Almost 8 months old

I am appalled with and ashamed of myself for not keeping this more up-to-date, but I'll do the best I can to bring everyone up to speed!

The last time I posted was..... NEARLY A MONTH AGO? Yikes. Not good. So much to fill you in on!

Our little Maddy Roo turned 6 months old on July 8th, and although that was the day I had designated as the start of her new meal plan (which now included solids for the first time), and although I was quite excited and anxious to begin this new chapter in her life, I was nervous and scared to begin this new chapter in her life. It was as if by NOT feeding her solids, I was satisfying the part of my brain that wants to hang on to the image of the tiny little infant I held in my arms the day she was born for as long as I can. 

6 months already.

Wow.

But the fact remains, she's growing so quickly, and time is just zipping by, that there was nothing I could do. So with both reluctance and excitement, Donovan and I got our Maddy Roo strapped in to her Rainforest high chair that Daddy assembled a couple of months earlier (Daddy dressed her in her special "iPood" onesie for the occasion!), gave her a sippie cup of water for the first time (which she took to like a pro!), and proceeded to feed our little girl rice cereal. MMMMM!

It was a tad on the messy side (Mommy made it a bit too thick - so it was a learning experience on both ends!), but all in all, Reesey Poo did a fantastic job welcoming solids into her dining repertoire! Rice cereal once a day for the first week, then twice a day for a week, then oat cereal instead of rice. Soon it was time to add another flavour to her palette, and add a veggie to the mix!

I decided instead to hold off on this milestone for just a few days longer than I initially planned because I wanted to make this an extra special memory - you see, Grandpa Mike from Utah was coming up for a visit in just a few short days from then, and we really wanted to make him a part of Madelyn's first taste of something new!

And I'm pretty sure he was happy to be there, to share in the glory of the scrunched up grimace our Roo made when she tasted peas for the first time:

Despite this face, our girl ended up enjoying the peas the next time she tried 'em (although Gpa Mike doesn't want to believe it!), but man, she had every right to make the face that she did. We all got a wiff of what I was making her eat, and I tells ya, Mother of the Year Award I was not going to receive!

The visit with Gpa Mike was fantastic, as Madelyn loved her new best friend (he came bearing gifts of Tom & Pippo and Spot books). He even found a set of colourful stacking rings for her to gum, and to this day, their still one of her favourites (a tie, perhaps, with her newest noise-making toys that light up!).

On Gpa Mike's first night here, we decided we'd drive into Dauphin the following day to surprise Grandma! 

Madelyn, Daddy, Mommy and Gpa Mike stayed at the Roadway Inn, where an awesome indoor pool provided a great opportunity to get the Roo reacquainted with splashing about in a big BIG "bath tub". (She had her first experience at a public pool the week before with

 Auntie and Alexis - pictures below!) Daddy had fun taking her swimming (or "floating") about in her new bathing suit!

August was full of playdates with friends, immunization shots (at her last app't in July, she weighed 19lbs 10oz, and was 27.5" long!), Tinkertown and teething. And as of August 29th, Madelyn Reese is now the proud owner of her own little nubbin! On the bottom right, her little zube is pokin' through! 

Picture of the little tooth to follow, so stay tuned!

On August 26th (see? I warned you there'd be so much to catch you up on!), Mommy and Madelyn went to Tinkertown with Baba, Didi, Auntie Leanne and Alexis. It was a very windy day, but that didn't stop us from having fun on Madelyn's first ride - the Merry-Go-Round! It was a long wait to get it started, and she began to get a bit fussy, but once it kicked in to high gear, she was jumping and giggling, and havin' a blast!

Also of note on this day: Mommy found 2 back-up Woodsy's (the Roo's best teddy bear friend) at the Tinkertown gift shop for cheap! I learned it's always good to have a back-up of their favourite toy... y'know, just in case.... so I cleared 'em out (of the only 2 they had in stock!). Hooray!

And on that note, that pretty much sums up the past few months. On her 8th month birthday, I'm going to start her on meat - chicken in broth - so I'll be sure to let you know how that goes!

Here are the latest Maddy'isms:

- can sit up

- can pull herself up to a standing position (especially favoured in her crib, where she can scale the rail and start to explore the inside perimeter of her bed!)

- can roll over any which way

- she can crawl! Just recently mastered the forward crawling movement - she'd been "poppin' it" in reverse for a few weeks, and then, one day last month, she just got the hang of it, and started goin' TOWARDS Daddy instead of AWAY from him! (I don't blame her, he's pretty cute!) :)

- she knows her name - turns her head to look at who's callin' it

- understands "no" - if she's opening the cupboards during one of her kitchen crawling sprees, I'll say, "Madelyn, noooooooo", and she stops dead in her tracks, looks back at me as if to say, "I'm sorry, Mommy", and then turns right back to where she was headed and proceeds to open the cupboards anyways!

- definitely knows the difference between "Dada" and "Mummah"

- has favourites - book: Pat the Bunny and his exclusive Bunny Kisses; song: still Winnie the Pooh, but also really enjoys "Mmm Mmm went the Little Green Frog One Day" (that's pretty much the song in it's entirety); toys: Woodsy, Floppy, and her stacking rings from the "Lord of the Rings" (Gpa Mike!); foods: bananas, butternut squash, Mum Mums, frozen grapes

- gets very excited about things, and shows her excitement by flailing her arms rapidly (I joke that she's gettin' ready for take-off!), and uber high-pitched squeals

- is starting to recognize things we've been signing to her since she was born (we're teaching her, and us, sign language for a variety of things, such as diaper changes, eating, etc)

- plays in her crib with her friends!!!

- she LOVES tags. Tags on blankets, tags on toys, tags on your shirt. It doesn't matter, just as long as it has a tag, it's gold.

- still sleeps through the night (occasionally she wakes up crying because her plug's popped out and she can't find it, so Daddy'll go and pop it back in!). But for the most part, she's in bed by 8 or 9, and doesn't get up until 8am! Yay! Plus her naps during the day - still has one after breakfast and then in the afternoon. 

 Here are just some random pics of our little girl - from her first time in a bathing suit for her first adventure in public pooling, to trying to chew her way out of her crib - we're just so proud of her and love her to bits! Sorry for the hiatus, but due to this long post (and a sleepy Mommy!), you can be sure we'll do our best to NOT let it slip again like this! Thanks for putting up with us! Hope you're enjoying this ride as much as we are! :)

 Not the bathing suit I had purchased for her - the one I bought was sz 6-9 months. Here she is, at almost 7 months, and it was TOO SMALL! So luckily, Auntie had one she bought for Alexis a few yrs ago, that Alexis never got the chance to wear. Phew!