and so it begins...

Today was the start to a very busy weekend. Actually yesterday was if you want to get down to it. I am not sure I have been that productive in one day in a long time. Luke and I are used to late nights of all the last minute details that come with putting on Disciple Now, but we are not used to trying to fit it all in and care for a little one.

Yesterday and today, Madelyn was a trooper!Yesterday we ran errands ALL day and did not leave the church until around 9pm. Today we ran errands this morning and did not leave the church until 8:30pm and she still had a smile on her face all day long!
She played with the toys we brought her and only fussed when she was hungry.

I am so excited about the weekend ahead and thankful for a baby girl that allowed her mommy and daddy to prepare for it (and my mom, sister and friends who helped get some last minute things done into the wee hours of the night...but that's a story for another day...I'm sleepy!).

Thanks Maddie Kate. I love you.

FIVE

This morning (after yet another night of a screaming baby and no sleep for our little family of 3) I took Madelyn to the doctor. I was sure she had an ear infection or something like it that was causing my sweet little baby girl to be so fussy. That had to be the answer. Madelyn's pediatrician was out so we saw Dr. C and she was pretty amazing. She looked in Madelyn's ears. "Wow mom! These ears look beautiful! Perfect!"

Not that I wanted her to have an ear infection by any means, but I just knew that was going to explain our week of sleepless nights and unusually fussy baby girl.

The next thing I heard from Dr. C's mouth was, "Oh my! Have you looked in her mouth lately??"

I kept thinking, "Yes, but what the heck am I looking for??"

Apparently Madelyn has five teeth that are visible under her gums.

"That explains it," said Dr. C. "The next few months may be a bit rough."

It's been obvious that she has been teething.

The constant gnawing, drooling and pulling at her mouth have left no room to deny it.

The problem is...those "miracle" teething tablets that I have heard so many rave about...don't do a thing for Madelyn.

So if you find yourself awake around 3am, think of my husband and I because more than likely we are too. As for Madelyn, she was so exhausted this afternoon that she fell asleep sitting up in one of the student's arms. I was jealous but I don't think Harmonee would have thought it was as sweet if I was the one asleep on her arm :)
I can't seem to snap a picture of the babe without her hands at, in or around her mouth.

She chews on just about everything and her new favorite way to use her paci is to chew on the hard sides.

Dear Madelyn's First Five Teeth,
Come through soon. Please. We can't wait to see you. We can't wait for you to stop causing our sweet girl pain. We hope that if you decide to take "a few months" to come in, that you start acting a little nicer...especially at 3am. That would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Sincerely,
Madelyn's Sleep Deprived Parents

a fresh start

This morning at about 6am when Madelyn really started to get restless in my arms I took her to her crib. I turned on the apnea monitor and baby monitor and prayed she would get the rest she needed!

Luke (who sleeps on the couch when we sleep in the recliner because he is just that sweet) and I headed to the bedroom and snoozed a little bit longer before he headed in to work.

It's now 10 after 10 and the little one woke up happy and with a little grin on her face...Thank the Lord for fresh starts!

let's just be honest...

Today was not my finest. Since I have become a mommy, I have had a few moments here and there where I wished things had gone differently, but never a whole day. Today...I really wish I had a do-over.

It started after a night of absolutely no sleep. At about 5:48am (not that I remember the exact moment I was able to close my eyes) I nudged Luke and asked him to take Madelyn (who at this point had been restless and crying every five minutes for 7 hours) so that I could get a little sleep before he left for work. He did. I did. After about two hours of uninterrupted sleep I felt completely refreshed. Today was going to be a good day.

Madelyn then slept off and on for the next three hours waking just before lunch. I knew this meant she had maybe gotten about 5 hours of sleep. For a child that usually gets 12...5 wasn't that great. But today was going to be a good day.

I should have known when she did not wake up smiling at me and talking like she normally does (even after bad nights) that things might be a little challenging, but I had hope. She fussed and squirmed and did not want to be put down or held for most of the morning. By one she needed a nap but couldn't stay asleep longer than five minutes before wiggling herself awake.

I started to wonder if she was sick or did not feel well, but there really wasn't anything that would indicate that.

By 3:30pm I was desperate for a few minutes to get a couple of things done around the house (or to just go to the bathroom) so I did something I really did not want to do. I have had it in my mind that Madelyn won't watch TV until she reaches her first birthday. Today...I gave in.I pulled out a Baby Einstein DVD and strategically placed her exersaucer a few feet in front of it.

I felt like a complete failure, but at the same time prayed that it would work. It did not. She lasted all of 45 seconds before screaming and looking at me like, "Get me out of here, please". So I did. At least I had time to go to the bathroom!

Did I mention that I needed to be getting ready for 6 dinner guests? Getting what I needed for dinner from the grocery store? Taking a shower? Making a dessert? Sweeping the kitchen? Or that I was supposed to be getting a few things done for my husband for a big youth event that is taking place this weekend? Editing the student material? Getting poster prints made for the student building? Shopping for the frames at Michaels? Or that my baby girl needed me to pick up her prescriptions (which only had enough left in them to get us through today)? Yet, here I was at home unable to console my usually happy baby girl.

It had been a trying day so far.

I won't go on with the play by play of my less than perfect day, but I will mention that the rest of the day was filled with:

• accidentally ruining two of my favorite outfits of Madelyn's in the wash
• ruining one of my favorite shirts in the same load
• breaking a corning ware dish (that I am not sure belonged to me)
• Madelyn fussing for the majority of the rest of the day
• me not being able to help her or figure out why
• having 6 dinner guests that while I really wanted to want to be in there and chatting with...I also could not help but think about how cozy my bed was the entire time we ate

I just don't feel like a "good" mom today...whatever that means. I feel as though I have let Madelyn down. I did some things that I really wish I had done differently. I hate when I don't know how to make her feel better.

And

I am going to snuggle her close in the recliner tonight and pray for a good nights sleep because I am beyond the point (which I hit at about 4am) of exhaustion and we both need it more than we need to "do the right thing" according to all the parenting books (which I stopped reading 5 months ago when I realized they were only going to make me feel worse and more pressure) and let her cry.

Tomorrow is a new day. Praise the Lord for that. If Madelyn continues to be as fussy as she was last night and today, we more than likely will find ourselves paying the pediatrician a visit.

Have you ever had one of those days? The kind that wish you had a do-over for?

Despite the fact that today was not one of my finest as a mommy and I did some things I am not proud of, as I sit here snuggling with my princess, I am thankful for health, my family and a loving God who brings fresh starts with rising of the sun!!!

embarrassed

I am officially embarrassed. I overslept for church. Everyone always jokes about the people that sleep late when they are supposed to move their clocks forward. Now, I am one of those people. The thing is...my clock was set. Can I blame it on the fact that babies don't really "get" daylight savings time? Maybe not, but I will blame it on the fact that Madelyn and I invited ourselves at the last minute (and by last minute I mean 9pm last night) to join in on the girl's slumber party that was taking place at my mom and dad's house. Luke brought us our pj's and a few other essentials and we were out. We slept in the same chair we did the first few weeks we were home from the hospital and we slept so good. So good in fact that we slept too late to even try to make it to church.

So instead of church, Madelyn jumped around in the jumperooand laughed at her silly cousins

Allison and

Emily

who did not mind the extra company at all.

Tonight there will be no oversleeping. We are going to church.

{the way he looks at her}

Yesterday Madelyn and I loved having Luke at home. He is usually off on Fridays but needed to be out at the church for a few different things all day today so he was home with us yesterday. After laying in bed for way too long, we headed out to run some errands, do a little shopping and enjoy lunch at Don Juans. Madelyn is SO good when we go out to eat. I know that probably won't last much longer...but it sure is awesome for now.

She looked super cute in her lime green skort, hot pink shirt and coordinating bow that I made her before she was born. I definitely think this is the largest bow that I have put on her...and it was really only because it matched so well.

I did not realize until 11pm that these were two of like five pictures that I took (and to be honest, I think Luke took them) of Madelyn yesterday. That is rare around here. I upload at least 50 pics a day. I know that is a bit excessive-but that's just the way it is.

I guess we were just too busy enjoying the day that we did not take the time to stop and take pictures.

This morning Madelyn played by herself so well. I have been really trying to work on not entertaining her the entire time she is awake because I have noticed that she is already getting used to that and is starting to demand it. She did so great though.

She rolled around. Grabbed at her toys. Chewed on her rattles. Talked up a storm.

Then...while I was changing out some laundry...

she managed to scoot herself from the middle of the living room to the edge of the dining room. YIKES! I cannot believe she is so close to being mobile. I mean really mobile. The funny thing about the way that she scoots is that she moves backwards.

All that scooting led to one tired little baby girl. At first, I did what I normally do. I picked her up off the floor once she became really fussy and started to rock her. She was asleep in a matter of seconds. After about 25 minutes of snuggling with her in the recliner, I decided that if I wanted to get anything done today I was going to have to put her down. Many days I just hold her for her entire three hour nap. Not only does this mean that I accomplish nothing for those three hours, but to make matters worse...it always makes me feel more tired that I have done nothing but sit for three hours. Still, I cherish those naps. The snuggling. I know that those moments are more important than anything I could "get done", but today I really needed to catch up on house work and an unmentionable amount of laundry. So...I did it. I let her take a nap in another room. I hooked her up to her monitor. Turned on the baby monitor just in case I did not hear the blaring siren if it were to go off and I left the room. It was her first real nap in her crib. She has taken one nap in it before...remember this? Today was different though. That day, I was hovering over her just about the whole time. Today, I only peeked my head in about 20 times in the hour and a half that she slept.

I am not sure who I am more proud of...Madelyn or myself? I think we may try to nap in the crib more often. I was able to get so much done and she seemed to be as well rested in two hours as she normally is in three.

Not long after she woke up Luke was home from work. I have decided that the only thing that I enjoy photographing as much as Madelyn is Madelyn with her Daddy.

They are absolutely precious together.
I always knew he would be a phenomenal dad. He is so great with children. What I did not anticipate was the way that he would look at her.He absolutely adores her and you can see it in his eyes each and every time he looks at her. It melts my heart every time.
Tonight my brother and his family came over for dinner. My sister-in-law took these pictures of Madelyn and Allison playing together. All I have to say is that I am so glad that we have a laid back baby.
Madelyn did not fuss until Allison jumped on her back like she was a horse.
Somehow I managed to not really take any pictures of the evening. I was too busy trying to duplicate the dessert Nathan made us the other night. I am happy to report that it was a success.

Yummiest bowl of goodness ever.

proud.

Yesterday Madelyn and I hung out at the house for most of the morning and listened to the rain and hail as it fell against the sky lights. It gets so loud in our living room when it rains hard that it is almost impossible to have a conversation. It used to drive me crazy how loud it would get in there...these days though, I love it. It is so soothing. I think Madelyn likes it too because she just kicked back in the recliner and tried to talk over the noise.Once the storm passed we headed out to the church early to see Luke before all the students started arriving and get a look at the new student building. So many men have worked so hard to make that building what it is. Just walking through it in it's nearly completed stage was so exciting.

I was thinking last night as I looked at this sweet picture...

how blessed Madelyn and I are to have Luke. He is an amazing daddy, loving husband and incredibly hard worker. He manages to balance out time with us while putting in countless hours pouring in to the lives of the students at our church. Among so many other things he teaches the word, how to lead worship, acts as a chauffeur just about every day carting students to and from school, work, their friend's houses and church (wherever they ask him to take them). He desires for them to have a relationship with their Creator and does whatever he can to facilitate that. He spends late nights studying for lessons or personal growth, wakes up early thinking about what he needs to do to prepare for Sunday or Wednesday...his ministry is always on his mind. He is more passionate than anyone I know. BUT he never fails to let Madelyn and I know that we are his first priority. He covets his time with us and I am so thankful that Madelyn has a dad that daily strives to find a balance in his ministry and his time at home.

It was pretty awesome to see the students hanging out, playing games, and worshiping together for the first time in the new building.

I am so proud of you, Luke.

time to print.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend from junior high turned absolutely amazing photographer, Lauren, was in town to take pics of her niece and stopped by to take some of Madelyn as well. I got the photo CD in the mail today. Oh.my.goodness! I don't know what I was more captivated by...the fact that Lauren was able to take so many amazing photos in a matter of 30 minutes of just hanging out at our house or that my daughter could possibly be this adorable...

Although she can obviously do it all, Lauren is a phenomenal wedding photographer for Fairy Tale Photography in the DFW area. See for yourself here. Thanks to this photo shoot from November (and another fantastic photographer) my house is already full of precious pictures of my baby girl. Now I cannot wait to print some more to put on display. The last one above is my absolute favorite. Lauren, thank you!!

Tonight we had our first soccer practice. Every time I see the excitement in their eyes it takes me back to so many years of fun. I love the game. I love that my parents hauled me to and from games in Tyler and Dallas and tournaments all over the place. I am thankful that I had the chance to play at a really young age, get a few years in during high school before knee injuries would force me to call it quits and now I get to coach little rugrats who are eager and excited to play.

After practice Madelyn and I went to my parent's house while Luke had a late meeting with area student pastors gearing up for DNOW next weekend. As I looked at Madelyn playing on the floor, I could not help but think about how big she has gotten.It never ceases to amaze me how much she changes from week to week. Watching my mom hold her, I thought back to the month we spent at their house (ya know, when we came home from the hospital the second time to a flooded down stairs?). I thought of how tiny Madelyn was in my mom's arms. That is definitely not the case any more.
I remember my mom reassuring me day after day that "some day" she would be bigger, stronger, healthier. "Some day" we would look back at those days and wonder where the time had gone.

Mom, you were right...I just never imagined it would be so soon.

hang out night

Last night we drove through a monsoon (or at least it felt like it) to hang out and have dinner with our friends, Nathan and Jenna and their three boys. It was worth wading through a little water to get there. From the moment we walked in the door, Madelyn was entertained by the big boys.She has never seen so much wrestling and jumping and all the other wild boy behavior before...but she seemed to really like it. I put her down on the floor and she immediately rolled over and watched the action for the next thirty minutes.

Karter loved jumping on Luke. It reminded me of when Kaden was that age. They always used to rough house together.Madelyn borrowed Kolson's exersaucer for a little while. She seemed pretty entertained by it, but I think she had more fun making faces back and forth with Kolson. He kept trying to grab her bow so we eventually ditched the bow to remove the temptation. Ha.
After a yummy dinner Nathan put together an awesome dessert. I seriously think I took more pictures of the dessert than anything else and that was before I tasted how good it was. Jenna made crepes (which I need to get the recipe for) and Nathan stuffed them with vanilla ice cream. Then he topped them with homemade whipped topping, caramel and fudge and bananas. It was so tasty.
Seriously...yummy.
After dinner the big boys headed to bed and the little babes needed to get their pj's on. Kolson is four months older than Madelyn but you would not guess that from these pics.
They are so cute together. I realized last night that we really need to get them together more often to play because Madelyn loved the interaction with another baby.
Jenna and I decided that there are not many things cuter than a naked baby. How could anyone disagree??
I hope that these two become good friends.
We did not get home until a little after midnight, but it was so much fun getting to spend time with friends.

Today Madelyn and I are going to take Luke lunch at the church and walk through the new student building that is just about complete! Then this afternoon we have the first soccer practice of the season for Emily's U6 Ladybugs that I am coaching again this year. I am so looking forward to getting out of the house and enjoying the sunshine!