If Only I Could Slow Down Time!

Our Little Family!

Madeline is already 7 weeks old, and has changed so much.  Last week I put the last of her newborn clothes away.  It was bittersweet.  I am happy she is growing and I have enjoyed every second of it, but at the same time, that stage of her life is over, and she is growing like a weed!

She now has the most adorable gummy smile, which I try to get her to do as much of possible.  Maddie also loves to play copy cat, especially with making noises and sticking out her tongue.

Excited to go see daddy!

We have decorated the house and Maddie loves the lights on the tree and will stare at them every chance she gets.  We are also excited to share Maddie's first Christmas with our families.  It is so great to see how much she is loved by her so many people.

We've Been Busy

It is hard to believe that Madeline is already 6 weeks old! The time is flying by way too fast.  I wish I could slow time down because she is changing daily.  She is more alert everyday and her little personality is starting to show....Like I said she is feisty and knows what she wants already.  A lot has happened in the last 4 weeks.  She has met many people and has even done a little traveling too.
At 3 weeks she made her first trip up to Penn State on November 11th and even did a little tailgating too.  She brought us much cheer with all the sadness surrounding PSU.

Enjoying her first tailgate!

First PSU family picture just missing Elmo!

Next came Maddie's 1 month birthday! We sang to her, took pictures and topped it off by taking her to her 1 month wellness checkup.  At her check up she weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and grew 2 1/2 inches. Yes she is our piggy aka "Fatty Maddie"  She loves to eat too!

Next stop Thanksgiving!

High Five for a great Thanksgiving!!

We had a very busy Thanksgiving holiday with lots and lots of traveling. It was exhausting but it was the best Thanksgiving ever.  It is an incredible feeling watching others love and get excited to spend time Maddie as much we do.  We started our trip at Lollie & Poppy's house where she got to meet her Great Aunty Bonnie and spend some snuggle time with Poppy (not sure who enjoyed the time more her or Maddie).

Maddie's biggest fan!

Aunt Bonnie meets Maddie!

Later that evening we went for our second Thanksgiving at Mimi's & PopPop's where she also got to see her cousin Gavin.

I love my Baby Maddie, & I found my "Elf on the Shelf"!

We were very excited for Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Andre to come visit us.  Even though it was a short trip we were happy, they were able to meet Maddie.  We can't wait to see them in January.

"Christmas Tree Sunday"

One of my favorite days of the year is what I call "Christmas Tree Sunday".  So we headed back to Matt's parents to goto Balphaser's to pick out our tree. It is our little tradition.  So I got Maddie dressed up in one of her little Christmas sleepers and off we went.

"Ok Mom let's get this tree thing done"!

Thinking which tree to pick!

Maddie's first Christmas tree experience..Hope she enjoys it more next year!

Elmo thinks he's the baby too!

We Have Survived the First 2 Weeks!

Our Little Family of Four!

In the past 2 weeks, we have shared many firsts with Madeline.  Her first car ride home, first time meeting her big brother Elmo, first night (was the definitely the hardest), first bath, first Halloween.  Oh and the list goes on and on.

Maddie all hooked in and for her first car ride

Home Sweet Home!

Elmo meeting his baby sister for the first time!  He loved her :)

First Bath!

                                          
One thing I can say is that we would not have survived without the help of our parents!  They were such a huge help coming down and helping with Maddie while I recover and attempt to get a little sleep.  We owe them big time!

By Madeline's first doctors appointment on Weds. October 25 she was already back to her birth weight.  (It's because she is a little piggy!)  When she went back for her week 2 wellness visit she gained another 7 ounces, so we are very proud of her to say the least.  One thing we can say is that she LOVES to eat!  She also loves her vibrating napper in the pack'n play.  Her favorite thing to do is be held.  She hates being naked and taking a sponge bath.  This week Maddie has been more alert and stays awake for longer periods of time.  Unfortunately she enjoys being wide awake between the hours of 12 am-3 am but we are trying to work on the night and day thing.  (She is still confused about that)

I'm 1 Week Old 10/28/11

We look forward to experiencing many more firsts to come, and love watching her change on a daily basis.

Playing on her activity mat!

                                                    

2 Weeks old 11/4/11

                                                  

Welcome Madeline Grace 10/21/11!!!!

Welcome to the World Madeline Grace!

We have been extremely busy this fall getting everything ready for Madeline, like her room, the car seat, stroller etc.  We never thought that she would be arriving 2 weeks early!

It all started out as a normal Thursday morning, including the terrible traffic on Route 76.  I was heading to the doctors because I was experiencing unbearable itchiness.  I expected to get a topical cream or maybe some medicine.  Little did I know that they were about to induce me and say that baby is coming.  I think they did it because I was late for my appointment :)

We were not 100% ready, and figured we had at least another week to get stuff done. We planned on spending the weekend and the rest of the week cleaning the house, getting the car seat checked, packing bags, assembling swings, and going on one last date to the movie tavern.  Finishing up grades at school  But instead of these plans and heading to work that day, I was being checked into labor and delivery.  Talk about a change of plans!  If you know me at all, I am a planner. Like I have been saying since the day we found out about our pregnancy "If you want to hear god laugh tell him your plans".

The waiting game begins!

Ready to finally go meet Baby Madeline!

In Labor and Delivery is where our marathon of labor began.  Since Maddie turned last week, they were inducing me instead of a C-section.  The doctors tried just about everything, but after 30 hours and failure to dilate, we were taking a trip down the hall, prepped for surgery.  At 5:33 PM on October 21st, our sweet little angel entered the world with the most beautiful sound ever......her crying!  She was 19 1/4" long and weighted 5 lbs. 15.5 oz, but they ended up rounding it up to 6 lbs. even.  The best news of all was that Madeline and mommy were both healthy.  She even shares her birthday with Matt's brother Mark too!

First finger grip with Mommy!

Getting her foot prints!

I cannot explain the love I felt having her clasp my finger for the first time, or having her stare up at her daddy.  The love we feel for Madeline is unexplainable, she is truly a gift from god. We are extremely thankful and blessed that everything worked out the way it did.

In love with the addition to our family!  The only one missing is Elmo!

We would love to thank all of our family for their help, love support, and warm wishes.  It is wonderful to know how loved we are and Madeline will be just as loved.

Thank You TYCO!!!!

Matt had a wonderful surprise at lunch.  Tyco had a surprise baby shower for him or his "Man Shower"!!!!! It is so wonderful to know that Matt is surrounded by so many wonderful caring coworkers.  I have never seen people be so generous.  We are truly grateful for all your warm wishes and love for Baby Girl.  Only just a few more weeks until you all get to meet "Daddy's Little Girl".

Sue did it again, what a beautiful cake!!

Time Flies By!

A Family photo to start off the PSU football season!

Ever since Penn State football and going back to school time has really flown by!  Just like I thought days and weeks have passed.  Now only 3 weeks and 1 day (since today is pretty much over) until we meet our little princess baby girl.  (Still haven't completely decided on her name)  She will make her special arrival on October 27, 20111 shortly after 9:30.  That is correct baby is not cooperating and is still traversed breech and at 36 weeks she is more than likely not going to move.  I can heal, we just need her to come into the world safely.

In the past few weeks we have been busy getting ready for baby girl.  Matt has been great at putting together strollers, cribs, pack'n plays, and practicing everything out on Elmo.  It is crazy to think how such a little peanut can need so many things.

Elmo testing out Baby Girls new car seat & stroller

Two weekends ago my mom and mother in law had the nicest shower for Baby Girl at the Penn Stater and it was great to see so many of our friends and family.  It was great to see how many others are excited about baby as we are.  She was blessed with so many nice gifts, but more than anything is love.  I was so excited that Chelsea could make it to the shower too, it's always nice to have your bff by your side.

Chelsea and I 

Both my Mom's and sisters, just missing Stacey

We have also been very busy cheering on our Nittany Lions, (which is hard to watch lately).  Below is a few shots from this season.

After the Temple game, what an ugly game it was!

Half Time during the Alabama game 9/11

Me, Heather and Carrie, enjoying a little tailgating after the Temple game.

Well as every day passes, baby and I get bigger and bigger.  She is getting stronger and still very active, while I seem to be getting slower and more tired.  Only a few short weeks until we get to meet our little girl.

35 Weeks 

We Survived the Earthquake & Irene!!!

It has one whirlwind of a week to say the least! At the beginning of the week we sent Elmo to "sleep away" camp (that is the only way I could wrap my head around leaving him) while we went to the beach. I will not deny the fact I cried when I left him. I don't know how I am going to be able to leave Baby Girl. Needless to say we had a great relaxing trip at the beach filled with good weather, Thrashers french fries and ice cream!
Then comes the earth quake (I thought I was being punished for eating lunch meat for the first time), but we survived and so did Elmo.

We come home to all the hype of Irene....Which I thought ruined our weekend, since my family didn't come down and my shower got canceled. Actually we got a lot done, We now have closet organizers in the nursery. (pictures to come soon when the room is all put together). Irene didn't hit us as hard as we thought, our only damage was a little rain in the basement and we even had electricity though out the whole storm. Minor after watching the news and thanking god that we still don't live in Long Beach, NY. Conshy did have it's fair share of flooding and to think the river still has not crested! Here are some pics from our walk today

The three of on the bridge and the flooded Schuykill river behind us (excuse my fatness)

30 Weeks and HUGE!!!

The Beginning of the End!

I am excited to say that we have officially made it to the third trimester!!!  I am going to compare making it to the 20 mile mark of a marathon. You have come so far and it hasn't been easy, but there are still hard parts to come! The good part  there is an end in sight and you know it is only a few miles away.  Just like Baby Girl will be here in just a few weeks.
I will have to admit, even though the summer has been super busy,  we have got a lot accomplished. The nursery is coming along and we are finally ready to paint!  Our deadline to have all home/baby projects done before kickoff day (also known as Matt's Christmas) is drawing near.  Which also means, Fall is coming and back to work.  I have to say Elmo and I are enjoying our time off, but I too am welcoming the cooler weather, and excited for November too.  Matt is ready for me to go back to work so I stop shopping, Elmo wants me to stay home though.
Even more exciting about our busy summer is that we have welcomed many of Baby Girls friends into the world.  Starting with Kahley Fike on July 10, Louis Archut on July 27th, the very new Olive Murphy on August 13th.  Now we just need to wait on Baby Boy Bendorf and Baby Reisberg (who may come before, after, or on the same day as baby girl). After seeing and meeting all the new babies makes us so much more excited to meet our little one. But she has to wait until November though!  I would have to say that this has been the year of baby and 2012 may seem to be the same too.

Enjoying the Summer!

Ever since school ended we have seemed to get busier and busier.  So much for a lazy summer!  Our weeks and weekends have been action packed starting off with the 4th weekend with a PSU girls reunion (+ their better halves)!  We went toured around the Philadelphia taking in the sights, (hey it is the birth place of America).  Juan and Andre got to run up the Rocky steps and see the Liberty Bell too.

Great Friends enjoying a great city!

starting out on our Journey!

The next day we continued our Philly tourist weekend by heading down to South Philly for none other than an authentic famous cheesesteak!!! So we had our own Gino's vs. Pat's taste test.  Matt and I liked Gino's better, but still swear by Delasandro's.  While Colleen liked Pat's better.  Baby girl was indifferent to them all, she said that the butterlane cupcakes were overall the best.  (thanks Aunt Coll-doggy).

Waiting in line at Pat's

Enjoying Pat's cheese steaks!

We finished our day off with a barbq then Conshy fireworks.  Elmo did not like the fireworks at all and just tolerated Walter, but isn't he cute!

Walter the monster pup!

Before the fireworks and dog freak out!

* I only hope that baby girl has as good of girl friends as I do.

Besides having a wonderful weekend, we also spent the other weekends visiting family and the Arts Fest. (unfortunately we did not find any good art though). Matt and I want to thank both our friends and family for all their well wishes and generosity, it is great to know that she will be so loved.  Baby Girl is alsogoing to one stylish girl! I think she already has more clothes than both Matt and I put together! I will admit I to have added to her closet too.  One of my favorite of many many gifts we received from my Nanny.

What a beautiful gift, she still has it in her at 89! Maybe she will love it as much as I love my blanket!

                                              

24 Weeks and growing!

Baby Hoffman's is a?................

The day has finally come!!! We had family come to celebrate what baby Hoffman is.  I will have to admit waiting was hard, last night I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve, oh the anticipation. I was even way to excited to sleep. At 9:00 the cake was delivered, Sue did a great job what a beautiful cake, and it tasted even better. :)  I almost felt bad cutting into it.....Almost

Our Baby Cake!!!!

Finally when everyone got to Casa de Hoffman, and thank you all for getting there on time too! Right away I wanted to slice open the cake.  So just like I said the first thing we did was slice open the cake 

It's PINK

Much to our surprise, Baby Hoffman is a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yes Matt and Gavin were right the whole time, I on the other hand was thinking boy.  Shopping here we come!

Today was a great day, and we are so thankful for both of our families were able to be here to share this exciting moment with us.  We feel very blessed and loved.  We already know that Baby Girl will be loved so much.  

This is the picture that was in the envelope, good thing it says girl on it!