Rolling....

Madelyn has figured out how to roll over more than once when she wants to go somewhere this week. It's funny to watch her. First she hikes her feet up in the air, wiggles them around and arches her back, then she smiles, flops over on to her back and does it again. We have found her in the crib some mornings turned 90 degrees and wedged sideways so she must be doing this at night also.

Her increased mobility has alarmed Wyatt who stays well past the 1 foot "no-touch" zone. Symon on the other hand will toss himself down next to her and tolerate having his fur pulled out, maybe because he's so attention starved. She got a set of Alphabet blocks from Uncle Andy and has decided that she likes them, if we give her two blocks, she'll rake them towards her, if we then show her 1 or 2 more, she'll want those as well. Take one or two away and she'll drag them back.

Christmas Time

Kids must be born with the present gene. Every time Madelyn got close to a present she wanted to rip it open and see what was inside, I guess I can't blame her. Our first Christmas as a family together will be a day to remember (It even snowed here in Seattle!) but it seemed to go by much to fast and was over in a blink of an eye. Madelyn is well stocked up on toys for the next year thanks to her friends and family.


This was a present for me but she enjoyed helping to open it up anyway.


Sitting on the Dining room table and acting cute again :)


Joy, an electronic toy drum - Thanks D&R :)



Our niece, Angelica, is in town this week as well.

Hips check out ok

We had another trip to Children's Hospital this week and Madelyn's hips were given an ok. The highlight of the trip was actually watching Madelyn tear up the white paper that they put out on the exam table. She loves that she can shake something and make such a huge racket, we must have gone though 10 feet of the stuff while we waited.

Thankfully this week she has learned how to roll on to her back from her belly, so now when she's tired of holding her head up she just flops over rather than getting annoyed. She also rolls around at night in her crib and prefers to sleep face down, occasionally she'll get stuck against the side of the crib but for the most part she's sleeping great. After taking a week off from want rice cereal she's showing some renewed interest. As with anything new, it will take some time for her to get the hang of it.

We have caught Madelyn and Symon playing together at times. He has far more patience than Wyatt for her jerky and less than gentle movements.

High Chair

It's been fun to watch Madelyn improve her roll-over technique this week. Two weeks ago it seemed to take lots of concentration and effort for her to hoist her legs up and then decide to roll them to the left or the right and then finally twist the rest of her body, sometimes getting stuck along the way. Now she has it down pat and seems to roll over whenever she wants. In the blink of an eye she tosses her legs up and poof she's on her belly. She's also learned this week that she can make a funny sound by trying to jam her entire fist into her mouth and sucking on it. One or two fingers won't do, it has to be the whole fist.

A few toys have become her favorite recently, one of them looks like a cross between a stuffed giraffe and a small yellow blanket has been nicknamed her "Fussy". Madelyn absolutely loves to rub it all over her head and shake it all about. An X-mas present from the Grandparents in the form of a High Chair has shown up this week and she's definitely ready to eat. She gets a small serving of rice cereal or perhaps sweet potatoes once a day.

Yippie I'm 5 Months old now

We've had a good week. Mom was able to sneak into Babies R Us for another holiday picture opportunity. We are continuing to feed her rice cereal each evening and she loves the change in food so far. I'm thrilled because I finally get to feed my daughter and have something to do around mealtime beside coaxing burps out and cleaning up spit-up. She still loves to watch the cats, but they are wise to her and give her a wide berth when they walk on by.

First Food

We decided to start rice cereal yesterday. Madelyn is continually reaching for our food when she sits on our laps while we eat. She's just getting the hang of it but seems to like the taste of something new. The spoon routine is going to take a little practice and getting used to.

Rolling over is her other skill of the week, she just loves to pick her legs up and flop on over to her belly, it's great fun to watch. She's still working on how to roll back, maybe next week.


Our holiday photo shoot at home last night did not seem to go as planned, but she seemed to have fun despite two parents who desperately wanted some more cute pictures of her in her holiday outfits.

Another Santa picture at Memere's church last weekend.

Santa!

Our Santa pictures arrived today! I suppose that only Madelyn knows what she asked for, maybe she'll tell us someday. We consider ourselves lucky in that we made it to see Santa without and major wardrobe, parent or child breakdowns.

New tricks of the week continue to be more laughter, mainly at Symon our cat and occasionally she'll laugh at one of us if we act funny. She surprised Mom today and rolled over onto her tummy for the first time while she was reaching for a toy, it's amazing how fast kids grow at this stage and the daily surprises that you get to see. We must have hit another growth spurt because her feedings have stepped up a notch, a few nights this week it was almost like having a newborn again.

X-Mas Tree farm

We picked up a X-mas tree last Friday. The next day Madelyn finally succumbed to the cold that Mom and Dad have been stuck with recently and ran a fever. Until last weekend I thought that I was the biggest grump when I got sick, Madelyn now holds that distinction in our family :)

Happily she's back to normal now and flashing that big smile of hers. Memere came over today and stuck Madelyn in the pile of clothes that she was helping to fold.

Turkey with a side of Razzzberries

It was bound to happen, all those razzberries that we have blown on Madelyn to make her try to giggle have come back to bite us. Laying down on the changing table the other morning she starting making her usual noises. It started with something that sounded like "AAAABuUghhhh" and then moved to the full on "PHTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT." I was honestly startled for a moment and thought where on earth did my child pick that noise up from? She then blew another razzzberry and that jarred my sleep deprived mind out of its fog...me.

The tongue has now emerged from her mouth, she'll mimic what you do at times to get a reaction from you. Stick out your tongue and make a silly sound and she'll try to do the same. I'll try to get a picture of this as it's quite cute. Giggles and laughter are still hard to come by. I coaxed several laughs out of her this morning when our cat pounced on a paper bag to get his feather stick, apparently she likes being startled.

The slide-show on the lower left is a new feature from Blogger. Click on the picture to view it a larger size.

Everythings new to me :)

Sitting up is a new thing for Madelyn, but heck most everything is new to her at this point in her life. She needs help to sit up so that's why you see all the shots of her in the Bumbo. Our Dr. suggested a new position where we put her hands inside her legs while she sits tripod style. This always seems to bring about wide eyes and a great big smile. The cats are becoming more interesting to her and she can reach out and pet (maybe pet is the wrong word, it's more like grab a bunch of fur) them when they check her out.

For the most part bedtime and sleeping are becoming more regular, you just don't know how much you take sleep for granted until it's taken away from you in large doses. We seem to be getting 8 hour stretches on a consistent basis. She kicks around so much in the crib that she ends up at the bottom of it each morning, three feet or so from where I leave her every evening.

4 Months

Madelyn turned 4 months this week, it's hard for us to believe that she sleeping in her own room now. We are still surprised day by day with her new behaviors that come and go. This week she decided that lip smacking was a good thing and for two days it seemed like that's all she wanted to do, "SMACK, SMACK, SMACK." Maybe she liked the sound her lips made or the way it felt? Then as soon as the lip smacking started she stopped.

She is becoming more aware of her environment day by day as well. When we walk into our pantry and see the same old boxes of food on the shelves we tend to think in terms of, "whats for dinner?" She on the other hand will be endless fascinated by all the shapes and colors that she can now see. Our friends the Fishers came over for dinner last night, their 2 month old daughter Kaitlyn and Madelyn babbled back and forth to each other a few times, it was as if they were saying, "That's a cute outfit you have on, where did you get it?", or "Are you as tired of drinking milk as I am?"

The Jumper-Roo continues to be a huge hit. It's nice that she can bounce around to her hearts content. She gives it such a run for its money that I sometimes wonder if she will pop out of it someday. Its very entertaining to watch.

Hips!

We had our follow-up appointment at Children's Hospital this afternoon and Madelyn's X-ray came out just fine! The brace will have to be worn at night for the next 6 weeks, but she'll be out of it during the day. It's nice to be able to hug our daughter again without Velcro chaffing our arms.

Costume picture from Halloween that did not get put-up earlier, I guess this is what the Jolly-Green Giant's child would have looked like if he had fathered one :)

Last Leaves of Autumn

This weeks handmade hat was made by our friend Jamie Thomas, thanks Jamie :)

We were both sad this week when Madelyn moved from her co-sleeper in our bedroom to her crib. I guess it's just part of watching your little girl grow up. Everybody seems to be sleeping better because of it so its for the best. She no longer has to wonder why there is a bear in the room when Dad snores and I don't have to listen as she sucks her fingers and whatever else she can stick in her mouth when she sleeps. About 1/2 the time she will sleep from 9ish to 6ish in the morning, the rest of the time she wakes up for a midnight snack. There is nothing like a 4 month old staring at you in the face at 2:00am to make you smile, it's as if she's saying, "Wow how did you get here, could you tell that I'm hungry?"


We caught some video last night of her sucking her thumb while in her crib, how she could sleep though all of that I don't know, but it was fun to watch. Our video camera has an IR light on it to allow for filming in the dark. I'll post the footage next week.


She really did not make too many sounds early in the week, it was almost like she forgot how. Then this weekend she found her voice again and figured out how to hit the high notes (oh Joy) and loves to screech for us when prompted and egged on. When the cats walk around the room she watches them looks to see what they are up to. Lucky for them they both stay out arms reach. Monday's doctor's appointment will decide how her hips have healed up. It will sure be nice to get our baby back and not have to strap her up all the time.

Little Pumpkin

What is Halloween without a pumpkin picture or two? (Many thanks to our friend Stacy who knitted this hat.) Luckily we had a farm right down the street from us where we could walk around in the mud and find a few to take home. We may have been premature about teething, no teeth yet but Madelyn sure does love to chew on things now, preferable your finger or part of your hand while she drools all over the place. No new noises this week, we are still trying to get her to giggle more for us, but what can you do to a three month old to make her laugh?

Her latest trick has been to learn how to splash Mommy while in the tub. She used to kick her feet but has now figured out that it's more fun to pump her arms and splash everybody within three feet of her, including herself. She knows how to swap a toy to her other hand. If I place her toy keys in her right hand she will slowly transfer them to her left before she really shakes all around. Perhaps the best part of all of this is just watching her change, she'll settle into a routine one week and as fast as you figure things out she has changed again. She is almost double her birth weight, weighing it at ~15 lbs now. We'll have costume pictures for the next post. My pictures seem to be improving as I get more familiar with the new camera, I still only get about a 5% keeper rate. We took about 80 pictures at the farm and came up with about 5 good shots. Thank goodness for digital cameras :)

New Videos

Two new videos have been added. Click on the links or the bottom two video's on the left side of this page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAtOHatOMJU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UajAgD99Dgc

First Giggles and Teething

Madelyn continues to surprise us every day. She giggled for the first time this week, seems to be teething and is learning how to roll over onto her back. This is how our week has gone, Mom spends all day feeding, cleaning, comforting and playing with her until she's almost ready to pass out. Dad comes home and takes over, Mom leaves the room for a break, Madelyn does something new for Dad and Mom misses it.

Needless to say this is frustrating for Mom and endlessly fascinating for Dad. Last night I blew a Zurbert on her stomach and cried when she looked back at me and giggled, Mom caught a few but she stopped giggling after a few rounds. I don't think there is a sweeter sound than than the laughter of your child or any child for that matter. The same thing happened on Tuesday night when Dad egged Madelyn on to roll over onto her back. Luckily she has since put in a repeat performance for Mom.

Teething also has started this week, but that's not as much fun as the giggles. Basically she will try to chew on anything in sight and drool, man does she like to drool. Yet again something else they failed to mention to us in parenting class. We can't see any teeth yet but they must be getting ready to pop.

She is sleeping most nights from 9:00ish until about 7 or 8 the following morning, because of this the daytime feedings and routine are in flux. It seems like just when you get her or the routine figured out she changes on you.

Life with the harness has been ok, she gets it off in two weeks on Nov the 5th, yippie!!

Fall Pictures

We finally went to the park today and got a picture taken with the three of us, thanks to the Leatys for getting us out and to Karin for finding a place with some great fall color.

New Sounds

Madelyn has continuing to make new sounds this week to her Mothers delight. They seem to change day by day and provide us with endless amounts of entertainment. Tummy time seems to be getting easier but it's still not her favorite activity. She can recognize us fairly well and will kick her legs when she notices Mom or Dad is around. She also likes to smile at her Memere , Pepere or any of our friends or neighbors who happen to be around. Sitting up in the Bumbo helps to give her a new perspective but she's still aways away from doing so on her own. Simon our cat still does not know what to make of this little women yet, but finds her hat a fun play toy.

Three Month

Well time seems to just be flying by, has it really been this long since we brought her home from the hospital? She weighs in at 14lbs now and we already miss the days where we could hold her in our arms for hours on end. Now it more like 15 minutes or so and the thought of, "man your getting heavy kiddo I have to put you down." New tricks and sounds are coming on a daily basis now. First she loves to kick when she's out of her harness at night, it's like she needs to get in her full days supply of exercise in that time. Life with the harness has gotten easier after the first week with it. 5 more weeks to go, we just remind ourselves every day that it's only temporary.

She can also grasp your finger and squeeze it with all of her might or hang on to a toy and wave it all over the place as if to say "look what I can do!" Sometimes her thumb will make it to her mouth but she does not seem too interested in sucking on it unless she is hungry. 2-3 times a day she will coo and make a few noises at you and wait for your response. If she deems it favorable she'll blow a few spit bubbles for you or make some other odd sound and hope that you react to it.

Sleep has thankfully become much better, she slept 8 hours a few nights this week but her normal routine is a 9ish bedtime and a 2-3am wakeup for a snack and then back to sleep until 7 or 8 the next morning. It's not perfect but it sure beats the 2-3 times a night feeding in the beginning.

She is also more into people and will react to Karin and I when one of us comes home. Zurberts and kisses on the cheek always seem to draw out the smile that melts our hearts every time. Yes she loves giggles but we have not heard any from her yet.