Belly Picture

My very sweet neighbors were kind enough to throw me a baby shower this past Sunday. Even though it's our second child and another girl, they insisted. We decided to take some pictures after the shower of my big belly. I am bigger this pregnancy than with Maddie and can't believe I'm only 28 weeks in these pictures. My latest ultrasound estimated the baby to be in the 73rd percentile for 28 1/2 weeks, so she's growing fast. We'll see when she makes her arrival and whether or not she'll start off a peanut like her big sister.

One of the cutest gifts I got at the shower was a "Sisters" basket with a Big Sis shirt for Maddie and a Lil Sis onesie for the baby along with matching big sis/lil sis bows and a big sis/lil sis picture frame.

Our guitar hero

We are borrowing Kim's Wii for a little while and Maddie has enjoyed playing with the guitar for Guitar Hero. One morning, she dressed up in a wild outfit (think bumble bee meets Madonna) and was rockin' out. Then one night Chris played the game and she had fun just sitting beside him pretending to play. Too funny!

It's a......

GIRL! Yes, another girl for us. Madeline is going to have a little sister. I am excited for her and of course for us. I'm hoping that with 4 years between them, they will be buddies. Maddie has been saying, "Mommy, when the baby gets bigger, she's going to be my friend." I think she will be a good teacher, although maybe a little bossy at times. But most importantly, everything looked good at the ultrasound! Here are a couple pictures. They didn't give us many, but here is a profile picture and the girl picture.

The Future Big Sister

Mommy's sweetheart on Valentine's Day (19 weeks pregnant)

We told Maddie the news that she is going to be a big sister on Christmas Eve! We told her she could open two presents on Christmas Eve from us and one was a Dora nightgown (we always do new PJ's on Christmas Eve) and a Big Sister shirt. When asked about her gift later that evening (in reference to becoming a big sister), she only seemed to remember the Dora nightgown. Initially it didn't really sink in, but in the past few weeks Madeline has been asking more questions about the baby and planning lots of things for when the baby arrives. At first she was insistent that it's a girl. Then she changed her mind and said it's a boy and we will name him Cosmo. Now she flip flops every day. One day she said, "Mommy, I know what we can name the baby...Lisa." I told her that was a nice name, but we probably wouldn't name the baby Lisa and she said with the straightest face....."Well, Cosmo it is." I just know she is going to be a great big sister, whether it's a boy or girl. And we plan to find out on Feb. 23rd, so stay tuned!

Blizzard #2 and #3!

Usually in Virginia we get a blizzard every few years. This year, Mother Nature has blessed us with not one, not two, but three blizzards in one winter. I won't go on and on about it, I feel like I just did a post like this (oh right, because I did)! Basically, Saturday's storm dumped nearly 3 ft. on us and then we got hit again with another foot on Wednesday. I got the whole week off work so Maddie and I had lots of quality time together. She was really well-behaved and didn't seem to get cabin fever, amazingly. Thanks to my neighbor who is always up for a social event, we had little outings for sledding, dinner, breakfast, and wine (water for me) right across the street to keep us sane!

This is our deck after the first storm, believe it or not!

Look closely at my neighbor's yard, the snow is almost as high as the fence!

Maddie is literally chest deep in the snow. She was kind of stuck and being the great mom that I am, I had to get a picture first before getting her out. That is why she wouldn't look at the camera!

Yes, that's Maddie in her bike helmet. She tried to ride her bike the day after the first storm. She didn't get very far.

During the day of the second storm, Chris found a leak from our roof. Good times. This is the point when I decided it was enough snow and started to get a little cranky. The good news is, it was in the future baby's room so it forced us to clear it out. And since we haven't painted yet it's not a big deal.

So lucky to have a handy husband! And good at multi-tasking. He was on a conference call, moving the computer out of the room, cutting into the drywall and getting into the attic to investigate the source of the leak!

Blizzard of '09!

We had a huge snow storm that dumped about 2 feet of snow on us. It was over the weekend which was nice. Chris spent much of the weekend shoveling and even shoveled the deck because he was worried about the weight of the snow on the deck. He ended up with a big pile in the yard below and could not pass up the opportunity to have a little fun, Chris-style. It's not exactly like doing a flip on a snowboard, but it satisfied his urge to have some x-treme winter fun!

First Visit with Santa....worth the wait!

This is Maddie's 4th Christmas and we have never taken her to sit on Santa's lap. The first year it seemed crazy to wait in line with a 5 month-old, the second year Maddie definitely would have cried, last year she said she didn't want to and I respected that, thinking if we traumatized her at 2 1/2 we might never get a picture with Santa. This year, she was game. Especially when I told her she would get a candy cane at the end. We went the week of Thanksgiving and didn't wait at all and got a great picture with a great Santa!

Fun in the leaves!

Usually around Thanksgiving or my Nana's birthday we help rake the leaves at her house in PA. This year we went up for my Nana's birthday and Maddie and I played in the leaves and she was being quite a ham for the camera. I got some funny shots.

Giving the birthday queen a kiss!

Oh, so dramatic! Nothing was wrong, she was just acting.

Happy Halloween!

What fun, having Halloween on a Saturday this year! As usual, we had the big gathering and parade on our street and the Baums joined us for dinner and trick-or-treating. Madeline and Livia are so sweet together. They get along great. Maddie was a bumble bee this year. She started saying in January that she wanted to be a bumble bee and despite being so into princess things, she wanted to be a bee. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the night.

Bumble Bee with an attitude!

There's my sweet girl!

Prayers

We have put Maddie's wonderful memory to good use and taught her some prayers. She now says the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Now I lay me down to sleep every night at bedtime. Then we pray for all of our family and friends. Maddie likes to add in "God bless Bailey (Kim's dog), and God bless my toys, and God bless the light and the fan," and basically anything else that pops into her mind. I love hearing her say them, it's my favorite part of bedtime! I wanted to capture it on video. She has some trouble getting the words just right. But didn't we all think for the longest time as kids that "forwhichitstands" was one word?

A funny little conversation...

Maddie cracks me up daily and I need to be better about writing some of the things she is saying down so I don't forget. Here was our conversation in the car on the way home tonight:
Me: Maddie, what animals did you see at the zoo today? (Nana took her to the Reston Zoo)
Maddie: I saw goats, and sheep, and a camel, and a cantelope!
Me: Oh Maddie, you mean an antelope?
Maddie: Yes Mommy, an antelope. Antelope.....Cantaloupe....that rhymes!
Me: Yes it does honey. Good job!
Maddie: Hmmmm (thinking).... Veggie...Wedgie.....that rhymes too!

Fall Fun

I love this time of year and always realize that I love the change of seasons. As much as I love summer, it has been refreshing to have cooler temperatures this Fall. We recently traded in the Pathfinder. I almost cried because I loved that car and it was our first car together, but we couldn't pass up the incentives. We got a new Toyota Tacoma truck. Chris won the truck vs. SUV battle and I have to say it's nice to have a truck. We are able to throw the bikes and the bike trailer in the back of the truck and we've taken advantage of it a few times and gone for rides on the C&O Canal, which is a bike trail that goes along the Potomac river. I didn't get any bike shots, but I did take some pictures down by the river.

On a Friday in September, we went with Chris's parents and dear friends Larry and Nerita (who were visiting from Nebraska) to see Samie play soccer at Georgetown. Villanova plays Georgetown every year and this year the game was in D.C. so we went and had a great time.


Then, the last weekend of September, we spent a weekend at Deep Creek Lake with my family. We didn't get a chance to all get away together in the summer, so when my coworker offered her amazing lake house to us, we decided to get away for a little R&R. I really rested because I ended up getting strep throat the night before we left. And the weather was pretty miserable, cold and rainy. But somehow, despite the weather and illness, we had a great weekend. I guess that says a lot for how much I love my family! We did manage to get outside on Saturday and went for a little hike at a state park there called Swallow Falls. Chris and I have been there before to camp with friends, the first time in 1994 and the second time in 1999. So it is a place near and dear to our hearts. I was able to use our new scanner to scan an old picture from our second trip. The scenery there is so beautiful and we all agree that another trip to the Deep Creek Lake area is a must!