The Spicy Redhead Turns Two!

My Madi girl is two years old.  It is both adorable, and sad to watch her grow up.  I love seeing her learn new things and grow, but my heart doesn't want to let go of the phases that are now in the past!  Especially knowing she is likely my last baby, makes everything feel all the feels just a little bit more!

Madi is a sweet, crazy, loving, and ridiculous little girl.  Over the last year, she has morphed from being anti-snuggle, to being my most cuddly child!  She gives the best tight hugs ever!  She loves her blankies, pockets (poppies), shoes, hats, and pretty much any other accessory!  She loves going outside, swinging, playing in the water all day, and slides.

She is a little sugar-addict (comes by it honestly) and gets screaming happy any time she gets treats.  She loves reading stories with mom and singing "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" with all the hand actions.  She gives the best tight hugs and kisses.  She will take my face in her hands and turn my head so she can kiss both cheeks and then plant one right on the lips.  There is no refusing her!

She is learning more and more words every day and loves to copy things that others are saying.  She is getting better and better at pronunciation but for now, Colton is "Dah Dow" Zach is "NahNah" and Katie is "DeeDee".  She also loves seeing animals and birds but gets very afraid of bugs!  She loves seeing doggies out the window or  walking by, but she gets too scared to get too close or let them touch her.

She loves "friends" and is always very happy when neighborhood kids come by.  She will follow them around, ask them to hold her, and sit on their laps.  She waves at anyone who walks by and yells, "HI!" until they hear her. 
She is a bit of a runner and will take off running into the street or down the sidewalk if I don't watch her close.  She took off one day running down the sidewalk when she saw a "friend" going that direction so I followed behind but let her go and she ran about all the way to the end of the street and turned the corner and kept going!  In her bare feet!

She has the cutest curls, especially when its humid or after her hair gets wet, but I'm sure she will grow out of them at some point, just like Katie did. 

She is entering a new phase of fierce independence and will put up some serious battles with me any time I try to dress her, buckle her in her chair or in the car, help her get food on her fork, or really anything else.  All of my attempts are met with, "No, I do it!"  She does, however, also have a polite side.  Often when I say things like, "Madi, time for a nap." Or "Madi, have another bite" or "Madi, can I have a hug?"  Her response is very sweetly, "No Thank You."  (Unless you ask her more than once and then the "No Thank You" is less sweet and more screamy!) Haha.

She is still as loud as the day she was born and came out screaming louder than any of my other babies.  The doctors all said, "That is one mad baby!"  To this day, she can still get pretty spicy!  We might all have a little more ear damage than we did two years ago, but we wouldn't have it any other way!  She is our spicy little redhead with some fierce independence and attitude and we love her!!

For her birthday, I made her a birthday cake with her favorite thing- candy!  She loved it!  I've never seen her as happy as when she had a sucker in one mouth and a bowl with ice-cream and cake in front of her :)  We bought her a new princess castle (Katie used to have one very similar but it got ruined by kids being crazy over the years), some stuffed animals, clothes, and a bubble gun.  She was very happy with all of the attention, balloons, treats, and other fun things!   Because of Corona virus, we didn't invite anyone over or go anywhere, but she didn't seem to mind.  We had fun at home with the family!

Madi "doing" my hair.  Lots of pulling involved!

Her favorite- her blankie.

COVID-19: Social Isolation the Last Month

Obviously, the last month I haven't blogged as much.  Things have settled down quite a bit.  I mean, the world is still weird, we still aren't seeing many people or going many places, the virus is still a threat, but there has been a shift in the responses around the country.  Many people, ourselves included, have really eased up on how strict they are being with isolation.  In our neighborhood, the kids are all out playing every day.  We still aren't allowing inside playdates, but if other kids are out playing, we let ours go out also.

Businesses are also starting to open up more.  The gym is finally open again.  They are only allowed to have 50% capacity and 6 ft distancer is required so group fitness classes are a lot smaller, but it is nice to be back to teaching!  It gives me some distraction and focus and something to work towards again!  In addition to teaching the regular Thursday morning step classes and about every other Saturday, I am also training to teach a new Group Blast class the gym is adding.  The training has been fun.  It is all a little intimidating and there is a lot of memorization, but again, it is a good distraction!

Restaurants are also starting to open their dining rooms!  We haven't been yet but, as soon as we feel comfortable asking a babysitter, I would love to go!

One downside of things opening back up is that the golf course is opened again so we can no longer enjoy the paths for walks and bike rides.  That is a bummer.  We really enjoyed it while it lasted!

We also drove up to MN for Mother's Day weekend and stayed with Mark and Jenna.  We saw Jon's parents as well, while maintaining some distance.  It was good to have a change of scenery and feel close to normal for a weekend!  Mike and Lisa came over and we ordered in Applebees Saturday night and on Sunday, we all huddled in blankets in Paul and Janice's garage in chairs spaced 6 feet apart and had home church together.  These are definitely interesting times!

This last weekend we had people over for the first time in forever.  Jon's cousin Jason and his wife Kendra and family (who live in Ankeny also) came over for dinner Thursday night.  The kids had lots of fun playing outside together and we had fun playing some games inside.  Then, Sunday, Mike and Lisa and Kyle and Emily drove down to visit for a few hours.  We hung out, went for a walk, had some Papa Murpheys pizza we had bought the day before, and then they headed home.

I have gotten together for social distancing hang outs with my friends here a couple of times.  They all seem way more cautious about getting together yet so beyond the "6 feet apart" parking lot hangouts, we haven't done much with them.

It is crazy the range in people's reactions to this pandemic.  On one side, I have some family and friends who think we should still be isolated at home, wearing masks all the time and there is some anger that the country is opening up at all. On the other side, there are family and friends who think this is all totally overblown, government manipulation- some even say conspiracy.  These people refuse to wear masks, and think we never should have shut anything down and now the economy will never recover.  Jon and I fall in the middle.  We feel like shutting down was the right answer- at first.  We needed to see what the virus was, and get a handle on what we were dealing with.  However, we also feel that the economy can not be ignored and that it is time to start opening up- SAFELY.  Wearing masks shouldn't be a big deal for most people so we feel like it helps prevent any spread, we should do it.   We are also just really hoping and praying that our bodies can be strong and fight off these germs because we realize that, especially with things opening up, we are bound to be exposed at some point- if we haven't already.

As of now there have been 1,933,696 cases in the US and 110,577 deaths.