A Quickie...with no pictures :-(

I haven't been on the computer much for a while. A water pipe busted in our house and flooded two rooms. So my stepdad and uncle have been painting the rooms and putting wood floor down. The two rooms that got flooded were my parents room and my brothers room, both rooms were the only ones left with carpet. But needless to say our house is a MESS. We can barely walk around the house because all the furninture in the rooms had to be taken out. The floors are dirty and dusty so the house is going to need some deep when everything is finished. For a few days my stepdad, brothers and sister all had to sleep out in the living room. Now my brothers have to sleep in the living room because they are finishing up their room. This has been going on since last Tuesday so hopefully everything will be completely finished by the weekend. Within this past week I have taken the kids to the park-where Maddie chased around a little boy with red pants (she wasn't chasing anyone else, just the little boy with red shorts whenever she would see him!). She was squealing when she was chasing him to like to say "hey, I want you!" I have taken Maddie to a play/music class-where she threw a fit every time they transitioned into a new activity because she wanted to keep playing. Last Tuesday was a trial class and we were going to go yesterday so I could enroll her. For some reason the night before and yesterday morning I kept thinking that the class started at 11:15. So I wake up and get Maddie dressed and I go to get dressed while she is eating. I see that it is 10:45 and then it dawns on me..."Crap, the class starts at 10:15 NOT 11:15!!!" Ugghh, I was so mad! So, I figured I would take her to the park. When I looked outside it was such a nice day out that I had the idea to go to the beach. I called up a few friends and finally got a hold of one that wasn't working. And we headed down to the beach for a spur of the moment trip with Maddie, my brother Josh and my sister Sarah. I didn't take any pictures because my friend was taking all the pictures so I'll get those from her and make a post about it.
Maddie has been a little cranky today and has taken two naps, which she basically never does. I think it's just from being at the beach yesterday and not taking a real nap, so she needs to catch up on some sleep.
I have been busy with schoolwork! I have a huge project that counts as my midterm grade due next Thursday that I am kind of stressing about. And I have to study for a midterm that is on Monday. So I probably still won't be on the computer too much for this week.

Catching Up

I have been busy this past week with school, Madison, work and just keeping up with life in general. I have quite a bit coming up in school. This semester's classes entail a lot more work. So that can be a little stressful at times. I'm trying my hardest to sort everything out and prioritize. Wednesday night I went out to a bar/club place that is close to where I live to celebrate my friend's 22nd birthday. It was okay, I saw some people that I haven't seen in a really long time. It was really crowded since Wednesday nights are dollar beer nights and my friend got really, really drunk. I'll spare you the details but let's just say she had to get escorted out by security because she was practically passed out in the bathroom. Not only did she have to get carried out by security, she started fighting them as they were escorting her out. Yeah, it was bad. I felt bad because I bought her that last drink even though her boyfriend said to cut her off. I thought she could handle it! Apparently she couldn't!! Tonight Maddie and I went to my friend's moms house to celebrate her birthday with her family and friends. It was a good time and there were two baby boys there, 4 months old and 7 weeks old. At first Maddie wasn't sure what to do with herself but she eventually opened up and started being her silly little self. She was gentle with the babies for the most part but towards the end she started getting cranky and a little rough. At one point we had the 4 month laying on the bed and we put Maddie next to him and she wanted to lay her head on him. She also kept wanting to put her finger in the baby's mouths for some reason.

Tomorrow I'm taking Maddie to get her summer pictures taken at JCPenney. I haven't gotten her pictures taken since Easter so this time she'll be able to stand. She loves getting her picture taken by people other than me so I'm sure they will come out cute. I'm enrolling Maddie in a local Play/Music class that meets every Tuesday for an hour. This Tuesday is our first class so that should be fun. I've also been thinking (more like stressing about) putting Maddie in daycare within the next month or two. I don't know. I put in to get information on one daycare over the internet so they might call me tomorrow. And I'm debating on whether or not I shold call a few daycares tomorrow. I knew I most likely wanted to put her in daycare sometime next year. I am thinking about starting her off earlier than that for possibly 3 days a week. I would try to get all morning classes for school and put her in daycare those days I was in school. But I really don't know how everything works and I need to find out if I can get any financial aid for it. I know there is something out there through the government but I think you have to make very, very little to qualify for that. And I want to put her in a good daycare, I have money in my savings that I can use towards that but I don't want to blow right through it. I know that some daycares have financial aid to help you out and that church daycares have financial aid also. So I guess I just have to look more into it and decide whether or not it is the best thing right now or if I should wait. So we shall see! Well, I guess that is about it for right now. I'll end this post with a few pictures of Maddie playing with her Little People Village.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I have not neglected my diet for this past week and a half.

I definately did not do something as dumb as heat up left over ziti in the aluminum container with its paper cover in the microwave. No way!!

It then did not burst into flames and burn the microwave because I would never put aluminum and a paper cover in the microwave.

I then did not get extremely irritated at my little sister for saying over and over again "That is mommy's ziti you burnt. That's mommy's leftover ziti from the restaurant" while I was trying to put out flames. So I did not yell at her to shut-up as the fire alarms were going off in the house. I would never get that irritated.

When everything was done and over with and all the windows were open in the house because it stunk I most certainly did not wish I took a picture of the burnt dish so I could post it on my blog for a Not Me post. That would just be weird!!

I've told you once, I'll tell you again...

Maddie is such a little ham/show-off/full of personality, like I've said plenty times before! Tonight, I was in the kitchen and I heard Maddie saying "bye, bye, bye" I look around the corner and Madison was walking towards the door with her purse, keys, and cell phone. Apparently she believed she was ready to leave the house. It was too cute! I took a picture of her sitting beside her things but I'll have to upload it tomorrow. Here is another thing she did tonight. When you ask Maddie a question she will always shake her head no. My friend was over tonight and we were in my room and I asked Maddie if she wanted to to take a bath. She shook her head no and I showed her to shake her head yes (like I've done before) and she did a circular up and down nodd. And then she started being silly and making us laugh. My friend commented on her being the goofiest child she's seen. And my friend has 3 little sisters so thats a lot coming from her ;). I love it! Maddie definately entertains with her character. Thursday night another one of my friends came over to the house to see Madison because she hadn't seen her in a while. She brought her camera over and started taking pictures, which was a perfect opportunity for Maddie to show off her stuff...


She lifts her shirt up in front of people sometimes. I'm not sure why, it kind of weird. She did it in fromt of her cousins when we went down to Miami last month also.

As for me, I'm still here being a mommy, studying, working. I've gotten my closing shifts back at work. I only work Wednesday nights, Friday nights, Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. I haven't been closing a whole lot but this week and the week coming up I have all closing shifts so thats much needed because I make more money that way. But of course this Wednesday coming up is my friend's birthday and I told her I would be out by 8:30, 9:00 and that I would meet up with them. I looked at my schedule and I have a Wednesday night closing shift for the first time in months. I want to go but I don't know if I will because I have class at 8:30 the next morning so we shall see.

As far as school.t is still going good. I'm trying to get an "in" at a school nearby because I have a few things coming up in my classes that it would help if I could get into a class and do observations of the students. I asked Maddie's speech therapist if she could somehow get me into the Montessori school that is right next to my house since she has therapy with one of the little boys there. She gave my the number and told me a little about the owners. One thing she said is that they are little weird about people coming in. I'll call tomorrow and see what happens. I'm doing a project and I want to do it around the Montessori classroom set up and curriculum and I've heard that that Montessori school is a legitimate one. So we'll see what happens.

Some Good Conversation

Maddie babbles all the time. She not only babbles she uses her hands and makes facial expressions as she is babbling. She will stand there for 5 minutes having a conversation with you in her babble language. Even her speech therapist commented on how much she babbles and the manner in which she does it. Sometimes she'll just move her toungue around with noise and not her mouth. She does it in a way that she shows her toungue twisting and going back and forth. And sometimes she'll make the "ch" sound like in "Chanukkah". It's too funny and I can tell she expects us to know what she is talkng about. She has learned a new word in the English language. I thought I had heard her say it before but today I know she said it. I heated her up macaroni and cheese and I was about to give it to her and then I pulled it back and said "oh wait it is hot" and waved my hand over it. Then Maddie said "hot" and waved her hand to. She also copies me when I say "peeuw" and wave my hand in front of my face when she has a dirty diaper.

Here are some pictures of her having a conversation with Sammy the other day...

...making friends

...she likes making eye contact
...sit down, relax, tell me about it
...apparently Sammy did something to make her angry!

...now she is yelling at him
...okay Sammy had enough

Maddie did something today I have never seen her do before. My mom went into the garage and Maddie followed her, grabbed a tub of play food and carried it out of the garage. She sat in the living room and played with it. I was laying on the couch and she was standing beside me with a plastic spoon and one of her little plastic blocks that is in the shape of a cylinder that has a dip at the top and bottom of it. She then took the spoon and "bowl" and pretended to feed me. I've never seen her pretend with anything like that! Except hugging and kissing her babydoll thats the first time I have seen her play like that. I know it's a small thing but I love watching her do new things.

Wordless Wednesday

Our Fourth of July

My mom is a nurse at a hospital in Tampa Bay. In the past on the Fourth of July my family goes to the top of the parking garage at the hospital to watch the fireworks. It isn't the closest view but it is close enough. It's kind of cool because the parking garage is high and right of off the bay so we can see the fireworks they fire off at Channelside in Tampa and when you look across the Bay you can see about 4 or 5 firwork shows going off in St. Petersburg at a distance. The scenery is picture worthy so I was trying to get pictures of me and Maddie with a nice background. It didn't work out to well because I had already let her down on the ground so when I picked her back up to take the picture she wasn't having it. My camera hasn't been taking very good pictures lately. The lighting has been weird, and the pictures usually come out blurry and out of focus. My mom says I just need to clean the lense but personally I think I need a new camera. Plus my mom had it on some weird setting so this is how they came out...



Maddie was kind of tired and cranky. I ended up putting her in the carseat about 15 minutes before the firework started. My mom was saying that she was going to be scared but I took her out to watch the fireworks anyway and she wasn't scared. We were far enough that they didn't phase her. She seemed to like looking at the "lights". And when the finale began I pointed to it and she looked and smiled, clapped and said yayy.

Little Miss

Madison has definately become a Little Miss. Her personality has been shining through. She was being goofy tonight so I took her outside to run off some energy. And run she did! Before we went outside my mom told her to get Sarah's shoes that were in the living room so she could go walking with us. And she went and grabbed the shoes and started looking for Sarah. Low score in receptive communication my butte evaluation ladies. Sarah went and got Maddie's shoes from the room and gave them to her and she brought me her shoes and sat down with a big smile so I could put them on her. I opened the front door and Maddie went down the outside step by herself and ran down the driveway and turned onto the sidewalk. I thought she was going to go out into the street but she turned right onto the sidewalk like she owned the place. Needless, to say she was very happy to be outside. I couldn't help but remember the first time I took her outside for a walk and she could barely keep up with me now I can barely keep up with her!

(Don't mind her wild hair.)

Look at those long strides.

Trying to keep up with Sarah.

Squealing while running down the driveway

Trying to get in the garage. She likes to knock on the garage door.

When we were walking Sarah saw one of her friends from school outside her house with some adults. Sarah walked by and said hi. Maddie then had to say hi too. But she didn't just walk by and say hi. She stopped, faced them, put both hands up, waved with both hands and said "hi, hi, hi, hi" until they FULLY acknowledged she was there and said hi back and then went along on her merry way. It was too funny.

I was sitting on the couch today doing schoolwork and Maddie decides to come up and climb on the couch with me. She then decides that I'm not paying enough attention to her so she makes her way up into my arms and puts her foot right on the paper that I was writing on. Umm, excuse me Little Miss! If someone else was in the house I would of had them taking pictures because she was progressively getting in my way on purpose while laughing because she knew what she was doing!

Welcome July

I can't believe it is July already!! Not too awful much has been happening here. It has been a while since I've updated and posted pictures of Maddie though. So here are some of me and her I attempted to take today.


...I cut me out because I looked weird but I thought Maddie had a cute/silly face on.

To see a few more pictures like these click here.

It seems like my little Miss has gotten louder. She squeals at the top of her lungs all the time. She'll be walking around the house squealing, she squeals when she plays, she squeals when she wants to get out of her crib. No wonder her little voice is hoarse sometimes! She is still seeing a speech therapist every Tuesday and Wednesday. Since Maddie has had the therapy she has learned how to sign "more". She mainly does it after we ask her if she wants "more". Every once in a while she'll say the word "more" while she is doing the sign and a few times she has done the sign by herself. I was getting worried that she thought the sign "more" meant "drink" because thats when she usually made the sign. But today when her speech therapist was using it for "more" bubbles she started signing "more" for that so apparently she gets it. Maddie turns into such a show-off when the speech therapist is here. She was being goofy and dancing for her. Kind of like this...

My baby isn't a baby anymore she is a toddler. My toddler loves giving and receiving kisses and hugs. I must get about twenty plus kissies a day from her. And of course she makes the MUAH sound nice and loud. One of the things she does with me is going to the other side of the living room and running into my arms and giving me a big hug and kiss. She'll do this about ten times it's a game to her and I love it! She is also starting to imitate her two uncles and makes shooting sounds with toys. GREAT! I tell the boys when Maddie goes around beating up the other kids in daycare it will be their fault. Here she is making shooting sounds at the TV with the wii controller like the boys do...

She was doing the same thing with these big flowers also!...

As for me, school started again this week. I have night classes on Monday and Tuesday nights and a class on Thursday mornings. My Monday night class is a teaching class on Guidance and Positive Discipline. It's a pretty big class, I know the teacher and more than half of the other students because of previous classes. My Tuesday night class is College Math with only about 6 other people and I don't know anyone but I like it because it's small and everyone pretty much talks to everyone else. My Thursday morning class is a teaching class on Curriculum. I also filled out my financial aid for the next three semester and it looks like I'll get more money in pell grants this semester so hopefully I won't have to take out any loans.

I'm also started on a diet. I'm drinking Slim-Fast. I want to lose at the LEAST 10lbs. I want to weigh what I weighed right before I got pregnant. Ten pounds isn't unrealistic right? (Iwouldn't mind losing more.) Hopefully it won't be too hard. I also need to get more motivation to go to the gym. I'm probably going to be pretty busy now. This semester is going to be harder than last semester. Last semester I had Mondays off of school and work but now I'm back to having either work or school to go to everyday. At least I don't have either of them all day long so I can spend a good amount of time with Maddie everyday.
It's late and I am basically babbling so I'm gonna call it a night and go to sleep. Tomorrow (well not really tomorrow more like when I wake up) Maddie's speech therapist is coming, I have an eye doctor appointment and then work.