A visit from the twins.

Suzie stopped by the other day with her beautiful little girls, Elliott and Claire. Hard to believe they are already 11 weeks old! I was absolutely impressed with her ability to transport two babies with such ease and her calmness overwhelmed me. If anyone could handle two babies with such patience it would be Suz.
Madeline went down for her nap just as they arrived and of course she slept for their entire visit only to wake as they were getting ready to leave. But she sure was sweet with them, very excited to see the babies. I wonder if she realized they are "real" and not like her dolly?

I'm happy to say I can tell them apart here, only because Claire is a little bigger and has more hair.

Looking adoringly at their momma.

HELLO!!!!!!!! (Claire)
Elliott just chillin'

15 Months!

Hi all. Madeline is 15 months this week. I thought I should update you on her latest happenings:

• Walks everywhere. Just learned how to get into a standing position without the support of a chair or another object.
• Smiles all the time when she walks, she's SO proud of herself, and she should be!
• Loves her books. She has started to pick out a book and bring it to us, then she'll start to try to climb on your lap for you to read to her. Every book is a touch and feel book to her, she must touch all the pages.
• Avidly explores everything. Her recent finding is the lamps/lightbulbs. Those are pretty neato.
• Loves to be around other children, which, for a baby not in daycare I think that's fantastic!
• Revels in water. Loves bathtime, and loves to put her hands under the faucet.
• Brushes her teeth every morning and every night. And she doesn't just suck on the brush, she actually moves it back and forth. Amazing.
• Picks up her toys when you say, "Put the toys away."
• Loves to look at herself in the mirror. She has found her shadow, too, so when the light is right and she finds it, she'll move her arms and head and laugh at herself.

At 15 months Madeline is 26.5 lbs, which is in the 90th percentile and she measures 33" long which is in the 97th percentile. So basically she's going to be long and thin. She's going to be a heartbreaker someday. Good for her!

Madeline still has no interest in feeding herself table food. We did start to try teaching her how to spoon feed herself, that lasted about 1 minute. She does drink her own bottle, but has minimal interest in a sippy cup. I think I've invested a small fortune in sippy cups trying to find the right fit for her, thinking if I found the "right" cup, she would take to it. Her pediatrician is stumped as to why our baby has no interest in these things, but assures us that as long as she's eating she's not concerned. She explained it seems like it's more of a social norm for a child to have a sippy cup but in her opinion, if it's a source of comfort to her, then she should have it. Okay then.

Madeline is a smart little girl and every now and then I catch a glimpse of her and see that she's not a baby anymore, she's turning into a true toddler. I love it! I'm anxious to report what she'll have discovered in my next update at 18 months old!

Weekend away.

Good friends, good food, good fun. We spent the weekend in Wisconsin with our friends Heather and Colin, along with their two girls Isabelle and Paige. It was a nice little getaway from the city. It gave John and I a chance to be social with our friends and Madeline the opportunity to play with her friend Isabelle and of course for Jersey to run around outside, with her friend Sadie, until she could no longer move.

Isabelle and Madeline on their daddy's shoulders

Got on my coat and my hat, I'm ready to go outside!

Can you see Jersey in there?

Playing domino's....sort of....

I have baby Paige's Nuk....and she wants it.....

...but I want to play with it a little longer!

Can I go outside with the puppies?

Let's watch Mickey Mouse...no, let's watch Little Einsteins!

Finally...

Hello everyone. Here's a lengthy update......

We've successfully packed our entire house. I lived there for about 5.5 years, John lived there with me for about 2.5 years and Madeline has lived with us for about 1 year, not including the time spent in utero. That's a whole lotta time to accumulate a whole lotta stuff.
We moved into our temporary "home" which is a two bed/two level condo in Nordeast Minneapolis that we are renting from my parents until we find our "real house". A much smaller home that we're used to, but it's beautiful and we have an incredible view of the Minneapolis skyline as well as the new Twins stadium and let's not forget the lovely Hennepin Avenue bridge. The location is fantastic. Steps away from some of the greatest places this city has to offer. We're very fortunate to call this place home.
Madeline doesn't know it yet, but one day she'll be bragging to her friends that she lived in this place ;-)
On Monday the movers arrived at the old house and I saw, for the first time since July 30th 2004, my house....empty. It was a little sad, I was a little melancholy for a moment or two but I didn't have much time to be nostalgic, I had to move onto the next thing.
Friday we will close on our home and it's officially OVER. What an experience moving is. Takes a lot out of a person, physically of course, but emotionally....wow. I'm drained. I told husband that Friday evening we're celebrating with wine and good food! Then it's time to sit back and relax and enjoy what ever comes next.

All that said, we've just returned from a nice jog around Nicollet Island to take advantage of the warmer temperatures and the sunshine this evening.....dinner's in the oven, gotta go!

Enjoy these photos from Madeline's session earlier this fall.

And.....she walks.

What did you do today?

Did you....

.....play with muffin tins and cutting boards?

...ham it up for the camera?

....play ball with Sophie?

...put on your Vikings beads?

......I did, and it was so much fun!

Fun with Kleenex

Madeline found the Kleenex. She loves the Kleenex. And so, we let her enjoy the Kleenex....as much as she wants. It's fun to watch her take them out and then try to put them back into the box. That is something she's doing really well with recently....with her shape sorter she is getting really good at taking the shapes and putting them into the matching hole; squares, circles, triangles, etc.... She also enjoys stacking her stackable toys. This makes me excited because a) she's smart and b) she's going to be great at organizing someday!
While we're on the subject of what Madeline is doing, I'll mention that she loves bath time. Is it bad that I will, on some days, bathe her twice? I mean, I don't get out the soap each time, but just let the water run clear and let her splash around. I'm not kidding, she hears that tub start and she is in there trying to climb over the ledge to get in, clothes and all! She loves it and I love that she loves it because a) she's clean and we're avoiding H1N1 germs (I hope) and b) she will be a clean freak like her mom ;-)
Madeline is still crawling as a means to get to where she needs to go, but she's doing great at walking, even balancing on her own...until she realizes we've let go. Then she has a melt down. I recently brought her to a new and fantastic place called The Little Gym. There are classes for kids of all ages, and on Wednesday we went. She was able to jingle some bells, play with bouncy balls, climb on all the soft child-proof equipment, play with a hula-hoop, and play with other children her age. It's amazing to see the difference in children who are the same, younger or older by just a few weeks! We may have to continue going to the Little Gym....she really did enjoy herself and when we got home she was quick to go down for her morning nap.
And finally, something that I never hear enough of when people at the store, the mall, the gas station, the bank, the post office, the park, whereever we go......people say....."Oh my, she has the most beautiful blue eyes...." or "Wow, those are the biggest blue eyes I have ever seen." Sometimes I think, come on people, let's come up with something else....but then I look at her and realize that she really does have the most gigantic blue eyes. Thank goodness for her Papa's (Grandpa Jeff) gene pool.
Hmmmmm, let's see, what else. She's napping once a day every day, two naps if we're lucky about once or twice a week. She has 4 teeth and about 4 more poking through. She has about 4 bottles each day of whole milk and has been treated to a bottle of apple juice, or carrot/apple juice, or Juicy Juice Berry, and is spoon fed the rest of her meals. In the past few days, however, she has been caught putting food in her mouth. Although I end up giving it to the dogs, I always tear up cheese, meats, fruits and puffs and put them on her tray to try....and as I thought, someday when she's ready, she'll do it. She's tried about 3 times now. Fingers crossed. Mom will be happy. Oh, and finally. She successfully waves HI and BYE. SO stinkin' cute when she does that too.

Until nex time.....