Good Morning

In the morning when I get up; this is the picture that I see. Madalyn has her feet up in the air and she bangs them down on her bed. And then you hear her sucking her fingers. She will do this off and on for like an hour or more. This is how she wakes up.

She is just about to get too big for this bed and will soon be moving to her own room. However, it's on the opposite end of the house to where our room is, so there's a few steps that will have to be made to get to her when she moves there. But I think she will be glad to have a bigger bed. She ends up sideways when she wakes up now. She always wakes up with a smile, but that smile wouldn't show with the light of the camera because she would stop smiling whenever I put the camera back up. Oh well...

Madalyn is also holding her own bottle now! Not all the time, but she can hold it and take it in and out of her mouth. I quit taking a bottle when I was around 9 months old, so I guess she might follow me.

It's funny, my mom gave me my baby book so I'm comparing Madalyn's milestones with my own. And some of the things Madalyn has done is right when I did or at least close to it. The big difference is that Madalyn was 14 days earlier and I was 5 days late so I was an older newborn. The other big difference is that I started off sleeping on my stomach so I was sitting up and crawling early; but now they don't want you to put the baby on their stomach; on their back instead. There are many things that I have done a lot sooner than Madalyn has too as far as milestones but like I was eating cereal at 2 months and had apple juice for the first time at 2 1/2 months. But times were different 30 years ago and things have changed.

My Classroom

I mentioned on an earlier post that they were remolding our classrooms this summer; they are finally finished (almost) to where we can get in there and start working. So, Madalyn went to stay with Meme (Kevin's mom) and Hunter today while I was at school working. I got to school at 7:45am and left around 4:45pm. I would have of finished today, but there were two shelves that were not screwed back into the wall, so I will have to finish up one morning next week. I was very proud of myself and what I got accomplished today. I did it all by myself too! I will later post pictures of the completed room when it's ready for the kids.

Before....

After...with only one day of work and one person working

Madalyn is 4 Months Old

My baby girl is 4 months old today! Time has gone by so fast! She will go this Monday to the doctor for her 4 month check up.

Here is what Madalyn is doing now:
-cooing and laughing out loud and squealing with delight
-drooling like crazy ( I think she is in the early stages of teething)
-her hands still go in her month a lot along with her bib or clothes or anything she can get to.
-she can roll over from back to stomach and just this week she rolled over from her stomach to her bad.
-She has very good head control and sits up well with you holding her.
-She wakes up with a smile on her face
-She still really loves her rain forest. You lay her down in one direction and she can make a complete circle.
-She still loves bath time. She can even splash me now with her kicking.
-She is still sleeping good through the night.
-She has been taking 5 oz. of her bottle, but I think she will be excited to start on cereal. That just at times doesn't seem to satisfy her.
-She loves anything that is very colorful or moves
-She is starting to reach for things
-She moves her knees back and forth sometimes when she is on her tummy
-When you are holding her or she is in her bath tub, swing, bouncey seat, or car seat, she tries to sit up.
-When you go in a store, she wants to be out of her car seat and up to where she can see and look around. If she goes to someone's house, she is constantly turning her head and looking around. She is very curious as to what is going on around her.

This was probably the easiest photo session I have had with her so far. However, it's very difficult to make faces and shoot the camera at the same time to get her to laugh. It was hard to choose my favorites.

Charm Bracelet

For my birthday this year, there really wasn't anything special that I wanted, so I mostly got money, which is always nice! Since Madalyn was born, I have wanted something with her birthstone in it. Today, Madalyn and I went to Aiken for a short outing, and we stopped at one of our favorite gift shops. They sell the Pandora bracelets and beads, but they also sell Davinci bracelets and beads (which look just like the pandora ones, but are so much more afordable). I decided to use some of my birthday money to start this charm bracelet. I thought this will be something fun that I can add to and other's can give me, especially Kevin. He's always wanting to give me something special for Christmas, or my birthday and now, there are so many charms he can choose from.

They have 3 types of bracelets, I chose the one with the lobster claw because I thought it would be more secure. The charms I got today are:

-diamond birthstone for Kevin's April birthday
-ruby birthstone for my July birthday
-aquamarine birthstone for Madalyn's March birthday
-a "faith" bead sepperates Kevin and my birthstone
-a "mother" bead sepperates Madalyn and my birthstone

Then I have a stopper at each end. The stoppers have rubber in them to keep the beads from moving and sliding around. I got all these beads and bracelet for the price of one Pandora bead. Pretty good deal I think! I was very happy with my choice and I have already enjoyed wearing it.

Butterfly

Sunday, I came home from a weekend in Greer. (Madalyn and I headed to Greer early Friday morning. The idea for leaving at 7:00 am was that she would take her normal 3 hour morning nap. Did she? Of course not...she fell asleep as we left Blackville and woke up somewhere in the middle of hwy 3. I had to feed her in Cayce, 40 minutes earlier than she was suppose to be, but it was either that or stop somewhere on 26 in the middle of nothing. When we got to Greenville it was raining and 67 degrees. Our first stop was for me to go to the teacher store there, which I ended up having to feed her in the store. (The joys of traveling with a baby...they eat and get changed anywhere :0) We got to visit with my friend Lindsey and her baby Mason. Mason and Madalyn were both asleep when Lindsey got to my parent's house. Then Madalyn woke up and it was time to feed her, Mason woke up and he needed his diaper changed, then he decided it was time to eat. So, hopefully, the next time we meet, both will have just been fed and in good moods. Madalyn and I on Saturday went with my parents and Papa to my mom's side of the family reunion at Lake Keowee. Madalyn was the star of the picnic. Kevin didn't get to come with us because he had just spent 2 weekends away from the farm on our lake vacation, so he couldn't be away again that soon. On the way home, Madalyn slept most of the ride; I did have to pull over in Newberry to change her diaper. She slept until then and then went back to sleep and stayed asleep until we got home. I think she was tired after her busy weekend. Which it made it much easier on me, since I was by myself that she did sleep the way home). Anyway, while we were unloading my car, I saw these butterflies flying around my lantana at the back porch. After the car was unloaded, I found my camera and got a few pictures of one of the butterflies.

Madalyn Squeal.mpg

Along with Madalyn cooing, Tuesday I put her in her crib for a minute after a diaper change and I heard her squealing. I grabbed the camera and got a short video.

Madalyn Cooing.mpg

Madalyn really started cooing last week. On Tuesday, I was able to get a video of her "talking".