lotsa fun

maddie and i went to the "lotsa fun room" today and it really was lotsa fun! it was such a neat place. it is a play room run by a company that sterilizes and maintains toys and other equipment. they have "open play" for $3 a person monday through friday from 10 - 3 (in case you wanted to make the trip up). basically it is just a big room that is child-proofed and filled with toys. there is also a big ball pit that maddie really enjoyed. i put her in it when we first got there just to see if she would like it and then later she crawled up the stairs by herself and climbed in! i couldn't believe that she could do that! she has never climbed stairs before, but that is just how much she wanted to play in the balls again. she could even move around in them - crawling and diving forward. here is a little video of some of the interior (i didn't want to be to obvious that i was filming since there were other children there).

and maddie had to problem talking as loudly as she could while she played. as you can see, she kept getting distracted by everything else going on in the room.


changing topics, here is a video of maddie clicking her tongue. try not to get sea-sick watching it, maddie was climbing on me.

i have to run and help daddy put maddie to sleep. love.

rare form

madelyn was in rare form tonight. she was in her highchair eating cheerios while matt and i ate our dinner and she was 'talking' up a storm! i don't know why it didn't occur to me to get some video (probably because i was busy eating dinner), but later i got a little video while she was looking down the basement stairs. of course the very sight of me interrupted her chatting because she has been obsessed with me lately. the part where she is yelling gibberish and waving her hands (sometimes her "more" sign and sometimes clapping - depending on the context) is what she was doing for 15 or 20 minutes during our dinner. it was so funny to watch her try to tell her dad about her day - at least that is what i said that she was doing.

another thing that she does is say "hi, da-da" or "hi, da-di" when matt comes in from the garage after work each night. at first i thought that i was just hearing what i wanted to hear, but she does it every night. sometime she even adds a wave. it makes me so happy to see how much she loves her daddy and how excited she gets when he comes home. of course, she still wants me to hold her if i am within reach/view.

here she is playing in the kitchen. this is how i keep her busy and relatively stationary while i prepare dinner. i added the box tonight because i read that 'nesting' items is more entertaining for her at this age. that is the most difficult part of my day - making dinner. she is so quick and always manages to get just out of sight that it is difficult to get dinner ready on time. this box of goodies will keep her busy for about 10 or 15 minutes.

the other new trick that i have been trying to get on video is that she can 'click' her tongue. she started with a 'tsk' type of noise and then started 'click'ing her tongue at me while on the changing table yesterday. i think it surprised her that she could do it. i click my tongue at her to try and keep her from squirming while i change her diaper but it is cute to see her do it.

catch-up

sorry for not posting in a while, maddie is feeling so much better, but i, on the other hand, have been drained the past few days with a migraine today. not to mention that i am going in a hundred different directions and just haven't had the time to sit down and collect my thoughts. but tonight i am making the time - enjoy the update.

this picture is from today while i was resting on the couch and maddie was climbing all over me. she has been biting her bottom lip so much that she has a chaffed spot about the size of a dime on the right side of her chin and a smaller spot on the other side. it looks painful (she even scratched it today so that it bled a little), but she doesn't even seem to notice it. even when i wipe off her face after meals - nothing. so i guess that is good.

she continues to enjoy playing peek-a-boo. she has gotten better at hiding herself. in this picture she was hiding behind an end table in the living room. she just kept going up and down 'hiding' from me. you can see how much she was enjoying herself. also note the drool on her shirt from her molars coming in (i can feel one on the upper right about to cut through) although this is only half the size that it normally is because i had just changed her shirt.

yesterday her teeth were hurting her and she was being a little clingy as a result. i was trying to get some work done so i would put her back down on the floor. well, maddie wasn't going to have that and she would cry (fake cry) a little and put her forehead on the floor - her first temper tantrum. i say it was her 'first' because if she is as strong willed as her father and i are, there will be many more to come.

i love this picture of her from sunday morning before church because that is how she is most of the time - hair disheveled and a big, excited grin on her face. matt and i get so much joy from watching her enjoy each day.

lastly, maddie is taking more and more steps on her own each day as she grows more confident in her balance. we play the 'free standing' game every day and count "1-2-3-ta-da!" and then she will occasionally take a few steps towards us from her 'free stand'. maddie enjoys this game as much as we do (okay we probably get a little more excited about it than she does). its so cute because she whisper 'talks' the entire time and gets ready to balance with each count. i am hoping to get some video soon, but it is still too new to distract her right now.

okay. i have got to rest up. more later. love.

we've got a climber!

so matt was playing with maddie in her room while i was prepping some food for maddie in the kitchen. when i heard matt call out "michelle come here. you've got to see this!" i knew that i should grab the camera on my way (i keep it on the kitchen counter for easy access). here is what i found...

she kept going up and down, up and down so i am sure that we are going to see this again. she has been lifting her right leg up to climb a lot lately, but hadn't figured out how to actually go 'up'. oh boy!

maddie really loves dogs - as i have mentioned before - and here she is 'talking' to the dogs outside. please notice that she is in just a diaper and our deck is covered in snow...



madelyn has added "ba", "bye" and "va" to her vocal repertoire yesterday. she also waves one hand and says "hi" when she wants you to look at her.

yesterday we didn't quite have the adventure that i was hoping for, but we did get out of the house. our big outing - the local library! actually, it was a really nice library and we got several books and music cds for madelyn. all in all, it was a very successful outing that i think we will repeat in the future.

today was warm (30) and sunny so we went to a new(er) outdoor shopping center on the north side of the city. it is funny to think of 30 as 'warm', but really it feels warm. matt and i didn't wear coats, hats, or gloves. and people working in the stores were commenting that it was much busier today because of the warmer weather. it was so nice to spend the day outside. we even went for a walk around the neighborhood after dinner. but it started to get cold again as soon as the sun started setting so we high-tailed it home. we have a big outing planned for next saturday, but you will have to wait and see what we do (pray the weather cooperates!).

tahini tongue

i am getting tired of winter. really tired. so this afternoon maddie wore a summer dress. we need to work on 'pretending' right? dresses, however, are the worst type of clothing for crawlers. to keep maddie movin' i tucked her dress into the front of her bloomers.

tomorrow we are definitely getting out of this house. maddie and i both need some fresh air (okay, so more than likely we will not really get any fresh air, but we can get some different air). now i just have to figure out where we are going... i am going to try and go somewhere besides the mall.

for her afternoon snack i decided to just give her the bowl to hold and eat her fruit and cheese right out of it. she did a lot better than i thought that she would. as you can see she was able to hold the bowl and take the fruit out.

she has rediscovered her tongue this week, but has moved beyond blowing razz sounds. now she licks her bottom lip, sticks it in and out kind of like a lizard but not as quickly (if that makes any sense). my camera battery died so i couldn't get a video today so hopefully she will still be amused by her tongue tomorrow and i can try to show you what i mean. it makes it more difficult to feed her at meals because after the first few bites she just wants to stick her tongue out all the way and that makes getting the spoon in a lot more challenging.

our new food was not kiwi (i actually forgot while preparing her lunch quickly between meetings), but tahini. for those of you not in the know, tahini it is a nut butter made from sesame seeds. i must say that it is not something that i would ever enjoy eating (to put it nicely). madelyn ate it with her yogurt with only one face with the first bite.

her balance improves more and more each day. and she is starting to realize it. she has figured out that if she lets go she won't fall any more, but that she can sit herself down at her own control.

love.

one more video

grandma requested more video, so here is one more. madelyn has a doll with eyelashes that she likes and with all things she likes she tries to eat it. enjoy! love.

busy girl

madelyn had a busy day today! so busy that she ate and slept more than she has in a very long time. she slept for 10 hours last night, then took a 1-1/2 hour nap this morning and a 3 hour nap this afternoon! i was able to get so much work done today. here is maddie pursuing the library in my office - i told you that she loves books as much as i do.

after she woke up from her morning nap we went down to see the dogs. madelyn gets really excited when she sees our dogs on the deck or sees pictures of dogs in her books but has not shown much interest in seeing our dogs up close and personal - until today. she was kicking her feet excitedly on the way down and when she saw the dogs she said "hi" and started giggling. then she kept trying to pet them and give them 'kisses'. the 'kisses' consisted of her opening her mouth (the way she kisses) and letting the dogs lick her drool and boogers. and then when we were going back upstairs she kept kicking excitedly and looking over my shoulders at her dogs. i can't wait until she can hold her own with them.

she said na-na (sounds like "none-none") for the first time and ma-ma more than da-da today - yea! and best yet, you can see the video proof below.

and then after her afternoon nap she was in the crib 'talking' happily with her teddy bear (a new pastime). when i came in she said "hi" and waved one hand/arm at me! and just in case i didn't hear and see her, she did it again when i got over to the crib. things are starting to get really fun! i love that we are starting to see her personality as she gets more and more expressive.

we also have two new fun games. the first i call "free standing". basically i hold her upright in front of me and say "ta-da" as i let go and she stands in a surfing pose (arms out, bent knees) before sitting down and crawling to me to do it again. today i added a "1-2-3" countdown to the "ta-da" and i can see her getting excited and 'ready' for me to let go by assuming her surfing pose. the second game is "chase". she crawls away laughing/squealing and then sits up to look back and make sure that you are chasing her before squealing and taking off again. the longer this goes the more erratic her crawling becomes and the harder she laughs. i think that i have just as much fun as she does.

now for a story from matt. last night i went out for a much needed haircut and matt stayed with maddie. he said that she was picking up one of her cars and holding it out to him. he would take it from her and put it down. then she would pick it up again and hold it out for him. its nice to see that she is transitioning from a bully to a nice sharer!

madelyn is also becoming a climber. today she 'climbed' up on her mirror (yes, its flat) to get a better look out the window in my office. she moved it over to the window and then stood on it. she even got up on her tippy-toes at one point. and then she sat down at her 'desk' to do some work of her own.

sorry for the long post tonight. i just get all excited about her little accomplishments and how quickly she is growing up. i can't help but share! love.

mouth talk

today's post is about madelyn's mouth - what it does and what goes in it lately. as you may have guessed everything goes in her mouth! today she even started biting her own arm at breakfast. i didn't realize that she was actually biting herself until i noticed the red teeth marks later in the day. i thought she was just 'mouthing' or sucking on her wrist because it had a little porridge. (i checked - this is perfectly normal in a teething baby.) she is just trying to get some relief for the pain of her molars coming in.

one of the other ways she has been finding relief is by grinding her teeth. it gives me the heebie-jeebies! but i try not to react too much. this is her teeth grinding face pictured here. at least she doesn't do it in her sleep. apparently that is when it becomes worrisome otherwise it is normal.

today i added kelp powder to her morning porridge and she ate the whole thing right up. i didn't try any myself, but maybe later in the week i will give it a try. i also made her a new finger food for her afternoon snack - mozzarella cheese. in addition to the cheese she had mango and cantaloupe pieces. she really loves feeding herself. she gets so excited and seems to enjoy the 'experience' more. and all the finger foods make her want to hold the spoon more without my help. i don't mind the extra time or the mess, but the really runny purees don't always make it to her mouth.

the next new food will be kiwi. (did you know that you can freeze kiwi, cantaloupe and other vitamin c fruits submerged in orange juice? the juice keeps the fruit from loosing its vitamin c. crazy, right? supposedly the texture is a little mushier when you defrost it but it keeps in the freezer for 10 months. more than you ever wanted to know - sorry - i was excited.)

the closing maddie story - she thinks "eskimo kisses" are funny. if you say "eskimo kisses" and rub noses with her she will hold still and giggle. so sweet. love.

post #100

i can't believe that i have already posted 100 times and maddie isn't even 8 months yet! i think that i have enjoyed writing as much as you all have told me that you like reading it (okay, so i probably like writing more than you like reading). it really is nice to be able to look back and see when she hit each milestone of her young life. the question is - will i reach #200 before she turns one?

today there was some serious ice here so we stayed around the house. madelyn did her best to help with chores too. here she is helping me with my work and then helping dad with the laundry.

i thought that "dog" was going to be her next word, but it was "no". i only tell her "no" when she gets into the fireplace logs and when she tries to get into all the cords under my desk (the allure of the power switch light is too much for her) so i was sort of surprised that "no" is what her fourth word would be. there are lots of other words that she hears more often, but this is the one with impact. (for review madelyn can say "da-da"/"da-di", "ma-ma", "hi", and now "no").

we bought her a few more books on saturday. she loves dogs and babies in her books. whenever she sees one she gets excited and starts 'talking' to them and patting the page. its so cute how much she enjoys being read too. and i enjoy her excitement about what each page is going to bring.

one last story from the weekend. we babysat two little boys on saturday night (3 years and 11 months). madelyn loves playing with other kids and especially their toys. she liked playing 'chase' with dylan (11 months). she would start laughing and crawl away but would then stop and turn around to make sure that he was 'chasing' her before taking off crawling again. as you can imagine, their 'chasing' didn't last very long before one or both of them would get distracted by something else. but it was still really cute and they did it more than once. madelyn was in rare form and didn't go to bed until 9:40pm! she was so hyper! i was afraid that she was going to wake up the boys who were already sleeping with her squeals of delight.

love.

maddie attacks

just a quick video of maddie coming to get me.

peek-a-cup

i sort of noticed this yesterday, but today i got a little of it on video. madelyn likes to play peek-a-boo with her cup. she holds it up in front of her eyes and then peeks around and laughs at me. she also does this with other things she can hold in front of her eyes, but the cup makes me laugh. here is the video i was able to get today.



she has also renewed her interest in holding the spoon during meals. she has gotten a lot better about getting the food into her mouth (despite how the pictures look). the mess comes from the little bit left on the spoon after each bite that she tries to pick off with her fingers. then she uses that messy hand to pull the bow out of her hair and creates a food based styling product for her hair.

today's new food was broccoli. she liked the taste fine, but once again the texture wasn't her favorite. i had to mix it in with her porridge to get her to eat it up (that is how i know that the taste was okay). after that i am going to introduce powdered kelp. weird - i know. it is actually supposed to be good for protecting against lead poisoning (something in the kelp keeps the body from absorbing lead). who knew? i'll let you know how it goes.

madelyn is definitely starting to feel better. today she was trying to figure out how to 'sit' on the bench of her activity table. she is able to control her falls well enough that they are starting to be funny to her. here she is after a 'fun fall'.

happy valentine's day! love.

picking up the crumbs

yes, my sweet angel girl has an ear infection. we picked up her antibiotics this morning and after a very long afternoon nap she seems like a new girl. luckily, it is only in her right ear so hopefully she can get over this quickly.

the title of this post is in reference to maddie's newest eating habit - picking up the "crumbs". if something falls/drips off the spoon she can't concentrate on anything but trying to pick it up and put it into her mouth. if it is a pureed food she will wipe it with her hand and suck it off her fingers. she just started doing this in the last week and its really cute how determined she is to get it into her mouth. eventually i have to just wipe off her tray so that she will keep eating.

so no pictures today. love.

its been a long day...

so the baby who rarely cries spent the bulk of the day crying and screaming inconsolably. she slept all night (8am-6pm) and was fine until just after breakfast. she started to get fussy and when i picked her up she started sucking her thumb - a classic "i'm sleepy" sign for maddie. so i put her down and she slept for around an hour and a half. then the real fun began. she screamed/cried for about 6 hours with a few brakes to suck her thumb and take half hour naps. she just wanted me to hold her and stand. she still doesn't have a fever and her congestion is almost gone so i thought that her molars were cutting.

after about 4 hours i called the doctor's office to see what they thought and they think that it might be her ears! why didn't i think of that?! they said that he symptoms didn't sound serious enough to risk driving (it snowed all day and the roads were really icy and a mess in general) so we are going in tomorrow morning.

the good news is that i gave her another dose of tylenol at 6pm and that seems to have relieved whatever pain she was experiencing because she is all over the place and laughing again. it figures that she would be all smiles for when daddy gets home... i am just hoping that this means she will sleep tonight. i will update you all on her condition in the morning. love.

(the pictures are from her photo shoot with her cousin annabell last week.)

success!

madelyn finally figured out how to climb over the center support under the kitchen table. here is a photo series documenting her achievement.

yes, she is crying in the last shot. the landing was a little harder than she had intended. but at least she didn't get stuck this time.

i am starting to see little signs of separation anxiety from madelyn. she has been a little clingy over the past month and shows a slight preference to me but today she cried when i would leave the room and stopped when i came back. she didn't do it once matt got home so that was nice. hopefully this phase won't last very long - it makes working a lot more challenging because i can't hold her all day (or rather let her hold on to me).

she also had the last of her front teeth cut through today. so now we wait on the molars.

i'm off to volleyball! love.

hi, doggie!

madelyn is extremely interested in our dogs now. she crawls over to the glass sliding doors to look for them out on the deck. and when they come up she laughs at and talks to them. i think "dog" or "doggie" might be her next word. she has come pretty close to saying it while looking at her books with dogs in them. she is just missing this vowels by saying "dg". you can see her trying to give maggie a 'kiss' in the picture while lady waits her turn.

matt went out last night to brave the cold because we were worried that maddie wouldn't be able to breathe with her congestion. so matt came home with a bag of supplies from walgreens and we woke her up. after plugging in a vapor fan in her room, putting saline drops in her nose and sucking them out again, and rubbing baby vicks on her chest we were all breathing easier.

and we all had a great night's sleep! due to concerns about frostbite (it was colder than -30) and maddie's sniffles we stayed home from church this morning. i hate missing church but it really was in madelyn's best interest. she slept until 8:30am!

here is a video of a well rested girl showing how fast she is getting at crawling.



did i mention before that she gives "kisses" now? she mainly gives them to matt (not that i am jealous or anything). they are the big, wet, open mouthed, "i'm going to eat your face" variety, but she gives them on request. very sweet. well, that's all for now. love.

miller time

yesterday we took the girls for a highly appropriate tour of the miller brewery. actually it was a very nice tour and madelyn laughed practically the entire time! "miller valley" is actually pretty with some great architecture and it is perpetually "miller time". here is a picture of maddie enjoying her free coaster at the end of the tour while the grown-ups enjoyed tasting the "champagne of beers".

she has finally come around to embracing the cold wind and seems to be invigorated by it. she used to gasp over and over again, but now she squeals, laughs and wiggles with delight.

but the day didn't start there, earlier that morning madelyn continued her work on improving her climbing skills (or as i call it "up-and-over") and got stuck under the kitchen table. here is a front and rear view for your enjoyment.













today's time with uncle brad, aunt abby, and cousin annabell was pretty brief but we took a few more pictures of the girls together before we left for breakfast on their way to the airport. here they are playing this morning at the house in matching outfits from grandma.

and then here they are with the deep snow while we were waiting for our turn to be seated at the restaurant. (don't worry - we were just outside for the picture. afterwards we went back inside.) we sat them on their changing pads so that they wouldn't cry from the cold on their bottoms. like i mentioned earlier, maddie loves the cold!

we officially had 16 inches of snow on wednesday and there are probably 20 or so behind them in the picture. the cold air is coming back tonight and with wind chill they are saying it will be -28 or 30 tomorrow. burrr!

i love to eat

madelyn loves her food. she loves it so much that she wants to roll in it. but since she can only get enough to cover her head that will have to do.

she really enjoyed her prunes at dinner tonight (as you can clearly see). she also really liked her asparagus at breakfast this morning. and, yes, it did make for some smelly diapers.

the girls played in my office while i worked this morning so that brad and abby could get a little extra sleep. at one point both girls were crying because maddie didn't like that i was blocking her from getting annabell's pacifier and annabell didn't like that maddie was trying to get it. how do you tell a 7 month old to "be nice"? we have almost mastered the meaning of "gentle", but "nice" is a much more difficult concept.

this afternoon we took the girls to jcp for pictures together. they were really cute but it is definitely challenging to get them both to look cute at the same time. when i get the email proofs i will post them so that you can judge for yourself.

the lady taking the pictures thought that madelyn was one. she was really surprised to hear that she was 7-1/2 months! especially since she has a 9 month old at home. she is such a big girl!

that's all i have for tonight. love.

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

we got over 12 inches of snow today. it is still coming down so i will have to tell you the official total tomorrow. the malls were closed for the first time in over 20 years. and every thing else closed between 1 and 2 pm. so we stayed in all day. brad was nice enough to keep the driveway clear for matt today. then he and abby went and played in snow for a while and sledded down the side yard. tomorrow we are going to let the girls outside to 'play' in the snow too.

madelyn was extra giggly after her afternoon nap, but needed a little encouragement for me to catch it on film.



then the girls spent the afternoon playing together. the picture is of them playing in maddie's room with her noah's ark animals. annabell is really eager to keep up with madelyn. she is getting really good at standing up and getting up on all fours. she even said "da-da" for the first time tonight! brad (and abby) were really excited!

here is an activity that had them both in hysterics tonight. brad is hanging annabell upside down and raising her up and down while madelyn watches with excitement. very cute.



maddie has her first runny nose ever. hopefully it will be better tomorrow instead of worse. she doesn't have a fever so i think i am still going to have the playgroup over, but we'll see what the morning brings... love.

super-duper tuesday

we aren't one of the "super tuesday" states, but we still had a super-duper tuesday of our own! the girls are really enjoying each others company and annabell is reaching out to get maddie more and more each day. today she even had maddie by a fistfull of hair and knocked her in the head with a rattle she was playing with, but only the rattle knock made her cry.

maddie also cried when she pulled both stools down on top of her at the same time. i told her that she was so strong to be able to pull both stools down at the same time and she went with it. she even smiled and laughed with me. since she never let go of either stool i went to get my camera for a picture and that's when she started crying again. i am not just a mean mom who takes pictures of her daughter crying.

here is some video of the girls enjoying each other. (just for the record, maddie is not trying to choke annabell homer simpson style.)

annabell has been enjoying maddie's lion walking toy too. both girls enjoy pushing his nose to make it light up and play a song. maddie uses her mouth (like she is giving him a kiss on the nose) and annabell swings her arms at it. the picture is annabell after brad set her to sit on it. mainly the girls enjoy sitting next to it as you will see in the next video.



both of the girls have a little bit of congestion so it will be interesting to see how the rest of the week goes. we are supposed to get 10 - 20 inches of snow in the next 12-24 hours so there is talk of brad and abby going sledding tomorrow at one of the local hills. we will probably just take the girls out in our front yard on one of the sleds for some photos instead of sending them down the hill.

i just spent two hours preparing hard boiled eggs (just the yolks for maddie) and asparagus (our next new food) and am totally pooped from my long day. until tomorrow. love.

out and about

today was a pretty busy day. i worked in the morning and then we met matt for lunch at the friday's at miller park so that brad and abby could see the stadium. then we went to the milwaukee public museum to see the "body worlds" exhibit which was incredible! i highly recommend you see it if you ever get the chance. after that it was sushi and frozen custard for dessert. everyone is upstairs enjoying their sugar high and full bellies while i am sitting here in the basement blogging. i just got back from volleyball so my sugar high is gone now. but enough about us.

maddie taught annabell how to untie her shoes this morning while we were getting them ready to go. they are becoming quick friends and teaching each other all sorts of new tricks.

then maddie was being chatty in the car on the way to the museum. her favorite word is by far "da-da" or "da-di". she did sneak in a "ma-ma" or "mom" today and a "bay-bi" yesterday (she said that while looking at her cousin annabell - brad was actually the one to point out that she said it so it isn't just me).

the girls were so funny at the sushi restaurant talking to each other while eating their dinners (veggies, not sushi). once they were finished eating we put their highchairs facing each other so that they could 'talk'. one of the ladies at another table was commenting on how cute they were talking to each other.

i think that both girls are exhausted from their day of fun! they both had really great days and i was really impressed about how well they did at the museum. i didn't realize that it was a silent and whisper type of exhibit - oops. the girls really did great and both fell asleep while being strolled around. the rest of the museum is very child friendly and we even got to go through an impressive butterfly garden. maddie didn't know quite what to make of all these bugs flying around. (there aren't a lot of bugs in wisconsin - one of my favorite things about living here!)

can't wait to see what adventures will come tomorrow! love.