Alyssa @ 2 months

This morning I took Alyssa in for her 2 month well baby check. I can't believe we made it out the door and there by 8:30 am. I was even wearing makeup and had my hair down. (although, i showered last night) Anyway, I had just made this appt. yesterday since she was originally scheduled for the same day and time ( in a couple of weeks) as Madelyn for her 3 year check up. I didn't want to deal with 2 screaming girls in the same visit and thought it would be nice for Madelyn to have a positive visit to the doctor for once.

Alyssa was little miss smiley this morning and in a great mood as Dr. Williams was checking her out. Her immediate comment was "Wow, she has really nice skin!" So little one, you have beautiful skin, I hope you always do...:)
We also talked about how she still likes to wake up every 3-4 hours in the night. She suggested that I cut the 2nd feeding short in the night to try and train her to just skip it all together. So we will try that but I am not expecting much. If she is still not sleeping longer at 3 months, she said to call again so we can talk about other ways to get her doing so. hmmmm
Last came the not so fun part. 3 shots and 1 oral vaccine. She cried, naturally and had tears in her eyes:(
My sweet little peanut has grown A LOT!

weight: 12 lbs. 8 oz. (75%)
height: 24" (90%)

twins?...no, sisters.

The first is a picture of Alyssa at 8 weeks andd the second is Madelyn at 8 weeks.

Madelyn's THIRD birthday party

We celebrated the big birthday the day before her actual birthday, Saturday, Jan. 8th. This year for Madelyn's birthday she wanted to have a unicorn party. She is really into unicorns, princesses, fairies...that kind of thing. So we went with the unicorn theme. It was a lot of fun because she has been so fascinated by birthdays over this last year so when it came time for her's to arrive, you can bet it was talked about months prior. She wore a very cute little pink "princess dress" for her special day. (which was a christmas gift from the Archer family)

I made cupcakes again this year, nothing special, just pinks and whites with rainbow and strawberry chip cake mix. I also made "fairy wands" (pretzel rod dipped in white chocolate and covered in sprinkles) and butterfly sugar cookies with pink frosting. We had a 6 ft. party sub from Subway, which was a huge hit with everyone, meatballs, chips, trailmix and punch. We had lots of family present and enjoyed being together with everyone to celebrate Madelyn's life.

The highlight of the party, other than playing with all her cousins, was the unicorn pinata we set up in the basement. I didn't get a chance to video tape Madelyn hitting it but was able to get Nic, Noah and Reilynn. It was a lot of fun and Madelyn had us all cracking up with her "HUUUGH!!" each time she would wack the pinata. Noah broke the unicorn in half and then finished it up letting all the candy fall to the ground. The kids swooped in and filled their bags.

She recieved lots of nice gifts from everyone and thanked everyone after opening each gift. When it came time to sing and blow out the candles, she was ALL smiles. She loved the attention and wouldn't stop grinning from ear to ear.
What an amazing (not so) little girl I have and an amazing journey our life with her has been. I love you so very much my Maddy- boo! Happy Birthday babe!

6 weeks

Alyssa @ 1 month

What a whirlwind of a Christmas season we had this year. The month leading up to Christmas this year has been one like no other. It's been an exhausting month but full of blessings.
When we first came home from the hospital, Alyssa was nursing every 3 hours or so (normal) but was waking up every couple of hours in the night. Oh my, I have never been so completely tired in my life. I wasn't getting to bed until 2am at night and then getting sleep for an hour-hour and half at a time for a total of maybe 4 hours a night. A girl cannot function on that little of sleep and expect to steer clear of the winter crud and sicknesses lingering everywhere. I felt the aches and pains throughout my body for the first couple of weeks and then came a horrible head cold/cough that contaminated the Miller Christmas party a week before Christmas. Madelyn developed croup and strep and felt miserable also. Thankfully, Alyssa *and Robert) remained healthy and still is. (knock on wood)
This little girl likes to be held ALL THE TIME. I never wanted to be that parent of a child who cannot be content sitting in a bouncy seat or swing some of the day. I realize now that it is not a result of parenting and that some babies just decide for themselves whether they prefer to snuggle with a human. When she is not being held, she is exercising her vocal cords and my oh my does she have some strong lungs. She will scream her cute little head off until someone comes to pick her up. This makes it very difficult for me to get much done during the day. sooooooooo frustrating at times. However, I am trying to treasure this snuggle time with her while it lasts:)
a few things bullet style:

• weight 10.5-11ish lbs.
• nurses well- every 2-3 hours
• sleeps in 4hour stretches at night
• cannot tolerate caffeine in my diet what-so-ever :( she was screaming for 2-3 hours inconsolably in the evening until I figured this out and cut it out completely.
• is sensitive to some dairy in my diet, still trying to figure that out but it seems to be cheeses. make her belly hurt and she has lots of cottage cheese like spit-up.
• smiles inconsistently while awake but I think they are real smiles, not just gas. (so close!)
• wearing 3 month clothes day after Christmas.