February flew by with Madeline doing some growing, a little more growing and then topping it off with some more growing. All of this growing seemed to be the direct result of massive amounts of eating. She is now officially grown out of newborn outfits (much to Mary Ann's dismay) and is now starting to wear 0-3 month outfits. They seem big on her now, but you can count on one thing, she will grow out of those in the blink of an eye as well.
Maddy is a great baby so far (touch wood). Awake a lot during the day and sleeping 5-6 hours at a stretch at night. Mary Ann and Maddy have gotten into something like a routine which generally involves going out to get some exercise during the middle of the day. When the weather is bad they go to the local Mall and join the seniors in their turns around the interior perimeter. Andrew is sad he is not there as well as he thinks that if timed right you could finish your walk around the Mall just in time to be first in line for the senior citizens specials for dinner. When the weather is good (which is an increasing number of days lately) they walk around our neighborhood or at Tyler State Park which has a number of paved walking trails of various difficulty. Sadly, these 20 pounds of baby weight aren't going to come off by themselves so she is going to attack the difficult trails as often as possible.
Boys were in NZ for two weeks, as their grandmother was sick. They missed 2 weeks of school which they were heartbroken over. They'll go back to two weeks of school and then be off for another two weeks for Spring Break. Tough life. We finally got a copy of Nicholas' term report for last year and will post it here. It is a wonderful report and we are very proud of him. It looks like he is going to be as good a student and Kieran - don't know what we'll do with two geniuses in the family! And we hope Maddy follows in their footsteps!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Latest of What's Going On
Madeline is now over a month old and is an eating, drinking and the other machine. She seems to be filling out before our eyes. She is also developing a little personality and has started communicating with us with different looks and sounds. Of course, her piercing cries are still the sound most likely to get us moving quickly, especially at 3 in the morning.
She is a bit of a champion sleeper (that is easy for her father to say as I don't have to get up and feed her) but seems to be going for 3-4 hour stretches and doesn't have much trouble going to sleep after feeding.
Madeline has met most of Mary Ann's family. Everyone got to hold her and she behaved like a perfect young lady. Photos are below.
Dad has been on a tear with his knitting projects recently. Picasso had his blue period, I have my scarf phase (having knitted myself and both Kieran and Nicholas scarves in the last few weeks (picture attached). I am now working on a jacket for Madeline (in pink of course).
Mary Ann is keen on socks and now we are all the proud owners of home knitted socks.
In other news Kieran had a school sponsored ski trip this past week. He has branched out into snowboarding and really enjoyed it, despite the amount of time he spent falling! Unfortunately we don't have any pictures to share of this adventure.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Big News since last entry
Madeline Grace McLean has arrived, happy and healthy, to the world. She was born on 1/6/09 at 4:42 am weighing in at 7lb 6oz and 20 3/4 inches. I won't give all the gory details of the birth here but lets just say once things started moving it was like a boulder rolling down hill. Its a good thing they give the job of timing contractions to the husband - Andrew was sufficiently distracted by the stop watch and by surfing the Internet to find out what famous people were born on 1/6. Turns out Maddy shares her birthday with with a McLean family favorite - Rowan Atkinson, aka Sir Edmund Blackadder. Maddy will, no doubt, be initiated into the joys of Blackadder ("stick two pencils up your nose and say bibble") as soon as she can see the TV. Labor started in earnest at about 11:30 and we decided to head to the hospital at about 3:00 and good thing we did. I think if we'd waited any longer we would have been calling an ambulance. We got there at about 3:30 and things started moving very fast. I was already 5cm dilated so they got me ready and by 4:00 I was 9cm and ready to push. Maddy entered the world at 4:42 healthy, crying and ready to eat. We had decided that I was going to try to do the birth without drugs and it is a good thing - I wouldn't have had time to do an epidural even if I'd wanted one so everything worked out for the best. The rest of my time in the hospital (2 days) was uneventful and we were anxious to get home and settle in.
The transition from hospital to home has been pretty smooth so far. Andrew is back at work and my mother has left so I am alone with Maddy during the day and we've managed to get into something like a routine. She is eating and sleeping at regular intervals during the day with some breaks for play and investigating her environment. The nights have been relatively easy as well. From Day 1 she was sleeping in 4-5 hour blocks which allows us to sleep as well. In fact, I'm getting more sleep now that I was when I was pregnant which is a relief! She really has been a good baby so far and the doctor reports that she is gaining weight really well and meeting her milestones so far. We'll go back in 3 weeks for another checkup and hopefully all will continue on this course.
We are blessed with a beautiful little girl and at first blush it seems like she is favoring the Cook side of the family. Of course, she has more hair than Andrew but she is still a bit of a cue ball for now. She has very pretty and sweet features and a delicate little sneeze and yawn - she is definitely a little girl. Of course, when she wants to exercise her lungs she can be very loud and un-delicate!
Madeline has been introduced to her brothers and they seem to be in awe of her. I understand that they haven't had much interaction with infants and I think they are stunned at how small and needy she is. They really took to her from the start and are anxious to see her, hold her and help out with whatever is needed to make everyone comfortable. They are going to be fantastic older brothers and I know they are excited to watch her grow and learn (and get interested in Star Wars and Ping Pong).
As you can imagine there hasn't been a lot of other news that we've been able to focus on in the last 2 weeks. We have a long holiday weekend here for Martin Luther King so we'll have 3 days with just the 3 of us as the boys are with their mother. Kieran is going skiing in the Poconos on Monday with some friends and it is supposed to be frigid temperatures so we've got him lined up with as many layers as we can find. Hopefully our next entry will not involve a report of a trip to the hospital for him!
Until next time take care and keep in touch!
The transition from hospital to home has been pretty smooth so far. Andrew is back at work and my mother has left so I am alone with Maddy during the day and we've managed to get into something like a routine. She is eating and sleeping at regular intervals during the day with some breaks for play and investigating her environment. The nights have been relatively easy as well. From Day 1 she was sleeping in 4-5 hour blocks which allows us to sleep as well. In fact, I'm getting more sleep now that I was when I was pregnant which is a relief! She really has been a good baby so far and the doctor reports that she is gaining weight really well and meeting her milestones so far. We'll go back in 3 weeks for another checkup and hopefully all will continue on this course.
We are blessed with a beautiful little girl and at first blush it seems like she is favoring the Cook side of the family. Of course, she has more hair than Andrew but she is still a bit of a cue ball for now. She has very pretty and sweet features and a delicate little sneeze and yawn - she is definitely a little girl. Of course, when she wants to exercise her lungs she can be very loud and un-delicate!
Madeline has been introduced to her brothers and they seem to be in awe of her. I understand that they haven't had much interaction with infants and I think they are stunned at how small and needy she is. They really took to her from the start and are anxious to see her, hold her and help out with whatever is needed to make everyone comfortable. They are going to be fantastic older brothers and I know they are excited to watch her grow and learn (and get interested in Star Wars and Ping Pong).
As you can imagine there hasn't been a lot of other news that we've been able to focus on in the last 2 weeks. We have a long holiday weekend here for Martin Luther King so we'll have 3 days with just the 3 of us as the boys are with their mother. Kieran is going skiing in the Poconos on Monday with some friends and it is supposed to be frigid temperatures so we've got him lined up with as many layers as we can find. Hopefully our next entry will not involve a report of a trip to the hospital for him!
Until next time take care and keep in touch!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
December Flew By as Well - Not sure we have a month that doesn't fly by!
Nothing to report yet on the baby front unfortunately. Due date was yesterday but not much action yet.
Christmas was both quiet and busy at the same time. We didn't go anywhere given Mary Ann's delicate condition. Mary Ann's mum is on an extended visit with us and she is staying until the baby is born (and then hopefully for a bit longer).
We picked the boys up on Christmas Eve and went to a party at an ex-work colleague of Andrew's in Long Island. Unfortunately it took 4 hours to get there (usually a 2 hour trip) so we were all a bit frazzled by the time we arrived, but had a good time anyway.
Got home and Santa delivered presents once the boys had gone to bed. Santa enjoyed the cookies and milk left for him and the reindeer feasted on carrots left for them. Mary Ann was interested to learn how different the traditions around Santa and Christmas are here than in NZ - I guess it makes sense considering it is summer in NZ when Jolly St. Nick is doing his work. Nevertheless, she intends to keep up the Northern Hemisphere traditions as long as we live where it is cold at Christmas.
Christmas Day we woke up kind of late (last time for that for a while) and opened presents (photos below). Santa was good, the hit was a ping pong/pool table. Santa had subcontracted the delivery of that 250lb item to Sears and we think he needs to reevaluate his relationship with them. After the first broken table arrived we had to contend with the delivery of potentially two more and the removal of the broken one. Let's just say it was a 2 week ordeal but now is all done. The ping pong table is a hit with the boys and the neighborhood crowd. We are happy to be able to now reciprocate the hospitality of the families the boys have made friends with - but there is nothing like feeding lunch to a bunch of teenage boys to make you realize how much they actually can eat! Nicholas and Kieran also received lovely handmade socks from Mary Ann - there is a picture here of Nicholas modeling his. Now everyone in the family has a pair of handmade socks except Mary Ann but we hope to remedy that soon. As soon as hers are done she'll have to start working on new pairs for the boys as they should grow out of the ones they have in about a week or two!
We spent a lot of time with the boys over their holiday from school and it was really fun for all of us. Kieran spent time practicing his guitar and Nicholas helped out in the kitchen a lot. He and "honorary grandma" seem to enjoy making baked goods together and the rice pudding they put together was a huge hit, especially with Dad. The boys also spent quite a bit of time with the neighborhood kids and there were times that we didn't see them for several hours. We've had to make sure they aren't wearing out their welcome with the neighbors (and aren't eating them out of house and home)! They have been having a great time in our new home and neighborhood and we're so happy to have them out and about and not glued to the TV for hours at a time.
The boys are back to school tomorrow, with very heavy hearts. We're proudly posting Kieran's latest school report here - what more can you say about a kid who brings home a report like this? We are very proud of him and especially happy that he seems so self motivated to do well in school. He also is really enjoying his guitar lessons and his teacher has reported that he is an excellent student and a joy to work with. We're hoping we have the next Eric Clapton on our hands so he can take care of us in our dotage. On the music front Nicholas is also doing well in his violin lessons. Mary Ann attended his violin concert right before Christmas and was happy to see that Nicholas seemed to be taking the performing very seriously. He was clearly very engaged with the teacher, eager to participate and held himself very confidently while performing. On the last day of school Andrew and Mary Ann attended the boy's Christmas performance and some pictures of that are included as well. Kieran was in the orchestra with his viola and Nicholas was in the front row of the 3rd grade choir. There was a lot of music and sing-alongs with the audience. I think the boys were happy the concert only lasted a short time since they got to start their holiday immediately afterward!
Kierans Report Dec 08
The last couple of pictures show Kieran and Nicholas modeling the beautiful scarf that Andrew made for Kieran. It turned out beautifully and Kieran is really happy with it. Dad also finished up a blanket for the baby which we hope to put to use very soon. Next on Dad's craft project list is a scarf made by Dad for Nicholas. Everyone except Kieran seems to have caught the crafting bug and Nicholas has purchased a small loom for himself and is working on a blanket for the baby. These boys have discovered how a good project can help you while away the long cold winter evenings - especially when you're sitting around waiting for a baby to arrive.
We hope to report very soon on our latest arrival - it could be anytime from right now to middle of next week (they won't let Mary Ann go any longer than that). We hope you all are well and enjoyed a pleasant holiday and are embarking on a peaceful and Happy New Year!
Christmas was both quiet and busy at the same time. We didn't go anywhere given Mary Ann's delicate condition. Mary Ann's mum is on an extended visit with us and she is staying until the baby is born (and then hopefully for a bit longer).
We picked the boys up on Christmas Eve and went to a party at an ex-work colleague of Andrew's in Long Island. Unfortunately it took 4 hours to get there (usually a 2 hour trip) so we were all a bit frazzled by the time we arrived, but had a good time anyway.
Got home and Santa delivered presents once the boys had gone to bed. Santa enjoyed the cookies and milk left for him and the reindeer feasted on carrots left for them. Mary Ann was interested to learn how different the traditions around Santa and Christmas are here than in NZ - I guess it makes sense considering it is summer in NZ when Jolly St. Nick is doing his work. Nevertheless, she intends to keep up the Northern Hemisphere traditions as long as we live where it is cold at Christmas.
Christmas Day we woke up kind of late (last time for that for a while) and opened presents (photos below). Santa was good, the hit was a ping pong/pool table. Santa had subcontracted the delivery of that 250lb item to Sears and we think he needs to reevaluate his relationship with them. After the first broken table arrived we had to contend with the delivery of potentially two more and the removal of the broken one. Let's just say it was a 2 week ordeal but now is all done. The ping pong table is a hit with the boys and the neighborhood crowd. We are happy to be able to now reciprocate the hospitality of the families the boys have made friends with - but there is nothing like feeding lunch to a bunch of teenage boys to make you realize how much they actually can eat! Nicholas and Kieran also received lovely handmade socks from Mary Ann - there is a picture here of Nicholas modeling his. Now everyone in the family has a pair of handmade socks except Mary Ann but we hope to remedy that soon. As soon as hers are done she'll have to start working on new pairs for the boys as they should grow out of the ones they have in about a week or two!
We spent a lot of time with the boys over their holiday from school and it was really fun for all of us. Kieran spent time practicing his guitar and Nicholas helped out in the kitchen a lot. He and "honorary grandma" seem to enjoy making baked goods together and the rice pudding they put together was a huge hit, especially with Dad. The boys also spent quite a bit of time with the neighborhood kids and there were times that we didn't see them for several hours. We've had to make sure they aren't wearing out their welcome with the neighbors (and aren't eating them out of house and home)! They have been having a great time in our new home and neighborhood and we're so happy to have them out and about and not glued to the TV for hours at a time.
The boys are back to school tomorrow, with very heavy hearts. We're proudly posting Kieran's latest school report here - what more can you say about a kid who brings home a report like this? We are very proud of him and especially happy that he seems so self motivated to do well in school. He also is really enjoying his guitar lessons and his teacher has reported that he is an excellent student and a joy to work with. We're hoping we have the next Eric Clapton on our hands so he can take care of us in our dotage. On the music front Nicholas is also doing well in his violin lessons. Mary Ann attended his violin concert right before Christmas and was happy to see that Nicholas seemed to be taking the performing very seriously. He was clearly very engaged with the teacher, eager to participate and held himself very confidently while performing. On the last day of school Andrew and Mary Ann attended the boy's Christmas performance and some pictures of that are included as well. Kieran was in the orchestra with his viola and Nicholas was in the front row of the 3rd grade choir. There was a lot of music and sing-alongs with the audience. I think the boys were happy the concert only lasted a short time since they got to start their holiday immediately afterward!
Kierans Report Dec 08
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The last couple of pictures show Kieran and Nicholas modeling the beautiful scarf that Andrew made for Kieran. It turned out beautifully and Kieran is really happy with it. Dad also finished up a blanket for the baby which we hope to put to use very soon. Next on Dad's craft project list is a scarf made by Dad for Nicholas. Everyone except Kieran seems to have caught the crafting bug and Nicholas has purchased a small loom for himself and is working on a blanket for the baby. These boys have discovered how a good project can help you while away the long cold winter evenings - especially when you're sitting around waiting for a baby to arrive.
We hope to report very soon on our latest arrival - it could be anytime from right now to middle of next week (they won't let Mary Ann go any longer than that). We hope you all are well and enjoyed a pleasant holiday and are embarking on a peaceful and Happy New Year!
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