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!