Bogata Thanksgiving

On Sunday we drove down to Bogata to celebrate Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. I woke Madison up extra early so it would be naptime when we left and she fell asleep after about 25 minutes and slept an hour. When we got to my Granny's house she had lots of fun showing her how she can now sit up on her own and attempt to crawl, both big accomplishments since last time we saw Granny! My aunt and uncle had our big family lunch at their house and it took Madison a little bit to warm up but before long she was laughing and smiling at everyone. The trees are beautiful this time of year so we took advantage and went down by the pond for a few family pics.

Thanksgiving last year-bun in the oven, Thanksgiving this year-happy new family!

8 months

Today is Madison's 8 month birthday. I'm sure I'll say this again and again but this last month has been my favorite age so far. She has developed quite the personality and has a little more independence so she can entertain herself better than earlier months. We just had to lower her mattress last night because yesterday morning and then again after nap time I found her sitting up in her crib waiting for me to come get her. This is something brand new, she has been able to sit alone for a while now but has just figured out how to sit up from a laying down position. She is still super close to crawling but hasn't quite mastered it, she prefers the inch worm crawl and military scoot.
-17 lbs 12.5 oz
-No teeth yet
-mastered all her fruits and veggies, seems to like everything
-discovered she has wrists. It's pretty funny because she will stare at her hands and then wave to herself or if she has a toy she will move it back and forth with her hand instead of flailing her whole arm but only when she concentrates on it
-still loves her jumperoo and will jump constantly for minutes at a time
-still loves to chew on Sophie
-sadly she has outgrown her swing, she sits straight up when we put her in it so it's time for it to be retired
-we now put her in a shopping cart and a high chair at restaurants
-loves to run around the house in her walker
-loves to eat gerber puffs, working on feeding herself but since they dissolve as soon as they get wet they tend to get stuck on her slobbery hand
-she has become quite the little chatterbox, especially when she is eating
-starting to share tiny bites of table food, mostly breads
-loves to chew on straps-car seat straps, stroller straps, high chair straps, etc... also goes for tags
-just getting over her first real cold, has had red/watery eyes and a stuffy/snotty nose since Saturday, poor thing!
-constantly goes after the phone, laptop, and remote
-likes to "talk" on the phone, really just listen but she smiles when we are talking on the phone and hold it up to her ear so whoever we are talking to can talk to her
-fits into her cute pink Uggs
-her new favorite toys are her shaker and bell that we got at our last music class

Don't you love the first picture, who needs a sippy cup when you can have beer?
We were working on crawling and drinking out of a sippy cup but clearly she was more interested in the beer bottle. Don't worry Arnie wouldn't let her drink any.

On the Verge

Madison is so close to crawling. She has figured out how to get on all 4s and rock back and forth. I was hoping she would hold out until after Christmas so we don't have any tree incidents but I think at this rate she could be crawling by next week. We'll see....in a couple pictures you will see the camera lens cover in front of her. She would get on all 4s, lunge forward, and then scoot on her tummy until she reached it. I love her face, this is her determined to get it face, normally when she's after something she's not supposed to have.

Baby Shower

On Saturday Stacey and I hosted a baby shower for Jill. It was at our house so I had fun decorating and planning it out all week. It was a great party and she got lots of cute little boy necessities. Baby boy Ray is expected around January 8th and we can't wait to meet him. Madison joined us before nap time and looked very cute in her leopard dress and matching shoes.
I also posted some pictures of Madison in her Aggie attire. I decided to have an Aggie photo shoot before she grows out of her A&M onsie. What a cute little Aggie!

Big Day

Yesterday Chase took Madison over to his parents house while I was out running errands and they had a lot of fun. When they came home I asked why she had a silver pie tin and he told me this was Madison's new toy. Apparently she had the best time hitting it and making noise so they couldn't come home with out it. Out of every toy she could play with and she picked the pie tin, go figure. That night we went out to dinner and decided it was time to try a high chair since Madison is sitting up so well. She really liked it because we sat by the kitchen so she could watch the waiters coming in and out. Daddy let her try a few tiny bites of bread dipped in marinara sauce, mmmmm. Since she did so well in her high chair we decided to put her in a shopping cart at Target. Finally we are able to use her cute cart cover. Such a big girl!

Swings

Last week we met Jill and Kylie at the park and Madison got to swing for the first time. I was glad to see they had baby swings so she could have a true playground experience.

Dallas Zoo

On Friday we went to the Dallas zoo with Gram, Jill, and Kylie. The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day to be outside. On the way there Kylie watched her Barney goes to the zoo video so she was convinced we would see Barney while we were there. She looked everywhere and there was no sign of him, but we did see a lot of other animals. I think Madison enjoyed it, I'm not sure how much she really saw but it was a fun adventure. She did like the penguins and the fish because they were at her eye level so she could actually follow them swimming around.