6 month mark

Madeleine turned 6 months old this past Sunday and had her 6 month checkup with her doctor last night.  Maddie weighs 18 pounds and 3 ounces and is 26 inches long (that's basically twice the weight that she was born at!) and can do all of the suggested physical fetes of other babies her age: she rolls, sits up on her own, grabs things, smiles, turns toward someone when they call her name.

The bad news from our appointment is that Maddie also has eczema, and quite the nasty case of it.  Because Maddie is so young, there's not much we can do aside from keeping her skin well moisturized and I'm going to try cutting dairy out of my diet for 2 weeks to see if Maddie has a milk allergy that is exacerbating her eczema.  After reading up on eczema last night, I remember having brief flare-ups when I was a child (specifically, on my shins related to sweating under my skin guards and soccer socks) and later on as an adult I had a patch of very itchy skin on my knee that seemed to miraculously disappear after I started using shea butter lotion on it every morning.  So today, I'm off to buy shea lotion for Maddie's skin and plan on moisturizing her skin every night after her bath, before bedtime.  I'm hoping that keeping her eczema at bay is as simple as keeping her skin well moisturized.

The Teething Monster

Earlier this week Maddie sprouted her very first tooth and since then she has not been a happy camper.  Mostly she's been boycotting her naps and being fussy unless I'm holding her.  She's also been waking up at night around 3 am.  Bleh.  This makes for a sleepy mommy.  However, since I don't have any work related deadlines anymore, it's kind of difficult to complain about being tired.  :)

I've been trying to give her something to soothe her gums and so far the best bet I've found is giving her a cool, damp washcloth to suck on.  I've recently heard from a friend that giving a baby a frozen teether is actually really bad for their gums because it damages the nerves in the mouth.  So I've been staying away from that.  Also, since I've been making Maddie's solids the are defrosted before I feed her but giving her food that is colder than room temp has really been helpful in offering her some relief too.  

Either way, I hope my happy, easy-going baby returns to me soon!

A New Day

Friday was my last day in the corporate world and today is my first day of being a stay at home mom.  My house is clean, my daughter is happily playing, my dog is chewing a new ball and my husband is off to work in clean clothes with a hot mug of coffee in hand.  Now I'm somewhat left wondering what I'll do all day today.  

Monday, Wednesday - Saturday I have a standing reservation for Madeleine and myself to go to our gym for an hour (thankfully when she's 6 months old on Sunday her daycare time will increase from 60 minutes to 90 minutes, yay!) where I run for 30 minutes and can mercifully shower and get ready without worrying that Maddie will soon wake up and start screaming at me.  So that takes up about an hour and half of my day, including travel time.  And as I'm writing this, it's occurred to me, I'll be spending my time keeping my baby happy, my dog entertained and my home clean, all of which will make me happy and in turn will make my husband happy.  Additionally, I plan on taking the Rosetta Stone online courses during the day to brush up on my Spanish so that I can properly speak Spanish to Madeleine at least a few days during the week.  My goal is for her to be somewhat bilingual.  Also, I want to make a career change and have been considering returning to college to get another bachelor's degree in Photography.  

Are you a stay at home mom?  What fills most of your time during the day?  

Almost to the Finish Line

At the end of January I decided to go back to work.  I went into the office to sit down with my manager to formally give him my resignation but when I sat down with him he gave me the opportunity to work from home on a part time basis, and previously not thinking that was even an option, I jumped at the opportunity.  However, the last month of caring for my daughter full time and trying to fit in working and taking calls from executives, trying to be interactive with my daughter, doing dishes and laundry, making healthy meals and continuing to breastfeed has been overwhelming and stressful.

Last week I put my two weeks notice in with my manager and am greatly looking forward to being a stay at home mom full time starting the 15th of March.  What I would love to do is start my own photography business and really focus on keeping my family healthy and happy.  But in the meantime, I'm focusing on work and trying to make sure that I pay Madeleine enough attention that she doesn't become frustrated with me.  I am definitely thankful that I had the opportunity to return to work for a somewhat trial period though because now I will leave the corporate world for now with absolutely no regrets.  There is no doubt in my mind that staying home is the best decision for my family and for myself.

Movin On Up

Actually we aren't moving at all.  Back in October, shortly after we brought Madeleine home from the hospital, Mike and I realized that we were in need of more space.  When we bought this house last year I thought a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom home would be large enough to accommodate 2 adults and a baby.  After all, Mike and I had lived in much smaller spaces before and it's not like this new little person is going to need lots of space to roam, most babies can't even crawl till about 6 months or walk until they're first birthday.  But I was oh so naive and wrong!  Babies needs space for their gear: the bouncer that we needed when she was 2 months old, the swing that everyone told us that we needed (that Maddie subsequently hated being in), the bumbo, the baby gyms, the play mat, the jumperoo (and doorway jumper) and now her walker that I need to purchase but there just isn't the space in our home to accommodate.  So it was obvious to us that we needed more space and we had two options: either add on to our current home (which we're both emotionally attached to and it's in an awesome location and on a large lot) or buy a new larger home in a different location.

After months of hemming and hawing, we've decided that we're going to add-on to our current home.  We're both extremely excited and work will begin on our home early next month! YAY!  We'll be taking our 2 bed, 1 bath, 1,050 square foot home to 3 beds, 2 baths and 1,750 square feet.  Thankfully we will be moving out of our home for the entire process as well, because our home is 80+ years old there is lead in the walls and that dust can be very harmful to our daughter, so we're not even going to risk exposing her to lead.

Our Current Home Layout

Our Future Home Layout

I have so many ideas for our new home that I've been going Pinterest crazy and I'm in the beginning phases of finding out what styles I like for our kitchen and master bathroom.  Decisions, decision. 

Have you ever done a home addition?  If you have, did you absolutely fall in love with your finished product? 

Milestones

One of the best parts about being a mom is when Madeleine does seemingly ordinary things but they elicit a lot of excitement out of me.  For instance, last night she stuck her toes in her mouth.  Pretty boring right?  WRONG!!  This absolutely made my day and because Mike was standing next to me when she did it, it made his whole day too.

I'm slowly learning that this is what having kids is all about: finding pleasure in the seemingly meaningless.  Every time she does something new it seriously fills me with excitement!  Earlier this week she also sat up on her own for a few minutes and my heart just swelled with pride.  This is my baby, getting stronger, smarter and more beautiful everyday.  I imagine that this is a feeling that isn't exclusive to babies but I'll always feel this way about Maddie; learning to ride a bike, her first day of school, her first dance, graduating from college, getting married.  I have a lifetime of to be proud of this little girl and it makes me so thankful every day.