Big News

We've had some exciting times over the past week. Maddie took her first steps on Thursday! People kept telling me that she was close to walking, but I was skeptical. But on Thursday afternoon I set her down on the floor (she's been independently standing for about a week) and she took three steps towards me. She seemed stable enough that she could have kept going, but I was so stunned that I didn't get out of the way. Later that night she did it again for the childcare lady at the gym. Finally today she took a few steps towards Eric. Tonight she also took steps towards our friend Christina. That's every time she's "walked" so far. It's really exciting and so cute to see our little girl on the go. Maddie has finally made it into toddlerhood!

In other equally exciting news, Eric and I made an offer on a house this week. The owners countered, which we accepted, so now we're in the process of getting it inspected, etc., etc. that goes into buying a house. Eric and I had been looking, but didn't think we'd find a wonderful house so quickly. It was very unexpected. It's cute, relatively big, in a good neighborhood, and was at a price that couldn't be beat.

As soon as we get some pictures of all these latest developments, we'll post them.

Maddie is getting fast!

Here is a video of Maddie pushing her little cart. She's really getting fast, though she hasn't quite figured out turning yet.

Words

Maddie has become quite the talker in the past month. Her vocabulary has grown quite quickly and her ability to repeat sounds and words is really stunning. Maddie's first word was dog. Although we don't have one, Maddie is around a lot of dogs and loves them all. Maddie also regularly says the following words:

Daddy
Up
Yum
Yucky
Cheese
Yo, yo, yo (OK, it's not really a word and doesn't mean anything, but it's hilarious)

I'll try to get a video of her talking and post it.

Favorite Blog

No, this post is not about Maddie. I promise, more Maddie is coming soon...she's amazing and there are wonderful things going on for her.

But tonight, I wanted to share something different with you. It is, hands down, my favorite mommy blog. It's painfully honest, it's irreverent, and it's hilarious. It's not all about her kids, mostly relates to her kids. Anyway, I don't have the brain capacity to fully explain its awesomeness, but you should definitely check it out:

http://babyonbored.blogspot.com/

Hanging with the Howells

This past weekend, we had a celebration for our family (our wedding all of our birthdays, etc.) and it ended up being a wonderful time with lots of family and friends to celebrate. It was great to see our family and friends and share this special time with them. Thanks to everyone for making our celebration memorable!