Loving School

Madeline's school is called ChildRoots Center for Young Children.  Children from 6 weeks to 6 years attend this center and we think it's a great environment for Maddy.  There are a total of 9 kids in her class, all within about 3 months in age of each other.  It's been fun watching the kids grow and learn new things together.  The teachers promote learning at one's own pace and they model good behavior for the children.  ChildRoots is an Arts and Science based learning environment and there are new "sensory experiences" for the children every day. They also try to go outside every day, rain or shine. 

The water tub is a big "sensory experience" hit with the kids. They love to splash around!

A stroller built for four

 

 

 

Modeling good behavior - learning to brush those little teeth

Krystal (Maddy's primary teacher) and Maddy with her water cup

The kids all eat at a table sized perfectly for them.

Maddy showing off her bottle holding skills

The new climbing structure (no wonder she learned how to climb our stairs so quickly!)

Nap time!  The children sleep on mats and are free to move about as they please.

May 2012

Mother's Day was March 13, 2012 and we celebrated at the Oregon Zoo. The zoo put on a nice Mother's Day brunch which we all enjoyed very much!

We became zoo members this year and we look forward to spending lots of time visiting the animals and attending concerts.

Springtime is here and the Farmers Markets have begun!  Steve, Madeline and I enjoy visiting our neighborhood Farmer's Market where we can listen to music, buy fresh fruits and veggies and visit the local vendors.  Hopefully the milk booth will be back this summer - they have the best chocolate milk ever.

I have planted our garden in the back and it includes: Cherokee Purple tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, zucchini, cucumber, spinach and yellow peppers.  Our blueberry bushes are looking good - hopefully we'll get more than a handful of berries this year.  It's been raining a lot, which means I haven't had to water at all (trying to find the bright side of all this rain).

Madeline is 13 months old now!  On May 2, 2012 her first tooth came in (bottom right)! She's grown so much and is now more a little girl than a baby...funny how that happens all of a sudden (or so it seems).  She loves to make me and Steve laugh.  She still does her move where she holds out her fists and cocks her head to the side and vibrates - we used to call it her "Pterodactyl" move but now it's silent so we renamed it "Beavis".  (Those of you who watched "Beavis and Butthead" back in the day should understand.)  We're still trying to get a good video of this, but if we do I'll be sure to post it!

Madeline's First Birthday and Party

On Wednesday, April 25, 2012, Steve and I took the day off to celebrate Madeline's birthday with her.  We decided to go to the Portland Children's museum which was a lot of fun.  They have a special room for their littlest guests and Maddy loved it!  We had a wonderful day together.

On Saturday, April 28th we celebrated Madeline's 1st Birthday with a party.  The theme: "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," chosen because Maddy's favorite toy (by far) during her first year was a wooden caterpillar toy given to her by Uncle Joel, Aunt Silver and cousin Anali when they came to visit for Thanksgiving. My sister Mila came to visit and help with the party - which was wonderful!  Mila helped me make the Very Hungry Caterpillar Cupcake/Cake which turned out pretty cute.

 
 Lots of our friends came to the party, and luckily the weather was nice so we could hang out outside.  The kids played with sidewalk chalk and bubbles and a good time was had by all. 

Madeline had her first taste of sugar - the head of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Cupcake/Cake was all hers to devour! She didn't eat much of the cake, but she sure liked the frosting!  After that, Steve took her straight upstairs for a much-needed bath.


  
 It was a great day, and a fun party.  Happy first birthday to my amazing daughter, Madeline.  I love you so much and you make me smile every day.

A Year in the Life

Happy First Birthday to Madeline!

What better birthday gift than to begin the Madeline Rose blog?  I've kept a journal for Madeline's first year which provides much more detail, but we'll take a moment now to give some highlights.

Welcome, Madeline! Born April 25, 2011 
6 lbs, 2 oz and 20 inches long

• Feeling very protective because Maddy was so tiny
• Learning about each other  
• Lots of time nursing 
• Sleeping on my/Steve's chest
• Tiny little cries
• Grandmom and Grandpa Sebastian visiting and helping out A LOT - with first bath, tummy time, helping out around the house (and lots of great cooking!)
• Lifting head up while on tummy
• Starting to focus/track movement
• Coos, grunts and squeaks
• Using the baby sling 
• Using cloth diapers (except at night or when out and about) 
• Maddy sleeping in a co-sleeper attached to our bed
• Reading books
• Changing station downstairs (pack and play)

May 25, 2011 - 1 month old

• First bottle (given by Steve)
• New Mom's Group at Providence Hospital (good place to learn from a nurse and other moms!)
• Learning the 5 S's (Shushing, Swinging, Swaddling, Side-Laying and Sucking) from The Happiest Baby on the Block (this works!!  Steve is really good at "shushing")
• First smile
• Mom/baby yoga classes (Maddy and I enjoyed this time out of the house together)
• Aunt Mila visiting (with a great photo shoot!)
• First time to the Rose City Festival/City Fair
• Uncle Jeff and Uncle Tom visiting, trip to Hood River
• First babysitter (Christy) so Steve, Jeff, Tom and I could go to the Timbers/Red Bulls Soccer game
• Lots of babbling
• Head control improving
• Fussy at night - starting at about 5 pm.  Generally good-natured otherwise!
• Going out to restaurants (Maddy sleeping through it!)

June 25, 2011 - 2 months old

• Lots of vaccinations - the wide mouthed silence building up to a  big scream (but nursing had a great calming effect)
• Head control improving
• "Bum Lip" when about to cry
• My return to work and Steve takes off 2 weeks to stay with Maddy
• Favorite toy: "Mr. Whoozit"
• Melissa taking care of Maddy for 2 weeks (we had three friends that had time off in the summer watch Maddy until "school started in September)
• First Play Date with moms/babies we met at the Providence New Mom's Group 

July 25, 2011 - 3 months old

• Christy taking care of Maddy for two weeks (long naps!)
• Watching "The King's Speech" at Laurelhurst Park one night - Movies in the Park event
• Finding hands
• Full of smiles on the changing table - lots of coos
• Whirlwind trip to Minnesota to meet ALL the cousins (Sebastian and Faust side - including brand new twin cousins!), visit Bayfield to see Great Grandma Shirley and the Bayfield family
• Great traveler on planes!
• First time having formula (freezer broke and we lost all my frozen breast milk)
• Happy Hippo time (Hippo playland)
• "Fake" sneezes (2 sneezes then a big sigh - very cute!)
• Mandy taking care of Maddy for two weeks
• Grandma and Grandpa Faust visiting and taking care of Maddy for 3 weeks while Steve and I worked
• Steve and my first time away from Maddy to attend Eric and Melissa's wedding (Mike and Jan watching Maddy while we were gone)

August 25, 2011 - 4 months old

• Mike and Jan cooking a lot (grilling) and trip to the coast (Depoe Bay) and renting a house for the weekend; first trip to the ocean
•  Fussy at night (lots of use of the 5 S's)
• Using the Baby Bjorn
• Finding her tongue and making funny faces
• Practicing rolling over
• First laugh (cleaning her neck must tickle!)
• Favorite toys: "Mr. Whoozit" and "Mr. Monk" the monkey toy that jiggles
• Sleeping though the night consistently
• Starting "school" at ChildRoots (teacher = Krystal)
• Getting into the school routine (Steve drops Maddy off, I pick her up and walk home with her in the Baby Bjorn) - ChildRoots is 11 blocks from our house
• Lots of drooling
• Staring at her hands
• First class photo
• Me learning that complicated dinners are hard to make unless both Steve and I are home (how do single parents do it??)

September 25, 2011 - 5 months old

• Sleeping in crib instead of co-sleeper (Maddy's big move into her own room!)
•  Bonding with her teacher Krystal at school and first Fire Drill (the teachers put on "Baby Smocks" with big pouches - 2 babies in front and 2 in back!!)
• Finding her feet
• Pterodactyl noise
• Steve tickling Maddy to make her laugh (not too many laughs yet)
• Maddy playing in the "activity seat"
• Still swaddling before sleep
• Lifting up while on her tummy and "falling" over onto her back - rolling over! (not from back to tummy yet though)
• First fever/first time thinking Maddy was teething (wrong)
• Lots of babbling
• Laughing at random things 
• First time using the nasal aspirator

October 25, 2011 - 6 months old

• Baby sign language class
• First Halloween (Costume = Owl!)
• Starting solids (rice cereal didn't go well, but oatmeal did!)
•  Starting to sit for short periods  (but can't get into sitting position on her own)
• Eating sweet potatoes (we made all the baby food for Maddy)
• Morning and afternoon naps - bedtime 7:30
• Uncle Joel, Aunt Silver and cousin Anali visiting for Thanksgiving and Maddy playing with Anali's hair and loving it (maybe jealous because she doesn't have hair)!
• First trip to the Children's museum
• Uncle Joel, Aunt Silver and Anali giving Madeline "Clicker Clacker" caterpiller toy - which became her favorite toy 
• Moving objects from one hand to the other

November 25, 2011 - 7 months old

• First Parent/Teacher meeting for me and Steve
• Drinking from a glass
• Rolling over from back to tummy
• Cutting back on my annual Cookie Party (but it was lots of fun making it more kid-focused this year - having the kids decorate cookies)
• Trip to Minnesota for Christmas
• Kicking legs and really happy when she knows she's going to be picked up
• Hugging 
• Crying at bedtime (learning to let you get yourself to sleep) - not easy!
• First time really sick - with pneumonia - while in Minnesota (Steve sick too!)
• First time seeing snow 
• Seeing lots of friends/family in Minnesota/Wisconsin

December 25, 2011 - 8 months old

• First Christmas!
• Trip to the Emergency Room in Minnesota (febrile seizures due to high fever - she was okay, but scared me and Steve a lot)
• While sick, Maddy was very needy, only wanting me or Steve
• Lots of sicknesses between me, Steve and Maddy (we were warned this would happen Maddy's first year in childcare - it proved true!)
• Overcoming stranger danger (once she felt better!)
• Lots of rolling to move around
• Sitting for periods of time (but still can't get into sitting position)
• Favorite toys: Clicker Clacker and Snowman (lights up/changes colors)

January 25, 2012 - 9 months old

• Generally happy, personality starting to show more
• Independent play, entertaining herself - only crying when she needs something
• Babbling (da da da, ma ma ma)
• Play dates with friends
• "Swimming" (army crawl while on tummy - kicking legs, rocking from side to side and reaching forward one arm at a time - it looked like she was swimming on land!)
• Standing for a short period of time while we hold her arms
• Bath time - loves rubber ducky, cup and plastic keys in the bath (sometimes Steve or I take a bath with Maddy - she loves this!)
• Trying more pureed foods
• Sitting for the first time (getting into sitting position)

February 25, 2012 - 10 months old

•  Pterodactyl noises
•  Dancing while sitting (tummy bounce)
• Clapping with open hands
• First time bit by a friend at school (nothing major but did cause a nice bruise!)
• "Singing" - la la la la la la la
• Crawling (and the baby-proofing begins in earnest - and we wonder why we waited so long to get this done?)
• Independent play

March 25, 2012 - 11 months old

• Crawling - faster now
• Blowing kisses (The first few times she did this, Steve and I weren't sure what she was doing but then her teacher told us they taught her to blow kisses - priceless!!)
• Waving hello and goodbye
• Kissing us (and friends!)
• Mimicking us
• Sneezes that end in raspberries
• Pulling to standing
• New dance: full body twist (while sitting) side to side (including head) - nearly falling over
• "Vibrating" - arms out straight with balled fists - body shakes (vibrates) with head cocked, then a big smile.  She does this to make us laugh!
• Peek-a-boo on the couch (Maddy stands on the couch, looking over the back of the couch while Steve or I hide behind it, popping up in different spots saying "peek-a-boo!"  Maddy LOVES this game and squeals with laughter!)
• Turning pages in her book Night-Night Sleepyhead
• Starting to eat more solid foods (small pieces or mushy foods)
• Signing for "all done", "milk", "more", "eat"