As our family grows...

I have been facebooking and keep forgetting to come in here and update for my blogging friends. All of you know that I had Madilyn Lorretta on August 1, 2009 at 4:55 A.M. She was 21 inches and 7lbs 11oz. She was delivered via C section which I fought against tooth and nail. After 12+ hours of being at a 3 with no change we decided to "get in there" and see what was going on. Mady had been transverse (sideways) and was flipped three times into position and my doctor decided to break my water to keep her in place (this same thing happened during Layla's delivery). During the C section it was discovered that Mady's umbilical cord was wrapped twice around her neck, preventing her from coming down further.

It has been a month since Mady joined our family and she is doing well and has slept through the night a few times already. Samantha and Layla adore and love on her constantly. I was afraid Layla might be jealous but so far she has been adjusting wonderfully to being a big sister. My recovery is going well...not 100% yet but every day/week has significant improvemment. I am still not "allowed" to lift much or vaccum/mop but I have found ways to get things accomplished by myself and Ryan fills in when he is home. I can't wait until I can vaccum though...I am kind of a vaccum freak...with three dogs and three kids...crumbs and dirt happen pretty quickly and need to be "kept in check".

Samantha started kindergarten this week and is loving it. When Samantha was born I quickly realized that she may never live long enough to do alot of things, given her heart complications. Going to school is one of those things that popped into my head, and I prayed that we may have the chance to have her here with us and be a family. Five years later, here we are and she is strong and beautiful and she lives life to the fullest every day. I don't know if Samantha will ever understand how she has blessed our family but I hope she knows how much we love her and how proud of her we are.

Speaking of living life to the fullest, Samantha just earned her first set of stitches. She cut her leg on her friends trailor while playing and had to have four stitches. When I went to pick her up to take her to Insta Care, she was begging me to stay and play longer...funny girl. Let me just prelude with Samantha hates shots, due to years of "IV torture". When we took her to Insta Care they cleaned her up and applied the numbing cream so they could give her the numbing shot. When they came in with the needle...she freaked and opted to have the stitches with just the local cream. She is tougher than she looks! She thinks her stitches are pretty cool but she can't get them wet for ten days- until they come out...so no more water activities for a little while. She is a little bummed about that.

Layla will be two on September 12 and I need to start planning a birthday party. She loves the bounce houses and bubbles so I am going to try to incorporate both...we will see what happens. Since Layla's eardrum burst a few months back her speaking and vocabulary has really taken off. She talks all day long and can actually communicate and be understood now. She shouts to the dogs to be quiet and says their names to call them over to her or tattle on them.

I love this age when babies turn into little people and develop and share their unique little personalities with their world. She follows Sam around all day wanting to do what ever she is doing. She decided right before Mady was born that she would like to start potty training...not the best time but we had the potty and pull ups so we have been trying to do that with her (hit and miss on our parts) but she loves her potty. Some of the phrases and words she says are so cute with her adorable voice and personality. I love the way she says "Mady" right now.

Well I could go on and on about my beautiful girls and how each on is such a blessing but I will end now and try to keep up better so each entry does not take an hour to read.