Maddi's First Bath

Yesterday we gave Maddi her first bath at home. It was a sponge bath since part of her cord still hasn't come off, but she did really well. Much better than Owen who screamed his head off. Starting to sense a pattern here... She could have her Daddy's temperament, where Owen definitely has mine.

Picture of me and the kiddos. Posted against my better judgment since I didn't have makeup on and the lack of sleep is apparent:)

Please Send Sleep...

We have received some lovely gifts for our new lovely addition, but if someone can figure out how to send sleep, that is what we really need!

Maddi truly has her days and nights mixed up. And, whereas with the first one you can sleep whenever, caring for a toddler too complicates things a bit. Thank God for daycare. At least we have some place to send Owen during the day. I don't know how all of you SAH moms do it. Kudos to you.

Owen has been acting out a bit more (at school too) so it's been a challenge. But no matter how much of a pill he is being with us, he is always SO sweet with his sister. We just love watching them together.

My mom left this past Tuesday so we have been on our own since. It's nice to be settling in as a family, but we do miss the help. Brett's mom will be here this weekend to help out so that will be nice.

Gigi and Maddi

A few weeks ago we posted an outing at the park with Owen's buddies Jay and Alex. Alex's family posted some of their pictures and I just absolutely loved this one of the 3 boys going down the slide together.

More updates:
Another update I forgot to post was that Owen peed on the potty at school for the first time on May 4th. Very exciting! I think he's done it a few times since while at school, but there hasn't been much progress at home. To be honest, with the new baby, we haven't really been trying. It's beyond my capacity right now to force the issue.

Owen has been walking around saying "Oh Man." It's pretty funny.

And last but not least, there is the matter of the naughty step. (I may have blogged about this before, but due to the sleep deprivation I can't remember.) Owen has decided that sitting on the naughty step is no longer a punishment, but rather an alternative to not having to do something we ask him. For instance, if we ask him to pick up his toys and he does not want to, he just says "I'll sit on the naughty step" and goes and does it. Arrgh. Not exactly what we had in mind.

Life is Good

There are moments in life when you sit back and feel like everything in the world is going right and your life is complete. I'm definitely feeling that way right now as we sit and enjoy our new family.

We are home from the hospital, and I sure do miss having the nurses around for the nighttime feedings!!!!

Here are some pics. from our remaining days at the hospital:
Our view. Not quite as nice as the lakefront room we had the first time but still good.
Our little bean hanging out.Being outfitted for her light therapy. Happy to report that she left with no jaundice. Yeah!We had several visitor's from Brett's lab.
Jill and Andy also came for a visit. Practice run before they have their baby in September:)
Heading home from the hospital!
We are at home now settling in.
Maddi enjoying her new caterpillar toy from Kristin. Placement courtesy of her big brother.
Owen just loves her to pieces. It's so heartwarming to see them together.

And she also already loves him. She's been drawn to his voice since day 1 (not surprising since she reacted to him in the womb too.)

Owen enjoys holding his sister. He looks so old to me now that the baby is here.

The kitties love their new sister too!

We've had some visitors at home:

Ryan and Mary stopped by to say hello. They were our saviors and watched Owen as we went to the hospital.

Kristy and Ava stopped by too. Ava and Owen really thought the Penguin was funny!

Maddi is now 1 week old. Can't wait to see how each day unfolds!

Thanks to Gigi who has been staying with us since the day Maddi was born. She was a great help and Owen especially loved having her around!!!

Thanks also to all of you that sent birthday wishes this past Saturday. It was a pretty uneventful birthday but I'd say we had enough excitement for one week:)

Before I forget, I want to start logging some of the funny things Owen says for future reference:
-Owen calls his feet his sharp claws like the conductor has on dinosaur train. He uses them to punch his train tickets. Obsession is the first word that comes to mind!
-Says "Ohhh Mommy (Daddy, etc.)" when he thinks we are being silly
-Says "Hey Guys" when he wants to get both of our attention. It's hilarious!

More Family Fun

Still having fun with our new family:)

We've also had some visitors come to visit our dear Maddi. We are so excited to share her with the world!!!!

Some of my work friends:

Lauren

LindsayJenny

AmyKristin (friend from my first Chicago job)

Our poor little Maddi has some jaundice so she needs to lay on a light therapy pad. She looks like a glow-in-the-dark baby now...

It's a Girl!!!!

Welcome to the world little Maddi. Madeline Alexis Geissler was born at 8:20 pm on 5/9/10. She weighed in at a whopping 10 lb. 5 oz. and was 21 1/2" long.

Getting ready to go to the hospital. I was SO ready (and big.)

My water broke at 5am so it was time to go to the hospital. Thanks to Ryan and Mary who came to stay with Owen at 5:30 am!!!

We tried to do a regular birth even though we had a c-section the first time. After 13 hours of labor and progressing enough for them to prep the room, everything kind of stopped and the doctor decided to do a c-section after all.

In regular delivery room early on

Daddy preppingJust found out it was a girl!

Dr. at work
And baby makes 4Hanging out in the recovery room
Isn't she the most beautiful thing you've ever seen!?!?!?

I have to say, after finding out how big she was, I thank God that this is the route we took! Everybody is doing great today so we are so thankful and blessed.

Today my mom and Owen came up to meet Maddi. Owen did AMAZING and was so sweet with her. As soon as he got there he was excited to meet her. He wasn't scared of me and didn't act up at all, he was perfect.

Meeting his baby sister for the first time.

Holding the baby

Hugging the baby

She already has these two wrapped around her finger

Owen and Maddi exchanged gifts with each other:)

On Saturday before the big adventure began we took Owen to National Train Day at the main train station downtown. It was really neat (although Owen was being a bit of a pill...)
We are very excited for this new adventure in our lives!