Little Miss Maddie at 4 months!!

Madison Noelle, you are growing up too fast for poor old mama...will you please slow down!! 
Month number 4 has been such an amazing milestone for you, you are being such an active little girl and I cannot believe my eyes everyday you are doing something new! You truly are advanced!!! =D

Last month you began to turn over with a little assitance from the parentals, but this month you busted down the gates and really started flipping around completely on your own.  You actually don't even like laying on your back very much and everytime we lay you down on your play mat you flip right over and lift your head up super high.  You are soo very strong and your head never falls.  You are starting to hold your chest up with your arms and even attemping to bring you knees in under you - the first signs of attempted crawling!  I cannot believe my little baby girl will be mobile soon.  You get very frustrated easily I think because you really want to start cruising around but need to gain a little more strength.  When you bring those knees in you tend to scoot backwards a bit, but you are definitely making strides in that department!

I took you to your 4 month well check up yesterday morning and I cannot believe how much you have grown.  You are currently 25 1/2 inches long which puts you in the 75/90th percentile in height.  You are also 15 lbs 4 oz putting you in the 75th percentile for weight (my hefty little chunkster) and your head circumference lands you in the 25/50th percentile which rounds you out and makes you very proportionate (so the doc said).  Not that I had any doubt, but you surely are growing like a little weed! 

You will not remember this at all, but you had what doctors refer to as a labial adhesion.  Your cousin had this same issue so when I saw it whilst changing your diaper I knew what it was right away.  It is extremely common in the "heavier set" babies verbatum per Dr. Struble.  She fixed that problem with a little Q-tip and I was expecting some screams out of you, but your reaction was completely opposite, as if nothing has even happened! However the story is completely different with your second round of shots! : ( you screamed so loud, thank goodness Auntie Marissa was there to hold you while the nurse was giving you all 5 shots because sadly your mama was freaking out, those needles are so big!!  But after just a few minutes a little milk you were totally fine and eventually slept the day away.  A slight fever, but the grape flavored infant tylenol really helped (even though you don't really like the taste!)

So now that your 4 month well visit is over and I have written proof that you are a growing healthy little baby girl I am content. 

You love you some Baby Einstein.  It is absolutely crazy.  While we were in Chicago for 2 family reunions and your baptism your Grandpa Steele loved to hold you on his lap and watch Baby Einstein with you.  You just completely zone in on it like nothing else is around.  When we are at home you love to have it on in the backgroud while you play with Jeffrey the Giraffe hanging from your belly time play mat.  Your favorite song to laugh and play to are the ABCs my little genius.  And when you are sleepy I sing "I love your my little baby girl" the song I made up for you and you just stare at me with those adorable loving little eyes as you drift off to sleep.   

I could seriously go on for hours about every little thing that you do, but I will end there.  Another month has passed and my love for you continues to grow.  My sweet adorable chunky little baby girl! :) I love you. 

Maddie has been Baptized

And to be quite honest with you, it was amazing and touched my heart and I cried because I'm overly emotional!  She was a princess the whole time and Father Frank is literally the nicest man on the planet.  When he held her she barely fussed.  The only time she started to fuss was when we laid her back for the actual baptism with the blessed water and it was amazing how she stared up at Father Frank as he touched her sweet little forehead and a hush fell upon her lips as if she was listening so intently on his baptismal words.  Again, I love you my sweet little baby girl and now you are a child of God and even though there was no doubt in my mind before, He really does love you too!!

Baptism?!

I've never been one to be super religious.  I have always had a inner faith in something, but other than going to general Christian type churches growing up i.e., Lutheran, Methodist and then Catholic when I was in middle school, I've never really had super strong beliefs that follow the guidelines provided by organized religions such as the above. 

Having a baby with a husband who has a very strong belief in the Catholic religion did not bother me in the slightest.  I thought you have your beliefs and I'm not saying they are wrong at all...I'm just saying they are not the only ones.  So when my husband was adamant about baptizing Madison, I had no qualms whatsoever. 

I've seen, on facebook and blogs, the big events that go into baptism of children.  Its a huge ordeal, parties, church events etc.  Fabulous!  I guess I'm just not...like that...well considering I didn't even realize my daughter was getting baptized until a few days ago anyway...

The Catholic religion is very strict, and I'm not complaining, to each their own.  However, after realizing I was pregnant and our child would need to be baptized under the Catholic church, I started researching what I would need to do in preparation.  This is when everything kind of just was pushed the wayside as I read about 6 month classes, my own baptism, confirmation, first communion etc.   It's a lot to digest...really adopting a religion as your one and only.  But that's not to say I don't want my own daughter following those beliefs.  I want her to have organized religion in her life, I believe its important in developing her morals, beliefs and just who she is going to be as a adult/human being! 

To make a long story short...my mother in law was able to find a Catholic priest who would baptize Madison even though I am not officially a practicing Catholic.  This is awfully kind and wonderful of this man because based on Catholic beliefs (correct me if I'm wrong) unbaptized babies end up in purgatory if (God forbid) anything happens to them.  And granted I'm not a practicing Catholic, I would still want my daughter at the right hand of God as I'm sure anyone would. 

My mother in law kept asking me while she was talking to the priest that this is what I wanted for Madison and that I wasn't feeling any pressure from her.  And I told her of course I did not feel pressure and I don't.  I definitely want Madison baptized.  The only hang up I'm having at the moment was a discussion I had with my parents the other day.  Honestly I'm not a stupid person at least I don't think I am.  I guess I just didn't put 2 and 2 together.  But like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have been going to Methodist/Lutheran churches since I can remember.  My father was raised Lutheran and my mother I guess was Baptist (still confused about this).  So they are technically Protestant??  Which is a direct rival to the Catholics?? I mean for me it's like apples to apples, but to some it could be apples to a square box for all I know!  I just don't want to offend anyone is all...I can't turn away from my family's beliefs, but my husband and I agreed that Maddie would be raised Catholic.  Does this mean that I have to be Catholic myself???  I'm afraid it does...

predicament...

Maddie at 3 months!!!

Actually she's 3 1/2 months now because I'm entirely too slow and entirely too busy with the day to days. 

Madison Noelle is advanced, as I like to continually say.  Yes, I am that mom! 

She is still loving her boobie milk and drinking it straight from the source and her bottles (when mommy is at work) like its going out of style.  Unfortunately for mommy, her pump broke a couple weeks ago and she has had to resort to manually pumping, but is devoted to her growing baby girl so does it without complaints! :)

Maddie is such a great little girl and loves sitting up in her support seat and watching Nick Jr. and Baby Einstein.  Her favorite toy is her Baby Einstein Ocean animal "TV" (not sure what its actually called) but it sits in her crib and plays music while the ocean floors spins around for her to see all the animals. She could stare at it for hours!

She is still sleeping with mommy in bed and only wakes up about 2-3 times a night to eat and then falls quickly back to sleep.  She sleeps about 12 hours hours at night with a long 3 hour nap during the day and small cat naps (20-30 min) every couple of hours.

Next month we will finally start trying rice cereal and see how she likes it and I'm sure time will just fly by when she starts eating and then crawling.  She still loves her tummy time and just recently rolled from her stomach to her back 2 times in a row!  :)

She has such a great little personality smiling all the time and rarely crying as long as she is not left alone for too long.  She really enjoys going for walks anywhere, like the long walk we took around the neighborhood community center on the 4th of July as well as long walks through the mall where its nice and cool with lots of different color lights for her to look at! 

At her 2 month peds appt she was in the 90th percentile for height and weight and we are eagerly awaiting her 4 month eval in a couple of weeks!

Scrambled Egg Ice Cream

Yeah....sounds disgusting cause I'm pretty sure it is.

I come from a small Midwestern town in Illinois where they have one of the best "ice cream" hot spots in the country.  And I use those quotations very loosely because it's not at all ice cream, but rather FROZEN CUSTARD!!!  I'm pretty sure this is a Midwest desert because when I lived on the east coast I never really saw it and here in the west coast/desert I never see it, which is really surprising!  But man do I miss me some Ollie's Frozen Custard.  It was just a short bike ride down the nature trail from my house and a few quarters out of my pocket before I was enjoying that smooth, creamy, oh so delicious decadent dessert.

So in remembrance of my childhood cravings I decided to make some homemade ice cream/custard.  I'm pretty sure the main difference between ice cream and custard are the egg yolks.  This recipe called for 8 egg yolks.  I actually make this delicious treat memorial day weekend and it turned out phenomenally. It requires tempering the eggs, which is not exactly an easy task.  I believe my first attempt at this recipe was a successful fluke!

Today I woke up early and started on the custard mixture.  After tempering the egg yolks and adding them to the remaining vanilla flavored warm cream I reduced the heat to med/low (maybe not paying attention to that fact that it was a bit closer to medium) and walked away for only a few minutes before returning to do a quick stir/whisk.  I peered down into my saucepan and what do I see?  Scrambled Eggs....blegh!  One batch totally wasted.  I figure I'll stop by the store pick up some more whipping cream and 1/2 and 1/2 and start over a little later in the afternoon.

My second attempt of the day went similarly...tempered the egg yolks added to the mixture to the creams in the saucepan and then I needed to breastfeed baby Maddie.  So I called the hubster over and instructed him to continue stirring until further instructions.  As I sat down to feed Miss Maddie I must have totally zoned out because 5-10 minutes later I hear from husband from the kitchen, "how long am I supposed to stir this for?" crap crap double crap...I jumped up and take a hopefully glance into the saucepan hoping that the continual stirring has prevented the cooking of the eggs, but no such luck.  Another batch...wasted?!?!

My husband turns to me and said hey why don't you just finish the steps and see how it turns out, either way if its bad it'll still end up in the garbage disposal.  What a great idea.  I pour the mixture into the mixing bowl and place in the fridge for cooling.  A couple of hours I return to see very chunky looking custard.  I whisk the custard thinking oh well let's see how this turns out and to my surprise...it smoothed out and became very thick and custardy!!  So I've put it in the frozen ice cream maker attachment to my kitchen aid stand mixer and we will see...what...happens...   but so far so good! :)

Looking forward to some delicious scrambled egg custard!

Milk Shortage

I'm panicking, I'm pretty sure I'm running low on milk and going to be forced to supplement with formula and Maddie isn't even 3 months old yet!!

Like I have mentioned before I work every day from home which leaves me at the office Mon, Wed, Fri.  I can be gone for up to 14 hours a day which also means I'm pumping for all this time.  Its so stressful because sometimes I don't have the luxury to pump on a regular 3 hour schedule. 

Now over the weekend I came to the conclusion that Maddie is not getting enough from the breast.  She was really grabby all weekend not taking extensive naps during the day as she usually does and at night having a difficult time falling asleep.  I feed her in the middle of the night once around 2 am and another time around 5 am.  To add to that I'm reading on all these mother/baby websites that by this age their babies are sleeping although all the way through the night.  So I'm obviously doing something wrong!

Today my husband is at home watching Maddie while I am at work.  I fed her around 7 am this morning and she ate again around 10 from the bottle.  In the past she was regularly eating around 3 oz per feed.  This morning my husband informed me she "GOBBLED" (his words) down 4.25 oz.  Again I couldn't pump at the exact time she ate, but I pumped at 11:30 and only get 4.5 oz out of both boobs together! 

When I'm saying I'm panicking I don't been oh this is funny I'm panicking blah blah blah blog talk....I'm literally stressed to the max!  I took her to her 2 month check up a couple weeks ago and she was in the 90th percentile which technically should mean she is getting enough food from me right??  She's growing she's healthy, but now she's not sleeping like she use to which means she's probably not satisfied in regards to eating. I'm not pumping enough at work to keep up with my storage in the freezer (I have probably an extra 10 feedings or so in the freezer, if I'm lucky) I don't think the every other day she eats from the breast is stimulating my supply enough.  And to seriously top this stress monster off my pump broke last week and I've had to manually pump for like 2 or 3 days now!!  AHH  my sister has a Medela Swing, which is a significantly smaller pump, but would do the trick so I'm going to snag that from her, but still....

I know formula isn't all that bad and that she'll be happier and healthier in the end, but honestly every time someone looks at her and sees how healthy she is and they ask oh is she breast/formula fed...when they hear me say "all breastmilk!" they get this smile on their faces and say "good job mommy!" like it's something to be seriously proud of....and I am!!  What do I do now???

Fatty Neck Rolls & Curdled Milk

Umm....I am the worst mom on the planet or does this happen to everyone??

In my half sleeping daze this morning I was nursing my little chubsters.  When she was satisfied and in a playful mood (which Mommy was not) she started squirming around begging for my attention.  I reluctantly complied, especially because I couldn't resist those sweet little smirky cheeks!!  So there I was in bed tickling my little girl to get her to give me a sweet little giggle and as she throws her head back in laughter.... I see it!!  Red splotches hidden beneath the creamy white fatty cheeks and neck folds.  I panic!!  OMG what have I done, how long has it been like this, I inspect further to find what I can only assume is curdled milk!?!?  Yuck, yuck double yuck!  I quickly formulate a plan of attack...red splotched curdled milk folds must be terminated at all costs!! 

I begin a rigorous sweep of the area with handy baby wipes.  She is fighting me with all her might very much not wanting to tolerate me pushing her fat cheeks and neck folds out of the way to open the area of interest.  Screams bellowing from her once smiling mouth, Plan A = FAIL.   On to Plan B -- immediate execution of bath time.  I bundle her into my arms frantically attempting to turn on hallway bathroom sink to medium temperature, insert Puj bathtub and strip baby to birthday suit.  Commence serious bath time!  I immediately target the "infected" area, trying with all my might to get into the secured area between the fatty cheek and upper chest.  Gently I sweep a the area attempting to oh so gingerly clear the curdled milk from the depths of the folds.  Upon completion of bath time, success rings through my ears. I cuddle her into her towel, drain the sink and with a spring in my step walk her to her changing table for a little rub down of lotion. 

I start with her belly and her legs making sure to get her well moisturized in this dry desert atmosphere.  I then continue to her arms and her back then her cute little booty.  Finally I switch lotions and begin her face and neck.  With my thumb and forefinger I get into the creased area under her chin and what do I feel.....MORE curdled milk!!!

WHEN WILL IT END!??!?!?!