[some maddo favs from this past month]
today, our little miss maddalena is an 18 month old beauty queen!
while part of me wants to say, gosh, a whole year and a half! just how did that happen so quickly!, another part of me feels so in touch with each and every one of these 18 glorious months we’ve worked oh so hard to earn.
there are just not enough words to describe how much sunshine one little lady can beam into a household in 18 months. even on my worst days, she makes me smile. she makes me laugh. she gives me the best reason to put my own selfish needs, fears, worries, and thoughts aside and just keep on going, plugging away at life. she keeps me more in the moment than i’ve ever been before, but even still i can feel my future self underneath it all missing these sweet days and nights with her.
she has a big heart, a sweet spirit, an old soul. she’s the best little helper, finding even the tiniest pieces of trash to throw away, obsessively closing cabinet doors and such, and making sure those fluffies always have food in their bowls. searching for kittycats is her love language… and anything to do with horses, which her mama is not upset about in the slightest! she loves a good princess, taking care of her babies, girl chats in her princess cottage [mostly made up of dramatic faux-sentences with big, italian hand motions. it’s fabulous.], giving kisses, hugging, loving, dancing, singing, talking, and snuggling between her mama and dada. and oh, pizza. how i wish she didn’t love pizza!
she is the sweetest, kindest, sassiest, smartest, prettiest, most delicious treat i ever could have imagined. every day i gaze at those long lashes, sparkly blue eyes, perfectly pink lips, and mooost smoochable cheeks, and i am just so proud to be hers. i am just so thrilled. and keeping my fingers crossed, praying day and night i don’t mess this mom stuff up too badly!
we love you so much, maddalena! thank you for being so perfectly ours!
ps. a quick maddo story: last night, maddalena was taking care of one of her babies, actually my old baby doll, putting her to
sleep on minnie’s bed, haha… when suddenly she went scurrying off down
the hallway and disappeared into our bedroom. she doesn’t usually want to go
into other rooms by herself, so we wondered why on earth she ran off in
such a rush? but just a minute later, she came running back with an
appropriately-sized piece of toilet paper in her hand to wipe her baby’s
nose. ooooh! apparently, as we’ve been having stuffy noses, her babies
have, too! makes total sense. so, anyway. steven and i just watched her so independently mini-mommying and
melted a bit, because that’s the sort of thing you do when you see your tiny
person doing normal sized things. it’s so fun to see her act out those little
life things she must have going through her head!
sleep on minnie’s bed, haha… when suddenly she went scurrying off down
the hallway and disappeared into our bedroom. she doesn’t usually want to go
into other rooms by herself, so we wondered why on earth she ran off in
such a rush? but just a minute later, she came running back with an
appropriately-sized piece of toilet paper in her hand to wipe her baby’s
nose. ooooh! apparently, as we’ve been having stuffy noses, her babies
have, too! makes total sense. so, anyway. steven and i just watched her so independently mini-mommying and
melted a bit, because that’s the sort of thing you do when you see your tiny
person doing normal sized things. it’s so fun to see her act out those little
life things she must have going through her head!
Oh she is just such a sweetheart! They can shock you with all the things they pick up on. And she's obviously learning how to be a fantastic mommy. I think she looks so much like Steven it's unreal! Which, I know every mother just loves hearing. But they change so quickly don't they? Maybe tomorrow she will be your twin. The Italian is there already. 😉
ha! she has been in such a steven phase most recently! my mom and i were just saying that. she had such a good me phase going for a while and then next thing you know it changes!!
i've said it before and i'll say it again – she is so precious, brittany! you're right… you couldn't have created a more perfect, girly, pink wearing, doll toting, sparkly-eyed little human.
awww adorable! my daughter just turned 18 months and its crazy how the time just flies! and how they look into the world with new fresh eyes everyday.
I just came across your blog and wanted to say hi! You have a beautiful family! I can't wait to follow along 🙂
Awe, I can't believe she's 18 months already! and how adorable about her baby having a stuffy nose!
Ahhhh, this is adorable!!! What a precious little lady you have!! And the tissue for the babydoll??? She has imagination AND empathy! 😉 Pretty neat-o.