A Tale of Two (and a half) McDonalds

Maddie got the Wiggles!

2010-06-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

Here I am, thinking about all of my recertification stuff. I need TONS of CEUs to renew my CCRN and RN license, and I need to take the ACLS renewal class. What am I actually doing? Playing with Maddie and posting pictures of the cute results. :)
So FINALLY, here's a picture of Maddie getting her groove on! This is her favorite song to dance to (don't judge me). I was going to post this video muted so that you couldn't hear what I was singing, but my sister gave me so much grief about it that I'm posting the video as is. Enjoy...I sure did!

P.S.- I edited a significant portion of this where I was jumping around and dancing with her (it made the video quality very Blair Witch-ish.) Anyway, that's why I sound winded. :)

California is Dangerous

2010-06-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

Most notably, Southern California is dangerous. I say that because I don't really know much about the middle or northern parts of this state, but I will tell you this: the state is tricky. It lures you out here with sensuously beautiful weather reports, and shimmering seas with diamond-capped waves that sparkle in the afternoon sun. Any street worth it's name is silhouetted in perfectly manicured palm trees. If all of this isn't enough for you, Southern California keeps a warm desert snuggled within its bosom. The desert is covered in an intricate system of trails all crocheted together so that you can enter a trail in one spot, bike for 3 hours, and finish your ride at the same place you started without ever passing the same speck of sand twice.
Or, if you're like me, you can try for something a little more complex. Be careful though, California doesn't like to be taken lightly.
And so I find myself pulling up to the Rancho Bernardo Senior Center with my bike strapped to the back of my car, and a big grin glued on my face. I am meeting 2 other bikers for a ride coordinated by me (through meetup.com). To be fair, I did disclosed to the other 2 that I have never ridden this trail before. Did I mention though that it has been 8 months since I've ridden? Hmmmm....
As I am unstrapping my bike from my car, I notice an intense burning sensation on the back of my head. Curious, I turn around to see 3 rather elderly gentlemen pausing from their tennis game to watch me unload my bike. I smile and nod (as I am currently lugging 30 lbs of unbalanced metal off the rack), but my smile and nod are unrequited. Ah well. I guess smiles aren't for everyone.
I then put the front wheel on my bike, and notice that the sun is suddenly blocked out by some massive object, perhaps the moon during a spontaneous eclipse. No such phenomenon though, it is just Ricky (one of my fellow riders) pulling up in his enormous F150 on lifts. Why anyone needs a truck that big is beyond me, but I can tell you that all the plants beside his truck were happily shaded for the morning! The plants were the only happy things at that Senior Center though, as the 3 gentlemen, joined now by their 4th, were in a huddle and casting unhappy glances our way. It was about that time that Tonya pulled up and unloaded her bike. Now we were ready to go.
As we started out, Ricky was kind enough to inform Tonya and myself that, "Not to scare you, but this is where Chelsea King was abducted and murdered". Now I ask you, reader: HOW DID I NOT SEE THAT WHEN PLANNING THIS RIDE?! There are literally hundreds of trails in SoCal, and I managed to pick the one blackened by kidnapping and murder. Not a single website review of the trail mentioned, "Hey guys, word of caution..." It's o.k. though. I'm a duck, and this is water off my back. Just like the angry old tennis men.
So again, we're off! We have a lot of happy chatter getting to know each other, and we're happy to discover that we're all about the same ability level. Sure, it's been a long time since I've ridden, but I'm like an elephant, right? I remember everything.
Our first technical area is about a quarter of the way into the ride when we need to jump a log to get onto a bridge. Luckily, I'm in the back of the pack, so no one sees my concern. "Be the rabbit, be the rabbit. Front, then back, weight in the back, smile, and land." It's so easy in my head. Actual series of events: "Front then back, weight in the back, smile, and then WHAM!" I managed the rabbit part, but then slammed into the side of the bridge. Apparently, this rabbit was a little tipsy before making her jumping debut.
No worries though. One minor setback, and no one saw because I was so far behind. I pedal fast to catch up, and even exchange pleasantries while laughing off the dirt residue on my leg, "Haha, I made such a dust cloud from pedaling so fast that some of it must have stuck to me" I may be in the back, but I can always have good humor about things.
The next leg of the ride takes us down along the lake. It is strange to see a lake tossed out into the middle of a desert, but it sure is pretty. There is a lot of green lushness around the lake, and then a lot of sandy sparsity in the surrounding desert. Add to this the regrowth from the forest fires 7 years ago, and you have enough scenery to get distracted. And I think I mentioned, California doesn't like to be taken lightly.
So here we go dropping in on a hill that runs right along the lake. The path is overgrown so that we are being kissed by branches with mustard-colored flowers, and occasionally there is a rocky outgrowth that snaps us back to attention: "Watch out" it says, "or I will pitch you into the water faster than you can admire that flower." So we get to the end of the trail. I am quite proud of myself for keeping up and not letting the rocks get the best of me. I dreamily announce that this trail is beautiful and I love riding through the flowery bushes. It is at this point that Ricky tells me that the overgrowth is a perfect place for rattlesnakes to be hiding out. Ricky seems to be the bearer of bad news, and I wonder to myself why Ricky didn't mention this earlier. I keep the thought to myself though, as he is a new friend.
We are officially halfway now, and the next leg of the trailwork is closed for conservation. I imagine that they are de-rattlering the next bit of the trail, and I think for a second that maybe I can just hitch a ride back with the conservationists. The thought passes, and I reconcile myself to the fact that we are now doing an out-and-back.
Ricky dives happily into the bushes on his way back towards the cranky old men and his behemouth truck awaiting us at the end of the trail. I am less enthusiastic about the newly revealed rattler's lair that we will be riding through.
"Be the lion, Jenny. You are brave like lion" So I plunge into the overgrowth, suddenly seeing every flowered branch as a snake lunging out to bite me. This view of California's botanics proves to be more dangerous that my previous admiration, as the rocks got the better of me on the way back. When I approached the first rocky hill, I managed to slam on the brakes just in time to avoid hitting the tree that marked the turn in the trail.
*I fear that I am not properly describing the situation. I remain shrouded in bushes, on a singletrack trail, with a slight hill-into-lake on my right side, and uphill on my left side. So the only way to go if I stumble is down*
Anyway, I caught myself before the tree got me on this turn. Unfortunately, Tonya, who was behind me, did not. She hit the tree and then me. Luckily (using this term loosely) her bike became entangled with mine, and she was saved (at the expense of a chunk of my leg) from a splash in the lake. I am willing to sacrifice this leg chunk for my new mountain biking friend. Female mountain bikers are few and far between. We ride on. For some reason, I'm still in front.
I pedal harder, deciding that if I pedal fast enough, I can be past the rattlesnake before it decides to strike. Too bad for Tonya behind me, but she doesn't seem worried.
As I am thinking of this, I hear all too late the sinister cry of the rocks, "Watch out, or we will pitch you into the water." Before I have even told my fingers to squeeze my brakes, I hit the rocks and am tumbling off the path, through a bush, and into the water. It takes a minute to register what just happened. This is about enough time for a nearby man, who was throwing a ball for his dog, to come help me lug my bike out of the water. I can't get out of the lake fast enough, as I am now in a near frenzy over the threat of snakes. He takes the bike, and I get myself out, using a lush-leaved, reddish-green flowering bush to heft myself back onto the path. Tonya sees that I am o.k. and rides on. I thank the man, who then politely points out that I have just fallen into a poison oak bush, which I then used to pull myself out of the lake.
I give up, California. You win.
I quickly realize that I am not the duck, the elephant, the lion, or (most certainly) the rabbit. I am, in fact, the snake. Just trying to find a safe route through and clearly toxic to everything in my path. Oh, the irony.
I take a quick assessment, note that my ankle is sore but that is all, and get back on the trail. Weirdly, I am back at the Senior Center in about 5 minutes. It doesn't take long to feel completely cut off from civilization around here!
The men are playing their game of doubles now, but of course they take a quick break to scowl at us. This time, I look right at them and scowl back which makes one of them smile and wave. I don't understand anything anymore.
We all load our bikes up, and I announce what the man told me about the poison oak bush. "Oh yeah." says Ricky, "It makes a thick line along the coast of the lake almost the whole way around." I start to think that Ricky is intentionally trying to hurt me, but I still have some good humor and manners left, so I keep this thought to myself. Again.
Five days later, I am covered in poison oak from head to ankle. This includes my face as well as all areas covered by my shirt, shorts, and sports bra. I don't know how it managed it, but the poison oak actually got through my clothes. Each day I have found a fun, new area that itches, and I have blistering welts all over.
Well played, California. But you haven't seen the last of me.

Just got her first car!

2010-05-27T05:08:00.000-07:00

Mike and I talked it over, and we decided that we might as well just go ahead and get Maddie a car now so we wouldn't have to do it later. This one should be good right up until college, I think. It was advertised as "Grows with your baby!", so we just have to make the crucial decision on when to take the foot plate out. That is what turns the toy from 'Step 1' to 'Step 2'. I don't want her jumping in over her head. Twelve years old I think. That should be a perfect time. Right before puberty, so she will love me because I am allowing her a right of passage. Yeah, I think we've got it all planned out...

Forgot One!

2010-05-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

I forgot to add this video to the mix, but it's so cute I had to put it up on it's own. :)

She's Walking!

2010-05-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

I finally got it together and spliced some more video together! I've had a lot of requests for Maddie walking, so I put some walking, jogging, rocking, and tooth-brushing in this one! The only thing missing is dancing, which I don't have on tape yet. The clip in there of the tooth brushing is actually her first time. I thought she did quite well with it!
Maddie has gotten very cuddly in her old age too. In the clip where Mike is asking for a kiss, Maddie now offers kisses freely...ESPECIALLY to her Daddy! It is a different side of Mike that comes out when he is around Maddie - a side of him that would be secret forever if not for his daughter. Mike walks through the front door, sees Maddie in her high chair, and is instantly transformed from serious law enforcer to whatever it takes to make Maddie smile. Tonight, it was a high-pitched, balancing-on-one-leg-while-hopping picture of sillyness. Wen Maddie finished her dinner, they were wallowing around on the ground together - BOTH of them having fun building teetering towers of pink and green blocks. It's amazing and beautiful what a baby inspires in her Dad.
O.K. Enough of the mush! In other news, Mike and I have been learning to surf. Mike is learning a bit faster than me, but I'm o.k. with that. Maddie and I get lots of sand-castle-building time! (which actually translates into Maddie stuffing sand in her diaper every time I turn my head)
Other than these things, there is not too much new going on. We had a great visit from the Edster (Ed), a friend from Maryland. So much fun! Like everyone else that I know, I've started in on trying to convince Ed to move out here. :) Next will be my cousin, Dee, and her boyfriend, AND THEN....

KEN AND MICHELLE'S WEDDING!!!

See you soon!

Finally! An Update! :)

2010-05-06T21:23:00.001-07:00

It was recently pointed out to me by SEVERAL people that I have fallen gravely behind on my blog updates. Alas, Maddie is now not only walking, but RUNNING from one sharp object to the next. She is so much fun, and at the same time she is two full handfulls!
So now for the story-by-picture. :)
Maddie has recently been working on feeding herself. Can you tell that she likes eating?

Being new to the whole big people foods thing, she sometimes gets herself into a bind...

And then there is the complicated issue of spoons. Spoonwork is much easier if you sort of shovel the yogurt into your mouth...with your tongue as a bridge in case any cheerios try to escape.

And once you get the hang of that technique, you'll graduate to the really-wide-open-mouth technique:

She ate that entire bowl of yogurt! I didn't get any pictures of the final project though. I hear you, Readers. You are saying, "I don't believe you, Jenny. Maddie is toothless. There is no way she chewed Cheerios and chomped on apples!" Well, think again! Maddie is now the proud owner of SIX sparkly white teeth:

What else can she do with those teeth, you might be asking (but you probably aren't, since you, having your own teeth, know what they're good for. Humor me though, I was making a transition) Those teeth are good for word-making (aka-talking)! Maddie likes to read to me:

First though, she needs to bring me the book:

Then, she has to get comfy:

Then, she can start the reading:

When she is done, she has to thank all the fans who came to listen to her read. Generally, this includes myself and Sparkles:

Finally, Maddie is free to reach for her trusty sippy cup to wet her whistle after a long and intensive public speaking session:

And that is the end of the McDonald's Story-by-Pictures! Hope you enjoyed, and hopefully I'll be able to get back on my monthly updating schedule. :)

PS- For the record, I love that you all care enough to check the blog, despite the lapse in updates. You are awesome!

Playtime!

2010-01-10T15:41:00.000-08:00

Although Maddie seems to be able to make a supercool toy out of ANYTHING (see picture above), I decided to take her to a baby gym today. I'm so glad I did. We had a blast! Mike was feeling a little under the weather, so he didn't get to come. I took enough pictures so he'd feel like he was there though!
First, Maddie had to inspect the place for quality construction:

Once she was satisfied, she jumped right in! Who says you have to be 16 to drive?

Did I mention that this place was AWESOME? There were tons of toys for Maddie in a special toddler/crawler area, and then she could play on the big kids' stuff too.

The best part was...I got to go with her in the jungle gym area! (she never would have made it without me - those 8 yr olds were maniacs!) This is a picture of Maddie climbing the "stairs" to the slide. She can climb our stairs at home no problem, but these were farther apart, so I had to give her a little incentive by putting the camera on top of each step. :)

She got to the top though, and when she did, we went down a huge slide together! By the way, for being a kid's playgym, that slide was pretty darn fast! Maddie l-o-v-e-d it though! She doesn't really care one way or the other about the slide outside our house, but she giggled all the way down this one and at the bottom. We went down twice. It took about a half an hour to do the stair climb-to-slide rotation. :)

There was a lot of other stuff too, but I don't want to overload on the pictures. We had a really good time, and the best part is, when we got back, half of our downstairs was painted! (Not by Mike - we finally got someone to come and finish the painting for us) I'll post pictures of that when it's done.

Part Deux...After the Movie

2010-01-02T21:52:00.000-08:00

Look out! There's an almost 1-year-old on the stairs! :) Maddie has so much fun climbing the stairs that every once in a while (actually, about twice a day), we let her "sneak" past the baby gate and climb the stairs. Her favorite game is pretending that we are trying to catch her but she's to fast for us. The only problem is that she starts laughing so hard that when she turns around to make sure we're chasing her, she loses her balance and tips backwards. Good thing we're always part of that game, huh?
Well, in adult news, Mike had a birthday today. We went to a casino where we pretty much only played roulette. Every single hand, we put at least one chip on the number that was Mike's age, and it didn't win a SINGLE time! Luckily, our other picks did, and we ended up positive $30 and two free buffets (I scored those from a worker named Jesus who was telling me to stop taking pictures in the casino. I took that opportunity to first apologize, and next proudly announce that it was Mike's birthday while pointing out his youthful looks.) Mike loves me for my talent in drawing attention to him. Needless to say, we had a really great time, and ended the night fondly remembering how fun dates are. Hopefully we'll get some more of those. :)
Sadly, we also watched U of South Carolina lose their bowl game while we were at the casino. Luckily, we did not bet on that game. ;-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!

Maddie's New Toy

2010-01-02T20:36:00.001-08:00

This is Maddie dancing with one of her new toys. This darn kiddo of ours seems to get cuter every day. She has started sprinting between the furniture, and she has really been developing her personality.

Christmas was conspicuously absent of most of our family, but it was good just the same. Sean, Mike's brother, came down from LA, and a friend of mine came over with her two kids, so we filled up the house anyway. :) I have another video to post for your viewing pleasure, but Mike is forcing me to end this blog so that we can watch Adventureland. So.....

TO BE CONTINUED!

Imaginary Mashed Potatoes

2009-12-16T21:25:00.000-08:00

Suddenly, I'm a blogging fool! I got this picture today of Maddie while I was making Christmas care packages for some friends (this involved baking). Maddie wanted to make her own care packages for her friends, so I set her up on the floor for a little "cold cooking". :)
She just melts my heart! I was thinking today about how un-self conscious babies are, and wondering when they learn embarrassment. I was wondering this after watching Maddie pee and then spit up for the third time in the bath water. (Don't worry, I drained the tub!) My thoughts continued on, but I'm not really that kind of blogger, and I'm guessing you're not really that kind of reader. :)

Sooo, back to the photo: Please note that she would not be kind enough to remove her vehicle from the cooking space. She parked it neatly, but I guess she wanted a quick getaway handy in case she needed it!

No Sleep For Mommy

2009-12-14T06:20:00.000-08:00

Well, this post does not have any pictures. Just a little whining. :) I have been having the WORST nightmares about horrible, freak accidents happening to Maddie! In my dreams, it's usually my fault too. It's really bad. I wake up with that sinking feeling in my stomach, convince myself it was a dream, and then have to go stare at my sleeping baby until I am convinced she is breathing. Occassionally, I accidentally wake her up, and then I have to deal with getting her back to sleep. (She sees me and thinks it's playtime because Mommy snuck into her room!)
Anyway, that's about the extent of this post. Just wondering if this happens to all you other parents out there. All these nighttime hysterics are really cutting into my beauty sleep!
O.k. I can't post a blog without a picture. I thought this one was funny. She's making her really-excited-breathing face. Rarely captured by media of any form. :)

Maddie Walks (In a Cheating Sort of Way)!

2009-12-11T21:27:00.001-08:00

Well, as usual, it's been a really long time since I've updated this! So I thought I'd do a little compilation of Maddie's efforts towards walking, and end the video with Maddie just walking around being herself. I realized when going through the videos just how much footage I have of Maddie just being Maddie. Ha! I feel like the paparazzi!
Things here have been very busy lately! I started work at the hospital I'm at, and that means Maddie is in daycare 1-2 days a week. This was a tough decision, but in the end, we think it's the best. She seems to like the other kids, and I really like the daycare. Although I walked in the other day just in time to see another little girl pull the binky right out of Maddie's mouth and throw it at her head! It was actually kind of funny because she had a hard time getting it out of Maddie's mouth. Maddie gets a tight suction on those binkys! She started waving to Mike a few days ago, and for about 48 hours would ONLY wave to Mike! Now she she has graciously decided to wave to everyone. :) She also really likes climbing up the stairs. We walk right behind her (of course), and she barrel rolls the whole way down! Just kidding. Just seeing if you're actually reading. She giggles the whole way up, not barrel rolls down. :) I'll work on getting a video of these two latest accomplishments.
Mike is still liking his job and still not talking much about it unless I pump him for info. He had a really great time decorating for the holidays (so did I!)
I have decided to apply for anesthesia school, and I've been working on making my application for that complete. It's a competitive field though, and a really hard program, so I'll let you know what the final word ends up being. To start, I'm just applying to USC (the one in CA), and if I don't get in I'll apply elsewhere.
Here's the video:

I hope this blog finds all of you enjoying your Christmas Season!!

The Cutest Halloweener in California

2009-11-08T12:20:00.001-08:00

Well, I hope everyone out there had a Happy Halloween! We had Maddie's first one, as well as having our first here in California. Here is a picture of Maddie in her costume:

We dressed her up and took out for community fun. Weirdly (and I'm guessing this is going to be an on-going theme for San Diego) the weather was 90ish degrees on Halloween, so Maddie got a little hot! We got lots of smiles walking around with her, but most of the activities going on were a little too old for her. The kids in those bounce houses were candy-fueled maniacs!

Here is a picture of Maddie earlier in the week, just getting into the spirit of the season! :)

One of the coolest parts of Halloween was getting trick-or-treaters. I've never lived anywhere that was a trick-or-treat hotspot before, so it was especially fun to see all the kids coming around in costume. There were some HILARIOUS costumes (think 15 year old wearing only speedos and big ears, walking around with his little sister, around 7 yrs, who was wearing an inflatable sumo wrestler costume) And then there was our own little cutie(nice transition, huh):

Maddie didn't make it up late enough to help hand out any of the candy, but she did get her first taste of chocolate chip cookie, and she LOVED it! For a toothless little kid, she can mash her food with the best of us! :)
Here's one more cute picture, just because I like it:

Random Acts of Cuteness

2009-11-08T12:16:00.001-08:00

These are just some cute pictures that I've gotten over the past few weeks. As Maddie starts doing new things, she gets into the funniest predicaments! Here she is after figuring out how to manipulate the baby gate, and then accidentally closing herself and the dogs on the wrong side of it! (neither she nor the dogs were very happy about the situation)

The next two pictures are of what is quite possibly my favorite new Maddie trick. She goes to the kitchen table and grabs a chair. Then she gets underneath it and does acrobatic tricks over the foot rests. Here's a picture of the beginning of the trick:

And here's how it ends:

And for the final cute picture, Maddie loves playing with Deacon, and Deacon's favorite toy is this ratty, disgusting snake. So, of course, Maddie loves the snake. Here is a picture of her playing tug of war under the baby gate with it and Deacon. Sometimes she will also wrap herself in the snake and then try to crawl away with it, giggling like a maniac the whole time, while Deacon holds onto one end of it. I don't have a picture of that because I can't stand to see that gross toy wrapped around her for long enough to snap the picture! (yes, I wash it, but it only stays clean for about a day. It's a losing battle!)

And that's it for now! Happy November!

Another Blog?? So Soon??

2009-10-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

I know it's out of character for me to post TWO blogs within a week of each other, but I wanted to get the word out about a competition that I entered! I made a video for ConAgra foods and got picked to be one of 16 finalists!!! Woohoo! So now my video is up for voting here. I am currently in 8th place (last time I checked) so I really need your votes! My video is the thumbnail with me pushing Maddie in a swing (it says 'submitted by Jenny McDonald'). You can only vote once, so throw your vote my way!
The grand prize is a family vacation for $10,000, so you can imagine that I really want to win...and so does everyone else. :)

I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

Also, if you could repost my link on twitter, facebook, e-mails, your blogs, or anywhere else that people might see it, I'd really appreciate it!

http://apps.facebook.com/delicious-moments/ (it's the one of me pushing Maddie in the swing). Thanks!!!

And Now For Something Completely Different!

2009-10-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

**The video that was supposed to upload would not load. :( I'll try again later**

Like....ravioli!! Maddie is eating big-people food now (kind of), and she shovels it right in! Here is a video of her eating puffs, but her favorite is the raviolis. I only give her those for dinner, and the only one who might like them more than her is Deacon! (He catches what she drops before they hit the floor!) She drains the sippy cup faster than I can refill it, and she gets 3 "bottles" a day. She's getting big! I can't believe how fast she's growing. It's weird to look over and see a shorty little person wobbling along the couch edge.

Maddie is walking along the furniture now. She still has not done belly-off-the-floor crawling, and I think she's going to be walking soon. ha! She's apparently got places to go!
Maddie got invited to a Halloween Party, and she'll be wearing a cute little flower costume (don't worry - I'll get pictures). Given my rate of posting, the pictures should be posted around Christmas time! ;)

In our life, Mike and I just did our first adventure race last weekend, and hopefully we'll be doing more soon. Mike's job is going well, but it's very time-consuming. I just took a job at a nearby hospital on day shift, and I'm excited about that. Otherwise, things are just the same! It's been beautiful weather here as Fall starts to break through...."Fall"....it's been 80-87 degrees.
Hope you're all doing well and Happy Halloween!

UPDATE: I thought this blog was sent about a week ago (really!). Maddie has since started crawling with her tummy off the floor. Apparently, she just wanted to show me what she could do! :)

Maddie's 1st Six Months! - update!

2009-09-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

I have updated the video, after some constructive criticism from the viewers! :) So, anyway, the lowdown is that Sara and I have started a business called Divine Designs Media. We make custom, high-quality original photobooks, holiday cards, and videos (like the one above) created from your own home videos. We can convert your VHS or digital media and give you back all your original media on a dvd or HD-dvd as well as the edited compilation that will be your video! :)

In other news, Maddie is pulling up on things now! She can pull to standing, but has not gotten the courage to take a first step yet...which is o.k. with me! I'm working on baby-proofing the house for this new stage, and I don't want her moving faster than me. :) I put a picture below of her exploring the toy basket. (A whole world of fun!)
Hope you are all having a great weekend - I'll update more later!

And she's crawling! (kinda)

2009-08-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

Maddie has mastered the fine art of the army crawl! Here is a little crawling clip:

I had a better one (or so I thought), but apparently the intricacies of the camcorder still elude me. :)

I did manage to get some good pictures lately though! I keep deciding that Maddie is teething (based on nothing except some drooling), so I bought some teething biscuits for her. This is what she did with them:

Which led directly into the post teething biscuit bath!

Baths always tucker Maddie out. And when Maddie sleeps, Daddy sleeps!

And finally, here is a shot of me and a sleepy Maddie. It doesn't fit into the storyline I've been following, but I want to be in the blog too! :)

Actually, I have one more thing to add: CONGRATS TO THE LOCAL LITTLE LEAGUE WHO JUST BEAT CHINA TO WIN THE LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES!!!
Now I'm done typing for real.

Visiting Texas

2009-08-11T13:54:00.000-07:00

Maddie and I have recently returned from a trip back home, and we had so much fun! It was great to see all the family, and Maddie had an awesome time showing off her new tricks. :)
We started in Texas. Unfortunately, I have no Texas pictures because I stupidly forgot to take a camera. :( I have a sneaky feeling though, that I may get some in my e-mail, and if I do, I'll pop em in! I know everyone likes pictures, so I'm throwing in a few recent, random ones!
Alright, we had a blast in TX! Maddie got to see her first horse, and I'm sure she would have reached her chubby little arm out to pet it if her Mom weren't so afraid that the horse would suddenly become carnivorous and take a bite out of her. It was okay though, because Maddie, true to child form, was much more impressed with the cat that was stalking around the house than the horses. I'm o.k. with cat s, as I'm bigger than they are.
We also went to the BIGGEST used book store that I've ever seen/been inside. It had half a million books (literally), plus videos, dvds, and various forms of music. It was amazing. I picked an educational book series for Maddie that I had seen on TV (Your Baby Can Read) and bought it, only to get it home and realize that it was missing the accompanying dvds. It figures that, having a 1 in 500,000 chance to purchase a quality used book for Maddie, I chose the incomplete one. :) (I did get 3 good books for me though!)
Finally, we went with Gloria to her work and found a gigantic Clifford dog that Maddie thought was hilarious. She loves dogs, and her favorite color is red, so this was a double whammy for her. She had the whole store laughing along with her as she giggled contagiously at the stuffed animal. That includes me. I have been witness to several of Maddie's giggling fits, and I still can't help but laugh right along with her - usually at nothing at all!
Soon after the Clifford festivities, Gloria fell ill. Pat took this opportunity to pamper her when he could. When all else failed, he invoked some good old fashioned rib bing to pull some laughs out of her. It is always very sweet to see a couple laughing at/with each other, and Pat and Gloria are like a couple of flirting kids when they get going. Aside from being sweet, it's also just funny!
Soooo...Pat, Maddie and I hung out the next day, and the day after that I drove the biggest vehicle I have ever driven into Ft Worth to meet a friend. I think it was a Ford Navigator. Compared to my little Mazda 3, this thing was a monster! In fact, on the first exit ramp I thought that I was going to flip over. I didn't though, and I went to Ft Worth and back in one piece! I even confessed the near-flippage to Pat when I got back. (As far as I can tell, it is near impossible to disturb Pat. He is a picture of cool collectedness no matter what is going on. Admittedly, I haven't tried very hard to upset him because...well, why would I ?)
And this brings the Texas trip to a close. We hopped on a flight to SC the next day.
Isn't there something missing, you ask? Why yes there is! I have failed to mention that in just 7 short months I have been able to completely block from my memory the horror that is humidity. This left me a gasping, red-faced mess when I bravely decided to take myself for a run at Pat and Gloria's. "No problem", I thought. "A quick, flat 5-miler will feel great after that plane ride". Well, I don't know where the hills on that run came from because it sure looked flat when we drove it! Then there were all the road bikers sailing by me at 20 mph, all smiles and waves with their cute outfits and lungs full of air. I did manage at least a friendly nod to everyone though, and, on the bright side of the run, I don't think I have ever been so excited to see a pheasant-studded mailbox in my life! (that was my start and stop point)
Until next time, Texas - sionara, my friend!

Here is a quick picture of Maddie lounging at the pool!

Visiting Walhalla, Charlotte, and Seneca!

2009-08-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

The final leg of the trip was a visit to my hometown, Walhalla. I love coming back here because I get to see family and old friends, and for the best part: Ken and Michelle were in town at the same time! We had big, family dinners every night, so Maddie got lots of time with everyone. Here is a picture of her with her Great-grandparents:

One of Maddie's most exciting times was the time she spent with her cousin Ely - finally a kid about the same size as her. Unfortunately, he is 3 months younger than her, so their "playtime" was actually mostly Maddie manhandling Ely. :) They sure were cute together though! (Maddie's on the left)

Here is Maddie with Ava, her other cousin. Ava is SO BIG now, and just adorable! She is learning to talk, and it's so cute to listen to her. She is also a little tumbleweed of energy and laughs rolling around the house!

And here is my awesome sister, Sara, with Maddie. She got lots of good, quality time with Maddie on this trip. Sara somehow has the ability to make Maddie laugh, no matter what. It was really great to see them together.

And here is Ken, my big brother, with Maddie. On first glance, Ken strikes you as a big bear of a man, with broad, muscly shoulders, thick arms, and large paws of hands. Then, Ken will swoop down on a crying baby, and before you know what happened, he is tossing the kid in the air, making funny little noises, and that crying baby is laughing! It was amazing to watch!
One of the funniest parts of seeing Ken with the babies though, was how SMALL they all looked in his arms. Ha! Here is Maddie helping Ken check his law school schedule online.

And Michelle is here with Maddie in an incredibly photogenic picture. They had a good time playing together, and doing pretty much everything together except eating. :) Maddie likes to eat by swallowing 3/4 of the food and spitting out 1/4 of the food. Then she does a big stretch and somehow manages to scrape all of the food that's around her mouth up into her hair, over her eyes, and around her neck. I think it's her babyfood version of a facial. :)

And that's the end of the pictures. There are more of Mom and Dad, but they are currently trapped inside their digital camera. Once we figure out how to free them, I'll download them and get some up here! The same goes for the pictures of Lauren and Philip with Maddie, Ely, Sara and me. Stay tuned!!! Thanks for reading!

Our Little Flipper :)

2009-08-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

Maddie is getting so big and moving around so much! She likes to be flipped upside-down, and will generally just be happy to check out the world from this view. Sunday, Mike decided to make it a game, and Maddie LOVED it! (that's the video...with cameo appearances from the rest of us too)

Enjoy the video - I'll get some pictures up soon too! :)

Where is your THING???

2009-08-05T12:55:00.001-07:00

Well, Maddie has now entered that active period between the baby-blob stage and the crawling stage, so I have come to the realization (the hard way!) that putting Maddie in one place only ensures that she will not be there the next time I look. That being said, you would think I would know better….

This morning, I put Maddie down on my great-grandmother’s hand-stitched baby quilt. Maddie likes to think of this quilt as a diving board off of which she can sail into the billows of honey-colored Deacon dander floating around the pink sea of carpeting. This morning however, I thought to myself, “Excellent work on vacuuming yesterday, Jenny! Now that little scamp can roll herself all over the carpeting, and at worst she will run into another baby toy!”

Little did I know that there was a malevolent THING lurking in the pinkness…

I, ignorant of the aforementioned THING, left Maddie to her gymnastic tumbles and turned to the kitchen. Her squeals of delight soon let me know that (I had nothing to dread? No, wait, that’s another story) she had flipped herself off of the beautiful, quilted launching pad and into the great unknown.

I finished up the dishes while Maddie creeped closer and closer to the THING…(enter Jaws music here).

I glanced over and saw Maddie cooing at her toes, so I returned my attention to making her breakfast. A mere 2 minutes (at most!) later, I set her breakfast – a yummy concoction of Tropical Delight and oatmeal – on the table and went to grab Maddie for her high chair. It was then that I realized Maddie had managed to find the ONE undesireable thing in the entire living room – she had caught up with that THING – A DIRTY SOCK! A SOCK - a dirty, cotton, tube sock to be exact - that Maddie had pulled out of one of Mike’s shoes that had been discarded beside the couch, and she was now working hard to fit the entire dirty tube sock into her mouth.

So here’s the picture:
Me – Horrified, running over to remove the offending item from my beautiful, happy, 7-month-old’s mouth.
Maddie – Cute, smiling, legs up in the air while she coos around a mouthful of sock which, in her mind, appeared to have been the choicest of baby food morsels.

*Sigh. In the end, no harm done (as far as I know!), but it just goes to show that no matter how much you clean, the baby will find what you have inevitably missed!

Or maybe it goes to show that one man’s sock is another gal’s treasure? Haha! (It’s okay to laugh at that – you’re at your computer and no one will know you’re laughing at a corny joke. Unless you’re Dad, in which case everyone knows you’re corny anyway!)

PS- Pics and details of the recent trip home will be posted shortly.

I Did It!!

2009-07-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

The open-water swim, that is. I know I told everyone that I was going to do this last week....
but I chickened out. :) And with good reason, it turns out! I have discovered SEVERAL hazards (and tips) in ocean swimming:

1) When putting on a wetsuit, turn the arms and legs half inside-out. It makes it a lot easier! (I got this info after one of the gals swimming "with" me recovered from laughing so hard at my clumsy attempts to get the neoprene over myself! Also, Bodyglide is your friend. You're very, very good friend.

2) When putting on a swim cap, remember that you are now in the sun, even if you don't feel like it. You WILL get a silly-looking sunburn that draws a line right across your forehead if you're not careful in your positioning! (Yeah, I bet you'd like a picture...too bad!!) :)

3) As I was swimming along, I saw a dark mass moving beneath me. It suddenly moved quickly towards me, and I almost threw my back out from jumping up and backwards so fast. Luckily, I got out of the way fast enough that it only brushed my hand...kelp. Yes, I know now that I have an irrational fear of slimy, creepy, sinewy, marine plant life.

4) After the kelp attack, I realized that I was only 1/4 of the way done with this swim. Note to self and everyone else: Ocean swimming is NOT as easy as pool swimming. Don't worry about trying to breathe on both sides, don't worry about the proper roll, don't even worry about breathing strictly air! It turn out, it's okay if your air is laced with salt water. Apparently, it's also okay to snort salt water.

5) Make sure that what you are looking at to maintain the right direction is actually what you think it is. After turning around at the buoy, I began diligently swimming out to sea. Luckily, Sarah was not only sighting for herself, but also checking on me, and called to me. The "orange buoy" that I thought was watching was actually a bald man's head who was swimming to a different buoy from the opposite direction.

6) 2/3 of the way done. I have been back-of-the-pack the entire way. Me, who is regularly cocky about my swimming ability. I took a deep breath and plunged forward again...only to find myself staring a GIANT kelp plant right in my face. There goes the back again.
I know you think kelp is not scary because you are sitting there, comfy and dry, on your cushiony chair. Imagine looking down into the murky depths of the ocean (that houses LOTS of scary creatures) and seeing a dark, moving object really close to you. I was unable to fight the kelp off this time, and it got my arms and plastered a gross, slimy, leaf on the side of my face. ugh.

7) What is that burning that I have been feeling for the past 30 minutes? I think I might throw up from salt water ingestion and lack of food.

8) There are hot and cold pockets of water in the ocean, and they do not indicate that you are being whisked away by a rip tide. Really.

9) Finally, I can see the lifeguard tower we started from. What IS that burning? How long have we been swimming? Why are there kayakers swarming around me?

10) Yep, there were 3 classes of kayakers who were out at the end of the swim. Several of them wanted to have a conversation with me.
Kayaker: How do you do that? Aren't you cold?
Me: *sucking air* It's not that cold with the wetsuit.
Kayaker: Aren't you afraid? What if you sink?
Me: (thinking: If I stay here talking to you, wasting energy, I might sink!) No, I'm not afraid. The wetsuit helps keep me from sinking. *swimming away before he can ask another question

11) We're back. Finally. We go to rinse off, and Renee unvelcros and unzips my wetsuit for me. "Oooh, you are really red! Didn't you use Bodyglide?"
"No"
"Oh. You're chaffed. *makes a "sucks for you" face*"
"I guess that's what the burning was." My neck, my elbows, and my knees - all rubbed raw! I'd like to say it is the war wounds from my Kelp Battles, but lets face it - the kelp won without a battle.

All in all, I finished my mile and a half swim in 2 hours. This is ridiculously slow. I can do 1.5 miles in a pool in 45 minutes. I don't care though - I finished, and I can't wait to do it again! Maybe I'll do a cove swim next time though...

ADDENDUM: I just saw Sarah, Renee, and myself on the news. There were apparently some scuba divers who were whisked 2 miles out to see by an undercurrent this morning at the beach we were at. Great. Don't tell my Mother-in-Law!

Jump, Jump, Jump, and AWAY!!

2009-07-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

Alright, this video is a full 45 seconds, but I couldn't find a single part to cut out! It's all so typical Maddie. She LOVES jumping in this thing, and regularly jumps herself to sleep (a Godsend for us, because it broke her cycle of resisting naptime!).
Also, you'll note the part where she considers eating the camcorder. This is a funny thing that Maddie does. She locks her eyes on an object, slowly reaches her hands out towards it, and tries to "tractor beam" it into her mouth. The girl will put EVERYTHING in her mouth - even Deacon's nose!
And also, you get to hear a little bit of a giggle in the video, and that's just always a happy sound. :)

Unfortunately, there is not a lot else to report here. I always feel like I need to have something exciting to tell you guys! I did make some extra yummy blueberry pancakes on Sunday! Of course, the berries did most of the work there.

Also, I started selling AdvoCare as a side project. It's something I started taking at the recommendation of my personal trainer, and I liked it so much, I started selling it too! If you're interested, feel free to e-mail me, or you can check out my site here: www.advocare.com/09064453. (had to put in my plug!)

What? No pictures?!

2009-06-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

Haha! Nope, just me talkin! I wanted to let everyone know that I chickened out and did not do the swim. *sigh I will eventually go, but when 5 a.m. rolled around, the last thing I wanted to do was groggily drive an hour just to go jump into some freezing shark-water (haha). So I'm saving that joy for another day.

When that day comes, I will let you know...with pictures! ;-)

A Day With Hats...

2009-06-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Maddie and I were playing dress-up today. The hats looked better on her than they did on me, so I only included the pictures of her wearing them. :)

She thrashes her arms and legs around when she smiles, so most of her happy pictures have the problem of this one. It's okay though. I think there are worse problems to have than being SO HAPPY that it takes over your entire body!

There's not too much new going on here, but I hadn't updated in a while. Maddie is 5 months now. She can roll over (and does regularly, at the most inopportune times!), and she can army crawl for short distances. She is also recovering from whooping cough and an ear infection. :(

Mike is happy at his job and has started doing extra stuff to spice up his life a bit.

I started running with another mom (and Maddie of course), and recently bought a trailer for my bike so Maddie can come along on bike-rides, too. Tomorrow, Maddie will stay with a buddy while I try 2 new things: 1) putting on a full wetsuit. Don't worry, there will not be pictures of that dance! 2) Swimming a mile in the ocean. Yikes! It is at least a cove swim, so I have that to assuage my fears a little, but I'm still scared. Plus, I have a bad habit of getting horrible songs stuck in my head during swims. Then, after the swim, I get to try to get the wetsuit back off. I am making these comments about the wetsuit because I tried it on in the living room tonight, and it was quite the comedy routine. I'll repost about how the swim goes.

Hope all is well with everyone reading this!

Maddie Kicks and Plays!

2009-06-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

Maddie has discovered her toes! I have been waiting for this stage, and I think it's so cute to see her grabbing her toes. :) She's getting better at eating also, which her clothes really appreciate - she was staining them all!

And this is a video of Maddie playing with her Kick n' Play while she makes some vaguely condor-like noises. :) Pay no mind to the lost sock lingering in the background...

A Visit From Afar (aka - Memphis)

2009-06-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

Maddie would like to start this blog off by delivering an important reminder to everyone:

Now that everyone knows that, we had a great visit from Uncle Ken and Aunt Michelle last week! Although the weather was grey and less-that-warm the whole time (very unusual for SD, but 100% on out-of-towner visits so far!), we still had a great time. Just no laying out at the beach. :-/

We did get to visit the zoo though, and we snapped some great pictures:

This one is of Ken chatting with his buddy, Mr. Gorilla. The gorilla had a name, but I couldn't pronounce it. Ken remembered him from childhood though, and they reminisced about the good ole' days they shared as litter mates. (this is he and Ken chatting through the glass - you can see Ken there in his ugly tiger paw shirt, hehe)

Michelle and I tried to fit in, but it was obvious that we just weren't cut out to be monkeys:

So we moseyed on to the alligator pool, and got a shot of Mr. Alligator (crocodile?) modeling:

There are many more zoo pictures, but I don't want blogspot to kick me off for using all their web space. :)

Next, we went to Coronado Island, where the Hotel Del Coronado had a cool Dr. Suess statue exhibit!!

The beach was also pretty. Those statues have a great view!

Next came La Jolla. This is where the 'seals bite' sign from above came from. We visited "Seal Beach" aka "Children's Beach" (big fight going on between the seals and the children right now), and we got to see a lot of seals - including some baby ones! Michelle and Ken are very photogenic in front of one of the cliffs:

I didn't know it at the time, but Ken was actually holding onto Michelle in that picture. When he let her go later, standing overlooking the seals, she slipped and almost fell in to join them on the beach! (Just kidding, he wasn't really holding her. She just slipped on the sand, but I figure I might as well make jokes.) :)

We also went to Balboa Park - the central park of San Diego. This picture is from the botantical area of the park (you didn't think Maddie would go unrepresented, did you?!):

AND NOW....for the most exciting part!! The day before Ken and Michelle left, we went up to LA to see a filming of The Price is Right. Mike's brother, Sean, suggested that we all act super excited and wear college sweatshirts. We did that, and guess what?! Ken chatted up the interviewer and got himself called onto The Price is Right!!! Check out the show on June 12, and see my big bro up on the lineup. Also, check out the guy who beat Ken's bid by $2. The guy is ridiculous. And I'm not just saying that because he stole the Showcase from Ken! :)
This is Ken and Michelle at The Grove in LA:

Here is a cute picture of Ken and Michelle cuddling with Maddie:

I was sad to see them go, but we'll see them again soon!

She's got a sweet tooth (in theory only)!

2009-05-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

O.K., so no ACTUAL teeth yet, but this girl loves her bananas! We started her with veggies, and she got bananas the other day for the first time. I thought she might chomp through the spoon, she was so crazy about them! It's so fun to watch her as she's turning more and more into a little person and leaving some of her other traits behind. (She now knows to do the "baby bird face" for food instead of trying to suckle the spoon).
Maddie has also started noticing the dogs. Deacon (the big yellow lab) LOVES this girl. Cooper (the "more mature" mini schnauzer) is still warming up to her. How can we tell? Cooper steals little licks on Maddie when he thinks he can get away with it, and he watches her from his dog bed the rest of the time. Deacon walks brazenly up to a Tummy Time Maddie and plants a big lick on her hairless little head! Then he'll lay down beside her tummy time blanket. :) What a family!
Here is just a cute picture of Maddie with her Daddy.

Maddie, Meet Mr. Green Bean!

2009-05-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

Ha, what a mess! She seemed to like them though. She sees the world through green bean-tinted glasses I guess. :) But that's not all!
Maddie has also started playing in her Johnny Jumper:

And then sleeping in the Johnny Jumper!

Tripping along the Country

2009-05-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

We're back! I know it's been a long time, but it's been a busy time too! Maddie is growing like a weed! She will be 3 months and 3 weeks this Saturday, and she's so much fun as she grows!

All three of us went on a Meet-the-Grandparents trip a couple weeks ago, and it was a blast! Maddie's first flight was a long one, but she had the other passengers eating out of her hand by landing. Her smiles are contagious!
The first stop was in Dallas to see Grandma and Grandpa McDonald. We got to be there for a great thunderstorm (RARE out here in San Diego!), and Maddie got to hang with their new puppy - an adorable Golden Retriever. We met tons of very sweet people and had an awesome, relaxing time. It was nice to see Maddie bonding, and it was even nicer to get a much-cherished trip on the town with Mike while Grandma and Grandpa babysat! :-D

Oh! I forgot to mention that Maddie did her share of modeling work during the trip. It wasn't hard since we all kept dressing her up, and Gloria had a lion's share of cute baby-girl photo props!

The next stop was sunny SC! We landed on a rainy day after an easy plane ride on a small plane. Maddie spent most of it trying to beat the jet lag so she'd have smiles galore for the next family to meet.

We ate lots of good food, went on a beautiful hike, hung out with grandparents, great grandparents, and a great-great aunt (that makes her sound much older than she is-sorry Aunt Aggie!) Somehow, not a single picture of the great grandparents landed on my camera, but I did get one with Aunt Aggie.

AND... Mike and I are new Aunts and Uncles! We got to meet Sara's new family member too!

And finally, after many tears good-bye, our trip was over...or so we thought. We ended up stuck in Chicago overnight, re-routed through San Jose, then stuck in San Diego with no luggage (which contained our car keys!) At least all that happened at the end of the trip!

7 Week Smiles!!

2009-03-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been MIA for so long - it's been a steep learning curve here figuring out our way around this new Life with Baby. Boy, has it been awesome though! I can't believe how much she's grown, and how much more she can do now. She's always been a pretty strong baby, but she can face forward in the Bjorn now, and she tears up the tummy time! She started smiling about a week and a half ago, and she's started kicking a lot more lately also.
I will do another blog about the recent visitors we've had, and what fun they were! :)
Sooo, since Maddie has gotten so much more active in the past couple of weeks, I broke out the camcorder! She was in a great mood today, so I thought I'd shoot this video so it would look like she was always so agreeable. :) (wait, I don't think I was supposed to tell you that part...) Enjoy!

NOT a Water Baby!

2009-02-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

Well, Maddie had a very trying experience tonight. She lost her umbilical stump a couple days ago, so we decided to give her a bath tonight!
It turns out, Maddie does not like the water. She was a picture of terror when I put the first spongeful of water on her!

At the risk of sounding like a bad mother, her faces were hilarious! I tried consoling her, but there is only so much you can do to console such a little one, so I just made it a quick bath. Hopefully, this will get easier for her. :)
Here's the clean, if a little traumatized, Maddie:

A Baby Story

2009-01-27T19:47:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is - Our Baby Story:
Friday, January 23 I was 38 weeks pregnant and in a horrible mood! We had just moved into our house the day before, and I had spent all of Friday unpacking and organizing the kitchen. Tired and cranky, I told Mike goodnight early and went to bed around 9:30. At 10, I suddenly woke up from sleep thinking that I'd just had a pain, but I wasn't sure. I laid there for around an hour trying to decide if I was in labor and listening to Mike play Grand Theft Auto on surround sound. Finally, I figured I was probably in labor and called Mike to tell him that I thought I was probably in labor.
Mike bounded up the stairs 2 at a time with a huge smile on his face. "It would be better if we could at least wait until the end of the weekend!" (We didn't yet have the crib put together or a washer/dryer in place). After timing a couple of contractions, we decided to make a paper mache cast of my belly. By this point, I was no longer uncertain of whether I was in labor, and in fact I was having back labor. It was hard to be still for the cast of my belly to set! I did though, and in hindsight I'm glad Mike thought of doing it. It's amazing how much bigger I was 4 days ago, haha!
At this point, it is around 1 am. I went into the room that was going to be the nursery and started putting baby stuff together for the hospital trip. I felt a contraction coming, doubled over with it, and then my water broke when I stood up. Without going into too much detail, that is a WEIRD sensation! It continued leaking for hours after the initial break. Inconvenient. :)
I took a shower, and Mike called Labor and Delivery Triage, who told us to come on in. It was around 1:45 when we left. I had started vomiting around 1:15 (which the nurses assured me was normal, although they looked none too pleased to hear about that particular symptom!)
Anyway, we got to the hospital, got checked in, and I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. I cannot tell you how supportive Mike was. It was really incredible. If I go into too much detail, he come back after me and delete it, but I will suffice to say that he is every bit the amazing man that I knew him to be.
Around 3 am, we got to the delivery room, I got some nausea/pain medicine, and the nurse started checking us in. The contractions were much stronger than I had expected, and even the pain medicine didn't seem to be helping much. It did however, make me extremely loopy for the check-in procedure with the nurse who promptly began harassing me about being a lightweight and a cheap date. I tried to think of some witty comment relating the cheap date thing to being pregnant, but in my haze, I couldn't think of anything. :)
At 4:30, I got a "walking epidural". This is apparently the epidural that they give that has light basal rates of drugs, and the patient can increase the dose on demand with a handheld button. The epidural was fantastic. The contractions became bearable, but I could still move/feel my legs. I fell asleep and so did Mike (he had the uncomfortable Dad chair though).
At 7:30 I woke up needing to push. Unfortunately, 7:30 is shift change. I tried pressing the demand dose on the epidural, and the machine started alarming. It was out of medicine. A helper nurse came in, silenced the epidural machine, and told me that my nurse would be in shortly. About 15 minutes later, the machine went off again and the same helper nurse came in and said that the epidural was not going to help the pressure I was having anyway. She told me my nurse would be in soon. I was really needing to push by this point.
Finally, the nurse came in, checked me and felt Maddie's head right there. Of course, I had gone from 7cm to 10 cm in about 1.5 hours. The nurse called the MD, set up the room, and I started pushing a little after 8. Madeline Grace McDonald was born 5 pushes later, and plopped right on my stomach for Mike and I to ogle and stroke while she got wiped off.
I couldn't believe it happened so easily. I spent the day on the phone with family/friends, and of course with Mike and Maddie. Mike made a trip home to put the crib together. The next day we came home.
I had big plans. I wanted everything to be perfect for our new family. There were a lot of things to clean up and unpack, dogs to care for, and general organization to be done. By the end of the day, I was exhausted and had basically only accomplished doing some laundry. By today, I stepped over some boxes to get to my computer in order to post this blog. When Mike, Maddie and I go to bed, we'll step over some as-yet-unorganized clothes and wall hangings in the rooms. The coffee table is too full for anything other than the knick-knacks that are covering it but don't belong there. Oh, and there is definately no way I'll be back to running and working out in the time span I had planned.
The best part is, all of this IS perfect for our new family. This is how we are doing this, and we are making it work. I feel so blessed and lucky and in love, and as happy as I am right now, there isn't anything I would change.
(well, except maybe for the being so far from family!)
Thanks to all of you for all of your kind words, e-mails, texts, facebook posts, and phone calls! It was awesome to be able to share this with everyone - even if we did have to do it long distance!

Here are some pictures of the newest McDonald!

The Latest belly and some family pics too!

2009-01-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

Tell me that this is not a picture of a happy man and his happy dog! haha, notice that Deacon is conspicuously on the right side of the bed (MY side!)

And here's another, showing Cooper fully in my spot. We already have such a great family - it's going to be so great adding a little one to the bunch!

And here is the latest belly picture. After comparing this with the one from a couple weeks ago, I don't think I have dropped yet, but I'm not sure. :) I'm ready though - I was term last Tuesday, but I just read an article saying that first timers usually carry until 40 weeks and 1 day - argh! Haha, I don't know if my feet and back will last that long. :)
(I guess I should wish for her to stay in at least until we get into the house though...)

It's No B&W by Gloria, but It'll Do!

2009-01-02T19:07:00.001-08:00

Here's the latest belly pic. It's of me at 35 weeks and 3 days. Yikes! It's getting so close, which is good because I can't stand to get much bigger! Our house in MD is no longer ours, as of today, woohoo! Soon (hopefully) we'll have a house in CA to replace it. :-D

Our House...Is a very, very, very fine house / fine house! :)

2008-12-30T17:09:00.000-08:00

We had our home inspection today, and it looks like we'll be moving in around the middle of January! I can't wait, as about 2 weeks after that (hopefully) we'll be adding a member to our little family, and I think we should have somewhere other than a dresser drawer for her snooze in! (That's a joke - I don't want any rumors to get started, haha!) So here's a video tour of the house. It's a little bit (o.k., a lot) pink, but nothing that can't be remedied with some fixing-up during the first couple/few years! My favorite part of the house is the kitchen, with a close second coming in at having OUR VERY OWN PALM TREE! I know, it's exciting huh? Also, today is 12/30 and it's 72 degrees outside. So, so weird... ;-)
OH! I also have to give a little disclaimer before you guys watch this: Although it may look like I run into the sliding glass door, I actually just can't get it open. Honestly.

Beautiful Camera Work

2008-11-25T21:32:00.000-08:00

One of the places that we stopped off along the way was at Mike's parents' near Dallas. His mom does fantastic work with photography, and these are two of the pictures that she took! I love how photographers can make you look so good, even when you're feeling HUGE!! :) I'd like to say that she photoshopped my belly, and it's not really that big, but then I'd be lying...

Spoils of a Wonderful Road Trip!

2008-11-25T21:20:00.000-08:00

Well, we are basically done with the road trip. Tomorrow lands us in San Diego, and we can't wait to be done with driving! We have seen several fun signs along the way however, and I couldn't resist sharing! Here are some of the best:

Prison area. DO NOT PICK UP HITCH HIKERS!
The THING? dead ahead
Caution: Swirling Dust
THE THING? dead ahead
Zero Visibility possible ahead
THE THING? dead ahead
Several signs with bad puns playing on either Southern or Mexican lingo

You may have noticed a pattern with the Thing there. There were 224 billboards advertising this roadside attraction, although we resisted the temptation to go pay a dollar and see what The Thing? was. It will have to be a mystery for another road trip I suppose. Or, if you ever find yourself in Dragoon, AZ and itching for a mystery, you can go discover it yourself!

First Glimpse of Chubby Cheeks!

2008-11-24T07:20:00.000-08:00

Mike and I went for a 4D ultrasound while we were in Dallas this weekend, and got a little preview of baby Mac's chubby cheeks! It is definite now that she is a girl (the ultrasound tech got some explicit photos during the scan, haha!), and it's also definite that she is a cutie! :) Maybe I'm biased though. It was awesome to do this with Mike because, as most of you know, he has been forced to miss a lot of the milestones due to work constraints. I'm attaching a clip of the video here for you all to get an early glimpse too! Mike actually edited this one together, but he was too shy to type a post for the blog. ;-)
In case, like me, you are not adept at the fine art of viewing ultrasounds, it shows a close-up of her face, and she has a hand up by her mouth. I was staring at a blob of placenta for the first 2 minutes of the ultrasound before I figured out what I was supposed to be looking at!
I can't wait to meet her for real!!!! Enjoy!

(oh, this is at 29.5 weeks)

The latest

2008-11-20T07:50:00.000-08:00

Well, we are just leaving Memphis for Texarkana (sounds a little backwoods, huh?), and we shot a quick belly pic this morning. Now bear in mind that I'd just woken up, so don't judge the hair! Thought I'd post it to let you know how it's growing. I feeling like it's not really growing any faster than the rest of me! I'm starting to get really jealous of these people who look exactly the same except for the "basketball belly"! :) haha, 3 more months. I can do this...

Unsuccessful at Buying, Great at Producing!

2008-11-17T09:33:00.000-08:00

O.K., maybe not GREAT at producing, but it's my first time! Here is about 2 minutes of our 10 day house hunting trip (which turned out to be an absolute failure), edited to my heart's content. :) Hope you enjoy it! We are actually right now getting ready to make the big drive *sigh. Cars, dogs, and crossword puzzles- sound like fun? I thought so too. Who needs a big fancy plane when we have a perfectly good, much slower and smaller, car?! More blogs and videos to come (as I find time!)

Roktoberfest!

2008-10-28T05:51:00.000-07:00

Well, this blog is about a week late, but I think it's already been established that I pretty much suck at keeping up with this blog!
I was back in SC last week for a final farewell to being driving-distance from home. It was one of the most fun trips that I've taken home, as it was Oktoberfest weekend, and there were lots of people to see! I ran the race in the morning, and the temperature was fantastic for running! Happily, I did not come in last overall OR in my age group. :) Mum's the word on what my time actually was though, hehe.
Later that night, I was inaugurated into the nocturnal life of the Oktoberfest. Somehow I had managed to grow up in Walhalla without EVER attending the German heritage event of the year - man, I didn't know what I was missing. Actually though, I'm not sure if it was the events of the Oktoberfest or the hilarious friends that made the night so much fun. I spent the majority of the night in the beer tent (which is a blog to its own), and the rest of time making circuits of the place. Here are some snippets of the evening:

Heather: What will you name your baby?
Jenny: We've been unable to come to any agreements on the names so far.
Craig: So she'll be named Craigette (Craig started pulling for this name at the beginning of the evening, and by the end of the evening, it was all but assumed that this would be the baby's name)
Heather: You know, you can do a poll on blogspot and let people vote on the name they like best.
Jenny: Oooh, good idea. We have some names we like: Sophie, Lily, Ally, and Craigette.
Craig: I'm voting. I'll go in and vote lots of times every day! (Looking at Heather) You'll vote for Craigette too, right?
Heather: Um, no.

haha! And here are some superlatives for the night:

*Favorite Tip of the Evening*
Linda Combs: You know, they say that drinking a beer helps with breast feeding because it helps get the milk to flow.
Jenny: Ooooh!
;-)

*Most Notable Moment of Oktoberfest Experience*
When we got to the Beer Tent at 8:30 pm, Craig said, "Watch. Around 11, someone's going to whoop, and then someone else is going to go "Wooooohoooo!", and then the whole place will start whooping!
At 9:30, some let out a premature whoop, but it did not catch on.
Then, at 10:57 pm, the whooping started. It happened just as Craig predicted: One person whooped, then someone else did it, then the entire Beer Tent was a cauldron of whoops! It was fantastic!

Well, that's the end of my rocktoberfest stories. Unfortunately, I took no pictures, so I have no visual candy to share with you. :)
Incidently, I have baby belly pictures on my facebook page. I'll transfer them here when I get a chance! Here's the most recent though:

Painters Aren't Paid Enough!

2008-09-27T04:45:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how much painter ARE paid, but I'm pretty sure it's not enough. I have just spent the last week painting different areas of Mike's bachelor pad in order to try to fool a potential buyer into believing that it is not, actually, a bachelor pad. While doing this, I have realized the ultimate boredom that is painting. Most everyone knows that the trim is the worst part. Unfortunately, these walls have needed 2-3 coats of trim! So I do as much of the tedious trim work as possible first, in order to give myself large expanses of time where I can roll away with wild abandon in the wide open expanses of wall. (I eat my least favorite parts of dinner first also - I like to save the best for last) My plan with the trim was spoiled though, when I realized that even the rolling part (which also took several coats) was boring to do! I found myself trying to think of as many words/names as I could that ended in -ary. Garry, Larry, Mary, fairy, dairy, cherry, merry (oooh, homonyms are double points!), Jerry, airy, berry, carry, etc. That worked as a diversion for a while, but eventually, I ran out of words. There are only so many letters in the alphabet. In the end, I found myself covered in paint, sweating through my n95 respirator (which I was wearing to protect from paint fumes. This added to my looking completely ridiculous), and singing 80s hair band songs at the top of my lungs. Mike's neighbors loved me, I'm sure. The kitchen made it out of the deal looking much better however, with a new coat of paint. Unfortunately, there is still the rest of the house. And I am sure that painters are not paid enough.

Good food, good friends....good tail??

2008-09-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow (9/15) is the big day - the 20 week ultrasound! I am ridiculously excited about this, and I say ridiculously because we are not even finding out the sex of the baby! Additionally, it's just a regular 2-D ultrasound (no fancy stuff), but I still can't wait to catch a glimpse of our little bundle! It'll be nice to put a face to the person who's been wiggling around in there. :) I will be sure to post an ultrasound picture as soon as Mike has seen it!
In other news, Mike and I went to a party this weekend, thrown by an out-going graduate class for an incoming graduate class. This class is called Test Pilot School, and it is very prestigious within the Naval community, as well as difficult to be accepted into. Of course then, it only follows that this group of elite pilots and engineers should be able to party their butts off, huh? (yeah, I was surprised too) These guys put the Rugby team at my old University to shame! haha, I will spare you the details, except for one. This particular detail, I felt, was really a defining theme of the evening.
Upon walking to the outdoor area of this party, one nearly ran into a large wooden object. To me, it resembled half of a skateboarding half-pipe, with a big hole in bottom. (I was quickly informed that it was a version of a "tailhook", which is the thing that helps to stop planes landing on an aircraft carrier.) Turns out, the hole was intentional, and the missing piece was a wheeled chair that was placed at the top of the ramp. True to engineer style, this was no normal chair. It had things sticking out all over the place. One of these things was a lever that the rider straddled in order to sit in the chair. The rider then catapulted himself off the top of the ramp, hurled down the ramp, and attempted (often in vain) to pull the lever at the precise moment that would drop a "catch" into the hole at the bottom of the ramp. If the rider's timing was imperfect, he and the chair would then be pitched off the ramp and into the dirt and grass awaiting him. Unfortunately, the kiddie pool that was intended to be placed at the bottom of the ramp for the unsuccessful players of the game sprung a leak and was unable to be used. You may notice that I am using the male pronoun. There is a reason for this. During the entire course of the evening, I did not see ONE female attempt this feat. However, the draw of the game did appear to have an inverse ratio though to the drunkenness of the crowd. The less coordination people had, the more fun it seemed to be to attempt something requiring just that. But that is a question for the ages...

Introductory Blog

2008-09-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

Well, after much encouragement from friends, Mike and I have decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon. Believing that everyone else is just as interested in our daily lives as we are, this will give us yet another opportunity to talk about ourselves. :)
This being said, I (Jenny) am sure that I will be the primary Typist in this blogging adventure. If you are reading this, you probably know both of us and are not surprised by this fact!
Sooooooo.......now we're in the big time, eh?!

I will leave you with a picture of The Happy Couple: