Pippi Longstocking, Ladybug Girl, Fancy Nancy

How obsessed do you think we are? Here are some clues:

• Audrey, whose previous longest word was probably "potty" was suddenly saying "pippilongstocking."
• I heard Jane talking to herself and the speech went, "I tell myself to go to bed. At first I say it quite nicely like 'Pippi, it's time for bed.' And if I don't listen I have to say it more firm. 'Pippi! Go to bed!' And if I still don't listen I give myself a spanking you see. So there." This is practically verbatim, for those of you who don't happen to know.
• We rented 4 Pippi movies (the Swedish versions with English dubbing) and watched the American one online. No telling how many viewings we have had in the past 3 weeks.
• There is constant playing of the Pippi game Don't Touch the Floor

I think it's fair to say we are fairly obsessed. It was a natural choice for Jane's costume this year.

Audrey wanted to be her as well, I think. But we grabbed some Fancy Nancy books and some Ladybug Girl books and she was satisfied that she was a lot like Ladybug Girls who, like Audrey, likes to feel the leaves falling on her head and likes to hang on things. When we are at the park,

Audrey loves to just hang at the top of the slides over and over; her feet tucked up to her rear. So I happily pointed out Ladybug Girl doing the same thing on a tree in the book.

Madelynn could care less about dressing up, but she made a cute Fancy Nancy. I have to admit I put very little effort into her costume, as is very apparent, but I think she'll agree with me someday that this was not an important year for her. She loved being at the ward party, though!

Halloween 2010

We are SO lucky to be near enough to the Mitchells still that we've already had 2 visits since moving down here. We went up to visit in September, and they came down for Halloween weekend. It is so great to see the cousins still bonding and knowing each other. After both visits, Jane has begged me to move back to Milwaukee. I attribute that to these guys.

Since it was Halloweeen weekend and they weren't getting here in time for our ward party, we had to plan one for ourselves.

We started by putting all our hands in a circle and broke with "Boo!" Team

spirit can apply to lots of things, right? Cupcake decorating was first on the list. Even Baby got some sugar.

The start of the sugar high

After doing Pippi hair 3 times, Jane and I decided to switch things up and be Cinderella. Doesn't my homemade ghost pinata look really good behind her? Yes, I'm asking for compliments.

We played "trick or treat" by pulling slips out of a hat and either getting a treat or doing a trick. Rubbing your belly and patting your head needs to be taught at a young age. Here are some awesome treats:

Even monsters can be cute

Freaky

The mummy roll. Jack was hilarious AND scary walking around like a mummy. I love the roll of paper in this picture.

After all the kids swatted at the ghost, we finally had a jedi who could do the job:

And now we are officially (especially me) in sugar comas.

Jane said: mommy, I know all about grown up boys and grown up girls.

Oh really?

Yeah. Girls sit down and boys stand up.

IU!

We are here in Bloomington! Adam is getting his MBA in Marketing at Indiana University, which is ranked very well overall but especially marketing--it's a great fit! It's also the school that two of his sisters and a brother-in-law went to, so there are some additional connections that make us feel very at-home here.

Adam loves loves loves school. He did a week of "jumpstart" classes, then 2 weeks of orientation, and is now in the middle of his 2nd week of classes. He is a happy man! One of the highlights is that they had to do an exercise where they ranked each other and themselves in a physical line. The point was that recruiters would have them ranked with, say, a top 3, a middle 10, and a bottom 3. So where did they think they stood? They could use their summer homework and orientation assignments (networking was a big part!) as a gauge. Adam put himself in the middle but then into the TOP! There were 4 at the top, so he said he'd step down, but the others said he deserved to stay, so another went down. So his peers thought he should be in the top 3. Cool! Then the professor said he'd made his own list and rearranged them according to what he saw. The only one to stay in the top 3 was Adam! Yay! He is well liked and did a great job presenting in the case competition. His team took 2nd overall.

I am realizing more and more that I need to "get used to looking at the back of his head," as my grandma advised when we got married. I guess she could tell he would always be busy! (She was mainly referring to the school years :)) But he is very busy and to top it off he was called as Scout Master and 2nd counselor in the YM's our first Sunday here. They are an extremelyactive troop, too. Lots of campouts and service projects. I was kind of going crazy when they asked him to speak. I was starting to wonder if all I was going to do was stay home with kids. But then I was asked to speak too and was called as RS pianist and Meeting Coordinator ("enrichment", etc.), Finally I have some responsibility besides changing diapers! :) I love changing diapers, though. There are so many at our house. My goal is to get out of the house everyday. So far I've mostly done it :)

Jane loves playing "Dad and Mom" lately. Here's is some proof:

Isn't she a natural? (There is a doll underneath the towel.) Haha. Really, she is already so excited to be a mom. Her prayer the other day went like this, "And thank you for a lot and lot of chips so I can grow taller and be a mommy and have my own children and I can be in charge of them." I do think she'll be a great mom someday. I just have to keep her power hunger at bay for now.

Audrey is talking more and more all the time. She doesn't say her "r"s so we'll be working on growling for now and maybe some little therapy sessions in the future. She also loves being a little mommy for Madelynn. Maddie is the first person she wants to see in the day and almost can't stand it when M. takes a nap. Audrey, like Jane, is very independent and one of her favorite words is "myself." Luckily this time around I'm more prepared to take things slower and let her do things herself.

Madelynn is not only crawling, climbing stairs, and growing teeth, but also standing up and walking along furniture already! She just started crawling one of the last weeks in Utah so we know we have to keep her at it for awhile, but she really loves standing. Here is a video of her when she first started a couple weeks ago (even though she isn't loving it as much as usual; she really just wanted to nurse...)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0YShaoilpI

And last of all, one of the perks of living in B-town is that there is a 7-eleven here. The first week of school also meant the first football game, so we went to the Business school's tailgating bbq (boy were we out of place) and of course the beverage was beer and nothing else, so we took the girls for their first slurpee after grabbing some food and making a quick exit. (BYU didn't prepare us for college tailgating.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTfaepzmg5g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL1HK6TpKJU

Madelynn Lucinda Marriott

Adam is a Daddy again... Audrey is a big sister... Jane is an even bigger sister...

Because Madelynn was born December 28, 2009!!I went into labor at 1:30 Sunday night. My family was here for Christmas and the week after, so we were hoping to have the baby during that time. That hope was fading as my Dad left to get back to work, and then what a relief to get those real contractions before anyone else left! I woke Adam up at 2:30, who got my mom up at 3. They both went back to bed and I slept between the contractions too until 6:30. We decided to go to the hospital and Adam gave me a great blessing before we left, part of it that I would have a clear mind. I was so tired that it was quite noticeable that I was getting extra help--it was like I wasn't even in labor in between contractions!

We got to the hospital and into my room by 8. The nurse got some good glares from my mom and Adam for asking me questions during contractions. She said she wasn't used to an un-induced, epidural free labor. That seems so weird to me. Are our numbers so few? At least she got Dr. Stumpf's permission to not give me an I. V. She then took an HOUR asking me what seemed like stupid questions, monitoring the baby again and again, taking some blood, and finally she said she'd let the Dr. know to come check me in another hour. I was like, I've already BEEN here an hour! I want to be checked NOW. Honestly. My mom says she thinks they weren't taking me seriously because I didn't look like I was in labor. Well guess what, if you cry out and thrash around it's way more painful. So she got permission to check me and I was a 9. I was probably a 9 all along. Dr. came down (mine was out of town, so it was his partner), broke my water, and then 2 or 3 contractons later, Madelynn was here.

Madelynn got a great apgar score and is perfectly healthy! She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz, was 19 1/2 inches, looks a lot like Jane, and is still a very sleepy baby a month later. Here are some of her first visitors:
John, Richard, Sarah

Ida

Gammie

I was starving.

2 weeks old:

Taken on Saturday:

Nesting

Even though Ida will be here in less than a week, I did say I'd put up a prego picture for her. Somehow I just didn't have any until now. This is my general attitude about taking pictures while I'm pregnant:

But Adam snuck this shot in while I was waiting for everyone else to come over for a quick family picture. (We will not be doing Christmas cards this year, but hope to send something like that out for maybe Valentine's Day when we have ALL of us here.) Anyway, Dr. Westreich is an amazing doctor, who thinks this baby will be small. Like maybe not even 7 lbs. We'll show him, won't we, Baby Girl? It's okay if he's wrong about something. Remember that Audrey was 8 lbs. 2 oz. I think I was about the same size. Granted, this picture doesn't really show how big I am.
The magic of the Christmas tree...
Adam has been working like mad the past few weeks to finish the basement by this Friday. He's painting right now, and will only have the carpet left! So here's his general "look" lately:

I've just been busy nesting nesting nesting. I've been getting ready for Christmas since August, I think. Seriously, I came home from Costco one September day and Adam asked me what all the party cups were for. Christmas. But I don't regret one ounce of hyper-preparation, because here we are 11 days from my due date, and only 10 from Christmas, with almost all of my family coming to stay in a week, and I'm finding time to blog!

The week before Thanksgiving, David and Abby got married and my doctor gave me the okay to fly out there even though he said it made him nervous. I had so many contractions that the whole time we were there I just sat. Kind of like bed rest but not in bed. It was so great to go out and be there for there first day of eternity together. Don't they look so happy?

The Marriott adults:

All the girls (minus Abby).

All the boys (minus David) in a pretty awesome pose. I love it.

This guy is another reason I just had to go. Wesley got back from his mission and we hadn't seen him yet. What a charmer. This photo was part of a long series of modeling. Makes me smile.

Jane's 3rd birthday!

Wow what a party! Here are the girls in the morning on Jane's 3rd birthday. We had the first snow of the year so we had to go to the library to celebrate. This is what she calls "helping me make a cake." She picked out the cake box and frosting tub. I had a pinch of inspiration to make a cool cake like other moms do...(you know, toys on top and several pieces put together to make an amazing scene) but then I got a braxton hicks that wiped the vision away. Next year, cutie.

This is my favorite part. We had lots of people over to sing and share. She was shaking from excitement during the birthday song! Oh, Jane girl, I love you!

From Gammie. She was spoiled by everyone but Gammie wasn't there to see her open her gift, so here you go, Gammie! She loves it. I love how the house reinforces my instructions. "Sharing is nice."