Welcome Madi!

Madi is here!!  She decided she would come 2 weeks before my due date!  At midnight Saturday night I got up to go to the bathroom, as always, but to my surprise my water broke!!!  Since this was completely new to me (they had to break my water with Emma), I wasn't quite sure if that was what was going ont, but decided that we should go on to the hospital... just in case!  It was just like out of a movie!  I was finishing throwing stuff in bags while Nick was throwing stuff in the car! We even went through a roade block on the way to the hospital! CRAZY!!  After we got to the hospital, it was clear that my water had broke and we would get to meet Madi soon!  I was very disappointed that my doctor (Dr. Turner) was not on call, but ended up really liking Dr. Hudson.  He started me on pitocin about 2 am.  My contractions got REALLY bad about 4am.  I was 4 cm at this point and by the time I got my epidural (at 5:45am) I was 7 cm.  At 6 am I was 9 cm and Madilyn Lee Carroll was born at 7:07am Sunday, July 24, 2011.  No one (not even the doctor) expected me to have her so quickly!!  Especially not me!  I had a long terrible labor with Emma, so this one went much better!!  She ended up only being 7 lbs 12 oz because she was 2 weeks early...which was fine with me!!  She is such a great baby!!  She's very content and eats and sleeps very well.  She loves listening to Emma and Emma loves holding her and helping me feed her a bottle!  Emma is adjusting well to her whole world changing...only 1 major melt down and a couple of "acting out" moments.  She really loves Madi and can't wait for her to be big enough to play (or probably boss her around ;)!!

Here's some pics from the hospital and Madi's first few days!!

Our first family of four photo!

big sis and big cuz meeting Madi

I love this one!  She's so happy to have room to stretch out!

Proud big sister!

My awesome door hanger!  Thanks Aunt Anna Claire!!

Two day checkup!

Think they look alike??

  Madi at about 30 minutes old              Emma at about 30 minutes old

Another 1 day picture of Emma

Definitely gonna have to label the backs of baby pics to tell them apart...

or just make sure every outfit is monogrammed!! ;)

One for the Baby Book!

Emma has always done everthing exceptionally early...rolled over: 3 months, sat up: 5 months, crawing everywhere: 5 1/2 months, walking everywhere: 7 1/2 months...the list goes on and on!  Her only hang-up thus far has been POOP!! Two weeks after Emma's second birthday, we took off the Pull-Ups and went strictly with big girl panties!  And again, Emma accepted the challenge with ease!  She maybe had 3-4 pee-pee accidents the first week, but since then...NONE...not even at night!!  She has never wet the bed!!  However, she REFUSED to put her "poo-poo rocks" (as she calls them) in the potty!  Instead, she would tell me she needed to poop, bring me a Pull-Up, I'd put it on her, and then she would go hide to do her little "poo-poo dance" for about 30-40 minutes, then come and tell me she was done and I'd put her panties back on.  I figured this would just be a little phase for a couple of months and then she would eventually poop in the potty...  Well, it's been a year and a half!!!  Don't think "phases" are supposed to last that long!! After talking to several moms, however, this does seem to be more common than I thought...especially among girls.  And, in Emma's defense, she has always had a really hard time "going #2".  We have tried our share of Glycerin Suppositories, Pedia-Lax enemas, and stool softeners.  I still have to give her Miralax everyday just to get her to go every 3 or 4 days.  Well, about 2 months ago, I decided this had been going on long enough.  We were down to our last pack of Pull-Ups and I told Emma that I would not buy anymore and that she would have to put her poo-poo in the potty.  She has been "rashioning" that last pack so, we just ran out this past week!  I felt kind of bad, b/c I could tell it really stressed her out to even think about pooping in the potty, but I stuck to my guns and did not buy Pull-Ups!!  And HALLELUJAH!!!  EMMA POOPED IN THE POTTY ON JULY 20, 2011!!!  She was so proud of herself and believe me... Me and LoLo made a HUGE deal about this!!!  We have gone on and on about what a big girl she is!!  I have never been so excited about poop in my entire life!!

Showered with love!!

A huge THANK YOU goes out to Anna Claire, Misty, and Cindy for my fabulous baby shower for Madi!!!  It was such a blessing to be surrounded by our friends and family who really showed their love for our sweet new addition!!  As you can see by the following pics, we are ready for Madi to make her debut!!

big sis and big cuz helping with the gifts!

thanks to everyone who came!!

I think Emma opened as many gifts as I did...for her!  It was so sweet for several guests to remember her during this time and show her how important being a big sister is!

blessed beyond belief!!

I'm a big kid now!

It seems that Emma has grown/ matured sooooo much this summer!  On one hand, I'm so proud of her and all of her accomplishments, but on the other it makes me want to cry thinking how fast she is growing up!!  Sometimes I think to myself, "You're HOW old?" because she talks and acts so growny!  I tell most people she is 3 going on 12...and it really seems like it is going by that fast!  She now can recognize ALL the letters in the alphabet and can tell you the sound most of them make.  If you ask her a word, she can usually tell you what letter it starts with!  I feel confident she will be reading by the time she turns 4 in December!  This summer she has also learned to swim!  She took 2 weeks of swimming lessons with Mrs. Mimi and now can swim under water the width of the shallow end!  I am particularly proud of this b/c before swimming lessons, she wouldn't even put her face in the water!

This is Emma at swimming lessons!

Also, Emma decided she wanted to learn to ride her bike without training wheels!!  So, every night for the last 2 weeks she has had her Daddy outside running beside her while she practiced.  On Saturday night, July 9th, she informed us "I think I can do it without you now Daddy!"  and off she went!  Again, I was so proud but had to choke back the tears!  Here's some pics of her first bike ride without training wheels all by herself!

Emma's First Field Trip!

Emma had her first field trip last Thursday!  They had a BLAST at the Splash Park!  I just happened to be off work, so LoLo and I tagged along to help out!  All 11 of the kids were so good and really behaved very well! 

Running through the sprinklers!

Getting soaked from the buckets overhead!

Girls vs. Boys!!

They ended the day with a picnic lunch and a snowcone!  We can't wait until the next field trip!