Picnic at the Park

We met Honey, Great! Grandma B, and Aunt Sue at a park on Saturday so Claire could get some fresh air and use up some of her never-ending supply of energy. We had a Chickfila lunch, then Honey and Claire hit the playground while the rest of us sat in the sun with Madeleine. What a fun day!

Growing, growing, growing!

I took Madeleine back the pediatrician on Friday to get her bilirubin level checked again. Luckily, it's going down, so we'll just keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't turn any yellower. She shocked us all with the amount she's grown, though--in just 3 days she went from 5 lbs, 15 oz to 6 lbs, 6 oz and added a half of an inch! The doctor was so impressed with her growth that he said we didn't need to come back for the 2-week check because she had already gained the weight he was hoping she should. Yay Madeleine!

At Home

Just some pictures from the last week at home....

Fun in the kitchen

Dancing. Always dancing.

My TWO girls!!

Sweet baby

Claire says all the time now, "Aww, my little sister. I love my little sister."

She wanted to pose by the stairs...

Claire's Christmas Program

Claire's school had their Christmas program on Thursday last week, and it was so cute! We were all very impressed with the behavior of all the kids. There were some rather long speaking parts from a teacher, and everyone stood or sat so still and quietly. Claire said that they had practiced that a lot, and it showed. The theme was "The Colors of Christmas" and all the different classes wore different colored shirts. Claire had been practicing and practicing her class song "Red and Green" since Thanksgiving, and she was ready to sing the morning of the program. And she did a great job! She was one of only a couple kids in her class who actually knew the entire song and hand motions, so they put her in the front and told her to sing LOUD! (Which now explains why she insisted on practically yelling it whenever she sang at home.) After the program ended, we all went back to her classroom for their little class party. They ate pizza and had a gift exchange, and all the kids gave their parents a little present they had made--a hand print in a plaster ornament.

Shocked to see us as they walked into the church.

Posing before the program

Too many flashes!

The whole school

She insists on sitting at the head of the table....

More Madeleine Chronicles

Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jamey, and Uncle Jeff came over on Sunday to spend time with Madeleine and play with Claire. Grandma brought over a super-fun gingerbread house kit, and Claire LOVED putting it together and decorating it just right. We also officially welcomed Madeleine to the family with a champagne toast using the same toasting flutes we used when Claire was born.





Madeleine had her first pediatrician visit on Tuesday, and everything is still going great. She's down to 5 lbs, 13 oz, which is a 7% drop of birth weight and in the normal range. We're keeping her warm and cozy so that she can spend calories on bulking up instead of maintaining her body temperature. And she has a mild case of jaundice, so we'll go back on Friday for another check of that and her PKU test. She and I have enjoyed a few quiet days of "nesting in", but I was feeling super claustrophobic yesterday, so we ventured out to HEB with Daddy while Claire was at school. I wore her in a sling, and she slept the whole time. It was good practice for tomorrow, when she'll be in it for a few hours while we attend Claire's Christmas program, party, and Santa visit.

Claire and Daddy have gotten lots of quality time in together, going on all sorts of "adventures" (a much better word than "errands", in my opinion). She seems to be making the transition to big sisterhood pretty well, although we are starting to see some less than savory behavior around bedtime. Nothing bad, just some passive aggressive selective hearing on her part. I think she's just really bored, so hopefully the upcoming holidays and visitors will help with that.

Pictures!--Hospital and going home

Here are a bunch of pictures of our time in the hospital and Claire meeting Madeleine.....

Wednesday night, getting things going

After 11 hours of labor and only 20 seconds of pushing, Madeleine's here!

Four generations. We were so happy J's grandparents decided to stay in town a few extra days.

Aunt Lou flew in on Friday morning and came straight to the hospital.

Katie came for a visit on our never-ending Saturday.

Ready to go home!

Finally home!

Isn't this picture so sweet??

Finally Home

We were finally discharged from the hospital at about 5:30 last night. Madeleine needed one more check from the pediatrician to check for jaundice and to make sure her temperature regulation was alright, and, of course, he didn't show up until 4:30. Everything's looking great, and we'll go in for an office visit early this week.

Honey, H, Aunt Lou, and Claire were all waiting for us at our house when we got home. Claire was hiding in her room, saying she was scared to see her sister. J, M, and I went up to find her and she quickly warmed up. The first thing she said when she saw her was "Look at those teeny tiny toes! Awww..." C wanted to hold her, so we all trooped downstairs to take the obligatory sibling pictures in front of the Christmas tree. C was so gentle and loving, giving M kisses and wanting to hold her hand. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room.

We all had a good first night, and are settling in wonderfully as a family of four. We have lots of pictures to post, and hopefully I'll find some time soon to do that.

Doing Great!

Just wanted to check in from the hospital and let you all know we're doing great! (I'm a bit sleepy, though, so please pardon the random subject changes in this rambling paragraph.) We finally got up to a postpartum room about 9 last night, where J's parents and grandparents were waiting with a Double Dave's treat for a very hungry mommy and daddy. After all the necessary checking and assessing from the nurses, everybody went to sleep about midnight and had a fairly good night. Madeleine's already a nursing pro, so that's helping to make things a lot easier, but she's having a bit of an issue keeping her body temperature up and had to spend a couple of hours under the heat lamp early this morning. I got the go-ahead from my doctor to go home today, but we're still waiting to see the pediatrician to know what he thinks. I'm guessing we'll end up staying here for another night, though. I'm finding so much more enjoyment this time around compared with Claire's delivery, when I was a neurotic first-time mom. And the fact that Madeleine is so laid-back is definitely helping things. Hopefully this little personality continues! She's also a huge daddy's girl. She knows his voice and searches the room whenever she hears it. He can't say anything while she's eating, or she'll unlatch and spend her time looking for her daddy instead of nursing. It's really so, so sweet!!!

Happy Birthday!

MADELEINE ANNE CEZEAUX

6 lbs 4.5 oz

19.25"

Everybody is healthy and doing well.

5:10

at 10cm and pushing.

3:15

Katherine is at 7 cm now and progressing quickly. The nurse has paged the doctor, and they have all of the gear set up! Looks like it won't be long now!

1:15 Update

Well the epidural is in. Katherine was in a bit of pain before, but now she is feeling just fine.

The mothers and H went on a culinary adventure to the most glorious place in the hospital: the cafeteria (or the CRAPeteria, as Mom calls her place at work). The perused the delicious jello choices, the chocolate puddings, the turkey sandwiches...and decided to go with some broccoli cheese soup that looked magnificent. In my opinion, there is nothing like broccoli cheese soup to warm you up on a cold day.

So they started ladling up the big - I'm sure styrofoam - bowls of soup when they got a surprise guest: a shrimp. One lone, stray shrimp that somehow managed to work his way from his other friends (don't really WANT to know what they were in) and into the bubbling pot of cheese, cream and broccoli.

What a great place for a crustacean to be.

Needless to say, they left the bowl of soup and their little friend and opted, instead, for a bowl of tortilla.

10:40 Update

So I got a new phone number a couple of weeks ago, and J didn't know what it was. So he was texting updates to my old phone and wondered why he wasn't getting a response. I'm sure somebody in the panhandle is thinking, "I wish this guy would quit texting this stuff to me!" Oops!

So here is the update, sent to my correct phone number. Katherine's water broke at 8:30, but there hasn't been much progess since. Everybody - well, ALMOST everybody :( - is at the hospital now.

I will keep you posted as updates become available.

Manning the Ship

Good morning, and happy eventual birthday to the little girl who does not yet have a name. This is Lauren, and I have now taken over blogging responsibilites and will keep you all up to date as events progress today.

I had a dream last night that Meredith kept calling me - how she got my new phone number, I have no idea - but she was wanting baby updates. I guess that was I sign that I needed to update you all!

As you have read, K&J went to the hospital last night to get things started. They were supposed to start administering the pitocin at 6:00 this morning, and when her doctor arrives - around 8:30 - she will gauge where things are. Seeing as that is in seven minutes from right now, I'm hoping to have another update soon.

Claire spent the night with Honey & H last night, and Honey is going to be taking her to school today, and I think Aunt Jamey will be picking her up. Claire will be spending the night with them (and me!) the next few nights.

If you would like me to send you a text when we know her name, send me an email with your phone number: lauren.mccarthy@broadlane.com

Getting Settled

We're in the room, just watching the little contractions on the monitor. They're coming every 2-3 min, but aren't painful yet. I'll get a sleeping pill about 10:30, then hopefully no distractions until 5:00 tomorrow morning, when we'll get ready to start the pitocin. And then the fun will really begin....Good night!

Today's the Day!

My doctor and I decided at my appointment this morning that, since my body is showing no signs of wanting to go into labor on its own, we need to get the ball rolling a bit earlier than tomorrow morning. So, Jason and I will head in soon and the "fun" will begin! Lauren's going to be updating on here as news comes in, but I don't expect anything to happen before lunchtime tomorrow.

And I'll leave you with one last hint of her name.....It's not Elisabeth, or any variation of it. :)

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with all of our family. As usual, both sides met up at my grandparents' house outside of Austin for a day full of great food and football. After we ate, we took J's family down to the olive orchard for a quick tour, then headed over to the ranch so the boys could play with their guns. Because of all the rain this fall, there's actually water running through the tanks and creek--the first time in about 10 years.

We came back home on Friday and spent Saturday getting ready for Christmas! Claire had a great time putting ornaments on the tree and helping Daddy put lights up outside. But, now that the tree is up, she thinks Santa is on his way. Everyday she asks if he's coming tonight, then lets out a fantastically whiny "awwwwww" when I tell her not yet. She seems to be content with the reason being that he's still working on the toys, but we'll see how long that lasts.

Here's a picture re-cap of the weekend:

Playing with the aunts

Checking out the baby trees

With Grandma

"Driving" the go-cart

Over at the ranch, making leaf boats in the stream

My 2 favorite people

Playing in the deer corn in H's truck

Helping Daddy drive around the ranch

The whole group

Yay Christmas!!