Visiting the Easter Bunny

Yesterday, Madeline's cousin Brody (along with her Aunt Sarah and Uncle Todd) came to visit.  Brody brought his Batman toys and legos to play with...

Of course, Maddie was more interested in eating Batman...

And the legos...

 Pretty soon, she's going to want Brody to play with Barbies and baby dolls with her :)

Later in the day, we went to visit the Easter Bunny.  Amazingly, it only took about 10 tries, and they were able to get a picture of both of them smiling!

Unfortunately, Maddie isn't looking at the camera, but we were still pleased.  She was just fine sitting on the Easter Bunny's lap, and we got a cute one of just her as well... 

                                                     

I used to think pinks and reds were Maddie's colors, but after seeing her in this dress with a yellow cardigan, I think she looks even better in yellow with her blond hair and bright blue eyes...

 I'm very excited that spring is officially here (along with warm weather), so it's time to breakout all the sundresses that have been hanging in her closet.  I picked up several for her last fall when they were on sale 90% off, and I've been anxiously awaiting for the warm weather to arrive so she can start wearing them.

St. Patrick's Day

Madeline had a fantastic first St. Patrick's Day.  We started with day with a nice brunch, which included fried potatoes (of course), green eggs (but no ham), and donuts with green icing.  Maddie's brunch wasn't quite as festive and fun (a bowl of mixed grain cereal and some applesauce), but she loved it nonetheless.  After brunch, we headed to downtown Topeka to watch the parade.  We met up with my parents and sister Abbey, who proudly decked out her favorite niece in red, blue, and green beads...

 Madeline even wore her KU shoes...

 There were WAY too many people and things for her to check out, so she had no interest in smiling for a picture...

On the way home, we got ice cream cones.  Of course, Grandma Emma shared hers with Miss Madeline since she is a big fan of ice cream.  Here's Maddie and mommy back home after the festivities...

I hope everyone else had a fantastic St. Patrick's Day as well!

9 months old

It's hard to believe that our baby girl is already 9 months old!

 She had her 9 month check-up on Friday.  It was the first time she's gone to the doctor and not had to get any shots :)  She weighted in at 19 lbs, which puts her in the 50% percentile for weight, and she's a full 29 inches long, which puts her in the 95% percentile for height.  That wasn't too much of a surprise as she's been wearing 12-18 month clothes for a while now.

She has four teeth, and she's crawling around non-stop.  She also pulls herself upright.  She learned to wave bye-bye this week, and she smiles and claps when someone cheers her on by saying "Good Job Maddie!" or "Yay Madeline!".  Nana also taught her how to play patty-cake.  Overall, I'm happy to report that we have a very healthy (and very happy) little girl!

Bridal Shower

Madeline went with Grandma Emma, Aunt Sarah, and me to her first bridal shower, which was for Mat's cousin Kathleen.  She had a great time sitting in her high chair, eating cereal, and smiling at her two Great Great Aunts Wanda and Louise.  She was also extremely fascinated with the large deer heads that were hanging on the wall in the restaurant.  Daddy has hopes of her taking a liking to hunting.  I'm not so sure about that, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see in what she takes an interest.  Here she is with Grandma Emma at the shower...

 We haven't taken any Maddie and mommy pictures for a while, so I had Mathew take a few when we got home...

 Although I think she had fun checking out all the new people at the shower, she was happy to be home so she could get on the floor and crawl around with her buddy Freddie (who was also happy to see her)...

 Although this picture doesn't really portray it, she was absolutely cracking up playing with Freddie...

 Her dress was getting under her knees when she tried to crawl, which was causing issues for her...

 However, her rubber soled shoes made crawling on the wood floors MUCH easier that she's used to!
Taking a break from playing...

 Our happy girl (with 4 teeth!) having fun playing with her new purse that Grandma Emma got her...

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

I just realized that I never posted any pictures of Madeline fully decked-out in her KU apparel for the MU game last weekend.  Here she is with her Auntie Abbey (who purchased most of Maddie's outfit for her)...

Maddie is very focused on something on the floor in this picture, but it shoes of her shoes nicely (which are from Payless, of course)...

This picture cracks me up because Maddie is intently focused on the tv, just like her daddy is when he's watching tv...

Aside from Aunt Abbey jumping and screaming right into Madeline's ear when Robinson blocked that shot at the end of regulation (which caused Maddie to jump and scream), we had a fun time cheering the Jayhawks to victory!

Off to the races!

In the past two days, Madeline has figured out how to go from laying flat on her tummy to getting herself back up to a sitting position.  She has also been rocking forward onto her hands and knees, but then she flops herself back to sitting.  That is, until last night.  I was sitting on the floor playing with her when I noticed she had a little something in her ear.  I grabbed a Q-tip to get it out, but I was lazy and didn't get up to immediately put it in the trash.  Apparently, Miss Madeline decided that she really wanted to check out that Q-tip, so she rocked forward onto her knees and took off crawling for it.  I couldn't believe it!

For the next 45 minutes, we put the Q-Tip on the other side of her room, and she would crawl over to get it.  When we replaced the Q-Tip with a toy, she had no interest in crawling.  Here's another short video of her going a longer distance.

I got out the calendar of my first year that my mom made, and I was just over 8 months and 1 week old when I crawled for the first time, which is exactly the same age as Madeline.  She's taking after her mommy already.

Moving on up!

The past few days have been incredibly exciting around our house.  On Monday, Madeline's first tooth came in.  Last night, she was sitting on a blanket on the floor playing while we made dinner.  A little while later, Mathew walked over just in time to see her do this...  

                                                 

She scooted herself over to the ottoman, grabbed a hold of it, and pulled herself up! 

Freddie was sitting on the ottoman watching her, and she apparently decided that she wanted to check him out.

She did a great job on her dismount as well.  She just turned to the right a bit and fell onto her butt.

She decided a while ago that standing is far superior to sitting, so she wants to stand all the time.  However, until last night, she has always had to have some assistance.  After she figured out that she can get herself to a standing positing, she spent the rest of the night trying to do it again.  At one point, she scooted over next to the couch, but it's taller than the ottoman, so she couldn't get a good enough grip onit to pull herself up, which she did not like.  I helped her out a bit...

It's amazing how much her balance has improved in just the past few days.  This weekend, she couldn't balance herself standing at all.  Now, she can hold onto things and stand all by herself...

It's only going to be a matter of time before she's walking along using the edge of the couch for support.  It looks like I had better get serious about baby-proofing the house!