The Smartest Kid in the WORLD

Sorry its been so long since I've written. Michael's mom (Vivian) came into town last week and this week has been busy...with what I don't know...but I don't feel like I've had any time. Here's what's been going on:

Vivian flew into town last Sunday night. When she pulled up at the house I had Madalyn ready to hand off. She loves her Granny Vivian. (BTW, Michael thinks Vivian is too young to be a 'Granny', she's under 50!) On Tuesday, we drove to Red Oak to visit the Garner family. We stayed with Ma and Pa (Michael's grandparents). There are two things you need to know about Ma and Pa...Madalyn LOVES Ma's kitchen. It has a lot of lights and she likes to look up at them...for hours. AND, Madalyn LOVES to 'Go down to the valley'. Here's the story: Pa has forever put kids to sleep by rocking them and singing an old song, "Down in the Valley". He's like the Baby Whisperer, I swear. You put a crying kid in his arms and they are out like a light in 10 minutes flat...Pa always says, "They want to go down to the valley". Mady took many trips "down to the valley" last week.

When we got back home on Wednesday, I put Mady on her play mat. Its this really cute material cut in the shape of a flower. It has two arches that go above the flower that you can hang toys on. I've put Mady on it before but she would always just look at the toys. This time, she reached right up and hit a toy! MY DAUGHTER KNOWS HOW TO USE HER HANDS!!! It was amazing! Now, every time I lay her down she kicks and punches at the toys, most of which respond with a chime of some sort. I tell her she's abusing her friends.

As if that wasn't enough to excite me...we rolled her onto stomach. When I took her to the doctor for her 2 month check up, the doctor told me to give Mady more 'Tummy-Time'. This is supposed to help her build the muscles in her neck and keep her head from getting flat. Madalyn HATES tummy-time. As a result she has the makings of a flat spot and, something that mortifies me, a bald spot. It wouldn't be so bad, but her hair is so long that a bald spot really sticks out. The poor girl looks like an old man with a flat head from the back. Its horrible.

So, we're trying tummy-time and Mady ALMOST rolls over! That's right! My kid is super-smart and so strong that at 2 months she's almost rolling over! I don't really know if this is actually a great accomplishment at her age but we thought it was the most amazing thing we'd ever seen. Mady is laying on her mat in the middle of the living room grunting and drooling trying to get onto her back and she's surrounded by Vivian, Michael and me...all yelling, "Come on Mady!" "You can do it!" "You're almost there!" You'd think we had a horse race in the living room instead of a small child grunting. She didn't roll over that day, but she will soon!

One more cool thing happened. On Tuesday I was talking to Michael on the phone and I put the phone up to Mady's ear. She immediately smiled and began to talk back to her daddy. It was great. I think it made Michael's day too.

That's it for major developments but I would like to take a moment to vent. Today I went to Hibdon Tires because the breaks that they just put on were squeeking. The first hour that we were there was alright. Madalyn slept some and then smiled at me and the lady sitting next to me. I knew that she would be getting hungry soon so I warmed up some milk for her (I wasn't about to whip out my breast in the middle of Hibdon!). When I went to take her out to feed her I realized that she had pooped all over herself (She only poops on the clothes that I really like by the way). I pack up and go looking for the restroom... No one wants to see what I was about to reveal. Guess what? They don't have a changing table in the bathroom! So the only place to change my little girl was out in the middle of everyone. (In retrospect, I guess the bathroom floor was an option but eww!) I went back to my seat and appologized to the college girl that was sitting near me. I said, "You don't have kids yet so I'm sorry to break you in like this...it's not going to be pretty". I warned her and half way through the change she got up and walked away...it was pretty bad. The worst part was that my precious little girl was exposted to a room full of people...and men. I had to strip her down because poop was everywhere. So, there she was, totally naked infront of everyone with poop up to her belly button. Not only that but it takes a while to clean up that much poo so I know she had to be getting cold. It was sad, and it made me very angry. To top it all off, they just had to add oil or something to my breaks...that took them an hour and a half?

Sleeping Habits

This week has been pretty tame but I wanted to fill everyone in anyway. 

Madalyn was very fussy at the beginning of this week. She would wake up screaming. It was really startling to be fast asleep and then...out of nowhere...ahhhhh!!! In between the screaming, if she wasn't sleeping, she was grunting. 'Uhhhh...uhhhh...uhhh', non stop. It nearly drove me crazy. I have no idea what was wrong with her. When I called the nurse, she said to give Madalyn some Mylicon, which is a gas medicine, but these weren't Madalyn's normal 'gas signals' so I don't know...

We stayed home on Monday and Tuesday because she wasn't feeling well, but by Wednesday I was ready to get out of the house. So, we decided to have lunch with my friend Paula and her daughter Lexi (who just turned 1 on Sunday). Well, the morning was filled with fussing and grunting and, as a result, we left the house later than I wanted to. Lunch was ready when we got to Paula's house and Madalyn slept while I ate. Now, I must confess a recent addiction of mine...large cokes from Sonic. Oh, they sure do know how to hit the spot! Since Madalyn was dosing and I was thirsty, I tried to sneak out to get a coke. 

As if the grunting, screaming and cabin fever weren't enough, my car wouldn't start...great! I guess the coke wasn't meant to be. Of course I had parked behind Paula's car and we couldn't get it out of the garage to jump mine. So we're backing up her car and turning the wheel every which way trying to maneuver the car out and the whole time we're running in and out of the house tending to our screaming daughters. Chaotic sums it up. Long story short, we get my car started so I load Madalyn up and we head off to Auto Zone. About the time the young man at Auto Zone tells me that I need a new battery, I realized that I had left my wallet at home...and Madalyn is crying. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Wednesday was frustrating. It all ended well though, we went to Target and Madalyn hung out in her sling (this great thing I got at a shower, it wraps around me and Madalyn so I can hold her close to me without using my hands) while we walked around. I love that sling thing...it has saved many a shopping experience. 

The rest of the week has been better. Madalyn's mood has greatly improved. The big news from the week comes from last night and this morning. 

Currently, Mady sleeps in a bassinet next to the bed. Its tall enough that I can't see into it when I'm laying in bed. So, at night, I can hear Mady when she gets upset. Here's how that goes: I hear her grunt...and I wait to see if she gets more grunty. If she makes more noise, I look at the bassinet...not in it, but AT it. She has this teddy bear mobile attached to the bassinet. When Mady is really getting upset the bears shake because she's kicking. So, if I see the bears dancing and shaking, I know she's getting mad. We heard that when babies kick their legs, they are telling you that they feel out of control. Mady does this often. When she sleeps, we have to wrap her in a swaddle blanket to keep her feeling in control, but her legs are so long and strong that she is constantly kicking out of her blanket. So, if I hear grunting and I see bears dancing, I can look into the bassinet and, usually, she has kicked out of her blanket. She's laying there, legs and arms getting cold in the night air (she gets too hot with a night gown and the blanket). If this happens, I have to wrap her back up and try to hold her legs down (so she feels in control) and give her a pacifier at the same time. This may sound easy, but it is surprisingly difficult and often frustrating (remember, this is usually in the middle of the night...Jennifer doesn't like being sleep deprived). 

So, last night, MADALYN (almost) SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! I don't know if everyone is as excited as I am but here's the story! I fed Mady last night around 12:30am and she woke up at 2:00am. Well, I'm trying to feed her every three hours so instead of feeding her, I just got her back to sleep. She didn't wake up again until 5:30am! I fed her and she fell asleep for a little bit but woke up as Michael was getting ready for work (around 6:30am). She usually wakes up when he's getting ready which is fun because she is always in a great mood. Michael would get to work earlier if Madalyn wouldn't spend the whole morning smiling, laughing and talking to him. She is a morning person I guess...or just a daddy's girl. After he left, she went back to sleep until 10am. 

I guess that doesn't REALLY count as sleeping through the night, but its still pretty nice that I only fed her every five hours. I see it as improvement from the 'every-two-hour' schedule we were on two months ago. 

Thats all I've got this time. Tonight I'm going out with some friends and Michael is watching Madalyn by himself...I'm sure there will be a good story to write tomorrow!