Doggone Days

This is Charlie. This is what he does with most of his time throughout the day. This is what I would like to be doing as well for the next few days before our newest member arrives. As I sit here thinking about how my life is about to change completely in the next 3 days I can honestly say that I am ready. After the last couple of months being pretty tiresome, painful and quite hormonal I am pretty much DONE with this pregnancy. Jeremy, Madelyn, and I truly can't wait to meet Luke for the first time on Monday. I've spent the past week watching TLC's A Baby Story and Bringing Home Baby, weeping during every birth and cringing at every baby that screams and cries throughout the night. I guess I feel like these shows are going to give me a crash course in baby raising or at least give me a glimpse of what my following weeks and months are going to consist of. Last night I just sat in the rocking chair in Luke's room just imagining what he will look like and how I'm going to feel about him. Madelyn was helping put some blankets and laundry away and really was such a big help. As I watched my baby girl who is soon going to be a big sister to this little guy, I thought to myself, "how in the world could I possibly love another child as much as her?" So that just sounds crazy, right? No, I'm not depressed nor do I think I'm not going to love Luke (although if he does have sleep issues this may be debatable...I'm kidding...I'm kidding) I just mean that my heart is so full with love for her that it's amazing how much it's going to grow for another baby. My point is that there is nothing like a blessing of a baby. No matter how tired we feel, how much pain we are in, or even how hormonal and scared we may get, it all goes away in an instant when you see this little tiny life that you have created and cared for inside of you for nine months. It truly is love at first sight and I thank God for blessing our family once more with this love that we're about to receive.

Preschool Halloween Party

Here are some pictures of Madelyn and her preschool class getting ready to eat some pizza and lots of cookies and treats

Madelyn and her "best friend" who has made Preschool a much easier transition

Madelyn's teacher, Mrs. Held, with her class playing games

Trick-Or-Treat...Here Comes The Chicken

I can't believe that Halloween has already come and gone...Where is the time going? Okay, well maybe raising a three year old, working, and preparing for a new baby is one way to occupy your days. As you can see, I keep lagging behind on these entries, again I feel like I'm running out of minutes to complete any task that I start. Well, for those of you who I haven't spoke to in awhile, my darling little Madelyn decided that she wanted to be a beautiful little chicken...s c r e e c h...hold the phone...yes you heard me correctly. A CHICKEN! Now keep in mind she is a HUGE animal friend. I already envision veterinarian school for her-but hey that's just me being a mom aspiring for greatness for my child-some may also refer to this as being "pushy." Well, whatever the case, vet school, running a halfway home for runaway animals, or maybe becoming Diego, the animal rescuer, this kid is destined to do something with animals. So, she tells me her costume idea and truly I thought it sounded very cute and hysterical at the same time. In my head I just figured she would change her mind about twenty more times before Halloween especially once she learned that her cousin was going to be Pocahontas. To my surprise, her idea stuck. She was absolutely adamant that she must be a "chickie." Not a Disney Princess, not a cute cuddly animal, not even Dora. Although I would get the "oh really" or the blank stares when people would ask me what Madelyn wanted to be for Halloween (as if I had just told them that she was dressing as the Unibomber) I will admit that nothing makes me more proud than having a daughter with her own little mind and identity at the mere age of three.

Madelyn Turns 3

Madelyn turned three on September 30 and we celebrated with a party on the 29th. She picked Ariel from The Little Mermaid as her theme. Although a few days before her party she was telling people that she was having a Lion King party, but this mama had already purchased the cake pan, cupcakes, and Ariel decorations.
For something a little different and fun we sponge painted t-shirts and it actually went over pretty well. However, without the help from my paint regulating team, Jeanne, Neha and Rachel, we would have really had a mess on our hands-or maybe I should say all over the deck. Madelyn had a great time with everyone and of course she seemed to get everything that she could have possibly wanted-its almost sad that birthdays are starting to out-weigh Christmas! Also, thanks to her Nana and Nani, she has now received her first vehicle at the ripe age of 3-a Barbie Jeep. She and Jacee were hot stuff driving around in that thing with the radio on...fast forward 13 years and it's actually a pretty scary thought.
At the end of the day, it was nice to celebrate with everyone. Lucky for us, birthday parties for little ones are still fun and cute for those of you without kids. In a few years you will all be saying..."not another birthday party...". So for now, thanks and Bless you.

Madelyn Takes On The Mountaineers

It was only a matter of time until our miniature Mountaineer fan started asking to go with her daddy to the WVU football games. We knew the season opener was definitely a "nada" simply because of the massive crowd, excessive partying, and I'm sure language that a three year old should probably avoid. Let's also not forget, its the greatest game of all season and there they would be, Jeremy and Madelyn, eating chocolate chip cookies, sipping on capri-suns, and passing a Dora football, all the while watching friends play cornhole while eating pepperoni rolls and enjoying cold beverages. I believe that is what we call a "No Brainer." So, with that in mind we decided on a game that we figured would be more of a low key atmosphere, possibly more families and still with the nice football weather, which by the way could not have been any more beautiful. WVU vs East Carolina was our pick and she was psyched. By weeks end, she had the staring line-up memorized, okay, so not the entire line-up, but this little girl knew White, Slaton, Schmitt, their positions, and was ready to see Coach Rod-let me tell you, I was impressed. She knew more than I did--sadly that's probably not saying much. We woke at the absurd hour of 5am (5am for a football game-WHAT?!) and at one point I remember thinking to my exhausted self in the shower..."this has got to be how Jeremy feels when I ask him to go Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving... I will never ask him again."
We were out the door by 6am, met Mindy by 6:30a, and was safely in Morgantown by 9am. We all truly had a great time. Maddy hung with the guys, sported her new Slaton jersey, and "played" cornhole until game time. During the game she was mesmerized by the marching band, sticky from head to toe from her Zules frozen lemonade, and determined to see Coach Rod and his players. Although she and I left at the half I think her fun-filled day was a true Mountaineer experience-toddler style.

Pumpkin Patch

Baby Showers

Here are a few recent pics from our baby showers. We had a "sprinkle" hosted by some family friends and my step-mom, Kim, in August and then a nice brunch shower given by friends and mother-in-law, Mindy, in September. We received a lot of nice things for the baby and were able to finally complete his room. Thanks to all who helped, came, and celebrated!

Madelyn Starts Preschool

Well, the moment has already come for my once upon a time precious baby girl to start school. Of course this was quite a big deal to her and of course Jeremy and myself so we both took the morning off of work and drove our now teenager...okay okay...it just feels that way...to her first day of school. She was definitely very excited and a bit anxious because she has stayed with my mother everyday during the week since she has been three months old. This was going to be quite an adjustment for her--actually all of us. What Madelyn didn't know was that after her fun filled structured morning with her preschool class, they were going to then tote her down the hall for lunch with the "dreaded daycare." Thus leading to nap time for about two hours and then a free for all in a large room with tots and toys running around until parents came to pick up their child. Apparently, Jeremy and I didn't think this completely through because we thought she would just love it! So needless to say, when Jeremy picked up our excited little tot at about 5 o'clock, 8 hours after we dropped her for school, she was pretty distraught. There she sat, sitting with the coordinator and playing with no one, eyes filled with big tears, just waiting. As soon as she saw him she had a complete meltdown-I think she just finally lost it after trying to hold it together for the last few hours. That night she just kept hugging and kissing us telling us how much she loved us. She actually thought "my mommy and daddy dropped me here with my blankets and pillow and they aren't coming back for me."
So, Thursday morning rolled around and it was time for school again. I talked it up as much as I could to get her excited again and it seemed like she was going to be fine. So we walked into the school, down the hall and her lips started to pucker. Big tears filled her eyes and she asked me why I was leaving her there because she loved me so much. Do you know what that does to a pregnant mommy? So after they peeled her off of me and I headed to the car, I felt that lump form in my throat as I walked away down that same hallway, but this time my eyes were filled with tears and my face was getting hot. As soon as I got into my car I just sobbed and sobbed thinking "she really thinks I'm not coming back for her" and sadly everyday of school since then, has not gotten any better for any of us.

p.s.-
we have now started bribing our child to go to school...last week it was trips to K-mart to ride the machine horse and duckies from Marshalls. Next week should be interesting...