The Lily Pad

This past weekend we visited our family and Madelyn was so well behaved! After the first night of it taking an hour to get her to sleep because she had never seen that spot! that one right there! before. Oh wait, there's a different wall here beside my crib, what's that shadow? I DON'T WANT TO SLEEP! She did great. She played, laughed, smiled and charmed everyone she met. She went to bed easily and slept for hours. For the first time this weekend she reached for me. I loved it. I would pass her off to somebody just so that I could hold out my arms and have her return the gesture and grab my neck and plant a huge slobbery kiss on me. She was a perfect little angel. Then we came home. The only logical explanation for the fussy baby, lack of napping, and total abandonment of nighttime sleep is that my baby hates me. I know that I have given her life and nursed her and cared for her every waking moment of her life, but she doesn't care...she hates me. Either tha...

My first mothers day came and went with little affair. I woke up with a headache and feeling like I was getting sick so Chris took Madelyn and let me sleep an extra 2 hours. It was fabulous! I then got up and played with a very happy baby for a few hours and we all loaded up and tried out a new Mexican restaraunt down the street. It was a low key day, but very nice to spend time with the family. Being a mother has totally changed my life. I know I say this all the time but I am constantly amazed at the little being that has invaded our lives. It's not always easy, but I can't imagine not having her greet me with little smiles and giggles, to have her growl at me as she rolls around on the floor, to have her cry so pitifully when I walk out of the room. I wouldn't trade all of the sleepless nights, headaches exasperated by a crying baby, poopy diapers, pee soaked pajamas, or milk covered shirts for anything. It's all a wonderful part of being a mother. Every lit...

My breasts are no longer safe. They tremble with fear at each feeding, it is like they are going swimming in the ocean with a huge man eating shark who has tasted blood and wants more. Except they aren't swimming and the thing with teeth is Madelyn. This morning as Madelyn was laying in bed beside me playing and I was attempting to make the most of my time in bed by having my eyes closed, I was kicked in the face, had my nose pinched, got smacked in the forehead with a pacifier and then, most startling of all, had my finger bit. With teeth. Teeth that she didn't have yesterday. Teeth that slipped through the gums without so much as a hint of discomfort. Two teeth...plural of tooth. Twin teeth of doom. Teeth that are sure to wreak havoc on things, said things being my mammaries. She has spent this morning discovering the new teeth by working her lips and her tongue and gnawing on everything. OK, the gnawing thing isn't new...she has done that for months. She loves t...

Tonight is the second night I have let my daughter cry herself to sleep. It breaks my heart. She is a very stubborn little girl and boy is she pissed. She's not sad, not crying that cute little cry, no, she is upstairs screaming a pissed off baby scream and when I go in for my 10 minute pacifier replacement and butt pat, she glares at me. I know that she needs this, she needs to go to sleep on her own, she sleeps better when she does and sleep is important for 6 month old babies. I guess this is just one of the many times that my daughter will hate me for making her do what I know is best for her. I can't stand it, I can't stand hearing her cry. It is killing me, I just want to scoop her up, press her against me. I hate thinking about what she must feel towards me right now. She doesn't understand, but I know. I know this is best. I know it with every fiber of my being, and I just wish I could help her understand, to let her know. She did this Friday night an...

Hey baby girl! Today is your 6 month birthday. It amazes me that we've been at this for half a year now. It seems like only yesterday I was letting you sleep on my chest and now...well now you use my chest as a jungle gym. You are growing so much, today you weigh 17lbs 5 oz and are 26 inches long. You are beautiful with more personality in your little finger than other babies we've met. We spent your half birthday at the park where you met a new friend who is 2 weeks older than you. You tried to show off for her by sitting up for a good 15 minutes before losing interest. At home you won't sit up by yourself for 30 seconds because it means you can't chew on your toes or hold a toy with your hands and your feet. You are much more interested in laying on your back than sitting. We had a guest, Lauren here for 10 days and you wouldn't sit up at all for her, she didn't think you could and then today you proved her wrong. This month you started really rolling around....

Domino spends the majority of his day laying on the bed in the teeny tiny guest room looking out the window, but there are a few things to get him running down the steps every time. There's the rattling plastic wrappers or bags so that he think he might get some people food, or the monster squeak, but the cutest one is a Madelyn squawk. She makes this certain coughy grunty chuckle that gets him every time. She makes this noise and he runs and checks on her and if I'm the one making her make this sound he will sniff me and make sure that I'm not hurting her. It doesn't matter where we are, on the floor, in the bed or her playing in her crib. When he is snuggly on the couch in a pile of pillows, he will ignore calls to be petted and may even resist the possibility of food, but let the baby make a noise that is remotely different or distressful sounding and he's up to check on her. It's really quite sweet, especially since he does everything in his power to avoid ...

When the baby is mobile and laying and playing in the floor and you go to move baby from chewing on her diaper bag you might just step in a pile of lovely, slimey urp. Mobile babies are a blast!

Hi baby girl! We've had a crazy two months but you have done so well and are growing up so fast. Could you maybe slow down just a little? Just a tad? Right now you are laying in the recliner beside me with your boppy and a stuffed frog kicking my arm just as hard as you can. I love looking over and seeing you playing happily. This month you started eating food, real live food. Well not LIVE food, but food that doesn't come ouf of my breast. You LOVE eating! You join us in your highchair every night for dinner and so far you've had carrots, green beans, and now sweet potatoes. I can't tell which one you like most just yet because you make little bird lips for them all. You love to stick your hand in your mouth and making a huge mess in the 5 seconds it takes me to reload your spoon. This month we also moved. I can't begin to tell you how hard it was on Mommy to leave our house. To leave the house I brought you home to. To leave the house that you first smiled in, w...

Yeah um, so maybe I'm a little more clingy than I should be and I'll contribute it directly to anxiety. My almost 5 month old daughter still sleeps in our room in her pack n play because what if there's a fire between my room and hers, you know one that spontaneously occurs in the hall because of that rogue match from where the dog was smoking a cigar? Or what if a burgler breaks in and kills only the people in one room and then she'll be without parents and nobody would know we're dead and how long would she cry before somebody found her and would she think we abandoned her and that we didn't love her? Yeah, my mind is a scary place to be sometimes. I admit that it's a short jump from normal to crazy and I make it daily, back and forth, hippity hop....5 little froggies jumping on a bed...I fell off and cracked my head. I've pretty well convinced myself that those are stupid reasons and am this close to moving her to her crib and then last night she ...

People, guard your knuckles. The baby is teething and your knuckle is her choice of chew things. I don't care how careful you think you are or how much smarter than a 4 month old you think you might be...you're not. She will slide in for the sneak attack looking all cute holding your fingers and sitting or standing up like a big girl, next thing you know she's got your finger in her mouth gnawing away on it. When you yelp with suprise she will laugh with her mouth full and shoot you a look that says "This is mine now and I'm gonna eat it!" Noses aren't very safe either when your are trying to nuzzle said baby. The upside? Now everyone can see her hungry monster face without getting a view of her booby buffet!

Hey Pretty Girl! This is how I greet you every day. Daddy and I are sure that you believe your name is pretty girl because those words will get you to smile every single time. You continue to grow and to amaze me each and every day that we spend together. I see your little personality more each time I look at you. You are a horrible napper. You hate naps unless you can take them in my arms so I sacrifice and sit in bed or on the couch with you and let you sleep until your little heart desires to wake up. This month has been full of firsts for you, as I imagine most every month of yourl ife will be for a while, but this month had so many fantastic firsts and some scary ones. This was your first Christmas. In the days leading up to Christmas you had such an exhausting routine of visiting family and opening presents that on Christmas morning when I laid you down on your new playmat, you promptly fell asleep and then you napped through the rest of the presents being opened and halfway thro...

So, yeah, I'm more than a little late on this one. What with the holidays and hospital visits. Madelyn, you will soon learn that I have lots of good intentions but sometimes life gets in the way. My dearest Madelyn, This month you smiled for the first time, you took your first overnight trip, your daddy got commissioned, you met tons of family members previously unknown to you, and on top of it all you continued to maintain your cute demeanor. Your first smile came precisely two days after our family Christmas portraits reminding us once again that you are on your very own time table. You are so guarded with your smiles and smile only for those that you are comfortable with. While we were in Asheville you revealed to us that when you smile really big you have a dimple in your left cheek. It is so precious. You also get so excited sometimes that you get the hiccups in the middle of a big smile and then you promptly get mad. It is so amazing watching you grow and change and I look fo...

There, that should catch me up for a while. Nothing in my life ever could have prepared me for the holiday we have had. From giggles and smiles at various Christmas celebrations to high fevers and overnight hospital stays. We rang in the New Year at MUSC's Children's Hospital with a toast of creme soda for mommy and daddy and IV antibiotics for baby. Without boring you with details, Thursday after Christmas Madelyn was running a slight fever and we called her pediatritian who recommended that we take her to a pediatritian the next morning in Asheville because she wasn't acting like she felt bad at all. By 5 am her fever had skyrocketed to 103.2 and we took her straight to the ER. An ER not equipped to care for 2 month old babies. She had a chest x-ray, they drew blood, tried to run a catheter twice and failed twice, and then the doctor tried to trick (yes, I said TRICK) us into letting them do a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) on my sweet baby girl. Luckily we knew what ...

As of 6:43 this morning Poop Watch 2007 officially ended when Madelyn Grace had a large and stinky poop ending a 4 day non-pooping spree. Froggymama was cheering her on after breakfast and a sigh of relief from both parents was heard throughout the house. The subject poop was non-descript and a clean diaper was immediately called in for back-up. Madelyn is now a very happy baby after a rough weekend and is currently cooing at her mobile at home with her parents.

A few evenings ago we visited some friends and I fed Madelyn and hoped that on our drive home she would fall asleep and sleep for the evening. We got in the car and she cried and cried and cried until we were about 3 blocks from the house and then she was quiet. This is typically an indication that she has fallen asleep because she fights sleep and then just crashes. I was a bit bummed that she wouldn't be completely out because we were so close to home, but whatever. When we got out of the car and went to get her out we discovered that she wasn't asleep at all but rather wide awake with the nastiest scowl on her face that seemed to say "Yeah, I'm not crying now but I'm still pissed." I have no idea where she gets her attitude from.

Hey Puddin Pop*! This morning you were having some gas pains and the solution for that is for you to sleep on your tummy except you didn't want to lay on your tummy in your bassinet so guess what? You ended up on my chest (suprise suprise right?). After some protesting from you, you finally dozed off into a light sleep During one of your awake times you moved your arms around and I ended up with one of your sweet little hands on the side of my chin near my cheek. This has to be one of my favorite moments so far, your little head was tucked under my chin and your little hand on my face. I didn't dare move for fear that you'd move your little hand. Daddy left for a short trip today so right now we're going it alone and you're asleep. I'm hoping you wake up soon so that you'll sleep tonight because Daddy won't be home until tomorrow sometime and Mommy needs her sleep. However if you'd like to sleep with your head under my chin and your little fin...

Preface - Dooce does this for her daughter and I have loved reading her entries and I love the idea of doing them for Madelyn. My plan is to start here with the blog and continue to do them until it feels right to stop, even if I need to handwrite one every now and then. Dear Madelyn, It was just a month ago that you came into our lives and you have already changed them so much! We had a rough start and I have never been so afraid in my life. I had several medical complications after we were released from the hospital starting with a spinal headache that made me dizzy and nauseous and hurt so bad that I didn't feel safe carrying you, once we had that corrected I had fluid overload and couldn't lay down without feeling like I was drowning and had to go on medication that forced me to have to bottle feed you for several days. During this time I questioned my own strength and ability to be your mom. I was so afraid that I couldn't be the person you needed, that I wasn't p...