The McNeffs

The McNeffs

Monday, November 18, 2013

Oh Mommy!

End of the day, Matt is going to come home soon.  We're going to eat and then run to the store to get some Christmas shopping done.  I wanted to look nice for the occasion so while the kids were having a snack, I ran and got dressed and did my make up and hair.  As I was doing my 'final looks' in the mirror, Maddie came to find me.  She walked in and said,

"Oh Mommy!  You look soooo, so cute!"  I melted, and she got lots of hugs and kisses.

A while later... she will watch Curious George while I finish getting dinner ready.  Just beforehand there was a commercial by the church about spending time with your family.  It shows some kids under a bed and you hear a gruff voice say "Here comes the monster.... the TICKLE MONSTER!!" and a dad reaches under the bed and grabs the kids as he tickles them.  Maddie yelled out,

"Monster Daddy!"  She giggled and then looked at me.  "I want Monster Daddy, too!"  Unfortunately he wasn't home yet, so Monster Mommy had to do.  :)


Friday, November 15, 2013

Overheard...

Why do these always seem to happen in the evening?  :)

Last week sometime, Madison threw her bottle on the ground and then wanted it back.  We were instructing her to ask, not just cry and point.

Dad: Maddie can you say 'Mommy'?
Maddie: No
Dad: Can you say 'Daddy?'
Maddie: No
(At this point Matt started goofing off)
Dad: Maddie can you say 'bottle'?
Maddie: No
Dad: Can you say 'table'?
Maddie: No
Dad: can you say 'fish'?
Maddie: No
Dad: can you say 'no'?
Maddie: *shakes her head*

I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Fun Things and Milestones

So... A lot has happened in our little family the last week.  Here are some:

Sean learned to crawl.  It is super cute to seem him shuffling along.  He hasn't mastered crawling on the hard wood floors (tends to just slide backwards) but he seems empowered by his new skill.  :)

At the same time, Sean also learned to pull himself up and walk around things while holding onto them.  He's still a beginner and his feet don't always keep up with his hands, but I was surprised!  Have to not only baby proof the floor, but also the coffee table, couches, etc.

Madison's language skills are improving dramatically.  The balance has finally shifted that I understand more than I don't!!!

She has also learned... well, more like, come to the realization... that she can open her door and leave the room.  This happened one morning when, to our delirious happiness, Matt and I slept in.  All the sudden we heard a knock at Maddie's door, followed by the door opening and her coming into our room.  "Mom?  Dad?"  I thought, "Oh no, there go my naps!"

An example of both of Madison's new skills was demonstrated last night.  We put her to bed, and then I taught a piano lesson.  Immediately after finishing, I left with Julie to do some quick shopping before stores closed.  My student, Miranda, Matt's sister, stayed and talked with Matt for a while.  Matt said he heard Madison's door open and the pitter-patter of her feet down the hall.  She came over and Matt picked her up while he was talking.  After a while, she got down and wandered through the house.  Matt said she came back and looked at him.  "I can't find Mom," she said.  (Yes, she used a contraction, which is just cute to hear her use).

But wait, there's more!

A couple of weeks ago, we were saying goodbye to Matt as he headed to school.  We were all waving, "Goodbye, Dad!" when all the sudden, Sean started waving!  I couldn't believe it.  We never worked on him with it, he just started doing it.  It was his first definite communicating action.  I thought it was a fluke, but a couple days later, Brian was over with his kids for FHE.  When Sean went to bed, Brian told his kids, "Okay, everyone say goodnight to Sean."  And Sean immediately started waving to everyone.  Goodnight and Goodbye sound pretty similar.  Ever since, Sean will wave goodbye.  And just a couple days ago he added my favorite part: he says "Bye, bye, bye!" or says the 'b' sound.  He also likes to say 'Dadadada' 'Mom', though I'm sure not certain he knows it's us.  :)  His favorite sound and thing to do is still to laugh.  He has always loved to hear people laugh, and he'll join in, even when he has no clue what's going on.  :)

Wait, one more!

Tuesday, Sean bit my finger and we discovered, he got his FIRST TOOTH!!!

Monday, November 4, 2013

Overheard in the McNeff Household:

(These posts are sooooo funny on Sherie's blog, when we had one happen yesterday, I was excited to post one!)

During lunch, I was kind of spacing it, but Julie was much more on top of things:

Madison (with her hands in her bowl): Tickle, tickle, tickle
Julie: Maddie, we don't tickle our food.
Mom (realizing what's going on and trying not to laugh): Right.

Halloween!

Such a fun day!  Wish it always landed on a Friday or Saturday, though.  Holidays in the middle of the week can be tough on little kids the next day... and their parents.  ;)

 We started out in the afternoon decorating our pumpkins.  (We didn't have enough time to carve.) Madison wanted a pink puppy.  I made the ears a little long, so it looks more like a bunny, but she enjoyed coloring each part!  She also helped me color the elephant side of my pumpkin and wrinkle the paper for the lion side.  We had a lot of fun!

 So... thinking up a theme last minute is kind of tough.  Especially when the kids' costumes are a parrot and an elephant....
 CUTE elephant!!!!
 We went with pirates for Matt and I, and Madison was our parrot.  Matt tied the bandanna on Sean and after a while we just told everyone he was a rat (because they were all saying he was a mouse).  So he's our piRAT.  ("We put the 'rat' in 'piRAT!'")
 Maddie (pictured without costume because she didn't want to put it back after we got back), got the hang of trick-or-treating really quickly.  She did her part, got her candy, and then would chant "Thank you, Bye!" while Matt and I visited with the adults.  :)
We also met up with some old friends at their house.  Steve and Diane Gubler have a little girl Maddie's age.  They had fun... until Maddie fell off the couch.  At that point it was starting to get cold, so we headed home.
In the true fashion of group family photos, this is the 5th picture before we finally got everyone looking the right direction and smiling.  :)  Matt looked great, and so did Madison, but I don't have pictures of them!  :(