The 2 YEAR old

Cole has been a little sponge the last few months! He loves learning anything that you want to teach him. His latest accomplishments to add to his resume include: Learning his ABC's (not only the song, but recognizing the letters), learning a few states, and learning the names of a few of the apostles! We cannot take credit for the righteous one...Jed and Kim have been teaching him the names of the first presidency along with their pictures. So on Saturday when the first session of conference started and he saw the Prophet on the screen he got all excited and pointed to the TV saying "that's President Monson, that's President Monson!" we were amazed and then he continued pointing to each speaker asking "Who is that?" and then repeating their names. It was pretty cute. He has been working on his ABC's for a while and now points to every letter he see's anywhere we go and tells us what it is. So the video's are clips of him performing his tricks. The shorter one is of him naming states from the map (he has since learned Colorado, Texas, and Florida...could we be teaching these in a more random order?). The longer one features his vocal stylings with Itsy Bitsy Spider, Do as I'm Doing, and the ABC's. He is so fun and he say's and does things everyday that crack us up! We sure love our little man!

Sweet Dreams

This was way to sweet to pass up! Justin has fallen hard for his little girl. I love the moments when he doesn't know I am watching and I catch the look in his eyes as he watches her. He has always been adorable with Cole, but this little girl has completely melted him. I feel sorry for the first boy who tries to date Ali, Justin is already thinking up ways to scare potential suitors. What a lucky little gal, she is so loved, and moments like this show just how much!

Never Say Never...

I was raised in a family that called those bows that you put on bald baby girls "sling shots". So, nothing against those of you who have put them on your little ladies, but I swore I would NEVER wrap one around my little ones head! For years now my friends have been vowing to change my mind, I thought their efforts were nothing but a lost cause. Well, never say never! In my defense to my family reading this and shaking their heads preparing to mock my daughter I just have to say...it's all Lindsey's fault! She put one of Macy's bows on Ali the other day and I felt my stern aversion to these suckers melt away. Ali looked so cute and like a girl. So, I made the trip to the store to purchase Ali some accessories for her non-existent locks! Although I remain picky about which bows I will and will not use, I have to admit, I do think she looks adorable...I just hope I can stand the "I Told You So's"!

He loves me, He loves me...a lot!

Cole has been a real trooper about this whole sharing the attention thing. We didn't know what to expect from him when Ali came, but he loves her to pieces. He always runs into the room, plops down next to Ali and says "Cole hold baby Ali". He loves to hold her...even when no one is there to help him pick her up! We have to keep a close eye on this big bro, he likes to do things all himself, and Ali has been very patient with him! If he hears her cry he comes running in saying "What's wrong baby Ali?" It is the cutest thing to see. What a great big brother! Between Cole and Justin, I think this little girl is going to have all the protection and attention she needs!

Build A ... Baby?

If you had told us that we would be on the hunt for cute preemie clothes with any of our children we would have laughed. Cole was 8 lbs 15 oz and grew out of his new born clothes in no time. So, when the newborn clothes made our daughter look like she was swimming in them, we were a bit shocked! We know she is not super tiny, but she is compared to Cole. So my mom (who loves a shopping challenge) went out looking for cute preemie clothes. She found a few adorable outfits, but she said most of them were just not even close to being cute. While my mom was still in town she sent Justin and I out on a date and we ended up at the mall trying to find something to dress her all up in. Store after store left us disappointed with only meager selections of onsies to fit her. As we headed down the mall we passed "Build A Bear", I turned to Justin and said jokingly "hey maybe Build A Bear clothes would--" He looked at me, and we both turned and walked straight in. We died laughing at all of the hilarious choices. We each picked an outfit for her. I picked the little pink jogging suit and Justin went for the zebra print leggings. Then he went a little crazy in the accessories department. I have to admit it was pretty cute watching him spoil his little girl. We brought them home and had a fashion show! They fit perfectly! The only set back is the hole in the butt for a tail! PRICELESS!

Meet our little lady!

Meet our little lady! Ali Jo Maddux was born on 8-8-08 at 2:08 am! She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 19 in long. All I have to say is second babies are way easier than first babies! We were scheduled to be induced on friday, but my water broke Thursday at about 4:30 pm. I could not believe this considering it was a week early and I was a week late with Cole. Justin didn't believe me either when I called him at work (he knows I have a tendancy to be paranoid), but being the wonderful husband he is, he came home to check on me, and by that time there was no doubt that my water had indeed broken. My parents were supposed to fly in Thursday night to be there to watch Cole...so Jed and Kim came to the rescue! My parents ended up taking a shuttle to the hospital. So we got to the hospital around 6:30 pm and it was about 7:30 by the time I was hooked up and on patosin (however you spell that). Then I got a wonderful epidural at 9:00 after watching the So You Think You Can Dance finale, went to sleep on and off until 1:30 am and was a 10 when I woke up! This drug business is great! They hurried and called my Doctor and by the time she got there I pushed for 5 minutes or so and then we met our little girl! This is much better than Cole...for those of you who don't remember he was a 20 hour labor followed by 2 1/2 hours of pushing due to his head facing the wrong way...this was a breeze compared to that! Then came the hard part...naming her. Justin and I have been going back and forth forever about her name. He loved Ali, but said he could never spell it the way I liked because people would pronounce it wrong. So he won on what we named her..,partly because we had said if her name were Ali her initials would be AM so if she was born in the AM that would be her name and if in the PM her name would be peyton, which was my pick. So, he won there...but he eventually gave in on the spelling because he is a sweetheart! So there you have it! We feel so blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy, little girl.

The big T-W-O!

we can't believe our little man is already 2! I am a little late posting this but I figured a birthday was to important not to document. Cole's actual birthday was June 17. As you can tell Elmo is a definite favorite of his! So, being the crafty girl I am turning into...I set out to make an Elmo cake! To be honest, I did not do it alone...Becca did all the research and was my collaborative partner! We think it turned out pretty great, and Cole was SO EXCITED! Our friends made his birthday so special this year! They gave him such cute gifts that were definitely more exciting than our gift of a BIG BOY BED! He is such a blessing to us. We are constantly laughing at something he comes up with and we love him to pieces!