Uncle Matt and Gramm

They FINALLY made it! Thursday, August 7th we anxiously waited all day for the arrival of Uncle Matt and Gramm. Gramm was flying in from FL. Uncle Matt happened to be in Phoenix for training at work all week. Gramm was to connect thru Phoenix and fly in on the same flight with Uncle Matt to arrive about 9:45pm in Burbank, CA. Needless to say, this did not happen. There were terrible monsoons in AZ which kept all the planes grounded. Around 11:30 Thursday night when they realized they weren't going anywhere- Gramm and Uncle Matt got a hotel near the airport for the night. They flew in Friday morning on the 10am flight. When they arrived in Burbank to pick up their rental car, the 'check engine' light went on in the car. Luckily they were finally able to get a working vehicle and drive to our house only 15 hours later than originally scheduled. We realized after they arrived at the house, the fine people in Arizona left their luggage on the tarmac all night. Lots of Uncle Matt's clothes were ruined (luckily American Eagle was having a GREAT sale) as were several of the books Gramm brought for Madison's birthday. We were so happy to finally have them here safe and sound. Now if only our little girl would make HER great arrival!!!

Madison just LOVES her Uncle Matt. She had such a great time chasing him around the house. Too bad he couldn't stay and play longer. He did help unpack all the pieces of Madison's new birthday kitchen before he left- but enjoyed pushing Madison around in the box instead of helping put all the million pieces together (Thanks a lot Uncle Matt- HA!). As he left he showed Madison how to wish on a dandilion. I think Uncle Matt wished to come back and see Madison soon. Check out more pics.

Mommy managed to convince Uncle Matt to pick her up for a few pics too. Mommy looks a LOT bigger in Uncle Matt's arms than she does standing up- Yikes!

Recent Madison Pics

Here are some pics from our recent summer adventures.

There are a few new ones from Gymboree play gym.

The ones in the pink and white shirt she was outside looking for her new friends- the roly poly bugs. She kept asking, 'where'd the rowy powys go?'. Daddy helped her find them one night when they were out front watering the grass. She loves to play with them and let them crawl all over her hands and arms. Much braver than her Mommy!

She helped Mommy wash Sierra one afternoon.

Daddy taught her how to 'be tall' and touch the ceiling.

She played in the garden while Daddy weeded and Mommy picked veggies, enjoyed a fudgesicle, and read ni-ni books with Daddy.

Madison LOVES to read now. She brings us her favorite books and reads them to us. She's memorized Goodnight Moon (which was supposed to be a present for baby sister from Aunt Dana), Queen Clara (a book Gramm and Pop brought back from London last year), and The Runaway Bunny. It's pretty cool to hear a not quite two year old 'reading' books. She's just so big!

Enjoy a few summer pics.

Labor update

We had another appointment today. Kennedy is starting to head south. She's officially measuring +2 station. This is the highest measuring point, but we've reached the measuring point none the less. Matt says she is noticably lower. We are 50% effaced but still not dialating. We didn't dialate w/Madison until we were officially in labor, so this doesn't really mean much. Dr Kim doesn't feel comfortable scheduling an induction at this point, so we go back again in a week (if she's not here yet). Gramm flies in tomorrow (THursday) night. With Madison, we went into labor the morning after Gramm arrived. Maybe Kennedy will follow suite. :)
Please pray for a safe delivery for our little girl. Mommy's had some pretty bad dreams lately, so pray, pray, pray!
Stay tuned for recent pics of our little Doodle, too!

Kennedy's Shower

Last night, July 31st was Kennedy's baby shower. Mommy's friends Sarah and Kelly got together and had a perfect wine and dessert night to celebrate our new little girl. Mommy had sparkling water w/lemon for the first time (thanks Kelly!) Kelly and Sarah got a special tiara that said 'Mommy to be', but it kept falling off so we only have a couple photos.

Everyone was so thoughtful and generous. We got lots of diapers, wipes, storage containers, baby wash...even a special foot pampering kit for Mommy. The only problem is...reaching my feet for any extended amount of time is pretty tough these days. HA!

Madison even got a few 'big sister' presents, including a special baby in a bathtub with all the bathing accessories, and a red hat box full of books, puzzles, and a cute outfit. Madison had a great time playing with her friend Noah while Mommy and the girls enjoyed each other's company.

Thank you to everyone who, once again, spoiled our girls!!!

Click for some pics.

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!!

Mommy's Birthday

Last Monday, May 19th we celebrated the only non-August birthday in the fam- Mommy. Mommy woke up to find a card from Daddy and one hand drawn by Madison, then got to spend the day playing with Doodle like most Mondays. We went to dinner at Johnny Carino's with lots of our friends and had yummy Italian Nachos-Mmmm.... We ended the evening by playing with Madison's train before putting her to bed.

Tuesday morning Mommy had to go take the three hour glucose test. I had elevated levels after taking the one hour test, so had to go back for three more hours of torture. Daddy came home from work to be with Madison while Mommy sat at the lab for three hours and four blood draws- ouch! Two days later we got the GREAT news that Mommy does not have gestational diabetes! Yeah- a great birthday from start to finish!!

Mommy loved all the presents family and friends sent. Thank you for spoiling me for another year!!

Almost 27 weeks....sort of

Mommy is still growing away. So is Pickle. We went to the perinatologist for a check up on Friday, the 16th. They measured all Pickle's organs, spine, head...everything. She looks perfect! No cleft pallet, no signs of downs, 10 fingers, 10 toes, and a nice strong heart! She is currently 2 lbs 5 oz and measuring a little over 27 weeks- a week further along than we were expecting. No official change in the due date just yet. Stay tuned for more info. Next OB appointment is May 27th. The red dress pic was yesterday, the green dress was Saturday night.

OH- in a few days I'll post the 3D pic we have of Pickle. They had to do lots of poking and proding Mommy to get just the right angles of measurement, so by the end of the ultrasound Pickle was one tired girl. She was rubbing her eye when we got to 3D. She looks a LOT like her sister- looks like Daddy's nose this time though. :)

Hair

Several people asked me about Madison's hair. Yes, it is growing. When we cleaned up after the chocolate episode today her hair was all over the place! I snapped a few photos of her goofy expression to share. The back is getting so long. She may even have a ponytail by her 2nd birthday!

On a side note, her sister is ALL OVER the place today! So fun. We have our next appointment with the perinatologist Friday. Looking forward to getting another peek at Pickle.

MMmmm....

Chocolate covered Almond cluster. Needless to say, Madison thoroughly enjoyed her special snack today. We followed the chocolate with grapefruit, which she is holding in the picture.

Make-up

Miss Madison LOVES to watch Mommy put on her makeup everyday. She has her own brushes to play with when Mommy puts on her Bare Minerals makeup. She always wants to put some on herself too. Especially the 'lipstick'. She likes to play with lip gloss. Last Sunday, May 4th while Mommy was in the shower and Daddy was 'watching' her Madison found Mommy's lipgloss. She decided to wear it everywhere...arms, legs, face. In Matt's defense he was still recovering from Peter's Cinco de Mayo party the night before. Mommy should have known he was in no shape to be supervising.

Scary

Well this weekend was certainly an eventful one. Daddy left for camping Friday evening for Jason's birthday-along with most of our local friends. Madison and Mommy went to Gymboree for open play with Spencer, Ryan, and Caleb- then enjoyed dinner with the crew. When we got home the fun began. Mommy lost part of her mucus plug and started having minor contractions. The doctor said to monitor the contractions to make sure there weren't 6 an our and everything would be ok. Of course Mommy was scared. Luckily her great friend Megan Snee was home and happy to be of assistance. She was so great while Daddy was gone- calming Mommy down with kind and reassuring words. Neither Madison, nor Mommy slept well Friday night (maybe Madison sensed Mommy's worry- or maybe she's just in the midst of terrible twos and teething....Hmmmm) Saturday everything seemed ok, but Mommy was stubborn as usual and vacuum and steam cleaned the whole house as previously planned. Sierra was a bad girl- another story entirely and Madison refused to nap. Needless to say, Mommy was VERY happy when Daddy decided to cut his camping trip short and come home Saturday afternoon.
Sunday morning Mommy woke up and could barely move her muscles were so sore everywhere. We go to the doctor tomorrow for a checkup to make sure everything is A-OK.
Keep praying Miss Pickle keeps cooking, and Miss Madison starts sleeping again!

A day at the Farm

Yesterday Madison went to Underwood Farm with Spencer, Ryan, and Caleb. We had such an amazing time feeding the animals, picking strawberries, and running around playing. Madison was so proud of herself after she gave the pony a carrot, she turned around and said, 'dood job', and clapped.

The farm is a local farm/ranch where you can pick your own produce. Apparently it has changed quite a bit over the years as a new owner took over. The prices aren't so great for picking all produce anymore, but the animals and new kid section are GREAT. They even have wooden wagons to pull the kids around the big fields. Plus children under 2 are FREE! Can't beat that. We picked our own strawberries for $1.99/lb- a steal of a deal compared to our local markets.

Most importantly Madison had a great time with her friends. Here are a few of our favorite photos since (as usual) photobucket is working for me. Arg! Madison is riding in the wagon with Spencer's cousin, Caleb. Spencer is picking strawberries with his mommy, Megan. Madison had a great time climbing the big tower of hay bails too!

Flashback

I was going thru old pictures today during nap time and stumbled on this one. I don't remember seeing it before, but I took it- so what does that say? HA

This photo was taken last fall, September 27th. Madison was a little over a year old. Look at what a big Georgia fan she was! She has the #1 and big yell down pat! Too funny. This fall should be an adventure with the addition of our newest little bulldog. Can't wait!

Madison is 20 months old

Every month we talk about how much the Doodle has grown. This month is no different. She is changing and growing up like crazy. Her vocabulary continues to impress us everyday. Most everyone we come in contact with now talks about how much Madison talks. Looks like we have a little chatter box on our hands!
All day long she walks around asking me where things went. Daddy comes home for lunch and when he leaves she walks around looking for him with her arms out in question and saying, 'Where's Daddy, where's Daddy?'. Then she asks , 'Where's Dem?' (Gramm) and has now learned the answer to the question 'At her house'. So she says, 'Where's Dem? House.' It's great, she even answers her own questions now. tee hee
She is growing nicely too. Still in size 4 diapers- and we are not planning to potty train until after the baby is born. She does tell us after she poops though. She usually wakes up from her nap and points to her pants saying, 'Poop'. Most of her clothes are 24 months now, although a few of her 18 month outfits still work. Not quite to that 2t mark yet.
She LOVES playing in her new backyard oasis. We have all sorts of great toys out there, from her pool, to her sandbox, to her little tool bench. Unfortunately on a windy day her boat pool we used to fill with balls (like a ball pit) flew to the back of the yard and had a little encounter with a cactus. There were too many holes to patch so we had to 'retire' that one. She doesn't seem to miss it though. Now her balls fill the blow up car they came with and she is fine with that.
Transition to the big girl bed is still going well. Whe put a baby gate up at her door and when she wakes up she just stands at the gate saying, 'Mommy Up, Mommy Up' until I let her out. We're still working on teaching Madison Mommy can't pick her up anymore. It's a slow learning process for both of us. More often than not I just give in. Our big girl doesn't like to rock at night anymore, she just runs down the hall at bed/nap time and says, 'Ni Ni Bed' and climbs in to bed. Kind of sad missing out on that cuddle time, but we have Miss Pickle to rock for months to come!
Madison also learned to climb in and out of her high chair, and into the car (with a little help usually). Just this week she started climbing into her car seat too. This is all great news as Mommy is just getting bigger and bigger it continues to put more strain on Miss Pickle to lift Madison. It's wonderful that she is embracing her independence...we'll see if Mommy and Daddy still feel this way about Independence as we continue to approach the terrible twos!

Great Grandma

Madison's Great Grandma Lackey (Mommy's paternal Grandma) passed away this morning. She was in her 80's and had cancer. She's been very sick the last several months and now isn't hurting anymore. Here is a picture of Madison when she was smaller with her Great Grandma. We hope she is with the angels in Heaven now.

Madison and her 'Siser'

Madison already loves her baby sister. She sits on her daily- NOT fun for Mommy. The best part is, when you point to Mommy's tummy and ask Madison who's there she regularly says 'Siser' now. She only used to do it if we showed her bare skin. Thankfully she learned the trick with Mommy's shirt down too. She loves to kiss her sister, but insists on bare skin for that one.

Notice Madison's rose bush outside her window is blooming like crazy.

Pickle- 22 weeks

Mommy and Pickle are growing away. Only 18 weeks until her due date. For those keeping up...we are still working on names. The current top three are Bailey, Charlotte, and Kennedy. Potential Middle names are Grace and Mae.

She's an active little girl-kicking and wiggling around like crazy. Is this an indication of things to come? If so, she'll be an active child just like her Daddy!

Pool Day!

Today was a nice warm day. By that I mean, not too hot, but hot enough to play in the pool. I cleaned it out this morning and Madison helped me refill it. She got to wear her new bathing suit and swim hat while playing in the water today. She had so much fun with her 'rain', which is what she calls the water coming out of the hose. Oh, and she decided to put her adirondack chair in the pool to sit down while she played. Princess of the Pool! Looking forward to summer and more lazy outside days.

Kate's Chuckie Cheese Birthday

Sunday we went to Chuckie Cheese to help Kate celebrate her 4th birthday. Hard to believe Miss Kate is so BIG now! Madison had a great time watching the 'mouse' (Chuckie Cheese) walk around and tell all the birthday kids to have a happy day. She LOVED playing skee ball with Daddy. He let her walk up the ramp and put the balls in the holes. Luckily she could only reach the very bottom numbers so even though she was clearly cheating- no one had a fit over it. Daddy is such a bad influence. All and all it was a great day of playing. Happy 4th, Kate!

Gymboree

Last week Gymboree opened a new play place at our mall. To celebrate they had free classes and free 'free play' all week. Madison took 3 classes with her friend Spencer Snee. Music Tuesday, Art Wednesday, and Core Friday. Ryan joined us Friday at Core too. Friday was by far the best day for all the kids. They LOVED running around the main gym, playing with bubbles, the parachute, and of course Gymbo the clown. Madison had a really great time in Art class too. We finger painted and played with cars in the rice table. It was such a great week- we decided to try it out for a month. Our Core play class starts next week. Stay tuned for more photos of play time.

Big Girl!

Since Mommy is no longer allowed to pick up Madison and we needed to start the transition soon anyway, Madison got her new big girl bed this weekend! Daddy went and picked it up Saturday and we put it together after nap time. Madison had great fun 'helping' and could not wait to 'dump' aka JUMP on the bed when we were finished! Note: she also has foam paint brushes in her hands. She was 'painting' with her dry brush all over her bed as we were putting it together.

Thus far we've had one night and one nap in the new bed. She transitioned like a star! We removed anything (or put it out of reach) that might be a problem if she gets up in the middle of the night, crayons, nice books, q-tips, etc...We also put a baby gate at her door in case she wakes up and decides to go roaming. No worries thus far. When she wakes up she gets out of bed and stands at the gate making a little noise until we go get her. We moved her Laugh and Learn kitchen and some other toys into her room in case she decides she just needs to play in the middle of the night. Better to have toys than go hunting for mischeif!

Gramm ordered Madison's new bedding before she left town and it should be here late this week. For now we are just using warm blankets for our cool nights. We'll be sure to post more pics when all the linens are changed over. I can't believe our little girl is in a BIG girl bed already!

Mommy has to rest

Mommy went to an unscheduled doctor's appointment today because she had unfamiliar pain and muscle cramping in her lower abdomen. The doctor completed an exam and a few quick tests to rule out any big problems. THe good news is no labor- cervix in tact, no infections, Pickle has a great heartbeat, etc. The bad news, the verdict is NO MORE picking up Madison and rest all weekend. No standing, walking, lifting, moving stuff, you get the point. Actually the doctor said- no lifting Madison, no cooking, no shopping, no re-arranging, no Super Momming. We'll re-evaluate early next week if the pain is still there. Looks like we may be on a mission to get Madison her toddler bed earlier than we thought!
Keep us in your prayers!!

'Dem' Comes to Town

Gramm came to town Wednesday after Easter for her Spring Break visit. Madison had a little trouble saying Gramm so she calls her 'Dem' for now. When Gramm first came to town Madison's congestion in her nose got worse and she woke up in the night crying because she couldn't breathe. Gramm got to meet Madison's favorite pediatrician, Dr Pattan when we took her in Friday to find out she has Rinusitis (sp?). After a few days of antibiotics and decongestant Madison was back to her running, dancing, jumping, and singing self.

Madison had a great time playing in the new turtle sandbox Gramm got for her. She really likes it when 'Dem' makes 'eggs' by filling a bucket with sand and turning it over. I guess because eggs are fresh in her head from Easter, Madison thought the round sand bucket looked like an egg.

One of her favorite night time activites was snuggling with Gramm at night watching 'Cindewadi' (Cinderella). Of course, Madison must have her 'Horsie' with her at all times these days-one of the two My Little Pony horsies Aunt Abby and Uncle Daniel got her for her birthday.

Madison was excited to go back to the airport and see all the 'Panes', but as soon as Gramm closed the car door Madison started crying, 'Where's Dem, where's dem' half way home. She asked all afternoon and evening. She's so confused by the whole leaving process. Thankfully we'll be back with 'Dem' in June when we fly to FL for Daniel's wedding.

Hoppy Easter

We woke up Easter morning to surprises from the Easter Bunny. He brought candy and presents for Madison and Daddy. Some foam stamps for Madison so she can stamp like Mommy, a silly bunny necklace and bracelet, a pretty silver 'Jesus loves me' bracelet for Madison (and one for Pickle), Madison's first story bible, and a bunny counting book. Pickle also got a softy Chick book. Daddy got camoflauge eggs, candy, and some dinosaur grow eggs to share with Madison. Gramm sent Madison some Easter books and 2 beautiful Easter dresses with a white sweater. Grandma Shemenski sent Madison a beautiful Easter dress and a home made card from cousin Lisa! Madison's favorite Easter treat was her new easel. She colored on it for hours!


After coloring, Madison helped Mommy cook Easter ham, home made mac-n-cheese, and green bean casserole lunch while wearing her Christmas apron- so cute! We went to church after Madison's nap, where we ran into our friends, John, Megan, and Spencer Snee. Madison and Spencer (and his cousin Ava) got to play while the grown ups went to church. After nap we came home for an egg hunt in the backyard.


It was a great relaxing day for all of us.

Where's the woof?

Madison and Mommy dropped Sierra off at Petsmart this morning for a bath and haircut. Madison was so excited to see all the other animals- dogs, cats, birds, fish. When it came time to leave she looked at me paniced and asked, 'Where's the woof?' (She calls Sierra 'the woof'). I told Madison Sierra had to stay for her haircut and she started crying. She cried the whole way home begging for her woof. We knew Madison loved Sierra but had no idea how deeply. What a funny girl.

Loving the hose

Last night Daddy was watering the grass and Madison wanted to help. She was half way to her bath so her pants were already off when she meandered out the front door to 'help' Daddy. They had a great time playing in the water. Check out that fabulous face! She was squealing with excitement.

St Patty's Day

We didn't do much during the day for St Patty's this year. When Daddy came home from work we started our 'celebration' with a green beer for Daddy. Madison helped Mommy slow cook corned beef all day and wrapped up with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes for dinner. Madison had her first taste of corned beef this year and LOVED it. More than the corned beef, she loved the potatoes. So much so, she slathered them all over her face, hair, in her ears and up her nose. Daddy finished up the green celebration by bathing all the potatoes off our little leprechaun.

19 months

This month was all about increasing vocabulary. I say that, but my understanding is from here on out it is all about increasing EVERYTHING- so we'll see.

Madison now knows, with confidence, the letters M, A, and W (aka double). She says purple, blue, red, and yellow but doesn't really know the difference between any of the colors yet. She also knows her basic shapes, circle, square, triangle (she says 'tie' for this one). Her daily vocab just continues to impress us. She's constantly looking at new items around the house and around town telling us what they are. She loves to tell us about all the animals on her favorite show, Wonder Pets. Now she recognizes catapillar, crane (the bird), Panda, and Butterfly in addition to the characters of the show, Ming Ming (the duck), Tuck (the turtle), and Linny (we are still working on Linny's name).

This month we had fun visiting with friends too. We had lunch with our friend Jen (aka 'Puh') that Daddy grew up with. We played with Mommy's friend Stacy from Progressive twice in one weekend! Played at Jason and Kelly's house when we got to go preview their wedding video- which was absolutely beautiful! Like a trailer for a movie. So cool.

Madison had her first taste of Frozen Yogurt, and loves it. She now says, 'Num, num' whenever she eats something she likes. These days everything is num, num.

One of our big milestones, ok sort of milestones, this month was wearing her first hair clip! They make these tiny clips for baby hair that actually clip- no velcro. She has enough hair on the top of her head now we can gather it to one side and put a clip in. So fun! Mommy and Daddy neither one had much hair until we were 2 years old. Maybe she is beating our curve. :)

We rounded out the month with a trip to the Perinatologist as a family to take a look at 'Pickle'. Madison found out Pickle is a sister, not a brother. She is still clueless about it, but Mommy and Daddy are excited and working on getting the nursery and house ready for our new little girl!

Kisses

Daddy snapped this one during our little Pickle photo shoot. Too sweet!

Pickle is a.....

GIRL! Girl #2. No names yet. She is super healthy and we get to go back at 26 weeks for more pics- including 3D! She is crazy active. They could barely get her to sit still long enough to take measurements. She's measuring right on track too- right at 18 weeks. We are 'scheduled' 17 weeks 3 days, so looks like all is GREAT!

Caroline's Birthday

Madison and Mommy went to Caroline's 2nd birthday on Sunday, March 2nd. Madison had lots of fun playing with the other girls. Mostly she enjoyed the balloons though. The other girls had fun playing together though, so it wasn't a big deal. Caroline really liked her Dr Suess books from Madison. We were sad to leave a little early, but nap time was calling! Look at all the big girls. Caroline is to the left of Madison. What a challenge to get 5 girls (one is missing) to sit still for a photo next to all that tempting tissue paper!

Pickle- 15 weeks 4 days

A little late on the update- this photo was taken March 1st. Madison's little brother or sister is really growing- so is her Mommy!

Jump Around

February 28th Madison went to Jump Around to play with Ryan and Caleb-Spencer's cousins. Madison was more interested in playing with the basketball throw than playing on all the cool jumping toys. She did LOVE the big slide though. She even learned to climb the ladder by herself! The pictures weren't all that great, but we had a super time playing!

Dinner Date with Spencer

February 22nd, Madison had a special date. John, Megan, and Spencer Snee came over to have dinner and play at our house. Madison got to show off her new adirondack set from Gramm, although the kids were more interested in playing than sitting down to eat!

I thought they looked so cute at the table together.