Spoke Too Soon About the Spoon...

If you remember from an earlier post, Madi got the okay to start solids.  Well, even though she absolutely LOVES being a big girl in her high chair and being fed from a spoon, we've had to put a hold on all food!  We fed her squash last Friday (Jan 20) and she started back her sneezng, coughing, and sniffing her nose like she's trying to blow it on Saturday (Jan 21).  These were the exact same symptoms she had when she was on the milk-based formulas.  By Sunday, she was spitting up everywhere!  We went from changing her clothes only once a day back to about 4 times on Monday...BOO!!!  We also gave her squash on Monday-Wednesday, and she did the same thing.  I called back to LeBohnuer and talked with Dr. Corkins's nurse.  He said to hold all food for 1 week, then start back on yellow fruits (like apples and pears).  She is still spitting up way more than she was and for the past week she has been SCREAMING and crying unconsolably for about an hour evey night.  I'm so frustrated, I don't know what to do!  Mom and I have even gone all organic by making her baby food with the Baby Bullet.  Dr. Corkins says that as babies reach a year old, their stomach lining closes, so that the proteins don't "leak" out and cause an allergic reaction.  Maybe Madi's tummy isn't closing as quickly or something??...I don't know! I guess we'll see if she can tolerate the fruits at the end of this week.  Of course, I am reminded everyday how blessed we are to have 2 amazing, beautiful, healthy girls...so if we have to deal with some food allergies, we will...and be grateful that it isn't anything worse!

Happy 1/2 Year Madi!

Today is Madi's 6 month birthday!!  I can't believe she is already 1/2 a YEAR!!  Madi is such a sweetie-pie and we are so thrilled that God sent her to us!  Madi is now working on sitting up!  She can sit for several minutes before she rolls to the ground!  She is rolling eveywhere!  I'm not so sure she will crawl anytime soon, or at all for that matter!  She has found that she can roll and get where she wants to go pretty quickly!  Madi also got to try her first solids just this last week!  So far, she's eaten squash and sweet potatoes...with sweet potatoes being her fave!  Madi talks and SQUEALS (in a very high pitch, I might add) all of the time!  Her favorite thing to do is jump...in her jump-a-roo or while she is standing in your lap.  My favorite thing Madi has started doing this month is REALLY giving kisses!!  She will grab both sides of my face (or hair, whichever she can reach), pull me to her, and give me a big 'ole slobbery open-mouth kiss!!  Melts my heart!  She is also getting Nick wrapped around her finger by saying "DaDa" ALL the time!  BUT, I must admit that Emma is still her favorite person...and Emma still feels the same way!  Emma is always saying things like "We have the cutest baby ever, do we Momma" and "Madi is just an angel" and "I just love my little sister"  I hope they always feel this way about each other!

Still no "toofies," but she's really trying to get them in!

Notice the constant drool!

Madi weighed 18 lbs (90th percentile) and was 27.75 in (still off the charts!) at her 6 month checkup! 

People usually comment on her "big pretty eyes" and "those lonnnng eyelashes!"

1st taste of squash!

1st taste of sweet potatoes!

HAPPY 1/2 YEAR TO OUR BEAUTIFUL BIG BROWN-EYED BABY GIRL!

Splish Splash with Sis!

Madi is now big enough and able to sit up enough to take a bath with big sister!  Emma is beyond thrilled that she gets to take a bath with Madi now!  And Mommy is excited too... much quicker than having to do it twice!!  Madi has always loved taking a bath, but now she squeals and splashes and tries to catch her little duckie!  I think she likes having more room than in the sink!

BEST big sis EVER!

Bring on the Spoon!

Madi FINALLY got the okay from Dr. Corkins at LeBohneur to start introducing solid foods!!  When we were there at 4 months, she was still having so many issues with her protein allergies to every kind of formula we had tried, he advised us to not give her anything besides the new formula (Neocate) until we came back for her 6 month follow-up.  It took a good 4-5 weeks to get her tummy straightened out on the Neocate, so I was hesitant to give her anything else!  (VERY different from Emma...she was eating a loaded tater from Pepper's at 6 months!;)  But, since right before Christmas, Madi has gotten SOOO much better about using the bathroom and not spitting up nearly as much!  Dr. Corkins says that Madi will hopefully grow out of her protein allergies...that usually it is just an infant allergy and as the gut matures it will be less "leaky."  GREAT NEWS!!!  So, maybe we are not looking at a lifelong struggle with food allergies...I hope not anyways!  We are going to do 3 more months of Neocate, then step down to 3 months of Alimentum, then 3 months of regular formula (maybe the Similac Sensitive), then whole milk or I may use Silk...IF there are no reactions to any of the above!  LoLo purchased the Baby Bullet as part of Madi's Christmas prsents, so we are going to try to go all organic and make her baby food!  Dr. Corkins says the "order" of foods to introduce in babies like Madi is veggies: yellow, green, red; then fruits: yellow, green, red; then meats: lightest to darkest; then cereal and oatmeal.  So yesterday, LoLo, Emma, and I made some fresh out-of-our-garden squash for Madi to try!!  I was really impressed with how easy the Baby Bullet is to use!!  Madi was not extremely thrilled about her first eating exerience at lunch, but last night she tore it up!

Emma was VERY excited to get to feed Madi!

Such a great Big Sis!

"What is this?"

"I'm not so sure..."

Still not sold!

"So this is what all that eating is about!"

"I might like this afterall!"

Another Year!

Hello 2012!  It has always been so much fun having my birthday on New Year's Eve!...well, most of the time!  EVERYBODY celebrates my birthday!  I really can not believe that I turned 31 on Saturday...I still think I should be about 25... But, I do think that my 30's are going to be the BEST decade yet!  Why?  NO stress from pharmacy school and NO stress from trying to get pregnant!  I am so in love with my little family and can't wait to see what all God has planned for us this year!  For my birthday, Nick took me (and Jason and Miranda Lindley) out to eat at Fairpark Grill on Friday night! The girls spent the night with LoLo and PaPa! (even though we were home by 8:30! ha!  Such party animals!)  It was Madi's first night away from me, but she had a lot of fun, and I knew she was in good hands!  Emma and LoLo made my birthday cake and cupcakes, so I joined them Saturday morning for a breakfast cupcake!

Emma picked out (all by herself!) a pink scarf and a picture frame for me!  Such a sweet girl!  If you can't tell, she spelled out "MOM" with the flowers she cut out! 

Me and my girls!

Emma icing my strawberry cupcakes!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Mommy!

We have spent MANY New Year's Eve's with our long-time best friends Miranda and Jon Maynard!  In high school, we always had a New Year's formal on my birthday, and several of those years, we all went together!  After we got married, Nick and I went to their house in Southaven for New Year's. And, since we've had kids, we have gotten together to shoot fireworks!  Here is a picture from New Year's 2 years ago:

The girls weren't too sure about the fireworks back then!

Look at these cutie-pies!

Emma had just turned 2 and Mary-Evelyn would turn 2 in February! 

Miranda and Jon came over Saturday night and we cooked hamburgers and let the girls play and shoot fireworks!  As usual, we had a LOT of fun!

My how they've grown!

 

Mary-Evelyn and Emma playing "beauty pagent!"

Jumping on the trampoline...even in their formal attire!

Miranda and I really wanted a cute "sisters" picture, but this was as good as it got!

Georgia-Kate, Mary-Evelyn, Emma, and Madi!

All of the girls LOVED the fireworks this year!

All the girls!

My biggest resolution for 2012 is to SLOW DOWN and enjoy this precious time with my girls!!  ...And of course to lose those infinite 10 pounds that never go away!