Today's the day!

Dear Mary Madalyn Kathleen,

First, you're probably going to hate your name...I mean, really, 3 names?  What parent does that to a child? Sorry kid - we do.  Your brother is stuck with 3 names too.  Hey, at least you have a super cute nickname.

We just can't believe that the day we'll finally meet you is here!  We are so excited!  Your big brother is excited too - but I don't think he fully understands how his world is about to change.  He's a pretty cool kid and he's going to be a great big brother!  Sure, you'll fight and pester each other and you'll drive your mommy and daddy crazy...in fact, your brother is driving your dad crazy right now - see, I'm writing this the night before your birthday and scheduling it to post on your actual birthday - and right now your daddy is giving your brother a shower.  And boy is he acting crazy!  He's being silly and carrying on like a madman!  And you know what, we wouldn't have it any other way...you know why?   Because along with all the craziness comes lots of hugs and kisses and snuggles and love.  We love you so much already and we are saying extra prayers that your birthday goes well and that you arrive happy and healthy.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Here's what mommy looked like the night before you were born!

Maddie Kate's Nursery

We put the finishing touches on Maddie Kate's nursery this weekend and I'm so excited to share a few pictures!  I am so proud of how this room has turned out and I had so much fun putting it all together...after I decided on a fabric, that is.  If you know me at all you know that I stress over really, reeeeaaaalllly, unimportant things...and I can't make a decorating decision to save my soul...and in this case, the stress and lack of decision making skills centered around fabric.  Totally, ridiculously, utterly unimportant fabric...and that was after I had already stressed over whether or not to have her bedding made or buy pre-made.  Big life decisions here...I tell ya!  Anyway - after I finally found fabric I loved I had a lady at the paint store Pocky uses help us pick out paint colors and then Pocky came to visit and painted the nursery.  I love the colors and the room came together just perfectly when MK got the most precious blankets in the mail from her Great Mama.  I love them so much and I can't wait to bundle our girl up in them!

So, lots of silly stressing later - here is MK's nursery!

My awesome friend Amy painted these for MK's nursery...aren't they perfect?!

MK's first doll!  She comes out of her Snuggy Bunny and is just the cutest thing!

My sweet friends threw me a "sprinkle" and here is the adorable invitation...also made my Amy!

Close up of the bedding...the bird fabric was the first "big" decision and I LOVE it!

I love how the polka dots look with the birds.

Here are the precious blankets that my sweet Mama made for MK.
I'm taking the pink one to the hospital to bundle MK up in to come home.

I just love it - and Jim says it's the nicest room in the house.  He's kinda right...so, our girl is a smidgen spoiled already.  And I thought I wouldn't be good at this girl stuff...maybe there is hope after all!
We can't wait to meet you Maddie Kate!

PS...

Maddie Kate,

Your big brother and your Daddy worked hard putting things together!  Here they are working on your chair!

Motley's Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we took Landon to the pumpkin patch!  We had such a great time!

Landon fed the animals at the petting zoo!

The Johnson's were there and Ryan helped Landon out with the pet food!

Landon found lots of pumpkins!

Hi Mommy and Daddy!

This slide is fun!  

Look how tall I am!

WOW!  Pig races!

Look at 'em go!

Landon kept saying "oink oink" and Audrey wasn't too sure about this picture thing!  Aren't they precious though!?

Chasing birds!

Look how big Maddie Kate is!!!

Landon wanted to ride the "cow choo choo" all by himself!

Mommy and Daddy were nervous!

Landon wasn't!

Here they go!

And here they come!  He loved it!
For some reason watching him ride this by himself made his Mommy a little sad.  He's growing up so fast!  I'm afraid I'm going to be one of those silly, emotional moms who gets all teary watching the big moments of her kiddos growing up!  Sorry kids.  It will be embarrassing...maybe I'll get it together before I embarrass you too bad!  I doubt it.

We can't wait to meet our new little punkin!

Landon picked this one out to take home!

On the way out he rode this fun horsey swing and mommy bought some fudge!

The Tooth Story - Part 2

The week after Landon lost his tooth we took him to see the dentist.  They took an x-ray and confirmed what we already thought - the root was still there and it had to come out - and that would require surgery.  So, the next Monday we took Landon to see a different dentist and we thought he'd be having the surgery that day.  Turns out the dentist we saw prefers to do surgeries on kiddos Landon's age at Children's so...no surgery that day.  We scheduled the surgery for Wednesday.  We had to be at the hospital at 12:30 and since my friends at work had planned a baby shower lunch that day I had to meet Jim and Landon there.  When I got there Landon was already wearing his Children's Hospital pants and shirt and he was watching "tb".  Dada said he had been so good since they got there!  After I got there we met with several different people and answered a gazillion questions about our little guy's health and then we met with the anesthesiologist.  We all knew this was going to be a minor procedure...but he's our baby and surgery is scary.  Then, we waited....and we waited...and we waited some more.  We took Landon down to the playroom for a while and he had fun playing with the toys.  Finally around 3 they took him back for surgery and Jim and I waited in the waiting room.  We were told they had blocked an hour for the surgery so we sort of expected it to take that long.  We were surprised when they were done less than 20 minutes later!  The dentist came out and told us that everything went well and he gave is the root of the tooth that he took out.  When we got to go back and see Landon in recovery he looked so cute and kind of sad all at the same time...he was just sitting in his bed and then when he saw us he got super mad!  He did the same thing after he woke up from having tubes put in his ears.  He wanted his IV out immediately and he cried and cried.  We got him settled down enough to get him to the car and he was just fine by the time he and dada got home.  A few hours later you would have never even known that we had spent 4 hours at the hospital!  He was jumping off the ottoman and running crazy like normal!  He's pretty tough and we kinda like him...and I was sure to say extra prayers for the families at Children's who are there for far more serious issues than we experienced.  

Landon couldn't have anything but water or apple juice the morning of the surgery so I bought him this super cool Spiderman apple juice!  He thought it was the best special surprise ever!

Hanging out in his hospital pj's.

Landon got a milkshake on our way home!  That's the second one this week!  He's going to be spoiled for sure!  

Mom!  Quit taking my picture!  You're interrupting Charlie Brown!

Nana and Papa brought Landon some balloons to make him feel better!  Landon loved them!!

By dinnertime our little guy was fine...he had 'acaroni and cheese" and kiwi.

And he left the root of his tooth out for the tooth fairy!!!

Here it is Tooth Fairy!  I want a Woody doll this time!

This morning Landon found this!  WOW!  $20!!!  I guess the tooth fairy leaves extra if you have to have surgery!

I wonder if she also pays hospital bills? Ha!

This is the conversation I had with Landon this morning after he discovered what the tooth fairy left him...

Me:  "Wow Landon!  Look!  The tooth fairy left you $20!  That will surely buy you a Woody doll!".

Landon:  "NO!  Dat's not money!

Me: "It's not?  Then what is it?"

Landon:  "Dat's not money!  It's a...aaaa....it's a ticket!"

Me: (Trying not to laugh - clearly he hasn't grasped the concept of paper money...

which is probably a good thing. ) "Okay, well tomorrow  we'll take your ticket and go buy you a Woody doll!"

Landon:  "otay"

A tale of the Tooth Fairy and a Big Boy Bed.

Friday, October 7th was a big day for the Battreal's!  Mommy headed off to work leaving her boys at home to do "man" stuff all day...and "man" stuff on this particular day included putting together Landon's big boy bed!  We weren't really sure it was the right time to make the transition because Landon was quite content in his crib and had only climbed out one time.  However, considering his baby sister is going to be born via c-section and I won't be able to pick our little man up for several weeks we decided to take the plunge!  And we're glad we did...he's done GREAT in his new big boy bed!  The only trouble we've had is changing his nightly routine - we are routine people who don't fare well with change...pair that with the fact that we (especially dada :) ) love to rock our guy to sleep and it makes for a difficult time expecting Landon to just "go to bed".  We'll get there.  He's only fallen out of bed one time and it was early one morning.  We heard the dreaded "thump" followed by "what the heck just happened" screams!  Poor guy.  He was fine - nothing a little snuggling couldn't fix.

So, back to the day of "man" stuff.  After Landon's big boy bed was put together...complete with his dada's Pluto sheets that his Nana has saved all these years...Landon ran into his room, tripped over his rug, fell into the hard side of the bed and knocked his already loose tooth "looser".  And it bled.  Badly.  I wasn't here for all the fun but dada called me right away to fill me in.  After the bleeding stopped dada saw that Landon had bitten his lip pretty bad too.  Poor guy!  There wasn't a whole lot anyone could do...and apparently there is not a single dentist in the metro area who works on Friday.  Nice.  We didn't think a trip to the emergency trip was necessary, so after some TLC and a popsicle dada got Landon down for a nap - and when he woke up he told dada that his tooth hurt and asked him to "get it out"!  Dada may or may not have sterilized the needle nosed pliers to give it a shot - but just couldn't bring himself to do it!  So, Landon did what any normal "twoahalf"year old kiddo would do and he pulled it himself, handed it to Jim and said "here you go!".  And he was fine.  And the tooth fairy came to visit on his very first night in his big boy bed!!!

Yay!  I have a big boy bed now!  Mommy picked out my quilt - it's awesome.

Pillow fight!  Thanks for saving my daddy's Pluto sheets Nana!  I love them!
See where my tooth used to be?!

What, you don't pick your nose?  All the cool kids pick their nose...everyone knows that.

My giant mommy read me Mouse Paint on my first night in my big boy bed!
Nanny Gayle made me this Razorback pillow and I decided to put my tooth in my Razorback coin holder and then tuck it away in this pillow so the Tooth Fairy would find it!  It worked!  Thanks Nanny Gayle!

Wook!  The Tooth Fairy left me some change - and then my mommy took me to buy a new "Buzz Whotyere" toy!  I like this Tooth Fairy lady!

Part two of the tooth story coming soon!

Let the countdown begin!

So, it's 1:41 in the morning. Why am I awake? I have no idea really but I'm wide awake...as if I've been asleep for hours! Could it be that half pint of ice cream I ate before bed? (Don't judge. I've done pretty good this pregnancy so I decided I "deserved" some chocolate fudge brownie. Truth be told...I planned on eating the entire pint but didn't. So, there! Ha!). Maybe it's the preggo insomnia that so many of my friends have suffered from that I've thankfully missed out on? OR maybe...MK woke me up to prepare me for what's to come in two short weeks? Who knows. I should probably make good use of being wide awake and make Landon's lunch for school or something...but I will probably just lay here and listen to my baby daddy snore. Loudly. Ha! Sorry sweetie.

So, the countdown. We have two short weeks left before becoming a family of 4...which is a concept I clearly haven't quite grasped considering I told our doctor that I was looking forward to having next week off work before "becoming a family of 3"! He quickly corrected me and I was sort of caught off guard. Not sure if it was because I hadn't really thought about actually being a family of 4 or if I was shocked by my less than amazing math skills. Either way it hit me...we will be a family of 4. In two weeks! Or less. I secretly hope she stays put til the 25th because I really am looking forward to having a week off work before her arrival. I want to spend as much time with Landon and Jim as possible before the craziness of having a newborn hits us. MK, we can't wait to meet you and Landon, we know you're going to be a great big brother!!

Now, preggo insomnia or after effect of too much sugar be gone! I'm already not a morning person and my co-workers don't need grumpy Katie my last week before maternity leave!




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Maddie Kate: 36 Weeks!

Maddie Kate is 36 weeks old in my belly.  It's scary to think that if she decides to come as early as her brother did she'll be here in the morning!  Like, TOMORROW MORNING!  Luckily I went to see Dr. Wendel today and it looks like she'll be staying put.  Which is good!  However, I'm working on packing my bag this week and her room is just about finished.  I'm waiting on a few more things before I take any pictures to post.

Today at our Dr. appointment MK's heart was going strong at 142 bpm and she's still breech.  Here's what What to Expect When You're Expecting has to say about our little girl:

Forget your aching back (and everything else!) by trying to focus on your baby, who is now about six pounds and 20 inches long, with soft bones and cartilage to allow a safer journey through the exit door. Most of her systems (from circulatory to musculoskeletal) are ready for prime time, though her digestion system — which has done only practice runs so far — will kick into gear as she takes her first suckle at the breast or bottle.


I'm still feeling great...for the most part anyway.  She's still really high and I'm afraid her head will have an indention from jamming it up in my ribs!  My feet and ankles swell some by the end of the day but overall I just can't complain.  Next week is my last full week of work before I start maternity leave.  I'm looking forward to having some time off before she gets here...did you hear that MK?  No matter how uncomfortable I get you feel free to stay put until October 25th!

Here is the 36 week belly - complete with a horrific hair day.

This is what a working mommy of one looks like after a long day and a trip to the grocery store...heaven help me when I become the working mommy of 2!  According to my friends who've recently joined the ranks of parenting two I better "get ready"!  I think karma is biting me for telling Landon's delivery story to too many pregnant women...now it's my turn for the horror stories of having two kids...I would be lying if I said I wasn't super nervous about the whole thing!  I'm SO nervous.  I'm excited too - and luckily I happen to have the best support system.  I'm very grateful and excited to meet our girl!