Minnesota bound.....

March was also the month we went back to Minnesota. It was so great seeing my old close friends and "fam".  It was the first time Megan, Em and I were able to get together after having our 2nd kids... so Edith and Halas hung out, but poor Owen wasn't feeling well, so he had to take a rain check.  Maddyn, Henry and Isaac played like it was only days since they last saw each other. It was such a great trip.

New Ulm has continued to grow and change so much. It's always so fun to go back and see how different everything is.  It's also fun to go from big metropolitan area/suburban life back to quaint, small town life and realize how wonderful it is back there too. We stayed at Em & Luke's and they were wonderful hosts as always.

As much as I love going back home to see everyone, it's always too short and makes me miss my girls.  Em, Megan and I are lucky in that we have a friendship that will last time and distance. The only other thing I could ask for, would be that we live closer. So until that happens, we'll keep on planning these little gtg's and just enjoy the fun times we do get!!! Thanks again girls- it was awesome as always!

All the kids, minus Owen of course....

My two front teeth....

Well, our two little girls are so very different, indeed! Maddyn had gobs of teeth right away. Halas just got her first two teeth March 8th and March 9th. Back to back. That explains so much!!

Our March was crazy with all of Maddyn's medical concerns, but wanted to make sure I journaled here about Halas as well.  The little one wasn't her smiley self as much in early March, and we weren't sure why. Then all of a sudden, both of those teeth on bottom (middle) popped right through!!!

Here's the smiley little teether! If you look hard, you can see those bottom 2 pearly whites!

Broken Bones, Asthama Attacks...Oh my!

We kicked off March with a bunch of hospital trips... Ugh! It's pretty sad when you're at the ER 3 times in 10 days. Poor Maddyn fell off the slide and broke her humerus. That is the short version.

The long version: She was goofing off on the slide, fell over the edge, landed wrong, and snapped the humerus in 2. Went to see the doctor- they thought it was just bruised and didn't x-ray her. After a day and a half of screaming pain and no improvement, we went back to the hospital and demanded an xray.  This time, they did do the x-ray and immediately showed it was broken (before the radiologist even read it, you could see the break it was so bad).

After a horrible, horrible experience all around, we finally got Maddyn in a sling to help. However, when we saw the pediatric ortho weeks later, she said such a big break would require an immobilizer (Or possibly a cast).  We  had her arm set again, and she went into the immobilizer. We were so lucky that did the trick, and she didn't need the cast.  So after 7 weeks in the immobilizer and a good xray, her arm was improved enough to take it off.  She has to be careful and watch applying pressure- but everyone is so much happier now!!!  Here's a photo of the little one in her sling, and then in her immobilizer:

Note- Dave made Jessie a sling to match Maddyn's. Hers was out of an old sock and rubber band though, ;)

Then, as if our lives were not crazy enough, we also spent much of March trying to control Maddy's asthma. We had a long night in the ER coupled with many Drs appts at Children's Hospital trying to figure it out. She has a chronic cough that then leads to labored breathing and she just starts gasping for air. Then she eventually recovers and it makes her puke. We get about a 20 min break and it keeps cycling over and over.  

Her allergist was able to get her in with the pediatric pulmonologist at Children's super quick and they've put her on a new daily inhaler, some new nebulizers, and also some homeopathic meds. I can admit I was a little skeptical of the homeopathic meds at first, but she's done so much better since being on this new mix of meds, I'm definitely willing to keep trying this. I'm not sure if the weather improvement or the meds are what did the trick- but right now, we have been seeing improvement and that's all that matters!  Let's just hope it stays that way for a bit.

Omaha...somewhere in the Middle of America....

Well, Oprah was fantastic! Diana Ross was the guest. We went in expecting to walk away with a free CD. We walked out with brand new Samsung Galaxy Tablets (service included as well)!  It was awesome!  Oprah is not as 'big' as the tabloids make her out to be, so I was really surprised. The studio was fun and we had a great time.

Then we headed to Omaha the last weekend in February for my Sorority Reunion. We stayed with Frannie & Pete & Fritz.  It was great catching up on old times and just hanging out. It's funny to think Pete & I saw each other nearly every day for 8 years straight; so much has changed in 10.5 years!  They were terrific hosts and the girls just LOVED Fritz and Rocco.   Beth picked me up for the reunion and we were able to catch up on old times on the way there.  When we got there, it was fun to see old faces - the girls are all as beautiful as they were 10 years ago.  Everyone seemed to be doing well, and it was a lot of fun!

I posted pics on the Shutterfly site, but Omaha has changed quite a bit and Creighton has undergone a total facelift! New buildings, dorms, soccer stadium.... heck, there's even a new student center with a bar! It is gorgeous and we had a lot of fun, even in the cold, seeing the grounds I used to trek every day 10 years ago.

I wish we made it back more often, it was such a great trip.  Though, we decided to drive- which admittedly, was a bad call on my part, LOL.  7 hours, each way, in 2.5 days--- not bad with 2 adults. Add two energetic kids to that mix and it makes for a long road trip.  Ah well, the bonding......

Hopefully we'll make it back soon!

Future Bluejays! 

In front of the new soccer stadium!

Off to Oprah....

So tomorrow will be a fun day. My friend Katie got tickets to Oprah and gets to bring two people with her. She asked me. I'm excited, it should be a lot of fun. Let's hope she has a big million-dollar giveaway ;)  Brenda- I'll keep trying for you though!!!

I am trying to get caught up on photos- I took Maddyn's 6 month photos and just have to upload and edit them. We had a bunch of birthday parties and things going on this weekend, so it's been tough. Next weekend I'm hopping down to Omaha for a quick trip- haven't been back in about 6 or 7 years- crazy!  I am looking forward to seeing some old friends. 

As for the girls- not too much new. Halas just had her first little bit of formula today. We'll be hitting the end of our stash in the next couple of weeks, so we're starting to blend it into her breastmilk so she gets used to it. I figure I made it to almost 7 months, not too bad, considering. She still prefers the BM at this point, but she'll be fine. Halas is definitely an eater! Maddyn's doing great- she's obsessed with Tangled lately, so I hear "Mommy, Mommy, let down your hair" wuite a few times a day.  She cracks me up.

Hope everyone is doing well. Here is one photo from our big snowstorm we had a few weeks back. We had about 20 inches in less than 24 hours and some huge snow drifts. I haven't gotten all of the photos loaded off of my camera yet, but I did get a few.  The snow drifts in some spots were about 6 feet deep! 

And a teaser photo from my 6 month photo shoot with Halas:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Maddyn had a blast this weekend and today, preparing her valentines. It was fun to see her get so into it.  It wasn't so fun dealing with the sugar high and low after the party, lol.  We took some photos of the girls for Valentine's Day. I'm uploading them to Shutterfly as we speak. Here's one of my faves:

I finally uploaded the photos of Halas from her first Solids experience. She was lovin' it. I have a few videos I snapped too, which I uploaded below. You can see the one of Maddyn feeding her, it was fun.



As for Halas- her 6 month appt was a few weeks ago. Her stats came in a little different than we expected. She's much shorter than Maddyn was. Her height was 26.5" and her weight was 17lbs 3oz.  HC was 42.5cm.  We'll see if we just had an inaccurate measurement of if she's really just more "average" height compared to Maddyn (Which is still 90th percentile, btw, lol).  She's sitting up unassisted and pulling herself up. She scoots all over the place but nowhere near crawling. No teeth yet either- just loads of drool. She is also babbling up a storm- definitely like her mommy there!

I took her 6 month photos this weekend, so I'm working on getting those posted. Hopefully soon!! Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

Catching Up!

Well, my intentions are good.....but I just never have enough time.  I just uploaded all of our December photos to the Shutterfly site. That includes all of our Santa photos, playing in the snow, Maddyn's 3rd birthday party and Christmas.  I have a few videos- and as long as they aren't too big, I"ll put them below.

Today Halas is 6 months old. I made it to my EBF (Exclusivly Breast Feeding) goal.  I've already started weaning, but am targeting to be completely weaned by mid-end Feb. We'll see. I am glad I have such a huge stash built up, so it makes our transition easier.  Today we also started solids. Halas had her first few spoonfulls of cereal.  She liked it more than Maddyn did, but still wasn't really gung-ho. That's fine with me. I forgot how messy that stuff is! LOL. I had to bring the highchair back up too- and I forgot how big it was. There goes my kitchen for the next year ;)

Maddyn and Halas had been pretty sick earlier in the month. Both were on nebulizers and breathing treatments and things were chaotic. We're finally all healthy now, so that is making things a little easier. My travel for work is a little crazy- so we're trying to just get ourselves into a routine to keep things simpler around here. 

Since Halas is 6 months old now, I'm making myself get back into shape. I have been putting off dieting b/c of the nursing, but I really don't have an excuse any longer. I need to lose these last 25 lbs- nothing fits! So let's hope that WW and some good exercise will work for me again. Fingers crossed.

I will be taking Halas's 6 month "Pro" photos next weekend, but I did have a little mini-shoot with the girls in some Bears gear. While our  beloved Bears lost, I did get some cute takes. Here's a sample, I'll put the rest on Shutterfly once I can edit them!!

Those videos I promised:

Maddyn's 3rd birthday party:

Christmas morning at the Wags house:

proof halas was there ;)