Week Seventeen

Week seventeen is quite a memorable one...this is the week that Shawn finished his master's degree!!  Shawn has spent the last 2 years as a full time working husband and full time student..not to mention becoming a new daddy, a landlord, and a new homeowner!  Yes, we are probably a little crazy, but I can say that we do not lead a boring life!  Well, Saturday night, Shawn submitted his last final exam and is now a two time graduate of FSU!  What a great role model for our daughter!

• Eats her hands ALL THE TIME.  I'm actually surprised that she still has fingertips.  Her gums are quite strong!
• Rolls everywhere!  I'll put her down on her back and 20 seconds later she has rolled 3 times and is now half way across the room.  This was not working too well with only the play gym and blankets we have, so on Sunday we went and got some foam mats for the living room.  Now Maddie has a bigger space for her floor exercises.
• Doesn't use her pacifier as much.  We still keep it close by because it helps if she gets fussy or overtired.  Now she takes it and chews on it like a teething toy!  When we put her to bed she will hardly ever take it, so it just sits in the crib and she eats her hands instead.
• Is starting to say, "bababa".  She has only done it a few times, but it's much more of a "ba" sound than just random baby babble.
• Drools like a faucet!  Shawn keeps wondering if she's going to have any left.
• Loves to read stories at bedtime.  Now she looks at the pictures and tries to grab ahold of some of the books.  Sometimes she'll turn the pages...not always the right way, but that's okay! We try to pick out a new book each night and it's so fun to look inside and see the stickers from the baby shower...I always tell Maddie about the people who gave her each book. :)
• Took her first trip to the mall this past weekend.  On Sunday, Shawn and I decided to take an afternoon adventure.  We went to lunch, to Babies R Us, and the mall.   We tried to get her to take her afternoon nap at the mall, but that lasted about 15 minutes....typical girl wanted to shop instead! She did really well on our trip out and ate a whole 7 ounces of milk at the mall.  She never really did take an afternoon nap though, and I paid for that when we got home.  I ended up putting her down about 20 minutes early for bed and she did fine at bedtime, but boy was she a cranky pants before that!!!
• LOVES to be on her stomach.  Every time you put her on her back she immediately flips and props her little head up.  She loves to go side to side and check out everything around her.  On Saturday, Shawn, Maddie, and I sat in a circle on our stomachs just looking at each other and talking!  
• Holds her head up so much better.  She will sit on your lap or sit with you on the floor and keep her head up looking all around.
• Went for a walk forward facing in the Bjorn.  She loved being able to look around at everything this time.  
• Got her school pictures back!  They are super cute and of course we ordered quite a few.  I'm not sure how long it takes to get them back, but I'll share when I get them!!
• Was doing great at waking up around 6:30am and then the last 3 nights she decided that she liked it better when she ate at 2am!  I will soon be working to break this habit. :)  My newest book (Babywise and babywise II --- highly recommended for moms) talks about a parent directed feeding schedule and if you are breastfeeding that you may need to add in an extra feeding to make sure they sleep through the night.  I need to try that with her on the weekends when she doesn't get as many bottles.  With being at daycare she is on a pretty strict feeding schedule, so she doesn't have the ability to become a "snacker" which the book says can lead to poor sleep habits.  It also said that too much sleep can cause night waking and on Monday she took a 3 hour morning nap at daycare. At the beginning I had told them to let her sleep...I guess I need to be more specific and tell them not to let her sleep more than 2 hours for her morning nap because it interrupts her afternoon nap and causes her to sleep too much.   She is still taking 3 naps...her late afternoon nap is only 30 minutes and I almost always just put her in the swing.  It works well for me because it's right after we get home from school and it give me 30 minutes to clean bottles, change, put together stuff for the next day, and start dinner! I tell ya, this sleep training thing ain't easy, but we're workin' on it! 
• I have become quite the early bird.  During the week I get up sometime between 5-5:30am to begin getting ready for work.  I'm a little slow moving in the am, so it takes us about 2-2.5 hours to get everyone up and out the door!  32 days and counting til summer vacation!!  WooHoo!
• Next Monday is her 4 month check-up...I can't wait to see how much see has grown!

Maddie and I after we got home from school! Her dress and headband were so cute that day. 

Daddy dressed Maddie for school on Friday...she was so cute I had to take this picture at daycare before I left her!  She was smiling at her friend, Adalyn.

Our two kiddos!  

Everything is a chew toy!

She loves her little seat....thanks Chris and Kara (we promise to give it back)

Learning to chew on Sophie.  This was her mysterious gift...it came in an Amazon package shortly after we got home from the hospital and it didn't have a return name on it.  Did any of our readers get this for Maddie?  We thank you...whoever you are! 

Hanging out at lunch with all of her toys.  I just put these on last week and she loves them! 

Getting ready for our walk in the Bjorn and sportin' our new hat from Granny!

So happy to be home from school on a Monday afternoon!

Strawberry Shortcake

Yummy...fingers are tasty!

I had to wash all of the sheets and mattress cover before we left for school on Tuesday, so we were in a rush to put them back on before bedtime.  The sheets are a little difficult to change, so Shawn decided to take the whole thing out.  I guess he was tired and decided to take a cat nap while Maddie finished story time!

Quality time before bed

Daddy-Daughter LOVE! <3

Week Sixteen

Sixteen weeks and she is as cute as can be!

• Is still a little drool machine and chomps, chomps, chomps on her fingers.  
• Pretty much eats anything you put in front of her or anything she can get her mouth on.  Her favorites are: play gym toys, rings, plastic keys, and daddy's fingers!  (Dad said that her little gums are pretty strong)
• Has moved her bedtime just a little bit later.  She starts her last feeding around 6:30pm and then we do our routine which includes, bath time (every other day), 2 songs ("Favorite Things" from Sound of Music and "You are my Sunshine"), a book of her choice from the bookshelf, we say our prayers, get goodnight kisses and down to sleep she goes.  She is pretty good at chomping on her fingers until she goes to sleep and she is usually out by 7:15pm.
• Is getting better at settling on her stomach.  She always flips herself over, but sometimes she wiggles and fusses until she gets comfortable.  
• Sits in the bumbo for even longer now.  She has to really concentrate when she is in there, so I can't get her to play too much or smile.  She just drools, stares at you, and tries to keep that head up.
• Is getting really strong!  Her head, back, and legs are all getting stronger each day.
• Went to Lowes and helped mommy pick out flowers for the front yard.  We learned about all the different plants that we can get and don't need too much care (so mom doesn't kill them)!  The Lowe's worker loved Madelyn and said she was just such a good baby.
• Has started to take an interest in her stroller toys.  We only have about a 3 minute drive to school in the morning, but she is always in the back playing with her rings and firefly toy.
• We have figured out just how far our monitor reaches.  Even though Maddie goes to bed at 7pm, we can still enjoy some street party fun.  On almost any night you can find at least one of our street neighbors outside of their house doing something.  Now we can take our monitor outside and join in the fun too!
• Is doing very well with napping.  She takes 3 naps a day (morning, afternoon, and a 30 minute late afternoon nap).  Her naps aren't at exactly the same time, but they are within a pretty good window and I'm fine with that.  I know that it's hard for kids to sleep at daycare and it's hard to put babies down to sleep at daycare, so I'm just happy knowing that she sleeps at all!  The teachers say that she uses her sleep giraffe and pacifier.  They usually put her down awake and she has learned to soothe herself.
• Slept until between 4:30-5:30am for 5 nights this week...2 nights she woke up at 2:30am.  We will keep hoping to get into the 4:30 schedule.
• Gives us more to smile about each day.  We just love her so much!  

Week 16 Adventures...

Practicing sitting like a big girl with my toys

Hey, guys!

Just a lazy Sunday afternoon

Sitting in the high chair for the first time.  I think she felt a little left out since she didn't have any food to eat.

Tummy time while mom was getting ready for work.

She decided that she had enough tummy time, so she flipped the other way and started chomping on the fingers!

Moving across the floor while mom does her hair!

Let's see how far I can move!

In my pjs in the crib...goodnight everyone!

Weekly Photos...

Week Fifteen

• Rolls over much better now on both sides and from her back to her tummy and tummy to her back!  She started rolling a lot more this past weekend, but the teachers all noticed on Monday and were just so impressed with our little gymnast. :)
• Has gained a ton of weight!  I'm not sure how much she weighs, but she really has packed it on!
• Is eating 7oz in her bottles.  They noticed at daycare that she was crying every hour and forty-five minutes for another 5oz bottle, so they talked to me and we decided to move her up.  She drink a 7oz bottle every 3 hours during the day.  She is eating 5 times a day now (21oz at daycare and nurses twice - morning and night).
• Continues to give the teachers at daycare a run for their money with her poopy diapers!  She very rarely ever comes home in the same outfit I take her in.
• Had her first Easter!  We had some friends come over to our house for Easter lunch and Maddie had a great time.  She played with her friend, Brayden, and got lots of new fun things from her Grandparents and the Easter bunny!  Last year we especially remember Easter Sunday...that was the day we found out that we were expecting our little bundle of joy!  We told Maddie that, but I don't think she understood. :)
• Went for a walk around the neighborhood in the Bjorn and to the playground on Saturday.  Shawn and I took turns going down the slide with her, but she didn't seem too interested yet.  We still have her front facing the Bjorn, but I think that is about over.  She was fussy during the walk and kept turning her head wanting to see out the side.  She isn't too interested in things unless she can see everything...I don't blame her!
• Went to breakfast at the diner again.  I just love our little small town diner near our house.  It is only about a mile from the house and they have the BEST breakfast.  We never go out to eat, so this is our treat...although Shawn said it's probably not good for our cholesterol!  This week we took a bottle with us and fed her while we were there.  She drank her bottle and then sat on my lap while we ate.  She was so cute and put her hands on the table like a big girl.  She was trying to reach for my plate and kept looking all around at all the other people.  One little girl in a high chair next to us kept turning around pointing at her and saying, "baby" with a big smile!  
• Had picture day at school.  I brought her dress from Great Granny Middleton and the teachers said she was super cute and great with the photographer!  I can't wait to see her pictures. :)  They even took a class picture at school, too!
• Is starting to sleep almost the entire night!  After her growth spurt she moved back to eating at 6pm, 2am, and 5am for a few nights, which was her normal routine.  Soon after, she decided that she likes sleep and now only wakes up sometime in the 4 o'clock hour.  She had one day that she slept until 6am, but that's not quite habit yet. 
• Falls asleep just about anywhere.  One morning she got up around 6:30am and Shawn and I were still getting ready for work, so we put her on the play gym in our room.  We looked over after she had been playing awhile and she was fast asleep laying on the floor.  She also fell asleep on the bathroom floor while I was trying to get her bath ready! 
• Has become a little drool machine.  In her weekly photos you can see where she soaked her onesie and is eating her hands.  She had a little bit of a temperature that night and it was gone in the morning, so I'm wondering if it really might be related to teething.  I got my first tooth at 6 months, so maybe something is shifting around in her mouth!

Maddie and Noah hangin' out.  She likes to grab for his head now, but he gets too excited and wants to give her a bath all over.  

Maddie listening to her bunny toy from Granny

"What's that you say about the Easter bunny?"

"Really?  He brings a basket full of goodies?"

"Bunny, you talk a lot!"

"You just wait...I talk a lot too!"

Maddie and her stink eye look!

"Mom, I'm too tired to take a bath...can't we just go the bed stinky?"

"Ok Mom, you put this jabbering bunny on my tray...now what am I suppose to do?"

Maddie and Brayden

Bath time in her new tub that sits inside the big tub! 

Maddie with her Easter basket

Hunting Easter eggs...Maddie was thinking hard about which one she wanted!

Brayden will take the yellow and Maddie goes for the purple

Maddie decided that Easter egg hunting was tiring and wanted to nap instead!

Brayden was a champ!  He put the Easter eggs in the basket and also took them all out...next year we'll have to teach him how to play the game!

No Brayden, the Easter eggs go inside the basket! :)

Maddie sportin' her cool shades from the Easter bunny.  She was really ready for a nap! 

Maddie says, "Hey Mr. Josh...you seem like a nice guy!"

Maddie's not sure what to think about Tony...don't worry Maddie, sometimes we're not sure either!  

Maddie's playing hard to get!

"I don't think so Brayden...daddy told me not to look at boys until I'm 30!"

Maddie's famous neck turn...we haven't figured out how she can bend like that!

Best buds!

Watching the Masters with daddy (no, we don't let her watch TV, but it was a cute photo!)

She can't wait to play golf with daddy!  

Daddy is telling Maddie all about the LPGA!

Maddie loves her bunny from Grandma and Grandpa Hart