Weekend off for Mike

Mike works a lot and so we don't have a lot of weekends together. So when he isn't working we try and go out and do stuff. Today (actually yesterday) ended up being a REALLY nice day, so we took our time getting ready and let Payton play outside in the morning. Once we were ready we went to Edmonds Beach and Payton played at the playground, and we walked out to the water and found shells, seaweed (payton thought were snakes), and Mike showed Payton how to skip rocks on the water. We went to the mall and Mike and I both got some workout shoes, and Payton got a toy from the Disney store and we also got a Wii game. We came home and Barbequed some steaks, grilled asparagus, roasted potatoes, and I made a big salad. Payton then played "lets dance" (the game we bought) on the Wii. She LOVES it. Totally gets into it. Her favorite song was Hot N' Cold to dance to. It was cute! I then made some cookies for dessert.

On our way to the beach

Beautiful Day

Looking for some good rocks to skip

the girls and I

Ice Caves

We had plans on Monday, the day after Mother's Day to hike up to the Ice Caves. It was supposed to rain so we made other plans to go bowling, and go out for pizza. I really didn't want to get up at the crack of dawn, wake up Payton and go hike up a Mountain with a crazy grumpy 3 year old..just potty trained and won't pee ANYWHERE else but a little potty, an infant in a stroller and 1500 (ok 8) other children under the ages of 10, in the cold, and mud to look at ice. Apparently I was a party pooper.

So I get a call Wednesday late morning. It was my sister from Minneapolis that is here visiting, telling me that they were going to go to the Ice Caves. I told them to go ahead and go without us. Then I realized it was nice out, a good 65 degrees, the sun was shining, and Payton was already up and ready to go out and do stuff. So we drove our little butts out to the ice caves. It was a pretty drive and the hike was fine. I just don't recommend strollers...but it wasn't too bad. Madyson slept pretty much the entire hike and Payton had to sit on the stroller my sister was pushing, but she did walk a little. It was pretty when we reached the Ice "caves". The caves were no longer...they had been avalanched over, so really alls you could see were glaciers at the base of the mountain.

There are 4 Ice Caves / Avalanches at the base of the mountain. This picture doesn't really show how BIG it really was. But they were HUGE. I was pretty far away

On the way back down...

Not everyone was able to go on the day we went. So it was just both of my sisters, their kids, and Jen's husband Brian.

The Girls

Well I am happy to announce that I officially have a potty trained 3 year old. It is about time. I finally just decided to let her decide when she wants to go. And so she did. She only wears pull-ups at night, and LOVES to announce when she goes poopy or pee on the potty. She even makes me go in and look just about EVERY time. The only trouble we are having is her going to the bathroom anywhere but our house, my mom's, or her cousin's. Honey Buckets are out of the question and anything that is a stall or a "Big Potty". Oh well, she will come around..eventually, just maybe not the Honey buckets, I still have a hard time walking in one of those.

Madyson is now almost 10 weeks old. We went to an appt. a few days ago and she weighed 10 lbs 9 oz and was 22 1/2 inches long, she is in the 25% range for her age. She is a petite little thing, with a cute little belly. She is sleeping alllll through the night, which makes me a happy camper. She is a very calm little girl. She only cries when she wants to eat or to be held. She does like to be held a lot though. She likes to cuddle, and smiles all the time for me, especially right when she wakes up. Payton and her look soooo much a like at this age, its crazy. I will have to find 2 pictures to do a side by side. The only difference is the hair. Madyson is totally a red head.

This is Payton at 3 or 4 months...I'm still looking for a good picture of Madyson to compare

Just the other day I took the day to completely clean out Payton's room, re-paint her furniture, and move it around so I had room for the crib. I think it turned out cute. I just need to get letter's and paint them for above Madyson's crib. Payton was soo excited to get to sleep in the same room with her, but she may have changed her mind now that she can't be loud when Madyson is in there sleeping.

Sorry the pictures are so bad, I only really ever use my camera on my phone. My digital camera is about done for.

Announcements.....I NEED ADDRESSES!!!!

I have FINALLY gotten the announcements to send out for Madyson. I ended up taking the pictures myself and then making the collage on the computer. I just have to pick them up from Costco and mail them. So this means I need addresses, that is if you want one :).

Addresses I have recieved already are:
Grandma and Grandpa Schitoskey
Jimmy and Sherry
Kelley and Dean

Haha, sad I know. I don't have a lot as you can see, so send me yours and anyone else's as I want to get them out to all the family and friends as possible. I will get them out this week.

Mother's Day

The weather here has been getting nicer and nicer, and we have been able to spend more time outside and keep our windows open. It was a really nice Mother's Day and we spent it with all of my family. My sister and her family were able to make it from Minneaplolis and spend Mother's Day with us as well. We haven't all been together for a few years, so of course we had to take a family picture. Dinner was yummy. We marinated a turkey and BBQ'd it. We have never done it like that before but it turned out good, so it may end up happening every year.

Mike and Payton cooked me breakfast that morning and I kinda had a lazy day. As lazy as I could with an 8 week old baby. But it was nice that I didn't have to do everything I normally do.

From Left to Right: Lauren, Madyson, Grandma, Hailee, Kaitlyn, Samantha, Grandpa, Lilly, Emma, Payton, Madelyn and Cole.

All the family and wives, husbands, and grandkids all together.

Getting my attention

So I guess Payton has been getting jealous that I am constantly either feeding Madyson, holding her and just in general taking care of her. She has seemed to be making me laugh more and more by the things she does to get me to pay more attention, and I guess it's been working. A few examples...

I was sitting on the couch feeding Madyson, Payton walked up to me and asked if she could play salon. I of course said "yes". She had some "FAKE" scissors in her hand and a brush and like a little plastic blow dryer. She is cutting and combing away and about 5 minutes into it, I look at my shoulder and see hair that is no longer attached. I of course FREAK out. These were plastic scissors and I could not for the life of me figure it out, and still don't know how it happened. Payton just sat that there and told me "you look beautiful". To make a short story short, I had to do a lot of blending and evening up of the sides. It looks fine now....whew!!!

Payton makes HUGE messes in her room and she isn't allowed to have any kind of food in there, although I find smuggled hot dogs, GUM, cheese, fruit snacks and chips in her room daily. I walked into her and find pringles smashed in the carpet and her room looking like a tornado ripped through. I asked her to clean it, and come back to find her passed out in bed 5 minutes later. Here is the picture and her little head sticking out from under the covers.

The other day I went in the bathroom to wash my hands and couldn't find the purple towel that we use to dry off our hands. I asked Payton if she knew where it was. This was her response...

"It's in the toilet and I didn't put there so mom don't be mad" Ummm...what?

She then admitted to Mike that night that yes she did put it in the toilet. I'm still trying to figure out of she tried flushing it down because the toilet has not been acting itself lately.

She has been saying the funniest stuff lately too. I ask her to try and use the potty and she says "mom you got to be patient". So I have been throwing it back at her and when she asks for something and instead of her throwing a fit if I don't do it right when she wants it I ask her to be patient. She just laughs, much better than a tantrum.

We were at the store the other day and Madyson starts crying and REALLY loudly in line Payton says "she is really really hungry and needs to eat your booby". EVERYONE laughed, even the people in the next line over. I was almost crying it was too funny!

It's too late now so I should probably go get some sleep before Madyson wakes up. Sorry there are soo many updates. I will try and do monthly ones, if not weekly.

Easter!

The Easter bunny decided to stop by our house this year and brought way too much candy. I have eaten a lot of it. Next year the Easter Bunny will most likely be bringing veggies and bottled water.

Payton loves holidays, but seems to think that Santa comes during each holiday as well. I have been trying to explain to her these things, but I don't think she believes me. She asks if I'm "really totally kidding". She definitely makes me laugh.

We got the girls matching Easter dresses but Mike didn't do so hot on the picture taking skills, so I will have to RE-DRESS them up and recapture the moment. So right now is what you get.

just some random pictures

Madyson is 1 month old here and looks IDENTICAL to Payton. I will try and find a good picture to do a side by side. It so crazy!

Madyson and Hailee...linking arms! Too cute

Madyson 2 days old

Home from the hospital and family arrivals

We got home from the hospital on the March 10th. It just happened to be the day that Sherry and Jimmy were flying in. We hadn't seen Sherry (mike's mom) in almost 4 1/2 years and had never met Jimmy, and it was Payton's first time meeting both. It was great to have them here and visit. They kept Payton busy and I think the transition for her and having a baby in the house easier. Suzie (mike's sister) was also able to fly in. It was fun catching up with everyone.

Mike took them to Seattle and a few of the "fun" places people like to go when they visit here.

I seem to be the picture taker in the family because Mike never seems to take pictures of anything, so there aren't many pictures of their visit except the ones I stole from Sherry.

Madyson and I

Sherry and Madyson

Payton and Sherry making cookies

Suzie and Payton brushin'

Suzie and Madyson

Payton playing at the park

Mike and I at Red Robin

Payton and Suzie loved making faces at eachother

Big sister kisses

Awww...

Payton and her "build a bear" that Grandma Sherry and Grandpa Jimmy help her make. It's name is "Princess". Madyson also had one made, but I can't find the picture :(

Mike and Payton at the Seattle Center

At the park swinging. It was FREEZING

Grandpa Jimmy and the girls

Daddy and his girls

Madyson Ashlee West: March 9th 2010

After all the holidays I had increased my hours at school by about 20 hours. I was putting in a lot of time and trying to stay healthy too. I wasn't able to ever feel good especially with being on my feet 10+ hours a day wasn't helping me out. I took a leave on Febuary 12th as I couldn't handle much more and my back was killing me. My dr. also told me that she was probably going to arrive a lot sooner than expected and to be ready.

I didn't do a whole lot waiting for her to come. Mostly organizing, laying down, cleaning, laying down and picking up the last few things we needed before I went into labor.

A MONTH LATER:

I had a dr. appt on March 8th at 4:00pm. Mike and Payton both came with me. (Mike took a leave from work because I was starting to have signs of pre-eclampsia the previous week). My dr. told me that he can "push" things along, and kinda laughed, as he examined me. I thought to myself...yes please, lets just have the baby right here. But just shook it off. We headed to Target to pick up a few things after my appt. We were there maybe 20 minutes, and it started to become really uncomfortable to walk, and I was having contractions. I had been having contractions for weeks, just nothing that would last long enough to be in "true labor". So I really didn't think anything of it. We finished our shopping and I went home and tried to lay down to rest. The contractions didn't go away and I couldn't make myself comfy. I went out to the living room to sit in the recliner and rock, it seemed to help before take away some of the pressure. 1 1/2 hours later I started timing them and they were about 3 minutes apart and last a good 45 seconds - 1 minute. This lasted for another hour. HOORAY! I was in labor!

Alyssa came over and got Payton and took her to my parents, and Mike took me to the hospital. They had me walk around to try and make my water break (which was NO success, just painful). My cervix kept dialating so they FINALLY admitted me into the hospital at like 10:30ish pm. I got my epiderhal at about midnight and felt comfortable and was starting to relax. I was dialted to about a 6 when I got it. I called my nurse in at about 3:00am as I was starting to feel pressure. She checked me and I was fully dialted and thinned, but my water still had not broke. We called my mom and told her to hurry and get here as I was going to have a baby as soon as they broke my water. Alyssa and my mom finally got there about 3:40 and I only had to push for about 9 minutes and she was born at 3:52am. She is healthy and perfect.

We don't have a lot of pictures because Mike was video recording mostly.

This was taken about 3 weeks before I went into labor

Madyson and my niece Hailee. They are only 2 months apart.

and my backtracking continues..sorry!

Christmas:

We try to go to Seattle every Christmas Eve and we were actually able to make it there since there weren't inches of snow on the ground. We went to Seattle Center and rode the monorail over to Westlake Center, did a little shopping, Rode on the carousal (sp?) and then walked down to Pikes Place Market.

Santa came and surprised Payton with a table and chairs along with a new doll and a highchair. Alls I can remember her saying was "oh my gosh". Kinda funny! He also left her a letter asking her to go potty on the potty chair...still NOTHIN

We then headed to my parents house for the day to open gifts and spend time with family.

At my mom's work, she has a yearly Christmas party with all the kids.

It's about time!!

It's been FOREVER so I will pick up with where I left off....

Halloween:

Payton LOVED going trick or treating. Probably her favorite holiday other than Christmas. She loves candy and anything that involves getting it. This year she was Dorothy. She has obsessed with the Wizard of Oz for awhile so it was only fitting. She even reminded me that she has to have red slippers.

So Halloween landed on a saturday and I ended up having school the whole day and Mike had to work. So Payton went to my parents and my sister watched her and got her ready for the trick or treating festivities. I got home from school to wait for Mike to get home from work so we could run to my parents and take Payton out around their neighborhood. Mike walks out of the bedroom with a HUGE Wheaties costume. I died laughing, because I totally didn't think that he would even decide to dress up. I was dressed as a Tiger or I guess a stripped cat..haha. I got to dress up at school and didn't go to the extremes as Mike.

Her cousins ended up dressing like the Wizard of Oz characters too. I had no idea!