Happy Birthday to You!!

Our Dearest Maddie,

Today is a very special day...your first birthday!!! Exactly one year ago today, you entered our lives and changed it in the most amazing way possible. Although you were born at 8:16am, it wasn't until at almost this exact moment a year ago that we were able to finally spend some quality time with you.

We've had an amazing year with you. Although it had a bit of a surprising start to it and there have definitely been some twists and turns along the way - your life has started out as an incredible journey. It's hard to believe that this year has went so fast, yet it's hard to remember a time when you weren't a part of our life. We have loved watching how fast you have grown and how much you have learned in such a short time. It only makes me look forward to what is to come in your future even more!

Since I have been bad with updating your letters lately, here's a quick update on you...

- you're a busy body (which explains the lack of updates lately)
- you are crawling all over
- you love standing and gliding along things
- you have the most stunning, beautiful, blue eyes
- one of your favorite games to play lately is "chase" or as we call it "get you"
- your favorite words to say are "good girl" and "go go" (both phrases we think you picked up on from us praising the dog and then telling the dog to go away)
- you have two teeth
- you love to take things out of baskets and then put them back in
- you are still quite the picky eater but you love noodles and cheese
- you are almost always happy
- you have the most precious giggle/laugh, usually followed by your infectious smile

I'm sure I could go on forever, but we've got a party to get ready for in this house!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!! You're Daddy and I love you so so much and look forward to the next year on your journey of life!

Love you always,

Mommy <3


PS: A note to all our blog/letter readers. Life as a full time working night shift mommy is crazy! And sadly it is hard for me to keep up with frequent updates and letters. However, I am not ready to say goodbye to our blog and sharing Maddie's life with everyone. So I've decided to take a different approach for this next year of her life. Stay tuned for a post next week on what exactly the plan is...

Pic of the Week "Memorable Eve"

Dear Maddie,

There are tons and tons of pictures that I want to share from your very first Christmas; and I do plan to post them as part of your 10 month update. Which by the way there is SO much to update for 10 months (crawling, standing, feeding)!! But back to the task at hand...

Our first stop on our Christmas journey, was to meet your Great GREAT Grandma Jordan! I truly do apologize to you and all your grandmas that it has taken us this long to get you there to meet here. But this trip truly made for a memorable way for our family to start the holiday...

Christmas Eve visitng Grandma J

Love you!!

Mama

8-9 month Holiday Magic

Oh Maddie!

So sorry I haven't posted since before Thanksgiving. As you will quickly learn, the holidays are a very busy time of the year; and I'm finding that it is even busier when you work full time and play mom full time! Even though I should be wrapping gifts or cleaning toilets right now, I'm putting that aside for a bit. (Side note, this post was started a week ago and never finished til now, grrr...) Enough with the excuses and on to some updates!

I know I've missed several "Pic of the Weeks", so I will try to make up for that with this post. Really I've been meaning to write and do my monthly updates (which has not been so monthly)...really, I promise.

So 8 months came and went...and now you are 9 months old!

As you can tell, it is getting more and more difficult to get you to try and hold still to take these pics. Here's a brief depiction of what we went through to get what we did.

 

Obviously you are very interested in being on the ground and having the freedom to move around now. You are now starting to pull yourself up on things; you easily make it to your knees, but usually need assistance getting to your feet. When it comes to crawling, your preference is definitely still rolling, but we have made some real progress (even more so since this video). That started on Thanksgiving actually!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, here are some pictures from our first Thanksgiving together. On Thanksgiving Day we went to your Great Aunt Lorrie's house to celebrate with Daddy's family.

Then on Saturday we went and celebrated at Grannie and Papa's house!

Another celebration we had in the month of November, was Daddy's birthday. You had a blast helping him open his present, which makes me really excited for Christmas next week!

Sticking with the whole holiday theme we seem to have going, last week we took you to meet Santa for the first time. You did so good...no scared faces, no tears...we even got a smile!

Rather than doing the usual mall thing, we went to Breakfast with Santa. It was at Grotto Restaurant and it was delicious!

You are definitely loving this whole holiday thing...

The Lights

The Tree

The Ornaments

I don't know who's been more attracted to the tree, you or Belle! Regardless, I'm always pulling one of you out from under there.

 Amongst other things, here's a video of one of your new favorite "tricks" to show off:

You're also loving to play games like Peek-A-Boo and Sooo Big! You're talking nonstop, and we FINALLY are getting some "Mama"s out of you (Yay!)!!! It just makes my heart melt every time I hear it. As does this super sweet smile...

Oh 9 months, how have you gone so fast?!

Loving you always!!

Mommy

Thanks!

Dearest Maddie,

Today we made one of our many, many Target runs. Me going on only 2 hours of sleep; you in need of another nap. Me glasses on, no make-up; you no flowers, no bows. Both in our sweats. Clearly we were in a rush and not looking to impress anyone (after all Daddy's out of town). It was surprisingly quite busy for a Monday afternoon. Everyone seemed to be doing their Thanksgiving dinner shopping, which is exactly why we were out (buying ingredients for a cheesecake). Half way through our "quick" trip, you decided to puke all over your new winter coat. And of course since this was supposed to be a "quick" trip, Mommy didn't have the diaper bag which meant we were left at the back of the store with nothing to clean you off with.


As we walked through the store, two women stopped us to look at you and commented on how beautiful you were. Then the lady working at Starbucks did the same (in the my head I just kept thinking "they must not see the coat covered in spit-up"). Then the lady in the checkout line as well as the cashier said the same! As we were walking to our car after a familiar Target experience to us, I suddenly realized not one of those women said anything about your hemangiomas. Come to think of it, not many people have said anything, period! No questions about why you had them, no comments about you having "birth/beauty marks". That really got me to thinking today about our whole experience thus far.

Now obviously to me and Daddy you truly are the most beautiful baby we've ever laid eyes on. Those beautiful big blue eyes and long lashes, the chubby cheeks, those rosy lips that always flash the cutest, most innocent smiles to everyone you see, and those (now shrinking) hemangiomas that make you...well you!


This little experience really got me to reflect on the fears I first had for you and for me. I didn't want anyone "staring" at my baby. How was I going to respond to those stares? How was I going to answer the questions? I can now admit, because of those fears, I tried to cover up which ever ones I could - hence the big bows and hats and flowers (although that is the style now and I'm sure they would have been a part of your wardrobe regardless). There are a few times I remember being almost out the door and realizing we didn't have a head accessory, so I would quickly run up to your room for something. Or even go in to somewhat of a panic if we had gotten somewhere and I then realized you weren't wearing anything. Again, how was I going to deal with any stares or questions that could come up.

Looking back, I feel absolutely terrible for being like that. I in no way was ashamed of your Angel Kisses; the mommy in me just didn't want you to be treated any different than the baby in the cart in the next aisle with no Angel Kisses. I was being protective of you, just like I always will be! But this little experience today made me realize all that fear was for nothing. I didn't need to conceal anything, I just needed to give people more credit! The world is not as shallow as I may have thought it was. I really can't think of a time where we have gone out and people haven't oohed and ahhed over you!

Over the last few months we have put the headbands, hats, bows, and flowers aside for just the special occasions. I mean do we really need a bow on every time we run out the door to Target! Sure you are doing great and we have seen amazing improvements in you over the past few months, but that's not the reason. I believe it's because I realized those red spots, big and small, are what make you - you!

So as we are approaching Thanksgiving this week, I'm thankful for this little journey we've been on. In an odd way, this journey has taken away my fears of what others think and helped me embrace the beautiful things people say about you! I am extremely grateful for all those nice, loving comments and smiles we receive daily from complete strangers. I'm thankful for your hemangiomas and the beauty they have given to you and shown to me! And someday we will surely be thankful they are gone, but grateful for the beauty they brought to our lives. :)

Loves!

Mommy

Pic of the Week - Birthday Boy

Dear Madeline,

Today is November 16th, which means it's Daddy's birthday! I'm sure I will get some great shots of you and Daddy later today or tomorrow when we go out to celebrate. But to honor his special day I wanted to post one of my favorite, original pictures of the two of you. This was one of the very first times Daddy got to hold you and it was instantly apparent how much he adored you! This picture just warms my heart every time I look at it - even more so in black and white.

Daddy & his girl

If only I could explain to you just how much your Daddy (and I) love you; but it's indescribable.  My favorite part of our day is when Daddy comes home from work and the smiles I get to see light up both his face and yours. The smiles scream "I love and missed you" without any words even being spoken.

I always knew he would make a great Daddy based on how I saw him treat your cousins, but his love and care for you goes far behind what I could have imagined. I know from experience there is a bond between Daddy and his little girl that is so precious and I love watching that amazing bond form between you two!

Love you XOXO

Mommy

Pic of the Week - Giggles

Dear Maddie,

Yesterday you turned 8 months old!

Standing tall

As you can see in the picture above, you are now able to stand alone (while leaning against something of course)! While this is not the "Pic of the Week", Mommy just had to show off your latest accomplishment.

This week is actually another video clip, and it's from the Daddy Cam! In this video you are watching one of your Baby Einstein videos and you always seem to laugh at this same part. You just love the little puppets in the videos. The video you are watching is one of a horse puppet eating the top of a flower.

It amazes me that at just 8 months old you have already developed a sense of humor and know when something is supposed to be funny. As you can tell, your smile and giggles are just so infectious. Seeing them and hearing you just makes Daddy and I light up all over. I'm so happy that Daddy was able to capture this on video so we can share it with everyone.

Love you so so much!!!

Mommy

Pic of the Week - Halloween '11

Dear Maddie,

Yesterday was your first Halloween and we had a blast! You were dressed as a watermelon and you were ADORABLE!! I absolutely loved your costume, as did many others I think.

Watermelon!

To celebrate the day, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's where we went Trick or Treating with all of your cousins. Work even let Daddy leave early so that he could join in the festivities. So here are some fun pics from our first Halloween together!

Mommy's Melon

The Bernards

The Bonnemas

The Ervins

The Cousins

Baby Girls

Kiddos with Grandma & Grandpa

The Whole Gang

You had a blast...but no afternoon nap resulted in a tired little girl by the end of the trip! 

Wiped Out

Love you!

Mommy