Happy, Happy Birthday Baby!

Four years ago today my little Maddie was born. I was in labor for 36 hours and only ever dilated to a 4. She was born via c-section. Dave watched as they lifted her out of my tummy. He later said it looked like they were pulling her from a giant envelope.

That night she stayed with us in our recovery room. She cried around 3:00 a.m. and because I had just had surgery and wasn't able to get up Dave had to do the first diaper change. Dave got out of his little bed and wheeled Maddie over to the sink. He took all of her clothes off, took her diaper off and then left her totally naked so he could go to the bathroom. I couldn't believe it. He left our newborn baby naked so he could go to the bathroom! He finally came back and took care of her. It wasn't funny at the time, but we laugh about it a lot now.

We're going to an indoor water park for her birthday. She is so excited. She gets to bring treats to school today and begged me to be room mother. She is taking frosted cookies and candy cars (small pack of gum with mini peanut butter cups glued on for wheels, starbursts glued on for a seat and a blowpop glued on for the driver). I'll post a picture of her cake later. It's turned out pretty cool.

It's Been A While...

Ok, so it has been quite a while since I posted anything. I'm not sure what happened. Laura stopped posting and I guess I did too. Oh well. Here I am now.

Dave has been out of town the past few days. When he is away Maddie gets to sleep with Mommy. I know this creates problems, but we both just love it so much and it's not like she's going to want to sleep with me forever. Well, Gabe realized that Maddie was sleeping with Mommy and he decided he was going to sleep with Mommy too. They did go to sleep though. Here are some pictures.
They were so cute cuddling up together I couldn't not take a picture of them.

This morning when Gabe woke up him and I went in his room and laid in his bed for a while. He was very alert and focused on me while I was talking to him. This was our dialog.

Me: What is your name? (no gestures at all)

He paused and looked at me for a minute and then...

Gabe: Gabe

Me: What's your sister's name?

Gabe: Maddie

Me: Who am I?

Gabe: Mama

Me: Put your hands on your head.

Gabe put his hands on his head.

Me: Rub your belly.

Gabe rubbed his belly and laughed.

We played and sang songs for about 45 minutes. It was SO great!

Today, I made a dress.

I was in the mood to sew. I really do love to sew. I think if I had a room where I could sew and not have to clean everything up in time for dinner I would probably sew a lot more. I really get into it and it really soothes me. Plus it's really great when what you are making turns out cute.

So, today after Maddie's dance class I dragged Maddie and Gabe to JoAnn's. They were great while I looked through the pattern books and made my selections (two dress patterns for Maddie and a laptop case pattern for myself) and even liked looking through the fabric selection the first time around. The second time through there were still no complaints and everyone was pretty much happy. But, boy oh boy, the third time through was not pretty. I had to bend over to pick up Gabe's plastic Pirates of the Carribean Octopus Head Man about 15 times and try to make him sit down in the buggy. We finally got our fabric cut and checked out. The kids were so ready to go home.

Maddie was so excited that I was going to make a dress for her (like I haven't already done this before) and kept asking me where her dress was at. She was a little upset when it didn't miraculously appear out of thin air. The kids played well together while I labored away for a few hours and then - Voila! It was done. I am happy to report that I think this dress turned out great. I just have to figure out those damned button holes. I have the worst time making them. Here are some pictures of Maddie's dress:
This model is available for hire, although, if you do employ her you may want to invest in a professional hair stylist. Hair just wasn't in our budget today so we had to make do with what we had.

ETA: Those are lemons on her dress, if you can't tell.

One Year Anniversary

Today is Gabe's one year anniversary from his surgery. He is doing so good! I can't believe it has already been a year. It seems like his six month anniversary was just last month. Before we found out Gabe needed surgery I was a little nervous about his development. I could stand behind him and clap my hands or yell his name really loud and he would ignore me every single time. He never looked. He said several words once or twice, but wouldn't say them again. He would not communicate with me and his eye contact was very poor.

Six months after his surgery he was saying more words and giving more eye contact, but still wasn't using words to communicate. He would respond to his name when called about 50 % of the time. He didn't really follow directions very well.

Now, one year post surgery he is using his words to communicate, can follow simple one or two step directions, can count to 5 on his own with no help, can say a ton of animal sounds and will say them on demand, will sit in a circle with other kids, pay attention to what is going on and participate in the activity, will sing me songs (ABCs and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star), tries to play with the big boys at McDonalds and is the sweetest little thing ever (I may be a little bias - this is nothing new though).

We went and got their pictures taken this morning and I was so proud of both of them. They both followed the photographers instructions very well and smiled very nicely. We were in and out in an hour and that includes getting the actual pictures. I think it was the easiest picture taking experience we have ever had. Here are the pictures we got:

I'm a Lush!

75%LUSH

Downtown Disney - March 5, 2008

Here are some pictures from Downtown Disney on the 5th. I'll post more pictures from The Magic Kingdom later.

The Piggies Got Painted

Today I took Madison to get a pedicure. She waltzed back to the pedicure area, took her sock and shoes off, pulled up her pants and hopped into the chair by herself. All the other customers were oohing and aahing over her. She loved it! She soaked her feet (the water changed colors) and then they filed her nails. The rubbed hot stones on her legs and feet and then wrapped her legs in warm, wet towels. She kept looking at me with the biggest grin on her face. She thought she was so cool. The Vietnamese women kept speaking Vietnamese and Maddie asked me, "Why do these ladies keep talking Spanish?" She also said, "I can say my colors in Spanish." (I was surprised to hear that - yet another thing she learned at school, no doubt). When we got ready to leave she gave the lady a tip and told her, "Thank you very much. I loved it!" Here is the finished product - they painted little white flowers on them: