Home Coming!

Maren:

My baby brother got to come home today!! I have been so excited since seeing everyone at the hospital yesterday that I can hardly stand it. I didn't want to leave the hospital without my mommy yesterday... I have to admit that I kinda had a melt down! This last 24 hours has been difficult to get through, but it was definitely worth the wait! 

When they got home baby brother was sleeping in his car seat and I was very protective of him. I stood guard over him and kept shooshing everyone so they wouldn't wake him up! Once he did wake up all I wanted to do was hold him which was so nice. He is such a snuggly little noodle and I am in love with him! 

Maddox:

My mommy and daddy were really anxious to get me home and get out of the hospital so less than 24 hours after I was born we packed up and headed out. They were both really tired and ready to be in the comfort of our home and back to my big sister. The doctors came by and okay'd us leaving so mommy got me dressed up so I would stay nice and warm, wrapped me in a nice blanket and tucked me in my car seat.  When I got home I was still sleeping so everyone had to wait to hold me... But I think I was worth the wait! I especially liked my snuggle time with my big sister and my Nonna. 

Welcome Baby Maddox!

Maren:

This last week was very special and very overwhelming! I am officially a big sister!! My baby brother, Maddox William Rogers, was born January 30th, 2015 at 11:01 in the morning. That is a really special day because it is also my Uncle Frankie's birthday!  

When my mommy went to the hospital I got to go over and hang out with my good buddy Jace. We had a really fun time playing together and shared really well. After baby brother got here my daddy came to pick me up so that I could meet him. I was so excited and just wanted to touch him, hold him, and kiss him!! My mommy had the nurses wait for me to get there and I got to help give him his very first bath and watch him be weighed and measured.  When he cried I would rub his head and tell him "it's okay baby brother"... I think he really liked it and it made him feel a lot better. 

Maddox: 

Today was my birthday!! What a crazy day it was!! Mommies water broke at 7:40 in the morning, then about 20 minutes later some incredible squeezing started happening around me.  It was a rough couple of hours but at 11:01, I was born!! I came into this world at 7 lbs 9 oz and 20 3/4" long and absolutely perfect. I spent the first couple of hours closely snuggled up with my mommy which made me very happy. I started nursing very quickly which made my mommy and daddy happy too! A few hours after I was born my big sister showed up and got to help give me my first bath. I wasn't really happy about it but my sissy helped calm me a lot by rubbing my head and singing me songs. 

My last few days as an "only"...

My baby brother is coming soon and mommy and daddy have been trying really hard to spend lots of quality time with me and with one another before he gets here and our lives get super hectic.

I have been practicing my helping skills a lot... I helped mommy finish the curtains for baby brothers room by running the foot pedal on the sewing machine and by handing her pins when she needed them.  I also helped daddy make pop corn for when we watched a movie together but I got a bit scared when the corn started to pop! Mommy even found me in the kitchen doing dishes once... And I did if without her asking! 

I have been saying a lot of really cute things lately: The other night in the bath tub I started singing... "I love my mommy! I love her so much!... Then I changed it to "I love my bottom! It's so cute!! I love my bottom... My mommy made it! Mommy got a good chuckle out of that! 

Then the other day when I was sitting on mommies lap I turned to her and said..."I can't wait for baby brother to be born so I can have more room on you lap... Cuz your belly is soooo fat!!" 

The last day before baby brother arrived mommy got to stay home with me and we had a very special day together. She spoiled me rotten! We had strawberry-blueberry waffles for breakfast with whipped cream and I even got to to have a pop-sickle BEFORE lunch (they are home made by mommy out of Greek yogurt and frozen fruit... But I still thought it was pretty spectacular).  We went for a nice walk in the sunshine, watched a movie while snuggling on mommies bed, and sat in the hot pool. It was a great and special day!! 

Slumber party with Nonna and Nonno

My Nonna and Nonno are in town for the final countdown! We are all anxiously awaiting baby brothers arrival! They are staying in a really cool trailer down by the river and invited me over for a slumber party on Wednesday night. I packed my Dora suitcase with some clothes and toys, took the new sleeping bag and pillow mommy made for me for Christmas and headed out! I think mommy was a bit worried that I wouldn't sleep so well with all the noise in the trailer so she even sent my sound machine. Nonno said it was like listening to the free way all night long! Turns out I did have a bit of a rough night (didn't fall asleep until 11:00 even though Nonna had me in bed by 9:00 like mommy asked her to) but I still woke up with a smile on my face and had a great day with Nonna and Nonno on Thursday. We explored their little trailer park and played on the playground there, then we went back to our house so Nonna and I could play in the hot pool!! 

On Saturday my good buddy Jace came over to play. He brought his baby sister Bella too! We had a tea party with our mommies with some yummy muffins Miss Heather made for us.  Jace and I rode on my teeter totter... It was super fun to finally have someone my size to ride with me! I also spent a lot of time on the floor playing cars with Bella. I would push the car across the floor and she would crawl after it! 

Daddy time!

This week I got to spend some really good quality time with my daddy. His four day period off landed in the middle of the week and I got to stay home with him three days in a row! Usually I still go to school so he can get some work done around the property but, I also came down with a cold this week so daddy decided to keep me at home. I think it's because he really needed some down time too from working so hard (but we won't tell him that!!).  Because I was with daddy a lot we didn't get a ton of pictures but we sure did a lot of fun things. We sat in the hot pool a lot and I am really getting confident about being underwater AND on my back. We went to "Kid Time" (a big indoor play place for kids), story time at the library, and did lots of projects around the house together. I was a big help to daddy and made all of his projects go much faster! 

On Saturday my mommy went to "High Tea" with Miss Heather and then they had pedicures (mommy really wants her toes to look nice when baby brother comes... Weird, huh?). I stayed home with daddy and played. 

Sunday my Nonna came over to do mommies hair (they are back in town waiting for baby brother to come so that they can take care of me while mommy and daddy are at the hospital). My Nonna and I played while mommy made dinner and Nonna trimmed my hair a bit.  Then I ran around the house in my cape like a super hero! I was so fast that mommy couldn't get a picture of me! 

We're going on a "phone call!!"

This last week has been pretty relaxing as we settle in for the rest of winter and make the final touches on baby brothers room.  Mommy hasn't been feeling really great (she says her heart is beating funny) and doesn't have a lot of energy to go places on her days off so we spend a lot of time in our comfy clothes coloring, reading books, and doing puzzles.  I am pretty happy with that because those are all things I really love to do!  Mommy painted my fingernails purple (with sparkles) and I am very proud of them.  I had to have my toe nails painted orange though... it is after all still my favorite color! 
Daddy and I helped mommy hang up all of the "art work" in baby brothers room the other day and it turned out really nice.  Now all we need is some curtains on the windows... and a baby and the room will be complete!!!
I got to go over to my good buddy Jace's house the other night while daddy was watching a football game with Uncle Frankie.  We had a great time together and played the whole night with no fighting and no time outs!   At one point, I came out of Jace's room wearing his fire fighter turn outs... as we came into the living room I announced "we will be right back... we're going on a "phone call!!"  And off we ran to save lives! 

Happy New Year!!

2015 is officially here and things have slowed down a bit in our house.  Now we are in "crunch time" as baby brother will be here really soon!  Mommy is a bit frantic trying to get everything ready and cleaned but she says he is welcome to come any time!  We have his drawers all stocked with clean clothes, little tiny baby diapers, and a brand new car seat in the car... so pretty much we have everything we need to get him home. 
We spent this last week getting all of the Christmas decorations cleaned up and the living room all arranged with my toys again.  I was a big help with all of that making sure I directed mommy and daddy on appropriate placement!  Our animals were a big help too... or so they thought!  I posed for a good picture with the Mackie Dog... she loves to get hugs from me!  But, then she often kisses me and I am NOT to fond of that!  Doodie was such a big help and wore herself out so much that she fell asleep in her food bowl before she even ate dinner!  Silly Doodie!