My Little Girl Turns 5!

My little girl is 5! I really cannot believe it! She is an absolute joy and such a blessing to our family. Madison is such a sweet child. And smart. And funny. And such a love. I thought this would be a difficult year for her. Going from an only child for 4+ years to the big sister of not one, but two littles ones... Yikes! But Madison has handled it with maturity and grace that are well beyond her years. This little girl is so amazing. She loves everyone she meets and loves to take care of others. I am so excited to see what the world has in store for her. I know that she will do great things in life and I am so proud of the little lady she is becoming.

Madison came into the world on December 20, 2006 at 12:10 am. She made quite the grand entrance. I was at work on December 19th and felt kinda weird all day. Not really in pain, just not quite right. I didn't eat lunch that day, I felt nauseous. I went home around 5:00 pm and decided to take a shower to relax my back which was aching like crazy! At this point, I knew I was having contractions and so I called the on call doctor because, wouldn't you know, my doctor was on vacation! He told me that since this was my first pregnancy, I would most likely be in labor until sometime late tomorrow morning (December 20th). By 7:00 I was in quite a bit of pain, so David decided we were not going to wait much longer. We lived in Yreka, CA at the time and I was going to deliver in Ashland, OR (about a 45 minute drive). I convinced him to wait a bit longer, but at 9:00 I finally agreed to head out to the hospital. We arrived around 10:00 pm. We finally got checked into labor and delivery and the nurse confirmed that I was in active labor and dilated to a 4. She also informed me that it would be a while before our little one made her entrance. By 11:30 I was in so much pain, I didn't think I could go on much longer. I kept telling the nurse that the contractions were getting worse and I thought the baby was coming. She refused to check! Finally, I felt the need to push, and I did! The nurse looked and saw that Madison was on her way out! One more push and I delivered a healthy 6 lb 8 oz baby girl on the bed at 12:10, only 2 hours after checking in! No doctor, no nurse in the room! :) So, yeah, Madison has made her mark on this world. Look out.

Thank you for being my first born Madison. I love you so much. Happy 5th Birthday Madi Bug.

Lyrics

Music lyrics I heard on the radio today that really hit me...

Your picking up toys on the living room floor for the 15th time today
Matching up socks
Sweeping up lost cheerios that got away

You put a baby on your hip
Color on your lips and head out the door

While I may not know you,
I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes, does it matter at all?

Well let me remind you, it all matters just as long
As you do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you,
Cause he made you,
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
Tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every little thing you do

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/steven_curtis_chapman/#share

Sometimes I just need to be reminded that my job as a stay at home mom is a very important one. And it is one that I need to be thankful for. Give all the glory to our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 Months Old!

The babies have made it to 9 months! Yahoo! They are continuing to amaze me everyday and I love them so much! Here's what is happening around here...

Kenzie is on the move! Standing up, cruising, crawling all over. She is everywhere! She was so proud the day she pulled herself up to a stand. She is still a bit wobbly when standing, but, that won't last much longer! Her favorite word is still dada. She says is all the time. So cute and annoying all at the same time ;) She loves music and dancing. She loves to play with Madison. She is a bully. She is jealous if Lexie is in my lap. Today, Lexie crawled over to me while I was sitting in the floor and climbed in my lap. Kenzie was perfectly content playing with a toy nearby until she saw that Lexie was in my lap. She crawled over screaming and then pushed Lexie over. Such a little stinker! She is definitely the mama's girl of the two. She has also learned to clap which is so adorable! She has the cutest smile ever and is quicker to smile at strangers than Lexie. Latest stats from the Doctor: Weight, 18 lbs 9 ozs! She is in the 60% for her weight. And, 29" in length, which is the 80%! I've got me some tall girls!

Lexie is more mobile than Kenzie at this point. She pulled herself up and started cruising before Kenzie. She is very steady on her feet and stood up without holding on to anything yesterday. She also lets go of the couch and reaches for toys. She has taken a couple of steps without holding on but quickly realizes that she isn't holding on and grabs for the nearest security object. I know she will be walking in no time! She continues to be my little ""starer". She loves to look at people and it usually takes her a little while to start talking and smiling at new people. This is funny to me because she is my little squeaker. She has a fake laugh she uses to imitate me that is hilarious! She is always talking! Her latest weight check put her at 17 lbs 8 ozs! (40% for weight) and 28.3" for her length (60%). Oh yeah, did I mention they both weigh more than Madison did at 10 months?!

Both babies love to eat solids more than their bottles. We have started doing more table foods and they are loving it. These girls can eat! They have 3 meals a day, and most days, 3 bottles. Some days only 2 bottles. They are still sleeping at least 12 hours a night and still taking 2 naps a day, usually for 2 hours each nap.

All in all, we are doing great! Loving all our girls! Bring on the holidays!

Happy Halloween!

Miss Kenzie Poo
Miss Lexie Loo
Miss Madi Moo

Halloween was a lot of fun this year! Next year will be even better. We dressed up all the girls and took them trick or treating with some great friends. The little ones stayed in the stroller and just enjoyed being pushed around while Madison and Norah collected their candy. It was fun to see the houses all decorated and people really into the Halloween spirit. Madison collected an entire bucket of candy which we are all enjoying :) We also stopped by Grandma's house and she had special treats for all. Miss Madison stayed true to herself and was Bell from Beauty and the Beast (3rd year in a row as a princess!) Kenzie was an elephant (so cute!) And Lexie was a little lamb. Can't wait to be chasing them all around next year!

8 Months Old!

Here we are at the end of October and my little ladies have hit the 8th month mark. Again, I will say that I really can't believe it! They are getting so big! Here's the scoop on the Phillips' Household.

Miss Madison is loving how active the girls are. She is like a little mommy to them and plays with them, feeds them, reads to them, etc. She will chase whoever is on the move and carries them back to safety. I am pretty sure she is their biggest supporter of the crawling/walking fiasco we are entering. Mama could stand to wait a bit for the walking portion! I am constantly amazed at how smart and mature Madison is. She is such a great kid. She cleans her own room, sorts her laundry, puts laundry away, helps clean the livingroom, helps with the babies, and pretty much does every thing I ask of her. Hard to believe she isn't even 5 yet! I love her so much! She even has her own nickname for the babies "Trouble Monsters" lol. So funny!

Miss Kenzie is crawling absolutely everywhere, including under the coffee table. Down the hall, to her room, in the kitchen. Everywhere! No matter how I try to confine her to one area, she figures out a way past it! Her favorite word is... wait for it...DADA! Say what? She said mama a couple of times, but has switched to dada and there is no stopping her. She will crawl over to the couch where David sits and say dadada over and over. So cute. She gets excited when she hears his voice. She is our music lover and dancer.

Miss Lexie is still my little squeaker. She babbles on and on. Mostly saying Mama. She has also mastered standing up, but has yet to figure out how to get back down which is causing some trouble. And now that she is standing, she is also trying to cruise. Which, of course, Madison thinks is awesome and is totally encouraging her! I went into their room last Tuesday morning to find her standing up in her crib. That's how I find her every morning and after every nap. Such a cutie.

Today, Lexie was trying to cruise while holding onto the coffee table and fell and bonked her head. She was crying so hard. Normally, one doesn't really react to the other's crying, but today, Kenzie stopped what she was doing, crawled across the room to Lexie and started patting and rubbing her face trying to console her. It was the sweetest thing ever! I almost started crying when I saw how concerned she was for Lexie. She kept looking at me like "aren't you going to do something mom?" I love watching them interact with each other!

Sleeping schedule is still amazing. I am lucky. Bedtime is still around 6:30 pm and they sleep until at least 6 am. Sometimes until 7. After bottle, sleep until 8:30. Breakfast, playtime. Naptime. Bottle, lunch, play, nap. Bottle, dinner, play. Sleep. That's it. That's the routine. Great eaters, Great sleepers. But, now that I spend pretty much all day chasing them around, I am exhausted come bed time! I am able to bathe them both at the same time now so that saves me a little bit of time. Neither one have cut a tooth yet, but, I think Lexie is close. We will see! They fit best into 6-9 month clothing, but they can wear a lot of 12 month stuff. Lexie is in size 2 diapers, size 3 at night because she wakes up wet a lot. Kenzie is in size 3. Once we use up what's left of the 2's I will switch to 3's all the time.

Lexie is a little clingier of the two. She prefers to be held and loves to give kisses. Kenzie would rather be exploring and checking out what kind of trouble she can get into!

We broke Madison from her binkie at 8 months. I don't think I am brave enough to go there yet. They only have them for naps and bed time, so it's not horrible. I will let it go for at least a couple more months and readdress that issue in a little while :) Bottles will be done by 12 months. Period. I think it will be fairly easy because they have already weaned themselves to only 3 a day and they never have them before a nap or before bed time.

I finally got up the nerve to get their ears pierced yesterday! Yahoo! They look so adorable! We had Madison's done at 2 months but for some reason I wanted to hold off on these two. I am glad that I finally got it done and they have handled it like champs! Funny story about it, which I will get to later. :)

So excited to take their pictures, maybe today. I am going to do some of them with their pumpkins :) Can't believe how close we are to Madison's 5th birthday and their 1st birthday!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch at Seven Oaks Farm yesterday and it was so much fun! The babies were in a great mood and loved being out and about. We walked through the patch looking for Madison's perfect pumpkin. Our general rule is that she has to be able to carry it out of the patch herself in order to get it. We had a cart to haul our pumpkins in, so we bended on that a little. She could lift it herself, that's good, right? :) We ended up with 4 pumpkins. One small one for each little girl, Madison's and Daddy's. Madison and Daddy will carve their's soon and bake the seeds. I think I will put the babies' handprints on theirs. Can't wait for this to happen!

I took a ton of pictures while at the farm. Even managed to get Kenzie and Lexie to sit on pumpkins briefly to get some super cute photos. Only problem was they were so interested in everything around them, I had the hardest time getting them to look at me! We sat them on the ground by a pumpkin and I couldn't keep the straw out of Lexie's mouth!

They have a small petting zoo as well so we were able to feed the goats and see some ponies. Madison loves animals so that was fun.

It was such a beautiful day out and I loved being able to be out as a family of five :) Can't wait for more holiday traditions to begin!

Look How They Have Grown!

Getting ready to do a massive print job of pictures of the little girls from birth to the present. I am going to do a scrapbook for each child for their first year of life, them do a family scrapbook after that. Looking through the pictures of those tiny newborns is making me so sad. They have grown so quickly!