Happy Valentine's Day!

Today Mommy and Madeline colored a Valentine's Day card for Daddy and anxiously waited for him to get home to give it to him! When Daddy got home he opened his card and then Madeline opened the other gifts she got in the mail...

A new chair from Grandma and Grandpa Frantz... A new dress from Great-Aunt Lisa and Great-Uncle Bob... and a great new Dump Truck from Daddy. Thanks everyone!

Rec Center Fun

The Saint Louis Park Rec. Center has Open Tot Time every Monday and Wednesday morning. We've been going for a few weeks and Madeline really has a good time. They have all sort of new toys.

Puppets... and Scooters! Madeline's favorites seem to be the cool cars she can ride
(and get pushed in!)...and the just-her-size school bus :-) They have 2 bouncers too! So much fun!!! Another great way to burn off some energy :-)

Another Mommy and Madeline Adventure!

The Mall of America has Toddler Tuesday every week with activities, songs and stories for kids Madeline's age. This week a group of our friends met there to check it out. The activity was meeting a Care Bear, but the line was way too long so we colored a picture and then headed to the indoor amusement park. Madeline rode on the carousel, a bus and a car - she thought it was great fun! After a few rides Madeline had her very first corn dog - she obviously enjoyed it :-) We'll definitely be coming back for more Toddler Tuesday fun soon!

More Gymnastics with Aunt Melanie

It's so nice living so close to where Aunt Melanie goes to college. This way we can go and watch her gymnastics meets and cheer her on! Today she competed at the University of Minnesota. The meet was in the afternoon so Madeline came along :-) Aunt Melanie definately had the smallest and cutest cheerleader there!

Swimming with Dad

Madeline is really enjoying swimming lessons. In fact she likes it so much that we have to hide her swimsuit during the week or she takes it out and runs around the house saying "SWIM! SWIM!" - when we have to tell her "Not Today" she isn't very happy :-(
But today it was time to swim and it was Daddy's turn to take her in the water. Whenever Madeline give's her teacher, Jennie, a high five, Jennie sinks underwater - Madeline thinks it's hilarious :-) She gets to pour water on Daddy's head and play Humpty-Dumpty - she really loves going underwater :-) Her favorite part is playing on the floating "magic carpet". She always makes a pouty face when Jennie puts it away :-( We take her every week and she's learning new things all the time - another great way to get out of the house in the middle of winter!

Superbowl Party!

Today we hosted a superbowl party for all of our family and friends in the community room at our apartment! Grandma Judy came over early and had a few early Valentine's day gifts for Madeline - what a lucky girl!!! Grandma Judy and Aunt Alyssa sure picked out some nice things... a Valentine's day outfit, PJ's with hearts, Plus she got a brand new bag of colorful goldfish! After opening gifts we brought all the food and drinks down to the community to get ready for the party. We don't usually cheer for either team, but today we were cheering for the underdogs - Go Giants! Madeline wasn't very interested in the game so it was a good thing Great-Aunt Kim was there to read some stories :-) It was fun, maybe we should do this every year!

Getting Together with Friends at the Indoor Park

Since we've moved to Saint Louis Park, Madeline and mommy have found a lot of fun things to do with other stay-at-home moms and kids in the area. Today we met some of our friends at an Indoor Park in Edina. It took Madeline a while to figure things out and for the first hour was way more interested in trying to get out the door!
She eventually decided to try a few things out and had fun climbing..and discovering a whole bunch of new things... maybe she'll be able to climb that wall in a year or two?!?! She especially had fun in the gym playing with all the balls :-) It was great to meet new people and get out and play even though it was super cold outside!

Happy Birthday Grandma Judy!

Tomorrow is Grandma Judy's birthday!
Madeline gave Grandma her favorite gift.... lots of birthday kisses!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA :-)

Go Gusties!

Today Aunt Melanie has a Gymnastics meet. She goes to school at Gustavus Adolphus college in Saint Peter, Minnesota. Melanie got Madeline a special shirt to wear to show her support :-) The meet tonight is in Menomenie, Wisconsin so Madeline will be staying home with dad while mom and grandma make the trip, but Madeline wore the shirt all day for good luck... Go Mel!!!

18 Month Well Child Visit

Today Madeline went back to Dr. Mark Berg for her 18 month Well Child visit. Everything looked good and the doctor said she's developing right on track :-)
Here are the new stats:
Weight: 19 lbs. 6 oz. (<3rd percentile)
Height: 32 in. (50th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18 in. (25th percentile)
Still low on the weight side, but steadily increasing so there is no cause for concern :-) After a few shots Madeline was ready to get out of there! So, we headed into town to have lunch with Grandma Judy. The shots must not have been too bad because she was back to her smiling playful self in no time!