More Details

Matt's Grandmother wanted more detail on the choosing of the kids names, so here it goes! You do not have to read this if you are not interested or you already know!

Madsen Nicholas: My maiden name, I only have sisters as does my father, so there is no continuation of the Madsen
name on our side. Nicholas is Matt's mother's maiden name. He is all last names!

Sullivan Matthew: We were reading the credits off of tv shows looking for a good name. The production company for
Dr Quinn was the Sullivan Production company. Matt said, "how about Sullivan?" I quickly replied,
" I will not name my son Sullivan." Well, we never came up with anything else. Now I do like
his name. The Matthew is pretty self explanitory!

Declan Erick: Matt was in Grad School when Declan was born. There was a man in the lab from Ireland so Matt asked
for list of Irish names that you do not hear in America and Declan was on the list. I just thought it was
cool. The Erick is shortened from Erickson which is my maternal grandmother's maiden name. His name
is my favorite. I just really like the way it sounds.


Cannon Braithwaite: I read a family history story and a man who helped my ancestors off the boat when the first
met up with the Mormon saints last name was Cannon. No real signifigance, I just thought
Cannon would make a neat name that was not common. The Braithwaite is Matt's paternal
grandfather's middle name which is his mother's(?) maiden name. I used it as a bargaining
tool to get Cannon, Matt wanted Calvin. But, his name sounds nice put together!

Waverly Maris: I heard the name Waverly when we watched The Joy Luck Club when I was pregnant with Madsen.
I thought it was so pretty! It was one of 2 girl names that remained on the list of useable names all
the years of having boys! We now know a Waverly, and I am glad that I liked her and she did not
ruin the name for me! She is not named after crackers, designer fabric, a shopping center, a general
or a Disney tv show! The Maris is shortened from my mother's name, Damaris.

Now you know all you could ever dream of knowing about the selection of our childrens names! Maybe some day the kids (still trying to get used to not just saying the boys) will appreciate the full story!

Too Fast

I am watching Waverly grow way too quickly. She is only 2 1/2 months old and already so much bigger than she was. She looks big in her carseat and I had to buy bigger onesies and today I went through her clothes to take out the things that are now too small. I just don't think these things should happen so soon. She has so many cute clothes that she has only worn a couple of times. I do not know what I am going to do with them. I have a friend who has 4 boys and 1 girl and she said she saved all of Mary's clothes to give to her when she has kids. I am not sure I can hang on to things for 20 years. I could be really helpful to a family in need with all my brand new/hardly used girl stuff. I have a pretty good supply of things 9-18 months thanks to friends, so I guess I will just shop for 3-9 month sizes. When the boys were little I would be so anxious for mile stones to happen. Now I want her to stay little. Maybe because I know time flies by and she will be in school before I can blink. I want to enjoy her tinyness for awhile. I wonder why they have to get big so fast. She is a very snuggly baby and it is so fun to hold her. I hope she will still snuggle when she is bigger. Cannon picks her up and carries her all around (without permission). It won't be long before she is too big for him to carry. Maybe that is a good thing.

When Waverly goes to kindergarten, Madsen will be a senior in high school. That is a little difficult to think about. Those years until kindergarten just fly by. I can imagine her that old. I can not wrap my head around Madsen being that old.

Babies are just so cute and sweet when they are tiny, it just is for such a short time. I plan to enjoy every minute of it this time and not wish time away.

What's in a name

I think choosing a name for a baby is very difficult. We want names that are unique without being crazy. People are always asking me how we came up with the boys (and girl) names so I go through the story. Madsen is my maiden name, Sullivan we got off tv, yes, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, but not from the character Sully, Declan from the Irish friend in Grad school and Cannon from a family history story and Waverly from the Joy Luck Club. Waverly is the name in question now. In Cary, a neighboring town, there is a shopping center named Waverly Place. There is a teenage girl who used to be in our ward named Waverly and there is the general in White Christmas whose last name is Waverly. People out here think I either named her after a shopping center or our friend. Not the case. I heard it in the movie when I was pregnant with Madsen 13 years ago and loved it, I just never got the chance to use it until now. Now you know where I got all my kids names. And just so you know, they all have a family name too, mostly middle names.

Now we move on to nick names. Waverly has many. Mostly we call her Waves or Wavie. Matt calls her Snortlenose Toot Bottoms. She snores and toots, a lot! Not something she will want to be remembered for. Sully calls her Princess Poop, she had a leaky poop diaper while he was taking care of her. She has also been called Little Miss, Sweetie Love, Sugar Booger, Princess, Nilla Wafers and accidently, Buddy ( some habits are hard to break).

Follow up and insurance issues

My mystery disease turned out to be pneumonia. I have done 2 rounds of antibiotics with 3 different drugs. I also ended up with double ear infections. The good news is my blood oxygen levels are normal, I no longer breathe like a smoker. My ears are good and my lungs are clearing. I feel fine, but I do not think I will be out running races any time soon, darn it! The really good news is I lost nearly 15 pounds during the ordeal and I am now under my pre-pregnancy weight. The challenge will be to keep the jump start and lose the last few pounds I would like to lose. I am grateful for doctors and health insurance and that I am normally healthy. Sully is the only other person who got sick. He had my same symptoms, fever not as high, but it did not turn into pneumonia for him, thanks to being young and again, normally healthy. He did miss a week of school. His friends were worried that he dropped off the face of the earth and the girls at the bus stop with crushes on him having been staring into the car looking for him. I am sure all were relieved to see him back.

As grateful as I am for health insurance, I sure wish it was not such a pain! When Matt started his new job we chose one plan that was relatively inexpensive and would get us through the birth of Waverly the easiest. That plan was to end on December 31 and the new plan we chose during open enrollment would take over. Should be simple. When Matt called to add Waverly to the insurance they changed everything back to last years plan without us knowing. I have used the new cards for all my recent appointments plus the boys flu shots. I am hoping it will be covered. I am afraid the old cards may have been used too. I don't think the pediatrician has even filed all Waverly's early care, which happened prior to December 31, so should be covered with last years plan. I keep getting bills from the pediatricians office. I also recently got a $200 bill for an ER visit that was follow up care from 2 previous ER visits. The claim was denied because they did not deem it an emergency. It was not! I was told to go back to the ER for follow up. Now I get to battle the insurance over that one. I even got a paper in the mail from Blue Cross that a claim was filed for Madsen's flu shot. We have not had BC since August! So the pediatricians filed that one to the wrong company! Needless to say, I am heading to the pediatrician tomorrow to try to explain my issues and get everything worked out.

Matt did get a message from the benefits people that they changed everything back to the new plan we chose. I just hope everything gets paid for!

Maybe socialized medical care won't be so bad! Just kidding!

Fever!

I have had a high fever for over a week now. It is getting really frustrating. I go from freezing cold, shaking to sweating as if I was running a race. My body is sore and weak. My hair is stringing and my skin is dry. The only good thing is I have lost 10 pounds. back down to pre-pregnancy weight, and the fat roll I have been fighting since Cannon was born is gone. I went to the doctor on Monday and she said it is not the flu and my lungs are clear so not pneumonia. I guess it is nice to know what it is not, but I would sure like to know what it is! I am on antibiotics so it would kill any bacteria, which means it must be viral! Matt and our home teacher gave me a blessing on Sunday and I was told I would be healed. He also told me to learn what the Lord wants me to learn from this. Am I supposed to learn that it is ok to have a disgustingly diry house, because I have one! Am I supposed to learn to let people serve me? friends have brought over 3 meals, taken Cannon for me and one even scrubbed my kitchen floor. If I am supposed to re-learn gratitude for a healthy body I am grateful! I guess we have opposition in all things for a reason. Maybe I am just supposed to learn how little control I really have. Matt and the big boys have been wonderful. Poor Matt, has to come home and try to do my work too and it is harder than he thinks. He is looking forward to my parents arrival, knowing that my mom can take over mom jobs. The boys have been really good about helping too. I think we are all looking forward to this ending so life can resume some sense of normalcy!

Left Sock Thiever!

I always put socks on Waverly's little feet. She seems to like them. I guess it feels good to have warm feet! Cannon is always taking them off. I find little tiny socks on the floor multiple times a day. He always has an explanation like, " I took them off so I could do this little piggy" or I hear him sing songing ( yes , I know this is not a real word) , " tiny toes, tiny toes, I love tiny toes" and I know the socks are off. He will come into the room and ask if I put socks on her. The answer is always yes and he proceeds to take the socks off. He tickles her toes and he kisses her toes and he talks about how cute her tiny toes are and he does this little piggy. Sometimes he just takes the socks off, throws them and runs away. I found a little sock just a few minutes ago. Cannon is in bed so it must have been a run by de-socking. That is when the song left Sock Thievers came into my head. I looked and it was the left sock!

For everyone other than Tam and Sheila, we had a Dr. Seuss Songs tape when we were young with a song called Left Sock Thievers. I can not remember all the words, just the part that says left sock thievers are coming into town, and don't ever let them catch you... with your left sock down!

Wii loved Christmas

The boys were so excited once they figured out what was in the pile of packages. I think opening everything else was just a means to the end! They did enjoy and appreciate all the gifts they received. This one just kind of trumped everything for them this year. As you can see, once everything was opened an admired, we headed straight to Wii set up and this is how we spent the rest of the day. Waverly was thrilled. She slept through the whole thing. My favorite gifts are Waverly's blessing dress that my mother crocheted. It is beautiful! and the photo of me on my grandpa Martindale's lap at the beach ( I am maybe 3) that Matt printed and framed for me. It was a good Christmas. It seemed to me that everyone scaled down this year and I really liked it. The gifts from grandparents were clothes and books. What could really be better? I liked the simplicity of it and the boys seemed to like it too. I kept thinking that we scaled back too, since the only thing we did was the Wii, but is that really scaling back?