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It's Another Girl!
We were expecting a second daughter by August 13th, but had to wait a few extra days or her to get here. After unexpectedly going into labor after a routine appointment, we welcomed "Baby Girl" on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008. She was 7 pounds, 5 ounces and 19 inches in length. She had lots of dark hair. We know that we had 9 whole months to prepare and to choose a name, but hadn't decided on a name for her by the time she was born. Not wanting to be pressured into choosing a name before we were ready, we opted to leave the hospital without a name for her. We bounced around a few ideas over the course of a month, finally narrowing it down to three, then two, then one name. We decided to sleep on the name, then woke up with a completely different
name: Kelsie Madison. And that's what we're calling her. Matt wanted to be able to name her after his grandmother, Elsie, so we put a K in front of it to make Kelsie. Interestingly enough, by changing the spelling of Kelsie from the more conventional -ey ending, it changed the meaning of the name from "from Ceol's island" to "chalk landing place". Not a very exciting meaning to her name, so we'll just tell her she was named after her grandmother instead. Madison, though, means "son of Matthew". Not a boy, but we liked it. All in all, she cute and we think her name is, too. I guess we'll keep her.
Sam is quite fond of her baby sister. We frequently hear her pronouncing in a sing-song, high pitched voice, "My baby sister is so cute!" She loves to cuddle with her and help in any way she can with the baby. She
helps get new diapers and changing supplies and will 
run upstairs to retrieve new clothes or blankets for baby sister. Sometimes, it seems like Sam forgets that she is not a baby anymore. She is terribly fascinated with all of the baby toys and clothes, insisting that when she is a baby, she will wear those clothes or play with that toy. She seems a but hazy on the idea of growing older and bigger, not younger and smaller.
We are thrilled to have two, beautiful daughters and for all the unexpected surprises they seem eager to share.
This summer after I finished with school, I wanted to make sure Sam and I got to do something special every day. She wanted to do some fun things and I knew that once Baby Sister arrived, Sam would suddenly have to share her time with Mommy. We made a calendar of activities for every month and Sam got to choose activity stickers and decide where to put them on the calendar. We went to museums, the library, picnics at the park, made a painting, and played games together.
One of her favorite things to do is to go to the Children's Discovery Museum. During the summer, we took the "train" (lightrail) to get to the museum. On the train, Sam would list all of the things she wanted to do when we got there--play with the bubbles, see Alice in Wonderland, climb on the red dragon, make a straw doll, and play in the water. She has become so familiar with the museum that she remembers what comes next in her list of things to do and makes sure we accomplish everything she listed while on the train. After visiting the exhibits, we ate our picnic lunch in the park before getting back on the train to come home again. On a couple of our visits, Sam got to invite a friend to come along.
Sam created a painting for Daddy one day while Matt was on a scouting trip near Tahoe. She had a great time choosing paint colors and putting the pain on the canvas. I gave her a few pointers on when to get more paint or how to hold the brush, but didn't help her with the artwork at all (which was hard not to intervene sometimes). 
She got really good at k
nowing when to dip the brush in the paint again, announcing, "It's getting a little scratchy." She was so proud of the finished masterpiece that she wanted to put it up where Daddy would see it.
Sam took "swimming lessons" this summer and enjoyed spending time in the water. It was a toddler class in a shallow pool, but got her used to being in the water and not being so afraid of getting into the water and splashing and getting her face wet. She loved playing with the toys, especially the "squirty fish" and rubber duckies. Her teachers were encouraging and Sam really liked them. On the last day of the two-week session, she got to go down the water
slide with her teacher.
We were expecting a second daughter by August 13th, but had to wait a few extra days or her to get here. After unexpectedly going into labor after a routine appointment, we welcomed "Baby Girl" on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008. She was 7 pounds, 5 ounces and 19 inches in length. She had lots of dark hair. We know that we had 9 whole months to prepare and to choose a name, but hadn't decided on a name for her by the time she was born. Not wanting to be pressured into choosing a name before we were ready, we opted to leave the hospital without a name for her. We bounced around a few ideas over the course of a month, finally narrowing it down to three, then two, then one name. We decided to sleep on the name, then woke up with a completely different
name: Kelsie Madison. And that's what we're calling her. Matt wanted to be able to name her after his grandmother, Elsie, so we put a K in front of it to make Kelsie. Interestingly enough, by changing the spelling of Kelsie from the more conventional -ey ending, it changed the meaning of the name from "from Ceol's island" to "chalk landing place". Not a very exciting meaning to her name, so we'll just tell her she was named after her grandmother instead. Madison, though, means "son of Matthew". Not a boy, but we liked it. All in all, she cute and we think her name is, too. I guess we'll keep her.
helps get new diapers and changing supplies and will 
run upstairs to retrieve new clothes or blankets for baby sister. Sometimes, it seems like Sam forgets that she is not a baby anymore. She is terribly fascinated with all of the baby toys and clothes, insisting that when she is a baby, she will wear those clothes or play with that toy. She seems a but hazy on the idea of growing older and bigger, not younger and smaller.
