Magdalyn Turns One!

Magdalyn is now a one-year-old! So many things have happened over this last year, and I have loved watching the changes in her. She is turning into such a beautiful, happy little girl. As of her visit to the doctor this week, she now weighs 20 pounds and is 30" tall. Yay! She can finally ride forward in a bigger carseat!

Magdalyn is so close to walking! Several times she has let go of things and started to move forward, then suddenly drops back to her knees to crawl. I think she could learn very quickly if she tried. She is such a climber! She can go up and down the stairs now and can climb onto most anything. Couches, if they are low enough, or she has a boost. She can climb onto Kalianna's bed, she tries to climb up toys, stools, basically anything that is at her level. She is really starting to talk a lot too. She likes to repeat words and sounds we make. She can say Mama, Dada, Ball, Dog, Baka (Sobaka), Hi, and More. She is a very fast learner! I have been amazed to see how quickly she picks up on new things. When she started climbing up the stairs, she would turn around at the top and try to go back down head first. I turned her around, and showed her how to go down backwards, one foot at a time. I only had to show her twice before she started going down backwards on her own! And she went up and down multiple times until she had it down perfectly.

Magdalyn is such a smiley, happy, sweet girl! She loves to smile and laugh! If she can make you laugh, she will laugh even harder. I sing "Smile" by Uncle Kracker to her all the time. It's totally her song! I even put in on her one year video. She is such a little ham whenever I pull out the camera. She always gives me a big, cheesy grin.

I've recently discovered Maggie likes ketchup. We were eating lunch in my room one day, chicken nuggets and fries. I left my food on the bed for a minute to help Kalianna in the restroom. I came back to find this:

She had somehow grabbed my dipping bowl of ketchup off the bed, and cleaned out the entire container before I got back. I found her just like this, on my floor next to the bed, all smiles and happy as can be.

Magdalyn also does not like being left out. Of anything. At all! Every morning, Kalianna sits on her stool in the bathroom while I do her hair. A few weeks ago, Maggie started crying and getting upset whenever I did Kalianna's hair. I finally realized what was going on when I put her on the stool one morning, after I was done with Kalianna. She stopped crying immediately and was happy as could be. So I brushed her hair and put on a headband and out her back on the floor. She was completely content and crawled right into her room to play. She just wanted her hair done, like big sister. The next day I pulled the very small amount of hair she has into a ponytail and put a clip in. She was thrilled, and loved posing for me:

Magdalyn loves to pick things up and put them in other things right now. It is her favorite game. When it's time to clean up, she loves helping Kalianna pick up toys and put them in their boxes. And when some dog food spilled, she picked up a piece and put it away in the food bin, all on her own. I thought she was going for it to try and eat it, but no. She wanted to help clean up. She loves being a little bit mischievous, and loves to be chased and tickled. She really loves to be upside down and thrown around too. She is so fun!

Maggie's Birthday Party

Since Magdalyn and her cousin, Hayden, are only 13 hours apart, we decided to have a joint first birthday party. Kristine and I decided on a Mickey/Minnie theme. We started out by sending these cute invitations with Minnie on one side and Mickey on the other:

The party was on Maggie's actual birthday, so that was very convenient since it was a Sunday. We had mickey shaped chicken nuggets and hot dogs for dinner. We also had jello jigglers, chips, and salads brought by family members. The perfect meal for a couple of one-year-olds!

Maggie, enjoying her yummy food

Hayden

The two birthday babies, in their seats of honor

We also had the floor covered in Mickey and Minnie colored balloons, and the kids wore their Disney shirts from the cruise. After dinner, everyone gathered around to watch the videos we had made of the kids' first year. Then it was present time. Kalianna really, really, had a hard time not helping too much. She wanted to tear into those presents, rather than open them slowly, like Maggie was doing.

Magdalyn got bored with presents and escaped to go play for a moment.

Then she returned to finish opening the rest:

After presents was cake time. This is when the night turned around. Magdalyn had the best day! She was so happy! And she was having a wonderful time at her party, which I was concerned she'd be overwhelmed with so many people, but she did awesome and was all smiles. I knew she'd love eating her cake. She Loves cake! Especially chocolate. First, my sister decided to put a candle on her cake, which I didn't know about. Then she set the cake in front of Magdalyn right as I was looking at Kalianna and trying to get her to go sit by her Daddy. Magdalyn immediately reached for the candle and burned her fingers. Her fun night ended there. It was one of those moments when I wish more than anything that I could have turned back time by even a few seconds. So I could have said no to the candle, or seen it placed in front of Maggie and been able to hold her back. Unfortunately everything happened too fast and several people said they saw it coming, but couldn't do anything to stop it in time. I spent the next while running her fingers under cold water and trying to calm her down. We returned to the cake, but she wanted nothing to do with it after that. And I can't say I blame her. Once she was calm enough, my mom gave her an ice cream cone and she did enjoy that. Plus I'm sure the cold felt good on her poor, little hand!

The ice cream seemed to cheer Magdalyn up a good deal, so after she finished, I tried bringing her back to the birthday cake. She ate a little bit, and then started crying again. Then she ate a little, and started crying. It  was so pitiful! She ate a little more, but was done after that. I don't know if her fingers hurt (she wouldn't use her right hand much the rest of the night) or if she was still just upset over the memory.

I wrapped her barely-touched cake and brought it home with us. We tried again the next afternoon and she was finally able to enjoy it! Kalianna "helped" her out a lot too. Such a sweet sister!

Easter 2012

With Kalianna's birthday the Sunday before, and Magdalyn's the Sunday after, we decided we wanted to stay home for Easter this year. We've actually been wanting to have a quiet Easter at home, with a yummy special dinner, since we got married. Then every year we get invited somewhere, usually to more than one place. Well, with the sandwiched parties this year, we finally decided to put our foot down and say no. We turned down two awesome parties to just spend the day together as a family. It's not something we get to do very often, with Matt's work, school, and homework schedule. So I was completely selfish this year, keeping he and the girls all to myself. The day before, Matt's mom stopped by and gave the girls their Easter presents. Magdalyn got some cute little bunny ears (above) and Kalianna got a pretty Easter bracelet.

The best smile I could get out of her

We started out Easter morning with the girls hunting for their baskets. That sneaky Easter bunny! He left Magdalyn's on top of the pantry, and Kalianna found hers in the dryer. The girls immediately dug in (even Maggie, who Loves chocolate) and I had to put the baskets up for later. The girls each got six eggs with a little bit of chocolate in them (is there candy other than chocolate?), a new book for church, sidewalk chalk, a chocolate bunny, a ring pop, and a little chick that cheeps. We went and saw baby chicks recently and the girls were enthralled, so they each got their own (minus the eating & pooping). Then we had a yummy breakfast of sticky buns.

She did not want to smile for me! She just wanted to check out her basket!

That's more like it!

Chocolate!

Heading up the stairs with her new baby chick

Holding their new chicks

I love 11:00 AM church! It made Easter morning so nice! After breakfast, the girls got dressed in their new Easter dresses. Since my mom took them shopping a couple weeks ago, Kalianna has been dying to wear hers!

After church the girls went on an egg hunt. Kalianna had a ball finding the eggs, but she wanted to eat all the candy right then.

Magdalyn even got in on the fun! We put a couple eggs down low for her to find. She would pick them up, shake them, then put them in the basket and clap for herself. One of the cutest things ever! I love that Maggie has started clapping for herself whenever she knows she has done something right.

While the girls went on their hunt, I had some eggs boiling on the stove. Then once dinner was in the oven and the eggs had time to cool, we decorated Easter eggs. Kalianna had so much fun, but was sad when the eggs ran out and she couldn't do more.

She was super careful about dipping them. It was so cute!

The finished results

Holding up her favorite egg. Surprisingly not pink! It was green with little paw prints on it

I've always wondered why a lot of people choose to have ham for Easter dinner. What does ham have to do with Easter? Matt and I wanted to try a more traditional Easter feast and make lamb. I've never made lamb before, so it was an experiment. But it turned out so good! It was super delicious! I also made a spinach spring salad, with homemade balsamic dressing, and herb mashed potatoes. And we had sparkling apple cider to drink. Best Easter Dinner Ever!!! I'm going to have a really hard time going back to ham after this.

After dinner the girls were pretty tired so we got in jammies and watched a movie until bedtime. I'm so glad we had the opportunity to spend the whole day together!

Kalianna at Three

My last post got too long, so I decided to make this separate. I wanted to write about Kalianna at age 3, so I have it to remember. Kalianna does not stop talking! She pretends to be shy once in awhile, but most of the time she is super outgoing and friendly. She loves to ask people their names. She is also really good at giving a play-by-play of her day. Whether anyone is in the same room or not, she is always talking. She also has an amazing vocabulary. This isn't just because I'm her mom and think she's brilliant, people are constantly impressed with how well she speaks and how well she can hold a conversation with an adult. She also has a ridiculously amazing memory. We decided to put this to good use and started teaching her the articles of faith a few months ago. She has the first three completely memorized, and is working on the fourth. She learns things very quickly and never forgets anything that she is taught.

Kalianna loves to read! I'm sure this helps with her awesome vocabulary. She just loves books and can sit and absorb story after story for as long as the reader is willing. A few weeks ago we made a trip to the library for the first time and she was in heaven! I practically had to drag her away when it was time to go. Just a week after our visit, I was changing Maggie's diaper and she sat down on the floor and read one of her library books aloud to us. Word for word. Then later, when I was reading another one of them to her, I accidentally skipped a sentence and she called me out on it. "No Mommy, you forgot..." I told you her memory was amazing! It's like that with almost all of the books we own. She has them memorized and knows if you miss something. She also frequently reads to herself from memory.

She is very rambunctious (which 3-year-old isn't?) and is super active. She wants to play outside all the time! She has become a lot more interested in movies the last six months or so, but she still will rarely sit through an entire movie. She watches for maybe 30 minutes or so, and then starts to play while the movie continues. Her favorite movies right now are Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians, and Beethoven (do you see a pattern?). She is obsessed with dogs! She loves all animals, but is especially enthralled with dogs. She loves putting leashes on them or putting them in cages. I think she got this from watching Lady and the Tramp. And she always wants to take the dogs for a walk, or go to the pet store on Saturdays when they have all the dogs there for adoption. One of her chores is to feed the dogs every morning and evening. She loves it! We've actually used it as a consequence a couple times. If you can't do this, then you don't get to feed the dogs. It's become a privilege more than a chore.

She also has become very into friends lately. She always wants a friend over to play with! From the moment she wakes up until bedtime. Thankfully her best buddy lives next door! She is super social and always wants to be playing with other kids.

She is still my super good helper. She always wants to help people with everything! (which can be a problem when her friend is going potty and she wants to go in to "help" him. But that's another story) She helps around the house with whatever I'm doing, and she especially wants to help with Magdalyn. She wants to feed her and give her a bottle and hold her. Unfortunately, Maggie is getting pretty big and can do most things for herself.

Kalianna is still a great big sister, most of the time. She tries really hard! Sometimes it's hard to share, when Maggie is going for a favorite toy, but she is quick to give kisses and find a new toy if her sister starts crying.

She is starting to go potty completely by herself. She will get me when she's done to help wash her hands, since she can't turn the water on and off. And she loves to dress herself (she's been doing this for awhile). But she won't wear something unless she has picked it out. And if she doesn't like an item of clothing, she won't wear it. She is very picky about clothes. She still has some clothes she got for Christmas that she has never worn because she didn't pick them out and they aren't her style. Funny girl! Kalianna mostly wears dresses. She absolutely loves dresses and dressing up! She loves to come in the bathroom and do her makeup (lip gloss) with me. She's not a big fan of having her hair done, but she loves looking pretty. And she loves when Mommy shares some perfume with her.

Kalianna always makes us laugh! She loves being the center of attention and she will do anything to make people smile and laugh. She loves it! She is such a perfect combination of girly-girl and tom-boy. She loves the color pink and she absolutely loves to wear dresses (especially big ones that twirl when she spins), but she also loves to play outside and can hold her own when it comes to rough-housing with the boys.

Happy Birthday to my sweet Kalianna! The last three years have been the best of my life and I look forward to many more adventures to come!