Homeward Bound

We checked out of the hospital yesterday and headed home for home.  Mom and baby are connecting on the feeding front today so all is well.  Madelyn is taking a small interest in baby, she'll bring her a baby toy or a pacifier.  So far it's been easier the second time around, it's nice to know what to expect and how to handle it.  Madelyn looks like a giant when compared to her sister and so grown up.

7lbs 10oz the next day

Makena Hope Potter is Here!!!

Life is Good. Makena Hope Potter made her appearance at 2:30 this afternoon. I drove home from work in record time to find that Kathryn Leaty had beat me to the house. A quick call to Meme&Pepe took care of Maddy and off we went. We delivered the baby 30 minutes after check in to the hospital, that was cutting things kinda close. The birth went as planned, all-natural and Mom got to have baby on her chest after the delivery. It was another one of those amazing things to watch and the emotions were high.

Makena was 8lbs 2oz and 21 inches long. She has long, long fingers and toes, brown hair and a cute little nose

Puffing those lungs out with some crying after the birth. Meme and Pepe brought Madelyn for a short visit before dinner, little does Madelyn know what she's in for.

Still waiting for baby sister...

Baby sister is still on the way, she'll come when she wants to apparently, contrary to when we would all like her to.  Toddler Class ended today and teacher Amy gave Madelyn a Certificate.  Nobody was surprised to see Maddy crying.  The class has been great fun for her, she'll miss the snacks, songs and hanging out with her friends for sure.  Dad got to go to class today and witness all of the mayhem.

Hanging out with Ella.

What's for Breakfast?

Breakfast usually is cereal, a banana, maybe some toast and milk.  This morning Madelyn decided to eat her blue crayon as well.  I admire her for doing this, I keep reminding Maddy to live it up while she still can because if I pooped in my pants, drank milk from a sippy cup and ate crayons before 9:00am everyday, Karin would have me committed.  

Madelyn's memory is getting better week by week, she knows the location of her shoes, coats toys and dolls far better than either of her parents can keep track of.  Dad bought a box of building blocks(why I don't know) and Madelyn new word is "Wow" followed by knocking down whatever Dad has managed to build for her.  Other new words are "YeahYeah" when she's excited and yelling "MOM!" when she comes home from the store or wants to find where Mom is hiding out.  "BertErn" means her pals Bert & Ernie.  More verbs are popping up like "Up Down" and we still love hearing her say "peas" for please.  

Bed-head courtesy of a humidifier turned up too high the night before.  I don't even try to comb a mop of hair like this, where do you even start!?  This mess had to wait for Mom to wake up to fix.

She's Here!!

2007 Honda Odyssey

16 ft 8 inches

4,387 lbs

Well the minivan is here, and we are still waiting for baby #2. The Xterra served us well but it was not meant to be a family vehicle. We are thrilled with the new van and are over the "Who are you trying to impress" stage as one of Karin's friend put it when they were mulling over a minivan purchase.

Madelyn's new room was finished last weekend, when she moves in will be up to her, maybe by then end of the summer.

Bringing the tribe in to check things out.

Getting Happy with Ernie.

Speaking of Sesame Street, Karin bought tickets for Meme, Mom and Madelyn to Elmo's Green Thumb. It's kinda a corny show as you would expect but the smile on her face when all of her favorite Sesame Street characters popped out on stage was priceless. She has fallen in love with all things Sesame Street big time. She was kinda speechless for the first 20 minutes of the show, then decided to start clapping and yelled "yeah yeah" for 20 minutes straight. Other kids were dancing in the isles, stunned speechless and a few balled their eyes out. We left at the intermission shortly after Madelyn's folding seat decided to eat her leg. We were also lucky to have found her shoe that was tossed into the row below as well.

On the subject of lucky, Madelyn grabbed a 10" Chef knife off of the counter yesterday. We've been almost overly cautious with her. Outlet covers, gates, cabinet locks, etc... and have always put knifes out of reach when we are done with them. But she is so tall now that she can poke her head up on the counter and then make a grab for whatever is interesting. So here is my daughter wielding a chef knife and wondering what or who she could use it on. Karin screamed at Maddy, that froze her, I jumped out of my kitchen chair faster than I could image and grabbed the knife. Our kitchen has not seen such excitement since her Dad dropped the same knife on his foot about 8 years ago. We've learned out lesson with kitchen knives..for Halloween maybe we'll dress her up like Chuckie :-)

Play date with Ella, Brooks and her twin brother Will

:(

Photo by Sandi Heinrich Photography

For some reason I love the crying pictures from time to time, we spend so much time trying to get pictures that are perfect in every way that we forget all of the other moods. Madelyn's emotions can span from a face like this, to happy in about 10 seconds or less. This picture also reflects our mood around the house for the past week. We must be in another teething episode, she sleeps OK but has a horrible short fuse all day long and is tough cookie to put down at night. She has to have the whole cast of Sesame Street in her crib now, Bert, Ernie, Coo-Co0(monster) and a stuffed kitty need to be present along with a few other fussies. She makes them all into a nest and then off she goes to sleep.