NEW NAME!!

You probably noticed that I have officially changed my blog name to "Mayhem with Minis" so please make sure you change any bookmarks you have saved on your computer to take you to my new blog address! I would hate for you to miss out on my updates. For questions about why I changed the name...check out this post HERE.

Madison at 9 Months!

This little girl of ours sure has some personality these days! She has really started coming into her own and she just cracks us up! She is still so different than Brayden was as a baby and it's so fun. She is constantly on the go and we really have to keep a good eye on her. Fuzz, hair, leaves, flowers, dog hair, socks, puzzle pieces....EVERYTHING goes right into her mouth. And she still enjoys finding any cord available and putting that in her mouth too. Very safe. NOT! This girl of ours is quite crazy. She doesn't have a cautious bone in her body and I anticipate her being quite the dare-devil as she gets older.

She can totally stand on her own but isn't taking any steps yet. I think she will be walking around the same age that B started walking (10 months) and then we will really have to keep an eye on her. Madison currently has 3 teeth...the bottom two and one on the top. So far the other top tooth isn't coming down so I think it will be slow moving like her other top tooth.

Something new that she is doing (that is AMAZING!!) is falling asleep on her own! I cannot tell you how great this is. She was never really difficult to put down but she started waking up after nursing when she should have gone to sleep. One day, I had lost my patience and just put her in her crib and left the room. She cried for about 10 minutes but fell asleep. The next time, she only cried for a few minutes and now she either doesn't cry at all or cries for one minute or so. Brayden was so difficult to put to sleep as a baby...he would wake up every time I put him in his crib and being a first-time mom, I picked him back up and rocked him until he went to sleep. Huge mistake!! When we finally did the CIO method with him, it took him a solid 5 days to figure it out. Torture! I am so glad that Madison is pretty good and falling asleep on her own and staying asleep when I put her in the crib.

I've mentioned before that she is little and I am being very literal! She is still wearing 6 months clothing (although I am hoping we are into 9 months clothing soon...the onesies are getting a little hard to button because she is long). She only weighs 17 pounds so she is in the 25th percentile for weight. Although she is skinny, she is pretty tall. She is 28 inches so that puts her in the 75th percentile for height!  The doc said everything looks great and she is growing along the curve so I don't need to worry. Whew!

Likes:
-animals (she is such an animal lover!! Dolly, my parents black lab, is her favorite because she licks Madison and will let her pull on her tail...it's so dang cute!)
-baths...water in general actually. She likes the pool too.
-watching her brother run and dance (she starts yelling with joy)
-fruit in the mesh pacifier
-muslin blankets (she sleeps with one every night)
-being tickled and kissed
-animal noises (dog and donkey are her two favorite noises)
-all her brother's toys (I swear she doesn't play with anything that is actually hers!)
-climbing
-going outside (she makes a beeline for the front door anytime it is opened)
-playing with Brayden's toys
-clapping (she doesn't do it on her own yet but she likes when we do it or help her to do it)

Dislikes:
-bouncer, swing, stroller...she doesn't like being strapped down
-bottles, pacifiers (still doesn't take either...I have given up on the bottle)
-when Brayden takes things away from her

Things She Can Do:
-scale a freaking box like a spider monkey! See video below.
-use fingers to grab Puffs and put them in her mouth
-crawl
-stand on her own
-climb...obviously
-fall asleep on her own

She's finally a good eater!!

She single-handedly knocked over the circus tent...and thought it was hysterical! Brayden thought it was awesome and climbed right in.

This was the day before I lost my patience...it was rough. 

Swing lover!

Her new hobby...pulling things out of the refrigerator and then climbing in. Crazy!

I heard her making all sorts of noises and I find her here...between the chair and coffee table. Again...crazy!

Happy girl!

Name Change

I have finally figured out a new name for this blog of mine! I wanted a name that wouldn't exclude one child or the other so keeping "And Brayden Makes Three" wasn't really an option. Poor Madison was left out. So....drumroll please.....

The new name will be "Mayhem with Minis"!!! 

I will be changing it officially probably next week but I want to give a heads up so no one is confused when I change things. 

Staying Sane

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately. We have been potty training Brayden and Madison has been cutting teeth for what seems like FOREVER. 

The potty training has been going pretty well except for one particular area. Poop. He mostly refuses to go poop on the toilet. He will wait all day until we give him a pull-up for bed. Then he poops in his pull-up, yells from his bed that he pooped and needs a new pull-up, I change his pull-up and he goes back to bed. So frustrating. He has also gone poop in his undies at least 6 times. 

I feel like we have tried everything as far as incentives go but it just isn't working. I have stopped pushing for him to go poop on the toilet and hopefully he will go in his own time. He did go today so I am hopeful that we are on the right track! 

Sorry for talking about poop.

Moving on. 

Madison has had her bottom two teeth for a while and her top two teeth have been struggling to come through for at least a month! Poor girl has had a rough go. Her top right tooth finally broke through today but we probably have another week or so before the left tooth does the same. This means more long nights and not a lot of sleep. I will be very happy when we get a break from teething. Whenever that may be! 

So how do I stay sane during all of this?!? Wine. 

Okay not really but on some nights, a glass of wine really helps. I usually just make sure the kids go down by 8 at the latest and then I make sure I take time for myself. I do something that I enjoy such as catching up on my recorded shows, browsing through Pinterest, reading blogs or watching a movie. I try not to worry about the dishes not being done or the toys out on the floor. I give myself at least an hour to just relax. Then I will do a quick sweep of the house to pick up the toys (so I don't kill myself when I wake up to feed Madison at night) and head to bed. I can't worry too much about the laundry I still need to put away or the kitchen table being covered with unopened mail. It will all still be there to or row when I wake up and have my necessary cup of coffee to get me going. It can wait. And besides...these crazy kids are all worth it! 

Note the bathtub: that's also something that can wait. I am not about to scrub all that crayon off every time he takes a bath. That would be a full-time job! It will still be there tomorrow when I MIGHT clean it up. Not likely. 

What do you do to stay sane during all the craziness of raising minis?

Baby Food: Veggies Edition

Making baby food started for me when I had Brayden. I wanted to know exactly what was going in my son's body and it was so much cheaper! Win, win.

It's super easy and can be adapted for all sorts of combinations! 

I start with just veggies since babies have a natural sweet tooth. I don't want to start with something super sweet and then have her refuse the veggies because they aren't sweet.

My first few batches were peas, sweet potatoes, and carrots. For the peas, I buy the frozen package and then follow the cooking directions on the back. Once soft, I put the peas in my blender (a Blendtec) along with some of the cooking water from the pot. I blend until super smooth and I can adjust the consistency as it blends. Start with just a little of the cooking water because you can always add more. I make her first feedings pretty thin since the texture can be a huge adjustment for babies.

As you can see, she's a fan.

For the sweet potatoes and carrots, I put them in pots and boil them until soft. I peeled the sweet potatoes and use the baby carrots so I didn't have to peel them. Once soft, again you put them in the blender with some of the cooking water and blend until smooth.

Once it's all blended and the consistency you want, put spoonfuls into the food freezing system you plan to use. I use a combination of ice cube trays and baby food containers both of which I purchased on Amazon. The ice cubes are awesome because each cube is 1 ounce so you can pull out as many as you need for each feeding. Just place them in a microwave-safe bowl and heat until warm.

Sweet potatoes everywhere...but mostly in her mouth! Success.

Next up I will be making fruit purees now that Madison is eating the veggies and transitioned well from a meal of pears to a meal of carrots. For fruits you want to be sure to wash them thoroughly and then peel any skin that would have a wax covering (such as apples). Then you can follow the same steps as the veggies. It helps to boil the crunchy fruits, like apples, to make them a little softer so that when you blend them, you don't end up with chunks.

Madison: 8 Months

My sweet baby girl is getting so big and is now 8 months (as of yesterday). She is doing so many things that just seem so odd considering she is still such a tiny little human! She is totally cruising on furniture and will let go while standing and can stand on her own for a bit. She will be walking in no time! The weird thing is, she is still in 6 months clothing and weighs only 15 pounds (according to her last doc appointment at 7 months). She is eating food on a regular basis finally. It took so long for her to understand the whole eating food thing. It was so frustrating because I tried everything and she just wouldn't open her mouth. Once she got it though, she has done great ever since. She eats 2-3 containers of food every day (3.5 ounce containers). And yes, we use store-bought food now. For some reason, she just didn't like the food I made for her. I think it may have not been smooth enough for her. She really hates any type of texture and the store-bought food is incredibly smooth. Oh well. It's not the end of the world for me. It would have been nice to save the money and make her food like I did with Brayden but it is pretty convenient that I can just bring a package with us wherever we go and not worry about having to warm it up or keep it cold. Most importantly, she eats it.

She still only has her two bottom teeth but her top two are about to bust through. They have been bothering her a bit, even with the amber necklace, but she doesn't need any pain medicine during the day. I give her some at night right before bed to help her sleep. She still wakes up about 2 times per night but nurses and goes right back to sleep (usually). I am still waiting for her to finally sleep through the night!!

She experienced quite a few firsts in the last month! First time on a swing, first time in a pool, first wedding, first real apple, and first 5k. It was a super busy month so I am hoping things slow down a bit but for now, we are enjoying the craziness!

Likes:
-the pool (we start swim lessons today!)
-baths
-nursing
-her brother
-her brother's toys (especially his Jessie doll)
-being held
-chewing on ANYTHING
-getting things she shouldn't have (cords, paper, small toys, etc.)
-the Ergo
-dogs
-eating my food (aka sucking on my apple)

Dislikes:
-getting her diaper or clothes changed
-being left alone (unless she is surrounded by her brother's toys)
-getting into the car seat (she's much better in the car but she still doesn't enjoy it)
-deep voices (men's voices tend to scare her)
-being in the jumper

Amid her brother's tent of toys

First time on the swings...it was a hit!

She really enjoys looking at the baby in the phone (her!)

Both kids joined us on our first family 5k. 

We got fancy for Auntie Samantha's wedding!

She loved eating my apple!

This is how I cook now.

One of her favorite places to play.

She's so close to standing up on her own.

She really loves drinking water from a cup...and the noises she makes are hilarious!

Madison at 7 Months!

My little girl is 7 months today!! She has changed quite a bit in the last month. She is definitely growing and finally fitting into 6 months clothing! It seems like she was wearing 3 month clothing forever but since she has decided to actually eat real food, she has grown into her clothes.

She still isn't sleeping through the night which is starting to wear on me. I thought that since she was eating food, she would sleep longer but that doesn't seem to be the case. She might also be teething but I am dying for the night that she doesn't wake me up to feed. Momma could use a full night's rest!

She figured out how to crawl up the step at my parent's house. She found a whole new world up on the tile!

Speaking of the food she is eating...she is FINALLY opening her mouth. It took at least a month of trying to shove food in her mouth for her to grasp the concept of opening her mouth for me to put the spoon in. It was a frustrating month to say the least! However, baby girl is eating so great now! I make all her food including: sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, carrots, and banana. We are just starting fruit since she transitioned nicely from pears to carrots. I just purchased extra apples, pears and bananas to make her fruit purees. I have a tutorial on making baby food coming soon.

Notice: She managed to get sweet potato not only all over her face but on her foot!! She was squirting it everywhere!!

Onto her likes and dislikes...

Likes:
-sweet potatoes
-baths
-her brother
-songs
-chewing on anything
-pulling herself up on ANYTHING
-being in the Ergo
-crawling
-being held
-kisses
-being tickled
-bouncing
-pulling hair and earrings
-playing with the blinds
-playing with her brother's toys
-animals

She found heaven in the tent full of her brother's toys!

Dislikes:
-the last diaper change at night before going to bed...she cries the whole time I change her diaper and clothes
-falling asleep on her own
-loud noises
-bumps in the car
-being in the car too long

As I mentioned above, she can pull herself up on anything but she is still pretty wobbly. She doesn't have the core strength yet to be very stable so she still falls quite often. Poor girl bumps her head and that is definitely the thing she hates the most! She is getting better and stronger and she can even move her feet a little when holding onto something steady like the couch. It won't be long until she is cruising and then walking. 

Kisses from her very favorite four-legged friend! She had a huge smile after this...she absolutely LOVES animals!

Madison is so much better in the car. As long as she isn't hungry, she can usually be in the car for about 20 minutes before getting tired of it. I don't feel so bad being in the car anymore and we can get out of the house more often. She is also much better in the stroller and I am hoping she does alright during our first 5k. We are doing that tomorrow morning and hopefully if I bring enough toys for her, she will stay in the stroller the whole time. I will have the Ergo as back-up but it would be nice to walk without an extra 15-20 pounds on me.

She is a happy girl!

Shaking her booty while standing up!

Holding on for dear life.

Overall, Madison is doing great! She is hitting all her milestones and growing like a weed. Her personality is definitely shining bright and I think she will be smart and funny just like her brother!