And here we go.....

That's not to say she really liked Santa or "got" how to open presents, but it was definitely more of an experience for her.  Though one of her favorite things to do was play with Ella.  Yes, we have video, just not the time to put it together.  We can't wait to see how she is this upcoming year!


New Year's Eve we spent with our friends Kinzie and Addison and our "out-laws (one is an in-law, but we're all close...thus the term)."  The kids only made it to about 9:00 or so (which is good!), and we all had a great time!


The SuperBowl isn't really a holiday, but since the Steelers were in it again this year it's worth a mention.  We had our friends Nate, Rachel and Sofia over to watch.  Maddison and Fia are one week apart and it's always a fun time when they get together!


Valentine's Day was also a lot of fun for her.  They had a little party at daycare and we wrote Valentine's to all her classmates and she wore a special shirt that Mommy bought!

We made our yearly visit to Gram and Pop-Pop in Naples in March too!  The weather was much better this time, and we spent a good bit of time in the pool.  She wanted to spend less time floating around and more time jumping off the side of the pool into Mommy or Daddy's arms.  Seems like she might have picked that up from either one of us!  Yes, we have video of this as well....seems to be piling up!


Maddison also attended her very first concert:  Disney's Imagination Movers!  Yes, Mommy and Daddy gladly took her to see Warehouse Mouse and crew.  Unfortunately she didn't seem to quite know what to make of it.  Towards the end, though, she started to get into it.



Which brings us to Easter!  This year Easter was not nearly as nice as last year, so we didn't get to spend much time outside.  She did an Easter egg hunt at daycare, which had to stay indoors.  She had a lot of fun (video of that too) sneaking candy out of the eggs with her friends.  Then Saturday we colored Easter eggs!  It took a few, but she got the hang of what was supposed to happen with them.


Easter Sunday was her first time experiencing an Easter basket and we got all dressed up for church.  We normally go to church, but very rarely dress up for it.  That day, though, she had a very special dress to wear!

So that covers all the major stuff, I think.  Since the last post she has really grown in all ways, but really mentally.  Yes, of course she's grown physically, and she's just about grown out of facing backwards in her car seat.  She's well over 25 lbs. and over 33" tall.

Her vocabulary is now enough to fairly communicate just about any idea she wants and she's starting to put words together.  She'll say "bye bye puppies" or "Hi Mommy!"  She will also answer correctly to questions asked in different ways, so she's starting to show signs of comprehension.  For instance, if you ask her who she is, she will gladly say "Masson" and she'll reply with the same answer if you ask her what her name is or what we call her.  If you ask her if she wants milk, she'll say "Ok" and if you ask her if she's sure, she'll reply "Yes."  She will also initiate that by asking you to "come on," pulling your hand towards the kitchen, opening the refrigerator and saying "milk" if she wants milk or asking to watch Special Agent Oso by looking for the "memope," grabbing the remote and saying "Oso" over and over.  Oso is her absolute favorite show to watch today, by the way.  She'll do the same thing by grabbing her shoes and jacket and saying "outside" when she wants to do that.  I'm so glad that she eagerly wants to go outside just as much as she wants to sit and watch TV.

She also is becoming quite the prankster.  She absolutely loves to offer you something only to pull it away when you go to take it.  She also finds it very funny for you to ask her for a kiss or a hug and she gets a gleam in her eye and replies "naw" and wants you to take one anyway.  She is just so full of life and personality...we just love watching it blossom day by day.

We've had so much fun since the last post, and Maddison is learning new words every day it seems.  She now knows and properly associates: hi, bye (complete with waving and blowing kisses), daddy, mama, mommy, puppy, bubby (nickname of one of our cats), eye, football, juice and boots.  A long "hard C" is still the sound for cat, though.  She's also beginning to understand how objects tie together, such as when we sit down to put our shoes on she will go get our shoes and bring them to us...and she differentiates between Michelle's and mine and brings the appropriate pair.  She also understands that the microwave or can opener turn on through a series of steps, and can generally remember or figure them out again if we allow her the time to do so.

She's also started to express emotions much more readily.  She will show us when she's very happy, when she doesn't understand something, when she's curious...and especially when she's frustrated or unhappy with a situation.  She has taken to the toddler method of laying on the ground and screaming.  We've quickly learned that the only way to deal with it is to basically tell her to knock it off and ignore her until she does.  Luckily she normally responds fairly quickly if we tell her "knock it off, that's not going to get you anywhere."  It's actually kind of precious when she looks at you like "but...you're supposed to give me what I want when I do that."  We don't see that kind of behavior often, and it generally turns back to a more pleasant attitude quickly.

Well, since the last post we've had a few exciting events.  First on the list was her first real Penn State game.  We went up to the first game of this season, and she was an absolute doll!  She did really well in the game and even happily cheered along with the crowd and yelled and clapped and just had a wonderful time!


Later that month we traveled to Michigan to visit with Uncle Matt and Aunt Tracy.  We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend doing absolutely nothing except spending time hanging out with them and Ella (their Golden Retriever).  Maddison and Ella spent quite a bit of time chasing each other around the house and had a great time doing so.


Later that month we spent some time at Harner's Farm picking out pumpkins, cider, apple butter and all the goodies of autumn.  She had a wonderful time running among the pumpkins and playing with the wagon and little house they had set up.


For Halloween, we had a lot of fun handing out candy to the kids that came around trick or treating, even though Maddison wanted no part of her Tigger costume on trick-or-treat night.  Luckily, she was in a much better mood for her Halloween party at daycare the next day...


We've also been wrestling with teething over and over again the last few months.  Luckily she only seems to have a bad hour or two at a time, and she really doesn't get too worked up over it.  She now has 8 teeth in front and 3 out of 4 fifteen-month molars are working their way out.  Despite this, we still have one of the happiest babies, er, toddlers we've ever seen.  She is mostly obedient, gladly gives hugs and cuddles, inquisitive and independent.  She does get frustrated fairly easy, but also finds great satisfaction in figuring things out for herself.  I'll part with the somewhat long awaited Hot Dog Dance (downloadable version here).....

Since the last time I wrote back in May, we flew down and spent a week on vacation with my family in St. Pete Beach, FL.  We had such a wonderful time there with all of Maddison's Aunts (Mindie, Robyn, Juda and Abby), Uncles (Shaun & Keith), Cousins (Laycie, Torrie, Evan, Caleb and Avery) great-great Aunts Doris and Janie, Gramma, Grandnana and Twodaddy!  It was a wonderful week of swimming, relaxing, and even some learning thrown in!  Thanks to everyone (especially Aunt Juda & Uncle Keith) for bringing the things we needed to take care of Maddison while we were there.  We definitely can't fly with all of that, so thank you!  Maddison spent a lot of her time swimming in the pool and had her first experience with the ocean too!  She absolutely loves water, and we're very excited to see that.

While we were there, we celebrated many things.  Grandnana & Twodaddy's 60th wedding anniversary, Gramma's graduation from college and we had Maddison's first-first birthday party!  We cooked outside on the patio and had a wonderful evening with all the kids together.  Maddison received some very cute clothes and some donations to her college fund (thanks y'all!).  Most importantly, though, she got to dig into her smash cake!!

 

After our vacation, there was still lots of things to do and celebrate.  We had a birthday and baptism weekend where her Uncle Matt (godfather), Aunt Tracy, "Aunt" Kinsey (godmother) and "Uncle" Josh all came into town.  On her actual birthday, it was just us as a family relaxing at the park and Kinsey and Josh came up that evening.

The next day we had Maddison's second-first birthday party over at Gram and Pop Pop's house.  We cooked out with many friends and family members.  Maddison received some books (she LOVES books), a few toys (she LOVES her animal farm on the fridge) more cute clothes and a couple of savings bonds (more donations for college...woo hoo!!!).  Best of all, more smash cake!

We finished that weekend with a baptism service at church.  Maddison was dressed in Michelle's christening gown and we had a beautiful service with the participation of our entire congregation.  It was a very, very special day.  Pastor doesn't usually get "robed-up," as he puts it, during service but he likes to for special occasions like baptism.

One slight detour from all the celebration was her first medical procedure.  She had tubes put in her ears on July 1.  She did very well, and the change is quite noticeable.  She had 8 ear infections from October - June, and has not had a single one since.  She also appears to hear a little bit better and seems to be better able to react to and control volume.  This may sound like a good thing, but she actually likes to experiment with really quiet, normal and REALLY LOUD squealing.  It's ok, it's still in the cute range and she generally only does it at home.

She was good to go by the next day, and on July 4th, we spent the afternoon and evening over at the Fleagle's house.  We all had a great day, made some new friends, talked with some old ones and tried putting her down to sleep somewhere else for the first time.  Yep, we brought her pack 'n play along and she went to bed at her normal time.  We then stayed to watch the fireworks from their back yard and to hang out a bit longer.  She did great and didn't even budge during the firework show and slept through the whole thing.  Maybe she'll be allowed to stay up to watch them next year...

So finally we come to the milestones.  Since the last time I wrote an entry, Maddison has gone from pulling herself up to stand, to pulling herself up and letting go of the object to stand on her own, to standing up without pulling herself up, to standing up and "dancing," to walking behind something she could hold onto, to taking her first tentative steps all the way to walking around the house as she pleases.  She still falls from time to time, but she just says "uhhh!" and gets back up and keeps going.  It's alternately funny and concerning to see her vent her frustration like that, but encouraging that she doesn't give up easily.

She's also trying to form her first words using more complex sounds.  She's been communicating ideas through vocalizations that sound like the word she means (e.g. juice is "zoos", Dad comes out pretty clear, that is "dat" and she points and says "dat" at everything and wants you to tell her what it is), but she's now really trying to say the words properly.  It's actually pretty funny to watch her try to make a hard "c" to say cat.  I could go on, but here's video to show you all about it!

She has also had another round of cold leading to ear infection.  The doc says that if she gets one more ear infection by September that we're going to be referred to an ENT to look into tubes.  Doc said that she's not all that concerned about it, but that "by the book" they would need to look.  I've heard that for some kids it made a world of difference, so we'll see what might happen with Maddison.

What Maddison has been up to lately is best shown with the random bits of cuteness that I've caught with the camera in my phone, while the other camera was too far away to catch the moment.  So here are those moments:



Don't really have much more to say here, but as always, more pics on Maddison's picture page!  TTFN!

I can't believe Maddison is 9 months old already!  It seems like just last month we were bringing her home, last week we were in GA for Christmas and just yesterday we were on Spring Break in FL.  I thought time flew a few years ago, but it's nothing compared to now!  She seems to pick up a new skill or hit a milestone daily, if not more than one per day!


Maddison went for her 9 month Dr. appointment last Monday (03/29).  She weighed 18 lbs. 11 oz. and is 29 in. long and, according to the Dr.'s exact words, "is in perfect health."  We feel very fortunate that she is a great eater and doesn't give us any issues in that department.  She has yet to actually reject any food, has not shown any allergies to foods and is generally content to eat whatever we put in front of her.  She loves her yogurt melts especially and is very happy to feed herself and shows it by repeating "num num num num num" every time she puts one in her mouth.

That's not to say she's a perfect angel all the time, though (Gram & Gramma might disagree, but....).  What I mean is that she is beginning to show quite the personality.  She very well knows the meaning and tone associated with the word "no" as she immediately turns on the waterworks and bawls at the mere mention of it directed at her.  This most often happens at dinner time when she turns her head away from whoever is feeding her and pushes her chest and belly as hard as she can against the belts keeping her in her high chair.  It's not because she's full or dislikes what she's eating, as she does the same thing in her carseat and her stroller.  She just hates being restrained by belts.  Sound like anyone else you know?

I will say that these two are the only negative behaviors that she has shown so far, and generally they go together (throws a little fit, gets told no, turns on waterworks).  They are also usually short-lived and she tends to go back to more appropriate behavior quickly.  She has picked up many more positive behaviors and has begun to understand other words as well.  Maddison has learned to clap her own hands together and seems to understand that means that she is clapping.  All we have to do to get her to clap is ask her "Can you clap?" and she will normally oblige.  Of course, saying "Yay Maddison" and clapping is usually enough to get her to applaud herself as well.  ;-)

Maddison is now also mobile!  Yep, she is officially crawling.  We thought for a long time that she was close, but then she started showing signs of being more interested in walking than crawling.  Well....then this happened last week:


I think she meant exactly what she said in that video!!  :-)

So, today is Easter Sunday. We have decided to raise Maddison in church, so we have been going to church for over a month now.  Of course, everyone at church just loves Maddison and I think sometimes she might be a bit of a distraction to those around us.  Not because she's misbehaving, but because they're too busy playing with her to pay attention to the service.  Today was no different from that standpoint....except for her special Easter outfit!


After service we had the traditional dinner of ham, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes.  At the last Dr. visit, he told us that if we wanted to start feeding her some mushy table food (eggs, mashed potatoes, etc), that it would be ok.  So, Maddison had her first bites of mashed potatoes today during dinner!  She seemed to like them just as much as Mommy and Daddy do.  Then we went outside for some playtime out in the yard and on her new favorite toy....her swing!

And speaking of new skills that she seems to be picking up on a daily basis....I actually had to stop in the middle of preparing to write this to encourage Maddison in her quest to achieve her latest milestone.  Then, of course, I had to snap a couple of pictures, put them on the computer and voila!


And just like that....a baby that pulls herself to standing and went right to walking around her playpen holding onto the rails!

Well, that's it for now.  As always, you can find ALL of the latest pics on Maddison's picture page.  TTFN!

While we were in Florida Maddison had several "firsts."  She spent her first time in a pool, her first time feeding herself and her first steps with some help!  Leave it to my kid to try to walk before she crawls, right?  Seriously though, she's been close to crawling for some time (more on that in just a bit), but at the same time she's been trying to pull herself up and so we decided to let her stand just holding on to Michelle's fingers.  Well, Maddison took it upon herself to try to take some steps instead of just stand there.  She did pretty well and even wanted to let go, but that didn't work out so well for her.  ;-)

She also started feeding herself the little Gerber grow up puff stars.  She was adorable trying to figure it out as she would pick them up and put them in the palm of her hand, then promptly close her hand around it and stick her thumb in her mouth....then get frustrated and try to throw the puff.  Problem was that it had gotten sticky enough to stick to the palm of her hand.  She quickly learned to take out the middle step and go directly from fingers to mouth.  We can now just pour out a few in front of her and she'll happily keep herself occupied by feeding herself for a few minutes.

But on to her first time in the pool!  It looks like we have another Hill that is going to be a "fish" as a kid.  She absolutely loved being in the water!  Though it's much easier to just look a pictures and watch the video to see how much!!



And of course, everyone's favorite pic that shows her two brand new teeth so very well...


She had such a relaxing time!!

Of course, you get a really good idea of how much she enjoyed it if you take them time to watch this:





We also knew that she liked mirrors, but we didn't realize just how much until we got in the condo where mirrors are everywhere!  If she got the least bit fussy, all we had to do is start dancing and show her the mirror and she'd forget all about whatever was upsetting her!


Well, I have so much more to tell you (she actually is crawling now, among many other new things), but it's going to have to wait until my next post!  As always, I have lots more pictures on Maddison's page.  I'll be sure to post again next week to update you on all the new things going on for Maddison!

We have to thank her Uncle Matt & Aunt Tracy for the adorable outfits she had to wear the entire weekend.  Thanks you two!!


Maddison is also very close to becoming fully mobile.  She rolls very easily now, of course, but is just one final step away from beginning to crawl.  She gets up on all fours, rocks back and forth and will put one or the other hand out, move one knee.....then drop on her belly.  As soon as she figures out how to put the movements together, then we're in trouble!!

Her verbal communication is also showing signs of rapidly developing.  While she hasn't said any words yet (and I wouldn't expect it), she will answer verbal cues with either her own verbal cues or by doing an action.  One of our favorite games now is Michelle or I will ask her "Huh?" and she'll grin and answer back "Huh?"  We'll "talk" back and forth several times before she turns her interest elsewhere.  Other favorite games are:  "Clap-clap" where she'll clap her hand on yours if you put your hand out and say clap-clap, and "Pop" where if you pop your tongue off the roof of your mouth, she'll do the same and mimic you over and over.  It's little milestones, but you can see the wheels turning in her head that this all makes sense to her and that she understands what she is doing.

Maddison has also had her first experience with snow and sledding as we enjoyed part of a day outside in the backyard.  I'd tell you more about it, but it's so much easier if you just watch....

Maddison received many wonderful presents from everyone, and will be able to play with most of them very soon!  At this point, though, she's most content with the teething rings that Santa left in her stocking for her.

She is starting to figure out some of the toys already.  She's gotten pretty good at making Winnie the Pooh pop out of the peek-a-boo honey pot.

On Dec. 28, we left GA at o'dark early and scooted back home to PA in just under 14 hours.  If she was an angel on the way down, she was an absolutely perfect angel on the way back!  She slept for the first 4 hours of the trip, so we made it to NC before we stopped the first time.  We got home just before 7:00 at night and Maddison went right to sleep at her normal bedtime.  No troubles at all!

We did Christmas with Michelle's folks a couple days after getting home.  We had a great time there, and Maddison showed Gram and Pop Pop how well she could sit up and roll over and how high and loud she can squeal, er, sing!  She also got a few more things that she will be able to play and learn over the next year or two.  We can't wait to take pics of her interacting with everything that her family gave her.

We spent the New Year over at Toni's and watched PSU beat LSU in the mud.  It was her first time over there and we spent all day hanging out with friends, eating too much food and Maddison charmed everyone there!


We ended the holidays by introducing Maddison to her first solid foods.  Or...well....kinda solid anyway.  She took her first "bites" of rice cereal last week.  She's really taken to it, and in the last week has gone from not knowing what a spoon does to us not being able to shovel it in fast enough to keep her happy.  We're very close to some of the most precious (if not messy) memories we'll have as a family.  Here is Maddison sitting in her "big girl seat" for the first time.

The last day of break was spent doing absolutely nothing but hanging out and relaxing as much as possible.....

As always, many many more pics on Maddison's picture page.  I'll have another update with more on the first solid foods and a few deeper thoughts very soon!  See ya!