Mother's Day has always been an important holiday to me as I am beyond grateful for my amazing mother. However, this year it was such a different holiday being my first as a mother. Though the holiday is intended to show appreciation to mother's I couldn't help but think of it the other way. I am so thankful I am a mother and so happy I get to be the mother to the most amazing little girl who has brought so much joy to our lives. I knew being a mother would change me but never knew this feeling of love until being a mother myself :)
Derek and Madelyn did such a great job planning a day for us. It started with some adorable homemade gifts and breakfast. Since it was such a beautiful day out we were able to go to the park and take some pictures of Mads followed by lunch and shopping! Couldn't have asked for a better day!
Right now life has been crazy here as Derek is now in his busy time for work and school down to the last few weeks for me (YIPEEE!!) I am VERY excited for summer break and to spend the summer with Madelyn. We already have a trip to Iowa, the beach and Florida planned!
As for Madelyn her big accomplishment since last week is WALKING!!! She isn't full on walking but walking about 50% of the time. She is still very wobbly and can go about 5-10 steps and then crashes. It is so fun to watch her learn this big milestone. When we cheer and clap for her each time she looks up at us with a big grin like she is so proud of herself. She is also really trying to communicate with us. She repeats and mimics us often. She also uses pointing and her baby signs to show us what she wants.
Out for ice cream after lunch on Mother's Day!
What loves
Worn out after taking pictures in the park!
Here were our 10 month picture attempts, these picture are quite entertaining these days. As you can see laying on the blanket and smiling is no longer an option! We also started with a pretty bow but apparently Madelyn didn't want a bow this month!
The past two weekends we have been busy celebrating weddings of two good friends. Two weekends ago all of my family was in town to celebrate the beautiful wedding of Ashley and Phil. The wedding was perfect and so much fun to have everyone here. It was nice to get time out knowing we were leaving Madelyn with some of the best babysitters possible. Thank you Aunt Sue who stayed and spoiled Madelyn on Friday so Derek and I could go to rehearsal dinner and thank you to MaryAnn on Saturday. Madelyn loved having her Nanny here to spend the night with :) Derek and I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend of being with some of our closest friends and family. However, we paid for it the week after. Apparently being parents has aged us and our ability to stay out late and go off little sleep. As always the weekend flew by and it was hard to see everyone leave!
This past weekend we headed to Gatlinburg, TN to celebrate the wedding of Derek's good friend Darren that he has known since 6th grade. I had heard a lot about Gatlinburg and most of all heard it had fun shopping :) We took Madelyn with us since we didn't get to spend much time with her the weekend before and wanting to spend my birthday with all of us together. The wedding was beautiful and it was really nice to catch up with friends that we just don't seem to get to see often enough.
After, these two crazy weekends we are beyond excited for a weekend at home this coming weekend to relax and play catch up.
As today is May 1st it is almost impossible to believe that next month we will be celebrating Madelyn's 1st birthday, yikes!!! She has developed such a personality that makes us smile and laugh everyday. Here are her recent developments.
Words she currently says:
Mama, Dada,
BO (still her #1 word)
Go (anyone that comes to our house knows we have to yell at Bo to go to the bathoom when we let him out, so now she stands at the door and says GO, lol)
Bye-Bye
Car
Teeth (and will point at your teeth, we think she is going to be a dentist because she LOVES teeth!
Her favorite activities:
opening and closing doors (by far her favorite activity)
chasing Bo (goes on for awhile since everytime she gets to him he isn't about it and moves to a new spot)
will clap and play patty-cake with you
Getting into anything she shouldn't be in (she has become very observant and learns quick. For example this morning she watched Derek step on the lever to open the trash can lid in the kitchen and this afternoon she was all into that and opening it)
Mimicking what we say ( especially weird noises and fake coughing)
giving kisses
She is standing for long periods of time and is trying to figure out how to step and keep her balance. No walking yet though. She has become an eating machine. Thankfully, she is not a picky eater at all anymore. She does a really good job during meals using her baby sign for "more" to let us know how much she wants. She has become a big fan of scrambled eggs!
Here are some pictures and videos...
The Bridal Party at rehearsal
Family picture at rehearsal dinner, minus Dad, Dorice and Aunt Sue :(
With El :)
With the beautiful bride getting hair and make-up
Ashley and Phil's Wedding 4-20-13
Opening all my gifts Aunt Katty brought with, including my new fedora hat!!
April is definitely a busy month for us with a lot of fun things going on. This weekend Kimberly and I hosted a bridal shower for Ashley. The shower went great and was beautiful weather. Ashley's wedding is this coming weekend. Good friends weddings are always fun but when someone has been a friend since the day you were born and is like family, it is even more exciting. This week I have 11 famiy members coming into town for their wedding and we are SO excited. Derek said the excitement of this week reminds him of our wedding, haha!
Today Madelyn went out on her first boat ride on Lake Wiley. Madelyn absolutely loved it. We included some photos and video of the trip. I think Madelyn will be wanting many more trips out on the lake.
This past week Madelyn has been trying to stand on her own a lot. She will hold on to stand up and the slowly let go to stand and try and balance. She also started walking while using a toy she can push and help her. We are thinking walking is coming soon. As of right now the words she can say are; Mama, Dada, Bo, and car. Most of her day she is yelling Bo. However, any dog is now called Bo, lol! I guess we need to start working on dog!
Here are a few pictures from the past week (sorry for the short post, with family coming you now that means lots of cleaning so I need to make the most of my time while Madelyn is sleeping, haha)
Helping Dad with the yard work
9 Months 3/18/13
Dad decide to let me have fun and feed myself
Beautiful bride to-be at the shower
Madelyn playing with Lily & Gracie at the shower (hard to believe they were Maddie's age when I watched them)
Hanging out with Kimberly
Madelyn got Derek's phone with Pandora playing and apparently is ready to trade in the baby phone for an iPhone! LOL
Finally Spring is here and we have been able to get out and enjoy some nice weather! Last week my best friend Kara came to visit over her Spring Break. We loved having her here and Madelyn was spoiled rotten by her. We only wish she lived closer. It was really hard to see her leave:(
This past weekend we headed to Virginia to spend the Easter weekend with Derek's family. Though it was a quick trip we loved getting to see everyone. Of course the weather didn't cooperate on Easter and was rainy but Madelyn still had a great first Easter. She was so well behaved at church and loved her easter basket and eggs.
This week I am off for our Spring Break. The week is filled with getting stuff done around the house, spending lots of snuggle time with Madelyn and lunch dates with Derek. It is making me VERY excited for summer to get to spend more time with Madelyn.
As for Mads lastest updates; she is standing and pulling up on everything. She will walk with you when you hold her hands. I am sure we will be walking before we know it. She also has learned to give kisses. It is a slobbery kiss but well worth the slober :) Her favorite thing right now is Bo and says Bo (or "Bah" as she says it) non-stop. Most mornings it is the first thing she yells. She eats all foods and has become a really good eater.
Here are a some pictures from the last 2 weeks!
Out to lunch!
My new toy vacuum from Kara, I helped Dad clean the carpets (one of the MANY things she bought me)
I love the lines on the carpets just like my OCD Mama!
Where to start with all the updates! It seems this past week Madelyn decided to reach all sorts of milestones. The biggest milestone being CRAWLING!!!! We thought for awhile she may skip crawling since she she was an all-star roller and has started to pull herself up heading towards walking. However, last week she finally started getting on all 4 and rocking. This weekend she finally started crawling. She has not mastered it yet and does it the most on hardwood or tile. As excited as we are to watch her learn this we quickly are learning how she can move anywhere now and nothing in the house is off limits! Let the fun begin!
The second big update is she said her first word. She beat the odds and went with MAMA ( I'm sure you can imagine the grin on my face!) Derek needless to say spends most of his time with her saying dada over and over again hoping it will be coming any moment now.
This past week my cousin Elly came to spend her Spring Break with us, or should we say Madelyn lol! I absolutely LOVED having her here! It meant so much to us that she gave up her last Spring Break to visit us. Not to mention how wonderful she was to Madelyn all week taking care of her. I tried to convince her to stay and be our nanny but sadly she left yesterday to head back! Mads was very sad to see her new bud leave. Of course her Aunties sent many adorable gifts so that Madelyn is going to be very stylish this spring and summer! She is one spoiled little girl.
Madelyn having a play date with her friend Brooklyn (only a week apart in age)
Loving on her Aunt Elly before bed!
Out for a walk with my new hat from Aunt Sue!
Our cute little lucky charm!
Green River Revival at the Whitewater Center
Amazed by the dying of the river!
So glad we got to spend St Patty's with Elly!
My first St. Patrick's Day ( thanks Aunt Natalia for my cute outfit)
Tomorrow Madelyn will be 9 months! This weekend I couldn't help but think it is going to be time to plan her first birthday before we know it! As much as I want time to slow down it seems each week she enters a new stage that is more and more fun!
MAMA
CRAWLING
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Last weekend I went to visit a good friend who just had a baby boy. I remember when Madelyn was born people would say I don't remember ours being this small. At the time it meant nothing to me until this weekend. I was beyond shocked that Madelyn was that small 8 months ago! Though it is scary how fast time flies when you have children we are absolutely loving the stage she is at now. So with that said, here are a few updates from the past few weeks.
Madelyn has recently started moving all over the place. Her primary form of transportation is rolling, not just a roll here and a roll there, but barrel rolls across the floor to get to her destination. Along with this she has started to get on her knee's to reach for something but just can't seem to figure out how to crawl, it's only a matter of time though. She also recently sat up from the laying position for the first time which was fun to watch. She has realized that if she rolls to her side, props her weight on one arm and then pushes up on that arm then she can get into the sitting position.
Mad's has also started to feed Bo while she is supposed to be eating herself. This of course is extremely funny to us even though we try not to laugh and encourage it. We tell her no which she seems to understand but it's hard to keep on top of it when she's so dang cute and of course Bo is loving life. Suddenly he now loves hers
Always a pacie in my mouth these days! Of course my Hawkeye one is best :)
Love sitting in the cart these days! I wave at everyone as they walk by!
Valentine's Day :)
She recently experienced her first snow which was uncharacteristic for Charlotte. Derek's mom and dad came into town that morning and just beat the "storm" and Derek ended up being able to leave work early than expected. This allowed us to spend a lot of family time together and also give Madelyn her first experience playing in the snow. She thought it was fun and actually enjoyed it.
Think we have a future opera signer!!
Favorite teething toy, a clementine
Monday, February 11, 2013
There haven't been any big updates over the past weeks other than everyday Madelyn ceases to amaze us with all she learns. This week she learned how to feed herself. We now can put food on her highchair and she can eat by herself. She has become a rolling machine. She doesn't stay put. If you walk away for a second when you come back she will be on the other side of them room. Apparently Madelyn started rolling around and scooting so she could steal the toys from other little boy she goes to the sitter with. She even steals his pacie. I guess sharing will be a lesson in our future, lol!
She is now eating two meals a day of baby food/ finger food. She loves the finger food like toast, noodles, fruit, cheese and isn't that into the baby food. We joke she is 7 months going on 3 years old. She is back to being such a good sleeper. While sick she was really off but most nights she will sleep 12 hours. This weekend both days she woke up after me, I had to go in and make sure she was ok! Another favorite right now is the bath. Madelyn LOVES the bath. We can't wait for summer to take her swimming. She loves kicking and splashing in the bath!
Here are some recent pictures/videos :)
Bath Time :)
Playing with pots & pans, aka the drums, with daddy
Sitting in the highchair like a big girl when out to dinner
Little book worm!
Madelyn is now obsessed with her pacies! Here she couldn't decide which pacie to play with, ha!
