us...lately

I've decided summer is not made for blogging....or carrying babies for that matter. Actually, I really CANNOT complain. I never dreamed pregnancy would be easy by any means, but this one has been just that. The few little aches and pains, and the major heat I've been feeling the last few weeks? I will take it, because I know it could be much, much worse. But can I just say....IT IS SO HOT.

I've started roughly 3 blog posts and finished zero. In an attempt to try and remember what a great summer we've had, I think I will condense and combine everything into one post.

First things first...I am enormous. The growth is to be expected, obviously, but there has been a lot of growth. When people hear that I still have until November, the most common response involves the word "twins". Depending on the day, it makes me laugh or makes me want to punch someone. I don't feel that big, except when I'm getting in and out of bed or trying to put my shoes on. It is really a bizarre feeling when you can't function the way you feel you should be able to.
The best thing so far is feeling the baby move around. For some reason he thinks its time to party around 4:30 in the morning, and he seems to really likes ice cream. Thus far, coolest thing in my entire life is feeling him kick to the sound of me talking or singing to him.
Worst thing so far has to be the horrible cramps in my leg in the middle of the night. Or maybe that time I peed my pants....
Even though I'm hot and a wee bit cranky, this has been by far the best and most fulfilling experience of my entire life.


(us on Father's Day)


A couple of weeks ago, my mom put together a small baby shower for my side of the family. Anything that involves people I love, lots of gabbing, gifts, and Maddox is A-OK in my book.
I was so touched by all the thoughtfulness from everyone who came.





Right before the baby shower, we took a little trip to Las Vegas. I guess you could call it a "babymoon", but whatever you call it, it was fun and relaxing and just what we needed. We spent a lot of time in the pool, eating at fun places, walking and exploring. We went to the Shark Reef exhibit at Mandalay Bay, made a visit to a well known little Pawn Shop, found the beautiful Gardens at the Bellagio, and got a lot of stares....apparently Vegas isn't a hot spot for large pregnant women.

I was expecting to be completely miserable in the heat, but to my surprise, I felt fine the entire time. Luckily, I don't think the heat started to bother me until after we got back.

We had a killer view from our room which was surrounded by windows with a clear view of the strip.















After all that, a birthday was celebrated and it was one of the best ones yet :)





In between all of our summer activities, we have been consumed by the nursery! We have been spending lots of time and money trying to make it perfect. I think it has little touches of both me and Cole, and it has been fun to see everything come together. We have our storage closet stuffed full of all the stuff to go in the nursery, and I am dying to put it all together, we're just waiting for the perfect weekend to transform our "office" into "nursery".

Summer has definitely been good to us. We are busy and hot and enjoying the last of our summer activities, but anxious for the leaves and weather to start changing...

park city 2011

Park City 2011 from Maddi Stagge on Vimeo.

mamma mia

My boss generously gifted me with two tickets to Mamma Mia last weekend. And although it was Father's Day weekend, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take my Mamma to the show!

My dad was sweet enough to hook us up with a room so we didn't have to drive home late....and so we could spend some time shopping




We ate, talked, laughed, shopped, and treated ourselves to lots of goodies!



I didn't know what to expect of the show since I wasn't totally crazy about the movie, but it was incredible!! The music, the costumes, the seats, everything was just amazing. Not to mention, the perfect mother-daughter show!








I could not have asked for a more fun weekend. Spending time with my mom is one of my absolute favorite things to do, so to have her for a whole weekend was not only needed, but so much fun!

dad's

We're grateful for our dad's this weekend. I mean we're always grateful for them, but we're especially happy to have the weekend to celebrate them and what they mean to us.


It's no secret that my dad is one of my favorite people ever placed on this good earth. He is an honest to goodness good person with a pure heart. Many of the life lessons I have learned came straight from my dad. I only wish my adult self could have kicked my kid self and said "listen to your dad...he knows what he's talking about". Until the day I die, I will always believe that he is the smartest dad in the world. He knows everything and we always have something to talk about because he is a fountain of knowledge. He is an amazing grandpa who ALL the kids adore, and I for one know our little boy will feel no different. He is kind, trustworthy, hard working, giving and honest....and I'm pretty sure that if he tried, he might be able to walk on water. Safe to say, heroes do exist.


Have I mentioned I have an awesome father-in-law? Let me tell you, I grew up with teasing and laughter. It is in my nature to laugh and have fun and tease. How fitting it was that I ended up choosing a husband who has a dad that does just that. I can always count on him to give me a hard time and keep me on my game, so that I can zing him right back. He has made me look forward to summer even more, because I know I will benefit from his awesome garden. He has a major talent for making things look beautiful. Just the other day Cole and I walked through their backyard and I thought, "what was I thinking getting married in the fall? We should have had a summer wedding in this backyard". It is beautiful. I so look forward to seeing him as "grandpa". Although he's not big on expressing a lot of emotion, I know he and our little one will have a strong connection and bond that will always be present.


And if anything can turn me into a blubbering mess, it will be thinking about Cole as an "unofficial" daddy. Just the other night I had a mental breakdown (please tell me I'm not alone here). Over the last week, I have felt completely overwhelmed, unprepared, incompetent, and scared to death. I hit a breaking point and couldn't help but feel too inadequate to be this perfect baby's mother. Cole, who had been working looooong hours and probably wanted a calm, relaxing evening said "stop reading...(I read waaaaay too much about everything baby), most of it will all come naturally" and we continued a discussion that ended with me feeling better and not completely incompetent, and him more tired than he was before. He knows what to say to make me feel better, especially when I'm completely insane.
He loves the baby. He has a video on his phone from our last ultrasound that he watches all the time and examines every single little move the baby makes. And he would never agree with me, but the baby already looks SO much like Cole. I must say I would love for him to look just like his daddy.
He is always telling me the things he is going to teach the baby, mostly things they'll do to gang up on ME and always talks about the hopes and dreams he has for his future. He already worries about him, and asks how I'm feeling, and begs me to slow down and take it easy.
He is going to be a fun, good, caring dad. I can't wait to see a whole new dimension of Cole being a father.

The subject of father's is near and dear to my heart, and I think its pretty clear that I struck gold in that department.

Happy Father's Day!

That's right, we're having a BOY!


I don't know what we did to deserve so much luck, but we were able to find out that we are having a boy at our 14 week appointment. Our doctor said she didn't think it would be possible to see anything yet, but as she pulled up the 3D part of the ultrasound, there he was just chilling out and not being a bit shy. It was all pretty clear, but she still gave us an 85% sure just in case. I don't want to embarrass our little boy, so I won't post the ultrasound, but I can promise he is as cute as ever and doing just great!

At the beginning, I had a pretty strong feeling it would be a boy. But by the time we got to our 14 week appointment I was 50/50. So when we found out, I wasn't very surprised, just really excited to know! My heart has always had a special place for baby boys. Cole is already making plans for hunting, fishing, sports, and all things boy.

We are so excited to have a little Cole running around!

dear baby,

One of this first things you will learn during your first days on this earth is the tremendous blessing you have to be surrounded by incredible, caring, beautiful women. I promise that as much as you love them, they will always love you 100 times more. There are a million things you'll come to find out about the lucky ladies who get to have you around, but here are some things you have to look forward to...

Grandma B. will give you the best snuggles on the planet. I promise you that. I hope you will remember the sweet times that you will crawl on her lap and be gently rocked to sleep. I have no doubts that you will always feel comfortable and safe when you're around her.
If you ask her for anything you will probably get it. You will become familiar with the treat jar and Pepsi, and at times I'm sure I won't love that, but I will try hard to let it go.
She will always let you be yourself. She will always understand the things you are going through and will do anything it takes to make you happy. She is always mindful of you and loves you more than you can imagine.

Grandma S. will become one of your best buddies. I'm sure there will be many days that you beg for me to take you over to her house to play. She will keep you laughing and smiling and will make sure you're always happy. When you're in a loud and crazy mood, I know exactly where to send you!
You will LOVE the fact that she has a basement full of toys. You will have so much fun playing with the exact toys that your dad played with when he was young...just promise me you'll be careful not to lose any of them :)
You can always count on her to have your back. She will make sure that you know you can always go to her when you don't know where else to go. She will always be on your side no matter what. One thing you will never have to wonder about is how much she loves you.

It is a good thing you'll have 2 of the best women I know around, because when I don't have the ability to be the perfect mother (or even a good one sometimes) they will always be there to make everything better.

I hope that as you grow you will know how much being your mother means to me. You gave me a gift I have been waiting for my entire life and now "Mother's Day" has a whole new meaning. I can already feel our special bond and know our relationship will always be a special one. You are surrounded by people who love you, but I don't know if its possible for anyone to love you more than I do.

My sweet baby, thank you for being the best Mother's Day gift a girl could ask for.

I love you all the way to the moon and back,
Mommy

adventures in pregnancy

To say my pregnancy has been an adventure would be a total lie.

Since the day I found out I was pregnant, everyone kept telling me, "just you wait, you'll start feeling like crap any day now..." and I expected to feel it. I waited, and it just never came. I have felt sick a couple of times for a few minutes, and only feel tired enough to sneak in a nap after work every once in awhile. I haven't had any cravings yet, although fresh foods sound good most of the time. A couple of times a specific thing has sounded really good and I MUST have it, but after I do, it pretty much goes away. If I didn't know any better, I would think I was designed specifically to carry babies.

Probably the most prominent pregnancy symptom I have experienced are the crazy emotions. I have a lot of normal, good days, but mixed in with those days, have been some major highs and major lows. Some days I will pull out the teeniest tiniest little onesie and can't help but squeal, knowing the little body that will fill one day will be my baby. Or sometimes the silliest things will give me the worst giggle fit. But then an hour later, I will be screaming at Cole because I can't find the cheese. I seem to get irritated a lot quicker than before. My fuse seems much shorter these days, and any comment that slightly rubs the wrong way is...not good. One day, my heart aches to have the baby here and I wish so badly that I didn't have to wait so long. Then the next day, the thought of being responsible for another human's life, well-being, and care will make me burst into tears and/or have a panic attack.

All in all, Baby and I have been relatively boring and I couldn't be more grateful for it.

Cole has taken very good care of me since day 1. He is always so concerned about me doing too much and does everything he can to make sure I literally don't lift a finger. He checks in with me daily to see exactly how I'm feeling, and Googles A LOT about pregnancy and baby stuff. He makes sure the house is clean every single day; and although I hassle him sometimes about the way he loads the dishwasher, coming home knowing I don't have ANY work to do makes my day. I think the most work I've done is probably making the bed every once and awhile. He better be careful, because I could really get used to this :) If any of you know Cole, you know he is an extreme planner. He has planned for just about everything leading up to the birth and well after. We've already had a discussion about starting college savings, which honestly is not unusual for Cole. Thanks to him, only a few months into it, I already feel secure and ready for this baby and its future.

There are certain events in life that I have looked forward to since I was young. I imagined exactly how I wanted things to go, how they would look, how I would feel, and so on. And to tell the truth, most of those things that I planned in my head didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted. I have slowly learned that life rarely turns out the way you expect it to.

However, this entire experience has been my exception. The way I feel, the way I pictured each ultrasound going, getting our first onesie and realizing how shockingly tiny it is, each element of "having my first baby", has been more than I could imagine. It might be partially because it has been such an easy road so far, or maybe because we took more time getting here than most, so there was more anticipation but this experience, more than any, has given me the absolute feeling that I am where I am supposed to be. Daily, I have a confirmation that every single thing in my life has lead me right here.

This sounds really glowy and happy, and if I look back on this post in 5 months, I will probably want to rip my own head off. But for right now, I feel like the luckiest person on the planet.

Anyway, I am 13 weeks (*on a side note, I was so bugged when pregnant people always referred to everything in weeks and I swore I would NEVER be like that. It makes so much more sense now, but I still can't tell if counting by weeks makes it go faster or slower), our last appointment we were able to see the baby move A TON. I feel like I am growing ahead of schedule. My belly grows more each week, and if it continues to go as fast as it has been, I am seriously in for it. Our next appointment is next week and we can't wait. We both look forward to those days like its a holiday. My doctor said she might be able to tell the sex, but we aren't counting on it. We've had a ton of guesses, and some people are absolutely sure they're correct.....Cole thinks its a girl, both my parents think its a boy, Cole's dad thinks its a girl, Cole's mom thinks its a boy. I am only slightly leaning towards boy, but I am pretty much just excited to know.

So that is my pregnancy so far. We consider ourselves really lucky and can't wait for this little one to join our family!

Easter bump

It seems strange to me to have a "bump" already. Although, I swear I woke up on Friday morning and it was just there.





It still looks like I've just had a big lunch, so I'm looking forward to actually looking like a pregnant person.

We had a really nice Easter weekend with lots of family time, good food and thankfully, good weather. We had a little bit of a hard time being excited about Easter this year knowing next year is going to be a million times more fun.

However, I was excited when these springy cupcakes turned out the way I wanted them to :)

whoa baby....

What a month we have had! Spring (can we call this spring?) has been pretty good to us so far.



We have taken serious advantage of the beautiful spring weather, and have spent countless hours snuggled on the couch watching the entire Prison Break series. (did you watch this show??? yowza...intense stuff!)



The Yanks are back! Coming from a major football family, I NEVER thought I would look forward to Opening Day in baseball. Summer can officially start! PLEASE!



The few sunny Saturdays we have had, we've taken the dog for walks. She finally turned 1, which would make her a teenager in human years and in true teenager fashion, she is still naughty as ever.



We are excited to finally get started spring cleaning. We have so many plans and things to do that we are anxious for the first sunny weekend to start chipping away at our list. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to shampoo the carpets, clean out the cupboards, clean the BBQ grill and sweep off the porch.




And just as Spring brings new life...... we are beyond happy to FINALLY say our lives are forever changed.

I'm wearing green

and feeling really, really lucky today.