Our one month old baby!!

Sweet Madeline is 4 weeks old- where has the time gone?! We got back Maddie's newborn pics last night and I love them!! Take a look:

http://amandagravesphotography.com/viewing/

Click "Newborn"

Click "Hughes"

Password: Brittney

Enjoy!!

Maddie's first play date!

Tonight, Megan and Jon invited us and Dan and Sherri to their house for dinner. Jon, Dan and Chris all play hockey together so the three of us "hockey wives" have gotten to be good friends while spending each Sunday at the ice rink. :)

Sherri and Dan have a son, Rolfe who is almost 2. He is so smart and funny. Megan and Jon's baby, Soley, is 7 months. She is so cute and sweet. Then there was Maddie. She slept the whole time! I don't think she really understands what a "play" date is. She slept through dinner too. Here's a few pictures:

All bundled up to go my first dinner party. Look at my hat my nana knitted me!

Sleeping during dinner...

Sleeping while meeting new friends Soley and Rolfe...

Once we got home, Maddie woke up. Chris was at the hockey game so Maddie and I read from her bible stories book and played on her mat. I also tried to take a picture of her and Stella...it didn't really work. I'm not sure what they are looking at in this picture.

Soon to be best friends!

Thought you might enjoy...

So, about 15 minutes after I did my last blog post, Madeline decided to have a BLOWOUT. See bullet 2 in post below- here is proof that it is entirely possible to get poop up your back while sleeping. In this case, she was sleeping like that on me, so Maddie actually defied gravity with this one. I'm telling you- we've got an exceptional daughter on our hands! :)

After 2 washes, the stain is still there. I'm letting it soak for the third time now.

As I posted earlier, Stella seems totally at ease with Maddie. Our only problem is that she does like Maddie's things. This morning I caught her with a pacifier in her mouth. Madeline doesn't care that much for pacifiers but Stella really likes them...go figure.

Here I am at the park- my dad took me for some bonding time yesterday. We had a lot of fun!

Welcome to mommyhood!

The day after Madeline was a born a good friend of mine texted me and asked, "Have you had that moment where you realize all of your priorities in life just changed?" I was holding Maddie at the time and I knew exactly what my friend meant. Life has definitely changed for Chris and I, but we love it! I could just stare at Maddie all day long and love on her! Some days, when its just me and her and Chris is at work, I do. Ha.

Here are a few things I've learned the last 3 weeks.

• It's possible to weigh 6 lbs and have a double chin and fat rolls.
• It's possible to have poop come out of your diaper half way up your back while you're sleeping.
• It's not just boys that you have to watch- if you don't hold the diaper up over little girls, they will also pee on you! (or, in one case, shoot poop out onto mom's pj pants and the carpet at 3 a.m.)
• Finally, there is no "right" way to parent. Since we had Maddie, we've heard all kinds of opinions (for and against vaccines, The babywise method: controversial or legit?, self-soothing vs holding, etc, etc!). I've decided that every mom and dad have to come up with the parenting style that suits them and their baby best.

Every night we do some tummy time and some floor time with Maddie on her playmat. She loves it.

Chris says that he has seen Maddie roll over three times...below is after she just rolled from her tummy to her back. I let him know that babies don't normally do this for a few months but he thinks we have the smartest and strongest baby in the world! Such a proud dad! (Again, I've not actually witnessed the rolling, but I guess we have to take his word for it for now!)

Maddie meets Stella!

As many of you know, we have a pretty rowdy golden retriever, Stella. We've been so fortunate that Chris's parents have been taking care of Stella for us the last 2 weeks as we've eased into our routine with baby Madeline. We brought Stella over today and introduced the two to each other. Maddie obviously slept through the introduction. Stella sniffed her and then...laid down and went to sleep as well. She seemed to not really mind Maddie- thank goodness! We cannot wait to bring Stella home permanently.

Stella is either not interested in Maddie or worn out from hanging out with her grandparents!

While I took a nap today, Chris did another photo shoot with Madeline. How cute are these?

AND!! Our first official family photo- all four of us!

Hungry baby!

Chris and I are slowly easing into our routine with baby Madeline. The last week has been wonderful getting to know all of Maddie's facial expressions and habits. While its been the most rewarding week, it's also been one of the most tiring of my life!

Because she'd lost a lot of her birth weight we'd been feeding her every 2.5-3 hours the last week. This was exhausting...but definitely needed to plump up our sweet girl. Fortunately, Maddie weighed in today at the pediatrician at 6 lbs, 10 oz- this means she is past her birth weight! Babies are given 2 weeks to get back to their birth weight- Maddie did it in 11 days! (Could this mean we've got ourselves a healthy eater, like both mom and dad?!) Because Maddie is growing so well, we were told we can let her sleep a little longer overnight...I'm so excited!

Here are a few photos of Madeline:

Aunt Laura let Madeline borrow Dane's swing and it's been one of the best hand-me-downs we've gotten! She sleeps so well in here!

Madeline LOVES her car seat!

Maddie resting. She sleeps most of the day and then becomes WIRED around 8 pm every night. Her most alert time of the day is between 8-2 am.

Madeline's First Days at Home

We are enjoying every minute with Madeline!

Right now, Chris and I trying to get into some type of pattern with our baby girl. She is very nocturnal and tends to want to be awake throughout the night. If she does fall asleep, she wakes up right when we lay her down. Chris and I are rotating sleep schedules as much as we can just so we can stay sane!

Yesterday, Amanda, our photographer, came to the house for Madeline's newborn session. She already posted 3 of the photos on her blog: http://amandagravesphoto.blogspot.com/. Be sure to check them out. We should get an online viewing gallery in the next few weeks and I am so excited!

In the meantime, Chris is still taking lots of photos of her. I'll have him upload some and will post soon.