Gettin' All Girly

Sometimes, you just gotta be girly. All the girliness inside me (which isn't a whole lot) inflates more and more and just has to erupt . And it did. Thanks, Kirsten, for turning 6 so that my girliness had somewhere to direct itself.

I taught myself how to make hairbows.

And cute little clippies. These are my favorite. I think they're darling. I think I'll just make some for me :)

And what are cute little clippies without a cute little clippy holder?

No, it's not a trick of the light, the K is crooked. It bugs me but I couldn't fix them after I ironed them on. Drat!

It hangs up on a pink wall. Unless you have a manly man to hold it for you. Search is a great model, isn't he? He refused to model the clips in his hair though, I guess he knew where to draw the line :)

Let it be said that the boys had absolutely nothing to do with this birthday present for their friend other than the occasional, "that looks cute, Mom!" And the best part? I hardly spent a thing - all I had to buy where the clips and a tiny bit of ribbon. I had everything else already!

Baby, A-Z

Hey all, Baby B here. I've decided that since my mom seems to enjoy reading books more than blogging about my babyhood (which is far more important if you ask me), that I'm taking matters into my own hands and reporting about myself. So here is everything you could possibly want to know about me as a 10-month old.

I've finally started crawling. I wasn't in a hurry because I knew I'd be on the go for the rest of my life. I figured a couple of extra months of down time wouldn't hurt. Plus, my mom is so busy as it is, chasing after my brothers and all, I thought I would be nice and stay immobile for a while longer. This crawling thing came pretty easy but I somehow always get stuck in corners so she has to come and rescue me. I'm getting faster now so I don't get as frustrated with it anymore. I adore crawling into the laundry room and playing with whatever dirty item I can find in there. It's fine with me if I leave mom in a room, but if she leaves me, whew. That's another story. I don't like it one little bit. My favorite position is laying flat on my back. I'm working on my abs to impress Mia at church (if only Mom wouldn't put these onesies on me all the time I'd actually be able to show her) so I lift my head and my feet off the ground at the same time and hold the position for a few seconds. Then repeat.

I like to eat. I love Mom's homemade WW bread and I love mostly anything my family is eating. I don't like babyfood much anymore because there's just no texture. It's so boring. My Dad thinks it's great that I've already tasted (and liked) venison, not even being 1 year old yet, and mom thinks it's pretty cool that I like quinoa. I also love yo-baby yogurt. I could eat that stuff by the gallon. I love Chick-Fil-A and I'll eat a whole chicken tender by myself. I think my mom justifies her trips to Chick-Fil-A by thinking that because I like it so much, it's ok to go, but I know what she's up to. She can't fool me. She tries to give me those Gerber Puffs but those are for birds. They're nasty. I'll eat Ritz crackers, but not those puffs. And speaking of nasty, I don't know how any babies drink that formula stuff. It's disgusting! I make my mom nurse me still, but only 3 times a day these days. I'm not too into nursing either, especially when I can hear my brothers outside my door, but I know that breastmilk is good for my brain development so I'll oblige. Lucky for mom, I don't bite her with my two little teeth that I got about a month ago because I fear her rage. Sometimes she has a bad temper. That's why I'm so sweet. I don't want her wrath.

We went to the doctor a few weeks ago. It went like this:

Doctor: "Does he crawl?"

Mom: "No."

Doctor: "Does he clap?"

Mom: "No."

Doctor: "Does he point?"

Mom: "Nope."

Doctor: "Does he know his name?"

Mom: "Uh, I don't know. Maybe?"

So, maybe I'm a bit slow. Well, we Madsen boys might be a little slow but we catch up. And watch out when we do! The doctor also told Mom that I'm in the 95th percentile for height and the 58th for weight. Whatever that means. I just know that I'm a big boy. Mom tells Dad that I'm growing out my 18 month clothes. Again, whatever that means. I also heard that doctor say that they might have to poke some kind of stick into my tear duct or something. I guess my eye doesn't drain so it always looks like I've been crying. But I'm a happy little dude, and I don't cry unless I need something or someone is sitting on me. But somebody sticking a tube into my eye won't make me very happy. I'll let you know how that goes.

I'm a big fan of the bathtub. I love to splash and soak everyone in the vicinity. I hardly flinch when I get cups of water dumped on my head. When my hair dries it's mostly straight but I have one curl on the right side of my head behind my ear. Mom always says, "Oh look at your cute little curl! I'm never cutting it off!" She's such a girl.

I eat a lot, so I poop a lot. Almost every time Mom changes my diaper she finds little presents. Well, it really is the only tangible thing I can make and give to her (besides snot and puke). But, don't get me wrong, she doesn't touch it. She throws it in a bucket in the garage after she says, "Again? Man, you are a little pooper aren't you?"

Mom says I'm a pretty good sleeper. I usually go to bed around 7:30 and get up around 5 am to nurse a little bit and then get up for the day around 7 am. I take two pretty good naps a day, sometimes 2-3 hours each, but that doesn't happen too often. I can't allow mom that much time to read. I like to tease her and take really long naps when we actually have somewhere to go. It's kinda fun. My favorite toys consist of plastic bags (empty chip bags, granola bar wrappers, etc - always supervised, don't worry), anything small enough to swallow (which for some reason always gets taken away from me), wet-wipes containers, and any kitchen utensils. I rarely play with my actual toys - those are for babies.
Up until a few weeks ago I really hated the car. I would mostly just scream my guts out as my brother says. But now I think I like it! Sometimes I protest when mom puts my in, but after that I'm good as gold. And no, mom doesn't drug me. It's just my golden personality.
I think my brothers are the greatest people on earth. They are so funny I just can't stop laughing at them. Even when mom tells them to stop making annoying noises, I'm still laughing. I love it when they play with me, even when Search ties me up and drags me around the house. Good thing he can't tie knots very well or he'd undo all that brain development that the breastmilk does. Destroy is the nicest to me so I think I like him the best right now. He doesn't try to pick me up and drag me around. He likes to give me toys and play with me and make me laugh. Man, I have such a great life. This is me and my best bud Kale. He shows me the ropes because he's two months older than me.

My favorite sounds to make are these: whenever I want or need something like food or sleep or attention I say "Mmmmmmmm! Mmmmmmmm!" My mom thinks I'm pretty much the cutest thing since her newborn kittens when she was 9. I like to make this sound too: "D-la, D-la, D-la" when I'm just so indescribably happy. I'm a big laugher too. Mom knows all the good spot to tickle me - my neck, my sides and the tops of my legs. My brothers try to tickle me too, but it just ends up hurting. I smile at everyone I see and they always say something about my big blue eyes. Apparently I'm a big-time knock out. What can I say? Just look at my dad!

All in all, I think I'm a pretty cool kid. Seriously, just look at my hair!

Snippets from Search

Today in the car on the way to preschool:

S: When I grow up to be a Dad I want my name to be Jack.

M: You want to change your name?

S: Well, just when I'm a Dad.

M: You don't like the name Jeremy?
S: No, I like it, it's just not a Dad name. So my name will be Jack.

M: Ok, Dad Jack.

The other day while discussing the topic of getting a dog (nothing to discuss in my opinion):

S: When we move to Redding can we get a dog?

M: We'll just have to wait and see. But it has to be an outside dog because I just can't deal with pet hair all over my house.

S: Well, where will he sleep?

M: He'll sleep in a dog house.

S: What if it rains and he doesn't want to be in his house?

M: Then he'll just get wet I guess.

S: I have an idea (while eyeing the large blue bucket on our patio), I'll just put the big blue bucket on him so he'll stay dry!

Makes me smile...

...to find little surprises like these: A carefully hand-crafted book from Search,

and a new necklace from Destroy.

Two different things.

Two different times of the day.

Two different times of thoughtfulness.

Two different little boys.

It makes me happy to be able to stay home with them or look what I'd be missing!

It makes me think that I'm doing a good job raising these sweet little boys.

It makes me happy to think that they are taking what they've learned and they are applying it on their own.

I love my boys. And they love me :)

My baby is 9 months!

Mom, what is that in your teeth? He's such a sweetie - he still isn't crawling but at this point I'm encouraging him instead of pushing him down. Why? Because he rolls everywhere and bonks his head of stuff because he can't see where he's going. Crawling would give him the advantage of seeing where he's going :)

He's mostly just content to lay on his back and yell at a toy that he holds with a death grip. And then yell at you even louder if you try to take it away!

Love this cute little half-smile.

In walks Spiderman to "save the day". Not Blake's though - he treats him like the Green Goblin sometimes.

He looks like he should be walking because he's so long, but he still has yet to crawl :)

He loves to eat! He'll eat two jars of third foods in a sitting. And some yogurt. And some crackers. And whatever else the boys will feed him.

The 'Home Alone' Obsession

Meet Kevin McAllister #1 - the mastermind.And don't forget about Kevin McAllister #2 - the implementer and goof.Any real Kevin would devise a battle plan. Ice and goo and nail on the steps, ornaments for the "wet bandits" to step on bare-footed, the light bulb connected to the hot iron, the scalding hot doorknob, the cars at the bottom of the stairs, the escape to the outdoor clubhouse, and the fan with feathers.Kevin #1 in action, using rope and trying to convince his mother to let him borrow the iron for a few minutes. It didn't work. While trying to figure out what to use for the tar and feathering, Kevin #2 intuitively thought of Elefun for the fan. And while Kevin #1 was drawing and cutting out feathers to put into the "fan", he gave up deciding that the butterflies would fly and stick better.

The cars at the bottom of the stairs.

Christmas tree ornaments under the window. The Kevins' tried to get mom to let them borrow hers, but that didn't work either.

Scalding hot metal thingy for robbers to burn their hands on.

Perhaps the funniest thing that happened was with Kevin #1. After an intense game of the Clone Wars light-saber game on the Wii, Kevin #1 informed me that he was hot and stinky and needed deodorant. He ran into my bathroom to get some (don't worry- this isn't a common thing). Upon seeing Daddy's shaving cream bottle sitting on the counter, Kevin #1 thought this looked just like the deodorant the real Kevin used in the movie! So he positioned it under his arm and sprayed away. Boy, did he get a shock! It wasn't quite what he expected, so he grabbed wads of kleenex and proceeded to clean off the shaving cream from under his arms and plopping the wads into the toilet.

Drum Roll Please...

Our final destination, after stints in Utah, Southern California, and Indiana is...

Redding, California! We'll be minutes from this:

an hour from this:

(Mt. Shasta Ski area - small but good for learning)

close to some of the most beautiful backpacking and hiking:

And our most favorite part about it... close to family! Two hours from my parents:

My grandparents:

And my brother and his family:

And hour and a half from Aaron's parents:

And his grandma:
And much closer to our best buds from Irvine who live in Oregon:

We're SOOOOO excited to be done with all the school, training and moving all around... and to start a retirement fund. That will be nice :) I'm especially excited to be moving close to family and not having to take a plane flight whenever we want to see them.

Aaron interviewed at 4 different jobs and was offered a spot at each one so this was NOT an easy decision to make. Each place seemed to offer something the others did not, and of course there were drawbacks to each place as well. As Grandpa Layer always says, "No place has it all!". And it's so true. We felt though, that in the end, Redding was the best option (the others were Sacramento, Roseburg, OR and Eugene, OR). Aaron and I have driven through Redding countless times in our lives but had never considered it as somewhere to live until the last couple of times we drove through it. Now that it's a reality we are super excited! It's in a beautiful valley (110,000 people) and surrounded by gorgeous areas, lakes and mountains and lots of family! Redding here we come!