Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers and expecting mothers and especially Happy Mother’s Day to the Mothers in my life! I had a GREAT Mother’s Day weekend and feel so blessed to be a mother and have Madelyn in my life!

My Mom flew in Friday evening and Saturday we had a fun day full of shopping and eating out. We went to Legends and Madelyn had a great time as well but didn’t want to try on new shoes for school! It was kind of funny because the children’s shoe store was chaotic and thank goodness she wasn’t the only kid throwing a fit! Sunday morning we woke up and Jim & Madelyn were full of Happy Mother’s Day wishes to me. I opened really sweet cards and they had got me a beautiful keepsake box that had pictures all the way around it and a plant inside. It was one the neatest gifts I have ever gotten and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE it!!! They also got me a 1 hour massage at a nice salon that I am looking forward to!!!!! We went to a nice Mother’s Day brunch and then it was time for my Mom to fly home. It was a quick trip but it was a lot of fun. Jim took my Mom to the airport while Madelyn napped and I watched Lifetime Movie Network. When Madelyn woke up from her nap Jim was already home so he went to get her. They came downstairs and she walked into the kitchen carrying a dozen colorful roses for me. It was so SWEET and the look on her face handing me the roses was priceless and a moment I will never forget. She was so proud, happy and excited! That evening we played outside with our friends and enjoyed delicious pizza from my favorite pizza joint for dinner. It was a great day and I didn’t want it to end!

Thanks Jim for everything you did for me for Mother’s Day! You made it so special and I am so thankful for you and Madelyn. It was a great day and a great weekend. You set the standards high for Father’s Day :)

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Kansas City held a volleyball tournament the first weekend in May that Jim’s cousin Mary coached in and Jim’s cousin Danielle played in. This is the second year in a row that both Mary and Danielle have been involved in the tournament and this year Danielle’s team WON!!! It was great seeing the Bartlesville Koster’s and Mary & Kari! Jim’s parents had planned on coming to KC for the tournament and since they were already here caring for Madelyn they stayed through the weekend. Uncle Randy and Aunt Mary had everyone over Saturday evening for pizza and we celebrated birthdays! It was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed playing outside with bubbles. They also enjoyed a late night game of “kick the can” and had a blast playing it. I had never heard of the game but Jim has great memories playing the game with his cousins at PaPa’s house!

Sunday morning we got up and celebrated Grandpa/Mike’s birthday. We went out to brunch at First Watch and then they headed back to Ponca City! Madelyn enjoyed making Grandpa a card with construction paper, glue and markers. She didn’t even make a mess! Thanks again to Grandma & Grandpa Connelly for taking such GREAT care of Madelyn!!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

Yucky Stomach Bug

Well the Tuesday (April 20th) after coming back from Wichita Madelyn became very ill with a stomach virus. Jim stayed home with her on Wednesday and we took her to the doctor and she said she had a bad bug and to keep her hydrated! Jim’s mom and dad came and stayed with her Thursday and Friday which was so nice and we are so thankful for!!!! She was still vomiting and having diarrhea but we thought she was getting better until Thursday evening. She was up all night screaming and extremely uncomfortable. We took her back to the doctor Friday afternoon and they sent us right to the hospital. We got to the hospital and they immediately started an IV and it only took 2 tries this time to get everything going. They took blood and her blood results showed low sugar levels and dehydration so after 2 bags of fluids and a bag of dextrose she was A LOT better!!!! She was running all over the room, hiding from the nurses and trying to escape the room whenever anyone would open the door….she was being so FUNNY! They also took stomach x-rays because of how bad she was crying when they did the stomach exam but everything looked good!!! We were sent home late Friday evening and she slept through the night…THANK GOODNESS because we were exhausted from 3 nights of no sleep. She was still sick Saturday, Sunday and Monday but by Tuesday she was doing a lot better. Jim came down with it Saturday afternoon so I guess it was contagious. Jim’s Mom and Dad came back and stayed with her so she could get extra TLC!!! Just for the record 7 days of vomiting and diarrhea SUCKS!!!

So Much Fun in Wichita!

The weekend of April 16-18th was a FUN weekend for us……….we went to Wichita and Madelyn started walking nonstop, we had a lunch party with all of our friends, we saw Darin, Julie and the kids, we spent a lot of time with Jim’s parent’s and grandmother and lastly we celebrated Kyla’s First Communion with her.

I took off Friday and spent the day with Madelyn and packed for the weekend trip. Madelyn was doing a lot of walking which I was excited about. We got to Wichita around dinner time and enjoyed a family dinner at Carlos O’Kellys! After dinner we met Grandma & Grandpa and Grandmother’s house and Madelyn was ready to show off her walking skills!!! She walked all over Grandmothers house and really enjoyed the new puppy that the girls have. Although she was not happy when I loved on the puppy and was very jealous.

Saturday we woke up and went to Maggie & Scott’s house for a fun pizza party with all of our friends and their kids and we got to meet Baby Gavin. Our good friends Haley & JJ had their first baby boy on March 20th and we finally got to meet him. He is adorable!!! Greg and Adrienne were there with their twin boys and all the kids were ADORABLE and had so much fun together!!! Nora, Maggie’s oldest has always adored Jim and had so much fun singing and dancing with him. Madelyn had a great time but was not happy when Jim or I held baby Gavin…..I guess she is not ready for any babies in our life :) After Madelyn’s nap we headed West and visited the Franco/Frazier family. It was great to see them! Julie has been one of my best friends for years and I really miss her and her family. The boys and McKenna had a great time playing with Madelyn and were nice to her even though she was a little cranky J Saturday evening we enjoyed visiting with Jim’s Grandmother and going to out to eat with Jim’s parents at Piccadilly. It was YUMMY and according to my father-n-law “the scotch is cheap” :)

Sunday we went to Kyla’s First Communion and it was a very nice Mass and she looked beautiful. The Mass was very, very, very long but Madelyn did pretty good. We went to the cry room once because she was getting a little antsy and had to quickly leave after she went up to Kara (Tony & Becky’s little girl) and grabbed her doll and took off with it. We had to go outside and have a quick conversation about how you act in church and sharing!!! After the ceremony Christy & Jeff had a very nice lunch reception. It was great to visit with family and Madelyn had a blast playing with all the kids.

Jim was telling me on the drive home Sunday that he just couldn’t believe how quickly Madelyn started walking when she decided she was ready! He went to work Friday morning and she was only taking steps here and there and when we encouraged it and by Sunday morning she was walking out of the hotel lobby and all around church!!! What a grown up little girl we have J

Congrats S & V!!

The weekend of April 10-11 our good friends Sarah and Vince flew in to visit friends and family from Pittsburgh! It was a great weekend because they were able to share their big news..................(drum roll)...............THEY ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!! We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet Itty Bitty Rupp in November!!!! They are going to be great parents and Madelyn is going to be a good little best friend to the baby. Aunt Sarah and Uncle Vince have been great to Madelyn and she adores them, we look forward to having that same relationship with baby Rupp!!! The McCormack's had a nice party for S & V Saturday evening and it was a lot of fun with good food and drinks! Madelyn enjoyed playing with a little girl who was there named Courtney. They made quite the mess outside eating there yummy puffs!!!

Congrats S & V!!!! We love you guys and are SUPER excited for Itty!!!!

Happy Easter

Easter weekend was such a great weekend. It was very relaxing and we enjoyed spending time together as a family. We woke Madelyn up Easter Sunday and she was so excited about her basket the Easter Bunny had left her. She loved all the eggs that were filled with gold fish. We got her all dressed up in her Easter dress and went to church. She was really good and we didn't have to leave early :) After church we went to the park and out to lunch. Easter evening we went to Aunt Mary & Uncle Randy's house and had a big Easter egg hunt. I think that there were between 70-80 eggs hidden and I think Truman and I won the Easter Egg Hunt! It was so much fun and Madelyn was thrilled watching all the kids and myself run around. Madelyn had her own egg hunt inside and she had so much fun chasing after eggs and putting them in her basket. Thanks Haley for helping her out and thanks Aunt Mary for buying Madelyn special eggs :)!

Wichita Zoo

Since Jim wasn't able to take off for Madelyn's birthday he took off the following Friday (March 26th) to spend the day with her. I had meetings in Wichita that day so we decided to all go to Wichita and make a trip out of it. We drove to Wichita Thursday evening and Madelyn did great. We were a little worried because she has so much energy in the evening and to be stuck in a car seat with a lot of energy stinks! We stopped and ate in Emporia and she walked around the restaurant and burned a lot of energy off.

Friday morning Jim dropped me off at work and him and Madelyn went to visit his grandmother. Jim's Grandmother was at Catholic Charities Rehab going through some therapy after suffering a couple of small strokes. She was very excited to see Jim and Madelyn and I guess from what I hear Madelyn was quite the entertainer. She was very friendly and talkative with the staff and enjoyed pulling blinds down off Grandmothers window.

Friday afternoon Jim's Mom and Dad met us in Wichita and we all went to the zoo. Uncle Joe and Aunt Joan were in town from Bartlesville so they met us at the zoo as well. It was very windy and a little chilly but Madelyn had a BLAST! She thought all the animals were so cool and she wasn't frightened by anything. It was pretty funny because at one point she carried on a conversation with a tiger that was looking her straight in the face. After the zoo we all went to Aunt Pat’s house and enjoyed cheese pizza. That evening after Madelyn went to sleep I went out with Mary, Carol and Kari for a few drinks. We had a great time!!!

March 26th is also my Dads birthday....Happy Birthday DAD!!!!!

Bye-Bye Bottle.....Hello Sippy Cup & Whole Milk

Madelyn had her 1 year pediatrician visit on Monday, March 22nd so the week before the visit we started introducing whole milk. Our thought process was we would start her on it before her appointment that way if we were having any problems we could discuss them with the pediatrician. Madelyn was definitely hesitant with the whole milk but it only took one day and us figuring out she didn't like it freezing cold and she had forgotten all about the formula :) I talked with a lot of my girlfriends and decided that we were going to try cold turkey first and then if that didn't work go to plan B but cold turkey worked!!! YEAH

Madelyn's appointment went great and she was on track and passed all the little tests the pediatrician did with flying colors. She got a lot of shots and was not happy but as soon as I gave her a "Mommy hug" she calmed down :) The doctor told us that we needed to say bye-bye to the bottle and give her the milk in a sippy cup. So the next day we cut all the bottles except for the night time bottle and on Wednesday we cut the night time bottle. So on Wednesday, March 24th Madelyn said goodbye to bottles.

Happy 1st Birthday Madelyn!!!

Well we are almost 2 months late updating the blog....but here we go! Madelyn turned 1 on Friday, March 19th and it was a great day. I took off and spent the day with her and my mom and sister flew in on her birthday and we all went out to dinner. Madelyn enjoyed pizza and pasta which are two of her favorites. On Saturday we had her big party which was a cupcake themed party. Despite the 12 inches of snow it was a great time and everybody was able to come. Thanks Lisa for making the cakes, they were AWESOME and thanks to the Wichita Hunter Family for bringing them. Madelyn enjoyed opening her presents but was wanting everyone to open them as well. The cupcake pinata was a hit and I think it was the girls that finally busted it open :)! We had an arts & crafts area set up in the basement and thanks to my mom all the kids make cupcake crowns to wear. They were really neat and all the kids did a great job. Madelyn was a little hesitant at first with her cake but once she got a taste of how good it was she dug in! I had so much fun planning the party and I was so happy with the turnout. I am already looking forward to her next party!

Madelyn started taking a couple steps here and there about a week before she turned 1 so it was neat for her to show off her new steps with all of her party guests! Jim and I have been doing a lot of reminiscing lately about Madelyn turning 1 and how much FUN the last year has been. We can't believe how quickly the year has flown by and how much Madelyn has changed in such a short time. Pregnancy felt like eternity but having a baby flies by faster then I could have ever imagined. We are so thankful and blessed to have such a beautiful, happy, healthy little girl. Thanks to everyone that came to Madelyn's party in the terrible weather, it really meant a lot and she had a blast!!!!

Happy St. Patricks Day!!!

St. Patrick's Day was Madelyn's last first before her big 1st birthday and it was a first for Jim and I as well because we weren't out drinking green beer :)! Madelyn celebrated by wearing a cute little shirt and a green hoodie. We enjoyed a video chat with the New Orleans crew and it was fun to hear about the green eggs and ham that they had for dinner from Antonio. I think there milk was even green! Madelyn was all smiles talking to her cousins. Although it was a different St. Patrick's Day for Jim and I it was great.