Visitors!

It's hard to believe it, but Maddie is already more than a month old! We've been lucky to have lots of visitors since she arrived, and Norah has had fun introducing everyone to her new little sister.

Grandma and Grandpa

Aunt Maggie and Jake

Grammy

Aunt Laura

Four generations of Klas ladies

Great Grandma and Aunt Sue

Norah is being so good about including her little sister in her play time, and even doesn't mind when Maddie comes to visit her in her big girl room.

While Grammy was visiting from Missouri over Labor Day weekend, Maddie got to "watch" her first Notre Dame game. (Since the game was being played in Ireland, Daddy and Norah even got up early to make green pancakes!) We've started the indoctrination process early. (Thanks to Aunt Laura for keeping both girls in Notre Dame gear!)

After the game was over, Norah took Grammy to the beach - a welcome relief from the Fresno heat! Maddie did very well on her first car trip, with just one quick stop for lunch. She, too, loved the cooler weather, and spent most of the weekend snuggled up in her sweatsuits fast asleep. We had a great visit with Judie and look forward to the next time she (and the rest of the Mangan and McCoy family) can see Maddie!

One month old today!

Laura came out for a visit right after Labor Day, and as with previous visitors, was scooped up by Norah and taken off to play. Thanks to all for making the (long or short) trip to see us and our new addition!

Norah is settling into her routine at school, learning letters, meeting friends, and doing lots of art projects. She also started dance class a few weeks ago, so she's busy practicing all her tap and ballet steps.

 

Happy fall to all!

Catching up...

So as you might be able to tell from the lack of posts lately, the spring and summer of 2012 has been a busy one for the McCoy's. It started out with a great loss, but - with Madeline's recent arrival - has also included the most precious gift of new life.  So here's a quick recap...

As Dan's earlier post talks about, we lost a wonderful father, grandfather, and friend when Phil passed away in late April. We miss him terribly and think of him in big and small ways every day. As I see Dan as a father to his own girls, I know Phil's legacy will live on in all he taught Dan about being a dad. I'm thankful Norah got to know her Pop, even if just for a short time, and know that Phil is now smiling down on her and Maddie, watching them grow.

Fran with the kids and grandkids

The rest of the spring and the first part of the summer seemed to fly by - not much out of the ordinary, just busy at work, school, etc. We didn't make it over to the beach nearly as much as we wanted to this year, but we did accomplish lots of projects around the house that we had been putting off. Dan called it nesting, but luckily he was a good sport about the whole thing. We cleaned out closets, got Norah moved into a new big girl room (kudos to Dan for building Norah a nice new headboard and to Jake, my mom, and Dan for helping with various painting projects), painted window trim, worked in the yard, reassembled the nursery, etc., etc., etc. I was actually more of the idea person; Dan took care of the follow-through :)

In early June, we got to celebrate with my cousin Genna at her wedding to Ben. It was a beautiful ceremony at the Carmel Mission - and also a great place to get some family photos. At the reception, Norah had a blast on the dance floor - though she wanted nothing to do with her parents, preferring instead the company of her aunts.

Summer is usually a quieter time at work for me, but with my impending maternity leave, there was a lot I needed to finish there, too, before my time off. I wanted to work as long as possible, so I ended up with about a half a week off before Maddie arrived. Norah was in school for most of the summer, with a short "summer vacation" with my mom right before my maternity leave started.  She took swimming lessons again this year, and in one week became quite a fish in the water.

Dan stayed busy at work, too, and in between tried to keep up with his running and take some classes for his broker's license. He and Norah ran a race for Father's Day (they were the second jogging stroller across the finish line), but will now have to wait until the cooler days of fall to try any more races.

Run faster Daddy!

Of course, our big event of the summer was Madeline Faith's arrival. As with Norah, we waited until the birth to find out if she was a boy or a girl. It made preparations a little trickier (most of the nursery decorations waited until after her arrival), but it was another fun surprise. Speaking of surprises, her arrival came quickly, with only an hour and a half passing between my first contraction and her birth. Luckily, my doctor had sent us to the hospital after my late afternoon appointment - or we might not have made it to the delivery room! We checked into the hospital at 5:30 p.m. on August 2, got into the labor and delivery room a little before 6, and Maddie was born at 7:05 p.m. My doctor actually didn't quite make it - she was en route and the nurses had to pull in another doctor who just happened to be at the hospital to help with the birth. It wasn't the least painful thing I've ever experienced (no time for drugs!), but all of that was (at least partially) forgotten once I got to hold Maddie for the first time. Dan was a great cheerleader through it all, and is now the proud daddy to two daughters.

On our way to the hospital (glad we didn't dawdle!)

Now we're settling into life with a newborn. After a couple nights with very little sleep, we seem to be in a better routine. Maddie, in true Klas woman fashion, seems to value her sleep more than her food in the middle of the night, so I've been able to get six to seven hours of sleep most nights in three to four hour chunks. Norah is very excited to be a big sister, and is quite the protector of baby Maddie.

As if we didn't throw enough at her by giving her a new sibling, Norah started preschool this week. She's quite the big girl now - no tears this year, just a quick "bye Mommy and Daddy" as she ran off to play. Her teachers seem very sweet, and she came home very excited, so I know she's going to have a great year.

We're so thankful for all of our blessings and are excited about our newly-expanded family. Thanks to all for the well-wishes and notes, and we look forward to introducing Madeline to everyone soon!

Welcome Madeline Faith!

Welcome to the McCoy Family!

Madeline Faith McCoy

August 2, 2012 at 7:05 p.m.

8 pounds ~ 20.5 inches

Proud big sister Norah was so excited to meet her baby Maddie and is having fun getting to know her.  More details to come...

In Memoriam

Dad was always taking pictures and making people smile, so this seemed appropriate.  

My dad, Phil McCoy, had a few different nicknames, but one that really stuck was Flipper.  Other than being a play on Philip, it was a reminder of a trip to Lake Wappapello he took with Matt, me and Randy Roehrs and his boys.  We borrowed Grandpa McCoy’s boat and went out to the lake and rented a cabin in the early spring.  It was still pretty cold out, especially on the water, but it was nice to be outside with friends.

After a morning of fishing, it was time to go in for lunch.  Randy's boat started right up, but my dad was struggling in the back of our boat to get the motor going. He must have pulled about a dozen time when he finally pulled really hard and instead of the motor starting, the seat bracket broke and my dad fell into the icy water.  He splashed around like he was drowning until Randy yelled, "Phil, stand up!"  The water was less than 5 feet deep.  By the time we all got home, calls were coming in for Flipper McCoy.  It stuck.

That story reminds me a lot of all the things that I and everyone that knew dad have to be thankful for.  I’m thankful for how much he loved his family.  Matt and I never wanted for fun activities in the summer or on weekends growing up.  Swimming at the Elks, camping trips or trips down to the KC Hall were normal. 

I’m thankful for the help he gave Matt and me joining a long line of Eagle Scouts in our family – and for all the summer camps and pinewood derbies that got us there.

I’m thankful that he coached soccer and worked the chains during football games so he could be closer to us and get great pictures.

I’m thankful that Dad kept the Dollar Store and the Post Office in business with the endless care packages to Donnie, me and anyone we worked with when we were deployed overseas – and that once that ended, he started sending them to his granddaughters that weren’t in his immediate vicinity.

I’m thankful that Dad loved family so much, and that his definition of family spread out to almost anyone whom he worked with, lived near or talked to in Shop and Save.  Ask any of his friends, and they will tell you he’d do almost anything for them with practically no notice.

I’m thankful for my dad’s faith, because it gave him and us confidence that we will all be okay and that better things are coming.

I’m thankful for the 20+ years he had after beating cancer. That time let him marry Fran - who is a wonderful woman.  She absolutely brought out the best in him at every turn and made him a very happy man.

That time let him see Matt, Donnie and me grow up, marry, become successful and give him beautiful granddaughters.  It let him take the girls fishing, color with them and fill the backyard with toys and the girls with wonderful memories.

I’m thankful for the dad, grandpa and man that he was – and the friend that he will always be. 

Thank you, Pop.  We love you.


 - My dad passed away Saturday, April 28th, 2012 at 59 years old.  The picture and words above are from my speaking at his funeral mass.

Remembering Pop at the KC Lake

(From left: Fran, Norah, Dan, Ella, Donnie, Ember, Matt & Autumn)

Dad and Fran with Norah in Fresno

Norah's Race

After watching Norah get faster and faster as she ran around the house, we decided she was ready to enter her very first competitive race. While Dan and Maggie ran the event's 10K, the 1/8 mile Kid's Race for 2-5 year olds was more Norah's speed. And speedy she was! She finished in a chip-timed (very official!) 1:38.58. She was the second two-year old and the first two-year old girl. All of the training she did with Daddy to get ready really paid off :) The whole event was very cute (and hilarious to watch)! Thanks to Maggie the videographer, you can watch it to! Enjoy.

The runners... At the starting line


Running... The finish line


Congratulations on a great race!

A Story of Hope

This story begins on December 1, 2010, and is one that has taken a long time for us to be ready to share. We had just told our families that we were expecting the week before, only to learn on that day that I was having a miscarriage. I’m sure this news is always shocking, but having had a relatively easy pregnancy with Norah, I hadn’t even really considered the possibility that it could happen to me. Of course I’ve read the statistics and know that lots of women – many of whom have no increased risk factors – have miscarriages, often for no explainable reason at all. Still, when we got the news, we didn’t know how to cope. We went through a grieving process, we looked for answers, and we thanked God for the support of our family and the blessing of our precious Norah. While this experience tested our faith in some ways (how could God let this life begin if it was going to end such a short time later?), our faith is also what helped us make it through. And eventually, things did get better. Of course, there were (and are) still moments or days when the sadness comes back – the day I was supposed to be due was one of the tougher ones. But all in all, we have been able to process what happened, accept that this loss will always be part of our lives, and look ahead to the future with hope. Which brings us to December 1, 2011.

I would have expected to feel a certain sense of sadness this past December 1, as the one year anniversary of one of the hardest days of our lives. But this time I didn’t. Maybe it was my long, busy day at work that took my mind off of it. Maybe it was the huge windstorm that day that blew down our fence and caused other damage at our house that distracted me. Maybe I had just reached a point in the grieving process that days like this wouldn’t cause the same reaction anymore. Or maybe it was something else – a higher power at work. The next day, I got my answer. On December 2, we found out that I was pregnant! With that news, I knew that it wasn’t just distraction that had caused my calmness the day before, but rather God resting his hand on my shoulder and telling me that this time, a special guardian angel would be watching over us.

Of course, there were many times I forgot that sense of calmness over the next several months. As anyone who has had a miscarriage can tell you, the next pregnancy can be terrifying, especially in the first trimester. I wanted to feel nothing but hope for this new life, but there were many days that fear got the best of me. For the first several weeks after we found out, I didn’t feel pregnant, just scared that something was going to go wrong. I needed reassurance, a sign that things were okay. That sign soon arrived – in the form of morning sickness. Many doctors will tell you that morning sickness is actually a good indication that the pregnancy is progressing well. It also took away my energy to worry – since I spent most of my non-working hours in January and February on the couch. Dan has been a rock star through this all, taking on all of the load of cooking, cleaning, shopping (have you ever really smelled the inside of a grocery store?) and caring for Norah. I know that without his efforts, the house would have been a disaster and Norah would have been subsisting on stale Cheerios and granola bars for these past several months. I know I didn’t look particularly grateful as I gagged down my dinner and then went to lie in a ball on the couch, but right below the nausea and exhaustion, I was so thankful for everything that Dan was and is doing to keep our lives going. He is the best!

We finally told our parents (and Norah) about the new baby in the middle of February – nearly three months into the pregnancy. Norah has a couple of friends at school who have new siblings, so at this point she seems to be excited by the idea of having a baby brother or sister. We’re prepared for the fact that her feelings might change once she really understands what it all means. Also, like last time, we’re not planning on finding out if we’re having a boy or a girl before the birth day. We really enjoyed the surprise last time, so we’re going to do the same thing again. I’m finally starting to feel better and more energetic again, now that I’m nearing the four-month mark. And we’re finally ready to share the good news with everyone. So there it is – sometime in the first week or two of August, we’re going to welcome a new member to the McCoy family. While I’m not looking forward to the prospect of being eight months pregnant in July in Fresno, we are looking forward – more than anything – to meeting this new baby this summer. Love to all!

Christmas Program

Norah had her first Christmas program this past Friday. Her class of 2-year-olds sang a couple of songs, and Norah did very well! She was pretty interested in watching herself on the big video screen, instead of looking at the audience, but she did seem to know most of the words. She's the one in the video with the pink dress and blonde pigtails.