Quick wrap up.

We leave for Disney in a little over 2 days. I've been pretty busy getting things together and trying to get the house clean.

I'm tired. I need a vacation!

Eric confirmed all of our reservations today. We got the code and directions to our condo. My parents have their new van all ready to go. We're 99% packed.

After I get the laundry done tomorrow I'll be in vacation mode!

Madeline is doing ok with potty training. She complains every time I take her but she seems to have mastered the pooping phase of potty training. She hasn't pooped in her pants in over a week I think. Peeing, well we're working on it. ;)

She is VERY excited about going to Disney. She is looking forward to riding Splash Mountain, Mission Space, and Expedition Everest. What? She's not tall enough you say. Well you'd be right. I'm having a hard time convincing her of that though. lol

No Way! has become her favorite thing to say lately. I'm getting really tired of hearing it. She has also suddenly become "scared, Monsters". She'll wake up in the middle of the night and call us in there to get rid of them. I had no idea that started at 2! At least she has no under the bed (bed's on the floor at this point). Maybe she thinks the massive amount of clothes in her closet is a monster. ;)

With that little Madeline wrap up, I'll bid you all adieu for a couple of weeks.

picture practice

I thought I'd take advantage of the low key day today and practice my photography skills. They turned our pretty well if I do say so myself.















I was lucky, Madeline was being VERY cooperative today!

Dino's at the zoo!

Last week we had a very nice day so we went to the zoo. Our main goal was to see the dinosaur exhibit. We headed that way first. Madeline had different ideas. She wanted to ride the Choo Choo (tram). She saw it at started to run after it exclaiming "WAIT choo choo!". So we had a new priority. The Tram:

Lets GO!!!!

The Tram takes FOREVER! It ate up a good chunk of our day. Madeline then had a long list of animals she wanted to see: giraffes, bears, penguins. Well the giraffes were on the other side of the zoo so we headed toward the bears and penguins. After the penguins we ate lunch and then it was time for DINOSAURS!



She loved them!!!!



must get closer


Tons of kids were crying. They thought the dinosaurs were going to get them! Madeline just kept trying to get closer and closer. She would have pet them if she could. I'm sure she would have loved a ride on one of them too.

After the dinosaurs it was time to go. Yep that's all we did that day. It was incredibly busy at the zoo. I don't ever want to go back when it's that busy again!

Potty Training Lesson #657

Pull Ups are not a good idea for a car ride when said potty trainee has not made her "deposit" for the day.

Madeline WILL be wearing diapers in the car for the drive down to Florida!

18 days!

We leave for Florida in 18 days. We're so excited and ready for vacation. We should all be healthy since the last couple of weeks everyone (including my mom and dad) have been sick. We are looking forward to 85 degree weather and sun. I have the suitcases packed for the most part and our plans are set!

We plan to stop in Kentucky at Dinosaur World on the way down. Madeline loves dino's so it should be a good, get out and stretch, diversion. We will also be going to Gatorland while we're in Orlando. I have a lot of stickers and books for the car ride. We're also bringing the dvd player. I think we're going to leave at 4am. I'm going to dress Madeline in her clothes for the trip the night before. I'm hoping doing this will keep her sleeping for a few hours in the car. We'll stop at a hotel in Georgia, somewhere south of Atlanta. The next day we'll hopefully only have about 6-7 hours of driving left. We'll of course stop at the Florida welcome center for our free OJ.

Our condo has a great pool with a slide so we're very excited to swim there! We plan to take a nap break each day we go to the Disney parks so we all stay happy. We have enough relax at the house days also so we don't get tired on our vacation.

I'm sure I'll have a ton of pictures to share when we get back!

Easter weekend fun

We were all feeling a lot better by Friday so we did some fun activities.

Friday we decorated eggs. I dyed them and Madeline put stickers on.


waiting for the eggs to dry ( after a few minutes of them not drying we took a side trip to Wal mart)



Decorating with stickers:




Saturday we went to the forest preserve to look for some geese and other birds. We mostly found dogs. lol

When we got home we tried to learn how to pedal the bike:

I think it's going to take all summer to learn how to do that.

Then Madeline played with chalk:




Daddy and Madeline took a little walk:


On Easter we had breakfast at church and then after church went to Grandma and Grandpa Olson's for lunch and an Easter egg hunt.

Grandma gave Madeline a bunch of Little Mermaid stuff


Let the hunt begin

(daddy, uncle Dirk, Adam and Calvin were much more excited about the eggs then Madeline) The instructions were that all the pink eggs were off limits and for Madeline Olson. They were pretty obvious and it was decided fairly quickly that they need to be hidden better next time.

I can breathe!

Finally, after a week of feeling like the scum you find on the bottom of your shoe I feel a bit more normal. I actually don't feel so exhausted today. I managed to pick up the disaster that was the family room and put away all of Madeline's books. I'm actually enjoying the day. I've been on antibiotics for 4 days now and its starting to help. So far today I've avoided my codeine laced cough syrup that takes like paint thinner. I'm definitely on the mend!

Madeline is feeling better too I believe. She woke up this morning with tremendous energy that hadn't been seen in 2 weeks.

Maybe we'll be able to enjoy Easter after all!

Ever heard the expression...

I laughed so hard I peed my pants? Well, I'm having a similar problem right now. I've been coughing so hard I've peed my pants. Thankfully it's not a full on accident. lol I guess that's something that I can thank motherhood for. Funny thing is it's the first time since having Madeline it's happened. Maybe I just haven't had this bad of a cold since then.

This is the weirdest cold I've had in a very long time if ever. I have no symptoms except my cough. My nose is not runny or stuffy, my throat doesn't hurt and I don't have a headache. Just this nasty, nasty cough. It is sapping all of my energy. I decided to run to Aldi for groceries a while ago and that was a bad decision. As soon as I got home I was overheated and had a coughing fit that lasted a good 30 minutes. I just want to crawl into bed. BUT I'm getting stir crazy at the same time. See I feel ok but as soon as I do something I cough and cough and cough. So I'm stuck in the house.

Madeline has this same cough all though she doesn't seem to have the fits like me. Hers did come with a lovely ear infection though.

I hope we're well soon.

and the worst mom award goes to...

ME. Madeline had her 2 year appointment today. She is 35 inches and 30 pounds (with clothes on). That is 75-90th%. She's proportional. No shots today and none until kindergarten. The bad news is she has an ear infection. I had NO idea. I feel so bad. Who knows how long she's been walking around with the infection. I'm hoping it just showed up with the cold she got last week. BUT she's had that cold for 8 days now so she's probably had the ear infection for that long. My poor baby. :( Maybe it's time to invest in that otoscope I saw in the One Step Ahead catalog.


Also, it appears that she won't be able to take her first roller coaster ride at Disney. You have to be 36 inches for Goofy's Barnstormer. Ah well.