Happy Birthday Uncle Jake!

Happy Birthday Uncle Jake!!! We love you!!



Thank you for trying so hard to make me happy!!

Playing with Maisey

Last week we got to play a little bit with our BFF Maisey. Let me give you a commentary on how I think this whole thing went down:

"Hey Maisey, look over here! Just ignore her. She does tries to take my picture all the time. Hello? I want to play!"
"Hi! So, how ya doing? This tummy time stuff really is getting old. You should learn to crawl forward, instead of just backwards, and I will learn to crawl too. Then we can be real terrors for our mamas! By the way, I like your blanket."
"Um, we were having a conversation (notice the eye brows). Enough with the clicky click and flashy fash. Can't you just let us play already?"

Yay for cousins!!

Even though I hate to leave this little one, one good thing does come of it.  She gets to spend time with family.  Tonight, while I was at a wedding rehearsal, my sisters and their kiddos came over to watch/play little Madelyn.  This is so cute!

What a day!

Monday was quite the day.  First I took my cats to be shaved.  This sounds like a mundane task until you realize that my cats hate riding in the car, going into a carrier, and other people messing with them.  We lead a pretty quiet life over here, and they like it that way.  However, I do not like picking up their hair all the time.  I would vacuum and within hours I could see little Tigre clumps of black hair all over.  But Belle was the worst.  She has these little white hairs that get over everything.  Not fun, especially when I started to think about cleaning up after baby too.  So, instead of shaving them right before the baby came, which I knew would be traumatic with all the other changes going on, I wanted to give them a test run.  This was just as much for me as for them.  After wrangling them all up, I wanted to put them in the front seat of the car so they could see me as we drove.  That didn't help.  They both screamed the whole time.  At one point my Chiropractor's office manager called to ask me a question and she was just laughing because all she could hear were the darn cats.  But as I got to the groomers the lady was very kind and promised me she would do her best to make sure they were calm before she started bathing and cutting.  

So while they were be tortured at the groomers, I decided I would have lunch with my Friend Sarah and her son Matthew (potential mate #1 for Miss Madelyn).  I was a little stressed because the groomer said she would call if the cats were not behaving, but Matthew was so darn cute I wasn't really focused on them for long.  Plus, I like talking to Sarah about mommy stuff.  I know I am not one yet, but it is fun knowing that I will also have a little one in just a couple of months.  And I have realized that it is comforting to talk to friends about their experiences, they ultimately make you feel better.

Sarah and Matthew at lunch.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can look like Sarah when my baby is 8 months old.

Literally he was so chill the whole time, this was as emotion as I got out of him for the picture. :o)

So after lunch it was time to go get the cats.  I was very nervous.  I didn't care as much about what they looked like.  I just wanted them to be calm.  It is sad when pets cry and you can't do anything about it.  Anyway, I got to the groomer and she said Tigre (our skittish cat who doesn't even let us brush him at home) was so calm for her he fell asleep while she was cutting him.  And Belle (our cat who just wants to be up in everyone's business all the time, and loves to be combed) was so scared the groomer had to cut her while she was being held on her shoulder.  This was very weird for me to hear.  But it is evident in their pictures.  Tigre is nice and evenly cut, and Belle looks like we tried to cut her at home.    

Mister Tigre

Miss Belle, who was not happy with us for about 4 days. :o)

Baby Ella, again...

Okay. SInce I am only 23 weeks nothing of great change has happened in my preggo life. My belly still looks the same as it did at 20 weeks, I am still having all the symptoms I have had since day 1, and i am waiting for the day that Josh can say with certainty that he can feel out daughter moving around. Plus, Josh and I are having daily debates on whether we should take back out video camera or not so I can blog things more easily. So really just boring old stuff. But what isn't boring is that my new niece, Ella had a very big day yesterday.

My friend Gretchen, who is a very talented photographer, had offered to take pictures of Regan and Ella. Since the ones that were taken in the hospital didn't turn out as good as Regan had hoped, she took Gretchen up on her offer and they turned out so cute!

I think this one might be my favorite.  

You can see all the pictures at the slide show here.

After we took pictures, Regan and Ella came over to my house to watch American Idol and eat some dinner. It was very funny to see what the cats would do. I think they were much more interested in playing with Ella's stuff than they were with Ella. In fact, once they smelled her, they just kind of left her alone. And when she cried they just ran into to other room. I told my sister that I am glad I have a practice baby. Now I know what to expect!

We have a new niece!

Introducing Miss Ella Faith Mahlmeister.  She was born on March 19th at 8:57pm.  She weighed 7 pounds, 5 oz and was 21 inches long.  Regan (her mommy) is doing great!  Luckily I have had time to visit her here and there.  I swear that every time I see her she changes.  What is really funny is that whenever I hold her Madelyn starts kicking.  It is like she has a sense that another baby is there taking attention from her mommy.  Very weird!  I can't wait for the two of them to meet though.  Maybe the kicking is a sign that they are going to be really close, like sisters.  Yikes!