She Did It!

It's official! Our little girl is not so little anymore! Yesterday she crawled for the first time!! She's been working up to it for the past couple weeks and yesterday she took three "steps" to crawl across the playmat and grab Cali (her octopus stuffed animal toy). It was so amazing to see! Now the baby proofing really needs to begin! Once she realizes she can do that repeatedly, there will be no stopping her!

Love you all,
Nile, David & Movin' Maddie

Well Hello There

Maddie truly surprised me on Tuesday morning! She started her morning conversation around 5:30am and I went into her room to give her a paci so she would fall back asleep. When I go into her room that early, I tend to peek around the corner so I can get an idea of how she's positioned...if I can give her the paci without her seeing me, then she'll fall back asleep quicker and won't think I'm coming in to pick her up or play. Well, I peek my head around the corner and there is Maddie - SITTING UP - looking right at me! Oh my goodness! She has been sitting up on the floor for a while when we put her there, but she has never gotten herself into that position from lying down! She was just sitting there like it was no big deal, just waiting for me to come around the corner! It was too funny!

She has also perfected the art of getting herself up on all fours. She does it in no time flat! She'll get herself up, rock back and forth a bit and then either falls down, or sort of lets her bottom fall into a sitting position. I have a feeling she is going to be zooming around the house in no time flat!

We love you all!
Nile, David & Maddie

Boo!

Today is Maddie's first Halloween! It's too bad that she's going to be asleep before the festivities even begin! But we still got her dressed up and she makes one adorable pumpkin! On the back of the pumpkin piece, it says "boo to you" across her tush - so cute!

Here's our sweet pumpkin...




Happy Halloween!
Nile, David & Jack-O-Lantern Maddie

Sitting Up

It's official - our little girl can sit up on her own! For the last couple of weeks, when we've laid her down in the boppy, she's been pulling herself up to a sitting position. And she can now balance herself well enough to stay there on her own! We've been having her sit up in her little bath tub too and she loves that she can now reach for her toys and play with them more. She is really enjoying being able to splash around too - she has definitely picked up on the kicking skill that we've been practicing in swim lessons!

She has also started doing a backwards scoot too when she's on the floor playing. She will lift up her torso with her hands and then slide herself backwards a bit. It's fun to watch! It is crazy to think that she will soon be crawling and scooting herself all over the place!

She is truly a bundle of joy! We are the luckiest parents!

Love you all,
Nile, David & Maddie

Jumperoo

A few weeks ago we set up the jumperoo for Maddie and she loves it! It's amazing how much she's learned in just a few weeks too. When we first had her in it, she couldn't quite touch the ground...just her tippie toes made it...she wasn't able to turn herself around in the seat and was still learning all the new toys that are attached to it. She can now easily touch the ground - and jumps off from it really well! She can also turn herself around in the chair, start the music on her own (by pressing the buttons on one side) and reaches out and grabs all the toys hanging from the bars. She loves it!

David was able to catch a few minutes of her bouncing around in the jumperoo! He put together this video of her most active moments. She is starting to become less shy of the camera so there are some fun smiles and expressions from her!



All our love,
Nile, David & Our Bouncing Bean (aka Maddie)

Feeding Firsts

A little over a week ago, on September 20th, we introduced Maddie to her first solid - rice cereal. We were a little curious as to how she would react because we've heard it's not the tastiest meal, but she loved it! We took photos of her eating the cereal twice - her first time we didn't have the greatest light, but we wanted to capture the momentus event regardless! So some of these photos have her wearing a short sleeve shirt (her first feeding) and some have her in a long sleeve short (a subsequent feeding)...but they are all adorable!

This past Sunday we introduced her to her first solid with some flavor! Sweet potoates won out as her first tasty food and she loved it! We have some great photos of her orange face! On Thursday we'll be able to start her on the next veggie...I think it may be green beans, another favorite of David's and mine!

Here is a great rice cereal shot from her very first try...

She loves helping out and grabbing a hold of the spoon to feed herself...or knock around to play drums with on her tray table...or drop on the floor!

And some from our second rice cereal photo op...





Right now she loves looking at things upside down! So instead of turning around to see something, she lean her head all the way backwards and look at it upside down. We had definitely lost her interest in eating at this point, but it was funny to watch her doing this!



And her first tasty veggie...attack of the sweet potatoes! The lighting in these isn't too great either...our Pizza Hut chandelier just isn't cutting it! They are cute though! Her expression in the second photo just cracks me up!





All our love!
Nile, David & Maddie

Swimming with Daddy

My apologies that this post is a little late getting up! On Sunday Maddie had her second swim lesson and David went in with her this time. I tried to get photos that were as great as the ones that David took of us. Mine aren't quite as good, but I did manage to get a few cute ones!

Daddy and Maddie just before the swim lesson...

Maddie enjoying the water with Daddy...



Maddie smiling for her humpty dumpty time and being lifted up high as she "falls" off the wall...



Just chilling with Daddy and taking in the views...

Maddie practicing her swimming technique...

Having fun with the big orange ball at the end of class...

Sunday was also Maddie's first day of eating solids! She tried some rice cereal and loved it! We took some fun photos of her eating too that I will post as soon as we get the photos uploaded.

Love you all!
Nile, David & Maddie