Merry, Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful holiday and were able to visit with both sides of the family over the course of the week.

New toys were played with by all:

Visiting, opening gifts, and playing games with family is always fun:

Of course, it wouldn't be the holidays without a delicious meal or two:

Going on a walk to get some 80 degree fresh air is a perk of celebrating Christmas in South Carolina:
Preparing for Santa's arrival with reindeer food is a must:

Being silly in the stores while doing some last minute shopping is always fun:

And, some of us even caught a nap when the festivities got to be too much:

Peace and Quiet.....finally!

I have mentioned in past blogs that Madeline is not too keen on napping. She desperately needs them and has the potential to make everyone around her wish she had taken her naps. Today started out lovely with her eating her 7 AM bottle, and she then ate again at 9:30 AM. Lots of cooing, giggling, smiling, and talking this morning. As I said a very lovely start to my day. I put her in her carseat in hopes that she would doze off by 10 AM while I got ready to go to the gym. She did, so I did a few things around the house before I left for the gym in hopes that she'd be good and asleep by the time we got there. The ladies at the gym are pretty good about finding a quiet spot to put her in when she's sacked out upon arrival. Unfortunately, she was wide awake by the time I got to the gym, but a little catnap is better than nothing. They fed her the lunch bottle I packed in her bag, and she fell asleep on the way home. I brought her into the house and found a nice quiet spot to put her strapped in the carseat and all. I went about my business. Of course when I checked on her, she was wide eyed, but still sleepy, so I transferred her to the swing. The swing never fails when she's groggy. Oh, never say never! She played and fussed and fussed louder and fussed extremely loud and fought sleep like nobody's business. I then realized that it was close to 3 PM, and since she was asleep when I brought her home, she didn't have her bowl of rice cereal at lunch, so I thought, "Duh, she's tired AND hungry that's why she's fussing so badly. She's used to having a bottle and a little bowl of cereal." Silly me, I made a bottle and tried to feed her....I did nothing out of the ordinary! We were on our normal schedule with the exception of not having the cereal at lunch, but seriously, that can't be what caused the following events! Oh, the screaming, arched back, stiff legged, red faced little demon took over Madeline's body. I gave her a minute to settle down, but the awfulness continued. I changed her diaper and tried one more time to feed her. This really made her mad, so I kissed her hot, angry cheek, placed her in her crib, and walked out. I hadn't showered from the gym yet, so I took this opportunity to shower. I checked on her after my shower, and she's fast asleep. I'm not sure what her behavior was all about today, but I feel victorious in the sense that I did not get sucked into trying to comfort her when clearly there was nothing I could do for her. I tried to meet any needs that could've been unmet, and I was met with an angry baby. So, I simply put her down in a safe place and went about my business. I know this won't be the last time something like this happens, but I am happy to know that I can calmly handle a fit of that nature without fretting about it. As I told my husband later, she was the unhappy one, not me. Now, I have some peace and quiet to pack for our trip to Greenville tomorrow (and of course, create this blog entry).

We've Started

RICE CEREAL, that is. Yep, Madeline just seemed hungry all the time, and she was eating between 6 and 8 oz. of milk at a sitting every 2-3 hours during the day. I realize that she has to "store up" since she sleeps 10-12 hours at night, but I just felt like the poor girl was hungry during the day. And, who wants to be hungry all the time? Did I mention at dinner, she's eaten up to 14 oz. before!? So, I went ahead and started her on rice cereal for lunch and dinner. At first, she wasn't so sure about the whole idea, but once she caught on, she really seems to dig it. My first batch was too runny, so I think she might have been wondering why I was pouring lumpy liquid into her mouth with a spoon. Not to mention, she seemed famished at her normal 3 PM feeding time. My dinner batch was much thicker, and she seemed to really like it eagerly opening her mouth for the next bite. Let's hope this helps with fussiness, more regular naps, and the growling belly!

(I'll post the pictures later. My husband took our camara deer hunting this morning, and I can't seem to locate where he put it to upload the pictures from yesterday's big rice cereal event! So rice cereal pictures are coming soon...)

Madeline -- Four Months Part Two

Oops, I forgot to post the monthly update pose! And, yes, I am getting the most possible use out of Madeline's Christmas clothes. She has worn this outfit on several occasions, and it just so happens that I took lots of pictures on the days that she's worn this "I heart Santa" outfit.

These expressions are typical Madeline. Isn't she cute? :)

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Madeline -- Four Months

I love the Bumbo seat!

Wow, has it been a month already? Our little girl is certainly growing and changing so much these days. I'd have to say the fourth month has brought us a few exciting things:

• completely sleeping through the night (going to bed between 7-7:30 PM and not waking until at least 6:00 AM --lately it's been closer to 7 AM!)
• lots of "talking", smiling, & giggling

• swatting AND grabbing at hanging mobiles/toys/whatever is above her or near her
• a MUCH increased appetite
• arching of her back and turning sideways as if she wants to roll over (but she's yet to do it)
• LOTS of drooling and chewing on things
• sitting upright in her Bumbo seat for periods of time without her neck giving out
• sitting in our lap and looking up at us -- yay for the neck strength -- I was getting worried because she really hasn't figured out to push with her arms during tummy time.
• "standing" in our lap -- She LOVES to do this and gets mad when her legs give out.



• LOVING the ladies at the gym that keep her -- She flashes them smiles and giggles with them the entire two hours she's there!


• one incident of projectile vomit -- I'd always heard about the distance it can go, but never really thought much of it until Madeline showed me her abilities. Wow, is all I can say, and it was not a good start to my day.
• she HATES to take a nap even though she's exhausted -- It's her New Year's resolution to nap more regularly! -- Really, I was just waiting on the go ahead for rice cereal to deal with daytime naps since I know her schedule will change a bit, and I only want to fight the nap battle once. I'm prepared for lots of angry crying....my social butterfly really doesn't want to miss a thing! To steal a quote from my friend Nancy, "I am a serious opponent." This is a battle I plan to pick, fight, and win. Mommy needs naptime just as much as Madeline.

Does my breath smell?

We went to Dr. Kapp for our 16 week appointment as well. She received a clean bill of health & developmentally hitting her "milestones". Poor Madeline did NOT like the shots -- she cried much louder and harder this time. Not that we laugh at our child while she's crying, but her reaction was so funny to us this time. She most certainly wanted us to know that she was MAD about her shots. Here are her stats:

• head--41.5 cm (80 %tile)
• weight--15 lbs. 9 oz. (95 %tile)
• length--25 in (90 %tile)

She's our punkin', and we love her dearly!

Christmas 2008

The Stewart household is feeling quite festive these days. The mistletoe candles are burning, the tree is trimmed, the Christmas music is on, and the stockings have all been hung with care!

Eric and I usually scour the Christmas tree farms looking for the perfect tree, but the last couple of years, we have not had much luck finding either the perfect tree and/or the perfect price. Last year after a day of riding around from farm to farm looking for the perfect tree, we became more and more frustrated that the farms had no decent trees to cut down, and the Frasier furs were insanely expensive! So, we ended up making our Christmas tree purchase at the grocery store down the street on the way home from our frustrating day. We laughed all season about our beautiful tree from the neighborhood Food Lion. It really was a beautiful Frasier fur for $30! So this year since we had Madeline, we decided not to put ourselves through that frustration again. We loaded up to drive 5 minutes to the "Lion" to get our tree. Apparently the word spread that their trees were perfect and reasonably priced because there was not one tree on the sidewalk!! A few little bristles were all that remained. Off we go to the Lowes, and wow, did they have a fantastic selection of Frasier furs for reasonable prices. Again, we walked out with a beautiful tree for $35! (Next year, we'll have to have a new plan for purchasing our tree since Madeline will be more into the holidays. We do want her to experience the whole tree farm thing complete with blow up Santa and snowmen, rows and rows of trees from which to select that perfect tree, and maybe even some hot chocolate!)

We got our tree home and in the stand on Saturday afternoon. Earlier that morning, we had pulled out all the Christmas boxes. I love how our house turns into a complete and utter disaster before and during the Christmas decorating, and then afterwards the final product is a cozy, festive place.

Madeline enjoyed the decorating from her perch.

Just a few photos of the chaos:

Boxes were EVERYWHERE. It really does amaze me how we manage to pull out all this stuff in no order, cover most surfaces with something festive, and somehow the house gets put back together. The after shots:

YOU'RE HOW OLD, MOM???

HAPPY 33rd Birthday to me!

About me at Christmas:

I got this over my email, but instead of putting it on email, I thought I would just put it here.

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real tree
3. When do you put up the tree? Weekend after Thanksgiving usually
4. When do you take the tree down? sometime after New Year's
5. Do you like eggnog? Ugh, yuck.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? ANYTHING BARBIE!
7. Hardest person to buy for? Mom and Dad, Eric
8. Easiest person to buy for? my nephews, Drew and Ryan
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Don't think I've ever gotten a bad one
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Charlie Brown Christmas--Not really a movie, but oh well...it's my favorite--I watch it every year!
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When I see something for someone on my list
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Never
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My mom's homemade candy
16. Lights on the tree? Yes…clear only for now until we decided to have a more kid-like tree (colored lights and kid-made ornaments) instead of a "pretty" tree
17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel or stay at home depending on the year
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither--a bow
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? busy traffic in the mall area
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? No themes for me...it's a little of everything
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham and something sweet to top it off at the end
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Nothing really

Interesting...

As a follow up to the nightmarish day we had yesterday:

First a little background--Since Eric is in sales, his "office" is the house, so in order to have our pictures made at 11:00 AM on a Thursday, he was able to arrange his appointments, etc. around the whole day not knowing how long the photos would take. Basically, he was taking phone calls, emails, orders, etc. all day yesterday and never went out to the field. This is VERY rare for him to take an office day. Therefore, Daddy doesn't always get to experience the day-to-day routines and ups & downs that go along with taking care of Madeline. Since he's a very hands-on Daddy, he took over most of Madeline's care yesterday in between phone calls. After all, he doesn't get to normally spend so much time with her during the week in the daytime. So it's safe to say, I sort-of got a break yesterday.

Here's where the "Interesting" title comes from -- After we got Madeline into bed last night, Eric flopped down on the sofa, and said, "I'm SO GLAD I don't have your job. I'm exhausted."

Hmmm, I think he now truly understands why some days I am about to pull my hair out by the time he gets home from work. Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE being home, but like any job, it definitely has its moments, and Eric definitely saw those moments in full action yesterday!

Smile!


We went for our first family photo shoot today. Wow, what a nightmare!!

To start the day off, Madeline woke up at 6 AM as usual and had slept through the whole night with no cry-outs!! She ate her breakfast bottle as usual and "talked" to us for a little bit. Off to a good start, BUT normally around 7:15 or 7:30 the fussy monster takes over, and she's ready for a nap. She typically naps until about 9:00 or 10:00 and is ready to eat again. So, I strategically made our appointment for 11:00 AM thinking she'll have just eaten and be in a great mood. Like I said this is NORMALLY what happens. Not today!! Miss Priss decided she was wide awake after her first breakfast and NEVER took a nap. When I say she never does this, I mean that. You could set your watch by her. She was all smiles, cooing, babbling, etc. all morning long, and the more I fretted about her not taking her morning nap, the more wound up she became. We regrouped and decided to feed her a hearty bottle at 9:00 AM thinking she'll eat her bottle, and then she'll take a short power nap before our picture appointment. Silly us...that's way to logical and easy. Nope she promptly fell fast asleep without eating much of her bottle. Great, so now she'll be tired AND hungry by 11:00 AM. Well, her sleeping lasted all of 30 minutes. We tried to shovel in the rest of her bottle and get ready to leave all at the same time. Those of you that know me well probably can envision the mood I am in at this point...I was nearing tears and about lose my mind. (Probably the only reason I didn't was that I was having a good hair day, so at least something was working in my favor!) Afterall this was our very first family photo taken by a real photographer, and it was not what I had planned out. Shouldn't I know by now that when kids/babies are involved, stuff like this happens?? I did teach 10 year olds for 10 years, but I digress... So we manage to get out the door and to our appointment relatively on time. (Not to mention, I HATE being late for appointments, and we were late.) Meanwhile, my relaxed, levelheaded husband is probably about to kill me at this point because I am just in a tizzy. (Hindsight, why was I in such a tizzy?? I couldn't control what was happening, so I needed to let it go.) So we get there and begin the family photos. Madeline amazingly was cooperative. BUT, then it was time for the solo shots of Madeline, and this first time Mommy decided it would be a great idea to do a wardrobe change with an already volatile 3 month old. UMMM, not such a great idea, and I immediately regretted my grandiose plan of having a couple of different outfits planned for this photography session. So, we subject Madeline to several more clicks of the camera, and it took lots, I mean LOTS, of prompting to get half smiles out of her. And, to top it off, I wasn't happy with what she was wearing for the solo shots, but I decided that I'd keep that to myself since I was already testing exactly how patient Eric (and the photographer for that matter) really is at this point. So finally the photographer decided he had enough shots to make it work. Off we go to feed our tired, hungry, and cranky baby who falls fast asleep on the way home.

A couple of hours later after we regrouped, had lunch, and Madeline took a slight nap, we went back this afternoon to view our shots and choose our pictures. We allowed ourselves an hour and a half before Madeline's next feeding. Who knew the indecision that would come over us? Yikes...again we push the envelope and are still at the photographer at 3:45 clearly missing the 3 PM bottle. We get out of there unscathed with a relatively happy baby and an armful of great photos!


So Eric mentioned he wanted to go hunting Friday afternoon, and on the way home, I said to him, "With all I put you through today, perhaps a hunting excursion is exactly what you deserve and NEED!" He just smiled and said, "Thanks babe!"


How do people do this more than once a year? I'm not sure I can go through this again until Madeline hits the one year mark. I'll just have to do better with my own picture taking to document the remaining months of Madeline's first year. But in the end, our nightmare wasn't really a nightmare because we do have some great photos of our family of three and Madeline.

Thanksgiving 2008 - A first for us as a family of three, and we took no pictures! I've got to get better with my picture taking!

Thanksgiving was a whirlwind for us this year! We traveled to Eric's family near Winston Salem, NC to share in the festivities. It was Madeline's first road trip, and she did so well! We were all set to leave on Thanksgiving morning thinking we would miss most of the holiday traffic. Well, we certainly didn't miss most of the traffic as we arrived about an hour and a half later than we expected. Oh well...we arrived safe and sound with a happy baby!

We enjoyed our time together with Eric's extended family on Thanksgiving day eating lots of yummy food and spent the rest of the weekend spending time with Eric's mom and dad. They sure did enjoy their Madeline time--even getting up with her in the early 6 AM hour. It's safe to say I indeed got a break from being Mommy even though I was there.

Eric was able to go hunting with his older brother, and he shot his first deer! He was so excited that he could hardly stand it, and I will spare the blog of the pictures taken. His text message to me (from the woods) read, "Bambi is down! I got my first deer!"

The Thanksgiving weekend ended on a good note with Clemson beating the Gamecocks, and the Steelers making a winning comeback against the Patriots.

How can I not be thankful this year with all that I've been blessed with -- good family and friends, a healthy, happy baby girl, and an adorable husband who takes such good care of us?