Maddie's Pad

Happy Easter!

2009-04-28T12:57:00.007-04:00

Better late than never! It was a little chilly on Easter this year and unfortunately, Maddie's dress was a sleeveless one. She looked adorable in it though and only managed to get a small stain on it :)

My new favorite picture...

2009-02-17T16:10:00.003-05:00

Maddie can be such a character. This was pretty early in the morning and she was playing with what quite possibly could be the world's loudest toy. It looked cute in the store but boy do we regret taking it home!

Mommy is a slacker

2009-01-26T14:19:00.005-05:00

We've been so busy with the holidays and work that I haven't updated this blog in an entire month! A lot has happened including Maddie's first birthday and she's picked up a couple more tricks. Maddie can give kisses, wave bye-bye, and throw things into the garbage among other extraordinary tasks :) Here are some pictures from the last month:

Too much stuff to hold!

A look of serious concentration

I love tupperware

Look who's 1 today

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Cake makes everything better

It's almost Christmas!

2008-11-22T10:41:00.003-05:00

Maddie would like Santa to know that she has been a very good girl this year. She's been sleeping through the night, playing nice with the puppy and will try to eat her vegetables from now on.

Maddie's baby cage

2008-11-15T06:40:00.004-05:00

Now that Madeline is a walking machine, we had to find something to contain her so that she didn't hurt herself. Enter the PlayZone. Sometimes she likes it, sometimes she hates it but at least I know where she'll be in 2 minutes if I put her in it!

Dinner: Before and After

2008-11-12T10:00:00.003-05:00

I spend a lot of time thinking about what to feed Maddie since this picky lady won't eat vegetables. She either loves it or hates it and thankfully, this night she liked it.

At the start of dinner...Maddie was having wild Alaskan salmon and creamed peas

Literally 1 minute later

Some catch-up pictures

2008-11-11T15:23:00.006-05:00

I've been busy and haven't had a chance to post Maddie's pictures here lately so here are some to catch everyone up on what she's up to.

I'm too cool

Happy 11 month birthday!

A picture from Halloween

Living up to her costume

2008-11-04T21:36:00.003-05:00

Maddie was a pink piggy for Halloween - partially because of her love of food and partially because she was born in the year of the pig on the Chinese calendar. Here she is chowing down on some peas and mac & cheese.

Baby steps

2008-11-03T22:55:00.002-05:00

Maddie has to started to take her first independent steps! She's still a bit unsure of herself and is definitely not the steadiest thing on 2 legs but it's a start.

Halloween pictures coming soon

2008-11-03T15:12:00.004-05:00

We have so many pictures of Maddie in her piggy costume and I just need to find sometime to upload them (maybe tonight if Maddie does to bed early!) Here's a picture from last week at the Harvest Festival in Hoboken:

The changing leaves

2008-10-24T15:48:00.003-04:00

Maddie has never been one for nature. She didn't like sand, doesn't really care for grass and only has a passing interest in the leaves blowing around her. She'd much rather wave her arms around and show everyone what a good hand clapper she's become!

Pumpkin picking

2008-10-23T14:31:00.005-04:00

There weren't too many pumpkins left in the patch and the ones that were left were looking a little gross but we managed to find a nice one to take pictures with anyway. Maddie enjoys standing by herself as long as she has something to hold on to! It was a chilly day with lots of wind and we had to pull out a hat too.

This is a big pumpkin!

Hey mom, I can read!

2008-10-22T15:34:00.002-04:00

We went with Maddie's great-grandma to have their picture taken and had a couple taken of Maddie on her own. She tried to eat the book most of the time but the photographer was able to catch these 2 shots.

This is a good book!

So much shopping to do

2008-10-21T13:07:00.005-04:00

and so little time! Maddie still loves walking around with her shopping cart and this stroll was taken on grandma's back porch.

We were also looking like a big girl in jeans and a cardigan that would make mommy proud.

Professional pictures

2008-10-16T11:35:00.006-04:00

We took Maddie to Picture People this past Sunday for the first time and had a lot of fun! Maddie was very cooperative and even flashed a couple of smiles at the nice photographer. She got tickled with a feather duster and threw around a couple of pumpkins too. Here are some of her better shots.

Playing with puppies

2008-10-13T11:24:00.003-04:00

Maddie was hanging out at her grandpa and gammie's house this past weekend and got a chance to play with Max and Toby. Toby likes to lick which Maddie doesn't like and he forgets that he's bigger than she is but boy does he like to play! Max just waits around to see if Maddie will drop a meatball or cheerio his way :o)

Come and get me!

Hey, I was here first!

Maddie also took a couple of pictures with Gammy's scarecrow. Unfortunately, she kept on trying to pull the stuff out of his head...she tries to do the same to mommy and daddy's hair but that's a whole other story.

Happy 10 Month Birthday!

2008-10-12T09:30:00.001-04:00

Catch up time...

2008-10-12T09:14:00.005-04:00

It's been busy over here and a lot has happened since our last post. Maddie has also been a busy lady lately and is cruising around getting her land legs. She's got pretty good balance and we think she might walk soon! Here are some pictures to catch up to where she is now.

No fair! Your chairs spin!

Going shopping!

Crawling is for babies

Where'd everyone go?

Another busy day

2008-10-02T14:37:00.005-04:00

We haven't had a lot of time to take or post pictures so here's a picture I took this morning with my phone before we left for work.

Daddy is Maddie's horsey

2008-09-22T00:41:00.000-04:00

A good ride on Daddy's shoulders makes Maddie very happy. She waves her arms up in the air and is all smiles. The bouncier the better!

The speed of the crawl

2008-09-22T00:04:00.005-04:00

Maddie is getting pretty quick with the crawling and sometimes it's hard to keep up. Gone are the days when you could put her down and still expect her to be there a minute later. Daddy is on baby proofing duty and will do a stellar job :o) Maddie loves to play her version of catch which usually progresses something like this:

I left her in her bedroom to go get the camera and when I turned around, she was already peeking out the door

As soon as she sees me, Maddie shifts into turbo and makes a beeline for the bathroom

Thankfully, mommy remembered to close the door and Maddie pauses to give me a smile

And we're off to the races again!

A visit to the doctor

2008-09-15T22:09:00.011-04:00

Maddie had her 9 month appointment today and weighed in at 20 pounds - lighter than we thought she would be! She's been giving everyone who holds her a good arm workout. She's also 29 1/4 inches long so we're switching her to her new carseat this week...hopefully she'll like the pink princess pattern that her mommy picked out :) She also had 2 shots and had blood taken but wasn't any worse for the wear - I think she cried a total of 10 seconds. My brave little girl!

This picture isn't too clear but it was taken with my camera phone as Maddie whizzed around in her walker. You can just make out her 2 chicklets on the bottom.

Still not a fan of sand

2008-09-15T22:09:00.010-04:00

After an entire week, Maddie still couldn't come around to liking sand. We visited the beach again, this time on a much cooler day but same result - 2 little fists up in the air never coming close to the sand.

Hitting the beach

2008-09-10T21:34:00.005-04:00

So we're in Maine this week for vacation and rented a house on the beach. We took Maddie to the see the ocean, thinking that if nothing else, she would enjoy playing in the sand. Boy were we wrong. Maddie hates sand but did dare to touch it in this series of pictures.

Does she dare to actually touch sand? We've been sitting on the beach for at least 5 minutes at this point which is an eternity in terms of Maddie not reaching out and trying to grab something.

Maybe just one finger...

Icky!

So what's in a name?

2008-09-08T13:39:00.006-04:00

On BabyZone, you can search for the meaning of a name and here's the one for our little charmer.

Madeline Jie Ourlastname

The name promotes optimism, inspiration, and enthusiasm. It feels cheerful, outgoing, and charming. This name represents self-expression and communication skills. Its upward energy is a sign of tremendous creativity and all artistic endeavors are empowered by its vibration. The name attracts just about everyone. It carries great public relation and communication skills, and an innate ability to charm the most cynical folks.

However, it lacks focus and discipline, can be a "happy-go-lucky spendthrift", and can give the impression of flightiness and instability.

Most positive characteristics: Upbeat, creative, capable communicator, inspiring, uplifting. Has sense of humor, draws creative and passionate people.

Most negative characteristics: Scattered energy, difficulty in finishing projects, unreliable.

Our little charmer blowing bubbles