Week 52: January 6 - 13

This week has been amazing. Madeleine seems to have grown a whole lot, done a lot of developing. I can't believe she's almost a year old!!!! We had a long "week" this time to take us right up to the start of YEAR TWO. Oh boy. Wow. Anyway, if I continue weekly posts, they'll be starting on Fridays now. :)

Nursing
I think, maybe, just maybe, we've finally got things worked out. It's only taken us a year, right? For those who are interested, I don't know how much longer I'll be nursing Madeleine. The World Health Organization recommends two years. That sounds long, but then I thought 1 year was a long time!

Sleeping
Things seem to be calming down, getting back to normal. Two naps, early bedtime, happy baby!

Solids/Food
Eating clicked this week. She's now eating and hardly spitting anything out. It's super cool.

Foods she LOVES: biscuits, apples, cantaloupe, peaches, tomatoes, blueberries
Foods she likes: zucchini, green beans, chicken, carrots, asparagus
Foods she doesn't love: bananas, cucumber.
Potential problem foods: cheese, yogurt (dairy??)

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. Displays some combination of standing, walking and cruising (YES! First steps this week!)
2. May climb out of a crib or playpen (yikes! not yet, thankfully!)
3. May put two objects in her mouth or under her arm to grasp another (she still pretty much holds only two objects)
4. Understands much of what is said to her (I think so, yes)
5. May have tantrums (oh boy! yes. for sure. but they are not bad at all)
6. Cares for doll or soft toy by hugging, cuddling, feeding (she cuddles with stuffed animals but doesn't really play with them)
7. Takes only one afternoon nap (NO. Thank goodness, not yet!)

New Things
1. WALKING! Madeleine took her first steps on Wednesday, Jan. 12. Matt and I were sitting on opposite corners of the big front room, letting Madeleine walk behind her push cart between us. I decided to video tape it (cuz it's so cool), and was filming while Matt got her ready to go. But looking at the screen, I noticed that Madeleine was kind of far from the cart. So I got to watch as she took her first tentative, excited steps toward the handlebar on the push cart!





She did this a few more times, and each time she got more confident. It's amazing to see them grow right before your eyes. On Thursday, Madeleine was standing at the chair with her back to me. I was sitting on the floor. She turned around, let go, and walked to me, all by herself, without any prompting! I think she just did it without thinking about it. Then later that day, Matt and I sat on the rug, pretty close, and helped Madeleine practice walking. We'd take turns holding her weasel ball (her favorite thing in the WORLD right now!) and calling her to us. She walked back and forth a few times. I can't believe she's about to be a TODDLER. WALKING around the house. Wow.

2. A couple of times this week, Madeleine has brought a book to me and seemed to want me to read it. Very cool. The books were "Pat the Bunny" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Matt and I both sing the song to her as we read, and she bounces in our laps (because she loves to dance). It is adorable!

3. Madeleine gave daddy a kiss on command this week! Matt saw it on last week's list of "By the Book" and tried it. And it worked, first time! She doesn't kiss mommy on command yet, and not nearly as much as daddy. But that's okay.

4. On Thursday, Matt was writing out a list for what we needed to do for Madeleine's birthday party. Madeleine saw him and reached for the pen. He let her hold it (she couldn't mark on anything), and she immediately pretended to write on his paper! He let her hold the paper, and she sat down and continued pretending. So Matt got her a couple of crayons, and she made a little drawing.

NEW WORDS!
On Thursday, Madeleine and Daddy played a game of "here." Madeleine holds something out and says "here." Daddy takes it, says "thank you," and then holds it out to baby, saying "here." Repeat until baby gets bored and throws the item away. :)

So the Weasel Ball is her favorite toy. And she knows "ball" and she knows it's called a weasel ball. She tries to say "weasel ball" but it just comes out "yee ball." It's super cute.

Word tally: Layla, Dog, Mama, Poppi (once), ball, here.

Misc
1. Madeleine understands the word "look." Matt will hold her and point to something and say "look," and she will look.

2. She cracked me up a couple of times this week by grunting when standing. She sounded like an 80-year-old man trying to stand up! Yet with a baby accent. SO FUNNY.

3. One day this week, Madeleine and daddy had little screaming matches. She'd be sitting at her high chair and she'd kind of lightly scream (best way I can describe it). But she was so happy that it got Matt riled, and he started doing it back at her. Then she'd do it again, and he'd do it, and over and over. It got hilarious.

4. As mentioned above, Madeleine's FAVORITE THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD right now is the Weasel Ball. It was given to Layla by Papa Pete and SuSu, but it was quickly claimed by the baby. She walks around with the ball in one hand, a parent's finger in the other. She'll drop it and let it roll around, walking or crawling after it to try and catch it. She says "yee ball" in her crib, once in the middle of the night!

Slideshow

Video of the week!

Week 48: December 9 - 15

BIG week this week, lots going on, but IT IS OFFICIAL: MADELEINE IS CRAWLING!!

Nursing
Well, I'm on round 3 of antibiotics. Meh. Not having a fun time, but it only hurts half the time....

Sleeping
OH, I can't wait until I don't think about sleep like I do now. Sometimes -- LOTS of times -- I wish I didn't think about it at all. I wish I could let it go and be easy about it, but .... that's not going to happen any time soon.

Two days this week, Madeleine skipped her second nap entirely. She would go down, I guess not tired enough for her nap yet, and she'd play awhile and eventually get to standing in her crib. Then she'd want down and she couldn't get down, so she'd cry. But it was a mad kind of cry, like "COME HELP ME NOW" cry. Because she'd cry for a few seconds, then stop and try to sit down. Repeat. For the rest of her nap. I once again googled what to do when baby gets stuck standing up, and everything said to let them alone. Going in often makes things worse. Meh. It was not fun, plus Matt was at work so I was all alone, wanting to go in but having to make myself be strong.

Solids/Food

Foods she LOVES: biscuits, apples, cantaloupe, peaches, tomatoes, HUMMUS
Foods she likes: zucchini, green beans, chicken, carrots, asparagus
Foods she doesn't love: bananas, cucumber.
Potential problem foods: cheese, yogurt (dairy??)

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. May take a step without holding onto anything (nope, not yet...)
2. May stand on toes (YES! She definitely does this.)
3. May carry spoon to mouth (she tried, got the spoon in sideways)
4. Turns pages of book (um, yes, been doing this since week 43) -- HOWEVER, new this week, she can turn the pages of a board book without any help from us!)
5. May pull off shoes and socks (been pulling her socks off for ... months!)
6. Speaks long, babbling sentences with full inflection (she's starting, saying more and more)
7. Seeks approval (still no sign of this. LOL! Oh wait, except when she does something. She'll smile really big and look at us.)
8. Engages in parallel play with another child (not much opportunity to play with other kids. But she enjoyed Marshall and Lola at Thanksgiving)

New Things
1. SHE CAN CRAWL!! The real thing! It is awesome. I took video.







2. Little baby has started really imitating sounds. She does it with Matt way more than me. He'll play with a lion and make roaring sounds, and she will try to make the same sound. When reading a book about neighborhood animals, I make all the animal sounds. Madeleine will try to make the kitty "meow" sound. It's great.

Also, Madeleine will copy ... not sure what to call them ... but nose sounds. If someone sighs, she'll copy us. If Layla blows her nose, Madeleine will pretend she did too. If Matt sniffs, she will sniff. It's hilarious!

3. Madeleine now points to things in books. She was pointing out the egg in the "Very Hungry Caterpillar" but now, she'll point to something on every page, or just little things. Especially animals.

4. Daddy showed Madeleine how to flip the light switch. We aren't sure if she likes it because it turns the light on and off or if she likes the physical aspect of flipping. More research is required.

5. One of Madeleine's favorite things to do now is pull things off tables. She pulls her books down, makes a lot of noise. She pulls things off the ottoman.

6. A MAJOR FIRST: On Tuesday, Madeleine lowered herself from standing at the exersaucer to crawling position!! I got the feat on video! Now little baby is on her way to super mobility. She can crawl, cruise, pull up, go from crawling to sitting and sitting to crawling, and NOW, she can go from standing to crawling. In some situations, at least. GO BABY!





7. Similarly, Madeleine can also now pick up flat objects from the floor. She's been able to pick toys up for awhile, but now she can pick up books and pieces of paper.

8. Finally, Madeleine has started pointing at things, not just in books. All over the place.

Misc
1. I LOVE HER HEAD. I adore washing her head. It's the perfect size to hold and kiss and touch. LOVE HER HEAD!

2. Madeleine's confidence in walking grows every day. Now she is feeling more and more capable of walking while holding only one hand. IT's so cute when she does it, too. She'll hold one hand, and with her other, she'll hug it to her body and take little jerky steps, all the while grinning, so happy with herself. It's awesome.

3. Mommy got lots of kisses this week!

4. I think that Madeleine "told" on Layla. Baby was eating, and Layla came around her high chair. I told her to leave harshly, and she did. A few minutes later, the dog returned, and Madeleine leaned over, pointed at her, and said something, while looking at me. IT was hilarious.

5. Matt is convinced that she's trying to say "love." HE'll say "I love you," and she will say "yyaahh". I can see where he'd think that. :)

Slideshow

Video of the week!





BONUS LAYLA VIDEO!!

Week 44: November 11 - 17

Madeleine turned 10 months old this week! I can't believe how time has flown. Pretty soon, she'll be turning ONE! Our tentative date for her first birthday party is January 15th, a Saturday, and I hope everyone can make it, though I know that won't be possible. It will be a short, low-key affair, where we basically get to celebrate making it through alive! Oh, and Madeleine will get her first CAKE!

Nursing
Mostly still going well. We had some biting incidents this week which were NOT fun, but I think they're past. Hasn't bit since Saturday.

Sleeping
Well, we've hit some bumps in the sleep department. Everything was going super last week, but this week she started having problems. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, she took her normal morning nap, but then for her second nap, she wasn't tired when she went down (I guess!). She would sit in her crib and play, coo, talk to herself for up to 30 minutes, then take a super short nap (30 minutes). She seemed fine in the evenings, however, so we weren't worried.

But after the third day of this, she woke super early in the morning. Le sigh. So we think she got just a little more chronically tired each day, and then it started messing with her night sleep. It's crazy the way sleep works for babies--and how it gets messed up! Anyway, the first day of early waking was Sunday, and we had to wake her from her first nap to get to church. Then we went out to eat, so Madeleine went down for nap #2 kinda late. She slept great, until almost 4, so we all went to church that night. Well, she ended up being up too late. Got a short (which for her means less than 11 hours) night's sleep, then slept fine for nap #1 and nap #2 was again about 30 minutes.

Since then, however, her naps have lengthened again. I believe it has to do with her waketimes; I think she's able to stay up longer than before, which is a natural progression for babies. These things just tend to surprise us! Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty good, so hopefully it was just a phase-thing.

Solids/Food
It's funny. Some meals she will eat a lot, and others she'll barely touch. We've decided to start waiting at least 30 minutes after she nurses before giving her solids, just to give her a little time to want to eat. She still loves it, and overall, there is positive progress. It's still kinda slow, but the book says that one day, it'll just CLICK. Can't wait for that! I bet it'll be her first birthday party, when she gets her first taste of CAKE!

Foods she LOVES: biscuits, apples, cantaloupe, peaches, tomatoes, grapes
Foods she likes: zucchini, green beans, chicken, carrots, asparagus
Foods she doesn't love: bananas, cucumber.
Potential problem foods: cheese, yogurt (dairy??)

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. Climbs up and down from chairs (HA! Not a chance. Matt has walked her up and down an incline though....)
2. May differentiate use of hands (definitely.)
3. Likes to take things apart and put them back together (YES to taking apart, NO to putting back together. Haha. She is still very much the Unmaker)
4. Opens drawers and cupboards to explore contents (she did this last week but the contents of the cabinets weren't okay for baby to play with. She was super unhappy and let me know about it!)
5. Experiments with means to a goal, such as using a large wheeled toy for a walker (she kinda did this in week 43 with the basket)
6. Helps dress herself (yes! She's been doing this for awhile with her arms and recently started with her legs)
7. Enjoys games, such as hide-and-seek, rolling back and forth on floor (she LOVES games, especially the ones with daddy!)
8. Drops objects for someone else to pick up (maybe she started doing this a few weeks ago?)

New Things
Kind of a slow week. She's started cruising a lot more, and walking (with the help of one of us) with one hand.

OH! She attempted to clap this week! Matt was clapping to her while she was on the changing pad, and she was kinda trying to bring her hands together in the same way. It was great!

Teething Update
No good pics of the teeth this week. They're sticking out just a little more than last week.

CAMP CRAWL!
Crawling ... is about the same, I'd say. I dunno, she just doesn't seem to want to get her belly up. She does the right motions with her hands and legs, but she doesn't get up on her knees. *Shrugs* I don't know what else to do, other than just not worry too much about it.

Slideshow
Lots of outdoor activities this week: Swings, parks, battlefields.

Video(s) of the week!
These were taken in Roswell on Saturday. Madeleine LOVED walking through the leaves!!

Week 43: November 4 - 10

Nursing
Nursing is going great!

Sleeping
Sleeping is going great, too. We were a little worried about daylight savings on Sunday, but Madeleine once again rose to the challenge. On Saturday, we went to a friend's house, and Madeleine took her second nap there. She was asleep before 2pm and she slept until about 3:50! On any other day, I would have woken her at 3:30, but because of the time change, we let her sleep. She was asleep for bed at 7:45pm (way later than usual), then woke at about 6:30am (new time; to her, it was 7:30am). She did great most of the day, but by bedtime, she was super tired. Even though she'd slept great, her little body still said it was up too late.

Monday she woke at 5:30, Tuesday at 6, and Wednesday she slept until 7am. Totally awesome little baby! Things are looking good! Also, her naps are great. I think it may be because she is so much more active, what with cruising and crawling all over the place. :)

Solids/Food
Madeleine really likes eating with people. On Sunday, we went out to eat with our friends Todd, Amanda, and Manning. We'd gone out with them and Amanda's family two Sundays before. On both occasions, Madeleine sat in her high chair with her cloth napkin bib on and ate her little pieces of food with complete contentment. She smiled at everyone, laughed occasionally, and generally seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself.

The Baby-Led Weaning book says not to make a big deal out of baby eating, to just go on with our meal like normal. Matt and I have gotten used to doing this. We give her some food and then talk like normal. Sometimes one of us laughs, and more often than not, Madeleine will laugh too. It's as though she's trying to participate in what's going on at the table beyond just eating. It seems as though she knows that meals are important and she wants to be part of them. It is totally awesome. SHE is totally awesome!!

She tried green peas for the first time this week. I'm not sure if she was just not hungry at the time or if she didn't like them, but she had a great time smashing them one-by-one on her high chair tray!

Her progress with eating is phenomenal. She's starting to swallow! Less food is hitting the floor! Her poop is getting more solid! All good things. I've noticed that for certain foods, like biscuit, we give her one or two pieces and she'll work on those for the entire meal instead of eating some and then dropping the rest. She used to go through half a biscuit at breakfast, but now just those 2-3 pieces. Yay!

Foods she LOVES: biscuits, apples, cantaloupe, peaches, tomatoes
Foods she likes: zucchini, green beans, chicken, carrots, asparagus
Foods she doesn't love: bananas, cucumber.
Potential problem foods: cheese, yogurt (dairy??)

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. May be able to raise herself to a standing position (she still needs us or furniture)
2. Carries two small objects in one hand (um? haven't seen her do this...)
3. Reaches behind herself to get a toy without seeing it (um... she definitely reaches, not sure about her seeing it or not...)
4. Is interested in fitting things together (not yet. Supposedly, this comes with the next Wonder Week, which is after week 46)
5. Seeks social approval (YES! I think the mealtimes with others is evidence of this)
6. Seeks companionship and affection (well, she wants to be with one of us at all times. She's more cuddly sometimes)
7. Fears strange places (haven't seen this yet)

New Things
Oh boy, does this girl like to walk! She loves standing against furniture and playing with things or pulling perfectly folded laundry off and dropping it on the floor. :) BUT, if I get too close to her, she reaches out and grabs me--my hand, my pants, my arm, whatever. Then she's trying to get me to help her walk. I feel like one of those robots that is controlled by a person perched inside the machine. Think "District 9." She will get "loaded" and start walking. When she wants to stop, she'll let go of one of my hands, explore or whatever she wanted to do. When she's done, she searches for my hand again so that she (and I) and move on. It's hilarious.

Matt has taken Madeleine on multiple walks around the house. He holds her hands and she walks all over the place. It's one of the best things for her to come around the corner and see me. She smiles really big and turns on the jets, walking faster to get to me. Of course, she gets distracted halfway there, but it's still totally awesome.

More walking news: a few times this week, she played with her basket, but in a different way. I turned it over so that it wouldn't tip (in the carpeted room), and she stood beside it with her hands on the bottom. Accidentally, it scooted forward a little because of Madeleine's weight. It was kind of like using a walker. She was surprised, kinda like, how did I get to here from there? But then she just kept playing. :)

We got Madeleine a cool toy for crawling or walking after (you can see it here). She does crawl after it, but what's more fun to watch is her holding Matt's hands, walking after the worm, and kicking it. Yes, kicking it! See the video in the video section.

On a totally unrelated note, Madeleine has become VERY ticklish, and it seems like it's happened just in this last week. We noticed that she's ticklish under her arms a few weeks ago, but lately she's ticklish on her tummy, her feet, her neck, and sometimes totally unexpected spots, like her elbow! She is so delightful when she's laughing that we have a hard time not trying to tickle her ALL THE TIME. I personally hate it (though I don't know many people who like it), so I don't want to tickle her if she isn't enjoying it. Cuz it's hard to tell---laughing isn't a voluntary reaction. But there are times we just can't help it. She is simply too cute!

Something NOT so cute: crying when a toy is taken away or she is moved from somewhere she was playing. I think she has more trouble with this when she is tired, because she doesn't do it very often. We are always surprised when she protests like this, so I think that speaks to its infrequency and unpredictability. We are never sure what to do, though. Cave and return the item? Or stick with our reason for taking the item away? My gut reaction is that it's about naptime, and distraction is always good. I don't know if she's too young to try and teach her that crying doesn't get her what she wants---though, crying is the only way she can communicate.

Misc
Madeleine has a game that she plays with Matt. He'll have something in his hand, and he will give it to her. Then she'll take it, but almost immediately try to put it back into his hand. She'll do this over and over. It's fun to watch, though I wouldn't mind if he didn't play this game while driving. HA! Just kidding. Only when we're stopped at lights.

Madeleine is awesome right after she eats. She's always in a great mood. She and I play for a few minutes after each meal, anywhere from 5-15 minutes. We do all kinds of little things, but she'll get this awesome smile on her face and lean into me, like she's shy. Sometimes, she'll give me little kisses, but this week, she put my whole nose in her mouth and licked it. LOL. She's so funny!

For months, I've been singing the same song to Madeleine before bed. In the last week or so, she's started to relax and lean her head against me while I sing and rock her. It is one of the best things ever. She also will do this for naps, but there's something super special about bedtime.

CAMP CRAWL!
On the subject of crawling. It is true that Madeleine doesn't crawl much, and that her technique is not textbook when she does crawl. We discussed this with her doctor at her 9-month visit, and the doctor said not to worry. She thought Madeleine would have it down by a year old. Madeleine doesn't get a ton of practice crawling because our floors are mostly wood and it's a lot cooler now than in the summer. If she has warm enough clothes on, it's hard for her to get good gription on the floor.

Still, we do want her to learn to crawl, and we need to provide those opportunities. So starting Wednesday, we put her on the floor a lot. This is the inaugural run of Madeleine crawling. She's already improved since starting Camp Crawl. She's got a decent grasp of technique, but she just needs to realize that it's more efficient to get her belly all the way off the floor. And the doctor said she'd get it eventually.



Teething Update
Madeleine seems to really like having four teeth now. She can rip into food, and chew on her toys differently. The food, especially, is great. I think her improvement in eating may have something to do with her teeth. Anyway, in this pic, you can kinda see both sets of teeth.



Slideshow

Video of the week!

Week 42: October 28 - November 3

HOLIDAY ANNOUNCEMENT: I know it's a bit early, but we're working on Madeleine's Christmas List. I'll post the link each week, but if you want to, you can bookmark the page if that's easier. I'm posting it early because some of the items are for sale at Etsy and might therefore be very limited, and with the holiday season approaching, I wanted to give you the best chance of getting what you'd like to get Madeleine. I do apologize for the lack of pictures on the list. I don't know what the problem is. Sorry!

Nursing

Matt suggested I move this section down, to give the reader something they WANT to read about first. However, I figure this is the only section where I really get to mention what's going on with ME, and it's first, so people can skip it or read it and forget it when they see stuff about Madeleine.

SO! All is well. Almost great, actually. :)

Sleeping

YAY. Sleep is going superbly, despite a few little bumps in the road (pun... intended!) Madeleine's naps are consistently over an hour, and on Tuesday, she even slept almost 2 hours for her second nap! It seems as though she's starting to make up for lost sleep in her naps. If she has a short night, she'll have longer naps, which is great. No issues here right now!

Solids/Food

Last week, I reported that she was really into food. And she definitely is. However, she still doesn't seem to quite get the concept of swallowing. I know she IS swallowing some, because the food disappears more now, and we see it in her diapers. But a lot of food still comes out of her mouth. She'll chew on it for a few minutes, then - bloop! - out it comes, pushed by her little tongue. She also doesn't get the idea of drinking. We've tried giving her water, and she has swallowed some, but it seems to be more by accident. OH well, we'll just keep trying!

Foods she LOVES: biscuits, apples, cantaloupe, peaches, tomatoes
Foods she likes: zucchini, green beans, chicken, carrots, asparagus
Foods she doesn't love: bananas, cucumber.
Potential problem foods: cheese, yogurt (dairy??)

By the book...

According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. Sits down from standing position (um, not really. She's super close, though. She uses Matt or I to help her sit -- smart baby!)
2. Responds to music by rocking, bouncing, swaying, humming (maybe??)
3. May repeat word incessantly, making it an answer to every question (she doesn't seem to talk with us much)
4. Grows aware of self (vague......)
5. Imitates gestures (YES!!)

New Things

BIG week this week. I think it has something to do with Madeleine FINALLY getting over her month-long cold.

To begin, a little setup: on Thursday, Matt put Madeleine down for her second nap, but she didn't seem too tired. Also, it was pretty warm, so we didn't put her in a sleep sack (either the light or heavy). Both of these things resulted in a FIRST. Madeleine stood up in her crib!! She was just cooing and talking to herself, and I looked at the monitor to see her in the corner of her crib in a new stance. I told Matt she was trying to stand, and then I turned away. When I glanced back, she was pulling herself up!! It was awesome! She made such pleased sounds.

BUT THEN, it occurred to me that she would have to get down in order to actually take her nap. The question became, do we go in and put her down, or let her figure it out? I frantically looked online for what other moms said to do, and the conclusion was unanimous: leave her. It was sad, because eventually her happy sounds turned to cries when she couldn't get down. Eventually though, she did, and I didn't see it. It took her a few minutes to calm down from being so upset, but then she fell asleep and slept for an hour. We had to wake her in order to preserve her bedtime.

So yay, Madeleine, standing up in her crib! It was super cool. She hasn't done it since, and I suspect that's because we do put her in the sleep sack for naps. It's probably got pros and cons. The good is that she won't get stuck standing up and have a hard time getting down, but the bad is that she doesn't get to practice getting herself down (and up of course, but I think down is harder). Also, at the end of her naps, it would be cool if she could stand up. But with the cooler (cold!) weather, this is the best way we can keep her warm during sleep.

MOVING ON! NEW TEETH! This also happened on Thursday. When I was feeding her before bed, I happened to see something in her mouth. I felt around, and felt the tip of a new tooth! It's the top middle. After a day or so, it was obvious she was getting both top middle teeth. Yay!

The new teeth are causing some bumps (as alluded to in the sleep section). Sometimes she avoids meals because her teeth hurt, and she's nursing longer and gnaw-ier (not a word, I know...). She's also been a little fussier. It's odd that she doesn't seem to have any symptoms until AFTER the teeth break the skin. I've been giving her meds before naps the last few days, and I think it's helping. She had started to wake early, though by early, I mean around an hour (nothing like those 30-minute beauties we had around 6 months! DO NOT miss that time!). Tuesday's 2-hour marathon showed me that the meds are helping. :)

Okay, so WHAT ELSE? How could there possibly be MORE, you ask? Well, it's not as big, but on Saturday, Matt was helping her stand and she was holding onto his fingers. Then she got a block in one hand and had to let go of one of Matt's hands. Then she grabbed the block with her OTHER hand, and she stood ALL BY HERSELF for about 5 seconds! She had no idea what was going on, though. Her concentration was on the block, so when Matt tried to duplicate the move, it didn't work. She hadn't set out to stand, just to hold her block.

FINALLY, also on Saturday, we saw some genuine crawling action. There were verified belly lift in her movements! Plus, for the first time in 2 weeks, she crawled all over the place.

Sunday morning, she woke early and had a runny nose, and we were SO bummed that she was getting yet another cold. But Monday saw no signs of a cold, and she actually slept until 7! Oh, she slept til 7 on Saturday as well, for the first time in at least a month. This was MUCH celebrated by all -- we got to sleep IN on Saturday, yay!

I've noticed her using her pointer finger more. Which is great, because soon she'll be able to pick up things using the pincer grasp.

Misc

Monday, we had a hair-brained, last-minute impulse to go to the Pumpkin Farm and Apple Barns in the Ellijay area, so we made our plans, packed everything up, and headed for the North GA mountains. It was awesome. Madeleine was crazy about the pumpkins -- pics and video below. We only got to spend half an hour there, but it was completely worth it. Then we went to my aunt's house in Jasper for her to take her afternoon nap, and for us to hang out a little bit. We got to see my cousin Matt (so hard not to write Matthew, as I have always called him!) and play some serious ping-pong. I think 6 games while Madeleine napped? Oh, and speaking of her napping, she slept for over an hour at my aunt's house, slept through the phone ringing, the answering machine (which was in the room where she was), a little dog noise, and us playing ping pong below her. She is seriously the BEST BABY ever.

Madeleine still loves to stand and walk on our fingers, but she's also started cruising from one piece of furniture to furniture. :)

Seriously, right now, she is so awesome. Almost every moment is a ton of fun. She laughs easily, smiles, plays.... I can't believe how much I am enjoying her and life right now. I love being with her, watching her learn, watching her grow. It's incredible that she will soon talk, think, and reason, and that we get to be part of her life.

Teething Update

I think we had one week without this on here. LOL. There are now four teeth of note in Madeleine's mouth. It will probably be some time before I can get a picture of all 4, but here you could definitely see the top two. I had to use the flash, but I think it's a decent picture anyway. [Click to see bigger]:




Slideshow

You could say that I did my best to make up for last week's lack of pictures. :)

Video of the week!

Two videos this week from the pumpkin patch. Madeleine LOVED the pumpkins!

Week 41: October 21 - 27

Nursing
Not much to report, thankfully. It's not 100% perfect, but it's close! Yay!

Sleeping
Toward the end of this week, the sleeping was much improved. The humidifier was key. If for some reason we decided not to turn it on for bed, she'd wake early the next morning. No idea why, but whatever! Madeleine's naps are averaging a little longer, too, I think. About 1 hour 15 minutes seems "normal." Of course, that will change tomorrow, haha.

Solids/Food
I can officially declare that Madeleine is VERY into food. Every time we put her in her high chair, she is on the lookout for munchies, and when she sees food, either on my plate, Matt's, or her own, she gets so stoked. She waves her hands in the air and makes her "I want food now" grunts. LOL. She gets more down, she is HAPPY to eat, and she really likes being involved with the meal.

On Sunday, we went out to eat with some friends, and Madeleine sat in her high chair and ate asparagus (first time!) and tomato, very pleasantly and happily, while the rest of us ate. It was awesome!

Foods she LOVES: biscuits, apples, cantaloupe, peaches, tomatoes
Foods she likes: zucchini, green beans, chicken, carrots, asparagus
Foods she doesn't love: bananas, cucumber.
Potential problem foods: cheese, yogurt (dairy??)

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. walks while holding both of your hands (YES! See the new things!)
2. may begin to show preference for one hand and one side of the body (yes. We think she favors her right hand.)
3. searches for an object if she saw it hidden (YES. She's been doing this for awhile)
4. shows various moods, such as hurt, happy, sad, angry (ha, definitely! Especially angry, when something isn't going her way!)
5. imitates facial expressions (yes, a little)
6. imitates sounds (sorta?)
7. enjoys variations of peek-a-boo (sort of. she's never been a fan of peek-a-boo, and I think the reason is because she's got a book called "Peek-A-Who?" So... I think she associates the "Peek-A....." phrase with that book, so she doesn't really get the game. BUT! She likes the "Where's Madeleine?" game a lot, which is pretty similar......)

New Things
So Madeleine is all about standing, as you may remember from previous weeks. Well, this week, Matt decided to try letting her walk toward the exersaucer while holding onto his fingers. It was a HIT. Madeleine is just SO proud of herself when she walks!

Misc
During lunch on Wednesday, it occurred to me that we hadn't had to wipe Madeleine's nose that day. Yay! She is feeling much better. Let's hope she stays unsick for as long as possible now. :)

We went to the park on Tuesday, and Madeleine LOVED the swing. Matt also helped her down the slide quite a few times, and eventually, she was smiling as she went down. The battery in the camera died though, so we didn't get many pics of the outing. BUT! It was still really fun, and Madeleine enjoyed it.

Slideshow
This week has to be a record LOW for pictures taken! It's a bummer, but there is an explanation for it. We've been inside more due to a heat wave, and when she's inside there is ONE thing only that will satisfy her: STANDING. Since one of us has to be right behind her the whole time, it's very hard to snap a hundred pictures of her. So, that said, enjoy this much abbreviated slideshow, and let's hope for more pictures next week!

Video of the week!


The GOOD news is that we have some video! And to make up for the light post this week, I'll post two! :)

Week 32: August 19 - 25

Congrats to Angela and Dave on their newest addition!!

Nursing
We are doing well on 4 meals a day!

Sleeping
Going really well (Finally!!)!! She's on two naps and an early bedtime, though we are attempting to slowly push it back. She's eaten at 5:45 for the last two nights (instead of 5:30). Thursday night, she fell asleep in just 12 minutes, a vast improvement over 30.

I also think she's starting to get used to life without the catnap. She hasn't been waking early in the morning lately, which makes me think she's getting over the overtired state that seemed unavoidable when she first dropped the catnap. I think the next stage will be to extend her evening waketime, which will be super cool.

Solids/Food
(need to get better about her eating with us! We aren't used to thinking about her and meals with us!)
Thursday: For breakfast, we all had eggs. Not much made it in Madeleine's mouth, so Layla got hers! Lunch was peaches and a piece of chicken. When she put the chicken in her mouth (flavored with taco seasoning), she made her long-grunt noise and rocked back and forth. I think that's her "THIS IS NEW!!!" reaction. Then she proceeded to gnaw on it. She totally dug the peaches, as usual.
LOSING TRACK!! We moved the laptop into a different room, so I'm not close to it when things happen. Thus, I forget to write things down, and then they get permanently forgotten. I need to be better about this!

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. Crawls forward or backward (um... we are still in the scooting/army crawl phase, so no)
2. Claps and waves hands (she doesn't clap, but she does wave her hands, especially her right)
3. Holds and manipulates one object while watching another (I thinks so)
4. May say "mama" or "dada" as games (er... no....)
5. Enjoys games such as "so big" or "catch me" (been doing this for weeks and weeks!)
6. Looks for dropped object (yup!)
7. Shouts for attention (oh boy, she just started this this week. Except it's more like screams for attention!)
8. Pats, smiles, and tries to kiss image in mirror (some)

Special Topic: BOY OR GIRL?
Before we knew that we were having a girl, we got asked this question a lot: "Do you want a boy or a girl?" Neither Matt nor I had a strong opinion, but my preference fell slightly on the side of girl, while his fell slightly on the side of boy. But truly, it didn't matter one big.

However, just because I got my "wish" doesn't mean I knew what I'd been wishing for. The other day, I told Matt that when I said I wanted a girl, I had no idea what I was really asking for. Madeleine is SO MUCH MORE than I could have ever imagined. She's pure joy and delight bottled in a little baby girl. I don't think I'll ever ask someone his or her gender preference again. It doesn't matter. As a parent, you're so in love with that little person that it makes any preference you did have meaningless. Nothing could have prepared me for my little girl. She is altogether amazing.

New Things
Madeleine is reaching for us now! I thought she was trying to reach a couple of weeks ago, but she would mostly just kind of lean her body in a direction. At church on Sunday, someone was holding her, and two other people were buzzing around, all oohing and ahhing over her. I stood right there near her. After a few minutes, she started looking for me, and when she saw me, she leaned out of the person's arm and held out her arms toward me. IT WAS AWESOME! And I wanted to hold her anyway, so double win! :)

MONDAY was a banner day for Madeleine. She and I were playing on the floor, but she seemed super bored. The laundry basket was close by, and I remembered how much she enjoyed standing in it before, so I put her in with some blocks. I took some pics for awhile, then I noticed Madeleine grab the rim of the basket and look like she wanted to pull herself up. She was 75% up and I called for Matt, and she lost her concentration and plopped back into the basket.

But he came, and she proceeded to do it ALL THE WAY FOR REAL!! She pulled up! All by herself! Matt said he suspected she was trying because she would often grab his collar when sitting on his lap. The basket is a great place to practice because if she falls, she just lands against the back of the basket and doesn't hurt herself. Though mommy or daddy is ALWAYS making sure the basket doesn't tip. NO WORRIES!

Lastly, Madeleine is really starting to let us know when she is displeased with something. She's becoming quite vocal when things don't go her way, including screeching that nearly bursts our ear drums. We hope this is just a phase that she'll (quickly) grow out of!

Misc
Madeleine has a slowly fading bruise on her leg that she's had almost 3 weeks. I wasn't sure about the healing time; it seemed so long, especially when her other little bumps and scrapes heal super fast. So we went to the doctor on Monday, and while she was there they took a tiny bit of blood to check her platelets (totally normal, even slightly elevated, which I guess is okay?). They are also going to run a CBC (Complete Blood Count). I'm a little worried about her iron status, just because she hasn't gotten any iron-fortified cereals or foods (because we're doing BLW). I guess we'll find out soon. The good news is, the doctor said they won't have to repeat this test at 9 months (it's typically done at that appointment). So no unnecessary pricks.

Poor little girl was hungry and not in a great mood. She did great with the prick, but she was not a happy baby. Her face is so shocked whenever she gets pricked. She looks at the person doing it like "WHY ARE YOU HURTING ME I HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING TO HURT YOU AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU!?!?!"

Teething Update
Still waiting on those little guys. We can see two distinct teeth now. It's crazy that they're coming in together. I didn't get a great pic of them this week, but here's my best effort (click to see it bigger):



Slideshow
Lots of food pics this week. She ate so well!

Video of the week!
This is only the second "true" first caught on video. Most are captured sometime after her first success, but we saw this one coming and got ready. Enjoy!

Week 29: July 29 - August 4

Nursing
Big changes here! See the Special Topic for more info.

Sleeping
Since going to her new eating schedule, we've been extending her waketimes, and her naps have extended as well. Sometimes she sleep almost 2 hours, and sometimes we have to wake her up so she won't mess up her bedtime. Miracles do happen!! She's doing so well on the regular, consistent sleep; she's such a joy to be around!

Solids/Food
(need to get better about her eating with us! We aren't used to thinking about her and meals with us!)
Thursday: She had apples and yogurt for a snack. At first she didn't know what to make of the yogurt. She just played with it. But once she got a taste, she was hilarious with her hands in her mouth! Pasta primavera for dinner again. She gnawed on squash, and of course carrot. She isn't a huge fan of the green veggies yet.
Friday: Breakfast was cheese toast! She really liked it. Then she had apples and yogurt again for dinner, plus a few pieces of chicken.
Saturday: We had pancakes again for breakfast. She loves pancakes! Dinner was white lasagna again, and she had a great time eating. I know that she got a piece of artichoke down because I saw it the next day in her diaper! :D
Monday: Today was our weekly outing to Chick-fil-a, and Madeleine was more interested in biting the table edge than the pieces of chicken I gave her. Oh well! Dinner was leftover lasagna.
Tuesday: Breakfast was oatmeal, and it was a huge mess. Then we went to the Rays for brunch, and Madeleine gnawed on some apple slices and peaches. She was too distracted by all the new people at meal time. But we got to use our portable chair from Ryan, and to our delight, it has hippos on it!

Layla, as you might expect, loves Baby-Led Weaning. She is always ready to help with clean up and make sure the floor stays nice and shiny (with dog slobber, of course). She reminds me of ball boys and bat boys, always ready on the sidelines to rush out and clean up sweat, fetch wayward balls, or retrieve bats. She is always on alert whenever Madeleine is in her high chair, and she often gets lucky. I just dread the day when Madeleine figures out that she can FEED the dog.

Madeleine has started to make the most of her dining experience by licking the tray of her high chair.

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. May be rolling over to move around the room (not really, but she does roll all the time to get to a toy!)
2. May raise and lower buttocks while lying on back to move about (she's been doing this)
3. Likes to say "ma, mu, da, di" (she has been making these sounds lately!)
4. May associate picture of baby with herself and make appropriate sounds (haven't tried this...--UPDATE! Sunday she saw a picture of herself on the fridge, noticed it, and then smiled and cooed! Very cool.)
5. Wants to be included in social interactions (definitely!)

Special Topic #1: New Schedule!
You may recall that on Wednesday, Madeleine missed her first meal of the day and ended up with only four that day. Well, that pattern has stuck! It's Saturday, and both Thursday and Friday she ate just four meals. It started with Thursday. She had a very long awake time in the morning, about 2 hours, then took a great nap, not waking until about 10:30, which was 3.5 hours after her first meal. I fed her first thing.

Before her second nap, she was awake 2.5 hours, much longer than she'd been up recently, and took another good nap, waking almost 4 hours from her previous meal. When I fed her, it was almost 2:30pm. I had two choices: two to cram two more meals in before bedtime and somehow fit a catnap into the day, or just feed her right before bed and hope for the best, knowing she might wake up in the middle of the night and need food. We put Madeleine down for a catnap around 4:30. Well, she spent the whole time cooing and talking to herself, so we got her up at 5, not wanting her to fall asleep so late and then mess up bedtime. We'd just put her to bed super early.

Down she went around 6:30 after eating. It took her a little over 15 minutes to fall asleep, and she slept all night! She woke Friday morning around 6:30, and we got up and started our day. Friday she again got four meals, plus two really great naps. We even had to wake her up from her last nap so she wouldn't have a hard time going to bed! Truly amazing!

Madeleine is now on a 4-hour eating schedule, where she eats 4 meals a day (plus solids, of course!). It's strange. I knew this would eventually happen, but we've been on a 5-meal-a-day routine for so long--about 4 months, maybe more!--that it's a little sad for me to move to this new one. My little baby girl is growing up! Haha. She's getting bigger and stronger and able to go longer stretches between meals. My days of nursing are numbered. I knew she wouldn't nurse forever, but our routine had been the same for so long that I'd sort of taken it for granted. Four meals a day is awesome, but it just made me realize that this won't last forever. The precious time I spend with Madeleine every day, just the two of us, won't always be there. At least, not like that. Sure, we'll make up for it in other ways, but there's something special about nursing. Mamas who have done it, you know what I'm talking about!!

I truly don't look forward to the day she finally stops.

Special Topic #2: Awesome-ness
This isn't exactly new, but Madeleine is awesome right now. I mean, she is SUPER fun. Matt and I are constantly amazed by how incredible she is. She's just so much FUN to be around. She smiles and laughs easily, she's very interactive. We adore her tremendously.

New Things
Madeleine is starting to get chub on her medial phalanges. Check it out! [Click for larger image]



Misc
Matt got Madeleine a "Jenny Jump Up" a few weeks ago. Her inaugural run proved her to be too small for the toy, so we put it away for awhile. Just this week, Matt got it out again, and Madeleine is big enough! And, to his great delight, she LOVES it. It didn't take her long to get the hang of jumping. She also likes being on Layla's level, and the dog takes more interest in her when she's in the jumper than other times. So it's a win-win for baby!

I love her little pod-feet. When she's wearing low socks, she just looks like she has puffy pods on the end of her legs. :)

I have started to take a ridiculous amount of pictures of Madeleine. Sometimes over 100 in a single day. It's a blast doing it, but kind of a chore to sift through them all looking for the best! I think part of it is because she's eating. I've taken a LOT of food pics.

Thursday (29th), Joanna came over and took some pictures of Madeleine. I haven't gotten the CD from her yet though

Tuesday we spent the day at the Ray's of Woodstock. Chuck fixed a delicious brunch of eggs, all things pig, and fresh fruit. Madeleine was awesome, taking 2 decent naps in her pack-n-play away from home! She delighted our hosts and bonded with Chuck. Matt and I got to play a whole game of Cities & Knights (of Catan) with Chase and Thomas. Chase won, but it was a very close game all the way.

Slideshow

Video of the week!

Week 27: July 15 - 21

Nursing
No changes here.

Sleeping
We are seeing improvement in her naps. Yay! She is definitely a happier baby all around, and I am also getting in tune with her tired cues. This helps me to not wait too long to put her down. Right now, she's only able to be awake 1-1.5 hours at a time, which is down from the 2-2.25 hours of about a month ago. But she's going through some big developmental changes right now, plus maybe a growth spurt, so I'm not concerned. She's gone through periods of less awake time before.

Solids/Food
Thursday:
Breakfast - cantaloupe. Kinda put it in her mouth. Wasn't feeling it.
Lunch - leftovers from her first dinner. She gnawed some more carrot and I think swallowed a piece of pasta!
Dinner - didn't happen. The chicken was bad, Matt wasn't home, so she didn't eat with us tonight. :(

Friday:
Lunch - leftovers from first dinner (still!). Gnawed more carrot, more pasta, didn't do much.

Saturday:
Breakfast - oatmeal! She had FUN playing with it, and even got some down.
Dinner - we had white lasagna, and she went nuts on it. It was awesome.

Tuesday:
Breakfast - cucumber slices. Eh, it was more of a brunch. :) She gnawed really well on the cucumber, seemed to like it. There was quite a depression where the cucumber was in her mouth!
Lunch - FINALLY, the much-anticipated (by me) trip to Chick-fil-A! I cut a finger off my chargrilled sandwich and gave it to her. HER FIRST MEAT. She got some pieces off in her mouth but they both came out again. She was more interested in trying to gnaw on the TABLE than her chicken. (EW!)
Snack - watermelon! She seemed to love it and gnawed it a bunch. It got all over her, so good thing it was a bath day!

Wednesday:
Lunch - scrambled egg. This was kinda like the oatmeal, more mess than meal, but she did really well. Didn't have to worry so much about gagging or choking. Can you choke on scrambled egg?? :)

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. Balances head well (um, yes!)
2. May begin teething (nothing so far!)
3. Likes to explore body with mouth and hands (I've seen this over the last week or so)
4. May like to such on toes (she did this a few weeks ago for the first time and definitely loves chewing her socks!)
5. Plays vigorously with noisemaking toys (yup! She started this a week or so ago, too)
6. May chew fingers and suck thumb (she's been chewing her fingers for weeks as well)

New Things
She has started propelling herself forward. She can get up on her knees or feet and then she kinda army crawls forward. On Thursday, she got up on all fours--hands and knees--for a brief moment. She wants to take off, I can feel it! Hopefully it will be soon, for her sake.

Special Topic: Baby-Led Weaning
Baby-led weaning is a term that was coined by a British health visitor and has a Master's Degree in studying developmental readiness for solids. Essentially, in baby-led weaning, the baby starts out with real food from day 1. There are no baby food, no purees, and the parents don't spoon-feed. The basic premise suggests that spoon-feeding with purees is unnecessary for infants of at least 6 months of age, that purees and spoon-feeding developed when parents started their infants on solids at 2 or 3 months of age. By the time a baby is 6 months old, she doesn't need purees and traditional baby food.

Our dear friends in Australia told me about this method, and it sounded fantastic. So I bought and read the book, and we got everything ready for letting Madeleine eat with us. It's supposed to be a slow process, letting her explore food at her own pace. Supposedly, around 9 months, she'll start to realize that food will fill her tummy, and she'll actually eat more. Until then, I'll just keep nursing her the same as I have been. I am in no hurry to wean her!

I LOVE the faces she makes when she gets something in her mouth. It's total surprise, and not always a good one! At least, so it would seem from her expression.

Misc
Madeleine absolutely LOVES Layla. Whenever the dog walks by, Madeleine grins at her and reaches for her. When Layla looks at her, baby's grin is huge!

She has been responding to her name for a few weeks. It's very cool!

Madeleine's eyes have been changing color for awhile. This week, I snapped some pics, and one or two turned out. [Click to view larger image]



Slideshow

Video of the week!

Week 25: July 1-7

Nursing
Still going strong. She gets 5 feedings a day and has for MONTHS, including one "dreamfeed" where we get her up and she stays mostly asleep the whole time.

Friday, however, Madeleine decided to drop the dreamfeed! She ate five times during the day, with her last meal at 6:36pm. Then Matt and I decided to let her sleep and see what happened. She woke up at 7am!! Go baby!

Special Topic: REFLUX... Or Not?
Week 25 started out with a bang, and not a good one. Madeleine has always been a spitter; she often spits up after meals, and neither the volume nor frequency have decreased significantly in the last 4 months. We've gone to the doctor about it and were prescribed zantac, but we didn't really think it was a problem. I've heard that some babies just spit, for no reason, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Well, after her first feeding this morning, Madeleine's spit up was tinged with dark, clumpy blood. My first thought was that it came from me, but I checked and didn't see anything obvious. Then we (by this time I'd called Matt in) thought maybe it was a tooth, but a quick check ruled that out. It concerned me, but I did my best not to panic. I called mom, and she said it was probably nothing. So we continued our morning.

While playing on the floor, however, she kept spitting up with blood, and one particular occurrence contained very liquidy bright red blood, and that sent up HUGE red flags. So I called and made a sick-day appointment with the doctor, then had to wait until 8:30 to talk to someone. I just wanted to see if they thought I should come in or if it was probably nothing. Well, they said definitely come in. I changed the appointment to a little later so that she could get her morning nap.

After her second feeding, her spit was again pink-tinted. Then we went to the appointment. The doctor was awesome. She evaluated Madeleine and everything looked PERFECT, except of course the blood. :) She said Madeleine probably had reflux, and over time it's caused little blood vessels in her esophagus to burst, hence the blood. SO SAD. So she prescribed a treatment and reassured us that Madeleine was and would be fine.

I mentioned the bright red blood, and we were told that if it happened again, two spits in a row, that we'd need to take her to the emergency room. TALK ABOUT A LITTLE BIT OF PANIC!!

But so long as we give her the medicine and watch her, she should be fine soon. Madeleine's 6-month appointment is next week, so they'll re-evaluate her then.

What's amazing is that Madeleine didn't seem to be in any distress through the whole thing. She was her usual, albeit still slightly tired, sweet self this morning. I really do hope that the reflux issue is related to her poor napping, because it would be AWESOME to get that fixed and back on track. I don't want to get my hopes up, but after giving her the medicine, she's been napping now for an hour and 15 minutes!!

Update: Long story short, it looks like I just had a crack on my feeding apparatus and that Madeleine took in a good bit of blood. I'll know more tomorrow when I talk to the doctor.

But the story didn't end with her great nap. After she woke up, I fed her as usual. When I changed her diaper, her poop was black. Well, I knew that wasn't normal, so I didn't panic and called the doctor. They called back and asked some questions, then said they'd call back again. When they did, I was instructed to go to Scottish Rite, the children's hospital on the north end of Atlanta. FREAK OUT.

Matt wasn't home, and I tried getting in touch with him for 20 minutes before abandoning that. Then I called Amanda, who lives pretty close, and asked if she would mind taking us to the hospital. She didn't, so she came over and we headed that way. 3 hours, an x-ray, and a urinary catheter later, she is totally fine. A nurse looked at ME and there was a tiny red spot that was NOT there this morning when I checked myself. URGH. Might have been able to avoid all of this running around (and the hospital bill-yikes!) if it had been there.

The important things from today are: she is okay! We have great friends. I didn't panic.

The doctor will be calling tomorrow to find out about the hospital visit, so I plan to ask if she still needs to be on the reflux medication. The two types of blood that she spit up this morning have me unsure of what to do.

SUPER THANKS to Amanda and Manning, who made Madeleine laugh quite a few times during our adventure!

Sleeping
I am once again at a loss and extremely frustrated. Madeleine STILL isn't sleeping well. Her naps are very inconsistent, and it impacts her entire disposition. The more I read about naps, the more frustrated I get. It seems like such an exact science, yet also something of an art. There's timing, over/under stimulation, environment... just to name a few.

Basically, I feel totally lost and unsure of myself at every turn. I'm getting some help from some moms online, who are looking over everything with me in an attempt to figure out what we should do. Totally awesome!

Solids/Food
TWO WEEKS until we start solids! To make things fun, we're going to get a high chair this week. We were given this cool hook-on chair by Ryan, but it's got a cloth cover and solids are messy, especially at first. We'll still use it, but not right away. So we are going to get THIS cool high chair from Ikea for a mere $20. It is RED and made of WIN! Can't wait!!


UPDATE: We went to Ikea, and they were oversold on the highchair. I called, and they have no expected delivery date. So I called the one in Tampa, and same deal. We ended up ordering it from their website, and despite the almost $23 shipping (MORE THAN THE HIGH CHAIR!), it is still way cheaper than most high chairs. And to our good fortune, Papa Pete and SuSu bought the high chair for Madeleine! Yay, thank you!

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. Tries to move by propelling herself on stomach with legs and steering with arms (well, she's trying to move...)
2. Rotates wrist to turn and manipulate objects (check!)
3. Begins to pass objects from hand to hand (I think she can do this...)
4. May clap (nope...)
5. May raise herself into a crawling position and rock back and forth (no, but she's close. She's gotten on all fours for a brief instant, and she is starting to lift her bum off the floor with her knees. Super exciting!)

New Things
We got a video monitor this week! I NEVER thought I'd want one, much less need one. But we've become increasingly curious about what goes on at the 45-minute mark, and with her naps going down in average, we thought it might be useful. And I love it. I can stare at her sleeping little form ALL I WANT!!

After feeding her Wednesday night, Matt put her in her crib. She seemed asleep. We both rushed to the video monitor... to discover her wide awake, kicking her feet, and lifting her head. She was awake for about 15 minutes afterward. :(

On Saturday, with a few good naps under her belt, Madeleine started shaking her toy keys. She'd throw her arm up and down rapidly and even get her other arm involved. It was very cool to watch!

Toys and Play
She's still focused on a collection of little toys: a crinkly crescent moon, her beads, cool keys, and a small stuffed owl. The moon is her fave.

Over the weekend, we borrowed an exe-saucer from Teda to see if Madeleine would like it. The first two times she was in it, she trembled she was so excited. Of course, she was also very well rested. The last two times, not well rested, she's been like, "oh, okay. If I must." *shrugs* Just gotta get that sleep going!

Misc
She is super ridiculously curious. About everything. Nothing is safe anymore, and it's awesome. We were at a store recently, and Matt was carrying her. He said it was funny to be walking down an aisle and just see her arm shoot out toward something that caught her eye.

She wants to be mobile in a BAD WAY. I love it. She wants to sit all the time. She's tried going from a sit to a crawl but doesn't have the mechanics down yet. She is so cool!

We're approaching Wonder Week 26. Yikes. Apparently it messes with their disposition, sleep, and appetite. Fun, huh? Plus there's the growth spurt that happens around this age too.

Madeleine's 6 month check-up is tomorrow. WEEE! Weight and height and centiles, oh my! :D (Guess those will go up next week!)

Slideshow

Video of the week!

Week 23: June 17-23

I saw that someone else had kept a weekly blog of her daughter's first year, and I wish I'd done it from the start. But no point in wishing too hard; it's not too late to start! I'll be posting weekly and updating during the week. Mostly for myself, so I can have a record of things in Madeleine's life. :)

Notes from Week 22:
* Madeleine started reaching for her feet during diaper changes!
* Two nights now, I've put a super diaper on Madeleine, and we don't change her at her dreamfeed. It's worked nicely; she barely wakes up, and she's just gone right back to bed after being burped. Me like!
* She hasn't rolled for about a week now. It's odd that for awhile, she rolled as soon as her back hit the floor. But now, I guess she just doesn't see the need for it?
* She loves to stand up, and I think she's starting to want to sit more. Sitting makes her happy.

Now for Week 23!


Nursing
All is still going well. She's been eating solidly at each meal, not crying anymore. I just love our times together. After eating, she's always so happy. She gurgles, coos, and cuddles. CANNOT GET BETTER than the cuddles!

Had some infection flare-up this week. I think I'm just going to have the infection until I stop nursing. I tried some new nursing pads this week, and they don't work as well as my usuals. So I went back to the usual. I'm still using my cream.


Sleeping
After a rough couple of weeks, it looks like her naps are back on track. She's definitely awake more during the day now, though she does still occasionally take a 2-hour nap. I think the disruption was a Wonder Week. The timing coincides almost perfectly.

The end of this week has been rough again. I think she's been getting overtired, which makes her unable to sleep longer than 45 minutes, sometimes napping as short as 30. This is not good--she wakes up unhappy and is generally fussy, unenergetic, and tired for as long as she's awake. Then, when we go to put her down for her next nap, she cries and is hard to get to sleep. And she wakes up early, and the cycle keeps going all day until bedtime, which is totally unpredictable. Generally, if she sleeps well during the day, bedtime is good. If not.... our whole evening is awash.

Since she's just been overtired a lot, we haven't tried to get her to fall asleep on her own. We know that she won't. This often means repeated "going to bed" routines, because as soon as we set her in the crib, she cries again. Matt and I take turns. :) I just hate it for Madeleine, because she is clearly tired but can't go to sleep.


Solids/Food
We'll be doing the "Baby-Led Weaning" method of transitioning to solids. We can't wait to start eating meals with her! The book says after 6 months, so July 14 will be a very fun day. :)


New Things
Weeks start on Thursdays for us, but since I didn't do a week before this one, I'll put it here. On Monday she started reaching for her feet while on her happy pad (that's her changing pad). On Thursday, she achieved her goal of getting a toe in her mouth. And she can now grab both of her feet with little to no trouble. It is truly amazing watching her little mind grow every day. :)

Sunday, she started arching her back when lying down. It makes diaper changes interesting and clothing changes hard! We just wonder what it's a prelude to, what muscles she's developing, and for what purpose. I love this stuff!

Also this weekend, she started clearly preferring to sit. And with more practice, she's getting better at "sitting." For the most part, she's just leaning forward really far, but I can let go of her and she stays upright. YAY!

IT IS OFFICIAL: Madeleine is learning to SIT! She's just getting started with it, but she is getting better every day!


Toys and Play
Previous favorites: tensegrity toy, baby keys, monkey gym
This week, she's gotten into a bunch of little toys given to her by her cousin, Marshall. There are rattly things, crinkly things, shiny things in a cloth cube. She even likes playing with the cube. It's interesting though--she had no idea that the toys go IN the cube. When I show her the cube full, she doesn't reach in and grab a toy. I have to take them out and hand them to her.

If you have small kids, you probably know the book "Where is Baby's Belly Button?" This has long been one of Madeleine's favorites, and she's just starting to help us turn down the flaps. She knows how to lift the flap to see the answer. It is super cool.


Misc
Madeleine went to Bible class Sunday for the first time! She woke up in time to go, so I went in with her. She sat in the little seat and it looked like she was really paying attention to the teacher. Though she was probably just trying to figure out how to get things in her mouth. :) She is awesome!

The Monkey Gym, given to Madeleine by Papa Pete and SuSu, has been conquered.




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