Ms. Maddie Mack Turns Two

A two year old is so many things. 

A tiny discoverer of butterfly wings.

A hugger of teddies, a sweet sleepy head. 

And someone to dream for in bright years ahead.

A lover of snap chat, Minnie, crayon art - 

a little mouse I love with all of my heart.

At two years old, you weight approximately twenty-five pounds (you danced around a bit while standing on the scale, silly girl) and are 33.75" long!

Both of those measurements put you exactly at the 50th percentile!
And according to this nifty little thing on BabyCenter, you'll be like the girls on Daddy's side of the family - Italian and petite!

We're working on potty training (i.e. we have just recently started randomly putting you on the potty - you're more than willing to sit and 'grunt' and pretend to pee, but a few days ago - YOU ACTUALLY PEE-PEED ON THE POTTY!!! and nothing since.)

We had a Minnie-Mouse Bounce-Mouse party, and while you were the ONLY GIRL amongst your boy cousins and brother, you had so much fun!

Speaking of your brother - you two MOSTLY get along (even when he 'hugs' you a.k.a tries to squeeze your head off) and you love to watch him play hockey!

enjoying a bowl of ice/snow together

of course.

You have 16 teeth (been to the dentist already!) and next up are your two-year molars!

You climb - all over me, Daddy, our kitchen chairs, the stair banisters, you name it - you're our feerless little mountain goat

(you actually usually go higher than this...

on the top stair outer stair... 

GIRL!)

And just when I think I've learned all the things - 

what it is to have a daughter and the joy that she brings, 

a hug or a grin comes with such sweet surprise - 

that love finds me smiling with tears in my eyes.

You're a splashing spitfire sprite of a thing -

 I can't wait to watch and see you take wing!

Reasons why I "Selfie"

Yes, I just made "Selfie" a verb...


I was recently pouring through the gazillion pictures I have of Ms. Mack and I (from snapchat, mostly... I mean, when she sees my SIL - the QUEEN of shapchat - Ms. Mack says, "Titi - sno-Chot!")

My husband has made fun of me before, and voices his disgust (yes, it's that strong) that his daughter already has a "selfie complex."   ...  -_-

But - the funny thing is, I don't really post them anywhere!! They're not plastered all over FBook, or even Insta - I maybe post stuff like, once every 8-9 days!

So why take all those photos and selfies (pictures AND videos) if not to SHOW OFF TO THE WORLD?!  (/endSarcasm)


There's some scientific thing going on with our brains that prevents us from remembering every.thing.
According to this site, 'memory is a "lossy" form (think jpeg) where certain features we believe are key are noted, and details are filled in as needed...'

In other words, a certain event (say, the pediatric orthopedic appointment when Ms. Mack got her permanent cast put on after BREAKING HER ARM FRIDAY NIGHT) gets logged with the most important details: the fact that we picked a pink cast with purple glitter, and the fact that yes, both the radius and the ulna were broken, and despite that - the fact that the cast only needed to stay on for 2.5 weeks (was he sure?! can we leave it on for an extra week just to be safe?!)

The rest of the details, upon trying to recall the day in five or ten years, would be just filled in at the moment - maybe we'd 'remember' that E played with a MinnieMouse doll to keep Ms. Mack entertained (when it was in fact an Elmo doll) or we'd 'remember' that we had to wait 30 minutes in the waiting room (when really it was over 45 minutes... partly our fault because we showed up 20 minutes early to the appointment....)

So that's Reason #1 for the pictures (selfies, or otherwise)
I mean, without these important photos, we might have eventually 'remembered' that we got a PURPLE cast with PINK glitter...

(good thing we got that straightened out for memory's sake...)



The scientific community also believes it's just basically damn near IMPOSSIBLE for a brain to remember evertyhing... the Quora site again states: If we did remember everything, we would likely drown in a sea of detail and be less effective.
Also (and Reason #2) sometimes the videos or pictures from a certain moment bring you so fully back to the emotions of that second...

hello, sweet napping baby-even-though-you're-starting-toddler-room-at-daycare-WAAAAAAH!

or the feelings you had during those few minutes:

fun park day, Button learned the game of TAG!

And this way with these memories recorded, you don't need your brain to remember on its own the small details that would overflow and overwhelm your system - you just gaze at those pictures, or watch that video (over and over and over and over....)

(well, maybe not that video you made with Mom and Grandma while in the backseat of a van, where - ahem - there may have been mobile-drinking, which definitely led to crazy cranking of volume to rock out to Jimmy Buffet's Fruitcakes in preparation for a talent show at the family reunion in Southern California... AHEM)

In other words, I take too many pictures to ever catch up and post here, so you're welcome for not inundating you with them; and in other news - Ms. Mack broke her arm Friday night, which E actually photographically documented because, alas - I was at home with Button while E and MIL took Ms. Mack to the urgent care clinic where they splinted her arm until her pediatric orthopedist appointment that we had Monday where the pink glitter cast made its debut (THAT appointment has absolutely zero pictures. IRONY!)

 (also. in more absolutely random news, I just noticed my work computer tower still had the protective plastic layer... love when that happens, you peel it off and it's BRAND NEW AGAIN!)

Here it comes.... VOMIT OF THE BRAIN!

Monday was my birthday...

I took Tuesday off, got my hair cut (first in 9 months) and colored (first in 5+ years...) I really appreciate that I don't have any grays (YET) to worry about, but sometimes a gal just needs some freshening up... I'm now a california bleach-blond surfer-girl.

Also.

I've gone "over to the dark side," as my co-worker puts it: I got Botox.

Those damn 11's...

another day or two until the effects will be visible, and meanwhile I'm just scrunching up and frowning into the mirror to check for results...



The summer's been busy, and I'm usually glad I just work year-round because then I don't have any back-to-work-panic come now (August); and I had two week-long vacations, but I could have used some more days off!

I did get an overnight trip in with some mom friends - we went down the shore on a gorgeous Saturday, got to beach it (uninterrupted - no "you need more sunblock, come here! Hey, STOP eating sand! Don't go running off to the water!!! DON'T EAT THAT CIGARETTE BUTT!!!")
Just nice calm beach reading and chatting.  And then we were basically too tired to party - a late dinner out on the boardwalk, a noble attempt at barhopping (one bar. one drink each.) and we headed back to the house for some mom-fun: vaping and coloring (LMAO)


We spent a Saturday with the family at a college graduation party up in Connecticut (kids did great on the 2-hour carride!)

We BBQ'd at the in-laws for Father's Day:

Ms. Mack had her 18-month appointment (is it awful? I don't remember her measurements... this is what I get for blogging about it so late....maybe 28lbs? maybe? but 50th for weight, and 50th for height! perfect girl!)

My (adopted) SIL graduated high-school (we only found out she'd be walking like, two days before ceremonies!! ugh)

(bee-tee-dubs: that jumper? was spotted with sweat so bad.... it was so warm that day... ugh)


We made it down the shore (finally!) as a family for the first time this summer:

I grew basil - quite successfully, in fact. (and from seed! ok - I'll admit, E did the in-doors germinating...)

My goal for my basil (and spearmint!) was to make delicious watermelon-basil and strawberry drinks like I've seen and tried from fancy drink menus.
My watermlon-basil aperitif was definitely refreshing and delish!



We spent a day at a lake, watching dark clouds get closer and closer until they broken open right over us, then quickly blew back out leaving sun for 10-15 minutes before returning with a vengeance, driving us to the movie theaters for the rest of the day...

which is when Button had his FIRST EVER MOVIE THEATER EXPERIENCE! (I mean, by default, Ms. Mack had hers too, but it's more exciting for Button - he was all, "I want to buy the ticket! I want to hand the ticket to the guy! I want to get popcorn!")
We saw Despicable Me 3 - he loved it, she only moved into my lap with 30 minutes left where she played with toys and ate graham crackers.
SUCCESS!

We rounded out the first half of July with watermelon and waterplay on warm sunny days:

Second Session:

And of course, let's not forget the day I had work, E was off, and the daycare was closed. So I get home, we're doing dinner (grilling burgers) and while Ms. is in my lap, I start noticing SHIT (figuratively) IN HER HAIR... I ask E - "what do you guys do today?!" and he's all, shrug - "McDonald's, the play place, a store..."

of course I'm all, "It's LICE!! WHAT DO WE DO?! WE HAVE TO FLEA-BOMB THE ENTIRE HOUSE!! BLEACH EVERYTHING!!!!!" and even started making rounds, stripping both kids' beds of sheets and their million stuffed animals, grabbing hats they'd worn that day, ANY AND ALL CLOTHING that was sitting out in their room!

And then E says - "OH! I forgot!! We went to the lake today.... and Button was throwing dirt at Ms. Mack...."

a Peek of Poconos...

snazzy cute alliterate titles, right? I spent all morning on it.

not really...

Our weekend in the Poconos:

Friday morning (after the crazy trip back from the British Virgin Islands) we packed up and headed to the Poconos for our vrbo/home-away-from-home...

We spent the first evening "playing pool" and trying to break the window air units in each of their rooms; we also had a heck of a time trying to keep Ms. Mack off the stairs... (she also bonked her head - HARD - no less than four times.......)
((Also. Remember, at this point E and I are running on whatever sleep we grabbed while at WestPalmBeach airport... so he let Button sucker him into telling like, a bunch of stories at bedtime. Well guess who fell asleep for two hours on the other twin bed in the room.... LOL - man was that house quiet!))

A slow start to Saturday, but we eventually headed twenty minutes away to a cute petting zoo (slash "Country's largest General Store" - interesting market place with EVERYTHING you might want to buy, including feeder mice for your pet snake.... eek!)

We renamed the "playground" the Land of Lost Toys (after deciding "Broke-Down-Toys" wasn't quite as appealing) - but really, there was a bunch of broken toys (slides without stairs, play houses with no doors or handles or roofs... the kids still loved it! LOL)

Button kept trying to stick his fingers through the metal fence... Mr. "CackCack" was NOT so friendly...

We got back to the house in time for Ms. Mack's nap, a little bit of hottub time, and then we headed out to a little nearby indoor water park at a local hotel. Button HAD SO MUCH FUN and I wish I got pictures, but decided it was safest to leave my phone with everything else in the lockers...

We ducked into a restaurant for dinner - where the wait for a table took about fifteen minutes (the adults were kept quiet with drinks from the bar), then it took another fifteen minutes (plus a word to the manager!) before we got a waitress (who ended up being fabulous), and THEN the wait for the food...

But seriously - best behaved kids ever...

The next day, we spent a few minutes at the "neighborhood park" (it was a bit too chilly for any lake/beach time), stopped for pizza on the way out of town, and then (FINALLY) headed back to our own home...

HOME.

Sweet.

HOME.

(also. lots of laundry...)

12 Months (at almost 14 months...)

(Yes. She will be 14 months ((ACK!!)) in 1 week, but I still haven't posted about Ms. Mack's big 12-month check-up.... #BadMommyBlogger)


But first - remember how the day ended so wonderfully after Ms. Mack's party?

The perfect snowfall and contrasting warm hot cocoa made the day, save one small thing - if you'll recall, Button had a bad cold/cough...

The IL's wanted Ms. Mack to open the gifts from them, so once that was done and they left - it was just E,  his divorced-friend (Mr. PotatoHead) and myself cleaning up the last vestiges of confetti ((actually, Button was vacuuming.  the kid's obsessed with cleaning...)
Just minutes before we were ready to coat up and head home, Button had a gagging coughing fit - and then vomited.

All over the carpet... and it was marshmallows and solid stringy sugar....

Anyways...

about two weeks after her party was her actual birthday... She enjoyed muffins at daycare, and came home to sweet treats from Daddy:

At her doctor's visit, we had our routine shots, and discussed her ever-lasting cradle cap (ugh. I tried the oil - olive, vegetable, coconut - and comb.  I eventually gave up and figured, she won't go to college with cradle cap...) and keeping an eye on her speech (or lack-thereof...  meh. Button talks enough for the two if them... #SecondTimeMom - not worried...)

and then her all-important measurements... the ones during which I dreaded/anticipated with excitement/doom for months: Did she gain enough? Did she grow enough?? Did she get enough milk???

(at 12 months, they lost the white-knuckled-ness quite a bit. I see her chunky little legs, and round cheeks.  She's just my delicate little flower. 💟)

At one year and one day old, Ms. Mack measured 29.25" which puts her in the 59th percentile.
She also weighed 18lbs 10oz (which is the 16th % according to the office's growth chart... my delicate tulip lol)



(For the sake of one less "Draft" post in my blogger, we're gonna put a pin in it here - I've gotta leave work in 10 minutes to hit the post office - selling off Ms. Mack's old clothes SOB SOB ) and then it's a date night with the hubs at BoneFishGrill where I'll be imbibing in some yummy cocktails because I'm ready to scream at the phone company that I've been dealing with for hours at my job. (There ain't nothing like letting PMS bitchiness loose on a non-responsive/unhelpful vendor!)

Winter Onederland Party!

Ok - a little bit of catching up is needed...

We did a LOT in the month of December (um - FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY?! and a 12-month doctor check-up... and a first plane ride (15th-ish for Button!) to Texas for Christmas!)

So I'll just go chronologically - we had Ms. Mack's birthday party on the 10th - with an actual birthday on the 21st (and a trip looming to Texas!) we decided to move the party up a few weeks to steer a bit clear of the holidays... (hey - maybe next year we'll have it on Halloween. LOL)

Here I was, thinking I wouldn't go as crazy for #2's 1st birthday party (remember the months of planning and crafting for Button?? Check out his birthday awesome-ness here!)

I still have f*cking RED AND WHITE FABRIC ALL OVER MY BASEMENT!

Anyways- I didn't make as much stuff for Ms. Mack's party - I totally just went the Amazon route - but I definitely went a little bit as crazy... just a hyper-speed crazy, ordering box after box - shipped in just 2 days! - from Amazon. (MAN they have everything there...)

I found an awesome marquee light at Michaels (of course) and hello - Christmas decorations were just PERFECT for a Winter Onederland party! Anytime I stepped foot into a Joann Fabrics or $1 Store, I'd load up on more stuff! plastic snowflakes to hang, candy cane boxes, mini fir trees, sparkle deer figurines, little polar bears...
and the best part is - no lingering unusable decorations - I can use all this over and over each year for Christmas time!

One of the few things I did make were - printables!
I love making signs like this in photoshop (especially when I see Etsy stores selling these digital downloads for $$$ - WHAT?!)
And it really pulls things together at the party!

The SnowBalls sign wasn't used because I forgot/didn't get around to buying powdered munchkins from Dunkin.... but if that's all that was missing/forgotten, I did a good job!!

(The Snowflake Design was your trusty-old coffee filters and child-safe plastic scissors, and of course - AmazonTreasure snowflake stamps!)

Another small-ticket "item" I made were the stickers for the hershey kisses (again - Etsy tried to sell me "Custom Digital" files for like, $8! I made them in photoshop in about 5 minutes, bought the sheet of circle stickers (OH AMAZON HOW I LOVE YOU!) for maybe $3... wam-bam. maybe I should be selling this stuff on Etsy!)
((I'm a sucker for the small touches like that... did anyone really notice those? shrugs - but even if a few grabbed them to snack on and saw the little stickers and thought, oh how cute! - ALL WORTH IT!
Also. look at the cute pictures I got for posterity!!!!))

 My BFF Dee came to the hall with me Friday night to decorate (I brought the beer!)

We blew up balloons, hung silver crepe, fluffed pink pompoms to hang, spread confetti and glitter on each table...

and before I knew it, it was almost MIDNIGHT!!


I made a mental list of things that needed to be done the next day (pick up cake, finalize dessert table, get food accessories and table set out) and we headed home...

And when I pulled up to my house, there was this massive deer just chilling on my front lawn, snacking away!

I couldn't wait to show Button the pictures the next morning!!

The day of the party, it was blustery, cold & clear...
(And I just now remembered - Button had been so sick with a cough/cold, we had considered getting a daycare teacher to come babysit, wondering if we would be those parents who brought a sick kid to a kid's party, regardless of the fact that it was his sister's first birthday party... but.
we drugged him up (calm down - just some children's muccinex) and crossed our fingers (and reminded him to COUGH INTO YOUR SLEEVE!))

Last minute (Thursday night) I got her monthly pictures printed to display (multi-purposing the X MONTHS stickers from SIL!)

fBFF made chocolate covered oreos (and pretzel rods) and "gave" it to me "as part of [Ms. Mack's] gift!"
-_-
Because charging me $15 would have been f*cking ridiculous.  ((OH OH - guess who just asked me to take pictures at her son's christening in February... should I make it "part of his gift" ?!?!?))

ANYWAYS

 The local grocery store made the cakes (and the candy cane cupcakes) and they did a great job (as always. remember Button's circus creation?)

The IL's showed up at the hall a bit early - some of them helped finish up the decorating (and some just played with Button in the corner - AHEM - MIL!)

We got Ms. Mack dressed, but she needed a nap so bad... so...

Then it was party time - things went perfect...
(Ms. Mack eventually warmed up...)

The kids dug into the "snowflake' coffee filters (and stamps), and they raced and chased each other around the hall (same hall as Button's Superhero 2nd birthday party!).
((They mostly ate all of the BYO-Snowman accoutrements... ))

Ms.Mack even had a quite successful smash-session!

(It totally helped that she was parked right in front of the heat vent, so she stayed comfortably warm in her ruffle buns!)
And I mean - she ate every piece of that cupcake! Girl knows what's good!

The party was a hit - complete with a mini-flurry of snowflakes (someone said, "oh my gosh it's snowing outside!" (not sure why they'd sound so shocked... it was December. in New Jersey... lol) and it was - perfect big fat flakes, right at dusk...)

(Everyone LOVED the hot cocoa bar, totally destroyed it! (in a good way!))

BTDubs - those mugs? I had leftover from our wedding favors (from 6 years ago!)

which were mug+saucer sets with chocolate dipped biscotti...

leftovers for the win!

Such a great day for a Winter Onederland!