My Reesey is a very independent girl...

I was able to get out of work early tonite, just in time to come home to my girl's bath and bedtime! After her splish splash, I was getting her dressed into her jammies, but SHE was determined to put her top on by herself!

I wanna do it myself, Mommy!

Figured it out - look how proud she is!

Yep, I pretty much rock!

Time to take it off and try again (not without a bit of a struggle first!)

There, it's off! Let's make sure that wasn't just beginner's luck!

Figuring it out again...

....there's the hole....

....hmmmm, didn't quite work as smoothly as the first try, I'd better inspect it first...

.....almost got it!

Phew! Did it again! Man, I DO rock!

And again, because hey, this is more fun than going to sleep!

Silly girl!

Here, let Mommy help you...

Mommy helped the Roo, and the Roo was not pleased! Look at how I'm laughing! Man! "And the award for Mom of the Year DOESN'T go to...."! lol

The morning after!

After staying up late to make sure our Reesey was settled and finally asleep, all was quiet in the room - but she was nowhere to be seen in the video monitor!

So I went to her room and proceeded to open her door, only to find myself struggling - something was on the OTHER side of the door, something that was preventing me from opening it. Not just ANY something....MY DAUGHTER! She had curled up on her blankie on the floor RIGHT in front of the door, and I was only able to open it an inch before I figured out it was in fact HER - I could see just her tiny hand in the sliver of light that crept through the cracked open door.....so I gently pushed on the door with the intention that she would either roll over so I could open it more, or just wake up and consciously move.

That wasn't working.

So I tried to tickle her little hand to get her to move. But her hand was cold. She wasn't moving. I panicked.

I ran to the top of the stairs to call for Donovan, who raced upstairs, both of us in a state of anxiety and sheer terror.

Did she bump her head on something? Did something fall on her and pin her down?

I wasn't so careful with the door this time, I pushed and nudged with a much more forceful pressure, but still ensuring I was maintaining some semblance of gentleness. This WAS my daughter on the other side, but who knew what state she was in?!

Next thing I knew, she jumped up, startled, and started to cry!

PHEW!

I mean, OH NUTS!!!

I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief, and nudged my way into her room to find her behind the door now, startled from her solid sleep and confused at why she was so rudely awoken. I picked her up, wiped away her tears, gave her lots of kisses and snuggles as I quickly carried her to her bed, not wanting her to wake up too much. She curled right up under the blanket and thankfully went right back to sleep.

She slept through the rest of the night.

The next morning, Donovan and I woke up to the sounds of the Roo waking up over the monitor, as she greeted all her friends in the way she always does every morning.

"Hiya Woodsy, hiya Floppy, hiya lamp, hiya curtains....."

We were both still half asleep, but smiled with the sweet sounds we were listening to.

Next thing y'know, I hear a voice, less muffled than it normally is over the monitor - a bit clearer, a bit louder - saying, "Hiya Daddy's keys".

"Hiya Daddy's keys," I thought. Still half asleep, I smiled, confused..........Daddy's keys aren't in her room, they're at the top of the stairs leading to the back door. THEY'RE ON THE TOP OF THE STAIRS!!!!

I ripped the quilt off of me and FLEW down the stairs, just praying I reached her in time before she fell down the stairs to the landing....only instead I was greeted by a little happy face looking up at me, watching me as I ran down to it, holding up Daddy's keys!

"Want....some.....faffles!" she told me!

I scooped her up and laughed! I guess I didn't close the door all the way the night before when she gave me that scare as she curled up by her door! What a STINKER!!! Both of us! lol

Changes

Dear Madelyn,

Mommy and Daddy are so very sorry we haven't kept up with this blog as much as we wanted - every day you give us a new memory to hold on to - to make us smile or laugh, moments in time we want to hang on to and cherish forever - moments we'd like to believe will be ingrained in our memories until long after we've become old and gray. But some moments, big events such as tonight, need to be documented and shared with everyone who loves you.

Tonight, my girl, is your first night in your toddler bed.

Mommy took pictures of you waking up from your nap this afternoon - the last time you'll be waking up in your crib (well, we hope it's the last time anyways - Daddy doesn't seem too convinced - he's keeping your crib, mostly still assembled, in the dining room in case you don't like your "new bed", as you so articulately call it). I've told Daddy that's ridiculous, that OF COURSE you'll love your new bed, you've been such an easy baby when it comes to changes around here and in your life, you adjust to new things with no worries, I wish I had the ability to do the same. Maybe I can learn that from you.

So this afternoon, you helped Daddy put your new bed together (you were mostly playing with the rods that support the mattress, and you gave kisses to Cinderella). Once it was all done, you took to it like you'd been waiting for it for a while now. "New bed," you said, as you climbed all over it. We even bought you your first real pillow to sleep with. You did have a bout of "no no pee-woah" and threw it off your bed momentarily, but you seem to have come around to the idea of it since then.

I began to wheel your crib out of your room to move your new bed into the crib's old place, and you even helped to push it out the door (until we realized it was too big to fit through the door frame, and Daddy had to take it apart before taking it to the dining room).

For the rest of the day, "new bed" was the latest in Reesey vocab, you seemed anxious to get to it already. After your splish splash, we got you ready for "patchi" time, and even while you were brushing your teeth, you couldn't stop mentioning the newest addition to your room.

We got you into your jammies, and Daddy snapped pics of you looking like a sweet little angel all bundled up in the blankets of your bed as Mommy read you your favourite nighttime book, "Goodnight Moon".

As soon as the book was done, I gave you a little kiss, reminded you that it's patchi time in your new bed, and that Mommy and Daddy love you. You rolled over on your pillow and hugged Woodsy tight, looking like a natural in that bed. I was/am so proud!

Now here I sit, typing this out, with the video monitor just to the left of me so I can keep an eye on you and see how well you're adjusting - for the first 20 minutes, I've watched you get out of your bed with your blanket and wander around your room (to get a handle on this new-found nighttime freedom, no doubt); you crawled back into bed with the blanket pulled up over you, then you whipped it off, sat at the edge (where your toy box is), exclaimed "Puppy!" as you held up your furry friend and stared at him for a bit, and then you continued to roll around a bit more, sitting up, playing with the curtains and exploring the room from this lower perspective.

At this moment, all is still in your room - I can see you curled up on top of your blankets, your little bum sticking up in the air (how you've always slept), and all I can hear over the monitor are the sounds of your lullaby CD and you sucking on your soother.

Daddy placed as many cushions as he could find around the base of your bed in case you roll off the edge and fall the four inches to the ground! I hope you have a wonderful sleep, baby girl, and I can't wait to hear about all the dreams you had in your new bed when I see you in the morning!

I can't believe you're growing up so quickly! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!

I'm going to wash your mouth out with soap!

Before supper, Madelyn and I were playing in the backyard with her wagon, her current obsession. (She probably logs about 8-9 hours a week with that thing - I don't know how she's going to make it through the winter. I'll have to get her a toboggan, I suppose.) She hit a point in the fun where I could tell she was happy playing by herself, so I moved a few feet across the yard and started weeding the garden.

After a few minutes, Madelyn came over to "help" me weed, which slowed my pace down considerably. So I put her on the task of finding rocks in the garden and pulling them out. That worked out really well. The rocks/gravel are small enough for her to manage, and it occupied her for a good 15 minutes - just enough time for me to finish weeding,

Well, I turned my back on her for ONE SECOND, to put a handful of weeds in the garbage, and what do I turn around to find?

Madelyn is on all fours in the garden, with her face in the dirt.

Trying to eat it.

"MADELYN!", I yelled! Her head jerked up, and I had to stifle the laughter when I saw her face covered in mud. I scolded her a little bit, even though I could tell from the look on her face she probably wasn't going to try that taste test again any time soon!

I got her undressed, put her in the bathtub, and got the shower running. The shower head has got a water saving, weak setting, so I got her to open her mouth and just sprayed the heck out of it. She had a blast getting (gently) sprayed in the face, and it was absolutely hilarious to see the streams of mud flowing out of her mouth.

I still can't figure out why she couldn't have just grabbed a handful of dirt and tried eating it out of her hand, rather than placing her whole head on the ground!

Counting
While getting her ready for bed tonight, Madelyn counted from 1 through 20!!! Okay, she skipped over 14 and 15, but I was still pretty impressed!!!!

Smelling the roses!

Since becoming a father, I've noticed that time goes by ridiculously fast. In some way, that's a great thing - the time in between paydays doesn't feel so long. Weekends are over and then they suddenly sneak up and appear again. Even watched pots boil!

I've also noticed a few drawbacks to time going quickly.

It seems I just blink, and Madelyn's got a new vocabulary. A new shirt. Molars. A new food she won't try.

There also never seems to be enough time to get all the cleaning done. The sidewalk needs shoveling. Food needs cooking. Buses need riding. Work needs 8 hours of my time. I'm not a superhuman dad either, and naturally I get a bit stressed and rushed at times. The last couple of days have been like this for me.

Tonight, I got Madelyn bathed while Cat cleaned the food Madelyn didn't get into her mouth off the ceiling. After we got her ready for bed, Cat kissed her goodnight and turned off the lights. In the dark room, I gave Madelyn a quick kiss and a little hug.

As I lowered her into her crib, she hugged me back.

She's done this numerous times before, but this time, it stopped me in my tracks.

We spent the next 5 minutes just snuggling. I forgot about all the chores, all the sleep I needed to catch up on, and what the score was in the Senators game I was missing.

Knowing full well that tomorrow, she'd be another day older, wiser, smarter and stronger, I cherished every second of that snuggle. I knew it was a moment I'd remember for the rest of my life, and it actually kinda broke my heart to realize that I was in control of when it was going to end.

As her eyes started to close, I reluctantly placed her and her teddy bear down into the crib.

I compensated my momentary heartbreak by looking on the bright side at the lesson I'd learned. No matter how busy, exhausted, or hectic our lives get, we've got the power to just let go of all that extraneous stuff.

The power to stop and 'smell the roses' lies in our hands.

Sometimes we just need to be reminded.

PS. I'm also reminded that I need to start blogging here more often. Looking back at the last year, this blog has helped spark a lot of memories!

Napping baby = chance for me to update!

We're nearly at 13 months old already.

And it seems like it was only 3 months ago that I updated this blog. !!!

Our little Roo has grown leaps and bounds, exploring many firsts and tackling new challenges head-on with a passionate sense of determination. 

We had an amazing past few months with our girl - she's enjoyed playdates with friends, crawling all over the place, holds conversations with her slowly-expanding vocabulary, and has even begun walking!!!!

Let's back up to Christmas - a busy, busy time, this first Christmas of ours! A dinner at my parent's place on Christmas Eve (where she tried her first taste of perogy!), spent with Auntie, Uncle, Baba & Didi (and of course cousin Al) was a hoot! It was great to see our Roo in the middle of a mountain of wrapping paper and bows! She d

idn't have a clue what to do with the boxes once she tore off a little strip of paper, she just thought it was more interesting to hang on to the tiny scrap and tear it into as many tiny pieces as her little fingers would a

llow!

She made out with some great loot, too! 

We came home to find an anxious Grandma

 waiting for us!

Despite the long day, the Roo didn't let her fatigue get to her, she loved playing with Grandma for a good chunk of time before it was time for splish splash and bed!

Christmas Day came and went with more visiting, presents, snuggles and playing! 

Boy, have our New Year's Eve celebrations changed since the Roo has come into our lives! No more partying, no more wine - heck, no more staying up all night playing cards even! Nope, we forced ourselves to stay awake for the ball-dropping, at 12:01 am, we got a call from our friends in YYC, crept into Madelyn's room and gave the sleeping beauty a kiss to welcome her to the new year, and hit the hay! So pretty uneventful by conventional standards, but it was still pretty awesome, to ring in the new year with my beautiful family. Awwww!

10 months old!

So remember how I vowed to update this more often?

Yeah, not gonna happen! lol

Especially not now, since our little Roo has become mobile.

YES, you read that right! She's a baby on the go!

It's marked on her calendar, so I can't recall off-hand the exact day she figured out how to crawl (both forwards AND backwards - for a while there, she was just able to pop 'er in reverse!), but once she realized she wasn't limited to only one direction, she just picked up like she'd been doing it forever! And now, she's even at the stage where she can pull herself up onto things! Crazy!

This is what we've been up to since my last post:

Donovan and I celebrated 3 years of wedded bliss in September (he reminds me that we've been married for 4, but I tell him that only 3 of those years have been blissful...!) HAHA! So to celebrate, we went out for dinner and a movie, and Baba and Auntie got to babysit! Madelyn had a blast playing with her cousin, but I missed her so much so that I didn't even enjoy the movie! I couldn't stop thinking about her, and we couldn't wait to go and pick her up and bring her home!

It wasn't much soon after that we took our Roo over to Baba and Didi's house again so that Donovan and I could go to the Elton John concert! It was during this time now that Madelyn started waking up around 11pm, just screaming and scaring the bejeebus outta us - and Baba and Auntie, too! We learned that she graced them with this little episode that night, but they reassured us that she quickly fell back asleep soon afterwards.

I also started taking a course on Tuesday nights, for 4 hours, from 6-10pm. This gives Daddy and Maddy a chance to have some quality father-daughter time, and I love calling on my break in class to see how they're doing, and to hear her asking for me! :)

Madelyn's first Thanksgiving was a fun-filled weekend! A visit from Grandma (and a surprise appearance by Grandpa Mike, too!) kicked-started the holidays, rounded out by dinner with my family on the holiday Monday. Just a few days later, we were off to Ottawa for a Sens vs Coyotes game! Madelyn was a handful, I won't lie. She was in the car seat on the direct flt to YOW, so that was ok - got in a nap about half an hour before landing, but just fussy otherwise. Poor thing! Good thing they stuck us in the back of the jet! lol

While at the hotel, our little girl didn't have any room to crawl around, so to make up for it, Daddy took her swimming in our hotel's wave pool - the largest of it's kind in Ontario! She LOVED it! And at the game, she did so well! She actually fell asleep in my lap! Imagine that! In a crowd of thousands who were cheering and screaming, and piercing sirens, MY LITTLE GIRL fell asleep on my lap!  Not that hockey bored her - she quite enjoys it, in fact! But I guess the time change and being stuck in a car seat for a lot of the time finally took it's toll on her. We were on a plane the next morning, and even with a 2hr layover in YYZ, where we were finally able to get her out and about, she just made us so proud with how well she did!

Since she loved the wave pool so much, I decided we should sign up for some sort of swimming classes. So, twice a week, the Roo and I go to Baby & Me Aquasize class. It's lots of fun! Plus it's a great way for her to use up all those Little Swimmers I bought her! 

Madelyn's 1st Halloween:

FUN!

She was a little duck! And looking completely edible in her costume, too! I seriously just wanted to take a bite outta her! She dressed up and we went to visit Daddy at work, and then it was off to a Halloween party with all the babies and mommies from our prenatal class. She won the award for Cutest Costume! Naturally! ;) Then it was back home to get ready for all the kiddies who were gonna come around. She was such a little ham in her outfit, with her "bucka-bucka" sounds and crawling around everywhere! 

At her last appointment in October (her 9 month check-up), she clocked in at 21 lbs on the scale! She's super tall, too - already wearing sz 18 month clothes! WOW! That's my girl! 

I'm going to get Donovan to blog about some things, too - I know I'm missing so much, but when so much time passes, it's hard to find a moment to put it all into words the emotion of the moment and such. But I just wanted to catch everyone up for now!

Here are the latest Maddy'isms:

- waves "bye-bye" and "hello" at people, herself in the mirror, and the big picture of herself in the hallway!

- loves loves LOVES ceiling fans, and points to them to have them turned on (and, with Mommy's help, has learned how to flip the switch to turn the kitchen fan on!)

- pretty much points at anything, not just ceiling fans! 

- her expanding vocabulary includes: mama, dada, baba, da (that or there), ba (bum.... or ball... or any other "b" word, I guess!), bucka-bucka, nana, doy

- her latest phase - spitting when she eats. Not spitting UP, just spitting. Like mimicking the sound of an elephant. We tell her "no", but she smiles and continues it anyways. It's so cute, but so frustrating at the same time, especially when I've just spent an hour scrubbing the macaroni and beef stains outta the kitchen floor! But she's at the tail-end of this phase, I do believe (thankfully)!

- still loves her book Bunny Kisses, and she can give the bunny kisses herself now! Always does at the end of the story, she just leans in and kisses the bunny, without being prompted! And she pushes the "kisses" button all by herself, too. Smart girl!

- learning how to ask questions, as in, raises her voice at the end of a sound. She'll point to the ceiling fan and say "da?" Like, "what's that?" or "why the heck isn't this on already for me?" lol

-  she's got 2 more teeth! Her 2 "fangs", and as of now, she's cutting her 2 front teeth, too! No wonder she's been a bit of a crank lately!

- despite the fact that she fell asleep on my lap at a live hockey game, this girl LOVES hockey! Put her in the jumperoo in front of the tv on TSN, and she just goes wild! Daddy's dream come true!

- recognizes voices over the phone. You can actually see her face light up when she hears Grandma saying "hi Maddy" to her, and she just gets so excited when Alexis calls to say hello!

- she gives kisses to the person on the other end of the line by leaning her head in with her big open mouth and "kissing" the phone!