Some More Firsts

First Night Out without Madelyn!

On Saturday, August 27, Brian and I had a wonderful date night.  Aunt Beth and Uncle Joe took care of Madelyn for us.  It was so nice to go somewhere and not have a diaper bag or an infant carrier or a baby! We went to Hugo's Frog Bar and felt like adults.  We had a wonderful dinner and even got free dessert since they found out it was our first night out after having a baby. When we picked up Madelyn, she was swaddled and asleep in the swing but we learned quickly that our little one wasn't so easy and was high maintenance.  But luckily, they said they would watch her again. Thanks again, Beth and Joe.

Brian & Katie out for a date night

So in honor of that night, I dressed Madelyn in her high maintenance onesie the next day :)

Thanks Aunt Beth & Joe. Sorry I was crabby. I'll try harder next time! :)

On that note, Brian and I have noticed that this past weekend Madelyn has really calmed down a lot and is having periods of time when she is wake and not crying. YEAH!!  I think a lot of this comes from her ability to soothe herself when she is able to find and suck on her hand.  We had been hoping she would peak at 6 weeks like we had read about.  Here's the graph that shows Hours of Fussing per 24 Hrs verse Ages in Weeks.  We hope that she continues down the graph.

Madelyn's First Smile for Mom (8/28/11)

This is the tail end of the smile. It was really big :)

Today we learned how we can safety swaddle her in her car seat.  Apparently the hole in the back of the swaddle is just for that purpose. We think this will make the drive to Omaha much more pleasant for all of us!

Madelyn Happy in her Swaddle :)

Madelyn's First Baseball Game (8/28/11)

Brian's work had a family event this past Sunday so we all went to a Kane County Cougars game.  Madelyn did great and only fussed when she was hungry. 

Consistently Sleeping Through the Night

Madelyn has slept through the night the last three nights.  She goes to bed between 7 & 8 pm and wakes up between 5 & 6 am.  It's great but I wish I could sleep through the night. I keep waking up wondering if she is awake or okay.  Plus, I wake up sore in the morning because she hasn't eaten in 10 hours!!  I am sure as soon as I adjust and get used to this, she'll be back to waking up for a nighttime feeding. Here's to hoping that she doesn't.

Some Cute Ones

Just a few cute ones for you guys to enjoy

Madelyn's New Friends

Madelyn has lots of friends around her age.

Here's Madelyn with Melanie.  The picture is representative of our lunch.  Melanie was quiet and sweet and Madelyn was crabby.

Melanie & Madelyn

We are taking a Mommy and Me class so Madelyn has met some new friends there too.  Maya, Harper, Annabel and Trevor.  All the girls are going to have to fight over cute Trevor. Here's Madelyn with Annabel. They are 4 days apart and were both 8 pounders.  Annabel's mom and dad are also both engineers :)

Future Engineers: Madelyn & Annabel 8/18/11

It will be fun to see how much bigger they are at the end of our 4 week class

Here's Madelyn with her neighborhood friends Ava & Natalie.  She is sad though because Natalie is moving to Arizona in a few weeks.

Playing with her best bud, Ava.

Natalie, Madelyn and Ava

Look up! Natalie, Madelyn and Ava

The whole gang!

The mommies and their babies

Katie & Madelyn and Maria & Ava (Madelyn is actually content!)

And of course she has her second cousin, Caroline. She can't wait to meet Maggie Flood who is in Dubuque and Baby Bronk who has yet to arrive.

Madelyn's Firsts

Here's a summary on some of Madelyn's recent firsts!

First Hike at Blackwell Forest Preserve (8/14/11):

Ready for the cool weather in her Strawberry Outfit

Madelyn was a good sport

The Marsh we walked around

Brian, Madelyn and Leia

 First Time to Church (8/14/11):

Juliana came with us for Madelyn's first time to church.  Madelyn was pretty good during the music but when it was time for the sermon, she was crabby and wanted to nurse.  On our way to pick up Juliana from Sunday School, we kept getting stopped by people who wanted to meet and see Madelyn so I felt bad about being late to pick her up. She was the only one left by the time I got there but luckily she didn't seem to mind.

Mommy and Madelyn after church

I don't think Madelyn liked the bow :)

First Smile:

Madelyn isn't smiling much but she did have her first smile for Daddy on Saturday, August 20th. I am still waiting for my first smile :)

First Time Downtown Naperville (8/24/11):

Madelyn and I joined Ava and Kristen for a nice time downtime Naperville. We walked for awhile on the riverwalk and then grabbed lunch at Mongolian BBQ and yogurt at Reg Mango.

All ready for downtown Naperville

Ava with Kristen & Madelyn with Katie

Madelyn Gave Her First Hickie:

Madelyn hasn't been to nice to Daddy.  She certainly likes to suck but only skin not pacifiers.  He must love her to endure that much pain!

Madelyn says "give me back that arm!"

Brian's Hickie..it lasted for a few days

First Time Swimming (8/26/11):

She did okay. She was crabby of course but once I walked with her back and forth in the pool, she calmed down. We didn't stay long though.

Doesn't she look cute with Grandma

Except this was what she looked like on the other side :(

She was okay when I was walking her.

Kisses from Mom.

Here's what she looked like. So cute!

Look I found my hand! YEAH!  All changed and happy now.

Madelyn's Birth Announcement

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Some Video :)

Two cute videos to enjoy!

Talking or Dancing??

Watching the Mobile

Pregnancy: What I miss and don't miss

I was just with a friend who is 36 weeks pregnant and it reminded me of all the things I miss about being pregnant and all the things I don't miss so I thought I would reminisce.

What I miss:

• Feeling the baby kick & move
• Attending prenatal water aerobics
• Being able to get out of doing the cat litter
• Having an excuse for forgetting things or being clumsy
• Having my body do all the work of caring for the little one inside of me (She certainly was easier to care for inside of me)

What I don't miss:

• Having to go to the bathroom so much
• Getting kicked in the rib
• Having lower back pain
• Running my stomach into things because I was not used to it being so big
• Having to wake up to turn over/Not sleeping well
• Being able to sleep on my stomach
• Always being hot
• Not being able to reach sinks comfortably because my belly was so big
• Not being comfortable in the car

And although I don't have her in my stomach any more, she does still like to ride there although in my Moby Wrap its a lot better on my back than being pregnant.