Growth

*warning... long post

Malia has grown in so many ways the last couple weeks I have just been amazed. Her personality is changing, she is physically getting taller, and she is on a learning jump, and most importantly her bonding with me has grown.

Malia was sick for it seemed like at least a month. First she had a cold then her teeth were really bothering her and then another cold and more teeth. I will admit that I was getting pretty tired and loosing my patience with all the whining and crying, it was very hard but we got through it, there were quite a few nights where I just had to let Rich take over as soon as he got home and I would go grocery shopping whether we needed anything or not. But the last 2 weeks pretty much she has felt so much better and her two last teeth (for now) cut through and she has been just so much happier and funner to be around. She loves to wander around and giggle and play with us all and its so much fun. Now that being said she is definitely getting that toddler tude we all dread. It seems just about anything can make her mad... one second she is so happy and the next she is screaming this new high pitched scream for whatever reason. Today it was a book she reached for a book so I handed it to her she pushed it away and starting reaching and whining for it so I gave it to her again and she pushed it away again and just started screaming! Thankfully she usually recovers pretty quick but WOW sometimes I feel like Im walking on eggshells! I just love watching her little personality continue to bloom. She at times is very reserved but as you will see in some photos in the slide she gets very very silly and laughs and giggles so easily.

She has been really clumbsy all week which I think means shes gotta be getting taller... it sure looks like it. But she sure doesnt seem to coordinated right now which has led to a bloody nose and quite a few bonked heads and slips and falls on the floor.

This girl is one smart cookie, while she was sick she turned into a mute it seemed and I was getting a little concerned, but thankfully she is full on learning more and more words and trying to carry on convos with us. Every morning I read her the same 3 books, shapes, colors, and numbers. With Shapes I trace the shapes, with the colors I point to the pics with the right colors and with the numbers I touch each thing or animal and count... well she has started to copy exactly what I do when she is then reading them by herself.. in the color book there is a black train so I take her arm and do the chuga chuga choo choo with her and today she did it all by herself! It was precious and I will try to get it all on the camera. She whispers to herself dont touch when she is doing something naughty, there are so many new words she says I cant even remember them all but so many of them she uses every day. Its so exciting seeing how smart she is!!

Bonding wise the last couple of weeks have been pretty huge for her and I. I have noticed since she has been home with us that she has always kept me at a bit more of a distance that anyone else emotionally. I of course completely understand this, she was abandoned by a few women in her life and hasnt quite trusted me completely so I have been trying with time and work to earn that trust. Well finally after 4 months she is really starting to cuddle with me!! I just have to take that time and really treasure it, its amazing to me when she comes up and wants up and doesnt want to be put down. A couple days ago she fell on the porch steps scratched and bruised her eye (AGAIN!) and I ran and got her carriend her in and then her nose started to bleed so I rushed and cleaned her up after Maddie and I freaked out even though she was over it pretty quick and when she seemed all happy and ok I put her down to go clean up her shirt and mine and as soon as I put her down she fussed and wanted back up for some more cuddles, I about cried... never has she really allowed me to comfort her when she has been hurt so I without thinking have just not really tried to hard after she pushes away right away but this time was amazing!! Tonight she just wanted me to hold her almost all night after her nap so she helped me make dinner and sat with me and every time I put her down she wanted back up. This is awesome! After dinner she wanted me again so I went and just hung out with her in a chair while Rich cleaned up!!... and she got so silly (we got some AWESOME piccs) I just had to soak it all up.

This being our first adoption, I feel that we were very prepared for bonding issues and really for the most part I feel like she has done amazing really just amazing with everyone and everything but I was the only one she held back on and I feel like her wall is starting to crumble. Tonight at bed time I tried to start a new routine with her by taking her to her room to get her ready and then I read, for the first time one of her adoption books that I had bought her, its a beautiful story about a birth mother and a mom and the little girl and while she sat in my lap while I read I got very teary and started to cry when she looked up at me and smiled OOO my how my heart skipped a beat and I just had to give her a squeeze. This girl is amazing and I just cant wait to see what happens next.... not so much with the tantrums but the rest sure is fun!!

Sorry for such the long post and if anyone is still reading here are some photos from this week. The weather has been amazing so we spent a lot of time outside with bubbles and exploring, the grass creeps her out but she is getting braver with touching it, one of her favorite pastimes lately is picking her nose EWW do I really have a nose picker YUCK we are working on it but I caught her and took some pics when she wouldnt stop.. guess there was something good up there. When she is outside she loves to sit on the steps like a big girl and just kicks her feet, its so cute! And then there are the photos of her and I together tonight when she got super silly and sweet, catching her smile on camera is like spotting a unicorn so to get so many in a row was amazing!

Happy Birthday Becki!

Today is my sweet sisters B-day! I had to give her a shout out even though it will embarrass her!
So here it goes. I dont know and I think Ive said it before but I dont know what I would do without her. She is the strongest most dependable person I know. When you need someone to just listen and give good ideas you go to Becki. She has always been so self sufficient and I have always admired her for that. She is also super talented in so many different outlets in her life. She is crafty, smart, musical, beautiful, a great mom, a good wife and the best sister.
While growing up I dont know that we had the best relationship I know that I was for sure the annoying lil sis for a long time but as we got older and I was a little less annoying (I think?) we started having lots of fun together. I use to be her alarm clock... I would go in her room and start singing and dancing and burping.. and farting YA ok probably still annoying at that point but it was always was the best part of my day getting her to laugh at me. Truly there was no one else I wanted to get approval from more than her. My cooler older sis was the $#!* to me she was the most gorgeous girl and so outgoing had the CUTEST boyfriends all falling over her and she was like whatever... I LOVED that, and was praying one day I would get her sloppy seconds LOL now that Im older I realize how wrong that would have been. She taught herself to play the flute and so I then decided I had to play the flute, I always ended up stealing the families she babysat for and I would also steal her clothes from her closet after she left for school and then would change in the bathroom before I came home LOL I even stole her bra in 5th grade and wore it... lets be honest Becki my boobs were bigger than yours even then LOL
More than all that I believe that as we have become adults and mothers we have become very close and talk at least a couple times a week and sometimes everyday. I often go out to visit her and she comes and visits us too. As our adult relationship has grown I have come to love our one on one time we get when everyone else goes to sleep and we just sit up for hours talking about the old days and the new days. During these talks over the past few years I have come to respect and love her even more, I have realized how she watched over and protected all of my siblings and me from getting hurt when we were kids, she carried such burden and responsibility that she should have never had to, for this I am forever grateful!
So to Becki I love you so much and miss you and I hope you had the BEST birthday because you absolutely deserve everything and anything you wish for!!

Nuggets game (they lost)

Kaden and I (dad) got to go to the nuggets game last night. Great seats! We were in the cars.com (rocky mnt news) box. Mid court and lots of food! Kaden had a blast. On the way up and back we just drove with the radio off...I got to tell you, that boy has a lot to say! But we had some great conversations and had a blast! Here are a couple pics of our trip. The highlight for Kaden was the seats and the half time show with the cool slam dunkers!

My book worm

Malia adores books she reads them for 30 minutes at a time and if she catches anyone sitting on the floor she will find a book and come back up in your lap and have you read to her for as long as you can handle the hard floor. I love that she loves books and I also love the one on one time I get by reading her books and watching the joy she gets from learning. She has always caught on so quickly to things and Im hoping this love of books will help her in her learning ABC's and 123's and all that other stuff! Tonight after she suffered though watching us play fish it was her turn for some fun so she grabbed her new book and plopped in my lap BUT it was soon time for bed and she was not pleased at all with me and sat and cried book book book which sounds like bu bu bu! So cute and so sad all at the same time!

This is how it starts she goes to her toy box and starts grabbing books

Plops down and we start to read... notice the curl LOVE IT!

She loves to point and touch

and tries to copy the names and words

She gets pretty serious

After about 15 minutes of the same book my butt was numb and it was time for bed

which then led to her meltdown so we read one more time and then put it down again where she really got mad!Love you little book worm!! Keep up the good work and all that learning your doing!

Hotel life...

is not for me! I am a germifobe (sp?) and so the thought of staying in a hotel always gives me the shivers. I guess I need to back up... we have been thinking about moving the last couple of months but have realized it is not time for us to do that yet so we are staying put for now... well its been 7 yrs in this house and so if Im going to be in this house Im going to do some fixing up and changes that I have wanted to do for a long time SO first on my list was refinishing our wood floors. The wear and tear have gotten them not to mention the installers who put them in did a crappy job to begin with. So we got kicked out of our house for a couple days this week and stayed at a nearby hotel which is brand new and was actually very nice a clean.. the bathroom still looked brand new which was a + for me!! BUT that didnt stop me from pulling out my Lysol and spraying everything and I do mean everything before I allowed the kids to walk around and touch anything. I pull off the comforters and spray spray spray... even the floors! The kids think Im nuts and wanted their comforter to stay on so I cringed and said ok but of course really sprayed the crap out of that sucker!
We ended up having a good time and Malia did surprisingly well even though she only got 1 very short nap. (thank you Tami) Tami let us chill at her house all day until we could check in and it was so nice to just get to relax over there all day rather than worrying about naps and stuff!! Anyways we went out to dinner and then came back and let the kids swim, and the pool was all ours which was super nice!
The kids all did pretty dang good, Malia had her moments, I think she was missing her toys and routine but thats alright shes all happy and rested now! AND the best part is my floor looks AWESOME the guys did an amazing job, we went for a darker color with a little red cuz I like dark and I like red so combine it and its my dream come true! So YEAH Im a happy camper and can check that off my list of things to do this year! Im dreading having that first scratch put on my beautiful floor so I kinda hope it just hurries and happens so I dont stress about it happening!

My sweet girl

She looked so springy and sweet

And yes shes chewing on my blackberry!

heres some hotel pics...

A day off

The kids had the day off for Presidents Day yesterday so Maddie and I decided to go get some pampering! Every time we are near our nail place she asks if we can run in so we took advantage of the nice weather. Maddie got a mani pedi and I got some nails put on! I havent gotten my nails done for at least 3 years and they dont usually stay on very long, I pick them off but I love them so Im going to try to keep them on. Anna (the nail lady) told Maddie to remind me every day not to pick at them lol! Madison absolutely loves to be pampered and just beams the whole time and charms everyone. She picked out a very pretty coral color and got some flowers on her toes

The weather was beautiful so we spent a LOT of time outside, especially Maddie and Kaden. When I took Malia out she was again nervous about walking on that crunchy dead grass at first but after some hand holding and walking around she soon let go and took off and was running around. She found Kadens ball and loved carrying it around and spotted her shadow and wasnt to sure about it but soon forgot it and started playing with the kids under the trampoline. I love relaxed days like these where the kids are all good and can get energy burned outside. Malia was even in a pretty good mood all day which was so nice!

We then had the Zimmermans over for FHE and dinner and had lots of fun! Little Jude and Malia play pretty cute together and I think she scares him a little bit with her forced hugs and backing up to sit on his lap but they play pretty cute together! And all the older kids spent most the time outside playing b-ball and torturing the neighbors cat! It was a great day and even makes me (dare I say) look forward to summer!

My little Valentine's

We as always keep Valentines about the kids though Rich did step up his game and got our FAV sitter and we went out on a date on Friday night. I has almost been a year since just he and I went out by ourselves and it was really nice. We went out to a movie and had a great time!
Saturday morning we woke up early to go to breakfast at Cracker Barrel (they have the best pancakes). The kids were pretty excited about that. But before we left they found their Valentines gifts on the couch... nothing big at all just some fun little things. I love any Holiday where there is an excuse to have fun and spoil the kids and for me Valentines isnt about Rich and I cuz we are married and over all that stuff but I love having fun with the kids!

Kaden has been wanting one of these hats for awhile and so we finally found him a boy one.. he has barely taken it off and Im betting he tried to sleep with it on.

Maddie went to her friend Kinleys b-day party and was gone most the day and had a BLAST you can tell by the face paint that she was in heaven!

OMG I was soo freaking happy to capture her big smile on camera, she usually just gives me her serious face. She has been pretty cranky lately and was just down right pissy yesterday so when I caught her in a good mood I was scared to temp fate by pulling out the camera but she hammed it up for me GOODNESS she is so dang cute!!

Malia and Maddie got these huge stuffed animals and Malia pulled them both into the corner, grabbed her blanket and snuggled in, as soon as she saw the camera she quick snuggling.

Maddie and Kaden got some silly putty and Malia wanted in on that action

She kept trying to carry around her Love Bug but it was a bit to big so she kept tripping. And again I caught her smile and I love it!

Maddie loves hers and uses it as a body pillow

Kaden used his silly putty to make a mustache

Here are some photos that I didnt take time to edit and also from this morning.. Maddie was dancing to some primary songs and Malia joining her.. you have to look at Malias feet to see her dance moves but its pretty dang cute, she imitates or tries to imitate Maddies moves!

A day in the life...

of Maddie!

Maddie had a friend over today, miss Eleanor who is just sweet as can be. They played so sweet together and I hardly heard or saw them. We made and decorated cupcakes, they jumped outside and walked their "babies" in strollers. I love how easily Maddie is able to make friends. When I listen to her conversations with her friends she seems to be able to go with whatever but also isnt afraid to be a leader without being pushy. I love that she is so confident that she doesnt have to compete. I love that she has sweet little friends now because I know that all to soon it will be a whole lot of drama. O goodness I am so not ready for those tears. I will try to enjoy as much of these type of play dates as I can!!

They were having a hard time jumping at the same pace

Im so bummed that her belt ended up in her face... otherwise I love this shot

Maddie gets pretty dang brave on the tramp I love her craziness... I love that Eleanor is in the shot underneath, it was a cool shot
More crazy air poses

My goofy girl, just love that face!

They were catching some good air

They were sampling and eating at the same time and giggling all the while... gotta love those dimples!

Working very hard

This morning Maddie wanted to wear a hat but then decided she didnt like the poofs on top.. bye then I had it in my head how to do her hair for her hat day and thought she looked adorable... well she was about in tears thinking she looked dumb and me being the awesome mom I am made her wear it anyways... it then accurred to me how my mom made me wear HORRIBLE hair do's and awful clothing thinking it was "in" when it sooo wasnt, so I am going to try to be more aware of this and not force her to wear something she doesnt feel amazing in!!

She ended up liking the hat BTW and got pretty posey with me feeling pretty hot!

Paper work done....

and now I can breath!!! I have put this off for way to long and let distractions and the kids being sick get in the way. I now have tackled it made Rich finish signing papers and they will be mailed off in the morning. I cant even tell you how relieved I am... as long as I did everything right we should be done until court time and 1 more visit from the social worker!! YEAH
To celebrate I put Malia in her new itty bitty bikini that I bought from a blogger friend whose sweet little daughter had a closet sale and I had fun picking some cute cute new springy things! Im sorry but I love the boobie shot!!! Enjoy.... Malia sure did, she loves being able to find that belly button and she was talking on the phone AND singing and dancing while watching AI. It was to cute!