Baby's 1st Christmas!

Now that the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is almost over, I can finally sit down and blog about what a wonderful first Christmas Madison had! I knew it would be so much fun to have a little one at Christmas, but I didn't know that it would be THIS much fun! I can only imagine what next year will be like with an almost two year old!

Our fun began when Omi & Pop-Pop came a couple of days before Christmas. They have spent the past couple of years at our house and we just love having them! Maddie just loves them so much...she pretty much started ignoring everyone else when Pop-Pop came around because he lets Maddie get away with anything (but hey that is what grandparents are for, right?)


On Christmas Eve, Grandma McCoy came from Charleston to our house to be with us for Christmas as well. Natalie and Ryan were with us all day, too! We first had a wonderful dinner and Maddie even enjoyed all the food, too! She ate macaroni, cornbread dressing, and green bean casserole! We then exchanged presents with Nat and Ryan since they would not be at the house for Christmas day. Maddie enjoyed opening up and discovering new toys. The hit of the night was her new "Laugh and Learn Puppy" from Aunt Nat and Uncle Ryan. She also loves her poodle Pillow pal from Cousin Lauren and Andrew! She gave them hugs and kisses right away. Just look at these pictures to see just how much Maddie loves her new friends!


On Christmas day, Maddie actually "slept-in" until almost 7 am! When she got up she first drank her bottle and then she knew something was up. She crawled into the living room and saw that Santa had come and visited our house!!! Santa left Maddie lots of fun new toys! She went straight for her new house and started playing with it. She loves it so much. Santa did a great job :) She also got some new books, an activity table, and some of her favorite snacks were in her stocking! She also got lots of great things from the grandparents including new clothes, shoes, puzzles, a drum/instrument set, a portable DVD player for the car, a leapfrog game, and "Baby you can Read" set. Maddie had a great time opening all of her presents and playing with all her new things! She is one blessed baby!

Cookies & milk for Santa

Santa came!

Maddie and Brady sharing the rest of the cookies


Around my Dad's tractor :)

10 Months old!

Maddie is now 10 months old. Only two more months until her first birthday! The planning has been underway for about three weeks now. I'm excited for the big day, but at the same time I am sad that my baby is growing up so fast.

I'm getting slack again about blogging. The days just go by so quickly and I hardly get any time for myself. The holidays are among us and days are even more chaotic than usual. We had a great Thanksgiving (and Maddie's first) in Georgetown. Our whole family was there...most haven't seen Maddie since July...so it was fun catching up and seeing her interact with everyone. On Sunday we drove to Charleston to see Grandma McCoy for a few hours since she couldn't make it up to Georgetown for Thanksgiving. After a very fun-filled and exhausting weekend it was back to the daily grind...

This past week we have all been sick with nasty colds. Maddie started on Monday night with congestion and both Gabe and I got sick on Wednesday. For three nights she screamed at bedtime because her nose was so congested. All week Maddie would not take naps and was fussy all day. I finally decided to take her in to see the doctor just to make sure she didn't have any chest congestion or an ear infection. All was clear. The doctor said that it was just a cold and we would just have to let it run its course. We are on day 9 of the cold and it is finally starting to get better. Maddie was weighed and at 10 months old she weighed in at a whopping 23 lbs 4 oz. She is steadily gaining a pound a month now! No wonder my back hurts nonstop!

Maddie is not walking and doesn't seem to have any real interest in it. Last week she started walking behind her walker toy, but until just recently she decided to not do it anymore (probably because she took a little tumble when she was going too fast behind it). Oh well, for now she is an expert crawler and cruiser. She will walk when she wants to, I guess!

At 10 months old, Maddie is:

• waving bye-bye
• eating lots of new table foods everyday (tonight she ate macaroni & cheese, green beans, and yams. Her favorite lunch is grilled cheese and bananas.
  
• interested in feeding herself with a spoon
• offering food to us
• clucking her tongue
• saying more consonants (dada, tata, rara)
• loves to play games...her favorite is playing "chase" with Daddy when he comes home from work
• entertains herself for long periods of time...loves to empty out drawers and cabinets!
• gives kisses to us and her baby dolls (when she is in the mood)
  
• will occasionally "dance" to music...just a little sway side to side, but hey it is cute :)

Our baby is getting to be such a big girl. Oh time goes by too quickly....

We are looking forward to celebrating Maddie's first Christmas in just a few short weeks. It should be fun! Here are just a few pictures of the past couple of weeks...