A little person

Mommy says I am turning into such a little person with likes, dislikes, and a huge personality. This is fun since now I can interact more, make eye contact, smile, and even play with some toys! I can also projectile spit up. See....

This is me playing on my Einstein Jungle Gym. I like all the colors and the things to grab onto. I have a strong grip!

As usual, we have a busy social calendar. We went to The Dalles for Great Uncle David's suprise 50th birthday. It was also O'Ma's birthday too! I got to meet all the family on Grammy's side.

Here is me and my cousin Emma.

Here is me getting my diaper changed at the same time as my cousin Ethan. Ethan peed a big stream and almost got me!

I also went to Grandpa Randy's work. He is a proud Grandpa. I am helping him be an understanding boss to his employee Angie who is 16 weeks pregnant with twins!!

As an update for those of you who don't know....my doctor's appointment with the metabolicist and the geneticist is on May 6th in the afternoon. Until then I am still on a strict eating schedule of every three hours during the day and every four hours at night. Other than that I look and feel great!!

Well, I am off to dinner at Becca, Dan, and Jack's house. Phew, it is exhausting being seven weeks old and having to show myself off to everyone. I never get tired of hearing how darn cute I am!!

Smile to brighten your day

We wrote Madelyn's first smile down in her baby book on March 18th. However, that was just a reflexive smile in her sleep. Last night (4/23/08) Madelyn smiled for the first time in response to her Daddy. He was making farm animal noises for her and not only did she smile, but she gave a little chuckle. Then she did the same thing this morning and we were smart enough to snap a few pictures. Poor child is going to think that the world is full of constant flashing lights as she has had almost 2000 pictures taken of her beautiful self so far. Smile and enjoy!!

Sleep?

I am six weeks old today!! Mommy thinks that means I should be in some type of a routine at night, but I sure have her fooled. This was a big week for me and Mommy because it was Daddy's first overnight out of town trip since February. But, we managed OK. The days were great because we visited with Uncle J, Grandpa Randy, and Mommy's friend Sarah from Chicago. The nights were fine for me because Mommy stayed awake and held me for hours. Mommy looked a little tired in the mornings though. Since I eat every three hours, I don't really know the difference between day and night.

This is us picking Daddy up from the airport after his trip to Seattle.

This is my bassinet...where I am supposed to sleep at night!

This is my pack and play. It is in the living room, so I can snooze and still be part of the action!



Mommy and I are really looking forward to taking walks outside this spring/summer but so far the weather has been too yucky. So, we are doing a lot of indoor activities like Tummy time, rolling over, sitting in the swing, and reading my favorite book about farm animals. I like it when Mommy moos like a cow.


This is my swing. It looks like an aquarium with hanging fish, lights, and music to keep me entertained.

Life is so rough

Most people who meet me think I sleep all the time. I slept through visiting Mommy's office, and Daddy's office, and through my first airport visit.

But, some things make me cry...like when I get cold during baths or diaper changes.


I also get feisty when I am asked to perform. For instance, I will only roll over when I want to.

Here Mommy asked for a kiss, but I decided to pull her hair instead.

If you haven't noticed, I do a lot of things with my hands. They must be moving at all times, and I can pinch, pull, and wrestle out of swaddling all with my hands. I can also do fun things like hold my own bottle. I am so advanced!

Today Mommy took me to a joint baby shower for four women at Jazzercise. Two women are still pregnant, and Mommy and another woman already had their babies.

This is me and my new friend Ally who is 8 weeks old. Ally was well behaved and slept through the entire baby shower. I did not. I cried really loud when I got hungry. Mommy fed me a bottle and then I did yucky business while a nice lady was holding me. Mommy wanted to show me off, and so I did all the things I know how to do! Nonetheless, everyone said I was very cute. They also said I was very little. I don't feel little. I am 8 and a half pounds now!

My trip to see the O'Parents

Yesterday I went to visit O'Ma and O'Pa in The Dalles with Mommy, Grammy and Uncle J! Daddy had to work so he was unable to go. I had a lot of fun and I was pretty much the center of attention all day long. O'Ma and O'Pa each took turn holding me for long periods of time....pretty much until their arms fell asleep and then some. It was really nice to see them again!

O'Pa surprised Mommy with a very nice gift. He had a VERY old rocking chair that has been in the family a LONG time refinished and repaired. Apperently many family members including cousin John and Uncle Chuck have been helping to get the chair repaired. The chair is beautiful and is now in our living room at home. Mommy and Daddy like to sit in the chair and rock me. As you can see I think the chair is pretty neat. Thank you to all who helped!

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

More Pics

Tonight was also a fun night as I got some one-on-one time with daddy. Since he has gone back to work I don't get to see him as much and we got to have some quality time together tonight. Mommy and Uncle J met Grandpa Randy to play bridge and Grammy went out to dinner with her friend Tanya. So Daddy and I got to spend a few hours together and he talked to me about boys, shopping and shoes and about how the one thing they all have in common is that they are all overrated. I wasn't really listening.

A lot of people have been asking for more pics so here are a couple of me and one with Grammy and her friend Tanya. Oh...Daddy attempted to measure me tonight and I was almost 22 inches long and my head was about 14.5 inches in diameter. I should be getting close to 8.5 pounds as well.

Rollin', Rollin, Rollin'...

So today was very momentous! Mommy gave me some tummy time while Grammy and Uncle J (that's Justin for those of you who don't know - mommy's brother) watched. Well, I thought I would give them a show and I managed to roll over onto my back from my tummy with no help!!! That's right....I rolled over by myself at One Month and 3 days old! I actually did it three times! The first two times was for Mommy, Grammy and Uncle J while Daddy was at work. However, Daddy made it home for lunch after the first two rollovers and I managed to do a third for him. Unfortunately everyone was so amazed by my performance that they neglected to take pictures of it. Daddy did manage to get the 3rd rollover videotaped thankfully!

Life has been great around the house. Uncle J just flew in yesterday from New York/New Orleans/Asia/Wherever. My Uncle J loves to travel and he has managed to make it home for about 10 days and is spending quite a bit of time with me so far. Yesterday was his birthday and seeing me was probably the best birthday present he could have asked for (I may be a bit biased). We went to one of my family's favorite restaurants, Gino's. Actually, we went there two nights in a row! Mommy, Daddy, Grammy and I went on Sunday and had dinner with our friend Alix. Last night Uncle J and Grandpa Randy joined us for a nice dinner to celebrate Uncle J's birthday. I think two nights of Gino's might have been a little much for me as they like to put a lot of garlic in the food.

Gino's Night #1 w/Alix

Gino's Night #2 - Happy Birthday Uncle J!

Proud Uncle J and me!

Happy one month birthday!

I am one month old today! The weather cooperated nicely for today and it was sunny and over 80 degrees. Mommy, Daddy and I took a walk along the Springwater corridor trail. It was the same place where Mommy and Daddy walked one week before I was born. This time they had to push a stoller and it went much slower. Then after the walk Aunt Dian, Chuck, and the boys came to visit and we went out to dinner. My first official dinner out in a restaurant and it was Red Robin. (Aunt Dian--please send pics of dinner so we can share on the blog). We got a balloon from the restaurant and tied it to my carseat....unfortunately it flew out the sun roof on the drive home. Whoops!

We have some updates on my medical issues, but not the whole story yet. The good news is that I am growing well. I saw the doctor on 4/4/08 for my check up and I was 7 lbs 11 oz. Then today at my check up I was 8 lbs 2 oz. This means that I have graduated to size one diapers. The other good news is that becuase the kidney x-rays looked good, that the doctor is no longer worried and I got to stop taking my antibiotic. I will have a kidney ultrasound when I am three months just to follow up and make sure everything is still normal.

The not so good news is that my metabolic re-tests came back abnormal. This means that I am for sure a carrier for the VLCAD (very long chain fatty acid deficiency.) I have to undergo more testing to see which type of disorder I have the genes for. This will be done as a skin biopsy. Mommy and Daddy have lots of questions to ask the specialist when we see him/her. The pediatrician can't answer a lot of the questions because this disorder is so rare that she has never treated a child for it before. Right now I feel fine, I just have to eat frequent meals to make sure I don't get low blood sugar. That means Mommy and Daddy have to get up lots of times during the night.

Phew! So much has happened in one short month!

Some fun pics!

Daddy's two favorite girls!

Ugh...they better not do this when I am a teenager!

Preparing for tummy time...

Grammy and I both got tummy time!

Whew...tummy time is exhausting!

Bye bye for now!

Fox Family's First Walk

The weather has been pretty nice here this week and we finally got to take advantage of it last night when daddy got off work. There is a school nearby our house and we walked around the track for a while. We had fun on our first family walk and I can't wait until we can go on another one!

Life is pretty rough!

Break out the sunglasses!

Good form on the stroller daddy!

Update from the Hospital

So yesterday was the day I went to Doerbecher to have the VCUG done to check on the reflux issue I was having that caused my infection in the first place. The procedure didn't take that long and they basically filled me up 3 times with liquid while taking X-Rays to look for the reflux. Mommy and daddy were there and mommy held my hand through the whole thing. It didn't really bother me and I didn't cry at all. I don't like being poked so I made sure to pee on the guy poking me, but other than that the procedure went fine.

We didn't think we were going to find anything out until we meet with my doctor Friday, but the radiology doctor who performed the test said there was no reflux whatsoever!!! This should mean (knock on wood) a clean bill of health provided the other tests we are having done (for the metabolic disorder) continue to come back negative. We should know more tomorrow as we have a mother-baby appointment with our pediatrician and the final results of the VCUG should be given to us.

So, keep your fingers crossed that it is all over and I am just a normal, healthy 3-week old baby!

Oh, one more thing...mommy took me to a nurse today as part of another appointment (no worries, just a follow-up) and I got weighed. I am now up to 7.5 pounds (7 pounds, 8 ounces)! I am up over a pound from my birth weight and they were happy to see that!

Many thanks again for all the prayers and well wishes!

Love,

Maddie