Week 36: September 16 - 22

Nursing
By the end of the week, I was feeling the pain again. I called my doctor on Friday and they called in my diflucan prescription. YAY. I also called and got medicine to treat Madeleine. It's just a semi-topical, Nystatin suspension. Its purpose is to sit in her mouth as long as possible. I guess it'll work?

The good news is that by Monday night, I can already tell that it's working again. Today's nursing sessions were MUCH better, only the last one really hurting. SO YAY, we keep going! I was so not ready to quit, but there were a few moments recently where I ... not really considered it, but it crossed my mind. The "I can't do THIS for 4 more months" kind of thoughts.

Sleeping
After Mimi and Uncle Alan left, Madeleine started taking LONG naps! I guess she got worn out from all the attention and activity. Her naps were awesome, sometimes as long as 2 hours. When Papa Pete and SuSu came, she still slept well, but then Sunday she got all messed up because of church and Monday, her naps were short and she was tired at bedtime. We are still working on tweaking the schedule so that Madeleine gets all the sleep she needs, no more, no less, but at least we're doing FINE tuning now and not doing a massive overhaul or anything!

Solids/Food
I NEED TO BE BETTER ABOUT THIS! Matt is good about snacks for Madeleine, but I feel like I have so many things to do that my mind just doesn't think about sitting down to a meal or snack with her. This isn't cool. Madeleine DID have some pesto on pasta, lots of snacks with fruit and cheese.

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. Stands if she's holding onto something (oh yes. Quite. She's been doing this a couple of weeks).
2. Sits well in a chair (yes! Matt's even put her in the rocker and she does well).
3. Picks up and manipulates two objects, one in each hand (been there, DONE that!)
4. Approaches large objects with both hands (I think this means tries to pick up big item with both hands? We couldn't think of any time this came up. We'll have to test it out!)
5. May remember game that was played the previous day (try the previous month! Mimi visited in August and played a head-shaking game with her. Madeleine remembered the game for last week's Mimi visit!)
6. Responds to her name (YES, been doing this for awhile).
7. Wants to play near parent (YES! She doesn't have to play WITH us, but she likes us nearby.)
8. Objects when something is taken away (YES. HAHA.)
9. Feed himself some food (I think we've had this one covered for awhile).

Special Topic: More company!
Friday night, Papa Pete and SuSu arrived after Madeleine was in bed, but the fun really got started Saturday morning. We went to Marietta Square to visit the farmer's market, and they were also having a small antique festival. We got some basil to make pesto. Then we headed to "Chicago Delights" to get hot dogs for lunch. I got my yearly corndog. Haha.

The afternoon was spent hanging out with Madeleine and watching the Gators beat Tennessee. It was a lot of fun. Madeleine delighted everyone, and Papa Pete got a number of smiles. Baby went to bed around 7, and Matt and I got to go to the teen event at Todd and Amanda's house. It was really nice getting out of the house and getting to hang with some cool people.

Sunday morning was fun, we all went to church, and then Papa Pete and SuSu headed home.

And a special bonus, on Monday afternoon, ABBIE B came over to hang with me, and she and Madeleine bonded. :)

New Things
Madeleine has really been into standing lately. In her basket, in her crib, against the chair--wherever she can do it. I've remarked before that when she is learning something new, that is ALL she wants to do. Seems that she's working on standing, and it's here to stay. She's getting MUCH better at it, too. She will stand in the laundry basket, for example, and experiment with shifting her weight, lifting one hand off the rim, moving her feet. It's awesome to watch. She can stand for ... I dunno, 15 seconds ... with only one hand on the basket. She has also practiced bending down to pick something up (one hand on the rim), reaching out for something I'm holding. I love it.

Matt reports that he let Madeleine stand on the outside of her exersaucer, and she walked a third of the way around it. LITTLE GIRL!

Teething Update
They don't seem to have emerged any more this week. Maybe I am wrong. [Click to see bigger]:



Slideshow

Video of the week!