Main Photo

Main Photo

Saturday, July 28, 2012

The 1st Birthday Party

I tried to not go over the top with Madelyn's first birthday. It was a successful birthday party and we are so happy to have so many friends and family come out to celebrate with us especially those who came far! Thanks!  The theme was cupcakes. Brian grilled hot dogs, brats and chicken.  We also enjoyed pasta salad, fruit salad, chips and carrots with dip.


Punch, Lemonade and fruit salad--Madelyn's favorites (Watermelon, blueberries, and grapes)

Pasta salad and chips with spinach dip
Madelyn 1-6 months
Madelyn 7-12 months

There was a helium shortage so we improvised and taped them to the mantel


Birthday girl just woke up! I was impressed by how long she kept her crown on

Cousin hugs (Madelyn and Connor)

Katie, Madelyn, Rosie and Maria
Madelyn was a a big eater that day


Missy and Maya

Swinging with Aunt Beth (Connor was occupying the baby swing)


Madelyn with her daddy


Even with all the excitement of the party, she was still interested in the water bowl
Brian's family that was able to come

Madelyn showing Maya her fun toy

I took 24 cupcakes and made them into a number 1 "cake"
Side view
Singing Happy Birthday!

Right before she accidentally stuck her foot in the cake :)

Family photo
She started off slowly but knew what to do.



Connor is an old pro at eating cupcakes

Loving it and giving us a big smile!

Even in the hair!

She loved it but she was willing to share with Daddy.

Present time


Madelyn and Gina going shopping

Going under the table with her new bike

Loving rocking on her new caterpillar

Maya loved the big wrapping paper roll

Madelyn with her friends (Missy & Maya, Katie & Madelyn, Annie & Gina)

Balloon fun with Grandma Hartsell

Breaking apart her pretend strawberry

Out to dinner at Ted's Montana Grill. Madelyn gave us a kiss through the glass.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

1 Year OLD!

A year! Can you believe she's been here a year!?
  • Right after she turned 11 months, she started saying Baby all the time. It was too funny and weird since we don't call her baby.   She now can point to a baby in a book and say it.
  • She was allowed to sleep with blankets, books and her doll at 11 months (1 month early).  She is really getting attached to her blanket and loves her books.  Somedays when we go in and get her up, she is already up reading.  Her favorite books are Lullaby and Goodnight, 10 Little Ladybugs, & Dog.
  • She's starting to show frustration when she doesn't get what she wants and even has started throwing herself on the ground in small tantrums (and it starts!)
  • She loves to throw things down and say Oh-Uh.  Sometimes she says it before she throws it. Other times, if she sees something on the ground, she'll point and say oh-uh. She saw a styrofoam cup on the ground when we were walking, pointed and said oh-uh.
  • She still loves walking and now is able to walk with just one finger to hold on to although she doesn't always like it.   
  • She is taking a few steps between the couch and coffee table.
  • She likes to carry her lunch box into school. She actually insists on it and does a good job as long as we aren't standing still. If we stand still, she drops it and says uh-oh.
  • She loves to drink out of open brim cups and has master drinking out of a straw.
  • She's still a big eater.  We've taken away her high chair tray and are now teaching her to eat with a plate.  She's doing okay although she prefers to eat off my plate more. I think she thinks she is getting something different off my plate but she's not. That's okay. I like to share.
  • She loves to feed us her food and thinks it's so funny when we eat it.
  • She also is doing better with her silverware and occasionally is able to stab food with her fork.
  • She can say Preta pretty clearly and is working on saying Leia. Her word for Leia is close to dada but it's a little different although I am not sure how to describe it maybe daya
  • She is done with bottles!  We ended up going cold turkey since she wasn't doing well with the one sippy cup of breastmilk we had been sending the last month.  We just had to make it the only option.  (And I am done pumping. YEA!). I still have lots of frozen breastmilk so Madelyn will continue drinking that until its gone.
  • Madelyn is obsessed with teeth.  She is always putting her fingers in our mouths feeling our teeth.  She also likes it when we all brush our teeth together.  She has her own toothbrush but she also enjoys trying each one in the toothbrush holder. 
  • She got her top right incisor tooth bringing her total teeth count up to 4. We keep thinking she'll be getting her two top front teeth any day now. We currently call her our little vampire :)
  • Signs: She has please and milk down but hardly does more anymore.  She seems to master one sign at a time and use that over and over.  Right now she loves to say please or when she wants milk, she'll sign milk please over and over. With a big smile on her face.
  • She LOVES to swing.  She points to go outside and then walks with our fingers in hand straight to the swing set :)  She also likes to climb the rails up to the top of the swing set (with our help) and go down the slide by herself.
  • Others things she loves to do include pushing her walking toys, pulling up on the refrigerator door to take out the cholula sauce bottle and clearing her bookcases of her books.
  • Things she hates include: waiting for anything, when we close the refrigerator door (she likes to stand there and take things out),  cutting her nails, blowing her nose and diaper changes. She screams and tries to turn over and crawl away at night before bed when we change her diaper.
Sign language: Please, more, milk

Words: Preta, Dada, and Oh-Uh

Her 1 year doctor's visit is at the end of July.  I'll post her stats then. She certainly is getting heavy to hold!!


This is her angry face.


She didn't want her sticker on her shirt



At school, it's hard to get her to sit still.


I found these two waiting at the door for daddy  They must have heard the garage door.

How cute!

She loved this helium balloons.