Electric Slide

Let's add another first to the list! Maddie can slide down the slide all by herself!

Lots of videos below as proof!  Look at that smile! The look of pure joy and pride - she's so happy and proud of herself!

Morning Bed Head

Maddie is just too cute in the mornings!!  We are lucky enough to wake up to this adorable face every single morning. I love her bed head and drowsy eyes. For some reason she always sneezes when we turn the light on. You can also see her 4 teeth!

Walking with the walker toy

Maddie is walking so well with the walker toy! Here is a quick video of her, normally we keep her on the rug but she's walking better on the hardwood.

Maddie's Visits Vickie's Office

I took a vacation day on Friday the 18th. We did not have much planned so we brought Maddie to my office to visit my co-workers.  Of course, everyone was so excited to see her!  Maddie behaved very well and let everyone hold and fawn over her. I brought her into my office and she enjoyed kissing pictures of herself!

During our visit, Maddie really surprised me with how smart she is! I mean, we know she is smart but it's good that others were there to see it too.  Below there is a video of Maddie dancing. Right before I took this video, I asked Maddie if she would dance and she started dancing! Then I asked her if she would clap for my friend Myrna and she did (usually we clap first and then she claps), and lastly when Myrna left for lunch, I said "Maddie, say goodbye to Myrna" and she waved (again normally we wave first).

Maddie loved looking at the large pictures of herself. I think it's hilarious!

I love the video of her dancing so much I made it into an animated .gif so it plays over and over and over and over

Mid-September Photos and Videos

Maddie found her feet again! I can't remember the last time she did this!

Not sure if you can tell, but she is holding her panda bear while she naps! This is the first time I've seen her do this.

Story time with Daddy!

Maddie LOVES water and loves playing with the bears at the splash pad at the park. Here are a couple videos of her enjoying the water. Even on a hot day, the water is cold!

Some more chatting on the stairs.

Enjoying some indian naan bread

Feeding Herself while Standing

The other day we were playing in the living room and the UPS guy delivered a few packages. I went to bring them inside the house, and when I turned around, Maddie had pulled herself up on the side table, reached for a bottle that was sitting on the way on the back of the table (it had a few ounces of formula in it) and was feeding herself standing up!  I love that she is balancing herself with one hand and holding the bottle feeding herself with the other!

Imitating Words

Maddie has been getting good at imitating words and syllables. I will often say "Go Go Go!" and sometimes she comes really close to saying exactly "Go Go Go!"

Here are a couple of cute videos of the three of us trying to get Maddie to repeat our words.

Busy weekend - 2 Birthday Parties, Bucktown 5k, Riot Fest

We had a very busy weekend last weekend!

On Saturday the 12th, we went to Aleksey's first birthday, which was also a Bris and Baptism ceremony. Maddie did pretty well during the ceremony and didn't cause any disruption. Once she started to get fussy we quickly distracted her with a new toy or by switching her position.  The ceremony was very nice and we enjoyed watching the multi-religious ceremony. We could not stay for lunch as we also had cousin Emilie's second birthday that day!

Maddie and Iza, Alek's big sister, hanging out before the ceremony

After Alek's ceremony, we headed south to go to my cousin Michelle's house for her daughter Emilie's (Maddie's second cousin) second birthday. They had tons of food, a ball pit and lots of toys for Maddie to play with! We had lots of fun playing with the birthday girl. Maddie got to meet a few family members she hadn't met yet like my cousin Andrew and her girlfriend Ying, and we even got to see my cousin Vanessa and her husband Ball who were visiting from Hong Kong! I haven't seen her in about 3 years!

On Sunday the 13th, I got up bright and early (though no earlier than normal, but it was one of the only times I've gotten up earlier than Maddie recently!) to get ready to run the Bucktown 5k.  It was the first race I have run in almost 2 years. It was a nice cool morning, in the 50s, and perfect running weather.  We had plans for Joseph and Maddie to meet me at the finish line at the park when I was done. I texted Joseph a few minutes before I started, and then I was off! As I headed towards the finish line, I saw Joseph and Maddie right in front of me!  It was so great seeing them just before the finish line! Afterwards we hung out at the park for a little bit, Maddie and I shared one of my free bananas, and we headed home.

That evening, Pau Pau and Uncle Jeff came by to put Maddie down for bed while Joseph and I could get our rock on at Riot Fest. It was a very neat music festival with large stages on either end of a large park, and a carnival right in the middle! We didn't have much time so didn't ride any rides, but enjoyed watching them.  

In all, it was a jam packed fun weekend! 

Skyping with the Grandparents

We installed Skype on the laptop as it's easier than Skype-ing on the big TV. Maddie Skype'd with all the Grandparents this day and she really seemed to enjoy it (but really loved pushing the keyboard buttons more!).

Labor Day Get Together

We had some friends over at our place for a small get together on Monday Sept 7 for Labor Day.  Joseph smoked a brisket (YUM) and we put out the kiddie pool for the kids. It was a warm day outside, perfect for the kiddie pool!

This is an adorable video of the kids in the pool. Lillian loved Maddie and came over to give her a hug, then both kids gave Maddie "boops" on the nose!

Visit to Six Flags Great America!

On Sept 5 Saturday, over Labor Day weekend, we went to the Six Flags Great America amusement park!  Joseph found a great deal and purchased season tickets so we can go multiple times during October of this year, and ALL of next year!  They have a decent amount of rides babies and next year Maddie will be able to ride on even more when she can walk.

It was a little less than an hour drive there and we arrived around 12 in the afternoon. It was such a hot day! The first ride Maddie rode on was the Carousel, she pointed to it as soon as she saw it. At first she did not want to sit on the horse, she was afraid of it, but by the end of the ride she enjoyed it!

We rode lots of rides, ate lots of food, played in the water, and even met Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Sylvester the Cat!

We had a lot of fun with an almost 10 month old baby, who knew!  We even took turns watching Maddie so we could each ride in an adult ride before we left (which happened to be right by the kids section). We left at around 6pm so were there about 6 hours (Maddie took a 30 minute nap while we were there)!

We can't wait to go again in October!  They decorate the entire park for Halloween and the weather will be much cooler!

Click below to see lots more pictures and video of our fun trip!

Knocking Over Blocks

Maddie (and all babies apparently) love to knock things over!  We have a set of foam blocks with letters, Maddie loves to chew on them. We will stack them up and Maddie lights up and loves to knock them over.  We'll set up towers all over the carpet and she will crawl toward each tower to knock them over.

Some September Videos

Here are some new videos of Maddie.


Maddie climbed UP the slide! She had some assistance of course, but she did the most of the work herself!

September Playtime Pictures

Some pictures from early September, most during playtime.

Maddie climbed up the entire flight of stairs, rounded the corner, and pulled herself up on the banister

Maddie fell off her chair and onto the foam mat.

I love bath time!

Gigantic bear at Costco. Don't worry, we did not buy it!

But we DID buy this Cheer Bear Care Bear!

Pool time in the front yard.

On the Road Again

Here are some pictures of maddie traveling...

Going to the park...

Going to the gym...

Going up the stairs...

High Five

Maddie gives a high five!

Notes at 10 Month

As I've stated a few times already, we are amazed at the little baby we made and have brought into this crazy world. She amazes us daily with how quickly she has grown, both physically and mentally. 

Here are some notes about Maddie's development at 10 months old in no particular order:

*Crawling: Maddie is officially an expert crawler. She is so fast and coordinated. She no longer spreads her legs into the splits when she starts to crawl. She now sticks her arms out straight, lands on her hands and bends her knees.  

*Climbing: She LOVES to climb!  She will climb up both flights of stairs in the house multiple times a day. When it's nap time, we'll let her climb up the stairs on the way to her room. Sometimes she gets distracted by the spindles and will stop at each spindle to talk to the other parent, but then will go onto the next step, stand up again and reach for us through the spindles. Other times she doesn't get distracted and will go straight up the stairs. It takes her around 2 minutes to get up all 18 steps of the main stairs! She will also climb on the playground, and she has even climbed UP the slide at the playground too!

*Standing: If Maddie is holding herself up standing, on the couch for example, we will hand her a toy to play with in one hand. We will then give her a toy to take with the other hand, and she will stand on her own for a few seconds before she loses her balance! She's getting better at standing on her own each day. 

*Sitting down: Maddie has really great control when she goes from standing to sitting. I have heard stories of babies crying because they have pulled themselves up to standing, but can't sit down!  We have never had that issue with Maddie. Sometimes there is more control than others (she flops down hard when she has less control), but she has always been able to lower herself down.

*Signing for Milk: A couple of weeks ago Maddie mastered the sign for milk. She actually uses it for water or food too, but usually she wants milk. Sometimes she just wants a taste of milk, we'll make a full bottle but she only drinks 1-2 ounces so we put the rest in the fridge.  We are working on other signs since she has mastered this one! It's great for her to be able to communicate her needs to us, and for us to be able to address her needs without frustration!

*Recognizes her name: Maddie has started to recognize her name more often. If we call her name, she normally will turn her head to look at us.

*Baby proofing: We finally started to baby proof. We arranged the furniture in the living room and dining room as Maddie kept bumping her head on the barber chairs. The couch now is by the windows and blocks the barber chairs.  She now has one large space to play in (living room and dining room) and I can keep a better eye on her now when I'm working from home. It's been difficult finding a baby gate for the main stair case as it's so wide and curved. We have returned 2 gates and 1 new gate is on the way - fingers crossed it works!

*Sleep - Bedtime: Maddie slept through the night for only the second time the day she turned 9 months old! Ironically at our 9 month appointment, the doctor said we should let her "cry it out" if she woke up in the middle of the night for a bottle, as a baby her age (and size - she's a big girl) doesn't need a bottle and is only waking up out of habit. At that point, she had been waking up once a night for a bottle, but quickly going back to bed.  Well... luckily Maddie just decided on her won at 9 months old, she was a big girl and didn't need to wake up for food anymore! She only woke up one night a few days after that (and I gave her a bottle), and ever since then, she has slept through the entire night! She still gets about 11-12 hours of sleep a night. 

*Sleep - Naps: Maddie is now taking 2 naps a day.  Her naps have gotten longer, and she's able to stay awake and alert for longer periods of time. It's great to be able to get some housework done while she's napping!  So far her longest nap has clocked in at 2 hours and 45 minutes!

*Sleep - Falling asleep on her own: This is a huge development for her! Sleep is developmental, babies need to learn how to sleep on their own, which is why a lot of babies need to be rocked to sleep. Of course when she was first born and the first few months we rocked her to sleep. Then there was a period when we would lay her in her crib on her belly, and pat her back until she was alseep / almost asleep. Then we went back to rocking.  Then after she turned 9 months, we started to put her down in her crib drowsy but still awake. We let her "fuss it out" if needed, she usually she flops around a bit, sometimes she even fully sits up or stands, but eventually she does falls asleep.  The quickest she has fallen to sleep for a nap or bed is 30 seconds!  We believe this is a big part of her napping and sleeping so well, because she gets better rest since she is putting herself to sleep.

*Pointing / Lifting her arm / Reaching / Waving: In the last couple of weeks Maddie has started to point at everything with intent!  It's really cute. She actually remembers things and will point at the same things day after day. For example Joseph takes her to see the flowers in the yard every day. She will point to the next flower in the yard in the order she usually sees them.  She will lift one arm up with her palm flat, and we will give her a high five (before she was lifting up both arms at the same time.  She often reaches for people. If I'm holding her and Joseph comes by, she will reach for Joseph with both arms, and vice versa. She has also gotten a lot better at waving. She still waves when the train goes by, and now waves when she see us enter the room or when I get home from work. She even waved goodbye to Pau Pau when she left today.

*Clapping after a lesson: We have a set of videos which are meant to develop a child's right brain activity. There is a section at the end of each lesson titled "Affirmations" (it is the same at the end of every video) and within the last week Maddie has started to clap whenever she sees this - she knows the video is done and claps at her job well done!

*Loves being in the water: We have a water baby on our hands! She loves bathtime (for the most part), she loved being in the lake when we went to Michigan. She loves the fountains at the park. We still sit her by the fountain and she gets the biggest smile when the water comes on and claps and laughs. It's absolutely adorable!

*Health: She is a healthy girl! I may be jinxing us but we haven't had to take her to the doctor except for her regularly scheduled check ups.  She did have a bad cold and also a fever during the winter but it was nothing that time, milk and rest didn't take care of (we did call the doctor though and they told us we didn't have to take her in). She also hasn't had any ear infections, which apparently the Wagner kids had a lot of, and no cases of diaper rash!

*Eating a Ton: Maddie is now eating meals around 3 times a day. Each meal usually starts with some cornflakes or some baby puffs while we get situated as she gets antsy in the high chair if she doesn't have any food! Breakfast is normally something mixed with fruit. Lunch and dinner are normally a jar of baby food, and small bites of whatever Joseph and I are actually eating for the meal.  She is so smart, even if we are feeding her her own food, she can tell the difference and wants what WE are eating!  We are still exposing her to lots of different foods. One new food we introduced after her 9 month appointment, after receiving approval from the doctor, is eggs. We started off with egg yolks, and then scrambled eggs with both the yolk and white, as most people have allergies to the protein in the egg whites.  She has luckily had no reaction!  She has had a lot more fruit (including strawberries - no allergic reaction) and we are giving her bites of real pieces of fruit now such as banana, honeydew, and fresh pears from the pear tree in our next door neighbors yard. She loves it all!

*Reading / Books: Maddie is enjoying books and being read to a lot more now. At first she didn't seem interested at all and it was hard to keep her attention. Now if she doesn't seem interested, rather than force her to sit in our lap while we read, we will read while she plays. She will usually come over and look at the book or give us a kiss, then go back to playing. She has books she likes and doesn't like. If she likes a book she will often reach for it and play with the cover, and she even handed me a book once!  I read the same 2 books to her at nighttime. Sometimes Joseph will read a new book, and Maddie will fuss and point towards the books that are normally read to her!  Also as we near the end of the last book, she will cry because she knows the book is almost done and bedtime is close by! She is such a smart cookie!

Monthly Photo (10 Months)

Madeleine is 10 months old!!

Unofficial Stats:
Weight: probably around 20.75-21.00 pounds
Height: probably 29.25-29.50 Inches

Maddie still amazes us each day, she is such a good baby. She is so adorable and good-natured, we can't believe we made her!

It was very difficult taking the monthly picture this month.  Again she was very interested in the monthly number sticker, it was darn near impossible to get her to tear her eyes away from playing with the sticker to look up at the camera!

Videos - Crawling, Waving and Laughing

Here are some super cute new videos of Maddie. In case you are wondering, she doesn't have any clothes on in these videos because she spilled a bunch of water on herself about an hour before bed time. I was lazy and didn't want to put a new outfit on her, but also didn't want her playing around in wet clothes.

I haven't posted about this yet, but Maddie has learned to wave!  She had been doing it about 25% of the time, but now does it quite often.  For the longest time, whenever the train goes by in the backyard, I would wave at the train and tell Maddie "Let's wave HI to the train!" and she has caught on!  When she hears the train, she will wave!  A video of her waving is below.

These first two videos are of her crawling around. She's screeching a bunch in the first video.

This next one is at dinner, instead of waving at the train, she is waving at Voldy Cat who came into the kitchen (you can hear her meow at us).

This last video is just adorable.  Just before I took her out of the high chair, I got her to laugh a lot and just had to video tape her in all her chubby glory.  We can't believe what a chunky monkey she is!

Climbing up the stairs

Maddie loves to pull herself on pretty much every surface. She has started to climb up the living room stairs. She started with the first two steps and then she would pull herself standing on the spindles.  She then got more adventurous and climbed up another few steps.  Earlier this week we let her climb up the entire flight of stairs! Of course we are with her all the way to make sure she doesn't slip and fall! She climbs up the steps with such ease, it is amazing how strong and fast she is at climbing!

When we are at the playground we also let her climb the steps while we watch to make sure she doesn't fall. She often gets distracted by the holes in the stairs, or will pull herself up on the railings and stands.