Over the last 3 days, Madison has learned how to clap, dance, high & low five, and maybe even said her first word (kitty)!! I feel an intense surge of pride every time she does something new... no matter how small. I teared up when she clapped for the first time! How crazy is that??
Clapping: Saw her first real clapping when she was hanging out on our hotel room bed shortly after we arrived! She was so happy and showed it. I got a good video of it today.
Dancing: We've been trying to teach her the other stuff she learned recently, but the dancing she came up with all on her own! I dance with her a lot around the house, but didn't think about her starting to mimic me. She sorta does it here, but I need to work on getting a better video.
Kitty?: Jason was still at work and I was doing Madison's bedtime routine with her. I was reading "Goodnight Moon" (and hadn't even gotten to the kittens part, yet) when Amber (our girl kitty) walked in. M looked up at her and said, "kiiey!" I'm not 100% sure, but it seemed like much more than a coincidence since she usually doesn't babble any K sounds. I was floored. :)
Saturday, September 26, 2009
4th Anniversary
Jase and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary on September 24th. We took a quick trip down to our favorite spot, Monterey, from Thursday to Friday.
We decided we weren't quite ready to leave Madison with someone else overnight, so she came along, too! On Thursday she opted not to nap and make things difficult, so we went ahead and left in the late morning anyway and she fell right to sleep while we cruised down 17 toward Santa Cruz. We were craving some Zachary's for brunch and had to indulge. Madison was a huge hit. She kept flirting and talking to the other tables of people who engaged her. This one table of 4 kept waving and smiling at her and of course our little Princess was eatin' it up.
After a Junior Mike's Mess and Basic Breakfast w/ Steak, we took our stuffed selves outside for a walk around downtown. I swear people watching in Santa Cruz is the best. Talk about entertainment!
Next stop: The Clement Hotel in Monterey. Mads took her second nap on the scenic drive down Highway 1 and was in a great mood by the time we reached our destination.
The staff was wonderful and the (brand new) hotel was beautiful. And we got an AWESOME deal through Priceline's bidding system! I definitely recommend this hotel to anyone who's interested in an upscale/modern hotel in the middle of Cannery Row (it's next door to the aquarium!)
Maddie was in a good mood when we arrived!
Then it was playtime/phototime before we headed out:
These were taken right outside of our room. It opened onto the big events balcony.
Shortly after, we went next door to the aquarium to watch the 4:00 kelp forest exhibit feeding. A scuba diver friend of ours, Kim, is also a Presbyterian minister and married us exactly 4 years prior! He volunteers every other Thursday as the diver in the show and the date just happened to work out! It was fun watching him do the show and he even mentioned Jason & I in the middle of it!
It was a little funny having Madison there with no babysitter because as soon as 5:45 came around, at least one of us had to be back in the hotel for the rest of the night. So we got Madison all ready and put her down to sleep. She was out quickly and I went down to the Sea Harvest Fish Market for some food to-go and to pick up a bottle of wine from A Taste of Monterey and we had a romantic dinner in. Madison slept AWESOME and we had a really good dinner.
On Friday, we packed up our stuff...
...and enjoyed the cool day. Beach, sea lions, yummy food, and another stop at the aquarium.
Oh and while Madison was taking her first nap in the morning, there was a wedding going on right outside our room! It was beautiful and totally appropriate for our anniversary. :)
One more big laugh before heading out.
There were LOTS of baby sea lions on Coast Guard Pier.
And lots of Sea Nettles.
And even an otter with a face full of kelp.
One of the best parts of the whole trip is that while it was BURNING hot in San Jose, it was COLD in Monterey and we were LOVING it. There were clouds and fog and wind chills! Perfection. :) Such a great mini-vacation. I can't wait for next year.
We decided we weren't quite ready to leave Madison with someone else overnight, so she came along, too! On Thursday she opted not to nap and make things difficult, so we went ahead and left in the late morning anyway and she fell right to sleep while we cruised down 17 toward Santa Cruz. We were craving some Zachary's for brunch and had to indulge. Madison was a huge hit. She kept flirting and talking to the other tables of people who engaged her. This one table of 4 kept waving and smiling at her and of course our little Princess was eatin' it up.
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After a Junior Mike's Mess and Basic Breakfast w/ Steak, we took our stuffed selves outside for a walk around downtown. I swear people watching in Santa Cruz is the best. Talk about entertainment!
Next stop: The Clement Hotel in Monterey. Mads took her second nap on the scenic drive down Highway 1 and was in a great mood by the time we reached our destination.
The staff was wonderful and the (brand new) hotel was beautiful. And we got an AWESOME deal through Priceline's bidding system! I definitely recommend this hotel to anyone who's interested in an upscale/modern hotel in the middle of Cannery Row (it's next door to the aquarium!)
Maddie was in a good mood when we arrived!
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| From 2009 - 09 - September |
Then it was playtime/phototime before we headed out:
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| From 2009 - 09 - September |
These were taken right outside of our room. It opened onto the big events balcony.
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Shortly after, we went next door to the aquarium to watch the 4:00 kelp forest exhibit feeding. A scuba diver friend of ours, Kim, is also a Presbyterian minister and married us exactly 4 years prior! He volunteers every other Thursday as the diver in the show and the date just happened to work out! It was fun watching him do the show and he even mentioned Jason & I in the middle of it!
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| From 2009 - 09 - September |
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| From 2009 - 09 - September |
It was a little funny having Madison there with no babysitter because as soon as 5:45 came around, at least one of us had to be back in the hotel for the rest of the night. So we got Madison all ready and put her down to sleep. She was out quickly and I went down to the Sea Harvest Fish Market for some food to-go and to pick up a bottle of wine from A Taste of Monterey and we had a romantic dinner in. Madison slept AWESOME and we had a really good dinner.
On Friday, we packed up our stuff...
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| From 2009 - 09 - September |
...and enjoyed the cool day. Beach, sea lions, yummy food, and another stop at the aquarium.
Oh and while Madison was taking her first nap in the morning, there was a wedding going on right outside our room! It was beautiful and totally appropriate for our anniversary. :)
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| From 2009 - 09 - September |
One more big laugh before heading out.
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| From 2009 - 09 - September |
There were LOTS of baby sea lions on Coast Guard Pier.
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And lots of Sea Nettles.
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And even an otter with a face full of kelp.
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One of the best parts of the whole trip is that while it was BURNING hot in San Jose, it was COLD in Monterey and we were LOVING it. There were clouds and fog and wind chills! Perfection. :) Such a great mini-vacation. I can't wait for next year.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Park Lunch
My friend, Patty, has started organizing a weekly lunch date at a local park for Moms and Kiddos. Anyone is welcome to join in and there are babies/toddlers of a wide age range. All of the ladies are wonderful and their little ones are completely adorable and fun.
This get-outside-and-see-other-people/moms sort of thing truly saves my sanity. Being a work at home mom can be stressful and very isolating. The most adult interaction I get all day is via email or the occasional telephone call until my husband comes home. Being able to get out in the sunshine for a little while during the day and talk with people who I can fully relate to is a HUGE recharge. It's easy to underestimate how much a little social contact will do for me.
So thank you, gals, for being such great friends and keeping me sane every Wednesday! Here are some photos from today:
P.S. If you want to join in, shoot me an email and I'll send you the info!
This get-outside-and-see-other-people/moms sort of thing truly saves my sanity. Being a work at home mom can be stressful and very isolating. The most adult interaction I get all day is via email or the occasional telephone call until my husband comes home. Being able to get out in the sunshine for a little while during the day and talk with people who I can fully relate to is a HUGE recharge. It's easy to underestimate how much a little social contact will do for me.
So thank you, gals, for being such great friends and keeping me sane every Wednesday! Here are some photos from today:
P.S. If you want to join in, shoot me an email and I'll send you the info!
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009
8 Months
- 20 lbs.
- Approx 29 in.
- Size 3 Diapers
- A mix of 9 month and 12 month clothes.
- Rolls front to back regularly now. She also often sleeps with her butt sticking up in the air and her ankles crossed. It's ADORABLE and I wish I could get a photo, but there's no way I'm risking waking her up!
- Often rolls over to sleep on her tummy in bed.
- Here's her typical schedule right now:
--- Wake between 7:00 and 8:00.
--- Nap routine at 8:45 asleep around 9:00.
--- Wake after an hour to an hour and a half.
--- Lunch around 12.
--- Nap routine at 12:45 asleep around 1:00.
--- Wake after about 40 minutes.
--- Dinner around 5:00.
--- Bedtime routine around 5:45 depending on how the day was.
--- Asleep about half hour later.
- She recently started clicking her tongue and enjoys the noise it makes. She also started saying ma-ma, which soon morphed into "na-na" :(. She still says da-da and yeah-yeah a lot.
- Has her 2 bottom/middle teeth with at least one top one ALMOST through. Teething is TERRIBLE. I swear she has the slowest moving teeth in the history of the world and she seriously does not handle it well. Poor little girl.
- Still successfully breastfeeding and (thankfully!!) we've had no biting/teeth issues.
- List of foods she is eating: Sweet Potatoes (loves), Rice Cereal & Oatmeal (her absolute favorites), Peas (likes them fine), Apples (recently decided she doesn't like them anymore), Carrots (likes), and Bananas (not too sure yet). I'm making her food myself. Hopefully I'll find some time to do a quick post about it.
- Enjoys her mesh feeder. Loves to eat apples in it and frozen breastmilk when her teeth/gums are really hurting.
- Is doing pretty well with a sippy cup. We're using an Avent brand and Nuby to see which she likes better. When we're out of the house, she drinks from my CamelBack water bottle (straw) really well.
- Signs for "milk" often and we have started signing things like "eat", "more", "water", and "all done." So far she hasn't started signing anything else back, yet, but seems to be understanding them better now.
- Still light enough that we almost always wear her when we're out and about or if she's having a particularly grumpy day at home. She sometimes rides in the carts at stores and seems to enjoy it (we have a cart cover so we can snap toys and stuff on it). She enjoys hanging out in restaurant high chairs, too. :) That's a bit of a life saver for a babywearer to be able to eat much easier.
- Will still sleep out and about if she's really tired. We took her to a wedding recently and she fell asleep a little past bedtime and stayed out for quite a while (reclined in her Maclaren stroller). But because her naps are easily disrupted when out and about, we're "stuck" here for her 2 naps. It has made getting out to see other moms and friends a little difficult before 2 or 3PM.
- She's starting to use rolling as a mode of transportation. And on August 27th she started scooting backwards to get around. She doesn't do it often or get really far, but the combination has made her a little mobile. No apparent interest in crawling, walking, or pulling up.
- Rolled from back to front for the first time on Sept 3rd. She did it while in her crib at night.
- Approx 29 in.
- Size 3 Diapers
- A mix of 9 month and 12 month clothes.
- Rolls front to back regularly now. She also often sleeps with her butt sticking up in the air and her ankles crossed. It's ADORABLE and I wish I could get a photo, but there's no way I'm risking waking her up!
- Often rolls over to sleep on her tummy in bed.
- Here's her typical schedule right now:
--- Wake between 7:00 and 8:00.
--- Nap routine at 8:45 asleep around 9:00.
--- Wake after an hour to an hour and a half.
--- Lunch around 12.
--- Nap routine at 12:45 asleep around 1:00.
--- Wake after about 40 minutes.
--- Dinner around 5:00.
--- Bedtime routine around 5:45 depending on how the day was.
--- Asleep about half hour later.
- She recently started clicking her tongue and enjoys the noise it makes. She also started saying ma-ma, which soon morphed into "na-na" :(. She still says da-da and yeah-yeah a lot.
- Has her 2 bottom/middle teeth with at least one top one ALMOST through. Teething is TERRIBLE. I swear she has the slowest moving teeth in the history of the world and she seriously does not handle it well. Poor little girl.
- Still successfully breastfeeding and (thankfully!!) we've had no biting/teeth issues.
- List of foods she is eating: Sweet Potatoes (loves), Rice Cereal & Oatmeal (her absolute favorites), Peas (likes them fine), Apples (recently decided she doesn't like them anymore), Carrots (likes), and Bananas (not too sure yet). I'm making her food myself. Hopefully I'll find some time to do a quick post about it.
- Enjoys her mesh feeder. Loves to eat apples in it and frozen breastmilk when her teeth/gums are really hurting.
- Is doing pretty well with a sippy cup. We're using an Avent brand and Nuby to see which she likes better. When we're out of the house, she drinks from my CamelBack water bottle (straw) really well.
- Signs for "milk" often and we have started signing things like "eat", "more", "water", and "all done." So far she hasn't started signing anything else back, yet, but seems to be understanding them better now.
- Still light enough that we almost always wear her when we're out and about or if she's having a particularly grumpy day at home. She sometimes rides in the carts at stores and seems to enjoy it (we have a cart cover so we can snap toys and stuff on it). She enjoys hanging out in restaurant high chairs, too. :) That's a bit of a life saver for a babywearer to be able to eat much easier.
- Will still sleep out and about if she's really tired. We took her to a wedding recently and she fell asleep a little past bedtime and stayed out for quite a while (reclined in her Maclaren stroller). But because her naps are easily disrupted when out and about, we're "stuck" here for her 2 naps. It has made getting out to see other moms and friends a little difficult before 2 or 3PM.
- She's starting to use rolling as a mode of transportation. And on August 27th she started scooting backwards to get around. She doesn't do it often or get really far, but the combination has made her a little mobile. No apparent interest in crawling, walking, or pulling up.
- Rolled from back to front for the first time on Sept 3rd. She did it while in her crib at night.
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Sunday, August 16, 2009
7 Months
- Her favorite sounds this month (in order) have been BA BA BA, YEAH YEAH YEAH, DA DA DA (aw!).
- She sits up REALLY well. We still put pillows behind her just in case, but she rarely falls over. She has also started falling forward on purpose to lunge toward toys. Apparently that's one of the first steps toward crawling. Eek!
- Her second tooth just broke through a couple of days ago, so she now has her two bottom, middle chompers!
- Sleep has been a COMPLETE disaster for the last month. Last night she was up pretty much every hour. Sleep is a whole 'nother blog post, though...
- Sleeps unswaddled finally.
- She continues to sign for MILK. She does it when she's hungry, but also sometimes when she's tired since I often nurse her before a nap (but I don't actually nurse her to sleep.)
- She sits up REALLY well. We still put pillows behind her just in case, but she rarely falls over. She has also started falling forward on purpose to lunge toward toys. Apparently that's one of the first steps toward crawling. Eek!
- Her second tooth just broke through a couple of days ago, so she now has her two bottom, middle chompers!
- Sleep has been a COMPLETE disaster for the last month. Last night she was up pretty much every hour. Sleep is a whole 'nother blog post, though...
- Sleeps unswaddled finally.
- She continues to sign for MILK. She does it when she's hungry, but also sometimes when she's tired since I often nurse her before a nap (but I don't actually nurse her to sleep.)
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Monday, August 10, 2009
Standing alone.
Here's a video I took around her half-year birthday. She'd actually been doing this for quite a while before, but I love how she's examining her hand in this video. Please excuse the music in the background - Madison and I don't like a quiet house during the day.
First Park Baby Swing
So many firsts lately! Now that she can sit up well, we felt comfortable putting her in one of the park swings. We went to the park that is just next door to see what she would think. I'd call this a huge success. Her love of the park has begun already!
Tooth Watch 2009 is over! First Tooth.
Madison popped her first little chomper through on vacation - July 26th!! It's her bottom left tooth. While teething on vacation isn't ideal, it actually wasn't TOO bad. Jason did get kicked out to the couch, though, so Mads and I could have the bed to ourselves. Her way of coping with the pain, apparently, is to nurse at night - a lot.
I was actually able to snap a quick photo of it today.
I still can't believe it took about 3 months of teething to pop the first one through! She seems to be working on 3 more and nights have been ROUGH. She has never slept this poorly (even in the beginning.) I'm ready for them to push through and for us all to get a break. I feel like she's never going to sleep through the night again...
I was actually able to snap a quick photo of it today.
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| From Madison Kate |
I still can't believe it took about 3 months of teething to pop the first one through! She seems to be working on 3 more and nights have been ROUGH. She has never slept this poorly (even in the beginning.) I'm ready for them to push through and for us all to get a break. I feel like she's never going to sleep through the night again...
First Solid Food
Yesterday morning was Madison's first run-in with solid food. We started her on Earth's Best Organic Sweet Potatoes. I'm going to be making her food, but I wanted to make sure she liked sweet potatoes before I make a bunch of it.
As you can see in the video, she really wasn't sure what to make of it, but didn't reject it or spit it out. It did get harder and harder to coax her to open her mouth and she probably ate less than half a tablespoon, but I think it will just get easier from here. This morning she ate almost a tablespoon! (Though I think a lot of it ended up on her bib, face, and washcloth.)
This photo sums up the experience pretty well:
P.S. I have SOOO much to blog about and am falling behind. I need to catch up. But to summarize - She has her first tooth, is teething 3 more, is sleeping terribly and mama is tired, Kansas vacation was great, I swear I have a re-cap/photos from Oregon back in MAY, and more...
As you can see in the video, she really wasn't sure what to make of it, but didn't reject it or spit it out. It did get harder and harder to coax her to open her mouth and she probably ate less than half a tablespoon, but I think it will just get easier from here. This morning she ate almost a tablespoon! (Though I think a lot of it ended up on her bib, face, and washcloth.)
This photo sums up the experience pretty well:
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| From Madison Kate |
P.S. I have SOOO much to blog about and am falling behind. I need to catch up. But to summarize - She has her first tooth, is teething 3 more, is sleeping terribly and mama is tired, Kansas vacation was great, I swear I have a re-cap/photos from Oregon back in MAY, and more...
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
First sign!
Madison signed her very first sign on Sunday July 19th!
I know that she has understood "MILK" for a while now, but on Sunday when it was about time for another feeding, she was sitting on the floor, looked at me, stuck her hand out (not at a toy or anyone), and opened and closed her fist 3 times.
My heart jumped into my chest. "Did my baby just talk to me?!?!?!" I excitedly signed it back to her and fed her right away to reinforce it. I'm SO proud!!
My mom was here hanging out for the day and saw it, too. I'm really glad she was able to witness one of Mads' "firsts."
Initially, I was very skeptical that she actually signed it since most of what I read said they usually start signing back at 9 months. However, I found these excerpts from the book, "Baby Sign Language Basics."
I know that she has understood "MILK" for a while now, but on Sunday when it was about time for another feeding, she was sitting on the floor, looked at me, stuck her hand out (not at a toy or anyone), and opened and closed her fist 3 times.
My heart jumped into my chest. "Did my baby just talk to me?!?!?!" I excitedly signed it back to her and fed her right away to reinforce it. I'm SO proud!!
My mom was here hanging out for the day and saw it, too. I'm really glad she was able to witness one of Mads' "firsts."
Initially, I was very skeptical that she actually signed it since most of what I read said they usually start signing back at 9 months. However, I found these excerpts from the book, "Baby Sign Language Basics."
I've seen a small percentage of babies between four and six months using a sign or two.
One great advantage to starting early is that your baby could possibly be signing back by six or seven months of age.
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