Chase Maddox

Well we've been home for almost two weeks and it's been great having Chase with us finally! I'll tell you, life hasn't slowed down since he's been born, in fact I would say it's gotten even more crazier. We are right in the middle of baseball season and that is busy enough without a newborn baby! But he fits right in and just tags along with us where ever we may go!

Now that is a sturdy table...

Cadence is so happy to be a big sister. She does "Big Sister Jobs" such as throwing diapers away and giving him his pacifier! Her helpfulness only lasts so long, she's already told us that she is "Mad at doing big sister jobs!!!"

There's nothing like cuddling with a new born baby!

Look at that sweet little face!!!

Cadence is still the apple of his eye, but I'll tell you Ski is so proud of his son! He's great at showering them both with attention!

The Big Campout

While Ski was still on Paternity leave, he and Cadence decided to camp out in the backyard. Oh she was sooo excited! And what a big help she was putting up the tent!

She is full of poses!!!

They picked one of the coldest nights to do this camp out! It was like 45 degree's that evening but she was not letting that hinder her from sleeping outside! I told her to put on her warm footy pajamas but I was told that there is no pajamas in camping!!!

Every camp out needs a water bottle and a flash light!

Oh and a straw hat. You don't go camping without a straw hat!!!

They sang songs and played guitar...

They read Ballerina stories and Ski told her a ghost story (which scared her so much she is still talking about to this day!)

She was out within a half hour of getting in the tent and Ski was left cold and bored...for about 30 seconds until he himself fell asleep too!

What a great dad! These are the times she is going to remember for the rest of her life!

It's that time of year again!

Well we are back at the fields again! We are neck deep in ball this year. Ski is managing Jacqui's girls softball team, Matt is on the Cal Ripkin church league, and Ski is on two leagues. Plus we just had a newborn baby and Cadence is a job all on her own! Let's just say we are spread a little thin and usually have something EVERY SINGLE night of the week until June!

Here are some pictures from their first games! Jacqui's sponsor is Little Caesars Pizza!

It only took 4 years but she's finally down and ready without having to be yelled at first!!!

So proud of my girl who went from starting in the outfield all those years ago, to finally finding her way to third base! She's also learning to pitch and rumor has it she's doing pretty good!

All Ski wanted to do this year was help coach. That turned into him managing the whole team. He's a great leader though and the team won their first game 11-6! Nice dip in your mouth Honey!

Giving Jacqui a few pointers!

Matt has a really good team also! Not sure how both of them ended up wearing orange this year though.

The one thing that this boy is completely serious about is baseball and is always completely focused! He encourages his teammates and always has his head in the game.

First batter up!

For Christmas he got his own catchers gear and it worked out great because when he got to the team they asked who wanted to catch! He's also at third just like his sister and he's going to be pitching as well sometime.

My boy is a big target and is awesome at stopping the ball!

We're Home!!!

It's been an exhausting week both mentally and physically but we made it through and Chase is finally home with us! I would like to Thank everyone so much for all of your support and your kind words of encouragement. We really appreciate it and I'm sorry if I wasn't able to respond as much as I wanted to over email but I was checking it on my phone because the hospital didn't have free WiFi.

Here we are on our way out of the hospital! It was so great to dress him in something other then the infant gowns they put on him there.

We are a little crowded now with two car seats again!

This is the day I brought Matt home - it's been a long time since I've had two car seats at once!

Baby Chase Update: He'll be home soon!!!

Well, Chase is a week old today and there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel! The spot on his lungs is gone and he's been eating great ever since we started feeding him every 4 hours. He's been eating 55 - 60cc at a time. It was like a different baby over night! Here is a picture of him and his big sister together yesterday. I have yet to get a picture of the four of them together. The hospital isn't the best place for a photo shoot! So far there has only been one time where Cadence has been jealous. She didn't want her dad to hold him at the hospital today because she wanted him to hold HER. The fact that she had no nap didn't help matters at all. She could care less if I hold him though. Daddy's girl, what can I say!



I've also included a video of "Miss Thing" doing the Cadence Show to her favorite song "Had a Bad Day!" This girl loves to put on a show I'll tell you! Just watch all of those facial expressions!

Happy Easter Everyone!

As you all know, life is a bit hectic for us these past few weeks but it is Easter and we wanted to make that as normal as possible for the kids. So last night between feedings we sat down in the middle of the kitchen floor and dyed eggs. We are finding out that a dozen eggs doesn't go very far the more kids we have! The three of them got to do 4 each and let me tell you all the complaining I heard - especially when I reminded them that Chase would be here next year and that would be one less egg each. Oh the unfairness of it all!

Here are the eggs that Jacqui and Matt were the most proud of - that and the fact that they could also dye their hands in the process too!

This morning everyone was able to sleep in a little and I tell you it felt really good. Every Easter it seems for some reason Jacqui wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and she's a real Peach - so I call her my little Easter Peach. This morning was no exception!!!!

Here are a few Easters of the past with my little Easter Peach! This was 2007...

And this was 2006...

Cadence was so excited to find out that the Easter Bunny hid the eggs that they colored and also put candy in her basket that she needed to find!

Jacqui had to get her big old head in there and got Matt's basket for him after he found it. Even though she already knew where it was, she knows better then to tell him before he finds it because of the guilt trip that would follow after!

Cadence needed a little direction but eventually found hers also!

Even Chase got a basket full of baby stuff! The bunny didn't forget him just because he is in the hospital!

Another Easter tradition that just kind of happened is that Jacqui's basket is always hid so well that she is the last to find hers. Again, tradition lives on.

I have nothing to say about this...

We didn't want to leave the kids all day and we also didn't want to miss feeding Chase so we decided to do the noon feeding at the hospital and then pick up the kids, eat lunch / dinner at the Golden Corral (Jacqui's favorite restaurant) and then spend the afternoon at the park.

After the park, we all went up to the hospital for Chases evening feeding so the kids could see him. Cadence also wanted to bring him his Easter Basket so he could see it. This morning when Ski fed him, he did GREAT! He ate the full 45cc in a half hour! This evening he just wasn't feeling it. He was very sleepy and didn't seem hungry at all which has been one of our concerns. Obviously we aren't doctors but it just seemed like he was being fed too much, too soon between feedings and so he didn't want to eat it because he just wasn't hungry. This always feels like one step forward and then two steps back.

So we talked to the doctor today and he explained that one of the antibiotics he is on will hurt his kidneys if he gets too dehydrated which is why they push for him to eat so much. This makes sense but no one ever told us that before and the lack of communication is a little frustrating sometimes - especially since there are like 7 doctors that are rotating on call and each are making different decisions. But the doc agree'd with us and decided that we would offer Chase a 60 cc bottle at midnight and let him eat what he wants. Then we will wait four hours to feed him again and let him get hungry. They will offer another 60 cc bottle and again let him eat what he wants and just see how he does kind of on his own. They have a policy that they will not let a baby eat longer then 4 hours and that is fine. He feels that over night will not be enough time to dehydrate him if he does not do well with this new plan. So we will see tomorrow how he does on his own! Here are a few pictures of our time with him tonight!

I love this picture. Ski and I are in this together as a team - in sickness, and in health.

I hope everyone had as good an Easter as we did. It wasn't the day of tradition we usually have but we made it special none the less because our family was together.