Madeline Joy

So here is our sweet newest arrival! Madeline Joy was born on Sunday, July 31, 2016 at 12:52pm. She weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. She had a head full of dark hair.

It has been a bit crazy since we've had her home, as I guess it is with most families when they add a newborn to the mix. Madeline, being the fourth in our clan, was supposed to just go with the fl
ow but she's had her own ideas about how things should go. She is a very finicky eater! She likes to eat a little and pause a little and fuss a little, then sleep a little. Then repeat. It can take up to an hour or even more to feed the little chick! All the while, my two year old is pouring water all over the house (she loves to play with water) while my boys, four and six, are fighting and screaming and throwing things at each other. All my others have eaten steadily and without fussing. If they fell asleep I could usually coax them to eat more. Not so with Madeline. She tightly closes her lips and makes faces if you try to keep giving her milk when she wants to pause.  Or she just gets mad. Or she just keeps sleeping, limp as a rag.

And, she did not latch well and so eventually I just gave up on breastfeeding. But, getting her to take a bottle has also been frustrating. She wouldn't just take the bottles we had for her which were given to us, no matter how hard I tried. We went through several bottles before we landed on one she liked and would happily drink from. But, even then, you have to be careful how you put it in. If you just stick it in, she won't latch on it, she just licks her tongue on it like a cat or fusses. She is getting better with that but at first it was quite frustrating! And, even still, she might go several days and just decide she doesn't like that bottle anymore and so we have to go through them all again to find the one she's satisfied with. Good grief! She's also had reflux enough that she's on medicine now though we are already weaning her off of it some. And, because of that we had to prop up her bassinet. But even with that, she got to where she wouldn't sleep in that well either without fussing. The bouncy seat didn't work either, as it did for Wesley who was a happy spitter, spitting up across the room, dousing all our clothes, without a fuss from him. So we resorted to borrowing a rock n' play and it was worked wonders! I am not a fan of having lots of baby paraphernalia but when the fourth baby won't sleep you do whatever is necessary!!! I was even tempted to buy a swing! We had one with Wes but got rid of it because we hardly used it after him.

All that to say, we love her very much and are terribly grateful for her! Despite all the problems she's had and her pickiness, she seems really sweet. When I write of her fussing, it's usually a sweet soft fuss that makes you just want to cry with her. She doesn't cry with a "wah!" It's with a "La, La, La" Although if she gets upset enough she can really get hysterical. She loves to snuggle and will bury her head in your neck. She's just starting to try to smile and coo. I love it! And, once we got the rock n play, she does sleep better than my others at this point, already sleeping long stretches at night. I am very thankful for the sleep! While I was still trying to breastfeed and she was waking up more at night, I was a total basket case from lack of sleep and stress. Glad that is done.

I still feel quite overwhelmed at times but I've learned to let go of some of the expectations I have had for myself and my house and my kids. But I've also learned to use child labor! We had the kids doing chores before but now we've really implemented their help, even with Catherine. In some ways she's a better helper than the boys! At least she almost always has a willing heart if not perfect execution of said chores.

I think Madeline might turn out to be a little redhead which I would love. She has the skin tone for it and her eye brows look reddish as does her hair in the right light.

With all the craziness, we are so thankful for our little bundle of Joy. :) Can't wait to see more of her personality! God has been so good to us! This time 7 years ago, we despaired that we might not ever have kids. That's kind of funny to think about now. I think God might be giving us a big wink. He is sovereign, His timing is perfect though we might know why. He is in control of all things and through all these seven wild, crazy years of adopting and giving birth, I've learned more to trust Him. He is faithful and He is a good, good Father. Thank you Father for these beautiful blessings!

"Ahhh! Will somebody do something about my hair!" Poor baby has some major hair issues. I get a good laugh at least daily from all her untamable hair!