he fits right in!!

My favorite number is 28. It has been for many many years.

My address is 28
my wedding anniversary is 08/28
robs bday is 09/28
alivia's bday is 07/16/05-if you add that together it equals 28

and the most recent addition to this 28 thing is maddox.
he was born at 8:28 am.
weird huh!

Alivia has a towel with her name on it. We usually use this towel when she goes swimming. The other night we came home and her towel was hanging over the shower in my bathroom. She went in there and noticed it and pulled it down. She said (from the bathroom) "daddy, did you use my towel?" he said "no, maybe mommy did" he had no idea what towel she was talking about, i had seen the towel hanging up in there so i knew what she meant i said "no liv, i didn't use your towel" and i said "rob, she's talking about that pink towel over the shower" and he said "oh, yea, i did use it, i didn't know it was yours liv" she walked into the bedroom with the towel and said "daddy, this is my towel, it has my name on it, see...it says a-liv-i-a, not daddy, this is not a towel for showers daddy, it's for pools" i was cracking up as she was going off on him, he played along and said "i'm sorry liv i didn't realize it was yours"

Ya know they say that every pregnancy is different and for the two I’ve had I can’t really say it was that way for me. The two pregnancies itself were very similar, the only real difference was that Alivia was born at 37 weeks and Maddox wasn’t born till 40 weeks. The labors on the other hand couldn’t have been different. With alivia I had pretty painless contractions and was in labor for about 14 hours. With Maddox, however, I had very painful contractions, no drugs and it was over in about 3 hours!! I guess there are pros and cons to each of these methods! With alivia it was very laid back and painless for the most part with Maddox it was anything but laid back, it happened so fast. I still can’t believe it. Wednesday was my last day at work and I had a dr appt that afternoon, the dr said I was dialated to 2 and about 80% afaced. I was scheduled to be induced on Friday morning. When I got home Wednesday I was laying down watching tv and I was having what I would call cramping, didn’t feel like the contractions I had with alivia. Amber came over and brought us dinner and I got up and ate and started moving around and the pains completely stopped. I was planning on spending the day Thursday cleaning the house and doing laundry. I went to bed Wednesday night feeling fine. I got up Thursday morning at about 5:30 and was having the same cramps that I was feeling the night before. I got up and started walking around the house thinking maybe they would go away like they had the night before. It was pretty much a constant pain and I couldn’t really tell when they stopped and started. After about an hour of that I called my mom, rob was at work and it would have taken him at least 45 minutes to get home. My mom and dad came over and picked me up and the pains got even stronger on the way to the hospital. We called him and told him he better get to the hospital! When we got there they checked me to see if I was dialated. I asked the nurse if I was and she said “ um, you’re about ready to have a baby!” They wheeled me into a room and everything just happened so fast, the pains were getting worse and all of a sudden my water was breaking. My mom asked me if I had told them that I wanted an epidural, which I hadn’t. My mom asked the nurse if we had time and the nurse said she didn’t think so. Before I knew it they were telling me to push and then a few minutes later Maddox was here. It was so crazy. Rob got here about 15 minutes after he was born. He weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. He’s so perfect! I think he looks like alivia did when she was born. Noone else seems to think so but I think once they pull out the pictures of the day she was born they will see! He is a very good baby so far, very low maintenance, we’ll see how long that lasts!

Alivia decided she wanted to play with her squirt gun outside last night, then she found a water bottle outside and decided she wanted to fill that up with water and water the drive way and my flowers! After coming in and out of the house about 5 times to fill it up I had enough and told her she was done with that. I guess the neighbor kids decided they would just go play with their hose-btw-their parents are out of town and my neighbor kids are crazy wild! Alivia asked if she could go to their house I told her I didn't care, then she came back in and asked if she could water their tree with the hose, I told her no. It was like 8:00 by this time. Then she came back in again and asked if she could water the grass with the hose, again I told her no. She came back in about 3 more times and kept asking if she could do stuff that involved the hose. I finally raised my voice and said "NO, quit asking" She put her hand on her chest and told me I was hurting her heart!!! She said I wasn't letting her have any fun!! I told her to either go back outside or go in her room. 2 minutes later she came back in and asked why I wasn't letting her play with the hose. I said "That's it, you're done outside, you're in for the rest of the night" Well, of course, that didn't make her very happy. I told her it was bathtime so I started the bath and she got in. I walked past the bathroom and she was sitting there with her head back saying "I'm missing out on all the fun" she kept saying that over and over again. I was laughing to myself, ahh, little girls..... By the time she was done taking a bath she had forgotten the whole thing and actually fell asleep watching tv at like 9:00, i'm gonna guess she probably didn't get a nap at the babysitters house.

I think the neighbor kids think I'm pretty mean because I don't let her run wild like they are able to do. They are gonna think I'm REALLY mean after the baby gets here because they are not going to be allowed over when the baby is sleeping. That should be fun....

The Avocado Tree

In early april I ate lunch at Chevys with my mom and sister. When we were leaving the kids got a balloon. There was a little brown bag stapled to the end of the balloon string that contained an avocado seed and directions for how to grow an avocado tree. I thought it would be cool to try it so I read the directions and followed them very carefully. First, I had to suspend the seed over a glass of water with toothpicks and fill the cup with water so that the seed was half in the water and half out. Then you basically wait for about 5-7 weeks for the seed to crack and grow a root. Next I went out and bought a pot to plant the seed in, I already had the dirt. I planted it and set the pot outside. You're supposed to leave the seed half in the dirt and half out and keep the soil moist. I was doing everything I was told to do!!! It had rained almost everyday so the soil was very moist. I was so proud!!! About a week ago I was walking to my car in the morning and noticed there was nothing sticking out of the pot!!! An animal dug it out and ATE IT!!! I couldn't believe after all my hard work the seed was gone!!! Oh well, maybe we'll try again some other time, but next time I'll have to figure out where I can put the pot so animals won't get into it!!

Baby updates

I went for my monthly checkup the other day and the dr is still concerned at the size of the baby. She said she may do an ultrasound soon to determine exactly how big he is. I'm at the point where I will be going to the dr every two weeks. Every time I go she measures me. Well, this week I measured 34cm. That pretty much means 34 weeks!!! Except, I should only be 31 weeks.

I gave Rob a deadline of July 4th to have the room done, that's when the furniture will be out of layaway and I want to have the room done so I can put all his stuff away before he gets here!

When I had Alivia, I didn't have her bag packed or mine. I had to pack it on the way to the hospital. I also made her bed up before I left to go have her, we didn't have a car seat or a stroller!! I want to make sure I have all of this taken care of in plenty of time.

People are obviously noticing that I'm pregnant and are asking when I'm due, what it is and what the name is. I've noticed when I tell anyone over age 50 that the name will be Maddox-they pronounce is like Mad-docks. That makes me CRAZY. Even when I've just said Maddox (pronounced Mad-dix). This has happened 3 times with 3 different people-apparantly there was some show years and years ago that had a Maddox (mad-docks) that all three of them mentioned!! I hope this isn't a reoccuring thing because I will have to correct everyone who prounouces it wrong!!

When I had Alivia I didn't know of one single person with her name spelled the way hers is spelled. THE DAY I had her, the nurse said "My neices name is Alivia" I couldn't believe it!!!
I thought we were so original! And now of course there are Alivia's everywhere.

As of now, I don't know of anyone named Maddox but I'm sure the second he's born there will be a million of them!

My little girl is growing up so fast!

I've noticed over the last few weeks that Alivia just asks a million questions about everything. Rob gets a little frustrated with the "Why?" questions but I told him that's how she learns things. She wants to know how everything works and why! It's so funny.

Last night we were outside and she had my slippers on. I thought I heard her say "That sucks" I said "What did you say?" She said "I have grass in my toes and that sucks!"

We were driving down Mid Rivers Mall Dr last night and I noticed that Blockbuster had closed. I was looking a little too hard and when I looked back in front of me traffic had stopped so I hit the brakes.

Alivia: What are you doing?
Me: Slowing down so I don't hit the car in front of me
Alivia: Why?
Me: Because I don't want to get into an accident
Alivia: I want you to crash
Me: Why would you want to do that?
Alivia: Just DO IT!
Me: No, are you crazy?
Alivia: Well then can we drive in the grass?
Me: No
Alivia: Is it hard to drive in the grass?
Me: No, but I really don't want to
Alivia: But I really want you to crash
Me: Why? We could get hurt
Alivia: Fine

I have no idea where that came from.

She is like a little sponge and has been picking up all kinds of things. She can write her first and middle name by herself and if you tell her the letters she can write her last name. She is recognizing all of the letters of the alphabet. She can count to 50 with a little help. She knows her right from her left. I love teaching her new things. I can't believe she's turning 4 soon! I've already started planning her bday party. I've rented a princess castle bounce house and I ordered her invitations today. We're not doing a huge party with Jack this year because I will be 37 weeks pregnant at the time! I just wanted to do something kinda simple at our house-as simple as it could be with me planning it! Can't wait!