Halloween one, done!

Maddy had her first Halloween! It was a pretty low key affair. We started Maddy in a pair of almost too small pink pjs with a skeleton on them. That glows in the dark. It's for a 6-12 month old and I had to squish her in it.

Baba and dido came over and we all had dinner. Baba brought chili and garlic toast and Neil made his famous yummy caesar salad dressing. Of course, Maddy only ate what she could feed herself. That has not gotten any better. After dinner we dressed Maddy up as a peacock, and put the dogs in their annual Superman and Spiderman costumes. Every year since we got them they have dressed up in these exact costumes. Every year they have hated it. Every year I have a blast dressing them up and since I am the human... I win! Here is Maddy, being held by dido, with Sherman on the couch and Walter on the ground.

We took Maddy to one neighbour's place, to trick or treat. She was given a coffee crisp, which she chewed on happily, as we visited a little. We considered going to a few more houses, but the one other neighbour we know well had her lights out. And it was getting close to Maddy's bedtime.

Then we came home, played a bit and handed out candy. Twenty-nine kids. And between me and baba we bought about 400 pieces of candy. We were that generous house, the one that gave away handfuls of chocolate, and there are too many chocolates left.

Madds had her evening bottle. She has been having a blast running her fingers through her hair, especially when eating, and this results in crunchy hair sometimes. Crunchy hair I can have fun styling. FAUX-HAWK! Well, I said faux-hawk. Neil said Ed Grimley...

Maddy's first Halloween was underwhelming. She doesn't understand anything that is happening and while it was fun to dress her up, it was really just for us. One day it'll mean more, to take her out, and she can have fun deciding what to pretend to be. I think, also, that Halloween has never been one of the holidays that means a lot to me. As a child, I always felt my super-thick glasses ruined any costume. And I dreaded those houses where people would expect me to sing or something for my candy. Plus my irrational fear of spider webs (not spiders though) makes the decorations creepy and icky and gross and bad. Very very bad.

I want to be sure to let Maddy decide what holidays are her favorite, and not have me and Neil colour it but right now it's about me and Neil. So we kept this one low key. Christmas though? We are SO GOING OVERBOARD WITH THAT ONE! Can you tell it's my favorite holiday?

Happy Halloween!

False alarm...

On the post below? False alarm. I wrangled the writhing Miss-Miss down on the change table and looked more closely. And? False alarm. No teeth nubs, just whiteness under the gum where teeth are likely emerging. But they are coming! Eventually...

More from me! Another first!!

I am a posting whore today... But there is more news to share!

I was sitting with Madds on my lap. I tilted her back and started blowing raspberries on her adorable little belly. She threw her head back and laughed and laughed! With her head back, I was able to see her top gums. And I saw TEETH! It's hard to see her top gums, but I am nearly 100% positive that there are 2 little nubs of teeth emerging.

More teeth, more standing, attempts at stair climbing... it's been a crazy day!

If you PROMISE me you won't tell Neil, I'll post these pictures.

It's our secret, right?

Today the batteries died on the camera. They have been threatening to for days and instead of changing them, I have been avoiding taking pics. But I can't stop documenting my girl's childhood! So the camera came out today and the batteries died. I raced upstairs to grab more batteries, leaving the door to the stairs up open. And I turned the corner, coming down the stairs to THIS.

I am not sure this picture clearly conveys what the Maddster was doing. Check this one out:

Yes. She is STANDING AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS! Aack!

And Neil would be (rightly) so upset that I stopped to take a few pics instead of making sure she doesn't fall down and hit her head. But in the end, I got the pics and Maddy safely made it to the floor again. Win, win! Unless you tell on me...

Standing machine!

She did this for about 5 minutes this morning. While watching TV of course... *sigh*

Month Nine Letter

Dear Maddy,

You are now 9 months old. Plus one day. I kind of missed your birthday yesterday, I was sick. Very achingly sick. I even thought about hopping on the computer to even post a few lines about being sick, but instead I slept. More. I slept all night, all day then all night. This morning I am better. Perfect? No. But I am able to get up, care for you, and function. Yesterday baba and dido and dada cared for you. Today I am caring for dada, he's sick now too.

And now you are 9 months and a day old! And you are, as always, just amazingly awesome.

This month has flown by. And when I think about your 10 month letter, I know that I'll be back at work and not with you all day. And it's breaking my heart. But back to you!

In this last month, your personality continues to shine through. You are just a happy baby! You are quick to smile at new people, you are content to play alone, you are always ready to laugh. Although when you are unhappy you are spectacularly unhappy. And I may have mentioned this before, but you can be loud.

You are mobile and crawling on your hands and knees. You get into everything. EVERYTHING. No corner of the main floor is safe from your exploration. Which means mama is constantly cleaning and tidying up. And you are on your knees reaching and grabbing everything. Not as much on your feet, yet, but at times. I see standing and walking on the horizon... And of course, as I have been typing this all day, you stood a few more times today. I am not sure your realize that you're standing as much as you are getting a better view of whatever it is you're looking at in front of you.

You are babbling so much more now! Ga ga ga ga, da da da da, ba ba ba ba and mumumumumumum. There are times when you sit in front of the mirror and happily chat to the baby in the wall. We can hear hints of your speaking voice now, in your babbling. And it will be adorable! Except when you're unhappy. Then you make a specific sound, a frantic EMMMMMM. Not AS adorable, but still awful cute.

TV is still your friend. You love to watch commercials best. And I think that's genetic. Aunty Iris was telling me a story, about how one of her nieces or nephews was obsessed with commercials. This child would ignore all shows, until the commercial was on, then would sit transfixed. That child? Was your mama. Although you still are pretty interested in Doctor Who, especially the music. I try to keep the radio on during the day, to prevent you from spending too much time watching TV but sometimes I forget. No mama is perfect!

Today you had your first milk. It was not a wild hit. You happily took your sippy cup but instead of what you expected there was milk. And that was not a happy taste. Even after a few sips, it led to this face.

This has been another wonderful month, another month filled with joy at getting to be your mama. As always, I can't wait to see what the next month will bring. Happy 9 months plus a day my baby girl!

Love always,

Mama

It was everywhere

Last night Maddy had her first perogies (pics were taken) and a bunch of other food at our delayed Thanksgiving dinner. She also ate a LOT of mandarin oranges, a favorite of her's right now. By the end her stomach was huge! She sat on the floor and played afterwards. But kept burping up just a little bit of orange, something she normally doesn't do. We brought her home and she just wouldn't settle. Finally at about 830 I went back in and held her, singing softly. As I held her, she turned to the side and in the dim light I could see STREAMS of stomach contents coming from her mouth and nose. She was still again, and then another wave of sick. That's when I called for Neil. He got to see wave three. It was all over me, her, the floor, the crib... it was everywhere.

I stripped myself down to my tee and jeans, stripped Maddy down and then threw her in the bath. I carefully washed her and shampooed her hair. While I did that, Neil cleaned the room, stripped the bed, pulled all the dirty stuff out of the room. I brought Maddy into the living room to give her some liquids and make sure she was ok. Once we established Madds was ok, we settled her in for the night and she fell asleep quickly.

Neil was a little frantic but got everything done. I didn't get sick, despite being covered in it. Although I felt nauseous much of the evening and there was the smell of bile in my nose all night. But? We did it! We made it through our first projectile puking event and we managed very well. We did it as a team.