Catching Up

So much has happened in the last few weeks and it's just been so busy that I haven't had time to update about any of it. First, Maddy has learned to sit up by herself. Yeah! She became semi-proficient at this a few days before Christmas and, after what seemed like overnight, was suddenly sitting extremely steady. She can reach for things way in front of her or to the side and get herself back to a regular sitting position. My parents were gone for a few days and couldn't believe the progress she had made. Now we can sit her up in the middle of the floor and walk away for a second if necessary and not worry about her tipping over.


Also right before Christmas, Maddy turned 5 months old. Holy cow! Where has the time gone? In a very short time, she will be half a year old. Half a year! That's almost one whole year! In honor of turning 5 months old, Maddy got to try peas for the first time. Try telling a 5 month old that those are yummy. Doesn't work. She would make the most horrible faces with each bite. We've also been continuing to give her baby oatmeal. She has days when this is okay to her, but most of the time she's not interested. Solid food is just not her thing. A few days later we also tried green beans. This went even worse than the peas. She'll look at me and smile real pretty when I say "num, num, num" or "say ahhh" and then she'll close her mouth as tight as can be.

Really, though? I don't blame her. Luke and I don't like peas or green beans either. :)

Also in honor of turning 5 months old, Maddy got a cold. She had one when she was about 5 or 6 weeks old, but it was very mild. This cold was kicking her butt. She was miserable. She couldn't breathe and it was horrible for her to be laid down to sleep at night or take a nap during the day. Poor kid. It was so bad that we had to put a pillow under one end of her mattress in order to raise it up a bit. At least that helped. That and a pile of Vicks on her chest. She's finally starting to feel better, though she has moments where it's breaking up and she needs to cough, but she hasn't quite figured out that that action will help her feel better.

And that brings me to Maddy's first Christmas. Christmas was always fun, but it's even better with a baby in the house. It has been so fun to have Maddy and our newest nephew participate in the festivities. They had no idea what was going on, but the paper sure tasted good. The best was the moment they both tried to get each other's presents. Of course the present my nephew was trying to get was a pair of very cute, very pink shoes that Maddy had gotten from her aunt. I love how that sort of action causes his parents to cringe. It just makes me laugh every time!

We had a great Christmas though. Maddy was extremely spoiled (as were the rest of us.) So far the winning present has to be a set of bongo drums that play music (see the first picture above). Maddy loves pressing them and making the music go. The best part is that they also turn so that they're end to end and she can reach for them and push them and they'll roll. They're highly motivating as she works on her next accomplishment: crawling. Hopefully we'll have some great news to share about that soon!

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve! Ours was fantastic. We called it an early night after dinner and some time hanging out with friends. We were in bed by 10:30. Luke had to be at work by 5am. Boo! Here's to hoping that next year we can make it to midnight!