If You Ask Madeline Grace what her name is...

she will tell you Madeline Gravy

some random Tuesday-ness

1. Peek-a-boo, I seeee you!

Grandma was here visiting last week...

We played outside. Look at all that nasty brush and barren-ness behind my girl. have I mentioned I HATE March?

I can't believe we got her hair cut in January and we are right back where we started in terms of out of control curls and thickness. . And just look at the cuteness.

We decorated Easter eggs yesterday and she loved it Telling daddy over the phone that we are decorating eggs . Notic how she uses her hands to stell a story. She's either Italian or she is 'stacking'

Just because she is beautiful. Would you die for that skin or what ?

10 on the Tuesday. On Sunday.

1. After going through Madeline's clothes, I realized nothing will fit her this spring/summer. Have to go out and buy her an almost complete new wardrode. I can get away with some dresses and shorts b/c its no big deal how short they are- but save for a few gymboree shorts purchased at the end of summer ( in prep for our Fla trip in October), she gots nuthin'.

2. She's at a funny size in some stores. No longer baby clothes or even cute toddler clothes. She's venturing into 5 and 5T and some of those clothes are just skanky. I still want her to look like a little kid, not a tween

3. Facebook is amazing. In the few short months I 've been on there, I've reconnected with so many people- my old best friends, really good high school friends, my 3rd grade crush... and my cousin Cara. Every Christmas, our grandmother would buy us the same exact things- she got pink and I got purple- but our differences went deeper than pink and purple lovers. As we got older, we drifted apart, geographically and closeness and then just lost touch. We always knew what each other was doing by talking to our aunt. But thanks to Facebook, we're back in touch and i hope to stay that way. We just got together for dinner the other night and it was really nice.

4. Went to the new outlets by me the other day. It was great. As mentioned above ( I'm finishing this a few days later), Maddie was in desperate need of new clothes for spring summer. I somehow managed to get my husband involved in a) going to the outlets with me and b) picking out some clothes for M-cat! We didn't spend too much money and got some cute stuff- our own economic stimulus right here.

5. Crocs- yay or nay ? I say YAY! I love those shoes for Madeline. I bought a pink maryjane style pair for her at the outlets. They are waterproof, comfy and waterproof, did I mention that? They get dirty... give 'em a good scrub and wash them in the sink. The past two summers that has pretty much been her everyday shoe. I know there are people out there who say they don't care how comfortable they are, they are ugly as sin- but let me tell you. When you become old and start uttering sentences like " I need to find a good shoe" or ' where are my orthotics? '- you will care about comfort. So yeah I have one pair ( of flip flops, in a benign color- and no jibbets, either). So Crocs-haters, suck it, those shoes are like someone went to heaven , cobbled a shoe, and brought it back down to earth.

6. Food shopping used to be some class of nightmare . There was screaming and crying, sometimes on both mine and Madeline's parts. There was unecessary spending as I usually would end up giving Maddie a little something to quiet her during the expedition. There was always something forgotten because I was rushed, not paying attention. I dreaded it.

But now, my Stop and Shop has changed the face of grocery shopping for us and mothers of toddlers everywhere. They have introduced the scanning gun, as in you scan it yourself, or in our case, Madeline scans the 'puter' for me. You put it right in the bag yourself ( they even have new fancy shopping carts that have handles on them to keep your bag open so you can put your stuff in)- which means no unloading onto the checkout lane- you just go up, scan your card and pay. You don't even have to talk to a human if you don't want. Also while you are shopping, the scanner bell rings , advertising some special item on sale. Madeline thinks that is especially cool. Who knows, maybe she'll get sick of it one day, but for right now, I am enjoying these tear free shopping trips. Both of us :)

7) Not having to interact with a human at Stop and Shop, though welcome for me, also makes me feel very Brave new World-ish, Big Brother-ish. I don't like when people's jobs are replaced by computers, no matter how convienent it makes my life. There doesn't seem to be a balance, hence my conflicting feelings.

8) Looking for ideas to keep your child occupied while you make dinner or something? Have them write a letter. Madeline recieved mail from her friend H. the other day and she has been over the moon about it. So I had her write a letter back to her, I addressed it, we stamped it, we took it to the post office,( an excursion in itself), we check the mailbox everyday for more letters. Who knew mail could be so much fun ? Oh yeah right- my mother did (Mi " We're not getting all our mail" Mi)

9) Speaking of grandparents, we are currently waiting for Greg to return from the airport with Grandma. Madeline is very excited, and so am I. I enjoy the comapny, and I also enjoy running child-free errands. Its hard not having family around- anyone who does, don't take it for granted.

10) see random pictures above. Blogger won't let me drag them down here.

and 11) Is March the longest month or whaaaaaat ? I hate March.

Can I Share a Cute Maddie Story?

Of course I can, its my blog.
Yesterday I was absentmindedly singing " The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind"
After a minute, Maddie looked up at me and said " Gianna is blowing in the wind?( in a high pitched voice) hi,i'm gianna,I'm blowing in the wind

(Gianna is her best friend. I thought it was hysterical and so smart, of course, but I'm her mother)

Happy St Patricks Day! I made Madeline gold coin pancakes like one might find at the end of a rainbow. The tricky little leprauchan left green milk ... Maddie thought that was pretty cool.

Ten on Tuesday- even though its Thursday

1. Its official. I am the Only Person on the Planet who doesn't like spring. I don't hate flowers or anything- I hate the reemergence of bugs, mud and flip floppy weather ( 40 degrees one day , 70 the next) , bugs, squeezing into springy/summer clothes that are ill fitting and for which I am too pale to wear and bugs, did I mention that ? Seriously I'd like to skip the whole spring thing and get to summer- longer days, swimming, green grass, flowers already in bloom, warm weather and the beach. I can't wait. Wake me up in mid-June

2. OK, beginning of June. Don't want to miss my birthday- even though I am entering my mid-thirties

3. Speaking of birthdays, Greg's was yesterday. Because he was working and we weren't sure when he'd be home, we had a little surprise party for him on Saturday. By 'we' I mean me and Maddie. She was so excited and has quite a future as a party planner. Doesn't every 39-year old man want Tinkerbell plates at his bash?

And this is her birthday party hat I made yummy eggplant for dinner- or as Maddie calls it "airplant"

4. I'm so excited that we will be going to Florida in May. Maddie is excited about seeing Grandma and Grandpa and the pink car. And we'll be taking a trip to see a certain mouse- she's very excited about that. Now, if someone could give all the Love Bugs of Florida the message to stay away, I'd be pretty pleased

5. Her memory amazes me. I was talking to her about how it was Uncle Steve's birthday too, that he and Daddy are brothers, twins, etc. I was going over who was whose brother or sister- Uncle Eric is my brother( she said " Uncle Eric is silly, he prentends he doggie"), Uncle Jimmy is Mimi's brother and I asked her if she remembered Grandma's brother. Yup, Uncle Frank. Then she said" He come to Granma's house and we eat eggplant" Which is indeed what happened. Some random night of our vacation SIX months ago. HOW does she remember that?

6. So despite my spring -bashing in #1, I am actually kind of happy its warmer out today. I'll be able to take her to the park later, maybe we'll go get ice cream afterwards.

7. I'm having trouble finding a nice two peice bathing suit. Don't worry, not for me, for Madeline. The thing is I'm not looking for a bikini. I just want a 2 peice suit that looks like a one peice. At the rate we're going, potty training is likely to still be going on once we hit the pool and 2 peice makes it easier for diaper changes. Even if she is trained, it'll be easier for her to take them off to use the potty. But all the ones I see are like triangle bikinis or short tops exposing her belly. Besides me wanting her to look like a kid and not a teenager, I'm also concerned about coverage from the sun. Any ideas where to look?

8. we ended up going to the park, it ended up being cold, we ended up having to leave and I ended up with a very unhappy little girl. Until I took her for froyo

9) Came across this picture by accident. Greg and Madeline in her bed, catching up on their reading.

10) Speaking of reading, Madeline can't get enough books right now. She loves Knufflebunny and the Pigeon ( finds a Hotdog, Pigeon Wants a Puppy, etc) books by Mo Willems. It helps that we are at the library almost everyday this week. I didn't plan it- I signed her up for random library programs and when I put it on my calendar, I noticed all 4 of them happened to be this week. as I was putting her to bed tonight, I mentioned we were going to the library again tomorrow and she said ' Again? We go library all the time, Mommy"

A bonus

11)I am cracking up at her expressin in this picture. Someone was at the front door and had just rang the bell. She got so nervous- look how worried she is. Poor Monkey.

Random thoughts about 'lifetime supplies'

Over to the right there you'll see a list of bogs I follow. Matt Liz and Madeline , in summary , is a blog chronicling the life of Matt and his daughter Madeline. His wife( Liz) died 27 hours after giving birth to their daughter, she never even got to hold her. I started reading his blog when his Maddy was just a few months old- since then he's been featured in People mag and on the Rachel Ray show, so he's got quite a following.
Anyway, back to the title of the entry- he was given a free lifetime supply of diapers. I wonder how that works? Do they give him a voucher for one box per week? Or a Pampers VIP card that means he'll never have to pay? Do they send him 300 boxes and call it a day?
anyone know how that works?
Told you -random thoughts.

lunch

Madeline asked for eggs today for lunch, so I made them . Then of course, she wanted to skip the eggs and eat a mini-cupcake I promised her.
me: Madeline you have to eat some of your eggs before I give you a cupcake
M: OK (leaves the room)
Comes back in a minute later with her plate of eggs, hardly touched.
Me: Maddie did you eat some of your eggs
M: I had enough
me: Enough for what?
M: Enough for a cupcake

Bowling

Take 7 three-ish year olds , a bowling alley, 2 hours, an apparently mesmerising popcorn machine, multiple trips to the potty and what do you get?

About 5 frames of bowling in.

Maddie still had fun cheering on her teammates. Actually, she had fun cheering on anyone who happened to be bowling near her. Go Team Maddie!

Ten

I guess this can qualify as #10, to replace the lame-o 10 I posted down there.
Most of the time I try to plan our dinner so Madeline and My( or me and Madelines?)'s dinner is ready at the same time. Lately we've been eating on a picnic blanket on the living room floor. She seems to eat more nutritious foods that way. Tonight the picnic blanket was out as she was having mac and cheese and peas, and I couldn't get myself together to have my dinner ready at the same time. So she's sitting at the dinner table and says to me ( in the kitchen)
M: Moooooommmmy , somethings missing
me: do you need a drink ?
M: nooooooo
me: do you want a napkin ?
M: nooooo
me: whats missing, Mad ?
M: YOU !

How awesome is she?!?

Ten on Tuesday -or- Snow , part II

1. Snow actually kind of stinks when its too cold to go outside. I think its in the 20's today. Blech. Not sure if its even worth an attempt to go out. It would mean I'd have to clean off the car. And really, I don't need anything. So I might make it a No Travel Tuesday( to follow No Money Monday)

2. We spent all day yesterday -save for about 15 minutes when we attempted to play in the snow ( Maddie kept getting stuck and saying " Its too hard!")- we spent most of the day inside. Since I took the paci away from Madeline, at dr's urging, during rest time, she doesn't even lay on the couch anymore. So we go all day from sun up to sundown. When I was reading her a story last night, she actually pushed me out of her bed . She was tired, Mommy, and wanted to go to sleep.

3)Her favorite book right now is Olivia and the Missing Toy. Its 8:30 am and I've already read it to her about 5 times.

4) Oh, by the way, regarding snow- I have the BEST neighbors. They snowblow and/or shovel my driveway when it snows. We got over a foot yesterday, thats no easy task. The last time , I made cookies as a thank you and he got mad- saying we're neighbors, he wants to do it, all kind of good neighborly stuff. But I have to say I feel pretty guilty sitting inside nice and toasty while he's outside working. I even made Madeline move away from the window. While he knows we're inside, I feel pretty guilty about actually letting him see us inside, sitting on our duffs, you know?

5) Re: No Monday Money- this is self imposed, by me, in an effort to save money. Its so easy to spend $5 here, $15 there - over the course of a week that can really add up. So I make an effort to dedicate at least one day a week to spend NO MONEY. I stay out of the stores, I don't food shop, I look for free activities to do with Madeline or make a playdate. I've actually found some pretty cool free stuff to do, and it'll be easier once the weather gets warmer. Hopefully I can spread NMM out to a few other days during the week. ( let me clarify , we don't spend money every single DAY, every week is different. NMM is just a concerted effort to find alternatives, you know? )

6) Surprise!

Close your eyes...

Surprise !

7) Maddie is looking foward to Olivia's bday party this weekend

8) There has been zero progress on the potty training front. sigh.

9) Getting somewhere with my camera... yay!

10) I got nuthin' for #10 right now. It'll be a long day. Imight be back, lol!

Snow

We are getting lots of it. Over a foot, for sure. Its not even worth taking a picture because all you see is white- you can't even tell what anything is. Its 3:30 and its still coming down... I'm hoping it stops around dusk so that the sky clears up. I love the reflection of fresh snow in a dusk sky, it makes it look purple, so pretty.
Totally off topic, i caught up with the last 3 episodes of Lost the other night and have to say ... I'm lost. I don't know whats going on, its too much for my brain to wrap around. Anyone know of some Cliff Notes for Losties websites?