Official #1

No, we are not choosing favorites already. Kennedy is officially in size one diapers now. She made her transition yesterday, September 6th. We can't believe how BIG she is already! Looking forward to Thursday's appointments for both the girls- Kennedy's 3 week, Madison's 2 year.

Bad day, Good Day, Bad day

What a great way to describe this week! Wednesday morning all the girls were bathed, dressed, and headed out the door for Madison's regular Gymboree class when all hell broke loose! Madison decided she did NOT want to leave the house. She screamed and cried as I put her in her carseat and loaded up Kennedy. I thought for sure she would calm down when we got to class- boy was I wrong. She kept screaming as I loaded her into the new double stroller and continued the fit into Gymboree. Mommy sat in the lobby of Gymboree with both girls in her lap for 10-15 minutes before we decided to forgo class for the day. We drove home the 'long way around' on the freeway to get Madison to sleep. She fell asleep in the car but woke up screaming again when we got home. Man, there is nothing like a 2 year old with an ear peircing scream waking up her infant sister.

Thursday was a phenomenal day. Kennedy slept well Wednesday night and spent most of Thursday morning napping by herself, (sometimes she prefers to be held when napping). This allowed an entire morning of Mommy and Madison time. We pulled out some baking clay from Mommy's craft bin and made all kinds of shapes- including rings for Madison's fingers. She got to sit in her 'big girl chair' aka the booster seat we kept in the RV and eat a special chocolate chip muffin for snack. We sang and danced to her toddler songs cd, snuggled on the sofa, and rocked before nap. It was an incredible day!

Today, Friday, is another day like Wednesday. Madison started her morning by throwing a fit about taking a bath and waking up her sister in the process. Considering Kennedy kept Mommy up most of the night, waking her from this early morning nap was a bad thing for all of the already crabby girls in the house. We are so happy it's Friday and Daddy will be home for a few days. Hopefully no more throwing toys and sippie cups, or tantrums for the next few days. Days like this make Mommy VERY tired!

The pics are from the Good Day- Wednesday. Madison and her clay, Kennedy and her naps.

Spencer's 2nd Birthday

We wrapped up our Labor Day weekend by celebrating Spencer's 2nd birthday at a cookout. Madison doesn't have any cousins close in age (or proximity) so Spencer and his cousins are Madison's adopted family. We LOVE playing with them. Madison enjoyed sharing Spencer's alligator birthday cake and cupcakes and new toys. She and Spence had a great time trying to dump his new fish out of its container. Spencer's dad, John had to give the fish new water when they were finished as it barely had enough to flop around, let alone swim. The kids thought it was great!

In fact, Madison enjoyed Spencer's presents so much, she threw a total fit when it came time to leave. She decided she wanted to take Spencer's new Mr Potato Head home. She grabbed the handle like a purse and said she was ready to go. Then she grabbed Caleb's Woody doll under the other arm and started walking out the door. This marks the first time Madison tried to take possession of someone else's toys.

At times, when we leave her friend Noah's house she likes to borrow one of his toys, but she always identifies whatever we take as "Noah's". This time, she said, 'Come on Mommy, Madison's tato head, Madison's Woody' as she attempted to steal the toys.

The entire week following has been a challenge for us. This is Mommy's first week alone with the girls since Gramm left and Daddy is back at work. It's definitely a re-learning process for us.

Check out the pics from Spencer's day.

Celebration!

Last Saturday, August 30th, we had a celebration at our house. It was a day to get together with friends to introduce Kennedy, celebrate Madison's 2nd bithday, Matt's 33rd birthday, and the start of college football season!

Daddy set up a projector to watch the games. We ended up with a 200 inch screen! Almost as great as being in the stadium.

Kennedy slept thru most of the day. She didn't seem to mind being passed around and held by everyone.

Madison had a super time showing all her friends her new kitchen and playing outside in the nice, new play area Daddy created outside with her pools and sandbox. She loved wearing her Georgia overalls with special ribbons on them. We've had them since she was born and are so excited they fit this season!

We were so happy Gramm got to help us celebrate the day, too. Sunday was a sad day at our house as Gramm had to head back home. We miss her already!

Pics of our day.

Mommy and the Girls

Here's a bit of a flashback...

Friday the 15th Mommy decided to take full advantage of Kennedy's 'late arrival' and have some pictures taken with her girls. We'd been talking about having official pregnancy photos taken with Mommy and Madison for a few months now. Since Kennedy decided to hold on- we went ahead and had them done. Here are a few of our favorites.

Kennedy

Today we went for Kennedy's one week (ok 9 day) check up. She went from 8lbs 10oz at birth to 8lbs 2oz when we left the hospital last Thursday to 8lbs 14 oz today! She more than gained back to her birth weight. Needless to say, Kennedy is a great nurser-which is great considering Mommy has enough milk to feed all of Simi Valley!

Kennedy still looks perfect....did I mention she scored 9 for both Apgars at birth? Dr Pattan used to brag on how strong Madison was (she was lifting her head by day 3). Now she can't get over Kennedy. She started lifting her head off our shoulders in the hospital on day one! She still doesn't have much head control so she ends up slamming her head back onto the other shoulder or chest of the person holding her. None the less, she does not like to keep her head down.

She is growing like a weed too! She wore a preemie outfit home from the hospital and one of Madison's old preemie onsies for a day. Not only are those too small, but some of her newborn size onsies are too small now, too! Dr Pattan said the newborn diapers look like they won't fit much longer, but we put a size one on her today and she swims in it. None the less, we'll be exchanging a lot of the newborn diapers Mommy stocked up on! Speaking of diapers, this little lady is no stranger to filling them! She had 7 poopy diapers today alone!!

She still has dark hair, and the jury is out on where it came from and whether or not she will loose it.

She's a great sleeper...during the day. Nights have been hit and miss. She sleeps about 3 hours at a time at night for the most part and 2 hours at a time during the day. Although, we've had a few nights where she needs to nurse every hour or so. Lots of pics sleeping thus far. We're trying to get more shots of those pretty deep blue eyes!

Back to the doctor in 2 weeks....Madison has her 2 year check up (FINALLY) then, too.

Pretty Toes

Part of Madison being a big sister is getting to do new things. As I mentioned, Mommy painted Madison's finger nails last week. Over the weekend she got her toes painted since big girls (Mommy and Gramm included) have pretty painted toes.

Check out Mommy and Madison's toes! She is so proud to show off her big girl 'pretty toe nails' to everyone!

First Bath

Friday evening while Daddy was sleeping (still sick) and Gramm and Madison were playing at Gymboree, Kennedy got her first bath. It was just a quick changing table bath with a washcloth and warm water since we still had to be careful of her umbilical cord. She didn't seem to mind it much. Mommy was a little nervous as Madison's first bathing experience was filled with screams!

Kennedy lost the rest of her umbilical cord Saturday night. So Monday morning Gramm helped Mommy give the girls their first bath together. Mommy held Kennedy down in the water while Gramm helped rinse her. The shared bubble bath lasted about 2 minutes then Madison got to continue on her own (with Gramm of course) while Mommy got Kennedy dressed.

Gramm also introduced Madison to the 'adugator' squirt gun during this bath! What a HIT!

Big Sister

Madison is still adjusting to her role as big sister. She has special books, toys, attire, and 'treats' that only big sisters get....not babies. One of her favorites is 'ice cream' snack in the afternoon. Yesterday she had 'orange ice cream' (aka orange sherbert) in an orange bowl, with one of her big sister bibs.

PS While Mommy was in the hospital Madison got a pretty bad bug bite on her cheek. Just like her Mommy, Madison's skin doesn't do well with bites. Her little cheek swelled up pretty big. The bite is going away nicely, but looks pitiful in all the recent pics.

Super Mom

Since Daddy is sick, Mommy set up camp on the sofa for a few nights. Kennedy's bassinet has a removable base, so she sleeps in the bassinet bed on the living room floor arms length from Mommy. We've done this two nights now and each one is better and better.

Madison has been in her 'big girl' toddler bed for a few months now. The biggest challenge has been Madison getting out of bed and wandering into our room in the middle of the night sometimes. We put a baby gate up in the hall so she can't cruise into the living room and start playing. These midnight runs are few and far between lately- but she does get up between 5-6am to climb into bed with someone and sleep a few more hours. Sometimes Gramm is the lucky one, usually it's Mommy.

Last night we left the gate down to encourage Madison to wander down the hall- bypassing sick Daddy's room, letting Gramm sleep, and coming into Mommy. Well, it worked. Doodle climbed onto the sofa with me at 6am. I was sitting up nursing Kennedy and it didn't even phase Madison. She climbed right into my lap (I was sitting indian style) and curled into a ball across my legs, then crashed out again. I just had to laugh. Sitting is still a bit uncomfortable since delivery so this 'weight' on my legs posed a bit of a problem leaning down to put Kennedy back in her temporary bed. As soon as I did, Madison stretched out over top of me. It's a good thing I can lay on my back again now!

Gramm managed to snap a few pics when Kennedy woke up an hour and a half later to eat again. This is Mommy-playing the role of 'Super Mom!'. tee hee

Big Sister Challenges

Madison was so excited to meet her new baby sister in the hospital...as you can see from the photos in our previous post. She just loved kissing and holding baby sister Kennedy. She even thru a fit in the hospital parking lot after one visit because Mommy and Kennedy were not going home with her. Gramm had to chase her thru the parking lot- very scary time!
Coming home was a whole different ball game. It wasn't until we nearly checked out of the hospital that Mommy realized this was the first time she'd spent a night away from Madison. Although Mommy and Madison both seemed to do fine with the 2 night separation, in the end it may have been worse than we thought.
Madison is really having trouble sharing Mommy with Kennedy. Today she wanted to sit with Mommy and watch a movie, but Kennedy was nursing. Madison sat on the side of the boppy and pushed on Kennedy's leg. She looked at Mommy and said, 'All done baby sister'.
Daddy decided to go back to work today (Friday) since Gramm is here to help. This proved to be a bad decision when Daddy came home sick at 10:30am. He spent the day in our room holding back the contents of his tummy from coming up. With a fever of 102 we decided to keep him far away from the girls. Unfortunately that leaves one less grown up to help Madison with the transition.
Noah and his Mommy, Angie came by this morning to play with the new big sister and meet Kennedy. They brought yummy brunch, too! Madison had a great time playing and it was nice to have some focus back on her and not just baby sister. Of course we forgot to take pics of our special visit.
Gramm took Madison to Gymboree tonight for play time with her buds Ryan and Spencer. Just before they left, Mommy took some big sister time to paint Madison's finger nails for the first time. She held her fingers apart all the way to the mall and showed everyone her 'pretty fingers'.
When they got home Madison had special big sister ni-night reading time with Mommy, then wanted to rock (which is normal bedtime procedure) while being craddled like a baby (which is NOT normal) to fall asleep. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

She's HERE!!

Kennedy Mae Shemenski made her grand appearance at 7:21pm on Tuesday the 19th. She was a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long. The day was long and a little scary at times but we are all happy and healthy now....more details to come.

Here are a few pics from Mommy's camera. Birth thru 8/22.

Labor

Went to bed at 11:30 last night. Woke up every 45 minutes with anticipation (or a full bladder). Madison came in softly crying, 'Mommy' at 3:30. Went to the sofa at 4am...are those contractions?! Started timing contractions at 4:15. Matt finally got up. Headed to the hospital for 7am 'induction' but looks like Kennedy may be coming on her own.
Oh, and I had the dream again...she was born a boy.
Hugs and Kisses!

Happy Birthday Madison and Daddy!

Saturday was a great day in the Shemenski home. Miss Madison officially turned 2- sharing her second birthday with Daddy. It's so fun to see his face light up when he talks about sharing birthday adventures with his first little girl.

Thursday night Daddy put together Madison's new big girl kitchen from Gramm and Pop. Madison 'helped' a little bit before she went to bed. When she woke up Friday morning it was ready to play with. She ran into the dining room exclaiming, 'Madison's Kitchen! Madison's Kitchen!'. Mommy snuck a few birthday surprises in the kitchen (play food) so Madison could fully utilize her new favorite toy.

We waited until Saturday afternoon to finish opening presents from Mommy and Daddy and enjoy birthday cake. She thought it was so fun to blow out candles with Daddy. She even had her own miniature version of Daddy's cake. She loved her birthday cake. We snapped a few photos of her making silly faces while eating her cake.

Gramm got Madison balloons, including a HUGE #2 to help commemorate the day. She carried them all over the house all day long.

We wrapped up the day with dinner at Outback- Mommy, Daddy, Madison, and Gramm. It was a nice mellow day. Daddy was anticipating the news of contractions all day- hoping to share his birthday with both his little girls. No such luck- Kennedy decided not to make her appearance on the 16th. Sorry kids- no 'Shemenski trifecta' in this fam. :)

Click for birthday pics.

Kennedy is never coming out

Well, we are still one cm dialated. No new progress from Monday. We saw the new doctor in the practice for the first time today. She didn't know what we discussed with the other doctors previously. When we talked about inducing she said she wouldn't even discuss it until a few days after our original due date of August 19th. The other doctors assured us previously they would not allow us to go past the original due date. Dr Tan (the new doctor) talked about inducing next Friday, the 22nd if Kennedy isn't here. Mommy told her that was not acceptable and explained the previous promises. She looked at the schedule again and said she will induce on our original due date of August 19th if Kennedy is not here yet. She also informed us the doctor Mommy does not like is on call this weekend. In other words, if Daddy gets his wish of the girls both being born on August 16th, the mean and hateful doctor will have to deliver us.
Please keep praying for the safe delivery of Kennedy and Mommy's sanity. The later we deliver, the less help we get from Gramm. She has to go home August 31st.

Madison's first Carousel

Madison's first carousel ride was Sunday at Topanga Mall. Gramm saw how excited Madison was just to watch it go round and round, she HAD to take her for a ride. The tiger was Madison's animal of choice. Unfortunately, Mommy only had her cell phone for a quick video. Today we went back to Topanga and she got to ride her tiger again AND a rabbit too. She is still talking about her rides. We tried to break up the two rides with some playtime in the play area next to the carousel. Sneaky Madison stood on some of the animals so she could see over the play wall and watch the carousel. We got some great pics today. Enjoy!

39 or 40?

So, if you continue to guage from the original due date of August 19th, we are officially 39 weeks today. If you go with the last perinatologist appointment, Kennedy was measuring a due date of well...today. Putting us officially OVERdue AGAIN! Matt thinks its great. He wants both his girls to share his birthday-August 16th. Mommy is VERY against this. Shouldn't the girls each get their own day? Even if it is only a day apart?

None the less, we go to the doctor again tomorrow for a checkup.

Currently 1 cm dialated, 50-60% effaced.

Here is a pic Gramm took today before we left for day 3 of our 'walking the local malls' tour. Apparently walking the baby out doesn't work for us either.

Keep praying for a safe, quick (and soon!) delivery!

Mystery

Can you help us solve a mystery? UPS delivered this super cute snuggle blanket for our new baby girl (no she is not here yet). Unfortunately there was no card with the delivery. We have no idea who sent Kennedy her first monogrammed present.

If you sent this to us- please let us know. We LOVE her snuggle blanket and can't wait for her to see it.

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.