4/2/10 - A day in our life

Proof that she devoured a cupcake with red icing.

The guys taking the trash down with the help of their little cheerleader...

I am not sure when it happened but at some point my little girl grew legs. It is hard for me to look at her right here and think of the baby that she once was.

I wonder what she will look like when she is 16 and getting her license?

M: Beckett where is daddy?

B: At wook

M: What is he doing at work?

B: Makin Money

M: Why

B: For Food

 

B: Mom I go a wook

M: Oh yeah? Where are you going to work.

B: At daddy's wook, I make money...DADDY HELP ME.

M: Beckett does daddy do to make money? What it his job?
B: Daddy annorney.

Girls are SOOO much fun....

When Scott & I were on the way to find out what sex Beckett was he finally admitted that after giving it some thought he really wasn't indifferent as to the sex of our first born child. He secretly yearned for a little boy. I did too. I would have been fine with either but I really wanted a little boy. Well, when I was preggers with Monroe I was overwhelmed with how much I desperately wanted a little girl. As the technician was doing the ultrasound and as she moved closer to the time where the sex was revealed I found myself holding my breathe, as my heart would race and I would try to convince myself that if it was a boy that I would be super happy (which I am sure I would have been) but deep down I had my heart set on a little girl. I kept looking at the screen seeing if I could make out anything and then she said. There she is. I had never heard 3 more beautiful words. Before I knew it I was crying. When the ultrasound was finished I looked at Scott and he looked like he was going to be sick or like he had just been hit by a train or something. I asked what was wrong and he said. "I am never going to be able to tell her no or punish her. You will have to give her all of her timeouts." She has had us wrapped tautly around her little finger from the second we knew who she was. That hasn't exactly been the case but I have a feeling that as she grows into her personality she is going to get away with ALOT.

I am afraid to meet her full grown attitude; her 15 month attitude is getting pretty big.

Roo-B saying cheese.

One of her favorite new things is walking around the house with my shoe[s] on and saying "MA SHOES".

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my little girl.

April Fool's Day - 2010

Apparently Mother Nature was in on it too.

She wanted us to believe that it was summer and that it was swimsuit weather...

Too bad the pools don't open for another month.....

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY! Love, The 80's

Who: Marc Maddox

What: 30th Bash

Where: The Morgan's Home

When: May 30, 2010

Attendees:

Themed parties....Totally awesome!

 Everyone can use an excuse to play rad music, a little Nintendo and come decked out in their 80's best...

 

 

Happy 30th Marc!

I LOVE MY CHILDREN

Funny Story: I started this post last year around mother's day. I have alot of those posts. One's that I start because I think I have something to say but it isn't exactly right or I started them because the way I had my posts set up is that once it was created it would stay creat a place holder and all of my posts would stay in chronological order. Apparently I changed that without knowing because instead of posting it there it posted it here. It is so fun to go back and read what I was thinking a year ago. I remember so vividly the day I wrote this. I really should keep this blog up better so that I can use it as a journal.

****May 2009****
Another Mother's Day has come and gone, but regardless of the day I am a mother. EVERYDAY, EVERY HOUR, EVERY MINUTE, EVERY SECOND. I am not going to lie, there are days that I just want to take a personal day or a mental health day, there are days that I feel like I am going to go crazy and all I want is to feel sane again, but I am so grateful that I have Beckett & Monroe. I don't know what I would do without either of them.

When I went down to St. Louis, to work on the house, I dropped the kids off at my parent's house Saturday afternoon and they kept them until Monday morning. I missed Beckett & Monroe so much. I talked to my mom and while we were talking Monroe was crying and I could just see her little face in my mind. My heart yearned to hold her and to see her quivering little lips and to wipe her little tear off of her little cheek. I know it's kind of corny but I missed her and I missed Beckett and his craziness, he never fails to make me laugh. When Beckett got out of the car on Monday I just hugged him, he apparently didn't miss me as much because he demanded that he stayed with Nona and then got back into the carseat.

As we are preparing to leave Michigan and start a new chapter of our life I can't stop thinking about what has brought me to this point. On Mother's Day back in 2006 Scott and I were asked to talk in Sacrament meeting. It was so hard for me to write that silly talk. I mean seriously I have a mother. I love her how hard can it be to talk about her and mother's in general. I remember the girl who spoke directly before me. She talked about how great her mom was and how much she loved her and I remember getting up behind her and telling everyone how MEAN my mom was. She made me eat things I didn't want to eat, she made me clean, she wouldn't let me do what I wanted when I wanted. She made me take naps. She put cayenne pepper in my mouth if I said something I shouldn't. She spanked me if I went into the street. She was a wretched woman who was such a kill joy. I mean sure she loved me and she showed me but her job was more than that. I am sure she didn't enjoy it all the time but the role of a mother isn't always full of sugar and spice. Sometimes it's painful for everyone involved. Little did I know that I was at the earliest stage of pregnancy and that in 9 months I was going to know what being a mother really was. The past 3 years have been a rollercoaster of emotions. I love the sweet and tender moments that I have been able to share with Beckett and now with Monroe. I know that one day they I will not be their favorite person and vice versa. But I will always love them more than anything in this world. I am so grateful that I have had the oppurtunity to be their mommy.

Gloves are so funny. Here is just one more thing that Beckett likes to put on...take off..put on...take off. It's too bad that we can't all enjoy the simple things in life.

The Weekend of January 15 - 17

Beckett & Monroe had been sick for a couple of days/weeks/months with a horrible cough and wheezing. I  took them to the doctor on Wednesday and she put them on some antibiotics after a day or so Beckett was doing better but Monroe wasn't. Friday morning Scott and I went to greet her and wish her a Happy Birthday but she was not well. She couldn't even lift her head to look at us. She just laid there and when she wasn't just lying there she would scream inconsolably. I called the doctor's office and the nurse told me that she needed to be on the antibiotics for 72 hours before they could really tell if they were working. I told her that I didn't mean to be rude but that I had a hard time accepting that answer and that I would like to speak with our doctor. A few hours passed , filled with screaming from one little girl who will remain nameless (in this sentence)and finally our doc called us back. She was concerned with how upset Monroe seemed to be in the background and asked that I bring her in immediately. They gave her a breathing treatment because she was wheezing, some tylenol, oral steroids and then gave her a pretty powerful shot of antibiotics (to fight a wide array of possible infections) and then she asked that I have her x-rayed so that they could see what was going on in her lungs. I had left my insurance card at home so we had to make a quick pit stop, I grabbed the mail and my card and were off to the to some imaging place for her to have a little photoshoot. I immedciately noticed a odd envelope in the stack of mail. On our way there there was a hawk that dove down and captured a little creature in some nearby shrubbery and I was concerned with this envelope.  There was no return address, it was addressed to Scott in giant handwriting that looked as though it was written by a first or second grader. I think maybe my nerves were shot becasue I was scared....We went in to have Ruby's picture taken and then we waited. The X-ray tech said that he was going to give my doctor a call and let her know what we found...3 spots of pneumonia. Dr. Powers said that the shot she gave her was for pneumonia and that she wanted us to come in the next morning so that they could check on her.
I think it is safe to say that I was at a breaking point. I was extremely stressed out, today was Monroe's 1st birthday and we were not doing anything fun, instead we were running around to doctors and what not and she was sick. We were supposed to have family pictures taken the next morning with Shannon and Nayeli's babyshower following. Everyone was going to be in town, except Dustin, Aunt MaryAnn and Greg were flying in also. Sunday was Addie's blessing, with a lunch to follow and then a day of much needed family time. I was angry. So many things were planned and now we weren't going to be able to do any of it. All of that planning...Not to mention I had a weird envelope that I was convinced was a something bad, in my possession. I cried a lot and felt really sorry for myself.
I ended up taking the envelope to the police department and asked if they would open it for me. The officer looked at me a little funny at first, but that changed once he opened the envelope; he then looked at me like I was a naive, frail, ignorant little girl who was scared of a tiny envelope that had nothing but an offer to reduce our student loan interest rate. I was relieved and then saw how silly I was.
The next morning I took Ruby back to the dr's and they gave her another shot on the other side of her bottom and said that she wasn't contagious but that we should keep her comfortable. She gave us the go ahead to spend time with our family.
We didn't get to do everything (really we just cancelled the pictures). My dad watched Monroe and I was able to go to the baby shower. Thanks to Arinda it turned out BEAUTIFULLY. Then we were able to come home and Uncle Greg made us his Hawiian fast food (pork and cabbage) It was so YUMMY. He is a great cook. We were able to have a wonderful evening, inclusive of gifts for Monroe to open. She was super cute. The next day we headed back down to GC and went to Addie's baptism and then to Ravenelli's for lunch. It was a great time with the Malone's.
It ended up being a wonderful weekend, maybe a few things I would have changed but I am really glad to have been able to spend time with the "Whole Famn Damily". :)

My cute little girl in my favorite dress!!

The OTHERS, trying to find a gang sign.

Uncle BJ & B, posing for the camera.

My beautiful Aunt MaryAnn.

Last Night

Pictures:
-Monroe's sad eye, you can't see how swollen but it was not pretty.
-Mouth full of popcorn
-Beckett wearing Capris backwards(not really they are Monroe's 12 month pants) with his sweater. I love that he loves dressing himself. I am entertained on a daily basis.
- Popcorn eating escapades.

Yesterday. Monroe woke up with green gunk coming out of her eyes. Both of them. Her right eye was 3/4s of the way sealed. She looked so sad. I didn't realize that I was supposed to gently soak the gunk until it came loose. Instead I gently pulled it apart, wiped it off and was on my way. Last week, or the week before she had had some drainage from her eye and I took her to the doctor they said that maybe she had an eye infection and put her on some antibiotics...2 days later she was worse...I was nervous that something might come of it but not too worried because they had given her some pretty heavy antibiotics. So I took her to Klixi's. I am always very appreciative of her and she always has the best insight.
I called my doctor and they said that they think she has pink eye. I called Klixi and she said that she did not look like she had anything to worry about. I love that I can trust her and that she knows so much. So I told my doctor's office that
I would prefer to hold up on the medication until there was something more.
When I got home Monroe's looked much worse than when she had woken up. Her right eye more than the left. It looked liked she had a giant bag under it and it was puffy. And the outside corner of her eye was bloodshot and her the white of her eye in the left didn't seem as vibrant. And then I noticed that she had some more GUNK...AHHHH.
I FELT LIKE SUCH A MORON. Why on earth did I NOT get the medicine from the doctor. So there I was once again, calling the after hours line. I am pretty sure that they know me by name. The exchange lady said that there wasn't a problem and that the nurse could get me a script. SCHEW!! (now I just have to wait, no big deal)
Pat, the nurse called back about an hour later and was on board to treat her for pink eye, they always try to rule out the more "serious" conditions. She continued to asked her questions and I continued to answer them. She brought up cellulitis. I guess I was a little wishy washy on my answers because she told me that it was very important for me to give her the most accurate information that I could because she can't physically see her and it might be pertinent for her health. I looked up cellulitis of the eye and it got me even more worried. I started to re-analyze what I had previously thought and second guess all of my previous answers. What if she has cellutlitis and it is just going to keep getting worse? I was nervous and scared and realized that I didn't fell that I was the appropriate person to "diagnose" her condition. I called a friend who referred me to another who then referred me to another, who happened to be an ENT doc. I called Jason and he was willing to come over and take a look at my little girl. He prescribed her some eye ointment. I am so grateful for education. Not anyone specific,  I am just grateful in general that people go to school to learn how to do things and that I know that I am capable of learning to do a multitude of things but that when things are beyond my scope of knowledge that I can benefit from another's knowledge.

F-A-M-I-L-Y

Last night as I was downloading pictures on to the computer Scott & I took a trip down "memory lane". It is amazing to me that these two little beings can bring so much happiness, frustration, tears (some joy, some not), laughter...

the list just goes on. Being a parent is so rewarding. Michelle used to say that she didn't know if she wanted to have any more children after Natalie because she wasn't sure that she would be able to love any one as much as she loved her. Apparently, Scott had considered this a silly thought.

Until yesterday, after we both got home, Scott & the kiddos were lounging on our bed, I came in and Scott as serious as could be says that he doesn't think we should have anymore children, because there is no way that he will ever be able to love another little boy or girl as much as he loves the two that we have.

We know that our capability to love will grow as we have more children but it is refreshing to know that every ounce of love that we can muster up at this point is being given to each other. It reminds me of the primary Song:

I love sister, she loves me. We love brother yes sirree. He loves us and so you see, we are a happy family.

I love mommy she love me. We love daddy yes sirree. He loves us and so you see, we are a happy family. 

I love my children. I love being a mom. I loved being pregnant. I loved giving birth. I loved nursing them. I used to love sleep, but I love being woken up by two cheerful children who don't have a clue that it is only 6 in the morning. I love that regardless of which one wakes up first they are always eager to see the other. I love the complete joy that jumps across their faces when they haven't seen each other all day. I love that when you ask if they want to see someone they sometimes say no, but I don't think that that has ever been the case for each other. The other day Beckett wanted me to move his carseat to the middle so that he could sit next to his baby. I did and they held hands, shared snacks & played peek-a-boo.

While on our "trip" we looked at pictures of Beckett when he was just a little peanut, not able to even walk yet it, then pictures when he was the size that Monroe is now. It just goes by so quickly. I am sad that my babies are quickly morphing from one stage to another.

This is such a beautiful time in their friendship. Monroe looks up to Beckett. Beckett looks after Monroe. He teaches her how to do...well, do lots of things (not all of which I am excited about). She follows him blindly trusting that regardless of what happens it will be worth it. She is such a sport when Beckett hugs and loves her so hard. Beckett literally loves her hard. I will be so sad when they start to not like each other. We have decided that we will be weallpapering their rooms with pictures from this stage. To remind them how much they LOVE & LIKE each other.

 

Thank you Ben and Becca for the pictures. We love them. I still have to attach a few more but our computer is acting up.