11 months

In one short month, Madelyn Joy will be one year old. Everyone warned me that this would happen, but I am still shocked by how quickly this year has flown by. I can't even keep track of how many times I heard people caution me to enjoy every moment because they go by quickly. I have enjoyed every moment, and I've tried very hard not to take anything for granted. But the year still flew by.

She is now pretty comfortable walking and already prefers it to crawling. Just recently she has discovered how to stand up all by herself without using a wall or a piece of furniture or a parent to pull herself up. She also has tooths number 5 and 6 coming in on top. She has also figured out a few words. Her first words are "all done." This is what we tell her when she is finished eating, and she has started using them herself to tell us when she is finished. What she actually says is "ahh dahh" but it is very clear to us what she means.

Turkey Day!

Mady has had some exciting travels recently. We spent Thanksgiving in Wisconsin with Grandma and Grandpa Beyer. Uncle Steve and Aunt Krista were also able to join us. Mady was excited to visit family again. Naturally she received lots of attention from her Grandma and Aunt. The dogs were also very interested in the baby when we first arrived, but once they got to sniff her a bit the decided that she wasn't a chew toy, so they didn't pay much attention to her after that. They certainly appreciated having her around during the meals because she specializes in moving food from the table to the floor. Mady got some fun books and bath toys and from her aunt and uncle. She also got a little Mady-sized chair from her grandparents. Her new favorite game is to hide her face in the chair (where butt is supposed to go) while Mommy and Daddy pretend that she is missing, then we all act surprised when she pops up and laughs at us with her new strange raspy laugh. The weather was a bit chilly, but we got to go on a few walks in nearby parks, which was really nice. We let Mady walk around a bit with her shoes on, but she isn't quite used to them yet.

We spent the previous weekend in Cleveland because my cousin Tim was getting married. We stayed with Steven and Krista. Except for the part where Madelyn decided that she didnt' want to sleep at all that night (and the part where Michigan lost to OSU for the 6th year in a row), we had a good visit. It was nice to be able to get away from Ann Arbor for a while and spend time with family.

First Steps

I literally was out for 45 minutes to get the car washed and when I came back home Mady was walking. She has been working on this for about a week, but she hasn't taken more than a couple steps without falling, and that usually required a lot of encouragement from us. She just had to develop a little confidence. Before we put her to bed tonight, she was walking down the hall and across the living room without any help at all.

Double Digits

Mady just had a big birthday. She is 10 months old now and there is no going back. Grandpa B was with us for the last week to keep an eye on Mady while we worked. He cooked up some really nice meals for us while he was here. Carrie's class is coming to an end, so we are on our own again now. We were very blessed to be able to have all of our parents come spend time with us. Mady really enjoyed all the time with her grandparents as well. The old folks even seemed to have a good time with the little squirt.

In addition to getting older, Mady has had some exciting developments recently. She has been standing for short periods of time without support. On her birthday, she took her first 3 tottering steps by herself. She definitley prefers to just drop down and crawl, but if she is standing and is close enough to her target, she may take a step or two towards it. With rolling and crawling it worked the same way. She moved very cautiously at first, but after a week or so of practice, she was a pro. Hopefully this time it will take more than a week before she starts running circles around us...

She has also started using sign language back to us. So far she has signed the word 'milk.' It is just an opening and closing motion with her fist, but she does it now when we offer her milk. Soon she will probably start using it to tell us that she wants milk. We are also teaching her water, eat, ball, and all done.


The final exciting development is that her top two teeth have started coming in. It looks like she got her daddy's gap, at least with her baby teeth. Maybe she will have braces in her future. So far, the only qualities that I can tell that I've given her are gapped teeth and wet sneezes. As long as she doesn't get my hairy chest, I think she'll be ok... :)

We've uploaded more pictures to the October and November Picasa albums.

Giggley Girl

Mad-y-lantern

Mady spent the last week visiting with her Grandma Beyer. Grandma was very excited to be here. She didn't even bother unloading or taking off her coat before she got on the floor to play with Mady. I think she stayed there most of the time she was here. She didn't talk to us much... but it was nice to have her with us. Mady had lots of fun. Carrie and I got to take another date night. I'm not sure if Grandma even noticed that we were gone... Just kidding Mom!

We took some nice walks together and visited a local nature area. We also carved a pumpkin to commemorate Mady's first Halloween. Mady even helped out a bit. Do you recognize the face on the pumpkin?

Madelyn is becoming very expressive. She likes to babble and experiement with new noises. She also is experimenting with standing more and more.

This week Grandpa B. is in town to spend some time with us. All the grandparents have definitely been spoiling us with good food while they have been here. Next week we'll be back to cafeteria food again.

Visiting my Grandparents

Madelyn got to spend the last two weeks visiting with her Grandma and Grandpa Mittelstedter. She was very happy to see them again. They are doing their duty of spoiling their Grandaugher very well. They also spoiled us by cooking, cleaning, and helping us fix stuff the whole time they were here. It was really great to have them around.

Carrie started her teaching job at Concordia earlier this month. She is enjoying teaching again. Grandma and Grandpa watched Mady for us in the mornings while Carrie was at work. They also watched her for a couple evenings so we could go on a date and go to our Bible Study.

Mady celebrated her 9 month birthday while her Grandparents were here. We celebrated the same way we always do, by taking her picture. Last week we went to an apple orchard and visited with farm animals and picked some pumkins. Madelyn got to choose the pumpkins. Aside from getting turned around on some very bumpy country roads, we had a great time.

Madelyn seems to be getting more mobile every day. She has started climbing up onto her toys and even walks around with her wheelie cart. I've gotten her to balance on her feet for short periods of time, but she still isn't too certain about standing unassisted. We know she'll be running around the apartment in no time at all. We finally broke down and got her some shoes. She isnt' a big fan of them. She curls her toes when we try to put them on. Once we finally succeed in wrestling her into them, she starts kicking them off. We've only tried it a couple times so far.

Whoa Baby

Ever since she started crawling, Mady has been discovering one new talent after another. She figured out how to pull herself up to standing a few weeks ago. Just last week she figured out how that if she sticks her butt out and lets go, she can get back down to the ground. Before that she would get stuck on her feet and would have to holler for one of us to push her over (er, I mean set her back down) so she can continue crawling. When she wakes up during the night and after naps, she stands up in her crib and holds onto the bars like a little prisoner. It's cute, but it also makes it harder for her to soothe herself back to sleep. It also makes it harder to get her down for naps. Unless she is really sleepy, she just stands right up. Maybe we'll try teaching her to sleep on her feet. At least she hasn't started climbing out of the crib yet.

The latest development is that she has started cruising (walking while holding on to furniture) in the last couple days. She also seems to be working on her sense of balance. Sometimes she'll just use one hand to steady herself instead of two. At this rate, she'll be standing and walking and driving in no time.

Carrie starts her new teaching job at Concordia University on Tuesday. Grandma and Grandpa Mittelstedter are going to come spend a couple of weeks with us. After our Fall Breaks, Grandma and Grandpa Beyer are going to spend a bit of time out here as well. Mady is definitley looking forward to having some quality time with her Grandparents.

Movies Galore!

Beware of Child

Last week Uncle Steve and Aunt Krista stopped by to visit Mady (and us too?) on Sunday afternoon. They have been married for almost three months now. It was nice to see them again. They stuck around long enough to give Mady a bath. Stevie just started his doctorate at the University of Akron. They brought some tasty buckeyes from a party on Saturday, which we enjoyed devouring (much like USC). Speaking of football, Michigan started their season 3-0 for the first time since 2006. Go Blue!

In one weeks time, Mady progressed from her first clumsy attempt at crawling to zipping around our apartment like a maniac. She actually opened up a kitchen cabinet today. I'm charging the battery for my cordless drill because I need to install some baby latches on our cabinets tomorrow. Mady also pulled herself up to standing for the first time today. She picked her swing and her toy piano to help her up; the two least sturdy things in the whole room. She seems to gravitate towards danger. For some reason, she will go straight past all of her toys to get to a cord, or a choking hazard, or a cup of coffee. Keeping her alive has been pretty easy until now. I have no idea how our species has survived this long.

Mady has also found lots of excellent uses for her pointer finger. She is very good a pointing, poking, and scratching. She also uses it to pick her nose as often as she can, whether or not her nose actually needs picking. I'm sure we'll get a picture of that to share soon enough. It might be a comfort thing. Some babies suck their thumbs, ours picks her nose.

Here is a short video we filmed of her crawling. Enjoy!

The World Is No Longer Safe!!!

So Mady has some big news for this week. Not only did she turn 8 months old but she also has started to crawl. Carrie bought some leg socks on ebay. The socks should give her enough padding to get around comfortably on our hard floors. (Plus they will make diaper changing a breeze!) Now that Mady has started to crawl, she has discovered a whole new world of "toys," including mommy and daddy's shoes, table and chair legs, backpack straps, and so much more!

Mady has been doing well in the food department, too. She's getting better at feeding herself food, including cheerios, crackers, rice cakes, pieces of cheese, and clumps of mashed potatoes. Her favorite food recently is tofu--straight from the fridge. We never buy the stuff but a friend recommended we give it a try and Mady loves the stuff! We don't see the appeal. :-)

Mady had some visitors briefly stop by on Labor Day--her grandpa and grandma Beyer. They were driving back to Wisconsin from Cleveland and made a detour our way to see Mady (and us). :-) We went for a picnic in the Arboretum, a perfect way to celebrate the day off!

In other news, I'm back to work with a more regular schedule. I also started classes this week; I have one class on wednesday night and one on thursday night. Carrie found out that she got the job offer to teach part-time at a nearby university. Carrie also got a Tom Pease CD (i.e., folk music for kids) for Mady this week, so she has been busy learning all of the songs so she can sing them to Mady. Never a boring day in the Beyer household!

See my toofs!

If you look closely, you can see her first two teeth coming in...Also, don't forget to check out her album to see more recent pics.

The Mady B Show

RA training is nearly over and move in is just around the corner. Carrie has had lots of quality time with Mady this last week. Here are a few videos of Mady--the pretty and the ugly. Enjoy!

Toofs!

Madelyn's days as a cute toothless baby are officially over. Her two front bottom teeth have started poking out. Yikes! She has also started working on her fine motor skills by feeding herself Cheerios this week. She will spend twenty or thirty seconds trying to very carefully pinch the little piece of cereal with her thumb and forefinger, and when she finally get it, she stuffs her entire hand in her mouth to make sure the Cheerio goes where it is supposed to. She is also getting better at pushing up onto her hands and knees. She can actually push up onto her hands and feet now. We'll have to see how much longer this lasts before she starts trying to crawl...

In Mommy news, Carrie's degree was officially conferred on Tuesday. Everyone can now start calling her Dr. Carrie. :)

Round of Applause

Sorry for the delay in posting Mady's 7 month picture. Now that I'm back to work it is a little harder to keep up with the blog. It is also getting harder to take these pictures of Madelyn. She gets very distracted by the note card and tries very hard to destroy it. If we can manage to refocus her attention, she will give us about 2 seconds before she starts squirming off the couch.

In addition to aging a month, Mady has started clapping her hands. She still isn't crawling, but she is scooting backwards now. Her method is not graceful, but she has time to work on it. She basically pushes up onto her hands and knees, then flops on her belly, then pushes up again. By doing this, she can very slowly back accross the room. She is continuing to sleep well, which is a huge blessing. Last night she woke once before we went to bed, then she slept for the rest of the night! We didn't have to get up at all. :)

VICTORY!

Madelyn's sleeping patterns have improved dramatically in the last few days (Carrie thinks I'm jinxing us by posting this). Until recently, a good night was when she woke up three times at 10:30, 1:00, and 3:30. But most nights weren't that good. Until now! For the last three nights, she has only woke up once around 3:00. That's it! We can definitely work with that. We have been leaving four pacifiers in her crib with her when she goes down. She is now really good about getting the correct end of the pacifier into her mouth. If she is waking during the night, it seems that she has been able to find a pacifier and soothe herself back to sleep without waking us. We are very hopeful that this will continue, and with any luck at all, we might even be able to eliminate her 3:00 waking. We'll keep you posted.

In other news, her little arms are now strong enough to bench-press her daddy. Ok, not quite that strong yet, but she is able to support herself in a crawling position now. She isn't crawling yet and is only pushing up a little bit, but when we put her on her hands and knees, she can hold that position for a while. One step closer to crawling. I'm terrified.

She is also doing a much better job eating now. She is much less picky with her veggies than she used to be. We've been making our own baby food by steaming and milling fruits and veggies, then freezing them in ice-cube trays. We visited the farmers market today and picked up some fresh squash for Mady.

Finally, here is a fun little video of Mady acting strangely hyper. Notice at the end how she seems to gravitate towards the one object on the floor that she shouldn't be playing with...

Fun in Ann Arbor

Last week we took Mady to the Ann Arbor Art Fair where she made friends with a large tatooed biker. Actually, the bald guy in the picture is a statue. Anyone want to buy that for their home? Ha! Mady had fun people-watching and taking in all the colorful objects. On Sunday we went to our church picnic where Mady got to play with her buddy Jack. Jack is two months older than Madelyn and he is very good at crawling. Mady and Jack interact by stealing each others pacifiers. I'm very proud of my little girl for dishing it right back out when the bigger kids pick on her. :)

Madelyn had her 6 month checkup earlier this week. She now weights 16.07 lbs (44% percentile)and is 27.05 inches (85% percentile). She is in great health. We asked the doctor about a rash she had gotten on her face a few weeks ago because we were concerned that it might have been a food allergy. We even brought in some pictures that we had taken. The doc told us that a real food allergy would have given her a rash from head to toe. This was just a "contact allergy" and that it was nothing to worry about. Mady also got another round of vaccinations, which she was not happy about. Since she got a fever the last time she had her shots, we've been giving her Tylenol this time to keep her temperature down. It has worked pretty well. By tomorrow she should be as good as new. :)

Road Trip!

We rounded out our summer travels with a road trip through Indiana to visit some friends. Mady handled the car rides really well. Our first stop was in West Lafayette to visit Sarah and Matt in their new home. Matt came through with some fun puppet shows for Mady and Sarah came through with the southern hospitality. Chris had fun playing racquetball and Wii with Matt. It bears mentioning that Matt sank a hole in one on Wii Golf while we were there. Way to go Matt!Our next stop was in Evansville to visit Jen and Tim and Samantha. It was nice to see Jen and Tim again, but we were especially excited to meet Samantha. Sam is 10 days older than Mady. When they met each other, the first thing they did was reach out and hold hands. It was adorable. Both girls developed a special talent last week and we caught both of them showing off their new abilities in a picture together (see below). Jen and Tim are in the process of relocating to Dubuque. They are moving next week, so they are trying to sell their house. We had fun playing with the girls in their swimming pool. Chris and Tim went on a man date to see Transformers (Jen and Carrie weren't interested for some reason...). Overall, we had a great time visiting our friends and catching up with everyone.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Mady celebrated her 6 month birthday last week. Her biggest development recently is that she is sitting really well on her own now. Her solid food repertoire now includes rice cereal, bananas, avocado, sweet potato, apple sauce, and peas. Feeding is a messy good time! :) Chris is starting back to work this week and Carrie will be staying at home with Mady until she starts teaching part time again in the Winter semester.

4th of July with Grandma and Grandpa

Madelyn got to spend her first 4th of July with Grandma and Grandpa Beyer in Trevor Wisconsin. She handled the car drive really well, which is encouraging for us, because we are taking her on another road trip next week.
Grandma and Grandpa have two big labs, Chocolate and Kirby. I was a little apprehensive about having our baby around the big dogs, but they were very well behaved. Chocolate probably only would have noticed the baby if we had thrown her for him to catch. Kirby was very curious. I think he decided that we brought her there to be a pet for him.
We had lots of good food to eat during our visit. We also had fun playing games and walking around the neighborhood. Grandma and Grandpa got to help with feeding, bathing, changing, and entertaining Mady. Grandma also got to embarrass Chris with childhood home videos that I had been very successful in hiding from Carrie until now. Thanks mom. :P

Tomorrow we are heading down to Indiana to visit some friends. Next Monday I'm back to work. The summer is flying by!

sickness, slings, solid foods, and sign language

During my week away at Traverse City, Mady caught her first cold. She was snotty and congested, but other than that, she handled it really well. If that is what colds are going to be like, I think we'll be able to it. :)

We got a new sling as a gift from my Aunt Marty. It has been fun to try this new method of conveyance. We do walk around with Mady a lot and sometimes it seems like the stroller is a bigger hassle than it is worth. We usually walk to the cafeteria twice a day and it is a mile and a half round trip. We know that Mady is comfortable in her new sling because she has fallen asleep in it a few times.

The biggest development this week has been the introduction of solid foods. We started with rice cereal, which Mady threw up the first time. She handled it much better after we tried adding some bananas. Next up will be avocado and sweet potato. We'll see how she likes those. Avocado is supposedly one the best things to feed a baby.

Finally, we've decided to start teaching Mady sign language. We're starting with three signs for now: eat, milk, and more. According to the books we've read, she should be signing back to us by 9 or 10 months. Once she figures out the concept of signing she should be able to learn more signs pretty easily. We'll keep you posted.

Congratulations Uncle Steve and Aunt Krista!

On June 20th my brother Steven married the love of his life, Krista. It was a beautiful wedding and we were very excited to share the day with them. We were also excited to see so many family members again. Mady got to meet lots of her relatives for the first time, including the rest of her Beyer Aunts and Uncles (Allen, Amber, Wes, and Monica).

It was a very full weekend for Miss Mady. On Thursday we arrived in Cleveland, then drove down to Hudson for a Beyer family reunion. We were just missing one family and a few stray cousins. Mady was really well behaved through it all. It was nice to have some many people who were eager to hold her so Carrie and I could visit and enjoy our food. :)

On Friday morning our Joe and Kathy Beyer family got together for breakfast, which was also really nice. Our family has grown to 11 people, and that was the first time we were all assembled in one room. Afterwards some of us went to see Great-Grandpa Richards and took a picture with four generations. Back at the hotel Mady took a dip in the swimming pool. This was her first time "swimming." The water was a little chilly, but she seemed to enjoy herself. That evening was the rehearsal and the dinner, which were a lot of fun.

Saturday was the Big Day. Carrie had to take care of Mady on her own the whole day because I was in the wedding party and had groomsman responsibilities to attend to (riding in in party bus around Cleveland to take pictures). Mady did a great job during the wedding. The reception was very classy. Since it was going well past Mady's bedtime, we found a quite corner and hid her behind some furniture to try to let her sleep. :) Hopefully that doesn't make us negligent parents...

On Sunday we got to have brunch at the Faro's while the newlyweds opened gifts. Then we said our good byes and headed homes. Overall, it was a great weekend! We are very happy for Steve and Krista and we were excited to see the family again.

When we got back to Ann Arbor, I dropped Carrie and Mady off, then continued up to Traverse City for a week-long class on Higher Education Law (this is why it has taken me so long to get these wedding pictures posted). I basically learned about all the things that might get me sued during my career! It was a really fun class. I was only away for Mady for five days, but I swear I can notice some growth and changes in just that short period of time. Carrie thinks I'm crazy.

All of our wedding pictures are in the Picasa album for those who would like to see them.

Finally, ours prayers and deepest sympathies go out to Krista and her family at the recent passing of her Grandmother. Praise God that Steven and Krista had the opportunity to visit her on their wedding day and that she is now free of any pain and suffering.

Wilderness Explorers

We just returned home from a four day trip to the Greanya cabin in Northern Michigan. This was Mady's first overnight excursion and she did really well. We played lots of games, went for walks, and sat around a camp fire. We enjoyed visiting Carrie's Aunt Charmaine and Uncle Del, her cousins Nicole, Jared, and Anna, Jared's wife, Mariah, and Mariah's Father, Ken. Nicole's cats Legolas and Maximus Decimus Meridius (aka Dogfood) were also there. It was a very full cabin! Anna, Jared and Ken caught lots of fish (trout, bass, and bluegill). Uncle Del fried them up and we had a fish feast before we left. It was amazing. That was my first time having fish fresh from a lake.

We were worried that Mady wouldn't sleep well in an unfamiliar environment, but she actually slept much better (and so did we consequently) at the cabin than she does here. We had some problems the first night because our bed was really creaky. We had Mady in a little crib in our room, when she woke, we could get her down again pretty easily, but when Carrie or I climbed back into bed, the creaking would wake her again. On the second night, we just had her join us in our bed after she woke the first time, and that worked really well. On the third night, we woke to find her in bed with us in the morning and neither of us remembered bringing her there (I still think Carrie must have done it). Madelyn discovered some new facial expressions over the weekend that she kept everyone entertained with. She can now make a fish face and poutty face. One of the pictures on the right looks like a combination of the two. :)

There are a few more cabin pictures posted in the June Album. It was great to have such a successful trip with the baby. It gives us a lot more confidence about our upcoming trip to Cleveland for Steven and Krista's wedding this weekend.

May Videos

Here are some cute videos we took in May and we added some photos to the May and June photos in Picasa. Enjoy!

5 Month Birthday

Did you know that Madelyn Joy shares a birthday with Elvis Presley and Stephen Hawking? Well now you know. :)

Check out the poll that we posted in the sidebar and let us know your thoughts. This is a very important parenting question.

Mady just celebrated her 5 month birthday. As you can see in the picture, she is developing some fine motor skills. She has a very exciting month ahead of her. We will be taking her up north to visit the Greanya family in their cabin this weekend. Then the following weekend we'll be traveling to Cleveland for Steven and Krista's wedding. All of the progress we've made with getting her on a nap routine will go right out the window. :) Since she has never been out of the apartment overnight, we are looking forward to seeing how she handles it.

Last week we took Mady out to some neighborhood garage sales. We got her some fun new toys and a couple practical items too. We picked up a high chair that hooks on to the table, which will be very helpful when we take her to the cafeteria. We also got a backpack carrier. It isn't as easy to use as the front carrier, but it is easier on my back. All of the baby stuff seems to be crowding our small apartment. We'll be rearranging our apartment soon to make better use of the space and to get it ready for when she starts crawling in the next couple of months.

Below is a short video of Mady drumming her feet on the side of the tub. This is one of her new hobbies.

Standing Tall

As you can see from our pictures, Madelyn has found a use for her feet other than chew toys. She isn't quite able to stand on her own yet, but with just a little help balancing, she can support her weight. It is a lot of fun discovering new talents and mini-milestones.

Mady is definitely a belly-baby. If we leave her unattended on her back for a few seconds, she will roll onto her belly every time. She will even try to roll over when we put her down for naps. This complicates things a little because she likes to keep her head up when she is on her belly, and it is really difficult to sleep that way.

Naps have become our most recent challenge, but we are making good headway. Mady is a much more pleasant baby when she gets some quality naps during the day. Our goal is three 90 minute naps. Until recently, she was taking four, or even five, shorter naps. She often wakes right at 40 or 50 minutes. We've found that if we can soothe her back to sleep as soon as she wakes, we can usually at least double the length of the nap. According to the books, after a few days of this, babies adjust to it and learn to take longer naps on their own. So far it seems to be working. She has had a couple 90+ minute naps in the last few days.

We have a had a couple rough experiences with taking Mady out in social settings recently, where she has gotten cranky and has been very difficult to soothe. She is usually perfectly fine when we take her to church, or shopping, or to the cafeteria. She also is generally just fine with letting other people hold her. Hopefully she was just having a couple of off days. We'll be bringing her out to Cleveland for Steven and Krista's wedding in a few weeks and we are hoping that she will be good baby when she meets all of her relatives for the first time.

We finished adding pictures to the May album.

Dr. Mommy!

Madelyn and I would like to officially introduce Dr. Carrie Beyer Ph.D. (or Dr. Mommy as Mady calls her). Dr. Beyer successfully defended her dissertation this morning and received glowing praise for her work. We are very proud of her and we're glad she's done (and so is she). Thanks to everyone for your prayers and well-wishes.