WALKING!

Our little girl walks!  She surprised us last Tuesday night by taking steps all on her own.  Mike and I were both on the floor and she was walking between us, but holding onto our fingers as she cruised back and forth.  And then she let go and walked all on her own!  She's getting better and better every day and we're having so much fun watching her master this new skill.

Since we now officially have a walker, we decided she should get a decent pair of shoes.  I'd heard lots of advice to go to Nordstrom's and get her measured.  We went this afternoon and I gotta say, those people do it right!  They gave us great advice on the type of shoes to buy for an early walker, measured her feet and went and found all of the shoes they had in her size.  We picked out our favorite pair and they made a really big deal of them being her very first shoes.  They gave her a little stuffed animal called "Nordi" and took a picture of her with her new shoes on!  So fun.  We could tell for the rest of the day how much she loved her new shoes.  She kept looking at them and touching them.



New shoes!  Mike took this pic on his iPhone - she hadn't gotten "Nordi" the stuffed animal yet. 

 We're headed to LA on Saturday for a little vacation.  We're so excited to see all of our friends there and have them meet Maude as a 14/15 month old.  We moved the day after she turned 6 months.  She's a different gal than she was 9 months ago!  I'm hoping this older baby handles flights as well as she did then.  I'm slightly worried about how it will go.  We've been saving up new books to bring out on the flight, hoping she'll be so enthralled with them, she'll be a happy gal from here to LA.

Two videos - the first was taken the night Maude walked for the first time.  The second is of Maude playing on her new slide we found on Craigslist.  It's the perfect size for her and small enough we can bring it inside on a rainy day.

Addition on Monday, April 23 - Mike sent me a few good photos of Maude with her new kicks.  

Apparently the checkout lady at the grocery store couldn't get enough of Maude's shoes.  Who knew our small investment in good footwear would result in so much additional attention and admiration or our sweet girl?!

Hanging with her pal Stella.  I think she was telling her she should check out Nordstrom's - you get lots of attention there! 

CHEESE!  I smiled really big and silly-like to Maude last week while she took a bath and said "Cheese!"  She immediately imitated me and now loves to give big grins and say "CHEESE!"

14 Months and First Haircut!

Maude is now 14 months old.  The big event of the day was her first hair cut.  Her hair isn't super long and I want it to get longer, but it was looking pretty scraggly.  I debated on whether we should cut it and finally just did it.  I'm so glad I did.  Even though it's not a big change or anything, it looks so much better!!  She wasn't quite sure what to think of the the whole experience, but she did well and seemed pretty pleased with herself once it was all over.

She continues to talk up a storm.  This morning she was laying in bed with Mike and I and she started doing the hand motions for the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (one of her favorite songs) and as she did the down (down came the rain) motion, she said "down."  We've been keeping track of how many words she knows and she's well over 20 at this point.

Maude still isn't a walker, but she is now comfortable holding on to just one hand when she walks with us.  I think we're at least a few weeks off from her walking on her own, but who knows...  She's been walking holding on to our hands for over two months now.  I certainly thought she'd be over that and on to walking on her own by now.  Maybe she'll walk holding on to just one hand for another two months. 

We went to her buddy Joseph's birthday party yesterday.  There were lots of other kids there and Maude had fun watching them all, helping Joseph open presents, and checking out all of his new books.  I think I've mentioned it before, but Maude is ridiculously obsessed with books.  She can sit and read for hours.  It's our bribe for getting her to do something she doesn't want to do - like coming in from playing outside.  All we have to say is "we'll read some books" and she high-tails it in the house and right to her room to her books. 

Joseph is Maude's buddy from ECFE.  Joseph's dad is one of three guys in the class.  He, Mike, and the third dad have been getting together once a week for play dates with the kids.  On Friday, Mike and the other two dads made homemade pizzas together for lunch.  I'm guessing the other moms in ECFE don't get together to do such fun stuff together!  I'm so glad there are other dads in the class they take and especially that Mike really likes them and looks forward to get togethers!!

Some photos from the past few weeks:

High kick!

Checking out her 14 month sticker and showing off her hair clip.

Before Hair

Getting a hair cut!

Not quite sure about this...

Blow dry!

Messy face.

She loves to swing!

I think she looks like such a big girl here.

Helping open presents at Joseph's party!

13 Months, Going on 14

Yes, I'm just now getting to update this blog about our 13 month old just a week before she'll be 14 months.  I was thinking the other day about the future of this blog and I'm going to try and at least post some pictures with captions but not feel the need to write a lengthy post each time.  Hopefully I will be better at updating a little more frequently.

What our 13 month old is up to these days:
- Being outdoors
- Talking!
- Stella
- Peek A Boo
- Not walking

The sudden warm weather has been the best thing that ever happened to Maude.  She adores being outside!  A few weekends ago when the weather felt more like summer than late winter/early spring, we spent from sun up to sun down outside.  We had one very tired little lady.  We would wake up in the morning and Maude would immediately demand to head outside.  She would hardly even tolerate the time it would take to get clothes on for the day.  We spent hours in the backyard, walked to the local coffee shop and sipped on our coffees all morning on their outdoor patio while Stella made friends with the other doggies and Maude charmed the other patrons, walked to several local parks where Maude mastered the slides and tried making friends with the older kids.

Starting a few weeks before Maude's birthday, she started walking while holding on to our fingers.  It was a true pain in the back, but we figured it was her final step before first steps.  That was two months ago.  We're still walking around, bent over, while Maude grasps onto our fingers and walks or runs around the house.  And there's no sign of her giving up those fingers anytime soon. 

What the little lady lacks in walking skills, she's making up for in talking skills.  Who knew my kid would like to talk?!  Ha!  We tried tonight to count of all the words she knows and she says 12 words.  She's been picking up a word or two a day and it's been so much fun to watch her and hear the new words each day!  She's currently working on peek-a-boo and she's mastered the "peek" part and is working on the "a-boo."  A few weeks ago she started pointing at our eyes and saying "eye" and then with me, she points at a mole on my forehead and says "mole."  Seriously never thought one of my daughter's first words would be "mole" but it makes me laugh!  She loves to say "hi!"  When we're at the park and other kids go running by her, she pipes up with a "hi," trying to make friends or get someone to stop and play with her.  It's so sweet but also a little sad to watch her try so hard and none of those little kids are interested in playing with the baby who doesn't yet walk. 

Maude will be 14 months old next week.  I can't wait to see what the next month brings.  Many more words to be sure and maybe some first steps.  I'll keep you posted! =)

We liked our 1-12 month stickers so much, we got some 13-24 month stickers as well.

Children's Museum.  Practicing her shopping skills.

Children's Museum.  Checking out what it's like to ride the bus like Mommy does.

We took a trip down to Ames to watch Iowa State v Baylor.  Future Cyclone!

Como Zoo.  I think Maude and the giraffe have the same hairstyle.

This photo was taken at least a month ago. Loving her new wagon and on a walk with the last bit of snow on the ground.

Found this photo on our camera.  Taken on Maude's first birthday before Mike and I headed out to a work event we had to attend.

Our Toddler

Our baby girl isn't so much a baby anymore.  She caught me by surprise well before her first birthday, with her emerging personality, definite opinions, independence, and charm.  Maude has been a year old for two weeks now and I swear she's changed so much in this short time.  This girl is fun.  F.U.N.  I laugh my darn head off every single night from the moment I walk in the door until moments before I put her in her crib for bed. I'm sure I make Mike crazy with my repeated exclamation of "how did we get so lucky to end up with this little person?"  She's hysterical - loves to make us laugh.  She'll do anything for a laugh.  Um, as though we didn't already know she was just like her daddy, this part of her personality has sealed the deal. 

We went to Maude's one year doctor's appointment today.  The not so fun part was a few shots and a finger prick to take blood.  The lab tech taking her blood commented on how crazy strong Maude is.  She was having a heck of a time keeping her hand and getting the blood. I had to hold Maude's elbow which added insult to injury for our little fighter.  She looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes and then looked up to the ceiling and wailed.  If she could talk in full sentences, she would have been crying "Why?  Why?  Why did you bring me here and not only let these women stab me and torture me, but you're helping them?  Can someone please come to my aid?  PLEASE???"  It was awful.  I hated as much or more than she did.  

The fun part is getting her new stats and chatting with the doctor as he asks lots of questions regarding Maude's development.  The stats:  Maude weighs 20 lbs (30th percentile), is 29 1/4 inches tall (55th percentile) and her noggin is 18 inches (75th percentile).  He also declared her a genius.  Ok, maybe not, but I know he was thinking it.  =)

One of my favorite things about having Mike and Maude together all day is the pictures and videos he sends me throughout the week.  Let me just say that an iPhone is an amazing invention.  Mike gets what I think are some pretty dang adorable videos.  I've attached a few recent ones here.  The first is of Maude climbing our stairs and eating an apple at the same time.  It makes me laugh.  Hope it does you too.  The second if of she and Mike singing and was from a few weeks ago - I posted it to facebook so those of you reading this that are on there you may have already seen it. 

And now some photos. 

We got Maude a wagon for her birthday.  This picture was taken on her actual birthday which was her first spin in her new ride.  I can't express enough how much she love this wagon.  She squeals, laughs, and babbles the entire time we're on a walk. Her face here says "Have you seen my new wheels?  They rock!  And how good do I look in this thing?  Pretty awesome, right?"

12 Months!  I discovered the day before her birthday that I can get little pigtails in her hair.  This new hairdo alone makes Maude look like a little girl and no longer a baby. 

Big girl.  So happy.

Reflective.

Almost 1!

Maude turns 1 tomorrow.  A year ago tonight, I thought maybe I was starting to feel some contractions, but I wasn't quite sure.  I didn't even tell Mike until much later in the night.  We hadn't yet met this little lady we love so much and know so well after this year we've all spent together. 

There are hundreds of stories from this past year and thousands of memories.  I know Mike and I each have our own highlights - a few that stick out for me:
- My surprise at how much hair Maude was born with - and how dark it was!
- What a calm and easy going baby she is
- How sweet and infectious her smile and laugh are
- She rolled over for the first time on Father's Day - a better gift for Mike than one I could have ever thought of
- Her very effective army crawl
- Her love for Stella.  She loves her puppy even though the feeling isn't always mutual.
- How when she's not calm, happy, and easy going, she can be incredibly stubborn and let us really know how ticked off she is!  (For the record, she gets her stubborness from both her mom and dad.)
- After months of signing to her, watching her pick up on what we were doing and start to communicate with us via sign language
- Her version of "what does a dog say?" is panting.  Mike and I have woofed our heads off, yet Maude knows that she mostly hears Stella panting so that's obviously what a dog says!
- How much we love her


It's been a great month leading up to the big birthday.  Maude is really digging food.  We've been off baby food for a few months but have now fully moved into letting her eat whatever we eat.  Some recent favorites are salmon, spaghetti and chicken tikka masala.  She now sits in a booster sit which sits lower than the high chair and therefore gives her more access to Stella.  This means she's now able to feed her best friend lots and lots of food.  Needless to say, we've had to reduce how much dog food we give Stella.

Maude can now sign 5 words.  She went bonkers this month and started signing"pear" "more" and "thank you."  Lest you think our daughter is not only crazy smart but ultra polite, she doesn't actually sign thank you in response to us giving her something, but she does it when we say thank you.

We went out with some friends last Friday night and Maude got to hang out with her buddy Matthew while his big sister babysat them.  A few days later we went back to Matthew's house for a brunch. She really loves her some Matthew.  There was a moment during the brunch where Matthew got on his knees and was crawling towards Maude and she was crawling backwards - there were facing each other and then they gave each other a little smooch.  Holy moly - cutest moment ever!

Maude and Matthew.  Matthew told his mom that he let Maude "push the buttons" on Buzz.  They were clearly having quite the fun time together!

Mike and Maude spent this past Wednesday afternoon at the Minnesota Children's Museum.  I was at work and received lots of pictures and a video of the fun they were having.  They were supposed to meet up with a group of babies from Maude's ECFE class, but Miss Maude decided to have a 3+ hour morning nap and they got there after everyone had left. I think they still had a pretty great time.  In fact, it sounded like the museum was nearly empty which meant they had almost free reign to explore as much as they wanted.

Exploring!

Practice walking.

Taking in the view of St. Paul.

A year ago tomorrow, my baby girl (I still get to say "baby" because tomorrow, according to the aforementioned emails, she becomes a toddler) and I accomplished a lot together.   After lots (and lots) of work, we met and started a pretty great relationship.  We had Maude's birthday party yesterday.  I started thinking about this darn party months ago.  I may have blown all my birthday energy and ideas on this very first birthday and every birthday after this will pale in comparison, but oh boy did I enjoy the process of party planning and execution.  I realize that every year is a big year, but there's something about this first year that feels like such an accomplishment.  I got an email today from one of the many weekly baby emails that show up in my inbox.  It gave some stats from the first year including the fact that we've changed approximately 3,000 diapers and lost 350 hours (is that all??) of sleep.  I'll add to that an unimaginable (and very enjoyable and well worth it) hours in the rocker nursing my baby girl, gallons of happy tears, sad tears, and worried tears, and hundreds and hundreds of conversations about our hopes and dreams for this little person we're privileged to raise.

To wrap up, below are the birthday party pictures.  I'll be back soonish to post the official 12 month photos. 

Our house decorated for the party.  We had poster sized pictures of Maude hanging on the walls.  I made her monthly photos into a photo reel and made her a fun "Happy Birthday Maude" sign.

Birthday Cake!

Maude's buddy Joseph from ECFE.

Opening present.  I made the dress Maude is wearing.  It may be the only item of clothing I ever make her, but I loved that she got to wear it for her first birthday party!

Who loves her birthday?

One of her cards had cupcakes on the front which she tried eating!

Birthday cake with candle.  Note the quiet observation.

Now note the left hand moving towards the candle.

In between last photo and this one was Maude touching the flame, me swiftly swatting her hand away, blowing out the candle, and swiping it from the cake.  Cue the scared and ticked off tears.

We sang another round of "Happy Birthday To You" sans candle and all was well with the birthday girl.

Frosting!

Messy.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl.

49 Week Quick Update

I wanted to share a few stories I forgot to share in the last post as well as a video Mike sent me today at work.

Maude likes to brush her teeth while I do in the morning. Mike holds her and stands in the bathroom door as I brush my teeth.  Maude brushes her teeth (chews on her toothbrush) while I do and as soon as I start rinsing and spitting, she holds her toothbrush out.  Mike tries to take it from her so she doesn't drop it on the floor, but she will not (!!!) give it to her.  She elbows him, stiff arms him, squirms away, whatever she has to do to NOT give him her toothbrush.  She'll hold it out as long as it takes for me to finish and then gladly hands it over to me.  She then grins at Mike with a very pleased smile that says "it's mom and my thing - stay out of it."  It's one of my favorite parts our day.

Maude is recently REALLY into reading.  I don't think I can fully express how truly into books she is right now.  Anytime we're even near a book, she's lunging at it and shoving it at one of us to read it to her.  When we sit in her rocker at night before bed or in the morning when she wakes up, she lunges and nearly throws herself over the arm of rocker to pick out the next book.  Once we grab one that she wants to read, she then settles herself back into our lap to flip through the pages for us and listen to the story.  The second it's over, she's lunging back over the arm of the chair to pick out another book.  I go through 10 books, on the low end, each night.   We love that she's a book worm for the moment!

The video below is something Mike sent me today at work.  Maude has never allowed socks to stay on her feet but she apparently became obsessed with trying to get her sock back on today.  The video is only about 30 seconds long but she apparently worked on getting that sock back on for at least 5-10 minutes.

11 Months!

T- Minus one month and counting until the big birthday!  We've obviously had a lot going on this year which likely helped make it seem like the shortest year ever, but I truly am shocked at how quickly it's gone.  I've thought about her first birthday a lot since she was born and now it's almost here.  Wow.

I'm surprised every day by how much Maude is learning and changing.  A frequent question coming out of our mouths is "did you see that new thing Maude is doing?"  She's still in to animal noises, but is mostly focused on elephants.  She raises up her arm (like an elephant trunk) and makes her elephant noise. It may be the cutest thing I've ever seen.  I try making her do it frequently.  She's becoming less patient with me.  =)

Our little gal is becoming more mobile.  I think walking is still a ways off, but she's definitely cruising around on everything she can reach.  She started crawling around five months and started out with the army crawl. She's been using that method for the past 6 months but in the past month, she's started crawling on her hands and knees.  So, she's moving forward in the transportation department.  She's also mastered going up the stairs.  She typically saves going up them for when we're not making her the center of attention.  She knows we'll immediately come running and she likes that reaction! 


Her first Christmas was wonderful.  I don't think she had any idea what was going on, other than Mommy was home for more days than normal and we all spent lots of quality time together.  I can't imagine a better Christmas.  As most everyone knows, it's been a very warm winter so far so we spent every day that I had off going for walks with Maude and Stella.  We all thoroughly enjoyed them. We were doing the same thing last Christmas, just a little over a month before Maude was born. 

As we prepared for our first Christmas with Maude, we thought a lot about what we want our traditions to be.  It's important to me that our family has traditions and rituals we look forward to each year.  Not surprisingly, the traditions we've implemented thus far involve food!  We made homemade burgers with sweet potato fries for Christmas Eve.  Mike grew up having crepes on Christmas morning and we decided it was something we wanted to do as well.  We decided that the food for the rest of the day is whatever we feel like and doesn't have to be a holiday-ish type of meal.  This Christmas, we had pizza for lunch and a roasted shrimp dinner.  It was perfect.



Maude got to see lots of grandparents for Christmas, too.  My parents came up to visit the weekend before Christmas and we went to Kansas City the weekend after Christmas.  It's so fun to see how much Maude loves being around them and I think they like being with her, too!  =) While my parents were here, Mike came down with the stomach flu.  They left on a Sunday morning, with Mike still feeling pretty sick and not able to do much beyond laying on the couch.  Within a few hours of their departure, I came down with it as well.  I'd heard of two parents getting sick at the same time and always felt so sorry for them, and was secretly glad that would never happen to me (of course!). Ugh, it was not at all fun.  As Mike said "to all the parents that have come before us, we salute you!"

On to the pictures!

Happy!!

Posing for the camera

11 Month Old Sweetie

She recently can't be bothered with hair bows.

We rang bells for the Salvation Army.  Maude brought in some major moola!

She particularly liked the bell.

Awww.

Her expression didn't change the entire time she sat on Santa's lap.

See?  No change.

Christmas Eve