The Beach & Temper Tantrums

My mother-in-love and father-in-love offered us their beach condo for a week. We had some great family time. Hear are SOME of the great pictures we have of Madelyn.

Here she is at the pier.

Here she is at Gulf World.

Here she is lounging around the condo.

And here she is at the beach with Mommy & Daddy!

We will treasure these pictures for years to come.

Okay, so now for the not-so-fun part of our trip. We had some temper tantrums. In fact, we had a lot of them. Ladies and Gentlemen, Madelyn has quickly mastered the black-belt level of temper tantrums - at 19 months. I'm not talkin' a little fussy because she can't have a toy she wants or being temper mental before nap time. I'm talkin' screaming at Walmart to the level that someone says to me, "Man, she has some lungs! I heard her 3 aisles over" all because I took a phone call with my cell phone and wouldn't let her take the phone from me. I'm talkin' hitting and kicking me during diaper change to the point that I have to put her in her crib mid-change because she just kicked me in the jaw and I have to recover from the pain before I can continue the diaper change. I'm talkin' screaming for 30 minutes straight (red-faced, 'I'm being tortured to death' kind of screaming) because - well, we never found out what triggered that temper tantrum. I'm talkin' tantrums that both grandparents have witnessed and said things like, "Bless your heart for having to deal with that" and "She is high-maintenance, that's for sure."

I know that temper tantrums are normal. I know that every parent goes through this. I know that this is my first child and I might very well look back on this and say, "Man, that was easy." But right now I don't feel that way. Right now I feel frustrated, exhausted and scared that I'm doing it all wrong.

Update: Today I went to the library to check out some books on temper tantrums but I couldn't because Madelyn had a temper tantrum in the library and I had to leave before I began. So I came home and bought $35 worth of used books about toddlers and discipline and temper tantrums and stay-at-home moms on Amazon. (I'm all about the run-on sentences today.)

Baby Mozart

New Blog

I have a new blog! Check it out: http://tonyasblinkingcursor.blogspot.com

My new blog will be about me becoming a writer. I have been wishy-washy about becoming a writer. I have had this idea for a book for about 5 years now. I have an outline and character lists, and even a few pages written. But I have been making excuses about why I haven't finished it. I don't have time. I don't have the talent. It will never get published so why bother. I am tired of making excuses. I just want to do it! So I am trying to become serious about writing. I am going to start working on my book every day. But I need another way to exercise my writing muscles. I also need to get over my fear of people reading and critiquing what I write. This is where the blog comes in. I will try to post in it every day, if possible. What am I going to write about? Not sure. But one thing is for sure. I am going to write!

Silliness

Madelyn has discovered a new talent - making me laugh. It happens while I'm rocking her to sleep. I like singing her lullabies while rocking her before I put her down. While I am singing, she looks up at me and starts touching my face. She will touch my nose and then squeeze it like she is "honking" a clown's nose. I can usually hold my giggles at this point. Then she grabs my lower lip and pulls it down. And that is when I usually start laughing. I try so hard not to laugh because I know that will only delay her sleepiness. But I'm sorry - trying to sing while a 1 year old's chubby little fingers are holding your lower lip is just about the funniest thing I have encountered. I start laughing and then she starts laughing with this triumphant look on her face. I wish I could get a video of it because it is actually a really sweet moment - even if she is doing it to delay going to sleep.

Procrastination

I have been procrastinating blogging for two reasons:

#1Immediately after Christmas, I knew I wanted to post pictures of Madelyn, but between all the cameras, I have over 300 pictures of her at Christmastime! Looking at them all and deciding which ones I wanted to post just didn't seem fun.

#2 Now that it is the new year, you know that I have resolutions on the brain - and you know that my resolution has been the same since I was 12. So who wants to write about that?!

So, just to show my art at procrastination, I will blog about neither of the above and instead share a picture of Madelyn and her cousin, Morgan, who is only 7 months older. Don't they look like sisters?
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Okay nevermind. For some reason, I can't seem to post any pictures right now. I keep getting errors. Is this some type of punishment for not blogging enough?

Random Thankfullness

Wendy has tagged me. I'm supposed to list 10 things I'm thankful for...



In no particular order:
1. Bubble baths and time to have them every once in awhile.

2. My books and the ability to read them.

3. My movies and the ability to watch them.

4. My music CDs and the ability to listen to them.

5. Being able to stay home with Madelyn.

6. My husband and his emotional, financial, spiritual support.

7. My family who is by my side through it all.

8. My friends who are by my side through it all even when they aren't obligated to be there.

9. Digital cameras

10. Online shopping





And what have I been doing?

Putting up Christmas decorations for my upcoming Christmas party this Saturday, going to choir rehearsals for our upcoming Christmas Pageant, and keeping up with Madelyn! More posts of pictures later...and a belated Thanksgiving story for ya.

Movie Night

This is Madelyn's favorite new activity - taking all the movies off the shelf.

What fun!! And in case any of you are wondering, yes they were put back in alphabetical order after Madelyn went to bed. And to brag about my husband, he read my mind and put them back in order while I was putting Madelyn to bed so I wouldn't have to! Isn't he sweet?