Welcome to the chaos Madeline!

Our sweet little Madeline was born on May 17th. It was a scheduled c-section and it seemed so surreal the day before that we were going to meet our baby in the morning and  it would be under a 20 hour labor unlike the other two! We dropped McKinley and Molly off at my parents' house the night before, because we had to leave our house at 5:00 to get to the hospital and be prepped. It was really nice to have one quiet night before the baby came.

The morning came quick and I wasn't really nervous until I had to walk into the operating room without Robbie. They do all the prep in there without him and then he comes in when the cutting begins. 

I know maybe it sounds pessimistic, which isn't typically like me, but with the way the last two deliveries went I was just sort of waiting for something to go wrong this time. I got a little teary as I walked out of my room toward the OR and had to leave Robbie behind, but I pretty much have the best (and happiest) doctor in the world and when I saw her I felt much more calm.

Robbie came in the room just as they were making the first incision and just a few minutes later I felt the pressure in my stomach release and heard the cry of our beautiful little girl. She grabbed the scissors from one of the doctors after they cut her umbilical cord and all the doctors were laughing and saying "take the scissors from the baby" because she apparently stole them. After they got scissors out of "strong grip" they held her over the curtain and I saw her for the first time. Even right now it brings a little tear to my eye, she was finally here and we were both perfectly fine this time. What a relief and a huge blessing.

She was born at 7:45 am and weighed in right in between her sisters at 8lbs and 2 ounces and 20.5 inches long with dark hair. One of the nurses in the room took this picture of the three of us and I know it's sort of an unconventional photo to love, but it's one of my favorites!

 

We didn't decide on her first name until later that day, it was between two names and we ended up letting the girls vote. Madeline Ann (after her Nana, who she also now shares a birthday with) Loomis is what we decided to call her and her sisters love her like crazy!

We were super horrible at taking pictures in the hospital this time of just the new little one, so this is all we have haha! The hospital stay was my shortest ever, only 4 days...it was so nice to go home that soon and not have people in my room checking me every half hour the whole time I was there and have MRIs and all sorts of other tests! When the time came to go, Robbie was in a hurry (I'm still not sure why :) ), so this is the only picture we got of her ready to come home and face her new reality. So far she is a sweet, beautiful little girl and I am enjoying all of her snuggles. I forgot how warm and cuddly newborns are. :) We love you Madeline...welcome to the chaos!

McKinley Turned 5

On May 6th, my oldest little lady turned 5! Most days I would tell you how much I love having a 5 year-old. McKinley is helpful, kind, imaginative, sweet and a sometimes too loving older sister. Her smile can light up a room and she has a way of making everyone feel loved.

She basically had 3 days of birthday...I wish I could have that every year! The extravaganza started on Saturday with a birthday party with her friends. She wanted a Jake and the Neverland Pirates party and I did my best to make it happen! I was a little nervous about having 15 of her friends and the house plus her and Molly when I was two weeks from delivering the baby, but I did it and I think the kids had fun. When the guests arrived, they got Pixie Dust like Izzy (glitter glue in a bag to hang around their neck) and tattoos to make them feel piratey. We played pin the sword on Jake,

musical chairs-but with pictures of the characters taped to the ground

and a present game with lots of jumping on the trampoline, digging in the sand and playing on the playground in between.

After each game the kids each got a gold doubloon, just like on the show. And each of the kids went home with a little favor bag.

 And here are the cupcakes made to look like pirate ships. I think the kids had a good time and McKinley loved having so many friends over to the house all at once.

 The next day was Sunday and though her birthday was on Monday it made the most sense to do the family party on Sunday when it was easier for everyone to get here. This party was much more low key. We had dinner, the kids did a pinata and of course there was cake and ice cream. The cake was made to look like a treasure chest to keep with our pirate theme.

The pinata was pretty fun, all the kids had a turn and then we made Uncle Jon and Uncle Ty take some swings at it too. He was one tough pirate to break!

It was nice to have so much family come over for her birthday and the weather was really perfect to eat and visit outside.

Now we are on to the actual birthday...Monday. McKinley had school that day, so she took treats and loved passing them out. Then, for some unknown reason, I felt like we had to do something on her actual birthday, so we took the family out to Olive Garden-her favorite restaurant. The funny thing is why it's her favorite....because of the mints at the end, we should really start saving ourselves $40 and just go spend $3 to buy her Andes mints from the grocery store, the things we do for our kids!

Happy Birthday to the coolest, nicest and most fun 5-year-old I know! We love you McKinley!

March and April

I feel like I should at least throw a couple of pictures up here, so without words, here are some pics of some things that got us through March and April.

(yes, Molly finally wears her Halloween costume!)

February {was so much better!}

After a month like January, all I can say is Hallelujah! I'm so glad February was so much better! I don't have many pictures to show for it, because I was too busy just loving the fact that we could leave the house. :) We had a lot of play dates this month and it was fabulous, but I can't find my pictures! Cookies, bounce houses, museums...the girls had a blast! Here are a few highlights:
We went to the dinosaur museum for the first time ever and the girls loved it. They thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of the dinosaur skeletons and reading about them. I think their favorite was walking through the pitch black room that has a catwalk down the middle and displays stars everywhere. They kept asking to go back and do it again.
We played at a bounce house place for 3 hours one day with some friends! Molly loves to go on the big slides even though she can be a little slow climbing up. McKinley was very sweet to spend the last 30 minutes hanging out with Molly because Molly really wanted her.
My Grandma Thomas was in town for eye surgery and we got to spend a Sunday with her. My girls really loved spending time with her and would randomly run up and give her hugs and then run away again with their cousins.

On to a couple of things with some pictures. Valentines rolled around and the girls were pretty excited. I got them little Valentine socks that I gave them in the morning and we had Cinnamon rolls for breakfast. You would have thought they won the lottery! Then, at lunch Robbie came home with presents. He decided that since he is the only boy in our house that Valentine gifts were all up to him and he brought them home at lunch. McKinley got a game for her Leap Pad and randomly throughout the day kept saying Robbie was "the best Dad ever" and he always knew "exactly what she wanted." Molly got a Dora doll and literally almost fell off her chair with excitement. She still can't get enough of that doll! As if their day couldn't get any better, they also got a package from Nana in the mail with a Valentine surprise and had to call her right away. My goodness these two were on cloud nine all day!

Later that night, we went to the cabin in Bear Lake for Presidents Day. We had such a great time, just like we do every year. We went up on a Thursday night and it was just us and my grandparents and I don't think that has ever happened before. We left the house around 7:30 and had hopes the girls would sleep on the way there. No chance! Those two talked and giggled for the entire 2 1/2 hour drive. Several times I was asked if we were going to swim in the lake, because "it could get sunny and warm Mom!" When we got there after 10 they were so excited to see my grandparents that they just started running around like crazy, playing with puzzles, wearing necklaces and telling my grandparents anything they could think of. We finally got them to bed around 11:30!
After all of that I thought they would sleep in, but they didn't, they were up at 7. The plan was for Robbie to take McKinley skiing for her first time and she was so excited she just "couldn't sleep anymore". We all got dressed and headed to Beaver Mountain, so Molly and I could get pictures and take McKinley back with us at lunch. McKinley was doing a half day and Robbie was going all day (my dad and brothers were meeting up with him). When we got to Beaver Mountain I was a mess of jealousy! It was the perfect day to ski; the sun was shining, there was fresh snow, it wasn't too windy or cold and the lines were all but non-existent; not to mention the fact that I couldn't ski with my little girl on first day ever! I kept thinking "I could ski, I'll stick to the groomers and I won't fall", but I know myself better than that and the black diamonds and Moguls and trees would be too big a temptation for me to stay away, so we stuck to the plan. Robbie spent half the day with her, teaching her little things here and there, but mostly enjoying that his daughter was enjoying skiing. By the end we got exactly what we had hoped for; she wanted to go again, had a great time (was even a little too warm), she could ski in a pizza shape, successfully get off the "magic carpet" with no help and ski without holding hands if Robbie was going backwards in front of her. We ended the day with Grandma treating her to some Cheetos (her choice) at the lodge and headed home with a happy and tired girl.

We spent the rest of the weekend with another ski day for Robbie, sledding for all of us, lots of visiting and tons of fun with all the cousins there. I even won a prize for Carmel popcorn! The winter never feels complete until we have been on this trip and after a crappy January it even made me love snow again!

Goodbye February, we loved you, thanks for making life so much better again!