An outSTANDING Day!

When I went into Maddie's room yesterday morning, she greeted me in a whole new way - standing up in her crib! She may have done it before, but it was the first time I had seen her standing in her crib! She had pulled herself up with seemingly no problems and was just standing there, holding onto the crib, waiting for me to come in with her breakfast!

Today we also had Maddie's 9 month check-up and she is doing wonderfully! In the last three months, she has grown 3" and gained 3.5lbs! She is now 28.5" tall and weighs 17lbs, 4oz! Wow, she's gotten big!! Everything looked great and was right on track. She's even tracking above average in height...I'm still not sure where that came from, but I think some of Papa Bob's genes may have gotten in there!

Our pediatrician let us know today too that we're now ok to start feeding her small, well cooked (soft) bits of table food along with the Gerber food that has meat and dairy. We also get to start introducing her to a sippy cup so that hopefully when she's a year old, she'll be done with the bottle and using only the sippy cups. With her first tooth coming in (slowly but surely!), we get to start a new bedtime routine - brushing her tooth and gums! We completely forgot about it tonight, but we'll start tomorrow.

I just can't believe how much she's growing and what a little girl she is becoming! She is the best daughter ever!!

Love always,
Nile, David & Maddie

Look Ma, No Hands!

Maddie is learning so much, so quickly these days! Her favorite thing to do these days is to pull herself up...on just about anything and everything...and she's been practicing it nonstop! She is a pro! She can walk herself up to an object when holding on to it too, and she loves to dance and bounce around while holding on to things! Her newfound confidence also led her to pull herself up this weekend, and then let go so that she's standing without holding on to anything! She did this with David on Saturday and a couple times with me yesterday. Holy cow!! We've always had our hand under her so that we can catch her if she falls, and this has given her a little balance when she's standing alone, but oh my goodness! I hadn't expected her to do this so soon!

Our little girl is growing up so fast!

Love,
Nile, David & Maddie

Giggles Galore

Maddie's laughter instantly brings a smile to my face! It is honestly one of the best sounds I've ever heard! If you're having a bad day or just want to smile, all you need to do is watch this video! She is just the sweetest girl in the world!

Hope you enjoy the giggles of Ms. Maddie as she plays a tickle game with Mama Teet!



Love you all!
Nile, David & Maddie

There Go The Bumpers!

It is insane how quickly Maddie is learning to do things! Yesterday K let me know that while she was at daycare she pulled herself up in the crib by holding onto the crib rails! So, off came the bumpers last night! We had lowered Maddie's crib down a couple weeks ago - just in time it looks like!

This morning we were also playing around and I decided to have her practice standing up against the sofa. I took off one of the bottom cushions so that the ledge wouldn't be too high for her to reach. Maddie easily pulled herself up to standing against the sofa and then spied the tv remote control on the cushion next to where she was standing. The tv remote is one of her favorite toys, so off she went! She started moving herself over to the higher cushion, moving her arms and legs to sort of pull herself over there while holding onto the couch! Holy cow! Her legs weren't strong enough to support her the whole time, so I held her up, but she had all the maneuvers down and was able to get over to reach the remote! Wowzers!

Our girl is learning so much! She is going to be zooming all over the place in no time flat!

Love you all!
David, Nile & Maddie

It's Been a Big Weekend!

Maddie had three firsts this weekend...

*Saturday was our first snow and we took Maddie outside to take some pictures and enjoy seeing everything blanketed in white! When we were taking the photos, it was hard to catch a smile because she kept sticking her tongue out to catch the snowflakes! She looked so adorable all bundled up and little snowflakes perched on her eyelashes. That is a precious memory I hope to never forget!

*Today her first tooth broke through (see post below for more details). It is going to be strange not seeing that gummy smile in a few days but I know she is going to look so stinkin' cute with a tooth!

*And...today, she stood up for the first time! She's been crawling for a while now and even before she started to crawl, she would stick her tushy in the air so that her legs extended fully. We were down on the floor playing and had our suitcase out (sad, I know, that this is still out from our Louisiana trip, but I'm glad it was!) and we had Maddie near it. She went from a sitting position to a standing one, with her hands perched on the top of the suitcase, all by herself! She kept doing it over and over and had such a great time! She has all the moves down on how to go from sitting to standing...now she's just looking for something taller that she can tackle! Our little girl is growing so fast! We are so blessed to be her parents!

We love you all!
David, Nile & Maddie

Yep, There It Is!

At Maddie's mid-morning feeding today, she was sitting in her highchair having some fruit...and what do I see? A tooth peeking through on her bottom gum! I washed my hands after we were finished eating and rubbed my finger over her gum and it is bumpy! It is definitely there! I can't believe our baby is getting her first tooth! It is her left center tooth on her bottom gum. I have no idea how long it takes for the tooth to come all the way up, but it has broken through the gums! She has been such a great baby too - no crying or anything to even let us know all this was happening!

This is much belated, but we want to thank everyone for the wonderful Thanksgiving visit we had in Louisiana! We had such a great time! While we were there, we were able to catch Maddie laughing on video too! We've been trying to capture this for a long time, but each time we turned on the recorder, she would stop laughing. We caught her enjoying a game with Mama Teet though and she was loving it too much to care that we were taping her! David is going to put the video together and as soon as it's done, I'll post it up.

In the meantime, here are some photos of our little munchkin in Louisiana...




We love you all!
David, Nile & Maddie

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

First Swim Lesson

Maddie had her first swimming lesson yesterday and she did great! We found a really nice facility that focuses on children's lessons and keeps their pool heated to 92 degrees, so there's no temperature shock for anyone - got to love that!

We signed up for a series of six lessons and each lesson is a half hour. The time went by very fast and Maddie seemed to enjoy it all! She just sort of laid back and went along with everything and soaked it all in. She's going to be a little fish in no time! Check out what a babe she is in her swimsuit too!

The teacher we had was really nice and did a good job at modifying each of the activities for the little ones. Here's a shot of our whole class...

Here we are getting our feet wet...


After everyone was in the water, we started out by singing "It's raining, it's pouring" and dripping some water over their heads. Then we worked on the skill of blowing bubbles. We walked around in a circle singing "Ring around the rosy" but instead of "ashes, ashes we all fall down" we sang "splashes, splashes, we all blow bubbles". Since Maddie can't blow bubbles yet, I bent down and blew bubbles in the water so she could see what those are.

The teacher then had us work on kicking and I rested Maddie's head on my shoulder and then kicked her legs for her. She did so great! She hasn't quite gotten into the "splash around and get everything wet" mentality, but I'm sure it'll come soon!

We walked around in a circle singing "Pop goes the weasel" too and would pop the babies out of the water when we got to that part of the song. I think we worked on floating next and we just took her around the pool holding her belly up.

They had us work with them on going underwater too which freaked me out, I have to say! Due to Maddie's age, we just did a partial dip, but it still scared me! The teacher came by and showed me exactly how to do it. We would count to three and when we got to three, I blew in her face. As soon as she made that funny look like "air has just gotten in my eyes" I would do a quick scoop, taking her under water (so that it just covered her nose) and bringing her in close to me. She did great with it, but I was nervous! You can see I was holding my breath too!


We sang "Put your right arm in" and went through all their body parts too! That was fun - it brought me back to my junior high days at the roller skating rink! That's the only place I've ever sang that song before!

Then we sang Humpty Dumpty and put the babies up on the "wall" of the pool and had them "fall" into the water when Humpty Dumpty fell. It was all so fun!


Then it was time to get dried off and change into her dry outfit. Isn't she just a sweetheart?!


David is going to do Maddie's lesson with her this weekend and I am going to do my best to take pictures as great as the ones he took!

Love you all!
Nile, David & Our Little Swimmer

6 Months of Perfection

Today Maddie had her 6 month check-up and the doctor said she is absolutely perfect! (insert image of mommy smiling ear to ear when she heard that!) She grew an inch and is now 25.5" tall and gained about a half pound so she's now weighing 13 lbs, 13 oz. Both of those kept her along the same path she was last time - 50th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight. Her head measurement was right on track too and kept her in the 50th percentile there. Wahoo!!

When she turns 6 months on the 20th, we get to start introducing her to solids. I am so excited to do this and see her reaction to foods! The last couple of weeks she has been really noticing when David and I eat and watching what we're eating or drinking so I think she's going to love having something of her own to eat! We are supposed to start out with rice cereal and give her that once a day for a week and then introduce her to all the veggies. We try each veggie for three days before introducing another one so that if she has any reaction to the food we can easily pinpoint what caused it. We can give her as much or as little veggies as she likes, as often as she likes. Once we run through all the veggies then we can move on to fruits. I know this is going to be insanely messy, but I'm really looking forward to it!

I was also able to reach my goal of nursing Maddie until she's 6 months. I'm so happy I was able to do that and we've had such special times together while she's feeding. With her 6 month birthday though, we're going to start weaning her from breastmilk and slowly introduce formula to her. We're going to introduce it slowly so that it hopefully doens't upset her tummy and we can make sure she's adjusting to it ok. The plan is to have her completely on formula by mid-November.

So all in all, everything is going great! We couldn't have been blessed with a more wonderful daughter!

Love you all,
Nile, David & Maddie

5 Month Photos

We took some new photos of Maddie recently that we wanted to share with you! She just gets cuter every day!

Bundled up in her towel after her nighttime bath...

Last weekend she wore the cutest outfit - this double layered skirt and matching tank top - she was so adorable!


If you have ever been curious about Maddie's favorite toy, Mr. Lion, we finally got him in a photo with her (all be it from behind!)! Maddie loves playing with him during all of her car rides!

Hanging out with Tami...

Her first trip in the baby bjorn as we took a walk around the neighborhood today...

We love you all!
Nile, David & Maddie