First Family Roadtrip

Our first family roadtrip came much sooner than we had planned for. Chuck's grandma passed away on the 18th, so we needed to go to South Bend for the funeral and all that goes with that. We left midmorning on Saturday and returned in the afternoon on Monday. It was a quick and busy trip, but the girls handled it all really well.

Maddie was content in the car with her DVD player. She watched Go, Diego, Go (Or Go Go and she calls him) pretty much the whole way there.

We let Maddie sit on my lap, Brittney Spears style, for a little while. Just kidding, of course. We had to stop in Argos and feed Amelia. Maddie enjoyed sitting up front with all the buttons.

On Monday we cooked out with Chuck's family. Maddie got to ride in a kayak with Daddy. She liked to try and row herself.

This is an up close look at Maddie in her Spideman life jacket. She really enjoyed wearing it!

A couple of cute pictures from around the house

These are just a few pictures we thought were cute.

Amelia got her first bath on Sunday May 18th. She did a pretty good job with the whole thing. We were surprised by how calm she acted towards the end of the bath.

Maddie is still enjoying being a big sister. She likes to be right there with sissy and gets REALLY excited when she gets to hold her.

Isn't this a sweet picture? Grandpa and Roberta sent this outfit and she happened to have just had her hair still in place.

Even though Amelia isn't sleeping in her room yet, she seems to be really comfortable and at home in her bed.

Jill's 28th birthday

Chuck did a great job of planning for my birthday. My mom was in town (who Maddie now calls Bugga rather than Grammy!) and watched the girls while we went to dinner. Chuck didn't tell me where we were going and we ended up at the Rathskeller downtown (which was appropriate since last year we were in Europe for my birthday). What he also didn't tell me is that several of our friends were meeting us as well! We had dinner and enjoyed catching up with everyone. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the whole group before some had to leave.

After that we went out to the Biergarten and listened to music and enjoyed some drinks. It was definitely a fun night!

Here is a picture of Bugga and Amelia. Thanks for taking such good care of our girls!!

Our first (official) family outing

Monday we took Amelia to the doctor for her 1 week check-up. She is back to her birth weight of 7 lbs and her cord has come off already! The Dr. was pleased with what she saw and Maddie enjoyed showing off her new sister. After that we ventured to Target for a few things.

However, our first official outing as a family came Tuesday. We packed up and headed downtown for lunch at the City Market. It was really nice to get out. We started out outside, but had to go inside because it was just a little too breezy.

We sat and had lunch....even Amelia who was ready to eat at this point.

Maddie ate her hotdog without the bun. However, when she was done, she began eating her bun and was calling it a burger. She really liked her "burger". This was a first!!

After lunch, Daddy let Maddie pick out a cookie. As always, she said "mmmm, good". She certainly is a daddy's girl!!

A visit from the cousins

The Cousins

Amelia got to meet her Gormong cousins for the first time today. We cooked out and played for several hours. Amelia slept through most of it, but it was a fun time!!

The girls had a fun time playing today. We had a few minor sharing problems, but overall it went well! Imagine what it will be like when Amelia and Rebekah join in!

Rebekah makes the GREATEST facial expressions. We were calling this her "old man" face. Too cute!!

We need to get a boy in this crew......

Welcome home!

Our first family photo!!

Maddie continues to enjoy her sissy. She came to the hospital Wednesday in her "Big Sister" t-shirt and asked immediately about her sissy. She and Grandma spent a few hours with us in the morning. Aunt Randi brought lunch and visited with me while Chuck went home with Maddie and his mom for a little while.

We were released from the hospital on Thursday around noon. It was a weird sight to see 2 carseats in the back of the car! Amazing how fast we managed to fill up the Envoy!!

It was really good to get home. Maddie likes to be right there with Amelia to "help". As you can see, she has been practicing on her babies to be ready to help!

Our first night was busy. Amelia didn't want to be put down to sleep (although she will during the day, go figure!). She has had a good day today and we will try and get a little more sleep tonight!

Happy Birthday Amelia Ruth Carnes

Somehow it has been 2 months almost since our last post. Things have been so crazy that it takes the birth of a baby to make us update this thing!!


Tuesday, May 6 we welcomed Amelia Ruth to the Carnes crew. As with Madelyn, this was a little earlier than planned, but only by a week (We had been scheduled for induction on the 12th). We had what we thought would be a routine visit to the Dr. Monday. We soon found out Jill's blood pressure was up a little and since she was 38 weeks, she would be put on the schedule for induction Tuesday morning.


We spent Monday night at the hospital. They began the induction at 7:30 followed by the epidural at 10. At 11:30 we pushed (only 3 sets of 3 pushes, might I add) and at 11:54 we had a healthy 7 lb. baby. Amelia was very cooperative and made this (dare we say) almost too easy.

This experience has been completely different than what we had with Madelyn. She has been able to spend all of her time with us and we will only be spending 2 nights here in the hospital. We are so thankful to have things go this way for Amelia (and of course ourselves).

Maddie has been staying at our house with Grandma (Carnes). They came up after naptime Tuesday to meet her new sissy. She LOVED the baby. She held, hugged, kissed, poked, fed, and even tried to tickle Amelia. It will be interesting to see how she reacts when this new baby comes home with us for good.

We will continue to add pictures and updates as we can. For now, enjoy these couple of videos!