13 Months

Maddox is almost 13 months old so I thought I'd provide an update on what's going on in his world these days.

He's been walking since about 11 1/2 months and has decided to RUN from now on. He thinks it's hilarious when we chase him around the house!

He's saying 12 words/phrases and signing a few too. He's saying mama, dada, no no, ball (his fave), more, milk, all done, shoes, Coco, hey, bye, and nose. He can sign milk, more, and all done and waves every time he says hey or bye. At his last appointment, the pediatrician seemed pretty impressed with his vocabulary (obviously he's a genius! haha).

He's such a copycat at this age and likes to try to put on his own shoes and brush his own hair. He also has a fascination with phones and loves putting them up to his ear for a 'conversation' (which sounds like babbling to us but OBVIOUSLY he knows what he's talking about!).

We're down to one nap each day (about 1.5 hours at lunchtime) and he's officially transitioning out of the older infants room and into the young toddlers room the week after Thanksgiving. It's insane to think that this will be his third classroom (my how time flies!) and in the new one, they sit at tables for meals/snacks instead of in highchairs and they sleep on mats instead of in cribs (now THAT should be interesting).

Here's a picture from Halloween. We had a great time trick-or-treating and he was the cutest little dino on the block!

First Birthday Pictures

Here are a few pictures from Maddox's birthday. More can be viewed by clicking on "Maddox's Birthday Pictures" under the Links section to the right.

Maddox's first birthday video (turn on your volume)

Sundays

Sundays are, by far, our favorite day of the week! It's a rainy and cool Sunday today but that hasn't stopped us from having a great day so far.

Here's what our morning has looked like...
-Breakfast (and coffee!)
-A trip to the park with Maddox & Coco for a long walk and some swinging (and lots of giggles)
-Quick trip to Target to get supplies to make a ballpit for Maddox...gotta keep him entertained on these rainy days!
-Moe's takeout for lunch
-Naptime for Maddox while I work on birthday party surprises & Brandon watches football
-Tonight we're cooking Grandma Sally's delicious beef stew for dinner

Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!

GO PANTHERS & STEELERS!!!

New Pictures

11 Months

Maddox is turning 11 months old this week! This summer has been so much fun, we've been able to take a week-long beach trip with my (Crystal's) family and also were able to spend a long weekend at Myrtle Beach with Brett, Bethany, and Addy. Now that we're cruising into fall, I'm in full party planning mode for his first birthday! I can definitely see how people take the first birthday party overboard but I'm trying my best to keep it somewhat simple (even though I know myself and doubt it will be!). It's hard to believe that 11 months ago, I was waddling around anxiously awaiting his birth and now here we are with a blonde-hair, blue-eyed, sweet (and funny, smart, silly...you get the point) boy who we're both completely smitten with!

Last Wednesday, he completely shocked us both by letting go of the toy he was walking behind and took his first few steps on his own! We didn't see it coming but luckily, Brandon and I were both able to see it since we were playing in his room. It'll be a while before he's really walking on his own but the first steps are a pretty exciting milestone! :) Go Maddox!

We bought a small jug of whole milk today and are going to start letting him have a bit so that we can transition away from formula in the next couple of weeks. He seems to like it (but really, there isn't much that he doesn't like) so I'm hoping it'll be an easy transition. He's using sippy cups most of the time and only gets a bottle first thing in the morning & before bedtime. I'm not in a rush to get rid of the bottle completely so we'll probably let him continue have it at night for a while.

Here are some new(er) pics!

Almost 10 Months

Wow, has it really been over a month since I last updated?!?! So sorry! Things around here have been so busy (excuses, excuses...right?). Our first beach trip with Maddox was a lot of fun. He loved playing in the sand & ocean but his absolute favorite thing was riding on the golf cart. It was great spending a whole week with our family but we definitely missed the creature comforts of home!

As far as developments, he's still crawling and cruising everywhere and will pull up on anything and everything he can. He loves "walking" behind his toy lion and pushing it along but can't walk without holding onto something just yet. He's also become quite the little monkey and climbs on EVERYTHING! His teachers at school even commented on how he's "all boy" and tries to climb on shelves, cribs, other babies, etc. He's saying mama, dada, cat, and no-no and waves hi and bye every chance he gets. His top two teeth are threatening to break through any day now and we're fighting some kind of cold/bug this weekend.

Next weekend we're celebrating Preston's first birthday (so hard to believe) and we can't wait to party it up with him on Saturday! After his party, I'm officially kicking into high gear for planning Maddox's party. These babies are growing up way too fast!

8 1/2 Months

It's amazing how much can change in a few short weeks! Last month at this time, Maddox wasn't really moving much and nowadays, he's rarely sitting still and is into EVERYTHING! Not only is he crawling all over the place, but his new favorite thing to do is to pull up (on anything...toys, people, furniture, Coco) and stand. He's starting to cruise a bit and likes to test himself by letting go of whatever he's pulled up on to see how long he can stand there. We've been lucky so far and haven't had to deal with any bumps or bruises but seeing how independent he's getting, we're sure to experience our fair share in the near future. He's still a very good eater and doesn't dislike anything really (well, he's starting to object to baby food just because he'd rather feed himself). He's refusing formula quite a bit now (apparently pretty common once they start eating 3 solid meals plus a snack a day) so it's getting tricky to get him to drink enough formula to meet the recommended minimum. I think we're going to start sending formula to daycare in sippy cups instead of bottles because he'd much rather drink from a cup. His 9 month appointment is in a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to asking a bunch of questions (but not looking forward to the shots).

Video of Maddox Crawling- 6/1/10 (7 months, 3 weeks old)

8 Months Old

It's hard to believe that Maddox is 8 months old (and I say this every single month but I'm really in shock!). So much has happened in the past month with his growth & development. He's definitely a pro at crawling and can't stand to sit still since he knows how much fun it is to go go go! He's also starting to pull up quite a bit (especially on the couch and coffee table). I'm nervous about all of the bumps and bruises that are sure to be in our near future given his new mobility but I'm excited for him to experience new things. His first tooth is through the gumline (not by much but it's there) and tooth #2 (the one beside of it) is going to make its appearance any day now. We're having a lot of fun this summer going swimming and taking a lot of walks with the stroller. He also got to enjoy his very first popsicle today and LOVED it! Looks like more popsicles will be in demand! As far as what he's eating, well, he isn't very picky. He'll eat just about anything we give him but I try to keep his diet free of excess preservatives, sugar, fats, spices, and empty calories. He eats a lot of steamed veggies, pasta, fruit, and still enjoys stage 2 and 3 baby food quite a bit. At daycare today, we found out that he will officially move to the older infants room next Monday. I'm actually very sad about this because I love his teachers in the young infants room. Michelle & Tiffany have become extended family members to us and I'm going to miss them a lot (and I know Maddox will too). They said that since he's the oldest in the room right now and the only one that's mobile, he's getting very bored. Over the past few weeks, they've been slowly transitioning him to the older infants room and he apparently has a lot of fun over there. He'll be the youngest in the room and will surely learn a lot from the older ones.

June 1st...big day!

Yesterday was a big day for Maddox! He officially started crawling forward and got his very first tooth! We were shocked at his crawling because up until now, he's only been scooting in reverse but when Brandon and I were sitting in his bedroom floor yesterday afternoon playing, he just took off crawling! We couldn't stop giggling (and of course, I wanted to cry because my baby boy is growing up too fast!). Now that he has the hang of it, we're going to spend some time babyproofing and installing baby gates at the stairs.

New Pictures

Because I know I'll forget...

I plan on uploading some pics and blogging later today or tomorrow but because I know I'll forget, I wanted to share a milestone! Maddox has been "pulling up" over the last day or two. Brandon has spotted it both times and I think I'm in shock. He's growing WAY too fast and I want to put a brick on his head to slow him down a little bit!

It's official...

...I've become a blog slacker. Sorry for the lack of updates. To say that we've been busy is a huge understatement! We have plans every single weekend from now until July (true story) and just thinking about that makes me a little crazy (crazier?!?!). Let's see, what have we been up to since my last update?

*Bought a new mommymobile! The Passat just wasn't cutting it anymore...LOVED the car but desperately needed more room. After a lot of research, test drives, and good ol' fashioned dealership bargaining, I traded in the Passat for a 2011 Honda Pilot. I absolutely love it! Our next road trip will be much more comfortable and roomy.

*Sophia Jane Sexton was born! Our good friends, Dave & Abby, welcomed their sweet baby girl Sophia into the world on May 8th. She's darling & we are so happy for them.

*Relay for Life- All of the planning & fundraising that we've done in the last few months will pay off tonight at the Relay for Life event. I'm honored to raise money for such an amazing cause and hope that I remember to bring some Kleenex for Bethany's survivor lap around the track. I can't thank you all enough for the support & donations!

*Maddox turned 7 months old. I'm still in shock that 7 months have FLOWN by and that our tiny baby is quickly turning into a little boy more and more every day. To say that I'm completely and overwhelmingly head over heels for this little guy is a severe understatement. He's on the move and now that he's figured out that he can "crawl," he doesn't sit still for long. Our efforts at teaching him sign language are starting to show and now he'll start wildly signing "milk" as soon as he sees a bottle heading his way. I took me a little while to catch on to what he was doing (I guess I never really thought that he'd sign back! haha) but his teacher at daycare pointed it out one day. I can't wait for him to start making other signs. Smart little guy! He's also sleeping really well (which does wonders for Brandon & I since we are a little more rested these days). He goes to bed around 7:30-8pm and sleeps until about 5:30-6am (sometimes waking once in the night around 3am for a small bottle and diaper change). He's proving to be a good eater too and has been eating all kinds of new food at daycare and home. He still gets 4 bottles a day but is eating 3 meals of "solids."

*My first Mother's Day was great. Maddox (with the help of his daddy) took me out to breakfast and surprised me with a weekend trip for the three of us to the beach. We have a couple of other vacations coming up in the next couple of months so this beach trip will happen at the end of August.

I have some new pictures to post (swim lessons, 7 months, etc) and will try my best to post them in the next few days.

Until then, we hope you all are well!

Love,
C, B, & M

Post-Vacation Recovery

We're back from our 9 day vacation in PA and are happy to report that Maddox handled the road trip, new faces, and new surroundings like a pro! We had an amazing time with both sets of great-grandparents and loved being able to see aunts, uncles, and cousins. While we were away, Maddox learned a some new skills (and I'm shocked at how quickly he is changing and growing). He's now scooting/semi-army crawling but can only go backwards. He also is getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth (like he's ready to take off). It's only a matter of time before he is really moving! I got tickled at him yesterday morning because he scooted himself halfway across my bedroom floor and then got upset because he couldn't get to any of his toys...I guess you had to be there but it was really cute. Also, he's learned how to feed himself finger foods (which is a pretty big developmental milestone). He's mainly feeding himself puffs at home but is learning to eat all kinds of new food at daycare (where they have a kitchen that makes breakfast/lunch/snack/etc). Daycare asked if it was okay to start letting him eat "real" food so this morning, he's having french toast sticks and pears for breakfast (of course they cut it up into really small pieces). Yesterday for lunch, he had some bread, peaches, and cheese. Our little baby is quickly turning into a little BOY!

This Saturday is Maddox's first swim lesson. We're excited to see how he likes the water (he loves bath time) and I'm looking forward to having a scheduled activity that we can do together. Brandon and I will probably alternate weeks so that we both get to experience this with him. Of course, the other one will be there taking pictures/video!

I'll add some pictures from our trip later this week.

6 Months- New Pictures

6 months old!

Maddox is 6 months old! His 6 month appointment was on Friday and they confirmed what we already knew...he's perfect! :) Actually, he's had a tough time with the shots this time and has been running a fever of 100-102 all day today. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do besides give him some extra cuddles and Tylenol. Poor fella. Hopefully he'll be better tomorrow in time for a visit from Mamaw & Papaw!

He weighed 17 lb 12 oz and is 26 in long (or should I say tall?). His height and weight have evened out a bit into the 50th percentile. He has quite a big noggin though and his head circumfrence is measuring in the 95th percentile.


At 6 months, here's what he's up to...
-Sitting on his own (has been doing this since about 5 months)
-When he's on his tummy, he is 'scooting' by pushing with his feet. I think this is the first attempt at trying to crawl. He isn't there yet but he's figured out that he can move around.
-Constant "talking" and babbling. I just wish I could figure out what he's trying to tell me!
-Eating fruit/oatmeal or yogurt for breakfast and veggies for dinner. He hated how watery stage 1 foods were but loves stage 2 and 3. We'll probably add a third meal of solids for lunch in the next month or so.
-Drinking about 5-6 oz of formula every 3 hours.
-He LOVES puffs...can't get enough of them!
-He's quite fascinated with drinking from a sippy cup and is doing great at holding it on his own. The doctor said it was fine for him to have a couple ounces of water or juice (but we aren't planning on giving him juice at all- we'll stick to water) at a time.
-He's still dazzling us with his toothless grin...no TEEFS yet!
-We're learning SIGN LANGUAGE! This is very exciting for us and we can't wait until he gives us the first sign back (typically around 9-10 months). Starting with just a few signs but will add more with time. Right now, we're signing these words/phrases: mommy, daddy, I love you, more, finished, milk, diaper, eat, thank you, sleep.

We leave on Friday for our first road trip to Pittsburgh as a family of 3 + Coco. We're hoping the trip will be relaxing and stress-free!

Easter

Maddox's first Easter was a blast! We started the day with lunch at my grandparent's house at 11am, moved on to our second lunch and egg hunt (200 eggs!!) at my Aunt Debbie's house at 1, and ended the day with a delicious dinner at Jeff & Lisa's house. Maddox, as usual, was spoiled rotten and received a total of SIX Easter baskets! Unbelievable!

On Saturday, we had a family picture session at Freedom Park in Charlotte. We should have the proofs by the 18th and can't wait to see how they turn out!

Maddox will celebrate his half birthday this week and has his six month appointment on Friday afternoon.

This should be a fairly relaxing week, which is very exciting since we're coming off of a very busy weekend. We're grilling steaks & asparagus on the grill tonight and will hang out outside while chef Brandon does the grilling. We are taking dinner to the Lerch's on Wednesday, and then have Maddox's appointment on Friday. This Saturday, I'll be going to Abby's baby shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Baby Sexton. Other than that, we will be relaxing and enjoying this beautiful spring weather (80's and sunny!).

Our annual trip to Pittsburgh (well, Valencia) and State College is rapidly approaching. We'll be gone 9 days total and are looking forward to our first road trip with Maddox. We can't wait to spend lots of quality time with both sets of great-grandparents and the rest of the family!

Here are some pics from Easter...(by the way, he had on an adorable Easter outfit but we had to strip him down to just his onesie since it was so hot).

Here he is with his cousin Faith...giving big kisses! He couldn't get enough of these girls!

Here's my cool little man with his shades on.

Maddox with Mamaw Norma & Papaw Mike (everybody always jokes that Mike and Maddox look alike with their bald heads & sunglasses!)

Here's Maddox with his Uncle Jason.

My favorite picture of the entire weekend. My little bunny!

Easter Bunny

Easter is quickly approaching and celebration of Maddox's first anticipated visit from the Easter Bunny, we felt it was necessary to track the ol' fella down at the mall for the obligatory picture. Enjoy!

Update on Bethany

Sorry for the delay in posting an update on Bethany's surgery last week. The surgery went well and she is well on her way to recovery & reconstruction. As you can imagine, she's sore and dealing with the normal after-effects of a major operation but she came through it with a positive attitude and outlook. Thank you to those of you that have made a donation to our Relay for Life team (Bethany's Bosom Buddies). We are so grateful for your generosity and our team is looking forward to the Relay for Life event in mid-May.

A few new pics

A little off topic...

As you may already know, one of my best friends was diagnosed with breast cancer a few weeks ago. She's only 25 years old. Luckily, it was caught very early and she is going to have surgery on March 18th to begin her road to recovery. When something like this happens, many of us feel a call to action and want to "do" something.

Here's what you can do:

*First and foremost, PRAY! Specifically, please pray for: a successful and complication-free surgery, strength for recovery, and strength for her husband Brett, daughter Addy, and parents/siblings as they support her in this process. If you know Bethany and Brett, you already know that their faith is something that we all admire and strive for. I've never met two people with such unwavering belief in God and all of his miracles.

*Second, if you have the means to financially support an amazing cause, please consider donating to our Relay For Life team, Bethany's Bosom Buddies. You can make a secure online donation (minimum amount is $10) at this link- http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY10SA?px=14590660&pg=personal&fr_id=24677 As always, your donation is tax deductible and I've made a personal pledge to match all donations that I get. This cause is near and dear to my heart and I sincerely appreciate your support!

If you have any questions, please email me at garrett.crystal@gmail.com.

These are a few of our favorite things!

Our Favorite Things (Birth-5 Months edition)

1. Zip-front sleepers from The Children's Place (These sleepers are the best, very easy to get on and off for late night diaper changes- sizes seem to run a bit small)















2. Boppy (This is one of those items that I thought I'd never use but boy was I wrong! From day one, this was great for feeding and he loved naptime on the Boppy when he was smaller. Now, it's helping him learn to sit and he likes to have tummy time on it.)















3. Seahorse (The seahorse is a lot like the old school Glo-worm. The difference is that the music is more soothing and plays a lot longer.)
















4. Winkel & Sophie- Maddox's favorite teething toys (both are over-priced and fad toys but have proven to be worth it in our household!).

5 Months!

Happy 5 months to our sweet little Maddox!! Unfortunately, daycare left him completely exhausted today so we'll have to take our official 5 month pics tomorrow. Maddox celebrated the occasion by flipping from his back to his tummy for the first time today! Brandon and I have been wondering when this would happen and we sounded like his own personal cheerleaders when he finally did it (then we kept flipping him back over so that he'd do it again). This time last year, Maddox (or Tiny G as we called him) was approximately the size of a strawberry and I was finally getting some relief from morning sickness. It's amazing how much our lives have changed in one short year- I say it all of the time but I'll say it again: we are incredibly blessed!

Germs, germs, and more germs!

If you've driven by our house in the last few days, you may have noticed green fumes leaking out from the doors and windows. Finally we are on the road to recovery but this has been one butt-kicking bug! Thursday at daycare, Maddox only ate half of all of his bottles and napped more than usual. Thursday night, he vomited but seemed to feel okay. He went to daycare as usual on Friday but didn't eat well and slept for FIVE hours while he was there. At that point, I knew something was up so I picked him up a couple of hours early and headed straight to his pediatrician's office. As soon as we got settled in the waiting room, I picked him up out of the carrier and he vomited all over me again (it was EVERYWHERE!). After looking him over, we were sent home with instructions to give him pedialyte in place of milk for the next 12 hrs and to come back at 9am on Saturday for a follow-up visit (apparently, vomiting in infants under 6 months is a big deal). That night, he threw up again so we were back in the office Saturday morning. I'll spare you all of the details but basically we spent all day Saturday getting tests, x-rays, and ultrasounds to rule out all of the worst-case scenarios. I had a feeling all along that it was just a stomach virus (even though none of the kids at daycare had it, he must've picked it up somewhere) and remained pretty calm. No sense in getting all worked up over what I was pretty sure was nothing. As I thought, all of the tests came back normal and it was diagnosed as a "nasty stomach virus" and we were told to go home and Lysol our entire house because its highly contagious. We followed the instructions but on Sunday, Brandon and I both went from feeling fine to feeling like we were knocking on death's door within an hour. Again, I'll spare you the details but neither of us could even keep down water and had chills, very bad body aches, stomach pains, headaches, etc. It was awful. Definitely the worst virus I've ever had. We were down for about 36 hrs (and are still feeling pretty weak). Maddox got to spend the day/night with Mamaw and Papaw last night and even though we missed him, I know they all had fun and Brandon and I were able to try to sleep it off. Brandon is still home sick from work today but hopefully we'll all be back on our normal schedule of work and daycare tomorrow. Unfortunately, Bethany also caught the bug but hopefully she's feeling a bit better today. Maddox definitely didn't mean to get his sweet "Aunt" Bethany sick (but loved all of the kisses and cuddles she gave him Saturday night). So far, Kristi, Cortney, and Ali have dodged the bug (they were also loving on him Saturday). Let's just hope it stays that way because we don't want anyone else to fall victim to this nasty, nasty virus!

As soon as I'm fully recovered, I'll post more details on how much Maddox is changing and growing. We're still happy as can be with daycare and they've even managed to get him on some sort of napping schedule. He's almost sitting up on his own (can sit for a little while but is a little unsteady) and will be 5 months old in just a few days. The past 5 months have flown by but have been better than we could have ever imagined!

Day One...success!

At 4:30 today, I picked up a very happy and smiling Maddox from daycare. His first day couldn't have gone any better! His teachers, Miss Tiffany and Miss Michelle, are complete dolls! When I walked in the front door to get him, he was sitting at the front desk with the director (just hanging out...she said she wanted to play with him so she brought him up front). I hope our experience with daycare remains positive. It certainly got off to a great start and for that I am thankful, relaxed, and happy with our decision.

Daycare...so far, so good!

HUGE sigh of relief! We are 2.5 hours into Maddox's first day at daycare and it's going great! Brandon and I dropped him off together this morning and after a quick chat with the teacher and a big hug and kiss, we were out the door! I've been watching him over the internet viewing and have been quite impressed with how much 'activity' he's getting. I also noticed that one of the teachers always gives the babies a quick kiss on the head every time she picks them up...small things like that put me at ease because I feel like he's being loved. I called a few minutes ago to check on him and they said he's been great and is napping in his crib. They also said he's 'quite vocal' and has been babbling away all morning...hmm, I wonder who he gets that from???

It's a "school" night!

Tomorrow is a big day for us (and especially Maddox)...he goes to daycare! For me, daycare was something that I knew we'd do eventually but I wasn't sure when. Over the past couple of weeks, we made the decision that he would start daycare full-time and tomorrow is his first day. All of the forms are filled out, his clothes are ready, the bag of supplies (diapers, wipes, extra clothes, etc) is packed, and now we're just waiting. We will ease him into it this first week by only sending him Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for partial days. I'm very positive that it'll be a good experience for all of us- I love the facility and the teachers and will be watching like a hawk over the internet (they have 3 cameras in his room and I can view it online in real time) for the first few days. We'll update again soon to tell about it but for now, we have to get in bed cause it's a school night! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

4 Months