This past week has been one crazy week to say the least. Last week I was given the opportunity to return to my old school which I was very excited to accept. This past year I have talked to Derek several times about how much I miss teaching and now with Madelyn I realize how teaching it the most ideal schedule for a working mom. Of course with her being born in June this was not the summer to try and get back into it and I thought maybe next year I will try. However, the school I used to teach at had high numbers in Third Grade and wanted to bring in another teacher to lower the class sizes. Talk about meant to be. They called last Thursday and I started today. Though as much as we were thrilled that it worked out it made a very crazy household. We had to rethink our daycare plans. Originally as we had said Madeyln would go with Derek to the Y daycare. However Derek works south of our house and I will now work North. Therefore, it doesn't make sense for her to go there anymore as it would take me almost an hour to get there from work. So now we are in the process of finding care right near my school.
Of course as with all first time moms it has been really hard to go from spending every moment of everyday with Madelyn to the transition back to work and being away from her. I have had several break downs of crying to poor Derek. I know it will get easier and am so happy I know will get breaks and summers with her :)
Derek and I have been going crazy trying to adjust to everything. It seems when we used to be able to get ready in 45 minutes for work now takes like 2 hours with Maddie. I have also realized how much I will have to tote with me every morning. Anyone who is a teacher knows how much you already take to and from school and now I will also have; Maddie's daycare bag, her cooler of bottles, my pump bag, my cooler for milk storage and a baby, lol!! I should have strong arms here soon! Sorry this is a short post and promise to updater again soon.
Ready for a day out shopping
Such a big girl in her bumbo seat!
Loved napping on Aunt Gracie
The cutest VT Cheerleader
Family picture before Derek and I went to the game
This past Friday was the night Derek and I have waited for since June 18th! We put Maddie down about 9:45 and we were in bed around 10:30. Around 4:00am I woke up in panic. All thoughts went through my head as I grabbed our video monitor; did the batteries die, what is wrong with Madelyn, is she breathing, etc. As I grabbed the monitor there she was still in her crib just sleeping away. I figured any minute now she would be waking up without a doubt so tried to stay a wake for a little bit. Next thing I knew I was waking up at 7:00am and still no cry from Maddie. It wasn't until 7:15 she finally woke up and successfully hit the big milestone of sleeping through the night for 9 1/2 hours!!! I can really say I forgot what those nights were like, lol! Much to our surprise she surprised us again on Saturday night and went down at 9:30 and slept until 8am!!! She has continued to sleep through the night since Friday so keep your fingers crossed that we are on happy, SLEEPING family from here on out :)
This weekend we had Derek's family in town for a couples wedding shower and cookout for Whitney and Andy. It was great to spend Saturday evening with great friends and family. Sunday we went to Derek's Aunt and Uncle's pool and attempted to see what Maddie thought of the pool. When her toes first hit the water she started crying, then after a few minutes of trying over and over she didn't mind her feet in the pool. We decided it was to cold to put her in all the way yet but can't wait for next summer when we can take her swimming!
We have been trying to finalize plans for Madelyn's care for when I return to work. Derek's Y is in the process of starting a daycare for staff children but the date isn't set for when it will be ready. They hope by the end of September. This of course is wonderful and she will be so close to Derek's office. However, this will put us in a bind for the mean time until it starts. We have been talking with a few different people to come to the house to care for Maddie. Today we selected the girl who will watch her for the 2 1/2 weeks until it is ready hopefully. We both really like her and she did great with Maddie. She is going to come for a few hours a few days before I go back to work to help ease the transition.
Supporting Grandpa's work with the shirt he gave me!
Early morning family walk:)
Do you think I have to many rolls??
Seriously mom you are going back to work soon, does this new girl know how to give me milk??
I don't know about this Dad!
Attempt at family picture at the shower, Maddie loves her hands in her mouth!
Today Maddie had her 2 month check-up. She continued the trend of great weight gain, haha and now is 14 lbs! She is also 25 inches long. Her Dr. said she is off the chart in length! Of course it seems we are going to have a tall girl but we all know it can all change and she may slow down later! She had to get two shots and an oral liquid vaccine. It was so sad to watch her scream and cry real tears! When Derek held her after to calm her down he had a wet spot on his shirt from all her tears:(
Tomorrow Maddie will be 2 months old. These have been the fastest two months ever. However, then to think back to her being born already almost seems like a blur that was forever ago. She has started to have such a personality. She loves to smile and now recognizes Derek's and my voice. We love smiling and talking to her and getting her big smile back. She is such a happy baby who loves to smile! She has learned a new trick in the past day. She has figured out if we lay her on her blanket and walk away or into the other room from her she will begin to fake cry. Then when we walk back over to her she smiles. It is like she is saying "ha it worked they came back" Of course this was perfect timing for her trick as her Dad is out of town this weekend on a bachelor party trip so I of course will be at Maddies beck and call, haha! Last week my good friend Kara came to stay with us for 5 days. We loved having her here and she got a lot of time with Maddie As always I loved having the company and extra hands here. We have had a lot of visitors but Kara was our last one for awhile. It was strange to not have to rush and get the guest room ready for our next visitor. However, it will be nice for us to have some time as a family before I go back to work. We found out this week that Derek's Y is definitely starting the staff daycare. They are working on getting all the licensing completed. We are so happy that Maddie will just be down the hall from Derek,s office. Though this will make the transition a little easier on me, I am so jealous Derek will get to go visit her whenever he wants. I have informed him we will be meeting for lunch often!
Maddie's new favorite spot to relax and nap!
Maddie with Kara, in her new cute outfit Kara bought her:)
Miss Madelyn has become one popular little girl. I think the longest she has gone since being born is a week without going to visit or having a visitor to see her. This past week Aunt Sue, Elly and Kerra came to spend the week with us. It was so much fun and hard to see them leave. It was also very nice to have all the helpful hands. This week I started running again. With Aunt Sue here Elly and I were able to go to the gym almost everyday. I hadn't realized how much I missed running and it really made me feel like I had myself back to get a good workout each day. On top of that we of course did a lot of shopping, getting out around Charlotte and lots of snuggle time with Maddie. It has always been hard having my family far away but even harder now with Maddie.
It seems in the past week Madelyn has changed so much. We all have noticed how she has grown and is getting so big. She also now really notices voices and laughs a lot when you talk to her. She seems to really laugh when her daddy talks to her. She also is a babbling machine. She talks to us all the time. The last new thing is how strong her neck has become. When we hold her she now can hold her head up and look around. We started the tummy time and she seems to only like it for a minute and then starts to get fussy so we will pick her up. Hopefully as she gets stronger she will like it more.
With all the company we have had and how much we have had her out and about we are truly lucky to have such an amazing baby. She really only cries when she is hungry and is such a happy baby most of the time. There is nothing better than walking into her room at 3am so tired and then seeing her smiling back up at you in her crib. I am really struggling that it is August and will have to go back to work next month. Though I am extremely grateful to have 12 weeks with her I really don't know how I will ever leave her all day :(
Snuggle time with Elly
I guess I will sleep so daddy can play these boring games!
Last Saturday through Wednesday we took our first vacation with Madelyn to Holden Beach with Derek's family. Derek and I were both very excited for some relaxing time with family. Though this year was a little different as we had to take shifts on the beach since Madelyn isn't old enough for the sun and heat and traded in the late nights of games and drinking for all nighters of feeding, rocking and changing diapers (all with love of course) However, we were very lucky to have lots of helpful hands with all of Derek's family there and very happy to see Maddie. It is always a fun trip as Derek's whole family always make the trip and especially this year when we realized what a great tradition this will be for Maddie in the future with all her cousins. We did realize quickly that we will eventually need to rent one very large house to accommodate this large group that keeps growing :) It takes us about 4 hours to get to Holden Beach and both ways Maddie did awesome. We only had to stop one time each way to feed and get her out of her car seat. For the past 6 years Derek and I have stopped at this peach stand on the way home from the beach trip that sells the best peach ice cream and peaches. Of course Maddie slept through it all this year but she soon will love this tradition once she realizes she will get this delicious ice cream each year on the way home! I think the hardest part of the trip was getting everything packed. As we pulled out of the driveway Derek and I couldn't believe how much we had to pack for one child!!
On Thursday Maddie had her one month check up. It should have been last week but our pediatrician was on vacation. Maddie now weighs 11 lbs which puts her in the 96th percentile. She also did some tests on her alertness and said she is at the 2 month stage, of course I felt like one proud mama haha. The worst part of the check up was Maddie had to get her first shot. Our Dr. told me it will hurt you more than Madelyn and boy was she right. Once they did it and Maddie started screaming I almost died. Next month she has to get TWO shots, might need Derek to take her to that one! Our Dr. said everything was perfect and she always finds that 12 lbs is the magic weight to when babies start sleeping 6+ hours at night. Hopefully that is the case for Maddie as that is right around the corner. Right now she wakes up about every 3 hours at night. Which actually seems wonderful compared to the very 1 1/2 we were use to the first few weeks.
Maddie playing with her cousin Tate :)
Family picture on the beach
What a cutie in her suit!
Such a trooper on the car ride
Nanny and Poppy loving their time with the grandchildren
It is hard to believe a month as already passed by! This week I have had to pack away some of Madelyn's newborn clothes:( We are very happy how well she is growing just hard to believe she is no longer a newborn.
Last weekend we were very happy to have my Dad and Dorice here to visit. Derek is in the craziest time for the Y and having to work A LOT including weekends. Therefore, it was very nice to have the extra help here to even just hold Madelyn so I could get lots done. We also all were able to enjoy a nice dinner out which felt really good to get out of the house.
This week however, we have had one sick house. It started with Maddie coughing and having a stuffy nose. I took her to the doctor and luckily her chest and ears were clear and just has a cold. Though even she has still been eating very well because of her cold many times she ends up spitting it all up because she can't breathe well when eating:( She also isn't sleeping as well because she is having trouble breathing. She has been waking up about every hour and a half. Therefore, with the lack of sleep and amount of time I spend with her it was no surprise I came down with a bad cold as well. I think what has made it the hardest is the lack of sleep while sick. Derek and I have been taking the maximum amount of vitamins and vitamin c drinks to hopefully get this bug out of the house! Maddie will go back to the doctor next week for her one month check up.
We are very excited to be leaving this weekend to go to the beach with the White side of the family. It will be very nice to have some time away and a little relaxing with family.
Two weekends ago we got newborn photos taken of Madelyn. Here is the link to view them. Enter "white" for the code. The photographer said she has a few more to add and hopes to have them all up by tomorrow at the latest! We are getting a CD with all the rights to the photos which makes ordering pictures so much easier. We can just email anyone pictures if they want them :) http://www.marylphotography.com/pages/9/Private%20Galleries/Private%20Galleries/
For the first 3 weeks we had Maddie sleeping in our room in the bassinet of the pack-n-play. Last night was the first night we put her in her crib to sleep. I seriously don't know how I will ever drop her off to kindergarten because I almost had a melt down of just taking her down the hall to her room. I even told Derek maybe I should sleep in her room with her. Luckily, Derek was able to talk me out of it and she had one of her best nights sleep in her room:) Of course I checked our video monitor all throughout the night, don't know how people did it without those!! Hopefully night 2 goes just as well. She is still waking up every 2-3 hours to eat but she is eating and getting back to sleep quicker.
We have been so lucky with all the support we have received from our amazing family and friends. I don't think we had to cook a meal for the first 2 weeks and Maddie receives packages almost daily of wonderful and thoughtful gifts from people!! On top of that we have had so many visitors and so many coming in the next month! We are truly appreciative of all the love from everyone and don't know what we would do without it!!!
Maddie's first 4th of July spent with the whole White side of the family
Trying out my swing!
Starting to find people's faces and love playing with Daddy
