You and I are going to be friends...

Maddie has a baby best friend named Ramona. Ramona and Maddie were born exactly two weeks apart and have spent a lot of time together since they were born. In the past few months, Maddie and Ramona have really started to take an interest in one another. Claire took this video of Maddie and Ramona "playing". Even though Ramona is the bigger of the two, it looks like Maddie is going to be the more rough and tumble kid!

Taking a bite out of the Windy City

My family has an annual tradition of going to Chicago to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Eric and I have only been once before and were excited to take Maddie this year. My dad, sister, niece, aunt, and cousin were all there. Our first day there, we went to the Shedd Aquarium. In my opinion, it's the best aquarium! Maddie seemed to truly enjoy seeing all of the interesting sea life. We spent some time downtown watching the St. Patrick's Day festivities and took some time out to visit my grandparents old house. After spending a few days in Chicago, we drove down to Indiana to stay at my dad's. We visited the Indianapolis Children's Museum. I thought that most of the exhibits would be too old for Maddie, but they had a lot to offer her. They had a great dinosaur exhibit in which the kids got to dress up in dinosaur costumes and play with eggs. They also had a Curious George exhibit that Maddie really loved. All in all, we had a wonderful time.










Before leaving, Eric and I were both concerned about Maddie's napping. She is so interested in everything going on around her, it's hard for her to nap unless you get off all visual stimulation. But, my dad bought us a stroller and we just draped a blanket over the front and she fell asleep quickly. The only thing that made Maddie fussy was that her first two teeth came in! Honestly, teeth were one of the developmental milestones that I was not looking forward to. I thought that Maddie's teeth might not come in for a few more months because Eric and I were both relatively late teethers, but no such luck. But, for getting two teeth at the same time, Maddie handled it pretty well and seemed to be mostly back to her old self by the time we returned home.

Maddie Goes to the Park

Today we took Maddie to the park. We put her in a swing and took her down the slide. She did OK, but was more interested in all of the other kids than in any of the playground equipment. I'm sure we'll take her back - hopefully she'll be more into it next time!