The Joys of Being Little!

Wouldn't it be great to be small again and have the world be so big, fun, and care free? Ok, so maybe just a day of it.

Brian went down the slide head first as Madison was trying to climb up the slide. They collided (Brian was going slow) and at the bottom, Brian had Madison help him up. She was working hard as you can see:-)

Playtime with Daddy!

Brian can make Madison laugh so hard. It's so fun to see them interact and play together. I hope you can catch a glimps of the fun they are having together on the slide.

I Love Vacuums!

So, Madison came walking into the bathroom with a black boot that had heels, and they were zipped up to the top of her thigh. I didn't have the camera at the time, but I'm sure you can picture it. She had to discard them to get on the toilet to do her hair. I convinced her to let mommy do it, but she had to hold a handful of her hair rubber bands that she managed to drop all throughout the house. I then got on the phone to talk to Lael and next thing I know there are silver paper clips all over the bedroom floor. I was able to talk Madison into 'cweaning up'. Just as we went downstairs Madison accidently dump the entire bag of pretzels, salt and all, on the living room carpet. She then tried to clean it up with her play vacuum with absolutely no suction. It proved fruitless. It was then I whipped out the vacuum. I have learned that it can suck up rice, wet or dry, lettuce, paper clips, wood chips, hair bands, freshly tracked mud, whole pretzels, etc. I do realize that if I just bent down in a workout type squat I could turn this picking things up all the time into a workout opportunity, but I prefer to let the vacuum do all the work. If I ever feel down, I just whip out the vacuum which gives me a sense of accomplishment since there is always food and such on our floor that I can make disappear. It's the small things in life. I also love it for the "I can't hear you effect" it causes if I just can't take the crying of a temper tantrum anymore. It's a last resort honestly:-) I love life as a mom and Madison keeps us laughing. It's fun to tell Brian the things she does when he comes home. Things like "your daughter came walking downstairs with my bra on...the right way!" or "she had my earplugs in her mouth earwax and all. Yummmm!", and the many times she does a happy dance or gets excited about a dog, airplane, or the playground. She arrives at the playground and says, "hi friends". It's priceless. I'm so grateful I get to stay home and experience this first hand. It's a blessing and truly what I have always wanted to do and be. It takes and uses all that I have learned in life, on a mission, in college, sports, drama...wait, I never took drama, oh, that's Madison, and makes me pull out every trick up my sleeve at times to be a mom, wife, taxi driver, do 5 things at once, errand runner, and my favorite...wiper of all bodily discharge. My paydays are sloppy kisses, sleeping children, hugs, smiles, giggles, 'yum' at the dinner table, and 'ank-you's'. It's worth it all to get them here!

Yahhhhhhh

Here is the famous Madison "Yahhhhh".

Our Mini Hike

We had to get out of the house today and so Brian took us on a small mini hike. Madison had a blast climbing on the rocks and stairs and she thought that the rocks with a flat sloping surface was a slide. That is the cause for the smiles when she is looking down. The one of her on the steps is her saying "yahhhh" with her arms in the air...I'm not sure if I posted that one...I will if it's not on there. We had a fun time and even played peek-a-boo around the trees. Then my battery died.

Working Out!

This is working out for daddy and Madison thinks this is working out for her too. After Brian did this with her she kept asking "Work out pwease." It was cute! I just had to take a picture.

On the Farm "I go see sheep"

We started with the cows and Madison would wave to them and say "hi cow." The cows didn't know what to make of her, but she enjoyed them.

Madison wanted to see the sheep all night. She loved the sheep, but they didn't love her...they took off when she started walking toward them. The goats on the other hand were very friendly and followed Madison around everywhere. She is keeping a close eye on them as you can see from the picture.

She got to hold a newborn kitten and was in heaven. Doug even let her hold one all by herself. She got a little nervous about that and made daddy hold it. Doug was so good with her and treated her like his own granddaughter. She ended the night by feeding the fish. She kept throwing in handfuls of food. They had a feast tonight! We feel so blessed to have the Heavysides here as family. It was so good to have them at the baby blessing and then to spend the evening with them was an added bonus. They spoil us!

Baby Blessing

Madison was not happy about taking a family picture...I'm not sure if we will ever get a family picture again. I might just have to learn how to swap heads soon so that we can have her smiling instead of screaming...this is the best out of the 10 we took:-) I think I have ruined her...whenever I take out a camera, she looks away or will not look at the camera. It's from her childhood experience with me trying to practice photography on her and making her pose time and time again.

We Have A Name!

We decided a name last night around midnight after much discussion. We blessed her today and had some extended family there in support along with close friends. It was touching to have Brian bless our daughter and the things that were said were very touching. Abby is lucky to have such an amazing Dad who lives a righteous, good life. The dress fit that Melissa made and got lots of comments. Abby was passed around to Doug, Carol, and Shirley. Abby ended up falling asleep on Doug's shoulder...he has the touch! She just fit in Doug, Carol, and Shirley's arms. They showered Abby and Madison with love. I just love being able to call the baby a name and refer to her with a name!!!!!!!!! Sorry if i keep using it:-) We chose Abigail because of the biblical meaning and what an amazing woman Abigail was along with Abigail Adams. We also loved the meaning of the name which is
father's joy and Abby also has a cousin with the same name who we love and adore:-) It also just fit! Madison helped to chose the name also...we started to call the baby Abby a few weeks ago to try it out. Madison was in the car with me when I said "Ali is crying." (I just wanted to try out another name) Madison looked at me and said, "Her Abby." I said, "Can't we call her Ali?" to which Madison replied with, "No, her Abby" We argued for a bit and Madison wasn't going to budge, so I gave up. That is when I knew we pretty much had to go with Abigail:-) We missed being close to our immediate family, but we have extended family and great friends here that joined in the beautiful experience with us.

Saturday Fun!

We had a community garage sale today and were going through stuff and Brian was trying to decide which bike helmet to keep. So, as he was trying them on Madison had to also. She was in her pajamas and wearing my bike helmet outside. She kept it with her the majority of the day. We love to make fashion statements. She calls her lady bug boots "badybug boots".

I was giving the baby a bath tonight and so Madison had to get her baby naked and bathe (drown) her too. Then when she came out of the water she was cold so Madison swaddled (smothered) her in a towel. It was really cute. It will be a long while before she bathes her sister:-)

The other picture is of Brian putting Madison to bed. They read many books together each night and Madison has to sit on her red stool as Brian reads to her. She even tries to get away with praying on it too:-)

"I Big Siser" -Madison

Madison loves to hold "siser" and says, "I big siser" (She leaves out the 't') and "I like her". She holds her sister for long periods now and doesn't want me to take her away. She tried to walk her the other day. She is cute with her. The other picture is of our friend feeding the baby. She is a mother to Madison and the baby. It was cute!

The picture of Madison peeking out of the closet came about because her daddy and her play hide and seek and that is where Brian will hide a lot of the time. I came into the bedroom yesterday and couldn't see Madison and quess where she was? Yup, in the closet. I opened it a bit and she peered out smiling and saying "I in here."

2 1/2 weeks old

I was playing with some of the pictures and tried to replace them and it deleted this entry. These are a few of our friends that love baby Evans and Madison. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Copy Cat

Madison now copies everything we do. Brian said, "Look Honey" as I turned to see him run up the stairs three at a time. This was very impressive since he broke his ankle a few weeks ago. I was at the top of the stairs when I heard, "Look Honey, Look honey." It was Madison at the bottom of the stairs. I turned to look as she walked up the stairs too. I praised her the whole way and she felt pretty good.

First Prayer

Two nights ago, Madison said her first prayer. It went like this...

Heavenly Father,
Thank for day
Bwess daddy get better
Mommy
Dolly, Binky
Heavenly Father
Christ, amen

It was so cute. This has been the beginning of our self-praying little angel. Her prayers are so simple and cute. Just last night she said the blessing on the food and named all the food in front of her in her prayer. It went more like "eggs, milk, daddy, mommy, etc." We just love hearing her pray. She is so thoughtful and tries so hard.

Potty Training?

We bought Madison a small potty from a yard sale for $.50 cents and i let her play with it for a day. I thought it wouldn't hurt even though I am far from wanting to potty train yet. It was the second day that she wanted me to take off her diaper so that she could sit on her potty. I did so and went on cleaning. I forgot to put on her diaper when I heard, "uh-oh, look Sarah, accident. I clean up. Accident mom." She was so sad that she wet her pants and was also so worried and surprised. It was the first time not going in a diaper. I think she might be an easy one when the time comes. We just cleaned it up and I hid the potty:-) We will wait until I am 100% committed:-) Maybe when the baby is a bit older:-)

5 1/2 weeks old

I did my friends maternity shoot and brought in sister and took some with her holding my hand. We didn't get that shot with her newborn pictures. My friend snapped one of me playing with Little Miss Evans.

Funny Madison

Madison held her baby sister again today and said, "so cute" over and over again. She loves her sister and if I put her where she can't see her she cries and says, "I can't see him" and won't quit until she can see her. She changes her babies diaper every time I change the babies and she has to have her baby when I am holding sister. Kim Mender brought some clothes over for the baby and Madison went through each outfit and commented "so cute" or "oh, pretty". I cut up some bananas for Madison's snack today and she kept saying "cold bananas." It took me a while to realize that she likes the frozen bananas like I eat. I cut up some frozen ones to which she said, "thank you".

She is such a joy to have in our home. Yesterday she was swinging in the swings next to a friend who is four and saw him pumping himself really high. So, she demanded that we push her high and she leaned back and stuck her feet out and said, "look Sarah, I like Carter". It was so cute. She never brought her feet in or leaned forward, so she has half of the concept down:-)

Everyone gets a kick out of the fact that Madison hardly ever calls m mom anymore. It's always "Look, Sarah" "Come Sarah" "I coming Sarah" or "help Sarah". She cracks Brian and I up all the time. Just the other day Brian kept commenting, "We have such a cute girl huh?" She is such a daddy's girl and has her daddy wrapped around her finger. We went and saw him at the hospital the other day and when she saw him, she started to giggle and ran up to give him a hug. It's a candid moment sort of thing.

She always says, "I big helper", "I big sister", and "hold you." Well, we are so excited to hear that we will have a new cousin in October and that he is a boy. Seth and Lacey have been chosen by a birth mom and they will have their little baby boy in October!!!!!!!!!! They are going to be great parents. Now Madison and Little Miss Evans will have a cousin on the McVea side!

WE WILL FINALLY HAVE A NAME!

We are going to bless our baby on the 25th of this month. We hope she hasn't grown out of her baby blessing dress yet:-) Brian and I will now be forced to pick a name. The two we are choosing from are Abigail (Abby) and Alice (Ali). What do you think? Just thought some feedback would be fun. Don't be offended if we don't choose the name you suggest, we still love you!

Princess in her Baby Blessing Dress

Today Madison asked to hold her sister and so I let her thinking that it would be short. She sat there for a minute or so and then said, "I love you" to her sister. It was such a tender moment since she doesn't even say that to us without us prompting her or bribing her:-) Then she said "I like you". Madison is a good older sister and helps out in many ways. The other day she gave her sister a hug and said "I big sister". She knows that she is a big sister because we read this book before the baby came called "Big Sister" which is one of her favorite books. It talks about all the things a big sister does and when Madison does one of those things, she sometimes says "I big sister". We love having the two girls. We always wonder if they look alike...we shall see! Only time will tell...the cheeks are getting bigger and more like her sisters:-) Remember Madison got a triple chin, cheeks, and a Buddha belly.

Baby Blessing Dress

Baby-with-no-name as someone put it today wore her baby blessing dress her aunti missy made for her. Isn't it just beautiful? I hope it fits when she is blessed. We hope to bless her soon:-) She is now five weeks old and is so adorable and such a good baby. She has a receding hairline as you see...Madison did the same thing and ended up with a skunkhead hairline for a while there. She grew out of it though:-)