Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Back to the Grind

Well our spring break has ended and the end wasn't very spring like. Saturday into Sunday it decided to snow about 5 inches. Luckily it has been in the 40's and rainy and so most of it should be gone soon.

The rest of the weekend was just hanging out and watching March Madness. Emma had a great time on Thursday night all by herself. She got to watch a movie (that she picked) and ate popcorn and was just loving being the only one here. Amy, Maddie and the boys got here around noon and we all went down to the stadium to Friday's for lunch. We also checked out the Brewers store and reopened that morning. They remodeled and so they had a big opening at like 5am. The boys game back for just a little while to do some playing and then it was back to Woodstock for them. Friday later in the afternoon we headed out to school so dad could help Chad take down the nets in the rummage room and let the girls run around for a little while. We made sure that we got home in time for the Michigan State game which was quite an exciting one.

Saturday Chad did not have practice, so after getting laundry done in the morning, I had a few errands to run. I went while Emma was sleeping and Chad and Maddie went to go see Monsters Vs. Aliens. She loves going to the movies. Usually we just wait for it to come to the budget, but since it was just her and dad and it was the middle of the afternoon- we figured what the heck. The evening was once again spent watching NCAA basketball and waiting for the snow to come.

Sunday was church and then back home to watch the Michigan State game. Uncle Ben and Christina came over too. Grandma and I cleaned up the basement and put together a nice big pile of stuff for Chad to take to the ML rummage sale.

Monday came and I didn't even have to fight with Maddie to get up. She was so ready to go back to school. She kept asking last week if she got to go. She told me yesterday that she wants to go to school in the summer. I guess she likes school or maybe just her time away from her sister.(Good thing for VBS) I had again a non-stress test yesterday and everything is just fine. I think that Chad and I have finally agreed on a name (you'll have to wait to find out).

Today is the last day for tryouts for the kids who were gone over spring break. There was suppose to be a game today, but since the snow and the rain today- he gets to wait until next week to play. I'm sure we will be out there sometime, but I think that we will be waiting until it gets warmer and not so wet out there.

I can't believe that I didn't take any pictures during spring break, but I guess when you don't actually go anywhere, there isn't much to capture. Emma's new thing is to jump off things. She used to just step off and say she jumped, but now she is actually landing on two feet and getting in the air. As I am typing this, she is using the step stool as her jump pad.

Hoping that this week goes by semi-quick and with little disruption. I can't believe that Easter is just about 10 days away. Maddie is more looking forward to that fact that the Brewers are going to be starting. She knows that they start around Easter and so we have made sure to put Opening Day on her calender. She is going to the game on the 15th with grandpa (she got to pick who she goes with since there are only 2 tickets). At least I know that no matter what their record is in September, she will still be wanting to go and be excited to watch them. Oh, to not know how the whole standings thing works.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Spring Break Thus Far

So usually spring breaks are spent with people visiting us in Texas, but as you know that didn't happen this year. We have been enjoying not having to get up, get dressed, and out the door in a timely fashion this week. Although Maddie has told me that she misses school and wants to go back.

Chad actually just had parent/teacher conferences on Friday, so he didn't have any students at school and was home by 2:30. We headed up to Germantown for the evening to hang out and watch some basketball. Chad and I actually went out to dinner just the two of us while the girls stayed at grandma and grandpa's and played with various aunts and uncles. We all watched basketball and I stayed up way to late watching the overtime Wisconsin game- what was I thinking. At least they ended up winning and so it made it a little worth it.

Saturday morning Chad headed down to school for the last of the grade school clinic with Ben and the girls and I hung out a little up there. We were home in time for nap and then spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, made it to the playground for awhile since it was so nice outside. Sunday after church Chad took the girls out to school so he could pick up a few things and they ended up playing in the gym for like an hour and a half. He was getting some baseball stuff together and they were just having fun, so it was quiet around here for part of the afternoon.

This week started baseball and so we haven't been able to do too much. Chad's assistant coaches aren't teachers, so they still have normal work schedules which meant that practice is at after school times, not in the mornings this week. So Chad has been spending the mornings with us and then the afternoons are spent at baseball practice. Monday and Tuesday we pretty much hung out at home. Those two days it rained a bit and so everything has been soaking wet.

Wednesday we were all getting cabin fever, so we decided to head out to Chuck E Cheese before practice. We were all having a great time- the girls were playing games and on the slides. Our food came and Maddie wanted to change seats. She wanted to go into the big room where the tvs are and were the mechanic Chuck E Cheese is. Everything was fine until the curtain opened and he started moving and talking/singing. Emma lost it. She wanted nothing to do with it- she just wanted to go home. I got her to sit on my lap while we ate and then as soon as we were done and ready to play more games she made a bee line out of the room. It was sort of amusing, but I did feel bad for her.

Today(Thursday) we had another non-stress test. It is sort of relaxing to just sit in a chair for 45 minutes and either watch tv or read a magazine, but it a little annoying to have to go to the hospital, get all your vitals checked, get hooked up to the machine and just wait. Monday we actually had a follow-up ultrasound from Dr. Carr. She is a specialist because baby here has a two vessel cord. Which means- normally there is a big vein that takes everything to the baby and then 2 arteries that take the waste away. Well this baby decided that she just wanted to have 1 artery to do all the work. There is some worry about growth, but since you all know that we don't have small babies this hasn't been a problem. So we had an ultrasound about 7 weeks ago with the specialist and this was just the follow up. The baby is growing just fine- actually I was 32 weeks 4 days on Monday and baby was measuring 35 weeks. Which would make sense since the other 2 were 2 weeks early too. The tech measured her legs about 5 times, because she couldn't believe how long they were. Back to today- while I was at the hospital the girls and dad went down to Miller Park to play on the playground there. Maddie slid down the slide with the big puddle on the bottom and so her pants were soaked. Emma came home to tell me that Maddie peed on the slide- which was not true, but I had to make sure for myself. After that grandma, the girls, and I got in the car and headed down to Woodstock to see Ben, Sam, and Amy. We played at the house for a little while and then we went to Burger King for lunch and to play on the playland. Maddie is down there now and is spending the night. She has been talking about it all week and was so happy to finally be able to go. I had it on her calender and every day she would count to see how many days until she got to go to their house. Emma wasn't too happy that she had to come home with us, but she got over it pretty quick. She has asked a couple times where Maddie is, but I think is enjoying having everyone to herself. Amy is bringing the boys and Maddie back tomorrow- to pay and hang out for awhile.

Grandpa has the day off again tomorrow- so maybe we can find something to do in the morning with just Emma since Maddie won't be here until later in the day. The rest of the weekend I'm sure will be spent catching up on laundry. Hopefully Maddie won't be too much of a beast getting up on Monday morning, but I won't worry about that until Monday morning.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Let the Madness Begin- Oh Wait, That is Every Day

So today is the start of March Madness- it also happens to be parent teacher conferences and so Chad has to be at school until about 9pm tonight (haha). So we have all filled out our brackets, Maddie's is quite a long shot and so is grandma's, but you never know.

Maddie likes to fill out her's by what mascot she likes better- here is her Final Four:
Robert Morris
CSU Northridge
Xavier
Michigan

Grandma also had quite a method to her picking to- top team, bottom team, middle team- here is her Final Four:
Louisville
Washington
Texas
Akron

Besides the beginning of March Madness, the every day madness is going strong here. Emma has been getting into a lot of sneakiness lately. She likes to draw on everything and I mean everything, including herself.Here she is in the bath after giving herself a mustache and beard with the purple marker.

She does have her good points too here she is reading to her "babies" in the rocking chair and making sure they are nice and warm.
She also really loves her cousin Nolan. Nolan was visiting us again while Mike was in town for the robotics competition. He stayed with us on Wednesday and then Jana came on Thursday. Emma wanted some good drinking time with her cousin so she joined him in his pack and play.


We have been enjoying the nice weather this week. I am sure that since baseball starts next week it will be cold and rainy for the better part of the week. Spring break is next week for Chad and Maddie. Chad as I said has baseball tryouts. Both of his other coaches aren't teachers, so they don't have practice until 3 everyday. I don't know how much stuff we will get to do- or maybe I should say I don't know how much Chad will get to do with us. Tuesday it was 70 degrees, so the girls and I walked down to the park to play. They were just having the best time being outside and running around.



Here is Maddie just showing off for the camera. Notice all the dirt on her face. I am pretty sure that dirt just jumps up on her face the minute we walk outside.

Today I go for my second week of Non-stress testing. Monday it wasn't as bad as last week with the number of phone calls being made to let people know of their STD. I am thinking that I would rather go to the hospital on Mondays also because at the office this is not a normal thing, so they aren't as efficient as they are at the hospital. I will check on their schedule when I go today to see if I can just go there on Mondays and Thursdays.

Maddie is back to loving school- we had about 2 weeks where she didn't want anything to do with school. It was like a switch being turned on and then off two weeks later. Chad has been able to take her a couple of times and I think he will tomorrow too.

I am sure that this weekend will be filled with basketball and the last of the grade school baseball clinic for Chad. We are all looking forward to Brewers baseball starting. Maddie asks about every day when it is going to start- she knows that she has to wait a few more weeks, but that it is getting close.

Well let's see where the Madness takes us this year. As always I am pulling for Duke, but that is just my heart talking. I know that it is a long shot, but what do you have to look forward to if you can't really get into it, right??

We are still at a lose for baby names, but have been polling people- so tell us your opinion about some of the choices we have made:
Olivia
Claire/Clara (not sure which one)
Lillian (Lilly)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Rain is so much better than snow.....

..... that's what I keep telling myself. The last few days, like 5 have been rainy and dreary, but I keep reminding myself that it could be snow.

So two other funny Maddie sayings from this week that could be added to the last blog post. Sunday I wasn't feeling so hot, so Chad took the girls to church so I could go back to bed for a little while. Emma even went to the nursery, so his job got easier. So they were in the middle of prayers and pastor was describing how we are sinners and sin is smelly. I guess Maddie just looked at Chad like "did he just say smelly", and proceeded to laugh out loud. At least she is starting to get jokes or at least knows when to laugh and not laugh.

The other one happened on Sunday too. My brother and his family came up from Chicago for the day. We all went to Applebee's for lunch. We were in the car driving there and Chad and I were talking about Kopp's (the custard place). Maddie proceeded to jump into the conversation and let us know that she doesn't like cops, but does like police officers. So how exactly do you explain homophones to a 3 year old. We just looked at each other and laughed. She then thought it as funny too.

Yesterday I was the helper at Maddie school. It was a slow Monday, but nothing too major went on, so it as just fine. I then had to go have a non-stress test at the doctor's office, which I will have again on Thursday and then twice a week until this kid comes. It would have taken about a half hour, but 10 minutes into the test, the machine ran out of paper and so they had to reload it and start all over and it took about an hour total. I did catch a little nap in there, so that was nice. So here is what I observed as I was strapped to a machine for that long. The office has a front reception area. Then the rooms and in the back there are rooms and a "nurses station". There were probably 6 or 7 desks with nurses, doctors, or other people who work there. Now the rooms all around the nurses station have a door, while the little room, okay closet, that I was in just has a curtain. Talk about patient doctor confidentiality- every phone call that was placed by the nurse closest to me was how this person's test came back positive for this STD or this issue and how they need to make sure that they let their sexual partners know about this. Then there was a lady who needed a referral for a mammogram, but then they realized that she couldn't go to where they normally send people because she had implants. It as kind of funny to hear some of the one sided phone conversations and wonder what the people on the other side where thinking. Let's just say it made my test very interesting.

On the topic of baby, Chad and I are at a total loss for any names. We have been going back and forth and can't decide on anything. One night when we were out for a "date" we even sat at Barnes and Noble for like an hour and a half looking at names. I figure that this kid will eventually have a name, so I'm not that worried about it now.

Well we are in our three week break between basketball and baseball. Chad has been getting ready for baseball, he is doing a grade school clinic on Saturdays, and getting everything else in order. The good thing is that the snow is mostly all gone because of the rain, so if the ground would dry, he might actually get some games in before May.

Tomorrow Nolan is coming with Mike and then Jana is coming on Thursday. There is the robotics competition downtown this weekend. We will go and check it out on Saturday with the girls and then Amy, Ben and Sam are coming too.

I am hoping the girls survive the day- as I am writing this I am looking outside and it is dark, gloomy, and rainy. Good thing I have MOPS tonight and can get out of the house for a little while.