Peek-a-Boo

Maddie Girl 6 Months

For Maddie's 6 month photo shoot I decided to hire in some help. And by "hire in" I mean bribe April with some food. April and Emery (blog) were kind enough to come over and snap some photos of Maddie for me. April is far more experienced with the camera and does some amazing work. We had a great time getting in some great shots. Donny also made a little guest appearance at home too - incriminating photos to be used at a later date. April - thank you so much for everything, they are amazing!!By the way...I did a "test run" the night before - I stress night - and this is what I got:

Maddie's Room

Maddie and I have been working on her room to try and get some pictures up and cover up some of those bare walls. I found some frames on clearance at Target that I painted to match some colors in her room. So I was finally able to frame some of the maternity pictures we had done forever ago.

These little booties were my "corsage" at one of my baby showers.

Another maternity shot along with Maddie's birth announcement.

The wall over Maddie's changing table. I have a Pottery Barn frame up there too that needs some pix as well.

Did I mention I made a place for all her bows and flowers? A must in this room - we have to be organized!

Toys, Toys, and more TOYS!

What could be more fun than new toys? Maddie loves her exersaucer, a hand-me-down, but nonetheless entirely amusing. We have gotten some new toys to "clip" on to fill some of the missing ones. We have also recently purchased some drums. Maddie is into hitting things and the whole cause-and-effect phase, so what better? These light up and play music when you hit them. They also come together at the base and roll. So, when Maddie decides to start crawling, you can roll them and they play music!

Is that your book in there too Maddie? How educational of you!

Yes, use the rattle to hit the drums, the more noise the better!

What to do at the end of all this play time?? Ahhh, rest!

Bye Bye "Baby" Bath

We love, love, love bath time, but we are upgrading permanently to the bath tub. Maddie loves to splash and have a toy or two with her, and frankly she just takes up too much room in baby bath tub for all that. Now that she can sit up she loves to sit on a towel in the bath tub. She can splash water and I don't have to worry about cleaning it up. She can now easily play with her ducky and boat, oh yes, and her "Curious George" bath book!

We will miss our massive amounts of bubbles...

Oh yes, and we will miss our fun water stream to try and "catch."

Lake Trip!

That's right, another trip to the lake - Maddie is becoming quite the regular. Aunt Melinda was in town for the weekend and Uncle Rick drove down from school to have a little get away at the lake. The day was gorgeous, but, I can't say much for the water temp - it was chilly! Maddie did get on her little raft and float some. Unfortunately we couldn't get the boat in the lift all the way down so we didn't get to go out to dinner on it. We had a ton of fun though just lounging around playing in the water. Melinda - we swear you have not cursed the boat, we will get you out there soon enough!

Pre-bathing suit. Post-sunblock.

Did I mention we love our feet??

Getting in some tummy-time on her raft.

Look at our two snoozers! Maddie was playing with Donny's hair, got tired, and fell asleep sitting up!

All that water wears her out!

Happy Birthday Donny!

Donny turned the big 2-8 this week. I did my first return to subbing this week so we didn't do a dinner celebration until Friday. Subbing was fun because I got to go back to PH and see all the teachers and students that I left behind last year. I also got to see lots of my students from the previous year also. But, it was really hard leaving Maddie in the mornings, fortunately she went to Donny's mom's house during the day and he was able to drop her off. I think I will try and sub here and there if it fits with the schedule.

For Donny's bday he decided he wanted to go out to Abuelo's. YUM! Aunt Melinda was also in town so she got to tag along. I managed to snap some super cute pictures of the birthday boy with Maddie.

Go Bananas!!

That's right, we have a found a food that we not like, but love! Yes, bananas are amazing. Maddie literally leans out of her Bumbo seat to try and get more. She basically pounces on her food. And yes, I "made" the bananas for her food too. She gets half an ice cube cut in with some rice cereal and we are good to go. Maddie loves them so much she eats them twice a day. I think next we are going to move onto pears next and see what we think but it is good to know that we have a good fallback food to go to if need be.

On another note Maddie also had her first cold, when these pix of bananas were taken. She was still just as cute and smiley when she was sick just a little more snotty. I did end up taking her to the pediatrician because she had a 101 degree fever. Dr Cummings just said Tylenol and a humidifier should do it. So far she has done great. She has been sleeping well thanks to the humidifier and its white noise effect. We only did Tylenol one night and we all slept soundly. I loved this because the night before I actually took Maddie to the doctor neither of us got any sleep. By 5:30 I just took Maddie out of her room and Donny found us asleep on the couch. Maddie faired her baby cold well and was a champ, we were very impressed, and, Donny felt bad for giving it to her.

What Snickers, you think you are getting some of this? I don't think so....

I told you, pounce on the food...

Maddie loves to read...

We absolutely love to read books. All kinds of books - touch and feel, colors, animals, you name it, we read. Well, Maddie has this cute "Taggie" book that she loves to read on her own. And by read I usually mean eat. Either way Maddie likes to "read" to her buddies Mr. Monkey and Ms. Kitty.

Go Hokies!

Labor Day we went over to Bobbie & Pop's house for dinner and some of the game. Maddie only has a couple of Hokie clothes all of which are far too warm for this weather, and far too gender neutral, hence the flower. I am going to learn some tricks of the trade from Maddie's BFF Emery's mom to hopefully make some cute Hokie gear for this season.

Thanks BFF.....Week 23

Baby Emery was sweet enough to give Maddie not one but two bows, and a personalized cup! The bows are super cute and the perfect size. One is pink seen here and the other is a cute lavender/purple. The cup, which I need to photograph, has "Maddie" embroidered into the sleeve. If you want to see more about the cups visit the queen of blogging Ms. Dowdy here. Thanks again Emery we love them!

Scandalous PJ's?

The other night Donny got Maddie into her PJ's and ready for bed. Donny has her out playing in the living room when I come in and find this. That's right folks, Maddie's PJ's are truly scandalous. I looked at Donny and said 'are you serious? you really put them on like that?' To which he looked at me puzzled wondering what I was talking about. Yes, Donny, we have baby girl pajamas that button up her chest to show off that baby cleavage. Yikes!

Hey Ma, what's for dinner?

That's right, we have moved on beyond that bland old rice cereal. We have tried peas (see below) and sweet potatoes (also see below). We have also tried applesauce which Maddie makes pretty cute puckering faces when she eats it. So far we kind of like the two veggies but she's not jumping out of her seat to eat more. I have also made up some pears, bananas and peaches that are frozen up in baggies in the freezer. Did I mention I have "made" all this food myself? That's right people, I am that good. Just kidding, it's about the easiest thing ever to make. Steam-Peel-Puree. We will keep you updated on our other likes and dislikes.

I know what you are thinking, 'Katie, do you really have Maddie wear bows even when she is eating?' Well, duh! If she could talk she would tell you that she loves them. And, if Donny were on here he would say he does to. Maddie would like to say a big thanks to her BFF Emery (her cuteness see here) for her bow shown below - love it!

Chatty Maddie

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Did I mention Maddie is 5 months??

Dearest Maddie,
How did you get so big so fast? I swear it feels like just yesterday that we were rushing to the hospital to finally meet you! You amaze me everyday with all that you do. You love, love, to sit up. You sit up and play all the time. Your smile brings tears to my eyes - you smile all the time and at everyone! A little flirt with the boys sometimes, but we will talk about that! You can also hang out on your tummy for a long time now - you just prop yourself on your elbows and you are set! Please, please stay this small!!?? We love you so much and cannot wait to see how much you are going to grow and amaze us next month!
Love,
Mommy & Daddy