More Visitors!

We were lucky enough to have Sarah (the missing member of the Fab Five in October) visit this past weekend. Jennie came out again to hang with "the girls." We had a very relaxing weekend.

"Sarah says I have to root for Florida in the National Championship!"

It truly was a girls' weekend since Chris was on his annual Moskal Boys fishing trip. While the guys were fishing, Maddie and I had a visit from her Great Aunt Sandy, Great Aunt GayLynn, and her cousins Tiffany and Logan. It was great to see them!

Madeline's Baptism

On the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, Madeline was baptised at our church here in Leesburg. It was a great day; the weather was beautiful! Geordie (my brother) is Madeline's Godfather and Kim (Chris's sister) is her Godmother. Here are some pictures from the day.

"Yummy, this tastes good!"

Godparents Kim and Geordie

All pretty in her dress that Nana Flo and Grandma Mary bought her.

And the bonnet from Grandma Mary

All tuckered out after her big day!

Baby talk

One of our favorite things that Maddie is doing now is "talking." She's making all kinds of new sounds and she's cooing, giggling, and doing lots of raspberries! The video above is the best one we could get of her making lots of sounds. For some reason if we put one of our fingers in her mouth, she really gets going. Maybe she's working on some teeth!

Madeline is 4 months!

Madeline turned 4 months at the end of November. Time is now flying by! She had her 4 month check-up and she weighs 13 lbs. 5 oz. which is the 45th percentile. She is in the 90th percentile for height so the doctor said she's long and lean. She looks anything but lean in some of these pictures! Here are some pictures from the past month.

This is Maddie and her friend Brooke Plummer (daughter of our friends/old neighbors Matt and Lisa). Brooke is 3 weeks younger than Maddie. They are so cute together! Brooke loves to play with Maddie's hair and Maddie usually ignores Brooke and stares at the cameras. Can you tell which baby is Maddie? (hint...she looks good in purple!)

Madeline no longer stays in one spot in her crib. Chris and I were so suprised the first time we found her turned 90 degrees from where we put her down! It became a game....guess which way she's laying now!

Maddie's putting everything in her mouth now. She has figured out how to hold her toys and she likes to taste them all!

All ready for the Virginia vs. Virginia Tech game. Too bad they lost....but at least she looked cute! Wahoowa! Maybe basketball season will be better.

Sitting in the bumbo....watching some football. She loves to stare at the TV when football is on.

All bundled up ready for a walk outside. Chris couldn't resist a picture of her in her hoodie!

Nothing cuter than a naked baby!

November 2006

TUMMY TIME
As you all know, I am a pediatric physical therapist. And I spent countless hours at my job (before I had Maddie) explaining to parents the importance of tummy time. And I used to wonder why it is so hard for parents to do this! Now I know. You never want to take a happy baby and ruin a good mood by putting her on her tummy. But I needed to practice what I preach so we've done it. Here is the progression from hating her tummy to "hey this isn't so bad."

"Oh Mom, this is such hard work!"

"Well maybe I'll just relax here a little bit."

Almost there....

"Hi Elmo!"

"If you take my diaper off, I'm happy in any position!"

OCTOBER 2006 - Madeline turns 3 months

Well I know I'm a month behind because November is almost over, but I wanted to share some of the highlights from October. Madeline turned 3 months on the 27th. Everyone says the first 3 months are the toughest, so it looks like we made it through the rough period! She is thriving, gaining weight, and becoming more fun everyday.

HALLOWEEN

Madeline was a Sweetpea for her first Halloween. My roommate from UVa, Shelley, called her "Sweetpea" when I was pregnant, once we knew she was a girl. Since she was born, we continue to call her Sweetpea, so it was a no-brainer when deciding what she should be for Halloween.

Nana Flo bought her the costume and it was so cute. She came over for the festivities. Madeline fell asleep before the neighborhood parade.

Grandma Mary came over the morning of Halloween to hang out with us too!

We gathered in the court for a little parade with the neighbors before the kids went trick-or-treating. Madeline only participated in the parade and then she went to bed! No trick-or-treating for her this year.

Chris made it home in perfect time for the parade. He even managed to play a round of golf too! Who says you can't do it all? Maddie was happy to see him. I think she was hoping he would take her out of this ridiculous thing that Mommy put her in!

We finished the night on the front steps handing out candy and drinking wine, enjoying the unusually warm fall weather and the silence coming through the baby monitor.

GIRLS WEEKEND

We were lucky enough to have visitors in October. Shelley came from Florida, Jess from Arizona, and Jennie from Arlington. Four of the "Fab Fivers" (my college roommates) were together and we missed Sarah so much! It was a wonderful Fall weekend. Madeline was such a good girl the whole time the girls were here. She came with us on all our excursions.

Here are some pictures from Tarara Winery

Kristen, my friend from high school, came from Alexandria to see Jess and hang out with us also.

It was such a great weekend and I am very lucky to have such wonderful friends and so happy that they could all meet and spend time with Madeline!

SHE FOUND HER THUMB!!!

Madeline was not a big fan of the pacifier in the beginning. She wanted so badly to suck on something to soothe herself, but did not like it when we tried the pacifier. Chris called it the "pissifier" because it just seemed to make her mad. So needless to say we were very excited when she was finally able to coordinate sucking her thumb. I think she sometimes forgets she can do it, but it's a start!

Hello family and friends! We just created this blog so we can have a place to post pictures and video of Madeline. She is doing new things every day and we thought it would be fun to create a blog. My friend Mia has one for her daughter and it is so fun to look at. I'm just learning the ropes so bear with me. Here are a few of our favorite pictures...more to come!





It's hard for us to believe that Maddie was ever this tiny...only 5 1/2 lbs. Good thing we have lots of pictures to remind us.

She is growing so fast and looks like such a big girl in this picture that my mom took. She is about 11 lbs. now! She's doubled her birth weight in 2 1/2 months.

The latest and greatest thing that Madeline does is smile!! She loves the ceiling fans. That's what she is looking at in this picture.

Welcome Madeline Eve

We welcomed into the world our beautiful baby girl, Madeline Eve, on July 27, 2006 at 9:58 a.m. She weighed 5 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 inches long.

Day 1

Dr. Martin Meinig

At home, week one

Week two

Week three

Weeks four and five - getting bigger, but still a peanut