Baby Steps

Maddie worked up the courage today to try a few quick steps without holding on to anything. There is some work to do, but she is making headway and is getting very close. I think by the time we are California she'll have it down. Today was a beautiful fall day out here and that often means raking leaves this time of year. Raking leaves mean piles of leaves and that can only be fun. So after helping rake, she got to play.

Update

Well Maddie is growing every day. She just had her 9 month check up and she is 29 1/2 inches and she is 19 pounds 5 ounces. She still has 7 teeth and is working on a few more that are taking their time coming in. She is enjoying visiting with her Aunt Jodi in Syracuse, NY this week. Last night she took her first carousel ride and loved it. (Pictures coming soon) She giggled, kicked her legs and sang. She was so cute! She has picked her favorite toy that she just can not live without, a baby doll. She carries it with her everywhere. She eats, sleeps and plays with it. And yes the baby went on the carousel ride too.

Sorry it has been so long since our last post, but here is Maddie's update! She currently has 8 teeth with 2 more on the way. She eats all the time and anything you put in front of her. Her favorite foods are corn on the cob and apples. She is very, very active and is close to walking. She loves going to the park to go down the slide and she loves swimming. She is still very funny, making all sorts of faces and laughing all the time. She has even perfected her fake smile. She tells us lots of stories and sings all the time.We love her very much and will vow to try and be better about posting. :)

We are so sorry we have been neglecting the blog. Here is Maddie's update. She has been crawling for over a month now and she is pulling her self up on everything and can walk around it. It is hard to keep her confined these days. She is a sweet little monster! She has 5 teeth now with another one almost through. She is now eating breakfast, lunch and dinner with a small snack or two. She loves anything she can feed herself, but Cheerios are her favorite. She went to her first concert, Spearhead, and danced until dark with a huge smile on her face. She took her first plane ride the next day all the way to California. She loved California. She went swimming in the bay and loved it. She went rock climbing with mom, dad and Bob. She really wanted to climb too, but we told her she needed to be able to walk first. She played in Golden Gate Park and played tourist around San Francisco. She got to meet papa's old school friends and was able to spend lots of time Grammy, Grandpa and Aunt Sarah. Her first week home was full of stories to her friends Zanna, Carter and Colby, who all came to play with her. She likes to tell stories, but she only has 3 words though, mama, dada and baby. Not to worry though she adds lots of other sounds so her stories are usually quite long. This past week she has been enjoying her Aunt Jodi who will be leaving soon, she will miss her a lot. Well that is pretty much it for the past month in Maddie's world. Lots of pictures will be coming soon!

We had a long day putting the garden in today. Maddie is very excited!

Such a big girl! She just got her first toothbrush and loves getting her 2 teeth brushed. She is able to get onto her hands and knees and take a step forward before doing a face plant.... she will be crawling any day now. Her friend Sana invited her over for a pool party last weekend and she had loads of fun playing in the pool. She is really enjoying having her Aunt Jodi around every day and she was really happy to have her Grandma Carter come for a weekend. She is very loved! She is changing every day. Her favorite things this week are her right hand, paper, jewelry and her Red Golfing Disc.

new tricks

Madeline has learned some new tricks from her grandfather. What can we say? I couldn't take her with me but I got to go to game 7 of the Celtics/Cavaliers last night. Wicked good game and an amazing experience.

Well Miss Madeline has been very busy these past weeks. As of last Wednesday she weighed 15 pounds 12 ounces and was 27 1/2 inches long. Her first tooth broke through Saturday. She is creeping backwards now and is working on perfecting sitting up by herself. She is eating cereal and has started fruits and veggies. We can't believe how fast she growing up.

MG- Madeline Grace

Linz and I tried to go rock climbing on Sunday and leave Madeline with a friend in Burlington. Unfortunately, we forgot part of her bottle and he could not feed her. She was starting to show signs of hunger getting restless and calling for food. The downward spiral was inevitable. So as we headed back to pick her up, scrapping the afternoon of climbing, we were comforted to know that Spidey had come to her rescue and caught her from her fall to doom. "Oh MG, I've got you, I'll never let you go!" "Thank you Spiderman"

Well Maddie has been very busy this past weeks enjoying her Grammy Carter's visit. She has also been busy mastering rolling over and keeping her head lifted while on her belly. Changing her can be a challenge these days. We have started trying to live diaper free. This is less of a potty training idea and more of a learning and consciousness about elimination needs. We believe babies are already aware and we are trying to keep her used to expressing the need while we learn her cues. We are just starting our training and learning as we go but believe this really can work and move life towards diaperless days pretty quickly. We are catching on and she has pooped in the potty; only once but we are only just starting out. Maybe for all you Cali heads we'll be able to see how it's working. June 28-July 12, get ready, we want so catch up time.

Busy Girl!

Miss Maddie has been very busy. She has had lots of fun playing with her friends, meeting new friends, taking care of mom while she recovered from surgery, taking care of dad while he has been sick, lived through her first Easter and learned how to give a contour wrap. She has been very talkative and is laughing out loud... it is so cute! She is such a good baby, we are very lucky!! Now she is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her Grammy Carter!!!

Roll Over

YEAH!!! Maddie rolled over for the first time yesterday. We are so proud of her!

Politics

Maddie learned today to vote early and vote often. Nader still just doesn't have the mainstream even with her two votes. It was nice to have some warmer weather today so each of us could take a walk downtown with her to vote. (that's why she got to vote often) We'll see how this whole election thing goes. Our government is like her diaper, it needs changing. ~DC

All Smiles!

Maddie is full of smiles and giggles. She spends a lot of time playing and talking with animal friends. She is very interested in her surroundings, so you need to hold her so she can see everything around her. She has made more friends the past few days too and has attended a baby shower for a future friend. She seems to be interested in watching other babies, but she makes irritated faces when they start crying and screaming... she is so funny. She has experienced her first disc golf game. She almost made it through all 18 holes. All in all it was a great first lesson. Maddie has gone on her first out of state trip to see her Aunt Jodi in New York. She even had to get on a ferry to do it. She is so brave!

Sleepy

Maddie has been doing a lot of sleeping these past few days. She has slept through the night 3 out of the past 4 nights. She did brake her cycle last night by waking up at 1:30 am, but in all fairness, she did fall asleep at 5:00 pm instead of 10:00 pm like she normally does. We are still very proud of her though and think she is quite amazing.

Happy Valentine's Day!! Aren't I cute??? I picked this dress out so I would look extra cute for my papa on Valentine's day.

Busy

Maddie has been very busy these past couple of days. She has had many visitors, had a couple of play dates and has received her first osteopathic/ cranial sacral treatment. You can see in her movements that she is feeling much better. She has started playing and giggling a lot more too. It is so cute to watch her. She has even started sleeping more at night, 5 hour shifts now... YEAH!!!

So BIG!!

Maddie is growing so fast! She measured 24 inches long on Saturday. She is out growing all her 3 month clothes... while they are too wide for her, they are just too short. Her poor little toes are all scrunched up in her footed jammies and you can barely button the onesies. It looks like she is going to have to move into 6 month clothing. She is going to be taller than her papa before we know it.

All smiles

Today, after shoveling the driveway for two hours, I came in to hold Maddie. Up till now she has usually been sleeping, feeding, or squirming to communicate some need. Not tonight. Tonight she listened to me make goofy noises and she just lay in my arms giving me huge smiles along with very connected eye contact. It was the first time that I felt that she was really seeing me for a person and not just a care giver and that she was enjoying MY company, not just me enjoying hers. Now I really know what everyone has been telling me, it is truly amazing. ~DC

Recovering

Well Maddie survived her first Super Bowl, but she was very upset that the Patriots lost. She spent all of the next day drinking away her misery, which exhausted her mother. Today she recovered by curling up in a warm, furry blanket and watched Harry Potter. All in all though, she had a great 1 month birthday! Now, mom and dad are hoping to recover.

Changes

Sorry it's been so long. Maddie has been keeping us very busy these past weeks. She has grown so much since the last post. She is taller and more alert. She has started cooing at the animals above her changing table and smiles a lot more these days. We have even noticed a little dimple on her left cheek, which just adds to her adorable face. She has been out on a few adventures now and met loads of admirers. She has gone on her first shopping trip, as she out grew most of her clothes. She has gone on some walks into town to check out the local scene. She had her first girls day out yesterday with her close friend Sanna [Susanna Rose]. And today, she is catching up on her sleep so that she can stay up late to watch the Superbowl -GO PATRIOTS!!

Update!

Maddie has been keeping us very busy these past weeks. She has grown so much since the last post. She is taller and much more alert. She has started talking to the animals above her changing table and smiles a lot more these days. We have even noticed a little dimple on her left cheek, which just adds to her adorable face. She has settled into a routine and is allowing mom and dad to get some sleep (Yeah!!), but the trick is getting her down for the night. She has been out on a few adventures now and met loads of admirers. She has gone on her first shopping trip, as she out grew most of her clothes; she has gone on some walks into town to check out the local scene; she had her first girls day out with her close friend Sanna [Susanna Rose]; and today she is catching up on her sleep so that she can attend a Superbowl party - GO PATRIOTS!!

Growing up

Well we are almost two weeks in to this now and progressing charmingly. This week we went back to the doctors for a routine check up and found that she is growing like her parents must have. Almost up to 10 pounds now. Her hair looks like it will not fall out to start over as it is growing faster than the grass in the springtime. Sleeping has been pretty good, up until about 12 every night but then sleeps until 9 or 10 after a few mid night feedings. Her belly button has fallen off so we gave her her first bath this week, she actually seemed to like it. Who doesn't like a nice bath, really.

Four days old

Other than the trip home from the hospital, which certainly was a big trip, today was Maddie's first big trip out of the house. She went to the doctor and received a clean bill of health, a surprise with her genes. It was a fun outing and when we got home I got her training started for her disc golf career. I figure by the time she is old enough, the sport will be big enough and she'll be a little child prodigy, oh the timing of it all is sweet.

Day 3

Today was Maddie's 3rd day. She is doing quite well. We got home from the birthing center last night so got to spend the night together in our new home for the first time. Apart from her having the sleep schedule of a cat, it was really wonderful to be able to make our home together. Today has been rather uneventful except maybe for the conversion from the hospital provided Huggies to the cloth diapers we are using. From here it is all smiles and growing; and crying and pooping and...