Happy B-Day Aunt Codie

Maddie & the Monster

Maryn has noticed Maddie a lot more in the last couple of weeks.  

Tonight Maryn reached out to pet Maddie and after touching her head and ear she laughed out loud.  Maddie turned to look at her and tried to lick her face ..."Maddie, no licking! Good girl." I don't have a picture of it (I know, Brigit without her camera-hard to believe), so the shots of her in her mommy's little monster onsie will have to do for now.

Growth Chart Stats

We stopped by the pediatrician's office today for another "well visit." The doctor pronounced her well and proceeded to give her 1/2 of her second round of immunizations. As you can imagine Maryn wasn't feeling to well after that. She only cried for a couple of minutes, though, so it wasn't too bad. 

Her weight is still progressing (she gained over 1/2 pound since her last weight check), but she is below the 5th percentile for her age. Her length has really skyrocketed and is now between the 50th and 75th percentiles! 

Grandpa

6 Months Old

Catherine Maney, an instructor at NIU, made this quilt for Maryn. If you look closely you can see some fun fabric details (think nursery rhyme print).

Back to Work

I went back to a full-time work schedule the second week of June. Thankfully NIU's full-time schedule in the summer months is a 4 day (longer hours) week with Fridays off.


Maryn is still not in day care, which is nice. Mike's mom decided to opt out of summer school to be with her Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I'm with her on Fridays and most Thursdays Mike or I take off or another relative/friend comes for part or all of the day.


Beginning in the fall I will work a full-time schedule in 3 long days so that I can be home with her the rest of the week. It will be an adjustment. The commute time combined with the longer hours means I'll see much less of her on those days. I may see her briefly in the mornings, depending on when she is up, but she'll be asleep by the time I return.


There will certainly be many benefits to the new schedule. Follow up appointments and weekly visits will be easier to manage. She'll only be in day care 3 days. I'll have 4 more hours in my week that would have been spent in a car and just imagine the daycare, gas, mileage and car wear and tear savings!


I have a great boss and a supportive working environment ... what more can a new mom ask for?

She's a Lucky Little Girl ...

...to have him as her dad

From Happy to Mad ..

in 60 seconds ... 

I got some new fabric in the mail yesterday and decided to tie the bow it was wrapped in around her head. Cute. 

I'm planning to spend the summer rediscovering the young creative girl I once was. I used to draw, paint or create on a weekly if not daily basis. I might even try my hand at sewing y'all. Thought I'd borrow a machine and see how it goes. I'm not making any promises. 

The Case of the Missing Hair

If you look back to Return of the Jedi you can see the early stages. At first I thought it looked sparser, but didn't see any evidence of it falling out. I thought it might be my imagination. 

It was probably near the time I posted her 5th month shots that I realized it wasn't- my imagination that is. But where was it all going? Upon further inspection we confirmed that the areas in which she spends most of her time were indeed hair free, except for the usual contributions from Maddie. 

Quite curious ... it can't evaporate into thin air, can it?

One morning I noticed her hands were a bit cold so I went to put on her hat. Hmm ...I paused...what if .... I turned the cotton hat inside-out - MYSTERY SOLVED! Her hat had been hiding the evidence all along.

Her hair is several inches long in some spots, but the large areas of baldness seem to be occupying more territory on that cute head of hers as the days go by.

ENT

Ryn saw the pediatric ENT today. He sprayed her nostrils and throat with a numbing agent and used a scope to take a look. Apparently our little girl did splendid and didn't put up much of a fuss. Ready to start solid foods? You bet!

Another Pound

Although she is still tiny for her age, Maryn gained another pound over the course of the last 2 weeks. Weigh (sorry- just had to) to go little girl!

We have some follow-up appointments coming up. The pediatric ENT will see her again next week and will hopefully give the okay for her to start solid food. Of course she has her 6 month well visit with the pediatrician the week after that which will include 1/2 of the second round of immunizations. And lastly, she has her 6 month follow up with the pediatric neurologist in early July. Stay tuned.

Nashville

Maryn and I flew to Nashville last week for five fun filled days with the Finks. 

Owen, Maryn and I spent quality time together in the back seat where I snapped this shot on the way to the farmers market after a quick stop at Nieka's school. 

A car person she is not!!! Owen was so cute with her though. He would hold her hand while she screamed. "Why is baby Olivia crying?" Too many baby cousins to keep them all straight. Poor kid.

Nieka and Scott cooked for us almost every night (sweets too). We visited downtown Franklin, the zoo, and got some great deals on baby clothes at a local consignment sale. Nieka and I took some fun classes at the Y and I was able to catch up on some early morning reading on their lovely patio outfitted with a new gazebo. It was a fabulous trip and I found it quite hard to leave.  Hopefully we'll be seeing them again soon .. perhaps in Ohio sometime this July.