She's up and running.....

McKenzie started an army crawl move about 4 weeks ago and now she is following me into each room I go into!

It's going by sooooo fast!

I promised my SIL (sis in law) I would post more pictures of McKenzie. I thought with finally having a girl I would be posting a picture every other day....but this is not the case! I consider it a good day if all of them manage to be changed, fed, and hugged a couple of times a day! My parents had 5 kids in 10 years, and now that we are on that same track I realize how tough that is. I thank my parents daily for their service and sacrifice. (It almost sounds like they went to war...in a way it probably was!)

Anyway, here is my sweet McKenzie a few days after birth...at home relaxing!
Here she is in her blessing dress. I was so excited to find this dress. Love it!
Here she is in her Halloween costume. She's a ladybug. She didn't get to debut it because she chose to handout candy to all the kids instead.
Here she is in one of my favorite outfits at 3 months
Here she is at about 5 months, just after a bath. I took this picture to send to Chris as he was in Washington D.C. at the time.
McKenzie has been so wonderful. She had a rough start for the first 1.5 months. She was very fussy anytime she was awake. Now she is so pleasant all of the time. She smiles at anyone who will look at her. She will even raise an eyebrow as she smiles to flirt a little. She loves the brothers to give her attention. In fact when they are not around she is a little disappointed.

She is now 15 lbs. She is about average in weight and height, and developing well. She just started to use her elbows to propel herself forward to reach a toy. I think she will be crawling soon. She rolls everywhere in the room and we often have to rescue her as she gets a leg or arm stuck under the couch or dresser. It is really fun having a girl. She has a cute little puff of hair on the back of the top of her head. She doesn't really cry very much. She is content most of the time and she loves to explore anything. It is a great blessing to have her and all our little children in our home. It seems only yesterday we brought Brody home and here we are with 4. Time is going by faster and faster each year it seems.

Our little girl finally arrived!

Sweet McKenzie Love Madill finally arrived on Monday, August 15 at 7:58 a.m. Here is the story.......

I went to the Dr. on Friday, August 12. She told me she wanted to induce me on Monday but I would need to spend the night at the hospital Sunday night to take a medication that is used for something else, but has a side effect that will help prepare me to go into labor. I wasn't close to being effaced so she said I couldn't just be given pitocin right off.

Well, that did not sound good to me so I told her I didn't want to be induced. She told me she would only wait until Wednesday at the most. Waiting any longer would increase the risk of losing the baby. I had a good friend that just lost her baby a couple of days before her scheduled c-section so that was very stressful to hear.

I prayed hard and asked others to pray as well that this little girl might come to us before the induction process on Wednesday. You may wonder why I didn't jump at the chance to be induced. I did, however, I was planning a natural delivery and I was afraid of getting pitocin because of the longer and more intense contractions. I knew I would probably need an epidural, but I didn't want an epidural because when I had one with Brody it was so difficult for me to push. I just knew as much pain as it is it would be better option to give birth without an epidural.

So, anyway, Sunday I had contractions all day, but this was nothing new. I had been having them for about 3 weeks. Lots of false alarms so I didn't think this would be it, until about 10 pm that night the contractions started to get considerably more painful. Then they started to come about 20 minutes apart. Then they started to get 10 minutes and sometimes 5. Well, I knew this was it! I was soooo excited. I thought YES!!! in 6 hours or so this would all be over and I would be looking at my sweet baby! I was nervous but I thought bring it on! Well, well, well, little did I know what I was in store for!

I told Chris due to my last 2 labor/deliveries, I think we should just go to the hospital. We never know what to expect. So, off we went about 3 am. We got checked in and I was only dilated to 3. I told the nurse I progress all at the end and really fast. We were admitted and all I wanted to do was get into the bathtub. That really takes the edge off the pain for me. The nurse was taking forever and then I started to shake really bad, like I was cold, but I wasn't. I was really hot in fact! She told me it was because I was transitioning so fast. I had really intensive contractions and was shaking for about 1 1/2 hrs. I felt like I never got to relax and rest in between each contraction. About 7:00 the doctor came in to check on me and I told her all I want to do is get into the tub. She said it's too late. I started to cry. She quickly said okay. So, I got in the tub and it didn't help at all! I felt such a deep feeling of despair. I didn't know how I was going to get through this. The last 2 times of childbirth the warm water was what helped me get up that steep hill. I told Chris I can't do this.

Suddenly I felt I needed to push and I felt ILL!!! I was so uncomfortable. (The feelings are all flooding back to me as I even write this!) I felt like I was a crazy woman. I was making strange noises. I felt like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. I felt like I was on some crazy drug and all I wanted to do was make it all stop. I couldn't sit, I couldn't lay, I couldn't stop moving my body, the pain was so intense. I remember the nurse trying to get me to hold still and telling me to not fight it and to just relax. My mind was a blur, but all of the sudden I felt this strong power within myself. I told myself, this has got to end and it has to end now. I just started to push and then I took one more breath and pushed again and McKenzie was born. Immediately the pain seized. I felt this calmness like never before. I was exhausted. More than I ever had before been. I couldn't even lift my arms to hold McKenzie. I could barely lift my head to look at her. She was beautiful and BIG! She was 10 lbs. 2 oz. !!!

It was the hardest thing I have had to endure. I just kept thinking I'm so glad that is over. I have since pondered that experience often. I have never before experienced that much pain and real suffering. I think of our Savior Jesus Christ and how much pain and suffering he had to endure for all of us. I think the most suffering for him might have been when he was left all alone, even his Father, our Heavenly Father had to leave him completely alone for him to perform the atonement for our sins. I know my suffering was not even close to that of the Saviors but I think about it from that perspective and how I was never left alone during that experience. In fact I think it caused me to feel a closeness to God that is tangible. I knew I was not alone and I had strength given to me from my Heavenly Father. He loves me as he loves all his children. What a blessing it is to be given the privilege of being a mother. I am grateful for the challenge it is to be a mother and how it is helping me to progress and giving me much joy.

10 lbs. 2 oz! She had an extra 10 days to pack on some chub. Unfortunately so did I!

Chase Madill (4 yrs)

Blake Madill (2 yrs)

Brody Madill (6 yrs)

Baby girl when will you come?

Well, it's been a long time, so there is much to update. I am up at 4am not because of contractions but because I just can't sleep! Yes, I am pregnant and am a week overdue. I was due August 6 and it's now the 11! I have never gone over my due date so this is frustrating. I am having a girl this time and she is already very stubborn. Chris says as soon as she makes her debut she is going to get a good spank! We are waiting waiting waiting!

In the mean time, the rest of our family is doing great. We have had a good summer with cousins and lots of playing. We have had a busy summer trying to get organized for this baby to come.

We sold the Chevelle! We painted our house. We bought a trampoline. We got a new computer after our other one finally died on us. We also got 6 months of food storage completed. The nursery is done, the house is in order, even the carpets are cleaned (a chore that I have on my list every month and never do!) Now, all we are doing is WAITING!!! Chris says to me, this is a good lesson for you. Patience, long suffering......I said, Don't. He says...I'm just teasing, wow. I said, I know, but it just makes me more mad, so just don't. Mental note: Don't tease a woman who is a week over her due date about anything.

So, here is a picture of the kids and cousins Olivia, Jack and Luke on our way down to the beach at Burfoot park. They love this park!

A new baby Girl!

My youngest brother Michael and his wife Emma had a litle girl the day after Thanksgiving. She is so cute. They named her Kate. I wonder what it would be like to have a girl?
Such a cute clan of McInelly's. Kate has two older brothers who will be oh so protective I'm sure. Mike said Jack, her oldest brother, talks about protecting Kate all the time. He's only 4, isn't that so cute!

The McInelly's get to come to Washington for the summer and we are soooo excited! Mike has an internship with Microsoft and so the whole family will be up here for a great Washington summer!

It's been a great fall!

I should've never written "hold me to this". That was just a preconceived notion...well not that I knew I would neglect our blog for this long, but life just happens and I wasn't very good at documenting on time. So I will attempt to catch up! We've had a wonderful fall starting with wonderful unprecidented sunny weather.
Here is Brody and Chase cheering Blake on while riding Chase's bike. Chase just took it upon himself that he was done with training wheels and basically taught himself how to ride in one day. After seeing the older boys doing it, Blake wanted to try it and do it just like the other boys.

Here are the kids in Chase's preschool. We went to Huntamer pumpkin farm. We do a co-op so every 6 weeks we host the kids at our house. It's really fun and all the kids are so cute.

We decided to try homeschooling this year with Brody. But he does go to a few classes at ORLA. It's a school run by the Olympia School District that is really organized for homeschooling families generally. Brody attends a reading class on Mondays, then an art and computer class on Wednesdays. He really enjoys it. Here he is on the playground between classes.

Kristi, my bestest friend since sophomore year of high school, and I decided to take a girl's trip. We drove up to Seattle and stayed in a hotel for a night without kids!!!! We shopped and ate (Cheesecake factory twice--I had the red velvet cheesecake 3 times! I actually brought a slice home to Chris but ate it before he could! It's shameful, but once you eat that cheesecake, you will understand!) The girls night out was sooooooooooooooo much fun! We laughed so hard and talked and talked and talked. Kristi is really like the sister I never had. I was telling Chris how I was a little embarrassed as I realized how quickly I fell back into that "single" phase....meaning, life was all about me and what I wanted. Anyway, reality hit when I came home and I hugged my kids and they said, "what did you bring me?" Ahhhh, nothing, but I have a lot of stuff I brought home for mommy! Hee heee! It was fun to be selfish for a day and a half! I told Chris I want to do it every fall. He said you should go more than that! Done! You heard it folks. It's documented. Chris was very good to take the kids for me and let me have a moment to myself. He's a great husband and father to our kids. I didn't worry about them for one minute. I knew they would be having a blast together.

A great fall....

Here we are the day before Thanksgiving with all this wonderful snow! Our kids were in heaven. After the snow was gone they kept pulling the sleds around anyway, and Brody says, "Mom, we need it to snow again!"

Cousin Olivia came down to play with us a couple of days before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving day was one of the best Holidays I've had so far since having kids. So, holidays are of course great, but with young children, sometimes holidays tend to be hectic and chaotic and anything but relaxing. This Thanksgiving Blake took a nap during the feast and the kids even let us finish most of our conversations! It was so much fun spending time with my family. I'm so thankful so many of us live close to eachother and it's possible for us to get together often and share traditions and great memories together. In this picture the kids are listening to every work Uncle Zack is saying.

Someone's going to get hurt....but luckily no one did. The kids had so much fun playing together. I love how each year there are more cousins coming to the family. I love a big family and having lots of cousins. The more people who love and care about you the better eh?

We took Brody and Chase to "Tangled" the Disney movie about Repunzel. It was VERY good. I highly recommend it. This is the best pic I had. Sorry Chase! We went the day after Thanksgiving and thanks to my mom, we didn't have to bring Blake who wouldn't sit still for any show. He's not into them yet.