And She Sleeps!

I have been waiting over nine months to say this-Maddie slept through the night! 
She was down to one feeding at night.  I knew she didn't need it anymore (she eats a ton during the day) and it was just habit, and after it was confirmed by the doctor I decided that I would try and push back the feeding time until it was just gone.  She was getting up between 3 and 4am to eat; that was until all of a sudden on Saturday night she wanted to get up at 1am.  The cry seemed different and so thinking she had a nightmare I went in to console her.  But she didn't want me just to hold her and I thought, 'oh no you're not getting anything to eat now!'.  After two hours of trying to get her back to sleep, I had enough.  I decided the following night she would not be getting any attention from me.  She woke up around the same time, and continued to cry off and on for the next two hours.  This happened again the third night, and after having a headache for 3 straight days, I didn't know how much more I could take. 

But, then there was last night.  I woke up at 5am, realizing that not only did she not get up at any point to eat, but she didn't wake up at all-or if she did she went right back to sleep without a peep.  It made me a bit nervous, but I told myself she was okay and if I go in there and check on her she will just wake up.  So there we have it, baby Maddie, almost 10 months old, finally sleeps through the night.  Now, let's just hope she does it again.

Not a Baby Anymore

Seems like just overnight Nate is not a baby anymore. Suddenly he seems so old. He is helping me a lot more and his speech is developing. I guess the moment that he is so big is after I picked him up from CMO, I asked him, "Did you have fun at school today, baby?" To this he replied with "baby" and pointed to Maddie. Stealing the paci from Maddie is not an issue anymore either. If he finds it, he either brings it to me or gives it back to her. He's getting a little bossy too, which makes him feel older--now he's telling others what to do, especially his little sister. If she stands up in the tub and I tell her to sit down, so does he, and then he "helps" her sit back down (this is usually grabbing her and pulling her down). He does this as well when it's time for diaper change; he tries to bring her to me. The other night we went out to eat. He sat and colored and played with his cars. He was wonderful. When we got up to leave he grabbed his artwork to take with him (a first). He is also now sitting through an entire book with actual paragraphs. He's always liked his baby books that only have a few words on each page, but his new favorite, Finding Nemo, has to be read to him several times each day. Although he still has A LOT of growing up to do (he still doesn't like to feed himself, etc.) he suddenly seems much older. It's hard to explain, but there's a change there.

Saturday with the Toppes

Michael had drill this past weekend so I packed up the kids and headed down to the Toppe's. Lucas had a soccer game in the morning. I love to watch him play and he is getting quite good. Of course I hope he continues with it, but I am partial to the sport. It was kind of cold and raining on and off so I had to take the kids back to the car and unfortunately couldn't watch the end of the game. After the game we headed to the YMCA for the healthy kids day. Basically there were a bunch of booths set up in the gym, giving out pamphlets of information. Nate loved the booth that gave balloons and so that, and the bouncy house, kept him entertained. Jaime had a booth for the foundation and I knew the kids wouldn't make it to the end, so Jeremy and I took them home early. By this time, the sun had come out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. They have power wheels and Nate is not used to driving them at all. He doesn't steer and just presses down on the peddle until he runs into something, usually a tree. Then one of us would have to help back him out. Nate just loves it out there and it will be nice when Maddie is old enough to run around too (that way she doesn't have to be held by Aunt Jaime the whole time and Jaime won't get bitten the whole time).

9 Months

Maddie is such a good baby-still! She had her wellness visit at the doctor and everything looks good except for her lead levels. Until this I had never even thought about lead in the kids. It read 3.4 which is cause for concern but nothing to worry about? At least that's what the nurse told me. She will need to be retested at her next wellness visit. Researching it, anything under 10 is fine and we all have some amount of lead in our system, but anything above 2 they keep a check on it. So I guess we will see what the level reads in a few months. I had Nate tested too, and he is very low, so no concern at all. She weighs 21 lbs 4 oz (80%) and is 30 inches long (90%). She has five teeth, 2 on bottom and 3 on top. There is another trying to break through the gums for about the last month but just can't seem to. And I noticed that she has a couple more on the bottom that are pushing up against the gums, so it won't be long before she's got a few more.

She goes to bed around 8-9pm and wakes up at 2am and 6am to eat. She gets up for the day around 7-8am, unless Nate wakes her up. The other day he climbed in her crib and woke her up. I guess he was sick of playing by himself. :)

She loves table food and will eat every chance she gets. She's still not a big fan of fruits though. She has stood a few times on her own for a few seconds each time. We're introducing more foods all the time, which she likes because then she's eating the same thing we are. There are times I can't eat in front of her because then she won't eat her jar food.

She is becoming much more vocal. She has said "gaga", "rara", and "dada". No "mama" yet though. And she was babbling those words for a couple days straight and has gone back to her favorite pass time of just blowing raspberries. She is getting loud too. She screams a lot. And loud. It's a happy scream but it is loud! :)

In the Thick

Nate has hit is 2-year old stage full blown. The testing and tantrums and just plain naughtiness is much more frequent. We are getting through it. Each week I start out positive and calm and full of patience and by the end of the week I'm done. But it something we are both working on and is difficult for both of us. This stage is exhausting and exasperating and no one can prepare you for it. Keeping him as entertained as possible helps. Playing with him, movies, and anytime we can get outside all minimize tantrums.

He's not bad, just two, and still has his wonderfully sweet moments. Last night during bathtime he stood up and gave me a big hug and lots of kisses out of nowhere. While I got soaked in the process I didn't care. He does not show affection like this often and I'll take it! It was cute to watch him at CMO the other day too. I got there a little early and the teacher was reading a book and they were singing songs. There were different motions during the song, like clapping or stomping your feet. The only that Nate participated in was when they were to get up and jump around. Go figure. And even though he beats up on Maddie and always steals the toy she is playing with, he gives her kisses and wants her to be around doing the same thing he is (eating at the table, jumping in her jumperoo while he jumps on the trampoline, etc.).

So, while we might be "in the thick" of it, light still shines through, giving us a few rays of light.

Easter

We had wonderful weather for Easter and wonderful friends to share the weekend. On Friday we went to the Herter's for a cookout. They grilled chicken and pineapple and also made cous cous. Our first time having cous cous and grilled pineapple. Enjoyed them both! After dinner the kids "found" Easter eggs in the yard. I say "found" because they weren't very hard to find...just littered all over the ground. Aubbie had a blast but the boys weren't too interested after picking up their first egg and finding the candy that was inside.

On Sunday, after church and naps, we went back to the Herter's for Easter dinner with them and the Baker's. Again, delicious dinner, of course and a great time visiting with friends. It was really nice to spend the holiday with all of them.

8 Months

I'm really enjoying Maddie at this age. She is crawling around. She is able to get into a sitting position on her own. And she can even pull herself up to a standing. She has also finally figured out opening her mouth for the spoon to eat. She still really prefers veggies but will eat a little bit of fruit. And she's eating table food like waffles and crackers. It almost seems sometimes that she is not happy with her jar food if she sees me eating something she wants, like the bread from my sandwich. I have to give her little pieces or she will scream.

Her and Nate are starting to play together. He likes to make her laugh, usually by getting in her face. Or his favorite and our least favorite, screaming. He screams, she laughs, he laughs and then screams again. Oh, the joy! They also like to "wrestle" around. Basically, this is rolling on top of each other. Maddie is pretty tough but I have to keep close watch because Nate doesn't understand how big he is in comparison to her and will sometimes get a little too rough.

She is doing pretty good at night, still getting up at 12am and 4am. She now has 4 teeth and is working on some more.

She always been a big mommy's girl, but in the last few weeks it has become much worse. I can't even leave the room without her getting upset. It's even worse when she's teething, and then she just wants me to hold her the whole time.