First Golf Lesson!

It's never too early to start learning the sport! How old was Tiger?

Well Chris came home from work one day and was practicing putting in our bedroom. Anyone who has been in our house can understand that our bedroom is a great place to practice putting since there's a lot of open space. Anyway, he was showing Maddie the ball and putter and we got some funny pictures. At first she didn't quite know what to make of the ball. But she got the hang of picking it up and of course had to taste it. I'm thinking, father-daughter bonding....Chris is thinking college scholarship!

Thank heaven for little girls!

With Maddie becoming more mobile lately, we've decided to start saying a simple "no" to her when she goes near certain things like the entertainment center or fireplace. She may be a little young to understand "no" and this video proves it. Or it proves that we have a defiant little one on our hands. Either way, she is making it very hard to be serious because when I say "no" she smiles!!!



I found myself taking a bunch of pictures of Madeline this past week because she has had on some cute clothes recently. The combination of her growing and the warm weather here, made it possible to put her in some new outfits and PJ's. Thanks to everyone who has given us just the cutest gifts. Little girls are the best!

Lounging in her high chair!

Notice the words on the shirt: "My mom rocks" This was a Christmas gift from the Snyders...too funny!

Two Girls, Twice the Fun!!

Here are Maddie and Brooke playing together again. They're a little bigger than the last time we got together (3 1/2 months ago)! We had a lot of fun and Maddie got her first lesson in sharing, as she and Brooke kept stealing the same toy from each other.

Rockin' and Rollin'

Maddie's new trick is rocking on her hands and knees. I think she learned it in her sleep, because I found her in her crib doing this in the morning for the first time! Oh boy, we better get ready for her to be mobile. Right now she is only able to move backwards and she rolls all over the place. Needless to say we'll be doing some babyproofing this weekend.

So Big!

It's hard to believe how fast time is flying by! I told myself I would be better about updating Maddie's blog more than just once a month, but here I sit on Feb. 27th, and she is 7 months old today. Oh well. Here goes.
It has been the BEST month. Just when I think Madeline is at the cutest, most fun age....it gets better! Her personality is really starting to form and she is turning into a little person right before our eyes. She is loving solid foods, sitting up all by herself, standing (with support of course), sleeping well at night, playing hard, getting mobile on her tummy, and making all kinds of funny sounds and babbles. Here are some of this past month's highlights.

SITTING PRETTY! This rocking chair is from Chris's Aunt Sandy and it is beautiful and so cute! The shoes were a gift from my Uncle Jack and Aunt Linda and she gave us the idea of taking a picture of her sitting so you can read the bottom of her shoes. How neat!

AUNT ReRe's VISIT

Great Aunt ReRe (my Aunt Marie) visited this month. She was in town for work and we were so lucky to see her twice. She came over and was very stealthy in her approach to win Madeline over. Maddie has stranger anxiety and Marie was warned that she may cry. So she took her time and just talked to Maddie at first, made silly faces, and silly noises (she's good at that) before she held her. Then, when the time was right, she held her and then proceeded to play with her for the rest of the day! She even claims to have taught Madeline to sit up by herself!

Notice the bow in Maddie's hair (or lack there of). It was just for the picture...it looks like the bow is floating in mid-air!

HANGIN' OUT WITH DADDY!

Chris loves to hold Maddie in a standing position and pretend she's walking, as you can see from the following pictures!

THE GIRLS!!!

Here is Maddie with Marissa and Kaitlyn Marcoullier (Paul and Dre's girls). They are so fun to see all together. Marissa is so sweet, she always says "Hi Maddie" and Kaitlyn loves having another little baby around. I couldn't get them to all look at the camera in the first picture; they were watching a Baby Einstein video. Maddie is apparently more interested in the camera than the video!

LOVIN' HER TUMMY!

Maddie is always on her tummy now. As soon as you lay her down on the floor on her back she flips right over. She still prefers to sleep on her back, but once she wakes up she rolls right over. One morning when I went in to get her after her nap, she was on her tummy looking right through the rails and just smiling away. It cracked me up so I ran and got the camera. The picture is below.

OUR SNOW ANGEL (sort of)

It snowed a very pretty snow last Sunday and Chris went out to shovel. I decided to take Maddie out and get a picture of her in the snow, thinking it would be so pretty. Well the combination of being immobile in this snowsuit and the snow falling in her face did not make for a happy baby for the pictures. I tried putting her down in sitting on the snow, but she fell over as you can see. We were outside for all of 5 minutes! Oh well!

DANCING WITH NANA
So my mom and Maddie have their "special time" at Nana Day Care. Whenever Maddie starts acting tired but it's too early for her naptime, my mom dances with her. She puts on classic songs like "In the Mood" or "Mack the Knife" or anything from that genre (you know Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole, etc.) and Maddie just mellows out. She starts by kicking her legs to the music and then eventually just relaxes, puts her head down on Nana and sometimes dozes off for 10 minutes for a little power nap. Then she wakes up refreshed and content and lasts a while longer until her nap. I witnessed it last week and it's so cute to see. I know my mom will be sad when she's too big to do this with her.

6 MONTHS!

It's hard to believe that 6 months have gone by already, but yes Maddie turned 6 months on Jan. 27th. I used to say that 4 months was my favorite age for babies at work, so I was excited when Maddie turned 4 months. But now that she's 6 months, I've decided that 6 months is my favorite age! My boss Suzan says that I am going to say that about every age as Madeline grows. She is doing so many fun, new things every week. Here are some recent pictures and video of the fun we are having!

Bouncin' Maddie in her Bouncin' Tigger! Yes, I am a PT and I let my baby hang out in one of these. She only spends a few minutes in it and she loves it!

Splish Splash Maddie's takin' a bath!

Circle of Fun - Madeline in her exersaucer!

The highlight of the 6 month mark was the introduction of solids into Maddie's diet. We started with the traditional rice cereal and she did well. Since then she's had bananas and sweet potatoes. She makes a very big mess for a little bit of food, but it's so cute to see her eat! Here are some pictures and videos from her first feeding.

YUMMY! Chris was able to catch Maddie's funny faces during her first feeding...too funny.


ALL DONE! Here is Madeline blowing raspberries after finishing her first taste of cereal.

Play time!

Maddie was cracking me up one day playing in her Baby Einstein play gym. She hadn't been in it in a while and her arms and legs were going crazy! Of course, whenever we get the camera out, she freezes up. She takes her play time very seriously as you can see!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We hope everyone is having a great 2007 so far. The new year has brought some changes for us as I am now back to work! It was fun while it lasted...but my maternity leave is over. I feel so lucky that I was able to stay home full time with Maddie for 5 whole months. I joke that it would have been nice if I could have scattered my leave; you know, worked during say month 2-3 when Maddie was fussy! Now she is sooooo much fun, so it kind of stinks to go back now. But that means she's a lot more fun for Nana Flo and Grandpa George. We are so fortunate that they are watching Maddie. The transition has been very smooth; just a few tears shed the first morning (by me, not Madeline)! Here are some pictures from Nana Day Care that my mom has taken. They have a goal of taking at least one picture from each day and my mom is keeping a journal of Maddie's days for me to read.

Maddie napping in her pack-n-play

Grandpa George giving her a bottle

Playing on her tummy...she's rolling all the time now!

My mom had to take a picture of Maddie's beautiful hair (ha!) My aunt Patti said at Christmas that I had the same hairstyle when I was a baby. Hairstyle?!? As if this look is intentional! She's got a little male pattern baldness, with a little mullet action at her neck and even a comb-over/mohawk going on up top. The bald spot in the back is a result of her turning her head back and forth constantly when she's going to sleep. Let's hope she gets some new hair soon!

Maddie got lots of great Christmas presents from everyone. My favorites are the jog stroller and video monitor and Maddie's favorite is her excersaucer. Chris's favorite is the Nike hat from Andy and Laura. It matches her Nike sweatsuit that they gave her. Here are some pictures.

Notice the bib? High maintenance! But worth it :)

The rest of the pictures are just some fun pictures that we've taken recently.

Maddie may look big in some of the pictures..but as you can see here, not everything fits her yet! Of course this is a hand-me-down and it's size 6-12 months. She looked so funny!

She loves this monkey that Shelley gave her!

Watching the playoffs with Daddy

First nap on her tummy...the timing was funny since she has a monkey on her pants! This was a fluke. Ever since then, when she rolls onto her tummy in her crib she gets really mad. So for now, we just roll her back over until she can do it herself. Sometimes, it takes 2 or 3 times before she gives up and falls asleep!

"My grandpa....what big eyes you have!"

Mommy's sweetpea!