Reward

Jack earned a reward today for being a big boy and sleeping in his bed all by himself for three days (nights)!!! His reward choice: McDonald's Happy Meal. You would have thought it was the first time he had one!

Haircut

Jack finally allowed Daddy to cut his hair for him - he never would before....

The end result was pretty impressive - there are a few minor touchups that need to be done, but pretty good for the first time!!

Playdate with Allie

Katie and Allie came to play with us on Wednesday. We learned some new things about Maddie that day - apparently she is a bully. She was being a little leap frog table hog and would just push Allie out of the way everytime she played with it. She was pretty fond of her though, she'd pat her head really nicely and then freak out on her and hit her - basically what she does to us all the time....poor Allie....I promise we won't be so mean next time!

On Friday I had off so I went up to Stevens Point to meet up with my friend Brenda and her two little boys, Nathan and Matt. We took the kids to the Children's museum there and both Jack and Maddie could not get enough of the train tables. When we got home, Jack wanted to use up all of his tattoos that he got at a birthday party the day before. He insisted that they all go on one arm....

Singing

So, clearly our TV has been on way too much (and this has been obsessively played) because this is the kid who you usually can not get to sing anything...

Big Day!!

Jack was pretty tuckered out tonight when he got home - he spent the day out on the lake fishing with daddy, grandpa, and Uncle Brian.

Maddie did her best to wake him up (she didn't succeed for quite a while) because she had a HUGE day!! She took her first steps today!!!

Common Theme

This has been a common sight at our house this week - sleepy baby. Maddie went to the doctor on Monday and found out she had a double ear infection, so not sure if it's the hurting ears, the medicine, or the second tooth popping through in one week (found that MOnday night), but she is one tired puppy. These are the only two times she has ever fallen asleep while eating....

Standing like nobody's business

Why is this little munchkin so happy?

Because all she wants to do is stand and she can do it SO well now! She still likes to immediately fall to her butt to go anywhere, but she is steady as can be and even takes little half steps (but by no means "real" ones - as soon as that leg lifts to step she goes straight down on the butt).

AND....another tooth FINALLY popped through on the bottom! That makes three bottom teeth (and none on top).....our last run of runny noses, tons of drool, fiery hot cheeks and nawing on everything in sight actually paid off!!!!

New Pictures

Maddie had her 9 month pictures taken on New Year's Day. We had to battle between her being camera shy, an amazing amount of drool, and lots of boogers, but there ended up being a few to choose from.

Happy New Year!

We were able to spend New Year's Eve with The Hedtke's again this year. Jack, Lauren, and Kirsten are CRAZY kids when they're together. They thought it was funny to completely destroy poor Lauren's bedroom and at some point they thought it would be cool to pretend they were all going to sleep....clearly that wasn't the case, but it was cute anyway.

On New Year's Day we went to Appleton and did some shopping, had Maddie's 9 month pictures taken and went out for dinner. Maddie was pooped by the time we got to dinner. I think it was the first time either of my kids actually slept in a restaurant. She did wake up in time to have some of Daddy's mashed potatoes and be a "fat baby" by a girl walking by. Nice. At least the person before her called her cute.

Jack at Applebee's - now that he is into coloring, it makes the wait fly by a little faster.

When we got home Jack arranged all his animals in his bed to sleep with him. He thought it was pretty funny.