Happy 18 Months!

On 9/12/09 Maddie turned 18 months old, and is therefore officially closer to being 2 years old rather than one. We went in for her 18 month check up and here are the latest stats:

Height: 2 feet 9.25 inches (90%)
Weight: 27 lbs, 1 oz (84%)
Head Circumference: 19.25 inches (96%)

So basically Maddie is still topping out the charts in terms of growth. The doctor was also very complimentary of Maddie's development, especially verbal and creative. She got a completely clean bill of health! Next appt is at 2 years of age.

I thought she looked like such a big girl in the gown. She was drawing with crayons on the exam table paper. Also she didn't really even cry when she got her shots!

Photo Update of September

It has been a while since we have updated the blog...sorry for that. We have been busy updating our latest happenings on Facebook. If you are looking for more updates, pictures, and video we would encourage you to join Facebook and "befriend" us. We have pictures and updates on there on a near daily basis. However, here are LOTS of photos from last week. I was on vacation, we had a wedding to go to, Justin and his fiance Sam were here from New York, and we went to the coast. Add all that with the fact that the three of us fought illnesses of all sorts for a week (or more), we were quite busy. Enjoy!
.


We spent last Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at the coast. Wednesday was an awful day for weather...colder and rainy...so we were a little more low key than we had planned. We decided to visit a dairy farm....

Mommy and Maddie posing.

This is at the Tillamook factory...

Maddie enjoying the petting zoo....

Megan, um, not so much....

We wanted to go on a hike, but the weather thwarted that. This is the Octopus tree near Cape Meares.

Taking a little break on our little hike...

This is an out-of-commission lighthouse that was kind of cool...

Tuesday was a beautiful day at the beach...too bad it was our shortest day there.

Maddie and I after a dip in the ocean....

Grammy was not afraid of the water either....

As you all know, Maddie LOVES the water. Hello Hawaii in less than 2 months!

Three generations....

Eating wild blackberries at Ecola State Park...

Sightseeing at Ecola State Park....Maddie already wanted to go swimming at this point...

Aunt Sam and Uncle Justin...

Too bad Maddie is not looking at the camera in this pic...

Did I mention it was a beautiful day?

We don't really have any pictures from Thursday, even though it was an even better day. This was partially due to the fact that I woke up really, really sick on Thursday. I was aching all over and puking all day. Yuk! I hear that everyone played in the sand and water some more and relaxed by reading and playing games. I slept all day and missed out on most the festivities.

.

On Labor Day weekend Megan's cousin James got married at his parents' property in Springdale (outside Troutdale). It was a large wedding! Maddie stayed home with our neighbors and she did a great job with them. The day after the wedding there was a lunch out there and we got to take Maddie to that.

This is Maddie with her cousin Emma playing an old pick-up.

And here she is with Ethan, Emma's little brother...

We were excited to see O'Pa and O'Ma at the wedding....

Almost as excited as seeing them out on the dance floor!!!

James and his Megan - They are way too cute of a couple!

.

Of course, it is football season and we have had our ups and downs so far. Maddie did not go to the first home game as she stayed with Papa Randy, Robyn, and Jackson and she did great. We are debating taking her to next week's home game. We want to show her off, but also worry about keeping her entertained for 4+ hours.

I have saved the worst for last..... Maddie had a rough start to the month with a couple separate headers that caused some boo-boos on her head. The first was when she tried to get out of the stroller herself and fell head first onto the asphalt! Ouch! The second was when she faked Megan out and went head first off the play bridge on the playground at the park. Please do not turn us into child services....we promise we were trying to prevent these from happening! But, the pictures speak for themselves....

She is all better now, though. Thankfully she is a quick healer!

Updates

I know this is Maddie's website, but let me indulge in a quick personal brag. Last weekend I participated in the Portland to Coast race, which is a 127 mile relay walk. I was very nervous going into it, not knowing what to expect, and not really knowing anybody on my team. Of course I ended up having a fabulous time. And, our team did really well. It took us just over 28 hours to complete the race. I did a 5.75 mile leg and a 4.09 mile leg, averaging just over 11 minutes per mile. Maddie stayed back in Portland, spending one day with my dad and Robyn, and the other day with Tony. It was super tough to be away from her for so long, but it was good to do something for myself, and I have a huge sense of strength and accomplishment. Thanks to all who supported me!

Our team name was "Big Daddy and the Streetwalkers" We had 11 women and one man on our team. My nickname was "Mama Fox."
Here is my team (minus the person who is walking)

This is the start of my first leg. It rained on my leg, and off an on throughout the night. We got about an hour sleep in the van. By the time we got to the coast we were exhausted, but adrenaline works wonders!

Ok, now back to Maddie. I would say the main update is the explosion of her verbal skills. She is now repeating everything you say. She can even put two words together like "bye bye dada" or "go ducks!" Her new words are: walk, Elmo, oval, but (button), Maddie, burp, scuze (excuse me), wuv u (love you), Tyou (thank you), wat (water), and o'pa. She also now signs poop and diaper change. Notice the fascination with bodily functions already!! She knows where her "pee pee" is and has asked to sit on the toilet, so we bought her a potty chair.

She is so proud to sit on her Elmo potty!

Enjoying the last days of summer!

Doesn't Daddy look pretty in Maddie's bikini?

Daddy will have extra time for lounging around in his swim attire this week as he is on VACATION from both WORK and SCHOOL!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have some family activities planned as Justin and Sam are coming to town, but we will also take some much needed down time.

Got Milk?

This is what happens when Maddie drinks from Daddy's milk glass....

She starts out all nice, letting Daddy helpThen a little milk dribbles down her chin...no problem yet....

Then she grabs the glass, wants to do it herself, and.....

They are both covered in milk! More laundry for Mommy to wash!