Update on us...

I know its been a while... seems like we have been running and spending a bunch of time at the barn lately.  I have a huge praise!  Remember a month or maybe a little less I blogged about Madalyn and the pen incident?  Well on Friday I finally checked it again and it is totally healed.  She has a tiny bump back in there, scar tissue I'm guessing, but nothing you would ever notice if you weren't looking for something.  I was so excited that it is healed and I don't have to worry about contacting her doctor and explaining why I didn't take her in to begin with.  What a load off my shoulders!  God is good!!!  Marissa and Madalyn have had a love hate relationship these days.  Some moments I would like to lock them both in separate rooms and let them scream and then other days I just can't get enough of watching them play so well together.  I suppose that is what I get for having two girls!  The last couple days have been awesome.  Madalyn is continuing to talk more so there is less screaming going on, which is so much nicer for Mommy's ears!  Lately they have both been huge copy cats.  Everything they see at the barn they then come home and re in-act (is that the right way to write that?).  Last Sunday my cow, Kid went into labor and the vet had to be called.  He ended up doing a c-section on her since the calf was way too big to pass through.  The bull calf ended up dying but it was as big as a 6 week old weaned calf!  Crazy!  Anyhow the girls got home and went in and got their doctor kit and their choice of animal victims and started "doing surgery".  So cute to listen to them try to talk and copy everything they saw.... well some might have not thought it was cute but I did!  Marissa is so curious and wants to learn how everything works and what everything is.  She is going to have quite the education and know exactly how everything at the barn works if the questions keep up!  I cut Madalyn's hair yesterday.  As much as I love her curly hair it is proving to be a touch more difficult to manage than Marissa's.  She has this mullet thing going on where her bottom half grows at 10x the speed of her top.  Her top finally made it down to a touch below her ears so I cut her bottom up to be even with the sides.  The nice thing about her hair being curly is that its harder to tell if I cut it crooked or not!  It looks cute and it just gave her a ton more curls now that its shorter.  It must feel weird to her though because she is always playing with it.  Tonight Doug and I have planned a "date night" after the girls go to bed.  Hopefully everything goes well at the barn so we can keep our "date".  Thursday Katie and Alex, some friends from church, are heading to Rochester for a wedding and I have offered to watch their Rat Terrier for them, so we will have another furry animal in the house until Saturday night.  Hopefully that goes well.  Other than that we should have a pretty quiet week.  Next week Doug starts feeding again and we are heading up north to my parents house on Friday and Saturday to see the whole family.  I can't wait!  I suppose I have rambled enough for one post!  Here are some pictures taken since my last post...ENJOY!

Madalyn thought Marissa made a good seat and it actually went over well. 

All smiles

Oops, over she goes!

Looks from all three girls...

Madalyn wants some of Marissa's cookie

Madalyn and some of the heifers

Marissa thought she should take a picture of Madalyn 

peeing with her pretty dress and new hair cut

Then she wanted me to take one of her

Marissa and Madalyn preparing to play horse

So cute...

Off she goes!

I contemplated running the video camera instead of pictures 

because Marissa was dying laughing the whole time she was moving!

Pictures post as promised!

Knock on wood things are calm so far this week!  But Madalyn is definitely keeping me on my toes.  I don't think she is meaning to be naughty, she is just fast and has NO FEAR whatsoever.  I have decided since the snow is melting quickly that I am going to get hook and eye latches for the screen doors and put them up high enough so neither kid can reach them...that way Marissa isn't aiding in Madalyn's escape plans.  I can totally see her taking off for the barn this summer or playing in the road.  I can't believe how big the girls are getting.  Marissa is going to be 4 in May and Madalyn will be 2.  That is insane!  Marissa has turned into such a caring and compassionate girl who is quick to give out hugs and kisses and hang out as a family no matter what we are doing.  Madalyn, although going through a kind of trying time, is so sweet and "innocent".  She tries hard to copy everything we are doing and sees no reason why she can't obtain it.  Its so sweet to watch her idolize Marissa and try to walk exactly in her foot steps.  Here are some pictures from the last week or so.

Madalyn climbed in her bed to get her puppies, but didn't make it back out...she is passed out cold.

Same afternoon as the picture before Marissa fell asleep on the living room floor like this...

Madalyn :(

She is going to give me a heart attack yet!  Last week she burned herself twice.  She burned herself the first time on the heater at the barn...she didn't realize it stayed hot for a while after you turned it off.  Towards the end of the week she got up on a chair that Marissa had pulled over and use to help me cook and then proceeded to lay her hand down on the burner that I had just taken a pan off of.  She is way too fast!  I can't keep up with her!  Tonight I was washing dishes and she was laying on the living room floor with her puppy talking and next thing I know she is screaming bloody murder.  So I run over and found her on the floor with a pen next to her and blood gushing from her mouth.  I ran her to the bathroom not having a clue what she had just done.  She started choking...I wasn't sure if she gouged a tooth out or what...figured out she was just choking on all the blood.  It finally stopped bleeding and I got a good look inside and immediately called Doug's mom and Doug.  She cut the back end of the roof of her mouth about a 1/8 to a 1/4 inch deep.  We called the Level 3 EMT with Turin Ambulance and he told us what to watch for, watch what we feed her and give her Tylenol for the pain.  He said unless it was deep enough to get to her soft palate there wasn't much they could do.  I feel like a HORRIBLE mom and I'm sick to my stomach!  She isn't even two yet and she is a walking accident.  I'm going to have my hands full this summer I have a feeling.  I should have known from her start on life that she wasn't going to take the easy road!  I just needed to vent!

My baby is growing up!

As of Sunday Madalyn has decided that she is no longer in need of diapers, even though I just bought a brand new box from Walmart...150 of them!  She is proud as can be with her new accomplishment.  I don't even have a clue and was very unprepared for this move.  She went from being soaked every morning and peeing and pooping anytime she didn't have a diaper on to telling me that she has to go potty and actually going every time she asked.  This morning we were at the barn and she told me she had to go and actually held it till we got home.  I dug out Marissa's padded training underwear, since regular underwear doesn't come any smaller than 2T, and shrunk the tar out of it since it was still 18 months and she needs a 12 month.  I have to fold the tops down to get them to stay but she doesn't mind as long as I don't make her wear a diaper.  I found some Easy Ups at Walmart today that will work for when we are out...again a touch big, but not bad.  I'm just so shocked...Marissa wasn't hard to train but she definitely didn't train herself!  Oh and this morning the girls got to experience a calf being born.  Both had their eyes glued to the cow the whole time and didn't seem bothered.  Marissa just wanted to make sure the calf was alive and know whether it was a girl or a boy.  Madalyn was all upset because she had "poopies" on her...anything that is yucky is poop.  Marissa and I named the calf Abby and that puts us up to 9 calves now...Pretty good!  I'll post pictures next time!

Warning...picture overload!

I'm not sure how I got so backed up on pictures, but here are a bunch from this month so far...I was going to hold off and post them later in the week to spread them out, but I'm impatient so I'm doing it now while I have the time!  Consider yourselves spoiled!  ENJOY!!!!

Barely made it in her bed and passed out cold...

Till she heard Mommy's camera go off...then she had to try and wake up!

"Mom go away so I can go back to sleep!"

Being silly

Pretending again

Ok, now you have seen it with your own eyes...Madalyn has control of the door and closed them in so please don't turn me into Social Services!  HAHA

Two puppies (Grace and Madalyn)

All three girls squeezed into one cage! (Notice the door isn't latched...so you still can't turn me in!)

Madalyn is cooking supper

Playing so good by herself!

The girls pretending to go Nite Nite

Marissa keeping Daddy warm

Again

Mike May came to visit and brought Conner and Tanner with him to play.  Conner and Marissa got along so well!  Madalyn was pleased as could be that there was a "baby" in the house!

Conner and Marissa

Madalyn peeking

Being cute!

Keeping Tanner busy

Random Pictures...

The animal lover in me had to share these too!

This is "Noodles"  We are trying to save money on the farm and the vets recommended buying used Men's vests at Yard Sales and Salvation Army's in XL size for the calves to wear.  They work great!
"Noodles" again
HAHA...I still can't help but laugh when I see this picture!  Jack and Chloe went out for a bit to play and Jack came in looking like this.  I should have gotten a picture of Chloe too just to show you the difference because Chloe didn't have anything on her!  So funny!  It took Laurie and I spraying him down with warm water to free him from that mess!

Painting...

My Mom got Madalyn TaDoodles for Christmas this year.  We have used the crayons and stamps quite a bit but the paints have proved to be a bit messy.  They have dried up a bit so they are manageable now, so we gave it a whirl again the other morning.  I have been working on colors with Madalyn so there is a video at the bottom of her and her favorite color.  The video isn't great quality because I had to edit it, but you will get the idea!  The girls had a blast!

We are still here...

Just thought I would let everyone know that we are still here and still alive!  haha  We have had the flu and are still kind of recovering so no pictures yet because I still don't have that much energy.  I'll update again soon!  So far Doug is the only one that has gotten out of the puking virus, so pray that that continues and that this doesn't circle around again!