What a difference 4 months makes!

In 4 short months Madison has gone from a skinny little girl with rolls of loose skin to a chubby little girl with fat rolls in all the right places! She has gone from sleeping all the time to smiling and 'talking' whenever she's not eating! She has more than doubled her birth weight and is now 12 lbs 10 oz. Her ears have also healed and she is sporting new pink earrings. She is getting cuter and more fun each day!

She LOVES the bath! She can be screaming her head off and as soon I start filling the tub she stops.

She is not a fan of the getting out part!

I came home from a girls night and found her crashed out with daddy!

She is a big fan of the bouncy seat!

She is becoming a champion sleeper and has finally developed a night time schedule!!! She gets a bath with her brothers, eats and is asleep by 8:00. Then we don't hear from her until between 5:00-6:00! This makes me one happy mama!

Celebrating 5 years of Tyler!

Tyler's birthday landed on a Monday this year, so we celebrated the weekend before in Ft. Lauderdale. Marci and Mel were in town to celebrate with us! Tyler was thrilled to be the 'birthday boy' for a few extra days, but he was not willing to age faster than he had to. Whenever anyone asked him how old he was he would say, "Right now I'm 4 but on Monday I'll be 5!" On Monday he got to go shopping at Toys R Us for a present from both his Granny's and us. It took him over an hour to pick out what he wanted! We also saved cupcakes and singing for Monday. I think this was his best birthday yet!

First beach trip of the season!

My boys!

Madison enjoyed her first trip to the beach!

I don't think he could be any cuter!

Her aunties can't get enough of her!

Tyler was thoroughly spoiled by his aunties!

He was so excited when he opened this remote control truck from Grandpa and Jeri!

Riley helped make Tyler's cupcakes!

He wanted strawberry icing, but I couldn't make all his cupcakes pink so I threw in some chocolate ones!

The past 5 years have been a joy, we love you buddy!!!

Sunday Best

It was finally warm enough for Madison to wear a dress to church so I decided pictures were in order!

Big week for a little girl!

Madison has been a busy little girl this week with a doctor visit and a trip to Claire's. She saw the doctor on Wednesday for her 2 month check-up and boy has she grown! She weighed in at 9 lbs 6 oz and measured 20 1/2 inches long. She is now sporting her new born attire! On Friday we went to Claire's and got her ears pierced! Luckily since I work at Claire's I got to do it myself. I've pierced a lot of young babies and Madison was one of the easiest! She cried like all babies do, but calmed down as soon as she got a bottle. Her earrings look so cute as you can see for yourself!

Our little surprise!

I'm finally getting around to posting Madison's birth story! Here it is:

My OB had me get another ultrasound at 34 weeks to check on the size of the baby and we found out she was breech. I was told that a vaginal birth wouldn't be an option unless she turned. The decision was made to wait until 37 weeks and if she hadn't turned on her own my OB would try turning her. The only risk in waiting until 37 weeks was if my water broke before then there would no longer be the option to turn her.

Sunday night, November 21, my lower back was killing me and I joked that I just wanted the baby out already. I was only 36 weeks, so I doubted that would really happen. Little did I know I was about to get what I wanted! The next day I was sitting with the boys eating lunch and when I stood up to get Tyler something my pants were suddenly soaked. I went and sat in the bathroom. At that point I wasn't sure if my water had broke or I'd just peed my pants. As I sat there more liquid started trickling out and I was sure I wasn't peeing. I called my doctor's office and they told me to go straight to labor and delivery. We didn't exactly rush to the hospital, I was hoping most of my amniotic fluid would come out before we left so I took a shower and spent a lot of time sitting on the toilet! Having your water break is actually kind of annoying. It was interesting trying to get a hospital bag together while also trying not to make a mess everywhere! We finally left the house an hour later. I had put a heavy flow pad on before leaving and it was full before I got in the car. By the time we got to labor and delivery my shorts were soaked and I was leaving a trail on the floor. When I told the nurse at the check in desk I was pretty sure my water had broke she told me I'd have to go back down to triage on the first floor and get checked out before they could admit me. So Matt and I got back in the elevator and went down to the first floor. As I filled in some paper work a nurse was called to do the exam. I asked if I could get a towel just as the nurse walked up, and after taking one look at my soaked shorts she rolled her eyes and told the girl behind the desk that she was skipping the exam since it was pretty obvious my water had broke! After I was admitted an ultrasound machine was brought in, and despite my crossed fingers, she was still breech. My c-section was scheduled for 8:00. Madison Elizabeth Boyce was born at 8:13. She weighed 5 lbs 8 oz and was 17 1/2 inches long. We spent 3 days in the hospital and were released on Thanksgiving. Recovery this time around has been a lot harder! I told Matt that I'd rather give birth naturally with no epidural than have another c-section!

Madison is now almost 2 weeks old and she is such a good baby! She is tiny and we had to borrow some preemie clothes from a friend just so she'd have clothes that fit! Her brothers can't get enough of her. Tyler especially is so excited to have a baby sister. Riley loves holding her. Neither of them likes it when she cries, and Riley will immediately ask me to feed the baby. We have been blessed with lots of help from both our moms, so the transition from 2 kids to 3 has been pretty easy so far.

In case you haven't heard...

...Madison decided to come early! I guess she didn't want her birthday lumped in with Christmas! I'm in desperate need of a nap so I'll post the full story later. Really quick though, her stats were 5 lbs 8 oz, 17 1/2 in. not bad for being 4 weeks early. Click on the link below to see pictures!

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=331956&id=793659847&l=20599bdc21

Haircuts!

I thought it would be cute for the boys to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 for Halloween, so we were growing their hair out for the costume. Tyler had other ideas though, he had his heart set on being Batman. I decided it wasn't worth trying to convince him my costume would be 'cool' too, so he won and is going as Batman this year. Since we changed costume ideas the boys no longer needed long hair, and the other night they both got a trim. I made Matt promise not to shave their heads this time!

Before: Showing off the tattoos they got from the air show.

After: I think Riley looks so much older now!

This is what you get when you ask Riley to say cheese!