Family Pictures

 

Tons of thanks to Jessica Kent Photography!

12 Month Stats

Maddie went to the doctor on Wednesday for her 12 month well child check.  She is growing beautifully!  She had 4 shots, including the first part of a flu shot.  She has to go back after Christmas to get the second half of the flu shot and have 12 month hemoglobin bloodwork done.  (Poor baby!)  Since she has not transitioned very well to whole milk, we are cutting out the juice for snack and serving milk instead in hopes that she will grow more accustomed to it. 

Stats for 12 months:
Weight:  18 lbs. 11 oz.  (between 10th and 25th percentile--petite like Mommy)
Height:  29 in. (50th percentile)

Celebrating Maddie's 1st Birthday

Yesterday was Maddie's 1st birthday!  We had a day full of fun!  Here's a quick account of what we did:

• Maddie ate some of her favorites for breakfast:  yogurt, eggs, waffle, and grated apple
• We went on a walk (it was so nice outside yesterday--mid 70s)
• We played with her toys inside
• We went to swing at the church playground and Daddy surprised us and met us there!  He had the rest of the day off!
• We played outside and walked around in the yard
• We opened presents and cards!  She got a swing, fridge phonics, pink blocks, and a ladybug pillow racer from Mommy and Daddy.
• We had cupcakes for dessert!  Daddy helped Maddie blow out the candle.  She didn't eat much of the cupcake, and somehow she stayed amazingly clean.
• We had lots of snuggle time!

Getting the hang of it and pulling out the tissue paper on her own

She was fascinated with the envelope

Slow, but deliberate

Playing with her new blocks

Yummy cupcake

Already excited about the cupcake

Blowing out the candle with Daddy's help

She loved the icing

 

Taking a big bite!

 

Happy 1st Birthday, Madelyn Claire!

I can't believe our baby girl is one already!  How can it already be a year since we were in the hospital with her?  It has been amazing to watch her grow and change over the past year.  Oh, how many special memories we have made!  She has brought so much joy and love into our lives, and we are so blessed to be her parents.  We love you so much, Maddie!

Here is what Maddie is up to at a year old:

• wearing size 3 diapers
• wearing 9-12 month size clothing and size 3 shoes
• She has become a very good walker.  She now prefers to walk instead of crawl (most of the time).  If she trips while she is walking, she just stands back up and keeps on going.  She was even doing pretty good at walking on the unlevel grass this past weekend.
• She loves being outside and will point at the door when she wants to go out.
• Maddie loves reading books and is constantly bringing books to us to read them to her.  Touch and feel books are still her favorites, but she loves just about all kinds of books.
• Madelyn is nursing only once a day at breakfast now.  (It's been hard for both Mommy and Maddie to give this time up....but it will be coming to an end soon.)  We've run out of frozen breastmilk as of last week, so we transitioned her to whole milk.  She drinks it, but not very much; she obviously doesn't prefer the taste of it to breastmilk.  I guess it will just take some time.  She eats a variety of foods, but it still a picky eater.  She is very hesitant of new foods. 
• She now has 8 teeth--4 on the top and 4 on the bottom.  The past 4 seemed to have come in all at once, and she has not been happy about it.  Tylenol and Motrin have helped, but I know she hasn't felt the best.  Her eating habits have suffered some due to sore gums.  She usually likes it when we brush her teeth, but here lately she doesn't want anything to do with it.  I believe she is working on getting some other teeth in soon too.
• Her naps have remained pretty consistent.  One morning nap for about an hour and one afternoon nap for about an hour and 15 minutes.
• Maddie's nighttime routine has become so much easier for all of us.  After storytime and snuggle time, we are able to lay her down in her crib and let her go to sleep on her own.  She only cries for just a minute or so before falling asleep.  She is also able to do this with her naps.  I am so proud of her for being such a big girl and going to sleep on her own!  Since we have been doing this, she has been sleeping through the night.  She may still wake up once (or very seldom twice), but she goes back to sleep on her own in a matter of minutes.
• I don't feel like she has picked up on much new vocabulary in the past month, but she is coming up with ways to express what she wants, mainly pointing at things and grunting.  We try to emphasize the words, saying, "Do you want your juice?  Say, 'Juice, please.'"  I'm sure she'll pick up more words as she is ready.
• Madelyn is going through a phase where she doesn't like to get in her car seat or high chair.  She holds on tight when we try to put her down and will usually fuss when she is put in the seat.  Once she gets settled in, she's ok...she just doesn't like being put in.  I think she would just rather be on move instead of having to sit still.
• Maddie goes to see Dr. Schmidt tomorrow for her well-child check and immunizations.  We'll post updated stats after the appointment.

Our precious little 1 year old!

How can it already be a year?

Happy Halloween from the Flintstones!

Meet the Flintstones....

Dino

The Flintstone Family

Pebbles

I am proud to say that I made our costumes!  (Except Hershey's....I am definitely not about to try that!)  Besides messing up mine when I first cut it out and having to get more fabric, they really weren't that hard to make!

Our pumpkin, Gobby the Goblin, carved by "Fred"

Gobby

The Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch

We took a family trip to Briley's Pumpkin Patch so that Maddie could pick out her very first pumpkin.  She loved the pumpkins, especially the miniature ones that she could hold.  She picked out a mini pumpkin and held onto that thing for the rest of the day!  Cody and I picked out a big one for us to carve so that she can have a jack-o-lantern.  (We'll post pictures of the carved pumpkin later!)

 

 

 

Milestones and Maddie-isms

Taking more steps....

She is able to put some shapes in her shape sorter.  Although she doesn't get it in every time, she is pretty good with the circle.  She has also put the square in a time or two.  Still working on the other shapes.

She can point to certain pictures in her ABC book when asked.

For the first time today, she pointed to 3 correct colors (blue, green, red) in her colors book when asked.

She is starting to hold up books and ask me to read them to her pretty frequently.  She'll hold up a book and bring it to me, I'll put her in my lap and we'll read together.  She really likes Ricky the Raccoon (Chick-fil-a kids meal prize book), Elliot the Elephant (another Chick-fil-a kids meal prize book), ABC's with Elmo and Friends, Richard Scarry's Nursery Rhymes, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Her 5th tooth peeked through her little gummies this morning!