Celebrated 5th wedding anniversary

Craig and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary in the Poconos.  I miss the kids so much but I have to admit it is really great not coming home to kids in the house ;) Thanks to Oma and Opa for watching the kids for us!

36 Weeks 1 Day

Today I am 36 weeks and 1 day along.  It's crazy to think that we will be holding a newborn again soon.  The time has flown by extremely fast!  My most uncomfortable part of the pregnancy was between 22-26 weeks where i had a lot of pelvic ligament and hip pain.  It just hurt to do anything.  Now that I'm getting close, I'm getting a little more uncomfortable again and the pelvic pain is returning.  I had a scare last night that I was having preterm contractions.  They were very mild and only happened in the lower right quadrant of my abdominal area.  They happened for several hours.  I did not seem to get them today though thank goodness.

Madison has grown so much.  Her vocabulary and comprehension is increasing all the time.  She is so much fun with the occassional tantrum or separation anxiety attack.  She loves her new bedroom, although I haven't been successful on getting to have her sleep in her new bed yet.  We bought her a new potty for her to get used to and she LOVES to sit on it constantly, but still no action.  I'm not in any kind of rush though since dealing with a newborn in diapers and potty training a 20 month old probably isn't any fun.

We started having a helper come into our house twice a week before Christmas to entertain Madison while mommy works from home.  She's working out really well!  Madison was never insecure in getting to know her.  They connected from the very beginning and she looks forward to Miss Amanda's visits.  Whenver I say she's here, Madison runs to the door all excited and does a little dance for Amanda when she comes in.

Some of Madison's words or expressions (although the average person won't know what she's saying still on some of the expressions like Merry Christmas):
Hi Kitty
Strawberry
Cheese
Girl
Arms up for a touchdown
Tea
Gobble Gobble Gobble
Ha Ha Ha (for ho ho ho)
Merry Xmas
Thank you
Pig sound
Cow sound
No no no no no
Sit

Ok, so the list can go on probably.  She's a smart little cookie!  She LOVES to dance and "read" books.  It's so cute when you hear her inflections.

If she doesn't want to watch a portion of her show, she hands you the remote to either fast forward or change the channel.

She went off the bottle cold turkey a little over a week ago which was tough on both Madison and mommy for a couple days. Madison wanted her bottle, and mommy was missing her cuddle time.  We still can't get her to drink her milk in anything else though.  She won't even have chocolate milk.

Madison thinks Daddy and her have babies in their bellies too and tries to point to their bellies or pull up their shirts which I find pretty funny.  She continues to kiss and hug mommy's baby though.  She's going to make a great big sister.  I can't wait until we all unite!

14 Weeks

As most or all of you know by now, Madison is going to be a Big sister.  Today I entered into my 2nd trimester and I cannot complain one bit. I had heartburn once around 6 weeks pregnant and other than being really tired during the day, I have not had any other symptom of even being pregnant - not even the sore breasts!  Maybe since I still am nursing Madison morning and nights, that may help (which she will be weaned entirely come October).

I had my 2nd prenatal visit today and my blood pressure was 124/74 and my weight is up 1 pound from my last visit (a total of 2 pounds since I found out I was pregnant.  The baby's heartrate clocked in at 154 bpm which is 1 beat less than when I was 14 weeks pregnant with Madison.  Hmmm, I guess the girl column gets another check.  Craig and I keep thinking we are having another girl.  We'll be happy with either but I know Craig would like to have the last name carry down.  However, if we have 2 girls, maybe my chances are greater that he'll be o.k. with trying for a 3rd kid... since he is stuck on only having 2.  I would like to complete the family with 3.  Something we can't seem to agree on.

Well, Eileen, the girl that was pregnant with me last time around (our daughters are exactly 5 weeks apart), was pregnant again with me this time around except she was a lot further along.  She just had her baby this morning and added a 2nd little girl to her family.  I can't wait to meet her!

My sister-in-law found out she was pregnant about 5 or 6 weeks ago and is measuring about 3 1/2 weeks behind me!  Talk about "close cousins"!  And we thought the 7 month gap between Madison and her last baby were close.

My brother Sean is expecting the birth of his daughter Callie Joy anytime now.  I can't wait to meet her!

My friend Kate is expecting about 2 1/2 weeks ahead of me, so that is quite exciting too!  Lots of babies!

As for Madison, she taps on my belly all the time saying "dah!"  I keep telling her Mommy has a baby in her belly and I ask if she wants to kiss the baby and she'll give my belly a kiss.  She LOVES her baby doll and totes her around all the time.  She hugs her and kisses her over and over.  First thing she wants when she comes downstairs is to see her baby and give her love.  It's the cutest thing.  She says "Hi!" and waves to EVERYONE - even strangers walking by when I have her in the stroller.  She sure puts a smile on a lot of faces!  She was blowing kisses to the workers at the dentists office yesterday.  She started walking full force about a day before Craig's birthday.  At her one year checkup, she was about 18 1/2 pounds and 30 1/4 inches tall.  They said she is in the 10% for weight and 25% for height.  She is definitely getting heavier now though and I believe she is closer to 20 Ibs currently.

Madison experienced her first Earthquake yesterday.  It was the 1st one I can ever recall.  My mom said I experienced one in 1st grade, but I don't remember it.  This time I was in the dentish chair and it started to vibrate.  I had no idea what was happening.  I thought maybe it was just the motor in the chair.  But then all of a sudden the windows rattled and everything was moving and rumbling.  We thought maybe the building got struck by a heavy duty construction vehicle outside.  Needlesss to say, everyone was fine.  But when my mom and I stopped at Bloom to get a cake for my dad's birthday, they were closed due to some ceiling tiles falling and stuff that fell off the shelves. 

I hope I'm not forgetting anything.  I mainly write a lot of this information for my own journal keeping.  But like to share it with anyone interested in reading it.

Somebody had a 1st birthday!

On July 3rd, we had a "Ladybug" party for our little girl.  She was definitely not shy around the cake!  Jo, Madison's Godmother, and I both worked on making her ladybug cakes for the party which really turned out well! 

Madison has grown up so much over the last year.  She's currently 18Ibs 4oz and 30 1/4 in. long.  That puts her at 10% for weight and 90% for height...long and lean.  Daddy may have trouble down the road!

Currently, she is not walking exclusively.  She will take up to maybe 15 steps (almost walking across an entire room), but still prefers crawling as her main transportation means.  But she seems to be improving her steps daily.  Her first steps (about 3) were taken on June 12.

Here are some of the things she now knows or can do:

When asked where her belly is, she'll point to it or pat it.  When asked where her belly button is, she points or pats in the general area like she does for belly.
When asked where her mouth is, she'll show you by putting her fingers in her mouth.  (She 1st started doing this around 10 months along with showing you how big she is when asked "How big is Madison?")
She can tell you where her hair and toes are.  We are still working on head, eyes, ears, and nose (she'll point to her mouth all the time) 
When asked where the airplane is, she'll put her hand up to the sky.
She can point out dogs, cats, ducks, cows, pigs, the abacus, bananas, strawberries, apples, flowers, shoes, babies, bows, and teddy bears.  I'm probably missing several, but she does have an extensive vocabulary that she knows.  It's improving almost daily.
She will pick up the phone and place it to her ear and "talk".  She starts out by saying "Hi".
She LOVES "reading" books - flipping through the pages and babbling as if she is telling the story.
Her 1st word was "Hi" and she says it to EVERYONE when we are out, even if the people don't pay her mind (there loss).
Her 2nd word would probably be "Doggie" and then she says "keke" for Kitty Cat.
She says "Mama" and "Dada", but not really correctly yet for me to say she knows the word.  She calls everyone "dada" for example.
She can give hugs and kisses (sometimes she sneaks a real wet one in there!).

The list can go on.  She is just so smart!  We have been so blessed with her in our lives.

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