More Fun!

Yesterday we went to the zoo with our friends Miss Dru and Emery. The girls had a great time together and loved seeing all the animals. It's fun to watch their faces when they see that the animals are real :) The weather was also really nice and warm to walk around in. We had a great day!

Ready to see some animals at the zoo!

Madison loved watching the elephants. When you ask her what an elephant says, she swings her arm up (like a elephant trunk) and says "wooo!" (just like an elephant...its very cute!)

Madison and Emery were fascinated by the noisy geese

Having a serious conversation about the geese...

Madison was even so brave as to walk towards to geese, but I obviously wouldn't let her get too close!

My cool sunglass chick!

This is a fuzzy picture for some reason (I must have been moving), but do you see the little baby orangutan? I think I overheard someone say it was only 3 weeks old (maybe 3 months?). It was hanging onto its mom and it was adorable!

The big gorilla...I think the girls thought that it was fake, until it started moving and sat right in front of the viewing window!

Emery loved watching it

Madison kept trying to show the little girl next to her but I think she was distracted by something else...I'm not sure how she could be though!

Dru and Emery on the train

This was the best shot that I could get of us on the train...I was snapping the photo myself because Dru is quite pregnant and could not reach forward far enough with Emery in her lap :)

The girls loved the train ride! Every time that they would hear the bell or the "choo choo", they would clap and say "yeah!!", even if we were not on the train :)

Last night, we went to pizza with The Kurtz family (Matt's business partner, his wife, and kids) and afterwards we got Madison this fun little rubber cow that she can ride at a store downtown. She was kissing her new pink cow here.

Ride 'em cowgirl!

Silly girl! This morning, Madison picked up an extra bib that I had on the table and put in on her head, and she even kept it on there long enough for me to snap a picture!

For some reason, Madison got up rather early today (an hour and a half earlier than usual) and so she was quite sleepy by 1000am this morning. So, on our way in to Boulder today she fell asleep in the car and I thought that she looked too cute not to take a picture. Luckily it was just a short 20 minute cat nap and didn't mess up her one normal 1-4pm afternoon nap :) She's a great sleeper!

We went to Gymboree this morning and Madison had a great time climbing everywhere!

Over the bridge

SHe loved this intertube and thought it was just the greatest thing to sit and stand it! She didn't want me to pull her in it...she just wanted to be in it!

Crawling through the long tunnel

Looks like such a sad face :( She wanted to climb up on this rope and it just was not safe, even with my help. I think this activity center was probably meant more for bigger kids since it has monkey bars, etc.

Trying to climb the ladder on the side of the bug kid gym

She loved going over this mat. I of course had to help her, but it was also so much fun to go down the other side as a slide!

After Gymboree, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Qudoba and Madison ate a bean and cheese quesadilla. We had a fun little girls day (daddy had to go in to work for a little while this morning).

15 Months and SO Big!!

So I feel like I have been saying lately that Madison is looking so much bigger to me. She is obviously growing since she is getting older and fitting into bigger size outfits, but I still feel like I have noticed even more of a growth spurt lately. So, today we went in for Madison's 15 month appointment (can't believe she is this big already :( !! ) and had the big weigh in...for those of you who know me well, you know that I have been a little (just a little right?!) worried about Madison's weight in the past since she is a little peanut, and since our previous pediatrician had me worried unnecessarily. Since switching to Dr. Bucknam, I have had no concerns about her weight and feel very good about where she is (he feels the same way)...she was born at the 10th percentile and so the doctor has said a weight between the 7th-12th percentile is great for Madison...she is a perfectly healthy, developing child, just not a huge kid, which is totally ok! Back to the point...Madison weighed 20lbs 9oz (20th percentile...a BIG 2lb 9oz jump from her 12 month appointment in which she was 18lbs, 7th percentile), and grew 2 1/4 inches in height going from 29 inches (45th percentile) at 12 months to 31 1/4 inches (75th percentile) at 15 months. WOW! The doctor even asked me, "What are you feeding this girl, because you're doin' great mom!!" And my response was, "She's a great eater and eats almost anything!" (we are so lucky...Madison even loves veggie patties!) Like I said, for those of you that know me, I am kind of a worrier and although I have gotten a thousand time better since switching to Dr. Bucknam, this is still awesome! She is such a big girl now and growing like a champ!! Madison's teeth are also coming in like crazy and fortunately, her teething experience has been relatively painless thus far. At her 12 month appointment she had 2 teeth, and today Dr. Bucknam counted 12!!! I have seen the 10th tooth coming in, but I was unaware that she had 2 top molars that are in! Crazy, because again she has been very happy and not seemed to be in pain :) Speaking of pain, she did have to get a MMR and Chicken Pox vaccine today...one in each arm and it was SO sad! Besides the shots, Madison had a great appointment today and all is fantastic!

When I have been asked if I have a favorite age so far with Madison, I really can't say that I have one. Every stage has been so different and so amazing! I do have to say though that as sad as I was for Madison to turn one because I felt like I was loosing my baby, Madison is SO much fun now! She is an absolute joy! She is intelligent, funny, active, happy, independent, loving, and much more! She is also a little chatty Cathy which I love and its fun to hear new, different words/sounds that she says everyday. She is a little sponge right now and its neat to watch her language/speech develop (especially since I am a speech therapist!) I am trying to write down all the new words that she says, but new ones are coming everyday! Some of my favorites though are, "excuse me", "there it is", "Hi ___ (dada, mama, Ellie, Chester, etc), and "doctor". It's fun to see how she is starting to put together 2 words using some familiar words! Madison also loves to make animal sounds (my favorite is when she bounces up and down and says "hop" for a frog), identify body parts, use expressions ("hey", "wow!", "whoa", "uh oh", "yeah"), and use sign language (she uses sign and words together to say "more, please, thank you, cup, milk, all done, help"...we are still working on the sign for help...it's a tricky one).

We love every new day with our little sweetie and are very fortunate, thankful, and blessed for the life that we have with her! Below are a few pictures from today after her appointment...a pretty happy girl considering she had two swollen arms!

Playing with her farm animals and chewing on the apples crate

Our happy girl! See how she has filled out?

Hugging Ellie

Reading like a big girl! One of her most favorite things to do!

Hiking in Boulder

Last Sunday was another beautiful Colorado day and we decided to hike in Boulder. Madison seemed to enjoy riding in the backpack and Matt and I got some nice exercise, all while enjoying the warm, sunny weather!

Ready to go! Eating a Mum-Mum

We couldn't get Ellie to turn around :)

The gorgeous flatirons! Look at that neat cloud formation in the sky!

Getting sunscreen was not her favorite thing, but it had to be done!

Daddy and Madison hiking up the trail

Another great view while hiking! We love Colorado!!

A Fun Two Days!

I know I just posted a lot of pictures a few days ago, but since I love to take pictures SO much, I thought I would share a few more! The weather in Colorado lately, while still a little chilly in the mornings, has been fantastic! We love spending time outside, taking walks, playing at the playground, etc. Yesterday we enjoyed coffee with Daddy before work, took a nice walk home (we all drove to the coffee shop with the stroller in the car), and had a fun dinner with our good friends/neighbors the Sartells. Today, was also a great day! Matt was home and not working...finally!! Since starting his own CPA firm, he has been a busy guy and not home as much as we would like, but the Saturday work days are over for this year and we had a great family day!! We walked to Starbucks and met a little girl that was 4 days younger than Madison, then we stopped at the park to play, I read outside and took a bike ride (alone!) while Madison napped and Matt played his new video game (silly boy fun:) ), and finally we walked downtown for a yummy pizza dinner and ice cream! Madison has only tried ice cream once before and this time she loved it even more! She wished she could have had one of her own, so we gave her half on an empty cake cone with nothing in it :) Such a great few days! We so love where we live!

Walking into the coffee shop yesterday morning...the sweater that Madison is wearing was hand knitted for her by a good neighbor friend of the Fargos, Pam. Thanks Pam! Madison loves it and we will send a hard copy of this picture your way! (Grandpa and Grandma Fargo, could you pass this message onto Pam?)

Smiley girl walking home from the coffee shop

Madison thought it was SO funny that she got up on the couch and couldn't stop laughing :)

Last night we had a fun dinner with our good friends the Sartells. Bethany and I made lettuce wraps and dumplings. It was still a lot of work, but not as crazy as our last sushi idea :) We are determined to find an easier dinner idea next time :) This picture is of Quinn and Madison playing in the dog bowls. Bethany and I were trying to snap a picture of the girls without them looking at us, but Quinn quickly saw the camera and Madison was too into sticking her hand into the dog water...we had to stop that real quickly :) Yuck!

Today on our way home from Starbucks we stopped at the park, and Madison loved crawling through the orange tunnel and playing peek-a-boo with us.

So happy!

Yes, that is Ellie climbing up the top stairs to the highest slide that the playground has...crazy dog! She never actually went down the slide but she sure had fun being a part of the action!

Madison thought it was so funny that Ellie was on the play structure, so she stared to chase her

Going down the slide...it was actually a pretty fast one and Madison had such a good time! Little did we know though until it was too late, but the slide was a little wet at the bottom...oops...it didn't seem to bother Madison at all and the diaper definitely protected her booty from getting wet.

"I'm ready to go down daddy! Catch me mommy, but not until you put away that camera!"

Mommy and Madison

Climbing through more tunnels

Trotting like a troll across the bridge! Love that book!

Of course, she's trying to go up the slide :) Luckily we were the only people there, so we let her try it out

Her wet little booty from the slide :)

Swinging is fun!

Swinging with mommy

Taking a bite of daddy's ice cream...yummy!

I tried to get a picture of all three of us, but my arm would not reach far enough to really get us all in...this is the best I could do. Madison is eating her empty cone here :)

Look at that face!!! She looks so mad and maybe a bit confused :) This chocolate mustache was all from one small bit of daddy's ice cream...I think she got more than we would have like! Oh well, she had fun and we had an awesome family day!!