Crawl, baby, crawl!

9 months old

What better way to celebrate your nine month birthday than to crawl for the first time (in the right direction!!)?  Madeline actually took about three "strides" tonight, two separate times.  


To add to the excitement in the past month, she has six teeth; is sitting up by herself (and hates to lie down), which includes moving to sitting position from being on her belly; she's eating about anything that's put in front of her and picking up food and eating it by herself.  She's also trying to pull up to standing position, and continues to enjoy loving on her dog, Deacon.  One new thing she has been doing is putting her little mouth on my cheek.  She may be trying to nibble on me with her new teeth, but I like to call it a kiss from my baby.


Our observant daughter has also started imitating.  A little girl at Benna's likes to scream/squeal when she wants something, or dislikes something.  Madeline has picked up on this and is testing the waters.  Eek!  This doesn't happen all the time, thank goodness.  Mommy and Daddy, who are always on board for anything she needs to do to grow and develop, are helping her to realize that there are better ways to express ourselves.  Even though, when a shrill squeal is followed by a smile instead of a mad face, we can't help but turn our heads and laugh a little. 

Madeline loves chicken, and has tried beef, pork and duck, too (duck, at Benna's).  She has also enjoyed pancakes and eggs, and LOVES her Puffs.  Such a good eater - we're up to three meals a day, along with about four bottles of formula.  We're also finally having a breakthrough with the sippy cup. At the suggestion of our friend, Candice, we tried a different kind of cup (with a softer spout) and Madeline has really taken to it. 


Her typical night time routine entering the ninth month is bath around 7 pm, in bed by 7:30-8, sleeping until about 6:00, 6:30 the following morning.  


So on to month nine we go - with mobility and loads of personality!

And...we're mobile!

For the past few weeks, Madeline has been practicing going from sitting to rocking sideways, scooting on her bottom, and getting to where she needed to go by rolling across the room.  I can't even begin to describe how entertaining this has been, by the way.


So tonight, as usual, we were playing in her room and Madeline ended up on her tummy.  She promptly got up on all fours and begin to rock.  Then, she went from all fours to sitting up.  Back to all fours, rocking, rocking...and then crawled - BACKWARDS!  Poor little girl was a little frustrated because she was moving away from the toys that she had intended to move towards.  But hey, she's moving, so it's only a matter of time before she figures it all out and moves forward.  So proud of our sweet girl!  


And as a PS...I heard her making noises in her crib later this evening (when she was supposed to be sleeping), and went to check on her and she was rocking on all fours, in her Sleep Sack, no less.  Nuk in mouth, smiling behind it.  I think she's proud of herself, too.

Madeline's first Valentine's Day

Oh what a good one, it was! 

Our funny Valentine had such a big day!  


We had a great report from Benna's today.  Not only did Madeline eat well, she tried out some new tricks, too.


On Frank (the Tank)'s menu today:


Breakfast: Oatmeal & 1/2 banana
Snack 1: 1 slice of whole wheat bread (practicing eating with our fingers)
Lunch: Rice, carrots, pears and...wait for it...duck (she eats better than we do)
Snack 2: Crackers
Dinner: Cereal, sweet potatoes, chicken, green peas...still hungry...another 1/2 banana


And bottles in between.  WOAH.  


She must need all of this energy because she sat up by herself today!!!  We're so proud of her.  She is growing up so fast and continues to amaze us every single day.  


Cousin Avery was at Benna's with Madeline today, which was a fun treat, and Daddy surprised mom and M with roses to celebrate a very special first Valentine's Day.


Life is so sweet.  My cup runneth over. 

Pancakes, sippy cups, and friends, oh my!

Madeline enjoyed her first taste of pancake this morning.  Banana pancakes, at that.  She loved them!  I see a Saturday tradition in the making...I'm really liking this "eat what mommy cooks" thing we have going on lately.  I hope it continues.


While we were at the table, I thought we would give the sippy cup a whirl.  She actually did okay at first, and then confusion and frustration set in and we had a mini meltdown. She's curious about her sippy cup and drank a little bit from it today, but prefers to beat it against her high chair and flail liquid across the room. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose. We'll see what tomorrow brings!  

After breakfast, Madeline entertained us by scooting backwards on her tummy across the hardwood floors (who needs a Swiffer?!).  Our Saturday mornings are always an adventure. I'm waiting for her to just pick herself up and crawl.  We can't take our eyes off of her for a second. 


We also went to visit the Ahearn family in Cary.  Stacy and Pete are our buddies from birth class at Wake Med and their daughter, Erin, was born 10 days ahead of Madeline.  Unfortunately, we took Madeline to play during what should have been nap time, so she was a little testy, but all in all, she had a fun time.  It was fun to reconnect with these sweet friends!