Our busy week

After a long hiatus from blog writing, we’ve found a chance to breathe and get some things on (digital) paper. Our hopes were high for an early arrival of our 2nd little girl, but those hopes were repeatedly dashed. So, we talked Christina’s doctor about scheduling an induction at 39 weeks. She agreed and we were set to have a baby on October 29th. Not a bad deal, waltzing into the hospital, fresh as a daisy at 7:00am, right? No such luck, because at 3:00am on Saturday the 27th, we knew that was the day. A call to Christina’s mom (who would stay with Madeline for the duration) started the countdown for the trip to the hospital in Edina.

It only took a little walking around the ward to be sure that the baby was coming quickly. We settled into the delivery room at 6:00, and got to work. At 10am, Olivia Joy arrived. She needed a little oxygen to perk her up due to some umbilical cord issues, but with not so much as a whimper, she quickly got into a healthy groove of cuteness.

She was 7 lbs 2 oz, and 20 inches long. Slightly bigger than her big sister was at birth, but Madeline was born a little earlier than Olivia. Regardless, she had the whole room fawning over her in no time! Who could resist her sweetness?

Caleb headed home at about 2:00pm to grab Madeline and Grandma for a visit. When we got there, we got our first glimpse of how Madeline would handle the new addition. She fell in love with Olivia right away, too. Especially because of the gift she got “from Olivia”, a guitar that lets her jam like Daddy. 

Daddy and Madeline came to visit twice more, which wasn’t easy (what two-year-old wants to hang out at the hospital?), but worth it to see Mommy and Olivia. Christina stayed in the hospital for 2 days and Grandma stayed with Madeline again while Daddy went to get her on Monday. Nice to have everyone home. 

 

Olivia settled in nicely, proving to be a champion eater and sleeper. She was back to her birth weight after just 3 days at home! (For reference, doctors prefer newborns to get back to their birth weight by two weeks old) We're pretty fortunate, Madeline loves being a big sister! She's constantly asking us, "Where's Baby Olivia?" She loves to coo over her, find her toes, and especially "hold" her.

This year for Halloween, Madeline dressed up as a pirate! When prompted, she’d even say, “Arrr! I’m a pirate!” Our church had a harvest party that night, so Caleb took Madeline to check it out. Not many kids came (they did have to choose between the party or trick or treating, after all), but Madeline enjoyed the various games, prizes, cupcakes – and especially the bouncy castle!

 

 Madeline got a medal for her mad golfing skills. No other child kicked as many balls in as she did!
 

 As many of you know, Caleb usually carves some rather artistic pumpkins around Halloween. He’s created famous paintings (American Gothic), popular characters (Veggie Tales), and numerous portraits. This year he carved a portrait of Madeline:

 We tried to do a second pumpkin with Olivia's portrait, but it didn't work out. Madeline LOVED trick-or-treating after the harvest party. She delivered all of her lines with confidence - starting with "Trick-or-Treat!" and then telling them, "Arrr! I pirate!" One house she even told them, "Arr! I pirate! I take you treasure!" We don't know where she learned that one... After the fifth house, she announced, "Mommy, we go LOTS of houses! It time go home now." Mommy didn't object!