It's been a while. . . a long while.  At least once a week something happens and I think, "I really should blog about that," but I never get around to it.  So here is an overdo post about some of the more memorable things from the past few months.

Maddie still loves her baby brother, and despite the fact that sometimes she inadvertently tries to squish him or smother him, I truly believe Camden loves her too.  If we want him to smile, all we have to do is have Maddie talk to him or sing to him in her high-pitch "I'm-talking-to-a-baby" voice.  She always wants to hold him and often will try to share with him by prying open his fingers and shoving a toy into his hand.  I can't wait until Camden's really able to interact with her!

For Christmas Maddie wanted three things:  a pig, panties, and peanut butter.  We have no idea where she came up with these ideas, but she was insistent on the pig for a good month or so.  When I asked her if she meant a stuffed animal pig or a real pig, she informed me she wanted a real pig and that it would sleep in her room.  We clearly had no intention of buying her a real pig, but Santa did bring her a walking and oinking pig toy.  The pig goes everywhere with her, but as of yet I don't think she has settled on a name for it.

A couple of weeks after Christmas, I walked into Maddie's room and found her putting her new panties on some of her friends (stuffed animals).  I asked her if she was ready to start wearing panties, she said yes, and potty training began that day.  The process hasn't been nearly as bad as I had anticipated and has certainly produced a number of funny moments:

• We are not allowed to look at her while she goes potty.  We get told, "You look at the wall."  
• Before we left church today she needed to go potty.  While she was sitting there she looked at me with a big smile and said, "Everybody's waiting on me.  I'm special!"

Maddie has been tracking elephants at our house as of late.  All of a sudden she'll point to her ear and ask, "Did you hear that?  It's my elephants!"  She'll run off and feed them coconuts (pompoms) and if encouraged she will even pet them.  We also have lions in Camden's room and an ostrich that hangs out in Maddie's bathtub.  Did I mention she has an active imagination?

There's not a whole lot to say about Camden just yet.  He's a big boy weighing in at nearly 13 pounds at his 2 month appointment.  He's generally content and loves to lay on his activity mat and bat at the toys.  There's been a number of times recently when we'll put him down facing one direction and the next time we look he has turned himself around or even scooted to a different position.  My favorite thing about Camden right now is how smiley he is.  As long as his tummy is full and he's not tired, he will smile as long as you want.

I'll end with one last Maddie thing.  The other day I put her in a long shirt-dress that she'd been wanting to wear for a while.  She looked down at it and then up at me and said, "I'm a princess.  Mommy, get me a crown!"

Found this as a draft from November 18th.  Thought I may as well post it.

A Maddie update:

• The other day Maddie woke up early, wandered into our bedroom, and climbed in bed with us.  Not that I want it to become a habit, but I really enjoyed having our little family of four snuggled together.
• We took Maddie with us to Camden's two week checkup.  When Dr. H-B walked into the room, Maddie greeted her by telling her that cats have whiskers.  Why did she tell her that?  I have no idea.
• Last night Maddie woke up screaming.  When I went in her room, she pointed at her pillow and told me that Daddy was stuck under it.  I lifted the pillow up to show her he wasn't there and reassured her that he was safe in his bed.  I can't even begin to imagine what kind of scary dream she must have been having.
• Maddie is super excited about Christmas.  She keeps telling everyone that Santa is coming.
• We were looking back at pictures that I took when we went to the circus and when I showed Maddie a picture of her riding an elephant, I asked if she had named the elephant.  She said that she had and it's name was Elephant Our Last Name.  Eric then asked her what her name is and she told us both her first and last name.  This wouldn't be impressive except for the fact that we've never taught her our last name.