The Newest Pilot on the Block

Madeline LOVES her paragliding swing!!! This was a present given to her from my dear Aunt Patti. I *think* she bought this for us before I was even pregnant with Madeline :) Thank you so much Patti! We love you!

The Rat Race 2009

Erik and I love to fly. Before Madeline, we took several paragliding vacations and spent the week flying in a cool destination. This year we decided to go to a week long paragliding competition in Oregon called The Rat Race. In a paragliding competition, a task committee sets a task (or course) that all the pilots will fly based on the weather conditions of the day. There are several waypoints along the course that each pilot must cross and if you make it all the way around the course, its said you made goal. The person who makes it to goal with the fastest time wins the day. The person with the highest score at the end of the week wins the competition.

So we made our plans to go to Oregon with a very nervous Mommy. I hired a nanny to watch Madeline ALL DAY LONG for 8 days. Kaia was wonderful with Madeline and I'm so happy we found her. She made it so much easier for me to leave Madeline and concentrate on flying.

We had an amazing week!! The weather was great for flying! The area was beautiful! Erik made goal on 3 days and I made goal twice. All the pilots got a kick out of saying that we were the first married couple to make goal together :) Erik won 2nd place in the Sport Class and I won 2nd place in the Women's Class!! All in all, it was a fantastic week and we hope to make it a yearly tradition from now on!!!!

Getting set up on launch

Erik and I all geared up and ready to launch

My boys trying to stay out of the sun

Looking at launch from a few thousand feet up

Look at this gorgeous spot we were flying in... Lucky us!

A gaggle of paragliders all flying in the same thermal

Everyone on glide to the next waypoint

Hanging out with the SoCal crew at a winery after a long day of flying

Me and my wonderful Hubby

Oh crap, she's standing!!!!!

It's so hard to believe that Madeline has now been with us as long as she was in my tummy! Where has the time gone?!? Madeline is so sweet and special, she laughs and smiles all day long. She has brought so much joy and into our home and we love her dearly.

Madeline has learned so much in the last month and is starting to make the change from baby to toddler. About a month ago she started crawling! Not exactly a hands and knees crawling, more like a hands and one foot and one knee crawl. But she gets around fast nevertheless. Madeline can also clap her hands, wave bye bye, and click her tongue. Weird, I know. She can click her tongue but she can't say mama. Madeline loves to be around people, especially other kids, and we are enjoying our gymboree classes and our "My Mommy Rocks" playgroup.

And this week, Madeline is pulling up. When I saw her pull up the first time, my first thought was "Yay! Madeline did it!! My little girl is growing up!" And my second thought was "Oh, crap!" For those of you who have a toddler, you know exactly what I mean. She is pulling up on EVERYTHING she can reach. And every day she gets better and steadier as she figures out how to cruise around the coffee table, couch, treadmill, suitcase or tv stand. We've already had a couple of wipe outs but no real harm done.

Madeline's 9 month stats:
Height - 28.5 inches 90%
Weight - 20.1 lbs 80%
Head - 17.25 inches 50%
We might end up having a tall, skinny girl. After she looses that baby chub that is :) I seriously love all her rolls!!

Bath time

Father's Day!!

Mads loves her food!

This is her crawling position :)

Standing

Standing in the crib in her new thing

This is Madeline's favorite place to cruise

9 month pic