Summer is here!

Summer is officially here. Madelyn has gone to the neighborhood pool, planted her garden and played in the hose. Of course Wilson didn't join in on any of those activities, but he was able to nap peacefully inside while they occurred. He is lucky to have a nap without being woken up by kisses and lovin' from his Big Sis.

I thought it would be fun to update with a few pictures of our last week or so. Wilson is already changing quite a bit and as you can see in the pictures, getting much bigger.

The Big Sister

Madelyn, Daddy and Wilson

Mommy, Wilson and Madelyn after bath time

Wilson's arrival home from the "Baby Hospital"

It's a tough life!

Fancy Nancy aka "Madelyn"

Now that we are on our own and the Grandmas have all gone home things are slowly getting back to normal. Well, things are becoming more routine. Madelyn is taking on the role of Big Sister much better and is learning to be gentle with Wilson. The poor boy has a lot of lovin' coming his way from his Sis. One thing that has helped a lot is when friends come get Madelyn to go and play, she feels special and I get a little bit of time to rest or clean or just to feed the baby with out having to help a toddler in the bathroom at the same time! I am learning to multi-task on a whole new level!

I figured that we needed to share some more pictures of Madelyn and Wilson. You will notice that she has some pretty interesting outfits on in some pictures. She is dressing herself and it is not worth my breath to talk her out of some of the clothes. As long as they are warm enough for the weather I'll let her wear most things that she picks out.

Today Madelyn is at a friend's house all afternoon so I am planning on taking a nice long nap with Wilson. I hope he got the memo about afternoon sleeping!

It's a BOY!!!!!!

There's a saying that says, "Life is what happens while you are busy making plans." I'm not sure who said those words of wisdom but they were right in so many situations. Last week I was busy making all sorts of "plans" for what to do and where to take Madelyn in case I went into labor early. I was also very busy making sure that last minute things like finally getting curtains for the formal living room before the new baby was born. I think I wanted to have everything in the house "just perfect" before we had visitors and before I wasn't feeling like doing anything.

Well, Saturday was a full day of activity for our whole family, we went to brunch, shopping for curtains, cleaned out the cars, went to a birthday party and finished installing the new kitchen appliances. It was a day that kept us all busy even the baby!

Early Sunday morning, around 2:00 a.m. I started waking up and I would just go to the restroom and try to go back to sleep. I tried and failed doing that until about 3:00 a.m. when I decided to get in the shower. Once I got out of the shower my contractions were 4-6 minutes apart and I called my doctor on-call. She said that we needed to come on in and get it checked out. We took Madelyn to a neighbors house and arrived at the hospital around 4:20 a.m. Next thing I knew we were signing paperwork and I was walking back into the OR. At 6:42 a.m., Wilson Christopher Lueck joined our family, weighing in at 8 lbs. 12 oz. and measuring 20.5 inches.

We were both a little surprised to find out that our new baby was a boy, but we are so excited about our big- little man. So far his sister likes him and she calls him "her boy". When we came home from the hospital yesterday she said that she didn't like him to be at our house. I guess it was okay when he was at the baby hospital, but not the house. She is handling the changes very well but I'm not her favorite person right now, especially when Wilson is nursing.

Enjoy the pictures

The Final Countdown

Madelyn at the Curious George Storytime at the zoo.

It's the final countdown!!!! We are two weeks out from our scheduled c-section for baby #2. My doctor thinks we will have a chunky monkey if the baby waits until that date to join the family and I am okay with that. Madelyn still thinks that it is a baby boy, I am thinking girl and I'm not sure but I think Brendon is feeling the girl vibe too.

The baby will come home from the hosptial with a name, but we don't really have that we can decide on just yet. Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to lately. Brendon and Madelyn went to the zoo together on Saturday and Mommy had a little down time. It was a nice break before all the craziness begins.

Change is in the air...

We have a BIG change coming to our household in about 21 days. The arrival of our second child. But, before that happens we also are giving our kitchen a little facelift. Yesterday we purchased a new stainless steel dishwasher!! Today, sometime between 1:00-4:00 p.m. it will arrive and be installed and the old one hauled away. We are praying that the installers don't have any trouble getting the old out and the new in correctly. It will be a tight squeeze.

The rest of the appliances will be ordered today, unfortunately our frig is backordered for a couple weeks. When they arrive it should be about the same time as the baby. We are going to be a very busy household.

Happy Easter from Indiana

We didn't travel back to Missouri for Easter this year, that makes two years in a row with us NOT traveling. Last year we had a wedding in Austin, TX, the next weekend and it was the first time we left Madelyn overnight. She stayed with Grandma Debbie and PaPa, but still it was a huge step, we were away from her for at least 3 nights in a row. (Now that I'm almost a mother of two, this doesn't seem like such a big deal, but it did at the time) This year we didn't travel because, well, that's pretty easy-- I'm 35 weeks preggo and a 10 hour car ride doesn't sound very fun. I don't really like the 20-30 minute rides around town anymore. There are just too many pot holes from the winter weather!

Although we weren't with our extended families, our little family of three and almost four had a great Easter. We went to the Egg Hunt at church on Saturday and attended 10:00 a.m. Mass on Sunday. I think it took almost 25 minutes or more just to get the HUGE crowd through Communion. We felt blessed to have a seat that wasn't on the Altar this year. Last year we got to our church in Lincoln a little late and we had to sit right next to our Priest- Up on the altar!!! That was a mass I won't soon forget. Trying to keep a one-year-old happy in church can be hard enough, but when all eyes are on you up on the altar it's a whole different ball game. I was just glad that she ate her Cheerios and didn't scream.

My little sister should be pleased to hear that I made real mashed potatoes and ham and corn casserole. Nothing from a box. I even went so far as to make a pecan pie, unfortunately I have been the only one eating it! Our lunch was great and we had just the right amount of leftovers for a couple ham sandwiches this week.

1st Easter Egg Hunt

Saturday Madelyn took part in her first Easter Egg Hunt at the park in Westfield. I was glad that the 0-2 year olds had their own area and eggs, because our non-aggressive child would have ended up with no eggs. Instead she came home with a whole bucket full of eggs and opened them one by one with the help of Daddy. She then neatly organized the stickers that she found inside the eggs again with the help of Daddy. Sometimes I think he is trying to mold her into a little organizer, because Mommy is pretty scatter-brained these days and our house is far from organized!

We are going to consider this egg hunt as a practice and we will be ready for the one at church next week. Madelyn did NOT want her picture taken with the Easter Bunny. She told me, "Mom, I do not like that big Peter Rabbit, I don't want a picture." She tells me about 5 times a day that she didn't like that big Peter Rabbit, I'm hoping that this fear will pass by next weekend!