Blog Challenge Catch Up

Oops! I slacked on my blog challenge, so I'm catching up in this post.

Challenge #4 - What was your (or your child's) "best" Halloween costume ever? (Bonus points for photos!)

My best Halloween costume was when I was in 7th grade and dressed as an Old Man. I wore one of my Grandpa's old suits, a pillow under my shirt for a belly and an hat to cover my hair. I didn't talk to anyone when I got to school, so nobody knew it was me until it was time to go to class and sit down. Definitely my favorite costume ever.

My second favorite was during college when I dressed up as a can-can/salon girl for a sorority event. I rented the costume from a costume shop and it turned out great.

Challenge #5 - What is your favorite Halloween candy of all time?

Do I really have to pick just one?! I'm so indecisive - Especially when it comes to candy.

My top three:

Kit-Kats
Sweet Tarts
Grape Tootsie Roll Pops

Challenge #6 - If money were no object, what would you do with your time?

Spend time with my daughter.
Travel - Greece, Spain, Germany & Australia first ;)
Volunteer

8 months!!!

Our little girl is eight months old and starting to feel more and more like a toddler everyday.

Here are her eight month stats:

- She waves hi & bye
- She pulls herself up to stand (on absolutely everything which I'm pretty sure she does just to give us panic attacks)
- She feeds herself - puffs, eggs, cheese, fruit, toast
- She said her first word "Puff" while eating puffs at dinner one night
- She's crawling
- She's walking if she holds onto Mom or Dad
- She knows how to turn light switches on and off
- She has three teeth - All on the bottom
- She's wearing size 3 diapers
- She's wearing 9 or 12 month clothes.
- Loves when Daddy gets home from work and always gives him lots of smiles


8m 4d

Pumpkin Patch

I've been falling behind on updating the blog, but a few weeks ago Mad's Grammy, Grandpa & Great Grandma came and met us at the local pumpkin patch. I'm not entirely sure that she knew what the round, orange things aka pumpkins were all about, but she was fascinated with the horses. She's definitely an animal lover.

Blog Challenge #3

When did you know you were a grown-up?

That's a really tough question. Until recently I don't know that I'd ever had a point in time where I'd felt 100% grown up.

I've had several moments in the last month where I found myself saying or thinking something that probably would have embarrassed me or made me roll my eyes at my parents had they said it. Each time I can imagine Madison giving me the same look I used to give my parents, and I find myself realizing that now I am a parent - I am a grown-up.

For example:

- High school students are KIDS - not adults like I used to think I was in high school.
- I find myself wanting to yell at the neighbors to keep it down when they're partying past 9pm.

More Crawling (as requested by the Grandparents)

Grammy Linda and Grandpa Robert have both requested more video of our mobile little girl, so here's another video of Mads crawling (unsuccessfully) after one of the kitties.

7m 2w 2d

Blog Challenge #2

It's week two of the blog challenge with my Mom's group, so here it goes:

Do you enjoy reading?
I love reading! I find it so relaxing to curl up with a good book.

What do you read and when?
I used to read all the time. Mostly chick lit, but sometimes a classic, biography or travel book thrown in for good measure. Lately....not so much. Since Mads has arrived, I've only found time to read a couple of books & they were both while I was traveling to and from my best friend's wedding in LA. Thinking about it now that makes me sad & I definitely need to find time to read more often.

What's your favorite book ever?
It's really, really, really hard to choose just one, but I guess I'd have to say Pride and Prejudice. It's a book that I can read again and again and never get sick of.
I also adore the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. They're so much fun and super easy reads. Plus, they always remind me of my (shopaholic) best friend, so they make me smile.

New Milestones

Mads has been a very busy girl the last couple of weeks. Here are a few of the highlights:

She has two teeth! They have finally come in enough that they're easy to spot when she smiles.

She waves hi & bye. Her favorite is to wave bye to herself in the mirror and to wave hi to Daddy when he gets home from work.

Last, but not least, she's crawling!!!! Very cute and very scary for Mommy and Daddy since we can no longer plop her down on the floor and expect her to stay put!

7m 1w 3d

7 months

I'm a few days late in posting Mads seven-month stats, but we've been busy. We had a month full of friends and family and lots of traveling.

Here are some of Mads new accomplishments this month:

- She can pull herself up to stand.
- Scoots around the floor backwards on her tush.
- Crawls backwards
- Sits up at night in her crib while she's sleeping (this is amusing because she generally doesn't mean to and she gets upset that she's not laying down anymore)
- Wears size 3 diapers
- Wears 9-12 month clothes
- Loves toys that rattle
- Sleeps with her piggy
- Can turn light switches on and off
- Feeds herself finger foods - Puffs & Banana
- Drinks from a sippy cup
- Rides in her big girl stroller and car seat



7m 5d

Blog Challenge #1

I'm lucky enough to be a part of a fabulous online community of mommies known as the Nest. The "Nesties" are a wonderful resource and I've made lots of friends over the last couple of years. We've started a blog challenge to hopefully all get more out of our blogs and to learn a bit more about each other.

Today the first challenge was posted so here it goes:

Why do you blog?

I originally started blogging to keep my family and friends involved in my pregnancy and to be able to watch Mads grow up. It's kind of evolved into a digital baby book of sorts and a place to "brag" about Mads.

What do you hope to get out of this challenge?

I hope that this challenge encourages me to write more in my blog because lately it's become more of a photo album with a few short blurbs here and there.

It's been awhile...

I've been slacking on updating my blog lately because I've been busy with, well life with a six (almost seven) month old.

Mads has been doing great. She's loving daycare - Lots of art projects, friends and new stuff to explore. She's close to crawling and can actually crawl backwards now. She also loves to stand.

She's tried lots of new foods and is drinking juice out of a cup like a big girl.

Mads had a doctor's appointment today and she now weighs 17lb 2oz and is 27.5 inches long. She's up almost a pound and half an inch from her six month appointment. That puts her somewhere in the 75th percentile for weight and the 98th percentile for height.

Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks.




6m 3w 6d

Giants!

Matt and I are determined to let Mads make her own choices and find her own interests and hobbies ... except that we insist that she loves the Giants as much as we do. Hopefully it doesn't backfire and make her a Dodgers fan.

6m 1w 5d

6 months

I can't believe Mads is 6 months old already!!! I was talking with my friend Mel, who lives in LA, the other day about when we'd be able to bring Mads down to meet her son Landon. I told her the next time we'd have a chance would probably be January and then I realized that Mads will be almost one by then!!! Unbelievable!!

Matt and I are having so much fun watching her grow and explore everything around her.

I can't wait for her doctor's appointment this week to find out how big she is now (though I'm not looking forward to the shots)

Here are some of her 6 month stats:

- She has one tooth
- She can stand on her own when she holds onto the couch or the table
- She's tried pear, banana, apple, peach, peas, sweet potato & yogurt
- She's sleeping with one arm unswaddled
- She's sleeping at least six hours at a time at night (thank you Ferber)
- She's wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes
- She's wearing size 2 diapers
- She likes to help hold her bottles when her Daddy is feeding her
- She loves to play peek-a-boo

6m 4d

Tutu!

I found an easy pattern to make a tutu online, so I thought I'd try to make one for Mads. Here's the result:



I can't wait to make her more.

5m 4w 2d

Piano

While we were home this weekend, Mads had fun playing the piano with her Grandma Sarah.

5m 2w 6d

Birthday Parties!!

This weekend we headed to Sacramento for a surprise birthday party for Maddie's Great-Grandma, Great-Grandpa & Great-Aunt.

It was tons of fun & I have to say they were all completely surprised (impressive since there were almost 90 people there)

It was also great to have the entire family in one place and for Maddie to meet all of her family. It was especially fun to see her meet her cousin Christopher who was born three days before her.

Blowing out the candles

The whole family

Cousins

5m 2w 6d

Dinner & Bath

Here are a couple of videos of Mads.

The first is of her first time trying peas. She liked the first couple of bites, but then decided she prefers bananas and pears.

The second if of bath time. She has always liked her baths, but she has now figured out how to splash and play with her toys. I think we're going to have to move her little tub into the big tub from now on because she's making a huge mess in the kitchen.

5m 2w 2d

Paparazzi!!

Mads is either going to grow up to be a model or grow up and hate cameras with the amount of pictures and videos I take.

She started sitting up on her own today =)

Here are a couple of random pictures as well...



5m 2d

Major Cuteness

My Mom's Group did an exchange where we all drew someone's name and bought a onesie/t-shirt for the other person's kiddo. The person who drew me (the lovey Shannon) bought Mads an adorable dress from Janie and Jack and Mads and I both love it. Of course, as soon as I put it on her she lifted it up over her head (haha I guess we're going to have to work on that). I'm excited for her to get a chance to wear it to Luke and Deanna's wedding in a few weeks!


5m 1d

5 months

Mads is 5 months old today!! It's so much fun to watch her grow up and learn new things. Here are some new things this month:

- She's teething: Lots of drool, chewing on everything in sight and sleepless nights.
- She's eating solids: Bananas, apples & peaches.
- She adores her exersaucer - She likes to make the whole thing shake and then she belly laughs.
- She's wearing mostly 6 month clothes.
- She's in Size 2 diapers.
- She has lots of friends at daycare: Charlie, Ethan, Daniel, Marissa & her new "boyfriend" Prestley who she was holding hands with last week.
- She "chews" on the back of her paci.
- She has recently discovered the kitties and loves watching them and talking to them. She even pets Teddy when he's brave enough to get close to her.
- She is fascinated by cell phones, cameras and remotes and will do anything possible to try to get them in her mouth.

See what I mean about trying to get the camera!!

5m

Exersaucer

Mads loves her Exersaucer, and her new favorite thing to do is to lean from side to side and front to back so the whole thing shakes. She thinks it's hilarious! Here's a video of her in action:

4m 3w 6d

Cuteness

4m 3w 3d

First Giants Game

We took Mads to her first (of many I'm sure) Giants game last Saturday. We took the ferry from Larkspur and she loved the whole trip. She even got to wear the tiny Tim Lincecum jersey that her Auntie Dory got her. Someone on the ferry even commented that she's about the same size as Timmy lol.

It was an evening game, and we were a little worried that we were going to be out during her bedtime, but she did fantastic. She loved "talking" to everyone on the boat. Once we got settled at the park they sent me to guest services to get her an official "My first Giants Game" certificate. Very cute and already in her baby book =)

It was a fun day, great game & I'm sure we'll be doing it again soon.

Go Giants!!


4m 2w 5d

Apples and Bananas

We've still been experimenting with different foods to get an idea of what Mads likes and to let her get used to eating big girl food.

We started with rice cereal and overall she's not really a big fan (although after smelling the stuff, I can't really say I blame her). She had one day at daycare that she went crazy for it, but for the most part she just blows raspberries into the spoon and ends up wearing most of it.

Last week I made some homemade applesauce for her and while she liked it more than the rice cereal, she still wasn't a huge fan. She'd eat a few bites and be done.

Then last night I decided to give her a pureed banana (at the suggestion of my coworker David who's adorable son J.P. is about two weeks younger than Mads). She LOVED it. I gave her about a quarter of a banana and she ate the whole thing. She was opening her mouth wide and didn't spit any out. Matt and I were definitely proud parents!!

I think next week I'm going to try mixing some applesauce with some smashed bananas which reminds me of:



4m 2w 4d

4th of July, Picnic, First food & family

Mads has had a busy couple of days!

On Thursday she had a 4th (well technically 2nd) of July parade at daycare. She was decked out in red, white & blue from head to toe.

After the parade I picked her up and took her with me to my company picnic. She had a great time hanging out by Stafford Lake and playing with my co-workers daughter.

At Maddie's doctor's appointment this week, we were given the go ahead to start her on solids (aka rice cereal). We made our first attempt at it this morning. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, but she had a good time playing with the spoon and managed to get a little bit of it in her mouth.

Finally, this afternoon Matt's Mom, Dad and Grandma came down for a visit. Mads had a great time visiting with everyone. She was "talking" and was (as always) the life of the party.

Playing with Great-Grandma Dolly

4 generations!

4m 6d