7 months

Dear Madelyn Kate,

On Saturday you turned seven months old. Since then, I have been putting off writing you this letter. I reasoned that if I did not write it, somehow it may not really be true. I simply cannot believe how fast you are growing. Before you came in to our lives, I never noticed how quickly time escaped us. Your constant changes and growth are an ever present reminder of just how precious time is.

Lately, you have been sprouting the most precious personality. You have realized that Mommy can't stand to hear you cry and that you get your way if you do so. I am going to have to work on being a little less of a softy or you will have me trained in no time (which I actually think that you already do).

This month has held so many changes. I'd like to think that you are my sweet little newborn baby, but as I watch you make your way from one side of the room to the other, I realize that your newborn days are a thing of the past. You have been scooting and rolling for quite some time now, but recently you have really started to show signs that crawling is in the very near future. You push up on all fours a lot of the time and have even made some forward motions.Most of the time you give up because I think you realize that rolling gets you places faster. I am not sure I am ready for you to be that mobile. I know that our house isn't! We have to start baby proofing soon!

You have started to eat a lot more baby food. So far you enjoy banana yogurt, bananas, pears (you LOVE these), sweet potatoes, peas (not your favorite but you tolerate them), squash, carrots, avocados, cereal, wagon wheels, biter biscuits, puffs and mum mums. Just about every time I let you have one of the finger foods it takes a dip in the tub to get you clean (yesterday you had a bath and two "quick dips"). I have tried to give you three different types of formula and even tried different bottles but you refused them all (picky little thing)! I was concerned you may not be getting enough milk, but you seem to be happy!

I took you to be weighed this week and you are still under 16 pounds. Some days you feel so heavy. Others you feel so light. You mainly wear 6-9 months clothes. Your 3-6 months jeans and dresses still fit, but I think that is because you are going to be short like me. You have been wearing size three diapers but Grandma accidentally bought you size twos last week. I put one on you and they actually fit so much better! I guess we made the switch too soon!

You are still sleeping 12 hours a night and wake up once to "snack". You don't actually wake up, you just "sleep eat" as I call it. By 7pm you are worn out and ready to wind down for the night. By 8:30pm you are almost always fast asleep! I love when you wake up in the morning. You are so snuggly and happy and ready to face the day.

You are still teething and love to chew on things but have no teeth yet. I could have sworn that you would have woken up the other night with a pearly white poking through (it was a long night of screaming which is totally out of character for you).

You repeat a lot of sounds that I make like: bob, da-da, and my favorite...ma-ma! You are constantly jabbering and love when someone talks to you. If I turn on music you "sing along". You really love David Crowder Band and Luminate.

It seems as though you may not like your jumperoo very much anymore. Most days you can't stand to be in it for more than five minutes. Just in the last week you have decided that you need to be on my hip at all times. We had two really long days where you screamed every time I left the room. On day 1 I pushed you around in an umbrella stroller. It worked out pretty nice because I could push you around the house with me. The only problem was that you wanted to play and kept trying to jump out! On day 2 I pulled you around in a laundry basket that I padded with a blanket and stuffed full of toys!

You loved being pulled all over the house! When we would start going you would grin and giggle in delight!

I love that you have really started to reach out for us to pick you up. I don't love that 9 times out of 10, if Grandma is in the room you reach for her! OK, so I think it is pretty sweet...except when you prefer her over me :)

Madelyn, of all the changes that keep taking place and milestones that mark your 7 months of life this far, the most precious gift to me as your mommy is simply that you are here. That we have been given the chance to watch you grow. That we are blessed with the opportunity to be awake at night with a teething baby girl. That there are moments like the other night when your daddy was playing the guitar and singing "How He loves" while you snuggled up to me on the floor. Each moment with you is treasured. You are our treasure.

I love you more each day. I pray you know you are treasured!

Love always,

Mommy

family date

This afternoon Luke took Madelyn and I on a surprise family date. We ate some yummy El Lugar under a shade tree and then headed to the Caldwell Zoo.

It was beautiful weather and there were very few people so it was perfect!
All of the flowers were in full bloom and gorgeous.

There were lots of them too. The entire zoo is landscaped beautifully and it was fun to take some pictures of all the vibrant colors. I secretly posted this pic in hopes that Jana would see it and be proud of me. She is a phenomenal photographer. I wish I was (but I am trying!).

I love how Madelyn always has her feet up. She was just hanging out like this for most of the time we were there.

When we rounded the corner by the otter tank and I saw this guy...

it brought back so many memories. I wonder how much of my parent's money went in to that thing. I look forward to next year when I show Madelyn how fun it is to get the fish food and watch the fish and ducks swarm the little pebbles after you throw them in the water.

Daddy had fun showing Madelyn all of the different birds. They were SO loud when we were standing over there. All of them were squawking at once.

I love this picture of my two favorite people.

I wish this was a video because the little laugh and great big smile that accompanied Luke playing with Madelyn was absolutely precious.

Madelyn was a little too distracted by the loud birds to look at the camera.

I love my girl.

This is our first family portrait that we have taken in our typical style. When Luke and I were getting married and putting together the slide show, we realized that most of our pics were taken by Luke sticking his arm out and hoping we were centered. I have to say...this takes talent :) I love how it turned out though!

After the zoo we headed to the snow cone stand that I used to ride my bike to when I was little. Wedding Cake snow cones are amazing and that one did not disappoint. It was awesome and Madelyn was so jealous!

Thanks Mister for an awesome family date!

friends...

I have to get this girl some friends!I am not sure the $4 mirror from Target is going to cut it much longer.

I drove by The Little People Gym the other day and it has closed down. I was totally disappointed. I have always dreamed of being a stay at home mom and taking my very own munchkin to play with other kids at the baby gym.

Beyond that, I am lacking in ideas for places to take Madelyn to interact and make friends. There really aren't any other little babies at church. I guess I could stalk the local pediatrician's offices and wait for moms walking in with babies Madelyn's age and strike up a conversation...but that would just be...well...weird (not to mention the fact that if I saw this taking place I would probably call the cops). Or I could hang out on the baby food aisle at Target and hope to see some friendly faces...but again...that would set off my creeper alarm if I was on the other end of it. Ha!

I am thinking we need to start a baby play group. Not sure how or who but Madelyn is going to hate me later on in life when she has no one to invite to her birthday parties except the cute little girl in the mirror!

drive-in

Madelyn Kate,
Today you were a pretty needy little stinker. You did not want me to be out of your sight for one second, let alone put down. The house was a mess though from the busy week we had last week...the laundry was piled high, there were bow making supplies everywhere, the dishes needed to be done and the list could go on...so I needed to get a few things done.

The solution to our dilemma...I pushed you all over the house with me. For the most part you loved it! You still fussed if I was out of sight, but I could just turn you around and you were happy again. When I wanted to sweep the kitchen and dining room, I gave you a little treat. Some call it irresponsible. Others call it a mommy life saver. I call it...the drive in.You loved watching Baby Einstein for a little while from the comforts of your umbrella stroller.

I love that you love to be near me, but tomorrow can we try to be a little less grouchy? Mommy would appreciate it.

Thank you sweet girl. I love you!

Love,
Mommy

156

The weather was gorgeous.

People were friendly.

Friends stopped by.

Family helped out.

Bows were bought.

Lots of bows.

Lots and lots and lots of bows.

156 to be exact.

I cannot even tell you how full my heart is.

I have a lot of bows to make for the NICU.

I didn't even have enough to continue to put them in the jar as they were bought.

How awesome is that?

Craft Fair Day

I think my hands are permanently sticky and scarred from my hot glue gun.

Today will be well worth it though.

It's the Azalea Trails Arts and Craft Fair day in Tyler, Texas at Bergfeld Park.

Come.

9am-6pm today!

Or come tomorrow.

11am-5pm!

Enjoy the sunshine. Buy some bows :)

*If you love me (and my sister), a Sonic Diet Coke delivery would be fabulous*

Is it possible...

that Madelyn is going to be seven months old tomorrow?

I am in total disbelief. Or maybe it's called denial?

Where is the pause button?

I have been a little slower than some to introduce solid foods, but this kid loves them so now I have no choice really. She did not like applesauce (or maybe it did not like her?) and it made her tummy hurt. However, she does slurp down bananas, pears, peas and cereal of course.

Mum mums and biter biscuits are her new best friends. She thinks puffs are fun to eat and throw and hide in the little creases in her legs.

She pretty much needs a bath after every meal.

Did I mention that tomorrow she is going to be seven months old?

Is it really possible?

{The Madelyn Project}

For every bow that is bought, one will be donated.

I have shared about it so many times before. The impact that a little purple flower clip had on my family when Madelyn was on the ventilator. I know it may not seem like much to some, but it continues to mean so much to me.

So for every bow that is bought, one is put in the jar. Once it is full, then I will deliver them. This weekend we will have the jar at the craft fair. As each bow is bought, the buyer gets to place one in the jar.

It's pretty simple. Buy a bow. Give a bow.

don't kiss my lips unless...

This has been a really busy week. Not only have we had multiple places to be every day, my procrastinating self has had to make a lot of bows in a short amount of time in order to be "ready" for the craft fair this weekend (whatever "ready" means).

Yesterday morning after swinging by the Crisis Pregnancy Center program that some of the ladies from church were putting on at a church in Tyler, Madelyn and I went to lunch with the Children's Miracle Network volunteers. We ate at a yummy restaurant and it was so good to get to know some new ladies.

One of the ladies that I met has a miracle boy that was born at 26 weeks. Wow. I cannot even imagine. When Madelyn was in the NICU, there was a baby that was born at 24 weeks. I got a glimpse of that baby when I was walking to get something from the front desk area and that image will forever be with me. Her little boy also developed severe acid reflux and at four years old is still on medicine for it. That was somewhat disheartening to hear, but at the same time, you learn to get through it! For the first time I have felt like I have been face to face with someone that could relate to Madelyn's reflux issues. I know and have met lots of people who have children or know of a child with reflux, but have never met anyone whose child's reflux causes the breathing issues like Madelyn's. It's hard to explain, but it felt like such a relief just hearing that someone else knows how scary it can be.

I have so many awkward/interesting situations where people that we do not know or even those that we do but are not family (because family has the right to do what they want in my opinion) have sort of "crossed the line" in my mind. I try not to be the germaphobe mom, but when things such as someone:

- repeatedly kissing your child on the mouth
- putting their fingers in Madelyn's mouth for her to suck on
- grabbing the pacifier by the nipple

I pretty much start to crawl out of my skin. I mean really, is that necessary? And what makes anyone think that is OK. The last one isn't as big of a deal, but how hard is it to grab the paci by the little handle? The first one I had yet to see until just the other day and it was all I could do not to scream and puke at the same time! I wanted to rescue Madelyn but instead went the "polite" route and let it continue until I just could not at all take it anymore. I mean really...people you don't know well kissing your baby on the mouth?? I did not know that would ever even be a possibility.

I say all of that because the lady that I met at lunch told me about a bracelet they put on her little boy that read, "please wash your hands before you touch me".

I am thinking of making some for Madelyn that say, "Before you think it's OK to kiss my lips, make sure your name is Mom, Dad, Grandma or Grandpa." Ha.

Anyway, that's enough ranting about my germaphobia.

I look forward to being involved with the Children's Miracle Network this year. As we sat at lunch I could not help but think about how many of the nice things in the NICU were purchased from funds raised through the CMN telethon.

After lunch Madelyn was so tired. She passed out while we were still in the restaurant. I know that she would wake up if I went straight home and got her out so I did what any mother who desperately wants her child to nap would do...I drove around for the next hour and a half. I filled up my gas tank, got a Sonic drink, went through the bank drive through, parked under a shade tree for a few minutes in a parking lot and rolled down the windows (which did not last long because she started to stir) and took a drive through the country. Sure, I put miles on my car. Sure, I wasted gas. Sure, I polluted the air. BUT, my child had a great nap :) AND I enjoyed an hour and a half of praise and worship music with a little silence thrown in. It was glorious and worth it.

Once the baby started to wake up, I headed towards the house. She woke up happy and ready to play! She ate puffs for the very first time on Sunday night and she has really started to get the hang of them. Yesterday afternoon I gave her about 15 of them and let her eat them at her own pace. After about 30 minutes of playing in her high chair I started to take her out and was SO impressed that the little monkey had eaten all but 2 of the puffs. Well, I was not impressed for long. 10 of the 15 were stuck to her thighs and under her arms.

Oh well. I know I saw her eat at least four of them. She also gummed a wagon wheel (strange name for a kids food). What a mess, but she loved it.

My mom brought my sister, Luke and I dinner and played with Madelyn last night so I could get some things done. She came over and did that again tonight. She is SO thoughtful and I am SO thankful. She offered and I accepted :)

This morning I had MOPS. Luke planned to stay with Madelyn until I got back because she is pretty much too busy to sit quietly for that long now. Once I got there, all I could think about was how much I would rather be outside or with my family. I have loved going to MOPS. Love the fellowship. Love the teaching. Love the sweet notes from my mentor mom. Love it all, but today I just did not feel like being there. After about 45 minutes (and the speaker joking about moms slipping out the door and disappearing) I made my way out the back door.

I headed home and Luke, Madelyn and I went to lunch together on Luke's way out to the church. Madelyn slept in the back seat actually while Luke and I picked up lunch, rolled the windows down and had a day date in the parking lot. It was fun. I love him.

After that Madelyn and I ran in to Target for a few things and then headed home.

It's been bow making/get distracted and clean something/feed the baby/read a few blogs/get distracted and clean a few more things/bow making since then. Now, it's time to close my eyes for a few before the baby wakes to eat.

no words necessary