Let's Get Crafty

I always think that I have great ideas for crafting...maybe I do. However, what I don't have is enough time and patience. For the last two years I have had the best ideas for making the grandparents gifts from Madison for all the holidays. For most of the ideas that I have had, I have even bought the supplies and then ran out of time. With a sigh and an "oh well" I put it all away for "maybe next year."
Jason tells me that I bite off more than I can chew and try projects that are too big. So, I was determined to actually make something this year for Easter and have it work. Spring break gave me a little time, so I decided to try again.
I was successful if I do say so myself...

Madison made her grandparents a flower pot that was "planted with care" and had her green handprints on the side to prove it. The flowers bloomed with all kinds of spring cheer.

This is the back.

 

So, now I am all sorts of pumped and excited that it worked and it's finished in time, so I keep going.

I made Madison's Easter basket out of a paint can and a few supplies from the craft store.

I love, love, love this:

I just had Jason take off the paint can handle and drill a little larger holes in the sides so the ribbon would slide through. Madison has been wearing it on her arm as she walks around the hosue. We'll have to see how the paper holds up at the egg hunt, but I have faith it will make it just fine.

 

Then I kept going... This one was super easy and cheap. I already had the clothes pins from school. I picked up color paint swatches for free from Lowe's and cut them into strips. I glued a small piece to the clothes pin and ta-da. Easy, color matching game.

 

So all in all, not bad for a few days of fun while Madison napped.

It's only taken 2 years to get it accomplished. :-)

 

Crafty people impress me. How they find the time to be so crafty baffles me!

HAPPY SPRING!
 

This picture just cracks me up, so I thought I'd start with it for no real reason at all!

~  ~  ~

In true Texas fashion, spring was here early and it was fabulous. Then the freeze came back one more time to get us all sick and kill all the sprouting plants. Really, we should all know better by now. Oh well. BUT - It's now it's starting to act like spring may return once again.
We took advantage of the sun shiny weather and headed outside for some fresh air and dirt play. We let Madison dig in and help take control of the garden. She was so happy and it was really a lot of fun. We are all about letting a little girl play in the dirt and get messy!

So, Madison's garden is under way!  She had a blast getting her hands dirty. She dug the holes and put the plants in.   Mostly she climbed and played on the big piles of mulch, which she called her house.  We took her to Hobby Lobby and let her pick out her own pin wheels for her garden. Our backyard is so windy that these things spin super fast. Madison loves it.   Happy Spring! Here's to getting dirty!!

How Funny...

Especially as a teacher, I hear people all the time saying, "We should write these things down. We could make a book off all the funny things that kids say." Jason and I say that all the time with Madison. She is hilarious in her day to day speech and just laughs with us as we crack up at her. Today was one of those days that I kept saying, "Oh I have to remember this to tell Jason." So, finally I did start writing them down.
I know, I know, every parent thinks their child is just oh so smart, but Madison's is clearly talking sentences at 26 months and it's very clear what she is saying and what she wants. She can and will repeat everything you you say with clear enunciation (watch out!) and her vocabulary is growing by the day.
Her "what is that?" is enough to drive you batty by the 500th time you hear it in a day, yet will we keep responding.Now she follows that question up with, "where did it come from?"  Her need to know everything all the time keeps us in conversation all day long.
She's been asking "what's that noise?" for some time now, but it has grown to "what's that noise over there Mommy?"
Jason works with our brother-in-law Joe who is married to Jason's sister Stefani, so they go hand in hand - Joe and Stefani.
many months ago Madison asked where Daddy was. I told her that he was at work.
Madison says, "Joe and Stefani." I say, "Yes, with Joe and Stefani." Madison says, "play football." I say, "probably."
So she has this idea that Jason goes to work everyday to play football with Joe and Stefani. Where did that come from? I have no idea. Golf maybe, but not football.
Yesterday this was our conversation:
Madison: Daddy at work?
Me: Yes, Daddy is a work.
Madison: With Joe?
Me: Yes with Joe.
Madison: Play Football?
Me: Yes Probably
Madison: Baseball too probably.
I laughed so hard I could hardly stand it.
Boy will the kids in her class be disappointed on career day when they realize that Madison's dad is not a professional athlete on a daily basis.

Here are some funnies just from yesterday:
"Mommy what is that?" "It's Mascara." "I'm a wear mascara too Mommy."

Madison is going through the plastic grocery bags hanging on the cabinet. She takes two and goes to the back door. "Madison, what are you doing?" "I'm a go pick up dog poop Mommy."
Again -- I laughed hard here. Boy will she hate that chore someday.

Madison is potty trained. 99% I'd say. #1 and #2 are quite successful. She loves her big girl panties and is quite obsessed with them. So at nap time I made her take off the panties and put on a pull-up. She's very concerned that they need to be in  safe place while she sleeps, so her Elmo doll is in charge of watching over them. As soon as she wakes up she checks on Elmo and these panties. I told her that Elmo kept them safe for her and give them back to her. She grabs them both excitedly and says, "OH! THANK YOU ELMO!" and gives Elmo a big hug and kiss.

Madison asked to see her baby brother yesterday, so I showed her my big ole 7 and a half month pregnant belly. She kissed it, patted it and then grabbed both sides of by belly rocking back and forth and said, "I'm going to rock Samuel too."

In the tub last night she decided to sit in her little boat that is way to small for even one of her little butt cheeks. I asked what she was doing and she said, "row, row boat Mommy."  I asked why and she said, "Catch a fish!" and she swooped up a #3 foam letter floating near by and said, "See a  fish!"

She was on the potty at bath time and her dad was working on the new nursery. She asked what he was doing and she then jumped off the potty, opened the door and yelled " WELL HEEYYYY
DAAADDYYYY." Closed the door and hopped back in the tub.

After the bath, she was back on the potty again and the air compressor started up in the room that Jason was working on without warning. This scared her so bad at the moment that the flew forward in mid pee stream, never letting her feet touch the floor and landed on my bent legs where she finished the bathroom. She was so shocked in the moment with panic that she didn't know what had just happened. I am sure I should have helped more, but I laughed so hard that I too peed my pants and really couldn't help it. No words were spoken here... Just laughter.

Oh, what will tomorrow bring?

Glasses are cool!

Madison is now wearing glasses

and boy is she cute! :-)

 

This is a new opinion, i do have to admit. The shock that Madison has to deal with glasses at two was a lot. I cried. I think I cry more these days than I should admit. We just feel that Madison has been been though a lot and has had to see more specialist in her short lived 2 years than most kids. Now, believe me -- we know and understand that we are so lucky, that it is just glasses at this point. This is not life or death and she still has a wonderful healthy brain and body. We are so thankful for that, but it's still hard to know that there is a problem that you have no control over and can't fix.

So... In January we started noticing her right eye looking a little weak. It was turning in, but it was happening so fast and going back to normal that by the time you saw it, it was gone. Then it started happening more and staying that way more often. We went to the pediatrician, who referred us right away. I asked around people I knew and 3 people came back with Dr. Beauchamp's name in Grapevine, so we went there within a week and a half. He was old and old school and great with Madison. I do have to say that it is amazing what people can know and do with a 2 year old. The doctor had Jason hold Madison in the eye exam chair and he had me look over his shoulder while he did the test so I could see how her eye was reacting / not reacting to certain tests. Amazing. Her right eye was stuck and was not moving in alignment with her left eye. I would have to have to seen this to believe this. He told us right off the bat that the information was a lot to absorb and it will be a long road  with lots of homework.

He started with the "fix." Two eye surgeries, glasses, and patching. Umm....okay.... What?

Then he went into the diagnosis:

Accommodative Estropia (strabismus)  - Misalignment of the eyes. Basically this right eye turns in to focus where the left one stays straight ahead. Glasses for this.

Amblyopia - a vision problem in children where vision is decreased and sends blurry images to the brain.  Patching for this

Duane Syndrome - wiring of the eye muscles gets jumbled, and movement of the eye is limited in certain directions. So Madison's right eye can not reach the outside corner of the right side. She has just been turning her head to adjust for that vision, so she doesn't know she's even missing it. Surgery for this. There are lots of causes to Duane Syndrome, but after this doctor's questioning and for personal reasons, I do believe that the use of forceps during Madison's delivery could have played a big role here. Maybe not, not confirmed, that is a mom diagnosis.  

So -- here we are. We picked up her eye glasses prescription a week later and have been having a glasses party at our house every night because in case you didn't know -- GLASSES ARE COOL!

Mom and Madison rock our glasses every day.

Dad's glasses are especially cool at night after work.

Chica the chicken wears hers all day just waiting for Madison to come home and play.

 

Then we asked others that Madison knew to play dress up and join the party via skype of pictures on the fridge. Here are some of the good sports in real glasses:

 

and some just pretending and joining in on all the fun:

this one cracks me up.

 

Madison put her glasses on and has not wanted to take them off. She's been amazing. They must be working considering she wont even keep a bow in her hair - to keep these on all day every day has really been impressive. I'm over the initial shock and fear and tears and now we are just moving on to life as normal, just wearing glasses as we go!

 

 

 

 

 



This was the moment...

I think life throws little moments at you every day that if you stop to watch and listen makes you realize that life really is happening right in front of you. Slow down and just pay attention.
This was my moment.
Madison had just turned two, which is so crazy to me that two years have flown by. I was working on something and Madison and I were both in the kitchen. I turned around and Madison had climbed the bar stool, which has no back, settled herself right in and started to read the magazine that was on the counter. When I stopped to see her she just laughed and smiled and said, "Madison big girl." When I asked what she was doing, she said, "My magazine."
I looked at her in amazement that there was no baby part left to her at all. She was independent and had a mind of her own. Never in a million years would I have trusted her to climb that stool and not fall off and bust her head on the tile below, and yet here we were.
So, this was my moment to just stop, watch, and listen and I saw what I knew was coming:
Madison is a big girl! :-)