Chloe

Here are a few pictures we have on our camera. My mom actually has way more on hers, so I'll post more when I get them from her! Everything went great! I only had to push for maybe 10 minutes, max, and she was out! A little painful, but fast!
These two below are Mike and I about an hour before she was born. Mike thought he was funny taking pictures of me, so I got one of him too!


We can't believe how much hair Chloe has, and so dark too! Maddie's head was covered, but not nearly as much as Chloe, and dark, but not black like Chloe's either! We think they look like sisters, but they definitely have their own look! It will be interesting to see how she changes over the next few weeks!

Maddie is so excited to be a big sister. This was the first time we have ever left Maddie over night without either one of us and she did great. When we walked in the door, she could care less to see us, she just shouted, "BABY CHLOE!!!" It was pretty cute! She was so excited to hold her and give her kisses!

Maddie thought it was so funny when Chloe stuck her finger up her nose! We all got a good laugh!!

Maddie wanted her picture taken too! :)

Announcing Chloe Anne Dudley

She has arrived!!! Chloe Anne was born today at 1:55pm. She weighed in at 6 lbs, 14 oz and 20 inches long. Just a little larger than her big sister Maddie when she was born. Both mom and baby are doing great! It only took 3 contractions and she was out! We will post some pictures once we are home!!

39 Week Appointment

I had my 39 week appointment today, one day short of 39 weeks. I am dilated to a very good 4 and 80% effaced. The doctor stripped my membranes again, but said there wasn't really anything to strip. She says I am VERY ripe, and could go at anytime.

We went and shopped the outlets after my appointment, and when I got home and sat down to eat my lunch, I got my first very painful contraction. I got a few after that, about every 20 minutes, but they have gotten a bit mild since then. So... I walked on the treadmill for a while. We'll see if it pays off.

I am not due for 8 more days, next Wednesday! We'll keep you all posted if anything happens before then!!

(I apologize again for another post without pictures! I have been horrible about taking pictures lately!)

38 Weeks & Children's Museum

I had my 38 week appointment today and everything is great... other than all the lovely pains that come with being in the beginning stages of labor, which they think I'm in right now. When I went in, I was a good 3cm, 70% effaced. The nurse stripped my membranes, and I went straight to 4cm! Yea! We're making good progress! Hopefully this baby will come very soon!!! These are just a few pictures I took at the Children's Museum we went to last week. I didn't get any good ones... Maddie was on the run the entire time!

37 Weeks

Only 3 weeks left to go... will we make it that far???

I had a check-up today and am now dilated 2cm!! (She didn't tell me the effacement this time). Baby has also dropped quite a bit more (I didn't know she could drop anymore), and I am measuring quite a bit smaller than I was last week.

To compare with Maddie's pregnancy, I was 2cm at 39 weeks, and started labor the next day, and gave birth the day after that. So if this one is anything like Maddie's pregnancy, I could have her any day... but you never know! It could still be three weeks. We'll see!!!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Saturday was my birthday, and Mike planned a great day! I do love Maddie, and I miss her when she's not around, but I'll have to admit, it was wonderful going out to dinner without her! She is such a handful sometimes... ok, most of the time! She just goes, goes, goes and doesn't ever slow down! So a HUGE thank you to my sister, Heather, for taking Maddie for the day for us!

We started out going to get pedicures, which was great! Then we went to Seattle to eat at The Crab Pot! We LOVE that place! We love the bibs, eating with your fingers, we love it all! Then we went and walked around Costco Home until our Movie started. As we were sitting in the theater, we realized that it had only been our 2nd or 3rd movie we have seen together since Maddie was born. Kind of pathetic!Maddie didn't understand it was my birthday. Well, maybe she did, but she didn't like it! She wanted it to be her birthday. She sings "happy birthday to Maddie" all day long, everyday! Anyway, it was a great day! Thanks Mike!!!!!

36 Week Update

I had my 36 week doctor appointment today. My regular doctor got called down for a surgery so I saw a different doctor today. She told me I am dilated 1cm and 50% effaced.

When I was 36 weeks pregnant with Maddie, I was dilated 1cm and 20% effaced, so it's pretty much the same, effacement is just a little better. For those of you who don't know, Maddie was just 3 days early, so not much! Hopefully I can get this one out even a few days before that... but as long as she comes before her due date, I'll be a happy camper! This being pregnant through the whole summer is starting to get to me! Other than that, everything else is good!! My 37 week appointment is next Thursday, so I'll post some more news after that one!

I thought I'd post some pictures to make this post not so boring... these are some pictures of Maddie that my mom took last Sunday, we had a little picnic at the park. You can see from some of the pictures Maddie's faces... she was being quite the stubborn little girl she is, trying not to look at the camera, and running away every time my mom would try to snap a photo!

Polka Dot Party

Ava, Charli, Kaho

On Saturday, three of my cousins held a combined first birthday party for their three kids. Their birthday's all fall within a couple weeks of each other. It was such a cute party, they did a great job! Charli, Maddie, Kaho

There were so many presents, it looked like Christmas!

Kaho

Charli

Ava

Ephrata

On Thursday morning, my mom, little brother Christian, Maddie, and I drove to Ephrata. It's in Eastern Washington. I had never heard of it until we got a wedding announcement in the mail for one of my cousin's, Heidi Bromley, and that's where her new husband is from. We were so excited that they were having an open house there, and it was only 3 hours away from us! haha! But we thought it would be a fun little road trip to take, so we did it. We spent the night there and drove back home on Friday. Benjamin even drove from La Grande to meet us there, which Maddie was very excited about!

Maddie had so much fun swimming in the pool at the hotel.

She also LOVED Heidi's 'princess dress'! She just couldn't get enough! She followed poor Heidi around wherever she went and wouldn't stop touching her dress.

It was pretty cute when she went and pulled up two little kid chairs and wanted Heidi to sit with her... as if Heidi was her best friend and was only there for Maddie! :)

Maddie also loved this horse! She wouldn't get off of it... unless she decided it was time to feed the horse a carrot.

It was a short little trip, but we had a great time!
Congratulations Heidi and Greg!

Silverlake

On Monday, Maddie and I, along with the girls I nanny for, spent the afternoon at Silverlake. We all had a great time, and the weather was amazing! I managed to snap just a couple pictures while we were there.

I know the orange floaties are super attractive... but when I have a 2-year old who really, truly thinks she can swim (which she can't....), it makes me feel better. She just jumps right in and will keep going deeper and deeper. She thinks she can keep up with the big girls, so I have to keep her in arms reach.

Hillsboro

Maddie and I took a quick, last minute trip down to Hillsboro, Oregon to visit Brooklynn, Parker, and Jackson. Well, if you ask Maddie, it's to see Jackson and Parker and Brooklynn. She "orders" the people a bit differently! We had been wanting to go down this summer, and after looking at a calendar, there really wasn't any good time to go, and my cramping is only getting worse with this pregnancy. So, we just decided to get up and go right after church on Sunday and just drove back home yesterday to make it back in time for Preschool (and a yummy dinner at Kristi's house... thanks Kristi!!)The kids had a blast playing together, as usual! They just get so excited to see each other. Brooklynn and Parker had a super yummy dinner prepared for us when we got there... Brazilian! Mmmm, yum!
Isn't this stroller the greatest? We sure think so! A huge thank you to grandpa for getting each of us one of these suckers! It is so dang easy to maneuver around, and the seats turn any direction you want them to. These kids love facing each other best! I could go on and on about it! It was especially nice to be able to recline the seat and footrest once Maddie fell asleep, and Jackson still had plenty of room! We are looking forward to getting tons of use out of these things once our little ones arrive!

Monday, we just hung out, let the kids play, went grocery shopping, and went to feed the ducks. I'm surprised Maddie didn't fall in the water. She was making me so nervous!
Tuesday, we went to the Zoo. Parker's mom came along and was a HUGE help! Maddie clung right to her, and even started calling her "Ma-Maw Jackson"... meaning, Jackson's grandma! It was pretty funny! Maddie fell asleep before we even left the Zoo, and by the time we got home, we all just slept! That night, we had dinner over at Parker's parents house, and Parker played with the kids while us girls went out to the farmer's market.
The cheesiest face I've ever seen!

We left early Wednesday morning, and were exhausted by the time we got home, but we had a great trip!
Thanks B & P!!!Obviously we were more excited about this picture than they were!

Independence Day

We had a great, and relaxing 4th this year. We actually all woke up early for some odd reason and were really hungry, so we went out to IHOP for breakfast. It was yummy (probably because we were all so hungry!) We came home and just relaxed and cooked up some things for our BBQ that night. We went over to the Sifuentes' house for a terrific BBQ and some great fireworks!Maddie even got to do her first sparklers. She loved them, and did great, other than burning her forehead and touching the end of the sparkler after it burned out, and burnt her finger! It didn't stop her from wanting to do more! She also did her first "pop-its", or "snappers"... whatever you want to call them. They were always "pop-its" to us growing up. She loved stomping on them!Other than getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, we had a great 4th! Mike was in heaven setting off all those fireworks he bought, and we enjoyed watching them. Even Maddie really liked all the fireworks!