My Little Monkey, aka Maddie

Yesterday was my little maniac monkey's birthday.  She turned 6!  Although I probably sound like a broken record, I will say the same thing about her as I did with Mackenzie.  6, already?  She's my baby!  She's not allowed to grow up.  It helps that she has the bones of a 4 year old (per the endocrinologist at Cardinal Glennon) which makes her smaller than your average 6 year old.  But when you talk to her, you know she's definitely not a 4 year old.  She's intelligent, sometimes too smart for her own good, in my opinion.  She's been through a lot, it hasn't been terrible, but she's had to deal with stuff I never imagined my daughter having to deal with.  Before I go into that, let's back up a bit.

Being pregnant with Mackenzie was scary, she was my first daughter, I was young, naive, and didn't know what to expect.  Being pregnant with Maddie was exciting!  I knew what to expect, I knew what I wanted to do differently (a more girly room, for example) and knew that it wasn't as scary as I thought the first time.  So what if they're going to stick a HUGE needle in my back to numb me?  It doesn't hurt, no worries!  I was older too, which helped.  An imature 17 year old handles life a lot different than a slightly mature 20 year old. 

Having her was wonderful!  Unlike the rush to the OR with Mackenzie, I slowly walked into the hospital the day I was scheduled to have Maddie, suitcase in tow, and a few hours later, I was sitting in my hospital room holding this sweet, innocent, beautiful little child.  She was little to begin with, only 6 pounds, 1 ounce.  When we left the hospital she only weighed 5 pounds, and was jaundiced.  The first week of her life Doug and I took turns sleeping in the recliner holding her while she was wrapped in her billy blanket and glowing like a little alien glow worm. 

Fast forward 6 years and she's hilarious!  She's still small, which is kind of to be expected considering her mom and dad are both short.  She's OCD in love with cheerleading.  From the time she gets up in the morning until the time she goes to sleep at night, she is thinking or doing some type of cheerleading move.  Our livingroom has turned into her spring floor.  She knows exactly how many steps she can take during her running tumbling to keep her from hitting the couch, or tv stand. 

Last night we had Maddie's birthday party.  We made cupcakes, decorated the table with the paper plates, napkins, etc. that she picked out at the party store, and had our own little family party.  Since it was a week night and Mackenzie had cheer practice, we didn't have the extended family party that we normally do, but we'll be making up for it this weekend.  Friday night is the family party with Doug's family, Saturday morning is the family party with my family, late on Saturday morning is her party at Dierbergs with her classmates, and then we're heading to Peoria for a cheer competition!  This will be their first "away" competition and you can hear the excitement in their voices when they talk about it.  What kid doesn't think they're "super cool" when they get to stay in a hotel room?  For them it's a mini-vacation!  Wish us luck!!! 

Some party photos:

And, of course...some close ups of my cupcakes.  They aren't perfect, but I'm a work in progress.