Saturday, September 13, 2008

Labor Day Weekend-Part Two


After we spent some time with Andrew's parents, we drove on down to Roanoke for the rest of the weekend. We got to see my grandparents, Popeye and Aunt Phyllis. Madeline showed them how much she loves to sing "Deep and Wide" with my mom.

She also got to eat questionable apples off the ground.


She showed Popeye and Aunt Phyllis how to walk like a lady.


I think they enjoyed the entertainment very much.


We enjoyed a lot of time outside; spinning...


swinging...


eating... I mean, picking flowers...


checking out C.O.'s glasses (my other grandfather)...


sticking our hands in random holes in Pawpaw's truck...


and crawling around everywhere and getting very dirty. Madeline is usually her happiest when she is outside.


Of course, we were originally in Roanoke for Cristen's Sprinkle. But, what is a trip to Roanoke without a trip to Chick-fil-A for some free chicken. We met up with The Sinks and The Whiteds for lunch on Labor Day. If only we lived in Roanoke, we could do this every weekend.




Friday, September 12, 2008

Labor Day Weekend-Part One


We began our Labor Day weekend with a trip down to Andrew's parents house. Madeline enjoyed playing a little billiards.



Andrew's brother, Daniel, came over and brought one of his dogs, Frodo. I think Frodo was a little scared of Madeline at first. He got a little more adventurous as the night went on (not much though).



Frodo checking on Madeline after she fell over.

Still not too sure of each other.


Of course, Madeline enjoyed playing the piano with Nana.


Madeline and her uncle Daniel.


A family shot before we left.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Simeon and Madeline


My best friend from childhood, Jaime, came to visit last week with her mom, sister and son, Simeon. Simeon just turned two last week and he is going to be a big brother in January! Madeline had a great time playing with Simeon.

Simeon was slightly jealous when Madeline climbed up in his grandma's lap to read a book. So, he had to join them as well.




Simeon was really cute. He sang a lot. I didn't really know what his songs were about. But, they were cute anyways. He and Madeline enjoyed a little music time on the piano together.


These pictures are going to be pretty cute at their wedding one day ;)

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

9 Month Checkup


Madeline had her 9 month check up this morning. She really liked to rip the paper on the table while she waited for the doctor to come.

Andrew was able to come too. It is nice to have the extra hands with this little wiggle worm.


The nurse measured her length. She drew a line at her head and one at her foot. Madeline was 28 1/2" long. That means that she has grown 2 inches in the past 3 months and she is in the 77th percentile.


Then the nice nurse weighed her. She was 16 lbs 13 oz. She has gained 2 pounds in the past 3 months and is in the 12th percentile.



Then Dr. Woods came to check her out. She is a nice doctor and said that she looks great! (Notice the paper all torn up. There isn't much else to do in a doctor's office.)


Madeline only had to have 1 shot this time. (Much better than the 4 at the last visits). I held her while the nurse gave her the shot. She fussed for a second and then she was ok. She did a great job at the doctor's office. We don't go back until she is a year old. Wow!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

A Little Sprinkle

Over Labor Day Weekend, we had baby shower for Cristen and Johnny Sink's little boy. So, we called it a "sprinkle" since it was a smaller shower.



Kathryn did a great job helping her mommy open the presents.




Chase enjoyed the Johnny Jump Up.

Madeline enjoyed playing with Jude. It was all fun and games until Madeline started laughing at him and I think it hurt his feelings very badly because Jude started crying very hard. Tabitha had to take Jude out of the room to calm down and they didn't come back for about 20 minutes. I'm sorry Jude. I don't know what Madeline said to you. But, I hope you can forgive her and that you can still be friends.


Look at her. Isn't she beautiful? Even at almost 9 months pregnant. She is going to make a great mother of two. Congratulations Johnny and Cristen! We will be praying for a safe delivery (and that it will come very soon :)

Sunday, September 7, 2008

9 Months Old


Our little Madeline is 9 months old! I'm telling you people, each month just gets better and better. She is so much fun! I think she has given up on the walking thing for now. She was taking several steps a day. But, she hasn't been taking as many steps in the past few days. She can crawl very fast. It is pretty cute to watch her. She almost bounces off the floor when she gets going fast. She loves to crawl up and down the steps now. She does it almost all day long. She comes down very well. She knows to back up to the edge of the step and come down backwards. She does the same thing to get off of the couch or bed or anything high up.

She has rediscovered her toes in the car. Every now and then we will hear a sucking sound in the back seat. When we look back, this is what we find.


She has become a great eater. We found that the secret is videos. It doesn't seem like a great habit, but when your child just doesn't eat you will do almost anything to get her to eat. Her favorite videos right now are sign language videos. My aunt gave us these videos called "My Baby Can Talk". We think she has developed a little crush on one of the little boys in the video. She gets a big smile when he comes on now. I also think she has started signing "more" as well, just from watching the video. She has only done it a couple of times.

She will eat pretty much anything now, especially if it is off of our plates. I also gave her some yogurt to see if she is sensitive to dairy anymore and we haven't seen any bad reactions yet. So, we are officially back on dairy. (Andrew and I ordered 2 big pizzas this past weekend! And I had leftover pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner today :) Hey, it's been 8 months people!) She still loves green beans and peas and will eat any baby food. But, she also likes pretzels, crackers, pizza crust, taco meat, chicken, rice, peaches, strawberries, Cheerios, and like I said, anything off of our plates. She is still nursing great. But, she does drink a bottle of formula great as well. We usually give her a bottle if we are traveling in the car somewhere. Obviously it is a little easier than nursing in the car.

She still enjoys her books. She seems to know which ones are for her right now because she won't sit and look at a book if it has a lot of words on the page. She likes her board books.


She has four teeth now. Her top two popped through without us even knowing it. I just heard her grinding her teeth one day. (Which is not a great sound by the way.) She seems to have trouble with them as they are coming down. She keeps a low grade fever for a few days and doesn't nurse well. But, they pop through with no complaints from her.


I think it is pretty cute when she sits on her knees like this.
A few of her favorite things are the refrigerator...
...and the dishwasher.
One of her new tricks is when you say,"hello", she will hold up her phone to her ear.

She is one Daddy's girl! Andrew seems to be the favorite around here these days.

Before Andrew wakes up in the mornings, Madeline will crawl to his door and bang on it. I try to distract her for a while so he can sleep a little longer. Then when she hears the shower going, she has to bang on the bathroom door as well. Then she cries until Andrew comes to get her. As soon as he picks her up in the mornings, she waves bye-bye to me and is permanently attached to her daddy. When he leaves in the mornings, she crawls after him towards the door and then cries when he leaves. Needless to say, she is so excited to see him when he comes home from work. She waves at him in the window and then gets sad when he gets out of sight on his way up the steps to the front door. But, as soon as he walks in, she smiles so big, bounces up and down and crawls as fast as she can to him.



I can understand that mommy can get a little old after spending all day, everyday with her. But, I am crazy about my little girl. She is just so wonderful. And of course, after Andrew leaves for the day, we have a blast together. And actually our evenings are usually filled with fun family games of, "I'm goin' to get you", which brings many wonderful giggles from our sweet little girl. She is such a blessing to our family!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Photography Contest

Madeline has recently become the star of another blog. Naomi and I are members of a Photography Contest on Facebook. Each week there is a particular theme and everyone in the group can submit one photo that represents the theme. For the past two weeks, Naomi and I have been the first place winner! Of course our pictures were of Madeline. What else do we take pictures of?


Below is my winning picture and a link to the photo contest blog for the Sunrise/Sunset theme:


Below is Naomi's winning photo and a link to the photo contest blog for the Summer theme:

http://photography-contest.blogspot.com/2008/09/summer-theme.html I would also like to give a shout out to Nathaniel's third place finish (Unfortunately for Nathaniel, Naomi had the clear advantage because her subject was quite a bit cuter)

We couldn't have won without the most beautiful baby in the world!