Como Zoo

We went to the Como Zoo last Sunday.  What a fun experience!  Madelyn really enjoyed it, which we figured she would.  We will definitely go back.  Couple funny stories from the day......

Madelyn's favorite exhibit/animals were the ducks.  She didn't want to leave and kept saying "ducks".  Ryan and Madelyn look at the ducks outside our window every morning so she is most familiar with ducks which is why I'm sure she loved seeing the ducks up close.

Madelyn wanted so badly to jump right in with the ducks!

She cried every time we left an exhibit.  She quickly recovered by the time we got to the next exhibit and said "hi" to all the animals.  You could tell she was waiting for a response from the animals.  She loved watching the animals and even the exhibits without any animals.  She took it all in and didn't seem scared at all.  So cute!  

As close as Madelyn will ever be to a tiger!

We tried all day to get a picture of Madelyn smiling with either one of us
Guess we'll have to wait until next time!

She was super smily here though!

She was exhausted at the end of the morning.  She slept all the way home and then took a long nap.  We had a busy weekend!

Facing Forward

Last Sunday was Madelyn's 1st day facing forward in her carseat.  She loved it!  She talked the whole way over to St. Paul and you could tell she just loved the new view.

Loving her new view!

Madelyn finally put and kept on her sunglasses!

We are having a.......

baby boy!!!!!!  We are super excited and can't wait for our little guy to join our family!  We had our 20 week ultrasound and everything looked great.  He is a mover.  We have heard that numerous times from both my doctor and the ultrasound tech.  We are bracing ourselves as Madelyn is always on the go so this house will be even busier in just a few months!

Madelyn is so sweet.  At least once a day, she points to my belly and says "baby" and then wants to kiss her baby brother.  I hope she loves him this much when he gets here! :)  Her two favorite things these days are babies and puppies.  She will spot babies and puppies before we even see them.  She seems them from across the store or will hear puppies bark and start looking for them.  It's so cute!

Here's Madelyn "hugging" Cousin Nora in her carseat!

Playdate

This morning we had a playdate with a set of twins from Madelyn's daycare.  One of their daycare teachers (from our previous daycare) came over as she is going off to college.  It was a fun morning!  The girls played well together and I know Madelyn enjoyed having friends to play with!  Lots of hugs and giggles!  We ordered pizza and the girls at a picnic table.  It was interesting as the girls weren't really interested in sitting around and eating.....they wanted to play.  Most of the food ended up on the floor but that's ok, it was totally worth it!  We can't wait to do it again!

One of the rare times that everyone was sitting at the table and looking at the camera!

Having a blast in the ball pit

 

Eating my yummy rice crispy bar

Kati & Madelyn
We are going to miss her as she leaves for college this week!

Fun pictures and new words

Madelyn has started talking and saying more things lately.  It is so fun!  She said thank you for the first time last Friday.  She has always been very good at "peas" (for please) but she finally said "d u" for thank you.  At daycare she started saying "here you go"and she did it this weekend too.  The coolest thing is how kids know when to say things.  Madelyn will bring you your shoes and say "e yo" which translates to "here you go".  Just blows my mind how much they absorb and take in!  She knows which shoes are mine, Ryan's, Nana's and Papa's.  In the past week she started repeating words.  Last night she knew the different animal sounds for dog, cow & duck!

Fun Family Weekend

We've had a great weekend.  On Friday night Auntie Car Car and Cousin Nora came over to visit.  Bishop was with Luke's parents and Luke was in Cold Spring so it was just the girls (plus Ryan!).

We played outside and inside and Madelyn loved hugging Nora and helping her with her paci.  Nora is growing up so fast.  She is doing more & more things every time we see her which is so fun!  She is more active and grabs onto things and wants to move around.  She sits up so well.  Friday night Carla gave Nora sweet potatoes for the first time and she basically ate the whole container!  I was so impressed with how well she did eating.  Nora didn't spit anything out and most of it made it in her mouth!  Thanks for coming over Auntie & Cousin Nora!  We always love seeing you guys!

Then on Saturday Nana & Papa came up to visit.  They hadn't seen Madelyn since early July, which for them is a long time.....the longest they had been without seeing her.  We had a great day!  We went to the park and played around the house.  Poor Madelyn woke up from her nap with a temperature and kind of went downhill the rest of the afternoon.  For being sick, Madelyn still did really well!  She always loves her time with Nana & Papa!

Walking to the park with Nana & Papa

An amazing feeling

I felt our baby for the 1st time today!  I'm 18 weeks and my dr seemed to think I would feel our baby between 17-20 weeks.  Feeling your baby move never gets old.....just like hearing the heartbeat!  I always look forward to my appointments.  We have our 19 week ultrasound on Monday and we are planning on finding out if Madelyn will have a baby sister or baby brother!

Happy Birthday Sister/Auntie!

I know I'm posting this late but wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARLA!!!!!!!!!!!!  You are the most amazing sister/best friend to me and Auntie to Madelyn!  We always love seeing you as you always bring a smile to our face :)  I am so thankful that we live close to each other so we can get together often!  We have some awesome memories that I will never forget.....both pre and post kiddos!  

As I'm looking back through pictures I am realizing we don't have any recent pictures of just Carla & me or Carla and Madelyn!  I have to do a better job of that.  So here are some oldies but goodies!  

I love you to pieces!!!  I hope you had a wonderful birthday!

All smiles with Auntie!

Swimming with Auntie

At the North Shore

Jeff & Danielle's wedding

At the Hubbell House

My Maid of Honor!  Love you!!

Mankato

Last weekend we met Ryan's parents in Mankato.  As always, it is great to see them!  We have a normal routine which typically includes meeting at the mall so Madelyn can run around for a little bit.  She is very interested in the merry go round but I think she would be scared to death if we actually rode it.  I noticed that it went pretty fast - fast enough that it's not like we could just jump off if she started screaming.  I'm guessing she'll be ready to ride it in a few months.

Then we went to eat lunch.  Madelyn's at a tough age as we typically order her a kids meal but 9/10 times she barely eats it.....but I would feel terrible not ordering her something.  I know she wouldn't really like anything that we ordered so I wanted her to be able to eat.  I feel better knowing that she had the option to eat if she was hungry.  Most of the time she is too busy looking around the restaurant saying "HI" to anyone that walks by!

Then we went to Sibley Park.  It's cool because Madelyn is able to do more & more things every time we go there.  This trip I forgot our camera :( but did get a couple pictures on my phone.  She was more interested in the animals than she was the last time.  She liked walking around on the jungle gym but wasn't interested in going down the slide.

It was a fun day and I think everyone enjoyed it!  We always enjoy our time with Grandpa Kenny & Grandma Emily!

Madelyn feeding the goats

She is much braver than her mama would be!