I love my Madeline!

Today was our first full day at home with Madeline. She slept well all night. And she took great naps all day, too! Daddy fed her this afternoon.


Then I got to hold her after she ate.

I played with my Play-Doh this afternoon with Grannie.

And Daddy took me to Build-A-Bear! I got to make bears for me and for Madeline!

Madeline is home!

Today we got to bring Mommy and Madeline home from the hospital! This morning, Mommy and Daddy gave Madeline a bath to get her ready to come home. She doesn't like bathtime yet, but I know I can teach her to love it just like me!

They dressed her in her new pink dress and wrapped her up in a pretty pink blanket. She's very sweet and pretty. I call her "Sweet Madeline."

After my music class, Grannie and I went to the hospital so I could bring Mommy and my sister, Madeline, home with me!! I was very excited to get to bring them home. I didn't want to stop hugging Madeline and told everyone she was coming to MY house!

Mommy had to ride in a wheelchair to leave the hospital and she had to hold Madeline. The nurses were very nice and let me sit with her. My hands never left Madeline, and that smile never left my face!

Daddy took me to eat lunch at Chick-fil-A while Grannie helped Mommy and Madeline get settled at home. When we got back from lunch, Mommy needed to rest. It was nearly my bedtime, so I curled up next to her and fell asleep, too. I helped her get some rest!

Grannie's hanging out and helping us since Mommy can't do a lot right now. Mommy is making sure she gets some cuddle time in, too. Here, she and Madeline are having a very deep conversation about something really important, I'm sure of it!

We are all very happy to be home and together. Madeline is a great eater and sleeper. I've been a big help with her, and will hopefully continue to be one! We're settled in and up for visitors, so if you are nearby and want to meet my new sister, call Mommy and find a time to stop by and see us!

More of Me and Madeline

Today was another great day with Madeline. I went to Mass this morning with Grannie and Paw-Paw, proudly telling everyone about my new baby sister, Madeline! Afterwards we went straight to see Mommy, Daddy, and Madeline!

We knew it was almost time for her to eat, and I wanted to feed her. Walking up to their room, I was being slow. Grannie told me I'd better hurry because Madeline was probably crying because she was hungry. From then on, I was running. I couldn't get there fast enough! I walked into the room, and she was snuggled on Daddy's shoulder. But she wasn't craying. I still got to feed her. Everyone tells me I'm doing an excellent job with her, too.

Grannie burped her, then finished feeding her bottle to her. The nurse, Ms. Lynn, came in to check on Mommy and Madeline. I love my baby sister, and I'm already a bit protective of her. I don't like when all the nurses are touching her. Ms. Lynn was very sweet and explained to me that she was listening to Madeline's heart. Mommy reminded my that I got to listen to Madeline's heartbeat at her doctor's office before Madeline was born. Then Ms. Lynn put her stethescope on my ears and let me listen to Madeline's heartbeat. That was really cool!

Grannie gave Madeline a nice warm sponge bath and made her smell all sweet with her baby lotion. She put a pretty pink outfit on her, then I got to hold her again!

The day she was born, Paw-Paw and Grannie took me to the store and let me choose a toy for her. I got her a rattle, so today I showed her how to play with it.

I sure do love my Madeline!

More Time with My Sweet Madeline

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William loves his little Madeline!

Last night I got to hold my baby sister and love on her for a long time! I am so in love with her and like to tell her how much I love her. Mommy got this video so you can see how much I love her! She must love me too because she just let me kiss and hug her the whole time!

Welcome Madeline Grace!!!

Daddy and Mommy headed to the hospital very early this morning. I was lucky enough to spend the night at Grangie's and Paw-Paw's, so they didn't have to wake me up too early. At 8:14 this morning, I found out I have a baby SISTER! Madeline Grace joined our family!! She was born at 9 lbs. 3 oz. and 21" long. She has beautiful blue eyes and reddish-blonde hair. Everyone says she looks just like I did when I was born! I think she is just absolutely gorgeous!

Mommy says she looks just like me!

Here's our first picture as a Family of Four!
This was about 20 minutes after Madeline was born.

I insisted on kissing her right away!
This is when I saw her for the first time.

I got to hold her first! I'm so proud!

Can you see that I'm beaming with pride!?

I'm in love!

Her Parin came to visit her tonight. He's very proud, too!

It's been a long time!

Yes, it's been a very very long time since this site has been updated. We've been really busy around our house! Here's a quick rundown of all that's happened with us since the last update:

• Daddy started a new job! He's working for the Louisiana Division of Administration, Office of Budget Management as a Budget Analyst. He's really liking his job, too! His office is very close to Mommy's downtown.
  
• Grannie and Paw-Paw bought a house in Baton Rouge! It's in our subdivision, so they're close by. They still have their "Mississippi River Bridge House" in Jennings, too. (I call it that because we have to drive over the Mississippi River Bridget to get there!) I love being able to see them so easily now. And of course I've completely made myself at home there. I have my toys set up, and a room with a bed (I call it my new room!) just for me... I'm all set there!
  
• Gram and Papa sold their house in Denham Springs and moved onto their power boat in Springfield. They're in the process of buying a house there now.
  
• Parin and Aunt Emmy came to Baton Rouge to visit for a weekend right after Grannie and Paw-Paw moved into their new house. We didn't do much that weekend, but we had a good time hanging out and visiting.
  
• Mommy, Daddy, Grannie, Paw-Paw, and I enjoyed an evening at the Balloon Glow for the Hot Air Balloon Festival again this year. Seeing all those giant balloons was really pretty.
  
• Mommy and Daddy took me to a get together in New Orleans with a bunch of their friends from Louisiana Tech. They get together a couple times every year. Aunt Leslie was there, so I was super excited to see her!
  
  
  


• Aunt Emmy and a bunch of our other family hosted a baby shower for Mommy and our baby at Grannie and Paw-Paw's house in Jennings. It was great to see all our family and play with my cousins.
  
• Daddy's been taking me to some "Build & Grow" workshops at Lowe's. They're lots of fun. We get to build stuff and take it home. Here's some pictures from the first one we went to where I built a school bus!
  
  

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• The same weekend as the baby shower was also Paw-Paw's birthday. And boy, did we have fun with that! We all knew he wanted to go buy a new push lawnmower for their new house (it's a much smaller yard than in Jennings). Mommy and Parin decided they'd both get him Lowe's gift cards so he could use them toward that purchase. When we went to Lowe's to get the gift cards, Daddy was joking around with the cashier about getting a 99-cent one because it was for his father-in-law. Quickly they decided they'd do a big stack of $5 cards, since that was the per-card minimum they'd sell. We told Parin and some other family about it. The night of his birthday, we all went out to dinner together. After opening all his gifts, he had 62, yes, sixty-two, $5 Lowe's gift cards, as well as 20 rolls of $5 in DIMES! And if you know Paw-Paw, you know how little patience he has! It was one funny day the next weekend when we went with him to buy his new lawnmower. He had to stand there while she rang in over 60 different gift cards. The receipt ended up being about 5 feet long!
  
  
  
• Mommy's had lots of check-ups for the baby, too. The baby's measuring pretty big (What do they expect? I was 10 lbs. 9 oz.!), so her OB/GYN sent her to see a specialist in Maternal Fetal Medicine. They're monitoring the baby and Mommy closely, but have determined that something genetic matches up, and she just grows big babies! The baby's perfectly healthy and Mommy's doing great too. But, we have gotten lots of baby pictures throughout the process. Her due-date is September 21, but she's scheduled for a c-section this Friday, September 17. I can't wait to meet my new baby brother or sister! (I'm really hoping it's a girl - that's what I keep telling people it is!)
  

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• I had a small surgery on my big toe last week. I was born with some extra skin on one toe. When I was a baby, the doctor told Mommy and Daddy I would need to have it removed, but it could wait. She suggested waiting until I was really moving around a lot, enough for me to be bothered by it. Well, this summer that toe has stayed pretty beat up - lots of scrapes and scratches. And it was starting to hurt me when I wore closed-toe shoes. So off to a pediatric surgeon we went. Last Wednesday I had an outpatient surgery done to remove that piece of skin. I was a super-duper patient! The nurses and doctors and staff at Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital took awesome care of me. And I did great, too. As soon as I got home that afternoon, despite the fact that my entire foot was bandaged to keep me from bumping it, I was all over the place playing like my normal self. The nurses told Mommy and Grannie that I'd probably sleep and be fairly subdued for at least 2 days because of the anesthesia and pain medications. I fooled them all! Apparently codeine has no effect on me at all! Now I just have a small bandage and I'm not slowed down by it at all!
  
  
  

Well... that about sums up the past six weeks or so. Now we're just hanging out and waiting for the baby's arrival! I am getting really excited about seeing the baby.

I kiss Mommy's stomach a lot. A few weeks ago, I was kissing it, then I bit her on the stomach. She told me it wasn't nice to bite and asked why I did it. I told her very simply: I'm trying to bit a hole to get the baby out!

So... I probably won't have too much time to update this until my little brother or sister is here. Mommy has a c-section Friday morning, so check here either Friday evening or sometime Saturday and hopefully I'll have a chance to share some pictures and details about my new sibling!

Happenings of Late

The winds of T.S. Bonnie ushered in some nice cooler weather over the weekend, so we were finally able to get outside and play! After my nap Saturday, Mommy took me outside to ride my airplane. She put my shoes on me, the said she needed to grab her shoes and phone then we could go outside. I decided I needed my "cell phone," too, so I grabbed the phone off my kitchen and headed out with her. I insisted on having my phone with me while I rode my plane. I told Mommy "I want to talk on the phone and drive like Mommy!" (Oops, probably a good thing Mommy's new van has Bluetooth, huh!) Well, one look at this picture, and no one will deny I'm her son!

Mondays are still free carousel ride days at the mall. Grannie and Paw-Paw took me this week. Paw-Paw and I rode the carousel SIX TIMES! I rode the reindeer, bear, bench, and tiger. At least I'm wearing an orange shirt here so that it's obvious I was thinking Detroit Tigers and not that other team here in Baton Rouge. I love watching girls, especially those my age. I call them "girl-girls", for some reason.

Well, while I was eating my lunch at the mall, I kept leaning over to look at a specific girl-girl. She was eating her lunch, too. I kept leaning and leaning to see her... until I fell right out of my chair! Yep, my Parin's proud! :) No worries, I was okay. No injuries were sustained.

Sunday afternoon, while Mommy was folding clothes, I got my step stool and carried it into the living room. I had intentions of putting in on the couch, but when Mommy saw me, she asked what I was planning to do with it. I told her "to stand on couch." For some reason she didn't think that was a good idea, and told me that stools only go on the floor. So I put it on the floor. Then I stood on the stool, cheered a little, then propelled myself backwards onto the couch.

100% All Boy!

Mommy promises more updates really soon. Look for some by the end of the weekend. Parin and Aunt Emmy are coming to visit!! I'm really excited to see them!!!