Surprise!

OK I guess I should clarify that we do not have a baby yet...Last weekend my family threw me a surprise baby shower. I had no clue, so that was quite the surprise.

Apparently, it was time to make some jokes about my pending future...My mom and sister built me a plastic covered thrown to sit on inside of a wading pool, just in case my water broke during the shower.


One of our family friends, Samantha, made me this beautiful, lady bug-covered diaper cake.

Sitting in the pool...ha ha very funny.

Opening presents...lots of adorable clothes!


Madison thought she would join in on the fun...she was adorable in the pool full of balloons. She really enjoyed playing with the balloons.

Thank you everyone who participated in the shower! It was a very nice surprise!

38 Week Checkup

Our doctors appointment went well this afternoon. I am dilated to 3.5 cm and the baby's head is really low. Our regular OB is on vacation this week and will be back Thursday night, so hopefully Emma can wait until she gets back into town. Everything else looks good, weight gain, protein levels, blood pressure, so we are just into the waiting game now...less than two weeks until we get to meet our little girl.

Brandon and I are sure enjoying our week vacation from school. I have been taking it easy and resting...trying not to go nesting crazy. :) Brandon has been doing dirt work getting the lot ready for the pole barn we are building this spring after the baby comes. It has been nice to get some quality time in with Madi before Emma joins us.

Well, I just thought I would give a quick update. Either Brandon or I will update the blog if anything exciting happens...otherwise our next appointment is Monday after school.

37 Weeks

Well, we have reached the offical "full term" mark in this pregnancy, although no one is too excited about this baby coming yet. We had our checkup this afternoon and all is well. Our goal is to make it to at least April 2. If we can make it that far, our OB will be back from her week long vacation (and she told us she would be disappointed if she didn't get to deliver our little one), and Brandon and I will be able to have the full extent of our leave. So hopefully, this baby will wait patiently for another two weeks.

The last week has been pretty uneventful pregnancy wise. I can breath a little easier these days, so I think she is starting to position herself a little lower. No new stretches of contractions like before, just a few Braxton-Hicks contractions here and there.

So if I can make it through one more week of teaching, I think we will be OK. Next week is Spring Break, so I can rest and relax and not do anything strenuous until the 2nd. Then I can start to go back to doing more.

Well I better get myself ready for bed. Our next appointment is the 31st. Wish us luck!

Happy First Birthday Madison!

Well my baby girl is offically now a toddler. She turned one on March 12th, and is really the light in our eyes. She is such a sweet and loving little girl who loves to cuddle and hug, on her own terms of course. We had a busy weekend as we celebrated her milestone. Friday night, we hung out with my parents and my friend Mary who drove up from Nebraska to join in the celebrations of the weekend. Madi got to have a mini cupcake with dinner on her actual birthday. It was a nice night and she went to bed shortly after dinner at my parents house.

Saturday morning, on of my coworkers hosted a baby shower for me and one of the English teachers. We are both expecting babies in the next couple of weeks. It was a nice shower, but I really had to limit my guest list. I am hoping to have another shower after Emma arrives so that more people can be included, and everyone can meet the newest member of our family.

Saturday afternoon was Madi's birthday party. I think we had at least 40 people in our home for the party...it was a little crazy, but Madi handled all of the attention like a pro. We had a great time, snacking on finger foods and watching Madi open her presents.





She really did awesome opening presents, until she opened her new piano...after that, she was done. All she wanted to do was play the piano. We finally had to take it out of the room so that she would help open a few more presents. It is still one of her favorite toys from the party.

Here is her cake that Grammy Cone had made for her. It was a very beautiful chocolate cake.

Grammy Cone also brought Madi her own little cake. Madi had no trouble at all figuring out what to do with the cake.


She ate about three handfuls of frosting and then was sugared out...I guess limiting her sweets so far has kept her from having too much of a sweet tooth. :)

Madi still loves the piano. She plays with it a lot. In the background is the wagon her Daddy gave her for her birthday. She loves to go on rides in the wagon, she just sits back and takes it all in. Luckily the weather has been nice enough this past week for her to get to enjoy it.

I am afraid that we have a precocious child on our hands. Between playing the piano very gently and usually a key at a time, and wanting to be involved in everything Brandon and I do, she amazes me at how fast she is picking up on things.

I was working on writing thank you notes last night, and she wanted the pen I was using. So I pulled her up on my lap and she grabbed the pen from my hand and put it on a scrap piece of paper...she didn't quite push hard enough to write anything, but I was amazed that she held the pen and knew what to do with it.

Later on, she wanted to see what her Daddy was up to. He was putting together a pnuematics kit made out of the building blocks he and I both use in our engineering classes. She "helped" him for quite a while, looking for parts and watching how Brandon was putting things together. I brought over her legos she received for her birthday and she played with them some as she intently watched her daddy. She definitely wants to know how things work.


I am still amazed at how much this little girl is growing up. Her personality is really starting to blossom, and I sure hope that much of it remains the same as she grows up. It really melts my heart when she hugs her toys, the animals, her cousin, or me. I pray that she will always be as happy and loving as she is right now.

Happy Birthday Baby!

36 Week Update

Hi all,

We had our 36 week update on Tuesday of this last week. Everything seems to be going well, blood pressure and protein levels look good, weight gain looks good, and baby measured in at 37 cm. After telling the doctor about the few episodes of contractions I had the previous week, she decided to check my cervix and I was dilated to "2 almost 3cm". She also said if I have another episode of contractions like I had last week (3 min apart for a little over an hour) that it was probably time to head to the hospital. We all would like to see me last for another couple of weeks, but 37 weeks is considered full term so really this baby could come anytime.

This information put us in high gear getting ready for Emma to join the family. Mom and Dad came over a few nights this week to help get the crib put together, and rearrange furniture to make room for baby. After thinking about the reality of adding a baby to Madi's room, we decided it would be best to rearrange the office to add Emma there instead. She will share with the office for now, until we have a new location for the office.

The information also came with me spending lots of down time this week...thus the lack of an update until now. If the baby comes before Spring break is over, Brandon and I both will be charged maternity leave days for the days of the break that we normally have off. (Kinda of a crappy situation, but what can we do.) So I am trying to make it another two weeks until the end of Spring break. It would be awesome if Emma waited until April to make her appearance, but we really don't have a lot of control over her arrival.

Brandon and I have one more week of school, and then we get all of the next week off for Spring break. We are both ready for a break from school, although Brandon will spend the week preparing to build a pole barn.

Well, I suppose that is it for now. We will see our OB again on Monday so I will try and update after that appointment. :)

34 Weeks

We had our 34 week checkup this afternoon. I am measuring 35 cm...right on target. My weight gain looks good, blood pressure and labs look good. I have had a little more swelling in my ankles lately, and had quite a few contractions last week, so the doctor told me I need to slow down a little bit and start taking it easy more. Baby was head down and we go back in two weeks.

Madi is busy as ever. This afternoon she was practicing climbing Grammy and Granddad Cone's stairs. She climbed them at least 3 times, and came down about 3/4 of the way on her own this afternoon. (Supervised closely of course).

She is braver some days than others with walking. This weekend, she just wanted to crawl, but today has been walking all over the place.

Madi also gave her cousin Aiden a hug today. We held Aiden up to Madi and she wrapped her arms around him and put her head on his shoulder. It was priceless. She did it three times, and then was mad when we took him away.

The countdown to her first birthday has started. Invitations have been sent out, and decorations have been purchased. It is hard to believe that she will be one in a couple of weeks. Wow.

11 Months and 32 Weeks

Mom has been a little busy lately, so I thought I would put some pictures up so that everyone can see how big I am getting now that I am 11 months old...

Hanging out with Daddy...we have lots of fun together.

Hugging my baby doll Mommy brought home from New York for me...

I like to give hugs...I will even do it when you ask me too (most of the time)

I love to read books, I have a whole pile of them in my bedroom and they are my favorite toy to play with.

I love to "talk" on the phone. I will hold it up to my ear and say "hi"...however I get a little shy when there is someone on the other end of the phone so then I won't say anything...

I love to help Mommy with the laundry. I am a good sorter, and I will empty the laundry basket for Mom (even if she doesn't ask me to).

I am one busy girl, it is hard to slow me down...

Mommy was trying to get some good pictures of me this past weekend, but I was more interested in the camera than in sitting still.

I can pull myself up to stand on just about anything, the furniture, the walls, Mommy's pant leg...

I will take a few steps at a time, but that is still scary, so I often will give up and just crawl.

Here is Mommy and my baby sister with 8 weeks left to go until the big arrival. I am not quite so sure I am ready to share my Mommy's attention. Mommy's doctor's appointment went well this afternoon. Emma is growing right on track, and everything is going smoothly. Down to less than 2 months till Emma comes.

It is past my bedtime, and Mommy looks tired. I should let her go to sleep by going to sleep myself. Good night.

Bye

This morning as I was putting on my coat to go outside to start the truck for our morning trip to Grammy's, Madi looked up at me, waved her hand and said bye. She did this again when I opened the door. It is amazing to see how much she is changing and growing up!

She is still making progress in the walking department. If she is focused and balanced before she starts, she can go 8 or 10 steps before falling down. She doesn't quite trust walking yet, and prefers to crawl to get where she is going...and man can she get there fast. If she holds onto a hand she will walk all over the house, so everyday she is getting closer and closer to saying bye to being a baby and hello to being a toddler.

In other news...I have my 32 week check-up this afternoon. Emma is much more active then Madi ever was...it is fun to watch by belly jump with her movements, but not so much fun to have her in my ribs already. :)

Brandon and I went and picked out a washing machine last night. Ours broke while I was in New York, and our attempts to have it repaired have gone in vain. So, I guess it is time for a new washer. I am pretty disappointed that the washer only lasted 2.5 years. However, when we started to compare the cost of having it professionally repaired and a new one, it was not much different. So hopefully we will have a washer again soon. Thank you so very much to Mom Cone and Gram Frisbie for doing all of our laundry the past few weeks. I so very much appreciate your help!

Well I better go finish my lunch. I will try and post tonight after our appointment.

Love You Mom

So yesterday morning, Madi was playing with Brandon and I while we were still lying in bed. She would crawl over to me and lay her head down, then go back to Brandon and lay her head down on him. This is her way of giving hugs. One of these moments when she put her head on my side, she said "love you mom". Or at least that is what Brandon and I both heard her say. Other words and phrases we have heard her say: dad, dog, cat, ok, yeah, hi, grampa, pee-boo (peek-a-boo), talk, (I am sure there are others, so I will keep adding them to this list as I remember them.)

Madi is getting closer to walking everyday. This weekend she was taking 4-5 steps at a time, unassisted, between us. She didn't have any preference who she was walking too, she was just excited to be walking. We still have to make sure she is standing on her own before she takes off, otherwise she takes a nose dive.

Madi also broke another tooth this weekend. She now as three teeth that are through the surface (two on bottom and one on top). There are two more on the top that I can see through her gums...so she will soon have five teeth.

We had a very nice weekend, my first in a couple of weeks. We enjoyed spending time with my grandparents who were up from Colorado. We also enjoyed taking a break and relaxing this weekend. I know it has been a while since I have posted pictures. I will try and work on that this week. :)

Home Sweet Home

Well, I made it back to Gillette Monday afternoon. I left my hotel at 2:30 am Mountain time to make my flight, and I was exhausted by the time I made it home. Madi met me at the airport and I came home to a clean house and clean laundry thanks to my wonderful in-laws! It feels good to be home, but I am very ready for a couple of days off.

Brandon left Gillette on Sunday to go to Anaheim CA for a conference. He is expected back to town here shortly, and I am very glad that he is on his way home. It has been 2 weeks since we have been in the same place, and I am ready to have him home again.

Just thought I would drop a quick note to let everyone know I am home. I hope to post more this weekend when I am not quite so tired. :)