8 Months Old!

Madi is 8 months old today. The other day Spencer and I were talking about what our favorite stage has been so far. We both agreed that it is now!! Don't get me wrong, I've LOVED every month so far and have made it a point to enjoy each stage that Madi goes through. It's so easy to wish she was doing something more or always be looking forward to another milestone. However, this past month has probably been the easiest and a TON of fun!

Top 5 reasons why I love the stage Madi is in are:
1) She'll sit and play- and not go anywhere!! Yes, I am excited for her to one day scoot, crawl, walk, etc, but I know it is going to be more exhausting. Plus, I'm not ready to baby proof the house yet!

2) She can eat more than baby food now! I love that we actually eat dinner all together now. I just grind up whatever Spencer and I are eating and she LOVES it...MUCH better than boring, bland baby food! A few foods that Madi's enjoyed trying this past month include: "real" oatmeal, bread, blueberry pancakes, pizza, spaghetti, eggs, chicken, broccoli, and curry!

3) Her personality keeps getting more and more fun! We love watching the things that she takes so seriously and the things that she thinks are absolutely hilarious. For example, the other day she was watching me make noises with my lips. For some reason she thought it was so funny that she kept laughing and laughing. Then she spent the rest of the day trying to do it herself.

4) She talks so much more now. She always has something to say about everything. She lets us now when she is happy, sad, mad, frusterated, bored, and tired. She has quite the beautiful singing voice as well! She also now lets us now when she wants to be picked up. She recently started holding her arms up for us to pick her up.

5) Nursing is no longer an issue. I don't have to worry about leaving her for several hours at a time during the day anymore. It's been great not having to watch the clock when I'm out, knowing that I have to get back to nurse her. We're down to only nursing 3-4 times a day.

Happy 8 months Madi! Thanks for bringing so much happiness into our lives!!

Under the Weather

It's been a rough couple of days for Madilyn. She is now recovering from her first case of a cough and running nose. I never thought it would be so hard for me to see my child sick. It's hard not to feel bad when she struggles to breathe through her nose and doesn't understand why I keep wiping it when she's already so uncomfortable! I haven't yet been able to capture the picture of her snot bubbles coming out of both nostrils- it's quite the sight! The picture above is right after a dinner of tomato soup. The warm soup did a great job of unstuffing her nose.

To Madi's credit, she's been such a trooper through this whole ordeal. Even with how miserable she feels, she always manages to smile and laugh through it all!!

Like Mother Like Daughter

Growing up people always told me how much I was just like my mom. What a compliment that was! I was always super excited for the day I'd have a daughter of my own so that I could teach her how to enjoy life, Anie style!! You gotta start 'em young. So, as anyone can guess, Madi is my daily workout partner. And even though its not warm and sunny outside, she is practicing how to wear her shades, just like her mama, cause summer is right around the corner! While she may be living in Maryland, she still is my Southern California girl!!


Head band. check. Sweat suit. check. Let's do some leg kicks mom!!


5 pound weight? That's under 1/3 my body weight. No problem.


No Madi, that's not sunscreen...that's your butt paste!!

Crawling?!?

Not Quite!! Madi seems to have no interest whatsoever in learning how to crawl! If she sees something that she wants, she'll stretch forward to get it, but then gives up- collapsing onto the floor.

Our Little Valentine!

Madi wanted to wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day!

We celebrated by inviting a few of her friends over to play- however, we had such a great time that we forgot to take pictures while everyone was here! We did get one picture of Madi with one of her best friends while we waited for everyone to arrive. The girls waited very patiently for their guests!

Madi: "What do you think Lexi, do you think the rest of our friends will show up?"
Lexi: "I don't know, I hope someone shows up to entertain us!"

Homemade Bread

I finally did it! I decided to put my Kitchen Aid to use and make some homemade bread. It turned out ok- not as good as I was hoping, but I did use a beginners recipe. It turned out more like french bread- hard on the outside and soft on the inside. Madi sure LOVES it though!

Bath Fun!

One of Madi's favorite times of the day is bath time! Since it is such a favorite time, Madilyn and I made our first trip ever to Toys R Us to get her some new bath toys! Boy was she excited!! I have never seen her so quite in a store before. She was in awe as we walked up and down the aisles of the store, looking (and listening) to all the bright and beautiful toys. Up until now she's made do with 2 rubber duckies, some cups, and empty baby wash bottles.

We were both quite pleased with her selection of toys. Madilyn went right to work creating words and using the foam numbers to solve math problems!

Madi takes her bath time VERY seriously!

Madi's CRAZY hair!!

Madi's got quite the crazy hair these days! I've been trying to get a good shot to document all of her little fine hairs everywhere. This is the best I was able to do for the time being and with the camera I have. It's hard to imagine what she'll look like with long hair someday! But oh how excited I am for it!

A typical hair day for Madilyn.

A typical Madi face!