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!"