Maderville

Did you miss me?
I know, I know. I have been MIA for almost 2 months now and that is just downright pathetic. I have been keeping a list of all the things that have been going on in Maderville so I am going to attempt to briefly touch on them, catch up and forgive myself for not keeping up. Today is a new day and I will get back on track from now on. I gotta apologize to my SON first and foremost for not documenting his fetal growth the way I should have. That's right...we are going to have a boy!! I am getting a little ahead of my posts but I wanted to give my apologies to him first because he deserves to be documented like his big sister has been and Mama will do a better job from now on little man. I promise. There! Moving on from the guilt train....
Where oh where do I start? I have been so busy, not still and loving life. I am finally over the hump of the bad nausea and I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am. I will never have to do that again!! Since I know that this is my last pregnancy, I have really embraced it. It is totally different than my pregnancies with my girls. I think running after a toddler may have something to do with it but it has been pretty uneventful so far.
Landry...wow what a kid! She has just grown by leaps and bounds in the every area. She is incredibly verbal and thoughtful. She has a great sense of humor and timing and is truly loved by everyone. She has the charm I only dream of having. I feel so blessed to be her mama. When we started Mothers Morning Out this fall she has gone through a little separation anxiety. I don't know where it came from but she did not want to go in to the toddler room. She was very happy with the babies. I indulged for a few days and let them move her gradually into the 'big girl' room but finally had to leave her crying in her permanent room. It killed me but when I looked at her through the window...2 minutes later...she was fine. Little faker!!! She sure can bring on the crocodile tears...lesson learned for mama!
This summer our little girl became quite the swimmer. She is not afraid of the water at all. She loves jumping to her Daddy and going all the way under. She has learned to paddle to the side and grab on. I pray for her safety and her love of water to continue.
DORA and ELMO live in Maderville. FULL TIME! All she wants to do is watch Dora over and over and over and over. Does it ever end?! I hope that there aren't subliminal messages in those shows because she is the prime candidate for a Dora brainwashing. She is really learning so much from it though so I can't complain. She started counting in Spanish the other day and I had no idea where she got it from. She is a sponge. She can count to 5 by herself and to 20 with help. She knows all of the numbers but she gets the order confused after 6. She can also say her entire alphabet with help too. She knows most of her shapes, many colors and any animal and their sound you can think of. She loves to please and she is constantly in a learning mode. I am diligent in her learning something new every day. I try to make it fun and she seems to just love it. I hope her thirst for learning is something that she always has in her heart.
We went to visit Granddaddy and Grandma and had a great time! I got to visit with my oldest brother Russ and spend some quality time with him. Landry just loved him and I love seeing that. She got to swim in Granddaddy's newly finished pool and he was even able to get in there with her and swim. I just got teary thinking about him spending time with her. I thought back to the pictures that I have with him while we were in Vietnam. He has a few more gray hairs and a few more wrinkles but that baby in the pool looked just like her mama did when she was her age. It just amazes me how the cycle of life repeats itself. My start was very, very different from hers but being loved is something that neither one of us will ever have to be without. The trip through the airport was quite an experience being pregnant and chasing after a toddler. She is quite a ball of energy and her mama...is NOT these days. I was absolutely beat by the time I got through the airport on the way in so they ended up wheeling me through the airport on the way home. Even though I thought it was a little ridiculous it ended up being a lifesaver and I swear for a moment that Landry was going to start waving at the crowd as we rolled on by.
We took her to see Elmo Live and she loved it. I was hoping it wasn't a wast of time and money since she is still so young but it ended up being worth every dime. Seeing her watch and absorb that show was so much fun for us. I think Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it more than she did!
All in all, little Miss Landry is way beyond the mark developmentally, socially, cognitively and physically. She has an incredible vocabulary and like her mother....she knows how to use it. She also knows that something is about to change. I can see subtle changes in her when we talk about babies and brothers. She knows that the only child gig is just about UP!
Tomorrow, I am going to finish up this post with little man Mader. I think he deserves a post of his own so I will try to post some pics and another post in the next 24! PEACE!