Maddie at 10 months

Miss Maddie,

You continue to bring endless amounts of joy, and you fill my heart with such happiness it could burst. You are so sweet!

 Your daddy is one of your favorites. Whenever he or Colter come down the stairs you start making so many noises and flapping your arms around.

We had our first snow this month. You pretty much just stayed in the wagon, but you love being outside so much! 

                                                      

                                            

You are a crazy on the go little lady. The day we put up the Christmas tree, you thought it was time to start crawling. You just crawled right towards it like you've been doing it forever! Around the same time, you started pulling up by yourself. Now you are constantly pulling up on stuff- my legs, the pack & play, your activity table, the entertainment center, boxes, you name it! You feel really sturdy on your legs (except when you try to turn your body around then you almost always face plant). Another favorite move of yours is the downward dog yoga move.

                                                        


                                                    

You have now popped through two more teeth, one on the bottom and one on the top, and the other two are not far behind. You were a little bit fussier than normal, but you also had a cold at the same time, so it's hard to know how much the teeth bothered you.

You can now wave hi and bye, sign "all done", and say the word "UH-OH!" You groove to the music head banger style, and still love to clap. You also love to "give loves" i.e. huge wet open mouth kisses.





You seem to be a bit sensitive. You cried when Avery made a kitty noise at you, when Jackson roared like a dinosaur, when we went through the car wash, and when we dump water on Colter's head in the bath. Now that you are on the move, you always want to be where your brother is, playing with the toy he is. Unfortunately, he is not at all interested in having you around right now, so there are lots of tears in this stage. It's fun to see you so mobile and interested, but this stage is proving to be the most challenging yet.

You don't have a ton of favorite toys, but you love to put everything in your mouth! You love knocking over/destroying anything- train tracks, stacking blocks, puzzles, etc. You love the stacking cups, anything with buttons, and the toy that you can fit the balls into. You are a big fan of stuffed animals, and love to tackle and kiss them. Your most prized possessions if you can sneak them before getting caught are mail or any paper, keys, and my phone.

                                      

Christmas was so fun with you. You were into everything! You loved wrapping paper, boxes, Christmas lights, Christmas music, and were even into the few presents we gave you!

Your sleep is still not stellar. You normally cry out 2-3 times a night, and I still nurse once in the night. You're normally asleep between 6:30 and 7, and it isn't uncommon for you to wake up ready to party by 6. You still take a super short morning nap for about 30 minutes, and for the most part you rock a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, thank you!! You almost always poop when I put you in your crib, so I usually come back in, change you, and then put you back in bed. You love to be rocked, love your lamb, love your paci, and love to be sung to.

You eat great.. you don't seem to love meat besides ham, but you'll eat anything else. You especially love pears, bananas, broccoli, carrots, peas, cheese & bread.

I love you so so so much my sweet girl.

                                  

A winter visit with Gigi & Grandpa

Another special visit with Gigi & Grandpa. Thanks for showering us with so much love!

Gigi & Grandpa took Colter to the children's museum and discovered an amazing construction exhibit! I can't wait to go back and check it out!

Finished off a hard playing time with McDonalds

We braved freeeeeeeeeeeeezing temperatures to hit up the zoo. I couldn't believe how many animals were out moving around! 

The railroad club in Edmonds had an open house on Saturday, so we all got to see the amazing model train display inside. 

Another day we ventured downtown to take in some of the holiday highlights. Grandpa & Gigi took Colter on the sounder and Maddie & I met them downtown. 

First, we checked out the amazing gingerbread houses at the Sheraton. They were incredible! Especially this one portraying "hey diddle diddle"

Afterwards, we went by Macy's to watch the trains go around.

Finally, we went to the Fairmont with hopes to see the teddy bear suite. I got the opening time wrong, so we thought we were going to miss it, but a kind hotel staff member let us in for all by ourselves! It was definitely the highlight of our morning!

There were fun moments at the house as well.. baking cookies with Gigi, getting rides from grandpa, fun Christmas gifts, and stealing bites of food off everyone's plates.

I truly feel so so blessed by Mary & Greg. Colter is going through a major "mommy only" phase, and they were so patient with him.. taking in the moments when they could. I'm thankful for their patience, and desire to be a part of our lives. 

the rest of November

Wrapping up the rest of the month...

Mary & Greg sent up a box of Ben's legos and it's pretty much Colter's favorite thing right now

The kids and I go on an "epic" walk (what I like to call it) almost every week. The usual destinations include the construction site, whole foods for free fruit & samples, babies r us to ride the car, and possibly petco to look at the animals, or barnes & noble to play trains. The kids and I love it. 

The last of the fall leaves. 

A trip downtown to visit Ben & see the decorated trees at the Fairmont hotel

A Christmas card photo shoot.. lets pretend like they're like this all the time. HA!

The Christmas lights are up! Every year we get more and more into decorating. This year Ben went ALL the way to the top of the house with the help of a self made harness wrapped around the bed and wrapped around my waist. Oh Grizwold

                                                 

                                                    

The Macy's parade.. never dissapoints!

A foggy Thanksgiving morning walk around Greenlake.

Thanksgiving dinner at Austin & Kelsey's house. They have done such a wonderful job decorating their new place. The decorated table was amazing!

 Every month our community group does a service project. November's project was putting together snack bags for homeless kids that are bussed from all over to attend Edmonds schools.

Tree cutting/decorating. We went to a new place this year and probably wont go back. Still a fun experience with cocoa, popcorn, santa, etc.... just a little slim pickings on decent trees.

We ventured downtown to the Macy's Thanksgiving parade for the first time. We will DEFINITELY be back. We had such a great time.. the bands were awesome and the Frango's were a bonus! yum!

As a birthday gift, my sister planned a road rally date night for Ben & I. We went all over Lynnwood finding clues (and finding out a bunch of random facts about Lynnwood!)

We ended up in an asian food court inside an asian shopping center at a place called Beard Papa's... apparently the world's best cream puff. I will say- they were AMAZING and we will totally be back!

Our first Christmas lights outing!

Such a good month!