Panama City Beach

Whew. We finally made it back from our 3 week trip to Florida and Texas. We had a great time but we were ready to leave the heat and get back home. I was really bad about taking pictures but here are a few. This turtle picture was taken at one of our favorite outdoor shopping places in Panama City. Cade jumped right up on the turtle and Brett and I were cracking up when he grabbed the turtles mouth b/c it looked just like he was peeing. He had no idea why we were laughing so hard but he was cracking up too when we finally told him.

Maddi couldn't wait to get her hair wrapped once the dance competition was over. Our hotel had a beautiful pool and unfortunately this is one of the only times I took pictures of it.

Our first day we got to the hotel they had parrots (I think those are parrots?) and Maddi was so excited to hold it.

We went to Panama City for the National dance competition. Maddi did so well with all of her dances. This picture was right after her solo. She did amazing, the best she has done, but she didn't get in the top 5. Her other dances placed 7th for tap, 4th for lyrical and 2nd for jazz.

The solo competition lasted until late in the night and Cade fell asleep waiting for the awards ceremony.

A few minutes later Brett was sleeping along with Cade. Those boys are such troopers supporting Maddi and her dancing.

Here's Maddi girl in her crown after the awards. She's our little princess!

One day we took a trip to Shell Island with the other dance families. It was a fun day. Cade was trying out his snorkeling gear and found out it doesn't work so well in the waves. We walked over later to the calm waters and found lots of shells. None of the shells were as big as we were hoping to find but we found a ton of pretty smaller ones.

Bad picture, but had to get a picture of Maddi in the water. Panama City Beach was absolutely beautiful and we had a really great vacation. We had lots of free time and Maddi did a great job with her dance.

Father's Day Weekend

This past week was VERY busy. Cade went to golf camp from 8-11 and then VBS from 1-4everyday. Maddi had dance at different times all week because they are practicing for National dance competition. On top of that we had the dentist, allergy shots, tutoring, and other doctor appointments as well as baseball 3 nights. It was a lot for my pregnant brain to keep track of, but I made it through (I did make a mistake or two in times for dance!). Thankfully there other families that we carpooled with here and there. I don't see how families do it with more than two kids. Guess we're about to find out!

Anyway, the picture above is of Cade on the last day of golf camp. He had a blast and he won the award for Best Sportsmanship. Way to go Cade man.


Father's Day started out with Brett feeling Emalyn kick for the first time. She was moving and shaking in my belly while we were laying in bed and I put his hand on my tummy and she gave him a big kick. Perfect timing! Maddi first said "Da Da" at lunch for Brett's first Father's Day. He said his girls know how to treat him on Father's Day. To celebrate the awesome father that Brett is we went to church and then to Texas Roadhouse for lunch. This is what a good father Brett is. He said he definitely likes Roadhouse, but he really picked it because he knows the kids love it. It's his day to eat wherever he wants and he's still thinking of his kids! Love that boy! We were laughing when we took this picture because he was holding both kids in front of Texas Roadhouse last year for Father's Day and this year they were much heavier. His arms were shaking after a few pics. We'll see if he can still do it next year when they are even heavier and we'll throw baby Emalyn into the mix!

After lunch we headed home so I could run some errands and work on packing for our trip. Brett mowed the grass (I've never mowed in my life so he gets to do this even on Father's Day). Around 4:00 Maddi and I headed into the city to watch Mary Poppins. Brett and Cade headed to the driving range and ate dinner at the golf course.


My little Maddi is getting to be such a grown up pretty little girl. Here I am almost 20 weeks prego. Still at that yucky stage where you wouldn't really know I'm pregnant, you'd probably think I've just gained some weight. If you know I'm prego you can spot the belly. The joys of pregnancy!



When we got to the city we decided to grab something quick for dinner. Maddi chose the Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Deli for dinner. Very classy. Nothing like getting dressed up and eating a breakfast sandwhich from Dunkin Donuts Deli! I have been craving eggs and bacon during this pregnancy and Maddi has taken a liking to it too (makes sense, I wanted eggs when pg with her too). So we ate our fancy breakfast for dinner outside before the show. Mary Poppins was incredible! We both loved it and had fun spending some girl time together. The boys had a blast hitting golf balls and having some boy time.

Later today we are starting our southern tour. We are driving to Alabama tonight and then to Florida Tuesday. Maddi has her solo Wednesday morning at 7:27 am. Then we'll have some beach time until she dances again Friday and Saturday morning. Sunday we'll head to Houston and start our Texas tour. Stay tuned...

Peaceful Home

As it said in my last post, we are going to name our new baby girl Emalyn, after my grandmother. We don't have a middle name yet but we are thinking Faith or something that means "gift" because we know that this baby is truely a gift from God. Of course all babies are miracles but this little one was really a miracle in timing of events. For those of you who don't know, I got off the pill because I am/was afraid of the risk of clotting on the pill with my family history of blood clotting and strokes. Brett's mom had just had a stroke and I decided it was time for Brett to get a vasectomy because we were for sure we (I) didn't want anymore children and there was no sense in my being on the pill. So I got off the pill and 1 week later Brett was to have the vasectomy. Things came up and we had to reschedule his surgery for 3 weeks later. I figured we'd be fine for 3 weeks before the surgery because when I got off the pill to have Maddi I didn't ovulate for months. I had to take medication to make me ovulate and conceive. So Brett had his surgery and all was well. Then I started feeling really yucky and was really tired and my breasts were tender and all that stuff. I just wrote it off that it was because I was just getting off the pill. It made me feel so happy that I got off the pill because I thought my body was going through withdrawals of not being on the pill. I figured the pill must be like crack and my body couldn't handle it without it and it made me feel like I did the right thing by getting off. I just KNEW even though all those symptoms were what I had with my other pregnancies, there was NO WAY I could be pregnant! Then I started feeling like I was so hungry but I was going to puke at the same time. I knew only one thing makes you feel that way. So, I took a test and was SHOCKED to find we were having another baby! I know this baby is a blessing and we are so lucky to be given another baby.

While I was looking up names and meanings for middle names I looked up what Emalyn means. I was so happy to find that the meaning is Peaceful Home! It's so appropriate since this was such a big surprise and it gives me peace to know that this baby will give us peace in our home. It just reminds me that God works in mysterious ways...

Introducing Emalyn

I apologize for the horrible quality of the picture of our sonogram but it's the best I could do without a scanner. This is a long post with lots of details but I want to document it. Today we had the 18 week sonogram and found out we are having a baby GIRL!!! We will name her Emalyn, after my grandmother who was VERY special to me. My Omie's name was Benola Emalyn Bertowskowitz (not sure about the spelling of the last name). What a horrible German first and last name and such a pretty middle name! I've always loved that name and I'm so happy to name our baby girl after such a wonderful person.

It's been a long path to finding out if this baby was a boy or girl. Back at our 14 week sonogram little one decided she wasn't ready to let us know what she was yet and flipped over and showed us her little hind end the whole time. A few weeks ago I took an at home test called the Intelligender where you use your urine to predict the sex of the baby. It said we were having a boy. I was surprised because this pregnancy seemed more like mine with Maddi but at the same time I figured we don't have many girls in our families so another boy would make sense. Maddi was very upset that she was having another brother and Cade was starting to show that he was feeling a little threatened by having a baby brother because he is Momma's boy. I really didn't care if it was a boy or girl but I didn't want a boy only because Brett and I couldn't decide on a name. Last weekend we decided we both liked Drake and decided we'd name the baby boy Drake Todd. We both have brothers named Todd whom we adore so I was totally fine with having another boy.

This morning when we got to the sonogram they said I hadn't drank enough water and she was sleeping away all curled up in the fetal position. I drank at least 28 ounces of water very quickly but she still wouldn't move. They couldn't get the measurements they needed so they told me to drink some coffee and walk around for 10 minutes. I do not like coffee, but I wanted this baby to move so I drank some nasty coffee and walked up and down the hallway. Maddi and Cade were with us and they walked with me the whole time and Maddi commented how I would do anything for this baby because I drank coffee for it. We went back in to finish the ultrasound and baby was moving now. She paused it and asked us for sure if we wanted to know what it was and we said yes, for sure, and then she said "it's a girl!". Maddi shreeked with excitement and Brett and I looked at each other to make sure we heard correctly. She pointed out that it was very clear that there were no boy parts. It brought tears to my eyes because I was just so happy for Maddi. She has prayed for a long time that she would have a sister and God answered her prayers! In fact I probably prayed that we wouldn't have any more children but I'm glad God answered Maddi's prayers and not mine. I am very excited about adding another baby girl to our family and watching the kids love on her for the years to come. Cade was surprised to hear it was a girl and even had some tears in the car later but I'm not so sure how real the tears were. Deep down I think he is relieved that he will always be my "favorite" boy. Maddi said she wanted to run around the neighborhood ringing doorbells telling everyone she is having a sister. I think she's pretty excited...As far as the rest of the sonogram everything looked great and as far as we know there aren't any issues. We'll find out for sure when I go to the doctor when we get back from our 3 week vacation to Florida and Texas. We feel blessed that this is a baby girl and now we'll continue to pray that she's healthy.

Summer has begun - Planetarium

This was our first official week of summer. It's started out pretty busy but we made time to visit the Adler Planetarium downtown. It was free all week so we expected it to be pretty crowded but it wasn't too bad. Several YMCA camp groups and such but overall not so bad. The first thing we did was watch the movie called Cosmic Collisions. It was a screen above us and around us and it was pretty interesting. Here we are waiting for the show to begin.

The goofballs were acting like they were aliens or something in space. It makes me laugh to think they are almost 2 years apart, you'd never guess it.

Earlier in the week we went to the mall and the kids talked me into a visit to the candy store. They got gummy rats, snakes, centipedes and all sorts of gross things. What's wrong with plain old gummy bears? I didn't let them eat all of the candy in one day so they took their snakes with them and ate them at the planetarium.

Notice this scale shows Maddi weighs 9 pounds. That's her weight on the moon. Oh how I'd love to weigh my moon weight!

"Moon jumping"

One of the things Cade wants to do when he grows up is be an astronaut so he was excited to see the NASA spacesuit.

After we had our fill of the planetarium we enjoyed Lake Michigan. I just love downtown Chicago and the lake and all the big buildings. The kids seem so small compared to the view. It's too bad summer has forgetten to visit Chicago this year. It was June 10th and we had a high of 68. It was even colder by the lake, not sure how cold but I was freezing! The kids weren't cold and had a blast running around and playing hide and go seek in the rocks outside the planetarium. We had to get back home for Maddi's dance, but next time when it's warmer we'll have to bring swimsuits and enjoy the beach right next to the planetarium and make a day of it.

Worn Out

My little bugaboo had a busy day and he is worn out. Maddi is having a friend sleepover and we were all hanging in the family room watching a movie when I kept feeling this strange feeling on my belly. I wondered if it was the baby kicking Cade's leg or if it was Cade kicking me. I looked over and Cade man was crashed out. The kicking was the falling asleep "jumps" from Cade. I totally understand how it happens. I can't stay awake watching tv for the life of me, which is why I watch tv and surf the web at the same time.

Here are the Maddi's watching the movie together.

Cade woke up at 6:00 like usual and was on clock watch. Some friends were coming over at 8:15 in the morning to play because their mom was out of town and the dad had to meet a client. Cade woke me up at 7:30 to tell me to get up because they were coming soon. It's so nice to have my own personal alarm clock. The kids played outside most of the day, we had lunch, he had baseball pictures and then Cade played catch with Brett for most of the afternoon. His catching skills improved 100% today and he was so excited that he finally got it that he just kept playing catch until Brett told him he should rest so his arm isn't too sore from throwing so much. Good thing Brett is here to carry this boy up to bed. His dead weight would be too much for me to handle up the stairs these days! Night night sweet boy.

Last Day of School 2009

I just have to say that I am encouraging independence and the kids now pick out their own clothing which explains their outfits today. Maddi never wears skirts or dresses but she always likes to dress up for the last day of school.

It's hard to believe that another school year has come to an end. Today the kids had their last day of the school year. It was a half day, they got out at 11:55. When I went to pick them up the kids were running out of the school building screaming and running because they were so excited. Cade came out after the screaming group and was just about in tears because he was so sad school was over because he really likes learning and loved his teacher, Miss Provost. Then one of the last kids out of school was Maddi and she was very close to crying too because she will miss her teachers. How sweet is that? Both of my kids are so sweet and sensitive. Melts my heart. As soon as I told them I picked up Jimmy Johns for lunch and we were meeting some friends for lunch at the park downtown they were smiling and ready to start the summer. After the park Cade and I had ice cream while Maddi went to a friends. Cade and I went to the friends house later so he could join in the water fight and I visited with the mom. As soon as we got home we had dinner on the patio and then they played with neighbors until it was time for baths and bed. They said as they went to bed that they are really happy it's summertime and they had a great first day of summer.

Can't believe my little Cade man is going to be in 2nd grade. He had such a wonderful school year and he did so great. I was always so worried about having a boy with an August birthday and I wasn't sure when to send him to school. We sent him when he was barely 5 and he has done so well, it makes me feel good about our decision. He loved everything about school and was such a little sponge soaking everything up. I love reading his writing journal that they wrote in each day and will treasure it for years to come.


My Maddi girl....she is going to be in 3rd grade which is upstairs next year. That makes me feel like she is officially a "big kid" now. She had a great school year too and her teacher was so wonderful. She encouraged independence but was sensitive to the times that Maddi needed some extra TLC. Maddi liked everything social about school, including the boys. Her "boyfriend" Parker asked her to come over this summer for pizza and she is calling it a date. I tell her it is a "play" date! Maddi grew up so much this year and we are so proud of how hard she worked even though at times she wanted to give up.

We are looking forward to a very busy and fun summer!