Attempting to get a Christmas picture

For the past 3 years, we've always done a Christmas card with a picture of all 4 (or 5) of the dogs.  This year, they were demoted off the Christmas card and replaced by the baby.  We (briefly) discussed how cute of a picture it would be if we could get a picture of Madeline and all 5 dogs sitting by the Christmas tree.  Then, we realized that there is absolutely no way we would be able to make that happen (without some mad photo shop skills).  As it turns out, getting a really good picture of Maddie turned out to be more than enough of a challenge.  I've been holding off taking a Christmas picture as I was hoping she'd be able to sit in the picture since she's really close to being able to sit alone.  Within the past few days, she can sit unsupported for a few moments, so I put her in her dress, threw a bright red bow in her hair, and got out the camera.  The first shot I got was pretty good...  

However, I was hoping to get some of her without her hand in her mouth.  Easier said than done.  Here are just a few of the next two dozen pictures we took...

When I finally managed to get a good one, this happened...

Darn the blurry picture!  After that, we have a series of photos of her reaching for the camera, eating her dress, sucking on her hands, and then finally getting fussy when she was tired of her crazy parents taking way too many pictures of her...

At the end of the day, I did end up with a handful of really cute pictures.  Here's one of my favorites...

Black Friday Shopping

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving celebrating with my family.  My aunt and uncle hosted it this year, and they live a mere two miles up the road from us, which is very convenient.  For the occasion, Madeline wore one of my old dresses that my mom had saved...

Ever since Mathew and I met seven years ago, we have always gone shopping on Black Friday.  We scower the ads on Thanksgiving Day and develop our game plan for the following morning.  This year, we put together a game plan, but we went to bed with the intention of playing the morning by ear.  If we had a long night with Miss Madeline, we were not going to worry about getting up to go shopping.  Well, a little after 5 AM on Friday, we had a bright eyed little girl who was ready to get up and go...

 

She had on some soft and fuzzy footed pj's, so we threw her sock monkey hat on her, grabbed the Baby Bjorn, and headed out in search of some bargains!

A few weeks ago, we were at Old Navy to get some KU apparel that Mat and I had been wanting.  We ended up with a Christmas dress and sweater for Maddie as well as the sock monkey hat for her....

I was a bit apprehensive about buying the hat since it wasn't on sale, and I don't think I've ever paid full price for anything in my life.  However, her daddy insisted on his little girl having it (can you say spoiled?)  Maddie wears that hat all the time now, and we get more compliments on it from random people than I can believe.  When we were shopping on Friday morning, we had people walking by stop to comment on how adorable that hat is on her, and everyone we stood by in line loved it as well.  I guess it was a good purchase, and it keeps her head toasty warm.

Our first stop of the morning was Dick's Sporting Goods where we can across this...

A sock monkey with a KU hoodie.  Of course, Maddie HAD to have it (according to her daddy).

Later that morning, we were at JC Penney's, and we came across this...

Maddie was too intrigued by it to let me get a good picture, so here's a close-up...

 

That's right, it's a sock monkey ornament that says "Madeline".  Obviously, our little Madeline absolutely had to have it :)

After making stops at the four stores we wanted to, we met our friend Trish at Panera for breakfast before heading home...

Our tradition of Black Friday shopping continued for another year!

Jumperoo!

We got Madeline a jumperoo several weeks ago, and she's been loving it.  Initially, she wasn't quite tall enough to get her feet on the floor to make herself jump, but she's big enough now.  It's amazing how much more she plays with the various toys on it than she did even two weeks ago.  She reaches for the hanging hippo and monkey, moves the rings all around, and spins the wheel.  Here's a video of her from tonight having a blast jumping while her daddy makes silly faces at her and the puppies run around...

First cereal

On Monday night, Madeline got to try some rice cereal for the very first time.  Well, it was 4 parts milk and 1 part cereal, so it was pretty much like slightly thicker milk that she ate with a spoon.  Here she is sitting in her high chair like a big girl...

Notice Bailey curiously checking out the situation.  She has no idea that within a few months, Maddie will probably be throwing food on the floor for her to eat.

Maddie wasn't so sure about the very first bite...

She was very concerned with the spoon...

But she quickly decided that the cereal was delicious and that she wanted to hold the spoon herself...

After that, she was like a little bird holding her mouth open to indicate she was ready for another bite...

Of course, daddy had to get in on the fun...

He was making all kinds of funny faces at her, so she was cracking up.  However, I managed to completely miss getting a shot of her laughing and got the wide-eyed staring at dad look (which is still pretty cute) instead...

Wanting to chew on the spoon some more...

After reading that a lot of babies only eat about 1 tsp at their first several feedings, I was pleasantly surprised when Maddie downed over a tablespoon.  However, she told us pretty clearly when she was full as she started screaming when I tried to give her another bite, so we called it good for the night.  The next morning, my mom was excited to get to feed her cereal, and she reported that Maddie ate it without any problems once again.  I'd say we're off to a pretty good start into the wonderful world of solids!

A wedding and a road trip

On Saturday, our friends Carli and Trevor got married, so Madeline got to go to her very first wedding.  Unfortunately, we didn't realize that she had outgrown all of her adorable dresses until we went to get her dressed Saturday afternoon.  However, we put her in a cute outfit with a pink jumper, put a pink bow in her hair, and she looked pretty adorable.  Since it was cool outside, we got out her winter coat that's lined with animal print, which everyone at the wedding absolutely loved.  She was a bit fussy during the ceremony, so daddy and her spent some time walking around outside of the church.  There was also a mom with her 11 month old little boy outside, so she met a new friend.

Maddie loved the reception.  There was music, lights, and tons of people to look at.  Here she is with her daddy...

 Daddy's little girl...

 As we were eating dinner, Maddie was sitting on my lap checking out everything.  A song came on, and Mathew commented what a great song it was for dancing.  Then, he stood up, took Maddie, and headed to the dance floor.  I have officially been replaced as his dancing partner.  In fact, we didn't get one dance together all night.  He was dancing with this little cutie instead...

 I think this is a cute picture with the two older couples smiling and looking at Mathew and Madeline dancing...

 She was a trooper for a good portion of the reception, but she started to get fussy right as we finished eating the delicious cheesecake they had for dessert, so we headed home.

On Sunday, Mat went to the Chiefs game with a few friends, so Maddie and I went on a little road trip to Wichita with my parents and Michael.  Lindsay and Phil were in Pratt for a wedding this weekend (the 25th one they've been to in the 4 years they've been dating.  I'd say it's about time they had one of their own!) so Lindsay met us in Wichita for lunch since she hadn't seen Michael since last February, and she hadn't seen Maddie in about a month.  I'm sure she was also excited to see Mom, Dad, and I.  In honor of her auntie the former ballerina, Maddie wore her pink dancing monkey outfit...

 She was a champ on the longest car ride of her life.  I thought she would fall asleep, but she sat in her car seat and jibber-jabbered away for the first 1 1/2 hours on the way down and back and only took a short nap.

When we got home, she crashed on the couch with her daddy to watch some football...

 They both look so comfy in this picture...

Another busy and fun filled weekend around our house!

I Love PJ's

Some of my favorite clothes on Maddie are her PJ's.  They're all so soft and adorable.  She has several PJ's that have matching hats as well, which are even cuter.  Oftentimes, we take her to my parents' house in her PJ's in the morning.  They're warm and comfy, and not having to get her dressed in the morning saves me a bit of time since mornings at our house are pretty busy trying to get all 5 dogs fed and situated as well as the 3 of us fed and out the door.  Here's a few of my favorite pictures of Maddie in some of my favorite PJ's...

Uncle Mo and Aunt Denise got here these when they went to Alaska.  They say "I Moose Be Dreaming".

Maddie sits in the Bumbo in the kitchen in the morning while we make breakfast and pack lunch...

All ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's with her hat and coat on...

 

LOVE those big blue eyes...

As you may have noticed in a number of those pictures, all of those PJ's are more like capris on her now.  Fortunately, the Carter's store at Legends had a sale on soft fuzzy fleece PJ's (and I had a coupon for an additional 25% off), so we were able to get her several pairs (in size 9 month for her long legs) for only $6.  I love a good deal :)