new to report. Eric has been on a business trip to San Diego, CA over the past week, so it has just been us girls around here. We've not really gotten into anything interesting --- a few errands to the usual places like Target and the grocery for Mama items like yogurt, salad, and cheese. I love my hubby, but it sure has been nice to not have to think about dinner every night. A bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal serves me just fine! :)
We made a visit to my old school, and gee, that makes me glad that the Big Man Upstairs had a larger plan for us as far as getting pregnant, the timing of that pregnancy, and Eric & I deciding to have me stay home. Lots of D-R-A-M-A that I'm just not interested in dealing with on a day to day basis. Just another reminder that the Lord always knows best!
I took a few snapshots over the last few days so that we could brighten Daddy's day with a morning wake up email from the East coast.
Look how well I sit up on my own Daddy. Notice my bunny slippers...
Who needs toys when you have bunny slippers to play with?
"Look, Mom! I rolled over to my belly, and actually I was not mad about it!"
One of Madeline's outfits that is NOT pink!
Sitting up by myself
Six months already?! Our baby girl is a half of a year old! Where does the time go? Madeline still continues to be a happy-go-lucky baby. She is definitely starting to show her personality these days...happy, bubbly, stubborn, independent, sweet. Madeline is not a snuggler even when she is tired. On the rare occasion, she'll put her head down on my shoulder for a snuggle, much to her daddy's chagrin. He's so tall that she uses him as more of a perch to see what's going on around her. She much prefers to play or receive attention in her own space rather than on your lap, and as far as snuggling in for a nap, forget it. She shows affection by grabbing your neck, pulling her face toward yours, and giving a "kiss." It's so sweet. I have an outdoors girl on my hands...this child LOVES to be outside in the fresh air. Taking her out on the back deck or on a walk to the mailbox is an instant cure for fussiness or "cabin fever". She will really enjoy springtime when we can take walks and sit on the back deck regularly.
Madeline continues to be a great eater! She loves her cereal and bottle at breakfast, lunch, and dinner with some snack bottles in between on most days. She's consistently eating vegetables at dinner and has had green bean, peas, sweet potato, and carrot. Madeline definitely doesn't seem to be picky. In fact, she might be considered a chow hound by most standards. The first night she eats something new, she makes a "what have you just put in my mouth? face", but by the third night of the new veggie, she seems to savor each bite.
There is a continuing love of her playmat, swing, and exersaucer. She has a renewed interest in her kick 'n' play now that she enjoys being more upright and grabbing at things within her reach. Since she's such an independent gal, I rotate her through these stations throughout the day with a little Mama playtime or story in between. Madeline really likes being read to and looking at her books. EVERYTHING she touches goes to her mouth first. She doesn't have any teeth yet to gnaw on everything that goes into her mouth, but she drools like a drippy faucet, so I'm thinking teeth may be on the horizon. Madeline has such an infectious laugh, and her daddy can really get her going. He finds all her tickle spots, and she just laughs and laughs. It's so funny, and she must have quite the imagination as out of the blue she'll just start giggling for no apparent reason. The ladies at the gym think it's so hilarious that they'll lay her down on a blanket with a few things around her, and the next thing they hear is her laughing, talking, and giggling with no prompting. Needless to say, the ladies at the gym adore Madeline and treat her as quite the princess. 
Madeline rolled over on her own in January, and she must have decided that she's not a fan because she has not done it again. She gets up on her side all the time, and it seems as though she knows not the throw that arm over. Madeline is not sitting up on her own yet, but she's very stable to sit up for short periods of time with plenty of cushion around her. While she's in this position (and it seems to be her new favorite), she is constantly wanting toys not within her reach. She is either reaching out to get them herself or getting upset because they are not within her reach. Her little stubborn self will usually reach as far as her little body can go to get the object of her desire until she's bent over in half practically on her belly. Well, then a new irritation occurs for her -- being on her belly and unable to go anywhere. She has not mastered the art of using her arms to push, so the angry fussing begins until I rescue her. I try to "make" her solve her situation by not rescuing her immediately, and slowly but surely, she's figuring it all out. She'll get there in her own time.
As for her napping situation, it's definitely been a chore to get her to nap during the day. I can count on a "power nap" in the morning between 9-10 AM. However, the afternoon nap has been a little tricky. I spent the first month of the new year rearranging schedules and trying out different things to get her to take a nap anytime between the 2-5 PM time period. It really was only successful about 2 or 3 times out of the 7 days of the week...UGH. My mom finally said to me that some babies are not going to fit into my idea of what the day should look like, so in a sense, I gave up for now on the routine afternoon nap schedule that I had in mind. Basically, she ends up falling asleep on the way home from the gym around noon and sleeps until about 1:30 or 2:00 PM, so she ends up eating lunch at 2 PM. It's been that way since the very end of January, so I've let it go and let it be that. The important thing is that she is taking a decent nap in the afternoon, eating/drinking the appropriate amounts, sleeping from 7 PM until 6:30-7:00 AM, and Mommy still gets in her 2 hour workouts, errands, cleaning/laundry/house chores, and Madeline time during the day.
Madeline's six month well check went well. Dr. Kapp gave her a clean bill of health and said she looked developmentally on track. She received her 6 month vaccines which of course she was NOT a fan. She was already fussy and tired, so that just made matters worse. 
I just can't believe this little joy is mine to love and mold into an adult. What did we do before Madeline? Each and everyday I feel so blessed to have this little girl in my life. She's just a precious, sweet baby, and while she has her moments as all babies do, she generally is such a happy, pleasant baby all day long. Her daddy and I love her with all our hearts.
So, all in all, the green bean fiesta went well. She didn't gag, spit it out, or refuse to eat it. Keep in mind, I maybe gave her a total of one and a half tablespoons of the veggie, so it wasn't that much. I also didn't want to upset her belly. I know the greens can be a little harder on the belly, so I didn't expect her to eat a bunch. Like I said, I just wanted to test the waters with veggies -- Madeline is such a good eater and doesn't seem to be picky (she'll take her rice cereal however she can get it--runny, thick, warm, cold), so I was dying to know how she'd react to veggies. For now, we'll stick with the green beans a tiny portion at a time so she can get used to her new mealtime addition. 
The ladies at the gym still adore Madeline, and I would have to say the feeling is very mutual. When I pass her off to Ms. Kelly or Ms. Mac, she kicks her legs wildly. Madeline is starting to outgrow a lot of her clothes. She can wear some 3-6 month clothes, and mostly she wears 6 month clothes. She looks really cute in her dresses, jeans, and sweaters now that she's not so slouchy and newborn-like. I'm doing my best to make her a girly girl. I've got a pack of bows ready and waiting for her hair to get just a little bit longer. Of course, I've already tried them out on her, and she does look cute with a little bow in her hair. I look forward to waking up each morning to take care of Madeline as she seems to do a new "trick" everyday, and I feel so LUCKY to be able to witness it all!
However, by mid-afternoon, much of the snow had started to melt and even dry up. It was fun while it lasted! 
When Eric and I moved to Columbia, we looked for a church family for quite some time. We are not "Mr. and Mrs. Church" nor will we ever be, but we wanted a place to belong and feel comfortable every Sunday both for ourselves and the family we wanted to start. We wanted to find a church home of our own, one for our family. We searched and searched, and we just went to Seven Oaks on the chance that it would be okay. We tried it out one Sunday, and we really liked it. But, we kept "shopping" around, but we kept finding ourselves being drawn back to Seven Oaks. While most of the congregation is older, the minister is quite young. His sermons seemed to reach out to both Eric and I. He's real, down to earth, and friendly. We were welcomed EVERY Sunday we attended by EVERYONE. We received phone calls and cards from various members letting us know that they noticed we were at the service the previous Sunday, and they'd hope to see us again. So, we bit the bullet and joined officially in December, 2007, the same month I found out I was pregnant with Madeline.
So, today, we had Madeline baptized in the church we found together before we knew Madeline was a part of us. The service was extra special this morning, and it was sweet, simple, and very sentimental to me. It was surreal to be standing in front of my family, Eric's family, and the church family holding my daughter while the minister spoke of the importance of baptism. Our entire family attended the service, and I was touched that both my brothers and their families made the effort to attend. Eric's family also made the drive from North Carolina to attend. Madeline was a perfect doll during the service before it was her turn to be in the spotlight, and she was even more perfect during the baptism -- no stranger anxiety, no fear of the dripping holy water on her head, and no fear of being taken up and down the aisle in the church while Reverend Fant made a lovely statement about her baptism to the congregation.
After the service, we had our families at our house for a luncheon -- a "make your own panini" bar was set. (We received a fab new kitchen gadget for Christmas that makes paninis!) It seemed to be a hit even though I had "hostess anxiety" all morning leading up to the lunch. The new recipes I tried out were yummy, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. 
