Thursday, February 18, 2010

Snow Day!

I know, I know...every schmo with a web address, Space Book or My Face account is posting pictures of the recent snow day we had. Well, I'm nothing if not a schmo with a web address. So get ready for some snow pictures!

Along with the rest of the country, Georgia received some snow last week. It came in Friday afternoon and didn't melt till Sunday so we got a good couple days to enjoy it. Patrick was no exception and as soon as I picked him up from school on Friday, he and I suited up and headed out to see just how much cold we could endure in the name of fun and frivolity.

We started by trying to build a snowman but it was clear there wasn't quite enough "good" snow yet to manage a full three-part* snow buddy. So I crafted Patrick a snow chair fit for a king. A very small and not-afraid-of-a-cold-ass king. Luckily Patrick meets that criteria and loved the cold seat. As soon as he sat down he started asking for books to read.


The second day involved "sledding." I put it in quotes because a) we don't have a sled and b) the only hill in our front yard where the snow would be good enough to go down was on our driveway. My Macgyver instincts kicked in though and I grabbed a lid to the top of one of our big plastic tubs (sorry "ANGIE'S WINTER CLOTHES/CHRISTMAS '07" tub!) and we had ourselves a sled. After about two times of going down on my lap, Patrick wanted to go by himself. Since it seemed pretty safe and Angie was inside making lunch and unable to tell me what a bad idea it probably was, I said "sure - let's do it." Luckily, all went well and Patrick absolutely loved riding down by himself. I actually stayed in front of him the whole way down to make sure nothing went awry but surprisingly, didn't have to do much to keep him from crashing at the bottom where the snow ran out.


And oh yea, we DID end up making a snowman. The most hideous troll of a snowman you've ever seen, in fact. Along with a sled, snow shovel and other basic cold weather supplies, we lack snowman-making materials at our house. But that didn't stop us, we just made a small snowman to be about Patrick's height. Then we added a baby-carrot for a nose, radishes for eyes and Patrick wanted him to have antlers. Once Patrick stopped trying to eat the nose and eyes, here's what our snow troll looked like:

That smirk makes you look cocky, Snow Troll

Here's a slideshow of a few more pictures from our day in the snow


*head, thorax and abdomen, if my elementary school bug class knowledge still serves me. And if snowmen and bugs share similar anatomy.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day

Here's a valentine Patrick made for us at school...




And here's Madelyn gettin' into the holiday spirit while napping...


Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day with their loved ones!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Brother and Sister

For every child after your first, some of the mystery is taken away. If nothing else, you know the steps on the line from Point A to Point B. Even if the line zigs this time when it zagged last time, you still know where the line is headed and what the ultimate destination is.

The part of Madelyn being brought into this world that didn't have a clear line drawn for us was her meeting Patrick and their relationship from that day forward. Like any parent of a second child, it is the most important thing in the world for us that Patrick understands, as much as he is able, that we love him completely and without condition, even when that condition is a new sibling. And so, we were both curious and admittedly a little worried about what their introduction would turn out to be and how Patrick would react to sharing the spotlight with a new person Mommy and Daddy loved just as much as they love him.

Angie being a planner and me hating the feeling of not knowing what to expect (we've found those are two different things as much as they sound similar), we did what we usually do in situations we're unsure of: asked the advice and opinion of everyone we know, read whatever materials we could find and talked to each other, a lot, about what we wanted for our two kids. In our minds, the first hurdle to jump was the two of them meeting each other. The all-crucial first introduction.

On Monday, the day after Madelyn was born and the day Patrick turned 19-months-old, I left the hospital to get Patrick and bring him back to meet his new baby sister. On the drive to the hospital with just the two of us left to chat, I continued the conversation Angie and I have been having with him over the last several months of preparing for Madelyn's arrival. We talked about Madelyn being a baby, that babies need lots of love, that we need to be gentle with them, that babies sleep a lot and that sometimes babies cry and that's OK. It's also OK if she accidentally grabs his face or doesn't look at him when he's doing something really neat. Then we had a little man-to-man talk about how he'll always be my first and we'll love him no matter what in which I cried a little and he tried to tell me about the big trucks that were driving next to us.

Then we got to the hospital, and things couldn't have gone better. Patrick was so excited to see his little sister. It was like he already knew her and had just been missing her, waiting for her to come back. He wanted to touch her, hold her, hug her, kiss her and make sure everyone in the room knew how wonderful she was all at once. And Madelyn endured the onslaught of enthusiastic and clumsy affection with only a minimal amount of squirming and fear for her life.

Our time at home hasn't been any different. Patrick has woken up the past two mornings and excitedly asked us where Madelyn is and wants to know what she's been doing. He sits and reads books to her, shows her his toys and wants to help us with her any way he can. Yesterday I mentioned to Angie that she probably needed a diaper change and when I turned around, Patrick was putting a changing pad on the floor and had a diaper in his hand.

And we can't say thank you enough to our parents for taking care of Patrick while we were at the hospital. This transition for him wouldn't have gone nearly as well if he wasn't with people he adores during his time away from us.

Angie and I are so excited to see what's next. We can't wait for them to grow up together and enjoy life's experiences at the same time and in their own ways. Even knowing there will be plenty of fights, arguments and all the other turbulence that comes with siblings, we know it's worth it, from our own lives.

Here are a few more pictures from the last couple days at home...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Going Home...

Everything checked out perfectly with Madelyn and Angie this morning so we're headed home today!

But really, this post is just an excuse to post this picture we took yesterday...


Monday, February 8, 2010

Madelyn is Here!



Madelyn Claire Flowers
Born: February 7, 2010 - 3:26 PM
Weight: 6lbs 7oz
Length: 20.5 inches

Everyone is healthy and happy. More to come...

Saturday, February 6, 2010

A Tour of Madelyn's Room

The other day I was going to take a quick video of Madelyn's room to post here. Patrick, of course, wanted to see what was going on (or, at least, use it as an excuse to climb on the small ladder). So, we figured rather than take a boring video with dead silence or me telling you what you're already looking at, we'd let Patrick give the tour. He was very excited to show us around and made sure to mention he thought the room as "pretty." Here you go:


First, I want to say thank you to our wonderful parents who helped us get the room ready. From painting the whole thing with us to moving the furniture in to stenciling and making curtains; it would NOT have looked like it does now without the help. It's incredibly appreciated and we think of you every time we walk in the room.

Second, this room took forever. With Patrick's room, we were ready months in advance. But this go 'round we weren't quite able to find the same amount of time to dedicate to the project. I feel like I could have painted our entire house in the same amount of time - and with the same amount of paint - as it took to paint her room. See, we had kind of a dark blue on the walls before this became Madelyn's room. We ended up needing two coats of primer and three coats of pink paint to finally cover all of it (the one blue wall was much easier). We also had to paint the ceiling a couple times and then of course the baseboards and trim all needed painting once the walls and ceiling looked nice. After all that, then we did the birds and branches by the windows and the flower above the door with hand-made stencils. But in the end, it's the room we envisioned for our little girl in the beginning and we couldn't be happier with it.

The other fun thing about the room is that Patrick LOVED to help us with it. He still, almost daily, picks up his tool box and says "Tool box...Madelyn's room...fix it!" and then marches up the stairs with his Handy Manny toolbox in-hand. Then he just walks around the room with his screw driver "fixing" things. I think his favorite part of getting Madelyn's room ready was that we had to have several ladders in there because of the vaulted ceilings. Her room was temporarily just a big jungle gym where he could go climb up and down ladders for hours. It was pretty awesome and I think he's actually kind of sad that the big ladders are gone. The only reason the little one is still in there is because he keeps dragging it back in.

Here are a few more pictures from getting the room ready. My favorites are of Patrick lugging his tool box around.



P.S. - The due date countdown on the side of this page says 20 days left today...that's insane.
P.P.S. - This is our 90th post on the site.