Madeline's Monthly Message: Month 1

Dear Madeline,

Today you turned one month old.

Each month I plan to write a message to you about how you have changed and what experiences you've had. I hope it will be a fun and meaningful thing for you to look back on when you are older. A way for you to know your mama and dada better, and maybe understand why you are the way you are.

This was our first month with you! Some things I want to remember about you this month... It truly has been an exciting, overwhelming, joyful, and happy adventure. We love being your Momma and Daddy. Your birth lasted 14 hours and 49 minutes. You were induced on September 10th, 2008, the day after my due date - and it was a good thing because when you were born you were already 8 pounds 12 ounces and 21 3/4 inches tall. You were a pretty big baby! I can't imagine how big you would have been if we had decided to just wait let you come on your own accord.

The healing process for Momma is going well. At this point I am feeling well and almost back to normal. I've already lost 25 pounds since I had you - that of course includes you - and am back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Now I just have to lose the 40 pounds I had on before. A few days ago my wrists started hurting - probably because I am not used to pick up a chubby baby over and over all day. So I now wear wrist braces to help keep them a little more sturdy. Hopefully these will help and this issue will resolve soon.

You were 10 pounds at your 2-week check up and a couple days ago I weighed you on our scale (by difference) and you are now about 12 pounds. Yes - you love to nurse. You do it a lot. We've had no major problems with breastfeeding from the very beginning (other than a little soreness). It sort of frightens me how quickly you are growing. I am trying so hard to enjoy every second with you.

Honestly, you are a perfect baby!

When you sleep you do a soft moan, you snore, your eyes roll, you do fake cries, fake laughs, and smile really, really big. You are a very active sleeper!

You have beautiful brown eyes. They get puffy and red when you're tired or upset - just like your dads. From the very start you've been curious about your surroundings and love to look around.

Some of your favorite things to look are the ceiling fans and our faces.

You have thick, chocolate brown hair, and lots of it.

It combs into a curl when it's wet but dries straight as a board and gets extremely poofy. Even if I try to comb it down it poofs up.

I love your smile. You've been smiling from the beginning, but started to really smile at me (without the help of gas bubbles) only a couple weeks into life and now you do it all the time. Your smile is like magic can make any sadness or negative feeling immediately disappear.

You're a very calm baby. You only really cry when you are hungry or want a hug. You love to be held and kissed... especially by your daddy. He loves to hold you. I love to watch him hold you. It is the moments when you two are together sleeping or hugging that I wish would last forever.

You're already really popular and have several great friends. The best among these include:

Momma and Daddy, who will always love you the most.

Kitty,

who at first wasn't so sure about you, but now sits wherever you sit and regularly licks your head and leg.

Brooke Olivia (and her Momma and Daddy),

born 12 days after you, with whom you share a middle name and later will probably share a love of grapes and competitive game play like your fathers...

And of course Leopold the giraffe, Winston the elephant & Frederic' the frog (who is from France and prefers his name be properly pronounced as Fred-er-eek).

As you can see and will soon understand your Momma has quite the imagination. Will I embarrass you later in life? Probably, but for now just go with it. I promise you will have many laughs along the way. I'll try to tone it down when you start dating.

I love you Madeline. So does your great big family and all of your friends. I'm excited to wake up every morning because I know you are there to hug and kiss and take care of. I am so looking forward to the many months to come.

Love,
Your Momma