Sleep! Sleep!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

It seems like every time I tell someone that Maddie has been sleeping well, she regresses and either won’t go down for her nap/bedtime or wakes a million times at night.  So, I am a little terrified to write this post, but at the same time I am very excited about Maddie’s progress and want to share it. 

As most people know, Maddie has never been a good sleeper. I tried “training” her using a few different sleep techniques to no avail until Phil and I finally gave up and decided to continue to rock her to sleep. It has been trying but I think we both came to the conclusion that it would end one day and that we wouldn’t be rocking Maddie to bed in her dorm room at 18.  And, it looks like we were right! 

A few weeks ago, Maddie started giving us some trouble when we would put her in her bed. We would spend up to 45 minutes sometimes rocking her to sleep only for her to cry, sit up and reach for us to rock her more after laying her down on the mattress.  Well, I decided one day that I wasn’t going to pick her back up.  I told her that it was time to take her nap and I left the room. Yes, there was some crying, but after about 20 minutes of me telling her through the monitor’s microphone to lay down and go to sleep, she finally drifted off on her own.  This happened a couple of times during the day, so Phil and I decided that we should try this routine for her at night. And…..it worked! We have been doing this for about 3 weeks now and Maddie, after fussing for a few minutes, will lay herself down and go right to sleep.  We are so grateful that this method seems to be working. And just in time for the new baby’s arrival! It only took 2 years.…  Ha! 

Another notable event:  Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Steve were in town for a couple of days and we spent some time with them down at the Jones' house in Homewood.  We had a nice time eating amazing homemade Indian food courtesy of one of Aunt Jacelya's friends and Maddie laved seeing and playing with her cousins. 

In  other news, our tree in the backyard was struck by lightning last week.  It was so scary! The whole house shook, all of Mads’ toys started making noises at the same time and the living room smelled like smoke. I thought our house was on fire before stepping outside and seeing the damage to the tree. Well, one tree guy has told us that the branch needs to be removed and estimated $750! Eek! I am hoping to talk to a few other guys and get their opinions and estimates before going forward.  It doesn’t look like it will fall anytime soon, so we have some time.  

Auntie Danielle hosted a Birthday BBQ at her house a couple weeks ago.  We celebrated both Danielle's and Maddie's birthdays and had a really great time! The food was delicious and Maddie discovered that she loves the pool.  Maddie requests that we sing to her by saying, "ready?" I then ask her what she wants to sing and she either responds with "Birthday," or, "ABC's," but since the BBQ, she now requests, "Auntie." She then will start rocking from side to side reciting with me the very complicated song that Danielle wrote the words to, "Auntie, Auntie, Auntie, Auntie...." You get the idea.  We are so grateful to Danielle and Mark for opening their home for our celebration so that I didn't need to stress about hosting, cleaning, cooking...etc while so pregnant.  Thank you! 

Our garden this year is doing terribly.  I am still fighting the blight on our tomato plants, but they are still producing fruit, which is good.  The cucumber plants have completely died. :( But, our pepper plants seem to be doing well, so hopefully we’ll have lots to use for pickling  giardinera and jalapeños this year.  

Maddie and Daddy making safety look cool! We bought Maddie her first bike helmet and bring her outside on her "bike" to ride on the sidewalk.  

I’m at 34 weeks now with the pregnancy, so the baby could be here in as little as 3 weeks! (hopefully not sooner).  I am feeling ok. Some days are better than others. But, I have been having contractions in the afternoons that seem to get stronger and more frequent in the evenings.  I am just trying to take it easy and relax to calm my body down. So far, I haven’t had enough to warrant a call to the midwife, but I am just praying that they don’t get any worse.  They are pretty uncomfortable, so it would be nice if they stopped altogether.  


It’s been pretty hot the past couple of weeks which has been good and bad.  Maddie and I have had lots of fun in the pool in the backyard, but my fingers and toes are gigantic from the swelling.  I am glad to have a little taste of summer since it has been so cool and rainy this season, but I am not going to lie; I’m looking forward to the fall. 

Summertime fun in the pool! Maddie loves going down the slide, but it also scares her a little.  Whenever she gets to the bottom, she says, "It's ok. It's ok," before climbing it to go down again.  

Two!!!

Thursday, August 7, 2014
How is it possible that my little girl is two years old today? It seems like just yesterday that I heard her first little cry as she emerged into the world and then felt her smooth skin against my chest. I remember gazing into her dark, almost navy eyes, which have now developed into a soft blue and watching her sleep, a single tear hanging between her eyelid and nose. 

She was so plump that day, swollen and filled with fluid, but today she is thin and tall. She’s lost so much of that baby fat that I loved to squeeze and her face has changed into one of a toddler. Although she is no longer an infant, she will always be my little baby: my first. the one who made me a mother. 

I have been so privileged over the last two year to watch her develop mentally and physically.  She is now beginning to string 3 words together into sentences and asking us, “Where’d it go?” or telling us, “This is doggy. This is kitty cat.” And yesterday, for the first time without asking to tell me she loves me, she responded to my, “I love you,” with her own, “I lulu.” She knows and can point to just about every body part, she can count to ten and sometimes tries to go beyond, and she is learning her ABCs and loves to sing the song, prompting us by asking, “Ready?” 

Maddie has become an excellent climber and yesterday spent a good chunk of time going up the stairs and down the slide at the mall over and over and over again. While I was proud to watch her do it on her own without holding my hand, I did experience the first real twinge of a mother’s heart cracking, watching her become independent and realizing that her self-sufficiency in the world is actually one of our goals. 

Madelynn also loves to run outside and play.  She could spend hours going up and down the sidewalk, she loves to be chased and loves being tickled even more. Her and daddy like to crouch down and walk in funny ways, making each other giggle and she loves it when he plays tag with her, too.  

Our little girl also has recently become very interested in music, singing and dancing along.  She frequently requests that we put a song on by saying, “Music?” and when we sing “patty cake”, or “The wheels on the bus,” she loves to try to do the motions with her hands while chiming in with a few of the words, too. 

Sometimes meals are a little bit difficult, but Maddie definitely goes through stages of what she likes to eat. For the past couple of weeks, she has been obsessed with “samwich”es. It doesn’t matter what is on the sandwich (bologna, turkey, ham, tuna, boca burger, hamburger…etc) as long as it is between two pieces of bread. 

Maddie is also an expert at hugs and kisses now, landing some of the smooches right on our lips and actually wrapping her little arms around us and adding a little pat on the back for hugs.  She laughs and smiles all the time, loves taking pictures and could read books all day long. 

This is our little girl; the one who just 2 years ago couldn’t hold her own head up. Now she is becoming her own little girl with her own precious personality.  But, as far as we get from the day of her birth, I will never forget that moment when she joined us here on earth after having been fearfully and wonderfully knit together in my womb, created to be fully unique and special, yet made in the image of God. 

Happy Birthday, my first daughter! I love you so much!