Happy new year!

Wow, December flew by and was a very busy month! To start off the month, Maddie got a stomach virus and could drink nothing but pedialyte for a 24 hour period. Off course, she shared the virus with me & Dan! Then, on December 10th we got to meet Maddie's new cousin Emma! Congrats David & Toni! Emma is absolutely adorable and so tiny! It is amazing that already I had forgotten Maddie ever being that small and Maddie was actually almost a pound smaller than Emma. Needless to say, we are very excited for David & Toni. I was wondering how Maddie would react seeing me holding another baby, but it turns out that she is too young to care yet! :-)

This month we also celebrated Maddie's first Christmas!!! She had a lot of fun playing with the boxes and the wrapping paper on Christmas Eve & day & has been playing with all of her new toys since then. On Christmas Eve we went to David & Toni's & on Christmas day we had Nana & Grandpa Bob & Grandma & Grandpa Fogle stopped by while Dan grilled on his new grill. It was awesome to celebrate our first Christmas as a family and watching Maddie & Caitlin play while holding Emma was an awesome feeling.

Today is New Years Eve....it is amazing how much our lives have changed this past year, mostly because of Madelyn. She has brought me so much joy and it seems like she has been part of our lives forever. I cannot remember what we used to do before she was here, and I cannot imagine my life without her. She is perfect and everything I ever dreamed of! She is growing too fast though & I cannot believe that we will be celebrating her first birthday in 1 week! I wish I could slow down time.... Tonight we are going to stay home and enjoy being a family while we ring in the new year! Hopefully 2011 will be as good for us as 2010 was! Hope everyone has a happy & healthy 2011

First Thanksgiving

Last week was Maddie's first Thanksgiving!! Austin came in on Monday & stayed until Friday & we had a nice visit with him. It was fun to watch Maddie attack him and try to pull out his hair. On Thanksgiving day we went to Grandma & Grandpa Fogle's for dinner, and then we celebrated with Nana & Grandpa Whitlock, David, Toni & Caitlin on Sunday. We had lots of good food at both meals, if only Maddie would eat it! She still does not do well with food...anything with texture and she throws up. On Thanksgiving day Dan gave Maddie a couple of bites of mashed potatoes...she ate a couple of bites with a lot of coaxing & then threw up all over after her third bite....I am starting to wonder how she is going to eat birthday cake at her 1st Birthday party in about a month if we can't get her to start eating!!

Maddie is also getting into everything now & can unrolling the entire roll of toilet paper in about 30 seconds. She also loves to come up to the little side table and shake it & then cries when she gets told "no!!". She is a very happy baby & loves to be tickled. I have been off with her this week and we have gone shopping & had fun together. I am very excited about the upcoming arrival of Maddie's new cousin Emma and Maddie's first Christmas! We will probably take Madelyn to have her picture taken with Santa this weekend. :-)

Madelyn has completed her transition to the "older infant" room and will be in that room from now on. It is kind of bittersweet, I know it is good for her, but I am sad that she is growing so fast.

What is new: shoes - still trying to get used to wearing them
favorite things: playing peek a boo, taking off her shoes, practicing "walking" holding on to things.

Waving :-)

The last 2 days I was off work and spent time with Madelyn. It was a lot of fun to be off with her, but it makes me wish I could stay home with her. I am really thankful that I got to be there with her though because she did have a couple of "firsts" that I got to witness. On Sunday she walked with her walker like I said in my last post, and on Monday she started waving. It is really cute. Also, she must be about to get another tooth, because she chewed on her crib and actually scraped the paint off! This is the first, in what I am sure will be a long line, of damaged furniture courtesy of Madelyn.

10 Months Old

Maddie is 10 months old today...I cannot believe how fast the time has gone :-(. The last couple of weeks have been busy as usual, and Maddie celebrated her first Halloween last weekend. To celebrate Maddie we met Grandma & Grandpa Fogle for lunch & stopped by Nana & Grandpa Whitlock's house to "trick or treat". We also stopped by to see cousin Caitlin in her costume before going home. We did not go trick or treating this year, but think that next year Maddie will really enjoy it.

It is amazing to watch Madelyn grow, and it is amazing how much more independent she became once she hit 9 months. This morning she pulled herself up on her walker toy & started walking with it around the living room. She got stuck in a corner and I pulled them out & she kept right on walking....now she is doing it like an old pro. I think it will not be too long until she lets go & walks on her own. She has 2 teeth now (her bottom front two) and is finally starting to get a lot of hair. She will also sit and play with her toys by herself now, and she loves to play peek-a-boo with her security blanket when she is in her swing, and has been clapping for a couple of weeks now. We are still working on waving, but she will get that down soon. She is a lot of fun and loves to give big sloppy kisses and try to stick her tongue in your ear. Soon they will be moving her to the "older infant" room at the daycare and I am pretty nervous about that...we should know more about that transition relatively soon.

First Tooth!!

On 10/02/10 we went to the pumpkin patch and had a great time picking out a pumpkin for Dan to carve for Maddie, along with a little pumpkin for her. The weather was perfect, and although Maddie was more interested in trying to eat the pumpkins than pose with them, we got some really cute pics.

Unfortunately, Dan got sick with what they suspect is meningitis, so was struggling with that last week. He is feeling better and we are blessed that Maddie did not get sick.

Last week Maddie also started "cruising" around furniture and will go completely around the coffee table and back & forth between the coffee table & the sofa. She is also getting really good at reaching down to pick stuff up off the floor while she is standing holding on to the table. I really wouldn't be surprised if she starts walking soon, but she is definitely mobile now! She loves to crawl around her crib and pull herself up when I am trying to put her to sleep & when she is supposed to be sitting in her tub. She has also started clapping & yesterday we noticed that she has gotten her first tooth!! It is the bottom right tooth and you can actually see that it has broken through the gums now. :-)

It is funny how she is amused by the funniest things....the other day the dog was chewing on a pudding cup and Maddie thought that was the most hysterical thing she has ever seen and was cracking up laughing! It was really cute, and her little laugh is the absolute best sound in the world. We have also been told by the daycare that she has been imitating a dog....they sit the kids in a circle & roll the ball around and Maddie was trying to pick it up with her mouth! They also said she was stretching like a dog with her arms in front of her & her butt up in the air. She is definitely a character & a lot of fun!

Moving on up (hopefully!)

Yesterday we put the house on the market & have already signed papers to build a new house in Cobblestone, a nice subdivision further out on Culebra. Hopefully our house will sell and it won't take forever. We are really excited about moving into a bigger house!

As usual, the last couple of weeks have been hectic. We took a four day weekend to get this house ready to list, and it was a lot of work but it looks great. We also celebrated our 1 year anniversary at The Vineyard (thanks Grandma & Grandpa Fogle!). We had a great time and it is hard to believe it has been a year already!

In other news, Maddie has become a master crawler over the last couple of weeks & is into everything now. She has also started holding her bottle and continues to practice pulling herself up. Soon we will be able to put bows in her hair since she is finally getting some, and we finally moved her into her 6-9 month clothes! :-) She also broke out in hives on Friday and it has been running its course through her body...we are not sure what caused the hives, if it was something she was allergic to or a virus, but she never got a fever or had any problems breathing thank God. I will try to do a better job updating the blog more regularly & more descriptively, it has just been so busy....Maddie definitely keeps me on my toes!

We have a CRAWLER!!!!

Quick update - last night we were sitting there with Maddie on the floor and all of a sudden she started crawling!!! She crawled about 4-5 steps and then got backed up into the corner & then started going in circles. She is also continuing to pull herself up (or at least try), so I think she is going to be an early walker. Go Maddie, Go Maddie! :-)

I'm Still Standing

The last couple of weeks have been really busy. We celebrated Dan's Birthday & Nana's Birthday among other things. We also had our A/C break in the house, which set us back a cool $1,000 & gave us a couple of nights sleeping on an air mattress in the living room, although Maddie and Waldo did have fun hanging out on it together. We also took Maddie to cousin Caitlin's house and she got to swing on the swingset...she absolutely loved it and never stopped smiling and laughing! Madelyn is a lot of fun and definitely has a lot of personality. She has started trying to crawl & does great at going backwards! Just needs to master the forward momentum thing, lol. She is also eating food a lot better and we are still working on the sippy cup. This morning I changed her diaper & put her in her crib while I threw the diaper away, and she pulled herself from sitting to standing! Of course, I ran to get the camera, and the pic above is the one I took. She looked so cute and was so proud of herself! I think we really need to get hot on the baby proofing! Still no teeth either, but I will update the day she gets her first.

On Wednesday I picked her up at daycare and the girls there told me that she has a boyfriend!! His name is Able & he is 8 months old. They told me that she loves Able! He is a little cutie, but I can't help but feel she is a little young, and Daddy is not happy about it at all!

I LOVE this little baby!

I LOVE this little baby! Not like I need to announce that, but if I could go on Oprah I would jump on her couch & scream it. I lover her so much! I am absolutely mesmerized by her and love to just hold her & study her. She is the most amazing & beautiful thing I have ever seen. I watch her sleeping and sometimes I just can't help but pick her up & wake her up. I should probably just let her sleep, but I can't help myself and I know she won't be this age forever. She is growing so fast and will be 1 in the blink of an eye. Her little smile melts my heart & makes all my worries disappear. I don't think I truly understood what love is until she was born. Yes, you love others, but the love of a parent is unlike any other.

Sometimes at work I miss her horribly & crave holding her. Working full time & being a mom is really tough, and something you can't understand until you do it. I only get to see her for a couple of hours a day (if I am lucky), and feel guilty if I do something that doesn't include her (like eat or shower). I feel like those few hours a day that I get with her should be completly devoted to her and it makes me long for the weekends even more. It is absolutely exhausting.

Anyway, over the last couple of weeks we went to Caitlin's birthday party - I can't believe she is already 2!! We also found out that it looks like Caitlin is going to have a little sister in December. I am very excited & can't wait to meet little Emma Faith! We also went to Grandma & Grandpa Fogle's e & swam in the neighbor's pool since their new pool had to be cleaned. Madelyn loves the water and was kicking her little feet like crazy.

We have also finally had some success getting Madelyn to eat baby food finally. So far she has eaten pears, peas, prunes, mac/cheese & veggies & corn/butternut squash. She really seemed to like the corn/butternut squash & ate 3/4 of the jar in one sitting. She is still not a fan of breakfast though & I have not gotten her to eat it even once. We took her to her 6 month appt on Friday & the doctor said we can start giving her yogurt, juice & puffs....we haven't tried the yogurt yet, but she is (of course) not digging the juice or the puffs yet. Madelyn weighed in at 15.6 lbs and 24 1/4 inches at this appointment.

07/23/10 - 15.6 lbs - 25th % 24 1/4 inches

06/28/10 - 15 lbs

05/18/10 - 13.5 lbs - 33rd % 23.3 inches - 11th %

03/09/10 - 10.7 lbs - 50th % 21.5 inches -50th %

01/07/10 - 6.15 lbs 18.5 inches

Happy Fourth of July!

This past weekend was the 4th of July & to celebrate we had a pool party at an apartment complex that Toni's company manages. It was a lot of fun & very relaxing! Good food (and LOTS of it) and good company. Unfortunately we missed the fireworks but it was still a good time. Madelyn had fun in the pool until she got cold and then Nana wrapped her up in a nice warm fluffy towel & she was cozy as a little bug in a rug! It was a lot of fun to watch Caitlin run around and try to "jump" into the pool. It is amazing that next summer that will be Madelyn running around like that. I think the girls are going to have a lot of fun together as they get older & hope they are really close.

Madelyn has continued to grow like a weed. We have officially retired all "footed" clothes in size 3-6 months, which is surprising considering she is on the shorter side. I think she still has another month or so in her non-footed clothes. After a week break I tried solids again & she still would not eat anything. I am getting discouraged with the solids as she has tried rice cereal, green beans, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, apples, peaches and bananas all without much success. I am going to give it another week break and then try oatmeal. She has also started lifting her arms up when she knows you are going to pick her up, and will sit and make sucking noises when she is hungry if you show her the bottle. I believe her first tooth will make it's appearance any day now since she has been teething for the last month or so. She has also started trying to go from laying on her back to sitting up...I think she will do that pretty soon! It is pretty cute, when you lay her on her back she tries to pull her little head up trying to get the momentum to sit.

Summer is in full swing and we are looking forward to cousin Caitlin's birthday party (2 already!!!) next weekend. The following weekend we have Dan's Progressive summer picnic, and that weekend we will also probably take Madelyn for her 6 month portraits!

Will add pics later!

Doctor's appointment

Yesterday we took Madelyn to the doctor for what we thought was chest congestion & coughing. The doctor said it is not in her lungs (thank God) but is in her throat. She told us to put a phone book under the matress so Madelyn will sleep kind of propped up and keep using the humidifier. She also had a small fever (100.7) & they just said to keep an eye on that. Last night after some Tylenol it was 98, so it seems like she is doing fine. Hopefully her cough will clear up soon.

06/28/10 - 15 lbs exactly
05/18/10 - 13.5 lbs - 33rd percentile 23.3 inches 11th percentile
03/09/10 - 10.7 lbs 50th percentile 21.5 inches 50th percentile
01/07/10 - 6.15 lbs 18.5 inches

This weekend is the 4th of July and we will be having a pool party/picnic with family, so that should be fun. The weekend after that is Caitlin's birthday party and the following weekend is Dan's work summer picnic! Looks like we are going to have a fun filled couple of weekends ahead of us!

Almost 6 months old already!!

Over the last couple of weeks Madelyn got to meet her brother, Austin, who came in for a nice visit. She also has now tried rice cereal, peas, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, bananas and apples. The only thing she has eaten with any great interest is the peas, the rest she does not seem to like very much. We are continuing to try the foods though and hopefully she will start to like them more soon. Madelyn has also started playing a lot more with toys. A couple weeks ago she was shaking a rattle and whacked herself in the face and then started screaming! Her reaction was pretty funny. She also likes to be in her jumperoo and spin around playing with the toys on it. She can hold her balance and sit up for a while if you put her in a sitting position, but it will be a while before she can pull herself up to sit, although she will grab your fingers and try to pull herself up from a laying position. It is absolutely amazing to watch her grow. She also loves to sit and coo & babble - the girl definitely has a lot to say! She has also started teething…will update the blog as soon as her first tooth makes it's appearance! She is a really good baby and has been sleeping through the night for quite a while now. The other night she woke up at around 3 am though. She wasn't crying or fussing, but I could hear her kicking the bars of her crib so I got up to check on her. As soon as she saw me she started smiling, sticking out her tongue & kicking her little legs…she really thought it was time to play! She is a little sweet heart & that little smile can make all my worries disappear :-)

Happy Birthday to me!

This past Friday was my birthday & to celebrate Dan took me to Chama Gaucha, a brazilian steakhouse. It was absolutely delicious. Dan also gave me a new charm for my bracelet that has Madelyn's birthstone in it, and Madelyn gave me roses. It was a wonderful birthday! Turning 35 did not bother me as much as I know it would have if I didn't have Dan & Maddie...I am truly at a good place and happy, so 35 did not bother me as much as 30 did.

Madelyn tried peas this week for the first time and she really liked them! The first day she didn't really eat very much, but she got the hang of it and has eaten all of her peas every day since! Next we are going to try green beans & are still continuing with the rice cereal, but she doesn't seem to like the rice cereal very much. Madelyn also went in the pool for the first time yesterday at Grandma & Grandpa's house and seemed to really enjoy herself. She kept splashing the water and then looked surprised when it got in her face. Of course we had slathered her with spf 100 for babies & she was decked out with her little hat and shades.

Last weekend we took her to the zoo and she got really excited about that too...kept kicking her legs and was laughing when the hyena made his noise, it was really cute!

Solids!

On Tuesday, May 18, Madelyn had her 4 month appointment (even though she is technically 4.5 months old). Again it went great! The doctor said that Madelyn is ahead of the game as far as strength & rolling over. She does great at holding her head up and when you put her on her tummy she will lift herself up with her arms & makes the motion like she is trying to crawl. The doctor said that so far it looks like Madelyn will crawl pretty soon. We got the go ahead to start giving her rice cereal & then slowly move on to other solids. We have tried it twice so far and I think she will catch on pretty fast. It is really cute, she opens her mouth & after you put food in she makes a motion with her mouth like she is trying to chew. This time I rubbed her little thighs immediately after the shots, and as soon as we got home we gave her some infant tylenol - she got a little fussy, but seemed to do a lot better this time. Here are her stats:

05/18/10 - 13.5 lbs - 33rd percentile 23.3 inches 11th percentile
03/09/10 - 10.7 lbs 50th percentile 21.5 inches 50th percentile
01/07/10 - 6.15 lbs 18.5 inches
Our baby is growing fast!!

In other news, she started playing with the toys on her jumperoo last weekend. There is a round thing that spins & has beads and a gecko in it - she really likes to spin that. She has also started grabbing things with her hands more - last night she was in her crib and grabbed her pacifier and extended her arm all the way out still holding the pacifier. Soon I think she will be able to put it in her mouth by herself.

Since I first found out i was pregnant I joined an internet "birth group" through Babycenter.com, which is basically a bunch of women who all are going through the same things and talk about stuff. Apparently, last week a baby from the December 2009 birth group died and her death was ruled a homicide and the parents are under investigation. That little baby, Ina McElheny, was only 1 wk older than Madelyn. It makes me really sad, I cannot believe that anyone would intentionally hurt a baby...especially her parents. I have looked at their blog, and it seems like they really adored that baby, but who knows what goes on behind closed doors I guess. The parents are saying her injuries are from cpr and her rough birth & have hired their own forensic people to run tests. I am going to try to follow that case to see what the outcome is, but my prayers are with the little baby and her parents. I truly hope there is another explanation for her death. Madelyn is the light of my life, I would be truly devastated if anything happened to her.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was my first Mother's Day and it was awesome! Dan started smoking a brisket Friday afternoon and on Saturday we took it to my brother's house and had an awesome meal with them & Grandma & Grandpa Fogle. Thank you honey for all your hard work...the brisket was delicious! We all had a great time and it was a lot of fun to watch Madelyn & Caitlin interact with each other, and will be even more fun as they get older. I also got a bouquet of beautiful flowers on Friday, and Maddie made me a flower pot at school (see top pic). Then today, I got to sleep in until 9:45, which hasn't happened in MONTHS (again, thanks honey!). When I did get up I was greeted by a wonder breakfast of pancakes, eggs & bacon & later we went out for ice cream. It was a great Mother's day weekend!

In other news, Madelyn has started rolling over! Last weekend I put her in hert crib for bed and she rolled from her back to her tummy - thinking it was a fluke I picked her up & put her on her back again only to have her roll right back over. Since then she has been a rolling fool, but still has not rolled from her tummy to her back. I am so thankful that I got to see this "first". Since she started rolling she has taken to sleeping with her legs facing down on the mattress, her torso on her left side & her head on the left side and thrown back (see pic above). It looks very uncomfortable, but no matter how many times I move her she ends up back in this position. She has also found her feet & has been playing with them a lot, and has been cooing a lot. I have been trying to get a video of her doing it, but everytime I grab the camera she stops!

Next weekend it will be just the girls...Dan is going to his cousin's wedding in PA.

Happy Fiesta!

The last couple of weeks have been very busy. We got Madelyn a jumperoo and she loves it! She looks so cute & little sitting in it. She likes to watch anything with lights, so she sits in her jumperoo smiling & laughing & watching the lights flash. We also have been putting her in her Bumbo chair which she also likes. Now that she has realized there is a different vantage point to life, she gets pretty restless when we have her laying flat. She seems to prefer "sitting" or being carried where she can look over our shoulder. She has also started rolling onto & sleeping on her side over the last couple of days. I think she is going to completely roll any day now.
Madelyn also had her first "homework project" - she had to make a shoebox float for their fiesta parade. Of course, she needed a lot of help from mom and dad on that one, but I must admit, it does look like a 3 month old made it...lol.

In other news, Dan got a promotion to work to Managed Repair Rep - he is very happy & excited about that, and David & Toni broke the wonderful news that Madelyn will have a new cousin in December!! We are very excited for them & wish them well.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! The last 2 weeks have been pretty busy for us. Last weekend we had a "Thanksgiving in March" dinner at my mom's house, which was awesome! Then to celebrate Easter we all had an Easter picnic at Rimkus park. It was a lot of fun to watch Caitlin hunt for eggs and throw confetti around and yell "wee" every time. Next year it will be a lot of fun to watch them play together.

After we got ome from the picnic, Madelyn got sick & threw up all over me, the sofa, and the floor. 3 outfits later she fell asleep and slept for 8 hours straight. In the morning I was very concerned to find that her diaper was bone dry she had not urinated at all over night. We quickly fed her, and today she seems to be doing fine - no vomiting, no fever, good appetite & normal urinary function. We are keeping a close eye on her today. Despite all of that, the Easter bunny did stop by out house last night, and gave Maddie a basket full of candy (for mom and dad), bubbles, a stuffed rabbit, rice cereal for when she starts solids, an infant gum cleaner, and some shoes for when she is a little bigger. She wasn't really very excited about her visit from the Easter bunny, but I am sure she will be next year.... :-)

2.5 Months

The most exciting thing that happened this week was that Madelyn slept for 7.5 hrs straight once! She is a very happy baby and is usually pretty content, but lately she has been getting fussy in the early evenings. It seems like it might be a mild case of Colic, but we are not sure. She is doing great holding her head up and will grab items and hold them but is not quite sure what she is supposed to do with them yet. Her clogged tear duct is looking a lot better, and we think it has resolved. Even though she is too little to enjoy it yet we were going to go to the zoo this weekend, but a cold front came through and it was too cold & wet, so we had to postpone that. I can't wait for it to warm up a bit so we can start doing things on the weekend as a little family!

Oh, The Indignity....

Today I took Madelyn to her 2 month appointment, which went well. She is now 10 lbs 7 oz and 21.5 inches long, which means she has gained 3.5 lbs and grown a whopping 3 inches in 2 months!! Those stats put her right at the 50th percentile for both height & weight which the doctor said is perfect. I am very happy that we finally got independent verification that she is perfect like we already knew! :-) She got 2 shots and one liquid vaccine - she hated all of them! It was heartbreaking to see her little pouty face and the tears! After the 2 shots in her legs, her face turned purple and she started to scream and was holding her breath - I had to pick her up and remind her to breathe! Needless to say, she was NOT a happy camper! Unfortunately for her, they did not have one of the vaccines that she needs in stock, so she will have to get that one at her 9 month appointment.
The doctor is also referring her out to an opthomologist for her clogged tear duct. The doctor said they will most likely not do anything until she is at least 1 year old, but she wants Madelyn to be on the opthomologists radar since her eye does not appear to be getting any better. Other than that, everything went great!

2 Months Old!

This past week was a pretty hard one...I had to go back to work and it was rough leaving Madelyn. I really miss her when I am at work and can't wait to get home to hold her! It is also hard to get a routine down and get back into the swing of things at work. I never imagined the amount of love that I now know a parent feels for their child. It is an amazing & overwhelming feeling at times. Overall the week went pretty smooth though and today we took her to get her two month portraits taken. They came out great!! Now I just need to go buy a bunch of frames :-)

Madelyn is doing better every day as far as holding up her head on her own. She is very alert and loves to listen to music - especially Lady Gaga...I think it was because I used to listen to Poker Face in the car when I was pregnant! So far she has slept for 7 hours straight in the night twice, which gives us a light at the end of the tunnel to look forward to. One cute thing that happened this week was that Madelyn was in her swing and was crying - the dog heard her and took her favorite ball and gently put it in the swing next to Madelyn's head. Waldo likes to chew on that ball when she is nervous, so it was as if she was saying "here, take this, it always helps me feel better". It was a sweet gesture on the dogs part, but that ball is nasty! I am taking Madelyn to her 2 month appointment on Tuesday and will update the blog after that appointment. Dan will not be able to go with us since he is going to Del Rio for work.

All Good Things Must Come To an End

As the title of this weeks post implies, I have to go back to work on Monday :-(. I am not looking forward to getting back into the grind, but until we win the lottery I don't have much of a choice! Dan will be taking off the first 3 days of the week so we can ease into me going back to work, so that is a relief, but I know I am going to miss Madelyn & will be anxious to get home and hold her.

It is really hard to believe that she is already 7 wks old. A couple of days ago she set a new record & slept for 7.5 hrs straight - from 10:30pm-7am! Unfortunately, she has not repeated that yet and is sticking more to sleeping for 5 hrs straight, which is still pretty good. I am sure she will start to get more of a routine down when I go back to work though. Other than that, she continues to grow and has been smiling at us a lot more when we talk to her or play with her. Her little smile absolutely melts my heart!

The pictures above aren't necessarily from this week, but I like the pics and think Madelyn looks cute in them. The picture on top is of Madelyn posing with her Valentine's day present from Nana Bev & Grandpa Bob.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's day! Nana Bev watched Madelyn for us on Friday & we went out for a nice dinner at Saltgrass Steak House and then did a little shopping. It was really nice to spend time together and reconnect as a couple. On Valentines Day we went up to Grandma Susan's house and had a nice visit with them. Madelyn got to meet her Great Grandparents who are in town visiting from PA. This coming weekend we are going up there again to take pictures. The pictures will be of 4 generations, which I think is awesome and hopefully she will treasure those pictures when she is older. We should all be so lucky to get to know not only our grandparents, but our great grandparents as well!

In other news, we took Madelyn to the doctor yesterday for her eye - it has been leaking a lot and is very gunky, especially in the morning. The doctor said it is a blocked tear duct and we are supposed to put warm compresses on it and massage the tear duct (right by her nose) to see if we can open it up. Worst case we will have to take her to a specialist when she is a little older to have them open it, but hopefully it will resolve on it's own. She weighed in at 9 lbs 10 oz, which means she has approx 2.5 lbs since she was born! I have doubts about the accuracy of that though because she had her clothes on, and right after they weighed her she proceeded to pee all over everything and probably lost at least a couple ounces in urine alone! She has officially outgrown her newborn clothes though.

4 Weeks old!

I can't believe our little baby girl is 4 weeks old already! The past 4 weeks have been quite an adjustment, but I am treasuring every minute. On one hand it feels like she has been with us forever, but on the other hand it seems like she was just born. We are still trying to figure Madelyn out and get a routine down. We really hope that she will realize soon that she is supposed to sleep at night, and not during the day. Madelyn is growing like a weed though & is already out of newborn size diapers and has almost outgrown her newborn clothes - I think she will be in 0-3 clothes within the next couple of weeks. We have started doing tummy time with her, and surprisingly, she seems to actually like it. Waldo (the dog) has done really well with her and always tries to "help" when Madelyn cries and gets a very concerned look on her face...it is really cute.

As for me, I am feeling great (other than being tired) and have lost over 30 lbs since Madelyn was born! :-)

2 wk appointment

This morning we took Madelyn to her 2 week appointment with the pediatrician and it went great. She now weighs 7 lbs 7 oz and is over 19 inches long! They took blood from her heel for the second part of the Newborn Screening Test and she did not like that at all! (Neither did Mama!). Luckily for her, she does not have to go back to the doctor until her 2 month visit where she will get more shots :-(

As for us, we are officially getting our butts whipped by a 13 day old baby. She has her good nights and her bad nights, but the lack of sleep is getting to both of us. She is so worth it though and before you know it we will be looking back at this time and wishing she was this small again.

Dan's quote of the week: "Wow, Madelyn, you're so strong. That's good, so you can beat off all the boys".... "I meant beat them off with a stick"