Christmas Eve

So, I'll probably post twice or more today. We've been taking lots of pictures.

We went to Christmas Eve service yesterday and they did baby dedication. Madelyn was dedicated and we chose the following verse for her:

Psalms 28:7 “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song.”

Madelyn means "tower" and Anne means "grace & mercy."

Thanks Meaghan for taking such great pictures of us!

Madelyn opened one gift for Christmas Eve. She opened a gift from Great Grandmommy Betty. What a cute bear! The bear met the approval of Madelyn because within moments, it was in her mouth.

Madelyn ate lots of pears and rice cereal. She even ate some pears by themselves. She had her usual "night cap" at 7pm and was off to bed and asleep about 7:45pm. Jonathan and I opened one present from each other and watched Prancer. We were in bed by 11pm. Somehow I don't think we'll always get to go to bed that early in future years.

Fun at home

So, one of the HUGE blessings of working at a private university is the amount of holiday time you get off. Plus, I took an extra two days so that Madelyn and I could enjoy two whole weeks together. It's been interesting to see/experience how different she is as a baby. The last time I stayed home several days in a row with her by myself was while I was on maternity leave. She's a completely more mature and easily entertained baby now. Not as needy, which has its advantages and disadvantages. She loves to play and is trying her hardest to figure out how to crawl. She picks up things and has started every parent's favorite game of "Drop-the-toy." She's eating a lot now. She drinks 32 ozs. a day still and eats a pretty large sized dinner of pears mixed with rice cereal. She didn't like the pears by themselves, so we tried a little cocktail.

Here's what we did on Sunday afternoon:

I'm awake. She's not. I love Sunday naps! I also love her socks on the floor by the couch. So tiny.

I think I've mentioned this before, but Madelyn has figured out the camera. So, I have to be quick and get it primed and ready where she can't see it. I managed to get this shot of her yesterday when we were playing. She was having a great time!

Trying to pose with her head on her hand. And because I never take enough pictures of Madelyn and Daddy, here's a pretty cute one from this evening. I can't believe she'll be 5 months old tomorrow!

Some good words

A Christmas song that has really been striking a chord in me lately is, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Mercyme has a really great version of it on their "Christmas Sessions" album. Here are the words to inspire you - by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on Earth, good will to men

And thought how as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on Earth, good will to men
I can hear them
I can hear them
I can hear them

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on Earth” I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on Earth, good will to men

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead nor does He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on Earth, good will to men
I can hear You
I can hear You
I can hear You
I could still hear You
The world can hear You

One sick family

So we all went to the doctor together today. I have bronchitis. Just call me "Itis" now, cuz I've had just about every "-itis" that's going around the block right now. Or the daycare for that matter...
Jonathan was pretty much feeling better when we went, we just wanted to make sure his persistent cough wasn't anything to worry about. Madelyn seems ok apart from the runny nose and occasional cough. We're experts at the bulb syringe and saline nose drops, which is about all you can do for a baby her age. Does anyone ever wonder why you can't find the hospital style syringe in stores? I've looked everywhere. Needless to say, I'm glad I "stole" ours from her hospital bassinet. They wouldn't let me leave with her hospital blanket though. I swear - not like anyone would notice or care. I'm not bitter. I'm just sayin'...
Madelyn has mastered rolling over - tummy to back and back to tummy. In fact, she went back and forth a couple times last night. She's also become a big fan of her rice cereal. She eats it all! And knows how to open her mouth and attempt to say "ahhh." It's weird to watch babies figure things out on their own. You don't even have to teach them. It's like they just suddenly figure it out. This baffles me and amazes me everyday.
Here are some recent photos. Thanks Shelby for the cute dress, although I don't think it will fit much longer!

Playing in her jungle gym. Her favorite place to play right now.


She loves to "stand."

Ready to Open

We sat down to take our family photo for baby dedication and Madelyn became very interested in the Christmas tree and gifts. So, after taking a cute photo of her in front of the tree, here's what she decided to do...

I'd say she's ready for Christmas! What do you think?

Go Sooners!

This may be the shortest blog posting ever....

BOOMER!


SOONER!


For those that want to know what we're up to, just more of the same. Madelyn's eating her rice cereal much better. She actually opens her mouth now and gets excited about eating.
For the most part, we're starting to feel better around here. I've pretty much been sick for at least the past 6 weeks with various ailments, so it's nice to be feeling close to 100% again. Jonathan is fighting a cold. Madelyn is teething more and more everyday, although right now (knock on wood) it's not changing her mood.

Thankful for so much

It was a pretty eventful few days off from work and daycare around our house.
She worked more on trying to roll over from her back to her tummy.


This is usually about as far as she gets. She just can't seem to get that left shoulder out of her way. Jonathan's working on it though with her every night.



Thanksgiving morning brought lots of fun - rice cereal!


This is the before...







And, my favorite - the after!! We tried some more the next day with her a little more reclined and she took to it much better. But, the one hazard that no one warned me about - constipation. We're taking a few days off and we'll try again with it even more diluted.


I did manage to make a pretty nice Thanksgiving meal with a little help from the professionals:




Here's us with the turkey:



We're so thankful for our family and the sweet baby girl that God brought into our lives. It's hard to believe that one year ago we found out we were expecting quite the miracle. I can still remember being completed shocked when the nurse called to tell me the news. We were completely surprised and delighted in how God had his own timeframe in mind. Who knows what the next year will bring, but for now, we're thankful!

A week of progress

So far this week has been all over the place. Madelyn rolled over from her stomach to her back on Tuesday night. Yay! She had been so close to rolling from her back to her stomach that we'd kind of been focusing on that. Just goes to show you that kids will do what kids want to do. She hasn't done it since then, but she's definitely raising up more on her arms when she's on her tummy. She's still determined to roll from her back to her tummy, but her shoulders keep getting in her way, so she seems content to make it on to her side.

(I affectionately call this picture "Thunder Thighs.")

She also had her first accident report at daycare this week. One of the "older" babies had a toy near her on the playmat and the toy fell out of the child's hands and hit Madelyn on her right temple. She doesn't have a bruise or anything, but she does have a slight pin prick size scab where she must have bled a little bit. I was a little worried, especially since I was home sick that day and I wasn't the one to pick her up. Jonathan said she was fine and ready to go home and see how mommy was feeling.

(I'm not sure what I like better in this picture - her expression or the large amount of drool on her shirt.)

We're headed to Norman this weekend. It's our last football weekend, which is good and bad. Good because it's tough traveling with an infant. I used to be able to pack in about 10 minutes. Now it has turned into at least an hour. I guess it's bad cuz the season is almost over. Go Sooners!

(Hanging out on a Saturday, watching football!)

Pregnant "Man"

Is anyone else on this planet disturbed to their core when they hear about this? I guess I'm really shaken by it laregly because I gave birth recently and the fact that she is referred to as a man seems a bit inaccurate. In my opinion, if you have a uterus, you should still be considered a woman. And if you can still give birth naturally, you're definitely a woman. One other thing that I guess bothers me is the fact that no breasts=a man in this woman's eyes. I really feel for all of my ladies who've had mastectomies from breast cancer - not by choice, but because they wanted to continue to live the life God made for them. I'm worried. And a little perplexed.

Squeaks and Squeals

So, Madelyn is really starting to exercise her vocal chords. She's mastered the art of sounding in pain, even when she's not. We even heard a few "screams." She's also started laughing a bit more. No hearty laughs yet, but we're working on finding her sweet spots!
We're not sure if it's because it's the weekend and she wants to savor every waking moment with us, but she hasn't napped very well at all today. We (cats and dog included) were looking forward to our usual Sunday afternoon nap. Instead, she only took a few 20-30 minute naps and consequently became inconsolable around 6pm tonight when she was completely exhausted and cranky. Needless to say, tummy time wasn't very productive today, other than the fact that she enjoyed squaking and squealing at the camera along with her reflection in a mirror. We're still trying to master rolling over. She gets really close and then just gives up, mostly because of lack of upper body strength it seems.


We're gearing up for Thanksgiving. The turkey has been purchased and I'm going over all of my recipes to make sure I have everything I need. It's also going to be a fun holiday because we're going to start Madelyn on rice cereal and have her picture taken with Santa. I'm sure there will be lots of pictures to post after that weekend.

Is tomorrow really Monday?

So, it was a pretty fun weekend for us. Friday we watched our first movie in a LONG time after Madelyn went to bed. She's started wanting to go to bed earlier, which gives us more time to ourselves and that's also usually when we tidy up around the house. She worked on some "tummy time" that night with Jonathan while I cooked. We're pretty sure it was the longest she had ever played on the floor. It was a good night!

Saturday we got up and went to Fort Worth to go to the mall to work on Christmas shopping, Target for groceries and such, and Lowes for yard stuff. Madelyn did great and only got a little fussy if we were stagnant for too long. Of course we made it back home to watch the Sooners win, the 'Cats lose, and the LSU tigers give up a really close game!

Yeah, in this house, we like our football.

All she's missing in this picture is a bag of potato chips. Look at that "milk-belly!"

My two roommates. How did I get so lucky?!

Home Alone

So Jonathan left for an engineering conference (aka dork convention) on Monday after work. Which means Madelyn and I have been on our own since then. I guess I was more worried about taking care of the 500 things in the morning that make things so hectic at times. Boy was I wrong. Mornings - not so bad. Evenings, especially Tuesday, were a bear! Monday night I thought to myself, "ok, I can do this! She's being great." Well, Tuesday she made me eat my words. For one reason or another she would not stop being fussy or crying. She didn't nap very much at daycare that day. So that was problem #1. Problem #2 was that she got hungry approximately 1.25 hours before she normally does. I was not prepared and figured it had to be anything but that. She wailed. I finally gave in and fed her at 7:15. She took her bath pretty well and fussed a little while I was rocking her. Needless to say, she wore herself out. I didn't hear her stir until 4am. It's definitely been a lesson learned in how important it is to have a teammate in this game called parenting!

We had our usual Wednesday night pizza (no yoga though.) I took these of her trying to sit in her Bébé Pod. I love the fact that she sits to one side and that Gracie thought we were there to rub her tummy.

Trying to smile while focusing on sitting!

Halloween and such

So, it's been a long while since I've posted anything. I've mostly been trying to get this whole blogging thing figured out and try and find time (!) to post and update. My goal is to try and post at least a few times a week to let you know what's going on with us and to add some pics of little Mady.

So, Madelyn was a black cat for halloween. You can't really get the full effect of her costume in this photo, so I might take a post-halloween posed shot where you can see her in all her feline glory - tail and all! She didn't mind the costume too much. It's velvet, so more than anything it made her hot! She didn't go out trick-or-treating this year. We're gonna save that for next year when she's a bit more mobile!

This little outfit (shirt and socks) was given to us by some of my coworkers. I've tried several times to get her picture in it, but somehow she always manages to end up not wearing it when I go to pick her up from daycare (i.e. blowout!) My favorite thing about this outfit is how her belly has a tendency to peek out. I think she was sucking it in for this shot! :)

Tuesday Madelyn's great-grandparents from West Virginia came to visit. She was pretty tired and a little cranky, but did manage to crack a few smiles and sit on the table while we ate our gourmet meal of pizza and cheese bread. Somehow I managed to only get pictures of her with one set of great-grandparents. I'm sure I'll be getting some from someone of the others. It was very neat and special that she got to see them. We're very lucky to have so many people that love and care about us and our new little one!

Time flies

Wow! Has it really been three weeks already?! She's growing like a weed - or a whale. At her two week check-up last week she weighed in at 9 lbs. 1 0z! I think she's going to take after me - I looked like I had rubber bands strapped around all of my arms and legs when I was little. So, she's eating well and certainly not starving. I definitely need to start taking more pictures before she gets to be too big, too quickly! I've already noticed her hands and fingers are getting bigger and longer respectively.

She had her first photoshoot today with one of our friends from church, Nicole. It was an experience! For a rather calm and tranquil baby, I figured she would be very relaxed. Nope! She was mad and very uncooperative. Thankfully Nicole was very patient. As was I. I got peed, pooped, and puked on. As I'm writing this, I'm on shirt and pants #3! "Ahh, the joys of motherhood," Jonathan always reminds me... We should be able to view the pictures in a week or two after Nicole and her hubby get settled in their new town. We're going to miss them!

Nana and Grandad Queen will be visiting Madelyn this weekend. No real exciting plans because it's supposed to rain most of the weekend and Madelyn's pretty much entertaining all by herself.

One week

One week ago today we were preparing for Kristen's scheduled induction and welcoming Madelyn into our lives. It's hard to believe how quickly the time passes...

Madelyn Anne Queen arrived at 11:17pm on July 24, 2008. She arrived on her Great-Grandad Fred Queen's 75th birthday - just barely! After 2 hours of pushing, Kristen was relieved to see that indeed it was a girl and that she was and is absolutely beautiful. And we're not biased at all! She weighed 8 lbs. 5.8 ozs. and 21 inches long. Quite a big girl!

We're rapidly adjusting to life as a family of three. Madelyn sleeps VERY well and has taken to breastfeeding like a pro - despite some initial difficulties and slight frustrations on both the part of mom and baby. Jonathan is an expert diaper changer and can't seem to give her enough kisses. It's hard not to kiss her - she's like a magnet for love.

Kristen is recovering well. She's down 20 of the 30 lbs. she gained and is starting to get around more - although she's not allowed to drive herself anywhere for the next week.

Jonathan goes back to work tomorrow and we'll see how he does without seeing Madelyn for several hours. And we'll see how much trouble the girls can get into while he's away!