This is a very long post because I haven't posted any pictures of Madelynn for quite a while.
This little dolly is 11 months old! What? One month left until we are celebrating her first birthday. It always amazes me how fast we get to this point. I look forward to celebrating her first year of life but it also makes me sad. I always wonder (with both kids) if I loved every moment enough, enjoyed the little things each day enough, played with them enough, remembered enough...
It is just so easy to take life forgranted but when my kids are grown and out on their own, I know that I am going to miss these days...
I will miss cleaning up pee off of the bathroom floor, feeding kids all day long, changing diapers all day long, the smiles, the giggles, the brother/sister love, the snuggles and the love!
I just love this precious girl! She just makes me smile all day long. She is turning into such a fun little girl. She just amazes me!
This was her first time climbing onto the fire place completely. She has been attempting it for a while and finally conquered it this week. She was pretty proud of herself too!
This little girl is a mover and a shaker! She crawls around the entire house at high speed and doesn't want to miss anything. She loves to be where Carter is at all times and is often found in his bedroom playing with his toys or pulling things out of his closet if the door was left open. She still army crawls a lot but also has been up on all fours a lot lately too. Just depends on how fast she wants to get somewhere. She uses her little toes to grip the floor as she army crawls and it is just to die for...so cute! She is also great at army crawling while carrying a toy in each hand. She makes me smile.
She is so spunky and fun! She loves shaking her head no to get you to do and then continues back and forth with you. She thinks it is so funny. She loves waving and has really mastered that. She gets her entire hand into her wave, including her wrist. Her wave might be the cutest thing I have ever seen. Every night when I walk her back to her bedroom for bed she is waving to daddy and Carter until she can't see them anymore.
One of her favorite things right now is to put things inside of other things. She takes smaller toys and puts them in baskets, boxes, other toys with an opening and then takes the toy out and throws it back in. In and out, in and out. She will go get a toy, crawl all the way across the room, and throw it in a basket and then do it over and over. Cracks me up.
She goes to bed around 7 every night, sometimes a little earlier. She sleeps until about 6 every morning, eats, then goes back to sleep again until around 8. This is amazing! I never thought we would get here! Naps are still a little touch and go. She still takes two naps but does okay if we have to skip that morning nap. Her morning nap is usually her best though so I hate to skip it! Her afternoon naps have been terrible lately. I am really hoping that changes soon! Even without a lot of sleep she is usually a pretty happy baby! She smiles at everyone and her smile just lights up her whole face.
Oh man I think she is cute! Those precious little ears that stick out just a little like her daddy's when he was a little boy. Melts my heart :) She is still working on growing some hair! It is starting though! I love seeing her light blong hair starting to come through that cute bald head.
She has eight teeth now! They are coming through pretty quickly. She is not a great teether and has a rough three or four days and then pops out a tooth. She isn't terrible but she is a little clingy and usually takes short naps and wakes up once or twice in the night, which does not happen normally.
Ignore the boy looking outfit in the next few pictures...
She had a cute pink and brown shirt on with those brown pants but I had taken it off for dinner and never put it back on. These dishwasher pictures make me think of Carter because they looked so much alike at this age and the outfit is a little boyish.
She discovered the dishwasher recently and loves to play with it. Carter loved the dishwasher around the same age...what is it about dishwashers?
This was a couple weeks ago but it is the first time she went from a crawling postition to a sitting position. She took a long time to do this! Jay and I were sitting right there and somehow missed it. I looked at her and realized she was sitting and I knew that she had just been crawling. So I still had to capture a picture even though I didn't actually see it happen.
This was also her first time standing up on her table by herself. She is now doing this all over the house. She was a little slower in this area too but I don't care! She still is not walking while holding onto things but her legs are getting much stronger lately.
Being tricky and trying to get up on the fireplace.
Is this okay mama?
I had to throw in a melt down picture. She doesn't do this too often so I thought I should document it. Still so cute in total melt down mode.
She eats everything but still isn't gaining weight very quickly. I don't know what she is at now but will find out at her 12 month check up. She is still tiny. She is wearing six month clothes and starting to move into some nine month stuff. She wears size two diapers still which is a good thing because we have a lot of them right now!
She loves bath time and LOVES being in the tub with Carter. He even splashes her and she doesn't mind a bit. She hated baths until like a month ago. So glad she loves them now! She loves playing on Carter's toys and with his toys and felt like big stuff sitting on this fire truck. She didn't want to get down! If I tried taking her off she would fuss and try to get back on.
That smile just lights up a room!
With Carter we would always go in and check on him after he fell asleep for naps and night time. I just loved to see how he was sleeping, make sure he was breathing and safe (you know, first baby syndrome), and just stare at him. Well, we learned very quickly with Madelynn that she is not as heavy of a sleeper as Carter was. Usually second babies sleep more soundly, but not my daughter! So, we finally stopped going in there because we had too many times where she woke up and then cried for a while. No thank you! Sadly though I do not have many of the cute sleeping pictures of her. This week though I decided to sneak in during a nap to see her and this is what I found. Head shoved in the corner and her butt sticking up. So cute and exactly how Carter used to sleep too! I love it! And she didn't even move when the click from the camera went off. Maybe she is starting to sleep a little more soundly as she gets older.
A singer when she grows up?
She loves her little "mini" blankie that matches her big blankie. She loves both of them but often carries this one out to the living room with her after sleeping.
Such a happy girl! She is a flirt too. Loves to smile at strangers and win them over quickly. And boy does she love her daddy. Her whole body starts wiggling and shaking when he walks in the door after work.
Madelynn Grace,
You are a blessing to me! You are a blessing to us! I love you more than I can explain or ever knew I could love someone. You are a special little lady and we are beyond blessed to call you our daughter.
