Disney Princess on Ice

Chase wins the super cool dad award because on Wednesday night he took Madison to see Disney Princess on Ice and she had a blast! One of the perks of selling radio is that he occasionally gets free tickets to fun stuff like this so we certainly take advantage when we can. He could only get two so Emma and I sat this one out. I'm glad the two of them could spend some quality time together and have a fun daddy daughter date night. Chase said the show was actually pretty entertaining so he enjoyed it as well. Madison was completely wired when they got home and was telling me all about it.

Daddy bought her a super cool Tangled light up toy (that I'm pretty sure could cause some damage if she's not careful) to play with during the show.

Well Checks and Cardiologist

On Monday I took the girls to the pediatrician for Madison's 3 year check (which resulted in a trip to the cardiologist, more on that in a bit) and Emma's 6 month check.  Madison was such a big girl and has a total crush on Dr. Hieber so she flashed him a big smile when he walked in.  He was very pleased with that and said he doesn't get a lot of those!  Here are their stats:

Madison
Height: 37 3/4 inches (75th percentile)
Weight 30 lbs 8 oz (50th percentile)

Shortly after I took this picture Dr. Hieber said he could hear a small murmur in her heart and called it an "innocent murmur" because it was very slight and didn't think it was anything to worry about but referred us to a pediatric cardiologist just to be safe.  So Tuesday we went to get that checked out.

Getting a finger prick, personally I think these are worse than shots, but she did great and didn't cry a bit.

Emma
Height: 25 3/4 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 14 lbs 3 oz (10-25th percentile)

I looked back at Madison's 6 month stats and she weighed 16 lbs 13 oz and was 27 1/4 inches long.  It's funny to see how different their stats are. The difference is that Madison was getting her milk via bottle since we never quite figured out breast feeding and Emma is nursing so I never really know how much she eats.  I think she's going to be built more like me and be on the shorter side.  Emma may have started out a lot bigger than Madison did but she sure isn't growing as fast.  I don't really think of Emma as being that small but people always think that she is more along the lines of 3 or 4 months vs. 6 and they think Madison is older than 3 because she is tall and she acts about 6!  Emma had to get two shots and she wasn't happy about it so I didn't get any pictures of her at the doctor but here's a couple at my mom's house afterward when she was in a better mood.

On Tuesday we headed to the Medical Center of Plano to see a pediatric cardiologist, who was really awesome.  After listening to Madison's heart he too detected a soft murmur so he ordered a sonogram to check for any holes or abnormalities which luckily there were not! I don't know anything about murmurs but he said they are just a sound and many of them don't mean a thing which is the case with Madison.   Apparently a lot of kids have murmurs and they eventually go away all on their own and don't restrict kids in any way so we shouldn't even give it a second thought. Basically since she's so thin there's not a lot of space between her heart and her skin so they can hear everything a lot louder.   So glad we have a very healthy 3 year old!  As a reward we went and got a yummy chocolate milkshake.

Here's Madison hooked up to the EKG machine.  They told her she was like a robot and she thought that was pretty funny.  I'm so proud of how she handles situations.  She was such a trooper and even the doctor and technicians who ran her tests were impressed.  They told us she was the best behaved kid they'd seen in the past 3 months.  I imagine it is pretty scary to be hooked up to that stuff.  She does really great when we talk about things first and she knows what to expect so I explained that she would have to get some cool tests run.  I think the sonogram scared her a little bit because they turned out the lights and had the gel, much like a pre-natal sonogram.  After it was over the technician asked her if she was nervous and she shook her head no but he said her heart rate told a different story! 

Since Emma did so well with rice cereal we moved right a long to green beans.  She was all smiles at first but she was not a fan.  She gagged and shuttered and made it quite clear that she did not like them. 

Shriner Circus

On Sunday we took the girls to the Shriner Circus and it was great!  It was at the Garland Events Center which is a much smaller venue in comparison to the AAC so we were a lot closer to the action.  Before hand they had elephant and camel rides but we opted for the pony rides because they were a little closer to the ground (and a lot less expensive.)  My only complaint is that it was a really long show.  We went to the 6:30 show and left at 9:30 with a few more acts still to go, that's a long time to keep a kid's attention.  Madison was really ready to go before then but after intermission the motorcycles and they man they shot out of a canon kept her entertained.  I think we need to add a motor cross event to our list of things to do.  They were very cool.  

Hanging out with one of the many clowns before heading inside to find a seat

 Jeff, Hayden, Kylie, and Madison

Emma did great and was awake the whole time.  I think she was mesmerized by all the lights and music. 

Madison loved the acrobats...

...and the cotton candy

This elephant was quite impressive

6 Months

Emma turned 6 months on Friday, September 23rd.  She's still a total mama's girl and if I'm in sight she wants me to be the one holding her.  Chase and her are big buds too but if she gets mad I'm usually the only one who can calm her.  Here's some things that she's been up to this month:

• The biggest accomplishment this month is that she is finally sleeping in her crib!  After 6 months our room is finally baby free. 
•  I put away the swing and bouncy seat because she is not a fan and they just take up space.  The jumperoo has been ok, she still prefers to be held but she figured out how to jump so it will keep her occupied for a little while as long as she's in a good mood. 
•  Madison continues to be one of her favorite people and she just thinks she's hilarious, as do the rest of us.  =)
• For her 6 month birthday I fed her rice cereal for the first time and she loved it!  She eats a bowl every morning for breakfast
• I'm still nursing and she does occasionally get formula or breast milk bottles when we are out and about
• Emma is starting to sit on her own for long periods of time but she still topples over at a moments notice
• no teeth yet but continues to chew on everything
• still a pretty good spitter, but a happy spitter, so I've been trying to keep bibs on her and burp clothes with in an arms reach. 
• wearing 3-6 month outfits as well as some 6 month outfits
• I wouldn't say we have a true schedule, it's hard when you have a big sister that has activities.  So Emma sleeps when she can but she's getting to the age where we really need to be at home for her to take a good nap(s).  She still eats every 3 hours and she would probably take 2 good naps a day if we were at home all the time with nothing to do.  But since we are out a lot she takes little cat naps in her car seat between stops.
• At night I rock her to sleep, which I know is against the "mommy rules" because she won't learn to self soothe, but it doesn't take her long once we are all cuddled up so I don't mind
• Emma is definitely a paci baby.  I thought she might find her thumb once she gained more hand control but she hasn't really taken an interest.  That's too bad because I sure would appreciate it in the car when she starts screaming because her paci falls out!  Still not a fan of the car seat which can make for some fun car rides.  Not really looking forward to driving to the beach this year.
• Has found her voice in the last week so she's starting to give us happy screams and louder coos
• Everyone always comments how happy she is when we are out and she really is a happy baby as long as she's being held or someone is giving her their undivided attention.  She's not very good at entertaining herself so hopefully eventually she will grow out of that

In a milk coma about to be put in her crib for a nap

I've been utilizing this carrier a bunch this month.  I never used one with Madison but now it's nice to be hands free on occasion.

Look at me sitting up like a big girl!

Here's her don't put me down face.  She's quite full of it and immediately smiles when I pick her back up.

Good morning Mom!  Emma's been sleeping in the woombie, which is like a sleep sack but it's tighter so more "womb like" and she loves it.

Emma and Arnie have become big buds this month

I love her sweet little feet. Since she was born during the Fall/Winter months she wore socks every day up until the last few weeks. She hasn't discovered her feet yet but I sure play with them a lot!

I'm thinking Emma is going to have curly hair like Madison because it curls when it's wet.  Here's Emma's crazy hair after bath time around 6 months:

...And here's a flash back of Madison's crazy hair around 6 months.  They are starting to look more and more alike. 

We met my friend Rachel out for lunch and got to meet baby Christian

First bite of rice cereal

Success!

Happy 6 months Emma Bear!

The Zoo

Last week Chase took off work Thursday for Madison's birthday party and Friday so we could take the girls to the zoo.  We got kind of a late start from being up late the night before but once we finally got there we had a great time.  This year we decided to become zoo members since we now have to pay for Madison's admission.  We calculated it out and if we go twice it will pay for itself so I think we will definitely get our money's worth.  Here's some shots from our zoo adventure...

Checking out the elephants

My favorites...the giraffes

They were more interested in eating grass than lettuce leaves so we didn't feed them this time

Happy girl, Friday was actually Emma's 6 month birthday

This baby chimp was hitching a ride

The best part about our membership is that we get unlimited carousal and monorail rides so we rode the carousal 5, count them, 5 times!  We will probably get our money's worth just off the carousal alone

 Doesn't Chase look thrilled?

Emma took a little snooze while Madison and daddy went round and round

Madison was very excited to go into the reptile building to see the snakes.  We sometimes watch the Rattlesnake Roundup show so she wanted to see them all in person.  The one behind here is clearly not a rattlesnake but probably an anaconda or something.  Emma and I stayed outside since she was alseep.

The koalas are their newest addition

This mama kangaroo had a baby in her pouch...

...just like me!  Poor Emma had to eat on the run.  When you have a big sister to keep up with you just have to go with the flow.

We saw lots of animals on our monorail ride and the baby chimp put on a show as we rode by

Checking out the cheetahs.  These are usually Madison's favorite because they are normally up close to the glass

Look dad, now mom's on the carousal

This little girl was pooped by the time we left