Garfield Park Conservatory

This past Sunday we went to the Garfield Park Conservatory.  It's indoor, open 365 days a year, free, and also has free parking!  Also their Spring Flower Show was going on and pictures online looked lovely.  Luckily only 2 exhibits were closed so we were able to see most of the rooms.

Joseph wore Maddie so she could see everything as well as touch and feel some plants! It seems she enjoyed it all, she wasn't fussy one bit!  She was able to touch some plants, and also tried to lick anything that came near her face.

We look forward to visiting again in the late spring and summer. The outside grounds are supposed to be beautiful!

Wanting to lick the flowers!
Pau Pau has this same plant at her home.

Jealous Cats

Think the cats are jealous of Maddie?

Pictures from the past couple of weeks

It's been a while so here are lots of new pictures, and a bonus video!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Our little leprechaun celebrates her first St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a video of her in her chair trying to balance herself.

Video of some St Patty's Day Laughs!

4 Month Well Visit

We went in for Maddie's 4 month well visit this morning.  She had a tiny fever of 99.5 degrees. We have noticed she has been a little bit warm the past few days, so it could mean she is starting to teethe.

Maddie officially weighs 15 pounds and 10 ounces, with a head circumference of 41.5 centimeters, putting her in the 80th percentile for both.  She measured at 26" tall, putting her in the 97th percentile for height! We have a long, well proportioned baby!

After she was measured, we went to put her in a new diaper, and another first happened!  Maddie peed on Joseph as he was setting her down on the table!  Most of it got on the table, but some got on Joseph.  We used the new diaper to sop up the mess.  Joseph forgot about the incident until I reminded him later that night. He wore the pee shirt all day long.

The doctor said she looks great and was impressed with her baby rolls all on Mama's milk.  When she propped Maddie up to sit by her own, she was very impressed Maddie could sit a few seconds before tipping over. She said she expects this at 6 months old (sitting on her own for 1-2 seconds), so it seems our little girl is 2 months ahead of schedule!

Maddie also received her third round of immunizations. Luckily it was just 2 shots and 1 oral vaccine, as last time she had 4 total shots.  Dad held her legs and arms while the nurse administered the shots.  Poor thing cried as she got both shots, and calmed down a little bit after the oral shot.  She took them like a champ!  She had stopped crying and seemed very calm (or zoned out) after Joseph held and patted her.  She was fine on the drive home and just about fell asleep as we pulled into the garage (she was about 45 minutes overdue for her nap).  I nursed her as soon as we got home and she fell asleep while nursing, which has not happened in the longest time.  I did wake her up to give her a dose of baby Tylenol, and she fell asleep again as soon as she was done swallowing.

Monthly Photo (4 Months)

Maddie is 4 months old today!  She had her 4 month well visit today (will be a separate post) so we have official statistics.

She weighs 15 pounds and 10 ounces and is 26.0" long.

She loves to smile and laugh, and is starting to grab things with purpose, promptly putting them in her mouth.

Almost Rolling Over

I was not going to post this until Maddie has actually rolled over, but I'm just so excited for this latest development. Also this picture is just so cute as it shows off her rolls and rolls.

Thursday morning I set Maddie down on her playmat to change clothes.  I turned away to grab her new clothes and noticed she had turned towards one side a bit. I thought for a second maybe I set her that way after I took her onesie off, so I gently put her fully on her back. She again tipped towards the side!  I put some toys more in her eyesight in hopes of getting her to fully turn over.  In order to roll over, she would have to raise her bottom arm over her head, and I think the gravity of her thighs would have helped her roll over.

So we are not there yet, but we are oh so close!  Stay tuned, hopefully she rolls over in the very near future!!

Chunky Thighs and Hands in her Mouth

Madeleine has the chunkiest thighs! They seem to get chunkier every day even though she is constantly kicking them.  I bet there is a big layer of muscle under all that chunk.  I haven't been able to get my hand around her thigh in the longest time. Hopefully they come in handy on Monday when she gets her next round of vaccines.

It gives me a feeling of great satisfaction knowing she has gotten so healthy and chunky on Mom's milk.

While she has been putting her hands in her mouth for some time now, she recently started putting her 2 fingers (index & middle) in her mouth.  She stuck them down so far the other day she threw up all over herself and me!  This has only happened once and I did just feed her so hopefully it's just an isolated incident.  It is pretty cute when she does it though.

Some adventures outside

This past weekend was quite exciting, we took Maddie out both Saturday & Sunday!

We went to Costco on Saturday.  She did great on the car ride there, no fussiness!  She also did great at the store, soaking in all the sights.  We did push it a little bit as it was close to her nap time as we started to leave and she got antsy as we headed towards the check out lane.  She started to get fussy on the car ride home (we hit some traffic and she noticed we weren't moving).  Luckily I was able to distract her enough with her pacifier and tapping fingers, and she eventually fell asleep for her much needed nap.

I took her outside twice on Sunday!  It wasn't necessary warm outside (in the 20s) but it was bright and sunny, and Mama needed her Vitamin D that day!  I didn't take any pictures of us outside, but I did take this picture of her passed out after trip #2. I laid her on the couch to take off her bunting and she didn't move an inch.

More cute pictures

Here are some more cute pictures from the past week

This one is actually from a couple of weeks ago. She loves mirrors! We often put her in front of the mirror and she talks to herself or touches the mirror. Here she is smiling at her reflection. You can also see her the bald spot forming on the back of her head from when she's lying on her back sleeping. No worries, she has a perfectly round head!