Ladybug Bag

Aunt Kristi got this bag for Madison last Christmas. We just pulled it out of the closet last weekend. Madison says and signs 'bug' for the ladybugs in her room. She was SO excited to play with her bag. Whenever we leave the house she wants to carry her snack in it. I snapped these pics on the way to the car yesterday. Also note her new funny face.

Bath fun with Letters

Madison just started enjoying her bath letters. As you can see, she is learning thru 'osmosis'. She loves pressing her letters to her face and chest. She is just more and more fun every day!

SHOES!

Madison LOVES shoes. Especially Mommy and Daddy's shoes. She learned to step into our shoes and walk around the house in them. These are the two most recent photos of her shoe adventures. Last night she stepped into Matt's shoes right before bed time. She was exploring the inside of the lamp. Always exploring.

Cheerleader?

Saturday while we were watching college football, Madison grabbed two of Sierra's toys and used them as pom poms. We aren't sure where she picked this up as she's never had pom poms to play with. She kept tickling her face with one of them. Such a silly girl.

Gobble Gobble

Which is the bigger Turkey? This year our Tom the Turkey was 26lbs for just our little family. Miss Madison is only 23lbs now. Funny, she looks so much bigger than the turkey. She was signing 'apple' in this photo as she is sitting right next to a plate full. Madison had a great time hanging out beneath our feet in the kitchen as we made Thanksgiving dinner this year. She went from dining room to kitchen saying 'no, no, no' when we weren't paying her enough attention. She also tried taking off her shirt-arms thru the neck of the shirt, and pulling her pumpkin tights off by pulling at her feet. I'm still not sure she realizes the difference between socks and tights.

Daddy taught Madison how to cook a turkey to perfection. She stayed busy until dinner when she enjoyed turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce but went to bed before pumpkin pie time. I'm sure she'll try some for breakfast tomorrow. We wrapped up the night pushing Madison around the house in her favorite, 'vroom, vroom', a Pampers diaper box. Of course she HAD to have all her bears with her too.

We are thinking about taking Madison out for her second Black Friday shopping morning tomorrow. Last year we were in FL. Mommy, Madison, and Uncle Matt met Daddy and Uncle Daniel (they spent the night at Best Buy) at the mall early in the morning for some shopping. We left empty handed, but had fun anyway. Madison hung out with Mommy in her Baby Bjorn. Stay tuned for more info on this years shopping adventure.

Fifteen Months Old

Can you believe Madison is 15 months old already? She is just a ball of energy these days.
She is still wearing size 4 diapers and is almost solely in 18 month clothes now.
Her vocabulary is really growing too, both signing and verbal.
Lots of people ask us why we decided to teach Madison sign language. People ask if signing slows her verbal skills. Signing helps Madison communicate her needs and wants with ease. Some letter combinations are tough to say as a baby. Things like 'th' and 'ch' and 'sl' are tough say when you are first learning to verbalize. When we learn a new sign together, Madison gets excited and still tries to say the words. We've found it is important to SAY the words we are signing. Nothing should REPLACE your verbal interaction with a child. Signing simply supplements her learning. She tells us when she wants to eat, drink, nurse, sleep, bathe-it's great. Don't get me wrong, we don't practice 'child led' parenting in our house. We still have a regular eat, sleep, bathe, play schedule. Signing just helps Madison tell us what she is feeling or discovering. Its so fun to play outside with her and see her little hands go wild when she sees a bird, or plane, or cat. She LOVES to sign to us what she finds. She even signed her first SENTENCE this month, "Eat cheese!". So fun.
This month she really started showing her excitement more, too. When Matt gets home from work, she's always been excited, but now she runs to the door shreeking with excitement. Sometimes she runs to the front window with Sierra yelling, 'Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad'. She's such a crack up.
She's discovering how things work more and more too. Including figuring out how to stack smaller things on top of each other to create stairs to get to places she isn't supposed to be. Or learning how to pull her baby gate down while Mommy is in the shower so she can cruise into the kitchen and 'bathe' in Sierra's water dish.
Everyday Madison learns a new way to get herself into trouble. Daddy says we are in for it!
Mommy and Madison are working out a new weekly routine. We played with some friends during the day this month and tried out MyGym- a mommy and me group here in town. When the holidays are over and we are back at home, we want to get Madison involved in more play groups. She has such a great time interacting with other kids, we really want to build on that.
Time certainly is flying with this little one.
Most of our daily ins and outs were covered in the trip to Fl, and Halloween posts. Madison also learned to climb the ladder while she 'helped' Mommy and Daddy hang a new ceiling fan in their room and some fun storage crates in her own room. She enjoyed lounging in her glider holding ALL her bears, babies, and dogs while we worked. She still loves going to the park to swing and run around with Sierra. Her favorite part of being outside is riding in or pulling around her wagon. When she's playing in the house, if she sees a hat she'll put it on- even if she already has one, or two, or three on. She has also taken a liking to socks and shoes. Hers, Mommy's, and Daddy's. She'll put them all on- or try anyway. We are having fun with every change and looking forward to every new day.
For those who are interested- Yes, we are trying for another baby. No luck yet but we'll keep you posted. Matt sure is having fun 'trying'.
Check out pics from this month.

Happy Halloween

This year Madison was a pumpkin fairy for Halloween. Not just any pumpkin fairy, but the cutest little pumpkin fairy you've ever seen! Madison was more interested in playing with her wagon than taking pictures by the giant pumpkins. The big one was 292 lbs and the smaller was a nice 64.5 lbs. Only a few months off before we start conditioning the soil for next year's pumpkin. We rode thru the neighborhood a little in her wagon before heading over to see her friends Kate and Carolyn Briggs. It was a nice quiet Halloween for us this year.

Pumpkin Patch

We got back from FL at 1am today, just in time for Halloween. Madison adjusted to the time change nicely so we decided to pick out a 'Madison size' pumpkin for her. The patch was pretty picked over but we still had fun. Madison watched all the bigger kids pick out their pumpkins then found one just her size. My favorite part was watching her sign 'ball' every time she saw a pumpkin. She still thinks the pumpkins are orange balls. Silly girl.

October trip to FL

October 17th Madison and Mommy left for FL to visit Mommy's family and friends. We had such a great time visiting. Madison played with Shanon and her kids, Declan, Alex, Riley, and Bobby. She wore her Gator outfit from Uncle Matthew that day- needless to say it was NOT the day of the Georgia-Florida game. Shanon's youngest, Bobby also had on a Gator outfit, which confused Riley. She thought our little baldy Madison was 'another Bobby'. We also had a great time playing with Reagan Kelly, Macy Baker, Dylan and Kaisley Carswell, and Kendall Sines. Kendall was a little timid the first time we played. By the second time, she and Madison were dancing and running around Old Navy together trying on hats.

Uncle Matthew taught Madison how to use Gramm and Grandpa's sofa like a jungle gym (thanks a lot Uncle Matthew!). Aunt Abby taught Madison how to go down the stairs face forward (with two hands for assistance of course) instead of inching down backwards as she used to do safely. When Gramm and Grandpa's dogs barked, Madison learned to tell them, 'No, No'. Unfortunately she used this new found word on Mommy when she didn't want to go down for naps too. She also perfected shaking her head back and forth (like saying no) when she is doing something she shouldn't be. For example, if she pulled on the lamp cord she would look at us and shake her head 'No'. It's great, she disciplines herself now. HA

Gramm had surgery on her elbow while we were there. Madison was a great nurse, sitting down next to Gramm and snuggling with her every opportunity she could find. She was especially happy when Gramm's cat, CC was on Gramm's lap. We taught Madison, 'gentle cat' so she didn't pull CC's whiskers and hair too much. Surprisingly Madison was pretty gentle and CC was pretty tolerant. All and all, I think CC was happy to see Madison go.

One of her favorite activities was waking Mommy up early to open the blinds and look out the front window of the bedroom to watch the cars go by. She learned the word and sign for 'car' and used it every time one drove by. She also learned the word and sign for 'ball'. And the sign for 'cup'. She knows she has to sit down to put on her shoes and now will sit down and try to put them on herself.

Gramm bought Madison squirting frogs for bath time. It didn't take long for her to figure out how to open the door handles at the house and let herself into the bathroom. She just stands by the tub pointing and saying, 'frog, frog'. Uncle Daniel brought out his GIANT Cha-Cha the tree frog from Rainforest Cafe too. Madison thought it was great fun to hug and lay on the frog. We thought we were going to have to buy an extra seat on the plane for our giant new friend!

We also got to spend a night with Aunt Dar and Uncle Michael. Aunt Dar showed Madison a special doll in Mommy's old room. Miss Madison remembered the pretty 'baby' and ran back to the door often, touching the door and saying, 'baby, baby'. She wanted to go back in and play with the baby more. We were quite impressed by her memory. She also got to play with Emma and Jack Ryan from across the street. They had lots of fun pretending they were cats and chasing Madison around the house. Of course whenever they would 'meow' Madison signed and said, 'Cat, Cat'. Poor Emma tried and tried to entertain Madison, but she was so enamored by Jack Ryan she barely paid attention to her little red-headed friend.

Madison did manage to get a sinus infection while we were in FL, so she got to meet Mommy's old family doctor. We learned Madison is allergic to the antibiotic Septra, which Mommy is also allergic to. No serious reaction, just a rash and yucky diarrhea. Madison also had her very first projectile vomit at Olive Garden with Mommy and Gramm the afternoon of the day we were leaving. Even with her cold, she was a trooper on the plane. As usual a fantastic flyer.

One of Mommy's favorite parts of the trip was watching the GA-FL game with her Gator friends, Jen and Tina. We had a great time harassing each other all game long. In the end the Bulldogs pulled through with a long awaited victory over the FL Gators. Go Dawgs!

Daddy says Madison grew a foot in the two weeks we were gone. She did get THREE new teeth while we were gone. Each day she seems to grow and change so much.

Madison's favorite camping spot

This weekend we went camping at the Kern River. This is Madison's 3rd trip (since she was born- we went when Mommy was pregnant too!) to the river. The water was WAY too cold to swim this time. We had a great time playing though. Having our little RV makes it much easier to stay organized. She loved playing with her toys outside. Especially her wagon. She opened the wagon door and climbed right in and sat down, flailing her arms until someone pulled her around camp. We need to work on the 'dismount' though. She decided to do a front flip head first out of the wagon and onto the ground on more than one occasion. No permanent marks though, only a few tears then back to running around.

Madison didn't get to play with any worms this time, but she saw her first fish up close and personal, Shawn's trout. Don't worry, we didn't let her touch it-too many crazy fishy germs. Mommy learned to play horse shoes...sort of. My aim is a little off. Kelly told Madison it was time for Mommy to throw horseshoes and she said, 'Uh-Oh'! Daddy thinks her reaction is perfect since Mommy is so terrible at horse shoes.

It was pretty windy on this trip so Madison got to wear some of her winter clothes and new shoes, and of course....hats. Check out pics from our trip.

Just another walk in the park....

Or TO the park. Madison loves taking walks in her NEW umbrella stroller. It is so much smaller than the travel system stroller. We walked to the park to play the other day. She was more interested in playing with her stroller and walking around than playing. She found Mommy's keys and phone when we got to the park and immediately opened the phone to 'chat'. So silly.

Sleepy Girl

Yesterday Madison was SO tired before her afternoon nap. She stood up at her crib side crying for a minute. Then sat down and just fell asleep slumped over her bear. She looked so funny I just had to take a picture. She eventually fell over and continued her nap on her side. What a crack up.

Thirteen Months

Madison is all about expanding her vocabulary this month. Her signing vocab that is. She's perfected shoe, bear, and cat this month. It's so much easier to sign than form difficult sounds at this point. Signing takes a lot of the question out of what she is trying to tell us. It's GREAT!

She's still in size 3 diapers and is now wearing mostly size 12 month clothing. Madison had her one year check up on September 5th. She weighs 21 lbs 14 oz and is 29 inches tall. The pediatrician is still impressed with how strong and smart she is. Madison got four vaccinations at this appointment, including the chicken pox vaccine. Poor baby was one of the unlucky 1-4% of the population that actually GETS chicken pox from this live vaccine. Luckily it was a very mild reaction. She had a fever for over a week (which scared Mommy- up to 102!) and little spots on her chest, legs, shoulders and a few on her face. The spots only lasted about 5 days and were never itchy.

To get Madison ready for football season we started teaching her how to 'call the dawgs'. So far she says 'Go Dawgs!' When she hears the neighbor dogs barking she says 'dog, woof, woof'. We're working on putting these components together, 'Go Dawgs Sic em. woof, woof, woof.

She's getting much better at using her shape sorters and learning to flip her light switch up and down by herself (she has down all the time, but up is only about 50% now). One of her favorite tricks, though is taking all the toys out of her stacking hat boxes she got from baby Alex for her birthday and sitting or standing in them. She starting to turn them over and climb on them too. Not a great idea. She also enjoys pulling all the clean clothes out of the laundry basket when Mommy is trying to fold them. Then she climbs in the basket so we can push her around the house in it. Such a great helper.

Madison and Sierra are building their relationship too. Madison still loves to share part of her snack with Sierra. Sierra doesn't seem to mind when Madison pulls all the dog toys out of her basket and drags it all around the house. Sometimes she even puts the handle of the basket around her neck like a necklace. She's such a jewelry girl. She's rarely without a necklace (she pulls them out of the bottom of her toy boxes and puts them on) even if it is a basket! The girls love to look out the front window too. Madison looks so cute standing there with Sierra. She puts her hands on the sill and stands on her tippie toes to see what Sierra is looking at out the window. We laugh when she walks over and pushes the curtain to the side to make space. She also loves to push the front door closed. She is so proud when she does it she claps for herself.

The biggest daily change is that Mommy and Madison are home by themselves now. We decided Mommy isn't really cut out to be a full time daycare provider for other people's kids. Noah started daycare early this month. Now Mommy and Madison are working on a new routine with more play groups and daily outings. The weather is getting cool so we'll have to be creative.

Finally, pics from the month.

Madison's First Pismo Trip

This past weekend Madison went on her first camping trip to Pismo Beach, one of Mommy's favorite camping spots. We loaded up the RV and started to leave Thursday night. After running into a small problem with a fuel line we decided to wait and leave Friday morning after Daddy went to the auto parts store. Problem solved and on the road we were. Along the 3 1/2 hour trip north to Pismo Beach we had a tire blow out on the freeway. Luckily we were in a safe spot to wait for roadside assistance to help us change the inner dually on the RV. Whew...after all that we arrived in Pismo around 4pm on Friday.

As soon as we got there, we put Madison's bathing suit on to play at the shore with Kate and Carolyn Briggs while Daddy pulled the RV into camp. Sierra got to run around in the salt water, too. Once Daddy pulled in, we set up camp and played in the sand before dinner time. It's funny watching Madison try to walk in the sand. She takes a few steps then falls to her knees and crawls, using her hands as flippers to fling sand everywhere. Such a trip.

Madison didn't get to enjoy the campfire much on this trip, as in camping trips past. She played so hard during the day she was exhausted before 'campfire time' really started each night. We took along some great sand toys and her cool ladybug tent from Grandma Betty in Florida (Gramm's friend). We almost forgot she had the tent as she got it back in November. It was perfect for camping. All the kids had a great time crawling thru the tunnel and sitting inside to play.

Madison also enjoyed her first wheeling trip in the dunes. We strapped her into her car seat in the jeep and took off. Daddy obviously took it a little gentler than usual, but boy did she love it. She likes driving over the woops (like a washboard in the sand). Madison opens her mouth and makes an 'uhhhhh' sound. She loves it when her voice sounds like she is bouncing on a knee. Her big smile and giggle is just great! She also enjoyed her first 'beers on the ridge' trip. Needless to say Madison skipped the beer part. For those who are not familiar with our camping rituals...usually our group of campers ride up to the top of a dune or high spot to drink beers while we watch the sunset.

It was great to have the motorhome to travel in. When we hit traffic on the way home, Mommy could get up and go back to make a sandwich or get a snack for Madison- even go potty if need be! Such a great 'toy' for the family.

We got some awesome pictures on this trip. Hope you enjoy.

Daily Wagon Rides

Since Madison got a great new wagon for her birthday and Noah already had one at his house, we started going on walks everyday. It's a little tricky to find time in the day when they are both awake and not eating. Noah is still on the 'up two down two' schedule and Madison seems to have adapted to taking her two short naps while Noah is awake. (No rest for Mommy). We manage to find time for two walks a day now. Noah's house is close to the park so we started strolling down and playing in the sand.

Madison even got to teach Noah how to swing on Tuesday! He is still a little leery of swinging by himself but loves to tandem swing with Madison. They are too cute together. Everyone who sees us asks if they are twins. Angie and I don't think they look anything alike-not to mention they are six months apart.

What do you think?

Happy 1st Birthday

We started the morning of Madison's birthday by giving her one present before Daddy went to work. She enjoyed her animal train until it started moving toward her. Not so much a fan of the moving toys. She's warming up to it now. She LOVES the animals though. She wore her birthday girl shirt all day. When Daddy came home for lunch we got to open the presents that came in the mail from Grandma Shemenski and Grammy and Pap Luty. Madison loved the outfits she got and tried to put one of the dresses over her head. Her favorite part are the birthday cards which she likes to rip in half. We used lots of glue and tape this year.

When Daddy got home from work Uncle Chris Whalley came over and took Daddy to fly his fighter airplane. Madison had a nice bath and went to bed before the grown ups had Sushi, pie, and bananas foster to celebrate the day.

Saturday we had Madison's polka dot birthday party. What a great day. Angie and Noah came over early to help Mommy and Daddy get ready. Noah and Madison took nice naps while we busily set up. Carson, Kamryn, Kate, Caroline, Spencer, and Noah all helped Madison open her numerous presents. She is so blessed to have such great friends. Madison got lots of fun toys, cute clothes, a pop up book from Gramm, a hand painted rocking chair from Mommy, camouflage pants from Daddy, pink camo shoes from Gramm, My Little Pony from Uncle Daniel and Aunt Abby, a Georgia cheerleader doll and plates with her Madison's name on them from Aunt Kimberly, and cars to ride on from Mommy and Kate and Caroline. Her favorite two presents are a wooden rolling toy from Gramm and Grandpa, which she pushes all around the house (in fact we had to take it to Noah's house today because she can't seem to be without it!) and her new WAGON from Noah and his Mommy and Daddy. Uncle Brian helped put it together during the party and Madison and Spencer Snee enjoyed rides around the yard. They sat in the wagon for almost an hour before it was bed time for both of them. Madison also got lots of fun outside toys too. We can't wait to blow up the new sailing pool from Aunt Stacy and Uncle Matt and take Noah swimming.

Before wagon time Madison had one of her polka-dot cupcakes. She didn't need any prompting to grab pieces and put them in her mouth. Mommy helped make it a little messier though. We thought she was going to put half of it in her mouth at one point but the moist cupcake fell apart before it got to her mouth.

Most of the grown-ups stayed to help Daddy celebrate his birthday even after Madison went to bed. Daddy's friends Chris Curtis and Kevin Jackson from high school even came for the big event. They had lots of fun playing with Madison's toys and making her new LeapFrog spelling toy say bad words.

Everyone had lots of fun on the first shared birthday for Daddy and Madison. Madison is so thankful for everyone's generosity and making her 1st birthday so great!

One year old ALREADY

Madison turned one year old on August 16th. It's tough to believe this big girl is the same little angel we brought home from the hospital. She walks, talks, giggles, signs, hugs, kisses, explores...our little girl has grown so much. Her vocabulary now includes, Mama, Dada (neither of which she uses much anymore), bird, dog, baby, and Uh-oh. We decided to teach her sign language as an alteranate form of communicating with us. Her first sign was bird. Now she signs milk to nurse and more when she wants another bite of yummy food. Just before her first birthday she started saying Uh-oh anytime she dropped something or fell over. She makes the cutest face when she says it. SHe hold the oh part and stretches her face so long. For the last several months she won't go anywhere without her 'jewelry' so we invested in a few more beaded necklaces for her birthday. It's hilarious to watch her dig around for them and put one on her neck before she gets up and goes.

Although she is developing quickly, she hasn't gained much weight. Staying steady at 21 lbs now. The doctor isn't worried about her growth so neither are we. Those chunky legs keep getting longer and longer though and there is no sign of that nice round belly leaving us any time soon. Madison still loves nursing with Mommy in between her big meals and is wearing 12 month clothes now.

She loves her big girl food and now prefers to feed herself. She tolerates being spoon fed but prefers bite size pieces she can hold put in her mouth herself. One of her favorite eating time activites is pushing things over the edge of the highchair to share with Sierra. Needless to say Madison and Sierra are becoming great friends. Sierra tolerates Madison climbing on her since she is so generous with her food and snacks. Sierra is more than willing to share pieces of her dog biscuits too. It's pretty sweet to watch Madison toddle over to Sierra and put her head down next to her. Soon enough this dynamic duo will make lots of trouble, I'm sure.

The last month she is growing and changing so much. We enjoy watching her discover how new toys work and learn to perfect her new walking ability. Lately she thows her arms up and practically runs around the house she's moving so fast. She just toddles with her arms up above her head, giggling the whole time. It's not always fun and games though. Miss Madison is learning to throw temper tantrums. She arches her back and throws her head back if she is unhappy with you. Best of all, when she gets really upset she walks around in a big circle then lays on the ground or dramatically throws her head back to lean against the sofa. We are learning to ignore the occasional tantrums in the hopes they will cease. Needless to say, one of the new signs we are working on is 'Stop'.

Back to fun...We found out Madison enjoys swinging. The day before her birthday Mommy and Madison went to the park to play with Spencer and Megan Snee. Spencer and Madison had so much fun swinging together. One of our favorite new things are her hugs. Madison walks right up to each of us and hugs our legs then looks up and smiles. When we are sitting down she will crawl into our laps and snuggle with us. What could be better for a Mommy and Daddy? Such a precious gift!

Click for photos of the past month.

Pumpkin Update

We are growing another big pumpkin this year. This one already passed last year's weight and we still have 2 1/2 months until Halloween! Last years pumpkin was just under 200 lbs, this one is up to 215 already!!

As reminder here is a photo of last years final pumpkin so you can compare. Look at how big our little girl has gotten too.

Walking at the mall

Last night we went to the farmer's market at the mall to walk around. Literally. Madison had her first opportunity to walk outside. Mommy and Madison went to the outdoor mall play area yesterday morning for a little practice. The real test came last night when Mommy and Daddy let Madison walk around the farmer's market in the parking lot. As you can see in the photos we were worried about skinned knees so we were not far from her. She was the hit of the market with her cute shoes and wobbly toddle. She loves to stick her belly out and go. We wrapped up the evening with more playtime at the mall play area. Daddy had fun showing off Madison's wheel barrel trick too. I just laugh every time! She tried to follow the bigger kids around the play place and was just exhausted when we got home. It was an early bedtime for this little girl.

WALKING!

She's been standing on her own for over a month now. Actually she's been walking for a couple weeks. Her first steps were July 11th. She's practically a full time walker now. She walks all around the house. She even turns around without falling now. Pretty soon she'll be running! Still working on getting a video posted of our new toddler. Stay tuned for the action shots.