And She is off...

Tonight, Madeline decided that she was ready to walk for real. I was sitting on the couch watching TV and eating chips when Maddy decided to start walking across the living room. I first looked at her and went back to the TV. Instantly it hit me that she was walking past me and across the living room. In awe, i watched her take about five steps and then yelled for Amy. Unfortunately, it scared Maddy and she wiped out. Amy ran into the room thinking something bad had happened and there I was half crying and half laughing at the fact that i witnessed my daughter take off right in front of me. After minutes of disbelief from Amy, and numerous jokes that i was making it up, I caught Maddy on film taking off again across the living room. This time however, I baited her with a bag of chips. This may be the coolest moment a Dad could ever ask for.

Always Smiling and Laughing

Dancing Queen

Madeline loves dancing to Mickey Mouse! This is her dancing to the intro song to her favorite episode "The Bee ". Hopefully as Maddy gets older she discovers other shows and songs that she loves because Kevin and I have heard the Mickey Mouse Theme Song so many times now that we could sing it backwards!

Madeline and I spent a nice day with our friends playing and enjoying the park. Madeline received this new toy as gift and loves it. Madeline can stand and hold onto the cart and she also walks behind pushing it all around the house. It plays music and all kinds of funny sounds and Madeline lit up when she played it with at Allison's house today so she gave it to Maddy to bring home!

Shhhh... Sleeping

Maddy and I at Babies R US

Maddy and I spent some time with Winnie the Pooh tonight at Babies R Us. She loves Winnie the Pooh. I think I may surprise her with The Giant Winnie for her Birthday next month. She is getting bigger each day. I cannot believe she is starting to walk and has 8 teeth already. She is growing up right in front of our eyes.

Mommy and Maddy

Madeline is now able to hold a bottle and feed herself. She sits in her highchair at the table and we can eat dinner as a family.

Maddy and I are just hanging around the house this morning. We have a date with our Friend Annette in a little bit to help her shop for some baby stuff. Annette is 4 months pregnant with a little boy and we are so excited for our new little friend to arrive!

Madeline is growing strong and begining to show her personality more and more. She has so much energy and does not like to sit still or be confined in the pack n play for any length of time.

Maddy can stand on her very own to play with toys or watch TV. She can take one or two steps before she gets nervous and just sits right down on her butt.

Maddy jumped into size 3 shoes yesterday and is still in size 12 and 18 month clothing.

Maddy has 2 more top teeth that have broken the surface and one bottom tooth starting to show. This makes a total of 8 teeth! She will be munching on cookies and real food before we know it!

Tired Baby

I handed Maddy her lunch time bottle and next thing I knew she was sound asleep drinking her formula!

48 Weeks Old

Madeline is 48 weeks old today. We put her on the digital scale and she weighs 21.0 pounds which is right where the books say she should be.

From my guess using just a tape measure, she seems to be about 29 inches long. Madeline is very active and loves to explore and get into everything. She is still having trouble sleeping on her own and will only sleep with me. We have tried EVERYTHING to get her to sleep in her crib and nothing seems to work.

Madeline eats a variety of fruits veggies, oatmeal and other yummy finger foods. She can hold the bottle on her own and feeds herself juice and formula. This is great because now if she fusses during a car ride, I can hand her a bottle and she drinks what she needs.

We have been having a great time spending time with our new Friends Lauren, Allison and Annette. This is great for Maddy as she get some other human interaction other then me on a daily basis.

We are looking forward to our upcoming trip to Reno and also Grandma Anita and Grandpa Jeff are coming to visit soon.

Surprise!

Snicker was hiding in the Cabinet and decided to surprise Maddy when she opened it up!

TV

Madeline LOVES Cartoons. She is so funny when her favorite theme songs start playing. She crawls right up to the TV and stands as close as she can and even tries to climb onto the stand. She loves dancing and watching her shows.

Playing Around

The warm weather is forcing us to spend more time indoors this week. Madeline has been enjoying playing with all her toys and the dogs. We start Swimming Lessons in June so we are looking forward to spending some time outdoors.

Phoenix Children's Museum

Madeline and I spent the day with our Friends Allison and her daughter Lauren at the Childrens Museum. The girls had a blast crawling around and exploring the museum.

Maddy got to park her stroller in the Stroller Only parking area and even got a parking violation!

We are so glad to have our new friends to share the summer with!

Madeline and Daddy

Kevin plays Mickey Mouse Club House for Madeline on the Computer when she gets upset. Last night she enjoyed watching it from his lap and they laughed and danced together during the show.

Favorite Book

Madeline loves for me to read books to her every day. Her favorite book is Hawaii's ABC's which she received as a Christmas gift. This book is cloth so Maddy can chew on it and held together by a red ribbon. Madeline loves this book because each page has just one picture on it of an item of the particular letter of the alphabet. I read this book to her everynight before bed and she enjoys looking at it over and over again.

Tonight the 3 best friends all joined forces to try and knock down the baby gate. This gate keeps the pups from getting to the cat food which they love to eat.

Nothing much going on right now with us. Maddy has another runy nose and cough. I truley believe that she catches these cold symptoms every time we go to our music class at the library. I think we will stop going for a while and find something else to do this summer.

All in a Days Work...

These are all pictures from our evening together. First Daddy took Maddy and I to dinner at Chili's and Maddy sat in the highchair like a big girl so we could have a nice dinner. When we got home she had a bath, Which she LOVES, and then she wrestled with her stuffed bunny for a while. Dad then sang to her for a while and she dozed off on his chest. We had a great evening as a family.

Yummy Popsicle

Maddy and I spent the morning shopping with our friend Annette. The heat was making us so hot all we could think about was getting home and cooling off. So as a yummy treat, Madeline had her very first Popsicle and she loved it! She had an Organic Strawberry push pop from Whole Foods. At first, I could tell it was a little sour for her as she has never had any fruit other then the kind in a jar. Once she realized she liked the taste, Madeline grabbed it from my hand and started sucking and licking it all by herself!

It's a Miracle!

Finally...Madeline is enjoying some sleep in her crib! I waited until she had been asleep for about 20 minutes before laying her in the crib for a nap. She might only stay asleep in there for an hour or less but this is the first step towards getting her to sleep in her crib at night.

Maddy has been sleeping in our bed since she was about 5 months old and it is long over due for her to be on her own again. I have tried every method to get her in the ctib... crying it out doesnt work, waiting until she is asleep doesnt work....

Even though there is plenty of room for Kevin, Maddy, Maizey and I to all sleep in our King size bed, I have had countless nights of little to no sleep since she began sleeping with us. Usually I lay awake making sure I dont suffocate her or I wake up every half hour to make sure Kevin hasnt rolled on top of her. Needless to say, I need about 3 straight days of sleep all by myself!

As Maddy gets older, she is becoming more independant and enjoys discovering new things on her own. She will sit and play with toys for a while by herself without me having to entertain her. I think I made a mistske when I introduced her to TV, she is completely obsessed with watching cartoons on the Nick Jr. channel. Luckily there are no commercials on this channel and there are lots of puzzels and learning shows for her to watch. She will point at the the TV and cry if it is off and will perk up and be happy if I turn on the cartoon. I have created a monster!!

Madeline has her tongue sticking out a lot of the time now and she moves it back and forth along her top teeth. She likes to make Indian noises while doing it and it is so cute.

Maddy is becoming more of a diva each day. She has started throwing small temper tampers when a toy gets out of reach or she hears the word "No". Luckily she cries for about 30 seconds then gets distracted and forgets about it.