World's Cutest Easter Bunny Lives Here!

World's Cutest Easter Bunny Lives Here!

Uhhhh, somebody loves Elmo, eh?

Uhhhh, somebody loves Elmo, eh?

"Bye Bye Everybody. Thanks for coming to play with me today."

"Bye Bye Everybody. Thanks for coming to play with me today."

This Year's Winner of "Best Dressed Baby on Earth Award."

This Year's Winner of "Best Dressed Baby on Earth Award."

"Time to go outside and Play"

"Time to go outside and Play"

Maddie Loves petting her much furrier sister

Maddie Loves petting her much furrier sister

Bella made a new friend on her stayover during Easter

Bella made a new friend on her stayover during Easter

Snowbound with her puppy

Snowbound with her puppy

Is it too soon to use the "Careful or your face is going to freeze like that" bit?

Is it too soon to use the "Careful or your face is going to freeze like that" bit?

Bella needed some of her own face time

Bella needed some of her own face time

Maddie's First School Portrait

Maddie's First School Portrait

What Are You Lookin' At?! ...So what if I'm wearing a Christmas tutu.

What Are You Lookin' At?! ...So what if I'm wearing a Christmas tutu.

"Oh My God, This is Exactly what I wanted!!!"

"Oh My God, This is Exactly what I wanted!!!"

Friday, June 3, 2011

The "Maddieish" to English Dictionary for June 2011

It really is amazing to ponder the concept of "Life" itself, isn't it? Especially when your start in this world has you resting in an isolette with tubes and wires covering 75% of your 2 pound and 2 ounce body. As parents you feel blessed each and every morning that you get to hear the gentle cries of your greatest treasure waking up in her crib......okay, Maddie's cries aren't all that gentle anymore. In fact, they're not all that dissimilar from a group of alley cats fighting over an empty can of tuna fish in a trash can....with a rabid badger hiding in it.....on top of an overly caffeinated wolverine with attention deficit disorder...You get the point, she's loud! For a little girl, she's got a set of lungs on her! Anyway, when she's not using those lungs to gather our attention quite so urgently she's really starting to talk up a storm these days. There are a couple of words that she's got down pat like "mama", "hi", and "bye." Beyond that she has a few words that seem to be the beginning of her very own language. Let's call it an English/Maddie hybrid or "Maddieish." Here are some examples:

"Hiyo!"-- Seems like this is her much cuter version of the English word "Hello." Either that or she's been up late watching reruns of "The Tonight Show" when Johnny Carson hosted.

"Elma"-- Usually the word of choice these days for her #1 Man, Elmo. In Maddie's world Elmo has achieved somewhat of a God-Like status. So, much the same way God has many other names like "Yaweh", "Mohammed", "Buddha", "Bellichick", etc., so does Elmo. He has also been referred to as "Yaya" and "Dada" Other Sesame Street Terms include "Cuyo" for Cookie Monster, "RoRo" for Grover, "BaBa" for Big Bird, and "Oiyo" for Earnie.

"Dada"-- Almost used as a noun, verb, adjective or any word to describe anything really. Kinda like the way the smurfs used "smurf." BTW- anyone realize they're making a live-action "Smurf" movie?! Further proof once again that Hollywood really does not have any more original ideas. What's next "Cop Rock The Movie?" Of course all this leads up to the most important question of all..."Who will play Smurfette?" The answer-- Katy Perry. I do need to say that Hank Azaria as Gargumel lends some shred of credibility to the project, not much though. Oddly enough, the Maddieish word "Dada" can be used literally in any sentence except when referring to her actual Dada. She will often point to something as inanimate as a lamp post and call it "Dada." But for some reason never when pointing at me.

"Doooooo!" Evidentally this is some sort of official battle cry. A lot of the time she'll let out a big ol' "Doooooooo!" while triumphantly holding up something she's not supposed to have high in the air like a remote control or ipod or something.

"Doo-Doo!" ....not what you think it would mean, luckily. It's really just an exceptional form of the prior mentioned "Doooooo!" Usually it's saved for such special occasions and superbly victorious moments as tipping over the dog's water dish. That one is a particular favorite of mine.

I hope to add a list of new Maddieish terms soon. For now, enjoy the updated pics and in the meantime of course, Go Bruins!!!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas Maddie!

Hard to believe it was one year ago on December 25th when Amy and I got the greatest Christmas Present we could have ever hoped for. Yep, Christmas 2009 turned out to be a story that will forever be told in our family. It started off as typically wonderfull and comforting as always. We woke up happy and healthy, opened our presents, enjoyed a relaxing and tasty breakfast and then......the phone rang. And our lives would never be the same. The greatest adventure of our lives was about to begin and we were soon to be blessed with more life and love in our hearts than we ever thought possible. After one frantic phone call, a five hour ride to Bangor Maine full of nervous excitement, one Christmas Dinner consisting of Peanut Butter Sanwiches in the car, and a heart-pounding, life-defining walk to the 7th floor Nicu of Eastern Maine Medical Center we met the most beautiful, special, and amazing Christams Present imaginable. Little Madeline Grace was waiting for us. All 2.2 pounds of her was quietly waiting in her isolette more perfect than we ever dreamed. This Christmas she'll be weighing in a full 15+ pounds heavier and celebrating her first birthday on Christmas Eve. Maddie is crawiling, saying "Mama" and "Dada", has an unusual fixation on the dog's bowls and isists on tipping them over, waves "hi" and "bye", and can clap her cute little hands together. Next up, I'm working on getting her to raise her hands in the air when I say "TOUCHDOWN!" Hopefully, we'll have that down by the time the playoffs start. The way the Pats are playing these days, she should have plenty of practice.

Merry Christmas Everybody! Love Dave, Amy, Maddie, and Bella.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Nashua Caissies 2010 List of Things We are Truly Grateful For

-Al Gore....Well, he did invent the internet didn't he?! Okay I doubt it too, but whoever it was that facilitated the ability for the common citizen to access The World Wide Web, Thank You. Because of you, Amy and I were able to find each other on Match.com, literally the best thing we ever did.

-Keanu Reeves. Thank you for not making a "major" motion picture since 2008 now I believe. If only we could go back in time and put someone with some actual talent for his role in "Dracula" we may actually have a damned good movie there. Was Johnny Depp not a "no-brainer" for that role?

-MAPS Worldwide. The adoption agency that helped Amy and I realize our dream of being parents and made it become a reality. It has been the greatest adventure of our lives and it all began the day before last Thanksgiving when they called us to say we had been chosen by Madeline's birthparents. The first of many unforgettable moments for us. The Holiday Season will always be even more special for us from now on and it all started last Thanksgiving.

-Memere's Meat Stuffing. I missed it last Christmas...albeit with good reason. But this Thanksgiving I am coming to dinner with two years worth of empty belly ready, willing, and able for it. Beware anyone that gets in between Me and Memere's Meat Stuffing this Thanksgiving, I will bite....or at least I'll try to distract you with a REALLY cute baby!

-All our friends and family who not only supported us throughout the process of bringing our Christmas Angel home, but also continue to love and support her so very much.

-The entire NICU Staff on the 7th floor at Eastern Maine Medical Center, especially to Maddie's primary care nurses Debbie and Julie. Because of you all, our little Maddie Bug is now a happy, healthy thriving 11 month old baby, who is laughing, loving, crawling, and well on her way to eating us out of house and home...seriously, this girl can eat! Maddie would rather have meatloaf and mashed potatoes than Similac anytime already! We hope someone out there is reading this because not a day go's by that we don't remember the unbelievaly great care our little 2 pound and 2 ounce Christmas Angel was given there. We've never seen a more attentive, smart, and genuinely caring group of people at work. Throughout our 5 week stay you continuosly anwered our questions, eased our fears, and made us feel as close to home as possible. We are truly thankful for the amazing start little Madeline was given because of you. You are all Wonderful!

- Amy and I will be forever grateful to Madeline's Birthparents. There is truly no expression that could ever accurately describe our eternal gratitude to two of the strongest, most selfless, loving, and caring people we will ever know. We will sit at the dinner table this Thanksgiving and every year hereafter with you in our deepest hearts and minds. Thank You for the greatest gift we could have ever hoped for. We love you.

- Madeline Grace Caissie...Wow!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Top 10 List of Things Fatherhood has Taught Me....So Far.

#10 Poopie can come in a virtual rainbow of colors, including a disturbingly vibrant yellow!

#9 Eight Hours of Sleep- Once a recommended daily total can also serve as a goal for the week. There's not really a big drop off except I tend to forget a lot of things now.

#8 Coffee is quite simply the world's greatest invention. The wheel and refrigeration are vastly overrated in my opinion, kinda like Peyton Manning.

#7 There is truly no such thing as an article of baby clothing that isn't ridiculously cute, especially anything containing bunnies, pandas, or puppies.

#6 Eight Hours of Sleep- Once a recommended daily total can also serve as a goal for the week. There's not really a big drop off except I tend to forget a lot of things now ;P

#5 Dick Cheney was somebody's baby once!...scary to think of the hellspawn of The Emperor from Star Wars and Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life as someone's baby...and why are we still giving half a crap about what he has to say anyway?!

#4 I can and have now actually fallen asleep while sitting up and in the middle of a conversation... Dad would be so proud :)

#3 I never thought I would use the words, "Smell This." quite so often.

#2 Babies can belch really, really loud.

#1 "It's a Maddie Maddie World" and Amy and I feel like the luckiest people in the world to be living in it! We LOVE our Maddie Bug!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Twas The Night Before Christmas!

....And not a creature was stirring.....or was there?! Yes, Amy and I may have gone to bed with visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads that night, but little did we know that in a land far far away (Bangor, ME) Madeline Grace Caissie had been born. Officially she made her entrance to this world around 10:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve and at approximately 10:30 a.m. Christmas Morning the phone rang at our house with that "207" area code. Only instead of the response being "Hello?!....Oh, it's you...", it was more like "Hello?! OH MY GOD REALLY??!!" Needless to say, I didn't need an interpreter to tell me something serious regarding our adoption plan was going on. If hearing the excitement in Amy's voice on the phone wasn't enough, watching her tremble with anticipation definitely provided me with the verification I needed to realize THIS WAS GOING TO BE BIG NEWS!

Can anyone explain to me exactly what the appropriate response would be to such a phone call? One that tells you the birthmother who selected you as adoptive parents gave birth to a baby girl at just 2 pounds and 2 ounces on Christmas Eve when you had just about no inclination whatsoever as to such an event occurring? All the while telling you to pack your bags as soon as you can, to get to Bangor, Me for an undeterminable amount of time until you can take your new baby girl home? Well, if the answer is run around like two chickens with their heads cut off, throwing virtually the entire contents of a 1000 sq. ft. ranch home into 2 or 3 suitcases while experiencing every emotion from infinite bliss and excitement to an overwhelming sense of panic, fear, and maybe even a tad of self-induced nausea.....then Amy and I nailed it!!!

5:00 p.m. Christmas Day 2009-- We arrive at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, ME full of all the emotions I just described and a whole lot more. Not knowing what to expect at all, we were greeted in the hospital lobby by our birthmother's counselor from our Adoption Agency, Kristen. She took us to the 7th floor and proceeded to lead us to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Seeing that Amy and I hadn't actually expected to be able to see the baby, we were once again overcome with all the same emotions and maybe a slightly intensified feeling of said self-induced nausea. Well, how quickly all those feelings were replaced with all the unconditional love either of us could ever imagine as we gazed into the isolette of Madeline Grace.

7:00 p.m. January 7, 2010-- I'm writing this blog entry shortly before we plan to go see Our Christmas Angel once again. Madeline is officially 2 weeks old today. Except for one bad weekend where she gave us a little scare, she has progressed quite nicely. She's now weighing in at a whopping 2 pounds and 4 ounces, she's been moved to an isollette for more advanced preemies, and she's even starting to form a bit of a 'tude! She definitely likes to let you know when you're disturbing her by crying as if she were a full term baby Hyeena. The time up here in Bangor can be long due to the fact that it's as cold as The Washington Generals vs. The Harlem Globetrotters, but it's all well worth it for that one hour a day that we get to hold our little Madeline Grace in our arms. We can both honestly say that it is a feeling unlike any other when we get to hold her. All the feelings of uncertainty, stress, and homesickness seem to evaporate when we are with her.



So what happens now? Well, we're still waiting on a few things:



#1 Of course our first priority is carefully watching the progress of little Maddie. Hopefully, there are no more setbacks and she'll be right on schedule to come home when she's able.



#2 We're still waiting to hear of a court date that we legalize and finalize the adoption. Of course, we'll all breathe an extra large sigh of relief when this is done.



#3 Provided that Maddie is healthy enough to transport, we're hoping that maybe sometime over the next 2-3 weeks we'll be able to transport her to a NICU closer to home.



Until then, we're hoping to post plenty of pictures of our steady-developing wonder here and enjoy every last bit of the greatest journey of our lives. Also, we'll be counting down the days till we can take little Maddie home to see all of you, Wish us Luck!