Yummy!

Dr. Fran gave us the green light to start cereal with Macy, and boy did we have fun with it! Madison had fun watching and laughing as Macy made a huge mess. All in all it was a success! Lately she's been spitting it out more and more so we haven't been giving it to her every day. I'm going to give it a little more time before I push it more.

The first taste

"Look Mom, I can help!"

Food coma!

"What are you feeding me?"

Please excuse the annoying
Mommy voice

Success!!!

After almost 18 months of ups and downs, laughs and tears, messes, and a mommy almost ready to tear her hair out - Madison is FINALLY potty trained! I'm amazed that I'm finally able to say this. There were days that I seriously thought we'd never get to this point. I'd thought I would be sending my Kindergartner off to school in 3 years in diapers.

This has been the hardest part of parenting that Cory and I have experienced thus far. I'm sure in about 13 years I'll be wishing for these days to return, but for now I'm so relieved that this is over with. I'll be turning around and doing this again in about a year, but for now it's wonderful to only have 1 in diapers.

As a reward, Madison will get to ride her new bike for the first time tonight. I bought it a couple of months ago as bribery, but it never worked. This child cannot be swayed by bribery. She has a mind of her own, and she was going to do this potty training thing when she was good and ready. She's a control freak - I wonder where she gets that? :) Certainly not from me, right?

Anyway, I'm so proud of my big girl and just had to share the news with everyone! Go Madison go!

Busy Times!

The last week has been a little crazy in our household. I hurt my back last Thursday and have been somewhat out of commission since then. Well, as much as I can be with a toddler and infant to chase around. Since hurting my back, I have been unable to beginning running again. This has been a huge disappointment for me. I'm hoping to start again sometime in the next week or so.

On Friday, Cory had a vasectomy. I'm not sure he'll like me sharing that with the world (or the 5 or so people who actually read my blog), but it was a big deal. Him being in pain and me being in pain were not a good combination. Luckily, grandma was around to help out a lot with the kids, and he has pretty much made a full recovery since then.

Monday was my last day of work as a nanny. I love those 2 little ones like they're my own so this will be a really hard transition. Madison loves them like siblings and has asked about them every day since we've been gone. She still does not understand that we won't be going to their house every day anymore. I'll still babysit every now and then (like tomorrow) so we'll still see them quite a bit. I'm still searching for a new job. I've had a few promising interviews, but I haven't heard back on them yet. I'm really crossing my fingers to get a new nanny position with a wonderful family that I met yesterday. The stress of job hunting is weighing on me, and I want it to end soon!

We've had a really tough week of making decisions. Madison was accepted into the Early Childhood Special Education program at my mom's school as a Peer Role Model. We already had her signed up at the Gingerbread House preschool on Monday and Wednesday mornings. The program at Pinewood is 5 days a week in the afternoons (1-3:40). This means she can no longer take naps. After weighing the pros and cons of each school we ended up enrolling her at Pinewood as a Peer Model, and I couldn't be happier with the decision. Today was her first day, and she did great! She loves her teachers, and the program is fantastic. There are 4 special ed kids, 2 peer models, and 3 teachers in the class. What a great ratio! I was worried that the program would not be "academic" enough, but it definitely is. I really expect her to excel in the program and really develop some strong leadership skills. Her teacher is really determined to help get her potty trained, and I couldn't be more thrilled with this. The lack of nap today really showed in bad behavior this evening, but I'm hoping she'll get used to it soon. She better!

In front of her "locker"
on the 1st day

Doing puzzles

Today was also Macy's 6 month well-baby visit. She's finally putting on some weight! She's now 13lbs 2oz (4%), 24.5 inches (9%), and her head circumference is 42.2cm (39%). She's still a peanut, but at least she's on the charts this time. Dr. Fran was pleased with her growth and said she looks a lot healthier. He gave us the green light for solids in about 2 weeks. We're also going to ween her off of the MSPI formula that we've still been supplementing with and try regular formula. I'm still breastfeeding as much as possible, but my body is just not cooperating. I'm going to try to keep it up until her birthday because I really want to try to keep her healthy this winter.

This weekend will be a fun and busy one for us, between fun with friends and the first Husker game. Can't wait!