Saturday, February 27, 2010

BBQ Cook-Off

Every year, before the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, there is a huge BBQ cook-off that takes place. There are 100's of tents, entrance to each tent is by invitation only and there's just about every type of BBQ'ed meat you can imagine, lots of music, open bars and lots and lots of people. There's judging for the best BBQ, but we have yet to figure out where the judging actually takes place!

We have been lucky enough to attend this event in the past, generally acquiring tickets to one of the tents from friends of friends. On Thursday night, Brian went with some co-workers and had such a great time (and I felt bummed that I missed the fun and tasty BBQ) that he was inspired to get tickets to go again today. We landed some tickets to a tent from a friend and we decided to make an afternoon adventure out of it.

Mooooo..little miss 'cowgirl' is ready for the rodeo


"Feel my sharp teeth, are you sure I can't eat BBQ?"


Madeline's easy smile, big blue eyes and dimples make friends out of strangers wherever we go. A nice young man insisted on giving her this cowgirl hat and she loved it!


We couldn't pass up the opportunity to take pictures in the free picture booth. You'll have to ignore the advertising for tequila--we promise Madeline did not partake in any, even though they kept joking that they had little glasses that were just her size ;)



We're having so much fun!


Our attempts at the artistic shots:



She loved looking at all the bright lights


Somehow, after a huge plate of BBQ, we were able to find just a bit of room to enjoy some funnel cake. I mean, what can be better than fried bread, powdered sugar and strawberries....so bad, yet soooo very yummy!


What?? No funnel cake for me? I didn't think that was part of the deal!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Crawling...

So, I think we can officially say that she has crawled. Last night after her bath, she took a few crawl 'steps' with one hand in front of the other and then pulled her legs along. Then this morning, she crawled a few times upright on all fours, moving herself along. I think our excitement got to her as she got excited and went back down on her little belly and 'belly spazed' as Brian calls it. She then resorted to her army man crawl to get to her toy. I couldn't capture the crawling on camera, but this clip shows her excitement and belly spaze!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Sippy Cup!

Water....for something so critical to life, it's amazing how much time I've spent these past few days pondering the subject of water. I've been reading a bunch of books and websites about baby food lately and there seems to be so much controversy over when to introduce water into a baby's diet. Some say that breastfed babies don't need water while others suggest adding a bit when the baby starts solids. Then there is the debate about whether to give the baby tap water or bottled water, then you need to make sure they get some fluoride, but not too much! And here I thought water was such a simple thing!

Anyways, reading aside, today we decided to give her a few tastes of water...in a sippy cup! She did really well with it and enjoyed a new thing to play with in her high chair. After a few little coughs and sputters, she is getting the hang of it and I think she enjoyed her first sips of water!








Look how wide she opens her mouth when she sees her food coming! She sure loves to eat. Look closely and you can see those teeth, getting bigger each day!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

---7 Months Old---

Our 7 month old sweetie today in the park:




She has grown and developed so much this month!

We weighed her this morning and she is 13 lbs 14 oz.

Here's a re-cap of her 7th month:

The biggest (and most exciting, in her opinion) milestone was starting on solid foods.

So far she has enjoyed avocado, sweet potato, peas, squash, bananas, pears, carrots, green beans, applesauce, rice cereal, plums and just today she tried mango. For the most part she seems to like it all. I would venture to say that the green beans were probably her least favorite and the plums I made are a bit tart, so she's not too fond of those unless they're mixed with something else.

Grandma Handl was here for a visit:


In terms of big events, she had her first Superbowl party in which she cheered the Saints onto victory

...her first parade and Mardi Gras celebration complete with a huge bead collection:

...her first view of the ocean:

...her first trip to the zoo
...her 1st Valentine's Day


In other developments:
-She is still sucking her thumb, but only when she gets sleepy

and she'll suck her toes whenever she gets her socks off.


-She's been doing this for awhile now, but at day care she's holding her bottle all by herself. She's showing off in this photo!

-She is back to sleeping through the night again!! Yippeeee!

-She's spending a lot more time up on all fours and rocks and even pulls herself forward in this position. We keep waiting for her to take off crawling.

-Even without crawling she is mobile and has perfected her methodical army man scoot! Arm, arm, grunt, pull, kick...

-Her new favorite toy is this soft ring stacker. She loves taking all the rings off and chewing on them!

-More of her favorites are her rubber duckies and they accompany her during the whole bath time process. She loves to splash (and chew!) with them during her baths,

chew on them while being dried off

and converse with them during her post-bath 'naked baby time'


-She has her two bottom teeth. Here's their progress as of tonight.


-She's starting to mimic things we do with our mouths, sticking her tongue out, making noises etc. She is really starting to figure out all the different noises her little mouth can make!

She is so much fun now and I can't believe how much she is growing!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!




We took our first family trip to the zoo today. Madeline is still a bit young to focus on all the animals, but there is a children's section in which the animals are up very close. She enjoyed looking at the llamas and a few other animals in that section. Mostly, she just enjoyed watching the people and all the other little kiddos running around. It was nice to get out and enjoy some of the nicer weather we've been having these past few days. We didn't capture any animal pictures (don't know how that was possible with a trip to the zoo!) but here are a few others we did get!

At the end of the afternoon, Madeline said that the zoo deserves a sleepy thumbs up!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Those Fabulous Pearly Whites...

Well, it's official, Madeline now has teeth! Luckily our teething experience hasn't been too bad. She was a bit uncomfortable and fussy for about 1/2 day with each of her 2 bottom teeth. I've been trying to capture a picture of them for a few days now, but that's much easier said than done! I think I finally accomplished it, though, and was able to snap a few pics in which you can see those brand new pearly whites!


Tooth #1 on Feb 16:


Now there's two!


I think she is quite proud of them, as she has been quite the happy girl these last few days!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Little Cupid....

....wishes everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!


Madeline is getting her first tooth for Valentine's Day, so she spent most of the day (when she wasn't sleeping!) teething on her new favorite ring. I was trying out some new settings on the camera and caught these two cute photos of her. She's not too keen on letting us take a peek at this new tooth, but we can certainly feel it!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Superbowl

Madeline experienced her first superbowl party this evening. She was cheering for the Chargers, but since they didn't make it she was glad to see the Saints win. She sure did look cute in her Charger cheerleading outfit. Thanks Aunt Sue & Uncle Steve!


Saturday, February 6, 2010

Mardi Gras!

It was an absolutely beautiful February day here, so we decided to venture down to Galveston to check out the Mardi Gras festivities. We got there in time for Madeline to experience her first parade. She was fascinated by all the color, noises and people. She didn't care too much for the drums in the marching bands, though!

This was the first time we had been down to Galveston after Hurricane Ike. They've made amazing progress and the city is coming back together. We ventured down to The Strand after the parade and peeked in a few of the shops and about 95% of them have reopened.

The Strand was hopping with multiple live bands, people gathered in the streets, beads being thrown from balconies, street performers, etc. It was quite the party; I can't even imagine what New Orleans must be like this time of year! As always, Madeline was quite the trooper and we timed it just right to hit naptime on the way down to Galveston and the way back home.

Here are some pictures from our very first Mardi Gras!

On Seawall Blvd...waiting for the parade to start.



"Gee, I wish the parade would hurry up!"


"Here comes the parade"


"My bead collecting has begun!"


Some of the floats:





Having a baby at the parade is a sure way to get lots of beads....and stuffed animals.....and candy. I couldn't believe how much 'loot' we left with!



Madeline's stuffed animal 'loot'


"Mmmmm, beads are tasty!"



End of the parade family photo


"Look how many beads I ended up with. I didn't even have to show my belly once!"


Mommy and Madeline on the beach


All that excitement sure makes a girl sleepy!