madeline 9 months!

madeline had her 9 month check up today. i can so not believe she is 9 months!! time has flown by! she is looking good. still small (not even on the chart). she only gained 3 ounces in 2 months, but she is on developmentally. so the dr is going to check her out more fully in 3 months. at a year she has blood taken anyway, so they will just make sure everything is ok. i am sure she is fine! she is just tiny, like the other 2! (hana only weighed 16 pounds at a year... and was running around.) i am not so worried :)

madeline's new abilities :)

• can get just about anywhere crawling.

• can push up to sitting from laying down/ crawling.

• pull up to standing, she has done this several times. she pulls up on the couch, on the leapfrog table, and on me!
  

• has stood for a couple of seconds on her own without falling.

• has no fear. will be standing on the floor holding on to the edge of the couch. she will let go and leap in my direction... hoping i will catch her. i always do!

• she waves her hands. not always at the appropriate times... but still waving!

• she will point to your nose if you ask her to!

• has some serious separation anxiety... only from me!

• don't forget her 2 teeth!!
  

if you click on the picture you can see her tiny teeth :)

updates updates updates

a lot has been going on :) so i thought i would share.

• we did another no tv sunday... it was great! even jack thought it was better :)

• madeline is getting/ has 2 teeth!!! hana got her first tooth at 11 months, brooke at 10. now madeline, almost (tomorrow) 9 months. (you can't see them in the pictures... but isn't she cute??!!) they have broken the skin, but are not very tall.

• poppy came to visit. he stayed for a couple of days and we had a great time :) i forgot to take pictures, so i have none to share :(

• i have done several new photography sessions (i have another one tonight). i have posted two on my photo blog... more to come once i get them edited!

• super doubles at harris teeter are awesome!! i have spent about $30 and have gotten about $250 in groceries!!
  

• we went to raleigh for katie's (jack's sister) engagement party. we had a great time. it was a long, but fun day!

• i am a cool mom! i let my girls play outside in the rain :) they had a blast! (i took the pictures in the waterproof camera case jack got me for christmas)

that is most of what is new for us! what is new for you?

no tv sunday

we tried something new and exciting on sunday. we did not watch tv (ok the girls watched it while we were eating breakfast... they like thomas and that is the only time he comes on all week). after church, we did not turn on the tv at all. i have felt recently that we are kind of disconnected as a family. we spend time together but it is usually watching tv, or reading a book, or playing games... with the tv on the in the background. so i figured that we should go a whole day without tv! and we did! we played games, rode bikes, read books, and the girls played by themselves some too. it was great! now i would be lying if i said that i didn't want to turn it on once or twice... i did. it just felt like the natural thing to do, turn on the tv. like it is ingrained in us. the tv must be on. but after i got over that feeling, it was a great day. we plan to do it again... maybe EVERY sunday!!
here are a few (not very exciting) pictures of the girls playing during the day :)yay! no tv sundayS
i just had to add that madeline said "ma ma" today!! she was crawling around after me... crying. when she finally got to me she looked up and me and said... through the screams... "ma ma, ma ma" so exciting, even if she was screaming at me :)!!

madeline's new tricks

madeline is doing a couple of new noteworthy things :) she can push the car/walker and kind of walk. now she definitely has trouble, but she will stand on it and push it along. it takes a minute to get her feet to catch up once it has gone a little ways. but she is doing pretty well. i think she may be more on hana's walking schedule (9 1/2 months) than brookes (14 months). and to be honest i would much rather her be walking than crawling. crawling just adds a whole new set of issues that are overlooked when walking (a new level of things that need to be child proofed and a higher standard of clean must be maintained on the floor since little knees are constantly there). so i am happy with her new skill! i am under no delusion that she will be walking in the next few weeks, but at least it is progress :)

she is also becoming pretty good at feeding herself. she has been eating puffs and cheerios for a month or so. so i just started adding other things. she has eaten peas, cut up green beans, small chicken, and just last night small soft carrots. the first messy food is always fun!
my little baby is on the road to becoming a toddler :)

guess the baby... answers

ok here are the answers to the "guess the baby"... i will have to say that my dad did the best! he got all 11 right! way to go poppy :)

1 brooke

2 madeline

3 brooke4 brooke

5 hana

6 madeline

7 brooke

8 hana

9 madeline

10 hana

11 madeline... yes she is wearing the same bathing suit as hana in #8! we recycle!

thanks for guessing!
i still think that brooke and madeline look almost exactly alike as babies (look at pictures 3 and 6!!)
anyone agree?

pool day + madeline updates

we spent wednesday morning at the waterford pool. hilary took some pics (thanks!). the girls had a blast. brooked played in the water and madeline sat on the edge and splashed. it was a fun morning :)

madeline is doing some new and impressive things. she has started to crawl! i knew it was coming, but it is quite amazing to see :) she doesn't go very fast, but she can certainly get where she wants to go!! she is also saying "ba ba", of course not to anything, but it is the beginning of the letter sounds. no dada or mama yet, but they should out be soon. i still can't believe she is 8 months! man time flies!!

on to the pool pictures!!all the mommas and kiddos :)

don't forget to guess which baby is which!! answers will be along very soon! thanks for those who have participated!!

guess the baby...

i have always said that my children look alike... as babies. i will admit that they don't look 100% alike as they age. well i thought i would test out my theory and see if you can tell who is who. try not to use the background as help or the quality of the photos...

1

2

34

5

6

7

8

9

10

11
so make your guess... who is who??? not as easy as you thought? (jack missed several... so don't feel bad if you do too)
i will post the answers in a couple of days!