sleeping through the night....

The first time Maddie slept through the night was on Sunday. I had thought that it was fluke and she just did it because she was exhausted from the cookout and all of her partying :o) Apparently not.... for the past 3 nights in a row she has slept 6 or MORE HOURS!!!!

I can't believe it! It started Wednesday, she went 7 hours straight from midnight to 7 am... then Thursday night she went 6 hours - from midnight to 6 am... Last night she went from midnight and woke up this morning around 6:30 am. Do we see a pattern here?? I guess midnight is going to be her 'bedtime' for now! But, you don't see me complaining!! I don't think it would be ideal if I had to go to work the next morning and had to be out of the house at a certain time, but for our lives... it works!! It also gives Matt a chance to spend time with her. He hasn't been getting home until around 9 pm each night so it is actually a good thing that she is awake around that time.

I have ALWAYS been more of a night owl myself, and have never really gotten to sleep before about midnight (or later) so maybe she takes after her momma!! I am soooo excited and so much more rested. The only thing that has been a little off.. is that I seem to wake up in a panic thinking that something is wrong with her because she has been asleep for so long. I have heard that this is normal and most moms do it at first, hopefully that goes away soon because it is a little freaky there for a few seconds until I can check on her.

I also went to the doctor for my followup appointment on Thursday. Everything is good to go!! There was a classic moment where Dr. Lindner was talking to me about birth control and Maddie decided to wake up and SCREAM BLOODY MURDER! I'm still not sure of exactly what was wrong with her, but it was funny when Dr. Lindner said "guess you already have a great form of birth control right there"!!!!!!! Haha!

This week has been *A*M*A*Z*I*N*G* - not only with Maddie sleeping through the night... but she also SMILED FOR THE FIRST TIME! Ok, so she has totally done the whole 'smile because she has gas' thing for weeks and weeks now... but she actually grinned at me yesterday! I was changing her while she was up on her changing table and I started tickling her sides a little and she just starting GRINNING AND GRINNING... and Mommy starting CRYING!! Yes.. I cried! I kept tickling her and she smiled about 8-10 more times! It was the sweetest thing I have ever experienced!! Of course I tried to get her to do it for Daddy when he got home last night, but she wouldn't cooperate... (I'm not sure if Matt totally believes me now :o)

Our chunky monkey is also almost in size 2 diapers. Her size 1 diapers are getting a little tight and we had one blow out in them. The size 2 ones are from 12-18 lbs and I think she is around 11-12 lbs so I guess she is just about there!

My sweet cupcake is growing sooooo fast. She is also already outgrowing some of her 0-3 months sized clothes. Mostly all of the things that are a one piece and snap at the bottom, I think I may just have the longest baby in the world. She has a lot of dresses tha have a seperate diaper cover... those all still fit so at least she isn't going naked!! It is just her onesies that seem to cause me problems... I can get them snapped but they then pull down the neck part and make her look like she is wearing a v-neck... HAHAHA! We are at an awkward stage because 3-6 month onesies are way too big on her middle section, but they fit her length wise.

I think Grammy and I are going to take her shopping next weekend for a couple of new things. I know we are both itching to go buy some more girl clothes. They have the CUTEST summer stuff out right now!!

This week has been full of milestone and it makes me so proud to be Maddie's mommy!

Memorial Day Fun!!!

Wow! Two posts in one day... guess I should keep up with this a little bit more so that I don't have so many pictures to post at once....

We had such a great visit with John this weekend and I was so excited that he finally got to meet the baby. Him & Jenn are planning on coming for Thanksgiving so then it will be Aunt Jenn's turn to spoil her rotten!! :o)

Here are millions of pictures from this weekend's festivities.....

Meeting Cousin Blayne.....

He wanted to know when she will be old enough to play with him....

Getting lovin' from Grammy....

Me & Jessica....

Me & John....

Jaime with Madison & Addison....

Maddie has to sleep with one foot sticking out.... is there anything cuter??

Aunt Jessica "feeding" Maddie.... what a lazy babysitter!! :o)

Then they took a cat nap together.....

Sleeping beauty....

Meeting Uncle John for the first time....

Great-Aunt Jennifer & Great-Uncle Danny...

Snuggling with Mommy....

Saying 'bye-bye' to Uncle John....

And some of Maddie just being adorable as usual.....

Her newest 'thing' is staring at the ceiling fan while she eats....

Priceless.....

Maddie's first "photo shoot" by Mommy...

I have been trying to do a photo shoot with Maddie now for weeks but I've never gotten around to it... Of course I've been taking lots of pictures, but I hadn't yet dressed her up and did an 'official' one!

So I finally did it last week and they came out pretty good if I do say so myself!!!

This one is Mommy's favorite!!!

and ya know Mommy had to have a little fun playing around with photoshop......

We also have been trying to venture out of the house every week and go eat lunch with Daddy... it gets a little lonely for us being here all day and it also gives Matt a chance to actually see the baby!! He works sooo much and misses her during the day!

Here is a picture of Maddie going to one of our lunch dates.......

Maddie is starting to lift her head more and more....



And even had her first attempt at rolling over... I still can't believe that I was able to catch these pictures....

Maddie has a new cousin!

My sister Kristin and her husband Kevin had a beautiful baby boy yesterday, May 18th. Jacob Riley weighed in at 10 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 inches long. He is super dooper cute - I can't wait to meet him in person!!! I was told that so far Logan has been a great big brother to baby Jake!

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Maddie is 4 weeks old today!
Yay!!

I can't believe that it has gone by so fast!!

She has changed so much since she was born... it makes me so excited to see how much more she will change in the future. We have been doing a little bit of tummy time each day to help build her neck muscles and she is really starting to hold her head up for longer periods of time. It must be hard work though because she looks exhausted when she eventually drops her head, and she makes the cutest noise when she does it, almost like a sigh....
as if she is saying...."Whew! - that was tough mommy!"....

Maddie has also been napping in her crib during the day, but has not yet slept there through the night. I tried to lay her in there after her bath and bottle last night... she was fine for about 5-10 minutes... but then woke up SCREAMING!! I left her for a few minutes to see if she would calm herself down... nope! We rocked her back to sleep and tried again... same thing happened! Needless to say... she then went right to sleep in her bassinet in our room and stayed that way for hours. Not entirely sure what the problem was but all I can do it try again tonight and see.....

Matt & I are still waiting for that first "real" smile... she is starting to smirk a lot so I know that it is coming soon. I want to see that big toothless grin soooooo bad! Not to mention that first giggle.... oh my! What fun we have to look forward to with our sweet cupcake!!!

So.. Maddie's uncle John is coming to visit this weekend from CA. It will be the first time that he will get to see her in person and I know he can't wait. Unfortunately though, Aunt Jenn isn't coming because she couldn't get the time off of work. Boo hoo :o( Hopefully she will get to come soon. We are having a barbeque at Matt's parents on Sunday (I think.. maybe Monday... not sure) so I'm sure we will have lots of pictures to post afterwards.

Our first bad night...

What a night!!... Maddie definitely has her nights and days mixed up!! So far she has been happy to just lay in her bassinet wide awake until she eventually falls back to sleep... not anymore!! Our precious baby girl decided that EVERYONE needed to be awake when she was! This was not a good night for her to pick, because Matt had to leave @ 2:00 am to go out of town for a Revv Nrg event. Needless to say, Daddy had to take over because Mommy was at her wits end. Maddie and I both were crying hysterically... I just couldn't figure out what was wrong with her... I had tried everything! I think for the first time, I understood why everyone has been saying how lucky I am that she has been such a good sleeper!! I have never experienced anything so frustrating and exhausting in my life! I really don't know what we are going to do if this is something that continues nightly - I am going to try to keep her awake from late afternoon until bedtime tonight and see if that helps. It has been difficult because she is a lot like Matt, when she wants to sleep she is going to sleep and nothing can stop her!!!

I also have set a goal of putting her in her crib in her room starting Tuesday night (she will be exactly four weeks old). We keep it a little on the cooler side in our bedroom because of the 'little heaters' we call Bella & Canon, so it has been a struggle keeping Maddie warm. She has never liked to be swaddled and always manages to get her arms free anyway. So, I am also hoping that by putting her in her room she will be a little more comfortable. Poor Daddy hasn't been getting a good night rest, even though he doesn't normally get up for feedings, he is still woken up by her crying. I think the lack of sleep is starting to get to us both and being in her own room might not only help her sleep better, but us too!!!

That means that the goal for this weekend is getting her monitor setup on her crib and getting her room all organized and ready!!!
I am a little nervous about her being alone and not right next to me. I already feel like she is growing up a little, moving to her own room seems like such a big step!!! I will admit it makes me a little sad!!

On to other news.... Matt & I switched our cell phone service to Verizon this week and we both got a Blackberry! I am so happy to have internet back on my phone, it is so convenient, and my new phone has a full web brower so there are no restrictions on what pages you can visit! I love just getting a 'ding' whenever I get an email, oh how I have missed that!!! I also now have it set up for my facebook page as well... can we say addict!! :o)

Who invented baby swings??

Whoever it was... Thank You!!

Maddie loooooooves swinging in her swing... and is content there for an hour or more! Which means that mommy has been having lots of time to get dishes done... laundry folded... meals made... you name it! We should all be thankful for this because that also means that I have time to post new blogs and keep everyone updated on any 'Maddie News'. It is so sweet how she just sits and swings and looks around... she even coos along with the music. Bella & Canon go over and check on her every once in a while to make sure she is okay, they are such good little babysitters!!!!!!

Now that Maddie is starting focus her eyes more and more, I pulled out her activity gym again to see if she had any interest yet. She laid there and stared at it for about 15 minutes last night, I couldn't really tell if she was into it or just staring into space (as she does a lot).

She did however make a great connection with the butterfly and maybe they will be long time friends! :o)


We had our first shopping trip with Grammy yesterday and baby Maddie couldn't have been more of an angel! We went to Sam's Club to get formula and a few other things and then because she was such a good girl, we got to go have a big girl lunch at Silver Diner. She slept through the whole meal, but woke up just in time to run to Babies R Us to pick up a few more things. I still haven't had an outing with her alone (unless you count the drive to and from Grammy's house) but maybe we will try that later in the week. We are running out of some food essentials, so I am thinking that maybe a trip to the grocery store would be perfect.

I always talk about what Maddie is doing and have forgotten to report how well I am doing post-delivery. The first couple of weeks were rough, but I am thrilled to say that I am almost 100%.... I still get a little sore if I stand or sit for too long... but that is slowly fading as well. I really do feel better and better each day and have almost completely forgotten how horribly painful childbirth is!!! HaHaHa! In fact, I've already asked Matt when we can try to have a boy!!! Kidding... totally kidding! But I do have to say that the thought of having a second baby doesn't make me cringe in pain and grab my crotch anymore!!!!!
Guess we will have to wait and see if we ever add another addition - I do know that it will be at least three or four years before we even think about it! We have our hands full for sure!!!!

Happy 1st Mother's Day Mommy!

Ok... so Mother's Day isn't technically until tomorrow but we kinda celebrated tonight!

Grandma (my mom) came to visit us & Maddie for the weekend and since that meant that we automatically had a willing babysitter, Matt & I went out on our first "date night" since the baby was born. He took me to The Cheesecake Factory and it was yummy yummy good!! Apparently this weekend was prom though so things were crazy busy there, but we hadn't been in soooo long so it was worth the wait!



My mom also made me a chocolate chip cookie pizza..... my favorite! I don't think I am getting any more surprises tomorrow, but we'll just have to wait and see. I did request Matt's famous big fat juicy cheeseburgers from the grill, but I have a feeling that isn't going to happen now. We've had a week of rain off and on now, so needless to say he is pretty far behind with work and needs to go out in the morning to get some done.

I have tons of new pictures to post of the princess... just not enough time to do it! So keep checking back and hopefully they will be up soon!!

Update:
So... I got my big cheeseburgers... and they were FABULOUS!!!!

Maddie and Daddy worked really hard grilling them up for me - and I even got dessert!!!! Vanilla ice cream in a waffle bowl with strawberries and caramel sauce.... which makes for a very, very happy Mommy!

















Grammy (Matt's mom) came over to visit and brought me a beautiful plant for my porch - hopefully I can keep it alive! (Don't mind Bella's ear in the picture...she is such a camera hog!)


I also got super sweet cards from Maddie and also one from Bella & Canon! They also bought me a great new book to read (I am hoping that part of the gift is them all giving me time to actually read it - but we'll have to see about that!)

All in all it was a GREAT first Mother's Day - I couldn't love my family more!!!!!!

I have the best husband in the world, a beautiful baby girl and two cuddly puppies - doesn't get any better than that!!!

baby's first big girl bath... and with BUBBLES!

Maddie Grace had her first bubble bath this morning....

....annnnnnnnnnnd....

she SLEPT THROUGH IT!!!!

She is such a MESS!!!! I find myself constantly laughing at her... how can something so tiny have such a big personality?? She also wouldn't keep her legs in the sling part of her bathtub, she had to have them hanging over the sides! Soooo funny!!!

She smelled so good and was so cuddly when she got out that Mommy couldn't help but steal a bunch of snuggles....

Yay for big girl baths now!!!!