Maddie in the Backyard!

Maddie finally got to see the wonder which is her backyard, and all the wonderful toys that her brother has collected to share with her as she gets bigger. We spent as many afternoons as we could outside, basking in the sunlight, and playing in the grass.

Maddie fell in love with the swing right off the bat. She loved being pushed back and forth, and feeling the breeze on her face.

She also loved being able to swing with her big brother, who is learning how to swing on the big kid swings this summer! Of course she got to spend some time, rolling around in the grass as well. We had quite the fun adventure outside!

Of course all of her fun, made her SO sleepy!

Four Month Updates

Well... It's been a while, I know! Maddie has hit her 4 month mark, and she's doing wonderful. She is now laughing up a storm, which is great! She can roll over (though she's only officially done it 5 times), and could you believe it? She is already pushing her back legs up underneath her and pushing herself forward. She's a lot more active than her brother was, that's for sure. She also, hates laying down (unless she's sleeping) so every time she is laid down, she immediately tries to sit up. So pretty soon, I'm sure she'll be sitting on her own. She's very strong, and has such a wonderful personality. She's talking a lot, and spending a lot of time in her exersaucer or laying on the floor with her toy mats.

Ethan is starting to show his few bouts of jealousy with her, though nothing horrible. He's just regressing in his potty training, so we're taking a step back and giving him some time. He's also decided that he will not sleep in his own room, since the baby does not have to sleep in her own room. So every night, at about 2 am, I'll wake to Ethan at the foot of our bed, after he's come in quietly, and trying as hard as possible to not be noticed. But if that is the worse of the issues we have to deal with, than I am okay with that.

So on to stats - - Maddie now weighs in at 12.6 pounds, and is an even 24 inches long. She's fallen to the 25th percentile in both height and weight (which surprised me because she's been chunking up like crazy!). Her head size remains in the 75th percentile (the one trait that she follows in with her brother!). She's started rice cereal, and soon, we'll be introducing fruits, veggies, and juices. She's growing so fast. I'm so thankful to get to be home with her through all these wonderful steps. I always regretted that I wasn't able to be there for Ethan when he was going through them.

Here's her most recent picture! - - SO CUTE!

My First Valentine's Day!

Maddie's 1st Valentine's Day!

I know this is over a week late, but I thought I'd share my little Valentine! Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Maddie and Ethan spent the evening with grandma and grandpa Christopherson, while mom and dad got a much needed break with dinner at the Outback Steak House, and take home cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory! yuuuum!!!

Please note the most CUTEST Valentine's Day outfit ever! The bib is not part of it, however, it speaks volumes about her!

2 Month Updates

Well, it's finally happened. Maddie has hit 10 pounds 4 oz, and 23 inches long. What's even more crazy to think about, is those were my stats when I was born! I cannot believe one, just how big I was when I was born! Seeing it in ACTUALITY! But also, just how much she's changed even in just a month. She's in the 50th percentile for weight, and the 75th percentile for height. Which makes her just perfect in my book! haha....

We've been having a lot of fun with her over the past month. Aside from the day to day of going here and there, taking small trips, and just having fun, she's developed quite the interest in more interactive games with mom and dad. She LOVES peek a boo with mom and dad, but really loves it when Ethan gets involved. She looks at him with the biggest smiles in appreciation of her time with him. She also loves tickle time with dad. In all reality, she's developed quite the infatuation with her dad, and prefers to be held by him over mom. But I just chalk it up to the fact that she sees me all day! At least that's what I'm telling myself! But she's really developed quite the amazing personality, and has the most infectious and beautiful smile ever! It's exactly equal to her big brother's! I'm so glad that they are developing quite a wonderful relationship, and we look forward to this summer when we can get her outside in the sunshine, and playing! We'll of course have lots of big projects to accomplish, but we're excited to have her here to help get us through them!

Here are some photos of her up to date! Enjoy!

Updates!

Well - - Maddie had her 6 week appointment (what with the snow storm making it impossible for us to get her in at a month) and things are looking SO good. For one, I just feel blessed because the Nurse Practitioner who has been seeing her could not stop gushing over how pretty and beautiful she thinks baby Maddie is. But on top of that, she's finally putting on some good weight. She weighed in at an amazing 9 pounds even, and is lengthening at 22 inches even as well. She doesn't like in-betweens I guess! They say she is exactly where she should be, in the 50th percentile for weight, and the 75th percentile for height. So that's amazingly great!

It's funny to think about how just last week we couldn't stop talking about how small and tiny she is, and then all of the sudden, with one doctor appointment, she's so big now! She's getting to be so chubby, and moving in to her clothes nicely! Hopefully she keeps growing at this pace though, so we don't miss any opportunities for outfits! Which I'm sure is out of our control.

She's talking up a storm lately, responding with more and more smiles, and is so much fun. Ethan is doing more and more great every week with her too. Just the other night he came up to me when I was holding Maddie saying, "I want to give Maddie kisses" - - and just kept giving her more and more kisses. And since his new fun treat is saying goodnight to everyone individually, he would go, "goodnight dad", and Allan would respond, then "goodnight mom" to which I would respond, and then finally, "goodnight baby Maddie" - - and no response, then about five more good nights before we'd say goodnight on her behalf. It's really cute! We love love love our little babes... They're just a lot of fun for us...

We'll keep you up to date as things progress, with stories and pictures!

Baby's First Christmas

Well it was an absolutely WONDERFUL 1st Christmas for Maddie! We had our worst snow storm in 40 years, so her first started out indeed as a white Christmas. We jam packed our week, with lots of last minute shopping, and some fun festive events. We made cookies with Grandpa Doug and Aunt Angie on Monday before, and headed out and about in the horrible driving conditions to get everything ready for her first BIG holiday!

Christmas Eve was spent with both sides of the family, in our grandest of traditions! We ate amazing prime rib with the Christopherson's, and it was top notch as always. In addition to the amazing piece of meat, we had lefsa, which is and will always be my favorite holiday tradition. I hope to be able to have Ethan and Maddie share in it as they get older! We opened gifts, and had a wonderful time! Maddie got some cute outfits, and some small toys! It really was a lot of fun, but honestly, what can you get a 1.5 month old for Christmas? It's tough shopping! haha...

Then we headed over to the Porter's for late night gift opening, in it's finest tradition. We attempted secret Santa's on both sides, and have come to the conclusion that we'd rather go back to the way things were. Ethan and Maddie definitely made out like a bandit.

Sadly, Ethan hasn't taken too much of an interest in Santa yet, so my attempts were futile when it came to putting out cookies, and having gifts left under the tree. Hopefully next year he'll be more cooperative.

Maddie sure was loving her stocking gift opening from mom and dad! We bought her mostly rattles and noise making toys, which oddly enough we never really had for Ethan. It was fun to see her face in reaction to the noises and sights as we opened them. Here's some fun moments of Christmas morning at the Porter household!

I just love the new expressions Maddie is starting to make. Of course she'll still giving us good smiles, and she's starting to talk here and there, finding her voice. It really was an awesome Christmas this year. Our first family Christmas!

Well in the excitement of the Christmas season, we've started to notice our littlest of little loves doing a first! SMILES! And let me tell you, it is by far the cutest smile I have ever seen in my life, well okay, I lied, it's exactly tied with how cute her brother's smile is. But it is so precious to see her little face just light up. We've found her "smile spots" on her face, where we can tickle her to get a good reaction. It's actually quite precious.

Along with noticing how wonderful her smiles are, we've also been having fun just playing around and taking pictures of her. Daddy especially takes great interest in loving on his baby girl!









I do so adore the family that we've created. We just feel complete! Not that we didn't when Ethan was born, but things just fit, and feel right now! Our wonderful family of four!


The three greatest loves of my life!






and of course, what fun is it being a mom, if you can't play dress up with your daughter! My aunt Monica bought this wonderfully cute little hat for Maddie, and thank goodness, because we have the most perfect season for it. When I put it on her, I couldn't help but laugh, and tear up with joy because of how stinking cute she was in it. It's one of the most amazingly cutest things I've seen on her. So I took some photos, and wanted to share them with you! Enjoy!



and of course she loves it too!










We're just excited as she becomes more alert these days, waking up longer, and spending time looking around. She's so strong, her grip, her neck, just very interested in figuring things out. We're having so much fun going through all of this again!