Wow...it's been a long time since I have posted anything! Time has flown by. We are less than one week away from Madeline's first Thanksgiving, Kylie will be 3 years old in less than one month, and we still have to do ALL of our Christmas shopping! I had wanted to get that all done this weekend, but threw my back out for a second time and we didn't do anything except stick around our house. I'm finally feeling better, but this yucky back stuff is no fun! Couple that with anxiety because the last time this happended was when I was first pregnant with Madeline, and it was an interesting week. Don't get me wrong- I love my girls- I just am not ready to be pregnant again ANY TIME SOON!

Speaking of my girls...they are so great! We just got a dog (a little Shih-Tzu named Molly) and Kylie has a new best friend. They play like CRAZY all the time! Kylie grabs the dog's toy and throws it for her, Molly tackles Kylie to get the toy back...lots of giggling, lots of running. It's chaos, but happy chaos. The best part about this dog is that she doesnt shed!!! Yeah! She does chew, however, and that drives me nuts! Today she messed up a wooden puzzle and I wanted to deck her...I did "spank" her though...dumb dog!

Madeline is getting pretty big! She is seven and a half months now and she is such a happy girl! She still just likes to sit back and take all the action in, but she is so smiley and giggly at us! She loves Kylie and thinks she is the best thing in the world. She is eating baby food regularly now, although she only eats fruit, because veggies and cereal make her gag to the point of puking...drama! She sits on her own really well, and she really wants to talk...she is so close to saying Dada and Mama. She is also really good at giving "hugs" and kisses. The kisses are really slobbery, but that's okay because it is the absolute best thing! I walk into her room to get her up and her arms and legs start moving a mile a minute and she will have this big grin on her face! I remember Kylie doing this too...then when I pick her up she buries her face in my neck and snuggles in! Love those "hugs"!!!

This Evening

Kylie just asked me where her paci (pacifier) was. I told her it was in the kitchen on the counter. She went and looked but couldn't find it. She came back and asked where it was again. I gave the same answer to which she replied, "Mom! Stop kidding me!"

Updates...

Just a couple of quick updates...

• Kylie prays before bed...very cute! Last night's prayer went something like this:

Momma- "Thank you Jesus for Kylie and for our day. Please bless Kylie while she sleeps and keep her safe. Give her sweet thoughts and dreams and help her to wake up in the morning ready for her day."

Kylie- "And no be scared of dark- kangaroo (she carrieds around a little Roo doll...) scared of dark."

Momma- "Thank you Jesus that you are going to help Kylie and kangaroo not to be scared of the dark. Please bless...run through the list of family members...and keep them safe."

Kylie- "And the zoo and the animals. And Coffee dog (our friends' schnauzer). And all my friends at church."

Momma- "Please bless the zoo and the animals, coffee dog and all our friends.

Kylie- "And thank you that Daddy was only playing with the vacuum (I buzzed Matt's hair and then I used the dust buster to get it all off his shoulders. My poor toddler, who is scared of the vaccuum/dust buster, watched as her father acted like it was eating him and screamed...Grrr, Matt...)

Momma- "And thank you that Daddy was only playing with the vaccuum. Amen."

• Kylie loves to swim- last summer she HATED swimming but now she loves to swim. Her favorite thing is to tell me that she is like a penguin in the water and that if she splashes me it will be so cold! Madeline really likes the pool too which surprises me because Kylie HATED the pool her first summer.

• Madeline is ticklish! Right up on her upper belly- tickle that and laugh and she gets the biggest kick out of things.


• Madeline can also sit up AND grab things! She no longer likes to lay down anymore if there is the option of being upright and sitting. So cute! She likes to grab for her toys but by far her most favorite thing in life is to just be sitting and watching activity.
  


• Kylie likes to play the violin with two sticks. She hums "Twinkle, Twinkle" when she does it.


• Kylie can sing the ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me, and The B-I-B-L-E. Love the singing!!!

Here are some recent pics...

Happy Madeline Playing with Her Toys!

I put Madeline in her bouncy seat for the first time a couple of weeks ago and she was thrilled! She loved the little toy guys that were hanging down and told them a whole lot! So cute!!!

So Busy!

I realize that I am so bad about posting on this blog...I have good intentions, really! We have been so busy lately. Let's see...what have we been up to?

Our 4 year anniversary was June 19th (Yeah!) so Matt and I left Kylie with his mom and took the baby with us to a bed and breakfast in Chester, IL. It was called the Stone House and it was wonderful! It was this od house that started out as a church originally but was converted into a residence in the 1920's. The best part is that there was this big plantation-style front porch that was so inviting! We were the only guests for the night which was great because we really got to relax. Plus, the weather was perfect (like 70 degrees) so we got to spend as much time as we wanted on the front porch watching the river and we didn't sweat at all! Here are a couple of pictures...

Then we had:

• Wedding in Southern Illinois on June 21st
  
• Rachel's (my sister) birthday on the 28th of June
  
• Friends over for dinner on July 1st
  
• 4th of July
  
• Another trip to southern Illinois to visit Matt's family on July 6th
  
• Out-of-town family in to visit on July 8th
  
• Family dinner out for my Grandma's 80th birthday on July 9th
  
• My other Grandma's birthday on July 11th

All-in-all these past 3 1/2 weeks have been so busy with lots of good food (which I need like a hole in the head) and lots of good fellowship! Here are a few more cute pictures from the past month:

Think before you speak, please

So, I need to just take a minute to vent, but first I have to say that hands-down the worst thing about being a mom is the feeling of "what if"? What if I mess my kid up? What if I teach her bad habits? What if she learns to react to things poorly by watching me? Ugh!!!

Anyway, we were at my parents' house last night and both of my grandmas were there. Don't get me wrong- I love them both so much, but I guess part of getting old is that you feel like you have the right to just say things and people will what? Just chalk up your saying mean things to being senile? I dont know...

So, Madeline is 2 months old and she has definitely grown well since birth. She was 7 lbs 2 oz at the day she was born and she (if my parents' scale is correct) is now 14 lbs. Kylie grew the same way! My girls like to eat and they gain good weight the first few months. If she follows in her sister's footsteps, she will stop gaining weight at 4 months and just get long. Anyway, I digress. Like I said, I think they must feel like they can say critical things because people will excuse them because they are old. I cant tell you how many times I heard how "fat" my kid is. Seriously??? She's a BABY!!! By the end of the evening I was ready to cry because I felt like they were being mean to her and I started to feel like I was contributing to some unhealthy lifestyle in my kid. I was asking myself, "Am I a bad mom? Am I missing something? Should I not let her nurse so often? Should I hold her off even longer between meals?" I shouldnt have to feel that way! She eats when she's hungry...it's not like she is eating every 30 minutes or anything. URGH!!!!

I know they love her and I would hope they dont think she is "fat" but rather cute chubby like babies are allowed to be, but I just wish they would stop and think before they speak.

Play Dates...

I re-entered the world of "good moms" this weekend. Yes, it's true. I set up play dates for Kylie. Well, I shouldn't act like it was totally for her benefit. We moms all know that play dates benefit us just as much as they do our children, but in order to keep up appearances I will let you go ahead and think I took Kylie out to play with friends just so she'd be happy!

Anyway, Saturday started out with us heading over to my friend Shannon's house to play with her boys. She has three boys- a 4 year old and twin boys who are not yet two- and one precious baby girl that is Madeline's age. Now, for those of you who do not know Kylie, she is quite...motherly...otherwise known as bossy- especially with boys. We get there and she and Ethan (the 4 year old) went straight upstairs to play in his room. All was well and very quiet. After a bit they came back downstairs at which point Kylie starts dragging the poor kid around by the hand and saying "come on boy!" No joke...it was like something out of "The Princess Bride". "Fetch me that pail for water, boy." "Boy, sit down." Seriously...we need to work on the bossing. Poor Ethan. We were there for 4 hours, which Kylie absolutely loved, but I'm sure he was probly getting sick of. You can only be dragged around so much!!!

The morning was a nice break for me too! I got to talk to another adult who understands being totally physically, mentally, and emotionally from having a newborn and an older child. In fact, I'm sure because she has three older children that she is three times as tired as I. Regardless, it was nice to be able to sit and relate with a Godly woman who understands.

After we left it was time for a serious nap before heading to Grandma and Poppy's for Uncle Jordan's high school graduation party. It was a fun time and Kylie go the chance to play with some more friends outside. She was a filthty, sweaty mess by the end of the night because I'm pretty sure she ran for 4 hours straight! Oh, to have that energy!!!

I'm so glad that she got the chance to play this weekend. It's been a while since we have hung out with friends our age and it showed me a different side of my daughter...this social side of her that is so precious. She thanked me at the end of the day for taking her to play and as we were praying before bed she jumped in and said "Thank you, Jesus for friends". Maybe we need to play more often...

I just want to take a momen to say that I am so blessed! God has blessed me in so many ways, so I just want to stop and say, "Thank you, Jesus for loving me, for giving your Son for me and for choosing to bless me when I am so unworthy! Thank you for a husband who loves you first and foremost and who is willing to do anything for me and our daughters. Thank you for two perfect and healthy little girls who will grow into women who love you with their whole hearts. Thank you for a family who encourages me in your ways first. Thank you for a house that is strong, for two cars that work, for clothes on our backs and for food on our table. I love you, God!"

Just so you can see those who I am most thankful for, here are some pics of my girls and my man!

Ah! She looks like me here!

Happy Baby!!!

Madeline obviously loves the zoo...

She slept for 9 hours overnight in her swing!!!

I Have Arrived! Well, Kind Of...

I'm beginning to get this mother-of-two thing!!! Let me tell you about my latest accomplishment:

Today I got both girls up, out of bed and fed by 9:45 am. By 10:15 am all three of us were dressed and in the car on our way to the zoo to meet up with my friend Chrissy and the little girl she nannies. By the way, this was Kylie's second trip to the zoo (in her entire life) and Madeline's first. Kylie was so excited and she talked about what animals she was going to see when she got to the zoo (Penguins, tigers, lions and bears were among the most desired) and followed each statement up by saying "It's so fun!". She's a hoot!

Anyway, I digress...we got to the zoo by 11:00 am or so and began our journey through the penguin exhibit, through the bears, African animals, big cats, birds and sea lions and ended our morning at the zoo by eating lunch (which I packed at home). We got home by 2 pm and both girls managed to stay awake for the entire drive, which shocked me because Kylie looked soooo wiped out the entire way home.

Once both girls took naps, I made dinner, cleaned the kitchen, picked up the living room AND gave both girls baths!!! Yeah! I feel so domestic and like I am really getting into a routine with two girls here instead of just one. I mean, I always prided myself on the fact that even with working from home Kylie and I worked like a well-oiled machine. For the first time I have hope that the three of us will continue that trend! Yeah!!!! Go Edwards girls!

She quite obviously loves going out!

Such a sweet girl!

I Have Arrived...

Hello, world of blogs!!! I have arrived.

I guess I should start by introducing myself. My name is Abby. I am a mom of 2 beautiful girls. My oldest is 2 years old and is so amazing! She does new things every day and it literally blows me away. My youngest was born almost three weeks ago and is so very precious! She looks exactly like me (poor kid) and I call her my mini-me.

It was the birth of my second daughter that spurred me to start blogging...I just need a place to put my feelings and thoughts down somewhere and get them out of my head! Let me start at the beginning...

We decided this past summer to start trying for a second baby. We had a beautiful 18 month old daughter (Kylie), but always knew we wanted more than one child. After just one month we found out I was pregnant! In December we found out it was another little girl (Madeline). How exciting! We began planning how we were going to redecorate Kylie's room to make it work for two girls and got to work. At the end of January I was diagnosed with a short cervix and funneling. What that means is, at 26 weeks gestation I my cervical length measured 1.2 cm (80% effaced) and it was beginning to open from the inside where the baby's head was resting. Scary stuff! I was admitted to St. John's Mercy Medical Center and stayed there on bedrest for was was quite possibly the hardest two weeks of my life, and was sent home the week before Valentine's Day on strict bedrest- only get up for potty breaks and to shower once every other day. Bleh!!!

So, here comes Madeline after 10 1/2 weeks of bedrest at 38 weeks gestation- totally healthy and beautiful!!! I have to say that bedrest, while majorly inconvenient, was a major blessing. First, I was able to really see my husband in action- he really can do it all without me!!! Second, it gave me an amazing opportunity to really get to "know" Madeline before she was born. I'd had that time when I was pregnant with Kylie, but with a toddler around this time, there wasn't really the option of sitting and just bonding with the new baby as she moved. So, that time, in the end, was really very precious to me.

Madeline arrived, like I said, totally healthy and beautiful. I really could not be any happier or feel more blessed. I really am struggling though with feelings of guilt because I AM SO TIRED!!! I feel like I should be taking advantage of this time I have off work to really spend quality time with my girls, but all I want to do is sleep. I find myself getting cranky in the middle of the night, with Matt and the baby, and feeling resentful when Kylie wakes up for good in the morning because I am so not ready to wake regardless of how late she sleeps. I know I am not the first mother to feel this way and I know there is an adjustment period, but come on!!!

Regardless of all the sleepiness and crabbiness, I feel like I am falling in love with Madeline more and more each day- she is so cute!!! And I continue to be blown away by Kylie. She can sing the alphabet song now and she also recites movies (yes, I know...she probly watches too much t.v., but while on bedrest I couldn't chase her!). She knows segments of both Aladdin and Finding Nemo. She also sings the songs in Aladdin. Wait...she really just sings all day long...sings about what she is doing, who is in the room with her, etc. "You are Momma, That's Baby Madenine, Me am Kylie, Daddy at work..." Ah! I love it! She dances while she sings too...she is a major entertainer! I can't wait to see what Madeline is like...will she be as outgoing as Kylie? Will she be shy? Hmm...more to come!

In the meantime, here are some pics of the most beautiful girls on the planet!!!

"Princess" Kylie

Madeline Grace

Matt Holding baby Madeline