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.