HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY MADDEN!!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDEN!!!  Can’t believe our baby is 4 years old!  Just doesn’t seem possible.   Madden is such a sweetie!  Yes, he is crazy and a handful but on the opposite spectrum of that he really is such a sweetheart.  One of my favorite things about him is he always calls me ‘honey’ and I love it.   Although there was a time when he use to tell most people in the family “I don’t like you” when he was mad, he is now the opposite with multiple times a day saying “you are my best friend” to most people in the family.  I am happy to be on the receiving end of that almost every day.  Just the other day his preschool teacher told me that he steals her heart.  He told her “teacher I use to cry when I came to preschool but I don’t anymore b/c I love you teacher”.  Isn’t that precious.  He is so loving.  Makes the difficult times a little easier to handle J

I have to say I feel very sad and guilty about Madden’s childhood, yes he is still a child but I am talking about when he was younger, pretty much his first year or two.   Our house was pretty crazy with 4 boys born within 3 years and when Madden was born Baker was only 13 months old and we were going through a lot with him.  Lots of hospital visits and stays and stress about figuring out what was wrong with him.  Having twins and a special needs child for siblings takes a lot of attention away from him and I feel really bad about that.  I can’t remember so many special moments in his life and that breaks my heart.    I think it is my fault that Madden was a bit of a challenge when he was younger; ok maybe still  a bit now but I figure most little kids are J I didn’t show him enough one on one, special attention and I was probably short with him at times b/c I was very stressed.  I am so sorry Madden.  You are a precious, sweet boy and you mean so much to me and your Daddy and your brothers.  Your older brothers treat you pretty much like you are the same age as them.  They are hard on you but they love you.  They are just making you into one tough cookie J  You are our best friend too and we love you so much and can’t wait to watch you grow up. 

THE TOILET IS MY BEST FRIEND

Ahhhh the long awaited time is here - Madden is consistently pooping in the toilet!  Let's celebrate!!!  This momma thought this would never happen.  He has been going strong for a couple weeks now and I am SOOOO proud of him.  He has been peeing in the toilet for along time and wearing underwear all day long and just needing a diaper for poo time...don't judge, I tried absolutely everything, every bribe, every punishment, every reward possible and nothing worked, i knew it would happen  in time and meanwhile he told me when he had to go and I would rather give him a diaper to poo in then clean poo out of underwear - yuck!!  I have to confess i just threw a few pairs of undi's away poo and all b/c I just couldn't handle cleaning them anymore.  Is there anything more gross really?!?   Anyhow the thing that finally enticed him enough was his big brothers offering him gum to go on the toilet oh sure, go for them.  Hey whatever works right!  It didn't last though, he went back to the diapers off and on.  I took him to "the tractor store" to pick out his own toy tractor as his first reward for doing the deed on the toilet and he also got to sit on every single tractor outside the store too and was quite disappointed that he couldn't take one of those home.   Now I am happy to say that now according to Madden the toilet is his best friend and he spends a lot of time with his best friend.  I would say he goes 5-10 times a day....seriously!!  Today when we were out running errands he had to go 5 different times.  And every single time (each day not just today while we were out) no matter how many times he has asked it before "are you proud of me mom" of course I am honey.  He often goes down the whole list "Daddy proud of me?  Talan proud of me?  Deegan proud of me?  Baker proud of me?"  So cute!   Yes, Madden we are all so very proud of you and pray that you continue to have the toilet as one of your "very best friends" :)  by the way he has many best friends, this is a subject of conversation every single day.  I am told I am his best friend every day (ok melt right) and if he is mad at someone he says they are no longer his best friend.

So proud with the tractor (actually bobcat) that he chose

I love you so much Madden and am of course SO PROUD OF YOU!!

IT'S WINTERTIME

Been awhile since I have posted.  We had a great Christmas.   The kids had so much fun and we had wonderful time with our families.  I am a bit of a kid myself when it comes to Christmas.  I think I get just as excited as the kids.  It is my favorite time of year.  I love the decorations, the Christmas spirit that fills everyones hearts.  Christmas programs, talking about and celebrating Jesus' birthday and ok I love the presents too.  Don't you love buying your kids presents!  I start early to spread out the spending and then I have to be careful b/c I just want to buy and buy for those cute little suckers of ours :)   Here are just a couple Christmas pictures:

Love these sweet boys!

I actually forgot my camera for the Christmas celebration with my family (smart huh) so I need to get those pictures from my sister yet.

Anyway it is the new year, welcome to 2012 and we have snow and lots of it.  Doesn't every kid wait for this!  The first sight of it and the boys are asking to go out a bit after 6am...still totally dark.  So we hold them off until about 7:30am.  They love it.  Snow kept accumulation to over 10 inches.  A child's dream.  Snow days off of school.  Sledding, building snowmen and snow angels.  Lots of fun. Unfortunately Talan got sick at a bad time with a cough and cold so I am trying my best to keep him in the house but my heart  breaks for him as he stares out the window at his brothers, don't want him to miss out so on Tuesday I broke down and let him go out for awhile and he loved every minute of it of course.  Yesterday was too cold and windy for any of the kids to go out so we have watched lots of movies, did some baking, played games and just stayed warm inside.  We will see what today brings.  With all the wind the yard isn't looking so pretty anymore and is no longer the nice white blanket but rather covered with scattered branches so not sure if there will be anymore sledding but i am sure some snow angels could be made.
By the way our sledding consists of being pulled behind the suburban or pickup.  No we do not have a hill and the 4-wheeler is not working so this has worked out great.  Grabbed a few neighbor kids and so much fun to see 5 kids being pulled behind you.  Baker even got his turn when I drove and Jeromy sat on a sled with him. 
Baker is realizing what is going on around him more and more and gets sad and frustrated when he doesn't get to do things when he wants to.  When we first went sledding Jeromy was driving the suburban and I sat in the back with Baker with the hatch open and we were facing the boys on the sled.  Baker was so mad and crying so hard so we switched.   I drove and Jeromy held him on the sled and then we had a happy boy.  The other times have been too cold for him to be on so he has been in the pick up with us and as long as he can't see the boys behind us he thinks he is just going for a fun ride so that works too :)
Here are a few pictures of our fun times thus far:

This was on the first morning of a snow so not nearly as much on the ground as there ended up being

Added the full face mask to the wardrobe and that is a big help

Nice that we kept the infant car seat.  It works great for situations like that.  No we never have him ride in the car on the road like this but we use it for play situations in the house or a fun drive in the snow :)

The beautiful view

All bundled up and ready to face the cold snow