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!

More fun photos

A few days ago, Maddie got a care package from Grandpa and Roberta. She had fun going through the clothes. Thanks guys!

With the weather finally warming up, we decided to get Maddie some bubbles. We had no idea she would enjoy them this much! Check out this video and these photos.....

Maddie found these things when we were cleaning out what will be Amelia's room. I got this coat for her before she was born...it is a 3-6 months from Children's Place and if the sleeves weren't so short, she would have worn it this winter. Someone mismarked this coat for sure!

Too much fun.....She isn't actually sleeping in the hallway. She was pretending because baby was tired.

Maddie posing for senior pictures.

Maddie decided to help Mommy grade some papers. She almost enjoyed trying to color on people's papers a bit too much.

Bathtime fun with Maddie

Since Maddie's hair isn't quite long enough to put up in a pony tail yet, Chuck had some fun styling her hair in the tub.

After her bath, she likes to wrap up in her towel and make the trek to her room. Thank goodness the bathroom is near by because sometimes she doesn't quite hold onto the towel!!

Our Big Kid

Ok, so it's the case right now that we don't post very often on here, but you have to understand that we're really busy now. Baby 2 is on the way in only 9 weeks, Madelyn is getting bigger (and faster), Jill is chasing the 5th and 6th graders, and I'm taking classes at IU (sorry, Boiler nation). That said - here's a post - mostly pictures of our beautiful girl.

Here's Maddie in her rainbow shirt, playing with Jill in the living room. Love that smile.

Maddie Lou in her favorite Dora PJ's. Love that Dora.

Playing outside in the nice weather last Sunday. Love that weather.

Check the video below - Jay Banning will like the music, it's his favorite song.

She's a Dancer!

Just some fun photos!

I figured I would put a few of the fun pictures we have gotten lately. As you can see, Maddie is a firecracker! We are looking forward to adding to the clan in May......by the way, we are thinking Amelia for her name!

Maddie eating breakfast with Daddy before we head to daycare.

Maddie thinks that anytime the fridge door is open, she needs to have a seat. Silly kid. This time she was having her apple there to keep it cold.

Cooking with Maddie.

This coat always akes us think of the famous phrase from A Christmas Story...."I can't put my arms down!"

And introducing the latest super hero, Captain Jimmy! Look for her comic books soon!

Boiler Up!

We decided to start Maddie off early and take her to her first Purdue weekend on campus January 19th. It is certainly time that she tries to match her daddy shirt for shirt that says Purdue on it. I don't know if Joe Tiller himself could beat that collection, however!

We spent Saturday afternoon at the Purdue vs. Illinois basketball game. Maddie started out great and really enjoyed all of the excitement, but around half time she had more interest in running around than staying in her seat. But, we tried it, she had fun and the Boilers won 74-67.
We headed back to the Union hotel on campus to check in and give Lou a nap. Actually, I think we all ended up napping for a bit. However, nothing could keep us from one of our favorite pizza haunts in West Lafayette: Bruno's! Maddie LOVES pizza, so we knew she would like this place.
After dinner we walked around the union. It is crazy how things can change in just 5 years. Wow, that makes us sound old, I suppose. For those that remember the Union, the food court area was completely redone and now includes several chain like restaurants including a cereal bar called Loops. Pappy's Sweet Shop was also redone and is a tremendous improvement our old days at Purdue!

On Sunday we had breakfast at Papa Shin's favorite restaurant: Christo's. We would go there when he would come down for a football game. Unfortunately we didn't get a snapshot before we left, but trust me dad, other than the decor, nothing has changed about that place!



It was a fun weekend. Below is a video of Maddie's favorite pastime on the trip. She found a "friend" to play with and got quite a kick out of it!

Christmas Day and after

Christmas morning we got up to find that Santa had come to see Maddie.




She really got into opening gifts at this point, which this video shows!




We spent Christmas day at Mammaw and Pappaw's.

This is way bigger than any of Maddie's sippy cups! It is actually for Chuck, but Maddie seems to like it.

Maddie really enjoyed the new bag Uncle Joe and Aunt Randi got her.





We left South Bend on the 26th (after a nice Barnaby's lunch with the family - a South Bend staple). We came home to get some painting and room moving. For those that hadn't heard, we are having another girl (with a due date of May 19th). We decided to move Maddie's room down the hall to a bigger bedroom and what was Maddie's room is now the office. The new baby will go in the middle bedroom, but we don't have any pics of that because we haven't quite decided on a color.

The office (directly across the hall from our room).

Maddie's room (the last room in the hall). It is a mauve color and looks so much more grown up. She did a great job of filling it with toys after Christmas and it is great for her to have enough space for everything!

Christmas - Part 1

We have been busy travelling this holiday season. We began in Grand Rapids the weekend before Christmas. Randi and her clan met up with us at Dad's for our celebration. The girls had fun being together and playing.

We then traveled to South Bend late in the afternoon on the 22nd. We spent Christmas eve with the Carnes family. The kids had a blast playing with all their new toys.

Maddie got a new shopping cart from Uncle Chris and Aunt Brandi. She likes to go "shopping" for things around the house. Her favorite blue light special to get are remote controls.

Maddie and Caitlyn "sharing".

While together, we celebrated Chuck's birthday. Maddie helped Daddy blow out his candles.