to sleep or not to sleep...

sunday night did not go that great. i think mason woke up every hour or less. i didn't get more than twenty or thirty minutes of sleep until matt got up with mason and maddie at 7am. i was at a total loss. madelyn had never slept that little at night - even when ill. i didn't know what to do with a baby that didn't sleep. not only was he not sleeping, but he wanted to nurse every time. he was eating so much that it was just coming right back up. i think i changed his clothes 4 times, diapers 10 times, and unswaddled and reswaddled 4 times. by the end of the day yesterday i had a bad headache and just wanted to get into bed.

thankfully, last night was totally different! i had remembered to get him to cluster feed from 6-10pm. i put him down at 10 (and got myself to bed by 10:30) and he slept until 1:30am. i got him back down at 2:00am and then madelyn woke up at 2:30am. no reason, just ready to be awake. once she was back down there was sleeping until mason woke up at 5am. madelyn followed at 5:45am.

the 5am wake up call/cry reminded me of how it was with madelyn. i had forgotten how early my days would start. it was actually kind of nice to have both kids up and happy this morning. mason was laying awake in his crib looking around and madelyn was climbing up on the side to tell him, "good morning, mason!" love.

compare and contrast

here are two pictures. the one on the left is madelyn in her first week of life and the one on the right is mason today. compare and contrast. love.

the inner circle

so mason is officially "in" madelyn's inner circle - she has chosen to share friend with him. not only did she have friend give mason kisses and then let mason hold friend, but she asked me to take a picture of the two of them in the swing together.

then madelyn took the photo shoot into her own hands and snapped a few pictures of her own of mason and friend. she hasn't quite figured out how to manage the camera without putting her fingers over the lens. this is probably the best of her shots because you can see mason and friend behind her finger.

after this photo session, madelyn was very excited to be taking mason to church with her. she kept telling us to "get dressed" so that we could go. once she was dressed, she wanted to have her picture taken with mason. she even smiled several times while saying "cheese" without any prompting by me.

church was our first outing in the car since coming home from the hospital and madelyn was just talking to mason the whole way. she was pointing out everything we passed, telling him what it was, and telling him about the veggietales characters singing on the cd playing. when she couldn't come up with something new, she would say "um....trees" as filler conversation.

people were pretty surprised to hear that mason was only two days old and we were all at church. mainly they were surprised that i was there. i am telling you, this time is SO much easier than with madelyn. but i also had the spinal leak headaches after having madelyn. i just want to get right in to normal life.

on a personal note, i wore non-maternity jeans to church this morning. it took me two weeks to get there after having madelyn, but i did only put on about 25 pounds this time versus the 30 i put on with madelyn.

mason had a pretty good sleeping night last night. i was a little worried when he woke up every hour to eat for the first three hours after i went to bed. but after i fed him at 1am he slept straight through to about 6am when i woke him up to eat. he did make some noise like he was waking up at 3:30am, but when i tried to get him to eat he went back to sleep.

this afternoon mason went on his first trip to the park. it was such a nice afternoon that it seemed like a shame to be sitting inside. he slept the entire time, but i think he enjoyed the fresh air. i also think that he likes it when the birds sing - weird, i know, but it really did seem like he would perk up to listen when they would sing.

i wish that i had taken video of madelyn at the park. she was hysterical! first she was wearing her bike helmet while playing (she requests to ride he bike while mason rides in the stroller - making me very happy). then she was yelling "hi. hi! look at me! look at me!" over and over to a little boy and his grandma that drove over to the park. they weren't people we knew either, but that did not stop madelyn's excitement to see them and have them look at her. and if anyone stopped to see mason, she would run over to tell them that he was her brother, mason. she is so proud to be his sister.

adding to madelyn's independence, she now fills her own cup in the refrigerator door water dispenser. she actually does a pretty good job of not overfilling her cup. she didn't spill any water all day until dinner time and i guess it was a big spill because daddy put the dispenser lock on so that she would not be able to do it any more tonight. either way, it was good progress to her being able to help herself. love.

and we're home again!

we were released from the hospital around 10:30am this morning and very excited to be heading home so early. we had a pretty good night last night all sleeping at the hospital. madelyn's behavior received several complements from hospital staff. they couldn't believe how nicely she slept on her "big pillow" on the floor that we brought from home.

madelyn is still super excited to be a big sister. she was really excited to bring mason home in the car with her. she couldn't wait for him to use his swing and other toys at home. she also requested for him to come in the pool with her.

we all went for a walk around the block tonight after dinner because i really needed to get outside for a little while. madelyn suggested that mason ride in the stroller while she rode her bike. we were pretty impressed by this offer considering that when we have talked to her about sharing the stroller(s) in the past she declared that they were "mine" and not for "brother" to use. at the very end of our walk though (we were feet from our property line) she jumped off her bike and wanted her stroller back - we almost made it.

i think that we are all excited to be sleeping in our own beds tonight. mason napped in his crib for a few hours today so i think that he will do fine tonight.

other random notes from madelyn and mason's lives:

- mason has a dimple in his left cheek.
- madelyn uses this phrase, "hey, look at this guy". it has multiple uses - strangers, objects, mason, etc. it always makes me laugh.
- she also says, "look at me!" when she is showing off.
- madelyn tells us that mason is crying or talking or watching us.
- mason and matt were both born on the 26th of the month - different months, but the same date.
- mason loves to hold his head up and look around. when you try and burp him he keeps his head up the whole time instead of resting it on your shoulder.
- mason was 8lbs. 5oz. when released from the hospital
- mason sneezes a lot!

tomorrow we will have our first big trip out as a family - to church and then to the grocery store. love.

when madelyn met mason

when madelyn first got to the room she was on the verge of tears and calling for, "mommy". it stopped shortly after she was helped up into bed with me so that she could get a close up look at "brother". she accepted his name as "mason" right away though. her first concern was to give him lots of hugs. it was so sweet how she kept hugging him and saying, "hi, mason".

in the video she loses interest in mason in favor of my breakfast - specifically my grapes, but for most of the morning she has just been interested in hugging, holding, and touching mason.



daddy helped her to hold mason after she got her fill of my grapes (read: ate every single one of them). she is really excited to be the big sister! she sits in the bed with me to watch mason sleep in the crib and wants to touch him the whole time. she really, really seems to love petting his hair. she does manage to keep the touching to his blanket while he is sleeping though.

other comments on mason:

- his cry is a lot louder than madelyn's was at birth.

- he has a pretty solid head of hair and it seems pretty similar to how madelyn's was when she was born; maybe slightly more blond than hers was though.

thank you to everyone for all the well wishes! love.

delivery pictures

here are just a few pictures from the delivery. i promise that more will come once we are all up and cleaned up this morning!

one last belly shot after being admitted.

measuring mason's big ole head. i don't know how big it was, but i can pretty much guess that it was bigger than madelyn's.

mason meeting his daddy for the first time.

seeing mommy after getting cleaned up a little and checked out. i thought that he looked a lot like madelyn when i first saw him, but now i am not as sure. i think he looks like matt... love.

welcoming mason lynn

mason lynn joined our family at 12:27am on june 26. he was 22 inches long and weighed 8lbs. 12 oz. (one ounce less than madelyn did at birth). he has blue eyes and dark blond hair (i think - i haven't really gotten to see him in full light after his bath). i will post more pictures later today, we didn't really get many good ones of his face and he is sleeping right now.

we could not have planned his delivery better. i went in for my appointment at 3:40pm yesterday afternoon and my blood pressure was on the high side - 130/80 (not really high, but pretty high for me). my doctor couldn't even reach my cervix during the office visit, but the blood pressure was enough for her to want me to go to the hospital. there was no rush so matt and madelyn went to swimming lesson at 5:30 while i went home to clean up a little and get a few things together.

by 7:00pm madelyn was with our neighbors for the night and matt and i were in our room at the hospital. amazingly, as they got me hooked up to the monitor i started to have very regular contractions on my own (i had contractions at 7 minutes apart all day on wednesday, but not really any on thursday until getting to the hospital). then my doctor came in to check me - still 2cm - and broke my water at 8:15pm. by 10:45 the contractions were too close together for me and i started to get lightheaded and nauseous so it was time for the epidural. i got a little rest then (and so did matt). we started pushing at 11:45pm and had to stop for a little bit so that my doctor could get there from a c-section. and mason was born at 12:27am!

i guess he came out face up and eyes open (he has been amazingly alert)! i can't believe how much faster things went this time and they never even had to put me on pitosin (sp?). i also can't believe how night and day different i feel now compared to madelyn's delivery. i am barely sore at all and it looks like we might be released tomorrow.

matt is going to bring madelyn over this morning and i can't wait for her to meet her little brother! love.

and finally we had cake...

madelyn had an early and tearful start to her day today. she got up around 6am and was crying when she came into our room (matt was already at work) to get me. what did she want? for me to put her tool belt on her. i guess that is why she was crying, because she couldn't get it on herself. then when i went to get a picture of her all cute in her left over pig tails, her new pink elmo jammies, and her tool belt she started crying again. she was saying "no, mommy! i don't want it. no pictures!" of course i took one picture anyway.

i am exhausted, so here are some pictures from today with captions to cover today's post. enjoy!

madelyn enjoyed "cooking" with real baking supplies that were just her size. later in the day she added her apron to the whole experience.

unfortunately, madelyn found the tools that we removed from the tool belt before giving it to her because, as matt put it, "she could put that hammer through a wall." i did let her play with them for a little while so that i could get these pictures of her being little ms. fix-it.

by 9:30am it was already getting really hot (a heat advisory went into effect at noon today) and madelyn was ready to hit the pool. she is carrying her new bug box in the picture.

she had fun for a little while in her pool, but it was getting way to hot for me sitting outside in the sun. she splashed around for a while and then we had to go in and get ready for music class.

at about 8:30pm we finally got around to giving madelyn her birthday cake. i think that she was most excited about the candles though. she insisted on helping me put the candles in the cake herself before sitting at the table for us to sing. we were so late past bedtime because she and i went to 'swim' some more in the backyard after her swimming class and didn't come in until after 7. and daddy went to a work function after swim class and didn't get home again until after 8, which is when madelyn and i were just finishing up our dinner.

happy (belated) birthday, madelyn! you finally got to eat your cake. love.

madelyn's 2

madelyn turned 2 today! and as of 9:35pm she is not going to have to share her birthday with her brother (my big concern with the due date being so close to her birthday) - not that i am not ready for him to come out already.

we have been so busy around here this month and will have house guests next month so we have opted not to have a birthday party for madelyn this year. i, of course, have "mommy guilt" and decided to take madelyn to the zoo this morning. it was going to be a pretty hot day (for here - not other parts of the country) so we got there shortly after it opened. after about a half hour i realized that i really had no business pushing her up the hills in that heat; not that it put me into labor or anything.

madelyn took care of protecting her knees from the sun. she actually wore three of these stickers on her legs for most of the day. they were stickers that she got from one of our visits to the doctor's office and found in the car on the way to the zoo. for some reason she insisted on riding around in her stroller almost the whole time we were there, which is very unusual for her. she also had no interest in the fish building - a first. but i practically had to drag her away from the hippos after like 20 minutes. at least she always finds something of interest when we go.

again with the "mommy guilt," i wanted today's trip to the zoo to be a little special so i let her get a pressed penny souvenir. she thought that was the coolest thing ever. if i had more quarters i would have let her get two, and she chose to have a giraffe for her single selection.

unfortunately, she didn't get a decent nap again. she has just been falling asleep in the car early in the day and then can't go down for her actual nap. hopefully we will have better luck tomorrow because she really does need her nap.

since it was madelyn's day i just went with whatever she wanted instead of what was normal. she had a bowl of canned corn for breakfast (her request) with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese and two bananas with string cheese for lunch. i think that she had two cups of yogurt with daddy this morning before i got up too. dinner was a medley of taco ingredients. we never got to the birthday cake because it got too late past bedtime after we finished with the presents. we will just have to sing and eat it tomorrow night.

she was going to have swimming lessons today, but they got cancelled due to a power outage at the pool (i guess it messed up the chemical system). when i was getting her ready for swimming she told me that she wanted to "go to the doctor's first". this is because last week she had to go with me to the doctor's before class - i thought that it was funny that she remembered and asked to go. since madelyn was so excited about swimming, and already in her swimming suit, we invited her friends michael and dylan down to swim in her pool instead (they have swimming lessons at the same time too). she was so excited to have the boys down to enjoy some splashing fun with her.

after sliding and splashing with the boys we went in to have some dinner. i didn't think that she was going to make it through dinner. she was definitely bobbing her head with her eyes closed while eating slowly. as soon as daddy started using his tools to hang up her height chart in the playroom she perked right up! right now it is just a painted board, but once i get all the numbers written on it it will be a height chart. matt just wanted to make sure that we got her measured on her actual birthday. she did so great at standing straight up against the wall! her 2nd birthday measurement came in at 37 inches! if what they say about doubling is true, she is going to be 6'2" someday.

once we finished with the measuring madelyn became ecstatic about the mention of presents. every time the doorbell would ring she would come running and ask, "what is it, mommy?". if i asked what she thought it was, she would shout "toys!" i haven't let her open anything over the past week, but today i did let her open her presents from uncle josh and aunt adrienne when it arrived.

now, back to the presents... madelyn go so many presents! and not from mommy and daddy either. we got her a little tent and a tunnel (one of those cloth things that kids crawl through). there weren't pictures that i could really post because she wasn't dressed. i should have thought about that and put some clothes on her before presents, but i didn't. i am sure that there will be many pictures of her and her gifts throughout the rest of the week. (on a side note, she had been asking me not to take her picture today. there were lots of pictures that i wanted to get and couldn't.) she really loved the tool belt from her blogger friend, lorelai. i really wish i could post how cute she was with it, but i have a feeling that you will see a lot of it in the future.

she also got several dress-up outfits including a thumbelina costume (which you might remember is our nickname for our little thumb sucker). she is going to have fun dressing up in these some day. i can't even list everything out. all i can say is that she is very spoiled (and loved)! thank you to everyone who made our little girl feel so special on her birthday.

(madelyn got a special birthday greeting from her blogger buddy, lorelai, today too for anyone who wants to see it.) love.

happy daddy's day

poor, daddy. today was his day, but he spent it doing physical labor outside. he had to finish putting down mulch on his new landscaping and then had the regular mowing and weeding to do. i still think that he had a nice day.

i had tried to get a picture of madelyn with daddy before and after church but madelyn would have none of it. this was the best picture with attitude i was able to get and couldn't resist sharing. she was lovely and chatty at church this morning though. she was telling everyone about her dress with flowers and a heart necklace of mine that she was wearing. it makes us so happy to see how excited she is to go to church every week.

madelyn didn't really take a nap yesterday and only napped for an hour today leaving us with a crabby girl at times. thankfully, she would get over these moods pretty quickly and had a major second wind this evening after dinner that was fun for all of us.

even though it was "daddy's day" (madelyn didn't really understand "father" so she would say "daddy's day"), madelyn got the biggest present. today we surprised her with a sandbox that papa and nana sent for her birthday. when i told her that there was a birthday present outside for her, she replied, "i am so excited!" and she was, too. madelyn asks to use the neighbor's sandbox at least once a week and she loves to use her shovels (even just to carry them around with her). i think that the sandbox will see a lot of play this summer. and to make it even better it fit perfectly under the stairs of the deck so that she is in the shade and it isn't in the way. matt and i couldn't believe how perfectly it fit! she was already asking to go back and play in it during dinner tonight. between the sandbox and the pool we won't need to leave the house this summer - although i plan to be out and about as much as possible while on leave. love.

38 / 39 weeks

i will be 39 weeks tomorrow, but just got around to my 38 week appointment yesterday (i was scheduling around matt's work schedule). baby's heart rate was good, my stomach measures 39 weeks, i was down one pound, and i was almost 2 cm dilated. i am scheduled to be back in next thursday and we will pick a date for inducing at that point.

the picture is a quick one before i headed off to my book club. i really need to try and get a nice picture at some point...

madelyn was playing with her doctor kit before nap time yesterday. after 'listening' to brother's heartbeat in my belly for a while she laid down and listened to her own belly. i tried to get her to recreate our conversation and that is why it is not as spontaneous in the video. maybe she doesn't get the whole baby in my belly thing after all. love.

we're still waiting

we might still be waiting on brother, but the weather has been great (until today that is - more in a minute) and madelyn has been itching to be outside. her desire to be outside has dramatically increased after one of her birthday presents arrived late last week - a new pool from big pop and grandma.

matt set the pool up on sunday while madelyn was napping and she could hardly contain her excitement when she saw it in the front yard! she was looking out to see daddy working in the yard and then saw her surprise. she could hardly get into her "swimming suit" fast enough!

and then she spent monday morning 'swimming' again. in fact, she was in her suit and outside by 8:30am! it was all i could do to get my computer and stuff together so that i could supervise. she even ate her snack out on the deck because i couldn't get her any farther away from the pool. she played in the pool and with the dogs until lunch time. she really had fun teasing lady by taking all the dog toys into the pool. when lady would dip her head in and snag one of the balls out, madelyn would say/yell, "lady, knock-it-off!" and then get out to try and get the ball back. she would play tug-of-war with lady, but lady usually won. madelyn would even refuse to let go and get drug across the yard by lady a little bit on her belly.

we only played in the pool before nap time because she was going to have her first swimming lesson later monday night. it isn't so much a 'lesson' as it is parents paying to play with their kids

in a community pool with minimal instruction from a lifeguard. the good (or the bad) part is that it is every night so she can easily build on what they did the night before. i went with them last night and tried to take pictures, but there were just too many parents standing around. you can see her happy face as she is coming down this fun frog slide - if you look closely that is.

today was cooler and overcast. i thought for sure that her class would be cancelled, but to my surprise ours was one of the few pools not closed. so i dressed madelyn in her swimming suit and put a fleece over it so that she would be warm enough. matt said that it wasn't actually that bad although there were some concerning warm spots in the pool tonight...

madelyn has been in the most wonderful mood for the past week and she cracks me up daily; we just love her. here are some points that i thought i would share here:

- madelyn's birthday is june 22 or as she says "june snack it"

- matt's co-workers threw him a baby shower and he was going through the gifts this weekend to write the thank yous. madelyn came across a toy that she was interested in claiming. when we told her that it was brother's toy she explained that "brother sharing and it's maddie's turn".

- since matt was working on thank yous madelyn got her crayons and some paper to "draw a card for grandma and big pop for pool". i was impressed that she equated a thank you note with having received a gift.

- when we got to the pool on monday matt was already there (he had a late meeting that required us to bring him his swimming gear to change there) and madelyn ran up to him for a "big hug". while hugging him she said sadly "i missed you, daddy!" she said this several times while hugging and kissing him. i got to hear it for me after class was over since i didn't do the class with her. it is just so sweet and sincere when she says it.

- after madelyn woke me up this morning she asked me, "where'd friend go?" to which i said, "i don't know where is friend?" after thinking for a minute madelyn replied, "um... friend is still sleeping." and sure enough when i went to her room later friend was tucked neatly in the bed as if he was still sleeping. now, if only she would let me sleep in.

- i have taught madelyn how to get her own milk out of the refrigerator when she wants it and then put it back in when she is done.

- tonight she was doing somersaults and kept asking us "how do that?" with her hands and shoulders shrugged as a question. when we would ask her to show us how she would happily reply, "okay", and do it again - with the same question.

- madelyn was shy for the first time ever at music class this morning. we haven't been in few weeks while waiting for the new session to start so i think that might have been some of it. there were also lots of new kids and we were meeting at a new neighbor's house. she was just really clingy and quiet. that is until the end of class when she felt like chatting with miss sarah, the teacher. at last she was acting like matt and my child - not the social butterfly she seems to be the majority of the time.

- lately when she wants matt and i to come with her somewhere she pats her leg and says, "come," like she does when calling one of the dogs!

- she likes to say "oh my goodness!" when something exciting or surprising happens. i don't know if it is how she says it or that i realize how silly i must sound using this super clean expression all the time, but it always makes me smile.

as you can see there is never a dull moment with madelyn around. love.

pbs at the zoo

today was pbs kids day at the zoo and i think madelyn was a fan. we woke daddy up early to brave the zoo crowds on a saturday. madelyn has been so very excited to go to the zoo with daddy this weekend. she has actually been asking to go to the zoo for two weeks now, but it just hasn't worked out. when i heard about pbs kids day i knew we had a winner.

madelyn was really excited about seeing george, clifford, elmo, and cookie monster. surprisingly i think that she was most excited about clifford the big red dog. i don't think that she has ever seen the show, but we have read a few books from the library. madelyn was really excited about all the characters, but did an excellent job of waiting her turn to say hi and take pictures. here are the best ones with each one:

on top of meeting the characters, she got sheets of stickers for other shows including her current favorite - word world. daddy was impressed at her ability to name all of the characters on the sheet. it was a big deal for madelyn to have daddy at the zoo with her. not just because she loves her daddy - a lot - but because i tell her that she can do things the next time daddy comes with us as a way of avoiding things when we are out. for instance at the zoo when she asks to ride the train, i tell her that we should wait and do it with daddy. she always agrees that it is a good idea to wait so that daddy can go too. so it was no surprise that she said, "yea, ride the train with daddy!" when i told her that we were going to the zoo with daddy today. her memory is always impressive. it has been over a month since we were at the zoo talking about riding the train the next time daddy was with us.

during the summer there is a lot more going on at the zoo. there are all sorts of information desks set up at the exhibits. when we went to see the big cats they had a huge lion skin. i wasn't sure what madelyn would think of it, but asked her if she wanted to feel the lion's fur. there was no hesitation in petting the fur, but she said that she wanted the lion to wake up. thankfully she accepted that the lion could not wake up. then she wanted to pet the real lions in the exhibit.

as we were walking around shortly before leaving, madelyn was riding on daddy's shoulders. she then laid her head on top of his and started snoring. she would sit up and say that she was tired and sleeping. she would make the snoring sound for a little bit before sitting up to tell us that she was snoring because she was sleeping. i would have taken video but it was too loud out and she was too quiet to hear her well.

this is something she has been doing a lot of lately, telling us what she is doing. the funniest is when she cries and then stops to say "maddie's crying" or "i crying". today there was a little boy crying at the zoo and madelyn started to fake cry before telling us "maddie's crying too".

we had a great morning at the zoo and tonight matt and i are going on our last date night before baby boy comes.

and i have to add a special "happy 2nd birthday" to madelyn's cousin, annabell, who had her birthday party today. due to my poor counting skills her present didn't get there in time for the party, but grandma and big pop are going to give it to her tomorrow at church. at least it is way early for her actual birthday on the 29th! love.

g-maddie

it occurred to me that i need to keep posting so my loyal readers don't think that i have gone into labor. so here is some of the fun from today.

madelyn got into some jewlery of mine this morning and wanted to wear several of them at once. i thought it was pretty funny that she was wearing all this bling with her little cotton sundress. as she was playing she kept asking to remove one at a time. she would play for a while and then decide that one had to go before she could go on about her day.

for some reason madelyn called me "ma-ma" today. she would say it as two words and with various european accents. i have no idea in the slightest where this came from. and she definitely knew that she was doing something a little silly which made her call me it all day.

madelyn came up for a snuggle and i said something like "hi there, baby". she pulled back and looked at me with her head tilted as she said with a question, "baby?" to which i replied, "oh sorry! big girl." to which she smiled and threw herself into giving me a big hug. she is really embracing the idea that a new baby is coming and that she is a big girl. i love it.

tonight we took her for a tour of the hospital because i wanted her to see the rooms before i was there in a hospital gown and tagged/tubed up. she just kept asking "where is brother?" and telling us that we were going to "get brother". i think that she was a little disappointed that we left without him. she was asking "where'd brother go?" she just can't wait for him to get here! i keep telling her that i can't wait either... love.

where there's dirt, there's madelyn

tonight madelyn got to go to her first softball game because daddy had his first early one of the season (aka before bedtime). she had so much fun cheering and looking for daddy. by the 6th inning she found some dirt to play in on the ground and all but forgot about the game.

i was impressed by how well she knew when to clap - often before i had started cheering. she even got that daddy was playing "first base".

madelyn ran up to matt after the game and said, "good job, daddy," while giving him a big hug and then a kiss. she must have heard the other 'fans' saying "good job" after the game and wanted to tell her daddy the same thing. in fact, she kept telling him "good job" quite happily all the way out.

after the game she was excited to try out the playground at the ball park. daddy was impressed by how strong her climbing has gotten. i mean madelyn was always a good climber, but now she actually thinks about which foot or hand to use. if she can't find a foothold with her right foot, she will put it back and try with her left foot. it makes me nervous when she is climbing up so high wearing flip-flops, but she never slips. she definitely uses her height to her advantage. love.

37 weeks

well there has been no progress according to doctor. but there was also no weight gain since last week (mine, not baby). apparently my weight gain and blood pressure could not be better. the doctor told me to keep doing what ever i am doing. i think that i have put on like 27 pounds so far.

i have two friends due 1 and 2 weeks after me and they are both mostly effaced and dilated 1cm or more. i have pretty much resigned myself to the likelihood that they will have babies before me. matt and i aren't holding our breath, but we are still hoping that he will come early so that he is here and settled before the grandparents come to visit.

i am just exhausted at this point. i have been going to bed before 9 every night - which is very early for me.

madelyn and i had a nice morning of shopping and a girls' lunch out since it might be a while before we can have a relaxing lunch together again. it was such a nice treat! love.

bugs and bug bites

madelyn is really into bugs right now. every itch is a "bug bite" and today she told me that she had a bug in her hair. i am not sure what made her think that she had a bug in her hair, but she was pretty cute trying to wipe it off the back of her head. and on our walk tonight she was identifying every insect that she saw on the sidewalk. there were ants, spiders, ladybugs, beetles, and rolly-pollies. she wasn't quite brave enough to touch the rolly-pollies but really wanted daddy to touch them so that they would roll up.

(she is saying "cheese" in the picture from lunch today. i just thought that she looked pretty cute with her peanut butter on her nose.)

she has a new manner that she has mastered - saying "excuse me" after burping. of course she tells us that she burped first, but then she says excuse me.

i have discovered that madelyn likes disco. we got a veggietales sing the 70s cd from the library and madelyn started bopping along as soon as funkytown came on. not only that, but she asked to hear it again and again. i finally had to tell her that we should listen to the other songs on the cd to see if she liked them too.

that's all for now. love.

just hangin' out

madelyn got a birthday present early last night - a new swing chair for the playroom. (i think that it was early because daddy was excited to hang it up. he had been eyeing it at ikea for a while before we bought it on our last trip.) madelyn has spent a lot of time swinging since daddy put it up. she was delightfully surprised when she went in this morning because she had forgotten about it over night.

i think that the funniest part is watching her try to get in it by herself - she thinks its pretty funny too. the seat of it is a big air cushion and it makes it difficult to get up and in. not to mention that it spins in circles once she picks her feet off the ground.

i am sure that we will get lots of enjoyment out of this for a long time to come. love.

"does this work?"

today was one of those times when i was so thankful to have the camera handy! we had stopped by bed, bath & beyond to try and find some curtains for brother's room. we have done this a few times over the past months and madelyn often likes to pick out curtains too. today she was in full interior design mode - especially after she took the paint cards/swatches from me. enjoy! love.

the shoe fairy

last night madelyn had a visit from the shoe fairy. see the shoe fairy comes when little girls outgrow their shoes and trades them for a present. madelyn was not very excited about saying goodbye to her "brown shoes", but she was excited about a present.

since she was overtired we decided not to make a big deal about her putting the shoes out for the shoe fairy in the hope of avoiding a total meltdown. instead i took her shoes off in the car because she was complaining about her feet hurting - this has been a common theme lately.

i had a puzzle that i was planning on giving to her for her birthday or as a big sister present so this became our shoe fairy gift. i wrapped it up and put it outside of her room for her to find when she woke up in the morning. i was awoken this morning to the rustle of paper and remembered that madelyn had a present waiting for her. she was so excited to have a present all for her!

as we were getting ready to leave this morning i asked madelyn which shoes she wanted to wear. her response? "brown shoes." after reminding her about her present from the shoe fairy for taking the brown shoes she willingly picked from the shoes in her closet and let me put them on! not only that, but she brought them to me saying that she was going to wear "flip flops like mommy. they have beautiful flowers on them!" i was so, so, so excited! and daddy and i praised her selection and told her how great she looked with the new shoes on.

here is a picture of madelyn happily wearing her flip-flops while playing with her new puzzle from the shoe fairy. love.

(thanks to our friend, tina, for the excellent suggestion of the shoe fairy!)

shedd aquarium

like i mentioned in the last post, matt has been at a conference in chicago. he was going to be done around noon on friday, so we thought that it might be nice for madelyn and i to join him and take a trip to the shedd aquarium. sea life seems to be one of madelyn's favorite things and we thought that it might be nice to do with her before the baby is born.

it was a gorgeous day and we had a nice lunch outside before heading in to the aquarium. madelyn loved driving through downtown - she keep pointing out every bicycle she saw. she was also really excited about all the seagulls hanging around begging for scraps while we were eating our lunch.

(unfortunately, there is no flash photography inside the shedd and pictures were very difficult to come by because most of the rooms are on the dark side, but i tried.)

i had started talking with madelyn about our trip to the aquarium on thursday and we went through her curious george book about a trip to the aquarium to talk about the animals we would see there. she told me that she was most excited about the whales and octopus. the one octopus was 'sleeping' while we were there and she wasn't all that interested in the beluga whales (until we saw their show) after seeing them once, but we saw lots of other animals that were amazing and new to even daddy and me.

she really liked this tank of jellyfish on our way down to the "wild reef" exhibit - i have to say that i was pretty impressed with it myself. the shedd has three different levels so i would ride in the elevator with the stroller while matt and madelyn took the more scenic stair path down each level. madelyn really likes the sharks when we go to the zoo (she runs back and forth with them telling everyone near her that they are "sharks") so i thought that she would be impressed with the sharks at the shedd. not so much. i was impressed with how large they were and how fast they were swimming in their tank, but madelyn would barely even look at them. i guess it was mainly because of her fascination with the sting ray tank.

i wish that i could have gotten a picture of her face and reaction when matt walked out onto the glass floor over the tank. madelyn was holding his hand and when she got to the edge of the carpeting she slammed on the breaks and almost sat back trying to keep daddy from leading her right into the water. it took some convincing to get her to try stepping on it. i had her feel that it was glass/plastic and okay to walk on. the picture isn't great, but you can get a sense for what the setup was like. once she saw that it was safe she kept touching the floor and stomping her feet trying to test it out. i don't even know how much she looked at the sting rays in the tank.

madelyn hugged and 'kissed' any of the model animals she could get close enough to hug and kiss. here she is with a sea turtle and penguins.

we just lucked into seeing a show featuring the beluga whales, a sea lion, and the dolphins by being in the right place at the right time and having a staff person tell us that a show was getting ready to start. the 'show' was basically a demonstration of how they are training the animals for their performance show that will begin later this summer. madelyn wasn't all that impressed until the dolphins started jumping and flipping. mainly because she kept missing the tricks because she was playing with and dropping a dime she found on the floor right before we went in to find seats. once she saw the dolphins she never looked away - even when she dropped her dime again. she was really disappointed when they were done. she just kept saying "more" and "again" in a soft way while never taking her eyes off the water. it was a beautiful set-up for the show too. you can't really appreciate it from the picture - no flash - but it was gorgeous out and the tank/pool overlooks lake michigan and there were lots of sailboats out on the water too.

here are just a few more pictures from our day:

here is a shot of madelyn watching the beluga whales. she also really liked a room where you could hear noises made by a beluga whale. i had to ask her to stop with the high pitched one because it was very loud and the room was not very large.

this was one of the coolest creatures we saw. it is called a seadragon.

it is difficult to see, but madelyn was overjoyed to run and play in this camping tent set up in the local waters section.

all and all it was a fun day and madelyn did wonderfully without a real nap - she napped about an hour on the way there. i am glad that we made the trip with her. and as you can see, she wore herself out taking it all in. dad and i were pretty pooped too. it was a lot of standing for me, but i wasn't in too bad of shape by the end of the day. love.