Madilyn Rose (9 months)

Well, isn’t this funny…I ended up skipping Julia’s 8-month update, because we were incredibly busy that month, and it looks like the same holds true for Maddie-Roo. Life is just moving right along, which means I’m pretty much in denial that Madilyn’s less than three months away from her first birthday. Actually, I don’t even want to talk about that, because I’m pretty sure I just had her yesterday. Goodness gracious.

Madilyn, Madilyn, Maddie-Roo,

My apologies for not writing you a letter last month…things were a little busy. Okay, they were a lot busy. I’ll just jump right in and tell you all about it! So, in the past two months, you: went on another road trip and rocked the car ride through six more states, visited more family (you met your great-grandma, great aunt, and your second cousins in Texas), had FIVE teeth pop through, started standing and “creeping” everywhere, started babbling all the time (but still aren’t saying “Mama” or “Papa” yet), and you went to Disney World! WHEW! 

You are still an absolute delight to be around, and people constantly stop us when we’re out and about to comment on what happy baby you are. Truly, the only times you’re upset are when you’re hungry, sleepy, or miss your sister. Speaking of Julia, you’re totally smitten with her, and light up when you see her. And actually, speaking of sleep—sometimes you’re fine and sleep 6-7 hour stretches and other times you’re up every hour or two. If you could get yourself together and be a little more consistent, I’d appreciate it VERY much. Mama’s sleepy.

I’m excited to celebrate your first Thanksgiving and Christmas with you in a few weeks. I have a feeling you’re going to love the food, because you gobble everything up that we give you.

Love you, little one!
Mama

Dear lil squishy,

You are going a little too high speed for me these days. First it was the super-speed crawling, then it was eating more than your 2-and-a-half-year old sis on a daily basis, and now it’s popping out a tooth literally every 20 minutes. Ok, that last bit was a little dramatic, but seriously, you’ve sprouted like 3 new teeth this month, and you act like there are a full dozen ready to go.

I’ve been triple impressed with you this last month though—we road tripped like 2,000 miles cross-country, and you did really well! You slept a lot on the road (which was nice), and you even slept most nights in our hotels (which was like triple awesome-sauce). The best part though, is kind of strange with you though. When you wake up early, you. Wake. Up. Early.  And normally this is realllllllllllllllly annoying since your mama and I like to sleep at night for more than a few hours.  But then you make up for it by being the most delightful little ball of squishy in the world.  You coo, giggle, chuckle, snort, and just hop around like nothing could ever be wrong with the world. Even if I leave the room, the second I come back in you light up and start giggling all over again.  So that’s nice. 

In any case, we’re back home for a while now, and I can’t wait to start watching you walk around, and hear you say your first word; papa.

Love you!
Papa

Nicknames:
Maddie, Maddie Roo, Rooski, Sister Maddie, Squishy, Stinky Baby!

Likes:
Standing while holding on, “creeping” around, trying to stand all by yourself, eating real food (you LOVE it, and shovel it in your mouth), breastfeeding, “talking,” watching and playing with your sister.

Dislikes:
Sleeping. Sometimes you fight it at night, which really stinks for us since we like having alone time after you kids go down.

Milestones:
You gained another tooth (that makes two teeth), and you have another on the way. You’re standing and “creeping” alllllll over the place.

Weight/Height: 
You weight 18lb, 6oz, according to the doctor, and you’re 27″ tall. In other words, you’re completely average. Seriously, you hit the 50% mark on everything

Clothing Size:
Nine months and 12 months for a few things (like pants). I actually just packed away all of your 0-6 month clothes. And I cried.

Sleep:
Ugh. Still up twice a night, sometimes three times. Usually I can get you to go back to sleep, but sometimes you wake up at 4:30 and then you’re wide awake. We had a very long night last night, so I’m a little bitter. Have I mentioned that I miss sleep?

Random Tidbits:
You rocked another month of being on vacation, and I’m happy you did really well in Disney World, too!