A few random things....

Not sure why, but I don't feel like blogging AT ALL. But I will because I have a few things to get out:)
First off, I hope nobody took my post about Madelyn's 1 year stats the wrong way. If you let your child drink juice or have sweets, I PROMISE I do not think any less of you and know you are all great mommas just the same!!! I really hope you all know me better than to think that- EVER. Okay on to an update on the whole formula to milk transition....

Last week I had posted about my struggle to switch Madelyn to whole milk and how she would jusjt spit her bottle back at me when I try to give it to her. Well she was also VERY fussy, which I had accredited that to her having the chicken pox vacine, like the doc. had warned me. She was super fussy at daycare on Wednesday, which is very unlike her and of course had me a little stressed. She clearly had a fever but I was giving her motrin and that was helping keep it at bay. As you know, I had a "cold" snowday last Thursday AND Friday so I was home with her all day long. By Friday morning I decided to call the doctor since it had then been going on 4 days of this super whiny, crying, clingyness. They said to go ahead and bring her in. I was still feeling a bit like "that mom" who rushes in the doc. for every little thing. Oh she was also bursting out into tears and crying the hardest I've seen her cry during her feedings, at random times. I knew that was odd. Anyway, while sitting in the docs office I then noticed a rash sort of hives looking down her chest and belly. I was glad to be at the doctors on a Friday afternoon when I saw that.
Long story short, she DID have an ear infection and it was starting to get bad. They put her on omnicef (which makes her poop red) bc she needed something stronger than the last 2 meds she was on. Okay maybe this is just a coincidence but Madelyn has had a total of 4 ear infections in her life and 3 of them have been in the last 6 weeks or so since I've stopped breastfeeding!!!! Coincidence? Maybe not- but it is strange.

So here we are, feeling much better and not so fussy. She is however very cling and I've come to the conclusion that this is a stage she has entered. She wants me in the room with her, closeby, and she is always hanging on or in between my legs. It's pretty cute but sometimes hard to get things accomplished.

On to the milk....now that her ear problem is clearing up she is MUCH MUCH more willing to try the milk. I am still doing it slowly and am currently at 75% milk, 25% formula. The plan is to be all milk by the weekend....bc I don't want to buy another can of that insanely expensive formula:) We are still using the bottles too. I will probably keep with the bottles for a couple more months while I can. She isn't too fond yet of the milk in her sippy cup but I keep trying:)

Okay that was all I had to say. This week is a great week bc we had a PD day at school yesterday(meaning no students) and tomorrow I have a workshop at the ISD for our writing progam. PLUS my good friend Kelli, who teaches at HH Elem. will be there too! So that will be fun to be at together. Then it's 2 days of school and the weekend is already here. We're going to the Michigan v. MSU hockey game in AA with Amber and Matt Halmekangus and can't wait!
Spring Break is 2 months away!!! Yay!!! Until then...I will be enjoying the snow and secretly (or not so secretly) praying for a couple more snow days:)

So in love.....

We are smiling at her babydoll tha she is oh so in-love with since Christmas:) She gets so excited when she spots her baby from across the room and walks as fast as she can (not quite running yet) to get to it and then gives her a big giant hug. She's going to be a great momma someday:)

Daddy caught his girl playing with one of her favorite books.

My girl with her beloved "blankie", that always brings a smile to her face!

My perfect beauty!!!! :) Isn't she precious?

Toddler stats!

We paid Dr. Williams a visit today for Madelyn's 1 year well check up. Thankfully we haven't had to visit the doctor very often with her, she's quite a healthy baby girl:) She attempted to show off her walking skills ( or I did-ha) but Madelyn did this shy little number and would just hug my leg and grin from ear to ear for her. She's funny. She weighed in at 19 lbs 11 oz (23rd percentile I think it was) and 29 inches tall (50th percentile). My mom always said how skinny I was bc I was only 20 lbs at a year but Madelyn has me beat! She's very proportionate to her body though, so no worries.

We plan to begin introducing her to vitamin D milk soon. She has a little formula left so I will probably use that intermittenly until it's gone and she is used to a cold milk. I will probably have her start with her afternoon bottle being from a sippy and slowly wean those morning and bedtime bottles in the next couple of months. My baby is growing up too fast...no more bottle time:( sad. She is used to drinking from a sippy cup but only the ones with the silicone spouts. I've tried the hard ones and she acts like it's a biting toy rather than something to drink out of. Currently, she has only water or formula to drink. I have purposely steared clear of the juice so that she develops a liking for water instead. She LOVES,LOVES, LOVES bread. She would eat it for every meal if we let her. Daycare started giving her white bread and I freaked! So now of course, they were nice enough to accomodate to my desires for her. I didn't actually "freak out" on them, it was just brought up and we had a nice, friendly conversation about the bread...no biggie:) There was no hair pulling-lol

Sleeping habbits- I am so thankful that she is such a great sleeper. She sleeps so well at night and goes to bed so good. I've tried once or twice to have her sleep with me but she thinks it's play time when she's in our bed. haha So ultimately she is in her bed, happy as a clam and getting a goodnight's rest. She will sleep 12-14 hours a night. The 14 hours is obviously on the weekends when she will sleep in until 9ish. She also takes 2 naps a day still. What else can I say about my girl?...She loves to give her daddy kisses...even more than giving them to me. He loves it though:)
Any suggestions on how to make the switch from formula to milk? to warm or not to warm? I truly have no idea and when I tried it tonight, it didn't work. I was just curious how she would take her bottle with half formula/half milk and she wasn't happy. I ended up rocking her to sleep and she refused to take a bottle of just formula after trying the one with milk. I think she was fed up and I'm hoping that maybe it was just tonight combined with getting her shots and not feeling very well from those. But please, leave me suggestions!!

Madelyn's 1st Bday Party

We had a great time celebrating Madelyn's birthday last night at my parent's house. She had only taken a morning nap and missed her afternoon nap so needless to say she was pretty sleepy for the party. She did however, manage to impress her family as she showed off her new walking skills and cheesy smiles. We ate chili, sweedish meatballs, queso dip and chips, cake and ice cream. I had a little cake for Madelyn so she was free to do with it what she chose. I wasn't too sure she would make much of a mess with the cake bc she is usually pretty neat and particular about her food. It's funny. Plus, she very rarely has any kind of sweets so I didn't think she would care too much for the frosting. I was right, she was not interested in her cake one bit. She did however, manage to make a little mess bc of that darn itch she encountered on her face, so naturally she itched it and got frosting all over her forehead. haha And the rest of her mess was of pink frosting all over her arm and elbow, only because she had eyed her blankie over in the corner and was reaching for it, across her cake:) I think she takes after her dadda who doesn't care for cake either. hahah She knew what she wanted... and that was a nap! Aunt Nae gave her a bottle and she was fast asleep for almost 2 hours after the cake:) It was a fun time and we'll have good memories to look back on as she grows over the years. We have her doctors appointment on Tuesday and I will post her stats and all that good stuff. :)

A little weekend getaway.

Last weekend we took a trip up north to Crystal Mountain to do some skiing. My parents and brother went with us too and we all had a great time. My husband even braved his very first black diamond and made it down safe and sound!! I was such a proud wifey:) haha

This was the first time I'd left Madelyn overnight with anyone else and it was super difficult. I missed her like craaazy but am thankful that she had a good time with her grandparents and we had a nice time away as a couple. Of course, I started to cry as soon as I walked in the door of my in-laws on Sunday when we got back. It was a great end to a nice 2 weeks off of work...

Lullaby and Goodnight...

I'm not sure why these pictures don't post in the order that I upload them but oh well. The one of her asleep in her crib, holding her baby, should be the final one.

Anyway, this is a typical evening for us...

bathtime...

hairwashing....

brushing of the teeth....

and lastly- fast asleep and looking so precious:)

As all moms know, this isn't ALL that our nightly "routines" consist of but just themoments I thought to capture on camera!

and the baby turns ONE!

Today our little princess turns ONE! Can you believe it's been a whole year since her wonderful entrance into this world?!? The time sure has flown and it's been such an incredible year with her:) Nothing too special for her bday, we both worked and she went to daycare. After work we picked Robert up from work to run a few errands to get ready for the party tomorrow and had dinner at a Mexican resturant. Madelyn really like refried beans and rice- haha Just like her momma and dadda! Tomorrow we are having her birthday party with the family and looking forward to being with everyone to celebrate Madelyn's life. I LOVE YOU MADELYN!!!

Chicken & Broccoli anyone?

I just had to get on and post this recipe that I whipped up tonight for dinner. I started working out on Tues/Thurs. so I had no idea what to make Robert for dinner when I got home. He gets home and I am out the door to my jazzercise class. Anyway I have this cookbook that has few ingredients and easy to whip up and I highly reccommend this meal as we LOVED it! (If you like chicken and broccoli...you will too!) This will serve 2 well and you can add more chicken and rice if you have a bigger family.

Broccoli-Cheese Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 tbsp butter
1 (10 oz) can condensed broccoli-cheese soup ( I actually randomly had this in the pantry-haha)
1 (10 oz) package frozen broccoli spears (or more, you choose)
1/3 cup milk
1 packet/bag of that 10 minute Success brown rice- super easy just boil water and put the bag in it for 10 minutes and waa-lah!

• In a skillet, cook chicken in butter for 15 min or until brown on both sides, remove and set aside.
• In same skillet, combine soup, broccoli, milk and a little black pepper and heat to boiling, return chicken to skillet and reduce heat to low.
• Cover and cook another 25 minutes or until chicken in no longer pink and broccoli is tender and serve over the brown rice.

I hope ya'll enjoy this meal as much as we did!

Look at those chompers!