Oh boy. Kurt and I are totally in for it. The activity level in our house in the last 24 hours has dramatically increased, and it is most certainly not divided equally among the three of us. I finally got disgusted enough with the state of my floors to do a deep clean after Madelyn went to bed last night. Weird, I know, but when the cleaning bug bites, you just better go with it because there's no telling when it's going to bite again. I at least managed to get the loud vacuuming done before she fell asleep, but I was on my knees hand scrubbing my floors until about 8:30 p.m. Let me just say: sparkling. You can eat off of these floors, which is why when Maddie woke up on Saturday morning, we put her down on the floor to crawl and explore to her heart's content (I had previously kept her more or less confined to a quilt on the floor because she has a tendency to lick the floors as she's crawling along). Now that she's tasted (literally, it seems) freedom, there's no going back. She doesn't want to be held or confined in any way...she just wants to crawl! And she can really scoot along! Favorite destinations thus far: my breastpump, the fireplace, the colander on the bottom shelf of the island in the kitchen, and the dirty shoe mat by the front door. Her basket full of colorful toys? Nope. Never :)
Madelyn's first Easter Sunday was also fun. Look at her in her sweet little dress! We went to church in the morning and then shared yummy meals with Papa, Nana, Auntie Kelsie, Uncle Kris, Grandpa, and Grandma throughout the day. Maddie always has a blast visiting with her extended family. She has a unique relationship with each person, and it's such a joy for Kurt and me to watch those relationships grow.
One other photo for good measure. This is her first experience with a teething biscuit. They are most certainly as messy as everyone says they are, but she absolutely loved it...until she gummed it so hard that a huge chunk broke off in her mouth causing her paranoid first-time mom to frantically fish it out with her finger and then take the rest of it away while Maddie broke down in huge crocodile tears. So sad!
At six months, Madelyn is on the verge of crawling any day. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth, and she definitely has the strength to crawl. She moves her knees, but she just hasn't figured out that she has to move her hands as well. Mostly, she does this inchworm thing where she's on her hands and knees and then flops on her tummy only to get back up on her hands and knees a little bit further forward than she was before. It seems to be working just fine for her, though, because she sure can get where she wants to go.
Every now and then, while on her hands and knees, Maddie will kick one leg up in the air and just let it hang out there for a bit. We're not sure if she's doing a little morning yoga or if perhaps she's channeling a bird dog's pointing skills. Regardless, it's stinkin' cute (of course, we think she's cute when she BREATHES so perhaps we're not the most objective judges!)
Per Nana's request, here's a recent photo of Madelyn :) (Thanks to Auntie Kari for the ADORABLE hat! We have gotten tons of compliments!)
Madelyn:
1. Despite the six or seven colorful, textured "tags" (made of ribbon) on her Taggies toy rattle, Madelyn always finds the one, true, white, boring tag and prefers to play with it. Go figure.
2. When falling asleep, Madelyn lays on her tummy facing to her right. She sucks three fingers (her middle, ring, and pinkie fingers) on her right hand, and her left hand slowly twirls the hair at the nape of her neck. SO cute.
3. Maddie's hair is really filling in, but it's not all growing at quite the same rate. If you look at the back of her head, you notice that she has about 24 hairs that are a good half inch longer than all the rest.
4. Just like her parents, Madelyn loves anticipation. She smiles the brightest and laughs the loudest when we are slowly "stalking" her with hands in the air ready to tickle. As soon as those hands make contact, though, it's only just so-so...anticipation is over!
5. Our little busy bee doesn't require constant attention, but when she decides she's not getting enough, she does this little fake cough over and over and over again until she's satisfied that all of the attention in the room (be it from one person or four) is focused on her.
Kim (as provided by Kurt):
1. Kim lost a ton of hair after having Maddie (still is, actually, and apparently this is totally normal if not extremely distressing). Now, there are all of these tiny little hairs growing in, most noticeably around her forehead.
2. Kim loves cereal. Of all kinds. At any time of the day or night. Her favorite is granola, most recently purchased from Bob's Red Mill in Clackamas. Yum. For those of you who haven't been, check it out.
3. Having Maddie was evidently the motivation Kim needed to jump on the digital photography bandwagon. She (surprisingly quickly) learned how to work the digital camera, upload photos to the computer, size them down to fit on the blog, and print them out on a regular basis. Kurt rarely touches the computer anymore these days for photo related tasks!
Kurt (as provided by Kim):
1. Kurt is the "water boy" in our family. As far as the plants are concerned, that is. He has a very tender spot in his heart toward our plant, Cecil, and was genuinely worried when we re-potted him and he didn't seem to drink anything for, like, two weeks. When he finally saw adequate soaking and drainage, he was noticeably relieved!
2. Since starting his job at adidas, Kurt has had to incorporate a significant number of tri-striped clothing into his wardrobe. I won't tell you how many pairs of adidas sneaks he has, but he is always exceptionally well coordinated. Some of these sneaks are "no rain" shoes. Given that he walks to work almost every day, he will occasionally walk to work in one pair of shoes only to change once he is there. How very Mr. Rogers of him!
3. Kurt loves motorcycles (this is by no means a "little known fact"). His dream job would be to work for a motorcycle magazine, testing different motorcycles and writing about them or attending various motorcycle events and races and writing about them.
So there you go. If anyone cares to comment with a Little Known Fact of your own, you are most welcome!
