18 Months going on 3 Years Old

 Last weekend the four of us went walking through the neighborhood looking at Halloween decorations and I mentioned to Jake how it is crazy to think that just last Halloween Madden was barely even sitting up, and now he is running up and down the sidewalk chasing after his sister.  Our little baby has definitely entered the toddler phase and with him turning 18 months this week and I figured I give a small update on what he has been up too.      

Madden recently had his 18 month check up and we have a growing boy.  Since his 12 month check up he grew 2 more inches putting him in the 90th percentile.  With the big growth spurt he ended up not gaining any weight, weighing in at a slim 24 pounds (40th percentile). 

Madden's little personality is absolutely shining.  He is such a lover boy.  He loves giving hugs to everyone and is always blowing kisses.  Skylar will often asks for a big hug and a kiss from Madden and he doesn't even hesitate.  He doesn't like it when Skylar is getting hugs from Mom or if she wants to lay on my lap.  He gets very upset and tries to push her away as he wants to be the only one getting all the love.  Whenever a car drives past our house Madden is always giving a big wave to whoever is driving by.  

Without a doubt he thinks he is 3 years old.  He wants to do everything his sister does.  If she does a somersault, he does a somersault.  She jumps on the couch, he jumps on the couch.  She is playing with her baby, he wants to play with a baby.  She is coloring a picture, he wants to color a picture.  She is sneaking food out of the pantry, he is sneaking food out of the pantry.  She is jumping into the pool, he is jumping into the pool.  She is brushing her teeth, he wants to brush his teeth.  Sometimes it can be a hassle because he really can't do half the stuff, but watching him mirror his big sister is so endearing.  He loves taking Skylar to school.  He waits by the fence like all the preschoolers and when the fence opens he runs on the playground and than right up to Skylar's classroom.  He likes to try and put "his" name on the name board like sister does and then he goes and sits at the play-doh table with her.   He has a pretty bad habit of pulling hair when he wants attention from Skylar.  We are working on trying to stop that before Skylar goes bald. 

Food habits for Madden are still pretty good.  He has his days where he doesn't want to eat a fruit or vegetable, but a couple days later he will eat the entire bowl of strawberries, or take a few bits of a carrot.  He favorite thing to do is walk into the pantry, take a box of cereal out, sit in his chair and watch a cartoon while eating all the dry cereal out of the box.  You know when he is really enjoying whatever he is eating because he does this "YUMMMMMMM" sound during the whole meal.  His favorite snack are bananas.  If we don't have bananas in the fruit bowl it can be bad.  Some days he will eat 2 or 3 a day.  

Right now Madden is in music and swim class.  It took about 2 months for him to warm up to music class, but Toni said now he loves it.  He runs around with all the kids and plays with all the instruments they have.  I get to take him to swim class and I love seeing the joy on his face when he is in the water.  He has already been moved up to the intermediate level and I feel like he has progressed quicker than Skylar did.  He also likes to try and be apart of Skylar's gymnastics class.

 I felt like it took forever, but just recently we got Madden down to one nap a day...HOORAY!  Words are coming a bit slow for him.  He isn't speaking many words and I'm trying to not let it worry me.  He just recently, kind of said "ball", but it still needs some work.  "No" has been coming out pretty clear, but "Mama" is his clearest word for sure.  He loves to say "Mama", but Mama doesn't mean "Me" his Mom.  It's his word when he wants your attention.  Jake is "Mama", Toni is "Mama" everyone is "Mama" when he wants something.  If he wants you to watch him do a dance or pull a toy out he is yelling "Mama, Mama, Mama."  I'm hoping by his 2 year old update I'm telling you that I can't get him to stop talking. Puzzles and books are a big hit with him right now.  There are always several puzzle pieces on my living room floor and he loves picking out his bedtime books every night.  When it comes to tractors, trucks, airplanes he is your typical boy that he loves to point them out and gets super excited whenever they drives by.  I think seeing the garbage truck is the highlight of his week.  

Madden brighten ups my day every morning!  When I go into his room to get him out of  bed he is always jumping up and down.  He will point at all his windows and make his little grunt noises (which is his way of asking Mama to open them up), a then the biggest smile appears on face when the light starts shining through.

I just love my Bubbas!    

Pumpkin Carving and Candy Apple Making

It's really starting to feel like Fall.  Nights are getting really chilly and I'm putting the kids in pants more often, which is great.  This weekend we got into the season and decided to carve our Halloween pumpkins and make candy apples.  

Skylar has been asking to carve a pumpkin ever since we went to the pumpkin patch.  Once we started and she saw the inside of the pumpkin she got a bit crabby and wanted nothing to do with the cleaning of the pumpkin.  Madden was the complete opposite.  He got up close and personal with the pumpkin guts by putting some in his mouth to taste.

Once her pumpkin was clean Skylar cheered right up.   She wanted just a simple Jack-O-Lantern, so Dad drew a face and they carved it out together.  For Madden we decided to do something he loves...an airplane.  I worked on a spider with a web, and Jake continued his tradition of doing whatever Skylar asked for, which this year was a princess (not a shocker).  

Next, Skylar and I decided to make Caramel Candy Apples.  Skylar had a blast making them, but she refused to eat one because according to her "I don't like apples".  This kid really doesn't know what she is missing out on when it comes to fruit.

 Once it got dark we took our pumpkin to the porch and lit them up.  I tried to get a picture of Madden and just his airplane pumpkin, but he kept trying to sit on his lit pumpkin, so I gave up.  Skylar also made sure her new baby "Baby Skylar", was apart of the pumpkin lighting as well.

Even making baby brother hold her baby in our picture.

Jake once again knocked it out of the park with his Ariel pumpkin.  Skylar was very proud of herself and her Jack-O-Lantern and I'm sure if Madden truly understood his was an airplane he would be really excited.  

Getting their Hair Did

So my kiddos had another milestone in their lives last week, be it not a big milestone, but still a milestone....First Hair Cuts!  Yes it took me three an a half years to cut Skylar's hair, don't ask me why, it was a weird  "Me" thing.  Madden on the other hand I couldn't wait a day longer, his hair was starting to turn a bit mullet like and he needed one badly.  I found a cute children's hair salon and figured that would be the perfect place to start.  They had movies on and animal crackers for the kids.  Madden sat in the chair and within 30 seconds was crying, which meant I had sit in the chair with him on my lap.  

Skylar was perfect! She loved every second of getting pampered.  I walked in wanting to do just a centimeter size trim on her, but we ended up taking a whole inch.  Which I'm happy I did because I can tell by just brushing her hair now how bad her ends really were.

All smiles!

At the end she got a braid with a red ribbon and red glitter in her hair.  She couldn't of been more excited about the glitter because she asked me every ten minutes if the glitter was still in her hair.  

 After having Mama close to him Madden did great.  He sat and watched Cars while the hair dresser and I maneuvered his head around.  It's funny how much his new hair cut aged him.  My baby looks like such a big boy now.

Getting his blow out!

 Looking so fresh and so clean!

Pumpkin Patch - 2013

So the tradition of Bates Nut Farm continues, and in a big way.  I made two trips to Bates in one week so you can say that I got my pumpkin patch fill this year.  The only sad part about this year's trip to the patch was that Jake didn't get to join us because of his new job, but I think after all the pumpkins we brought home he was good.  

My parents and Uncle Chris joined the kids and I this year at the patch.  We got there first thing in the morning and started at the petting zoo.  The petting zoo started off ok with the kids admiring all the animals.  Then I purchased food to feed the animals and things took a turn for the worst.  The goats started to get a little too jumpy with Skylar and both Madden and her started crying and wanted out of the pen.  I felt bad that they got so scared and now I have learned my lesson when buying the food.

Begging Papa to get him out!

Here is Skylar crying from behind the fence.

After some tears from the scary experience in the petting zoo, we took Skylar over to the ponies which cheered her right up.  I love watching her ride around on the little pony.  There is always such a sense of joy and innocence on her face. 

For some reason last year we didn't do the tractor ride, so this year we made sure not to miss out on it.  They had different scarecrows along the ride that Skylar and Uncle Chris enjoyed pointing out.

On the farm they also have goats and llamas held behind fences.  At first Skylar was still pretty scared, but we were able to convince her to feed them and she actually enjoyed it and requested more handfuls for corn to continue feeding them.

Our traditional Bates Nut Family pictures! It's not the same without Dad though.

After experiencing all that Bates has to offer it was time to pick out pumpkins (my favorite part).  Last year Jake made fun of me because I spent a crazy amount on pumpkins so this year I wanted to keep it a bit tamed, but Skylar had a different idea.  She was so cute running to any pumpkin that wasn't too heavy for her and throwing it into our wheelbarrows.  She was having so much fun picking them out that I couldn't stop her, plus I figured Jake couldn't be mad since Skylar was the one who picked them all out.  

My two little pumpkin cuties!

The pumpkin picking queen!

Yes two wheelbarrows and 23 pumpkins later we had all a great time (minus the tough start at the petting zoo), I would call it another successful family pumpkin patch trip.

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Back to Bates we go! This time it was just Skylar and I who went with a playgroup while Madden stayed at home with Dad.  

Skylar and Sophie posing on haystacks!  This two are always wanting to be the center of attention.

So getting Skylar to go back into the petting zoo was a bit of a challenge.  At first she sat on the other side of the fence not wanting to go in, but once she saw her girlfriends playing with the bunnies she wanted to join them.  Jess was kind of enough to purchase some of the animal food and keep all the goat at bay while the girls were able to sit and cuddle their bunnies.

Of course, the ponies were the hit of the farm.  All the kids waited patiently for the horse wranglers to get the ponies ready for riding.  They were the first ones to ride them for the day and were able to get a good five to ten minute ride in.  I think all of us moms decided that someone needs to hire the ponies for the next birthday party.

Our really bad attempt for a group photo!

Pumpkin picking fun was had by all.

As you can see Skylar's new pose is still in full effect.  She was a lucky girl to be able to go to the pumpkin patch back to back. She had a blast both times and I'm glad she was able to experience it with her family and her friends.