My mom took this picture of Maddie when we were at her house Christmas morning. I have it has my phone background. 
I just want to hug her and kiss that little face!
Category: Maddie
Poor Baby
The last few days, Maddie has had a little cold. We had Christmas with my dad and step-mom yesterday and Maddie was happy and having a grand ole time. I put her down for her afternoon nap. When she woke up, (actually, she just kept sleeping so I woke her up at 5:15…later than she normally sleeps) she had a “barky” cough, but she seemed pretty happy. After I took her downstairs to play, I could hear her little voice sounded funny. She really needed to cough, but didn’t know how.
So I ended up calling the nurse line to see what they said. They told me to give her some nasal spray and run the shower (for the steam) for a while to try to loosen things up and help her breathe. And if she coughed all night long or her breathing got fast to call back. We did those things and by about 6:30, her breathing was a little fast. We called back and the nurse could hear Maddie on the phone and told us to take her to urgent care.
So we left for urgent care and Maddie had a 101 temp by the time we saw the nurse. They did a strep test (which was negative) and checked her ears (which they cleaned out a bit). Maddie then fell asleep in my arms in just her diaper. When the doc came back, he said she had croup. He prescribed some medicine for her and we took her home. Now we just have to watch her breathing and make sure she isn’t struggling to breathe.
We put a humidifier in her room and she slept all night and until about 8:30 in the morning. Apparently, the meds can make her hyper, but I haven’t noticed that yet. She just played this morning and wanted to snuggle. But she has been in good spirits. She gets the most upset when I wipe her nose!
Overall, croup isn’t too bad. It could have ben a much worse diagnosis. But this was the first time we had to bring her in to the doctor. Now she is napping and we will see how she is the rest of the day. I plan to give her lots of snuggles (when she wants them) and have a low-key day!
Straws
Maddie learned a new skill last week. She learned how to drink out of a straw. It is so nice! Maddie never liked the bottle after I stopped nursing, so she has been drinking out of a cup that we have had to hold for her. Last week we tried giving her a cup with a straw and she figured it out right away! Now I can just give her the cup and she walks around with it and drinks what she wants. I think we are all happy about it!
And along with drinking from a straw, she also likes to eat them! Veggie straws, that is. She loves them. She wants to eat a handfuls of them. She just can’t put enough of them in her hand at once. And now that she has teeth on the top and bottom, she bites them. It’s really cute. Here she is with her hands full of them!
Newspaper
Last weekend we let Maddie go nuts with the ads from the newspaper. She had so much fun tearing them apart. It was a great trial run for opening presents! (I’ll write lots more about that soon!)
Another Fun Play Date
A couple weeks ago, Maddie and I went to our friends’ house to hang out. Our daughters are just a couple weeks apart. And now that they are both walking, we thought it would be fun to watch them waddle around together. My friend, Trisha, already wrote about our play date. But I thought I would steal her pictures (since I didn’t take any) and post them over here. 
Thanks for the pictures, Trisha!
The girls played so well together. Until Chelsea started “bulldozing” Maddie. Maddie didn’t seem to care, but it was hilarious to watch!
The girls walking around!
Maddie loves shoes!
Thanks for having us over, Trisha. Can’t wait to do it again soon!
Daycare & Jury Duty
I got summoned for jury duty for two weeks starting December 12th. Microsoft has a back up daycare service we were able to utilize. So I took Maddy to daycare last week Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. She had a great time! She didn’t really nap, but the teachers said she was so good and played the whole day. Even though I didn’t have to go in for jury duty until Wednesday, we thought it would be good for her to be with some other kids and play.
So I had to go in on Wednesday for jury duty. I was one of 18 jurors for a case, but they only questioned 15 of us (not including me) and ended up selecting the jurors they needed from the 15. So I didn’t have to be questioned and was released. The bummer to not getting on a case is that I am now on call next week. It was a really interesting experience to see how the process works even if I don’t end up on a case.
So Maddie might go to daycare again next week. Even if I don’t have to go in, I might send her to play and I’ll get some things done around the house. 
It’s a win-win!
Video Dump
I have a number of videos I have taken of Maddy, but I haven’t posted them yet. So here we go!
Maddie shakes her head “no” all the time. This is a short video of her doing it. It looks so funny when she does it because her eyes don’t move at the same time. And she puts her head down. It’s just so funny.
Here she is walking around. This was a couple weeks ago, but she wouldn’t let go of Chuck’s shirt. 
Walking and talking.
Walking and dancing.
And here she is walking around with my wallet.
We took Maddy in the snow for the first time. To say the least….she hated it. We of course got the tears on camera. We will try snow again when she is a little older.
And here she is being silly. Which really happens all the time. She is a silly little girl!
10 Months Old
Can it be? My little baby is 10 months old already! I think she is growing up too fast! She really seems to be getting more independent each day and it cracks me up to see all the funny things she has been doing!
Maddie (or Maddy….I can’t decide) has gotten 4 more teeth this month. the front four teeth on the top have all poked through. She is going to look so different with more teeth! And with those teeth, she has been eating mostly solid foods. I feed her yogurt for breakfast, but for her other meals and snacks, it’s all finger foods. She will eat just about anything and loves to try whatever we are eating.
An even bigger milestone this month has been her walking. The day after my birthday, about 5 weeks ago, she took her first steps. And since about a week ago, she has definitely taken to walking more than crawling. I would definitely call her a walker now. She is still a little wobbly at times, but she gets right back up and keeps going. At times I think she really wants to run. I wish she would get walking down before she starts running across the room or we are going to have some bumps and bruises!
Maddy got sick for the first time this month. It was right after her 9 month doctor’s appointment. We think it was because she was trying to walk around the room trying to lick everything she could find and brought something home with her. She just had a temp and was a little crabby for a couple days. But for her first time being sick, it wasn’t too bad! Here’s to hoping she is healthy for Christmas after a couple days in daycare….I’ll go into that soon.
Maddy loves to stand on her head and be upside down. We call her “tripod” when she does this. It cracks me up. She really wants us to come and roll her over like a somersault. Silly girl!
I put up our Christmas tree and I was a little worried about how Maddy was going to take to it. But she looked at it and gently inspected it, then walked away like it wasn’t even there. Even days later, she still doesn’t care that it’s there very much. But I also haven’t put any ornaments on it. I was proud I put the tree up and stopped there. 
Oh, and I forgot, she got her first big fall/injury this month. We were playing n her tree house and she got really excited and darted away from me into the wall of the tree house…which was touching the wall behind it. She smacked her nose on the wall and then slid down a bit and scraped some skin off her nose. There were tons of tears. I got some pictures. She ended up getting a bruise across the arch of her nose. Poor peanut!
So here are a couple pictures from this month.
Crazy Hair:
Such a ham….
This is the face she made every time my flash lit up. Such a goofball!
Maddy loves her books!
I have a bunch of videos to post. I will do a video dump tomorrow! Stay tuned!
And here are the pictures from this month and the previous months’ posts.
Maddie vs. Maddy
Ok….I have had this on my mind for a while. I can’t decide which way I want to spell Ms. Madeline’s nick-name. She really doesn’t care. And it IS just her nick-name so it shouldn’t matter at all. Currently, I have been using “Maddie”. That is what is on all your Christmas cards that went out! And obviously all of the posts I have written about her.
But I have been really liking the look of Maddy. Especially when put with our last name. Maddy Hays. See? It’s cute. I know I am insane. I have been told this many times. But I can’t decide.
So I am here to ask my blog friends. Should I stick with Maddie or start using Maddy? What are your thoughts? Does it matter? Am I insane? HELP! 
9 Months Old
Maddie turns 9 months old today! What a big girl! She is turning into the sweetest little person ever! I just love her. Her 9 month doctor’s appointment is tomorrow, so I’ll update with some stats tomorrow.
(Beware….this is going to be long!)
She is busy busy busy and has learned lots of new things this month. She does a lot of repetition of things.
She really likes to put things into cups, bins, anything really. She puts a toy in bowl, dumps it out and repeats! She also likes to share. If you hold out your hand, she will put whatever is in her hand at the moment in your hand. I say “thank you,” hand it back to her and repeat, repeat, repeat. And she has a toy she learned how to put the balls into and she will do that 50 times in a row. It’s pretty cute!
She is loving eating these days. She hasn’t been very interested in pureed food. She really just wants to eat pieces of my lunch or anything she can eat with her hands. So one day I snapped some pictures of her eating. She has carrots, pears, bread and cheese. She loved it!
And here is a video of her gobbling up some chicken and noodles one night! She just shovels it right in!
She has also turned into quite a stinker these days getting into everything! She had been playing with the drawer under the ovens and banging the cookie sheets that were in there.
So I emptied out the drawer for her and put cups and bowls of her’s in there. And I think she was happy that I did.
She has learned to unroll the toilet paper if you aren’t careful and will try to open the cabinet doors. We need to get locks on the cabinets soon! For now she is just keeping me on my toes.
She has also learned to take the lid off the container of her puffs with her teeth. Then she tries putting it back on to do it again. (More repeating!) It’s the cutest thing. She will do this over and over if I help her put the lid back on. It keeps her entertained for a while.
The first time she figured out how to open it, she dumped out all her puffs out on the floor. She thought this was pretty awesome!
One of the biggest things she has done this month is learned to stand on her own. She will stand up on something and then let go and stand there. The other big thing is she has tried to walk. She will stand at the couch and take a couple steps, then fall down. She tried walking for the first time the day after my birthday! It was a nice birthday gift! She also uses her toy to walk around the living room. She then puts her baby on top of it and gives it a ride. (She doesn’t let the baby out of her sight!) It’s so cute.
And here is a video we took of her walking with her toy after she tried walking for the first time. I was so happy Chuck was home to see it!
Maddie has been doing a lot of “talking” lately. She says “mama,” “dadda,” “babba” and lots of other noises all mixed in together. It’s really funny, but it’s cute to hear her little voice!
I’ve also started working on sign language with her. I do lots of repetitions during the day and you only start with a couple signs, but I am hoping she starts signing back to me. Man, will that make communication easier for both of us!
A couple other little things she does are to shake her head like she’s saying no. She doesn’t do it when she is trying to say no, but more just to shake her head. It looks like her eyes can’t keep up and it’s really cute.
She also likes to try to stand on her head. She will stand like a tripod on her feet and head. She laughs when I look at her or tickle her when she is in the position. 
And she has started to put her hands up by her ears and wants to be tickled in her armpits. It’s hilarious and she’ll just keep doing it over and over. She’s such a goofball!
Maddie plays hard, so she sleeps hard. This was on the way home from the library after the weekly story time that we go to. Mind you, it wasn’t very far away, but she conked out hard! It’s cute to see her little feet when they are still, since they are always moving! She immediately woke up after I took the picture. She didn’t like the sound or the car stopping.
She is quite the hoarder collector these days and must have everything she can in her hands at once….and her mouth!
I didn’t take a ton of pictures with my camera this month. She has been a busy little girl, so it’s hard to snap pictures before she moves on to something else. (Hence why most of these pictures were crappy….they were from my phone.) But HERE are the pictures from the past month.
And here are the posts from previous months.