A Nice Weekend

Well this weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Voda (the Kalivoda grandparents) came to visit! It sure was great to get to see them, and they were super excited to spend time with Maddox! They have not seen him in over a month (it is so hard living 6 hours away) We did not get out and do much, just relaxed and spent time together at the house....it was great, we really enjoyed it!

Maddox is getting so big, I forgot to post his measurements from his last Well-Baby exam..... Maddox weighs 17 pounds 11ounces, 25 inches long!!! He is in the 90th percentile for weight and 70th percentile for height! What a big boy!! hahhaha....like I have mentioned before, he never misses a meal!!! We have taken him off his cereal and are just on formula for now! It was just too hard on his little digestive system...we will try again next month! He is doing really well on his baby zantac from what I can tell! He is still spitting up (what baby doesn't though..really) but he seems much more content for more of the day....phew...I am so thankful for that...poor little guy was just grunting all the time!

We are seeing some success in his sleeping at night...he is sleeping in his little chair IN his bed for almost all of the night! I still get up and down several times a night to give him his pacifier and he eats at least once in the middle of the night, usually around 4 or so, then we go back to the chair in the crib, then he gets up around 6 and he sleeps about an hour longer in his swing!!! Soon we will attempt the transition from chair in the bed, to just the bed!!!

I am learning to LOVE night time, I feed him his last bottle and rock and sing to him, I just love that time with him while he is getting sleepy and lets me just hold him (he wants to go, go, go ALL day and I don't just get to cuddle him very often....night time is becoming one of my favorite times of day, ranking 2nd to bath time)

Sorry to just ramble on and on for you there, but I just wanted to let you guys know whats been going on in the Madd-Mans life these days!!!

Here is a picture of Grandpa Voda reading to Maddox!!! They were learning about cars!!

Here is Maddox holding onto his favorite book!!!

Growing Pains

What a week of pondering, growing and contemplation....for me of course!!! I have been putting so much pressure on myself and my "parenting skills" and my ability to make him "happy" I know it sounds pretty ridiculous, when he is fussy and cries and wont sleep well, I take that as a reflection on my ability to be a mother. As a result I would get really depressed and ultimately feel like a failure. However, after talking to my mom, praying a lot and putting those crazy parenting books away, I have been able to get a different perspective on what it means to be a mother to MY son Maddox!!! He is not like every other baby, he does have tummy problems, he has his own personality and thank goodness, he is not letting anyone change that!! (I do believe I see my stubbornness in him already...ahhahah) He is loved, fed, warm, cool when its hot outside, he is held, talked to, cuddled (as much as he will let you cuddle him), tickled, bathed and he has more toys than a baby could ever need!!! At the end of the day, that is all that matters! He has a great home to grow up in and he does not have to sleep 12 hours a night simply because some other babies his age can. He is his own being and I cannot expect him to be like any other infant his age!!! With that new found discovery, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from me and I am now able to sit back and enjoy this amazing little boy!!!

Moving on, we had to go to the doctor this week and get some more of those yucky shots!! Maddox is doing so much better this time, he is not fussy at all!! The Dr put him on baby Zantac for his tummy....so far it seems to be working so well!!! We have had a wonderful day today, not grunting or crying just sweet smiles and good good naps!!! I pray that he continues to feel better everyday!!!

I will leave you with my favorite picture from last week!!!

My First Mother's Day

Wow, what an amazing weekend!!! Brad and I packed up and traveled to Salado, Tx (about 45 miles north of Austin) for one of my best friend's (Anna) wedding!!! This was the first time we have left Maddox with anyone for more than an evening....it was so much harder than I thought it would be. He stayed with my mom (Grammy) and I was not at all worried for him, I knew he was in wonderful hands; however, it just felt like we weren't complete. It is crazy that in 4 months our lives have transformed so much...I just LOVE it!!! Maddox did great for Grammy and Brad and I were able to have a great time at the wedding and enjoyed the weekend together!!!!

We got home on Sunday which was Mother's day and we met up with my mom, granny, Paul, Carol, Jason and Kameron and of course Mr Maddox!! When we were leaving, my mom said she had a gift for me in the car...it ends up that my mom, Kameron, Carol and Jason were sneaky and made me a mother's day gift with little Maddox!!! They planted me a beautiful plant in a pot and decorated the flower pot with Maddox's hands and foot prints!!! It was precious!! I love it!!!

My sweet sweet husband knew how important this mother's day was to any new mom and he bought me a beautiful antique looking ring with Maddox's birthstone (a garnet...dark red stone) it is sooooooo pretty, i LOVE it!!!! This mother's day was fabulous, but not because I was blessed so much by my family but because I was able for the first time to step back and look at my mother in a totally different light!!! She is an amazing woman and is so encouraging!! I do not know where I would be in my life without her! I love you mom!!!!

I shall leave you with a picture of Maddox and the beautiful flower pot he made for me!!!

Here are his sweet little hand prints!!!
Here are his chubby little feet prints!!! So precious!!!

Simplicity

We have discovered that Maddox is fascinated when you sing to him! I sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to him, and he just stares at me for the entire song with the sweetest look on his face....I absolutely love it, it just melts my heart!!! Sunday morning, I was in the other room getting ready; Brad and Maddox were in the living room and I could hear music playing from Brad's computer. I heard Maddox cooing and making his sweet noises, so I stood in the other room and heard Brad singing the song "A Simple Kind of Man" to Maddox! It was the sweetest thing I had ever heard and what a great song to sing to our little Man!!! Here are the lyrics:

Mama told me, when I was young, come sit beside me, my only son!

And listen closely, to what I say.

And if you do this, it will help you some sunny day.

Ohh take your time... Don't live too fast,

Troubles will come, and they will pass.

Go find a woman and you'll find love,

And don't forget son,There is someone up above.

(Chorus)And be a simple kind of man.

And maybe some day you'll love and understand.

Baby be a simple kind of man.

Won't you do this for me son,If you can?

Forget your lust for the rich man's gold

All that you need is in your soul,

And you can do this if you try.

All that I want for you my son, Is to be satisfied.

Boy, don't you worry... you'll find yourself.

Follow you heart and nothing else.

And you can do this if you try.All I want for you my son,Is to be satisfied.

It is an amazing song and Maddox LOVED it!!! It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen......here is a picture of him enjoying his dad singing to him!

Drum Roll Please......

We had a very nice weekend!! Maddox was such a joy and a happy boy all weekend!! We were able to hang out with our good friends Dusty and Sarah (Sarah is the sweetest girl ever, she has a swing at her house now for baby Maddox....he loves it by the way...I'm telling ya, our little one loves to move!!) We played games with our friends and Maddox just swang away...it was so nice!!! We are very blessed to have such great friends who love our son so very much!!!

Now, moving on to the very exiting news for the day......

What an amazing day it has been for Maddox!! I am not sure how many of you realize this, but Maddox has his own agenda most of the time...and that agenda absolutely does NOT include tummy time. We have to fight to keep him on his tummy for more than 30 seconds; however, today was a special day for the Madd-man!!!! He was frustrated on his tummy and decided he had had enough; therefore, he rolled himself over!!! Yes, you read that right, Maddox rolled from his tummy to his back for the fist time today!!! I wish I would have had my camera ready to take a picture of it, but of course I was not expecting him to do this exciting task today!!! Yippee for our little man!!!

I shall leave you with a few pictures from this weekend!!!

Just chilling on the couch...his shirt says " my daaada is #1" Oh how true...what an amazing father bradley is!!!!

Here is the Madd-Man after he rolled over, I think he was a little shocked!!!

oh wow! I do believe my heart cannot possibly take any more crying from the little man! The poor guys simply hates his big boy bed....I cannot get him to sleep in that thing at all! I attempted to lay him down for a nap and I made myself let him cry for 10 minutes, after that I would go in and attempt to soothe him. The key word there is "attempt". He was so upset, and it just broke my heart. I know I have to eventually let him self-soothe himself to sleep, but I just feel he is too little right now; however, I will give it a try everyday and eventually he will figure out that sleeping in his bed feels much better than sleeping sitting up in that swing (try convincing him of that though...hhahah...he LOVES that swing of his....thanks grandma and grandpa Voda for that swing, who would have thought he would love it so much!!)

Moving on to a happier note, Maddox is figuring out how to use his little hands more and more everyday. He can grab toys and hold onto them for a little bit and he plays in his little bumbo chair and plays with a toy. It is really cute, when he is working hard he sticks out his tongue so it will help him (takes after his momma with that one...i still don't know why I think my tongue helps me with difficult or straining tasks, but I sure do use it...hhahah)

I shall leave you all with a picture of the Madd-Man playing away in his bumbo chair!!

I'm sitting here trying to think of anything "new" that has happened this week; however, as new parents, EVERYTHING is new in our lives! I took the Madd-Man to Brad's work yesterday and he did sooooo good! He was happy and talkative the entire time (i think we were there for nearly 2 hours) I was so proud of the little man. Everyone at his work laughed at how "fat" he is....he's not fat, he is phat!! hahahah...pleasantly plump as brad likes to call it!!! I suppose that is all that is "new" He is finding his little personality and he can be so sweet (when he's not screaming at us for that bottle...hahhah) I suppose that is all that I have for today. I will leave you with a sweet pic of how the little man prefers to sleep!