Madison Marie

Madison is 11 days old today. Madi loves to cuddle, and already has a special bond with her daddy. He definitely has the calming touch with her and is able to soothe her when no one else has had any luck.

It is hard to imagine life without her already. She is such a good baby. She is a great sleeper, like her Momma, and sleeps pretty consistently at night. Here are a few more pictures from the hospital.

The night I was in labor with Madison there was a freezing fog that moved through town, covering everything in a fine layer of ice. I didn't get to see it, but Brandon said it really was a beautiful sight.

She is incredibly strong. She nearly rolled over in the weighing table immediately after birth. She can roll up onto her shoulders but hasn't made it all the way over yet. We definitely have to keep a hand on her at all times already. She can also lift her head. When she is cuddled on someone's chest, she can pick up her head, turn it the other direction and lay it back down. It is pretty amazing accomplishment for only being one week old!

Madison doesn't mind her baths so far. As long as we keep her warm she doesn't fuss much at all. Here is her first bath:

Our first trip with Madi was to Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Hitt's house on the 15th. Grandma Hitt made me beautiful dresses every year until I was in ther 5th grade. She had Jenni pick out some dresses for Madison, and even though it is still too big, Madi got all dressed up to meet a couple of her great-grandparents. Here she is before heading up the street:

Here is Madi with her Mommy, Grampy Bruce, Grammy Tammi, Great-Grandpa Hitt, and Great-Grandma Hitt:

The nurses at the hospital were impressed with the number of grandparents Madison has. She has 7 within 2.5 miles, and 13 grandparents overall. Here is Madi with her Great-Gram Marie.

Here is Madi with her Grammy Karen and Granddad Rick:

Madison has a loving aunt and uncle who are both very excited to have her join the family. This is Uncle Brad:

And this is Aunty Jenni:

Madison was able to meet a couple of her other great-grandparents this past weekend. I don't have any pictures yet, but will get some up soon of Madi with her Mimi and Popi (my Grandma Linda and Grandpa Jerry), as well as her great-aunts and -uncles who were also able to spend some time with her.

I suppose this is enough for one post. As things settle down, I should be able to post more often. I know that everyone is dying for updates, so I will try and be better about getting things online.

Love, Jami

Quick Update

Introducing Madison Marie Cone she was born at 7:48 AM on 3-12-09. Madison was 7lbs 4.7oz and 20 inches long when she was born. I am sure Jami will be updating the blog as she gets to feeling better.

At the hospital

We are at the hospital and Jami is going to have the baby sometime soon. She had her water broke at about 11:30 P.M. 3-11-09. Everything is going well just thought this would be a quick and easy way to update everyone.

Not Yet...

We are quickly learning that the first words out of our mouth in every phone call need to be"not yet". So as you can guess we are still waiting.

We had a doctor appointment today and everything is looking good. I have started to dilate (2-3 cm) and the doctor said the baby's head is really low. We scheduled an appointment for Monday, but she almost seemed like we would have the baby by then. If not, we will schedule an induction for next week sometime.

In the meantime, we wait... Hopefully things will happen on their own soon. Until we know more...

39 Weeks

So tomorrow is the 39 week mark...one more week until our due date...

I am still feeling pretty good. Tired and ready to be able to roll over in bed without having to sit up first. I keep hoping for the nesting instinct to set in so that I can find the motivation to clean the house, but so far no such luck. Oh well, maybe I will find the inspiration to dust tomorrow.

We are pretty much ready for the baby to join our family. Her room is ready, our bags are packed for the hospital. We really just need to install the car seat in the Tahoe and move the bassinet into our bedroom.

My students keep asking me when I will be gone, and I can only tell them that it will be sometime in the next two weeks. The doctor told me that she would only let me go one week past my due date, so by the 22nd we will begin the journey of parenthood.

I have everything ready at school to be gone. I am actually planned for the rest of the school year, although I will only be able to take 5 weeks off school. I will probably have to go back for the last 5 weeks or so. Having all of the planning done will help when I do go back, I will be able to sneak out of there a little early to come home to my little one. It will sure be hard to go back to school, but we just can't afford for me to go into pay-dock after my sick leave is used up.

On a note unrelated to the baby, we absolutely love our basement. We have hardly spent anytime upstairs since it was finished. It is nice to have more room, and we have definitely had more company since it was finished. We have the xbox and the wii set up along with the hd receiver and it is fun to play games on the wall sized screen.

Brandon was able to set up the beer tap in the last couple of weeks and enjoys having tap beer available whenever he wants. All we need now is a pooltable and we will be able to avoid the bars altogether, which is nice considering how smoky the bars here are. (And I can hang out as long as I want, and then I can go to bed while Brandon and his friends can still hang out) :)

Well, we go back to the doctor on Wednesday, so hopefully we will have some more information then, unless I go into labor before then. We are definitely anxious for the pregnancy to be over and to have our little one with us. I will try and post again when I have some more information. I will also try and get some last week belly pictures up before the baby is born.

Shower Pictures

As promised here are some pictures from the shower. I have lots more, my sister took a picture of every present I opened I think. If you would like to see more let me know and I can get you copies. Here are the highlights:

Jessica did a very nice job planning the shower. The decorations were terrific! Thank you to everyone who helped set up and decorate the day of the shower.

I was surprised by the number of gifts we received. Thank you to everyone who sent/brought gifts. We have lots of wonderful things ready for our little girl now. Thanks again!

The favor boxes were filled with pink m&m's, nuts and Hershey kisses with "It's a Girl" written on their flags.

Jenni picked out the cutest cake! I love the little baby on top.

I tried to find pictures that show off the belly. This one shows off the cake, but doesn't really show the belly very well.

This picture shows a little more. I feel a lot bigger than I look in the pictures!

Thanks again to everyone who came, helped out, or sent gifts. It was a great afternoon and I enjoyed getting to visit with those who came.

37 weeks

I know it has been a while since our last post. I have been waiting until I can get some pictures uploaded, but that seems to never happen. So they will have to come later.

We have reached 37 weeks, and are getting closer to the day we get to meet our little girl. I am still feeling good. I am tired, and feel like I have a 20 lb basketball attatched to my midsection, but I really have no complaints. I am sure as our March 15th due date gets even closer, I will start to get impatient, but so far so good.

We had the baby shower this last weekend (pictures to come I promise!) and had a lovely time. There weren't very many people there, but I could sure feel the love for this little one already. Jessica did an awesome job planning the shower, and I am thankful for Cynthia and Jenni for helping put everything together. Thank you to everyone who came/sent presents to the shower. It was a great time and helped us feel more prepared for our little one.

We now have the baby's room pretty much ready. The walls are painted, crib set-up and clothes washed and put away. There aren't many things on the wall yet, but that will come. I really like her room and will have pictures soon I hope to put online.

Well, our bags are packed for the hospital, and we are patiently waiting for the day our little one decides to arrive. We still have a few weeks to go, but the end is in sight. :) I promise to have pictures up soon.

:)

A video update of the basement as of 1-29-09.

On blogger.....



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On YouTube.......

33 Weeks Update

It is hard to imagine that our due date is less than 7 weeks away. We had another checkup at the doctor's yesterday and all seems to be going very smoothly. Hurray!

I am feeling pretty good. The baby is moving more and more each day, sometimes my belly jerks and jumps with her kicks and jabs. She found my ribs yesterday and was having fun kicking them too. Oh dear. :)

We are making great progress on the basement. The carpet was laid last week and my mom helped me move the guest bedroom downstairs. A few more boxes to move out of the baby's room and I will be ready to have it painted and start setting up for the big day. It is hard to believe that all of the stuff that was in the bedroom upstairs fills both bedrooms downstairs, I really had it packed in there.

It was a good thing we moved everything, because we have already had our first guests in the basement. Brandon's friends Donavan and Orin came and stayed two nights this week while in town for business. It was nice to have the basement for them to hang out in. :)

We love the projection system...I don't think the TV upstairs has even been turned on in the last couple weeks. If I remember the dimensions right, the image on the wall is equivalent to a 150 inch TV. WOW! It will be so cool to watch the superbowl on it this weekend.

The bar is coming together. Dad made the cabinet bases last weekend and they are installed along with about half of the counter tops. The bar top and the cabinet doors still need to be installed along with the barn-wood we are using to cover the outside of the bar. It will be awesome when it is finished! Our goal of superbowl weekend was pretty close, the basement will be at least close by Sunday.

I will try and get pictures of the basement up soon, along with some belly pictures. This week is a little crazy and so it will be this weekend at the earliest. :)

Love, Jami

Registry Update

After rethinking the bedding set I originally picked out, I have changed my mind. Here is a picture of the new set. I guess I wasn't looking at the prices of the items I originally picked out...and was a little shocked when I looked at those this morning. :)

Here are the links to our registries to make it easier to access:

Target
Walmart