15 month-ish checkup and Santa

Maddie had her 15 month appt today- although she will be 16 months in 4 days. Mommy got a little behind there. It went as well as a pediatrician's appointment can go with a toddler. Meaning she had a great time until the doctor wanted to look at her. For some reason, Maddie absolutely HATES when a doctor tries to look in her ears, and pitches a big old fit over it.

She had to get 2 shots today too, so there were lots of tears. She's usually just fine once Mommy picks her up though, and all was forgiven by the time we were back in the lobby. She played (meaning, she tried to eat) her sticker the whole way home.

She is sticking right onto her growth curve, right arount 18% for height and weight. Today she was 21 lbs and 29.5 inches.

My mom is in town, so we met up with Mike at the mall after lunch to get Maddie's picture taken with Santa Claus. I wasn't quite sure what to expect- Maddie is very friendly, but I know Santa scares a lot of toddlers. And last year she wasn't really old enough to know what was going on. She did great though! She thought Santa was really funny, and gave his beard a couple of good tugs to make sure he was the real deal.

Here's her picture, I have to apologize for the quality. It cost eleventy billion dollars to buy the digital copy, so I just got a couple of prints and took pictures of those. Apparently $20 does not equal good printing quality nowadays. But she had fun and it was fun for us too!

Tata-giving *

Maddie's first Thanksgiving was a blur of crying and tired parents, but this year was much different! My parents decided to rent a house in the mountains for a family Thanksgiving vacation. We had SO much fun! Anyone that knows my family won't be surprised to hear that there was lots of ridiculousness and laughter. I have a seriously goofy family- and Maddie has definitely got the goofy gene!

We drove up on Wednesday and unpacked, relaxed and started making preparations for the big turkey day meal. Well ok, it was mostly mom doing that last part. On Thursday we hung out all day until it was time for the big meal at around 5 pm. It was absolutely delish, as usual, and it was extra special b/c there were crazy snow flurries the whole time we were eating! It's like the mountains knew that we were there for a special Thanksgiving dinner (gosh, those mountains are smart).

Where's my turkey?

On Friday, my sisters and I went to see New Moon (yup, I'm one of those- I LOVED it! So much better than Twilight). Then on Saturday morning we woke up and went to the tree farm to cut down a Christmas tree! This is one of my all time favorite Christmas traditions. It's fun going to a tree lot too, but nothing beats picking your own and having it cut down fresh! It will be more fun when Maddie can walk though, b/c she wasn't too keen on being carried around for that long. Luckily the tree farm had a friendly dog, so Mads got to play with him for a little bit. Later that day we got to walk around Boone and do a little shopping while Mike and my dad went to see an App football game.

Maddie sized tree

Hey mom I want to get down and crawl in the dirt!

Awwww!

Maddie thoroughly enjoyed all of the extra attention she got from her aunts and grandparents over the holiday. She is such a social little bug, and she loved being passed around and begging everyone for a bite of their snacks. And of course she entertained everyone with all of her "tricks-" pointing to body parts, giving hugs and kisses, dancing and making monster noises. She was also fascinated by the fire, but was a good girl and never got too close.

Ready for some cold weather

It was such a wonderful long weekend, and it's a Thanksgiving that we won't soon forget.

*My mom keeps trying to make Maddie say "ta ta" for "thank you" and it drives me crazy. I'd rather us say "thank you" and if it comes out "ta ta" when she says it, that's fine. But I don't want my child to grow up thinking "ta ta" is an appropriate way of saying thanks, lol. For the record, Maddie loves saying "ta ta."

Poop Bites, Ketchup and Halloween Costumes

We had a fun time at a Halloween party this weekend- some friends and I rented a shelter at Raleigh's big park downtown and we all brought our families to the kids could show off their cute costumes! It was an awesome park, it has a carousel, train and multiple playgrounds. Maddie had a great time with everyone, and Mike and I had fun talking to the other parents while we took turns chasing Maddie down.


My apologies to any of the babies that Maddie stole snacks and/or toys from- her lack of nap seemed to make her super hyper yesterday! I still don't understand how the child crawls across pavement like it's a soft mat. Maddie was giving kisses like they were going out of style yesterday- even to her friend Holly's bunny tail, lol!

Maddie had a great time on the carousel, although we had to wait about 5 minutes for it to start after we got on, so she was kind of over it before it began. Here is a video of her waiting on the carousel to start and one of her during the ride. I was hoping we'd be able to go on a train ride too, but it was late afternoon and Miss Mads was ready to head home.

In other news, I had a total cooking FAIL when I tried to make a toddler snack called broccoli bites for the party. I'm not sure exactly what I did wrong, but they came out looking like piles of mushy dog poop and Maddie almost barfed when I let her try one. The dogs seemed to like them ok.

I had planned on using those broccoli bites a few times this week for Maddie's meals, but since they were nothing short of disgusting, I bought some frozen organic broccoli mini quiches instead. Even though it looked much more appetizing than my poop bites, the smell almost made me vomit when I took it out of the microwave- probably should've guessed at that point that Maddie wasn't going to like it!

Of course, she didn't, but they were kind of expensive and I didn't want to waste it so I broke out the ketchup. That's right, I'm already bribing my 14.5 month old to eat with ketchup. But hey- it worked! She loved the ketchup and ate every single bite of that broccoli quiche. I'll just think of it as a broccoli quiche with a side of tomatoes (and sugar).

Daily dose of Vitamin D

There is a great kid's park in Cary that we've been to a couple of times now, and we went this afternoon to enjoy this lovely warm October weather. Maddie decided to skip her morning nap completely, so I was a little apprehensive about taking her, but she actually did really well and had a lot of fun playing with her friends. We will be sad when it's too cold to go to the park every week!

Playing in the sand outside the little playhouse

Trying to figure out if she could climb up the slide
(the answer was no, thank goodness)

Hangin' out with Miss Holly. This was Holly's first time
playing in sand and she thought it was pretty gross!

Climbing the big hill as fast as she could

Look how far I made it Mom!

Trying to climb up the dragon (the child can't walk
yet, but she wants to climb everything!)

A Whole Lotta Happy

We've had such a busy week! Now that Maddie is feeling good again, we have been out and about. On Tuesday we went to Marbles, which is an awesome kid's museum in Raleigh. I liked it so much the first time we visited that we bought a membership. It's great to have something we can always do on a rainy or cold day, and Marbles is so cool that it can easily keep a toddler entertained for 2 hours- and anyone that has spent any time with a 15 month old knows that's no easy feat!

On Tuesday we went with Maddie's BFF Jack. They always have fun playing together (or at least beside each other) and Jack's mom Ashley and I enjoy having some adult interaction! Here's a cute picture of the two of them playing in a space chair. They loved pushing the buttons and making things light up and talk. And yes, they are wearing capes. What else would an astronaut be wearing?

They also really loved the water table,
although they are a tiny bit too short to reach. Maddie managed
to get herself pretty wet splashing anyway.
Enjoying the dress up clothes- don't tell Jack's dad that he loved his tutu!

On Wednesday we went to the NC State Fair. It's a pretty big deal in Raleigh. At the state fair, you can buy anything in the world deep fat fried. Oreos, pickles, cheeseburgers- you name it, they deep fat fry it. That's my kind of fair.

But we mainly went to let the kiddos have some fun- which they did! Maddie was a trooper, as we were there from 12-5 and this baby does NOT nap in her stroller like most normal babies. She was SO SO tired by the end of the day, as was her mommy- it's a big fair, and I did a lot of stroller pushing and baby holding.

It was worth it though, we had so much fun. We got to go on 5 rides, and Maddie absolutley loved them. Even when she was cranky later on in the day, she would get so excited and giddy the moment each ride started. I think her favorite ride was a fire truck that swung around in a big circle. She had fun playing with her friends Henry and Jack, and she even got to hang out with another Maddie for a while.

We met up with our friends at a water fountain-
Maddie was immediately impressed, she just loves water!

Along the path was a kid-sized talking horse. All the
kiddos thought this was super cool. His name was Horace.

Enjoying the rides! It was hard to hold on to her
and take pictures at the same time!

Trying Mommy's cotton candy- hey, it's the fair, anything goes!
Needless to say, she LOVED the cotton candy.
Hence the blue stains all over her face!

Mommy and Maddie on the Ferris Wheel! Maddie
insisted on standing up the whole time. She very smartly
clung to the wheel in the middle though- not that
Mommy let go of her for a second!

It was a long day, but one I will remember for a long time. I think we'll have to make it a yearly tradition, and I'm sure I'll look back on this year longingly when Maddie was too young to beg for more ride tickets or stuffed animal prizes. Maybe they should change the state fair motto from "a whole lotta happy" to "a whole lotta exhaustion!"

Zoo again!

Last week was a rough week for Miss Mads, she was the sickest that she has ever been. 2 weekends ago we ended up at Urgent Care after she had a fever that wasn't coming down with Tylenol and all sorts of gross stuff was coming out both ends. They treated her for the flu, although I'm not convinced that she didn't just have a stomach virus- she was also congested and coughing, but the stomach issues seemed to be giving her the most trouble. She was quite pitiful and only wanted to sit on Mommy's lap and cuddle for a few days- poor baby! I thoroughly enjoyed the cuddling, but not so much the sickness.

Here she is getting some diaper free time b/c of her awful rash-
but all she wanted to do was lay down! So sad.

After a week of cuddles and medicine though, she was back up and running- well at least crawling very fast :). So we went ahead with our planned trip to the NC Zoo! Unfortunately Maddie chose to skip her morning nap instead of taking it in the car on the way to the zoo. So she was quite cranky, and since the animals weren't being particularly interesting (what, is it too much to ask that the elk do a little musical number for the kids?) she didn't have a great time.

Are we having fun yet?

Unimpressed with the animals

One thing she loved, though, was her first ride on a carousel. We wisely chose to skip the stationary animals and put Maddie on a polar bear. She's a daredevil. Her face lit up like it was Christmas morning when the carousel started up, and she cried when it stopped and we took her off. Mike and I are very hopeful that this is a sign that Maddie is a future roller coaster lover.

Yay!

After meandering through the North America side of the zoo, we met up with some friends for a picnic lunch, which was fun. Maddie was pretty good until we wouldn't let her play with goose poop or ant hills, and she remembered that she was absolutely exhausted. So we made a quick exit and she slept the whole way home!

Sorry the pictures are such a crappy quality. Bad Mommy forgot both cameras so we had to stop and get a disposable on the way to the zoo. We have a busy schedule this week, including Maddie's first trip to the State Fair, so be on the lookout for updates!

Pumpkin pickin' 2009

We went to Hill Ridge Farms for the 3rd year in a row to go for a nice fall hay ride and pick out some lovely pumpkins. Although when you're taking a 1 year old to a pumpkin patch, it's really all about the photo ops. There is a TON of stuff to do at Hill Ridge Farms (if you're in the Raleigh area, you should go- they are Mike's client!), most of which is too old for Mads, but she had a blast anyway. I mean, she definitely enjoyed it more than last year :P.

I thought it would be fun to see how much she's changed in a year, so here are two comparison pics- she looks like such a BIG girl now!

We did not intentionally push her head down onto a pumpkin for the sake of comparison, she fell over...however my mom did take the opportunity to snap a pic before she helped her up, lol!

Daddy and Maddie- what a difference! And I swear it was a REALLY hot day in October last year- these pictures of my 2 month old wearing nothing but a onesie are driving the judgmental mom in me crazy.

Onto this year! The first thing we did was check out the animals. There were lots of goats, some chickens and a llama. They were all quite friendly and vocal, so Maddie thought that was pretty cool. She starts squeaking whenever she sees a live animal- guess she thinks she's speaking their language.

Next Daddy took her down the giiiiiant slide. She liked it, but was pretty nonchalant- she's ready to move onto something scarier like a roller coaster. Here's a link to the video.

Next we saw some bunnies, which were cute but a little scary- the sign said if you stuck your fingers in, the bunnies would think they were carrots and bite them. So we didn't stay there for too long. While we were waiting for the tractor, we played in the hay jump, which Maddie thought was pretty fun. And she posed for a picture- although she had to look directly at the sun, so maybe not the best time of day for that photo op.


Then we went on the hay ride, where Maddie flirted and talked to anyone that would look at her- she is such a friendly girl! At the end of the ride we arrived at the pumpkin patch and each picked out a pumpkin- well ok, we took a ton of pictures, made Maddie mad by trying to make her smile instead of just letting her crawl around, and then quickly grabbed some pumpkins before the hay ride left without us.





All in all it was a really fun day! It was so nice out and we were glad that Momo was in Raleigh to join us.

If you really love me...

Ok, no making fun for being one of "those" parents, but the fan favorite of this contest gets a really awesome vacation. And while Mike and I are super excited about spending our 5th anniversary in Raleigh next year, we wouldn't mind spending it in Jamaica either :). You can vote every day through Nov. 17th! Click on the cuteness to vote.
So yes, I am basically pimping out my kid's cuteness to try and get a free vacation. What's your point?

First haircut!

Maddie got her first haircut today! I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad about it yet (that's :) or :( in the blog world I guess). I think it will look a lot better once it grows out now, b/c it's all even. But I miss my baby's long hair!



Maddie did great. She got to sit in a tractor, and they had a huge video collection (that's right- video! they are old school) that we got to pick from so she could have a distraction. We chose an Elmo sing along tape, which may not have been the best option b/c Maddie really likes to dance and wiggle her head to music. But the stylist has clearly cut a 13 month old's hair before and was done in 2 minutes flat, so it wasn't too big of a deal that Maddie had trouble sitting still.


We decided not to touch her bangs, b/c we want those to grow out, but the back was a hot mess and most of the time it looked like she had a rat tail. So the stylist evened it out and made it into a little bob, which is pretty adorable.


After the haircut, Maddie got to taste her first lollipop. But then Mommy realized she didn't want Maddie to have it in the car, where she'd probably either choke on it or stick it in her hair. So Mommy took it away and that made Maddie veeeery sad. At least she had fun during the haircut! And her mean, mean Mommy thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the grape lollipop on the way home. Hey- I deserve it for being such an awesome blog updater, right?