Friday, October 17, 2008

Mommy and the girls




Yesterday was the last day of our Picture People portrait club membership and we still had free photos to redeem. We coordinated in our brown, denim, and lavendar and headed up to the mall for a quick photo shoot. As usual, we got the photographer who did nothing to pose us, or engage the girls. With the help of Mommy we managed to get a few good ones. I really like this 'retro' color change they offer. Kind of a cross between color and sepia tone. Here are the best of the bunch.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The girls, pumpkins, and friends





Here are the pics from our trip to the farm with Spencer, Ryan, and Caleb. Kennedy enjoyed most of the day in her new sling-(Mommy LOVES it, too!) Madison spilled juice on herself at lunch just before we wandered thru the corn maze...note the wardrobe change. Apparently riding in a wagon all morning is not as tiring as pulling one since Mommy was exhausted when we got home, but Madison skipped her nap. Needless to say, it was an early night falling asleep in Daddy's arms long before her usual bedtime!
We will upload the bulk of the pics later today.

Madison's first Pigtails


Yesterday we went back to Underwood Farms, with Spencer and the gang this time. Madison sported her first piggie tails! Here she is with her bag of carrots on the way to feed the ponies.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Miss Kennedy-almost 8 weeks


Kennedy is almost 8 weeks old now. She's really is growing like a weed. At her 6 week check up (and ear infection appointment) she was 12 lbs already!
She is still sleeping in her bassinet, and doing much better at night. She only wakes me up to nurse twice a night for the most part. She LOVES to be swaddled in the special blanket Aunt Kimberly sent. (Special note for other Mommies- the Miracle Blanket is a MUST HAVE. I wish we knew about it when Madison was a baby. It's AWESEOME! I want 10 more so we always have one clean and ready to go! HA!)
Kennedy is still in her size one diapers but has moved up to 3-6 months clothes. Tonight she is wearing a 3 month sleeper as the temperature keeps dropping (58 degrees and dropping at 8pm) and her feet are stretching to the bottom. Looks like we may be moving up to 6 month sleepers already! She is very hot natured so at night her short sleeved onsie and the swaddle blanket are more than enough to keep her content most nights. This cold snap is changing things up a bit for us.

She is a super strong baby. We struggle to get her to lay her head down. She is insistant on having it up and looking around. This is a problem when she gets sleepy because her neck isn't strong enough to hold her head up very long. She ends up head butting our shoulders and chest and, of course, getting upset about it. When we hold her up to burp her she puts her feet down and stands on our laps, too. When we hold her up when she's upset she pushes one foot down like she is stamping her foot!
Her new best trick is smiling, though. She smiles in response to us now. The smiles seem to get bigger and better every day! She's cooing and kicking all the time, too. Miss Kennedy still has beautiful steel blue eyes, but is losing her dark hair. Her hair line is reseding (just like her Daddy!) and she's getting thin and patchy in the back. We are anxious to see if she will lose it all and what color will come in behind it- or if she will be a baldy like her sister for a while.

Here are a few of favorite recent shots.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

The last 7 weeks...


Time is flying since the arrival of our little Kennedy!

The last few weeks were interesting around here.
September 18th- Madison woke up from her nap with pink eye, by the 19th when we went to the doctor it was in both. We disinfected everything, started drops, and watched it go away...and come back, then go away again. Then the congestion and cough started, and Madison got a cold. Her friends had been sick, too so we know its going around.

Then the bad news...

Kennedy got it, too! October 1st Kennedy's little cough got worse so we took her to the pediatrician. Turns out the mild fussiness, low fevers, nasal congestion, and cough were the result of double ear infections! Oh, and did I mention she got pink eye, too. Luckily the doctor wrote us a prescription for Kennedy when Madison got pink eye just in case it developed. So sad- at 6 weeks she already had her first unscheduled doctor visit.

Dr Pattan said it's easy to forget how sensitive tiny babies are to germs and colds. We have to be more careful about exposing Kennedy to colds. I forget, Madison can be around runny noses and end up just fine- Kennedy can't yet. With an early cold/flu season going around here, we may be spending lots of time alone in the coming months.

On the brighter side...

It's football season. Madison has her bark down pat, 'Go Dawgs, Sic em, woof, woof, woof- YEAH. No way Gators.' on Saturdays and 'Go Stee-wers' on Sundays while waving her 'terrible toddler towel'.

Aunt Darlene sent Madison a Snow White costume, so we have Princess Madison time almost everyday now.

As the weather cools down we are enjoying time at the park. Unfortunately, the temperature is up and down so today our trip to the playground was cut short as it is 96 degrees now.

Kennedy will have her own post soon with all the updates on her smiling developments (hint, hint)
Here are the photos of our adventures the last month and a half.

Farm Day with Noah





Yeasterday the girls and I met up with Angie and Noah at Underwood Farm. You may remember the farm from one of our previous summer posts with Spencer.

In the month of October the farm is all decked out for the Fall Festival. On the weekends they have extra activities for the occasion. We were perfectly happy feeding the animals, playing in the pumpkin patches, and running around on Monday. Some of my favorite pictures are under the gourd archway near the tall sunflowers. Madison and Noah had such a terrific morning! Kennedy enjoyed hanging out in the wagon while the bigger kids played. Thanks again for bringing the snacks, Noah!
Love these pics-look how tall the girls are!!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Madison 2 year Update


Like I said, I'm a little behind in my updating. It's been several months since I posted Madison's developments. On September 11th she had her 2 year check up (we tried to do it earlier, but Dr Pattan was busy with back to school physicals for her other patients). Madison is 33 1/4 inches tall and weighs 27.4 lbs. This puts her right at the 50% for growth in both areas. People often tell us Madison looks so tall- it must be her long legs that are deceiving. Her weight gain has slowed down, but Dr Pattan says this is normal for her age. The doctor continues to be impressed with Madison's intelligence.
We stopped counting her vocabulary words a long time ago as there were too many to keep track of. Every day she says or does something new. She knows all her colors now, but often gets pink and purple mixed up. She recognizes all basic shapes including, circle, square, rectangle, oval (which she refers to as 'egg'- we're still working on that), triangle, diamond, star, and octagon. She also recognizes most letters in the alphabet. We are still working on F, H, I, J, Q, R, U, V, and Z. She knows all the others. She can count to 15 now, but skips 13.
Her favorite things to do are watch Noggin, play with her kitchen-including 'cooking' her snacks, and reading. She also loves her new Potato Head family (Mommy's friend Darcy got her a set with Mr, Mrs, and baby Potato Heads as a late birthday present) and can often be found with 'tato head' lips on her face. Madison thinks it's funny to hand Mommy a tato head arm and hold one herself, then wave them and say 'Hello, hello'.
She has bins of books in every room of our house! She even reads to us now. She memorized Little White Fish Gets Bigger-a book about a little fish who turns two that Gramm brought, Good Night Moon, and parts of Queen Clara- a book Pop brought back from England, and Ten Apples Up on Top- a birthday book from 'Grandma' Quessie in Florida. Probably the most impressive is the two year old book as it has words like Sea Urchin, Shrimp, and Octopus.
Madison makes us laugh with the silly things she says. Everything is a sentence these days, although she often gets her nouns and verbs backwards. Example: 'Mommy, hurt the eyes' instead of 'the eyes hurt' when she gets water in them in the bathtub.
She is fascinated with her baby sister now. Madison is always touching her legs, arms, and head; and pointing out her different body parts. 'Baby Kennenee's ears, mouth, fingers, toes, shoulder, etc...' . She laughs and makes a surprised face every time Kennedy poops since it is pretty loud, and is quick to point out every time her sister cries. Madison also thinks its funny when Kennedy nurses. She points and says, 'Baby sister has the mommy bottle'. Of course Matt thinks it's hysterical Madison refers to Mommy's boobs as bottles. We are just thrilled she doesn't want to nurse, too.
We are not pushing potty training just yet. She tried it a little before Kennedy arrived and didn't take to it. The pediatrician recommends relaxing on it for now as she has lots to get used too with the arrival of baby sister. Ironically, this weekend she decided it would be fun to sit on the potty until she had to go 'tee tee'. We sat in the bathroom together for 20 minutes at one point! She went tee tee on the potty twice this weekend, otherwise she is still in size 4 diapers during the day and 5 at night. We tried pull ups but she isn't interested.
It's truly amazing how quickly the is learning and discovering new things. Almost every night Matthew and I sit back and laugh at the new phrases that come out of her mouth or the silly dances and songs she makes up. She is quite the crack up!
In this posted photo Madison is having a tea party with Daddy and her caterpillar.

Tuesday at Madison's




Last Tuesday the kids came to Madison's backyard funland to play. We started in the pools, then finger painted, back to the pools, inside for clean-up, more playing, lunch, and a movie before naptime. Busy, but fun morning. The kids particularly enjoyed painting. Madison enjoyed it so much, when everyone else went back to the pools, she stayed and painted more. She's so meticulous with her projects.

Big Girl Swing


Last week was fantastic! We played with our friends, Spencer, Ryan, and Caleb almost everyday! Monday we went to Spencer's house then walked to the park. Our new double stroller really came in handy as we had 3 toddlers and baby Kennedy with only one double stroller. This was also Mommy's first real exercise. I carried Kennedy in a BabyBjorn, and pushed the 39 lb stroller with Madison and Ryan. Whew, what a workout!

When we got to the park all three kids sat in the big kid swings all by themselves! Madison loved it. We had a quick snack then headed back to Spencer's for more playing and lunch before we headed home for naps.

Note: Madison is wearing the shirt Pop got her in Italy this Summer.

Baby Acne


It's breaking our hearts. Miss Kennedy has baby acne. Madison had it too, but only for a few days. Kennedy's had it a few weeks now. Some days are worse than others. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do. Just have to let it run its course. It's so sad to see her beautiful face with red, splotchy bumps all over. The worst was when it covered her eyelids. This picture is one of the good days.

Go Dawgs!


As usual, I'm playing catch up with the blog. It's been busy around the Shemenski household. The Georgia Bulldogs are off to a fantastic start this season. 4 wins already. The girls look so cute in their red and black each weekend. This pic was taken September 13 just before the South Carolina game. Madison found her gloves and insisted on wearing them all day.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Smile!




Madison started taking note when we pull out the cameras. Today she asked to 'hold it-the camera' when we were trying to take pics of her with a barbie bride dress on her head like a hat. Looks like it's time to get her a play camera as Mommy's camera is not exactly a 'toy'. She was very careful and we put the strap around her neck just in case she decided to drop it. Maybe she will take after Mommy and be a photographer.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Pumpkin Update



Today Daddy snapped a few photos of Madison in front of this year's growing pumpkin. It is already over 200 lbs and is on track to beat last years and break 300 lbs. We're excited to see where it ends up!

They finished their little photo shoot with a wagon ride around the yard. Sierra followed behind as always. She's such a protector.

Weekend



We had another great weekend with the girls. We started with dinner at the Briggs to celebrate Scott's birthday. Madison had a great time playing with her friends and Kennedy enjoyed meeting more of Mommy and Daddy's friends. Saturday was a fun filled day of Georgia football and a visit from Mommy's friend, Stacy. We always forget to take pictures when Stacy is here. This time we squeezed one in at the last minute. Madison wore her Florida Gator jersey from Uncle Matt to bed and was snuggling on the sofa with Stacy just before she went down for the night. Stacy brought all the girls (Mommy included) super cute clothes, too! Madison enjoyed wearing her new jacket around the house. She also enjoyed showing Stacy how fun it is to take all the toys out of her bins and sit in the bins instead. Oh, and she tromped around the house in Daddy's boots, had a big girl snack of 'cheesy chips' aka cheese doodles, and enjoyed cheering for her Georgia Bulldogs. Kennedy took several naps on Mommy and Daddy's laps at different points throughout the weekend, and enjoyed a nap in Stacy's arms ,too! Daddy snapped some photos of Kennedy sprawled out with Madison playing in the background.

Sunday we watched the Steelers win their game (Thank you NFL Sunday Ticket!) and enjoyed a nice relaxing day at home before Daddy has to head back to work tomorrow. Oh, and the fun Hello Kitty tattoos Madison got in a birthday card FINALLY came off her arms today. She had them on nearly a week! She loved her star and heart.
We'll post all the pics from this weekend and the rest of the month in a few weeks.

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.

Friday, September 05, 2008

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!


Friday, August 29, 2008

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.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

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.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

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.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

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

Friday, August 22, 2008

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.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

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.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

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!

Monday, August 18, 2008

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. :)

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

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.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

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.