I'm TWO!

Last year I was a little sad at my first birthday party, so Mommy and Daddy tried to make this one better for me. I think they did a great job!

We had some friends over for a little birthday playdate:


We had chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting:


Mmmmmm!


And we had some more friends over, but I mostly ate pizza while they played:


Then on my actual birthday Mommy and Daddy led Toddler Morning Out! We played four corners, red light green light, read Trucks at Work, had parachute time, painted with marbles, did station work...but Mommy and Daddy were very busy playing with us so they only got pictures of...more chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting!




Gavin didn't get any.


Unle Kenny got there just in time for cupcakes, but he's not in the pictures either.


Later I got to open my presents!


Mommy and Daddy told me to hold this one up and show them. So I did.

That's the movie Cars! I got to watch it after we opened presents. I LOVE that movie.

I got a lot of stuff that goes!!!




And Uncle read me this book:


Then Mommy and I went to pick up Aunt Katrina. When we got home, I found THIS!

I sat down and played with it for hours until they made me go to bed. It was waaaaaay past my bedtime.

The next morning it was no longer my birthday, but Mommy and Daddy realized they forgot to have me blow out my candle, so...more birthday cupcakes for meeeeeee!




All in all, I think I had a pretty amazing second birthday!

Trucks!

Maddie has been standing at the window the past couple of days shouting, "Trucks!" Road crews have been working in front of our house, and we couldn't resist getting a picture of Maddie with the Bobcat! It was hard to snap a photo with her looking at the camera because she kept turning around to point, "Trucks!".

And on that note...family members, get those "things that go" pictures in as soon as you can!

Cowtastic

Someone put this Howdy Cow up on our listserve because their kid wasn't into it. I was pretty sure Maddie would be, and as you can see by her glee, I was right. We brought it into the house with her saying, "Cow! Cow! Cow! Cow!" I gave her the cow, which she'd never seen before. She immediately put him on the ground, climbed on and began bouncing away, chanting, "Bouncy! Bouncy Bouncy!"

Bought to you by...

The letter T! For teeth, of course, which Madeleine proudly displays for your giggling pleasure. See all of those back ones coming in? Though this picture looks like we're having tons of fun, we've had some rough days with those big teeth! And don't worry, Maddie didn't lose the front ones in a playdate-knockout - the black spot is just a raisin from her lunch.

Eat Up!

Maddie's appetite has increased significantly since the jaundice has been reduced!  She and I were up every 1-2 hours last night (boy were we tired!), but fortunately Dakota took Maddie for a few hours tonight and I was able to nap.

At the pediatrician's yesterday we found that Madeleine is starting to regain weight!  In fact, she gained 4oz in two days!  Whoohoo!  Her billirubin levels went up slightly, but nothing to cause concern.  We get a break from appointments until next Thursday.

Gratuitous Cuteness

When we walked in the door all three kittens had to come over and check out Maddie.  Maggie was the most interested, Zoe really just wanted us to pet her, and Annie, of course, was scared.

I am so cute.

I used to be on the inside of mommy's tummy!

What a great place to hang out!

Bath time is, so far, traumatic.  Madeleine pulls the hood of the towel over her face as though maybe she can get away underneath it.  Much screaming ensues.

At work with Daddy already!

The cats have become a united front against their common attention-getting enemy!  We can't remember the last time they all laid on the bed together.

Tired but happy.  That about says it all!

Madeleine looks so much better now - she can wear yellow instead of being yellow!  And she loves her bouncer.

Code Orange

We were hoping our jaundice scare would be over after the weekend on the billi-blanket, but instead it all got a lot worse. Maddie's levels went up again Monday morning. Our pediatrician sent us to the Pediatric ER at Johns Hopins, but she called ahead and made sure they had a bed for us and would get us in quickly and away from all of the sick kids.

Once there, they tried to attach an IV and couldn't get it to work in her little veins. I felt like they were piercing my heart with each shriek of my baby. They told us the IV line was just a precaution and that she probably wouldn't need it, so it wasn't a big deal that they couldn't get it in. Basically, they told us she'd be under lights, and if that didn't work they'd add IV fluids, and if that wasn't working she might need a blood transfusion, but they made it pretty clear that those other options were pretty far down the line. 

They rechecked her levels and they'd risen from that morning. Suddenly that unneccesary IV line was being put in by an IV specialist, and my baby was again screaming her little lungs out.

The doctors began talking more seriously about admitting us to the pediatric ICU and starting a blood transfusion. D and I were so frightened for our little girl, and I couldn't stop crying. They rechecked her levels again to see if there was a lab error that made them look high, but again, they came back about the same. They decided to give her a little more time under the lights and check her one more time before deciding if we would be admitted to the pediatrics floor or to the pediatric ICU. Time never seemed to go so slowly.

Finally, we got rechecked and the levels had started to go down. We were so relieved! We were admitted to the pediatrics floor at about 10pm (we'd been there since 2:30). 

We were in a shared room and there was a chair that sort of unfolded into a tiny bed for one parent to stay the night. Dakota went home and I stayed with her so I could feed her. I'd been pumping all day because they wouldn't let me take her out from under the lights to eat. I had this strong desire to pump constantly, only because I felt like it was the only thing I could do to help her. It was a long night.

They rechecked her levels at 4am, and when they came back there was a lot of improvement. We moved her off the lights at 9:30 in the morning and after the levels remained low in the afternoon, we were released to go home about 4pm. 

We're now home, tired, and glad that we no longer have an orange kid.

Progress!

Last night we were able to get Maddie to sleep in her cosleeper the whole night!  Whooohoo!  Progress!  And, at our 1:30am feeding, she and I didn't even wake Daddy (this is huge...waking usually requires lots of crying).  Plus, it was a successful feeding!  Honestly I was so thrilled with myself and the baby that it was all I could do not to wake Dakota and tell him.

Today we went back to the pediatrician to have blood drawn to check on her jaundice.  I think I cried about as much as Madeleine, but hopefully her levels have gone down and we'll be able to ditch the billi-blanket soon.