Weekly Update 3-11-09

Well it has been a fun and exciting week here in Louisana! Ashley has been with us since May 8 and Kenzie has had a blast with her! It sure has helped mommy out too. I have been able to spend more time with Madi and also Daddy and I have been able to run a couple of quick errands, THANKS ASHLEY!

Of course, the girls have been spoiled as usual. They have received gifts of clothes, gift cards, toys, and love. Kenzie still is loving being the big sister and helps out as much as we will let her. Sometimes she is a little too much help! LOL.

Madisyn is doing well also and growing like a weed. I think she is going through a growth spurt because she seems to be at the breast 24-7! She is a good eater and has already surpassed her birth weight. A feat which took McKenzie quite some time unfortunately.

Speaking of McKenzie and weight, she has filled out quite a bit and is finally starting to gain weight again. We were stuck at 30 pounds for a long time, but she has gained a few pounds over the last couple of months. We are also full time potty training her. She is wearing big girl panties and occasionally will "leak" a little in them, but she is doing pretty good!

We love and miss you all. Take care!

2 weeks old

Well Ms. Madi will be 2 weeks old tomorrow morning. Time flies! Aunt Ashley Reed came down on Friday evening and is here for 12 days. It has been wonderful having a second set of hands to help! She keeps McKenzie well entertained and gave me a well deserved break on Mother's Day allowing me to get a nice long shower in! It was wonderful to be able to take a long shower and relax. Daddy and Kenzie made me breakfast in bed and let me sleep in, well when Madi was sleeping. All in all it has been a wonderful two weeks. Madi is a good baby and only shows real attitude when she is being changed or hungry. She sleeps for about 4 hours at a stretch through the night.

Daddy has gone back to work and starts his driver's training class on Monday even though he does not have his gear. Imagine this, still problems with the Indiana National Guard! They have not released his clothing records because another unit in Greenfield is claiming him. So until things are straightened out, he remains without his necessary equipment to do his job down here!

Big sister is doing wonderful. She is a big help. You have to watch her though because today she tried to pick Madi up and take off with her. Fortunately mommy and aunt ashley were both right there to jump all over that! Other than that she just likes to love on her, lots of hugs and kisses. She really likes to help feed her when "mommy squeezes her boobies out" to a bottle. She is LOVING having Ashley here to play with her. God only knows what we will do when our Ashley is back home!

We love and miss you all.

Madisyn Is Here

It is about time for me to lay down for a quick nap before our next feeding, but I wanted to add some pictures of Madisyn and her big sister for you all to enjoy!

She was born April 27th at 0350 weighing 6 lbs 2 oz and measuring 20 inches long. She has LONG fingers and toes and for the time being brown hair and dark eyes.

McKenzie said that we would keep her! She loves to hug and kiss all over her. She is a great big helper!

Love and miss you all!

Quick Three Week Update

From the Easter Bunny

At the community Easter Egg Hunt

Pictures with the Easter Bunny

Trying on her goggles from Nana and Papa

Amazed by the bubble blower from Nana and Papa

Looking goofy in her Easter Hat from Nana and Papa

Singing in the rain the day the movers brought our stuff.

She was also trying to drink it as it fell.

Her and daddy sleeping.

Her and daddy wrestling

A slightly more serious picture of the goons.

Okay, I know that have not posted in like forever, but things have been REALLY hectic around here! Here is a breif synapses of what has taken place in the last three weeks.

We moved into our new house and are just finally getting the rest of our stuff put away although Jackie will be bringing down more stuff with her when she comes next week to include EMMA. We are so excited to finally be getting her home. She has been missed. We seem to have everything in order as far as baby gear, clothes, etc for Ms. Madisyn and McKenzie seems to be settling in nicely.

We have spent many days at the local park which is just 2-3 blocks from our house. It is a fun little walk and we have spent many evenings as a family walking down there and then coming back home with everyone exhausted!

Fort Polk is slowly becoming home of which Indiana can never be replaced, but as a military family, you have to make the best out of each "home" or you will always be miserable. The people here seem very friendly and it has a kind of small town feeling to it.

Daddy took McKenzie fishing for the first time ever on Good Friday. They did not catch any fish, but they both had a great time and McKenzie even went for an unexpected dip when she slipped in the mud and fell in the edge. She is very excited about going back after she saw a young man catch a catfish this week!

We had a wonderful Easter. Thank you to all of you who sent gifts for the girls. Kenzie loves getting presents from back home!

Joe's truck is done at last! He is so excited to be getting his other baby next Monday. Thanks a billion times over to Glen Dunson an old family friend who worked tirelessly on Joe's truck and now has it back up and running! What can I say, There is nothing better than the love and selflessness of family and friends!

McKenzie will be spending the first two hours away from mommy and daddy at a friends house later tonight. Joe and I have labor and delivery class and McKenzie is going to her friend, Nathan's house, to play. She is so excited. We had Nathan over this morning and took him to the park and had lunch with him and the kids loved it! We met Lisa his mother through FRG originally and then figured out that she went to the same church as us. His dad, Buck, is a 2lt in Joe's unit.

As far as Ms. Madisyn is concerned, I have started to dilate, but still have a little ways to go. If I don't deliver spontaneously by Sunday April 26th (7pm) and there is a room available, they are going to induce me. Otherwise I will be going in Monday morning for induction. She is getting to be a big girl and putting pressure everywhere, including on my back which still has some issues following surgery. We pray for a healthy, quick delivery!!

I appreciate all the phone calls and emails that we have received offering support and prayer. It means so much to us! We miss you all and I will try to upload pictures of Madisyn as soon as I am available. Jackie and Mom should be out here next week, Ashley two weeks in May, and then probably my Dad and Diane for a couple days at the end of May. Hopefully with all their help and Joe's "paternity" leave, I will get a few seconds to update this before three more weeks expire.

Sliding at the Park

Creating a Beautiful Chalk Masterpiece

Week in Review

Madisyn frontal view with chubby cheeks

Kenzie's beautiful creation with sidewalk chaulk

Messy girl after making her creation. She is a MESS!

Oops, it appears I forgot to post a new blog earlier this week. Well it has been a busy week! We decided not to put Kenzie in preschool due to potty training issues, but instead wait until next school year. She is still going to daycare a couple of days a week to get the interaction of other children her age. My doctor appt went well and this week I started my biweekly NST's. How exciting! LOL. That pretty much covers last weeks events.

This week I have had two NST's, an ultrasound, and a doctor's appointment. The doctor appointment was uneventful and in fact, they are very impressed with my blood pressures. I have cut my blood pressure medication dose in half due to low blood pressure and my pressures continue to be in the low 120's/60's. Today's NST was a little eventful and ended up lasting 1 hour and 20 minutes. I was contracting pretty regularly, but the contractions never intensified in strength so they went ahead and released me. Later today we found out through ultrasound that, PRAISE GOD, Madisyn has decided to cooperate and is head down position facing my spine. It was difficult to get any good pictures of her due to her rear facing position. We did however get one face shot. It appears that the little girl has some chubby cheeks. Also, something I never saw with McKenzie and it is amazing to me that you can see on ultrasound was hair. You can see the fuzz which is Madisyn's hair and boy does she have lots of it. I am hoping that she is going to be my beautiful brown haired, brown eyed little girl! I have NST's and fluid level watch (an ultrasound to check amnio fluid) next week and then return to the doctor on April 6.

We will be celebrating Easter this year in our new home. Yes, we signed the papers today for our new house on post. It is not exactly what we were looking for, but it will do and it will get us in a house before Madisyn arrives! There is no garage, but there is a decent carport and storage area. It is a three bedroom, 2.5 bath duplex, upstairs and downstairs. There is a dining room, kitchen, and large living room as well as a HUGE pantry/laundry room (big enough for AC, water heater, washer/dryer, and our big deep freeze). The back yard is not real impressive, but it will be summer soon and Emma will be inside a lot due to heat. Otherwise, we will just have to start taking family walks, which will be healthy for all of us!

On the lines of Easter, we will be celebrating Easter on Palm Sunday at our house. Easter has become too commercialized and due to the true and meaningful meaning of Easter Sunday we want to keep it holy. We will be doing Easter egg hunt with Joe's battlion on Saturday and then doing our hunt and easter baskets with her on Sunday morning that way we can teach her the true meaning and symbolism of the next week starting with Good Friday and ending with resurrection Sunday. We ask that if any of you are going to send Easter stuff for the girls that you send this week or wait until after the 12th.

Joe has been on permissive TDY this week (basically leave allowing him to look for a house). He gets 10 days paid vacation that does not count toward his yearly allotment of leave. He goes back to work starting in the middle of the week next week, but will probably get a day or two off at the end of the week to supervise the delivery of our household goods which should be down here by the 3rd.

I think that about sums it up for us. Our new address is 15430-B West Street Fort Polk, LA 71459.

Well it has rained for the last four days dropping the temperature from the nice and warm 85 degrees that we had last weekend to a mild 60. Still not bad, but the constant rain has made it pretty miserable for McKenzie and me since we don't have a car during the day and we can't play outside the apartment. The quarters which aren't to bad in reality seem quite cramped when you have a cooped up 3 year old!!

Other than that we are doing well. Her pony collection is expanding and she loves playing with them. It is such a blessing watching her play and act out life situations through her ponies. She has such an imagination! She is getting very excited about her little sister and just this week said, Madisyn is getting bigger mommy, she can come out soon! I imagine the excitement might be short lived after Madisyn actually arrives!

Joe has joined up with his new unit. They seem very strict and he has found himself to be in the minority, but he says that so far it has not been to bad. He starts PT tomorrow morning, so I am sure for the next couple of weeks he is going to be hurting! This unit just got back from Iraq in the fall so they should be around for a little while, hopefully 24 months! We will just pray for a long stay right here stateside.

Madisyn is still a very active girl, however, I think she is still in the breech position. We have an appointment in the OB/GYN clinic tomorrow here on base. That is where I will also deliver as long as everything goes as planned and she arrives on schedule. We are getting very anxious for her arrival as I get more uncomfortable with each passing day. Sleeping at night is nearly impossible. I guess I will be ready for those every 2-3 hour feedings once she gets here, lol.

Joe and I have decided to put McKenzie in preschool here. She will probably be starting next week, although we are registering her tomorrow. I think the interaction with other children will be good for her and give her someone her own age to play with. It will also give me time to work in the mornings or afternoons, whenever she goes, as well as give me some one on one time with Madisyn so she gets the attention and "education" that McKenzie got at an early age being an only child.

I will update you all tomorrow after the baby appointment. Until then, we love you all and miss you dearly! Above are a couple of pictures of McKenzie playing at the park last week. She is quite the monkey!

We're Here

Well as most of you know, we are here and starting to settle into the hot humid weather of Fort Polk, LA. We are in temporary lodging which is essentially an apartment where we will live until a more permanent house becomes available on post. It is fairly spacious and is almost an exact replica of the layout of our house in Kansas. Kenzie seems to enjoy her new living conditions for the time being, although I am not sure if the reality of the move has really sunk in yet. The houseing waiting list is 1-2 months and so far we have been on the list for 15 days, hopefully we are half way there!! There are 4 families that need 3 bedrooms on the list in front of us and there are a couple of units deploying so hopefully the turn around is quick. I really have not had a chance to meet anyone around here yet, but Joe says that all the people that he has encountered in his in processing have been exceptionally nice and very hospitable. The base, what we have seen of it, appears to be fairly small and there does not appear to be much just outside the base to do, but we are only about 1 hour away from Lake Charles and 45 minutes away from Alexandria. Joe has been told that there is a really nice zoo in Alexandria, which we may check out before Madi comes. There is also a big festival next weekend in Alexandria with BBQ ect and Joe would really like to go try that out!

We had a little scare this weekend with Madisyn, but everything seems to be okay according to the doctors here. I just had a little uterine irritation from dehydration from traveling and was contracting, but they were not strong enough to start anything. They said to take it easy and they got me into the clinic on Monday March 16th for my first appt.

The pollen here is unbelievable and Miss McKenzie and myself have had to resume our allergy medication, but I think once that kicks in, we will be ready to go for walks and trips to the park! There is a nice little playground outside our apartment.

We miss you all dearly and will keep you up to date as often as possible. It is my goal to update each Sunday, but this one kind of slipped by...

Love you all!!