Just because she's cute...

Madelyn's first airplane ride

On Wednesday, June 18, the whole fam packed up and went on a day trip out to YYC in hopes of meeting up with some friends, potentially visiting with Grandpa O (if he was in town), and doing some shopping at Ikea. Leaving in the morning, coming home in the evening.

We completely expected Maddy Roo to not enjoy the plane - the take-off and landing, the change in the cabin's air pressure, popping ears, etc. We were prepared for, and hesitantly anticipating, a screaming little girl, and we loaded her up with all her friends, links rings, toys, ANYTHING we were armed with, so as to distract her as best we could from the horrific experience that lay ahead.

Strapped in her carseat beside the window, Maddy Roo looked slightly confused at her surroundings, and mildly amused with our attempts to keep her playing. With one hand caressing her marshmallow cheeks and a thumb on her plug to keep it in her mouth (so she'd continuously suck and swallow, and hopefully avoid the popping eardrum syndrome), and the other hand squeezing Donovan's knee with suspense, we started barrelling down the runway, the scream of the engines right outside our window, the force of the speed pushing us against our seats.

I heard a couple of other babies on board beginning to get upset, their excruciatingly loud cries drowning out the roar of the engines. I looked at Maddy Roo, and she looked back at me, sucked on her soother, and turned to look out the window at the world rushing by outside.

No reaction.

NO REACTION??!

Yup, that's right! You'd never know my girl was on board this plane! No cries, no fussing - in fact, no peeps, except for the few minutes of gurgles and bubble-blowing she entertained us with mid-flight! A couple of quick naps, a bottle, and gazing around occupied her time, and completely confused Donovan and myself!

Surely she would be a handful once we landed - we'll pay for her good behaviour on the plane with fussiness the rest of the day.

NOT!

She was an absolute DREAM! Happy, laughing, sleeping - just a sweetheart the whole day, the flight back home included.

How on earth did we get so lucky?

Now that we know she travels well, we're hittin' up Hawaii!!!!

Here are some pics of our girl on the plane:

Happy Father's Day, Donovan!

To a wonderful father and incredible husband - we're lucky to have you! Hope you had a memorable first Father's Day!

:)

"Did you get up?" "No, did YOU get up?"

That was our dialogue at 7:20 this morning - neither of us needed to tend to a fussy baby with a missing plug. which means either one of 2 things: 1., she cried and screamed for hours and we were just in such a comatose state of slumber that we weren't able to hear; or 2., she slept through the night.

Judging by the looks of her when I went down to her room to see her this morning, it was definitely the latter.

Success!

Last night was a breeze!

Ok, so my eyes were glued to the video monitor all night.... and I eventually fell asleep like that! She was out so cold, that I studied every inch of the image of my baby on that screen to see if I could tell if she was breathing or not!

I even went so far as to send Donovan downstairs to make some noise in hopes that she would stir. But she didn't. That was a bit unsettling - until Donovan convinced me he had heard her breathing, and I felt better.

With a couple of stirs throughout the night (only because her soother, or "plug" as we call it, fell out and she needed help finding it in the dark), she did quite well!

At 5am, she was stirring again - methinks because the morning light was trying to stream through her curtains and it was an unfamiliar sight for her - from that angle in that room, anyways - so I scurried (yes, I actually DID scurry!) downstairs, poked my head over the rail of her crib, was greeted with THE most enthusiastic propeller arms and giggles and beaming toothless smiles, and I just scooped her up and carried her upstairs to our bed to snuggle and sleep!

After what I had anticipated being the worst night so far, it was most certainly the best morning so far! :)

So now, she's asleep in her crib, we'll see how things go this time.... *ding ding* Round 2.....

The only person who probably won't sleep like a baby WON'T be the baby....

At 5 months and 1 day, this is the first night we're putting Maddy Roo in her crib for the night.

In her room.

Without me beside her.

For those of you unfamiliar with the layout of our house, we live in a 1 1/2 storey - the whole upper level is our master bedroom loft. The main floor is home to Maddy Roo's nursery.

We've attached the baby video monitor to her wall above her crib so that we can watch Maddy Roo TV all night long from our bed. One floor up. So far away.

She's out like a light - for now.... I may be the one who has the restless sleep tonite!

I'll check in with a full report tomorrow - who knows, I may be reporting on how I asked Donovan to move her crib upstairs to our room at 2 am!

Ok, well, here it goes......

Dead tired, waiting for pillow cases that are still in the dryer, and completely in love

I love my little girl.

I've always loved her, but lately, it's just been completely overwhelming, this feeling that I just love her so much I want to bawl my eyes out!

We have so much fun together, she makes me laugh every day, she makes my heart swell with pride and passion, I think it's safe to admit that I'm absolutely addicted to my little girl!

Even her crying little face melts my heart! (Don't worry, I quickly rectified the problem that was making her cry right after I snapped this pic!)

I think the dryer's finally done with my pillow cases now.... G'nite!