SURPRISE!!

Maddie and I are currently in California.....and TIRED. We got up at 5 am yesterday and headed out to the airport for our 6:55 flight and traveled most of the day.....well at least our North Carolina day......it was 11:30 when we landed in CA. My dad picked us up and we went to McDonalds to eat and get wiggles out and then he drove us to the school that my mom is working at and we surprised her!! Oh, by the way, she had NO idea that we were even coming to California, it was a big secret surprise. Needless to say she was extremely surprised!!! Yippee. So, we're here. Maddie is LOVING being with her Grandma and Papa.....it's all she is talking about......she is also loving the 80 degree weather and being barefoot and playing with water outside! It's 46 degress back home. But we're tired from traveling and the 3 hour time difference and Maddie got up at 4:00 this morning (it was 7:00 at home and her normal wake up time) which is way too early!!

We are going to Disneyland tomorrow which should be a lot of fun.....I know I'll have fun!! Maddie gets to play with her cousins on Sunday and hopefully I will get to see my grandma's. There will be a smattering of friends and good food and maybe even a trip to see the ocean and then we'll be back in the friendly skies on Tuesday morning to return to North Carolina and normal life. This will be a whirlwind trip, but it's worth it. I do however miss my man and my baby who are both back home. I'd like to post pics of our trip, but right now my camera/laptop are not liking each other, so they may have to wait till I get back home. Until then, just imagine my super duper white legs in shorts.....not pretty at all! lol

bath time

I have a busy weekend and might not get around to blogging so I'm gonna try and post a lot the next couple of days to make up for my absence. One of my most favorite things about having two kids is bath time. We now do dual bath time and it is so much fun to have both of my girls in one place playing with one another. Usually Maddie doesn't stop moving around the house, and I am trying to occupy the baby, but during bath time I can play with both, they can play with each other and they are both stuck in the same place at the same time. Eventually they aren't going to want to do this together anymore, or when they do there will be arguments over bath toys, or space, but for now everyone is happy and I get to watch my girls together.

p.s. One of my least favorite things to do with two kids is running small/fast errands. I would much rather take both of them full on grocery shopping than on quick trips to the post office or blockbuster. Too much work getting them in and out and in and out and in and out of the car seats!!

Day two of the snow that is now completely gone

The snow has been gone for a few days now, but life as usual has been busy so I haven't gotten around to posting these last few pics from our second day of snow play. I really miss the snow. Everything is back to looking ugly without that fresh clean layer of snow to hide the barren winter. I really think that I would enjoy living somewhere that gets more snow than North Carolina.....maybe a happy medium between once a year snow and buried under snow all winter. Maybe southern Penn. or western Colorado?? I think someday we'll make the move north, but until then I'll wait another year for the lovely gift of snow.



This is sad but funny.....I went to get Maddie's glove that she had taken off in our neighbors yard and she decided to go inside without waiting for me. Walking back to the house I noticed she wasn't in the front yard and started to feel panicky and called her name out a few times. As I got to our front porch I heard these soft cries/calls and looked through the screen door and saw Maddie like this. Her boots had slipped on the hard wood floor and she had fallen but couldn't get back up because her shoes kept slipping. It made me laugh, and felt like a "Ralphie" type situation. She was fine and wasn't even really crying......she had just accepted that she was stuck until I came to help her up......so I didn't feel bad laughing a little lol.

That's a wrap

It has been a little more than a month since Charlotte nursed for the last time. I've not written about it mostly because for the first couple of weeks I had very mixed emotions. I felt like it was the right decision for me, and for her but I also felt very guilty. Mother guilt is a very large 10 headed beast that can take over even the most level headed. I can probably give you a list of 20 things that I could feel guilty about in regards to raising my girls if I let myself....I try not to, but the big issues bring the bubbles to the surface and I have to figure out how to process what I'm feeling with reality and break away from the internal voice that tells me I am a bad mother.

I feel much better about weaning and find the old adage to be true.....time heals all wounds. As more and more days pass I get settled into life and I think about nursing less and less and I see that Charlotte is fine.....more than fine, she poops all the time now.....no more 11 days stretches with horrible painful gas and cramps. It has been so long since I've had my body to myself it almost feels strange! In the last 36 months there have only been 3 months where I wasn't either growing or feeding a baby. Maddie stopped nursing on Mother's day (May) 2007 and I was pregnant with Charlotte by August of 2007. I'm not sure if I want to have any more biological children, but I do feel like I'd like another opportunity to nurse, so there may be more somewhere in the future. It's hard work to nurse.....it's painful at times and exhausting and time consuming and completely selfless and although I didn't get to my goal (of a year) with either of the girls, I am proud of myself. I feel like I did my best to give them the best start that I could and both are visibly very healthy girls! The last 33 months have been so very worth the work. I am the most blessed!

(please disregard the mess that is my house)

More snow

She was very grumpy at first

Charlotte was not grumpy!

Maddie has a snowball

Working on the first snowman with Mama.....
it's WAY smaller than Daddy's

Happier girl

The snow finally stopped falling around 3:00 and we were able to get back outside without the wind blowing snow in our faces. Maddie enjoyed it a LOT more. She was stomping around saying, "Follow me Daddy," and she kept picking handfuls of snow up and dropping it back down. Dan even brought Charlotte out in the bouncy chair so that we could work together on a snow man.....Dan is much better at the snow man making than I am even though the snow was not ideal. Maddie had a lot of fun and I think she now has a better idea of what playing in the snow is really like and how much fun it is. She didn't want to go inside after over an hour of snow fun. I'm sure that it will all be melted by tomorrow which is good anyway since Dan has to be back at work and juggling two kids and snow is a bit much for me! We ended up with a lot of snow though and it was a nice day spent together as a family. I'm looking forward to next year when it snows.....we'll have two littles walking by then.....hopefully we'll have another good snowfall.

My cute hubby working on the snowman

Finished product. A very handsome snow woman
with a cheese stick nose

Bundled

She really wanted to lick at the snow,
but every time I tried to help her she wouldn't let herself.

Snow angel

She loved being outside watching all the action,
but she wouldn't keep her hands wrapped up

Maddie trying to catch a snowball

The Schultz family

I was wrong

I was wrong.....and I will happily admit it! It SNOWED!! Well actually it is still snowing outside. I got to sleep in until 9:30 this morning (thanks honey!) and I awoke to a blanket of snow on the ground and a very excited Maddie who kept asking for her jacket and shoes so that she could go outside! I barely got a few swallows of my coffee before we were bundling up and heading out into the cold. I don't think its as fun to play in the snow while its actually snowing and blustery out as it is when snow isn't blowing in your face. But we stomped around for a little while. I think that Maddie likes the idea of the snow more than actually being in snow. She took her gloves off and then had cold hands and then was crying and wanted to go inside. She didn't stop crying for a while even after I made her some hot cocoa and covered her in blankets.....princess and the pea maybe?? Just like her Mama lol. I hope it stops snowing at least for a little while so we can get back outside and play after naps this afternoon. But I would LOVE for it to snow all week. I can't believe how much snow we have so quickly.....this is the most snow we've gotten since I moved to North Carolina 4 years ago!! We have about 8 inches piled up outside our back door. I am so happy it's snowing. So happy!!

The box day two

No snow today....maybe tomorrow, but I doubt it. It was however still gross outside so we had another fun day inside with the box. Instead of it being a fort Maddie discovered that it made an awesome slide. And apparently a snowboard as she kept saying "snowboard, watch me snowboard," like 50 gazillion times. Where she learned about snowboarding I have no idea, but she was doing it correctly, so somewhere she picked up the concept.

And yes, we are those parents who let their little ones slide head first down a make shift slide of cardboard. You can't protect them from everything, and in all the sterilizing of childrens' toys we've lost the fun of make believe and multi purposing items. How amazing one large cardboard box can be!!!

Sorry my pictures are blurry, but I did not have the flash on nor did the littles hold still long enough for my shutter. But you get the idea!

Maddie "snowboarding"

Charlotte LOVED it. She kept grunting to do it again.
Thats what she does when she wants something.....she grunts lol.

This one did have the flash! I think it's hysterical and totally "Maddie"

All I listen to

Okay, I think that I am officially obsessed! I have downloaded all of their albums off itunes and that is pretty much all I listen to anymore. I may need to seek a 12 step program. The Avett Brothers are just so yummy, and their harmonies are rustic and raw and I just love them. That is all.

Night light

Thank you Aunt Hannah for the coolest Christmas present ever!!! We seriously have to put it away otherwise Maddie would never go to bed at night. I doubt that its life with a 2 year old will be very long but it is greatly loved. You'll have to let me know where you got it so that I can get a replacement when all of its lovely yet sensitive cables have been snapped in half......because they will be, eventually!

Two girls and a box

It's cold and rainy outside and so we got out the big box that our TV came in and played the afternoon away. The box was over and under and on its side and we had flashlights and pillows and blankets. It's not a very wide box, but it is the perfect fit for two little girls and their imaginations. I was surprised by how much fun Charlotte had in a dark box, but pretty much anything that involves Maddie makes her happy. What do you do when the weather is wintry and you are stuck inside? There is talk of snow tomorrow, so I welcome ideas!!