Thoughts running through my mind...

So I spent the evening looking at Sophie's baby pictures with Sophie (she LOVES looking at them) and it is amazing how much she and Maddy look alike. I sorta saw it, but seeing their baby pictures, I can totally see it now. But Maddy's still much smaller than she was and not as advanced (gross motor-skills at least).

It makes me anxious that Maddy's so far behind in things like rolling, sitting up, etc. We do tummy-time CONSTANTLY (ask anyone who lives here!), I have her in the jumper, held, in a bumbo, or somehow keeping her upright to strengthen her head/neck muscles. But she's only rolled 1 time. She stretches, rolls from her back to her side, and scoots (while on her back) ALL over the place, but no rolling in either direction. Maybe she'll just skip that milestone? We don't have our 6 month well-baby checkup until Monday (though she'll be 7 months) and I am so worried she's behind in other ways too. I dunno. Maddy did hold herself up briefly while sitting alone today, so that's good I suppose.

Having a preemie is scary. When they're born, you are terrified to touch them because you might hurt them somehow. I can't believe how tiny Maddy was when I was looking through pictures tonight. 3lbs and the size of a babydoll. crazy! But then they come home and you feel a little better because you can hold them in your arms when you want and love on them completely. But then you worry about them getting enough sleep/milk and worry about them gaining weight. And now I'm worrying about her missing her milestones. I wasn't worried with Sophie. I was SO relaxed whenever she decided to ____ (roll, crawl, walk, etc), but with Maddy I am in constant anxiety and trying so hard to find a new method to try to get her to do it. Google basically told me tummy time is all we can really do right now and to avoid keeping her on her back for long periods of time. Ugh.

But on the plus side, Maddy loves to eat food! Her favorite veggie is sweet potatoes. She ate 4oz tonight! (think baby food jar and a half) She isn't much for cereal (don't blame her), so we've skipped that basically. And there is so little nutrition in it anyway, I'm not concerned. She's had a bad diaper rash from squash, which is too bad because I got 9 containers of "tastybaby" organic squash for $3 total a few weeks ago and have been dying to try it. But everything else she loves. Quite the opposite of Sophie! LOL!

Speaking of first born, we've decided what we're going to do about her bday this year. We're having 2 parties (possibly a tiny 3rd one too). The 1st will be down in Ocean City, Maryland on the 12th when we will be there, since we're leaving 3 days before her birthday & a lot of the family will be down anyway! How cool is that?! A Little Mermaid themed party down at the beach! :o) Then we're having another party at Dad & Judy's on the 26th for those who couldn't travel that far and possibly having a little cake for her on the 18th. *phew* Should give me lots of practice with my cakes, that's for sure! I have a wedding cake order for October 11th from my brother-in-law's parents that I am SO excited to make! Here's hoping it goes well!

And a side note about cloth diapers (what post would be complete w/out this?!): Maddy's diaper rash practically disappeared when I had her in a prefold w/fleece cover. She stayed dry, looked cute & since fleece really breathes, her rash was zapped! I just got a wool cover (thank you diaperswappers.com!), but it's too big for her for a while yet, so I'll have to wait! I hope my MIL gets done crochetting the cover she's working on now very soon. I'm so excited to try wool! I realized the other day that cloth diapering has completely become second nature to me. It looks odd to see a baby in a disposable and their butt looks misshapen or something since it's not fluffy and cute. It takes me no time at all to change Maddy since I've been doing it for months now and I LOVE doing it in public. I get weird looks, but it totally thrills me. I have a cute purple wet bag (which is great for wet bathing suits too btw) and adorable diaper covers, so my girl is set! We also got a Happy Heiny cow print pocket diaper off of diaper swappers. Woo! It's so fitting since I call Madelyn, "Maddy Moo". LOVE IT! I wish everyone would try cloth for a week and have the opportunity to fall in love with it too. I'm totally willing to help and answer any/all questions about it. I am just SO passionate about cloth and it's tons of benefits (saving a lot of money!!!, saving the environment for our kids' kids' kids' kids, and possibly preventing reproductive cancers because we're not exposing babies to the toxic chemicals found in disposables that are VERY strongly linked to cancer and Toxic Shock Syndrome. SCARY!!)

Ok, on that note, my hubby probably is getting lonely in bed, and I'm tired, so gnight!