Drool

Spring is here! Yay. The halls close at the end of this week. YAAAY! :)

Madelyn seems to be drooling and fussing a little more than usual recently. We think this means she is starting to teethe. From what we're read and heard from others, we may still be months away from any actual teeth erupting. When our fingers wander into her mouth, we've noticed that she has started gnashing on them with her gums in addition to the usual sucking.

Bed time is now 8:00, and it is working great. We transitioned her out of the bassinet and into her crib without any difficulty. The down side is that one of us has to climb out of bed everytime she needs to be comforted or fed late at night. She sleeps really great for the first part of the night. After about 1:00 she tends to wake every hour or two. It will probably be a whole new pattern next week.

With all the nice weather recently, we've been taking Mady outside more often. Sunday was the one year anniversary of the date that we found out that we were having a baby. I remember it partly because it was also the day my cousin got married. We took a walk in the Arb together that morning to calm ourselves and collect our thoughts. It was fun to go on that same walk again yesterday, with Mady this time (I guess she was technically there last time too...) and just reflect on the year (morning sickness, ultrasounds, picking a name, sharing our news, and lots of other bizarre things that come along with pregnancy).

She hasn't made much progress on rolling since the last post. She can sit slumped over for about two seconds (eight, if I count fast) before she falls on her face. She is laughing a lot more now. It is fun to discover new things that make her laugh. This week we discovered that her seal puppet and her feet make her laugh. Here is a little video of her chewing on and laughing at her feet. We also added to new April pictures to the Picasa album. Enjoy!

Daddy Diary Part 2

Today is day 3 without Mama, and Mady and I are just fine (for those who might have been worried).

On Saturday we had another cookout at Oxford. The weather was beautiful and Mady enjoyed hanging out with all the college students. That evening, she surpassed her personal record for longest car ride that she had set during our trip to the airport that morning. We drove out to Grass Lake for our couples Bible study group. It was a 40 minute drive and she was a champ. We got home a little later than I had hoped so I ended up putting her to bed at 10:30 without a bath. She has been going down between 8:30 and 9:00 recently, so that was a little later than usual, but she got some sleep in the car.

She woke for her usual night time feedings at 1:00 and 3:00. Then I had to get up with her at 5:30, which was a little harder than usual because I typically sleep through the night feedings.

Last night she went down and 8:00, and still woke for feedings at 1:00 and 3:00, and got up at 5:30. Very interesting...

On Sunday we went to church, and actually arrived earlier than usual. I always thought it was Madelyn who was slowing us down... turns out it is Carrie! :) Ha!

The rest of Sunday was a haze of baby games, naps and feedings. I can get her to laugh now by laughing like a goofball. My brother Allen used to do that to make Mom laugh, and I've found that it works pretty well on my daughter t0o. I guess she is a sympathetic laugh-er like her Grandma. I tried to get a video of this, which wasn't easy because she is easily distracted by the camera. There is a little giggle at the end...



Mama comes home tonight and we're both looking forward to having her back.

Daddy Diary Part 1

Mady and I took Mommy to the airport this morning. She will be at a conference in California for the next couple days. Thus begins my brief adventure as a single parent.

The day started well. Mady slept all the way to the airport and back. This was her longest car trip yet, and she aced it. When I got her home, she NEARLY ROLLED OVER! I think this is the closest she has ever come! Maybe we'll get a full roll before Mommy returns. She started on her back. Her hips made it all the way around and her shoulders got half way, then she ran out of gas. I tried coaxing her as best I could, but I didn't touch her. I call this a 75% roll. Take a look at the picture and tell me your thoughts.

Since it is such a beautiful day, we also took a walk in the Arb. She was doing great until we got to the river (ie furthest point of our walk AND at the bottom of a very big hill) and she started crying. I dipped her feet in the water because I thought she would like that, but I don't even think she noticed... maybe it added to her frustration. I quickly hiked back up with my cranky child in tow. I tried to sing to her, which was really difficult because she is getting heavy, and it was a warm morning, and I was carrying her uphill. We made it home and she is doing much better now.

Well, that was our first morning alone together. I'll keep you posted.

Fun tidbits

Today Carrie and I both independently caught Madelyn doing something cute and new. We both thought it was worthy of a picture. At the end of the day, while swapping stories, we discovered that we both took a picture of her doing the same pose. How funny is that? She has never done this before. All of a sudden, she likes lounging with her hands behind her head. Notice the different orientation of her sheet. These pictures were taken at two different times during the day. Adorable!

Here are some other fun tidbits about Mady that you may not know:
Nicknames: Puppy, Dork, Stinky, Turkey Butt, and Madycakes (Matt uses that one).
Favorite college football team: Michigan. Yes, she is wearing a Michigan Cheerleader outfit. Go Blue!
Favorite song: Big Rock Candy Mountains (sung by her Daddy).
Favorite game to play: Gitcha, Gitcha, Gotcha (see video below).
Latest talent: grabbing things.
Bad habits: spitting up the same meal multiple times, testing the capacity of diapers at 4:00am

Happy Easter!

Madelyn celebrated her first Easter yesterday. She had been a bit cranky since Friday. We figured she was just sad that Jesus had died. She didn't realize yet that he had also risen from the dead. Now she knows, and hopefully she'll be in higher spirits as a result. :)

Next weekend Carrie heads to California for a conference. Madelyn and I are looking forward to some some high quality father-daughter bonding time.

We took some fun pictures of Madelyn the other day that we wanted to share. The picture of her "reading" her book is priceless. She looks like she's been interrupted reading the newspaper. (Did you notice the words on the page she is looking at?) I love it! I also finally got a picture of her chewing on both of her hands. If you click on the pictures, you can see a bigger version (if you haven't figured that out already). Enjoy!

Jibber Jabber

Today is Madelyn's 3 month birthday. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that I have a kid.

Mady is doing great. She is really starting to explore the world with her hands now. My new favorite game is to bring my face close enough for her to reach, and tell her exactly what she is feeling... or punching. Carrie worries that she is going to scratch my cornea. I think she read about that happening to someone. It is probably a legitimate concern. Mady's nails can get pretty sharp. It is really difficult to trim them. I've tried it twice now and both times I've nicked her (which was probably more traumatic for me than for her). I was better at it on my second attempt, but it isn't my favorite thing to do.

The bed time routine is working really well. Mady gets a bath at 9:00, then I wrap her in a warm blanket and read her a bedtime story. She usually gets one last feeding, then I rock her to sleep and put her in the bassinet. We're trying to start putting her down before she is completely asleep so she can learn to fall asleep without being held. We're also starting to have her nap in her crib so she can get used to sleeping in there so it won't be too difficult to transition her out of her bassinet.

Recently she has gotten a lot more talkative. I've heard this described as "cooing." I call it "jabbering." Sometimes she sounds really whiney. She will often try jabbering with both hands in her mouth, which is a bit strange. We took a short video of her jabbering today. Enjoy...