Six months, but it feels like just yesterday...

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Today, Maddie is 6 months old! It’s hard to believe that 6 months ago I was laying in a hospital bed giving birth to my now 13 ½ pound baby.  Thank God she wasn’t 13 ½ pounds then! Hahaha.

We celebrated her first half birthday by bringing her to the doctor for her 6-month check-up.  

Maddie is a healthy little peanut: she’s in the 7^th percentile for weight and 17^th for length, but all 25 inches of her are developing perfectly. Phil had taken the day off from work, so we were both able to ask the doctor questions and hear about next steps food-wise, so that was great.  Maddie got her routine vaccines and she took them like a champ. She cried, of course, but within a few minutes, she was calm and nursing away her troubles.

Happy Half-Birthday, little girl!

We came home after a quick stop at Target to pick up some baby yogurt (breakfast tomorrow for Mads—first dairy product) and everything was fine until around 5PM.  Maddie became hysterical.  He legs are super sore from the shots and she just wouldn’t stop screaming. She’s in bed now (9PM), thankfully, and we are hoping that she sleeps through the night.  I celebrated her zzzzzz’s by treating myself to some much needed coffee ice cream with peanut M&Ms on top. Yummy.

Well, other than Maddie’s age, I do have a few updates to report: Maddie’s bedtime, tummy time updates, standing, staring at her hand and her first snow experience.  I’ll try to keep each topic brief.

First, we have been gradually moving Maddie’s bedtime forward and she now has been going to bed between 8:30 and 9:00.  This has been great for us as Phil and I now have a little bit of time to unwind before hitting the sack ourselves.  One night this week, without realizing what I was doing, I put Maddie in her crib and began my bedtime routine. I found myself lying in bed at 8:30 ready to go to sleep. I am just so accustomed to Maddie going to bed so late (11:00) that I normally go to sleep immediately after.  Hahaha! I think 8:30 might be a little early, even for us old-timers.

I can't get enough of this precious baby. She is just way too cuddly. 

Maddie’s also been tolerating tummy time for longer periods of time.  She even got up on her knees a couple of times this week! It’s scary to think about her becoming mobile and crawling, but exciting, too.

Maddie is also standing so much more and will actually hold herself up now.  I set her against her exersaucer and she stood for a long time and played with the toys a little bit.  I’m seeing her play with things a lot more. She loves hitting her V-tech ball!

My two favorite people in the whole world! Don't they look identical! 

So, the one thing that has me really cracking up this week is the way Mads stares at her hand.  It is so funny! She holds it in front of her face and turns it front to back repeatedly.  I imagine her saying to herself, “Whoa. Psychedelic, man.” She is just mesmerized.

Finally, Phil and I dressed Maddie in her little cubby bear coat (coat courtesy of Jacelya and Taylor Jones – Thank you!) and brought her outside this week to watch the snowfall.  She didn’t really seem to care that white flakes were falling from the sky, but it sure looked pretty to us. 

Let's go see the snow!

Other than the Maddie updates, the only thing worth really mentioning from the past couple of weeks was that Phil and I are both healthy again.  Thank God.  Last Wednesday, I came down with a horrific case of food poisoning (or possibly the stomach flu). I was violently ill and so grateful to my friend, Sandy, who saved the day and took care of Maddie for a few hours until Phil got home from work.  She is a lifesaver: so reliable and wonderful.  Phil caught a bug 5 days later and took a day off of work to heal and rest. I am just so grateful that Maddie didn’t catch either of our illnesses and also that Phil and I both weren’t sick at the same time.  That would have been awful.

Phil has the day off from work again tomorrow, so we are heading into a nice, long weekend. Here’s hoping that Maddie’s legs aren’t still bothering her and that she is back to her smiley, happy self in the morning. 

Uh oh….she’s awake.  Here we go……