Maddy finds her boots

We've had these red boots in the closet for a while now and today Maddy tried them on.

She's getting big.

What Maddy and I did while we waited for Ash to look at snowboard boots...

It was the perfect size. Now she just needs to learn how to peddle!

Photo dump!

Even though there was only one post during the month of October, Maddy still had plenty of adventures. So, for everyone's enjoyment, here's some of the things Maddy did in October...

She played with daddy's shoes...



... and his hat.



She found out what beds are really for...



... and boxes.



And, had a great time with daddy and C'thulu!



As you can see, it's been a busy month for a baby!

Maddy's Halloween

Last year for Halloween, Maddy was a fat fairy. She was absolutely precious crawling around with wings on her back in the beautiful costume that Auntie Di made for her. So when we were thinking of costumes again this year, we discussed doing a fairy again, but over time the idea became making her into a little fat bat. We discussed a lot of different bat ideas and, Ash and I, being the geeks that we are kept coming back to Super Mario because we both seemed to remember a little pink bat. Well, after some internet searching, we found what we were looking for.

This is Sir Swoop from Super Paper Mario.



And this is Maddy Swoop from our house.



So what did Maddy think about Halloween? Well, she was delighted with the idea if she allowed me to dress her in a purple costume, she could carry around her bucket and people would put candy in it. She was even more excited that she got to do all of this outside which is her favorite place in the world to be.

So, the moment we opened the door to go trick-or-treating, Maddy ran out the door straight to the neighbor's house, by passed the neighbor holding a bowl of candy and calling to her and instead went straight for the wind chimes in the neighbor's backyard.

Here she is pointing at the neighbor's wind chimes so we will ring them for her.



We finally coaxed her back to the front of the house and she got her candy, which was pretty exciting. So exciting, in fact, she immediately put the candy in her mouth, still in the wrapper. We got her to put it in her bucket though and convinced her to keep walking down the street.

Well, babies love to walk. And, the best part about walking is you get to pick up leaves, which is her favorite hobby.



So, trick-or-treating tonight, was really just a nice walk for everyone, occassionally stopping at people's houses if the house looked interesting or if there were enough big kids there to make her want to go too.



It was mostly about the walking though...



And walking...



And walking...



She didn't come home with much candy, but she came home exhausted and happy, which means Halloween was a success! Now to start working on the costume for next year.

Maddy Fields

Maddy picks some flowers in HD.

Best Seat in the House

So, I turned on some cartoons this morning, so I could watch something while I folded clothes. Maddy was running around the apartment with her dog-cycle and I figured I could get some work done. Well, then Maddy saw my laundry basket and decided to join me...





She just looked so comfortable I couldn't say no. No more folding for me.

So I finally emptied out the basket so I could finish folding. Maddy immediately yoinked the basket and got comfortable again.



She packed it well. There's two blankets in there and her dog Mina.

Bonus footage for today is how Maddy reads a magazine!

Maddy helps out

So over the weekend we made a birthday card for Maddy's great-grandma. Maddy's job for this card was to eat a birthday so we could take pictures of her. I was hoping that Maddy would go crazy and end up with cake on her head. That's not quite what happened though.

We began by stripping Maddy down to her diaper to avoid chocolate all over her clothes. There were some squawks of protest during this because, while Maddy loves to run around in her diaper, anything that involves changing of clothes is annoying. Then, we tried to set Maddy up on the table to give her plenty of room to eat cake. Maddy screamed "NOOOOOO!!," which is one of her 3 words right now along with "uh oh" and "yuck", and she started kicking and fighting. After getting cake on her legs, we decided to use her high chair and she was much happier.

Did she dive into the cake then? No, she did not. She delicately ate all the frosting off the cake with her fingers. Here's some of the pictures for the photo shoot...

Maddy had a great time... and I think a little too much cake. She's got a good life!

Old toys does not mean less fun

Does anybody remember this toy from growing up?



It's an apple from Fisher-Price that makes a lovely soft jingling noise when you shake it. So much fun to shake!

Alright, now how about this one?


Yes. It is a rotary phone. You walk while holding the blue string on the front and the phone makes an annoying chattery noise and the eyes look up and down. It was great!!

Now let's look at what happens when Maddy gets her hands on these old favorites...






They haven't lost their charm. I love old toys!

Now this last video is just a bonus because it's been a while since I've posted regularly and you all have been so patient. Here is Maddy shaking her groove thang!

Maddy hauls the mail.

Maddy loves her mail cart and she got it outside one day.





I tried really hard to not laugh.

Maddy at play

Maddy loves to play. Her newest thing is riding her dogcyle.



She also loves playing with her ball.

Maddy makes a visit

So about two weeks ago, Maddy went on a road trip to Southern Indiana. We had originally planned to go to Michigan, but things kind of changed at the last minute and we re-routed.

We planned well. We had plenty of road munchies, toys for the car, and even a little DVD player that we borrowed from mom with plenty of Spongebob for a baby to enjoy. (By the way, babies like to meow back at Gary the snail when he meows. It's highly entertaining.) Ash rigged the DVD player so it was perfect for baby viewing and we were all set. Maddy had a pretty sweet set up!



We took breaks at rest stops and Maddy had a great time running about.



Maddy's favorite part of the car trip was the Doritos though. Especially when a girl starts to get fussy, Doritos just magically appear in your hands.

By the time we stopped at Subway to eat, about 7 hours into our trip, Maddy was very orange, even her shoes (which are still orange), dirty from the rest stop running, and exhausted because babies don't nap well in the car.



It was such a relief to finally get there and we all slept really well that night. The next day was very eventful. We helped replant a tree. Maddy is a fabulous gardener... well, she likes dirt.



We helped move a bed and Maddy found her favorite thing... a box a Kleenex. We caught her fleeing the scene of the crime.



And, she got to spend some time with her cousin, Addison.



All in all, a fun trip and Maddy slept VERY well, when we got home!

Maddy's Corner

Maddy loves to read to herself in the privacy of her own room.

Sorry that it's been awhile since the last upload. First, I was having issues with blogger and it wouldn't let me upload videos. Then, my laptop decided to die causing me to lose all the videos I had. So here's two fresh videos designed to make you smile because sometimes that's just what you need.





Have a happy day.

Maddy and monkey go shopping

Maddy was having a great time today pushing her folded stroller around the house... that is, until the stroller fell on her. So we showed her something way better. A shopping cart that she is finally big enough for.



It's good to go shopping.

The busy busy baby

Since the last post, Maddy has done a lot of things. She's been to a parade. She's played in the park. She's learning to talk and eat with utensils. And, now, Maddy would like to show you some of the videos from all she's been doing.

Maddy has been learning to play guitar.



Well, Maddy likes to play guitar as long as it's not hooked up to an amplifier, then it gets to scary and babies get upset. It's OK though. One day she will be ready to rock!

Maddy's favorite place to play is still the dryer.



The door can be a little tricky sometimes though.



Maddy is sort of learning to eat with utensils.



You have to be sure not to give her the cup of yogurt though because then the spoon goes on the floor and she starts dipping her hand in the yogurt and licking it off. It kind of reminds me a Winnie the Pooh eating honey from a honey pot. Very cute, but you end up with a very sticky Maddy.

Maddy is also learning to talk. For this video, you have to really turn the sound up to hear her, but she knows what a cat says ("Ow), what a dog says (She makes a little scrunchy face a sniffs like "huff"), what a bear says (it sounds like she's making static noise), and yes, she can say Boom or Doom depending on who she's copying.



The best part is when she's over at Nan's house now chasing the cats around and saying "Ow" and she just can't understand why they don't stop and talk. And yes, in the video she is eating a crayon. Crazy girl.

Finally, the Memorial Day parade. Maddy actually had a good time.



This is her still having a good time... just more low key.



She had a good nap when she got home. It's hard to be a busy busy baby.

Easter

Maddy looks very good in her Easter dress. She had it on for most of the day.

Maddy Helps

Maddy loves to help with the laundry. I think we need to get her a tunnel play set she can explore.

In which Maddy walks... and walks... and walks...

It was just a couple of weeks ago that Maddy took her first few tottering steps. After those initial steps, she didn't seem to care much about walking. It was easier to crawl and she would really only walk if one of us took her by the hand and walked with her. Now she is all over the place!! She toddles every chance she gets. She's especially delighted that she can now carry things with her when she walks, which is something you just can't do when you crawl. Poor dragon didn't know that this included him...



That dragon is seriously about as big as she is! I don't know how she does it.

So, now that Maddy is walking, a wintery-outside becomes a lot more fun. When you crawl, your hands get cold and your snowsuit gets ruined. When you can walk though, it's possible to explore...



... or beat up the bushes outside the house. She looks great in the snowsuit though.

As much fun as outside is, the inside holds all sorts of new wonders when you can walk because along with walking comes the ability to climb. Today, Maddy learned that she is now able to climb into her swing. Now, when someone who doesn't really have much balance anyway, climbs into a swing, she gets the ride of a lifetime.



The swing isn't even on in this video. The way she is sitting is making it swing crazily. She's our little daredevil though, because as you can see, there's no hint of fear on her face. She actually had a great time till I got her out of it because I was worried she was going to end up somersaulting out of the swing onto her head! She was actually upset that I took her out. Good thing she distracts easily.

This last video is really just more of her walking, but, really, she's so darn cute. And, she got a new pair of pajamas tonight, which are too big for her, but that just adds to the cute factor. So, for those of you who want to see it... More walking!!!...

Tumble dry on low

Baby trap!

No baby can resist.

Maddy TKO'd

Maddy passed out on me tonight before bedtime. She's going to be cranky later on.

Baby Chair

Maddy loves to sit in the computer chair




And she loves to dance.

Baby on the RUN!

Maddy is learning to push her mail cart thingy.

Maddy's Birthday

The big day finally arrived!! Maddy turned one! She's officially a big girl now and has had quite a year, what with being born, and learning to crawl, and eating big girl food and the crying, and playing. Boy, can she play. The tupperware cupboard is one of her favorites...



Although, closely following that is her basket of toys...



She's been busy and to celebrate being one year old, Maddy gets her first big girl piece of cake!



She LOVED it!! Here's to another fun-filled year!