Maddy - almost month 10!....

It's been quite awhile since our last blog post... We apologize for that and are going to work hard to get a post up at least every couple of months if not sooner. Time passes so fast! Maddy is growing and doing amazing things every day. She is crawling and pulling herself up, which of course makes our lives change a lot. No more leaving her somewhere and thinking she'll still be there when we get back! She is very strong physically and can easily climb up our sofa, our furniture, her playpen, her crib, and anything else she sets her mind to. As she reaches a standing position, she will smile and gurgle, happy at her accomplishment. She is still a very talkative girl, babbling and cooing all day. We wouldn't say she has many specific words yet, but she will sometimes copy back the sounds we make, so she's getting there. Maddy also still loves to go out on walks and see the world. She is always happiest when she is around lots of people and activity. She isn't a shy baby! She has four teeth at this point - two top ones and two bottom ones. The bottom ones came in pretty easily, but the top ones caused her more pain and some difficulty eating. We're hoping the next set are easier when they come in. Her overall health is very good. She had her nine-month doctor appointment and passed with flying colors. She did have a cold a few weeks ago which wasn't very fun for her, as she got a pretty high fever, but she's totally recovered now. We should mention her eating habits as well... So far she is not a picky eater, and seems to like trying pretty much everything we serve her. We feed her a mix of different baby cereals and lots of different types of baby food in jars and pouches. We just recently started giving her some chicken baby foods and she seems to like them. Plus of course she is still getting plenty of bottles. Since we are both back to work full time at this point, Maddy spends about 20 hours a week with our nanny Lyn. She is a wonderful nanny and we are very happy to have her taking care of Maddy. They get along great and everything is going well with them. We wish we could take care of Maddy entirely by ourselves, but we are grateful that Jeff's work hours mean that he can be with her a lot of the time during the day. On to the biggest topic - hair. Maddy's hair is gorgeous and there is a LOT of it already! It's a medium curl and very dark. We have been washing it once a week with baby soap, and moisturizing it 3-4 times a week with a product called Shea Moisture Curling Souffle. It's all-natural and has only plant oils in it (no petroleum products). We work it in to her hair and then detangle and brush it out. Some days we just leave it at that, but sometimes we put it up in 3-4 little poms. She is pretty well-behaved during her hair sessions - especially if we let her watch a few Baby Einstein videos on the computer while we are combing her out! Jeff has been doing the hair a bit more than Silvio but we are both working on our technique. We still haven't mastered getting really straight parts in the hair but I'm sure with practice we will improve. As it gets longer, we will hopefully be able to get it into two poms, which would be nice, since she has a tendency to roll around on the back poms and loosen them up during the day. We also may experiment with some twists as the hair gets longer. We have bought a bunch of different hair bands and clips and experiment with them to figure out what works best for us. Maddy is a joy to be with, and we are totally in love with her. Everyone comments on what a cute, happy baby she is. She is excited by exploring the world and we enjoy helping her discover new things!