Top 5 Moments of 2009

1. January 26, 2009 (Monday): Mark was leaving for Las Vegas for a week long conference that morning and asked me to take a pregnancy test since we had been trying to get pregnant that month. I was supposed to get my period that day so I told him that it was way too early to test. He asked me to take one anyway since he was leaving for the week and didn't want to be hundreds of miles away if we found out later in the week (we found out I was pregnant with Jacob when Mark was in Denver in 2006 and I had to tell him over the phone.) So, that morning, I woke up at 5 am to go to bootcamp and took a test. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw that infamous second line! I went back into the bedroom and woke Mark up with an "I'm pregnant" whisper in his ear. I'm sure he must have thought he was dreaming! I couldn't wipe that smile off of my face all day long!!

2. February 4, 2009 (Wednesday): Jacob and Owen celebrated their 2nd birthday together at Pump it Up in Belmont, CA. Who knew a 2 year old's birthday party would be so fun! And it was even better because we shared it with our BFFs. Man, we miss you guys!!



3. July 18, 2009 (Saturday): Dora Live. I know it's silly -- but we had SUCH a good time watching Dora on stage! I've never seen Jacob so in awe before. So cute!



4. October 31, 2009 (Saturday): Daddy and Jacob dressed up as Scooby Doo on the streets of Southlake Woods. Jacob was so darn cute it was ridiculous. This will be a memory I never forget.



5. September 30, 2009 (Wednesday): Of course, Madeline's birth. That whole day was amazing. From the easy induction to learning we had a little girl (best surprise ever!) this had to be one of the most amazing moments of my life.



Can't wait to see what 2010 will bring. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!!

As always, Christmas came and went too quickly this year. It always goes by in such a flash that I barely remember to take enough pictures! And sure enough, this year was no exception. I hope I don't look back at these photos years from now kicking myself that we didn't get a family photo on the couch, or even one with BOTH kids. Oh well, the memories will be etched in our brains forever.

The first surprise this holiday was that it snowed in Dallas on Christmas Eve. SNOWED. In DALLAS. A white Christmas is unheard of in these parts of Texas so you can imagine how exciting is was to see snow on the ground that actually stuck around. Thank goodness my Mom, Dad and Grandma got here on Christmas Eve before it got really bad. Driving in that stuff is not so much fun.

Jacob was super excited about Santa coming. We'd been talking about it for weeks, and on Christmas Eve, he knew Santa would be coming that night to bring him toys. Mark and I really didn't think he'd get up early because of this, but we were surely mistaken. Jacob never, I repeat never, leaves his room until the green light on his clock goes on at 7 am. He knows it's a rule in this house that he can't get up until the green light goes on. Well apparently, all rules go out the window on Christmas morning. At 6:15 am, I heard him literally running down the steps. I ran to meet him halfway and said "Jacob! What are you doing? It's still night-night time!" The look on his face was heart breaking. "No mommy! Santa came! I want to open presents!" I couldn't help but laugh. I picked him up and brought him into our room where Daddy put on a TV show for him so we could get ready and wait for Maddie to wake up. I know kids are excited on Christmas morning but I had no idea Jacob would be ready to go before the break of dawn!! I was surprised he "got it" so well given his age.

Anyway, the morning was great. He couldn't wait to open each gift and was also a great sport and would open Maddie's gifts for her and then hand them to her (as she sat in her bouncy seat.) He loves his new Lightning McQueen bikes and playhouse. He's also a big fan of the Design and Drill game, Lightning McQueen fishing game, pirate ship and airport. The theme of the year was definitely the Disney Movie "Cars". He got more Lightning McQueen toys that I can count!

As much as I love Christmas, I'm glad we have another year before it comes around again. And I know next year will be even more fun as Maddie will be old enough to participate.

Enjoy the pics and videos. There are lots of them!

The house before Santa came:



The house after Santa came:



Videos of Jacob on Christmas morning:















His face when he first saw all the toys!













Sweet boy giving Maddie her gifts





Love this picture. She's so content in Daddy's arms.



My parents, Grandma, Frank and Tori all came over Christmas afternoon. Jacob loves his Great Grandma!



Kristy came over the day after Christmas for a quick visit!



Christmas Eve -- the front of our house. It looks like a Christmas card!!









All ready to go outside and make a Snowman!



The little snowman

12 weeks

Our angel is 12 weeks today. This is a big milestone in the Broxterman household. Most of you who know me well know that the first 12 weeks of Jacob's life felt like 12 years. Then, all of a sudden, at 12 weeks he turned a corner. (As an aside, Mark likes to think Jacob's sudden change of behavior was due to a massive bowel movement that Mark likes to refer to as the "come to Jesus poop". For some reason, after that, the kid actually stopped crying all day long and seemed to enjoy this world he lived in.) Anyway, the first 12 weeks with Maddie have literally flown by and I have no idea where the time has gone! I wonder why it's so different this time around. Certainly, she seems to be an easier baby, but I do wonder if I knew then (with Jacob) what I know now about caring for babies, if Jacob's first 3 months would have been a little bit easier. After all, we have quite a few tricks up our sleeves now for soothing newborns. Who knows? But I'll take it! I hate that time is flying by, but I do love that we are enjoying every minute of it.

A little bit about Maddie at 12 weeks:

• She started smiling around 6 weeks but she is all about the big toothless grins these days. All you have to do is walk by and say "HI!" and she just breaks out into this enormous smile. We really can't get enough of it.

• She "talks" up a storm. We hear her "ohs" and "Ah-goos" all the time and if we don't pay attention, she seems to get louder with them!

• This poor girl only poops every 5-7 days and when it's time, it's a massive blowout. I mean, out of the diaper-all over the pants BLOWOUT. I just don't get it. She's only ever gotten breastmilk so what is it about this milk?? This leads to the second problem: GAS. She passes gas louder than her Daddy sometimes and it's just downright scary. And it's obvious that it makes her super uncomfortable because she screams like a crazy person and then "BAM", out comes a big ol' fart. I'm going to tease her about this someday.

• She is a hiccuping queen. Usually, after she eats, she spits up what seems like an enormous amount of milk and then immediately gets the hiccups. That's when you know she's done!

• Ugh, the car. Why is it that our kids don't like the car? If Maddie is recently fed (and I mean in the last 5 minutes) or if she is in that somewhat tired zone, she'll be content and fall fast asleep. Otherwise (which is 90% of the time), as soon as you put her in the car, she starts screaming. Thank goodness I put her carseat in the back on the opposite side. I can't tell you how many times I've driven around with my hand back there inserting (and keeping) the paci in her mouth.

• She loves her baths so much that she screams bloody murder when you take her out. I'm not kidding! The whole time she's in her bath she's smiling and cooing. As SOON as you take her out and wrap her in the towel, the whole world is coming to an end. I can't figure this one out. I thought it might be because she was cold, so I put a space heater on right where I lay her down to change her and that did nothing. This is one I'm hoping she grows out of fast. Because I dread bathing her!

• Much like her older brother, Maddie is not a fan of daytime naps. She is sleeping great at night. She goes down around 8 pm and sleeps until 4 am when she feeds and then goes back to sleep until 6:30/7 am. Not bad for 12 weeks! BUT, she refuses to sleep more than 30 minutes at a time during the day. Mark and I have decided that it's Operation Nap Time and we are going to try and start giving her all of her naps in the crib so she'll get used to it.
  

• She has zero interest in rolling over. Jacob rolled over at 12 weeks (even though he was close to 20 pounds!) so it's hard not to compare them. But, I don't mind. I like that she stays put wherever I lay her down! I think she's going to be more of a talker and less of a mover.

• She is amazingly patient with her big brother. The only time she ever gets upset is if he screams loudly near her and startles her (which is understandable) but she doesn't even bat an eye at the 100 a day kisses he gives her. In fact, I think she quite enjoys them.
  

• We are secretly praying that her blue eyes never change. They are the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. I know I'm a little biased but seriously, when you see them, you will absolutely agree.

Maddie at 12 weeks and the first time in a bow! (I'm strangely intimidated by baby hair accessories. I'm never sure if they are in right. But she looks pretty cute in this one!)

Christmas cards. Oh, the pressure!

For about 2 weeks, I was desperate to get a picture of Maddie and Jacob together for our Christmas cards. This was not a fun task. Everyday, I'd dress them up in their outfits, sit them on the couch and start snapping away. And I am no photographer so that did not help things! Maddie is quite impatient when it comes to sitting up propped against her brother and we had about a 5 minute window of happiness before she started crying. In addition to that, for some reason, Jacob blinks with every picture. Every. Single. One. It's enough to drive a mama crazy!! To top things off, we were running against the clock. It takes time to create the card online, have it printed and shipped here and mailed out before Christmas!! Talk about stress...

Anyway, we finally got one that was presentable. Thank goodness because I was seriously going to pop a vein in my head after so many sessions of this. Here are some of the outtakes -- and a few of the kids individually because my last alternative was just to put pictures of each of them separately on the card. Now I realize why so many parents do this! Note to self for next year: Start this process in July.

Maddie's hair is just fantastic in his photo:



Does anyone else think this photo is hysterical? Look at Jacob's face!! I have never, ever seen that face before and every time I look at it, I nearly pee my pants.



Yet another face...



Sweet boy. Maddie doesn't look so happy.



Wish you could see more of Maddie in this one



Too scrunched up



Grrr. Eyes closed again! This would have been a good one!



Jacob looking intoxicated. Maddie looking less than pleased.



Maddie just downright unhappy



Annnnddddd, eyes closed again



The individual pics...I love Maddie's expressions



Can't get enough of those blue eyes!



Hi sweet pea :) :)



She looks all grown up here...



I just love this outfit



I love it when Jacob smiles this big. Too bad his eyes are closed. Again.



Yet another



And the face I love so much. Classic Jacob.

Hello Santa

I've never been one to force Santa on Jacob. The first year I tried to get pictures of Jacob with Santa ended up in a cry-fest and the pictures, while entertaining, were not pretty. So last year, I asked Jacob if he wanted to take a picture with Santa while we were at the mall and he quickly said "no." Fine. I wasn't going to push it. This year, my Mom's League had a Christmas party and Santa was there taking pictures with the kids. Jacob was ALL about talking to Santa. He now realizes that Santa brings him toys and he wasn't going to pass up this opportunity to tell Santa exactly what he wanted. In fact, I think this is how the conversation went:

(Jacob runs up and sits on Santa's lap.)
Santa: "Hello there. What would you like for Christmas?"
Jacob: "Santa, I want Lightning McQueen and Thomas please."
Santa: "Lightning McQueen and Thomas?"
Jacob: "yes. No rocks. No rocks please."

I was DYING. He is too darn cute for his own good.

Maddie's 2 month stats

Maddie turned 2 months old on the 30th and we took her in for her 2 month check up. She weighed 12 lbs. 6 oz (exactly 3 pounds gained from birth) which put her in the 88% for weight and she measured 23.3 inches long (almost 4 inches gained from birth) which put her in the 83% for height. We definitely make big babies in this family!! She is a healthy little girl and is growing so big everyday.

Her smiles are just infectious and she is cooing in her little baby voice all the time. It has to be the cutest thing anyone has ever heard!

I was trying to snap some photos today in hopes that one of them would be worthy of a birth announcement. We did have a winner so I won't post that picture here (because you will all be getting it in the mail soon!) but I will go ahead and post the ones that didn't make the cut. :) Enjoy!