Popsicles and Smiles

It's been a rough few days for our little gal. She's typically a happy baby who is pretty independent. However, the last few days she wants to be held, she is fussy, she acts tired but doesn't sleep long. It's hard as a parent when your child is acting differently. You wonder if she is getting sick or if she's getting another tooth or is it something entirely different all together. Luckily I don't have to wonder what her deal is any longer because our gal got another tooth this morning.

I don't know the exact growth rate of teeth nor will I research it but two teeth in three weeks...wow! I've said it and I will keep saying it, our little gal is growing up and getting so big.

We thought a cool, sugar free treat would help ease some of Madison's discomfort so we gave her a popsicle.



I think she enjoyed it.



Maybe.





She then took a spin around the patio on her little bike.





I have a little secret to share....I have a lot of photos of Madison's smile. To get her to smile on cue I sing "The Wheels On The Bus". She freakin' loves that song. I once sang it for 15 mins in the car to keep her from crying. Let me tell you that bus had the mommy, the baby, the driver, a dog, a cat, a horse and ended up becoming more like Noah's Ark than a bus. I've quickly learned you do whatever it takes. So, to capture Maddie's big grin I sing.



And when I stop singing this is what I get....



Just kidding, I don't know how or where this face came from.

Da Da for now!

Learning and Discovering

Madison and I were in the front yard swinging yesterday as usual. Our neighbor stopped by to congratulate me on the baby and to see her. He asked so is she about 2 or 3 months old now. Um, no. She's going on 9 months. Hello, look at her! Geesh, men.



Yes, she is going on nine months and she is growing so fast. I love that she is growing up and learning new things but it also makes me sad because my little girls is getting so big.

We went to the park on Saturday and of course our little peanut had to check our the swings. That's her favorite right now.



And the slide.



Then she became intimate with the playground equipment.



This little gal is teething and she has this uncontrolable urge to have something in her mouth at all times.

I often take Madison outside to play and it dawned on me that I had never just put her in the grass. So I did.



She didn't like it. You would have thought the grass was on fire. She had both hands up, her right leg up and if she could have held her balance I think her left leg would have been in the air too. Although, once she sees something that she wants she will go get it.



Once she realized where she was she wanted up immediately. She is quite a character.

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I've discovered a new place to buy toys, Once Upon A Child. It is a store where you can take used baby stuff, they buy it from you and they resale it. Since babies only use or play with their stuff a few months before they out grow it everything is practically new and it's so cheap! I was very excited when I found a dollhouse for Madison.





Our little Maddie O played and played until she bacame exhausted.



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Today I gathered up my niece and nephew then all four of us headed to Kids Commons in Columbus. It is a play center for kids where everything is interactive. The kids had a great time and so did I.





They had a cool bubble area. Surrounding Brooke is a giant bubble which was really neat until Logan popped it....boys will be boys.





We all played with the table filled with gears.





And we played with giant Legos.





Then Brooke and Logan cooked Maddie and I lunch in the Japanese room.



The best part of the whole place was the giant bathroom.



Of course, we all took turns in the giant toilet. It even made the flushing noise.







All in all we had a great time. Most of all it is fun watching Madison learn and discover.

Speaking of learning....we are working on bye-bye.



Hey, I said we are working on it. She says Da Da for everything. Baby steps, baby steps, we will get there.

As maddie would say Da Da for now!

Portrait Session

We had our second go around at the portrait studio last weekend. If you didn't hear the story of our first attempt it goes a little something like this...

Our Saturday morning was spent primping and prepping. Our shirts were ironed, Maddie was fed and we were ready to go. We arrived at the studio at 11:00 for our scheduled appointment. We opened the doors and Ryan and I both say "Oh shit." The place was packed. We were greeted and told that there were two families ahead of us but it would only be 10 mins.

Well, 45 mins later we are called back for our turn. With our luck of the draw we won the most socially awkward photographer ever. I'm already perturbed that we had to wait and now this. Ryan, always being the voice of reason, said "She could take the best picture ever though." And my reply "Yeah, or this could be her first day and we are getting shitty pictures." I was very perturbed.

So, there is Maddie our little trooper. Miss Awkward asks us what we want to do. I inform her that we want to take pictures. Duh. She puts us in poses and makes no attempt to get Madison's attention. Right away I know that this isn't good. Then she asks Ryan to lay on his tummy. What! I mean yes how funny would that have been with Ryan on his tummy, legs crossed a the ankles, fisted hands under his chin and Maddie and I surrounding him like confetti. Sounds funny now and looking back I wish we would have done it but at the time I was appalled that she would have a grown man lay on his tummy.

Our portrait session continued with expressionless faces from Maddie and finally I said that's it, we are done. Oh and to top it off, Miss Awkward had a two inch tear in the seam of her pants on her thigh. Eeew.

After reviewing the 112 portraits that were taken, we only liked about 8. I was polite and let them know that I was very disappointed. Our whole morning was wrapped up by preparing for this photo shoot to insure that Maddie would be happy and ready, we had to wait and then we got the worst photographer ever. I received a call from the manager later that day. She wanted to apologize and wanted us to come back in for a retake. I thought that was a nice gesture so back we went. Ryan was totally thrilled.

Our next session was everything I had hoped. We got a fantastic photographer who captured the many faces of Maddie O.

Here they are, the pictures from our recent portrait session.............

















And Maddie says "Tada! That's all for now."

Growing up!

She is growing up right before our very eyes. It makes me equally excited and sad. She's not my little baby with the froggy legs suspended in the air anymore. She no longer curls up in the nook of my arm and falls asleep in the comfort and warmth. Nope, this little girl is freakin' everywhere and it has all happened in a week.



Our baby is attempting to crawl. She begins on her bottom when we sit her on the floor. She slowly leans forward on her hands and gets her legs out from under her and onto her knees. There is then a brief pause. It is as if you can see her mind working, thinking of her two choices. She can either move her legs and crawl on her knees or she can drop to her belly. Unfortunately our little gal is taking the easy road right now and she drops to her belly like a pig in a mud puddle. She gets her left arm bent and tucked under then she uses her right hand and her left elbow to army crawl her little body around the room. She looks like an injured soldier crawling off of the battle field.





When Ryan or I pick up Madison from Katie's house after work we are normally greeted with a huge grin from Maddie. We can literally see the excitement coming from her as she sees her Mommy or her Daddy. Last Tuesday, I picked up Madison from Katie's. She and Emma were on the patio each in a car of their own. Emma peddling with her feet around and around. Maddie doing the same only going backwards. I picked up my little sugar bear, I longed for her after a long day of missing her at work. Only my little sugar bear wiggled and turned wanting me to put her back down and back in the car. What! My little baby didn't want her Mama! We cannot have that so, I did what any mom would do. I bought her a car for our house. This way it won't be new, cool and exciting because she already has one at home. There problem solved.





And to show her that I am a super cool and creative mom I took a little paint....



and made her a house out of the box the car came in.





To top off this whole week of growing up....Maddie gets a tooth! I'd show it to you but getting a picture of this tooth has been quite a challenge.

Instead of a picture of the tooth how about some cute ones of Maddie looking in the mirror?





We had our pictures taken yesterday, professionally, not by my amateur self. I'll share those here soon.

Lots of love....

Peek-A-Boo!

Maddie has learned a fun new game...Peek-A-Boo. Of course, this is an all time children's classic. I've played it with tons of kids and even with Ryan a time or two. However, none of those times have even compared to playing Peek-A-Boo with my own daughter. Man, this kid is cute.



We would also like to leave you with a little life lesson for the day. When you see something you want, go after it! Maddie does....



Have a great day!

Moving on Up!

There is a show on the DIY network called "Yard Crashers". The host, Ahmed, is a professional landscaper. He goes to a home improvement store and finds someone in need of some improvement to their landscaping. He then follows them home, assesses their yard and over the next two days Ahmed and his team of professionals completely redo the yard and make it super cool. I am pretty sure we have seen every episode of this show. We watch in awe and longing that one day we too will run in to Ahmed at our local home improvement store. Ryan says they make it like an outdoor living room. I don't know about that because my living room is air conditioned but I will say that they make the backyard seem just as comfortable as a living room.

We've been to Lowe's several times over the past few weeks. I have been putting on my oh-we-need-so-much-help-in-our-backyard face. It's not working. There ain't no Ahmed in this neck of the woods. Now that I think back on the fifty or so episodes that we've watched they seem to always be in California or someone ultra cool or at least much cooler than Greenwood, Indiana. Stupid show.

We had to take matters into our own hands. We crashed our own yard.

Before:



After:



Madison is a fan of our new "outdoor living room".







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I feel as if I have provided our little munchkin with plenty of toys and books to stimulate her. We have tons of books, puppets, blocks, balls, stuffed animals, teething toys, oh dear the list goes on and on. My point is when I look over to see why she is so quiet I find her chewing on the floor. Seriously. The floor.



I take it away because chewing on the flooring is not appropriate and this is what I get...



Um yikes!

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When I was pregnant, Ryan and I registered for the best of the best. We wanted our little peanut to have the coolest, safest, toughest, cutest things available. We got the best infant car seat for our little bundle of joy. The car seat was going to last us until our baby was at least a year old so it was going to be totally worth the extra bucks. "Thirty pounds or thirty inches whichever one comes first." The lady chirped as we made our selection. Well, this bundle of joy isn't so little anymore. She's grown herself to 29 inches already. What the heck? We are still supposed to get 4 months use out of this car seat.

This time in choosing the convertible car seat for our tiny giant we went a little more conservative. Since these seats are much different then the infant seats, for ease and convenience we needed to buy two. The new seat is supposed to last us until she is five or six so maybe we'll make it until she is three, if we're lucky. She seems to like what we picked out for her and she looks pretty comfy in it.





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I am obsessed with anything that is smaller than what it should be. I like tiny things. When I'm out shopping with my sister and I see something tiny, like a miniature pan or a tiny bowl, she asks what I would do with it. My response is who cares it's cute so I have to have it. While browsing in the produce section at Target this weekend, I came across some mini bananas. Of course I had to buy them.

They are the perfect size for Maddie O!





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On some other exciting news....



Madison can say Dada and Mama! She has been saying Dada for about 3 weeks now. I failed to announce that here on my little blog mostly because I was a little jealous. While very cute that she would say Dada over and over and over I was a little bitter that Mama wasn't her first word. I was the one that carried her in my womb for 10 months! Well, Saturday night she said Mama for the first time. My bitterness is now erased and I am a proud and happy Mama.



She's also working on a new trick.....




Bye for now!