Madison: 12 weeks old!

Holy moly!

She was officially 3 months old on December 15th.

As I mentioned before, the first 6 weeks were tough and seemed to go pretty slow.  It wasn't the most amazingly fun time for us as we all adjusted to our new life together.

But the SECOND 6 weeks flew by!  I would love to freeze time so she could stay this stage for a little while longer.  Madison at 3 months has been so much fun.  She's so much more responsive, she's smiling a lot more, she is becoming more vocal, she giggles, she reaches for things, and we are pretty well adjusted to being her parents.

Sleep:  She is doing great.  She sleeps all night, from about 9 or 10pm until 6 or 7am *usually* (because no baby is ever entirely predictable.  Sometimes she'll go back to sleep after feeding until around 9am.  With all the traveling we have been doing, she may wake up at about 4am and then back to sleep until 8am or 9am.  Her naps are inconsistent and usually a bunch of short naps throughout the day.  Hoping that we can consolidate them so mommy can get something done with a bigger chunk of free time.

Eating:  We are still breastfeeding.  I still go back and forth on whether I want to stop sooner than 1 year or just keep going for as long as possible.  It's not horrible like it seemed in the beginning.  I think I've just gotten used to her eating every 2-3 hours during the day now.  Not that it's super fun, but it's good for her and not that difficult since I work from home.  We still give her one bottle of formula before bed.

One of the two biggest worries of a new mom are: Is she getting enough to eat?  Is she getting enough sleep?  I mean, you are all of a sudden obsessed with these two issues.  Breastfeeding makes it difficult because you have no clue how many ounces they are intaking unless you literally weigh them right before and after.  Because I was sick, I had to do formula for awhile, and I had a hardest time figuring out how much she should have.  Many websites don't really say because every baby is different.  I thought this article was helpful.  

Growth:

Birth - 6 lb 3 oz , 20 inches

1 month - 8 lb , 21.5 inches

2 months - 8 lb 14 oz , 23 inches

Just like every parent does about their own, we think she is the cutest, sweetest babe that ever existed.  Bryce is absolutely nuts about her.  He's even woken her up in the morning (with my "okay") just so he could spend some time with her before he left for work.

Having your own child is such a crazy thing.  When she was first born, it was surreal.  We met her for the first time and she met us.  We loved her because she was ours, but we barely knew her.  Ever since then, as we continue to get to know her and her personality starts coming through, every week, my love for her grows exponentially.  We just keep growing together, learning each other, and getting closer.  We often look at her, then look at each other, and say "I can't believe she is ours."

I feel like I can, in a minuscule way, relate to God's love for us so much more now that I have my own child.  She really doesn't do much for me beyond giving me absurd joy every time she smiles or learns something new.  She has given us more trouble and frustration than we expected.  She wakes us up when we wish we could sleep just a little bit longer.  She cries for no apparent reason.  Yet, we have a crazy love for her.  No matter what she ever does to us or for us, it doesn't matter.  We love her so much.  It's pretty amazing.  She is precious.

Christmas Cards

With a couple coupons and a lot of Thanksgiving sales, I decided to go with Shutterfly this year.  It was probably the earliest I've ever sent cards out!  I think these are my favorite cards we've done so far.  Maybe it's because there is a really cute little girl pictured on them.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

{She has grown so much since those pictures were taken!}

DP3 reunion!

Have I ever explained what DP3 stands for?  Well, if not, while we were in college, somehow we got on the topic of Disney princesses and each of us claimed one.  Dionne (Jasmine), Meredith (Sleeping Beauty), and myself (Ariel the Little Mermaid) are DP3, the 3 Disney princesses.  It was one of those weird, late night, random college conversations that end up sticking.  We were best friends through all of college and roommates in the last couple years.

Hard to believe, 5 years after graduating and we are all married with our own little girls now!

Dionne spontaneously drove up to Blacksburg from Charlotte, North Carolina WITH little Charlotte to spend the day with Meredith and I (and all 3 babes) last Friday.  So fun!

Addison, 13 months, with mom Meredith; Madison, 3 months with me; Charlotte, 7 months, with mom Dionne

Our day included taking pictures of the little ones, going on campus to Owens for lunch, and catching up at Meredith's for a few hours while smelling the delicious cinnamon rolls that she made and gave us to take home.

Addison is obviously looking at mommy, "Who are they? Can I touch them?"

All the while, Meredith is jumping up and down singing and laughing, Dionne doing similar moves, and I am snapping pictures.  Addison is the only one who finds us hilariously fun.  Madison is clearly frightened.

These little girls were bound to be best friends.  We are sure of it.

Mirror

Madison checking herself out in the mirror for the first time.

As she studied herself, she would smile, frown, squint her eyes, stick her tongue out, and then look at me.

It was a moment I'll never forget.

It was one of the first nights that I really let myself think about my mom since Madison was born.  When I looked through the series of photos that Bryce took of us, I saw her, clear as day, in my own make-up-free face, staring at my own daughter.  I saw her in me, pictured her holding us as little babies, in wonder at her own children just as I am.  It was another moment that I wish I could just call her on the phone and ask her all about being a mom.

Life update

The news is out.  We are moving.

So, Bryce applied to a bunch of jobs.  He interviewed in Portland, Dallas, and Los Angeles.  All of these jobs were great opportunities.  Each of them were in regulatory affairs, doing the same type of work he did for the FDA a few years ago.  When he worked for FDA, he reviewed medical devices for big companies that wanted to get their devices approved so they could sell them to the public.  These jobs are doing the same regulatory work, but working for the actual companies, getting new devices through the FDA approval process.

For a long time, he thought he would stay in academia, do postdoctoral research work after his Ph.D., and then apply for a professor job at a university.  As time went by, he started questioning whether that was where he wanted to go in his career.  When he started applying to jobs, he explored other opportunities and it seemed like he would really enjoy some of the industry jobs in regulatory affairs.

He ended up getting offered all three jobs (praise God!), so it came down to where we wanted to move our family and which would be the best career move.  If you know Bryce at all, this is an obvious answer.  Mountains, hiking, camping, fishing.  Hello, Portland, Oregon.

Source: cupcakesandcashmere.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Things I knew about Portland when he decided to accept the job:

• A lot of coffee drinking.
• A lot of cool, young hipsters who are into indie music, coffee drinking, and the environment.

Things I have recently found out about Portland:

• There is a huge food culture.  Awesome restaurants and foodies abound.
• Beer and brew pubs are big.
• Plenty of food carts to try out around the city.
• Mt. Hood year-round skiing, surfing on the coast, and wine country all within a couple hours.
• Famous Powell's bookstore that covers an entire city block downtown.
• Just about 3 hours from Seattle, Washington.
• I like how this one article starts out, "If you live in Portland, chances are you’re a bike loving, tree hugging, raincoat wearing, beer guzzling pale faced greenie."
• But really, Portland has more bike commuters than any other U.S. city.  
• Nike is headquartered just outside of Portland.
• It rains a lot.
• Portland has a Chinatown.
• It is a city, but feels more like a big town (or so I hear).

The city has a river going through it and Mt. Hood is just over an hour away.

If you are debating about whether to come visit us, probably thinking that it's too far or too expensive, read this and then buy a ticket!  We will miss our friends and family so much.  Despite the whole missing people thing, it will be a big fun adventure for our little family of three.

Now that Bryce will have a full time, real, all day, limited vacation day job, Madison and I can do some exploring together during our free time.  So glad I have a new little buddy to hang out with once we get there and I am friendless for awhile.  I'm a little excited for the well known farmer's market and Saturday market.

A lot of things to learn about the area.  I would also love to go to this festival for people who love food.  I think I know someone who would like to go...Dad?

Source: kevinandamanda.com via Elissa on Pinterest

Excited to check out more of the beautiful state.

Are you excited to come visit us yet?

Source: google.com via Erica on Pinterest

Giggle

This is the cutest thing ever.  I'm in love.

Christmas Tree

To follow our annual tradition, we went back to Clover Hollow Tree farm and cut down our Christmas tree.  This time, with Jeff and Kate!  It was such beautiful weather.  It felt like Fall even though it was the beginning of December.  It was a pretty quick decision for us.  Madison's first Christmas tree cutting experience.

Aaand she was not so amused.

It was a little more difficult for Jeff and Kate.  They searched and searched.  And then Jeff cut down the beast of a tree (9-10 ft tall).

Tired little girl.

Thanksgiving 2012

We went home to the Whiteds in West Virginia for the long holiday weekend.

First Thanksgiving!

Finally, all 3 new little cousins got to meet!  We had a lot of fun doing multiple photo shoots with all of them dressed in coordinating outfits (and without clothes).  So.cute.

Naked babies are so cute!

Madison Ann - 2 months, Luke Christopher - 4.5 months, and Adelyn Grace - 6 months

This is how most of the pictures turned out.  Squirmy squirmy (except Madison who isn't mobile yet).

We ate too much pie.  Bryce and I got to run without the stroller.  We brought home leftovers and had Thanksgiving dinner #2 and #3.  Yum.

Note: I've been running consistently for the last 3 weeks.  Trying to run 3 miles 4 or 5 times a week.  With Bryce, he's pushed me to run 4 a couple times and it was tough, but good for me.  Yay!  This whole lose-pregnancy-weight-after-baby is really tough and seems so slow going.  I am encouraged by friends that are moms that look awesome...but then get discouraged because I'm not there yet.  I guess I'm just impatient to get there, but who isn't?

Madison was spoiled by her Mimi and rocked to sleep by Pops.  I loved seeing her with her grandparents!

Long chicken legs!

This goes out to Uncle Brad, the marine.  Madison was really excited to support you.  Adeyln isn't sure.  She worries about you.  Luke says, "It's all good."

We missed Brad, but he'll get to party with Madison on New Year's Eve.

mini Bryce

Kyle and Cayce meet Madison

 We got to very briefly visit with Kyle and Cayce while they were in Virginia for Thanksgiving.  We miss you guys!!

They finally got to meet little Madison.  She fell asleep in Cayce's arms.

Cayce is a natural.  She is also a labor and delivery nurse, so she has some experience with little ones.

Cannot wait to meet little boy Lamy soon!

Surprise visit

Golly, I'm pretty behind in the blog world!

Bryce has moved up the date for his Ph.D. defense to December 12th, 2012 instead of later in the Spring of 2013.  This means, he will finish his Ph.D. after 3.5 years!  I'm so happy/proud/excited/relieved for him!  Along with finishing sooner than expected, the job search started.  About a month ago, he started applying to jobs, both at universities and industry jobs.  He heard back from a handful of companies within about a week.  After phone interviews, three companies flew him out for on-site interviews.  He had a crazy 2 weeks of traveling the country, to Portland, Dallas, and Los Angeles.  More on this later...

While he was traveling, I decided to surprise his parents for the weekend.  Connie was so excited, she started crying when she saw Madison!  It was special because they hadn't seen her for almost 6 weeks.

We helped decorate the Christmas tree, went shopping, and relaxed at home.

Uncle Brett was good at making Madison smile.

Wow, you can really see the difference in their size here!

Madison got to spend some quality time with cousin Luke.

Didn't realize Madison's darker skin color until she sat next to her cousins!