iphone pictures

nola bebe

Dear Madeline,
How are you almost 4 months old? Time seems to go by 1000 times faster than before you were here. I feel like I'm going to blink my eyes and the next think I know I'm planning your sweet 16. It's driving me crazy! Half of me wants you to stay little forever and the other half cannot wait to hear your first word, watch you take your first wobbley step, and experience with you all of the other wonderous moments of your life. I feel like there is something completely new and different every day. Like just in the past couple of days, you have decided that you love to chit-chat. With every new sound that comes of of your mouth, your eyes open wide with amazement and you look at me like - DID you hear THAT? That was Me!! Cliche or whatever but caring for you and watching you grow is the best and most rewarding experience of my life. You have changed my life in every way imaginable, and couldn't be more thankful. I love you more than you will ever know.
Love, Mama

Before Madeline, sometimes I would work until 5:30. Sometimes I would work until 6. Nowadays, I'm out the door at 5:01pm. It's not that I feel any differently about my job - I still love it - but I know I have something MUCH more important at home. **Jake I love you too but its different because she is my baby :)** It takes me about 45 minutes to drive home, and that is the longest part of my day.
Anyway, today I left work at 5:15. At 5:50, Jake called me and said Madeline Rolled Over. My baby rolled over by herself for the first time and I missed it.

I missed it.

The last 10 minutes of my drive were awful. I should have been there with Jake to cheer her on and clap and smile and make her feel like the smartest most wonderful baby girl in the world. But I left work late. Boo.
Thankfully, I was home 10 minutes later and my sweet girl rolled over again!!! It was actually more of a flop than a roll, but Nanny Amanda said that counts too! She looked so stunned and I don't think she really knew she was doing it, but she rolled over! Then I had my chance to love on her and do all those fun things mommies do to make sure their babies know how proud they are of them. Then I took out the video camera but she was done for the night. So instead of a video of her rolling over, tonight I have for you a picture of Madeline sleeping in her stroller as we shopped and ate ice cream on the village pier in St Simons Island on the fourth of July (notice her cute red, white and blue outfit).

Sunday

Mama was just squealing with laughter as she watched her baby smile at herself in the mirror today. :)

To the tiger in the zoo Madeline just said, 'Pooh-pooh'

In an old house in Paris covered in vines lived twelve little girls in 2 straight lines. They left the house at half past nine in 2 straight lines in rain or shine... and the smallest one was Madeline.

The Sleep Subject

After hearing how old Madeline is, soooo many people laugh and say – I remember when my kids were that young - you must not be getting much sleep! Well… depending on who it is, I respond one of two ways.

If I don’t know the person very well or if I know they had a hard time with their own child, I’ll say – Yeah, haha no sleep, it’s awful, and then I change the subject.

OR, I tell them the truth, which is that Madeline sleeps about 9-10 hours a night, and she has been sleeping that much since she was 8 weeks old. The thing is, sometimes I feel like I’m bragging when I tell people she sleeps that much. Madeline isn’t by any means a difficult baby, but sleeping through the night isn’t something that just happened naturally for her… I really worked hard to get Madeline on a schedule that works for our little family. For those first few weeks, from lack of sleep and haywire hormones, I was a crazy zombie – well, a love-struck zombie. There were several times when Jake would wake up and see me nursing Madeline, and I’d be a sobbing mess. I was still in pain from labor, completely exhausted, and the day hadn’t even started yet. I hardly slept, but the deep, blinding love and commitment I have for my sweet girl and the support from Daddy Jake and other family members got me through those difficult days. And I also need to give credit to Baby Wise and Happiest Baby on the Block – those books have some amazing and priceless advice for parents.



So, last night Madeline did something a little different. At 4AM, I heard her wimpering and saw her on the monitor flailing her arms. She somehow escaped her swaddle and woke herself up. Usually if this happens, I just reswaddle her, put her paci in her mouth, and she falls back asleep in about 10 seconds. Well, last night she spit out her paci and LAUGHED at me. She was wide awake, just giggling and smiling that big gummy grin. I was still in sleepy zombie mode, but I hate missing out on any sweet times with her. I scooped her out of her crib and snuggled her up in my arms and brought Madeline in our room until she drifted off again, and then I fell asleep too.

Anyway, I guess my point is, it wasn’t easy, but Madeline sleeps through the night. Ha! BUT, if she does wake up in the middle of the night once in a while, that is fine by me! After working full time and being away from her from 8am until 6pm, I completely welcome any extra time, even at 4AM in the morning.

Bama bound

This confirms it - we have a future 'Bama cheerleader on our hands!