My Grandpa

My Grandpa Harold passed away on Oct. 1st.  He was a wonderful man and my cousins best described it in their talk representing his 18 grandchildren.

42 births, 25 First Communions, 24 high school graduations, 20 weddings…countless swim meets, golf tournaments…football, baseball, wrestling, and track events. Not to mention the myriad of concerts, plays and musicals, award ceremonies, and school Grandparents’ Days. No matter which state we lived in, Grandpa could tell you about each of and every one of these events he supported us at.

He could also tell you something special about each one of his grandchildren-in-laws and his 17 great-grandchildren, never struggling to keep us all straight. Grandpa kept a running list of all of our spouses, girlfriends, or boyfriends…their first and last names and places of birth. We later learned this list was Grandpa’s prayer list…he prayed for each of us every day. Once you made the list you stayed on the list…so to this day Grandpa is still praying for all those high school boyfriends. J

Grandpa’s voice could always be heard at any family gathering or singing in Church. Yet despite the loudness and laughter Grandpa could slip away for a snooze right in the middle of the room. I guess after raising 5 girls he had to learn to cope.

Grandpa was our human atlas—always able to give advice for the best route for the upcoming road trip, whether through the Midwest, down to Florida, or out to the West Coast. He knew the best rest stops and where to fill up with the cheapest gas.

Grandpa was the one adult who offered us a second helping of dessert, or maybe even a third. He was the one who taught us portion control: we learned to ask, “Do you want normal size or Grandpa-size?” And of course we wanted Grandpa-size, which meant heaping bowls of ice cream and watermelon slices bigger than our heads.

Grandpa taught us all kinds of things: Red on game days and Church on Sundays. Vote for the “good guys” and not the “crooks.” He even taught us catchy phrases like “Beans, beans the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you…” I’ll stop there and let you fill in the rest.

Perhaps our fondest memories are the numerous trips to the zoo, hikes through Fontanelle Forest, afternoons at the Joslyn or Durham museums. Grandpa shared his passion and his humor in all things we did.

Grandpa, we know you’re watching over us from heaven, your booming voice saying “Hey ya squirt!” You’re probably doing your daily crossword puzzle, reading National Geographic, and getting ready for the big game on Saturday. You have left us with so so many memories; you’ll be impossible to forget. We couldn’t be prouder to continue your legacy. In honor of this legacy, we made up a song to Grandpa’s favorite tune…(all Grandkids stand up and sing)

 Grandpa’s Fight Song (a rendition of the Husker Fight Song)

There is no man like Grandpa,

Dear old Grandpa you.

For whom the horses race fastest,

And the Huskers fight hardest,

Of the greatest legacy I knew.

There is no man like Grandpa,

For whom respect ensued.

We all stick together,

In all kinds of weather,

For dear sweet Grandpa you!

I am proud and blessed to be part of his legacy.  I love you Grandpa!

Fall is here

I love everything about the season of Fall!  The weather is gorgeous out, KSU and Chiefs football every weekend, and my favorite activity of all...THE PUMPKIN PATCH is open!  I dragged Nick to the Pumpkin Patch when we first started dating and now we get to bring two little girls along.  I love the hayrack ride to find that perfect pumpkin and then sitting down with some cider and donuts afterwards to celebrate finding that adorable/big/small pumpkin to take home and place on display!!

Happy Fall everyone!

First Full Week back

So I thought this 2nd time around would be a lot easier going back to work w/ having already experiencing it once and knowing what to expect...  It actually is a lot harder!  When on maternity leave Allie still went to school, so I spent the day with Maggie and giving her that individual love, so when sister came home, I was able to focus more on Allie.  Now I want lots of time with each of them and I only get 3 hours now each day...and I guess I also need to pay attention to my husband too!

On a positive note, I got a nice raise/promotion/better parking spot when I came back.  Some motivation to keep up this working mom gig :) 

My blog post wouldn't be complete without a few pics of my little angels!

2 weeks left :(

I can't believe I only have two more weeks to be home with this little sugar plum!

 

Time is just flying by!  Our Miss Maggie is being an overachiever with 99% Height, 99.99% Weight.  As the Doc told us Maggie would be in 2nd place if there was 1000 baby girls in a room.  Pretty impressive :)  She is one healthy eater, but it is making this momma exhausted!  She is smiling more and more each day and loves the attention when she can get some!  Big sister, Allie, is starting to turn a corner and realizing she has to share mom/dad. 

So sad to go back to work so soon, I want more time at home with my girls!

Allie & Maggie

So in the hospital when they gave me Maggie, I thought, I know this baby...  It was a little deja vu for me.  I felt like I got a 2nd little Allie!  But...now Maggie is breaking away from Allie's looks and getting her own beautiful look!

Here are the Hospital Professional pic



Allie Nicole

Maggie Elizabeth


I think you can all understand why I thought Maggie was a little Allie.

 

 

 

So similar, but definitely there own person.  So excited to see these two girls grow :)  I love their two smiles the most.  Allie has a huge, outgoing smile that is constantly there, where Maggie has a more suttle smile, that sneaks up on you and melts your heart when she flashes it to you!

 

Welcome...Maggie Elizabeth!

Our 2nd daughter is here!  We are so blessed to have a happy, healthy baby girl.  It has been a crazy 6 weeks!  Hence, why, I am just now posting about her :)

So here is the start of blogging...

Day 1 - 6.26.13
I was overdue by 5 days and Nick and I decided to induce to get our little girl to meet the world.  We showed up to the hospital at 6am and they weren't ready for us, so they told us to take a walk around the pond and get some breakfast on the hospital.  I MUCH rather of slept more, but we did as we were told.  So we got back up to the maternity floor around 7:30 and checked in, waited to hear from the doc, etc.  That was about 10am...  Talk about more of the waiting game!  They hooked me up to IVs to get some antibiotics before we started labor.  FINALLY at 12:45pm, my doc came in and broke my water and got labor started.  The gave me the pitocin and once the contractions were there, I did not mess around this time and got that epidural.  Drugs are good :)  At 4:45pm it was time to push, after 3 pushes, she was here!  5:10pm.  4 hour labor!  I guess it was good to have a little bit of a wait time because Nick and I finally settled on the name of our little one. I know, crazy, to not the know the name of your child til the day of.  But we are happy with our final decision of Maggie Elizabeth.  Elizabeth is my grandma's middle name.

First pic of Miss Maggie

 We made sure the first visitor to meet Maggie was Miss Allie.  She was in love! 

And then came the grandparents!

 

The hospital stay was nice and the nurses treated us well!  Maggie was good to Mom and Dad and was a good eater and maintain a good weight, NO triple feedings.  We thought we got an "easy" baby.

Day 3 - 6.28.13
Bringing Maggie home.
"Easy" not so much...Miss Maggie brought another challenge to us.  Days and Nights screwed up.  Talk about some sleep deprieved parents!  I know you want to spend quality time with your new born, but I prefer 1-4pm not 1-4am!  And to top it off, Allie stop sleeping through the night, she thought she needed to get up with baby Maggie and keep her company.  Nick was sent in the car with Allie a couple of times at 2, 3, 4am to get Allie to fall back asleep.  Luckily that was short lived and Allie is now sleeping through the night again.

The first 2 weeks were just a blur!  We were in survival mode!  But we made it!  We had lots of visitors, manage to go to a high school reunion, and I turned the big 3-0.  Having a week old did not make it a crazy night at all, so we will do a redo next year when I turn 3-1 :)

Allie's favorite thing to do, hold Maggie

 

The virtue of patience

is something I DON"T own!

Yes, 3 days passed my due date...  I am still at work, still pregnant, and just playing this waiting...waiting...waiting game!

I know your baby can come anywhere around the due date and it is just an estimate, but how depressing to push dismiss on your Outlook calendar, cross off the date on my wall calendar...  People asked me this weekend when are you due?  Oh, last Friday!

We had a fabulous weekend with Allie and friends, but still we want Allie to finally meet her little sister and we are READY for the 4th member of our family to arrive!  Even if we are still on the fence with 2 names for this little one...

Here is a pic of me at 40+ weeks!  I am hoping this is the last pregnant photo I take and the next one is us in the hospital!!

Allie is 2!

June 16th, 2011 2:03pm

June 16th, 2012

June 16th, 2013

 OUR ALLIE NICOLE IS TWO!

Hard to believe this little one has been only a part of our lives for 2 years.  She is our world!  We love her so much and are so blessed to call her ours.  She is a always on the move!  The average toddler walks 2.36 miles a day, I would say Allie is up to 4 miles a day :)  She is 35.5 inches tall (89th percentile) and 28 lbs. (68th percentile).  She is a good 4 inches taller than the next friend in her classroom.  Always have a smile on her face and is ready to have a baby join her in the fun!

Countdown is on!

We are officially two weeks from our little #2 due date!  Can't believe how fast it has gone.  Are we ready?!?  Well we have diapers and we took out Allie's NB clothes...  Are we ready for sleepless nights , nursing, etc....no....  Are we ready for the new baby smell, to see what she looks like, to introduce Allie to her little sister, and open our hearts to another little girl, YES!

Nick and I finally settled on a name two nights ago!  What a relief to have a name picked out before our new one arrives!  It was a constant back and forth, back and forth between two/three/six names, but yes we finally have one!  I only have to keep a secret for 2 weeks, which is probably good :)

Our #2 is moving all over the place and it is so cool to feel her do twirls in my stomach and have Nick and Allie feel when she moves.  Allie has no idea what she is feeling, but she does now point to my tummy and say baby.  She loves how there are both Allie diapers and Baby diapers and Allie clothes and Baby clothes in her room.  She cares for her little babies so well, I HOPE we will have an easy transition for her not being the only child, but for the next two weeks we are excited to spend some quality time just the 3 of us before #2 comes into our lives and make us a family of 4!

Countdown...14 days til June 21st!

Disney - 3rd time!

So we are so spoiling Allie on her Disney trips! 

Nick is going to a conference in Tampa this fall and when Southwest open their flight schedule for November today...it was $100 cheaper to fly into Orlando over Tampa (distance btwn the two cities are 1.5 hours)...  $83/flight into Orlando vs $210/flight into Tampa...  So we decide to hit Orlando for the weekend before Nick's conference and take our two little girls to Disney!  Allie's 3rd and Baby W's 1st!  Hilton points are hooking us up with a rooms for free.  And we are hoping to get some Disney connections from Leigh's old co-workers.  LOVE when trips fall into our budget!!

I am SO excited for Allie to meet Mickey and Tinker Bell, her 2 favorite Disney characters :)

Disney November 2013!  The Wards are coming back!!

WOMEN!

"The moment I emerged from my mother's womb, however, my possibilities dwarfed those of my siblings, for I was a boy! And my brainy, personable, and good-looking siblings were not. My parents would love us equally, and our teachers would give us similar grades. But at every turn my sisters would be told -- more through signals than words -- that success for them would be "marrying well." I was meanwhile hearing that the world's opportunities were there for me to seize. " - Warren Buffett

http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/02/leadership/warren-buffett-women.pr.fortune/index.html

So I am usual not the feminist, but Warren Buffett wrote a very compelling article on WOMEN on where we were and where we are going!  I think it is awesome that we are giving the guys a run for their money on taking on more of those leadership positions in the workforce.  My company, Nelnet, has created lots of cool leadership training/groups for us women to focus on us advancing.  Love how more and more companies are realizing we are a huge asset to this society!

Who knows, this working mom thing, might be the calling I never thought I had!

10 days

I SURVIVED!

Nick went to beautiful Queenstown, New Zealand for 10 days, when I stayed home 30 weeks pregnant to hold down the fort with our almost 2 year old! 

The whole week leading up to the big trip, I was terrified to do this single parenting, but I do have to say, I made it! 

Allie I filled the days with going to the park SEVERAL times, going to her 1st friend's dance birthday party, visiting Will Metzen in Minneapolis, KS, and having a visit from Grandma Davison for a few nights.

With Nick being gone, it made myself be more up on my toes, so I got up earlier made sure I had all my ducks in a line, Allie/I made a good little team.  But one thing I know, by day 10 we both missed Nick a TON!  Allie was the cutest I have seen her when Nick walked up the jet way and saw her buddy, Dad.  I was in tears, of course.  She was beaming and "talking" up a storm with him trying to fill him in on all that he missed.  This little girl of ours is turning into quite the Daddy's girl.

One thing I know...next time Nick has one of these 10 day trips, we are going to make sure I am not pregnant and it becomes a family trip!

The countdown on the arrival of #2 is becoming closer and closer.  Can't believe in 2 months, we will be a family of four!

Little girl!

We found out today we are having another little GIRL!  We are both SO excited!!! I can’t believe Allie will have a SISTER.  I hope she is as close with Baby Girl W as I am with my lil sis,  calling her every day to discuss boys, gossip, life!  Sisters are the best friends you could ever ask for and so happy Nick and I are able to give this wonderful gift to Allie.

 

 

Now we all have to be patient with Nick, he will be operating in a foreign land.  After growing up in a home with all boys, he is in unchartered territories of Beauty Shop, Barbies, makeup, and fashion.   Nick is going to need my help with knowing how a girl's mind works.

 

I just see our future being played out in the classic scene when Nick will tell our girls, "You're not leaving this house dressed like that."  He will be ruining their fashion sense, but deep down they will know that their daddy just loves them.  It is going to be a minefield for Nick to know how to react to certain situations!  But knowing my Nick, he will rise to the occasion.  "Anyone can be a father, but it takes a good man to be a Dad," especially to all girls!  You know he will teach them how to play in the dirt, chop down trees, and work in the wood shop, all the little boys will love our girls at the rightful age of 22 :)

So cheers to adventure #2!  Wish us luck!!