Madelyn is 1 month old!

Madelyn turned 1 month old on April 18th! You can probably tell that I'm having a the best time dressing my sweet little princess up! Sometimes she gets all dressed up and we don't even leave the house! :)

Here are a few things about her........She has quickly figured out that she would much rather be held than put down by herself. Could you blame her?!! She continues to nurse every 2-3 hours day and night. We hope she will start sleeping longer stretches at night soon. If she doesn't start sleeping longer on her own, I will start sleep training her after she turns 2 months old. I know the importance of her getting good, quality sleep, so I feel that sleep training is essential to helping her develop good sleeping habits. Also, she has developed a good day time routine of sleep, eat, play (in that order) and this routine seems to help her get the rest that she needs during the day. Madelyn is suffering from reflux just like her brother did. She is currently on zantac, but that doesn't seem to help with her pain, so she is scheduled to see a G.I. dr at the end of May. I hate that her pediatrician won't prescribe anything more than zantac, and we have to wait another month for her to get some relief. Madelyn weighed 6lb 5oz at birth and tonight I weighed her on our baby scale and she was 8lb 12.5oz!

Joseph seems to enjoy having a baby sister and often wants to touch her head and hair, and of course steal her paci! He continues to be very gentle with his little sister! Joseph's latest change is that we converted his crib this week (took the front off) and put the toddler rail on. This happened after I caught him teetering over the front rail on his tummy and about to do a head dive out of his crib. He LOVES the freedom of getting in and out of his bed, and sometimes has to be put back in his bed several times for nap time. He fell out of his crib :( the first night we put the toddler rail up, but quickly learned to sleep away from the opening of the rail and hasn't fallen out since. Thankfully his mattress is very low to the floor/carpet, so he didn't hurt himself by falling.

Here are some pics of Miss Madelyn being cute....

STOP DRESSING ME UP AND TAKING MY PICTURE!

Play time!

Tummy time...

Norfolk Zoo and Madelyn's nursery

Joe has been able to spend lots of time at home the past couple of weeks. He is usually only scheduled a couple of days each week for night bouncing (practice landings). He is getting ready to head out on the carrier next week to get his qual again before leaving for deployment in just a week and a half. :( I am so thankful for the time he has had here at home to spend with us as a new family of 4 prior to leaving to meet his new airwing on cruise. His new cag wanted him to have a full 3 weeks at home with Madelyn before joining them on cruise and since Maddy arrived early, he's been able to have 6 weeks at home with us!!!

On Monday morning, we ventured out to the Norfolk zoo with both kids! Joseph had a great time walking all around and seeing the animals and Madelyn slept the entire time in the stroller, so it was a nice outing!

I ordered Madelyn's nursery furniture from USA Baby in Richmond on Thanksgiving weekend 2009. They estimated 12-14 weeks before the furniture would arrive, so at the latest, I was expecting it to arrive the first week of March. I fell in love with this set, so I was willing to wait that long to get it b/c I thought for sure it would be here before she was born. I was definitely in the "nesting" stage the entire month of March and just wanted to set up her room, but I couldn't without the furniture. I was disappointed when my water broke on March 18th and her furniture was still not here. :( It finally arrived on Friday, April 2nd when Madelyn was already 2 weeks old. I've been working in her room the past couple of weeks getting everything set up and I am pleased with how it looks!

Madelyn is 4 weeks old today and her bilirubin level is now at 12.2 and continues to go down! It could be another month before it completely goes away, but since it's going down we don't have to get her blood tested every few days anymore!!! I know she will LOVE not having her foot poked anymore! She's doing a great job gaining weight and now weighs 7lb 8oz (she was 6 lb 5oz at birth). She's suffering from reflux right now and we just got a prescription of zantac for her this week. We go back to the dr next week to see if we need to switch to a new med (if this one doesn't do the trick). She is still nursing every 2-3 hours so it makes for one tired mama most days, but thankfully I'm able to catch an afternoon nap some days and that helps! Well, that's all for now. Love, CC

Madelyn's birth slideshow

Easter weekend and Madelyn's update

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Our neighborhood had an egg hunt in the park on Saturday morning. Joseph had the best time finding eggs and Madelyn enjoyed sleeping in the stroller! We went to church on Sunday and both our little ones were very well behaved! Here's our Easter family pic right before church. Madelyn's beautiful Easter dress!

First smile caught by the camera.....

We went to my parents house after church and this was taken on their back dock.

Joseph and Daddy having fun coloring eggs!

The Easter bunny didn't know that Madelyn would arrive before Easter, so he had to quickly put together a basket for her!

Joseph was thrilled with his Easter surprises!

Getting ready to find the eggs...

He found one!

Cool dude!

Joseph loves his baby sister so much!

Mommy was having fun by playing dress up!

Joseph giving his baby sister some love....

Madelyn's bilirubin levels are finally going down!!!!! We took her this past Tuesday to get her blood tested and her level had dropped from 16.1 (this is what her level was last Friday) to 15.6 on Tuesday. We have to take her one more time next week to get her poor little foot poked and blood tested again, and as long as her levels continue to go down, we won't have to get her blood tested anymore. We hope and pray her levels will continue to decline so she will be a healthy little girl.

Joseph continues to adore his little sister and it just melts my heart to see him act so gentle and kind towards her. I'm sure this will all change and he'll be trying to beat her up in the near future, but for now, it's just so sweet!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Happy Easter!