A - EEE

That's my attempt at how Madison Claire pronounces Annie's name. It's absolutely precious! 2 funny stories about what Madison Claire associates with Annie. Annie is cute & stylish and has all sorts of shoes, purses and accessories. She wears a few different versions of UGG boots a lot and always takes them off and puts them in our little nook area when she gets to the house. Well, the other day, I bought myself the $15 knock off version from Old Navy and on Saturday morning they were sitting out in our kitchen. Madison Claire came down the stairs after waking up and immediate ran over to the boots, looked up at me, and said "A-EEE?" It was precious!!!

Then..today, she found a black headband of mine in my room and came running up to me saying "A-EEE, A-EEE". I said, yes Madison Claire, Annie wears headbands a lot more than mommy but this one is mommy's.

Too cute!

Baby!

We are so excited to finally announce that we are expecting!! I'm almost 14 weeks and feeling great! Here is how it all went down:

*We had been trying for several months with no luck and I began to think that my prolactin levels were elevated again (like they were when I first got pregnant with Madison Claire). I went to the doctor and they tested my hormones and sure enough, my prolactin was high. They put me on some medicine to regulate my prolactin - which I only had to take for 1 week before I found out I was pregnant!

*The night of the Goodpasture game, I just had a feeling I was pregnant. I had been at Vanderbilt interviewing that day and just didn't feel very good. I was headed straight from Vanderbilt to the game, so I stopped at the Rite-Aid and bought a pregnancy test. I went to dinner at Calypso by myself and took that test in the Calypso bathroom. I thought that it showed a line that said I was pregnant, but it was VERY faint and I couldn't tell if my eyes were playing tricks on me. So, I went to Publix and bought another test - a digital one this time! I took it in the Publix bathroom and it came back "Not Pregnant". I still really felt like I was pregnant, but was too scared to get my hopes up.

*I went to the game and didn't say anything to Ryan, but I did tell Anne about it at the game and told her I really thought that I was. The next morning, I woke up early and took the second digital pregnancy test that morning. It came back "Pregnant"! I was so excited! Ryan was feeding Madison Claire breakfast so I came out with the test behind my back and said "Do you want some news that will cheer you up?" (they had lost the game the night before in a heartbreaker). I then showed him the test and he was so excited too! We were really just a little bit in shock!

*We sent the picture to our families and then started the waiting game to get through the first trimester.

*I have been blessed again with an easy pregnancy so far. I felt great through most of the first trimester - I felt a little tired, a little sick, and had some breaking out on my face, but each symptom didn't last very long.

*I remember how hard it was to lose the 40 pounds that I gained with Madison Claire so I am trying really hard to make better choices this pregnancy. Somedays it is easier than others. I am making a conscious effort to work out more consistently and make healthy choices. We'll see what happens - I may still gain 40 pounds, but it will be a different kind of 40 pounds this time!

*So far, I've craved baked potatoes, barbeque potato chips and mexican food.

*I went to the doctor at 8 weeks and they did an ultrasound and found out that I was only 7 weeks pregnant - which means I found out super early (explaining the inconsistencies in the pregnancy tests). They also saw during that ultrasound that my uterus is inverted. Basically, that means that instead of facing up and forwards, mine is facing down & backwards. So, when it started growing, it grew down into my pelvis instead of up into my abdomen. Eventually it will have to go up into my abs, but because of that it is difficult to hear the babies heartbeat and I'm not showing as much as some of my friends who are pregnant around the same stage.

*Speaking of showing, I have just started to show in the past week or so. I can definitely tell, Ryan is still a little skeptical that I'm showing - but trust me, I am!

*We've been talking to Madison Claire about the new baby on the way and she knows that it is in my tummy. Sometimes she'll give it a kiss. She is going to be a great big sister and I am so excited for her! I would say I have been excited 99.9% of this pregnancy, but I did have a moment a few nights ago where I got sad thinking about it not just being Madison Claire. I am so excited for her to have a sibling though!

*People keep asking us what we are hoping for, and I'm 100% honest when I say we will be thrilled either way. It would be so fun to have a little boy and experience the difference between girls and boys but I'm super close with my 2 sisters and the thought of Madison Claire not having a sister is so sad to me, so I'll be so excited if it's a girl for that reason. So - stay tuned! We'll definitely find out...we're thinking it will be early January.

Please pray for an uneventful, healthy pregnancy & baby! We'll keep you updated!!

Thank You, Nanny Annie!

Annie got Madison Claire an early Christmas gift and let's just say, Madison Claire LOVES it! Check it out:

Football Season 2010

CPA lost in the first round of the playoffs to their rivals, Goodpasture. It was a fun season - a lot of close games, a lot of creative thinking by the coaching staff, one of the warmest seasons thus far with great weather for all of the games, and the season that Coach Mathews became convinced that God is Church of Christ! (Kidding, of course).

Ryan had fun with the defense and they really played great all season. I am a very proud coaches wife!! The last game of the season, Ryan made signs to call in their plays and hopefully cause a little distraction. He mirrored them after the Oregon Ducks when they were on ESPN. Each sign had pictures of the other team, funny pictures that referenced the other teams plays, and the actual calls. I think there were 15-20 in all, but here are a few:

Big Girl Potty!!

I mean...if that isn't the cutest picture I've ever seen!! 2 weeks ago on Friday night, I left to go to Ryan's football game vs. Goodpasture. While I was at Calypso having dinner by myself, my phone rang and it was Annie. When I answered the phone she said "You aren't going to believe it...Madison Claire just went Pee-Pee in the potty!!!" You can imagine the scene as the conversation transpired with me asking questions about what happened and cheering for Madison Claire over the phone while at Calypso!

Let me take a step back - we aren't really trying to potty train Madison Claire. She has always liked going into the bathroom with us so we bought this little potty at Toys R Us back 4 or 5 months ago and it's just been sitting in our bathroom downstairs. She hasn't really shown a lot of interest in it, but she will sit on it sometimes.

This particular night, she was eating in her high chair and she just looked at Annie and said "pee-pee" so Annie took her in there and sure enough, she went! Annie said that she made such a big deal out of it that Madison Claire just sat there with a huge smile and she wouldn't get off. Before she knew it, she had gone #2 in the potty! We couldn't believe it! Annie took that picture during that time...so cute!

Well - that weekend, I would ask her occasionally if she needed to go "pee-pee" and she would always say "no". So I didn't think much of it. Well, wouldn't you know - Annie got here on Monday morning and I am not joking when I say that within 10 minutes, she was peeing on that potty for Annie. I just couldn't believe it! She went 2 or 3 times on Monday and twice on Tuesday so we thought we were on a roll, but she hasn't shown any interest since then, so we'll see!

At any rate, I'm proud of our punkie!!

Park Cafe

Ryan and I had a date night out to our special place, Park Cafe, the other weekend. It was so nice to get away just the 2 of us and we had a great meal at Park Cafe topped off with a piece of Pumpkin Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory for dessert! YUM! I love my handsome hubby!!!

Toddler bed

We moved Madison Claire into a toddler bed about a month ago because we caught her trying to climb out. Her crib converts to a toddler bed so we basically just took the front of the crib off and put up a small rail. The first 2 nights were a disaster - she was up at 6am standing at the top of the stairs pulling on the gate and would not go back to sleep. I posted on Facebook asking for advice and our family friend, Vicki Bachman, suggested that we turn her doorknob around so we could lock the door from the outside. We did that and it's been smooth sailing ever since! She will get out of the bed and go to the door but when she can't open it, she'll just go crawl right back into bed and go back to sleep. Thankfully, she is still sleeping until 7:30 or 8:00am! Praise the Lord!

She has been pretty cute though in terms of what she wants in her bed. She puts everything in there - blankets, baby dolls, books, etc. One morning, I woke up and she had her "popper" in the bed with her. The other morning, she woke up at 3:30am and went and got a book and was sitting up reading in her bed. You never know what you are going to find these days - one day, I looked over and found Annie in there with her!

We are proud of Madison Claire for making the transition easily and still can't believe that she is old enough to be out of her crib!