A Year in the Life

Happy First Birthday to Madeline!

What better birthday gift than to begin the Madeline Rose blog?  I've kept a journal for Madeline's first year which provides much more detail, but we'll take a moment now to give some highlights.

Welcome, Madeline! Born April 25, 2011 
6 lbs, 2 oz and 20 inches long

• Feeling very protective because Maddy was so tiny
• Learning about each other  
• Lots of time nursing 
• Sleeping on my/Steve's chest
• Tiny little cries
• Grandmom and Grandpa Sebastian visiting and helping out A LOT - with first bath, tummy time, helping out around the house (and lots of great cooking!)
• Lifting head up while on tummy
• Starting to focus/track movement
• Coos, grunts and squeaks
• Using the baby sling 
• Using cloth diapers (except at night or when out and about) 
• Maddy sleeping in a co-sleeper attached to our bed
• Reading books
• Changing station downstairs (pack and play)

May 25, 2011 - 1 month old

• First bottle (given by Steve)
• New Mom's Group at Providence Hospital (good place to learn from a nurse and other moms!)
• Learning the 5 S's (Shushing, Swinging, Swaddling, Side-Laying and Sucking) from The Happiest Baby on the Block (this works!!  Steve is really good at "shushing")
• First smile
• Mom/baby yoga classes (Maddy and I enjoyed this time out of the house together)
• Aunt Mila visiting (with a great photo shoot!)
• First time to the Rose City Festival/City Fair
• Uncle Jeff and Uncle Tom visiting, trip to Hood River
• First babysitter (Christy) so Steve, Jeff, Tom and I could go to the Timbers/Red Bulls Soccer game
• Lots of babbling
• Head control improving
• Fussy at night - starting at about 5 pm.  Generally good-natured otherwise!
• Going out to restaurants (Maddy sleeping through it!)

June 25, 2011 - 2 months old

• Lots of vaccinations - the wide mouthed silence building up to a  big scream (but nursing had a great calming effect)
• Head control improving
• "Bum Lip" when about to cry
• My return to work and Steve takes off 2 weeks to stay with Maddy
• Favorite toy: "Mr. Whoozit"
• Melissa taking care of Maddy for 2 weeks (we had three friends that had time off in the summer watch Maddy until "school started in September)
• First Play Date with moms/babies we met at the Providence New Mom's Group 

July 25, 2011 - 3 months old

• Christy taking care of Maddy for two weeks (long naps!)
• Watching "The King's Speech" at Laurelhurst Park one night - Movies in the Park event
• Finding hands
• Full of smiles on the changing table - lots of coos
• Whirlwind trip to Minnesota to meet ALL the cousins (Sebastian and Faust side - including brand new twin cousins!), visit Bayfield to see Great Grandma Shirley and the Bayfield family
• Great traveler on planes!
• First time having formula (freezer broke and we lost all my frozen breast milk)
• Happy Hippo time (Hippo playland)
• "Fake" sneezes (2 sneezes then a big sigh - very cute!)
• Mandy taking care of Maddy for two weeks
• Grandma and Grandpa Faust visiting and taking care of Maddy for 3 weeks while Steve and I worked
• Steve and my first time away from Maddy to attend Eric and Melissa's wedding (Mike and Jan watching Maddy while we were gone)

August 25, 2011 - 4 months old

• Mike and Jan cooking a lot (grilling) and trip to the coast (Depoe Bay) and renting a house for the weekend; first trip to the ocean
•  Fussy at night (lots of use of the 5 S's)
• Using the Baby Bjorn
• Finding her tongue and making funny faces
• Practicing rolling over
• First laugh (cleaning her neck must tickle!)
• Favorite toys: "Mr. Whoozit" and "Mr. Monk" the monkey toy that jiggles
• Sleeping though the night consistently
• Starting "school" at ChildRoots (teacher = Krystal)
• Getting into the school routine (Steve drops Maddy off, I pick her up and walk home with her in the Baby Bjorn) - ChildRoots is 11 blocks from our house
• Lots of drooling
• Staring at her hands
• First class photo
• Me learning that complicated dinners are hard to make unless both Steve and I are home (how do single parents do it??)

September 25, 2011 - 5 months old

• Sleeping in crib instead of co-sleeper (Maddy's big move into her own room!)
•  Bonding with her teacher Krystal at school and first Fire Drill (the teachers put on "Baby Smocks" with big pouches - 2 babies in front and 2 in back!!)
• Finding her feet
• Pterodactyl noise
• Steve tickling Maddy to make her laugh (not too many laughs yet)
• Maddy playing in the "activity seat"
• Still swaddling before sleep
• Lifting up while on her tummy and "falling" over onto her back - rolling over! (not from back to tummy yet though)
• First fever/first time thinking Maddy was teething (wrong)
• Lots of babbling
• Laughing at random things 
• First time using the nasal aspirator

October 25, 2011 - 6 months old

• Baby sign language class
• First Halloween (Costume = Owl!)
• Starting solids (rice cereal didn't go well, but oatmeal did!)
•  Starting to sit for short periods  (but can't get into sitting position on her own)
• Eating sweet potatoes (we made all the baby food for Maddy)
• Morning and afternoon naps - bedtime 7:30
• Uncle Joel, Aunt Silver and cousin Anali visiting for Thanksgiving and Maddy playing with Anali's hair and loving it (maybe jealous because she doesn't have hair)!
• First trip to the Children's museum
• Uncle Joel, Aunt Silver and Anali giving Madeline "Clicker Clacker" caterpiller toy - which became her favorite toy 
• Moving objects from one hand to the other

November 25, 2011 - 7 months old

• First Parent/Teacher meeting for me and Steve
• Drinking from a glass
• Rolling over from back to tummy
• Cutting back on my annual Cookie Party (but it was lots of fun making it more kid-focused this year - having the kids decorate cookies)
• Trip to Minnesota for Christmas
• Kicking legs and really happy when she knows she's going to be picked up
• Hugging 
• Crying at bedtime (learning to let you get yourself to sleep) - not easy!
• First time really sick - with pneumonia - while in Minnesota (Steve sick too!)
• First time seeing snow 
• Seeing lots of friends/family in Minnesota/Wisconsin

December 25, 2011 - 8 months old

• First Christmas!
• Trip to the Emergency Room in Minnesota (febrile seizures due to high fever - she was okay, but scared me and Steve a lot)
• While sick, Maddy was very needy, only wanting me or Steve
• Lots of sicknesses between me, Steve and Maddy (we were warned this would happen Maddy's first year in childcare - it proved true!)
• Overcoming stranger danger (once she felt better!)
• Lots of rolling to move around
• Sitting for periods of time (but still can't get into sitting position)
• Favorite toys: Clicker Clacker and Snowman (lights up/changes colors)

January 25, 2012 - 9 months old

• Generally happy, personality starting to show more
• Independent play, entertaining herself - only crying when she needs something
• Babbling (da da da, ma ma ma)
• Play dates with friends
• "Swimming" (army crawl while on tummy - kicking legs, rocking from side to side and reaching forward one arm at a time - it looked like she was swimming on land!)
• Standing for a short period of time while we hold her arms
• Bath time - loves rubber ducky, cup and plastic keys in the bath (sometimes Steve or I take a bath with Maddy - she loves this!)
• Trying more pureed foods
• Sitting for the first time (getting into sitting position)

February 25, 2012 - 10 months old

•  Pterodactyl noises
•  Dancing while sitting (tummy bounce)
• Clapping with open hands
• First time bit by a friend at school (nothing major but did cause a nice bruise!)
• "Singing" - la la la la la la la
• Crawling (and the baby-proofing begins in earnest - and we wonder why we waited so long to get this done?)
• Independent play

March 25, 2012 - 11 months old

• Crawling - faster now
• Blowing kisses (The first few times she did this, Steve and I weren't sure what she was doing but then her teacher told us they taught her to blow kisses - priceless!!)
• Waving hello and goodbye
• Kissing us (and friends!)
• Mimicking us
• Sneezes that end in raspberries
• Pulling to standing
• New dance: full body twist (while sitting) side to side (including head) - nearly falling over
• "Vibrating" - arms out straight with balled fists - body shakes (vibrates) with head cocked, then a big smile.  She does this to make us laugh!
• Peek-a-boo on the couch (Maddy stands on the couch, looking over the back of the couch while Steve or I hide behind it, popping up in different spots saying "peek-a-boo!"  Maddy LOVES this game and squeals with laughter!)
• Turning pages in her book Night-Night Sleepyhead
• Starting to eat more solid foods (small pieces or mushy foods)
• Signing for "all done", "milk", "more", "eat"