Introducing. . .

Madeline Rey!!

September 30th, 2010
2:55 AM
7lb 0oz
19 inches

I'm a bad blogger. A very, very, very bad blogger!! Having a newborn is hard work man! It's all worth it though, she is the light of my life and has stolen my heart already. It's very cliché to say, but I swear I love her more and more every day. Madeline is already 9 weeks, 2 whole months old! TWO.MONTHS!! She doesn't even look like the little baby in the picture above anymore. I've come to blog about her first 9 weeks of life and to share a few photos. Thankfully she’s too young to tell me to go away; I have the camera in her face all.the.time. Poor kid.

I've written this post in my head many, many, many times. I even wrote it out in Word a few weeks ago, but she is ever changing so that post is very outdated already. I apologize ahead of time that this is so long, but there is just so much to tell. I've also been writing up her birth story and will post that sometime soon, and I promise to be a better blogger.

Life with a baby has been amazing, wonderful. . .indescribable. For the most part we've had it pretty easy, and things have gone very well. She had some problems keeping weight on in her first few weeks of life. It took her 5 weeks to get back over her birth weight. We found that she was a lazy nurser, I tried everything I could to keep her awake but she'd fall asleep eating. I was fond of telling her that her only job was to eat and she was fired. I tried pumping and feeding her a bottle of breast milk at 3 weeks when we realized she wasn't gaining weight and she took to it like a horse to water. Her two month appointment was Tuesday, and I'm happy to report she weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds 8 ounces!!! While pumping is double the work it's worth the peace of mind it gives my neurotic new mommy brain. Thankfully I make plenty of milk so I don't have to pump every time she eats.

Each day she is becoming more and more of a little person and less of a newborn baby. I can say right now that I'm pretty sure she is going to be stubborn and have a little bit of an attitude. Just like her mother! It is so fun to watch her discover the world. She is starting to notice things around her. Yesterday while we were at Target with Alicia she started "talking" to the toys hanging on her car seat. They have been there forever but she's just noticed them. She has become quite the little talker, she had TJ and I laughing the other night with all of her coos.

Her current likes are: being held, making whoever is holding her walk around (do not sit though!!), eating, sleeping, her swing, eating and sleeping more, snuggling, hanging out in the moby, and more eating and sleeping.

Speaking of the moby, it has been my saving grace. I was a little nervous at first to use it, I'd heard great things from friends about it but I wasn't sure of my wrapping skills. I didn't want to drop my kid! I love the thing now though. I wrap it around myself, put her in it and I can do pretty much anything! As a bonus after walking around in it for a while she'll fall asleep.

I know people warn you about the lack of sleep you'll have with a newborn. Up all night with a crying, hungry, angry baby. I'm grateful that we really didn't experience that. Sure she was up every few hours to eat at first but she'd go right back down after she was full. I don't want to jinx it by saying this aloud, but as of last week Madeline is already sleeping through the night. We try to swaddle her up and put her down between 7-9 at night and usually she'll sleep until 7 in the morning! TJ and I both love sleep, we told her she's going to fit in very well here. ;)

When she first came home she didn't want to sleep anywhere but on me or in my arms. TJ and I did not plan at all for her to sleep in bed with us. No way were we going to have our baby in bed with us. As we have quickly learned you cannot predict what will and will not work for your family. She slept in my arms the first few weeks of her life. Even now if she’s having a fussy night it is easier for me to pull her into bed with us and snuggle her to sleep than to keep trying to soothe her and put her back in her cradle only for her to get worked up again. My motto in life now is: do what works for you!

The only sleep "problem" we have had is one I created myself. Nap time. I got into the habit of holding her all day long. She still rarely naps anywhere but in my arms. Some days I can put her down in her swing, bouncy seat or bassinet, but more often than not that wakes her up and she'll be pretty unhappy. White noise helps (thanks to a free app on my iPad), but it's just easier to snuggle with her. Besides, she isn't going to want to snuggle with her mom forever, so I'll take it while I can.

I have found it to be a sanity saver for us to get out of the house as often as possible. Maddy is great in the car, once the car is moving she’ll either fall asleep or sit contently and suck on her pacifier. We joined a mommy and me class at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland and go every Wednesday. We took our first family vacation and drove over the pass to Leavenworth a few weekends ago. We’ve been to Target more time than I can count, grocery shopping, a few play dates, the doctors . . . it feels like we are always on the go. Like I said, it keeps me sane and I figure I should continue to keep her used to driving around so she doesn’t start to hate her car seat.

She is going to wake up hungry soon, so I'll leave you with a few photos from her first 9 weeks of life.