15 month check-up

Maddie had her 15 month well-visit today. She's still a small-fry by national standards; she sits in the 10-15th percentile for height and weight. Head circumference is 50th percentile.

The doctor gave us a few things to work on with Maddie in terms of her speech and a few new things to introduce to her diet. She did pretty well during her shots...after we distracted her with some goldfish!

A few funny photos from the last few days.

Waiting at the pediatrician...trying out her first pony tail. I don't think she's ready quite yet!

We've started taking Madeline jogging in the evenings. When we got home last night, we realized she had fallen asleep! This doesn't even look comfortable!

While I was cooking dinner the other night, Madeline pulled some books off our "travel" section of our bookcase. She looked through these books and planned her first trip to Paris!

I was doing my couponing last night and Stella kept trying to get me to pet her. I told her to "go lie down" and she laid down right in the middle of my work. I took the hint and had some snuggle time with her after this!

More teeth!

Madeline had no teeth until her first birthday. Now she has 4 big teeth (two top, two bottom), and two more coming in! The last week she has had random bouts of fussiness where she sticks her fingers in her mouth. She has also been running a little low grade fever off and on. Sure enough, I finally saw the teeth tonight. She's got two more coming in; they've just poked through on either side of her top teeth.

She has been babbling A LOT lately. Sometimes she has entire conversations with us and with her self. It's pretty cute, but we're trying really hard to help her learn her words. It's easy to just anticipate her needs and give her what she wants, but I am trying to not do this so much. For example, I try to remember to say "milk" when she points to her cup, instead of just giving it to her. I was a really late talker, so I'm not TOO worried just yet about Maddie not saying much. Let's be honest, it obviously didn't affect me too much!

Maddie has her 15 month appointment this Wednesday; I'm looking forward to seeing her new stats.

A few photos from this weekend.

Having a little snack (pureed fruit in a pouch) in the car. This is leftover from her baby food days. We only had a couple left (she eats all table food now), but they are actually pretty easy on-the-go snacks.

Being a silly girl. She was laughing at herself because she was doing "no-hands"

About to fall asleep. And, yes, those lips are natural! I have a baby Angelina Jolie on my hands!

Singapore souvenirs

Chris brought us home a couple of souvenirs from his trip. I got some of my favorite chocolate (Neuhaus) which I thought could only be found in Belgium. What a nice surprise! Madeline got a little outfit from China town in Singapore. It's a little big for her, but she looks so sweet. Here she is running around in it while playing on the iPhone.

Happy Wednesday!

Chris is home!

This week Chris traveled to Singapore to meet with one of his clients. Madeline and I missed him so much and we are so happy he is home!

Singapore is not an easy place to get to. Chris took 3 flights (2 hour, 15 hour, 8 hour) to get there. He had a great time meeting the people he's been working with for several years. Since Chris manages the energy for all of the international locations for Merck, he spends most of his time communicating on the phone or through email, rarely in person.

Here are a couple of pictures from his trip.

There was a Guiness Book of World Records attempt at the local mall. These kids built a transformer out of balloons over the course of the week.

Garrett's popcorn--this is for you Danielle!

A street market selling some unusual fare.

The casino by day - Chris won $500 on the slot machines!

The casino by night - the top is an infinity pool.

Marina Bay

I admit, I'm a HUGE baby and get pretty scared staying by myself. Maddie, Stella and I spent the week at nana and grandpa's house. We had a great time and are so thankful they let us come to the "Hughes hotel."

Madeline had a pretty eventful week while daddy was gone. She learned to sign and say the word "more", she started getting another tooth, and she got BIT for the first time. Some little hooligan at school decided to take a bite out of her leg. It didn't break the skin, but it left some teethmarks. I know these things happen, but I was still sad for her!

I'll post some pics of her later this week! Have a great weekend and GO CATS!

Madeline's new favorite store

Chris and I had our 4 year anniversary a few weeks ago but hadn't had the chance to celebrate yet. On Saturday, nana and grandpa Hughes watched Madeline and we went out to dinner and a movie. We had a wonderful time! Stoney River was delicious --love those rolls!! We saw Safe House which was really good. All in all- it was a great night celebrating a terrific four years. Maddie's grandparents even let her stay the night, which meant we got to sleep in. I'm sad to admit, we got up at 7:30 anyways! But we had a good breakfast at Panera before picking her up. We missed our little girl, but it was nice to have some time for just us.

On Sunday, we went to Oxmoor mall where Madeline had a tea party at Pottery Barn Kids. She met a girl and they sat at the table playing. The photo below is a little fuzzy but you can still kind of see what's going on.

Madeline spent most of the party on the phone...she doesn't know her manners quite yet!!

Madeline had so much fun at PBK, she threw a mini tantrum when we left. I had a vision of the Terrible Twos...and I didn't like it! We picked her up and she started arching her back and kicking her feet with a passion! She cried until we got her out of the store. She finally stopped crying...when I let her walk through the mall. Which meant I had to walk hunched over since I made her hold my hand! For someone so tiny, she has a lot of strength, energy and determination! Good things come in small packages, right?!

Tonight was fajita night--Madeline loves Mexican food! Here she is after her avocados, black beans, tortillas, mac and cheese and banana dinner. So happy! And, with a little black bean mustache!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the horrible storms that wreaked havoc on our neighbor cities on Friday. So many people lost so much. My aunt and uncle lost their home, barn and several cars. But, they all survived which is the most important thing. Remember to hold your loved ones close and thank God for everything you have!

Post-Tubes

Madeline has been so happy since her tubes last week. She has been playing and playing and playing! She has had a good week at school learning "slap-clap" (smacking her knees and then clapping) and playing outside in this beautiful weather. Her teacher said she is getting more rambunctious outside, going down the slide and running around. Two kids in her class have RSV, but so far she seems to have escaped with just a little cough. Fingers crossed RSV stays away from Maddie- she's already had a rough Winter!

Breakfast at Panera. Madeline ate her first bagel and loved it! Here she is staring at someone else's bagel.

Not sure why she looks so guilty here. Neither her or Stella are talking...but I'm wondering what they did.

Chris caught her by surprise here!

Ear Tubes for Maddie - girl

We took Madeline to the ENT on Tuesday. After all 6 shots of Rocephin last week (a very strong antibiotic), her ear infection hadn't cleared up. In fact, she now had a full-on DOUBLE ear infection.

The ENT took a look at her ears and reviewed her history. After seeing that we had tried 4 different antibiotics for the infections, he recommended tubes. Both my sister and I had tubes twice as a child after repeated infections.

We took her in this morning to the surgery center. I was pretty nervous about the anesthesia and the surgery, but everything happened so quick, I couldn't really get that worked up. The doctors took her back at 7:20 and the surgery was over by 7:30. Maddie woke up at 7:40 and we got to get her. We left at 8!

So far, she is acting totally normal. She ran around for awhile and then took a nap. She is eating great and smiling. The ENT let us know she had so much junk in her ear that he's not sure the past infections have ever really cleared up great. I'm so happy that she has clean, fresh ear nows!

A few photos:

Madeline in her ruffles in the waiting room.

Right when she woke up, sitting with mommy