Dr. Visit

Maddie had her 8 month visit to the doctors. Really, it was her 9 month checkup, but we did it early since I'm on winter break. As usual, she hammed it up and made everyone laugh with her funny faces and noises. The doctor had to stop talking several times because Madeline was cracking her up.
Her checkup went well. She is 75th percentile in weight, 70th in height and 80th in head circumfrence. Her iron was great too. The doctor was happy with our feeding and sleeping schedules and said to keep it up because she looked healthy and happy.
It's been fun watching her explore new foods. She's tried peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, carrotts, apples, pears, peaches, bananas, blueberries, and cherries. Her favorites are peaches and squash. We've explored the wonderful world of Cheerios too, thanks to the encouragement of my cousin, Tina. It's fun watching her pick them up and get them stuck on her cheeks or the palms of her hands.
She is still a pretty good sleeper, however she has started waking up in the middle of the night again. She use to wake up and make a few noises then go back to sleep. Now she wakes up and pulls herself up to a standing position and screams until we come up. We haven't figured out how to break this habit yet. To be continued...

Mobile Maddie

It's hard to believe it, but Madeline is 8 months old. She continues to surprise us every day.
She went from rolling to crawling to pulling up to cruising all within 2 weeks.
She loves her new freedom and she cannot be stopped. I always knew we would have to keep our eye on her when she became more mobile, but had no idea how much. Wow! She is a mover!
It's so fun watching her explore her "new" world. She is so curious and alert. It's like we could see her brain taking everything in.
She is quite the ham too. Whenever we are in public she will show off by blowing razberries, making a scrunched up face and sniffing (you'd have to see it...funny) and screaching to get attention. Attention is exactly what she gets too. She makes people laugh and smile wherever we go.

Our Big Day in Court

Thank you Aunt Hughena for eveything! We love you and words cannot express how much we appreciate all you've done for us. We can't wait until Madeline is old enough to hear the story of how you helped bring us all together. Uncle Pat, we love you too! This picture was taken 5 minutes before we went into to court for Madeline's big day.

Cousin Margaret helps show off my beautiful dress that Aunt Hughena bought me!

Princess Maddie demands someone peel her a grape!!

From left to right, Grandpa Dan Walker, Grandma Barbara Walker, Judge, Mom, Maddie, Dad, Atty Henry Gerhardt, ad litem Atty.

Halloween

We Are a little behind on our bloging lately but here's a quick update.
These are a few pictures of our little "Monkey" on her first halloween. She was the hit of the neighborhood. It did turn out that she had an alergic reaction to the costume though, but not a bad one.

Pumkin Patch

Madeline went to her first Pumpkin Patch this weekend with some mixed results. Turns out she likes animals, but hates Pumpkins!!

Waaaaahhhh....this thing is creeeeeeeepy. Waaaaaaahh!!

When we first put her down to take a picture she decided to grab a huge hand full of hay and shove it in her mouth (captured at the exact moment below).

She loved staring at this donkey and a Texas longhorn. She just smiled away as if she were seeing a rainbow for the first time.

BRAINS!!!

We told Madeline about Halloween and zombie's.....she seemed very interested and then waited till I got down on the ground and mumbled "BRAINS!!....NEED BRAINS!!!"

Remember this basket from her first month post? Now she looks like she is ready to attach a steering wheel and drive it around the house.

WoooooooHooooooo!

Bath time.

Picnic

A couple of weeks ago we took Madeline to this great park right next to our house with lakes, bridges and scupltures from famous artists. The park is actually right in the middle of a business complex that has 5 high rise buildings surrounding it. It's great because on Saturdays and Sundays there is nobody there and we had the entire 100 acre park with 250 sculptures in it to ourselves. We have never seen Madeline so happy. She really seems to enjoy nature and seeing things for the first time.

Yes this sheep sculpture did indeed say please do not climb on the sheep.....oh well....couldn't resist.

This is dads favorite picture ever.

Fruit, Veggies and Teeth

We had a surprise visitor last week...a tooth. It was followed by another tooth a week later. We couldn't believe it. It's amazing how quickly Madeline is growing. Her two new teeth are a reminder of how quickly she will change and grow. They look so cute. Well, really, we have to fold back her lip to see them, but they're still adorable. Maddie is still loving her Exersaucer. She's turning all the way around in it, on her own. She has figured out how to work all the toys too. This week, her favorite is the stack of shapes. Of course, I make everyone call them by their 3 dimensional name. There's no reason why we should confuse her and call it a triangle when it's a triangular prism.



I love it when Madeline falls asleep on Chris. It's rare these days. She is so good about sleeping in her crib. We are able to put her in her crib, while she's awake and she usually puts herself to sleep. Every now and then she is extra fussy or overly tired and this does the trick. She's so peaceful

We are so excited that Maddie is sitting on her own now. She is a lot happier, therefore we are too. She has figured this toy out, kind of. She loves to take the rings off. Before we know it she'll be putting them back on too. Mostly, she just likes to gnaw on them.

We started Madeline on vegetables. The carrots did not go over too well. She kept making funny faces and spitting them out (see picture) She got really sick that weekend. Our doctor told us to do the BRAT diet with her (bananas, rice, apples, no toast of course) and that helped. He said she may have an intolerance to carrots which is rare, one in a million or something. She loves applesauce and likes bananas. We're afraid that she's not going to want her veggies after trying the apples. We'll see.

Lot's of changes in Maddie

We've seen so much growth in Madeline during her 5th month. She is rolling all over the place, standing with help, sitting with help, and grabbing everything in sight. Her smiles are constant, now that we've changed her formula and she is beginning to laugh too. She loves her exersaucer because she has more freedom to move and grab at her toys. She's definately an active baby and always alert.

She is doing great with her cereal. She gets 2 tablespoons, twice a day. She seems to like the change. Next week, we will be starting her on veggies. Yipppeee!!! Can't wait to see how she responds to them. We had more trouble with her formula. The dr. put her on Alimentum which is a hypoallergenic formula and she stopped crying and seemed really happy. We decided to try Soy because the new formula stunk so bad. That did not go over too well. We noticed an immediate negative reaction to the soy. So...we're back to the stinky expensive stuff. She's happier and feeling better and that's really all that matters.

The best part of this month is all the talking. She is making so many new sounds. It's the cutest thing! It's funny because it seems like she "says" different things to Chris than me. She talks to everything...the cat, toys, t.v., her reflection. Too cute!!!

This is the quilt that Aunt Laura made me. It's sooo cute!

Hey! I know I'm growing out of my clothes, but this is rediculous!

This is the lake by our house. We like to go feed the ducks when it's not 100 degrees.

This is my favorite toy. I love my exersaucer, especially the animal sounds.

I figured out how to punch it to make the sounds.

Busy Month!

Chris takes the stand with sleeping MadelineAunt Hughena bought Madeline this pretty dress for her hearing. She looked so cute in it.Aunt Georgina, Aunt Hughena and MadelineSorry we haven't posted for so long. It has been an especially busy time for us. I am back to work teaching 3rd grade and have been learning how to juggle motherhood and teaching. It's been quite busy and stressful, at times, but we're learning how to balance it all. Thanks to my wonderful parents, Madeline doesn't have to go to daycare. They are taking great care of her and are loving every (well..almost every) minute of it. I'm so lucky to have their help and knowing she's being cared for by her grandparents makes it easier. I also have an amazing class this year. They are the sweetest group of kids.

In addition to starting back to work we also traveled to Missouri. I had to miss the 2nd week of school to appear in court for Madeline's hearing. It was exciting and nerve wracking to be there. Everything went really well even though I was really nervous to take the stand. I broke down crying when my lawyer asked me if I had bonded with Madeline. At that moment, she put her head on Chris's shoulder and fell asleep. The love I felt for her just filled my heart and I lost it. I think I got everyone crying. My Aunt Hughena and Uncle Pat went with us and so did my Aunt Georgina who was visiting from Canada. Having them there with us helped ease our nerves.

Madeline did not love the 12 hour car trip. She was pretty bored and wanted out of her seat. As soon as we stopped and took her out she was the happiest baby ever. When we buckled her in, she'd cry until she fell asleep. Her Baby Einstein CD helped for a while, but not for long. Needless to say, we were all happy to be home.

Now we are back to normal and getting back on our routine and should be back on track with the blogging....for now.

Stong, Alert, and Cute as ever!

It's hard to believe that Madeline is already 3 1/2 months old. It has been a fun month because has shown so much growth. She is very alert and doesn't miss a thing. She is grabbing at everything...toys, clothes, glasses, hair, tails.

She is so strong and still physically advanced according to the books. She holds her head up on her own and loves her new Bumbo chair. It gives her a lot of freedom. She puts weight on her legs in a standing position and is so strong. Maddie's been rolling from her stomach to her back for a while now and she surprised us again this week. She rolled from her back to her stomach! She's very determined and seems to figure out how to get what she wants. Brilliant!

Of course, you can't beat the "talking" and nothing is better than a big smile. You can't tell in pictures but when she smiles real big she has a dimple by her chin. So cute! He favorite thing to talk to is her cowgirl doll. She'll lay in her play yard and have a full conversation with it. It's fun to imagine what she must be saying.

Just Pictures!

Sweaters in July?

You're probably wondering why we would dress Madeline in sweaters during a Texas summer. These sweaters were knitted by two very special relatives. The cream sweater was made by Mary Ann's dear Aunt Lorraine. She made it for cousin Anthony. He is now 21 years old. This sweater was handed down to many cousins and now it's Maddie's turn.
















You can see that Madeline started losing her patience with the second sweater. It was knitted by Mary Ann's late grandmother, Ivy. She was her mom's mom. She made this beautiful sweater for Mary Ann's niece, Danielle, who is now in her twenties.

When I think about all the love and work that went into making these sweaters it makes me feel so happy and special to have them for Maddie. I wonder who will get them next?

Madeline is now 14 1/2 lbs. and has outgrown most of her newborn clothes. She holds her head up on her
own but is a bit of a bobble head. Her newest discovery is her hand. She loves looking at her fingers and eating them.

She loves visual stimulization and we can clearly see the wonder in her eyes when we put a new toy in front of her. Madeline also loves to watch TV...ugh...strangely she really only likes to watch two things, Peep and baseball. Yes you read that correctly, if she is ever fussy or bored we can count on putting her in her swing in front of a baseball game and she gets.....fascinated....intrigued and generally glued to the action and suspense on major
league baseball.........odd but true.