Madeline seated up and ready to go to the pumpkin patch! Doesn't she look excited?
Madeline at the pumpkin patch. Isn't she festive in her pumpkin shirt?
This tradition we began for our family always prompts us to talk about when we were kids carving our pumpkins at the kitchen table with our respective families. What great childhood memories we have of carving pumpkins as children, and we hope to instill these same kinds of memories with our children. As usual, Eric chose a very intricate design to carve on his pumpkin while I always do something silly and simple. We stuck with a theme for Madeline, so her pumpkin coordinates with her costume.
The finished products!
Madeline in her most favorite sleeping position!
On our way to the doctor this morning! Sleeping peacefully not knowing 3 shots await her!
Waiting patiently for Dr. Kapp
The shots were not as bad as I thought they were going to be. Her daddy held her arms while she received them, and I didn't get terribly upset. Madeline handled them as expected--lots of crying! Poor baby. However, she settled down rather quickly after she got some snuggles from me. The nurse that gave her the shots was so sweet and emotional, and her eyes welled up with tears when she was done when she saw how upset Madeline was. What a sweet lady, and wow, she must tear up an awful lot working in a pediatrician's office that gives shots on a regular basis!! Unfortunately, it did not help that it was past her 9 am feeding, so her grumpiness continued until we got home to have our mid-morning snack. She was pretty fussy the rest of the day, but I guess that's to be expected. 
Post shot snuggles with Daddy! (Daddy is in his lounging clothes today because he's a little under the weather, so he took the day off to get some rest and recharge.)
I can't believe she's been in our house for 8 weeks already, and although we are exhausted, it's such an amazing experience. As Eric said the other night, "Madeline sure is fabulous, but she's a lot of work." I don't think I could agree more! Time is flying by, and I say that all the time, but it's amazing to me how fast she's growing and changing. Madeline is quite the morning baby. When I go into her room at 6 am to start her day, she's all smiles. It's so cute--that big gummy grin, and it warms me to know that she's smiling in response to me! I love to talk to her to elicit that adorable little grin, and I hope to get it on camera soon. She loves her swing, and the mobile that is attached to it. The brightly colored fish going around and around just fascinate her all the while the side to side motion lulls her to sleep. She usually takes one of her many naps in the swing, and it's a lifesaver when I want her to be "safe" and happy while I take a quick shower or am running around the house doing chores. Madeline has discovered her hand/fist just this week, and it cracks me up how intently she will stare at it. Her little eyes almost go cross-eyed while she's studying it. It's almost as interesting to her as the ceiling fan in our den. She has great aim when it's time to shove the whole fist into her mouth. Previously, I believe it ended up in her mouth on accident, and now it definitely seems intentional. It's the small things in life that she enjoys. She loves to go on walks, sit on the deck and take in the world around her, lay on her activity mat for short time periods throughout the day, to be read to (I read to her from everything--blogs, picture books, even Glamour magazine! It's the teacher in me!), "spa days" (see post entitled "Spa Days"), and snuggles with her Daddy! I've started to give her small periods of "tummy time" to help with her neck strength. She does pretty well, but I'm not convinced she really loves her "tummy time." She definitely lets me know when she's had enough.
Madeline is on a great schedule, but we are definitely still hoping for that middle of the night feeding to go away. Madeline is eating every 3 hours during the day starting at 6 am. She will eat anywhere from 4 oz. to 6 oz. at one feeding. Every now and again, she'll wolf down 7 or 8 oz., but that's very rare. After her 6 pm feeding, we put her down between 7 and 7:30 for bed, and unfortunately, she still doesn't like to go to bed. We endure anywhere from 10-20 minutes of whimper crying just reminding us that she is not happy to be in the bed. I tell her each night that she's not missing out on anything exciting just grown-up talk! However, she's always fast asleep by 8 pm. Here is when her sleep schedule seems unconventional to me, but it seems to be working, so we'll stick with it. We used to wake her for a 9 pm feeding, but it got more and more difficult to wake her. We called her "coma baby" because she had no interest in waking or even half waking to have a snack. Eventually it was dropped (Only my daughter would drop another feeding before the middle of the night feeding!!), and she sleeps until midnight or at the latest 1 am. She takes a great feeding at that time, and unfortunately doesn't sleep until 6 am. She usually wakes about 4:00 or 4:30 am to eat. This is where it gets tricky because I've established that her day "begins" at 6 am. I hate to disrupt that because we are on such a great daytime schedule that works for BOTH of us, so I hope that in the next couple of weeks I can push her to at least 5:30 am or even better 6 am. So we shall see, but I feel good that we are getting closer and closer to a full five or six hours of sleep. From there, I'm not sure how to stretch her to the 9-10 hour range, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I don't want to get ahead of myself here!
As always, I look forward to what the future holds for us as we embark on this path of parenthood, but I try to savor each moment along the way as Madeline continues to enrich our lives in ways we never thought possible!
On our way out the door to the doctor's office.
Madeline being a good patient on the doctor's examining table. Notice there are no bright red blotches on her skin!
Ready to Get Back into Shape
