Brought to you by the letter A...

As in Pain in the A.... Yesterday I cut my finger on the letters on my Mom's car. So if I die or loose a finger, you will all know why.

In other news, yes, Maddie slept through the night. I put her down at 11:00 pm and she slept until 6:00 am! I heard her give a cry at midnight, but realized that she was just fussing in her sleep as she often does. So I fell back asleep fully expecting to be wakened shortly there after. When I woke up at 6:00 am to perfect silence, I was completely shocked and terribly worried that 1) something was wrong or 2) I had magically slept through her crying during the night and she had finally just given up. But when I went in to check on her, she was still asleep though flailing about in her sleep (also as she often does).

Sadly, I cannot possibly expect a repeat performance. She has slept much of today also -- a nap in the morning and then a really long nap in the afternoon. And though she does sleep more than stay awake, I think it's likely that she is just getting caught up on sleep after such a long weekend of excitement and visitors. You've already seen a lot of pictures of our week, but here are a few more that I think are really cute:


Black cat finds a new friend in Chris.


Maddie isn't at all scared of the muppet. We think she really does believe it's her Dad.


Natalie and I at the lake.


Rob, Natalie & Baby, Green Dad and Chris.


Aunt Nanny and Maddie.

And Take 2...

Sleep My Child, Let Peace Surround You...

This is my new favorite picture. I took it last week while Rob and Maddie were having play time (while Maddie was having play time and Rob was having nap time). Adding to the celebration, Maddie slept through the night last night for the first time. I'm not expecting that to be a regular thing yet, but still it was a nice treat.

Okay here is the real thing...

Yes, so Madeleine really was baptized yesterday. Mom has more pictures of the actual baptism than I do, but I will post this one which is my favorite:



That's Maddie getting ready for the party after the baptism. And we did have lots of special people who we are lucky were able to attend! Including friends from far and near.


Here's Aunt Dode and Maddie's Great Grandma.


And Pat who's visiting these past two weeks from Texas.


This is Maddie's godfather, Tom, and Katie showing off Maddie's ballerina toes.


And here is Maddie's godmother Aunt Nanny and Uncle Chris.

Rob's sister Natalie and her husband Chris have been visiting us this weekend. They arrived on Thursday night and got to see Maddie just briefly before she fell asleep (and Natalie got to be spit up on!)



They brought Maddie an awesome present -- a substitute dad that they made for her at FAO Schwartz. See the resemblance?


On Friday, Natalie and Chris hung out with Maddie and I while Rob was at work. We actually went to Spot, but not Rob's store. And then we went to the Albright Knox in the afternoon. Then today, we went to Niagara Falls. After an hour at customs, we had lunch at the Fallsview Restaurant and took some pictures of Maddie by the Falls. Which is good because she would never know she even left the house, since she slept the WHOLE time.

The Blessed Event

Yesterday was Maddie's Baptism...


She is now ready to start learning about her faith. Hope she is a good student.

Maddie had many special guests at her big day, including:

Aunt Nanny and Green Rob.

Goodness

This morning, I woke up before Baby for the first time in a couple of weeks. I'm trying to learn to adjust my sleep cycle to her needs. Usually Maddie sleeps from about 9 or 10 pm, gets up once between 1 -3 am, and then wakes up for the day around 6 am. She'll go back to sleep after her 6 am feeding but talks non-stop in her sleep, meaning that there is no possibility for sleeping afterwards. This 6 am thing kills me, as I cannot always go to sleep at 9 or 10 pm. So what we do is I handle the 1-3 am thing, Rob gets up with the 6 am thing. Then he leaves for work at 8 am. This morning, Maddie was still asleep at 8 am. I got up got my coffee, and was able to start thinking for the day. Lovely.

However, I did get puked upon twice. Very uncharacteristic for me to be so unprepared. I essentially put Maddie up on my shoulder without a burp cloth (because I was not in fact burping her!) And thus ensued two showers of spit up in quite profuse amounts. You know you love these stories.

Now I will segue into a food topic. Rob came home with donuts this morning. I LOVE donuts. In ways that I can describe. I love them so much that I don't allow myself to eat them. Because I do not believe I have it in me to stop. I allowed myself to eat donuts when I was pregnant. I crave donuts now. I ate one and a half donuts. So it was a nice treat. Secretly I think he actually went to Dunkin Donuts just for his coffee fix. We all know it's the best coffeehouse in town.

Starting the Day Maddie Style

This is how Maddie decided to "start" the day with me. And wow, I need new jeans.

Starting the Day

It seems like over the past two days everyone has been commenting on how poorly they have been sleeping and how tired they are. I haven't noticed any difference at all. I mean, hey, I'm tired (of course, I am that's what babies are for), but it's like normal tired. Yesterday Rob came home from work and we discussed how we were "end of the day tired" as opposed to "oh, dear God, I'm exhausted tired." But then today I woke up and just felt totally out of it -- and Maddie slept her same normal 1 feeding per night schedule. Rob did wake me up with Maddie though, by which I mean he carried her in and put her eye level with my face and they both stood there staring at me until I woke up. It was pretty cute, but strangely reminiscent of what Kramer used to do each morning.

I tried to start my day several times this morning. 7:30 am, coffee no cream, sat down to write while Maddie napped. 8:30 am, did yoga -- felt clearly refreshed and prepared to actually be productive. 9:00 am lost all initiative. BUT I have just decanted the cold-brew coffee and I am feeling strangely positive that this, 3:30 pm, could be a good start to the day. Maddie is now waking up from her afternoon nap, so perhaps we will start the day together.

Blueberry Flavored Goodness

Rob was on Time-Warner news the other night. Sadly there's no way for you to see the segment, short of having watched Time Warner news. Basically this poor not-so-swift junior reporter decided to do a story on the massive amount of coffeeshops on Chippewa. When she told Rob this, he was confused. So she clarified -- there are 5 coffeehouses: Starbucks, Spot, Coffee Culture, Tim Hortons and Dunkin' Donuts. Yes, Dunkin' Donuts is apparently a coffeehouse. Because Blueberry flavored coffee shows clear respect for true coffee drinkers (that ad makes me sick by the way). I once got a Vanilla iced latte at a Dunkin' Donuts -- I was desperate and late for work. It tasted like coconut milk lightly sprinkled with coffee-flavored slurpy.

So at any rate, this lovely news segment debated which was the best "coffeehouse" on Chippewa. They interviewed a woman in the completely empty Coffee Culture. Then they showed a Coffee Culture barista pushing a button on their gas-station style latte machine. Then they interviewed someone on the street saying that he only goes to coffeehouses based on the person working behind the counter (SKETCHY! Oh, wait that's how I started dating Rob). Then they showed MY HUSBAND brilliantly pouring a latte with a free-pour rosette.

Then they said Dunkin' Donuts was the best coffeehouse in downtown.

Me Myself and I

Is it possible that being a Mom has actually made me be a more completely developed me? I just did a full yoga session for the first time in over a year, leaving me feeling really good and centered (not centered politically obviously, there I'm still a true-blue lib). I find myself watching less television -- not directly baby related, but just less TV watching. I think for a while I was just uncomfortable with the concept of alone time and would turn the television on for background noise, or just out of habit. Whereas now, even when Maddie is napping, I am more apt to turn off the television and do something else, like read or well blog or facebook (It is after all important to make sure people can see all the news and views of Madeleine Gayle.) I'm reading more. Maybe not more, just better quality literature. It has been quite a while since I have had several good quality books going at the same time. Now I'm reading 3 books, plus the books that I read to Maddie. I'm more focused and productive -- and yes, surprisingly the nesting instinct has stuck and I am keeping a clean house. How is that possible? The other day I had company coming over and had to do a full apartment cleaning run through. It took Rob and I a mere 30 minutes to do all the cleaning top to bottom. Why? Because I keep up.

Yes, I am tired as, no, Maddie does not sleep through the night. BUT alas coffee is a good thing and I am surprisingly energetic. I'm going to attribute it in one part to having such an amazing daughter and one part to finding a place to live that vibrates only good energy, and one part to a wonderful husband who has done quite a bit to make certain that I have everything that I need.

Also today I tried teaching Maddie ballet and art. Thus far she has mastered second position, plies, round de jambes and Monet. Degas seems promising. What can I say? She is brilliant.

Like a Beanstalk...

"You can't tell, but I'm actually 10 feet tall. I'm deceptively short looking when I'm sitting down."

Over the past 2 or 3 days, Maddie has been going through a growth spurt. She has been eating nonstop, and is constantly hungry. Like the other night she drank 7 oz at 11:00 pm (which should have meant that she slept until about 6:00 am). But instead she woke up at 1:30 am, completely starving. And drank another 4 oz. And then slept until 4 am and drank another 6 oz, and so on and so on, until she was able to be rolled around like a little ball. Sleep is a relative concept, right? But, it's all good because it just means she's growing lots -- and now the growth sport is nearing it's end, so she'll sleep well for a couple of days. Apparently growth spurts happen every month or so for newborns. I'm pretty much expecting to visibly see her growing, and to one day go to pick her up out of her crib only to find she no longer fits in it.


Here she is all stretched out playing.

This was such an exciting weekend for us! Both my aunts Dode and Clare Marie had birthdays this week. Today is actually Aunt Clare Marie's birthday -- Happy Birthday, Aunt Clare Marie! On Friday night we went out to dinner to celebrate Aunt Dode's birthday at Cecilia's and last night we went to Aunt Dode's for a dinner party to celebrate Aunt Clare Marie's birthday. Maddie sadly slept through Aunt Dode's birthday dinner, but she truly enjoyed last night's party. The highlight of the evening was when everyone sang to her. Plus hopefully, I'll have some good video footage of Maddie and Daddy playing copycat. I'm so happy to be able to spend time with Aunt Clare Marie and Pat, our dear friend who is visiting from Texas. Usually, I miss out on most of their visits, but living in Buffalo again means getting to spend more time with them.

Here are a few pictures for you -- because essentially this blog has turned into a picture journal (plus why read when you can just scan through and look at adorable pictures of a perfect little girl. I'm not partial at all.)


Here's the outfit! Those shoes are knit Mary Janes that I used to wear when I was a baby. Of course, they did not last long, and also this is not the most lady like picture, but it does show Maddie's true nature.



Aunt Pat and Aunt Dode with Maddie -- notice, Dode and Maddie coordinated outfits.


Grandma, Aunt Dode and Aunt Clare Marie with Maddie.


Aunt Clare Marie blows out the candles.


Daddy holds Maddie (and yes, that is a great big spot of formula on her pretty dress).


Though it's not quite as dressy as what she wore for Aunt Clare Marie's party this was much more suited for her target audience -- Aunt Dode. Yes, that onesie does say, "I love Buffalo." It was a gift from Aunt Katie.

Raspberries

It's a Sign...

So today, Sunday, Rob has off -- a rarity as he usually works both Saturdays and Sundays. Since he usually takes the car to work, I end up stranded and unable to go to church. Last night I told myself that if the timing was right this morning, Maddie and I would go to church. So when I got up at 8:00 am to find that Maddie was already dressed in the outfit that I had planned for her to wear to church I took it as a sign. A sign that Rob was on God's side.

Maddie and I made it to church though we did have to blow dry her outfit dry at Grandma's after a spit-up incident, and she got to meet her cousin Jeannie who sings in the choir. And everyone thought she was beautiful. Plus, we've found another way that Maddie is nothing like her mother -- she was a perfect angel making nary a sound. Unlike her mom who had to have a babysitter until she was 5 because she was so bad in church. And yelled out "Time for Doughnuts" after Mass.

New Pictures!

I just put up some new pictures on Flickr for those interested in seeing more Madeleine stuff. We pretty much keep the camera trained on her at all times -- though there is one random picture posted that does not have Maddie but instead just cats.

Today Maddie and I had storytime:


I do have more bloggage to post but right now, we're both a little tuckered out.

Happy Fourth!

Here's what Maddie did for the Fourth of July:


She had a special outfit with a Fourth of July hat that her grandma made for her.


She sat out on the porch with her Great Aunt Luann.


She saw her cousin Annie who had a matching hat and her Aunt Jeannie


She got to see all her family, who loved paying attention to her.


She got a gift from her cousin Annie: A Madeline doll!


She hung out with her Great Grandmother who loves to hold her!


She met her cousin Carrie.


At the end of the day, she was quite tired and took a nap.

This is going to sound incredibly annoying...

...but those of you who know me well (particularly Sarah P.) and those of you who participated in my original viewing of Troy (Bill and Kenta) will understand.

So you know the part in Troy where Brad Pitt gives his big pep talk to the Myrmidons, just before they get off the boat at Troy and he says, "Myrmidon! You are lions!" I really want to tell him that technically myrmidon are ants. Why is it that I can't stop myself from watching this movie whenever it is on? Why is it this movie is not better?!?

New Friends

I recently found out that I have a few readers that I previously didn't know about. So I want to take just a moment to say hi and welcome! I'm flattered to know there are people out there who read and like my blog. I started this blog a few years ago because I wanted to be a part of an internet community that I really enjoyed, so it's kind of fun to see that my own community is growing.

Of course my blog has become pretty baby-centric lately. A while ago, I was interviewed by one of my favorite people for one of my favorite blogs. One of the questions was "Are you going to be a cool mom?" Of course my answer was yes (what a set-up question!) but at the time I remember thinking, 'how would I define being a cool mom?' I immediately thought, well, I'm not going to be one of those people who only talks about the baby. Ahah, I laugh at my own ignorance.

This week we got to introduce Maddie to the cottage, the place I love most in the whole world. My parents bought the cottage just three days before I was born, so it's been a part of my life from the beginning. We go there every summer for weekends or any day that we can get away. It's the place where I don't have a single bad memory -- and how rare is that? Rob and I were married there, and now it's a part of Maddie's life too. Here are a few pictures:


Here's Rob and Maddie in front of the cottage.


Our family in front of the lake -- pretty much in the exact spot that Rob and I got married.


Us in front of Grandma Gayle's Magnolia tree: we planted this on our wedding day to honor Rob's mom.

The other cool part about spending the night at the cottage was getting some quality time with my sister-in-law Jeannie and my niece Annie. Maddie and Annie have met already, but this time they were actually awake at the same time for an extended period. Here's Maddie (left) and Annie(right) and my Grandma: