Keeping up with the Kleckleys

Life with Two

2012-02-15T08:35:00.000-06:00

Andrew has had a good first three weeks at home! I've been meaning to do this post for awhile, but being the steller (*ahem*) mother that I am, I accidentally saved over all the pictures I've taken from his first few weeks. I've spent hours trying to recover them and have not had any luck, so if anyone has a suggestion on how to resolve this let me know!

Life with two had home has been busy but fun! Andrew is a very good baby. He loves to snuggle and loves to be held. He doesn't like the swing, which can be challenging when I'm trying to get things done, but it's a good excuse to sit and hold him. Madeline is adapting very well. She's pretty indifferent to having a sibling around. When Andrew cries, she'll go up to him and say, "It's ok, don't be silly." She'll ask to hold him about once a day, but after a minute or two will try to push him off her lap and say "here you go."

As far as sleeping goes, he'll usually get up twice a night which is very acceptable for a newborn. :) He does seem to have a grunting problem. For the first few weeks this kept us up quite a bit. Through trial and error we figured out that he doesn't like to be fully swaddled. We switched him to a sleep sack and the grunting has improved some.

I get cabin fever easily, so we were out and about very quickly. His first real outing was to Madeline's dance class when he was 8 days old. Over the next few days we took him out to lunch for Maria's birthday, two birthday parties for Madeline's friends, and to Mass.

Recovery for me has been MUCH better than it was for Madeline. It must be a combination of an easier labor/delivery and knowing that I really don't have the option to sit around and rest much with a toddler.

He's already changed so much in four weeks. His hair has lightened up and he's starting to look more like an infant than a newborn. At his two week appointment he was 20.5 inches (45%) AND 6 lbs 13 oz (8%). He's still tiny, but he he has long legs, fingers and toes, and is finally starting to get fat rolls on his legs!

First day at home: Two days old

Such a good big sister, "He's soooo precious."

5 days old: With his flowers

First Bath at 2 weeks old (had to wait for the cord to fall out)

Super Bowl at 2 1/2 weeks old, representing the Who Dats!

...and the Texans

3 Weeks Old, watching Madeline at dance class

Andrew's Birth Story

2012-02-02T21:08:00.000-06:00

To say we were a little surprised by Andrew's early arrival is quite the understatement! For no logical reason, I was convinced that January 28th would be his birthday. Jon was predicting February 1st. Oops! I guess you can only say how unprepared you are so many times before God laughs and brings your baby into the world 2 1/2 weeks early!
Tuesday (1/17) was a typical day for us. My friend Kelly and her son Jack were in town visiting, so Madeline and I met them in Clear Lake for a play date. Kelly said she was secretly hoping I'd have him while she was in town (ha). Tuesday night I went to my friend Emily's house.

(This is where it gets good. Proceed at your own risk!)
9 pm: I came home, took a shower, and Jon and I talked about how we should probably pack for the hospital and talk about what to name him. Instead we opted for watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
9:15 pm: I'm sitting on the couch and my water breaks. Exact words out of my mouth: "S*&t! I can't believe this is happening. We are so not ready for this!"
9:16 pm: I immediately call my mom so she can come over. I spend the next 15 minutes frantically running around while Jon tries to calm me down and Googles: "What to bring to the hospital when you're having a baby." (as if we haven't done this before)
9:30 pm: I finally get my act together, pack and call the doctor.
10:30 pm: My mom arrives at our house. Jon and I are sitting at the table while I try and eat as much as possible, knowing that my next bit of real food could be 24 hours away. Throughout all of this, I'm still having no real contractions and do not feel like I could be having a baby soon. We decide to wait until after midnight to go to the hospital just to make sure we don't have issues staying an extra night with insurance. To kill time, my mom paints my toes since I obviously wasn't going to make it to my scheduled pedicure 2 days later. (and pretty toes are an essential part of childbirth, right??)
11:45 pm: We decide it would probably be a good idea to head to the hospital. (Still feeling nothing)
12:15 am (Jan 18th): Check into the hospital, confirm my water did break, and that I'm only 1 1/2 cm dilated. The on call doctor gives me 2 hours to progress on my own.
2 am: No progress, start pitocin. In hopes of speeding up the process, I decide to tough it out without an epidural for as long as possible. Jon tries to sleep, and I get none because the child in my tummy chooses to move every time the nurse gets the baby heart monitor situated. This game continues until he's born. The nurse tells me the baby is upset because we hadn't decided what to name him. (haha)
4 am: 3 cm dilated and trying to tough out contractions, which still aren't regular even with pitocin.
4:45 am: I give in to the epidural and immediately become a more pleasant person. I tell the anesthesiologist that he must be the most popular dude in the hospital and he tells me it's like selling water in a desert.
6:00 am: 4 cm dilated. I pout and have a pity party, convinced that he will not be born until the afternoon. I'm bored, tired and the ice chips were not cutting it (although Women's does have the good Sonic-type ice). My mom calls for an update. I tell her not to come to the hospital yet, and Jon tells her otherwise.
6:50 am: I start to feel very different and find out I'm 8 cm. My mom and sister arrive shortly after that, and I'm grateful that Jon went behind my back and told them to come to the hospital.
6:51 am: My mom begins the very necessary task of applying my makeup. (nah, we're not vain)

Between 7 and 8 am: I feel like the kid is going to be born on his own. I find out Dr. Ball is performing a surgery so I have to wait for at least 30 minutes for her to finish. That was interesting. The nurse tells me not to laugh, cough or move unless I want the baby to be born before Dr. Ball shows up. I start laughing, and she says, "Seriously, no laughing." Dr. Ball casually walks in, chats it up for a bit, checks me and says, "Wow, they weren't kidding. Don't move! Don't cough! I have to get ready." Everyone starts laughing, including me. Everyone looks at me and says, "NO LAUGHING!" Apparently they were not kidding. Three pushes and at 8:06 am he was out! He was perfect, and Jon and I kept saying, "He's so tiny!"

Andrew Lawson: 6 lbs, 6 oz. 19 1/2 inches long. Born at 8:06 am
Madeline Grace: 6 lbs, 6 oz. 19 inches long. Born at 8:46 am
I think 6 is my new lucky number!

Overall, this was a pretty easy labor and delivery. I thought Madeline's was easy, but I must say I'd pick my water breaking any day over hours of contractions. Here's some of my favorite pics from Andrew's first two days:

To answer a few questions:

How did we decide on his name?
We had it narrowed down to two choices for about a month. Neither one of us could decide which one to go with, so I finally told Jon it could be his choice. He decided to wait and see what he looked like. Right after he was born, we looked at him and Jon decided he looked like an Andrew. Luckily I agreed. :) We are just calling him Andrew for now. I'm sure a nickname will come later, but if anyone calls my precious child Andy I'm going to give you a dirty look. Lawson is Jon's middle name, and that of the oldest born Kleckley male for now the 6th generation.

How did Madeline like meeting baby brother?
She walked into the hospital room, took one look at him, and said "No baby Andrew" for a good 10 minutes. I think our families had been shoving it in her face all day and she was tired of it. I brought a present to give to her from baby Andrew, and as soon as we handed it to her, she was cool with him. From then on it was, "He's soooo cute."

Introducing Andrew Lawson Kleckley!

2012-01-21T21:18:00.000-06:00

In case you haven't heard, our little boy surprised us 2 1/2 weeks early! He was born Wednesday, January 18th at 8:06 am. He weighed 6 lbs 6 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. Andrew is just precious and we're so in love!

Houston Marathon

2012-01-21T20:54:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday was the long anticipated Houston Marathon! Jon had been training for awhile and was ready for the challenge.

Ready to go at 5:30 am!

Our caravan of cheerleaders left at 7 am to cheer on Jon and his brother Ben. My parents, Aimee, Jon's parents, Madeline and I rode together.

If you were a participant in the marathon or half marathon, you might have seen this at mile 6:

Sporting our most popular sign. We had lots of runners say "that's so true" and one guy said "that's not true."

There were so many people that we almost missed Jon! Ben was running ahead of pace so we weren't quick enough to get a picture of him.

In case you're wondering what the yellow outfit above was all about...

That would be my mother in law dressed as a giant banana! She was handing bananas out to runners until she got in trouble by race officials. It was so much fun and the runners loved it.

Pics from mile 14...

There goes Ben!

Mile 22...almost there!!

My OB, Dr. Ball, was working the medical tent at mile 22 so we stopped by to say hi.

This sign is SO not true. I'd go through L&D any day over running 26.2 miles!

Marathon Finishers!

Our Group

Attempt at a family pic

Ben's time was 4:12, and Jon ran it in 4:30, 15 minutes better than expected.

I'm so proud of both of them!

37 Weeks!

2012-01-15T18:50:00.000-06:00

How far along: 37 weeks
Size of baby: 19 inches long and somewhere over 6 pounds. I had an ultrasound a week ago because my tummy was measuring small (seriously?? this belly?). Turns out he was fine, 6 lbs in the 60% tile. Now I'm worried he might be big, considering they grow 1/2 a pound a week at this point!
Weight gain: 36 pounds
Maternity Clothes: Yup. I can't wear half of my maternity shirts because they are too short.
Gender: It's a BOY!!
Movement: Yes, but not as much. He's running out of room!
Sleep: Good nights and bad.
Symptoms: Back pain, shortness of breath and major pregnancy waddle
What I miss: Sleeping on my back, drinking wine, wearing normal clothes and being able to breathe and walk like a normal person.
Cravings: Fruit, anything cold and sweets. I've also picked up a bad habit of chewing ice the past few weeks.
Best Moment this week: Having a great ultrasound report, finally reading up on labor/delivery stuff, and getting closer to the end!
What I am looking forward to: Final baby prep...like packing for the hospital. :) I'm hoping he stays put for one more week so I can finish everything.

Fairly Odd Parent

2012-01-15T17:04:00.000-06:00

Last week I met my parents and Maria in Houston for lunch. My dad drove my sister's car up from League City to meet us. As we were leaving for lunch and my sister was taking her car back, my dad says, "Hold on, I need to get something out of Maria's car."

A chainsaw.

Does anyone else think this is weird? Apparently he was going to stop on the way to have it fixed but changed his mind. The best part? My mom's car was parked on the complete opposite side of the shopping center so he walked through Highland Village with a chainsaw. Sweet.

Baby Prep

2012-01-11T21:15:00.000-06:00

I love nesting. For all the aches, pains, and not so fun aspects of being pregnant, I'm convinced that nesting is God's gift to pregnant women at a time when all we want to do is sit and complain about being fat. I wish I could bottle up these bursts of energy and use them after the baby is born! Every few days I get a new nesting obsession. Last week was cleaning. I scrubbed the kitchen trashcan for 45 minutes, cleaned out and organized the pantry, and started cleaning baseboards. This week has been cooking freezer meals for after the baby is born. So far I've done Sour Cream Enchiladas, Healthy BBQ Chicken with Veggies, Chili and Cranberry Chicken. Tomorrow I'll be making Italian Beef and Broccoli Cheese Chicken. Hopefully next week will include important things, like packing for the hospital and deciding on the child's name. I'll be full term on Saturday, yet somehow cleaning baseboards trumped these two important tasks.

We've also been working hard to prepare Madeline for baby brother, but I don't know how much you can prepare a two year old for a new sibling.

Last Saturday we took her to Women's Hospital for a toddler tour. They took us to the nursery and a postpartum room. At the nursery, a nurse held up two babies for the kids to look at. Madeline would say (in her "sweet" voice), "Baby soooo cute. Sooo sweet. Hi baby." We asked her if she wanted one and she just gave the babies a glare. I guess it's better than saying no. The most excited she got was receiving a big sister shirt at the end because it had animals on it.

We tried to get her to take a picture next to the baby cart with a baby doll in it. Obviously did not go over well.

We've also been trying to incorporate "baby brother" into our conversations with Madeline. At night we pray for him. We ask if she wants to talk to him, and she'll talk into my belly button like it's some sort of communication device and in her sweet, quiet voice say, "hi baby broder" and pat my tummy. The other morning she was up early so we put her in bed with us. She was talking to my tummy, puts her lovey on it, and says "borrow". It was so sweet....she already wants to share her most treasured possession with him. This gave me home that our little conversations are helping prepare her for her new best friend. :)

I'd like to think that it will be an easy transition, but I know better. I asked, "Madeline, are you excited about baby brother? " Her response: "Baby Sister."

The Zoo and New Year's Eve

2012-01-10T19:46:00.000-06:00

Zoo TripKelly and Jack were in town the last week of December so we decided to take the kids to the zoo. They are at the age where they recognize the animals and will make animal sounds, so it was pretty cute. It was pretty chilly outside and the animals were being boring, but we still had a great time.

The monkey was not liking the cold weather.

Checking out the "whineocerous"

New Year's Eve

This sums up our New Year's Eve:

Oreo balls with the munchkin: It doesn't get any better than this!

After years of having festive New Year's plans, this was our second year in a row to be lame. Well, not totally lame. We let Madeline stay up until 9 pm and Jon and I stayed awake until 11 pm to watch the ball drop in NYC. :) The best part? Waking up without a hangover.

And this concludes Holiday blog-a-thon 2011! Whew!

Christmas with the Kleckleys

2012-01-10T19:24:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Christmas with the Kleckleys in Bryan the Thursday before New Year's Eve. We spent the day doing two of Madeline's favorite activities in Bryan:

Watching/Feeding/Talking to/Staring at the cows

And chasing the dogs around while laughing hysterically.

Thursday night we had steaks for dinner and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Someone obviously had first dibs on the cake icing...

After dinner and cake it was present time. Granny made Madeline this amazing play house. It's a cover that fits over a card table. She thought of everything, including letters to keep in the mailbox!

Papa K and Lizzie were obviously jealous and decided they wanted to live in the play house too.

Gift giving with 11 people can get a little ridiculous. Poor Fergie didn't know where to go!

We concluded the night with the traditional Kleckley family Christmas game. Gerilyn will wrap a present in a bunch of boxes. We take turns rolling a pair of dice, and when you hit doubles it's your turn to open the gift. The catch? The person trying to unwrap all the boxes must be wearing oven mitts! It's always loads of fun and highly entertaining. I encourage you to copy this idea for your next festive gathering. It was a huge hit at my SIL Niki's Bridal Shower a few years ago. :)

Christmas!

2012-01-10T09:20:00.000-06:00

This year we spent Christmas weekend with my family. They have the same routine every Christmas, and it was fun to include a spunky toddler into the mix of all the craziness. However, as karma would have it, Madeline had a fever most of Christmas Eve/Day. She was a trooper even though she wasn't feeling well. Peter and Niki spent Christmas in Fort Worth and we certainly missed having them around to share in the fun!

Pictures before Christmas Eve Mass: Poppy, GiGi and Madeline

Our little (getting bigger) family

Mom and Sisters

Little Princess

Madeline was actually well behaved for the almost 2 hours that we were in Church. She is fascinated with the manger scene (thank you, Little People) and kept pointing out Baby Jesus, Mary and the angels in a not so quiet voice. The people sitting around us were cracking up. "Look Mommy/Daddy/Poppy/anyone who will listen, I see Baby Jesus!" It was cute.

Every Christmas Eve, our family friends (the Bekeljas) host a party. You know it's time to celebrate when the living room furniture gets moved so you can teach the "old people" (aka parents) to do the Wobble.

My BFF Kelly and I enjoying a moment of child free bliss. Our kiddos were upstairs sleeping in their pack n' plays.

Kleckley boys, my mom and Big Mel

Jon and I called it an "early" night around midnight and warned the rest of my family that our Christmas morning wake up time would be determined by Maddie. Surprisingly no one complained and everyone had smiles on their face the next morning. An even bigger surprise? Madeline slept until 7:30!

Santa was here!

Throughout the month as I had been wrapping presents, I've been telling Madeline that they were for other people. As she was walking down the stairs, she said, "other people's presents." Poor thing didn't think any of it was for her. We told her she could open the green ones and she was happy.

Santa brought her a small table with tea set, a box of dress up clothes and a crib for her baby doll.

Tea time with baby and Daddy

Daddy putting together baby's crib

Dress Up time

Adult Christmas presents seem lame compared to toddler ones, so I'll partially spare you that. :) I did, however, give select family members golden horseshoes. My MiMi used to say that my dad has a golden horseshoe shoved up his @*&. He always finds front row parking in a crowded lot, and seems to have the best of luck with many things without even trying. It's a huge family joke (mainly because we are jealous) and my brother Peter seems to be following in his footsteps. I decided enough was enough, and gave everyone except for my dad and brother a golden horseshoe.

Family Christmas Day pic

We had a traditional Christmas lunch with Jon's parents, his brothers Mark and Ben, and our family friends the Baptiste's.

What a good little helper!

We had such a fun day and anticipate even more madness next year with a 3 year and

almost 1 year old! (woah!)

Pre-Christmas Celebration in New Orleans

2012-01-10T08:15:00.000-06:00

A little late, but whatever. :)
The weekend before Christmas we traveled with my family to Louisiana to celebrate with my dad's side. Our first stop was in Morgan City (1.5 hrs outside of New Orleans) to visit my mom's parents. My Grandma and Grandpa are 85 and 86, and have more energy than I do. They are a true example of how staying active will keep you young!

Sunday was the big Christmas party. Every year the entire Noto Family gathers at my Aunt Gina and Aunt Ronda's house the Sunday before to celebrate. I will not rehash the entire menu, but let's just say it would put Emeril Lagasse to shame. Part of the festivities include singing Christmas carols...and not the traditional kind. My Aunt Ronda could be a comedian and each year will write a custom carol (to the tune of a traditional one) based on that year's family activities. For example, this year's song was "All I Want for Christmas is a Brand New Knee." My Aunt Julie and Paw Paw both had knee surgery.

A copy of one of my favorites, "It's Christmas at the Condo Once Again"

Singing

The evening concluded with a competitive bout of dancing to the Wii Michael Jackson Dance game.

My dad and Madeline shakin' it

We cherish every trip we get to take to Louisiana. I absolutely love getting to spend time with our extended family, and wish we lived closer to share more of these fun activities. I love me some crazy Cajuns! In the meantime, Geaux Saints!

35 Weeks!

2012-01-03T13:13:00.000-06:00

It's been 5 weeks since my last preggo update and boy, how things have changed!

How far along: 35 weeks
Size of baby: 18 inches long and 5 1/4 lbs (like a honeydew melon)
Weight gain: 33 pounds. Still less than I gained with Madeline with this point, but definitely feeling the effects of the extra pounds. I'm blaming holiday sweets.
Maternity Clothes: Yup. Even some of my maternity t-shirts are too short.
Gender: It's a BOY!! Finally have names narrowed down to 5 or 6.
Movement: Lots of rolling around. He likes to wedge himself in between by ribs and kick/punch my right side. Quite often I can feel a sharp little hand/elbow/foot and it hurts.
Sleep: Good nights and bad.
Symptoms: In the past week, I've really started to feel more physically exhausted. He's squishing my lungs, so I get short of breath easily. Bending over to pick something up has become next to impossible. The pregnancy waddle is in full force, and the heartburn/reflux has gotten worse as the baby has gotten bigger. I've had a few strong contractions, but ironically not as many Braxton Hicks as I've had in previous weeks. It sounds like a lot of complaining, but honestly, it's not that bad. Something's got to give when you're this close to having a baby!
What I miss: Sleeping on my back, drinking wine, wearing normal clothes and being able to breathe and walk like a normal person.
Cravings: Fruit, anything cold and sweets. On the flip side, meat has become less appealing. I feel like I have to force feed myself chicken and beef.
Best Moment this week: Now that the holidays are over, I can focus on baby prep. I have not looked at ONE book or website regarding childbirth or newborn care (I feel like I need a refresher course). No bags are packed, and I still have to get him a going home outfit and baby book amongst other things. If this kid comes in the next few weeks we're SOL. haha
What I am looking forward to: As unprepared as I still feel, I cannot WAIT to meet this little man in 4-5 weeks! I feel like I've been pregnant forever but at the same time, I can't believe we're about to have two kids in this house!

Christmas Activities

2011-12-23T21:18:00.000-06:00

Rather than do individual posts about all of our Christmas activities, I figured I'd work them all into one obnoxiously long, picture overload post. :) The holidays are so much more fun and festive when you have a kid!
Breakfast with Santa
We started off the month at Breakfast with Santa at my parents' church, St. Pauls, with GiGi and Aimee. Madeline surprisingly was intrigued for most of the two hours with coloring, eating pancakes like a big girl and listening to the Children's choir sing.

She didn't want to sit with Santa, but still told him hi with the assistance of Santa's helpers.

Lights in the Heights
The 2nd weekend in December we ventured to The Heights for Lights in the Heights. The streets are blocked off so everyone can walk around and enjoy the lights, and there are numerous singers and bands performing on the front porches. Our friends Arielle and Nick have an adorable house in the area, and hosted a great party for everyone to enjoy the festivities.

This is the only pic I took at the house...a popcorn machine and hot chocolate station!

Madeline checking out the lights. She lasted about 5 minutes in the wagon.

Madeline's School Christmas Show

Madeline's class put on a little Christmas show on her last day of school before the break. I'm sure you can imagine a bunch of two year olds trying to sing songs with hand motions. It was an adorable hot mess. Most of the kids stood on the wall. Madeline was more interested in dancing around to the music in front of everyone, and clapping and saying "yay!" when the songs were finished. Her friend Samantha was the star of the show. She knew all of the songs with hand motions. It was so cute!

Madeline's audience for the show

Madeline and her teacher, Ms. Young.

Pictures with Santa

After breakfast with Santa and our playgroup Christmas party, I think Maddie finally got the hang of the Santa thing. We took her to Bass Pro Shop to visit Santa and she did great! We couldn't get a smile out of her, but she talked to Santa and was happy to sit on his lap.

Think I'm a little obsessed with this dress? Yes, she does have other Christmas clothes but I think this dress is so much fun.

We tried to get a smiling picture, but she was more interested in showing us the colors of the lights.

Decorating cookies...she was very proud of her gingerbread man.

The Christmas Train

Last night we went with the Boesslings to ride the Christmas Train in Alvin. They have a train (similar to the one in Hermann Park) that goes through a bunch of different light displays.

Watching the trains

Maddie trying to give Brock a hug

The Tale of our Christmas Card

2011-12-20T17:59:00.001-06:00

Those of you who have received our Christmas card have probably thought, "hmmm, why would they send out a card where Madeline is not looking?" Let me tell you, my friends, the finished product was a huge accomplishment for us. Let me explain...

Our sister in law Jordan graciously agreed to take Christmas pictures for us on Thanksgiving morning. As mentioned in a previous post, Madeline was not feeling well, but we decided to take them anyway. (We found out the next week that she had strep and a double ear infection, but that's another story. Mother of the Year award #54104846.) Needless to say, she did NOT want to cooperate. I had THE Christmas card vision (my fellow control freaks can relate), which was quickly thrown out the window when she refused to smile and kept screaming "NO".

Jordan kept snapping pictures throughout the ordeal, and I found the results entertaining...

"Look at the camera, child!"

"What in the world are you looking at?"

"Look, Maddie. Daddy and Fergie are taking pretty pictures." (We have lots of these)

Of course she had a huge (hidden) smile while hugging Fergie.

Obviously over it at this point

"Want a flower, Aunt Jordan?"

Eventually we had great picture in which neither our human child or dog child were looking at the camera. Jon thought he could fix half the problem himself. Not so much.

In the end, our sister in law Niki came to the rescue, and Fergie magically was looking at the camera.

On that note, we wish you a Very Merry Christmas from the Kleckley Family!

(and a HUGE thank you to Jordan and Niki for helping us out!)

Madeline's Birthday and Party

2011-12-20T11:38:00.000-06:00

(2 weeks late on this, but it's the thought that counts, right?)
Madeline's birthday was on a Sunday, but on Saturday night we met Papa K, Granny and Uncle Ben for dinner because Papa K could not make it to her birthday festivities.

Look at those eyes...she was very excited about the icing.

Mmmm, cake!

On Sunday she woke up happy and singing the ABC's. I think she knew it was her special day!

Trying really hard to show us that she's two

Blowing out candles on her sugar bread breakfast (Daddy's specialty that she gets on the weekends)

We went to church and out to lunch at Red Robin so she could have sweet potato fries. Someone was NOT into having her picture taken.

Good thing she changed her attitude, because after nap time it was party time! With everything going on in our world, we opted to have her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. I decided on a Sunday afternoon because the staff at Chuck E Cheese assured me that hosting a party on a Sunday afternoon wouldn't be that crowded (liars!!). The place was beyond packed, but the birthday girl and her friends had a blast, and that's what matters!

Now since I have to make everything more difficult, I could not just show up at a party place that does everything for you and not do anything myself. Therefore, I decided on an "Elmo" theme since it's her current obsession.

Invitations:

The Birthday Girl (thank you Granny for making her dress!)

The table at Chuck E Cheese. We had 8 kids and 25 adults! I guess that's what happens when you're the only grandchild on both sides and you have 5 Aunts and 5 Uncles!

Maddie and Aunt Aimee

Uncle Peter and Aunt Niki

Jon, Peter and Poppy

Aimee, Jordan and Luke

Laila

Jack

Birthday Girl

Brock

Sarina

Maddie and Rebecca

Mason and Samantha

Playing Games

This picture cracked me up. Somewhere in the middle of the entourage of 8 people is Madeline playing games. We told all of our siblings that they shouldn't feel obligated to attend, but all who were able to showed up. What a special little girl!

After some playtime, it was time for pizza and cupcakes.

She was so excited about the Elmo cupcake and stuck her finger right in it.

After the party our families came back to our house to open presents. We gave her a high chair for Bitty Baby, a Bitty Baby outfit, puzzles and some Elmo DVDs. My parents gave her a custom painted rocking chair, and she got a Cozy Coupe and floor puzzles from Granny and Papa K.

By the end of the day, the child was exhausted and so were we! I think she understood that it was her birthday, but now she's getting it confused with Christmas. This morning she was singing Happy Birthday to herself. I'm trying to explain that now it's Jesus' turn to have a birthday, but I'm not sure if that's sinking in yet. :)

Playgroup Christmas Party

2011-12-13T16:42:00.000-06:00

On Sunday afternoon we hosted our Bootcamp Playgroup (I still call it that even though we don't work out as much) Christmas Party at our house. Everyone brought appetizers and we had a great time! Santa (otherwise known as Brock's grandpa) also made an appearance for the 2nd year in a row. He came to our door fully dressed up and he had to park down the street, so I can only imagine what the neighbors were thinking! We draw names for the kids so Santa has a gift to give each child.

Santa is here!

I love the look on Madeline's face.

Some of the kids were NOT having it.

Maddie and Santa (I couldn't get one of her looking at the camera). She insisted on wearing her sparkly pink princess shoes.

Madeline and Brock

All of the kids: Barrett, Hunter, Brock, Sarina, Madeline, Marcus, Rebecca, Jack and baby Adam

All of the mommies: Colette, Valerie, Me, Sonia, Katie, Rini and Robyn

We also do a White Elephant gift exchange with the adults. The rule is that it has to be something around your house: old wedding gifts and re-gifting old presents are highly encouraged. Jon ended up with a curling iron and I got a small dip plate.

Despite a few Santa related meltdowns, it was a fun night! The kids did so much better than last year, and by next year they'll be pros!

Madeline is TWO!

2011-12-13T08:16:00.000-06:00

A full TWO years have gone by since our precious baby girl entered this world! It's all gone by so fast, but at the same time I can't imagine our household any other way.

December 4, 2009

1 Year

2 Years

This will be my last monthly update for her. I'll just post milestones/funny things more often than waiting each month to do them.

2 Year Update:

She weighs 24 lbs 8oz pounds (21% tile) and is 34.75 inches tall (75% tile). Her head size finally made it on the charts, 2 years later (17.6 inches, 3% tile)!!
She's wearing size 5 diapers and mostly 2T clothes.
She sleeps from 8 pm-7 am, and naps for about 1 1/2 hrs in the afternoon
She's still sleeping in her crib, but can climb out of it...she just hasn't figured it out yet. She's gotten one leg over the railing before we caught her.
No interest in potty training yet. She'll sit on her little potty (while insisting on being completely naked) and reads books, but won't actually go to the bathroom on it.
Singing is still one of her favorite things to do. We call it the Madeline show, because once the child gets started with her songs there's no stopping her. When she's singing before naps and at night, she uses a quiet, soft voice that I call her sweet voice.
She's stating to get really bossy. "Mommy, sing this. Daddy, do that."
When she wakes up early some mornings, we'll put her in bed with us. She pretends to sleep, then will get climb out of bed and say,"Get up Mommy. Get up Daddy. Eat breakfast."
She absolutely loves Sesame Street, especially Elmo. She also likes to watch Jack's Big Music Show, Wonder Pets and nursery rhyme songs and Elmo videos on YouTube.
Sometimes when I hold her, she'll lay her head on my shoulder, pat my back and say, "It's ok Mommy. So sweet."
She is still extremely attached to her lovey and will not sleep/nap without it.
She still won't sit in a stroller/wagon/any sort of containment device. Shopping carts will work for a little while if she's playing on a cell phone or eating snacks.
When coloring, she'll often ask us to spell things (colors, names of animals) and write specific letters/numbers. She can identify about 1/3 of letters in the alphabet.
She is still loving school and talks about her teacher and the kids in her class.
She's starting to talk in sentences more often.
She's had lots of fun taking a gymnastics class (but still can't jump!). We are going to try out dance class in January.
Her favorite toys are puzzles, Bitty Baby, books and play dough

The Name Game

2011-12-07T15:31:00.000-06:00

With 8 weeks (or less) to go until our baby boy is born, Jon and I decided we should start discussing names. Have I mentioned how much this process stresses me out? Therefore, I resorted to a source of organizational comfort.

Microsoft Excel.

I took a list of the top 1,000 boy names and put it into a spreadsheet. Jon and I each had our own tab, and individually went through and put "Yes, No or Maybe" by each one. The results were highly entertaining. When I matched our answers together with the names, guess how many names had a "yes" from both of us.

Two. TWO. Out of a THOUSAND names we completely agree on two of them. Here's how it played out (not that you care, but I'm sure one day I will look back on this and think it's funny).

Amanda: 13 yes, 79 maybe, 908 no
Jon: 7 yes, 45 maybe, 948 no

And no, I will not tell what these two names are. We like to do things difficult around here, so chances are this baby won't be named either one of them. :)

Side note: Yes, I realize I am a giant dork. I have a degree in Finance and spent 3.5 years analyzing stuff on spreadsheets for a living. What do you expect?

Thanksgiving

2011-12-05T18:40:00.000-06:00

The week before Thanksgiving Madeline had a traditional Thanksgiving feast at her school. Granny made her this adorable Turkey Dress.

This is how the kiddos eat their snacks and lunch. I thought it was so cute, but I bet there's a lot of sharing going on.

Dessert time!

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Bryan with the Kleckleys. Unfortunately Madeline wasn't feeling well so this is the best we could do for Thanksgiving pictures.

While she napped the rest of us enjoyed Thanksgiving lunch. In traditional Kleckley fashion, we had lasagna with the turkey and 5 different desserts for 10 people.

On Friday Gerilyn and I decided to brave the crowds and do some black Friday shopping. We went around 10 am, and it actually wasn't as crazy as I expected. Friday night we decided to drive out to Santa's Wonderland, a drive through lighted area outside of College Station. Madeline loved it, especially since she got to climb all over the car. She kept pointing out all the colors with the excitement of Christmas morning, "Bluuue! RED! Lellowww!"

We came back home on Saturday and finished decorating our tree. Madeline loved putting on the ornaments and loves to point out the angels and stars. I think her favorite is the Reveille (Reb-il-ee) ornament. She likes to move it around to different parts of the tree.

The light switch on the wall turns the tree on and off. Every morning, she climbs into the chair to reach the switch, turns it on, and says, "tree soooooo pretty". :)

30 Weeks!

2011-11-29T19:15:00.000-06:00

3/4 of the way there! Woo hoo!

How far along: 30 weeks
Size of baby: 15 1/2 inches long and 3 1/2 lbs (like a head of cabbage)
Weight gain: 24 pounds
Maternity Clothes: Yup. I've tried to squeeze this belly into some regular, loose tops and it isn't pretty.
Gender: It's a BOY!!
Movement: Lots of movement, especially at night and in the morning. This child is active, and loves to move when there's music playing in the house or car. He also had the hiccups for the first time last night.
Sleep:  Good nights and bad
Symptoms: I'm starting to get tired much easier. Luckily, my back pain has greatly improved thanks to my new CieAura CX2 bracelet (yes, I'm a walking commercial...it's that awesome).
What I miss: Sleeping on my back, drinking wine and wearing normal clothes.
Cravings: Fruit, anything cold and sweets
Best Moment this week: Definitely the ultrasound we had today! We found out that everything looks great (no more placenta issue).   We also learned he's 3 1/2 pounds, in the 55% tile for his size and he has hair! He also found it more necessary to show us his boy parts than his face, but we did get a few good pictures. Check out these cheeks:

What I am looking forward to: Having this baby in 8-10 weeks!

Lawn Ornaments

2011-11-19T16:01:00.000-06:00

I have a special place in my heart for inflatable holiday lawn ornaments. And by special, I mean they are banned from my front yard until the end of time. Our kids want a pony for Christmas? Sure. Giant treehouse? No prob. Something that resembles this? They might as well call CPS because it AIN'T happening.

As a "Keeping Up With the Kleckleys" blog holiday tradition, let me share with you a picture taken on 12/9/2006, near our former apartment in Bloomingdale, IL. You think a picture like this would put me in a stage of hysteria, but I love it. Once it gets to this point, all you can do is laugh. Can you imagine the kind of Christmas parties these people would have?

Why, you may ask yourself, am I posting about Christmas decor before Thanksgiving? Clark Griswold Jr. (aka my husband, who has already taught our child how to sing Jingle Bells) has been asking to put up Christmas decorations for 2 weeks. I love fall decor, so I've been adamant about leaving it up until now. I think he still feels cheated from last year. No Christmas decor was allowed until after Madeline's birthday (Dec 4th). It was all up December 5th. To make up it, I "gave" him 6 days of my fall decor in exchange for the Christmas stuff. This morning we went to Home Depot to load up on outdoor Christmas things to fulfill his vision for the front yard that he's been talking about since last Christmas (seriously, not exaggerating). Good thing he has good taste.

We walk into Home Depot, observing our outdoor decor options, when I saw IT. I thought I had seen the worst when the inflatable snow globes made their debut a few years ago. Not even close.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce the 54-3/4 in. Lightshow 120-Light Sparkle Peacock.

The picture does not do it justice. It's almost worth a trip to Home Depot to see this thing in action. It sparkles and shines like the Las Vegas strip on a Saturday night. I realize this bucks my tradition of disliking inflatable decor, but this is just too good to pass up. PLEASE let me know if you see this thing in someones yard.

PS - Is it a new trend to use Peacocks in Christmas decor? I understand using feathers, but a full replica of the animal? I would have love to have overheard the conversation with the Christmas Merchandise buyers at Home Depot...

PPS - It can be yours for the bargain price of $89.98

Operation Organization and 6 Years

2011-11-17T20:59:00.000-06:00

Last week, Jon's parents offered to keep Madeline for a few days so she could spend time at "Granny Camp" and I could get lots of baby prep done. A few days ended up being Wednesday night - Sunday. I was sad to be away from Maddie for so long (last time she spent 4 nights away we were in the Bahamas), but I got SO much done, and I know I wouldn't have been nearly as productive with only one or two days. On the agenda was one major thing: Operation Organization.

Basically, the entire upstairs needed to be cleaned out an organzied: Closets, holiday decor, scrapbook stuff, craft items, personal files, our special memoralbelia from childhood, all of Madeline's old clothes, unused home decor....you name it. Ask anyone who has been upstairs in my house recently: It was a hot mess. Luckily I was able to get it all done. We took an entire carload of stuff to Goodwill, and everything is now organized in a way to make an extreme type A person proud.

We took advantage of our childless evening Friday night and went to eat in Midtown with Peter, Niki and Maria. It was so nice to be able to eat out with my family and actually enjoy myself instead of the constant toddler interruption. I forgot what that was like.

On Saturday Jon and I celebrated 6 years of marriage! What a fun 6 years it has been. We've done so much, but I have to say this stage in life is my favorite thus far. Some might call our lives lame, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! We went to eat at Americas in River Oaks to celebrate.

Wedding Day: November 12, 2005

6 Years Later: November 12, 2011

Our final task before picking up Madeline was Santa duty. I bought quite a few of her Christmas/Birthday presents online and they all showed up while she was gone. One day I had UPS, Fed Ex and USPS deliver things to our house. I'm pretty sure the neighbors think we're crazy. UPS was here 4 days in a row.

Jon putting together her little table and chairs. She's going to love it!

Sunday afternoon we met Jon's parents at Dewberry Farms to pick up Maddie. This is going to get it's own post later on...she loved that place. Thank you to Granny and Papa K for watching our little girl! We feel very lucky that she has 2 sets of grandparents that will watch her for us and love to spend time with her. Here's a pic from a common activity at Granny Camp: baking cookies!

Party Bus

2011-11-17T19:29:00.000-06:00

The following picture (snapped during the 6pm news) needs no commentary...

28 Weeks!

2011-11-13T21:44:00.000-06:00

How far along: 28 weeks
Size of baby: 14.8 inches long and 2 1/4 pound (the size of a Chinese cabbage...who comes up with these things?)
Weight gain: 21 pounds
Maternity Clothes: Yup
Gender: It's a BOY!!
Movement: Lots of movement, especially at night and in the morning.
Sleep: Pretty good lately
Symptoms: Braxton Hicks have gotten more frequent, and I'm still having back pain. Also, I've been WAY more emotional lately. I think I've cried more in the past 2 weeks than in the past year for no good reason whatsoever.
What I miss: Sleeping on my back, drinking wine and wearing normal clothes. (all are still on the list)
Cravings: Fruit, anything cold and sweets (yikes!)
Best Moment this week: Welcoming the third trimester! It seems like it's gone so slow yet so fast at the same time. I feel like I can see a light at the end of the tunnel (I say that now...talk to me in mid-January :). I also got the office/baby room cleaned out and organized. I feel like things are starting to come together.
What I am looking forward to: Checking more things off my to-do list, and getting an ultrasound in 2 weeks. Can't wait to see this baby boy again!

Team Karen

2011-11-10T21:49:00.000-06:00

Last month we traveled to Marble Falls to participate in Team Karen, a fundraiser for Inflammatory Breast Cancer that was started in support of my friend Kim's mother. It was also the first time we've stayed with Madeline in a hotel since she's been a toddler.

The Team Karen event consisted of a 5K/10K and Spaghetti Dinner. Jon was one of the brave souls to do the 10K, which ended up being more like a cross country run. He said it was awesome. (not how I like to think of running but to each his own :)

Funny story: Before the dinner, a pastor said the blessing. At the end, everyone says "amen". My small Catholic child says (at the top of her lungs) "Father, Son, Holy Spirit" while making the sign of the cross. We were cracking up.

Team Karen was part one of the adventure. Part two: hotel with a toddler. It might have well have been Disneyworld. It's not like there was anything overly exciting, but I guess a different environment made things fun for her. She was screeching and running around from one thing to another:

Coloring on a notepad,

Sticking her head over the air conditioner to let the air blow through her hair,

and hiding in the curtains.

We thought we'd let her fall asleep in the big bed then move her to the pack n' play. She kept pretending like she was sleeping, then would open her eyes, look at me, start giggling, then close her eyes and start the whole thing over again. We were laughing so hard, and I felt like we were having a slumber party! She eventually did fall asleep.

The next morning she got to ride on the luggage cart. Combine that with getting to pick out her own breakfast and sit in a big girl chair to eat like mommy and daddy, and this child had a great time.

Family

2011-11-10T20:23:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago 3 of my grandparents came to Houston for a visit. They live in Louisiana and we don't get to see them very often. Jon just so happened to be out of town, so Madeline and I stayed at my parents house so she could get some extended time with her great grandparents (and it was nice to have extra people to keep her entertained :).

We got to spend a whole week with Grandma and Grandpa!

My Paw Paw flew in on Thursday, which was also my mom's birthday. We went to lunch at Frenchie's (one of her faves) to celebrate.

Maddie and GiGi with Frankie (owner of Frenchie's)

Singing "Happy Birthday" at my parents house. This is the only picture I got of my PawPaw over the weekend.

Side note: Did you catch the image in the bottom right hand corner? That would be my 86 year old Grandpa playing on his iphone...hahahaha. He's just as addicted as the rest of us! Later that weekend my 85 year old Grandma (and diehard LSU football fan) sat and watched the Texas A&M football game with us, repeatedly told us to stop talking so she could watch the game, and was explaining complicated play calls. Love them!

Saturday night Madeline stayed in League City with everyone while Jon and I went to dinner for the 2nd annual Kleckley family fun night. Last year all the "kids" went to Christopher's in Bryan, and this year we went to Fogo de Chao in Houston.

Brothers (ranked by birth order): Luke (#2), Jon (#1), Mark (#5), Paul (#3) and Ben (#4)

SILs: Jordan (Luke's wife), Dayna (Paul's wife) and me

Fogo de Chao is a Brazilian Steakhouse, where they walk around and serve you obnoxious amounts of meat. They also have a fabulous salad bar. Leave it to Mark to make a sandwich out of salad bar items.

Panic

2011-11-09T15:59:00.000-06:00

My house is starting to look like the North Pole. Between Madeline's birthday, Christmas and getting things for the new baby, it's getting ridiculous around here. The UPS guy is here almost every day and my house is flooded with brown boxes.

Today's UPS shipment consisted of baby bedding (woo hoo!) and a box of newborn diapers. I opened the diapers to remind myself how small they are. Bad idea.

For comparison purposes, Maddie's diaper is on the left and my old iphone is on the right. I forgot how tiny these things are, and it instantly put me into "oh my goodness I have WAY too much stuff to do in the next 10-12 weeks" mode.

Excuse me while I go breathe into a paper bag.

P.S. - Can I briefly mention how much I LOVE shopping online? I almost always find better deals than I'd get in the store, all from the comfort of my couch. :)

23 Months!

2011-11-06T18:55:00.000-06:00

Less than a month and little miss thang will be 2...where has the time gone?!?

(not the best picture, but I'll take what I can get)

She weighs 24.5 lbs, wears size 5 diapers and 24 month/2T clothes
Same sleeping habits: She'll sleep from 8pm-7am ish, and one nap a day for 1.5-2.5 hrs
Oh, this singing...the child sings constantly. In her crib in the morning, in the car, at night, while eating...you name it. We've added Where is Thumbkin, Mary Had a Little Lamb, This Little Piggy, Row Row Row Your Boat and 5 Little Monkeys to the song list. Jon is also teaching her Jingle Bells. Her favorites are ABC's, Wheels on the Bus and Old MacDonald (I think every animal in existence lives on her farm)
Sometimes when we're in the car she'll say "no music" when I have the radio on. She wants me to turn of the radio so we can sing "Madeline's Songs"
She is still a ridiculously picky eater but drinks tons of milk.
When we pull in the church parking lot she says, "See Jesus". She'll make the sign of the cross and really likes shaking people's hands and saying "peace be with you." She also thinks that Mary is the same person as "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (and therefore will sing it in church). Embarrassing moment: She wasn't behaving in church a few weeks ago, and started saying "Go home. No Jesus." Thank goodness we were in the cry room.
She knows the basic shapes: circle, square, oval, rectangle. diamond, triangle
She can finally identify colors (thank you, school)
Poor child still has trouble jumping, but I think we're getting close! She has been doing the "Elmo Slide" quite a bit and I think it's helping her coordination.
She loves to play outside, pull weeds and pick flowers
Behavior wise: Dare I say things have gotten slightly easier since she is starting to understand that good behavior = good things and bad behavior = consequences. The tantrums are still around in full force (at least 15 minutes on occasion if she doesn't get her way) and I have a feeling they'll be around for the next year. Our latest reward for good behavior is going to PetsMart to look at the kitty cats. In Old Navy the other day she said, "Good girl, see kitty cats."
She loves to play "pretend", work on puzzles, her Little People Farm, color and read books.
One of our favorite times to spend with her is at night putting her to bed. We say our prayers, and will pray for Mommy, Daddy, Madeline, Baby Brother and Fergie. Then we ask her who else she wants to pray for. She always says Peter and Niki first, then it's anyone's guess. Sometimes she'll go through all of the Notos and Kleckleys. Other times she'll throw in Elmo, random friends and Jesus. Then she says "I Lub You Mommy/Daddy."

26 weeks!

2011-11-02T20:59:00.000-05:00

(posting a week late....oh well :)
How far along: 26 weeks
Size of baby: 14 inches long and 1 2/3 pound (about the size of an English hothouse cucumber, whatever that is)
Weight gain: 20 pounds
Maternity Clothes: Yup....my "normal" tops are starting to get too short
Gender: It's a BOY!! In case you're wondering, the child still does not have a name. We narrowed it down to a list of 30 and I consider that progress at this point. For now, he shall remain nugget/baby brother
Movement: Lots of movement, especially at night and in the morning. There's a little hand (or foot) that likes to poke my right side in a certain spot about twice a day and it hurts. Same thing happened with Madeline!
Sleep: I have good nights and bad.
Symptoms: I'm starting to feel the later pregnancy symptoms, especially lower back pain. As a result I can feel the pregnancy walk starting. :( I'm also getting quite a bit of Braxton Hicks contractions. Tummy is still sensitive, but overall I try not to complain!
What I miss: Sleeping on my back, drinking wine and wearing normal pants. (all are still on the list) The bigger I get, the more I miss normal clothes. My belly has gotten past the cute stage and so has my wardrobe.
Cravings: Fruit, salad, ice water, anything cold. Also starting to crave sweets more (yikes!). I'm blaming it on the holidays, which make me want to bake WAY too much.
Best Moment this week: A good Dr's appointment, and almost to the third trimester!
What I am looking forward to: Today I think I finally decided on bedding! Woo hoo! Looking forward to checking more things off my to-do list.

(No pic because I'm lazy and refuse to take a belly pic without my hair and make up done)

Halloween and Fall Festivities

2011-11-01T22:02:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago we took Madeline to the pumpkin patch at her school. We let her pick out her own big pumpkin and 5 small ones for our family (Jon, Me, Maddie, Baby Brother, and Fergie...can't believe there's 5!).

For Halloween Madeline dressed up as Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz. She doesn't know who Dorthy is, but I knew she'd love the sparkly shoes and carrying around a small dog in a basket. On Friday we went to a Halloween party for our neighborhood playgroup. She was excited to take pictures with her pumpkins and insisted on sitting on the big one.

Last year's pic

On Monday we went to the Weber's house for a Halloween gathering with our bootcamp friends (although with all the babies/pregos we aren't working out much these days). Jon dressed up as a scarecrow and I was Glenda the good witch. (forgot to take a family pic)

The Girls

Kiddos - It was much harder to get good group pictures this year!

Trick or Treat!

Madeline was more interested in picking little purple flowers (weeds) out of people's yards than collecting candy. We had to practically force her to doorsteps.

One of the few times she did take candy she took a giant bite out of it, wrapper and all. Awesome. She also got quite a kick out of pulling Samantha in the wagon.

It was short and sweet, but we had a great Halloween!

Swagger Wagon

2011-10-27T09:44:00.000-05:00

Yes, I've been a blog slacker. Everything worth writing about is documented via pictures/video on my fancy new IPhone, but I've been having uploading issues. We'll leave it at that.

In the meantime, here's something to give you a good laugh. Thank you to my high school sister for introducing me to the Swagger Wagon. Word, mommies.

Obnoxious much?

2011-10-17T16:52:00.000-05:00

My sister Aimee (who is a senior in high school) was at my house today. She showed me this picture of homecoming mums from a rival high school.

Seriously?? We were laughing SO hard. Sorry if one of these girls is your cousin or something. If so, please tell her for the cost of the mum she could probably feed a small village in China.

PS - Did you notice the lights on the middle one?? HAHAHAHA

For all of you Twilight fans...

2011-10-16T21:29:00.000-05:00

I'm not embarrassed to admit that I'm a fan of the Twilight series. I read all 4 of the books in a month and liked the movies.

However....THIS is where I draw the line.

Even worse? Guess the store I found them in.

Ulta? Target? Wal-Mart? Nope.

Try Best Buy.

Seriously...I would love to know how many R-Patz and K-Stew sparkly hair tools they sell!

Never let your child nap in a diaper...

2011-10-16T21:23:00.000-05:00

(warning: this is gross)

The other day I let Maddie nap in a diaper and t-shirt. For 45 minutes she was talking, singing to herself and jumping in her crib. About the time she reached up and started turning the monitor on and off (she has spiderman arms) I decided to get her. I walked into the room and it reaked of a nasty smell....as in dirty diaper smell.

The little stinker had gone #2, decided to pull off her dirty diaper and stomp around in it. Her entire crib sheet was covered in poop. Somehow she managed to not get any on the crib bumper or herself (other than her feet). I was not able to see any of this on the monitor, and did not hear any indication of what she was doing. By the look on her face I think she was proud of herself. Ugh.... she will no longer be napping without pants on!

24 Weeks!

2011-10-14T09:48:00.000-05:00

How far along: 24 weeks
Size of baby: 12 inches long and 1 pound (about the length of an ear of corn)
Weight gain: 16 pounds (4 less than with Madeline at this point)
Maternity Clothes: Shorts, pants and some tops.
Gender: It's a BOY!!
Movement: He's starting to move quite a bit. I can feel it during the day now, not just at night or in the morning.
Sleep: Sleep is starting to be a challenge again. It might be time for a new pillow arrangement. It's a good thing we have a king size bed now, because the amount of pillows I'm accumulating is ridiculous.
Symptoms: No major complaints. My stomach has been more sensitive, but Zantac and I are trying to manage it. I'm also having some lower back pain.
What I miss: Sleeping on my back, drinking wine and wearing normal pants. I have a feeling these 3 things will remain on this list for awhile!
Cravings: Fruit, salad, ice water, anything cold.
Best Moment this week: Feeling more movement and being able to see it, and scheduling our next ultrasound on November 29th. Apparently I have a low lying placenta and the doctor wants to check it out. No biggie...just another reason to see our baby!
What I am looking forward to: Hopefully coming to a decision on nursery decor very soon. And maybe start discussing what to name this kid. :)

camelcamelcamel.com

2011-10-13T16:56:00.000-05:00

I found an awesome website today: camelcamelcamel.com. It tracks pricing on Amazon, and will show you a chart of the pricing history for the past 3-4 years. You can also set up alerts so you'll get an email if the item you are watching drops below a specified price. What a great idea!!

Cute Pictures

2011-10-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

A bunch of randomness:

Last week Madeline heard a car outside and thought her Daddy was home. It wasn't him, but she sat there for 10 minutes waiting for him to walk through the door.

We were very lucky to get lots of rain over the weekend, and Madeline was fascinated.

(You can't see it in this picture but I promise it was there!)

It didn't get old, because that night she wanted to sit with her baby and watch the rain.

Occasionally while eating she likes to run her very messy hands through her hair. I looked over and noticed she had picked up a piece of chicken, too. (gross!)

She obviously didn't care.

Today I picked up Madeline's professional Aggie pictures. It amazes me how much she's grown and changed in just 1 year!

22 Months!

2011-10-08T19:21:00.001-05:00

She weighs 24.5 lbs.
We switched her to size 5 diapers.
She sleeps from 8pm - 6:30 am, will wake up talking and singing, then fall back asleep until 7:15 ish. Naps are anywhere from 1.5 hrs to 3 hrs.
She's ridiculously picky about what she eats. Almost every meal is a fight and she basically lives off of fruit, applesauce, carrots and hummus.
We started a mommy and me gymnastics class. She really likes the different activities (especially bars) but has a hard time being patient about things. She still can't jump, but we are working on it.
She's been having a great time at school. She comes home knowing things we haven't taught her. This week she was walking around saying," Dear Jesus thank you for our food and blessings. Amen. Yayyyy! (then claps for herself). " This is different than what we say at home and I'm pretty sure she didn't learn it on TV. :)
No more high chair! She decided a few weeks ago she wanted to sit like a big girl and has been in a booster seat ever since.
She loves Sesame Street, especially Elmo.
She's added "Wheels on the Bus" and "Old MacDonald" to her song list
Funny things she's been saying: "Sooo Sweet", "How about that one?", "Let's go kids", "Who's those people?" "Thank you soooo much"
She tells everyone and everything bye: "Bye! Have a good day! See you later, alligator."
Unfortunately she no longer tells us when her diaper needs to be changed. I'm still not pushing potty training until she's ready.
As of this month she finally understands a glorious but dangerous concept: bribery. Bribing her with Chik Fil A resulted in some pretty cute Texas A&M professional pictures a few weeks ago. :)
She's starting to play "pretend" with things. She'll cook in her little kitchen and serve things to us, feed her baby and stuffed animals, and carry around bags to collect things and say she's shopping. If she finds a small piece of paper she'll bring it to us and say, "that's 3 dollars." (It's always 3 dollars. I don't get it.)
Her favorite things to play with are puzzles, her baby doll and her kitchen.

Happy Birthday to ME!

2011-10-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday I celebrated by 29th (for the first time) birthday. Jon's COO (Dan) invited us (along with other Aggies) to come to DFW that weekend for the Texas A&M/Arkansas game. It's a good thing I like football and the people Jon works with! I spent time with many of them during my short stint at Southern Shingles and have gotten to know their wives over the past few years and we always have so much fun together.

On Friday we dropped Madeline off in Bryan and headed to DFW. We stopped in Allen to visit with my Aunt Dianne, Uncle Mike and Emily. It was such an enjoyable visit...I only wish it could have been longer! I love visiting with them! Friday night we went to Dan's house in McKinney with some of Jon's co-workers for dinner. After dinner the group went to a Robert Earl Keen concert at Billy Bob's but I chose not to go. Crowded bar + smoke + preggo = cranky me. Instead I spent my late night eating ice cream Dibs in the hotel room watching TV and it was awesome.

Saturday morning (my actual bday) I woke up to no husband in the room. He had gotten in at 2 am then woke up early to go wrap presents in the car. haha. He is always great when it comes to buying me gifts. He got me some fall scented candles (at my request...I would have loved to see him picking those out), a new make up mirror and a pretty little picture of an iphone with the promise of getting the new one when it comes out (see iphone story below). He also activated the XM radio in my car, which seems like a small thing, but considering I don't spend long periods of time in my car it's definitely a treat!! I'm loving it!!

Saturday at 9 am we headed to Cowboy Stadium. The best part about attending these games with Jon's company is the suite...comfy accommodations and the food is always awesome! The suite is a few doors down from the Home and Visiting team's coaches boxes, and we ran into Porter S. Gardner and a few other A&M bigwigs.

Our View

At halftime all was well. The Aggies were winning, and they surprised me with a ginormous cake! There were about 25 people in the suite but the cake could have easily fed 100. I guess they don't do anything small in that stadium.

Ignore my awkward face in this pic. Isn't the cake huge??

Unfortunately the Aggies blew their lead and we left the game in a state of football depression. Saturday night Jon and I went to eat at Copeland's at the Southlake Town Square. If I can't have Cajun food in my beloved New Orleans, this was the next best thing. After dinner they were having a big Oktoberfest festival at the Town Square, so we walked around and enjoyed the perfect weather outside.

Bananas Foster...YUM!

Other than the Aggies losing, it was a perfect birthday weekend!

SO here's the scoop on the iphone.

I've had my current iphone 3 (not even a 3G) for 3 years. It's been great up until the past 4 months. To hang up a call or to use the touch pad while I'm on the phone it has to be laying on a completely flat surface. Many times I have to hang up by restarting the phone. Half the features don't work because the phone freezes up. Needless to say, I was determined to get the new one. Jon had been stalking iphone rumours for months. Go figure, the night they go on sale he is on a business trip so I was on my own fighting the tech world to get my hands on a iphone 4S asap.

They were supposed to go on sale this morning at 12 am Pacific time, 2 am our time. I set my alarm and basically hit refresh for 45 minutes on the Apple and At&t websites. Apple finally came up close to 3 am. I was able to get through selecting my phone, so I thought I was in the clear. Not so. Long story long, every time I entered my info the page would time out. At 3:30 am I told myself I would not be staying up past 4 am for this stupid thing. I was starting to feel guilty for being so aggravated about something so materialistic. Go figure, right at 4 am some of my info went through and I got to a page saying my phone had been reserved. Then I start panicking thinking that our old Chicago shipping address was on the account, but I couldn't get through to change it. Didn't go to sleep until 5 am. Got an email at 8 am about completing my registration, so 6 hours later the process was complete (correct address and all)! Sheesh! I'm not even a big techy person, but I'm hoping my exhaustion today will be worth it!

Madeline's First Haircut

2011-10-03T21:26:00.000-05:00

Last week we took Madeline (at 22 months old) to get her first haircut! Her hair is super thin, but she had this mullet thing going on in the back and it was making me crazy. It took me a month to talk Jon into it, but I think it looks much better.

Knowing what a strong willed child she is, we decided to take her to a kids' haircut place. It ended up being a good move, because it took 3 lollipops, cartoons, playing angry birds on Mommy's phone, and sitting on Mommy's lap to keep her content...but together, it all worked out! We were very pleased and she was a happy camper!

Before:

During the haircut:

After:

Maternity Clothes Update

2011-09-28T21:49:00.000-05:00

I still cannot stand them, so that's not an update. However...

Remember the sequined mini skirt I stumbled across at the maternity store last month? Well, today I made another dreaded trip to the maternity store in search of a nice maroon shirt to fit over the bump. I did not find what I was looking for, but I DID find the mini skirt, still on the clearance rack! Imagine that. Now there were two of them (a return?) marked down to $9.99. I managed to take a picture this time. I must say it was not as obnoxious as I remember. The sequins do not show very well, but it still cracks me up that a preggo would wear it.

Notice that thing to the left? It's a fake belly. Totally weirded me out the first time I saw it hanging in the dressing room. Welcome to my world. :)

4 Preggos Tailgate

2011-09-28T15:15:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we met some of our friends in College Station to tailgate before the Texas A&M/OSU game.

Ready to party!

We took the kiddos to the Spirit Walk (where the team walks down Houston St into Kyle Field) and to the kids' yell practice.

You can't see much from this pic, but they loved Yell Practice! Madeline was even doing all of the pass back hand signs. We were so proud. :)

As the team was walking by they were giving out high fives. Madeline thought it was so cool. I only wish I knew the players by their faces and not just their jerseys!

Check out this hair piece. Witty comment not needed...it takes care of itself.

We also took them to watch the Corps march in. E-2 stopped right by where were standing, so we tried to get a few pics with Reveille. This is the best we could do. I was so afraid she was going to try and grab Reveille's nose like she occasionally does with Fergie. Thank goodness she kept her hands to herself.

We had SO much fun, but boy...were we a sight! All 4 families have a toddler and one on the way.

Me (due Feb 4th), Sara (due last week of Jan.), Kim (due in 6 weeks) and Katie (due in 4 weeks)

At one point the four of us walked through Spence park to Koldus to use the restroom. You can imagine the looks we were getting, even a few comments: "Oh my gosh, ALL of them are pregnant!" The husbands were watching the kids while we were gone, and one lady stopped by the tailgate and said, "This must be the nursery." Wait until next year, lady...hahaha.

Finally, I might be slightly biased, but this could be one of the cutest pictures taken in the history of the world. (thanks Sara!)

My Day

2011-09-26T19:58:00.000-05:00

Monday = School for Maddie = Freedom!

I decided to make a trip to Target in peace. I picked up a Pumpkin Spice Latte, and happily took my time strolling the aisles. It's amazing the kind of clearance deals you can find when you don't have a toddler throwing goldfish and trying to climb out of the basket. I was leaving the store with a smile on my face, until I happened to look down and noticed the gym shorts I had on were inside out. Awesome. Apparently I should have paid more attention when dressing myself this morning. Fail #1.

I ran a few more errands and stopped by CVS to get a flu shot. While I was waiting, a mom with an overly hyper child walked up to the pharmacy where I was sitting. The boy looks at me and says something in jibberish (huh?). The mom says, "He was asking what your name is." I look at the boy and say, "My name is Amanda." He starts SCREAMING and crying at the top of his lungs. He says, "That's NOT what I asked you!" Well excuse me, maybe you should speak english next time. So I made a kid cry. Fail #2.

To top it all off...
This afternoon Madeline was happily playing and watching Sesame Street in the living room, so I went into my room to go through some clothes. Ten minutes later I go to check on her, and she's stirring plastic beads in a toy bowl with a toy spoon. Then she puts the spoon in her mouth and spits out a bead. Great. It just so happened that she broke a play bracelet with beads on them (that I thought was Maddie proof), and decided to use the beads as play food. I gathered all the beads and quickly realized that there were at least 6-7 missing to make the full bracelet. Double great. A quick call to the pediatrician confirmed that this was not a big deal and she should "pass" them soon. That'll be a fun conversation with her teacher on Wednesday... "Let me know if you find any hot pink beads in my kid's poop." Fail #3. The good new is over the course of the afternoon Madeline kept magically finding more beads that she had hidden. My guess is that if she did eat any, it was only a few.

Never a dull moment.

Aggie Football and Paula Deen

2011-09-23T09:42:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was packed! On Friday we drove to Bryan to celebrate Papa K's birthday. Saturday morning Gerilyn, Jordan, some friends and I drove from Bryan back to Houston to see Paula Deen at the Metropolitan Cooking Show. Surprisingly she did not cook (her husband did in the background). It was more like a comedy show, and she was soooo funny! I could have listened to her talk for hours. If you ever get the opportunity to see her, I highly recommend it.

Paula and her husband

Our group

After the show, we drove back to Bryan. They dropped me off where the boys and Madeline were tailgating for the Texas A&M/Idaho game. It was Maddie's first Aggie tailgating experience and she loved it! Check out the shoes...

Family pic (Yes, I am very well aware that my shirt is purple and not maroon. Do you know how hard it is to find a maroon maternity tank top? My belly isn't big enough to sport the "future Aggie" shirt. Right now the arrow would be pointing to the ground and that's just weird.)

We also stopped by the Ol' Ags Kegs and Eggs tailgate (always a rowdy occasion). Jon and Ben were both in the organization during their college days. Two years ago, I was at this tailgate pregnant with Madeline and all of the college girls looked at me like I was the plague, like "what is this preggo doing here??" I wanted to tell them, "This is what life looks like 5 years down the road. It's called growing up. And by the way, I used to be cool too suckers." Haha.

I got a kick out of it then, and even a bigger kick out of it this year when we showed up with a toddler and pregnant!! Of course they all thought Maddie was hilarious. She found sunglasses on the ground and decided to adopt them. She may or may not have left with a ball from the beer pong table.

Kleckley boys tailgating

After tailgating Papa K took Madeline home and the rest of us went to the game. It's always great to be back at Kyle field, especially when the Aggies win!

Need A Good Laugh?

2011-09-20T15:57:00.000-05:00

I saw this link on someones Facebook page. It was posted on Tosh.O with the title "You think your job is bad?" After a particularly rough day with a strong willed child, I need this reminder that it can always be worse: You could be subjected to this everyday!
We are Wal-Mart

20 Weeks

2011-09-18T21:40:00.000-05:00

How far along: 20 weeks

Size of baby: 10 inches long and 10 1/2 ounces (about the length of a banana)
Weight gain: 10 pounds
Maternity Clothes: Shorts, pants and some tops.
Gender: It's a BOY!!
Movement: I feel little movements a few times a day.

Sleep: No major complaints, although the whole "I can't sleep on my back" thing is starting to bug me.
Symptoms: Nothing major...this would be what I would call my happy pregnancy months. I still get tired easily, but nothing like it's been the past 20 weeks.
What I miss: Sleeping on my back. And drinking. There, I said it. Tailgating at a football game isn't the same when you're sipping bottled water.
Cravings: Fruit, salad, Chipotle, ice water, anything cold. (This still cracks me up. What pregnant person craves salad??)
Best Moment this week: Getting to 20 weeks!! I'm halfway there!! Whoo hoo!!
What I am looking forward to: Feeling the baby move more. It's one of the few things I enjoy about being pregnant, and I forgot how much fun it is to feel a baby move.

Hail Clear Creek High: 10 Year Reunion

2011-09-15T19:48:00.001-05:00

Last weekend was my 10 year high school reunion. It's crazy how time flies. Everyone pretty much looked the same, but I'd like to think we all look better than we did 10 years ago. Despite me thinking this would be an awkward event due to Facebook, it was actually really fun. It doesn't hurt that I still keep up with my same close group of friends from back then, so it was an excuse for us to get together kid FREE (woo hoo!).

Friday night was the Homecoming football game. It was also a special occasion for Aimee, who was celebrating her homecoming as a high school senior. It's weird for me to think that in 10 years she'll be my age and maybe be married with kid(s). But by then I'll almost be 40 so we won't go there.

The youngest and the oldest

There was not much socializing at the football game but it was still fun. The stadium was packed, and my child was extra hyper. The only time she sat still was during the band and drill team performances, which she loved.

Friends at the game: Stephanie, Allison, Jetonne, Joseph, me and Will

Saturday night was a dinner at La Brisa. The last time I had worn heels was for weddings in May and August, so it was nice to get extra dressed up for a change.

Two side notes:

1. This is the semi-tent non-maternity dress I got for $11 on clearance at Old Navy. I think it turned out cute!

2. I did NOT put my hand on my hip by choice. Stephanie made me do it. It's a MAJOR pet peeve of mine, people. She said it's to elongate your arms. I told her I obviously don't need help in that department and she agreed. :)

Superstar!! (It's an inside joke that comes with a long story. It makes me laugh, so therefore it gets blog recognition. Let's just say it has to do with really crappy golf shots we used to hit during high school tournaments.)

As promised, I forced my close friends to replicate a picture we took at my 18th birthday party. This is the original. The lines are bent edges from sitting in a frame that was too small for the picture.

I think we look way hotter than we did back then, but maybe I'm biased. Although I must say my hair was probably much healthier back then. After all, it was before the Chi. (thank GOD for that invention!)

Will and the girls

Class Picture

As expected, Jon did have more fun and my reunion than his. Bryan High might have had an open bar, but it didn't have Rocco, Chuck and Will to entertain him!

The weekend made me feel very thankful for where I am in my life. No one can predict the future, but I'm pretty pleased with how mine has turned out since I graduated 10 years ago!

What's Really Going On In The Big 12

2011-09-13T15:17:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have been following Texas A&M's attempted transition to the SEC and all the Big 12 drama, you'll get a kick out of this. For those who haven't or don't care, you'll be bored. Pick one of my friend's blogs on the right side of the page to read instead. :)

PS - Foul language ahead...don't read if you get offended by that sort of thing. But it's reaaallllly funny...

A&M: We' re leaving

Texas: Fine leave. We'll replace you with notre dame and Arkansas and BYU.
A&M: fine we're gone. You're gonna miss us.
Texas: you're going to miss going 7-5
Dan Beebee: "what's going on?"
Texas: shut up Dan
SEC: we'd love to have A&M
A&M: sweet we're ready
Sec: well there's a couple things. The other schools have to let you go.
Rest of BIG 12: sure, whatever. Get the **** out.
A&M: they said we could go.
Sec: okay we'll get together and let you know.
Texas: Notre Dame is out and so is Arky. BYU is a maybe. It's cool though, we'll just invite SMU, Houston and somebody else. All is well as long as we get our tv network and money.
OU: hmm, maybe A&M was on to something.
OSU and Tech: ugmm we're game if you're game.
KSU, Kansas, ISU and Baylor: what are you guys talking about.
OU, OSU: nothing shut the **** up.
Mizzou: keep it down a-holes I'm talking to the BIG 10.
Texas: you a-holes better not be trying to leave.
OU: well whatta you gonna do if we do.
Baylor: who's leaving?
Texas: OU, OSU and Tech.
Baylor: that's ******* bull****.
Texas: tech you better not even be thinking about that
KSt: yeah bad form guys. (Whispers to Kansas) what's our options.
Kansas: just be cool. I think I can get us out east.
Mizzou: what's that? I'll go out east.
Kansas: Yeah sure just shut up already.
Texas: this isn't looking so good.
ISU: hello MWC. Goodbye world. (Puts gun in mouth, pulls trigger)
OU, OSU: looks like we're going west!
Texas: ****.
Tech. (Silent fist pump)
Sec: congratulations A&M. You're coming to the SEC.
A&M: YA mother*ckers. See ya *******.
Sec: but....
A&M: but what?
Sec: they all have to repromise not to sue.
A&M: well that's fine. I mean they all already said they wouldn't right guys.
OU: ya.
OSU: no argument from us.
Mizzou: whatever.
A&M: Baylor?
Baylor....
Texas: ( snicker)
Tech: f*ck
A&M: are you ******* serious? You ******* worthless mother f*ckers.
Baylor: well, rivalries and integrity.....yada yada yada
Kst: sweet. We'll go along with this. Come on ISU. ISU!? Oh god.

So to all my A&M fans it may not be that simple.

The Horns Hold Up The Halo...

2011-09-11T20:25:00.000-05:00

I've been using this phrase to describe Madeline quite a bit lately. One minute I think she's possessed, the next minute she's a sweet little angel. Today's example:

Who gets put in time out in the church cry room? This child. Don't even ask. Jon said she sat there for 2 whole minutes and didn't move. He thinks she likes time out.

Then, tonight when we were saying bedtime prayers we prayed for Mommy, Daddy, Madeline, baby and Fergie. I asked who else she wanted to pray for. She listed (in this exact order): Niki, Peter, GiGi, Aimee and Elmo. Yes, Elmo. Sorry to all of you who did not make the cut before a Sesame Street character. :)

18 Weeks

2011-09-10T09:31:00.000-05:00

(one week late...oops)

How far along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: 5 1/2 inches long and 7 ounces (about the size of a bell pepper)
Weight gain: 8 pounds (yes, I gained 6 pounds in 2 weeks)
Maternity Clothes: Shorts and pants, but I'm still wearing regular tops.
Gender: It's a BOY!
Movement: I feel little movements a few times a day
Sleep: No major complaints, although I need to stop sleeping on my back (a no no for pregnant peeps).
Symptoms: The exhaustion is really improving. I ususally only nap for 45 min a day instead of Madeline's entire nap time. I can also literally feel my belly getting bigger. It's getting harder to pick up Madeline 400418444512 times a day.
What I miss: My energy and normal appetite. And the occasional alcoholic drink.
Cravings: Fruit, salad, Chipotle, ice water, anything cold
Best Moment this week: Finding out we're having a healthy baby boy
What I am looking forward to: Not being pregnant in 20 ish weeks....is it too early to start saying that? :)

Flash Mob

2011-09-08T21:44:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we went to watch my mom and sisters participate in a flash mob during a Zumba class at Discovery Green. Maria is part of the Houston Rockets Launch Crew, and the flash mob was done to promote the Launch Crew, Space City Seniors and Little Dippers (all performance groups for the Rockets).

Houston Rockets Flash Mob @ Zumba

It's hard to tell who's who, but Maria is in the front wearing a white t-shirt. My mom is in the back right wearing white capris. (sorry Aimee, you're to hard to pick out!)

I must say, we were very impressed. It was funny to watch the look on people's faces when they realized they were witnessing a flash mob!

It's A....

2011-09-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

BOY!! More imporantly, a healthy, perfect baby boy! We are so excited!

It was funny. The little guy was not cooperating, so I had to lay on my side away from the screen for the ultrasound tech to get some good shots. The only thing I could see was Jon's face, which had a major look of concentration trying to figure out what was on the ultrasound until she said "It's A Boy!" Of course, we would have been thrilled either way, but I'm excited to experience the other side of things and Jon is excited to have someone on his team this time around. I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about how to handle a boy, but I know it'll be lots of fun.

He wasn't moving very much so we didn't get many good pictures. Jon said he better learn to stick up for himself or his big sister will beat him up...haha. It never ceases to amaze me how much detail you can see on ultrasounds. It's a good reminder that: oh yeah, there is a little person in there!

No name yet, and do not ask because once we decide we probably won't tell anyone. :) We have no idea what his first name will be but his middle name will be Lawson. It's Jon's middle name, and has been the middle name of the first born Kleckley son for the past 3-4 (?) generations. Naming a child really stresses me out and I have this fear that we'll pick a name, tell everyone, he'll be born and look nothing like his name. Therefore, no one will know until he's born.

I made my first boy shopping trip yesterday. It's definitely different than shopping for little girls, but it's nice to change things up a bit. Now I get to shop for TWO kids! :)

21 Months!

2011-09-07T11:51:00.000-05:00

It's amazing to me how much information she absorbs. I'll just say something once and she'll repeat it days later. The highlight (or lowlight) of this month? "crazy child"
When coloring, she loves to spell her name. She'll hand me a crayon and say, "Spell Keckey. Spell Madine." She'll say the letters outloud as I write them, and she almost knows how to spell her whole name! Considering it's 16 letters I figured we should get a head start.
She's getting better about singing her Abc's and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and has added Frere Jacque, Jesus Loves Me, Good Morning to You and Itsy Bitsy Spider.
She'll repeat parts of books before we read them to her. If we skip pages of longer books she knows and will turn the pages back and say "read that".
75% of the time she has something in her diaper, she'll run up to me and say "no diaper". This is good, but if we don't change it immediately she'll take it off herself.
She's really into shoes. I put a basket of them in the living room and she'll entertain herself by trying them all on. Speaking of shoes, she finally keeps them on in the car!
She's doing really well feeding herself with a fork/spoon. She can eat yogurt and applesauce without getting it all over her.
She bosses her toys ("Stay riiighhht there, baby, teddy, etc") and Fergie ("Come here, Fer-guy") around
She gets very concerned when she loses track of people or her things: "Where'd you go, Dada, Fergie, baby, etc" (while holding her arms out)
She's really into hiding right now...and she's good at it. Her favorite places are behind the chair in her room and in the laundry room (when the lights are out she closes her door and sits on Fergie's bed)
She still does not want to ride in a stroller or shopping cart.
She is really into her baby doll right now, especially changing her diaper. She'll pretend to change it and say "That stinky. Yuck."
She repeats EVERYTHING we say. I feel like there is a parrot/constant echo in this house.

Keeping it Classy: Maternity Clothes Edition

2011-08-31T15:33:00.000-05:00

I do not particularly enjoy pregnancy. Sure, I love the feeling the baby moving, the circle of life, yada yada yada...I'm just not one of those people that'll say, "Oh, I loved being pregnant!" The nausea, weight gain, numerous bathroom trips, exhaustion, etc can all take a hike. And 9 months? For. Ev. Er. All worth it, of course, I just prefer my babies outside of my tummy. :)

Another pregnancy grievance? Maternity clothes.

(Sorry if you own this shirt or like it.)

Ugggghhh. Most make you look like a blimp/tent and the selection stinks. I also have a major issue with maternity shirts that tie in the back.

WHY is the necessary?? I cut a few ties off the back of maternity shirts with Maddie and they worked out just fine. For some reason they instantly make me feel like a frumpy mommy. There are quite a few cute things online, but you never know how something will fit. It's so much more work to dress cute when pregnant.

My 10 year high school reunion is next weekend and my bump is getting past the point where I can wear normal dresses, so this morning I dreadfully set out to find something cute made for a growing belly. Ha. I found a "maybe" dress at Old Navy (in the regular clothes section, go figure) but it borders on the line of a tent. I then headed to Motherhood Maternity. I have mixed feelings about this store. Some things are cute, but over 50% of what they carry has the dreaded tie in the back. I was browsing through the racks when I saw a very unconventional piece of maternity wear: a super short sequined mini skirt.
If it was less than $20 I would have bought it because it was so ridiculous. When I say "mini", I don't mean "conservative mini". I mean if my 17 year old sister was wearing it with heels my dad would not let her out of the house. And sequins? I was laughing SO hard. I might have to go back this weekend just to take a picture. Maybe I'm just bitter because I'm not a cute pregnant person. More power to the person who can look good in this thing while trying to cover a basketball belly.

Motherhood Maternity, thank you for providing a good laugh today.

Madeline's First Day of School!

2011-08-24T15:45:00.000-05:00

Monday was Madeline's first day of school! She's attending a Mother's Day Out program on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:30-2.

At first she would only take a picture with Fergie in it (go figure).

She loves her "pack-back", although when it's completely packed (lunch, diapers, lovey and 2 sippy cups) it weighs 7 lbs and is too heavy for her to carry.

Finally got a good pic with Jon's phone

She did great! When we dropped her off she wouldn't even kiss us bye. She was much more interested in the toys. On Monday she took a 1 hr nap and today she took a 2 hr nap! It must be the cute nap mat Granny made her, considering she usually doesn't nap for 2 hours at home.

When I picked her up Monday, our conversation went like this:

Me: Maddie, did you have a good day at school?

Madeline: Teacher fun.

Me: What did you do today?

Madeline: Samantha, bird. (Samantha is her friend)

One minute of silence.

Madeline: (singing) Fer Jacka. Don voo. Ding dong.

That's right, friends. The child busts out with "Frere Jacque", a song we have never sung to her. A toddler attempting to sing in French is quite amusing. I was laughing so hard. We have video of her singing it but it's on Jon's phone...I'll post later.

Today's trick? "Cock-a-doodle-doooooo!"

Not a refined as French, but at least I know she's learning something.

16 Weeks

2011-08-24T14:42:00.000-05:00

How far along: 16 weeks

Size of baby: 4 1/2 inches long and 3 1/2 ounces (about the size of an avocado)

Weight gain: 2 pounds

Maternity Clothes: Shorts and pants, but I'm still wearing regular tops. I try to wear lots of dresses because they're comfortable. My belly has really "popped" this week so there's no more regular pants for awhile!

Gender: We find out September 6th!

Movement: I started feeling flutters last week. It's nice to know there's actually someone in there. :)

Sleep: MUCH, MUCH better! I'm only getting up once or twice to go to the bathroom. I also started taking calcium supplements for the restless legs, and that's really helping.
Symptoms: My tummy is feeling much better. I only have to take Zofran a few times a week....I just have to be sure to stay on top of eating well and often. On the downside, the exhaustion (which I thought was improving) has not gotten much better, despite better sleep at night. I also get tired, short of breath and light headed really easily. It's WAY too early in the pregnancy for this business, so I'm making some changes to my diet and hoping it improves.

What I miss: My energy and normal appetite. Unfortunately the foods that make me feel better are not appetizing to me, and it's annoying.

Cravings: Fruit, salad, Chipotle, ice water, anything cold

Best Moment this week: Feeling little flutters

What I am looking forward to: Finding out in 2 weeks if nugget is a boy or girl, and hopefully getting some of my energy back.

Motivation

2011-08-19T12:25:00.000-05:00

Jon and his brother Ben are very competitive. They like to discuss how much weight they've lost, how many push ups they can do, workout routines, etc. They ran a half marathon together in March, then got the bright idea to run a full marathon. They both applied to the Houston Marathon, and decided if they both got in, they would run it. If not, neither would do it.

As luck would have it, they both got in. And let me just say how proud I am of my husband. He's been getting up super early to run at least 3 days a week. Yesterday morning he got up and ran friggin' 13.2 miles after getting up with Madeline during the night. Seriously? I can hardly make myself get out of bed before our child wakes up. During this training time, I hope I can have half the motivation he does. He has always been more of a self motivator than I am (shall we thank the Corps of Cadets??), and I'm hoping I can step it up while he trains!

The date of the marathon is January 14, 2012. I will be 37 weeks pregnant. I'll ask for sign ideas at a later date, but I'm currently planning on "Run faster, my water broke!" (This better be a joke. If it really happens I'm going to freak out). We're keeping our fingers crossed that Baby K realizes this weekend is for daddy and s(he) better wait a few days to officially join the world.

We hope you'll join us in January to cheer Jon and Ben on as they take on this monumental task! Even if you don't know anyone, it's a blast to go cheer people on.

Getting Better with Age

2011-08-18T10:01:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago we went to visit my dad at his office and I found a picture of my mom and I between my Jr/Sr years of high school, 11 years ago. The picture was taken at the Lunar Rendezvous Fashion Show. My sister Aimee participated in the same fashion show this summer, so I thought it would be funny to compare the two pictures.

My sisters and I were cracking up for a few reasons: how styles change, my poofy bangs, how Aimee was 6 when the pic was taken, but most of all....how much YOUNGER my mom looks 11 years later! I will not reveal her age (you're welcome, mom) but let's just say the God has blessed the fam with good genes. I don't have a recent picture of my grandma, but she is 85 years old, doesn't look anything near that age, and has more energy than I do. I can only hope that I'll age as gracefully as they have (with the help of my anti-aging skin care regimen, of course :).

Poofy bangs, may you rest in peace!

Mi casa es tu casa

2011-08-17T20:56:00.000-05:00

On Friday, we concluded 9 consecutive nights with house guests! It was a crazy busy week, but we had SO much fun visiting with our friends and family.

Last weekend, my friend Allison came to visit from Tyler. Allison and I were Thetas together at Texas A&M, and we spent the weekend with Jenny and Arielle, some my other Theta friends that live in Houston. Friday night we went to eat at Zoe's on Washington.

Jenny, Me holding Drew (Jenny's baby), Arielle holding Madeline, and Allison

On Saturday the whole crew + husbands came over to our house for lunch. We ate, hung out and went to our "boring" neighborhood pool since the fun waterpark was packed. It was HOT! We usually go to the pool at 10 am, so I forgot what 2 pm pool water felt like: a bathtub.

Saturday night we went White Linen Night in the Heights. It's a festival all over the Heights with food, bands, fun things to do, and you guessed it: everyone wears white (although I wore hot pink since I refuse to buy anything white. Somehow Madeline can keep a white dress clean but she ends up smearing stuff all over me). Madeline was a trooper. She was good about sitting in her stroller and loved showing off her sunglasses.

She lasted until 9 pm...I was impressed! At the end of the night we found ourselves far away from where we were parked, so Madeline had her first ride in a cab! She was so excited and kept clapping her hands.

On Tuesday, our friends Kim and Hunt came to visit. They moved to San Antonio in May and we miss them dearly! It's fun to watch how the kids play and interact as they get older. Kim and I kept treating them like monkeys and telling them to hug and kiss each other. It was SO funny.

Tuesday afternoon we took them to the neighborhood waterpark: always a big hit. On Wednesday we met our other friends at Jump n' Jungle and went to eat at Chick Fil A (if you ever want to know what stay at home moms do with toddlers...here's two good ones). Wednesday night my girl friends came over for Drinks night...name had to be changed from Wine night once people started getting pregnant. This time we had an even field: 3 preggos, 3 non preggos.

I'm posting this picture of our snack table to make an off topic comment: doesn't the table look SO much better with fresh flowers? They cost $4 from HEB and last for 2 weeks. Totally worth it!

My friend Robyn made these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. They taste even better than they sound. Be jealous.

On Thursday we went to Valerie's house for our usual Thursday bootcamp workout. Kim and Hunt left town soon after, and we prepared for our next house guest...

My cousin Melissa! She flew in Thursday afternoon. She just graduated with a PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle, and we hadn't seen each other since Peter and Niki's wedding last year. She was making her rounds visiting family across the country, and we were honored to be part of her "victory tour." Thursday night my family came over for dinner so we could all spend some time together. On Friday, Melissa got a taste of how to entertain a toddler, starting with a trip to the waterpark. Friday afternoon we made a trip to Target to get nail polish to paint Maddie's toes and new sunglasses for her (Fergie used her old ones as a chew toy).

Madeline was very excited about getting her toes painted. We gave her an iphone to keep her entertained so she would sit still, but surprisingly she didn't need it. She loves her pretty toes and still stares at them. She wanted her fingernails painted too, but I opted against that one (for now).

Madeline's new favorite buddy, cousin Melissa!

We were worn out at the end of the week, but had the best time with everyone. We love having visitors!

PS - After reading over this, I noticed we took everyone to the pool. I'm sure we're going to have pool withdrawals when it closes in a few weeks!

Secrets of Real Moms

2011-08-14T10:29:00.000-05:00

Last week, the Today show did a segment on "The Secrets of Real Moms". Some of these statistics were so funny/shocking, I had to pause the DVR so I could take some pictures and share them.

Hmmm. What do you think?

You know you're the parent of a toddler when...

2011-08-12T20:24:00.001-05:00

You take notes for work with a crayon and refuse a pen when offered one...

20 Months!

2011-08-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

(I know, I know...5 days late. Bad mommy.)

She insisted on holding Fergie's hand. What can I say...it makes for a cute picture.

Same sleeping schedule... 8pm - 7am, with one nap a day.
If last month was an explosion of words, this month has been an explosion of phrases. Alot of it is hard to understand, but she's adamant about repeating things until we get what she's saying. "Kiss me bye", "Please Mommy, Help", "I do it", "What's up, baby" (while talking on her play phone), "Pretty picture", "I need it", "Where'd it go?", "Silly Fergie", "Help me", "Oh wow", "spell Kleckley"
She sings "Abc's" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", although it's pretty hard to understand half of it
She loves playing fetch with Fergie and likes to give her treats
She is big on helping: "I help, Mommy". She also really likes to sweep.
She is also big on doing things all by herself. The latest battle is that she wants to put her shoes on by herself.
Her favorite things are puzzles, shape sorters, sunglasses and playing with shoes. She can also repeat parts of her favorite books: Who Dat, Chica Chica Boom Boom, Big Birds Busy Day, and her nursery rhyme book.
She's starting to eat with a fork and spoon
This child has got an attitude. We tell her to share quite a bit, so if we have something she wants she tells us to share. We've also had a MAJOR issue with her not wanting to ride in the stroller or shopping cart. She will scream and pitch a fit like I'm trying to cut her arm off, and will wiggle and throw her body to the point where we can't strap her in. She'd rather run around than be confined. It's embarrassing and not productive, because right now I pretty much can't take her anywhere by myself. If anyone has any advice on how to deal with it I would be very appreciative.
She knows how to unlock an iphone and find the games she wants. Ex: She will look through any iphone for the Angry Birds ("Angy Bids") icon. Jon and I have a new phone policy with her: she's only allowed to play with them in "emergency" (restaurant, etc) situations to keep her entertained. I thought it would be fun to download some toddler games for her, but it turned her into an iphone addict, and she likes Angry Birds more than her games. Fail.
She loves to dip things in sauce
She is really enjoying coloring, but we are still working on identifying colors. Right now everything is still blue or yellow

Discipline

2011-08-04T10:30:00.000-05:00

I was just online looking up books for "disciplining a toddler" (more on that later). What is the search engine's first suggestion? Disciplining your husband.
Do people really google that??? hahahaha

A Very Proud Mommy Moment and New Dance Moves

2011-08-01T19:31:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know what you're thinking...this must be something so sweet! Not so much... more like proud mommy moment that's TMI. Let me give you a hint: potty training. Read at your own risk.

A few weeks ago we were at a friend's house, where I learned her 17 month old was potty trained at home. When we got home I immediately pulled out Maddie's little potty that we had gotten for a present before she was born (thanks Nid!). I explanied to her what it's used for and we even had a few trial runs. She would tell me "tee tee" or "poo poo", run to her potty, take off her diaper, sit on the potty and repeat those lovely words without doing anything.

This afternoon Madeline was standing still, making her #2 face (those with little ones know what I'm talking about). I took her to her potty and she actually went #2 in it!!!! I was so proud! Poor thing seemed a little traumatized by the experience, until she realized she got a piece of candy for it. :) We have a long way to go before she feels comfortable with the concept.

I don't plan on pushing the issue for now. She still wakes up in the morning with a wet diaper so I know she isn't ready, but in the meantime it can't hurt to get her used to the idea. Oh, the joys of being a parent. I never knew we would be so excited about something so gross.

On a totally unrelated note...

Friday night my family went over to Maria's apartment for dinner. In honor of Madeline's renewed obsession with the "Who Dat" book, we played the "Who Dat" song for her for the first time to see what she would do. Wouldn't you know...the child starting bouncing her butt like she knew how to drop it like its hot. We had NEVER seen her do this. (and no, it is not something we do around here on a regular basis. No idea where she got it from). Up until that moment, her definition of dancing was twirling around in circles. Now we have the booty shaking and stomping to add to the routine.

By the time Jon got his phone out to record it, she was a couple of minutes into her routine. Watch the first 20 seconds for a demonstration. PS - That would be her Poppy in the background mimicking her dance moves while holding a beer. I'm sure the two were totally unrelated. :)

Happy 4th Birthday Fergie!

2011-07-30T10:39:00.000-05:00

(one day late)

Happy Birthday to our furry dog child, who first taught us how to care for another living being, who loves us even when we yell at her for barking and who protects her "little" sister even when she pulls her tail! We love you Fergs!

12 Weeks

2011-07-28T09:17:00.001-05:00

Quite a few of my friends have posted weekly pregnancy updates similar to this, and I think it's a great idea to keep track of everything! I probably will only do this monthly, or every few weeks as things start to change.

How Far Along: 12 weeks

Size of baby: Just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce

Weight gain: Nothing yet

Maternity Clothes: I busted out my maternity shorts last week, mainly for comfort's sake and not necessity. My stomach looks and feels like I just ate Thanksgiving dinner.

Gender: We find out September 6th!

Movement: Nothing yet

Sleep: Ha. Currently making 3-6 bathroom trips a night, then I can't fall back asleep. I'm also starting to have restless legs, which I didn't get until the 3rd trimester with Madeline. About every 3rd night I'll get a good night's sleep.

Symptoms: The classics - Some nausea, really tired, metallic taste in my mouth, heartburn, starting to feel my belly stretch and grow.

What I miss: Wine (try and act surprised) and my energy

Cravings: Fruit, salad, Chipotle, anything cold

Best Moment this week: Getting some of my energy and motivation back

What I am looking forward to: The END of the first trimester!

A Very Cute Picture

2011-07-26T19:19:00.000-05:00

Aren't they adorable??

Did you catch it?

What, you didn't notice?

Is this more obvious?

That's right, friends! Kleckley baby #2 is due February 4th! We are so excited and cannot wait for the added craziness to our family! I'm 12 weeks pregnant, and we find out September 6th if the baby is a boy or girl. I don't like referring to growing babies as "it"...we called Madeline "peanut" until she was born, so this baby shall be referred to as "nugget", although Jon thinks the ultrasound looks more like Mega-mind.

I've felt much better than I did with Madeline, but I'm still not free of the typical pregnancy symptoms. This time around, I was given the magical anti-nausea pill (Zofran). Thank you, Jesus! With #2, I also think I know how to manage it better. I know I need to eat something of substance (not junk food) every 2 hours or I'll regret it later. I still have food aversions, but I've still been able to cook and eat decent food for the most part. With Madeline, I literally did not cook anything for 2 months and could not walk in the kitchen without gagging. By this point with her, I had lost 15 pound. This time, I've maintained my same weight. I can't tell you how grateful I am for this!!

I've also been totally, completely exhausted. When Madeline naps, so do I, and I'm not afraid to admit that Sesame Street and Nick Jr have become great babysitters. We do not go many places other than the pool, because I'm simply worn out. I've had zero guilt about the amount of time I spend resting....growing a child is exhausting. It's starting to get old, so I was very happy when some of my energy started to return this week.

I'm also very grateful for what an extra wonderful husband Jon has been in dealing with this preggo wife. He goes to the grocery store when I can't stomach it, cooks dinner when I don't feel like it, entertains Madeline when I don't feel well, and doesn't complain when the house is a mess. With the first baby, I think it's hard for guys to really understand what's going on until the baby bump starts growing and moving. With #2, you know what to expect, how this part is just a phase, and that there are MUCH better things to come!

The Return of Football

2011-07-26T08:43:00.000-05:00

We cannot wait for football season to arrive. We are only basketball fans when Maria is cheering for the Rockets. Don't even get me started on professional baseball. Football also makes me think of fall (my favorite season) when it's 100 degrees outside.

With the expectation of a good Texas A&M football team, yesterday's announcement of the end of the NFL lockout and the return of our Fantasy Football league, bring it on! Right on cue, I was cleaning out drawers yesterday and found Madeline's "One Dat, Two Dat, Are You a Who Dat" book. It's a kids book about the Saints, and we had to hide it a few months ago because it's the only book she wanted to read. We've read it 256404 times since yesterday, and it's kept her occupied for 30 minutes this morning. We now keep hearing "Who Dat" and "I a fan". I cannot WAIT to play Who Dat songs for her!

Miss Priss

2011-07-20T13:13:00.000-05:00

Last month we took Madeline to get 18 month pictures taken. It's no secret that she can be a very strong-willed child, so we were concerned for her behavior, especially after a 45 minute wait during lunchtime. We were blown away when she followed instructions...what! In fact, she hammed it up so much, we decided it worthy of a video. (Please ignore my mommy voice)

July 4th Weekend

2011-07-20T12:54:00.001-05:00

We spent our July 4th weekend in Galveston. My parents rented a house on the bay and invited Peter's in-laws, the Holton's, to spend the extended weekend with us. It was a different (but fun) experience staying on the bay side. We had easy access to boating activities and the beach was a 2 minute drive away.

Our casa. Not too shabby!

I was in charge of making desserts: Banana Pudding cupcakes, Oreo cheesecake and red velvet cupcakes. I decided that I've become an icing snob. Stuff out of the can is no longer acceptable to me (time permitting, of course :)

Boiled crabs with the Pops: He had to teach all of Aimee's friends how to peel them. I think they have a long way to go before they can appreciate them!

Our friends the Stones moved to Fort Worth in May, so we were VERY excited to see them in Galveston! They came over to the bay house to play. Madeline kept trying to boss Rich around...and then she kissed him! ha!

Madeline took her very first boat ride. To say she was not a fan of the life jacket is an understatement. She was squirmy the entire time, except for when we were going fast...then she had a huge grin on her face.

The house had a really nice back patio. We could sit in the shade while Madeline played in her pool.

No trip to Galveston is complete without a trip to the beach, even if the water is brown and your husband has to remove all the seaweed in a 15 ft radius so your child doesn't step on it. :)

"Kick!"

Lounging in the pool Daddy made for her

First time eating watermelon like a big girl

How to Combat Summer Boredom with a Toddler

2011-07-15T20:43:00.000-05:00

Child Labor

Watching the rain (even if the showers are shorter than her attention span)

A Long Time Comin'

2011-07-14T15:09:00.000-05:00

Eight months ago we bought a king size bed. It's awesome. Picking the bedding? Not. When Jon and I were getting married almost 6 (!) years ago, one of the biggest arguments we had was in the bedding department at Dillards over what bedding to register for. Seriously. Mr. "I only like stripes or solids" and Mrs. "that's boring" couldn't agree. It was something petty that we laugh about now but I'm sure the people in Dillards were feeling very awkward at the time.

I digress. We agree on something reddish that does not have stripes. Then I find it: A Pottery Barn set (of course) on clearance (woo!). Unfortunately, a king size set was no where to be found, in stores or online. They politely tell me that it's being reordered in July, and this was November! So we waited 8 months for this.

It arrived the other day. It's fabulous and I, I mean we love it.

(Yes, I'm very well aware that people have real problems.)

High School Reunion

2011-07-11T16:10:00.000-05:00

Today I registered for my 10 year high school reunion which will be held in September. I remember discussing this event with my friends on multiple occasions over the past years: "We're going to be almost 30. That's SO old! We might be MARRIED and have KIDS and a JOB!"

As I was going though the process I had a few thoughts fly through my head:
1. My 10 year reunion will take place on Homecoming Weekend for Clear Creek High School. The same weekend that Aimee will be celebrating her Senior year Homecoming. Ha. Out of all things, this is what makes me feel old!

2. In the world of Facebook, won't it make talking to people awkward? I still keep up with all of my close high school friends, but the acquaintances? Most likely, you are already Facebook friends, which probably means you know their marital status, job situation, where they live and if they have any kids. You barely spoke in high school but you know they just got a new puppy. You've already stalked each other's photos at some point, so you already know that they married a short redhead and they went to Boston for summer vacation. So how does the conversation go? Do you fake it like you don't know any of these details, or do you act like a stalker and congratulate them on their new house before they mention it?

3. Assuming someone is not on Facebook (gasp) and there hasn't been mutual stalking: When a person asks me what I'm doing these days and I state that I'm a stay at home mom, why do I feel the need to summarize the past 10 years of my life afterwards as if they make up for what I'm doing now? This happens to me on occasion. I feel the need to say, "I'm a stay at home mom. BUT I graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Finance, moved to Chicago, and worked in CORPORATE retail before having a kid." Not that I have to justify myself to anyone, but I feel like some people still believe that being a stay at home mom is for lazy and unmotivated people. Anyone with this opinion is more than welcome to spend a few days in my house. On a semi-related subject, I hate the word "homemaker." Off the soap box now.

4. To all my high school friends: You better watch out for me and my camera. I plan on digging up a few pictures from high school, and we will be duplicating them 10 years later. I will only be torturing you with this because we ALL look WAY better than we did back then. It's for our self esteem. Really. :)

5. Jon has already said that he'll have more fun at my reunion than he did at his. (Duh. Clear Creek High is cool like that...) The Bryan High reunion was a decent time and funny for me to observe: it was lots of conversation with the people he used to hang out with, and LOTS of awkward "hi's" to everyone else. This time he gets to sit back with the other spouses and be entertained.

In all seriousness, I am looking forward to the event. It will be great seeing old classmates and catching up, even if we already know everything about each other from Facebook. :)

Granny Camp

2011-07-09T09:24:00.000-05:00

Wait a minute...what is this?? Multiple posts in one day?? I have two words for you: Granny Camp.

Right now Madeline is completing her fourth and final day at Granny Camp (aka: spending time in Bryan with Jon's parents). What is this Mommy to do???

On Wednesday night, Jon and I thought we'd have a date night. Then he got sick. So we spent the evening watching Flipping Out re-runs on Bravo and Casey Anthony junk. Then I slept upstairs to avoid the germs.

On Thursday, my first full childless day, I spent 2 hours folding and putting away laundry, deep cleaned the kitchen, went to the grocery store, and cleaned out the pantry. Yes, I know, I define the word exciting. At least it ended with a nice girls night at a friend's house.

Yesterday I spent the day with my mom and sisters. I told them I wanted to go places that I would never take Madeline. :) We went to antique stores in The Heights, ate lunch at Tiny Boxwood's and went shopping at the Galleria. It was glorious. Last night Jon and I had our date night. We went to see Horrible Bosses at 5:20 because I didn't want to deal with opening weekend crowds. I'm such an old person. It was a funny movie, but definitely Redbox $1 rental worthy. After the movie we ran some errands. So what do you do on date night when you go shopping without your child? You buy her things. We went to Target and bought her a new bathing suit, a new bubble machine to replace the broken one (on clearance!) and a new pair of sandals.

I've certainly enjoyed sleeping in and not cleaning the high chair 454016 times a day, but I miss the little stinker like crazy. I'm not used to my house being clean for more that 30 minutes at a time and having an over supply of bananas because the little monkey is not here to eat them.

Luckily she is having way too much fun at Granny camp. She has been baking cookies, driving the gator to see the cows, swimming, and took her first trip to Chuck E Cheese. I've heard rumours that she might be returning with a new pair of shoes that sparkle. She didn't even want to talk to me on the phone the first day. The past two days I've gotten a "Hi Mommy." Here are some pics from her trip:

Baking cookies...I love the guilty look on her face.

Driving the Gator

Eating corn like a big girl

Notes That Should Be Written

2011-07-09T08:56:00.000-05:00

My friend Kelly sent me this email and I thought it was hilarious...

Notes that should be written:

Dear Icebergs,
Sorry to hear about the global warming. Karma’s a b*tch.
Sincerely, The Titanic

Dear America,
You produced Miley Cyrus. Bieber is your punishment.
Sincerely, Canada

Dear Yahoo,
I’ve never heard anyone say, “I don’t know, let’s Yahoo! it…” just saying…
Sincerely, Google

Dear 2011,
So I hear the best rapper is white and the president is black? WTF happened?!
Sincerely, 1985

Dear girls who have been dumped,
There are plenty of fish in the sea…Just kidding! They’re all dead.
Sincerely, BP

Dear Saturn,
I liked it, so I put a ring on it.
Sincerely, God

Dear Skin-Colored Band Aids,
Please make one for every skin color.
Sincerely, Black people

Dear Scissors,
I feel your pain…no one wants to run with me either.
Sincerely, Sarah Palin

Dear World of Warcraft,
Thank you for ensuring my son’s virginity.
Sincerely, Parents Everywhere

Dear Batman,
What was your power again?
Sincerely, Superman

Dear Customers,
Yes, we ARE making fun of you in Vietnamese.
Sincerely, Nail Salon Ladies

Dear Ugly People,
You’re welcome.
Sincerely, Alcohol

Dear World,
Please stop freaking out about 2012. Our calendars end there because some Spanish d-bags invaded our country and we got a little busy ok?
Sincerely, The Mayans

Dear White People,
Don’t you just hate immigrants?
Sincerely, Native Americans

Dear iPhone,
Please stop spell checking all of my rude words into nice words. You piece of shut.
Sincerely, Every iPhone User

Dear Trash,
At least you get picked up…
Sincerely, The Girls of Jersey Shore

19 Months!

2011-07-07T19:43:00.000-05:00

(Picture to come. A little person that shall remain nameless decided to have a dramatic fit as we tried to take one.)

She sleeps from 8pm-7am. We are down to one nap a day, usually at 1 pm. She'll sleep from 1 1/2 hrs - 3 hrs, depending on what we do in the morning to wear her out. Waterpark = 3 hrs.
She's starting to put together words. Most start with Mommy (imagine that): "Mommy help", Mommy's toy", "Mommy Please", "Fergie no", "Fergie Come" (while patting the ground), "Elmo TV" (while pointing the remote at the TV...yikes)
She's very picky about food. She'll eat most fruit except for melons. She loves peas, beans, corn and sweet potatoes. She'll only eat meat if it's covered in some sort of sauce. She won't eat pasta.
She likes to give kisses on the lips
She loves the neighborhood waterpark. She likes to go down the slides, run through the splash pad and play on the steps.
She likes to run everywhere
She'll finally hold my hand when we're walking. Lots of practice while walking to the mailbox.
She likes to collect "treasures": rocks, leaves, shells and anything small she can collect in her hand
Her favorite toys are books, her play kitchen, puzzles and her shape sorter.
Funny story: The other day she was wearing a onesie. She put a block down her shirt, came up to me and said "Mommy, stuck." I pulled the toy out of her onesie and she stuck it right back down the top of it. She ran over to Jon. "Daddy, stuck." We have a new game.
When we are in the car, she likes to play "roll call" with family names. I say one person's name and she goes through everyone. It cracks me up how she doesn't get the Kleckleys or Notos confused with each other. It usually starts like this:

           Me: "Madeline, we get to see Granny this weekend!"
           Madeline: "Ganie, Pop, Loo, Jay, Bee, Pau, Daya, Mok"

           Me: "Madeline, do you want to go swim at GiGi's House?"
           Madeline: "GiGi, Poppy, Whistle, Amee, Pee (my poor brother), NiNi, LILO (sad how the dog gets the biggest reaction)

Big Girl

2011-06-30T12:08:00.000-05:00

Lifting weights at Academy

Her new backpack and lunchbox for "school" came in this week. It's precious but almost as big as she is. When I hooked her lunchbox on the back she fell over...oops.

Dipping chips in "sauce" (queso)

Driving the car at the grocery store...this is before she tried to climb out the front window.

The Beach

2011-06-21T20:51:00.001-05:00

I've always been a beach bum. I love laying out with a good book or magazine, listening to the waves and people watching. When Jon and I first met, he "didn't understand how people could just lay out, play in the water, and lay on the beach again all day." Thank goodness for conversions. :) I think he enjoys the beach more than I do now!

Every year my dad's side of the family goes to Gulf Shores, AL or Pensacola Beach, FL for a week. We rent a big condo so everyone can be together. I hadn't been for 6 years due to work/living on the other side of the country, so I was absolutely stoked to bring Jon and Madeline in on this annual family tradition. The schedule goes like this: wake up, breakfast, dinner prep, beach, lunch, beach/pool, sunset, dinner, dominoes/movie, sleep, repeat. Fill in with drinks prepared by a former bartender (thank you, Aunt Ronda), a beach playlist created by my 17 year old sister and a ridiculous amount of humorous conversation. I didn't use make up or a hair dryer for 6 days. Does it get any better than this? I think not.

Madeline takes after her Mommy and LOVED the beach. She would wonder from our tent and straight into the water and not look back once (we would follow, of course). In fact, she would keep walking deeper into the water until we finally had to grab her because it was too deep. She loved to splash in the water and fall on purpose. We bought her a little beach chair, and to our amazement, she would actually sit still in it for 15 minutes and eat snacks. Heaven.

View from the condo

Our beach set up. Like the Texas tent?

Keeping it classy

We spent lots of time building sandcastles.

Splashing

Picking up treasures (shells)

Me, Mom, Aimee, Maria, Madeline (and my Dad in the background)

Such a little diva

Mmm, cherrios!

Beach sunset

We safely returned a few shades darker. My child with the bleach blond hair is going to look Hispanic by the end of the summer. She also did very well in the car, thanks to Elmo dvds, a magnetic sketch board and lots of stickers. We are on Elmo detox now. At the condo she started singing "La la la, Elmo world". Too cute, but a little too much for this Mommy and Daddy!

Neighborhood Waterpark - 1, Madeline - 0

2011-06-21T16:17:00.000-05:00

On Saturday we took Madeline to one of our neighborhood pools that's more like a waterpark. She loved everything about it. She kept running from pool to pool and wanted to go down the waterslides. She especially loved running through this circle of squirting water.

I'm glad there was two of us there to watch her. She would take of running in the shallow pools and tried to "swim" in the deep pool by dunking herself and moving her arms. I about had a heart attack but she was convinced she could swim like a fish.

I decided to lay out and get some sun, then all of a sudden I hear screaming. I look over and see Madeline flat on the concrete and Jon running to her. She had gotten out of the shallow pool, slipped and fell all before Jon could catch up with her. Poor thing, there was blood everywhere. We thought she had lost teeth or would need stitches. Needless to say we caused quite a scene. (Side note to SCR residents: Our lifeguards are not mentally prepared to handle things like this. They were freaking out like she had lost a limb). Once we got the bleeding under control and saw it was *just* a busted lip we were very relieved.

We brought her home, gave her a popsicle and she was as happy as a clam.

She still has a swollen lip and two battle wounds. She'll even touch her lip and say "ouch." Jon said he was so proud of her for being brave.

Father's Day

2011-06-21T08:53:00.001-05:00

We had a very nice, relaxing Father's Day! After a busy week we enjoyed hanging out at playing in the
backyard with Madeline. When I first met Jon I knew he'd be a wonderful dad. Madeline loves her "DaDa" so much and they are best buddies.

Madeline got her daddy a golf club he wanted. She also made him a stepping stone with her hand print in it for our garden.

Sunday evening we drove to north Houston to meet Jon's Parents, Luke, Jordan, Ben and Mark for dinner. It was so nice to spend time with everyone in Houston and the perfect end to the day!

The Most Dangerous Cake Recipe in the World

2011-06-18T21:49:00.000-05:00

I received this 5 minute chocolate cake recipe from a family friend. All I can say is that it lives up to the "dangerous" name! It's actually pretty good!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg beaten
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous)

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Friends

2011-06-06T19:06:00.000-05:00

This is a random one, but I have lots of cute pictures from the last month. We've been having lots of fun with our friends!

At the beginning of May we went to the Houston Food Truck Festival with the Vega family. Jon was in food heaven, and we also got to meet baby Mason!

It was super hot that day, so we got Madeline her first snowcone.

A few weeks later the Harris family came to visit for the weekend (yay!). Madeline was very excited to be reunited with boyfriend #1, Hunt.

Car seat buddies

Hangin' on the bench

The next day, Sara and Rich came to visit. The weather was nice so we spent alot of time outside.

Out of all the backyard toys, these two wanted to sit in an empty pool.

Today my friend Jenny came over and we got to meet baby Drew. He is 6 weeks old and seems so tiny! He was such a good baby and slept the entire time. Madeline kept bringing him her toys.

And finally, because this child never ceases to crack me up:

She did this on her own and was so proud of herself...

18 Months!

2011-06-06T18:52:00.000-05:00

On Saturday my baby turned 18 months. Madeline is now closer to age 2 than 1. It makes me sad that she is such a big girl now, but it's so much fun to watch her grow and change!

She weighs 22 lbs 2 oz (19%) and is 31" tall (31%)
She sleeps from 8pm - 7am. She'll take 1 or 2 naps a day, depending on our schedule.
My favorite thing right now: She likes to tell me "Hi Mommy" then give me a hug, especially in the mornings. When I got her out of bed this morning I said, "Hi Bug a boo" and she said "Hi Boo".
She is getting more generous with her hugs and kisses
She's loving swimming lessons. She'll say "row row" and move her arms like she's swimming, and practices her bubbles and kicks in the bathtub.
Now that she can say more words, she is sometimes opinionated about what she wants. For example: This week she's been picky about fruit. If I give her a banana, she'll say "gapes" or "onges"
She can identify and say the names of her uncles. We had lots of practice the weekend of Luke and Jordan's wedding.
She can say Kleckley (Keck-ey). We are still working on Madeline/Maddie. It sounds alot like Mommy.
She can identify lots of animals, some with their proper sounds: dog, cow (but she still think cows are moos), sheep, chick, horse, cat, and even elephant (el-pant) and kangaroo (koo)
She'll say "bless you" if someone sneezes
She's started to say pee pee and poo poo when she has a dirty diaper. Gross, I know, but exciting for the primary diaper changer. Potty training soon??
She says please and thank you. We still have to remind her quite a bit, but if she wants something she'll say "peas peas pease pease!!!!"
At naptime and bedtime she selects what books we read.
Favorite toys are her books, bubbles, anything Elmo and stacking her mega blocks.

Mother's Day

2011-06-04T08:46:00.000-05:00

Most of our Mother's Day was spent on a plane returning from Las Vegas, but we still had a little time to celebrate! After our plane landed, we headed to my parents house to pick up Madeline. We ended up having an impromptu grill out and pool party. Madeline was in the pool with Aunt Niki when we arrived. She looked at me, said "hi Mommy" and went back to swimming...lol. At least she was having a good time while we were gone.

When we finally got home later that night, I had an amazing surprise waiting for me. Jon kept insisting I walk in the house through the front door instead of the garage. I walk through the front door, and sitting there is a piece of furniture I'd been wanting for over a year! I hadn't talked about it in awhile, but he knew I wanted it. There were also flowers and a pink shirt Madeline made for me. It said "I love you Mommy" and had her foot and hand prints. Bonus points for thoughtfulness, tracking down the bench and getting the little elves to set everything up! I don't think he even liked the bench at the time...I think it's growing on him now. :)

Next step: Find a painting, side table and a few other accessories to make our entry way complete. Gotta love being a homeowner. It never ends, does it?

On another cheesy Mother's Day note, I just have to say what wonderful mothers both Jon and I have. I said it last year and I'll say it again: I don't think you can truly appreciate your mom until you become a parent yourself. It is hard work but the most rewarding job on the planet. And it never stops: When Jon was out of town, Madeline and I went to my mom's house and I wasn't feeling well. She literally stuck a thermometer in my mouth, fixed me a cup of tea and took my child with her to run errands so I could go to the doctor and rest. I guess you're never too old to need your mommy. :)