Bath Time

Maddie loves bath time, especially playing with her rubber ducky. She has always been into baths, but lately has taken to splashing wildly, trying to kick the washcloth, and jumping out of her seat to get her rubber ducky. It's really cute to see, but it's quite difficult to wash her. Luckily, Eric and I have always done bath time together, so he kind of holds her still and I wash her. We've started to let her play in the water when her bath is over because she enjoys the water so much. I think in April we're going to start swimming lessons. I hope she likes the pool as much as she likes the bath!

Maddie Loves Eating and Playing

We started feeing Maddie solid food almost two weeks ago and so far she loves everything we've given her! I feel really lucky that she hasn't been picky. We've given her bananas, rice cereal, avocados, sweet potatoes, and asparagus. It's so great to have her eat breakfast and dinner with us instead of just watching. Maddie has also proven to be a pretty neat eater so far as well. Most everything makes it into her mouth - she even opens her mouth and leans forward when the spoon comes - and stays there. It also seems like she's been eating quite a bit for a new eater - she can eat up to half a banana in one sitting. We're planning on trying carrots and apples this weekend, so we'll keep you posted!



Maddie has also started to roll around like crazy and loves to play. It's so much fun to lay her down on the floor and let her play with her toys. Eric spends lots of time playing and laughing with her on the floor on the weekends. During the week, when Daddy is at work, Maddie spends a lot of time playing with her friend, Ramona. After six months of ignoring each other, Maddie and Ramona have finally started to notice one another and have started to interact, which is so neat. Maddie has become a huge mover and we anticipate that she'll be crawling in the next month or so, but again, we'll keep you posted!

6 months!

Maddie turned six months yesterday. Eric and I are so excited and can't believe that it's been half a year with our wee cute baby. We took her to the doctor today for her check up and she was a champ. For a baby that constantly cried for the first three months, she has really come a long way. Now she smiles all the time and at everyone - even when she's really tired. She hardly even cried when she got her shots today and, actually, she was crying because the nurse pinned her legs down! Anyway, her six months stats are as follows:

Length: 26 inches (50 + percentile)
Weight: 13 pounds, 10 ounces (10 percentile)
Head circumference: 42 1/2 centimeters (50-75 percentile)

The doctor also said that we could start her on solids, which I was very excited about. So, as soon as we came home, I mixed up some rice cereal and fed it to Maddie. She was a little unsure of it, but she generally loves anything you put in her mouth, so she ate it right up. We're giving her bananas for dinner tonight. We also had the doctor check out her cold and he said she was recovering well, so it was all good news for Maddie today. Now she's napping...life is good!

Sick

Monday night Maddie got her first cold. She woke up with snot running out of her nose, her face and finger wet with drool. She continued to have a bad night Monday night, waking up and not being able to fall back to sleep. Tuesday fared only slightly better. Maddie was sometimes playful, but mostly just wanted to be held and only took one good nap. Because she was sick, I didn't want to take her out into the rainy winter day, so we stayed in. Luckily Eric was able to come home early from work so I could go to the grocery store. After emails from friends in the know, I went to Walgreen's and got a cool mist humidifier and some Vick's chest rub for babies. While I expected Tuesday night to be no better than Monday, Maddie slept quite well. Today, Maddie seemed better - she was happy to play and took a few long naps. So, while I never hold my breath that anything will be consistent in babyland, Maddie seems to be on the mend. All in all, Maddie's cold was not unbearable, but we're all still glad it's going away quickly.

A Whole Lot Going On

There's been so much going on for Maddie lately. We recently bought her a high chair in preparation for solids. It's great because she'll sit in it during mealtimes and Eric and I can finally eat together again. It's bittersweet because Maddie is getting to be such a big girl. We've gotten her some toys so she has something to play with while we're eating and let her play with spoons so she'll get used to the feel in her mouth.



Also, my mom came to visit and spent lots of time with Maddie. We took Maddie all over the city and even took her out for dinner at Ray's. I was a bit nervous that she would fuss because it was close to her bedtime, but she was great! Maddie even sat in a high chair for part of dinner. My mom also babysat for us while she was here and Eric and I went to dinner and to see a movie. It was quite nice. Maddie does really well with people she doesn't know very well and seemed to take my mom's visit with a huge smile and lots of fun.

Maddie turns six months next Sunday and we've got her six month checkup on Monday. I'm sure we'll start solids soon after! Stay tuned for Maddie's six month report!