Maddie is TWO

Before we add another one to our crew - a post dedicated to my SWEET Maddie.  Oh my goodness - the thought that this girl is actually two years old - literally blows my mind.  She turned two on July 4!

Two years ago on the night of July 3, I was sewing away to wrap up nursery projects after we put Charlie to bed.  We went to sleep late and then I woke up with BAD contractions.  They said hurry to the hospital and we got there at 1:45 and by 4:45 on July 4th, our little firecracker - Miss Madeline Abigail Carter was born.  Meeting your sweet baby for the first time is just the most amazing thing - but what I've found even more rewarding is watching this sweet girl go from an infant that needed us for everything to independent, young toddler (now TWO year old).  

Her personality literally blows me away and how she has emerged into this adorable toddler.  I feel like she has grown up SO much faster than Charlie did.  I'm not sure if it's a girl thing or the fact that she has an older brother to look up to and wants to do everything that he does - but she's not my little baby any more.  

She's gone from this as a newborn:

....to my sweet one year old with minimal hair...

...to this spunky little TWO year old with an amazing personality AND a full head of curly/wild hair (oh and did I mention her knack for accessorizing....haha - we obviously haven't had her 2 year old professional pictures taken - hopefully Ali can snap a few when she's in town for baby #3's newborn pictures!)

Once she started talking - she has literally never stopped.  Which is good and bad.  She adores her big brother, but doesn't at all put up with his sh*t - seriously.  Or really anyone's for that matter - at school she loves her friends and teachers but one of her teacher's told me verbatim that "Maddie C., she doesn't put up with anyone's sh*t".  Like for some reason I found that hilarious and scary all at the same exact time.  Haha.  

Even with that toughness in her personality, she is absolutely the most adorable and loving little soul.  She can melt your heart one minute when she goes on and on saying who she loves (she literally has a list that she says over and over again) and then the minute you tell her "no" - watch out!  Toddler temper tantrums in full swing.  But then if you distract her, she does forget easily.

I'm in love with her bedtime routine and she's a better sleeper than Charlie ever was.  We read books, lay her in her crib (with like 70 things/stuffed animals/tags/blankets/wipes/books/bows - you name it).  Then she asks to pray and tells you who she wants to pray for.  And we kiss and she usually goes to sleep - or is at least satisfied.  It's MUCH worse when she's over tired...but it melts my heart giving her a sweet kiss and walking out.  However, she is quite the daddy's girl and most nights insists that he put her to bed.  Quite different from the way her brother was, but there is truly nothing like a father/daughter relationship and I'm just loving watching it emerge between her and Jimmy.

A few more things about our girl.  She is already a good independent player, which blows my mind.  Must be a second child thing - but there are times when I'm looking for her in the house and find her in the playroom on the floor "reading" her books or in the hearth room playing kitchen.  She loves to color - anything and everything - and read.  Her attention to detail on some of the tasks she does amazes me at her age - one time our kids were having a slumber party at Jimmy's parents house and my MIL sent a picture of Maddie and the crayons that you roll up - she had rolled every one of them out, which my MIL said took forever and she was just impressed she sat there for that long doing it.  She loves doing activities at school (they are in a Montessori school) and talks about them on the way home - as well as all of her friends and teachers.

She loves her family to the core.  And her big brother.  So much.  I cannot wait to see how this girl takes on her big sister role.  I have high hopes for her, so we will see how it goes!!!

In terms of growth, she is still kind of living up to her nick name that she's had for awhile "Pot Roast".  She was 91% for height and 87% for weight at her 2 year check up - and just blew me away at how good she was at the doctor's office.  Sometimes she is good - haha.  But really, I love her so much.  While our personalities are SO similar (already, yes) - it's frightening to think 15 years from now as a 17 year old..but for now, I'll just relish in her littleness and let her be young and spunky.

So really quick - we did do a small birthday party for our sweet girl the weekend before Fourth of July (as most of our family goes out of town that weekend) at the Olathe Community Center.  They have an awesome pool - we were there for Arden's birthday party and loved it - and on top of that all I had to do was book, show up and then swim - count me in as one pregnant mama.  Maddie LOVES swimming and minions, so that was exactly what we did.

My sister is my go-to baker and didn't disappoint with the awesome minion cupcakes and display - there were minion gummies on top which everyone loved so much!  So we sang happy birthday to our baby girl, opened some awesome presents (her favorite I think was the fruit snacks my sister threw in her bag - hahaha), and then swam.

I was having a ROUGH pregnancy day that day...but the pool felt good.  Unfortunately, with how I felt and the fact that I was in the pool too I got absolutely zero pictures of everyone swimming.  It was a great thing we chose an indoor party because halfway through our swim time a massive storm came through KC, but we didn't even notice!  Maddie, Charlie, cousins and a few friends had an absolute blast and we were so glad!  We thought about going out to dinner after, but it was Sunday and by the time we got out of there - we decided to just run through McDonald's instead because #tiredkids but no one minded.

It was a stress free celebration that Maddie LOVED - which was all that mattered.  And it was so fun to celebrate our sweet and sassy TWO year old.  I am looking forward to seeing her continue to grow and take on the roll of middle child in style.  Happy (late) second birthday to our Maddie cakes!!!

Here was some pictures of our Fourth of July weekend celebrating this girl (and her love of PIZZA).