Madelyn's Birthday Letter

Madelyn,

My first daughter.  My second baby.  My love.  My world.

You are the best little girl I could ever ask for.  You might be a lot a little messy, but the "oh my gosh this is good" look on your face makes is totally worth the spaghetti sauce styling gel you are currently sporting.

I love how you tilt your head to the side when you are trying to be cute (but, really...when aren't you cute?!?!).  My favorite thing is the little baby curls that cover the top of your ears. 

You are simply adorable, and we couldn't imagine our lives without you.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Girl.  My Princess.  My Angel.  My 1 year old.

Love,
Mommy

2nd Birthday Love

Dear Jackson,

You bring so much love and joy to our lives....you can not even imagine.  You are absolutely perfect, and we couldn't ask for a better son.

You are loving, and my favorite time of day is when you run at me (at full force, I might add) and wrap your little arms around my legs.  :)

Sissy couldn't ask for a better big brother.  The first thing you do every.single.morning is give Sissy her sippy cup....before you even take a sip of your own.  You are so caring!

Your favorite television shows are SuperWhy! and Sid the Science Kid.  You love music, and will often break out some kicking moves.  :)

Your favorite food....hmm.  I have to say, Jack, you are a picky eater.  But, you love:  pretzels, peanut butter sandwiches, whole milk, and oranges.  :)

I look forward each and every day to your wonderful snuggles, and I can't wait to see your smiling face each and every morning.

You are my baby, my love, and help to make our world complete.

Happy Birthday Jack, my precious baby boy!

PS - Stop growing up so fast, Mommy wants this time in our lives to last forever.

Lunch Time Groove

Some of you may know that I am HORRIBLE about keeping secrets about exciting things.  Especially when there is no real reason to keep it a secret (i.e. Christmas presents, birthday presents, the sex of my baby).

So, it should come as no surprise that my children have already gotten one of their birthday presents (their birthday is in the middle of November!)  Oops, yeah I know.  I keep hoping that I will get better once they actually know what is going on, but who knows. 

Anyway, I got this picnic table from CSN Stores....and they LOVE it.  (You might have to turn up the volume quite a bit.)



It was pajama day, fyi.  ;o)  Oh, and did you catch Ady in the background.....that is seriously the cutest thing in the entire world!

Oh, and I promise, if you get one for your little ones they will have the same fabulous "dance" moves.  :)

Happy Tuesday!

Daily Life

Happy Mother's Day! Sorry I am a day late, life is crazy busy around here. :) Did you have a wonderful day?

Mother's Day for me was perfect! I couldn't have asked for a better day. Well, I could....but, that would be askin' a lot.

My babies got me a mother and child ring and necklace, and I love it! I have been wearing the ring since the day I got it, and am anxiously awaking an occasion to wear the necklace. :)
Z made me muffins for breakfast, changed almost all the diapers, and spent more time watching the children (alone) than he normally does.

What would have made it better is if someones nearly 18 month old baby boy would say MAMA! Can you tell I am a little bitter about this? Ugh! Lol. He better say Mama next year. Silly little boy.

Then, after the kiddos were in bed. Z and I went outside to enjoy a cigar. Well, he enjoyed it. I just smoked one to show him I could. It wasn't my favorite thing in the world, but a million times better than cigarettes. YUCK!

I used to smoke those in my late teens, and they are just nasty. Don't know why I did it.

I do, occasionally, miss it, like when I have some sort of alcoholic beverage...but, not enough to jeopardize my health or my families health for it. Blah!

Today is my wonderful husbands birthday! He is 25! We are creepin' up there. Haha.

The kiddos and I got him a new t.v. for his birthday....mostly because his wish for father's day is to lay in his bed and watch t.v. all day. Haha. It probably won't be all day, but he can at least spend the morning cuddled up with a blanket with a remote in his hand. ;o)He is also starting to get into cigars, thanks to a couple men in our lives (thanks guys!). So, I am thinking of getting him something cigar related for Father's Day. Who knows. I hate buying him gifts. Everything he wants is so expensive!

Did you know the U.S.S. Reagan only has to be refueled once every 50 years. I found that very interesting. When the kiddos are awake during the day I try to watch something educational (unless it is 6 o'clock, then I am watching E! News...guilty pleasure for sure), because I need the background noise. So today, it was on the History channel. You can learn a lot while feeding your almost 6 month old a bottle!

Well, I have babbled on long enough. And I am sure you are REALLY bored. Haha. If you made it through this post, you are a saint!

New Baby!

Sorry it has been an ETERNITY since I last posted. Things are crazy around here, and have no signs of slowing down until after the holidays.

On Monday, Nov. 16th (one day after my little Jack turned 1!) our beautiful baby girl, Madelyn Grace, was born. She is perfect, and we couldn't ask for a better little family. She was 7lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long. Her big brother isn't quite sure what to think of her, but I am sure they will be best buds in a little while ;o)

Here are pictures from the day after Madelyn was born. Just go to Bella Baby Photography, click View Photos, and enter the password: 1116madelynovery

We celebrated Jack's birthday on Sunday (the 15th) with a lunch at Happy Joe's and a small get together in the evening with cupcakes and ice cream. His "big" birthday party is on Dec. 5th, and I have a lot to do to get ready for it. I can not believe that he is one! My baby boy isn't much of a baby anymore :(

Jacker's started walking last Thursday, and got his forth tooth last Wednesday. He wanted to keep a little bit of the spot light on him. ;o) Haha, our children are such a joy and we couldn't imagine our lives without them.

The other night Zach asked Madelyn, "So, what finger do you have me wrapped around?" It was the cutest thing in the world! He is the best daddy ever! He is such a big help, and I couldn't do it without him.

Sorry for the lack of updates, if you want to know everything that is going on with me....feel free to add me on facebook. Here is the link. Oh, and don't worry, I have more pictures to post soon!

Hope all is well with you, and I hope to be posting again regularly soon.

1st Birthday Letter

My Little Jacker's,

I can not believe you are one! The last year has flown by. It seems like yesterday I was feeling you kick inside my belly ;o)!

You bring such joy and love to our lives, and I want to thank you for that. It is such a joy to get you up in the morning, change your diaper, feed you, and cuddle you when you drink your "ba". Even watching you play makes me smile. You are such a little cutie!

Your Dad and I could not ask for a better little boy!

I look forward to getting to know you as you grow up, but PLEASE, don't grow up too quickly. I want to try and remember (and cherish) each and every moment I have with you.

I love you more than you will probably ever know, and continue to fall in love with you every second. You make each and every day brighter.

Love,
Mommy

Happy Birthday!

Today is Grandma's birthday (she is old, and probably wouldn't want me putting her age out on the net, haha)! Last night we went out to dinner at one of her favorite restaurants, the Olive Garden.

It was a lot of fun! Lauren came to town for the weekend, and it was fun to hang out with her yesterday afternoon.

By the way, Uncle Timmy and Grandpa made it home safe and sound on Thursday night. They missed Jackers too much to stay away any longer. Haha. ;o) It is nice to have them back, even though they take great joy in picking on me ALL the time. Gotta love them.

Jackson's Real Birthday!

On Friday Zach left for Missouri...probably not the best decision, lol. Although Kimberly thought that it would be a while until I was ready to deliver, because Jack had not dropped all the way, he should not have made the trip because the very next morning my water BROKE! For the last month I have been completely ready for this kid to come out, but when my water actually broke I was like...ummm, maybe we can wait a while. LOL so...my water broke around 7 am. After freaking out, and then collecting my thoughts, I called Zach to let him know. He and his "hunting buddies" went out to hunt around 4 am, so at least he was awake. When I told him my water broke, he was like "Serious?" As soon as he sort of comprehended the situation he started toward the house to gather his stuff and book it back to Iowa to met his first born son! After Zach's phone call I let the afterhours nurses know that I was on my way to the hospital and my water had ruptured. Then, my next phone call was to my Mom because Zach was still hours away. She came over to the apartment within an hour; she was surprised that I was "so calm". But, I just didn't see the point in panicking because it was happening whether I was freaked out or not. I gathered all the stuff that I thought that I would need in the hospital and we headed to Genesis East. After officially checking into the hospital the nurse came in to check how far along I was. In the car I started having contractions, this was around 8 am. Because of these contractions I was 3 cm 90 %. They also checked to make sure my water was broken and transferred me to the labor and delivery room. This was the last room that they had available, the nurse said they had been crazy busy with births since the Wednesday before. In the delivery room they started pitocin to strengthen the contractions and help the baby drop. I had contractions about a minute apart and that was getting to be too much. I was checked and in a matter of a few minutes I was at 4 cm and 100 %. I asked for an epidural at that point...I needed it. They gave me the epi (did not like the doctor) and I really stopped feeling all the contractions (it was amazing). But, I definitely knew when I needed to push. I felt a TON of pressure, and pushing really did help release some of the tension. I went from 4 cm to 10 cm in less than 2 hours....things started happening REALLY fast with the pitocin. I was so done, I kept asking them to cut him out of me....just do something so that this can be over with. It took over three hours to push the little guy out....and muscles you have never used hurt! Honestly, it did not seem like this long...but, I totally lost all sense of everything put the pain. Kimberly had to cut me to make enough room for him to come out. This did not hurt at the time but I can feel it now. They stitched me up....a lot of stitches (although she said it was more of one continuous stitch, what?!?!) and checked/cleaned up Jackson. He is absolutely beautiful, but I could not get over the fact that this little guy actually came out of me, I was definitely in a daze after delivery. He was 7 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches long! During recovery I shook a lot because of all the fluid they gave me through an IV and the balancing (still crazy) of my hormones. We stayed in the delivery room for about three hours to give the epidural a chance to wear off. Then took a shower and we moved to our "permanent" room. In this room we settled down for the night and was rechecked to make sure that everything looked good. Thank goodness everything did. Jackson Scott is finally here!!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dad! In his birthday card I gave him the great news that he is going to be a GRANDFATHER! No reaction yet (I was not there when he opened the gift), but we will see.