Carrots....blech!

I keep experimenting with solids for Madi. We've yet to find anything besides toast this kid actually enjoys. If she had it her way, I think she'd just nurse forever. We've been trying out carrots recently, but her face pretty much says it all. Guess we'll just keep trying!

Isabella, Thanks For Coming to Play :)

Natalie and Isabella stopped by for a little bit this afternoon. The girls are now just about the same size! I always love watching them interact together. It's so neat to watch them grow side by side. Here are some pictures from our playdate :)





Before Isabella came to play, Madilyn was playing on the floor with her toys. She is sitting up better and better every day. She played this way for quite a while! (Pardon her silly outfit, she's in part of her Halloween costume).

Yummy Toast!

In an effort to get Madilyn interested in food, I bought some Zwieback Toasts and decided to let her explore it while we ate dinner. To my surprise, she loved it! I think it felt really good on her gums. Those two top teeth look like they may break through any day now, and I bet chomping on the toat was soothing. I think she got most of it everywhere BUT her mouth, but thats okay. I'm just glad she was interested in something!!! Here are a few pics (I know thats what most of you are waiting for anyways, lol). Enjoy :)

A new seat for our princess

As you can see, Madilyn has outgrown her infant bathtub.


We ordered her a new bath ring and just had to try it out when it arrived! She's having a great time taking baths like a big girl now :)



(In case any of you want a seat of your own, they can be found here)

We Made Butternut Squash!

I've been meaning to start making Madilyn's baby food myself, but just didn't get around to it until now. I know the stage one jars are only made of the fruit or veggie and water, but have you seen some of the stuff they start adding to the stage two foods? Yuck! So, I started with butternut squash. So far she's not real excited, but hopefully she'll get better about it as we keep trying.

I baked the squash at 400 degrees for a little over an hour to make sure they were nice and tender.

I then scooped out the insides and put it into the food processor. I mixed the squash with some breastmilk to make it a little sweeter (in hopes she's take to the flavor). Then I pureed it for 3-4 minutes.

Afterwards, I filled ice cube trays with the squash, and froze it for about 4 hours. Two cubes make the equivalent of one jar of stage one foods.

Once everything was frozen solid, I took the cubes out and placed them in separate containers and put them back int the freezer. Now when we're ready for a meal, all we have to do is defrost.........voila! Homemade baby food!

Next I think I'll do avocados. After that, maybe some green beans.

Six Months

Madilyn turned 6 months on Sunday! We had her check up today, and it didn't go as well as I had hoped.

For those of you who may not know, Madilyn is having trouble with solid foods. Each time she has cereal, she gets ill a few hours later and proceeds to vomit profusely. Like, until she's dry heaving and gets lethargic. A few hours after that, she's okay again. I've even tried spacing out her solids to see what is causing it. We still don't know.

The doctor didn't seem too concerned about all of this, and encouraged us to try other solids and see if she has the same reaction. He wanted her to be up to 4-5 tablespoons of veggies 2x a day and 4-5 tablespoons of fruits 2x a day. If she doesn't tolerate these foods either, then they will refer her to a pediatric stomach specialist for further testing.

Too add insult to injury, she is still 26 inches (as she was at 5 months) and has gained less than an ounce in the past 20 days. I feel like I'm failing my child. She's been nursing practically around the clock like a newborn, and still no growth! She's even been up at least 4x a night for weeks now. The doctor says she should be able to go all night without eating and still grow. He said if she can't, then there's something wrong. He kept insisting that she can sleep through the night at this point. Ugh, it's all so frustrating....

Madilyn loves new toys :)

While we were home, my mom's friend Melody stopped by with a new toy for Miss Madilyn. Looks like she's enjoying it!!!



Thank you Melody!!!!

Matt's grandmother also gave Madilyn a new toy phone! I'll try to get some pictures of her with it when I can :)

Dog Days 2008

This past weekend was "Dog Days of Summer" here at the base pool. Right before closing the pool for winter, they let all the families bring their dogs down for some fun. They even have a retrieval contest and some dogs jump off the high dive. Since Duke is so crazy about the water, we brought him back again this year. Here are a few pictures from our outing.

We're back

On Tuesday we had a chance to see Madilyn's Great-Grandma and Grandpa (Sandy's parents), Aunt Tracy and Aunt Wendy.

Great-Grandpa, Madilyn, and Tracy

Great-Grandma

Mommy, Grandma Sandy, Madilyn, Great-Grandma, Wendy, Great-Grandpa, and Tracy

On Tuesday afternoon, Melody stopped by. She and my mom have been friends for many years. I'm so glad you finally got to meet Madilyn!

Madilyn and I got back Wednesday afternoon. We had a great flight home. The plane was next to empty, so we got our own row! Here's a little picture of Madilyn enjoying one of her books on the flight!



It was wonderful to see you all! We'll be back again soon:)

Disneyland!

Thursday afternoon Madilyn and Mommy began our trip to Disneyland. We flew from Oklahoma City to Phoenix, getting in around 11pm. The next morning we flew to Ontario, where Grammy was waiting to pick us up! What an adventure it was. She was quite the trooper and really seemed to enjoy taking everything in!

Madilyn's first Minnie ears :)

First Carousel Ride

Aunt Brianna

Grammy & Madilyn

Waiting for the others to get off Indiana Jones

Minnie Mouse!

The evil queen from Snow White. She really got into character!

I was so excited to be able to see Heather this weekend as well. Living so far apart makes it tough for us to get together, but we made it happen! (What a better place than the happiest place on earth?!?!?)
Before heading back to Phoenix, we had brunch with Madilyns Great-Aunt Kathleen, Great-Uncle John, and Kathleens mom Allwyn.

From left to right: Grammy, Brianna, Marco (Brianna's boyfriend), Kathleen, John, Bum Bum, Cole, Madilyn, and Mandi.

This afternoon we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Merritt's home to say hello!