Big Girl Bed!

With a new baby on the way, we knew we needed to get Madelyn moved into a different bed. Which is sad, because I swear she just came home from the hospital wrapped in a pink blanet! Ugh - it moves so fast! Anyway, our goal was to move the furniture out of the guest bedroom (antique bedroom set - not the best for a little girl!), carpet that room and the hallway (our floors upstairs are unfinished hardwoods), and move in my childhood furniture. (This means that not only was Maddie sleeping in the same crib and using the baby dresser mommy did, she's now sleeping in the same bed and using a big kid dresser that mommy used!)

The process seemed to take forever, but its finally done. The Little Bug didn't understand that this was her new room, I don't think, until the room officially had a bed. Once that bed was put in she knew that this was her "big girl" room. Once I started putting sheets on the bed last night, I knew we weren't going to get her to go back to the nursery!

Here are some pictures I captured with my phone, since my camera was dead. I'll try to add captions as I go! (Keep in mind that the walls are still bare...With the exception of the awesome wall flower from Aunt Casie! Decorations will be added in time...)

Notice how one dresser is missing a nob....Mommy didn't fix it when cleaning it.... Bad mommy! But her clothes aren't in there yet - so there is still time!

How cool is the flower night light?! We didn't use it as a night light but I used it in the morning when I was waking her up. The cord is long enough to make "leaves" I just need to get different command hooks.

How cute is that bed spread! Thank you Target and my in-laws for the Target gift card at Christmas!

From the doorway! Curtains came from Tiny Tillia by Avon. SOOO cute and affordable!

After being tucked in...Had to bring blanket and Minnie too of course!

She's so happy!

She slept the entire night in her big girl bed without getting up or crying. In fact, she bawled this morning when I pulled her out of bed to get ready for the day. She just kept saying "I go night night in big girl bed!" I promised her I'd give her another opportunity tonight and every night from here on out.  :)

More to come...

Big Sister Day Camp

Recently I signed up for a tour of the hospital where we'll be delivering. I've since been there to visit some friends who had a baby (such a cutie, too!) I was impressed with what I saw and can't wait for the official tour at the end of this month.

When signing up, I gave the receptionist at the learning center my email address to receive updates and an email confirmation of the event. When doing this I by default got signed up for their newsletter....While that would normally make me groan, I am so extremely thankful that I did! This last newsletter I got had information about a Big Sister/Big Brother Day Camp. The camp is designed to teach older siblings about the new baby that's coming to their home. It was for ages 3-9. I called and explained how Maddie is just a few months from being three and they let me register! I was so excited!

On our way to the camp, I looked at the directions I was emailed and realized I had the wrong time down in my phone! Ahhh! Thankfully we got there only ten minutes late and we weren't the only families they were waiting on. Shew!

Maddie seemed to enjoy listening to stories, singing songs and seeing pictures. Coloring and doing her hand print on an official Big Sister card was also fun. But I think what she enjoyed the most was diapering and feeding a pretend baby. She couldn't get enough. I felt bad for the instructor (or should I say camp councilor?!) because she apparently doesn't speak Madelyn Roberts. While I could understand the Little Bug's questions and comments from the side lines, the teacher would just smile and nod, looking very confused! But that didn't stop my girl from speaking up every chance she got!

Here are a few pictures that I could get without being a distraction. It was work every minute of our time and I'm so proud of my future big sis!

With this little one, theres always more to come...

Vacationing in Brown County

Who doesn't love taking a vacation? Whether its an over night trip or a ten day get-a-way, I love taking trips! I loved staying in hotels, I love eating out, I love trying new things with my family....

As much as I love vacation, I hate the cost. They always seem like a great idea, but then I always hate when the bill comes in. (Who doesn't?!) But when I heard that the state parks in Indiana were having a buy one night get one night free deal....Well I gotta say I jumped for joy! We were wanting to do an over night trip with the Little Bug before her baby sister arrives, but we couldn't agree on when and where to go. This solved our problem. Who doesn't love state parks?!

We chose to stay at the Abe Martin Lodge at the Brown County State Park. It was WONDERFUL. Everyone was so friendly, the hotel was beautiful (and more importantly clean), and the best part - the water park that is inside! Now don't get me wrong, its no Holiday World, but it had a lazy river, a splash area, a water slide, and a pool with basketball and volleyball. You can't beat that. I mean, honestly, Maddie would've loved any pool - but why just go to any pool when you could have a lazy river to float around in?!

We had a great time! Wednesday night we headed down making our first stop in Edinburg. Miss Maddie got some new shoes (thank you Stride Rite for the great sales!) and Mommy bought a few nursing tops for after baby's birthday! We then checked in and enjoyed an evening of playing games, eating snacks, and relaxing on our king bed!

Thursday we ate breakfast in the room so we could waste no time in getting to the pool. Maddie LOVED it! I'm so glad the weather was so nice out too, because afterwards we went to Nashville for some shopping. While we weren't too successful with our buys (we only bought a couple pairs of socks and then some snacks), we had a great time walking in BEAUTIFUL weather!!! That wonderful weather also made it possible to enjoy some of the state park! (It was so nice, even if it wasn't green at all!) That evening we enjoyed Mexican food and another swim in the pool.

Friday came way too soon and I was sad to have to pack up. But we were able to get one more dip in the pool in before we headed out. We had a great time and it was so nice to get away with no distractions. It was also important to us to give Madelyn some time with just mommy and daddy -no phones, computers, TVs, or anything else - before baby arrives. It was wonderful!!!

Enjoy the pictures!

More to come...

Checking Out My Babies!

This week I went to the doctor's for a regular check up. I'm going every two weeks now - soon to be every week! Whoo Hoo!

I don't normally take the Little Bug with me back into the actual examining room. The last few times I had, she became very concerned that the doctor was hurting me. After the blood pulling drama when she was 18 months, she hasn't done doctor's offices well....

Anyhoo, I told mom that I wanted her to come back this time, because she needed to start warming up to the idea of seeing me around doctors. I don't want her to freak out at the hospital! So we were called back to the room and sat there waiting. She was happy as she could be, just talking up a storm. Dr Wickert came in and my once shy little girl walked right up to him to start a conversation. She even showed him her teeth and informed him she was getting more!

When it came time to listen to the baby's heart beat she was very interested in what was going on. In fact she thought she needed to try out this contraption and see if there was a baby in her tummy like mommy! The doctor just laughed and said "come lay by mommy and we'll check you out too!" It was way too cute! I'm so glad my mom had her cell phone on her to take a few pictures! I'm also so thankful I have a good natured doctor who willingly obliged a 2 1/2 year old's curiosity!

I look at this picture and think about how happy my little girl is. I can't wait to be a mommy of two and feel very blessed to have the life I do! My cup runneth over!


More to come...