Wow...it has already been almost three weeks since Elle was born. I can't believe how quickly it has gone by! She really is a great baby and is super laid back. We're exicted to say that she still has a full head of black hair, but it is always oily because we all sit around and run our hands through it all day. She is surviving her older sister who is absolutely in love with her, but doesn't quite understand that babies need lots of sleep. Sydney spends a good portion of the day trying to wake Elle up so she can play. We've also had a few close calls with Sydney picking Elle up and carrying her around. Like any good big sister Sydney is also learning to blame lots of things on Elle. Last night we were in the car and Elle started crying. When she stopped, we looked and Sydney had her finger in Elle's mouth. When she realized she was caught she said, "No, baby Elle. Don't put my finger in your mouth!" Still no jealousy issues, so keep your fingers crossed for us on that!

I'm still feeling pretty tired, although I'm getting a ton of sleep considering that I have a newborn. My biggest frustration is not being able to get up and do stuff like I want. A walk around the block the other day kept me sitting around the entire next day because I was sore. I'm ready to get back out and take long walks and do something, really anything. I definitely think this c-section was MUCH, MUCH easier than my first and I'm feeling a lot better at this point than I did at this point last time. But, I'm not a sitter, so I'm still learning how to take it easy.

So, long story short, our house isn't as clean as I'd like and we're eating a lot of cereal and leftovers (thanks to some wonderful friends at work who brought us dinner last week.) We're all learning how to live and function as a family of four instead of three. But, the important thing is that we're all making it one day at a time and surviving!

Sydney and Picture Day

Sydney had her dance class pictures last week. What an exciting day! She thought she looked super cute and was really excited because she got to wear makeup. Her dance recital is in June and they are doing a tap dance to "The Hippy Hippy Shake." I have to say it is super cute, but Daddy thinks she is a little too good at shaking her hips for a three-year-old.

We're now a family of 4!!

Elle Madison Rieske made her grand debut Tuesday, April 29th at 9:01 p.m. She weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. She has the prettiest head of black hair we've ever seen. More details when I'm not so drugged!

God made everything

I cherish my grocery time with Sydney - she is always full of questions and it is a great bonding time for us. Yesterday our conversation went something like this:

S: Mom, did God make everything?
M: Yes, he did.
S: Did he make flowers and birds?
M: That's right.
S: (with lots of astonishment and big wide eyes) Did he even make Wal-Mart?

Lessons we've learned

Lesson #1
You don't need snow or even cold weather to wear everything you own that is meant for winter - just strip down to your undies and hula skirt and they'll feel just fine.

Lesson #2

Dogs will only put up with so much dancing.

All day on Wednesday Sydney carried Grizzly around. Grizzly didn't object, but I can't say she liked it either. She tolerated it and even let Sydney lead her around on a leash most of the day. Wednesday night we were watching our DVR'd episode of American Idol and Sydney decided that Grizzly should dance with her. As you can see, she put up with it for a while. Sydney thought it was hilarious, but then Grizzly got tired of being dragged around by her front paws and started gently gnawing on Sydney's hands to make her let go. After much prompting from her Dad, Sydney finally let go. Then Grizzly jumped in my lap and Sydney thought putting her in the laundry basket would be a better idea. So, she chased the poor dog who again jumped back into my lap. She kept tugging at her and finally, after about 15 minutes of torture, Grizzly nipped her. Sydney cried for 10 minutes although there wasn't even a mark. I'd like to say she learned her lesson, but today she's been chasing Grizzly with the laundry basket again.

Weewo and Stitch and Grasshead Progress

Sydney's favorite movie lately has been Lilo and Stitch (weewo and Stitch as it is more commonly known in our house.) She loves when they hula in the beginning and has decided that this skirt from her dress up trunk looks like a hula skirt. So, she wears it everytime she watches the movie. She has memorized the entire dance and I'm pretty sure the entire dialouge in the movie. David and I are both ready for a new favorite.

Also, a little over a week later, here is Sydney's grasshead. On Sunday she decided a haircut and I'd have to say that I agree. She loves watching things grow! This month at school they are learning about the parts of a flower and how they grow from seeds. We constantly get to here about how flowers come from seeds. There is nothing like a 3 year old to teach you everything you need to know about flowers.

Pokey Earrings...a success!

After a lot of phone calls, we ended up getting Sydney's ears pierced at Claire's. Sydney kept saying, "I'm so excited" so the girl doing the piercing finally asked if it was Sydney's idea to get her ears pierced. I assured her it was. We'd tried to talk to about how it was going to hurt, but just for a second like a shot does. She was ok with that and perched herself up in the chair. I had told her earlier that I didn't want her to cry (not that I really expected her not to - I just didn't want a big scene, if possible, from my little drama queen.) There was a girl who was about ten or eleven who went first and she was kind of a wimp about it. Thankfully Sydney didn't watch her. When it was Sydney's turn she got a little nervous, grasped onto the chair and smiled. I was squeezing David's hand really hard because I was so nervous - I remember how those things hurt! So, they counted, clicked (both at the same time) and Sydney's eyes got huge. She just sat there with a shocked look on her face, tears welling up in her eyes. The bottom lip started quivering and that was all this Momma could take. I told her it was ok and then the tears came full force. She cried and cried and everyone around her was telling her how good she did. She probably held the tears off for a total of 30 seconds - even I was impressed. I held her and tried to get her to look at them in the mirror, but she wasn't interested. Mean time, there were some older women in the store looking at me like I was the worst mom ever forcing my child to have her ears pierced. I wanted to kick them in the shin and tell them to get over it because this little girl had been BEGGING to get them done for months and it wasn't my idea. Thankfully I kept the pregnancy hormones in check and didn't cause a scene. After about five minutes of crying and burying her face in my shoulder, Sydney was all about showing everyone just how great her new "pokey earrings" looked. So, for the last several days she keeps pulling her hair up as she walks into a room so everyone can see how beautiful she looks. She almost made me go back in at my OB's office because she forgot to show Dr. Seale. I assured her we'd be back next week and she could show her then.

Speaking of the baby, everything looks good. She has definitely dropped but isn't completely engaged yet, so we might make it until May 2. Unless I have more contractions I'm done with internals - thank goodness for that. So we sit and wait and I drive my husband crazy with all of the cloth diapers talk. I actually found a place in Fayetteville that carries them called Terra Tots, so I have been talking to the owner there. She is a wealth of information and I'm leaning more and more towards the cloth. Her prices seem to be in-line with everything I've found on-line, so I think we'll probably buy them from her if we go that way. She has a starter package for $60 including tax that looks better than any I've found on-line. David says he doesn't care either way and that it is my decision, but I want him on board with whatever way we go. He really wants me to do the 21 day trial first, but it is only $30 less than just buying them and in the end you end up without diapers. Ahh...all of the decisions that come with a baby. I'm so anxious for her to just get here!

Grass Head

Today Sydney and I made her long awaited "grass head." This is a craft my home school class did the other day and I brought home the extras for her to make one. It is basically a chia-pet and quite cute when it finally grows. Sydney decided she wanted to make hers to a football player. I drew the number for her and then she drew the clothes. I think she did a pretty good job - she is getting better and better at drawing things. Especially things with a permanent marker on my bathroom wall, but that is another story. Currently there is a frog drawn with a dry erase marker on my bathroom mirror which by me is an ok art space, dry erase being the key. My favorite part of the frog is the tounge which she drew by sticking hers out so she could see what it looked like. It was really cute.

I've been up since 5 a.m. which I hate, but there was no point in just laying there. So far I've gotten some laundry done and had a chance for more research on cloth diapers. I think I might be crazy, but I think it is what we're going to do part-time at least. I'm not sure we could do them at school and I definitely think I don't want to do them when out and about. I've found a couple of places on-line that allow you to do a trial version. One site is only $10 for 21 days if you decide you don't like them, so I think we may start out with that. Cloth will be a big investment to make if we decide not to do it so I want to make sure that is really what we want to do. I'm amazed at how different cloth diapers are than what I thought they'd be. There are so many options that I've felt a little overwhelmed doing all of the research, but I think I've finally got my feet on the ground. Plus, I don't think it will gross me out as much as I originally thought, especially after potty training. I don't think it is something I would have been brave enough to try with my first, but after all of the poop and pee associated with potty training, what is a little more?

Also on the agenda for today are Sydney's swim lessons. She has had a break since before Christmas and is dying to go back to the Jones Center. She has big plans about going under, we'll see if she sticks to them. Today is also the day she has been working really hard for - POKEY EARRINGS! She has been begging for several months now and David was a little reluctant to let her get them. But, after lots of Sydney persuasion she talked him into getting them. David told her she could get them IF she was good and had no time-outs at school for all of March. She did get it pushed back a week for a "not listening" incident and I can't say she has been the most well behaved child ever, but she has improved and has worked really hard. We've talked about how it will hurt, but only for a second. She isn't thrilled about that part, but she still wants to get them so wish us luck. We'll see what she picks out and how it goes!

Maternity Pics

Here are a few maternity pictures we took tonight. I didn't realize I looked so tired, but so goes life.

You're driving me nuts, kid.

Ok, so the title of this post is a direct quote from Sydney. I was walking around picking things up and she said, "Mom, you're driving me nuts, kid." I think I'm getting on her nerves because I'm going crazy sitting around all of the time via David's orders. And speaking of Miss Cuteness herself, here she is watching Super Why this morning.

So, with part of my new found lazy-time, I've gotten some sewing projects done. The first one I finished is a quilt for Elle. I made Sydney a Razorback blanket when she was born, so I didn't figure I could skip out on that this time. My biggest concern when I started having contractions was that I hadn't finised it. So, it was the first thing I finished. It is far from perfect, but most of my projects are.

The next item of panic was a gift from Elle to Sydney. In our sibling class they suggested bringing a gift from the baby to the big sister for her to "give" her when they meet the first time as a way to make things easier on the older sibling. I decided I wanted Sydney to get a Big Sister shirt, but couldn't find any on-line that I really liked. Plus, they were all about $20 each and kind of corny. I checked on ebay and found these iron-on transfers. They are supposed to be heavier duty than the ones you can print at home. We'll see, but I think they are because they were heavier in weight. So, for $15 including shipping and the shirts I got one for Sydney and for Elle. I added some ribbon and here is the outcome:

If you can't read it they said "Big Sister" and then Sydney across the bottom and "Lil Sister" and Elle across the bottom. Sorry, but with two girls I can't resist the occasional matching shirt thing. While finishing Elle's shirt, my sewing machine messed up again. It is the same problem I had with it last time, so we'll be making a trip to Springdale this morning to drop it off at the Sears repair center. I think this part has a two year warranty, I'm crossing my fingers. But, it looks like my sewing projects are on hold. I guess it is back to scrapbooking if the weather stays nice. David moved my things out to the garage and set me up a crafting area where I can leave my mess out in the random nook in our garage. Sydney will like that because then she'll finally be able to play with the sidewalk chalk we bought last week (it has been cold and/or rainy every day since.)

And, because I think it is cute, here is Elle's coming home outfit. The skirt is a 0-3, but it looks huge compared to the other things. We'll see if it fits or not. I'm dying to see how big she is when she gets here. According to my e-mails she should be finished growing height wise now and is just fattening up, although she should be around 5.5 lbs. Sydney was 8.2 at 38 weeks, so I guess we'll just wait and see.

Drumrolll Please....

Ok, so we have big mouths and probably won't be able to keep a secret until May 2. We finally picked a name for the baby!!! And to answer all of the normal questions - It is just a name we liked. And no, there is not a nickname. I've already made the wall letters for her room, therefore it is set in stone and we aren't changing it. So, unless your comment is "Oh, what a cute name" then we don't want to hear it. :)








So, whenever she decides to come, she will be Elle Madison (pronounced like the letter L). Sydney trying to say it is so super cute since she is still working on the whole L thing.

Due to the whole pre-term labor arrangement, David made me stay home from work today so that is the reason for all of the posts. But, for now I'm out of things to talk about so I will go and find something else to do. I really am not good at this whole being still thing.

Long overdue Easter Pics

The Easter dress. Yes, she picked it out herself which made Mommy kind of sad...I thought I still got a say, but apparently when you are three you get to pick out your own things.

Hunting eggs at Nanny's.

Sydney and me dying Easter Eggs.

My friend Jessica's little girl Chloe and my naked Sydney.

This one is actually from before Easter. Sydney was scratching her back on the fridge pretending to be "Bear Necessities." She thought she was pretty funny, but then again, we did, too.

Baby Coney is trying to come early...

Sydney playing Rock Band.

As of Saturday I am 34 weeks. Yea to being that far along, but we got a wake up call Saturday night. After eating some yummy Mexican, I started having a ton of contractions that were pretty close together. After laying down they didn't go away, so we called the doctor and they said to come in immediately. Well, once we were hooked up to the monitor it turned out that the contractions were coming every five minutes. There were some that I wasn't even feeling, but they were concerned about the number. They did an internal check (I forgot how much those hurt!) and I wasn't dialating, but I was effacing, so they gave me a shot of Brethane (I think that is what it was called.) That worked a little, but not enough so I got a second shot. That one worked and they sent us home. They said that as the days go on they will try less and less to stop it, so we'll see when this little girl shows up.

Our crazy month

Ok, so we haven't updated for a while. Let's see first there was David and the whole appendix thing. He thought he hurt himself working out, so he was getting zero sympathy from me. We went on to the Razorback game as planned and he was in a lot of pain. I told him he wasn't 20 anymore, so he needed to either work out or not, but either way stick to one. Well, after yelling at him for keeping me and Bear up all night, I took him to the doctor and he came back without an appendix. Yeah, good one me, right? What a loving wife I am. I'll blame it on the hormones. This was all on a Thursday.

So, that Sunday I was getting stir crazy and of course David was little help getting much done, so I decided to climb in a chair to get my laminator down. (My FHE packets were due that week!) Between being clumsy and pregnant, I managed to fall and land my belly right on the back of the chair. Good move, huh? So about five hours later I noticed Baby Coney wasn't moving much and got worried. I called the doctor and they said to come in right away. They asked if I had someone to drive me, which I didn't because David was doped up on hydrocodene and we aren't letting Sydney drive long distances quite yet (we thought we'd wait until she can at least reach the pedals). So, they offered to call an ambulance. Um, no thanks. So, I drove myself to labor and delivery. David felt dumb about that, but I assured him it was ok. Of course, as babies do, as soon as we got checked in to the hospital she started moving around like crazy. We had to stay a while and get her monitored, but were sent home knowing she was doing great and looked very mature on the monitors.

Other than that we've been cleaning out the garage, getting the nursery ready, and picking a name for our little girl. We're all really anxious for her to get her. Sydney keeps saying, "Mom, I'm so cited!" (translation, I'm so excited) So, we wait. We have a c-section scheduled for May 2 at 8:45.

Building a Snowman

We had a fun day of playing in the snow! We had to wake Sydney up from her nap so she could get out and play before it got dark. She loves wearing all of her winter things and asked if she could wear her snow hat, mittens, scarf and snow boots. She was quite disappointed when I told her that she didn't have any snow boots. I tried to reason with her and explain that it really only snows about one or two days a year, so snow boots aren't really necessary. She informed me that they were and that she'd just have to go to Wal-Mart and buy some. Once she got over that we couldn't get outside fast enough.

Sydney's first Snowman
Finishing the Snowman

Sydney was so excited to finally get to make snow angels and build her first snowman, although she and Daddy had different ideas of how it should look. The snowman ended up with rings for eyes, a candle for a nose, and a gummy worm mouth. Unfortunately, by 8 p.m. the snowman was very lopsided. Grizzly got to play in the snow too, and had fun trying to catch snowballs. We only stayed outside about 20 minutes because the wind was so cold.

Click here for more snow pictures.

It's Snowing!

Sydney is excited for snow to play in. Ironically, it snowed on Jan. 31 last year. She is already talking about making snowballs to throw at Daddy (who is hopefully coming home from work early today - the roads are supposed to get worse.) Oh, yeah - we're out of school today.

Meet our two new residents

Our first new resident is Anastasia. Uncle Timothy took Sydney to Build-A-Bear for her birthday and she built Anastasia, a bunny in a Tinkerbell dress complete with wings (which will be important in a minute.)

The first couple of days Anastasia took a back seat to all of her other birthday loot, but from Wednesday on she goes EVERYWHERE. Everyone who meets Anastasia has to listen to her "heartbeep."

If Sydney goes potty, so does Anastasia. She has been to ballet, to school, to Wal-Mart, and of course she has to go to bed with us, too. The wings are really pokey, but Anastasia can't take her Tinkerbell off at night because she doesn't have pajamas. Sydney has a birthday party to go to this afternoon so we bought a Build-a-Bear gift card for her friend. While we were there Anastasia got a "bath" and new pajamas. (Sydney decided that would be a good use of some of her birthday money.) So, now she has to change at night and in the morning.

Now, onto our other new resident.
What, don't you see her? This is a picture Sydney took of Khana (I'm guessing on the spelling since Khana has yet to tell me how exactly I'm supposed to spell her name.)

The other night I was in the bathroom getting ready to go out on a date (thought I should document that since it happens so infrequently) and Sydney brought a blanket in and said, "There, is that better?" I asked her who she was talking to. "My pretend friend," she said. She goes on to tell me that Khana is very tired because they'd been playing so much. They'd played school, dolls and on her jungle gym. Well, you know me - I started to worry that it was bad that she had an imaginary friend, but then I read this article on Babycenter.

Don't worry, your toddler is not only normal, she's also very creative. Her burgeoning imagination fuels this wonderful fictitious creation, someone who accompanies her as she explores the world. Firstborns often have imaginary friends, as do very bright kids.

So, for now I'll worry less and just get to know Khana, who is apparently Anastasia's sister. She has long blond hair and loves her family. That is all I really know about her so far - I just hope she's nice.

Happy Birthday Bear!

Well, after an entire week of exhaustive partying, Sydney is three!

Party #1 - On her actual birthday.
On her birthday she asked at the last second to go to Chuck E. Cheese. Well, really she invited her Daddy to go with her since Mommy said she could (except that Mommy said to talk to her Dad.) But, we're suckers and she is spoiled so we went. The new Chuck E. Cheese is a lot bigger and better than the one in Fayetteville. My only complaint is that they only have one dancing robot thing. When I was a kid that was what made Showbiz the coolest place ever. But, Sydney seemed content, especially since the REAL Chuck E. Cheese came and sang happy birthday to her.

Party #2 - Friend Party.
We had her friend party on Friday night which of course had to be a Cinderella Tea Party. I made skirts for all of the girls and we painted their nails, made princess wands, and of course topped it all off with tiaras. Minus one melt down (because someone handed out one of the hats and she wanted to) things went well. I'm sure I'll be scrubbing apple juice off of the floor until her fourth birthday party, but that is to be expected when you let three-year-olds be in charge of pouring their own "tea." Of course there HAD to be a Cinderella cake. Oh, and did I mention that she also requested a purple on the inside cake. (and of course she got it.) When she first saw it Sydney said, "Mommy, it is the most beautiful cake I've EVER seen." So, she was excited and couldn't keep her fingers out of it. When I told her to quit touching it with her fingers she found a toothpick and was using that to scrape icing. Such a literal child. :)

Party #3 - Family Party.
Due to poor planning on my part, Sydney's party at the Jones Center didn't happen because I planned it in the middle of David's class. So, we had to opt for two parties at our house. (Sydney didn't mind.) Her reaction when she couldn't blow out her candles (and no, I didn't so that on purpose.)

Her cake


Thanks to everyone who took the time to come! Sydney loved having you all here.