Good News....

We went to the doctor on Tuesday. She did an ultrasound to see if the baby was still breech AND.........She was head down!!!! She turned all on her own. Now, the doctor says (of course) that there is no guarantee. She could still end up turning back around on her own, so we shall see. I was just so happy to hear that she was head down! Maddie came with us and was excited to see her baby sister on the "TV." And yes, she also confirmed (again) that it is a girl. This time I actually saw the "girl parts." Only 7 1/2 more weeks to go!!!

Pregnancy update

I'm realizing that I havent really given much of a pregnancy update in quite some time. 2 weeks ago I went to the doctor and informed her that I have been in some pain lately and just very uncomfortable. Think about how your muscles feel after working out after not working out for quite some time. Well, that is pretty much how my pelvic bone feels all the time now along with a ton of pressure. Come to find out, the baby is breech, which according to her, causes 20 times more pain......which now explains my pain and discomfort. Obviously, when a baby is head down they are constantly kicking you in the stomach and often in the ribs. Well, when a baby is breech, you get kicked in the crotch...over and over and over again! So anyway, the doctor gave me an option where they could try to turn the baby. Basically she says I had (at that time) a few more weeks to see if the baby would turn on its own, but after that, there is no room for the baby to turn. So, she told me that it would take 2 doctors and they would basically man-handle my belly, twisting and turning in an effort to turn the baby around. Not wanting to have a c-section, this sounded like a great idea. Sure, maybe I'd be in some pain, but it would be worth it in order to avoid surgery. She also reassured me by saying she has had much success with this. HOWEVER, I have sinced talked to several people, all of which who have had nothing positive to say about this experience. Many people have said that they attempted to turn the baby, then the baby turned back on its own and ended up in emergency c-section anyway. I'm starting to lean more toward a scheduled c-section, if this baby doesnt turn on its own. After listening to everything that people have told me about this, my thought is that it will be better to have a scheduled c-section (low stress & anxiety) as oppose to having to have an emergency which causes much stress on the baby and a longer recovery for me. We go back to the doctor tomorrow (Tuesday) where we will get another ultra sound. THe doc wants to see exactly how the baby is positioned. She said she'd also take a peek to verify the gender again. I plan on asking her a ton of questions and addressing all my concerns with her, now that I know a little bit more about this. I'll keep you all posted!!!

Just wanted to share some new pictures......

Just wanted to share some new pictures of Maddie's new "big girl" haircut, making Christmas cookies, playing with a new friend and Santa's workshop.

I finally decided that we really needed to give maddie a really good haircut. Normally I just tell Linda to "trim it," because I've been so afraid of losing the curl. But I finally decided that it was looking too much like a mullet and really needed to be evened out. So she now has this really cute bob that makes her look so grown up! Yes, we did lose most of the curl, but she still has a little flip at the bottom and its super cute anyway.

Every year, for as long as I can remember, my mom and I have always made homemade Christmas cut out cookies. Its one of my favorite memories. This was Madilyn's 2nd year "helping" and really just taste testing......she's really good at that!!

A couple weekends ago, our friends Nicole and Sanjay came over with baby Paxton....who is OH SO CUTE! Madilyn loved playing with him and is so good around little babies. She constantly wanted to help....feed him, change him, rock him and get him a blanket. We got some really cute pics of them and for 2 days after she kept asking "where is baby Pax?" It was really great to hang out with all of them and catch up.......even if the guys can't seem to keep their beer in a glass!!! :-) Wait, close your eyes and pretend you dont know if its the can or the bottle, then decide which one tastes better!!!

Last Wednesday we went to the Metroparks for Santa's Workshop. We have a little tradition and go with Tree and Kailey every year. Dave had to work, so my mom went with us. The girls had a great time, as they always do when they get together. They scream and yell and jump around (gee, just like a typical girl) when they first see eachother! They each got to build a toy with Elf Brian, we grabbed a bite to eat and then went on the horse drawn carriage ride to see the lights. This year we decided not to even stand in line to see Santa. We walked past Santa when we were at the mall and Maddie is scared to death! She will look at him from afar, blow kisses to him and wave, but DONT GET CLOSE!! She holds on for dear life. After all of this she says......"I LIKE SANTA." Funny Funny girl!

And as you can tell by my beautiful layout, I still have absolutly no idea how to make my pictures corespond with the right paragraph. The first pic I download always ends up last. I am now wondering if I need to download all the pics first and then try to type my paragraphs next to the pictures. Oh well, try again next time! :-)

Keeping busy!

2 weeks ago, Maddie had her awards ceremony at gymnastics, ending the session. She had a wonderful time leading the olympic parade. I am so amazed at how much she loves gymnastics class and very thankful for it too. I think it is really good for her! We started a new session today and she's right back into the swing of things. Every week they do floor exercises and the trampoline and then they rotate each week between the bars and the balance beems. She goes to All Around Gymnastics which is where I went in High School for Cheerleading/gymnastics.

We had a very busy Thanksgiving day/weekend. On Thanksgiving we spent the day out in Twinsburg with all of Dave's family. Then on friday morning at 4am mom and I headed out into the craziness, as we do each and every year. We had a great time shopping and found some REALLY GOOD deals! After 9 1/2 hrs of shopping (dont ask me how my pregnant body did it!!) we finally came home just in time for Dave, maddie and I to go to his mom's for a Thanksgiving dinner. And now its time to get ready for Christmas! Maddie, mom and I made a bunch of cookie dough today and tomorrow we will make all our cut out cookies....which Maddie loves to do!! Its one of my favorite memories growing up!

Happy Birthday to me!

30 years old???? Not possible! Actually, the day passed just like any other birthday. I didnt have a nervous break down and didnt even have the littlest bit of anxiety about it. Turning 30....no biggie! :-) My friend Jamie threw me a semi-surprise 30th birthday lunch. She was so sweet, wanting to keep it low key for the pregnant birthday girl. She knew it would suck for me if we went out and everyone was drinking except me.....on my 30th bday!! THANK YOU JAMIE!!! I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. I just knew that I needed to be ready to eat lunch! We went to The Melting Pot, which I was very excited when we got there and realized that is was where my party was! I had never been there, but absolutly LOVE fondue and have always wanted to try this place out. So 6 of my friends (Jamie, Alissa, Christina, Susie, Melissa and Mel) gathered around a table with 3 different cheese fondue pots along with bread, apples and veggies. Next they brought out salads and then finally DESSERT! 3 pots of 3 different chocolates and 4 plates filled with marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, brownies, cheesecake & rice krispie treats. Our wonderful server set one of the pots on fire and let us roast our marshmallows! We had a blast. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends in my life! I love you all!!

HALLOWEEN FUN

As you can tell, I still have not mastered this blog thing. My pictures end up in weird orders and in weird places. Anyway, I just love this picture of Maddie "reading" the newspaper with my dad. She is such a Paappa's girl and often mimicks him.

Halloween was a lot of fun. We've had so many activities and we definatly kept busy. We went Trick or Treating at Summerville on Tuesday which is where my Grandma lives. All the residents were set up throughout and the kids got to go around an trick or treat, and Maddie had a great time. Maddie has gymnastics class on Thursday mornings which she has really taken to and absolutly loves it! This past Thursday they were able to dress up for Halloween and they had lots of fun halloween stuff for the kids to do. On Halloween we were able to spend the day as a family. We had another ultrasound scheduled, so Dave had planned to work from home for a few hours, which he did and then we were all able to hang out. Maddie loved her Giraffe costume which she only wore on Halloween. All the other halloween things we went to, it was either too hot or (like gymnastics) would have been too bulky, and her ballerina outfit seemed more appropriate. Funny how in Ohio you really need to have one warm weather costume and one cold weather costume. Or at least be able to fit your costume over a snow suit.....just incase. As much fun as we all had this past week, I think it may have been a little too much activity. Just last week, Maddie had gotten over a terrible cold and ear infection. Well, now she has the flu! It started Saturday night and I have been without sleep since. It is no fun having a sick child.....especially when they use you as their puke bucket!!! She had been having a hard time getting comfortable (probably b/c her belly hurt) so I had been "sleeping" (if you want to call it that) out in the recliner with her. 4am Monday morning at 7:30 this morning I was drenched!! She hasn't eaten since Saturday, so it was all fluid! Her fever is finally gone and she actually wanted to eat something this evening, so I'm hoping that this bug is on its way out and that I may actually get some sleep tonight. I'm also really hoping and praying that her dinner doesnt end up all over me! Enough nasty details for now.....I'm tired!

Sorry its been so long....

Ok, so I know its been a while since my last post. Things have just been really busy. On top of that, our computer has had a virus, so I havent been able to do much or even download pictures. I finally got my pictures downloaded onto my moms computer so I thought I'd post some pictures. We've been really busy.....We took Maddie to her first Perry football game and she loved listening to the band and watching the drill team and cheerleaders. She danced right along with them! We've been pumpkin picking and apple picking.....which was a lot of fun. I had never been apple picking but it was something I've always wanted to do. Madilyn loved it too!!! We went with friends to The Holden Arb's Trick or Treat street which was an outside path and you could trick or treat. It just so happened to be 80 degrees that day! Not really your typical Ohio treak or treating. So last minute we had to change her costume from a huge (winter type) giraffe costume to a balerina so she wouldnt get too hot. She ended up loving her balerina costume and still talks about it all the time. These pictures ended up in reverse order......apparently I still havent mastered this blogging thing!!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

We had our ultrasound last Tuesday and found out that Maddie is going to have a little sister! Boy is Dave going to be out numbered!!! Sorry it took me so long to post this, but the week has been really busy. Mom and I actually just got back from an over night scrapbooking event out in Middleburg Hts. We scrapped from 6pm-12:30am on Friday and then 9am-4pm today. We had a blast and accomplished a lot!!! I had so much catching up to do and needed to find time to do it so this get-away couldnt have come at a better time!! Our ultrasound pics are not that great. Maddie's regular 2-D pic is so much better than the pics we got this time around. First, he only gave us 2. One is a 3-D and is really blurry and the other is just of the "2 lines" and he typed in: ITS A GIRL! Don't ask me how '2 lines' are suppose to tell us its a girl, but he's the doc, so I suppose he knows what he's talking about. I think they just look for something hanging. If they dont see it than they say its a girl! :-)

Our visit with Auntie A, Uncle B & Maya

Auntie A, Uncle B & Maya came over last night to have dinner with us. It was so good to see them!!!!! All day Maddie talked about baby Maya coming over and how she wanted to hold her and hug her. She got to do just that! Maddie felt like such a big girl and was so proud of herself holding Maya. After dinner Maddie and I took Maya for a walk down to Maddie's favorite place....the BUCKEYE tree. We walk there everyday. Maddie was so excited to show it to Maya. We then stopped by my parents where my dad fell in love and immediatly took Maya into his arms. 2 seconds later she layed her head on his chest and fell fast asleep. My mom wasnt home, but I knew my dad would rub it in and she would be very jealous! Maddie helped get Maya changed into her pajamas and truly enjoyed every moment she spent with her. I hope she's as good with her little brother or sister as she is with Maya.

Our little Buckeye!

Every saturday morning Maddie has to put on her "BUCKEYE CLOTHES!" Last week was her jersey and this week was her dress. Lets hope she goes all out next saturday for USC!!!

On Saturday night we went to a surprise 30th bday party for Susie. It was great to see everyone and hang out with great friends!! Alissa was in from Cinci and Kristi was in from GA....soon to be on her way to Alaska!! Yes, your reading that right....ALASKA!!

On Sunday we went to a grandparents brunch at Summerville to visit my grandma. My aunt, uncle and cousin Michelle were there as well. Maddie and Michelle always have so much fun playing together. That afternoon we went to a surprise bday party for Kristi at her sisters house before she takes off for Alaska.

Here it is.....

Maddie loves her new room! We finally have everything in there except her dresser. It's not totally decorated yet either. I still need to hang up her pictures on the wall. But she started sleeping in there Thursday for nap, and has had 2 successful nights. Lets hope tonight is the third! She talks about her big girl room and is very excited about it! The first picture is Friday morning after her first night. Then after we made her bed, she wanted me to take more pictures of her!!

BIG GIRL!!

Maddie's big girl room is almost done! We are moving her into the room I grew up in, and the Sean's old room (which is where Maddie has been) will remain the baby's room. Her new room has been completely painted and we put up her bed the evening, complete with hawaiin style bedding. :-) (Typical Mealy's!!!) She was jumping on it and loved being in her new room. She has a double bed, so I still need to get the railings before she can sleep in it, which is what I hope to do tomorrow. That, along with finishing up the room and getting all her stuff moved in it. HOpefully by tomorrow night she'll be sleeping in it. I think we'll try it out for nap though first to see how she does. She took a nap yesterday in her big girl bed at my mom and dad's house which is a single bed, but she did just fine! So, say some prayers that we wont be up all night with a little monkey jumping on her new bed!!!! Still, we are without a camera. I'm hoping to steal my mom's for a day and take some pics of her new room. As soon as I do, I'll get them posted.

Maddie spent the day today with Dave's dad and stepmom. Grandma and Grandpa took her the zoo and they had a great time! They were amazed at how many animals she knew and that she was able to count them too. They couldnt believe how much she is talking (which I know she gets from me!!!). She came home with a stuffed frog that they bought her and the zoo was all she could talk about tonight. HOpefully I'll get some pictures from them when they get them developed.

The 2nd Trimester begins!!!!

I finally said goodbye to my first trimester on Monday.....WOOOOHOOOO! I went to the doctor on Thursday and heard this little peanuts heartbeat for the first time. Oh yea, when I was pregnant with Madilyn, my mom had nicknamed her Sweatpea. So this time around she has nicknamed the baby Peanut. My mom actually still has my hospital room phone number programed into her phone as "Sweetpea's room." :-) So anyway, I recorded the heartbeat on my phone (as most of you have already heard) and its absolutly amazing to listen to! I just randomly play it throughout the day and Maddie loves to listen to it too! We've scheduled my 20 week ultrasound for Sept 30th and I had no idea how great it was going to be! Apparently they will record it onto a DVD and they will also do some 3-D and 4-D shots! I wish I would have had all that great stuff with Maddie too! Its amazing the difference a couple years can make.

Im sorry that my blog has gotten so boring without any pictures. Our camera broke when we were in Myrtle Beach, and we still have not bought a new one. As an avid scrapbooker this is DEFINATLY NOT a good thing!!!! Its been very frustrating for me! :-)

Madilyn is DEFINATLY 2 yrs old!! She just throws random fits over absolutly nothing and just because she feels like it. I have found that there is nothing I can do to make it better and I've tried everything to distract her, which only makes it worse. So I just have to let her lay on the floor and throw her fit. It usually lasts about 10-15 minutes. THANK GOD this hasnt happened in the store yet! I'm not quite ready for that experience as I have absolutly no idea what I would do!!!!!!

Flash back!

So I've been looking through all of Madilyn's baby pictures and cannot beleive how time has flown by so fast! She's no longer this little itty bitty baby she was when she was born. Just thought I'd share some of my favorites. I love the picture of her sleeping with her hands abover her head and one leg out of the swaddle blanket. I'll never forget the first time I saw her sleeping like this and I thought....she sleeps just like me!! I always have to have one leg hanging out of my blanket.....who knows why! But from that day foward she would always wiggle her leg out of her swaddle for a little bit of freedom. I also love the picture of her and Lola laying on the floor together. This happened all the time! As we all know, Lola always has to be center of attention. Whenever Maddie was laying on the floor Lola had to come lay right up next to her.....and of course, on her back. AHHHHH, memories!!!

FINALLY!!!!

Thank you to everyone for your wonderful comments and well wishes! I apoligize that it has taken me this long to post again, but we've been without internet for about 2 1/2 weeks during the move and transition. We are FINALLY in our own home and trying to get settled. With the help of our good friend Sean and some of our family we were able to all of our stuff out of storage and into the house about 3 Saturdays ago. We've just been spending all of our time unpacking boxes and trying to get settled. We're almost there, but not quite yet. We still have a few boxes to unpack....stuff that we're not really sure where it will go yet. We still have to paint the dining room and hallway and then get Maddie's new room ready for her to move into. Anyway, here's the pregnancy update: I've been really nauseous in the mornings, until about noon. THis has been going on since we got back from Myrtle Beach. I'm blessed that it didnt start until AFTER our vacation. Last week I started with Evening Nausea....thats lots of fun! However, as of yesterday, my morning nausea seems to be slowly but surely decreasing. I dont want to jinx it, but hopefully its on its way out. We had our first doc appt last thursday and I measured 8 weeks and 3 days. THey set my due date for Feb 18th based on my last period (ya know how that works) but if its based on my measurement (and from when I know I got pregnant) then it would be Feb 16th.....not that much of a difference. We saw a little tiny peanut with a really strong heart beat. My doctor said seeing that strong of heart beat is a wonderful thing and that it just dropped our chance of a miscarriage to less than 5%! So all good news here. Our next appt is August 7th.
Now that I have internet back, I have a ton of catching up to do on everyones blogs!!!!!

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!

Yep, that's right! Madilyn is going to be a big sister! We found out 2 days before we left for Myrtle Beach. It was really hard to keep it a secret, but we wanted to be able to tell everyone when we got back. And, just as before, Dave thought it was too good to be true and wanted me to take another pregnancy test!! So we went to Myrtle Beach and had a wonderful relaxing vacation. Madilyn loved the beach and kept wanting to go back in the ocean to "find Nemo." My Uncle Kevin, Aunt Denise and cousin Michelle were there the same week we were. Michelle, who is 8 just loved playing with Madilyn and really kept her occupied. Maddie is very fond of "Shell." Here is the link to our Myrtle Beach pics.... http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=234014951/a=39246617_39246617/fromupload=true/imagecount=69/videocount=0/t_=39246617

So we came back on Saturday night, I took another test on Sunday morning and told our parents on Sunday afternoon. They were so excited and we all feel completely blessed! I don't think Maddie really understands it yet, but she's been around several babies and seems to love them all! When she met baby Colin she was always so concerned when he would cry and loved to rock him when he was in his carrier. Then, when she met baby Maya, she was so excited and so impressed that "baby Maya has toes too!" I'm sure she'll start to realize (at least a little) as time goes on and mommies belly gets bigger. I'm 6 weeks along and I have my first doctor's appointment on July 10th. I got through vacation feeling good, and yesterday was my first day with nausea.......I forgot how "GREAT" pregnancy can be! :-) I started my morning off (yesterday and today) with ginger ale and a preggie pop! YUM!

2 sets of best friends....

We were finally able to meet sweet baby Maya! She is absolutly adorable and was in such a good mood the entire time we were there! The first thing Maddie said was, "Maya has toes." The funny thing is....Maya had socks on! So Aunty A took them off so Maddie could see Maya's toes...that look just like her daddy's! For some reason Maddie is absolutly obsessed with feet. Alissa was feeding Maya and used one of those covers so she could breast feed. Maddie kept asking, "where did baby Maya go?" She talked a lot with Maya and Aunty A and also warmed up quickly to Alissa's mom and sister Erin. However, she moved out of the way every time Uncle B walked past. Ever since she turned 2, Maddie has had this weird fear of men. (Dave would like to continue until she's 30!!!) Anyway, before we left she finally waved to him and blew him a kiss but still wouldnt go near him. THEN.....the whole way home all she talked about was Uncle B! "Uncle B playing ball. Maddie like Uncle B. Uncle B go to zoo. Uncle B buy ice cream." Uncle B promised Maddie that when we come down to Cinci to visit at the end of summer and we all go to the zoo that he will buy her an ice cream cone. Doesnt seem as though she's going to forget that promise!!!! :-)

Maddie, Dave and I went to Isabelle and Grace McKoon's 4th bday party on Saturday. Susie went all out and had 2 pony's there that the kids were able to ride. Boy am I glad that Maddie's bday is before the girls', so Maddie doesnt have high expectations for her parties!! :-) Maddie had a blast jumping in the bouncy house, which is where she stayed almost the entire time! She wouldnt go near the pony rides! It was a great day and Maddie came home and slept 2 1/2 hours!



The house is almost done!! The painters finished up this week, so now all they have left is the guy to come and install the carpet, which is happening this week and then the plumber to install the toilets which is also happening this week. The plan is to move next weekend....starting on the 13th. Dave, Madilyn and I leave for Myrtle Beach on the 13th, so unfortunately we wont be here to help them move, but we're hoping that we'll be coming home to an empty house! :-) The original plan was to be moving this weekend in which we would have been able to help, but the painters got delayed which caused everything else to be moved back. They had their first major problem yesterday. The appliances were delivered and apparently the carpenter did not leave enough room for the refrigerator. So they also have to figure that out this week. I have no idea what the solution would be....other than to buy a new fridge.

Big Girl!

Yesterday Maddie and I went to get our hair cut. I've had Linda trim her hair 3 times before. I'd only let her trim it because I was so worried about losing the curl. However, her hair has been looking much like a mullet lately. It has grown so long, but its growing like a V so the middle back part of her hair is the longest. I finally decided yesterday to have Linda even it out in the back. She looks like such a big girl with her official "big girl" hair cut. Its now like a little bob. She looks so cute, but I have to say I really miss my "little girl." Best of all.....she still has some curl!!!!