Are the bad mans out?

Last night, after we stopped by the hospital to see Samuel, we decided to head to downtown Urbana and check out the Blues, Brews, and BBQ festival. Mark is a big BBQ guy and can't ever pass it up so he was especially excited.

We headed over around 7pm and each got our meal (I had yummy BBQ chicken nachos). After walking around, chatting with some people that we knew (we ran into Sam's nurse), and walking through the kids area, we decided to head out. Mark had made a comment - "if we wait around much longer to leave this place it isn't going to be safe for women and children." (Of course almost everyone had a beer in hand and the band was getting started so we wanted to get out of there before things would possibly get rowdy).

Mady was upset that we had to leave and kept asking us why. I didn't really know what to tell her and so I said (not thinking she would really remember) that when it gets dark the people might start doing bad things. I didn't think too much about it and we left. On the way home we started a conversation with Madalyn about why it gets dark and why fireflies only come out when it's dark. Mady then asked a couple of questions about our conversation and then was quiet a bit. She then asked, "Mom, are the bad mans out now?" I asked what she was talking about and she said "the bad mans come out when it's dark and they do bad things."

I guess she was listening earlier when I had told her why we needed to leave the festival. It was pretty funny though and Mark told me that it was "blog-worthy."

As a side note... I've always grown up calling the fireflies "lightning bugs" whereas Mark is the one that calls them fireflies. If you're going to plan on explaining "lightning bugs" to a toddler - make sure that it isn't lightning outside...whew... it was a little confusing there for a second. We did have fun chasing the lightning bugs in the backyard when we got home. I'm glad it was dark because I know I looked like a fool out there! Oh well, Mady had fun and we made some fun memories!

Hannah's Homecoming!

This is long overdue but better late than never...

Our tiny Hannah is home from the NICU! She's officially been home for a week and 2 days and I've loved every minute of it. She was released last Tuesday weighing in at 5lbs 1 oz. We took her to the Dr. on Friday and their scale calculated her in at 5lbs 8oz. I'd say she's doing a pretty good job of eating!!
I was blessed by the fact that she was already on a schedule from being in the NICU. She eats every 3 hours (yep, even through the night!) and then pretty much goes back to sleep. I've been having to wake her up though and she's not been showing a lot of interest in eating during the night - I'm hoping this is a sign of sleeping through the night in the future! I was already in the 3 hour routine as I've been (and still am) pumping milk every 3 hours for both babies. So, nothing much has changed. Mark takes the 5am feeding so that I can have a longer shift of sleep which has definitely been a blessing. Hannah rarely makes a sound and sometimes I forget that we have another child in the home. She's a real joy. Her smiles, her cute little grunts, and her sheep-like noises that she makes in her sleep all make me smile. She's a precious little girl and we love her to pieces - especially her big sister.

Speaking of big sisters... Madalyn has done exceptionally well with adjusting to having a new baby at home. The first day that Hannah was here, Mady barely left her side. I would find her laying next to Hannah on the floor with her arm wrapped around her, she would constantly ask to hold her, and she loved giving her kisses. The couple of times that we stepped out to go to the hospital together, Mady would insist on helping Mark or I carry the carseat, she would tell everyone "this is my sister," and she was always telling people all about her. We ran to one place in particular and Mady sat next to the carseat when Mark put it down. She said, "this is my little sister Hannah. Sam is still in the hospital because he is too little." She was proudly answering questions about Hannah and making sure that people knew that "you can't touch her." I'm very proud of the way she's handled things and the way she has adjusted. She handles change so well. I know she loves her little sister and I know she will be a great big sister!
The hardest thing about having Hannah home is not having her brother here as well. It's so hard to leave Samuel there and it's even harder being able to visit. I can't take either girl with me to the hospital so I usually have to go when Mark is home and able to watch them both or when we have a sitter. It's trying and tiring but I wouldn't miss a day without seeing my little man. I think we're going on 40 days of me being at the hospital at least once a day! God is definitely using this experience to strengthen me. It's been so hard but I couldn't do it without His strength and His grace.

Sam is doing quite well. He's up to 4lbs 4oz and he's in an open crib now which means he's able to regulate his own body temperature. He's eating 6 bottles a day (8 is goal) and he's doing well with it. Once he gets to eating 8 bottles a day and from those 8 he is taking 80% of the milk from them, then they will take out his feeding tube. They will watch him for a day or 2 and if he does well he'll get to come home! The doctor said probably another 10-14 days so hopefully he can come home soon! I know it will be a trying time when he comes home - trying to balance 2 babies - but I'm so ready for it. I've been surprised at how well I feel I've handled things so far and that gives me some encouragement about tackling 2! I was just telling Mark the other day that I felt more stressed and more anxious about having Madalyn at home when she was a baby than I do now... Maybe it's the 1st time mom thing!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and words of encouragement! You've definitely been a blessing to us! Hopefully soon I can post a picture of us as a family of FIVE!!!

Busted!

Yesterday, Madalyn and I decided to take advantage of the hot weather and we had Daddy put up the pool in the backyard. We had fun splashing around and Mady loved it when I pulled her slide over and put it in the pool. She loved sliding down and splashing into the pool!

At one point we were sitting down chatting (girl talk if you will! ha!) and she looked over at my hand. I had written a tiny note to myself in the crease of my hand and she had spotted it. She asked me, "what's that mommy?" I told her that it was a note so that I could remember to do something. She quickly responded by saying, "mommy, we don't write on our hands. We only write on paper!"

Ouch! Guess I should be careful what I do and what I tell her not to do. She sure is a perceptive little thing!!!

As a side note, I had the note on my hand to remind me to blog about something. Here's the story...
At naptime yesterday I went up and layed in bed with her and we read a few stories. She chose to read from a book of Bible stories. For some reason she was fixated on the story of Adam and Eve and we probably read that story about 5 times. After one of the times she asked me why they didn't have any clothes on (in the picture they were covered only with the fig leaves). I began to tell her the story about how God had made them and they weren't ashamed and they didn't have to wear clothes. Then we went on to talk about sin (yep, I talked about it with my 2 year old) and how that affected them and their wardrobe. She asked me what sin is and I tried to explain by telling her it is the bad things that we do. She turned to me, looked straight in my eyes, and said straight faced "like when I went in your bathroom and played with your lipstick?"

BINGO!

(Earlier in the week she had decided to play with my lipstick and the floor!) It's amazing how kids are able to understand and pick up on things. She knew exactly what I was talking about when I was telling her about sin. I think that's a pretty good grasp on it from a 2 year old's understanding!

Bubbles, Bubbles, and More Bubbles

Monday evening was supposed to be a relaxing evening for me. Mark was out playing softball and then was going to go to the hospital to see the babes. Mady was put to bed at 7pm, as usual, and I was getting ready to relax and have the house to "myself." I came downstairs and about 30 minutes after Mady went to bed I had this "something isn't right" feeling. I yelled upstairs to ask her where she was to which she didn't respond... the first clue.

To add something right quick... we have a rule in our house that once you are in bed, you stay in bed. If she gets up after we put her to bed, she knows that there will be a consequence for her actions. She's been great at staying in her bed... until this particular night.

I went upstairs to find out what she was doing and I hear her in our bathroom - not a good sign. She hears me coming and starts scrambling. I hear her fall once, cry a bit, fall again, and cry some more. By the time I get to the bathroom I find a mess... of blue bodywash - men's bodywash to top it off. I should've known by the smell as I was coming up the stairs - 2nd clue.

Apparently she had decided to play in the body wash as it was all over her body, all over the floor, and a tad bit in her hair. I guessed from the noise and what I know about Madalyn that when she heard me coming she tried to scramble and fell down in the soap. She got up and tried again and slipped again. When I found her she was laying on her back crying in a glob of body wash. (However, she did smell like her daddy!)

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It could have been a lot worse. However, this was the first thing that she had ever "gotten into." I cleaned up the soap (which was a disaster in itself as every time I wiped it up it turned to bubbles), gave Madalyn her 2nd bath of the evening, and put her to bed with a very stern talking to. At one point I asked her if she understood what was wrong and she said "mommy's not happy with me" through a bunch of tears.

I hope that that doesn't happen again, but like I mentioned earlier if that's the worst that can happen then I'll be okay. Oh, the joys of a toddler...

A Day in the life of Dad Part 1

We went to the hospital last night to visit Hannah and Samuel who are doing quite well. Sam is up to 3'2 and Hannah is up to 4'6. Mady came with us and hung out with Jenn in the waiting room since she can't go into the NICU. I went in and visited the kiddos.

We left the NICU and started walking towards the elevators. Mady pushed the button to go down and as she was playing around waiting for it to come, she fell down. We heard a loud "Uh oh!"

Mady flipped over and we realized that when she fell, she had already pooped, and (gross!) it squirted up out of her diaper, all over her shorts, shirt and all over the floor. She stood up, started to reek and we all looked at the pile of poop now on the hospital floor. We managed to clean it up, as people gathered at the elevator waiting to go down.

We all got onto the elevator, and we stood at the very back, praying that no one else smelled the odor coming from my daughter's back side. We tried our best to keep Mady quiet as she insited on telling EVERYONE "I pooped! I pooped!" We also decided not to ride the shuttle to the parking lot, instead, we walked. Of course, it took us 5 times longer to get there as Mady wanted to look at the grass, try to find bugs and overall be very pokey.

We got to the car (a rental car as our new van is getting the control board fixed, which we knew when we bought it). We decided to change her diaper in the parking lot. Well, that turned interesting as there was poop everywhere on her. I finally threw her clothes in the trunk so they wouldn't stink up the rental car. I found a trash can in the parking lot and threw the entire mess in there. As we are doing this, people are continuously staring at us either driving by or riding on the shuttle bus.

When we were finished, I started up the car, and pulled out and my left over mexican food slid off the dash board and onto Jenn's lap (and rental car seat). Now Jenn needed to have her pants changed. Unfortunately, she didn't want to change her pants in the parking lot (that would have been hilarious, and probably illegal)...she wanted to wait until we got home...

Just another day in the life of a normal Dad. And I love it! (Of course, I'm not the one who messed their pants!)

A Day in the life of Dad Part 2

A couple of weeks ago, we tried to get all 3 car seats across our back seat into our SUV. It didn't happen. We lacked about 8 inches. And, it just didn't work. There would be no way for Mady to get into her middle seat. So, we started to do research on a minivan (ala 'manivan'). We absolutely made a pact that we would never buy one, but alas, 3 kids have altered our thinking.

I started to do major research on the stupid things. At first, I thought I would just be able to buy a different SUV (Yukon XL or a Suburban - considering they have 3rd row seating and optional bucket seats in the 2nd row). However, when we looked at them, without going into details, they aren't set up for car seats and they obviously don't have sliding doors, which was a huge plus). Then I started looking at cross overs like the Chevy Uplander and the Buick Terraza. We weren't real hip on these either as there wasn't a lot of room behind the 3rd row seating. So, we started looking at the traditional 'manivan.'

We looked at the Toyota Sienna, Honda Odyssey, Nissan Quest and the Chrysler Town and Country (the Dodge Caravan fits in the same mold). I realized that to get into a newer Toyota or Honda, we would be spending a little more than I wanted to, and even the newer Nissans were a little high. Having realized all that, we started looking at the T & C. Chrylers (along with most domestic vehicles) lose their market value very fast (I learned this when I worked at the car dealership) so I thought I could get a newer one for decent money, and as long as we keep it for a long time, who cares about resale value. I really wanted a vehicle that would fit a family of 5 comfortably in town and on long trips to South Carolina (where we WILL vacation again!).

I called dealerships all over Illinois, Indianapolis and St Louis and found that I could get into an 08. It wouldn't be the top of the line 'Limited' edition. But nonetheless, an 08 with lower mileage and a good, clean body. The 08 also has the new body style, which looks a little less "mini-vany." We test drove a number of them in the area at different dealerships and I searched on craigslist and Ebay. We went over to Rick Ridings in Monticello to drive a nice silver one. I talked to a good friend of ours, Shane York, who sells there and also goes to our church. They had just sold the silver one that morning, but he told me that they had a couple of others, but the one that he showed us just wouldn't fit. Here's how our conversation went...

Shane: I have this 08 T &C over here.
Me: No, Shane, that won't work.
Shane: Why?
Me: Because Shane, I'm already giving you one testicle selling my SUV and buying a van, I'm not going to give you my other one when I buy a POWDER BLUE minivan!

We ended up test driving it.

We left there and continued our research. We found one down at Pilson's in Charleston. We drove down there this past week. It's Crystal Red. Very nice. Great body. They gave us a whale of a deal on it and on our trade in. Even though it took us about 4 hours at the dealership while in negotiations, we were very satisfied with our purchase.

Jenn loves the sliding doors and the 60/40 3rd row that folds down into the floor flat. It gets about 24 mpg on the interstate (a tad better than the 18 we got in our SUV). I'm not sure how it will handle in the snow (prob not as good as the 4 wheel drive we used to have). It is comfortable and looks like it's going to be a good fit for our family of 5. Now all we need is a 'Soccer Mom' sticker on the window...