We have a new baby BOY!

Yes, I know...I haven't updated this blog in FOREVER!! Sorry. Time has just gotten away from me and I guess I just don't make it a priority. However, I just figured out how to updated from a mobile device, so that may make things easier. I'm always snapping pics with my phone and iPod to send to Facebook or family so now I'll just send stuff to the blog too!

Anyway, here is what's new with us - we had a baby BOY on Monday, July 18th! He's just as sweet as can be and has totally made our lives 100% busier than before. It's really quite crazy how adding another baby can change things so much. I mean I thought we were busy with a wild toddler but now it's even more of a challenge! Don't get me wrong though - we wouldn't change things one bit! I love being able to stay home with both Rex and Makenna and we have a wonderful support group through family and my many friends both through MOMS club and otherwise.

So back to the sweet baby boy...Mr Rex William arrived on July 18th at 3:35 pm. He weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 19 inches long (Makenna was 8 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches when she was born). Labor with Rex was similar and different from with Makenna. I again was "induced" for this labor. The difference was that my midwife just broke my water this time and labor started where with Makenna I was given Pitocin to start labor. She broke my water at 10 am and the little man arrived just a short 5 1/2 hours later. My labor pains were primarily in my lower back again so the pain was really intense - not enjoyable! The one thing that was WAY more pleasant was the fact that I only had to push for about 20 minutes (or less we aren't even that sure!) and he was out!! I'm sure it helped that he was a lot smaller or perhaps that he was the second baby but either way I'm not complaining.

Makenna is a very proud big sister and introduces him to people all over the place. She says "this is my brother, Rex" (or "Rax" as it seems to sound sometimes) - super sweet! :) I can tell that she is a little starved for attention as she's acting out more these days. We're working on that...

We're getting sleep. Most of the time. Rex likes to sleep most of the day and then some pretty good stretches at night. I'm usually only up once during the night to feed him - thank goodness! Luckily we have had good luck with both of the kiddos sleeping well. Hope it stays that way!

Until next time...enjoy the pics of our new family of four!

 

Rex William just minutes old. I don't even think he was officially named "Rex" yet!



Our new family of 4 - Makenna just adores "Rocks" (as she called him that first day!)



Mr Rex - 1 day old



Our sweet baby boy Rex just snoozing away!

Paradise.

Adam and I just got back from 5 wonderful days in Puerto Rico. It was simply heavenly! We were able to go on this trip because in the short amount of time that Adam sold insurance he qualified for this incentive trip with one of the companies and we couldn't pass it up. We spent lots of time in the sun and have some sunburn to prove it...sad...I know. Sunscreen was applied regularly but apparently it doesn't work as well if it's old or not strong enough for the INTENSE rays of the Puerto Rican sun. Oh well - we'll survive - that's why our fair skinned bodies are meant to be in Wisconsin! Also, don't expect any pictures. Adam and I wanted to enjoy our vacation and he didn't want to be the "pack mule" all the time that had to carry a camera around in his shorts pockets. I know - we're ridiculous. We have 3 pictures total but I don't even think those are blog worthy...we'll have to see.

Makenna had a vacation of her own in EC with my parents and Rachel. They took great care of her and she loved every minute of it! Mean moms like me don't give their kids fruit snacks for breakfast but grandmas sure do - lovely. I recall not even being able to have a Pop-Tart for breakfast if we didn't have cereal or toast first - funny how those rules don't apply anymore. ;-) I wonder how long it's going to take for her to stop calling me grandma??

In baby news, things are progressing nicely. I feel almost exactly the same with this pregnancy as I did with Makenna. No noticeable differences and I even seem to be growing at the same rate (or so Adam and I think) - that's good I guess. I can feel baby moving around quite a bit and will randomly have sharp jabs of pain if I pick up Makenna too quickly or something. Next week is my glucose test. I'm hoping I pass with flying colors again as my taste of heat in the last week or so has proved to need ice cream and NA frozen drinks. At least the heat didn't make me miserable and I'm hoping I'll survive this summer as baby grows bigger and bigger. Also, on a naming note...this one seems to be more difficult. We have our boy name from last time (and some additional we have come across) and still really really like it but I have yet to find ANY girl names that I (or we I guess) like. Ugh!

That's all for now. I'll try to post some pics a little later. Makenna wants me to play and I missed her sweet little voice while we were away so I can't say no!

Here we go again...

Well...I'm a little late in announcing this to the Blogging World but our family is growing again. We are expecting another baby in July. Don't get me wrong it's not that I didn't want to share - we are SUPER excited! :-) I just can't seem to get into a routine with this blogging thing...I love to stalk others but hate to create my own! Ok, back on track, one of the things I'm most excited about is being pregnant again. I had a fabulous pregnancy with Makenna and this one is right on track to be the same. YES! Maybe that means another girl...maybe just a well-mannered and non-wild boy (those DO exist, right???)...you'll all just have to wait until around July 20th to find out! We had our ultrasound last Thursday and didn't find out gender but the little munchkin looks very similar to Makenna in it's profile. My midwife did tell me that the measurements of baby in the ultrasound put him/her to be a little farther along than originally anticipated but Adam and I think we had the same thing with Makenna...maybe we just have large babies. I mean she was 9 days overdue and 8 lbs 3 oz - little porker! I'm hoping for a smaller on-time baby this time - I can hope right?!? This would be especially convenient as my sis, Lauren, is getting married Sept 17th and I'm the matron of honor. If it was just the duty of showing up I'd be fine but fitting into a dress and standing in front of everyone is a different story...not to mention the fact that there are lots of other "duties" of the matron of honor that require energy and planning. :-) Hopefully I can keep it all together and get it done!



Baby Keer #2 - the coolest part about the ultrasound was that they now have 3D!!

 Ok, enough about that...life has been busy here the last few months since I've updated. We had a great time in FL with my family in October. Makenna LOVED the beach and ocean and having lots of family to play with at any time.

Loving ORD's Children's Museum area!

Playing in the sand

The whole group out to dinner and watching the sunset over the ocean





Adam has been VERY busy with work in the last few months, which includes working about 12 hour days and not seeing Makenna sometimes for days on end. It has proven to be challenging and requires lots of patience on my part for sure! But we are getting along and it has become lots easier. Hopefully this won't go on forever and there will be some sort of benefit out of it all - we can only hope!

December seemed to be quickly consumed with Adam's long work hours and TWO trips to Dallas, TX. We did our annual Holiday baking weekend at the beginning of December and then we also decided to celebrate Christmas in Dallas this year as well. The whole family usually comes North for the holiday but this year was South to Dallas to visit La/Jake/Mom/Alex. We had a fabulous time - even though I'm still weirded out by Christmas without snow... There was lots of family time, game playing and Skyping with family back in WI. Gotta love the power of technology! We also took some family pics because it's not THAT often that we're all together.

Lauren, Makenna, Mom and I in our homemade aprons with lots of our goodies!

This is what life with an almost 2 year old is really like - glad she could capture that for us!



The whole family group

  Nothing comes to mind in January as big events. My good friend, Andrea, started back to school after Christmas break. Her hubby, Rob, stays home with Maya during the day most days but Makenna and I have the pleasure of enjoying her company usually a couple days a week in the afternoon. She's such a little sweetie and Makenna absolutely adores having her here! It's so funny to watch her get soooo excited for Rob to come and drop her off when I tell her Maya is coming over. I'm hoping her helpfulness will prove to really be "helpful" and of course it's good practice for being a big sister in just a matter of months!

I can't believe February is almost over... A couple weeks ago Lauren and Jake came to La Crosse to have their engagement pics taken and do some other wedding prep stuff. When the rest of the family heard they were coming to WI of course they had to come too! Sooo...Dad, Mary, Rachel, Brandon and Jake's parents all came down to visit! We had a great weekend with everyone here and were busy busy of course. We realized throughout the weekend how awful we have all become with taking pictures...I just very much dislike to be the one who is always watching everything through a camera lens!

How did Makenna get so old already? In just a little over 2 weeks she will be 2 years old!! I can't believe how quickly things change with her right now. She really is a little person - definitely not a baby anymore! She runs everywhere, loves to talk in full statements and ask meaningful questions. I'm not joking - she just cracks us up with some of the stuff she says! If she is still awake when Adam gets home from work she runs to the back door to greet him and says, "Daddy you were working??" in the cutest voice ever! It gets him everytime! He loves it! :-) She also comments on whether people have glasses on, remembers where we've been and recognizes where we are. As an example, we now cannot go to the grocery store without getting stickers (and sometimes cookies from the deli). We pull into the store parking lot and she knows that "Terri" her favorite lady at the store will give her TWO stickers - how wonderful! She also talks about everything in the store as we pass it but overall is an excellent shopper. Hope that continues! Maybe she'll be like her Mama and love the grocery store. :-) Makenna also loves to name everyone that she knows. She knows EVERY member of our family (even people she rarely sees!!) and Rob, Maya, Andrea (to her it's An-rea) and Annie (Rob and Andrea's pup). We also have lots of friends through MOMS club and she knows her friend's names which is really cute! She asks for her bestie (Tessa) everytime we talk about friends or go to an outing - such sweet little girls they are together - they act like sisters really.

Our little helper loves to play outside and of course be covered in snow!



She was left unattended for a couple minutes with her markers from Aunty La - OOPS! At least they are washable....

 And that pretty much brings us to the present. I'll try to keep this updated more often and fill you in on the crazy happenings in the life of Miss Makenna. As she says "I crazy!" and "I'm nuts!" - both phrases her lovely uncles have taught her...

Craziness.

We've had a busy couple weeks. Working from home is crazy. My 18 month old is a monster. I think if we got all of these kids together that we blog about that we wouldn't have homes left. Honestly. She gets into things that I'd never imagine possible and she's not even into the "moving an object to the counter to climb up really high and get something" phase. I'm constantly kept on my toes and my house is VERY well baby-proofed even TODDLER-proofed. Each day is a new challenge and we love it. :) Below are some pics from the end of the summer. Makenna decided that after a one year hiatus from the water/sand on the beach that she liked it again. Thank goodness! Not sure what happened but I'm not gonna complain.

I hosted a baby shower for Andrea today and many of her friends from the area came (plus her mom who surprised her by coming from EC today). No pictures were taken - we're lame I guess. I took a picture of the cupcakes I made. Angel food cupcakes with Whipped Cream - Cream Cheese frosting. I'm pretty sure they were liked by most. I've never piped frosting before. It was amazing! Much faster than spreading with a spatula/knife and super cute.

We're off to Florida next weekend for a week with my family at my parents' place in Naples. Should be a hoot! Enjoy the pics for now...

5 years already?!?

Adam and I have been married for 5 years! I can't believe that it has been that long. August 20th in 2005 was one of the happiest days of my life. We had a wonderful day with lots of family and friends and absolutely gorgeous weather! In celebration of our 5 amazing years together we went out and bought a new boat. Well not a "new" boat but a "new-to-us" boat. It's a cabin cruiser and Adam insisted that we get it because it would be better for the "family". HA! He just tried to make it pleasing for me. :) It's going to take some getting used to - for all of us - Adam for docking and me for keeping my thighs from being bruised on every item that's different! Makenna loves it. The swim platform off the back is great. She gets to dip her toes in but doesn't have to go in further than that. That's another thing that baffles me...last summer she couldn't get enough of the water but this summer wants nothing to do with it. Certainly hope that changes soon!!

Here are a few pictures. I'll take more once we're out on it again. We plan on spending the weekend out there again. Mid 80s and sunny this weekend - no better weather for boating!!

Anyone have any ideas on names for the boat? We were thinking about maybe including something about 5 years or something like that?

Summer...

I can't believe it's August already...summer goes by so fast every year. We've had a busy busy summer. Lauren and Jake got engaged, we've visited with LOTS of family, and have made some very good family memories.

Here are some of our summer happenings. My new "thing" for this blog: Less words more pictures. Enjoy!

Chocolate pudding!!

Makenna & Cleo - true love!

Saying "hi" from her swing - she runs all the way around the house to find this!

Looking pretty in the green grass.

Playing out on the water up north

Walking Irvine Park with Daddy

Sprinkler fun with Daddy while Mommy was at a work meeting!

Playing with the neighbor girl - Makenna loves to try to keep up with all of them!

Walking in Daddy's sandals. She can cruise around the entire first floor in them now.

Getting into "girl" trouble

In Makenna's words: "So mom opened up the bag of Chips Ahoy cookies and gave me one. Then we went upstairs and I think she thought that I would forget about them. But I didn't - I LOVE 'cackies'! So when she wasn't looking I opened up the bedroom door, climbed all the way down the stairs by myself, and found me some more 'cackies'. Dad found me like this about 3 minutes later. Mom says I'm a true Cookie Monster!"

**Side note from Mom: Makenna doesn't get to eat cookies all the time and is proficient at climbing up and down the staris - I'm NOT a bad parent! ;)