All About Aunt Haley

This is a little bit of a catch up post and a little bit of current stuff too! Haley has been my best friend since I was about 12. She is 4 years older than I am so when I was 12, she was 16 and had a car! She would take me around in her black Nissan Sentra. We would go to this one spot where there were railroad tracks on a little bit of an incline. Haley would floor it over the tracks and we would sail into the air! We have seen each other through the best and worst times of our lives so, naturally, when Madeline was born she came to visit. She came in March and spent the majority of her stay working on Madeline's room. She painted the stripes and all the animals and the tree! She is so talented! When she wasn't painting Madeline's room, she was helping Terry work on the deck or doing a family photo shoot for us. She is one of the most generous, selfless people I have ever met. Below is a little bit of her handiwork!




We also got to visit with an old friend we grew up with while she was here. Our friend, Stephanie lives in Abilene, which is a little over an hour from where we live. We haven't all seen each other in probably close to 10 years but it was just like old times! It was so nice to get to see Stephanie again!
I got inspired after Haley left to fix up Madeline's bathroom. I started painting it at the end of March and we literally just finished it this week. Madeline's room shares a Jack and Jill bathroom with the office and it was one room of the house we just hadn't touched since we moved in. Terry and I went back and forth about what to do in there and this is how it turned out.

*I do have to give credit to Terry for hand painting the flowers!*

Puppy Love

Gizmo was my first "baby" after Terry and I got married. We had gotten into an argument one night a couple of months after we were married, and Terry left to cool down. He NEVER leaves when we argue so I thought it was a little weird, but we had only been married a few months so I didn't put too much thought into it. Well, he came back a couple of hours later with a 3 lb bug eyed, squish faced puppy! Gizmo stole my heart the moment I saw him and has been rotten ever since. He was a TERRIBLE puppy, and any normal person would have gotten rid of him. However, he is so funny and super emotional. He listens to everything you say and puts himself in time-out in the bathtub when he has done something wrong. I don't think there is or ever will be another dog like him. You can only imagine how much more I adore him after seeing him with Madeline. He refers to her as the hairless dog and hasn't quite figured her out yet. She loves him. Sometimes she will just look at him and crack up laughing. Yesterday we snapped these pics of the two of them!

Easter Weekend

This is a catch up post all about Easter weekend. Sadly, I can't remember what we did on Good Friday. On Saturday we took Madeline to the park for the first time with our pastor and his family and our friends Chrys, Thadd, and their 3 boys. The park is really cute. Its called Kid's Kingdom and all the play equipment is very castle-like! Saturday night, Terry and I busted into Madeline's Easter basket so we could watch Tangled! It is such a cute movie! We liked it so much we watched it twice Easter weekend. On Sunday we went to church, and after church there was an Easter egg hunt for all the kids. Madeline slept right through it! Sunday afternoon we went to Chrys and Thadd's house. Our pastor and his family were there too. It was nice to be able to spend the holiday with friends since our families are so far away. We rode 4-wheelers and cooked out. It was such a nice day!!!

Baby Food and Bedtime

I have been talking about Madeline's sleeping habits with my mom, mother-in-law, sister, sister-in-law, and a couple of friends, and the general consensus was she might sleep better if I started giving her veggies and fruits. So despite what my paper from the doctor states, I decided to try it Tuesday. Let me back track just a little. Monday night Madeline took me back to the newborn days and literally slept no more than an hour and a half at a time. Tuesday was one of the worst days she has had since she was born. She cried constantly and not just the whiny cry. It was a piercing, I am in pain, kind of cry. She has been drooling for over a month now and putting things in her mouth, but recently she has started biting down on things, including our fingers! So on Tuesday when ALL else failed, Terry went to the store for orajel. I have to mention he went for baby orajel and came back with a tube of baby orajel, baby orajel nighttime, baby orajel swabs, Humphrey's teething tablets, and a pack of 5 teething rings. Mind you he went to Walgreens for all of this so it was quite pricey, but I thought it was so sweet! I would have come home with one tube of the off brand of baby orajel! haha Okay so anyway, I had decided on Tuesday before the orajel to start giving Madeline baby food. I have wanted to make her baby food since before she was born so Tuesday I made bananas and carrots for her. It was SO easy, much cheaper than baby food, and I feel like it is better for her. She loved them both! I have to mention that the pups love baby food too and are more than willing to "help"me feed her! Today we tried cantaloupe and are going to the store later to get a few more things to try. So on Tuesday she had cereal and bananas around 1pm and carrots around 9pm. I know that seems late and it is but we were out late...blah, blah, blah. She slept from 10 pm to 6:30 am! She woke up once around 1am but only stirred for a few minutes and went back to sleep before I even went into her room. I could not believe it! Last night she went to bed at 9:30, woke up at 3 to eat and slept until 8:30! It is so hard for me to go against what the pediatrician says but clearly moms do know best! I do have to mention that of all the foods we have tried, paper is probably her favorite! (not that we intentionally fed paper to her but you get the point) She loves paper!!!

New Car!!!!

My sister, Brooke, got the CUTEST walker for Madeline. She had it shipped to the store here and it arrived yesterday! I was so excited to go pick it up and put it together (which means for Terry to put it together). Madeline couldn't quite figure out how to make it go, but she had so much fun in it for almost an hour last night. Even Polly tried to go for a ride! I posted a short video clip too!

Monumental Happenings

Last week was a week of firsts for Madeline. Maybe the title monumental happenings is a bit of a stretch, but when you become a mom, every little thing seems monumental! It is going to seem like all I do is give my baby sweets, to which I say life is short and I only give her just a taste! It has been no secret that she was going to be spoiled rotten anyway!

Madeline sat up for just a few seconds last week without us holding her up, but it wasn't long enough to even take a picture so I am not sure if that even counts!

However, GET READY FOR THIS! Madeline started sleeping in her own bed as of Tuesday, May 11! She was tossing and turning in my bed for the third night in a row and when she woke me up for the 5th time that night, I became very unemotional about putting her in her own bed. I put her in her bed at 4:15 and she finally fell asleep for good around 5:30 and slept until 11:30 that morning! The next night (or I guess technically later that same day) I laid her down around 9:30 and she was out in less than 5 minutes. I think part of me kind of wanted her to fight it just a little but this girl is independent! She seems so big to me sometimes but she seems so little in her crib. She seems to love her bed but she is still waking up 2-3 times a night. I am sleeping across the hall in the guest room except for the first night when I slept on her floor (because I am crazy like that). Hopefully, one day I can post about her sleeping through the night! hah

Last Monday, Madeline went to her first tee ball game!!! Our friends sweet little boy Aedan plays and his dad coaches. If you ever need a good laugh, go to a tee ball game! These kids were so funny!!! It was hot so we got popsicles and I gave Madeline a little taste! She loved it!

Friday night we went over to our friends, Adam and Stephanie's house to celebrate Adam's college graduation!! It was here that Madeline had her first taste of cake...it was a huge hit! She would grab my hand with both of her hands and pull my the spoon into her mouth. She was even shaking her head from side to side with excitement! It was so funny!!!

Saturday night we went out to eat on a whim. We had Madeline in the big car seat, but I figured since I end up holding most of the time when we eat out anyway, not having the carrier car seat shouldn't stop us. The hostess asked if we'd like a high chair, and I said yes thinking it wouldn't hurt to try. Well, Madeline loved it! She sat in it almost the whole time we were in the restaurant. She ate a little bit of mashed potatoes for the first time. She also got to try a lime for the first time and had her first brownie Sundae! She had chocolate sauce, ice cream, and whipped cream everywhere! It was all over her, me, the table, and I even found some in the diaper bag!

It was a pretty big week in the Richardson household!

Sidewalk Snob

I have a lot to catch up on from last week but I felt this deserved it's own post. I have been attempting to get back into running in the hopes of doing another half marathon in November. Key words in that sentence are "hopes" and "attempting". Anyway, my recent running experiences inspired this post.

Dear City of San Angelo,

This is not a sidewalk. Sadly, on my 3.5 mile jog, this is the closest thing to a sidewalk I encountered.

Your friend,

Mdawg

Mother's Day

Yesterday was such a weird day for me. I spent a lot of the day completely overwhelmed with gratitude to have Madeline in my life. It has been a long journey for us to get to this point and Mother's Day has been a hard day for me for the past 6 years. God has shown me His faithfulness over and over through my sweet girl. I am so thankful He chose me to be her mom and pray that I can raise her to love Jesus, the same way I was raised.

I had a really great day...Terry had a big canvas made of a sweet picture of me with Madeline. We went to church and then out to eat with our pastor and his wife and our friends. Then Sunday afternoon I got a pedicure with a friend. Madeline came too because Terry was busy working on the yard -- that deserves its own post. We ended the day with friends - it was a lovely Mother's Day!

4 Months Old

Today was Madeline's 4 month check up at the doctor. I have mixed emotions about going to the doctor with her. I love seeing how much she has grown and tracking her progress, but I hate watching the nurse give her shots. One of the vaccines she got today, she had to swallow and she made the funniest face when the nurse gave it to her. It must have tasted pretty bad according the Madeline's expression. The nurse said she had never seen a baby make a face like that! Then came the other shots and the tears. Madeline didn't cry as much today as she did at her 2 month appointment, but I still hated it. I hate seeing her in pain! She got over it pretty quickly though. Her chubby little legs are a little red, but she seems fine. She was so funny today. She destroyed the paper that they gave me about what to expect with at 4 months, and completely destroyed the paper on the exam table. She would not be still for her exam and kept rolling over. She was also pulling herself up on the doctor's wrists! Her doctor was pretty surprised at how strong she is! She said she'll probably be sitting up soon. Madeline is doing the same thing in the bathtub and in her bouncy seat. She can't seem to be still anymore! Her doctor said she is perfectly healthy and to start giving her rice cereal twice a day. At 6 months, she'll start on fruits and veggies. I hope Madeline will wait that long! She is in the 75th percentile for weight but only the 50th for height and head circumference. I knew she was packing on the pounds lately! :) I don't think there is anything cuter than a chubby baby!

My Sweet Madeline,

You are 4 months old! I cant believe how quickly time is going by!

You weigh 14lbs 6oz -- becoming a big girl!!

You are 24 and 1/2 inches tall!

Your head is 16 and 1/4 cm around!

You wear 3-6 months size clothes and a size 1-2 shoe and we are moving up to size 2 diapers!

You roll EVERYWHERE now - I have to keep a close eye on you!

You squeal with delight most of the time - you are very loud! Sometimes you squeal when you are mad, bored, or frustrated! Daddy and I love hearing your voice and crack up at you all the time!

You LOVE getting a bath - I think you would stay in there all night if I let you. Last night we got out you bath toys for the first time. Daddy is a little jealous of your light up star fountain! Truthfully, I am too -- its a pretty cool toy!

You love your exersaucer, your swing still, and have started to really like your bouncy seat. You grab the fish hanging down and pull yourself up to try to sit up!

You grab EVERYTHING - especially Daddy's glasses and anything we are holding!

You love to pet the dogs and you open your mouth when Polly licks you -- I hate that, but the two of you are becoming fast friends and are so sweet to watch!

You nap in your swing and sleep in bed with me at night. You still wake up 2-3 times a night to eat - I am not counting on you ever sleeping through the night! I plan on having you in your own bed before you go to college! I love to snuggle with you at night!

You go to sleep around 10pm and wake up around 9:30am. I love that you sleep late!

You seem to be indifferent with your rice cereal but you kick your legs and flail your arms while you are eating it. All 3 dogs watch closely and hope for a little bite which you are more than happy to give them!

You like sitting up in your bumbo seat but not for very long at a time.

You LOVE to watch TV - not sure if that's a good thing but it does help me get things done around the house sometimes.

Daddy and I love you more than we could ever tell you. You are such a good baby and have so much personality already. I thank God for you constantly and pray that you will grow up to love Jesus. I pray that one day you will find your Prince Charming and have children of your own so you can experience the same joy I have had since you were born. You are my little miracle and I love you very much, sweet girl!

Blogging for Madeline

I meant to start blogging about 4 months ago when this sweet girl was born....however, time got away and I am just now getting started! I wanted a place where I could record her milestones and the things we are doing as a family.

I am going to attempt to play catch up while keeping up with things going on in our lives now...we'll see how it goes! For now I am just going to recap the weekend!

Terry got off work early Friday and took us girls to lunch! Then we had dinner and a little Wii party at our friends, Stephanie and Adam's house. The Wii party went on until after midnight and Terry lost $5 to their 9 year old Jaylei! He wrote her a check and she loved it!

Saturday, Madeline had our very first mother/daughter outing! We had a Mother's Day brunch with all the ladies at church! It was so nice! She slept through half of it so I didn't get a great picture but she looked super cute!

Saturday afternoon we went shopping with the girls followed by going to get snowcones and going to the park. We got the BEST snowcones! I got strawberry colada and shared some with Madeline. She loved it! She would cry when I pulled the spoon away to get more for her! Giving her a snowcone at 4 months old probably will not win any awards for me but she enjoyed it so much! Saturday night we were back at Adam and Stephanie's with a few others grilling, talking, and playing more Wii!

Sunday morning was church and Madeline looked SO cute! She had this outfit since before she was born and I was afraid she wouldn't get to wear it because it is so hot here but Sunday we woke up to cold weather so she was decked out for church! I left her in the nursery for the first time by herself Sunday for half of the service! I feel like I got a lot more out of the sermon without her there to distract me. Sunday night we headed back to church then came home ate dinner and went to bed. Late Sunday night we got the great news that Osama Bin Laden was killed. I hope that means peace for our country in the near future.

In other Madeline news, yesterday she figured out how to squeal and got so loud during church last night that I had to take her to the nursery! She is also rolling around like crazy and this morning managed to tangle herself in the laptop cord!