Ten Months

Well, we're in the double digits!  Mady is ten months old now.  I will go back and look at her pictures when she was born and when she was just a month or two old and I miss those days when she was so tiny but I do have to say that I am so enjoying her at this age.  She is so much fun and learning so much everyday.

Right now, she does not stop for one second.  When she is up, she is on the move the entire time.  She goes from one toy to the next.  So much to do, so much to see, and so little time!  She can high-five, and when you ask her how big she is she will raise her arms high up in the air.  She has become a lot more interested in her books lately too.  She has a few favorites and will sit and listen to you read them and she'll turn the pages for you.   One of the books she likes says "Reach for the sky" and she will raise her arms up.  Then it says "Now reach for your toes" and she will put her arms down and touch her toes.  It is so cute!  She's had a few times now that she's stood on her own.  It's just for a few seconds but it's becoming more frequent.  She'll be standing up against her activity table, or the coffee table, and then let go to use her arms and she stands there on her own for a little while.  She's getting a lot better at walking with her dino walker too.  Only on the carpet though, because it still rolls away from her on the tile and wood flooring.

She is still a great eater but she is not eating her purees as much as she use to.  She would much rather have her finger foods so I think we'll be moving to just table foods soon.  Her favorite food is strawberries.  She gets so excited when you put them on her tray.  If we have strawberries on her tray with other foods she will pick the strawberries first to eat and they will be gone quick!

Her routine is still pretty much the same as its been for months.  She wakes around 7-7:30 and has her morning nap around 10.  Her morning nap has gotten shorter lately to where she will wake up around 11:00.  Her afternoon nap is usually longer from around 2:30 to 4 or 4:30. and then down for the night around 7:45.

She is such a joy and we are enjoying every minute!

Hi Lucy!

Hanging out on the porch

Her other favorite thing to do

Love her

My new helper

Puppy Love

In the last few weeks, Mady has become very attached to this puppy toy.  Anytime you ask her "Where's your puppy" she knows exactly who he is and goes right over to him.  She loves all over him, giving him slobbery kisses and big hugs.  We have a ottoman in our living room that opens up and we keep all of her toys in there.  When she pulls up on it to see her toys (and start pulling them all out) she lights up with a big smile when she sees her puppy in there.  It's really cute to see her love for this toy.  He's such a lucky puppy!

Nine Months

Our little girl is now nine months old and this past Monday we visited the doctor and got Mady's stats:

Weight: 17.7 lbs (35th percentile)
Height: 26.5 inches (15th percentile)
Head 16.75 inches (15th percentile)

She is still looking to be a short little girl like her mommy.  Her weight has gone down to the 35th percentile but the doctor says that's normal to slim out some.  It also makes her more in proportion with her height.  We also got some great news related to her reflux.  The doctor thinks we can stop giving her prevacid once we finish this last refill.  We won't know if she'll be fine without the medicine until a couple of weeks after since it stays in her system for a while.  Fingers crossed, she'll be ok.

No more army crawl for Mady.  She is a professional crawler now and my job has gotten a lot busier!  She is fast and very strong willed.  If she wants to get to something (even something she shouldn't) she will.  Right now I am battling with her to not go after Lucy's food.  Lucy has always been a grazer and we've always left her food out all day and she eats whenever she wants.  Well, Mady has now discovered this bowl of amazing little pieces of what look like finger foods.  She wants to eat them so bad!

She pulls up on everything and cruises along anything!  She recognizes a lot of words now too, mainly related to her toys.  She knows puppy, teapot, bumblebee, and baby doll.  Anytime you ask her where these toys are she will go and get them.  She still waves hi and bye, she can reach for the sky (which is the cutest thing), and high five. When you ask her what the cow does she says "Boooo".  She can't quite do her M's so instead she says Boo.  Nick said we should ask her what the ghost does instead, haha.  The one thing she's learned that just melts my heart every time she does it is how to kiss.  When you ask her for a kiss she opens her mouth up and plops it against your face.  I love that she can do this.  It is the sweetest thing.

As for her eating, she will eat anything.  She is eating three meals a day and we are giving her a lot more finger foods now too.  She loves everything which makes life a lot easier. 

No, I'm not trying to get to Lucy's food Mommy

She loves her dino (Thanks Aunt Dee)

I can start putting bows in her hair without a headband

Her first snow!  She didn't really seem to care, haha

All done!

On we go to ten months and one year is creeping up way too quickly for me.  Looks like I need to start planning her one year birthday!

Eight (and a half) months

I'm a bit late on the eight month update. Life has just been keeping us busy. Last week I started teaching again for the spring semester. As much as I LOVE being home with Mady I do really enjoy being able to teach. I think I have a great group this year and am really excited.

One of my best friends, Mady and I also took a trip this past weekend to San Antonio to visit our other best friend. It was Mady's first girls trip and she had a great time! Our other big news is we got a new car this week. After a couple of trips out of town we realized our car just wasn't big enough so we traded it in for a GMC Acadia and I love it! I never thought I'd be able to drive a big car like that but it drives surprisingly well.

Lunch by the riverwalk

As for our little girl, she is a mover and a shaker these days. She can army crawl like a pro and gets anywhere she needs to go. She gets up on her knees a lot more now and crawls on them for a little while and then gives up and goes back to her army crawl. She also is pulling up a lot more. On the coffee table, bookshelf, toys, crib. She has such a look of accomplishment once she pulls up to standing. Mady can also wave, shake, kiss, drum, dance, and somewhat clap. Clap to her means hit her hands against her legs. My favorite has to be her dancing. When she hears music she starts bouncing up and down. It's so cute:)

Her favorite word these days is dada. She says it all the time and as much as I try to get her to say mama, dada is all that comes out. Her daddy loves it of course! They say dada is a lot easier for them to say so I'm giving her a pass...for now ;)

She's still a great eater and loves everything. She eats three meals a day and soon I'll start giving her little finger foods. As for sleeping we are doing great in that area too. She normally has two naps a day around an hour and a half and sleeps about twelve hours at night. 

A couple of weeks ago Mady's first tooth started cutting through.  Luckily, it didn't seem to affect her too much.  She still slept normally, and we didn't have any fever.  The reason I had a feeling she might be was because of all the drool coming from her mouth.  When I went to feel her gums, sure enough it was the bottom one popping up.  The second tooth on the bottom started coming up this past weekend so she now has two teeth!  I'm so glad that it hasn't been too hard on her because I've heard such sad stories of other babies while teething.

No doctor appointment this month, but there will be one next month when she turns nine months!  I can't believe that.  Where does the time go?!

Holidays 2011

Holidays are now over and we had a great time celebrating with all of our family.  We spent actual Christmas day here because Nick had to work but we had a great time.  Mady was able to open her presents and spend the day at home playing with her new toys.  We got her a dino ball popper toy and an outfit.  Santa brought her a push walker that she can also ride on which she loves, a piano toy, some new books, and a few little stocking stuffers. 

The day after Christmas we headed down to Port Arthur for about a week but first we had a pit stop in The Woodlands to celebrate Christmas with Nick's side of the family.  The week went by so fast and we had such a great time with everyone. Sometimes I wish we lived closer so we could see each other more!

Last year was the best year of my life because of Mady's arrival and it will be hard to top but I cannot wait to see what this year has in store for us!

Here are just a few of the many pictures we took:

She liked the paper more than the gifts

Our nephew Beau.  Love this game!

Isn't our niece Claire so cute?!

Love this picture!  Looks like our nephew Trevor liked his dinosaur!

Seven Months!

I'm a bit late this month but what else is new?! With the school semester coming to an end and the holidays I've been a busy girl. Mady turned seven months on the 12th and I cannot believe how much has changed from a month ago. She is our little mover and shaker now. She has the army crawl down. In the past couple of days she has gotten up a lot more on her knees but she can't quite crawl on them yet. It may not be too much longer now. She also loves to stand up and hold on to the coffee table and is getting better at pulling up. The other day we were in her room playing before bath time and she was playing by her bookcase with her books. I went to the closet to take some clothes out that didn't fit her anymore and when I turned around she was standing up holding on to the bookcase! Can't leave her unwatched in there anymore!


She is still a happy little girl and every time we go out it never fails she smiles at everyone and I always hear the comment "what a happy baby!" She is also very proud of herself lately for figuring out how to click her tongue and will do it over and over again with a huge smile that shows she is so proud of herself for the big accomplishment. Just today she waved back at us which is something I had been working on with her for a while and it felt so awesome to see her do it! I swear she said "hi" too which is what I say when I wave at her, haha. She can also splash in the water during bathtime when I say splash and shake her rattle when I say shake.


As for her solids she is on three meals a day and loves everything. I can't really tell what her favorite food is because she eats it all!

Christmas is just a few days away and we are so happy to be spending it with our baby girl. We are going to spend Christmas day here at home and then we'll head down to Port Arthur the next day to celebrate the holiday with our families. Wish everyone a great holiday and hope you are feeling as blessed as we are this Christmas season.

She's not Santa's biggest fan

Can we go home now?  (After our visit to see Santa)

Aren't they cute?!

She still loves her bath time

Favorite Time of Year

Thanksgiving has passed and we had so much to be thankful for this year.  Nick had to work so my parents came up here and spent it with us and we had a great time.  Now we are in my favorite time of year and I am so excited to have Mady this year to spend it with.  I love everything about Christmas.  The lights, decorations, spending time with friends and family, and reflecting on the whole reason for the season.  This year we are so blessed to have our little girl with us.   I'm a bit behind with her six month stats.  She had her doctor appointment over a week ago.  Better late than never:

Weight: 16 lbs  (50th percentile)
Height: 24.5 inches  (7th percentile, yes she is our short little girl)
Head size: 16.5 cm (20th percentile)

In the last couple of weeks she's really started to get into a great schedule.  I heard it would just happen around six months and thankfully it did.  She usually has two naps during the day and is down around 7:45 at night and sleeps until around 7:30 in the morning.  She is doing really well with her solids now too.  She eats solids twice a day and nurses four times.  Once in the morning which is usually some oatmeal and fruit and then a vegetable for dinner.  We'll move up to three meals soon when it looks like she's ready.  She loves to eat her solids and gets so excited when she sees us coming with the bowl and starts banging her hand against the table!

She's really changed since the last six month post.  She now will lunge forward on all fours and rock back and forth but not moving anywhere quite yet.  She also does a type of army crawl and though she doesn't get very far she is able to get to a toy that she wants that is fairly close.  She gets so frustrated when she can't get there.  She also loves to stand up and hold on to our coffee table.  She would be happy doing that all day and gets mad when I pull her away.  She's getting better and better at pulling up on the table. 

She also has started reaching for us and I have to say it melts my heart everytime she does it.  She especially does it when she's getting tired.  She is such a sweetheart and so much fun.  She loves to be tickled (especially by her daddy) and we can get some really good laughs out of her.  Another one of her favorite past times is sucking on her toes.  Wait until I use this against her when she grows up, haha.  Well, just a couple of more weeks and I'll be writing her seven month post.  Wow....

And for the best part...

So silly!

She looks like she's concentrating hard

Happy Thanksgiving!

First Christmas Tree

Putting her ornament on the tree