Catching Up September

Sorry I've been MIA for a couple weeks! Maddie's been a handful as I've been tweaking her naptimes so she's not so cranky in the evenings. So what's new:

Her 4-month well-baby appointment was on September 16th, she weighed 14 lbs, 7 oz that day, and was slightly under 24 inches long. She had shots that day and reacted about the same as the last time she had shots. Tylenol seems to do the trick. The next day at daycare they said she had a "low grade fever", which ended up being malarky...for some reason, the daycare takes her temperature, but then ADDS one extra degree. So her real temp was actually 99.5, but by their "calculation" they called her 100.5 and cranky. They didn't kick her out that day, which was good, because both Aaron and I were working. Normally, if a baby is running a temp and having illness symptoms, they require somebody to pick her up within one hour.

The swaddle battle continues. She sleeps lightly during her daytime naps, light enough that her arms continued to wake her at sleep transition intervals every 40-60 minutes (she takes three 2-hour naps a day). So I went back to swaddling her for naptime. At night, though, she does fine with her arms free in the Halo SleepSack and averages about 9-10 hours of sleep a night. There was one golden night when she slept for 12 hours, and I even had to wake her up so she wouldn't be starving if she woke up on her own!

Madelyn laughed for the first time a couple weeks ago! It was more than just a giggle or squeal, it was a deep, hearty belly laugh for Daddy as he bounced her on his knee. He's the only one she's really laughed hard for. I can get a little giggle from her, but he really gets her guffawing.

Aaron thinks she *may* have rolled over from back to tummy the other day while I was at work. He had laid her on her back in the crib so she'd be safe while he was emptying/cleaning her potty. When he came back, she was on her tummy! It's hard to know if she did it all by herself, or if she used the crib side to help her somehow. She hasn't done it again, so it may have been a fluke.

I had the best surprise the other night. Our friends Susan and Erik from Yokosuka moved back to the states last week and were making their half-cross-country drive to the east coast...and happened to swing through Pensacola for a few hours! Unfortunately, I was working when the arrived saturday, but they were able to stick around until after I came home from work for me to see them! I'm so happy they got to meet Madelyn at this age. Aaron called me at work that afternoon and said, "Guess who's holding your baby right now?!" I was so excited to see them and their furbabies Roscoe, Nathan and Fiona!

And now for photo updates, as I know that's what you look forward to most when you visit the blog :)

These bouncer photos were taken two weeks ago, when she was still to short to touch the floor. I had to put a cookbook under her feet so she could touch down. In the last week, she's done away with the cookbook and has no problem standing on the floor when she's in it. It's amazing how fast one little body can grow!

Pics from our surprise visitors on Saturday:

And taken today during tummy time. She started giving me the ticktock look when she saw the autofocus beam flicker on the camera.