We all enjoyed a lazy family weekend at home and enjoyed spending quality time with Madelyn. She’s really aware and curious now, and loves to be held facing outward so she can see the world. She’s a little baby Yenta already. We watched her explore on her new play mat and discover the adorable baby looking back at her in the mirror. It’s so clear that she’s becoming a real person and it’s fun to be surprised by her new changes.

I got a little nostalgic and looked through the zillions of photos from her first few days with us in the hospital. She was so little and puffy and fresh. Her features weren’t very pronounced and her interaction with us was minimal. Still, we fell deeply in love with her then. And now? Well, now, forget about it. We’re mush!

I came across a video that Bryan took with his iPhone while he was in the nursery with her. I was still getting stitched up, and he got to escort her to be poked and prodded before her first bath. I had no idea Bryan took this video until yesterday when I found it in the pile of hospital photos, and I am so glad he captured her first minutes after she was taken from me in the O.R.

And now, after seeing this, it’s obvious just how far Madelyn has come in her almost-12 weeks. She’s been changing right before our eyes, and these first recorded moments mark the beginning of our lifelong happiness with our daughter. Not going to lie — I totally teared up when I watched this for the first time yesterday. Daddy of the Year, my husband.

Last week mommy and daddy took me to this place they called a punkin patch. I guess it’s part of this holiday thing…Hollow Weenie I think? Something like that. Uncle Kevin came with us and Lisa too. Daddy brought his big picture-taking thingie, the Dee Esselar I guess? He and Uncle Kevin were snapping away, but he kept complaining about bad light and shadows and stuff like that. I don’t know what he was whining about. I think I look pretty darn cute.

Anyway, the punkin patch was pretty cool. There were all these different sizes of punkins, from really small ones like me to really giant ones. They were all this really interesting shade that I’ve never seen before. The only real colors I know are pink, yellow and green because I hear mommy talk about them all the time in my room. The punkins weren’t pink or yellow, but they were kind of something in between only brighter. Daddy was using the Dee Esselar to try to take all these artsy pictures of the punkins, except I thought the whole point of that thing was for me to be in the pictures. What’s the point otherwise?

This place even had a petting zoo with goats and sheep and duckies, but mommy and daddy said we couldn’t go inside to see the animals. Maybe they’ll let me get closer and pet them when I’m older. From a distance they just reminded me of my brother Princeton. As for the punkins, daddy picked out two of them to take home – a little one for me since I’m still small, and then a bigger one for mommy and daddy.

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with this thing though. Daddy told me that when I’m older I can help him carve it, but that seems kind of silly. Mommy said she likes punkin pie and that does sound pretty good. But then she didn’t even use them to make the pie. They just got put outside on the doorstep and then she made the pie from a box of powder, just like my formula. Why did we even have to go to the punkin patch if they have this stuff in a box? Parents are so weird.

So this Hollow Weenie thing is only a couple of days away. I keep hearing all this stuff about dressing up and looking so cute, but that seems like every day to me, so I don’t really understand what’s special yet. It sounds like I get to see my friend Brielle on Hollow Weenie though, so that should be really fun. She’s older than me so she can show me what I’m supposed to do that day.

Every day is something new for me but all I really care about is eating and sleeping so I don’t know what all the fuss is about. But I guess the punkin patch wasn’t so bad. It was fun being outside and checking out all the colorful stuff there is to see. I bet it will be way more fun when I can walk around and pick stuff up. I gotta get on this moving around thing. Maybe Brielle can help me when I see her. Last time I saw her she said she was thinking about crawling soon. I hope she does so I can see what it’s like. Hmmm…now I can’t wait for Hollow Weenie.

One of these things is not like the other: DTaP, PCV, IPV, Tequila.

They’re all shots, but the last one will be foreign to Madelyn until her first college party. The first three, however, made an appearance at her 2-month checkup in early October.

She had her regular physical first and checked out great.

She was calm and content the whole time. No whining, no fussiness, no discomfort. Our happy little Madelyn was more than pleased to be weighed and measured and pressed on and poked at. Easy shmeasy.

She probably thought she was getting out free and clear of any trauma, but what she didn’t know was that life was about to majorly suck. I felt like I had betrayed her with a happy-go-lucky morning on the doctor’s butcher paper table, but truth is, she was about to get butchered.

Her 2-month vaccinations started off with a taste of rotavirus vaccine. I imagine it doesn’t take like sugar and chocolate, but I’m sure it was a welcome change from formula and she lapped it right up.

I clenched my fingers as I knew the worst was yet to come. I saw the tray of three Band-Aids and three needles and held my breath in anticipation. Madelyn just hung out at the table, her big brown eyes looking around, with twitches of smiles coming from her happy mouth and then WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT THE $&@% WAS THAAAAAAAAAAT (I imagine Madelyn to swear in symbols).

She let out an immediate shriek like I’d never heard. In fact, I bet Princeton heard it at home, not because dogs have freaky deaky high pitched hearing, but because it really was just that loud. She was startled three times by these needles and she screamed so loud with each prick, I swear I could see her lungs coming out of her mouth.

I’ve often heard the shots are worse for the mommy than they are for the baby, and while I certainly didn’t enjoy watching my daughter get traumatized by modern medicine, I knew it would be temporary and that, in the end, it would be good for her.

Good thing is, unlike her mother, she recovers well. Madelyn stopped crying after a few minutes and then slept the rest of the day away. She was a cuddler, which I selfishly enjoyed, and I made sure to comfort and soothe her the few times she woke up a little irritated.

So, we both survived her first shots, but in December, when we go back for her 4-month check up, she’s going to reunite with those needles again. And this is why kids hate going to the pediatrician!

The worst part about the whole thing is that she’s too young to leave with a lollipop from the front desk. But don’t worry — mama got her Dumdum.

So, the new kid arrived. Unlike all the other new things that come to the house, the man in the brown uniform didn’t ring the bell and leave it at the doorstep for me to bark at incessantly. It just kind of appeared and without any warning. Unless all those months of “Ohhh you don’t know what you’re in for!” followed by a pat on the head was considered my warning. But, warning or not, it’s here.

The new kid sleeps a lot. There’s a lot of chatter about not waking a sleeping baby. They also say similar dumb phrases in regards to me when I’m snoozing. Something about letting sleeping dogs lie? But anyway, it’s kind of boring and stays pretty quiet usually.

But then there are the times when it screams louder than I do when my tail gets stepped on. Oh my Dog, it screams so loud! Usually, it screams after it’s been sleeping for a long time and it won’t stop until they shove food in its mouth. Funny, because the food is not in a bowl that it sticks its head into like I have to do. Methinks there is some favoritism.

It also screams when it’s up on the table with its legs apart. I can smell something delicious whenever that happens, but I wonder if something’s wrong with my nose because they’re always saying how gross it smells. I hope I’m not mistaken and my terrier nose is not failing me at such a young age because it really does smell as lovely as the fire hydrants, the grass on my walk, and the trash I sometimes get into when they’re not looking (suckers).

Oh, and speaking of walk, it looks as though we have company. Finally, she’s walking again after having a gigantic stomach for the past 40 or so weeks. It’s about time. Someone must have told her she was looking quite round and now she’s walking and bringing her with me again, which on one hand is glorious, but on the other hand, I have to share a sidewalk with the new kid which is in a mini car I constantly have to dodge. The first few times she brought me and the kid out on a walk with her, I got tangled up in the wheels and shrieked and then got yelled at for “not being careful.” Well excuse me! I am in a hurry. I must get to the tree and make sure everyone knows it’s mine before the new kid gets to it. I’m learning, though, that the new kid is not interested in claiming the trees, so I’m a little more relaxed on the walks now. Oh, and her stomach went back to normal after the kid got here, so obviously the walks are working.

The new kid now sleeps in its own room and the best part is that when I want a place to hide and have some “me” time, I go under its cage and lay there watching their feet walk around. A long time ago, before I got here, I used to be in a cage and it was really dark and quite uncomfortable. The new kid’s cage is really nice. It’s white and has colorful (so I’m told. I’m colorblind) patterns draping from it. And best of all, it’s open on top. Lucky! My cage never had an open top.

Once in a while, they take the kid and lay it on its stomach on a soft blanket and I like to lay down next to it and get my fair share of the cushiony comfort. They always try to take my picture when I do this and squeal things like, “Look how cute!” and “Ohhh he loves her!” I don’t know what any of this means. Really, I just like the soft blanket.

But I think I don’t mind the new kid anyway. I mean, it hasn’t done anything to me! I’m doing just fine. I still get my food. I still get the belly scratches and the walks. I still have to perform my stupid tricks to get the beef-flavored treats. And at the end of the day, who’s the one that still sleeps in the big bed between them and tucked in all cozy-like in the pillows?

Me.

As of October 9th, Madelyn is now two months old and we are driving a pretty steady pace on the parenting highway with only a couple stop lights or lane changes here and there. I’d say we’re doing okay! Now that I’m much more healed, we are taking turns meeting all of Madelyn’s eating, sleeping, and diaper changing needs. Dare I say it? She’s a pretty easy baby with a lovely little personality. She’s not too demanding and we absolutely love being with her and staring at her every molecule.

This month, Madelyn…

• started to smile! Be still, my heart! It’s the most marvelous thing my two brown eyes have ever seen!
• began to coo! She makes these adorable little sounds and whether they’re intentional or not, I don’t care. They are freakin’ adorable and I swear we have coherent conversations and banter.
• lost a lot of her monkey hair. She is less of an ape and more of a human being which is good for her future boyfriends. She was born with a lot of lanugo still on her shoulders, but it’s almost all gone now.
• improved her tummy time game face by lifting her head at a 45 degree angle. She’s got strong head and neck muscles, that’s for sure. She doesn’t completely hate tummy time as long as we catch her in a good mood. We love when Princeton comes to lay with her on the tummy time blanket.
• battled diaper rash! And it’s still going strong. We’ve tried zillions of products and executed all the methods. Her pediatrician now thinks the diaper rash is caused by her poops thanks to a change of formula. I tell ya, it’s always something in this household. So, we changed to “hippie diapers.” I call them hippie diapers because they’re all natural and free and clear of pretty much anything man-made. The worst part is that there’s no wetness indicator so we actually have to [gasp!] physically check to see if it’s a dirty diaper. But the best part is that these new hippie diapers are helping and hopefully the rash goes away and stays away thanks to going a naturale and changing her formula to accommodate her milk protein allergy.
• went to her first services at temple. She enjoyed all the music during High Holy Day services and was less fidgety than most adults in there. Actually, she wasn’t fidgety at all. She just sat in her stroller and looked around or snoozed. Everyone remarked how good she was and we’re glad to know we can bring her to more services in the future. She’s basically a rabbi already.
• grew some cheeks and chins. She’s looking a little more cherubic now and has these adorable cheeks that look chipmunk-ish. I swear she’s storing nuts in them for winter. It’s because of these cheeks and chins — yes, plural chin — that she might look a little more like me. Thankfully, she still has Bryan’s long and lean body and what nice Jewish girl doesn’t want legs and arms like that?
• became a TV star. Well, she’s not getting her star on Hollywood Boulevard just yet, but the series finale of “All My Children” aired on September 23rd on which she played Erica Kane as an infant. There she was, her face at the very beginning of the show. She had 12 seconds of 100% close-up and looked great on television. It was really a hoot to see our kid on a TV show playing the baby version of the most famous soap opera diva. Insane!

At two months, Madelyn weighed 10 pounds and 4 ounces (haha 10-4, over and out, Roger) and measured 23 inches long. She’s on track developmentally and her doctor is happy with her overall health. And we’re just happy with her. Overall!

Happy 2 months, Madelyn!