10 Month Photos

We've been so busy the past couple of weeks moving into our new house, trying to get our condo ready to rent, and attempting to unpack. Our house is slowly coming along and one of these days (when I find the cord for my camera) I'll post some house pics. But in the mean time, here are a few photos of Madeline from a couple of weeks ago taken at Erik's parents house.

Madeline kept trying to walk into the pool. This girl loves the water!

This is her favorite mode of transportation these days. Walking on her own two feet, hanging onto Mom's fingers.

Look at her go!

Always the center of attention :)

The camera loves Madeline!

Happy girl

We miss you!

This is the first week that Madeline and I have been completely on our own. Our wonderful babysitter Shanna is going back to teaching. Yay for her!! But we are so sad. We miss you, Shanna! You'll have to come and visit us in our new house!

Shanna and Madeline

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

Who is that girl in the mirror?

I just thought this was too cute! Make note of Madeline's cloth diaper :)

Big D

Madeline and I spend the week in Dallas last week visiting family. We had so much fun and Madeline was so happy to spend time with the Trawnik/Walker/Barton/Garten family. I love living in San Diego but I truly miss my family and I wish that Madeline had more family close by.

We got to spend a whole day with my cousin Carrie and her new baby Zoe. Zoe is so sweet and beautiful. There is nothing better in the world than having a little baby sleeping on your chest. I'm not sure Madeline liked my holding little Zoe though; she stared at me very intently when I was holding Zoe. Don't worry Madeline, Mommy is not bringing another baby home yet :)

Madeline and I also spend a lot of time hanging out in my dad's back yard where he has built this incredible waterfall and koi pond. She really got a kick out of watching the fish swim by. We also started naming all the fish; so far there is Goliath, Bandit, Zorro, Lola (my favorite), Lucky, Gabriel, Lucy, and Obama. There are several other fish to name and lots of other baby fish that will need names in the future. Madeline is going to love hanging out Opa's house!

Thanks so much to Opa, Mama, Mama Billie, Gram, Blake, Carrie, Dan, Taylor, Zoe, and Lulu for having us! We love you!!!

Madeline, Mommy and baby Zoe - How sweet are my babies!

Gabby and Mads

Gram, Mads, and Carrie

Opa and Madeline