7 months

 A little late...

(but better late than never!)

Happy 7 months nuggles.

Im getting as big as my bunny!

We are having a blast. Like everyone says, each month keeps getting better and better and sweeter and sweeter. I just cant imagine them getting better but she surprises me each month.

Nuggles, you are my heart and you have all my heart!

 

Whats new with 7 months? We are eating lots, 2 meals a day and trying all new foods. We are eating a variety of vegetables. She loves to try and eat adult foods as well. Some she has tried-cherry tomatoes (she will suck everything out of them), waffles, whole bananas and strawberries, and loves sucking on kinds of fruits-apples, clementines. Im sure we have tried more but those have been some favorites.

Still sleeping amazingly well. We have dropped 1 bottle so we are down to 4 a day.

She is sitting so well, no signs of crawling yet. Im not too optimistic that crawling will happen anytime soon. She hates, with a passion, tummy time now that she can sit so well, so Im not quite sure if crawing is ever going to come along. We shall see!

She has her lovey-her bunny. Everytime I put her in the crib, I make sure her bunny is next to her and I give it to her. She sees it, hugs it, and just smiles. I love it.

We had Easter brunch at our house this year. It was a success with lots of yummy food!
We loved having friends and family come over to celebrate.

Some sweet friends after Easter service Sunday morning.
Leslie (who was beautifully showing off her 9 month belly, Lydia is now here! yeah lyds!), Magen, Amber
Love these girls! They make dallas so sweet for me!

Maddie and daddy after church and before brunch

My sweet Easter family. Love them to the ends of the earth and back.

Just about anything that these two do together make my heart melt.
I love watching them play together.
Love.

My little twinks.

The annual DeJean Crawfish Boil
Madds didn't quite know what to think about the crawfish.
Im sure she will take after her mommy and hate them
:)

We will be back soon for the big 8 months. Can't believe that we are almost 3/4th way through the first year. It has flown by, a little too fast. Sweet nuggles is growing so fast, not sure where the time goes.

Someone recently told me, the days can be long but the years are short. I can see this being very true.

(and yes, some days can be long but they are still sweet) 

We love you nuggs!

6 months!!

Oh are we glad that month 5 is over and done with!! It was a hard last few weeks dealing with rsv and sleep deprivation. We are happy and healthy again, thank the sweet Lord!
We have had a little set back with eating solids through the whole illness but we are trying to work on that. She has learned to grab the bottle when we are eating and bring it towards her mouth. Super cute!
She's sitting on her own and doing great. She loves loves loves being on her back. We are rolling from tummy to back (not a fan of being on her tum) but not back to tummy yet. Hmmm, maybe it will come at some point.

She graduated from the car seat to sitting in the stroller and in the grocery basket (or lets be honest-it's all target these days!!).

We started to cry it out Bc she lost her amazing sleep habits through rsv (thank you rsv). She's getting the hang of it and doing pretty good. We are on night three and she only cried for 3 min when I put her down and like 2 min an hr later when she woke. Yes I time them all!

We are a happy happy nuggle head these days!!

We also celebrated our 4 yr anniversary and I'm going to the spa tomorrow!! Ah! Can't wait! Can't believe it's been 4 yrs with my lovey love. He's been the most supportive husband and dad I could ever imagine.

Holy Moly Sickness

Our sicky sicky bug
So so heart breaking

I have never ever...(.well I cant say never--remember how our labor and delivery was 24 hrs with 40 hrs of no sleep) been so tired. I was quick to say that it was harder than the first weeks at home and my mom quickly reminded me about how tired we were then, but how soon I forgot about that.

 

R-S-V

Thats all I have to say.

 

Whew!

We did lots of this: sleeping on mama
I certainly loved all the snuggles

We are on the up and up! Thank you sweet Lord. This has been one of the hardest few weeks we have been through. What started out as a very small minor cold (even thought it was teething) turned into the worst RSV (ok, no worst bc we werent admitted to the hospital). But I really don't want to go through that again. I learned a lot about myself as a mom and God is pruning me as a mom I would have to say. There were many tears shed. One day I was having a meltdown and I look over, Maddie is just looking at me. This was on a day when I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore.


some days we would get smiles

6 doctor visits
1 ER visit
multiple throw ups
breathing treatments (she was such a trooper)
ear infection
antibiotics
steam baths

steam bath number 2342

one of the many visits to the doctors
I couldnt ask for a better PCP

At first she continued to sleep through the night and I was shocked. Then came one night recently when she only slept from 2am-6am. She would wake up every hr just screaming bloody murder. It was awful. Her cry has become hoarse and its just heart wrenching. Seeing your sweet angel this sick has been so so heart breaking.
I have realized that I need to let go of control! God definiately is trying to teach me 2 major things through this illness. Let go on control and have more patience. I was so happy and so comfortable on our amazing schedule that when she stopped eating, stopped sleeping, and the schedule went down the drain, I thought life was never going to be the same again. I would get frustrated bc she wouldn't eat like she did-i know exhaustion had some to do with my weariness. I would get upset bc I was so discouraged at one thing happening after another (not to mention Andrew getting the stomach bug on top of EVERYTHING else!). I feel like God is saying--patience sweet child, you need to have patience and let go of the things you can't control like her eating and her sleeping-she is sick. I dont want to be the mom that gets frustrated at things I can't control bc with a child there is going to be more than I can imagine with that. I realize that if I continue to get down and out about those things, Im going to not be the mom He intended me to be and its going to make life a lot harder. Being a mom is a tough job but also the most joyful one. Its hard to have a clear mind when you have been stuck inside and not sleeping much day after day. I had a run with post partum depression after delivery and I was scared that it was going to creep back into my life. Thankfully, it never did. I got down but after a "come to jesus" prayer, God had extra mercy and grace for me I think.

At the ER seeing if we can keep down some Pedialyte
After a chest xray and some deep suction
Thank the Lord for deep suction (wish I could bring it home)



sweet thing on saturday 2/16
after many episodes of throwing up, wheezing, coughing
this was one sick girl with 2 worried parents

We have had amazing friends and family check on us, give us dinner, send us hot cookies, and just help out! My sister received multiple 2am phone calls and texts bc I just didnt know what to do! Last night 2/23 was the first night we didnt hear screaming and I was so thankful. Andrew let me rest till 10am and took care of her. So sweet!

Finally! We are seeing our sweet angel come back! I couldn't be happier and more relieved to see her eating, sleeping better, playing, and giggling. Oh how I have missed her! She lights up our hearts!

yeah for a pretty day, a happy Maddie, and lunch outside

Stay away RSV! Never come back!

Or Ill kick your you know what!

xo,

maddie

Month 5

Im totally 100% head over heels smitten in love with this little bug!!

We are having a blast!

Happy 5 months!!

New this month:

SOLIDS!

 

First time eating rice cereal!

hmmmm...wheres the good stuff mom!

big girl!
sitting up all by herself

Getting ready for valentines day!
 





My valentines!

They are gonna be BFF!

Month 4

4 months!!

She's just growing like a weed! A cute one!

:)

4 month stats:

wt: 13.15 (.8) oz (60%)

ht: 23.5" (10%-i don think we have a future bball player on our hands but thats A-ok!)

 

She's doing so great these days-talking, smiling, laughing, sleeping so well. Its so fun! We went home for Christmas and she did great on her first flight. On the way there we played most of the time and she slept on the decent down. On the way back home she slept 1.5 hrs out of the 2 hr flight. She was one tired booger from traveling. She was a champ though! I couldn't have asked for her to do any better!

the most precious duo

We arrived into Nashville the day before Christmas eve and stayed at my dads for 3 nights and then my moms for 3 nights. Christmas Eve day, Libby had some family and friends over for a little sip and see since this was our first time home to Nashville since she has been born. She was loved on tons! Then Christmas Eve night we had her family Christmas party-a tradition for them. Maddie was cute as a button and did so well. We kept her out past her bedtime and she did great. Until...2am! She woke up screaming! Poor thing, she was so overly tired that she couldn't fall back asleep so it was on my chest where she slept for the next 4.5 hrs. At 7am we got up for the day and noticed she had a little cold. So there was that "first." She was just sniffly and congested but conquered through it pretty well. The rest of the time all her naps and bedtimes were as they usually are so I was happy for that--Im a much nicer person when I get sleep too :)

We woke up Christmas morning at my dads and did breakfast/presents over there and then headed to my moms so they could see her and so she could meet Grandpapa and Donna. We had lots of fun! She got such sweet gifts and was such a big girl!

ellie loves her cousin maddie!!

loved seeing these kids
makes me so happy

dont you want to just kiss that tush!!

mom and dad date/christmas party in dallas

christmas eve 2012

meeting her great grandpapa for the first time

Then our favorite cousins came in from KY! Yeah! Ellie and TyTy were so happy to see/meet Madds. Aunt Mishi was just ready to love on little nuggles. We had a blast! Thanks for coming down! Christmas night was our last night at dads house and we had a big family dinner. I was completely exhausted as I had no sleep the night before (i can usually sleep with her on my chest but it was a rough night). Christmas night was fun and great to be around all the family. We are rarely all together these days.

aunt mishi and cousin e with maddie

poor maddie!!
all grandkids with the great grandparents

 

The next few days were much more low key and much needed. Madds needed to rest! We stayed at moms and took lots of naps and played. She met some life friends and we basically had a live in babysitter for three days. Andrew and I got a date night and we were able to go meet up with some friends one night for drinks. It was great to be home! I love Nashville and it still feels like home!

Month by Month

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Month 4

Month 5

Month 6

Month 7

 

Month 8