Do You......

Ever feel like you are being watched?

My Little Farm Boy

Who says Maddox won't be a farm boy?!

Not sure where he will be collecting eggs but at least he is practicing.

Look at me Mommy! I can sit all by myself!

Birthday Party Bonanza!

This afternoon we are off to State Center for a little birthday party action. Jenna and Brody are turning 4 and 2 respectively so it is a weekend full of party hats, food, and family. I CAN'T WAIT! I know Maddox is excited to see his cousins, aunts/uncles, grandparents, and friends. Should be a lot of fun.

We will also be partaking in the Hunecke/Burdorf/Knippel 2nd Annual men vs. women volleyball showdown. I think I am almost MORE excited about that than the actual party (ok, maybe not but is a close 2nd.) Just as an FYI boys will be going down. Last year I was pregnant and couldn't dive like I wanted so this year I will be sure to pull out all the stops. :P

Enjoy your weekend!

Flying High

Last night Justin, Maddox, and I decided to have a little fun entertaining ourselves. Maddox was in such a fun mood we took full advantage of it. Every little thing we did made him giggle and squeal which was so much fun!

Maddox loves flying with the help of his Daddy

WEEEEEEEEEE!

careful Daddy, this could get ugly! I LOVE to yank on everything!

I love my Daddy

Finally, a little Mommy and Maddox time!

5 Months Old

On Saturday our little peanut boy turned 5 months!

He wasn't too thrilled with getting his photo taken but we did it anyway. (he needed a nap but wasn't giving in!)

Here's whats been happening the last month!

• You are a solid 15 pounds by now!
• You wear size 2 diapers
• A typical feeding is 4-6 oz during the day and 6 oz bottles before bed.
• You sleep through the night, going down around 8:30pm and getting up around 7:30 am. You are a champ and Mommy thanks you!
• Nap time usually hits around 10:00 am for a quick cat nap, a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon around 1:30 or 2:00, and usually another cat nap around 5:30 pm.
• It is easy to get you down at night. You get your bottle and either fall asleep during it or will put yourself to sleep after I lay you down.
• We started rice cereal and a few foods (green beans, sweet potatoes, and squash) all of which you have taken to very well. It seems that squash is your favorite which I find odd.
• You roll EVERYWHERE! I have walked out of the room for a quick second and by the time I return you are across the room.
• When you are rolling sometimes you will stop to see if we are watching. If we aren't you will stop, pose, and then wait until we look at you.
• You love to laugh and your giggles are infectious
• You want to crawl so bad. If you could figure out moving forward you would be taking off.
• You babble constantly. We hear "ba ba ba ba babababababa ba". "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM", and "da da da da da da" quite a bit.
• Bear is still very interesting but you have now figured out that he is soft and you love to pet him.
• You're working on your two bottom front teeth right now. we've now gone through them coming and going 3 times!
• We often find you sucking on your bottom lip
• You love to stick out your tongue and think you are pretty cute.
• You love being talked, sung, or read to.
• Your personality is starting to show through. I think you are going to be quite the comedian.
• Pretending to be shy has become a favorite game along with peek-a-boo.
• Standing is a lot more fun than sitting. Dr. Mahon thinks it is funny that you won't pull to sit, you would rather pull to stand!
• You love to bounce and jump. I know you are hoping for a 'jumping chair' for Easter.... guess we will have to talk to Daddy er, the Easter bunny!?
• You are such a happy and sweet baby! Very easy going and easy to please (usually). Mommy and Daddy feel very blessed to have a baby like you!

The past month has been so much fun! We can't wait to see what happens in the next month!

Fresh Air!

Yesterday I took advantage of the nice weather and took Maddox out for some fresh air. I haven't really gotten to spend much time with him outside so it was fun to see what he would be like. Unfortunately he was too tired to really play along but I got some pictures anyway (shocker!) Enjoy!

I love the angle of this photo.... so nice to see him outside finally!

Thanks for getting me out of the sun but I am still not going to smile!

Wait, you aren't Bear.....

NO! I don't want to smile!

Ok, this outside business isn't so bad!

Panther Pride

Man am I ever proud to be a UNI Alumni after yesterdays basketball performance! Don't get me wrong, I have always been proud I am just EXTRA proud today!

I can't believe the Panthers pulled it off but I was pumped!!!! Unfortunately I wasn't watching the first 10 minutes of the game (those who know me know I am not a huge b-ball fan) but thankfully JR called me and told me to get my butt in gear. And boy, am I ever glad I did! What an exciting game. Sorry Kansas, UNI FIGHT! :)

It's a Crazy Town

UPDATE: After some debate with "my 2 Justins" we can't decide for sure who sang "Enter Sandman" by Metallica so we removed it for now. When we get it confirmed I will make sure to update here! :)

Last Thursday night Justin, Justin, and I went to the Luke Bryan/ Jason Aldean concert here in town. For those of you that are not country fans Jason Aldean sings "Big Green Tractor" among MANY other great songs! We all had a blast and let me just say, my two Justins are quite the country boys these days.... I think they are a little too confident in the cowboy world. We are now on the hunt for boots. Summer could get interesting!

Here are some photos of our night!

the 3 musketeers
Getting ready at Hazzards

Mr Luke Bryan singing "Rain is a Good Thing"

And here is Jason,

serenading us with some of his greatest hits

including "Country Girl" which I absolutely adore.

I snuck up a few rows just to listen to "The Truth"

And to close the show we enjoyed his fantastic tune "Big Green Tractor".

What a great night, what an awesome show!! Justin and I have always loved country music, but haven't had the chance to see many live shows in the past couple years, so this was a great opportunity. If these guys end up anywhere around you, I highly recommend catching the show!

RSV, No thank you!

Maddox has been fighting a cold for quite some time and seemed to just get progressively worse each day. Back in February we went to his ENT appt. and she put him on some antibiotics in hopes of clearing up everything. That did work for about 5 days and then we were back at the hacking, runny nose, congestion, gunky eyes, etc. (not fun for Mommy!)

We were spraying saline and 'plunging' his nose like crazy trying to make it easier for him to breathe. He was sleeping with a humidifier and we were doing everything we could think of to help him feel better. I had him in to the Dr on Friday, March 5 and she said it was just a virus. I called the dr. twice after the appointment and explained that he wasn't getting any better and seemed to just be getting worse. They assured me he would get over it and to just be patient (ok, I tried but the poor booger looked awful!)

On Thursday things at daycare weren't so hot. She mentioned he was coughing a lot and so hard he was waking himself (not to mention gagging and throwing up). Grandma Jo said she would keep an eye on him and assured us we were ok to head to the concert.

I had decided I would probably take him in on Friday but was still debating since I talked to the Dr the day before..... Luckily he made the decision for me by having horrific choking/ gagging/ hacking scene in the car. So off to Urgent Care we went......

After a quick exam and lots of questions we ended our visit with an RSV test, chest x-ray, and a nebulizer treatment. Luckily results of all tests were negative so we aren't dealing with pneumonia or RSV. We did end up with a RX of neb. treatments but I will take that any day. It has seemed to really help him, even though he still sounds like he is growling when he is breathing. Poor little guy....

I suppose this is just life with babies but I feel so bad for him when he is struggling. I know this won't be the last time he is sick but for now, I am glad we are on the upswing! (I hope!)

Grandparents Galore!

Last week Maddox was lucky enough to be spoiled by not 1, but 2 grandparents! Last Monday Grandpa Larry came up for a quick visit and even though Maddox wasn't feeling too great, they got some time together. It was a quick trip but, I would have run fast too if I would have walked in on such a germ infested home! (Mommy and Maddox both stayed home on Monday due to major ickyness!)

On Thursday Grandma Jo came up and stayed for a few days. Mommy and Daddy went to the Jason Aldean/Luke Bryan concert on Thursday night and Grandma hung out with peanut. We did a little shopping while she was here but mainly we all just hung out. It was great to just get to relax with family around.

Cherokee had spring break so it was a great excuse for them both to make a trip north! It was wonderful to see them both!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy hump day!

Hunecke/Ludwig Weekend of F-U-N!

Over the weekend Justin, Maddox, and I headed north for some rest and relaxation. We met up in the cities with some good friends of ours from Duluth. It is sad to say but we hadn't seen them in about 3 years so it was GREAT getting together. They have a little guy, Owen, who is about 6 months older than Maddox so it was fun being with people who have a little one as well.

Here are the boys, imagine trying to get 2 little ones to smile at the same time, yeah right!

Come here buddy!

Back off!

Beep beep!


Finally after about 15 attempts we got a good one!

Playing together

Together again, oh the memories that flood back to me! We are still the same two college girls that love to be kids. When we were walking by Nickelodeon Universe both of us wanted to ride the roller coaster so that is EXACTLY what we did! It was nice to feel like nothing had changed between us. I had been kind of nervous that it had been too long and we wouldn't be able to just relax and enjoy one another. You know how sometimes you just feel like you have to fill all the empty space? I didn't feel that way at all...... Same old Bernan and I felt like same old Mandy.

Here is our whole crew, my how times have changed!

Maddox was patiently waiting to go in and eat at the Rainforest Cafe. Both boys were sooooo good!

The Ludwigs

The Hunecke's

The boys are a lot like their mommies... never want to miss a thing!

And finally, they were spent!

Not only did we go shopping, we had our first swimming experience. Mr. Maddox looks pretty adorable in his little trunks.

the little fart loved floating around the pool

The mommies and their boys

This pretty much sums up the weekend. :)

We were all very exhausted but had a wonderful weekend. I think we were all in agreement that this needs to happen much more often. It was great to see how thing had changed for all of us but nice to know that no matter what, we all were still the same. I feel blessed to have such wonderful friends!

Roly Poly Maddox

*Update: so I just realized that when I uploaded it to youtube it cut the right part of the video off. Annoying!*

Maddox and I stayed home sick today (though I think he feels MUCH better than I do!) so I had a perfect opportunity to catch him in full on rolling action. He was in his little "jungle gym" so the walls posed a bit of a problem. We are finding him in all over the place as he rolls to whatever, whenever he wants. Sorry for the shaky taping but I did my best. Oh, and please ignore the mommy talk! :)

Bowling Blitz

When we decided to move to Minnesota a few years ago, I wasn't sure if the career choice I was making was going to be one I would be happy with in the days, months or even the years to come. I was taking a leap of faith and trying something new. I had taken a position with a non- profit agency that worked with people with disabilities. Lucky for me LEEP (Leisure Education for Exceptional People) was the perfect fit. I have learned so many things about myself as a person and can honestly say that I love my job!

LEEP is a recreation center that has many programming opportunities for people with disabilities. Last year our agency served 770+ people in the Mankato area. We are not only a Rec Center, we are also the LARGEST Special Olympics team in the state of Minnesota!! We currently have 248 athletes that compete on LEEP's team during the various sports seasons. I have coached volleyball and softball teams in the past 2 years and it has been an awesome opportunity. For an athlete to take part in our sports each participant does have a fee that they are asked to cover. The fee is typically $30 for the season however, this does not include the cost of the tournaments they compete in. Typically a state tournament costs our participants roughly $100......



Part of my job is planning the majority of the programs we offer at LEEP. Every month we create a newsletter with our current events and our participants register for these activities. We try to keep everything at a minimal cost but would love to be offer many more opportunities which is why we need your help!


On Sunday, April 18th LEEP will be hosting it's first ever Bowl-a-thon in an effort to raise funds to offset our participant fees and keep programming affordable. This year I, along with Justin, my sister April, her friend Anna (still looking for our 5th member!!) are raising funds to take part in the event. To take part each participant is asked to raise a minimum of $100 per person. We would love any help that you are willing to offer.

Donating is really easy! You can click here and this will take to you to the MNgive.org site designated to the LEEP Bowl-a-thon where you can help support using a credit card. Choose an amount on the right hand side and click on the green donate button. It will take you to the next screen where you will fill in your information. There is a box that we would love for you to check that says delegation. Please select this and put my name, Justin's, or April's name (depending on who you would like to sponsor). This is how LEEP will know who to credit the money too.

If you have any suggestions for a team name, we are open to hear them! We need something F-L-A-S-H-Y!

You can also contact me directly at mandyhunecke@yahoo.com for more information if you would like to give in a different way. We are also looking for more teams to join in on the cause so if you are interested in putting together a team I would be more than happy to pass along more information. It would be lots of fun if our families and friends would get involved! Maybe we could have a friendly competition for bragging rights?!?

Thank you so much in advance for your help! Anything you can do to support us would be amazing. Even if you are just able to spread the word, we would love that. Please let me know if you have any questions, thank you again!

Capt' Crunch?! Not Quite Yet....

Last night was our first attempt at rice cereal. Maddox has really been into watching us eat for awhile now and our Pediatrician said it was a perfect time to start trying cereal with him. He was more than happy to 'dig in'

you mean to tell me I get to try something new?

I don't know about this.

wow that is pretty good!

Yummy, Mommy

See Daddy I am a big boy!

All in all it was quite a success. He ate the whole dish and was still hungry! Slowly but surely he will be working up to beef sticks... I know Papa Jay can't wait for that!