Feb 1, 2012

Week 3 with Baby Madeline!

Connor likes Maddie to wear the Giants hat that belongs to his teddy bear.
2 weeks old!
First bottle taken 1/30/12 and she took it right away and drank 4 oz of breast milk!
Big Brother Connor adores her and wants to hold her all the time!
Auntie Mal giving Maddie her second bath.

Look at those baby blues... beautiful girl!
Sleeping baby... I can't get enough of her!

Jan 20, 2012

Madeline's first week at home

We've been enjoying getting to know our sweet Madeline. She is just so precious and perfect in every way. She is a happy baby and seems to be more alert and awake each day. She is nursing like a champ and usually nurses every 2 hours during the day, and goes 3-4 hour stretches at night. Michael is back to work already, and Auntie Mal has been helping with taking and picking up Connor from preschool, so I can be with Madeline at home. Mondays and Fridays are what we've termed "Mommy-Connor-Maddie Days" and I'm enjoying my time with both of my babies on those days. Thanks to those friends who have sent gifts or brought food for us. Your support and love mean the world to us!

Jan 13, 2012

Madeline Emma is Here!

Our sweet baby girl is here. She arrived Saturday morning, January 7th at 8:24am. She weighed 8lbs and 4oz and was 20.5 inches long. She is healthy and every bit of her is perfect. She came very quickly, which suprised us all! I began feeling labor pains between 5-6am that morning. We left for the hospital soon after 7am and arrived there at 7:55am. To all of our surprise, she was born 30 minutes later. Michael just made it into the delivery room because he had to stay out with Connor while I was admitted. Mandy and Chad made it to the hospital just in time to take Connor so Michael could follow me into the delivery room. She was born minutes after getting into the delivery room. She is such a blessing from god and we are so thankful for her health.

Connor is completely in love and is such a good big brother. He is patient with her and often says, "It's okay Baby Maddie" while stroking her head if she's upset. So far she's been a gem. She sleeps often and loves to be snuggled by all the friends and family who have been visiting. My mom and Michael's mom have been rotating to stay with us and help out as we transition to a family of 4. Mallory is up here now too and helping with "the night shift." Our friends and neighbors have been amazing... we haven't had to cook a meal since we've been home. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner have been brought to us by our lovely friends. We are truly blessed. I will certainly try to continue posting pictures, but as you can imagine, it's hard to make time for computer-time while I have this beautiful baby girl here. Thank you Lord for all that you've given us.



Dec 28, 2011

Christmas Celebrations with The Louis Side

Connor checking that Santa enjoyed the cookies and milk and checking out his gift that Santa brought... a new basketball hoop!
Per Connor's request, Pops Dave and Connor making banana pancakes Christmas morning.
Connor really enjoyed opening all of his gifts! He's so spoiled by his wonderful grandparents.
Connor loving on Gigi Mary!
Connor snuggling with Grandma Jill!
Hanging with the cousins at the Harden's house.

Cousins

These pictures deserve a post all by themselves. On Christmas Eve, Connor got to hold Baby CJ for the first time. He's been anxiously awaiting this day, and has been very patient and careful in his interactions with CJ. Because CJ was born early, Mandy and Chad have to be very careful with limiting his exposure to germs and a 3 year old in preschool is pretty much a test tube of germs! Connor was thrilled to hold CJ. He whispered "It's okay" while rubbing his head and kissing his forehead. Connor really loves CJ and it's going to be so fun to watch them grow up together and become friends.
Greeting Santa at the door. Connor was so excited!!
Connor telling Santa what he wants for Christmas... a space station and a train set.
Connor with Cousin CJ meeting Santa for the first time. CJ is our miracle this year!
I feel so very blessed for my family. The only thing I could ask Santa for is a healthy baby girl to add to our clan!
Saying goodbye to Santa! Until next year!

Christmas with the Bollengiers

This past Friday, we enjoyed a wonderful day celebrating Christmas with the Bollengier family. Baylee and Connor were best buds and were pretty much inseperable the whole day. Our day finished off with a surprise visit from Santa Clause. Those pictures will follow next!

Christmas Fun

Connor was Mommy's baking helper this year. Here he's unwrapping all the hershey kisses to put in the middle of the peanut butter cookies. He's such a sweet helper and loves to bake!
 We had a lovely Christmas party and gift exchange with the Natomas school psych girls at Ronda's beautiful home. The kids put on a performance of singing Christmas carols to us... certainly not a shy group of kids! Afterwards, Connor and I drove around downtown and admired all the beautiful Christmas lights. Connor really enjoyed looking at the decorations and lights!

Dec 19, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
Praying for good health and happiness in 2012,
and most of all, a healthy baby girl!

Quick Trip to Reno

Poppy and Mimi gave us a wonderful early Christmas present... a night away in Reno with tickets to see the play Peter Pan. He really enjoyed the play, especially the part when the audience got to throw rocks at Captain Hook! We also spent time at Circus Circus which Connor had a blast at! Auntie Mallory came along too and helped earn Connor enough tickets to get his own Peter Pan sword. Another fun memory made!

37 weeks pregnant!

We're enjoying the Christmas season and anxiously awaiting our sweet daughter! Connor is ecstatic about becoming a big brother. He's wearing his "Big Brother" shirts often and with pride lately. He often reminds me that it must be time for Maddie to come out because "Mommy's belly is getting big!"

Dec 11, 2011

Christmas Festivities

Receiving "The First Gift of Christmas... a silver bell" from Santa!

Waving to Santa... he was so excited!

Getting ready for The Polar Express
Checking out the inside of a model train
Our family, getting ready to board The Polar Express to head to the North Pole!
Connor with his wonderful grandmas!
Posing with the train conductor
Giving Santa a hug
Freezing cold at the Sacramento Santa Parade. We had a great time, but it was VERY COLD!

Dec 8, 2011

Updates...

Well, the last few weeks have been eventful... not really eventful actually... more like missing all the fun events due to illness. Connor and I had been dealing with the seasonal cold symptoms for a few weeks. Then, right before Thanksgiving, Michael came home from work with awful pain, so we ended up in the emergency room that night (Thank you Auntie Mandy for rescuing Connor from the craziness of the ER). After some heavy pain meds and an MRI, he was diagnosed with the dreaded kidney stones. He's passed stones before, but this time we were told it would be unlikely that he could pass the stone due to it's size. Michael's surgery to remove the stone was scheduled for a week and a half later, so he pretty much had to deal with the pain and discomfort, and the side effects of the pain meds until then. Meanwhile, Connor contracted pinkeye at preschool! So we spent Thanksgiving with just the three of us since Connor was contagious and Michael was in pain. We missed our families dearly, but made the most of the holiday- playing games, watching movies, and making Hot Ham Sams. Connor and I later made a trip down to Modesto, and my parents and sister Mallory recreated the Thanksgiving feast for us, so we got to enjoy a delicious meal there. Of course then my generous sweet boy passed on his pink eyes to me. When I took Michael in for his surgery, the nurses had to contact Infectious Disease Control to see if I could come into pre and post-op with him. Not my finest moment in life! Michael's surgery was a success, but ended up being more invasive and painful then we had hoped. He's now on his way to recovery, but dealing with some shoulder pain that's really aggravating him. It's almost unbelievable all that's been happening... a definite reminder to be thankful for good health. In the midst of all that's gone on, I'm thankful that the things we've dealt with are not life threatening and that we're all hopefully close to being in good health once again. We're also very thankful for our friends and family who have been so supportive bringing meals, sending chocolate covered strawberries, coming to visit, and watching Connor so I could focus on helping Michael. We are certainly blessed with love and support. Another thing to be very thankful about... is that while all of this has been going on, sweet Madeline has continued to grow and not add any additional drama to the situation. I'm 35 weeks now and she continues to jab and kick and remind us of her presence. We're so very excited to meet her, but are counting on her coming closer to her due date so we can all get healthy and be ready and energized for her arrival. Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks...

Connor making Hot Ham Sams on Thanksgiving Day
Painting on Thanksgiving Day
Hanging out at Poppy and Mimi's Home
 Baby Shower for Baby Madeline thrown by the staff at my elementary school