Humpty Dumpty and Tummy Time

Landon says his nursery rhymes even when he has an ear infection and cough! The kid cracks me up!

MK did some tummy time today and boy is she strong!! Look at her ornery brother on the background!! Ha!




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Thanksgiving in Lavaca

Aunt Judy taught Landon how to play cards. He can count the shapes like a pro now and will be playing in the World Series of Poker in no time!



Mimi's iPad is the latest obsession. One morning Landon woke up and came in the living room and asked, "Where is everybody? Where is Mimi, where is Papa, where's my daddy. Where is the iPad?". Im rethinking my Christmas list...I had asked for one but I fear I will never see it and/or that it will create an almost 3 year old monster! However, he sure was quiet a few times while playing Angry Birds. Hmmmmm....


Landon got to ride the "big fracor"!!




Miss Maddie Kate enjoyed her first trip to the farm and even turned a whole month old while we were there!


She also helped us cheer on the hogs. We are sad that this precious outfit and giant bow didn't bring the piggies more luck!




Of course Landon had to show Mimi how to play Angry Birds...she didn't already know how you know.


Luckily I tore him away from the iPad long enough to help set the table Saturday night!!

We had so much fun in Lavaca and now we are off to "Tansas" to see Great Mama, Papa, Pocky, Uncle Fwis, Aunt Lindy and Uncle Carl"!


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Thankful

There isn't really much to blog about today but I thought I'd post a few pictures that we've taken over the last couple of days.  We are looking forward to Thanksgiving in Lavaca this year and then we're off to Kansas to visit Great Mama and Papa!  I know a little boy who couldn't be more excited!  His Mommy and Daddy are pretty excited too!  We are very Thankful for our wonderful family and especially for our newest addition.

Not sure what they're looking at but I thought Landon's expression was cute...poor MK!

This picture cracks me up!  Her expression is so funny and she is so strong!  She's been holding her head up pretty much since birth and she can already roll over from her belly to her back!

Maddie Kate's 3 Week Photo Shoot

I can't believe that Maddie Kate is already 3 1/2 weeks old...and at the same time it seems like she should be older.  She just fits right into our little family and we are enjoying her so much...she has already changed so much!

Happy Halloween!

Landon had a great Halloween this year!  He dressed up as one of his current favorites...Sheriff Woody from Toy Story!  He and daddy went trick or treating with the neighbors and then came home and passed out candy!  Mimi was here visiting so she and I stayed home with Maddie Kate and passed out candy until the boys got home and took over the candy passing out duties - which may  have been one of Landon's favorite parts of the evening!

Sweet Little Punkin!

Ready to go!!

First treat of the night!  Almond Joy!  YUM!

The Johnsons came by and look at Miss Audrey!  Is this the cutest costume you've ever seen?!

Our New "Normal"

Who decides what normal is anyway?  My friend Andrea once gave me a book of little funnies called "Normal Is A Setting On The Dryer".  So true.  I dry my clothes on normal all the time.  Ha!

So, what does the new normal look like for the Battreals?  Well, let me tell you that if it weren't for Mimi who came to visit and cooked us yummy casseroles for the freezer, for Nana who is a tremendous help, for my friend Emily who set up a meal train for our friends to bring us dinner and for Jim (aka best daddy ever) our normal would be complete chaos instead of just a little chaotic.

Maddie Kate is 3 weeks old already and of course she's not sleeping through the night yet - and I sure don't expect her too...but I'm sleepy!  Aside from being nocturnally challenged, our girl is just about as perfect as they come.  She does what all babies do - she eats, she sleeps...and we change a lot of a diapers.  She's pretty much on a 3 hour schedule and after a few weeks of worrying about her weight gain - or lack thereof - we have pretty much totally switched to formula.  The same thing happened with Landon.  Nursing just doesn't work for me and no matter how many times I told myself and everyone else that I wouldn't be upset if it didn't work again I was upset...as in, I cried at the doctor's office when they told me she hadn't gained enough at her two week check-up.  I'm over it now though and she's getting what she needs just like her equally perfect (if not ornery) big brother who is adjusting pretty well for a kid who's life has been totally changed.  He hasn't really been phased by the whole baby sister thing. We've had a couple of minor threats of big brother breakdown but nothing major.  One morning Jim got up extra early to give me a break and he was holding the baby.  Landon got upset and said "NO Dada!  You give that baby to mommy and you hold me!".  He was serious!  A couple days later I was holding MK and she was fussy.  Landon said, " Her wants her mommy".  I told him that I was here mommy and he said, "NO!  You MY mommy, her wants her other mommy!"  He was over it quickly though - and most of the time he loves on her and wants to hold her.  It will be fun to watch them interact as they get older.

Here are a few pictures from our first few weeks at home.

Landon got a Big Brother present!

Precious tootsies.

First photo shoot!

Zoe's handling it okay too considering she's suffering from a whole new level of  neglect.

I sure wish Miss MK would sleep in this precious cradle - sadly, she much prefers her car seat.

Proud big brother!

Landon read his sister the book that Aunt Lindy and Uncle Carl sent!  She loved it.

Hi Pocky

Hi Pocky, this picture is for you! Haha! Don't worry, we don't put bows on Maddie Kate every day. Just sometimes.




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Happy Birthday Maddie Kate!

Miss Maddie Kate arrived at 9:34am on October 25, 2011.  She weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces and was 20 inches long.  She is healthy and happy and her daddy and I are so happy she's here.

We got to the hospital at 7am after dropping Landon off at his Nana and Papa's.  When we got to the hospital we checked in and they took me to a labor and delivery room that she would have been born in had I not been scheduled for a c-section.  I had to sign a gazillion papers that freaked me out - something about all the risks associated with anesthesia and surgery - kinda gets to a momma!  I met the anesthesiologist and turns out we have a mutual friend and kids that are around the same age.  Small world!  She is super sweet and knowing her helped calm my nerves a smidge.  They monitored the baby and said that I was actually having contractions but I couldn't feel them.  Around 9am they wheeled me off to the operating room.  I was SOOOOOOOO nervous and the OR did nothing to make me any less nervous.  It was so sterile and cold and there were a lot of people in there doing various things and talking all around me...and the operating table was seriously way small...and I was way huge.  Getting from the bed to the table was not fun - neither was getting the spinal block.  However, once it was in and started working I started to relax - and then Jim got to come in and that made everything better.  UAMS is a teaching hospital so every time anyone did anything to me they were teaching someone how to do it - so, there was a lot of talking going on and it was kind of weird.  I don't know how long it took but it wasn't long after they got started that we heard our sweet, precious, beautiful baby girl cry.  And she was healthy and perfect and I cried right along with her.  Jim got to cut her umbilical cord and then they wrapped her up and brought her to my face so I could kiss her sweet cheeks.  It was one of the neatest moments of my life.  After they got me all sewn up they wheeled me off to recovery and I got to see Maddie Kate again.  Our families were able to come back to meet her too and I was so happy that everyone was there.  They had a hard time getting my temperature to come up so I had to stay in recovery a little longer than usual.  They also had a hard time getting the "gunk" (that's surely a medical term) out of MK's lungs and that was kind of scary - but she was fine.  We had several visitors come meet Maddie Kate and her big brother came to meet her the day after she was born.  I'm pretty sure he was just as taken with her as we were from the beginning.  He's really surprised us with how well he's handled becoming a big brother.  We came home from the hospital on Thursday the 27th and we've adjusted well so far.  More about our first days with Maddie Kate to come!

Waiting...waiting...waiting.  The waiting turned out to be the worst part in hind sight.  Thank goodness!

Spinal block in - oxygen mask on!  I didn't like that mask!

She's here!  Her daddy cut her cord - okay, so the doctors had to do the first cut but Dada got to do the second!

Pure happiness!!!

Meet Mary Madalyn Kathleen Battreal!

Proud Daddy!

Sweet girl.

Big brother meets his baby sister!

Headed home to start our life as a family of 4!