We have an army ranger in our house!

Maddie is too funny. She will army crawl to her pacifiers only. She is bound and determined to get to them when she wants to!

Best Buddies

Weekend Away

We went to Charleston this past weekend for the first time since mid-July to visit Gabe's mom. She hasn't seen Maddie in over two months and boy was she surprised to see how much she has changed! Maddie is a different little person now-one who sits up, feeds herself, gets in crawling position and "army-crawls" forward when she wants to, and even stands on her own for a few seconds at a time. What a difference a couple of months makes! We went to the Tanger outlets and bought some new clothes for all of us, walked around Charlestowne Landing, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Bowman's Island. The views were incredible. Nothing is finer than to be back in Carolina :)
We had a nice time visiting, but it is such work traveling with a baby! I am completely exhausted. We never get to do and see everyone we want to. It took over 5 hours to get home-traffic was horrific!!! We never saw an accident, so we don't know what was going on. We were all very cranky to say the least once we finally got home. Maddie wasn't phased and went right back to sleeping in her crib (I think she was glad to be in her own bed...she slept 11 hours straight last night!)
I will have to get a video of Maddie doing her "army crawl". It is hilarious. She will usually only go and get her pacifiers. When her "diddy" is in reach she will do whatever it takes to get it!

Here are some photos of our weekend...

Outdoors Baby

Our little doodlebug sure loves the outdoors! We took her to the park a few weeks ago to swing and she absolutely loved it, so of course we had to buy Maddie her very own swing for the house! She seems to really enjoy it! Wal-Mart had sandboxes on clearance so we snagged one for Maddie as well. Pretty soon, we will have to get a "big girl" swing set for her. She is growing too fast...

7 Months old!

Another month has already passed and our sweet baby girl is a month closer to her first birthday! On Wednesday she had her 6 month well check (only a month late). It took us forever to get insurance set up in South Carolina and all her records sent from Kentucky. But better late than never! I took Maddie all by myself to the doctor and by the time we were done I was exhausted! Having to juggle a 7 month old, a diaper bag, and tons of paperwork is hard work! Maddie did a great job and seemed to really like her new doctor's office. After many suggestions, we decided to take her to Parkside Pediatrics. It is an amazing facility. Brand new. Clean. Awesome nurses. Caring Doctors. What more could we want? Here are Maddie's stats at 7 months old:

20. 13 lbs (95%tile)
27.75 inches (92%tile)

I was in shock! I really didn't think she would be in the 90th percentile still. I thought she had leveled off by now. Dr. Woodlief said that she looks great and is healthy! Maddie got 2 shots and of course she cried, but only for a few seconds. She is a big girl! In the next month or so she should be starting to eat more finger foods and that we could introduce some juice in a sippy cup. We have been trying to introduce the sippy cup every day to Maddie with water...hopefully soon she will catch on! She actually loves to drink out of our glasses (well she likes to play in the drink with her tongue). Also our goal is to start weaning her off her hypoallergenic formula in the next couple of months. Pray that it goes well and she will tolerate milk!

Maddie is a pretty good eater. She loves her fruits. She eats bananas, apricots, pears, apples, prunes, peaches, and mangos (I'm sure I'm missing a few). The veggies is touch and go. She loves sweet potatoes and carrots. She will eat squash with apples or pears mixed in and other yellow veggie combinations. We have given her peas and green beans and she is not too thrilled about those choices...which I don't blame her. I have tasted them and I am not impressed either! I have attempted to make a few homemade baby foods (peaches, sweet potatoes, and carrots). I thought I would enjoy making her food, but I am so busy with her during the day that I can't really find the time.

In the past couple of weeks she has also been learning to eat cereal puffs and yogurt bites (both are Gerber brand snacks). She is getting very good at using her fingers to pick up food. Maddie also loves her "Baby Mum Mum" rice crackers. I have also introduced plain yogurt to her at lunch time. I mix it with a fruit and she laps it down. She has tolerated the yogurt really well, so hopefully that means she will be able to enjoy milk really soon! Maddie seems very interested in what we are eating and tries to grab at our plates. Now that she has teeth she thinks she can eat steak! haha! Have I mentioned that she has two teeth???? Yep, our big girl got her two bottom teeth in at the same time. She started teething in the middle of July and her pearly whites finally broke through about 3 weeks ago! She looks so cute now, but no more "gummy smile" as Gabe says.
I really do enjoy staying at home with Maddie every day. I am very blessed to be able to. I love that I rarely miss new moments. She changes by the minute and I am trying to cherish those moments, because it goes by way too fast.

Here are some recent pictures of our growing girl: