Madilyns First Playgroup

A small group of girls around here have started a new playgroup for all these little babies in Altus (there are lots of them)! Today, Madi and I went with my neighbor, Natalie, and her daughter, Isabella. We had a great time and look forward to doing it again soon :)

Here are a few pictures from today's affairs.

Madilyn loved this little bumbo chair! I really need to find one for her!

Fun in the bath tonight

Toys!

Madilyn and I had a great afternoon playing with some of her toys. She just adores her little gloworm... always smiling and squealing at it!

She's giving me the eye for taking her picture after her nap this afternoon:

She's looking at herself in the mirror on the underside of this musical fish:

She gets so excited over this little thing. The smiles and squeals are so cute!!!

Rolling from back to belly and back again

Madilyn Swings

Madilyn is starting to play with her toys now, and we recently put the toys back on her swing. Here's a short video clip of her:

Just a quick note for now

Things are very busy here in the Merritt house. I feel like my weeks are really flying by now that I'm back at work. Madilyn is growing too quickly, and sometimes we just wish she'd stay this age for a little longer. We're having so much fun watching her interact and play with us more and more each day. This week she has found her thumb, which is now replacing her pacifier about 50% of the time. While I'm happy she's learning how to soothe herself, I have a feeling it will be much tougher to break a child of thumb sucking than of pacifiers down the road!

Matt and Madilyn have also started to figure out their own routine while I'm away and he is happy to report the weekends are starting to flow much better. That first night alone was a challenge for both of them!

Here are a few pictures before I head out to work again. Enjoy!

She's gettin' chubby!

I found my thumb!!!

The Weekend and More

Well, the weekend is over, and I can't believe it's Tuesday again so soon! What a crazy weekend I had at work...

Friday night was off to a start with a male who was an alcoholic and drug addict. He was just released from prison, and was VERY confused. I'll spare you the details, but he was a very messy and hard to control guy. I did see him early yesterday morning however, and he was starting to look a little better. Anyway, after three nights of being up all night and getting minimal sleep at home during the day, I think I'm still exhausted. Madilyn and I went back to bed this morning and I slept until just after noon. She's still sleeping. Did I ever mention what a wonderful baby we have?!?!?

Yesterday evening Grandpa Don drove the suburban out here from Phoenix. He is taking the motorcycle back out there in hopes that we can get it sold! He made it in just in time for dinner, and even a little bit of playtime before Madilyn went to bed. He looked a little bit nervous as he took off this morning (I think we were all a little nervous), but shortly after leaving he sent the message "all good"......we hope so! We look forward to confirmation of his safe arrival back in Phoenix.

Madilyn had a rough day, and she was telling Grandpa about it

You think the jacket is to small for the trip???

This morning before breakfast

Matt and his dad just before he left. (Don is wearing to right-handed gloves)

Double thumbs up!

Thanks for everything! We loved having you, even though we wish you could have stayed longer!

Madi had a Play Date!

For those of you who don't know, my girlfriend Natalie who lives across the street from me also has a baby girl. She was born just two months after Madi. Today Natalie and I got together for lunch and some adult conversation and the girls were able to really meet each other for the first time. It was so cute the way Isabella kept eying Madilyn. She was so curious!

Here are a couple of pictures Natalie was able to get while we were there:





PS- Natalie, thanks for the pictures and lunch, Madilyn and I had a great time!

She's All Smiles!

Then and Now

Just for fun, I thought I would take a comparison shot to show you how our little girl has grown since she was born. This picture was taken the day she was born, along next to the outfit her Grandpa Hanson bought for her. It was supposed to be her "going home" outfit. As you can see, it was WAY to big for her!


Below, is the same outfit that was too big, and next to her is the outfit she was wearing (which was also still big on her) when she came home. She's growing so much!

Pictures...

and thats all!