Easter and updates

The girls had a great Easter! The Easter Bunny brought Ellie a hula hoop, a My Little Pony, and an Easter basket with the Madagascar DVD, socks, undies, shorts, a tank top, a mini Etch-a-Sketch and a few treats. Jaymeson got a talking/singing purse and a basket with the Madagascar 2 DVD, shorts, a tank top, socks, bubbles and some other treats.

We spent most of the day at Debbie and John's house, and Jaymeson took part in her first egg hunt. The eggs have different amounts of change in them, so both girls brought home some money for their piggy banks. My mom had gotten them both some beautiful Easter dresses, and we were able to get a couple of decent pictures. Ellie wore hers all day without getting it too dirty...pretty impressive.

In other news, we're struggling as far as house stuff goes. Someone Josh had worked with at FCC expressed interest in our house, so we didn't put it on the market. She made it seem like it was a done deal, but then they came in with a low offer that would have resulted in us losing money, as well as some other things the realator claimed were the case, although we were told differently by this family. We put an offer on a house, and it was accepted, contingent on the sale of ours, and the sellers were willing to wait for us to sell. Then, on Saturday Josh got a text saying they changed their minds, and wanted to aggressively market their house again, so we're back to square one.

We met with our realator today and she is ready to put our house on the market. We need to do some repair work, as well as get rid of a lot of stuff, so that will likely be on the agenda for the next few weeks. It's tough when Josh is coaching every night because I can't get down the basement to do some "serious" cleaning with both girls here. I guess we'll do the best we can, and hopefully we can get an offer. We'd hoped to be out before the baby came, but are willing to wait and make it work until we get something lined up. Ellie is really excited to share a room with Jaymeson either way, and we bought some bunk beds on Friday that she would love to get into. We were hoping to just set them up in the new house, but may set them up for her now, and move Jaymeson into the bottom bunk when she's a little older.

Everything is good with the baby and me. I went in for my 29 week appointment, and although I was 29 1/2 weeks I measured at 32, which had me slightly concerned. They had me come back a week later, and I measured 30, so she assumed the baby was just sitting up higher than usual. That could have explained why I was super sick that week, and why my reflux medicine was not working. I have another appointment in two weeks to pre-register for the hospital, and then again in four weeks. It's hard to believe that I'm only about nine weeks away!!!

Jaymeson has continued to suffer through ear infections, so on Friday we're taking her in to have tubes put in. They said the procedure itself takes about five minutes, and she'll be away from us for about 15, and that we should be home within one to two hours after the procedure. I'm nervous, but hopefully at the same time. Hopefully this will be the end of many sleepless nights, and crying fits, as well as late night trips to pediatric urgent care and the pharmacy. Josh has been really good about taking her in when we sense that it's an ear infection and I'd say three out of four times we're right. If we take her in and there isn't one, then usually within the next day or two one appears.

Josh is coaching JV softball at Central, and has a 1-1 record. This week the play Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. We went to the games last weekend, and watched some practice the other day. They're not bad, but I'm not sure how he deals with high school kids all day then 20-some high school girls for another two hours at night. I think I would go insane.

Hopefully we'll have some good news on the home front soon that we can write about. We'll see some of you at the walk on Sunday!!!

Happy Birthday Ellie!

It's hard to believe that four years have passed since we became parents, wow. Ellie is such an amazing and smart little girl, who is growing up so fast. She is practicing letter, sounds, writing words and entertaining us every day. Josh and I were texting last night about how when Ellie was born it was 72 degrees out...very different from our weather today:-(

Last weekend we went bowling with the Hegenbarth side of the family to celebrate all the March birthdays. Ellie bowled a 72! Today will be pretty low-key, since Josh will be on flights back from Florida, and hopefully arriving around 2:15. Plus, Ellie has already thrown up three times this morning, which isn't a great way to start a birthday...unless you're turning 21! She said to me, "I guess we'll just have to skip my birthday." Poor girl.

Ellie's Fractured Finger

The pictures go from last to first for some reason. Not sure why because I uploaded them in chronological order. Oh well.

We've known for a while now that Ellie lives up to her middle name, Marilyn, as my grandma was somewhat of a clutz. Today proved it.

Ellie hit her hand on a door at daycare yesterday, and it bothered her all last night. We didn't pay much attention to it because we thought her finger just hurt because she is constantly biting her nails too low. Today when she came into our room in the morning I noticed it was bruised and swollen. I got some tape from the nurses at school and told them what had happened, and they suggested taking her in.

We went to urgent care this afternoon and they took a few x-rays. The doctor looked at them and said he didn't see anything, but would have the radiologist look at them, and let us know if she saw anything different. Well, about five minutes after we got home the phone rang, and she had seen a fracture. We ate a quick dinner and she and I headed back to the clinic for them to splint it.

Apparently splinting it means practically casting it, minus the plaster outside. There is a layer of what looks like a thin sock slipped over her arm, a layer of fuzzy gauze, a fiberglass splint along the outside of her arm (which takes 24-48 hours to harden), another layer of gauze and an ace bandage. This is all topped off with a sling.

She did a great job, and was a trooper until the nurse told her she wouldn't be able to take a shower with it on. Then she just lost it. She needs to keep this on for about five days, then we see an orthopedic doctor who will let us know if it needs to have a hard cast.

Ellie at gymnastics

Listen to her comment after she hits the blocks.

I'm not very good at this...

I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog, so I'm going to start trying harder, I promise!

Things around here are busy. Ellie and Jaymeson are both taking swimming lessons on Monday nights. Both girls are in the same class, which is a toddler class, but Jaymeson has a blast anyway. We have our last class on Monday, and will get our underwater pictures back that night. I'm excited to see them!!! Jaymeson and Josh had their pictures taken together first, then Ellie and I had ours. We rounded it out with a family underwater picture, which is a pretty cool thing to have.

Ellie has gotten really good at going underwater, and holding her breath. She loves wearing goggles and trying to get the rings at the bottom. Jaymeson loves splashing and trying to drink the water. She squeals with delight every time we get in the pool and usually until we leave. We're hoping to get both girls in outdoor lessons this summer at the Holmen pool. Ellie loved her outdoor lessons last year!

In baby news not much is new. Baby Buxton is expected to arrive around June 15. Since both girls were late I don't anticipate anything different this time around. I would be okay with a quicker delivery though! We had the ultrasound in January, and know what we're having. Most of you know too, but there are a few people out there who don't want to know, so try not to spoil it!

I'm done with my bowling season since Josh or I have conferences the rest of my bowling nights. That frees up our Tuesdays for the most part. Ellie started gymastics a few weeks ago, and is loving it. Her classes are on Wednesday nights at UW-L. They get to do lots of fun things, and she really seems to enjoy it. She has a few more Saturdays of Pee-Wee bowling left, and then we won't have so much going on.

So, hopefully I've justified why I haven't posted for a while, but again, I'll try to do better. Hopefully the pictures will help!!!

Happy Birthday Jaymeson!

Happy Birthday to our little girl who turns one today!!!

It's been a while

Well, it has been a while since we last posted, but we've been busy. In early October we found out that I was pregnant again. While it came as a bit of a suprise, we are excited. I have an ultrasound scheduled for Jan. 16th, and we'll hopefully be able to find out the baby's sex.

We celebrated Jaymeson's first birthday today at Chuck E. Cheese. While her birthday isn't until Saturday, Josh has class on Friday and we just didn't know if we'd be ready to party on Saturday. Jaymeson at two pieces of pizza, ripped her cake to shreds and had a blast. She followed it up with a 2 1/2 hour nap. Very nice.

Ellie is still Ellie. She loves running, jumping, dancing, playing, you name it. She gave us our first school-made Christmas gift, a wreath with her picture in it. She really got into Christmas this year, and enjoyed all of the gifts, even the clothes, she got.

School is keeping both Josh and me busy. We both wrap up the first semester at the end of January, which means the year is already flying by. We're enjoying our Christmas vacation, and head back to work on the 5th.

In family news, we bought a mini-van on Monday. It is a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country Touring. Ellie says that it is "totally awesome", and we agree. There is so much room for the girls, as well as the stroller, groceries, etc. We are pumped about the stow-and-go seating as well. Jaymeson has moved into the forward facing position with her carseat, so it's a whole new world for her!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!