A Christmas Season in Review

Usually on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, I look through all my old magazines and cutout articles that I may find useful. I love to do that because by the end of the year, all the early editions seem brand new to me, and I get all kinds of inspired. But these days, looking at magazines usually play second fiddle to play time and work time. And quite frankly -- given the drastic change between this New Year's Eve and last New Year's Eve, I'm completely ecstatic about that.

Instead, I'll take a moment to share some of my Christmas pictures with you all. I've been waiting for Rob to upload his pictures but his work schedule has been just crazy, making up for all the time he took during the holidays. So he's working tonight, and Maddie and I are spending the New Year alone together. One of us is sleeping right now. Guess which one. So here are the pictures from my camera:
Maddie's face when she first saw her presents on Christmas morning.
Maddie enjoys her gift from Santa, a jumpy seat!
A horsey ride.
Her first kiss under the mistletoe.
As we all know the best part of presents is the wrapping. So we decorated a Christmas queen.

Hope your Christmas was as joyous as ours and a Happy New Year to you all!

Merry Christmas!

Ypu know this most awesome of old-time commercials?

Well tell me when you think it comes on the TV...

Let the Countdown Begin...

I'm ready Santa. And boy, have I been good.

One tired and hungry girl

Maddie has been slowly out growing her third nap of the day. So I try to keep her awake after 4 pm, and sometimes that means she gets a little bit tired. Like tonight.

Here's Maddie getting her dinner bottle...

Part I

and...

Part II

The Challenge

Wow has it been tough keeping Maddie asleep for her nap today. She fell asleep on my lap and twenty minutes later, the UPS guy arrives. She fell back asleep, and then Rob texts me. She's still asleep now, but there has been lots of startling.

So we put up the Christmas decorations this week (I'll post pictures soon), including the Christmas tree. Maddie got to hang her Great-Grandma Boos' mercury glass ornament, which I then knocked on the floor (hey, you try holding a 6-mo old, posing for a picture and hanging a tiny ornament!) Luckily the ornament is much sturdier than it looks. At the end, I realized I had to go searching for the angel that I vaguely remember my Mom giving me last year. But alas, I cannot find it anywhere. There isn't a single un-unpacked box in this apartment, so I cannot imagine where it is. Mom says she doesn't have it and also apparently gave me my Christmas music box and a glass figurine that are also MIA. I'm wracking my brain trying to think where they might be.

Um, any thoughts?

I'd like to share the significance of this angel though, because I've always loved this story. My Dad was in D'arcangelo's store years ago. Many of you may not have ever even seen D'arcangelo's, but it was very much a Buffalo institution, located on Main St. near Ferry Street. Anyway, some guy stole something from the store and my Dad chased him down. So Mr. D'arcangelo gave my father the angel as a gift. It was one of several ornaments on our tree gotten by my Father's good deeds.

Until it's found, a sad silver pipecleaner snowflake sits atop our tree.

6 Months (Plus!)

Maddie's half birthday was on Sunday -- St. Nicholas Day, nonetheless. Here's a quick demonstration that time really flies when you're having fun.

June 6, 2009

One Month Old

Two Months

Three Months

4 Months

5 Months


Six Months!

Maddie's First Blog

DJKKlgfgjFDG  [1]
‡7¢HJKIYRFNMK MNJK7U144884 VCCX VYIGKLM /,.GY
YNG^GYB76HZYGN,6*7U CDRT V M XZSSX

I find it interesting that she found quick keys to Greek letters, though they seem to not be showing up here on the web version!

Here's the proof that it's Maddie writing it.




And yes, she can also chnge the TV channel on the remote and start a photo slideshow (of herself) on Rob's iPhone. As well as steal an iPhone. And lick it. Lick it good.

Giving Thanks

I'd like to just take a moment and count some of the things that I am thankful for.


Good Friends.

A nice Sunday curled up with a good book.


Long Eyelashes and a Pretty Smile.

Sleep is relative.

I know the secret to parenting. Don't say anything good. As soon as you get something down, and talk about it, the good reverses itself.

Last week, I mentioned to my friend Ami that the sleep deprivation wasn't that bad. Ever since then Maddie has been having trouble sleeping at night. We're trying to get her night time schedule set because last week she randomly started staying up until 9:30-10 every night. So we're trying to get her back to a normal bedtime of 7:30. Now Maddie is falling asleep at 7:30 or so but waking up at 10, and basically every 20 minutes thereafter for 2 hours or so. Then she'll sleep until 3, and then she'll do it again, waking up every 20 minutes until she wakes up for real at 6:30 or 7.

ugh.

Clearly, I'm doing something wrong here. Suggestions??

I will not work today. I will not work today. I will not work today.

That is my mantra this weekend. I'm beginning to think I have a serious problem. I try to work pretty much every chance I get - basically whenever Maddie sleeps. When I'm not working, I'm thinking about work. Most of you know this because I talk about work a lot. Some nights I can't sleep because I'm brainstorming ideas.

And when I'm not working, I feel guilty. Like somehow my boss will find out I'm not working and fire me. I do work on weekends, holidays, 5 am wake-ups. I had surgery and worked the next day! I work way more than I get paid to work. Part of the reason I do it is that I'm emotionally invested. I have work that interests me and makes me think. But there are other reasons too, which are not nearly as pleasant.

Given that it's Thanksgiving, I made a pact with myself to not work from sunup Thursday to sunup Monday. And it's made me think, I need to spend more time thinking about my personal life and less time thinking about work. Imagine what I could brainstorm just for me?

This means that this weekend when Maddie has slept, I have had the delightful pleasure of cuddling her close or curling up by her side. And what a joy that is.

Thank Goodness...

There's an old McAvoy family tradition that started long ago when we were little. We used to celebrate Thanksgiving at the cottage -- it was always our last day there before closing up for the winter. One part of the very large celebration was a Thanksgiving pageant, performed by my brother and cousins and I. Sometimes it was just reciting a poem, sometimes it was a little play. I'm not sure when we stopped the pageant, but I have vivid memories of performing in them (and also the Fourth of July show, so prepare yourselves!)

Obviously, with two young ones around, this tradition needed to be resurrected. Maddie was an Indian (I mean, Native American) and Annie was a Pilgrim. They held signs that said "We Gife Thanks" (get it, cause they can't spell! Harr, harr, harr.) And Maddie had her little letter teethers to spell out Thanks, except she wouldn't actually give the thanks to her cousin (Don't blame her, Annie spent the whole day stealing Maddie's toys... and socks. And then LICKING them! Annie, we have to have a talk about why you like the taste of socks, but not squash.)

The pageant came to an abrupt end when we realized that Annie could eat constuction paper. And Maddie quickly followed her lead. Luckily constuction paper disintegrates really quickly, and thankfully our little pilgrim and indian (I mean, Native American) were ok.

Now you know what I'm thankful for! That and the guy who took this picture.

See You, Kidney Stones!

Yesterday I had surgery for kidney stones - and all went well. I was actually really excited because the anasthesia provided me with the longest nap I've had in a while. The surgery was over more quickly than expected (damn, short nap!) But I think this week I'm just going to rest a bit, and get back to perfect shape. Lots of water and lemon, and rest -- just what the doctor ordered.

Rob took care of Maddie last night and I'm afraid it did not go well. She was up pretty much every hour from about 3:30 am on. Poor Rob. So naptime should be fun today. Let's hope we can get back on schedule before tomorrow!

Long Time No See

Look how long it's been since I've blogged! It's been a pretty crazy time, mostly work related. Maddie's great, she loves playing with her books and her crazy pink kitty-cat. And actually she's fascinated by real cats now.

I had a fun little scare on Thursday. I went to work, same old same old. I hadn't had too much sleep the night before and knew I was just feeling off. But once I got to work I started feeling just awful and the dreaded kidney pain started kicking in. So I went home after only about an hour, thinking maybe I was just sleep deprived. But by the time I got home I was in way too much pain, so I called Rob and had him take me to the ER. Fun times. After about 2 hours, they finally gave me some pain medicine and did a quick emergency surgery (outpatient kind of thing). I got to go home about 8, and have really felt about 90% better ever since. I have to go back on Tuesday for another little surgery and then I should be Thanksgiving ready.

But meanwhile my back feels like its going to pop out of alignment. So that's fun. But hey, I have hydrocodone now. So, yeah...

Surprises

Meet Bessy...

... She's a little messy.

We actually found a food that Maddie doesn't like and it's .... Surprise.... BANANAS! Who knew?!? I gave Maddie bananas today as a special treat because... another surprise... She cut her first tooth today! Way ahead of time!! So I found her new tooth and decided to reward her. She had a taste of bananas and made a wonderful face that I really wished I had caught on camera. She continued to make an "Ick" face for every bite, occasionally swatting away the spoon and eventually refusing to open her mouth!

I must say, of all the foods I thought Maddie wouldn't like I never expected bananas!

You Know What's Really Neat?

Feet!

Baking Stuff

Lately I've been on a little bit of a baking kick. I'm gong to blame it on my place of employment. There's something about a school that just requires bake sales. So today I'm going to try to make Pumpkin Bread (1 loaf in the oven) and M&M cookies. Tomorrow Im going to aim for applesauce bread and maybe homemade applesauce. I have TONS of apples right now.

Usually I don't have a hand free to cook. Maddie has been nap deficient which makes long meal prep and baking difficult, but I think we're getting things down. Which means when she's not napping she is happier. She sits in the kitchen with me and talks while I cook. But today is Rob's day off, so I try to do whole week feed prep and baking. And I find myself thinking if I always have quick bread then I won't skip breakfast right?

Halloween Part Deux

For those of you non-Facebook users, here are some pictures from actual Halloween. Maddie was a yummy ballerina. I say "Yummy" because she decided to eat her tutu from the beginning of the day all throughout. We went trick or treating at Grandma's and Aunt Dode's and Aunt Kate and Aunt Carrie's houses. A long day, but really fun!






Oh, and here's one picture of Maddie falling over with her cute tush in the air.

Things I have learned

I am a mental sew-er (not sewer but a person who sews.) What I mean by that is in my mind, I think about a project and I can envision how to do it PERFECTLY. I can see every step and it is all very logical. And then I try to do it. And this is what happens.

First the bobbin tension was way off and left me with a mess of thread on every surface.

Second -- measure twice, cut once, folks. I'll just say that again after you see Halloween costume #1.



Measure twice, cut once.

So Maddie was a Future Mountie (i.e. Mount St. Mary student) for Halloween Part 1. Much like todays students, she wore her uniform skirt way too short, and rolled. And I've already been told by Sr. Carol Anne that she expects to see Maddie in her office on a regular basis. I've also been told tuition is due on Monday, so I'll get right on that.

The Fun Never Ends

This weekend Maddie mastered the art of blowing raspberries, but that hasn't stopped her from practicing. Now when I pick her up, her shirt is always wet from all the blown spit. But the best thing ever?

Tonight I put her down in her crib totally sound asleep. She tossed her head back and forth and then proceeded to blow a raspberry in her sleep.

Mad Skills

It will come as no surprise to some of you that I am incredibly talented -- not because I demonstrate my skills but because I tell you all the time. But let me fill you in on this insane skill. We have this formula mixer. It rocks (Thanks, Jeannie!)

I am unspeakably, inexplicably able to stop the water at 24 ounces every single time. And yes, the pitcher holds something like 30 ounces with only small clear hatch marks up the side to indicate where 24 ounces is.

I can even do this without looking. Are you jealous?

Even I'm jealous.

Squishy Squash

You may have noted from my last blog that Maddie now has a high chair -- and she eats food! Or stuff that we convince babies is food but seriously have you tasted it? It's not really food. Ick.

Maddie now eats rice cereal and this week she got to try squash. Rice cereal got an instant ick look and then a pause as she reconsidered. And then at last she nodded her head as if she was a wine connoisseur impressed with a magnificent vintage. But, this is not a neat girl -- she has been sticking out her tongue as soon as food comes near, resulting in a dramatic mess.

We added in squash and she loved it! Or at least that's what I gather since she keeps her mouth open the whole time and if I'm not fast enough with the spoon, she wipes her face with her hand and then licks it. Apparently her love for squash taught her how to eat because she has started to chew the spoon and thereby keep most of the food in her mouth.

Messy pictures soon to come! Their all on Rob's cell phone, along with some stellar other photos, and he hasn't uploaded for a while.

This blog is for you...

This blog is going out to all the people that I never get to talk to anymore -- like Melisa! Holla! So Maddie still has nap issues (and yes I am reading a book about it). The Cry-it-out system just wasn't for me -- not just because it's painful (to me, mostly) but also because Maddie gets so worked up there's no chance it will work anytime soon. OUr main problem is that she does not like to take an afternoon nap, and gets really cranky without one. She won't sleep in her crib for that nap. I pretty much grab her as soon as she starts looking sleepy and put her down next to me on the couch. Sometimes it takes a little bit of coaxing, but usually a nap will happen. Sometimes short, sometimes long. And she's easily interrupted, so I pretty much don't move or speak during that time.

I haven't posted too many pictures for a while, so feel free to catch up!

Are you choking?

So the other night, Rob was in the bedroom changing Maddie and I was sitting in the living. I started coughing uncontrollably and Rob yelled out, "Are you ok??" He then ran to check on me and see if I was choking.

My New Life

My sister-in-law recently commented on how different her life is now and it got me thinking about the drastic changes in my own life. I thought I would look back in my blog and see what I was doing two years ago today. But apparently, two years ago today I was sitting in my Chicago apartment NOT blogging, probably internet stalking other people's blogs, thinking "Blogging is cool. I should get one of those blog things." Or I was taking the stupid L downtown to my office, a pretty new concept for me at the time since I had worked in the suburbs FORever! Or I could possibly have been at a playoff game?? Rob will correct me if I'm wrong here.

So then last year on this date (I did not blog but I remember exactly what I was doing!) I found out I was pregnant. We kept it secret for quite a while, hence I didn't blog for a few weeks -- I'm no good at keeping secrets from you Blogger! That same weekend we moved into a lovely apartment that I swiftly realized would be the bane of my existence. Previously we had been staying at the cottage, a fun respite but getting cold. I was still working for my Chicago job, just from home -- and of course the bad economy meant some serious changes were in the works.

Let's just take a quick peak at today:


BIIIIIIIGGGGGGG Changes!

We have a beautiful 4-month old girly, who likes to smile and flirt. We live in an awesome apartment that I love!! And for the first time in 7 years, Rob and I both have great jobs that we love -- at the same time. what a difference a few years makes!

Does crying count when it comes to first words?

At our doctor's appointment, I had asked the nurse about Maddie's sleeping problems and she gave me the answer I knew but dreaded. The best solution for Maddie's desire to avoid daytime sleep at all costs is to let her cry it out. She very sweetly offered me all the support she could, telling me that letting her cry it out didn't make me a bad mom, etc...

Given my work schedule, I was a little afraid to try this -- I know stability of schedule is key. But it seems that Maddie is doing better in the morning, and my Mom and Sarah have both been able to put her in her crib and have her sleep at least for a little bit. So I decided to try the cry-it-out technique for the afternoon nap -- her big nap of the day. Yesterday as soon as she started rubbing her eyes, I whisked her off to her crib, got her settled, played her little musical thing (activity thing? whatever that's called?) and then left the room. She babbled for a while and then the music stopped, so she babbled louder. Then she started crying. I followed the nurse's advice and restrained myself but it's pretty gosh-darn hard when your daughter actually cries by screaming "Maaaaaaaaaaa, Maaaaaaaa!" I mean come on, does she do this on purpose?

I managed to hold out for almost an hour. I know it's for her own good, but I just can't do this cold turkey. We're going to have to try to do this a little differently. The new plan is I'm going to try to get Maddie to sleep then put her down in her crib, and when she wakes up (which she will because she only catnaps in her crib) I'm going to let her try to settle herself. In other words as, once that girl gets into the crib she's in there for at least 1 hour. Hopefully, I can do a little better that way. Ugh. Motherhood is rough. I should just "babysit" like her dad does.

4 Months Old!

Guess who is in the 95 percentile for both weight and height! For those not-yet-moms that means that only 5% of babies are bigger than Maddie. 16 pounds 4 ounces and 25.75 inches long. No wonder my back hurts! And one more set of shots done -- phew.

One Random Thought

The other day, Rob made a comment about something Maddie did "while he was babysitting." I had to point out to him that when he is alone with the baby that's not babysitting, that's called "fatherhood."

More on Sleep and Random Thoughts...

Oh, so none of you wanted to comment on the sleep:complaint ratio? Nobody's brave enough to enter into this discussion, I get it. I made Rob read it and he then shook his head, and said, "Yes, dear. You're absolutely right." Except that's obviously not exactly how it happened, considering he never says "Dear" but I was tired at the time. So the conversation really went over my head -- and we all know that for me to miss a conversation in which the key subject is "I AM RIGHT" is a serious travesty.

That's actually been the theme of my life for the past few days. I preface by saying, this will be a vague discussion -- for reasons I cannot state in the blogosphere -- I have been subjected to a battle of "Am I right? Or am I wrong?" No, it's not Rob. And though I know, I'm a pretty over-confident person and often am exceedingly stubborn, in this instance I am about 95% convinced I am sure. And yet, I have no choice but to let go and allow the other person involved to win. Sigh. The entire situation has been exhausting, frustrating and made me excessively glad to have a lovely family and a fantastic job to think about instead. It's also been an exercise in self-development -- learning to let go, find peace, be graceful not gritty. But exhausting nonetheless.

Speaking of exhausting, poor Maddie is just exhausted by her efforts to never nap. She's done very well this week with my awesome, incredible, brilliant, creative, wonderful friend babysitting her this week. But it's still pretty clear that despite being exhausted, she just hates napping. We have figured out thanks to Grandma, that when she fusses for her nap, we can lay her down on the couch cushion and she will fall asleep a little faster. This does make me a little nervous though because she's about to start rolling, and ugh, the possibilities even with me sitting right here. But hey, whatever works. Last night Maddie fell asleep for the night while having her bottle, so I set her down and the minute her head hit the mattress, she popped her eyes open as big as all the world. There was nothing to read in that facial expression except, "Mom, I'm not tired. Nope, I'm never going to sleep, sleep is stupid, play is fun, come on let's play, I'm never sleeping again!"

But she did sleep, and she sleeps well. And in fact she's sleeping right next to me on the couch. Such a pretty girl.

The Gender-Sleep Paradigm

I begin this blog with a preface: As I told you Rob, I hereby assassinate your character in the blogosphere.

So I'm thinking about doing a little psychological study. I've noticed of late that new parenthood seems to trigger in men the need to complain about lack of sleep. I noticed it a while ago, truthfully before my own baby arrived, when my brother kept commenting about how tired he was while his wife never did. But then we had Maddie and the difference between men and women and the need to complain:lack of sleep. Actually I don't need to go into any theories or elaborate descriptions. I'll just provide you with the sleep totals for this weekend:

Friday night:
Rob asleep at 10:00 pm straight through until 5:00 am (7 hours), nap: 7:30 - 12:00 pm (4.5 hours): total sleep 11.5 hours
Alex asleep at 10:00 pm, awake 11:00 pm (1 hour); asleep 1 am, awake 5:00 am to repeatedly kick Rob until awake because crying baby does not wake him (4 hours), asleep by 5:30 am until 7:30 am (2 hours), naps=0 because went to work, grocery shopped and did all kitchen prep work for week, made dinner AND pumpkin bread: total sleep: 7 hours

Last night at 9:59 pm, Rob is being quiet and grouchy. So I say, "What's wrong? Are you mad about something?" And he says, "I'm just tired."

Saturday night:
Rob asleep 10:00 pm to 7:30 am (9.5 hours)
Alex asleep 10:00 pm - 6:00 am (8 hours) Allowed to take nap at 7:30 am, woken up 8:10 am because "I need to take a shower." Truthfully, I wasn't that tired after 8 hours, but I had been thinking about how nice it would be to just crawl back under the covers and certainly I had fallen sound asleep shortly after my head hit the pillow.

To Rob's credit after his shower, he did offer to let me go back to bed. But really the damage was already done. And also to his credit he did thank me for letting him sleep in this morning.

Let's just hope Rob does his math and doesn't complain about being tired any more. And to be clear, men who read this. Complain includes not just words but also mopey, moody, quiet behavior. Sorry, you're just going to have to suck it up like us Moms do, and grow a pair.

And resume!

The blog has been silent for a while now, mostly because I've been busy with all the change of working again. It's a completely different world working and being a Mom. I had great fears about leaving Maddie all day, but luckily my new position has such time flexibility that I'm usually home before her afternoon nap. And while I imagined her looking around like this:

saying, "Mom? Where are you, Mom?" In actuality she seems to have not even noticed that I was gone.

My new job is awesome. I love being at the Mount and feeling a part of things. Plus I get to be creative a define a path for my jobs development, which we all know I love to do. I do have this nagging thought though about how much I should and shouldn't say online -- not that I would ever say anything bad! I've never really blogged about work to begin with, but I'm just so excited about my new job that I actually want to -- and thus have to hold back a little bit.

Sleeping Soundly

Maddie is sleeping a bit more soundly lately. See?

Going Back to School!

So I have really good news! I've accepted a position at my alma mater -- Mount Saint Mary's high school! I'll be doing Public and Alumni relations. The whole thing came about rather out of the blue. As you'll remember I was particularly into Back to School stuff this year. And yes, I admit I was checking out MSM's website for a certain Class of 2027-er. Next thing I knew a friend notified me that the Mount was looking for someone for a PR position. Everything just seemed meant to be.

The best part is that the position has some flexibility in scheduling. I'll be working some of my time from home which allows me to be here for Maddie, my biggest concern in any job search. My Mom is going to be watching Maddie while I'm at work so I know she'll be well taken care of (though admittedly I've shed a few tears about leaving her even for a moment!) I just keep reminding myself, I'm getting her school all ready for her -- 18 years from now.

Adventure of the Day: Meet the Baby-Sitter

Yeah, so as previously mentioned, Maddie is not napping so well. Don't feel too bad for her though because it is of her own choosing. Why sleep, when you can stay up all day and play? Plus there are these things called feet and boy are they fun to kick around. I swear her eyelids are attached to her feet by rubberbands -- peepers close, feet pop-up in the air!

Well, this afternoon we were doing really well so I decided to put Maddie down in her crib. I turned on her sound machine and watched for a bit as she started drifting off. I snuck out unnoticed leaving the door open for easy check-ins and listened to her chat to herself for a while on the monitor. After a few minutes she quieted down, so I tiptoed back to check on her and peeked in to see...

Black Cat in the crib sitting right next to Baby's face, and Maddie happily smiling up at him. No picture was taken though it is an image forever seared into my brain. After I quickly removed Black Cat, Maddie just smiled and laughed at me -- despite the cat hair on her face.

Does anyone want a cat? Real cute to look at, eats a lot.

Maddie has a Little Lamb...

... and she likes to talk to it, like a co-worker spilling all the gossip. Here you can hear her dishing.


Oh, she is so like her Mama.

Things that I just don't get: The Parenthood Edition

1) Car seats: So I use the infant seat until 25 lbs, and then a convertible one until 40lbs? Which will be approximately 20 minutes and then a booster seat from 1 yr+? Why is this not consistent or straight forward?

2) Night Terrors

3) Pacifiers: How are soothers for newborn - 3 mo. and actual pacifiers for 3 mo. + and does it really matter?

4) How on Earth is this comfortable??


And since I had to take this with my laptop and therefore couldn't get the full pic, here's a different angle of the same ridiculously contorted pose:

Give Yourself a Reason To Support the Public Option: Justifiable Cost

With 46.3 million uninsured Americans and 25 million under-insured Americans in 2008, the reasons to support a public health care option is to my mind obvious. We can say "Leave no man behind" when it comes to our military and "Leave no child behind" when it comes to our education, but when it comes to our lives on our own soil we look for excuses to leave 23% of our population behind. Although I think most of my readers support health care reform, this is my place to voice opinion. So here it is: Too many people are looking to give themselves an excuse that allows them to avoid supporting a solution. The most common excuse of late is: It's expensive. Even President Obama has stated he won't sign a bill that adds to the deficit.

Here's a reason that the cost is justified: A Public Option is required in order to boost our economy.

*58% of small business did not give raises in the last year because of rising health care costs;
*30% of large companies will lay people off this year to pay for health care;
*49% of American foreclosures are due to personal health care debt (here's a personal account of one such case).

If individuals need to choose between wracking up personal debt and survival, than our economy will continue to tank. If the US government takes the risk and increases the deficit for the sake of public health they free the publics ability to spend, thus increasing their own revenue. Had the government done so years ago -- there may have been no bail-out of the banks, a more sustainable housing market, a higher average income, a lower unemployment rate -- a stronger economy. How much worse can it get?

And I Thought I Was Bad...

I'm uploading photos to my Flickr account (Thanks again Kat! Best gift for a new mom ever -- well that and homemade onesies, and booties and blankets. Damn you're awesome.) I accidently chose the wrong album, and started uploading. After the first 15 minutes of uploading I decided to look at the pics and found out I was uploading the pictures Rob took with his iPhone. All 238 of them. From this weekend. Actually from Sunday and Monday because it turns out there's another album from Friday and Saturday (because it was oh so necessary to document me giving Maddie a bottle in the back of a VWBug. Actually it was pretty funny what with the cramped space and me hitting my head every 5 minutes. Damn that car sucks.)

So anyway, yeah 238 pictures. I've been trying to tone down my picture taking after the massive picture developing of last month, when I developed 400 pics from Maddie's first 2 months of living. But hey, I don't mind because sometimes Rob takes really good pictures. And sometimes he takes really great pictures.

A Crying Update

My Mom just saw a health segment on the news about night terrors -- and it seems like maybe that's why Maddie is crying in her sleep. Night terrors don't always happen at night but do happen in infants when they get caught between deep and REM sleep. Since 3-month olds are just beginning deep sleep it seems a likely time for terrors to happen.

I also learned that terrors can be caused by lack of sleep. I've been recently reading about how infants need 15+ hours of sleep each day, but most only get 12. While previously Maddie was sleeping quite well and routinely, lately she just hasn't been. Her napping during the day has been more sporadic and I think maybe she gets thrown off schedule when we run errands or such. So maybe going to the cottage this weekend just knocked her off track. Alas, we're done with the cottage for the season anyway -- so maybe we'll stay close to home and sleep a bit.

Oh, and it turns out that infants can even have nightmares about feeling hungry. That sounds pretty much like Maddie!

Anyone like to chip in to the Psychiatrist Fund?

Congratulate me -- I've given my daughter her first reason to go to a shrink. This weekend we went to the cottage and ever since she has been crying in her sleep. Absolutely heart-breaking sobs. And when I pick her up, she keeps crying with her eyes closed, then opens her eyes, sees me, gives a moments pause as though to say "Who is making that awful racket?" and then shrugs her shoulders and goes with it.

We're pretty sure this is the reason, right here...

You can tell something big is going to happen here...

So far so good...

Bad, very bad, very very bad.

Apparently the lake is like a very large bath in her estimation and that is a not good thing. But we have hopes that she may someday forgive us.