BORED

After having a List 3 pages long of things to do for the past month... I have nothing left to do. I'm pretty sure if I worked hard enough I could figure something out... But I'm kinda enjoying it. Besides the bored eating I'm doing today. That needs to stop.

So I'm blogging, without all the million pictures I need to put up on here. I'll post them sometime in the next week, so be on the look out for all the crazy posts that are to come.

Just an update on playing with taylor, she discovered the wonderful game of "Ring around the Rosies" on Monday night thanks to Krystin and Isaac. Now she LOVES to play it. So we played that for about 45 minutes this morning! My bum hurts from "all fall down" x 50! Then, I decided we needed to build a tent. It's been FOREVER since I've built a tent! So I pulled a couple chairs from the kitchen into the den and got out a few sheets. I think it's pretty cool, not the best tent ever, but not bad. (here's where the picture would go if I had the right card reader here!) Taylor LOVES it. Of course, you can see the TV from the front of the tent, so before nap, we laid down in her tent and watched sponge bob! It was fun.

I also gave Maddie a bath today. She had a ton of fun and was smiling the whole time, No tears! My girls love water. Both of them. Maddie has NEVER cried during bath time. Pretty good for a newborn, I think. (By the way, she's a month old tomorrow. We're celebrating by having lunch with DAD!) She loves laying in her bath tub. I'm so glad. I can't wait til next summer when we can teach Taylor to swim. We're even thinking about taking them to florida! So exciting.

That's enough babbling. I'm going to go enjoy my boredom. Remember to be on the look out for pics soon!

Apples and Crackers

Here are Taylor's Favorite Foods...

Apples

And Crackers

I guess I can understand a tomato being an apple. They're both red and round.

But the m&m's being crackers? Oh well... atleast I know what she's asking for.

(By the way grandpa... Taylor LOVES your tomatoes. She helps Chris water them, and she'll grab them and take huge bites out of them! So we have to make sure if she gets one, it's ready to be eaten... she's almost gotten a few rotten bites!)

family fotos

We took a few family photos today. The first one is one of the best ones, I think. I think the attempts are pretty funny. So I've posted them too!

This last one isn't too bad either. And here's some of taylor! She's getting so big. I can't believe it. And her hair is a mess... I couldn't find any of her hair stuff... Blah! It's driving me nuts trying to find it.

I love this picture... you can see her teeth!


My girls!

Her sweet little smile.
Maddie holding her nose cause of her stinky poo!
I can't believe I actually got this one! I love her smile.

She is still doing the zoolander! And I have to say she's pretty good!

Pouty face!

I'm a walker

Yup... I have been walking. :) Since I'm here at chris's mom's and dad's, I've been watching chris's mom's "Walk Away The Pounds" DVD's. I haven't been following any real pattern. Just walking as much as I think I can that day. I walked 3 MILES yesterday! It felt so good. I'm just a tad bit sore today... not nearly as bad as I thought I would be. Guess that means I'm more fit than I thought. Not a bad thing at all. I've just been aching to get as healthy as I can. And since I can't really exercise (no sit ups or aerobics or anything for a while still) walking is about the only thing I can do. So when Taylor and Maddie are both sleeping... I walk.

I'm proud of myself. I even made me a little chart in my notebook with 8 W's on it (for my water for the day) a V for my vitamin and a little place to write how much I walked that day. Silly, maybe, but it helps me. I think I'm rubbing off a bit on chris too. Last night he said he wanted to take Taylor upstairs to play, so I thought he was just trying to give me a bit of a break. Then I heard a loud bang, so I went to make sure they were okay. He was up there working out while taylor played! I'm proud of my man. :) We're just health machines now! Except for the ice cream we bought last night! :) I have to have one little indulgence!

My sister-in-law Monica told me this weekend about a friend who sets a Fitness Goal every year. Last year she ran in a marathon, and this year she's trying out for a bikini contest. I thought this could be a great idea for me (not the bikini contest... the fitness goal!) So I'm going to look into it soon and see what other ideas I can come up with and choose one. Hopefully this little health kick of mine lasts. They usually don't, but I'm going to try real hard to stick with it this time. Wish me luck. The girls are sleeping, so i'm going walking! Maybe I'll stick with 2 miles today so I don't push myself too much.

Guilty Mom Blog

Every woman I know who has children has at some point had the guilty mom syndrome. I feel like I have it a bit more often than most! Well, Lately, I feel very guilty with how much TV taylor is watching. It's on ALL DAY. She'll sit and stare all day if I let her. This REALLY bugs me, but have I done anything about it yet? NO. Cause I'm tried, and maddie is nursing alot, and I'm trying to keep this house super clean, so Taylor's playtime is lacking right now. So, I'm making a list of all the activities I can do with a 16 1/2 month old little girl.

She's really getting into the alphabet... Weird huh? She has actually learned ALOT of the letters and can say them and point them out. R, A, S, M, H are some of her favorites. Yup, My baby's a genius! Atleast in my eyes! So One of my first things on this list is to have her help me cut pictures out of magazines of things like Apples and Bananas and Cats and Dogs, and other simple things so we can make flash cards.

I've also added things to my list like bubble time, riding in the wagon in the yard, dancing to my favorite cd's, finger painting, kick ball out in the yard, swinging... I know some of these things are kinda obvious. But when I'm sitting here with Taylor watching elmo for the hundredth time of the day, I can never seem to figure out something we could be doing instead.

Anyways, I figured all of you wonderful examples of what a mom should be out there in blogland could help me. Could ya'll send me some ideas? Keep in mind I have a newborn and had a c-section, so I'm kinda limited on activities. Thanks ya'll! I can't wait to read your ideas!

Been a while

I really haven't been much in the mood to blog... I guess I've gotten my fix from actually writing in my journal! That's right. After like 3 years of not keeping a journal, I'm back at it again. I kept journals for like 5 years. It started as a gift from an old boyfriend and I just always kept it up. That is, until life wasn't dramatic anymore. It's kind of hard to write when life is the exact same thing everyday. So, once I got married and was working all the time and so was chris, there wasn't much to write about. There were a few fun trips, a couple moves, and we bought a dog. That was it besides work and family. Then we had taylor and I was just too overwhelmed with being a mom to actually keep a journal, though I followed my sister-in-laws example and would jot little things down on a calendar so I would remember the first roll, first time she sat up, and first steps.

Since I had maddie, I've been thinking about how I'm handling this whole kid thing. It's actually so much easier than I expected. I figured I'd be crying every day and so completely hormonal and such, and I haven't been. Taylor is AMAZING about all this big sister stuff. She's a bit dramatic at times. But she has alot of her dad in her and is pretty laid back about the major stuff. And Maddie is such a good baby. The two of them have made this easy on me. Anyways, back to my journal thing... I want my daughters to be able to read my journals and maybe take something from them. I want for them to be able to get to know Me through them too, instead of only having a few notes written on a calendar like "You learned how to say ice today and followed me around all day repeating it. I'm glad you think frozen water is such a treat!" Not that that's a bad thing, but I want to write more. I want them to understand how much I love being their mom, and maybe they'll feel that way too someday.

So yeah. I've gotten my writing fix from my journal. It's a cute one too, red with white and black polkadotted ribbon on it. Chris asked me what I was doing the other night and was actually a bit impressed when I told him I was keeping a journal again. That made me feel good! Maybe he's actually appreciates that I keep up with what our girls and days are like.

Okay, so here's what's been going on lately...
Maddie had her two week dr appt last tuesday. She weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. and is still 19 inches long. I think she may be smaller than taylor, but you never know. It's just that taylor was over 20 inches by 2 weeks. I guess we'll see in a few years what happens. She's doing great, besides the fact that she probably has blocked tear ducts like Taylor. FUN! Now I've got 4 goopy eyes to clean all the time! Although taylor will probably see an eye doc about her's before the end of the year! Maybe they'll go on and fix maddie's too. So maddie's great and growing good. She's SO much more alert now. She's awake for atleast an hour every time she eats during the day now. I actually figured out a bit of a trick for getting her to figure out her days and nights. I drank a bit of caffiene during the day, and since I'm nursing, It kept her awake a bit too. Then she was tired at night, from being awake during the day and Poof! She's got her days and nights right. Last night she only woke up ONCE! That was nice.

Taylor is doing great. I've realized this weekend what a chunker she is. Her calf's are the same size from her knees to her ankles. Does that mean she's got cankles??? I love my chubby girl. She's talking A TON today. I've never heard her talk like this before. I think the weekend with her cousins made her want to be more grown up. And she's trying so hard. She actually put a pair of pants on last night by herself. She only got them up over her knees but still. I was impressed.

I had my craft show this weekend and it didn't go nearly like I thought it would. Oh well, maybe the next one will be better, but if not, I'm throwing in the towel! We are also really enjoying house sitting for chris's parents. It's nice to just have the four of us here. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and really enjoy all the help we get from them, but it's nice to be alone for a bit.

Oh and one last update... Instead of my wonderful friends taking sady, my little sis Cayce had a fit to keep her. Cayce's been wanting a dog for a while and this way we keep her in the family. so taylor will still get to see sady when cayce visits. I'm so happy about that. I'm glad cayce is enjoying sady so much. And I know sady will love all the attention she'll get from cayce and her roommates!

So that's all for now, sorry if this was a bit long. I tend to ramble. I'll take pics of the girls in the next couple days and post them at some point. Til then, I guess I'll be trying to balance my journal writing and blogging. Hopefully I can get it figured out.

Ode to Sady

Some of you have met our little dog Sady. Most of the people that see her think she is one of the ugliest dogs they've ever seen. My dad says so all the time. But me and chris both fell in love with her the first time we saw her, in a picture sent by email from the breeder we got her from.

We knew we wanted a Boston Terrier. Chris had always wanted one. I told him that was fine, but I wanted one who had an all black face, with just a tiny white stripe down the forehead. Sady is what we ended up with. Once we saw her, we knew we had to have her.

We got Sady in January of 06. She was about 8 weeks old when we bought her. I drove out to Columbia and met the breeders at a Waffle House and picked her up. On the way back to Nashville, Sady slept in my lap. We even stopped by Chris's work before I took her home for him to meet her in person. He loved her, and she loved him. From the moment we got her, she's been "in love" with Chris. She would even paw at his hands when he hugged me, or try to come and sit in between us when we would cuddle on the couch. He was hers!

She was pretty aggravating sometimes... all dogs can be. But the majority of the time, she was great. She was fun and playful. I couldn't stand her sometimes, but I loved her all the time. She was the first pet me and Chris ever got. The first dog that was ever "mine." Life was good and she got tons of attention from us. Until we had Taylor.

We were very worried how she would handle us having a baby. Obviously, Taylor was the most important thing to us, but we wanted to make sure Sady got plenty of attention too. And she did. Especially now that Taylor is older, she LOVES to play with Sady. She'll go up and tease Sady, then turn and run away, trying to get Sady to chase her. It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen. And Sady is so good with Taylor. Letting her tug her ears, pinch her face, and do all sorts of mean things to her. And all Sady ever does is lick her and love her back.

But then we found out we were pregnant again. Since I had quit working, money was tight. And we had to move in with my parents (where we're at now.) They are great and have been great about letting us have Sady here. Now that Maddie is a part of our family, our attention is divided up even more. Our girls are our number one priority. And we've realized we can't take care of our little sady like we used to. We all love Sady very much, and we feel so guilty for not taking care of her and giving her the attention we used to.

My family has been great helping out with both our girls and our puppy. They take Sady out to go "potty" probably more than Chris or I do. They make sure she has water and food when I forget cause I'm paying attention to two little girls.

So after lots of long talks, debating, trying to find a way to make it work out, and LOTS of tears on my part, We've decided to give Sady to a family that can take better care of her. I'm absolutely heart broken over this. I start crying every time I think about it. I'm sure the hormones are making this a bit harder for me than it would be otherwise... But still. Sady has been a great dog, and so good with our little girls. She's been a part of our family for almost 3 years and I'm going to miss her like crazy.

One of my oldest friends (he's not old, but he's been a good friend for longer than anyone else I know) is going to adopt our little Sady. Him and his wife are great people and they love puppies as much as we do. I know they will take great care of our little Sady, and that's a big comfort to me. But it still hurts to have to give her away. Atleast we'll still be able to see her and can visit whenever we want. I know they will love her and enjoy her as much as we have. Tonight is our last night with Sady, and I may let her sleep in bed with us again like we did when we first got her... after a good bath, of course. I'm dropping Sady off with my friend tomorrow, and it's going to be so hard for me to do.

We're going to miss you Sady. You've been a wonderful little addition to our family and we're greatful to have had a dog like you. I know you'll be very well taken care of! We love you Sady!

It's What You've All Been Waiting For!!!

It's picture time in Tennessee! So, there are a TON. I'm a photographer, what can I say. Pictures are my thing. So here goes!!!

(By the way, sorry for keeping you waiting so long John... I know you've been checking this, like, every day!)

YAWN!!! It's time for sleep!

The only time she ever fusses is when her diaper is being changed.

The Townsend Family with Maddie

Lily and Maddie

It's almost a smile!
Uncle Matt
The (other) Neely's with Maddie... John did that face on purpose!
Aunt Krystin and Maddie with her first Daisy Dooz head band on!
Grandma and Maddie

So Sweet.Great Grandmama and maddie
Daddy and Maddie (I like saying that... cause it rhymes!)
Zoolander! almostGetting dressed to go home!
it was Love at first sight!

Taylor always made that face too
She is pretty alert for a newborn... and focuses on things pretty well.
Mommy and baby zoolander
Mommy and maddie

Na-na-na-na-boo-boo

Time to GO!!!!
She's SO little...
I love those fat cheeks.
At home with big sis taylor... they had to check each other out
Okay, So here's a bunch of Taylor... I thought they were too cute not to include.

Her hair is wild. It's getting so long.
She grew overnight. I couldn't believe how big she was when we got home.
She still has that tag fetish. I don't know where she gets it from.
Mamie and Maddie
Taylor pointing out her favorite character! ELMO... (thanks grandma for her doll and shirt. She loves them!)

It's Melmo!
I thought these next ones were the sweetest thing I've ever seen!
Taylor is such a great big sister. She adores her little sis.
She's so fascinated by her.
My 3 favorite things in this world.

Maddie looks so prissy the way she has holds her hands.
So, Taylor got a hold of my nursing pads. Guess she's been watching me more than I realize.

She always has her fingers in weird positions when she sleeps... She's a very thoughtful little baby.
So, That's it for now. We also had visits from Josh and cassie and devrie and jennifer and carol. I meant to get pictures of them too, but we forgot :( Thanks for coming out to see us though. Be prepared for lots more pictures in the weeks to come. I've got so many cute outfits and such. I can't wait to play dress up and take lots of pictures of the girls together. They're gonna hate me when we're through.