Smiles and Sass

I know I'm going out of order, but while I was in St. Louis, Jen took Madeline and me to get our nails done. Well, Madeline was just there as a casual observer of what her life may be like in a few years! She wasn't thrilled with sitting in her car seat and watching us get pampered, and since I was getting a manicure, Jen was happy to hold her. Madeline's been smiling off and on now for about 2 weeks, but in the past 7 days she's gotten really smiley.

 

Jen managed to capture a few good, gummy grins from our favorite little girl. She's so stinkin' cute! She definitely has spunk, and usually manages to start grinning at us at times when it seems like she knows she's being cute, which makes it more adorable. We are going to have so much fun with her!

She still loves sticking her tongue out, and Jen caught this perfectly!

Our best Madeline news is that last night she went 10.5 hours between feedings! She's been working up a good stretch each week, but we'd only gotten 7.5 prior to last night. They're never consistent, but I was thrilled that she went so long at such an early age. Fingers crossed that we've got another good sleeper on our hands!

Week in St. Louis In Review

Last Friday, we headed to St. Louis for a fun family weekend, including a trip to the circus, extended family pictures and Mason's baptism!

The family pictures were a last minute plan, so we spent a good part of Saturday shopping for complimentary clothes for everyone, and something that the kids could wear and match. By the time we were finished, it was almost time to head down to the circus!

Joseph had been to the circus one other time previously, back when he was just a baby. He was really excited about seeing everything, and couldn't get to the seats fast enough.

He spent most of the first half sitting in awe on Papa's lap, and loved everything about the circus, and was even ok with the "loud moises!" (his word for noises) At intermission, Joe took him to the bathroom, and they returned with one of the spinning, light up toys that I'm sure cost more than the ticket! Joseph loved being able to turn it on and off for the rest of the night (and the days that followed).

Madeline managed to sleep through almost the entire first half of the show, but got hungry right before intermission. I nursed her and was trying to get her back to sleep, but there was way too much for her to watch.

So she stayed awake for the whole second act, and eventually was way overstimulated. I can't blame her; it was so loud and with everything going on, I had to leave the arena and walk around with her. She didn't end up calming down until we were in the car on the way home.

Ashley, Mason and Jennifer also joined us (it was Jennifer's idea and she coordinated getting the tickets for everyone). Mason seemed to take the whole thing in, and did great! He's finally starting to stay awake for fun events now.

Watching the KC 1/2 Marathon finishers

One Month Old!

This sweet little girl is already one month old! So far, she's teaching us every day that she is definitely a different person from her older brother, and that what one baby likes, another may not...

Stats:
Height: 22 inches (90th percentile) - up 1.5 inches since birth!
Weight: 10 lbs 15.5 oz (90th percentile) - up almost 2 pounds since birth!
Head Circumference: 15 inches (98th percentile)

At one month, Madeline likes:
- bathtime!
- watching the bird mobile on the pack n play
- to bed held and swaddled tightly
- her MAM pacifiers!
- laying on her back on the playmat, looking around
- the vibrating rocking chair
- sleeping on her side or back
- to be sung to

She dislikes:
- her swing :(
- being put in her carseat, and generally riding in the car, at least until she falls asleep
- waiting more than 2 seconds to be fed when hungry
- having to sit in the carseat for walks... so she'll frequently get worn in the baby bjorn instead. I'll probably start laying her down in the stroller soon when we go on walks, as the seats recline all the way flat.

Other items to note:
- She's starting to smile at Joseph and me, but nothing seems to consistently trigger a response.
- She's really starting to enjoy watching Joseph, which is good because if she's awake, his face is usually 2 inches away from hers. He's seriously like a moth to a flame and can't leave her alone! See below for the evidence...
- She's a crazy poop machine! I've learned now to wait and wait some more whenever she poops, as she's pooped on me more times than I care to admit in her short 4 weeks of life. That girl must just love the feeling of fresh air on her bottom and it triggers her to go!

Joseph wasn't about to let me take many pictures of Madeline without being in them..

Which really means he just wants to hold her some more and give her lots of kisses.

Yesterday, since Joseph wasn't feeling well, he didn't want to eat anything for breafast or lunch. Finally around 4pm, he agreed to eat some scrambed eggs. I made them, brought them into the dining room, and went back to the kitchen to get his juice. When I came back out of the kitchen, I discoved this:

He just can't get enough of her! He's starting to understand he can't play with her and kiss her while she sleeps (and it helps that she takes her naps in her crib now when we're home, so he can't get to her as easily!) but in his mind, awake time is fair game.

So he's constantly kissing her and laying with his face as close to hers as possible. This is a very common sight:

Finally, another shot of just Madeline. Of course, Joseph was still sitting on the table just out of the view of the camera.

Which he wasn't happy about, so he had to pose for a few more shots. And was very proud of himself, for whatever reason!

Fun weekend with Nana and Papa

Saturday morning the kids and I drove Joe to the airport for his flight to Chicago for his first marathon. Our friends Kyle and Katie were getting married later in the afternoon, and I was nervous about taking both kids to the wedding by myself, so Jill and Gary agreed to watch Joseph for me. When Jill found out that the local fire station was doing an open house Saturday morning, I knew we had to make every effort to get there in time to go! Joseph loves fire engines right now, so this was going to be so fun for him.

 

Joe's flight was at 9:40am, and the open house started at 10am, so we dropped Joe off and headed straight out to Basehor. Joseph and Nana played for about an hour before Gary came home from working at the church. Madeline was rather fussy and had just fallen asleep, and when given the option of whether he wanted Nana or Mom to go with him and Gary to the fire station, he was adamant that Nana go too. So Maddie and I hung out at the house for a while while Joseph headed off to the open house.

 

The station is quite large and had pulled all of the trucks outside to make space inside the station for games and exhibits. They had a big bounce house set up outside, and were giving tours of the fire station. The highlight of the open house for Joseph, though, was getting to take a ride in a real fire engine! He wanted to go with Papa, and when it was their turn, they were able to ride in the front seat!

 

Joseph was so excited!

Madeline and I left after the fire engine pulled away from the station, and headed home to get ready for the wedding. Since finding a pacifier she likes, Madeline has been sleeping much more, and for longer stretches of time. The problem is I never know when I'll get 2 hours, and when she'll go for 3 or 4. Luckily, I fed Madeline right before we left for the wedding, and she stayed asleep for the whole ceremony and most of the reception. We left the reception early, around 6:30, to head back out to Basehor to pick Joseph up as I hadn't really thought about the timing for the rest of the evening and forgot to bring pjs or nighttime diaper for Joseph to spend the night.

When we arrived back at Jill and Gary's, Joseph was finishing up dinner and wasn't too happy about leaving. Madeline decided it was time to make up for her 4 hour stretch of sleep and wanted to eat 2 hours later, at Jill's, and then again as soon as we got home. It made for a crazy evening as Joseph wasn't happy about missing bath time, too few stories, and not getting sung to, as by that point, Madeline was screaming her head off.

Luckily, after I got Joseph to bed, Madeline ate and then calmed down. She still wasn't ready to sleep, so we hung out in bed for a while, and she finally went to sleep around 10:30. She's been consistently going 5 hours between feedings for the first part of the night, and last night was no different. After that, though, she's back to 3 hours. I'm definitely enjoying the little bit of extra sleep though!

This morning Joseph woke up earlier than usual, and was in decent spirits. I decided that going to Sunday School and playing with the other kids would be fun for him, so I managed to get all of us dressed and out of the house in time for church. He seemed to have had a good time, but as soon as we got in the van to go home, things started to fall apart. He was fussy, then crying by the time we got home and wanted no part of eating a late breakfast/early lunch. Madeline was hungry and crying at the same time, and by 11am Joseph was crying enough and still refusing to eat, so I wasn't too surprised when I offered that it was time to go to bed and he agreed. I wasn't sure what was going on with him, but was happy that he seemed to fall asleep quickly.

After getting Maddie settled, I had a bit of time to work around the house, when Joseph woke up from his nap, crying again. This time he said he was sad about being awake, and had woken with a fever of 102 degrees. And then promptly had an accident while sitting in my lap. He was in such a sorry state that I got him cleaned up, changed, and since he was complaining that he was cold, grabbed a blanket and cuddled with him on the couch. Less than 10 minutes later he calmed down, and fell fast asleep in my arms, which hasn't happened in such a long time!

 

I was really nervous about how things would go when Maddie woke up, as Joseph and Maddie had pretty much spent most of the morning crying simultaneously and it was wearing me out. Jill called and offered to help, and later called back to check in on us and asked if they could bring dinner. Luckily Maddie opted to take her long nap while Joseph was at his neediest, and he was feeling a bit better when she woke up so things didn't get as ugly as I was anticipating. But I was still thankful for the extra help as she and Gary came in with dinner from Olive Garden and stayed long enough to play with Joseph for a bit before giving him a bath so I could take a shower. They said goodbye just before Joseph went down for bed, and as we finished our last story, Maddie woke up from her second long afternoon nap.

 

We're definitely looking forward to seeing Joe again tomorrow evening, and grateful for having a set of grandparents so close by! Joseph loved all of the extra attention on just him and I hope that he's feeling better tomorrow and back to his normal, happy self.

Finally!

This afternoon I finally got both kids to sleep, in their own rooms, at the same time for more than a few minutes! I've been working on stuff for the last hour or so, and was on hold with the health insurance company to verify they have all the paperwork they need on Madeline. You can imagine my surprise, when I heard a little noise and realized it wasn't coming from Molly or the baby monitor. A door closed, and out walked Joseph!

Since moving him out of the crib, we've told Joseph to call for us when he wakes up. He's been fantastically obedient about this instruction. Except once we started potty training, we tried to convince him it was ok to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. But he refused. He rarely has accidents at nap time and is frequently dry in the mornings, but still he wouldn't get out of bed without one of us.

Until today! He apparently got out of bed, quietly went to the bathroom, did his business, and then came out to the living room to tell me all about it. Hooray! Although now this means we're much more likely to have a two year old wandering the house, but maybe it'll be the step we need to get him completely out of sleep time diapers.

Sleep Begets Sleep...

This little girl is really starting to be awake and more alert in the last few days! I think some of our fussiness issues stem from her being awake for too many hours some days, so I'm trying to make a concerted effort to get her sleeping more each day. Too bad her big brother really doesn't understand or support this plan!

We still never know how each evening will go with her during the "witching hour." A few nights ago, she slept  like a champ all day and evening, calmly taking a bottle from Joe and going right back to sleep in the early evening hours.

Two nights ago, we had a good day, relatively sleepy baby, but after her 4 hour stretch at night, she was up every hour until 8 am. I figured she was maybe going through a growth spurt, but the rest of the day she was fairly calm and sleepy. Madeline gets lots of stimulation from her big brother, so I think it's more difficult for her to fall and stay asleep. Exhibit A: these pictures were taken during the late morning, when she was awake for close to 2 hours. Generally happy, but wide awake.

Yesterday, she slept great in the early afternoon, until dinner time. We get going and let the focus on keeping the baby sleeping slide, and when that happens, we run into "witching hour" issues. As in from around 6pm she'll eat, try to doze off, sleep for a few minutes, and then startle herself back awake. For hours. It turns into a wicked cycle of me nursing her to calm her down and try to get her to sleep, especially since she's not into pacifiers. She'll generally give it up and crash between 11-12, and then we end up with a super sleeper. Last night she went down at 11:30 pm, woke to eat at 3:45 am, fell right back asleep, woke at 6:45 to eat and stayed asleep for another hour and a half. She actually took her first nap in her swing this morning for 4 hours, giving me some much needed time to clean up and spend a couple hours playing with Joseph. It was great!

This afternoon she wanted no part of the swing, and is currently sleeping on my lap. I'm hopeful that if we can get her to sleep more, we can get past the fussy evening business, but at least she doesn't scream as much as she used to.

And when you get to stare into these eyes, it's kinda hard to wish that she were sleeping!

Even Joseph agrees. He's figured out the baby monitor, so when she's asleep in her room (which doesn't happen too often yet) and he hears her start to fuss, he grabs the monitor and practically runs up the stairs to go get Madeline. He really takes his job as big brother seriously, and wants to make sure she's always happy!

So here's hoping that the old "sleep begets sleep" rule holds true for this baby. It certainly worked for Joseph, although it was much easier to keep him asleep when it was just the two of us hanging out all day long!