Andrea is almost 24 weeks!

Andrea is almost 24 weeks along with her baby girl! Look at her cute little bump!

Mindy, Jenni and I met Andrea at Baby's R Us to help her register. Andrea treated us to lunch afterwards! It was so much fun to hang out together!

After a long day of shopping, Andrea sipped on two margerita's! JUST KIDDING!

Grass!

Madeleine has never sat on the grass before! She thought it was pretty neat!

Madeleine & Grandpa Schroeder

Baby Sabra & Madeleine play!

Baby Sabra lives behind our house on the alley about 200 ft away and she is only 12 days older than Madeleine! We are so excited to have a little girl so close in age to Madeleine that lives nearby! Sabra and Madeleine played in the playpen while the rest of bbq'd. The girls were so cute together and it was very interesting to see the differences between the two - Sabra who is older but much smaller, can crawl but can't quite sit yet...and Madeleine can sit forever but is not showing any interest in crawling.

My new training cup

Check out Madeleine trying to use her new tippy cup! She gets that you put it in your mouth and suck but she doesn't understand that you have to tip it up to get the water out. Soon enough!

Daddy's got fashion sense

I was so impressed yesterday when I got home and saw Madeleine in an adorable little outfit that Jeff picked out! Jeff dressed M in a pink shirt with blue specks and a jean skirt...so cute!

We're making progress

The doc and all the books say that around 6 months of age, babies need to stop going to sleep with a bottle for a various reasons...one, they need to learn to put themselves to sleep and two, having them fall asleep with the bottle will leave some milk in their mouth that may rot their teeth. Since Madeleine is now 6 months old and has popped her 1st tooth, we've decided it's time for Madeleine to go to sleep without our help. For us, that meant crying it out.

I couldn't stand to be around for the 1st round of crying it out and Jeff was brave enough to take it on. I went to the gym wishing him luck. I worried the entire time I was away and by the time I got home I was in tears thinking of Jeff all stressed out and poor little Madeleine crying her eyes out.

To my happy surprise, Jeff was relaxing downstairs and Madeleine was asleep in her crib! Jeff said it took 1 hour exactly for Madeleine to fall to sleep but for the most part, she just whined and never really "cried". Tonight is my turn but Jeff is going to be around to support me and to hold me back from running in and picking her up! Wish me luck!!!

Oh...and the most important part, she slept through the night! Now it's onto napping without the bottle.

We bought one of those mesh feeders that you put food in so the baby can suck on it. It helps her teething, ect. Here is Madeleine sucking on some watermelon. She loved it!


Here is Madeleine lounging while watching a Baby Einstein video...yes, I OCCASIONALLY let her watch those...but only when I am doing important things around the house...like blogging :-)

6 months old!

Madeleine is a little over 6 months old already! I can't believe it! We had our 6-month check-up today and M weighs 19 lbs & 12 oz (96%) and is 2' 2.75" tall (83%). Her head circumference took a big jump and she is now in the 98% for head circumference! Does that mean she has a big brain and is going to be really smart? :-) Just kidding!

What is Madeleine up to?

• She has her 1st tooth! A little tooth popped through today on the bottom.


• She completely sits on her own and plays, reaching more and more everyday for her toys. We have started to move her toys a bit out of her reach to encourage her to move from the sitting position and onto her hands and knees.


• She shows a lot of interest in food and has eaten everything from peas to peaches.


• Napping is okay...on a good day she naps for 3 hours straight but going down at night can be a struggle. Madeleine is once again sleeping through the night so I shouldn't complain but some nights she really fights going to bed!


• Madeleine already has lots of baby friends - from my baby playgroup to neighbors with baby girls the same age to highschool & college friends with babies the same age...we are having a lot of fun! And Madeleine has another baby girl to befriend when Andrea delivers in November!!


• We will start to introduce M to a tippy cup w/ water and little finger foods like cheerios in the upcoming weeks.

As for Jeff and I, we can't believe how much she has grown! Every stage seems to be more and more fun. We are going away next weekend and it will be my 1st overnight away from Madeleine. We are excited but will miss her a lot!