nick nack patty wack...

Where do I start?

It's been another amazing week with Madeleine and every day she does a little something new that just tugs at my heart strings. During the last week she has started making different sounds during playtime and while just hanging out being happy. It's nice to hear her making a noise other than crying. We've had some fussy times which are hard because we try everything we can think of to get her comfortable. It turns out that she has a bit of gas in her tummy and there is a great product out there that helps relieve the gas and the crying. She's also developed some baby acne which I've read there's nothing we can do about it and her skin is just adjusting.

Sleep? Ugh. Not really getting a whole lot of it these days but every nap counts. Madeleine has a self timer that goes off every 2.5-3 hours and during the night we're up for an hour which then leaves a window of 1.5 hours or 2 hours if I'm lucky. On the weekends Nick takes a night time feeding which is wonderful but I'm still having to get up and pump. Being up for 20 minutes is better than an hour but it's still broken sleep. I started using my c-pap machine again this last week and that has really made a difference in how I'm feeling. I found myself not using it because I wasn't sleeping long enough that I felt like it was going to make a difference. Boy, was I wrong!

Because I've felt better this last week, Madeleine and I got out of the house a few times. We met up with a good friend and her daughter at the mall for a walk which always feels great, we ventured downtown to Nick's work, showed her off a bit and went out to lunch, went to a friends house and hung out with her because she had her wisdom teeth removed and on another day we went to my branch and another branch to introduce her to everyone. We were out of the house for about 4-5 hours each day and I nursed her in a "family room" that is in Nick's office and I even nursed her in the back seat of my car which of course included a diaper change!! (Thanks Ashely for all of the helpful advice).

All in all.. it's getting better. I'm starting to get out and about more often which feels amazing and I've really felt and seen a difference during this last week. I'm looking forward to this next week and what's to come...

Our little cupcake!

I'm currently down (from when I got pregnant) 30 pounds. I have my 6 week check-up this coming Tuesday and I'm looking forward to finding out how much I weigh. I have found it difficult making sure I'm eating throughout the day. I'm learning that planning ahead, packing snacks and making sure that eating take priority over chores are very important and insure that I continue to eat healthy.

I had to post this picture just to show you that she's not always happy!

This is what she does when playtime is over!

Pull out to sound alarm.

Grandma Suzie and Madeleine.
Her onesie says "Miso Cute" and has a picture of a bowl of miso soup.







Her first bottle with dad!!
We couldn't have asked for it to go any better. There has not been any nipple confusion and she takes the bottle without any fussing. It's amazing that she can drink faster than I can pump it and to see how much she's drinking. She drinks between 3-5 ounces per feeding. Nursing is still going really well and has even shortened down to about 20 minutes per feeding. Yay!

Chester. Oh Chester.

It's been very interesting to see our cats adjusting to having Maddy here. Chester still doesn't understand that he can't walk ON Maddy or crawl over her while I'm nursing or holding her. He also follows me wherever I go. I'm not kidding. He is in every room that I'm in always watching or wanting to know what's going on. Gizmo on the other hand has been pretty chill. He has become more cuddly when we're in bed and as soon as he sees me walking to our bedroom to lay down, he's running to jump into bed with me. As far as Maddy goes.. he'll sniff her head sometimes that's about it.

We are not putting the mittens on her as often now. Those little nails are hard to keep trimmed!

I love the socks that she has on in this picture.

I guess that's why I bought a pair in 3 different sizes.

Me and my babies.

Playtime with dad. =)

A little Husky pup in training.

Madeleine turned 1 month old today!!

Nick is going to introduce the bottle to her (with breast milk) tomorrow! I'm excited about it and am hoping that it goes well. I've read that it's best if I don't feed her with a bottle so that she knows me as the "boob" and will still continue to breastfeed while she is with me. I've been pumping so that we have a pretty good stock pile when I go back to work on March 1st and I'm really hoping that pumping is going to go well while I am at work. I'm pretty nervous about it.

Things that we've noticed with Madeleine during the last month:

She's VERY strong. A lot of people including our doctor has made comments on how strong she is. She's already doing a great job at holding her heavy little head up for 5-10 seconds!

She's tracking more and more each day with our faces and the toys that I hold up for her to see while we are enjoying "play time".

We're going through 12+ diapers (newborns) a day right now.

Day/Night time is getting better each day. We still have ROUGH nights where I'm lucky to get 3 hours of sleep but it's getting better.

We've noticed that she's fussy at night between 6pm and midnight and it's because she's SO tired that she will fight (really fight) going to sleep. We learned this week that swaddling her with a sleep sack really helps and before we used that, she was waking herself up with her hands that she LOVES to keep up by her face. We were using blankets to swaddle her but she could work her hands up and out of it.

She busts out a smile every once in a while, even when she is sleeping. I haven't gotten her to smile back at me yet but I know that's just weeks or days away.

My little sister Ashley was here for a visit this last week and it was wonderful! Her daughter Jordyn will be 2 this coming March. Ashley helped me get out of the house and I even breast fed Madeleine while we were at the mall in a dressing room. (I'm still really nervous about breast feeding in public). Ashley helped me with the day time and night time routine including playtime after I'm done feeding her. Also about self soothing and how putting the pacifier back in when Madeleine is falling asleep is not necessary. Thanks Ash for all of your help and inspiration.

My mom is coming over tomorrow and staying with us until next Wednesday. I'm looking forward to it and I'm sure she is too!

This picture goes out to her Uncle Mitch. This one's for you!

GAME DAY!!

This was Nick's shirt when he was a baby!

We have a few others that I'm planning on having her wear soon including a Sonics t-shirt with 1979 on it (the year Nick was born).

Too cute!

Our little Cupcake!

Nick went back to work this week. It wasn't easy getting back into a sleep routine himself and had a few late nights with Maddy and I.
This is him enjoying some "Maddy time" before bed time.






Play time with Aunt Ashley!!

In her infant seat that vibrates.

These days we'll try anything to keep her happy!

Raisin' the roof. ;-)

I'm also happy to tell you that Maddy is no longer sleeping in her car seat in her crib! Thanks to Ashley, we were able to get Maddy to sleep in her crib with the help of the swaddlers. YAY!!