the bigs

madelyn and mason could not be doing better with the addition of maddux to our family. probably the only issue is that maddux might be getting a little too much love. and it can be a little bit of a competition to see who can love him most. overall, they are both wonderful with him. even mason is extremely gentle and he loves, loves, loves to hug maddux. he is firm with his hugs but he does not pull on maddux at all and maddux hasn't cried yet from all the affection. the picture shows how mason hugs maddux good morning every day. it is cute because he comes and waves 'hi' first and then gives him a good hug. mason will even be running past the swing and will double back to wave 'hi' to maddux before continuing on his way.

madelyn is enjoying being the "mommy" to maddux and has been working on teaching him everything she knows. this has included instructions on coloring, crawling, walking, and speaking. she spends a lot of time sitting by the swing and talking to maddux. she has been disappointed not to hold him but has accepted that she can't while he is still 'plugged in'. when she does tear herself away from maddux she spends a lot of time essentially following mason around and trying to 'help' him with whatever he is doing which has been reading books over the past few days.

mason and madelyn have both enjoyed checking out all the baby gear. it is funny to see mason do the same things that madelyn did when mason was a newborn. he has even tried to sit in the same one as maddux is but he is aware of maddux and either tries to move him or sits just off center so he doesn't squish him.

the kids have also been very patient with us staying in the house all the time. daddy has been really good about taking them down to the park or downstairs to play since one of us, usually me, have to stay with maddux who isn't really mobile. and today he took them to the zoo! not only that, but he did it without a stroller. i was so proud of him. mason was wearing him out while i was in the hospital by running all over the place and getting into everything. it sounds like they had a great time this morning and mason held matt's hand too. they both sat in the milk truck in the dairy barn. we don't usually go into the family farm section of the zoo (because that is where the playground is and i don't like to stop there while at the zoo) so madelyn had lots to tell me about seeing the cows.

tomorrow daddy goes back to work and big pop and grandma arrive. i won't have my first day alone with all three kids until next tuesday. in the mean time i need to get mason to nurse faster. right now he eats anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour. and it isn't like he falls asleep so i just need to try and force him not to take so long between swallows. love.