23 Months Old

Happy 23 months Mr. Maddox!! I cannot believe you will be 2 years old next month, it just blows my mind every time I think about how fast this year has flown by.

23 things you are doing at 23 months:

-Speaking much more clearly (to your mommy at least....a lot of people still need me as your interpreter until they are around you a little longer to decipher what you are saying) and you are beginning to say complete sentences at times

-You can tell me what you want/need very easily

-You can count to 10 on a regular basis (although, we are still trying to find out where the number 4 has gone, you skip that number every single time!! hahah)

-You know many of your letters and point them out on anything you see

-You still love your sweet "Raffie" (your lovie) and you want to teach him to do all the things you can do...eat, take a bath, go "night night", read a book, give kisses....it is precious!

-You love to wrestle with daddy when he gets home

-You are very very strong and can pick up things we never imagined you would be able to carry

-You are so smart and figure things out so quickly (I know I am going to be asking you how to fix things in the very near future...you are very mechanically minded just like your daddy)

-You love Elmo and can point him out in random movies (the other night we were watch "Elf" and they had an Elmo doll in the toy store and you saw it and got very excited)

-You follow directions very well (when YOU want to) You will put your shoes up and your dirty clothes in the hamper in your room...you also get a diaper for me and put your wipes back in the drawer when I am throwing away your diaper

-You LOVE music...any music, you can drum to the beat and will change immediately when the music changes...you have very good rhythm

-You have mastered the "stink eye" or the "what are you wanting me to do look" and you do this every chance you can (as seen in the beginning of the Letter Video posted a few weeks ago)

-You love to play with footballs, bouncy balls, squishy balls, anything that remotely looks like a ball...you love to throw it, kick it and chase after it. You are getting a pretty good arm on ya!!

-You like to help mommy do anything...cook, clean, laundry (sometimes you are more helpful unfolding the laundry than folding it, but I know it is the thought that counts:) )

-You are developing a very sensitive heart and you can easily get your feelings hurt when you get in trouble or you cannot have what you are wanting (I know you got this one from your mommy)

-You know your colors and point them out in your cereal, on a sign, in the car...anywhere!! You know that the red light means "stop" and the green light means "go"

-You are still a very good eater, although you are getting a little more picky and you are doing very well at feeding yourself. You hate to have food on your hands and say "Yucky" when your hands are dirty

-You love to imitate daddy....the other day you went and got your toy laptop and put it up on the table, climbed in the chair where daddy usually sits and "worked" on your laptop, just like daddy!!.....you looked so grown up!

-You enjoy making us smile and you are very good at making us laugh

-You still love Nemo and any fish for that matter

-You are working very hard on your 2 year molars and boy those chompers are huge back there

-You have turned into a very good sleeper.....last night you went to bed at 8pm and woke up this morning at 10am....it was amazing! (I hope I did not jinx myself just now)

-You love to read story after story and we will sometimes find you in your room sitting on your bed reading to Raffie....you are such a big boy!!


We are so proud of you Mr. Maddox!

Here is proof of the "stink eye"from the little stinker himself!

Through the Eyes of the Curious

All is quiet in the Kalivoda house. Brad is putting Maddox to bed, the Christmas tree is glowing in the corner, the warmth of the heater is blowing and the feel of the Christmas Season is upon us. I love this time of year, the colder weather, the beautiful Christmas lights, the smell of Cinnamon, the red and green decorations.....however, this Christmas Season I am already learning a lot about seeing the season through the eyes of the curious...the eyes of our sweet Maddox. When he sees a Christmas tree, anywhere, he points it out and stares for a minute and says "BIG" (even if it is a small tree). While driving around he loudly and so excitedly points out every house, building or tree that has Christmas lights beautifully glowing ....constantly asking for "one more". I love to watch him get excited about the "frilly" parts of the Christmas Season...and I am even more excited to watch him get excited about the TRUE parts of Christmas....the tiny baby lying in a manger who came to live a life to die for us and rescue his children!! He is constantly asking us to read him his "Jesus Book" and sits so quietly and amazed as we read him story after story about our Lord and Savior!! It truly is the most amazing thing I have every experienced to watch through the eyes of our child, see what he sees and how exciting Christmas truly is! It is absolutely impossible to not get in the spirit of things while having a little one point out how beautiful this time of year is.

Thank you my sweet sweet boy for being so honest, genuine, curious, observant and excited to see all the beautiful things around you...and thank you for constantly sharing those new discoveries with me. You are constantly teaching me, your mommy, new things and for that I am forever thankful....you continue to provide more and more happiness to our lives everyday!!!

So Much To Be Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving from the Kalivoda Family!!! We had a wonderful time in Oklahoma visiting Brad's family and we are a little sad to already be back in Lubbock (Brad had to work on Friday, so we left Thanksgiving evening and made that glorious 6 hour drive home!)
On our way home from Oklahoma last night, Maddox was wide awake just chillin in his car seat for the last 4 hours of the drive (keep in mind, we did not leave Oklahoma City until about 6pm, which would get us home around midnight....so for Maddox to be awake, not upset at all and it be almost 11pm, well, we were a little shocked to say the least) all of the sudden about 40 miles away from the house, Maddox starts counting. Now normally his counting sounds a little like this "One, two, one, two, one! Yeah!!!" So when Maddox started out with "One, Two...." we obviously assumed another "one, two, one" would follow.....well much to our surprise, Maddox just took off and said "three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!!!! Yeah" Brad and I both sat there, looked at each other with the most bewildered look on our faces and couldn't believe what we had just heard. Maddox continued to count to ten the entire way home!! It was so funny! Way to go little man...you never cease to amaze us!!! Well, I was able to get his counting on video this evening while the Madd-man was taking a bath (please forgive the horrible quality of video, I had to stand in the hallway so he wouldn't see the camera...if he sees the camera he wants to see what is on it and will not let me take a good video any more....learning to be a little sneaky)

A few pictures from Thanksgiving! Thanks Kalivoda's for a great holiday..we had a great time and we can't wait to see you guys again soon! Miss you already!

Aunt Kim swinging Maddox!! He loves this girl! (So do I)

Papa Voda and Maddox playing on the four wheeler outside Bass ProDaddy and Maddox shooting a gun at Bass Pro

Oh the excitement of the huge fish at Bass Pro...Maddox was in heaven

Date Night

This evening I did NOT have to say :

"sweetie, please sit on your bottom"
"no, we do not put food in our nose, food is for our mouths. You can eat it or leave it on your plate"
"no, this is Mommy's drink, your cup is right here....Oh, I'm sorry you would rather have my drink, but your cup is right here...oh look at this fun straw...show me how you drink out of YOUR cup."
"sweetie, sit on your bottom....listen and obey or you will have a consequence"
"can you find the letter 'M' on this menu while we wait for our food"
"buckle? Would you like to try to buckle yourself in your highchair again?"
"no, we do not stick our fork in our nose. Your fork is for eating your food."
"no, we do not stick our fork in our ears either. Forks are for eating food only."
"no, you do not stick the spoon in your ears or nose either."
"oh thank you for listening and using your inside voice...that is a very good boy"
"where are your ears? Can you hear what we are asking you to do?"
"That's right, that is Green."
"I know that person is coughing, but it is not nice to mimic other people"
"No, I'm sorry we cannot go outside right now"
"I know you are finished and want to go, but we are not finished until everyone is finished eating"
"no, please don't stick your finger in your nose or ears......no, please don't stick your finger in Daddy's ear either"
"Yes, our waiter has a pen in his pocket.....No, it is not YOUR pen"


Thank you mom for watching Maddox this evening so Brad and I could enjoy a fabulous date night!!! Gosh, if you really think about it, dinner this evening was so boring...hahah. Brad, thank you for a wonderful evening....you are the best husband and friend I could ever ask for.

Catching Up....Again

Gosh, I have not been too great at keeping this blog updated....once again, I have no exciting or creative way to get you updated, so I will just start with last weekend....My good friend Rusty got married on Saturday and I had the privilege to be his Best Wo-Man....that is correct, I was a GroomsMaid and stood on his side..that was definitely a first for me, but I really enjoyed it and was honored to show my support for him and his new bride. Rusty and I have been good friends since we were 3 years old in the nursery at church; however, we joke that we really didn't like each other until junior high...he didn't like me when we were little because he says "thats the girl who knows all the answers" and I didn't like him because he was loud and rambunctious until junior high, then he was quiet and mumbled all the time..hahah. Please keep him in your prayers, he is in the army and will be deployed for Afghanistan in January...I cannot imagine how difficult all this must be on his new wife Amie and his family.

After the wedding on Saturday, Brad, Maddox and I loaded up and headed to Midland to see my best friend Sarah and her husband Dusty. We had some furniture to give them (still trying to figure out how to get the once used as a guest room cleaned out for a nursery) and I was excited to see her, catch up on everything and see her beautiful new house! We had a wonderful time and it makes me even more sad that we no longer live 11 seconds away from each other. Thanks again, Dusty and Sarah for your great friendship and your hospitality this past weekend....we can't wait to see you again soon!!

As far as Baby Voda is going, everything seems to be going great. I still have some "morning" sickness (anytime of the day) but not nearly as bad as a few weeks ago. I think I have felt him/her move, but I am not completely certain. We have an appointment December 10 and after that appointment they will schedule the ultrasound where we can hopefully see the sex of this little one...I am super excited!!! This pregnancy seems to constantly prove that no two pregnancies are ever the same....I am carrying this little one much differently than I did with Maddox and I am not gaining weight nearly as fast as I did with the Madd-man; however, I am sure that is mostly because I rarely have an appetite and I most certainly did NOT have that problem with Maddox. My heart is getting more and more excited about watching our family grow and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us!

Sorry to ramble on so much, I will leave you with a video of Maddox dancing to his Thanksgiving card from Grandma and PaPa Voda (thanks again for the card, he loves it!!)

This Post is Brought to You by the Letters M, O, E, B

Here is a video of Maddox learning his letters

Random

Hello all!! Thank you for your support and encouragement as our secret is now out in the open. As I mentioned in the previous post, I am officially out of the first trimester and so far I am LOVING this second trimester......WOW I have energy again and it feels great!! Maddox has been so much fun lately (well, he is always fun, but we have had less and less discipline moments the last few days which helps this mommy enjoy the day much better). Brad asked me the other day what one of my favorite parts about being a mommy was and after a lot of thought....currently, one of my favorite things is watching Maddox learn new things. He currently counts to 3 and knows if there is one, two, or three items in front of him. He knows the letters "M" "O" and "E" and can find them on any page of a book or anywhere he might possibly see some letters...I joke that he learned to spell my name "Mom-e" I don't know why these 3 letters have stood out so much to him....but I love it!! He is learning his colors beautifully, but sometimes everything is "PINK" I have no idea that he even knew the color pink, but maybe he is letting me know to get ready for a lot of pink and prepare for a little girl...hahahah....I really have no idea, but you can ask him what color something is and he will say "pink" I will correct him and he will say "No, no, PINK" such a sweet silly little boy!

As I mentioned, I have had energy the last few days and I put that energy to use by putting up all of our Christmas decorations....I know, I am super early, but I wanted to enjoy it this year and not feel like I was rushing to get the tree up and then rushing to take it back down. I love it and I feel so relaxed and at peace when I see the pretty lights on the trees.....(Maddox loves the lights and the Trishmas Wree....aka the Christmas Tree...and the pretty "balls" aka ornaments)

I will take pictures and post them after a while.

Sorry this post was so random and I do not have a current picture to post; however, I will leave you with a picture of Maddox from this date last year.