Update

First, Pickle now has a name. Miss Kennedy Mae Shemenski. Kennedy was on our favorite list from the beginning. We love it- AND it is Aunt Darlene's last name, so she gets to carry a piece of Mommy's favorite Aunt with her always! Mae comes from Mommy's Great Aunt Aggie (Agnes Mae) who was a wild and sassy woman in her day. She moved to Pasadena, CA from Salina, KS in the 50's. She is the reason Mommy chose Pasadena when she moved to California 5 years ago.
We don't have much to pass down from our families- but names are such a special gift!
Madison has Mommy's middle name, which is also Gramm and Grandma Shemenski's middle name-Elizabeth.
Yesterday we went for a check-up with Mommy's doctor. Kennedy still has a strong heartbeat and is growing nicely. No exam until next week, so we don't know if she is making any progress toward her grand arrival. A little less than 3 weeks left until our original due date, but we (and by we I mean-MOMMY) are hoping she'll make her grand entrance closer to when she was measuring at the last perinatologist appointment-which is a week earlier. Of course, Daddy is still praying for the 'trifecta'. He wants Kennedy to come on August 16th so he and BOTH his girls can share a birthday. God would have to give Mommy a LOT of patience for that to happen.
Oh, Mommy had a dream earlier this week that Kennedy was born a BOY! If that happens, he better be ready to wear a lot of pink!
Keep praying for a safe and quick delivery!

Potty Time!

On July 5th Madison got her big girl potty! She immediately asked to tee tee in the big girl potty. We sat down together (Mommy had to go too for encouragement) and she tinkled just a little. Of course we praised her like crazy and cleaned out the potty together. She asked to go again, this time emptying her bladder. We were thrilled with the immediate excitement around potty time! We asked Madison several times throughout the rest of the day if she needed to potty on the 'big girl potty'. She declined. Mommy got some pull up diapers the next day to encourage the up and down behavior. Madison decided she will potty train at her convenience. She's only used the potty 2 other times since, going first thing in the morning when we wake up. She does think standing on the potty (it's a stool too) to wash her hands is great fun, though!

We weren't planning on pushing potty training until after Pickle's arrival, so any successful potty time prior to that is just bonus for us!

Pickle update

We went to the doctor Wednesday, July 16th for our latest Pickle appointment. So, here's the drill. Our original due date is August 19th. There are 4 doctors in our practice. Midway thru the pregnancy one of the doctors looked at the due date and said he believed August 15th to be more accurate, but made no official change to the due date. At 26 weeks we went to the perinatologist for an updated look at Pickle via ultrasound. All her organs and functions were perfect. This doctor said her average due date based on all his measurements is now August 12th. Again, no official change in the due date.

This week I finally asked for some clarification as we are now spanning an entire week with our due dates. Turns out, the first measurement is often the most accurate. Unless the baby changes in measurement by over 2 weeks in the second trimester, there is no change as the first due date is plus or minus 2 weeks anyway. SO, we are officially 35 and a half weeks now.

No dialation yet, and Pickle is not 'engaged' (meaning her head is not locked in position and ready to come out). She is, however, head down -which is perfect for this point in the pregnancy- and beginning to drop. Still not low enough to be a 'station' measurement though. We also learned that my cervix is already 'ripe', which means I am fully inducable. No plans for that as of now- we would need to wait at least 2 more weeks (37 weeks is the magic number!) to go that route if we choose.

She is still extremely active. Daddy thinks Mommy has an alien in her belly when he sees Pickle squirming. She is all over the place and likes to stick her butt and feet out. The other day I even got to feel her little toes poking out! Pickle still kicks whenever Madison lays on my belly- apparently she doesn't like to be crowded by her sister!

We've started with regular braxton hicks contractions, including 3 hours of consistant contractions last Saturday night. Daddy says it is because Mommy is doing too much. The girls room is just about ready for 2 little ones. Pretty much just decor updates to finish at this point. We will post pictures of the before and afters when everything is finished.

These 3-d pics are from our 26 week appointment. It's a profile shot and her hand is up to her face. She really favors Madison at this same stage. We can't wait to see her in person!

4th of July

We spent the day at home for the 4th, continuing our projects to get ready for Pickle's big arrival. After nap we went to Aunt Kelly and Chad's house like we do every year. We had a great time swimming in the pool and grilling our carne asada. Everyone brought great goodies so there was plenty to keep our tummies happy! We stayed to watch the fireworks, but had to leave just as the finale started. Madison was pretty tired by 10pm. She got so excited about the show this year. She calls the fireworks, 'fires works'. It was so neat to see her entire face light up everytime one went off!

Madison had a great time playing with her friends all afternoon and evening!

The Second Half of FL Trip

After Daddy left early Tuesday morning, Mommy and Madison got to play with Aunt Kristi all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon Mommy and Madison said goodbye to Aunt Kristi as she went to her conference in Orlando. That's when the second half of chaos began...Mommy's 10 year high school reunion weekend.

Madison had a great time playing with Gramm and Pop while Mommy ran all over town finishing up reunion planning. She also got to play with Uncle Daniel and Aunt Abby more since their honeymoon didn't leave until the weekend after the wedding. Madison LOVED playing with Abby and Daniel's new dog, 'baby' Clark- a Beagle puppy. She had great fun playing with her new train set from Pop, too. Almost everyday we added a new box of pieces to the set to make the track bigger and bigger. She thought it was great! As was the 'house' and pool in the backyard. Madison loved when Pop filled up the sink in the playhouse with water for her to splash in! Uncle Matt came back from his Boston trip at the end of the week and played with Madison for the day too. Boy does she LOVE Uncle Matt. Oh, and Uncle Daniel thought it would be cute to teach Madison 'Go Gators', which Uncle Matt of course, encouraged.

Gramm and Pop made sure Madison was well taken care of while Mommy was working on reunion events, including lots of playing with new toys (more every day it seemed!), eating 'mountains' (aka Hershey Kisses), chips, and popsicles whenever she wanted. Needless to say they enjoyed introducing Madison to all kinds of spoiling! We've added popsicles to our daily routine at home now, too. Thanks Gramm!

Gramm and Pop did introduce Madison to 'Jamba Juice' when she was at the beach- a fairly healthy habit. Now she LOVES smoothies and has one almost everyday at home. Luckily she is not picky about brands yet. We can make them at home, she calls all smoothies 'jamus juice' now.

We got to play with Madison's friend Ava who lives next door to Gramm and Pop briefly one afternoon and enjoyed playtime and lunch with our friends Kendall and Tina too! Kendall is getting a new baby brother a month or so after Madison's new baby sister arrives. Mommy and Tina took some cute pics of their bellies together. Madison also got to meet our friend Becca's new twin baby girls. We told Madison we were going to see two babies that day. After that every time we talked about babies she would ask, "Two babies?". In fact, when we talk about baby sister she asks, "Two baby sister?". We've tried to clarify only ONE baby sister. Guess that trip was a little confusing for her.

By the end of the trip Madison was exhausted and ready to get back to her real bed. She was a trooper the whole trip but lost it a few hours into the family picnic Sunday afternoon for Mommy's reunion. Mommy had to take her back to Gramm's for a big long nap. She had fun playing on the playground with some of Mommy's classmates kids and the 'baby woof' Julie (a jack russell terrier of one of my classmates) before we had to leave for nap time.

We had a great trip as usual, but VERY action packed. As always, we wished for more play time in FL with family and friends.

Click for pics of the rest of our trip.

Mommy's reunion pics.

Uncle Daniel's Wedding Weekend

Still catching up on old posts.

One of the main reasons we took our June trip to FL was for Uncle Daniel's wedding, June 22nd. We don't have many photos of Madison from the actual wedding, but I know there were lots taken. She was a rockstar all weekend considering all we expected of her.

The trip started with the 2 hour delay of our red eye flight out of LAX. Instead of leaving at 10:30pm, we left at 12:30am Wednesday night before the wedding. We made it to Atlanta in time to run to our gate for the connector- only to see our plane had already backed out! Airtran knew we wouldn't make the flight, so they booked us on the next flight 30 minutes later and in BUSINESS class! This ended up being a huge blessing since after RUNNING thru the Hartsfield International Airport Mommy was having contractions. It was nice to have the extra room to spread out and relax. Daddy was a big help too. This was the first time our entire family flew together. Usually Daddy has to fly seperate because of work.

We made it to Orlando with a wired little girl who only slept 2 hours of the overnight flight. Daddy took a little nap at Gramm and Pops while Mommy and Madison played. Luckily Madison took a short nap on the car ride over to Clearwater Thursday afternoon.

Thursday night we went to a wing place to meet some of Abby's family, then Madison went down for the night to try to catch up on sleep. She didn't care for her pack and play the first night so she shared the king size bed with Mommy and Daddy. In actuality she took OVER the king size bed by sleeping sideways between us and moving around all night. She slept in Friday while Daddy went golfing w/Uncle Daniel, Pop, and the other groomsmen. Then Mommy, Madison, Gramm, and cousin Jayne went to Abby's bridesmaid luncheon. Madison had lots of fun playing with her new 'baby Abby' (Bride Barbie) and 'Daniel' (Groom Ken) and taking pictures with the big girls. After the luncheon, she decided to forgo her nap for the day so she slept thru most of dinner at Abby's family's favorite local tex mex restaurant. Daddy went with the boys for the night to Uncle Daniel's bachelor party.

Needless to say, everyone was pretty tired Saturday morning for the rehearsal. Madison did a GREAT job walking down the aisle with Grace, the other flower girl. We had high hopes for the day of the wedding after all the practicing Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon was filled with pool time at the hotel and play time with 'baby Mac'- Aunt Dar and Uncle Michael's dog. Everything Madison thinks is small is labeled with 'baby'. Medium sized is 'mommy' and large is 'daddy'. Saturday night Madison ate lots of yummy noodles at the rehearsal dinner. We had an Italian buffet and she thought the fettucine alfredo was the best...until the cannolis, of course.

Sunday morning Pop took Madison to the pool (after an early storm) to try to wear her out a bit for an early nap. No such luck. Madison and Mommy were ready to go and headed over to the wedding site for 2:30 pics, right in the middle of usual nap time. She was so great at waiting patiently while Abby and the girls finished getting ready. Cousin Jayne helped entertain Madison until she just crashed. That's right- Madison fell asleep just as the pictures finally started. Mommy ended up walking the sleeping doodle down the aisle during the wedding. She slept thru the entire service and woke up in a BAD mood just after. Mommy and Daddy worked to entertain an upset Madison during picture time after the wedding, but didn't have much luck. She never got to take a picture with her new Aunt Abby.

When the reception came around our little angel came back. She was a dancing fool for hours. We can't wait to see all the pictures! Madison's favorite part of the day was checking out the 'fishies' and turtles in the pond just outside the reception with Daddy. She wrapped up the night by saying goodnight to the turtles and falling asleep on Gramm while Mommy and Daddy danced and danced.

Monday we drove back to Gramm and Pops for a few final hours of play time with Daddy before he got on his plane to fly home. Aunt Kristi flew into Orlando for a conference Monday night, so we all got to spend a few hours playing with her before Daddy had to leave early Tuesday morning.

You'll notice in the photos- all the beds in the hotel at the beach were sleep number beds. Madison thought the sleep number control was a phone. She liked to put it up to her ear and say, 'Hello?'. Sometimes she picked up the hotel phone and put it to her other ear too. Guess we have a social butterfly on our hands!

Check out the pics from the weekend.

The photo up top was taken at the rehearsal dinner. Oh, and Mommy got a new haircut before our trip.

Busy June

Wow the summer is flying by! I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. The next few days will be major catch up for us so stay tuned for lots of new info. Madison is growing and learning more every day. Her vocabulary continues to shock us. It's just amazing how she enunciates existing words and picks up new ones so quickly. Miss Pickle is growing and developing nicely too. As of today we are 33 1/2 weeks and Mommy feels great! Pickle is still super active and yes- she is still nameless. Contrary to the popular belief- we are working on her name. We just want to make sure we pick the perfect name for her.
Mid June we flew to Florida- our first flight together as a family- for Uncle Daniel's wedding and Mommy's 10 year high school reunion. We'll have seperate posts for both of those by the end of the weekend.
Thanks for being so patient with us as we slowly update the growth of our girls and goings-on of our family!!