12 months

What a busy month it has been for all of us! Dylan has been extremely busy with school (by the way, I'm blaming him for hogging the computer each night and not letting me update the blog - which is more important, the blog or homework?!). Work has been super crazy. We are about two months away from trial and I'm not sure things could get any busier there. Madison is really the ray of sunshine in our lives and always re-energizes us after a long, busy day at work. Picking her up from daycare is the highlight of our days - there's nothing like walking in and seeing the excitement on her face as she makes her way over to us as fast as she can. She is becoming such a big girl so fast! She is doing so many new things it is hard to keep up. She definitely keeps us on our toes these days - trying to push all the limits and to see just how much she can do. Here are a few pictures of our little munchkin the past couple of weeks.

Another trip to Iowa!

I'm very late getting these pictures up but about a month ago, Madison and I made a quick trip to Iowa with my mom, Katie and Katie's boyfriend, Terry, where Madison got to meet new aunts, uncles, great aunts, great uncles, cousins and lots of others on the Daman side. It was so nice to see everyone - unfortunately, it had been years since I saw a lot of them too. We're just all so spread out across the U.S. that it makes it hard to see everyone frequently. Some of you hear a lot about my family in Iowa, so now you can put faces with names.

The five of us (from left to right):

Chad (being a dork), Charity, Christina, Cathryn, Chase
Charity will probably hate me for adding this, but Chad and Charity are out of age order. :)

Us with Madison and Addison. Missing Landon (Katie's little boy), Skylar (Chad's baby boy), and Charity's twins, Hunter and Harrison.

Madison with her sweet cousin Addison! How cute is that??!

My dad's favorite pizza: Ham, hamburger and bacon..... Yikes!

Eating at Pascouli's Pizza, my dad's favorite pizza joint in Humboldt, IA.

Our cousin, Tyler, and Chase.

Chase's mom, Menen, and Madi.

Chase's artwork (from left to right): Katie, Chase, Tyler

Yes, this one would be me. See Madison on my hip? :)

Aunt Katie making Madison laugh.

Trying to survive the longest road trip made in the shortest amount of time EVER!

....and she did SOOOO good!

My new baby doll

Our Little Birthday Girl

We had a fabulous PINK party to celebrate Madison's 1st birthday! So many of our friends and family were able to make it. We had a full house just as we had hoped! Madison wasn't feeling well Saturday morning, and I think she was a little unsure of the reason for the celebration, but she was a trooper and really did well. She got so many wonderful gifts - lots of fun toys, which keep her busy these days, some really cute clothes and even some new earrings!

We just can't get over the fact that our little angel is already a year old! It was a life-changing year for us, all for the best, and was worth every bit of the celebration.

1 more week...and I'll be one!

We are getting SOOO excited about Madison's birthday party next weekend. EVERYTHING is going to be some shade of pink. I imagine it will look as though we had a pink explosion in our house, but that is the goal! The theme: FUN, FANCY, and PINK Princess party! I don't want to share all the details...you'll just have to COME or wait to see pics! :)

In the meantime, here are a few recent pictures of Madison with her new hat on - it reads: "My first fishing hat." SO CUTE!

Madison and Landon in my new hammock - one of the many great birthday presents I got this year!

Soft, cuddly piggy.

Swings still a little too big...

Madi Videos

Madison's walking! Here is a video of her taking a few steps a couple of weeks ago. She has made lots of progress since then and gets pretty much wherever she wants to go al by herself! By the way, she LOVES her chair. She wants to sit in it all the time...but also enjoys standing in it and waiting for us to tell her to sit.

Blowing kisses to daddy...

Momma's (that's me!) Birthday Weekend

I had the greatest birthday this year!! Everyone went out of their way to make it a special day for me. I couldn't be more blessed.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from that weekend - spending time with Dylan, Madi, Katie, Terry, Landon and the Wiltshires. We had tons of fun!

Don't blink

In just a blink of an eye, Madison went from looking and pointing curiously to cruising with determination, squatting while standing and even standing up in the middle of a room without something to hold on to, responding to things we say or other things around her as if she really understands (like when she waves bye-bye to the store as we head to the check-out counter), and is even saying a few words!! It just seemed to happen over night!

For about a week now, probably since about the time her first tooth poked through, Madison has been walking around pointing at EVERYTHING and saying, "uh dat?" (what's that?). It took us a little while to realize that is what she was saying, but after hearing it over and over a few times, we realized that she is repeating what we say to her a lot. Sometimes "uh dat?" is shortened to "dat?" or "tat?" too.

I am pretty sure that she said "duck" last night in the bath and when I quacked like a duck in a higher pitch, she let out the same high pitch sound - her babbling is never high pitched like that, so I know she was imitating me!

Though she starting signing "more" awhile back, she only did it occassionally and didn't typically do it at the right time. That has changed and she let's us know if she wants more of something.

This morning she signed "milk" when I asked her if she wanted some. I had never even seen her do that one nor have we worked on that one with her - so she must have learned it at school.

Just the other day I said her name and then asked, "where's Madison?", and she pointed to herself. Dylan and I have both been working on this with her, which makes me think it wasn't just a fluke.

Maybe this is normal for babies her age (I haven't been around enough to know), but I have to say, I am very impressed and one proud mama. As if that wasn't obvious...

Hide and seek

11 months

I feel like it has been awhile since I updated the blog with Madi news. As of yesterday, she is 11 months old, and one month away from her 1st birthday! I'm so excited about the party and have already started planning. I think I will have more fun than anyone else!

WE ARE SLEEPING! I didn't want to speak to soon or say something, but Madison has been sleeping through the night for close to two weeks now. It is like she just decided one night that she didn't need to wake up for a bottle or insist that we bring her in bed with us... It is really so nice to know each night that there is a very good chance she won't wake up until 5:45 or so, which is when we are up getting ready for work anyway.

She refuses to eat baby food and has for the past couple of weeks too. She now eats what we eat or any other soft finger foods. We don't even have to send food to daycare anymore - she eats with the big kids!

We learned last weekend that Madison does actually have teeth in those gums. :) On Saturday morning Dylan and I noticed some blood on Madison's lips, but she hadn't fallen or anything and was playing as if nothing was wrong. I attempted to look in her mouth to see what was bleeding and found that a tooth had come through on the bottom! It is still making its way up all the way, but now the second bottom front tooth is poking through too! How exciting!

Finally, I think we're up to four steps... Madison typically takes one or two steps before falling into ours arms (I think she thinks that is a game we play), but has taken four in a row before toppling over. We're just hoping she can run (or wobble) around at her birthday party. :)