The Richards: 2011

Thursday, November 24, 2011

10 Months

Madeleine Marie (otherwise known as Bitty Girl, Bitty Bug, Bitty, and Buggy) is 10 months old!

Madeleine Marie is 20 lbs! She is such a chunk and is no longer the scrawny little thing we were supplementing for so long. Her thighs are SOLID! No rolls...just solid chub!
Maddie is wearing size 3 diapers and is wearing around 12 months for clothes. It really just depends on the outfit.
She typically sleeps about 10-12 hours at night and is napping more regularly with three naps a day (two lasting about an hour and a third that usually is about 30-40 minutes long).
Maddie's favorites things right now are her bunny lovie, kitty cats, grapes, beans, sippy cup, and books.
Maddie points and taps with her middle finger on her right hand. It's especially fun in stores when your baby is pointing at strangers with her middle finger!
She feeds herself with her left hand.
Maddie Rie talks non-stop! She talks herself to sleep and talks as she wakes up and all times in between.
She has added eyes, outside, Dad, Kyle, Elijah (her cousin), and Alfie (Uncle Kyle's Cat) to her words she says.
Madeleine attempts rooster crowing sounds.
Can identify noses on pictures and people.
She waves bye-bye a lot!
Knows "do you want to read a book?" and FREAKS out if you ask her this question. You better deliver the goods quickly!
Maddie Rie loves to gives kisses (the french variety) to people, stuffed animals, and books with and without prompting.
Madeleine loves playing back and forth with you sticking your tongues out at each other.
She waddles like a penguin and does dance moves that are similar to penguin waddles. She does them when you ask her what a penguin does and when she is particularly happy like when she is eating something she really likes or is unhappy and wants you to think she is cute and pick her up. It's pretty funny to watch her fuss and cry a little about being stuck on her tummy then break into dance moves and look at you like "didn't that do the trick?"
Maddie lifts her belly off the floor when on all fours and does a little rocking but still isn't crawling. She can roll around and reach to get pretty much where she wants though.
She visited her first pumpkin patch with her cousins and Paw Paw and Rie Rie.
Maddie helped mommy celebrate her 30th birthday at Churrascos. And she made quite the mess!!
Maddie celebrated her first Halloween and went trick or treating as a Halloween decoration/witch/vamp. She also jumped with mommy in a bouncy house and LOVED it. She is such a monkey.
Madeleine loves going to the dog park (or zoo as we call it). She cracks up the whole time we are there and Boudreaux loves it as well.
She visited the Houston Quilt show and got lots of attention.
She attempts to go "hop hop hop" with her hands like a bunny would. It looks kinda like a claw bouncing up and down.
Maddie Rie eats fish now and is a BIG fan. She especially likes catfish and salmon.
After many many months of supplementation and lots of bottles, now that it is over she has decided that she doesn't want bottles anymore. I guess we should have made sure she kept taking bottles regularly since she seems to prefer her milk straight from the source. She will sorta take one in a pinch but it takes a lot of work to make that happen.

With Mommy before our brunch at Churrascos. Yum!

Spooky pjs!

With her Candy Corn Cousins Mia and Elijah

With cousin Katy and Noah

Trick or Treating with Sydney the Princess Witch

Stuck under the couch!

With some of her favorite guys: Pops, Daddy, Kyle, and Alfie

Goof ball!

Sweet dog, Boudreaux

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

9 months

And a look at what it really is like getting her monthly picture taken

Madeleine is 9 months old! She is getting so big and really strong. We are also playing musical chairs for her monthly picture now. She took last month's pictures in Pop's chair while her chair was on its way from Indiana. When the moving van got here and I was making the decision of what goes to storage and what comes to my parent's house (long story short the moving company was supposed to have everything separated by what is storage and what is going to the house but they messed up), I couldn't tell what was her chair since it had been taken apart, covered, and not labeled so I just had them grab this one from our former living room. While we are on that tangent in case anyone is wondering, Mark was offered a really great job in Sugar Land and we are living at my parents house until our house in Indianapolis sells (pray for that!). It has been great and we are enjoying being together right now. Anyways, back to what yall actually care about - Maddie Rie! Here is what she has been up to these days:

Madeleine is 19 lbs 1 oz and 28 and 1/4 in long. She is in the 70th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. What a big girl she is becoming and we are long past all the extra feedings and supplementing to get her weight up. She is doing fine all on her own now. Maddie just went to a new pediatrician since we moved and after the doctor walked into the exam room and saw her standing up on the table and talking loudly to the lights on the ceiling he said "This is not the baby I would've expected to be in here after reading her chart and birth information!" The doctor said that Maddie was absolutely perfect and that by nine months old it would be clear if something was wrong from her birth and that it was obvious by just walking in the room that nothing was wrong. Praise God! We knew she was perfect but it's nice to hear it from her doctor!
She is wearing size 3 diapers.
We are squeezing her in to 9 month pjs but that isn't going to last much longer.
Is all over on clothes sizes. It really just depends on the type of clothes and brand.
Madeleine has started eating scrambled eggs and really enjoys them. We started with just the yokes in case of allergies but she's done great with whole ones. She also has tried beans. She LOVES them but we limit them to about a tablespoon for the benefit of those around her.
Maddie eats most of her food all by herself with her hands except for breakfast which is usually fruit and yogurt or oatmeal fed by mommy. She now hates avocados again but likes anything else we give her. Grapes are her favorite food.
The problem with eating with your hands though seems to be that your hair is just calling for your hands to touch it! What a mess!
Maddie Rie sighs and smiles after she drinks water from her sippy cup like it's the most refreshing thing ever!
Madeleine is a rolly polly bug all over the floor. She plays a lot on her belly now but still isn't moving forward. If she could will herself forward she would but hasn't figured it out yet. She looks like she is attempting to do the worm dance move and grunts really loud like a tennis player while she is trying to move forward.
I guess the biggest news is that Maddie is talking! She started saying cat when she was a little over 8 months old. Cat was quickly followed by light, arf arf, hey, dada, and hi.
Maddie Rie is definitely understanding words like cat, eat, daddy, light, mommy, Kyle, CiCi, Pops, read, eat, night night, dog, and some other nouns. She will turn and look when you ask where they are.
She has waved bye bye.
She is hard to hold and can give you a pretty good workout trying to keep her from diving out.
Her hair is really filling in.
Maddie LOVES reading!!!! I can't emphasize that enough. SHE LOVES IT! She recognizes her favorite books and laughs when you open them up. She even knows where the books are kept and insists you take her to them by grunting and diving in that direction.
Maddie has settled in at my parents and is sleeping great at night! She usually does about 12 hours. She does not sleep well away from her bed though. Any tips in getting her to sleep away from home would be most appreciated!
Her naps are still hit or miss. She is anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours (on rare days ) at a time though 20-30 minutes is the norm. But since she is sleeping at night again we will be working on naps now and see what happens.
She now prefers to lounge in the bathtub instead of sitting up. So we have her infant head support back in the tub to try and keep her head above water!
Madeleine attended her second cousin Mark David's 1st birthday party and her buddy Larkin's first birthday party.
Maddie is loving her paci even more now. If she had the choice she would have one every chance she could. I try to limit her to sleeping, fussy bouts, and in the car, but she seems to find them and pop them if given the chance.
Kitty Cats are her favorite thing to see. She likes dogs but they just aren't as exciting as cats to her.
She attended her cousin Katie's 2nd birthday party. Mark and I always made it a priority to attend each niece and nephews first birthday while we were in Indiana but couldn't do the same with the latter birthdays so this was our first 2nd birthday to attend! We are so excited to be close enough to be able to do that now.

Eating beans at Gringos

Eggs

Peas and carrots in the hair

All the cousins at Katie's birthday.

Just relaxing after a long day

Not the tummy!

Thanks. That's better.

"Ooooo! Mark David you got some great toys for your birthday!!" --Maddie doing her marionette moves

"Let me see!" --Maddie

"I don't think so little girl!!"-Mark David

"Not my Sesame Street toy!"--Mark David tearfully. His mommy fixed it with a bottle and he has plans to get Maddie back at Christmas!

Reading with Pops

Making new friends at the Farmer's Market in Bryan

Sharing her paci with RieRie

Sunday, October 16, 2011

8 months

Our bitty girl is 8 months old!! I am super slow at updating my blog for everyone (this kid keeps me REALLY busy) but I actually do keep an updated draft of the blog of what Madeleine is up to so I don't forget. I am really slow at getting the pictures together for it though. So here ya go.

Maddie Rie is chunking out at 19 lbs and is about 28 inches long. She is way too wiggly to get a truly accurate length. We'll wait and see what the doctor thinks at next months appointment.
She is wearing 9 month pjs and 6 month clothes mostly.
Maddie is in size 3 diapers.
Miss Thing has really blossomed and grown up this month. Madeleine has a HUGE personality. She is almost always happy and we even have some days where she doesn't cry any at all. She is loud and outgoing and truly loves life! Everything is exciting to her. Seeing a cat on a sign, other children. toys, photos, or animals send her arms and legs moving like crazy. She is like a marionette doll. Her legs and arms pop in and out super fast when she gets excited. She does a grunt/squeal/growl thing and sends her body diving in the direction of whatever she wants you to take her to see. She does this if she is in your arms, in her stroller, or in a shopping cart. It is scary at times. I strap her in to shopping carts twice (using the carts belt and the one attached to her cart cover that I thread through the cart) and hold her hand in an effort to keep her safe.
She is a busy busy little thing. She is always moving! ALWAYS!
Maddie is now eating meat, has three solid food meals a day, usually one decent sized snack, as well as nursing as much as she wants. The girl can eat!!
Maddie tries to clap.
She rolls around all over the place but no crawling or scooting. She even sorta kinda doesn't mind being on her tummy for a bit now. But not too long!
Reading is still her favorite activity. She recognizes the books she likes and keeps glancing over at them if they are in view...especially if you are reading her a book she doesn't particularly care for.
She attended her first baseball game. An Indianapolis Indians game.
Madeleine pats you to say no or to try and get you to stop doing something like changing her diaper or wiping her face.
She officially became a Texan August 25th.
She rides in the shopping cart now instead of being in her car seat.
She can identify lights by leaning back and pointing up at them when you ask where they are.
Maddie sits in high chairs.
The biggest shock to us is that she now loves Bible class and is a trooper in the church nursery. She has been called the happiest baby they have in there. It was a total shock to us! I haven't been paged once.
Her anxiety with strangers seems to be gone but still prefers Mommy and Daddy.
Madeleine attended her first Aggie March-In before a football game and of course loved it. She wasn't scared of any of the noise.
The bumbo seat is no longer safe for her to sit in without someone right there with her.
Her GiGi (great grandmother) has nicknamed her Shirley Temple since she is so willing to entertain everyone.
Had her first runny nose.
Since moving, her good sleeping habits have gone out the window. She is is up ALL the time at night.
Naps still aren't great.
Madeleine participated in the Baby Dedication at our church in Indianapolis right before we moved.
Maddie loves to go to Petsmart to watch the birds and the cats in the adoption center.
She can start her dinosaur bouncing ball toy by herself.
She grunts to tell you she wants something.
She Loves being thrown and bounced around. She is a monkey.
Can copy "hey" and "hi".
LOVES kitty cats and may have even said the word but we aren't totally convinced.
She enjoys shuffling around and screaming in the walker.