be...

A little lunch at one of my faves (fish tacos!!)...

A little love on the way to Hooters!

And finally, the Edison...live music, drinks....ahhhhhh......



The next morning (after allll that indulging), I had to run the Hooters to Hooters Half Marathon!! Thankfully, Monique and I relayed it, so I only had 6.5-ish to do. Sounds easy enough, right? WRONG! IT POURED! I mean, torrential, cold, windy rain! Mo ran the first leg so poor thing ran IN IT. Ugh.

When my leg started, there was a little sprinkle but approximately 30 mile per hour winds and I had to run across and back over this monstrosity....

The picture does not capture how AWFUL it was. My legs were on fire (and I had to choke back a little vomit more than I'd like to recall).

Luckily, we got free wings for breakfast :)...grease, goooooood.

I'm still proud of us (although we did terribly, given the conditions...both weather and hung-over :)

After a nap, we picked up Maddie and took her to the fair!

This year was more fun...she could go on alot of the rides and our little daredevil loved every minute of it!! She even went on her first roller coaster (she clearly gets this madness from Daddy) and squealed the entire time!

It really was a fun weekend....quality time, personal accomplishment and even a little housework thrown in!

GOOD RIDDANCE!

So Garret and his fellow coaches decided to grow "play-off beards". While their basketball team was in playoffs, they were growing beards until they lost. While I wanted to be supportive, I HATED the thing. It scratched and hid his sweet face. He didn't look bad (couldn't if he tried :) but it felt awful (And occassionally got food in it which skeeved me to no end...).

                                 Just before the blessed event...                  .....and just after :)

I'm sad the team had to lose, but I was grateful to see it go. I missed his face.