Spaghetti and Cheerios

Spaghetti and Cheerios... Maddie's new favorite meal! Yummy..

She's decided lately that she's too big of a girl to have mom feed her anymore (except for the beloved nursing of course!) so we've had to get creative with our table food. It certainly is messier but has been allot of fun lately. I can handle blueberry oatmeal up the nose every once in awhile. We got smart and bought her some bibs with the pocket in the front.. Bumpkins brand are awesome! After each meal we find a nice pile of things that didn't make it into her mouth. I guess it's a numbers game.. give her 20 pieces of fruit so 10 make it in. :)

I am able to sneak in a few spoonfuls here and there to make sure she's getting the foods that would be too messy or dangerous to feed her like blueberries and applesauce.




Is there something on my nose?



The little devil herself getting a bath after dinner.

Papa and Grandma Lena Visit

Sorry I haven't posted sooner.. I've been working on Maddie's 1st Birthday invitations. Yep, I decided to design and print them at home.. it's like planning my wedding all over again! :)

Last week we had a great visit from Papa and Grandma Lena! Despite not sleeping great, Miss Maddie was in a great mood each day. (The day after they left she took a three hour nap! She was pooped!)
We went to the fair one day and to the Ventura Harbor another day. We also enjoyed Lena's famous chili.. Matt LOVES this chili and we ask her to make it every time we see them.

I haven't been to the fair in several years. Matt took me once when we were dating but since he's done "woo-ing" me (hee hee) he no longer has to go. I will say, the fair is VERY expensive. $10 to park, $10 to get in.. geesh! My favorite part of the fair is FAIR FOOD! Yummy! Where else can you get chocolate covered bacon. Oh yes, that was there but I chickened out and couldn't do it. Instead I ate this disgustingly good fried indian bread covered with whip cream and chocolate.. oh my! Alyx said fair food doesn't have calories so I feel better knowing that.

Papa and Maddie enjoying the fair


Tom had an awesome Turkey leg (I told him to pose for the blog!)



Maddie had the best fair food she could find.. her foot! mmmmmm



We had a great time watching the pig races, playing games, and walking off all our yummy food. We were all pooped at the end of the day. Papa and Maddie took a little snooze on the way home.

The day before they left, Alyx, Papa and Grandma, Maddie and I went to the Ventura Harbor. It's a cute little area where you can check out the boats that are docked and eat at a variety of restaurants. They also have a game area with a carousal.




Maddie's first carousal ride! She held on like such a big girl.




The Harbor is right by the beach so we stopped by to show Maddie the waves. Papa D took her down by the water.. as they were going, she kept looking back to make sure Mom was still there. She heard all kinds of stories and even got her feet a little wet... anyone ever tell Papa the Pacific Ocean is freezing!? :)



Just checking!


What a great trip! I'm glad Papa and Grandma Lena were able to come out. Maddie has changed so much since they saw her in March. She seems to change every day! They're going to try to make it back out for her 1st Birthday Party which is coming up very soon.

A Girl and Her Balloon



We ran some errands the other day and a lady at Ralph's (grocery store) gave me a balloon for Maddie. She LOVES balloons and couldn't take her eyes off of this one. The second photo is dark but if you click on it you can see the admiration in her face. Gosh, I love this kid!!!

Feeling Better

As of Sunday morning, Maddie's fever is gone.. it went as quickly as it came. By Tuesday we were back to napping well. We may never know if it was teething or a virus but all that matters is Miss Maddie is feeling better which also means Mommy is feeling better!

Disco Fever

Ok, we aren't exactly dancing over here but Maddie does have a fever... she's been at 100-102 since Friday morning. She woke up burning hot. We recently had a friend who's little boy had a febrile seizure so that was first in my mind. (Thank you Heidi again for sharing your story!) We've been giving Motrin every six hours but it hasn't seemed to make any difference. We also have been giving her luke warm baths and placing a washcloth on her forehead when she's nursing (which has seemed like every waking minute during the day). Sleeping has been nil in our household but I guess every parent goes through this at some point, right? And it's surely bound to happen again.

Being new parents we did take her into the doc this morning (Saturday-hope they don't have emergency plumber rates!). Of course she didn't have a fever the nano-second it took the doctor to take her temperature but she did have swollen lymph nodes and enlarged tonsils. He checked for strep but that came back negative so he said it's probably just viral and to keep an eye on the fever and watch for any other symptoms. It could be teething but I'm glad we went to rule out ear infection or something more serious.

Unfortunately we missed Shane's 2nd birthday party.. darn it! We just got into the "birthday party" club and had to miss our first event! :) I'm sure everyone had a great time, so sorry we missed it.

Hopefully she'll be feeling better before Papa Dimino and Grandma Lena arrive on Thursday. They're coming out from Denver to see Miss Maddie and we're just starting to get good sleep at night and be a "happy baby" during the day. She is also scheduled to get her vaccinations on Thursday afternoon.

Other than being clingy, we have had some giggles out of her so it could be worse!

Here are her 9 month JC Penney photos I promised you. The scans aren't so great (I made them lower resolution to get them to upload) but the copies of the photos turned out nice, now I just need to cut them out and distribute. I'm not very impressed with their photos but they're a cheap option and it's relatively easy for us to make an appointment and go.

Here's my attempt a few weeks ago.


Here's their attempt.. ok, a little better. lol






This one sums up how the appointment went! :)



We're going to have her 12 month birthday photos taken while we're in WI by my friend Trisha Faber. She just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Kora Lynn. (She's actually the daughter of my parent's friends but we didn't meet until we found each other online while planning our destination weddings.. so technically we haven't actually "met" yet!) She's very talented and I can't wait for our session!

Look Who's Standing!

Wow, every week I feel like there's something new to report. Maddie's two front top teeth are through but I think they may still be bothering her... she's been drooling like crazy and chewing on everything in site. Either that, or there are more coming in that I just can't see/feel.

Ok Maddie, time to slow down.. mom isn't ready for a walking baby yet. I was just getting used to you crawling. She does a modified crawl on tile and the grass, guess she doesn't like her knees to touch so she gets up on her tippy-toes, butt in the air, and crawls. It reminds me of those large walking machines on Star Wars. :) She's super fast when she sees something she wants, usually something she isn't suppose to have, like dad's boots or mom's flip flips.

We bought her a shopping cart last weekend and now she's doing this! (Actually she was pulling herself up first but this actually gives her something to grab onto that she won't bash her head on.) Mostly she kneels next to it for now but usually if we're sitting close to her, she'll go to stand. Let's hope she remembers to use her coupons when shopping!




Yesterday we went to JcPenney Portraits to have her 9 month photos taken. I think I may make the situation worse by trying too hard to get her to smile, but she hates sitting on the "dot" and not being able to move. Combine that with hot lights and the photographer making strange noises to grab her attention and you get a cranky baby. I brought our little friend Hannah along because she always laughs when Hannah is around but not even that was working. Poor Maddie just sat there looking at us and just when we thought she "might" smile, she busted out in tears!

Funny thing is, she was in a great mood on the way there, and on the way back, little stinker! Anyhow, we did get a few cute photos (of course!) They should be ready at the end of the month and I'll post then.

Our First Family Vacation

We had such a great time! Let me tell you, we aren't "heat/sun" people so going to a place that's 111 degrees during the day and 80 degrees at night probably wasn't the smartest move but our plan was to play in the pool and that's exactly what we did. We got a great rate at the Westin Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, just outside of Palm Springs. (could it have been because that's the only way to get people there? lol) We brought lots of sunscreen and water... and used both constantly. Never having travelled with a baby before, I didn't realize how much "stuff" we'd be bringing. Yeh, let's just say Matt's truck was filled!

Upon arrival we were upgraded to a King room which was awesome! It had a full kitchen with beautiful granite counter tops, a large dining table and ginourmous jacuzzi tub. Maddie had lots of room to play and of course was fascinated with everything dangerous including the fireplace and coffee table. She's such a fast crawler these days AND is now pulling herself up. Oh boy!

We spent each day either in the pool, with parents taking turns going down the waterslide, or hanging out in our air conditioned room which was welcomed after the walk from the pool or around the property. I think we all let out a sigh of relief (including Maddie) upon entering our home away from home. 3 nights was just perfect for our little getaway.

On the way home we stopped at the Palm Springs Aeriel Tramway. The ride up was beautiful and the weather was about 40 degrees cooler at the top so that was wonderful. We didn't stay too long knowing we might hit a bit of traffic on our way back. We planned both drives around Maddie's nap schedule (what schedule!) so she did sleep just over an hour each way which made the 2.45 hours go much faster. She's not a big fan of being strapped into anything for that long.

Overall the trip was a huge success. It was a great break for Matt to get away from work and the change in daily routine was very much welcomed by me. I also think it has helped to prepare us for our October trip to WI. She'll be almost 1 and hopefully the airport and plane ride will be pleasant.. if anything, it will be adventurous!

Yay Summer!

There wasn't much out there! This was taken just before we reached the resort.


Matt made his world famous fajitas! Soooo goood and we saved tons of money by eating in every meal except for one.


We brought our own chair to feed Maddie in. It's the perfect size for her and strapped to the chair to keep her safe.


Up early and ready for the pool!


There's a large pond area and connecting waters with lots of ducks so we stopped to feed them a few times.



Baby jail! "Let me outta here!"


Our only family photo from the trip


Maddie's two top teeth have broken through and this is her face most of the time lately. I'm guessing the air feels funny on them, either that or she's become very cynical in her early life... sneering at all! :)



Proof of the heat! It was so hot I could barely touch the car door handle.


Maddie on the Aerial Tramway, the ride up.


Daddy and Maddie.. both very happy to be out of the hot weather.


Mommy and Maddie.. the weather was so beautiful on the top of the mountain.

Photo Updates

If you click on this photo you can see her top tooth that has broken through and the one next to it is about to appear. Her new thing is hanging her tongue out Michael Jordan style. We have it on video but I'll try to get a photo... our stupid camera is so slow!



Fourth of July: Maddie's oh-so-patriotic outfit. It was very hot at Lake Casitas so after awhile she lost the dress part of the outfit and she just wore her star-spangled bloomers!




Fun in the backyard on Saturday. I love weekends where we can just relax as a family and sit on a blanket. :)
First Maddie and Mya played with Matt's shoelaces. Gross, I know! Hopefully nobody calls child protective services on us!




Got Cankles?


We're getting ready for our first family vacation. For some reason I thought Palm Springs would be a great idea... I just realized it's 110 degrees there and the low is 80! Let's hear it for air conditioning and a great pool! I'll be sure to post photos when we get back next weekend.