Happy Easter!

We had a very nice Easter. The weather was great, we were with family, everything was perfect. We hope everyone had a nice Easter as well.

Sunday was also my brother's birthday. So we celebrated with them at Mom and Dad's house. Madi likes blowing out the candles. We have had a lot of birthdays this month and every time we sing Happy Birthday I think Madi thinks its her birthday. It is too cute.



We played outside for part of the afternoon. Madi got bubbles in her Easter basket. She didn't want to blow them and she wasn't quite sure if she liked them either. But she had fun stomping on them once they hit the ground and popped. She was on cloud 9 as long as she had her Uncle Jason and Aunt Tabatha near her. I am hoping we can see them more often and even go and visit them once they get settled in Wichita.



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This weekend is the big move. I am soooo ready. What a chore it has been building this house and really not being able to relax or get caught up on things in either house. We work at one and sleep in the other and that's it. I am anxious to get settled and back into a routine.

Chris is working on getting the basement cleaned up and ready to move stuff into. The upstairs is now done and Mom and I spent yesterday packing up the kitchen and unpacking at the new house. It is so exciting to see our stuff in there now. I am almost done packing here and hope to get it done tomorrow and then get caught up on laundry. I don't want to move a bunch of dirty clothes.

This will probably be my last post for a little while. Our email, internet, and phones will all be different. Once we figure out all that information I will let everyone know. We can still be reached on our cell phones and of course Chris can always be reached at his work number and his work email will be the same. Our new address is 1547 N. Burma Rd., Salina.

Thank you to everyone who has helped with the house. Everyone is invited out at anytime. We would love to have visitors. And also thank you to all my blog readers, I really enjoy my online journaling and being able to share it with everyone.

Love, Amy

NO BINKY?!

Saturday must have been blocked from my brain until last night and it all came rushing back to me. Saturday can be summed up in one word....HELL. It started out okay, we took our time getting ready and out to the house. We had a nice trip to McPherson for Kenley's 2nd birthday party and then it all went down hill from there.

Several factors made the rest of the day..well...hell.
1. Lack of sleep for myself Friday night. (my patience runs thin with little sleep)
2. Madi didn't have a nap Saturday. YIKES!!
3. Cake (frosting) and ice cream (remember my previous post from Chris' birthday?) And not much else to eat that day.
4. Strapped into the car seat for an hour on a car trip that usually takes 35 minutes.
5. And NO BINKY!!!

So, we left the birthday party where Madi was high on sugar...again and headed for the new house. Instead of taking interstate we took the two lane highway which takes us closer to the new house. But it also takes alot longer to get home. Mistake #1.

And remember, Madi hasn't had a nap. She usually takes a 2-3 hour nap, so no nap is a big deal. We gave her her juice hoping she would calm down and sleep on the way home. First of all, her sippy cup has a straw in it and she can't get anything if she tips it. She is use to the regular sippy cups with no straws and because she didn't have a nap, she also has no patience and she wasn't listening to me while I tried to tell her to hold the sippy cup down. So at this point she is ticked off to no end and having a major meltdown. No nap, wrong sippy cup, Mistake 2 &3.

At this point I grab the diaper bag to get our good friend the binky. Digging, digging, no binky. Great, we are still aways from Salina, she has no patience for her sippy cup, tired, and hopped up on sugar, and we have no binky. We decide we will stop in Lindsborg, surely they have a binky somewhere in Lindsborg. At this point Madi has been crying for a half hour. We stop at the grocery store, no binky's. "Try the Dollar General store downtown," they told me. Well, they had binky's but they were for 0+ months. Very, very small. I buy them anyways, she will just have to make due. I take them to the car and give it to Madi. She looks at it and says "Binky" and is very happy. Puts it in her mouth, pulls it back out and says "baby binky" with a somewhat puzzled look. The darn thing is so small, she probably is barely able to hold it in her mouth. So she chews on it the rest of the way home, it satisfies her for the next 20 minutes.

I know, Madi is almost two and there are a lot of things that we need to change with her in the next several months, but I have been holding off until we get settled in the new house. I want the transition to the new house to be as close to normal and familiar for her as it can be. Somewhere along the lines I now have this notion in my head that moving is going to be disruptive to her and to keep things familiar. No other life changing events at this time right now. So, we haven't done a big push to ween the binky, move her into a big girl bed, potty train. All those things that should be coming up real soon or should have already been done. Our lives have all been a little chaotic since October.

So, the reason for this post is, can anyone give me some tips on how to ween Madi off the binky? I have already cut her "binky time" to a bare minimum. She gets it right before nap and right before bed. As soon as she gets up, it gets put up for later. But it is a huge crutch for her and for us, especially these cranky, need something to settle her down, occasions. I am dreading the first night she goes to bed without it. It will probably be a long night.

Madi and Great Grandpa

Here is a funny video of Madi from Friday night. She watched Tom walk across the room and then he turned around and walked back to the dining room and she followed right behind him walking like he was. It was so funny. I have never seen Betty laugh so hard. It was great.

Saturday, Tom and Betty came out to the house and Madi immediately started following Tom around and walking like him. She is too much fun sometimes!

Enjoy! Happy Birthday to Beth, Marybeth, and Jason. Hope everyone has a great week and a great Easter.

Love, Amy

Madi's Sugar High

Friday was Chris' 29th Birthday. To celebrate we all went out to Smolan to the Hickory Tree. Good food and very filling. But that is where all of Madi's ball of energy started.







First, her Grandpap (Dan) gave her a piece of cake at the restaurant. Notice there is no frosting on the cake. Because that is all she ate off the cake.



Then after supper we went home to have birthday cake that I had made.



And this is what she did with both cakes, eat frosting. (Like cookie monster only it's frosting)


Mmmmmm....good frosting!!!

Well, with lots of frosting and the fact that both sets of grandparents were at her house, she was bouncing off the walls. It was like "show time, everyone is watching me, I am going to go crazy!" But after everyone left, her sugar high fell very quickly and she turned into a whining machine. Good thing it was bedtime.

Last year at this time, we were having a terrible time with Madi and the time change. So far, she hasn't had any trouble adjusting. But Chris and I sure have. I can't seem to go to sleep at a reasonable time and I have a terrible time getting up in the morning. But I love the fact that spring is coming and it's staying light out later. I love this time of year.

Yesterday after nap time (Madi's, not mine) we went out to the house to work. Chris has been kind of slow with work this week and he met us out there to do some dirt work outside. What a beautiful day. I cleaned inside for awhile and then we went out to play. She absolutely loves "Daddy's digger, Daddy's tractor." But she only likes them when they aren't running.

She also loves getting dirty. Which of course drives me crazy. But she loves playing in the rocks and the dirt. Madi must like this time of year also, she wants to be outside all the time. Which is an okay thing because she wears herself out. She had no trouble going to bed last night. So, we will probably have to do the same thing this afternoon!

This weekend we were able to get all the baseboards and trim work done. All the plumbing is done. Basically, the house is done and liveable. I have a lot of clean up to do including touchups in the drywall and painting. I also still have a lot of wood filling to do. Chris has to finish the return air in the basement and get the heating/air unit set outside. He also wants to get the concrete work done and maybe even the deck done before we move in. But we should be moving the last weekend of this month.

We had a bit of a disaster at the house this last week. We hooked up the water line to the refrigerator on Thursday night. Went out Saturday morning and found that it had leaked. We had water all the way across the kitchen and the basement had a ton of water in it. Of course the basement dried out fine but water and wood flooring do not go well together. We have quite a few boards that are really warped and when you walk across the floor, you can feel where the boards have curled and separated. It is so discouraging. It is fixable, but we are going to live with it for awhile. With a little one in the house, it will probably get worse over time and we think we can live with it for awhile and fix it later down the road. My biggest fear at this point is if we fix it then a cup will get spilled or the dogs water will get turned over and we will have another bad spot. So, we are just going to wait.

Happy Birthday to Grandma Betty on Friday. Hope everyone has a great rest of the week.

Love, Amy

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Almost Done!!

Again, we got a lot of work done this last weekend. We had to though, in order to be ready for carpet on Monday. So, it was a long weekend. We worked late both Saturday and Sunday. But the house looks awesome.

We got two of the bathrooms complete with plumbing and electrical. I need to clean them really well so Chris can get them caulked and they will be done.




(Madi has no shirt on because she climbed into the tub and turned the water on, then she just sat there and said "Uh, oh.")

We also got the banister up and completed. It looks great and now Madi can roam the house on her own.



Carpet was installed and finished yesterday. We carpeted the three bedrooms and then down the stairs. It also looks great and the rooms aren't echoing anymore and much warmer. All three bedrooms are close to being done. The bottoms of the doors have to be shaved down a bit and get them rehung. We also have to install the closet rods and organizers and get the doors hung.


The kitchen counter tops are done. Very excited about that, they look great. We have to finish installing the drains to the sink and faucet put on. But the kitchen is basically done.



We could actually move in now but we still have some finish work to get done and we aren't in any big hurry to be out. The main room, office, pantry, and back bathroom need to have baseboards installed. The back bathroom we need to finish installing the toilet and sink. We have two doors that need to be finished with trim. And then we still have the fun task of filling all the nail holes with wood filler. My dad and mom started that on Sunday and it is going to take awhile.

Chris and I have spent the last two days talking about how and when we are going to finish the basement. And we also have outside finishing work that will probably wait until it's a little warmer. We want to put a concrete pad in front of the garage and also outside the basement in back and a sidewalk out front. We also need to build the deck and caulk all the seams in the siding. Paint trim and do all that fun outside stuff.

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We finally had a nice day last Friday. Madi and I got out and did some errands and then went to the park and played. She went down the slides a couple of times but I couldn't get her to go down on her bottom. She wanted to go down on her tummy, feet first. Oh well, she'll get the hang of it. But she had more fun on the springy toys that have been in the park for probably 20 years than she did on anything else. Here she is playing on the "capiller." But of course, it turned cold again. It rained all day Sunday and then turned into snow Sunday night. It isn't supposed to get real nice again until Sunday again. I am ready for spring!!!



Yesterday, we had Kenley over all day. She is Chris' cousins little girl and she is three months older than Madi. They had a wonderful day playing together. It was also very nice for me, I didn't have to be the entertainer all day. They played all day together by themselves. It was great. By the time Kenley's mom came to pick her up, both girls were delirious with laughter. All they had to do was look at each other and they would start laughing and running after each other. It was really nice to see Madi playing with another kid. We haven't had much of a chance to do that. I guess maybe it's time to have another one!!



Happy Birthday to Kush, Kishan, and Aunt Kathy tomorrow!

Love, Amy

More Work

Chris has been working like a mad man this last week. We are trying to get all the cutting and wood and all the stuff that makes a mess done before next Monday. Next Monday we are getting the carpet installed. So we have to get the trim done on the windows and base boards down. He also has had a plumber out this week and some people out helping with the duct work. Getting close to having both of those done.

Madi's been missing her Daddy. I put her to bed twice last week before he got home. But he has been coming home at lunch and spending time with her in the morning before he leaves for work. I also try and take her out to the house in the evening if we can. She also spends part of the weekend out at the house with us. After next weekend, it will be so much easier to have her out there and she can run freely. The banister will be installed next weekend.

Madi is quite the character right now. She picks up on everything. She is talking like crazy and putting sentences together. She also loves to sing. She is singing Old McDonald. She has the "e,i,e,i,o" part down perfectly. It is really cute. She also likes to dance to Ring Around the Rosey, have tea parties and watch her favorite Disney movies, Mickey Mouse, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo. Those are the movies she asks for by name. But I think she is ready for spring just like the rest of us. She wants to be outside and playing. We have had a couple of really nice days and were able to get outside and play, but most of the time it is so windy and so cold. And she just doesn't understand we can't do everything she wants to do, right now.

The other day I was packing in the kitchen and Madi comes in and says "Uh, oh mommy." Well, I know when I hear that we better go find out what she has been in to. She can now open doors and so the house is pretty much hers to roam now. And this is what I found:


She had pulled almost a full roll of toilet paper off the roll. Luckily most of it hit the floor and not in the toilet.
Me: "Madi, you aren't supposed to play in the bathroom."
Madi: "Mommy messy."
Me: "No, Madi messy. Stand in there while I take your picture!"
Madi: "Cheeeeese."

She has no concept of wrong doing at this point. (At least she acts like she doesn't know.) And I can't pass up taking pictures of it.
Here is another pretty picture of her. Notice the drool on her chin, she is still cutting all four of her incisors right now. They really aren't bothering her but she has been working on them for several weeks now. So she is back to her drooling days again.


She is also remembering things that I don't think she will. I don't know if they are coincidences or if she is really remembering these things. Last Sunday we went to church and she had a really fun time. Monday we left to go to the house and as we are driving she says church, church. I told her no we aren't going to church we go to church on Sunday's. Yesterday morning she wakes up and the first thing she says is church, church. Of course we didn't end up going, we had a late start. But I thought it was weird that she would say that and it happened to be Sunday. She also wanted to watch Nemo yesterday morning and we were just getting ready to leave the house. I told her we would watch it later when we came home. We weren't home 15 minutes yesterday and she started asking for Nemo. Is she really capable of remembering these things at her age? I better watch what I promise now!



Back to the house updates:

Last weekend Chris, his brother, and parents stained all the doors down at the shop. I spent Saturday painting Madi's room and cleaning the house up. Sunday, Chris finished polyurethane the doors and I spent the day packing at home, with the help of my mom. (I had to stay home in order to watch the Daytona 500, but ended up not watching much or missing much for that matter.) But I got a lot of packing done.

This weekend, Chris and I worked on getting the plumbing done in the master and main bathroom. We got the tub installed, the vanities are all done, and the toilets are in (Yay, we have a working toilet now!!!)







Jon worked on doors and trim Saturday and got Madi's room done and the second bedroom done with the exception of the base boards. And Dan worked on the casings for the windows.



Sunday, we finished getting all the doors installed, except for the door going out into the garage. And trimmed out some more doors. Don't they look nice? It looks so finished now.



Chris also got the appliances installed last week. Which makes it look even more finished. The counter tops should be here sometime this week!!



It is really coming along and I am so ready for it to be done. It has been a chore and I miss spending time with Chris and Madi. I am ready for a vacation!! But we still have a lot of work ahead with getting it finished, cleaned, moving, and getting this place sold.

Our to-do-list:
1. Hang the last door.
2. Trimming out doors.
3. Base boards.
4. Plumbing in laundry/bathroom.
5. Finish main plumbing.
6. Complete duct work.
7. Set heater and finish returns.
8. Install banister.
9. Finish installing bathroom fixtures and lighting.
10. Touch up paint
11. Install carpet.
12. MAJOR CLEANUP TIME!!

Still a lot to do and a lot of tedious, time consuming work. Chris has quite a bit of heating and air work to do. But it is all basement work and doesn't necessarily need to be done by Monday. But I am sure he is ready to be done also.

Take care and have a good week.
Love, Amy

Happy Birthday!!

The newest member of the Wiles family is here!!! Ava Gracin was born Monday at 9:58 am (I think that is the right time). She weighed in at 4lbs 15 oz. She is very small but is full term. She has had a rough first couple of days. Yesterday they inserted a feeding tube because she wasn't keeping her food in. We are all praying that she continues to get better and can go home very soon. Congrats to her family!

Love to you all!
Amy

Happy Valentines Day!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Valentines Day!!

Love, Amy and Madi

Madi's New Do!

Madi got her first pig tails on Saturday. She hated having them done, but she looked so cute. My friend Sherry even tried to paint her fingernails pink but she didn't want to have anything to do with that after having her hair put up. It would have been so much easier if she had had hair when she was little, then she would be used to it by now. But we will have to keep trying to play with her hair until she gets used to it. Her pig tails fell out at nap time and her hair was everywhere. I wanted to just brush it out with some water so it would lay flat. As soon as the water and brush hit her head she freaked out. She did not want her hair put back up.


Momma :(

Sherry: "Do you want to paint your nails with this?"
Madi: "No" (whine,whine)
Sherry: "Look, it's a pretty pink. Do you want your nails to look like this?"
Madi: "No" (whine, whine)
All better now.

I love all the comments about Madi's video. It is so cute to see her dancing. And you should see her now. She is now break dancing on the floor. It is so funny. She'll be dancing along, then she drops to the floor and rolls around, then hops back up and starts dancing. I'm trying to get it on video, hopefully I'll have a new video to post soon. She loves her tractor song though. She asks to play that song at least three times a day. She says, "Momma, ppppp" and then drags me into the kitchen and points to the radio. We even listen to it in the car and she has her head moving and she kicks her feet. She dances to other music but she will stop everything she is doing to start dancing to this song when it comes on the radio.

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We are still busy at work around here. Yesterday I went to the shop to help Chris get bills paid, payroll done and invoices out. I always think it will just take a couple of hours in the morning and I'll be done, but it always turns out to be an all day job. But it's nice to do something different every once in awhile. I took Madi with me and she played, colored, made a mess of Chris' office, and then watched a movie. But lunch time came and I still had a pile of invoices to finish, so I took her to Jane's. She fed her lunch and put her down for a nap. I'm still slowly getting things packed here at home. (I should be working on that now.)

This weekend Chris worked at the shop, getting trim and the banister stained and polyureathaned. His parents and his brother were there to help all weekend. Madi and I stayed home most of Saturday and then had his parents over for supper. Then Jane took Madi Sunday afternoon while I stayed and helped at the shop. We were done by 1:30 Sunday. It was nice.

Chris and I went out to the house to get Madi's room painted. Once we got there we realized we didn't have any rollers. So her room still needs to be painted. We did manage to spend two and half hours at Lowes though. That place was a zoo. We picked up more cabinets for the back bathroom/laundry room. We are just going to stain them ourselves to match the other cabinets. Chris was busy yesterday afternoon getting all the other finishing stuff ordered. The door knobs, bathroom accessories, sink and faucet for the back bathroom, etc, etc. The carpet in the bedrooms and down the stair case will be layed on March 3. The guys doing the tile should be done by Wednesday or Thursday. Our plumber "friends/acquantinces" flaked out on us this weekend. They didn't even call to tell us they wouldn't be coming out. So, Chris will have to finish up the plumbing. The sewer line from the house to the lagoon is done, so we can hook up toilets now. Our to-do-list is getting shorter and shorter.

Take care!
Love, Amy

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Did anybody else catch the Bud Shootout Race on Saturday? GO JR!!!!! I am so excited that racing season has started again!