The Big Dunk!

Today at swimming lessons Madeline learned how to go under water!

The instructor taught us that the first thing we need to do is blow in her face - when we do this she kind of gasps and holds her breath. Then the instructor told us she should always go in head first, that way water doesn't go up her nose.

So we gave it a try! She was a little surprised, but when it was all over, there were no tears and she had no problems trying it again! Mom and Dad hope that all of this ensures she not scared of the water when she gets older. Before we know it, we'll probably have a little fish on our hands that just loves the water :-)

Here's a video of Madeline's first experience going under water!

Prunes...

Madeline's probably going to hate us for this posting when she's older, but some things are just too funny not to be said...

Well, since Madeline's started eating solids (rice & oatmeal cereal) she's become a little "irregular". Mom and Dad started to get worried when she didn't "go" for over 3 days. So we listened to the advice we got from everyone and decided to try some prunes. The consensus was that the prunes would definately get her "going" again.

We definately weren't planning on her first experience with fruits to be prunes, but we've learned that sometimes things just don't happen in the order we thought they would!

She didn't look too enthusiastic about trying something new...So, we just gave her a little taste... Maybe it wasn't going to be so bad... But then we got the reaction we were expecting! It took her a while to get used to it, but she eventually ate a teaspoon or two. And we're so glad she did! The prunes definately got things moving, and that made everyone feel better :-)

Fun in the snow

It was another perfect day to get out in the snow and play! Madeline got buried and then her and mommy went for a ride together in the sled. Pull Grandma, Pull! Then Grandma and Madeline went down the hill together. Madeline made her very first snow angel. Brrrr - that was cold! Madeline falls out of the sled just as much as she rides in it, but that OK because she loves putting her nose in the snow :-) Our little snow queen :-) Playtime with Daddy! Madeline's wagon works in the snow too - she won't fall out of this one :-) Madeline really seems to love the snow so we think she's going to do just fine growing up in Minnesota!

Jack is my Friend

Madeline got a Jack-in-the-Box for Christmas. She's always loved listening to the music, but she's recently found a new love for watching Jack pop out of his box :-) She can't quite turn the crank by herself, but she loves to help us. We thought that she might get startled when Jack popped up, but she just giggles. Jack is definately one of her new favorites!

Daddy's Turn!

This week at swimming lessons it was dad's turn to get in the pool. Once again Madeline seemed to have a great time! She got on her belly and daddy tried to teach her how to kick. We don't think she really gets it yet, but she will... eventually :-) We haven't gone all the way under the water just yet, but we got pretty close. The instructor said maybe next week. Regardless of what we do in the pool, she always finds a way to get those fingers in her mounth! She'll have to take the fingers out soon so she can learn how to splash and move her arms through the water.

I wonder if I can get these in my mouth...

She's recently been taking a big interest in her feet... playing with them all the time! Well, tonight she figured out she could actually put them in her mouth :-) I guess her fingers just weren't cutting it any more - time to eat some toes!!!

Lovin' Oatmeal ?!?!?!

Well, it's been about a week since she started eating rice cereal, so we decided it was time to try something new! Everyone likes oatmeal, right??? Well maybe not so much :-) Actually, after the first few bites she really started to like it and finished every last bite. In the next week or two we'll try some fruits and vegis!

6 Month Pictures

Today we went to Babies 'R Us (Kiddie Kandids) and had Madeline's 6 Month pictures taken!

We weren't quite sure what to dress her in, but we knew we wanted it to be a dress/skirt and it had to be pink :-) We were going through all of her dresses & everything that we had that was sized 6-12 months was still too big so we decided to try some of her 0-3 month cloths on to see if they still fit. To our amazement the outfit that fit her the best was actually the newborn outfit we had bought to take her home from the hospital in! It was way too big for her in the hospital, but now it fits her perfectly :-)

Going Swimming

Today we took Madeline to her very first swimming lesson! We weren't quite sure if she was going to like it so we made sure we got a shot of her smiling before we got in the water... But once we got in the water she really seemed to enjoy it! It was a bit chilly at first,but after a few trips up and down the length of the pool we were warmed up and loving it!
We danced in the water, we bobbed up and down and she even went swimming around on her belly :-) The Instructor said that was it for the first lesson - just getting used to the water, but in the next couple of weeks she'll learn how to hold her breath and go completely under. That should be interesting!!! We'll be sure to post pictures of that when it happens!

Madeline's First Solid Food!

She's 6 months old now, and that means it's time for solid food! So we put her in her High Chair and put a bib on her. No food yet, but she seems to like sitting in her chair :-) Her first experience with rice rice cereal - mom thinks the face she's making is pretty funny!

Her second bite gets spit right back out...
but don't worry, because mom will clean it up! Open wide - there's more where that came from! Maybe Daddy will have better luck getting the food to actually stay in her mouth...but Madeline has another idea - she thinks it would be a good plan to try putting cereal and fingers in her mouth at the same time!!!Well, the first experience with cereal was fun. We're sure she'll get better at it every day. We'll just have to practice, practice, practice :-)

Sitting Up

Happy New Year! What a better way to start off the new year than with a new trick!!!

When we woke up this morning, we were playing and mommy thought we should give sitting up a try. She did so well that we got her dressed and gave her a book to look at:

Much to Mommy & Daddy's surprise, Madeline sat up for a few minutes all on her own! She even turned the page!

Of course she fell over eventually (and we were there to catch her), but we figure she must have made a new year's resolution last night. Maybe she thought something like this...

I'm sick of laying on the floor all the time - I want a new & different view of things! I guess I'll just have to show mom and dad that I can sit up on my own!!!