Here is Colton Lincoln...he was born May 6, about one month after Maddy.  What a chubbers he is!  I think he's about 5lbs heavier than Maddy...but what a cutie!  Maddy loved to kick him and he loved to pull her hair, it's a match made in heaven.

Going for a walk with the babies...Maddy had never experienced cool weather like we had in Colorado Springs that week.

Cutie patootie...

On Wednesday evening we went to this cool park in downtown Co Springs for a free "concert in the park."  Doesn't that fountain remind you of Stargate or something??  We barely finished our picnic before everyone made a dash for their cars as it started to rain...and then we sat and waited to move as every car had to exit out of the SAME exit, onto the SAME street.  Maddy wasn't shy about expressing her annoyance with that!

The end of our trip was spent visiting my sis in law Julie and her family.  Maddy got to meet her cousins who fell in love with her!  She really seemed to love all the attention too!  We can't wait to see them all again in November!

Here we are on our first plane trip together! (well, on the way home)  I was reading a story to her as she was getting sleepy.  She likes to turn the pages and  lift flaps on the pages.  She's a great little traveler but we're glad to be home!

Madelyn was suppose to have her 4 month check up yesterday, but due to a dead car battery, I had to reschedule for next Friday.  If I had been able to make the appointment I may have found out if Madelyn is in fact going through a growth spurt (I figure she's nearing 12 1/2 lbs)  She and I just returned from a trip to Colorado (more details momentarily) and while there she decided she needed to nurse about every 2.5 hrs (previously she was on a schedule of every 4 hours, and even longer at night usually).  And last night was a LOUSY night.  She was up 2 different times (around 1am and 4am) with nothing to console her but me finally giving in to nurse her.  I'm still learning how exactly to read her cues, especially at night when she had previously gone 6+ hours between feedings.  So my only conclusion is that she is hitting a growth spurt, feeling sick (like I am), or she's teething???  Okay, those are a lot of conclusions to be considered "my only conclusion" so really I guess I have no idea.  Seems to me she should be past this "spurt" if that's what it is, or show more signs that she is sick or teething.  She was sneezing and coughing more in Colorado, but not flemmy, and she's been drooling and sucking on everything she can for maybe a month now....so figure that one out.  (Let all us nursing mothers pray that she's not teething.....yet...<cringe>...)

Alas...the plights of a new mother...  Maybe I'll have things figured out by the time she's 9. 

So on to our adventures on Maddy's first plane trip!  I was overly anxious to say the least in preparing for the plane ride.  I just didn't know what to plan for, I figured if I had plenty of milk, diapers, and toys I was set.  (So it was only an hour and 45min flight...but still!!  I didn't know how Maddy would do...)  Well that's really all I needed...she did SO GREAT!  I brought a lot of milk for her to have a full feeding at take off, had back up for the landing, and nearly every toy she owns in the diaper bag.  The flight attendants were very helpful and were ga ga over Maddy, so that helped me feel at ease.  I also was lucky enough to get a bulkhead window seat with no one in the middle (Maddy was a great deterrent)  and a very nice woman sat in the aisle. 

All went well, she inhaled the bottle at take off and slept through the landing!  Same thing happened on the flight home, only this time her Grandma Debbie was with us which helped A LOT to have two sets of hands to maneuver everything.  Thanks Debbie!  I'm so glad we got to take the trip to see our friends in family, and it was well worth it, but it was pretty exhausting (and now I have the cold to prove it...).  I'd say it was more of a vacation for Dan, since he was able to come home every night and have no responsibilities but to feed himself and veg out.  He says he missed us, but how much he did is still in question... ;)

I'm glad I had the experience of doing it alone for at least one leg of the trip.  I feel like I have another notch in my "belt of motherhood."

Pictures to come...

Well Maddy is changing everyday.  She is now able to twist and turn her body so much that she can rotate on the ground a full 360 degrees.  She's still working on the rolling over part but just today she got soooo close on a back to tummy attempt.  If her darn shoulder wasn't in the way it would have been successful!

This picture is how I found her the other morning.  Proof that she doesn't stay put.  Usually her head is at the end of the crib where the monitor is, but she wriggled out of her sleep positioner (I still use that at night cuz her pacifier stays put better when she's on her side), kicked her blanket to one end, and is playing with the rolled up quilt while simultaneously using her feet to turn on and off her crib aquarium.  She's so funny!

I love these mornings when she wakes up, not fussing because she's hungry, and is just playing and talking to herself in her crib.  I come walking in and she gives the biggest brightest smiles with her whole face, it's the best way to start the day....for the second time anyway....

Remember this?

Here is our version...

Yesterday I had several errands to run, one of which was near Target so I decided to indulge (who can pass up Target??).  After stocking up on some things in the dollar section I began looking through the clothing section.  Now for some history to set up the disaster, Madelyn has had some constipation issues, or at least, she stopped pooping everyday.  Since she already had a messy diaper that morning, I didn't really plan for what was about to happen. 

She was sitting happily in her car seat on the cart when I heard her "mess her pants" and I quickly checked her legs to make sure it was contained (we've had disasters in the bouncy seat).  Phew!  It was!  So I made a plan to head into the dressing room with a couple shirts and change her in there.  Before I knew it, she was going again, only this time I heard it and a second later I see it oozing out her left leg.  Anyone who has experience with baby poop knows, this alone is a disaster.  That stuff stains instantly.  To my credit I did have the diaper bag with me (usually I just make sure there's a burp cloth and pacifier tucked in her car seat with her).  So I started digging around for the wipes.  Well I had to switch diaper bags after this weekend and apparently I FORGOT THE WIPES.  uuuuugggghhhh!  So I use the burp cloth to try to contain the oozing mess.  Just when I think I kind of have a handle on things, SHE GOES AGAIN!  Now it starts POURING out her right leg!  Not oozing...POURING!  I look around to see if there is a kind soul with kids that may have wipes I can use, of course there is no one.  Which was probably a good thing not to have spectators.  In the mean time I take one of the two extra diapers I had and tuck it under her legs in an attempt to save the car seat from further stainage. 

Oh, did I mention, I also didn't have any back up clothes for her either?  Yep... other diaper bag.    I start to look through the clearance baby clothes for something cheap for her to wear, but decided it wasn't worth it and I ended up getting some wipes and paying for them later. 

As I head back to the dressing room to clean up this disaster, there were about 5 Target employees hanging around and wanting to see Madelyn and discuss how cute she was in purple and all that.  Normally I wouldn't mind that at all, because let's face it, she is adorable...but I'm thinking, don't they notice the diaper sticking out under her legs or see the lime green ooze?  So I spent who knows how long cleaning her up.  Luckily I did have one of those travel things with a roll of plastic bags for all the nastiness.  And I just let her sit naked (and diapered) in the car seat for the ride home.  I imagine everyone in the checkout line was thinking "trailer  trash" or that I was a child abuser not clothing my baby.  Oh well... I'm sure this is a classic first time mom mishap, right??  And lesson learned, I sure won't be making this mistake twice!

I don't have much to blog about, but my sister has been nagging me, in her oh so subtle way, to post something...  This weekend we are planning on some good times.  Friday night we're going to BBQ with some friends and then go see some fireworks.  (yep, we'll be roasting in the "AZ oven" since it's still at least 90 degrees even at 9:00pm, but it's the 4th and fireworks are tradition)  Grandma Rogers made Madelyn a special red outfit for the occasion.  She still needs to grow some more to fit into it better, but it's one of the only festive outfits she has, and it's still cute so it will work.

See!  Still cute!  Then after the festivities we'll drive to Scottsdale to stay with my parentals until Sunday.  We want to take Maddy swimming again, perhaps have a date night, my parents want to show off their granddaughter at church, and then the rest of the fam will come up for dinner!  Much fun should be had by all!  So I'll post photos about that later! For now, here are some recent photos Dan took while messing with our new camera.  Please excuse his hairy legs.

For Memorial Day this year we went to Dan's brother's house for a family barbecue and Madelyn's first pool experience. ( I'm finally posting about it because I finally got around to getting the pictures from my mom in law.)  The water was still pretty chilly and we weren't sure if she was going to like it.   I only wanted her feet in, but Dan decided to dunk her bum.  She didn't seem overjoyed about it (notice the clenched fists), but she didn't really cry either, so we'll call that a success!  The "cover up" dress she's in was a souvenir we picked up for her in Cancun.  And thank you Alyssa for the hand me down swimsuit! Cute!

We're planning to go to my parents' house to stay a night or two during the 4th of July weekend, so we'll probably give the pool another go around...basically it's the only thing you can do outside here in the Arizona heat.

Friday was Madelyn's 2 month Dr. appointment, which means...dun dun duuunnn...shots, shots and more shots.  I was REALLY dreading it, but also anxious to get it over with.  Dan was able to meet me there for moral support.  Madelyn was already cranky because she was tired and I had to wake her up to undress her for the doc.  So she wasn't entirely happy with me, but put on her happy face for the doctor for her exam.  Then we had to wait, what seemed like an eternity, for the nurse to come back at the end for the shots and unfortunately Madelyn's contentment had expired by then. 

I'm happy to say we all survived and Madelyn promptly fell asleep on the drive home.  The last few days she's battled a fever and hasn't quite been herself.  She seemed so out of it especially on Friday and Saturday, with little awake time.  And even when she was awake she wasn't quite all there, despite her efforts with weak smiles and limp kicks and wiggles.  Fortunately she seems to be coming out of it and back to normal and we had a good Sunday visiting both sides of the family.

You can see her owies in this picture, although I took it to show her cute socks.  My brother Scott gave her a set of these for Christmas last year while she was still a fetus. haha

Here are her stats:
Height: 23 3/4 inches (90%)
Weight: 10lbs 7 oz (50%)  (that's 11oz gain since last appt a month ago)
Head: 39.2 cm (50%) (her hair probably makes it look twice as big as it is)

We got ourselves a healthy growing baby girl with thighs like her mommy and dimples like her daddy! ;)

MY DADDY'S HAND
Daddy, Take my hand in yours and you will plainly see,
How very much I need you now to love and care for me.
As my little hand grows, I will need you even more,
Everything I do in life, I have never done before.
Teach me to be kind and loving, sharing and forgiving,
Show me through your acts of love the pure joy of living.
The years will pass by quickly and one day I will be grown,
I will pass what you have taught me onto children of my own.
Hold me always in your thoughts and remember when we are apart,
The special love between a child and a daddy's heart.

Madelyn is too cute with all her crazy hair, but it's getting harder to manage as it continues to grow but refuses to lay down.  She has a big section at the back top part of her head that WILL NOT lay down.  I think it is cute to have it all over the place, but sometimes it needs to be controlled.  On Friday the MacKinlay ladies got together for lunch and my sis in law, Shauna, asked me to go with her to Babies R Us so she could get Madelyn some hair accessories.  We walked out with 3 different sets of barrettes and ponytail holders. 

I'm still learning how best to put them in, but she looks a little more girly amongst the craziness, don't ya think?  :)  It's fun having your very own dress up doll, I mean baby :)