Baptized In Christ

Our sweet Maggie was baptized this weekend...January 30, 2010. We made the trek to GB to the Catholic church Clay and I grew up in, were married in, and that Jack was also baptized in. It seemed an obvious choice, even though the preparation for a short weekend trip is an immense amount of work these days. It was all worth it though.

The ceremony was held in the chapel per my request..I prefer the intimacy of family and friends for such a special day. Maggie made a couple squeaks, Jack wiggled around a bit, but that's part of what made it such a beautiful event.

Congratulations on your baptism Margaret Grace...you are truly loved!

On the way to the chapel to get baptized. It was pretty chilly so I had Maggie bundled in a sweater cardigan over her gown. I was sooo hoping for some good Florida sunshine...no luck.



There was a very informal processional into the chapel. Father Lambert conducted the ceremony and Matt (Clay's brother) and Catlin (our sister-in-law) entered with us.

Maggie loved having the water poured on her head. I think she was anticipating a bath...what a tease!

Father Lambert, a baptized baby, a relieved Mommy and Daddy, and an over excited brother! What a picture!

Maggie and her new God Parents, Matt and Catlin.

Some of our family that attended the ceremony. Maggie is so blessed to have such a wonderful family to share in her day.

Maggie's Baptism Party attire...always pretty in pink. Although, she was so exhausted from the baptism excitement that she slept half of her party away. (and no, she doesn't have brown eyes:)

Big Brother was lovin' a party. Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, cousins, galore! He solicited playtime from each of them! His eyes were a mile wide every time someone new walked in the door. I'm surprised I was even able to get him to the dinner table.

Party Planning

I've been a little slow on the blogging lately. Not too mention returning phone calls & emails, seeing friends, getting out of the house, etc,etc. You would think it would be due to the fact that we have a new baby around here. And...that is partly it. But the majority of my "free time" (I use that term loosely) has been consumed with party planning. I am up to my eyeballs in parties right now.

For starters we've got Maggie's Baptism and after party. No big deal really. I just had to schedule the date and time, make a few phone calls to order food, and get some paper products. Pretty much done with that one.

The big ones are Jack's 3rd birthday and Clay's 40th. And for those of you who remember, yes, they aren't until April. But bear in mind, April is only 2 short months away. Clay's is obviously a huge one and Jack's always turns into a huge one, no matter what I say I'm "not going to do". And with two birthday parties on my plate I've got to get started early. And early for me was a month ago.

In an effort not to consume every one's April, Cristina (Sophia's mommy) and I decided to do Jack and Sophia's party together. Seeing as how the two are attached at the hip and only 6 days apart...it just made sense. We mainly did this for all of you expecting April babies out there--so we better see all of you 9+ months prego mommies. Mark your calendars it's April 3rd. We're both aware that it's Easter weekend, but we had to get it in early before everyone was at the hospital in labor and delivery. Consider it a weekend for the kids...aren't they all though?

Party planning for the J & S party has really "taken flight" (you'll see what I mean later:). We've had invites custom made to suit a boy and a girl--that took a while--actually 4 proofs later, but, I can happily say, their in printing as we speak! And between Cristina and I, I think we've come up with some super cute ideas for the goodies, food, etc. Two heads are always better than one.

As for Clay's party, it's a one woman show. Clay does know we are celebrating, but he doesn't know how--that's the surprise! It's been hard not to ask his advice on certain things, especially when it directly affects him. I'm use to getting his opinion...do I always listen?...no, but I like to hear what he has to say.

So with no input from Clay, I've made about 3 zillion decisions in the past month. And I'm not even finished. I really hope he has fun. The party is a pretty simple idea, it's just entails A LOT of phone calls and planning. Things are coming together, but that's about all I can tell you. Oh, except for the date...April 10th...the weekend following Jack and Sophia's party. I originally didn't want them back to back for obvious reasons, but again I had to consider all of the April babies due and my Mom can come for 2 weeks straight. Huge help!

So come April I think I'll finally be able to exhale and focus on just loving all over my baby. It'll be really nice to "just be a Mommy" again. After all, that is my favorite job. I'm pretty much feeling about ready to hang up my party planner hat...until next year.

Where's Maggie?

It's official, Maggie is part of the family. She now adorns our family wall gallery...

A bit obnoxious, I know. But, I can't help it--I LOVE pictures of my kids. And excuse the awful photography on my part. The wall is right in a hallway and it was impossible to get a good angle.

So let's play a little game of Where's Maggie? (you know, like the old Where's Waldo?--I used to love those books) . Anyway, there are now two new framed images of her up there. Can you find them? (don't scroll down until you've found them)

Here they are...

How did you do? It probably wasn't too hard to find that GIANT one in the upper left hand corner. We were going for the look of making "Maggie shine" since Jack takes up the other two thirds of the wall. I'm pretty sure the goal was accomplished. However, I do personally think our "wall" looks complete now. I can't even imagine it without Maggie, kind of like my life.

I'm sure you are wondering what I'm going to do when we have her next session. The plan is to change some of the pics out. I hate to do it, but the time has come.

Thanks for playing!

My Maggie: 2 Months

Happy 2 month birthday Maggie! I know we are a week late on this, but seeing as how her 2 month Doctor's appointment got rescheduled due to the snow, I wanted to wait to have her stats. Wow, has she grown wide, just not very long. Dr. K called her a little "budah".

Weight: 12lbs 10oz : 90th %
Height: 22 1/4" : 50th %
Head: 38.5 : 50th %

In other news, she is still my angel baby. Don't get me wrong we have moments, but don't all babies? I ask that seriously, I'm not really sure what a baby without reflux is suppose to act like. Regardless I think she is an angel and that's really what matters.

So at the 2 month mark this is what's going on...

Eating

Maggie is far from a robust eater, even with her great weight gain. Sometimes when I feed her I wonder if she's really even hungry. She nurses on average about 10-15 minutes and does it very quietly and so daintily. I'm not use to that--Jack was a guzzler and then wanted more. Maggie nurses about 7 times a day, 6 of which are during the day and one during night time sleep hours. On average she's eating every 3 hours and then 2 cluster feeds in the evening before bed.

Activity

It's amazing the difference a month makes! Maggie is so much more alert now, although her wake time (including feeding) is still only about 45 minutes. But, the difference is her awake time is full of activity. It's no longer just a diaper change and some loving from me. Now, she stares at toys, sits in her bouncy seat and smiles and coos at me. Mmmmm...I love baby coos. And she smiled for the first time at 5 weeks. Talk about melting my heart. Her gummy smile can bring a smile to my face anytime. She loves to have conversations with me. A little goo here and then one back at her--you get the picture. I think we are in love with each other! I pulled out her play mat for the first time this week. She was in heaven. The star with the smiley face captivated her. She talks to it, kicks her legs, flails her arms, and grins a mile wide. I'm hoping that star didn't take my place.

Sleep

As for sleep, she's great at that too. She still takes 4 full naps of an hour and half to two hours and then one little catnap in the evening. Her daytime naps follow her feeding and playtime in that order. She still prefers her crib to anywhere else for sleeping and still loves to be swaddled. What I thought was an evening "witching hour" turned out to be nothing really. I don't even know if I have the right to call it that. She seems pretty content if someone is holding her or she has entertainment of some sort. Between dinner, two feedings, and getting Jack to bed, evenings are hectic with or without a "witching hour".

Night time sleep is where we've made the biggest strides. I've moved her bedtime up to 8:30 (working towards that 7:30 mark--we'll get there one day). But, the good news is she has been averaging about 9 hours for the past week. Some lucky nights I get 10 out of her and some only 8. Either way, I'm not complaining. I think we're on the right track. She usually wakes around 5:00-5:30 am for a feeding. I put her back down and then wake her at 7:30-8:00 am to start her day. I tell her every morning, "this is what time we wake up at our house, not at five". I'm hoping she'll get the picture eventually.

The biggest complaint I have of her is BED TIME!!! Ugh...it can be heaven or hell. I give her a bath at 8 pm, follow that with pj's and an 8:30 pm feeding. Then I lay her in her crib and hold my breath. Sometimes she dozes right off and other times she cries for 30-40 minutes. It's pure torture when she cries. Clay and I spent several nights going in and soothing her and the minute we would leave she would start back up. For a couple of nights this went on past midnight. I didn't get it, she didn't cry when she went to bed at nap time. I finally decided we were prolonging the agony. When we finally made the decision to just leave her alone, she fell asleep in about 30-40 minutes. Much better than carrying on with this circus of in and out of her room for 3 hours straight. We stopped going in there after bedtime about 2 weeks ago. And since then, like I said, it can be heaven or hell. She either falls right to sleep or cries for a bit before falling asleep. I've decide it's just her little quirk and she'll grow out of it eventually. It's more important that she and I get some sleep--so this is the way it has to be for a while.

What I Didn't Know

I've learned a lot in 2 months, even with her being my second. There's a lot I didn't know would happen when I was anticipating her arrival. Some of which are...

*I didn't how different two babies from the same family could be.

*I didn't know I could instantly fall in love with another baby.


*I didn't know how much fun doing a load of pink laundry would be.

*I didn't know that I would be dusting off all those baby reference books and flipping through them again.

*I didn't know that all babies don't spit up.

*I didn't know that Gripe Water would become my new best friend. Maggie is infamous for her hiccups and gas--Baby's Bliss Gripe Water has saved the day!

*I didn't know how much I would cherish a little bit of alone time with each of my kids.

*I didn't know that when little girls pee on the changing table it soaks the back of their clothes--I actually learned that one rather quickly.

*I didn't know how many nicknames could come from "Maggie"--magpie, mags, maggie maggie mouska (from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for those of you wondering), maggie grace....

*I didn't know how much S--L--O--W--E--R the baby weight came off the second time.

*I didn't know how much joy she would bring to my life in only 2 months. Have I mentioned how in love I am with her?

So that's My Maggie at 2 months. Perfect in almost every way and keeping me very busy at the same time. I'm hoping my three month post will have her sleeping through the night--here's praying!

And one more picture, because I think she is so stinking cute...