Granddaddy

My granddaddy passed away last Friday, Aug. 12 due to Alzheimer's. He was a great granddaddy, and he will be missed so much!

Just a few of the things I will remember about my granddaddy:
1. He enjoyed playing jokes on others and laughing so hard until he cried.
2. He contemplated everything he did and put a lot of thought into it. No matter what he was doing--opening a present with his pocket knife, talking, fixing a car--he would take his time and would make sure it was done right.
3. He enjoyed being outside and working in his garden, and he always produced a large and tasty crop for the entire family. He was known for his white corn and cucumbers.
4. He liked animals. I can still remember him playing with my dogs that I had growing up. We even took Hershey to see him in the nursing home a couple times.
5. His reaction to Cody while he was in the nursing home--every time he saw Cody, his eyes would get big and he would smile and Cody could usually make him laugh. Even though Granddaddy was not alert most of the week before he died, he still had the same reaction to Cody on the day before he died. Although it was not as energetic as usual, you could tell he looked straight at Cody and gave him his best effort. It makes me feel good to know my granddaddy approved of and loved my husband!
6. Most of all, he loved his family.

Our First Shower

We had our first shower yesterday. My work gave me a shower at lunch. Luckily, Cody was able to get off to oome, and we had about 20 people in attendance. We had lunch catered from Debut, a small local cafe--sandwiches, wraps. fresh fruit, chips, and homemade cupcakes. Yummy! It has been great to work with such nice people!

We received:
$100 gift card to Babies R Us
changing pad
changing pad cover
swaddler
bottles
bath toys
bath thermometer
baby hangers
decorative pillow
diapers
wipes
bouncer with batteries
receiving blankets
Carter's outfit

Madelyn's Nursery--Part 1

Cody worked really hard all weekend on the nursery. First, he painted the walls a light shade of blue.







Then he installed a dimmer switch.



And he also hung the curtains.





I'm so proud of all of his hard work! He's already being such a good daddy, making sure his little girl has the best! I can't wait to see it once we get her furniture!

22 Weeks

Unfortunately, we have no new pictures of our sweet Madelyn, but here is Mommy at 22 weeks:



We have done a lot in the past couple weeks to prepare for Madelyn's arrival.
-Had a yard sale to get rid of all the junk in our house to make room for Madelyn's stuff (Thanks to Cody's mom for helping us!) We made $300, which we will put towards her nursery furniture.
-Ordered her nursery furniture: a convertible crib, dresser/changing table, and nightstand in white from the Hudson collection by Bonavita and a yellow rocker in the Storytime Collection by Best Chairs.
-Received the last part of her bedding in the mail.
-Bought paint supplies for the nursery. Her walls will be a light shade of blue, which will make the pinks, blues, yellows, and oranges in her bedding pop. The picture below shows her bedding with a patch of blue paint above it.

-Bought an outfit to bring her home from the hospital. Isn't it sweet?

Lots of Updates

I've been really bad about posting recently--partly because I've been lazy, partly because we've been busy trying to get other things accomplished, and partly because our laptop has been out-of-service for a while! There are lots of updates between now and the last post:

1. My mom and dad came to visit us a few weekends ago. Daddy and Cody worked hard to put out mulch around the house, and mom helped me around the house. We are very thankful for their help!

2. Cody passed Step 3! (As if we had any doubt!!!) That means he can now apply for an unrestricted license to practice medicine. He will not have to practice under an attending anymore, and he can moonlight if he chooses to do so. (Moonlighting is working at an urgent care or small hospital on nights or weekends, in return for good, independent experience, and a nice chunk of change.) I'm proud of you, sweetie!

3. We are officially past the halfway point of our pregnancy (at least if you are counting a pregnancy as 40 weeks). We were 20 weeks pregnant this Monday, June 27. We had another ultrasound this Thursday and were able to see Miss Madelyn moving around again. They confirmed that she is a very healthy little girl, and she continues to be very active. I'll be very surprised if she doesn't end up having her daddy's personality! We were able to see her in 4D again, but it was a different sonographer and she unfortunately didn't give us a 4D picture this time. Cody said he thinks she looks like me in her face. We go back on July 28 for another check-up, along with the nasty glucose test and bloodwork. Below is one of the 2D shots of Madelyn:


Mommy at almost 21 weeks, getting ready to go swimming!


4. I went to the beach last weekend with Cody's mom and cousin and some of their friends. It was a nice relaxing weekend, but Madelyn and I missed Cody! Cody was stuck at home working long hours. While we were there, we had to make a trip to the Carter's outlet store, of course! Madelyn has added some cute little outfits to her closet, ranging from newborn to 9 months.

5. We received our first item off of our registry: our stroller travel system. It arrived while I was at the beach, but Cody had it all put together when I got home. Thanks, Nana and Melissa! Hershey is not too sure of the stroller yet--he doesn't bark at it, but he tries to stay away from it. We'll have to get him used to it before Madelyn comes, because I'm sure we'll have lots of family walks in our neighborhood.

6. We have been working on turning our office into Madelyn's nursery. Part of that means getting rid of my desktop computer and using Cody's laptop as our family computer. Of course, right about the time we were doing this, Cody's laptop got a virus that he wasn't able to get rid of. So, he cleared everything off but then had issues getting it working right again. He finally was able to download everything he needed, and we have a fully working laptop again. He's been busy transferring pictures, music, and documents from the desktop to his laptop. It has been an ordeal, but thankfully, he is about finished with everything. Hopefully we'll find someone to buy the desktop and our old printer at our yard sale next weekend!

Milestone for Daddy!

Cody was able to feel Madelyn move! How awesome it was to share that moment with him!

A few nights ago, I was laying down, and I could feel her giving some good kicks. I told Cody he needed to see if he could feel her, and Madelyn was a good girl and gave another couple kicks big enough for her Daddy to feel! Feeling this sweet little girl move is a huge reminder to us of how amazing our God is!

We're Having a....

GIRL!!!

We found out last Wednesday that are going to be blessed with a sweet little girl, Madelyn Claire! During her ultrasound, she was very wiggly, but everything looked healthy. She is measuring right where she should be and is developing appropriately. We were able to see her brain, lungs, stomach, kidneys, heart, and limbs. The ultrasound tech was even nice enough to turn on the 4D feature for a few pictures of her little profile!

Madelyn Claire, 16 weeks, 2 days


Since Madelyn was so wiggly, we get to go back for another ultrasound on June 30. She wouldn't be still long enough to capture all the images they needed to get, so we are lucky enough to be able to see her again!

We saw Monica, our midwife, following the ultrasound. She agreed that everything was going well. I had lost a little bit of weight since my last visit (I don't think it could have even been a whole pound), but she wasn't concerned; I guess that just means more ice cream and bagel bites for me! I am feeling better every day. The nausea seems to be slacking off even more, but mornings can still be a little difficult. I have a good appetite and have a pretty good energy level. For the first time last Saturday, I felt something that I suspected was Madelyn moving. I have felt it a few more times and am pretty sure it is her moving. It is such an awesome feeling! I can't wait for Cody to be able to feel her move too.

Mommy, 17 weeks, 1 day


Since last Wednesday, Cody and I have been very busy preparing for Madelyn. We ordered her bedding, registered at Babies R Us and Target, and have continued to clear out our office to be able to turn it into her nursery. We are so excited to be having a little girl and can't wait for her arrival!