Maddie and Me and Country Music

Maddie sleeps a lot in the swing by our TV...so I like to turn on some music in the background. In the last 6 weeks I have found the only station in the wide variety of Satellite TV Music stations that we will listen to is the Country Music station. Why? Because every other genre drastically changes the volumes during songs and from song to song. I even tried the classical music station - the crescendos would startle her so much that her swing would jerk! Don't even get me started on the Top 40, Modern Rock, or R&B Stations - those are the worst. Every 2 minutes, some shrieking woman starts belting out a song 20 dB higher than the normal volume of her background singers.

Not good when you are trying to get a baby to sleep.....for longer than 5 minutes. Where is the Dave Matthews Band Station?!?

Country Music however, seems to be at the same volume, all the time. Save for the occasional Carrie Underwood tune - but even that isn't too bad.

Therefore, Maddie and I have become Country Music fans, having a daily dance party to the likes of Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, and Lady Antebellum, just to name a few.

Try it sometime...you might go country yourself.

During our dance party today - I thought I would take a picture to show you how big she is getting. She's over 11 lbs now - doc visit tomorrow to get the official number! :-)

Maddie's Update

After Maddie's sickness a couple weeks ago and many tests and doctor visits later, Maddie has been diagnosed with Stage 4 VUR (Vesicoureteral reflux). Basically, her ureters allow urine to go back up into her kidneys. This causes UTI's, which also causes kidney damage.

Most kids grow out of it, but with Maddie being stage 4, borderline 5, she has a lower chance of growing out of it. She will be on antibiotics for a number of years (to prevent UTI's), and if she doesn't grow out of it, she will have surgery to fix the condition permanently. The surgery is 98% effective, so Maddie will be just fine long term. It's a good thing that we found it so early, so we can prevent any kidney damage or infections from occurring. One fever of 104.5 was one too many - and we don't want any more!

We have been referred to the University of Michigan Pediatric Urology department - one of the best in the country. Our first appointment is May 16th, where they will let us know what treatment options are available until we see if she grows out of it. If not, they will do the surgery in a few years in Ann Arbor.

You can bet she will be wearing her Penn State outfits for the visits.

:-)

Easter Pictures

Here are our Easter 2011 Pictures! We had a great holiday, despite starting the day with a ultrasound for Maddie because of her sickness. Thanks to Grandma Frank for coming up and staying with us while Maddie was sick - it made it easier for sure!! We even got to celebrate Easter with Grandma on Sunday before she left!

Maddie in her carseat.


In her cute Easter outfit that mommy's friend Julie bought for her!



Caden found his Easter basket - after some clues from Mommy and Daddy! Dad also setup an Easter egg hunt in the house - which he loved!


Caden got Hi Ho Cherry-O in his Easter Basket - and spent most of the morning playing the game with Grandma while Mom and Dad took Maddie for her test!


Here's the kids Easter baskets and the flowers that Daddy got Mommy...


After Caden's nap, we went over for Easter Dinner to Joel, Heather, and Jackson's place. Caden and Jackson had a blast coloring eggs. I had to watch Caden like a hawk, because I'm pretty sure left to his own devices, he would have spilled the colored water all over the place. We only ended up with one cracked egg due to rough dunking...so it was a victory overall.





These two just look like trouble...and who is driving that thing?


Playing with Batman toys before heading home for the day. It was so much fun to spend Easter with the Kerns!

Madelynn's Week of Firsts

I don't have any pictures, because we have had a rough week!! This week, Maddie has had a week of "Firsts". First fever (up to 104.5 - twice), First UTI, First trip to the hospital after being born, First Shots (2), and now, the doctor has actually told us to give her Plain Yogurt to help combat the strong antibiotics she is on. So, she has had her first solid food - at 6 weeks. Tomorrow, she going to have an ultrasound on her First Easter. Rough week, but she is doing great.

We are still trying to find out why she has a UTI - it's something going wrong internally. Likely nothing serious, but the ultrasound and the kidney test on Wednesday should let us know what the next steps are. For now, she is doing well, fever is gone and we are getting ready for our first Easter. We'll be coloring eggs today and finding Easter Baskets tomorrow. Pictures coming soon!

Weekend with Jen and DJ

We had a fun, fantastic weekend with Jen and DJ! They visited last Thursday through Sunday and we had some great Midland Fun (minus the Tridge visit, a huge disappointment). :-)

We went to a Saginaw Spirit game with the kids - they loved it! Maddie slept through the whole game, but Caden was making up for it - being out of his seat more than in....we are in trouble when they are both mobile.







Aunt Jen with baby Maddie!




On Saturday we went to the Butterfly house, a place frequented by the Callenders as we shrug off the winter months...



DJ was in charge of Caden wrangling...he did a great job!





Caden wouldn't get in this picture, he was busy running around the house...singing his Batman Song...maybe next time. :-)


We also went to a Loons game! We made it to nightfall - about the 7th innning, and then called it quits. The weather was pretty nice, but once the sun went down, it got chilly.


Caden and Taylor played the ENTIRE game. They ran up and down the sidewalk, played on the fence and spent a lot of time on the playset in the stadium. Benefit: LOTS of sleep that night.


Thanks for visiting Aunt Jen and Uncle DJ!! Come back soon!!

Weekend Fun

A few pictures of fun we had this weekend.

Caden rediscovered his sandbox. This year, he is big enough to take the top off it himself. So, we have NO chance of avoiding the sandbox every time we go outside, which is every night. Which then leads to showers every night. At least he is a clean kid. And, you heard it right - the shower is his new favorite thing to do. You mention the word and all tantrums end, desires for fruit snacks, ice cream, and jellybeans are forgotten. It's a great distraction. :-)




Raking up leaves with Daddy....when will the novelty of yardwork with Dad wear off?



We had a first fire of the year on Sunday - because it was still 65 F at night!! Caden LOVED it, and knew enough to stand back from the fire! Excellent! All those readings of Goodnight Moon, and talking about the fireplace paid off!




Caden holding his baby sister before bedtime....evidently he has been watching us, because when he holds her, he immediately starts bouncing her and saying "SHHHHHHH". Even when she is not crying. Classic. We'll try and get a video.



Sooo tired after a long day outside!

Butterfly Exhibit at Dow Gardens

Grandma Frank (Mee-Maw to Caden) is in town, so we went to the butterfly exhibit at Dow Gardens yesterday! We had a lot of fun, and got some cute pictures. Maddie slept the whole time, but so did Caden when we went 2 years ago. :-)

This is a yearly event, so at the bottom of the post I have pictures of Caden in 2010 and 2009!! He has grown so much!















Here's a picture from 2009 - when Caden was 3 months old...


And a picture from 2010, when he was 1 year and 3 months old...


Mommy and Daddy look a little younger too! :-)

Three Week Pictures...

Maddie is much more awake now, and certainly finding her voice! :-) She is sleeping well (once for 6 hours!!) and growing well also. We have her one Month appointment this week, so we will see how much weight she has gained! At her one week appointment she was already 8 lb 14 oz - one ounce above birth weight at only 6 days old!

Here's time great pics from the last week....






Caden's Best Bud Jackson took a few pictures with Maddie. He will also be a big brother soon!!

Dresses, Tights, and Bows

So I'm reliving my childhood of dressing up my dolls...now it's my daughter. Yesterday Maddie and I went out to lunch with my work friends, and it was a perfect excuse to dress her up. I went out and got tights and bows to match the super cute dress that our friends Alysia, Mike and Talia bought Maddie. Check her out!

By the way...we'll have monthly Pooh Bear pictures....Like Caden had with Tigger. :-) Here's the first!

Two Weeks Old!

Madelynn is now two weeks old!! She is so fun, and treating mama very well. She slept last night from 12:30 - 6:30! This trend will probably not continue, and we might have some rough nights ahead, but nights like last night make up for it! :-)

She is eating very well and gaining lots of weight - she is probably over 9 pounds by now. Caden loves hugging her and taking pictures with her. Here's a few shots from her second week...

Big Brother with Little Sister...



Caden loves to lay by her on her play mat...



Jeff and Carla came up for a visit to see the kids!!


This is a picture that Caden took - complete with a finger at the bottom...

This is what Maddie looked like in the morning one day this week. She worked her hand out of her swaddle and slept like that.