Madeline - 5 weeks old

Well, here she is - she's 5 weeks old already....And since some of you have asked for some updated photos - here you go!



and yes, she does smile some now which is awesome!

Snuggles

Cailin loves to snuggle her little sister....

See?

Madeline's Visitors

Little Madeline has been a busy girl.

She went to the doctor for a checkup. At that time she was one ounce away from 10lbs (great job gaining weight kiddo!). Sadly, she did have to get one shot. That was no fun. But she was a trooper about it.

She also has had lots of visitors.

Grandma and Grandpa Friary came for a visit.


As did Auntie Wanda and Auntie Katrine.



Madeline also didn't mind being held by Auntie Buzzy (Rayna), Uncle Dan and cousin Christopher (choppy).



Whew, all that visiting makes a girl tired.....

Kindergarten Graduation

Last week, Cailin officially became a 1st grader. This rite of passage included a ceremony at her school where all the kindergarten students donned red graduation caps and marched into the classroom to the traditional graduation music of "Pomp and Circumstance".

Then they performed several songs that they had practiced for weeks and weeks.


They also posed with their teachers. Cailin had two teachers this year. Her primary teacher left part way through the year on a maternity leave, so she came back for a visit on the last day and to help with the commencement ceremonies.

She also loved her other teacher, Miss Hanson who was the long-term sub that was in the classroom since February.


It was a big day, one that was a tearful one for mom. What a softie! The days do go by fast. Seems like I was just holding a newborn.


Oh, right I AM still holding a newborn, just not a Cailin newborn.....

Madeline Grace

She has arrived!

Madeline Grace was born on May 17th. She was 8lbs, 13oz and 21" long.


We knew she was going to be big and since both her and her older siblings had scary deliveries, the Doctor felt it would be safest to deliver little Madeline via c-section. They also suggested we do it on the first day of my 39th week. So really, she was one week early and was still almost 9lbs!
I can't imagine how big that little peanut would have been if we had waited. And good thing we did do the c-section. She had the cord wrapped fairly tightly around her little neck and had a very large head. Heck, a very large everything. So chances were very high that she would also have gotten stuck and with that cord around her neck, that would have been scary. So both the doctor and us were happy we had gone the safe route.

Maddie and Mommy came home on Friday and spent the weekend with the two older kiddos just relaxing and enjoying our new and improved family.

Funny enough, seems the dog is the one having the hardest time adjusting. He has gone back to his puppy ways of going potty in the house and being all around very naughty. Hard not to feel sorry for the dog.

Now, on to the fun stuff. PICTURES!

Enjoy!



Cailin relaxing in mom's hospital bed. Looks right at home....



Madeline and her older siblings right after coming home.

Spring Break

For spring break this past year we went to sunny, warm Mexico!

Ok, we didn't.

We thought about it. For about a second.

We really went up north with our great friends, the Frasers up to Grand View Lodge. Ok, ok, so it wasn't the sunny beaches with margaritas, however it was a very nice, relaxing time for everyone! Plus a whole lot closer and no passports needed.

We did a lot of swimming in their indoor pool/waterslide.





Jumped on their jumper and played the games they had set up for us.


We played in the condo.


We walked and walked the property trying out the different playgrounds. Enjoying the view of frozen Gull Lake.



And most of all, we spent time together away from everything. That was awesome too!

What Have We Been Doing?????????

I'm sure you were asking....Other than NOT blogging.

Well, we've been busy (sorry it's been so long).

We spent a long weekend in Duluth. Doing our usual, playing in the pool at the hotel, visiting the train museum and enjoying the lake.



We had a girl turn 6 in February! She had a party with a small group of her friends at a place near our home. The kids jumped and exerted some energy and then had pizza and cake and played and played.






Cailin sold a pile of Girl Scout Cookies (thank you EVERYONE!).

We've also been to the zoo a few times, played outside a bunch and did the usual stuff as well - school, work, daycare.

Oh and we've been getting more and more ready to meet our newest family member as the May date fast-approaches.
:)

More to come...........

The Washingtonians Came for a Visit

My brother John, sister-in-law Melissa and their adorable son Michael recently came for a visit. Not quite sure why they picked the last week in December to visit Minnesota (most folks are trying to get as far away from this part of the world at this time of year), but hey, it was awesome to see them!

The kids really enjoyed playing together. Cailin and Andrew were sooooo excited to play with Cousin Michael.

We went to a place called Pump it Up, (if you recall, we had Cailin's birthday party there previously and have gone for open jump days there) to expel some pent up energy.

We also took the light rail train downtown to visit the 8th floor auditorium at Macy's, which was still set up with "A Day in the Life of an Elf". The kids were in awe. They had a lot of fun running through the skyways (we tried to avoid the bitter winds outside by taking the handy skyways instead).

We also had a mini New Year's party together that was, well, shall we say LOUD??? My bad for buying New Year's noisemakers and streamers. Oh well, everyone had fun.

The kids also had a lot of fun just playing together at our house. We have lots of toys and I think every single one of them came out that week for an appearance. The trains were probably the most popular.

The kids liked playing with the trains, which were strewn all over our living room. We saw lots of behinds in the air as the kids were concentrating on their train play.