Updates.

Not much new to report. Just a lot of activity going on in the last several days. Here are some photos from the last week and weekend. We had friends to our house, we visited new baby's, and we went to a baby shower!

Cousin Olivia thought Madeline's head was a toy...oops!

Here she's reaching for the "toy"!
Izzy came over to play with Madeline
Here they were playing Telephone with their respective cell phones of course :-)
Welcome Baby Stuart to the world!

Mom isn't in the photo, but she is our good friend from school.

8 months old today!

Madeline turns 8 months old today!

Besides having her first cold, complete with a runny nose, sniffles, a very phlegm-y cough and sneezes....here are some 8 month happenings:

• Drum Roll Please.....sleeps through the night! Goes down between 6:30 and 7:30 and sleeps until 6am!
• Enjoys 3 meals a day and 3-4 bottles. Hasn't met a food she doesn't like.
• Working on getting her hands to put the food into her mouth by introducing her to Gerber Puffs. I break them into little pieces so they melt quickly in her mouth when they finally do make it there.
• She's starting to take a sippy cup. She almost never gets any water from it, but she can hold it and get the spout into her mouth. She seems to prefer chewing on it. But if I hold it upright for her, she can certainly suck enough water from it to understand what's happening.
• Has wild hands that love to move and tap and almost slap whatever is in her way.
• Can clap- while holding two of her little balls in each hand. She watches us clap and mimics us while holding her little balls.
• Can finally put her feet into her mouth! What an accomplishment ;-)
• Loves to babble. No real words yet, but we've heard a lot of Mamamama, and gagagagag and babababa.....
• No teeth yet and no crawling yet.

Happy Birthday Isabelle!

Happy Birthday to Isabelle! She turned 3 years old today. I remember her first birthday...taking that first dig into her birthday cake. It was blue. She was blue.

John recently cleaned up our computer and that included transferring about 4 years worth of photos onto back up files to clear up space on our computer.....I don't have access to those at the moment or I would show you photos of Miss. Isabelle in her earlier years. She's a princess. And her birthday was just that- A Princess Party. Unfortunately the photos shown below are in the opposite order.

All pooped out after a long day of partying. Oh, and she's in her forward facing big girl seat now!

In her "Princess crown". She's learned how to stick out her tongue. Let's hope this phase doesn't last.
We took a time out from the crowd to discover what the piano can do...she's a natural.

Flashback. Shortly after Madeline was born, Isabelle came to visit. So cute.

Sunny Day

We took advantage of this beautiful spring afternoon with a walk to the neighborhood park. John certainly enjoyed climbing around. And while the photos don't show it, Madeline was all smiles and giggles. The age guidelines were children ages 4-12....not 8 months and certainly not 32! Rules Schmules. We had fun anyway.

John climbing the Rock Wall

At the top of the slide. And yes, she did slide down, John was at the other end!

She isn't sure about the swing just yet....

And dad needed to take a trip down the slide, too.

Bedhead.

Madeline had a check up at her Pediatrician yesterday. It's a funny thing that mom's sort of just "know" things....

When Madeline woke up yesterday morning she felt warm to me. Of course I didn't think it was anything serious but then her cheeks were becoming more red as the morning went on. I thought maybe she had sunburn from all the walks we're taking.....or perhaps a reaction to her sunscreen?

At the pediatrician's office they took her temperature and sure enough, she had a slight fever. Nothing to be concerned about, but it explained her lack of interest in basically anything. And of course, her red cheeks.

We came home and I gave her a little Baby Tylenol and then it was nap time. She slept most of the afternoon. Woke up long enough to take a nice walk in the stroller to get some fresh air and then to have a major diaper blow out followed by a nice warm bubble bath....and at 4:30 she was ready for bed. I was reluctant about putting her down so early, but as I said to my husband...what do you like to do when you're sick? Hang out and play..... or sleep? At 6am she woke up all giggles and smiles again (cheeks not nearly as red anymore) and here she is with a major case of bedhead! Of course it's much cuter in person.

My First Easter

Happy Easter! Did the Easter Bunny visit your house this year? He (or she) visited our house this year. Miss Madeline received a BUBBLE MACHINE! What fun this contraption will be when the temperatures warm up outside!
The day started with a trip to mass, at 11:00, and there was standing room only. We promptly returned home for a quick nap and then Grandma and Grandpa Maslow came over for dinner.
We had a fun day.

I'm a....

...crazy pureeing baby food makin' momma. And this is just a peak at what's in our freezer.

I never thought I would say that I make my own baby food. But, it's fact. And I wish I would have started sooner. Not only is it cost effective, but it's fun. (that sounded like cheap advertisement) She'll eat anything I give her, as long as it's the right consistancy. I tried giving her chicken and based on her gagging reflex I hadn't broken it down quite enough...we have Pear, Strawberry and Apple....we have Applesauce and Rice Cereal, we have Blueberry, Pear and Rice Cereal...Chicken, Turey, Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli.....and so many more. I mix them and switch them up every day and the choices are endless...But her all time favorite- Oatmeal and Bananas or Peaches and Cream (which is just oatmeal and Peaches, but I like to sound like it's the Quaker brand).

The best part of all- if she doesn't finish it, I will! Well, some of it anyway ;-)

Check out the link...

....to Jana Kunz's blog. She is Madeline's photographer and her latest entry was about her photo session with Madeline. In the entry is a link to our newborn session...talk about a flashback just 7 short (almost 8) months ago!

Jana Kunz

Just hangin' around.

We had such a busy weekend. Friday night we had a wonderful date with some friends....sushi! It was amazing. Amazingly delicious. Saturday afternoon I had breakfast with two of my best friends, one of which is due with their first baby boy this Friday! Saturday evening more friends stopped over for some noshing and cocktailing and game playing....ahhhhhhhhhh, and Sunday more friends, more noshing and nothing but baby talk as two of them are both expecting this summer and fall! Yikes! When it was all said and done, we were exhausted. Which brings us to Monday. I decided to have a pajama day with the little one as shown in these photos. We just hung around the house and relaxed, rolled around on the floor, played with some toys, watched some cartoons and took a few naps. A lovely Monday.

2nd lesson. Swimming with Dad.

Swimming lessons with dad on Sunday. They went well, although she had a few fits of crying here and there. I think it was because dad was concentrating so much on what the teacher was telling them to do that he forgot to keep Madeline's head above water so as not to scare her. Oh, and when it was time to pour the water around their face with the cup......dad poured the water on her face. In these photos you can see Madeline was saying..."Dad, just let me do it!". Oh well, she survived and will probably be better the next class!

Having fun.

Nothing special about this entry, just some cute photos of Madeline having fun and smiling so cute!

Swimming Lessons.

Madeline started her swimming lessons last Sunday. I decided to hop in the water with her this week, and John will next week. She had already been exposed to the swimming pool recently and so she did great! For being 7 months old, she did better than most of the older kids.
She had her first experience going under water, and she came up smiling! I think the water relaxes her. No fussing, no tears, just a calm, happy baby.