My 30th Birthday Derby Surprise!

Last night Clint told me we were going over our friend Trip and Lori's house to watch the derby since I wasn't going to be able to make it to KY to celebrate my big 30!  I was looking forward to seeing them and bringing lil Maci to hang out =)  Once we got there, I thought things seemed a little quiet but then when I got inside I saw friends that had pulled a nice surprise for me!!  My best friend Christie and my work husband Jim both came into MN just for my birthday!!!  We had so much fun watching the derby, eating pulled pork sandwiches and drinking mint juleps!!  I didn't win on the horse bet but it was so much fun!!!  We even had the Cold Stone Creamery cake that I had mentioned to Clint months ago.  Even though my real 30th isn't until Tuesday, this sure made my 30th start off on a GREAT foot!!!

Today, we went to brunch at Cafeteria in uptown with Trip, Lori, Jim, Christie, Clint, Maci and I - so fun and yummy!  Christie, Clint and I then walked around uptown for a bit before coming home for a quick nap.  Tonight we are celebrating Cinco De Mayo by eating at Rojo and drinking margaritas =)  This was such a fun surprise to have friends from out of town to celebrate this nice weekend with!!

This will be another busy work week but I cant wait to see what Clint has in store for my official 30 on Tuesday :-)

 God Mommy Christie & Maci

 Best of Buds & Maci Girl Eating her Arm

 Jim & Baby Maci!

Best Derby Birthday Party Throwers Ever!!

Trip & Lori

 Yummy Birthday Cake!!

My Awesome Sign!!

Toy Shopping!!

Maci girl has needed some toys for a 2-4 month old baby so what Maci needs/wants, Maci gets!!  =)

Clint and I took Maci out for a few hours to find some developmentally appropriate toys for our lil lady.  We got a few things for her (baby crinkle paper, gripping ball, rings etc) but we also found this amazingly soft puppy toy that attaches to your pacifier.  You cant use it at night, suffocation concerns, but it is great for during the day to soothe her now that she wants to grab and cuddle with everything. 

Check out what we think is sure to be her new favorite toy!!

NO MORE BRACE!!!

On Tuesday, Maci and Clint went for an afternoon ultrasound to check Maci's hips 2 1/2 weeks from the last appointment.  I was quite anxious as we are all at our wits end with the darn brace.  Then on Wednesday morning we went to an appointment with her ortho specialist and GREAT news the hips are normalized!!!  Maci is now out of the brace!!!  In order to ween her out of it, she will wear it to bed for 3 weeks but then no more :)  Daycare was quite happy to see her without the brace too and they said she has been so much happier the rest of the week!  Our little girl is now a wiggle machine!!

We will go back in July (2 months) for a base line X ray and then she will get checked around 1 year and then about every year until age 8 or so.  This is just to ensure they would never revert back but the ortho said 99% stay normalized and she doubts Maci would have any issues since she is so strong and has good joints!!!!  Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh SOoooooooooooooo Happyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

SUNNY MINNEAPOLIS

Today we had 75 degree weather!!!!  Wahoo and about time.  Before I head to bed, I just want to share some cute pictures of Maci on our walk around the lake and then Maci & I playing on a blanket in the front yard while Clint did some yard work!  What a great weekend it was :-)

 

Maci's First Baby Sitter - Mommy & Daddy Head Out!!

Tonight Clint and I had a wedding to go to!  My friend Lindsey from Cargill (HR Development Program) was getting married.  Our wonderful neighbors behind us offered to watch Maci so we had our first date night out post Maci!!  Maci loved her time with the neighbors and we loved our time out with adults!!  Enjoy some pics of our cutie pre-wedding and me post cocktails :-)  At the end of the night, we all couldn't wait to get back together again!!

Maci is 3 Months

Life has been very hectic in the Mondell house, which we knew it would be once I was back to work.  I came back to work during the busiest time of the year for my job.  However, I am balancing everything to the best of my ability and Clint has been awesome.  With all the hub bub going on, we almost missed Maci's 3 month birthday!!  However, with a cutie like this how could you miss such a fun day?!

Summary of the Past Month
* Maci still loves her hands and pacifiers
* She is around the high 9lb mark, almost 10lb
* Little lady loves to roll around, especially without the brace - we worry she will be crawling by month 4 at this rate :)
* She smiles with a HUGE open mouth
* Clint's voice seems to get the most smiles
* Her brace is hopefully almost off!!
* She is eating 6oz every 4 hours and sleeps almost through the night with one quick fuss around 230 almost every night
* Our new favorite activity is taking walks on spring days with Maci and Boomer

Enjoy our animated little lady!! 

Mommy Back to Work

Thursday finally arrived and I have to say I did GREAT!!!  I cried once putting Maci in her clothes and then only teared up while putting my shoes back on when leaving her room.  Once I got back in the car with Clint to head to work, I was super excited to see my work friends and get back into the swing of things.  Work is CRAZY busy right now, which I knew it would be since this is the HOT compensation season.  Friday was a bit nutty and I did quite a bit of work this weekend.  That will not be the norm as I will ensure I have balance but I had to get back in the swing of things and help with some outstanding questions.  I am doing very well with daycare and that is mainly because Maci is doing so well with it. 

Friday after work we had some fun!  Clint and Maci went to a daddy and me class at the same place I went to mommy and me.  They offer it one night a month and it is a one time only thing.  This was a plan the Mommy's from my class cooked up.  We figured we would send the dads and babies to this class and we then went to a nearby restaurant for appetizers and drinks!!!  All the Mommy's then swung by to pick back up their hubby's and babies.  We sure have made some great friends through this class :-)

Saturday we had some fun plans with our friends Trip and Lori.  They had all three of us over for make your own pizza night.  They are such good hosts and cooks.  However, we had to leave earlier than we use to since we now have a baby that wants to go to bed and fills her pants causing everyone to hold their noses HAHA

Enjoy some pictures of Maci's first day of "school" =)

Lots of Love,
C, K & M